Archive for September, 2009
Deadlines
September 30th, 2009
Scott and Joe from Elements stopped by to pick up a circulator and we were chatting.
Alex: Are we still thinking about doing a dinner this fall.
Scott: Yeah that’d be great. If you guys are up for it.
Alex: Definitely, we’d love to do–
Aki: A dinner after the holidays, after we’ve finished the book, right honey.
Alex: Um yeah..right, of course, after the book is finished.
Scott: (Grinning) Someone has to be the voice of reason. Early winter sounds good to us.
We love saying yes to opportunities and collaborations, but with just about two months to write 75,000 words I think it’s safe to say it’s crunch time around here.
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Have you ever peeled a lobster tail?
September 29th, 2009
How much attention are you paying to the food you cook and preparations you execute? Could we be cooking better if we asked a few more questions and broke a few more rules? Try something you never thought to do, the results could be glorious and delicious.
inspired by…
September 28th, 2009
I was thumbing through the program from this year’s Star Chefs Congress and stopped on the profile of our friend Richard Blais. I had the pleasure of briefly catching up with him at the congress. Unfortunately we missed his workshop on breakfast. In reading the brief, a phrase jumped out at me-”Blais will also exhibit innovative methods for poached whipped eggs (using the isi Thermo Whip)”
Reading these words sent me to my feet in a flash. I do not know exactly what his method is and could make several assumptions. I was inspired by his idea. I immediately set to work cracking and weighing eggs, milk, butter, salt and hot sauce. I loaded up an isi canister and closed the top. I placed it in a water bath and after an hour I added some nitrous. A few shakes and we had the most ethereal scrambled eggs ever. What to pair them with? Since we were exploring textures some powdered raclette came to mind. Add a few fine herbs and some cracked pepper and the dish was done.
What is even more exciting are the permutations. Aki’s first thought was a sabayon. Aki’s second thought was hot and cold deviled eggs. Aki’s third thought is…being served this weekend.
isi Scrambled Eggs
506g whole eggs
113g sweet butter
85g skim milk
6g salt
6g Crystal hot sauce
2 nitrous charges
Whisk all the ingredients together and place in a non-thermal isi canister. Close the lid and place the canister in a water bath set at 82 degrees C. Cook the eggs for one hour and then remove the canister. Let the canister rest for five minutes and then add two nitrous charges. Shake the canister vigorously between charges. Dispense the eggs into dishes and top and serve with just about anything.
To further simplify the approach and make it easier to apply to larger applications, the egg base can be poached in vacuum bags or even mason jars and then added to the isi canister when needed.
first thoughts for a meal
September 27th, 2009
scallop with 40 cloves of garlic
clams casino soup
xo cavatelli
sea urchin sheets
bone marrow gnudi
the chicken brine
root beer and squash
bacon or eggs
raclette powder
pistachio sauternes
sherry cherries
cheddar grits
powdered raclette
coffee cake
the smell of the sea
remember what can be water
what can be a bouillon?
cereal milk cheese…really? what kind of cheese? ricotta, cream, mascarpone
fried rice
toasted marshmallow fluff
Apples and Cheese
September 26th, 2009
Apples and cheese consistently go together. The variables are the apple, the cheese and the textures sought. What is exciting are the variables and their interchangeable nature.
We have paired Gala apples with cider in a few forms and aerated pave d’ affinois.
Foie Gras and Prosciutto
September 25th, 2009
We have been working on making foie gras prosciutto. Since I am not the patient type, I wanted to taste the two flavors together. We took several slices of foie gras and wrapped them in prosciutto. We let the foie gras become seasoned by the prosciutto for a day and then pan seared the duo. The prosciutto crisped up beautifully and the foie gently cooked. We sliced the foie and prosciutto into medallions and paired it with gala apples and arugula. The pairing of foie and prosciutto is better than we imagined. It has renewed our efforts into fine tuning the our actual foie gras prosciutto.
Peanut Pumpkin
September 25th, 2009
Peanut Pumpkin
September 24th, 2009
Pretty and Pink
September 24th, 2009
If fish and meat are inherently tastier cooked on the bone, why would fruits and vegetables differ? Today we started exploring apple cookery, unpeeled and on the core sous vide. First observation: different apples cook differently, expect some failures. Second observation, this is so much better than poaching.
Bittersweet
September 24th, 2009
Those brownies were a riff off the cocoa brownie recipe in Alice Medrich's book Bittersweet. I sometimes up the butter by an ounce or two and I bake them at 325 degrees Fahrenheit with convection, which I think is slighly different from her recipe, but other than that her technique is unchanged. We played around with adding a teaspoon of powdered harissa to add heat and depth. While it was a fun twist, frankly for me the cumin became a bit much. So that a batch of brownies that normally lasts two or three days at the most never actually got finished. The harissa was a good idea that tasted great for the first brownie and sated the palate quickly. Interestingly this tends to be the issue when trying to update classic recipes in general. We love them for a reason and it's very hard to improve on the tried and true. I suppose that's why we use Heinz's (organic) ketchup instead of making our own. Not that we haven't tried, per se, but because new isn't always better. A hard thing for a chef to admit, on the other hand, new classics are created all the time.