IDEAS IN FOOD

French Toast Bread Pudding

The trigger was in our notes.  I was going through our notebooks, culling through ideas and I stopped on our bread gnocchi.  Actually, what kept my attention on the gnocchi was Aki’s insistence that I‘ve been using too much pumpernickel and that perhaps we could step back from it for a while.  Aki is a ruthless editor.  I want to try and incorporate everything, Aki makes sure we only include what is necessary, so that our food is pointed and accurate, leaving the muddled excess on the cutting room floor.  Currently she is cutting the gnocchi, or perhaps simply the pumpernickel.  In either scenario the idea of using bread-based dumplings was at the forefront of my thoughts.  We originally made our pumpernickel, and later brioche, gnocchi utilizing the hot gelling effects of Methocel Food Gums.  The use of Methocel in our recipes allowed the gnocchi to be formed hot and then as they cooled, they would melt upon the palate releasing flavor and yielding a tender bite.  The flaw with these gnocchi is their functionality.  If we used them in a dish and a diner ate too slowly, then the gnocchi would degrade on the plate before they could be consumed and became mushy and unappetizing.  In fact, our evolutions with potato and ricotta gnocchi had similar issues.  At first, we utilized Methocel to form hot dumplings.  Though, once we began using Activa Y-G instead, we were able to create a product which while delicate, were also temperature stable and could withstand the rigors of a day in the kitchen.  In other words, we thought if we could do it with A, could we do it better with B?

 I did not stop there.  Once we realized we could use the Activa to make savory bread gnocchi, I switched gears and thought of bread pudding gnocchi.  If we decided to sauté these sweet dumplings the result would be quite similar to sautéed French Toast.  A tasty dinner at Tailor pushed me further to extrapolate on the initial idea.  Sam makes a delicious piece of French Toast, crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside.  The French Toast is cut into a beautiful rectangle and caramelized evenly on all sides.  I thought about our Activa bound bread gnocchi and simply increased the size.

For our first run at French Toast Bread pudding the results were incredible.  The Activa allowed the raw bread pudding to be cut, shaped and cooked individually.  We are able to flavor the dessert from the inside out.  The next sweet evolution will be individual cubes of croissant French Toast with warmed apricots and cultured butter ice cream.

With the positive and delicious results of this experiment, the next couple of steps are integrating a liquid center and bringing the technique back around to the savory side, where we will be able to make a spice bread pudding with a molten foie gras center.

Pineapple-Tomato

This is a beautiful and surprisingly harmonious combination. Years ago we paired the tomato and the pineapple together as a condiment and discovered  that the two different levels of of acidity and sweetness balanced each other quite nicely. This time we decided to compress both fruits without applying any heat to preserve the natural juices and flavors. We then used our fruit glue (aka pectin/calcium blend) to assemble the layers pictured to the right. The only question now is what to pair with this early summer terrine.

Milk Aeration

I finally made the transition from milk puree to a milk puree leavened with nitrous oxide, a milk foam.  Is the connection important?  We believe so.  We are now able to make lighter and more flavorful purees from almost any ingredient.  Our connection of ideas is not ground breaking, rather it breaks new ground for us.  We have made plenty of fluid gels with both agar agar-locust bean gum and gellan blends.  Yet, our goal was always a pliable puree rather than a foam.  Since we had a preconceived idea of our end goal we were blinded to other possibilities.  Thankfully today we shed the blinders and expanded our horizons. Try it and see how it works for you.

In Their Jackets

What if we cooked our twice cooked potatoes while they were still in their jackets?  Theoretically the moisture inside the potatoes should be enough to gelatinize the starch.  Since the potatoes would be whole, there would be no need to rinse off damaged starch cells during the cooling process.  The idea was interesting, we needed to see if it was sound.

We set about cooking fingerling potatoes (all the same size) in 65 degree Celsius water for one hour, then iced them down so they were completely cool, and then cooked them beginning in cold water until they were tender.  Once the potatoes were cooked through we pressed them through a ricer.  The skins remained in the ricer and the rich, steamy flesh emerged ready to be embellished.  We cooled these twice cooked potatoes down and then used them to make fingerling potato puree.

