IDEAS IN FOOD

Tequila, Corn and Pumpernickel

This is the dish we have been working on.  The ice cream is sweet corn and brown butter, inspired by the sweet corn ice cream I tasted during the Pacojet contest at the Star Chefs ICC.  The roe is flavored with tequila and habanero, and seasoned with fleur de sel.  We get this small production roe from Steve Stallard of blis caviar.  Actually, we are quite lucky since Steve made this batch for us and a few other chefs.  Finally, the crispy pumpernickel completes the dish.

After working on the elements of this dish I have come to a new place.  We need to develop and refine dishes so that they reach a level where we want to eat them everyday of the week.  Now that may seem completely normal or exceptionally absurd depending upon whom you ask.  Yet, at day's end we have created dishes which work for passing whims and fancies.  They are tasty and beautiful, although their appeal is fleeting. We are trying to create new classics that will draw people back again and again.

Where then does that leave us?  As always we will continue to work on and develop dishes and ideas.  Will they all hit the mark we are now reaching for?  Of course not, as this is really a diary of ideas, I believe we will be recording many more trials and errors in the search for new standards to add to our repertoire. It is the constant experimentation and stretching of boundaries that will define the process and keep things interesting.  We will no longer be satisfied with creating a fashionable bauble, timeless style is the goal, dishes that will be just as enticing six months or six years after their creation.

Ocean Beach

It's the last Saturday in September and the weather is amazing. We've escaped to Fire Island for the weekend and it is beautiful here. There are a few benefits to the free lance life and the freedom to escape the city with a cooler full of goodies is one of them.  We spent the morning walking along the shore line and exploring different neighborhoods. It was a great change of pace and perspective. Fire Island is simply a giant sandbar that has been partially paved and populated. The bay is on one side and the ocean beaches are on the other. The space in between is just a few blocks. In September, here and in many of the summer places like Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, you have all of the beauty with almost none of the hassle of July and August.

We're staying with family and as you walk along the street the view of the bay is like looking through a keyhole. It is a very focused view of nature and it makes me feel like Alice in Wonderland, which is a good thing. I've been in a bit of a rut lately and the smell of the ocean coupled with good red wine and beer can chicken is helping to raise my perspective. I walked along the beach this afternoon and it was surprisingly crowded. People were surfing and fishing and simply enjoying life. The light on the water was lovely and soothing and the waves danced with a magic that is often lacking in every day occurrences. I rediscovered the fact that at the right temperature (cool) and texture, you can make your heels squeak as you drag them along the sand. It was a primitive form of music, and inspiring nonetheless. So take a moment, enjoy the scenery, and just breathe slowly and deeply. You'll be amazed at what can happen when you let go of the reins.

Crispy Pumpernickel

It has taken some time and a few arguments with humidity and now our rolls of crispy pumpernickel are where we want them.  We dry strips of pumpernickel puree in the oven and then roll them into cylinders.  We use copper pipes to hold the crisps in shape which we then place  in the dehydrator for for a few more hours to get them nice and crispy.  We have actually picked up several different sized pipe widths for further shapes and configurations.  Now that the pumpernickel is complete we can now move forward with the rest of the dish.

The Momofuku Steamed Bun Recipe

For those out there who no longer read magazines or perform a perfunctory skim of written material, take a closer look at the October issue of Gourmet magazine.  There is an in depth article on David Chang and his restaurants, cooking and desire to serve delicious food.  Within the article is the recipe for the Momofuku steamed buns, the actual buns, and the roast pork which goes within.  I, like many others, am addicted to the steamed buns, particularly the buns themselves.  The fact that the recipe for the buns was published opened up a new means  for getting my steamed bun fix, I can make them at home.

And, if you have an extensive cookbook library at home a fine alternative recipe with the same baking soda trick as in David's recipe can be found in The Key to Chinese Cooking, by Irene Kuo.  Mind you we would not have been able to find a similar recipe had David's not been published in the magazine.

As for what we will be putting in my steamed buns, we may try BBQ eel or perhaps smoked lobster salad. Or even chewy hot fudge and macerated strawberries, raspberries and lemon cream or cajun steamed shrimp with crisp green onions and remoulade. The possibilities are endless...

Cumin Lemonade

It has to be the heat.  The humidity and heat have finally gotten to me.  It is not often that I crave lemonade.  A margarita, yes, lemonade on its own, not so much.  As I continue to go through hundreds of pages of notes, inspirations leap from the page.  In one of my older notebooks, More From the Yellow Notebooks--see side bar, I came across cumin lemonade. 

The heat and the sorting worked together and low and behold I am now drinking a cool and refreshing glass of cumin infused limeade.  I know, the post is called cumin lemonade and that was the inspiration.  However, I did not have any lemons on hand, merely limes and key lime juice so that is what I made.  I made a simple syrup infused with toasted and then pulverized cumin.  I then added a pinch of salt, and fresh and bottled lime juice.  I let the flavors blend for an hour and then I strained the mixture.  The only thing my limeade is missing is a generous splash of tequila.  Perhaps when I am through organizing.

White Anchovy Brioche

White anchovies are popping up again.  And they are also being used in unexpected places.  During our recent meal at wd-50 we had a spectacular dish of fried quail with banana tartar.  The secret to the banana tartar was white anchovies which were pureed into the dressing for the bananas.  The flavor of the two together is really tasty and as a condiment to breaded and fried quail even better.

