IDEAS IN FOOD

Graham Cracker Grits

Just a few shelves over from the polenta was a bag of graham cracker crumbs. Their visual similarities sparked an immediate inspiration. We could make graham cracker grits. We purchased the bag and soon after we returned home we toasted up the crumbs in the oven to intensify their flavor. After the crumbs were toasted we proceeded to make grits using water and the graham crumbs. We enriched the cooked and hydrated crumbs with butter and cream cheese. The graham cracker polenta was a hit. We are still in debate as to its role in our kitchen: savory or sweet. In a sweet dish we were noodling with we added spruce infused strawberries, tarragon and fresh ricotta. The graham cracker polenta mixed with the cool ricotta and the piney strawberries was delicious. As for savory applications, we discussed game. Upon further reflection, seafood may be a more exciting match.

Cool Stuff

The folks over at PolyScience have some cool new toys and accessories for today's kitchen. Cambro lids which have the perfect cut out for a circulator insert, a carrying case/storage unit for circulators not in use and the apple of my eye, a rotary evaporator. Great to see these useful and indulgent tools now readily available.

Control

Today I had the pleasure of attending a luncheon focused on microwaves. Who new? The venue, wd-50, the sponsor Panasonic. The ideas sparked, too many to count. The need for understanding technology, huge. The questions now answered, enough to fill my new wheel barrow. Now if only I could fix the damn leak under my sink at nine thirty at night. Oh well, at least we have a microwave to work with and try and understand. Possible is what you may think of. Control is the result of the understanding of a process.

Garlic Butter...

Sure, it sounds cliche and from days long ago. Still, have you looked at its role in cooking? What about its uses? Today we used a decadent garlic butter as a warm bath for reheatable softboiled eggs. The butter seasoned and glazed the exterior of the eggs, providing a welcome mat for the flavors within.

Ingredient Specific

Ingredients and how we eat them are often inspiring. Asparagus, long and slender, brittle and toothsome screams to be eaten with your fingers. Often times fingers and setting do not mingle well. Thankfully we were not alone in wanting to pick up and nibble vibrant and crisp asparagus. Asparagus tongs exist so that the child in us can visit with the adult world of dining. Eating asparagus with these beauties is something special. Now we are forced with the task of designing an asparagus dish which does our vegetable pincers justice.

Opening Doors

Dave Arnold and Nils Noren have opened their doors. If you do not know of Dave and Nils now is a good time to become introduced. If you know them, you are as happy as we are to realize they are sharing their kitchen their and minds with the digital world. Take some time and dive in; reading their musings, discoveries and insightful approaches to cooking.

Fennel

Fennel is a versatile ingredient. Its role in court bouillon and shaved in salads is well recognized. Baby fennel, the miniature relative of the larger bulb, has gained popularity. Unfortunately, in its small state baby fennel is not that tender and delicious. It seems to be all fiber and no flesh. Recently we tried a smaller version of baby fennel. The bulb just shows its shape and since it is so young the fibers we disliked have yet to develop. These just sprouted fennel bulbs show promise in salads and as an accompaniment to just cooked fish and meat. The flavor in these tiny sprouts is intense, an explosive representation of the full grown product.

Bacon and Swiss

I saw the signage and had another you've got to be kidding me moments. I am having more of them these days. We were walking through the Newtown Amish farmers market and came across the butcher. The meats looked good and we looked closer. That is when I saw it, out of the corner of my eye...Bacon and Swiss Cheese Sausage. Sure we have had parsley and cheese sausage and broccoli rabe ground into the meat, even apple and jalapeno. The idea of using one essential pork product to make another and then gilding the lilly with cheese seemed so obvious once I saw it in action. I knew we had to buy some. After a quick turn on the grill we were enjoying a delicious addition to our kitchen and wondering what else could be sausage or for that matter what had we not combined simply because the answer was so simple we had yet to ask the question.

A Reminder of Spring

Rosemary Blossoms

Inspired by Fresh

The way to learn is to do. That is one of the reasons why chefs are drawn to farms and farmers. We have an innate curiosity and a desire to learn and find out where food comes from. Today I had the opportunity to dig for ramps. Today I played in the soil. Today I learned that more than just ramps grow in the moist soil near riverbeds.

When you spend the morning digging through dirt you begin to wonder why pickling ramps is the go to for such a humble and seasonal ingredient. There is more to be done, more to see and more to try. An ingredient dependent on the season deserves an attentiveness to its detail rather than a perfunctory response. Today's jaunt in the woods has fine tuned our focus and sparked new paths to travel. What have we not thought of and how may we execute these ideas in order to share the inspiration?

