BryanZ

It does seem like a cool product. I think where they're aiming to make their money is with the seed cartridges (kind of like the good ol' shaving razor example). I'm pretty sure they're patented and all that. I should have a sample in the next couple weeks and will probably end up posting about it somewhere on eG. In terms of Japanese export, we're just in preliminary correspondence now, so there's nothing to get excited about quite yet. The Wegmans I go to is in Bridgewater, New Jersey, about 20 minutes from my house. It's kind of a drive, but I'm completely used to it by now. I saw Make Believe and Cursive at the Bowery. This is kind of off topic, but you have to love Tim Kinsella and Tim Kasher. In terms of food in the area, there's not a ton there. I guess the best bet would be THOR. wd~50 and Room 4 Dessert are close by but not exactly what you're looking for. I agree, just grabbing a bite in the East Village is the way to go.

A hemispherical tablespoon for the ravioli, a baby medicine dosage dropper for the caviar, a syringe for the noodles.

Some people in other threads have asked me where I get a lot of my more obscure equipment and supplies. In general I've found the internet, and especially eBay, to be a particularly powerful resource. In terms of sourcing hydrocolloids and other agents for molecular gastronomy-type applications just a bit of research goes a long way. Of course, there's Will Powder, Will Goldfarb's newly launched online store, for your basic wares but some more research can get you just about anything if you want it. As I've mentioned, I have two water baths, one big, one little. The little one only goes up to 55C, making it suitable for seafood and red meats but not eggs, pork, and most poultry. The "baby" That cover is an original creation. I paid like $40 for this thing. Quite cheap, I think. The big one This one holds a lot of stuff. I've never even come close to filling it to capacity. It's quite nice, though not as accurate as the small one, maybe +/- 1-2 degrees. For my purposes this is fine. I paid like $175 for this, still a good deal considering its something like over $600 when new. My newest toy, received just moments ago, is this commerical induction burner. I was looking at some cheap home units for about $125, but then turned to eBay. This thing retails for $600 new, I got it for $155. I bought this not because we need the extra burners at home, but because I'm sure to need them for my Z Kitchen concept. I'll be working on a P.O.S. 4 burner coil stove, so I wanted at least one burner that would be fast and powerful.

So one thing I forgot to mention yesterday when I was talking about my culinary philosophy and influences is my love for regional American food. I'm not talking New American fusion or anything like that but the regional dishes of the Northeast, the South, the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest. I think too often people dismiss regional American food as inconsequential or beneath the regional cuisine of Europe or Asia. As a quick anecdote, before going to school in the South I had very little experience with true barbeque and other staples of Southern cuisine. Now, I smoke meats frequently and have been known to whip up the occasional batch of collards or cheesy grits or waffles and fried chicken. To those unacquainted with the regional cuisine of the South, dishes like these might seem nearly foreign. Which brings me to today's brunch. A proper Jersey deli breakfast sandwich. Purists will say an egg sandwich has to be on a hard roll but I prefer the everything bagel. I don't know why it's so hard to find a good bagel, much less a passable breakfast sandwich, outside of the tri-state. Sigh. Bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel $3 of goodness I work part-time for my mother's trading export company. Currently we're working on trying to get export rights to Japan for the AeroGrow, a hydro/aeroponic indoor growing system. If anyone has any experience with this product I'd love to hear from you. I think it's a cool idea, though perhaps a little gimmicky. I went grocery shopping today at my main supermarket, Wegmans. Wegmans is like Whole Foods, just better. Bigger, better quality produce and prepared foods, and with none of Whole Foods' oft hypocritical pretense. I spend more money here than probably anywhere else. I love this place. Entrance right into the huge produce area The mushroom area One of my favorite areas of the store. They usually do a good job with keeping a decent supply of porcinis, chanterelles, and morels. Sometimes we get bluefoots and other more exotic types. My "everyday" mushrooms are shiitakes and maitakes. I haven't bought cirminis or white mushrooms in years, just not my thing. Wegmans also stocks truffles (as seen in mirror of the above image) but the quality can be real variable. Part of the meat case They stock a good deal of USDA Prime and are better than pretty much all the butchers in the area. We also get some game here (venison, poussin, boar, buffalo) courtesy of Dartagnan. Seafood case Again, the best in area. Freshest with the most selection. Great turnover, too, since the place is always crowded. Tonight for dinner I'm doing an updated take on a steakhouse meal. I've got a great looking three-pound porterhouse that I've been dry aging for the past several days. I'm vacilating between grilling it or broiling it. You guys have any preferences?

