Packing for New York

Doing a event cross country is a little nerve racking. You must think about everything because you are 2000 miles away from your kitchen. I have cooked at the James Beard House 3 times. Each time we shipped out raw ingredients to a kitchen in New York. We would spend 18 to 20 hours prepping. We would then load our ingredients into a cab and get down to the house and cook. I have learned to utilize my space here at my hotel and ship out already prepped ingredients. Chef Mike Wuster at the W Tuscany has allowed me to ship my package there and he will put it in the walk-in for me. I have the utensils, pots, containers, serving tongs on the bottom in peanuts.

I then place a layer of packaging material that will keep my ingredients cold. Herbs and mushrooms are wrapped in newspaper to protect them. My smoked cheddar broth has been frozen and will keep everything cold for the trip.

Tasting menu 29

I am working on the menu for next week because I won't be here for service. I have changed my dish that I am going to make for the Colorado tourism event in New york. I was going to do a peach sorbet with Merlot caviar and buttermilk consomme. After I made it I decided it was to sweet. They want me to do a soup course and there is a chef already doing the dessert course. I have also been checking the weather for that week and it looks like it is going to be in the 50's. I have settled on a hot soup that is creative and everyone has liked that has tried it. It is a Smoked cheddar broth with roasted pearl onions, Colorado potatoes and sour cream noodles. I will be prepping the next couple days and shipping it to New York. I plan on doing a post about doing an event cross country. Here is the menu for the next week

Tasting menu


Ultimate wonton
Poached lobster, tuna, black truffles


140.4 degree egg
Bacon consommé, Buttered toast foam


Shrimp cannelloni
Blue crab, ricotta, yuzu veloute


Blue champagne
Poached fruits, Saffron mango sorbet
Made table side with liquid nitrogen

Boston cream pie flip

My wife made me this wonderful Boston cream pie on my day off. She asked me to flip it this week. Flipping is what I call taking a dish, de-constructing the flavors and putting them back together. Other chefs have other names like Moto in Chicago calls it morfication. The elements of the dessert are white cake, pudding and ganache. I took the white cake and placed them in vacuum bags with vanilla syrup. This compressed the cake and all the syrup was soaked up. Next I made a frozen chocolate powder and some dark chocolate ice cream using liquid nitrogen.

The last and best element was this flexible pudding. One of the line cooks said is has the consistency of cheese but taste just like pudding. Thanks to Chadzilla and Fabian for help on ratios for this pudding.Here is the recipe:

1200 grams milk

140 grams Cornstarch

315 grams Sugar

100 grams Egg Yolks

2 grams Salt

3 grams Vanilla paste

1.8 grams Genuviso Carrageenan

9 grams Kappa Carrageenan

Place the milk and vanilla paste in a sauce pan. Heat until it scalds. Whisk the eggs, sugar, cornstarch and salt in a bowl. Pour the hot milk over the mixture and return the pan over heat. Cook on medium stirring constantly. After 3 minutes put the mixture through a china cap.Put in a clean pot and put back on the stove. Whisk in the carrageenan while the pudding is boiling. Pour into molds and let cool. Remove and cut.

A day off

As other chefs will tell you, there are no days off in this industry. Especially when you work in a hotel that is open every minute of the year. I usually take Wednesdays off but this week I was asked to do a demo at the new Macy store. I did a easy dish, one that I have done 100 times. I neglected to think about the fact that I was not bringing any helpers and I had to move a 6oo pound liquid nitrogen tank. I wish I was sitting in a car watching my stupid ass wheel this tank on a 2 wheeler through the parking lot.The demo went great. I answered my normal question about liquid nitrogen and after 4 demos we loaded up the truck.

When I got back to the hotel there were 500 fans, press, and fighters from the UFC in the hotel lobby. We got slammed in our main room and in the bar. It was 10:30 before I snuck out the back.

