Chef Talk with Kyle Cherek - Robert Druschitz / Interview

Recipe Foci, Le Titi, Le Francais, Arizona Kitchen

Pistachio Brulee (Le Titi)

500 g. cream, 500 g. milk, 100 g. pistachio paste, 150 g. sugar, 200 g. sugar

 

Duck Liver Flan (Le Titi)

1 onion (chopt & caramelized w/ garlic & cooled), 2 clove garlic, 500 g. duck liver, chicken liver, or foie, 7 eggs, 1200 g. cream, thyme, tarragon, or other herb

Puree w/ stick blender or bar blender, pass though sieve, fill timbales or ramekins, water bath, 325*F oven.

 

Maple Cream  (Le Titi)

250 g. maple syrup, 5 yolks, 50 g. pastry cream powder (sub cornstarch?), ½ L. milk (scalded), 2 gelatin leaf (bloom), 250 g. chopt pecans, 500 g. cream (soft peak)

Maple, yolks, powder.  Temper in milk, whisk in gelatin, cook until thick--- bubbles in middle, cool in ice bath.fold in pecan, then cream.  Set overnite.

 

Fig Ice Cream (Le Titi)

 

1471 g. milk, 142 g. powdered milk, 284 g. cream, 483 g. sugar, 156 g. glucose powder, 1000 g. fig puree, 21 g. IC stabilizer

 

Swiss Meringue (Le Titi)

500 g. sugar (soft ball) : 250 whites  For Chocolate, 35 g. cocoa

 Tartlet Dough (Le Francais)

500 g. softened butter, 50 g. sugar, 12 g. salt, 80 g. water, 2 eggs, 1 K. cake flour

Cream butter, sugar, salt.  Add liquid.  Mix flour little by little.

Raspberry Pate  (Le Titi)

1000 g. raspberry puree, 25 g. pectin, 1140 g. sugar, 320 g. glucose, 15 g. citric acid @ 50% (~8 g. water : 8 g. lemon juice)

Warm puree – mix pectin w/ 25% of the sugar, add to puree.  Boil.  Add glucose & additional sugar – cook to 223 *F.  Remove from heat & whisk in acid.  Pour in ½ sheet pan w/ silpat.  Let set in cooler.

 

Mango Pate (Le Titi)

1000 g. mango puree, 300 g. green apple puree, 1500 g. sugar, 450 g. glucose, 35 g. pectin, 20 g. citric acid (~10 g. water : 10 g. lemon juice)

Same as raspberry pate.

 

Spaetzle (Le Titi)

1# flour, 1 ½ c. milk, 6 eggs (+ or- 1), 2 T. Dijon, 1 T. whole grain mustard, tumeric, 2 T. apple cider vinegar

Looking for the consistency of pate choux w/ initial egg addition.

 

Charred Yellow Tomato Gazpacho (AZK)

1 cs yellow tomato – cored in 1/4s, 5 peeled & deseeded cucumbers, 2 yellow squash, s/p, champagne vinegar, olive oil, Tabasco

Char  tomato (easy under a sally), buzz ingredients and season.

 

Goat Cheese Roulades (AZK)

36 oz. goat cheese, 16 oz. cream cheese, pesto or other filling

Mix cheeses at room temp.  Spray table w/ nonstick.  Parchment.  Spray parchment.  Roll out mix, square off.  Spread pesto/filling.  Roll, freeze to set.

 

Tamales (variation cascabel chile) (AZK)

8 c. masa harina, 8 c. apple juice, 2 T. baking powder, 2 T. salt, 14 T. lard, cascabel chile puree

 

Chipotle Citrus Redux (AZK)

4 gal. OJ, 46 oz. pineapple juice, thyme, oregano, black peppercorns

Redux low heat until thick, up to 8 hours.  Strain and freeze.  Base for dressing – add mayo, sherry vinegar, balsamic, Tabasco, chile powder, brown sugar, cumin, salt and white pepper.

 

Smoked Apple & Lime Dressing (AZK)

1 cs granny smith apples (peel, seed, core), 10 lime’s zest, apple juice

Hot smoke, apples & zest – mesquite.  Buzz w/ juice.  FREEZE.  Add same ingred. as citrus dressing.

 

Crema (AZK)

1 pt heavy cream : 1 pt buttermilk

1 pt. lemon juice to every gallon.  Room temp. for 2 days.