Wylie has broken down a wall, one which I really did not know existed.  White anchovies are supposed to be appreciated as is, a beautiful ingredient to pay homage to in its simplicity.  It seems Wylie just looked at the fish as an ingredient and a flavorful one at that.  The banana tartar would not have been nearly as subtle and balanced had he used salt or oil preserved anchovies.

And so as I was organizing my notes today it dawned on me.  White anchovy brioche.  The balanced fish flavor with its slight acidity and tamed fish qualities would be incredible folded into a brioche dough.  I can then see us using the brioche to serve with raw fish preparations or even with, another tip of the hat to Wylie, foie gras terrine.

What I find exciting is the breaking down of barriers, of set rules and ideas.  Being able to ask why and why not and then doing something with the answer allows us to travel new paths and stumble upon seemingly new ideas.

White Pepper Panna Cotta

We like spice.  And yet while I lean on jalapeno for its complexity and structure in dishes I often overlook white pepper.  Thankfully, Aki does not.  We were working on a dessert for dinner last week and needed something both refreshing and simple.

Something that has become overly apparent recently is the shortest distant between two points is the shortest distance.  We have served panna cotta as a dessert over the years and relied on its simplicity and smile factor.  The smile factor is that when someone takes a spoonful of the panna cotta and places it in their mouth, they smile.  Since we were serving a set of six strangers with varying palates we opted to end the meal with a dessert which would ideally generate a room full of smiles.  Still in all, we needed a bit of a backbone for the panna cotta, a flavor that was present and piqued the palate while supporting the dish as a whole.  That flavor was white pepper.

The panna cotta base was a blend of milk and half and half infused with white pepper and then enriched with whole milk yogurt.  We used gelatin to set the panna cotta and then paired the chilled dairy gel with smashed and Minus 8 vinegar marinated figs.  The small seeds of the figs added just a not of crunch to the dish so that everything was not a homogeneous texture free assemblage.

Curing Salmon Roe

I stumbled across a Japanese blog in English this morning called Blue Lotus and found an informative post about how to cure salmon roe. It's seasonal specialty in Japan and apparently not a very difficult thing to do. Of course we all know the devil's in the details, ease of technique is no guarantee of a perfect result. So, for anyone interested in curing your own roe, or just seeing how it can be done, go check it out.  If I can get my hands on some roe we may play around with it here. Imagine the possibilities.

October Classes 2007

We're pretty excited about these upcoming explorations and want to remind everyone that these classes are really just about having fun with food. Given that premise, we wanted to expand a bit on what we will actually be doing in the individual classes.  The concepts are still somewhat fluid and will be defined more clearly by what's available at the markets the day before class begins and the people in each session and their individual tastes. Presently we still have spaces available in each class, we will remove them from the side bar as they fill up. Please email [email protected]  to register.

Pork and Apples
10am October 6, 2007
$125/per person

We will begin this class with a tasting of apples. By October there should be a wide variety of apples available in our local green markets and the best way to learn how to use them is by tasting. For the pork portion of this event we are going to get in a small pig to work with. This will probably be supplemented with  a few cured pork products to really accent the contrast of porkiness of it all.  We'll have an assortment of produce, grains, legumes and spices  available to accent the main ingredients and use a variety of techniques to help round out the dishes and accent the contrast between the crisp, juicy apples and rich melting pig.

Steak and Eggs
10am October 13, 2007
$125/per person

What is a steak? Is is a beef steak, salmon steak, ham steak or a watermelon steak? By our definition a steak is something that is at least 1/2-inch thick, with a texture that you can sink your teeth into and an intense flavor that requires a very simple pairing to accent all that mouth watering goodness. Eggs can be of many varieties from chicken to fish and showcased using an array of techniques from coddling to custards, from hollandiase to sabayon. We're going to mix and match these versatile components to create unusual and delcious dishes that can easily be recreated at home.

Scallops
10am October 20, 2007
$125/per person

This class will be a celebration of this bivalve mollusk with the beautiful fan shaped shell.  The meaty and sweet texture of the scallop is not only a standout on its own, it is an incredible vehicle for textures and tastes. From small to large, from raw to cooked, our plan is to enhance the scallop's inherent velvety sweetness and pair it with a variety of late fall ingredients to highlight it's versatile nature.

Watch This

It will inspire you.

Cauliflower Cube

At times I am driven by what is possible.  I have been wanting to shape puddings.  I have been looking to see if we can capture the taste and texture of a cauliflower puree in a square mold.  I have failed many times.  On Friday, we were able to harness structure and integrate the taste and texture we were looking for.  The cauliflower cube was served chilled with a dollop of smoked Steelhead trout roe.

Now with the cube under our belt I am hoping to explore the possibilities with other vegetables purees and puddings. 

Alinea: the cookbook, coming 2008

Well, it appears that one can now get in early on the Alinea book. We had heard about the custom publishing Grant and team have in the works during the Star Chefs ICC event earlier this week.  It turns out that a new style of publishing is in the works.  Now, if you pre-order the Alinea cookbook, you get early access to the book, the behind the scenes information, and the evolution of a chef, a restaurant and a cookbook.  This is absolutely brilliant on so many levels, from hooking the early adapters, like me, to providing continued content on line, both before and after publication, a new approach to a book.  Here, the actual book and the creative process are tied together. It's a brilliant idea and a natural evolution of the way blogs, books and the internet can come together to provide a total package of experiences. Bravo.

