IDEAS IN FOOD

Ham, egg and cheese

The sandwich--griddled ham, egg, American cheese, salt, pepper, ketchup on a hard roll--is near impossible to beat.  The ingredients come together after steaming for several minutes inside the paper bag.  The sandwich must rest, otherwise everything will fall apart.  The rest lets the cheese melt and set and keep the sandwich whole, though it is usually devoured too quickly for one to notice.  I could go on, but the time it took to take the picture and write these brief thoughts has resurrected an internal hunger which only a second sandwich can satiate.  (sandwich purists will note that the egg here is scrambled and should be fried, but it was still darn good.)

Peanut Butter Filled...

Last Monday in the rain we were wandering around the West Village and stumbled upon Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven.  We would have ended up there at some point during the month but the timing seemed fortuitous.   We were cold and wet, with a Wicked Mocha calling our names.  The mocha was good, rich and thick although not as wicked as we may have wished.  Chili spicing on a menu sounds assertive and it is somewhat disorienting when it is muted and soft.  We wandered around the store which was wall to wall chocolate bunnies (the day after Easter), because of the rain it was somewhat gloomy and dank.  This feeling was exacerbated looking at the hundreds of bunnies that we knew would soon be melted down and turned into something else.  The shelves seemed sparsely filled and the room cavernous.  The chocolate display was very pretty though and added a splash of color and cheer to the environment.  Then I discovered a small round tin of peanut butter filled dark chocolate covered pretzels.  Chocolate covered pretzels are a favorite.  As a child/adolescent I loved champagne truffles but as I got older I gravitated toward things that were less sweet.  The edge of saltiness in the pretzels makes my chocolate taste that much better.  When it first came out Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby was my favorite ice cream primarily for the peanut butter filled chocolate covered pretzels.   As I stood in Jacques Torres with that tin of pretzels in my hand, the memories swirled through me and I was compelled to take it to the cash register and bring it home.  They were good, better than the ones I remember in my Chubby Hubby.  The pretzels appeared to have been baked with the peanut butter inside and the pretzel itself was light and surprisingly delicate.  The chocolate was smooth and rich but also tasted faintly of vegetable oil.  An unexpected sensation and not an entirely welcome one.  And the pretzels were salty.  Very salty.  The first one gave me pause as the crunchiness faded and the flavor of peanuts and salt lingered in my mouth.  I wasn't sure whether or not I wanted another one.  I really wasn't sure whether or not I liked the chocolate coating.  But the flavors lingered, beckoning as the salt faded slowly from my palate.  A few minutes later I reached for another one.  Again the punch of flavors and textures, crispy, creamy, chocolate-y, nutty and SALTY.  The salinity was still in my face but not quite as unpleasant as the first time.   The third and last pretzel made me realize two things.  They were addictive.  My salt tolerance had kicked in.  Although the flavor was still quite aggressive, I was growing less sensitive to it.  The impact of the flavor was wearing off but the dehydration induced craving remained.  I set the pretzels aside.  Two bottles of water later I was still thirsty and mulling over the concept of seasoning.  I've definitely had meals where the salt levels were high in the first few courses and then seemed to level out as the meal progressed.  Perhaps my palate had simply adjusted and dulled.  The combination of salty peanut butter and salty pretzels was a bit too much, but if one or the other item had been less seasoned, together they would have been perfect.  The three bite rule had revealed itself here, it was as much as I could handle without falling over the edge into unpleasantness.  Which is not exactly the context in which we like to see the rule, but there it was.  Even when you think that you don't like something, especially in a restaurant, it usually takes a few bites to be sure.  In a tasting menu, by the time you make your decision, often the food has been finished, or close to it.  If a reaction is so visceral that it forms in one bite then the offending dish must be truly unpleasant.  The pretzels didn't cause that reaction.  Someone else could love them, but for me three bites were enough for a lifetime.

Smaller is Better

From food to bookstores, smaller is better.  After spending too many hours searching for cookbooks on line and at large bookstores, I returned to the source for new cookbooks--Kitchen Arts and Letters.  The tiny storefront on Lexington Avenue not only has character and individuality, it has amazing cookbooks.  From the obscure to the seemingly ordinary, KA&L has the books and the story behind them.

The store and its staff focus on cooks and their books.  It is a hands on environment which lets chefs see what is going on around the country and the world in an intimate Manhattan storefront.

Oh and if you are not in Manhattan give a call, they will listen to your needs, virtually walk you through the store over the phone, and hand pick books to suit your needs or cookbook collection. 