Tasting menu 28

It has been a crazy couple days in the hotel. UFC is here with all of their fighters and television people from spike TV. All of the fighters are on limited diets before there fight. It has been interesting talking to the trainers about how they can loose or gain 10 or 15 pounds in a matter of days.

Tasting menu


Crispy shrimp
Siracha, avocado, feta

Apple Noodles
Watermelon, cilantro, curry lamb


Smoked buffalo New York
A-1 Sheet, onion, baked potato powder


Liquid nitrogen dipped guava and strawberry pate fruit

Boston cream pie
Compressed cake, flexible pudding, frozen chocolate

Pate fruit

I used to make this at this pastry shop I use to work at. I wanted to try them dipped in liquid nitrogen. They come out crispy on the out side and chewy on the inside. I made it this time with equal parts guava and strawberry puree

Recipe

2500 grams Puree

60 grams Apple pectin

250 grams Sugar

800 grams Glucose

20 grams Trimolene

2300 grams Sugar

Boil puree. Add glucose and trimoline, boil again. Add pectin and #1 sugar, boil again. Add sugar and cook to 108 C. Pour into molds with a silt pad. Cut or unmold and dip in sugar

Tating menu 27

I am going to do my dessert course this week for my trip to New York for the Colorado tourism event. We are also doing a demo at the new Macy's store opening in Westminster next week. We received best tasting menu in Westwords best of 2008 http://bestof.westword.com/bestof/award.php?award=749670&year=

Albacore bacon
Edamame, chicken skin, dashi foam

Humboldt blue cheese
Candy walnuts, carbonated grapes, yogurt sphere

Sou-vide tiger shrimp
Scallop saffron scramble, cryo-blanched peas


Buttermilk consommé
Merlot caviar, peach sorbet
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Web presentation

I rolled my tired ass out of bed this morning at 4 am so I could make it to the hotel this morning for my web presentation. I was asked to present our sorbet program to every Westin in the world. This morning was Asia and Europe and I will do north America in about 30 minutes. I am posting some pictures from the presentation that obviously were not taken by me.

Easter prep

We have 800 reservations for Easter. I dread holidays because it is hard to work when your family is home missing you. I always notice when people work holiday's and try to acknowledge them. We all wish we were at home.

Salmon,scallop and edamame roulade made with activa

Soft poached eggs for our pastrami hash with mustard hollandaise

Denver Post

Tucker Shaw called me last week and asked what would I do if I had a recipe for chicken stock and did not have any in my house. Here is my smart ass remark
http://www.denverpost.com/food/ci_8617510

Wine dinner pictures

The best part of doing a wine dinner is everyone is so drunk in the end. The grey haired gentlemen is Hubert Trimbach himself. He flew over from France for the dinner. It was a great night

Tatsing menu 26

I have been asked to join 4 other chefs for a Colorado takes over New york event for the Colorado tourism board. We will be cooking at Madison Square Park on April 11. I will work on my menu this week but it sounds like they want me to bring the nitrogen. Here is the tasting menu this week

Baby octopus
Parsnip salad, whipped yuzu, Catela’s olive oil

Frog legs
Rice oil, gobo root, tomato gelee


Sou-vide Colorado Lamb chops
Black lime chimchurii, achiote rice, smoked corn


Sugar baked sweet potato biscuit
Bourbon vanilla ice cream made
Tableside with liquid nitrogen

Chiplote and tomato

Tasting menu 25

I am running the same courses that we have on our wine dinner tomorrow night. We are sitting at 45 covers right now that we will cut off at 50. I have been working on a web presentation here at the hotel. The president of the Westin brand has asked me to do a demonstration for all Westin properties around the world. It will be a great opportunity to learn from chefs in different markets.

Sweet corn pipette
pickled red jalapeno, butter roasted lobster

House smoked salmon

Lavosh powder, fried capers, cream cheese gnocchi

Black truffle quiche

Grilled escargot, elephant garlic, chive

Honeycomb candy

Panna cotta ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen

A room service order

We got an order yesterday for our beefsteak tomato salad on the room service menu. The ticket said: beefsteak salad, hold the beef, add chicken.

