Day 30 - Page 270 - Foie Gras Torchon - Day 2

Cleaning the lobe was a breeze. There were just a few veins that were running through it and as I pinched it into little bits I could easily pull the veins out.

Okay, it looks a little messy. The meat is like softened butter that has some very light fiber in it. Instead of  getting grossed out I was thinking about the wondrous liver and how it might work to do all its functions that keep the body in balance and whether or not surgical procedures are possible on the organ. Are we having fun yet? The meat was marinated in a salt, sugar, bourbon, and Riesling combo for about  12 hours.

All the bits were laid on cheesecloth and pushed and twisted together into a firm, two inch diameter log (e.g. torchon!) Then it was nestled in a bed of kosher salt and placed in the refrigerator.

Eighteen hours later I took it out of the salt, brushed off the excess, and put it in the refrigerator where air could circulate around it for 24 hours. I hanged mine from a shelf on the door.

Day 29 - Page 270 - Foie Gras Torchon - Day 1

The foie gras recipe should take about three days but for me it took four because I added a day of wandering the back roads of Sonoma admiring the green pastures, stunning rock outcroppings, and freshly sprouting vineyards as I made my way north to pick up the liver. There are only three producers of foie gras in the U.S: two are in New York and the third is in California. Lucky for me, Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras has its office in the town of Sonoma and if you call ahead with your order, you can pick up a lobe or two the same day.

There are many people who think of tortured ducks when they think of foie gras and those people probably shouldn't read this post. I don't have much to add to the controversy other than that most of the arguments against it are irrelevant to the particular situation of Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras, a small family business that has been making duck products for a long time in a humane way and under strict government regulations. The  livelihood of the owners and their employees are in jeopardy and in 2 years under SB 1520 they will be forced out of business in California because animal rights extremists decided to target this particular food item.

But for those of us who eat it and, like Betsy, would "Kill for foie gras" read on...

This is the "A" grade because I don't do this every day and nothing but the best for Mi Momofuku.

Day 28 - Page 110 - Shrimp & Grits

When Chang and company were working on new dishes for Noodle Bar, they were concerned that they would transition into cooking the dreaded fusion food. They didn't want to be like all the other restaurants that were serving food that combined Vietnamese/Chinese/Japanese/French/etc techniques and flavors just for the sake of doing what was popular. The Momofuku kitchen wanted to give their customers food that went beyond someone's idea of modern/traditional and to create something that was unique and based entirely on their own tastes. Through trial and error, the classic southern dish, shrimp and grits evolved into this version that Chang says "allowed us - or me, certainly- to really look outward and onward." (Chang, pg 110, 2009) It marks the time when he began to venture into a new and uncharted territory of foodland where, as long as he stayed true to his own self, anything was possible.

If Shrimp & Grits was groundbreaking it would only be because it was first served in a noodle bar. A little soy sauce and dashi do not signal anything new. It's the scrumptious combination of bacon, grits, shrimp, onions, and egg that have earned it a place on the Momofuku menu. Plus, making it gave me the chance to use some of the most delicious eggs I've ever eaten. They are from the Giammona chickens that live in nearby Inverness Park and are available at Perry's Deli on Sir Francis Drake Blvd. As you can see, the color of the yolks are rich, deep, and dark. It's ridiculous to say it after all the stuff I've been eating but I will: "If I'm going to break my no cholesterol rules, a Giammona egg is one good reason".

Day 27 - Crack Pie

Momofuku's Crack Pie recipe has appeared on the Web in a few places and the latest version, the one I used today, was recently published in the LA Times . Christina Tosi is the pastry chef at Momofuku and when asked in a 2008 interview about how she got into making desserts she said, "I’ve always had a sweet tooth. It’s actually a very nasty habit. I rarely eat regular food." Yikes!

My friend, Joyce, does a bake sale every year to raise money for Heifer International and this year she was going to get a Momofuku sweet from me.

All I can say about crack pie is that I finished making it before dinner and one taste killed my desire to eat anything else for the rest of the evening. Sort of like...you guessed it. The recipe makes 2 - 10 inch pies that are chock full of almost a pound of butter, over 2 cups of sugar, 8 egg yolks, and a cup of cream. Except for a teaspoon of vanilla, there isn't any other flavoring. The crust is a crumbled 9" x 13" oatmeal cookie mixed with butter and pressed into pie tins. A little goes a long way with this dessert and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my Crack Pie does the same towards helping a beneficiary of Heifer International.

