BryanZ

Indeed. This put us slightly behind schedule, but we've just made it to San Francisco now. My mother ordered it. The bagel was okay but not great. The salmon made up for it though. I'm off to make dinner plans now. Lunch photos and such will be going up shortly.

We're just leaving Carmel now. Bouchon and Danko are on Sunday, the last day of this blog. Breakfast today was at the hotel, overlooking the garden and the sea Smoked salmon bagel Nice cure on the salmon Eggs Benedict A surprisingly tasty rendition. Will be back later this afternoon when we check into Hotel Palomar.

Thanks for the pictures, Daniel. I'm anxious to follow your experiences with the product.

California Day 1 cont'd Marinus was a very good, almost excellent, meal, one that far surpassed my expectations. The food, however, was too close to my own in look and execution for it to really get to that hallowed level. Anyway, here's what we had, not including an amuse and pre-dessert that we forgot to take pictures of. Me Sweetbreads, gnocchi (actually just one huge one), wild mushrooms, summer truffle Pretty damn amazing. Portabello soup Served to the Sister and me complementarily, as my mother had a soup course as part of the garden tasting menu she ordered while we simply ordered a la carte. Four Story Hill Farm chicken, garden cous cous Very tasty, though not as great as the first course. Almond and blueberry fianancier, caramel popcorn, sweet corn ice cream I wasn't sure if I wanted dessert but thought I should try something. I'm glad I picked this, it was a very interesting combination of flavors. The Sister Foie gras torchon, squab cuit sous vide, pickled cherries I've more or less made this EXACT dish, substituting the squab for duck. Unfortunately the Sister was away when I did so she felt the need to vindicate herself by ordering this. Their torchon was smoother in flavor (though not texture) than mine, and the dish was very good but I felt like I was eating my own food when I tried this. Braised veal brisket (or something like that) I've never had anything like this. It looked just like pork belly and when I asked the captain he said it came from the baby cow's breast or brisket or something. I'm still not quite convinced. Really, really tasty though; deeply satisfying. The Mother Garden vegetable salad For all my molecular leanings, I love beautiful simple dishes like this. The flavors really sung in subtle ways that outshine my own cooking. Fava bean soup, truffled grilled cheese Wild mushroom tart, roasted Turkey fig A very rich and satisfying vegetarian main. Great balance of earthiness and sweetness. I also wish I could think of vegetarian dishes like this. "Floating island" - Meringue on top of berries A great, light finish to a very strong vegetarian meal. While the service here wasn't the orchestrated waltz of a four-star experience, it didn't need to be. Something about California dining seems to suggest a competent and courteous but laid back attitude toward service. If this meal is any representation of the food of the California coast, I'd say they're very, very serious. Also, it's worth noting that we got out of there for less $100 per person (food, 2 glasses wine, 2 desserts, no coffee). For the quality of the food and the experience this was a relative bargain. Especially in New York, it's incredibly easy to spend $100 p/p for a "just OK" meal. Tomorrow we hang out in Carmel for a bit, drive up to Santa Cruz, then make the final push to San Francisco. Anyone have any dining recs along the way? I'm especially looking for moderately priced options ($50 p/p at the end of the day) in San Francisco that offer items I might not be able to get at home. Also, is there anywhere I can get great fish tacos in the area?