Liquid Nitrogen Air Freshner

We have a program here at the hotel called unwind. It is a opportunity for our guest to join us in the lobby at 6:00 for a liquid nitrogen demonstration. Westin's official smell is white tea and it is the first thing you notice when you walk into the lobby. To make the air freshner, take a balloon and fill it with blue colored water. We then roll it in the LN until a hallow sphere is formed. We burn a whole in the top and fill it with the white tea. That is followed by some nitrogen. It spurts out white tea air that fills the room. You could do it with any flavor table side.

Thomas Keller demo

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the opening of the Johnson and Whales new demo kitchen. Holly shit it was beautiful. What even made it more memorable was a demo by Thomas Keller. He made a simple lamb dish using sou-vide techniques. He cooked a bone in lamb loin at 142.7 degrees for 1 hour. He took it out of the bag and seared the meat in butter and herbs giving a roasted quality to the meat. He also demonstrated a lamb demi. He started with a lot of oil that he added lamb bones to. After a fond developed he de-glazed with water. He allowed the fond to develop again and de glazed with chicken stock. A third fond was followed by tomatoes and mirapoix. His final fond ended with lamb stock. He will reduce and strain 5 times before his final product achieved.

What did I learn? First the French Laundry has 15 thermo circulators. Second Thomas Keller has a quality about him. He is so passionate and outspoken about his art. He talked about a provayer that produces 15 pounds of butter a week for him. That's all this farm produces. All of their product goes there and nowhere else. He has a amazing commitment to ingredients. Herve last week, Thomas this and Notter next week. I am truly inspired.

Tasting menu 24

We just gone done with a really busy 3 weeks. It is going to slow down a little so we should have a chance to experiment. I am going to a demo at Johnson and Whales tomorrow for Thomas Keller. He is going to help open the new demonstration kitchen at the school. I have been playing with ioata and kappa the last couple of days giving me this wonderful flexible chocolate for the dessert. I took 100 grams of white chocolate with 100 grams of water. I mixed in 1 gram each of the carrageenan and cooked them in a pan untill the mixture boiled for 20 seconds. I set them in some flexible pyrex molds. Here is our menu this week.

Tasting menu


Buffalo tar-tar
Tomato syrup, asparagus, bernaise ice cream


Tempura crab claw
Apple, miso, radish


Chicken stuffed quail
Marshmallow root, celery, green summer squash


Flexible warm white chocolate
Raspberry rose ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen

banana foster sphere

I forgot my camera last week when I did the tasting menu but I wanted to make this dessert today. I first juiced some oranges and added rum. I placed in small balloons and rolled in liquid nitrogen. We made a banana creme brulee and placed it in the whip cream canister with 2 charges. I burned a small whole in the sphere and we filled it with the foam.


The caramel powder is made by pouring caramel in liquid nitrogen and the putting it in the blender for 10 seconds. I served it on the side so the guest could pour the powder over the top table side

Trimbach wine dinner

We will be doing a special wine dinner in a couple weeks. We have some very short notice but we can't say no to this one.The Trimbach family have been making wines in the Alsace region of France since 1626. That is 382 years……………………….12 generations of winemakers. We will be fortunate to have Hubert Trimbach attend the event. Here is the information. Please call 3034105066 for reservations.

Wine Dinner
Trimbach winery
March 14th 7:00
100 per person


Passed App
Sweet corn and lobster pipette with pickled red jalapeño


Whipped foie gras
Cipollini onion, smoked apple syrup
Gewurztraminer


Oyster pearls
Champagne, tarragon, tomato vinegar
Pinot Blanc


House smoked salmon
Lavosh powder, fried capers, cream cheese gnocchi
Riesling


Black truffle quiche
Grilled escargot, elephant garlic, chive crisp
Pinot gris reserve


Honeycomb candy
Panna cotta ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen
Late harvest

El bulli synthesis

This was painted on a wall at Le sactuare in San Fran.