The results were amazing.  The potatoes had a more potatoe-y flavor, the nutty nature of the skins seemed to permeate the flesh.  The starch was gelatininzed so the resulting puree was creamy and decadent without any starchy build up.  This small evolution in how we looked at the process of potato cookery actually streamlined the preparation process while allowing us to enhance the flavor in our potato puree.

Our next thoughts were about trying this approach with larger russet potatoes for our flourless potato gnocchi. We were actually able to test this idea yesterday and taste the results this morning after an intense culinary workshop with Tony Maws and his enthusiastic team at the Craigie Street Bistrot.  (We will actually be talking further about this workshop since Tony is happy to let us share the experience.)  As it turned out, Tony has been cooking potatoes in their jacket for twice cooked potatoes for about three years now.  It was great to see we were looking at food from different angles to reach the same end goal of delicious.  Tony's words on cooking potatoes in their jackets: "it just made sense, and that way we do not waste flavor and allow the potatoes to become water logged."  Our thoughts exactly, just a few years later.

The potato gnocchi made from the twice cooked, unpeeled potatoes were unbelievable, the texture was simply amazing, a definite improvement on what we had previously thought to be pretty darned great.  Now that is why we cook: to learn, to break through old achievements, and work with people who push us to continue to improve, refine and perfect.

Smoked Water

Not everything needs to go in the smoker.  In looking at green vegetables, we have wanted to smoke them and have hesitated because of the possible side effects of the process. We were not sure if the heat, yes there is still some heat in cold smoking, would affect the color of the vegetables.  Mind you we did not actually try to smoke broccoli or asparagus so we cannot answer that question definitively as of yet.  Now that we are without a smoker on hand, we look for other ways to add smoke to ingredients.  We have used wood shavings to make miniature smokers and burned rice with tea and dried fruits to generate smoke.  We also have used powdered smoke in dry applications like spice rubs and pasta doughs.  Until now we had not tried using the smoke powder in moist environments.  Well, except for the smoked eggs.  In fact, we should have already made the leap to making smoked water for cooking.  Apparently we are a bit behind.

To make smoked water for cooking we add 2 percent salt and .15 percent smoke powder to water which we then use to blanch vegetables.  The first ingredient we cooked using this medium was fiddlehead ferns.  The smoke and salt permeated the ferns giving a depth of flavor which was balanced and not overly assertive.  The process of cooking in smoked water or other liquid mediums allows for a greater control in the adding the flavor of smoke to ingredients.  It also allows us to control the cooking process of the vegetables and other ingredients and become a bit more exact and refined in our ability to prepare food with a smoked flavor.

Smoked French Fries

Why have we not tried smoking French fries?  We go through a number of steps to improve the texture, why have we forgotten about the enhancement and exploration of flavor?  Time to fire up the smoker.  Actually, it is time to purchase a smoker, unfortunately I have not reached the end of the Pacojet moratorium.  Perhaps I will get all Magyver-like and see what we can put together.

Anyway you look at it, we need to start eating smoked French fries.  Since we are talking about the world of fried and smoked foods, what about smoked onion rings, tater tots and even calamari? It is a good thing we will be back in our kitchen soon.

Lentil and Artichoke Ragout

When we get ingredients in our kitchen we work through a number of permutations and ideas.  Recently we were working with hoisin lentils.  The base is a combination of coffee and hoisin sauce accented with orange bitters and soy sauce.  The technique and inspiration borrows from two sources: the industrial world where false currants and other fruits are made by blending fruit puree with pectin and dropping it in a calcium bath, (check out Thickening and Gelling Agents for the recipe) and Wylie who was making mole lentils by dropping a mole base from an exact height to create a flattened legume presentation rather than a currant. 

