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.”

A gratuitous display of pasta

In the midst of trying to recreate the series of ground breaking dinners that Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz served at their world renowned restaurants, the years of my life ticked over into another decade and with a riotous amount of celebration I became thirty. The week after, the New Year was filled with various celebrations befitting such a monumental accomplishment. My family got together for nice Italian meal on the date of my actual birth and a collection of good friends and I went to Mr. Castaño’s restaurant in midtown the next night for some serious brutality. All of this was wrapped up in a weeklong celebration showered over me by my lovely lady friend. It was a delicious week and I was very grateful for the much need break from the grueling hours of prep, cooking, planning and trying to squeeze in my day job between dinners.

So when Saturday came around I believed it was time to get back to business. We had the first of four test dinners to prepare ourselves for menu changes that Keller and Achatz executed at Alinea and the French Laundry. Being the creative forces that they were they did not just rest on their laurels and serve the same menu at all three restaurants, but they changed about 40% of the menu each meal. This kept us quite busy, writing recipes, researching techniques and then testing everything before our next series of events in Chicago and San Francisco.

We were going to split the menu up into pieces and practice some of the new elements while refining some of the harder elements we had come close to perfecting at our first series of events. Each night we would be serving eight of the twenty-four courses, paired with wine, and as you can see from these photos, a long series of cooking lessons and demonstrations.

Needless to say I was not aware of the fact that on Saturday after our test dinner my lovely lady friend had planned a huge surprise birthday party for me! So as we were cleaning up at the Whisk and Ladle, a steady stream of my friends and loved ones started to roll in carrying presents and copious amount of tasty beverages and treats. The very coy team that had been working with me all night whipped out all of their surprises and converted our dinner from a Keller/Achatz themed evening to a custom made party for me. Resplendent with special treats, fancy cocktails dreamed up by Mayur just for the evening and a very dangerous piñata which severely injured my lovely lady friend.

As luck would have it our good friend Steph Goralnick was there and was able to take some amazing photos of us cooking, the food and just some amazing interactions.

That evening’s menu:
Thomas Keller and Jonathan Benno (chef de cuisine per se):
“Galette” Hudson Valley Moulard Duck Foie Gras, Italian Pistachio “Financier,” Compressed Red Sensation Pear and Garden Mache

Thomas Keller's Foie Gras "Financier"

Thomas Keller and Cory Lee (chef de cuisine the French Laundry)

Salmon Cornet – Black sesame tuile and red onion crème fraîche
White sturgeon caviar – Lemon verbena gelée, cauliflower

Just seconds before plating all of the evenings Lemon Verbena Gels

Japanese Greenup Abalone – yuzu, tapioca, seaweed, matsutake mushroom broth

Snake River Farm’s “Calotte De Boeuf Grillee,” brisket and cabbage dumplings, horseradish pudding, sour cherries

Thomas Keller's Calotte de boeuf with sour cherry reduction and brisket dumplings

Chocolate S’mores – graham cracker ‘crunch,’ chocolate ‘crémeux,’ creamy “fluff” toasted marshmallow, chocolate emulsion

Thomas Keller's "S'mores"

Grant Achatz

Hot Potato-Cold Potato, Chive, Black Truffle
Black Truffle Explosion, Romaine, Parmesan

A delicate collection of pasta wrapped around a black truffle juice enriched eith butter and topped with wilted romaine lettuce Parmesan and a slice of Black Truffle

Prepared with: Jesse Carter, Cathy Erway, Deborah Gorman, Mark Losinger, Akiko Moorman, Andrew Rosenberg, Mayur Subbarao

Deborah Gorman, Andrew Rosenberg, Cathy Erway

…and a very special thanks and love my lovely lady friend for throwing me the most amazing thirtieth birthday party (week) ever!

For more information please click on the photo and read along with the captions.
All photos taken by Steph Goralnick © 2009

A mess of food photography - Steph Goralnick

After a hard fought battle with Keller and Achatz a calm settled over us as we prepared for our next series of dinners in Chicago. The preparation for those events was pushed to the back of our minds and we threw a party with our friends at PhotoJoJo in celebration of the photography of food. All the attendees were invited to bring a camera and get up close and dirty with whatever was created.

