Posts Tagged ‘Modernist Cuisine’

Osteria Francescana, Modena, IT

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Posted 09 Oct 2012 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining, Uncategorized

It has taken almost a year but finally we are on our way to Osteria Francescana after several days of floating with the crows in Florence. The mid-day drive up the A1 is gorgeous, lots of sun flowers and clear roads cruising at 130kmh. We make it to Modena in record time, park along the Viale Vittorio Veneto and walk to Via Stella just a few minutes away. Culinary curiosity sends waves of thought through my mind as we feel our way toward the restaurant with high anticipation after being invited for a visit nearly a year earlier. Massimo Bottura and I met in New York at the 2011 Starchefs conference at Park Avenue Armory. I had been tracking him since Osteria Francescana broke the top ten of Pellegrino’s 50 Best Restaurants in the World. In 2012 the restaurant is ranked 5th (behind Noma, Roca, Mugaritz, and D.O.M. in Brazil).

When Bottura spoke at the Armory he waxed poetic about the food of his youth, of Cotechino sausage and chicken embryos. His deep rooted connection to the culture and foods of his native Emilia Romagna radiated authentically while he spoke. Behind him his assistants used syringes to drain chicken embryos while keeping the exterior membrane intact and refilled them with warm ham broth forming gorgeous little yellow ham juice bombs, a new take on an old favorite. My first impression then was that of a mad scientist evoking culinary emotion; the core theme of Starchefs in 2011. And now we are walking toward the restaurant.

The entry is tucked down a narrow side street and is subdued enough that you could walk right past it if it not for the polished brass signage. Inside the dining room is divided into two rooms with wide spacing between tables and lots of natural light. The first room is small with six tables and seating for twelve. Further back is the main dining room with seating for approximately forty.

Tables are double draped with pressed white linen and napkins and silver tubular single stemmed bud vases. A fair amount of thought must have gone into the design of the dining room particularly the scale and lighting. Light from south facing windows is diffused through frosted glass in some places and white muslin draping in others softening the glow in the room to a bright but muted glow. Chairs are upholstered in black leather and the walls decorated with framed black and white photos.  It feels more like an art gallery than a restaurant interior.

From the moment we enter the front of the house team enrobes us with comfort. They know we are visiting for the first time, that we are American, that we met Massimo in New York, and that we have come to eat. Menus are presented as a formality so we can explore and discuss each item. Curiosities are explored, philosophy discussed and preferences defined. The quality of the food at Osteria Francescana would exceed my word limit but Bottura does a masterful job applying modernist techniques and interpretations to the traditional foods of the region. However the real surprise was the quality of service and the staff’s ability to draw us in and put us at ease. A defining moment came when we were asking questions about the menu and our options and our server stated “we are three Michelin stars but we are not a museum. We can make anything you like in our kitchen and would be glad to make what you want. It would make me very happy if you truly enjoy yourself.” We truly did enjoy ourselves and it was worth every ounce of effort it took to get to Modena. My favorite dish: Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano…put this dish on your bucket list.

Here’s a photo record of the 15 course menu we enjoyed!

1.      Memory of a Mortadella Sandwich with Garlic Cream

 2.      Sardine with Eggplant, Olive, Crispy Cracker

 3.      Razor Clam Reconstructed, Essence of Razor Clam Broth, Rice Cracker Shell

 4.      Plate of Salt Cod with Bread Crumbs, Green Tomato, Olive Broth

 

5.      Spaghetti with Brown Squid Broth and Caviar

 6.      Saba Lacquered Adriatic Eel with Mother of Balsamic, Polenta, Green Apple, Burnt Onion

 

7.      Tortellini with Veal and Pork, Parmesan Sauce

 

8.      Tagliatelle with Ragu

 

9.      Pork Ribs with Jerusalem Artichoke and Potato Puree

 

10.   Vegetable, Porcini, Black Truffle

 

11.   Five Ages of Parmigiano Reggiano in Different Textures and Temperatures

 

12.   Compression of Pasta and Beans

 

13.   Wood Pigeon, Red Turnip Sauce, Fresh Radish

 

14.   Foie Gras Crunch with Traditional Balsamic Vinegar of Modena

 

15.   Oops! Broken Fruit Pie

 

16.   Friandise

 

 

 

 

Osteria Francescana

Via Stella, 22

41121 Modena, Italy

059-210118

Osteriafrancescana.it

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WD-50 NYC, Good Night

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Posted 31 Jul 2012 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining

Wrapping up my commentary on a recent trip to Gotham, it’s late at night, or early in the morning depending on how you look at it, and I am bouncing around in the village. On a lark, I head over to see if Chef Wylie Dufresne is at his station at WD50; he’s there. The restaurant is nearly empty and there are seats at the bar so I belly up and relax for a while, enjoy the cool air, and have a quick nightcap before heading up country (to 89th and Lexington).

Wyllie’s’ maître d’ greets me at the bar and after a long shift he’s turned out in a perfect grey suit, pink shirt and salmon tie, hipster hair parted to the side and a huge smile. He’s a musician doubling as a two Michelin star host and carries himself like a mixture of the two. Cool cat indeed. After a chat, I slip to the back kitchen and catch Wylie doing his final rounds before he packs it in (its 1:22 am). His wife is eight months pregnant and he is headed out the door soon. However, there is no pressure for us to leave so I aggregate with a group of folks by the bar. One never knows what to expect late night in New York.

