eG Foodblog: akwa - Shaolin style gastronomy

[Fat Guy]

Will, any thoughts on trans-fats?

[lancastermike]

I had two bourbons after work. It STILL makes no sense to me. Maybe I need a kit-kat to understand him

[chefzadi]

will there be photos? prefereably of pastries.

[tan319]

Are we (posters in the forum) possibly mixing up infantalism with the influence of "infancy" on a dessert?

For me, talking about a plating featuring these items you're surrounded with at the moment( baby bottles, etc.) makes perfect sense.

In 'Los Postres de El Bulli', there's a dessert ( macedonia de frutas y verduras en texturas) that features puree's, foams, granizados (granites), gelatins, vegetable mousse, etc., that you made me think of.

Almost like baby food for adults

When we're plugged into the creative state of mind, almost anything ( in my experience) becomes fodder for ideas and experimentation.

One almost can't help it.

I think great things come out of this.

Maybe a baby bottle made out of isomalt or something you can eat after emptying?

The toilet deprivation experience, don't think that could, or should, be worked in.

Were you around for those Leibrandt dinners that were eaten in darkness?

PS: Dig that Matcha Kit Kat!

Where can I get one?

[Fat Guy]

In a few other discussions here, John Whiting and I have commented that haute cuisine in general is baby-food-like. I remember a meal at Arpege where the first several courses all had the consistency of baby food, and haute cuisine has traditionally favored soft foods like filet mignon over totally superior-tasting but more-difficult-to-masticate foods like brisket. This probably traces back, at least in part, to the pre-modern era of non-dental-care, wherein you were lucky to have teeth (or even be alive) after age thirty and therefore soft foods were a luxury: the infancy of old age reasserted itself much earlier. But you also see it in traits like the national French aversion to spicy foods.

[Carrot Top]

I had two bourbons after work.  It STILL makes no sense to me.  Maybe I need a kit-kat to understand him

The way he's "talking" is actually making more sense to me, and is more understandable too than the op-eds each day in the newspapers on politics and politicians. THAT stuff makes no sense whatsoever no matter how you sort it out.

Listen (or rather read) as if you were reading poetry. Don't try to understand it. Just hear the sound. Close your eyes and see what appears in your imagination.

Oh. Yeah, have another bourbon too if you want.

It's all understandable. The only question I have in my own mind is whether he is winking at us as he says it or whether the aura is solemn.

[akwa]

But can the creativity at the infant stage truly be compared with the creativity of later years.  I agree that true creativity requires an absence or at least ignorance of influence ... but doesn't it also require a context?  At infancy, I would term this an awakening rather than creativity.

But we're not here to talk semantics are we?

The ability to use the "toilet" in any way shape or form at any time

<SNIP>

5.  The dynamic that stems from toilet deprivation

Sounds like a university pub to me ... especially if one was waiting for the ladies room! How does this translate to cuisine??

A.

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first let me say that i am humbled by the great dialogue unfolding

with regards to awakening, i feel that distinction is critical

the adult must make a conscious choice to revert

for this reason i feel comfortable describing this line of evolution as both profound and exponentially more complex. the adult must have reached a state of no mind harmony in which he or she can act freely and powerfully in order to be capable of such a personal revolution

from the previous logic one has moved across lines of ingredient, technique and philosophy to govern cuisine, found love to unify these axes, then labored in solitude to refine "creativity"

on less sure footing i argue that shame ensues, partly from an embarrassment of egotism, partly because of an awareness of the power

to avoid burning the chariot phaethon could have just admitted his frailty

the ability to reset ones mind at any age can only be seen to be an incredible potential

[akwa]

Will, any thoughts on trans-fats?

←

mr shaw

i am woefully ignorant as to the properties of transfats

but would appreciate an explanation so that i could adequately respond in harmony with the blog

[Carrot Top]

The toilet deprivation experience, don't think that could, or should, be worked in.

There was a story in the news ( somehow I don't think it was The Washington Post or anything like that. . .but even though I don't remember where I read it I KNOW it wasn't the Enquirer) about a man (some ex-sports guy) who at the age of 38, decided he wanted to be a baby. To be an infant forever.

He had all the hair removed from his body and took to drinking bottles of milk as his only sustenance. He lives with his mother and uh. . .girlfriend. This is actually the second woman he has lived with since he decided to make this change, although he says he has been celibate since making this "life change". It has been ten years or so since he has taken to being a baby.

