Top Chef New York - Episode Three (Foo Fighters)

Episode Three is upon us, ok a few days late due to the holiday ... thank goodness for DVRs. Can Ariane last another week, can anyone upstage Jill's wizardry in turning ostrich eggs into glue, will the yankees hog-tie the Euros Nascar style, and who will be the guest judge ...

Fabio and Stefan being pals ... Ariane with her back to the wall ... Richard calls Jeff Don Johnson and makes inappropriate comments about Leah's physique ...

Quickfire time ... holy crap, the guest judge is Grant Achatz<gush>!!! Tom Collichio or someone at Bravo has some major pull, Grant is a relative recluse given his prominence in American cuisine at the helm of Alinea, wow what a coup Bravo, Foodie KUDOS from G^2! Rock Star is an understatement for this guy, calling Grant a rockstar is like calling the Beattles a good band.

So the challenge is to cook something from a page out of the Top Chef cookbook, a differnt page is assigned to each knife drawn from the block. Using the book is a good way to put the contestants into the context of past Top Chef contestants, smart move. Ariane gets Dales Colorado Rack of Lamb recipe (a memorable one from two seasons ago), Jeff gets something from Howie and trips over his ego saying he could do the dish in 15 minutes, who is Melissa? -- Can she cook, she's flying under the radar, I don't even remember her from the ads or intro ... After 10 minutes of cooking, Padma and Grant interrupt and say that the rules just changed and everyone needs to prepare a delicious soup that is a re-interpretation of the recipe they are working with ... ouch, but Kudos again Bravo for making soup a yardstick in the competition, if you can cook soup well, ... well ... you can cook ... Padma is looking very moda ... SOUP? ... Fabio is incredulous "SOUP? U gotta be kiddin mee" ... Fabio is not only talented, but very entertaining and funny. Leah decides to do a chilled white asparagus soup even though she "hates, hates, hates" white asparagus ... Carla has to reinterpret oil poached shrimp, and says that "You can judge a chef by their soup", so true ... Jaime is growing on me, deconstructed falafel as a soup, and she would cook soup for the rest of her life if she could; agreed, soup is a dish made with love and definitely relies on the chef's inate knowledge of flavor and their palate to perfect it ...

Judging Quickfire ... Stefan, Thai green curry bisque with shrimp & scallop dumplings *yum*, Grant Achatz likes the aroma ... Ariane with the lamb & ratatouille, Grant comments that it might be overcooked, Arian rolls her eyes, a telltale sign that she doesn't really understand her own profession; you don't roll your eyes when one of the best chefs in the world offers constructive criticism unless you don't have the game to appreciate it ... Daniel goes rustic with Ham & Egg soup, gets props from Grant ... Daniel does something wacky with black beans, a stretch for soup ... Melissa misses the mark in "not a good way" ... Fabio stubs his toe but humbly takes the critique from Achatz ... Carla makes a successful soup, Grant likes it very much ... Leah rocks with the white asparagus ... Jamie's soup is incredible, texturally, regionally, and visually ... Daniel, Leah and Jamie are Grant's favorites ... Leah wins ... Leah's immunity is secure and her prize is choosing her team in the elimination challenge.

Elimination Challenge ... two teams, 7 chefs a side ... Leah, Stefan, Fabio, Radhika, Jaime, Hosea, Melissa ... chosen by Leah ... the top tier? HMM ... My choices at this point might have pulled in Alex, Carla, or Eugene over Melissa and Radhika, but a very strong group who should win. Challenge is cooking Thanksgiving Dinner for Foo Fighters, according to their Ryder ... Jeff emerges as the de facto leader on the apparent lesser team, displays some good management skills, but questions about his cooking linger ... Ariane will take on the turkey ... UH OH, the curveball is the cooking is all outdoors using toaster ovens and microwaves, no freezer, just one burner ... OUCH, that's tough, almost contrived how tough, maybe too contrived Bravo, what chef doesn't have a gas flame to work with at all times?

Team names are "Sexy Pants" and "Cougars" ... Ariane is not a Cougar, please get over yourself and just cook ... Stefan and Fabio have a real affinity, maybe to their detriment ... Eugene creates a makeshift grill for a pork roast, he is badass ... Jaime is cryin about Stefan, not sure if Stefan is so aloof or if Jaime is just the lesser chef ... Jeff is a good boss, still unsure about the cooking ... Alex is workmanlike .. Ariane is assertive about how to cook the turkey, her teammates are coaching her ... it's raining ... Fabio is hilarious, "I'm not going home cuz isssz rainin in my terra misu, der's no frickin way", he's so likable ... Daniel is really fighting the cooking equipement with his potatoes ... everyone rushes down to make sure they have the food ready for the Foo Fighters Crew ...

Time to Eat ... Foo Fighters ... to be honest, I've found the lead singer (Dave Grohl) to be a bit of an ass in the past, but all the guys are charismatic and funny on Top Chef, good PR ... Eugene's pork looks really good ... Grant - "Sometimes its just good to execute the classics the way they are supposed to be done" ... Daniel's Potatoes are not cooked through ... Ariane's Turkey redeems her, probably safe for one more week ... Jaime's vegan stuffing is a hit ... more focus on The Cougar's entrees, maybe they are in trouble in this area, but Ariane wins the turkey battle ... Sexy Pants desserts are superious ... pumpkin tira misu is a hit, thanks to Fabio ... Losers get to clear down while the winners get to watch the Foo Fighters show ... Richards s'mores look like "someone spit on mine" per the Foo Fighters, double OUCH ... Jeff's "barf-fay" is not a hit ... Daniel's performance in the quickfire probably secure's him for another week ... one Foo is honest about not being a dessert guy, that resonates with me ... Team Sexy Pants wins, Cougars clear down.

Random rant this week ... I'll leave the real money whores of OC out this week ... electrolux and Kelly Ripa annoy me, Kelly much more so.

Concert time ... Leah is getting cozy with Fabio now, maybe she is the alliance builder, but she apparently can cook too. Eugene is pissed, an inch closer to punching a locker me thinks ... Richard is worried about the team throwing each other under the bus ...


