IDEAS IN FOOD

Frustration

You cannot let it get to you.  Often times frustration gets to me.  As we have been working through dishes in a new kitchen more failures than successes have occurred.  We've talked about the need for practice and rehearsal in cooking so that when dishes must be executed, they are the best they can be.  Yet these past few days, recipes we have written, rehearsed, tested, and tasted are failing.  We are not doing anything differently, we are just doing them in a different environment, and still the recipes fall flat.  Intellectually I know the importance of cutting bait and moving on.  At times like these Aki may indulge me even when she feels that I have waited too long to cut my losses. Frankly, even when things aren't working, it's hard for me to abandon the previously tried and true. Four combined attempts later I finally had to admit defeat.

Where does that leave us?  Testing new ideas in a place where we have learned more than we anticipated. Read: failed way more than we anticipated.  Still we were able to dust ourselves off and carry on. It dawned on me yet again that working with others and being surrounded by passionate individuals is essential in the process of learning and improving. The inspiration of your peers can push you past failure to eventual success.

This weekend we are very lucky to be working in a kitchen filled with passionate individuals who really care about food and cooking. (And it boasts a well stocked pantry to boot.)  Now with tools in hand we must move beyond trivial frustrations and work towards creating and executing tasty food. That's what tomorrow's dinner is all about. With a little help from some friends and fellow cooks, we know that we can make it happen.

Tofu and Shumai

I would not have imagined coming to Japan and having some of the tastiest food at a local pub. 

A friend of my mom’s recommended a pub in Osaka for us to visit. It was Mejiya in Tennoji. He drew us a map and sent us a picture of the entrance so that we would be sure to find it. This turned out to be a very good thing because without them we would never have known that the pub even existed. We arrived around one o’clock in the afternoon. The room was dim and narrow with a dark wooden bar, a row of wooden tables, and s small cloud of cigarette smoke hanging in the air. There were patrons scattered along the bar, mostly older men, and everyone was drinking beer or sake and eating lunch. We sat at the near corner of the bar, just in front of a tray of tofu, cooking gently in a metal pan. The man behind the bar seemed surprised that we spoke no Japanese and had wandered into his place. He did not speak English, the menus posted on the wall were in Japanese and there were no pictures anywhere to be found. Fortunately the man sitting beside Alex was very friendly. Although he didn’t speak much English he helped us figure out what to order. The only thing we remembered that we had been told to order was the shumai, which we did, Alex ordered a beer and we settled in to see what would happen.

Most of the men had bowls of tofu in front of them, along with a few small plates with shumai and various fried offerings. We quickly ordered a bowl of tofu to share. The tofu was heated in water, gently drained and topped with a delicate dashi.  A few slices of green onion and a small piece of yuzu zest perfumed the broth and accented the very delicate, silky tofu.  The blend of tastes and textures in what appeared to be such a simple dish were amazing.  The tofu gently breaking into pieces while still retaining some of it’s shape and texture beneath the rough, disposable chopsticks is a clear sense memory and a new benchmark for texture that will be with me from now on.  The broth was extremely aromatic and the flavors were nicely balanced with the bright citrus flavors of the yuzu balancing the subtle sweetness of the dashi.  It was Japanese comfort food of the highest order.

I was equally moved by the shumai we ate.  The skins were made with dried bean curd skin—yuba.  The texture of the yuba steamed pork dumplings was really amazing.  The flavor of the pork seeped into the bean curd and the shumai became a unified whole.  The first bite was scaldingly hot and we quickly learned patience, given a bit of time the dumplings were warm, and juicy, rich with the flavor of pork and minced onion. A dollop of spicy mustard and a dip into the soy sauce completed these incredibly tender porky packets.

We had only one bowl of the tofu and a couple of orders of the shumai. I could have eaten ten more of each.  We had a few other items but those were the standouts. Thankfully we left before I could get out of control ordering more dishes and changing the experience from one of pleasure and lingering desire to one of gluttony and excess.  I believe that this switch is something that has slowly come to fruition during the last few weeks for a variety of reasons. It’s a welcome change in my psyche. The emergence of new experiences and the recollection of memories associated with food are essential to the reception and subsequent success of any dish.  In this instance of dining in a local pub, we had no expectations, just open minds and hungry bellies.  We were extremely fortunate to walk away with incredible memories and new touchstones for our own cooking.