Dinner at Home

Musk Melon Toro
basil

Tender White Carrots
smoked paprika mayonnaise

Cauliflower Cube
smoked steelhead trout roe

Long Beet
sparkling spiced salt

Blue Marlin Tartare
orange infused leeks

Cock's Combs
celery leaves and madiera mushrooms

Veal Breast
preserved lemon infused cipollini onion

Burrata
strawberry-sun dried tomato relish

White Pepper Panna Cotta
brown and green fig mosaic

Sparkling Salt

I had the pleasure of watching brilliance this morning.  Aki came into the kitchen, muttering to herself, and finally asked where our neutral pop rocks were.  In the meantime she had pulled out our togarishi and maldon salt and blended them together.  When I handed her the pop rocks, she added them to the mix and then ground everything into a fine powder.  She had me taste and it was amazing.  I experienced a ton of tastes and sensations in just a few grains. 

Aki had taken inspiration from Oriol Balaguer's presentation at the Star Chefs event, ICC, where he passed around chocolates seasoned on the inside with pop rocks.  The effervescent chocolates seemed to bring a quiet to the audience as chefs chewed and then seemingly melted into smiles and childhood memories.

Aki's seasoning blend brings a whole new approach to salt and spice blends added to dishes at the last moment.  The addition of the pop rocks adds motion to the dish.  The spices and the interplay of textures and motion creates a much more complex blend of well, anything we choose.  While today we have sparkling spiced salt tomorrow could be carbonated coffee crumbs and the next day popping pistachios.

Grilled Potato Ice Cream: the finished dish

We did not win the Pacojet, despite our best efforts.  Our final dish presented the grilled potato ice cream on a relish of cucumber and hot dog braised potatoes, Asian pear apple and grilled potato crisps along with smoked Steelhead trout roe from Steve. 

Thankfully a friend of ours, John Sconzo, was at the event and was able to capture some incredible pictures of the competition. 

And while the finished dish did not win the hearts of all the judges we were really excited with the composition of ingredients, the flavors and the array of textures we presented.

The Art of Perspective

Sometimes we forget that everyone has different opinions about almost everything. The differences may be clearly defined, my favorite color is blue, Alex's is green, or they may be much more subtle, he likes his steak to be rare, while I like it somewhere between rare and medium rare. In the first instance, although we may both like blue and green, there is a clear delineation between how much we like each hue and how often we will choose that color when given the option to express a preference. In the second case, the differences are very slight, so much so that our steaks are almost interchangeable, although there are subtle differences which will affect our enjoyment of the different taste and texture sensations of the beef.

This past week we ate pizza pebbles at WD-50 and an experience that resulted from this was illuminating. Basically when you place these pebbles on your tongue and begin to chew, they crumble on your palate. You've probably scooped up your pebble with a bit of pepperoni puree and your entire mouth is coated with an intense burst of pizza flavor in two textures. The effect is slightly astringent, so that at first your mouth goes slightly dry, amplifying the effects, and then as you continue to chew, the grainy texture combines with the saliva in your mouth to create a smooth emulsion, which easily slides down your throat, leaving a lingering pizza finish behind. The experience is very intense, and for those of us who love pizza, as I do, it can be very pleasurable. The flavor took me back to my childhood, where my favorite treats were frozen Celeste Cheese pizzas and these little frozen treats that I remember as pizza bites, which were basically small pastries filled with sauce and cheese that exploded in your mouth, a sensation that was duplicated in a very different way by these pebbles.

Not everyone appreciated them as much as I did. The person sitting next to me (who was not Alex), seemed slightly confused. "They taste like Combos" he said, in way that clearly conveyed that Combos were not his favorite childhood snack. Interestingly, in a later conversation with Wylie about the pizza pebbles (which he demonstrated by video at the conference), he made the exact same reference. "They taste just like Combos." he enthused. Clearly, he enjoyed those cheese filled pretzel snacks. And upon reflection, they really do taste like Combos because the outer pretzel coating had the same slightly astringent effect on the cheesy filling as his pebbles did. The tough thing about expressing yourself is that even when people get exactly what you're going for, there's no guarantee that the experience will touch them in the same way that it excites you.

We all work hard in or kitchens, whether professional or amateur, and I'm sure we've all had moments where we've wondered how people could dislike something that we've produced and feel passionate about. Sometimes we make mistakes. Sometimes people don't understand what we're going for. And sometimes, they get it completely and just don't like it anyway. A thick skin is almost mandatory in this profession. Calluses are our friends. No matter how open to constructive criticism we must be, in the end, if you love what you're cooking, then you can never be sorry that it's on your menu or your plate.

Donut Crumbs and the Possibilities

I have seen bread crumbs of varying flavors and textures.  I have wiped the crumbs of croissants off my shirt and off of tables.  We have dried cake crumbs and dried them for a textural element on the outside of a cake.  And while I have made a good mess eating donuts I had not thought about making donut crumbs on purpose.  Truthfully, I had not thought of utilizing croissant crumbs until I started writing this morning.

