June242009

A time lapse video of our 24 hours of cooking this past weekend. Thank you very much to Colin McCabe and Mike Lee / Studiofeast for putting this together.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible!

More to follow.
June102009
The Le Mans of Cooking - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in 24 hours Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening In our ever-evolving process of self-punishment, we have planned our next event around the three (3) meals of the day. Indeed, we plan to cook for 24 hours straight. Good Diner, our nostalgia for the days of elementary school with all its concrete splendor, replete with pull down maps of pyramids and cartoons imprinting on our young and vulnerable minds the very elements of nutrition, this nostalgia has drawn a blank: Indeed we were shown what to eat, told when to eat, but we’re we ever shown how those very meals were to be prepared? In this glaring omission from our educational process, we hope to rectify years K-12, by preparing and hosting all three (3) staple meals of the day, in a single 24-hour period beginning with Breakfast, rounding around lunch, and finishing with a sensible dinner. In fact, our goal is to serve three, eight course meals that will be prepared entirely from scratch within twenty-four hours. We will begin preparations at 22:00 on Friday June 19th and serve our first breakfast course at 10:00 on June 20th, followed by Lunch at 13:00 and Dinner at 19:00. We will be working furiously throughout the night on Friday, to be prepped and ready for the Saturday’s event and we will be asking our guests to come and participate as much as possible, as we will be hosting demonstration and hands-on cooking lessons all night and throughout the day. As always these events are not only for professional chefs or just foodies, but for anyone with a love of food at any level of knowledge. We open our doors to everyone in what we hope is a communal environment of social interaction, education and fun with food. Why: Not only are we interested in the educational and theatrical experience of such a cooking tour-de-force, we are hosting this event on June 20th to raise awareness of the millions of refugees worldwide on World Refugee Day.  Despite the efforts of many, including UNHCR, the needs of refugees are far from met-particularly during this economic crisis.  Therefore, we will be raising money for UNHCR’s campaign “Gimme Shelter” whose simple message is:  There are millions of people worldwide fighting everyday for shelter, not just physical shelter, but respect for their basic rights and the capacity to live in safety and dignity. To support this important cause, please follow this link and donate to the Gimme Shelter Campaign here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/UNHCR-Djibouti/90881697732    Where: Brooklyn, NY – Specific location will be provided to confirmed guests Dates/Times for event: Friday, June 19th 22:00 – Preparation Begins Saturday, June 20th each meal will be served at the following time Breakfast – 10:00 Lunch – 13:00 Dinner – 19:00 Doors and bar will open to confirmed guest at 22:00 on Friday night Demonstrations and lessons will begin at 22:00 and will be happening all throughout the night and day. Price: Includes meal paired with beverages and all cooking demonstrations and lessons. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to the UNHCR Campaign Breakfast – $71 Lunch – $116 Dinner – $143 Lessons: Knife sharpening and basic skills (feel free to bring your own knives) Bread Baking Sweet/Savory Pastry How to make: butter, jam, crème fraîche, ricotta, hollandaise, mayonnaise, ice cream Chocolate Work Sous Vide (in a variety of applications of cooking, storing and compressing) Handling and butchering Live Seafood, Beef Working with modern ingredients such as agar, n-zorbit tapioca maltodextrin, carrageenan, gelatin… Menus: Breakfast: Croissant with butter and jam Charentais Melon, Bourbon, Bacon Slow Poached Eggs, Rarebit, Crumpets and Tea Asparagus Oscar Chicken and Waffles Red Leaf Salad, Tomato, Zucchini, Ricotta “Mozzareaps”, Agave, Saffron, Cilantro Maple, Bacon, Walnut Lunch: Pickle Plate Steel Head Trout Roe, Pluot , Mache, Bread Crumbs Cucumber, Celery, Tomato, Cress Asparagus, Red onion,  Pecorino, Egg, Black Truffle Soft shell crab Ban Mi Sandwich Canard Confit, Smoked Almonds and String Beans Green Papaya, Daikon, Pork Belly, Cilantro, Aji Amarillo Caramelized Pineapple, Crème Fraîche, Rosemary, Pine nut Dinner: Salmon, Meyer Lemon, Balinese Long Pepper, Molasses, Saffron Foie gras, Cucumber, Strawberry, Aji, Almonds Lobster, Aji, Key Lime,  Thai basil Chawan Mushi Beef Rib, Morels, Garlic, Garbanzo Bean Potato, Smoke, Egg Yolk, Chives Coconut, White Peaches, Sriracha, Lavender Chocolate, Cherry, Honey, Cream Menu was written with Daniel Castaño Beverage: Wines and Cocktails will be paired with the meals. With your RSVP include WHICH MEAL you are interested in attending as well as any dietary restrictions (even if they do not seem relevant to this meal). Seats will be allocated on a first come basis and will only be confirmed by complete payment. Cancellation policy: Seats are nonrefundable if cancellation occurs within 72 hours of the event. Seats are fully exchangeable. If you have any questions about the educational topics that we will be covering or dishes we will be serving please feel free to contact me. If you would like to tell people about these events or invite anyone specifically please forward the message along to them and have them RSVP to me directly. If you were forwarded this email and would like to be added to future email please sign up for the list at the site below. If you are getting these and they are annoying: I am sorry. I thank you all and look forward to cooking with you. Michael info (a) arazorashinyknife.com www.arazorashinyknife.com “The end of a novel, like the end of a children’s dinner-party, must be made up of sweetmeats and sugar-plums.”  Anthony Trollope

