IDEAS IN FOOD

Tiny Paw Prints

I've been working on a white chocolate-butter rum cake. Although I've made a couple of delicious cakes, they're not exactly what I'm looking for yet. On the other hand I've made a new discovery. Alex managed to find one kitten with a serious sweet tooth. I left a cake cooling on the table yesterday and when I returned home there were tiny paw prints and licked out divots all over the surface of the cake. I may not be satisfied yet, although Runner certainly gave it his stamp of approval.

Yuzu and Dates

Why do we use condiments?  Depending on the usage condiments act to pique or mask flavors.  Indian chutneys cool and refresh as well as incorporating texture and fresh herbal notes to dishes.  Ketchup may be seen as pedestrian and undeserving on fine dining menus, although it is indispensable in more casual atmospheres. One of our favorite lunch places, 'ino, serves its panini with just a dab of homemade chutney or tapenade with nothing else on the plate. The extra burst of flavor is simply there to enliven the palate and keep things interesting without detracting from the main event.

A well chosen condiment can take the everyday roast chicken and make it seem special and exciting. It can turn a humdrum piece of fish into something exotic and intriguing or it can simply add a regional spin to a universal technique and add a dash of brightness to the mundane. It is not a star player, it's the supporting role that adds depth and character to the production.

This week we stumbled across some beautiful dates. They were plump and tender, with papery skins that melted into the sticky flesh. They were so incredibly rich and sweet that they needed a bit of balance to really shine.  A wandering eye lit upon a jar of preserved yuzu and our newest condiment was born. It is sweet, savory, and bright, with a slightly bitter edge.   And there is one hidden ingredient in the mix as well.  We purchased these incredible habanero-like peppers at the green market and have kept them in our freezer in order to preserve their fresh floral flavor.  What is exciting about these peppers is that they contain all the earthy and fruity characteristics of the habanero without the intense heat.  If you have eaten habaneros, you know that after the fruit comes the burn.  And with these, that painful feeling just is not there.  So your trained mind to palate connection is looking for the fire and is surprised to discover that you can just enjoy the full flavors of the chili.  The addition of this chili pepper adds a touch of depth to the yuzu and helps unify the link to the date.

Unfortunately, my handwriting is so awful that the name I have written on the bag of chilies does not come up anywhere.  My chicken scratch produced a the word Grenade, though I cannot find this pepper anywhere.  So, as a side note, if anyone knows what the name of this fruity, yellow, false habanero is called, I would be greatly appreciative.  The other two chilies are aji dulce in red and pimientos de padron in green, all from the Farmer's Market in Union Square.

Ricotta Gnocchi Revisited

If we could make ricotta gnocchi without the addition of flour, why then did we feel the need to still use egg yolk in our recipe?  A safety net of course.  The additional protein from the egg yolk helped enrich the ricotta which in turn was stabilized our gnocchi base which we were forming with the addition of Activa.  I was impatient and wanted to see if my idea was sound.  The gnocchi were delicious, though if we were going to strip the gnocchi down to their essence, why stop five yards short of the finish line?

Thankfully, my recent shipment of Activa arrived, in it a new blend--at least to me.  Activa Y-G Activa was formulated for dairy applications to prevent syneresis from occuring as well as adding a richer and more decadent mouthfeel to low fat dairy products.  In our case the dairy specific Activa allows us to make ricotta gnocchi without the addition of flour or eggs.  We now have gnocchi that are 99 percent ricotta.

Now these gnocchi are not bullet proof.  They are delicate though they can take the abuse of traditional cooking as long as a bit of finesse is used.  We have tried two preparations with these gnocchi so far: simply sauteed and baked in a gratin with white asparagus, scallions and parmesan.  In both cases the gnocchi stood up to the cooking method while retaining there original shape and structure.  Upon eating the gnocchi these delicate pillows of cheese burst across your palate.

Furthermore, if we can make ricotta gnocchi this way what is stopping us from trying this with goat cheese or mozzarella or even yogurt?  And if this applications are possible, what about looking at custards and cheesecakes?  What can we do with them? 

Butter and Miso

I remember back to when we were in Boston and one of our fellow cooks used to expound about the true pleasures of noodles in a miso broth enriched with butter and hot chilies.  His unwavering belief that miso, butter, chilies and noodles should be constantly united has stayed with me over the years.

We have braised marble potatoes in a miso-butter broth.  Similarly, miso mashed potatoes are delicious.  We have used miso-chili butter to baste giant scallops as we pan roast them and also have married the miso-butter with banyuls vinegar for a pan sauce for shrimp ravioli.

I was struck by the miso-butter bug again.  In this case, we added miso, white asparagus, cayenne and water to the pressure cooker  and cooked it together for two minutes.  The result was overcooked, extremely tender and delicious butter and miso drenched asparagus.  After a few minutes in the blender I was eating my incredibly elicious inspiration.  Why had we not made white miso and white asparagus soup before?  It was unbelievable.  To compliment the soup we made a remoulade of white asparagus batons, spiked with cornichons and tarragon.  Once again, we used vacuum compression to infuse the asparagus with the marinade and still keep the asparagus crisp and juicy.  The final element to the dish is an onsen egg which we like cooking for an hour and a half at 65 degrees Celsius.

