eG Foodblog: BryanZ - Alchemy

[Pan]

Dude, I can't believe you ate all that! No wonder you haven't posted yet today. I hope you and your girlfriend feel OK.

[BryanZ]

We're fine. I worked a couple hours this morning and spent the afternoon planning out the meals and things I'll be cooking for the next couple days.

I also got my induction burner from the UPS man today. Pictures are forthcoming. It's fast as hell. Fast enough to beat my Viking in a basic water boiling test.

Edited July 11, 2006 by BryanZ (log)

[BryanZ]

Okay, maybe not DIVE, but it's certainly the Bounce-shot of all time.  What does it DO exactly?    Is it solid gel?  Is it a one-bite wonder, bursting flavor onto the tongue?  Please explain for the masses, we who have not the experience nor the magic wands.

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Okay so it's essentially just liquid tea on the inside with a gel-like coating to encase it. A good ravioli or caviar will explode in your mouth with the flavors of pure tea or pea soup or canteloupe.

This process is achieved by adding sodium alginate to the liquid you want to spherize. You then carefully spoon this alginated mixture into a bath of calcium chloride and water. The alginated liquid reacts with the calcium chloride to create a gel on the outside but leaves the inside liquid. The gel casing is heat stable so you can heat them. This allows you to serve hot tea orbs or orbs of melted butter.

[docsconz]

I find that the foodblogs in general move along too fast for me to follow, but this is one I must follow! Looking forward to the continuing exploits of BryanZ!

[BryanZ]

So one thing I forgot to mention yesterday when I was talking about my culinary philosophy and influences is my love for regional American food. I'm not talking New American fusion or anything like that but the regional dishes of the Northeast, the South, the Southwest, the Pacific Northwest. I think too often people dismiss regional American food as inconsequential or beneath the regional cuisine of Europe or Asia. As a quick anecdote, before going to school in the South I had very little experience with true barbeque and other staples of Southern cuisine. Now, I smoke meats frequently and have been known to whip up the occasional batch of collards or cheesy grits or waffles and fried chicken. To those unacquainted with the regional cuisine of the South, dishes like these might seem nearly foreign.

Which brings me to today's brunch. A proper Jersey deli breakfast sandwich. Purists will say an egg sandwich has to be on a hard roll but I prefer the everything bagel. I don't know why it's so hard to find a good bagel, much less a passable breakfast sandwich, outside of the tri-state. Sigh.

Bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel

$3 of goodness

I work part-time for my mother's trading export company. Currently we're working on trying to get export rights to Japan for the AeroGrow, a hydro/aeroponic indoor growing system. If anyone has any experience with this product I'd love to hear from you. I think it's a cool idea, though perhaps a little gimmicky.

I went grocery shopping today at my main supermarket, Wegmans. Wegmans is like Whole Foods, just better. Bigger, better quality produce and prepared foods, and with none of Whole Foods' oft hypocritical pretense. I spend more money here than probably anywhere else. I love this place.

Entrance right into the huge produce area

The mushroom area

One of my favorite areas of the store. They usually do a good job with keeping a decent supply of porcinis, chanterelles, and morels. Sometimes we get bluefoots and other more exotic types. My "everyday" mushrooms are shiitakes and maitakes. I haven't bought cirminis or white mushrooms in years, just not my thing. Wegmans also stocks truffles (as seen in mirror of the above image) but the quality can be real variable.

Part of the meat case

They stock a good deal of USDA Prime and are better than pretty much all the butchers in the area. We also get some game here (venison, poussin, boar, buffalo) courtesy of Dartagnan.

Seafood case

Again, the best in area. Freshest with the most selection. Great turnover, too, since the place is always crowded.

Tonight for dinner I'm doing an updated take on a steakhouse meal. I've got a great looking three-pound porterhouse that I've been dry aging for the past several days. I'm vacilating between grilling it or broiling it. You guys have any preferences?

[Abra]

I've resisted reading the alginate thread up to now, but that pea plate really sings to me. I'm afraid that there's alginate in my future. Are you using a mold for the little caviar shapes, or just drips and drops?

[BryanZ]

Some people in other threads have asked me where I get a lot of my more obscure equipment and supplies. In general I've found the internet, and especially eBay, to be a particularly powerful resource.