California Day 1: Los Angeles to Carmel via the Pacific Coast Highway After a couple hours of sleep I departed my house at 5:00 AM to catch a 6:45 AM flight to LAX from Newark. A five hour flight, complete with a mostly terrible airplane breakfast, ensued. Upon arriving in California we picked up our vehicle for this mini road trip. You can't drive the California coast without a convertible. With our transportation secured, the road trip and eating began. First stop, In-N-Out for some snacks after a long flight. Inside Kitchen shot I have much respect for that little girl working the grill. Double-double, animal style We also got a couple other burgers to try cheese vs. no cheese, raw vs. grilled onions, etc. All were quite delicious. Fries It's good to see handcut fries but these weren't as spectacular as I'd heard. I'm looking forward to doing some further "testing." After this snack we wanted some real lunch, preferably beach front. Not knowing the area all that well we settled on Duke's in Malibu. This is an outpost of the Duke's that ultimately began in Waikiki, I believe. I was really not looking forward to eating here but it actually wasn't that bad. The view was great and the food not terrible. View from our table One of the items we ordered, fried calamari. Not bad at all, for fried calamari that is. After clearing the Malibu area we really needed to put the pedal to the metal. The drive was memorable thanks to extreme changes in weather and the absolutely astounding views. Taken with the top down, of course You can't really tell but the cloud was coming over the hill in this flowing wisp. A very cool effect. Even more spectacular views presented themselves on the drive to Carmel. We finally arrived at the hotel, La Playa Hotel, at 8:15 PM and had to hurry to shower and dress for a 9:15 PM dinner reservation at Marinus, a restaurant Zagat calls "the best meal between LA and Gary Danko."

My apologies for the lack of posts today. It's been a VERY long one but one full of great sights and food. California is a special place, and I'm glad that I'm seeing a big chunk of it in the next couple days. Me, three. ← Concerning the lambic, I don't know, I guess it's just not that manly to drink fruit beer. Again, I love the stuff, and I guess I shouldn't have anything to be ashamed of. I've only slept like five hours in the past day or so, in very small increments, so please excuse my next post if it's not quite up to snub. I'll admit that I'm tired, but the blog must carry on.

I'll see you guys on the other side. We leave for the airport now.

Does anyone have any recommendations for good meals along the California coast, particularly around Carmel and Monterey? I'd love to hear some easily accesible recommendations for my trip. I leave in a few hours and will finish out my blog reporting from the left coast.

Dinner tonight was something new for us. Perhaps more pedestrian in the big picture, but this was my first time doing Greek-inspired food. The lamb in this meal came from a local farm. It's organic and grass-fed and free pasture and all that stuff. Deboned and rolled leg of lamb after marinating for 30 hours. Marinated in olive oil, red wine, mustard, herbs, garlic and some other goodies. After grilling we plated it family-style with grilled onions, zuchinni, some frisse and grilled pita. Tzatziki sauce Yogurt, herbs, lemon, garlic cucumber, salt and pepper. Giving the sauce time to rest really lets the flavors sing. Rasbery lambic to drink I'm ashamed to say I love this stuff. While this isn't my style of food it was still really tasty. And for our first try with grilled leg of lamb it came out very well.

The shrimp noodle bites exactly like a really thin shrimp would. If anything, it's more meaty than rubbery, and not all that "pasta-like". I must admit I lifted the idea straight from ideasinfood. I had thought you needed a big pressure chamber to properly carbonate foodstuffs, but then they made a quick post about the merits of carbonated cherries. They didn't explain the method, but yes, you're understanding is right. Fruit in the chamber, seal, charge, "steep/marinate," discharge, open chamber, enjoy! I'm very excited for the trip. I've actually never been to In-N-Out but have heard great things from friends. Naturally, it's on the list. Yeah, we use these gimmicky little rubber shot glass molds we somehow procured as a product sample. I think they're kind of useless for most things, but it did work here. I get the same bubbly problem so they're never completely clear. How does your version differ from the traditional one in texture? ← I can't recall having the traditional version. I will ask my mother if I ever have or if she has. Duck breast sous vide is one of my favorite things to cook. I'm also very into glazing the final slices as opposed to saucing them. Saucing seems a little too much for me and the gentle glazing at the end just imparts enough external flavoring. I would also like to re-emphasize how bad ass induction is. One thing I wish I could change with the shrimp noodles is the extruding process. It's really hard to push them out and kind of a hassle. I would also like the noodles perhaps a little thinner, thus requiring a small hole. This would make extruding even harder. Go to the cooking forum and read through the dozens of pages on "Sous vide recipes wanted" Probably the internet's best source of sous vide info. In short, sous vide is nearly completely safe and an extremely powerful cooking method. Yeah, I thought about that as soon as I made the post describing the process. It most definitely goes back into the fridge.

