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Congratulations to Lily & Paul!
What a beautiful wedding and thank you for putting together such a sophisticated menu.
The feast started with carefully constructed bites of tray-passed o’douvres that ranged far and wide in bounty; including beef fillets, parmesan cheese, creamed mushrooms, curry chicken, and foie gras. I wish I wasn’t so gluttonous and paid more attention to full descriptions. Sorry this list isn’t properly presented. Also should’ve taken pictures!
As for the main meal that reads like a tasting menu, feast your eyes here.
1) Hamachi Crudo with Sichuan peppers, miso coriander, and orange zest
2) Five Spice Seared Scallops with truffled savoy cabbages and black garlic sauce
3) Miso Cod with wild mushrooms and soba noodles
4) Braised Short Ribs and NY Strip Steak with golden potato puree, crispy shallots, balsamic jus, and asparagus fricassee
Dessert I. Red Wine Poached Pear Parfait with gingerbread and marscapone mousse
Dessert II. Chevre Cheesecake with berries and oatmeal tuile
And no, the night didn’t just end there. Super chocolatey chocolate cakes, cupcakes, and late-night mini burgers and fries in cones just kept layering on the good eating. Great night of food!
Also thanks to my lovely dining companions for a fun time — Cari, Sandra, Michelle, Kathleen, Vicky, Steven, and Richard. Go Titans! Go Bears!
Good Mise en Place = Good Production Day
Calm, well-paced, and plenty time to taste each other’s food.
Good end to pork week.
Dish 1
Saute Pork Cutlet with Sauce Charcutiere
Mustardy and tangy (from little French pickles, cornichon) sauce that doesn’t overwhelm, great combination of flavors.
Dish 2
Grilled Pork Chop with Maitre d’Hotel Butter, Bulgar Pilaf, and Corn with Poblanos
The way compound butter melts into a sauce right on the plate is very seductive. And wow, those poblanos packed some surprising heat.
What can you not do with pork? It’s just asking for good eating. I am familiar with pork in many ways and yet this week’s preparations quickly expanded my repertoire and there are so much more still to play with. I would love to work at an establishment that pays pork the full respect it deserves.
What a busy day!
Between having more than a dozen items calling for a small dice, blending a handful of spices & seasoning, monitoring texture on 2 different protein cooking methods, developing a rich sauce, and communicating to teammates regarding group v. individual efforts, the 3.5 hrs of cooking time went by faster than a Glee episode recap.
Dish 1
Roast Pork Loin with Sage & Apples
with pan gravy, caramelized apples, Dauphine potatoes, and saute spinach
Instead of Duchess potatoes, which we had learned in Foundations II, I went for Dauphine potatoes that we didn’t get enough time to crank out last week. In doing so, I thought I was moving away from turdy potatoes, but these cheesy poof look-alikes don’t exactly indicate more refinement. The pillowy soft texture did have an air of sophistication to them, however the greasy mouth feel took away some of the finesse put into the work.
Sauce should’ve been strained for better presentation but flavor & consistency were right on.
Apple slices really need to be rather thick to stand up to a proper caramelization.
Vegetable on this plate was a ‘chef’s choice’ and by the time the other components were close to ready, I wasn’t more creative than throwing together a quick spinach saute. The original plan of baby artichokes crisped under crunchy, cheesy breadcrumb topping just wasn’t going to happen.
Dish 2
Carnitas
with vegan black beans and guacamole
Carnitas? Me gusta! I was so happy when I found out carnitas was on the menu for this week. I order carnitas at every taco joint that serves them (right along side lengua). And unlike the harder-to-find-and-frequently-fucked-up El Pastor, carnitas provides comfort that one can count on, time after time.
Pork could’ve been crisped up more (small onion pieces from communal total utilization bucket got in the way of a good browning in the pan) but was falling-apart tender. Guacamole was fresh and bright and black beans ended up being the dish that required the most work. Overall very happy eating.
It’s the tiniest cut in the world. Really not all that visible in the picture. (Tim insisted on this documentation, thanks, Tim.)
Lessons
1) do not gesture in air with knife in hand
2) do not be stupid
3) damn, my knife is sharp
I wasn’t even cutting. I was trying to indicate to my group what my plan of attack was breaking down the boned-in full loin of pork. Knife made just the briefest contact (milliseconds!) on skin and BOOM. Blood seeped out. Erg.
Honestly though, no cut is ever justifiable. Gotta pay attention!
Fat trims and meat scraps from last week’s steaks became another lesson.
Total utilization is a concept that will appease merchants and environmentalists alike — use/recycle everything .
A perfect 80:20 blend of meat to fat makes deliciously juicy burgers.
Check out Chef Willett in action.
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