Okay so it's essentially just liquid tea on the inside with a gel-like coating to encase it. A good ravioli or caviar will explode in your mouth with the flavors of pure tea or pea soup or canteloupe. This process is achieved by adding sodium alginate to the liquid you want to spherize. You then carefully spoon this alginated mixture into a bath of calcium chloride and water. The alginated liquid reacts with the calcium chloride to create a gel on the outside but leaves the inside liquid. The gel casing is heat stable so you can heat them. This allows you to serve hot tea orbs or orbs of melted butter.

We're fine. I worked a couple hours this morning and spent the afternoon planning out the meals and things I'll be cooking for the next couple days. I also got my induction burner from the UPS man today. Pictures are forthcoming. It's fast as hell. Fast enough to beat my Viking in a basic water boiling test.

Unfortunately all we drank is water. A bunch of the restaurants run wine specials during Restaurant Week, but technically speaking neither of us are old enough to legally order drinks. The cost factor also plays a major role in that decision. Choosing between another meal and a bottle of wine, I'll almost always go with the former as opposed to the latter. As an aside the Girlfriend turns 21 next month. I'm not sure how this will affect our dining habits but to be able to order alcohol without having to use a fake ID or risk getting called out will be very nice.

Good night. I need to go to bed so I can do some work tomorrow and try to make back the significant financial hits I sustained today. It was worth it though.

Restaurant Week Day 1, cont'd. After our (second) lunch at Tocqueville we went over to the Union Square Greenmarket, just a couple blocks away. The market was open today, though with not as many vendors as on the weekends. The Greenmarket is where many top restaurants (especially within a 10 block radius) get most of their produce. Restaurants like the Tasting Room are known to build an entire night's menu from the Greenmarket's daily offerings. I snapped a couple quick pictures while browsing through the stalls and trying some jams and fruits. Currants, one of my latest obsessions By this time we thought it wise to head back uptown to Central Park, near the restaurant we'd be visiting for dinner and just steps away from Columbus Circle. For those who don't know, Columbus Circle has the highest concentration of Michelin stars in the world. While the validity of the Michelin stars in the US can be debated (in other threads), Columbus Circle includes the restaurants Per Se and Jean-Georges (three stars each), Masa (two stars), and Cafe Gray (one star). This is big time eating. The Time Warner Center, the building that holds all the restaurants save for Jean-Georges, which occupies the Trump International Tower next door, also holds the newly opened Bouchon Bakery. This Bakery is Thomas Keller's second NYC venture. Naturally, we had to try it out. View from the dining area over Columbus Circle and into Central Park Some of the pastries A CB&J sandwich Cashew butter, and homemade apricot preserves on super-buttery toasted bread. Soooo good. So with sandwich and iced caffeinated beverages in hand we spent part of the afternoon looking out to the circle and park. The early evening was spent taking a well needed half-nap on a bench in Central Park. (Somewhat) refreshed, we headed over to Aquavit, one of my favorite restaurant in the city. Aquavit's Scandanavian cuisine is radically different than much of the French-infuenced fare served in nearly all of the city's top restaurants. Entrance Although I love the food here so much, the lack of natural light at dinner time made taking pictures very difficult. Here's what I have. Herring sampler A humble ingredient elevated, four distinct times Arctic Circle One of Aquvit's most popular desserts, it includes a goat cheese ice cream thing filled with passion fruit curd, served with blueberry sorbet