What We Don't Have

I read an interesting piece on burgers today. In the creation and development of a burger or even simply a dish, sometimes delivering the expected and preconditioned idea of what is supposed to be there is not necessarily the right answer for the individual chef. We expect burgers to be served with pickles. More often than not we also expect burgers to have sliced tomatoes. As our friend Tony Maws, the creator of the inspired burger in the article, did not have any fresh pickles on hand, he left them off the plate. They may make an appearance once fresh cucumbers come to market and he can make his own. Tomatoes will not be added until August when they actually grow in the Northeast.  These two seasonal limitaions sent my mind racing off in a number of directions. Sure, fresh cucumbers might not be available, why not substitute thin slices of pickled celery root, spicy rutabaga, or even sweet and sour turnips to add a surprisingly unexpected tang; the unexpected pickle to accompany the artisan burger? Why do tomatoes need to be on a burger? Could we rehydrate and roast sun dried tomatoes to make a delcious winter/spring accompaniment? What else is possible? A deeper look into an ingredient book and a few conversations with some smarter people will hopefully help me open up a few new directions for our search for the perfect burger.

Eggplants

Our Easter traditions are pretty fluid. The strawberry pie is as close to a staple as we have and even that doesn't make the table every year. It definitely appears around Easter-time every year but not necessarily on Saturday night (for the Talbot dinner) or Sunday afternoon with my family. It all depends on what's happening. This year on Sunday we're at the Goodwin table and among the many offerings are ham, spinach, "better than sex" cake, and eggplants.

Eggplants are always referred to in the plural even though you may never see them as such in common usage. When referred to this way, they are always cut thin, breaded, fried, and served plain either as a side dish or eaten out of hand, really just out of pan. My Aunt Lucy made them when I was a child, nowadays I can either buy them in a good Italian deli or wait for Peg to make them. They fall into the category of food that tastes best when someone else cooks. As she fried them this afternoon people hovered around the pan or wandered in and out of the kitchen to nibble on crisp slices and offer opinions on the seasoning. Usually about half the supply is gone well before dinner is on the table. If there are any left over, they don't last longer than lunchtime the next day. People love them, even people who think they don't like eggplant.

So this Easter Sunday we wish you happiness and eggplants, meaning a day full of things that just make you feel good that you don't necessarily have to make for yourself.

The Thing About Backyards

 is that they inspire projects. Alex is doing the research, we'll see what happens next.

Lunch Bag Light Box

Turns out a white paper bag makes a pretty good light box. This one came full of first of the season morels. I am quite excited about the use of the bag as a light box. It focuses attention while doing an interesting job filtering natural light. And since a paper bag is not that hard to carry around for an impromptu photo shoot, we may have to start keeping one in our back pocket for spontaneous picture taking.

Cornflakes

Aunt Lucy and Uncle Alex were constants in my childhood. We traveled to Pittsburgh to visit them every Christmas and Easter, two holidays that are indelibly related to food in my mind. Aunt Lucy was a wonderful cook, from a family of good cooks who all lived nearby and the holidays were a time of good food and lots of company. When Aunt Lucy passed away after what seems to my childhood memory a long painful battle with illness, Uncle Alex soldiered on. When we arrived for our first Easter without her he had valiantly endeavored to cook all the traditional dishes right down to the stuffed artichokes. The food was surprisingly good and even though we all felt the loss of a warm and wonderful presence no one had the heart to say so. As I chewed my way through the artichoke leaves and tasted the garlicky stuffing I noticed something different. "It's cornflakes." he told us proudly. "I used them for the stuffing instead of the bread crumbs for a little something different." These days you can actually buy cornflake crumbs for breading although economy would dictate buying regular cornflakes and crushing them on your own. Alex is currently enchanted with idea of cooking with cornflakes and I am looking forward to seeing what new dishes come of it.

Let's Start With The Head

Sometimes it's good to look at things from a different perspective. Ingredients tell stories. It is the stories which spark and inspire creativity. Listen to the stories.

Michel Bras Cooks

I have no idea how I missed this video from Food and Wine magazine. They ran a great spread on Michel Bras and somehow hid the video. Looks like equipment is only a tiny piece of the puzzle and skill and innovation are the essentials. Next time you think you need all kinds of gadgetry take a look at what Michel and his team are able to do with a few sharp knives and the addition of a sweet electric range to an otherwise pristine kitchen.

