IDEAS IN FOOD

Soft Shell Crab and Green

The soft shell crab is marinated in a puree of smoked coconut milk and lovage. It is dredged in flour and fried in a blend of smoked tallow and rice bran oil. The honeydew melon is vacuum sealed and topped with a mosaic of fava beans and smoked coconut milk puree. A few dollops of smoked coconut milk puree and needles of saltwort complete the dish. In composing the dish we found the small legs did not make it into the finished presentation. It led to a conversation about a pre-course, post course or even a side dish to compliment the body of the crab. The little legs were crispy and smokey an ideal ingredient for a Japanese hand roll. Since the season is just beginning we have some time to work through our thoughts.

Broken Brown Butter Puree

We have been revisiting our brown butter puree and were looking for a new way to integrate it into a dish. It dawned on us that we could serve chunks and pieces of the puree if we froze it first with liquid nitrogen and then broke it into small fragments. The small pieces of brown butter hold there shape for a while out of the freezer and add texture as well as portion the puree so that it may be preciously placed within a dish.

Dude Where's My Gram Scale 2.0

  

The t-shirt "Dude Where's My Gram Scale?" has had a rebirth. The original idea for the shirt was inspired by an embarrassing conversation with our friend Wylie many years ago and our subsequent search and obsession with the gram scale. To shorten the story, we were cooking in pinches not grams, an approach which does not yield consistent results nor repeatable results. Wylie, every so eloquently, encouraged the purchase of the gram scale. From that day forward we constantly ask about the location of said scale.

With the story now told, our friends over at Stove Monkeys have printed the shirt which is now available and shipping. Don't get caught in the awkward predicament I was in. Locate your scale and weigh your pinch.

The Best Book You've Never Read

Alex was doing a workshop in Westchester last month and one of the chefs recommended this book: Why Humans Like Junk Food: The Inside Story on Why You Like Your Favorite Foods, the Cuisine Secrets of Top Chefs, and How to Improve Your own Cooking Without a Recipe! That's a mouthful right there and kind of a long, clunky title, which may be why so few of us have heard of this book. We should know about it because it's pretty awesome. It's very readable and chock full of information on sensory science. It breaks down most of our favorite foods and explains what makes them taste so good and how they interact with our bodies. How many of us know that butter, like vanilla, has an aroma that is resistant to satiety, meaning that we can happily smell it for very long periods of time and that it has msg and the nucleotoids that boost our ability to perceive umami? Or that our stomachs and small intestines have their own sense receptors that analyze the food we eat and can have an impact on our food preferences? Or that spices really do make us feel good? Everyone who works with food or cooks at home or loves to eat should read this book. It's informative, conversational and a great resource for your library. Now if only it was available for the Kindle.

Rolling Dough

Today Amaya led us through the amazing experience of pasta making from scratch. She insisted we make ranch pasta dough to compliment the pea and smoked beef fat filling she told me to get finished. On rainy days I can tend to be lethargic. Thankfully she is a task master and since she did not have to oversee the gardening duties she could make sure I was not lazy in the kitchen. These are our results. Perhaps a finished dish and a recipe or two tomorrow, if she lets us.

Spring Cravings

As the weather warms and the landscape begins to brighten and bloom, I begin wishing for goat cheese. For me this is a very seasonal craving, for a few short weeks nothing else will do. I search for soft tender cheeses with a creamy texture that melts on my tongue. They have a distinct pungent flavor, redolent of grass and warm meadows, with a pronounced earthy middle and a lingering milky finish. A well made goat cheese in my world is balanced and beautiful, never intensely chalky or astringent. They are usually small, which is perfect for our little family and easily eaten in one sitting, which is good for the integrity of the cheese.

As usual my search began at Di Bruno's where we were happy to discover that they had just received a shipment from Andante Dairy. Hunter was excited about the new cheeses and so were we. They were exactly what I was looking for. Andante Dairy is a one woman show. Their cheese maker Soyoung Scanlon named the dairy Andante after the moderately slow tempo with a distinct flowing movement, which is often used to indicate strolling, to illustrate her desire for a slower way of life and the proper way to make cheese. It is a romantic name for a place that produces beautiful cheeses.