While watching Johnny Iuzzini make a new style donut and drag Dave Arnold through the breading procedure I wondered about using ground donut crumbs to bread donuts.  That would be pretty cool.  Or you could use donut crumbs wrapped around a cream filling and make fried Boston cream donuts.  And as I thought more on donuts I wondered about vacuum sealing donuts.  Vacuum sealed cooked cheeseburgers have an amazing texture, what would happen to a donut?  And what if we froze donuts in a Pacojet, we could then make powdered donuts.  And what about dehydrated donuts?  Could their texture be utilized?  What if you vacuum sealed a donut to compress it and then dehydrated it? Would a donut bread pudding be out of the question?

As always my mind is ecstatic with the possibilities and the potential paths we can travel.  And as I mentioned, I think these ideas would work quite well with croissants as well.

To Think

It has been some time, nearly three years, since I have posted a list of one liners.  These are short concepts, discussion points, stops and starts along the thought process which I catalog in our notebooks.  They are an assortment of words and assimilated phrases I collect and assemble.

And what I particularly like about these snippets is their brevity.  In the world of writing as in cooking brevity is essential and simplicity inspires.

Starting Over Again
The Raw Ingredients
The Wrong Ingredients
When Food is Forced
Inherently Logical
Selling Stupid
The Sweet Side of Savory
Logical Food
Practically Infinite
Goofier Tasting
My Ice Cubes are Getting a Bit Dry
Under a Magnifying Glass
Organized thoughts
Disorganized thoughts
I don’t bitch, I just have negative musings
Work shop
Good Bones
Search for New
Search for Old
A New Light
It Does Not Have to Be Expensive
Ask what should not, could not, will not, has not, cannot and then make it happen
Greater Accuracy
Take the Time to Be Precise
A Watchmakers Approach
The origins of ideas
The importance of context
Concealing technique
Defined Direction
Cobblestone
The Juice is the Funky Part
The Time Has Come For Wonderful Thinking
Word of Mouth
Watering Up
Quick is not always Best
Botanicals
Orchestration of Ideas
Rough Point
To go through life wanting
Distraction
Secret Kitchen
Disguised
The Prestige
The Life and Lessons of a Chef
Chaotic Arrangements
Designed for the Extraordinary
A Glass of Wine and the Setting Sun
Vibrant Colors
The Traveling Itinerant Chef
Pull the Bullet
Meeting Places and Eating Places
White Wine Becomes Rose in the Setting Sun
Porches are Important
A Collection of Sayings and the dishes they inspired
Just Enough is Too Much
Just Make Delicious
Negative Space
Intellect and Whimsy
Subtle and Complex
What can be paper
How to Not Get in the Way
Do Not Second Guess
In Between
Cobblestone

Sunday Reading, Culinary Memoirs

We're going to the conference today, but if we weren't going to the Star Chefs event, it would be the perfect fall day to drive out to Jones Beach, take a walk along the boardwalk and have a cup of chowder. After that I'd probably find a sunny spot somewhere at home to curl up with a good book.  One of the benefits of the basement flooding this past August was that we were forced to unpack our myriad cookbooks and culinary classics. It was like reacquainting ourselves with old friends. This is the perfect time of year to savor some of my favorite food writing, collected over the last couple of decades.

Delight and Prejudices by James Beard was a favorite of mine growing up. From the coast of Oregon to far off ports of call, his memoir is a celebration of food and life. He was a wonderful, evocative writer and he makes you want to crawl into the pages and resurrect the Portland of his youth. From his childhood to mid-life, it is a journey of discovery and wonder.  Having read the book, it seems almost inevitable that the man became such an icon on the food world.

As with James Beard, my first introduction to the books of Bert Greene was this collection of essays and recipes, Bert Greene's Kitchen, a Book of Memories and Recipes. It was published posthumously so I never got a chance to sample any of his cooking. Bert Greene was one of the original founders and considered the culinary heart and soul of The Store in Amagansett. Long before Ina Gardner made her mark as the Barefoot Contessa, the Store established the Hamptons as an area that appreciated good food and gourmet take out. He has a warm and engaging voice and there is such pleasure to be found in his writing. The stories will make your mouth water and the recipes will allow to make your own version of his favorite food stuffs. All of his books are quite wonderful, this one is still my favorite.

  Consuming Passions, a Food Obsessed Life by Michael Lee West is a must for anyone who loves Southern Food, as I do. Although there is great food to be found in every region of the country, Southern history and culture has centered around food in ways that just aren't seen in other areas. James Villas, John Egerton, Edna Lewis, and Bill Neal were  some of my favorite food writers during my formative years. As a result,  I've always been fascinated the atmosphere of hospitality and gracious generosity that permeates the legends of Southern cuisine. Michael Lee West is equally evocative and downright funny with her stories of food and family in the south. It is a quick and entertaining read that will leave you with a hankering for mashed potato salad and smile on your face.

Sometimes reading is almost as delicious as cooking or eating. There's no muss, no fuss, no calories and still plenty of sustenance to be found.

