sizzleteeth

Living in Seattle my friend you should have access to untold amounts of the freshest seafood still alive and kicking - if not in Seattle itself - just by being so close to California - hell flights from Chicago to San Francisco are around $163 round trip right now - you could just fly down to California (or Drive) with a cooler and fill it up/ice it down from any number of fishmongers - or bring back live crab, lobster - whatever. They'll let you check a cooler full of live lobster and crab won't they? :laugh:

Sure some of the more exotic items may elude you but, depending on where you live I suppose, somebody somewhere has to have at least a small selection of hyper-fresh fish.

The afformentioned Fish Guy Market (aka Superior Ocean Produce) in Chicago is where many restaurants buy from - even some of the best. We're no where near an ocean.

Our wholesale division Superior Ocean Produce supplies many of Chicago's top chefs. These are cutting edge restaurants that are very selective about featuring fresh seasonal products. This allows us to offer a substantial selection of "day boat fresh" fish and live shellfish daily.
http://www.fishguy.com/about.htm

They supply fish to Trotter's and some "80 percent" of the fish used at Trotter's to Go.

http://www.fishguy.com/condetrotter.htm

There are also several Asian markets in Chicago that sell a variety of live fish.

I would imagine a similar place exists in Seattle - if not several - who sell fish caught the day before - a couple of days before - that day - or even sell fish that are still live.

{edit}

Seattle..... of course - I wasn't even thinking:

http://www.pikeplacefish.com/

April 15, 2005

It may be the case that to order vegetables from the Chef's Garden you need:

“A federal tax ID, names of three chief officers, trade references (with addresses) and Bank Reference”. Or alternatively you can donate $1,000 to the Culinary Vegetable Institute and then pay $250 per box else it might keep micro mache and some other things off your plate.

But generally you can get comparable items – if not the exact same items available to restaurants – from a number of sources… or in some cases you can simply grow your own or even buy locally from farms that don’t even sell to restaurants – but provide equally naturally raised high quality items. You might not pay wholesale, reach volume discount plateus or get the first pick... but you can access these things.

Without dealing with obstacles intended to maintain exclusion.

If you want Prime beef and other high quality, meat, seafood and some game you can order direct from Allen Brothers:

http://www.allenbrothers.com/

If you want fresh wild foraged and/or exotic mushrooms, Morels, Porcini, Baby Blue Oyster, Cinnamon Cap you can order direct (as well as many other things like Ramps, Fiddleheads, several forms of Caviar etc.):

http://earthy.com/e_d_mushrooms.htm

From whom you can also order truffles from France, Oregon or the Himalayas.

Or you can order them direct from a truffle plantation in Provence where truffles are cultivated (yes.. cultivated):

http://www.truffes-ventoux.com/en/fraiches.php

If you want Sashimi quality Hamachi, Uni, Toro, Abalone etc just take a drive down to the closest Mitsuwa and buy as much or as little as you like:

http://www.mitsuwa.com/

Or buy locally from a place like the Fish Guy Market:

http://fishguy.com/catch.htm

You want Manni Olive oil? Buy it:

http://www.buymanni.com/

You want to buy Foie Gras direct? Buy it:

http://www.hudsonvalleyfoiegras.com/

You want Niman Ranch Meat? Buy it:

http://www.nimanranch.com/

You want to grow your own Heirloom vegetables?

http://www.heirloomseeds.com/

You want Monkfish, Quail Eggs, Tapioca Flour/Pearls, Yuzu Juice, Live Eel, Radish Sprouts, Koshihikari Rice – go to a nice Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese market. Not counting what you can get at your local Whole Foods or small local artisinal markets, farms and individuals.

Etc. Etc. Etc.

This relative ease of access by regular people is one of the driving forces of the changes you see in the culinary world to deliver new techniques… to once again make the preparation of such things inaccessible.

April 14, 2005

I hope you can help me with this.
Instead of going thru the hassle of sending this stuff back, do you think I can just process it into a powder, w/o any harm to the product?
←

Tan - hope this helps you out - it's a forum about Agar pertaining mostly to scientific uses - but there is a-lot of interesting info.

http://archives.thenook.org/3015.html

Here are some quotes from this thread:

http://archives.thenook.org/7727.html

Posted by: czen Nov 12 02, 12:07 PM GMT
I'm getting ready to try messing with agar. I bought some agar/agar at an asian market and I'm not sure I got the right stuff. I was expecting a powder or something like that. The stuff I got is sheets of strands about like linguine. I've ground it up in a blender which was about like trying to grind styrofoam. Is this the right stuff or should I use gelatin instead?
Have a good one,
czen

