avaserfi

Dessert for dinner. S'mores.

Chicken and waffles, although I used quail. The gel cubes are orange and strawberry. The fluid gel is sparkling wine.

I just got back from 2.5 months of working/eating in Chicago. If Grace is open while you are there. Get a table (if you can). I think the food there will be some of the best in the city. Best meal overall was at Sepia. Everything was technically perfect and delicious. A real treat. My favorite hangout was Au Cheval. The best burger I've ever had, by far (get a single with no additions for your first time). They fry their fries in lard and they are delicious. Open late (kitchen until 1:30am), good drinks too. A cooks hangout (I ran into cooks everytime I was there). Get a pickle back while you're there. I spent more time here than anywhere else. Strongly recommended! Avec. An institution for a reason. Get the dates, so many places do it no where does it as well as Avec. Schwa, the most fun I've ever had at a restaurant. The food wasn't perfect, but it was damn good and fun. If you can get in, for the money it is a steal. Bring a bottle of Jameson for the kitchen, sweeten the deal with some Dr. Pepper too. Andrew Brochu is killing it at Graham Elliot. Solid food and the best dessert I've ever had. Alinea, for the most part was great, but to be honest I enjoyed other restaurants more. I think this was in part because my expectations were so high. Overall the meal was near perfect, but the small blemishes stood out so much. L2O, I spent three weeks here. I really like the food and the style. Very different from the days of Laurent, but solid. Meal was great. Of all the meals I've eaten, this was the most technically demanding on the kitchen. Of course, their kitchen is phenomenally designed and equipped. If you can make it to Chicago Burgerwurks out in the burbs, check it out. Best sloppy joe ever. The escabeche is great too. I haven't had anything bad there. I've been many times and never had a burger too. Odd, I know. Owned by great people too. Sun wah bbq, famous for their pekin duck. Its very good, but I thought the soup course was pretty weak. Publican. Eat here. Its the restaurant that got me working in kitchens. I ate their soon after they opened and it was a revelation. Big Star. Cheap tacos and whisky. The best micheladas ever (get the green one). That's everything that came to mind quickly. I'm sure I can think of more depending on what you want to eat.

Scotch cured bone marrow No picture of the final dish, but I made a cigar infused sauce bordelaise and broke it with the marrow. Served with sweetbreads and hanger steak.

I believe Mission Chinese does take reservations. At least, Danny Bowien has stated they do on twitter. https://twitter.com/dannybowien/status/227205065608396801

The whole thing was phenomenal. I hooked it up to a rotisserie and kept the grill at 275F. About 30 minutes before the pig was ready I cranked the temp up to 550-600F just to get the skin blistered and extremely crispy, before this point the skin was fairly rubbery. The skin was shatteringly crisp, a great contrast to the succulent meat. Skin on suckling pigs is much thinner than full grown pigs, so as it crisps up there is no worry of it being too thick to eat comfortably which can be a problem on full grown pigs, especially some heritage breeds. There was some left over skin. I suggested my parents used it instead of bacon for their burger night. I wish I was there for that meal too.

This past weekend, my sister and I bought a suckling pig for my parent's birthdays. I made my way into town and cooked it for them too.

Below are some boneless chuck end short ribs that I cured in kombu then cooked for 16 hours at 56c. Chuck end short ribs are slightly chewy if just seared, but have great flavor. The 16 hour cook tenderizes them so they eat like a nice steak.

I plan on documenting the experiment, I'll try to remember and share once the product is ready for sale.

Heritage meats in New York sells dry aged pork loin. I thought it looked pretty good, but did not have access to a kitchen to cook it in when I was there. When I get back to work at the butcher's shop, I plan on trying to dry age a whole loin.

Beautiful. May I ask how you malted the pork jowl? Thank you. The Nordic Food Lab (NOMA's research lab) released a post that contained information on cooking pork and malted grain together sous vide. The ideal temperature for cooking pork sous vide is in the range where enzymes in malted grain are active. These enzymes tenderize the pork and contribute flavor to the final product. The post is here: http://www.nordicfoodlab.com/2012/03/hello-sweetness/ My method derived from their post is here: http://www.consumedgourmet.com/2012/07/malted-pork.html

malted pork jowl steak, yellow carrot-ginger puree, carrot pickle, charred shimeji, sweet peas, rice cakes

Pork belly porchetta, a quick phone picture

Mayo, avocado, anchovies, herbs, garlic etc. A smooth, green dressing. It has the creamy characteristic that mayo brings for a BLT, but has so much more flavor. It pairs much better with good bacon and a tart tomato that plain old mayo.

I'm a big fan of green goddess on a BLT.

halibut, Okinawa yam, radish, carrots, sea bean, pickled celery root

I staged at a restaurant that did a two bite rosemary croissant for bread service. I don't see why it couldn't be done with a chocolate filling. I'm fairly certain the smaller croissants were cooked at a higher temp than their larger counterparts. Otherwise, it was a pretty standard croissant recipe.

collar steak, glazed beets, beet puree, pickled beet stem, steamed beet greens, spring onion

I have also started using oxtails. I find they elevate the dish significantly, especially the richness of the broth. I also like having the additional meat texture in the bowl when serving.

That's weird. Have you had it multiple times and it just sucks, or did you have it once when it sucked? Per Serious Eats: "Bad: Fans of the old mapo tofu at San Francisco's Mission Street Food will be disappointed, as the mapo tofu here has been completely overhauled into a new dish. "Good: The old mapo tofu was not good anyway. Now this is some seriously good Mapo Tofu. This is one of the dishes Chef Bowien says, "I made like 40 times with 40 different chefs in Chengdu and realized that it's not all just about the searing heat I was doing in San Francisco." The old one was one-dimensionally hot. The new one is deep, rich, and complex." So you mean I'm allowed to order it? I had it recently when I was in NYC. The mapo tofu was delicious.

But the bones add flavor and add to the fun of hunting for the small bits of gelatinous scrumptious meat They do add flavor in certain situations, but a good collar steak is far better than a chop and can compete with a nice steak.

If you like neck, try collar steak. It is the neck muscle with the bone removed. The cut works well in braises and quick cooking techniques. It is one of my favorite cuts on most larger animals.

The real purpose of MC isn't the recipes, but the techniques. I use what I've learned from Modernist virtually every time I cook. That said, I've attempted a number of recipes from the series and have not documented all the work which means I haven't posted about my experiences with them.

It is definitely on my list. The original is a great resource, I expect the home addition to be as well.

Playing with paella. Parts inspired by Ideas in Food. Still working on this dish, but it was pretty fun. Bomba chips Spanish chorizo cured shrimp noodles, tomato-saffron noodles, shrimp-chorizo consomme, pea puree, chorizo