His biggest problem has been to be able to. . .do what has to be done. . .in his diapers (which is what he wears all day) without "deciding" to do so. His ultimate goal is to be able to do this "naturally" as a baby would. To this goal, he takes some drugs and is working with a hypnotist.

Well. I am not sure how this fits into akwa's food blog!

Just more "fodder for ideas", anyway.

[akwa]

will there be photos? prefereably of pastries.

←

unfortunately, there probably will not be photographs

[akwa]

Are we (posters in the forum) possibly mixing up infantalism with the influence of "infancy" on a dessert?

For me, talking about a plating featuring these items you're surrounded with at the moment( baby bottles, etc.) makes perfect sense.

In 'Los Postres de El Bulli', there's a dessert ( macedonia de frutas y verduras en texturas) that features puree's, foams, granizados (granites), gelatins, vegetable mousse, etc., that you made me think of.

Almost like baby food for adults

When we're plugged into the creative state of mind, almost anything ( in my experience) becomes fodder for ideas and experimentation.

One almost can't help it.

I think great things come out of this.

Maybe a baby bottle made out of isomalt or something you can eat after emptying?

The toilet deprivation experience, don't think that could, or should, be worked in.

Were you around for those Leibrandt dinners that were eaten in darkness?

PS: Dig that Matcha Kit Kat!

Where can I get one?

←

tan

i wrote the menus for the makwa dinners but thats neither here nor there

i think that you are right to make the distinction

and i am reassured by your interpretation of external influences in the creative process

i was very lucky to work for albert as my third post and first on the pastry line and i am both blessed and damned to call el bulli my formative experience

i think that albert and ferran collectively have demonstrated the viability of a professionalized creativity, among many contributions to the body of gastronomy

what we at akwa are working towards is a commercialization of creativity across disciplines to help make the chef a real working artist craftsman that can be respected as a real professional

with regards to the baby bottle, maybe i have gone down the wrong road

there is no bottle, just the nipple is essential forgive the vulgarity

there is no restaurant and there are no plates

there is only a virtual island with an unwritten rule book

[akwa]

In a few other discussions here, John Whiting and I have commented that haute cuisine in general is baby-food-like. I remember a meal at Arpege where the first several courses all had the consistency of baby food, and haute cuisine has traditionally favored soft foods like filet mignon over totally superior-tasting but more-difficult-to-masticate foods like brisket. This probably traces back, at least in part, to the pre-modern era of non-dental-care, wherein you were lucky to have teeth (or even be alive) after age thirty and therefore soft foods were a luxury: the infancy of old age reasserted itself much earlier. But you also see it in traits like the national French aversion to spicy foods.

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this is a very interesting point regarding the origins of baby type food

i think this also stems from a particular type of luxury concept where the act of work or acts of work are banished from the table

small portions, easy to digest flavors, over service all have indicated great luxury and excess

i dont think we should confuse luxury and profundity, nor should we disregard the history of gastronomy. it is essential to our understanding

[Smithy]

Since Nestle makes KitKat and Mars makes Twix

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Kit Kat is made by Hershey's in the United States, but in Europe it's made by Nestle. Isn't that strange?

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Ha! I had "Hershey's" written, then looked again at Jack's link and changed it. So much for source-checking. I'd ask about the connection of Hershey's and Nestle overseas, but that might be too OT.

This blog gets more amazing, even after a couple of glasses of wine. No need for bourbon. The spirit of Hunter is with us.

[akwa]

I had two bourbons after work.  It STILL makes no sense to me.  Maybe I need a kit-kat to understand him

The way he's "talking" is actually making more sense to me, and is more understandable too than the op-eds each day in the newspapers on politics and politicians. THAT stuff makes no sense whatsoever no matter how you sort it out.

Listen (or rather read) as if you were reading poetry. Don't try to understand it. Just hear the sound. Close your eyes and see what appears in your imagination.

Oh. Yeah, have another bourbon too if you want.

It's all understandable. The only question I have in my own mind is whether he is winking at us as he says it or whether the aura is solemn.

←

very flattered

i am quite serious regards personal philosophy in cuisine

but if you cant smile reading big words about kit kats...

truly i am not a brain surgeon

if i did my job well some rich people got to feel better about themselves

this uninteresting social dynamic is one of the reasons i made the jump

ill wait until i can harmonize the beautiful and the register

[SobaAddict70]

PS: Dig that Matcha Kit Kat!

Where can I get one?