And this all ties into food how?  Smaller is better.  Be determined to provide something great.  It does not have to be large or grand, just done well.

Lunch March 29, 2005

We had lunch today at an upscale Italian restaurant.  This is a place that has been open for over a year and has received a fair amount of press.  The buzz was very good last year and generally the food and service are thought to be very consistent and operating at a fairly high level.  We were looking forward to this lunch and to seeing some new aspects of food, wine and service from a different perspective.  The service was quite good.  Our server was very friendly and knowledgeable without crossing boundaries and although there were minor service issues, they were instantly forgivable.  The dining room was definitely a scene, formal and somewhat stodgy in feeling, although the lady and two children at the next table added a level of informality that we found entertaining...others may simply have been annoyed.  Note to self, if we ever have children and bring them to restaurants we will make sure that they are properly attired.  It may be all in my head but I think that if children are wearing formal attire they will usually behave accordingly, if you bring them into a restaurant in casual clothes they will probably also behave accordingly.  Although the room seemed polished at first glance it did not stand up to scrutiny.  There were many curtained panels along the walls creating a feeling of intimacy and light but they were frayed and stained in various places. After noticing the curtains, other details began to reveal themselves.  Electrical outlets were chipped and faded looking and some of the silver was slightly twisted and bent. There was even a patch of ceiling panel that had broken and was twisted away from it's foundation.  It was an effort but we re-focused on our menus.  The wine list was fun, lots of interesting and well priced wines leaning slightly towards Italy but with a sprinkling of vineyards from around the world.  The food was good, there were some interesting ideas behind the menu and we appreciated the chef's interpretations.  There was olive oil on the table for the bread, it tasted like lemons and rosemary with a strong grassy finish.  It was an interesting change of pace.  Question: can someone please tell me if susci is a real word?  It sounds like an Italian version of sushi, it looks and tastes much more like sashimi or crudo, as it is known as in Italy.  Regardless, the yellow tail and lobster suscis that we tried were very fresh and tasty.  The other dish of note was a slow roasted goat that was meltingly tender and sweet in a light sauce with slivers of artichoke and fingerling potatoes.  I would go back for that dish.  Although we wanted to try the pork belly off of the dinner menu, it was not available.  Oddly, out of four savory courses, three were well seasoned, right on the edge of salty, and one course was totally bland.  The desserts were a disaster, plain and simple.  But in spite of the rough edges, we had a wonderful time.  The service and company were extremely enjoyable , the Italian Cabernet Franc that we drank was surprisingly soft and barnyard-y, the check was reasonable and we left with the feeling of a few hours well spent. 

Ideal versus Reality

I use an Apple computer and am in part drawn to the idea of Apple--creative people working in an environment cohesive to free thought using tools to further spark ideas.  So I went to the Apple store in NYC today to get a boost of "creativity" and "free thought."  Bad move.  Unfortunately the store is a store, not a think tank or idea center.  Rather masses of individuals were gathered at all the different computers, not testing products and innovations but doing daily chores like catching up on emails and surfing the web.  While I really enjoy my mac and the freedoms it provides, the creativity and free thought one associates with it comes from individuals not the machines.  I think I might drop in at Bonnie Slotnick's store again--one hour there provided hours of independent and focused ideas and thoughts.  Image is one thing but not everything.

A new flavor

Tequila-Yuzu-Habanero; the combination makes sense, we shall see how it evolves.

Open Source

As I type I stumbled upon an idea of  what will help make great food.  It actually came from the thought of computers and the software written for them.  Secrets of big companies are kept under lock and key.  They spend hours and tons of money writing software which they will then sell for tons of money.  And yet there are many individuals who just enjoy the process of writing great programs, beneficial and innovative.  They give their ideas away or ask for nominal compensation to keep their efforts going. 

As the world of food and science collide and expand this need for an open source of ideas among chefs, scientists and individuals is essential for the  growth and understanding of food.  One must be secure with ideas such that they are easily shared for you never know what will spark your next thought or help distill it down to its essence.

When New Discoveries are Old Hat

With regards to discoveries and dining, I am at a crossroads.  I want to see, smell, taste and feel new foods, dishes, combinations and more.  I rely on myself, Aki, cookbooks and food writing to keep me in the loop.  The Internet provides a grand resource for those wanting to learn and expand their horizons and I am very fortunate to be pointed in many interesting directions.  The conundrum comes about when these many resources are "uncovering" or "finding" restaurants or places to eat at which either have existed for years to a local and loyal clientele and are now subject to the dining scrutiny of the Internet, or are exposing restaurants which while in their own circle are magnificent, under the electron microscope of the masses become picked apart like a new virus.

