Thomas Keller Appreciation Night

Butter-Poached Lobster with Zucchini, Portobellos, and Rosemary-Infused Rice.

4 Lobster Tails, ~5oz a piece
1 Medium Zucchini
3 Portobello Caps, sliced to about 3/8" thick (2 slices per plate)
1.5C Rice, long grain.
4 Sprigs fresh Rosemary.
Butter (I used 6 sticks; it depends on how big your pot is)
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

Serves 4.

For the beurre monte.
In order to get to the heart of Thomas Keller's famous butter-poached lobster, one must make a beurre monte.  Put your lobster tails in a pot, and cover with water so that you have about 1/4" between the water and the tops of the tails.  Drain and measure the water.  That's the amount of butter you will need.  I needed ~6 sticks (I needed roughly 4C, but I like to be sure and I wanted a bit more beurre monte).  Boil 1 tablespoon of water in a pot, and then incorporate chunks of butter, whisking constantly.  This will allow the butter to maintain its emulsified state; without that water, it'll break up and clarify.  DO NOT let it reach above 200 degrees (or to boil).  It will break, and then you're fucked.  Set this aside (you have about an hour, so relax, and keep it on very low).  (once you're done poaching, you can also keep it frozen).

Removing the lobster shells.
Boil about 2 quarts water with 1/8C white distilled vinegar.  Turn it to half, wait until the bubbles stop appearing, and pop the tails in there.  Steep for 3 minutes.  Remove them from the water, and then take the shells off (save them for stock!).  Set aside, covered.

For the rice.
Create a tea with 3 sprigs of rosemary and 4 cups of water.  Steep for 10 minutes (at least, more if more flavor is desired).  Let it boil down to about 3.5C, add the rice, and constantly check on it.  Rice is a tricky bitch, and you can always add a tad more water to make sure it cooks through.  But once it's overcooked, it's game over, so watch out and keep your eye on it.  Mine took ~20 minutes tops.

For the zucchini.
I put about a cup of water in the bottom of pot, and place the slices (roughly 3/8" thick) in there clockwise.  Season with salt/pepper, and steam for about 10 minutes; wait until the centers start to become translucent, and immediately remove them from heat, set aside.

For the portobellos.
Place the ports in about 2 tablespoons butter and 1tablespoon olive oil, season with salt/pepper, and saute until each side is getting a bit brown.  Roughly 4-5 a side, depending on your heat (I prefer to cook ports at lower temps, right around medium, to enrich their flavor--remember folks, browning seals in NOTHING).

For the butter-poached lobster.
Put the tails in the beurre monte.  You want to make sure it is no higher than 180 degrees (170-175 is preferable).  I used a little $20 kettle that has much more precise temp control than my stove.  Again, always check the temp.  Always, always, always.  Cook for about 7-9 minutes, depending upon size and how deep the beurre monte is.  The deeper it is, the more likely for temp fluctuation (unless you have a sweet circulator; if you do, well, fuck you, and please send me one!).  I sprinkled some rosemary on the top; whether or not it did anything is debatable, but I like to think it did. (and yes, there are bubbles, but I took this right after doing a stir and dropping them in; I assure you it did not boil!)

For presentation.
Start with a spoonful of rice; I kept the rosemary in the rice for taste and presentation purposes.  You can remove it if you like.  Put the zucchini next to it, 3 slices per plate, and then place the lobster on top.  Put 2 slices of port per plate, and drizzle with the lobster-steeped beurre monte.  Sprinkle parsley, and serve.   I did about 4 different ones, but pictures of the fourth suck.  My bad.

It's all about finesse- Thomas Keller

Enjoy.

Ferran Adrià closing el Bulli PERMANENTLY.

Wow.

From the NYT's Food Blog:

Ferran Adrià, the Catalan chef who for two decades has been the leading catalyst and inspiration for avant-garde cuisine, has decided to permanently close his restaurant El Bulli, considered by many to be the world’s greatest, and to replace it with an academy for advanced culinary study, Mr. Adrià said in an interview on Friday.

In January, Mr. Adrià had said that the restaurant would go on a hiatus starting in 2012 , but that it would reopen in 2014. For many years El Bulli, in the Mediterranean town of Roses, north of Barcelona, closed for half the year so Mr. Adrià and his chefs could spend the off months developing new techniques, like the foams, airs and other culinary wizardry that he has created.

He told The Wall Street Journal at that time that his research would “be focused on sustaining and growing our brand however possible. A brand with goals like ours requires a big capital investment.’’

On Friday he said he decided to close the restaurant for good because he and his partner, Juli Soler, had been losing a half million Euros a year on the restaurant and his cooking workshop in Barcelona.


“At that level of contribution,’’ he said of the losses, “I think we would rather see the money go to something larger that expands the concept and spirit of what El Bulli represents.’’

He said he would use that money — which he earns mostly from consultancies and other businesses — to establish his new academy and to finance scholarships so the world’s most talented cooks can attend.

“We had planned to use the two years to see how El Bulli could evolve,’’ Mr. Adrià said in a telephone interview. “We’ve been looking at many options, but yesterday we decided that the foundation would be the most satisfying.’’