What is exciting for me is the harmony in this dish.  We have sultry decadence paired with bracing crispness topped with unctuous richness.  I could, and most likely will, be eating a fair amount of this soup.

And as a side note, if white asparagus is not on hand I believe butternut squash, apples, onions, turnips, and gold beets would work equally well in its place, in both the soup and the remoulade.  I would just make sure not to skimp on the butter, miso and cayenne.

Apple and Cheddar

With Autumn in full swing, closing in on Winter, intuition sets in and I start making soup.  Our most recent soup is a blend of tart crisp apples and sharp rich cheddar.  The condiments for the soup are honey pickled apples, cheddar cubes and whipped cider. 

The key to this soup is the cheddar stock.  We take an onion and sweat it in butter and season it with salt and cayenne.  When the onion is tender we add apple cider and cheddar cheese.  We bring the mixture to a simmer and then cook it for about thirty minutes.  When we are done cooking the broth, we strain it through cheesecloth; this prevents molten cheese curds from getting lodged in our chinois.  The resulting liquid is rich on the palate and full of apple and cheddar flavors.  We use this stock to cook the apples for the soup.  The apples are then pureed in the soup and the mixture is strained.

And for the cheddar, it is just cheddar, tempered and cut into a macedon.

For the crisp honey apples, we marinated apple slabs in a blend of onion vinegar, honey and cayenne.  We then vacuum compress the ingredients together yielding a crisp honey flavored apple with a beautiful translucent appearance.   A bit of time under the knife and we get apple cubes.

The cider is whipped with the addition of Versa-Whip 600k and xanthan gum.

The sliced leaves of oregano pique the dish with green herbal notes and astringent savoriness.  Upon eating the soup I now realize why apple and cheddar are often linked like peas and carrots.

The Latest Addition

Runner came to us from Bobbi and the Strays in Glendale. He and his two siblings were rescued from under a car and he will have a scar from being burned by the transmission to prove it.  We brought him home because as much as we miss Lucky, and we miss him every day, there's always another animal that desperately needs a home.  He fits neatly on my shoulder and purrs like a machine. We can only assume that they named him Runner because he races from point A to point B. Thunder Cat would be equally appropriate. He's playful and sweet, mischievous and endearing, happily at home.  And we are happy that he picked us.

Recent Inspirations

   

Sometimes the sketch comes first.

Golden Beets

We have put the finishing touches on our golden beet and passion fruit salad.  The golden beet ribbons are brushed with passion fruit syrup and then cooked sous vide at 82.5 degrees C for one hour.  The beet and passion fruit gel is made with pressure cooked beets set with a blend of high and low acyl gellan.  While we serve it chilled here, we can and most likely will adapt it to hot preparations as winter kicks in.  The sauce is the passion fruit yogurt we were working on earlier and the dill flavored pistachios add both herbal and textural notes to the dish.

As we tweak this beet dish, we are also in the process of working on another dish which highlights red beets and the luckiest spice in the world. (That's paprika for those of you who have never seen Bachelor Party)

Eleven

In accordance with Holiday spirit and such, I am composing a list of eleven must have books for 2007.  They may not have all been published in 2007, rather they have been essential and influential reads for me this past year.  And why, with everyone else composing lists of ten for the holidays, have I chosen eleven?

I am inspired by the movie This is Spinal Tap.  It is an old favorite and I was lucky enough to have my memory refreshed as I read the following dialog, excerpted from the movie, over at An Obsession With Food.

Nigel Tufnel: The numbers all go to eleven. Look, right across the board, eleven, eleven, eleven and...
Marty DiBergi: Oh, I see. And most amps go up to ten?
Nigel Tufnel: Exactly.
Marty DiBergi: Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Nigel Tufnel: Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten. You see, most blokes, you know, will be playing at ten. You're on ten here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on ten on your guitar. Where can you go from there? Where?
Marty DiBergi: I don't know.
Nigel Tufnel: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Marty DiBergi: Put it up to eleven.
Nigel Tufnel: Eleven. Exactly. One louder.
Marty DiBergi: Why don't you just make ten louder and make ten be the top number and make that a little louder?
Nigel Tufnel: [pause] These go to eleven.

My List of Eleven

Pierre Gagnaire: Reinventing French Cuisine

Peace, Love and Barbecue

The Handbook of Hydrocolloids

The Zen of Creativity: Cultivating Your Artistic Life

Chocolates and Confections: formula, theory and technique for the artisan confectioner

Brother Juniper's Bread Book

The French Laundry Cookbook

The Notebooks of MIchel Bras: Desserts

The Cuisine of Fredy Girardet

White Heat

Ideas in Food: The Photographs--Book One

Alfonso Olive

Alfonso olives are really interesting.  They are an olive from Chile that has been cured with red wine, resulting in an intense purple and wine enriched olive.  (As a side note, if olives can be cured with red wine, what else could be used in the curing process: miso, soy sauce, maple syrup?) 

