STIR THE POTS

Tasting the stars

Luck was with me a few months ago, as a Twitter exchange with Chef Eric Ripert of Le Bernadin (see below) won me dinner. A very good dinner, let me add. 

Yup, I found a photo online of another Le Bernardin, this restaurant in Winston Salem North Carolina. Thankfully I was able to schedule my prize after the holidays, but sadly missed Michael Laiskonis's famed desserts. Anyway, so off I went last week, my normally casual attire replaced by a jacket, tie... an entire suit. I was off to Le Bernadin!

Getting there, the rooms were buzzing. My wife noticed a famous Bollywood actor sitting across from us. What I immediately noticed was great service; water poured, wine list given, then taken away, with an inviting announcement that our wine was "taken care of, already." Remembering some nods and signals made between staff as we entered, I guessed that our Twitter award was going to be worth any need to put my neck under the strain of a suit and tie.  

From that point onwards, everything just became a dance of the senses, each dish's detail and array of flavors, well, I won't be overstating it to characterize it as amazing. Since words won't capture it as well as some photos, allow me to just share a few below. 

Gustare: To taste

The amuse was phenomenal, with us already gulping down some bubbly things were looking good.

Amuse: Tuna tartare, Sea Urchin, and Butternut squash soup.

1st Course:

Caviar Waygu Beef, Langoustine and Osetra caviar tartare black pepper vodka creme fraiche and gaufrette potatoes.

Wine: Montlouis "Triple Zero" Domaine de La Taille aux Loups NV

2nd Course:

Tuna: Ultra Rare Yellow Fin Tuna; Spiced Dashi gelée Green Peppercorn Iberico Chutney

Wine: Chablis "Vielles Vignes, Domaine Savary, Burgundy 2009

3rd Course:

Lobster:

Butter Poached Lobster Tail; Spiced celeriac, Earl Grey -Citrus Sauce

Sake: Yuki No Bosha, Yamahai Jumai, Akita

4th Course: Codfish

Codfish, Artichoke "Barigoule" Perigord Truffle Butter

Wine: Chassagne Montrachet, 1Cru Les Caillerets, Marc Colin 2006

5th Course: Hiramasa (Amberjack)

Laquered Hiramasa; Chayote Squash, Sofrito Broth

Wine: Barolo, Mirafiore, Piedmont, Italy 2007

6th Course: Black Sea Bass

Crispy Black Sea Bass; Pickled Cucumbers Black Garlic-Persian Lime Sauce

Wine: Syrah,Copain, Tous Ensemble, Anderson Valley, California 2009

Desserts:

Panna Cotta

Greek Yogurt, Candied Buhdda's Hand, Basil seeds

Wine: Torrontés Sparkling, Deseado Familia Schroeder, Patagonia

Chocolate- Olive Oil

Dominican Chocolate Cremeux, Toasted Bread, Brown Butter, Marcona Almonds

Wine: Passito di Pantelleria- Sangue d'Oro, Sicily 2009

Fin....

Thank you, Le Bernadin! Thank to your wonderful staff. Thank you, Twitter. And most of all, thank you Chef Eric Ripert. Next time you Tweet a request, fortune be with the lucky first reader.  

 

Student teaching the teacher...

Recently, my former mentor and boss, Chef Jean-Michel Bergounoux asked me about what flour I used when baking bread. I didn't think much beyond the fact that maybe he made a loaf occasionally at home or even if he was trying to make some bread for a special meal at his restaurant. We used to bake a lot when I worked with him over twenty years ago, but he surprised me by saying he'd taken up bread baking!

It all happened last Friday, when I paid him a visit at his restaurant, L'Absinthe. I found him in between shifts, sitting in the back as he polished off a pot au feu, a bunch of baking books next to him and a bag of breads from L'Ecole. I recognized one of the books instantly, "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking," a recent purchase of mine. It's virtually the short course I took at the French Culinary Institute, and includes the fundamentals of baking, whether it's hydration, flour types, pre-ferments or levains.

