God Help You Green Chile

Brought home some excellent pork from a whole hog roast party at our friends' house, and then the next morning ran across some Hungarian Wax Chilis that were pretty nasty hot. After making the chili, we enjoyed a late night snack. We had some artisan tortillas we also grabbed from the farmers market, so we rolled up some of the pork, coated with the God Help You hot green chili, and a few crumbles of good quality american cheese (not the processes stuff). Killer burrito, the chile was nearing absurdly hot on its own, but hugging that amazing pork it took on a deeply satisfying flavor.

Chile ingredients:

1 Tbsp Epazote
1 1/2 Tbsp Mexican Oregano
1 lb fire roasted Hungarian Wax Chilis (5000-15000 scoville)
2 lbs Anaheim Chilis
1/2 lb Poblano Chilis
3-4 quarts water
1 Tbsp Xanthan Gum
5 cups chopped white onion
8 cloves garlic, smashed & chopped
32 oz can fire roasted tomatoes
3 tablespoons annatto oil
salt TT

Started with the hungarian wax chiles (which are about 3x hotter than jalepenos), the onions, and water and brought this to a boil with a little salt for about an hour. I used the stick blender about 15 minutes into the process and fumagated the house so completely with capsaicin that everyone but me evacuated ... in circumstances like this, it is very important to know that capsaicin is only fat and alcohol soluble. After an uncontrollable coughing fit and a few rounds of sinus clearing, a cold beer and a piece of cheese eased the pain (a little). Really, just smelling this stuff constricted my airways and left an irritating resin in my nasal passage and throat. I got a small glimpse of what pepper spray must feel like.



After the first hour, I added the anaheims (raw, chopped), the poblanos, and the garlic. Next I added the annatto oil (made by steeping annatto seeds in olive oil for about 10 minutes on medium-low heat). The annatto gave the mixture a golden hue and a little earthiness. I gradually added the epazote and oregano tasting progressively after 5 minutes of incorporation each time. I wanted to have a little mint note in the background from the epazote, and temper this with the oregano in the foreground (which was easier said than done as the chile was wicked spicy). Finally I added the tomatoes and let the whole mess simmer for another 2 hours, allowing it to reduce by half. I blitzed everything with the immersion blender and then thickened the still liquid mixture with Xanthan once the right flavor concentration was achieved.

This was my first attempt at cooking with hungarian wax chilis, and while they don't have the forward flavor of poblanos, jalepenos, or habeneros, they give off a lot of heat and work well in combination with other Mexican flavors. Sure these are nowhere near the heat of an habanero, but they are eventually much nastier than serranos, the heat attack is late but very persistent. The xanthan was an excellent thickener, but make sure to use an immersion blender to incorporate evenly; thickening happens quickly, and clumping was easily remedied by the blender. I personally enjoyed it on its own, but this is not for the intermediate capsaicin enthusiast ... as my wife remarked "this is so hot it's just silly", so if you too attempt to eat it on its own, God Help You and have cold beer or glass of milk at the ready.



 

Flat Iron Steak Braised in Cassis, Port, Thyme, and Roasted Garlic

So this was a half hearted attempt at doing something different with a cheap cut of meat. Flat Iron steaks are not of the quality of ribeyes, filets, or in my opinion, even sirloins. But they are designed to be more tender than what shoulder meat is typically thought to be (though not free of collagen-rich connective tissue). So the thinking was really low heat braising would be a good way to go. On that note, I think the dish was successful, the concept that is. However, the dish failed on at least two practical fronts.

The first main reason for failure was the savory flavor of the meat was robust enough that something was just off, clashing if you will with the braising liquid. I seared the steak for about 1 minute a side in olive oil, applied kosher salt and fresh black pepper, and added port, cassis, french thyme and a head of garlic. I think the critical error here was putting the head of garlic in raw, rather than roasting it first. Roasted garlic has a sweetness that pairs well with other caramelized fruit sugars, and I believe should have worked with the port / cassis. The garlic was really great, but the roasted garlic flavor was entirely absent from the steak, instead it was just aggressively garlicly which did not work. I think the thyme was a distraction here as well, maybe adding fresh thyme at the end would have worked, but adding dried thyme at the beginning seemed to help the garlic to fight with the sweetness of the fruity braising liquids.

The second reason for failure was my oven and my neglect of precision; you need some precision to do low temperature braising. The process was 30 minutes at 250F, 30 minutes at 200F, and 60 minutes at 150F. I added a half a cup of water after each of the first 30 minute intervals, which should probably have been sufficient to keep the internal temperature of the meat near 150F. The concept was to avoid cooking past medium doneness while maintaining a sufficiently high temperature to break down the collagen that gives meat its toughness. More specifically, the goal was to keep the meat temperature between 151F and 170F, but as I was juggling 7 dishes at the time, and I neglected to use a temperature probe thermometer to obtain the needed precision. I'll need to determine how calibrated this oven is at various stated cooking temperatures, as I think it's running hotter than I specified.

The motivation for this approach came of a passage I read in Molecular Gastronomy by Hervé This ...

