bluehill

Cabrales, Attending the Food and Wine Classic in Aspen this year was a great highlight thus far in our careers. Although, I did not taste Charlie Trotter's dish there were a good number of interesting ideas presented there. For the Best New Chef's Dinner we presented for 800 people a CITRUS-CURED SALMON WITH ARTICHOKE PUREE, SAFFRON PICKLED FENNEL AND LEMONCELLO FOAM. The dish was served at room temperature which is ideal for large functions staged away from the kitchen. We presented the dish in a large shooter glass which allowed the guests to visually enjoy the layering effect of the ingredients before digging in with a spoon. Having chefs like Jacques Pepin, Thomas Keller, Daniel Boulud, Nobu Matsuhisa and many others was gut wrenching but ultimately extremely gratifying. Thanks for your question. Mike

Hi Patrice, Thanks for checking out our pastry department! The workspace available for pastry production and service is quite small but we are passionate about creating simple and enjoyable desserts. Fortunately, we have a young man named Joel De la Cruz who is in charge of the pastries. He has been working at Blue Hill since the opening of the restaurant and has proven himself to be extremely eager to learn, progressive thinking and dependable. A long time friendship with Pierre Reboul , formerely of Vong, has also helped us to focus our ideas on the pastry menu. If you have any suggestions or new ideas we are all ears! Thanks, Mike

chopjwu12, We share the same admiration for Japanese knives! I use a Nennox slicer made by a company called Nenohi. They have been making high quality knives forged by hands for years. Their custom handles, made of deer antler, have captured the attention of many. Just recently though, they have offered the same high quality craftsmanship with a black, durable plastic handle. I find that the blade has never nicked and stays very sharp for long periods of time despite heavy use. For those of you interested in buying knives, I would say it is an incredibly personal decision. Thinking of your work space before choosing a knife is important! How wide is your cutting surface? Will the knife feel comfortable and be useful in the space you work in? Buying a hand-forged Japanese knife is expensive. The knives are generally not mass-produced and are usually a specific blend of steel to form a cutting edge that is protected by outer layers of soft iron. Getting to know these knives is essential to maintaining a good cutting edge. I enjoy using Japanese knives made in western styles. Along with Nenohi, Misono, Brieto, Gleistain, Mac and Ittosai are all companies that produce excellent knives. By the way, in New York there is a great store that sells these and other knives at 57 Warren Street. The company's name is Korin. Cultivate a good relationship with the person who sells you a knife, they can always be helpful down the road in maintaing it. Thanks for asking and please let me know if you have any favorites of your own. Mike

Cabrales, We do pickle many products in the kitchen at Blue Hill; turnips, fennel, watermelon, ramps, ginger, eggplant, cucumber,green tomatoes are good examples. I have always been fascinated with the important role that pickles play in Japanese cuisine and I love using their ascertive quality to brighten a dish or add an unexpected flavor to a familiar combination. The process is similar for most fruits and vegetables that we pickle. We make a pickling solution by combining rice wine vinegar, sugar, salt and spices. We bring it to a boil and cover the product, allowing it to cool in the solution. The eggplant and cucumbers require a brief salting period, in which the natural water is drawn out and then we pickle the vegetable. Thanks for the question. Mike

Cabrales, As you know, Blue Hill's logo is a cute bunny rabbit that appears on our menus and website. I am not sure how funny it really was but the staff certainly felt great concern the day I proposed to serve the rabbit dish, which appears in this year's spring edition of Art Culinaire, as our special of the day! Let's just say we don't serve rabbit all that often... As for egg dishes, I sampled a fantastic egg dish at a Michelin two star restaurant in Bergamo, Italy named Da Vittorio, which consisted of three egg whites bound with one yolk and chopped white truffles, steamed and coated with a "fonduta" sauce. The final dish had white truffles covering the entire, giant egg. It looked like a porcupine and tasted like heaven. Do you have any memories of an outstanding egg dish? Mike

