The Daily American

In finishing up the "Come to Where Fresh Is" dinner,
I get my chickens from a local farm, Myers Poultry , Diane is awesome at getting me birds pretty much any time of year and any time of day really. On the current menu I have some southern roots remnants with fried chicken and collards. For this evenings dinner I did Diane's chicken two ways, I took my favorite part of the thigh (the larger mussel from the outer side) and gave it a traditional buttermilk, egg, and hot sauce brine over night then breaded it with our own breading mixture. Nothing special really, but who doesn't love fried chicken? Especially if you're like me and a thigh man. I served the fried thigh over my favorite collards. The recipe for the collards is a combination of what Jeff and I used to make at Charleston Chops and what Chef Bob Wagonner used to make at Charleston Grill.
There's a swipe of smoked acorn squash puree (I can't tell you how amazing this puree smells, like smoked buttered popcorn on steroids).
I slow poached the breast in some brewed tea, sliced and served on top of the chocolate ancho sausage.
When trying to utilize local farmers, I finally got in contact with a local bison farm....only too late for the dinner. But, I have them on hand to use in the future. In doing these ribs, I wanted so bad to have the resources of other chefs, it's hard not to want all the latest gadgets to do these amazing things you read about with amazingly expensive pieces of equipment. But...then I realized, I have what some may remember...an alto-sham. A very familiar oven for cooking and holding prime ribs for steak houses or banquet facilities. Well, these ribs where braised at a constant 180 degrees for 22 hours in birch beer. The braising liquid was then turned into a fig bbq, the plate finished with smoked cauliflower, raisins and brussel sprouts. You can't see it here but there's a caramel spoon bread under the rib.
The last course was a bitch.
It came down to crunch time (we also had about 800 ppl in banquets before this dinner was to take place, time to play and experiment was extremely limited) and still no dessert. I wanted to do two, but damn we didn't even have enough plates to do everything I wanted to do. This was going to be an introduction to fall, Pumpkin Pie Noodles with Spiced Apple Gelee and vanilla ice cream from a local supply. Valley Dairy honestly has some of the best ice cream I've ever had and their original factory is about five minutes from my house.


Another hard part about this dish was something coming from the Starchefs congress in NY last month. Watching Heston Blumenthal pour scented liquid over dry ice for the whole audience to enjoy got the idea just stuck in my head. It's such an easy and fun addition, except for finding the dry ice that is. Ed, my sales rep from Reinhart always comes through...60 pounds worth through.
So, dry ice was placed in the outer bowl and in front of every diner was a "light bulb" with our logo on it filled with Chai tea and other spices. It was placed there prior to them ever sitting down, so as the last dish was served I was explaining to the room what to do with their party favor.
It worked out pretty well. It's hard to fit dinners like this into a tight schedule and small staff, but damn if doesn't feel good when it all comes together. It's a rewarding life to feed others.

A recap of the evening can be read here: http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2008/10/05/news/news/news221.txt

Chocolate Ancho Beef Sausage. Recipe.

Sometimes...you just want to, make something.
Regardless of what you know about the subject or cooking style.
I feel like I haven't given enough attention to the art of charcutirie and know it's do to intimidation and the constant urge to just jump right in.
Patience is not a characteristic of mine.
For instence, I didn't want to spend $100 on a sausage stuffer so that I can learn more about making sausage. Instead, I melted down the size of a plastic attachement ($10 Gander Mountain ) and attached it to our existing Hobart mixer. It worked.......kinda. It seemed to puree the sausage too much as it was trying to force it through the tube.

The sausage came out pretty good though for a second attempt

8# Beef chain, cleaned of silverskin and cut down
3# Beef fat
2 Ancho Chilis, Cleaned of seeds
.5 ounce Curing Salt
1 Tbs Chili Powder
.5 Tbs Curry Powder
.5 Tbs Ground Cumin
.25 tsp Ground Nutmeg
.25 cup Coco Powder
.25 Chocolate Chips
.25 cup Brown sugar
.25 Cup Salt
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Small Onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed
These items are mixed together and covered allowed to marinate over night.
Ground through medium dye, fed into natural pork casings, poached at 72 degrees C then pan seared.
Ironically, the texture given to the sausage from the make shift stuffer was almost perfect, pate like, but the time given to force it through the extruder is unforgiving.
I purchased a real sausage attachment for a smaller kitchen aid and have also purchased an upright smoker.
So, many things will be smoked from now on.
Like everything maybe.