Posted by: czen Nov 13 02, 06:20 PM GMT
The agar is going well so far. The potato dextrose agar gelled up like it is supposed to instead of remaining a slimy potato broth. I placed it in the glove box and inoculated with a tiny drop from a dirty syringe that I want to see if I can resurrect.
I used wide mouth half pint jars which are a pain since I don't have clear lids. Are presterilized disposable plastic petri dishes suitable? Will they withstand pressure cooking or must I pour in a glove box? I guess they'd be fine for peroxidated agar.
Thanks again,
czen

{edit}

BTW - just so it's not confusing - an "Agar" is also a loose term used for any culture (as in Petri dish) using Agar Agar as a medium for cultivating micro-organisms.

http://www.tfd.com/agar

March 30, 2005

Well well, it seems they are human after all and not robots being fed by some wireless uplink from a central database.

I never thought I’d live to see the day.

Perhaps after years of holding their tongues and being relegated to having their edges clipped as to fit into the square hole so that the surface can be smooth and free of cracks,

we are beginning to witness some assertion of individuality not in accordance with the unwritten laws of the non-disclosure agreement ridden world that has been created around them.

That in conjunction with the convenient pointing out of new “trends” in recent articles in the food media may possibly signal the beginning of the breakdown of the old system?

I suppose that will remain to be seen.

There may even come a day when someone in a white toque will not automatically command respect by simply wearing such a garment – regardless of whether they can toast bread or not – though I doubt I will live to see that.

As for Foie Gras, both arguments can be made on equal footing I suppose… but what is more important to look at is why it is so crucial an ingredient to those who wish to keep it.

It’s one of the “crutch” ingredients, like caviar – one of those elusive and therefore seemingly extravagant ingredients that most people feel as though they could not prepare even if they could find it, a magic wand in the bag of tricks that by it’s very appearance can justify the high price tag of a meal in the mind of a diner.

Do not be fooled - that is a huge part of this… money and class distinction. I would venture to guess much more than just about any other element involved on the “for it”side - and who knows what ulterior motive lurks within certain parts of the “against it” side.

Interesting to say the least.

BTW, for those of us who would like to order Foie Gras for their home since you can’t get it at your local grocery store – you can buy it here:

http://earthy.com/e_d_gran_viandes.htm?EDI...67b6349be7dc19e

For those of us that would not like to buy it…. then we shouldn't.

March 15, 2005

:smile:

BTW - that hot ice cream is discussed here, by the guy that makes it - the other ingredient was gellan.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...aded&show=&st=&

March 14, 2005

Another interesting thing to note - seems McDonalds uses Konjac flour in their Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits as well as other alkali treated ingredients in other items as well as Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Chloride etc., in many of the other things they sell.

http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nu...ents.index.html

March 14, 2005

Here is a really interesting (and long) article from 1996 discussing a companies new food

product experiments mentioning the use of many of the things mentioned above including Konjac (Konnyaku) flour, Carrageenan etc.

http://www.foodproductdesign.com/archive/1996/1296DE.html

And another from 1999

http://www.foodproductdesign.com/archive/1999/1099ap.html

March 14, 2005

Wow - this place is awesome - it has an entire online database for suggested applications using

the many different products they sell for emulsions, gels, gums etc.

http://www.ticgums.com/store/prod_info.asp

Even if you can't get this exact stuff through them - this information alone is gold, because you can get the ingredients somewhere.

Many of the "molecular gastronomy" chefs use things of these same types to produce the textures and forms of their cuisine, especially agar, carrageenan, alginate etc.

There's a guy in Chicago that makes "hot ice cream" using carrageenan.

{edit} Actually I just got the TIC dairy additive guide and it's more likely a combination of Guar Gum, Glycerides, Calcium Sulfate and Carrageenan - though obviously having never seen it made I couldn't confirm that. :smile: They sell this combination as "Dairyblend IC EC" and it is described as: "Exhibits a creamy mouth feel with slow meltdown characterisitics".

While these techniques and ingredients may be "new" to fine dining - they are actually very old commercial food processing ingredients and techniques used to make whipped cream, turkey loaf and many of the forms and textures in packaged food that no matter how hard you try you just can't reproduce at home.

I imagine many Japanese wouldn't care much for adding chemically extracted isolated stuff like this to food in home cooking (though I'm sure it exists in many "packaged" products) - but it's all interesting stuff to know and possibly experiment with just for fun.

March 14, 2005

BTW I found a source that makes an Agar powder that they purport does not require boiling to dissolve (if added to cold water first) - gotta get some of this....

