Daniel Boulud

Eater

Daniel Boulud is one of the most iconic chefs of all time. Throughout his successful career, he's opened several restaurants around the world, and at the center of it all is his flagship restaurant, Daniel, an NYC staple for over 30 years. Follow along as Boulud takes us inside the kitchen during a busy spring service, where the team prepares 60 pounds of crayfish, Nova Scotia halibut, scallops, stuffed lamb saddle, and more. He also shares what's next for him — and the advice he has for the next generation of chefs.

Transcript

00:00Here at Daniel we cook a lot. That's what I love is the adrenaline of service.

00:07You have the pressure of putting three different or four different dishes next

00:13to each other with different components, different preparation, different cuisson,

00:17and all have to go together at the same time.

00:21Restaurant Daniel, we always felt that we are part of the elite of restaurants in New York.

00:27We don't try to be trendy at Daniel, but we really try to be current.

00:33I love it. I mean, it's my life for a little farm boy that came with nothing in America. I'm happy.

00:49We have the crayfish coming twice a week for Daniel.

00:52We receive 60 pounds twice a week. It's coming from a parish, Madison, New Orleans.

00:59So we're going to poach them in a court bouillon for about one minute.

01:04I am driven by French cuisine, but always a way to update the classic.

01:11Like for example, a halibut dish today, sauce nantua with the crayfish.

01:15We have never done this type of preparation, but we know how to make sauce nantua.

01:20We know how to treat crayfish.

01:22Every season, every year, we always have a crayfish on the menu.

01:25A lot of times it comes with a rabbit. This time it's coming with our halibut.

01:29So we always do a team effort because it's 60 pounds twice a week, quite a lot of work.

01:34The warmer they are, the better they come out of the shell.

01:37All the trimmings of the crayfish will go into the marmalade.

01:41We choose all the nicest ones to present to the guests.

01:44I grew up in Lyon. It's next to Les Dombes, north of Lyon.

01:49And that's the region where you have crayfish and frog legs.

01:52I fell in love with cooking, so I went to an apprenticeship.

01:56I worked six days a week at 14.

01:59And that's how I met all the greatest chefs of Lyon.

02:02I think it was a time where it was hard work, but I never complained.

02:07It was a lot to learn, a lot to learn.

02:10So here we are, I'm watching the watercress.

02:13So this is like back to my youth. Nothing changed.

02:17So this watercress goes in the preparation of the halibut.

02:21The crayfish, the sauce nantua, the watercress, it was all growing in Lyon.

02:27It's in the same swamp.

02:29At 14, when I started cooking, for the first three months,

02:33I was in charge of the two things that prep all the vegetables.

02:37And they used to call me the beaver because I was always in the water.

02:43So I'm going to start the process of the bisque because it's going to take two hours.

02:49Fennel, carrots, onion, shallots, celery, a little bit of ginger,

02:53a little bit of tomato coulis and tomato paste.

02:55And then we finish with chicken stock, thyme, bay leaves.

02:58Add about 20 pounds of butter.

03:00And then the process is going to clarify and create the crayfish butter.

03:04Not too much butter.

03:05If the cows would have known that their butters would have end up in the crayfish stock,

03:11I think that would have made them happy.

03:14French cooking, we think it's all butter.

03:17Forget about it.

03:18When you look at the Italian, how much butter, cream and cheese they put in the pasta.

03:24It's scary.

03:25So it's a halibut.

03:27We just turned on the crayfish butter.

03:30We did this morning.

03:31So we have inside some watercress leaves.

03:34The mushroom is a white chimichy.

03:36And we glaze with the bisque.

03:39With the watercress puree.

03:42Interesting.

03:43Alibut dish today, sauce nantua with the crayfish.

03:47Always think that the dish will have to pair well with a very good wine.

03:52An example of one dish, but every dish has its raison d'être.

03:57So the first thing we're going to do is make the cannellé batter for our giveaways.

04:04The cannellé, it's also a classic French.

04:07They can go home to share that with the kids.

04:10A token of a thank you and good night.

04:12So I'm going to slowly add the hot milk into the oats so they don't scramble.

04:19So now that it's mostly in, we're going to dump the rest.

04:25So I'm going to add the rum last at the very end.

04:27It's just some dark rum.

04:29Lots of it.

04:31The best part is the rum in the cannellé.

04:34Up!

04:37Mmm.

04:38It's the best.

04:39Yeah, it's wonderful.

04:40It disappears.

04:41It really gives the character.

04:42I always pay a lot of attention on pastry.

04:45I am not a pastry chef, but I know a lot about pastry.

04:49And so I have no problem sitting down with my pastry chef and discussing creativity,

04:54discussing new ideas, and really developing things.

04:57So then we put in the cannellé batter.

05:00And that they're obviously all the same height, so they bake evenly,

05:03and then they're all the same at the end.

05:06Chef Daniel, he knows what works and what doesn't work.

05:09He has really high standards, and he wants everyone to keep those standards.

05:14So next we're going to put them into a 400 degree oven or so for almost an hour.

05:19They're going to bake.

05:21These are the finished cannellé.

05:23And once they're cool enough to touch, we'll unload them for service.

05:28And then we just pop the molds off.

05:30And then it gets super dark on the outside, caramelized.

05:34Front of house, closer to service, we'll bag them into little baggies.

05:38And then off to the guests.

05:42So we're starting the prep for the lamb saddle dish.