It strikes me as odd that there’s a guy at the bar wearing a tuxedo with real bow tie, French cuffs and L.L. Bean rubber boots. Heading toward the bar I get a full profile of the guy, he’s wearing Phil Donahue glasses with his hair slicked back. Turns out he’s a D.J. visiting with a couple of friends one of which is a Ph.D. candidate at Columbia in food science. They came to W.D.50 because of her, straight from one of the D.J.’s gigs.

Now we are all at the bar and Dufresne’ s long time bartender starts making custom cocktails, carbonating them to order using an industrial sized cylinder of CO2. I start with an Averell Damson gin liqueur and carbonated grapefruit. Crisp and refreshing it goes down easy. With a refill, I take one more trip to the back. The kitchen crew is now ending the day with a final round of desserts coming of the pass.  Three pastry cooks shuffle to clean up the station and write a final prep and purchase list for later in the day.  I finish my drink and watch as the lights in the dining room are dimmed, the custom red flame lanterns on either side of the kitchen casting a warm glow through the room. Another restaurant day is ending.

Dufresne reappears in green cargo shorts, black back pack and helmet with flashing red light in front. He unfolds a Swift Folder bicycle, the kind of bike where you pop the pedals off, store them under the front handlebar, pull a pin and flip the thing in half. In New York where space is at a premium, it makes total sense. Headed for the door, he turns on the flashing helmet light, a taillight, and handlebar lantern and heads to the curb. Like a flashing Christmas tree, Dufresne rides off into the city at 2:05 a.m., headed home to his young son, pregnant wife and a short night of sleep before starting it all over again. This is the back end of a restaurant experience that most people never see; the final part of the day when things come to an end and an exhausted team of cooks head out into an existence that runs polar opposite the rest of the word, circadian rhythms upended. Their 2:00 a.m. is your 5:00 p.m., but the world offers nothing this time of night other than an underground world known to professional cooks and others who share this temporal existence. Nowadays I am just a visitor to this dimension and I too head out the door, grab a lonely late night cab and head north, my 2:00 a.m. is still 2:00 a.m.

WD50

50 CLINTON ST. between Stanton & Rivington on Manhattan’s Lower East Side
212.477.2900

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Kumamoto Oysters with Foamed Mignonette

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Posted 29 Feb 2012 — by S.E.
Category Food Alert Trends

Sometimes a photo of a food item is enough to inspire me to post to this blog.  Such is the case with this picture of Kumamoto oysters with Foamed Mignonette. It was snapped a couple weeks ago just after Chef Chris Young, coauthor of Modernist Cuisine with Nathan Myhrvold, finished preparing them. The mignonette foam is stabilized into a “dry foam” with 1.25% of de-oiled soy lecithin powder, an emulsifying agent and byproduct of soybean oil production. Young describes this as a dry foam since the water within the foam is drained away once it’s stable. Lecithin stabilized foams are not new; Ferran Adria started making them more than a decade ago. Some consider foams passé. However, it’s always fun to play with both new and old ideas in the kitchen just to see what happens. Sometimes accidental innovation occurs.

The ingredients used are fairly neutral in color (shallots, white balsamic, water, sherry vinegar) creating a beige foam and, ultimately, a monochromatic dish. Color aside, the foam has an intense vinegar, salt and shallot flavor that is carried throughout the foam creating a deep contrast to the meaty, sweet and slightly musty taste of the oysters. The foam adds a texture and tingle that dissipates almost instantly when the oyster is slurped. I love the look of these oysters and hope you do too.

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Chef Massimo Bottura Observed

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Posted 21 Oct 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining, Food Alert Trends, Full Service

Massimo Bottura is hustling back and forth in front of a draped stainless steel work table just minutes before his presentation is to begin.  The scheduled start time arrives and passes and, after another few minutes, he looks up. It’s obvious that Bottura is improvising and riffing in the kitchen and that he runs on his own schedule. My purpose is to spend the next 90 minutes with fifteen other participants observing Bottura’s mastery and getting into the head of one of the leading avant-garde chefs in all of Italy. This is the next best thing to dining at Bottura’s two Michelin star Osteria Francescana in Modena. Lucky for me his English is excellent.

There is no introduction on his part or any sort of overview of where we are headed. Instead he launches right into philosophy illuminating his emotional connection to Cotechino sausage with lentils, the traditional New Year’s Eve dish in Italy. His expression softens as he explains that lentils, according to tradition, represent the coins of wealth to be won in the coming year and how the dish triggers emotional memories of his youth and grandmother in particular. I am curious where he is headed with this. He turns, looks my way, stops and lets out his first nugget “you have to learn everything and then forget everything to create something incredible.” Bottura has one culinary hand connected to the past and one reaching toward the future.

He suggests that his dishes are an evolution rather than a revolution. They are drawn from many things including prior experiences in life, from his youth, from emotional events, from love. I connect the dots and realize that his passion for food started in his youth and that everything he envisions in rooted in this past. When you pair emotion and passion with mastery of fundamental and modern culinary technique the avante garde origin of Bottura’s cuisine is found. Evolution requires that you feed your heart, feed your soul and engage in tradition while redefining convention.

At this point Bottura lifts a small yellow ball between his thumb and index finger. It’s an immature egg found only in the visceral cavity of a dressed laying hen. When he was young, Bottura and his brothers would compete to secure the immature eggs inside hens being prepared for their family meal. He was fond of eating these little golden gems and today experiments with them as a receptacle for containing flavors. In a startling display of elegant simplicity Bottura’s assistant places an immature egg on a tiny white porcelain pedestal and draws out the liquid in the center using a large stainless steel syringe and replaces it with a fresh injection of Prosciutto di Parma ham broth ~ ham and eggs. They are delicious and representative of Bottura’s approach. Start with an item with deep significance, one that when eaten evokes memories and emotion, and innovate from there.

