IDEAS IN FOOD

Strawberries and Chipotle

Today I spent a fair amount of time preparing lamb sweetbreads.  They had been brined overnight, and needed some attention this morning.  As Aki and I usually do, we analyzed the ancho-cherry condiment I made yesterday and consequently came up with a dried strawberry and chipotle puree to accent the lamb sweetbreads.  After I blanched and cleaned the sweetbreads, and placed them in our circulating water bath to cook, I began to assemble the strawberry-chipotle puree.  I used a chipotle paste, banyuls vinegar, wildflower honey, salt and dried strawberries.  The flavors balanced nicely and the smooth texture of the puree allowed for easy spreading.  When the sweetbreads were cooked, I assembled the dish with celery root pickled with fresh juniper branches, celery leaves and seasoning, and a judicious application of the strawberry chipotle.

Potato and Pork

How do you make a terrine of pig's trotters approachable?  That thought has plagued me on and off for some time now.  As I drove to work today the question popped into my head just as I was reminiscing about potatoes.  The connection was made.  I hurried into work and used our Japanese vegetable slicer to make sheets of potato.  I then thinly sliced our pig trotter terrine and brushed it with mustard.  I then laid the terrine slices on the long potato sheet and rolled the two together like a jellyroll.  Finally, I slow cooked the two together sous vide and then let them chill. The result is a blending of pork and potato which can be sliced and seared and served as a dish on its own or as part of another presentation.  Today, I served the potato and pork with persimmon-yogurt, seaweed sauerkraut, smoked grapes, mustard seeds and savory.  Obviously there is now a multitude of dishes we can develop with this base product, from one featuring truffles to another influenced by a great New England clam chowder.

Tart Cherries and Ancho Chile

Aki pulls out ingredients just for fun.  Today she joked about making some southwest kimchee.  It turns out, it became more of a spiced slaw, yet her spice of choice, an ancho chile puree sparked several ideas.  I tasted the chile paste and immediately thought of tart cherries.  If that was where my mind went, I might as well follow.  I took the chile paste and mixed in some honey, salt, and banyuls vinegar.  I then added a fair amount of dried tart cherries and a touch of warm water.  I let the mixture marinate and then heated the mixture to a boil, allowing the juices to mix and blend.  Finally, I reserved half of the cherries whole and pureed the rest with the residual juices.  The tart glazed cherries provide some texture and bite, while the puree provides a silky medium to spread the sweet, sour and spicy flavor profile.

These two bases influenced an antelope tartare dish to which we added some jalapeno (of course), shiso leaves, gound candied corn and goat cheese milk.  I am constantly inspired by little tastes and am thrilled to be able to follow them into fruition.

Coconut Milk Spaetzle

Today is gray.  We got a bit of snow last night, just enough to melt into mud during the day.  In lieu of letting the day get the better of us, we put together an interesting new spaetzle.  We used coconut milk as the base, with a few egg yolks and some salt.  A simple preparation, which I can now expand upon to really get an intense coconut flavor.  Later today, I will toast coconut and then infuse it in coconut milk.  With a super coconut milk as a base, I will remake the spaetzle in order to highlight the coconut flavor.  As we were working the finer points of the spaetzle out, we began work on a dish which features the spaetzle.  The dish is our five hour ribs glazed in smoked Dr. Pepper.  We will serve it with a persimmon puree, sliced jalapeno and toasted sage leaves.  The key from today's initial spaetzle recipe is that I learned and began to think about means in which to truly over intensify the flavor of ingredients.  Sure, an idea is good, but one which really catches your attention is amazing.

15 Herb Oatmeal

Several years ago we came up with a puree of 15 herbs.  The original base was used as a ravioli filling which we served in a brown butter and balsamic vinegar sauce.  The interesting fact about the puree is the large amount of assorted herbs creates an intensely flavored and  balanced staple ingredient.  Does the amount and quantity of each herb matter?  Not really, though you do not want to puree a massive amount of rosemary with a sprig of chervil.  Use common sense in making the puree, balancing intensity with subtlety.  The overall puree will be herbal, all the notes working together to form a harmonious flavor.  When we make the puree, we blanch and shock the herbs and then blend it with olive oil.  Unlike our other herbal concoctions, we do not pass this through a tammis.  The coarse flecks of herbs add to the character of the puree.  Today we used the puree in yet another oatmeal dish, adding chanterelle mushrooms, piave vecchio cheese and fresh leaves of epazote to punctuate the final dish.

Back to the Food

If you cook it, they will come.  Sure, sounds good, especially after I poured my frustrations out on digital paper.  I have now digested yesterday's revelation and am now returning to what I can fix and improve, the food.

In fact, I have returned to working with oatmeal.  I had such a great time adjusting and working with the flavors in a variety of oatmeal's that I needed to flesh out more ideas.  Today I put together oatmeal carbonara.  We started with a base of three types of oatmeal, half and half and some water.  To the base, I added butter, bacon fat, chives, bacon, lemon zest and juice, crystal hot sauce and Bianco Sardo cheese.  I topped the oatmeal with a hot spring egg and a final sprinkling of the key flavor elements.  It was tasty.  So tasty that I ate several bowls of it.

What I particularly like about working with oatmeal is its window of opportunity.  The only kitchen staff we have is Aki and myself, and I end up spending too much time in the dining room discussing food and wine, so it is essential to create dishes which allow for some slippage and forethought.

Ignorance was Bliss

We had a writer here not long ago and when she finished dinner she said “I have two words for you, NEW YORK.”  Well, New York may not be the exactly the right answer but the message was clear. 

We have been here for two years and fifty weeks. That is a long time, particularly in the world of food and wine.  Currently our audience is limited.  Who comes to Pagosa Springs, CO?  Heck, where is Pagosa Springs?  We were lured out here with the promise of a truly high end establishment where no expense was spared and the owners were willing to do whatever it took to get things rolling as quickly as possible.  We were brought out here to produce some of the best food in the world.  The issue is that there simply aren’t enough people to cook for.  We have had a smattering of guests all of who have been truly floored by the food. 

This business is known for it’s ups and downs and through the past few years there has been an ebb and flow of staff.  In addition to being the Executive Chefs, we have pinch hitted as the interim general managers, housekeeper, bell boy, maintenance man, activities guide, chauffeur, wait staff, bartender, guest services clerk, administrative assistant, there isn’t a single job in this establishment that we haven’t done.  It’s been an amazing learning experience but…funny thing is, the food is the only aspect of the experience where we stand alone. 

There are lots of other places with equally luxurious rooms, great service, better fishing, better hunting, better horse-back riding, nicer trails, bigger spas, the list is endless.  When we were hired we were told that the food was one of the most important things because everyone needs to eat.  The owners wanted the best food in the world.  And yet, to them it’s not about the food.  It’s about the whole experience.  That’s why 95% of our guests are still talking about the food when they leave.  That’s why most of the writers who came out this past year told us to highlight the food.  That’s why it’s so hard to get people to take that extra plane trip to Durango. 

Don’t get us wrong, its beautiful out here and there’s plenty to do but none of it is alluring enough to bring people in droves. We’re too isolated and we don’t have the absolute best of anything, except the food.  The thing of is that we are about the food and unfortunately we might as well be in Alaska cooking for Kodiak bears.  It seems probable that more people would travel to see that, taste the food and want to return.

Our biggest audience is the readers of this website, many of whom want to experience what we can do, but cannot because it’s so difficult to get here.  Firstly it’s expensive, overnight bed and breakfast rates start at $395 a night and do not include dinner.  Dinner is $85/person for five courses.  That does not include tax, tip or beverages. If you’re coming out for the food, you almost have to stay with us because we are not often open to the general public. 

There just isn’t a huge demand among the locals.  Most of them can’t afford it and don’t want this kind of food even if they could.  Here in God’s country they like fried chicken, big steaks, and hearty portions of solid food.  Not exactly what we serve in our dining room for dinner.  Flying in to Pagosa requires a hop from Denver or Phoenix unless you want to fly into Albuquerque and drive.  We are not on the way to or from anywhere and the only way to get here is to make a special trip.  For the most part it takes an entire day’s travel each way.  Which means that unless you live within a few hours drive, if you just come for an evening, you will spend more time in transit than you actually do on the property.  These are tough logistics to swallow for a casual traveler.