Lunch today was a lengthy and experimental affair. For those unfamiliar with sous vide, here's a quick rundown. Making the bags with the FoodSaver Duck breast in the "baby" water bath at 55C After three to four hours, it looks like this. You finish with a quick pan sear. I used the induction burner with a cast iron skillet today. It's soooo fast. The first course today was shrimp noodles, a dish popularized by Wylie Dufresne at wd~50. The noodles are made of pure shrimp and are bound with transglutaminase, a meat protein binding enzyme Activa brand transglutaminase The shrimp and Activa food processed into a fine paste. I flavored this with salt, soy sauce, and a bit of sake. It was subtle but nice. Extruding I made this shiboriki from items at Home Depot. A shiboriki is a Japanese kitchen tool used to extrude seafood noodles. In the traditional recipe the noodles are bound with egg whites. Preparation for dessert included adding grapes and cherries into my iSi whipper, then charging the chamber with a CO2 cartridge. Afterwards we had a big bowl of carbonated fruit. Carbonated fruit is my new thing; it's very, very cool. Carbonated fruit Notice the bubbles. I had the fruit "charging" for a few hours in the fridge. Plating Shrimp noodles, tomato-horseradish emulsion, nori strips Another plating, this time in an ice shot glass to greater emphasize the "shrimp cocktail" vibe Duck breast cuit sous vide, pinot noir vanilla glaze, slow-roasted vanilla pickled plum, plum syrup "Champagne cocktail" - Carbonated grapes and cherries, whipped cream, shaved chocolate By the way, I used some xanthan gum to slightly thicken the glaze for the duck I love this stuff. I can talk more about the food from lunch if anyone is interested. Right now I have to run on an errand.

I suppose I should start off by saying that I'm very thankful for the opportunities I've been afforded. I've been able to eat at places and try things that some people can only dream of. Even if I am paying for many of my own meals, it's because my parents are able to provide for me in most other regards. With that said, many of my friends (especially from high school) are in similar situations, they just choose other passions or diversions. One of my good friends travels to Europe each year with his family to eat exclusively at two- and three-star restaurants where his extended family has been dining for decades, another has an apartment in the Trump International meaning he's only an elevator ride away from Jean-Georges. Despite their experiences, they only appreciate food as "good" but aren't true foodies in any sense of the word. I think being friends with me requires some respect toward food or at least an open mind, and when my friends are with me they do appreciate my love for food. Especially at school, dining out on a weekend with a large group of my friends has become a significant part of my college experience. While I've yet to meet anyone my age as obsessed with food as I am, I think I do a fair job of getting them to see the light. I recognize that sometimes I come off as pretentious or even spoiled, but in the end people see my love is genuine, and they therefore take something away from it.

The space itself is more charming than I had imagined. It really has some character, I think. In terms of the food, it's obviously not as cutting edge as it was at its birth. Based on my tastes, my favorite Jean-Georges-"lite" restaurant is Perry Street. The food there is more modern and smarter. Still, JoJo does accurately portray many of the key aspects of Jean-Georges' cooking. Unfortunately, 11MP won't be making it into this blog. While I've always enjoyed the place, it's more of a place you take out-of-town friends or perhaps your grandmother In many ways, the food was seconddary to the space and hospitality, but somehow that was OK. A few months ago they hired a new chef who more or less turned the kitchen upside down. The events are noted in great detail in the 11MP thread in the New York forum. Anyway, the food seems to have really improved, so I'm interested to get a teaser next week during Restaurant Week part deux. Today, we cook. Lunch will be a significantly non-traditional affair. I'm trying a bunch of new things so you're just as likely to see failures as successes, but that's life. Dinner will be more of a summer family-style meal, hopefully eaten on our patio if it doesn't rain.

