Westword memories

Jason gave us a nice mention in this week westword relating some of his food memories from the last year. http://www.westword.com/2007-12-27/dining/memoriesI was also fortunite enouph to have Jason and Patrica from Westword along with some other guest for a molecular lunch yesterday.

144.4 degree egg salad sanwich with compressed tomato, elephant garlic chip and tasmanian pepper

Rocky mountain news

Marty called from the rocky mountain news asking for some molecular picks. These are the dishes I came up with. We have also had travel magazine, wine country international, dinning out and the boulder daily camera up the last couple weeks with articles coming out in January.

Strawberry daiquiri and banana rum dippin dots

Beet vinaigrette sphere with balsamic goat cheese, roasted vegetables and carrot/watercress puree

Tatsing menu 14

I have alot of reservation this week for the menu and a mostly molecular menu for New Years Eve. It is snowing hard today with about a foot of snow on the ground. I am in the mood for risotto, bisque, crepes.

Tasting menu 14

Baby squid
Cotija, risotto, oyster mushrooms

Cauliflower bisque
Truffle, augratin, watercress air


Sou-vide salmon and roasted garlic
Scallion, funnel cake, Sweet red bean

Hungarian crepe
Almonds, milk, chocolate ice cream made with liquid nitrogen

Merry Christmas

My chef called me the other day and asked what cook book I wanted. I asked any cookbook and he said yes. I told him elbulli 2003 and 2004. I never thought he would actually order it but it came to the hotel this morning. I know what I will be doing the next 3 months or so.

Grilled potrebella jelly

I have started to use agar a little more in my cooking. When I first used it I was not cutting it with another gelling agent so it was effecting the flavor of the food. Now I use 1 or 2 other gelling agents and have achieved some very nice jellies. This jelly will be served with the New York for New Years Eve. Here is the recipe

4 ea Caps portebella cleaned, grilled and julienned
2 cups Apple juice
1 cup Brown sugar
2 ea Red jalapenos roasted and diced
1 oz Elephant garlic, roasted and pureed
2 tbl Salt
2 sheets Gelitan bloomed in cold water
1 gram Agar

Place all ingredients in a stock pot and boil for 6 minutes. Place in the cooler to set

New years eve

The one night in this business when your whole kitchen is cooking a whole menu for the first time. We decided to do a price fix menu this year for 50.oo. The guest picks one dish from each section. We will probaly do around 220 that night times 3 courses each. I am making some items now to make sure they work out that night. Better now than in the rush. Here is our menu

First Course

Point Reyes Blue Cheese
Peanut butter wrapped grapes, Alsace caviar, whipped balsamic
$
Olive oil poached baby artichokes
Warm parmesan mayonnaise, Shrimp “scampi” Elephant garlic chips
$
Wild mushroom Ravioli
“Rockin farms” brown egg, pine nut glass, scallion pesto
$
“Vegetables from the garden”
$
Smoked blue marlin sashimi
Carbonated ginger jelly, frozen wasabi oil, pickled radish
$
Compressed farm tomatoes
Pancetta blue cheese marble, balsamic caviar, Green goddess
$
Smoked Cheddar Broth
Roasted Colorado potatoes, Rosemary Sour Cream Noodle, Crispy chive
$
Organic Greens
Pineapple and ricotta, Grilled almonds, red orchard apples
$
English pea
Rosemary, pepper crème Frâiché
$

Main Course

“Snake River” Pork loin
Grilled apple sauce gelee, Sage spatzel, burnt onion cream
$
King Salmon
Edamame flan, yuzu butter, eggplant
$
“Fulton family farms” Organic chicken
Mustard and Vanilla, Pancetta hash, Rosemary air
$
Buffalo New York
Brussel Sprouts, Rosti potato, matsutake
$
Rainbow Trout Steak

Compressed watermelon, puffed wild rice, papaya
$
“Tuna Casserole”smoked egg noodles, English pea chips, wild mushroom yogurt
$
Smoked Colorado Sirloin
Leek, Crispy cannelloni beans, merlot
$
Shrimp Noodles
Baby artichoke, Shitake, Peas
$
Wild mushroom baklava
Goat cheese grits, Sou-vide garden vegetable quiche
$

Desserts

Rosemary # cake
Chocolate, yogurt, Liquid Nitrogen strawberries
$
Banana crème brulee tart
Hot ice cream
$
Peanut butter and chocolate
10 layers, jelly daqouis
$
Eggnog cheesecake
Cranberry compote, brown sugar whipped cream

Special party

I keep making the same dish over and over until I am happy with the flavors and presentation. I seem to have a hard time walking away from anything. I was asked to do a molecular 9 course menu set on a chef's table in the kitchen last night. I picked dishes I have made and remade to get them to this point. It was one of the best dinners I have ever done and I am enjoying cooking ounce again.

