Watermelon Tartare

I read about this technique on the Ideas in Food Blog and had to give it a try.  The watermelon was placed in a food dehydrator for 1 hour at 152F.  It was then vacuum sealed, frozen and thawed twice.  The freezing process destroys the cell walls and completely changes the texture.  It strangely resembles the feel of tuna.

The new workhorse of the kitchen – the water circulator.

These Soprasetta are aging very slowly in the walk in refrigerator.  Not necessarily the ideal drying environment.  I really need to build a proper drying chamber.

Summer is Peach season.  These are some locals ones.

Grilled Diver Scallops

Grilled Diver Scallops

South Carolina Peaches, Sweet Onions, Pearl Pasta, Basil

A Few Pictures From The Past Three Months

Bacon

Bacon Ready to be Smoked

Quail and Duck Terrine

Rice Pudding

One Day in the Kitchen

Day 1 Lyon Style Salami

Day 1 Saucisson Sec and Soppresatta

My Bacon

Bresola

Saucisson Sec after 32 Days Curing

Scallops, Sweet Potato, Lobster jus, Paddlefish Caviar

Angel Hair Pasta

Pork Belly, Parsnip Puree, Braisage, Cranberry Gastrique

I Need Runners!

Trend?

Let the oppressive chains of cookbook slavery be broken. Put down your measuring devices and scales. This just baffles me:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123808950657349873.html

El Dorado Bluegrass and Pig Picking

I just got back from a grueling 5 day trip to Indian Wells California where Matt Bolus and I prepared a traditional Low country pig picking for the members at the El Dorado Country Club.  After flying into San Diego on Wednesday morning, we took a quick trip into Mexico with help from one of Matt’s friends.  The Mexico trip was brief but we did get a fantastic lunch and the chance to poke around an open air market.  We ate at La Querencia where Chef Guerrero has gained reputation creating a menu combining styles and techniques of the Mediterranean with local Baja California ingredients.  The meal started off with a platter of sliced baguette and an assortment of dipping sauces.  We were then presented with a duck and pheasant chorizo taco.  The chef informed us that he had shot the birds himself.  Not only is the chef a hunter, but also an experienced cheese maker.  The next course was a selection of cheeses he had made on his farm.  The cheeses were both Mexican and European in style.  The final course included both Tuna and 21 day aged prime beef.

After the brief play day in Mexico, we drove into Indian Wells, Ca.  Thursday, Friday, and Saturday were a whirlwind of work, work, and very little sleep.  Although the menu was very simple (see below), the number of people eating kept growing to around 300.  Although we received some support from the El Dorado staff, they were busy with their normal day to day operations leaving Matt and Myself with the bulk of the prep.  The week culminated with an overnight vigil of the roasting pig who after 18 hours of cooking still was not ready. A little last minute hustling and damage control left the members with a fall from the bone tender pig.  The event went off with success even though Matt and I were beat to a pulp.

Menu:

Traditional low country pig picking

Whole smoked Hog

Sweet Tea Glazed Chicken

Shrimp and Grits with Fresh Stuffed Andouille

Collard Greens

Cole Slaw

Macaroni and Pimiento Cheese

Planter’s Salad

Fried Green Tomatoes

Bread Pudding

Derby Pie

Matt and Mike examining dried Chilis

Mexican Cheeses at the open air market

Largest Pork rind I have ever seen. Baja, Mexico

Awesome pear shaped oranges from the El Dorado grounds

Tangerines from the club grounds

My first day at the club consisted of cleaning and cooking 5 cases of collard greens

Largest pot of Grits I have ever seen

The hog was 153# dressed

Suckling pig

We used the trotters as place card holders!

30# of Andouille I ground and stuffed

The Smoker. We had to cut the hog down its back to make it fit.

The members

Bolus trying to take pictures in 80mph sustained winds

Going to California and Other Happenings

I have been lucky enough to have the opportunity to cook at the El Dorado Country Club in Palm Springs, California.  The chef/owner of Red Sky, Matt Bolus, asked me to go with him several months ago and I can’t believe its already time to leave.  We will have three days to prepare a low country style pig picking for about 150 country club members on March 21.  I will be posting details of the trip and plenty of photos when I return.