After our first hard fought battle with Keller and Achatz a calm settled over us as we prepared for our next series of dinners in Chicago. The preparation for those events was pushed to the back of our minds and we threw a party with our friends at PhotoJoJo in celebration of the photography of food. All the attendees were invited to bring a camera and get up close and dirty with whatever was created.

Aside from us the lovely ladies from the HAPA Kitchen were there, as well as Ted Allen and Amy Sedaris’s supper club. The whole event was hosted by the Whisk and Ladle with cocktails poured by resident bartender Nick Bennett and virtuoso cocktail artist Mayur Subbarao.

Here is a small collection of photos taken by our good friend Steph Goralnick.

Mark Losinger, Michael J Cirino, Daniel Castano, Akiko Moorman - by Jordana Rothman TimeOut NY

And so it was on the first night of Chanukah in 2008, Jordana Rothman a writer for TimeOut NY came to the first of our Breaking Bread and Boundaries series of dinners. She was skeptical and quiet letting the events unfold as they would, smiling in the corner and chatting among the 25 other guests.

I ask you to follow the link below to her brief review of the event paired with a conversation with the Chef from Alinea, Grant Achatz. After a quick read I have provided the answers to some questions posed, some clarifications and explanations for things brought up and a full exploration of the team with whom this would not have been possible. I encourage you to follow the links in Jordana’s first paragraph to get a better picture and clarification for what we were attempting.

A Razor, A Shiny Knife: Achatz’s take
By Jordana Rothman

“But ARASK’s attempt felt more deferential than presumptuous, particularly when presented by ringleader Mike Cirino, whose jocular trips over French menu descriptions were received warmly by this young, willing crowd.”

It is true I could not then and still struggle over pronouncing mille-feuille and this is even after hours of practice with my very patient fluent French speaking girlfriend, hours of abuse in the kitchen by a couple of the French speaking cooks who were working with us and a couple of hours in the car with a learn how to speak tape.

“we were impressed at the resulting meal, even if some of the more bold presentations didn’t coalesce (that sweet-potato tempura, for example, slid like melted ice cream from its cinnamon stick vessel)”

This was one of the only dishes from the meal that was actually in the Alinea cookbook and it was one that provided us with some of the most difficulty. Convincing gelatinized potato and whiskey puddings not to dissolve when deep fried was a long and tenuous battle which was eventually won by Brian Sullivan on the second night with a collection proper hydration techniques and huge muscles.

“Was it also a good opportunity to see your book put to use?
Ironically, not too many of the dishes in the menu are in the book. Most of the techniques certainly are. They are certainly being creative in their own way. They have budget constraints, plating limitations, equipment and space issues that all force creative solutions. How can you not applaud that?”

I have to admit that this was one of the hardest things to explain when speaking about the dinner to our friends, family and loved ones. It is one thing to cook a 25 course meal of your own creation, it is another to try and emulate what was done by these two brilliant men and their incredible teams. It was an honor to have Chef Achatz so succinctly explain the greatest challenges that we encountered while showing the core reason for our attempt in the first place.

“The Hot Potato is a rock-star effort. Complete with wax bowls even…nicely done! I think he should come and stage at Alinea for a couple days before his next dinner.… I might be able to show him a few tricks.”

And before the next dinner I did take him up on this offer, but more on this to come soon enough…

But first I would like to say thank you to everyone who participated in these first meals in New York and the research and practice that went into making them a reality. Without the intense commitment and dedication given by these lovely people none of this would have been possible.

Daniel Castaño – The two of us came up with this exhausting idea while driving to Boston one rainy afternoon so I blame him for a majority of sleepless nights, long hours testing recipes, fighting with purveyors, booking flights and credit card bills. But without Daniel none of this would have been possible and it was with his guidance and knowledge that allowed us to consistently create such great food.

Eugene Edele – Is a master chef and was able to help break down some of the more intricate flavor profiles and create unique and interesting ideas for the way the dishes might have been served from just a menu.

Matt Franco – Guided the wine selections and pairings based off of the original menus. One of the largest components of the original meals price was the brilliant and rare wines that were paired with the amazingly intricate food. Matt was able to recreate a similar experience with varietal and flavor balance while functioning on a fraction of the budget.