Judges Table ...
Jeff whines about the curveballs, but both teams had the same conditions and rain falling on them (Collichio, tough but fair) ... Richard is cordial about honoring Jeff's leadership skills, Jeff still cooked 2-3 bad things ... Ariane is the confirmed champ of the turkey, Grant is appreciative ... Jeff's spoonbread stuffing didn't work, dry ... Daniel is honest about the potatoes sucking, but his explanation is defenseless, he shouldn't have served the potatoes ... Carla doesn't execute but has a good concept ... Jeff's pumpking mousse and Richard's s'mores are failed concepts per Grant Achatz, let alone execution ... "spit on a plate" is how Gail describes Richard's dessert, Richard is despondant, what a brutal comment ... Jeff "across the board, his dishes were not very good" (Collichio) ... Jeff is probably safe due to his leadership qualities, Grant concurs ... Grant hated the s'mores, "conceptually it was a mess" ... Richard has to go home, "spit" is not an adjective you want to hear, but no one spit out the food like last week so you never know ...

Side note ... Calaphalon has to be crying over how much they spent on advertising spots for this show, everyone bitched about the crappy cooking facilities which prominently featured the calphalon toaster ovens ... next time, make the ad buy contingent upon approval of the feature in the show, or just donate, get the PR, and don't do the ad buy ...

Judgement ... Eugene, safe with a solid pork dish and with his ingenuity, Alex safe, Carla safe, Ariane safe ....... Richard, Jeff, Daniel, on the chopping block ... Daniel scolded again ... Jeff, "you bit off too much" ... Richard, "s'mores were dissappointing" ... bye Richard ... Richard is so despondant, crying, weeping, near wailing ... holy crap, what a whiner ... sorry, but Richard's inner queen was a little too dramatic for this food blogger.

Dushanbe Teahouse in Boulder

Headed up to Boulder to get a lesson in tea from my tea expert friend Eric.


The Dushanbe teahouse in Boulder is a hidden gem, great story behind it all. Apparently Dushanbe, Tajikistan is the sister city of Boulder, Colorado. If you don't know where Tajikistan is on a map, you're not alone, here's a map. The teahouse was build completely in Tajikistan and shipped in pieces to boulder, where the designer helped to assemble it. It's presence just a block from the Pearl street mall and overlooking a park to the west makes this an iconic place to visit.


The inside is stunning.



This is an imminently comfortable place, a place that just makes you happy.


And the food is very good. Here's my Persian Omelette with toasted pine nuts and walnuts, goat feta, and raisins; deliciously different.


And now for the main event, the tea. Eric and I had a conversation that led up to this little adventure wherein I mentioned how I knew nothing about tea but was interested in learning what it was all about, the flavor profiles, the categories, etc. Eric is a smart guy and very knowledgeable about his tea, so he was kind enough to give me a little lesson.

Given that this was expanding my palate, I felt obliged to make my tea selections from the "rare & special" list.


My first selection was the Drum Mountain Clouds and Mist Green Tea, which was soothing, delicately grassy, like a meadow with a very slightly sweet finish despite drinking it straight. The sensation I took from this tea was a calming nourishment, I just felt better drinking it, due to psychosomatic causality or otherwise.

Next we tried the Puttabong First Flush Darjeeling, which hit me with a floral nose and, as advertised, a muscatel tannic winey feel on the palate.


At the same time we also sampled the Margaret's Hope First Flush Darjeeling; this evoked the flavor or champagne grapes and the bouquet of flowers. Extraordinary flavors, I can see great possibilities for using tea in savory and sweet cookery.

The rush of caffeine came on like a lightning strike, wow ... that first flush (the first picking from the top of the tea leaf canopy, as I learned) is apparently loaded with the stuff. After a jittery saunter over to The Peppercorn to check out the latest stock of pans, Eric and I bid farewell to Dushanbe for now. A fun excursion with a first learned prelude into the world of tea.

Pork Rib Roast with Black Currant Tamari Gelee

A trip to the new Sprouts Farmers Market yielded some interesting ingredients such as dried flageolet and fava beans, 100% black currant juice, and a frenched pork rib roast. The flavor concept behind the dish was bitter + sweet + umami. Black currents most freqently show up in the description of red wines, but I doubt many people have even tasted real currants. These are bitter and immediately evoke flavor sensations found in big red wines, so the frequent use in wine descriptions is justified. Currants are particularly tannic, and give the same feel in the mouth as a young full bodied red wine (like a petit sirah). The tannin is perceived by the tast recepters as bitter, but the feel of the tongue changes in the presence of tannin as the chemical reaction with some parts of the tongue actually leatherizes cells in your mouth. Yes that's right, this effect of tannin in the wine world is called astringency; my info comes from my time in Claude Robbins class at the International Wine Guild.

Anyway, after testing a sip of the black currant juice (which incidentally is considered a superfood due to the high levels of antioxidants, potasium, and calcium), I had a shockingly immediate reaction to the very astringent elixir. I wanted to make a sauce that would preserve some of this bitterness, sweeten it up a bit, and put in a background note of umami via the tamari (wheat free soy sauce). As for a preparation, I decided on a loose gelee, thick enough to cling to the pork roast to glaze it and then as a finishishing sauce that wouldn't run all over the plate.


The pork roast was coated in olive oil, roasted at 450F for 20 minutes, glazed, then roasted for another 45 minutes at 300 and glazed twice more. The sauce was composed with 3 cups black currant juice, ~1 cup of brown sugar, a teaspoon of dried marjoram, and 1 tablespoon of tamari; the marjoram was to give the sauce an earthyness. The juice, sugar and marjoram were simmered for 10 minutes, then the marjoram was removed by straining and the tamari was added. As the sauce cooled, I evenly incorporated a couple decent pinches of xanthan gum and guar gum while whisking. This rapidly thickened the sauce to the desired consistency.


The sauce was used for glazing and then reheated to finish the flintstone looking cuttings that came of the roast. This was served with fava beans in a white wine vinaigrette, roasted onions and plum tomatoes drizzled with olive oil, and chili garlic bread (chili powder, minced garlic, unsalted butter, sea salt combined and applied to a fresh loaf of french bread). I really like this flavor pairing and so did my little sous chefs. My wife was less thrilled, mostly because she can't stand cooked fruit or gelatin-like textures (yah can't win em all). What I'll take from this is that there's some real undiscovered potential for black currants, after all, who'd think that they'd work with soy sauce?

Top Chef New York - Episode Two (Show Your Craft)

Lovin the DVR ... Donatella Arpaia is there, apparently no exclusivity in her Food Network judging relationship ... quickfire time.

Quickfire Challenge ... make a better hot dog than some famous hot dog stand in Queens ... sushi hot dogs, I don't think so ... this is going to be a mess ... Jill makes hot dog spring rolls or something equally nausiating and contrived, dumb ... Radhika might have made something edible ... Eugene, hot dog maki roll ... Hosea looks like he can cook something other than fish ... Stefan doesn't even get the judges to look at him ... Ariane makes chicken sausage ... Fabio does apparently well ... Jamie leaves bones in her hot dog ... the vendor is Angelina and she singularly wows the judges ... Jill does very poorly, Stefan fails ... Radhika in the top tier, Fabio as well, and Hosea - Radhika wins (safe for 1 more week anyway).