With these two front runners as models, inspirations and catalysts for extrapolation, I set about looking at flavors that would make unique and tasty legumes.  I have had my heart set on hoisin for some time, just after the time Wylie debuted his lentils and I had a chance to try them, over a year ago.  Unfortunately, I often let ideas mull, fester and get dusty.  I finally opted to take the idea off the shelf and put it into action.  Once again I tripped.  I did not have any hoisin sauce.  That should not be a problem for most chefs.  For me it turned a crack in the sidewalk into a brick wall.  Instead of hoisin I fell back upon my current crutch, Dr. Pepper.  Dr. Pepper lentils are tasty.  The results were right it’s just that Dr. Pepper is no hoisin sauce.  Blasphemy is being muttered as I write this, though it is true.  Actually the flavors are closer than I ever imagined, it is the overall savoriness of hoisin that makes it a front-runner in the flavored legume category.

I finally was able to get some hoisin sauce.  As I noted, the base is a combination of the hoisin and coffee accented with a few other ingredients to focus the key flavors.  With the base prepared we set about dropping the hoisin into a calcium bath and letting the legumes form.  Once the lentils were made a quick rinse in water and they were ready to use.  For our regular readers you will remember us using the hoisin lentils paired with the doomed lamb shank.  The blend of cucumber puree and hoisin was tasty, very Peking Duck condiment, though it felt too cute, too contrived, and too wrong.

We had created the lentils of my imagination and now I did not have a use for them.  That is frustrating.  What makes lentils really tasty is the combination of cooked lentils with a puree of lentils, a cream of sorts which coats the legumes with a rich, decadent and flavorful coating, a secondary carrier of flavor and a supporting texture.  We used to use pureed lentils to make this textural contrast.  Then, we thought about supporting flavors.  What if we used a seasonal ingredient to create this creamy medium instead of the lentil itself?  In the summer we could use sweet corn, apples and pears in the fall, in the winter chestnuts and parsnips would be wonderful associates to the steely lentil.  When spring rolls around fresh peas, asparagus green and white as well as spring onions are all wonderful accompaniments.  Since we are in the middle of spring and we are working with artichokes it was not a large leap for me to think about an artichoke puree with our hoisin lentils.

We took the braised artichokes and pureed them with some of their cooking liquid.  A small amount of xanthan gum added body and richness to the puree without the need for additional fat.  When the puree was silky smooth we strained it and then folded in the hoisin lentils.  The artichoke puree filled in the voids between the lentils creating a harmonious whole.  The combination of the lentils and the artichoke is sweet, bitter, earthy, decadent, bright and still constrained.  Of course we are only part way home.  We have the lentil and artichoke ragout though not a complete dish.  That is all right, because the time for everything comes around and with this in our repertoire I do not think it is too long before the final dish shows its face.

Shrimp Sphere

It was only a matter of time before I would leap from crab spheres to those made of shrimp.  The shrimp are bound with one percent Activa RM and then set in silicone sphere molds.  We vacuum seal and then cook the shrimp in these molds to retain the perfectly round presentation of the shrimp.  Here we paired the shrimp with a minced jelly made from grapefruit-yogurt consomme.  A few shards of zucchini crisps added texture and vegetal notes to the dish.  An accent of cranberry molasses acts to highlight the dish and add bright acidic notes to the  sweet, briny flavor of the shrimp. It's a playful spring dish in both spirit and flavor.

Vadouvan, Maple and Scrambled Corn

While corn season is still a number of months out we have not been able to keep its presence out of our kitchen.  We use frozen corn which captures the essence of sweet corn.  We do not use the kernels in their whole form because the texture of frozen corn is a bit strange.  Instead, we make a puree seasoned with chipotle and butter whose flavor stands up and reminds us of Summer's seasonal bounty.

The corn puree was used in our most recent class on Methocel.  We used it to create scrambled corn, a preparation we worked on a number of years ago.  Since our initial developments with scrambled corn we have learned a lot.  We have also made plenty of mistakes.  The
combined results of learning from our failures has helped us produce our most recent formulation of corn, which may be cooked into beautiful egg-like curds.  The addition of iota carrageenan adds a richer creaminess to the base and solves the syneresis issues we struggled with in the initial formulation.