So now onto my huge day of eating in NYC. For those who may not know, Restaurant Week is where many of the city's top restaurants offer $24.07 three-course lunches and $35.00 three-course dinners. I assure you, this is a comparative bargain. On this day we had two lunches and a dinner and we made a pit stop for a light afternoon snack. Eaters less experienced than the Girlfriend and myself would have cracked under the pressure of the massive amount of food we consumed. While the Girlfriend kind of hit the wall at Aquavit, I was able to make up the slack. We left every plate clean, an accomplishment in itself. I took a bunch of pictures, some better than others. I'll post as many of the highlights as I can with the most accurate descriptions I can recall from memory. I apologize for some of the shoddy picture quality and descriptions. First on the list was Cafe Boulud at noon. It just so happened that the restaurant was only a few blocks away from the building that collapsed on Monday morning. It certainly made for an interesting morning but thankfully all was okay. Cafe Boulud is a charming restaurant, kind of modern design meets French farmhouse influences. It's hard to believe, however, that the original Daniel was housed in such a space. Duck and foie gras terrine, herb salad, ice wine reduction Rich, nice sweetness and acid from the baby herbs and wine sauce Bacalao, fresh tomatoes, herb oil Extremely tender and flavorful cod with subtle acid from the variety of tomatoes Duo of milk fed veal, wild mushrooms, olives Pan roasted and slow roasted veal Chocolate and hazelnut tart, banana ice cream (not pictured, to the right) Rasberry-lemon gratin, mango sorbet Kind of like a baked lemon custard on top of a cookie with mango sorbet (you have to love my painstakingly accurate descriptions of the pastry courses) Next, was Tocqueville at 2:00. New entrance (this is a new space just down the street from their old one) I can't believe I forgot that glass reflects, oops. That's me, again. Toqueville is a very nice restaurant with a bit of inexplicable downtown friendly quirkiness. The food was solid but perhaps not as good as Cafe Boulud. Cod, braised fennel, saffron emulsion A different take on cod. Here, a bacalao paste was spread ontop of a cod fillet. Open-faced poularde ravioli An exceedingly tasty dish, but somehow it seemed wrong for the hot summer day (and a second three-course lunch). The filling was almost a gourmet take on pot pie. Grilled Greenmarket peaches, basil ice cream, almond pound cake The basil ice cream was awesome and will be attempted in this house (though not by me) Most people would've called it a day. Such things don't exist around here...

