Dinner 11-19-2011

When I received the French Laundry cookbook, I wasn't sure what to make of it.  The food was refined, but familiar.  It had Keller's spirit in it, which I experienced from trying things from his Bouchon cookbook.  But, TFL was a whole 'nother level.  It has a reputation for being quite challenging, so maybe I was a little intimidated.

So, when the opportunity to make dinner for some guests arose, I quickly turned to TFL to try my hand at some of these things.  This dinner was by far the most technically challenging I've done so far.  Many of the recipes have few ingredients, which really puts the emphasis on great execution.

I think I pulled it off.   I'm proud of myself that I executed each dish without any major fails.  Judging from what I've seen elsewhere on the web, when people attempt a single dish from TFL they find it very difficult.  I offered my guests a multicourse meal cooked and served alone.  I do mean to gloat.

As guests arrived, I offered champagne (well, sparkling white wine) from Napa Valley.  I tried some, and I think it went very nicely with the initial round of food.  First up were gougères, little balls of pâte à choux.  These were mixed with grated Gruyère.  The water in the batter causes the dough to hollow out.  This is the same stuff used to make the eclairs from a while back (minus the cheese).

Next up were white truffle custards with black truffle ragout and chive chip.  The tastes and textures are great in this one.  Crispy and silky at the same time, it also had a striking aroma.  At the same time pungent and sweet.  Intensely meaty with a delicate structure.  That aroma....oh truffle, you are awesome.  Nobody had tried truffles before, so it was new for everyone.  I think they liked it, judging from the happy sounds from the dining room.

For a small package, this was by far the most time consuming dish.  First, make stock, then make a remouillage from the bones and aromatics.  Combine the two batches and reduce, reduce, reduce.  Once I have a concentrated stock, which took on a rich brown color and amazing flavor, I make the ragout by finely dicing some black truffles and reducing to a thickened sauce.  The last step is to swirl in some butter and a few drops of vinegar.   

The chive chips worked on the first try, which surprised me.  I'm so glad I bought a benriner mandoline. This allowed me to make paper thin slices of russet potato, which were used to create a little chive sandwich, brushed with clarified butter and baked between two silpats.  

The eggs to hold the custard.  We have a standard custard flavored with white truffle oil, salt, and white pepper.  The egg shells were fun to make, but difficult to do without the right equipment.  After some trial and error, I came upon a good technique to make them.  I used a serrated knife and carefully cut perforations around the shell before slicing through.  This method helped to prevent the egg shell from shattering as I cut into it.

After the custards, I gave people yet another dish they hadn't had before: bone marrow.  Served with parsley, garlic, caper, with olive oil and lemon juice vinaigrette, homemade baguette slices brushed with garlic infused oil and seasoned with green salt, and a line of yellow and brown mustard powder. This of course is a great tasting dish.  I totally get why Anthony Bourdain loves it.

Rather than roasting the marrow this time I soaked it and pulled (really, pushed) the marrow from the bone.  They'are then diced and seasoned with salt and covered in flour before being fried in oil.  The marrow is mostly fat, so if the oil is too hot you can burn the flour.  If it is not hot enough, you can cook away the marrow before it has a chance to crisp. While the presentation isn't great, this is a difficult dish to execute.   I nailed it.

Now we start on the "mains."  First was a dish you won't find in TFL, Bouchon, or Alinea, but it has elements from all three.

The pasta is a chestnut-white truffle agnolotti.    Served with nutmeg creme fraiche, fried sage leaf, and thin celery strips.

This was a lot of fun to make.  The pasta was a standard ratio of flour to eggs (3:2).  The chestnuts are from a local farm. They're roasted, then simmered in vegetable stock and pureed.  The filling is finished by mixing in some mascarpone cheese (which was easy for me to make), and white truffle oil.

The creme fraiche I've made before, documented on this blog.  It was simply whipped with freshly grated nutmeg and a little salt.  

The celery strips, pretty cool thing from an Alinea dish.  Showing that you can get great texture, color, and flavor without anything fancy.  The celery is peeled to get the stringy bits out.  Then with a vegetable peeler, I cut thin strips.  Soaking them in ice water causes them to crisp and curl.