traditionally it is milk and sugar cooked and cooked and cooked (but slowly, over a low heat so there's no caramelization) until it is reduced down and then still frozen (meaning not churned). so it shouldn't freeze too hard because there is so much sugar in it. it should be almost chewy like a good gelato. a pretty standard indian dessert from what i understand. the original pastry chef at tabla was so awesome! she moved to california and worked for daniel patterson for a while and then at the raw restaurant (i think called roxanne's or something like that). her kulfi was to die for. don't know if it has changed, this was back in 1999 when i staged there for a day. today's restaurant week lunches looked really good brian. is your girl from nj as well? ← Thanks for the kulfi information. It was exactly as you described. Thank you for the kind words, I thought the pictures were better today, too. The Girlfriend is from New Jersey. We went to high school together, she now goes to Brown.

Summer in the Northeast is known for its rapidly changing weather, specifically squall-like thunder storms. We began our walk 40 blocks north in a light drizzle. "We're young," we thought, "A little rain never hurt anyone." Unfortunately, we forgot that a lot of rain can wreak havoc on travel and dining plans. By the time the rain had truly started, cabs were nowhere in sight and the subway lines we needed were far out of the way. We also were fooled into thinking that the storm would quickly pass, that it would ease up, but no such thing happened. Sharing one travel sized umbrella we trekked onward through this On a scale of 1-10 (1 being the drizzle earlier in the day and 10 being the worst we experienced on our journey) this picture represents about a 6. I've rarely seen rain, thunder, and lightning this powerfully while in the city. Needless to say were soaked for the rest of the evening. Finally, after finding a subway to take us almost to our destination, we arrived for our reservation right on time. We were to join the Mother and the Sister, but the weather delayed their progress through the Lincoln Tunnel. To make matters worse, the car's trip computer read zero miles until empty two miles before they even enterted the tunnel. In order to conserve gas they put the car in neutral while taking advantage of the tunnel's natural downward gradient. All things considered, they made it without running out of gas in the tunnel so their trip was a relative success. While waiting for them to arrive at JoJo, Jean-George Vongerichten's first restaurant and our dinner spot, I profusely apologized to just about the whole front of the house for the Girlfriend's and my soaked clothing and our missing dining companions. Needless to say, many drinks were ordered while we were occupying the table, waiting for the others. An hour late, they arrived, and we began to eat. I had placed everyone's order toward the end of my second glass of wine, so the food was ready and waiting when they arrived. I was too stressed to read the menu in any detail so my descriptions are very vague. Tuna roll This was kind of like a good fusion sushi roll. Generally I hate this kind of thing but here it worked. Between the pastry and the tuna were little slices of ginger that added bright, acidic flavors Goat cheese terrine Sirloin steak, mushrooms, white asparagus This dish also featured the strong flavors and vinegar and salt that JG is well known for. Slow-cooked salmon, tomatoes, corn puree Seriously, I should rename this blog "The Chronicles of Corn Puree." This was sweeter and "cornier" than smoked version I've had over the past two days. Warm Vahlrona chocolate cake The cake heard round the world. This is the inspiration for every "hot, molten, lava, souffle, melting, flourless, exploding" chocolate cake we've all every had. I know I've had about fifty separate iterations. I'm sure many of you are all the same. Considering the events of the afternoon this was a nice meal in a classy, charming setting. The sister wanted a snack after this meal (she didn't have lunch), and while the idea of Korean BBQ was quickly mentioned (to which I even more quickly said no on the grounds of extreme fullness), she made a quick stop by at Bouchon Bakery to pick up another CB&J. My mother and I drove around Columbus Circle multiple times in the interim. And that was the day.

