Cookbook review: Alinea

Alinea is one of the great American restaurants today, one of those places you go and expect to be surprised, find it hard to believe that anyone has been disappointed.  Grant Achatz and his crew have worked tirelessly to accomplish this and many were stunned when the book came out that they would willingly tip their hand, that they would reveal secrets of the emerging "molecular gastronomy" that had previously been protected by those who knew them.  The answer, they've probably already moved beyond it, but that doesn't mean that others can't follow along and use the knowledge to create their own style - that way the whole industry grows.  

Alinea was the first book to my awareness to cover these topics in such depth and thorough detail (and fantastic photography).  I have worked with chefs who would travel far and wide to take stagiere positions at "molecular" restaurants just to learn these techniques.  Such a practice is still valid and admirable, but also comes at a financial cost that's not available to every cook, not to mention you need to also get accepted by the restaurant (the stagiere waiting list at El Bulli used to run into the years) and get the time off from your regular job to do it.  With books like Alinea, cooks and chefs just need to get a hold of the specialty products and they have a starting point and guidance to explore their creativity.  It does a great service to the industry to have books like this around, and even as diners, it helps to have a little understanding and appreciation about what goes into these amazing elements on your plate - many suspect that the products used are all industrial chemicals, but many of them are simply specialized starches and seaweed derivatives.  Of course, not all the recipes are "molecular" and in many cases you will find that an exceptional result is more often than not the product of care, attention, and proper handling of the food.

All in all, this is a beautiful, inspiring and educational book you will want to have in the kitchen.  Use it for reference, or flip through it to stir up some fresh ideas.  If you are passionate for food, this volume won't leave you wanting - CHECK IT OUT HERE.

Recipe: French onion soup

French onion soup is a great way to warm up when it's chilly outside.  Plus I love filling the home with the sweet smell of onions slowly caramelizing.  This recipe should do about 4 servings thick with onions.  An important fact that a lot of people don't know is the difference between cutting onions with or across the grain.  If you want an onion to break down, say for a puree, cut across the grain.  When caramelizing onions for soup, burgers or otherwise, you want the onions to stay in strands throughout cooking, so cut along the grain.  For the toast part beneath the cheese, I usually deviate from the traditional baguette and make a batch of salad style croutons just so it's a bit easier to dig into the cheese without trying to cut through the crust of the baguette.  You get more bites with the complete soup, bread and cheese experience that way - the square croutons also give it a little more of a rustic look when all toasted up.  Try using a quality local artisan bread like a dark rye or sourdough.  Play around with the cheese too - swiss is great, but an aged and smoked cheddar or gouda can do wonders.  The last time we made this soup at home, we used a nice friulano cheese.

You will need:

3                large onions
6                cloves garlic minced fine
3C/750ml  beef stock
1C/250ml  red wine
pinch         cumin
pinch         paprika
1                bay leaf
2 sprigs     thyme
splash        Worchestershire sauce
to taste       kosher salt
to taste       black pepper
to cover     croutons
to cover     cheese (swiss traditionally)

Method:

 - julienne the onions (along the grain) and slowly caramelize in a pan with a bit of oil
 - when the onions are a light brown colour, add the garlic and caramelize further

 - once the colour is fairly dark, add your cumin, paprika, and some black pepper
 - deglaze the pan with the red wine and let it reduce almost dry
 - add the beef stock, bay leaf and thyme and let simmer 20-30 minutes
 - season with Worchestershire and salt, then pick out the bay leaf and thyme
 - cut and toast your croutons if you haven't already
 - fill your cups with soup, cover with croutons and cheese and toast under a broiler til bubbling and brown
 - garnish with cracked pepper and dig in

Recipe: White zucchini soup

Zucchini is such a nice vegetable, so soup - worthy, except for one fatal flaw - green.  Green is a colour that just doesn't do heat well.  Sure there are some tricks - make a spinach chlorophyll to add at the end, but it's a lot of effort and I never feel the resulting colour looks natural - thus this zucchini soup is white.  As a suggested garnish, I've included a recipe for a "sunomono" zucchini pickle, which keeps the skin, so if you do it, prep the garnish first before making the soup.  An additional garnish that goes great here is the cornmeal chicharron recipe from my previous entry.  By the way, this soup is vegetarian, vegan even if you omit the cream - you can use chicken stock if you wish, but I simply use water or vegetable stock if I have one on hand.   A great chef I worked for once commented on the extensive use of chicken stock in the industry, "why does everything need to taste like chicken?"