Elimination Challenge ... cooking at Craft, Tom's flagship restaurant ... Liking Eugene more and more, but those Euros can cook too ... Jill flips a bit buying ostrich eggs, Fabio saves here by figuring out how to crack 'em. Jax guy and Leah are getting cozy, oh the drama <yawn>. Let us to cooking ...

In the kitchen at Craft ... Fabio gives huge props to Tom's restaurant ... Fabio just whipped out the El Bulli version of olives with the sodium alginate I'm guessing ... Carlas's cooking is questionable, Ariane makes something that's way too sweet apparently, but no one tells her ... Tom is expediting for the Top Chef crew ... Fabio wows em, Jax guy (Hosea) falls flat, Jill's dish looks like "dog food" and tastes like "glue" ... Stefan plays it safe with Halibut ... Jeff makes chicken with chorizo, move along, nothing to see here ... Radhika made avocado mousse - WTF? ... Daniel gets by on a known dish ... Padma almost vomits on Ariane's food ... Carla does ok despite the sweaty cheese ... Tom tastes everything ... the nouvelle is about to hit the fan.

Judges Table ... Tom thought the chefs set American cuisine back 20 years, ouch. Carla's pastry impresses ... Fabio's worried he's going home, but he rocked ... Jaime did well with a cold corn soup, corn soup rocks (a good idea) ... Fabio Wins (Euros 2, Yankees 0). Hosea, Jill, and Jersey girl Ariane are up for elimination. Jill sounds like she's a few suits short of a full deck. Ariane has to go home, Padma spit it out for goodness sake. OMG they sent the doornob home (ok that was mean), dumb is dumb but awful is really AWFUL.

Euros are looking tough, Leah was middle of the pack - Stefan and Fabio are front runners for sure, let's see if an American can step up, maybe Eugene is really Rocky.

Top Chef New York - Episode One (The Melting Pot)

Yah, yah, I'm a week behind, that's why they invented DVRs. Anyway, something new and potentially interesting ... please forgive the play by play, I'm geeking out a little ... just pulled up the premier of Top Chef New York from my playlist ... I'm thinking to myself, who's the headcase this year ... Given the number of wacky people in the restaurant biz, you know you're a unique individual when you stand out from this crowd (hey no offense, us technology geeks are a socially eccentric bunch in our own right). Ok so just thinking out loud, how much nouvelle will be forced upon us, will Bravo find another capable molecular gastronomy practitioner / food science geek again (like Richard Blais last year), will Tom Colicchio have to break up a fight, who will be rumored to have eyes for Padma Lakshmi this seaseon, will a new Food Network contract for Ted Allen remove his yes-man judges table presence (just having fun with ya Ted) ... Oh the suspense of this very guilty soap opera-esque foodie pleasure ... time to push play.

Introductions ... Miami guy (Jeff) is a dork with feathered hair, thinks he's the Aussie doc on House - we have a front runner for Padma's eye, Hawaiian dude (Eugene) covered in tats - most likely to punch a locker, one person sounds interesting (Radhika) - global small plates, some guy has an inner queen (Richard) - let's just hope she can cook, a CIA (the culinary one) student (Patrick) - would be an upset if this guy makes it 4 weeks, but I like the wine screw T-Shirt ... First quick fire challenge ... whoa, elimination challenge right off the bat, emphasizing how tough it is to conquer the New York culinary scene ... part 1, peel 15 apples with a knife, looks like there's a local guy from Jax (Hosea) - not my favorite restaurant, but tough to be a seafood restaurant in Denver / Boulder ... first blood drawn as someone cuts themselves, what the heck?!!! why are bloody apples ok! (Tom is a softy I'd DQ that) ... guy from Finland (Stefan) good with a knife - quickfire winner, likin' him, knife skills get my respect ... part 2 of the quick fire is brunois of apples (2 cups worth) ... and no brunois is not the hardest knife skill ... uh oh, Radhika is already on the ropes ... down to the last 4 people and 3 move on, part 3 is cooking with the apples, 20 minutes ... double uh oh, Radhika is thinking 20 minutes is only enough to sort her spices ... Patrick (CIA student) is all about perfection he says, ok let's see how that apple salad tastes ... doh, Lauren made a salad ... Patrick an apple slaw (read salad) ... Radhika an apple chutney with pork (hey at least she showed she knew what a pan was) ... Leah seared scallops ... Leah moves on ... Yay Radhika moves on ... the buddies from CIA are both on the chopping block ... survey says ....... later Lauren, Patrick next to last.

Elimination Challenge setup ... get out the knife block ... Chinatown, Long Island City, Jamaica, Little Italy, Little India ... sounding like New York neighborhoods ... 8 pairs of 2 contestants have to prepare a dish representative of their 'hood, and it is head to head between the pair.

Back at the pad ... The pad is choice, nice view ... team rainbow has 3 members this year ... Fabio from Firenze (Florence, Italy) is funny - "In Europe there are two types of people, Italians and those who wish they were Italian" ... tension from the American xenophobes directed at Fabio and Stefan, maybe they don't realize how fun the last 8 years were across the pond ... off to the store the next day ... Jaime - deconstructed greek salad ... Hosea - Russian food for Brighton Beach, chooses caviar ... Leah, lived in Italy and cooking for Little Italy (instant front-runner for the challenge) ... Eugene, humble but determined cooking Indian food (1st time).

Time to Cook ... 2 hour limit, lots of people working out of their wheelhouse ... Richard is monkey - Lamb Sliders in a pita, really? ... Leah, looking strong ... Jeff running way late (19 steps with 3 minutes to plate) - dork might be going home ... utencils down.

Judging ... Jean-George Vongerichten as guest judge, wow ... Gail Simmons is back again, her palate rocks ... Stefan crushes Ariane ... Richard just called Tom a cutie, his dish looks like fast food - Jamie edges out Richard ... Radhika and Jill, Radhika's cooking is now suspect with a visually icky and conceptually silly dish (just lost my favor Radhika), Jill cooked a very conceptually interesting and visually compelling Jamaican preparation - Macadamian crusted plantain fritters with jerked scallops (Jill takes Radhikas spot) ... Jill wins easily ... Fabio should have beat Jeff (Tom voted for the pork demi-glace, a cool idea), conceptually cool and great knife skills, much more sophisticated dish, but missing the Latin roots that Jeff has from Miami; Jeff wins but unimpressively, visually and conceptually pedestrian, close to street food ... Hosea and Carla - Hosea just gave the judges fish on crackers essentially, but the judges see "culinary eloquence" (let's see if he can do something beyond HORS D’OEUVRES); Hosea wins ... Leah wins with fish and risotto, underachiever I think ... Patrick's dish is called one note, Daniel made a 20 year-old Wolfgang Puck salad, both bottom feeders me thinks ... Alex and Eugene, Alex does ok, Eugene accidentally rocks the house - Eugene can flippin cook ... Chinatown was the worst, "Patrick failed miserably" ... guessing Patrick is out, maybe Ariane or Radhika (so much for first impressions).