Perfectly Ripe

If you're reading this you probably know that Alex and I love a good cheese. Hard or soft, firm or fresh, cow or goat, we'll happily taste them all. So when Tyler said that he had some new cheeses that he wanted us to taste (and take a few pictures of), we said come on over. Apparently Blackberry Farm is now making sheep's milk cheeses for the public to enjoy.

There's a fine line between a perfectly ripe cheese and an over-ripe one. Whenever I see a beautiful, runny piece of cheese that is encased in plastic wrap I know that I'm running a risk. I'm not afraid to stick my nose in there and try to scent out any ammonia and sometimes the plastic can fool me. I've had many a cheese monger tell me that the scent of ammonia isn't a flaw, it's a natural by product of aging the cheese. This may be true, I'll admit that I'm not entirely convinced, although in the end it doesn't matter whether the taste and odor are considered a flaw or not. I just don't enjoy them and it ruins the cheese for me. So if the ammonia is present the cheese goes in the bin. Unfortunately, I am hooked on ripe cheese. Cheese that is runny and not liquid, with an almost elastic texture, and a flavor that melts across your palate as you slowly chew and swallow each decadent bite. The odds of catching it at that perfect moment before it topples over the edge of the hill are slim and yet the rewards are gratifying enough to be worth the risk.

One of the cheeses Tyler brought by was the Trefoil. It's a soft ripened cheese and it had that soft, giving texture that we look for when he arrived. The cheese was wrapped in paper and tied with rustic twine. It was helped along by the fact that it had been in his refrigerator snuggled up to a quantity of black truffles. The cheese itself was quite beautiful and  perfectly ripe, just teetering on that edge. It is named for the clover that the sheep graze upon and the grassy herbal flavors are clearly present in the cheese. It was certainly a cheese that I would happy to taste again. It will be interesting to see how their program develops. The fact that so many people are jumping into the cheese game is a wonderful thing for the rest of us.

Mastic

Mastic  or Masticha is the resin from the Pistacia Lentiscus tree. The trees are commercially cultivated for the purpose of harvesting mastic tears. The very best mastic is said to come from the south side of the Greek Island of Chios. In July and August the producers go out early in the mornings and make small slits in the bark to release the resin. The resin dries on the bark into a Clear, crystalline “tears” which are collected at the end of August, cleaned, sun dried, sorted, and sold. The tears are divided into two categories: immaculate otherwise known as dahtilidopetres or flintstones and the second rate softer, spotted ones referred to as kantiles or blisters.

The teardrops were the first version of chewing gum in Greece.  As you masticate, they soften into a firm, chewy mouthful with flavors of licorice and pine. Mastic has been utilized for a wide range of purposes such as a flavoring for alcohol, a spice, as toothpaste and breath fresheners, in cosmetics, dental fillings, natural adhesives, and varnish. Mastic has been found to have antibacterial and antifungal properties and is often used in holistic medicine to treat a variety of gastric ailments. Typically mastic is sold as teardrops although it can also be found as a paste or a powder. The teardrops must usually be ground to a fine powder, usually with sugar, in order to be used for culinary purposes.

High quality mastic has a slight edge of bitterness and a soft resiny flavor. Mastic may have hints of licorice and vanilla, it is a little reminiscent of Pledge, but softer and more subtle. It is used in various culinary applications from drinks to breads to desserts and ice creams. In Cyprus it is often paired with orange flower or rose water and served as a spoon sweet. It is a trendy ingredient at the moment, popping up in kitchens everywhere. We love the soft woodsy flavor and have played with a variety of applications from savory to sweet. Mastic works especially well with seafood and is a wonderful earthy counterpoint to sweet, briny oysters, succulent chewy cod,  and rich, delicate turbot.

