My friend Jesse and I were talking food while we were drooling over our delivery containers of Chinese food the other night and we had started talking about alot of different things. I woke up this morning and was checking over other blogs and emails and decided that restaurant concept would be a pretty good topic to write about. I've been in a super good mood and have been wanting to write because its something I've missed doing so much.
Jesse has the set of Modernist Cuisine in his room and I was flipping through the book on equipment and techniques because I was brainstorming a post to write about new cooking techniques and we got on the topic of Sous Vide and Jesse had come across a recipe for steamed mussels done sous vide and no offense to anyone who loves the concept of sous vide but we thought that was so stupid!
This recipe we came across spawned into food we like and we would serve if we owned our own restaurant. Jesse knows and along with even my own family, I love French food. Also going with that I love the practice of French technique and even so along with that I love the idea of trying to bring forth French practice in a new light that doesn't follow so close to a heaviness of Haute Cuisine, trying to get bring it in a contemporary light. But as much as I find all these ideas of looking at a fine dining restaurant doing so, what I truly love is the idea of following close to a contemporary side of French cuisine but sticking close to just making it good. If i go to a restaurant and they offer Moules Frites, chances are I'll get it, Steamed Mussels with French Fries....Its simple, its straight forward, its good and thats the side of French food I love. Steak Frites, Steak and French Fries and don't get me wrong I'd take it further with a simple bone marrow compound butter, and properly made jus lie, Bearnaise sauce made to a high standard its all about sticking close.
But here's where the question came up, I want to own a Bistro and don't get me wrong French food is good but there are some amazingly simple things in this world that are not French. I asked Jesse, would it be acceptable for a Bistro to reserve a spot on a menu for risotto. Jesse said it would be because its your place. You can make it yours, and then I thought if I can indeed put risotto on the menu, what truly matters is that it is delicious and properly made, the grains of rice are cooked to perfect al dente, "the wave" or alla onda is present, the risotto doesn't form a concrete block in the bowl, just a simple bowl of properly made risotto fit enough to present to that of an Italian mother and not be exiled from the country for disgrace.
Jesse did make a great point though, he said that if he only opened a an Italian restaurant featuring only everything he could get from Italy (i.e. produce, pasta, etc.) it would make him limited. Yes he would be following strict guidelines to a certain area of cuisine but it takes away from all the great things that could be found local. He would have no way to support his local economy through buying local and he wouldn't be showcasing all these great items from around his establishment.
In reality its your restaurant or establishment and your ideas, its just what can you do to make it good. Its all your ideas and concept. So do what you love and cook with passion, I think you'll be sure to have a smiling customer sitting at table 42.
-Garrett
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
The Little, Simple, Forgotten Things - Meat and Fish Part 3!
A closing to this post series (for now atleast!).
We'll venture into the side of poultry and seafood. Poultry in alot of ways is so incredibly utilized. Think about it, you get a whole chicken and break it down into eight pieces (or whatever your heart desires) and in the end your left with a carcass. So you cut some mirepoix, through that carcass in a pot with water and make stock. But move towards a duck per say and your yield is less just because of the animal. A ducks structure is different than a chickens and its hard to use a whole duck because of how much fat is on one animal. If your good, you'll render all the fat and have duck fat laying around in house to cook with. You can roast the bones and make brown stock, but I found a tasty treat with duck. Duck wings, now it might sound odd since every American is used to a typical hot wing being that of a chicken but duck wings. Yes you get alittle less meat on the bone BUT you have a powerful, flavorful crispy skin when fried and not only that, but a pound of them starts at 80 cents. The real question is do you have the customers who would eat that, etc, the list could go on but duck wings I've found to be a hidden gem.