Tasting menu 23

We are right in the middle of Denver restaurant week. We are doing a price fix menu at 52.80 for 3 people that has 3 courses. It has been slammin all week. I am just trying to keep up with that menu. I do not have alot of time to experiment this week so I am using some techniques that I am comfortable with. The biggest diffrence is we will not have time to do a table side presentation but the sphere will more then make up for that.

Tasting menu


Baked eggs at 70 Celsius
Tomato, plablano jelly, grilled prosciutto


Smoked blue marlin
Grapefruit, cauliflower, white soy


Chicken skin wrapped sole
Cipollini, cucumber, yogurt


Orange rum sphere
Banana foster crème brulee, frozen carmel powder

How can I be green in the kitchen?

I have done alot of research lately into practices that I can start today that will insure my daughters an opportunity to play with all of the species we enjoy. This is a short list of some things that you can start now:

1. Do not thaw products under water. Can you imagine all of the water the restaurant industry uses quick thawing products. It takes a little planning and implementation of a freezer pull list. Pull your products out early and let them thaw in the walk-in

2.When writing your menus first check the mbay web site to see what seafood is over fished on their list. I have considered asking other chefs to take all tuna products off of their menus for 1 month. Imagine the impact on population if we could do that. I would rather not eat them for 1 month instead of loosing tuna forever. Here is the link to the sight: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_search.aspx

3. Total utilization. Not only was this a lesson in school but it should be a lesson you practice everyday. This is another reason why molecular cooking is so amazing. For example Alex and Aki from ideas in food compress cilantro stems. This seems like a trivial idea but it is taking a product that is always discarded and turning it into something amazing. Vegetable scraps can be roasted and clarified using gelatin. Pieces of chicken skin can be glued together with activa and used to wrap other proteins for flavor and texture

These are 3 things that you can start today and let me know if you want to do the TUNA boycott!

San Fran

I went to California to attend a demonstration at Le Sanctuare. The demo was from Herve This, the leading authority on molecular gastronomy. I was hoping to pick up some new techniques but instead I have a whole new direction in my experiments. I first learned that I am not doing molecular gastronomy. I practice molecular cooking and there is a huge difference between them. The difference is that Herve is analysing food on a scientific level with very controlled time consuming experiments. I am taking the knowledge that he has developed and I am using it to cook. I also am using some molecular technologies like a thermal circulator to achieve different textures in food

Herve also talked about using a simplified process to write recipes and come up with new dishes. It made me think of food in a whole new way. He talked about and egg that could be classified in the way you would cook it. For example a whole egg is 1, a whole egg out of its shell is 2, The egg yolk is3 and so on. Next is the method in which you cook it like liquid nitrogen would be LN or water would be W and so on. I have a system now where I can organize my experiments and think of new combinations


The biggest lesson I took away is not to be so frustrated. Take a step back and simplify the question. I was trying to make brown butter foam. I was using methocel and xantham and whatever else I could think of. It turns out that is the ratio of fat to water and how you cool the product that will give me the desired texture. No additives, just a better understanding of why food does what it does. Thank you Herve, it is time to start all over again!!!

Tasting menu 22

I just got some little pipets in this week that I will be using on the first course. We are participating in restaurant week that starts on Friday. It will be a slammin week. I am using some Angelica root on the dessert special. It has a earthy flavor and is bright green.

Tasting Menu


Unagi
Avocado, black lime, blackberry ponzu


Feuilles de brick
Lobster, pine nuts, citrus risotto


Sou-vide pork
Mustard, candy apple, cherry balsamic


Angelica root
Passion fruit ice cream made
Tableside with liquid nitrogen

A family business

My family has all worked in this industry at one point. My father is a chef, my mother use to run a resteraunt in Breckenridege when I was a kid. My sister is a hostess and my other sister works pantry at a well known restaurant downtown. Sometimes we swap stories about shit we see. They have a baked alaskan on the menu that they set on fire before they bring it to the table. When one of the waiters picks up the dessert he always tells my sister that "It smells like failure." What a great smart ass remark that you will only get in trenches of the line.