Grinding the mastic drops can be a challenge. Cooking with resin can be hard on your stainless steel, months later I still haven't gotten all of sticky residue out of the pot from Alex's first experiment with mastic tears. So when we were shopping at Titan Foods in Astoria we were both excited to come across a mastic paste.  The one we picked up by Sarantis is made with Sugar, glucose syrup, E220 (a preservative; sulphur dioxide) and mastic. The combination of sugar and glucose means that paste is not overly sweet. It has been much easier to work with than the tears, and allowed us to really play with mastic in new ways. It's a very versatile ingredient and with the onset of Spring it seems like the perfect season for experimenting with its pine infused flavor.

The Importance of Heat

Harold McGee has an informative and interesting article on heat and its importance in the kitchen.

Check it out here.  Harold uncovers the virtues of this essential ingredient, which is often overlooked,  and explains it with clarity and in a manner in which ideas are triggered and old habits and cooking methods are instantly revisited.

Tomato Heart

How do you show someone you love them?  You have a heart shaped tomato grown and then hold it up for the world to see.  Well, that's my story and I'm sticking too it.

Clear Passionfruit in Three Thousand Words

Melon Salad

Here is a pave of melon seasoned with Korean chile threads, (thanks Shola) served with blistered ramps, Chinese sausage and minus 8 vinegar syrup.  The dish is light and refreshing, a blend of hot and cold, sweet and salty refreshing and spicy.  What I find exciting is the need for opposition in creating balance.  This dish looks at many opposing characteristics and uses them to pique and harmonize flavors.

Cock's Combs

Sometimes you have to just do something different.  In this case, we opted to serve cock's combs to a discerning crowd of food and wine enthusiasts.  We received many responses to the cock's combs from, "really, it's that?" to the sound of fingers being licked as patrons came back four and five times. 

We met guests who were used to eating cock's combs as street food in Bali to others who needed us to put our hands over our heads and wiggle our fingers to signify what exactly a cock's comb is.  In all cases, the cock's combs sparked conversations about food, its history and many ideas about what is possible with ingredients.

At the end of the day different was actually familiar.  We served a fried chicken with ranch dressing on a paper plate set in field of grass on a stone table with the scents of flowers and bees all around.  We just modified a few things.

Half Toast

I've been half-toasted tonight. It was a mellow day for me. I discovered Quinn. It' a freeware game for Macs that much resembles Tetris. Tetris was one of my favorite games way back when. I always thought it was to my benefit that I never owned it. That is until today when I downloaded Quinn.  Once I managed to get the keyboard programmed properly, the default settings were right-handed, the afternoon passed in a flash. Alex was out and about shopping in the city and I could play blissfully uninterrupted. I knew he wouldn't be particularly pleased with my afternoon's endeavors but he got a parking ticket and so had to bite his tongue.

Anyway, dinner was a quick affair. Seared flank steak in a cast iron skillet, arugula salad with marinated tomatoes, a beautiful cheese that Alex had picked up at Murray's and half-toast. What is half toast? It's what happens when you have beautiful, slightly past it's prime bread that calls for a delicate, crispy char to bring it back to life. Take a shortcut and only toast one side of the bread and you have half toast. All I can say is that I'm pretty sure my husband will never attempt to slip that past me again. Toast should be golden and crispy on both sides and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Happily Alex had a productive day shopping. We have gorgeous little ramps, fresh eggs, beautiful greens, fresh kimchee, and some delectable meats from Ottomanelli's. Something to  look forward to playing with tomorrow.

Coffee Cake Dreams

It seems I have breakfast on the mind.  More often than not, I crave breakfast.  And I am not just talking about at the normal breakfast time.  I could eat breakfast and elements of breakfast all day long.  I am also fortunate enough to not have to make my breakfast all the time.  In fact, when I make breakfast for myself I hardly ever eat it.  I either make too much or make it too heavy.  I don't know, when someone else makes you breakfast or coffee or a scone it just tastes better. 

The other day we were talking about coffee cakes.  I pulled out some butter to come to room temperature.  I figured I was doing Aki a favor, and she would make a great coffee cake for us both to enjoy.  As the butter softened, I went about my business of making the yogurt crisp base.  As I was just finishing up, I was alerted to the fact that Aki was quite hungry and the coffee cake had yet to be started, let alone baked, and well, I was the one who was supposed to make it.  Hmmm?  I missed something.  Apparently if you pull the butter out for a cake preparation, you will be the one making the cake. 