Jean Michel invited me up to his apartment to see his burgeoning "home labaratoire." Like a child in a toy store, Jean Michel's kitchen is filled with baker's tools, including a new Globe mixer, and a Bosch convection oven with two stones to mimic a bakers oven. And strewn on the counter were books surrounded by Jean-Michel's hand written notes - I recognized his familiar scrawl.

"Come on Jeremy," Jean-Michel said, "lets make some bread, if you got a minute?" He compiled a formula for  loaf of pain de campagne using a formula from Richard Bertinet. Then, as soon as the dough was mixed, Jean Michel wanted to try a baguette recipe I recognized  from famed Parisian baker Anis Bouabsa and which I recognized from  The Fresh Loaf. I reminded Jean-Michel that he should take time with all this bread baking, that he didn't want to rush. He chuckled at my concerns, telling me, " there you have it, the student teaching his teacher!"

Scones

I love scones. And quite often my wife asks me to bake them. The store-bought scones are often dry. And they're actually easy and fun to prepare at home. Besides, topped with jam.... ha! They require basic ingredients; flour, butter, cream, baking powder and whatever your latest flavor quotient, whether dried fruits or orange zest etc.  

Lord, knows you could find a recipe in any old book, but last weekend having time (due to nasty New York weather) I decided to try (and share here) a fabulous recipe from the great pastry chef, Dieter Schorner.

 Dieter's are called "Savoy Scones," undoubtedly from his days working at the  the famed London Hotel. In the past, I have also made the version from Michel Suas's Advanced Bread & Pastry book, delicious, too! Anyway, below I made some cherry rhubarb cream scones.

Shapes are always a choice from square to triangles and to the more common round. A good set of cutters are advisable, as using other implements will impede a proper rise if the scone is squished rather then cleanly cut.

Chef Gregoire Michaud also has a an interesting version, sort of a hybrid demanding great attention to detail, and which can be a two day project.

 

Savoy scone with currants (Sourced from Dieter Schorner)

 

 

Savoy Scones (Dieter Schorner)

325g Bread flour

20g Baking powder

45g Sugar

pinch of salt

100g Currants

1 egg

1yolk

Heavy cream is added to eggs to equal a total of 200ml combined

Egg for egg wash

350 F Pre-heated oven

Mix dry ingredients, cut in butter. Add cream to egg, yolk and mix. Add wet to dry, with currants till mixed. Don't over mix, be gentle. You could roll out sqaure and cut with a cookie cutter, or round and into triangles. Depending on the cutter size you'll get about a dozen or so scones. Place on a tray, prepared with parchement or silpat, brush with egg wash and bake about 20 minutes till golden brown.

 

This scone is light, delicious and worth doubling, as you'll find they run out quick!

Ticino bread

When visiting my sister in Switzerland, I always find a specific bread conjoined by six rounds and split with a razor down the middle. When seperated, it has a wonderful pillowy crumb that invites butter, jam, whatever. It's a delicious bread whose exterior crust is thin and egg shell-like baguette feel, and is known as Tessiner brot, pain Tesinés or Pane Ticinese, a bread from the Italian speaking region of Switzerland known as Ticino.  

Tessiner brot is a staple in most bakers' repertoires throughout the Swiss cantons. Probably because it's an easy bread that makes friends with your würstli, butter and cheese, the common staples in eating a family style Swiss meal. Below are photographs of my recent attempt to bake some Ticino bread locally, at home in Sunnyside, Queens. 

I made mine with yeast, using an easy formula from the Richemont school. That said, there are some ingredients, including the flour and a weird product called levit, which are unavailable here in America. As for the flour, like most found in Europe, there are various types. In this case it's "halbweissmehl," which translates literally to "half white." Before our borders were so highly protective, my sister would send me flour from Switzerland, always a treat. I'd get exotic Ruchmehl, Halbweiss, Dinkel and this list goes on. Subjected to the constraints of a global world's bureaucracy, I now just wing the percentages of milled flours; Halbweiss is around 75 percent milled wheat, so I adapted this formula by adding 25 percent whole wheat flour to white to make my own halbweiss flour.