I became intrigued with these olives many years ago after a discussion with another chef, Keith Korn, about David Bouley's  port-olive sauce.  Upon reflection and a search of the internet I cannot find the recipe of inspiration and introduction, so my mind may have woven several ideas together.

The only other sauce of Bouley's that I can find is a port-passionfruit-paprika sauce served with lobster.  That too sounds delicious.  In fact, I am often fascinated and inspired by the simple complexity of Bouley's sauces.  Upon further reflection I would love to see a book  on the sauces and inspirations of David Bouley.  That is something to wish for.

Back to the olives.  I was recently at the store when I saw a large vat of these beautiful olives.  I was immediately taken down memory lane and purchased a pint to work with.  I started by taking the pits out of the olives and then simmered them with some agave, isomalt, glucose, a dash of cayenne and Madeira.  My first plan was to make purple olive crisps.  Yet, after tasting the finished base, I have a number of other thoughts as well: a brine for beef cheeks, a blanket for beets, a poaching medium for squab, a fluid gel to serve with cheese and crackers, a flavoring for cavatelli.

In any event, we have an incredible flavor base on hand which will eventually open doors and paths which will yield delicious results.

Passionfruit Yogurt

While we have blended passionfruit and yogurt before, as a consomme, we have not utilized the creamy decadence of yogurt paired with the bracing fruitiness of passionfruit.

This is a simple preparation of Greek yogurt blended with a passionfruit reduction.  We seasoned it with a dash of cayenne and a pinch of salt. 

If I do not end up eating all of this yogurt we will be pairing it with a warm beet salad dish.  Time and my will power will tell.

Pistachio-Dill

We have started using our green almonds as a building blocks for ideas. 

If we can add flavor and color to almonds, what else can we do?  We pureed vacuum compressed dill with ice cubes to make a vibrant dill puree.  We then blended the dill puree with peeled pistachios.  The result was a coarsely textured pistachio and dill paste which we then dehydrated to create pistachio-dill crumbs. 

A separate point of interest in the process is that we could have continued to puree the dill and pistachios together to create a silken intensely colored and flavorful puree; notes for next time.

Turkey Day

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Who wouldn't love a day dedicated to eating well and appreciating life? This year we are thankful for all of the people and animals that have had a positive influence on our lives. This group includes friends, family, pets, readers, colleagues, acquaintances, strangers we share a smile with on the street, and everyone else who has touched our hearts in some small way. We are lucky that these categories overlap and we have been blessed with a year full of exciting changes and possibilities. So thank you to everyone who has visited us here. We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and we wish you the very best for this holiday season and every day.

Ricotta Gnocchi

What if we could make gnocchi without flour?  They wouldn't exactly be gnocchi anymore, more like tender little dumplings. The term is useful for illustrative purposes so that people understand what we're trying to achieve. We answered the original question a number of years ago with the help of Methocel food gums which allowed us to make potato gnocchi without the addition of flour or eggs.  The one downfall with these new gnocchi is the fact that they degrade quickly as they cool.  (Methocel products form hot gels.)

This year I wanted to make a light and delicate gnocchi without the addition of flour, which would be stable at cooler temperatures.  I started with ricotta cheese.  That is not actually true, I started with the idea of using transglutaminase as a binder.  We have made temperature stable gnocchi with Activa in the past, highlighting ingredients from scallops to chicken.  If we could make gnocchi with these proteins, why could we not make them with cheese, in our case ricotta?

It turns out that we can.  We have made ricotta gnocchi flavored with toasted caraway and stabilized with Activa, thus concentrating the cheese flavor and keeping them as light as possible.  If ricotta gnocchi are possible what else is within reach?

Egg Yolk Ravioli

When we lived in Maine and Colorado we were lucky to have local farmers who raised geese and wanted to sell the eggs.  We made all kinds of fun dishes with these giant eggs, from deviled to steamed to the goose egg raviolo.  The raviolo was a monster, a giant yolk encased in sheets of fresh pasta.  We served them with other signs of spring: morel mushrooms, fiddlehead ferns, grated Pecorino cheese and a brown butter balsamic sauce.  When we made these ravioli, we would make them in batches and would actually freeze them.  We could then cook the ravioli straight from the freezer.  Yes, from frozen, the horror!

What was exciting about cooking the ravioli from frozen is that the yolk remained semi fluid.  No, it did not gush, there was not a pool of yolk on the plate.  Rather the yolk developed the fudge-like texture of hot spring eggs, cooked at 65-67 degrees Celsius. The structure of the yolk allowed the diner, often myself, to cut the raviolo and have tender,  gooey yolk and soft, supple pasta accented with sauce and cheese in each delicious bite.

