Two weeks ago, I was standing in the kitchen at Alinea. It was the coldest day of the past 15 years and the beginning of my short stage, my brief glimpse into one of the best kitchens in the world.

In the Kitchen at Alinea

One week ago, I was standing in a kitchen of apartment off Lake Shore. It was the second coldest day of the past 15 years and we were deep into our preparations for our Chicago recreation meal, which would be attended by one of the contributors to the Alinea cookbook and one of the sous chefs I worked with in my short stage.

In a Kitchen on Lake Shore Drive

Today I am standing in a farmers market, with a hint of the ocean breezing past me. It is threatening to become February and I am in short sleeves and with a cold beverage sweating over my fingers. The intense selection of organic and local produce betrayed my current location and deliciousness that the northern California weather was pouring upon us was a brilliant release from the brutality of winter.

Where to find Liquid Nitrogen

It would fall on Jonny and I to handle all of provisioning, as we were the only two cleared to drive the rental Town and Country and use the credit cards. Being San Francisco, the only real problem was choosing which amazing market to frequent and where to find liquid nitrogen.

Being on the west coast was the most delightful way to end this extreme cross-country tour. Except for the fact that we were cooking 6 new dishes that we would not have a chance to test until the moment we were serving them.

In hindsight this seems like an amazingly stupid move. In actuality it was based upon an intense trust of the ability of our knowledge, team and specifically the talent of Brian Sullivan. Brian was extremely proficient in the modern ingredients and techniques and was driven beyond all to recreate these mystical dishes to the exacting letter of the minds that created them. So with just a few long conversations stolen on flights and some casual note taking, the two of us had planned our the execution of the new set of dishes. The vague brutality of the naked ingredients and conceptual executions was exciting in it own right but turned out to be the crowning achievement of this final event.

Proficiency in modern techniques for napping

Welcome to San Francisco - Welcome to the Houseku

We left Chicago exhausted but with a profound sense of accomplishment. We had lost Mayur to rug replacement and some kind of warranty battle with an ice cream maker and we made our way to the smaller of the city’s two airports. Excited by heading home and being able to get some Potbelly’s sandwiches and Chicago style hot dogs before our flight would leave.

Without rest or comfort, just hours after we woke, we fought with all our strength to not overwhelm our conversation with talk of our trip to San Francisco the following weekend. There were many things we had learned over the past 72 hours and many new challenges that lay ahead. Spurred on by the staff of Alinea and our new-found confidence in our recipes, we set forth into reworking our next event to try and overcome that last 20%.

Cathy Erway

It was decided that we would be hosting one large meal in San Francisco as the space was large and majestic with two separate kitchens that could handle the task of serving thirty people twenty-five courses. We would be executing two dishes that required finding 20 liters of liquid nitrogen, which because of work and scheduling issues, we would not able to test until the day of the event.

Daniel was not going to be able to make it, as he had to return Colombia to check on Emilia Romagna and finalize some details for the new restaurant he would be opening in Cartagena that summer called Vera.

Jonny Cigar

Mayur as well had to succumb to the demands of real life and was relegated to cooking with us every night in preparations for the event but was not able to come with us.

In their place were three of the most enjoyable human beings I have ever met, Andrew Rosenberg, Cathy Erway and Jonny Cigar. Along with two San Francisco locals Keiko Takano and Jen Freeman as well as Melissa M. Martin, a friend of a friend who flew in from New Orleans we had assembled a formidable team to once again try to climb this great mountain of a meal.

Andrew Rosenberg

Once again our flight was scheduled to leave at some ungodly hour and having learned from our last experience with TSA, we were much better prepared for travels. It had been three weeks now where I was sleeping less than a handful of hours during any given night and the long sparsely filled flight was the perfect place for me to fall off into oblivion. All of my dreams were laced with frozen spheres of chewy candy canes or licorice syrup and seared scallops fueled by Brian and Akiko’s heated discussion of the best process and procedure for tackling this new menu. Jonny sat quietly a few seats away polishing his tie and reciting what I assumed was French poetry – delicately dancing with the elegant pronunciations in a way that was only possible by a man that learned to speak English in upstate New York farm country.

San Francisco provided us with the exact opposite weather conditions from Chicago, welcoming us with warm sunshine and soft floral sea breezes that made Jonny’s poetry seem all the more salient, I would assume. We picked out another very nice late model Minivan in a glistening shade of metallic dirty and headed off to find the Houseku and home for our final recreation.

So with a total sense of irony and ridiculous timing I would like to share with you today some photos from our most recent pig roast. It was a bit of a Korean/Asian influenced affair with hint of the Carolina’s and Texas as usual.

Most of what is included below would fall under the heading “food porn” but that should not be looked down upon as with all porn it functions as an important part of inspiring our society.

All photos by Annoushka Owen © 2008
http://flickr.com/photos/oushki

This pig was slaughtered at a farm in upstate New York, Sullivan County to be specific. The kidneys are left attached to the carcass because they are the first part of the animal to spoil and when choosing meat you can tell it’s freshness from the freshness of the kidneys.

