Cous cakes

Orange juice, carmelized shallot, chicken stock, standard breading procedure.

Coursed Dinner Party Menu, December 30th

 

 

 

Tentative Menu

 

 

Caramelized Celery Root Pave, Lemoncello Cured Salmon

 

This amuse course should be fun, a faux custard of blanc cooked celery root, pureed & strained overnight in cheesecloth.  Finished with yuzu juice.  The salmon will be cured with kosher salt & brown sugar overnight and then basted with meyer lemon infused vodka until a pellicle is formed.  I'm planning on brulee-ing the top of the pave served in black miso spoons and garnishing the top with the thinly sliced gravlax.
 

Foie Gras & Chestnut Soup, Seared Foie Gras Awesomeness

 

Soup course of course!  Onion, garlic sweated in butter (lard or bacon fat, kinda waffling on this), white wine & a touch of sherry, chestnuts, orange zest, chicken or duck stock, cream.  Finished with foie gras butter (3:1 butter to passed liver scrap, keeps from curdling) & sherry vinegar.  Served in mini 4 oz. soup cups with a metal fleur de lys skewer holding a seared piece of foie gras over the top.  Decadent, maybe.  Tasty, damn right!  My homage to the late, great Jean-Louis Palladin.

 

Lobster Custard Timbale, Vanilla & Star Anise Scented Root Vegetables, Beet Emulsion

 

1/2 quart of cream : 4 whole eggs.  Buttered timbale molds, parchment round in the bottom.  Cooked, diced lobster, dried on towel before folding into the custard.  Season with salt, pepper & herbs as necessary.  Cook in water bath in 300* oven until set.  Chill overnight, run paring knife around edges and unmold.  Star anise & vanilla bean oil just infused for a few weeks (grapeseed or neutral oil preferred).  Thinking a mix of fun root veggies, whatever I find at the market or through Tom Cornille if I can fit in a visit.  For the Beet Emulsion, cooked red beet pureed with some balsamic & sherry vinegars and some nice extra virgin olive oil.  Might garnish the top with something crispy, a beet, lotus root chip or fried leeks.     

 

 Poussin, Citrus Cous Cous Cake, Baby Carrot, Blueberry Jus

 

This is the course that's most likely to change depending on what I can get my grubby little mits on.  [Insert diabolical laughter here.]  Any game bird that I can find fresh, poussin (baby chicken), squab, pheasant or duck in a pinch.  If poussin, I'm planning on removing the breast & thighs from the carcass and cooking them seperately, confiting the thighs and roasting the breasts.  The carcass will be roasted for the jus, which will be finished with syrup reconstituted dried blueberries & foie gras butter.  The cous cous will be cooked in orange juice & chicken stock, drained without rinsing onto a sheet pan, frozen, cut into shape, and then egged breaded and pan fried to golden sweetness.  The baby carrots will be treated with love and affection, and some charred orange may make an appearance.  'Cuz that's how I roll, guy.   

 

Roquefort, Aerated Dark Chocolate, Candied Cilantro

 

Sound strange?  It isn't.  Blue cheese, chocolate & cilantro are wickedly awesome together.  Just ask Chef Don Yamauchi who first introduced the combo to me back at Le Francais.  I've changed it to a more contemporary take, by aerating the chocolate.  To aerate chocolate, first temper dark chocolate and pour into an Issi.  Charge with two cartridges.  Shoot chocolate into a metal 3rd or 1/2 pan and put into a cryovac machine, *uncovered*, and run the machine until the mix almost overflows the pan.  Repeat a few times and then freeze to set the mix.  This causes the chocolate to take on tons of tiny air bubbles, almost making a solid mousse without cream or eggs.  The candied cilantro with be done up with lightly frothed egg white and caster sugar.  The blue cheese will be the best I can find, tempered to room temperature, of course.

 

Rose Touched Creme Brulee, Currant

 

I found a recipe for rose creme brulee in a French cookbook by Joel Robuchon called Facile.  I'm planning on adapting Le Titi de Paris' old creme brulee recipe to include rose instead of vanilla notes.  Currants are the fruit of choice, but if something else catches my attention, this is apt to change.