At 40C (104F) meat becomes opaque because the protins in it, initially folded into a ball, begin to unfold before they coagulate (thus becoming denatured); at 50C (122F) the muscle fibers begin to contract; at 55C (131F) the fibrillar part of myosin (a protein that, along with actin, is essential for muscle contraction) coagulates, and collagen (a protein that gives meats their toughness) beings to dissolve; at 66C (151F) various other proteins coagulate; at 70C (158F) myoglobin no longer fixes oxygen, causing the inside of meat to turn pink; at 79C (174F) actin coagulates; at 80C (176F) the cell walls are ruptured and the meat becomes gray; at 100C (212F) water evaporates; and at temperatures higher than 150C (302F) so-called Maillard (and other) reactions produce brown and flavorful results. - p.169 in Molecular Gastronomy



The results were gray meat, and a tougher texture than the sweet spot I was seeking would have yielded. I think the technique has some promise though, and is similar in concept to sous vide, but lacking the high degree of precision possible with an immersion circulator. I'll have to revisit this approach after figuring out how accurate my ovens are.

You might be asking why blog about the failures? Well I believe to some extent (and this is a gross over simplification), we learn through either disciplined indoctrination of what is produced by knowledge creators (experts), or through experience in our own experimentation which often involves failures. While most people don't have a high precision sous vide cooking mechanism, I'm hoping to maybe find similar results that are accesible to anyone with a pot, a thermometer, and some very fundamental technique. To paraphrase Hervé This, good food comes of love, art, and a technial element (technique).

 

Hydrocolloid Densities

Martin over at blog.khymos.org has put together a revised collection of information on hydrocolloids. It is a fantastic resource that keeps getting better. One thing he's trying to do is gather up densities for various elements used to create hydrocolloids (suspensions, gels, spherification), so as to allow more people to experiment with molecular gastronomy techniques through volumetric measurement (most people don't have high precision scales sitting around, so being able to use a teaspoon improves convenience).

Anyway, I wanted to contribute to this effort so took an hour to weigh some of the chemicals in my pantry. I used a 50g limit scale with 0.01g accuracy, and a childrens plastic medicine cup for the container. I've also noted the texture / consistency of each material, as it seems some will have greater variation than others when volumetrically measured (when I say sticky below, the substance tends to cling to the container's outside a bit, I brushed this off). I followed the steps to measure outlined on blog.khymos.org. These densities are meant to supplement Martins document here, specifically the table on page 60 in the appendix. If you happen to have some sodium alginate laying around the house, please take 10 minutes to weigh it as outlined, and help demystify these techniques for other would-be molecular cuisine people out there.

Sample container empty weight 2.66g
Sample container filled with water 29.12g
Inferred volume of sample container 26.46 ml

Sodium Citrate samples (gross) - 31.33g, 31.21g, 31.36g
average net sample weight - 28.67g
inferred density - 1.08352 g / ml
notes: not sticky, evenly sized crystals
brand: willpowder.net

Calcium Lactate samples (gross) - 20.92g, 20.82g, 20.93g
average net sample weight - 18.23g
inferred density - 0.68896 g / ml
notes: sticky, powder that when agitated is dusty
brand: willpowder.net

Calcium Chloride samples - 23.82g, 23.87g, 24.01g, 23.95g
average net sample weight - 21.2525g
inferred density - 0.803193 g / ml
notes: very uneven spherical granules, some stickiness
brand: willpowder.net

Calcium Lactate Gluconate samples - 17.90g, 18.07g, 17.88g
average net sample weight - 15.29g
inferred density - 0.577853 g / ml
notes: sticky and easily compacted powder, dusty when agitated
brand: willpowder.net

Guar Gum samples - 18.69g, 18.80g, 18.66g
average net sample weight - 16.056667
inferred density - 0.60683 g / ml
notes: very fine powder, not sticky
brand: bulk (vitamin cottage)


 

New Books

Should be receiving a few good ones tomorrow, including:

• The Man Who Ate Everything by Jeffrey Steingarten


• Molecular Gastronomy by Hervé This


• Kitchen Mysteries by Hervé This


• The Oxford Companion to Italian Food
  

Can't wait to dig into the works of Hervé This, a man who can correctly be called a molecular gastronomist, and who says the work of Ferran Adria and others is Molecular Cuisine. Steingarten's book will certainly have a few sharp witted laughs in it.

I've also preordered the following:

• The Flavor Bible by the amazing authors of Culinary Artistry and due out in September


• A Day at El Bulli by Ferran Adria and due out in October


• Alinea by Grant Achatz and due out in November

Should keep me busy for a while absorbing such diversity of culinary talent.

 

Molecular Gastronomy News Feed

For the food science geeks in the room, check out the right side of the page and notice the new links to various blogs that pay strong attention to molecular gastronomy, under the heading "molecular gastronomy news". This will be updated on an ongoing basis with new sources. So if I can't always satiate your experiential cuisine cravings, I hope this will help tide you over. Here is the link if you want to get the RSS / Atom feed, and here is a URL if you want to bookmark the feed for web viewing.

 

Pont-l'Évêque w/ Walnut Consommé Curd & Toasted Walnuts

Ok, this one is really out there. As a consequence of making the Walnut Crema, after poaching a couple cups of walnuts in salted water, I was left with a surprisingly nice walnut broth. I saved this for a couple days, clarified it by straining through a chinois, and then set about coming up with something to do with it.