So onto today's activities and eats. I've got a bunch of pictures (and what I'm posting isn't even all of them), so get ready. An exceedingly hot and muggy day turned ugly. More of that to come. First, the Girlfriend and I set off to the city bright eyed and ready to stuff our faces. Naturally, no breakfast. Our first stop was Alto, Scott Conant's modern Northern Italian restaurant. Scott Conant also owns L' Impero, one of the city's most critically acclaimed Italian mainstays, but I think I prefer Alto. Alto's cuisine and decor are more modern, and it's a lot easier to get to. We started off with two honestly spectacular dishes. Not all that season, but undoubtedly awesome. Creamy polenta, wild mushrooms, truffle reduction A Scott Conant classic. Nothing new here but so unbelievably tasty that it hurts. I'm not sure if others get this feeling but there are times when a dish just tastes so good that you can feel it in the back of your eyes. This dish was like that. Braised rabbit, herbed spaetzel (and some kind of lecithin-infused air) Rich, herbal, awesome. Seared striped bass, red wine reduction, pickled red onions Good, but nothing compared to the appetizers. Fresh pasta, tomatoes, basil Another Scott Conant classic. I include this dish not because it looks all that great or anything, but because it represents an incredibly simple dish done very, very well. Dark chocolate ganache, vanilla-black pepper gelato The gelato stole the show here. Creamy, dense, but with distinct black pepper to play with the palate. We then walked 30 blocks down Madison Ave. (we could use the walk) to Tabla, Danny Meyer's incredibly popular Indian-inspired, New American restaurant. Danny Meyer is arguably New York City's biggest, most successful, and best-regarded restauranteur. Tabla's food isn't so much Indian as it is New American using the Indian (and sometimes Southeast Asian) spice rack. As you will see, the food here is perhaps the least creatively presented, but it is deeply satisfying. When we got here at 2pm for the last seating, the place was jam-packed. Tandoori quail Succulent meat, assertive spices, finger-lickin' good. Flash-seared calamari, arugula, glass noodles in a Thai-style broth A great counterpoint to the quail, this was light and refreshing but still had plenty of strong flavors. Pork confit, braised Greenmarket vegetables, fried fennel leaves This was kind of like carnitas. This made the dish deliciously juicy and flavorful but a little heavy. The fried fennel leaves were weird and didn't add anything to the dish, booo. Orange blossom flan This picture is kind of washed out and I apologize. I wanted to include this dish because it possessed a sweetness unlike anything I've ever had before. I suppose I've never experienced orange blossom in such a concentrated manner. Really good, in a new, unfamiliar sort of way. Tahitian vanilla kulfi, cherries Does anyone know what kulfi is? It seemed like a richer, thicker, more frozen version of vanilla ice cream. After our lunches we took a rest in Madison Square Park, just across the street from Tabla. Two other Danny Meyer establishments are also right in this area, Eleven Madison Park (fine dining) and Shake Shack. I'll be dining at Eleven Madison Park next week and am excited to try the work of their new, highly acclaimed chef. Shake Shack is exactly what the name suggests. It's a shack in the middle of the park that sells burgers, frozen custard, and other American streetfood staples. This place is ridiculously crowded, always. I'll confess that I've never eaten there, but I can't quite see what the big deal is. The infamous "Shack" The line extended a good deal back, as it always does. Part of the menu Too full to try any of the Shack's wares, we settled on a bench to people watch. It had been drizzling on and off all day, but we thought we'd be okay. [cue thunder, lightning, and forboding musing]

In part it was just to try to the reverse method again, for a bit of practice. And also I figured the fact that butter is diary-based would make it more appropriate, both for the taste and the spherification. But that CaCl taste, while not overpowering, was still detectable. I'm starting to wonder if one of the reasons Ferran Adria went with olives using this method was so their strong flavour would mask the CaCl element. Think in future I'm going to stick to the usual alginate-based mix when possible. It's so much more workable in every way. Love the new foodblog, btw. ← I agree with the olive reverse spherication theory. You could add just a bit of CaCl and still have the olive flavor dominate. But still, I don't know why he wouldn't just alginate the olive puree and put that in the CaCl bath. Olives don't have calcium in them, do they? Thank you for the kind words on the blog. As an aside, I think it would be cool to make some olive caviar to put in a martini. It would kind of be like a dirty martini, but cooler.

