IDEAS IN FOOD

One Liners...sort of

Renew Your Imagination
Creativity and Surprise
Collectible Edibles
The Clarity of Lines
The Logic of Flavors and Tastes
For the Sake of Art and Science
Ingredients…the Ultimate Truth
Extension of the Mind
Wanting to Think
Between Tradition and Modernity
Figure out what your options are. Not what is best, but what you think you can execute the best.
Focus on a single achievable task then depend on average individuals to make big plays and completely surprise your opponent
The most effective and flexible system will win out
Sensations, Memories, Flavors
Creation, Freedom, Tendencies
Precision of Flavors
Progression of Textures
Polished Taste
Return to Simplicity
Four Simple Changes
Notice Things
Frugality and Stewardship
Sense of Balance
Harmonize with Wine
Determined to Make a Difference
Defined by the Season
Making Both History and Art
Genius and Sensibility
Obsession of Elements
Unplugged in the Kitchen
Continue to Reinvent
First Impressions
Working with Time
Explore Flavors
The Power of Productivity
The Functional Kitchen
Creating Innovations
Innovative Creation
Adaptive Cooking
Creativity Gets Stifled When Everyone Has to Follow the Rules
Leverage Insight and Creativity
Clever and Quick
How to Get it Done?
Culinary Adaptation
The Essence of Experience
Auditing a Dish
Experience by Design…Design by Experience
Three Chords
Designing for Adjustability
The Last Breakfast
Garden Menu
Juxtaposition of Flavors, Tastes and Aromas
Texture and Temperature
Multilayered Experience Management…Nothing is Left to Chance
Balancing Cuisine
Auditing Experiences
The Practice of Culinary research
The Discipline of Design
Exercise your Brain
The Conversation Starter
Idea Driven Narrative
Practice Spontaneity
Filter Out the Irrelevant and Focus on the Meaningful
Rewire Your Thinking
Sparking Questions
Intellectual Awakening
Better is Better
The Power of Imagination
The Harsh Test of Performance
True Innovation
Simple and Over the Top
Highlight the inherent flavors, aromas and textures of food
Simplify the Problem
Do Not Follow Directly in Anyone’s Recent Work
Expose Your Ideas
The Alchemy of the Creative Process
Flushing Out Creativity
A Quest for Understanding
Trusted Instincts Over Received Wisdom
Identify the Point
Commitment to Simplicity
Enigma in the Kitchen
Perfect Refinement
Mirroring the Landscape
An Expression of a Lifestyle
Filter and Concentrate Flavors
Luxury in Simplicity
Cooking and an Appreciation for Products
Care and Precission
Controlling the Cooking Process
Harmonious Composition
Hidden Treasures
Intelligent Use of Ingredients, Techniques, Technology
Full of New Experiences
We Can Change Our First Impressions

You're not in Kansas anymore

While our remote outpost would cause many culinarians to cringe at the thought of procuring products we must protest. Technology has allowed us to share a few of the bounties which have recently fallen upon our doorsteps (thanks to modern day delivery systems.)

We were fortunate enough to capture a few of them on film, so check out the KG photo album.

Calamansi Margarita

After spending the afternoon uploading photography a well deserved libation was in order. Being in the Southwest, a margarita comes to mind, in our case with the help of the calamansi lime. While orange in color, this deceptive piece of citrus packs the punch necessary to deliver the goods. Current plans include infusing tequila with this jem as well as patron citron to create a well balanced libation.

Look for more uses of the calamansi to come...for now bottoms up.

Other People's Menus

Constantly searching for flavors, tastes, combinations, verbage, descriptions, sparks...inspirations menus provide such stimulation. Reading in print the works of others enables the brain to extrapolate and merely drift in pointed directions. While direct borrowing from menus is frowned upon, I believe the culinary creations represented in many menus act as culinary touchstones which we may all learn from.

Recently From the Smoker

In the middle of nowhere, culinary preservation is essential. In the process of looking for means to preserve ingredients evolutions occur. For example, we have been smoking salt-fleur de sel, sel gris, maldon-for years. We also have an incredible purveyor Steve Stallard who has been curing sea trout, brook trout and salmon roe with fleur de sel. One thought led to another and we asked Steve to cure his roe with smoked salt. He accepted our offer and smoked roe was born. Steve then mentioned that the roe is amazing drizzled with his whiskey barrel aged maple syrup. A smashing combination--think bacon drizzled in maple syrup-- and one which inspired our most recent culinary evolution. (We have much more to talk about in the world of roe and working with Steve, but if I get to far off track...)

So with the idea of maple, smoke and flavors bouncing about I decided to load up our smoker. Maple syrup in one tray, Antique apples and cider in another, cocoa nibs on the third and rice paper on the forth.

Smoked apples became smoked apple sauce.
We had already smoked soy sauce to great suceess so the smoked maple as a flavor base in our repetoire was thrilling.
The smoked cocoa nibs have not found a home yet, perhaps ice cream or a crust for scallops with figs.
The smoked rice paper, now more delicate than ever will be a great crust for cod or hake roasted "en papillote"

--further thoughts to come

The New Year

Well the new year has come and gone, and my search for true inspirations continues. We have successfully signed up to write about ideas in food for at least a year, so now we must delve into our notes, ideas and thoughts and hopefully come up with something interesting.