As I don't have a packet of Levit, I subbed some backferment, which is a mysterious Rudolph Steiner hippie product, which I am still finding a bit unpredictable but will use until it's gone. Or until I make my own dry sourdough. So basically this is a yeasted dough, with some bit of levaining for more likely flavor. To my friend, Mick, I know you're rolling your eyes. But... I love you, baby. And you'll love this bread. It welcomes butter and jam, prosciutto and cheese....basically a loving loaf!

Ein klassiches Deutches Roggenbrot

Once you get a handle on rye breads and the mystery of German baking, you'll return for the moist and deep flavors that permeate from a grain that's more or less a grass. Thankfully I got a copy of Nil's E- book, "Brot," over at his blog, The Inverse cook. You should get it, as well. It takes out the mistake and mystiques of trying to interpret a skill, a craft, a tradition and screw it up with some bad online translations.

Nil is a person who's completely dedicated to baking, even though he's been silent for a while on his blog. "Yo, Nils, what's up with that???" Anyway, there's plenty of great hints and formulas to make use of in his archives. I made his Classic German rye bread, and it's going to be a standard for me. This particular loaf uses an old bread soaker. So if you have old bread at home, don't toss it out,just  use it again to create the deep flavor and quality you'll find when making this loaf. I just need some liverwurst now....

2.2Kg of Miche

Miche again? Yup. It's always gonna be in my repertoire. The latest bach is the same formula I got from Bouley's when working there many years ago. Since I always fiddled with it using my standard 100 percent hydrated levain, I thought I'd try out my desem-starter on it, and even throw in some flour milled by Farmer  Ground in Trumansburg, the half white flour which resembles high extraction.

With both a drier levain at only 55 percent and it being all whole wheat fed, who knows what would happen? Well, I was pleasantly surprised, as it led to a moist tight crumb with definition and a taste of what resembles a true miche....you know the ones you get when your in the countryside, or in Paris, ready to be sliced and turned into a tartine!

Schrot für dammt!

I've been recovering from a kidney stone incident that hit me over the holidays. But it hasn't slowed me down in the baking department. Been toying with the idea of putting together another old soaker rye bread, after coming upon Herr Süpkes Rheinisches Schwartzbrot. 

It's a classic 100 percent rye, which calls for "gross und mittel  schrot," or chopped rye in various sizes. I'd baked it before and knew what it meant, but the step-by-step was still a challenge, whether following it in German or translating it to English! 

Out of both chops and rye meal, I had to grind my own. And I wondered what the grainy clay-like dough would give up in a final bake, as during the mix  rye lacks the characteristics of gluten rich wheat dough. Perplexed by the various short mixes and rest periods in-between, and lacking parchment, I opted to plop this dough into a loaf pan rather then go free form.

 

Well, now complete, it turned out great. Made me even a greater fan of rye than when I'd started, despite any problems along the way. Because with a bit of butter and some ham, oooh it's all the redolent memory of my days as a kid in Germany revisited, pure rye heaven!

Second one is a charm!

Roscón de Reyes

It's been a holiday of breads. My latest celebration has been around Roscón de Reyes, which translates from Spanish as "epiphany bread." Honestly, I stand in the abyss of religious ignorance, even if I am the son of both houses of Judeo and Christian faiths. Still, I feel secure in making breads that supposedly have some religious signifigance for either, as bread, besides man made food, is manna from heaven. Sorry, I do get carried away.  

Anyway, I used a formula from my friend Javier Marca over at Madrid tiene miga (and his bread baking amigos - along with Google translation from the native Spanish). Their blogs are always an abundance of information. This week, they gave me the idea of aiming to bake the bread for January the 6th, which is Dia de los Reyes (or day of the Magi). 

I took up the challenge of baking the bread with 100 percent sourdough. To which Javier tweeted, "Using sourdough, and only sourdough? Good... You might want to increase the quantity of sugar, though. And rum, that's for sure!" 

Beyond his advice and my sour dough desires, I stuck to the traditional formula, improvising less with ingredients than visual ideas, namely creating a flourish of decorations. Well, here it is, end of the Holidays, and a begining of a new tradition in bread conquered!

 

Lets bake!