L2O Blog

Salted Cod Fish

Salt cod has been produced for at least 500 years, since the time of the European discoveries. Before refrigeration, there was a need to preserve the codfish so that it would not go bad. Drying and salting are ancient techniques to keep many nutrients and the process makes the codfish tastier.

The Portuguese tried to use this method of drying and salting several fishes from their waters, but the ideal fish came from much further north. They discovered cod, when they discovered Newfoundland sometime in the 15th century and they started fishing the Grand Banks. The Grand Banks have a lot of cod. Bacalhau became a staple of the Portuguese and they nicknamed it fiel amigo or faithful friend because it was always available. In the 18th century the town of Kristiansund in Norway became an important place of producing bacalao or klippfish. In Maine you find a great quality of fresh codfish. So I decided to work on the process myself to be able to control the fresh product, the ratio of salt and the drying time. This is the recipe I'm using now.

2000 gr cod fish loin, skin on
1000 gr sea salt
100 gr sugar
25 gr lemon zest

Method:
Grate the lemon zest over a miroplane and mix with the salt and the sugar.
Season the fish well on both sides and leave cure in the cooler on a tray for 48 hours.
Hang it and leave it dry between 14 to 21 days before using it.

Rotary Evaporateur

I decided last year, while developing the menu that to be able to get the essence of certain ingredients that you cannot eat but that have a smell, that would be something amazing and can go well with food, certainly create unusual combinations. I thought about pine essence with a fresh oyster, or orange zest essence with a lobster.

So I purchased a very simple evaporator composed of 3 flasks and a cooling system with cold water. Good result for a start but the yield was so little. I researched for some time and found the Heidolph rotary evaporator. The flask is turning in the water bath while it is under vacuum with an external pump. It reduces the boiling point and allows you to distill at lower temperatures. So the fragrance does not pass the extraction point. As an example I know that the pectin cooks when passing 85 degrees C. So if you can reduce the extraction point lower than this point, the fragrance will have a feeling of a raw ingredient.

Today was the first day I used it. Lemon zest. A very few drops of essence on the surface but the fragrance was fresh and clean.

Ishi Karei

There are many types of Karei (Sole) and Ishi Karei is one of them. 
Summer is a good season for this fish.
If you look at the body, there is a stone looking hard part on the surface. 
That knackle feels like a stone. The name comes from it. 
Ishi = Stone and 
Karei = Sole or Flounder. 
The way to distingish "Karei Type" and "Hirame". 
Put stomach side towards you. 
If the head comes from the left side, it is Hirame. If the head comes from the right side it is Karei. 


It is delicious sashimi or just poached slowly as the meat is really dense It can be the Japanese version of the Dover sole. Here it is sliced lengthwise to reinforce the firmness of the meat, it is rolled over avocado mixed with jalapeno and around chive oil, lemon oil and soy sauce.

New Dishes

New dishes can come from nowhere, or be an evolution of idea that changes overtime to a new presentation, new combination with different techniques applied to the dish.

Lobster, peach and lemon verbena have been the primary idea of this dish. It turns out to be to light in flavor and too sweet overall, so you try replacing the lemon verbena with mustard and tarragon. But then it looks boring. Like a recipe taken from an old cooking book. So I put it aside until we came up with the tarragon gum. There was another dish that combined lobster, foie gras and morel. Foie gras emulsified into a lobster bouillon was reacting very well with the tarragon.

The work happens at the beginning or at the end of the service, testing a little bit of this with a little bit of that on a small plate, sometimes surprising you in a good way.`I like to think and write to get some direction in the kitchen, to finalize each section by section while cooking. Usually each component takes few tries until it gets to where it should be.

Next comes the plating. The visual always has an impact on the dish and it takes few steps to get there. It is in a kitchen that you start a dish that way and then it evolves overtime.The last part, and the most important, is trying the dish, bringing an overall appreciation and looking at each component. Balance, texture and intensity are the key points for a dish. Otherwise they will never get in the memory of the guest.

This is plate number three. Here all the component are cold, the lobster is just blanched and the plate is room temp. I am sure by version a hundred-something it will have changed. Or it might be gone before then.