Kristen Hager – helped with logistics and promotions and was instrumental in making sure that the word got out about our meals in every city. Her deft knowledge of wine and service made her to be a key part of our front of house team in NY.

Mark Losinger – Was intricate in the cooking and execution of evening’s menus. Whether butchering beef, lobster or fish, working the sauté station or teaching people about the variety of nonsense they were watching being assembled in front of them.

Kathryn Mahoney – tirelessly supported the entire team throughout the research and development stages of the event in a myriad of ways and led the front of house at the event, creating an atmosphere of comfort and flawless services for the guests who partook in a twenty-five course, five hour meal.

Akiko Moorman – was driven not only to create recipes that were reminiscent to the original per se  meal but also making the ingredients used to cook those the best local and sustainable products. She was critical in not only the execution, but the creation of the recipes which we served and was an invaluable member of team at every meal.

William Oberlin – with Brian Sullivan designed the replicas of Martin Kastner’s beautiful serving pieces and built all of them by hand at his studio in North Brooklyn.

Mayur Subbarao – is a pastry chef extraordinaire amongst his other talents which are many. He was responsible for a majority of the recipe writing and development in the confectionary sections of the menu and was the only team member to have eaten ate all three of the restaurants who’s menus we were recreating. His tireless efforts and creative were instrumental to making this meal happen.

Brian Sullivan – single-handedly took command of writing and testing most of the modern cooking recipes that we executed over the course of these dinners. His passion for cooking and designed drove the creativity in the team and his dedication to perfection created a standard that we all strove to attain with every dish. His input on the service piece design, kitchen equipment set up and his flawless execution at meal time made him a crucial part of every event and without him none of this would have been possible.

Here is a collection of photos from TimeOut NY and our own cameras from the New York events.

A little while ago I traveled to Panama with some loved ones. It was a ridiculously silly thing to do at the time and when we arrived it became an increasingly silly adventure to be on.

Upon our return two of our very good friends decided that they wanted to host a party where we would recreate the dishes that we served in Panama and film it for a TV network.

All in all it sounded like a great idea so here is a semi recap of the dinner we served in Panama being served to Americans in a loft in Brooklyn for television, with really nice lights and an unbelievable mean ambient temperature. Needless to say the moving picture version of this night will be broadcast sometime in future in a format beyond my control but hopefully with my diction.

Here is a small peak into what an amazing photographer and food stylist can do for the equatorially inspired food we made.

Menu
Butter Poached Lobster on Panamanian Tortillas with Cilantro Pesto and Candied Aji
Balsamic Pickled Peach Gaspacho
White Risotto with Black and White Prawns and Coconut Crisps
Mixed herb salad with fresh tomato, pixbae (pickled palm fruit) and toasted spiced nuts
Whisky Drizzled Crepes with goat cheese, mango and dark chocolate w/Cold Brewed coffee and tobacco whipped cream

Menu written with Mark Low and Danielle Florio

PS: If you look closely you can see Hunter.

All Photos:
Andrew Casey © 2008
Food Styling: Pablo Munoz (This man is an unbelievable talent.)

We started the meal off with a Panamanian style tortilla with a cilantro and chili sauce and a slice of reconstituted lobster meat that was poached in a beurre monte. A couple of candied chilies were place on top to cut through the richness of the lobster with some spice and sweetness.

We originally thought that putting the sauce on first was the best idea. But after some sober and personally introspective deliberation we agreed that the version pictured above and was amazingly less soggy and aggressive with it sauce delivery.

On to a delightfully refreshing dish we worked on all summer from our peaches party in July to this meal where it was retired due to the season change still unperfect but with great character. Pickled peach gazpacho with crème fraîche and compressed peach slices. When this balance between the pickled peaches and the fresh peaches finally works itself out this will a brilliantly refreshing dish. Topped with a touch of mint for greens-sake.

Look close to see the color break between the pureed fresh peach and tomato bases and the balsamic pickled peaches and cipolini onion core on which the fresh tomato slices sit.