We paired the corn with a vadouvan and maple syrup consomme which added spice, aromatics and a cleansing note to compliment the creamy curds.  The sliced chives pick up the allium notes in the vadouvan. All in all we were quite satisfied with this creamy, tasty hint of what's to come.

German Potato Salad Gnocchi

The results are in.  German potato salad gnocchi are just too tasty.  These babies are the result of our continued work exploring new possiblilities with potato gnocchi.  We incorporated minced bacon, cornichons and tarragon mustard into a gnocchi base bound with Activa y-g. They are warm, crispy, creamy, porky, tangy and satisfying. This afternoon they were the perfect finger food to brighten up a slightly gloomy afternoon.

Smoked Onsen Egg

This is our smoke powder infused egg cooked in the style of an onsen egg.  It sits nestled in a bed of scrambled peas (a spontaneous result from yesterday's class) and is surrounded by a draping of hot mozzarella. 

This dish brings together a number of ideas and tastes in a delicious combination while also acting as a springboard for spring dishes. Of course after we started eating the dish Aki suggested some crushed wasabi peas for a bit of texture and heat.  Some days you have to taste the dish a few times before you can actually finish it.

Delivery and Approach

In assembling this dish we are playing with new ideas on the delivery and release of flavors.  Our corn soup is encased in a pectin skin accented with cilantro. The filled orb rests on a bed of grated country ham.  The steam from the hot soup partially obscures the view of the dish, leaving the diner to wonder what lies inside.

When the lid is removed a faint whiff of sweet country ham and fresh cilantro are released to ease the senses.  The diner pierces the delicate membrane with their spoon and releases the soup onto the garnish. The resulting bite is warm, decadent and full of flavor. It is a promise of summertime on your spoon to liven up this last lingering bit of winter's chill.

Blending

Sometimes two is better than one.  Think of a coin.  Without opposing sides there would be no united whole.  Sometimes two flavors need to joined while still keeping their own identity.  We have started working on chips which are inspired by this thought process.  Our first success was also a product of what we had in our kitchen.  Today we joined red cabbage and cauliflower.  Tomorrow, we really start exploring the possibilities.

Preserved Lemon Zest

Since we have quickly preserved lemon zest on hand I have tended to want to use it on everything from pasta to roasted broccoli to steelhead trout roe and ice cream.  Yet, I do not always want to brunoise or mince the preserved lemon.  Would it not be great if we could zest this flavorful condiment in order to create whispers of seasoning?  And then, like an anvil on the head, simplicity struck.  Put the lemon planks in the freezer.  Once the preserved lemon was frozen we were able to easily generate preserved lemon zest.  Now that is exciting.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

It began with ricotta, made its way to potato and now we have arrived at sweet potato.  We roast 3 to 4 sweet potatoes in the oven until they are tender, then scoop out the flesh and let it cool.  We weigh the flesh, hopefully we have 450 grams.  If there is a bit extra save it for another use.  If you come up shy, adjust the ratio down.  We then add 350 grams of ricotta and four grams of salt to the sweet potatoes.  We place these ingredients in a Pacojet cansister, though a food processor will work just fine, and puree the mixture until it is smooth and without lumps.  Then we  add eight grams, one percent, Activa Y-G to the mix and puree again to incorporate and fully disperse the powder.  Once the base is made we put it in a piping bag and extrude strips of the dough.  After this is done, we invert another sheet pan on top of the tubes of sweet potato to protect them and place it in the refrigerator so the mixture can set.  We have found that this Activa takes longer to form its bonds, at least 12 hours, although a full 18 hours seems to get better results. 

Once the sweet potato tubes have rested we take them from the refrigerator and cut them into individual gnocchi.  At this point they are ready to use.   Then can be sauteed, glazed, broiled, baked, or steamed.  We like this particular shape for our gnocchi. You can certainly experiment with others, the base can easily be set in cubes or rectangles in molds or simply shaped into quenelles.