What a day! I'm sorry to have not posted but I've been out in NYC from just after 9:00AM to now, just past 1:30AM. Plenty to report and post, and I promise to get to those pictures I mentioned before and the fridge/kitchen shots people have been requesting. First, however, I'll answer some of the most direct questions that have been posed thus far. While culinary school has always been something I've thought about, it's not all that practical for me. I worked my ass off in high school to get into a top college and feel that I need to get that under my belt, so to speak. I think I would like to go to culinary school after college, but might be pressured into law school or business school by my parents. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but culinary school is kind of "back burner" in terms of my greater education. Perhaps my dream is to run restaurants, from the operations and business perspectives, though I'm not to sure how realistic this is. In the Cooking forum a few of us have played around with sodium alginate and calcium chloride to essentially create "ravioli," "orbs," or "caviar" essentially made from pure liquid. This is a technique developed by Ferran Adria at El Bulli, and the process has just entered the public domain. Here are some of my examples. I know some of you have seen these, and I will try some more experiments through the week, but for those who are unfamiliar with the process this is what it looks like. Poached salmon, canteloupe caviar Earl grey orb, lemon zest, honey (Left to right) Pea caviar, pea ravioli, pea noodles So what I'm trying to do is create a ravioli or orb out of butter. I've had this at Alinea, in a dish created by pastry chef Alex Stupak. The problem is that when butter melts it separates. In order to make a nice orb I have to keep the butter emulsified. Tonyy13 suggested making a beurre monte (butter and water emulsion) and I further theorized to stabilize the emulsion with lecithin (a vegetable-based emulsifier). If this is over your head, I'll try to explain it further when I do some more experiments. I have two styles of cooking: restaurant (which is ironic because I've never cooked in a restaurant) and home. My home cooking is probably very typical for most serious eG members. I try to take simple dishes and execute them as well as possible. If I'm making pasta with mushroom sauce, I'll make fresh pasta, use chanterelles and porcinis and other flavorful mushrooms, and maybe make a couple truffled poached eggs to give some body to the sauce. If I'm making steaks I'll buy the best beef I can find, work on perfecting my searing techniques, and maybe, if I'm feeling ambitious, make a potato foam rather than making frites or roasting them. My "restaurant" cooking is based heavily on my dining experiences. Here, I'm even more obsessed with seasonality both in the literal sense of using sesonal ingredients and in the more figurative sense of making sure a dish "feels" like spring, summer, winter or fall. With this said, I may start with an idea more than an actual protein and build from there. When I'm at the market, I start to play with the idea I have in mind to make it a reality given the available products. I don't use too many cookbooks. I used to but not so much any more. Now, as alluded to previously, my food is more idea-driven than recipe-driven. With that said, I love the French Laundry Cookbook. It's inspirational. I also like JG Vongerichten's and have been known to use the Le Bernardin, Babbo, and Nobu cookbooks for inspiration. I'm actually not much of a cake person. Perhaps this says something about my personality, but I don't love baked goods as much as most people and CANNOT STAND commercially produced desserts and sweets. So, no, my sister will not be making me a cake. Somewhat tangentially related, some people have asked me what I'll be doing on the 15th to celebrate my birthday. Since we'll be in Cali., I don't think anything special will happen and my meals at Bouchon and Gary Danko the next day will kind of be the equivalent to my culinary birthday present. The Girlfriend is supposed to take my to Jose Andres' Minibar on the 22nd for my birthday dinner from her, but she might be going to Italy with a friend, thus forcing me to cancel the reservation. If we do end up going, it should be an awesome meal. This is unfortunate. I'll just pretend I've never read the above statements should anyone official ask. I think a bit of civil disobedience is in order. I will push forward (and do my best to catalog my progress). I use a Viking six burner range with gas oven. I also have a much older Jenn-Air electric oven. My fridge is a not-that-great GE. I wanted to get a true commercial unit but our cabinetry was cut especially for a model with the GE's dimensions. Kind of a shame, but whatever. In fact, I have. I'm the food and dining editor for The Chronicle, Duke's daily independent newspaper. If you're so inclined you can click on the link and type my last name, Zupon, into the search bar to read some of my work. In the past year I've covered everythign from restaurant reviews, to food sustainability, to molecular gastronomy. I might try to do some writing for the local city paper, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time.

At Duke I'm majoring in Economics and History and am getting a certificate in Markets and Management, Duke's closest thing to a pre-business program. So I'm sort of pre-law, pre-business, pre-not knowing what to do with my life.

OK, tell us more about it! ← My thoughts exactly! ← As you might imagine, having any sort of dual racial identity makes one feel somewhat unique. For someone as into food as I am, it's not difficult to extend this dual identity into cooking. On the practical level, I'm grateful for having traveled extensively throughout Japan. I've stayed in many of Japan's top ryokans (traditional inns) and have eaten at many great restaurants. I'll post some pictures from last summer later this evening when I have more time. Speaking more philosophically, I believe that the Japanese respect for ingredients, simplicity of flavors, etc has been well instilled in me from a young age through my mother. I'll admit that the way I think about food now is somewhat gimmicky and trendy, but the ingrained respect for food and the beauty of it is what makes my passion for food more than just fleeting. Of course, both Anguilla and St. Martin have beautiful beaches and great weather. But after a disappointing trip (foodwise) to St. John last summer we really wanted to combine beaches with food. In the end, it was the food that was the most surprising. I have a few pictures from the trip of some of the better food I ate. It's worth noting that the Cuisinart's fine dining restaurant was some of the best and certainly the most creative "resort" food I've ever had, solid NY Times 2-star fare. Anguilla also has a restaurant overseen by Michel Rostang, a very famous Michelin 2-star Chef, in the Mallihouana resort. It's worth noting that the Cuisinart's food is better. I suppose you might expect that coming from the Cuisinart people. Caribbean food "related" pictures are coming later tonight. My mother is a pretty good cook. Admitedly she's not spectacular, but she always wanted to make sure we (my sister and I) ate well. My father doesn't care that much about food, so his influence isn't significant. Of course, however, I'm very grateful for their ability to more or less provide for me. Anyway, I started really getting into food at about 12 or 13. I began cooking at home and a couple years after that I convinced my parents to partially redo the kitchen (Viking range, stainless appliances, new counters and sink, etc; our floors, however, are still HIDEOUS) when we were doing other home renovations. From then, I've been cooking as much as possible, with my mother's great support. My most significant influences include, perhaps naturally Japanese and French cuisine (because I'm big time Francophile), and, generally, creative-thinking chefs. Dufresne, Achatz, Keller, Vongerichten, Liebrandt, Mason, and the pair at ideasinfood immediately come to mind. As I mentioned before my most recent and ambitious project is trying to open this underground restaurant. I guess I like doing my own thing and this venture will certainly be a test of that. As for now, I'm late in picking up the Girlfriend for a day in the city. No time for breakfast, but I PROMISE I will unleash a whirlwind of pictures late tonight. Expect 3 NYC restaurant meals, the eats of Japan and the Caribbean, and maybe some other random stuff. Please ask questions, I'm anxiously waiting to get back to them all.