Korin Knives

I've written before about purchasing a new knife, how there are very few things as great as a new knife. Things like: clean sheets day, new car smell, new socks, that kind of stuff.
Well,....nothing compares to this knife. For so long, so long, I've wanted a real sashimi knife, a knife that would slice with 2% effort from me, a knife that wants to give perfection in it's movements, a knife that has it's own goal and purpose already built into it.
Wilson had a Misono knife last time he was in my kitchen and we talked about how important a good knife is, I mean a really good knife. He told me about a store in NY that had an old man that sat on a plank of wood with another plank in front of him and wells of water around him, in these wells where sharpening stones that he would use to personally put an edge on your knife.
Korin is the name of that store.
"The oldest known Japanese chef knife is over 1200 years old. However, even 1200 years ago, individual knives and special cutting techniques were employed for cutting different types of food. Today’s Japanese chef knives are fashioned by techniques that were originally developed for making katana or traditional samurai swords. The shift from sword-crafting to knife-crafting began in the mid-nineteenth century in response to Commodore Perry’s forced opening of Japan’s borders to Western trade. After World War II, General MacArthur totally banned Japanese sword-making, which forced large numbers of highly skilled craftsmen to turn their skills and attention to the fashioning of kitchen knives. So, for inspiration, the dedicated sword craftsmen began to look to the ambitious creations of creative chefs. In this way, they soon elevated Japanese knives to a state of universal renown. Many centuries later, the "unforgettable sharpness" of the katana is still the distinguishing mark of the Japanese knife." (source: korin.com)

New York, New Life

We got back from www.starchefs.com congress on Wednesday night. The whole experience is just amazing and completely reinvigorating.
I'm still having huge problems with my computer and have no time to fix them, I've given up on trying to fix it myself and am taking it to a shop on Monday.
One of the seminars I went to was on Food Blogging. I really want to make this site work and get some traffic through it. I've been slaking really bad over the past couple months, but I am going to work harder at this once my home computer is fixed. I even have plans to buy a better camera to help with the over aesthetics of the page.
So, stay with me a little longer and hopefully this will become a great source of information sharing, with feedback and an openness for all things food to evolve with everyone involved.

Ideas In Food Dinner

Anyone who reads my blog knows that I'm a huge fan of http://www.ideasinfood.com/ and have been for several years, around the time they started blogging. They recently did a dinner in Charleston at a restauraunt I used to work at (and in a town I miss greatly) McCrady's , so as soon as I heard about the dinner I knew this was my chance to eat some of Alex and Aki's food along with Sean , the Chef of McCrady's.

After months of antisipation the menu was finally in front of me, as I read it trying to imagine how these items will be presented on the plate and how they were prepared.

A brief introduction to a room of mostly familiar faces from the food and beverage industry and then it starts.

Very interesting note, the dinner had two choices of wine pairings to choose from, a $50 option or a $100 option. Being somewhat frugile and actually liking some of the choices being represented on the $50 option, that's what both my brother and I decided on.

Toasted Farro Ice Cream

Wild Char Roe, Cucumber, Honey jelly

Paired with: Sherry "cream" Pat Aragon

My favorite pairing of the night easily.

Chilled Scallop

Chantrelle Mushroom, Apricot Puree, Arugula

Paired with: Viognier, La Paradou 06

Stone Crab Claw

Vaudovan, Pototo Links, Kimchee Ketchup

Paired with: Reisling, Monchof estate, mosel 06

The Vaudovan was a curry butter mixed into some more crab meat that had some staying power. All very good, although I just didn't get the potato links.

Local Shrimp

Cattails, Gin and Juice

Paired with: Txkoli, Gurrutxaga, Bizaiko, Spain 06

Never had cattails before, always saw them in the swampy areas growing up, but until this night, didn't know they could be eaten.

Crowder Peas

Austrailan black Truffle, Brown Butter Puree, Parmigiano Reggiano

Paired with: Corvina, Allegrini, Palazzo della Torre" Veneto 03

I love Crowder Peas and mixed with the Parmesen, that's really all I needed.

Foie Gras Fragments

Butternut Squash, Sandy Olives, Cornbread Struesel

Paired with: Muscat de Rivesaltes, Ey, "Vigne Lo Clavell" 05

Easily one of my favorites of the night, the julienne squash had an amazing role in this flavor heavy dish. All the textures worked together to balance one another, except for one that was way too hard almost like raw grits, but was forgivable do to the rest of the dish and the pairing.