In terms of sourcing hydrocolloids and other agents for molecular gastronomy-type applications just a bit of research goes a long way. Of course, there's Will Powder, Will Goldfarb's newly launched online store, for your basic wares but some more research can get you just about anything if you want it.

As I've mentioned, I have two water baths, one big, one little. The little one only goes up to 55C, making it suitable for seafood and red meats but not eggs, pork, and most poultry.

The "baby"

That cover is an original creation. I paid like $40 for this thing. Quite cheap, I think.

The big one

This one holds a lot of stuff. I've never even come close to filling it to capacity. It's quite nice, though not as accurate as the small one, maybe +/- 1-2 degrees. For my purposes this is fine. I paid like $175 for this, still a good deal considering its something like over $600 when new.

My newest toy, received just moments ago, is this commerical induction burner. I was looking at some cheap home units for about $125, but then turned to eBay. This thing retails for $600 new, I got it for $155.

I bought this not because we need the extra burners at home, but because I'm sure to need them for my Z Kitchen concept. I'll be working on a P.O.S. 4 burner coil stove, so I wanted at least one burner that would be fast and powerful.

[BryanZ]

I've resisted reading the alginate thread up to now, but that pea plate really sings to me.  I'm afraid that there's alginate in my future.  Are you using a mold for the little caviar shapes, or just drips and drops?

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A hemispherical tablespoon for the ravioli, a baby medicine dosage dropper for the caviar, a syringe for the noodles.

[johnnyd]

Hi Bryan, stunning meals in sumptuous photos - great work!

I've heard that the Fort Lee area is a locus for japanese specialty food and equipment. Do you ever go there at all? Is your Mom's Trading company there, for example? Loved your blogs, by the by.

[philadining]

Nice job with the Wegman's pix, they're strangely nudgey about that and usually within about 4.5 milliseconds of pulling a camera out, there's a staffer there, politely informing you of their no-photo policy.

But then, you need to get your outlaw mode revved-up for Z-Kitchen anyway...

[judiu]

Nice job with the Wegman's pix, they're strangely nudgey about that and usually within about 4.5 milliseconds of pulling a camera out, there's a staffer there, politely informing you of their no-photo  policy.

But then, you need to get your outlaw mode revved-up for Z-Kitchen anyway...

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I've always found that if you don't use a flash, and think "invisible" you can get away with a lot, especially if you have a tiny little digital camera instead of some big honkin' 35mm with a telephoto lens... Discretion is all!

[Hiroyuki]

I work part-time for my mother's trading export company.  Currently we're working on trying to get export rights to Japan for the AeroGrow, a hydro/aeroponic indoor growing system.  If anyone has any experience with this product I'd love to hear from you.  I think it's a cool idea, though perhaps a little gimmicky.

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Interesting! I learned about the gimmick from this thread (no replies up to now). How much will it be in yen and when will it be available in Japan? What other items does your mother's company deal in? I want to try AeroPress and Toddy (both coffee makers)!

I hope this is not off topic...

[Mallet]

Tonight for dinner I'm doing an updated take on a steakhouse meal.  I've got a great looking three-pound porterhouse that I've been dry aging for the past several days.  I'm vacilating between grilling it or broiling it.  You guys have any preferences?

I'll be interested to see what you do with this (I have a 5 pound prime rib in the freezer...)

[mrbigjas]

Perhaps fittingly, in Anguilla we stayed at the Cuisinart Resort and Spa, a great luxury resort owned by the Cuisinart kitchen appliance people.  I'm not sure if this is directly relevant to food per se, but I'm more than willing to reflect on the meals of my recent travels if anyone is interested.

were a lot of things there... uh... pureed?

[Carlovski]

Wow - when I was a student (in the real Durham got to get my British Snobbery in somewhere) I was considered a culinary icon just because I'd knock up the occasional bowl of pasta in the college kitchen!

I love the look of Wegmans, just wish we had something similar here.

I think our style of cooking are poles apart, but I'd like to think I share at least a fraction of your enthusiasm.

[MarketStEl]

I know we sort of discussed writing about food in another thread a while back on this board.  Have you done anything else in this regard since then?  And have you given serious thought to doing so?  You are a good solid writer, and while the pay's not fabulous (unless you work those Duke connections to land at a top-tier newspaper or magazine), it's very rewarding work.