 It is a soup course too.   I thought the flavors would pair well here, so I combined the TFL/Alinea-inspired dish with the butternut squash soup recipe from Bouchon.  I think this knocked people's socks off.  It got great feedback.  

Next was the "fish" course.  This is pretty much straight from TFL.  Butter-poached lobster tail atop red beet juice reduced and enriched with butter.  The lobster is resting on a thinly sliced round of leek which was blanched for a minute and chilled.  Topping off this tower of deliciousness was a piece of "pommes maxim."  As TFL notes, this potato crisp was created in France first.  It is made by taking paper thin slices of yukon gold potatoes and tossing them in clarified butter, then layering and baking until crisp.

This dish is what I had in mind when I said execution is so important.  So few ingredients to produce an amazing combination.  This is definitely a great dish that Keller has developed over years and years of serving it.

Next up was duck breast spiced with fennel, coriander, and cumin.  Served with a port-wine and sherry vinegar reduction.   None of my photos turned out, so I'm reusing this from when I served this for dinner a little while back.  I wanted to get feedback from folks, so I put it on the menu.  Best I got was that it was done perfectly.  People compared it to the duck they had in some truly great restaurants.  The sauce they said paired well with the duck, and it was a hit.  I think I served too much meat though, as some mentioned it felt like a lot on the plate.  I have some ideas to improve this dish in the future.

For a palate cleanser, I went with a dish from Alinea.  This is my rendition of "Cranberry Frozen and Chewy".  It is tart and sweet, and melts in your mouth as you chew it.  It has a creamy texture without any fat added.  This is achieved through the use of two cool techniques.  First, the cranberry stock is mixed with Ultratex-3, a modified starch that helps thicken and prevent large ice crystals from forming.  Second, the mixture is flash frozen in a balloon with liquid nitrogen.  Lacking liquid nitrogen, I had to figure out a way to make a super cold liquid that won't freeze at the temperatures I needed.  I decided to use isopropyl alcohol and dry ice.  The dry ice drives the temperature of the alcohol down to the point where the alcohol turns to slush (close to -173.2 degree Fahrenheit).

Dessert, finally!  This is also straight from TFL.  They call it "Coffee and Doughnuts".  The doughnuts were fun to make, basically a simple sweet dough fried and covered in cinnamon sugar.  These are light and airy, and just wonderful fresh from the fat, still warm.

The coffee is a frozen coffee flavored mousse.  Topped with a hot milk foam.  I'm proud of my solution for the milk foam.   I don't have a frother or steam thingy you see in coffee shops.  I do have an iSi Siphon, however.  Charged with nitrous oxide, I could get the microfoam, but they would disappear almost immediately.  So, I tried adding xanthan gum to stabilize the foam.  That worked, but the foam disintegrated when I heated it (I couldn't start with hot milk because the siphon isn't designed for use with hot things).   So, I knew I needed something that would be stable at high temperatures...I happen to have gellan on hand, so I used that.  Success!   Thanks to khymos.org, I was able to zero in on a good concentration of these hydrocolloids to produce a good produce that was heat stable.

So, that was dinner.  I was exhausted by the end, and quite happy with the result.  I think 6 people, 8/9 courses is about my limit right now.  Still, I executed well, but felt like I was falling behind, and I did.  I thought the dinner would clock in at 2.5 hours and it turned out to be closer to 3.5 (yikes!).  I need to work on speed and efficiency, but not at the expense of good execution.  I think I did something I can build on and learn from.

Raspberry Napolean

Used  puff pastry dough I made a while back. Laminated doughs like this are fun to make, but take a while.  This was easy since I had some left over from the pork belly dish.   Baked this between two silplat mats to weigh down the puff paste.  Once it was cooked, I glazed it with some light corn syrup and put it back in the often to create caramelization on top.  Then the puff paste is cut into planks after allowed to cool.  Finally,  layered with a Framboise Lambic infused pastry cream I made while the dough was baking and fresh raspberries.  Final touch is a dusting of confectioner's sugar.

Not the greatest presentation in the world, but it tasted very good.