I popped my head around the corner into the dining room and looked at Aki.  She was serious, about both the hunger (not a good thing for me) and the fact that I was way late in getting the cake started because I was busy trying to make yogurt light and crispy, something that is not at all filling and would not calm the hunger in her belly.  I stammered a bit and said that I didn't have a recipe.  (Bad idea)  In a flash, she was up from her seat and to the book shelf.  Next thing I know, I was looking at an open Martha Stewart cookbook and her fingers were doing the walking, pointing out several recipes for coffee cakes with crumb and streusel toppings.  She paused, looked at me and said, "I am still hungry."

I grabbed the book and looked through it quickly.  I chose the classic crumb cake recipe from page 95 and the crumb topping from page 96. I basically followed the recipe substituting bananas for the berries and adding some cinnamon to the cake batter.  The crumb topping I made by hand, a truly great experience, especially if you are crumb topping freak like myself.  The butter, spices, sugar and flour appear as though they never to want to come together and then all of a sudden as you knead the mixture with your fingertips you have a perfect crumb.

Well, the cake was finally in the oven and I was able to distract Aki with a dog walk while it baked.  We returned home and the smell of spices, butter and sugar greeted us at the door.  I pulled the cake from the oven and smiled.  Now we had to wait as the cake cooled.  The wait was not unbearable although we probably cut into it a bit early (patience is not my strong suit).   

The result? Well I wish pictures were edible.  Oh yeah, and Aki is no longer hungry.

Smoked Pasta and some thoughts on ideas

Now my brain is a babbling brook of ideas.  The smoked pasta was delicious as we served it here, with shrimp, garlic, Parmesan, marjoram, chile flakes and lime juice.  Yet, as with many ideas once it starts moving, it becomes a fun ride to see where we end up.  I am not talking ground breaking.  That just is not how our ideas develop.  I am thinking tasty.  Imagine a clam sauce with tons of parsley and garlic with these noodles.  What about shaved jalapeno and lump crab meat?  I could eat a bowl of smoked pasta with chopped tomatoes and shiso pesto.  If I altered Aki's recipe a bit the dough would be great for ravioli.  Then think of the possibilities.  In fact, the dough as it currently stands would yield wonderful sheets of pasta for making lasagna: wild mushroom, snail, traditional.  I really enjoy this part of an idea, when you get it and then get to work through the possibilities.

Cacio e Pepe

I truly have a thing for noodles.  The slippery texture, the bite, the hearty nature and the silken texture.  My noodle love goes beyond just noodles.  It is really a pasta fetish.  Ravioli, lasagna, agnolotti, fideos, cavatelli,  the list goes on; heck even risotto falls into the mix.  That is not to say that I am a traditionalist.  Sure the noodles can be flour or starch based.  Thankfully pasta in its original form  is just the tip, the beginning, the spark. 

What can we do with the traditional?  How can what exists be the foundation for a variety of applications? What does it taste like and how can we exploit that taste?  What is the texture, does it change, can it evolve?  And, what is it not?  I think the last question has been truly useful.  In knowing what something is not allows for a greater understanding of what is and can be.  It also allows for a shift in thinking and many times a break or alteration from existing mind sets. 

Today we made a dish which has been gathering dust in my notebooks.  It is cacio e pepe made with noodles of papaya, dried papaya seeds (mimicking the peppercorns) and shaved pecorino Crotonese.  The dish is simple, like the original.  We have made a substitution or two which transforms a pasta dish which I have indulged in many of times to a lighter almost salad like dish of warmed papaya with cheese and its own peppercorn.  While today we served the noodles on their own I could also see the cacio e pepe component as a side dish or a component of another preparation.  For now, I am enjoying a plateful of slippery noodles slicked with olive oil and butter, seasoned with the pecorino and spirited by the dried papaya seeds.

BBQ and Eel

Well, this is a dish which is a work in progress.  The base is our five hour ribs.  We top it with Japanese eel and broil it.  We then integrate a BBQ sauce made with Goji berries and smoked maple syrup.  We then used the Q sauce to enrich pressure cooked pumpkin seeds.  We were emulating the texture and flavor of baked beans.  The last component is a warm jasmine yogurt.  It adds tang and a floral nature to the dish.  In fact, the dish dish works on the level of taste, it is quite tasty with the various flavors of BBQ.  I am just having some difficulty with the aesthetic of the entire composition.  I will let it rest for several days and perhaps come back to it once the mental dust settles.