In fact, I have. I'm the food and dining editor for The Chronicle, Duke's daily independent newspaper. If you're so inclined you can click on the link and type my last name, Zupon, into the search bar to read some of my work. In the past year I've covered everythign from restaurant reviews, to food sustainability, to molecular gastronomy. I might try to do some writing for the local city paper, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time.

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Just took a look at your work for The Chronicle, and I'm glad to see you've developed a regular beat. I really like your writing style and your no-nonsense approach to explaining good food. (Judging from the front page images on the Web site, The Chronicle is also a very handsome publication. However, your Web site manager should be told to use ASCII character codes

(nnnn;)

for the accented letters in online stories, for they don't render properly viewed through my browser (Netscape 8.0, based on Mozilla).)

As I believe I said over in that food writing thread, one of the good things about attending an Ivy-class university is that the undergraduate student newspaper is independent of both the administration and (in the case of Columbia; does Duke have a J-school?) the journalism program, which frees you to do things you might not otherwise be able to, like (in your case) diss Aramark. (Speaking of Aramark, did you see my post describing dining at Widener in my foodblog?)

I really hope that, whatever you do, you at least continue to do this sort of thing on a freelance basis.

[racheld]

This allows you to serve hot tea orbs or orbs of melted butter.

Takes bubble tea to the stratosphere. And how do you regulate the "hot" of the contents so it's just a comfortable heat on the tongue and not like a jelly donut right out of the microwave?

[ghostrider]

Where exactly is this Wegman's that you frequent? (I keep hearing about them, never seen one, I am beginning to think that they are mythical, but your enticing pix seemed real enough.)

And as long as I'm asking questions, who did you see at Bowery Ballroom?

Do you have any favorite places in the vicinity for a quick & satisfying pre-show meal? (We usually wind up eating in the East Village & then stomping down to Delancey.)

Edited July 12, 2006 by ghostrider (log)

[Susan in FL]

Bacon, egg, and cheese on an everything bagel

That looks crazy good! Everything does. However, the fact that this turns you on as well as duck and foie gras terrine is just awesome.

I loved seeing your Wegmans pictures. In my dreams...

I'm sorry to keep referring to your age, but I am admittingly wow'ed and impressed by your talent; and, get such a kick out of it when, almost on the eve of your 20th birthday, you write something like this...

I haven't bought cirminis or white mushrooms in years, just not my thing.

Tonight for dinner I'm doing an updated take on a steakhouse meal.  I've got a great looking three-pound porterhouse that I've been dry aging for the past several days.  I'm vacilating between grilling it or broiling it.  You guys have any preferences?

I'm sure I'm catching up with this too late to reply with my preferences, and I'm also sure that however you cook it will be sensational, but we loved "broasting" -- I guess you might say -- our biggest porterhouse. It was positioned on its side in the oven. I've always thought I would like to get a three-pound or so porterhouse hooked up onto our rotisserie on the grill.

Perhaps fittingly, in Anguilla we stayed at the Cuisinart Resort and Spa, a great luxury resort owned by the Cuisinart kitchen appliance people.  I'm not sure if this is directly relevant to food per se, but I'm more than willing to reflect on the meals of my recent travels if anyone is interested.

were a lot of things there... uh... pureed?

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Too funny!

[mizducky]

I work part-time for my mother's trading export company.  Currently we're working on trying to get export rights to Japan for the AeroGrow, a hydro/aeroponic indoor growing system.  If anyone has any experience with this product I'd love to hear from you.  I think it's a cool idea, though perhaps a little gimmicky.

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Heh. Fascinating gadget, that. You wouldn't happen to know if it's possible to load one of the gizmo's little grow pods with seeds of one's own choosing, would you? Erm ... for those of my friends who are "seedy" ... Bet there would be a huge market for that kind of thing.

(I really am paying attention to the food, too ... )

[carpetbagger, esq.]

for a second, i didn't think bryan ever ate anything normal. i'm glad he can enjoy something as simple as a bagel sammich.