Here we designed a simple dish of sauteed gizzards and swiss chard leaves to highlight the sweet potato gnocchi.  A flourish of shaved spring white truffles gilds the lily and if they are not available, a nice nutty cheese would certainly be a terrific stand in.

Apple Smoked

What if we turned the idea of smoking foods around.  This summer we tried using cocoa nibs and coffee beans  to smoke foods.  It did not work.  I wonder if we used a vaporizer instead if we could capture these aromas?  That is another idea and one which will involve me trying to convince Aki we need a vaporizer.  (And that will not be approached until the newness of the Pacojet wears off, let's say in two years.  Though if anyone has a vaporizer in the area and wants to let me put cocoa nibs and coffee beans in it, please feel to drop me a line.)

My mind wandered a bit there, though I am now back on track. Recently I wanted to see if it was possible to smoke foods with fruits.  We use fruit wood to create the smoke for smoking foods so why not use the actual fruit?  My first attempt at this process was a smashing success.  We used completely dried apple chips which we lit on fire on our stove.  I then put the smoking chips in a metal bowl and covered it with a cloche.  The chips smolder and then go out, leaving the cloche full of  smoke that is rich with the aroma of apples combined with traditional wood smoke nuances.  Eureka.  Now my brain is accelerating.  What to smoke?  How to best capture the smoke?  What other fruits can we use?  While I first thought of apple smoking eggs, I believe our first real test will be apple smoked scallops.  Like the classic combination of bacon and eggs, scallops and bacon  are a wonderful duo that are hard to resist.  We should also try and apple smoke apples to see how apple smoke accents the juicy flavor of the fresh fruit. Aki's leaning towards apple smoked soy sauce or even apple smoked ginger ale.  As the various ideas whiz through air, our kitchen happily smells as if Bouley's apple lined restaurant entrance married Blue Smoke.

*As an aside, banana chips work as well.  While the smoke, like the smell of banana, is sweetly perfumed and nicely balanced, it is not overly intense with the aroma of the fruit, in contrast to the apple smoke.

Pork Shoulder

Back in the day we used to confit whole pork shoulders in lard.  We would cover them with a dry rub and let them sit in the refrigerator overnight so that the flavor could penetrate the meat.  Then, we took the shoulders and submersed them in  a warm bath of garlic, herb, and onion flavored lard and slowly cooked them till the meat would fall off the bones.  When the shoulders were finished cooking, we pulled them out of the fat, let them drain on a rack, and when they were cool enough to handle we would remove the bones and impurities (huge fat pockets and veins) and then press the shoulders skin side up in a hotel pan.  When the shoulders were chilled we had large blocks of pork shoulder confit which we then cut into cubes.  These cubes were glazed with a sweet and sour rhubarb sauce and served with a papillote of rhubarb, onions and raisins and a side of grits.  The dish was decadent, although perhaps a bit bulky.

Since that time we have worked with pork shoulders sporadically over the years.  Sometimes we slow roast them so that the skin becomes a deep, mahogany crackling over the rich, melting meat, while other times we wrap the shoulder in foil and to slowly steam in the oven with various spices and fresh chiles so that we can shred the meat for tacos.

Recently we revisited the pork shoulder.  We borrowed from our many experiences and have a current new favorite technique for preparing a pork shoulder.  First, we remove the skin and the bones, keeping the skin in one piece.  We break the shoulder down into individual muscle pieces and then cut t he larger muscles in half so we have uniform slabs of pork shoulder.  We season these pieces with some curing mix and spices and then jaccard them, both to tenderize and to allow for the diffusion of seasonings and spices within the meat.  Once the shoulder is jaccarded, we dust the inside of the skin and the meat with Activa RM and reassemble the muscles underneath the skin.  We then vacuum seal the shoulder and let it rest overnight.

The next morning we put the shoulder in a 67 degree C water bath and cooked it for twenty hours.  We have noticed that the jaccarding of meat has shaved some substantial time from our slow cooked meats, which is a good thing because shorter cooking times mean more intense, meaty flavors.  When the pork was cooked, we pressed it flat overnight in the refrigerator.  We were then able to slice slabs of the shoulder and crisp the skin as the meat itself gently warmed.  We use a heavy pan over low to medium heat with just a touch of oil to make sure that skin doesn't stick and then let it slowly render, so the skin can develop that prized crackling texture while the meat gently warms in a moist environment.

