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Happy Rosh Hashanah!


dcarch

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Happy Rosh Hashanah!

Made a few things for the occasion, I think. Not sure if either one is authentic. I would appreciate suggestions. :wub:

Chopped liver, more like liver pate. I used chicken liver. There is nothing special about the recipe, just schmaltz and gribenes in the mix, in addition to other ingredients. The chopped liver was served on home made puffed rice cookies.

And

Sosu vide brisket with sautéed figs, glazed carrots and onion. Fig chutney made from the inside of the figs on the brisket.

L’chaim!

dcarch

liverpate_zps53837e48.jpg

liverpate2_zps90db34be.jpg

liverpate4_zps6cda96f4.jpg

figbrisket3_zps597c0a96.jpg

figbrisket2_zps99851b8a.jpg

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I must say, that's the first time (I think in my life), that I've felt that a liver dish looked appetizing.

Did you form the pate in a full mold (like a dish) or is that pattern from something pressed into the face of it?

PastaMeshugana

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I must say, that's the first time (I think in my life), that I've felt that a liver dish looked appetizing.

Did you form the pate in a full mold (like a dish) or is that pattern from something pressed into the face of it?

I have to say it is one of the few times I have seen a liver dish which looked completely unappetizing. I have no idea what the thinking behind this molding was. It is very offputting.

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Thanks everyone. It was fun making and sharing the liver dish.

That is a mold I made using food grade silicone rubber. Very easy to make. Because it is silicone, it is non-stick and can take high heat, I have used it to bake bread, which is also lot's of fun.

Kenneth, yes, that's shiso from my garden. A very strong flavored herb, works with liver, which is very strong in flavor.

Sigma, it is not surprising that you feel that way. It seems to me that's your general feeling with any plated food, from your comment on the Dinner thread, "I feel like the posting of this stuff is some sort of performance art whirring straight over my head." But I do appreciate your taking time to comment, and I thank you. Any comment, good or bad, is what I am looking for here to keep on improving.

dcarch

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I love liver and I admire dcarch for all his many, many talents and awesome plating but....... No. I just couldn't.

Anna Nielsen aka "Anna N"

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Sigma, it is not surprising that you feel that way. It seems to me that's your general feeling with any plated food, from your comment on the Dinner thread, "I feel like the posting of this stuff is some sort of performance art whirring straight over my head." But I do appreciate your taking time to comment, and I thank you. Any comment, good or bad, is what I am looking for here to keep on improving.

dcarch

dcarch, I am glad you appreciate constructive criticism. I think you misunderstand me if you believe I dislike plated food. I actually enjoy it very much, but I think that in order for intricately plated food to be attractive, and thus appetizing, it both needs to be executed with a high level of technical skill and it needs to have a well thought out reason for taking the form it does. My feeling, in general, is that much of the plated food here suffers at least on the first criteria, mm#&!@* would be a counterexample, and while the second is somewhat in the eye of the beholder, it is probably a good rule of thumb that the food either looks like food, or is so perfectly executed and conceived that it is beautiful as an object and easily explained to somebody else. Crown molding of liver doesn't fulfill this.

I do appreciate your interest and zeal, I would simply suggest that you focus first on technique and when you have that down move on to more experimental things. I hope this was constructive.

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its a picture. a picture can't evaluate techinique. (S)He was having some fun.

to finish my first thought and reflected by other above: i cant stand 'chopped liver' ie chicken liver and chicken fat that is very traditional in some cultures.

And Ive had the "best" ive been told at some gatherings packed with traditionalists of this type of food.

I do love Pate though.

the plating was so interesting that Id have had a taste if I had seen that at a 'gathering' I would probably have disliked it if it was Traditional Chopped Liver.

the point being; plating, really good plating gets you interested in having a taste, no matter what.

Edited by rotuts (log)
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You certainly can judge technique from pictures, and I should clarify I wasn't commenting on the technique of the liver crown molding, but as a general comment on some of the plated food I see here, just as dcarch was making a general comment on my feelings about plated food. Anyway, you can tell technique when you look at cleanness of cut, evenness, how colors are retained etc. My suggestion above was that people should focus on technique before arrangement because bad technique shows through, raw fish poorly cut etc, and it is exceedingly difficult to put lipstick on a pig, though given the OP, anything is possible ;).

Edited by sigma (log)
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Thank you everyone. Attempts in plating food is fun, whether successful or not in your end results. A forum like this one is a playground for experiments and classroom for learning.

