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Cheers to the Publican, Repast and Present

Recipes and Ramblings from an American Beer Hall [A Cookbook]

Author Paul Kahan, Cosmo Goss, Rachel Holtzman
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Hardcover
$40.00 US
Clarkson Potter/Ten Speed | Lorena Jones Books
8.8"W x 11.3"H x 1.3"D   | 61 oz | 8 per carton
On sale Sep 19, 2017 | 336 Pages | 9780399578564
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Winner of the 2018 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Cookbook Award for "Chefs & Restaurants" category

The highly anticipated narrative-rich cookbook by Chicago’s superstar chef, Paul Kahan, whose destination restaurant, The Publican, is known for its incredibly delicious pork- and seafood-centric, beer-friendly cooking. 


The Publican, often named one of Chicago’s most popular restaurants, conjures a colonial American beer hall with its massive communal tables, high-backed chairs, deep beer list, and Kahan’s hallmark style of crave-worthy heartland cooking that transcends the expected and is eminently cookable. Cheers to The Publican is Paul Kahan’s and Executive Chef Cosmo Goss’s toast to the food they love to make and share, the characters who produce the ingredients that inspire them, and the other cooks they honor. Larded with rich story-telling and featuring more than 150 evocative photographs and 150 recipes for vegetables and salads, fish and seafood, meat, simple charcuterie, and breads and spreads, Cheers to The Publican is sure to be one of the most talked-about and cooked-from cookbooks of the year.
“Paul Kahan has a global perspective with a Midwestern sensibility and the uncanny ability to put not only flavors, but also life, in balance. ‘Soulful’ and ‘authentic’ describe both the man and what he brings to the table. He is truly an inspiration.”
–Chris Bianco, chef/owner of Pizzeria Bianco and author of Bianco
 
“I have always wondered—perhaps somewhat jealously—why the food at The Publican in Chicago is so delicious. Then, one lovely April morning I sat down with my cappuccino and began to read Paul Kahan's first cookbook. I couldn't stop reading—and now I know how Paul packs so much flavor into his food. The effort he puts into sourcing and his balance of seasoning, marinating, cooking, and saucing is what turns his cooking into a concert of flavor. These recipes are so clearly written they will be easy to make at home. This is the most delicious book I've ever read.”
—Nancy Silverton, co-owner of The Mozza Group and author of Mozza at Home
 
“Paul Kahan is a Midwestern culinary wizard. He’s my type of chef—strong-willed, inquisitive, funny, and hungry—and I adore him for his stubborn ‘Why not?’ response to anything difficult. Cosmo Goss, is the perfect cohort for Paul. Together, they have created a new paradigm of American cooking, an amalgam of all the bounty the country has to offer, served lustily and with reverence. A terrific cookbook.”
—Jonathan Waxman, chef/owner of Barbuto and author of Italian, My Way
 
“My first stop when I arrive in Chicago—without exception—is The Publican. It's thrilling to read the amazing stories that represent so much more than just the recipes and see the inspiration that comes from the community of growers and friends who support the restaurant. Cheers to Paul Kahan and Cosmo Goss for this long overdue book!”
—Stuart Brioza, co-chef/owner of State Bird Provisions and coauthor of State Bird Provisions: A Cookbook
 
“This is a fascinating glimpse into what makes The Publican tick, filled with invaluable lessons in respect and responsibility plus pure deliciousness.”
—Sean Brock, chef/owner of Husk and author of Heritage
 
“Paul Kahan has mastered simplicity in cooking, and The Publican cookbook is quite simply as honest and authentic as a cookbook gets. Cheers to the Publican, indeed!”
—Marc Vetri, chef/owner of Vetri and author of Mastering Pasta

"Any page of the book reveals this food to be anything but simple and humble, no matter how many times Kahan and Goss assert that it is: The recipes are layered and multidimensional, they often ask the home cook to give half a dozen pans (or half a dozen days) to dinner.
What this food has, instead of simplicity, is clarity: of flavor, philosophy, and intention, catapulted beyond the twee and precious by something that feels like recklessness but is actually just extraordinary skill. Whenever I’m at the Publican, I marvel to whomever I’m eating with that this is how I want to eat all the time. It turns out that’s possible, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. Maybe that’s the magic of it all."
- Eater

"This book—the first from the chefs behind one of Chicago's most treasured spots—is one giant toast to convivial American cuisine. It reads like a constitution, complete with an Anti-Tweezer Manifesto, containing mantras like "product maketh the dish," and recipes for the barbecue carrots and sour beer-steamed mussels that have amassed devout followers."
- TASTING TABLE

