IDEAS IN FOOD

Gorgonzola Cremifacto

Last week Alex was wandering through the aisles at Whole Foods. He was actually picking up some last minute items for a dinner we were catering. One of the things that was not on his list was cheese, as we already had a pretty cool one that we were planning to feature. This being Alex though, he was unable to resist the siren call of the cheese department and ambled over there to take a look at what they had in stock.  Our cheese course changed the instant he came across the Gorgonzola Cremifacto.

This savory blue cheese was so rich and runny that they spooned it into a deli container instead of wrapping it up in paper or plastic. The texture was incredibly luxurious. It was silky and elastic, melting slowly on the palate. The flavor of the cheese was assertive without being overly aggressive, with an earthy tang that lingered long after the cheese itself was just a memory.

Gorgonzola is an Italian cheese that is produced in Piedmont and Lombardy. It is a blue veined cheese made from cow's milk. There are different varieties, the most common being the Piccante Gorgonzola or Gorgonzola Naturale and the Gorgonzola Dolce. The Dolce is a softer, sweeter cheese, with a higher fat content and a creamy texture. The Piccante is a firmer cheese. It is aged for a minimum of three months and often for much longer. It is much sharper and spicier in flavor with a chalky, crumbly texture. The Gorgonzola Cremifacto seems to be more in the style of a Dolce. It is enriched with heavy cream and aged for three months to produce the lovely, runny cheese that we so enjoyed last week.

We served it with strawberries that were compressed with a touch of smoked balsamic, some sliced chives and a bit more vinegar on the plate. The sweetness of the fruit and the lightly smoked acid of the vinegar provided a beautiful counterpoint to this luscious cheese.

The Porous Egg, Revisited

As it turns out, our initial calculations for infusing eggs with smoke flavor via smoke powder were slightly optimistic. We ended up utilizing the paste method and leaving the eggs in a mixture of smoke powder and water for 48 hours versus our initial plan of twenty four hours in just the powder. Breakfast this morning was a revelation. The smoke flavor was concentrated in the yolk and a bit more delicate in the white. It had a rich and well rounded smoke flavor that evoked visions of country ham and cheesy grits without any of that ancient ashtray flavor that sometimes appears in overly smoked foods. These eggs are amazing. If you have any smoke powder in the pantry get going. They'll be ready in time for Friday night supper or the perfect weekend breakfast. The results are totally worth the two minutes of effort it will take to make the paste, rub it on the eggs, wrap them up, and leave them in the fridge for two days. Seriously, these eggs will make your meal.

Next up rubbing eggs with flavored oils and letting them infuse for 48 hours, black truffle being the first on deck. We're also going to rub a few with some pureed lime pickle just for fun. We'll see what develops this weekend.

First Up

If you had a "new" Pacojet with the Coupe Set that allowed you to process fresh ingredients, what's the first thing that you would put into it? If your name is Alex, that ingredient would be Italian lardo. In the Pacojet it whips up like the softest, creamiest butter, with a rich game-y flavor and an incredibly light texture. Straight out of the machine it's slightly grainy. Pass it through a fine sieve and you have something very special. Whipped lardo. That must be one of the reasons why I married him. Brilliant.

Mini Me

The biggest problem I have encountered with using a Vita-Mix blender is its size.  When we have wanted to make small amounts of herb purees or sauces the product being processed would end up lost in the bottom of the blender jar.  Similarly, we are not often making large amounts of anything, so a small jar on the powerful Vita-Mix base is perfect for many of our applications. 

And now we have found one.  I guess it has been around for some time, though the half size blender jar has eluded my search.  Recently, we saw evidence of its existence when we had a brief tour of The French Laundry kitchen.  The visual evidence of the jar sparked my quest to source it our.  And funnily enough, we found it at a Costco in Montana.  Now we must see if my theory of a smaller jar being beneficial to our cooking is true.  Time and lots of cooking will tell. 