Dishes Can Be Sauces

Take a look at classic cooking. Strike that. Take a look at what you eat. Coq au vin is a good example. What if you served something, lets say Kindai tuna with a sauce made of Coq au vin. The sauce is rich, roasty, winey, and decadent, The tuna is meaty, slightly iron-y, clean, and bright. Now imagine them together. What direction can we take with a sauce to really highlight the fish? How about a beautiful cheeseburger? Could we turn its flavors and mouth watering deliciousness into a sauce? How about  beef and broccoli? Or a Reuben sandwich?  Now those blended flavors would make an amazing sauce. Perhaps the elements of a Reuben would be better suited to a relish: toasted rye croutons, minced sauerkraut, diced pastrami and the thousand island dressing constructed with lemon confit, minced tomatoes and shallots, fresh tomatoes, minced cornichons, and sieved eggs. Now what could we pair with this reworked condiment? Imagine it with roasted cod or crispy skate wing. What other dishes from your daily table can be reimagined in a new incarnation?

"Ignore Everybody"

It is with great pleasure that I can link to the upcoming release of the book Ignore Everybody by Hugh Macleod.  Hugh wrote the inspiring manifesto How to Be Creative? If you want a kick start for your brain start with the manifesto, digest it, share it, and then ante up for the full blown book.

It is quite humbling to read the manifesto and realize how spot on Hugh's observations are. I am simply amazed how scintillating Hugh's gruff and occasionally, ok more often than not, vulgar take on creativity inspires and motivates me on a daily basis.

Actually his unvarnished observations will easily strike a chord with those of us in the restsurant business...

A Teaser

Here's a link to a a pretty cool blog that we've recently discovered. We never realized that such interesting things were happening in Princeton, New Jersey. Clearly we've been wallowing in our own ignorance. While you're checking out their site, see if you can guess what we'll be doing on March 30...details to follow tomorrow.

Humure

is our new favorite breakfast coffee. It's from Counter Culture and in addition to having a great story, the coffee itself is excellent. We always look forward to trying new beans and the best part of a new shipment is that first moment when we cut open a fresh bag and breathe deep. Great coffee beans have an incredible aroma. They transport you to another place and wrap you up in their essence. Coffee is so much more than a caffeinated hot liquid, for us it encapsulates that feeling of easing into our morning and embracing the day ahead. A good cup is smooth and nuanced, perhaps slightly syrupy on tha palate. We like a morning cup that is bright and flavorful without being overpowering. The first day we brewed the Humure it made me sit up and take notice. I went back into the  kitchen to see which new beans we were drinking because it was so delicious. Every time I drink this coffee I re-experience that moment. It's no easy feat to impress me, especially on a consistent basis and these beans from Rwanda do that. Humure may not be for everyone, coffee is a very subjective thing, although I find that Counter Culture has an incredible range of coffee beans that not only taste good, they also make you feel good about drinking them. What better way to start the day? (And yes, we pay for all of our coffee...)

A Glimpse

 

•    Espresso beurre monte
•    Bbq pudding enriched with foie fat
•    Does powdered buttermilk curdle?
•    Spruce candy cane
•    Schmaltz brioche
•    Yellow tomato soup with cilantro soda
•    Lamb salad like ham salad or deviled lamb
•    Cinnamon toast croissant
•    Chipped lamb
•    Powdered goat milk in ice cream
•    Dark roasted sunflower seeds as cake base
•    Feta crusted lamb loin with activa
•    Smoked bagels
•    Bone marrow and tomato fondue
•    Is bone marrow a flavor or just a texture
•    Cheese oils: smoked cheddar, blue cheese….
•    Do vegetables cook faster under vacuum conditions
•    Cardoon soup
•    Nut chips like potato chips or Pringles, how would you make
•    Seared feta: use in soup, as a part of shrimp or other dish
•    Smoked pizza dough
•    Fold anchovies into pizza dough
•    Raisin glazed bacon
•    Ranch bread
•    Hollandaise bread
•    Warm ranch sauce
•    Plantain and banana Parisian scoops
•    Pecan slices
•    Use red wine and roast chicken jus to make lobster stock
•    Try extruding twice cooked potato gnocchi instead of rolling
•    Huilacoche bread
•    Carbonara brioche
•    Stuffing sauce
•    Brown butter brioche
•    Mole pumpernickel
•    Sausage stuffing bread
•    Bacon-tender hazelnut ragout
•    Hazelnuts cooked in clam water
•    Smoked snapper perhaps with carbonara consomme
•    Grapefruit miso
•    Malt glazed fish
•    Beer, specifically guiness or another flavored spaetzle
•    Smoked kampachi into kampachi bacon
•    Avocado-black truffle: mosaic, zest, roasted
•    Avocado and foie gras terrine
•    Flexible avocado with pectin

Shishito Peppers

Something to think about.