Duck Breast and Port Wine-Sherry Vinegar Beurre Monte

Pairing sauces with proteins is an important thing to learn.  I'm still trying to get the hang of this, but I pulled the components of this dish from two different sources of inspiration.    Also here, I get to work on the proper use of heat to cook meat, seasoning and spicing proteins, as well as the making of a reduction sauce and a new technique for me: beurre monte.

Duck breast pan seared. I made a spice mix for the skin side: fennel seeds, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, all ground in a mortar & pestle, then seasoned with white pepper and salt. The other side was seasoned with just salt & white pepper. Seared in a pan w/o added fat.

Sauce is a beurre monte. 1:1 port wine and sherry vinegar, reduced to nearly a glaze, then butter melted into it without whisking to create the mirror like sheen.

Sauce and meat were made for each other. The duck is very rich and meaty, the sauce sweet and sour.  I really love the acidity in this. The sourness makes you salivate, which really elevates the duck flavor.  I had some carrots with a spiced glaze with this (not pictured, but the glaze was honey, cumin, and cayenne)

Bone Marrow

Bone marrow is an affordable luxury, which makes it an easy way to introduce a little decadence into a menu.

I bought eight marrow bones at the farmer's market this Saturday, six of which became Sunday dinner.  I simply roasted them at 450F for 15 minutes after being brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with green salt (salt food processed with parsley, bay leaf, and thyme) on both ends.  The salt forms a crust which helps hold the marrow in the bones when they cook through.

They were served with a parsley leaf salad with shallots and capers and olive-walnut bread toast  brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with green salt.  To finish the toast, I topped them with roasted garlic.  

A vinaigrette of sherry vinegar and olive oil with a half cup of orange juice reduced to one/two tablespoons added a nice citrus component.  I ended up grabbing some lemon wedges to supplement the citrus.

To eat this, I just ran a knife along the edge of the marrow and pulled out a tube of marrow, which I then spread on the bread, mixing with the garlic.  I then topped it with a heap of the parsley salad and added a squeeze of lemon.  It is a divine taste.  

I searched online a bit and it turns out it is a standard sort of dish.  I had in mind balancing the rich fatty marrow with an acidic component.  I also knew that parsley works really well with citrus, so I went that direction.  I knew I was going to use toast, so I thought I would make olive walnut bread to highlight the nutty toast.  The roasted garlic was in the same direction, but thinking that the sweetness roasted garlic introduces would add another balance to the dish.  

Birthday Dinner

October 28, my birthday.

I used to want to go out to eat or something like that, but now I feel enough confidence in my cooking that I would rather make something for myself and the wife.  By coincidence I received the Bouchon and The French Laundry Cookbook in the mail a couple days before.  This has inspired me to make a few things the past few days, some of which I decided to do for my birthday.  While I cook every day, I think allowing me to make something delicious for others is a great birthday gift.  Nothing gives me more pleasure than offering such an experience to people.

I try to make as much from scratch as I can.  I do that so I can learn techniques and foundations.

For the appetizer I had some homemade lean bread, brushed with a honey-olive oil mixture and sprinkled with Maldon Sea Salt .  The bread is simple to make, requiring that you remember two things.  First, 5:3 ratio of flour to water.  This is the basic structure for the dough.  Adding a teaspoon of active dry yeast per 15-20 ounces of flour gets the bread to rise.  A bit of salt in the dough gives it flavor.  From there, you can make all kinds of variations from olives, roasted garlic, hard herbs, and I've made a chocolate/olive/walnut bread which was deliciously sweet & salty.  Second, you have to remember knead, double, knead, rest, shape, proof, or more simply: rise twice, rest twice. The kneading develops the gluten structure, which traps and holds the water and starch (food for the yeast).  The doubling gets the yeast time to be active.  The second kneading redistributes the yeast to new supply of starch.  Shaping and proofing allow the bread to develop its structure and the air pockets to develop.   It is important to knead enough so that the bread is elastic or you'll have flabby and dense bread rather than a light crumb.  Once you get the hang of it, it won't take you longer than about 30 minutes for the initial mixing, then it is mostly waiting and baking.  The kneading is also a great stress reliever and the results more satisfying, I think. The results will blow away your typical bakery and grocery store bought bread.

