Parsley, a la minibar

VIP site visit today so we did a tasting in hopes to book some major business. Chef Robert Ciborowski took the reigns on this one. He is the complex executive chef for our hotel and a TFL, el bulli, ritz alumni. He told me he wanted encapsulated parsley oil so I went with the direction of the minibar olive oil bonbon.



Pretty simple actually when you get the temp of the isomalt just right. I didn't have an induction burner which could have made this a lot easier but it worked. Heat the isomalt to 265F and dip the end of a 1" ring mold into the isomalt and slowly remove. Then hold the ring mold over a bath of extra virgin olive oil and drop 1/4 teaspoon of your desired oil into it. As the oil goes through the bottom of the ring mold the isomalt encapsulates it as it drops and there you go. Here was the bonbon in action on our shortrib dish nestled into a dollop of parsnip puree..



Overall a good tasting, solid flavors and technique.

Smoky

Our cold smoker arrived today from Koerner. The italian made "Smoky Affumicatore Espresso" will allow us to cold smoke anything and everything. Pretty much a polyscience smoke gun on crack.



The copper coils cool the smoke as it works its way down to the fan. Since it cools the smoke as it's being pulled through the coils there is some condesation that collects in a chamber on the bottom left of the machine. Basically your own liquid smoke. The chamber can be coated with distilled spirits like whiskey or brandy to add flavor to your liquid smoke.



If you have used a polyscience smoke gun or homemade job then you might have noticed the smoke comes out pretty hot and if you have a lot to smoke then it can sometimes overheat and die on you in the middle of service. The smoke from the Smoky machine comes out at room temp but you can get it nice and cold by dropping a disposable pastry bag full of crushed ice into the middle of the coils.
This is going to be a great addition to the kitchen. I can't wait until it is charged and I can make a nice smoked tomato and mozzarella salad for dinner. The possiblities are endless.

"Apple" Seltzer

It's not fall but I figured I could work this out and have it squared away for a fall winter menu item. I've been throwing around the idea of "apple"seltzer for a while and I have been trying to figure out a way to make it taste good. Everyone has seen alka-seltzer, you drop 2 in a cup and you get instant effervescence. The main reaction is sodium bicarbonate and citric acid. When you add citric acid and baking soda to a warm liquid this is what happens



The reaction causes it to boil instantly, to a cold liquid it has the alka-seltzer fizz effect. The idea is to make an intense dehydrated apple powder and mix this with the citric acid and baking soda. The guest will recieve a glass of hot cider and then they drop the tablets in or the servers french it for them. Kind of like a mini volcano in your glass. If we can find a happy medium between the apple flavor and the baking soda we should be in business. I think dropping the tablet into an already flavored, clarified liquid will help. It will still look like it water but have enough flavor to combat the not so pleasant nuance of baking soda.
I've been looking for a small pill press to form the tablets but no luck on finding anything affordable yet. I will have to find something with enough compression power to shape the tablets. Maybe a small mold and a vice would work or a shot loader. We'll see what happens.

A little more in depth

If you would like to read a more in depth, personal play by play depiction of the paradigm dinner by David click here. He does a great job of time-lining the dinner. We were all so focused on our courses so sometimes you miss what's going on around you. It's good to hear another person's perspective of the evening.

Paradigm

I had the pleasure of collaborating on a paradigm dinner with Kurtis, Chad, and Fabian from the Trump International Hotel. It is always a great experience to get out of your own kitchen and work with other talented chefs. We talked about the menu over email and texts a couple days before my arrival. It was a pretty open forum, all of us throwing out ideas so we would have some what of a game plan and some product to work with.
I took a couple courses, so did Kurtis and Chad. Fabian took care of the desserts and we came together on the "refresh" course. Then we all jumped in on prep to help one another. Here is Chad plating his hogs head course with steamed brioche, rhubarb siracha, and pickled peach. A nice riff on bahn mi with a Momofuku-esque steam bun using the brioche dough.