And then we moved on.  We made new pastas, found different fillings, and lost our source for goose eggs. We forgot about that magical alchemy that occurred when we cooked the frozen yolks.  That is until recently.  Last week I had a bit of reflective time and the egg yolk raviolo popped into my head.  What was challenging when we made the goose egg raviolo was separating the white from the yolk and making sure we did not pierce the delicate membrane holding the yolk together in the process.  Then we would have to seal the slippery yellow disc in the dough without any air pockets or breakage. In retrospect, I realized that we should have frozen the yolks before making the ravioli. Interesting. Freeze the yolk first.  Since I was thinking about freezing the yolks, naturally I began to wonder what else was possible?  What if we took chicken egg yolks and seasoned them and then froze them for ravioli?  And as long as we are seasoning the yolks, why not add additional flavors, like bacon and cheese?

I stopped asking questions and started work on the answers.  I took egg yolks and seasoned them with salt, hot sauce, walnut oil, bacon bits and grated Parmesan.  With this base made, I placed them in our small half sphere molds and froze them.  When the flavored mini yolks were frozen I popped out half of them and spread them with soft butter and then stuck them to the yolks still in the mold.  When the yolks were glued together I put them back in the freezer for the following day's pasta class. 

We used these miniature flavored yolks as the filling for hand rolled miniature egg yolk ravioli.  When the ravioli were cooked the blended mixture melted together for an egg yolk flavor burst.

*Pardon the blurry action/eating shot live from the class.  Look closely and you can see the fluid flavored yolk filling.

Crab, Melon and Grapefruit

What we have proven through our recent work with King crab is that the leg and the marble should be served separately.

This is the marble served chilled with compressed musk melon, grapefruit-scallion-condensed milk marmalade and a plum-soy syrup.  The marble works quite well in this bright dish.

Good to be King

We started some work inspired by manicotti.  There seems to be some controversy as to whether manicotti is made with pasta or crepes. Growing up it was my understanding that cannelloni were made with pasta tubes and manicotti were mades with crepes and so those are the definitions that we tend to go with in our cooking.

Our first manicotti preparation used both King Crab leg meat and King Trumpet mushrooms.  We were lucky enough to find beautiful examples of both at our local markets and decided that the combination was meant to be. We made some corn sheets using a konjac-xanthan gum blend and (wait for it) organic canned corn. The sheets are flexible, moist, flavorful, and delicious warm or cold. We wrapped one sheet around the King Crab meat and the other around our pulled mushrooms. These were warmed in the oven and simply garnished with slivers of green onion.

Sweetbread Pastrami, Spices and More

We have finished our sweetbread pastrami.  In fact, we ate some yesterday in our pasta cooking class.  We cut it into large chunks and sauteed it in butter and tossed it with pumpernickel farfalle, sauerkraut and grated Parmesan.  The only change in this dish would be using an aged Gruyere instead of the Parmesan.

The entire process for making the pastrami was a long though quite simple and it basically followed the approach we outlined in our initial discussion on the subject.  We brined the sweetbreads in soy sauce and maple syrup for three days.  After that, we blanched the sweetbreads from cold water to a boil, shocked them in ice water and then removed the sinew and off pieces from the exterior.  Once the sweetbreads were cleaned we soaked them in smoked soy sauce and then crusted them with our pastrami spice mix:  white, smoked Lampong and Long peppercorns, brown and yellow mustard seeds, fennel seed, coriander seed and allspice.  Once the spice blend was applied we added vacuum sealed the sweetbreads and cooked them for two hours at 65 degrees C.  When the sweetbreads were cooked we pressed them to a uniform thickness and chilled them  for a later use; in our case with the farfalle.

The first taste of the sweetbreads was amazingly delicious.  It has now piqued my mind with the possibilities for this new addition to our culinary repertoire.

Pulled Mushrooms

I am a huge fan of pulled pork. There's something about this texture that has always fascinated me and I'm happy to eat it at every opportunity. Another favorite from our local Chinese delivery place is Moo Shu Pork and while the meat is not shredded in this instance, it is cut in thin slivers and tossed with mushrooms and other thinly sliced vegetables for a very similar, albeit smoother, textural experience.  Both dishes are highly seasoned with a flavorful sauce coating the meat. When we found these beautiful  King Trumpet Mushrooms the other day I had pulled pork on the brain and began wondering if we could "pull" the mushrooms.  The short answer is yes we can and here are the results. Pulled King Trumpet mushrooms tossed in a rich barbecue sauce.  They are utterly delicious simply served with a bit of steamed rice and a poached egg, the next challenge is to see what other interesting pairings we can come up with.

Musk Melon Maxim

If we can do it with melon, what else is possible?

Turkey Season

Since it is turkey season again we wanted to remind everyone about our turkey destruction and construction pictured here.

A Gift of Walnuts

Some days there are definite perks to having a website. Especially days when a reader sends you a gift of walnuts harvested from his family's ranch a month ago. I don't know about the rest of you, I've never had walnuts this fresh before. The shells were surprisingly brittle and easy to crack. The nut meats were firm and a delicate shade of well, walnut. The flavor was less bitter than the ones I've had before, surprisingly delicate and sweet. Thank you Bryan! These nuts are an inspiration and we will definitely put them to good use.