I never imagined that my first post in my first eGullet foodblog would be so difficult to begin. With so much to share over the next week, I hardly know where to start. I want to make these next several days engagingly fun, witty, and intimately personal so that anyone so inclined may easily immerse themselves into my food-obsessed world. My goal is to bring enough of my (hopefully) unique personality and perspective to make this blog as interesting as possible. And, of course, I welcome any questions, comments, feedback, or musings that you all may have. Together, I think we can make this a really fun week. With that said, let's begin. First, a little on my background for those who may be unfamiliar. As you may have surmised, my name is Bryan. I'm currently living in northern central New Jersey and am 19 years old. During the school year, I attend Duke University in Durham, NC and am actively involved in the food community both on campus and in the surrounding area. At home, I cook a lot and work a little, much to the chagrin of my bank account. I'm half-Japanese, in case you're wondering, and this identity has played a relatively significant role in my culinary philosophy. By the way, I turn 20 on the 15th of July, in the midst of this foodblog. This scares me to no end; my childhood is but over. I'm more than willing to talk further about my background, culinary or otherwise, if anyone is interested. Just ask. Now let's introduce some of this week's crew. First, the Girlfriend. Offical taste-tester and capable of eating her own body weight of, well, just about anything. You know the stereotypical jock boyfriend (usually a football player in those TV family sitcoms) who eats his girlfriend's family out of house and home, my situation is eerily similar. She also apparently picks herbs while looking mysterious and deep in thought. Next, the Mother. Pays for groceries and other toys. Provides general financial and moral support. Drinks a lot of wine, as seen here. Finally, the Sister. Takes care of the pastry stuff that I'm too lazy to do. Baking, ice creams, sorbets, all that jazz. I must confess to not being on eG much in the prior week or so. Just a couple of days ago I returned from a trip to Anguilla and French St. Martin, two Caribbean islands known for having very good food. Perhaps fittingly, in Anguilla we stayed at the Cuisinart Resort and Spa, a great luxury resort owned by the Cuisinart kitchen appliance people. I'm not sure if this is directly relevant to food per se, but I'm more than willing to reflect on the meals of my recent travels if anyone is interested. Bringing us to the here and now, this week marks the beginning of New York City's Summer Restaurant Week 2006. While Restaurant Week has it haters and admirers--I'm of the latter camp--it does offer the opportunity to eat at many of the city's top restaurants on the cheap. Today, Monday, I have two lunches and a dinner planned as part of Restaurant Week. After that, I swing downtown to see a concert at the Bowey Ballroom and perhaps stop by at Room 4 Dessert, Will Goldfarb's (akwa on eG) hypermodern dessert bar. On Wednesday I have two more lunches and another dinner. On Friday the family is off to California for a weekend trip. We're driving from LA to San Francisco up the coast with an overnight stop in Carmel. Then on Sunday I've got meals at Bouchon and Gary Danko. Then, this blog must unfortunately come to an end. Of course, I'll be cooking a good deal, too. Some of the things I'll be playing with this week include carbonated fruit, a recently purchased commerical induction burner, my new mini-water bath, and trying to figure how to make alginated butter orbs (the plight of many a molecular-inclined cook). Much more on all this in the coming days. Finally, I'm working on a long-term project of opening up an underground restaurant in my apartment/dorm next semester, similar to the late and great StudioKitchen in Philadelphia. If people are interested in this or have advice to give (or legal counsel) please post. My concept is called Z Kitchen. The site is up and running but still in beta development. My Z Kitchen e-Lab, HEAVILY influenced by the brilliant people at ideasinfood (twodogs on eG), is also in its infancy. So, yeah, a lot to do and only a week to do it in. I hope you all continue to tune in and participate and ask questions and all that fun stuff. ETA: My mother requested I add a picture of myself. So, Hi.