When flat roasting a pig it is key to make sure to crack the ribs off the spine and completely butterfly the whole animal. This will insure a more even cooking.

Here you can see the belly of the stuffed pig laced up with butchers twine and stuffed with Kimchi, smoked onions, garlic, chilies, scallions, chives, dry rub and 6 extra racks of ribs.

Note: the ribs that are stuffed into the chest cavity and slow cooked in the pig are the best ribs you can eat, ever. This is not up for discussion. These ribs are reserved for the crew that stayed up all night and flipped the pig, they are worth the effort.

Skin and crackle. Unfortunately the skin around these blisters becomes inedible but the meat in the opening gets a nice char and is super delicious with a touch of crunch.

Mark and I done our plastic gloves (which eventually will melt onto our hands) and get our knives in hand to break down the beast. First the stuffing is removed and the inner ribs are sent to the grill to get lathered up and charred. Then we remove the bellies and start on the primal cuts: head, then shoulders, ribs, hams, loins, tenderloins, and then to service.

A question from Mr. Low after many hours of non-sleeping
“Where did I leave my knife?”
“In that steaming pile of pork”
“Ah, yes thank you.”
“No problem what-so-ever.”

Jonny and I after hours of negotiations

About a month ago I was relaxing with a friend of mine named Jonathan over a long late summer weekend, drinking Korean beers that taste enormously like Miller High Life and enjoying the lack of breeze. We were sitting in my back yard, watching my dog viciously lie in the sun and while talking about nonsense we stumbled into a conversation about dinner and theater.

We were speaking about our plans for the fall and some of the events that we were working on. I explained about the dinner on the first of November and the Autumnal Harvest and Pig roasting extravaganza in October, while Jonathan went on to explain about his plans for acting and writing throughout the fall.

Sometime around the middle of the afternoon it occurred to us that we had nothing yet planned for September and with a little bit of mental wrestling we discovered that there were some dishes that need to be tired and some of his plays that needed to be worked on. It was in that moment that we decided to take a stab at Dinner Theatre.

We wanted a lounge feel, with smoke and cocktails. Jonny thought it important to include some multimedia in the event and decided that he would like to bring in a dance performance as well as the thespian display. I felt strongly about cooking for each act and leaving dessert for the after whisky. What we eventually came up with, through the great help of our friends was this night of Dinner Theatre:

Menu:
Snacks: Candied Bacon, Crisp Garbanzos and Spiced Nuts
1. Dark Roux Sausage Étouffée with Caramelized Onions and Pega
2. Black Tempura Prawns in Green Curry Custard with Key Lime and Cilantro
3. Sweet Braised Short Rib, Country Pâté Brulée over a Horseradish demi-glace with Alsatian Munster whipped fondue, Enoki mushroom and quail yolk purses and charred Japanese scallions
4. Tobacco Crisps with Coffee crème and whisky dipping sauce
5. Cigar – Dominican Metropolitan

Menu created with Daniel Castaño and Eugene Edele.

Executed with Daniel Castaño, Eugene Edele and Cathy Erway; and special thanks to Kristen Hager, Kirsten Larson, Nora Sherman and Leah Viens-Gordon for all of their help in coordination and execution.

Wines and Spirits by Jesse Salazar:
Bodegas Llopart 2005 Rose Brut Reserva Cava
Wingut Hirsch 2006 Riesling Gaisberg
Scholum Project 2007 Naucratis Lost Slough Vineyard
Elmer T Lee Single Barrel – Buffalo Trace

With performances of:
“The Confidence Man” adapted from Herman Melville’s novel by Ben Rose and Jonathan Cristaldi and performed by Jonny Cigar and Abraham Danz.

“Awakening” choreographed by Ori Flomin and performed by Amanda Wells and Ori Flomin

“Kammerspiel!” Written, directed and performed by Jonny Cigar while featuring: Abraham Danz, Phoebe Oglesbee, Zach Bernstein and Another Girl.

Video Installation by Tyler Coburn www.tylercoburn.com

Photos by:

Tim Ireland © 2008 www.irelandstudios.com

Christine Wells © 2008 http://christinekwells.blogspot.com/

This is a simple snack that was common place in my childhood in many different forms. Here we just fried the canned Garbanzo beans until crisp and then tossed them with coriander, cumin, cayenne, Balinese long peppers and dried lemon rind. Citrus juice to flavor.

Tim Ireland © 2008 www.irelandstudios.com

Gratuitous sausage. These cubes were shaped for the Étouffée. The shape held well, our next goal is to get casing to fit the outside. I imagine it shaped like a wrapped present.

Tim Ireland © 2008 www.irelandstudios.com

Due to some dietary restrictions in the audience we were able to provide the Étouffée in both a sausage and more traditional shrimp versions.

