New Years Dinner 2010

I had a week off during the holidays and decided to plan a very lavish dinner party with my extra time. (Although, the dead of winter was probably not the best season to plan a 10+ course menu.) I rented the flatware, plates, and everything, even gathered a lot of resources/materials from friends to pull the whole thing off. And it was worth it. I’d only been cooking for 3 years at this point, but this was a culmination of everything I’d had learned, and it surprised me.

One of my two favorites was the Southern Fried Peking Duck. To prepare this dish, I de-boned a whole Peking duck, battered it, and fried it. I served it with a scallion waffle that imitated the chive pancakes you get at most Chinese places. The sides consisted of hand-cut apple noodles, an herb salad, and a Tabasco caviar which really made the dish for me.

My other favorite was the final course : Listerine. At least, that’s what I told my friends at the table. I asked them to gargle it for 30 seconds and after much resistance and hesitation, I managed to get them to swallow it. The palate cleanser was actually just a liquid infused with crushed mints that had been passed through a coffee filter. Pretty cool, huh?

And here is the full menu:

drinks

Tsunami
- blue curacao, midori reduction, coconut superfoam

Chai Nog | served before Christmas Ham
- egg nog, chai spices, housemade cardamom beignet

Beer Sangria | served before East Meets South
- triple sec, pear cider, asian pear puree, pink apple chip

Bo-ba |served before Fruits of Winter
- calpico, coconut rum, water chestnut encased in rose tapioca

amuse.one

White Truffle Xiao Long Bao |with Red Pickled Ginger
- pork, shrimp, white pepper, ginger, sesame oil

soup

Cauliflower Bisque | with Spiced Scallop and Curried Tempura Flakes
- pork stock, cream, u20 scallop, indian spices

salad

Frozen Baby Gem Lettuce | with Miso Caesar
- baby gem lettuce, ice berg lettuce, sweet gem lettuce

amuse.two

Foie Gras “Tako” Yaki | with All the Fixin’s
- foie gras torchon, sea salt, katsu sauce, chives, bonito flakes, korean seaweed, kewpie

main

Christmas Ham
Pork Belly Bhutabura | with garnet yam/ginger puree, sous-vide broccolini stems

Kobe Trifecta

Beef Tartar | raw kobe, furikake-flavored taro chip, fried sichuan peppers, xo sauce, raw egg, cilantro

Tataki | grilled kobe, daikon sprouts, mizuna, mache, ponzu
Steak Frites | seared kobe, dashi demi-glace, kasugai peas, potato fries

East Meets South
Southern Fried Peking Duck | with Scallion Waffle, Apple Noodles, Tabasco Caviar

dessert

Chicken Liver Brulee | Chawan-Mushi Style

Fruits of Winter

Pommelo Grapefruit Gelato|with Fairy Dust
Cactus Sorbet | made from Dry Ice

 Hachiya Persimmon Shortcake | with Gwertruminer Syrup  
Guavasteen Panna Cotta |with Cracked Pink Peppercorns and Gingered Ice

palate cleanser

Snow Melt | ice cold mystery distillation

Special thanks to:
Tony (sous)
Adrian (sous/photography)
Huy (photography)
Thao & Christina (decorations)

Massive Update...

…coming soon. Lots of pictures to upload from years back.

Burger Bar @ Google

Burger menu we ran at my cafe. Man, was it packed. I think it’d be neat to open a restaurant with this kind of set-up.

BURGER BAR
Build your own sliders!

**Slider Buns

All Natural Angus Beef Patty

All Natural Turkey Patty

*Vegetarian Patty

TOPPINGS
Fresh seasonal produce.

**Butter Leaf Lettuce

**Shaved Red Onions

*Sauteed Onions

*Point Reyes Blue Cheese

**Sliced Avocadoes

**Grilled Portabellini Mushrooms

**Fire-Roasted Piquillo Peppers

Applewood Smoked Bacon

**Sliced Dill Pickles

SAUCES & SPREADS
Choose wisely.

**White Truffle Dijon
Dijon Mustard, Urbani White Truffle Oil

Crawfish Aioli
Crawfish Tails, Crab Boil, Cayenne Pepper, Garlic, Egg, Rice Oil

*Animal Sauce
Mayonnaise, Ketchup, Sugar, Onions, Sweet Relish, Pickles, White Vinegar

*Mayonnaise
Eggs, Oil, Vinegar, Lemon Juice

House-made Barbecue Sauce
Ketchup, Mustard, Butter, Garlic, Onion, Chorizo, Bacon, Molasses
Worcestershire, Apple Cider Vinegar, Brown Sugar

Secret Sauce 
???

Foie Gras Mousse
Foie Gras, Thyme, Garlic

**Weak Sauce
Vegan Mayonnaise, Roasted Garlic

SHAKER FRENCH FRY BAR
Dress your fries with one of our many spices & house-made seasonings!