Indeed, it was Capogiro. I encourage everyone to try this place if they happen to be in Philly. You know how most places say that you can try all the flavors before you decide on what to order, at this place they literally encouraged us to try them all. It was a great experience. My Weber is gas. Again, not all that cool. It works pretty well. Great to hear some positive feedback on the product. There appears to be competition for Japanese distribution rights. Hopefully we will prevail. Mostly, I'm excited to get a sample for our house. I only fear that it'll be too late, and it will be time for me to go back to school. The porterhouse cooked last night was not a Prime cut. I've found getting Prime porterhouses to be almost impossible to find since the best are usually offered to steakhouses. To be honest, I prefer Prime ribeyes, but that's a whole separate topic. I picked this one becuase of the large tenderloin (making it a true porterhouse as opposed to a T-bone) and its symetrical shape to aid in cooking. My dry-aging process is very simple. Just wrap loosely in a kitchen towel or cheese cloth set on a toaster rack and put that on top of a plate. The towel should help draw out moisture and anything that drips (if at all) will be caught with the plate. You don't really have to change the towel for ages of less than a week, though occasional turning and rewrapping can't hurt. The crayfish pasta dish was made that much better in that we were sipping sparkling wine cocktails just feet from the sand on a completely secluded beach. Anguilla does have a couple popular 'cue joints. Though the style, from what I observed, isn't exactly NC or Kansas City or Texas or anything else we might immediately recognize. We drove past one on our way to dinner one night and were going to come back the next night. Unfortunately, it was closed and we later learned that most of the establishments (they're not quite restaurants) are only open on Friday and Saturday nights. If you end up in Anguilla, that's a little tidbit worth knowing. My cooking experiences at Duke are relatively limited thus far, as I have not yet had my own kitchen. Yes, I've done some cooking in the communal dorm kitchens, but it's obviously not quite the same. The opportunity to have my own kitchen is why I'm trying to create the Z Kitchen concept. In terms of food awareness on campus, I'd say it's pretty good. I've more or less single-handedly improved this awareness dramatically by essentially creating a food section for our newspaper. Additionally, this year I'm the chair of the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee. With a new major vendor to control our two main eateries I think it will fall on my shoulders to get people excited about the new food opportunities students will have. And if you're on campus in the fall come eat at Z Kitchen and tell your friends and eat out with me. Seriously. You bring up some very good points. I find most portioning in American restaurants to be heinous. I guess I'm spoiled, but I have a VERY hard time ordering a la carte at even top restaurants. I'm a huge believer in Thomas Keller's application of the theory of diminishing returns to food. For me, the ideal portion size is probably five small bites. Keller says three or four, but I like maybe one more to really seal the deal, so to speak. Some people criticize restaurants like wd~50 or Alinea not so much for the lack of food but for the lack of "substance" in many of the dishes. This is to say that many people, even in the course of a tasting menu, like to have one or two courses that are readily identifiable as "mains" or "entrees". Personally, I couldn't disagree more, I love how at Alinea portion size varies wildly, so you never know what to expect next. I'm not saying that a typical three course meal, app, main, dessert, is bad, but I prefer something a little less traditional. Anything I plate at home (probably 3 out of every 5 meals are plated as opposed to "family-style") employs "small" portions. There's usually leftovers if we want more, but I'm usually content after eating what I give myself. To be perfectly honest, a meal like my porterhouse one is a normal everyday meal. In fact, more typical meals like pasta or dinner salads or a roast or things like that are more special occasions that require advanced planning. I do eat "gohan," and Japanese homestyle cuisine was what I ate for most of my childhood. My mother does make karaage, soba, gyoza, katsu, and other staples but, again, it's not what we eat everyday. It often seems like "Japanese night" is a bigger undertaking than my typical cooking. We drink a lot of wine, some beer, but nothing too exciting. Again, since I'm underage I can't just go buying alcohol the way I buy food. For those interested in my personal tastes, however, I prefer pinot noirs and wheat beers for everyday drinking. StudioKitchen's closing this spring was an exceptionally unfortunate event for diners in the tri-state area. For those unfamiliar with SK, I highly recommend you do a quick search for the thread; it's amazing stuff. I only hope that my concept may begin to approach the innovative cuisine of SK. I heartily agree with you in that Shola's cooking is on par with anything in the country. Z Kitchen will be "opening" in late August. Opening is a relative term since I pretty much just need to convince some people to let me cook for them for minimal financial compensation. If you're down at Duke, I'd love to hear from you. I know all the best places to eat on and off campus. Now please pardon me while I chronicle today's pictures and events. It was a wet one.