Crab Tail

Corn Blanket, Chow Chow, Wood Ear Mushrooms

Paired with: Victory, Hop Devil IPA

Just a great dish, in flavor and presentation, my first time having Crab Tail reminded me of Sea bass a little.

Root Beer braised Short Ribs

Stewed Garden Tomatoes, Garlic Whistle Sauce, Chives

Paired with: Dolcetto d'Alba, Cantina del Pino 06

No root beer flavor left after the long slow poach, but the remaining flavors paired with the incredible stewed tomatoes was just awesome. The Plancha sear gave this dish an amazing smoked rib flavor and the wine added so much of the braising nose back to it.

Pork Loin

Desirre Potato Puree, Sun Gold Tomatoes, Pickled Watermelon Rind

Paired with: Syrah, Domaine Serene, "Rockblock-SoNo" Oregon 05

Trefoil Cheese

Chrentias Melon Marmelade, Nasturtium

Paired with: Tawny Port, Rosemount, Australia

Awesome pairing. Melon done on a sheeter and filled with a semi firm jelly like marmalade

Raspberries

Eucalyptus Sorbet, Clear Whey

Paired with: Brachetto d'Acqui, sparkling Dolce, banfi 05

Another great pairing. Dippin dots and whipped whey.

Butterscotch and Peaches

Paired with Sauternes, Chateau halliet 05

Six hours later, I'm sad to say that I couldn't hang out and talk to old co-workers and pick the brains of the Chefs that prepaired the meal, it was just to late in the evening.

Beet sheets

So, Gary Lambert brings me a lot of Beet Tops with my usual lettuce and Tomato order. Over at www.ideasinfood.com they recently cryovaced some beet leaves. So I thought, why not use the freezer poach method in addition to rolling them out with some goat cheese. Beets and Goat cheese go so well together.

And the control on the shape is my favorite part.

Seafood

It's been a challenge finding the freshest seafood this far in from the coast and this far away from any big cities. Luckily Paragon Monteverde delivers this far out. Bay of Fundy Salmon
North Carolina Wreck Grouper

Bubbler

I saw this technique at the Star Chefs Congress last September and it's been stuck in my head to simply aerate something slowly. Instead of just whipping or hitting with an emulsion blender. It makes sense to let bubbles grow. Let them form the most natural structure that they can, slowly growing on top of each other forming a stronger base structure. I have to say though, I still feel like this will need more coaxing to maintain a plate able bubble.

Paul Prudhomme, Man Of Steel

I met Chef Prudhomme about 9 years ago, I don't think he was made of steel

The Beer Dinner

This goes onto the list of favorites.

With this job I currently have, I've been privileged enough to be treated properly in certain aspects. Never in my younger daydreams did I think about being at a point where I would be flown to and fro for the purpose of learning about what ever my job may be.

I know it's pretty common for big corporations to write these expenses into their yearly budgets, to send those willing and able bodies to far off "Training Seminars", those ones that stand out, the ones that "want it" more then the drones that spend their hours getting themselves coffee instead of doing their (accumulated) 2 hours of actual work.

I know this happens in the normal lives of many. Salesmen going off to sales seminars to learn about what new vacuum or what new pre-made version of Salisbury Steak is available to sell to the local Denny's.

But, lately, I've been that guy.

And you know what's really cool about it?....I travel to taste........beer, and wine, and food.

This is the first beer pairing I've ever done, and I had a blast with it. It's one thing to pair food with wine, but to be honest with you, It might be easier and more gratifying to pair food with beer. I love beer. And, I have learned more about beer in the past two months then I've known for the past 31 years. I found myself in a bar that I've been in hundreds (hundreds) of times the other day and realizing that they sold something other than Heineken. Just saying, I know they always sold an ST (Standardized United States abbreviation for "Shit-Ton") of beers from all over the globe, but I never ventured into learning about them.

Now I do.

Here's the menu and the food from the other night.

First Course: Buffalo Style Sweetbreads, Celeriac Puree, Blue Cheese Consomme.

Served with Bell's Two Hearted Ale IPA . A big part of this dinner was to bring about familiar beer and food pairings, yet present them with unfamiliar aspects. A huge part of what made it fun for me. The pictures may not give the dishes justice, something I've had to accept and learn about myself is that, I am solely flavor driven, How it looks is an afterthought to me.....sometimes. I still eat with my eyes first. I've just accepted the fact that looks aren't everything. That's actually really hard to accept for me. This dish in particular, is a prime example. One of the servers for this dinner, was enjoying one of the extra dishes I put up for these dinners, until one of my line cooks asked her how she was enjoying the Pancreas?..........She almost threw up! She was enjoying it. Until she knew what it was.