Side note ... what is wrong with America, why do the Real Housewives of Orange County even exist, let alone get put on TV? What a vacuous lot of insipid bling-crusted monkeys, talk about signs of the apocolypse.

Judges Table ... chit chat about the judges being like dogs lovin' the salt - maybe they never watched Anne Burrell ... Patrick and Ariane on bottom ... Leah, Stefan, and Eugene on top ... Stefan wins and acts like he's been there before ... Patrick is out even though Ariane couldn't cook Farro.

The viewer contest ... 70% are rooting for rainbow trio, 30% for Euro Duo ... I've seen more cooking and less talk from the Euros so they got my vote ... now they're both duos after all.

Early favorites - Eugene, Stefan, Fabio, and Leah ... favorites to leave are Ariane, Alex, Richard, and Jeff.

Maintaining Your Knives

So I finally decided to get serious about investing some time to sharpen my cutlery. Knife sharpeners come in all manner of design these days. I've used an electric sharpener (on someone elses knife) and even considered a sharpening rod system. But after some research and consideration, I started leaning toward getting a wetstone.

My research included the book The Professional Chef's Knife Kit by the Culinary Institute of America, browsing product reviews, and searching on the internet. I was 90% sure I wanted a wetstone if I wanted to really treat my knives like the investment they've become. To get to 100%, I decided to consult a professional to hopefully confirm my suspicions. On a side note, the CIA Book is an excellent reference for developing your knife skills.

After a little hunting I came across The Knife Guys and made my way down to their shop. There I talked to a couple of the guys for about 20 minutes and picked up a few tips, and a new wetstone. They pointed out a number of tricks and things to avoid. They also mentioned that their primary business is commercial knife sharpening, charging $3 a knife which seemed very reasonable.

With my new wetstone in hand, I set about the task. My approach was to soak the wetstone in water for 10 minutes (per the manufacturer's instructions), use a few drops of dishwashing liquid for lubricant (per The Knife Guys) and the catch the metal shavings, and maintain a 22.5 degree angle moving tail to tip. The angle is found by halving 90 degrees (45 degrees), and halving that again. I used 10 strokes on each side on 1000 grit, and then repeated on 4000 grit. The knife guys pointed out two things to be very conscious of: first, make sure to sharpen all the way up to the bolster; second, avoid the natural tendancy to change angle at the knife tip. Consistently, the three most important techniques I picked up were to maintain the angle, pull the knife (don't push), and always sharpen in the same direction (either tip to tail or tail to tip). Tail to tip was my preference and after a little practice with a disposable paring knife (l'econome), I found that the motion felt at little like "wax on, wax off" circa Karate Kid. Really, it's a sweeping motion with only moderate pressue on the knife. Another trick from The Knife Guys was to keep your eye on the place where you start from so you do the same thing every time. One last thing that I was careful to avoid (due to a mishap with a past experience having someone else sharpen my knives) was to NOT sharpen the bolster. It's an easy thing for a novice sharpener like me to do accidentally. As I found in the past, if the bolster is sharpened at all, you're much more likely to cut yourself; it's surprising how often I touch the bolster in handling the knife, especially when cutting with my index finger overlayed to the outside of my cutting direction, but it's a habit I suspect others have as well, so keep that bolster dull.

The 22.5 degree angle worked very well on my Wusthof, Henckel and miscellaneous knives. For the Shun, I found that starting at 22.5 and then doing a second full pass at ~40 helped achieve that just out of the box razor sharpness. To test the sharpness on my first Wusthof knife sharpening, I shaved a little patch on my cheek and found that it was pretty close to straight razor sharp. For the Shun utility knife, I tested with an overripe plum tomato, these buggers are notoriously tough to cut without a serrated edge. With just the weight of the knife (which weighs almost nothing unlike the German knives), I cut clean through on one pass. To finish the knives, they were washed in hot water, dried, and honed with a honing steel. The knife guys recommend honing with the steel positioned down onto a cutting board or table, however after a lot of practice I just free handed this; maybe not perfect, but I have yet to bow or chip a knife and pretty much set in my ways on this, plus it is way faster when you're moving quickly to get a meal done.

With more than 20 knives sharpened today, the wetstone has already payed for itself, highly recommended. The 1000/4000 wetstone I purchased is available on Amazon.

Socca with Rosemary Oil

A slight variation on a past post. The rosemary oil was made using 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil blended with the leaves of 6 oz of rosemary sprigs, plus a dash of sea salt. The socca was crisped to golden brown, finished with black pepper and rosemary oil. When applied while the socca is still hot, the rosemary oil will be absorbed and dye the socca with light green streaks. The oil imparts a pleasant herbal bouquet that complements this simple Provencale pleasure.

Roasted Garlic wrapped in Prosciutto on Fig Glazed Crostini

That's it, self explanatory but a great flavor pairing. Wrap a whole roasted garlic clove in a slice of prosciutto di parma (the real stuff) and place on a fig glazed crostini. Fig preserves worked great here, obtainable at any Sunflower or Whole Foods. Got the idea from a somewhat similar dish at The Med in Boulder on their tapas menu.

Along the way tried to poach the garlic in buttermilk (a failure as it turned the garlic blue, really). Milk poached garlic was the basis of the pairing with the figs, the prosciutto pairing was inspired by The Flavor Bible.

Beef Tenderloin Medallions with Tamari, Real Wasabi, Scallions, and Primolio Olive Oil

For a recent neighboorhood wine tasting we hosted, my wife and I decided that rather than feed people a bunch of food and have a lot of leftovers, we'd opt for providing a few really high quality bites that were filling and most definitely wine food.