Aromatherapy

One of the warmest most soothing smells is steak grilling.  And unless you are the cook, in our case that is fine, the smell is lost to the wind.  In fact, steak grilling or roasting is similar to coffee brewing.  The aromas which pique our interest in the food are often more satisfying than the actual ingredients.  Sure, the cooked foods provide sustainence and taste and texture, though those wafting aromas are truly heavenly.  And so, I have begun to think about capturing these aromas and figuring out a means in which the smell of great steak cooking can be served with a great steak.

Think about outdoor barbecues where the diner is downwind of the food being cooked.  The food seems to have more flavor, more character than the same food cooked outside and brought inside.  Certainly the capturing of these aromas is not practical, and still if we could seamlessly integrate them into our cooking that would be incredible.

As for yesterday, I am quite glad that I was cooking and eating the steaks.  I certainly enjoyed a complete meal.

Terrine of...

This is an extrapolation of two ideas: using salumi to season seafood instead of kombu and our idea of compressed terrines.  In this dish we have thinly shaved scallops and button mushrooms and layered them with slices of prosciutto.  We then vacuum seal the ingredients to compress them and let the flavors marry.  Once the ingredients have harmonized we put the terrine into the freezer to firm up so that we can slice it easily.  The sliced terrine is then placed on the plate to temper and a leaf of dijonaise marinated romaine lettuce is placed on top of one slice of the terrine to add a spicy and creamy crispness to the dish.

Once again we have a vast number of paths we can travel with this idea, this dish being our first steps.

Fall

In the space of a day we've gone from shorts to light jackets and I'm reveling in the change. Fall is my favorite time of year, cool sunny days and clear, chilly evenings loaded with stars. It's the beginning of the cooking season, when applying heat to ingredients is no longer an apathetic chore but a cozy pastime that warms the home as well as the belly. I love the faint scent of woodsmoke that will soon enliven the air (wood burning fireplaces are common in our neighborhood), the crackle of fallen leaves underfoot, the crisp breeze sifting through my hair and the warm sunshine that feels like a blessing against my cheeks. Autumn is here. Although there may still be a few hot days scattered through the next few weeks, I'm looking forward to earthy mushrooms and roasting meats, creamy potatoes and dense succulent squash, handmade pastas sauced with gravy and sprinkled with aged Parmigiano,  whiskey kissed welsh rarebit, crisp juicy apples and hot buttered rum. 

Cooking Classes

Now that we're finally settling in, we are ready to start playing with our food. Over the years we have taught cooking classes in a variety of venues and have evolved our own style for getting the most out of each session.  Our method of choice is to highlight a single ingredient or combination of ingredients and extrapolate ideas for that particular item into a three course menu, i.e. mushrooms in three services. We provide basic recipes and we then allow the season, pantry and participants to fill in the blanks. That way we can tailor each class to the individual participants. Each class is small, no more than eight people, and hands on.  There will be some demonstration of techniques, although we feel that people learn by doing. So be prepared to get your hands dirty and come ready to taste. No prior experience is necessary, this is a learning environment and we adapt to many different skill levels.

Saturday morning classes take place from 10am to 1pm at our home in Queens.  We will spend the majority of the class creating dishes and exploring ingredients and techniques, then everyone will sit down to dine on the fruits of their labor.  Non-alcoholic beverages will be provided for the morning classes.

Current class schedules will be listed in the side bar. You can email us for more information or to register for a class.

 

October Class Schedule

Saturday, October 6, 2007 :     Pork and Apples    $125.00 per person

Saturday, October 13, 2007:   Steak and Eggs    $125.00 per person

Saturday, October 20, 2007:   Scallops    $125.00 per person

Bread Spread

If we make a condiment out of eggplant and then spread it on bread, why can't we make a spread and bread puree?  No one is stopping us, so we did.  We took an eggplant, some golden raisins, agave nectar, a cup of coffee and a half a loaf of pumpernickel and pressure cooked them together.  The aroma was quite decadent when we uncovered the pressure cooker.  We then put the tender ingredients into the blender for a short spin.  After a push through the tammis the puree was silky and smooth, sweet, bitter, earthy, rich and fleeting, leaving the tongue wanting just a bit more. 

Again, we are just scratching the surface.  Since we are no longer limited to just having a spread and bread, we can actually unite them, what now is possible?

Pardon the Interruption

It is important to get your hands dirty.  Last week I had the pleasure of climbing a thirty plus foot tall tree and giving it a haircut.  This week for my outdoor therapy I decided to try my hand at doing a bit of patio repair.  It is really just one big puzzle when you look closely, the pieces are just a bit heavier.

What I have learned is these trips outside our kitchen keep the juices flowing instead of getting stale and stagnant.  Now I am not planning on going into the landscaping or masonry business though I have come to appreciate the work it takes to keep the world beyond the kitchen doors in working order.

Now back to the kitchen, I hear the pressure cooker beeping.

Brown Sugar and Jalapeno Ice Cream

When I get an idea in my head it often rattles around until I make the opportunity to test it and see if what I was thinking was any good.  I continue to ingest jalapenos at an alarming rate: shaved on top of smoked salmon on a bialy, underneath a cheeseburger, folded into a salad of tomatoes and mozzarella, and in another salad of white beans and artichokes.  It is only time that the jalapeno would integrate itself into dessert.  While eating another jalapeno spiked meal it dawned on me that these peppers would go quite will with brown sugar.  What if we made a brown sugar and jalapeno ice cream?  The key, we both concluded, was in emphasizing the raw pepper's earthy, tar-like aromas and flavors.  So, we made a custard base with brown sugar, which we poured over raw shaved jalapeno.  The heat of the base warmed the jalapeno just enough to increase the rate of flavor extraction so that once the jalapeno was covered in brown sugar base and given a quick stir, it was already time to strain.