Food Talk with Frank Bruni

I've always been a fan of talk radio.  Admittedly as a child I always lobbied for music in car. I didn't win that battle very often and the loss was to my benefit. Over the years talk radio grew on me and today there are certain programs we keep on in the background while we're working, because there's always something new to learn. One of these shows is Food Talk with Michael Colameco on WOR Radio 710 in New York. Today he mentioned that at the beginning of the show tomorrow (Thursday, March 8@11am) he will be featuring an interview with Frank Bruni of the New York Times. If you're interested and won't be able to tune in, I believe they release podcasts of each show after they've aired.  For everyone who reads the reviews and Bruni's Blog, this will be an opportunity to actually hear him in his own words.

Pressured Cooked Citrus

I became inspired by the idea (which I learned at the FCI demonstration the other night) that pressure cooking garlic and horseradish takes away the volatile characters of these ingredients while making them both tender and delectable.  I began wondering what else would benefit from pressure cooking.  I jumped immediately to citrus fruits.  What if we could utilize an entire citrus fruit without any bitter pithy qualities?  I also wondered if we could then serve whole cooked tender citrus fruits?  Well, you can.  I started with a batch of clementines cooked in elderflower water.  I cooked them for fifteen minutes and the fruit and rind was tender and firm, like eating a yogurt.  Pretty wild.  Actually, fifteen minutes was a bit long for the clementines, the peels split a bit, though as a puree this pure essence of clementine is remarkable.  I actually turned the puree into a jelly, it seems I am on a jelly kick right now.  I have yet to figure out what the jelly is for, I am currently working on optimum gelling ratios and their applications, the clementine jelly is one of the results.

Pop Rocks, the Mood Lifter

I adored pop-rocks as a child. Something about their crackly, tingly texture and the rumbling sound they made as they vibrated against my tongue was incredibly addicting, and still is. I'm typing this with a ramekin full of pop rocks and a small spoon at my elbow.  I keep dropping small deposits of the pop rocks on my tongue and then taking small sips of my peppermint tea to accentuate the flavor and effect. If you swish the candy and the tea around it's like a party in your mouth. You can actually feel the rocks zooming around in the liquid, bouncing off your tongue and teeth and exploding. I'm having a great time, the sensation makes me giggly and giddy like a happy child. Alex will not be pleased when he sees the amount of candy I've ingested.  Something about the effects of a sugar high, I get a little nutty and bouncy and then crash like a ton of bricks. Fortunately he's talking on the phone and he could be on there for hours (only a slight exaggeration), so he may not notice.

Tonight will be quite probably the last tasting menu we do in Colorado. The violet pop rocks will be seen paired with foie gras torchon, yuzu powder and a huckleberry ribbon. You'll have to wait until tomorrow to see the rest of the menu, but I can guarantee that I'll be happy cooking in the kitchen tonight!

Sunday Debate

We had brunch this morning at home. Alex made a version of his old favorite, the Montana Breakfast, and this combined with some strong coffee and good cheer was a recipe for a relaxing morning of food and friends. The dogs were on their best behavior and even Lucky was receptive to playing with the children. It was a nice break from the everyday routine and we enjoyed every minute.

We're slowly putting a list of properties together to explore when we get back East. As much as we'd like to move to a permanent location, we're looking forward to some quality time in New York. The cruise is the first two weeks in February and we're contemplating doing some catering in the New York area while we're looking for our next place. Feel free to email us if you're interested in doing a dinner during the late winter season.

The new MacBook   has arrived and I love it. We were able to save the hard drive off my Powerbook (thanks Mark!) and it's housed in its own little case now. So I have two back-up drives to work from and theoretically there was no loss of data. I have yet to boot it up and check for myself. Somehow having a new computer is very freeing and I am loath to revisit my old information. As long as I have access to it I don't feel the need to tap into it yet. A fresh start can be a beautiful thing.