Most of my husband's fraternity brothers come from NJ and NY; many of them from the same general area. I always found that kind of interesting. And Varmint, I hear that there is a food-related reason for the Tarheels being called what they are. Didn't they follow road-paving trucks around in the old days and chew on the tar to whiten (or maybe lighten) their teeth? Bryan, any truth to this? <--my most innocent smile. We were going to go to CuisinArt in early July this year, but had to postpone. When you say "local crayfish," is that the same as "carribbean lobster"? Aerogarden: Do you have a link to this, is it sold online? ← The Cuisinart is an excellent resort. I highly recommend that you go, and the food isn't too bad either. Crayfish and Caribbean lobster are in fact different; the latter is somewhat larger, but the general anatomy is the same. They taste quite similar, too, but I was assured that they are in fact different things. AeroGrow To be perfectly honest, I haven't seen my kitchen yet. My roommates, who have, say it's pretty rough, but I'm just doing my best to outfit it now. I know I'll have a four burner coil stove with terrible oven and a fridge. Beyond that it's all up in the air. I'm looking into buying a kitchen cart to increase my counter space and will have to buy some kind of table for plating. Although this Z Kitchen project is relatively small in scale it still seems like a ton of work and won't be cheap. I'm thinking of it as a spiritual investment of sorts. I will be back tonight. I hope everyone has a nice day. Be hungry for me, I've got a lot to eat.

So I had a smoked corn puree last night at Aquavit. It was both smokey and sweet and, naturally, very tasty. I just smoked a few ears of corn over hickory for a couple hours at about 250F, then shaved off the kernels and pureed with some butter, cream, and chicken stock. Very simple, very deep flavors. I do both my smoking and grilling in my completely uninspiring Weber Silver Genesis grill. I find it can maintain a decent 230ish for smoking meats and gets decently hot for high-heat grilling. For now, good night. Tomorrow a bunch more meals in the city and who knows what else.

Earlier I had said that I would post some food-related pictures of my very recent travels to Anguilla and St. Martin. I think some good and entertainment can come of this without it turning into a vacation slideshow. For those who are interested... The Cuisinart Resort and Spa in Anguilla as seen from our balcony One of the better dishes at Santorini, Cuisinart's fine dining restaurant. Sauteed Jamaican prawns, caramelized hearts of palm (part of a very nice six-course tasting menu) Local crayfish over pasta at a restaurant literally right on the beach (Shoal Bay West for those who know the island) It's hard to say how this next picture is at all food related, other than the fact that the property was located on the same beach as the restaurant that served the pasta dish seen above. Covecastles Resort (unlike anything I've ever seen before) Supposedly this place has won a lot of architectural awards. I really want to know who was judging. Grilled calamari on a rosemary skewer, stuffed piquillo peppers at Michel Rostang in the Mallihouana Resort. Michel Rostang is a relatively famous Michelin 2-star chef. If you ever find yourself in French St. Martin, I recommend this delicatessan, Le Bounty. Great cheeses, charcuterie, breads, and other French goodies. Notice the sister carrying the requesite baugette Finally, I include this picture because I really recommend this hotel in French St. Martin. It lies in Grand Case, the purported gourmet capital of the Caribbean. Undoubtedly, the area has a great number of good restaurants and this hotel is the nicest, and certainly most charming, in the area.