With the shoulder under control, we looked to a few accompaniments.  We paired the shoulder with delicate, sweet potato gnocchi and earthy black trumpet mushrooms, and then added a coffee-ketchup sauce to really pique the meat and highlight its juicy texture and inherent sweetness.  The black trumpets were the most extravagant ingredient (and they were a gift) and the entire dish was a true indulgence.

Gizzards, Apples and Truffles

It has taken some time to bring our braised gizzards from an ingredient in our pantry to the subject of a dish. Since we were working with apples in our cooking class we had a few staples with which to support the gizzards.  We also had a bit of truffle on hand and figured it certainly would not hurt the dish. 

We sauteed the braised gizzards in butter and then added maple vinegar infused apples.  As the base and also an accent for the gizzards we took slices of truffle and compressed them on rounds of apple which were seasoned with a few grains of salt, a drop or two of truffle oil and a misting of Meyer lemon juice.  What is exciting about the truffle-apple compression is the flavors unite seamlessly.  Also, because the truffles are supported by a backing of apple they are easily cut into squares which we can arrange in the dish.  The warm sabayon on top of the gizzards and apples is made with apple juice thickened with Methocel F50 (1%) and a bit of xanthan gum(.15%).

Since we do not have a steady supply of micro greens on hand we have begun looking at full size herbs and how we can cut them to spread their flavor throughout a dish.  Today we cut parsley leaves into small squares, spreading the bright cleansing flavor of the green throughout the dish. The finished dish is herbaceous, earthy from the truffles, meaty from the tender yet chewy gizzards, crunchy from the apples, with the sabayon adding an almost creamy and still incredibly light element to round things out. It is a bright satisfying dish for this rainy winter's afternoon.

Skirt Steak

These days we have not had the luxury of cooking with luxury ingredients.  That setback has actually proved to be instrumental in the refinement of our cooking and in our approach to ingredients.

I am not jumping on the comfort food band wagon.  I am just looking at possibilities. It's easier to make great food when you start with top tier ingredients, our challenge now is to find out what we can do with the unrivaled quality of more accessible items.  I am looking at, and asking about what is possible on a budget.

These skirt steaks are a prime, no pun planned, example of our use of refinement with often overlooked ingredients.  Sure flank and skirt steaks are the quick grilled and fajita loved staples of Saturday afternoons.  What if we could use a few simple techniques to change these perceptions. 

Growing up I remember steak and eggs at the Georgia Diner on Queens Boulevard. They called it Roumanian steak and eggs and it was only many years later that I learned that Roumanian steak was actually skirt steak. This was one of my favorite breakfast treats because the meat was so tender and flavorful. The hash brown and eggs were more of an afterthought, appreciated but unnecessary. At the time it was a cut that I never encountered anywhere else. Because of this it was a dish that I looked forward to savoring on the weekends when we went out for breakfast. 

While we were exploring Korean and Filipino markets the other day we wandered into Ottomanelli & Sons in Woodside. They happened to have beautiful prime skirt steak. In this instance, we have seasoned the skirt steaks with salt, given them a pass with our Jaccard and then dusted them with Activa.  After an overnight compression we have double thick skirt steaks which have the marbling of an ideal steak and a uniform consistency for cooking.  I believe we have been able to find a means to replicate the taste and texture of a rib eye cap at a much more approachable price.  Furthermore, we do not need to find a use for the center cut of the rib eye once we have removed the cap.

Of course, while we have refined the skirt steak and now have a great and relatively inexpensive steak to eat and work with, we still need to find a way to present it. The perfect steak dish still hovers just out of reach and once again we will attempt to capture it.

And as for other seasonings, a bit of flavored brine from bacon to blue cheese could certainly add a distinct level of character to the skirt steak. We'll just have to wait and see what moves us.