Crab Marble and Kohlrabi

In our continuing work and examination of King crab, we are getting closer  to fine tuning a dish which unites our crab marble with the pristine and prized crab leg meat.  The accompaniments to the crab are kohlrabi as a puree and a shaved marinated sheet.  The puree is flavored with Chermoula a wonderful spice blend reminiscent of Old Bay with an Indian twist.  The shaved kohlrabi is compressed with cherry syrup, Meyer lemon juice, salt and cayenne.

In the dish, both parts are served chilled.  While I like the dish and the parts of crab and kohlrabi it still falls a bit short.  It has not reached the summit.

I am equally challenged in that this crab is so special that manipulation must be for a reason, a means to elevate an ethereal ingredient to a higher plane.  While the marble certainly retains the texture and quality of the King crab meat along with eliminating troublesome cartilage,  I believe the kohlrabi needs more. 

And so we have a disjointed dish in several parts.

Plated Stilton

There's just something about Stilton. It has this rich, creamy texture that simply melts against your tongue. As it softens and spreads, the flavors bloom more slowly than one would expect from its intense, musky scent. First you're struck by its creamy essence, which quietly gives way to its more earthy notes, conjuring barnyards and hot meadow grass on a sunny afternoon and finally culminating in a slightly astringent finish as the flavor lingers, long after the cheese is just a memory. Here we compressed the Stilton and rolled it out, for both it's beautiful presentation and it's easy accessibility to knife and fork, allowing diners to dictate the size of each luscious bite. We paired it with juicy Asian pear apple for its crisp texture and delicate sweetness. This was topped with our spice blend of coarsely ground, toasted bee pollen and grains of paradise, to enhance the earthy notes and give it a little heat. Finally we added an element of the vine with our Minus 8 syrup, made with a reduced Minus 8 Vinegar. In the end it was a composed cheese plate that I could eat happily and often. Every once in a while the stars are in alignment and the sun shines on a monkey's bottom. This was one of those times.

A Crab Sphere

We have been wanting to make these crab spheres and a shrimp version for some time.  The compressed crab is composed of the smaller pieces from  King crab legs.   We are working on a new King crab dish and this is the first element which we have fine tuned.  The large section of the crab is in waiting.  We have discussed a tempura and other hot preparations though we have not finalized our thoughts.  For now, we have the sphere, a crab crystal ball.  Hopefully it will reveal the rest of the dish soon.

In Memoriam, Lucky

The luckiest cat in the world. One morning he was being chased by coyotes, abandoned and assumed feral. He was haunting the lodge where we worked in Colorado, occasionally fed and petted by the grandkids and staff. Till one day he decided to cozy up to Alex. It was slow seduction culminating the afternoon that I was pulled outside to meet the cat. He purred incessantly, crawling up into my lap and rubbing his cheek under my fingers. "Isn't he a cool cat?" Alex enthused. "He acts just like a dog! Don't you miss having a cat?" I agreed that this was a particularly endearing feline. "Of course," he continued, "if we bring him home you would have to be in charge of the litter box." At which point I looked at him and said "I don't think so. You found him, litter box is in your court." We negotiated a bit more and I got to bundle the cat in the car and drive home with him. He did not appreciate the ride and fled to the woods as soon as we arrived home and I opened the car door. After a few minutes of futilely trying to lure him back, I put some food and water out on the porch and went back to work. That evening we were successful in luring him into the house and he refused to leave it again for several weeks afterwards.

It later turned out that one of the ranch hands had been setting up the fire pit that particular morning when the cat had shot out of the woods closely followed by a coyote and taken refuge at the man's feet. He quickly disappeared once the threat had gone, only to return hours later to find a home with us. Alex named him Lucky and he settled into the family with ease. The vet felt certain that he had been abandoned, fortunately he was in relatively good health and familiar with the litter box. He was Alex's special buddy and spent log hours curled up beside him on the sofa or sleeping at his feet on the bed. Once he was settled in he loved sitting on the deck, surveying the landscape. He was an excellent hunter and quickly rid the house of the field mice that plagued us each fall and winter. He also caught them outside, along with birds and the occasional rabbit. Lucky was fastidious, grooming himself constantly and refusing to use the box unless it was absolutely pristine. He was lovable, always welcoming and happy to be near you, purring constantly to let you know that he cared.

Last evening Lucky was hit by a car, almost in front of our house. A neighbor witnessed the accident and came knocking at our door. He also helped block oncoming cars who would have run over the cat again had he not stopped them. People were very put out about the fact that Lucky's body was blocking the street. Although we rushed him to the vet, the damage was immense and he basically insisted that we put him out of his misery. It is a terrible thing to watch the life bleeding out of such a small body. There is no question that the car was speeding. It happens all the time in our neighborhood, I am sure we've been guilty of it ourselves. Word spread quickly and people called or stopped by to offer their condolences, even ones who were clearly unsure what to do in a situation involving a cat. It is a residential neighborhood and there are several neighbors with cats who we see every day. We thank everyone for their sympathy in a very difficult situation.