You will need:

        1             onion
        1             large leek (white part only)
        4             zucchini
        4             garlic cloves
1/2 C/125 ml  cream (more if you prefer)
   2 sprigs        tarragon
   2 sprigs        thyme
    to taste        salt

For the "sunomono" pickle:

parisienne scooped (melon baller) zucchini - smaller the better
equal parts:  mirin
                     rice wine vinegar
to taste:        salt and sugar
1 small sprig tarragon
1 small sprig thyme

Method:

 - scoop as many balls from the outsides of the zucchini as you need for a garnish
 - mix the mirin, rice wine vinegar, tarragon and thyme season with salt and sugar until you like it
 - submerge the zucchini balls in the pickle and keep in the fridge
 - return to the zucchini and peel completely, then chop into small pieces
 - chop and wash the leek, chop the onion and garlic
 - in a pot on medium heat, sweat the onions leek and garlic in oil till translucent (clear with no colour)
 - add the zucchini and sweat well
 - add water (or stock) to cover and cook till vegetables are very soft
 - season with salt and add tarragon and thyme to infuse
 - the soup should be tasty by now, add the cream, allow it to return to a simmer, then turn off the heat
 - pick out the herbs
 - puree in a bar blender, VITAMIX if you have one
 - strain through a fine mesh seive
 - check and adjust the seasoning, cool down and store in fridge
 - when reheating, you can add a little more cream to whiten it up, then serve with the sunomono zucchini

Recipe: Cornmeal "chicharron"

These "chicharrones" take a little patience to make, but the result is a great garnish for soups salads and meat dishes - you make even make them as a snack on their own.  You are basically making your own corn chips, but are not using tortillas, and better yet, have full control over the flavour.  The base recipe before frying is essentially a dried product, so you can make a lot and store it, then fry off as much as you need whenever you want.  This recipe is a basic garlic and black pepper, but I have also made a great tomato chicharron simply by using tomato juice instead of some of the water.  Be creative and develop your own signature chip for when guests arrive.

You will need:

1/2 C     cornmeal
 3 C       water
   2         cloves garlic minced
              coarse ground black pepper
              kosher salt
              sheet pans
              a deep fryer or heavy pot to make one on the stove with an oven probe

Method:

 - mix the cornmeal, water and garlic in a pot and bring up to a simmer, whisking regularly
 - as it thickens, keep whisking and occasionally scrape the bottom with a spatula to keep from sticking
 - cook completely, about 20-30 minutes - compared to polenta, it will be very loose
 - season with black pepper and salt to taste, then sprinkle in a little raw cornmeal (for texture)
 - spread the mix out thinly on paper lined sheet pans and dehydrate completely by either:
               a) let dry naturally in open air (can take a day or more)
               b) place in a VERY low heat oven with the door cracked - you don't want to colour it
 - when mix is completely dry set a deep fryer (or a pot of oil on the stove) to 325F / 163C
 - set up a bowl or tupperware container with water
 - break off pieces of the chicharron, soak them in the water until flexible again, drain, and fry until puffed and crisp
 - drain on paper towel and season with kosher salt (or your own spice blend)

Restaurant review: Michel Bras

Last summer, my beloved wife Carla and I went to World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain.  Early in the planning process for this trip, my mind turned to the fact that since we happen to be going to Europe, we should look into eating at a decent restaurant or two nearby.  Not that one suffers terribly eating anywhere in Spain or France, but by making a point to eat at a "decent" restaurant, I mean Michelin rated - I mean prepare yourself for a show.  Places like this, apply for a reservation months, if not years in advance, then plan the rest of your vacation around the reservation you are given.  With Michel Bras, we made our arrangements for a late August meal back in January.