Solaire Grill

The Solaire Grill is the newest edition to our kitchen.  Aki found it and did the research on the grill and it seemed to be a perfect fit for us: small, compact, easy to clean, lightweight and powerful.  We have just started working with the grill and so far the results stand up to the research.   We started by grilling some corn which charred  beautifully.   A perfect side dish to some pulled pork and sea air.  We have plans to conduct further tests, chefs have to eat, and we are looking forward what we will be able to grill.  If Aki would just catch a fish we could  work on our grilled fish tests.   If she gets skunked again I'll be forced to move onto lobster tests. 

Fried Carrots

We have spent a fair amount of time working with our pressure cooker.  In trying to get the right time for cooking vegetables we have ended up with more than our share of vegetable purees.  Though as we narrowed our window for root vegetable cookery, we came across an interesting result.  We cooked round, unpeeled carrots in a spiced broth for eight minutes.  Once the pressure released naturally we used a towel to rub the skins off the carrots.  The resulting carrots were delicious, fragrant and tender.  Really tender.  They were like a carrot puree held in the shape of carrots.  What can we do with these?  Sure, we could make a really tasty carrot puree.  Yet, I wanted to show off the carrots texture, flavor and shape.  We needed something to carry the carrots.  I opted for a beer batter, though a tempura would be equally exciting. 

Of course we needed something to serve with the fried carrots, a dipping sauce of sorts.  Several days earlier, our resident accomplice in the kitchen had brought the idea of a smoked onion mayonnaise.  I had never thought, tasted or seen a smoked onion mayo.  And as soon as he mentioned the sauce it struck a flavor combination that had to be delicious.  To make the mayonnaise we smoked several onions and then pressured cooked them till they were melting.  We then pureed these onions with an egg yolk and added a touch of mustard, olive oil and a spoonful of roasted garlic to round out the flavors.  A splash of lemon juice and a pinch of cayenne finished the smoked onion mayonnaise.

With the batter and carrots in front of us and the mayonnaise sitting in the wings, we set about frying. 

Brief tangent, skip if you want to continue with the food.

Frying foods is interesting.  There are many ways one can go about frying and I have yet to find one which really makes sense.  My main  issue with frying is the mess and clean up.  Fryers, commercial and home models are full of nooks and crannies which need to be cleaned often.  And cleaning fryers is not high on my list of things I like.  Frying in a pot on the stove works, though temperature control can be an issue.  Yet, since our adoption of a laser thermometer checking oil temperatures in a pot has not then included cleaning a candy thermometer which we used to attach to the side of the pot to monitor oil temperatures.  So, now I just need to watch the pot and flame to keep everything frying properly.  And when the frying is done, I just let the oil cool and strain it back into its original bottle.  Then I only have one pot without nooks and crannies to clean.  While I write this about frying and lack of desire to have to clean hard to reach places I have begun to wonder why no one has assembled or come up with a frying system which is modeled after the pot fryer with the temperature control of the industrial and home model fry machines.  In fact, I bet the use of induction technology with a large insert might be the right path to follow.   Of course, that is a whole other story and today the focus is on fried carrots.

We heated up our pot of oil on the stove and dusted the carrots lightly with cornstarch.  Again, I drew upon Aki's shake and bake style for coating foods.  We placed the carrots and cornstarch in a bag and did a gentle shake (remember the carrots are really tender) then dipped them into the beer batter.  The frying had begun.  As the battered carrots hit the oil a crisp shell formed, protecting the tender interior while also providing structure to the carrots.  When the carrots were good and crisp we removed them from the oil, seasoned them with some salt and then started dipping into the smoked onion mayonnaise.  They were good.  Really good.  Hot as well.  If you are looking for a crisp and snappy carrot, this is not the dish or approach.  We had crisp batter, melting carrot and cool and creamy smokey onion mayonnaise.  We served these as an hors d' oeuvre though they would also be a great accompaniment to dish or even a course on there own.  I would sit down to a plate of these.  And we do not have to just use carrots.  Beets, turnips, baby fennel, artichokes and much more  all would benefit from this pressure tenderizing and deep frying.  Imagination is our only limitation.

Striped Marlin

I have now edited this post to correctly reflect the fish we were brought and used in the dish below.  It was not Blue Marlin as I remembered, rather Striped Marlin.  I guess I need to turn up my hearing aid.