Next Bottura begins making ravioli with lentils and Cotechino while explaining that the ravioli is nothing more than a vessel for serving ideas.  He explains that questions are constantly flowing through his head “how can I make this, how can I do that?” He is constantly grinding and processing ideas and this is part of why Bottura is so different. He has mastered the techniques of critical reflection and problem solving and uses them both to create and innovate. Are these the skills of the modern chef?

Handing me ravioli, Bottura explains that his final point is leadership. A great two Michelin star restaurant like his runs on the backs of a large group of people committed to his vision. He is nothing without his team and assures that his success isn’t about him, it’s about his team. His point is sound; a great chef can’t do it alone. A chef must be able to lead and have followers willing to join or all the mastery of technique, professional experience and emotion are lost.  I suck down the ravioli and it is delicious. Bottura looks me in the eye, scans the rest of the people standing with me and explains that the ravioli reminds him of the ones he learned to make when he was a young boy.  Then he lets out his final snippet of philosophy:  “modern cuisine is about emotion as much as it is technique. For this I put my grandmother between meand Adria.” How cool is that.

 

Chef Massimo Bottura

Osteria Francescana

Via Stella 22, Modena 41100, Italy

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Spur ~ Seattle

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Posted 24 Sep 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining

It’s a Wednesday night and I am sitting at a table in the dining room at Spur in Seattle with Chef Dana Tough, a true culinary professional and rising national star. Tough, whose boyish looks betrays tremendous talent, and co-chef Brian McCracken opened Spur in Seattle’s Belletown neighborhood in 2008 and have never looked back. Within the first year they built a reputation for an innovative approach to modern American gastronomy.  As I sit with Dana, a black and white image of the canals of Amsterdam is projected via an LCD projector on a whitewashed interior wall. The room is dimly lit and the projected image casts a classic European tone in the room. It makes me feel cool and jazzy, relaxed and hip. Dana laughs and tells me that on other nights he projects black and white spaghetti westerns on the screen much to his customers delight. I am here to eat and to talk innovation and we are off to a good start. Staring at Dana I wonder if, perhaps, the most innovative thing about Spur is its leadership model.

It’s About Leadership

Spur has two head chefs. It’s very rare to find a restaurant where two chefs, side by side, ply their trade and achieve greatness without a train wreck of ego and rivalry. Sitting here I am subtly observant, seeking evidence whether the two chef model works at Spur. Halfway through our meal Chef Brian McCracken comes in and stops by our table. He is smiling because it’s his birthday. Dana smiles back and shakes his hand. The authenticity in his smile and genuine professional regard between the two leaves me amazed. Having two chefs in one restaurant is unprecedented. Most restaurants have a hierarchy with one chef at the top serving as pack leader and a bunch of followers below. Spur thrives because McCracken and Tough collaborate and the restaurant bubbles with a positive atmosphere and happy yet hardworking staff. That McCracken came into the restaurant on his birthday to say hello and have a drink suggests that Spur is more than just a business, it’s a passion. I can tell he loves the place and that Dana and he respect the hell out of each other. Real collaboration is
innovative in the restaurant business.

It’s About People

If innovation is about problem solving, one problem Spur has is that it is extremely busy with no room for growth. In turn, McCracken and Tough talk about the launch of Coterie Room, a new restaurant venture adjacent to Spur. The “McToughen” team as they are known in Seattle have three restaurants (Spur, Tavern Law, Coterie) with no expectation of slowing down. Both speak about the need to find pathways for advancement of their talented staff members and expansion provides new opportunities for all. Innovation not only includes outright rejection of the old-school brigade system for a higher form of collaboration, it includes a concern for growth and personnel, quality of work life and advancement.

It’s About Food and Drink

Dana heads back to the kitchen and I start down the path of nine courses randomly selected from the menu. Spur defines the modern American Gastropub and may have in fact invented it. Each dish that arrives is perfectly portioned, and dynamic with a modernist aesthetic. I start with a beautiful foie gras terrine with rhubarb, rose and sorrel. What follows includes eight additional masterfully prepared courses and several fresh, craft made cocktails. Execution is excellent save one protein that may have been in a thermal circulator for a bit too long. Flavor progression is nice even though the items Dana selected are a mix and match of the a la carte menu. This tells me that the overall menu is thoughtfully designed. The food exceeds my expectations and Dana and Brian do as well.

~~~

Foie Gras Terrine, Rhubarb, Rose, Sorrel

 

Tomatoes and Melon

Big Eye Tuna Crudo, Caviar, Avocado, Radish

 

Veal Sweetbreads, Bing Cherry, Corn, Lemon Verbena

 

Corned Duck Breast, Stone Fruit, Chanterelle, Leek

 

Parisian Gnocchi, Turnip, English Peas, Truffle

 

Waygu Sirloin, Cauliflower, Baby Artichoke, Almond Gremolata

 

Strawberry, Vanilla Cream, Rhubarb Ice Cream

 

Chocolate Torte, Bing Cherry, Peanut, Sorrel

~~~

Spur

113 Blanchard Street,

Seattle, Washington, 98121

206.728.6706

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Providence Restaurant Los Angeles, CA

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Posted 30 Mar 2011 — by S.E.
Category Fine Dining

It’s freezing in Los Angeles tonight and I am hustling down Melrose to Providence to meet a professional chef friend for dinner.  Earlier today I scoped out a new culinary arts facility under construction in Montebello Unified School District (MUSD) over in East LA with this friend; a proud moment visiting what will be a great school for a community that deserves it.  She is one of the dedicated culinary instructors from the district who has put her heart and soul into this facility and we’re out to celebrate the progress being made. This isn’t our first time dining at Providence but it has been three years since the last visit. Back then planning was still underway and neither of us was sure that the center would be built. The lousy economy didn’t help things but she persevered along with others and funding was secured.  Today the building is more than halfway complete.