I would love to get a bit more clarification on this explanation. I think I understand what's being said, but not really. Anyone?

Finally grabbed a moment in the kitchen to have a muck around... Cooked up a little beurre monte, emulsified with some lecithin, mixed in CaCl, and then added gelatin to get the mix thick enough to handle during the sphere-making stage. Cooled over ice and then turned out into the alginate bath as usual. It worked, after a fashion. I still find when doing reverse spherifications that the thickness of the alginate bath makes it hard to get a good sphere. Figure next time more gelatin and maybe less alginate will help ensure the butter mix is the thicker and heavier of the two. I might also see if, as Pounce suggested, that the butter's calcium level is low enough for it work with the alginate back in the mix and the CaCl in the bath. Here's the (slightly unspherical) result after about two minutes in the alginate and then a quick wash. Then blowtorched to remelt the gelatin. Cut into it and... Not bad. Certainly tasted buttery, but obviously needs to be paired with contrasting tastes and textures. Any idea what they serve it with at Alinea? Next time think I'll dip them in egg white, then coat with salt and ground freshly toasted popcorn. Spheres with beers - now that could work. ← I'm upset I haven't seen this post until now. I'm wondering why you chose to use the reverse spherication process. I don't see much use for it in this instance and have found adding CaCl to ingredients just tastes downright gross. I think you're getting somewhere here but it might not be the easiest way. But then again, you're a lot closer than I am. Nice work. The butter at Alinea was served with a kind of gingerbread crumb. When the the butter sphere was punctured it moistened to crumbs to turn them into a pasty kind of cakey thing.

Indeed, I was recently in Philly to eat. The city is full of charm and some great food. I had lunch at La Croix, gelato at this really great place whose name is now escaping me, pork sandwiches at Tony Luke's, and picked up some local produce at the Reading Terminal Market. It was a great mini-trip. I'm trying to get down to La Croix for brunch before I go back to school, too.

Dinner tonight was a relatively simple affair. I wanted to do something that people could relate to rather than go completely out there (that'll be lunch on Thursday). So tonight we had the huge porterhouse, split between the four of us, and a few other updated steakhouse classics. I ended up grilling the porterhouse. I like how porterhouses look but there's so much meat-to-bone area that it's hard to get even doneness. I'm especially spoiled by how easy it is to cook everything evenly via sous vide that grilling a a huge bone-in piece of meat seems more hit-or-miss. Anyway. The porterhouse in its raw state. This is after I had been dry-aging it wrapped loosely in a kitchen towel since Saturday. After the aging, I cut off any dry, leathery bits. The improvement in texture and depth of flavor is marked, though with a steak this large I could've easily gone twice as long. Grilled porterhouse, smoked corn puree, sweet potato puree, roasted maitakes and chanterelles The decision to leave the corn puree not completely smooth was a conscious one. Usually I'm a stickler for PERFECTLY smooth purees, but I thought this would work better in a somewhat more rustic preparation. The inspiration for this smoked corn puree came from something very similar at Aquavit last night. Sweet potatoes are a personal favorite of the Girlfriend's. I usually boil them until tender then puree and season with the requesite salt and pepper, then a touch of nutmeg and brown sugar. For dessert, a blueberry crisp made from local berries. This is a really simple and really tasty dish. A summer staple in our house.