He said of the demands of the restaurant, “at that bestial pace, it would be impossible to continue.’’
Adrià said the academy would be “a place for free thinking and kicking around ideas’’ about food. The El Bulli academy would likely work with many cooking schools around the world and would seek students — perhaps 25 in the first year — who had the highest levels of professional training.

“Throughout the history of El Bulli we’ve made seemingly drastic decisions in order to maintain our level of creativity,’’ he said.

Mr. Adrià, 47, arrived at El Bulli in 1983, when it was a French restaurant. Soon he took charge of the kitchen and by the 1990s it became known as a laboratory for daring innovation.

“Mr. Adrià’s idea, as he describes it, was simply to ‘do new things with old concepts,’’’ Mark Bittman wrote in 2006. “So, seeing chicken curry as a concept and determining to do something that hadn’t been done before, he developed a dish, now famous, in which the sauce is solid and the chicken liquid.’’

In 1997 he won three Michelin stars. He has since been proclaimed by many to be the greatest chef in the world. He has been widely influential in the spread of “molecular gastronomy’’ — a term he has renounced.

The restaurant will reopen for six months on June 15 after its winter break and will close for good in December 2011.

The 3,000 people on the waiting list for one of about four dozen seats, will just have to hope that someday Mr. Adrià will open another restaurant.

He said that has no plans to, but the academy might be open for breakfast, or an occasional lunch. (And he is the director of gastronomy at El Bulli Hacienda Benazuza hotel near Sevilla.)
“Everything new looks strange,’’ Mr. Adrià said.

http://eater.com/archives/2010/02/12/adria-changes-mind-will-close-el-bulli-permanently.php
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/feb/13/ferran-adria-closes-el-bulli

I will have reaction a bit later.  Needless to say, the only reaction is wow.  Just wow.  What a shame.  Adrià was unrelenting; he refused to open another el Bulli, and in the end, that may have cost him.  But he stuck to his guns.  Where would we be if Keller didn't open Per Se or Bouchon?  Or if Blumenthal didn't have the Hines Head right next to the Fat Duck?  This is the manifestation of "behind the stove" v. "restaurateur."  

If you're snowed in (or even if you aren't)...

It always helps to have something to dream about.

The Kulinary Gangsta, and why Guy Fieri needs to go back to his cave.

I want you to watch that video at least 5 times.  When you're done, watch it once just so the image of the bleached-haired, yellow-jacketed Guy Fieri is burnt into your skull like the Jeff Bridges-voiced Hyundais were during the Super Bowl.  It will be painful, but it is necessary.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this clown, he won one of those stupid fucking Next Food Network Star shows and has been flooding TV screens ever since, on shows such as Guy's Big Bite, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, and Ultimate Recipe Showdown.  It appears that the Food Network's logic was clear: he appealed to that booming, chopper-loving, freewheeling, multi-pierced dynamic, and could bring a bit of "wtf" to a lineup that includes ever-growing wasteband of Emeril Lagasse, the eye candy of Giada De Laurentiis, and the Michelin-starred success of one Robert Flay.  (I'm kidding on that last one; McDonald's is closer to a Michelin star than Bobby Flay will ever be).

If you were still defending the Food Network, you have no choice but to jump ship at this point.  It simply blows; the shows/lineup serve no purpose, and as long as they continue to gear up for market niches and demographics and not actual food or culinary legitimacy, it will be relegated to purgatory on my TiVO.  I understand that you need to pay the bills, but really, this is the best you can come up with?  Fuck, I'd rather watch Hannah Montana at this point.

But hey, we can all be kulinary gangstas, right?

(If you want an actual cooking show, look no further than Eric Ripert, except maybe when Mario Batali finally gets a mainstream show on PBS; common theme? Public broadcasting). 

My Perfect Wings

What's better than hot wings during the Super Bowl?  I can think of no other dish to eat during the big game (and this year's was a very big game).  Here's what I do to make the perfect batch wings...

10lbs wing pieces...usually frozen
1 Gallon Cold Water
1.5 Cups Cajun Spice (depends on the salt content; you want ~1.25 cups salt in the brine)
2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary
1 Bunch (small) Parsley
2 Lemons, juiced
3 tablespoons black peppercorn
2 tablespoons thyme
1 bulb of garlic, peeled and smashed
10 bay leaves

2 parts favorite hot sauce
1 part butter

First, make the brine.  In part, it was inspired by Thomas Keller's brine for fried chicken.  I made some adjustments, including no honey, more pepper, less bay leaves, and substituting cajun spice for salt (it adds some heat, and depending on the spice, will have a large amount of salt content; if you get nervous about too much salt, then limit it to about a cup or so).  You want to make the brine by mixing all of the ingredients listed thoroughly, to ensure equal dispersion of spice.  Subsequently, put the defrosted wing pieces in it, and store it for at least 4 hours in the fridge (picture shown was after they were taken out).  Overnight is preferred, but the lack of meat (and thus flesh to penetrate) is a key difference between brining wings and normal chicken pieces.  I used the bag that the wing pieces came in because it was easy and you can seal it.  Less oxygen = quicker, more effective brining.