"If you can't score a seat at Paul Kahan's white-hot Chicago beer hall, feast your eyes on his recipes for grilled sardines, braised pork shoulder, and more."
- MODERN FARMER
© Michael Salisbury
Paul Kahan View titles by Paul Kahan
Cosmo Goss View titles by Cosmo Goss
Rachel Holtzman is a former book editor turned cookbook coauthor. View titles by Rachel Holtzman
Mussels in Sour Beer 

Just after we came up with the idea for The Publican, a few of the chefs started coming over to my house to play around with different dishes, trying them over and over again until we got it right. We probably went through fifty or sixty mussel preparations, riffing on the traditional white wine version but also experimenting with other spirits. The winner was a variation using Gueuze (sounds like gooze), a sour Belgian beer that’s a little cidery and a little musty and has just the right amount of acidity that we balance with a good amount of butter, garlic, thyme, and chile flakes. 
 
Serves 4 
2 tablespoons unsalted butter 
1 tablespoon sliced celery 
1 tablespoon sliced garlic 
1 tablespoon sliced shallot 
1 bay leaf 
1 teaspoon thyme leaves 
1⁄2 teaspoon chile flakes 
2 pounds mussels 
1⁄4 cup Gueuze beer 
Sea salt 
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 
2 tablespoons chopped celery leaves or lovage 
Baguette, for serving 
 
In a medium pot—ideally something ceramic or cast-iron that can go right onto the table—heat 1 tablespoon of the butter over high heat. When the butter foams, add the celery, garlic, shallot, bay leaf, thyme, and chile flakes and sweat for 1 minute. 

Add the mussels to the pot, flip all the ingredients together, pour in the Gueuze, cover the pot, and cook until the mussels are open, 3 to 5 minutes. 

Pull off the lid, stir in the remaining butter, and finish the mussels with a pinch of salt, the lemon juice, and celery leaves. 

Serve piping hot with hunks of baguette.
Copyright © 2017 by Paul Kahan and Cosmo Goss with Rachel Holtzman. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
contents

Recipe Contents viii

Introduction 1

The Publican Pantry 8

To the Mighty Vegetable 11

To Bivalves, Mollusks, 
and Those Who Shell Before Us 83

To Noble Creatures Of The Sea 
and the Much Maligned 123

To the Swine, Bovine, 
and Particularly Fowl 161

To the Mad Butcher: 
Charcuterie and Sausages 205

To What’s Left Behind: 
Offal, Scraps, and Leftover Bits 239

To Yeast and Flour:
Bread and Everything on It 271

About

Winner of the 2018 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Cookbook Award for "Chefs & Restaurants" category

The highly anticipated narrative-rich cookbook by Chicago’s superstar chef, Paul Kahan, whose destination restaurant, The Publican, is known for its incredibly delicious pork- and seafood-centric, beer-friendly cooking. 


The Publican, often named one of Chicago’s most popular restaurants, conjures a colonial American beer hall with its massive communal tables, high-backed chairs, deep beer list, and Kahan’s hallmark style of crave-worthy heartland cooking that transcends the expected and is eminently cookable. Cheers to The Publican is Paul Kahan’s and Executive Chef Cosmo Goss’s toast to the food they love to make and share, the characters who produce the ingredients that inspire them, and the other cooks they honor. Larded with rich story-telling and featuring more than 150 evocative photographs and 150 recipes for vegetables and salads, fish and seafood, meat, simple charcuterie, and breads and spreads, Cheers to The Publican is sure to be one of the most talked-about and cooked-from cookbooks of the year.

Praise

“Paul Kahan has a global perspective with a Midwestern sensibility and the uncanny ability to put not only flavors, but also life, in balance. ‘Soulful’ and ‘authentic’ describe both the man and what he brings to the table. He is truly an inspiration.”
–Chris Bianco, chef/owner of Pizzeria Bianco and author of Bianco
 
“I have always wondered—perhaps somewhat jealously—why the food at The Publican in Chicago is so delicious. Then, one lovely April morning I sat down with my cappuccino and began to read Paul Kahan's first cookbook. I couldn't stop reading—and now I know how Paul packs so much flavor into his food. The effort he puts into sourcing and his balance of seasoning, marinating, cooking, and saucing is what turns his cooking into a concert of flavor. These recipes are so clearly written they will be easy to make at home. This is the most delicious book I've ever read.”
—Nancy Silverton, co-owner of The Mozza Group and author of Mozza at Home
 