I settle on a curd by combining the walnut consommé with a 10% (by weight) dose of heavy cream, a couple splashes of sherry vinegar, added 1% (by weight) of mono-calcium phospate, then heating this to 160F. I then poured this into blender, got a vortex going on medium high, then added 2% (by weight) of Low-Methoxyl Pectin (LM Pectin). I let the blender go on high for about 6-7 minutes, then poured the mixture into a small sheet pan that was lined with a silicone pad (smooth side up). I let this rest at room temperature for 20 minutes, then refrigerated overnight to set.

I love Pont-l'Évêque cheese from the Normandy region of France, and decided to pair this with the curd and some toasted walnuts for texture and different nutty note. The curd on it's own was not that palatable, interesting but intense. When eaten together, the walnuts, curd and Pont-l'Évêqu were really good. I'd call this experiment a qualified success, though my friend who sampled the curd called it "Flabby Salt" (ouch).



I think the ides of the walnut consommé deserves a more focused attempt rather than the leftover preparation herein, but still this was a fun first attempt at a curd from something quite different. The magic here is the use of a pectin that can tolerate low-acidic environments and still produce a gel. I have to say that LM Pectin will be making future appearances in my cooking. Kudos to Ideas in Food for the help on the %'s.

 

Sesame & Coriander Crusted Tuna w/ Strawberry Cilantro Gelée

This is a recipe inspired by the August Royal Foodie Joust over at The Leftover Queen. The challenge this month is to create a dish with the following ingredients: Seafood, Cilantro (coriander), and Sesame.

My approach was to accent a familiar flavor combination, like tuna and wasabe, with some contrasting textures and complementary flavors that might be unfamiliar to some. Specifically, I wanted to bring out the nuttiness and crunchy texture of sesame, and contrast that with a savory application of strawberries by marrying this with cilantro in a soft textural element. This is a small plate preparation designed as a early course in a larger meal, but you could increase the tuna portion and make this an entrée.



- 1 tuna steak, good quality maguro is best
- 1/4 cup white sesame seeds
- 1/8 cup black sesame seeds
- 1 tsp coriander powder
- kosher salt TT
- 2 tsp wasabe powder, rehydrated
- 1 lb very ripe strawberries
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 1 lime
- 7.5 grams gelatin

Finely chop 1/2 of a bunch of cilantro leaves, carefully removing stems (about 1/4 cup). Clean and destem the strawberries, then blend to liquify for 1-2 minutes. Pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer or chinois (recommended) to extract just the strawberry juice. Take 750 ml of the strawberry juice and combine with the fresh juice of 1 lime. Bring the mixture to a bare boil and whisk in 1 packet of unflavored gelatin (7.5 grams). Remove from heat and continue to whisk until the gelatin is fully incorporated. Combine the chopped cilantro and incorporate evenly. Pour the mixture into a small square plastic container (approximately 5" x 5"), and allow to set in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Toast a 1/4 cup of white sesame seeds in a medium hot non-stick skillet for 3-4 minutes, tossing frequently, until a light golden brown color begins to take shape. Reserve the toasted white sesame seeds. Toast a teaspoon of coriander powder in the skillet for about 30 seconds, smoke will start to form quickly so agitate the pan but give it 30 seconds. Toss the white sesame seeds with about half as many black sesame seeds and the toasted coriander to form an even mixture and then spread these on a large plate in an even layer.

Take a tuna steak that is about 1 1/2 - 2" thick, and cut cylindrical shapes out of it. Gently salt the tuna with kosher salt, just a little. Prepare a paste of wasabe, and coat the tuna cylinders completely with a thin coating; in this case I used 100% pure wasabe, sans horseradish, as it has a softer burn and almost fruity sweet flavor, a personal preference kind of like choosing good mustard over the yellow stuff. Then role the tuna in the sesame and coriander to cover completely.

In a small sloped saute pan, bring 3 tablespoons grapeseed oil to medium high heat. Place the tuna cylinders upright to begin searing. At the same time, tilt the pan toward you and using a small spoon, bathe the tuna in the grapeseed oil for about 90 seconds. Turn the tuna once and repeat the bathing for another 60 seconds.

Plate the tuna on the center of a small plate, a coffee cup saucer is perfect. Cut 2 circular portions of the strawberry cilantro gelée and place these slightly offset and overlapping from the center of the tuna.

The flavor of the strawberry and cilantro plays well with the sesame, tuna and wasabe with a toasted coriander note in the background. The textural contrast of the crisp crust, semi-firm meat of the rare tuna, and soft gelée was very enjoyable.

For the food science geeks out there, the strawberry / cilantro pairing is based on research from Khymos, and the gelée used a 1% concentration of gelatin.

 

The Magic of Ferran Adria & El Bulli

Ferran Adria is a magician with flavor & texture. Whether you want to call this molecular gastronomy, experiential cuisine, or the new cookery it's hard to refute the level of research, innovation, and technique the goes into Ferran Adria's magic.