05:45Aranda Mounou is taking out the tenderloin.

05:48It is going to be the center part of our roulade.

05:51And then we're going to score it and use a jacquard to really make that piece nice and tender.

05:57I started here as a lamb cook, and then I got promoted throughout the years as a tournard and then CEC.

06:04It's very rewarding to be able to work here.

06:07I mean, I've been mentoring cooks since my days at the Plaza Athennais and Le Seer.

06:13It's something very good because this continuing education for young chefs in America is very important.

06:20My only piece of advice when you start a career is to choose a very good mentor

06:26and to continue to lean on his recommendation to move on with life.

06:31So we're seasoning salt, pepper, the bellies.

06:34So this is the first that we have made with all the belly scraps and the loin scraps that we made.

06:39We have a mousse, we have ground meat, we have asiago, savory parsley, black garlic, piquillo peppers, and pencil asparagus as well.

06:49So the black garlic dry and powdered, and then it's much easier to...

06:53You could do a paste also for that matter, but we prefer to treat it like this.

06:58The technique is to be able to keep as much as possible the shape of the roast together.

07:04And what's important is to keep it firm, but not to squeeze.

07:08I think what matters for me is that when you do a roast, the first slice is as important as the last.

07:14It's important to keep the roast tight together.

07:17I was an apprentice next to the market, to the major aisle, which is the central market.

07:23I was bumping in the market with people like Paul Bocuse and Alan Chapelle and Trois Gros and all my mentors.

07:31I always was close to them and inspired by what they did.

07:35I was 15 years old, I served my first president.

07:38You feel like, whoa, you're really mingling with the top.

07:43A path that you followed, and for me, it was always that.

07:47We are roasting the outside of the lamb gently.

07:50I like to use the corner of the pan to just evenly roast it.

07:54There's some garlic, there's some thyme to give some flavor.

07:58And we're just using a ring mold that's just flipped upside down.

08:01A ring of puree.

08:02This is a green asparagus marmalade.

08:04So green asparagus has been brunoise.

08:06And we have our asparagus tips.

08:07The stem goes into the marmalade.

08:10Sweat it down with some shallot, garlic.

08:12You go with a little bit of white wine.

08:14So this is the lamb feathers rendered this morning, infused with a savory oil, blazed around.

08:19The crust around is a mustard and a black garlic panko.

08:23Finally, the jus.

08:25And this is really a dish that speaks spring.

08:28Superb dish.

08:31We just received the scallops from Maine.

08:34You can see they're super fresh.

08:35So that's the first step of the scallop dish.

08:37Then after, we will cut it with a light layer of cataif, pan seared on one side,

08:42slowly baked, and then you will see the process of the sauce and the garnish after.

08:46So I'm going to make the marmalade sauce for the scallop, the main scallop dish.

08:49French cooking, it's all about the sauce.

08:52Sometimes the sauce is 50% of the dish in French cooking.

08:56Starts off with sliced shallots.

08:58This chef will come in a bit earlier, obviously.

09:01Make all the sauces, do all the big jobs for the chef that cooks before they come in.

09:05Danielle is really nice to work with as well.

09:07A lot of energy, a lot of passion with him as well.

09:10Once the shallots are nice and soft, you go in with the dried marmalade.

09:13We hydrate them in just mushroom stock.

09:16Add the vermouth, add the stock, reduce the stock right down.

09:19So it's a nice saucy consistency.

09:21And then creme fraiche, blend, and then ready for service.

09:24So this is the last stage of the scallop.

09:26It's been shucked, washed, dried.

09:28And now Fabian, he's on the hot app station.

09:31He's going to finish it off.

09:32He's going to dunk it in liquid egg white, which has been lightly whisked.

09:35And he's going to dunk it from there into the catafi.

09:38Catafi is shredded phyllo.

09:40So it's like a crumb, just so when you caramelize it, it's a nice even crust.

09:44We do it every day.

09:45So if we have 60 covers, we do 30 portions of scallops.

09:48He's put it all in the catafi now.

09:50He's covered it with a tray.

09:51He's just lightly pressing it, just so all the catafi coats the bottom, or the top rather.

09:56And it's a nice, nice even.

09:57So any residual catafi falls off.

09:59So when it's in the tray, it's nice and even.

10:01Then once it's finished, it's ready to pan fry.

10:04We pan fry this scallop in clarified butter.

10:07It's not too hot.

10:08You don't want to burn the catafi.

10:10Another butter, fresh garlic, and fresh thyme in there.

10:15In a lightly golden color.

10:17So once it's nice and golden like this, flip it over.

10:21Roll the butter around a bit.

10:22Put it in the oven.

10:2340 seconds, 40 seconds to a minute.

10:25What I love is buttered cabbage and seafood sometimes.

10:29It's delicious with lobster, with scallops.

10:32The delicate texture of a seafood with cabbage.

10:35And yet we try to create a crispiness to it.

10:38What I like is the contrast of texture and the lightness of the garnish for the scallops.

10:46The biggest compliment when a guest comes to Danielle is that they remember the name of everyone who served them.

10:55And I think this sense of hospitality for us is the most important.

10:59The heritage we have about food in New York.

11:02And I only see the future being based on the past.

11:07Just like fashion, just like art, just like music.

11:11It is important to study the past in order to create the future.

11:15And I think New York City has always been about that.

11:18Hey!

11:21Look at that!

11:24It's alive!

11:26Congratulations!

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