At AZK, added zucchini juice & roasted garlic

 

 

Pork Braise (AZK)

¾ OJ : ¼ Lemon Juice + 1 onion, oregano, achiote paste, garlic

 

Star Anise & Vanilla Bean Oil (AZK)

Toast anise.  10 vanilla beans split.  Grapeseed oil.  Let sit 2 days minimum.

 

Pinion Cream (AZK)

1 gal. cream, 1 onion, garlic, olive oil, oregano, thyme, Madeira, pine nuts

Sweat onion, garlic in oil, deglaze w/ Madeira, au sec, cream, pine nuts.  Reduce.  Buzz. Strain chinnoise.  Season.

 

Smoked Bell Pepper Cream (AZK)

15-20 bell peppers (roast, skinned, deseed, smoke until smells), 1 gal. cream, 1 onion, garlic, olive oil, oregano, thyme, Madeira 

Same procedure as pinion cream, but season w/ Tabasco, chile powder, brown sugar, cumin, and cornstarch if loose.

 

Pomegranate & Molasses Glaze (for squab) (AZK)

Simmer half molasses w/ half pomegranate syrup, whisk in garlic, butter, & salt.

 

Red Chile & Goat Cheese Cream (AZK)

1 gal. cream, 1 onion, garlic, olive oil, oregano, thyme, 1 #10 can diced tomato, 3 New Mexico red chiles, tequila, goat cheese

Same procedure as pinion cream, but season w/ Tabasco, chile powder, brown sugar, cumin and deglaze w/ tequila.  The tomato gets added w/ cream, the goat cheese buzzed in at the end.

 

Gabriel’s “Tempura” Batter

350 g. flour, 60 g. cornstarch, 60 g. baking powder, water, s/p

 

Le Francais’ Meat Temps

115* Rare, 120* MR, 125* M, 130-5* MW, 145-50* Well

 

Bacon & Dijon Dressing (Le Francais)

2 T. shallot, 1 T. garlic, ¼ c. red wine vinegar, 1 kitchen spoon Dijon, 3 yolks, 1 qt. blended oil, bacon fat (sub foie?! J), s/p

Whip by hand, bacon fat last.

 

Champagne Vinaigrette (Le Francais)

3 : 1 Oil to Vinegar + shallot, garlic, sugar, S&P.

 

Fruit Brulee (Le Francais)

250 g. cream, 50 g. milk, 40 g. puree, 50 g. sugar, 2 yolks, 1 egg

 

Vanilla Brulee (Le Francais)

200 g. milk, 100 g. cream, 1 vanilla bean, 50 g. sugar, 5 yolks

 

Lobster Bisque (Le Francais)

6# lobster shells, mir poix + garlic, 2 bay leaf, coriander, tarragon, cracked black pepper, cayenne, ½ c. cream sherry (cheaper), ½ c. brandy, ½ c. white wine, tomato paste, fish stock, duck remoulage, finish with cream.  Pass through china cap, chinnoise, & tammy.

 

Orange & Vodka Sorbet (Le Francais)

2 L. fresh OJ, 350 ml simple syrup, 100 g. sugar, 1 lemon’s juice, 250 ml vodka

 

Tart Dough (Le Francais)

1 K. flour, 700 g. butter, 350 sugar, 3 yolks, 2 T. vanilla, pinch salt, 4 T. cream, zest 1 orange

 

Black Truffle Vinaigrette (Le Francais)

1/3 c. balsamic, ¼ c. sherry vinegar, 1-2 black truffles, 3 c. blended oil, 1-2 oz. black truffle oil, s/p

Blender method.  If you have a really nice EVOO, take out ¼ c. blended oil & add ¼ c. in it’s place at end after the blender.

 

Potato Puree (Le Francais)

6# potato : 2# butter : 1 ½ qt. cream reduced to 1 qt.

Cook potato until nicely done, dry in oven.  Ricer into mixer.  Add other ingredients, season, pass through tammy.

 

White Truffle Potato Soup (Le Francais)

1 onion, ¼ c. sliced garlic, 16 peeled & chopt potato, 3 qt. cream, white truffle oil, s/p

Saute veggies, add cream, add potato, cook until done.  Puree, flavor w/ oil, s/p, pass through chinnoise.

 

Broken Beet Vinaigrette  (Le Francais)

1 boiled or roasted beet, balsamic vinegar, blended oil, EVOO, S/P --- Blender.

 

Brown Butter Emulsion

3 large pots, 4 oz. squab ju or duck stock, ½ # butter, ¼ c. lemon juice

Brown butter in one pot.  Heat ju in other.  Add ju & lemon to browned butter.  Whisk hard through bubbles, when emulsified add to other pot & keep whisking.