La Brousse - part deux

Back in January we did a post on making our butter , with a recipe for la brousse. It is basically a cheese you make with the buttermilk left over from the churning process. We had an email from someone trying to make it, who had a few questions because it doesn't seem to be working. My grandmother was la brousse and it was working sometimes, and sometimes not. I had the same result.

Does the kind of milk matter? We use organic cream to churn our butter. The butter milk can have different level of protein content and have effect over the coagulation of the buttermilk over the heat. After churning butter leaving the buttermilk for 48 hours gives better result. It might be helpful to measure the PH. We have the instrument but haven't had  a chance to use it yet.

Stripped Bass

Striped bass are found along the Atlantic coastline of North America from the St. Lawrence River into the Gulf of Mexico to approximately Louisiana. They are anadromous fish that migrate between fresh and salt water. Striped bass spawn in freshwater and spend their adult lives in saltwater.
My favorite stripped bass is from Long Island. They are the best quality in the market so far. Largely used in NYC, I used to buy them from Blue Ribbon fish in 1997 when I just started at Peacock Alley. It was $2.75 per pound. Now the price has gone up by $4, By the regulations the fisherman can only catch them 6 months out of 12. The fishing opens and closes several times during the year, like the black bass. So sometimes there are no bass available in the market.

Smoked Salmon

When I was a child, smoked salmon was a dish that we were only eating on Christmas day. It is one of those luxurious products that needs an occasion. My family was buying it in the most exclusive store in Cannes. smoked salmon with toasted brioche was the start of the meal. Since we have a cold smoker at the restaurant, I like to share this special memory with guests as an amuse bouche to start the meal.

The curing process is kept fairly simple, it is 2% salt, 1% sugar, and a few slices of ginger. The fish is smoked at 60 degrees Fahrenheit with 70% humidity for 9 hours. It is a gentle smoke that allows the fish to keep its natural moisture. It is sliced finely and served with pickled mango, smoked salmon bubble and transparent gel - both of which are made out of smoked salmon bouillon.

Tofu

Tofu, or bean curd, is a food of Chinese origin made by coagulating soy milk, and then pressing the resulting curds into blocks. The production of tofu from soy milk is similar to the production of cheese from milk.

Tofu originated in ancient China but little else is known about the origins of tofu and its method of production. Tofu and its production technique were subsequently introduced into Korea, then Japan during the Nara period. This spread likely coincided with the spread of Buddhism as it is an important source of proteins in the religion's vegetarian diet.

There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu that has been processed in some way. It has very little flavor or smell on its own. Tofu is low in calories, contains beneficial amounts of iron and has no saturated fat or cholesterol. Depending on the coagulant used in manufacturing, the tofu may also be high in calcium and magnesium.

As part of our culture for well being I felt tofu should be part of the ingredients we are serving at the restaurant, as raw fish and shellfish. Last week, I bought soy milk from Kyoto. It was mixed with Nigari (Magnesium chloride) and then the coagulation is made by steaming the tofu in a serving cup. It can be eaten warm or cold as here in the picture.

My Schedule Wednesday July 23rd

6 AM coffee time and email

7 AM opening the door at the restaurant

7.10 AM calling in few order on the East Coast for next day delivery

7.20 AM setting up the fish butcher room and sharpening my knives

7.40 AM going over the prep list for the kitchen

8 AM prepping for the sashimi station, going over sauces for the day and receiving deliveries

9.30 AM fish butchering for all the stations

1.30 PM going over the menu for the night

2 PM shaving bonito for the kitchen needs

2.30 PM finalizing the prep for the sashimi station

4 PM family meal and email

4.30 PM setting up the kitchen for service and going over the last details, tasting the sauces, finalizing all the amuse bouche and new dishes for the tasting menu

6 PM service mode

11 PM breaking down station and start cleaning

11.50 PM placing orders for the next day

12 PM leaving the restaurant

PB&F

PB&F or frozen peanut bun. I posted our peanut bun wasabi peanut bun wasabi and since we were using the batter, we came up with another idea. Gabe, who takes care of the buns, pipes the batter into liquid nitrogen. In fact it turns out to be a reverse cooking process, by cold this time. It looks like a smoking rock brittle like glass. The flavor and the texture are extremely good. The fat content of the peanut butter makes the mix melt with a great mouth feel. It is an idea to incorporate into new dishes that we will be developing shortly. Praline should be working as well for sweet, or white asparagus cream for savory. We we'll see.