The MacBook is bigger and slightly heavier than I was expecting. I actually love the size of the my new computer, it's so much more portable than my old one. The enclosed keyboard is pretty cool an it fits perfectly in my lap. I'm still at the stage where I almost hate to use it because I don't want to get it dirty, but I'm getting over it quickly. It's such a pleasure to use, who could stay away from it? The increased speed is wonderful, it's especially noticeable at home where we have dial-up. I didn't think that I would like the glossy screen but it's actually pretty cool. I haven't had any real issues with reflection at all.

We had a lively debate about eating at Ramsay's again today. Alex is convinced that he's still serving the same dishes that he served ten years ago. I find that hard to believe. They may be variations on dishes that he created many years ago, but there's no way to be a great chef without growing over the passage of time. Our palates change with age and so do our dishes. Besides, even though the food may not be cutting edge, most reviews agree that it is executed almost perfectly and tastes delicious. That's no easy task. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of experiences I've had where restaurant food was close to technical perfection. To me that's worth going to see and taste. Every meal does not have to be comprised of something new and different. There's something to be said for execution, flavor, and technique, for without these base skills to stand on, why bother cooking in a restaurant at all? Strong technique, a great palate--which results in the ability to create amazing flavors, and the ability to teach your staff to execute them both to your standards, are the building blocks that make restaurant chefs great, regardless of the kind of cuisine that they choose to create.  That's what makes a meal inspiring to me, the passion and the drive that go into creating someone's vision of pefection in the kitchen. Hydrocolloids and enzymes are fun, but true passion, if it exists, is where I look for inspiration. Now the only question is whether or not Ramsay can provide that. We'll find out in January.

Candy Cane Beets

As ideas bounced around my brain today, I happened across the notion of making candy cane flavored candy cane beets.  The idea is to thinly slice candy cane beets and infuse them in a warm peppermint syrup.  The thin slices of beet will then be dried in a low oven or a dehydrator.  The result should be a crisp candy cane striped and flavored beet.  I guess we could do this with red beets as well to make a burgundy mint.  In fact, we could use the burgundy beets and grind them to make mint crumbs.  And then we could ask ourselves what other flavors would work well being infused in beets?

Choose Your Own Adventure

It's not easy writing today. We have lots of things going on at various of stages of completion. There seems to be very little going on that seems appropriate to write about here. I prefer to write about complete ideas rather than amorphous meanderings, although sometimes meandering is inescapable. We have a clear vision of what we want to do this year. Unfortunately, as with most situations, there are several different routes that will take us to our destination, each with a different set of challenges and rewards. It's all a matter of choosing the right path. Easier said than done, always.

Today I was thinking about the old school Choose Your Own Adventure books from my childhood. I loved the idea of them but I found it frustrating that the story lines were so short. It was a necessity because there was no other way to fit so many different ending between the relatively narrow covers of the books. I also wanted to read each and every story but somehow there was always one ending that escaped me. I finally took to reading them cover to cover after simply to find out how each possibility played out. After the first book I read cover to cover from the beginning, I abandoned the series.  There simply was not enough satisfaction in these stories to keep my attention.  It was as though someone was coming up with these great ideas, and then instead of seeing them through to completion, they were getting bored and throwing out these quick endings simply to be done with the process. Lots and lots of quick endings to be sure, but each ending lacked the development to make it a great story. The books were all about options without substance.

I suppose in a way that's where we are now. We're considering all of these options but distance handicaps our ability to evaluate the possibilities clearly. We're putting together a list of properties that we think may be viable for our future. Each one is unique and will need a slightly different structure to reach it's full potential. Of course, it's impossible to really know how viable any of the properties are without seeing them and examining their locations. It's like having the table of contents, but not the actual book. It's tantalizing and frustrating all at the same time.