Ways I've seen people eff up lobster (an ode to B & Szaboo!)



I had a bit of inspiration this morning from a facebook post an old friend that cooked with me at Le Francais & Rhapsody put up last night.  He posted something about how his cooks accidentally condensed a container of lobster bisque he'd painstakingly taken the time to show them to make into a container of tomato soup, thus ruining the end product.  He made it sound like he was about to go Hell's Kitchen all over their respective, collective cocinero buttocks. 

B, take it easy on the guys.  Breathe in, exhale.  You burned five gallons of it once and we both got reamed.  You also liked to hide lobster knuckles in the walk in so you wouldn't have to clean 'em for the meat.  Hell, even though I wanted to kill you then, it's just soup and sea bugs.  Tasty, buttery, MFing sea bugs. *Drool*

BTW, B, as you read this I want to share a story about another chef I saw destroy lobster, to the tune of over $4,000 in crustacean claw, body, knuckle meat and various liquor/mise en place.  While working at a high end caterer in this lovely city of Chicago a few years ago, I had the opportunity to work with a Danzig-loving Chef de Cuisine I'll refer to as "Szaboo!".  Humor me here, if you know him, you'll get the joke.

The *first* time he commited langoustine genocide, Szaboo! was trying to find a way to use all the remaining lobster pieces after a weekend where 2 large parties just had entrees with tail meat.  So we had lexons full of knuckle, claw & carcass that needed to be used, and he didn't feel like cleaning the meat (sound familiar, B?).  He decides he's going to make bisque, and starts with lobster stock in one huge batch, in the largest steamkettle I've ever worked with (I had to stand on a milk crate to look in, no joke).  The only issue is, he decides he's going to let it COOK ALL NIGHT and then strain it in the morning.  ("It's okay, Bob, I've done it before and it's turned out great.")  Even though I warned him away, the Executive Chef was unreachable at that time, and he proceeded to go with his plan.

In case you don't know why this is a bad idea, you just need to know one simple thing.

The longer you simmer lobster shells (especially the claw) the more iodine from the carcass leaks into the liquid base.

The kitchen smelled like tainted shellfish the minute I walked in to open shop, and the stock was the first thing I checked on.  It was dark.  It looked like fava bean cooking water.  I tasted it and practically vomited. 

Now, Szaboo! worked for some good restaurants, don't get me wrong.  He was no novice.  He'd worked at Mary Elaine's at the Phoenican, The French Laundry, & Trio to name a few.  Szaboo! was a conundrum wrapped in an enigma.  He also tried to blame me for the incident.  I'd e-mailed the proper managers prior to this however, as I didn't want any part of these shenanagins in the first place.  He got chewed way worse than me and B did a decade prior.

Why he did something similar a few weeks later, I still cannot fathom.  Szaboo! was one in million.  Hell, he even managed to poison himself with sterno once in someone's garage while cooking off site.  The second time, the stock was fine (in a similar batch size), but he burnt the flavor base he was making for the bisque.

He killed a megaton of mirepoix, fennel, tomato paste, a few CASES of sherry, pernod (not cheap), and brandy.  He didn't bother to deglaze in batches.  It looked like the Gate to Hell had opened up in a tilt skillet.  I still don't think the Ansel fire suppression system was working right, because it should've been triggered.  He scorched the bejesus out of the machine.  I think a small part of me died that day, because he still added it to the lobster stock.

He still added it to the lobster stock.

Wait, did I tell you he still added it to the lobster stock?

So B, just realize, it could always get worse.  I owe you a beer sometime, just tell me when you're free.

Favorite Ingredients, Foie Gras

A breakfast of foie gras, poached egg, potatoes lyonnaise, fresh tomatoes & roaring forties blue cheese

I love foie gras.  I love to cook it.  I love to eat it.  When I first started cooking with foie, it had a certain sexy mystique about it.  When your chef portions the liver and forbids others from cleaning it, or perhaps only one cook is allowed to cook it on the hot line, there's something to be said about learning to cook with it as a whole.  A need to prove oneself.   Chicago banned it for a brief period of time.  There are still people that think it's illegal here now and I think that's sad.  Because no matter what PETA thinks, it's still more humane than the way we treat chickens, cattle, and even our labor in this great country.

The book to read about foie when I started cooking was Foie Gras, A Passion, by Michael A. Ginor.