Pistachio Smoke: how we think

I was revisiting smoked peanuts. The next step was a celery and celery root soup blending sous vide celery with pressure cooked celery root. Sure, the combination of celery and peanuts is common enough, smoking the peanuts is an inevitable step forward. Then I started thinking green and I jumped to pistachios. I have not had, nor seen smoked pistachios and felt they would be delicious. The next spark came from the pistachio shells. What if we used the shells to generate the smoke for the smoked pistachios? That would be a good use of a normally discarded product and the idea made sense. Rogue River Creamery smokes their blue cheese over the shells of hazelnuts, a pretty smart idea. Since I wanted to generate smoke with the aroma of pistachios I opted to char the nuts in the shells. The smoke which was generated was delicate and rich with the aroma of roasted pistachios.

We did not do anything beyond creating the pistachio smoke today. It immediately prompted further thoughts to pursue. The charred whole pistachios produced a dark roasted pistachio flavor which, while not aesthetically beautiful, makes up for it tenfold in taste. We will pursue several infusions with this element. Also, we will begin pulverizing the nuts before smoke generation to increase the surface area of burnable material as well as the speed at which smoke may be produced. While we will end up smoking pistachios with pistachios, I believe pistachio smoked fish and vegetables will also be amazing. I then return to the dish I started with which has now taken shape. Both the fish and the nuts will be smoked with pistachio. In this case, red snapper. We may then pair the smoked snapper with tender smoked pistachios and serve it with the celery-celery root puree and batons of celery.

As an aside foie gras and monkfish liver would not be too bad pistachio smoked. Since we have explored this nut which others should we crack next?

Roasted Chicken Skin

We have spent some time working with chicken skin, pork skin, duck skin, and even fish skin. We've gone back and forth with different ways to create crisp, savory cracklings to tantalize the palate. Then tonight as Alex slowly savored the thin crunchy skin off a roasted chicken, enjoying the contrast of its delicate, sticky underside melting against his tongue, he had an epiphany. Skin tastes better roasted with the meat. It seems such a simple concept and yet we have spent years trying to create great cracklings that were cooked by themselves. Cooking is a circular journey, often we find ourselves returning to our beginnings in order to maximize flavor development. It's a good lesson, never to be afraid of changing our minds and circling backwards. We still bring all of our current experience with us to help make old techniques even better than they ever were before. Sometimes the simple solutions really do make the most sense. (Of course this doesn't mean you'll never see another crackling here, it just means we're regaining a new appreciation for the beauty of a well roasted piece of meat and it's amazing caramelized skin.)

Now that we know where the flavor comes from, how do we harness it?

Fresh FInds

CNET has a fun kitchen gadgets blog and every so often we come across something really cool like the Fresh Boxes. They are a series of storage boxes with built in vacuum pumps to suck out the air and keep breads, cakes and other assorted items fresher for longer. We loved the idea, although we have no idea whether or not the boxes actually work. It's still fun to see innovation in action. It gives us something to strive for ourselves.

In the Background

Direction is what we see when we look back.

Without delicious there is no point.

Instead of asking or looking at the disparity of ingredients perhaps you should look at why we chose to pair them?

Techniques allow for creativity and creativity allows for and focuses for technique.

Form is important.

By tuning in you can be better to receive ideas, answers and evolutions.

Where artist and craftsman unite.

Make a difference with how you treat the world.

What is a big idea? A bunch of small ideas, neatly organized and presented with a bow on it.

Anything can be…what are the tools and ingredients needed to support and build an idea?

Looking to see the world through different eyes.

What can we learn and what can we share that will make us better.

Hot Caramelized White Chocolate

The air outside is biting and chill. When we escape it inside the house our fingers are frozen and there are shivers racing up and down our spines. We're craving something warm to drink that will heat us up and soothe our quivering bodies. Today's answer was hot caramelized white chocolate. The melted chocolate is blended with hot milk and half and half and accented with a pinch of salt. The drink is taken in small doses, preferably in pretty little glasses. It's like liquid velvet with notes of butterscotch, toast, and dulce de leche. For those of us not nursing or on a restricted diet a jigger or dark rum or good scotch can only make it better. It's a slightly sophisticated drink for the child inside us all.

Hot Caramelized White Chocolate
makes four small servings

190 grams half and half
270 grams milk
210 grams caramelized white chocolate, chopped
2 grams salt

Bring the milk and cream to a simmer. While the dairy is heating place the white chocolate and salt in a blender container. Pour the hot milk over the chocolate and blend until smooth and frothy. Pour into glasses and serve immediately.

