L2O Blog

Like the 80's

Mont Blanc a classic french patisserie that you will still find at Fauchon or Pierre Herme's store in Paris. Meringue, chestnut cream and whipped cream are the three main components. I love it for sure and will never miss the occasion to have it when I can. We incorporate apricot into the dessert as a marmalade, pate de fruit and light meringue to bring some acidity to it. We also remove some of the richness from it, as after a meal, sweetness is good, but something too rich can be the killer. When we looked at the finished plate, we thought it looked like an 80's disco ball. The thing with classics is that sometimes you want to keep them just as they are and not change them too much, to keep it more as a memory rather than an invention.

Canele de Bordeaux

The canelé de Bordeaux is a magical bakery confection with a rich custardy interior covered by a thin caramelized shell. It’s a brilliant construction developed long ago by an anonymous cook in Bordeaux, whose recipe has been subjected to 300 years of refinements. Almost black at first sight, the first bite is bittersweet The crunchy burnt sugar shell makes an exquisite contrast to its smooth, sweet filling, fragrant with vanilla and rum.

Most recipes don't carry a story, but the canelé carries many. One of the oldest points to a convent in Bordeaux before the French Revolution. The story says the nuns made cakes called "canalize" with donated egg yolks from local wine makers. Wine makers use egg whites only to clarify their wines, and this is still true in some chateau today. Any records that might verify this were lost in the revolution, so the convent story becomes a legend. But the alternative story may be even better, it says residents of Bordeaux, who lived along the docks, took the flour that spilled around the loading areas and used it to make sweets for poor children. The small canelé molds, fluted and made of copper or brass, were nestled in embers to be baked. Whatever the actual story is -  the popularity of canelés has risen and fallen many times over the years.

The basic recipe calls for a cold batter to be poured into an ice-cold fluted, tin-lined, copper mold. They are placed in a very hot oven and baked for a very long time. After baking, the canelés are tapped out onto a grill while still hot, then left to cool while their exteriors harden. They are at their most glorious one hour out of the oven, within five or six hours they begin to turn spongy.

Sagoshi

Sagoshi, or young Spanish mackerel, is a fish that is two feet long with a silver skin who seems painted with a brush on the belly because it is so glossy. Because they are eating for the most part small squid and shrimp, the meat is rich in oil and has a strong character. It is not fishy, but it is for sure not an halibut type of fish. Where I grew up in Antibes, you can eat fresh sardine every day of the year. I love to eat them grilled, just few hours after they get out of the water.

I decided to fillet the fish and remove the skin and blood lines from the loin. The meat is very delicate and difficult to work. I like to split the loin lengthwise and work on smaller surface for better control.

Using a kombu cure for sahimi really compliments the meat.Kombu naturally contains glutamic acid, an amino acid responsible for umami,the Japanese word for one of the proposed five basic tastes. To firm the meat I season it with cherry blossom salt (cherry blossom preserved in salt then ground to a powder), splash a bit of rice wine vinegar over it and then wrap them in the kombu.You have to rinse the kombu under running water to wash it and soften it first. Only few hours are necessary to see and feel the meat changing. when you get to the point of curing you are looking for, remove the excess of seasoning. Then serving it sliced or diced with a simple garnish make it very satisfying.

Beginning to End

The beginning of a dish is of course related to inspiration, but on a technical level it relates to a technical knowledge that allows you to combine the components together. With today's technologies and the knowledge all the chefs are sharing, we have extended the possibility. Which is great.

But you also want to keep some personal style and change nuances to make the menu more dynamic. When we opened the restaurant we worked on liquid gel (a flavored gel which is emulsified to a liquid but firm consistency), dropped in an organized way over the plate. But even if you love it, it becomes boring, and after few weeks it is time for a change. So I started to use stencils with other preparations to spray and create, not only a garnish but a design or shape over the plate.

It gives you a starting point to the process of putting the ingredients together in a definite structure. There is of course a succession of plating and variations until it feels right and we agree that this is a good point to start the dish. As in any kitchen, the details will change over time, hopefully towards improvement. Flavors and textures are the most important, but the visual effect of the finished dish creates the first impression which is also very important. The wow factor creates a good personal feeling before the first bite and hopefully that feeling will will remain.

Salted Caramel & Butter

Salted caramel and butter are just magical words that at any time of the day can be a temptation. Caramel of course, but with salt. Salt has the power to enhance flavors and reduce the level of sweetness in any preparation. When you add butter melted into hot caramel, it just become a substance than you cannot even catch between your fingers.

As our macaroons have been very well received at the restaurant, the flavors have changed over the course of the past months. Lately Shawn, who is becoming the specialist of the macaroon, has incorporated browned butter powder (freeze dry butter browned in the oven) into the macaroon mix and baked them with successful results. It is not always the case with macaroons, a every time you change a flavor the PH of the flavoring can have a negative impact on the recipe. If the PH of the flavor is high it has an affect on the egg white and destabilize the mix which can become to runny. Sometimes a recipe just needs readjustment, or sometimes we just leave it aside.