Here is a clip from Decoding Ferran Adria wherein Anthony Bourdain enjoys one of the master chef's 32 course menus (yes 32 courses).



The pea ravioli was created with a technique called spherification which utilizes sodium alginate mixed with a food essence, that is then gently dropped into a bath of calcium chloride. This causes a thin membrane to form that encapsulates the essence, which when bitten into has the structural effect of caviar as the flavor essence bursts open.

Here is a clip demonstrating this technique to make fruit caviar.



To really understand Ferran Adria's magic, you have to start with understanding his philosophy.

Maybe someday we'll fully understand Ferran Adria's code.

Here's one more clip with Bourdain eating with Ferran Adria at El Bulli.



Like anyone who tries to change something, there are critics. But the magic of Adria will not be quashed by these, more likely it will unleash a new generation of innovators.


 

Grilled Banana Scallops w/ Maytag Blue Cheese & Guava Gelee

The Great Cooks Community has a challenge running on grilled fruit for dessert. If you have a second, please take time to join the community and vote for me (pretty please with maytag blue cheese on top?). I decided on a semi-savory but very fruity and sweet approach. I had already been researching some unusual flavor pairings with Guava and then ran across the announcement of the challenge, so decided to jump in with something that might take people back a bit.



The logic behind this dish is that banana, rum, guava, and (believe it or not) blue cheese share several common volatile flavor components that make them blend together somewhat magically. Certainly there is precedent for guava and banana pairing, but I decided to push the envelope a bit with the rum and blue cheese. The rum didn't seem like too far of a stretch from bananas foster, so I added a bridge element of brown sugar (which I use in my bananas foster preparation anyway). The blue cheese I knew would be austere, so I decided to sandwich that between the banana and the guava, with the idea that you'd spear these from the top and eat banana first, then blue cheese, then finish with the guava.

Here is the preparation (per person):

1 ripe banana, cut into 4 scallops (ok a little taller than a scallop), discarding the tips
¼ cup guava gelee
4 1”x1” slices of Maytag blue cheese (avoid stilton, fourme d'Ambert, etc, these are too musty for this)
½ cup spiced rum
brown sugar to barely coat the banana

For the guava gelee, use a non-concentrated pasteurized guava juice (which will be slightly blended with pear or apple juice), along with a ~0.9% mix of gelatin by weight: I used 300 ml guava juice & 3g of gelatin. Bring the juice to 180-200F then whisk in the gelatin. Let sit overnight in the fridge. Agitate before serving, you're going for a consistency that is thinner than jello, slightly thicker than jelly (though the heat of the bananas will melt this a bit, so work quickly and carefully when plating).

Macerate the banana scallop in the rum in a little bowl for about 2-4 minutes, you don't need much time to impart flavor, and too much time with leave the bananas as mush. Pull the scallops from the rum and coat gently with brown sugar, no clumps just a nice even coat that melds with the rum on the surface. On a 500F grill that is coated with a high temperature cooking spray (like PAM with Palm oil), place the bananas on their ends, then rotate 90 degrees every 30 seconds, and finally rotate to the back and front (leaving the grill open the whole time). We're going for a quick caramelization here that leaves some pretty grill marks. Remove from the heat after no more than 3-4 minutes.

I have to say that I love this, and I'm not a big dessert guy, mostly because I avoid the cloyingly sweet stuff. This experiment has me thinking I might be on to something with my research on flavor combinations, please let me know what you think if you're bold enough to try it!

 

Hickory Smoked Pork Chops w/ Rose Air

This combination was inspired some research into volatile flavor elements, and interestingly I found that smoked meat, bacon, and rose scents and flavors shared several volatiles. What this means is that somehow they will just work. In my time studying to become a sommelier, I learned that wine pairing fell into three methods:

1. Cook with the same wine you drink, almost will always work so long as the food itself likes wine


2. Complement the food with the wine, based on similar scents, body, or flavor


3. Contrast the food with the wine

Number 3 is the hardest to pull off for wine, you're ultimately still dependent upon some type of bridge element. In this recipe, I went down the path of #2 by finding multiple shared volatile compounds that affect aroma and flavor.

Really, I'm totally playing with my food here ... the dish should really be named “Ring around the Rosie Pork Chops”, as it started very floral and melded into a smokiness that reminded me of the children's rhyme (flowers to ashes, or something a little less morbid than the real meaning of the rhyme). I really enjoyed how unusual the floral rose flavor was, and the honey helped to further bridge the rose air with the pork.



For the pork chops, I put some hot charcoal into a metal bowl (outside in a fire safe place), then covered with hickory wood chips that had been soaking in water for one hour. Directly onto the wood chip I placed thin cut, boneless, center-cut pork chops and covered with aluminum foil for 10 minutes. I finished the chops by cleaning off the chips, then grilling for 2 minutes each side on a 400F grill.

Here is the rose air:

100g Rose Water
20g high quality raw honey
0.36g lecithin (0.3%)

It's essential that you follow the proportions with the lecithin, too much will result in a destabilized and oily foam. Heat the rose water and honey to combine, then add the lecithin and use an immersion blender in a small container (I used an old yogurt container). Tilt the liquid to one end to help with aeration. The airy foam will accumulate gradually, this is technically an air since it is mostly air.

