VD, Kama Sutra & Aphrodisiacs

[gfron1]

My next tasting menu is on Valentine's Day. I've been tossing around a few concept but I think I'm settling on modeling each course after a kama sutra position. It could be a steamy affair!

Click here and here to see the style I'll be doing. I try to focus on locally sourced and organic products as much as possible. I've already been looking at some fun ingredients such as damiana liquor and pop rocks.

From what I see (I don't have the book ), these are the positions I would be going for:

Widely Opened

Clasping position

Indrani

Milk and Water Embrace

The Tigress

The Congress of the Crow

The Lotus

Suspended Congress

Splitting of a Bamboo

The Pair of Tongs

I don't know if there is sequence to the positions or if they all stand on their own, but my progression will be fairly traditional: amuse, appetizer 1, appetizer 2, soup, salad, entree 1, entree 2, cheese, dessert, dessert.

This could be fun! Anyone want to turn us on to some ideas?

[KristiB50]

I have no ideas but I thought VD meant something other than Valentines Day when I saw the title of your post.

[Kerry Beal]

I have no ideas but I thought VD meant something other than Valentines Day when I saw the title of your post. 

←

Me too, but of course VD not the current politically correct term! So I had to poke my nose in and check it out. No helpful ideas I'm afraid.

[rooftop1000]

Widely opened has Got to be an Oyster

Milk and water...how about a Thai coconut soup

Congress of the Crow...grilled quail

tracey

[gfron1]

rooftop I like your thinking! For the wide open I was thinking of a smoked oyster set inside of a vertical loin (tube) of tuna that is split 3/4 so it spreads open. It might be even funnier if there was something to elude to a pearl set atop the oyster.

My adolescent humour should do fine on this job.

[Adam Balic]

Fresh fig split open is also worth consideration.

[CaliPoutine]

I have an idea, but it would probably be considered crass. I think I'll refrain!!

[maggiethecat]

I'm giving Deep Thought to Pop Rocks, but I can't secure a Position.

Yum.

[gfron1]

I think the pop rocks need to be at or near the end as an orgasm.

[ChefCrash]

What a coincidink, I was at Schulers yesterday and saw this book: INTER COURSES - AN APHRODISIAC COOKBOOK - By Martha Hopkins

ETA; Link to book description

Edited February 3, 2009 by ChefCrash (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Damn Rob, that mind of yours never stops. This should be interesting.

[haresfur]

For the many-petaled lotus, artichoke could work.

... 'cus lotus root is too obvious.

[Peter the eater]

There's something called the forbidden tapioca volcano . . .

[gfron1]

For the many-petaled lotus, artichoke could work.

←

I wonder if I could deconstruct an artichoke, make a center out of...something...but then reattached the artichoke petals. According to the food pairing site HERE, artichokes go well with trout - I could do a trout mousse base.

[Naftal]

Hello-For "Milk and Water Embrace" you could do something with tea and milk, a nice chai comes to mind.But I think anything involving black tea and milk would be good.And you would not have to serve the tea alone, it could be used as an ingredient in another dish. Though I think an Earl Grey or an English Breakfast would be your best if you went that rout.Now that I think of it, what about Chai Ice Cream or Earl Grey Ice Cream?

Edited February 5, 2009 by Naftal (log)

[rooftop1000]

Hmmm the Lotus...how about some crossed frogs legs...

ok I'll stop now

[Tri2Cook]

Hmmm the Lotus...how about some crossed frogs legs...

ok I'll stop now

←

You were thinking of the ...

How do you eat a frog?

One leg over each ear.

...joke weren't you?

[Tri2Cook]

Milk and water embrace has me thinking along the lines of doing a gelatin syneresis filtration of milk. Then you have what appears to be water that has embraced the flavor essence of milk. The moment of inspiration gave me that then abandoned me so I haven't worked out what I would do with the milk water yet... but it's a start.

[gfron1]

Wow, have I ever been uninspired probably because of fatigue. I've got to get this skeleton of this menu done today so I can get my food order in for the week (small town perils - we don't have daily food deliveries). My dinner is already sold out so I need to get moving on this. Enough whining...a menu coming soon for you to pick apart.

