boondocker

I recently spent a week staging at La Belle Vie and I was blown away. Beautiful food, very french. Not much Molecular stuff, and what they did do was done well - as in it helped create a plate that was greater than the sum of its parts (if that makes sense) No bubbles just to have bubbles etc. Chef DeCamp and Chef McKee were both very deserving of their James Beard nominations this year and the pastry chef should be nominated in the next couple of years I'd bet. I'd personally consider this the best restuarant in Minneapolis if not the state from what I saw in the BOH. I'd love to hear some more recent reviews from the customer side of things though!

Right now we run it with a grill handling all proteins, saute doing sides, and a pasta/paella station which does hot apps and our pastas. We were planning on a small steam table, small griddle,(I wonder if i could sell chef on a plancha like the one they use at castagna to double for searing proteins) french ringlet for saute, a couple burners for p/p, and a grill + burner unit for proteins on the cooking side, then a large plating area at the pass with dropdown lights. enough room for 12-15 plates at a time. Plating side will also have to double as a banquet assembly line since we have banquets almost daily on top of regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner service. Dinner has both high end menu, and a a bar menu with burgers and sandwiches at night. What would the induction top add compared to ringlets? I have very limited experience with induction units, personally.

A little background. I am currently sous chef at a dining club in northern Minnesota. We do all of our ala carte and and banquet food off the same two lines with a total staff of 4 hourly cooks most nights (3 hot side, 1 cold side) plus myself and the chef. Our current kitchen is about twenty years old, the equipment is even older since they kept the old stuff when they remodeled last. The members and chef are in agreement that the kitchen needs an update to reflect the current wants and needs of our members and the times. We have been given the choice of either Vulcan or Montague equipment for the new hot line, but I have zero experience with either brand in my short six year old career. Kind of looking to build a pro/con list to go over with him later this week for the next phase of the redesign. If anybody has opinions either way on these two brands I would greatly appreciate any knowledge you can share with us.

No go on the lobster oil this round, my grill cook let the stock go to a full boil while I ws doing some butchery. What type of acid did you use for that vinaigrette though? Any oil besides the oil from the stock?

I'm going to try that lobster oil next time we make stock. We render all our beef, chicken, lamb, duck and pork fat for cooking. Its great for general sauteing and really nice for searing in. we utilize our lamb organ fat in making our stock too, deposits lots of flavor as the stock cools and.the fat rises to the top

Agreed nothing contrasts as nicely as pistachio. green peppercorns are too dark. died cherries work nicely in that regard if the pate is light enough, but with lots of liver in tge pate its usually too red for that. I find that whole pumpkin seeds have a habit of finding their way to the outside of the forcemeat leading to undesirable slices with the seed falling out though.

You don't like pistachios? I'm tempted to say "but they are the best part", but that's not quite true. I do think they add a nice textural element, though. I love to use pistachios also, but my chef is allergic to tree nuts so 95% of the time I have to substitute to get that textural feel. whole or slightly crushed pumpkin seeds seem to work the best. Coarse ground pumpkin seeds tend to meld into the pate too much and sunflower seeds are a little too small also, perhaps roasted and used sparingly with confeed gizzards and hearts they would work well though. Congratulations Baron! Good luck, I look forward to hearing about the competition.

Seafood terrine. Scottish salmon with scallop, shrimp, parsley and lemon.

We make 10 - 20 gallons of stock per week right now. Plug one of your sinks and make an ice bath in it. Put your receiving container in the sink, pack sink full of ice, strain into your container leaving a couple inches of clarence. Add water to the Ice bath. Full another bain marie with Ice and insert that into the stock like an ice wand - it should stay neutrally bouyant and not tip or sink in.

Lake supeior whitefish with lemon parsley and caper. It got knocked off the heart during service while out was poaching I think that made it a, little grainy. Could have used more salt also, first fish mousseline though

Personally I think SV is greatly overused these days. There is something to be said about the skill involved in doing a pate the classical way. Plus all tge safety issues that have ben raised in this thread as well

Duck Pate, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, smoked duck confee. Nice and smooth, would be nice if I had foie laying around to add to the emulsion but had to do with just egg whites and cream.