We then cooled the base and churned it in the ice cream maker.  The flavors of the brown sugar and jalapeno go quite well together.  In fact, as you chew the ice cream, it is reminiscent of a spiced milk chocolate ice cream.  The soft heat and earthy flavors of the jalapeno in conjunction with the brown sugar, unite to form a harmonious flavor.

As for the chew, yes, this is a chewy ice cream.  We were fortunate enough to speak with Sean about his thickened olive oil and he noted that the product he used to make olive oil thick had also solved the mystery of chewy ice cream.  What is funny is that I had an untouched sample of that particular product collecting dust in our kitchen.  So, to our ice cream base we blended in 1% TIC Pretested Freedom Gum X-PGA/LV Powder.  The blend of hydro colloids in the powder adds a viscosity and chew to the ice cream.  When the ice cream is frozen it can then be scooped and cut with a knife and fork.

The ice cream is indeed rich and chewy. It coats the tongue luxuriously and melts down the back of your throat with a lingering smoky spice. It should be noted though that the addition of the freedom gum means that this ice cream must be eaten while still frozen. At warmer temperatures the texture is somewhat...unpleasant. So if your ice cream base does not seem to have the texture you're looking for before you freeze it, try it anyway. It's amazing what a change in temperature can do for texture these days.

Upon reflection, I must note that we would not have been able to add the final textural characteristics without Sean's generosity in sharing his own discoveries and culinary advancements.  We are very lucky to have friends and colleagues who are so willing to offer up their own experiences and inspirations. We all reap the benefits from these interactions.

An Invitation

to join us for a small dinner party on Friday, September 21. As a thank you to the readers of our blog we'd like to invite three of you to bring a guest to dinner at our home in Queens that evening. Unfortunately this limits us to people who will actually be in the New York area and be able to attend on that date. We'll be serving a five course menu of our latest creations and we'd love the opportunity to meet some of you in person. In order to be eligible for this dinner, please send us an email with the subject line "dinner party" or leave a comment below with a link to or description of your favorite under the radar food website, restaurant or cookbook. The contest will close  at midnight EST on Thursday, September 13, 2007. Three people will be chosen randomly from the entrants received and will be invited to join us for an evening of food, wine and ideas in food.

The winners will be contacted on Friday, September 14, 2007.

This contest is now closed. Our invitees are Sokie Lee, Arun Gupta, and Christopher Scott. Thank you so much to everyone that entered the drawing! The response was wonderful and we really appreciate all of the warm notes that we received. Thanks to your generosity we discovered many new websites and hidden gems from your responses. We'll you know how the party turns out & we'll definitely do this again one day.

Cock's Combs Lardons

We recently received some chickens and a pintade from Joyce Foods.  The chicken is another breed I have never heard of, Naked Neck.  Upon opening the packaging we discovered not only the birds, but also a small parcel of the cutest cock's combs I had seen.  We took the birds out and immediately split one down its back, seasoned it with salt and roasted it in the oven.  We added no other fat or seasonings.  After letting the bird rest, we tore into it.  Picking and pulling, biting and chewing.  Really the only civilized way to taste test a chicken.  The bird had a meatier and more intense chicken flavor.  Similarly, it had more texture to its flesh.  The meat was not tough, rather it had texture, chew and bite.  We are now working on several other cooking methods with the other chicken and the pintade.  I want to see if we can retain most of the chicken's texture while getting a bit of silkiness as well. 

While the birds were the largest part of the package, the cock's combs were a special treat which were unexpected and caught my fancy.  I seasoned them with sesame oil, salt and pepperoncini and let them marinate overnight.  The following morning I placed them in a low oven covered in olive oil to confit.  Yet, somehow time escaped me and the combs cooked more than I had wanted.  I was furious at myself for not paying more attention to these beautiful specimens, this special treat sent to us.  I quickly pulled them out of the oil and laid them on a plate.  I still wanted to taste them even if I had overcooked them.  Well, it turns out, the slow over cooking in the oven rendered the fat out of the cock.s combs and the gelatin caramelized and the combs had the taste and texture of rendered bacon lardons: a bit of crunch, still fatty, some chew and an intense chicken flavor like nuggets of chicken fond.  These slowly overcooked cock's combs were good, really good.  They would act as a great substitute for bacon in a dish.  We worked on an asparagus dish with these delicious treats, though in further thinking I would like to do frise aux lardons with these cock's combs instead.  In fact, a miniature salad with these components would work well paired with lobster.  Similarly, a stew of fall vegetables would benefit from a scattering of these tiny tid bits.  And now we are beginning to think.