With the bread, I made an olivade. Homemade fromage blanc with chopped olives, capers, red onion, chives, tarragon.  Not finding fromage blanc at the grocery store, I decided to make my own.  Turns out it is very easy, and much cheaper to do yourself.  It requires a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, buttermilk, and whole milk.  You can add a bit of heavy cream to make it richer, but it isn't strictly necessary.  Lacking fresh buttermilk, I reconstituted  dried buttermilk I had left from a previous recipe to make a cup.  Mix the buttermilk and lemon juice, then add this to about a liter of milk.  Stir to incorporate and heat gently to 175F.  Stir a couple times, but leave the milk to heat on its own.  Make sure you don't scorch your milk (i.e. watch the temp closely).  Once it reaches 175F, take it off the heat and let the milk rest for 10-15 minutes.  Then carefully strain away the whey, leaving a very soft curd behind.  There you have it.

For the spread, I pitted and finely chopped some kalamata olives, minced some red onion, capers, chives, and tarragon.  Seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, this made a great spread for the bread.  It can also be used with meats, salads, fish, etc.

Next, I made a roasted beet salad.  I thought to add variety by using both gold and red beets here.  Beets were roasted in a foil package at 375F for about an hour to hour and a half with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Then quartered and marinated in a tablespoon or two of olive oil, sherry vinegar, and fresh squeezed orange juice for at least half an hour in the fridge.  I added chopped red onion, chives, and tarragon to finish.  This is a sweet and refreshing salad, very simple, and delicious.

For the main course, I had salmon with leeks.  The salmon was seared on one side until done half way through to produce a crispy skin and render the fat, while leaving the salmon tender. Leeks blanched until fork tender. Beurre blanc. Tender and succulent, the rich taste of salmon balanced well with the leeks.  The skin, with its fatty substrate was absolutely delicious with the tender flesh of the fish and leeks. Beurre blanc was made with a reduction of shallot, bay, and thyme infused in cotes du rhone and champagne vinegar until syrupy.

For dessert, I went simple again.  This is a basic vanilla custard creme caramel.  The caramel is made by melting sugar and water with some glucose (which helps inhibit crystallization of the sugar).  The caramel is then poured into the bottom of a few ramekins and left to cool and harden.  The custard is very easy.  5 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks beaten to smooth in a bowl.  Then, in a sauce pan, 4 cups of milk is mixed with a cup or more of sugar (depending on how sweet you like it).  Flavorings can be added here by incorporating extracts like vanilla, almond, etc., or by infusing mint and so forth.  Bring the milk to below a simmer, just so the sugar dissolves completely.  Then, let the milk cool a bit.   Whisking constantly, slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks.  Strain into a container with a spout so you can pour this into the ramekins.  Set the ramekins in a baking pan with hot water up about 3/4 to 2/3 the sides of the ramekins. Finally, bake at 300F for 30-50 minutes until the custard sets.   You then let the ramekins cool and chill in the fridge for a couple hours, at least.  When you're ready to serve, put the ramekins in a hot water bath for 30 seconds to a minute to loosen the custard.  Run a paring knife around the edge, carefully.  Put a plate upside down on top of the ramekin and invert.  The custard should fall out and, because of the hot water, the caramel will have melted and create a sauce on top.

Dinner 10-22-2011

After what feels like a long break (from the blog, not cooking), I'm back.  You might consider this a preview of the kind of thing I would try to do in the underground restaurant.  We had some people over for dinner last night.  For me this means an opportunity to put what I've been learning to good use.   Each dish really stood on its own.  I think each is visually attractive, and interesting to eat (like cracking through the prosciutto covering on the 1st dish).  That said, what I'm most proud of is that the overall progression of the menu felt coherent.





Poached egg, reduction of chicken stock, dijon mustard, roasted sunchokes, frisee, toasted sunflower seeds, dehydrated prosciutto di parma, cayenne pepper.