Sometimes new discoveries are not new, just new to you and me and need to be shared as what they are rather than examined and probed for what they are not.

Looking Under the Stones

Just wanted to mention the cookbook store of Bonnie Slotnick in New York City.  We discovered each other a number of years ago at a cookbook fair in New York and she has kept our library expanding ever since.  We paid her a visit today and she unearthed some incredible books for us. 

Bonnie has a great collection of used cookbooks stretching the spectrum--from beverages  made from Wild Herbs to intriguing books on Kaiseki dinners.  She has taken the time to search the used book world for rare and hard to come by books, even scouting books at other bookstores and calling us to let us know they are there.  She even helped us complete out Time Life Series Cookbook Collection.

If you are looking for great books or just a culinary journey stop by her store at 163 West Tenth Street New York, New York 10014 or give a call and ask for her assistance (212) 989-8962

Celebrate Popcorn

Popcorn, while simple and straight forward, is the vehicle for many personal indulgences.  From the beginning, I have always loved butter, rich decadent butter and popcorn is an ideal medium.  From  the  simple  we have witnessed the sublime: black truffle popcorn has garnered some press, and we have enjoyed eating it in the kitchen.  Yet for us popcorn has become a great outlet for us to share our flavors from the kitchen.  We were giving away our hot sauce, smoke and fire(smoked habanero chili and pickled ramps) at an event but we needed a way to share the flavor without scalding tongues.  Popcorn came to mind and I like caramel corn so we decided to make the spiced-caramel popcorn; and in the place of sugar we used maple syrup for a richer flavor.  Since then we have also made smoke and smolder(smoke jalapeno and pickled ramps) and made the popcorn with honey. 

The popcorn--a childhood memory-- provided a great resource for sharing our hot sauce and similarly the stimulation to use popcorn to share our flavors and tastes.

Soy-Cocoa nib "New Miso"

The combination sort of fell together.  In current fashion, salt and chocolate have been paired together like  bacon and eggs.  Similarly, miso--a fermented soy bean paste--has also been used in many culinary arenas from savory to sweet.  I was looking to fashion a miso like product; but not miso.  Cocoa's savory affinity as well as the fermentation and roasting of cocoa beans provided the spark with which I would then soak cocoa nibs, the cracked roasted fermented cocoa beans, in soy sauce.  After soaking for several days I pureed the two ingredients into a miso like paste.  The cocoa's compexities married with the salinity and savory nature of the soy sauce to blend into what I have called new miso.  NO it its not miso, though we are harnessing flavors and aromas in the style of miso to have a distinctive cooking base.

We used it recently to coat espelette pepper noodles with butter and pickled ginger juice and served it with basil infused snails and slow cooked leeks.

The Spoon Has Arrived

First we must personally thank Rudi Steele, Alain Ducasse, Francois Delahaye, Helen R. Smith and Michael Chaffin for there generosity, spontaneity, and inspired moments which allowed our quest for a spoon to be achieved within mere moments of the words coming from our mouth.

Thank you all, we are extremely grateful.

H.Alexander Talbot
Aki Kamozawa

There can be only one; and we have it.  The marrow spoon just finished its journey from France via Florida and now here to our kitchen in Colorado.  The heft, its sheen, its pure magnitude.  Now to the kitchen to work on new dishes with bone marrow.  More later; ideas come sporadically and we must take advantage.

One line, many ideas

The importance of language
Master the material, organize it, then throw away the text and just cook
The more you explain things, the more people will understand what you are doing and why you are doing it
The First Three Notes
Culinary Collectibles
Drawing Flavors: draw out and develop the flavor of a single or several ingredients
Bonding of Flavors
Borrowed versus True Flavor
Sharing of Flavors
Personal Odyssey and Discovery
Culinary Aesthetics
Nibbles and Sips
Build a Story
Connect With People First
Creative Impulses
A Reason to Listen
Doing Something Great
Beginning and End: when seasons overlap
Unexplored Combinations
Test Limits
The Culinary Road House: A Cooks Diner
Lose Boundaries and Forms
Antique Artisans
Antique Artistry
Print Out Your Brain
Distinctively Individual