We were lucky enough to pick up three different cheeses. The Minuet is a triple cream goat cheese made with the addition of creme fraiche, giving it extra tang and an incredible texture. Acapella is a small soft ripened goat cheese rubbed with ash. The rondo is a mixed milk cheese blending Jersey cow's milk with goat's milk to create a small round topped with herbs and pink peppercorns. It's easy to taste the care that went into their creation.

Saltwort at Home

We need to thank Mike Mike for introducing us to and sharing some of his saltwort with us. The specimen we have is not growing in a tidal zone, the customary home of saltwort, and therefore is not salty to taste. The leaves, more like needles, are crisp and juicy with a grassy almost piney but not bitter note. Our saltwort is now planted in our garden and is already growing and developing in actuality and in ideas. Even though it is normally looked at as ground cover and occasionally a weed we see many opportunities to weave it into our cooking.

Smoked Coconut and Lovage

We have been working with a number of ideas based on smoked coconut. It works well as a sauce, and shows great potential as a soup or foam. The foam in mind blends the smoked coconut milk with lovage. (pictured is pre-foaming) We contemplated adding nuances and realized that the aromatics of the smoke combined with the flavors of the coconut and lovage need no additional layering. Nuances are meant to be subtle and overplaying our hand never leads to a good ending.

Hot and Cold

Aki came up with this fun dessert for Amaya. The peppermint stick ice cream is cold, the chocolate sandwich warm. All kinds of fun are had: biting, dipping, scooping and laughing. Food is fun, it is important to make it that way.

Cucumber Noodles

We infused strips of cucumber shaped like noodles with a smoked shrimp consomme. The translucent noodles add a chilled crunch to the preparation of shrimp tasso. A puree of smoked coconut and diced and sliced lovage complete the dish. It is bright, clean, decadent and whimsical a combination we are thrilled with.

Aromatic Yuzu Leaves

It turns out Aki ordered two trees with aromatic leaves: the finger lime and the yuzu. That is great since we both have black thumbs and we need to get something out of this home grown thing we are trying. In actuality we are both thrilled by the bounty bestowed upon us. We have always wanted to integrate unique citrus leaves into our cooking and have been stonewalled by a lack of aroma. Thankfully we now have a wide open path. Of course now the question arises about how many leaves may we pilfer before we weaken the trees whose fruit we are trying to grow?

In any case, the addition of the finger lime leaf and the yuzu leaf to our repertoire has added a broad spectrum not just to our cooking but also our cocktails. The yuzu leaf has the aroma of fresh yuzu juice married with the pine attributes we associate with its rind and natural oils. In chewing it we get a clean bite of yuzu meets pine meets green. An amazing taste with no real bitter notes and a world of aromatic potential.

Tomato-Feta Granita

The result of marinating tomatoes with feta and its brine was a wonderful elixir of their combined flavors. We first worked on using the liquid as a dressing for vegetables. Then the heat wave arrived and we were looking for cool dishes. The idea of granita popped to mind and we ran with it. The dressing was originally thickened with 0.15% xanthan gum and easily transitioned to a frozen preparation. To compliment the granita we added some of our dissolving basil and a stalk of romaine lettuce. A few drops of reduced minus 8 vinegar completed this refreshing dish.

Surf and Turf

A first run at pairing the shrimp tasso with meat. Here we drape it over braised short ribs and compliment it with cucumber batons infused with smoked shrimp consomme. The short ribs are glazed in a sauce of braising liquid enriched with some of the smoked shrimp consomme. Anise and seafood are often happy partners and we looked to chervil to pique the shrimp flavors in the cucumber and the dish as a whole.