At the time Providence had been open for a year and things were feeling new and fresh in what was a tired looking Patina. The food was great and Providence was settling into its own getting great reviews. Chef Michael Cimarusti had worked the kinks out of his seafood niche and was banging out plates of the highest order. It was a great meal then and tonight my expectations are high particularly since the restaurant was awarded two Michelin stars in 2009.

Upon entry I notice the bar area has been updated but the dining room looks very much the same with those strange white trumpet mushroom-looking decorations pasted along the walls. The bar to the right of the entry has been refreshed, looks great, and the vibe is positive and full of energy as I talk with the host prior to taking my table. The two of us take a two-top along the back wall and I take the outside seat facing the wall so my guest can have a view of the dining room.

We read through the menu, order some wine and place our orders. Anticipation is building as I consider what Cimarusti may have in store for us. He has an eccentric style and weaves modernist techniques into an otherwise well executed traditional approach to cooking. The balance in technique is often excellent although on occasion there are disconnects. Tonight we experience a great meal in general and enjoy celebrating the potential to make a difference in the lives of kids back in the MUSD.

 

Bacon Soft Roll, Wasabi Focaccia

The bacon roll is mild and could be stronger and crunchier but the Wasabi focaccia is spot on delicious 

 

Parsnip Parmesan Soup with Sweet Port Reduction, Gruyere Gougère

The parsnip soup is excellent and the port reduction sits on the bottom of the shot glass like a delightful explosion of flavor waiting to happen. The Gougère is well done too and I make a mental note that this is the third time I have encountered a Gougère in a fine dining restaurant since January. Maybe a trend is developing.

Mojito Ice, Screwdriver Sphere

These two items were good but not exceptional. The Mojito ice was better than the screwdriver sphere.

 Dungeness Crab, Winter Citrus Fruits, Pine Nuts, Flowering Cilantro

The first time I experienced a jelly sheet over a hot savory dish was at Alinea and Cimarusti’s take is a bit heavier but still excellent. I love the aromatic flowering cilantro.

Maine Lobster, Buckwheat Noodles, Japanese Turnips, Smoked Sesame

Other than the fact that the lobster endured more flying miles than the crab, this dish is excellent too. Cimarusti shines when it comes to seafood.

Foie Gras Ravioli, Black Winter Truffles, Aromatics

This is the highlight dish of the evening. Certain flavors are matched in heaven and this dish pushes the marriage between foie gras and truffles to new heights. The truffles are shaved onto the dish tableside adding a nice touch and the truffle portion is generous.

Wild Spanish Octopus, Blood Sausage, Sweet Peas, Potato, Paprika

This is the one dish that didn’t quite come together as it should. I love all the components but think additional refinement is required before this item will reach its full potential.

Dark Chocolate Rooibos Ice Cream, Brandied Cherries, Eggless Crème Brulee

Until this meal I had never had Rooibos before and loved the subtle flavor it imparted into the ice cream. Rooibos is grown in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Its needle like leaves are dried and used to make tea. The Rooibos marries well with the chocolate and cherries, the cherries being handled expertly.

Pumpkin Polenta with Candied Pecans

I am a sucker for rustic, home-style desserts and this one hits the mark. Pastry Chef Adrian Vasquez uses just enough flair paired with restraint to make this dish special. Delicious.

Chocolate Marshmallow, Whiskey Macaroons, Ginger Gelee



Providence

5955 Melrose Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90038

323-460-4170

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Five Reasons Why “Modernist Cuisine” is The Most Important Culinary Book of the Decade

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Posted 28 Feb 2011 — by S.E.
Category Food Alert Trends

The Five Reasons Why “Modernist Cuisine” is The Most Important Culinary Book of the Decade

Chef Maxime Bilet and Nathan Myhrvold plating a course

I am trailing a small group of people including food writers, professional chefs, and culinary educators, being led by Nathan Myhrvold through the varying nooks and crannies of his IVF laboratories in Bellevue, Washington.  Myhrvold, dressed in dark slacks and a stark white short-sleeved chef coat, is animated his voice pitching up an octave from time to time as he gets excited. He is showing us The Cooking Lab with all its technology, tools, and toys. It dawns on me that he is Willy Wonka and I am a very lucky Charlie Bucket. There are fourteen of us here tonight, each with a golden ticket. Our purpose is to experience a 28 course menu prepared by Myhrvold’s team in celebration of the release of Modernist Cuisine; a book authored by Myrvold and chefs Chris Young and Maxime Bilet. Myhrvold is showing us around the lab as a warm up to what will be a dinner of the century later in the evening. In the first room he shows us a microwave oven that he cut in half, magnetron tube and all, so it could be photographed for the book. Next, pink cheeks aglow and smiling with excitement, he shows us the electric plasma cutter he used to slice other pieces of equipment in half and a high powered water jet cutter where he custom fabricates all sorts of matter.  Why? Because he can!

Myhrvold shaves Sea Urchin “bottarga” for Pim Techamuanvivit while Chef David Kinch looks on.