Sometimes we need to take a break and work on something more tangible. One of these projects is compiling a list of our greatest restaurant experiences and our favorite places. We're making of list of all their positive attributes so that we can take the things we love about other restaurants and apply them to our current project. In addition to the foodie destinations, there are restaurants that are loved for their service and while the food may be good it is not the main reason that people dine there. There are restaurants that are loved for their locations, their ambiance, their social scene, their pomp and circumstance, or simply for sentimental reasons. As a teenager I spent countless birthdays at the Palm in New York City. It was a restaurant famous for it's gruff career waiters, the caricatures on the walls, the sawdust on the floors, thick steaks and huge lobsters, and the onion rings and cottage fries. Those who belonged to the club knew what and how to order, and those who asked for menus were immediately branded as tourists, barely tolerated by the staff and lucky to be admitted at all. It was noisy and unapologetic, the drinks were strong and the food was mostly delicious, especially to my teenaged palate. Years have passed and now the Palm is a chain and the everything has changed. The original restaurant is a shadow of it's former self and I never go back because the experience is one of total disillusionment. But I remember it fondly for all of the things it was.  It still comes to mind when I think of my favorite restaurants for sentimental reason and for the things that I learned there about steak and lobster, cottage fries, chopped salads, cheesecake, sentimentality and a sense of belonging.  That's an emotion that I want to capture in our own place, that feeling of ownership that your guests have when a restaurant is special to them and it makes them happy just to be there.  There are a few different restaurants that have made me feel that way over the years, but the Palm was the first one I experienced as a quasi-adult. What was your first special place? What was it that made it so special?

Squash Sheets

We made a puree with Hubbard squash juice and ultra tex 3, a tapioca starch.  The puree is silky and smooth, similar in nature to pudding rather than a vegetable puree.  The ultra tex does a great job at holding water, so much so that we thought we could make a thin sheet with the puree and then drape it over other ingredients.  This morning we draped the squash over a warm macadamia nut puree.  We then heated the sheet in the oven to allow it to melt over the puree and enclose it.  We paired these ingredients with warmed king salmon seasoned with ginger salt.

The key today is resulting sheet puree's.  Now our the doors of functionality have opened even wider.  Think about using green herbs draped over a piece of fish or perhaps black truffle or smoked cashew.  And all the work is done on front side of the dish allowing us to just grab a sheet and go.

Tender Cocoa

Yesterday we began work on making tender cocoa nibs.  While in years past we have utilized the crunch and bitterness of cocoa nibs we, alright I, wanted to know if and what could be done with tenderized nibs.  We put some cocoa nibs in the pressure cooker with agave and water.  Two hours later we had tender cocoa nibs with a softened flavor profile.  These are a neat addition to our pantry.  Now we just need to figure out what to do with them.  I have thought of folding them into spaetzle and cavatelli.  They may also be fun in vegetable ragouts or even risotto.  Time will tell.

What is in a Word?

In trying to execute our first rendition of ginger salt I have come across a technical and verbal road block.  It looks like salt and has the texture of coarse salt yet it is not ginger salt.  I brined the candy ginger for a short period of time and then dried it and chopped it coarsely.  I then placed it in the dehydrator to to, well, dry.  As the ginger concentrated and the hardened, emulating the texture of salt I, actually Aki noted it's great, it's just not salt.  In my haste to go from idea to execution I did not allow enough salt to penetrate the candied ginger to allow the salt to come through as a distinct characteristic.  Instead, we have intense ginger granules with a seasoned background.  So,  I do not have what I set out to create, I can try that again, perhaps even find a suitable salt solution ratio.  For now we have the concentrated ginger, which looks like salt but at days end is ginger.  Now I just need to find another name for this seasoning, because while it is not ginger salt it needs to be integrated into our cooking.

Chocolate Marshmallow Pie

Sometimes a pie is more than just a pie. Cooking for people with simple tastes can be a blessing. Especially when it allows us to indulge our own inner children and cravings. A chocolate dessert was called for and with these crisp autumn evenings I had pudding on my mind. Chocolate pudding to be exact. It's a childhood favorite, devoured in diners with a tower of whipped cream and a crisp wafer cookie. Instead of the cookies I decided to put the pudding in a pie crust.  The smell of woodsmoke riding on currents of cold air evoked images of campfires and roasting marshmallows.  It was a quick leap to blanket them over the top of the pie and broil them to a delicious gooey topping.

And yes, these two pictures look different because in my impatience I put the pie too close to the flames the first time and set the whole thing on fire. Sound familiar? Blackened marshamllows were never my idea of a party. Not to worry though, a quick stint in the refrigerator and the burnt marshmallows peeled away. Thank goodness fo