Tasting menu 21

Had a great Valentines day night with about 220 covers. The specials went very well. We only have 2 days for the tasting menu this week. Getting very excited about my trip to San Fran.

Tasting menu
Tempura white asparagus
Coconut, lobster, starfruit puree
Shrimp gelee
Shallots, grated egg, cilantro
Beef shoulder
Butter powder, Beet marshmallow, Broccolini

Quince ginger broth
Pomegranite sorbet made tableside
With liquid nitorgen

San Francisco

I was placing an order with Fanny from Le sanctuare when she told me about this upcoming event. I got my airline tickets today and I can't wait to attend this event


Demonstration and Book Signing with Hervé This
Monday, Feb 25, 10 am - 2 pm at our San Francisco showroom.
Join us for a 4-hour demonstration and discussion with Hervé This, the founder of molecular
gastronomy and longtime collaborator with Chef Pierre Gagnaire, who has been changing the way
the world approaches cooking. His groundbreaking research into the chemistry and physics behind
everyday cooking is widely used by professional chefs worldwide. In his new book Kitchen
Mysteries, he offers further insight into the science of cooking, answering such fundamental
questions as what causes vegetables to change color when cooked and how to keep a soufflé from
falling. He illuminates abstract concepts with practical advice and concrete examples, how sautéing
in butter chemically alters the molecules of mushrooms, for example, and he explains the science
behind tenderizing enzymes and gelatins. Promising to answer your most compelling kitchen
questions, learn how molecular gastronomy has inspired a generation of renowned chefs and make
you a more creative and imaginative cook. This event includes a demonstration with various
equipments by Hervé This himself. Cost: $30 including an autographed book and a 4-hour
demonstration and discussion. Limited seats available. To RSVP call 415.986.4216 or email
info@le-sanctuaire.com

Frozen banana split sphere

I have been working on this new dessert for our next menu. I first juice some strawberries and place 60 cc in a ballon. I fill the ballon with nitrogen gas and roll it in liquid nitrogen This gives me a hallow sphere. I then mix roasted pineapple with a medium peak meringue. We then pipe it into the sphere and let it freeze. The plate is garnished with carmalized banana, chocolate powder and fried rice noodles that are soaked in grenadine.

Broken olives

I wanted to serve some olives on the meat course. We wanted the broken olives to hold a shape on the plate like they were glued together. My experiences with methocel are mixed. I am still figuring out hydration and the differnt types of methocels for different applications. This recipe yields a thick glue like texture that can be mixed with any product and steamed for 1 minute. The methocel gels and holds its shape. You must serve it warm or it will loose it will fall apart.

Recipe

400 grams water

5 grams methocelE4M

Boil water and take it off the stove. Place the methocel and water in a container and mix with the hand mixer. Place the mixture in the walkin and allow it to cool. The water will seperate from the methocel. Mix it again with the hand mixer and a thick gel will form.

An interview

I had a interview with a kid today about the new raw bar position that has opened up. When I asked him his experience he told me that he has shucked oysters before and that he has really big hands. What the fuck does that mean? I have never had anyone tell me that before.

Tatsing menu 20

I have a wine dinner on Saturday that sits at 80 covers right now. I am going to run the same soup for my tasting menu this week that is on the wine dinner menu. Valentines night is pretty well sold out too. We have 5280 week coming up at the end of this month. Business is really picking up. It has been really slow the first part of the year. Other chefs tell me they are busy but when I drive past thier resteraunts they are as slow as us. I never really understood people lying about their business. I guess you never want to show the other guy your cards

Tasting menu

Alaskan king crab
Frankincense, frozen yuzu powder, pomegranate


Organic chicken noodles
Saltine cracker consommé, root vegetable sou-vide


Sou-vide Tasmanian pepper tenderloin
Demi sphere, broken olives, tarragon


Blueberry basil puree
White chocolate ice cream made tableside using liquid nitrogen