Waiting For the Spoon

I know the marrow spoon is in safe hands, but it is not in mine.  As I await its arrival to our kitchen bone marrow visions dance through my head like those of sugar plums at Christmas.  No, not really, but the spoon, its origins, uses and fall from grace keep me focused on bone marrow.  I truly enjoy bone marrow, rich and decadent, melting and creamy with flavors of meat.  We have approached marrow from many angles: roasted and served in the bone--hence the need for the bone marrow spoon, as a gratin with mustard and lovage crumbs in a split bone, served from a roasted veal shank on grilled bread as a precursor to the shank, gently poached in a kombu tissane then inserted into tuna  and presented as a tuna osso bucco, in hollandaise sauce and its derivatives to enrich it, smashed into potatoes in lieu of olive oil.  So the spoon is more than a representation of classic cuisine--preparations and presentations.  It is culinary flint and steel; it provides inspiration for ideas--it enables us to say yes and continue with our improvisation.

Infused Yoghurt

Going to go out and buy a yogurt maker.  Remember the kits which everyone had to have and no one used, that is what I must have.  Read a recipe in "A Chef in Provence" by Eduard Loubet where he made a Thyme scented yogurt.  The door opened.  Flavored yogurts have existed for years, but what about herb and spice yogurts, savory and sweet for many preparations.  Imagine lemon thyme yogurt set over rhubarb preserves, or curry leaf yogurt over lime pickle confiture to be served with tandoori frog legs.  The combinations are endless, the opportunities boundless. 

I could even use these flavored yogurts to make our caramelized yogurt, or a marinade or sorbet or just a fun breakfast with granola.

Collaboration

    We used to work for a Chef that would “borrow” ideas from other chefs and cookbooks.  Okay, in our young and irreverent youth we all referred to it as “stealing”.  When he came up with new dishes it actually was something of a pastime/competition among the cooks to figure out the source and find the source and pass it along.  He was a master at raiding obscure cookbooks.  The benefit of that was that we found them all and created quite a library of our own.  He also had a knack for finding the next up and coming chefs so that we saw their dishes in our kitchen just as the buzz got started.  Of course we always had to find out who they were ourselves, but seeing the variety of dishes was an incredible education.  Thank you Chef!   As the years pass and I find influences everywhere around me, from sources both obvious and obscure, I realize that what we called stealing was actually interpreting.  No two chefs will take the exact same recipes and ingredients and come out with exactly the same result.  We taste things and think about what we would change.  The perfect dish is only experienced when there is nothing to tweak and that is a rare occasion indeed.   I don’t know if I’ve ever actually experienced it.  But imperfect dishes can be incredibly exciting and lead to some of our greatest interpretations and creations.  The hardest lesson to learn is that there is no such thing as a new idea in food.  Everything has been done before in some way shape or form…except some of the new wackier molecular gastronomy stuff…the technology there is pretty young…but the ideas behind the food, combinations of textures and flavors and the manipulation of ingredients, have been around for centuries.   Most “new ideas” in food are in reality, not new or unique, they are just recently popular. 
   
Professional cooking is all about execution.  The larger your kitchen, the harder it is to achieve.  We have the combined luxury and hardship of being the only two people in our kitchen at the moment.  At peak season we may have 2-3 other cooks and a dishwasher, but that’s it.  So execution is much less of a problem for us than it is for someone with 20-30 cooks in their brigade. We can change every dish at every meal if we so choose and usually we do.  Creativity and execution are the cornerstones of our cuisine.  Ingredients are the last element that ties it all together.  Everything that we do together in the kitchen is a collaboration.  We bounce ideas off of each other all day long.  Eventually we pick something and run with it.  The interpretation goes to whoever grabs the ingredients for a specific dish first.  Sometimes we both grab different ingredients for the same dish and go off in our separate directions and figure out how to make them work when we're done.  Sometimes we just start with ingredients, no discussion, each of us taking the things that we want and playing with them.  Then we evaluate what we have and put things together.  We both taste the completed dish and make whatever changes are deemed necessary.  The final creation is the one that speaks to both of us.  If we don’t love it, no one else gets to taste it.  If only one of us loves it, there’s still work to be done.  Once we both approve we know that it must be pretty close to perfect.  Or at least to our interpretation of it.