The inspiration for this preparation was just sort of a spontaneous combination of context, problem, and experience. The context was foodie-worthy wine food, and this being the main protein element, so it had to be satisfying; we opted for getting a whole beef tenderloin. The problem was that we had to feed 24 adults at the same time and I couldn't screw it up by having it become cold or overdone. The experience that weighed in here was that getting a whole tenderloin to medium rare / medium was not an issue, but evenness of cooking was a little challenging and portioning this up for 24 guests without it getting cold was about impossible. Experience with sous vide gave me the idea for how to make this all come together; the flavor pairings were also a product of experience with things that either work well together or things that work well with beef, in this case an eclectic combination of Japenese and Italian flavors seemed like a good idea.

After getting a whole choice tenderloin and fabricating this, I cut the meat into 1 1/2" steaks and then cut these into halves or thirds based on the size of the steak, attempting to come up with a close approximation to a fairly consistently sized medallion. These were then seasoned with black pepper and placed into 3 gallon zip top plastic bags, filling each to no more than half the volume of the bag. I removed the air from each bag, sealed, and then brought an 8 quart pot filled halfway with water to 125F. The bags joined the party and were pressed down with a metal bowl with enough hot water to weigh down the bags. The meat was sous vide cooked to 125F for 4 hours by periodically returning the pot to heat to maintain a temperature above 120F but no higher than 125F; this meant adding heat for about 2 minutes every 20 minutes.

As the partygoers settled in with some wine, I removed the medallions a bag at a time to finish these in a large saute pan with very hot grapeseed oil for 3 minutes to achive a maillard-like browned surface. The mini filets were plattered a bag at a time on a healthy drizzle of tamari on the platter itself (on which the medallions were plated), and finished with a topping of fresh 100% wasabi (rehydrated), a few shreds of fresh scallions, and a few drops of Giachi Primolio Olive Oil.

I couldn't have been happier with the results, as platter after platter evaporated as soon as these hit the table, with our guests devouring these and giving us many kind complements in the process. As daunting as the problem first seemed, this approach yielded an amazingly predictable, tender, evenly cooked and delicious product.

Fromage to Yours, a Cheese Shop in South Denver

The recent opening of Fromage to Yours was a very welcome addition to its suburban surroundings. Typically when I've desired great cheese, especially anything out of the ordinary, it meant a trip up to Cherry Creek to The Truffle, or to the Highlands neighborhood to St. Killian's. In either case, this meant justifying an hour trip and 50-60 miles worth of gas from our south suburban neighborhood. Now we have a great cheese store that's situated right in the middle of the intersection of Highlands Ranch, Centennial, and Lone Tree. It is the first artisan cheese shop in the South Metro area, and many of our culinary friends couldn't be happier with its arrival.


The owner Jackie Rebideau is on a mission to bring you the best of the 400 American artisanal cheesemakers. She's very passionate about the quality and the origins of her cheese, and this makes Fromage to Yours standout as a very foodie friendly haunt. All the cheeses are vegetarian-friendly as all use only vegetable-derived or microbial-derived rennet in the cheesemaking process.

We've enjoyed several cheeses that Jackie has picked out, but for this post I asked her to pick out 2 that she found particularly interesting and were selections that most people might overlook. The first of these was the Serenita Farmstead Cheese.


Jackie and I sampled this one and I remarked with how similar the texture was to parmigiano reggiano or romano cheeses. The flavor was complex and nutty, remarkable when you consider that this cheese was only aged for 3 months. The wonderful flavor was no doubt a product of the fine milk used to produce this cheese; as Jackie informed me, a farmstead cheese means that the milk is produced on the same site as the cheese is made, meaning all aspects of quality are controlled by the cheesemaker. As a sommelier, I immediate drew a parallel with the "Produced and Bottle by ..." designation for American wines, wherein the grapes are grown by the winemaker. If you don't see "produced and bottled by" on an American wine label, then there's less chance that the finished product experienced total quality control. After tasting this farmstead cheese, and learning a little about the American classification of cheese, and how woefully inadequate the coverage of American cheese is in wikipedia, I think Jackie has found a very interesting and unexploited niche among foodie stores.

The second diamond in the rough selected by Jackie was the Ouray Sprout Creek Farm cheese.


Next I asked Jackie to pick out a "stinky cheese"; as a fan of Epoisses which is so stinky it can foul a room, I've found the stinky ones can be particularly interesting, different, and should not be dismissed for their pungency. She pulled out Aged Brick ...


which had the wonderfully funky aroma of barnyard, likely beguiling its unctuous palate.

For Jackie, it sounds like Fromage to Yours is a great new chapter in her life. The incarnation of this business coincided with Jackie winning a scholarship from the American Cheese Society. Her experience at their recent conference was nothing less than a cheese lover's paradise, and it sounds like it provided Jackie with a great opportunity to network with the best cheese producers in the country.

In December, Fromage to Yours and proprieter Jackie Rebideau will be partnering with Opus and Chef Michael Long to provide a tasting menu in December which promises to be an excellent opportunity to sample some amazing cheese and wine at one of Denver's premier restaurants.

After a great chat with Jackie, it was time to head home, but not before getting a couple souveniers to enjoy with a nice glass of red wine.


Smokey Blue raw cows milk cheese ...


and Truffle Tremor goats milk chevre.

If you're one of the many south suburban foodies out there, drop by Fromage to Yours the next time you're looking for good wine food or just want something different, you're sure to come away satisfied ... time for that glass of wine.

Culinary Fats

With the recent publication of the foodie / chef treatise on fat, I was looking for a good reference for culinary fats ... since I found nothing noteworthy, here is a first attempt to list these. Really this is just an attempt to chronicle fats which we cook with (as a medium for heat) as well as fats we add to things to impart taste and aroma (e.g. in finishing a dish). Some of these fats verge on the exotic, and some may ruffle feathers over their origin, but the intent of this living post is to document all the culinary fats used globally, historically, or everyday in an average kitchen. After four updates to this post since August 2008, it's safe to say this list of Culinary Fats will continue to grow, so if you run across another one, please post it here.

Please comment on your preferences and experiences, I'm happy to include your additions. There's a note on rarity / desirability, and if you have particular favorite uses, knowledge of a smoke point, etc., I'd be happy to update this list with your contributions. Thanks for the help!

UPDATED (2008.31.08) ... thanks for all your comments and feedback ... significant additions to the list include:
- Horse Fat
- Pork Drippings
- Goose Fat
- Smen
- Pecan Oil
- Tea Seed Oil

Pecan Oil and Tea Seed oil both have some interesting nutrional properties as well as having very high smoke points. Who knew horse fat was so sought after... It's been covered by Jeffrey Steingarten, discussed by Chez Pim and Harold McGee [1] [2], and Hungry in Hogtown, pretty influential list of foodies there. Next time in Europe, I might have to try some horse fat fries.