Meatloaf Mania

  I remember many a meatloaf off from my days in school. Apparently being a perennial judge sparked a need to dive head first into the meatloaf cooking arena. I cannot say how many meatloaves I have made in recent months though Aki is making subtle hints about a new go to dish. Perhaps I shall start exploring meatballs.

Pretzel Macaroon

I was immediately inspired by Linda's work with brioche macaroons to explore new forms for familiar flavors. We were already working with a number of flours so her post proved timely. My first idea involved pretzels. I made a few mistakes in our initial evolution. These mistakes detracted from the exact replication of a French macaroon rather than the flavor and texture of the delicate cookie. I planned on a beer ganache for the filling though some miscalculations led to a delicious ice cream base instead. For now I am happily eating these tender pretzel bites and searching for other applications: parsnip, onion, ginger, carrot to name a few.

In Memoriam, Marie DeRiso

 Growing up I was lucky enough to have a Mom, an Aunt Marie and an Uncle Steve. Three parents instead of one or two, which was difficult to explain to the other kids at school and incredibly lucky for me. Through all of the ups and downs of the last 35 years they have always been there for me, constants in an ever changing life. This past Monday, December 15, 2008, Aunt Marie passed away. It was sudden and very quick, which would have made her happy and she got to spend time with Whitney Amaya before it happened, which is a comfort to us all. She was incredibly excited about her new grand daughter, bubbling over with joy and excitement. She will be greatly missed although per her instructions we will do our best not to mourn and instead celebrate the life she had and the person she was.

Auntie was adopted as a child and because of this she understood better than most that family is as much a choice as it is an inheritance. She had love and good will enough for everyone and was gifted at listening to people and finding ways to give them what they needed. It was amazing to see the number of people from her past who came to the wake last evening and hear their stories about how she touched their lives with her willingness to share a smile or a helping hand. Aunt Marie was the kind of woman who willingly went without in order to share with someone else and she firmly believed that happiness and laughter were meant to be shared at every opportunity. 

She was an easy woman to love and a very difficult one to say goodbye to. We will remember her always and she will live on in hearts. Whitney Amaya may not remember knowing her Aunt Marie, she will always know that she was loved by her, as were we all. Marie's stories will live on for as long as we do.

To cry

A beautiful woman passes away.

Our lives are framed with tears: tears of joy, tears of sorrow, tears of pain, tears of pleasure.

Today we shed tears to celebrate your life and happiness.

I felt afraid when you died. I felt angry your life was too short. I felt sad and a hollow void appeared. The void was large, larger than life, a giant cavern of emptiness. I started to think of you: your smile, your laugh, and your ability to light up a room.

I felt joy when I began to let your beautiful memories flow through me. The space in our hearts for you is large. It needs to be this big to hold all the memories you helped create.

You changed our lives with love.

Thank you Marie, these words only scratch the surface of your radiance, your strength, your love, your passion, your joy, and your happiness, which you gave to us openly. We can only hope to live up to the example you have set and with your memories, your teachings and lessons we have a fighting chance.

This is not good-bye it is the awkward introduction to a new place, which your love has decorated for us and turned on the lights so we feel welcome and at ease.

We love you and miss you.

A Passion For Food

I have been waiting, holding the cards close to my chest. Many may already know what I am about to reveal: John Sconzo, aka docsconz, aka our good good friend, has a blog. It is a chef's dream blog because it tells the tales from a passionate diner's point of view. John looks at food, dining, and cooking, not with an axe to grind, rather he is looking for the pleasure and joys of the experience. He is educated, opinionated, and eloquent.  We are thankful for all of these attributes. He shares the good, the bad, and the unusual experiences with an eye towards the celebration of food. John recently wrote about another of our friends, Eliot Wexler, and his restaurant NOCA in Scottsdale, Arizona. Eliot's place is inherently an extension of Eliot's incredible enthusiasm for food and dining for everyone to share. According to what we've heard the place exudes comfortable delisciousness. Eliot has dedicated the past several years, actually longer, to building and refining his experiences in order to share the best of what he loves about dining. For the details, check out John's write up and pictures or visit Eliot in person and tell him we say hello.

Rugelach Inspirations

Rugelach, not just for breakfast anymore.

Jerky

Have you looked at beef jerky? The bags and sticks, the different flavors all lined up in manly packaging at your local convenience store begging to be purchased and devoured, chomped, torn, chewed, snacked upon, and savored. Sometimes it's eaten with purpose and  other times it is mindlessly consumed like some sort of natural chewing gum. People who are passionate about beef jerky truly adore it and will travel distances for prime specimes and go to the trouble of making their own. I must admit that I do not look at beef jerky in this way. I have been known to stick my nose up at jerky. Why would I want dried meat chunks and strips? What is the point? I did not really know because I had never really tried it. I just was not a jerky kind of guy. Still, in the back of my mind I knew I was missing something. Perhaps the gas station mystique of jerky helped me construct a wall of avoidance. Yet, I like dried things. Cured meat is good. And jerky is just a varaition on the current salumi craze, which is the current pin up model of kitchens today. Jerky's key difference it where salumi is fat, jerky is slim. Knowing this distinction is important for the creation of jerky as well as for sparking ideas.