TIC PRETESTED¨ Agar RS-100 Power
Specially processed Agar which does not require boiling to hydrate --- 170¡ to 180¡F will allow for complete hydration when added to cold water. If added to directly to 150¡F, will also hydrate. Used to replace 240 bloom gelatin at 1 part Agar RS-100 to every 5 parts of gelatin. Forms perceptible gels with as little as 0.04% concentrations, although typically used at much higher levels. Gels exhibit hysteresis lag useful in many applications. Used in Hot Flat Icings at typically 0.2%. For doughnut glazes, higher levels, typically .5% to 1.0% are used to prevent crystallization of sugar, reducing the tendency of the glaze to chip, crack or "weep". Used in jelly candies, marshmallows from 0.3% to 1.8% to give desired textural effects. Stabilizes meringue mixes. Also used in canned meat, fish and poultry products at 0.5% to 2.0% (based on the weight of the broth). Used to replace gelatin in the fining of wines, juices and vinegars at levels of 0.05% to 0.15%.

http://www.ticgums.com/store/prod_list.asp

March 14, 2005

It's not really possible to produce a "soft" gel with agar - either it is too weak to gel properly, and you get crumbly clumps in watery solution (unlike the custardy consistency of over-dilute gelatin), or else it will appear to gel at first, but will quickly start to "weep" liquid.
←

I do have a question about this though - I've never made a "pudding" with Agar but there are tons and tons of recipes that call for the use of Agar instead of gelatin in puddings and I know for a fact that Agar is used in many ways as a stabilizer rather than just for setting gels.

What is it that you were attempting to make that turned out like the above?

Would one expect the same consistency to form in a "pudding" made with Agar instead of gelatin

or does the protein (if you use milk for instance) change the molecular equation?

{edit} consitency - is not the same as - consistency and added "for instance"

March 14, 2005

I started digging up my late (first, that is, #2 is made of tougher stuff )husband's research into agarose (one of the gelling components in agar agar) yesterday, and never got the actual information posted...
←

Awesome info Helen - I'm gonna be thinking about this stuff all day - I didn''t get to make my Annindofu just yet so I'm going to experiment this week with a couple of different things.

So detailed!! :biggrin:

March 13, 2005

I've had whole perilla leaves that were dipped in batter and fried in Korea.
←

Tempura perilla actually sounds pretty good - never had it though.

{edit}:

Speaking of that - some Korean Markets tend to carry bundles of the larger perilla for around 2 to 3 dollars - at least in Chicago.

March 13, 2005

ok cool sounds like i have a project for next weekend.

A very simple question
I never tried it so how do you crispy fry a shiso leaf?
i mean how do you keep it straight? and stop it from curling up?
←

Roll it up and slice it and fry it in just a little oil or butter - it's very nice - much different taste then raw - but I think raw Shiso (perilla) is great for wrapping as well.

(I suppose you could deep fry whole leaves long ways on toothpicks though)

{edit} Removed "you don't" - because it is possible - I meant that in the vein of "there is no reason to".

March 13, 2005

So chicken, beef, pork, lamb, duck, venison, ostrich, crocodile, buffalo, veggy, fish or shellfish.
←

That sounds good as one dish, "Flight of Meat". :blink:

Perhaps a cuttlefish or uni dish - one of the best French sauces I've ever had was a scallop roe cream sauce with squid ink.

But crocodile - now that would be a trick.

March 12, 2005

3. I like your idea of a miso marinade. So I'll stick with that but use Monkfish, roast it and plate it in a pool of broth (French fish fumet, heightened with the addition of bonito flakes)
←

That sounds really good.

Me - I'd just serve the Monkfish whole.

Now that's what I call sashimi!!! :laugh:

{edit}: (Sipping sounds.... vanilla aroma rising from a blue cup)

He was, in fact, a French Monkfish.... but multilinqual - he spoke Spanish, Turkish and something else... I couldn't make it out.

March 12, 2005

Depends on how practiced you are at making souffles. I would do a vanilla one though with green tea.
←

Or you could switch it around and use Matcha to make a green tea souffle and vanilla ice cream - I do have to agree that vanilla and green tea are a great combination. So much so that it's making me crave it - I think I'm gonna have some green tea with vanilla right now. (damn you Zadi) :biggrin:

If you made vanilla ice cream you could drizzle it with a little honey.

I've never seen a green tea souffle.

March 12, 2005

Of course never having had any of this made by you - anything i say can only hold a little water at best.