Here we attacked the risotto and shrimp dish with a Coconut as the serving vessel, clearly showing that Mark has a flair for the dramatic. What seems to be a wasteful amount of salt and pepper used to hold the coconut in place was actually part of the final plating because it allow for the dish to be seasoned better by the guest as we had varying opinions on how spicy and salt the dish should be served.

I opted for super spicy with the blackened shrimp but we ended up toning it down a little after a guy on staff almost passed out. I will gladly serve this too you that spicy if you want and you too can almost pass out. I must say that if the test isn’t conducted in a room that is above body temperature and after a day of you holding a boom microphone out into space for 9 hours it won’t be completely equal.

Little herb salad with some delightfully ripe tomatoes and nuts, oh such spicy nuts.

This is dessert and we were really keen on the racing stripe for like an hour, and then I thought it wasn’t awesome. Then I ate it and thought it was great again. Then Pablo took this photo with Andrew and I like the background better than the crepe but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t tasty.

Did I mention that Mark’s Whisky Dizzle is stupid good.

Coffee and cigarettes rule the day again!

Panama was probably the best vacation I have gone on in a while. There are many reasons for this but the primary two are:

1. I had practically no travel responsibility; insomuch as all I had to do was wake up and be in paradise, eat, nap and then go to the beach.
2. I got to cook with some amazing friends, in an amazing country for some amazing people who were all really amazingly interesting and could dance averagely.

Here is a little chronology of the trip and the dinner that I cooked with my good friends Mark Low and Danielle Florio from The Whisk and Ladle in Panama City for some other amazing friends at Diablo Rosso.
Here is a short list of some of the things we tried while we were down there:
Butter Poached Lobster on Panamanian Tortillas with Cilantro Pesto and Candied Aji

White Risotto with Black and White Prawns and Coconut Crisps

Plantain Pizza with mango, aji, black beans and queso fresco

Chocolate Chip and Sea Salt Cookies

Aside from the cooking, while in country we were also witness to the country celebrating their first medal with the unbelievable long jumping of the amazing gold medal winning, Irving Saladino.  In retrospect this whole trip was in reverence to him and his accomplishments for himself and his country.

Having driven directly from our two day boar feast in rural Syracuse, NY to Newark Airport, my inability to properly grasp reality was at an all time high. After picking up a casual taco at the airport stand and some light periodical reading on science and spatial relations the airplane ride was amazingly uninvolved and sleep befit us proper and quick.

Upon arrival we were greeted by no one; it was an hour before our friends appeared with large grins and a night full of nonsense ahead of us. First stop was the 24 hour grocery store, as the island we were would be staying at was devoid of all provisions except beer, wine and beaches.

Mixing Ron& Cola was one of the better things I have ever been apart of.

The first thing that struck me as amazing was the variety of fruits that seemed to be taken for granted by our friends. They were constructed oblong, sharp and lumpy; bitter, sweet and acrid; colored as the flora of the streets we drove around the city.

The best game to play was: Bitter or sweet

Which is this one?

I hadn’t the strenght to inquire

The second thing was the apparent desire for a beverage made out of grain products.

After a brief discussion about the current state of the music industry and the obvious lacking that needed to be filled by our new band, we retired to prepare for the mornings travels.

Flying has never been a problem for me but when you are in a plane that is smaller than a garbage truck and can only hold as many people, including the pilots that you can count on your hands, the concept is pushed to the limit. Add to this formula a runway that is longer than the island we were hoping to land on but still not long enough for the plan to properly come to a full rest without pulling a sweet inner-city taxi style U-turn at the far end.

This island provided the perfect place to taste some local foods and do some sea level cooking at 100% humidity. Which in retrospect isn’t so far from NYC in August but still it seemed excessive.

These cookies were delightful and just could not be finished. We ate them all day and night, at the beach, in the little pool, on the hammock, in our beds. Danielle threw a little bit of this unbelievably resilient Panamanian sea salt in the batter and instead of breaking down and dissolving they just added a nice pop of savory in a cloud of chocolate chips.

The days got hard and Mark had to brew some of his now legendary cold brewed coffee to wash these bastards down.

This is Diablo Rosso’s café/art gallery transformed to be full of friends, while Mark, Danielle and I called to attention the room for a little culinary description and thanks to our gracious hosts.