Today it hit me.  No matter how hard we strive towards improving the cuisine, the establishment and ourselves we just cannot reach our audience here.  We may have boosters that pop in to take a peek at the show, they may even try to spread the word to others, but without an actual audience the show does not go on.  Just being open does not mean that you’re in business.

Where does that leave me today?  A little upset, because now I can no longer claim ignorance.  It’s much easier to ignore the facts that we don’t want to face.  Yet, with knowledge I can make changes.  I can take steps to improve the situation and to find our audience.

Eat Your Oatmeal

As the days stay short and the weather turns from unseasonably warm to mid-winter cold I am in constant search for something to fuel my internal fire.  It was cold this morning.  Cold enough to make me think of hot cereal and grits.  This morning, Aki made a base of oatmeal with two different cuts in order to make a distinctive texture.  She used a touch of skim milk, some water and a pinch of salt and let the oatmeal simmer and come together on a low heat.  I was then faced with the task of figuring out how the heck we were going to integrate the oatmeal into several dishes.  The first dish we made involved black truffle puree, Mil Ovejas cheese, truffle oil and a scattering of herbs.  If we had fresh truffles on hand I most likely would have shaved them over the top, but the dish is delicious as is.  The second dish we assembled involved our five hour ribs.  In order to compliment the broiled ribs we made chorizo oatmeal with a drop of walnut oil.  We charred some fresh gooseberries for acidity and bitterness and capped the dish with savory leaves and goat cheese milk.  This dish definitely takes the cold out of your bones.  The final dish we assembled began with the oatmeal to which we added banana-tamarind puree.  From there, we looked towards the grass roots lamb as the central element for the dish.  We actually had three parts of the lamb, not something we normally do though it works well in this dish.  We have the griddled belly, the slow cooked loin and a slice of the lamb tenderloin.  To compliment the dish we added some kombu marinated rhubarb topped with smoked cashews.  Finally, a few leaves of sage spiked the dish.  It surely was a lot of fun working with oatmeal and scratching the surface of its possibilities.

Double Up

I have truly enjoyed working with lamb in recent weeks.  I guess that may be apparent in that we have integrated lamb into many of the menus we have assembled.  Yet, it has been important to me to share a great product with as many people as I can.  The lamb comes from a local producer, Grass Roots, who is insistent on quality.  The lamb is all finished on grass, and has a focused meaty flavor with the tang of great lamb.  Most recently, we doubled up on our preparation of lamb serving the slow cooked loin with the crispy braised belly.  We integrated some chanterelle mushrooms we preserved in an apricot vinaigrette which we enlivened with fresh dill.  Also, we added several drops of sweet and sour squash juice to parallel the flavors of apricots and chanterelles.  A generous spoonful of chorizo yogurt added garlic, paprika and a rich meatiness to the dish.  Finally, we added a dusting of dried cheddar cheese, an interesting salt replacement.

A Christmas Tradition

This Christmas Day we had what is becoming a Colorado tradition, bagels and lox shipped in from NYC.  Bagels and smoked salmon are a Sunday morning tradition where I come from.  Aunt Marie would pick up the fixings on her way home from church on Sunday morning and the rest of us would get everything ready.   There would be sliced tomatoes and onions, regular cream cheese, scallion cream cheese and occasionally vegetable cream cheese from the deli.  If there were extra guests at the table, and sometimes even when there weren’t, we added golden chubs, white fish salad, tuna salad, baked salmon or herring but the highlight was always thinly sliced smoked salmon and fresh assorted bagels and bialys.  There would be juices and fresh coffee and we would linger over breakfast, talking and eating and enjoying each other’s company.  After the meal we would share the New York Times, dissecting the classifieds and the articles, with a fire in the fireplace and a football game playing in the background.

Alex’s Christmas Day tradition was eggs benedict with his family.  He and his sister Meredith grew up with celebrating holidays with “Meltaways”, a special coffee cake from a bakery in Westchester.  Whenever he reminisces about holiday (Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving) breakfasts with his family these light buttery cakes with a streusel topping are at the forefront of his stories.  Growing up, on Christmas morning he would wake up at home in Bronxville with his family. They would open presents and have breakfast together before driving up to Longmeadow, MA to meet the rest of the clan for Christmas Dinner.  Christmas Eve was always spent with family friends so this early morning breakfast was a special moment for the four of them to celebrate together.  Breakfast was a communal affair, everyone had their tasks from setting the table to broiling the tomatoes, and then they all sat down to warm coffee cake and eggs benedict.

Here in Colorado we are developing our own traditions.  Frankly, bennie seemed like too much work for just the two of us.    Although we enjoy the indulgence, the amount of dishes it created was daunting.  Last year Aunt Marie sent us bagels, lox and cream cheese from New York City and a tradition was born.   This year we got the fixings from Russ and Daughters, assorted bagels, Scottish smoked salmon, gravlox, and pastrami cured salmon accompanied by fresh cream cheese and capers.  It was fabulous, chewy, flavorful bagels and some of the best smoked salmon we’ve had in a long time.  The fish was lightly smoked, perfectly seasoned and silky smooth.  Next time though, we won’t muck around with the combo pack, we’ll just get lots of plain smoked salmon.  Fish this good doesn’t need the extra seasonings.  A well toasted bagel with a schmear, sliced onion, tomato, a few scattered capers and as much salmon as you like (Alex likes a lot), is a little bit of heaven on Christmas morning.  The company at the table increases the pleasure exponentially and if you shop generously there will be enough to do it all again the next day.  Sorry there are no pictures, we were too busy eating and talking to reach for the camera, maybe next year.  Cheers!

Menu Thoughts

I collect menus.  Whenever I go out to eat I ask for a copy of the menu to take with me.  Some restaurants give a sheet of paper, others give the menu in its full form, backing and all.  While there are many different styles and presentations,  all these menus become special keepsakes.

There is something really inspiring about a well written menu.  It tells a story.  I have written previously about the inspiration and sparks of thought I get from reading other peoples menus, and as I sit here early Christmas morning, I am reflecting on the many menus we have assembled and the many more other chefs, culinary enthusiasts and families assemble for guests on a daily basis.  An important aspect about a menu is that for me it is an incredible memory of meals and everything that went into putting them together.  I remember successes, failures and the variety of thoughts which originated from a certain point in time, marked by the menu.

What I am getting at is if you have the opportunity to write a menu, do it.  Take the time to choose the words, organize your thoughts and let the ingredients shine.  Once the menu is written, use it as a guideline for your meal and more importantly a scratchpad for the dishes you are serving.  Fine tune your meal, print out a nice copy so guests can remember the good and the bad, and tuck away the working menu for a day when ideas just do not seem to flow.  On such a day you will be able to open a the folder of memories.  Take the time and become engrossed in the stains and smudges, notes and ideas that at the time you were to busy to execute.  It is amazing what a weathered menu contains.

Here is our giant lobster menu presented in several courses.

Lobster in Four Preparations

Broiled Lobster Body
tequila, butter,
sea salt

Lobster Knuckles
toasted sesame, soy sauce,
melted onions

Sauteed Lobster Claws
harissa-anchovy oil, artichoke and clam gratin,
meyer lemon dressing

Roasted Lobster Tail
braised watercress, jalapeno slices,
toasted curry leaf vinaigrette

Just a Schmear

I have been wanting to slather our prosciutto puree on a bagel or a hunk of grilled bread.  In thinking of schmearing this decadent spread we assembled a scallop dish with a generous dollop of the puree in the middle of a twice cooked scallop.  We accented these two base ingredients with a scallion relish, roasted petite french horn mushrooms and a mushroom vinaigrette.