This book contained a veritable who's who of chefs (including Charlie Trotter who lambasts the gras now) and was the most exciting thing to pass around at Le Francais as we talked of preparations we cooks had experienced cooking at other restaurants or had eaten with our meager paychecks on the rare night out.  I remember talking with a friend for about a half hour on the best way to stuff figs with the liver while breaking down the line.  Good times.

Since then, my experience with the product has grown immensely, yet as of late, haven't had the opportunity to deal with it on a regular schedule.  When I was catering, we sold it often on a large scale, the record being fifteen 2 pound lobes brought in for a party of 550, to be broken down into torchon.  That was fun, and a few of our interns actually got some hands on time while it was still banned.  Chicago doesn't always follow the law.  Heck, technically sous vide is illegal, but look at all the cryovacs & immersion circulators out there.  Kinda expensive paperweights, eh?

My favorite way to make torchon is a hybrid method, lightly cleaning, marinating/curing, and then free poaching in duck fat at 190 degrees for a few minutes, then wrapping and cooling like a free form sausage.  First with cheese cloth and then plastic wrap, and then after cooling, rewrapping after being rolled smooth on a warm surface.  I can control the size of the torchon that way, making logs the size of a saucer or as small as a quarter.  Almost perfectly round to boot.  There's little loss of fat (if done correctly) and the duck fat can be reused or utilized in another dish.  Makes some hella roasted potatoes.

Salt cured torchons deserve some mention.  Very little weight loss occurs, but it can come off as too salty if left in the cure too long.  Smaller torchons and overnight curing is the best route.

A whole lobe.  Sexy, ain't it?

As for sauteed foie, I've seen it done a bunch of different ways.  Some chefs flour it.  Some chefs don't.  Some chefs score it.  Other chefs don't.  Cooking from frozen, as much as a sin as it seems, works insanely well, and you tend to generate less waste.  This is good since the product is so damned expensive to begin with.  However, if you're busy enough, a nice thick piece of liver, vein removed, seared fresh is incredible.  Make sure you get deep color, and DO NOT BURN IT.  Nothing makes me more pissed off than paying for something so sacred... than to see it greasy and without color or burnt to inedibility.  Or for it to be too thin.  Or overcooked until it's rubbery. 

There are plenty of ways to use foie scraps that should be mentioned.  Foie gras is the closest thing we have to edible play doh.  At the right temperature you can mold or form it any which way but loose.  Fun to think about, easy to be creative.  When I have scraps the first thing I usually do is make foie butter.  3:1 unsalted butter to foie scrap passed through a sieve, butter first paddled in a mixer, and the scrap folded in.  Freeze or refrigerate until needed.  Outside of smearing it on bread, foie butter prepared properly does not curdle after being mounted into a sauce or nage.  Effing unbelievable mounted into even vegetable broths.

Foie scrap can also be saved for torchons, worked into strudels, sauteed as a salad special, whipped into mousses, made into crusts for meat or fish with cream cheese, egg & breadcrumb, smeared over your...  pardon me.  Anyways, good stuff.  Don't just throw it out.

 Smiley the Goose says, "I'm no corporate chicken!  I eat a lot more too!  PETA can shove it!  Quack!"

Veal Stock & Demi Glace, Obsessive Simplicity

I am a saucier at heart.  The daily ritual of making demi has eluded me lately and I feel a void where this obsessive-compulsive task is missing from my everyday schedule.  Not one chef I've ever worked for has ever made it the same way and the details hold glimpses into the heart of the chef in question (atleast for the French trained).

I start with fresh, not frozen bones if possible.  The only vendor who carries them currently in the Chicagoland area that I know of is Lex Foods, the owner being John Lex.  (847) 432-5741, BTW.  He's related to the guys who run JDY, who should be able to get the bones from John if you're interested in the product.  This isn't cheap, however. 

I personally don't mind cutting hard bones with soft bones 50/50.  Soft bones are cheaper and tend to run smaller.  They're great for second washes or remoulage (the term for making veal stock from the same bones twice, often used to start the next batch of demi instead of water).  The only issue with soft bones is that I can't find them fresh, and I'll only use them if I have to drive down my costs.  Some brands are treated with sodium tripolyphosphate, which is a water retention chemical used in food processing to make the bones hold water and weight more and also helps with preserving the bones. 