I find him energized, brilliant, and immediately likeable, and intellectually one of the smartest (if not the smartest) person I have ever met. Myhrvold has invited a diverse group to this dinner and is completely aware of how amazed (and jealous I must admit) we are by his laboratory. Chef Sam Mason, former pastry chef at WD50 is to my left, tattoos bursting with color (he radiates cool), and the shy, extremely talented and kind David Kinch of Manresa is to my right, dapper in a blue sweater and knit scarf. Ahead of me, the legendary and statesmanlike Harold McGhee, the original curious cook, is peering at an electron microscope as global food expert and rock-star blogger Pim Techamuanvivit (Chez Pim)takes photos. In 2010 Fast Company called her one of the most influential women in technology. How the hell was I lucky enough to get on this list? Myhrvold passes by an electron microscope and a large printed image of what appears to be the roundworm Trichinella spiralisis taken using the device while researching content for Modernist Cuisine. I am floored that these folks have their own electron microscope and notice that Myhrvold is smiling at us. What fun!

Chef Sam Mason downs a glass of Foie Gras Egg Nog, Myhrvold to his right, Chef Chris Young to his left.

We turn another corner in the lab and make a loop back to the IVF kitchen where two tables of eight have been set for our dinner. Myhrvold wraps on a blue apron, explains that we will enjoy 28 courses that are intended to show the range of techniques and recipes featured in Modernist Cuisine rather than a menu focused on a logical progression of flavor (although that was a consideration too I am sure). We all sit excited with anticipation, and fasten our seat belts. It’s 6:45 P.M. PST and our first course is placed on the table: Asian pear, Watermelon and Spicy Pickle Chips. The pears, watermelon and pickles are sliced, coated with modified starch slurry, compressed in vacuum bags, removed from compression, patted dry and fried. I have never had crispy watermelon before and it’s delicious. The pickles are even better. My mind drifts for a moment as I look around at the other guests and realize we are in for a night.

Chef Maxime Bilet with centrifuged pea juice

The rest of the meal ebbs and flows from extremely simple items like the fourth course of grilled chicken skin glazed with pineapple and Sansho pepper (cooked sous vide for 12 hours prior to grilling, powerful chicken flavor, crisp, deeply savory, addictive) to the incredibly beautiful and complex thirteenth course of rare beef stew (an extraction of beef broth kept rare through separation in a commercial centrifuge poured over the most beautiful three Michelin star composition of garniture).

I provide detailed descriptions of the meal and with photos at http://satedepicure.com/2011/02/1365/.

It’s 10:34 PM now and I am chewing on the last of 28 courses: fresh made olive oil, vanilla, and thyme gummy worms. Myhrvold, radiating with positive energy, holds up the fish lure molds he used to make the gummy worms and explains the recipe to make them (for more buy the book). They are the best damn gummy worms I have ever had. I close my eyes for a second to soak in the moment and consider how blessed I am to be here. Every once in a while life comes to a complete stop and I realize that I am experiencing first hand significant moments in the evolution of our profession. Tonight is one of those nights and Myhrvold, Young, and Bilet, have sent us crashing through a glass ceiling of culinary practice. I hover in mid-air over his lab in Bellevue Washington looking down on the city below. My golden ticket still in hand, it is clear that the culinary profession will be profoundly changed by the tremendous gift Myhrvold and his team has given to the profession.

I offer below five simple reasons why Modernist Cuisine is the most important book of the decade. Note that I feel the five reasons listed are a gross understatement of the real value and importance of Modernist Cuisine.

The Modernist Cuisine team at The Cooking Lab

Reason 1: The Perspective and Intellect of Nathan Myhrvold

Myhrvold’s intellect is of a level and type unique in the world. He is one part Thomas Edison and another Auguste Escoffier. That food and cooking caught his attention and that Modernist Cuisine is the result is an enduring gift to the culinary profession. His perspective and intellect inform the many discoveries, schema, and taxonomy that appear in the book. Without Myhrvold’s mind as a lens, the new discoveries and syntheses of prior practice would not have achieved the level of innovation documented in the book. Nathan Myhrvold is the first reason why Modernist Cuisine is the culinary book of the decade and we should thank him for sharing his intellect, curiosity, and resources (he funded this work himself).

Reason 2: Modernist Cuisine Places Modern Cooking into the Context of Traditional Cooking

Modernist Cuisine is not about molecular gastronomy, it’s about linking modern cooking with traditional cooking in an evolutionary and, subsequently, revolutionary way. Just as Escoffier (and others) codified classical cuisine in the late 19th and early 20thcentury, Myhrvold and his team have done the same from a modernist perspective. Historically, something of this magnitude tends to happen once a century. The influence of Modernist Cuisine will be nothing short of Le Guide Culinaire and will probably exceed it from a historical perspective. Basic scientific method was used to unpack the science behind cooking and food without any sacrifice to the aesthetic or emotion to food or dining. Myrvold, Young, and Bilet took this scientific knowledge and polished it with a solid understanding of the aesthetics and creativity that underlie a great dining experience. In turn they discovered many new and tantalizing facts and techniques. Modernist Cuisine is about using scientific principles to inform food preparation in pursuit of making food and a dining experience better. Through it all, Myhrvold and his team repeatedly state that in order to understand modern cooking you must start with a firm understanding of traditional cooking from which to build.  I am reassured by the notion that Modernist Cuisine is rooted, in part, in the traditional. The baby wasn’t thrown out with the bathwater; instead the water was tossed and replaced with fresh water precisely heated with a thermal circulator.

