Miracle fruit gum

I will serve this gum and some sours for the final course tonight. My GM and Banquet captain tried the fruit yesterday. I swear people turn 10 years old when they try it. I also get a lot of comments on how it reminds them of the 60's, you pop something and get a far out experience.

Here is the link to buy the gum base and glycerinhttp://www.leeners.com/candymaking.html

Recipe

1/3 cup Gum base

1/2 cup Powder sugar

2 tbl. Corn syrup

1 tsp. Glycerin

1/4 tsp. Citric acid

40 grams Miracle fruit powder

Place gum base, corn syrup, glycerin and citric acid in a microwavable bowl. Place on high heat for 1 minute. Place the powder sugar in a mound on a wooden board. Mix the hot gum mixture and pour it on the sugar. Kneed the gum until all the powder sugar is Incorporated. At the very end kneed in the miracle powder. Roll into a snake and cut

Mentor

I had the VFW contact me about a month ago to see if I would like to mentor a young man that is back from Afghanistan. He had a brain injury during his tour. They asked if I would help him as he goes through culinary school. Without hesitation my answer was yes. He is the reason that I get to enjoy my freedom everyday. It is the least I can do to pay him back for the sacrifices he made for me. His name is John Kreatzer and nothing would make me prouder then to see him get the skills that he needs to succeed.

Tasting menu 46

It was good to have a break from work but it is time to get going again. I have a lot of questions about where I will be in the future. All I know is that I need a change. I got my miracle fruit powder in. It will be transformed into gum this week.

Tasting menu

Candied fennel
Grapefruit gelee, blue crab, watercress caviar

Sou-vide pork
Smoked shallot powder, cream corn, asadero relleno

Stone fruit
Buttered lobster,83c yam, macadamia nut air

Brandied strawberiies
Panna cotta ice cream made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Miracle fruit bubble gum with sours

Vacation

I will be on vacation for the next 10 days. It is a good thing because I don't have any creative juice running through me. A little break is good for the creative process. I told the hotel to call me only if the hotel is on fire so I can come get my knives.

This is not Dairy Queen

A common occurrence in this industry is when you receive a case that is not on your order. The people that work in the warehouses of our food distributors are filling hundreds of orders with hundreds of cases. They mess up from time to time. When chefs are missing a case from an order they are on the phone with the sales rep right away. Where the f--k is my case?? But when a case of something arrives on our doorstep you don't pick the phone up so quick. When I was cleaning our freezer today I found a box of Peach Julius that was supposed to go to dairy queen. The box was damaged so I called our rep and he said to use it up. A little ice and some egg white powder and it was like I was sitting in the mall with my sisters screaming at my mom

Tasting menu 45

I received my miracle fruit tree in the mail a few days ago. It is only about 7 inches tall but it has some new growth. The total price was around 60$ so I am hoping that it grows. We also ordered some miracle fruit tablets fromhttp://www.miraclefruitworld.com/index.html. I tried them with my wife and sister the other night. Lemons were my favorite with a syrupy sweet quality. Next time I will try them at work where I have 100's of things to try. I have ordered some more and will feature it on a tasting in a few weeks

Tasting menu

Dragon fruit
Yucca, shrimp ceviche, avocado caviar

Fried egg consommé
Pork belly cubes, macaroni, potato


Colorado lamb loin
Spearmint from the garden, grilled cherry peppers, parsnip


Pineapple upside down cake
Kahlua ice cram made table side
With liquid nitrogen

http://denver.metromix.com/restaurants/photogallery/chemistry-in-the-kitchen/553467/content?photo=9

Denver polo classic

I have never seen a live polo match. Yesterday we cooked at the Denver polo classic to benefit the Children's Hospital of Denver. It is amazing how the handlers can control their horses all the while trying to hit the ball in the goal. We had one line for people picking up our food samples and one line of kids eating LN marshmallows all afternoon.

How much ice cream could I make with this load?

Sugar crystals

When I was a kid I use to walk to the drug store in Breckenridge. I would pick up a sugar crystal stick and eat it as I skipped rocks at the lake. I love the sweet crunchy texture. The basic property is to supersaturate a solution with sugar. This is done by slowly adding sugar to water until it won't take any more. You then place a stick secured by twine and tape into a glass container.

The key is to make sure the wooden skewer does not touch the sides. It takes a while for the finished product to grow- about 2 weeks for a small stick. We made this sugar crystal stick with black tea. I will check the progress in a couple of days

Recipe:

550 grams Water

50 grams Black tea

1650 grams Sugar

Jersey city here I come??

I got a call from our cooperate chef that he would like me to be the executive chef at the new Westin in Jersey city. After talking it over with my wife, it looks like we are going to stay here for now. I can't say that I am not ready for a change, it just did not feel right. 5 years ago I would have jumped at the opportunity but today I am thinking about other peoples happiness before mine. Plus it's Jersey ( no offense, I have never been but I here things)

Tasting menu 42

Very slow right now. After having 2 months of good business, this week sucks. I have been working on a couple side projects but when the days drag on, it is hard to stay motivated. I stole some gold leaf from the pastry box that I will use on the final course this week. I remember a lunch I cooked for Bush about 6 years ago that we garnished all of the plates with gold leaf. It is a real pain in the ass to work with but if you do it right it makes an amazing presentation.

Tasting menu


Artichoke textures
Crepe, mousse, fried, kewpie baked


Sushi rice salad
Wasabi tobiko jelly, wok seared salmon, white soy air


Achiote sou-vide pork
Chayote squash, white cherry tomatoes, tomatillo glass


Banana split dippin dots
Shattered whip cream made tableside with liquid nitrogen


Organic white chocolate and spearmint gold leaf bar

Agar crepe

I have always been fascinated reading el bulli. How does he get these amazing thin textures. In one recipes he says that they use a piece of wood that has had a 1/8 inch removed in the middle and treated for food. I began to think about how crepes are made. We ladle cold batter into a hot pan creating a thin texture. I decided to try it but in reverse. I filled a nonstick pan with LN to get it very cold. I then made a mixture of prickly pear puree and .45% agar. Agar takes longer to set then gellan and carrageenan. The non stick pan did not allow the agar to stick in the crepe form.

I then tried it with a aluminium pan. After the crepe set I carefully cut around the sides with a knife and pulled the crepe out.

I made a white chocolate whipped cream that I piped into the center and rolled it up. We garnished with some fresh fruit and mint

Miracle fruit

I ordered my own miracle fruit tree today. I don't know how it will grow in Colorado but I have to take a shot. After you eat this small fruit your taste buds are changed for about an hour. Everything sour or bitter becomes sweet. I saw a demo of a guy pouring Tabasco on his tongue. He looked up and told the camera it taste like smoky maple syrup. This would be the ultimate ingredient to fuck with people. Imagine leaving the fruits and a buffet of limes, vinegars and other pungent ingredients. The fruit spoils within 48 hours so shipping it is out of the question. The only way is to grow. You can also get tablets from:

http://www.miraclefruitworld.com/index.html

Welcome to lego land

I have had this dish in my head for about 3 months. The original idea came when I was building Lego's with my 2 girls. I originally thought about making broccoli or brussel sprouts that my kids would play with and eat. I wondered if my kids played with their food, they might be more open to eating their vegetables. The finished dish is pictured on tasting menu 41. Now that I have my mold I can make chocolate Lego's or pate fruit or whatever I want. These Lego's were made by clarifying stocks made out of shrimp, cilantro, corn, goat cheese and pineapple soy. We then added food coloring and used agar to gel the stocks.