This is a fun one to eat. The diner has to crack through the crispy prosciutto to get to the dish, which is fun and dynamic. The crispness also adds a nice dynamic to what is a rich soupy dish with toasty notes, sweetness from the carmelization of the sunchokes, while still remaining earthy in nature. I only heard groans of pleasure from this one.

Pan-seared scallops with crushed fennel seeds, puree of peaches infused with cream, arugla leaf, and mint leaves.

I wanted something simple, not crowded with flavors because these scallops are fresh and cooked to a creamy medium-rare. The fennel really highlights the sweetness of the scallop here and the bitter arugala adds a nice contrast. The peach cream added a sweetly accented richness. A lesson in allowing the central ingredient to really shine.

Zucchini and yellow squash julienne, then tenderized for 20 minutes in salt. Accented with a lemon-lime soaked shallot (they turn a beautiful pink color in the presence of acid), and toasted almonds.

This dish served as a palate cleanser with earthy and sweet/sour notes. The texture of the zucchini and squash is like an al dente pasta. Crunch added with toasted almonds. A visually pleasing and tasty palate cleanser.

Candied roasted hazelnuts, smoked provolone, candied lemon zest, beer gel sheet, pink peppercorns.

The flavors stand individually and work in concert in this one. The beer I used was a Hoegaarden white ale, which has a subtle citrus note accented with the lemon zest. The candied hazelnuts had extra crunch due to their candy shell and were also salted, adding another nice contrast. Supported by smoky provolone. The pink peppercorns really did wonders to highlight the fruity aspects of this dish.

There's also the striking visual element here. I was happy with my efforts on this dish, but I see room for improvement.

Pan seared filet mignon, red wine reduction with reduction of beef stock, black mission figs, braised bok choy.

Tender beef, sweet tender fig = heaven. The bok choy was juicy and still had some crunch. The sauce is rich while retaining the nice subtleties of the bordeaux wine I used. Can't go wrong with this cut of meat, I think....unless you overcook it, which I didn't, so....there.

For dessert, I made eclairs, which I've attempted to make only once before. This was my best effort yet. The eclair shells were just about right hollow, dry, mostly crack-free, and relatively straight and even. The fondant was easy to make, but some practice is needed to get it to the right consistency with water/glucose when it is melted down. Also, the glazing needs more practice. Definitely a reject by professional standards, but I'm happy with it overall. A great achievement for at home, I think.

The eclairs are filled with an almond flavored pastry cream and a coffee flavored pastry cream. Choux and pastry cream recipes generously provided by Chef Francisco Migoya (www.thequenelle.com).

Puff Paste wrapped banana, butterscotch sauce, fried apples, dried apricots, coconut ice cream, vanilla salt

The combination of hot/cold in your mouth is fantastic. Add to that the sweet/salty combo and it is already great. Never mind that the flavors work so well together.  Do not try this at home, you may go into convulsions

Dessert tonight. Used some of the remaining puff paste to wrap a banana. Baked @ 425 F. Made caramel sauce (melted sugar + cream). Fried apple slices with sugar and cinnamon. Dried apricots. Quenelles of coconut ice cream. Dash of vanilla salt. Sinful plate.

Fish & Chips

Inspired by a blog all about Fish & Chips, I decided to make Heston Blumenthal's recipe for the "perfect" fish and chips.  I enjoyed it with a nice Dogfish head 60 minute IPA. Folks, this is once a year kind of stuff.  The taste and textures are so amazing, but my god...just look.

I purchased some cod for the fillets of fish.  The batter is amazingly crispy, unlike any I had used before.  This is owed to the alcohol content, which evaporates quickly.  Using beer and vodka instead of water.  On top of this, additional bubbles of carbon dioxide are added using an iSi siphon with a soda charge.  The fish itself is cooked perfectly to a moist and flaky texture.  The fish was seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne, then covered with a batter of  50/50 AP flour/Rice flour.  Fried at 425 F, the fillets only take a few minutes to cook through and brown.