[gfron1]

Here's draft #1 of the menu:

1. The Lotus: ripping off Alinea's apple celery shot just because I've been wanting to do it for a while now

2. Splitting the Bamboo: Seared tuna tube, split and flayed open; a smoked oyster sphere set in between (not sure how oyster will work in the spherification process); Savory malt/soy granola set in sugar tube (a recent TGRWT creation of mine that I really liked), fresh bamboo shoots (not sure what I want to do with them beyond looks); bamboo green geleè

3. Caressing the Bud: sousvide sunchoke and radish; SV root vegetable rubics cube; cilantro crisp (not sure about this here); beets; artichoke petals in trout mousse (this also feels forced but might work)

4. Mirror of Pleasing: Sea Urchin (if I can get it); micro herbs; vanilla foam

5. Pair of Tongs: Pig tails with quail eggs; arugula salad - I'm having trouble sourcing the tails

6. Clasping Position: Pork belly; potato

7. Congress of the Crow: Duck pastrami with rye gnocchi

8. Milk & Water: Blue cheese cauliflower; cheese crakers (ala Alinea); cheese crisp; fresh figs if I can get them. I still like Tri2Cook's idea of the filtered milk, but I'm not sure where/how/why yet.

9. No position, but popcorn with poprocks

10. Butterfly - orange and rose stuff that I'll come up with

I'm at 54 components which is totally manageable for me. I've got a lot of sourcing problems and not much time, so I'll be ready to punt if I need to. Oh and btw, I have a contract that is taking me out of town on Thursday so I lose a prep day.

[gfron1]

My sourcing details are pretty much complete which brings me to this version of the menu. I still could use some help on incorporating aphrodisiac ingredients if they fit.

1. The Lotus: Alinea's apple celery shot (buys me time as I prep the rest)

2. Splitting the Bamboo: Seared tuna, smoked oyster sphere; Savory malt/soy granola set in sugar tube, fresh bamboo shoots; bamboo green geleè

3. Caressing the Bud: sousvide sunchoke and radish; SV root vegetable rubics cube; cilantro crisp; heirloom beets; artichoke petals in trout mousse; fried carrot threads; cilantro chutney

(I couldn't get urchin - so I modified this course)

4. Mirror of Pleasing: Crawfish; lime pudding; banana; curry salt; monkfish; onion crisp; vanilla foam

(I couldn't get pig tails so I dropped this course)

5. Pair of Tongs: Pork belly; polenta; juniper sauce; chocolate soil; potato

7. Congress of the Crow: Duck pastrami; rye gnocchi; chestnut pudding (still debating that flavor); slaw; roasted chestnut financier (for anyone who knows - I have 50# of roasted chestnut flour that resulted in numerous failed desserts in 2008 - I'm prepared to toss this if it doesn't work)

8. Milk & Water: Blue cheese cauliflower; cheese crakers; cheese crisp; fresh figs aren't available so fig spread; pear puree

9. No sexual position, but popcorn with poprock twizzler

10. Butterfly - orange and rose stuff that I'll come up with including damiana agar cubes & blood orange

[haresfur]

Sounds orgasmic!

Seems like something with pomegranate would be appropriate - it is the fruit of love. Maybe real grenadine in the drinks?

[gfron1]

Alrighty...so here we go. As I was developing this menu I had docsconz's voice in my head (I often have eGers' voices in my head when I do things like this). In various topics, but mainly in the thread on best MG restaurants in the world, I remembered John talking about the MG restaurants that jump the shark and are more interested in pursuing an idea/gimmick versus putting out great food. I know that I have a tendency to do that because the more techniques I learn, the more I want to play. And that often leads to my emphasis being on technique instead of taste. So with John's voice ringing loudly, this menu wasn't a slave to the concept of aphrodisiacs or kama sutra. I worked in aphrodisiac ingredients when appropriate, and let the KS titles find an appropriate home with a dish instead of modifying a dish to fit the KS position.

