I know you have had that burning desire to ask one simple question, one that would mystify even the highest of IQ’s. That one question would be…”what’s a spork?” I know you have seen this odd utencil, usually at a convienience store, between the self serve condiment stand and the slushy machine. An odd creation of plastic, it was designed to make our daily “meal on the go” less complicated. In your mind you ask, “do I need a fork, or spoon to eat that?” I imagine some guy asked himself that very same question and boom, the birth of the “spork.” I, being a product of the on the go generation have actually used them on several occassions. It served its purpose, but to me was actually quite annoying. My rule of thumb…if it is soup or cereal…pick the spoon. The choice is rather simple. I do however want to get your interest piqued, but don’t want to write a whole article on such a silly thing like that. I do however want to discuss other really cool inventions that might be used by the “modern day chef.” These “homme culinaire’s” or culinary men (and women) if you will are a force to be reckened with. We as a food oriented society won’t be satisfied with the every day tools sold in the super market. We have even turned away from the average restaurant supply company, and turned to more scientific applications and tools. If you remember your sauces 101 class from culinary school, a demi glace’ is the reduction of espagnole sauce and veal stock. The resultant sauce is a very small amount of concentrated flavor with a unique texture. The texture comes from as we all know the collegen, or bone marrow from the veal stock. It is extracted through the process of stock making which takes hours. Then, when you reduce that liquid further you get this wonderful liquid. The same holds true for anything else…time and patience and you have perfection. In getting back to my point, what would you do to deliver these labors of love and art in a different vehicle. Why not use a little science. If you have ever seen a bio or d.n.a. testing lab you might come across this funny little “turkey baister.” Actually is called a pipette, and it can be a great little tool to have. It can be used to deliver controlled “droplettes” to exact locations on the plate. It can also be used as a flavor injector at the table. Chef James George Sarkar, a graduate of the famed NY Restaurant school (my almamater) uses them at his restaurant “Venue.” Venue is in Hoboken NJ, and from what I have heard it is a must on your dining list.
The way they work is simple…you take the pipette, place the tip under your tongue and “shoot” the contents into your mouth. The result is amazing. Other tools of the trade are flavor injectors that look like hypodermic needles. These are more redily available and can be found in cooking supply stores. The idea…take a liquid and shoot up the turkey or beast of choice. I have used this to inject butter into a TG turkey, and it was a great success. Any liquid will do. A theory I am in the process of working on is this. Combine the liquid with gelatin, use the injector to make little droplettes on a parchment lined half sheet pan that has been frozen. If my idea works I will have little Gelee’s that will be “button’s of flavor.” They will have the texture of panna cotta, but can be applied to almost everything. All in all, there are many “tools” you get you hands on to achieve many unique results. It takes just a little creativity, patience and a willingness to think “outside the box.”
Today’s recipe is for a “Deconstructed” Surf & Turf. The idea is to take what you know, rip it apart and put it back together. It is a little “unorthodox” to some, but is riding the wave of the future. So get out your boogie board and hang ten.
4 good sized short ribs, bone-in.
1 cup mire poix (carrot, onion, clelery)
4 cups chicken or beef broth (canned is ok)
1/2 cup good red wine
2 or 3 T. flour
1/2 t. tomato paste
1 cup home made creamy clam chowder or lobster bisque, pureed in blender and strained well (keep liquid, discard solids)
Heat a roasting pan or fairly large oven safe pot (one with a cover) on the stove top. Add a little oil, and brown the seasoned shortribs on all sides really well. Remove from pot, add vegetable and brown them. Add tomato paste and cook several more minutes. Add flour and start to cook for the roux. Deglaze with the wine, and cook til almost dry. Add the ribs back in, add stock and cover. Place in a 350 oven for one hour, lower to 250 and cook until meat in almost falling off bone. Remove from pot, set aside and strain off liquid. Reserve for sauce, and excess for later use.
To serve. Fill each pipette with hot seafood broth. Place ribs, one on each plate in center, pour just a little of the jus from braising over each rib, and a little “painted” on plate. Lay the pipette onto the plate, resting the tip “upward” on top of each rib. Instruct your guests to take a bite of the rib, then “wash it down” with the ”soup.”
That’s all I have for today. Join me next time as we journey deeper into the world of extreme cuisine. Remember, it’s ok to play with your food.
