I have every single one of Thomas Keller’s cookbooks. And no, even as a culinary school graduate, I haven’t cooked anything from Under Pressure, the sous-vide treatise/coffee-table book, but I’ve lingered over every page. I do make the fried chicken from Ad Hoc At Home, and I’ve made a handful of other dishes. Mostly, these are inspirational and aspirational. Making a Thomas Keller recipe, even if you take shortcuts, is still generally better than following lesser masters to the letter.

The latest from Keller is the Bouchon Bakery cookbook. And yeah, it’s an inspiration. I don’t care if it’s already over 100 degrees in the apartment: I’m going to preheat the oven, turn the fan to high, and tell Mr. Bookdwarf to fix me a cold drink, because it’s time to start cooking Thomas Keller dishes again.