The chips are crispy on the exterior, fluffy on the interior, and seasoned with salt and pepper.  Great with some mayo and malt vinegar.  The fries are first cut and boiled gently to cook through and rough up the edges.  Cooked to just before they fall apart, the cracks allow oil to crisp up the exterior.   Allowed to cool and dehydrate in the fridge for 30 minutes, they're cooked in relatively cool oil of 250-275 F until they take on a little bit of color.  Then, they are allowed to dry and cool in the fridge for 30 minutes again.   The final fry at 375 F gives them their golden color and crispy texture.

In More Depth

Batters and dough share much in common.  Both have the core ingredients of flour and water.  How are they different?  Clearly, batters have far more water than doughs. What effect does this have?  To understand this, we look at why we use flour in the first place.  As you might already know, most of the flours we use for bread and batters come from wheat, so I'll focus on that.

The principal chemicals in flour we take advantage of are starches (carbohydrates) and gluten (proteins).  When we make bread, we want the protein to develop a tight structure that traps the starch and water like a finely woven net.  This is why we knead the bread until it achieves an elastic texture and allow it to rest.  When yeast is added, this gluten structure traps the gas, which produces the bubbles that give some breads its airy texture.  When mixing batters, such as those to coat foods like the fish above, or for pound cake, we only mix to just incorporate the flour.  The gluten is secondary, helping to hold the mix together when it is cooked.  In batters, the starch plays the starring role.

Starch, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, comes from a 15th century Dutch word that means to stiffen (sterche).  Starch molecules come in a crystalline form, appearing as granules that absorb water, helping to thicken the liquid.  This is why we use flour to make slurries, roux, and to thicken sauces.  The starches swell up and stick to each other, creating the tender structure we like in batter cakes and coatings for fried foods.  So, in Heston's recipe, we use some all-purpose flour, which has some gluten, but we also use a starch flour without gluten, the rice flour.

So, why does Heston's recipe call for injecting more bubbles in addition to those given by the beer?  The answer lies in the leavening of the bubbles.  According to Harold McGee the bubbles, "...not only divides [the batter] into innumerable thin sheets surrounding the gas bubbles, it makes the batter more viscous." (more viscosity = thicker).  This does two things for our fried fish.  First, the additional viscosity helps the batter stick to the food.  Second, the layers allow the outside to cook quickly, releasing the water and browning. Since water boils at 212 F, we need to get rid of it to promote browning and crisping, which occurs at higher temperatures.

There is much more science going on here in this simple, but delicious dish.  This is one of the exciting things about cooking: endless variety and depth.  As we promote understanding, we enjoy cooking more, and can use the principles we learn to create new variation and improvements in existing foods.

Tobacco cream, fennel, cranberry; Pliable ganache & teas; Vanilla ice cream, sesame, coffee

Three desserts shown together. Foreground to background: Vanilla Ice Cream, Chocolate Ganache, and Layered Gelee

Component one of "Three Desserts"

Quenelle of vanilla ice cream atop a sesame tuile and dusted with nescafe freeze dried coffee. Paired with another tuile and a garnish of lavender air.

Component two of "Three Desserts"

4 Teas and Chocolate Ganache

Pliable chocolate ganache recipe from Alex Stupak of wd~50, which he developed at Alinea. The use of agar-agar is what makes the ganache stretchy/twistable.

I wanted a tea component, so I made four of them. From bottom to top: rooibos tea, lemongrass tea, rose hip & hibiscus tea, and lavender tea.

I included pistachios for salt & crunch.

Ok, so...chocolate...it was awesome. 'nuff said. The teas added a nice herbal component, but the flavor needs to be concentrated more. They were nicely paired with the chocolate, though. Chocolate ruled them all on the palate, so that needs to be tamed some how.

Component three of "Three Desserts"

Layered gelee & Tobacco

First layer is gelee of home made cranberry juice. Second layer is home made fennel juice. Third is tobacco cream I made, adapated from Alinea, but instead of a gelee I made a whipped cream out of it. Topped with lime zest

This was the best of the three. The flavors were surprising, harmonious, and together made something better than the individual components.