Chocolate Torchon

I find a great amount of difficulty in slicing cakes, particularly rich dense almost fudge like chocolate cakes.  I used to have difficulty slicing foie gras torchon, that is until I began using a wire cheese slicer to do the work for me.  My difficulty in slicing these dense cakes is more a reflection of laziness.  I hate having to dip my knife in hot water, dry it, make as slice and repeat the process.  Also, in heating the knife in water, it causes the chocolate or foie gras to melt just a bit, and I do not like that result.  Because of my own frustrations with slicing, I opted to have the ingredients work for me.  We began with a dense chocolate butter cake.  (Its texture, funny enough, is like foie gras torchon.)  I then pressed the cake though a fine sieve in order to break down its structure.  Once the cake was fragmented, I pressed it back together and molded it in the style of foie gras torchon.  I let the cake set overnight, and am able to serve it this evening.  The key is that I can use my cheese slicer to make clean slices, without having to heat a knife or melt the chocolate.  We are serving the chocolate torchon with sandy pecans, anise hyssop, mango-rose tea puree and ground rose hips.

The Unseasonal Salad

Sometimes ingredients are great when they are not supposed to be.  For instance, who would openly admit to enjoying a tomato or a honeydew melon in December?  Tomatoes are best in mid-September, same with melons.  That is when they reach their peak.  I am all for seasonality, but what happens when a great melon and flavorful tomatoes come to market at other times?  I used to say, not for me.  Yet, isolation, experience and life have had a noticeable influence on our food.  If an ingredient is great use it, integrate it, make it shine, throw away the calendar.  Sure, my approach is a bit non compos mentis.  That of  course is why it works.

For the menu this evening we assembled a cheese course of Fourme d' Ambert with The Unseasonal Salad: salt cured baby tomatoes, melon confit, pickled grains of coconut, celery leaves and olive caramel.

Note to Recipe for Success

We added this note to the end of the hot ice cream recipe but since that doesn't bring it to the top of the site we're also posting it here:

**Okay, here's a note for all of the people that tried this recipe and said that the ice cream was too firm and dumpling like.  When you serve cold ice cream you need to pull it out a bit in advance to temper it's texture and temperature.  Straight from the freezer ice cream tends to be extremely hard and difficult to scoop and eat.  It's the same with the hot ice cream, you want to make the scoops and then let them rest for a couple of minutes to cool and begin to melt.  As the ice cream tempers, the texture softens and becomes silky and melting, just like it's cold counterpart.

Hope that helps!

Salt Cod Even I Can Eat

Salt cod is not for everyone.  Aki truly enjoys salt cod.  For me, I have yet to be converted.  I guess that is why I work with salt cod on and off again, searching for an approachable medium in which I will enjoy it.  Today we made a hot crème caramel with salt cod and white beans, an olive caramel, a ragout of crabmeat, and a wetting of olive oil.  I can eat salt like this any day.  The beans carry the flavor of the salt cod in a creamy medium.  The sweet and salty salinity of the olive caramel rounds the flavors and the crabmeat adds another element of the sea.  The olive oil adds some spice and the savory and chives add refreshing green notes to the dish.

Back in the Sac Again

What if roe came in individual skeins already cured? Well, for one thing, it would put a damper on Steve Stallard’s hard work.  Thankfully the roe does not come cured.  Steve is able to impart a variety of distinct flavor profiles to different roes based on his trained palate.  We decided to have some fun and put the roe into skeins on our own.  We used our green tea agave broth to float the roe.  A pinch of seaweed sauerkraut adds acidity and a bit more of the sea.  The roe inside is cured with sake and a final drizzle of olive oil and a few celery leaves finish the dish.  I must note that the spark for making these particular flavored skeins came from Sean Brock at the Hermitage Hotel.  He serves an orb of sweet tea as a one bite canapé.

MENU FOR HOPE ENDING SOON

Just a reminder that the Menu for Hope Fundraiser ends December 24,  2005 at 12am PST.  For anyone who hasn't seen it yet  the prize list is here.   It's not often that you can win something just for helping others so please give a little something back this holiday season.  It will feel good even if you don't win.

Melon Katsudon

I started the day frying melon and it was good.  I was then drawn to other Japanese preparations of fried ingredients.  Initially, I planned on making melon tonkatsu, which is really just tempura melon confit served with our variation on a ketchup based sauced used for fried Japanese pork loin.  (Yes that is a bit wordy, but heck it's my train of ideas.)  As I thought of the tempura melon, I became inspired by another traditional dish which features tonkatsu but also includes rice, an egg, and scallions.  The dish is katsudon and while traditionally made with pork I figured our extrapolation of ingredients would work well.  So, we steamed some brown rice which I seasoned with truffle puree and truffle oil.  We made a hot spring egg to sit in the truffled rice nest.  I made a  scallion and jalapeno relish to adorn the dish and finally I fried a large fillet of melon confit.  The final additions to the dish included shiso leaves and a sauce made with ginger ketchup, ponzu sauce and sesame oil.  While I am not a big fan of frying foods, (rather cleaning up the mess) I foresee several dishes incorporating tempura melon in our evolving repertoire.

Melon Tempura

I woke up and needed something fried.  I knew dumplings were out because of our locale and the time commitment needed to make them from scratch--which I have done in times of true desperation.  Instead, I started thinking about tempura.  Tempura is light, crispy and can be decadent as well.  Now the question was what to fry.  I reached straight for our melon confit, a new staple ingredient in the kitchen.  I made a batter with cake flour, an egg and soda water.  I dusted sections of the melon in cornstarch and then dipped them in the coarse tempura batter I assembled.  Once the melon was I coated I started frying.  While the melon fried, I pulled out some chorizo-yogurt and sake cured steel head trout roe to garnish the fried sections.  A few sprouts of cumin finished off the dish.  The crispy tempura batter provided an incredible contrast to the firm yet melting melon confit.  The chorizo yogurt added meatiness, acidity and spice.  The roe was a decadent addition which actually added more variety to individual bites than I first anticipated.  The cumin added a nutty buttery taste and aroma.  The dish was a success, yet as I pondered the tastes and textures I thought about serving a larger section of the melon confit.  Coming soon, melon tonkatsu.

Hot Ice Cream Soda

I guess a hot ice cream soda was only inevitable as we work through  permutations with our most recent culinary breakthrough.  Today I was in the mood for comfortable.  I rarely drink ice cream sodas, but when I do they always manage to put a smile on my face.  I remember making root beer floats as a kid with the not quite cold enough soda foaming from the addition of ice cold ice cream to a tall glass, occasionally frosted but only when the concoction was planned out.

In thinking through thoughts and playing with ingredients I assembled a maple syrup cola.  Truth be told, maple syrup cola is not that difficult, though it is quite tasty.  With the maple cola in hand, I reached for our hot vanilla ice cream and started cooking.  When the ice cream was made, I poured some cola into a glass, added a scoop and topped it with more cola.  What really made me smile was that the cold cola foamed around the hot ice cream.  In drinking my afternoon refreshment, I slurped the cola around the ice cream which caused it to melt and resulted in the warm ice cream mixing with the cold soda.  In the words of Napoleon Dynamite "Sweet."

Distinct Sips

Green tea and sake seem to go hand in hand, or at least they are close partners in food.  When eating I am eating Japanese food I usually transition between green tea and sake before and after the meal.  I will start with a cup of green tea to warm the bones on chilling evenings and then look quickly towards a refreshing glass of sake.  Similarly, as an evening of consuming mass quantities of Japanese food begins to wind down, I switch from the sake to the tea again, somehow looking to tell my palate and stomach that I have eaten quite enough.  Today we revisited our approach to floating roe, yet we were working with a sake cured steel head trout roe and decided to float it in a green tea broth sweetened slightly with agave nectar.  In looking at new means to present the floating roe we layered it and the green tea broth in sections of cucumber which were divided by planks of melon confit.  The final elements of the dish were accents to the roe, the tea and the cucumber and melon sections.  We added a few pomelo cells for acidity and then some sections of gooseberry for floral sweetness.  A few leaves of celery added an herbal bitterness to the dish and a drizzle of Armando Manni's olive oil added a touch of spice and richness. 

While I was typing the first portion of this post, I began to think.  I was being cute with the presentation of the dish rather than taking advantage of the ingredients and the roles each one can play together.  So, I reworked the dish, still using the base ingredients and we now have a dish that is quite spectacular.  The components are presented in the bottom of a glass.  The chilled tea broth is then poured over the ingredients which happily float in the broth, waiting to be consumed in several distinct sips.