Reason 3: Modernist Cuisine is Incredibly Thorough and a Great Value

The breadthand depth of topics covered in the book, all 2438 pages worth, is expansive. Myhrvold must have spent a fortune unpacking each of the topics he covers and there are few organizations or individuals on the planet that could have matched the effort, passion, and completeness of his coverage. There are five volumes in the set including: 1)History & Fundamentals, 2) Techniques and Equipment, 3) Animals and Plants, 4) Ingredients & Preparations, and 5) Plated Dish Recipes. Although priced at $625 per set, Modernist Cuisine represents a tremendous value when you consider its content. $625 is a small price to pay.

Reason 4: Modernist Cuisine is Advanced Professional Cooking and is Approachable

The book is written in easy to understand language. Myhrvold, Young, and Bilet were thoughtful about keeping the narrative easy to read. They offer thousands of photos, illustrations, and diagrams including  innovative models like a periodic table of essential oils and a table of egg custards. The “parametric” recipe format used is virtually foolproof as long as you can precisely measure. The team has produced a volume that is within reach of most cooks young or old, professional or not.

Reason #5: Modernist Cuisine Throws Convention on its Head

I thought, after 30 years of professional cooking, I knew what I was doing. Myhrvold proved me wrong and demonstrates that we barely know anything about the real science of cooking and food. While sitting in his IVF conference room, Myhrvold had an assistant place a vitimix on the conference table. She proceeded to pour a 750ml bottle of red wine into the blender and then she fired it up, pulsing for four or five times. Then she poured the wine into glasses and we did a side by side comparison of the aerated wine and the same wine straight from the bottle. We all tasted and the aerated wine was wonderful. Point made: wine can be aerated in seconds using a blender. Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before (my oenology friends are probably squirming)? This is just one example of how Myhrvold throws convention on its head. The point of this isn’t to raise the dander on sommeliers across the country, it’s to prove that much of what we practice in our profession is handed down from generation to generation without any regard for the science behind what we practice or concern for improving practice based on this science. Modernist Cuisine will shift us in the right direction.

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Dinner at The Cooking Lab: 28 Courses of Modernist Cuisine

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Posted 28 Feb 2011 — by S.E.
Category Food Alert Trends

Dinner at The Cooking Lab: An Evening of Modernist Cuisine

This is a posting of thirty photos from a recent dinner at Nathan Myhrvold’s cooking lab in Bellevue, Washington. The dinner was a celebration of modernist cuisine and the release of Myhrvold, Young, and Bilet’s new book by the same name. (to purchase Modernist Cuisine visit Amazon.com) A more detailed description of this gathering of professional chefs, writers, can be found at satedepicure.com

Note: I prefer to post the photos of each course served in this format so each can be viewed with a detailed description and in the order served. The notations made under each item are taken from guidelines distributed during the dinner. Special thanks to Dr. Myhrvold, Chris Young, Maxime Bilet and the rest of the The Cooking Lab team along with the esteemed guests I had the pleasure of meeting and dining with.

Modernist Cuisine

#1: Asian Pear, Watermelon, and Spicy Pickle Chips (starch compression)

Asian pear, watermelon and spicy pickles that have been thinly sliced, coated with modified starch slurry and fried at a medium high temperature until crispy.

 

#2: Roasted Corn Elote (freeze drier, N-Zorbit powder)

Freeze dried yellow corn kernels with brown butter powder, spicy mayonnaise, cilantro blossoms, Lime and Ash Powder.

 

#3: Cheese Soufflé (constructed, re-heatable, soufflé, N-Zorbit crumble)

Delicate gruyere cheese soufflé steamed and baked with a cheese crumble. The soufflé is a mixture of intense cheese water, egg yolks, albumin powder and corn maltodextrin. The crumble is made from grated cheese blended with N-Zorbit. After steaming, the soufflés are topped with the cheese crumble, baked and served.

 

#4: Grilled Chicken Skin (sous vide skin gelatinizing)

Sous vide cooked, fried and grilled chicken skin, glazed with pineapple and seasoned with sansho pepper. The chicken skin is cooked sous vide for 12 hours so the skin doesn’t recoil when fried.

 

#5: Foie Gras Egg Nog (warm constructed cream)

Warm emulsified soup of pressure rendered foie gras fat and roasted shallot juice spiked with Calvados. The cream is equal parts foie fat and shallot juice emulsified with a rotor stator homogenizer.

 

#6: Green Apple and Fresh Wasabi Snow Ball (vacuum aerated sorbet, frozen fluid gel powder)

Aerated green apple juice sorbet with frozen fresh wasabi powder. The apple juice is slightly thickened with glucose, albumin and gelatin and transferred to a whipping siphon. It is famed into a mason jar inside a vacuum chamber to hold the vacuum. The jars are deep frozen…how cool is that!

 

#7: Foie Gras Rocher (frozen, molded foie gras)

Foie gras parfait with a hazelnut core, coated in rich hazelnut praline and rolled in hazelnut crumble, garnished with a sliver of Meyer lemon. The foie parfait is molded, deep frozen and dipped, then very carefully halved on a band saw while frozen.

 

#8: Chickpea Tajine (sous vide chickpeas, pressure cooked pine nuts)

Sous vide chickpeas and pressure cooked pinenuts braised in a preserved lemon tajine jus. Garnished with a salad of Cara Cara orange, beldi olives, black caraway, argan oil, pickled dried fig and mint, finished with a roasted sesame yoghurt.