Back to Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway.  (The reference to Hemingway ties into the story of the old man's search for the Blue Marlin, apparently now the reference is of little use.)   A new fish guy stopped by and brought some tantalizing pieces of fish to try and tempt us and to convince us to try some of his fish.  The first piece of fish we cut into was sashimi grade Striped Marlin.  Honestly, I do not remember eating Marlin before and certainly not sashimi grade.  Really, I do not know much about the true gradings of fish.  I know fresh.  I know mouth feel.  I can taste and see fat and sinew respectively.  Their flavor and textures tell me what I need to know about their quality.

The fish was good.  No, it was more than good.  It had a clean flavor with a firm and buttery texture.  Think of cold butter without the guilt factor.  The fish sparked ideas.  That does not always happen.

Today we sliced the fish into small stamp sized pieces and dressed it with soy sauce, walnut oil and yuzu juice.  We added diced snap peas and nasturtium leaves for sweetness and spice.  Finally a sprinkling of candied walnuts added texture and a hidden surprise to the components.

With an initial offering like this one, I plan to see what else is up this fish guy's sleeve.

What's in an Egg

I went to the Chinese supermarket and bought some eggs.  I bought quail and duck eggs.  One thing I have been wanting to do is make a mosaic of egg.  I was not sure what egg I wanted.  I cooked the quail eggs at 65 degrees C for forty five minutes and the duck eggs for two hours.  I then cooled the eggs.  I started with the quail eggs.  I extracted the eggs from their shells, lightly seasoned them and compressed them between two sheets of plastic wrap.  I then froze the egg base as a sheet.  When it was frozen I trimmed it to the shape I wanted.  I used the trimmings to test the egg.  What I imagined did happen.  The egg whites weep moisture upon thawing while the yolks are creamy and decadent.  I have several ideas to solve that problem, from simply blotting the mixture before freezing, to integrating a product which will hold the moisture.  We shall see.

My next step was to see how the duck eggs turned out.  I cracked open the first one and...yikes, it was more than an egg, I had well, the reason for the egg.  I tried another and another and another.  I had what some consider a delicacy and I consider a surprise I was not ready for.  The duck egg experiments are currently on hold do to the fact that I have no duck eggs, just way too young ducks. 

Poor Man's Silicone Molds

I cheated and pulled this photo from Amazon,. Hopefully they won't come after me because these beauties have just arrived in our kitchen. They are square, silicone ice cube trays, a poor man's mold if you will. We have lots of ideas for these babies, just as soon as we can shake off this pesky flu. Each tray creates 15 perfect squares to play with.  As of this writing, you can get two of these trays for $11 plus shipping from the vendors at Amazon. Ours arrived inside of a week in perfect condition. I see sweet and savory jellies (perhaps half-size), purees, panna cottas, and of course perfectly square, flavored ice cubes for our favorite cocktails.

Smoked Maple Syrup: a source

We just received a comment on the smoked maple tapioca dish we did a while back.  That was when we had a smoker at our back door, something we are now without.  We now smoke in the oven using a compressed wood powder we got from Korin, wood smoke sticks.  While this works well for squid and whiting, I have not attempted a long smoke which I like for maple syrup.  Now, I do not need to.  We were pointed in the direction of Pop's Original Smoked Maple Syrup.  I have not tried the product, only read the words of others.  It is truly exciting to discover a source for smoked syrup.  I also like that you can purchase a variety of different smoke levels depending on what you are making or how much smoke you like.  I am planning on ordering some soon, I feel our kitchen is lacking without smoked maple around.  I think we will try one of each.

Free Books

The Great American Book Giveaway is a boon for all those who love to read (like me). It's a risk free way to read some new books and be introduced to some new authors. As far as I can tell you can't choose the books you want to win, but since they're free, I can't say that I mind being surprised. It's a marketing tool for authors  and publishers and it allows them to get their books in the hands of readers who may not have found them otherwise.  All you have to do is enter your email and each week they will randomly pick hundreds of lucky winners who will receive hardcover copies of select fiction and non-fiction books. The concept reminds me of In Bubble Wrap, the site where you can win free business books if you register and participate in a goofy Q&A each day.  This is the first week of the Great American Book Giveaway so things are kind of bare bones on the site.  On the bright side, they have plans to develop the website with author interviews and book reviews. It looks interesting and although I don't see any cookbooks yet, if it takes off anything can happen. Besides, even chefs have to reads something besides culinary tomes every once in a while...