This is Dr Salci and Saky Kosmas two of our gracious hosts. Thank you very much my friends and to the rest of the lovely people that extended their love and affection over what could have ever been imagined to make us feel comfortable and welcome..

Sunday Dinner – July 27th, 2008
Cold Service

So after weeks of fighting the oppressive heat that my kitchen was able to create this July we decided that the best thing to do (instead of baking, braising, or sautéing with all of our burners on high) was to gave in and cook a meal based entirely around cold and room temperature dishes. Although this accomplished the goal of reducing the amount of BTUs being unnecessarily dumped into the room, the idea itself created a stress on our meager home refrigeration equipment and our ability to prepare everything on the day of service so our guests could watch, participate and learn as we constructed dinner. Note to those of you who were not at this meal: do not attempt to make and serve ice cream, granita, gelée and aspic in the same day without a serious amount of cold- a very serious amount.

This meal was the first in which ideas that we set out to accomplish were unable to be executed, but these failures led to what I can easily describe as my favorite moments in a kitchen this year. As with most meals, dinner was around dusk but preparation started mid-day; and on this particular Sunday we had a great group of people show up early to get dirty and participate in creating that night’s meal. Our hope was to shut off all burners by 18:00 and get the room nice and cool by dinner. This lofty goal was attained, but as dinner started we noticed that the large white box in the room that was supposed to be making our food cold was doing a “poor” job at best.

Its lack of coolness presented the greatest challenge to our pot lickies aspic, which at 15 minutes before plating still refused to get solid. So we took our problem to the room and to the 18 guests and chefs. Over wine and carbonated beverages, we turned a broken aspic into a beautiful pan sauce to dress the pâté.

I say this was one of my favorite moments in a kitchen because it accomplished everything that we hoped to have happen with our cooking: to get our guests to not be passive participants in a meal but active members of a dining experience, with a vested interest in everything that happens and to take ownership of the food they eat. This was no longer just a meal we were presenting to them; this was a meal they created with us throughout the day and together we were able to overcome the problems that our less than ideal conditions created.

Menu
Peach Gazpacho – White peach and mint gazpacho, finished with balsamic pickled strawberries and lime purée

Insalata Caprese – Buffula mozzarella, roasted tomato gelée, with basil oil and balsamic syrup

Wild Mushroom Brulée – Maitake and gorgonzola custard with pancetta brulée

Pâté En Croute – southern style pork pate with collard green pot lickies aspic wrapped in puff pastry

Raisin Granita – Raisin, Ancho and Serrano Ham Granita topped with candied Serrano chilies

Honey and White Pepper Ice Cream – locatelli and black Cypriote salt

Menu created with Daniel Castaño and Mark Low.
Cooks: Andrew Rosenberg, Daniel Castaño and Mark Low

Peach Gazpacho – White peach and mint gazpacho, finished with balsamic pickled strawberries and lime purée
I have never been a fan of gazpacho. I used to work next to a very well respected and critically acclaimed Mexican restaurant which had their gazpacho mentioned in every article or review but even its elegancy escaped me. Until one equally hot afternoon in July where peaches became the new shellfish and a frozen peach soup was born to help cure the heat. This is an evolution of that dish which garners nice compliments every time we serve it but still has not completely sold me on the idea these types of cold soups.

The addition of pickled fruit really helped to brighten the dish and give it better balance. With something like this the refreshing quality is what is important and I think the next time we take a stab at this I would like to see it equally as spicy as it is acidic. Giving the spice balance a little kick might also step up the cooling factor as well.

Insalata Caprese – Buffula mozzarella, roasted tomato gelée, with basil oil and balsamic syrup
This was just a reinterpretation of the classic Italian dish that will become a fixture on my table over the next month as this summer’s tomatoes come into season. Here we just replaced the fresh tomatoes with a concentrated roasted tomato gelée, hoping to create a smooth uniform mouth feel that would be able to sit in unison with the creamy density of the mozzarella. The flavors and textures were almost perfect and Mark’s superb knife skills saved the gelée which like the aspic refused to completely set.