Seafood is something that I love alot and a properly cooked piece of fish can be outstanding and beautiful. We talk here at school about fish sustainability, and eating fish that are in full populations and leaning away from tuna and such but also really crappy fish like farm raised Atlantic Salmon and such. But out there, there are some fish that are amazing (getting a customer market to go outside to try them is another story but you can always try). Skate isn't really a fish, its a ray and the cut itself looks like a ray (the only edible part) and when cooked correctly, its amazing, soft, tender, moist, like a greatly cooked piece of fish should be. Last time I checked from Foley's Fish, uncleaned skate was 95 cents a pound and cleaned was 1.50 a pound so its super inexpensive. Looking at some fatty and oily fish, sardines are delicious. Not a fish I would have every night of the week but they are inexpensive and taste good but it all comes back to selling them to your customers. But a cut I find amazing, fish collar. Now they typically come off of yellowfish and over in Japan, they are like our chicken wings, they are once again inexpensive and the name is call Hamachi. Literally all you do is grill them and then crisp the skin in the oven, enjoy with rice wine vinegar and grated dikon and its a snack, its bar food! If your a home cook its easy for you to make this but in a restaurant operation, its all about whether your customers would eat it.
That wraps up this blog series (for now like I said) and I'm always game to talking about concepts so leave a comment or if you have a question do the same!
-Garrett
We'll venture into the side of poultry and seafood. Poultry in alot of ways is so incredibly utilized. Think about it, you get a whole chicken and break it down into eight pieces (or whatever your heart desires) and in the end your left with a carcass. So you cut some mirepoix, through that carcass in a pot with water and make stock. But move towards a duck per say and your yield is less just because of the animal. A ducks structure is different than a chickens and its hard to use a whole duck because of how much fat is on one animal. If your good, you'll render all the fat and have duck fat laying around in house to cook with. You can roast the bones and make brown stock, but I found a tasty treat with duck. Duck wings, now it might sound odd since every American is used to a typical hot wing being that of a chicken but duck wings. Yes you get alittle less meat on the bone BUT you have a powerful, flavorful crispy skin when fried and not only that, but a pound of them starts at 80 cents. The real question is do you have the customers who would eat that, etc, the list could go on but duck wings I've found to be a hidden gem.
Seafood is something that I love alot and a properly cooked piece of fish can be outstanding and beautiful. We talk here at school about fish sustainability, and eating fish that are in full populations and leaning away from tuna and such but also really crappy fish like farm raised Atlantic Salmon and such. But out there, there are some fish that are amazing (getting a customer market to go outside to try them is another story but you can always try). Skate isn't really a fish, its a ray and the cut itself looks like a ray (the only edible part) and when cooked correctly, its amazing, soft, tender, moist, like a greatly cooked piece of fish should be. Last time I checked from Foley's Fish, uncleaned skate was 95 cents a pound and cleaned was 1.50 a pound so its super inexpensive. Looking at some fatty and oily fish, sardines are delicious. Not a fish I would have every night of the week but they are inexpensive and taste good but it all comes back to selling them to your customers. But a cut I find amazing, fish collar. Now they typically come off of yellowfish and over in Japan, they are like our chicken wings, they are once again inexpensive and the name is call Hamachi. Literally all you do is grill them and then crisp the skin in the oven, enjoy with rice wine vinegar and grated dikon and its a snack, its bar food! If your a home cook its easy for you to make this but in a restaurant operation, its all about whether your customers would eat it.
That wraps up this blog series (for now like I said) and I'm always game to talking about concepts so leave a comment or if you have a question do the same!
-Garrett
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Little, Simple, Forgotten Things - Meat and Fish Part 2!
Back on to part two of this blog post series.
The next item I want to talk about is a great cut that is definitively under used and I feel makes for great stews and braises is oxtail. Oxtail is exactly what it sounds like, its cows tail. Now don't get me wrong you yield much off of oxtail to start out with but its something when done right, can be one of the best things leaving you with a great food memory.
