Archives for January 2008
Dry Your Beef.
31 January 2008 | beef, delicious, old blue | 2 Responses
So Jaybill and I have been experimenting with our steak process, well at least part of our steak process. We always sear in smoking hot cast iron, and finish in a 400 degree oven. Jaybill read somewhere we could achieve a better crust by drying out the meat over a rack in the fridge for a few days. We first tried a quick-fast drying with a tenderloin that involved an elevated cooling rack and a fan (above, right.) This did give us a noticeably quicker sear, and a decidedly crisper crust. It makes sense, I mean it’s culinary 101: to brown, you must remove moisture. Here we did it before it even hit the pan. This got us to thinking that if we did the drying slowly, over more time, say a week, we’d get an even better result. Next thing you know we’ve got two ribeyes kicking it in the fridge all week, over a wire rack. Every time I opened the fridge I thought about sauces, side dishes, but mainly about that super-crust we were about to create. The steaks when we finally seared them even sounded different. The sizzling noise of water vapor was replaced by a deeper, more meaty sound. As it turns out, you can over-dry the beef. The rib-eyes were succulent and delicious, mind you, but the drying process had altered the tetxure slightly. I think in the future we’ll dry two days, and then do a generously salted 30-40 minute rest at room temp. This long period will start to break down the connective tissue, and then absorb some of that salty goodness before it is patted dry, lightly oiled, and dropped into that smoking hot pan. Enter Maillard reaction. I whipped up a Sage Bearnaise for slathering, we still had our sage infused clarified butter in the freezer. While I was making that the protien rested in Beurre Monte, because that’s what the French Laundry does. While Jaybill prepared the cheese course, we heated up some New Seasons stunt potatoes to soak up the left over butter-egg yolk emulsion. It was a damn tasty experiment.
Bread Pudding SG-1
29 January 2008 | Ten 01, creative presentation of the week, delicious, plated dessert | 2 Responses
Here’s my Brioche Chocolate Chip Bread Pudding, which when alligned correctly, will open a portal to another universe. Okay that’s a lie. You will definitely find it delicious. We’re calling the sauce a blood orange reduction, but it’s really a caramel sauce that uses blood orange puree instead of heavy cream. A quenelle of whipped orange mascarpone cream holds down the orange zest chocolate tuile. That cookie is a sonofabitch to make. I break one in three, so I started baking just two at a time. With a baking time of five minutes, I can get six cookies in about twenty minutes…which sucks. The plate looks bangin’ though, and the bread pudding scraps keep the staff happy. In other news, people are checking out Ten-01 because of this blog. I’ll be damned. I met with a table the other night who’ve read mrjeffmccarthy.com and even mentioned the Irish Car Bomb. They’re mom even blogged about them meeting me! I’ve also started selling some of my desserts at The Armory Cafe, and they are going over well. I’m going to start making them flatbread pizza’s, almond tarts, and maybe some form of high end hot pocket. Still eating well, Mom! Check out this Lamb Chop dinner cooked up for me by our grill cook Richard! Goat Cheese Gnocchi…Yum!!
We Deal in Delicious.
26 January 2008 | Ten 01, chef, delicious | 2 Responses
Here’s Chef’s Bluefin Tuna Sashimi and Hamachi Tartare with Yuzu, Kosho, Green Apple, Beet Chips, and Balsamic Brown Butter. This was the first course his Oregon Food & Wine Feast, which he did for the James Beard house in New York this month. This past monday we re-created experience for some PDX high rollers and media types. Chef commented on how the dinner was a little easier to pull off at The Beard House, as our back kitchen is a little tight on plating space. Also delicious was Seared Sea Scallop with Stewed Oysters, Buttered Leeks, Tarragon Oil, and American Caviar. There were some cool passed apps, but I only got a blurry picture of the Foie, ’cause we were busy plating. For the dessert course, he had me prep his bomber Goat Cheese Panna Cotta, pictured below. I was stoked to learn this one, because it had great flavor, texture, and was way easy to bank together. The brunoise pears took was time consuming, but well worth the effort. You can view the full menu here.
