This is the dish we have been working on. The ice cream is sweet corn and brown butter, inspired by the sweet corn ice cream I tasted during the Pacojet contest at the Star Chefs ICC. The roe is flavored with tequila and habanero, and seasoned with fleur de sel. We get this small production roe from Steve Stallard of blis caviar. Actually, we are quite lucky since Steve made this batch for us and a few other chefs. Finally, the crispy pumpernickel completes the dish.
After working on the elements of this dish I have come to a new place. We need to develop and refine dishes so that they reach a level where we want to eat them everyday of the week. Now that may seem completely normal or exceptionally absurd depending upon whom you ask. Yet, at day's end we have created dishes which work for passing whims and fancies. They are tasty and beautiful, although their appeal is fleeting. We are trying to create new classics that will draw people back again and again.
Where then does that leave us? As always we will continue to work on and develop dishes and ideas. Will they all hit the mark we are now reaching for? Of course not, as this is really a diary of ideas, I believe we will be recording many more trials and errors in the search for new standards to add to our repertoire. It is the constant experimentation and stretching of boundaries that will define the process and keep things interesting. We will no longer be satisfied with creating a fashionable bauble, timeless style is the goal, dishes that will be just as enticing six months or six years after their creation.
