things i learned/knew but was reinforced/took new outlook on:
- while eating a fine meal (or any meal where you truly want to taste your food), breathe solely through your mouth
- begin meals with cold dishes, as your flavor profile changes
- blanching in salt water then moving to the ice bath shocks green veggies, stops them from cooking, locks bright green chlorophyl color in
- different foods absorb diff. elements in diff. fashions, i.e., when dressing a salad, oil adheres better to some foods while vinegar adheres better to others, egg whites help this, etc.
- foie gras is amazing. fuck all those sissies worried about the geese and their livers.
- all grapes have white juice
- fleur de salt is an amazing finishing salt...i picked some up and actually overdid it with it tonihgt in this chicken and oyster mushroom dish i made w/ onions, red wine, thyme and chicken stock
- tom hurley served foie gras protestors chocolate chip cookies made w/ some foie gras fat!!!
- quenelle is an egg shape? we had these awesome quenelles of halibut in a lobster sauce. it reminded me of a fishy matzah ball
- adea and coleman are ken's favorite small-shop local pinot noirs
- pinots should be flexible, can go w/ fish, chicken or red meat
- best chicken ever for tom hurley is seared first then roasted @ 425.
- anything is great seared first then roasted in the oven.
- tom cooks fish, scallops, and other shellfish with avocado oil
- his lobster stock has lobster and shrimp shells in it along w/ white wine, coriander, brandy, thyme, onions, carrots, celery, fennel and tarragon?
- all of the french countryside is gorgeous.
- ken and tom both grew up in NY
- the #1 restaurant in the entire world is el Bulli in Spain.
- the el Bulli cookbook costs $350 at In Good Taste
- I flipped through it. it's INSANE!!! Many of the cool dishes at The French Laundry and Alana (the dope chicago restaurant w/ the chef is kinda like a mean scientist also) seem to come from the likes of this cookbook...
- Farce is a blend of 70% meat (duck, chicken, bacon, etc.) and 30% fat (pork/duck, etc). we ate some pheasant breasts stuffed with a farce, then wrapped in caul fat, seared then roasted.
- Caul fat is the lining of a pig's stomach. It looks like netting or white, ripped, pantyhose. It tastes amazing when you wrap other meats in it. I bet its off the wall to wrap scallops or shrimp in caul fat..it melts away leaving an incredible pork/bacon flavor in whatever you cover it in.. I was told it freezes well too.
- supposedly city market here in portland sells foie gras as well as caul fat
- im going to make stinke and mecca eat foie gras and caul fat on thanksgiving
- confit means to cook ini fat
- i have a dope recipe for duck confit. its a duck leg cooked in duck fat. it supposedly tastes like heaven.
- what did the french chef say to the american chef? he said "more salt. more butter." ha!
- 1st category meats are tender, like the tenderloin
- 2nd category meats are more like sirloins
- 3rd are shoulders, necks, shanks. bacon is a 3rd category. these need to be cooked slow at a low temp to break down all the fat and muscle holding the meat together.
- supposedly you can cook bacon in butter and the bacon wont absorb it. it cant absorb any more fat, supposedly the butter removes the fat in the bacon? tom said this...
- cut onions with the grain, not against it in an onion ring fashion. notice the difference in the smell and your eyes not watering.
- ken thinks the best pinot noirs are made in the burgundy region. then 2nd place is here in oregon. france thinks so too. the french come here more and more...worried.
- dont cook caul fat too fast, you want the flavor to seep in your food...
- season every component of the food.
- dont eat different foods on your plate, take a bite and get a piece of everything, all the food should blend well together.
- a great holiday meal would be sage and thinly sliced walnuts underneat the skin of the chicken/turkey. sear then slowly roast.
- sweet pea emulsion: peas + pea husks +salt + pepper + truffle oil
- rose petal jam is phenomenal
2 comments:
Cook for me!!!!
Salt, butter and fat... What else is there? yumyum.
A great pinot, lamb... roast chicken stuffed with rosemary, caul and muhrooms.
Roasted eggplant with garlic butter.
Ooops, I,m drooling.
c
caul fat, paul fat. "tinker tinker" says the dinner bell...
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