While this is technically not a hydrocolloid, but I must give kudos to the hydrocolloid resources assembled by Martin over at Khymos which helped me achieve success here.



 

Molecular Gastronomy A Go-Go

Time for some spherification baby! Ok, so if you know what I'm talking about without clicking the link, you just gained +5 food geek points (not sure if you should be proud or not). Without worrying about what Molecular Gastronomy is or what the proper words are for expressing an appreciation of such (people argue at great length about all this), I'm getting more serious about this hobby and recently placed a pretty big order with Chef Goldfarb at Willpowder. I've been geeking out all day on various topics in this area and can't wait to do some more formal experimentation. My wife has sternly advised me not to blow up the house, so if you don't know what the heck I'm talking about stay tuned.

In the meantime, here's a new piece of equipment to help with my transformation into a



mad scientist, muuahahahahahahahahaha.



This little bad boy is obviously a scale, and yes I already have a scale. But this one is accurate to 1/100th of a gram, essential when you want to use a 0.26% concentration of Methylcellulose to make Wylie Dufresne's cream cheese noodles.

Don't get blinded by all the science just yet, a micro trend within this food science business is discerning workable flavor combinations, so really the point is to excite the senses and find things that taste, smell, and feel good going down the hatch. Who knew that white chocolate and caviar, pineapple and blue cheese, or strawberry and cilantro were all good flavor pairings?


 

Coconut Lime Vichyssoise

Summer is almost here in Denver, and a weekend in the 80s had us craving something cool. Most years we have a scant chance to enjoy spring between winter and summer as the snow usually yields to sunshine and dry weather without notice. This year's weather brought a lot more rain than we're used to here. While that's a total blessing, it felt more like Ohio than Colorado for a bit. But now everything is so green and I'm mowing the lawn, so that tells me summer is almost upon us.

Chilled soup is something seasonal that came to mind. For this experiment, I tried to slightly reimagine vichyssoise with the flavors of coconut and lime. I also thought about trying to reduce the starch and fat content while achieving the same texture and feel in the mouth. Vichyssoise is a classic French chilled soup with potatoes, leeks, cream, and chives. It's an inspiring dish, so inspiring that it's the first real food memory Anthony Bourdain had as a kid (he tells the story in his great book Kitchen Confidential). So going into this I was very uncertain about the outcome and thinking I'd be writing about a disaster today. Instead, I'll be telling you about my surprising success with using natural fruit pectin as a thickener, and how I integrated a savory coconut flavor component without using coconut milk. Bottom line, this soup has no cream and very few carbs. Here is the ingredients list:

4 green bell peppers
3 jalepenos
2-3 cups dried shredded unsweetened coconut
2 quarts chicken broth
4 limes
2 yukon gold potatoes
2 giant leeks (or 4 medium)
4 cloves garlic

By applying a little molecular gastronomy technique from a post I read on using the pectin in the skin of a tomato as a thickener, I was hoping to get the same effect that the cream and potato starch usually create in vichyssoise. This is where the green peppers come in; I chose regular bell peppers because they have a fairly neutral flavor when cooked for long periods of time. So my plan was to slowly simmer the soup to mellow the green pepper flavor and extract all of the pectin. I think the same thickening effect could be achieved by just very aggressively blending the peppers, but this approach alone would have changed the flavor profile of the soup.

I started out with a medium chop on the leeks and a small dice (1/4”) on the bell peppers. I added the skin of 3 jalepenos, finely diced, for a little background flavor with the lime and coconut. It should be noted that with both the bell peppers and jalapenos that the white veins on the inside of the skins were carefully removed. I sweated the mixture with a little olive oil for about 15 minutes, then added the chicken broth. I brought this to almost a boil and added the potatoes, coarsely diced, and then reduced to a bare simmer. At this point I added the garlic, finely minced, and placed 1 ½ cups of the coconut into a spice ball and submersed the ball. I let this simmer covered for 1 hour, added a little salt at this point, removed the spice ball and refilled it with coconut. The point of this was to get the essence of coconut to be pulled slowly from the dried coconut. The soup simmered covered for another hour, then I removed the ball, shut off the heat, and added the juice of 4 freshly squeezed limes. I let it cool for about 30 minutes and then blended briefly. The soup was then chilled for 1 hour with 2 plastic freezer packs submerged in it to assist with the cooling process.



While I think I can improve upon the flavor slightly, this was a very successful experiment as the texture was nearly identical to vichyssoise. The lime and coconut was yummy, and the coconut made the whole house smell great. My wife smelled it from the street as she came home from running errands. I think that point was key, the coconut flavor was moderate, but the smell was fabulous. I think next time I might use coconut water, something you can find in some Asian markets, and reduce it incorporating it at the end with the lime juice for a little more flavor, but I'd do this in addition to the steeping of the dry coconut. The leek flavor from the vichyssoise is an ensemble player here, and it melded well with the lime and coconut. I'm a believer in the power of fruit pectin after this, and humbly submit that this might be a fun and viable variation on the classic vichyssoise.