I LOVE Sweetbreads! For what ever reason, when first tasting the Bell's, Sweetbreads popped into my head and I could not shake it. From what I heard, the customers enjoyed them with the familiar flavors of hot wings, it made an easier acceptance for them.

Second Course: "Fish and Chips" Doritos crusted Lobster tail in Beer-Cheese soup with potato foam. This dish had to happen. I made Doritos Lobster before as a joke, but it was so damn good! Why not put this with beer as it should be???? Well, I guess someone said, as they were leaving, "Don't ever put Doritos with Lobster again", I still have a feeling they enjoyed it.

Served with Piraat Ale triple IPA

Another dish that "Had to happen" was feakin' Pizza! I mean, really?! What do you think of when you think of beer?

Pizza, maybe not with Sweet Tea brined Kangaroo loin, but still...

Pizza:

I needed to figure out Combos , I wanted the flavors of pizza but not just a slice of pizza, something familiar yet different again.

I may not have completely recreated the center of a "Pizza Combo" but I came damn close.

The beer we served with this was a complete "Mind Screw" as it is.

Imagine if you will....

When we sat in the The Sharp Edge and tasted these beers, It never crossed my mind that I would smell something I've never smelled before! How do you put an idea or image to something you've never thought of before? Imagine waking up one day and realizing that shamrocks are made of cotton and smell like Cratineee with an overlapping scent/taste of Vaggovon? It wouldn't make any sense would it?

I've never smelled anything like this Celis Grotenbier it makes all these non realistic flavors and smells come to life. It's amazing smelling something for the first time, and the flavor on this beer is incredible to, this is the first beer that I can enjoy fairly warm.

Some Bison Back Ribs with collards and onion rings were served with Kasteel Triple d'or.

The last course came very easy, in a way. When I first tasted this Traquair Jacobite the first flavors I got were: Bourbon, Blueberries and Tootsie roll. I don't think Baer liked making Tootsie Rolls, but the dessert came out awesome. It was my favorite dish of the night. When you tasted the blueberry bourbon ice cream and took a sip of the Jacobite, it just explodes with blueberry flavors.

Upcoming "Beer Dinner"

Beer Dinner
Green Gables Restaurant
3-28-08
Reservations are still available along with half off accommodations.

Buffalo style Sweetbreads
Celeriac Puree, Blue Cheese Consommé
Bells

“Fish n Chips”
With Beer Cheese Soup
Doritos crusted Lobster tail
Piraat , Triple IPA

Pizza…Flavors
With Kangaroo Striploin
Mozzarella foam, Parmesan crusts, basil and Tomato
Celis, Grottenbier

Bison Back ribs
Collard Greens, Onion Rings
Southern Tier, Gemini

Tootsie Roll
Blueberry Bourbon Ice Cream, Granola Crumble
Traquair Jacobite

"No Reservations"

This isn't a posting about how bad I hate walk-ins, especially in the slow season when you can't prepare for what may not happen at all.
No, this is about the tv show: Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations. The episode name is "Into the Fire". It was by far the best representation of what it's like to be in a busy, real, kitchen.
A couple months ago I had lunch at Les Halles and it was so amazing sitting in a restaurant that the book "Kitchen Confidential" was written in, and then being able to see how things happen in the kitchen via the "Into the Fire" episode.
If you missed it, the show schedule can be seen here .
This episode hit home, a lot. I have nightmares (literally) about work a lot, and one of the reoccurring ones involves streams of tickets coming in that I can't read. This episode was like watching one of my own nightmares. I had waves of anxiety flowing over me just watching someone else go through it.
This episode has it all. "A day in the life of..." type of event. Feel what it's really like. Things like:
The Calm before the storm, prepping while tickets are coming in, what mise en place you need and how much of it, the feeling of a "full board", hitting a wall, the dance with your fellow workers with knives, the use of alcohol as a driving force and why, the other chefs in the "kitchens of make believe" with two or more line cooks per station, owners, being the FNG, the feeling of "holy shit" is this really happening, family meal, feeling your pulse in your temples through your hat (why I don't wear one), acting like a little kid after doing something you do everyday, feeling like you just battled for you life, "The board is clear", treating the covers as a personal score, relaxing near the garbage, and how friendships can withstand these type of days. Day after day.
If you want to know what it's really like to work in a real kitchen, this is the episode to watch.. Look it up and set up a reminder.
I watched it twice in a row.