Lucky was one of the very best cats in the world. We miss him dearly. We remember him with love.  He will always be our little man.

All Tied Up

This dish is directly inspired by one of our classes.  We are able to combine both fish and a vegetable puree together while still allowing them to be separate.  The raw Tasmanian Sea Trout and the cauliflower puree are tied up and then slow cooked in the oven.  We then serve the two together as one with compressed basil stems and a banana-basil puree. It's a new twist on some old favorites.

Upcoming/December Classes

In case you were wondering what the plan is for this Saturday's Pasta class, we will be making smoked tagliatelle, new-style  bacon and egg yolk ravioli, blue cheese cavatelli, Chinese egg noodles, pumpernickel farfalle, and miso orecchiette. It's a fun combination of flavors and doughs to play with and we're looking forward to seeing what new twists our companions come up with.

Personality has been a definite factor in these cooking classes. The students have been varied and we've truly enjoyed getting to know some new people and being exposed to different perspectives and ideas.  Challenging questions stretch our boundaries and we have a plethora of new ideas to work with at the end of every session.

The Hydrocolloids class has been popular and we are adding a couple to the schedule for December. This class is really an exploration of texture. The goal is to familiarize student with various hydrocolloids and show them what they are capable of achieving with them. This way people can take that information into their own kitchens and extrapolate to express their own inspirations and ideas. We'll be very curious to hear or read about what everyone comes up with over the coming weeks and months. It's a familiarization process because sometimes you just need to see and taste something for yourself in order to really understand and reproduce the effects. In this beginning class, Hydrocolloids at Home, we will walk you through examples of what can be achieved with xanthan gum, carageenan, agar agar, Methocel A15C, Gellan (high and low acyl), and Versa Whip.

Construction caused us to cancel the Benton's Ham class last month. We are re-scheduling it for December 1, 2007. It is celebration of great country ham and what you can do with it. County Ham is one of the original significant food treasures of the United States. Clearly smoking and hanging meats is an apreciable form of preservation and it also does amazing things for the flavor of the meat. We will have a smoked ham, an aged country ham and some beautiful slab bacon to work with and we will be creating dishes that allow the pork to shine, such as shaved country ham paired with home made garganelli, "ham cured" fish, oatmeal carbonara, and a compressed ham and apple terrine.

Pasta
10am-1pm Saturday, November 17, 2007

Hydrocolloids At Home
10am-1pm Saturday, November 24, 2007
10am-1pm Saturday, December 15, 2007

Benton's Ham
10am-1pm Saturday, December 1, 2007

Sweetbread Pastrami

I have not had a good pastrami sandwich in quite a long while. I suppose that craving is what recently sparked my initial thoughts about pastrami and its possibilities. Then I began thinking about what would work well cooked pastrami-style. I was trying to avoid the obvious suspects like duck or chicken or salmon. Again I was inspired by something I have not eaten in some time, sweetbreads. As the idea bounced around in my head the concept made my mouth begin to water.  This was clearly a sign that sweetbread pastrami would be darn near delicious.

I then began thinking about the steps in making pastrami and the smoking of the meat stood out in my mind. Smoked sweetbreads on their own would be amazing. As I considered the idea of smoked sweetbreads, I bounced to smoked salmon and the curing of fish.  Smoked salmon cured sweetbreads would be tasty.  As the idea picked up steam, I returned to the pastrami concept and married the idea of curing the sweetbreads, in the style of salmon. though with pastrami spices. I will then smoke the sweetbreads and then cook them sous vide at 65 degrees C for two hours.

Once the sweetbreads are cooked, we will have a new staple in our kitchen, which will be the basis for a variety of new dishes.  And on a simpler note, we may have to make maple-cured and smoked sweetbreads.  Actually, knowing me, I will be off to procure vast amounts of sweetbreads so we can begin to fine tune these ideas tomorrow.

Corn Skin

We have discussed the myriad possibilities and uses for our new skins. While Aki enjoyed the chocolate pudding, I wanted something a bit more savory. Today during our class we decided to try something new.  We had a corn puree on hand with which we were planning to turn into a hot custard when inspiration took over. We added Ticagel to the corn puree and heated the mixture to hydrate the hydrocolloids in the blend. Unfortunately, my liberal usage of butter in the mixture caused the corn puree to separate. Thankfully, the corn puree and the Ticagel were forgiving. We put the mixture into the blender and sheared it back together. We rolled out the resulting emulsion between two sil pats to create a thin corn skin. The additional butter in the corn base altered the texture of the skin just a bit. This skin is softer and more tender than the chocolate pudding skin. 

This corn skin opens up many new opportunities for us. We tested the thermal nature of the pudding skin (thanks to yesterday's class) using a heat gun, so we know we will be able to use the skins in both hot and cold environments. Now that we have jumped into the savory realm we can use the skins as the pasta sheets for cannelloni or to drape over other ingredients thus creating hidden gems on the plate. Again we are just beginning. Ideas from parsnip to pear and miso to mango are popping up in our brains.  And is a skin or a sheet our only option?  Of course not, it's simply a question of figuring out how else to utilize this particular texture to its best advantage. 