It should be noted that many other fats / oils have been identified that are not included, such as shea butter and marula oil, I've left items like these out since these either fail the test of "foodie desirability" or fall into the category of potentially dangerous / not available through free trade.

UPDATED (2008.11.17) ... After attempting to find Pine Nut Oil, I realized I had missed this in the first two passes. Apparently, Pine nut oil is believed to have medicinal qualities and may play a role in curbing one's appetite. The nutritional composition is here. Also, differentiating one type of beef fat / ox fat, called suet. Suet is the fat around the kidneys which is reputed to be the actual fat used in Belgian fries (pommes frites) thought by many to use horse fat.

Key
(+++) highly desirable / rare
(++) sought after / scarce
(+) commodity / commonplace
(---) undesirable / industrial in nature

almond oil ++
apricot kernel oil +
argan oil +++
avocado oil +
beef fat / drippings +
butter (cow's milk) + / ++
butter (goat's milk) ++
butter (sheep's milk) ++
canola oil +
cheese + / +++
clarified butter / ghee +
coconut oil +
cottonseed oil ---
cream +
duck fat ++
egg yolks (chicken) + / ++
egg yolks (duck) ++
egg yolks (goose) ++
fatback + / ++
flaxseed oil +
goose fat ++
grapeseed oil +
hazelnut oil +
horse fat +++
lamb / sheep fat +
lard +
lemon oil ++
milk + / ++
mustard oil ++
olive oil + / +++
orange oil ++
palm kernel oil +
palm oil +
peanut oil +
pecan oil ++
pine nut oil ++
pistachio oil ++ / +++
pork drippings +
pumpkin seed oil ++
rice bran oil ++
safflower oil +
salt pork +
sesame oil +
smen ++
soybean oil ---
suet ++
sunflower oil +
tea seed oil + / ++
walnut oil ++

Walnut Marshmallows

The concept here is owed to the bothers Adria as documented in the book A Day at El Bulli. The El Bulli version used pine nuts, but I found it very difficult to obtain Pine Nut oil, an oil generally so elusive I missed it altogether on the first two versions of the post Culinary Fats; apparently it does exist and while relatively expensive, I found several examples on Amazon.

The goal of this was to be depetive, maybe a little provocative. You tell someone it's a marshmallow, they think sweet, they get marshmallow but it's savory. Admittedly this dish not go over well when served at a recent wine tasting we hosted. There were 3 or 4 people who thought it was really interesting and liked it, but most were put off a little by the radical nature of the concept. I was not able to give the finishing of the marshmallows as much attention as they probably deserved, so the concept is worth more experimentation in the future.

400g whole organic milk, chilled to 37F
120g whole organic milk combined with 18g gelatin powder at room temperature
45g walnut oil
2 cups toasted walnut powder

Bring the milk with gelatin to 105F-110F, begin whipping on high in a stand mixer for 30 seconds. Combine the chilled milk all at once and continue whipping for 3 minutes. Add the walnut oil and whip for an additional 30 seconds. Spread in an even 1" thick layer on a silpat lined flat sheet pan (one with no lip preferrably). Chill for 2 hours. Cut into 1" cubes, lightly salt and then roll in the toasted walnut powder.

The flavor was all walnut, though salting was key, you needed to be generous, but it was also easy to overdue the salt. Without salt, the marshmallows have only a faint walnut oil (maybe I need better walnut oil). The texture will be challenging to all but the most adventurous eaters. On the next go, it might be interesting to infuse some rosemary into the milk prior to chilling.

A Day at El Bulli Digested

First let me say that as much as I wanted to devour the book, A Day at El Bulli, in one helping, after two deep dives into this sprawling culinary documentary, I realized the depth and complexity of what Ferran Adria, Albert Adria, and the crew at El Bulli take on in a single day was scribed herein as the literary equivalent of a tasting menu. It may take months of analysis and introspection, and years more of learning in the kitchen for me to fully grasp the weight of El Bulli in the culinary world. But after a cover to cover reading, and re-reading of many of the carefully crafted exposées on such topics as Creative Methods employed at El Bulli, I felt it was time to provide at least a visceral reaction to both the book and its content.

El Bulli is other-worldly, a restaurant without peer, strange, influential, misunderstood, controversial, and by many accounts simply the best. It employs technique, service, and flavour that is provactive, experiential, ground-breaking and operates on a level so apart from anything else calling itself a restaurant that it demands to be considered as art. Ferran and Albert Adria are indefatigable in their pursuit of discovering knowledge, and without question in my mind are the icons of this culinary age of knowledge producers. As a knowledge consumer of the flavor wisdom, patterns, and techniques coming of El Bulli, I'm more than a little overwhelmed by the intricacy of the recipes; really in reading this tome, the recipes are almost a distraction from the book's apparent main objective: providing a treatise on how to best pursue culinary perfection.

It is exhausting to witness a day at El Bulli, the creative process, the symphony in the kitchen, the dialogue between the chefs and the customers. But mostly, the book is an inspiration, the format by Phaidon is gorgeous, methodical, completely absorbing. The content is insightful, obsessive in its detail on what it really takes to create and maintain an El Bulli, day in and day out. While other sites have quoted El Bulli by the numbers, the points that stood out to me the most were as follows:

• For 50 guests a night, there are 1500 dishes served by 40 chefs


• Annually, 5000 chefs apply to be part of the El Bulli crew


• At the end of the evening, 4 staff members wash 2500 pieces of dishware, cookware, and cutlery


• All 40 chefs participate in the cleanup, and hauling of the trash offsite


• El Bulli is too remote to have gas lines, so all cooking is performed with electric equipment


• During the 160 days of service, El Bulli devotes 9 hours a day toward the creation of new dishes, on top of the 6 months of dedicated time devoted in the off season; all this work is documented in notebooks, complete with pictures

Two final thoughts in my, admittedly, cursory evaluation of a Day at El Bulli:

• El Bulli works to impart an experience to the diner, via not only the 5 senses, but intentionally working on a 6th sense, an intellectual recognition of the chef's intent or the diner's lifes experiences, be it irony, a wink to something in their past, a prodding to make one experience something familiar very differently or in a completely new context


• A Day at El Bulli is historical both in the acute scope of the book devoting itself to such a small moment in the culinary history of this landmark restaurant, but also in the level of insight it reveals of the inner workings of El Bulli, the code of Ferran Adria (worthy of a post unto itself), its dichomatic sense of history and devotion to the future of gastronomy.

As influential as Ferran Adria already is, the fervor of all things El Bulli will eventually fade from the short-term memories of comtemporary food enthusiasts, but this book may well be studied by gourmands and culinary students for decades to come.