The Le Mans of Cooking - Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in 24 hours

Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening

In our ever-evolving process of self-punishment, we have planned our next event around the three (3) meals of the day. Indeed, we plan to cook for 24 hours straight. Good Diner, our nostalgia for the days of elementary school with all its concrete splendor, replete with pull down maps of pyramids and cartoons imprinting on our young and vulnerable minds the very elements of nutrition, this nostalgia has drawn a blank: Indeed we were shown what to eat, told when to eat, but we’re we ever shown how those very meals were to be prepared?

In this glaring omission from our educational process, we hope to rectify years K-12, by preparing and hosting all three (3) staple meals of the day, in a single 24-hour period beginning with Breakfast, rounding around lunch, and finishing with a sensible dinner.

In fact, our goal is to serve three, eight course meals that will be prepared entirely from scratch within twenty-four hours. We will begin preparations at 22:00 on Friday June 19th and serve our first breakfast course at 10:00 on June 20th, followed by Lunch at 13:00 and Dinner at 19:00.

We will be working furiously throughout the night on Friday, to be prepped and ready for the Saturday’s event and we will be asking our guests to come and participate as much as possible, as we will be hosting demonstration and hands-on cooking lessons all night and throughout the day.

As always these events are not only for professional chefs or just foodies, but for anyone with a love of food at any level of knowledge. We open our doors to everyone in what we hope is a communal environment of social interaction, education and fun with food.

Why:

Not only are we interested in the educational and theatrical experience of such a cooking tour-de-force, we are hosting this event on June 20th to raise awareness of the millions of refugees worldwide on World Refugee Day.  Despite the efforts of many, including UNHCR, the needs of refugees are far from met-particularly during this economic crisis.  Therefore, we will be raising money for UNHCR’s campaign “Gimme Shelter” whose simple message is:  There are millions of people worldwide fighting everyday for shelter, not just physical shelter, but respect for their basic rights and the capacity to live in safety and dignity.

To support this important cause, please follow this link and donate to the Gimme Shelter Campaign here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/UNHCR-Djibouti/90881697732

 

 Where:

Brooklyn, NY – Specific location will be provided to confirmed guests

Dates/Times for event:

Friday, June 19th

22:00 – Preparation Begins

Saturday, June 20th each meal will be served at the following time

Breakfast – 10:00

Lunch – 13:00

Dinner – 19:00

Doors and bar will open to confirmed guest at 22:00 on Friday night

Demonstrations and lessons will begin at 22:00 and will be happening all throughout the night and day.

Price: Includes meal paired with beverages and all cooking demonstrations and lessons. A portion of ticket sales will be donated to the UNHCR Campaign

Breakfast – $71

Lunch – $116

Dinner – $143

Lessons:

Knife sharpening and basic skills (feel free to bring your own knives)

Bread Baking

Sweet/Savory Pastry

How to make: butter, jam, crème fraîche, ricotta, hollandaise, mayonnaise, ice cream

Chocolate Work

Sous Vide (in a variety of applications of cooking, storing and compressing)

Handling and butchering Live Seafood, Beef

Working with modern ingredients such as agar, n-zorbit tapioca maltodextrin, carrageenan, gelatin…

Menus:

Breakfast:

  1. Croissant with butter and jam
  2. Charentais Melon, Bourbon, Bacon
  3. Slow Poached Eggs, Rarebit, Crumpets and Tea
  4. Asparagus Oscar
  5. Chicken and Waffles
  6. Red Leaf Salad, Tomato, Zucchini, Ricotta
  7. “Mozzareaps”, Agave, Saffron, Cilantro
  8. Maple, Bacon, Walnut

Lunch:

  1. Pickle Plate
  2. Steel Head Trout Roe, Pluot , Mache, Bread Crumbs
  3. Cucumber, Celery, Tomato, Cress
  4. Asparagus, Red onion,  Pecorino, Egg, Black Truffle
  5. Soft shell crab Ban Mi Sandwich
  6. Canard Confit, Smoked Almonds and String Beans
  7. Green Papaya, Daikon, Pork Belly, Cilantro, Aji Amarillo
  8. Caramelized Pineapple, Crème Fraîche, Rosemary, Pine nut

Dinner:

  1. Salmon, Meyer Lemon, Balinese Long Pepper, Molasses, Saffron
  2. Foie gras, Cucumber, Strawberry, Aji, Almonds
  3. Lobster, Aji, Key Lime,  Thai basil
  4. Chawan Mushi
  5. Beef Rib, Morels, Garlic, Garbanzo Bean
  6. Potato, Smoke, Egg Yolk, Chives
  7. Coconut, White Peaches, Sriracha, Lavender
  8. Chocolate, Cherry, Honey, Cream

Menu was written with Daniel Castaño

Beverage:

Wines and Cocktails will be paired with the meals.

With your RSVP include WHICH MEAL you are interested in attending as well as any dietary restrictions (even if they do not seem relevant to this meal). Seats will be allocated on a first come basis and will only be confirmed by complete payment.

Cancellation policy:

Seats are nonrefundable if cancellation occurs within 72 hours of the event. Seats are fully exchangeable.

If you have any questions about the educational topics that we will be covering or dishes we will be serving please feel free to contact me.

If you would like to tell people about these events or invite anyone specifically please forward the message along to them and have them RSVP to me directly. If you were forwarded this email and would like to be added to future email please sign up for the list at the site below. If you are getting these and they are annoying: I am sorry.

I thank you all and look forward to cooking with you.

Michael

info (a) arazorashinyknife.com

www.arazorashinyknife.com

“The end of a novel, like the end of a children’s dinner-party, must be made up of sweetmeats and sugar-plums.”

 Anthony Trollope
March122009
At the end of October we sat down with our good friends Alex and Aki from Ideas in Food and wrote up a menu for a seven course meal that we had been kicking around for a little while. It was a difficult balancing act getting four such divergently creative minds to come together to create seven dishes that would then form together a cohesive meal. It was also difficult preventing Alex from adding courses when we weren’t looking as he was full of ideas that just weren’t able to be realized in this meal. This meal was the first of a style of event and also marked the first instance where we felt that we were able to really balance the theatre of the event with the open and warm social atmosphere as well as food that was executed the way we had imagined it. Menu:  1. Cervidae Tartar with Smoked Onion Rings and Cranberry2. Chioggia Beets with a Roasted Red and Yellow Beets Pasta Salad, Beet Curd, Aji Amarillo and Passion Fruit 3. Pumpkin Seed Risotto with Coffee and Ham Hock Lardons 4. Olive Oil Poached Halibut over Celery Leaf Gnocchi in a Lobster Mushroom Ragu 5. Skirt steak with Brussels Sprout Kimchee, Apple and Chicharrones 6. Pierre Robert with Walnut Ribbons and Pear Mostarda 7. Lime panna cotta and banana rocks with a banana sponge cake and key lime Menu Written with Daniel Castaño, Aki Kamozawa & H. Alexander Talbot Executed with H. Alexander Talbot, Daniel Castaño, Thomas Helmick, Cathy Erway and Kathryn Mahoney There are 17 Images associated with this meal I look forward to hearing what you think about them. Photo:Cassidy DuHonwww.duhonphotography.com

At the end of October we sat down with our good friends Alex and Aki from Ideas in Food and wrote up a menu for a seven course meal that we had been kicking around for a little while. It was a difficult balancing act getting four such divergently creative minds to come together to create seven dishes that would then form together a cohesive meal.

