Archives for January 2009
When the Waffle Fucked The Doughnut…
25 January 2009 | Ten 01, creative presentation of the week, custard, delicious, jack yoss, plated dessert | 7 Responses
I’ve been through a lot with this bread pudding recipe. I’ve done about ten different versions since I’ve been at Ten-01; and until a recent mishap, was about to give up on it. I was trying to bake the pudding in a dome mold, trying to coax a new plate design out of this tired old custard soaked bread. The flexible silicon molds produced perfect little domes, but they were all custardy near the top. Also, the crusty upper region, the best part, was now on the bottom. I fed one to Chef and he was not into it. It got me thinking. Like I said, the best part of this pudding is the top inch or so of dark brown crustiness. So I cut off the part that was soggy custard, ending up with perfect round disks, perfect for sandwiching something. I bet could achieve that same result by baking it in a thin layer in a sheet pan. Hmmm…..I went back to the recipe’s roots to start a flavor profile. When I learned it from Tony, it was Bourbon Bread Pudding. Maker’s Mark glug-glugged it’s way into the custard once more. I had made Butter Pecan ice cream the week before and it’s salty richness held up the bourbony pudding nicely. Salted Caramel sauce also fit in well. I’ve been experimenting with different tuile cookies lately, and Lace Tuile made it into this presentation because of it’s simple light crunch. I learned some new things with this dessert. Firstly, that I can bake bread pudding in a thin layer and get great results. Second, I can form freshly spun ice cream into a sausage and slice it at service, for a nice clean portion. At first I made a plastic wrap tube a la Michel Richard, but after a quick chat with John our sausage maker, I was using collagen casings for my ice cream logs. This dessert is selling like crazy, and is making the Chocolate Cake look so last year. On the menu it reads Ice Cream Sandwich, and I think that really sells it. It recalls childhood, a whimsical peek at the past. Soaked in bourbon. Learn how to make bread pudding here. Make Butter Pecan Ice Cream and Lace Tuile with the recipes below. Add salt to your favorite caramel sauce recipe. Enjoy delicious sweets.
Butter Pecan Ice Cream adapted from Ben&Jerry’s Ice Cream Book.
8 oz butter
2 cups pecan pieces
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1.Saute the pecans in the buuter until the butter begins to browm slightly. Sprinkle in the salt. Strain off the butter and reserve. Spread the pecans on a sheet tray to cool
2.Whip the eggs in a stand mixer until light and frothy, then add the sugar. Whip on high to ribbon stage (4-5 minutes?)
3.Reduce the mixer speed to it’s lowest setting and pour in the milk and cream.
4.Transfer the mix into a blender and with it running, pour in the butter to emulsify. I like to puree in some of the toasted nuts at this point as well.
5.Spin the mix in your ice cream machine, adding the nuts a few minutes before the ice cream is done. Eat some immediately. Using a pastry bag, pipe it into a sausage casing and freeze if desired.
Lace Tuile
8 oz butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 oz honey
1 oz brandy
2/3 cup flour
pinch of salt
1. Cream the butter and the sugar in a stand mixer.
2. Add the honey and brandy and mix to combine.
3. Add the flour and salt and mix to form a smooth paste. Spread thinly onto a non-stick baking mat and bake until golden brown in a 350 degree oven. Mold while warm over a rolling pin.
My buddy David, a server at the restaurant, told me one day how he loved my bread pudding. He told me it was as if a waffle had fucked a doughnut. I don’t think he was pleased with my reaction to his verbal description, so he took it a step further and drew this illustration. Thanks Dave, I’m glad you like it.
nomnomnomnom: Dolphin-Fish, Chorizo, Lobster Hollandaise
18 January 2009 | butter, delicious, eating, nomnomnomnom | 3 Responses
Kate hit up Trader Joe’s last week and returned with fish. She found some frozen Sockeye Salmon, which we had early in the week; and also Mahi-Mahi, aka Dolphin Fish. I find Dorado tasteless and bland; seeing the frozen filets hinted no different. They appeared as they probably were going to taste. Perfect rectangles of an impossible gray that defied metaphor. I knew they would need a rich sauce, and a spicy side. I had a deli cup of clarified lobster butter (thanks Chef,) begging for hollandaise. Our sausage guy had hooked me up with some smoked Chorizo awhile back, I stumbled upon that in the freezer searching for fat. A deli cup of rice pilaf from the fridge smelled good. Dinner was upon us!! I sliced the Chorizo and rendered it on a silpat the oven. Conviently, I had cooked bacon on this same pan for breakfast; I had a ton of delicious grease to cook with. When the sausage was hot and oozing fat, I removed them form the pan and replaced them with halved pearl onions which then roasted, filling the house with a sweet and spicy smell. I knew shellfish and chorizo were money together, and figured since mahi doesn’t really taste like anything, the lobster hollandaise and smoked sausage could lift up this lackluster fish. I knocked together the sauce; volumized yolks, whisked in fat, seasoned with salt, pepper, vinegar. I heated up the rice in the pot that I warmed the lobster butter in, much to my fiancee’s chagrin. I reheated my sausage bits with the almost-done onions. The fish hit a screaming hot pan with a searing sizzle and when flipped hit the oven. After waiting four minutes I threw in two empty plates. Steaming food hit warm plates 3 minutes later. Hollandaise oozed. Lips smacked. Hunger: at bay once more.
Recently….