 

Second, heat the fryer.  I used a small batch fryer (~10 wings at a time), with about 3/4 gallon of vegetable oil.  I prefer peanut oil, but vegetable oil has a good smoking point.  The fryer should be eated to about 360-365.  Mine has a radial knob, so I put it slightly past 350.  It'll do the trick.  I usually wait 15 mins for it heat effectively.

Third, rinse the brine, pat the wings dry, and put them in, making sure they don't overlap or they'll stick together (if you don't mind breaking up melded chicken flesh, then be my guess).  The amount of wings will depend upon size of the fryer.  Like I said, I fit about 10-11 wings depending on size and type of piece (I can fit more drumstick type pieces).  Cook for approximately 13 minutes, or until golden brown with fringes of deeper brown.  I prefer my wings to be very crispy, mostly because I just adore the taste of crispy chicken skin.  So sue me; I know it's not healthy!

To serve, I present the wings, sans sauce, with a sprig or two of rosemary.  I prefer to put the sauce on very late, so as to preserve the crispiness of the skin and the taste of the flesh.  For the sauce, put the 2 parts hot sauce with the 1 part butter in a pan, and simmer until mixed.  I add a few drops of Blair's Ultra Death Sauce for good effect.  The amount of sauce I usually make is ~3 cups, so you're looking at a 2C:1C ratio of hot sauce:butter.  Do NOT buy the premade wing sauce; the fake butter will kill you, or at the very least, make your wings taste like burnt silicone.  Simply toss a few wings in sauce, and then serve on a separate plate with a sprig of rosemary.  These wings are so good that you don't need a sauce, so don't feel threatened or pressured.  Enjoy.

Snail Porridge ala Heston Blumenthal

I can take no credit for this dish, except where I deviate. The genius behind the combination is Heston Blumenthal, and it goes without saying that my changes would have never been possible had he not put the two together.

16 Snails (usually 1.5doz in a can)
2.25 C of Oats, sifted
6 oz unsalted sweet cream butter
1.5 C chopped parsley
4 Cloves Garlic
3 pearl onions, small dice
5 slices of prosciutto (basically, 1 package of the pre-sliced, or about 1/4 pound)
3 Leeks
2 C Chicken stock
Caviar
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Serves 4.

To prepare the snails:
Clean the snails. There will be a sack of grey goo; squeeze it out, and rinse the solution that they were preserved in. Take one slice of proscuitto, mince it, and place it in a pot with about 2 oz (half a stick) of butter. Throw in the parsley, onions, and 3 garlic cloves. Cook for about 10 mins, then add the rest of the butter. Have it cook, simmering over medium heat, for about 30 mins. At the halfway point I added some fantastic Greek olive oil, a splash (~tblspoon), just to get a bit different flavor out of the snails.

To prepare the porridge:
Heat the chicken stock with a pinch of salt, pinch of pepper, and the last garlic clove, over medium high heat, until it starts to boil. Throw in the oats, and keep incorporating the oats into the stock. You won't have enough liquid, but don't worry. When the snails are down, drain the entire pot of snails right into the porridge. Pluck the snails out of the sifter or colander, and take all of that goodness in there and put it into the porridge as well. Always keep incorporating; if it's too thick, add either chicken stock or water slowly. I like it thick, almost like a risotto.

To prepare the leeks:
Take your leeks, clean them, cut off the end and the flowers/leaves, and throw them in a pot of boiling, salted water. Boil for about 5 minutes, then blanch them in cold water. In a pan with a tblspoon of olive oil, saute the leeks, but be weary of their structure. You don't want them to disintegrate, you want them to keep that nice, long look. When they are done sauteing, you want to cut them, long-wise, into thirds.

For the presentation:
I have two favorite presentations. With both, start with a decent spoonful of porridge in the center of the plate; I presume it's about 3/4 of a cup or so. Now take a few pieces of leek, and place it on top of the porridge, almost like a bed of vegetation. Alternatively, you can place one leek to the side, and one leek in the center of the porridge. Place 4 snails on top of the porridge; either directly on the leeks or around the centered leek (which ever presentation you prefer). Slice the remaining prosciutto in half, and roll up the halves to resemble a horn/cornucopia shape. You want to ease the smaller end into the snail shell; for the presentation with the bed of leek, simply add this to the top of the snails. Add another leek to the side of the porridge, and place a dab of caviar at the end. Sprinkle with parsley, or use bigger leaves and place dabs of caviar in the middle. For the second presentation, with the leek in the middle of the porridge, the ham can be placed to the side of the porridge, with it overlapping the edge, big open end of the cone facing up. For the caviar, place a spoonful on the side of the dish, and add a shell to make it appear like another snail.

While this dish is much simpler than Blumenthal's original, it incorporates the original spirit and contrasts that his has, while adding my own bits and different ideas. Enjoy.

Feast: Snail Porridge ala Blumenthal, Scallops and Prosciutto, Roast Beef, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake

Last night was a feast. There was a lot of cooking. A lot of good wine. A decent amount of licorice tasting spirits, which may or may not include absinthe.