 

Reservation to El Bulli Available Now

So earlier this week I stumbled upon an auction on ebay where you can get a reservation for two to El Bulli which is reputedly the best restaurant in the world 3 years running, and home to arguably the most innovative chef on the planet, Ferran Adria. There is still time for you to bid, the auction is for a New Orleans based charity. Here is the ebay auction link. I put a bid in just in the hopes of then improving my future posture for potentially getting a reservation next year, although swinging the trip to Barcelona Spain on short notice would have been a stretch if I won the auction. At last look I was outbid and the reservation could be had for ~$230, an absolute steal if you are going to be in the vicinity of Spain as reservations are almost as hotly contested as super bowl tickets... generally, you have a 1 in 400 chance of getting a reservation in a given year, really. Happy bidding!


 

Chef's Manifesto from some of THE BEST Chefs in the World

In an effort to clarify what this crew is up to, and inspire the next generation of culinary professionals, Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller, & Harold McGee made a "Chefs Statement" that speaks to the principles, values, and techniques with which they attempt to give homage to and expand upon culinary tradition. I've only seen this on Heston Blumenthal's page at The Fat Duck site, and since it was in a flash format (thereby preventing me from directly linking to the content), I've decided to reprint it below in the hope that some young chef's read it. I take no credit for it's content, and am grateful for these great minds in the world of food for taking the time to give us a glimpse into their thinking. The original text can be found here under "Heston Blumenthal >> Chefs Statement". Although the fantastic four here are justifiably unwilling to be simply labeled under the tag "Molecular Gastronomy", I can think of only a few others (Herve This, Wylie Dufresne, Grant Achatz) who I'd put into my personal list of "who's who in molecular gastronomy", with a nod to the future of the up and coming Richard Blais from Bravo's Top Chef Chicago since he might be the most widely viewed example (in the U.S. anyway) of the potential for science in the preparation of great food.

Chefs Statement from Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller, Harold McGee


The world of food has changed a great deal in modern times. Change has come especially fast over the last decade. Along with many other developments, a new approach to cooking has emerged in restaurants around the globe, including our own. We feel that this approach has been widely misunderstood, both outside and inside our profession. Certain aspects of it are overemphasized and sensationalized, while others are ignored. We believe that this is an important time in the history of cooking, and wish to clarify the principles and thoughts that actually guide us. We hope that this statement will be useful to all people with an interest in food, but especially to our younger colleagues, the new generations of food professionals.

1. Three basic principles guide our cooking: excellence, openness, and integrity.

We are motivated above all by an aspiration to excellence. We wish to work with ingredients of the finest quality, and to realize the full potential of the food we choose to prepare, whether it is a single shot of espresso or a multicourse tasting menu.

We believe that today and in the future, a commitment to excellence requires openness to all resources that can help us give pleasure and meaning to people through the medium of food. In the past, cooks and their dishes were constrained by many factors: the limited availability of ingredients and ways of transforming them, limited understanding of cooking processes, and the necessarily narrow definitions and expectations embodied in local tradition. Today there are many fewer constraints, and tremendous potential for the progress of our craft. We can choose from the entire planet’s ingredients, cooking methods, and traditions, and draw on all of human knowledge, to explore what it is possible to do with food and the experience of eating. This is not a new idea, but a new opportunity. Nearly two centuries ago, Brillat-Savarin wrote that ‘the discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.”

Paramount in everything we do is integrity. Our beliefs and commitments are sincere and do not follow the latest trend.

2. Our cooking values tradition, builds on it, and along with tradition is part of the ongoing evolution of our craft .

The world’s culinary traditions are collective, cumulative inventions, a heritage created by hundreds of generations of cooks. Tradition is the base which all cooks who aspire to excellence must know and master. Our open approach builds on the best that tradition has to offer.

As with everything in life, our craft evolves, and has done so from the moment when man first realized the powers of fire. We embrace this natural process of evolution and aspire to influence it. We respect our rich history and at the same time attempt to play a small part in the history of tomorrow.

3. We embrace innovation—new ingredients, techniques, appliances, information, and ideas—whenever it can make a real contribution to our cooking.

We do not pursue novelty for its own sake. We may use modern thickeners, sugar substitutes, enzymes, liquid nitrogen, sous-vide, dehydration, and other nontraditional means, but these do not define our cooking. They are a few of the many tools that we are fortunate to have available as we strive to make delicious and stimulating dishes.

Similarly, the disciplines of food chemistry and food technology are valuable sources of information and ideas for all cooks. Even the most straightforward traditional preparation can be strengthened by an understanding of its ingredients and methods, and chemists have been helping cooks for hundreds of years. The fashionable term “molecular gastronomy” was introduced relatively recently, in 1992, to name a particular academic workshop for scientists and chefs on the basic food chemistry of traditional dishes. That workshop did not influence our approach, and the term “molecular gastronomy” does not describe our cooking, or indeed any style of cooking.

4. We believe that cooking can affect people in profound ways, and that a spirit of collaboration and sharing is essential to true progress in developing this potential.

The act of eating engages all the senses as well as the mind. Preparing and serving food could therefore be the most complex and comprehensive of the performing arts. To explore the full expressive potential of food and cooking, we collaborate with scientists, from food chemists to psychologists, with artisans and artists (from all walks of the performing arts), architects, designers, industrial engineers. We also believe in the importance of collaboration and generosity among cooks: a readiness to share ideas and information, together with full acknowledgment of those who invent new techniques and dishes.