Good luck - I wanna know how it goes!!! :smile:

March 12, 2005

cool
i'm using yuzu miso for the sablefish i'm thinking a citrus note leading from the kiwi
although to be honest the black cod and miso i make usually is on the sweet side not sure if i should reduce the sweetness of this?

I definitely wasn't thinking sweet - but then I haven't had your dish. Sweet and miso - I'll have to try that out.

for the ballotine stuffing i mince up the thigh and leg meat and mix with fried diced pancetta, garlic and shallots, some breadcrumbs, chopped porcini, a little tarragon, seasoning. The thing is i'm thinking of a dark jus sauce for the ballotine made from lamb and chicken bones not sure on if there is a more appropriate sauce?

Hard to go wrong with garlic, shallots, mushroom, tarragon and lamb stock - this whole dish does seem to stick out a bit though - but it sounds good on it's own.

for the salad just some green leaves but do i need to put a dressing on?
if yes? what kind?

I don't think so with the sauce - I was picturing small cylinders on top of the spinach and mash with very delicate sprouts - which in that case a bit of walnut oil perhaps - but in the version you describe with the jus - no.

yep lemon balm, lemon mint. The candy floss is just shredded into small bit size
chunks and spread over the peeled pomelo slices, it looks like you are eating a cloud

That's how I pictured it - I do hope you mean "threads". (nevermind I need to sleep - I missed the word shredded and just saw "chunks")

for the souffle why do you think it is risky? risky to make? or risky in the course of the meal?

Risky to make. Risky to sit. Risky to transport in a contest environment - but I'm sure you're up to it. Done well, could be a bonus.

March 12, 2005

Also if you get into it and start looking for ideas you might consider looking at some French Vietnamese recipes - I love this cuisine - some of the better seafood meals I've ever had have been French Vietnamese.

March 12, 2005

Well I like the starter, kiwi is fairly acidic and depending on the amount of sauce could actually lend a ceviche style element to the raw shrimp and acid is a good way to start off your palate for the oily nature of the sablefish.

I would say, when you say miso I am assuming you are talking shiro miso because the fish has a very delicate flavor and a darker/older

miso would over-power. That dish – depending on how the fish was cooked could either use a bit of an acid balance or you could accentuate the oil in the fish by making a white miso butter sauce.

That leads into the richness of foie gras, which I’ve never had with scallops– a sweet green pea and roast hazelnut combination sounds great with the foie gras – I almost want to lose or replace the scallops – but I guess if they were small bay scallops just barely cooked they might blend right in especially if you sliced them thin.

I like the progression of “poor to rich” in the flavors.

The “Ballotine” I can’t evaluate unless I know what you intend to use, I can see braised leeks maybe stuffed with porcini then wrapped with the pancetta and the chicken and I like the wilted spinach and the mash but the beans could be too much texture and if the “salad” is just a garnish of petite greens that sounds right on.

I like the idea of the palate cleanser next and I assume you mean lemon balm the herb with the grapefruit like pomelo – the cotton candy would need to be sparse in my opinion – something that dissolves immediately and adds sweetness but really no texture (but that’s just me).

I’m biased on the soufflé because I’ve never really been a soufflé fan but chocolate and green tea ice cream sounds good – also the soufflé would be damn risky especially as the last dish - but I can see your point of ending with some soothing smoothness.

March 12, 2005

I've seen some of those Iron Chef (the original) episodes and the French food prepared by Iron Chef France always looked more Japanese to me.
←

Sakai's restaurant (La Rochelle) looks really interesting.

http://www.la-rochelle.co.jp/

Tastingmenu.com actually photographed a meal there a couple of years back:

http://tastingmenu.com/media/2003/20030910...lle/default.htm

I'd like to try and check this out.

March 11, 2005

My post about Carrageenan was accidentally lost in the transfer to this thread.

It was:

"Foams" are stabilized with a little Agar and other things like Commercial Whipped Cream are stabilized with another seaweed extract called Carrageenan:

http://sci-toys.com/ingredients/whipped_cream.html

http://sci-toys.com/ingredients/carageenan.html

Hence the reference to the ion above.

March 11, 2005

While we’re on the subject – some things I didn’t know:

Agar also will not set some fruit purees because of the enzymes in some fruits like papaya. (I knew papaya enzymes break down protein – so I guess the enzymes are problematic in other ways).

Cooking the fruit puree to break down the enzymes sometimes solves the problem.

Carrageenan requires a certain ion to gel and this is why it is primarily used in dairy products.

Can’t confirm any of that from my own personal experience, but it’s all interesting info to take note of.

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