 

 

 

 #9: Oyster Cocktail (liquid nitrogen shucking)

Preparation 1: Shigoku Oyster with chufa nut horchata and finger lime droplets

Preparation 2: Shingoku Oyster with ponzu, hazelnut oil and smoked char roe

 

#10: Ankimo, Yuzu, Enoki, Pear (sous vide torchon, centrifuged juice)

Ankimo (Monkfish liver) torchon, centrifuged pear juice seasoned with honey vinegar, fresh yuzu and white soy, enoki salad dressed with macadamia oil, ficoide glaciale, Asian pear.

 

#11: Spaghetti Vongole (centrifuged broth)

Goeduck clam “noodles” dressed with garlic confit oil, bagna cauda broth, sea beans, goeduck belly, maitake and walnut marmalade, dried miso powder. The Goeduck siphons are split, sliced into sheets and pounded in sous vide bags to allow them to be cut into noodles.

 

#12: Squash Soup (pressure cooker and baking soda)

Caramelized squash soup, sunchoke ice cream, chaat masala, flash pickled Fuji apples. The baking soda increases the pH allowing for deeper browning and intense aroma and flavor. 

 

#13: Beef Stew (low temperature extraction, cured, sous vide marrow)

Rare beef broth, sous vide cooked small root vegetables, curd marrow, pressure cooked barley, chard leaves. Beef cubes are cooked sous vide at 53C for 4 hours. They are pressed with a wine press and the resulting juice is then centrifuged.

 

#14: Shellfish Bisque (sous vide stock, centrifuged carotene, enzyme peeled citrus)

Shellfish broth with coconut cream powder, carrots cooked in carotene butter, young coconut noodles, mandarin and lemon verbena.

 

#15: Mushroom Cappuccino (sous vide infusion, siphon foam)

Intense mushroom broth with warm bacon Chantilly

 

#16: Raw Egg Shooter (reverse spherification)

Raw “quail egg” of passion fruit yolk, lemongrass white and a few drops of chili oil. A reverse spherification is used; the setting bath has alginate and the set liquid has calcium to provide a finer membrane. The white is given its texture with a combination of xanthan gum and locust bean gum

 

#17: Polenta Marinara (pressure cooker and mason jars)

Grits cooked in corn juice with a quince, Bartlett pear “marinara” toasted corn husk consommé, ricotta salata and basil

 

#18: Kelp with Sea Urchin (gluten enforced fresh pasta, constructed bottarga)

Cocoa pasta sheets dressed in cocoa butter, sea urchin tongues, sea urchin butter, salted candied grapefruit, tarragon and a shaving of sea urchin bottarga.

 

#19: Mushroom Omelet (constructed egg stripes, combi-oven steam)

Black trumpet mushroom and egg striped with aerated scrambled egg based, mushroom marmalade and fines herbs. The egg stripes are created using a pastry comb on a silicone baking sheet.

 

#20: Marble Salmon with Spiced Butter (ultra stable beurre blanc)

Sous vide salmon with butter composed of coriander seed, sesame seed, roasted hazelnut, white poppy, ginger and chamomile. It is served with a beurre blanc of sake, white soy, shiro miso and lime and garnished with shiitake, bok choy and sorrel.

 

#21: Roast Chicken, Jus Gras

(combi oven roast program for chicken, heat stable jus gras, pressure cooked vegetables confit)

Roasted chicken with a rich emulsified gravy of dark chicken just and pressure rendered chicken fat. Accompanied by vegetables that are pressure cooked in mason jars with chicken fat. These are garnished with an herb salad dressed with quince vinegar vinaigrette. The chicken roast program includes injecting the chicken with brine and hanging it for three days refrigerated to desiccate the skin. The chicken is cooked in dry heat at 60C until it reaches temperature, rested for 30 minutes. Prior to service it is brushed with oil and roasted at 300C for 6-7 minutes until deeply roasted and crisp.

 

#22: Pastrami and Sauerkraut

(72 hour sous vide, precise curing and brining, fermentation, dehydrated bread)

Short rib pastrami, house-made sauerkraut with sweet onions, Brussels sprout leaves with fish sauce butter, cognac mustard with pickled mustard seeds, black bread crisps. The ribs are brined, smoked, dry rubbed and cooked sous vide for 72 hours.

 

#23: “BBQ” (high tech smoking, sous vide, centrifuged sauce, ultrasonic fries)

Hot smoked spareribs, cold smoked flat iron, Kansas City, South Carolina and MC Barbecue sauces served with ultrasonic fries. The ultrasonic fries are made by cooking large fries sous vide until tender. They are cavitated in an ultrasonic bath while warm to create lots of invisible fissures. The final product is deep fried resulting in fries that are furry with a crispy outer texture.

 

#24: Goat Milk Ricotta (fresh ricotta, centrifuged pea puree layers, essential oil)

Fresh goat milk ricotta with pea juice, pickled lemons, cinnamon, walnut and pea butter toast. The peas are centrifuged yielding pea juice and pea “fat” which has the same intense pea flavor with the texture of butter.

 

#25: Pistachio Gelato (frozen constructed cream)

Dairyless, eggless pistachio gelato with cocoa nibs, candied black olives, and Arlettes. The cream is made with pistachio butter, pistachio oil, water, sugar and an emulsifier, all churned in a Pacojet.

 

#26: Pots de Crème (combi oven steam, cold infusion, vacuum reduction, acid coagulation)

The first cream (L to R)is a cold infused coffee egg custard finished with a smoked egg yolk curd. The second is a vacuum reduced whisky sabayon on top of centrifuged banana juice fluid gel. The third is a cold infused earl grey posset garnished with sous vide lemon curd.