It’s Not Rocket Scientist.
24 January 2008 | food science, Roux, 503, plated dessert | 2 Responses
Volunteering at the The OMSI Science in the Kitchen Gala was a great time. The appetizer (above) that I helped Chef Sean of Roux with was delicious, and one of the most popular of the bunch. Other hits were Gabriel Rucker of Le Pigeon with his Foie Creamsicle, Woojay Poynter’s Liquid Truffle Ravioli, and also by us Roux volunteers, Tequila Pudding. Also in attendance with a mille feuille appetizer was Johnny Nunn, whom I staged with at 503. Ranking in as weirdest thing that I tried that night was Brussel Sprout Paper, and I cannot recall it’s creator. The night ran thru an interesting spectrum for me. On the one end were literally hundreds of culinary students tripping over themselves to call me “chef” and help me, and then there was me gushing as I met one of my heros Will Goldfarb as he orchestrated the massive plating of his dessert. Random cool moment: Amidst the insanity of the plating area, an unattended huge pile of black truffles. After all the hoo-ha, organizer of the event and owner of Roux Dwayne Beliakoff threw an after party for all the volunteers at Masu sushi restaurant. Arriving to the party first, I found the hugest sushi display I have ever seen in my life. Second in awesomeness to that was the open bar and the elbow rubbing with some of america’s top chefs. Meanwhile, the restaurant was extremely busy, and the suprise I found on my station on monday morning proved the I was dearly missed.
My New Favorite Robot.
20 January 2008 | candy, Ten 01, chocolate | 2 Responses
One of the most time consuming and frustrating tasks facing pastry chefs is tempering chocolate. Chocolate is a finnicky ingredient that has a complex chemichal structure which needs to be handled just right. Improperly tempered chocolate is streaked with gray, and lacks that characteristic “snap” we all love. You see, cocoa butter, the fat in chocolate, asorbs heat at a different rate than the other ingredients (cocoa, sugar, etc.) so it can seperate and “float” to the top. The chocolate needs to be melted to a certain temperature (110-115 F,) cooled to another (80-82) and then rewarmed to yet another (87-91) to work with it. This process insures the the fat molecules are melted homogenously, and that its structure in relation to the other ingredients creates that perfect gloss, hardness, and shrinkage that makes a good chocolate candy, truffle, garnish or whatever. There are several methods for tempering; seeding, marbling, in the microwave, or my personal favorite, by robot. Pictured above is the Chocovision Revolation X3210 4.8. It takes all the guess work out of the tricky tempering process, and looks dead sexy while doing it. I’ve been using it to make candies and truffles for mignardes at the restaurant. Flavors so far include brown butter, white chocolate basil, butterscotch, orange, vanilla cream. All yummy, all the time. Interested in experimenting with chocolate? Don’t have a $1500 dollar robot? Check out this site.
Creative Presentation of the Week: Beef Tartare
18 January 2008 | beef, Ten 01, creative presentation of the week, delicious | No Responses
So we’ve all had Beef Tartare, or at least we all should have had it, but how many of us have eaten it from a crispy parmesan cone? Chef whipped this up as part of a five course dinner for his fiancee Meghan’s Birthday. The chorizo oil really makes this plate pop, but I wanted to eat that little cone so bad! I need to start taking pictures of the food that’s on the menu, it all looks as scrumptous as this. This week Chef was away in New York doing a James Beard Dinner , but us cooks held down the kitchen admirably while he was gone. Good training goes a long way, and so does confidence in your crew. I’m still eating very well, there often seems to be a random duck leg laying around, which I will happily take care of. Here’s one below prepared by saute cook Micheal, with carrots, mushrooms and sprouts.
