STUDIOKITCHEN

Tea and Scones

 Satsuma Orange Pudding

Sour Cream Streusel

Earl Grey Ice Cream

January 2010

ON THE AGENDA:

Revisiting Seaweed Butter with fresh salted Wakame from Mitsuwa.

Tonnato Mayonnaise with Lemongrass and Ginger for undetermined applications.

Aerated Stracciatella.

Riceless Squid and Black Trumpet Mushroom Risotto / Piperade Jus .

Dulce de Miso or Miso de Leche a.k.a. "Simulated" Chocolate

New Rule #54 which will be posted above this explains the motivation behind this exciting discovery.

In the last few weeks I have been pressure cooking everything after conversations with Alex T and his experiments with caramelized white chocolate and coconut milk. My original intent was simply to use it as a time saving vehicle in making miso-dulce-de leche for a pork dish. The approach was simply to caramelize condensed milk and add some miso for a depth of savory saltiness. Everything worked perfectly, milk was caramelized and then put in a blender, thinned out with some water and augmented with miso to taste, great balanced caramel-salty flavors.

The second time I made it, I decided to save time by just putting everything in a  mason jar and caramelizing.

2 Random ratios were used not for any specific reason but to have a baseline of the results.

Jar1  170grams Condensed Milk-50grams aka miso

Jar2  120grams Condensed Milk-60grams aka miso

Jars 3 and 4 used same ratios with the only deviation being "shiro" miso.

All 4 jars were pressure cooked for 1 hr at high pressure.

Water was filled just below the rim of jars.

After cooking and letting the jars cool down sufficiently by convection, you get a frightening looking mush of caramelized milk and miso which made me sad at first because I just felt like I wasted time and product but the next logical thing to do was to emulsify and see what happens. I poured everything into a thermomix blender, turned on the heat function and pureed. The mixture emulsified somewhat but still looked a bit grainy so I started adding hot water a little at a time and presto it became silky smooth.

The true revelation however after opening the blender lid was it smelled almost like chocolate but tasted exactly like a bittersweet chocolate ganache in the 68 to 72% cocoa content range but there was absolutely no cocoa in it.

I tuned on the blender again and adjusted with a bit of caster sugar and ultratex-3 and gave it to 4 very seasoned people to say what it was without telling them.

They all said .......duh....chocolate!

The possibilities opened up by this are huge. Tonight I am working on a flourless cake made in the syle of St.Nizer, basically a flourless savory "Miso de Leche" cake which would work with Pork, Duck and Squab among other things.

Imagine a "Miso de Leche" cake with pickled or brandied cherries paired with Foie Gras.

How about Smoked "Miso de Leche" on chicharones.

I already have a Miso De Leche Ice Cream freezing for the Pacojet.

The introduction of nut oils like hazelnut or peanut would be insane.

The Miso De leche ended up last week with the pork belly at Breakfast For Dinner.

So there you have it.

Making "Chocolate" without any Cocoa Involved.

Breakfast Dinner 10.16.09

Toasted Croissant Soup . Bourbon-Maple Glazed Spicy Wings

Breakfast Dinner 10.16.09

The "Breakfast as Dinner" is finally on.

I have divided the menu into 3 sections.

Flavors of Breakfast are cold dishes almost like the staccato amuses served at Gagnaire Restaurants.They involve the more subtle flavors, aromas and textures of breakfast.

Breakfast for Dinner are hearty interpretations of breakfast classics with a touch of elegance and refinement, toasted croissant as a soup, an intensely savory mushroom oatmeal aplified by fortified wine flavors and a meaty counterpoint of matsutakes and meat jus, an interpretation of escabeche of warm mackerel with a tomato hollandaise, steak and eggs as a potato and oxtail terrine, bacon as a smoked pork belly with dulche de leche.

Breakfast for Dessert is simply fun, bacon, banana, maple syrup, coffee and all the comforting sweet elements including making a corn based cereal with a delicious vegetal celery root milk.

Assuming I pull this off which there is absolutely no reason not to since I already cooked all the dishes, I think it may easily be the best meal I have cooked this year.

So there you are.

You can book on my website RIGHT HERE.

5 seats to go as of : 10.12.09

While the site says 9 courses, there are actually 12 dishes.

Part 1:Flavors Of Breakfast.

Kona Kampachi . Chamomile Gelee . Breakfast Radish

Marble Rye Ice Cream "Sandwich" . Smoked Arctic Char 

Egg Salad "Chiboust" . Caviar . Lovage Pea Pudding

Part 2.Breakfast For dinner.

Rainwater Madeira Oatmeal . Roasted Matsutake . Parmesan

Toasted Croissant Soup . Bourbon-Maple Glazed Hot Wings

Spanish Mackerel Confit . Benton's Ham . Choron flavors

Foie Gras Ganache . Farm Egg . Black Truffle Syrup . Toast

Yukon Gold Potato-Oxtail Terrine . Duck Egg Yolk . Hazelnut . Green Peppercorn Jus

Smoked Old Spot Pork Belly . Miso Dulche De Leche . Fennel

Part 3.Dessert For Breakfast.