Wild Mushroom Brulée – Maitake and gorgonzola custard with pancetta brulée
This was my favorite adventure of the night. Being a fan of Italian cooking I frequently enjoy room temperature dishes that you might see served cold or hot. This savory dish was something that I am happy to say was delightful at any temperature.

I know you can say “add bacon and blue cheese to anything and you pretty much have a winner,” but the consistency and creaminess of the savory custard was just delightful and the crack of the spoon on the pancetta was just as satisfying as breaking through a crust of turbinado sugar.

Pancetta Crackers

Pâté En Croute – southern style pork pate with collard green pot lickies aspic wrapped in puff pastry
In hopes of fusing southern pork flavors with a French preparation,this very standard pork shoulder and offal dish was designed to be our entrée in this meal. This, of all the dishes we have ever attempted to serve, was wrought with the most difficultly and failure, but was one of our greatest accomplishments.

• The pork protested the attack of the food processor
• The puff pastry cracked and refused to hold the aspic
• The aspic rejected the cold and did not set

But the dish was a success of flavor and texture and we accomplished it as a group.

Raisin Granita – Raisin, Ancho and Serrano Ham Granita topped with candied Serrano chilies

With six courses of cold food, two deserts are only to be expected if not demanded, but not wanting to give into our sweet tooth too easily we tried a semi-savory Granita. This was based on a simple Serrano Ham stock which we clarified the night before and added raisined fruit and peppers to flavor the dish until the sweet caramelized flavors overtook the rich creaminess of the pork. The candied chilies gave just a kick of spice that reminded your palate that you had not completely been given desert yet.

Honey and White Pepper Ice Cream – Locatelli Cheese and black Cypriote salt
This dish was dreamt up one night, many months ago with my friend Danielle over a glass of wine and a lifestyle and food magazine. As Ms. Florio flipped through the pages we talked about dessert, my aversion to it, and her quickly growing mastery of ice cream and granita making. At some point we got to talking about the ridiculous flavors of ice creams that we had been seeing around the city and how it seems as if people were trying to out silly one another. Not to be outdone we started on a verbal journey of nonsense that produced a long list of ice cream ridiculousness that we decided we had to try. This dish was the one I felt was the strongest and I believe was inspired by a brand of perfume that was either advertised in said lifestyle and food magazine or that was being worn at the time by Ms. Florio.

Locatelli cheese was added for its amazing salt and MSG levels, with the smoky flavor of the volcanic black Cypriote salt adding a touch of savory into the otherwise light and sweet dish. The white pepper gave each bite a touch of kick which you attempted to satisfy with the next bite of sweetness only to be placed at the beginning of the circle again. The slice of cheese was the savory ending to the brutal cycle of spice and sweet and left the cold meal finished.

Sunday Dinner July 13th, 2008 – Pasta

I would like to make something clear for those of you who do not know me personally yet; I am Italian. This is not a crucial or super interesting fact about me, but it does lend reasoning and purpose to some of my more eccentric actions. It explains things like; my predilection for serious, non-ironic facial hair, driving manual transmission cars ludicrously fast when I am alone on dark roads at night, having my friends in the kitchen with me getting dirty while telling lies and giggling. Most importantly I think that it might make explaining why we attempted to make seven courses of pasts in the middle of July a little easier.

As with most of these Sunday meal pretty much everything we set out to accomplish we had never done before and that seemed to lend an interesting sense of accomplishment to each course and each non-failure that was well received by those of you who didn’t have to leave early to see an amazing hip hop show. At the end of the whole day we managed an amazing six of the seven courses, letting the Cantaloupe linguine die quickly after the mid meal smoke break and people were mentioning a bit of a sated feeling that was overcoming them.

Here was the menu we attempted:

1. Pea and Carrot Raviolo in consommé freddo
2. Maguro with soy glaze and toasted sesame seeds
3. Smoked Avocado and crab pansotti, Lime beurre blanc
4. Pesto trenette nest with slow poached egg and hot savory whipped cream
5. Mole pappardelle with duck ragu
6. Cantaloupe linguine with white chocolate ganache (abandoned in favor of Mark’s dangerously good whisky sauce, {see below})
7. Whisky and hazelnut manicotti

Menu written with Daniel and Mark
Cooked with Daniel, Mark and Cathy
Without Kristen it would have been impossible.
Thank you all so much.

