eggbeater

rose petal tea & tisane

a number of years ago an old friend gifted me with one of the most evocative, delightful teas i had the pleasure of experiencing. it came in a small, silver square tin and inside there was loose black tea and pink rose petals.

i have quite a thing for black tea, as you know, but up until that moment, and the Mariage Freres she would also introduce me to, i was a mere novice, drinking strong bags from England and Ireland, always having a box of Twinings Earl Grey on hand, thinking it was the most flavourful. {little did i know!}

rachel's gift of rose tea came from Takashimaya, an austere Japanese department store on Fifth Avenue in NYC.

a few weeks ago i had the pleasure of sharing the most stunning glass teapot filled with whole rose tisane at bar JULES in san francisco. 

all dried roses and rose petals are not created equal. like dried herbs and spices, their aroma is volatile and will not keep for much more than 6 months at the intensity they once had when freshly dried. (and all dried herbs and spices are irradiated in the USA unless specifically stated otherwise. this process wipes out a lot of the flavours/scents you want in dried herbs and spices.)

at bar JULES i noticed a large dark pink Mariage Freres tin and guessed that this was where our lovely pot's roses came from. i thought it quizzical since there's a fantastic source for dried roses and rose petals, in bulk, in san francisco, at Rainbow Grocery. at my last job i had the magical pleasure of using dried rose petal dust mixed with ground cassia cinnamon from a woman named Kathy FitzHenry who has a local company called juliet mae. it went especially well with a moroccan ground almond "crust" i made for a lebne cheesecake.

many people don't love the taste of flavours that hail from flowers because of their inherent perfume qualities. but rose petals and buds are much more subtle than rose water, oil, or even infusing with fresh rose geranium. look at the tea in the photograph. it's so barely pink it could be an illusion.

i might not need to say this but, unfortunately, i feel i must:

never use roses, dried or fresh, that you are not absolutely certain are not sprayed. roses, because they have been bred a million ways, are treated heavily with carcinogenic chemicals. if you are making a rose infusion with pesticide and fungicide laden flowers, you will promptly ingest those chemicals.

one of the most delicious desserts i had the honor to prepare and serve of claudia fleming's when i worked for her at gramercy tavern was a bowl of warmed blackberries with fresh rose petal cream. it was summer, perfectly. scents, color, temperature.

bold and deep, light and heady.

exquisite.

superfly.

it's not about who you know

or who cooks your food

or who you know who cooks

or if you know who cooks your food.

but

it's important to know

how cool those cooks are

who are cooking food

when they're cooking

for you.

~ photographs by the one and only, mr. fabulous, phil surkis!

The Fourth of July!

today is:

chocolate buttermilk cake
sticky buns
beignets !
sweet potato pie
caramel cake with caramelized butter frosting
a spoonful of the best coconut pastry cream, if I love you
snickerdoodles
chocolate chocolate chip cookies
bacon-scallion-cheddar biscuits
limeade
mint lemonade
strawberry lemonade
lacy yeasted cornmeal waffles with brown sugar butter
creamed corn
warm buttermilk biscuits and local jam
blue bottle coffee
homemade granola
black cast iron skillet baked cornbread
grits
a giant smoker filled with ribs and chicken
perfectly poached eggs
watermelon
real vanilla ice cream
honest iced tea
fresh squozed orange juice
R&B
a dash of hip hop
old school soul
hot cooks
even hotter bakers
corn on the cob
friends
barking

and beautiful
big
explosions of light
and colour
in the broad
grand
mighty
night sky.

happy fourth.
be safe, sane & consensual, and responsible tonight. /please.
just think:
you may even want to remember what you did today, tomorrow. just sayin'

see you soon?

Catering vs. Restaurant Cooking

I have spent the last 3 days in the best catering company I have ever had the pleasure to work for.
This place makes just about every chef, pastry chef, prep cook, dishwasher, sous chef
in restaurants
look
bad.
If catering isn't organized, it's nothing.
And if food coming from a catering kitchen doesn't taste good,
unfortunately,
it's normal.

You might never catch me saying this again, so take your seat:
Sometimes too much organization can be a bad thing. In commercial cooking environments.
An insane amount of organization is linked with
    corporate kitchens
        and Master Pastry Chefs.

It's a fine line we walk when the imperative is NO WASTE.   

There's a lot of math when it comes to organizing recipes in catering kitchens.
Allow me be more specific.
Today I needed to bake off approximately 200 pot de cremes.
In demitasse cups. (They are a bit larger than espresso cups.)
The little ramekin-like containers needed to be placed in "200 pans" = meaning shallow stainless steel Hotel Pans. Very tightly.
First I spaced them nicely and counted 18 per pan.
Pastry chef came along shaking her head.
Reminding me that I had about 800 custards to bake today, she said cram 'em in tight.
This goes against my internal overprotective pot de creme baking parent, but I did as she said.