Something that I recently found out while reading another blog I like to read called Ideas in Food (link is here: http://blog.ideasinfood.com/) they were talking about how some people have managed to figure out a few new cuts of beef from the chuck (the shoulder). There has always been the classic Delmonico Steak (the tail end of the ribeye) but they've coined a cut called the "Denver Steak" which resembles that of a striploin steak and a "Sierra Steak" which resembles that of a flank steak. Now I think this is great! The chuck is typically used all for grind but now that they have gone forth to give more to chuck than making it just grind. It allows the market to open up and since these are relatively new and probably cheaper cuts (for now until they gain popularity) this could for sure make an operation unique.
I want to move to pork, nothing is more delicious than pork. It's one of my favorite protein items but is also a guilty pleasure in our world because as most cooks know best, bacon makes alot of things taste good. What's so great about pork is that its the most utilized out of most four legged animals. So much can be used and for so many things, leftover fat can be turned into lardo (cured pork fat), you can cure, smoke, preserve just about any part of a pig let alone turn it into tasty sausage. Its endless with pork. But you get left with a head and though crispy pig ears are mighty tasty theres alot more you can do. You can cook the whole head and make a treat called headcheese. Theres no dairy what so ever, but cooking a pigs head in a super flavorful stock or broth, picking all the meat from the heat and because a pigs head is full of cartilage, natural based gelatin forms that all together. Take all your meat and broth/stock and press it in a terrine mold and magic, you've got head cheese. Another thing to do is take the pork jowl (cheek) cure it into guancile and have a cured product suitable for eating on a cure meats platter or as a substitute for bacon.
Its all what you can do, but taking the time and having the space. Next blog we'll move into some seafood and poultry.
-Garrett
The next item I want to talk about is a great cut that is definitively under used and I feel makes for great stews and braises is oxtail. Oxtail is exactly what it sounds like, its cows tail. Now don't get me wrong you yield much off of oxtail to start out with but its something when done right, can be one of the best things leaving you with a great food memory.
Something that I recently found out while reading another blog I like to read called Ideas in Food (link is here: http://blog.ideasinfood.com/) they were talking about how some people have managed to figure out a few new cuts of beef from the chuck (the shoulder). There has always been the classic Delmonico Steak (the tail end of the ribeye) but they've coined a cut called the "Denver Steak" which resembles that of a striploin steak and a "Sierra Steak" which resembles that of a flank steak. Now I think this is great! The chuck is typically used all for grind but now that they have gone forth to give more to chuck than making it just grind. It allows the market to open up and since these are relatively new and probably cheaper cuts (for now until they gain popularity) this could for sure make an operation unique.
I want to move to pork, nothing is more delicious than pork. It's one of my favorite protein items but is also a guilty pleasure in our world because as most cooks know best, bacon makes alot of things taste good. What's so great about pork is that its the most utilized out of most four legged animals. So much can be used and for so many things, leftover fat can be turned into lardo (cured pork fat), you can cure, smoke, preserve just about any part of a pig let alone turn it into tasty sausage. Its endless with pork. But you get left with a head and though crispy pig ears are mighty tasty theres alot more you can do. You can cook the whole head and make a treat called headcheese. Theres no dairy what so ever, but cooking a pigs head in a super flavorful stock or broth, picking all the meat from the heat and because a pigs head is full of cartilage, natural based gelatin forms that all together. Take all your meat and broth/stock and press it in a terrine mold and magic, you've got head cheese. Another thing to do is take the pork jowl (cheek) cure it into guancile and have a cured product suitable for eating on a cure meats platter or as a substitute for bacon.
Its all what you can do, but taking the time and having the space. Next blog we'll move into some seafood and poultry.
-Garrett
Saturday, February 4, 2012
The Little, Simple, Forgotten Things - Meat and Fish
I'm in midst of cleaning my room and doing important career stuff (cover letters, resumes, college applications oh my!) so I'm throwing up a blog series I wrote up last weekend. Enjoy!
I'm writing this post to talk about a much confessed love for under utilized cuts of meat and fish. Also a really dumb cut of meat I found that was brought up while reading the school's newspaper the other day.