 

Mignardises & Coffee

 

Is it only me that wants to pronounce mignardises, MIG-nards?  Planning on coating a foie gras flavored cream cheese with Callebaut dark chocolate.  Or something else you wouldn't normally find filling chocolates.  Any suggestions?

French Laundry, Chef & Vegetable Tastings, 9/28/12

 

 

 



                           
                 

 

 

 

  

 

 

                              

                              

                              


                              

                              

                               


                             


                              


                              


                              


                              


                              


                             


                              

X-Mas Gift Project, Fennel Crusted Pistachios

 

I forget exactly where I heard about crusting pistachios with fennel pollen, but I believe a pastry chef from one of Nobu's restaurants was credited for having 'em on a menu.  I wanted something to accompany the pistachio liquor I infused, and when we were in Napa, Anne & I found a really reasonably priced fennel pollen from a company called Whole Spice.  For about two pounds of unsalted, untoasted, shelled pistachios, I lightly whipped 1 egg white while the nuts toasted.  After they had nice color, I let them cool a bit.  After the nuts would no longer cook an egg white, I tossed them together in a bowl with the lightly frothed white, a generous amount of sea salt & fennel pollen, then lowered my oven to 200*F.  I spread the mix out onto a silpat lined sheet tray and dried them out for a while. 

 

I can't stop eating the damned things. 

Recipe Focus, Some Old Kendall Charcuterie Recipes

Duck Galantine

Yield: 8 galantines

16 whole ducks, 3# lean pork, 3# fatback, 2 sliced onion, 4 oz. port, 8 oz. Madeira, 3 sprigs thyme, 20 finely chopt sage leaves, 1 orange’s zest, 1 c. duck glace, 40 g. salt, 12 g. black pepper, 55 g. pink salt, 1 t. quarte epices, 4 oz. white wine, 1 oz. brandy, pistachios, truffle pieces, small dice ham

Bone 8 ducks for galantine, keep skin & meat intact.  Even out meat by trimming out excess duck & transferring to areas that doesn’t have meat (can also pound out).  Bone out the other ducks, keeping the leg & breast meat separate.  Saute onions in butter until translucent.  Add the port, Madeira, & thyme – reduce by ¾.  Let cool.  Combine leg meat, ¼ breast meat, lean pork, fatback, onion mix, sage, zest, s/p, pink salt, quarte epices, white wine & brandy, & let marinade 24 hours.  Marinade the ¾ remaining duck breast (ea. breast cut in half lengthwise), and duck skin w/ a sprinkle of salt mix [12 g. salt : 3 g. white pepper : 7 g. pink salt] in cooler for 24 hours.  Grind the pork & duck mix w/ 1/8” die.  Over ice, add glace, pistachios, ham, & truffles.  Test in sauté to check seasoning.  Prepare the galantine, putting the reserved breasts in the center as integral garnish.  Wrap in cheesecloth & poach in flavorful stock until internal temp 152*F.  Remove galantines from liquid, cool liquid, then re-add galantines.  Refrigerate 24 hours before using.

 

Basic Country Pate

A: 3.5# strips lean pork butt, 5# strips pork fatback, 2 large onions-sliced, sautéed & chilled, ¼ c. minced garlic-sauteed & chilled, 1 qt. white wine, 2 T. chopt thyme, 2 bay leaf, 4 t. ground black pepper, 1 ½ quatre epices, 1 t. celery salt, 2 t. sugar, 1.5 oz pink salt, splash brandy, 65 g. salt. 

Marinade 24 hours in fridge, drain in colander & pat dry.  Grind cold w/ 3/16 in. die.  Chill

B: 1.5 # lean pork butt 

 

Scallop Mousse

1 1/2# sea scallop (dry pack, wings removed, & pre-salt), 1 egg, 1+ qt. cream

Process scallop in chilled robocoupe untilit gets smooth & starts to ball up.  Add egg & process until it becomes a smooth paste. Check temp., if too warm throw into freezer.  Add a small amount of cream (~1 c.) to the coupe, pouring slowly.  Process until elastic.  Check temp.  Continue adding cream until a total of 3 c. has been added.  Check a quenelle in simmering water.  Keep adding cream until mousse is nicely light.  If in terrine, cover & bake @ 250*F until 135*F internal temp.  About 1.5 hours.  Chill in ice.