In convection oven we could fit 3 200 pans. In still oven, 2.
I had about 125 custards baking at the same time for about 6 hours straight.
I managed to lock in 23-26 cups per pan.
Some ovens move faster than others.
It was a fun day.

This catering kitchen employs a big gun. A lot of ammunition.
They are using restaurant tricks, but in a large scale environment.
They hire restaurant chefs and cooks
and then play the game better than restaurants
can.
    boo ya!

Restaurant cooks think catering is for wusses.
There's a whole hierarchy in restaurant cooking mentality that places restaurant cooking at the top
and a whole slew of other food jobs below.
It's a macho thing, yes, but also
a creative gripe.

The idea is that catering is about repetition.
But not in the same way that actual line cooking is.
Catering is about numbers.
Of guests. Of dollars. Of food you can re-heat on the fly.
Of desserts that can wait out side for people to get married.

The concept is that there's more spontaneity in line cooking or restaurant work because little is set in stone, (the exception being, of course, Corporate environments. Example above.)
But what if for every party you book you do not offer the same menu as the last party or the party this very same client got last year or month?
What if every catering chef could pick his or her team and ingredients?
What if the prep team actually did their job and finished their list and was held to as high a standard as the higher paid officials?
What if all that organization meant there was more time for creativity because one wasn't always putting out stupid fires?

What if that catering company hired the best cooks and pastry chefs and butchers in the land?
And made everything from scratch?
And, [are you sitting?], paid everyone a living wage?

Just like restaurants.

Oof. Watch out.

       /Now who's the shoemaker?

No kitchen is perfect.
And not every type of cooking environment is for the next person.
I don't think I'll ever end up in a hotel kitchen, for example.
But my g-d has been known to have a sense of humour before.
So I never say never.

But this catering kitchen is nice.

And if your restaurant mind is open to the possibility
you could learn a few
or a thousand
helpful tricks.

In 3 days, my highlights:
Made a full sheet pan & a 1/2 of cream biscuits.
Cornmeal-Thyme crisp topping for peaches.
Big batch of cracker dough.
Sheeted cracker dough into transparently thin full sheets all day.
Brushed crackers with egg white wash, sprinkled with salt and some of them took seeds as well.
Baked crackers.
Made the largest batch of creme brulee base I've ever encountered ~ @180 egg yolks, 5 Gallons manufacturing cream & 1/2 & 1/2, and over 5 # sugar... !
Learned how to use a hand held stainlesss steel conical liquid dispenser/portioner!

This is my new favorite tool.

Today I will work "on site." The catering company is packing out 5 or 6 parties for today. Unlike a lot of restaurants in the Bay Area, they're busy.

And me?
Yes, it's nice to be in challenging environment where learning is possible no matter which way I turn.
Not married to any one particular kitchen.
Still "At Large."

But so happy to be of service.

                ~ p.s. the coconut cream pie faerie has visited me again btw...

Porchetta. It's All the Rage!

Everyone's doing it.

    In the streets.
    On the floor.

Mmmmm Porchetta....

Pigs doin it.
People eatin' it.
Cooks butcherin'.
Knives slicin' it.
Twine a wrappin'.
Ovens roastin'.
Juices flowin'.
Belly a renderin'.
Pan juices sizzlin'.
Fingers gettin' a lickin'.
Mouths a waterin'.

Porchetta.

Sounds so succint. Humble. Simple. Regal. Rustic.

Delicious.

And thank g-d it's Friday.
Tonight, {and every Friday},
if you live nearby,
    you can get yours
at Sea Salt.

Prepared with love and care,
& a healthy dash of New York humor and irreverence,
by none other than,
Anthony Paone, chef of all days of the week, and the eighth one too.

Sit at the kitchen counter.
Give him hell.

/And then tell him I sent you.

Sea Salt
2512 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, Ca. 94702
510/ 883.1720

Hot Kitchens.

Do you know what makes most kitchens really hot?

Freezers. And walk in refrigerators. And lowboys. And reach ins. Ice machines.
You wouldn't think. But it's so.

Kitchens can get really hot.

Let us not forget flat tops. And salamanders. Or grills. And then there's saute, where there might be pans sitting on burners that have been on full blast all day. And cast iron? Shit. I have seen them glow orange. For real. They can get really hot. But there's nothing like cooking a la plancha. O yeah.

What else?

