In “Braise” by Daniel Boulud is a wonderful piece de la resistance. In this book he dedicates great time and care to braising. Braising has traditionally been used to make lesser or tough cuts of meat very tender and delicious.
Moreover in this book he talks about he nature of the restaurant business in New York City and how there is a wealth of knowledge to be gleaned from the various cultures that come to work in his restaurant. One of the first things he does with a new hire, from anywhere in the world, is gets them to make staff meal. Traditionally staff meal is prepared with left over scraps and junk that could not other be used. But don’t let this fool you, scarp from Beef Tenderloin is still beef tenderloin. Something I learned at Reservation when we would prepare duck. Beef tenderloin, striploin and the like into glorious meals that we all enjoyed.
Some of the ideas that I took from this book include; Ropa Vieja Matambre, Milk braised pork, Pork shoulder in Guinness and Braised Veal Sweetbreads. I took each of these because they were ways of cooking that I had not thought of. Especially when it comes to the milk braised pork and sweetbreads. I am excited to try them out and will let you know what spin I put on them.
Interestingly Boulud says; “I think braising is the best way to cook sweetbreads.” I had never even conceived of cooking sweetbreads in this way and can hardly wait to try it when C gets back.
Swami Vivekananda once said; “Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success, that is way great spiritual giants are produced.” Are you ready to be a GIANT?
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Daniel Boulud (file under Growth each day)
Daniel Boulud (who again I have written about before) is the consummate New York restaurateur. His pedigree is almost unmatched in the foodie world of New York City. As a chef given free range at Le Cirque his pedigree and skill became ever present and obvious.
Reading his book; “Cooking in New York City” I was in awe of what he has accomplished in a very limited time frame. The recipes in this book are both informative and look quite fun. While at the same time reveal the inner workings of a top notch Chef mind.
He says; “A great meal starts in the market… the fate of natural products hangs on nature’s whims. The marketplace tells the record of those events more surely than any written chronicle.” Truly a profound statement. One that seems second nature but I have not come across it so succinctly.
“Ideas are born in the market. An ingredient will speak to the chef, demanding in some natural, non evident language that it be served up.” This is something I have always believed. When C and I go shopping it is less about a preconceived notion of what I want to cook and more about which ingredients cry out to me to be paid attention to. Intuition in this sense has a lot to do with the way that I personally cook.
About specials he says; “Tonight’s specials – the serendipitous creations that surprise and delight Chef and diner alike – will somehow come out of the alchemic reaction of chefly inspiration and raw material.”
From the book I was also able to discern that during the day at Boulud he has 45 cooks, bakers and assistants between the hours of 6 am and 5 pm. This to me is an incredible number as I consider that at Reservation with its 3 restaurants we had no more than twenty or so cooks at any one time. This puts into perspective the work that gets done by him and his team.
One of his more interesting statements; “A restaurant is not just a kitchen and a dining room. A restaurant is a process, a piece of software, a way of organizing the efforts of scores of people and hundreds of ingredients and having them all come together as if nature had decried it.” I agree but also think that what I have seen and know intrinsically there is no way that nature decried it. Though at times it may seem that way. He says; “The fury of the kitchen belies its inextricable orderliness.”
His tasting menu consists of 16 dishes over 8 courses with 9 different wines. No small feat and it opens my imagination to endless possibilities for when I have my own restaurant.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Reading his book; “Cooking in New York City” I was in awe of what he has accomplished in a very limited time frame. The recipes in this book are both informative and look quite fun. While at the same time reveal the inner workings of a top notch Chef mind.
He says; “A great meal starts in the market… the fate of natural products hangs on nature’s whims. The marketplace tells the record of those events more surely than any written chronicle.” Truly a profound statement. One that seems second nature but I have not come across it so succinctly.
“Ideas are born in the market. An ingredient will speak to the chef, demanding in some natural, non evident language that it be served up.” This is something I have always believed. When C and I go shopping it is less about a preconceived notion of what I want to cook and more about which ingredients cry out to me to be paid attention to. Intuition in this sense has a lot to do with the way that I personally cook.
About specials he says; “Tonight’s specials – the serendipitous creations that surprise and delight Chef and diner alike – will somehow come out of the alchemic reaction of chefly inspiration and raw material.”
From the book I was also able to discern that during the day at Boulud he has 45 cooks, bakers and assistants between the hours of 6 am and 5 pm. This to me is an incredible number as I consider that at Reservation with its 3 restaurants we had no more than twenty or so cooks at any one time. This puts into perspective the work that gets done by him and his team.
One of his more interesting statements; “A restaurant is not just a kitchen and a dining room. A restaurant is a process, a piece of software, a way of organizing the efforts of scores of people and hundreds of ingredients and having them all come together as if nature had decried it.” I agree but also think that what I have seen and know intrinsically there is no way that nature decried it. Though at times it may seem that way. He says; “The fury of the kitchen belies its inextricable orderliness.”
His tasting menu consists of 16 dishes over 8 courses with 9 different wines. No small feat and it opens my imagination to endless possibilities for when I have my own restaurant.
Are you dreaming big and inspired?
A la prochaine
SDM
Alice Waters, Alice Waters, Alice Waters (File under There’s no Place Like Home)
I admire and respect Alice Waters beyond what words could possibly say. She is, as I have mentioned here before, the mother of California Cuisine and started with nothing more than the desire to cook good food responsibly.
Many of the twenty five or so books that I have read in the past week include Alice Waters as the writer of the Foreword, Preface or Introduction. By my count it is no less than twelve that I read this week.
