gfron1

My restaurant exists because the first spring of my existence I was in the locavore concept, but by late winter I was still serving hot house tomatoes. One day I bit into one and realized the tomato was mealy and flavorless. I was quickly disillusioned and spun into an existential exploration of foraged foods. Foraged foods, for many restaurants, is just a fad. But, whether locavore or foraged or farm to table, if its done with the intent of making great food, and not serving as a barrier, then its a great thing. The moment that you serve that mealy tomato just because its local, then its schmocavore.

I have a section in the front of the book that begs people to be creative and not a slave to the recipes, but you can get okinawa black from Rare Tea Cellars.com. Okinawa black has a very strong minerality - almost iodine-ish flavor that I love with cured yoilk.

Very good comments Nancy - I'm happy to have all comments, even those spelling errors which will hopefully eventually be caught. The yolk was a glaring omission or at least a point of confusion...need to add fresh, separated yolks to the 3rd recipe set. The syringes don't clog from the heat, but I am going to re-write with a more food safety conservative approach. BTW, the discarded yolks get fed to your dogs! All comments were helpful - already revised. I would encourage you to try the yolk process. The acorn is harder to source, and is secondary to the yolk technique. Thanks.

I've had many of you offer to test recipes. Can I suggest a tougher one? I want most of my books to be accessible to an advanced cook, and while some ingredients may require some work to source, the techniques should be relatively doable by all. So, here is one that was a huge hit in my restaurant. Atxa Yolk, Asparagus Soil, Cured Yolk, Acorn Crust Inspired by Spanish chef Eneko Atxa’s technique of replacing an egg yolk filling, I’ve created a faux mushroom broth to internally poach the yolk. Be sure to use the freshest eggs available. Once you’ve mastered the technique the possibilities are limitless! Cured Yolk 520 g (2 C) Fine sea salt 55 g (¼ C) Okinawa black sugar, grated 17 g (2 T) Fennel seed 6 Fresh, Farmers Market egg yolks Combine salt, sugar and fennel in a bowl. In a loaf pan, sprinkle just enough of the salt mixture to coat the bottom evenly to about ¼” depth. Carefully lay the yolks on the mixture keeping an inch in between each yolk. Gently sprinkle the remaining mixture on top making sure that the yolks are completely covered. Let sit covered in the refrigerator for a week or until the yolks are firm to the touch. Once firm, remove the yolks, gently brush the salt mixture off and set on a drying rack. If you have a meat curing box or a wine cellar, age the yolks for an additional week. Store in a dry airtight container. Acorn Crust 90 g (1 C) Acorn flour 2.3 g (½ t) Rice bran or canola oil 2.5 g (½ t) Salt 84 g (1/3 C) Water Oven to 300ºF. Heat a deep skillet with 1” of cooking oil to 350ºF. Combine flour, oil and salt in a mixing bowl, rubbing between the palms of your hands until a course sand is formed. Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, gradually add the water until a thick paste is formed. Spread organically on a Silpat or parchment paper and bake for 10 minutes or until curled and crisp on the edges. Fry the crusts until crisp throughout. Hold the crusts in a dry airtight container. Atxa Yolk with “Mushroom” Broth 250 g (1 C) Water 75 g (½ C) Cocoa beans, lightly toasted 20 g (1 T) Yellow miso Salt to taste 3.2 g (1 t) Xantham In small saucepan combine water, cocoa beans and miso. Bring to a simmer. Taste, and add salt as needed. Add xantham and mix with an immersion blender to the consistency of a runny egg yolk. Hold at 63ºC/145ºF. At service, place the acorn crust on the plate. Gently place an egg yolk in an Asian soup spoon. Poke the yolk with a toothpick. Using a sterilized dosing syringe from a packet of children’s medicine, extract ¾ of the yolk filling from the egg being careful to not poke a hole in the bottom of the yolk. Immediately fill the syringe with the hot “mushroom” broth, and then gently re-insert the syringe into the hole in the egg yolk membrane. This hot liquid will poach the yolk from the inside out. Stop when the filling starts to ooze from the hole. Carefully pour the yolk from the spoon onto the crust keeping the toothpick hole on the top of the yolk. If the hole rotates from the top the fillings will ooze from the yolk. Garnish with asparagus soil (p #), freshly sautéed asparagus tips, grated cured yolk and arugula microgreens. ==== I guess I'm mostly curious as to how its written - understandable? This is pre-editing. Thanks.

