valentine’s dinner
grass-fed loin of ribeye with black lava salt & truffled blue oyster mushrooms
Cooked this for milady. It’s a ribeye with the fat cap and eye removed so that only the middle loin remained, making it resemble a filet mignon (but with a much better flavor). The blue oyster mushrooms were farmed by a family friend; they’re completely organic and have a hint of blue when raw, not to mention they’re delicious. The black lava salt was a Christmas gift from my sister. It lent the steak an ashy quality, as if it were licked by the fire of a grill. All in all, great meal.
la caja china
pig box for kalua pork
This is a pretty nifty piece of cooking equipment built to cook pigs up to as large as 70 lbs. And it does it fast, anywhere from 1.5 to 2 hrs. It’s also pretty cheap at around $300, but that also speaks of the quality. After a few uses, almost every piece of it was either warped or loose. It roasts one hell of a pig though.
from the little red wagon
Before we went to Disneyland last year, I looked up some places for us to eat when we arrived. This corn dog from the Little Red Wagon kept popping up on travel review sites. I thought, ‘I’ve eaten a lot of good corn dogs in my day; how good can it be?”
FUCKIN’ HALLA GOOD
Is the answer.
Fuuuuuuuuuuck.
dry-aged steak tartar
with foie, truffle oil, & cabernet gelee
Another one from the boss. He gently folded cubes of foie gras into the tartar and then topped it with a cabernet gelee which is essentially leftover coq au vin juice, reduced, strained, cooled, and cut. Pretty ingenious if you ask me.
(@palantir)
fried brussel sprouts
with citrus-herb aioli & pimenton dust
This is was my boss’ dish. It’s a great example of him as a seasoned cook. Every component of this dish is absolutely necessary to its success. It’s impressive in its simplicity.
We experimented with different degrees of ‘friedness’ and actually preferred the slightly burnt leaves.
(@palantir)
cured arctic char
with shaved fennels, citrus, & chervil
Had some arctic char left over so I made gravlax out of it. It’s easy:
1 filet arctic char or salmon
1 part brown sugar
2 parts kosher salt
1 bunch rough chopped dill
1 tsp cracked coriander seed
2 lemons, zested
2 tbl pernod
Mix all ingredients except for the filet and pernod. Brush the filet with pernod and densely pack with the salt mixture. Wrap the filet in a cheese cloth and then place it on a long plate turned upside-down. Place the plate on a sheet pan and wrap the sheet pan with plastic wrap. This allows the fish to drain as it purges and the plastic wrap keeps everything from drying out.
A good vegan substitute is thinly sliced chiogga beets. You can see it in the photo above, pictured on the top right.
(@palantir)
gelato
Gelato should look like ice cream that is in the suspended state of just melting. This is because the ice crystals are much smaller and though it is colder than standard ice cream, it is much creamier. The gelato shown here is from an average parlor, thus a bad example. I just really like the picture.
vietnamese cheeseburger
grilled pork sausage with pickled chilies & sriracha remoulade
Vietnamese Cheeseburger
I entered this into a burger contest amongst friends and took first place. Let me tell you, competing in a cooking competition when you’re the only one with years of cooking experience, and winning, isn’t exactly something to be proud of. However, it’s much better than losing…which is exactly what happened the year before.
Here are the components:
grilled pork sausage - pork, fish sauce, garlic, onions, mushroom powder, sugar, egg whites
veggies - lettuce, fresno chilies, pickled onions, cilantro
sriracha remoulade - sriracha, honey, mayo, garlic, cilantro, mint, parsley
bread - toasted ciabatta
pressed pork belly
with peach brunoise & vanilla gastrique
My favorite cut of meat.
(@google)
petite-eggplant parmigiana brulee
with smoked tomato coulis
A great, healthy alternative to the deep-fried Italian staple.
(@google)
osso bucco
grass-fed lamb braised in cabernet
(@google)
chamomile citrus ravioli
with vanilla foam & orange gel
Felt like messing around with molecular gastronomy today. I was aiming for an orange creamsicle deal here.
When you bite into the ravioli, a burst of chamomile tea pours out. The skin itself is made up of citrus juices. In order to achieve this affect, you need to mix the tea with calcium chloride and freeze it in a mold. Then, while it’s still frozen, carefully submerge it in the sodium alginate to create a skin around the tea. When the tea defrosts, it’ll become a liquid encapsulated in a skin of citrus juice.
It’s obviously not summertime, but these are some pictures I took from last year.
tofu panna cotta
with strawberries & elderflower sweet water
Silken tofu is an instant panna cotta. Try the tofu from Hodo Beanery and you’ll know what I mean.
I’ve been really digging the Absolut Wild Tea Vodka lately. I experimented with infusing some simple syrup with ginger and wild tea vodka to go with my dessert. It’s a decorative play on the traditional tofu & ginger syrup dessert that are pushed around on those dim sum carts. Strawberries and pink peppercorns just go together. And the cucumber…I just thought it needed some green, but it actually lent the dish a tone of brightness that helped a little.
garlic chive flowers
japanese cucumbers
great for pickling
alaskan spot prawns
with sea salt & szechuan peppers
Snaked these from work. Dem some fat ass scrimps. Wanted to keep it simple and let the flavor of the shrimp do its magic. Salt and pepper also helps do the trick.
wild tea vodka & aloe vera tonic
with cucumbers, thai chilies, & calpico
Playing around with that vodka again. This was a very green cocktail. Subtly, sweet and refreshing. If you simply drop a slit thai chili in the drink, it’ll give it a more floral taste than actual heat. I loved this.
chilled ramen salad
with octo-vinaigrette
The vinaigrette was snagged straight from momofuku. good stuff. also good with chicken karaage or a simple green salad.
summer melon poke
with tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, shiso, macadamia chili oil, olive oil
I’m not a big fan of sweet fruit salads, so I’ve been messing around with these fruit ‘ceviche’ dishes lately…heirloom tomato poke, lomi lomi strawberries, compressed melon sashimi…there’s so many ways to dress a melon.
mexican breakfast
with orange churro, horchata milkshake, arroz con leche
Now this was a lot of fun. We chose Mexican desserts to do a breakfast trio:
donut - orange churro
cereal - horchata milkshake with cinnamon toast crunch crumbs
rice pudding - arroz con leche
Bite into the hot churro, take a sip of the cold milkshake, and temper your palate with the rice pudding. Or dunk your churro in the milkshake as a dip. Or pour the milkshake over the rice pudding as a sauce. A very playful dish.
chiogga beet salad
with candied walnuts, chevre pearl, & micro-herbs
olive oil ice cream
with satsuma oranges, sugar’d fennel fronds, & fizzy walnut crumbles
I was testing a technique to make ice cream without an ice cream maker at work. Basically you just gotta stir it pretty often while it’s freezing and you can get pretty close to the real thing. I made this one with olive oil and vanilla, one of my favorite combinations.