**French Fries
Russet Potatoes, Rice Oil, Sea Salt

**Toasted Garlic & Sage

**Cinnamon Sugar

**Madras Curry

Bacon Salt

*White Truffle Parmesan

**Saffron Salt

**Rosemary Sea Salt

**Barbecue

Heston Blumenthal's Christmas Dinner

Easily the most ridiculously craziest things I’ve ever seen done with food. Inspiringly creative.

I had planned to order in a whole goat and break it down at work, but was unfamiliar with its anatomy. I’d heard that mostly all four legged mammals were pretty similar and although I’d broken down pig several times I thought it wouldn’t hurt to practice a little more. To do so, I bought a whole rabbit from the local butchery. I realized I didn’t really have a plan as far as what to use it for, but I remembered that Adobo, a Filipino staple, requires only a handful ingredients that are always available in the pantry.

Adobo is a vinegary stew that traditionally consists of soy sauce and datu puti vinegar (vinegar made from sugar cane), and is typically made with pork and/or chicken. I’m not the best at following tradition, so naturally, I decided to approach it a little differently using the rabbit.

Rabbit Adobo

1 lb     rabbit, cut into pieces
1 lb     chicken drummettes
1 c      balsamic vinegar
1/2 c   soy sauce (preferably Silver Swan Brand)
20       peppercorns, crushed
2        onions, small dice
10       garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbl    oyster sauce
1 tbl    sesame oil
1/4 c   white wine
4        bay leaves

Marinate the rabbit and chicken with the soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, sesame oil, and oyster sauce overnight in a gallon-sized ziploc to ensure that the marinade coats the meat evenly. Note: marinating meat prior to making any type of stew is crucial in imparting flavor or else you might end up with a very flavorful liquid surrounding very unflavorful meat. Drain the meat from the marinade, saving the marinade. In a heated dutch oven, sear the meat in small batches on high. Remove the meat, reduce heat to medium, and add the onions. Cook until translucent. Deglaze with the fond with white wine and reduce au sec (until almost dry). Return the meat and marinade to the pan and add the remaining ingredients. When the liquid comes to a boil, remove the pan from the heat and park it in an oven at 300 degrees F uncovered for about 2 1/2 hours or until the meat is tender. Serve with steaming white rice.

Lovely Pancakes

Some pictures I found in my archive from an old summer brunch. From left to right: Blueberry Cornmeal, Arbequina Olive Oil & Saffron, Nutella Banana.

Pancake Recipe

An overnight pancake batter with yeast might produce fluffier cakes, but I like this recipe because you can do it on the fly without waiting and it still rises considerably.

Dry Ingredients 

2 c pastry flour
1 tbl sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp baking powder
1 tbl cornstarch 

Wet Ingredients 

1 pint buttermilk
2 large eggs
2 tbl olive oil 

Combine all dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately before mixing together. Bring to batter to room temperature before ladling onto the griddle. The warmer the pancake, the more it will rise when cooked.

Any ingredient can be added to spice it up:

Green tea powder, oreos, orange zest & campari, pumpkin puree…the skies the limit.

Perfect Beer Battered Cod

Although you can use just about any white fish to fry, I recommend Alaskan true cod. Catfish is very moist, but has a soggy texture; black cod is very buttery, but is too delicate; halibut has the best flavor, but is too expensive for this application. I used Pacific cod that I bought from a local store which I broke down into fillets and then strips.

The batter consists of flour, cornstarch, egg, and dark beer. It should be pretty thin, just thick enough to coat the fish. I took a cue from the Chinese and went with a sweet & sour pork batter that I adjusted slightly.  I also added a bit of dashi and miso paste for some extra flavor. The batter should be as cold as possible (the difference in temperature as the fish hits the oil causes the batter to puff) . I recommend parking it in the freezer for 20 minutes, but I just threw some ice cubes in there because I got impatient. If you decide to do it this way, the batter must be used immediately or else the ice will melt and dilute the batter.

Dredge the cod thoroughly in flour seasoned with salt, a process known as 'fariner', coat the fish in the batter, and then gently drop it into a vat of peanut oil at about 325 degrees F. The trick is to fry it twice. After about 2 minutes, remove the fish and let rest on paper towels. The fish should be a pale yellow. Turn up the heat on the oil and when it reaches 375 degrees F, fry the fish for a second time until it is golden brown.

I learned this trick at Google where I had to cook 500 portions at once. It would have been impossible to batter and fry the first to order at that volume so I divided the steps in half. The result was an even crispier exterior than if I used a typical fish & chips batter recipe.

The tartar sauce is pretty straight forward. Mayonnaise, lemon juice, lemon zest, onions, capers, pickles, and sweet relish. I like to chop the pickles and onions rather large for textural contrast. You want the sauce to have a bite. Serve the sauce with the fish and some malt vinegar and have at it.

There you go, fish and…well, I’ll do a post on the perfect french fry sometime in the future. But for now:

Batter Recipe

2 cups AP flour
1 cup Cornstarch
2 Eggs
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 cup Oil
1 1/2 bottles Dark Beer
1/2 tbl White Miso Paste
1 tsp Dashi
1 tsp Salt