The alginated beurre monte idea is brilliant. Especially if you stablized the emulsification with some lecithin it just might work. I'm beginning to see a light, if only theoretically. To those of you who are wondering about the flavors of alginate and CaCl, they're both distinct. I've chronicled how CaCl tastes in previous posts. I'll remind you, it's not good at all. Alginate also has a distinct taste, more apparent to some than others, just don't add too much and you're good.

I use a fair amount of xanthan in the kictchen, but alginate is a powerful thickener in itself. I'd love for you to experiment with the butter, too, as it's something everyone talks about but can't really figure out. And, yes, there's actually a thread here about that battle. A great one, albeit with a bland ingredient.

I have not read that gellan forms a gel when in contact with CaCl. I will look into that further. The problem I have is that when melted the butter separates, even when I try to re-emulsify it through whisking. It won't stay in orbs when in contact with the CaCl. Percy, welcome to the club.

ChefJB, I don't quite understand your idea. Do you mean, melt the butter, add the gellan and alginate, resolidify, then scoop into balls and dip into CaCl? This could be possible, but I'd love to hear a clearer idea of what you're proposing. A problem I forsee is how do I keep the butter emulsified after I melt it and need to re-set it. What if we just did this out of clarified butter? That would get rid of the emulsion problem, but oil is always less dense than water. Ideas? Tonyy13, I use lecithin for airs and things like that and you maybe onto something. I think you're talking about making a liquid butter that still remains emulsified while the spheres are being formed. I might try this, I would love for you to do the same and share your results. And yes, it makes sense that a satured water solution would be more dense than "plain" water.

Duck breast sous vide is one of my favorite applications, along with rack of lamb. I use Dartagnan duck breasts with great results. I'll usually go anywhere from 3-5 hours at 55C with great results. Take off the skin and fat first, season, and vacuum.

Just don't cover it with foil and put it under a heat lamp or something. To be perfectly honest with a ten minute rest you you're okay just leaving it on the plate without any sort of added heat. The foil will cause it to steam itself, thus moisturizing the crisp skin.

I've had the floating problem, too. My best bet is to put in a batch and wait a couple minutes until it's mostly set. Then GENTLY bathe the tops by rocking the pan or using a small spoon and spooning the CaCl bathwater on top. If you're getting oblong shapes, I might suggest a quicker "flick of the wrist." It's not all that technical a term but it should keep the liquid in a tighter orb. The butter is just really hard. When I tried to melt it and add it to a bath it just separates. It's hard to keep the emulsion together in liquid form. Maple syrup shouldn't be too hard. All you would have to do is just dilute it a bit with some water (like you did with avocado puree) then alginate.

Perhaps a longer cooking time? What did you do with the avocado? That sounds VERY interesting to me; I'd love to hear your basic process.

No, calcium citrate is (purportedly) used to increse pH of acidic solutions so that the gelling reaction may take place. I haven't used mine for that purpose yet and am afraid it's not water soluble. The only thing I have used it for is to try to add some more calcium to cream to make cream caviar. As you may have read, it didn't go too well.

My pea experiment was done earlier this summer, not last winter. And, yeah, I used the standard calcium chloride bath.

Yeah, I royally messed up an apple demi glace sauce today. Added too much alginate and it tasted, well, too alginate-y. Could some animal protein make it more difficult to gel, possibly substantiating Tonyy's experiments? Maybe its the fat? There seem to be a lot more questions than answers here.