Late Winter-Early Spring Dishes

Green and White Asparagus Soup and Salad
soup prepared like a cappuccino, salad of their tips with a chopped egg and found herb dressing

Seared Maine Scallop
citrus assiette, fresh wasabi, cilantro syrup

Soft Shell Crab B.L.T.
butter lettuce, bacon sauce, smoked tomato confiture

Aiguillettes of Blue fin Tuna
celery leaves, tonnato sauce, tom olives

Young Beet Salad
walnut oil vinaigrette, arugula leaves and sauce, shaved comte cheese

Hot and Cold Alaskan Spot Prawns
sake cured sea trout caviar, natural prawn jus

General Tsao’s Quail
broccoli stem a la grecque

Rock Shrimp Ravioli
sweet potato sauce, yuzu, black truffles

Sea Bass Carpaccio
blue fin tuna tartare, onion syrup, frothed arugula sauce

Seared Foie Gras
key lime tartlet, marshmallow cream, scotch bonnet caramel

Bean Sprout and Black Truffle Stir Fry
shaved scallop , madiera pan sauce

Veal Oscar
softshell crab, veal schnitzel, asparagus sauce

Beet Tartare
vanilla cured sea trout roe, white pepper sabayon

Tuna Rossini
monkfish liver mousse, red wine sauce, potato puree

Morel Mushroom Stew
ginger, green onions, frothed konbu

Foie Gras from Land and Sea
seared duck liver flavored with yuzu, monkfish liver and black truffle mousse, terrine of both livers with sauternes

Three Pear Soup
chestnut and maple ravioli, sheep sorrel, white pepper sabayon

Black Sea Bass Braised in Olive Oil
artichoke hearts, roasted maitake mushrooms, anise and orange salad

Filet Mignon of Veal
ricotta gnocchi and root vegetable ragout, preserved perigord truffles

Bone Marrow Crusted Rouget
crab meat dumplings, bean sprout stir fry, fermented black bean sauce

Steamed Halibut Slices
chanterelle mushrooms a la greque, lovage puree, yuzu confit

Hot and Cold Organic Chicken
roasted thigh with sauerkraut and spaetzle, buttermilk poached breast in gewürztraminer jelly

Chateaubriand of Veal
sauce choron, maitake mushrooms, bourguignon jus

Braised Beef Cheek Bourgignon
button mushrooms, apple wood bacon lardoons, ruby crescent potato puree

Goose Egg Raviolo
fiddle head ferns, sautéed ramp greens, piave vechio cheese

Barbequed Black Cod
collard greens, macaroni gratin, sweet potato sauce

Buffalo Mozzarella
baby tomato clafoutis, basil salad, olive oil sorbet

Epoisses
port and cherry tartlet, grains of paradise gastrique

Trio of Cappuccino Custards
sambuca, vanilla, chocolate

Steamed Coconut Pudding
old fashioned hot fudge, almond crisp, toasted coconut sorbet

Key Lime Tartlet
marshmallow cream, scotch bonnet caramel

Hot Chocolate Bread Pudding
eggnog and peppermint stick ice creams

Carrot and Mascarpone Cheesecake
black pepper golden raisin sauce and parsnip cream

Honey and Spice Roasted Gala Apple
yoghurt sorbet, cinnamon shortbread

The Roe is Cured

Just got off the phone with Steve at blis caviar and the results are in.  We are able to speak so highly of these roes prior to our own consumption on the basis of Steve's commitment to excellence and determination to only produce the best.  His own response to the resultant caviar's is  a touchstone for their quality and unique flavor profiles.  As we all strive for perfection, Steve seems to be getting close.  The infused sea trout roes of vanilla-Armagnac, bacon and eggs(smoked salt and bourbon aged maple syrup), sake-smoked Fleur de sel, and sake-Fleur de sel were a smashing success.  The pride one takes in shaping ingredients--rather highlighting there inherent qualities--is not  a born trait but a driven passion.  We look forward to the arrival of these roe's and the chance to integrate them and actually let them drive our menus.

Exploring Flavors

Our addiction to artisinal brook, sea trout and salmon caviar and the smoked derivatives is driven by pristine ingredients handled and developed with care.  We have had the pleasure of working with Steve in the idea department with regards to the smoked roes, and have continued throwing ideas about derivations and new flavor profiles.  Steve's commitment to excellence determines the final product, and we are looking forward to several flavor extrapolations we are working on together. (rather Steve is making and fine tuning, we are fortunately sitting at the table helping to generate ideas.)

More to follow once the roes are tested.