Ten-01 Desserts…or Chocolate Cake and Friends
13 January 2008 | Ten 01, pate choux, plated dessert | 1 Response
The Chocolate Whiskey Cake with Brown Butter Caramel, pictured above, is fliying out the door. Thanks Tony for teaching me how to make those chocolate flags, and of course the flourless cake. First night comments included “This is the best thing I have ever eaten,” and “Exceptional flavor.” One guest simply crossed himself. Complaints: Too Moist. (WTF?) Esspresso Creme Brulee is a no-brainer, a solid choice for coffee/hazelnut/chocolate lovers. Chocolate Hazelnut shortbread cookies sells it. This will be the first thing I change, as I find it kind of “ho-hum.” To scratch that deep frying itch, I’ve got Olive Oil Beignets with Lemon Sage Anglaise. The beignets are made from pate choux that subs evoo for butter. The anglaise has got this cool greenish color, and the herb/citrus combo nails that sweet/savory niche. I learned that sauce from Heidi at Fenouil. For tree fruit lovers we’ve got the Apple Tart, with Pate Sucree Crust, Frangipane, and Granny Smith Apples. This is served with cinnomin ice cream and an almond tuile cookie, check it out below. I’ve also been working on new truffles, pate fruits and caramels for mignardes.
First Day at Ten-01.
7 January 2008 | Ten 01 | 2 Responses
Saturday was my first day at the new restaurant, and it further reinforced the feeling that I’ve found a kitchen to call home. I didn’t even have my coat off and I was talking to a bride and groom about a wedding cake. Service was mild for a weekend, I spent most of the shift cleaning and organizing the pastry station and talking with Chef about the new dessert menu. I did plate some desserts, as well as shuck some oysters and plate some amuse bouche. It’s funny how good I’ve gotten at shucking oysters, I guess all pastry guys get good at it while they’re waiting for dessert orders to come in. In kitchens, idle hands are shuckin’ oysters. I also got to see a lot of the food as it went out. The bacon and eggs looked sooo good- glazed fatback and fried quail eggs. At the end of the shift I was fed Duck Confit, Creamy Gorgonzola Polenta, and a ragout of sprouts, chorizo, and marcona almonds. As you can see in the picture above, it was delicious. The ragout actually goes with the scallop dish, and the polenta with the chicken, but they both tasted great with the confit. In other news, I got invited to help with the OMSI Science in the Kitchen Gala!!! Dwayne Beliakoff, the owner of Roux, is the main organizer, and he asked me if I wanted to come help out. Help plate food with Great Chefs like Will Goldfarb and Homaro Cantu? Johnny Iuzzini and Paul Liebrandt? Plus all the top chefs from Portland? Um, yeah. I’d give up my copy of Charlie Trotter’s Desserts to work with those guys. I’ve been wanting to get in on this thing since I heard about it, come to find out I’m working for the main organizer of the whole event!! Big shout out to Dwayne and the whole Roux crew…you guys rule!!!
Post Holiday Happiness Syndrome.
2 January 2008 | genoa, Ten 01, Roux, carlyle, fenouil | 4 Responses
A lot of people get depressed after the holidays, but I get happy. The toughest, busiest time of the year has passed, and I don’t have to worry about it for another year. The New Years Eve dessert is done (Chocolate 4 Ways, above.) and the 200+ diners (at Roux) are happily fed. And of course in a few days I’ll be starting my new job at Ten-01. Already the excitement is building, and people are talking. It’s been a crazy couple of months since I broke my wrist, shit, since I’ve been in Portland. I really hope to settle in to this new job and concentrate on becoming a better chef. I’ve resolved in the new year to focus hard on the things that matter most to me, and to weed out the things that are bogging me down. I’ll be 29 this year, time to grow up. I’d like to send a big mrjeffmccarthy.com shout out to Papa Haydyn, Fenouil, Lucier, 503 Carlyle, Roux, Genoa, and any other place I may have forgotten that I interviewed, staged, or worked at since arriving to this great city in May. All the great chefs and people I have met have given me an interesting understanding of what a small pond we’re all swimming in here in Portland. Also big ups to my sweetie-pie, Kate, for always being there and always supporting me through these transitional times. Likewise mad props to Jaybill and Keri, for being understanding whenever I came up short on rent. I love y’all (sniff.)