Lime-Maple Custard

A cooked egg custard flavored with lime and maple. We served it with shavings of Cypress Moon cheese and a sprinkling of our grains of paradise-bee pollen spice blend. This custard was inspired by our ability to boil eggnog without the eggs curdling. If we could boil eggnog, why not egg custard?  The addition of a blend of iota and kappa carrageenan provided protection to the heat sensitive egg yolks. It appears the presence of the carrageenan acts like starch in a cornstarch pudding. The hydrating carrageenan seems to absorb heat energy slowing down the protein binding of the yolks. What is exciting is the use of carrageenan instead of starch allows for a light and decadent custard rather than a denser pudding.

It's Eggnog Season

Imagine eggnog that can be sliced.  Visualize a puree of buttered rum.  Picture a smooth, decadent coffee drink.  Conjure up the sweet flesh and voluptuous texture of a ripe persimmon paired with toasty, aromatic walnuts.

I wish it were that easy.

What the development of this dessert showed me was the importance of chasing both taste and memories.  Spoil yourself with ideas and capture the essence of those inspirations.

I really crave eggnog, especially when the air gets that first frost and the scent of wood smoke.  The one downfall of eggnog, yes it's store-bought most of the time, is its viscous quality.  A sip or two straight or when spiked with rum a couple of glasses slide down easily, the downside is that it can be heavy, both on the palate and in the belly.  I wanted to capture the essence of eggnog with a smooth custard, rather than in its heavier fluid form.  Similarly, I was looking to capture buttered rum, and not as a beverage.  And coffee, how could we serve the essence of a rich, bitter coffee without it pouring over the plate?  As for the persimmon, autumn's chill brings both persimmons and roasted nuts.  The smooth creamy quality of the persimmons inspired us to see if we could use it as a base, which could cradle the spirit of toasted walnuts and bring out the high points of each element. The culmination of this compilation is pictured above. For us it is an almost perfect fall desert. Eggnog, rum, toasted nuts, coffee, and persimmon, it's a balance of flavors and a memorable indulgence all on one plate.

Progress

Construction, even if it is in the basement, is insidious. Dust somehow blows through the cracks and make it's way all the way up the second floor each and every day that there is work being done. We're making progress on the flood repairs. As these things tend to happen, once they opened up the walls to replace the paneling, new problems arose and there were complications. A job that was meant to be done in two weekends is now going on four weeks.  Thankfully progress is being made and the work is solid. Although two cooking classes have been sacrificed to the work being done, come hell or high water, we'll be ready for the hydrocolloid classes this weekend. Which is not to say that the construction will be done, just that we'll be able to move a good percentage of stuff from the basement back down there, thus freeing up the space necessary to hold the actual classes. Sometimes the closer you get to the finish line, the harder it is to maintain your focus and stay on your game. Once you get there though, it'll all be worth it.

Food and Philosophy

Well it's official, we can say that we are published authors with a book to display on our shelves. It's not a cookbook yet, although we're getting closer.  Food and Philosophy has been released by Blackwell. We are proud to say that we contributed an essay to this culinary collection. We're still waiting for our copy from the publisher, so I ordered one from Amazon today. I'm looking forward to reading all of the other essays on food. Actually its been so long since we submitted it that I'm looking forward to reading our essay again. I'm sure we're in good company.

mmmmmm Pudding Skin

Aki's insistence on pudding skin sparked this creation.  The skin is made with a chocolate sorbet base thickened with a konjac and xanthan gum blend.  The base is then rolled thin and sliced to form strips of pudding skin.  We served it with an orange-rum caramel.  The flexibility of the skin presents a number of future options and possibilities, from the up and coming pumpkin pie to a parsnip skin which we will use for lobster cannelloni. 

For now, Aki is happy with her pudding skin.

Sour Cream and Horseradish Skin

A delicate skin of sour cream flavored with horseradish.  Of course what we will do with it is to be thought of.  Tomorrow, chocolate pudding skin per Aki's request (make something useful like chocolate pudding skin).

Greetings

Recently I walked into a restaurant with two companions. I smiled as I approached the host stand. The nearest person, who happened to be female, smiled back and said firmly "I'm sorry, we're fully reserved until 7:30pm." I looked around the more than half empty dining room, it was 5:30, we had gone to a matinee and were hungry for an unusually early dinner. Then I smiled back at her and said "That's fine because we have a reservation." She was flustered and I was annoyed. What ever happened to hello?

She was apologetic and we shook it off and had a perfectly lovely dinner. It was a very interesting experience though. When you're turned away like that, before you've even opened your mouth, it's a bit mystifying. You wonder if there's dirt on your face or if your clothes are ripped or otherwise sub-par. Apparently someone behind me had held up three fingers, to indicate that there were three of us, and she took that as a sign that we were looking for a table. Of course we were, it being a restaurant and all, although we did have the foresight to book in advance. We weren't going to, because we knew that it was a  an off time that usually isn't busy, thankfully the New Yorker in me insisted on making a reservation.