Compressed Tomato
Blue cheese marble, pancetta, balsamic caviar

King Salmon
Yuzu butter, edamame flan, Artichoke

Smoked gouda Broth
Sour cream noodles, Roasted carrots, chive

Liquid nitrogen truffle popcorn

Blue crab
Sweet corn, celery leaves, Camembert, Raspberry chips

144.4 degree egg
Walnut mayo, dijon, hallah

Buffalo New york
Butter powder, Hibiscious, Rosti potato

Mustard and Vanilla Organic Chicken Sou-vide
Pancetta hash, Rosemary air

Cranberry, Mint
Eggnog Ice cream made tableside with Liquid Nitrogen

Sou-vide

I don't have a commercial vacuum sealer. I bought a food saver at target and it does an OK job with my sou-vide bags. It does not have enough pressure to compress which is the most interesting technique that I have seen with this piece of machine. I can still get a good marination using this sealer but have to come up with creative ways to package. This sealer will suck liquid out when the vacuum is on in turn giving you a leaky, non-compressed seal.

The way to do it is make sure everything is solid in the bags and not in a liquid form.

For the compressed tomato I froze my olive oil in liquid nitrogen giving me a solid texture and enabling the tomatoes to achieve a solid seal when vacuumed.

To do these carrots I made a compound butter with sesame oil instead of pouring the oil in the bag. Cilantro was added and cooked at 120.2 degrees for 45 minutes.

Edamame flan

We are writing new years eve menus that will focus on molecular cuisine. We are doing a price fixed menu this year at 50.00 3 courses. One component is a edamame flan that will go with the salmon. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

2# Edamame blanched and shocked

8 oz Vegetable stock

4 ea Eggs

2 cups Milk

3 tbl. Salt

2 tbl. Toasted curry

1/4 cup May ploy

Place the edamame and vegetable stock in a blender. Pulse until a puree has formed but some of the beans are still whole. Place in a bowl and mix in the remainder of the ingredients. Place in heat proof ramikins and place in a water bath. Cook for 45 minutes at 275 degrees or when the custard is set.

Tasting menu 13

It is going to get very cold this week in Colorado. I think we even have a chance for snow on Christmas. I decided to do some of my favorite winter time dishes this week. I love fish stew. I like to take all the fish scraps from the day and brown them in olive oil, red pepper flake and anchovy. I then add garlic, Hungarian paprika, tomato, white wine and a fish fumet and reduce until thick. The base for the first dish is made with fish bones instead of the meat. The fish and broth are wrapped in fata paper and presented to the guest in a nice bundle. My other favorite dishes include crab with corn and celery leaves.Organic chicken with horseradish and apples, and Cranberry and mint with eggnog.

Tasting menu
12/20/97

Maine lobster in Fata Paper
King Salmon, New Zealand Mussels Hungarian fish broth


Blue crab
Sweet corn, celery leaves, Camembert, Raspberry chips


Mustard and Vanilla Organic Chicken Sou-vide
Horseradish, Apples, Rosti, Piped cider


Cranberry, Mint
Eggnog Ice cream made tableside with Liquid Nitrogen

Tasting menu 12

Very busy with parties in banquets this week. Hotel restaurant life has been truly opposite then independent. December has always been my money month but here it is one of the slowest. We are getting a nice local following though keeping the tasting menu busy. We will use our circulator a lot this menu.

Tasting menu 11

148.8 degree egg
Mushroom ravioli, pine nut glass, tarragon pesto

Green Beans
Pancetta oil, Cippolini skins, Whipped maple

Truffle Sou-vide Scallop
Edamame Gnocchi, Burnt vegetables, Foie gras Hollandaise

Liquid Nitrogen
Almonds, yogurt, honey, olive oil cake

Curry Bubble Gum

Thermal circulator

All right folks. Its on. I got my circulator today and started cooking immediately. I started with egg cooking. I cooked a egg at 144.8 degrees for 1 hour. I am speechless in describing the texture of the egg. It looks soft boiled but may be the purist thing I have ever tasted. Next was a piece of salmon Sou-vide in yuzu butter, dill and Tasmanian pepper. It was literally like eating butter. The salmon flavor was so faint on the back of your palate. Needless to say this will bring all of my cooking up another notch.

