jenny scibelli

"Sergeant Milton Warden: Maybe back in the days of the pioneers a man could go his own way, but today you got to play ball." This sous-vide technology, albeit fairly oudated if you consider the pre-war days of frozen dinners, has regurgitated itself as most traditions do. Chefs like Thomas Keller, Wylie, and Juan Cuevas of Blue Hill have only managed to take this fundamental technique and explode it into the mainstream. I worked for Juan and learned very challenging techniques from him, lessons that he had learned when in Spain (Con Fabes) and at Ducasse and Lespinasse many years ago. These things are not easily translated; they are touched upon softly when the right cook comes around at the right time. The results can be beautiful. One chef teaches another. I commend these chefs for challenging the past and forcing such a technique into the future state of dining. The ultimate satisfaction for me, as a saucier, when opening a sous-vide package of lamb saddle, or whole quail, is the same as when I sauté it in duck fat over a fire. Sure I can revert back to the banality of ageless cooking, or I can move forward into an ever-changing world. The choice is ours. Whether we decide, as cooks, to stick with the old-school method of cooking, or take a chance and plunge blindly into the new…is it the customer, or the cook, who remains to be challenged?? In either case, the diner’s countenance should reveal a smile. I strive for that always, we all do. And if we do not see that smile, or hear the accolades, it is not the cooking method that has wronged us, it is Us. I have tasted Keller’s “compressed watermelon”. It is interesting and innovative. It is exciting because no one has thought of this before. To a layman, it might be boring; to a cook that looks up to him like a father, it is brilliant, and it keeps us motivated.

I agree with Manresa, although I did have a nice dinner at Gary Danko's...very expensive but fun...

Almost all food products are in some way detrimental to the health of the animal. In this day and age, "organic, friendly farming" only became popular 10 years ago. I visited one of those farms where the baby cows were locked in tiny pens, in complete darkness for the entire period of their short lives, yet it was on organic soil. Everything is fundamentally organic, every human is inherently greedy (otherwise we would have utopia). If Charlie Trotter has an issue with foie gras we should stop harping on him for it. Even if he is doing it for media attention, it's a nice gesture, it's one step that most have not made.

I have seen very few roaches in my life and have never seen even one in the kitchens that I've worked in. I guess they are inevitable but if you take care of your kitchen, they really should not be a problem. As far as dining goes, I feel that if you see a roach in daylight, it only exemplifies the kind of cleaning that the restaurant does. Would I go back? Well, yeah. Would I eat off the floors? Nope.

I had dinner at Shelburne Farms in Vermont for the 4th of July. We sat on the terrace as the Vermont Symphony Orchestra played, and the sun decided to set. It was the most enchanting moment ever, and I highly recommend a visit to Shelburne Farms if you can take the time.