Jinmyo, During my stay in Japan, I became a big fan of eating natto in the morning on rice with the standard egg yolk but, at Blue Hill we do not use it at all. Do you have a good source for buying natto in New York? Mike

jordyn, The response to having mentioned eGullet in Food and Wine has been astounding. It proves just how many people out there have been craving a site to share their opinions. The anonymous quality of this site and the straightforwardness of the discussion is what appeals to me the most. I feel driven to log on just keep up with Cabrales posts! In the time it took me to write this, there are seven new questions! Keep firing away this getting fun. Mike

Jinmyo, The two largest influences on my career have been the chefs with whom I have worked and places I have had the chance to visit while working as a chef. Without going into the details of my entire work experience, here are some of the chefs and places I have worked with that influenced my style and my life. Shizuyo Shima - Bistro Shima, Tokyo Alain Attibard - Jacques Cagna, Paris Lionel Delage - La Rotisserie d'Armaillee, Paris Daniel Boulud - Daniel, New York Wayne Nish - March, New York As far as influencing others, I try to invest as much as possible in my colleagues on a daily basis. I have not considered teaching as a professional option. Thanks. Mike

I wish I could say that the web site benefits us greatly for business. I don't think so. We have what I consider to be a nice place to visit on line, and I'm perplexed that more people don't visit it. We do update it whenever possible, but it's challenging in light of all the other necesseties. I'm hoping it's a good investment for the future, and I'm proud to have a quality sight. If you have any suggestions to improve it, let me know. Thanks... Dan

Of course, we'd love to cook for you. Just ask the server to ask Dan or Mike to prepare a chef's tasting menu. It's made up of as many courses as you like, and I think, I hope, it's the best way to enjoy Blue Hill. Dan

Bux, Cooking with the seasons, eating with the seasons, inspires more than it restricts--I think it might inspire because it restricts, how about that? How often do I restrict myself? Rarely, and it goes to the larger issue of the choices we make, you, me, the Wall Street broker and the average Joe, all of us, the choices we make when we order food, or buy food, are choices that effect the way the world is used. Eating tomatoes from California in the late Fall hurts the local New York farmer who is trying to sell his parsnips. It's a small issue of course, but multiplied it becomes enormous. I'll repeat the point: The choices we make, as diners, and as chefs, effects the way the world is used. So I'm inspired now to use string beans: I'd like to see them in one form or another on every dish. On every dish! They're perfect right now, and I want, by the time that Fall squash comes around, I want to be sick of eating beans. I mean that. I want to be happy to see them go, thrilled to be done with them, and I want to taste that first New York black dirt squash and exult in the pleasure. This sounds haughty, if not extremely compulsive, but it's the way I structure what I buy and what I serve. As for the farmers market, the only advice is this: Get to know the farmer. Get to know a farmer. Every week shop with the same farmer in one way or another. There's no secret, no holding of good product. It's like anything else: If the farmer respects me for my dedication and commitment to what he's growing, he'll treat me with an equal respect, and the vegetables will taste better, no? Dan

That is a fantastic question, Jinmyo! Yes, I believe there is a distinct " American " cuisine that exists. Chefs around the country are developing personal styles that are quickly showing some common characteristics. Many of those chefs have trained in excellent establishments around the world and returned to bring a whole new set of skills to the table. Not to mention, the many talented chefs of foreign origin, who practice there trade here, constantly adapting to American diners tastes has led the way in defining our own cuisine. Cuisine, like any part of culture, is fueled by travel and sharing. Now, faster than ever...thanks egullet!! The quality and distinctiveness of our food sources is another factor that makes me believe there is a distinct cuisine evolving here. Snap peas, soft shell crabs and bi-color corn are a few products that we are at this moment enjoying ( literally because I did not have a chance to eat today!) and difficult to find in other countries. I am particularly interested in the use of acidity and "heat" ( spicy - hot) elements in many contemporary menus. An "American" cuisine seems to have fewer boundaries when it comes to flavor combinations and innovation when we look back at the classic traditions we are building on. I do feel stongly that this process is one that is building from a foundation of classical culinary traditions. These are a some of the factors that have contributed to the birth of this " American" cuisine. I would be interested in hearing what you and other egulleteers think. Thanks again. Looking forward to your responses. Mike