Sin In A Bowl

 If you've seen the film Julie and Julia  then you probably know about Boeuf Bourguignon.  It is a stew that is rich, silky, with meat that falls apart in your mouth, tender vegetables, and tastes like sin in a bowl.  The sort of thing that you would be happy to have in your repertoire.  It is great alone, but I recommend some good butter and french bread, which is easy to make.  I'll talk about bread in another post.

I added vanilla crepes which I cut into a chiffonade, and garnished with fresh parsley.

First, make brown beef stock. This recipe is adapted from Thomas Keller. Yields a little over 3 quarts, which you can freeze and use to enhance many sauces or as a base for soup. Get your mise ready before you start.

Mise en place:

2-3 Tablespoons of oil with a high smoke point (canola or vegetable works well)
About 5 pounds meaty beef necks, knuckles, ribs
2 small yellow onions peeled
1 large carrot, peeled and cut into medium dice pieces
1 large leek, roots trimmed, split lengthwise, rinsed well, and cut into 2 inch pieces
1 large sprig of thyme
1 large sprig of Italian parsley
3 bay leaves
1 head garlic
A teaspoon salt
A teaspoon black peppercorns

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 475 F. Roast the bones in a roasting pan with the oil (Just enough to coat the meat, not too much) for 45 minutes or until all sides of the beef bones are a rich, deep brown. Don't let them turn black or your stock will have a bitter taste.

2. Meanwhile, cut one onion in half and sear with the cut side down over medium heat. This will take about 20 minutes. Remove. Add veggies over high heat and brown them on all sides. This develops color and rich caramel flavor for the stock. Be patient and attentive.  Don't fiddle too much so your vegetables can brown properly.  Reserve the veggies on the side.

3. Take the bones out and remove from the roasting pan. Carefully drain off the fat, trying to retain as much of the browned solids as you can.

4. Deglaze the roasting pan over medium-high heat. Use about a cup of cold water. Scrape up as much of the stuck on brown bits as you can. This is called the fond. Let it simmer and reduce by half.

5. Meanwhile, transfer the bones to a large stock pot. Add enough water to cover.

6. Add the fond to the stock pot and S-L-O-W-L-Y bring to a simmer. This will take longer than you expect (1-2 hours).  If you heat it too quickly, you'll end up boiling the bottom of your stock pot, which will make your stock cloudy and produce an inferior result.  If you have a thermometer, you want the water to be 190-200 F. If you don't have a thermometer, you want it to bubble a little, but not a full boil. The water "trembles".  If your stock boils for too long, the veggies and impurities will emulsify in the water and you'll have cloudy stock that will go bad much more quickly.

7. Skim, skim, skim. You'll see foam and fat rise to the surface 15-20 minutes after. This won't happen if your temp is too low. Skim every 15-20 minutes for the first hour. Check every half hour after that and skim if necessary.

8a. Continue like this for at least 4 hours. 5 or 6 hours is better.  I like to let my stocks go for 8-10 hours to extract as much flavor and collagen as possible.

8b. 2 hours before you stop, add the vegetables and garlic.  

8c.  1 hour before you stop, add the parsley, bay, peppercorns, thyme.

9. When finished, strain the stock through a fine strainer. Do not jostle, shake, or press the solids. Let the liquid flow. Any of the above makes your stock cloudy as fine particles will get into your liquid. Be patient.

10. Strain again through double layered cheesecloth or a dish towel, or coffee filter.

11. Cool down the stock quickly in an ice bath so no nasty bugs get a chance to develop.  Using a metal mixing bowl works best to conduct heat away from the stock and cool quickly.

12. Store in the fridge.

13. Take off any fat that solidified on the surface.  The stock freezes nicely, and keeps for months.  It will go bad in the fridge in about a week.

14. Enjoy all that work. You'll never want to get the store bought stuff again, which is weak, lacks body.

Up Next: the Boeuf Bourguignon

Served with french bread I made (very simple, for another post)

Mise en place:

At least 2 lbs beef, cubed, you can use more.
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sale & Pepper
2 Large carrots, cut into 1-2 inch pieces
1 Onion, large dice/rough chopped

1 Leek, rough chopped

2-3 Celery
4-5 cloves of garlic, roughly cut
1/4 cup Cognac
1-2 cups Red Wine (what you don't use, drink!)
2 cups beef stock
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
2 Bay leaves
3 sprigs of parsley
3 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature, divided
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Procedure:

1. Season your beef with salt & pepper on all sides. Add oil to a hot skillet and brown the meat on all sides. Don't crowd the pan, work in batches if necessary. Otherwise your meat will steam.