Bacon Crusted Garlic Pork Roulade with Pomegranate Reduction Infused with Lavender

Couldn't remember the last time I made a roulade, so what the heck, kind of an Autumn dish.


After fabricating a pork tenderloin roast into a 1" sheet, this was coated in olive oil, very lightly dusted with cumin and coriander, lightly sprinkled with thyme, rosemary, sage, sea salt and black pepper, then liberally covered in garlic & goat cheese, rolled, and wrapped in uncured bacon, and finally rolled and tied. The roulade was then roasted in a 450F oven for 40 minutes, turning 4 times (complete rotation), and subsequently glazed with a 2/3 reduction of pomegranate juice that was lightly sweetend with brown sugar and combined with a 1/10 portion of cider vinegar. The oven was reduced to 350F and the roasting continue for 35 minutes until an internal temperature of 145-150 is reached throughout. The pomegranate reduction was combined with 1/4 cup of water that had been infused with lavendar, obtained by microwaving the water to boiling and steeping the lavendar for 5 minutes. After a 10 minute rest, the roulade was carved and the 1 1/2" thick portions were finished with the sauce.

The sweet floral aroma of the sauce was enticing, the pomegranate and bacon really played well together, the pork was plesantly austere (good and garlicly) with herbal and earthy notes. The goat cheese evened it all out and helped tame the garlic.

Fig & Marscapone Ravioli in Prosciutto Brodo

The idea for prosciutto broth came from the pantry section of the A16 cookbook, but the brilliance of this dish was one part experience and two parts inspiration from the Flavor Bible. Wow, just an amazing dish that really dances all over the savory / sweet distinction.

I grabbed my two little sous chefs and headed to the truffle to get a couple prosciutto hocks. While a prosciutto ham from Parma usually goes for about $30 a pound, the hocks go for about $6 a pound. These are perfect as the base for a very enjoyable broth. Two pounds of hocks were added to 6 quarts of water, brought to a boil, and simmered for 4 hours, while skimming periodically. The simmering left the house with an intoxicating aroma.


The yield from the broth was about 3.5 quarts. I reserved 2 quarts for other applications, and finished the rest with the juice of 1 1/2 lemons and 3 teaspoons of dijon mustard (kudos to the Flavor Bible on the flavor pairings).

The ravioli was made from scratch with 3/4 cup powdered Parmigiano Reggiano, several twists of the peppermill, 2 cups red grain wheat flour (high in gluten), and 3 organic brown eggs. This was combined, kneaded, and then pressed into pasta on the #5 setting of the pasta maker. The filing was equal parts fig preserves and marscapone. The ravioli was cut with a 2" cylidrical cutter. The pasta was cooked in covered boiling water for 6 minutes, then strained and added to individual servings of the brodo. The dish was finished with a medium chop of fresh organic arugula.


Some new flavors, very Italian and seemingly rustic, but with provactively crisp and refined flavors. My tongue was in ecstasy, the dish was nothing short of a rapture for the tastebuds.

Short Rib Genovese & Lardo sul crostini

After thumbing through the A16 cookbook, came across an idea for short ribs that sounded great: Short Rib Geneovese. The preparation involved taking 2 lbs of short ribs, coating these in flour, browning all sides in 1/3 cup of olive oil, then incorporating a fine dice of 3 red onions, 2 carrots, and 2 stalks of celery. Six sprigs of rosemary, a cup of red wine, two dashes of red wine vinegar, a teaspoon of peppercorns, and a healthy dash of kosher salt were added and cooked covered in a 250F oven for 75 minutes.

Accompanying this was Lardo on crostini which I obtained from the truffle. With a fresh baked baguette in hand, I sliced this on a bias about 1/4" thick, sprayed both sides with olive oil, topped with a couple translucently thin pieces of garlic and popped them in the oven for 15 minutes at 375F. The lardo was then added to the top and the crostini were finished under the broiler for 3 minutes until the lardo had curled and the crust became golden brown. This was then finished with a few drops of Gichi Primolio Olive Oil.


The short ribs were predictably good, A16 is a tremendous restaurant that has produced a wonderful cookbook. The lardo was spectacular, berkshire pigs are so different from the run of the mill pork from the megamarts. From a presentation standpoint, the one thing I'd change would be to stretch the lardo over the top of the crostini rather than just topping it. I think this would have caused the lardo the grab onto the crostini in a thin layer. The garlic was perfect with lardo, and coupled with the Primolio, it's a good thing for my heart that I only got six thin slices of lardo, seriously I could have eaten this all night. A perfect small plate in a gourmet Italian tasting menu.

The meal was complimented with Foppiano Lot 96, an agreeable melange of Granache, Petit Sirah, and Zinfandel I'm guessing.

New Faucet

Just love the fact that I can fit my 12 quart stock pot under this beast. My wife actually likes it, but concedes that the kitchen is beginning to take on a commercial restaurant feel ... not that there's anything wrong with that. I told her that if we strike it rich someday, she can relegate me to the catering kitchen, I'm all substance over style dontchaknow.

Steak au Poivre

Had the opportunity to get a couple large 100% grass fed sirloins at Whole Foods today, and since I spent the afternoon working on our sink and kitchen faucet, went for a quick but flavorful approach. The classic steak au poivre, or pepper steak seemed to fit the bill.



The preparation involved 1/4 cup of green mysore peppercorns, 2 tablespoons tellicherry peppercorns, 2 tablespoons white peppercorns, all run through the mortar & pestle and packed onto the top and bottom of the steaks. To a large saute pan, 1 Tbsp of unsalted butter and a splash of grapeseed oil were brought up to medium high heat, the steaks were added and the pan was covered for 4 minutes. This helped to crust the steaks, which were then flipped and the pan recovered for another 4 minutes. I reserved the steaks, then made a pan sauce. I added 3 minced shallots, a dash of salt, a couple splashes of cheap brandy, and a 1/2 cup of port. This was simmered, then after killing the flame, I added another splash of brandy and lit the fumes. The steaks were returned to pan and covered over medium-low heat for another 4 minutes. The steaks were then finished under the broiler (these were 2"+ steaks) for 3 minutes. To the pan I added a healthy dose of heavy cream, briefly deglazed and then this sauce was used to finish the steaks.

Eggs wtih Green Chili and White Cheddar Bacon Biscuits

For Sunday brunch this week I grabbed some very hot pork green chili from Santiago's (the chili place that burns your face), fried up some eggs in grapeseed oil, and enlisted my little sous chefs to make biscuits.