Aki is a jerky aficionado. She can remember all of her favorite variations, and is not a fan of teriyaki or peppered beef. She like real jerky with rich meaty flavor and the perfect dry, chewy texture. She has made jerky before. She waxes poetic about the beef jerky she made at NECI, although truth be told, I don't think that she's made any since those days. I do not have these memories. I have memories of dodging the Slim Jims that seemed to be ubiquitous. Then one day I took a leap of faith. I was gathering ingredients for a workshop and saw a bag of Jack Link's Teriyaki Tips and just picked them up. I had never noticed Jack Link's up until a few years ago when he stayed at Keyah Grande on a hunting trip. Let's just say the man loves his jerky and is happy to share his passion. I think he brought a duffel bag of all kinds of jerky for his hunting associates. With jerky in hand I let my mind wander. I first ripped into the bag and then tentatively took out a teriyaki tip and tasted. It was sweet, meaty, salty, rich, it was good. Surprisingly good, heck, I actually liked the darn stuff.

We have zested cured meats before like chorizo and country ham so why not try it with jerky? It works, jerky zest works. We paired the jerky zest with a hot spring egg, not much of a reach-steak and eggs. After eating the first iteration of this dish I knew we could do more. I also felt the idea of jerky, lean dried meat cured with flavorings from ketchup to hoisin, could be exciting. With new ideas came more questions. What else could be jerky: duck, lamb, salmon, tuna? What flavors could we explore? What else is lean and could be dried and prepared as jerky: apples, quince, turnips, pumpkin? With these assorted jerkys on hand what will be their role in our pantry: as themselves, ground, zested, powdered, as a flavor base, as a piece to be shaved like a truffle? With new ideas the understanding of the possibilites is still unknown. What we have is an exciting new road to explore with many stops along the way.

Not Knowing

It is without surprise I am reminded of how little we know. Plans, ideas, sketches, designs; they change. Not knowing is frightening, not knowing is invigorating, not knowing is hard work. It's like walking through thick brush without a map for finding a clearing or an oasis. The challenges and the stress of the situation lead to making discoveries, about the situation and about our ability to handle it.  Not every step is easy nor are they the same. Each experience, good and bad, must be lived, savored, and remembered. Not knowing leads to finding out, which in turn leads to a quest to learn more. What you discover from the experience of not knowing is up to you. Rushing along blindly leads to a lot of stubbed toes and cracked skulls. Taking the time to develop the skills to move slowly first and speed things up later is all part of the process. Learning to curb impatience and take the time needed to effectively learn from each new experience is priceless.

Caramel Cake

Every so often I get the urge to revisit the idea of the caramel cake. The Daring Bakers recently featured Shuna's Caramel Cake for their monthly challenge. It seemed as though everywhere I looked there was caramel and there was cake, causing me to head for my mixer and make one of my own. I didn't use Shuna's recipe, instead substituting buttermilk cake layers and Edna Lewis' caramel icing, simply because I've been meaning to try it for years. The last caramel cake I made was actually for a chocoholic with rich chocolate cake layers sandwiched with creamy caramel and salted peanuts, inspired by the ubiquitous Snickers bar that lives in my freezer at all times. This cake was something entirely different, a little bit simpler and more approachable. It was in the spirit of the classic layer cakes that used to be part of weekend suppers all around the country, back when baking was done on a routine basis, and families loved their homemade cakes. Somehow those days seem to be coming back, and no one could be more pleased by the transition than me.

The layers of this cake are it. The flavor, the lightness, the slight tang and the moisture. I have not eaten better cake. And with a cup of coffee for breakfast, now that is living large.

Ripped From the Bloglines

Dinner, what to cook for dinner? It is all too often that we have stacks of ideas, plenty of avenues to travel, and still the infamous dinner question continues to throw us for a loop. That is one of the difficulties of being a professional. Thankfully Adam, The Amateur Gourmet had the perfect post for us to sink our teeth into: The Best Broccoli of Your Life. Aki made a few modifications (including washing the broccoli, I totally agree about the chickens but for me veggies need to be clean) in order to appease my jalapeno fetish, though for the most part we happily cooked the broccoli as Adam did it. The broccoli took but a few minutes to cook, perfect to accompany our 10 minute grits and provide the needed sustenance and deliciousness quota for the evening.