Yeah, the display went out cold with fig jam, mustard and crackers. If you take it to exactly 160 it stays nice and moist but as you get past 165 the force meat dries our pretty fast. When we serve them hot I always use a sauce with them, they lose moisture when you cut into them warm

Heres one I did for a club event, celebrating our building's 100th birthday. Local free range hens with dried apricot, pistachio, and pork belly. My rounds cook tying up the 30 or so roulade I rolled up before service started: The displays (crackers filled the open space when it went out): Close up:

What do you put in yours? I normally stuff mine with mousse, roasted mushrooms, spinach and baby arugula. What about you?

A couple projects I did at work last winter but was too busy to share. First was head cheese, since we had a hog waiting to be used I made stock from the pork bones, then braised the head in that stock with a couple trotters. Pulled the meat and strained the stock. Seasoned the meat with parsley, celery heart, salt, pepper and sherry vinegar. I tried garnishing it with blanched turnip greens and asparagus. We served it with a bibb lettuce salad and an apple chutney I also felt it could have used heavier seasoning.. It didn't hold together well enough with the internal garnish either. Next project was a lamb terrine since once again we just happend to have nice whole animals hanging out at the club. Braised the neck and shanks with stock made from a couple previous lambs. We made the lamb stock differently though. Since lamb fat is so flavorful we rendered all the organ fat that came with them, then sweated the belly meat and mirpoix before adding water and tomato. took it slow for 24 hours to keep it crystal clear then removed the fat. Pulled the meat and used a heavier, but simpler seasoning. Salt, pepper, parsley, thyme and sherry vinegar. Served it with a bibb lettuce salad (we seem to have it around after member parties alot), curried pear chutney and a citrus vinagrette.

We get a pretty steady supply of fresh whitefish and herring depending on the season where I work in Minnesota. Never once considered it to be honest, I don't think it would taste pleasant.

Update 1: I did some playing around today. using a little but of a liquid gel with agar agar then water with versawhip and xanthan gum I made a whipped cream like substance. Next step is to see if I can repeat these results with some clarified lobster stock. Update 2: I've succeeded in creating a whipped cream substitute out of some reduced shrimp stock (looks more like a meringue actually) that has an intense seafood flavor. Almost got it down and I found out that it does some interesting things when you freeze it after whipping it. Behaves almost like whipped cream, can hold a firm peak. Only problem so far is that holding it cold the gelatin structure falls and it turns back into a semi-liquid base which can be rewhipped quickly by hand. Update 3: Having trouble getting rid if an odd taste with this product. As far as form goes, its exactly what we wanted, but it was bitter at first so I added simple syrup. That got rid of the bitterness but a strange metallic taste still remains. will have to try cutting down the versawhip in the recipe this week

Chef bought some versawhip, agar, and xantham gum after the new years. I've found some pretty good information on agar agar and some other hydrocoloids like lecethin, but can't seem to find any good information or starting points on where to start experimenting on versawhip. From what I've collected, it works similar to lecethin and can do either hot or cold foams and alot of people seem to be using it in conjunction with xantham gum for thickening and getting different mouth feels from the foam. I have absolutely no idea where to start some baseline experiments or some tested recipes to get ideas from. Have any of you out there worked with these products?

might I suggest you roll the leg with garlic shallot and lots of herbs, tie it like a roast then cut your portions from that. sear them baste with more herbs and then slice that once finished

How could I forget that. Über zen! agree 100% Also, Butchery and making any sort of hollandaise

so much more flavor when they are cooked on the bone. yum. Too bad we keep the bone on our ribeye steaks when we break down the primal

Carrots are easy, not sure why you have a problem with it. Butternut squash isn't too bad either. Other squash i cut into wedges, scoop the seeds, par roast, then cut the meat out. Chestnuts suck. Roasting them leaves the fuzz, steaming does the same thing. I found that if you score, then boil a few at a time they peel easily while they are still ripping hot. Did 20 lbs for new years, had blisters on most my fingers after that

sorry, in the states like new york. things don't always make it when I post during a smoke break