Day 36 - Pages 289-293 - Fried Apple Pie, Sour Cream Ice Cream; Pages 259-261 - Roasted New Jersey Diver Scallop, Kohlrabi Puree, Pickled Chanterelles

Today I wanted to try a number of Momofuku recipes and in order to make all of them I made several substitutions. Aside from the practical issue of using what's at hand and the additional fun factor of ignoring instructions, I'm finding that I can usually get good results by using my own ideas of what ingredients will give me the taste, texture, and look that I want. Some of the ingredients were not in season while others just weren't readily available. I'm not a strict locavore but freshness is a high priority.

The Fried Apple Pie morphed into a Strawberry Pop Tart. Strawberries are peaking right now and it was just too much bother to track down tart molds with removable bottoms like the Momofuku dessert. Keeping with a combination of quick cooked fruit and jelly I made a barely cooked strawberry compote and a strawberry jam without pectin. These were mixed together for the filling.

 I cut the water in the pastry by one third because I was going to roll out the dough and shape it free form.

    Then fried them one by one in hot oil 

  until they puffed up into little pillows

         

Topped with Sour Cream Ice Cream (Meyer lemon juice and
rind subbing for lime) they were nothing at all like the
pop tarts of the past. These were flaky, fruity, and rich.

 

 

Well, we had dessert first. The tarts were followed by my version of the Roasted Diver Scallop. Chang prefaces the recipe with the note that in the early stages the dish was in constant flux depending on what was available and in season and I had a similar experience. I stayed with the scallops and bacon dashi but omitted the nori and swapped out the kohlrabi for parsnips and chanterelles for shiitakes. I added kale to the puree for some color. It was easy to brown the scallops once the butter was added and, no surprise, the butter made them really creamy and delicious.

Day 35 - Miscellany - Spring Lamb, 2 Davids, and Cilantrophobia

This week I had a chance to skim through the new cookbook by Thomas Keller, Ad Hoc at Home. Bodie, the dog, was coming for dinner and lucky for him one of the easiest recipes in the book is for a roasted leg of lamb. Stud with garlic cloves, salt and pepper, sprinkle with sprigs of rosemary, coat with canola oil and let come to room temperature. Cook for 1 hour at 325°, turn the pan around, and cook for 30 minutes more or until your instant read thermometer hits 135°.  Rest the meat for 45 minutes (it will continue to cook because of the "carryover effect") and carve into your perfect roast.

I heard from Serena that Chang was on the David Letterman Show a few nights ago and I saw a clip of it on the Web. David the clown is really funny as he watches David the chef make Bouchot Mussels. Not to be missed, you can see it here.

Harold McGee, the extraordinary food science writer, has a recent article in the NY Times about why some people can't stand the taste of cilantro. It turns out that it contains fat molecules that are also found in some soaps and bugs. Then why do some people really love cilantro while others associate it with cleaning agents and insects? It all comes back to context and the associations or cultural backgrounds we bring to our choice of foods. Our reactions to certain foods are based on our past experiences; over time, reactions evolve and change as we have new experiences and new patterns are formed. McGee reminds us that in addition to being an enjoyable sensory experience, the act of eating is a complex interplay of learning and memory.

Cilantro is one of the main staples of my cooking and I always try to keep some growing in the garden. I can't imagine a noodle dish without cilantro to liven it up. This yakisoba would have been pretty boring if it weren't for the fresh, grassy, sharpness of cilantro.

Day 34 - Page 279 - Short Grain Rice & Grilled Rice

We are a Chinese long-grain rice family but I do like short-grain and relish eating it when I have a Japanese restaurant meal. Making this recipe gave me a chance to make it at home and the added bonus was that I got to recall the memory of eating charred rice years ago. Long ago in the days before rice cookers those browned pieces of rice were what happened when you cooked a pot of rice and you either forgot to take it off the heat before it started to burn on the bottom or after you had scooped out the perfectly cooked rice you purposely turned up the heat so that the thin layer of rice that stuck to the bottom of the pan got charred and crispy. The browned layer of rice would be scraped off the pan and rolled up and eaten plain or if you were a true aficionado you would pour some water over the bottom layer, heat it to near boiling, and eat the charred rice soup as a refreshing finish to your dinner. Charred rice was such a satisfying food and is not easily duplicated in my present kitchen with its heavy bottom pots that are made to discourage food from burning.

To make this dish I cooked the rice in equal parts rice to water, used wet hands to form 1/3 cup amounts into cylinders, brushed them with pork fat that was left over from a roasted pork belly, sprinkled with sea salt, and browned them in a hot cast iron pan. A crusty layer of toasted rice formed on the outside and the rice inside stayed soft and moist. I left them on the kitchen counter and we snacked on them for breakfast and lunch and by the end of the day I was ready to make another batch.

Day 33 - Easter brunch - Page 52-3 - Slow Poached Eggs

Easter brunch was something I'd been thinking about for a while: chicken and waffles. I had never eaten the combination but like to eat both those foods so, why not? According to Wikipedia there are several versions of the origin of this dish including a story about Thomas Jefferson bringing a waffle iron back from France and another about freed slaves cooking it when they migrated to the north in the late 1800's. The hugely popular Roscoe's in L.A. serves it with sides like grits, greens, and cornbread. Apparently, people line up outside the restaurants willing to wait for a meal and security guards are installed inside and out.

For my version of chicken and waffles I added bacon, gravy, and slow poached eggs. I used the recipe for Thomas Keller's fried chicken  that he serves at Ad Hoc and, despite a torrential downpour, Wayan fried it to perfection.

Rummaging through the fridge the next day I found a leftover poached egg and fried it with some foie gras butter (the fat that rises to the top of the meat when you cook a foie gras terrine).

Day 32 - Foie Gras Torchon - Finally!

Ava, Wayan, and Eddie arrived today, fortuitously timed to coincide with the final presentation of the torchon. It froze to a hardness that was almost too dense to microplane. Lots of shavings ended up outside the bowl and some ended up on my shoes (!) as the cold cylinder kept slipping from my hands. Regardless, it felt great as I piled the lychees, gelee, brittle, and foie gras into the bowls and brought them to the table.

Ava loved it. Wayan wanted bigger shavings so she could taste the liver. John liked it and not just because he eats foie gras any way he can get it. Eddie said it was like a weird dessert that was topped with rich and creamy meat. Yes, it was definitely of another world. The salty shavings and sweet trio underneath were an ethereal blend of taste and texture that kept me wanting more.

The Momofuku recipes that are the most complex aren't necessarily the most delicious. I've literally thrown together in a few minutes a kimchi stew that was amazingly tasty. But if you take the time to make a foie gras torchon the Momofuku Way and trust in your skills and intuition you will most likely end up with something memorable to share with your family. I enjoyed eating this so much that I didn't think for one second how it would compare to the real thing at Ko. Mine was good no matter what.

Day 31 - Page 267-269 - Foie Gras components

A late rain created this outstanding sunset today. 

It was a pretty low key time in the kitchen making just the two things that will go with the foie gras torchon.Using powdered gelatin for gelatin sheets didn't seem to have any negative effect and using a St. Supery Moscato for a Reisling because that's what I could find turned out to be a delicious substitute.

The pine nut brittle was fun to make thanks to the instructions that said to just let the sugar heat and dissolve without stirring because I usually fuss and stir and then the sugar crystallizes into a hard mess. So this time all went well.

Tomorrow will be the final presentation.