All photos by: Cathy Erway © 2008 http://noteatingoutinny.com/

Pea and Carrot Raviolo in Consommé Freddo
This dish started, as most on this menu did, at Roberta’s Pizzeria in Flatbush, while Carlo brought out plate after plate of deliciousness and we struggled to obtain beverages. The idea here was to take a standard dish that had absolutely nothing to do with pasta and make it into, well I guess make it into pasta. As obvious as that sounds for this meal it was not as simple as it would seem because most people smarter and more creative than we had already done amazing things with this concept.

So we forgot about it and wrote the rest of the menu and go painfully stuck on this idea of making a cold consommé, and the words ROAST BEEF. Not sure how or why but those two things yielded a desire to make roast beef with peas and carrots. To realize this dream we made carrot ravioli by juice pounds of carrots and reducing the fragrant juice to a syrup and added that to the pasta. Stuffed them with a very soft and fluffy sweet pea and ricotta filling and cooked them very quickly in beef stock. Mark made a shallot and beef stock and we clarified it properly first thing and then dropped it into a salt ice bath to get it super cold. The warm ravioli were then served in the cold broth with a chilled pea greens salad, seen here in great quantity.

Maguro with Soy Glaze and Toasted Sesame Seeds
I am on of those people who firmly believe that marco polo stole pasta when he returned from china in 15th century and that we should appreciate Asian noodles in the same light as Italian noodles.  Here we tried to build a dish that would in flavor resemble just a Maguro sushi presentation but instead of sticky sushi rice we opted for hand rolled wasabi udon noodles. The soy glaze was reduced, sweetened and then thickened and it was amazingly clingy.

Smoked Avocado and Crab Pansotti, Lime Beurre Blanc
Pansotti is a name for triangle shaped stuff pasta from the northern part of Italy. I happen to think the word would sound better with an A or E in the middle of it (ie panasotti or panesotti) but that is not my decision to make, as I no longer invent words for the Italian language.

The smoked avocado and crab stuffing was amazing polarizing, clearly defining the people in the room who enjoyed smoked food and those who didn’t. I happen to enjoy smoked foods, which is a very good reason why this dish made it on to the menu in this form, so I was delighted by the earthy fattiness of the avocado played against the sweet crab meat.

Lime juice was reduce into a syrup and mounted with a delicious amount of butter with a handful of shallots and jalapeños to really brighten up the density that was added by the pasta shell. All and all, if you don’t like smoked food you wouldn’t order this; if you do then it was, from most accounts a pretty strong success.

Pesto Trenette Nest with Slow Poached Egg and Hot Savory Whipped Cream
Trenette is another very specific type of long thin pasta that is traditionally served with a pesto sauce. Instead of serving it with a pesto sauce here with added the pesto directly to the pasta and fried them into little nests. Slow poached a quail egg to 63C topped them with a touch of hot whipped cream that was flavored with mushrooms and sweet onions. The idea was that the runny yolk and the cream would form a sauce and the tasty pasta bits would lend texture to the egg and the whole dish. Hot whipped cream being technically impossible without help from science we progress through this batch of sauce with varied results as we attempted a few different hydrocolloids to get us a nice set of soft peaks. End results were sufficient and the sauce was tasty and had a light but slightly dense mouth feel, but more work needs to be done and maybe a little bit of proper research.

Mole Pappardelle with Duck Ragu
Here we infused the mole sauce directly into the pasta so that the dish could be served dry with just a nice clean pile of braised duck on top. The duck was braised in a broth with the full list of ingredients that would be found in a typical mole sauce. Once painfully soft and delicate it was shredded and the braising liquid was reduced into a glaze and the duck was tossed with this.

A mole sauce was made and then chilled and folded directly in with the eggs when making the pasta, which was then kneaded with a combination of mole powder and flour until it was nice and smooth. Topped with a touch of crema and some cilantro, allowed the light spice of the dried peppers to be felt in both the noodle and the meat and allowed the sauce less dish to stay soft and prevent it from sticking.