Dissolving Herbs

We started with a blend of basil, ricotta and a 3 percent low acyl gellan milk block to make an intense basil puree. The gellan is cooked in whole milk and then set into a rubber ball like texture. Another look at the approach is here. Its viscosity allows us to thicken other products like the basil we were working with. The puree is wonderful: as is, as the filling for a ravioli, dried slowly and flaked as crisps. We made a batch of dried basil crisps and were planning on using it as a crispy element for a fish dish. Our daughter had other plans. She decided to spread the crisps across the floor and then pick up every third one and put it back in the zip top bag she somehow acquired without either one of us spotting her. Since the crisps were now just a clean up project we did just that. Except somehow we put most of the flakes in the garbage and a handful made it into the sink. The flakes in the sink were quickly soaked with water and that was the inspiration. The crisps hydrated quickly and dissolved in the water. The basil was now back in puree form. It started the waterfall of ideas in adding an herb, a compilation of herbs or even another flavor to a dish and then at a point and time adding moisture to dissolve and dissipate the flavors and colors. It also allows us to serve a bowl of assorted crisps--bacon, shrimp stock, pea-- which may then be eaten or partially eaten and then the addition of a soup, sauce, scrambled eggs, a ragout or even a puree may be added to which the dried elements dissolve and contribute flavors. The opportunities are endless and that is good. Better go and thank Amaya for playing with our food.

Finger Limes

Our first experience with finger limes was years ago when we were in Colorado. Now we are trying to grow this elusive and elegant citrus. Time will tell whether we will have some which are home grown.

Shrimp Salumi

We took the idea of our pressed shrimp terrine and seasoned the shrimp in the style of tasso ham. The shrimp are molded into a block with the help of transglutaminase. Once the block of shrimp is formed we poach it in a vacuum bag in a 55°C water bath for an hour and a half. That may seem like a long time for shrimp, but in order to cook the shrimp through it was necessary and there were no negative effects from the process. After the shrimp was cooked we chilled it down and then loaded it up in the car. A quick drive to elements restaurant and with the help of their slicer we were indulging in sheets of thinly sliced shrimp salumi. The sheets have a beautiful marbled look and a delicate texture: smooth and snappy. We are looking forward to working with this evolved shrimp preparation in our kitchen. Shrimp toast anyone?

Goat Cheese Noodles

With spring in the air it was time to take our mozzarella noodles in another direction. Our first thoughts led to goat cheese. These tangy noodles are great on their own or with zested and sauteed fava beans. We are still working on what would be the match. Perhaps there are several answers to our question. Till we find them we are happily eating strands of goat cheese in our preparations of the moment and the mind.

Grab Food by the Collar

We were given two beautiful halibut collars by our local fish guy. Our marinade is a hybrid blending yogurt with miso with siracha with honey. The collars are grilled on  the skin side and then served with leaves of chervil and a puree of basil. The flavors flirt with seasons and styles not really present: summer and India. That is alright. The meat is dense, rich, smooth and unctuous. The herbs are bright, aromatic, refreshing, clean and inviting. The dish requires involvement. This is hands on eating, a great way to spend an evening.

Caramelized Yogurt Another Way

We have been looking at process and results and have discovered some interesting ways to achieve results. For instance, we used to pressure cook yogurt to caramelize the milk solids and sugars in the yogurt. The results were tasty although we had difficulties with overall smoothness. Today we just add pressure cooked milk solids to yogurt. The results taste amazing with the approach being an evolution of thoughts and refinement.

Cooking Today

Process versus results. 

Which do you choose?

Why?

Lemon Yogurt Cake

A very long time ago I worked as an au pair in Brussels for an Italian family. The mother had a recipe for a yogurt cake that I adored. It had the ability to make uncomfortable or difficult aspects of the job more palatable. I copied it out and brought it home. Somehow I never made that particular cake again but I always remembered it. When we began making our own yogurt I knew the cake had to be resurrected. Although the notebook containing the original recipe was long gone, I was able to make something that closely resembled my memories. This is a single layer, iced cake and I could happily eat it every day.

Lemon Yogurt Cake

 

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup sugar

generous gratings of nutmeg and cinnamon, ≈ ¼ teaspoon

12 ounces plain yogurt, room temperature

4 ounces vegetable oil

2 large eggs, room temperature

½ teaspoon rum extract

¼ teaspoon lemon oil

 

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

fine sea salt

1 Meyer lemon

 

Preheat oven to 350°F or 325° with convection

 

Spray a 10-inch springform cake pan with pan spray and wrap the bottom with foil.

 

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. Separately whisk together the yogurt, vegetable oil, eggs, extract and lemon oil. Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and tap it on the counter a few times to spread the batter evenly. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top of the cake is just firm to the touch.