As I have mentioned here before Alice Waters started Chez Panisse in California. She started as a novice with nothing more than the desire to make great food with great ingredients. Some of the highlights of her words follow here.
In “Fresh” by Janet Fletcher Alice says; “ To my way of thinking, the proliferation of farmers’ markets is the single most and heartening development in this country in my lifetime… Farmers’ Markets bring us the greatest variety of the freshest, tastiest, and most beautiful food there is, food that is neither wastefully packaged, cosmetically waxed, nor irradiated.”
In “A Celebration of Woman Chefs” Alice says; “There is something that women understand instinctively in a way that men, perhaps do not; that food is primarily about nourishment. Cooking is more than art; It is a daily sacrament in which we act out our commitment to each other, to society, and to the earth.” WHAT A STATEMENT! Think about that for a minute or two and I’m sure that it will bake your noodle just as it did mine. Such a beautiful sentiment, PERFECTLY WORDED. And I’m a man. Moreover she says; “perseverance and unswerving dedication are ultimately rewarded.” Good to know.
One of the woman Chefs I came across in that book is Deborah Hughes. And I must say that I really like her. She co owns the venerable Harvard staple Upstairs at the Pudding. The Pudding for those of you that don’t know was a secret society at Harvard and can boast on its wall the trophy kills of Teddy Roosevelt. She says that schools don’t teach much about; “the relationship between common sense, chemistry and the work ethic, and may be robbing young chefs of their intuition – You can’t be a good cook without intuition – You must learn the fundamental components and techniques but it takes your instincts to create.” WOW!
Another Chef I have always admired is Lidia Bastianich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidia_Bastianich). She says; “Food for me is really the protagonist. I can only transport food or exalt it.” And “The product is 50% or more of what I do. I have to embellish it or bring it out or dress it up a little bit – as simply as I can.” PROFOUND!
I also took the time to read Chez Panisse Café Cookbook, Chez Panisse Vegetables, Chez Panisse Fruit and Chez Panisse Desserts.
In the cookbook she says; "The concept of an open kitchen is a simple one: cooks and diners should interact and cooking smells should fill the room.”
In Vegetables Alice says and I find this very telling and important; “We didn’t know how to manage a kitchen and fill orders for dozens of different dishes at once, so we hit on a format we have stuck with ever since: one menu, no choices, one price.” Also very telling is; “A few principles have emerged… the finest food is produced and grown in ways that are ecologically sound.”
In Fruit she says; “Pay attention to what you’re eating.”
I am going to dedicate a full post to Waters’ Book “The Art of Simple Food.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired? And what’s more, are you working each and every day in pursuit of that dream?
A la prochaine
SDM
Many of the twenty five or so books that I have read in the past week include Alice Waters as the writer of the Foreword, Preface or Introduction. By my count it is no less than twelve that I read this week.
As I have mentioned here before Alice Waters started Chez Panisse in California. She started as a novice with nothing more than the desire to make great food with great ingredients. Some of the highlights of her words follow here.
In “Fresh” by Janet Fletcher Alice says; “ To my way of thinking, the proliferation of farmers’ markets is the single most and heartening development in this country in my lifetime… Farmers’ Markets bring us the greatest variety of the freshest, tastiest, and most beautiful food there is, food that is neither wastefully packaged, cosmetically waxed, nor irradiated.”
In “A Celebration of Woman Chefs” Alice says; “There is something that women understand instinctively in a way that men, perhaps do not; that food is primarily about nourishment. Cooking is more than art; It is a daily sacrament in which we act out our commitment to each other, to society, and to the earth.” WHAT A STATEMENT! Think about that for a minute or two and I’m sure that it will bake your noodle just as it did mine. Such a beautiful sentiment, PERFECTLY WORDED. And I’m a man. Moreover she says; “perseverance and unswerving dedication are ultimately rewarded.” Good to know.
One of the woman Chefs I came across in that book is Deborah Hughes. And I must say that I really like her. She co owns the venerable Harvard staple Upstairs at the Pudding. The Pudding for those of you that don’t know was a secret society at Harvard and can boast on its wall the trophy kills of Teddy Roosevelt. She says that schools don’t teach much about; “the relationship between common sense, chemistry and the work ethic, and may be robbing young chefs of their intuition – You can’t be a good cook without intuition – You must learn the fundamental components and techniques but it takes your instincts to create.” WOW!
Another Chef I have always admired is Lidia Bastianich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidia_Bastianich). She says; “Food for me is really the protagonist. I can only transport food or exalt it.” And “The product is 50% or more of what I do. I have to embellish it or bring it out or dress it up a little bit – as simply as I can.” PROFOUND!
I also took the time to read Chez Panisse Café Cookbook, Chez Panisse Vegetables, Chez Panisse Fruit and Chez Panisse Desserts.
In the cookbook she says; "The concept of an open kitchen is a simple one: cooks and diners should interact and cooking smells should fill the room.”
In Vegetables Alice says and I find this very telling and important; “We didn’t know how to manage a kitchen and fill orders for dozens of different dishes at once, so we hit on a format we have stuck with ever since: one menu, no choices, one price.” Also very telling is; “A few principles have emerged… the finest food is produced and grown in ways that are ecologically sound.”
In Fruit she says; “Pay attention to what you’re eating.”
I am going to dedicate a full post to Waters’ Book “The Art of Simple Food.”
Are you dreaming big and inspired? And what’s more, are you working each and every day in pursuit of that dream?
A la prochaine
SDM
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