←

In Japan?

[SobaAddict70]

Reading this blog, I am reminded of T.S. Eliot and in more than one instance, Ezra Pound.

Your mind and you are our Sargasso Sea,

London has swept about you this score years

And bright ships left you this or that in fee:

Ideas, old gossip, oddments of all things,

Strange spars of knowledge and dimmed wares of price.

--Ezra Pound, from Portrait d'une Femme,  (1885-1972)

Like fine wine and ideas, it's meant to be savored slowly.

Soba

[tan319]

Will, do you have a website address for AKWA?

My bookmarks crashed awhile ago and...

Thanks!

[akwa]

great work team

i am excited by the developments today

i look forward to trying to knock your socks off tomorrow am

good night

for dinner i had a guiness

[tchorst]

ted-

akwa

Tim

[Carrot Top]

I made the transition from restaurant pastry chef to full time father in February, and since then I have been working on numerous ideas, including working as a personal chef to develop a patron relationship, developing a theory of creativity as a foundation for my work, designing a line of chocolate, but mostly to take care of my daughter Loulou as best as possible.

One may live to create, but one does need to create to live.

The Somersault Theory is what that is.

As I apply the Somersault Theory to you. . .I see the tumble round. . .it starts with your imagination filled with ideas. . it tumbles right over into the work as personal chef. . .and where does the somersault end? Why. . .it finishes right up perfectly with Loulou smiling at you as you round back up into a sitting position.

Nice somersault. Interesting form, great finish.

[Carrot Top]

Are you heading down the untrodden (or very lightly trodden, at any rate) path towards moving the act of pastry making into the realm of pure conceptual art. . .in a form that you have yet to decide upon?

Just curious.

Edited August 16, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[Corinna Dunne]

for dinner i had a guiness

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I see your stream of consciousness is still at work. Some believe that Guinness is good for lactating mothers.

On the toilet deprivation issue, I feel we need some more detail. Do you intend doing this in your own house? And do you intend taking the process through to its logical conclusion and caring for the 'infants' yourself? If you transport the minds of your diners back to infancy by evoking warm memories, do you believe that you have a responsibility to support them while they are in this state? If they are visiting infacts, I suggest that this is the time to return them to their parents.

One area you haven't explored is the reflux action of the baby after eating. Is there some way that the reinfantised diners can be winded? Should they be asked to spit out a lactic foam to simulate the enjoyment of that release?

[akwa]

This morning I had a Poland Spring water for breakfast.

Gastronomic sufferi

Invitation au voyage

Nervously making plans for dodging a week just after opening.

Looking back across my absorption lines, I find varying speed of thought. Keep referencing back to the rare moments of “clarity.”

And then it was no drama. Because we were behind schedule. So I got married. And bought a house, had a baby, and went to Brazil.

The Rosario situation

It all began on a toilet in Sydney;

Rozelle to be precise. I was giving an interview to an Italian journalist regarding the future of cooking, AKWA. Naturally I was emboldened by my position in a toilet stall in a youth hostel outside Tetsuya. But after a year with the rain in Spain, that’s about how high I was.

Fortunately the online ticket broker did not pursue this lead. When asked the purpose of my visit to Brazil, I said

PERSONAL

Organisation (avant tous choses)

In what way demonstrate civilization

It was Cheong that taught me that cooking is a measure of civilization. Why the plate. What is the relationship. Where do ideas come from. These are the questions I began to ask while still at El Bulli. And for me that answer comes from cleanliness and organization, not godliness.

So I began to research Brazil and found checkered past of seaside paradise and slavery. Cuisine reflecting molasses and french tarts. And my mind began to work.

Descent

Favela chic

One of my old poor jokes in Maine, when I was poor, was

Why do poor people take the bus?

Because it sucks;

Poor people have miserable lives.

In Rio, people walk because they can’t afford the bus. The approach past the indomitable buddy Jesus is breathtaking. Sandwiched by surf and rainforest, Rio is an incredible mix of flavor. Buzios, now overrun with teenage tourists and local prostitutes, is not.

In Rio, I ate frozen raw coconuts on the beach watching teenagers play futbol, the beautiful game.

In Buzios, I watched CNN and drank imported beer.

Each day the cuisinier begins with nothing at the stove

Hot water is too expensive

At the Casas Brancas life was good. We were escorted around town and served luxurious meals that seemed strangely out of place on unpaved roads lined with litter. And then it was time to make the relationship with the restaurant who would be my host for the televised portion of the program.