It made me think about service and why she wouldn't have said "good evening" and started a dialogue before rejecting us at the door. Is the city so big that restaurants can afford to turn people away like that? I understand the delicate balance of seating a dining room and not overloading the kitchen. I also understand that restaurants are in business to make money. It seems to me that if a place is practically empty you might want to employ a bit of diplomacy in sending people away, even if the room will be full in short order.  Just a note, we were there for a good 2.5 hours and even though it did get quite busy, they never did fill up all those empty tables.

Cranberry Tapenade: the Recipe

Cranberry Tapenade

350g fresh washed cranberries
410g assorted pitted olives
100g ketchup
100g maple syrup
60g pickled jalapeno juice
50g sliced pickled jalapeno
50g anchovies in oil

Take all the ingredients and place in a pot.  Simmer over low heat until the berries burst and the mixture becomes thick and sticky.  Let the mixture cool, then pulse in a food processor. 

That is it.  Really a very simple and delicious recipe.  We did end up eating it with a pork roast which we cooked on a bed of brussels sprouts, mushrooms and potatoes.  As I continue to think about what the cranberry tapenade I am also beginning to examine the idea of other fruit and olive combinations which will yield enticing results.

Breakfast

I t's a classic combination because it works. Hot, bitter coffee and tender cake dusted with crunchy grains of sugar. Sugar and caffeine for the slow (or not so slow) rise to the peaks and the inevitable tumble back down to the valley. It's worth it though. Doughnuts (eggnog & apple cider) courtesy of Stew Leonards, because sometimes it's better when you haven't made it yourself.

Cranberry Tapenade

Cranberries and olives have been a classic in our kitchen for a few years.  Yet, we were cooking or marinating cranberries in olive brine to make cranberry olives and cranberry olive sauce.  Today we took a giant leap forward.  We have made cranberry tapenade.  Once again I am asking why we had not thought of this sooner.  We cook cranberries, pitted olives, pickled jalapenos, anchovies, ketchup and maple syrup together.  Once the mixture is sticky and the cranberries have burst to thicken the mixture we let it cool and then pulse it in the food processor and season it with ground black pepper.  The coarse cranberry and olive mixture resonates of fall and cranberry sauce with the rich unctiousness and salinity of tapenade.

As for what what we will serve it with, perhaps the roast loin of pork we have in the oven.  Although, another idea has us drying it out and folding it into an autumn cavatelli dough.  Really, the doors have opened again and I am really excited.

Fennel

Fennel is not something I reach for often.  I enjoy anise and the cleansing bright qualities that go along with  it.  Yet, despite its appealing qualities I often overlook it.

Thankfully, I recently remembered its incredible taste and aroma and picked it up to use.  Here is a fennel puree which we have set in my new favorite mold.  We get perfect rectangles which  pop out easily and provide an ideal dosage of intense flavor, in this case fennel.  We pressured cooked the fennel to make it silky and smooth and then gelled it with a blend of iota and kappa carrageenan.  The texture is smooth with just a touch of resiliency.  As you savor each mouthful, the flavor of fennel washes over your tongue, that smooth, herbal sweetness, which only fennel can provide.

The fennel rectangle was part of a cheese course we assembled with sour strawberries (strawberries glazed in minus 8 vinegar and then dried in the oven) and Brillat Savarin.  A few twists of a pepper mill, filled with grains of paradise finished the dish.
 

Milk as Dessert: the parts

I have a tendency to go overboard.  With all the milk and milk-influenced products at my disposal I set about creating parts for an ultimate whole.  The first component I assembled was a brie and white chocolate brick.  The sweet and saltiness of the two along with their creamy qualities provided a harmonious whole.  Next, I made a coconut milk and milk chocolate ice cream.  I added a bit of tang to the ice cream with sour cream.   After the ice cream I began work on buttermilk-banana bubbles.  As the base for the bubbles strained, I set about making a yogurt cake which I sweetened with condensed milk and accented with black pepper.  After the cake was cooled I compressed it to create a thin, chewy cake.  Then I reached for the goat milk to make a lime leaf dulche de leche.  I used smoked maple syrup blended with sugar for sweetness.  I did not take the milk to the thick, creamy and sticky state of dulche, rather I left the milk in a fluid state which I then thickened with carrageenan.  The lime leaf-goat milk yielded a flexible jelly with an extremely intense perfume.  After I finished with the goat's milk, I set about making crispy milk.  I blended cream cheese, condensed milk and egg whites and dried the mixture in our dehydrator.  Finally, I made milk puree, a fluid gel made with milk and agar agar and enriched with more condensed milk.

Wow.  I assembled a few components for my milk dish.  With the pieces in place I set about arranging the elements into a composed dish.  The dessert came together in a flurry of tastes, textures and ideas.  Aki put it best when she said "You have taken inspiration from an ingredient and made some great things. It's okay to use them to make more than one dessert. You don't have to put it all on one plate"

Now, it is time to start looking at the individual parts and seeing how to make them all shine while still ending up with a milk-inspired dessert or two or three.