Fryolators are hot. Really hot. Hot radiant heat not to mention a container filled with searing hot oil. We won't leave behind wood burning ovens and, if you're really lucky, reaching up to handle those bars in rotisseries taller than your local basketball star.

Hot.

Kitchens are hot.

I'm forgetting something? O, sorry.

Deck ovens are hot. Tandoori ovens are hot. Pulling sugar is hot and so is whisking sabayon for an hour straight. Stock is hot. Plate warmers are hot. So are bread warmers, of course.

Commercial dishwashers are hot. By health code standards they should be, at any rate. The hotter the better: less detergent can be used if heat is what is the sanitizing force. Having to put away hot dishes is hot. A lot of steam exists in the dish pit. A lot.

And steam? Steam is really fucking hot. The burn you get from steam is like being taken advantage of by a child. You never expect it. And then Whoosh! Red streak on flesh and sooner than you can say   nanosecond   you have a blister.

One could make an argument for the heat of hot ice or liquid nitrogen but they're not commonly found in kitchens unless you're ladling up eye of newt and bat's wing specials.

Hot Kitchens.

    Wait, there's more. If you act now --

Cooking and baking with a sunburn is hot. And terrifically unpleasant. After you've fallen asleep on the beach on your only day off in 3 months once, you won't do it again. Take it from me. There's nothing like reaching into a 500F oven when your skin is the color of freshly killed lobsters.

Reducing is hot. So is candying of any sort, especially when you have to boil sugar for hours to get just 2 more degrees on your thermometer. {!}

Roasting is hot. And searing. Even blanching, albeit brief, is hot. Poaching? I guess we could make an argument if we're desperate.

Funny, when you burn yourself, I mean really burn, it feels cold first. Like buried under an avalanche and getting sleepy cold. And then for a tiny moment when your brain hits refresh, it fells hot to your core. By then, hopefully, you're in shock, and so you don't feel much after that except worry that you'll be in the weeds even more. Nothing like grabbing onto something really hot and realizing later that the steam you saw was your own skin evaporating.

Kitchens are hot.

And so we tun off our minds. We make jokes. The refrigeration starts to shudder and choke, and then die. The ice machine gets indignant. Someone has to go buy ice. Which is really funny if you think about it. But of course it's not.

You might even have the pleasure of standing on the hot roof and hosing down the condenser for about 8 or 12 hours, until the sun goes down. But only if you're the chef or sous. Yes, you have to be The Chosen One for that job.

Hot.

When it gets hot ovens bake faster. Did you know that? Cakes don't necessarily rise better but everything should be checked on with more frequency.  Cold water is warm. Edibles made with yeast should be rushed like you have some place to be yesterday. Proofing the bread? Five hours is 50 minutes. Twenty minutes could be two. Be on your toes, yo, when it's hot.

Cold butter doesn't stay cold.

Sweat evaporates and it could be a few days until you really pee. A relaxing pee that lasts more than a moment. Sound gross?

Cooking is hot business.

    I haven't left out anything,      have I?

In The South there's a joke about cornstarch/ talcum powder, and the boxer shorts you shouldn't be wearing, but I'll leave that to your imagination.

Hot weather produces violence. In some kitchens it makes people fight. Or go mute. Or fuck.

Because line cooks are hot. Except when they're gross. But there's always a market for gross.

Hot.

Flirtations run high. Patience become a virtue left for the "normies"/ diners/ working stiffs/ waiters. Sexual tension is hot. So is that space between your long sleeved polyester-blend double-buttoned jacket and suffocating skin. Tempers run hot.

Some will say that the best beverage in hot weather is hot liquid. Ice becomes the enemy to truly cooling down your system. Except when dunking your arms in ice water is the only thing you can do to keep from passing out.

Summer is hot. Restaurants with poor ventilation systems are really hot. Restaurants that are free standing buildings in neighborhoods with no trees or taller buildings to create shade are really hot. Restaurants with prep stations in windowless rooms are ferociously hot.

I remember well "sweat" pouring down the walls at Gramercy Tavern. (In NYC most restaurant kitchens are located in the basement. That pretty open kitchen you're looking into as you lazily munch crudo and sip cocktails? That's for show. Only? Well I'll go on record as saying: mostly.)

Kitchens are hot.

And when kitchens are not hot?

You're not in them.

Napa Valley Eating & Imbibing

While I was staying at the farm last week, I did manage to pry myself away from dog walking and reading the New Yorker long enough to eat and drink a bit in the new & improved Napa Valley.

Almost 10 years ago, when I lived in Napa, the city proper, downtown was basically a memory for a few people. The old movie theater was mostly "closed for renovations," block after block in the historic area was dusty and cobwebbed or being torn down, and visiting the post office was sometimes the highlight of my week.