This sucks.  I can smell it slightly, I swear.  And when treated bones are roasted, they'll drop water, ruining the beautiful color you need to get from your veal stock.  Crazy story somewhat off topic.  For a while we were able to get ostrich bones at half the price of veal bones in the late 90's early 00's.  Roasted and used in demi 50%, you couldn't tell the difference.  I won't name names but you'd be surprised to know who bought them.  Now the prices for ostrich bones are through the roof, as large soup companies caught on and buy almost the entire market.  I shit you not.  Effing ostrich.

Anyways, the next item is your mirepoix.  I haven't weighed a batch in ages, and I personally go easier on the veggies as a whole (especially the celery).  I like flavor, but primarily the flavor of the main ingredient in a recipe.  Veal stock should taste like the distilled essence of a thousand dead baby steer.  Nothing more, nothing less.  The veggies should be peeled, and no ass ends of carrots or peelings make it into the stock.

Why you ask?  Have you ever eaten the ass end of a carrot?  Tastes like bitter carrot pukings!  If you won't eat it, don't put it in your stock.  It's a building block, not a fucking garbage pit!  Next is the tomato product (I use paste).  It's essential to giving body to your reduction, but I err on the light end.  I will put four heaping kitchen spoons in for 100 pounds of bones.  Michael uses 4#'s weighed out if I remember right, and Bernard uses a full #10 can.  You can taste the difference, and you're able to reduce it more with less tomato.  It is essential to getting the gelatin to take hold in a finished sauce though. 

Speaking of gelatin, a few pig's feet thrown in at the end helps too.  As for color, I will brulee my onions by cutting them lengthwise and charring the shizznit out of them.  Your stock will never pick up any burnt notes, and the end product is worth seeing.  On the other veggies being cooked, caramelization is essential, but not too much.  Deglaze with red wine, but don't use too much.  Again, it's veal stock, not effing bordelaise.  Also, make sure you start with cold water or remoulage and bring quickly to a simmer.  That gives a level of clarity that's desired.

Thyme, parsley, peppercorns, and fresh bay leaves finish the stew.  Don't forget to skim, all the time!  Re-emulsified fat kills a stock if made in the western tradition.  The Chinese do some beautiful things with reincorporating fat into their stocks, but it will make an unappetizing demi with an ugly color and whorish taste.  If you like tasting whores, go eat at the docks, not where I hang my hat.  Cook overnight.

When straining for further reduction, save the bones and make stock out of them to start your next batch.  And obsess!  There's always another step to be taken to make a better product. 

A sushi chef once told an apprentice, "The sushi is never perfect until all the rice is pointing the same direction."  The lesson being that there's always something to improve on, no matter how good you are at the task.

Le Francais Stories, My Petit Lapin

I worked with a young Frenchman at Le Francais some time ago, who was aggressive and more than a wee bit sinister.  (From here on in I'll refer to him as Lapin.)  Lapin was the textbook saucier.  Not quite Sous Chef material, with a good deal of potential, but not without some deep character flaws that would keep him from ever going too high in the Chicago dining scene.

One of those was his being violent.

A newer fish cook, young, blonde and female was a frequent target of his douchiness (in France, also known as "showeriness").  One day she was prepping and standing with her legs somewhat crossed.  He kicked her leg out from under her and stated, "That's why you don't stand in the kitchen like that," as she fell. 

I was target a few times, as he often had projects that needed working on.  My first day in the kitchen staging he dropped two cases of beef marrow bones in front of me to scrape the sinew from (prep for the filet on the menu).  I made a chef's knife serrated after a day of scraping.  Another day, I was cutting mirepoix into a very small dice (coincidentally for the same dish's prep that would be sweated and quennelled to order), when he hit my right hand elbow while I was cutting.  His only words were, "Good.  You didn't cut yourself.  You know how to use a knife."

I was pissed off, and saw red.  Grabbing him by the neckerchief (standard unform), I quickly turned my knife on him.  I believe I said something to the effect of, "I do, and unless you want to be a dead Frenchman at my feet, I suggest you apologize."

We got along fine after that, for the most part.  Later on during my stint there, Lapin needed something from the cooler during service, but his heavy accent made it indecipherable to me.  "Hex!"  He called.  I came out with some random thing from the walkin, only to meet with his disapproval. 

"HEX!  Don't you American's know what HEX are!  It's by the mustard!!!" 

Confused, I went back to the cooler and brought out some other random article.  That was when he completely lost it.  Red faced and shouting, Lapin screamed,

"HEX, HEX, HEGS, HEGS, EGGS!!!"

I replied.

"Oh!  Eggs!" 

He wasn't too happy after that.