Carvel Cake

I have always had a soft spot for Carvel Ice Cream Cakes. They are the symbol of childhood birthday parties, melting untidily onto gaily colored paper plates, the chocolate crumbles beckoning as plastic forks bounced helplessly against their frozen surfaces. The sensation of that sweet creamy confection, always with that faint hint of freezer, melting against my tongue was one of boundless pleasure. The strangely flat tasting whipped cream icing dissolving into the sweet icy vanilla which in turn gave way to the crunchy crumbs of moist/crunchy cookie crumbs and then finishing with the dense, cool frozen chocolate cream that comprised the bottom layer. Summer or winter, ice cream cakes were de rigueur in my neighborhood. Pizza to start and goody bags to take home completed the celebratory rituals. To this day the familiar taste of those cakes transports me back to those moments of freedom and happiness, alone in the middle of a party with my ice cream cake.

Occasionally someone who loves me will buy a Carvel Cake as a special surprise. It doesn't happen often, once or twice a year is just about right for my tastes. The sprinkles have changed over the years and the cookie crumbs are not as crisp as I remember, other than those few minor details, the frozen confection remains the same. We always get the traditional birthday cakes, fancy whales or fudgy icing just don't cut it for me. My aunt picked up this last cake and went for the smallest one available-since it was basically just for three of us and failed to notice that it was all vanilla and fat free. The loss of the chocolate was a blow but I soldiered through and tasted the cake anyway.  Oddly you wouldn't have guessed that it was fat free if you hadn't read the label. Carvel has never professed to be a super premium brand, instead banking on clear simple flavors and the taste of childhood to draw people in. The cake did it's usual magic and I savored every melting drop. It was the perfect ending to  humid, starry evening.

Passionfruit and Piave Vecchio

This dish came about by the random tasting I do in the kitchen.  At times I just taste ingredients in no particular order, kind of like raiding the fridge with no purpose in mind.  Yet, in randomly tasting ingredients I often trip across combinations and tastes which work surprisingly well together.

This small cheese course pairs smoked paprika dusted passionfruit pudding with Piave Vecchio cheese.  The brussel sprout leaves reinforce the earthy truffle notes of the cheese while similarly becoming accented by the passionfruit.

The initial tasting started with the passionfruit pudding and the smoked paprika.  The Piave Vecchio came next and the brussel sprout leaves completed the dish. 

Le Sanctuaire: Now with a Working Website

The veil has been removed, the fog has lifted, the doors are finally open.  That is correct, there is now a working, active website for Le Sanctuaire with stuff on it so that you can window shop and imagine their products in your kitchen.  If you are looking for a great variety of incredible cooking supplies from herbs to spice blends, tableware and books, we must point you in their direction. 

While Le Sanctuaire has been around for a number of years, and the go to place for acclaimed and accomplished chefs, we have only recently had the pleasure of working with them.  As far as quality goes, they really are looking for and providing some of the best of what's around.  We have done  comparison tests  and Le Sanctuaire's products were significantly fresher and more pungent and more expensive.  So if cost is your deciding factor, they may not be the place for you, but if the sky is the limit, you should explore their inventory immediately.

In addition to the dazzling array of individual spices, specialty blends and dried flowers, they carry a number of creative ingredients, utilizing hydrocolloids and in smaller quantities than previously available, for people wishing to experiment with creating different textures in their cooking processes.  So, if you're looking for a little inspiration, check out their website or visit their store in downtown San Francisco.  If you can actually get there, you can see, smell, taste (their motto) their stuff for yourself.

Hot Dog Stock

Now this is exciting.  Hot dogs are tasty,  griddled hot dogs are tastier.  And a griddled hot dog with fixings is worth stopping your day and just enjoying.  We have worked with hot dog seasonings and using hot dog garnishes with lobster and turbot.  Yet, we had not tried to capture the essence of hot dogs.  Well, yesterday was a good mind wandering day.  The smell of clean still hanging in the air and a faint hunger in my stomach.  And that is when the light bulb flickered.  I could sure go for a hot dog with everything.  And as I mentally ate the dog I began rethinking its flavors and what is possible with the dog.  And while the waffle stock was straining in our refrigerator I made a simple connection.  Hot dog stock.  We can saute bits of hot dog in butter, really the only way to cook a dog, and then add ketchup, relish, onions, mustard and sauerkraut.  When I want a dog loaded, that is what I am eating.  These components will then be topped with water, simmered and then strained.  The reserved liquid, stock, essence, infusion, will then be a launching point for a number of possibilities.  We certainly will clarify it, hot dog consomme would be quite neat.  From there we can use it as a brine for fish, lobster, scallops, pork tenderloin, really the possibilities are limitless.  The hot dog stock will also make a great poaching medium and in its clear form a great sauce for the aforementioned proteins as well as stews of fruits and vegetables.

Back to the kitchen, it is going to be a dog day afternoon.

Harold McGee

We would be remiss if we didn't note that Ideas in Food is mentioned in Harold McGee's article on gelatin clarification in today's NY Times. Alex is quoted and there is a recipe adapted from one of ours attached to the piece. We would be reading it anyway because Harold is the author, knowing we made a small contribution is just icing on the cake.

Waffle Stock

Thinking about food is a full time job.  Today we spent the better part of the morning and into the afternoon deep cleaning our kitchen.  We have been puttering and organizing the kitchen since we returned from the west, though it was time for a true delousing. 

While cleaning, the mind has time to wander.  And, since thinking about food is a full time job, my mind wandered to food and what is possible.  The first thought of note was waffle stock.  As a kid I used to eat eggo waffles by the stack slathered with cold butter and Vermont maple syrup.  As an adult I long for the freedom of such a decadent pleasure.  Amidst our cleaning, I traveled memory lane.  And it is a good thing I did.