Nibor, it's just the automatic controls of the camera that gave the greenish hue to the liver.

dcarch

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Sigma "-------but I think that in order for intricately plated food to be attractive, and thus appetizing, it both needs to be executed with a high level of technical skill and it needs to have a well thought out reason for taking the form it does.---"

I have to disagree with you 1000 %.

This forum is not all for top notch professional chefs, very few have super skills here. Besides, many meals posted are done in a big hurry. As I said, we are here to practice, learn and have fun. We are here to give positive motivation to all.

To imply that one should not post anything unless the execution is perfect is, IMHO, not the idea of this forum.

You can criticize someone if someone asks to be criticized, otherwise don't.

Not everyone has thick skin like me.

dcarch

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Sigma "-------but I think that in order for intricately plated food to be attractive, and thus appetizing, it both needs to be executed with a high level of technical skill and it needs to have a well thought out reason for taking the form it does.---"

I have to disagree with you 1000 %.

This forum is not all for top notch professional chefs, very few have super skills here. Besides, many meals posted are done in a big hurry. As I said, we are here to practice, learn and have fun. We are here to give positive motivation to all.

To imply that one should not post anything unless the execution is perfect is, IMHO, not the idea of this forum.

You can criticize someone if someone asks to be criticized, otherwise don't.

Not everyone has thick skin like me.

dcarch

You interpret incorrectly what I wrote and what I might have implied. I didn't at all say that nobody should post anything without perfect execution. Far from it. Posting things is a great way to get better as others are able to help tell you how you could improve, what looks delicious and what doesn't. What I said is that as things are plated more intricately they require a higher level of skill in order to make them look appetizing. This is a pretty benign and common statement and mirrored in the reality of what we see dining out. Technical skill level and time designing tend to go hand in hand, and when they don't there is something decidedly weird about it. That's not to say that a coq au vin at a bistro presented in a homey way is not delicious looking, it is to say that it is far more delicious looking than if the same dish were to be touched and tweezed like you would find a very intricate and sophisticated dish.

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I admire your taking on foods you are unfamiliar with. Your chopped liver looks a bit loose to me. Does it contain hard-cooked eggs and caramelized onions or is it straight shamaltz and liver? I make chopped liver all the time, even though I am a papist and the texture doesn't look as pate-like as mine. I have never eaten brisket that was rolled like that. It looks like a rouladen writ large.

How was everything? Would you make it again?

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Since it's a Rosh Hashanah thread...no pictures, but we had a belated meal of matzo ball soup followed by brisket, mashed potatoes, broccoli w/ cheese sauce (no Kosher in our house - Dad's the only one who's Jewish), and asparagus. Followed by a 7 layer cake and cupcakes, both purchased at the Italian bakery with kosher certification...I love NJ. :)

Joanna G. Hurley

"Civilization means food and literature all round." -Aldous Huxley

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My mom did everything; I just brought dessert. Sadly, my mother also makes her matzo balls from a mix...I'd call them floaters, though. They're pretty light. For me, the highlight is really the brisket.

My mother is an odd cook. She loves cooking shows, she tries things she sees, but she hates measuring, it's an argument every year over whether to use butter (my choice) or margarine (hers) for Christmas cookies, etc. When she does stuff truly from scratch (like the one time a year she makes homemade tomato sauce for Christmas Eve dinner), it's really good, but most of the time she's just fine with shortcuts. I'm not going to change her at this point. :)

Joanna G. Hurley

"Civilization means food and literature all round." -Aldous Huxley

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I admire your taking on foods you are unfamiliar with. Your chopped liver looks a bit loose to me. Does it contain hard-cooked eggs and caramelized onions or is it straight shamaltz and liver? I make chopped liver all the time, even though I am a papist and the texture doesn't look as pate-like as mine. I have never eaten brisket that was rolled like that. It looks like a rouladen writ large.

How was everything? Would you make it again?

Thanks. That's me, always making something new. But that is not a good quality, :blush: I am too impatient and tooo lazy to follow recipes. :biggrin::biggrin:

The chopped liver looked a little different in texture than what you normally see is because I put some gelatin in the mix. I thought that might help molding a little easier.

The brisket's shape was like that because it was my intention to use some of it for slicing to put on bagels the next day.

Yes, I would try to make the dishes again, probably with some different ingredients for fun.

Brisket was very good, sous vided 48 hours.

dcarch

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