Here's the setup. Four times per year I put on a tasting dinner that themes with the season. Winter was surely the hardest to theme with since I also try to source much of my food locally. For this dinner I was only able to use a handful of locally produced foods. This meal also happened to land on Valentine's Day which was coincidence not design, and that led to the theme of the Kama Sutra. I sell tickets through my store/cafè to 18 guests, which each dinner has become easier and easier to sell the tix as word gets out. The meal is hosted at a personal home - a home that I've paired with the season and meal. I didn't get any pics of this home, but its an old adobe that has been hippied out by some long-time local hippies (aged now into hip hippies) with solar, wood burning stoves, and many, many organic evolutionary add-ons to the home. The main room has the shape of an old fashioned circus tent with a high spot draping down to the outside, all of which is adobe. There are no straight lines with this house. And even though we're in the Southwest, we're in the mountains, so right now its cold. The house was warm and homey and welcoming. Just what I wanted for a winter dinner.

I've struggled with wine for all three meals. We don't have a liquor license, so in the previous two meals I've asked guests to bring their favorite wines and I would pair them. Well, that didn't work on two grounds. First, I didn't know many of the wines, so I was doing crude pairings (syrah = red meat), and second, the wines were shared with the whole table, so I had guests bring very nice wine that they never got to taste, while they were stuck with someone else's Yellowtail (it wasn't quite that bad, but you get the idea). For this dinner I said, bring whatever wine you want and it will remain at your table setting, we'll just provide the openers. That was fine, but I want a better system to let the wine work with the food.

Of my 18 guests, four had been to the previous dinners and had an idea of the style of food. The other 14 had no idea, had never heard of Alinea or el bulli, etc. I did a brief introduction that explained the style of preparation and then told them to shut off their analytic brains and enjoy the ride. This meal leaned more heavily on meats since its an area where I need to grow in my skills. As such I had been studying the new Keller book and borrowed from it for this meal, as I did Alinea, which I'm much more comfortable with Achatz's techniques. Enough intro, here's the meal.

Course 1: Amuse Bouche: The Lotus

A direct ripoff from Alinea. Freshly squeezed granny smith juice sphere encapsulated in horseradish white chocolate/cocoa butter shell, set in celery juice. For those of you who know this dish, my shell was a tad thick, meaning it did burst easily in their mouths, but required a second of chewing to swallow the shell. Not ideal, but the flavors always have been, and always will be a great starter to a meal. I stayed mostly in the kitchen which was out of site (normally I find houses where the kitchen is visible so as to add to the drama), but I knew we were off to a good start when I heard the roars of laughter - it is a fun dish!

Course 2: Splitting the Bamboo

My adolescent male went wild with this one. I flew in ultra fresh tuna loin, cut it into smaller stips, coated in black and white sesame seeds, a bit of seasoning, and a quick pan sear to leave the inside very sumptuously red and meaty. I then split the strip and spread the legs (so to speak). Set inside the crotch was a reverse spherification of smoked oysters to which I added a high end tonic water. The plating included a nori flakes, savory malt, soy granola and miso nage. Another hit, but I was cursing in the kitchen because I realized I had cut the tuna too large and was filling bellies too quickly. A smaller cut would have been more appropriate, and would have made for more delicate plating which would have fit this dish much better.

Course 3: Caressing the Bud

In this course I was using Keller's technique for sous vide radishes, but I made some modifications which had nice results. The radishes were cooked in a sweet vinegar sauce, served with sunchoke soup, fried carrot threads and what I was calling a rubic's cube of root vegetables.

Originally this was going to be a perfect 3-d cube of carrot, beet and parsnip. I tossed the beets because I knew there were going to bleed (although in retrospect, that could be a cool effect too). I then tossed the cube idea when we tried to get perfect cuts - it was just too hard to achieve that level of precision, so we went to the flat sheet you see above. I then tossed the cubes in corn start assuming the moisture, then the heat of the water bath would fuse the cubes. For the most part this worked well. A few cubes fell off but that actually made for a nice effect as well. A quick pan sear and onto the plate. I considered this one of my two courses for people to relax the senses - nothing too fancy, just comfort foods to take a break before the onslaught that was coming next.

