My dogs, Cracker and Mash, could barely hold it together today while I was at work in the kitchen.
They’d run in, sniff around the oven and try to figure out how they could get their teeth into whatever was making our house smell like a pet-food store. Then they’d slink back sadly to the living room empty-pawed. At one point, I called their names. They came skidding up the hallway, body-checking one another along the way. Such disappointment, when all I had for them was a freshly filled water bowl. The doggy treats in the oven still had two hours to go.
I was making bone-shaped and ketchup-glazed biscuits from a recipe in Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel’s new book, Bouchon Bakery. Keller is the Michelin-starred chef-owner of The French Laundry, among other restaurants. His five Bouchon bakeries offer sweet goodies such as sparkling sugared marshmallow eggs, cherry-whipped cream doughnuts and dainty madeleines. Recipes (with gorgeous photographs) for all those things are in the cookbook, as well as detailed step-by-steps and tons of technical advice to get you baking like a pro.
So why try the dog biscuits?
Well, I know my audience. Cracker and Mash are more obsessed with food than a couple of iPhone-wielding, snap-happy hipsters in an underground noodle bar. They love to eat–kibble, steak, pilfered chorizo–they will even eat trash if the opportunity comes up, and they will love every last bite of rotten apple core.
Unfortunately, Cracker (the big dopey black and white one) has a delicate stomach. Things like rawhide bones and mystery-meat chews spell disaster for the air quality in our home and mean dozens of urgent trips outdoors. So for the last few years, we’ve avoided buying doggy treats.
But the ingredients in the Bouchon biscuits are all natural–bacon, chicken liver, cornmeal, broth and flour–so I wanted to see if they’d be kinder to his digestive system.
Three days later, and I can report that these biscuits caused no nasty long term consequences. Not one stray toot. And I’ll leave it to Cracker and Mash to demonstrate the short-term effects.
Dog Treats
(Makes 45)
Treats
453 g (1 pound) sliced bacon, cut into 1-inch-wide pieces
370 g (13 oz) chicken livers, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
130 g (3/4 cup + 1 tbsp) fine cornmeal
450 g (3 cups + 3 tbsp) all-purpose flour
235 g (1 cup) chicken stock
Glaze
50 grams (3 tbsp) ketchup
13 g (1 tbsp) egg whites
Notes:
- You’ll need a 2 & 5/8-inch-long dog bone cookie cutter.
- The baking time is halved in a convection oven
- These do not spread like some cookies, so they can be positioned quite close together on baking sheets.
- Treats can be stored in a covered container for up to 1 month.
For the treats:
1. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 250 F (120 C) (convection or standard). Line two sheet pans with Silpats or parchment paper.
2. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook for 4-5 minutes, until it has rendered its fat and is a rich golden brown. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.
3. Pour off all but a generous film of bacon fat. Ad the chicken livers to the pan and saute, turning them frequently and smashing them slightly, for about 5 minutes, until broken down to a paste. Remove from the heat.
4. Place the bacon in a food processor and pulse a few times to grind it. Add the chicken livers and process to combine, then add the cornmeal and process until you have a coarse mixture.
5. Transfer the mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the flour and mix to combine. Slowly pour in the chicken stock and mix until the dough begins to gather around the paddle and feels moist to the touch. Remove the dough from the mixer and knead it just enough to combine.
6. Place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper or plastic wrap and roll it out to a 3/8-inch-thick sheet. Using the dog bone cutter, cut out the treats and arrange them onto the prepared sheet pans. Knead the trimmings together, roll out, and cut out the additional treats.
7. Bake until the treats are completely dry, about 1 & 1/2 hours in a convection oven, 3 hours in a standard oven. Remove from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 200 F (95 C).
For the glaze:
Combine the ketchup and the egg whites. the glaze will be very thick. Brush it over the top of the warm treats. Return the pans to the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the glaze has set. Place the pans on a cooling rack and cool for 5-10 minutes, then transfer the treats to the rack to cool completely.
From Bouchon Bakery, by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel, Artisan, $50