 

#27: Caramel Mou (sweet, savory caramel, edible film)

Gruyere cheese caramel, cheese water film. Grated cheese and cheese water are added to a basic caramel base. The cheese film is set with agar and gelatin.

 

#28: Gummy Worms (oil gel, fish lure molds)

Olive oil, vanilla, and thyme gummy worms made with 200 bloom gelatin, gum Arabic.

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2011 Top Five Emerging Food Trends

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Posted 30 Dec 2010 — by S.E.
Category Food Alert Trends

1.     Modernist or Molecular Techniques in Cooking

Molecular gastronomy has gained traction over the past decade and nearly all of the fine dining restaurants I visited (approximately 80%) employed at least one molecular technique (usually a stabilized foam). In 2011 modernist techniques will gain greater momentum based on several factors. Major academic institutions gave the modernist movement further momentum beginning with MIT’s hosting of the TEDx Cambridge conference “How do you Eat” which featured presentations on multiple modernist topics. Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Science followed last autumn with an 11 part series on science and cooking that featured globally renowned chefs including Ferran Adria.  Attention from Harvard and MIT elevated the modernist movement to a new level but it’s Nathan Myhrvold’s epic work “Modernist Cuisine” due out in March 2011, that will give even greater momentum to scientifically based cooking and will assure that by 2012 the science behind cooking and food will become central to how young cooks learn their craft and force old cooks to learn anew. The science of food and cooking, otherwise known as molecular or modernist cuisine, will blossom in 2011 and reach full bloom in 2012. I predict that culinary schools will be abuzz with curriculum changes in the coming year in reaction to this seismic shift in how we think about food and cooking. We should all thank Nathan Myhrvold for his great intellectual (not to mention financial) commitment to advancing our knowledge of food.

2.     Seafood with Integrity

Simply put, pressure will be ongoing to assure that seafood, whether farmed or wild, will have integrity. With so many varying types of eco-labeling and certification programs (including MSC, ASC, ISO, Friends of the Sea, Global Aquaculture Alliance) in use, chefs lack a reliable way of determining whether the seafood they serve has integrity. This has resulted in a shift toward hyper-local sourcing of seafood (in some cases) and chef driven source and supply chain verification to assure sustainability and integrity in farming  or wild catch practices, wholesomeness, freshness, and the technologies used to increased yield and improve shelf life. Writer Paul Greenberg hinted at the concerns many chefs have is in his excellent book “Four Fish” and I suspect that chefs and consumers will grow increasingly concerned with the integrity of the fish they serve and eat and emerging issues such as genetic manipulation of farmed fish and advances in modified atmosphere shipping and packaging (including the use of carbon monoxide). The higher the degree of seafood integrity at a restaurant, the better the restaurant will do. Consider Legal Seafoods as the trend leader.

3.     Café Cuisine and Culture

In 2011 America will experience a resurgence of café cuisine and culture as an extension of the smart casual shift in fine dining of the past three years. As I traveled the country in 2010 I noticed this shift although it started the year before. Late in 2009 the New York Times described the trend as smart casual. While fast food restaurants shifted upscale in quality (not price) to fast casual, fine dining shifted down from formal to smart casual without losing focus on food quality. The smart casual movement provided consumers with great quality fine food in a casual dining environment that was more approachable and comfortable but didn’t tip too far to the casual side. Today smart casual is shifting again to a more complicated café cuisine reminiscent of the quality you can find in local full service restaurants in continental Europe. Chef Francisco Migoya added momentum to the café cuisine trend by publishing a fantastic book titled The Modern Café (John Wiley & Sons) in 2010. Migoya is a one of the leading chefs in the country and the hands (along with some others) behind the outstanding food and service at Apple Pie Bakery at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. I consider Migoya one of the catalysts behind the café cuisine trend. For an example of café cuisine in real-time visit the Apple Pie Bakery.

4.     The Necessity of Social Media and Custom Apple/Android Apps

Chefs and foodservice operators better be social media savvy and offer valued customers a custom application that works on both Apple and Android formats by the end of 2011. Having spent the past six months investigating the workings of applications for hand-held devices, it is clear to me now that we are experiencing the beginning of what will be a much larger movement in years to come. I particularly enjoy Zagat’s NRU, Yelp,  Open Table, Epicurious, and Urbanspoon as examples. In addition to applications for mobile devices chefs and restaurateurs will increasingly use social media and digital communications to build their customer base and increase customer loyalty. Facebook will lead the way (this is not new news) along with savvy email campaigns and direct to consumer promotions and loyalty programs. Companies like Campbell’s (see the Campbell’s Kitchen App) are mapping the way for restaurants and other food manufacturers to participate in mobile marketing and social networking (yes Campbell’s is a leader) in innovative and new ways while restaurants spend more time and resources than ever engaged in social networking and digital communications.

5.     Source Mapping and Transparency

In 2011 restaurants will continue to focus on the integrity of their products with an emphasis on supply chain and source management. It is likely that food purveyors, manufacturers, distributors, and restaurant operators will engage in increased source transparency and use technology to do so. Leo Bonnati, a researcher at the Media Lab at MIT, has developed a source tracking system and established sourcemap.org as an open source platform for tracking products through the supply chain and estimating their carbon footprint. In the coming year mapping technology will be applied in a larger scale and savvy restaurateurs will be proactive and ready to disclose where their products come from by mapping from source to table digitally and making this data available to the public. 2011 will be a year of expanded source mapping and transparency. Look to Stonyfield Farm as a leader.

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