Ferran Adria, Heston Blumenthal, Thomas Keller, Harold McGee

Should Iron Chef America Rotate Out the Weakest Chef?

The latest episode was "Iron Chef America - Battle Coffee", which paired Cat Cora against Ken Oringer who seems to be a prominent chef with 3 restaurants in the Boston area. After witnessing his finesse with layered flavors and molecular gastronomy techniques, I will most certainly have to visit one of Mr. Oringer's establishments.

So a couple of thoughts on this episode ... Within the first 15 minutes of cooking, I was really impressed with the base flavor pairings that Oringer was taking on, and I found myself strongly in the camp against Cora. After contemplating my emotion, I think by default I cheer against Cora because I think I can cook many of things she cooks, not boasting, just not very intrigued by her techniques and often not craving the courses she puts forth. My gut feel is that there's a bit of redundancy in her approach, like I swear I've seen her throw something on a brioche round with an egg and bacon a few times before, and I know I saw her do this in the last battle with the green eggs and ham. More generally, I think my default emotions are Pro Batali, Pro Morimoto, Very Pro Symon (probably because he's the new kid on the block ... oh and I sort of cook like him), on the fence with Flay each time (more negative when I see him whip up yet another Johnny Cake), and almost patently Con with Cora.

As I'm kibitzing with my wife on how I think she's about to get her ass kicked, we start talking about how cool it would be to see a "challenge test" where the show would forcibly rotate out the weakest chef each year by having a cookoff among say, the chefs with the three worst records for the season. It could be all in one day, like a 3 hour marathon with round robin (a food network special like the superbowl), and this time the guest judges wouldn't know who was presenting each course (i.e. blind tasting). If they really wanted to get bold, they could have the judges be the 2 chefs with the top record or point total for the season along with Jeffrey Steingarten (he's brutal, but he knows food inside and out). Granted, this sort of event would be a risk to the food network in that viewers loyal to the losing chef would likely be less likely to tune in, but it would be hard to argue if the losing chef got objectively stomped by his / her peers. On the upside, this would give food network the opportunity to concurrently add a new Iron Chef each season while maintaining 80% of the gauntlet of talent, and over time this would only further their influence on celebrity chefdom as they make or break a new crop of emerging and prominent chefs each year, thereby progressively exerting increasing influence on what "prominent chef" really means. Well given that the foodnetwork execs actually allowed McDonalds to sponsor one of their Iron Chef America battles last year (I kid you not), and there was even some commotion they were party to subliminal advertising for said insult to the culinary arts, I can't imagine this will happen, but it was a fun daydream anyway.

Back to the battle, so honestly I'll have to watch it again to figure out all the zany things that Oringer pulled off, but I was very surprised with how close the scoring was in the end. The key differentiator though, despite Oringer's utilization of molecular gastronomy, was taste as Oringer garnered a near perfect 29 of 30 points. We saw the same thing in the Cora battle with Alex Stupak, the molecular gastronomist made all these weird and amazing things, but still kicked ass on taste. I think this might mean there's a correlation with these people seeking out molecular gastronomy techniques and their broad spectrum understanding of taste, it's a new and semi-systematic approach that concentrates on new ways to present and concentrate flavor and texture, and to beguile the eater's assumptions about what something on a plate is and what it should or could be. In any case, with all the science that Cora's been blinded with so far this season, hopefully food network and Cora are taking note that molecular gastronomy can no longer be thought of as that science stuff, but as a very legitimate and significant trend in cooking. On Cora specifically, I think she might want to learn some new tricks, or maybe food network will just need to get her some easier opponents.

Savory Chocolate Parpadelle with Padano Carbonara & Tarragon Oil

So the lab coat came out on this one as promised, following up on a previous post on the experimentation on blog.khymos.org with the pairing of Parmesan and Chocolate. Martin's experiment was successful and I've been meaning to do something savory with chocolate for a while, so seemed like it was time for some gastronomic guesswork. I decided to take this in a little different direction, to make this a heartier main course and stay away from any potential dessert confusion. So, the plan was basically do a chocolate pasta, do a carbonara, seek out another complementary flavor to the chocolate / parmesan, and take a shot at the acid problem Martin mentioned.

On the last note, I did a little research on cocoa powder and found that the dutch style of processing uses alkali to reduce the acid in the cocoa bean, so I opted to keep that acid and use a naturally processed powder. Also, I decided to introduce an acid undertone to the carbonara with white balsamic vinegar. For the complementary flavor, I thought the licorice flavor in tarragon might be worth a shot, but as an accoutrement rather than as a primary flavor.

For the pasta dough, I used 2 1/2 cups of unbleached white flour, mixed 1/4 cup or so of the cocoa powder with the flour, and then dropped 6 eggs into the middle of the mound on my work table. I avoided olive oil at the suggestion of Martin. I worked the down by hand until it was no longer tacky, and then let it rest in the fridge for about an hour. I removed it and let it warm up for another 30 minutes. I then ran it through the pasta machine about twice as much as a typical pasta dough to help ensure consistency of texture and color. I sliced it at 1/4 to 3/8 inch thickness and then dried it for about 40 minutes.