Giving Thanks

This time of year is so strange for us in Colorado.  It’s the beginning of the slow season at Keyah Grande.  Once the flurry of the holidays dies down it will be quiet.  Wolf Creek is not really close enough for us to attract the serious skiers who don’t want to spend this much money to stay an hour away from the slopes.  In any case although the cold as been fierce, the snows have not yet arrived in our little corner of the world.  It’s actually a major issue for the hotels in town.  Thanksgiving weekend was a bust due to lack of snow.  People were canceling their reservations left and right.  If the New Year arrives without significant snow on the mountain the local businesses will be in dire straits for the winter season.  It’s easy to forget what a large part Mother Nature plays in all of our lives, especially when you live in an area that is relatively sheltered from natural disasters.  But, as the lack of snow illustrates for many locals, disasters don’t have to be large to have an impact.

Globalization has somewhat sheltered us and separated us from nature.  If a locale has a bad growing season, someone somewhere else had a good one.  It will cost a bit more but we can easily import the food that we need to survive.  Because of our insulation we tend to look out at nature as something apart from ourselves.  Moving out into the country has helped me gain a sense of perspective that I never had living in a city.  When it rains, depending upon the time of year, I think of mud or flooding or green shoots blanketing the meadows and forest or filling reservoirs or saturating the land to protect from wildfires.  I don’t think about umbrellas or boots or how the weather will affect my hair and my outfit or wet seats on the subways or puddles splashing as cars go by.  I don’t have street gutters and sidewalks. I live out along a dirt road which in torrential rains first becomes slick and then as the water soaks in it soft and thick leaving tread marks gouged out of it’s surface which dry into an rutted obstacle course of mythic proportions.

So, what does this have to do with food?  I was mulling over the concept of distance today.  We go out of our way to procure the finest ingredients that we can.  It’s a never-ending search because there are people all over this country and the rest of the world doing amazing things with food.  We’ve developed good relationships with the people who we deal with but there are so many others who we haven’t discovered yet.  The thing of it is that they make what we do fun.  Their passions and enthusiasms create the products that inspire us.  But we don’t think of them personally as often as we should.  The same goes for our guests, the people who dine with us and the people who read this blog.  You are a huge source of our inspiration and one of the main reasons why we enjoy what we do.  So thank you, to all of you, because the inspiration that you provide us with is the spark that allows us to keep creating in the kitchen.  Our jobs would much harder without you.

Pickled Grains of Coconut

When stupid rains it pours.  We were introduced to coconut vinegar several months ago by a reader who asked what it was and had we used it.  Well our answers were no and no.  Yet, the query sparked our quest to attain and coconut vinegar and integrate it into our food.  Since coconut vinegar arrived on our door step it has been used in many forms like pickling chufa nuts to a pan sauce for roast chicken.  In all our culinary extrapolations with coconut vinegar in never dawned on me to pickle coconut; that is until this morning.  I made a syrup with rice vinegar, salt and isomalt and poured it over dried coconut flakes.  When the syrup was absorbed, I placed the pickled coconut into the oven to dry for awhile.  The drying took longer than I anticipated, because I had the oven quite low in order to avoid any coloring of the coconut.  When the coconut was dry, I let it chill and ground it further to a uniform grain size.  Today we used the pickled coconut to accent lamb rib-eye with date-miso, sprouted cumin and cilantro.  I am quite pleased with the resulting pickled grains of coconut, I just wish it would not have taken me so long to think of it.

Mushroom Ravioli

This morning as I drove to work I had a craving for ravioli.  Pasta has always been a comfort food for me.  As a child, when we dined out at Japanese restaurants I always had the Nabeyaki Udon.  There were no deviations from the routine until I was in my teens.  I might  have tasted things from other people's plates but in my childhood mind udon was the sole reason for eating Japanese.  Italian takeout on Friday nights was another favorite, especially during Lent when Auntie was avoiding meat.  I tended to order baked ziti, which arrived at the house molten with cheese and a fabulous crispy chewy exterior.  The pasta was just a vehicle for the cheese, most evenings only the top layer of my pasta disappeared leaving the naked noodles behind in their round aluminum container.   After gymnastics practice in high school we'd hit the deli on the way to the subway for hot macaroni and cheese or beef and macaroni in styrofoam cups.  Neither were foods that I ate at home and the pastas were surprising soft and flabby against my tongue from long hours in a steam tray.  But it was the perfect meal for starving teenage girls who had spent the afternoon working out  and who still had a long ride ahead to get home for dinner.  We usually finished it all before we covered the half a block to the subway station. Every Christmas Eve for as long as Aunt Lucy and Uncle Alex were alive the first course to the seafood extravaganza was always angel hair with bacala, pine nuts, garlic and oil.  It was a  slippery, chewy, crunchy dish that was never seen at any other time of the year.  A family friend in Little Italy would invite us over for antipasto followed by rigatoni with gravy every year during the St. Anthony festival.  Her mother always made enough for us to take a full meal home and the taste of that meal is tied up in my mind with the pleasure of street festivals and the warmth of that neighborhood on the edge of Soho.

So, ravioli were on my mind.  I wanted to try and make a savory pasta dough with enough flavor to stand on it's own and then fill it with something creamy and delicate.  When I got to work I gathered two and a half cups of flour and then reached for the mushroom powder which was roughly ground out from a variety of dried wild mushrooms.  I added a third of a cup of mushroom powder and a pinch each of onion and garlic powder to round out the flavor.  I needed a silky dough so once I blended the flour with the powders in the food processor I added a splash milk and a tablespoon of olive oil.  The local farmers who supply us with eggs have been loading us up with pullet eggs lately.  They are much smaller than the average eggs found in the refrigerator with a high yolk to white ratio.  My feeling was that a straight yolk dough would be too rich so I substituted six pullet eggs to a positive effect.  I processed the dough until it came apart into rough little pieces, sort of like spaetzle.  Then I turned it out of the food processor and finished kneading it by hand until was silky and barely damp.  Then I wrapped it up and set it aside to rest.

While the dough relaxed I made the filling with some fromage blanc, cream cheese, and freshly ground allspice.  We keep our allspice in small pepper mill and it finds it's way into a variety of dishes.   Then I added a few handfuls of grated Piave Vecchio cheese.   Piave is one of my very favorite cheeses, it has an evocative aroma and flavor of truffles and a sweet mellowness with complexity of a youthful Parmigiano.  I thought that it's would be a nice counterpoint to the mushroom pasta.  Lastly I added a few drops of white truffle oil, not enough to be acutely aware of it's presence but enough to bring my flavors together.

After the dough had rested for half an hour, we stuffed the ravioli and served them as the main course for lunch today.  We browned some butter and seared off some artichoke hearts and shiitake mushrooms, deglazed with balsamic vinegar and added the warm ravioli to the pan.  I added some pasta water to emulsify the sauce and scattered some chopped chives into the pan.  We finished the pasta on the plate with a variety of micro sage leaves and some grated Piave Vecchio.  The pasta was toothsome and earthy, the filling delicate and creamy, swimming delicately in the warm brown butter vinaigrette.  The herbs added their own pungency and green flavors while the artichoke hearts and shiitakes provided a contrast of textures and flavors to round out the dish.  We cooked up the extras for family meal in the kitchen and  now there is nothing left but the memory.  It's a good one.

Melon Confit

I was planning on making a raita out of honeydew melon.  I still might if I think about it again.  However, somewhere in the process, as I started cutting open the melon and the juices spilled over the cutting board, I changed directions and cut melon wedges which I proceeded to cook sous vide for thirty minutes at 53.5 degrees C.  The packaging and cooking of the melon caused some compression which in turn seemed to intensify the melons flavors and vibrant color.  We prepared to serve the melon with slow cooked lamb rib-eye with a chufa nut crust and pickled chufa nuts.  Yet, as we are working through dishes for this evenings menu we believe that the melon confit will tie into the menu with smoked keta roe and mango horseradish sauce.  The lamb dish is tasty and may see the light of day this weekend, but for now it waits.

Prosciutto Puree

My morning began with prosciutto puree.  What the heck is prosciutto puree?  In my world, it is the heel of the ham chopped and then pureed with whole milk yogurt.  The mixture is then pressed through a tammis to remove any coarse fibers.  The result is a silken puree intense with the flavor of prosciutto and balanced with the tang of yogurt. 