Foie Gras Cotton Candy

Today we made foie gras cotton candy.  No seriously we did.  Here, check it out, on a plate seasoned with salt and pepper.  Back to work.

Messing Around

Here we are just playing around with the hot hollandaise sheets.  We shall figure out some other uses but this sure is a tasty breakfast.

The Tastes of Green

Bright green and olive drab are in the same color family but are as opposite in visual appeal as I can possibly imagine.  Yet, over the past two days I have worked with both variations and been exceedingly pleased with the taste results. 

The first shade  we ended up with was bright green.  We were planning on making a pure parsley puree.  Aki mentioned that we had some garlic shoots on hand and their flavor would complement the parsley both flavor wise and aesthetically.  I was game and the puree was vivid and bright.  I then added some of the anchovy onion puree Aki had made.  And this was important.  Previously when I had made salsa verde and other green sauces I just pureed all the contents together and then strained the resulting puree.  Here I was able to integrate the finished anchovy-onion puree into the parsley-garlic shoot puree.  The result was a much brighter and balanced flavor profile and I did not need to spend nearly as much time pulverizing ingredients.  Each base was done separately and then combined together.

The second shade of  green was an olive drab.  Green foods, especially beans, are not normally enticing when cooked to an olive, just from the can green.  Yet today the result was so darn good the color does not really matter.  (Until I can figure a way to keep the bright color of the beans and also retain the silken rich texture of braised beans.)  We began with a paste of onion and poblano pepper which we slowly cooked in olive oil.  When the puree began to caramelize we added sliced Romano beans and truffle juice.  The beans cooked slowly and absorbed the heady truffle juice.  When the beans were finally cooked, tender and decadent we folded in some diced preserved truffle.  Sure, the color is not the color of my jeep, but the taste and texture are ones that will certainly turn heads.

A Good Mistake

I was working with salmon flakes again today.  However, today I veered so far from the original recipe I ended up with a salmon tootsie roll.  Except, when I cooled the salmon Tootsie roll it was not pliable.  It was quite hard.  Almost candy hard.  So, I did what anyone would do, I cracked off a piece and nearly cracked my tooth.  NO it was not quite that hard.  Then it dawned on me, I can grate this salmon candy.  And that is exactly what I did.  We can now finely grate seasoned salmon over dishes to add an intense sweet-salty-salmon note.  Now how did I make this salmon candy?  I took one part water, one part smoked soy honey and two parts salmon and cooked them until the salmon was without moisture and the mixture came together into a sticky mass.  I then rolled the salmon into a tootsie roll shape and chilled it.  Simple.  We used the salmon candy with slow cooked Yukon salmon, Meyer lemon-pepper puree, asparagus and our new enlarged onion glass.

What other fish candy can we now make?  What about salumi and meat or vegetable candies?  Is this now a great means to use the trim of ingredients which normally went in the filing cabinet?

What, no sauce?

Does every dish need a sauce, emulsion, foam, vinaigrette, reduction, syrup, essence?  Sure there are plenty of other words we could use for the seemingly integral element to many if not all dishes, though my list gets to the point.  What it fails to question is the visibility of this element.  What if the elements of a dish were flavored with or marinated in a sauce, vinaigrette etc. and then removed from it during the final preparation of a the dish?  No, this is not a ground breaking thought.  Well, it is. 

Several days ago we braised some hearts of palm in a broth made with Salers cheese and dijon mustard.  We let the vegetable cool in the flavorful broth and when we were ready to assemble the dish we removed the hearts of palm and sliced them into rounds.  The hearts flavor had married with the cheese and mustard.  While I contemplated making a sabayon from this broth we felt the use of it in a simple dish would detract from the hearts of palm rather than enhance them. 