The Limitations of Creativity

What is possible is only limited by your imagination. Taking the time to figure things out and putting in the effort make them happen are what often separates good from great. How do you decide what is finished and what is a work in progress?

Pictured here is a slice of rib eye cap glazed with an aji dulce sauce, with ranch gnocchi and pickled cubanelle peppers. Tucked behind the steak is a bit more sauce to gild the lily. It's a finished dish. Simple, complex, and delicious. Still, upon reflection and analysis we probably can and will do more. Sometimes the hardest part of creation is knowing the difference between when to stop and when to simply pause for a better perspective.

the results of a recent workshop:

bonding mozzarella sheets into ravioli
2 minute risotto
green apple and butternut squash glued together
simplicity
humble pie
precision and details
not all critiques are meant as criticism, we can learn from the experience of others
if someone has walked the same path, listen to what they say, learn from their mistakes and pay attention as you do not know what you will find
order matters
eat food for pleasure, not to look for flaws
slow food should not be a movement, rather a search for delicious food should be a way of life
if you are given a bowl of lemons don't bother making lemonade, enjoy the incredible aroma
while bashing contemporary cooking is the new black, remember without foam a cappuccino is just a coffee with milk
a food mill is an instrumental kitchen tool
green is important
the greatest response to all the work is when the wow factor goes away and the results are just what is desired
the world is small, the people are important
the difference between honesty and nitpicking  is the approach

Teamwork

I was just sent this picture. It's our kitchen team from the summer of 2001. A flood of memories flashed back in one digital image. What I realized, besides the fact that I need to grow may hair out again, is that teamwork is essential to success. The more you work together, the greater the results. As a team we certainly had our moments, both good and bad. Upon reflection it was a truly instrumental summer in everyone's growth and development. In spite of all our ups and downs, the food was good and the friendships were even better. Thanks Jesse for giving me a bit of perspective.

Frozen Bananas

There's just something about frozen bananas. Frozen grapes are an indulgence, but you won't see those sold on sticks. Frozen bananas are eaten straight, dipped in chocolate or caramel, and occasionally even rolled in nuts. They are rich, creamy, and good for you. What more could you ask for? They have a firm texture that yields slowly against the teeth, softening gently as the fruit slowly melts. Somehow bananas retain their creamy texture through a range of temperatures, so that they are equally indulgent straight from the deep freeze and after several minutes at room temperature. Our recent adventures with liquid nitrogen led us straight to the banana. Once frozen solid, they can be placed in a blender and powdered. This light, frozen powder can be scooped up like snow and once eaten melts quickly into a rich stream of banana goodness sliding down into your tummy. A little extra nitrogen helps the powder stay cold on the way to the table, creating a taste sensation your guests will not soon forget. Powdered frozen bananas, try them and you'll never go back to bananas on a stick.

Powdered Pie and the Intense Application of Flavor

I wanted to capture the essence of pumpkin pie in a dry mix. Sure, I have seen pumpkin pie spice on the  supermarket shelves and in many pantries, though I have not experienced actual powdered pie. Today I was working on a few projects when the idea of powdered pie came to mind. I dashed off a note to Marie at The Spice House to see if my idea was plausible. It turns out they just started carrying a range of powdered fruits and vegetables, pumpkin being one of them. I headed out to their warehouse and after working out another idea I was shown the new powders. The pumpkin is amazing, as is the banana and the apple. I want to work on a powdered key lime pie as well, though with the leaves turning and the chill in the air, powdered pumpkin pie is now at the top of my list.

Besides a bit of whimsy these powders provide an enormous flavor punch for ice creams, breads, cakes, marinades and dry rubs. Without the pressence of water, the powders present pure flavor. Think about donuts, pasta, and puddings. We can always add moisture, taking it away is the difficult part. Imagine a warm, crisp buttermilk donut rolled in powdered pumpkin pie. Now there's a taste of autumn.

Think about the possible applications for these intense vehichles of flavor.

Cook with Care

Duck Tails

While I have been enamored with chicken tails and been keen on sourcing them, I have not been able to find a reliable supplier for them. In fact, I have not thought of these delicacies since visiting with Sean in June when we hoped to fine tune a dish revolving around these culinary gems.