The garden at Blue Hill, MA, was planted by the cooks two years ago and is maintained by several people, though less by me than by others. I'd like to say our vegetables are better, but they're not, really, as there are a lot of good farmers out there and we just are not at that level. The reason for the gardening, and for the cooks involvement, goes way beyond fresh vegetables. It's about making the connection and creating an understanding of the toil that's involved. It's also fun, and relaxing. Heirloom vegetables are open pollinated, meaning no human interference in the process of forming the seed. Bees, birds, or wind--no splicing of seeds to create super sizes. The flavor is more real, and the vegetable tends to degrade much faster. Dan Barber

Mark, I simply don't know the answer to that because it raises more issues than I can answer. Get back to me in ten years and I'll tell you what I know. Of course I'd like to take the high road, the Robuchon route, bury my head in the wok and concentrate on what I know. Worked well for Robuchon, not that I'm comparing myself, but the point is made to make a larger: Can a chef and a restaurant be successful in today's market without that chef being some kind of notable. Especially in New York, especially now. Robuchon became a star purely on his talent and dedication to craft. I doubt I could do that, and I doubt any young chef starting out on his or her own right now could either. So I'm kind of walking the fine line, accepting offers to promote our name and Blue Hill, and keeping focused on each piece of bass I saute. I think, to answer directly, it's a question of degree. I want to be in the trenches, so to speak, sweating and lifting on the line, and if I can also promote the package without selling my soul I'm going to take every opportunity I can. I've learned one thing: the lights and the camera are intoxicating and difficult to resist.

johnjohn, You could not have hit on a bigger issue, especially for me, at this time in my life. I wonder often, and with great trepidation, about how I will be able to create a family as I get older. I say "create a family" but I should be more specific. The issue is having a family and being successful at it. The challenges of being in this industry are enormous and make the success part of it very difficult indeed. I do have a wonderful girlfriend, and we live together, and the truth is it's a great challenge to connect in a meaningful way when our schedules are so opposite. She's incrediblly understanding, but it's incredibly frustruating too. I think she sometimes views the restaurant as "the other woman", and in a sense it is. I am not great at creating a balance in my life, even though I know, assuredly, that I'd be a better cook if I took more time off. Like now! My God, my girlfriend is in the dining room eating at this moment, and I'm here in the office talking about not talking to her. The irony! I'm a phony in chef's whites--I'm off to see her.

Hi Cabrales! The list was not in any order. We just picked the first places that came to mind. We were influenced by restaurants in which we have worked or already know and respect some of the individuals working there.

Thank you Damian for the kind words about your food experience here at the restaurant. I'm especially excited about your love of the white salmon, a favorite of mine as well. It's wild salmon first and foremost, and perhaps that's half your enjoyment if you haven't experienced the luscious, fatty flavor of the real thing before. (90% of the salmon served and sold is farm raised--the difference is dramatic for several reasons, and the main one is economics: farm raised fish have very controlled diets, live in tight spaces and are housed by companies that are looking to make a profit. This is not, of course, the recipe for success as good food and large coporations rarely share the same home). So with white salmon, aside from being wild, it's naturally a much fattier fish, and the fat content gives it that unctuous flavor. It's from the Copper River, and it runs mostly in the Spring and Summer. White salmon, or albino salmon, are simply freaks of nature, and they're impossible to distinguish until you fillet them. Thank you for the encouragement. Dan Barber

Thanks for you questions Jaybee, There are many restaurants that we admire and strive to live up to the professional standards they set. Though I believe we have decidedly set our sights on our own course, here is list of restaurants that we look to for inspiration and dining pleasure: L'Arpege Trois Gros L'Astrance Joel Fifth Floor Daniel The Slanted Door