 

Let the cake cool in the pan for one hour. Remove the sides of the pan, leaving the base on the foil. Put the confectioner’s sugar in a bowl. Add a few grains of salt. Juice the lemon and add 2 tablespoons to the sugar. Mix to form a thick icing. Spread the icing over the top of the cake. Let it set for 10 minutes before serving.

When You Make Yogurt Eat Cake

We have been making our own yogurt and since we started we have been looking for new yogurt outlets. Aki designed a simple lemon yogurt cake to help us with our yogurt glut. The cake is amazing and our glut is gone. We have now increased our yogurt making to keep up with our cake eating.

Popcorn Gelato and Sake Roe

With spring in full gear, really disguised as summer, we decided to bring savory ice cream back to the forefront of our thoughts. In order to deal with the heat we whipped up a batch of popcorn gelato which we paired with Steve's sake cured roe, cucumber, jalapeno and watercress. The cold creamy gelato hits the spot and the crunchy cucumber and popping roe are wonderful textural contrasts. If we are going to have the heat we might as well eat the ice cream, or gelato in this case.

Tangelo Zest

Preserved with vanilla rice vinegar and sugar. The end result is still to be decided...perhaps dehydrated perhaps pureed, perhaps just left as is.

Toffee

Aki has been on a toffee kick. I have had to shoulder the load of eating the many variations of toffee chip cookies she has made as she chases her perfection. It has been a gruesome task but somehow I have survived; yeah like eating toffee is a hardship. 

The process has shown us that getting to a specific end goal is more difficult than just trying to create delicious. Both paths are exciting: one known the other expected. The key is seeing beyond the imagined and utilizing the results as inspiration.

Clam Chawanmushi

A chawanmushi is a delicate balancing act in egg cookery. It is a custard in the simplest of forms. We enjoy using it to strip flavors and ideas down to the barest essentials. The custard pictured is eggs and clam broth. The clams on top are accented with jalapenos and celery. The result is a light and ethereal interpretation of chowder.

Happy Strawberry Pie Day

A tradition we happily keep going.

Leaves of Green

Cabbage is often overlooked. It is not often appreciated on its own. We know it in a variety of its prepared forms: as sauerkraut, kimchee and corned beefs straight man. Cabbage is not often put on the stage by itself. We have been working with cabbage outside what we have traditionally done. We paired it with octopus and also have made a delicious slaw with onions, feta and sesame oil. Cabbage takes bold flavors well and still it is unique in that its own green, grassy and sulfurous notes work wonderfully on its own. As we were working with cabbage and pairing it with ingredients we continued to come back to the beautifully blanched leaves. There is something hidden in the simplicity of the leaves and we are working to slowly coax it out.

and

Rice Bran Oil: the fat of our future

We were introduced to rice bran oil by a comment on this blog. It was recommended as the best alternative to tallow. Such a statement sparked some research and some testing.

Rice bran oil is produced from the bran of the rice kernel. It is made up of a combination of saturated (20%) and unsaturated fats (80%). It has long been used in Asia both as cooking oil and for cosmetic purposes. Studies in Japan and the United States have shown that consuming rice bran oil can be beneficial in lowering the risk of heart disease. It has a high level of nutrients and antioxidants, which gives it a unique stability and long shelf life.  Rice bran oil’s smoke point of 490°F (255°C) makes it well suited to frying. Compared to other vegetable oils, foods fried in rice bran oil tend to absorb up to 20% less fat during the cooking process. It has a light nutty flavor and is unlikely to cause allergic reactions.

 We like the fact that frying with rice bran oil produces results that taste appreciably better than canola oil. There is no taste. The fried food, yes we started with frying tests, taste of the ingredient and the crust. An added benefit is that the kitchen does not smell after frying. That aroma of fried fish from using canola oil just does not happen. We have become fans of its light, neutral flavor as a vehicle for infusing aromatics for cooking, confits and making cakes.

An Octopus's Garden

We cure the octopus and then cook it in ham hock infused oil. The octopus is served warm with cabbage leaves and blistered stems. The stems are lightly coated in zested pecans and resemble the shape of the octopus's tentacles. A puree of red cabbage kimchee accents the dish along with filaments of tarragon. This is today's garden. We are looking forward to working with the octopus and its garden through the seasons and with a variety of revolving ingredients. It is exciting to have a platform to build upon.