There are currently many charcuterie projects underway at the restaurant.  I have coppa, bresola, lonzino, and my first salami in the drying room.  This salami is my first attempt at using a live lactic starter culture.  This culture is the reason that salamis have their distinctive tang.  It also takes the ph of the meat below 5 which helps inhibit the growth of unhealthy bacteria.   The second round of bacon will be going into the smokehouse tomorrow.  Sean Thackery has been kind enough to allow us use of his smokehouse which should allow us to get a more controlled smoke and smooth the flavor out a bit.

Spring is upon us and I am working like crazy at the house preparing for the summer growing season.  I am growing everything that I think that I will want to eat.  I am trying to eliminate buying grocery store vegetables all together.  If there is anything that is not growing in the yard, I will be getting it from one of the area farmers.  I am ramping up tomato production this year in hopes that I can sell a few.  I currently have 36 little heirloom tomato seedlings that are just beginning to form true leaves.  The varieties include Cherokees, some french pink variety I traded for, and my favorite green zebras.  Also in the works: 3 types of beets, 3 types of radish, carrots, onions, chives, garlic, corn, beans, squash, watermelon, Malabar spinach, eggplant, peppers, cucumbers.  Most of these items are heirloom varieties.

Notes:

-Seed saving is addictive.  Seed trading is like a grown up version of baseball cards.  I actually sat in a friends back yard and traded seeds.  It was the most fun I have had in a while.

-I am addicted to my job.  I want to be there on my days off.

-No matter how much energy and love you put into your job, there are always fellow employees that just don’t appreciate it.

-Which is better, the chef that sees numbers or the chef that is more concerned with quality of food and work.  All good systems need both.  However, these two will not always see eye to eye.

-Charlie Trotter travels with personal security. Huh!

-Thyme seeds are ridiculously tiny.

-How is the ability to get instant information on any subject effecting the evolution of the human brain?

Fresh Ciabatta

Supplies

L to R:Salami Pepperoni, Coppa, Bresola, Lonzino

Tomato Seedlings

Tuna Dish Rough Draft

Tuna

potatoes, peas, spring onions, olives, soppresatta vinaigrette,

Spring is approaching and with it comes a new menu.  This is one of the dishes that I am currently working out as an appetizer. This plays with components of the classic nicoise salad, and includes a  a soppresatta vinaigrette that gives a hint of acidity.

The original idea was to do the tuna as crudo, or raw, and it may end up that way.  Here, the tuna is lightly seared.  The vinaigrette is based on one I learned from Michael Kramer when he was the chef at McCrady’s.

Bacon is Ready

The bacon just came out of the smoker and we are quite pleased.  With a small nudge in the right direction by the staff at Benton’s, we cured this bacon for 10 days, hung it for 10 more, and then cold smoked it.  The next step in the evolution is to reign a greater control over the smoke since that is a large component of the flavor.  This time we used a mixture of oak, apple and pecan.  I plan on using only hickory as soon as it can be sourced.

With the busy season approaching, I have started several other curing projects for our charcuterie plate:  lonzino, coppa, saucisson sec, and lardo.

Lonzino is a salt cured and dried pork loin similar to  bresola. After spending 12 days on cure, it is hung to dry for around 20 days.

Coppa, also known as capicola, is a salt cured and air dried cut from the shoulder of the pig.  The muscle bundle on the side of the shoulder blade is used.  It spends 18 days on salt cure before being flavored, stuffed into a beef casing and air dried approximately 20 days.

Saucisson Sec is a french dried sausage as the name implies. Pork shoulder is ground with black pepper, garlic, and sugar.  It is then stuffed into casings and air dried for 14 days.

Lardo is the salt cured and air dried back fat from the pig.

I will post more pictures as the curing and hanging progresses.

Andouilli

Coppa

Lonzino on Cure

Canadian Bacon

Pickled Carrots

Since I have an abundance of carrots, I decided to pickle a few to use at the restaurant for my charcuterie plate. I am using an adaptation of a Thomas Keller Recipe for pickled pearl onions from Food&Wine magazine.
The pickling solution is:
1cup Red Wine Vinegar
1cup Water
1cup Sugar
3tablespoons Mustard Seed
1teaspoon Black Peppercorns
1teaspoon Corriander

Trim and peel the carrots. Blanch them in boiling salted water just until tender. Remove the
carrots and refresh in cool water. While the carrots are cooling, bring all of the ingredients for the pickling solution to a boil.
Transfer carrots to a container and cover with the pickling solution. They will be ready to use after a couple of hours but are best after several days.