The biscuits used the same recipe as last time, but incorporated 1/2 lb of Vermont white cheddar and 8 strips of crunchy leftover bacon, small dice. The cooking time was increased to 18 minutes, with the last 2 minutes under the broiler.

Kudos to Chef Sean Brock - The Next Great Chef

I'm late in posting about the Food Network competition, but as a devotee to the Ping Island Strike blog, a tip of the hat is due to Chef Sean Brock.

I tivo'd the episode of challenge covering the competition and watched it later that same day. The producers did a good job of creating a dramatic atmosphere, but Sean's passion and talent was completely evident even if it was occasionally lost on the judges.

Cred also goes to John Besh for keeping the Food Netork Challenge judges focused on the task at hand, identifying the next great chef, a distinction which is apparent and deservingly awarded to Sean Brock.

Best Pizza in Denver - Bonnie Brae Tavern

Bonnie Brae Tavern has been around since University Boulevard was a dirt road.


They've had a long time to get it right and there's nothing better in Denver than the #5 Pizza at Bonnie Brae. If you've never been, you might think it to be a dive. Looking at the eerily vinyl-clad booths, I'd probably have the same opinion on my first visit. But once you've eaten their pizza, well, you just think the vinyl is part of the charm, so changing it would be some uppity move to capitalize on Bonnie Brae's success. No, instead, it's just Bonnie Brae tavern, nearly indistinguishable from the Bonnie Brae I came to love from the age of 4. After 33 years of dining at Bonnie Brae tavern, almost exclusively upon the #5, it's time to give the crew a nod for doing something not only good from a food standpoint, but really something historical at this point. The pizza at Bonnie Brae is part of what I know Denver to be.

You want a good pizza in Denver, Bonnie Brae is the place. The crust is the product of 74 years in the biz. Are there other good pizzas in Denver, sure, but I don't know of any other place on the planet where the pizza is good enough that I'd buy a second one to eat cold; it's just as good, if not better in some crazy way. Bonnie Brae tavern has long since earned a permanent spot on the list for me.

Runner up for Best Pizza in Denver: Aurelio's

Campanelle (trumpet pasta) in Beef Broth with Marjoram

For me, Pasta en brodo or Pasta in Broth was a revelation. As a bachelor in my early 30s, my love of Italian food and the healthy but flavorful promise of the Mediterranean diet had me eating pasta 3-4 times a week, so discovering the culinary tradition of putting pasta into a consomme was a welcome digression from the typical rhythm of sauces, oils and pestos.

For this preparation I took an idea I found at Cafe Juanita in Seattle with a dramatic nod to the Japanese preparation of shabu shabu. The basic idea is to take a good piece of beef and cook it quickly in a broth (shabu shabu uses a dashi broth). Herein I used an organic grass fed sirloin roast that I pulverized with my cleaver and 10" chef's knife into tiny little nuncheons. These were added late to very hot broth that had been been reduced by half while being impregnated with the essence of fresh Marjoram leaves via a spice ball.



The pasta was separately par cooked to just before al dente consistency in heavily salted water using coarse sea salt and plenty of water. The pasta will finish cooking in the hot broth that will also cook the shreds of sirloin. The relevant flavor pairings are thus: marjoram and beef are great together; if you intend to emphasize the beefiness of beef, the sirloin cut and the grass-fed origin are quintessential.

Pork Roast with Pineapple & Star Anise, Quick Pickled Fava Beans, Spaghetti Squash with Cilantro and Cinnamon

As my best friend would say, I tend to be particular and easily bored, but hopefully that results in a healthy unrest toward some level of innovation, either personal or real. I'll go with that rationale to explain these flavor pairings. The most ambitious flavor pairing, or the one where I was on a high wire without a net, was spaghetti squash with cilantro and cinnamon. This came of just a passing fancy on what could happen with an extension to the strong pairing of coriander & cinnamon by using fresh cilantro. I had a heuristic inkling that cinnamon, squash, and cilantro would just work as a flavor harmony. The safest pairing was pineapple and pork; herein I looked to The Flavor Bible once again for inspiration, which caused me to look no further than the hardbound cover to see that star anise and pineapple worked really well together. Pickling fava beans? Ok, that's just weird, but I think the inspiration for this came of incredulously limited discovery, so maybe pickling was overshooting but so rare is the opportunity to work with these that I had to try something different.

Please indulge me in quick digression. Fava beans are a painful enigma, nutritionally interesting, of culinary significance, a scarce commodity seldom seen by many of us, and a pain in the ass to prep.



On this last point, notice the high waste to yield in the pictures above. You simply have to preoccupy yourself with something else; I was so desperate in this regard that I watched 15 minutes of the Edmonton vs Carolina hockey game; although I'm a devout hockey fan, this was the equivalent of watching paint drying but nonetheless solace from the mise en place task at hand.



After shelling and peeling the fava beans, I prepared a quick pickling liquid by combining 2/3 cup apple cidar vinegar, 2/3 cup water, 2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon of kosher salt, and 1 1/2 tablespoons of brown sugar. This was brought to a boil and then strained and poured over the shelled fava beans (enough to fully cover). The fava beans steeped for 20 minutes in a metal bowl until coming to near room temperature.

The pork sirloin roast was braised with slices from a fresh pineapple, 4 star anise seeds, a healthy dose of black pepper, and a couple splashes of triple sec plus a cup of water. This braised for 30 minutes at 350F, to which I then added 3 red onions diced, and 2 green peppers minced, which was all tossed in olive oil to facilitate disproportionate heating (the oil carries the heat better than the water). The idea was to primarily perfume the meat with the pineapple and anise, and then use the onion and green pepper as background aromatics. This also helped yield a thin sauce that bridged all the flavor elements.

The spaghetti squash is very simple to prepare. Split a spaghetti squash with a cleaver, clean out the seeds and inards with a spoon and then roast these open half down on a cookie sheet with a 1/2 cup of water to keep the humidity in the oven up (I also added a few dashes of cardamon to the wate to perfume the squash). After 45 minutes at 350F, flip and replenish the water; continue roasting for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and use a fork to tear out the shreds of squash spaghetti, then toss with 2 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon Sri Lankan Acacia cinnamon, and 1 tablespoon of minced cilantro. Season with kosher salt to taste.

The squash was very successful, a great flavor pairing and a successful experiment, all the familial diners really liked the squash; you've got the texture right if the strands are texturally similar to al dente pasta. The fava beans were very interesting and lept from all plates to the mouth. The pork was familiar but beguilingly new, apparently the anise made the difference, kudos to The Flavor Bible once again.