Micro or Macro

Go big or go home. We went home and realized that cocktails do not have to be full size to pack extreme satisfaction. We took our cocktail menu and shrank it so guests torn between several drinks may now try an array of tastes and sensations without becoming drunk. Our miniatures are not shots rather just several sips of a full sized drink. Imagine the possibilities; not for making money but a tasty experience.

Bespoke dining

Traveling the world via the Internet I came across the term bespoke.  Its brief definition is been spoken for and is usually in reference to custom tailored suits.  I tripped on the term on English Cut a site about an off Saville Row tailor.  Anyway, the term applies to our cooking.  We work directly with guests to create menus which have been spoken for.  While the tailor selects fabric, measures, cuts and shapes to order we hopefully are able mirror this interaction.  We work directly with fantastic individuals who provide us with ingredients which shape guests menus.

Sugar Smoked Salt

While reading Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking"  (I just finished reading it cover to cover) the question about how to capture the aroma of caramel came to mind.  Being a fan of our smoker, we loaded the chamber with raw sugar and basmati rice and placed a tray of fleur de sel in the smoker to hopefully capture the aromas.  It worked, now we must try other ingredients and find uses for the sugar smoked salt.

Cold Stone

To my mind, Cold Stone Creamery is a wonderful place. Here in Pagosa good ice cream is hard to find. On the rare occasion when my sweet tooth awakens, nothing else will do. Supermarket ice creams, no matter how premium, never really cut it for me. So when Cold Stone Creamery came to Durango, I was ecstatic. Those first few months I had ice cream every time we were in the neighborhood, which unfortunately wasn’t all that often. After a period of trial and error I’ve found my favorite combination. Although I will branch out occasionally, this is what I’ll come back to time and again: sweet cream ice cream with Snickers bars, roasted almonds and bananas. Let’s start with the ice cream. Growing up vanilla was a favorite, the perfect foil to the hot caramel or fudge sauces at the local sweet shop. But with age I discovered a taste for the pure flavor of sweet cream. No distractions. Frozen Snickers are a beautiful thing. They evoke memories of hot summer days at Jones Beach where young men in shorts with coolers on their shoulders would walk the sands calling out “Froooozen Snickers bars, get your frooooozen Snickers bars here.” It was a siren call that we rarely resisted. Although the caramel was tooth shatteringly hard at first, once it hit your palate in melted into a chewy, salty, creamy delight. The beauty of the Cold Stone addition is that they take room temperature Snickers chunks and fold them into the ice cream so that as you slowly savor the mixture the candy goes from chewy to crunchy to melting in your mouth. It is an ever-evolving experience. The roasted almonds add a much-needed toasty crunch that stands alone. The bananas too change textures through the process from creamy and ripe to frozen and slightly grainy. Somehow the frozen fruit has a different flavor than the fresh, sharper and rounder. Its gentle sweetness provides a nice foil to the intense experience of the Snickers bar. To be honest I rarely finish, but the intense enjoyment that I get from the experience is such an indulgence. Like many things, ice cream is best made to order.

Armchair Inspiration

Our daily routine is a constant search for inspirations. Where we are located, there really aren’t many interesting places to go out to eat. So, we have to look for our inspirations elsewhere. Since we cannot dine out on a regular basis we use books and the Internet to stretch our horizons. The upside and the downside of this is that often we are the only ones doing the cooking. When I taste the combinations in a restaurant, they either work for me or they don’t. By dining upon someone else’s creations I can see new interpretations and perspectives that I might not find on my own. Sometimes I can sample something transcendent that needs no alteration, sometimes (most of the time) I can appreciate the dish and still see how I would do it differently, and sometimes a dish is so incredibly discordant that I never want to revisit the combination again. The first and the last options almost never occur when I read about a composition. Seeing combinations in a book or on a menu I can imagine the way that I would make the flavors harmonize in a dish. Not being able to taste something allows my imagination full reign over tastes, textures and flavors. When you factor out the need for execution, you can learn something positive from any chef, cook or writer who takes a pen to paper, which is not necessarily the case in a dining experience. Our search for inspiration has taken us all over the world, mentally if not physically. Demanding jobs, familial obligations, financial constraints, these things all factor into the ability to travel to exotic places and taste local dishes in their natural settings. Thankfully (in some ways) the world is shrinking. Information, ideas and ingredients are easier to come by if you know where to look. Which is not to say that we wouldn’t love to travel around the world and experience all that it has to offer. One day we will. But until that day, I can be an armchair chef and traveler in my spare time in order to hone my skills in the kitchen, wine cellar and dining room the rest of the time.