We were pairing the hearts of palm with porcini mushrooms: raw and cooked.  For the cooked element we pan roasted the mushroom in butter and seasoned it with salt.  For the raw, we finely sliced some mushrooms and marinated them in a lime juice and walnut oil vinaigrette.  Finally, we integrated fat into the dish.  To top the marinated mushroom we used Japanese eel.  To top the crisp hearts of palm we used pounded avocado.  The avocado and the eel bring quite similar elements of fat and richness to the table while being quite different ingredients. We seasoned the eel with some young watercress and left the hearts of palm without spice for they had picked up elements of the Dijon mustard in the cooking process.

As we assembled the dish I began second guessing myself, looking for sauce.  Aki, being Aki and the voice of reason, detailed the above explanation and noted as we ate the dish that the sauces were integrated into just not visually apparent in the dish.  And for the record, she was right...again.

The Japanese Grill

Monday was a crazy day.  I spent the better part of the day zipping, yes zipping through Manhattan--I was not driving and this particular driver does zip, dodge and narrowly avoid Manhattan's minefield of traffic.

Monday also provided a boost of culinary excitement.  When you get together and surround yourself with passionate individuals more often than not you will come away with something great.  As we zipped through the streets and visited many purveyors of  fine ingredients, ultimately we were able to uncover ideas which were somehow buried deep in our culinary consciousness.

The end result of our forays resulted in the discovery of a Japanese grill and a smokeless compressed hardwood charcoal.  This is a grill that we have been searching for for several months and I was finally able to purchase it at Korin, a Japanese store on Warren street.  I could spend many words and too much time describing the knives, pottery and tools that are sold there and still not do the store justice.  You can shop there on line but if you're in town it's definitely worth a visit.  After all, you can't know if a knife really suits you unless you hold it in your cutting hand.  Anyway, we walked in and in the corner was the grill I had been looking for.  And right next to it was an incredible long-burning smokeless charcoal.

As it turns out my friend and I both bought the grill and split a case of the charcoal.  When I got home, we began cooking.  I began simply with grilling jalapenos for a bacon-jalapeno lacquer.  However,  I foresee this grill getting a work out in the near future with ideas ranging from imparting the finishing touch to Axis Venison cooked sous vide to a table side presentation of s'mores where guests are given a tray of raw materials and can revisit childhood by toasting up their own creations.

Pre-Peeled Garlic

I found these in my Aunt's refrigerator.  It is so clever that I had to take a picture.  Anyone who has ever bought pre-peeled garlic knows that the garlic goes bad way before you could ever use it all.  That is unless you eat a lot of garlic every single day.  Finally someone addressed the problem.  The garlic in this package is vacuum sealed in little four packs so you can pull out what you need and the rest of it stays fresh.  I love that, and the whole bag is only $1.99.  Convenience food at it's best. 

Um, not that I would ever use convenience foods...after all, it's not like our entire repertory of techniques revolves around creating convenience foods for fine dining.  No one would ever come to dine with us if we admitted that!

Ignorance was Bliss

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hot Ice Cream

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

The Element of Surprise

Surprise is good.  Well, calculated surprise is good.  That is why I am fond of covered dishes and liquid filled foods.  You are expecting one thing, and the element of surprise is that one is not quite sure what they are going to get.  It brings life to a dish, it allows for a ta da moment at the table.  Today we were able to use a new dish from Bernardaud to highlight the key element of a dish.  A hot spring egg is hidden and when it is revealed, the egg is still in a hot spring, though in this case the egg rests comfortably in a mushroom stew.

What You Get Because No One Knows Me

Sure, we get demanding guests now and again, though for the most part they buy what we are selling.  What does that mean?  It is a freedom sought after by many in the world.  We can and have cooked anything we want.  Sure, we twist our own food in order to shave the shock value off certain dishes or approaches, though for the most part we cook unfettered.  Nothing is untouchable or beyond our scope.  We meld new and old, tested with inspired.

Our unbridled approach to cooking allows for our own discoveries like Tequila Vinegar, Flourless Goat Cheese Gnocchi and Smoked Vinegar and Maple Syrup.  I am continuously inspired and driven by the vast world of food and wine.  Since no one knows who we are or what we do, we have an ultimate freedom.  Equally so, that freedom is a detriment for at the end of the day I want to share and spread ideas, not just keep them amidst our kitchen confines and elite dining room.