Tasting menu 10

I am finally breaking into my carrageenan this week. When I first got it and was researching it I read some material that it causes cancer when heated the wrong way. I am nervous to use anything that might harm my customers but more concerned about my own safety. I will consume way more then my customers will by experimentation and tasting before I put it out. The research I have done says that Carrageenan found in third world countries is generally not safe. They cut corners in the production process that makes it cancerous when heated. The food grade Carrageenan that I received from Le Sanctuare is made in this country under strict food guidelines. I have been marveling at Ideas in Food presentations that I have not been able to achieve with gellan, agar, or other gelling agents. This product gels nicely and gives endless possibilities. The coconut curry sheet that I wrap the shrimp in is made with Carrageenan Genugel LC-5. It is a ratio of 1.5% to the total amount of liquid. Here is the menu this week.

Tasting menu
12/06/07

Beet pomegranate noodles with marbled goat cheese and grilled nuts

Rhubarb encrusted buffalo New York with candied portabella jelly
Smoked bok choy leaves and fried capers


Coconut curry wrapped Hawaiian prawns with puffed Israeli cous cous
Sou-vide baby carrots and tempura cilantro


Carrot cake dippin dots on cream cheese Ice cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen


Cherry and Organic spearmint bubble gum

el bulli spoon

I got my elbulli spoon today for caviar making. Nothing like a little bling for my knife roll

Tasting Menu 9

I finally got a few days this week to spend with my family. When I am away from my kitchen is when I come up with my best ideas. I made a simple tuna casserole for lunch and was thinking of ways to make it new. I had set out a couple of lexons in my back yard this week hoping to catch some snow. I did a event in 97 in Kona Hawaii called cuisines of the sun. I got to work with Alan Wong, Mark Peel, Norman Van Aken and Nancy Silverton just to name a few. One of the coolest tricks I picked up was at a small grill that was right on the beach. They went right over to the ocean and scooped out some water to be the poaching liquid for the night. Being a mountain boy I always wanted to try it with snow. The snow I collected melted into a very pure water that I will flavor with sea salt and poach the tuna for this weeks tasting menu

Tasting Menu
11/29/07


French onion Panini with a tomato cloud
And mustard oil powder

Warm jellyfish with grilled cantelope and honeydew
And sweet soy caviar


“Tuna Casserole”
Snow poached tuna with smoked egg noodles
English pea chips and wild mushroom yogurt

Doughnut ice cream with Kahlua gelee
And coffee oil dust made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Sweet Tomato Sabayon

We ordered some new products from Le Sanctuare this week including Stevia powder. Stevia is a natural sweetener that has been used for many years in Asia. The powder is green in color and is 500 to 600 times sweeter than sugar. It does not raise blood sugar levels like sugar does. It is used in a lot in children's products to make them sweet but not give you a sugar rush. I plan to incorporate in a lot of my cooking but sometimes I need that sugar rush. We used it this week in our Sweet Tomato base for our sabayon. We pressured cooked some heirloom tomatoes with Maui onions, thyme and stevia. The recipe is:

3ea egg yolks

1tsp. Marsala wine

3 tbl. Pressure cooked tomato puree

1/4 tsp. Meyer lemon juice

1 tsp. Egg white powder

Sea Salt and Tasmanian pepper to taste

Place ingredients in a bowl and whisk over a double boiler until the mixture becomes frothy and cooked through. Hold in a warm place for service and discard at the end of service. We served this with Agar thickened tomato seeds and Pear, Grape, Kiwi and Strawberry fizi fruit

Rocky Mountain News

John Lendorff gave us a nice mention in the small bites column this week. We have had alot of people visiting the blog and did 25 tasting menus last night. Not bad for the day after thanksgiving. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2007/nov/14/small-bites/

Earth Cooked Potaoes

I wanted to cook some potatoes in the ground this week for the tasting menu. The ground is frozen outside the hotel so I had to bring it indoors. I used a cast iron pot, some dirt that I could scrape off the top layer of ground, banana leaf, charcoal and smoked sea salt. I first soaked the banana leaf and lined the cast iron pot. I mixed the soil ans sea salt on the bottom layer. Charcoal went in next followed by more dirt. We are using some red potatoes from the Western slope of Colorado that will be covered by more dirt andthe cover. We want a nice earthy flavor to go along with our pork belly this week.