I have a list of uses and ideas for this new addition to our repertoire from simply being spread on toast to an accompaniment to roasted fish with coffee-fig relish.  Well, today I incorporated the puree into a dish of Key West pink shrimp marinated in maple vinegar, with tea poached shiitake mushrooms and its broth, sake infused pears, anise hyssop and winter savory.

Apple Latte

I start the day with a steaming cappuccino.  I call it a cappuccino though I guess it is really a latte with a fair amount of steamed milk on top as well.  After drinking my morning caffeinated beverage I drove to work in thinking about the pleasures of coffee.  The crisp chill in the air caused my mind to wander towards steamed cider as well.  And it was that simple, the apple latte was born.  I got into work a fashioned myself another bowl of cappuccino/latte and then began working on my vision of an apple based soup which mirrors the aesthetic of my coffee drink of choice.  I began by heating apple cider with wakame seaweed.  Once the cider reduced by about a third I added some cream and simmered the mixture to reduce the contents by another third.  As the cider soup cooked, I began working on the milk component.  I opted to make cheddar milk, which I would then whip and top the soup with.  When I strained the milk, I took the cheddar residue and dried it in the oven to make a cheddar cheese powder, which I could then sprinkle on the soup to pique the cheddar milk’s flavor.  Finally, I adorned the apple latte with a few celery leaves.  At the end of the day I took a few known flavors and was able to present them as a comforting beverage in the form of a soup.

Hoisin Spaetzle

I truly enjoy Peking duck.  My current latitude and longitude prevent me from picking up the phone of our favorite Chinese restaurant for delivery.  Thus, my desire for the comforts of home led to the development of hoisin spaetzle.  I was working on a dish that featured squab in the role of duck, yet in my haste I made mistakes, which prevented the execution of the dish.  With my mistakes made, I went to work on the dish with our duck ham.  I sautéed the hoisin spaetzle with scallions, and then folded in slow cooked cucumber.  Calamansi lime mustard fruit puree added spice and acidity to the dish.  Finally, young marjoram accents each individual bite.  I figured if I cannot eat Peking duck at least I could be inspired by it.

Beets

I wanted to make beet tonnato.  Why, I thought it would taste amazing.  Unfortunately, I have yet to wrap my mind about how to serve it so it sits on the shelf of unused ideas waiting to be called upon.  In the mean time the beets I have on hand sparked a new dish which combined the beets, cranberry-miso and sake cured steelhead trout roe.  What I was most pleased with was the bullets of beet which allow for a compact organization of flavors on the plate.  The trim from the beets will be put to use in one of several forms: incorporated with miso, infused in tequila, and as a warm borscht creme caramel. 

The Cucumber Palate

Cucumbers are a blank slate.  They are crisp and refreshing, can be roasted in butter or minced up with yogurt and garlic to be served on a vast condiment tray.  We have made cucumber noodles as well as candied cucumber pearls.  The cucumber is a an incredible canvas. 

Today, we worked to assemble a number of flavors which highlight the versatility of the cucumber.  We began the dish by poaching a peeled English cucumber for thirty minutes at 53.5 degrees C.  We then chilled the cucumber and sliced it into sections.  At this point I realized we were mirroring another aesthetically pleasing dish, Hearts of Palm in Five Sections by Grant Achatz and crew at Alinea.  The idea of using a set medium to accent a number of flavors is intriguing and as Aki bluntly and accurately noticed, it's cucumber sushi; many flavors and textures all presented in the medium of cucumber rather than rice.

So today, we paired tastes and flavors with cucumber.  The bites were as follows: date-miso, epazote, caper chip; mango-horseradish, sage, mallow root cracker; cranberry-fermented black bean, shiso, dried mustard; guacamole, cumin, cilantro, jalapeno; smoked cashew, celery leaves, smoked pickled grape.

A Menu for Hope

Everybody's blogging about the Menu For Hope Fundraiser.  We didn't know anything about it until the posts started appearing on some of our favorite blogs but it's a wonderful idea to raise money for the earthquake victims in the Kashmir region of India and Pakistan.  Until Tana commented on one of our posts we didn't realize that food bloggers could still donate a prize.   I'm still not entirely sure if the list is open or not but we'll give it a shot.  Our donation is set of organic Blis Maple syrup, consisting of two 750ml bottles, one bourbon barrel aged and one infused with Tahitian Vanilla bean.  It's a great cause so even if we don't make the list please donate something here.  It's always nice to give something back during the holidays, and any other time for that matter.

A Few Words About Ideas

I have recieved several emails and phone calls about an article in the New York Times Magazine section.  The magazine heading is labeled  "The Year in Ideas".  Go figure.  Anyhow, one article seemed to be most relevant to our open source approach to food, techniques, and ideas.  The article is Gastronomic Reversals.  It delves into a fair amount of the work we have openly shared here from Yogurt Noodles to Hot Ice Cream.  The article talks about the gastronomic successes and failures of our peers.  In fact, the article makes note about the difficulty of making Hot Ice Cream, and how it does not currently exist...well except that we openly serve it in our restaurant and published the recipe on our website.

I want to thank everyone who has brought the article to our attention and patted us on the back for openly sharing ideas.  I have said it before and want to say it again, ideas are free.  But it sure is nice to get a pat on the back for a job well done.  Well, I must then return the favor to our readers and those who dine with us, for it is your feedback which inspires and motivates us.  Thank you.

In continuing to share ideas, we have another hot ice cream dish.  This one ties together many ideas, from a broth made from burnt caramel, to carbonated pineapple made much easier thanks to a reader who suggested carbonating fruit in a whip cream canister with CO2 charge.  Finally, the dish is topped with several scoops of hot vanilla ice cream.

MAPLE MENU EXTENDED DEADLINE

Well, today is the day we were planning on starting announcing the winners for the Maple Syrup Giveaway.  With the chaos of the Holidays upon us we would like to extend the contest to the end of the year, that is December 31, 2005.  We will publish the entire menu with winners on New Year's Day and send out the maple syrup that first week of January.  Again, the best submission in each category of the menu will receive a bottle of Blis maple syrup with the largest bottle going to best in show.  We have been getting plenty of submissions for an amuse and dessert courses but we are a bit light on the body of the menu.  As your creative juices flow over the next few weeks, write down your and e-mail or post in the comments your ideas for dishes or entire menus for our Maple Syrup Giveaway.  We would like to thank everyone who has already submitted their entries, there have been some great ones!  We apologize for the delay but please take advantage of the extra time to add more ideas to the pot and help us create an incredible maple menu.  Open source cooking is the way to go.

Slow Down and Think

Today I spent a fair amount of time working on new dishes.  One problem that arises when I am working on new things is that I have a tendency to want to reach the finish line quickly.  While racing for the finish  line I was able to assemble some interesting components while messing up a bunch more.  Today, I was working on a squab dish which weaves together the flavors of Peking Duck while still focusing on the squab.  Unfortunately, I did not focus on the squab and rushed the dish.  My squab packet exploded.  However, we were able to execute hoisin spaetzle, a recipe concept which has been bouncing about my notebooks for some time.

Another dish I was working on involved the top nugget of meat encased in fat on the top of a rib-eye.  I always enjoy this morsel of meat when we cook up a steak for two so I wanted to figure out a means of just serving it as a part of a dish.  Once again I was in a hurry to see how the individual piece of meat would cook up and did not examine it or clean it up enough to be able to serve it.  Sure, I ended up eating the meat, but that was not the point of my efforts. 

Finally, after several failures I slowed down.  I began by juicing horseradish for a mango-dried mango and horseradish condiment.  The resulting horseradish debris inspired our final dish.  I dried the horseradish pulp and then blended it with Stilton.  I was able to roll it out thin and then cut it into planks which I can use as a crust.  Meanwhile, Aki made some melted leeks which just called for the horseradish-Stilton crust.  We paired the melted leek gratin with slow cooked lamb and used our date-miso to unite the two key elements in the dish.  Finally, we adorned the lamb with some mustard seeds pickled in yuzu juice for some sour, crunchy heat to accent individual bites.