Puffed Caramel Corn . Celery Root Milk . Ginger Oil

Frozen Butterscotch "Pancakes" .  Chocolate . Blis Maple Syrup . Benton's Bacon . Roasted Banana Sorbet

Almond Cappucino . Smoked Espresso . Cake

Mozzarella Brine Cloudy and Clear

After the recent posts by Dave Arnold and Ideasinfood regarding Agar clarification, I veered off from a project I was working on already. My original goal which was achieved was to make a seasoned balanced mozzarella brine which is usually a by product of making mozzarella cheese. Sadly it is mostly discarded commercially but the first few washes of the milk curds with properly salted water that is about as saline as seawater is what yields the end result I am looking for.

After curdling the milk with Rennet, Citric Acid and a small addition of Lipase, I drained it overnight to get really dry cheese curds.

The cheese curds were broken up very fine which would probably be undesirable if the true goal was to make balls of mozzarella. The key then becomes washing the milk curds several times in lukewarm water so that they are rinsed rather than melted into a malleable texture which becomes mozzarella or buratta.

After 5 washes it yields about 1 gallon of perfectly salty "mozzarella brine" which is actually excellent since I started with 1 gallon of milk. One is also left with about 3 cups of what is now essentially seasoned ricotta cheese for a multiplicity of other uses.

 

Several applications have been executed so far.

Brining a chicken in the liquid and roasting by one of countless methods yields a fantastic flavored bird with nutty, lactic flavors.

Simply cooking a duck breast or lamb loin in the pouch with mozzarella brine yields the silkiest flavorful meats after a quick sear.

It has been slightly sweetened with glucose, adjusted with buttermilk, milk powder and processed in the Pacojet for a fantastic mozzarella ice cream.

I am now going to clarify with agar for a chilled clear mozzarella soup with heirloom tomatoes and several garnishes.

The initial affinity of the water and curds left over simply with Arbequina olive oil, a sweet tomato and pepper are stunning.

 

Adaptation

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery or simply cribbing other people's dishes, either way we should all be open to re-interpretation especially since I am not about to get on a plane to France just to eat eggs. I do however have fond memories of the egg dish at ARPEGE and a client actually asked me to "make something like that". I hate food served in  naturally occurring vessels, it's completely aesthetically lame. Tomato salads in tomatoes, pumpkin soup in pumpkins, lemon sorbet in lemons, great for home economics class but lame. Eggs however have a special place in cuisine and you can still get away with serving egg dishes in eggshells and still be somewhat elegant. The Jean-Georges Caviar Egg is another example.
Poaching egg yolks in shells while bobbing in water is however annoying, sometimes subject to failure and not nearly as clean as doing it in a heavy-based high quality crystal shot glass.

This variation of the Arpege Egg below is layered with Smoked Steelhead Roe, Marcona Almonds, Whipped Cream, Maldon Salt and Blis Maple Vinegar.

Looks better on the table too.

A Great Simple Read

There are certain cookbooks that are just an honest interpretation of what goes on.
One of the most satisfying meals I had last year and a great reason to stay on the sofa on a rainy afternoon. Unfortunately contagious inspiration creates action. I am off to make some pasta dough.

Congratulations to Nate Appleman.

You will find deliciousness at A-16

O- Toro

Modern Technology and thought will eventually break all the cardinal rules of cookery of which one of the most common is the pairing of fish with Fruit.

The idea to serve tuna and watermelon came from the visual effect of what happens to watermelon when it is simply compressed in a vacuum bag. It resembles an exceptionally pristine piece of raw tuna. I initially used Yellowfin Tuna for this dish, it was quite good but not trancendental.

That was changed by replacing the Yellowfin Loin with O-Toro.
The tuna is dressed lightly with "clear" soy and lemon Agrumato Oil while the watermelon is compressed with "clear" soy, Verjus and a few drops of simple syrup.

A tiny bit of preserved lemon-Kosho is dabbed between each piece of fish and watermelon. Pristine herbs and shoots from Blue Moon acres completes the dish.

Fried Chicken and Watermelon

While watching CNN the other day with it's ad-nauseum election coverage, there was this story about some guy up in the hills discussing possible white house menu items if Obama gets elected.

Seems like a good time to tackle classic stereotypes.....

I suppose "saute" is just a very shallow "fry".

Chicken wings and thighs.

Watermelon compressed with Sorrento Citrus Oil and Sea Salt.

Watermelon Radish

Spicy Mustard-Miso

The watermelon is quite delicious and I plan on pairing it with exact size cubes of Tuna or Toro with other elements such as Yuzu Kosho to tie the dish together.

Sometimes a sense of humor is the best way to deal with intolerance.