15 January 2009 | Ten 01, blog, faithful readers, jack yoss, news | No Responses
For New Year’s Eve I created Chocolate 3 ways form of Ibarra Hot Chocolate, Flourless cake with Basil Ice Cream, and Milk Chocolate Panna Cotta. Last year I did Chocolate 4 ways, so next year it will probably be a Duo. I don’t know if I’m getting more refined or more lazy. In the post-holiday slow season I’ve been busy as hell trying to stay busy. I received an email to make dessert for this years IPNC event, a 400 person catering mission. I’ve been developing a new boozy chocolate candy line (above,) brainstorming a new dessert menu, and I’ve even started writing on the restaurant’s blog. This last bit is excites me. I’ve got some great ideas to promote our food and drink, as well as write some cool pieces on my fellow awesome people; the staff at ten-01! Once I work out some of the kinks in the wordpress theme, we’ll have how-to videos, hella pics, and lots of great writing by yours truly. I’ll begin by creating bios for everyone. When that person is mentioned in a post, I can link back to thier bio, and create a richer experience. Anyhoo…my faithful readers needed fret, my work writing will be done at work, so I’ll see have plenty of time to continue publishing great content here at mrjeffmccarthy.com. For example, here’s a video of Perez breaking down a chicken while Chef heckles him. At first I thought the video was ruined, but after watching it on YouTube a couple of times, it started to grow on me. Stay tuned!!
Ouch!!
10 January 2009 | Ouch!!, Ten 01 | No Responses
Searing hot burger fat will melt your skin off!! Ouch!! Sorry Butters!!
The 6 Best Chef Blogs of 2008.
4 January 2009 | blog, faithful readers, food | 6 Responses
In 2008 I read a lot of shit on the internet. Some of that shit didn’t smell. Here’s a list of blogs that were time and time again good reading over the past year. My faithful readers should know about them. The components of a good blog are information, inspiration, visuals, and personality. Without these, it’s just words.
IDEAS IN FOOD -The single most engaging food blog on the web. The information and inspiration that this site provides is huge amenity to the food world. The frequent updates from this husband and wife teams blog entice my tongue and stretch my perceptions of what can be done with food. A recent post about short ribs still has me drooling. Check out their ideas on Foie Gras and Hot Ice Cream. Chefs Aki and Alex write a web column for Popular Science, called Kitchen Alchemy, and can also be followed on Twitter. They even appeared on Food Network. Congratulations to these two brilliant Chefs on their new baby!!
eggbeater- When you Google “Pastry Chef Blog” the first hit you get is eggbeater. Shuna fish Lydon a gift to this planet. Her words, so often, have spoken right to the heart of me; seen me. I have also learned a ton from her. Be sure to explore her recipes, read her posts on Chefdom, and Visit her Flickr page. You can check her out on Twitter, as well. From what I gather, she’s just moved to London, and is running a retail operation. I feel Shuna…I think that’s why I enjoy reading her blog so much.
Line Cook- high up in the rankings for Google search “line cook,” you’ll find this great blog. Intuitive musings about restaurant life, pictures of the good food at nopa in San Francisco, and just good reading. On a personal level I don’t know much about Line Cook’s author, I think his name is Richie. I know he owns a rabbit and writes this kick ass blog. He cooks delicious looking food. His writing has made me pensively reflect on my career, and wax poetic about where it will lead. He has a knack for describing kitchen situations vividly, using cook jargon fluidly. His post about pastry certainly struck a chord. I know Ruhlman, Shuna, and even Micheal Laiskonis all read, so your in good company. Read into the archives, you’ll find a lot of good stuff. This blog is creating a buzz on the web, and I couldn’t be happier. If you work in a kitchen, you should be reading this.
David Lebovitz- I have benefited greatly from this blog, as well as the man’s book The Perfect Scoop. His down to earth approach to writing and great recipes have given me great ideas. His Salted Caramel Ice Cream is one of my favorite recipes of all time. I’ve used it as a base for both raspberry and apple. He loves eating as much as I do I think, and writes about it often. He also lives in Paris, of which I am jealous. His site contains an extensive recipe section, blurbs about his books, and of course tons of great interesting content. He’s also tweeting like crazy, and who isn’t these days?
Ruhlman- The dog-eared copies of his book The Soul of Chef are passed around among cooks everywhere, seen almost as frequently as Kitchen Confidential. He sometimes judges Iron Chef America, was one of the judges of Next Iron Chef. He went on to write The French Laundry Cookbook with TK, and book with Eric Ripert from Le Bernardin. He has also written one of the most definitve volumes on Charcutertie, the art of cured meats. He latest book with TK, the eye-popping Under Pressure, I covet highly. As you might imagine, a blog written by this guy has got to be good. And it is. Frequently updated and packed with great recipes, insights, and pictures, it’s well worth the bookmark.
Michael Laiskonis- Last but not least, the blog of one of my personal heroes, the pastry chef at world reknowned Le Bernardin in New York, Micheal Laiskonis. His posts are always well written and packed with information and insight, as well as glimpses of whats it’s like at Le Bernardin. His desserts are amazing, and when he posts a recipe, I always pore over it repeatedly, trying to glean what it is to be a world class pastry chef. I have a special file on my computer for his recipes. Apparently, he was thinking of quitting the blog, but instead started a second one. His blog is a benchmark for Chef’s everywhere. Great photos, exceptional writing, profound insight and luminous inspiration.
So there’s my list peeps, hope you enjoyed it. Now go back to reading Reddit. Or Digg, if your one of those types.