It sometimes takes several failures to remind me that it is alright to slow down and think.

The Medium of Chocolate

Aki put together a simple cake the other day; simple in that it is all made in the food processor.  The ingredients were chocolate, chocolate and yes chocolate.  There were a few other ingredients like sour cream, but for the most part this is a chocolate cake.  Once the cake is baked, note it is baked in a plastic wrap lined loaf pan; it is punctured and drizzled with a chocolate syrup.  And that is the key.  What if we used coffee instead of chocolate?  A different cake is made.  Now, start playing with syrups: peppermint liquor, Grand Marnier, Frangelico, Kirsch, Dark Rum or Earl Grey tea.  One cake now is the decadent medium for intense and festive flavors.  Simple sure can be complex.

I’ve been sitting on this post for a little while.  Alex originally sent it to me so that I could add the recipe and publish it but instead I’ve been thinking about chocolate cakes and the different times that I reach for one.  Chocolate cake is one of those idealized desserts that appear in a million different forms from the very elegant to the completely homey.  Laurie Colwin wrote an essay about the search for the perfect chocolate cake and one of the criteria was that it be easy.  I agree completely with that concept, anything meant to be comforting should be easy.  It may be stereotypical but I most often reach for chocolate in times of stress.  If I’m at home making a chocolate cake, chances are there is something serious on my mind.

It is perhaps not surprising how often our menus are dictated by our own needs and wants.  We are simply lucky in that most of our guests respond to our menus and that speak to something inside them as well.  Many of the tastes and flavors that we enjoy are universal and we are lucky to be able to present them in ways that our diners enjoy.  This is not to say that we don’t take our guests tastes into mind when we create our menus, we simply meld their preferences into the forms that work for us at that particular moment.  Chocolate is a popular ingredient with our diners.  They tend to look for something irresistible that they cannot imagine making at home.  Mind you, I don’t necessarily mean fancy; I mean fabulous, whimsical, decadent, unusual, and occasionally elegant chocolate indulgences.  Different occasions call for different types of chocolate.  Today I’m going to post a recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson’s book Feast. It is rich, decadent and simple.  The very fact of it’s being a loaf cake makes it casual and yet the moist rich flavors make it one of the most comforting cakes that I have ever tasted.  It is amazing at slightly warm, eaten alone in the kitchen with no one to see you licking the crumbs from your fingers.  In this case the ends are the very best pieces as they have the highest syrup to cake ratio and an incredible sticky goodness as a result.  The types of chocolate, butter and cocoa make a huge difference in this cake, we used coarsely chopped bittersweet Scharffenberger chocolate, Strauss organic butter, and Vahlrona cocoa, you can substitute chocolate chips as the original recipe calls for but the larger irregular chunks melting against your tongue are far more satisfying than any small chip ever could be.

Chocolate Loaf Cake

1 2/3 cups AP flour
1/2t baking soda
1/2c cocoa
1 1/3 cups sugar
6 oz soft, sweet butter
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/3cup sour cream (room temperature)
1/2 cup boiling water
8 oz coarsely chopped chocolate

Syrup
1t cocoa
1/2cup strong coffee
1/2cup sugar
1 oz bittersweet chocolate

325°F oven

Completely line a 2# loaf pan with plastic wrap, pressing the excess along the outside of the pan.

Flour, soda, cocoa, sugar in food processor.  Pulse to blend.  Add butter, eggs, sour cream and blend to a smooth batter.  Scrape down bowl with a rubber spatula and turn on machine.  With machine running, pour in hot water.  Turn off machine and clean the sides of the bowl with spatula.  Stir in chocolate and pour into pan.  Bake for 60-75 minutes until the cake feels firm and the toothpick comes out damp with just a few crumbs.

While the cake is in the oven boil syrup ingredients together for five minutes until thick and the texture of maple syrup.  Keep warm until the cake comes out of the oven.  Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven poke the top surface all over with a skewer, being carefully not to go through the bottom.  Spoon the warm syrup all over the cake, keeping it within the confines of the plastic wrap.  Let cool in the pan for at least 45 minutes at room temperature, the cake will absorb most of the syrup.  Using the plastic wrap gently lift the cake out of the pan onto a plate.  Gently cut away the plastic wrap, slice, and serve.

Time is Running Out

I just wanted to remind everyone that there are just three days left to enter recipes for the Maple Syrup Giveaway.  The actual rules and stipulations are all addressed in the initial piece about giving away maple syrup.  Good luck and keep those ideas flowing.

A Recipe For Success

Today proved to be pretty exciting.  I tried something different with our hot ice cream.  First, I made a straightforward ice cream flavor, Vanilla.  Next, I served it with basic flavors: banana (albeit smoked), chocolate sauce (ok, I flavored it with juniper), and candy canes (made into a cracker and infused with Szechuan pepper).  But, when I served the sundae I did not say, “Here is hot ice cream.”  Rather I just served the dish.  And when the diner was halfway through I asked what he thought.  The response was “absolutely delicious.”  I asked if they noticed anything about the sundae.  “It is awesome.”  Well, I then let the cat out of the bag and mentioned that perhaps the ice cream could be colder.  The response was a quick bite and then “it’s hot, the ice cream is hot.  How the?”  Exactly our point.  And now the recipe:

Hot Vanilla Ice Cream

306 g whole milk yogurt
230 g cream cheese
80 g agave nectar
154 g water
1 Bourbon vanilla bean scraped
pinch of sea salt
11.55g Methocel food gum SGA150

In a blender puree together the yogurt, cream cheese, agave nectar, the insides of the vanilla bean and the salt.  Blend just until the mixture comes together as a smooth puree, but do not aerate.  Meanwhile, heat the water up to a boil.  As soon as the water boils remove from the heat and whisk in the Methocel.  Once the Methocel is dispersed, add it to the blender and puree the contents until the mixture is homogenized, again avoid aeration.

Once the mixture is combined, pour it into a bowl over an ice bath to chill.  Let the ice-cold mixture rest for at least an hour, preferably overnight before poaching the ice cream.

When ready to make the ice cream, heat a pot of water to a boil.  When the water boils, shut off the heat and scoop the ice cream base.  As you scoop, wipe the edges of the ice cream scoop, and then immerse the scoop and its contents into the hot water.  You will see the ice cream set, and then dislodge it from the scoop.  The ice cream should poach for about one minute for small scoops and longer for larger scoops.  (Depending on how much ice cream you are poaching you may have to turn the heat back on to keep the water hot.)

Once the ice cream is set, remove the scoops, drain briefly on a paper towel and place into serving dishes with whatever garnishes you want.  As the mixture chills the ice cream will “melt” in your dish, blending with the garnishes like and actual cold ice cream sundae.

**Okay, here's a note for all of the people that tried this recipe and said that the ice cream was too firm and dumpling like.  When you serve cold ice cream you need to pull it out a bit in advance to temper it's texture and temperature.  Straight from the freezer ice cream tends to be extremely hard and difficult to scoop and eat.  It's the same with the hot ice cream, you want to make the scoops and then let them rest for a couple of minutes to cool and begin to melt.  As the ice cream tempers, the texture softens and becomes silky and melting, just like it's cold counterpart.

Truffle Margarita

In keeping with the holiday spirit we put together a decadent and celebratory cocktail, the Truffle Margarita.  Actually, any good margarita is a reason to celebrate.  Our cocktail is a blend of Corazon tequila which we marinated with a touch of maple syrup and summer truffles for several months.  The tequila has taken on the earthy flavor of the truffle and similarly the truffle is now spiked with tequila.  We sliced the truffle and float it in the cocktail proper, while the drink is a blend of yuzu and lime juice, honey and the truffle spiked tequila.  We use black salt from Hawaii to garnish the glass for those who like a salted rim.  Enjoy the holidays!

Crab Salad Surprise

I had several ingredients I was working with today: banana, pomelo, and arame-a dried seaweed.  I also had the smoker fired up for our horseradish cranberry sauce, which called for a gentle smoking.  While the smoker was going I started taking apart the pomelo.  The segments of pomelo easily fell apart into individual cells, so I helped the cause and flaked the entire fruit.  Since the smoker was already on I opted to put the citrus cells into the smoker for a light smoke. The bananas were set aside and left to marinade in a banana caramel we had on hand. 