Tonight we started preparing the dishes for tomorrow, the first is slow roasted and maple glazed ducks. As I was massaging the ducks with the salt and maple syrup I became struck by the duck tails. The meat to fat ratio is great and the size of these tails prompted the idea of utilizing them as starring ingredient for a dish. The tail may be trimmed and the back bone can act as a handle. Really, we are looking at an old idea with new eyes, though I believe with the amount of duck processing which goes on and the by-product of much foie gras being raised someone should be selling these tasty morsels. Imagine chicken fried duck tails with pickled watermelon, tempura battered duck tails with ginger scallion sauce, or cracker crusted duck tails with red pepper jelly...the list goes on and on.

Honey Filaments

Like hot maple on fresh snow, drizzled honey into liquid nitrogen. Time to explore the world of frozen spun sugars.

Elvis Scones

It was early Sunday morning and I needed something relatively quick, tasty and not overly filling. I was debating biscuits or scones and was leaning towards scones because I had a bunch of ripe bananas on the counter. Unfortunately, the idea of banana scones just wasn't quite cutting it for me. Then I came across this picture of a bacon cinnamon roll via Slashfood and I was inspired. I had bacon in the fridge and quickly peeled off a few slices and popped them in the microwave.  Once they were crisp, I crumbled them into a  scone dough with a diced up banana and a handful of peanut butter chips. Twenty minutes later we were eating the sweeet, smoky, nutty scones with coffee. Alex gilded the lily even further by sprinkling Ghirardelli Drinking Chocolate on the cold butter, which slowly melted onto his hot scones. Me, I was perfectly happy eating them straight. Apparently Elvis knew as much about food pairings as he did about music.

Sour Sweet Potatoes

The eventual goal is sour sweet potatoes. Yet, the white yams at the market lured me to try our initial tests with these sweet tubers. While yams and sweet potatoes are not as close biologically as marketers would have us believe, the ivory yams which we stumbled across provided a great starting point for our planned evolution. These are noodles in a visual sense.  We cut sheets of the yam and seasoned them with maple vinegar.  We layered the sheets and then vacuum sealed them and cooked the sheets at 83 degrees Celsius for thirty minutes.  When the sheets were cooked we cooled them down and cut them into one centimeter thick ribbons or noodles.

These sour yams have an a slight bite to them, with the tang of a pickle married to the richness of the tuber.  Eventually we will be making these noodles with sweet potatoes seasoned with pear vinegar and pear syrup. For now, these first trials produced terrific results.

The Second Pig

There were two pigs used for the dual suckling pig demonstration with Candido Lopez and Joan Roca. The first one was finished during the demonstration and cut with plates by the two chefs. The second pig was left cooking in the oven long after everyone had filed out of the main stage area of the conference. We were lucky enough to get an invitation to the back kitchen for when the pig had finished cooking. We finished our allotted time at the table signing books with Matt of Kitchen Arts & Letters and headed to the back to take a peek. Timing is everything and the pig was out of the oven and resting on sheet trays. Andy quickly informed that the only rule was no utensils and urged us to take a taste. We snagged a few choice bites of cracking skin and juicy meat before chaos descended and the room quickly filled with staff and volunteers. It was so much fun to see them digging in to the pig. Everyone there has been been working hard behind the scenes to pull this event together and we felt privileged to be included in the feast. After a few quick pictures we slipped away to let them enjoy themselves. Last October we did a class on pork and apples featuring suckling pig and a variety of locally procured fruit. With the taste of today's pig lingering and inspiations from the demonstration, we may have to do a new spin on the old classic sometime in the very near future.

Hot Whipped Cream

We were asked about the possibilities of making hot whipped cream. My immediate response was that of course it was possible, though I wondered why one would want to make hot whipped cream. We set about the task, using half and half instead of cream and adding body and stability with Methocel and xanthan gum. As we formulated the recipe, really just working with a base ratio, and started whipping the mixture I still wondered about its culinary uses. As the cream leavened and warmed possibilities began to reveal themselves. The goal for the chef we were working with was to make a cheese flavored cream, really an ethereal fondue to compliment a ragout of mushrooms and accent a steak. The hot, leavened cream was incredible. While it spoke of the dairy it consisted of, I could certainly see the direction we were going in with the hot whipped cream destined to be enriched with Munster cheese. 

Though the hot whipped half and half is, by itself, quite inspiring, I have just begun to see the further possibilities.  One is as a traditional liaison, although instead of adding a cold cream to a hot soup we may instead add a hot cream to the hot soup.  In that same vein we may make a hot whipped lobster cream to enrich a lobster bisque. The permutations on this line of thinking are endless.

We may also look at cold pies like lemon or chocolate or strawberry topped with warm, spiced, whipped cream. No, this may not replace the comforting staple of warm apple pie topped with soft peaks of cool cream, but there are definite  possibilities to explore.

Answers are easy, seeing the question is difficult.