foie gras

Michelin favours those restaurants which have something "special" about the location - in addition to a good meal, is there something else that serves to make the journey memorable.  With Michel Bras, yes, yes, yes.  The restaurant is in Laguiole, l'Aubrac in southern central France.  There is no train station.  You will likely have a hard time even pinning it down on a map.  It took me forever between the restaurant website in one tab and Google Earth on the other just to find out exactly where it is.  With no train station, we decided to rent a car from Madrid, then I had to find a map big enough to even show Laguiole.  Luckily, someone also lent us a car gps - huge help.  Driving into Laguiole from the south, it's all rolling green hills and beautiful farmland.  When the gps told us we were two minutes away from town, there wasn't a building in sight, then we rounded the bend and up popped the prettiest little hamlet you could imagine, a little cluster of stone buildings watched over by a church on the hilltop and guarded by a scattering of contented cows in the surrounding fields.  They say people have tried to lure Chef Bras away from here - I can see why he doesn't want to leave.  For such a tiny place, Laguiole is world renowned for three things:  Laguiole cheese, Laguiole knives, and one of the best restaurants anywhere.  Indeed, in an informative video at the cheese factory, even Michel Bras' mother is interviewed.

aligot potato!

remain calm

Maison Bras is situated a little ways out of town, and also serves as a small hotel.  By custom design, the rooms are set into the hillside in rows so that each room has its own little lawn and garden and a totally unobscured view across the valley towards town and the meadows beyond.  If you are going for dinner, might as well spend the night.  After checking into our room and taking a walk around the grounds, we made our way to the lounge for dinner "come by anytime after 7pm" they told us.  It was strange not to have a set time to show up, but it's all part of a well planned system of service.  Give the guest their freedom, they will come when they come.  We sat in the lounge, were given the colossal wine list (98% French of course) and served a couple cocktails.  We also received the first few amuse-bouche in the lounge, which let the restaurant pace people in accordingly for a smooth kitchen service.  Eventually we were led into the elegant dining room for the show.  The meal?  Superb.  Not so focused on "molecular" food like many top restaurants, rather flawless execution, inspired and natural feeling food.  One dish was a salad where every vegetable has been prepared in a slightly different way.  The foie gras had no monkey business, just a perfectly cooked slice with appropriate accompaniments.  The almost mandatory aligot - mastery.  The cheese cart could have killed me - really, it's huge.  We each tried about 5 different varieties (declining the Laguiole varieties since we had earlier been at the factory) and still didn't try them all.  The dessert courses were creative, delicious and have proper substance - no plates with a collection of powders, airs and gels that leave you wondering if something was forgotten.  The "Biscuit" with the encased warm compote was fantastic and the flight of mini "ice cream cones" was great - they all looked the part to perfection, but only one was actually a sorbet, the rest were all compotes, cheeses and concoctions made to appear as such.  They also brought us a special course to celebrate our anniversary with a candle obscured by a huge cloud of spun sugar - pure technique.

"ice cream"

Staying the night, we were also treated to a wonderful breakfast - breakfast amuse anyone?  Fresh cheeses, charcuterie, breads and juices.  To start your day with such a variety of flavours and not walk away over loaded takes skill.  The administration knew that I was a chef, and took this time to introduce me to Michel's son Sebastian and show me the kitchen - again the service anticipating and extending itself to the guest experience.  It was special to be able to thank them personally for an amazing stay.

Recipe: Yorkshire pudding

Yorkshire puddings!  I love a nice piece of meat served up alongside a fluffy golden "gravy volcano".  It's clearly a favorite with a lot of folks, but few venture forth into this sacred realm, rather they sit back and hope that someday soon they'll happen across one.  Admittedly, the first time out, it can be a little scary (400 degree oil should be a little), but it is a simple enough recipe and wouldn't you like to be the one others are hoping might be serving up some Yorkies.  Definitely, some good advice would be to keep an eye out for the heaviest guage muffin tin you can find and keep it just for Yorkshire puddings.  Never wash it with soap, just water and a good wipe clean.  Like a good cast iron pan, a good pudding tin should keep seasoning time after time and it will never fail you.  In one hotel I worked at, the Yorkshire pudding muffin trays looked like they had been forged in the pit of a volcano!  Heavy, black, downright ugly - perfect every time.  This recipe should do for six people.