Tim Ireland © 2008 www.irelandstudios.com

A collection of black batter dipped shrimp.

This was just a standard tempura batter that we added shrimp brains and sepia for additional flavor and color. After we had it balanced and seasoned we bottled it and carbonated it to 50 psi to too make the batter extra light and crisp. The coating was airy and light and the brains gave the crisp a full flavor.

Tim Ireland © 2008 www.irelandstudios.com

Short Ribs with a liberal amount of pâté

Tim Ireland © 2008 www.irelandstudios.com

Short Ribs being caramelized

Tim Ireland © 2008
www.irelandstudios.com

This is a shot of the short ribs from our test kitchen the Sunday before the performance. Here we exchange the Obrato for Phyllo dough.

Christine Wells © 2008 http://christinekwells.blogspot.com/

We eventually settled with Enoki and Slow Poach Quail Egg wrapped in soy wrapper and flashed fried crisp and awaiting steak

Tim Ireland © 2008 www.irelandstudios.com

I know it might seem obvious in this setting and maybe even trite being that the performers name is Jonny Cigar but we have been working on this Coffee and Cigarettes style dessert all summer and this iteration seems to work well. With crisp cookies and Cathy’s indulgent Sanka Cream custard the cookies we absolutely delightful on their own but with a dip in the whisky syrup everything became divine.

Tim Ireland © 2008 www.irelandstudios.com

Here is just a collection of food pornography from our pig roast collected by a good friend Tim Ireland, dangerous drummer and all around good dancer. I will try to be witty and explicit as I make mention of the situation in which the dark and devilish images were captured in, and when they are light and beautiful I will try not to let that same wit over power the beauty of the image.

Photo – Tim Ireland ©2008 www.irelandscaped.com

When cooking Collard Greens you are unknowingly producing two separate and equally delightful dishes; the collards themselves and the pot lickies. Now you might think that something called pot lickies is mildly off putting in name alone please try to remember that this viscous liquid that remains after the cooked greens have been served is based with bacon, sautéed onions and an assortment of chilies. It is then thickened with the hours of steeping green and cider vinegar; not to mention the smoky delight of the ham hocks that splinter and dissolve, adding a certain gelatinous delight to the broth. Eat your greens and then reserve this for making out with whenever you get a pork hangering. Some old creole friends of mine used to say that it was medicinal and would give it to the sick, I completely believe them.

Pickling is my new favorite thing. Think about it and get back to me. No I mean really think about it.

I will show you some of the more unexpected delights that I have endeavored into recently that will shock you with a repulsive drive to say, “you are wrong my friend. That is disgusting and I refuse your pressures.” You might be right to say such things when you hear about strawberries, peaches, pasta, laser beams, but that prejudice should be completely put aside when I tell you that right now, this very second you should go pickle five head of garlic. After quietly snacking on them while watching TV or with cheese and dried meats in bed with your naked friend, or on your salads with dieters and healthiers, over the next two weeks and then you decide to pickle ten heads for the second round say thank you to me and come back for the expanding list of things you should pickle and add to the collection in your cupboard.

This pile was the one of the hardest thing for people to deal with. To say that there was some anticipation in the crowd waiting for the food to be served would underestimate the skill of the team of people involved in seasoning, cutting and slapping pig around all morning. These ribs needed to rest before being portioned and there was a palatable anger emanating from the people who were standing right next to the butcher table just wanting to grab one rib, one quick bit, just one snack before the meal was served. Good things come to those who wait, better things come to those who wait patiently, the best of releases come after hours of teasing and flagrant tantalization.

I am not sure that this means anything to you, but this was 12” across and 36” long. It was 60C (140F), it seared the gloves onto your hands, it steamed in your face, it splattered on your shirt (and vest if you are named Jonathan). It was spiced, its spice burned your eyes, whetted your palate, flaked apart under your hand. It wait and drove tens of people to the point of furious desire, it was covered in sauces; dirty and sweet, bitter and pungent, homemade and delightful (thank you Hunter).

This is just gratuitous and I know that. You are also welcome; even you vegetarians. I know you secretly covet this. I have seen your reaction to it on my table, in restaurants next to me, in the backs of cabs as you hover over my lips after a meal as we head over bridges and under tunnels. It is ok, it is really that good and we all happily will keep enticing you until you come back into the fold.

This is the start of so many of the things we eat it is almost impossible to separate from our diets. If only the government could figure out a way to grow onions with corn; direct oil injections, corn oil fertilizer I am sure our c4 ratios would be near complete. Until then we can sit back and delight in the sweetness of onions in and on everything.

Getting it done

Roasted pig skin, glazed with apple cider vinegar mop that had just a touch of pepper sauce and a schmear of ketchup to allow for a slight caramelizing. Undoubtedly at some point it will rupture and spill the delicious fat back out on to the hot coals, but just pray that you are close by when this happens so you can enjoy the fuliginous haze that will settle over the campfire and coat your skin with a fine glaze.