Meanwhile, I have wanted to make seaweed sauerkraut for a while and was able to execute that idea today.  I simply poured sauerkraut juice over the dried arame and let it hydrate.  Seaweed sauerkraut is really tasty and a fun garnish or the bases for a dish like seafood choucroute garni.  Similarly, in recent days we have been working with chorizo-yogurt as both a sauce and a dressing.

When the pomelo cells came out of the smoker I noticed they resembled flaked crabmeat.  And thus our dish was born.  I used the chorizo-yogurt as a dressing for the smoked pomelo cells.  A pinch of seaweed sauerkraut added flavors of the sea and cutting acidity.  The marinated banana added a rich sweetness.  We also incorporated our date-espresso-mustard for some sweet heat in the dish.  Finally, celery leaves and seasoning added refreshing herbal notes to the finished product.  No, it is not crab salad, but it could be.

Butter Rum Cashew Pie

Growing up I firmly believed that I was not a nut person.  I hated them in cookies, thought they ruined brownies and would pick them out of whatever dish I came across them in.  Strangely though I loved to eat nuts by themselves.  Dry roasted peanuts found in little bags on airplane trips and pistachios in lurid shades of red would occupy me for hours. The nut dish at my relatives’ homes during the holidays would provide endless entertainment as I excavated my hidden treasures.  I never really liked walnuts or pecans as a child.  Although I have grown to appreciate their qualities as a chef, you will never find me snacking on a handful of either.  Cashews on the other hand have always been a favorite.  Probably their scarcity added to the allure.  They were always handed out sparingly to the youngsters because they were considered expensive.  Okay, as an adult I know they're expensive, but that doesn’t make me love them less.  In the grand scheme of things they are an inexpensive luxury, especially when compared to things like fine wines, lobster, caviar, and truffles.

Driving to work this morning I was thinking about the leftover piecrust in the fridge.  I hadn’t frozen it so there was a need to bake a pie today.  Something about the cold clear air and the way the sunlight bounced off of the trees, I have no idea what exactly, brought to mind the flavor of cashews.  Our walnut pie has been a fairly popular recipe and it occurred to me, more than once that a cashew pie was needed.  I pondered this as I drove to work, finally deciding that a butterscotch flavor would be the perfect foil for the sweet, mellow nuttiness of my cashews.

Once the piecrust was in the oven I set about putting together a filling.  I decided to use Lyle’s Golden Syrup and organic light brown sugar as a base.  I melted them together in a saucepan to a rich golden brown caramel that simply cried out for butter.  Never one to ignore an impulse I chopped up a couple of ounces of cold sweet butter and swirled them in.  The smell rising up from the pan brought me back to my childhood and the neighborhood candy store.

It’s funny how as children we cycled through phases of candy eating.  I remember the times when those wax bottles filled with sweet liquid were popular.  I also recall one summer when nothing but Bottlecaps would satisfy my sweet tooth, I was partial to the root beer ones.  There were weeks of Bubble Yum and Hubba Bubba until the blowing techniques were fully mastered.  One day I discovered those tiny chocolates found at the register for a nickel, Ice Cubes, which somehow managed to convey an actual feeling of coolness as the chocolaty richness melted against my tongue.  Charleston Chews were consumed in the springtime and Mary Janes kept my cheek muscles occupied in the winter.  Then there was the hullabaloo when gummies hit.  First there were the bears quickly followed by Swedish fish, worms and coke bottles with a vaguely soda-like flavor.  It was always important to be the first one in school with a newly discovered sweet although they came and went with startling speed.  The list of sweets and chocolates seems endless, but this morning, the candy that came to mind was a classic, butter rum flavored LifeSavers.

LifeSavers were perfect for snacking on during school hours because they were small enough to be secreted inside your cheek.  I could sit there for hours daydreaming, I mean listening to the teachers, while the warm syrupy sweetness slowly ran down the back of my throat.  They were especially consoling on the days when I didn’t have a book to read in my lap, or I finished the one I had brought before lunchtime.  The idea of the rum flavor made them slightly illicit and thus more pleasurable and the butterscotch essence was something rarely tasted at home.  My aunt was an aficionado of English toffee but as a child they were off limits, forbidden fruit.  Butter rum LifeSavers were my own brand of toffee, one that I could have access to every day.

So, my decision was made.  As the caramel cooled I stirred in my eggs and splashed in some rum.  I folded in the cashews and a bit of cream and the butter rum pie was born.  A dollop of fresh cream is all the adornment needed although some sweet cream ice cream would not be amiss either.  Ironically I probably wont eat any of it, for me the pleasure is in the creating, I still don’t like nuts in my baked goods.  But Alex and the others will enjoy it.  As the warm smells fill the kitchen I will enjoy the stroll down memory lane, where only good things happen and sweet things are always within reach.

Butter Rum Cashew Pie

1 8” pie crust, blind baked for 20 minutes at 400°F (remove weights for the last five minutes of baking, if it bubbles, pierce gently with a toothpick and press down.)

1/2 cups Lyle’s Golden Syrup
1/2 cup golden brown sugar
2 oz unsalted butter
4 eggs (room temperature)
1/4-teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4-cup heavy cream
21/2 cups raw cashews
2 tablespoons Mt. Gay Rum

Preheat oven to 325ºF

While the crust is in the oven, place the cashews in a large heatproof bowl and set aside.  Heat syrup and sugar together until the sugar dissolves.  Cut up the butter and swirl into the syrup.  Add salt and let cool for 15 minutes.  Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each fully before adding the next.  Add rum to   caramel mixture.  Strain over the cashews and add the cream.  Fold together to thoroughly coat the nuts and spoon the filling into the piecrust.  Place in the oven and turn the temperature down to 325ºF.  Bake 40-55 minutes until golden brown and wobbly yet firm in the center.  Cover loosely with foil if the crust or nutts appear to be getting too dark.

Szechuan Peppermint

We have already begun celebrating the holiday's out west.  Actually, our guests have, we just supply wonderful fun holiday accommodations.  In keeping with the holiday mentality we made szechuan peppermint candy today.  We paired the spicy, sweet and salty cracker with roasted foie gras, Buddha's hand puree, warm yogurt and water pepper leaves.  To make the szechuan peppermint we ground candy canes with toasted szechuan pepper corns, salt and an egg white.  We dried the base out until it was still just malleable and shaped them into handkerchief forms.

Still Scooping

Today is our one-year mark of Ideas in Food.  It seems only appropriate that we continue to improvise and experiment in the kitchen.  After our initial success with hot ice cream I became a bit concerned that perhaps I had created an anomaly.  Well, I had in the sense that it is hot ice cream, not that hot ice cream is a one-time occurrence.  Today we made sour cream hot ice cream flavored with dried mango and rose tea.  We serve it with warm apple chutney, miso caramel sauce and date flakes.  It is good to be wrong, at least sometimes.

From Stupid to Spectacular

This afternoon I just wanted to share a couple of new flavors and condiments we have been working with.  The first is a date puree flavored with espresso and Dijon mustard.  We recently paired this accompaniment with Fougerus, a Camembert style cheese.  Since we were working with the date puree, we also blended some with dark miso to make date miso.  We have not integrated the date miso into our dishes yet.  It lies in wait.  We have also added a miso caramel sauce to our larder.  The sauce is a blend of near burnt caramel with a miso and vanilla bean infused cream.  I have a couple of dishes I am working on with the miso caramel, though currently they are failures in progress.

Along the same principle as our cranberry-miso, featured most recently with our Ham and an Egg dish, is cranberry-horseradish enriched with fermented black beans.  This new kitchen staple adds to our larder though its uses have not been assigned.  Another mixed flavor combination is dried fermented black beans coarsely ground with cocoa nibs and black pepper.  This crunchy condiment is theory based since I am currently out of dried black beans. 

Smoked cheddar cheese in no newcomer to the world of food, yet I felt it deserves a bit of a boost in that it will be used in our apple-aligote; actually apple sauce blended with smoked cheddar.