The Mangosteen

Some History on the Mangosteen.
It's been on my desktop screen saver and on my mind since I came across it several months ago. Little did I expect to run into it in a LA Chinatown market in the Freezer section, Whole, for that matter. But, here it is!
I found it and had to buy it. Long story short, how could you come across some crazy looking fruit in search of whatever, learn about, never expect to come into contact with one, then find a bag of them in a freezer section?
I was so sick the day I cut into it. I found the "bag'o'mangosteen" on a day of adventure in LA. I was bound and determined to find some culinary solitude and reason to my personal export to the region. It was indeed frozen, and to my knowledge (and still) frozen due to import laws.
I let this bag o' curiosity sit on the desk for a day (while I slept and worked out a fever), all the while wondering what and how it came to be in the states.

After two days to thaw and possible produce "Gremlins", I borrowed Ben's wine key to cut into it.

The smell was something I can't share with close family members, and the taste was tainted by my sickness. All I could do was run my fingers over the pulp and taste them. I don't feel I gave this fruit justice! But, I at least found it!

Back from LA

Pardon my lack of enthusiasm, the trip to LA was really a great experience, but riddled with bad turns. I will not and do not want to go into detail, but it started as soon as I landed. A phone call that caused excruciating worry that led to hope that, three days later led to an end. And with all that worry and stress came sickness and other feelings.

Still, as I write, I'm running a fever and this is the most I've done all day.

The only other thing I want to say on the matter is that, I hope guilt doesn't make life long decisions.


On to the trip.


So, after getting some Thai food the first night and drinking my stomach into a state of settled-ness, we went for burgers.
That's right, burgers. Many of you have probably heard of the In and Out Burgers like I have but never had a chance to try one do to the fact that they just don't come out this way.
I used to work with this guy from California, Sam Perry, he said the In and Out Burgers were worth being flown out to SC when he needed a fix.
I gotta say, they are damn tasty. Freshly made, fresh cut fries, a super-burger staff that is more professional than most "High End" places. All they did was focus on the product. Which there are three. A hamburger, a cheeseburger or a double double. Unless you know the secret menu.

I got a double double animal style.....filthy.


Then we headed up the coast.....on the wrong highway for several hours. It's OK, saw a lot of great scenery, gives the mind time to wonder.
We ended up in Solvang , a Danish town close to several wineries.

The road to Montevina

I have to point out one thing first, It's seems too weird sometimes when I find something, wether a website or an ingredient or a product that I've never seen before and then I read aobut it two days later on someone elses blog or in the news or somewhere. I don't think (in any way) that I'm beating someone to the punch of marking new ground, I just think it's extremely coincidental sometimes. I would put a link to http://www.ideasinfood.com/ and thier rescent post about Dublin Dr. Pepper but my link code won't work on this page anymore. But, I to ran into Dublin Dr. Pepper apon entering the Montevina wine tasting room. I was so sick of tasting wine at this point, I walked up to the little reach-in cooler they had to see what esle was there to drink and there it was....A "new" Dr. Pepper, to me at least. Go here, http://www.dublindrpepper.com/history.aspx?odrd=true&setuser= to get the history of this Dr. Pepper offspring. Anyone that knows me, knows I love Dr.Pepper. I often kid (seriously-like) that I will someday make a meal based on "my favorite ingredients" Dr. Pepper, Cool Ranch Doritos and a Kit-Kat bar.

Back to the trip. On this day we arrived at Montevina winery in Amador County. We had the privelage of taking the tour, which ended up being almost 4 hours...well spent. We were given the tour by the VP and former Wine maker, Jeff is his name and he pulled no punches with us. We spent 30 minutes looking in great detail the finer points of the 1/2 a million dollar machine that bottles the Montevina juice. And it was awesome. Any question, he was all over it, anything you wanted to see or taste, he was cool with it. No holds barred. We felt like we were boring him at some points.

But then it was on to the tasting room. 17 Different wines. We took our time.


On top of all of this was the house itself, Villa D'toro. Huge. Only four bedrooms, but the last thing you did there was sleep. It was for pure entertainment puposes only. Game room, pool (too cold for), garage with ping pong and darts, living room, dining room, brunch room, sun room, TV rooms, basically if you needed a room for anything it was there.

Dinner was prepared for us the fisrt night by the onstaff chef and server. The second night?.....I really liked the kitchen. Two reach-ins says a lot.