Day 26 - Page 170- "Ghetto Sous Vide" Marinated Hanger Steak Ssäm

I've seen sous vide cooking on Iron Chef but didn't think that it was something I could do without a big investment in special equipment. For all of us who have wanted to try the technique, Momofuku offers a way to cook sous vide using common utensils we all have around the house. Like many of the recipes, however, Chang delivers some words of warning: "If you are the kind of person who wears a football helmet everytime you take a city bus, or you litigate recreationally, or you're with child, ghetto sous vide is not for you". (D. Chang, 2009, pg. 170-171)

I had no excuses to prevent me from trying it and planned ahead for tomorrow's dinner by making the marinade, putting it and the two steaks into Ziploc bags, and letting them sit in the refrigerator overnight.

This morning I had my sous vide moment. The Momofuku instructions are cumbersome and use tap water. I simplified the process by using two pots filled w/ water and a thermometer. Bring one pot to a steady 125-130 degree temp, turn off the heat, and put the bags in. Heat the water in the other pot to a steady simmer. Whenever the temp starts to drop, put a cup or so of simmering water from the other pot into the bag pot. If it gets too full, take some of the water out. I was able to maintain the temperature for 45 minutes just adding a cup of water every 7-10 minutes.

The cooked steaks stayed in their bags in the refrigerator and when we were ready to eat, I patted them dry, charred them on a hot cast iron skillet, and sliced.

These were a little on the rare side and could have been sous vided for 10 more minutes but still, with a little pureed kimchi and lettuce, the meat made a pretty good ssäm.

Day 25 - Page 283 - Cereal Milk + Dining Out

Cereal milk is a brilliant idea. I remember how I used to quickly gobble up bowls of frosted flakes before the cereal became soggy and then would drink every drop of the sweet, corn flavored milk. That was the way I liked my milk. And it's still a good idea but 5 recipes, dozens of ingredients, and 3 days later, I'm not so sure that the sum is greater than all the parts that went into the making of this Momofuku dessert.

To make this dish I made several substitutions to adapt the recipes to my lifestyle. If, like me, you are a home cook who wants to do one-stop shopping at the local supermarket here is a list of my substitutions:
1. 1 1/2 packets of gelatin softened in a little milk for the gelatin sheets (dissolve the gelatin by heating in the
cereal milk until it reaches a simmer
2. Filberts are in the same family as hazelnuts and are much easier, at least on the west coast, to find in the
market
3. A Valrhona Caraibe Noisette bar (dark chocolate Grand Cru w/ split hazelnuts) for the gianduja
4. Lemon juice for the citric acid
5. Small bowls or parfait cups for the silicone mold or ramekins (take my word for it, you'll never be able to unmold the custard as cleanly as the one pictured in the book)

The first day I made the cereal milk, poured it into dessert bowls, and put them in the refrigerator to set. Then I made the praline paste:

The next day I caramelized the cornflakes and made the hazelnut thing by melting the chocolate with the hazelnuts and sprinkled the cornflakes on top.

On day three, just before serving, I pureed the avocado, and put it all together. It was good but a little disappointing for me. Maybe I was exhausted and still thinking of an earlier time when I was an innocent little kid eating frosted flakes for breakfast.

We rarely dine out but sometimes you read and read glowing reviews of a restaurant and decide that if you were to splurge, you would go there. So, as consolation for being denied an El Bulli 2010 reservation, we went to check out James Syhabout's (he worked with Ferran Adrià for a week) Commis in Oakland. It's on Piedmont Avenue, an unassuming neighborhood street that still has, of all things, a laundromat. The restaurant is a small storefront with bare walls and, except for silver and glassware, the few tables are bare too . The tiny kitchen where all the cooking takes place is in the middle of the room. You can sit at the counter if you want to see up close the chefs quietly maneuver around each other and watch them tweezer the food onto the plates.

The amuse bouche was an amazing 45 minute poached egg atop date jam and onion cream with a granola garnish. This was my favorite dish of the meal because it was beautifully thought out and tasted so dreamy.