The journey sparked the idea for waffle stock.  Waffle stock can be used as a base for waffle sauces and puddings, purees and sheets, consomme and jelly.  We can use waffle stock as a poaching medium for lobster and a braising base for chicken and pork.

Right now the stock is cooling.  The next few days will yield the results of deep cleaning and a wandering mind.

Dinosaurs

At a recent dinner out, the food was good, the wines were delicious, the company was even better, and the dining room was somewhat disconcerting. The restaurant was downstairs and they made the most of the subterranean atmosphere by creating a setting that celebrated it's identity as a cellar. The upper dining area was bordered by the wine room and the brightest spot in the lower level of the room was a window onto the kitchen where diners could watch the choreographed chaos in action. The disconcerting parts of the room were the tables where the diners were sat.

The actual tables were large and well spaced and well, high. The table tops were taller than average and the chairs were somewhat shorter than average. They made up for this shortcoming by being unusually deep. For a larger person, this probably encouraged lounging back in the chair so that their knees did not bang against the table-top. For those of us who were more petite, it meant than there was no chance of leaning back into the chair without halfway reclining in a rather awkward manner. Thus I spent the meal at the edge of my seat, with a ramrod straight back and still my food was practically at eye level. The wine glasses were of fine crystal and of the overly large style that seems better suited to giants than human beings. The cutlery was also grand and heavy as befitted such a setting. The effects of this seating arrangement was that the formally attired service staff towered over the table and the diners were left feeling somewhat like awkward children at the grown-ups table. It was a subtle method of intimidation and quite effective.  Looking around the room you could see well dressed people, half hidden behind their plates and wine glasses, looking up at their captains to ask questions or place orders.

The seating actually started a discussion about why certain types of restaurants are usually uncomfortable. In casual, high turnover places the seating is deliberately uncomfortable in an effort to keep people from lingering. In old-school fancy restaurants, it seems as though people are made to feel uncomfortable in order to keep them in their places. In an age where fashion is increasingly casual, we were called multiple times and reminded that jackets were required and that jeans and sneakers were unacceptable.  I love good food as much as the next person and I can't help but wonder why it must so often be cloaked in fancy trappings and pretentious, snooty service. As a culinary student scraping together money to dine in top restaurants, I was often made to feel slightly inadequate, as if, in spite of having the money to pay the bill, I would never actually deserve to eat in their establishments.  Times have changed and with new generations of chefs and restauranteurs, things have relaxed. Food that was once considered fine dining can be found at many different levels of service. Establishments designed to make the diner feel good about being there have become common place except at the highest price points. This seems odd to me because why would we want to pay more to be treated as less. There are a few fine dining restaurants that are welcoming even if you wear expensive jeans under your designer jacket. The dinosaurs may still exist, the smart ones are starting to change with the times. People are beginning to realize that they don't need to feel humbled in order to enjoy their food. Dining is supposed to be a pleasure and we should support the restaurants that make it one. Then as time goes by, the rest of them will embrace the new way of dining or eventually become extinct.

Four Tomatoes, Robiola, Rye and the next steps

I believe one of the reasons that we continue to work with our tomato terrine is that I really enjoy eating it.  That is a good sign.  This morning we paired our four tomato terrine with Robiola Due Latte and grated rye bread.  A few slivers of shaved Serrano pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and aged balsamic vinegar finish the dish.

While I enjoy vinegar, either reduced or aged with tomatoes and as an accompaniment to other dishes I have become tired of its ease of use.  Since we have a number of vinegars on hand we often reach for them as accents.  And, they work.  Yet, we are now beginning to work on a number of new syrups, reductions and essences which will play the role of aged balsamic and its counterparts while becoming a bit more focused in conception and use. 

A few syrups that are currently in the works are: lime pickle, caraway, pumpernickel, horseradish, ginger-yuzu, tangerine-cayenne, piave vecchio.

Three Figs

We have been looking at cheese recently.  Consequently we have been looking for condiments to go with the  variety of cheeses we have tasted.  On one of our forays to the market we came across three types of figs: brown turkey, black mission and sierra green.  The three figs with their various colors sparked the idea of a mosaic.  And since we were tasting cheeses we felt the Hickory Smoked Chevre  we had on hand would act as the ideal mortar for the mosaic of figs.  The figs and goat cheese paired well together, though they were not a finished dish on their own.  We looked to roasted scallions and aged balsamic vinegar to round out the dish.  Finally a fresh grinding of allspice perfumed the figs and goat cheese and accented the allium.

Tomato Terrine

We continue to work with the compression of tomatoes and look at the many possible dishes which are inspired by this process. As we discussed earlier, I had wanted to use  a variety of tomatoes which we could then assemble as a compressed terrine.  I was finally able to procure several different colored and textured tomatoes with which we could work with.  The layers of tomatoes are interspersed with basil leaves, salt and pepper.  The whipped topping for the terrine is tomato water derived from all the insides of the tomatoes which compose the terrine.  As for the final element of the dish, we grated mojama, cured tuna loin, to add an intense meaty, salty, briny essence.  A drizzle of olive oil and some concentrated vinegar act to accent the three main components.