Enjoy the day as I continue to reflect on the fact that stupid eventually leads to spectacular.

Break What Works so You Have Something to Fix

It is rarely that I come across something so inanely stupid that it overflows from my stupid box and onto these pages.  We have all heard the adage “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.”  Sure, that makes all the sense in the world.  Today I have become consciously aware of a new approach to dining.  It is based on the principle “break what works so you can have something to fix and put your own signature on it.”  Now that is pretty stupid, but now, upon reflection, I can say that I have seen it in a number of great establishments.  When a roadblock turns up people look at what has worked and what has gotten acclaim and then mess with it.  I mean royally flip flop, dumb down, and go for the mass market that would never come through the doors anyway. 

Now, why break what works?  The theory is that those who made it work in the first place will be able to do it again.  Whereas, fixing the things that actually do not work will take efforts, ideas and compensation beyond the reaches of the organization messing with the already successful.

Have I made a point?  Yes, be afraid of lack of vision.  It reminds me of a saucier I once saw intentionally break hollandaise sauce, just so he could be a hero when he fixed it.  The entire exercise was a waste of time, unnecessary and at the end of the day plain old stupid.  Why would anyone want to break something just so they could take credit for fixing it?  I have no idea, but it happens every day, especially in my world.

Hot Ice Cream

Throughout our culinary explorations we have created both dishes devised with a specific purpose and dishes whose purpose devised them.  Today, after working with a number of ingredients and cataloging their attributes we worked out a culinary oxymoron—Hot Ice Cream.  What is hot ice cream?  Well, what is ice cream?  Ice cream is a creamy decadent frozen concoction, which has a toothsome bite, chills the palate and melts decadently on the tongue.  Simple enough now to turn it around and make it hot.  And that is what happened today.  We were working with our cauliflower puree and introduced methylcellulose to it.  We were able to poach the savory concoction in scoops.  The scoops are removed from the water and are placed in a dish.  As the cauliflower cools it remains hot though it begins to melt, retaining an initial bite which then melts warm and decadently on the tongue.  We served our savory hot ice cream with wet olives, pickled chufa nuts, epazote and mustard chips.  Our next evolution with this approach will be a hot banana split, we may as well play with the traditional concepts.

Broccoli Soups

In a fine dining restaurant only the very choicest bits make it to the table.  Meats are ruthlessly trimmed, fish are scaled, gutted, boned and carved into submission and vegetables are trimmed down to their tender hearts, shaped into triangles or diamonds, tourned or brunoised into perfect little cubes.  Now although this makes sense in a restaurant where all of the fiddly bits can be utilized elsewhere, at the very least in a stock, it can create bad habits for when the professional chef is cooking at home.  Case in point, broccoli stems.  When Alex cooks he has this annoying tendency to chop them off and toss them into the garbage.  He considers them to be more trouble than they're worth when cooking at home.  I, on the other hand love broccoli stems.  I like them better than the florets for their texture and for their sweet crunchy flavor.  But unless I remember to place my order before he begins cooking, into the garbage they go.

Anyway, I needed a soup for a special dinner this past Friday.  Since Alex enjoyed the last broccoli soup so much, it didn’t really come as a surprise when he presented me with an armful of broccoli on Thursday morning.  I wanted to make something a little bit more refined for these particular guests and I had the fate of my broccoli stems in mind.  So, as always, I began by  separating the stems and florets.  This time I cleaned and blanched the stems first and pureed them with crème fraîche, a dash of smoke and fire and some of the blanching liquid.   It made a for a gorgeous, creamy, pale green puree with a delicate broccoli flavor.  Then I blanched the florets and pureed them with some of their blanching liquid, salt and Crystal Hot Sauce.  What I ended up with was a deep green puree with an intense broccoli flavor that still managed to be soft and light and the palate. 

For service last night we swirled the soups around a ragout of delicate, slippery cinnamon cap mushrooms and garnished it with grated chorizo.  This picture is straight from the dinner service, hence the Versace China, which is the bane of our existence.  Nothing can really compete with the amount design on that china and win, but imagine a beautifully shaped white bowl as the background.  The soup was smooth, creamy, earthy, chewy with the mushrooms and fragrantly spiced from the chorizo, not a bad dish for a stormy winter evening.

The leftovers?  Well, those will be swirled together and enriched with aged cheddar cheese to be consumed tomorrow afternoon, hopefully with the scent of a freshly cut pine tree wafting through the house and close football game on the television set.

Bespoke Food Definitely Needs Bespoke Music

Where to begin?  I will start with this, check out Pandora.  Why, because it is brilliant and it will give you a chance to customize music to your taste while you read and look through our website.  The premise is based on the basic structure of music, how songs are assembled, composed and more.  Music and food have been married through comparison over the years.  We figured why not pair the two on our website.  Our digital notebook now has your personal evolving and adaptive soundtrack.  Bespoke dining is now joined by bespoke music.  We will soon have a link on our side bar so that everyone reading can personalize their experience with us.  Enjoy, we are.

Reading, Writing and Cooking

Since the age of three I have been a reader.  Books have always been my favorite escape, a place where everything is as different from my world as black is from white and where a great story can make everything else in the world disappear.  Not surprisingly I tend to be a verbal thinker, I don’t see movies and images in my brain the way that Alex does.  I think in words using them to construct the images and textures in my imagination.  When it comes to books, I read everything.  I read biographies and romances, literature and science fiction, cookbooks and business writing, mysteries, thrillers and poetry, I will open up just about any genre as long as there is a great story or stories involved.  A poorly written book is a waste of my time.  It doesn’t take me anywhere or teach me anything.  If a book doesn’t engage me in the first few pages I’ll never open it again.  The only exception to that rule is a reference book.  Dry facts are somewhat forgivable although a wonderfully written tome is a thing of beauty.

Thinking about this today I realized that what makes a great book is also what makes a great meal.  It’s the concept, the flow, the characters and the attention to detail.  It’s the execution of every writer’s inspiration that makes for great writing.  In our world, every dish tells a story.  The ingredients, the prep work, the cooking techniques and the composition of a plate all come together to form a cohesive whole.  Every menu we write has a beginning, middle and an end.  If the components do not flow together to create something that is much more than the sum of its parts then we have failed in our execution.  In cooking as in writing, it is the attention to detail that makes all the difference.

We’ve been somewhat lax in posting our menus lately.  Here are two from last week to illustrate our ideas of a story in five courses.

                                                                                November 25, 2005

                                                                            Cornbread Crème Caramel
                                                                            maple vinegar, celery leaf,
                                                                                    smoked keta roe

                                                                                 Molasses Hamachi
                                                                          date-espresso, celery root,
                                                                                  young marjoram

                                                                                Glazed Lamb Belly
                                                                         rice beans, smoked tomato,
                                                                                  preserved yuzu

                                                                              Petite Comté Panini
                                                                           apple salad, celery leaf,
                                                                                manni olive oil

                                                                            Chocolate Decadence
                                                                         peppermint sweet cream

                                                                        November 26, 2005

                                                                            Mushroom Stew
                                                                chicken of the woods, shiitake,
                                                                             earl grey tea

                                                                                  Fluke
                                                banana-horseradish, sweet and sour squash juice,
                                                                           ground olives

                                                                            Monkfish Mosaic
                                                              grape-chipolte, morel mushrooms,
                                                                                tuscan kale

                                                                          Robiola di Capra
                                                marinated matsutake mushrooms, pear pickle,
                                                                                epazote

                                                                           Bananas Foster
                                                                     frozen chocolate cream

Ham and an Egg

A dish is not always planned, sometimes the parts just come together.  Today that happened.  I have been working on a false egg mirroring the aesthetic of the Arzak Egg.  Similarly, the cold weather has called for game, particularly duck.  Well, I was working on the egg and had some duck ham around and the dish just kind of fell into place.  The egg is made of cauliflower-cream cheese and carrot-yogurt, happily assisted in structure by methyl cellulose.   We served the egg on crumbled smoked potato chips with scallions marinated in olive oil.  The duck ham is simply roasted and sits atop our cranberry-miso accented with epazote leaves.  The dish is both tasty and a little playful.  When day is full of turmoil it's quite nice to know the food can fall into place.