Saturday, November 17, 2007

It will be a molecular christmas.



Christmas came early for me this year. I have been wanting to have a little time to play with some new products and techniques. That time has finally come. Hope to create some new dishes and possibly some dialogue with these products.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Exam day

I have been asked on a number of occassions to judge student exams in the past year. I have to say it has been really rewarding to do so. I have really liked going back to my school (now in a much nicer location) and feeling the energy there. It's really a nice experience.
Now there is a downside, I had to eat 14 portions of sole meunierre with jardinierre vegetables. A new format has all students making the same dish. I can safely say I do not enjoy this format. A change is nice. And I think the students would be more likely to do their own style of plating. With this method I found all the dishes looked very similar. Of the 14 I tested, 2 were decent, one outright unedible, and the rest somewhere in between. I am also still amazed that more attention is not given to vegetable cookery. Damn near anyone can cook a peice of protien, but it takes real attention to properly prepare vegetables. Not one student had the seasoning of both components of the exam right. Some had great seasoning on the main portion of their plate (protiens), but lacked seasoning on the veg.
Maybe I am splitting hairs here, but I really beleive the star of any dish should be the vegetables and even the starch. They just make the protien taste even better. All in all a good class (probably better than mine).
Confit of cornish hen with fig and leek candy
Seared striped bass with risotto and mango salsa


I felt very hurried with some of these dishes. Some of the ideas are worth exploring further....some not.
If you have any suggestions please feel free....

Friday, November 9, 2007

Playing with my food

I really need a couple of days to work out some new ideas. I have been reading a lot of food blogs as of late, getting some ideas for one bite dishes. Inspiration is from various sources — check 'blogs I read'.

List of things I am playing with (in no particular order):

Cornish hens
Mariposa duck breast
Nice piece of black truffle
Gem squash
Salsify
Kumquats
Parsnips
Whatever shows up in my weekly basket from Bryson Farms
Mock sous vide
Transglutiminase
Kappa
Iotta
Methyl cellulose

Hopefully I will have made some progress by the end of the week. Stay tuned for the finished products and some recipes.