Vanilla Salt

It began with Alain Senderens.  The man behind lobster with vanilla sauce.  He combined the inherent sweetness of lobster with the flavors of vanilla and butter.  The ingredients play off each other and create a harmony.  The flavor of vanilla is apparent in many other ingredients and is piqued by cooking techniques and ingredient combinations.

We wanted to be able to control and further accent ingredients with the flavor of vanilla, and by combining it with fleur de sel we were able to use the salts ability to awaken the senses to punctuate the flavor of vanilla.  We now use vanilla fleur de sel in many dishes from goose foie gras torchon with rhubarb-horseradish-dill topped with a sprinkling of the vanilla salt, to our Margarita pre-dessert: prickly pear tapioca with yuzu tequila froth and vanilla fleur de sel.

We still pay homage to Senderens' initial discovery with sweet shrimp tartar with vanilla salt and sliced shiso.  Without the original, we may not have discovered our potential.

*Food for thought, we just added vanilla soy sauce to our repertoire.

Reset Your Senses

Every once in a while we need to reset our senses. Shut the brain down, and let it just empy and rest. Sometimes it is a Dr. Seuss book or a Whopper with cheese, yet if we are unable to reset our mind and the senses tied to it new thoughts, assimilations, connections and contrasts will be difficult to find, unearth or discover.

It does not have to be hard or difficult, it just has to be done.

You've had the soup, we have the chocolate.

Sweet and Sour

We have developed some exciting combinations while exploring the tastes of chocolate and the agreement between sweet and sour. White chocolate and maple vinegar ganache as well as salted white chocolate with white asparagus and maple vinegar-red chile syrup. Port vinegar and dark chocolate truffle and foie gras truffle with port wine vinegar and smoked cocoa nib tuile. Ibarra chocolate and huckleberry vinegar sauce with goat cheese ice cream or a mochachino froth of ibarra chocolate and huckleberry vinegar with cinnamon roasted lobster, turnip-apple puree and huckleberry-leek fondue.

It's not the soup, but it is very comforting.

Listen to Your Food

The ingredients will tell you where to take them. You may have preconcieved ideas, thoughts, visons or shaped tastes in your minds palate. However, it is an ingredients natural and potential qualities which determine the development of dishes.

Listen to what the ingredient wants to do, it will not steer you wrong.

That Chocolate Shavy Thingy

Well, that's what it has been called. A tete de moine of chocolate was created when we ran out of cheese. The girolle, previously used for shaving florettes of tete de moine (a swiss cow's milk cheese), proved to be the inspiration for forming a block of hazelnut and dark chocolate which could emulate this decadent cheese with an intriguing presentation.

Roasted Banana

While we were originally looking for ingredients to pair with our tete de moine of chocolate, the spice roasted banana emerged as a striking counter balance to fish and meats, and in its adapted application with grilled lamb and lamb tartar.

The banana is larded with spices and slowly cooked with additional spices in butter and smoked maple syrup. It is finished with a pinch of ground chile flake and wine vinegar in order to balance the sugars from the syrup.

Further uses will be with: foie gras, sweetbreads, slow cooked fish, the tete de moine of chocolate.

The key is roasting the banana whole and letting the tastes and aromas weave together, followed by presenting the banana tableside such that guests are involved in the aromas which normally are lost in the kitchen.

The Marrow Spoon Continues

After asking my question about marrow spoons in our improvisational cooking class Rudi Steele accepted my query as a challenge.  He sent us this e-mail.

"Yesterday morning I sent off an urgent message to Alain Ducasse at Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris,
having him look for a bone marrow spoon Alex spoke of, and which he had been searching for.
Alain mobilized his entire staff and "good news" I just received a message from Alain's kitchen
in Paris. They found a bone marrow spoon at Alain's kitchen at Hotel de Paris in Monte-Carlo.
These spoons are no longer made, but the company still does exist. The spoon in the kitchen
in Monte-Carlo is sort of beat up, but it has already been sent to the original maker for restoration
and new silver plating."

More to follow.

Marrow Spoon

When and where was the last time you thought of, saw, ate with or even knew what a marrow spoon was?