Variation: Pike Mousse

2# pike, 2 egg, 1+qt. cream

Grind pike through 1/8” die.  Proceed as for scallop mousse.

 

Lobster Forcemeat

1 ½ # pike meat, ½ # diced lobster meat (cooked), bisque reduction, 2 eggs, 8 oz. cream, chopt tarragon, s/p

Process pike meat.  Add eggs & cream, process smooth.  Add bisque redux, blend then pass through bang.  Fold in tarragon & lobster meat.  Flavor check, adjust seasoning.

 

Mushroom Terrine

3 qt. mushrooms- ¼’d or whole if small, ¼ c. minced shallot, 2 T. minced celery, 1 clove minced garlic, ¼ c. brandy, ¼ c. white wine, ¼ c. Madeira, olive oil, 2 c. demi, aspic (neutral, chix, beef, or vegetable/mushroom)

Saute aromatics.  Reserve.  Saute mushrooms until nicely browned, & cooked through.  Add aromatics to shrooms, along w/ wines.  Cook to au sec.  Add demi, reduce to glaze.  Season, then cool.  Line terrine w/ plastic.  Put some chilled aspic on bottom of terrine, followed by a layer of shrooms, more aspic, shrooms, etc, until finished.  Cover w/ excess plastic, chill for 12 hours before serving.

 

Marinade for Smoked Duck

4 crushed garlic cloves, 2 c. mirpoix, ¼ c. rice vinegar, 1 T. chili paste, ½ c. molasses, ½ c. soy, ¼ c. brown sugar, ½ c. cider vinegar, 2 c. water, 4 pc. star anise, 20 black pepper corns.

 

Hot Dogs

4.5 # fat free cow meat, 2# +4 oz. lean pork butt, 2# +4 oz trimmed pork jowls, 2# +6 oz. ice chips, 4 oz. soy protein concentrate, 2 t. Prague # 1, 6 T. salt, 2 ½ T. Spanish paprika, 5 T. ground mustard, 1 t. black pepper, 2 t. white pepper, 1 t. ground celery seed, 2 t. mace, 1 t. garlic powder, 1 T. onion powder, 1 t. ground coriander, 1 ½ oz. corn syrup solids, 3 ½ T. pink salt

Grind cold meat w/ ½ in. plate.  Add salt & Prague #1.  Chill 24 hours.  Grind fat w/ ½ in. plate, chill.  Grind fat & meat separately with 1/16 in. plate, chill.  In chilled buffalo chopper, add meat w/ ½ ice.  Grind until meat gets stringy—do not let temp. rise above 45*.  Add fat, spices, and remaining ice.  Continue grinding until temp rises to no higher than 58* (54-58 optimal).  When mix is at 52* add soy powder.  Pack into 24-26 mm. sheep casings, Age one day, poach until 152* internal temp., dry, and smoke for 30-45 minutes.

My Favorite Cookbooks, Part 11, Notes From a Kitchen Volumes 1 & 2

 

This book is simply inspiring.  I've been taking serious notes from culinary school to the present, and I didn't realize how common this practice was amongst my peers... especially when it came to picking up any scrap of paper, spent POS system tickets, or even a paper towel to muse upon, only to put into a more permanent notebook if the thought or recipe made the grade.  I've had more notebooks stolen, credit to the hand drawn pictures and detailed notes than I'd ever like to admit.  This series strikes a solid chord with me.

 



 

Inside you'll find mostly pictures, some musings, and a bunch of fine dining chefs explaining their thought processes.  If you thought Marco Pierre White's, White Heat, could invoke a need to live the life of a chef, it pales in the sheer & utter majesty of Notes.  I just want to create after paging though these.  I've decided to start including some of my personal notes, scribblings and old recipes to this blog in an attempt to preserve & share them.  Toques off to the authors, Jeff Scott & Blake Beshore, as well as the chef contributors, Sean Brock, Johnny Iuzzini, Michael Laiskonis, George Mendes, Emma Hearst, Joel Harrington, Matt Gaudet, Zak Palaccio, Jason Neroni, & Neal Fraser.  I'd like to thank you all for the creative fires you've helped stoke.  As they say in/on the book, "I am going to be dangerous."

 



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.