2. Remove the beef. Add veggies and get a golden brown color all over, as above.

3. Add cognac. Get your head out of the way and be prepared to reset your smoke alarm. Light the cognac.

4. Remove veggies and deglaze the pan with about a cup of wine, scrape up all that tasty fond.

5. Add meat and veggies, stock, and more wine until the meat is barely covered. Cover the pan with or tight metal lid

6. Stick it all in the oven at 250 F for at least an hour, up to 2 hours.

7. At the end of its time in the oven, move the pan to the stove top and bring to a simmer.

8. Meanwhile, make a brown roux. Start by melting the butter in a sauce pan and then add flour and mix well with a fork or whisk. Let this cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't burn. The roux should begin to take on a brown color. It is ready when it takes on a color of caramel, or rust.

9a.  Ladle some of the liquid from your braising pain and whisk it into the roux to remove lumps.  Continue until it is smooth.

9b. Add the roux to the hot Boeuf Bourguignon and stir. Add more wine if necessary. Season to taste.

10. Enjoy.

Braised pork belly, miso, butterscotch

 This was adapted from a recipe posted by Michael Ruhlman. The dish was absolutely delightful. I made puff paste to provide additional texture to the dish.  That was a fun way to spend a day.  I may make a post on puff paste later.

Pork belly braised at 250 F for 6 hours in orange juice, with bay leaves, black peppercorns, coriander seed, bay leaf, shallots, garlic, and onion. Then seared and served with a miso-butterscotch sauce. Butterscotch made in the typical way (melted brown sugar & cream), and added to a miso, butter, chickenstock, braising liquid, soy sauce, garlic, shallot. Sauce reduced and then the seared pork is cooked to reheat in the sauce. Garnished with red and green chilies. The salad from last night made another appearance. Interestingly the shallots turned a really nice shade of pink.

Scallops, peaches, corn, dandelions

 Harmonious!  Occasionally I'll post photos of dinner and a brief description of what went into the preparation of a dish.  Any questions will be answered in comments.

I bought peaches, radishes, corn, and scallops at the farmer's market today.  I was particularly excited to get the scallops because they are extremely fresh, brought in by some fine folks here in town.  They are dry packed, so no excess moisture or breakdown of the tissue.  On to the dish.

Scallops are pan seared on one side (this is done to prevent overcooking).  They are seasoned with a vanilla salt and chopped bay leaf with a dusting of cayenne pepper.  Only the presentation side was seasoned.  To go with the scallops, I took some white corn off the cob and gently cooked it in Insigny Ste Mere butter.  After that I pureed it in the blender with fresh butter, about 2 grams of salt, about a tablespoon of heavy cream, and kefir to give it an acid note.   I thought it was a little too runny, so I added cornstarch (about a teaspoon) and returned it to heat in a small saucepan to thicken and get out the lumps.  This was paired with slices of fresh peaches, which were peeled with a paring knife.  The salad consists of dandelion greens and radishes (I later added some chopped walnuts, not pictured).  I also added a vinaigrette (3 parts fat: 1 part acid) and capers.  The dressing was made of the juice of one lime, grapeseed oil, small diced shallot, a pinch of salt and ground white pepper.

Everything on this plate worked together. On top of that, it was delicious.  The scallops were cooked just right.  To me that means fall apart in your mouth when you press a piece against the roof of your mouth and they have a sort of tender-melty quality as you chew. The sweetness of the bay and cayenne kick were marvelous with the scallops as well.  The peaches and corn is simply decadent, owing in part to the cream-butter enrichment, but also because these are two flavors that work extremely well together.  Balancing all this richness were the bitter greens and radishes, which were tender.  The vinaigrette added a nice mouth coating citrus note.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this dish.  I think it could be served as-is, but I want to play with the flavors and presentation more in the future.