Tasting Menu 8

It has been a very difficult week for me. With Ben passing on, a visit from Starwoods president and a ass kicking on Thanksgiving. I am starting to feel creative again and can't wait to get going again. I have a couple of photo shoots this week for Dinning out and Wine Country so I should be busy. We will utilize some Organic pork belly that I got from Snake River Farms.

Tasting menu 11/23/07


Fizzy Fruit Cocktail with a
Sweet Tomato Sabayon


Smoked Blue Marlin Sashimi with Liquid Nitrogen
Wasabi Oil and Pickled Ginger Jelly

Apple, Beer Vinegar, and Mustard Oil Sou-vide
Organic Pork Belly with Horseradish Powder
And Earth Cooked Potatoes


Agave Prickly Pear Ice Cream made Table side
With Liquid Nitrogen with as Grape Sugar Rolled Sopapia

Chef and Sous chef

There is a unique relationship between these two professionals. You spend more time together then your own wife and kids. They know your cooking style better then you do sometimes. Ounce in a while you find a person that has the same passion, drive, sense of adventure with food. This person has to have your back. Continuing philosophy's even when the other one is not present. You spend 16 hour days with this person lauphing, crying, being upset and pushing each other to achieve what was inconceivable. I met a chef named Ben Alandt in 1998. He was my brother, always having my back, pushing me to be more creative. Ben was not only talented in cooking but in every other facet of the arts. I loved him. I can truly say that about another man. Ben and I worked together for almost 5 years in two different restaurants. One day Ben pulled me aside and said I can't do this anymore. I was hurt when he left me but always thought he would be O.K. Ben moved to Portland and I would read about him here and there. I would check some of his menus out and miss the time when we used to cook and play. He called me 2 weeks ago and left a message to call him back. I called about 6 times wanting to just here his voice again. He never called me back. Yesterday I learned that Ben was gone. I wanted to tell him that I did love him and had a rare experience to get to know him on so many levels. I guess I will have to find another way to tell him that. This business is very hard. Lots of addictions, stress, hours. The only advice I have is to relish the creative time you have with other people. I will always miss my brother Ben.

Smoked Goulda butter

I was making the clarified smoked goulda stock for my tasting menu. We heated smoked sea salt, smoked goulda, Tasmanian pepper and water in a stock pot. After the mixture was melted we added a small amount of gelatin and froze it into blocks. I took the blocks out 2 days later to melt them into our clarified stock. The milk solids from the cheese had gathered on the top into this impossible smoked goulda butter. I spread it on a nice county loaf and garnished with a 3 tomato salad. Salty and smoky-perfect!!! Always take all your recipes to the limit and beyond. You don't know why until you analyze. I am finding the best things are happening by mistake. That is the way that everything is made. Trial and error.

Yuzu quince pound cake

I use to be a pastry chef. I think it is important to be able to work the hot and cold side. You have an easier time writing menus and you can call your pastry chef out if they cut a corner. I was the pastry chef at emogene in cherry creek. We scratched baked 4 cases of product everyday. One of my staples was a lemon pound cake with blueberry fondant. Here is the recipe for our Pound cake on the tasting menu this week. We are adding methyllcelulose to the batter to increase crumb

Yuzu Quince Pound cake

8 oz Quince cooked in simple syrup
12 ea Eggs whole
8 ea Egg yolks
1.7# Sugar
2 oz Yuzu juice
1 tsp. Vanilla paste
1.7# Whole butter melted
1.7# Flour sifted with the methyl cellulose
1.2 g Methyl cellulose E4M

Place the eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl. Beet on high until volume is tripled. Add the yuzu juice and vanilla paste at the end. Place in a large mixing bowl. Alternate butter and flour in 3 steps mixing with your hand. Fold in the cooked quince Greece and flour 4 pound cake pans. Divide the mixture up. Bake in a 325 degree oven with a dish of water in the oven. The water will evaporate and let the cake brown slower. Bake for 35 minutes and test with a tooth pick. We will serve with a blueberry Carmel ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen.