Today I came to the conclusion and realization that in many ways I am realizing a dream, to push and expand my own culinary boundaries while making food taste incredible.  I also realized that our website-- while not a bound cookbook, rather a full color and interactive digital notebook--enables us to share our culinary ideas with those individuals who are looking for and inspired by ideas in food.

SPECIAL DELIVERIES

    “This box really stinks!”  These are not the words I want to hear out of the mouth of my favorite FEDEX delivery person on a Friday afternoon.  Here in Pagosa we don’t get deliveries on Saturday so if something isn’t right on Friday this creates a bit of a problem for us.  I was sort of tired, about to grab a break before four new rooms check in and it had already been a challenging sort of day.  The box in question was extremely large, shiny silver one with Honolulu Seafood printed across the side.  Yes, I know it’s eat local month out there in the blogosphere and there are those who are probably saying it serves me right for importing, but local products are somewhat limited here.  Anyway, I knew the box was full of langoustines so as she carted in two more large packages I carefully sliced open the fish box.  The langoustines were beautiful, rosy and lively looking in neat rows.  They were packed in layers of ice and ice packs in a Styrofoam lined box (apologies to the environmentalists but nothing else works quite as well for these purposes).  The Styrofoam was fitted together but not sealed.  As I frantically dug to the bottom of the box to locate the source of the smell, I discovered that there was a layer of Styrofoam peanuts, as a cosmic revenge, on the bottom of the box.  All of the langoustines on the bottom were coated with them.  Picking them out of each shell was not exactly an edifying pastime. When I reached the bottom I realized that the juices that had leaked from all of those pretty pink bodies had seeped through the box, cooking in the delivery trucks and creating the fragrant aroma of rotten fish.  It was a false alarm and the FEDEX lady and I were both relieved.
    As she left I turned to the other two boxes, both on the large side.  The bigger of the two was from the Chef’s Garden.  It was about three feet long but would be relatively easy to unpack and check-in.  Everything inside the box would be in smaller quantities.  The other box contained a whole pig, a sixty-five pound pig.  Did I mention that Alex had gone to the airport to pick up some of our arriving guests?  I was on my own here.  I suppose I could have found a housekeeper to help me but they were pretty busy at the moment and I knew I could handle it.  I was so glad that there were no cameras around as I tried to heave this extremely slippery, extremely large (for me) pig out of its box.  It was a bit of a dance for a while but I finally prevailed and got it laid out so that I could check its condition.  It was another pretty specimen, pink and white (the vegetarians probably hate me today too), slightly bruised but not unduly so, fresh and almost smiling.  We have big plans for this pig but you’ll find out about those later.
    Opening the last box was a pleasure.  The intoxicating perfume of the French Loupes filled the air and the vegetables were mostly beautiful and easy to unpack.  We got some fresh garbanzo beans which I've never tried before.  They were a revelation, green and crunchy and still very chick pea like in flavor.  Another new find was petite mixed okra, perfect for frying or sautéing whole and about the size of my pinky.  Deliveries by mail are a bit of a crapshoot and it’s a nice day when they all work out.  Usually we order a bit more than we need to compensate and usually that ends up being a good thing, today we’ll have to do a bit of preserving.  This is never a bad thing, who knows what new twist we’ll come up with.  Of course, I’ll probably smell like langoustines for days, but if I can’t live with that I’m definitely in the wrong business.  Well, back to the kitchen I go.

Fermented Maple

I was unaware that maple syrup would naturally ferment.  I should have thought more closely about it, I mean cider ferments, grape juice ferments, I wanted to find fermented maple.  I got off the phone with Steve at blis caviar and he had some fermented maple syrup.  Perfect.  Now I have a base for the continued development of our maple vinegar and perhaps some maple cocktails as well.  The bubbling syrup should arrive later this week and our process of making vinegar should quickly follow.  Now, I must have patience; not one of my better traits.  I guess the time will allow me to delve deeper into the applications of fermented maple; I see maple braised cod cheeks and fermented maple ice cream.