Le Pigeon: Cooking at the Dirty Bird [A Cookbook]

Description

This debut cookbook from James Beard Rising Star Chef Gabriel Rucker features a serious yet playful collection of 150 recipes from his phenomenally popular Portland restaurant. In the five years since Gabriel Rucker took the helm at Le Pigeon, he has catapulted from culinary school dropout to award-winning chef. Le Pigeon is offal-centric and meat-heavy, but by no means dogmatic, offering adventures into delicacies unknown along with the chance to order a vegetarian mustard greens quiche and a Miller High Life if that's what you're craving. In their first cookbook, Rucker and general manager/sommelier Andrew Fortgang celebrate high-low extremes in cooking, combining the wild and the refined in a unique and progressive style. Featuring wine recommendations from sommelier Andrew Fortgang, stand-out desserts from pastry chef Lauren Fortgang, and stories about the restaurant's raucous, seat-of-the-pants history by writer Meredith Erickson, Le Pigeon combines the wild and the refined in a unique, progressive, and delicious style.

GABRIEL RUCKER is the chef and co-owner of Le Pigeon and Little Bird. He worked at Paley's Place and The Gotham Building Tavern before moving to Le Pigeon. ANDREW FORTGANG is the co-owner, general manager, and sommelier of Le Pigeon and Little Bird. Born and raised in New York, he worked at Gramercy Tavern, Jean-George, Aureole, and Craft before relocating to Portland. LAUREN FORTGANG is a pastry chef who developed and led Little Bird Bistro's pastry program. A graduate of California Culinary Institute, she previously worked for Paley's Place, Craft, and Hearth. MEREDITH ERICKSON is co-author ofThe Art of Living According to Joe Beefwith Fred Morin and David McMillan, writer and project manager ofThe Family Mealby Ferran Adria, and her work has appeared in theNew York Times, theNational Post,Elle, and theObserver'sFood Monthly.

"Not many books have gotten my juices going as much as Le Pigeon; it's a proper joy." -Fergus Henderson, founder of St. John restaurant and author of Nose to Tail Eating "I'd heard nothing about this Portland, Oregon institution until the book landed on my desk and utterly awed me. The young chefs draw influence from the Fergus Henderson nose-to-tail school but introduce a whole layer of iconoclastic hipster inspiration. When reading the contents makes you salivate, you know you have a winner." Tim Hayward, "Best books of 2013" Financial Times "I absolutely love this book! A behind-the-scenes look at Portland's beloved Le Pigeon restaurant, it's fun, quirky, and delicious. With Gabriel Rucker guiding you through these beautiful recipes, you can't go wrong." -April Bloomfield, chef-owner of The Spotted Pig and author of A Girl and Her Pig "Gabriel once said to me, 'We're just trying to find new ways to get people to eat lots of butter,' revealing his irreverent and over-the-top attitude to cooking (see his recipe for Bacon Butter, page 42) and life. What arrives on the plate at Le Pigeon is incredibly well thought out, sophisticated, and delicious. This is a remarkable collection of recipes and stories from one of the most hard-working and dedicated chefs I know, and his merry band of compatriots." -Andy Ricker, chef-owner of Pok Pok "Gabriel Rucker, one of the hottest of the hot rock star chefs, has the humility to pay homage to the pillars of Portland's dining scene and the brass to 'Le Pigeonize' every dish he cooks with his own high-spirited sensibility. Whether he's dolloping oyster mayo on a hanger steak or turning lamb belly into a BLT, Rucker's boisterous but disciplined cooking will both surprise you and charm the hell out of you." -Tom Douglas, owner of Tom Douglas Restaurants "At Le Pigeon, Gabriel Rucker has the opportunity to cook in Oregon-a very soulful region where food and wine are in harmony with the terroir. His cuisine is all about balance, with a dash of American nostalgia. He gets it." -Daniel Boulud, chef-owner of Daniel