Gaga for Gizzards

Our gizzard cooking extravaganza paid off.  The twenty four hour marination and the subsequent 19 hours of cooking in the marinade yielded rosy pink, tender, and toothsome gizzards.  The inner lining of the gizzards were left intact during the curing and cooking process and seemed to help hold the gizzards' shape.  When the lot was cool, I opened the bag, rinsed the gizzards and tentatively tried one.  They had tenderness and meatiness in each bite, the curing had fully penetrated and seasoned the gizzards.  The only bit of hesitancy I had was about the texture of the interior of the gizzard.  It had a chewy-almost crunchy texture similar to that of braised pigs ears.  If you have not eaten  braised pigs ears I recommend it.  They are meaty with a slightly firm, gelatinous snap in each bite.  Makes you sit up and pay attention to what you're eating.  Pigs ears aside, I did not think the gizzards were showing their best with this element of snap.  So, I separated the interior membrane from the gizzards proper and reserved each group to use separately.  I appreciated the texture and flavor of the total package, I just felt that each component could be utilized better on its own. 

Now we had a pile of cured, cooked, and cleaned gizzards and all of the trim.  I gathered up the excess membrane (the gizzard lining) and used my handy dandy Pacojet to finely mince it up.  The result looked liked deviled ham before a big dollop of mayonnaise is added.  Aki and I discussed used for the minced gizzards: gizzard gribiche, gizzard grits (a play off of our shrimp grits), gizzard Bolognese sauce to serve with chicken noodles, gizzard vinaigrette, dirty risotto, even gizzard corned beef hash.  In the end, Aki thought we should fold them into the chicken liver terrine we were also working on to give some texture and substance to the finished product, reminiscent of a country pate.  As I am one to listen to my partner in crime, I added the minced gizzard trim to the terrine.  Little did I know, or perhaps I failed to ask, that I was not supposed to use all the minced gizzards with the livers.  Rather, Aki intended that some of the minced gizzards were supposed to be reserved to test a few of our other ideas.  I guess I will be mincing some of the cleaned and trimmed gizzards.  Yet, I still have a list of ideas specifically for them: served in a ragout with Dijon garganelli, warmed in truffle butter on top of sunflower seed risotto, crusted with hazelnuts and served with roasted pears, and of course buffalo wing style.

What Alex is failing to mention here is quantity. There were a lot of gizzards involved in this experiment and we could have easily tested a number of different concepts with the trim. Instead we now have an abundance of chicken liver pate. ( I actually thought we were going to do a few different things with the livers as well, but that's another post.) I really enjoy pate, but there are only two of us to eat it at the moment and we could easily feed twenty with the amount we now have on hand. It is an admirable use of livers and gizzards, just perhaps not the most efficient one for our current circumstances. Now if we were in a restaurant...

Cauliflower Egg Caviar

About three years ago we made a false Arzak egg.  The white was made with cauliflower, gelled with Methocel, and the yolk was carrot, it too thickened with Methocel.  We paired the false egg with country ham of duck and cranberry miso.  The dish is delicious.

In looking at the egg, the aspect I missed most was the yolk.  Egg whites are not really my thing, the yolk is heavenly.  That being the case, I could still make a cauliflower egg, just this time I would use a real yolk.  And what better to pair with the cauliflower and egg yolk than a spoonful of caviar.  Steve's wild char roe worked out just beautifully.

The greatness of this dish is its simplicity and the fact the white, the cauliflower, is firm and set while the yolk is fluid and runny, just the way I like it.  And the firmness of the cauliflower works as a great  medium to carry the yolk and the caviar to my mouth.

Custard Spheres

We had the opportunity to revisit the honey custard.  In this case we opted to cast them as spheres rather than cubes.  We have also refined the olive pop rocks a bit.  We now grind the olives, lemon zest and neutral pop rocks in the Pacojet.  The result is a fine, relatively uniform crumble of effervescent olives.  In assembling this dessert we also reached for spice roasted hazelnuts, which we ground in the same manner.  A bit of oli