Cooking is a journey to be savored. It’s about exploring the possibilities to be found on the way to delicious. Some days we become so focused on the end goal that we miss opportunities along the way. Learning to balance the need for experimentation and the need to achieve goals is a skill that needs constant refinement. It's the blending of ingredients that creates something truly special. We hear talk about comfort food, molecular gastronomy, classic French, down home Southern, fine dining, diner food, the list of pigeon holes goes on and on. We're simply about food that tastes great and looks appetizing, perhaps even beautiful, although flavor always comes first. This is a concept that gets a lot of lip service in various forums and still when it comes down to describing a particular chef or restaurant's food we often fall back on easy labels that don't do them justice. We all want an easy explanation when the reality is that truly great food often resists an easy definition. Inspirations are drawn from all the experiences in a chef's life and from the experiences of any cook working alongside them. It's impossible to draw distinct lines around any cuisine and yet we are often compelled to try.
In our own cooking we fall down the rabbit hole again and again, searching for new perspectives and ideas. When we surface from the kitchen we are asked again and again what kind of food we cook. The answer stumps us every time. There is no single category that defines our food, or even that of any other chef we know. Peer into the pantry of the classically trained chef and you will find hydrocolloids and Activa on their shelves. Tiptoe into the kitchen of a "New American" chef and you will find truffle oil and Espellette pepper. Eyeball the menu in a classic American steak house and you will probably see some Wagyu beef from Japan. These are just ingredients, techniques have traveled so far and so fast that we are hard pressed to find ones that are used for only one purpose or cuisine. This melting pot is what makes food so fascinating and cooking so much fune. We are privileged to live in a time when information travels at the speed of light and we can share methods across thousands of miles and adapt ingredients to our individual visions of delicious.