I consider meat and fish to be two of the best things on earth and its even better when properly cooked and served. A mouthwatering ribeye steak can be just as tasty as a beautifully cooked piece of salmon (wild, Pacific salmon) or a sea scallop. Its the idea of marrying both worlds of land and sea (or really should be body of water) together and learning how to work with them, especially in a seasonal aspect. Poultry, beef, lamb, fish, game, they can all be beautiful and delicious things.
The 1st cut I want to talk about is the cut that was written about in the school paper. A new cut of pork was talked about is "secerto", I guess its popular in Spain but its the meat cut out of pork belly and is to resemble that of a hanger steak. When I had a talk about this with my friend Jesse, we kinda got outraged. Its just the sheer fact its kinda of a really dumb cut. The belly of a pig doesn't contain that much meat anyways so your wasting all that great fat but thats while pork belly is either braised, confit, fried because its tough meat. But personally I like my pork belly the way it is and it seems to much of a waste (and a shame in my opinion) to remove that meat from such a delicious part of the pig.
The 2nd cut I'll talk about is beef cheek. Now most people turn their head had that thought, a cows cheek, you can eat that? Its much like eating pork jowl (similar to another version of pork belly). Of course cows do alot of smackin on grass all day so they use the muscles in their cheeks alot. But once again its all in knowing how to use your product and making it delicious and beautiful. Beef cheek is really suitable for one thing and thats braising. In my opinion making braising is one of the best things, I love braises and a reason one is if you take the time and love, it will be one amazing product in the end. The end result of a great beef cheek braise is a fork tender, moist, melt in your mouth piece of meat. So next time you hit up your local butcher, skip the beef short ribs (though very tasty, beef short ribs have made a huge resurgence in the last couple years) and try beef cheek.
Next blog post we'll keep discussing about beef and move into pork!
-Garrett
I'm writing this post to talk about a much confessed love for under utilized cuts of meat and fish. Also a really dumb cut of meat I found that was brought up while reading the school's newspaper the other day.
I consider meat and fish to be two of the best things on earth and its even better when properly cooked and served. A mouthwatering ribeye steak can be just as tasty as a beautifully cooked piece of salmon (wild, Pacific salmon) or a sea scallop. Its the idea of marrying both worlds of land and sea (or really should be body of water) together and learning how to work with them, especially in a seasonal aspect. Poultry, beef, lamb, fish, game, they can all be beautiful and delicious things.
The 1st cut I want to talk about is the cut that was written about in the school paper. A new cut of pork was talked about is "secerto", I guess its popular in Spain but its the meat cut out of pork belly and is to resemble that of a hanger steak. When I had a talk about this with my friend Jesse, we kinda got outraged. Its just the sheer fact its kinda of a really dumb cut. The belly of a pig doesn't contain that much meat anyways so your wasting all that great fat but thats while pork belly is either braised, confit, fried because its tough meat. But personally I like my pork belly the way it is and it seems to much of a waste (and a shame in my opinion) to remove that meat from such a delicious part of the pig.
The 2nd cut I'll talk about is beef cheek. Now most people turn their head had that thought, a cows cheek, you can eat that? Its much like eating pork jowl (similar to another version of pork belly). Of course cows do alot of smackin on grass all day so they use the muscles in their cheeks alot. But once again its all in knowing how to use your product and making it delicious and beautiful. Beef cheek is really suitable for one thing and thats braising. In my opinion making braising is one of the best things, I love braises and a reason one is if you take the time and love, it will be one amazing product in the end. The end result of a great beef cheek braise is a fork tender, moist, melt in your mouth piece of meat. So next time you hit up your local butcher, skip the beef short ribs (though very tasty, beef short ribs have made a huge resurgence in the last couple years) and try beef cheek.
Next blog post we'll keep discussing about beef and move into pork!
-Garrett
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