You will need:

2          large eggs
1/2C    milk (homo)
1/2C    water
1/2tsp  salt
7/8C    flour
hot beef drippings or vegetable oil

Method:

 - sift the flour and set aside
 - whisk eggs, milk, water and salt
 - add the flour and whisk smooth - rest in fridge 1 hour
 - preheat the oven to 400 F / 205 C
 - fill bases of muffin tins with about a tablespoon of beef drippings or oil
 - put muffin tin on a tray (to catch any spillover) and preheat in oven
 - when hot, pull the tray out and fill each reservoir 1/2 full with the batter and return to oven
 - reduce heat to 350 F / 176 C and cook for 10-15 minutes till puffed and golden
 - Pull the tray out and turn the puddings out of the cups and serve

Recipe: Fried chicken

This recipe for fried chicken is a real treat.  It will take a little more preparation time, but that makes it easier the day of the meal and is well worth the wait.  To simplify it, I will break the recipe down in stages, as they are best performed a day apart anyway.  As is quite common with holiday turkeys, the chicken is brined, then we'll marinate it before breading it for maximum crispness.  The brine has the most specific recipe, and should comfortably submerge 6-8 nice drumsticks.  If you have more, it's easy enough to double (or more) the recipe.  Remember, when brining, you are infusing salt into the meat, so beyond the brine, very little or no seasoning should be needed.

For the brine you will need:

1L /1qt      water
28g /1oz    salt
28g /1oz    sugar
 1               zest of lemon (use a vegetable peeler, not a microplane)
 1               zest of lime
 1               zest of orange
 4               cloves garlic (crushed)
1/2 bunch  cilantro
1/2 bunch  chives or green onion (a thumb's diameter when held tight)

Method:

 - in a pot, bring the water sugar and salt up to a boil so everything is dissolved
 - turn off the heat and add the garlic and zest
 - when the brine is cooled somewhat, but still warm, add in the whole cilantro and chives
 - cool completely, then cover the chicken with the brine and keep in the fridge
 - periodically move the chicken around in the brine and wait a day (two even better)

For the marinade, you will need: (all to taste)

smoked paprika (sweet or hot your choice)
garlic powder
ground black pepper

Method:

 - take the chicken out of the brine and rinse it under cold water and pat dry with a towel
 - in a bowl toss the chicken alternately, but equally with the paprika, garlic and pepper to your spice tolerance
 - cover and keep in the fridge at least a couple hours, but another day is best

For the breading, you will need:

    2-3             egg whites
250ml / 1C    cornstarch
250ml / 1C    yellow cornmeal
250ml / 1C    panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
to taste           ground black pepper

Method:

 - preheat the oven to 250F / 120C (higher if you want to serve right away)
 - whisk the egg whites till slightly foamy and well broken up (you want the air in it)
 - mix the cornstarch, cornmeal and panko and season with black pepper
 - in a separate bowl, toss the chicken in just enough of the egg white to coat it completely
 - while tossing, sprinkle in the breading until completely coated
 - spread out on a baking sheet (with a roasting rack if possible), place in oven about 10-15 minutes
 - cool on the rack if frying later, or move to the frying stage (or serve if you choose)

Note:  at this stage, you can either cook completely and serve (a health conscious option), but for maximum enjoyment, you will want to fry these babies, so only cook them to just done - even a little pink on the bone is ok (keeps it juicy).  The idea with the oven is to cook the chicken mostly through with minimal colour on the breading.  When you are at the "fry" stage (later in the day, even), you are just crisping and colouring the breading and heating through the meat, avoiding burning the breading in an effort to cook the chicken completely during frying.  These days I know it's almost considered a sin, but a deep fryer is the best way to finish these off.  If you don't have a home fryer, a good heavy pot will do - just use an oven probe thermometer to try to keep the temperature around 350F / 175C.
Of course, pan frying will always work, especially since you are just crisping up the crust at this point, and it has the advantage that you can throw some butter in at the end - yum!  Enjoy

Cookbook review: Notebooks of Michel Bras: Desserts

This book is a standout on my shelf.  I'm a big fan of Michel Bras, and I love my desserts, so what's not to love?  What's even more intriguing is the "notebook" aspect of it.  Chef Bras loves living and working where he does, in Laguiole, France - I was fortunate enough to go there last summer (of course with a visit to Maison Bras) and I don't blame him, it's stunning.  This book collects entries from his journals, many a result of the inspiration he gets hiking in the countryside.  There are no photographs, rather sketches, diagrams, and notes accompany the recipes inside.  You get a real sense of personality with this, a closeness you won't find with other, flashier books.  Yes, the recipes work, but it's the sense of inspiration that's the real value here.  I'm sure many of the desserts have made their way onto Michel Bras' tables supremely polished and perfected, but you'll have to picture it in your mind.  In the same way the chef puts the final touches on each of his recipes, he's leaving that last part up to you.  A cookbook with real heart - CHECK IT OUT HERE.