Course 4: Mirror of Pleasing

My favorite course to plate although my pics sucked hence the ultra close up. Caviar set inside of a geleè with lime pudding, banana foam, curry salt, citrus flakes and sous vide monk fish cooked with fennel.

This course evolved greatly. First, the geleè was supposed to have sea urchin gonads. I couldn't get them. Next, the geleè was supposed to have crawfish brains. I couldn't get them. What kind of Cretans are running this town! So I settled for caviar - a relatively low end caviar which was okay because I wanted the saltiness and the pop which I achieved.

Second, the monkfish was supposed to be a much more important part of this dish. I ordered a fresh whole and received frozen fillets - I wasn't happy. I had been studying Morimoto's processing demo in the Chef's Congress topic and really stressing over it, and then these frozen bags showed up. Bummer - no liver, no gills...boring. Still a really good course that had exquisite plating.

Course 5: Pair of Tongs

OMG! This was the first time I had ever prepared or eaten belly. First, I've sent a deposit to my cardiologist, but second, this was one of the best things I've ever eaten. Riffing off of Alinea's recipe, its a sous vide cooked belly seasoned with cayenne and smoked paprika. Each cube is then topped with a thin sugar shell also seasoned and set under a broiler to melt. The result is a thin crisp shell over a luscious moist and highly flavorful cube of meat. Plated with mascarapone polenta, juniper berry sauce and savory chocolate soil.

This was the course that I first started hearing, "I don't know if I'll be able to finish this meal," - damn that tuna steak! Everyone did finish however, and nothing came back on any plates.

Course 6: Congress of Crow

Help! Plating Emergency! Duck breast pastrami, rye gnocchi, pickled mustard seeds, chestnut oil pudding, slaw and a roasted chestnut financier.

I had the best sous chef I could have asked for in eGer Patrick A. He's off at culinary school now, but came back to assist me and I'm so glad he did. His skills have improved. He has clearly let some of my snobbery and discernment rub off on him. And his speed is much improved. That said, this course suffered from too many hands on the plate. I need more precision in my gnocchi cuts, straighter lines in the pudding, and a more delicate hand on the coleslaw which was plated by one of the servers. But, it was as equally delicious as it was ugly.

Also, a quick note about the use of a chestnut financier. A while back I had bought chestnut flour and accidentally wound up with roasted instead of regular. The smokey flavor has ruined one dish after another HERE is the best example - the only combo that I've really liked has been in a white chocolate scone. During NPR's Thanksgiving food show this year, one of the guests made a passing comment that "The cabbage family loves smokey flavor." I wrote it on my prep board at the cafè and sat on it waiting for the right time. Finally this dish came into being and I knew it was my chance to apply that statement. It worked incredibly well. Good combo.

Course 7: Milk & Water

This was the only course that I didn't think was good. Most of the guests liked it but I did hear one say, "I guess my palate isn't developed enough to appreciate this." I don't like hearing that. My snobbery is self-imposed, not intended to be passed on to the guests.

This was the cheese course. I had numerous technical difficulties and the highlight never worked. It was supposed to have cheese caviar which never would set for me. The cheese cracker was supposed to be filled with cheese sauce - the cracker was too hard. So I went for the punt and put the sauce on the bottom, a bit of pear puree, and szechuan peppercorns. Let's forget this one and move on...

Course 8: Pop!corn

A mechanical difficulty here - my immersion blender died. Always bring a backup system! Alinea's popcorn soup with caramel foam - a foam that I had no way to froth. On the skewer is a popcorn ball dipped in chocolate and rolled in neutral pop rocks - our menu orgasm! Roars of laughter filled the room.

Course 9: Butterfly

Such a pretty dish, and such perfect flavors after all the previous food. Citrus compari granite, lemon curd, grapefruit geleè, citrus flakes, and the infamous damiana geleè cube.

Standing ovation by the guests for Patrick and I and then I explained damiana and passed the bottle for them to enjoy. I'm happily rested and ready to start planning my Spring menu for May.