It was also difficult preventing Alex from adding courses when we weren’t looking as he was full of ideas that just weren’t able to be realized in this meal.

This meal was the first of a style of event and also marked the first instance where we felt that we were able to really balance the theatre of the event with the open and warm social atmosphere as well as food that was executed the way we had imagined it.

Menu: 
1. Cervidae Tartar with Smoked Onion Rings and Cranberry
2. Chioggia Beets with a Roasted Red and Yellow Beets Pasta Salad, Beet Curd, Aji Amarillo and Passion Fruit
3. Pumpkin Seed Risotto with Coffee and Ham Hock Lardons
4. Olive Oil Poached Halibut over Celery Leaf Gnocchi in a Lobster Mushroom Ragu
5. Skirt steak with Brussels Sprout Kimchee, Apple and Chicharrones
6. Pierre Robert with Walnut Ribbons and Pear Mostarda
7. Lime panna cotta and banana rocks with a banana sponge cake and key lime

Menu Written with Daniel Castaño, Aki Kamozawa & H. Alexander Talbot

Executed with H. Alexander Talbot, Daniel Castaño, Thomas Helmick, Cathy Erway and Kathryn Mahoney

There are 17 Images associated with this meal I look forward to hearing what you think about them.

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Cervidae Tartar with Smoked Onion Rings and Cranberry The tartar was made from the leg of a deer. We did a coarse chop with a set of knifes and got it into a proper 1980’s tartar texture, and tossed with some olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper and herbs. The onion rings were compressed in smoke brine instead of hot smoking them to give them a nice smoky flavor but to also get them to be nice a crisp. The smoke brine was then carbonated and used to make a tempura batter which also helped carry the smoky flavor as well. A sweet and tart cranberry sauce was put on the plate to help soften the flavors and bring a smooth richness in texture. Photo: Cassidy DuHon www.duhonphotography.com

Cervidae Tartar with Smoked Onion Rings and Cranberry

The tartar was made from the leg of a deer. We did a coarse chop with a set of knifes and got it into a proper 1980’s tartar texture, and tossed with some olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper and herbs. The onion rings were compressed in smoke brine instead of hot smoking them to give them a nice smoky flavor but to also get them to be nice a crisp. The smoke brine was then carbonated and used to make a tempura batter which also helped carry the smoky flavor as well. A sweet and tart cranberry sauce was put on the plate to help soften the flavors and bring a smooth richness in texture.

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Chioggia Beets with a Roasted Red and Yellow Beets Pasta Salad, Beet Curd, Aji Amarillo and Passion Fruit The Chioggia beets were glued into a sheet and the red and yellow beets were unpeeled using a planner and compressed with a spicy passion fruit dressing under vacuum. They were then cut into cut into linguine shaped strips and dressed on either side of a firm Yellow beet vegan curd. Photo:Cassidy DuHonwww.duhonphotography.com

Chioggia Beets with a Roasted Red and Yellow Beets Pasta Salad, Beet Curd, Aji Amarillo and Passion Fruit

The Chioggia beets were glued into a sheet and the red and yellow beets were unpeeled using a planner and compressed with a spicy passion fruit dressing under vacuum. They were then cut into cut into linguine shaped strips and dressed on either side of a firm Yellow beet vegan curd.

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Sheet of beetsAlex and Aki pioneered this process of using pectin or sodium alginate and calcium to create a fruit and vegetable glue that can impart flavor while holding things together. Here we created a dressed beet sheet that was sliceable. Photo:Cassidy DuHonwww.duhonphotography.com

Sheet of beets
Alex and Aki pioneered this process of using pectin or sodium alginate and calcium to create a fruit and vegetable glue that can impart flavor while holding things together. Here we created a dressed beet sheet that was sliceable.

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Alex explaining the whole process of gluing fruits and vegetable together with a sheet of beets in his hands. Photo:Cassidy DuHonwww.duhonphotography.com

Alex explaining the whole process of gluing fruits and vegetable together with a sheet of beets in his hands.