“Paul Kahan is a Midwestern culinary wizard. He’s my type of chef—strong-willed, inquisitive, funny, and hungry—and I adore him for his stubborn ‘Why not?’ response to anything difficult. Cosmo Goss, is the perfect cohort for Paul. Together, they have created a new paradigm of American cooking, an amalgam of all the bounty the country has to offer, served lustily and with reverence. A terrific cookbook.”
—Jonathan Waxman, chef/owner of Barbuto and author of Italian, My Way
 
“My first stop when I arrive in Chicago—without exception—is The Publican. It's thrilling to read the amazing stories that represent so much more than just the recipes and see the inspiration that comes from the community of growers and friends who support the restaurant. Cheers to Paul Kahan and Cosmo Goss for this long overdue book!”
—Stuart Brioza, co-chef/owner of State Bird Provisions and coauthor of State Bird Provisions: A Cookbook
 
“This is a fascinating glimpse into what makes The Publican tick, filled with invaluable lessons in respect and responsibility plus pure deliciousness.”
—Sean Brock, chef/owner of Husk and author of Heritage
 
“Paul Kahan has mastered simplicity in cooking, and The Publican cookbook is quite simply as honest and authentic as a cookbook gets. Cheers to the Publican, indeed!”
—Marc Vetri, chef/owner of Vetri and author of Mastering Pasta

"Any page of the book reveals this food to be anything but simple and humble, no matter how many times Kahan and Goss assert that it is: The recipes are layered and multidimensional, they often ask the home cook to give half a dozen pans (or half a dozen days) to dinner.
What this food has, instead of simplicity, is clarity: of flavor, philosophy, and intention, catapulted beyond the twee and precious by something that feels like recklessness but is actually just extraordinary skill. Whenever I’m at the Publican, I marvel to whomever I’m eating with that this is how I want to eat all the time. It turns out that’s possible, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. Maybe that’s the magic of it all."
- Eater

"This book—the first from the chefs behind one of Chicago's most treasured spots—is one giant toast to convivial American cuisine. It reads like a constitution, complete with an Anti-Tweezer Manifesto, containing mantras like "product maketh the dish," and recipes for the barbecue carrots and sour beer-steamed mussels that have amassed devout followers."
- TASTING TABLE

"If you can't score a seat at Paul Kahan's white-hot Chicago beer hall, feast your eyes on his recipes for grilled sardines, braised pork shoulder, and more."
- MODERN FARMER

Author

© Michael Salisbury
Paul Kahan View titles by Paul Kahan
Cosmo Goss View titles by Cosmo Goss
Rachel Holtzman is a former book editor turned cookbook coauthor. View titles by Rachel Holtzman

Excerpt

Mussels in Sour Beer 

Just after we came up with the idea for The Publican, a few of the chefs started coming over to my house to play around with different dishes, trying them over and over again until we got it right. We probably went through fifty or sixty mussel preparations, riffing on the traditional white wine version but also experimenting with other spirits. The winner was a variation using Gueuze (sounds like gooze), a sour Belgian beer that’s a little cidery and a little musty and has just the right amount of acidity that we balance with a good amount of butter, garlic, thyme, and chile flakes. 
 
Serves 4 
2 tablespoons unsalted butter 
1 tablespoon sliced celery 
1 tablespoon sliced garlic 
1 tablespoon sliced shallot 
1 bay leaf 
1 teaspoon thyme leaves 
1⁄2 teaspoon chile flakes 
2 pounds mussels 
1⁄4 cup Gueuze beer 
Sea salt 
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice 
2 tablespoons chopped celery leaves or lovage 
Baguette, for serving 
 
In a medium pot—ideally something ceramic or cast-iron that can go right onto the table—heat 1 tablespoon of the butter over high heat. When the butter foams, add the celery, garlic, shallot, bay leaf, thyme, and chile flakes and sweat for 1 minute. 

Add the mussels to the pot, flip all the ingredients together, pour in the Gueuze, cover the pot, and cook until the mussels are open, 3 to 5 minutes. 

Pull off the lid, stir in the remaining butter, and finish the mussels with a pinch of salt, the lemon juice, and celery leaves. 

Serve piping hot with hunks of baguette.
Copyright © 2017 by Paul Kahan and Cosmo Goss with Rachel Holtzman. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Table of Contents

contents

Recipe Contents viii

Introduction 1

The Publican Pantry 8

To the Mighty Vegetable 11

To Bivalves, Mollusks, 
and Those Who Shell Before Us 83

To Noble Creatures Of The Sea 
and the Much Maligned 123

To the Swine, Bovine, 
and Particularly Fowl 161

To the Mad Butcher: 
Charcuterie and Sausages 205

To What’s Left Behind: 
Offal, Scraps, and Leftover Bits 239

To Yeast and Flour:
Bread and Everything on It 271

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