The pasta was cooked in salted water for about 8-10 minutes due to the thickness of the noodles.

For the carbonara I heated a tablespoon of olive oil and added 6 thin slices of pancetta, coarsely chopped along with 2 thinly sliced cloves of garlic. When the pancetta was starting to crisp and the garlic is starting to brown, I added a few dashes of the white balsamic and briefly reduced. Next I added 1 Tbsp unsalted butter and 1 cup heavy cream. I then cracked 3 eggs and beat these briefly in a separate bowl. I added 1 1/2 cups grated Gran Padano to the eggs; this is like a young Parmesan Reggiano, less nuttiness with a slightly astringent and sharp note. Mix the cheese and egg mixture to an even consistency. Add this mixture to the pan with the cream, being careful to keep the cream below 140F initially. Stir and bring the sauce to about 160-165, being careful not to scramble the eggs. The trick here is to kill the bacteria in the eggs but not make EGGS as this will make the sauce inconsistent, ugly, and grainy on the palette. The acid from the balsamic should raise the "scramble point" such that you have a much larger window between dead bacteria and dead sauce.

For the tarragon oil, I just blended 1/4 extra virgin olive oil, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and 4 stalks of fresh tarragon.

Drain the pasta, cover the middle with the carbonara, and drip a few drops of the tarragon oil on top.

While this was an experiment, the results were really great. We ate it for dinner and we both loved it. The pasta has a coffee-like bitterness that balanced the richness of the sauce, and the occasional bite with tarragon in it added another flavor dimension which played nicely with the pancetta and sauce. Kudos to Martin for laying the groundwork and providing the inspiration on this one.

Cool Experiment Forthcoming

So Martin Lersch has cooked up a cool and unconventional experiment over at blog.khymos.org. Chocolate Tagliatelle with Parmesan Cream sounds like a nifty Italian-inspired molecular gastronomic treat. Savory chocolate dishes are not something I've played with, but they are something I've always had on my list to do. So in addition to the growing list of "recipes I want to try", I'll have to get out the lab coat and mess with this one. Thinking of adding a textural element to the cream, possibly finding a complementary protein element, and guessing at a solution to the need for acid he mentions.

On a related note, I simply have to pass along the very comprehensive list Martin put together on Hydrocolloid recipes; a ton of foams, cremas, gels, and the like can be found within this tome I was so happy to find. The recipe collection can be found here. I lack Martin's scientific Ph.D, but share his inquisitive nature in looking at new ways to make food. As Hervé This says (yes that's somebody's name, a very cool somebody in the world of molecular gastronomy), a good meal takes 3 things: love, art, and a technical component. I guess that leaves the door open for me to conduct some gastronomic guesswork.

Molecular Gastronomy / Micro Gastronomy

Another excerpt from my old food journal, this one on molecular gastronomy. Incidentally, the book that turned me onto this subject is "On Food and Cooking", which digs into the scientific underpinnings of numerous culinary techniques.

So this subject is an occasional curiosity for me, some samples of what this is all
about...

• Why Beer shouldn't come in clear bottles


• Beef can contain good fats


• The science of beating the tar out of egg whites


• Cooking with cooling hot water


• Food chemicals that can kill you


• Using fruit pectin as a foaming agent

Thanks to my friend Jeni for giving me Harold McGee's book and getting me
interested in the science of cooking, Thanks again Jeni!
http://books.google.com/books?id=iX05JaZXRz0C&dq=on+food+and+cooking&...

Mixed Grill via Sous Vide

so mixed grill is a cool italian thing where you basically grill up a few different meats and get nibbles from each (lots of different tastes), somewhat similar to what you see at a brazilian restaurant ... any way, it was snowing pretty hard and i got to the store to grocery shop early today ... so i took the inclement weather as an opportunity to play in the kitchen a bit ... the "innovation" test on "The Next Iron Chef" got me thinking about outside the box techniques a bit, so here's what I tackled...

• sous vide sirloin steak with shallots, tellicherry peppercorns, fine herbes & butter
  
• sous vide pork chops with pasilla peppers, ancho chile powder, fresh lime juice, & Himbeergeist (black forest raspberry brandy)
• sous vide filet mignon with garlic, pepper, & Oloroso (semi-sweet spanish sherry)
  

Sous vide (if you don't know) involves cooking at a low temperature in a water bath with all your ingredients in an air tight bag. In this case cooked everything for about 30 minutes at 160F, with the exception of the filet which only cooked for 20 minutes. A remote thermometer helped the task as getting the temperature just right is not easy (can't wait to get that vacuum sealer and immersion circulator someday). Filet was a perfect medium rare and the others
were medium. Finished everything in a pan with 1/3 butter 2/3 grapeseed oil at medium high heat, just to carmelize the exterior. Also finished the filet's sauce by reducing and adding cream, sort of a spanish take on steak au poivre.

Accompanied by a duo of potato, leek, & bacon soup and mushroom
parsley soup. CMS Hedges wine pairing. Hearty and yummy stuff for a snow storm.