She said no. So I walked into the next restaurant and asked the gentleman if I could speak in English. He said yes. I told him my dilemma, I was a chef from New York in town for RAI to make a television pilot, (Like Vincent Vega, he was aware of the invention called the television, and that on that invention they show shows.) and my host had turned into hostile. I asked to speak to the chef, and was calmly embarrassed when the gentleman revealed that he was in fact the chef. I suggested I would check with the owner, and was less calmly embarrassed when the gentleman revealed that he was in fact also the owner.

So the next day I began to hunt and gather for the dinner at Sawasdee.

Menu invertido

Caiprinha spray

Because the water is too expensive on the tiny peninsula made popular by Bardot in the sixties, we use only chlorinated cold water to cook. There was alas, one microwave in the four kitchens I visited in Buzios, and fortunately I made it mine. The etat sauvage was more warmly represented by Seu Carlinho, or Little Mister Charles, the most exhilarating farmhand I have ever met.

At the “farm” of Seu Carlinho, which consisted of a tent with random and not so random plant arrangements, I developed my philosophy for the meal. Already I had decided to make an upside down menu; straightforward being too straightforward for my giant ego. With dessert first, I needed products and sensory exploration. I found many of these on the ground of Seu Carlinho.

Caju fruit, just to smell. Wild mountain spinach to freeze and eat. Savage basil to rub and an occasional rogue lemongrass to further confuse Thailand and Brazil. We went with the fisherman to catch the fish, and went to the supermarket for further inspiration.

Olor caju

Chocolate dende with farofa virtual of café con leche

Café de manha

Pan queixo con batido de pan queixo

Ensalada congelada espinacas seu carlinho

Papillote of brazilian palms with praline

Mayonnaise of fish (cabi.o.lait de coco)

I don’t remember

Caiprinha spray

Chupa chups de maracuja

Menu invertido

Ensalada congelada?

Well the freezer didn’t work at Sawasdee, so I was forced to abandon my most exciting dish. Fortunately, I didn’t leave the dish off of the menu, and I told everyone about it. This was cuisine virtual. The dish was experienced without being seen, touched, or tasted.

Each day the cuisinier begins with nothing at the stove

You’re not recording this are you?

The most exciting food of the week, aside from Martin’s menu, which was the best prepared, was Donato’s tape recorded tableside descriptions. Martin, a friend from Buenos Aires had prepared the first menu, and on leave from his art museum café in Barcelona, had knocked the pants off of the room.

I think that even the most adventurous consumers, if not exposed to the most adventurous chefs of the moment, remain relatively timid regarding cuisine. (Here to digress would be relativity in cuisine and plated desserts; or the varying speed of absorption of ideas in the food world.)

Martin’s menu was peppered with ingenious touches of tableware and presentation coupled with an actual taste. Donato’s menu was actual Italian food with local ingredients and love. I was cooking with both of them and what this Gastronomic Safari missed out on was potential collaboration of young impressionable minds.

Descent

The worst toilet in Scotland

Is in the Rio de Janeiro airport, which happens to be the worst airport in the world. It is the only airport that makes you wish you had been mugged on the way in.

After passing through security I was informed I could not pass back, and therefore, without a dollar, access to a bank machine, an open bar, any location that accepted any type of card, and a sunburn, I smoked with the laborers under the falling ceiling tiles.

Organisation (avant tous choses)

Quark

After love, solitude is the next level of creativity. How ironic to find it true again returning home to my love after being alone.

I went to work with soon to be quashed renewed vigor and developed a new template based on my experience to govern my work. This manifested itself in a bold but tasty quark design pastry template that I have not used yet.

Invitation au voyage

Bangkok dangerous

Asked to go on the next safari in Thailand. But I declined, since I am going to become a papa. And finally I make something relatively more important. Maybe next year.

How much did you absorb on the way in or on the way out? Perhaps the parable reflects the actual life: to and fro. Hither and thither.

Reconstructed evenings dangling in the moonlight.

[akwa]

ted-

akwa

Tim

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right now the website is being redesigned for an october rebirth

jwrightdesign

is doing the work

jwrightdesign

[akwa]

Are you heading down the untrodden (or very lightly trodden, at any rate) path towards moving the act of pastry making into the realm of pure conceptual art. . .in a form that you have yet to decide upon?

Just curious.

←

no

pure conceptual art

for sale

with social relevance and meaning