There is a huge influx of new and innovative chef’ out there who’ kitchen look alot like a laboratory. They are praised as “avant-garde” using what some people think as “unorthodox” methods…they are taking the culinary world by storm. Armed with a keen intellect and a dead eye pallet these “mad scientists” are running head long into the frey with much acclaim. You might ask where it all began? The movement is called Molecular gastronomy and it goes far deeper than just flavor…it makes you “re-think” how we do things. The science of food has been going on since the very first guy discovered corn starch. Through trial and error we now know that it must be diluted in cold water, and will only activate if the said liquid for thickening is at a rapid boil. But, it goes even further than that. Herve’ This (pronounced Teess) wrote a book called Molecular Gastronomy and it concentrates on the science of flavor. A sort of text book on why things are, it goes beyond even that. Ferran Adria, is as most chef’ know one of the greatest chef’ since Escoffier. Chef Adria, of El Bulli fame has redesigned the way certain things are done. He is in my opinion the most influential chef on the forefront of the modern cooking world. My guess would be that I am not the only one who thinks that as well. Many restaurants to include WD50 in NYC, Mini Bar in Washington DC, Venue in Hoboken NJ and Moto in Chicago have all incorporated the techniques of chef Adria. Grant Achatz (rhymes with Jackets) of Chicago’ Alinea is to me one of the greatest chef’ there is. He graduated from the CIA in New York, worked for and trained under Thomas Keller at the French Laundry in Napa Valley, was the chef at the now closed Trio restaurant and is co- owner and chef at Alinea. He has taken food and turned it’s world inside out…breaking down food, and reassembling it with great skill. I have yet to dine at Alinea but hold onto the hope of getting out to Chicage and scoring a table there. Homaro Cantu also practices these techniques. His approach is quite different, using a more cerebral scensory aproach to dining. He uses everything from edible menues to an industrial laser to help achieve just that. He holds 30 or so patents on a wide variety of items for dining…including a “polymere cube” that retains heat so well…it can cook food right before your eyes. Not the “easy bake oven” from when I was growing up. Due to it’s overwhelming success the list is long.
Many chef’ including Achatz use a lot of “gizmos” in their kitchens…from commercial homogenizers to “anti-griddles” to chemicals such as sorbitol (which is a sweetener found in toothpaste) to transglutaminaise. TG which I like to call it (easier for most to say) is an enzyme that is used to bind proteins. You can find it in the butcher section of your local market. On the back of the package of sausage it will read on the ingredients list as “enzymes.” A lot of science goes into all of their works, exact measurements are needed as well as controlled temps and environments.
The kitchen at both Alinea and Moto (both in Chicago), as I have read and heard are like laboratories, and from the pictures I have seen on their websites, they do indeed. The use of new and innovative cooking equipment is vast. Induction cooktops (using similar methods akin to that of microwave technology) which concentrate the energy into the pan and not the surrounding kitchen. The result is a much cooler kitchen and precise cooking. Anyone who has worked a restaurant line would be very envious of that alone. The “anti-griddle” as I mentioned earlier in a devise that will instantly freeze part or all of the volume of food that is placed onto it. The surface is like an freezer on steroids.
Transglutaminaise which binds proteins can be used in other ways as well. At WD50 it is used to make shrimp “noodles.” The puree’d shrimp is combined with the TG, excruded and slowly cooked with the help of an emersion circulator that will maintain extremely low temps for a desired time. If the temp goes too high, the “noodles” will not cook properly and the dish is ruined. Other “chemicals” have made their way into the kitchen…they include agar, gellan, carageenan, methocellulose and tapioca maltodextrin…all used as a thickener or stablizer. Chef Cantu also uses liquid nitrogen on one of his dishes. I have seen the demo on it, and it looks pretty wild.
I do doubt that the world will turn it’s back on the traditional methods of cooking. I don’t see every home fitted with Iduction cooktops or Turbo Chef ovens any time soon. They are very cool and I aspire to get into a very close working relation with all of the items and products I have talked about. It is great to see the culinary world filled with such pioneers. I believe that with all we do, and all we know it doesn’t stop here…but can have a long and healthy marriage together for years to come.
I have yet to master any of those techniques, but I can offer something along the middle ground between science and tradition. The following recipe can be used at your next dinner party to make them all say “WOW!”
Sea Bass w/ Asparagus and Oregano “Foam”
4 10 oz. Sea Bass Fillets, skinned
20 pieced pencil asparagus
2 or 3 bay leaves
6 black pepper corns
3 sprigs fresh oregano
juice of 1 lemon
splash white vermouth
2 cups heavy cream
4 T. corn starch sollution
4 oz. cold unsalted butter, cubed
kosher salt for seasoning
1 1qt. No2 whipped cream cannister with No2 cartridge
Make the sauce first. Place herbs and spices into a small sauce pan. Heat pot and add juice and wine. Reduce to almost dry, add cream, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and reduce sauce to half volume. Bring back to a boil, stir in corn starch and let thicken for about a minute. Remove from heat and whisk in butter. When cooled a bit more, add to cannister, charge with No2…shake and set aside. Place a non stick saute pan ( the kind without a plastic handle…only oven worthy pans) over high heat, add a little olive oil to the pan. Season fish (presentation side first in pan) and sear until crispy, then turn and continue on other side…when fully cooked through, keep warm in 175 degree oven. Season, oil and grill asparagus until done.