Pike Gnocchi and their evolution

It began with pike gnocchi. Actually, it began with Wylie and his stand against mousses and the dispersion of flavors. Why make a mousse if the intitial ingredient is perfect by itself? So we threw spaghetti against the wall, well in our heads at least. How to express the delicate flavor of pike without altering or thinning its flavors with eggs and other ingredients as in traditional pike quenelles? In the same sense we did not want to waste the trimmed parts of the pike, the scraps which were bound for broth or the bin. The answer, transglutaminase. (The uses of this enzyme are far and wide, currently on the culinary fast track. We have been quietly working with the product for just under a year now and loudly sing its praises.) Back to the gnocchi. With the use of TG we are able to make a product with the the delicate flavor prophile of pike but with the texture and mouthfeel of gnocchi. Science is good. With the production of pike gnocchi, fish was utilized, flavor preserved and well we had a new dish; pike gnocchi with smoked tomato sauce and fresh mozarella cheese. We have continued to apply and adapt the gnocchi to other products to enhance dishes and reduce the waste of pristine products. Our current evolution are seen with diver scallops and their gnocchi.

Scampi

When I was sixteen I went to Aruba with my no longer babysitter but not yet quite a friend. She was twenty-four. We were supposed to be accompanied by my aunt but at the last minute a situation at work forced her to stay behind. We were deemed old enough and responsible enough to handle ourselves on vacation… We heard about this bar on the far side of the island that was supposed to have a great scene and equally great food and so one night we journeyed out there. It was a total Caribbean dive with fishnets and tackle adorning the walls. Yet it was also somehow cool with vibrant music and interesting people all around. We ordered the recommended shrimp scampi and cold beers. Then we settled in to watch the scene. When the shrimp arrived at the table it was momentous. The casseroles were sizzling. The shrimp were huge, cooked whole in their shells, split down their backs to clean them but also to allow the incredible garlicky, peppery butter to permeate the meat. They were simply amazing, incredibly hot, messy, faintly smoky and spicy, meaty and delicious. Eating them required the use of fingers and napkins and bread. It was a visceral experience. Perfect in many ways, it is a memory that has been blurred by time and yet those shrimp have followed me through the years, emerging every so often to tease me back onto the chase.
They were of course, never to be duplicated. Although when I returned home to New York City I ordered shrimp scampi several times hoping to find them again. The shrimp were never as big, usually shelled and somehow very polite on their china plates. The requisite butter and garlic existed but the intensity had faded. The worst of them were greasy and lacking in any actual shrimp flavor from the limp frozen specimens disguised in their sauce. Out at the clam shacks and seafood places on Long Island shrimp were second fiddle to lobsters and clams. They were usually good but fashioned into cocktails or fried into golden platters with potatoes. Different states had different specialties but never the dish that I sought. Eventually the memory faded, supplanted by new tastes and flavors as I explored the world of food.
Here in Colorado we are landlocked. Our seafood is flown in from all points and one day we got a shipment of shrimp from Florida. They were huge fat things that quietly tugged at my memory and set my creative juices flowing. They were split down the middle and cleaned. Then seared over an extremely hot grill but not cooked through. A sauce was made with a few drops of Fire&Smoke (our hotter sauce), crushed garlic, white wine, winter savory and butter. The grilled shrimp were added to the hot pan full of sauce to finish cooking and absorb the flavors. I had to peel the ones for the dining room, but we saved a few shelled ones in the kitchen for ourselves. The ones for the table were drained and served with braised marinated leeks, smoked applesauce and shiitake mushrooms. The ones for the kitchen were drowned in the remainder of the sauce and served with fingers, napkins and bread. They were almost perfect.

Broccoli and a dinner for doctors

We came across an abundance of terrific broccoli and scooped it up with no uses planned. Our only thoughts were to utilize all of the broccoli, even the stems. For me, the stems were a waste. However, after a few discussions we came to the idea of cooking the meaty stems like artichokes a la greque; at last a good and fruitful use for a product I normally abhorred.

In the same time frame as our broccoli surplus a dinner was arranged with a collection of doctors. What a perfect use and means to explore the flavors and textures of broccoli in a multi-course menu.

Smoked Sea Trout Caviar
meyer lemon crepes, green onion, broccoli puree

Whole Wheat Garganelli
minced broccoli, japanese chile, mozarella cheese

Grilled Snake River Farms Flank Steak
broccoli stems a la greque, baby shiitake mushrooms, pickled ginger-ketchup sauce

Keen's Cheddar Cheese
broccoli floret salad, yellowfoot chanterelle mushrooms, cider vinegar syrup

Caramelized Coconut Milk Tappioca
enriched with broccoli, chocolate sorbet

The menu was well received as the doctors enjoyed eating a healthy meal or at least one with the perception of being full of anti-oxidants.