I am very proud of the flavors of this dish and of the mole duck in general.

Whisky and Hazelnut Manicotti
Manicotti is a specialty of mine, in so much as it is the first pasta I learned how to make and it is only one from which my recipe originates directly in my family and not a combination of family and professional interactions.

The crepes were made neutral and stuffed with a sweet mascarpone cream. The plate had a touch of dulce de leche on it and the crepe was place on top, covered with Mexican chocolate, toasted hazelnuts and amazing whisky syrup that was unbelievably amazing.

This dish turned out to be small enough to be thought of a light way to end a meal and very well balanced between sweet and savory and was favored by most everyone.

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.

Sunday June 22^nd, 2008

This adventure into displaced products came together in very little time thanks to the amazing amount of traffic that day. Most of this meal was and exploration of infusing flavors into water and condensing that flavor into the service.

Menu

Savory Coconut Fritters

Housemade Tortellini in Brodo

Cauliflower Steak, Sweet Pea Puree

Smoked Lamb and Tagliatelle Salad

Meringues

This menu was written & executed with Mark Low and we were very excited and blessed to have the amazing Betsy Balog from Osteria La Spiga working with us and captaining the pastry duties for the evening. Special thanks would also like to be paid Sunny Bang, the new executive chef at The Williamsburg Café and good friend, who was one of the inspirations for the Cauliflower Steak that we cooked this night. Please try his version of this dish when the restaurant opens on July 4^th.

These beautiful photos were taken by Cassidy DuHon

Savory Coconut Fritters

The rice fritters were made risotto style, softened with a lemongrass and ginger stock and folded with diced shrimp. They were rolled into balls and coated with panko and coconut before being fried. The whole shrimp were dusted with a Thai spice blend and served with rocket. The rocket was dressed with a yuzu and sriracha and was thickened a little and left for people to dip the balls in.

Housemade Tortellini in Brodo

Saying house made is a little unnecessary and redundant, but everyone in the house chipped in a helped with this.

This was my attempt at try to recreate a classic Italian dish with a different flavor structure.

The tortellini were made with smoked flour and eggs and stuffed with a black eyed pea and sheep’s milk cheese puree. The broth was a sweetened Serrano ham stock and it was topped with sautéed chiffonade of collard greens that had been spiced with hot sauce. I think that the bent flavor structure was very successful and it remind some of the people at dinner and I that black eyed peas are fantastic.

Cauliflower Steak, Sweet Pea Puree

I believe this dish was originated with Charlie Trotter, but that is just hersay because I have never seen his recipe or really know anything about how he prepared, or served dish other to say that peas were originally broccoli.

That being said the dish was further filtered through the mind of my friend Sunny Bang as accompaniment for Brook Trout at The Williamsburg Café. To me though the idea of having the cauliflower be the center of attention and main purpose of the dish really was missing from both preparations.

To give the cauliflower a soft center texture it was  sous vided in with some seasoning and then give it a crisp outer texture it was finished in a pan with clarified oregano butter. The Pea puree was made with frozen (their density and flavor is perfect for pureeing and reducing) and fresh sugar snap peas, onion and cooked in a sweet basil stock. The little bit of red pepper was give as color contrast and to give  fresh crisp taste and texture to the dish.

Smoked Lamb and Tagliatelle Salad

This although it doesn’t seem like with the lamb chop was not the entrée, it was a salad course for after the cauliflower.

The lamb was smoked with apple wood and oregano and then sous vided with butter and herbs to 52C. It was then finished with the same Oregano butted to lightly caramelize the outside.

The Tagliatelle was not pasta but actually long strips of cucumber, daikon and omelet noodles cut into thin strips. I unpeeled the vegetables in the Japanese style of Katsuramuki and then cut them into long noodles. The omelets were made with a touch of cream and smoked salt and cooked super thin and then chilled. The salad was dressed with a cherry tomato and oregano vinaigrette.

Meringues

Here Betsy presents her hazelnut and chocolate meringue topped with fresh whip cream and strawberries. It was light, fluffy and amazingly simple to make but difficult to eat without getting at least a little messy. Thank you again for coming buy on your vacation to cook in my kitchen.