Not so uncommon in these parts.

Consultation with Steve Sando now has those beans as some variation of Cranberry...no, runner...no...I'm sending him some so he can sort this out. He said he's never seen anything like them.

A little research suggests that they are Runner: Enorma beans. Now I'll want to look into the history of that varietal to see what's known.

don't know yet. I'll let you know next year

I posted about these beans earlier and today I was given a bunch to grow for myself. These were found in an old Apache pot, approximately dated 300 years ago based on design. Very excited for next year's growing season.

Like a few others on this forum I've gone to one style of mold with varying decorations. That said, I have a relatively limited ability for output so I balance my moldeds with hand dipped, and some people do truffles as well. That combo allows me to fill my boxes and not get bogged down in crystalization hold ups.

Very good advice Teo. I'll tell you one thing - if I ever do a second book, I will definitely do it differently.

A response to an esteemed author that I thought I would share - info deleted just in case it matters:

Today has been spent figuring out the various book shows and their relevance to distribution and sales. IACP is all about signing books and possibly meeting folks for future deals. There's a major expo in June that is for all books (not just cookbooks) where the little guys are not noticed. Ditto for a spring show that I'm still gathering info about. I'm also going to be making a cold call later today to the publisher that I really want to pick us up.

Those are beautiful. I've always felt that there should be a distinction in these competitions between chocolate sculptures and sculptures made of chocolate - meaning, where chocolate is relevant v. just the medium.

For the Nikiri - I went stock handle. For my other knife I did custom with a Russian Kerilian birch - stunning. I tend toward my short Fujiwara for small dainty things like mushrooms.

I bought that Kato Kikiri and love it. Been using it about a month and its my go to for any heavy duty veg.

I was going through our BRoll pics today and was reminded that my photographer has been capturing "working hands" shots for over two years. He's processing them B&W with heavy saturation, but we're thinking we'll have a two page spread of the best of them. They sure make my hands look old!

I've been thinking about this all day because I have an issue with potatoes turning flavor. Based on your comments, I'm not sure if its the same issue. I use a lot of jumbo sized red potatoes, which always get peeled. In one use they are chopped and boiled for mashed potatoes - no off taste. the other use I melon ball them, then boil - these get an off taste. The balls are held in their boiling water until service. Something about holding them in the boil water that allows for the off taste.

I think the way they handled it - documenting everything - takes away the bribery aspect, especially considering that they made it clear that their goal was to not be reviewed with a star. Big picture for me is how this evolution of chefs fighting reviews is rolling out. Again, numerous chefs throwing reviewers out TO Kahn outing an anonymous reviewer TO this strategy. And I know that there are many who don't like the comparison between chefs and artists, but artists are reviewed by professionals, but they DON'T get a star. That means the review has to provide context, articulation of execution, and ultimately a sense of reviewer subjectivity based on their experience. Restaurants don't get that level of thought in most cases.

Here's a different spin. I serve my breasts braised - slimy skin, right? So I tried a few things for the crispy skin with the tender breast. The 'most of the time it works' method is to braise with the liquid only going half way up the breast. Good, but not perfect. The perfect way - Remove the skin and dehydrate it. Braise the breast. Then either deep fry, pan fry or bake the skin between two baking sheets until crisp. Perfect but a pain in the ass.

ARTICLE I know I'm not the only one who thought Jordan Kahn was a hero for outing Irene Virbila (albeit cruel), but this approach is even better. Reviewer comes in, you feed them, you comp the bill. Now they have an ethical, and sometimes policy conundrum. Most papers won't allow them to write the review. Check. Mate. Your move reviewers.

I had the North Coast Brewing Class of 88 Barleywine. I hadn't had a barleywine in probably 15-20 years...enjoyed it...or maybe it was the 11% that I enjoyed

I can't think of even one use that I couldn't use something else that would work as well or better.

Just found THIS preview page.

Gastronomica doesn't allow its material to be read without permission, so not available online. I wish it was because that was also the first issue that they allowed pictures, which I think they have done away with again