I then had the salad with pork jowl and roasted sunchokes.

It got too dark to take photos so I can't show the saddle of lamb and the raw goat's milk panna cotta but everything was delicious and the three courses had us happy and very full.

Day 24 - Page 231 - Chicharrón

 

Now that I've tackled a head, today I was ready to take on the pig's skin that I had stored in the freezer. The recipe seemed complicated but remembering the huge chicharrones at the market in Oaxaca and thinking about the preparation needed to create such giants, surely I could figure out how to fry up a little piece of skin for a snack. Chang serves a chicharrón as an amuse-bouche at Ko and writes, "I'm sure some people saw it as a little 'f... you' to kick off an $85 meal and I can't say that there wasn't some of that in serving a fried pork rind to start a fancy dinner...But, really, chicharrones have what it takes to be a great amuse: fat, salt, spice, and crunch all in one bite." (Chang, 2009, p.231)

I thawed the skin and boiled it for 1 1/2 hours outside so the piggy smell wouldn't permeate the house.Then after a short chill in the refrigerator, I scraped the fat off of the skin. This procedure was pretty easy but it took some time and patience since there were some crevices in the skin. Then, because I couldn't persuade anyone to sacrifice their dehydrator to the cause of chicharrones, I had to use the "unreliable" oven-drying method that Chang did not recommend. I put the skin on a rack in the oven at the lowest setting (about 150 degrees F) for about 24 hours. This was necessary in order to make sure that it was thoroughly dry and had achieved that "shiny plastic" characteristic. At this point I could break the skin into small pieces

and fry them one at a time in a pot of hot oil. In just a few seconds the skin floated to the top of the oil and expanded into a sculpture of big, clear bubbles. The cooled pieces were bites of  irresistible airy pork crunchiness that caused me to blurt out, in a moment of complete inexplicable weirdness, "David would be proud of me!"

Day 23 - Page 75- Cucumber Kimchi & the Year-old Carrot

I planted carrot seeds in the garden about a year ago and we were eating lots of carrots all through the summer and fall. In the winter I could still go outside and pick a carrot when I needed one. This is the last of the carrots, an amazing one-year-old specimen. It's just as juicy, crunchy, and tender (though not quite as sweet) as the first carrots. I marvel at its longevity and ability to survive icy frosts and limited sun as it was in a very shady part of the yard. But since this was my first  experience with growing carrots and I'm unfamiliar with their growing habits maybe it's not so surprising that they can withstand cold, wet weather and sun-less days for three months and still become one of the essential ingredients in an early spring oi kimchi. 

 

Day 22 - Page 210 - Momofuku Shortcakes, Page 102 - Bacon Dashi w/ Potatoes & Clams

The first strawberries of the season are now available in the markets and I couldn't resist. These are from Watsonville and not truly local. They are merely a lead into the West Marin season of delicious berries that starts in May and continues into fall but tonight they were the topping for Momofuku shortcakes.

My go-to shortcake recipe is the one from Chez Panisse Desserts. It's biscuit-like dough is what I always think of when think of shortcake. So reading through the Momofuku recipe was like analyzing a foreign grammar and in spite of my strong resistance, I forged ahead with Chang's instructions. It was also my first time making shortcakes with a mixer since I have always used my hands in order to keep the dough crumbly and light. The initial blend of butter and lard (I substituted pork lard for the shortening) and flour was fine but when I poured in the cream I could see that right away the mixer was going to make a sticky dough and so I opted to use a spatula. I knew that, above all else, I wanted my shortcakes to be flaky and the mixer was going to over beat the dough. 

The dough must be thoroughly chilled before it can be handled and formed into balls, rolled in powdered sugar, and baked. These have a high sugar content and are like puffy, cakey cookies.

And put together with the berries and whipped cream, they're another outstanding Momofuku treat. This was my first attempt at a dessert from the cookbook and now I'm hooked. I just wish that there were more desserts in the book.

Today John jumped in and contributed Clams in Bacon Dashi. He got the clams from Tomales Bay Oyster Company, our favorite source for bivalves. We thought it was like Chang's version of clam chowder, deconstructed and put back together in his own unique fashion.