But this filling, this uncatchable caramel, mixed with almond powder and more butter, really defines the salted caramel macaroon and makes one of my favorite flavors.

Surume Ika

Surume Ika is a medium size squid that weighs around eight ounces. In Japanese ika means squid, sum means ink, and mure is a shoal. When you are cleaning the squid, the goal is to be able to remove the internal organs without cutting any of them, so the squid does not need to be rinsed. This will allow you to keep the meat intact. I start by removing the fin first, then cutting the body lengthwise along the cartilage to open up the squid. Then I just pull out the organs, remove the outside skin and clean the meat with a wet towel. I usually split the body lengthwise, then trim the edges.  To tenderize the meat,  I use a knife to make small incisions on the surface meat, about 20 per inch. 

The plancha is really the best way to sear the squid, barely cooking it and keeping it tender. As a seasoning, lemon juice, olive oil and parsley is very pleasant. It also reminds me of the squid ink risotto with supions that we were serving at the Louis XV in Monte Carlo. Supions are tiny squid from the Mediterranean sea that require the whole kitchen team to clean them for more than an hour. But they are also wonderful.

Itogaki

In Japan, blue fin tuna (or Itogaki) is sometimes treated like dried bonito, or katsuobushi. It is salted and smoked, then is sold already shaved extremely fine for the purpose of being eaten with a cold preparation, like vegetable salad, raw fish or even raw Kobe beef. It offers a more subtle smokiness with a lighter flavor than the dried bonito. It can be combined  with tofu, like shown in this picture, to contrast the mild creaminess of the soy milk. Raw endive and grapefruit balance it with bitterness and acidity. Besides the dried fish flavor, the smokiness brings another layer into the flavor palette of any composition. It really works with lean and fatty meats. For fish, I like to combine it with yellow fin tuna, fluke or Spanish mackerel.  

Matsutake

Matsutake is the common name for a highly prized and sought after mycorrhizal mushroom that is grown in Asia, in China, Japan, Korea and a handful of other places around the world. It has been an important ingredient in Japanese cuisine for 1,000 years. They have a tradition there of giving mushrooms as gifts, it is considered very special. The matsutake grow under trees and are usually hidden under fallen leaves and the duff layer. The mushroom forms a symbiotic relationship with the roots of a limited number of tree species. In Japan it is most commonly associated with the Japanese Red Pine. In the Pacific Northwest it is found in coniferous forests made up of pine trees like Douglas Fir, Noble Fir, Shasta Fir, Sugar Pine, Ponderosa Pine and Lodge Pole Pine. Further south, it is also associated with hardwoods, namely the Tanoak and Madrone forests.

Matsutake are hard to harvest and therefore the price is very high. The Japanese matsutake at the beginning of the season, which is when you get the highest grade, can go up to $2000 per kilogram. In contrast, the average value for imported matsutake is about $90 per kilogram. Their magnificently spicy aroma, similar to a blend of pine and cinnamon, enhances wild mushroom dishes.

My first experience with matsutake was in Kyoto. I was in Japan during the season and didn't miss the occasion to dine in a vegetarian restaurant. It was a kaiseki style diner in a private tatami room alongside a small pound. There were first served cut into small quarters in a light broth, with wild barley and slices of sudashi lime. They were served again off of a teriyaki grill as a real delicacy. Their flavor and texture is really unique. Japanese matsutake are more flavorful than the ones we purchase from the Pacific Northwest.

At the restaurant we grill them whole, then shred them from the stem into small quarters. We season them simply with sudashi lime juice and smoked salt.

Mahimahi

The mahi-mahi is a dolphin-fish, but is well known by its Hawaiian name Mahimahi. They are surface-dwelling ray-finned fish found in off-shore tropical waters around the world. Even though the common name is  dolphin-fish, the mahi-mahi is actually a fish, and is not related to the dolphin family of mammals. Mahi-mahi has a lifespan of 4 to 5 years and catches average 15 to 28 pounds each. The compressed bodies have a long dorsal fins that extend almost the entire length of their bodies, with sharply concave anal fins. They are distinguished by dazzling colors: golden on the sides and bright blues and greens on the sides and back. Mahi-mahi is one the fastest-growing fish. They are fast swimmers also, with a top swimming speed of 50 knots. Mahi-mahi is carnivorous feeding on other smaller fish like flying fish, crabs, squid, mackerel, and have been known to eat zoo plankton and shell fish. 

We bought this mahi-mahi at the fish auction in Hawaii on Tuesday morning. It was delivered at the restaurant on Wednesday. The meat has a pristine texture, and a light pinky color. It is always a pleasure to cut and cook fish that has this level of quality. Mahi-mahi has a light and mild flavor and it is best-cooked medium rare.

Frosted to Clear

To give a sense of open space, but still create some intimacy, the restaurant space is divided by severals different elements. One of them is glass. We have large panels which have been frosted to opaque on the bottom and as you move up to eye level, the glass becomes clearer until it is normally translucent at the top. We are using them to divide the main dining room from our lounge area and our private room for parties up to ten guests. It gives guests on both sides of the panel enough of a separation to feel like they are in a different room, but still keeps a connection to it and shares the energy of the night.