Not so anymore.

The place has exploded.

You can get exquisite, inky, oily, sweet, freshly roasted espresso at Ritual, one of the best {vegetarian} meals in California at Ubuntu, real mint mint chocolate chip ice cream at Three Twins, just about any meat or meat product you want or have never heard of at Fatted Calf {our guy Guy took some of the best FC photos-- check em out here}, illegally delicious coffee cake at Alexis Baking Company, gorgeous and delectable desserts by Nicole Plue, and produce grown with everloving care, if you choose to wake early and go to the St. Helena farmers' market.

Of course there are a hundred more restaurants and dozens of more eateries and imbibing stations, but above is what I got to on this go-around.

Attention Chefs, Sous Chefs, Chef de Cuisines & Chef du Parties!

An incredible opportunity is here for you in the USA. You could very well take time off from your current job and get paid to train with Thomas Keller and The French Laundry kitchen for the Bocuse D'Or, a world renowned culinary competition that happens every two years in Lyon, France.

Click on this EaterSF link to read part of the June 12 press release.

THE DEADLINE FOR COMPLETED APPLICATIONS IS
MONDAY JUNE 30TH, 2008.

Send them to the Bocuse D'Or USA organization. Their website, here. (Big music on the website: do not try to click over on the down low...)

Some quotes from the press release:

"Based on these written applications, eight teams (of one chef + one assistant) will be selected to compete in an elimination contest on September 26-27 in Orlando, Florida at the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival. Before a live audience, teams will present fish and meat platters to a panel of celebrity chef judges for evaluation of their excellence in taste, presentation, creativity, and technical execution."

"Bocuse d’Or USA will provide travel and accommodations for the competition in Orlando, training equipment and food supplies, and a $2,000 stipend to cover incidental costs to all of the eight competing teams . In Orlando, the top three placing teams will be awarded additional cash prizes of $15,000 for the first place team, $10,000 for the second place team, and $5,000 for the third place team.

The winning team will also be awarded a paid sabbatical to train for the Bocuse d’Or World Contest from October 1, 2008 – late January, 2009 at the Bocuse d’Or USA Culinary Training Center in Yountville, California, adjacent to the French Laundry... During this period, the chef and commis candidates will be housed in a private residence in Yountville, and will be compensated by Bocuse d’Or USA at a rate equivalent to compensation from their current employers."

Thank you EaterSF for the head's up!

If you are a chef/cook with a blog, please consider posting this information for your colleagues and readers. This is the opportunity of a lifetime, truly.

Good luck & Bonne Chance! Let the games begin!

Grits. What to do with leftovers?

In every restaurant there are menu items that cannot be sold after the service they are intended for. There are food banks for leftover bread and produce but once a starch is cooked, what to do with leftovers?

Do you make grits at home? Maybe turn them into cake when you've had your fill or bowlful? Sculpt with them? Feed them to the pig in the barn?

All ideas welcome. Even silly ones.

Coconut Cream Pie!

This was so delicious I might have to share the recipe with you. I'll give you a hint: First I used Food Blog Search. Then I wrote out my standard pastry cream recipe and compared it to Nicole's. I used the basic premise of Baking Bite's recipe,

and then, I finessed like crazy.

It is my belief that white sugar interrupts the subtle flavour of coconut. Now I know coconut is not a shy flavour, but it takes a bit of sweet nothings, patience, and much listening, to get to the root of coconut's true soul. There are few ingredients which do not compete to win when it comes to playing with coconut.

Instead of using all white sugar, I also used raw. I also substituted vanilla sugar for some of the white sugar. (I take dried vanilla beans and their empty brittle sheaths and I break them up in a spice grinder with raw or white sugar until all is pulverized and highly aromatic.)

I didn't have 1/2 & 1/2 so I "made my own" with Manufacturer's cream and whole milk. And although I liked the idea of using whole eggs for pastry cream, (the whites help the custard "set up" a little harder: which is what you need when you're not going to bake the pie again), but I also wanted to enrich the custard with a few extra egg yolks.

Also, I love infusing dairy for pastry cream with whatever flavour I am looking to achieve. So I toasted a bunch of sweetened shredded coconut and did a long infusion. But I passed the liquid through a fine meshed sieve (= chinois) because I didn't want those bits floating around in my smooth custard.

And because this coconut cream pie filling wasn't rich enough yet (ha!), I mounted in some butter at the end, throwing in a dash of browned butter for added kick/ boost.

And of course I seasoned with Kosher salt to taste.

Can you say goddamn?

I have never made coconut cream pie before. But in the last few days I feel I can now say,

I have done this fine American standard, a service.

xo