I love sous vide meat!

Sous Vide Duck Breast, Foie Gras, Spring Vegetables, Raisin Date Puree, Maple Cranberry Glaze. The duck breast was cooked at 70C for 10 min then taken out of the bag and the skin was seared to render some of the fat and crisp the skin. The sous vide process allows for the meat to stay pink and tender.

The temperature regulator we use is a circulator made for medical use. It keeps the temperature low and steady which is very hard to do over a flame or induction burner. We can keep sauces and purees in the circulating water as well to warm up while cooking the tenderloin, vegetables and eggs. Its a great piece of equipment. We wouldn't be able to do the kind of food we cook without it.

Sous Vide Beef Tenderloin, Pommery Mustard Soubise, Pomme Fondant, Baby Garden Carrot, Parsnip Chips, White Truffle Essence

Perfect Little Bite

Foie Gras Mousse Filled Meringue Jesse and I were throwing around ideas today before service for a way to use the trimmings from the foie. All that tasty fat can't go to waste! In the past we have done Marshmallow Fluff with foie folded in so I suggested for a canape to do a baked meringue that is light and slightly sweet to balance out the richness and savoriness of the foie. Jesse said "its the best idea you've had yet" so i guess its a keeper.

Soy Sauce Noodle Soup vs Beef Noodle Soup

Growing up there was one place in Flushing that my family always went to for Taiwanese beef noodle soup. It had a really deep broth that full of flavor from the melt in your mouth meat, spices and preserved vegetables. That place is long gone since Flushing has changed so much over the years. Good restaurants have shuttered making way for new places run by China people. Ever since then with every bowl of beef noodles we bought my dad would say "I'm not eating that soy sauce water.", in Taiwanese of course. I would give him the eye roll and eat my noodles, but the thought was in my head. It certainly wasn't as good as the place before, in fact, it does taste just like someone dumped soy sauce in a pot of water, added a few vegetables a few slices of meat and noodles. Crap I got ripped off!

So my mom started making her own. Her version can be hit or miss depending on the cut of meat she decides to use for it. It can be like drinking a bowl of artery clogging lipid soup and

chewing on re-hydrated beef jerky. Avoid using short rib. Brisket can also turn out stringy and chewy. Most restaurants use a cheap cut of meat. At home I use a combo of beef tendons and a special cut of meat from the thigh that is tough and marbled with tendons but once stewed

becomes tender and juicy. The tendons contain a crucial amount of natural gelatin that thickens the soup and gives it a rich mouth feel without the fat coating your mouth and internal organs (and making its home permanently in the tire around your belly).

If you have a crock pot or a pressure cooker

the process is even easier. Its definitely worth making for yourself just to avoid the over powering urge to drink 10 glasses of water after all that sodium and MSG. (Sorry too lazy to write a recipe. If you really want to know how to make it email me)

Whoop..Whoop.. Whoopie Pies..

Suddenly I have been hearing/ reading/ seeing whoopie pies every where. Random little cafes have them, even Danny Meyer has them on the menu at Public Fare, his new concession stand in central park.

I have to confess that I have never tasted one before making them today. They are described as being not quite cake not quite cookie, sandwiching a creamy filling.

I found a recipe from the NY-times article on the whoopie pie craze and made it my own. I filled mine with a espresso and Kalua flavored buttercream. To me they are like eating Drake's Devil Dog cakes but with too much cake. The cake part is almost like a muffin top. Felt like eating them might give me muffin top (so I spit it out and threw it out).

I will try making them again before totally writing them off, with huge changes to the recipe of course. The cake needs to be thinned out and instead of only cocoa powder I will add some melted chocolate into the mix. A little ( or a lot) of chocolate always makes things better.

Back to work! Summer Menu executed.

Its sometimes hard to get back into work after being on vacation for a few weeks, but its always great to execute a new menu with new dishes.

To start out we did a few canapes : a pork "samosa" with truffle corn tapenade, Gruyere gougers, heirloom tomato and mozzarella, foie gras "tourchon"with raisin chutney.

Amuse Bouche: Oyster "Rockefeller"

"Tuna Nicoise" Orange Granite

Raw Foie Gras to build the terrine

Roasted Foie Gras set into terrine for "mosaic"

Foie Gras "Mosaic", Uni, Heirloom Tomato, Mizuna

Smoked pork belly that was slow roasted then seared for the "Egg & Bacon", Sous Vide Hen Egg, Morel Mushrooms, Roquette, Asparagus, Mushroom Puree.

Sea Bream(Dorade), Cherry Stone Clam & Rock Shrimp Fricassee, Fennel, Edemame, Coconut Saffron Nage.

Hand Cut Pappardelle, Chanterelle Mushrooms, Confit Leek, Parmesan

Sous Vide Beef Tenderloin, Bone Marrow "Custard", Baby Summer Vegetables, Confit Leek Terrine w/ Hazelnut Daquoise Dust, Pommerey Mustard Soubise, White Truffle Essence.

Apricot "Soup", Blackberry "En Aspic", Granola Crunch

Rhubarb "Crumble", Poached Rhubarb "Kidneys", Rhubarb Strawberry Compote, Vanilla Chiboust, Strawberry Balsamic Reduction, Almond "Streusel", Candied Mint, Maple Tuile.

Dessert is followed by Mignardises of Cayenne Chocolate Cakes, Fruit and Nut Sables with Coffee/Tea.

Such Pigs!

The pork butt was nicely browned and a little carmelized. The meat was cooked all the way down to the bone but did not pull away from the bone. The skin was a bit chewy still but a good deal of the fat had melted away which helped to baste the meat.

We ate the meat with Chinese buns, hoisin sauce, scallions and cilantro. We also tried it ssam style with lettuce wraps, kimchee, gochujiang, and hot peppers.

My friends devoured it all; leaving just the bare bone, so I guess it was okay to eat. What did I really think of it?

The verdict on my pork butt is it will be better next time.

What would I do differently?

I only brined the butt for 20hrs, should have been 36-48hrs. Next time I would get medieval on it and stab the crap out of it with a multiple sharp objects. Highly recommended for getting out any pent up frustrations as well as allow for the brine to better penetrate to the center of the butt (but don't go too crazy if you are going to try it because it could cause the juices to flow out during cooking and cause the meat to dry out).

I roasted it for 4.5hrs (2hrs @ 300F, 1hr@ 400F, 1.5hr@350F. I would instead roast it for 6hrs @ 300F then to crisp and caramelize it 1hr @ 350F covered with foil and 1hr@ 350F w/o foil.

Ideally I would have a combi oven that can steam heat. I would place it in a deep hotel pan and cover it with plastic wrap and then foil. Steam baking it at 250F for 10-12hrs would keep all the juices in and cook the meat to a fall off the bone consistency. I really miss the combi ovens at PerSe. I need to get one for my house.

Flavor up that Butt!

People are crazy about Momofuku Saam bar whole pork butt.  Since I don't like to pay that much money for some thing that only costs $0.79 a lbs I'm making my own.  I don't know how they do theirs but this is how i'm doing mine.  

I got a 10lb bone in shoulder for $8 and brining it before I roast/braise it.  

Pork Butt (aka shoulder) Brine

2qt water

1/2 cup salt

1/4 cup sugar

1.25 cup soy sauce

10 cloves garlic

small nub of ginger

1 bunch scallion green ( save the white part for garnish)

1Tbls crushed red pepper

2Tbls whole black pepper corns

bunch of cilantro stems (save leaves for garnish)

1Tbls star anise

Bring all of this to a boil then cool completely

add

1 can of beer (if available or if you don't drink it all)

1 cup apple juice

cover pork with brine mixture overnight