Tasting menu 7

We have a board meeting this week for our new management company so I am starting production early. We had a Robert hall wine dinner last night. Everything went great except the sou-vide ribeye. We do not have a circulator yet so we tried to check temperature and stir the product every half hour or so. We had to many temperature fluctuations and the meat went bad. We had to start over again. We then cooked the ribeye sou-vide at a hotter temputure then what I would have liked. It was just ok. I will not try any more sou-vide until I get a circulator.

Tasting menu 11-12-07


Fried baby artichokes with Warm Parmesan mayo
And elephant garlic chips

Smoked goulda consommé with sour cream noodles
And Roasted Colorado potatoes


Salmon wrapped scallops with edamame gnocchi
And a burnt onion cream


Yuzu quince pound cake with blueberry
Carmel ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 6

We are prepping our tasting menu this week with our Robert Hall wine dinner tomorrow in mind. It is the same menu with an addition of our peanut butter grape cheese coarse. The shrimp and scallop noodles are a technique I picked up from WD-50. No flour or fillers. Pure meat with activa, cayenne and salt. The mixture is put through a tami and piped into water that is at 137 degrees.

Tasting menu
11/08/07

Shrimp and scallop noodles with fried
Artichokes, sou-vide peas, and burnt onion cream

Liquid nitrogen dipped fruits
Mango, Grapefruit, Cantaloupe

48 hour Ribeye hollandaise wrapped
with smoked blueberries and coffee powder


Yuzu-Pineapple ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen
With grilled baby bananas and Beet marshmallow

Peppermint Bubble gum

Beet ribbons

I am always looking for new garnishes. This recipe allows you to take any vegetable and turn it into a ribbon. We used the ribbon as a garnish for tasting menu 5. I have also made it with rhubarb, zucchini, and pumpkin.

Recipe

770 g Beet peeled and sliced

400 g Water

125 g Glucose

125 g Honey

4 g Sea salt

Place all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook on low heat until all the water is dissolved. Puree the ingredients in a blender. Cool in the walk-in for 2 hours. Spread a small layer on a silt pad and bake in a 175 degree oven for 3 hours. Remove from the oven and wrap around a pipe. Store in a covered container.

Tasting menu

Lots of request for tasting menu this week. No doubt that the Westword article has a lot to do with it. Here is tasting menu #5.

Butter poached tempura lobster with a corn tomatillo gelee
And yuzu, wasabi and miso dippin dots

Peach sorbet made table side with liquid nitrogen
With merlot caviar and frozen thyme

Sou-vide Portabella and Veal with
Melted tomato and brie and beet ribbons
We do not have a thermo circulator yet so we constantly monitor temperature in a regular pot and stirred it constantly. We let it cook for 20 hours at 85 degrees

Pumpkin latte with olive oil cake and
Dancing nutmeg


Vanilla bean and almond butter bubble gum

Events

The coolest event I have done in a while happened today at my daughters elementary school . The teacher asked me to do a demo with nitrogen. I made them Colorado peach ice cream and marshmallow bubble gum. I think I may have persuaded a couple of kids to become chefs. The younger I can get people comfortable with this cuisine the better

Events

Last night we did a event for http://www.winecountrynetwork.com/ held at DU school of restaurant hotel management. The event was also a competition for chefs to pair dishes with the best wines of this year. I was told about the competition only a few days ago so we went with some old stand-by's. Our strawberry yuzu sorbet and the peanut butter dipped grapes. We won the event but had a hard time getting down there. Our 15 foot truck was impossible to maneuver at DU and our lift broke on the back of the truck. 8 feet drop with a 600 pound liquid nitrogen container. We pulled it off but it was not pretty.

Dinning out magazine 2

I have been throwing around some ideas for the next issue of dinning out. They asked me to a liquid nitrogen recipe. I have settled on a coconut sou-vide lobster claw tempura with a Colorado corn gelee, roasted peas and miso-beet, wasabi-watercress, and yuzu dipping dots.

Dipping dots are a old favorite of mine. They are made by dropping ice cream base into liquid nitrogen using a syringe. I made a basic creme anglaise and flavored it. The roasted corn gelle is made by grilling corn and shucking it. I then added some tomatiilo water and cilantro. I pureed all ingredients and then heated. I bloomed 2 sheets of gelitan and dissolved in the puree. We then froze the mixture solid overnight. The next day I lined a china cap with cheese cloth and placed the frozen block inside. I let the block thaw in the walk-in for 2 days. You are left with a clear flavor full liquid that you can turn into a gelee. I used the apple noodle recipe and placed the gel in a triangle mold.