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Pumpkin Seed Risotto with Coffee and Ham Hock Lardons The process of pressure cooking pumpkin seeds to give them a risotto like consistence was another invention by Alex and Aki, while on vacation somewhere silly. In this iteration they were cooked with coffee and pumpkin stock. After cooking they were cooled and mounted to order with butter and the cooking liquid, dressed with ham hock lardons which gave the dish a nice smoky flavor. Sous Vide pumpkin balls where topped with a little pumpkin powder and parmesan cheese. Photo: Cassidy DuHon www.duhonphotography.com

Pumpkin Seed Risotto with Coffee and Ham Hock Lardons

The process of pressure cooking pumpkin seeds to give them a risotto like consistence was another invention by Alex and Aki, while on vacation somewhere silly. In this iteration they were cooked with coffee and pumpkin stock. After cooking they were cooled and mounted to order with butter and the cooking liquid, dressed with ham hock lardons which gave the dish a nice smoky flavor. Sous Vide pumpkin balls where topped with a little pumpkin powder and parmesan cheese.

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Compressed Pumpkin Balls Photo: Cassidy DuHon www.duhonphotography.com

Compressed Pumpkin Balls

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Olive Oil Poached Halibut over Celery Leaf Gnocchi in a Lobster Mushroom Ragu This is first step in the evolution of a dish we have been working on since august. It was conceived as a surf and turf style dish where the surf is represented by a lightly cooked flaky white fish and served over a earthy flavored pasta dish, here done with celery leaf gnocchi (double cooked potatoes with celery leaf juice used in the beginning of the dough making similar to spinach) in a lobster mushroom beurre blanc. We have since seen this dish evolve into an almost entirely black dish with black trumpet mushrooms and a black truffle beurre noir, where the fish is topped with black caviar and purple basil is grated on top like cheese. (more to follow on this soon) Photo: Cassidy DuHon www.duhonphotography.com

Olive Oil Poached Halibut over Celery Leaf Gnocchi in a Lobster Mushroom Ragu

This is first step in the evolution of a dish we have been working on since august. It was conceived as a surf and turf style dish where the surf is represented by a lightly cooked flaky white fish and served over a earthy flavored pasta dish, here done with celery leaf gnocchi (double cooked potatoes with celery leaf juice used in the beginning of the dough making similar to spinach) in a lobster mushroom beurre blanc.

We have since seen this dish evolve into an almost entirely black dish with black trumpet mushrooms and a black truffle beurre noir, where the fish is topped with black caviar and purple basil is grated on top like cheese. (more to follow on this soon)

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Lobster Mushroom looking radiant Photo: Cassidy DuHon www.duhonphotography.com

Lobster Mushroom looking radiant

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Brussels Sprout Kimchee getting its essential crispy side Photo:Cassidy DuHonwww.duhonphotography.com

Brussels Sprout Kimchee getting its essential crispy side

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Skirt steak with Brussels Sprout Kimchee, Apple and Chicharrones Double Thick Skirt Steak is a real treat. Skirt Steak is a very flavorful yet cheep cut of beef that when bonded into a double cut piece becomes otherworldly. Fresh off our Korean Pig Roast we really excited to get some of our left over Kimchee into some more forms. In this dish we compressed halved Brussels sprouts in a Kimchee puree to get the flavoring into all of the cracks. We then seared them off on a flattop to create a nice caramelized flat edge to them. This was pared with a Kimchee Chicharrones made with tapioca flour and Kimchee and a touch of water. These crispy vegan treats played the crisp spicy role in this dish while a smooth apple puree lent a touch of sweetness to the bottom of the plating. Photo:Cassidy DuHonwww.duhonphotography.com

Skirt steak with Brussels Sprout Kimchee, Apple and Chicharrones

Double Thick Skirt Steak is a real treat. Skirt Steak is a very flavorful yet cheep cut of beef that when bonded into a double cut piece becomes otherworldly. Fresh off our Korean Pig Roast we really excited to get some of our left over Kimchee into some more forms. In this dish we compressed halved Brussels sprouts in a Kimchee puree to get the flavoring into all of the cracks. We then seared them off on a flattop to create a nice caramelized flat edge to them. This was pared with a Kimchee Chicharrones made with tapioca flour and Kimchee and a touch of water. These crispy vegan treats played the crisp spicy role in this dish while a smooth apple puree lent a touch of sweetness to the bottom of the plating.

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Kimchee Chicharrones before frying Photo:Cassidy DuHonwww.duhonphotography.com

Kimchee Chicharrones before frying

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
4PM
Kimchee Chicharrones after frying Photo: Cassidy DuHon www.duhonphotography.com

Kimchee Chicharrones after frying

Photo:
Cassidy DuHon
www.duhonphotography.com
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