Here is one dish Kurtis and I worked on. We wanted to break down a peruvian ceviche. Coconut pearls, sweet potato polenta, aji amarillo vin, micro cilantro, yellowtail. We had some trisol fortified pisco battered onion rings that ended up being a nice snack for the kitchen.



We did a cured foie, white chocolate powder, dried sherry vinegar, banana agar\gelatin strips, cherry relish, and some cherry orbs that Kurtis put together. He gave them a dip in the alginate bath and then marinated them overnight in a sweet cherry balsamic vinegar. They were awesome.



Of course we have to finish off the evening with a glass of Estrella Inedit.



Here is the menu.

June 19th, 2009

paradigm - "a philosophical and theoretical framework of a scientific school or discipline within which theories, laws, and generalizations and theexperiments performed in support of them are formulated
- The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

the test kitchen – we feel fortunate to be chefs during this “paradigm shift” of the culinary world. Our opened minds, humbled egos and critical palates set the framework for what is possible in this new era of unlimited culinary boundaries.
-chefs of the test kitchen-

Special Guest Chef ~ Christopher Windus ~ bluezoo

I
raza’chowda’
razor clam, 83ºC potato, smoked tomato gel
bacon foam, mirepoix

II
‘food party’ – episode 1
shropshire blue-cheesecake, fried chicken lollipop,
hot sauce froth, carrots, celery

III
corn & squash
liquid corn ravioli, laughing bird shrimp sheet
spaghetti squash, banana pepper

IV
hogs ‘headless’ cheese
steamed brioche, rhubarb sriracha, pickled green peach
garlic scape mayo

V
‘refresh’
blood orange, piquillo caraway sorbet, kumquat marmalade

VI
cuban sandwich
pickle brined berkshire belly, wild turkey honey mustard
guanciale powder, ‘swiss miss’ sponge, pickle froth

VII
tiradito
yellowtail, sweet potato polenta, coconut pearls
aji amarillo vinaigretta, onion rings

VIII
corned skirt
swiss orbs, pumpernickle streusel, ketchup caraway vinaigrette
beer can cabbage, kennebec chips

IX
foie
cherry drops, cherry relish, banana
white chocolate, dried sherry vinegar, basil, pistachio brittle

X
yogurt
toffee foam, lime air, pineapple glass, raspberry textures
red pepper streusel

XI
caramelized brioche
coconut, queso fresco~balsamico sorbet
vanilla evoo rocks, chocolate soil


Just an ok view from the room. Not a bad place to be.

The Meat Locker

Baxter's collection is growing. Right now we are at about 28% moisture loss on the air dried guanciale. Still another couple months from breaking into the suckling ham. We found a broken down cooler in the back hallway of the hotel and it has become our charcuterie chamber. It is holding at 60F with the humidity at 65-70%. We have a little fan in the cooler to keep the air flow and small hygrometer to measure humidity.



In order to expand we need to find another broken, much bigger cooler that we can take over. These test runs and the environment of the curing chamber seem to be working pretty good. We have some casings and bactoferm ordered. With cure 1, cure 2, and dextrose on hand we will be able to start producing some nice cured meats and salumi. We have to get working on them now so we will be ready to go for the fall\winter menu and have enough stock in rotation to supply our needs. It will be an interesting process.

Victory

After all the trash talking for the past two weeks I showed up and Rob and I examined each others smoked pork. When all the judges were seated we began slicing in the other room so they could not tell whose was whose. As we sliced we each tried one another's and both said, man this is going to be close. My style was heavy brined and oak smoked, chef went with a lighter brine and mesquite pellets in his Cook shack smoker. Real wood wins.
15 judges, 4 categories, up to 5 points in each category.
Chef Rob 159- to my 162.
I guess getting up at 3:00am and starting a fire in the middle of the night paid off.



Nice fake certificate provided by chef's assistant. Thanks T, and yes I'm sure you will get in trouble for this one.



Tired, smokey, and have a private function in 2.5 hours. No time to celebrate but I could use a cold one, or three.