In 4 large soup bowls ( the kind in fine restaurants) place asparagus first, then a cloud of the foam, then the fish on top. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Well, that’s it for now. See you next time…bye.
The term, “The salt of the earth” was primarily aimed at the working class man. He was the back bone of society. The blue collar worker was part of the core of industialism and what america has been build on. Today many people including most chef’ are using that term on a much wider scale. The salt, or sodium chloride as most scientist know it as isn’t just for the tableside shaker variety. All over people are turning to sea salt. For years chef and foodie alike have been using kosher salt. It is cheap and can be gotten at any corner super market. It contain no iodine, which is good all around. Once that trend started to wayne, we started to use more exotic types. First at bat is Fleur de sel. A natural french sea salt with a unique flavor all it’s own. With trace ellements to include magnesium, it isn’t very “salty” and has a distinct clean feeling and finish. The french haven’t been the only ones getting in on it. All around the globe you can find pristine salts which even include black, and hawaiian volcanic “pink” sea salt. Other ways to market salt is to create your own varieties. Companies are blending, or even using other vehicles to flood the market with this delicious seasoning element. One fine example is a “chardonnay smoked oak” fumee sea salt. A lightly smoked salt, it has a smokey flavor with a wine like finish.
The influx of “salt experts” is growing at a high rate. It is like they are the “sommelier’ of salt.” The art of pairing the right salt with the right food is booming.
Sea salt and all of it’s designer counterparts are best used as a finish. You can use them in dishes, but work best as a “garnish.” The crunch as you take that first bite, as well as the texture and complimenting flavor is absolutely wonderful. Fine dining is taking on a whole new meaning with this new addition. You might want to check out www.artisansalt.com for a complete list of retail and whole sale gourmet sea salts.
Today is the first in a long list of recipes and reviews. Each week will be another example of what to make or where to go. Today I am going to use this mineral to help you enhance your dining pleasure. The following recipe is for scallops. It can be used as a main course, or an amuse bouche. According to chef Rick Tramonto, owner and chef at Chicago’ Tru restaurant an amuse-bouche should be playful. I agree. Culinary arts shouldn’t always be so rigid and serious. If you cannot have fun with food sometimes I think you just may have a break down.
“Scallops with cream of polenta and smoked sea salt”
8 lg. dry sea scallops (I recommend U10’s)
4 Tblsp. instant polenta (follow instructions for soft polenta)
Basil oil (for garnish)
Smoked Chardonnay Sea salt (for garnish)
Micro greens (for garnish)
Heat a heavy non stick saute pan over medium high heat. Pat the Scallops dry of any moisture so they will brown properly and season with salt and pepper. Add some olive oil to the pan and when it starts to smoke add the scallops. Once in the pan, in a clockwise order DO NOT be tempted to move the scallops around. You must let them do their cooking. Once caramelized on one side, turn over and don’t touch them before they are done. Remove them from the pan, and blot on a paper towel. In the meanwhile, prepare the polenta as per the box directions, season to taste. To present, place 4 oversized soup bowls on your work surface. Place a tablespoon of polenta in the center of each bowl. Nest two scallops on the polenta in each bowl, garnish the scallops with a dash of the salt, then drizzle the oil around the polenta and top with micro greens. Serve immediately and enjoy.
Well, that’s it for this week. Join me next time for more. I promise you that you won’t regret it. Until then.
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Unless you were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, or your family is loaded…you had humble beginnings. So as they say “Let’s get down to brass tacks!” You might be asking yourself “who is this guy?” My name is Brian K. Fowler and I have lived my whole life on Long Island, NY. I have been a chef for the last 14 years of my life, but have been in the kitchen since I was a kid. I know I know, you hear the same thing all the time. How a chef was raised by his grandmother and learned how to cook on her farm when he was like 12…right? Well, in some cases that is probably true, but not here my friends. It is very true that my grandparents taught me how to master pancakes in their upstate home, but that wasn’t my whole entire history. My mom had a hand in it too, as well as in high school. I went on to walk through life not really knowing what I wanted, but always involved in food some way or another. I found myself in Deli’ more often that less, and at the ripe old age of 28 I took a chance. I enrolled in Culinary School, worked during the day and ended up graduating in the top five percent of my class.
I soon ended up getting an externship at the famed “An American Place” in NYC under executive chef Richard D’Orazi and owner Larry Forgione. I was hired after graduation and stayed for about a year and a half. I soon went on to work for several corporate restaurants, the Garden City Hotel and started to do my own thing here and there. You might be asking where am I going with all of this? Well, I aim to take you along with me on a quest for knowlege, to share my views and maybe even learn a few things myself. I’m not sure what lies around the next corner…so come along for the ride with me. I promise you won’t be disapointed. Until then.