[BryanZ]

Heh. Fascinating gadget, that. You wouldn't happen to know if it's possible to load one of the gizmo's little grow pods with seeds of one's own choosing, would you? Erm ... for those of my friends who are "seedy" ...  Bet there would be a huge market for that kind of thing.  

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I learned about the gimmick from this thread (no replies up to now).  How much will it be in yen and when will it be available in Japan?  What other items does your mother's company deal in?  I want to try AeroPress and Toddy (both coffee makers)!

I hope this is not off topic...

←

It does seem like a cool product. I think where they're aiming to make their money is with the seed cartridges (kind of like the good ol' shaving razor example). I'm pretty sure they're patented and all that. I should have a sample in the next couple weeks and will probably end up posting about it somewhere on eG. In terms of Japanese export, we're just in preliminary correspondence now, so there's nothing to get excited about quite yet.

Where exactly is this Wegman's that you frequent?  (I keep hearing about them, never seen one, I am beginning to think that they are mythical, but your enticing pix seemed real enough.)

And as long as I'm asking questions, who did you see at Bowery Ballroom?

Do you have any favorite places in the vicinity for a quick & satisfying pre-show meal?  (We usually wind up eating in the East Village & then stomping down to Delancey.)

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The Wegmans I go to is in Bridgewater, New Jersey, about 20 minutes from my house. It's kind of a drive, but I'm completely used to it by now.

I saw Make Believe and Cursive at the Bowery. This is kind of off topic, but you have to love Tim Kinsella and Tim Kasher.

In terms of food in the area, there's not a ton there. I guess the best bet would be THOR. wd~50 and Room 4 Dessert are close by but not exactly what you're looking for. I agree, just grabbing a bite in the East Village is the way to go.

[MarketStEl]

Restaurant Week Day 1, cont'd.

[...](Somewhat) refreshed, we headed over to Aquavit, one of my favorite restaurant in the city.  Aquavit's Scandanavian cuisine is radically different than much of the French-infuenced fare served in nearly all of the city's top restaurants.

Entrance

[...]

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This was the restaurant where Marcus Samuelsson (one of those rarities, an Afro-Swede) first got noticed.

Then Philly restaurant impresario Stephen Starr lured him down to his 13th restaurant, Washington Square, giving him the keys to the kitchen amid much hype about a menu that would feature "global street food."

I'm not sure anyone around here ever figured out exactly what "global street food" was. And whatever it was, the locals weren't impressed by it. Things quickly went south, and pretty soon, Samuelsson was on his way back to New York.

What's he doing now, and where?

And segueing from this tale to another question:

I realize it's easier for you to head into New York City from where you live, but Philly isn't that far away. Have you ever thought about sampling this city's favorite foods (some of which probably do qualify as "street food" of sorts, as you can find carts all over town serving up cheesesteaks) or checking out its dining scene?

[Bueno]

Most recently, Riingo.

[BryanZ]

Dinner tonight was a relatively simple affair. I wanted to do something that people could relate to rather than go completely out there (that'll be lunch on Thursday).

So tonight we had the huge porterhouse, split between the four of us, and a few other updated steakhouse classics.

I ended up grilling the porterhouse. I like how porterhouses look but there's so much meat-to-bone area that it's hard to get even doneness. I'm especially spoiled by how easy it is to cook everything evenly via sous vide that grilling a a huge bone-in piece of meat seems more hit-or-miss.

Anyway.

The porterhouse in its raw state. This is after I had been dry-aging it wrapped loosely in a kitchen towel since Saturday. After the aging, I cut off any dry, leathery bits. The improvement in texture and depth of flavor is marked, though with a steak this large I could've easily gone twice as long.

Grilled porterhouse, smoked corn puree, sweet potato puree, roasted maitakes and chanterelles

The decision to leave the corn puree not completely smooth was a conscious one. Usually I'm a stickler for PERFECTLY smooth purees, but I thought this would work better in a somewhat more rustic preparation. The inspiration for this smoked corn puree came from something very similar at Aquavit last night.

Sweet potatoes are a personal favorite of the Girlfriend's. I usually boil them until tender then puree and season with the requesite salt and pepper, then a touch of nutmeg and brown sugar.

For dessert, a blueberry crisp made from local berries. This is a really simple and really tasty dish. A summer staple in our house.