Category Archives: food

Turducken!

Turducken!

 

My brother has nagged me to get a Turducken for Christmas dinner for a couple years… I think mostly because he thinks it would be funny, not so much because he wants to eat one. But, this year I ordered one from a meat shop in San Jose that has pretty good Yelp reviews for their turducken.

For $135, we got a turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. All deboned & full of stuffing. I baked it for about 17 hours (initially at 190F, then later at 350F) and fed eight people. We finished about a third of the bird. This turducken was far better than the one we had tried for Christmas dinner a few years ago — that one was a log of meat, supposedly a turkey on the outside, but it had been deboned/processed enough that it didn’t resemble much. Also, it cooked up into a dry log, unlike this one. I suspect leaving the skin on the duck and the chicken based the turducken from the inside.

I won’t get another one for a long time — but as far as novelty items and large protein sources go, this one was pretty awesome.

Atelier Crenn

After reading about coworkers’ glowing recommendations of Atelier Crenn, Shamiq and I ate there this last Saturday. We opted for the shorter 5-course, $95 menu. Overall I found the food satisfying, inventive and well matched.

I did have a major case of menu-envy as I watched the tables around us enjoy the longer Chefs Grand Tasting Menu ($160). I’d like to go back and try the longer menu since the presentation seemed more whimsical and over-the-top. Four of our five dishes were from the longer tasting though, so I’ll wait till the menu changes, perhaps to spring or summer.

Amuse Bouche: White chocolate shell filled with apple cider.
I managed to explode the first one on myself, so they brought me a new one. Lesson learned, keep your mouth shut.

First course: Grains & Seeds, Dashi, Yuzu Kosho

I wish I could eat this for breakfast everyday. I found the broth very slightly too salty, but I tipped the bowl away and the mix of grains was both interesting and delicious.

A palate cleanser of hibiscus and some sort of sorbet. I don’t remember. :( But it was lightly flavored and I love the flavor of hibiscus.

Second Course: The Sea. Grilled shellfish, fish, uni & fennel.

The seafood was perfectly grilled, the uni was super fresh (none of that hint of sewer) and the fennel was a great pairing.

Brioche. I found it lacking. The crust was a bit… mealy, I’m not sure why. It was warm and soft, so not too many complaints, but I thought it was the weakest part of the meal.

Course Three: Walk in the forest

A mix of mushrooms, pine meringue & lots of other subtle but unique flavors. Most interesting was that it was a horizontal plate, and the flavoring of the mushrooms seemed to go from savory to sweet from one end to the other.

The other side of the walk in the forest. One mushroom tasted like steak.

Course Four: Ocean & Land

Quail, squid ink, black sesame and sea grapes. The quail was perfectly cooked, medium rare with crisp skin and appropriate garnishes. The sea grapes were a novel and interesting touch, textually… but they don’t seem to taste like much.

Our Cheese course, a $20 add-on. Three cheeses, walnut bread and wild flower honey.

Course Five: Betterave (Dessert)

I’m not sure why the course is called that on the menu… But, beet sorbet, grains (a nice book ending touch with the first course) and a chocolate beet root. I love beets. I want more beet sorbet. But less chocolate roots.

Mignardises: Strawberry gelee, some sort of citrus marshmallow and a salted caramel that didn’t fit my Santa-Gnome theme so I didn’t include it in the picture.

And an obligatory slightly creepy photo of Crenn from a distance. She did stop by our table twice, make small talk with us and was really nice (and told us all to eat more).

 

Banana Bread Science

(left to right, banana breads 1, 2& 3. recipes below)

Before the Thanksgiving break, I took home all the bananas the snack staff at work had on hand since they were going to throw them away in anticipation of the holiday. What better to do with over a dozen bananas than some banana bread science?

Recipe 1: Courtesy of my roommate, http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/banana_bread/ – 3 bananas

Recipe 2: Cook’s Illustrated’s “Ultimate Banana Bread” (membership required) – 6 bananas

Recipe 3: Cooks Illustrated’s “The Best Banana Bread” (membership also required) – 3 bananas and yogurt

I took half of each loaf to work and had people take small samples of each and cast anonymous votes. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of banana bread 1. Banana bread 1, however, also has the most sugar, so that very likely affects peoples preferences.

Other notes, banana bread 6 had more banana flavor than 3, but probably needed more sugar. 3 was the clear loser.

I’ll try this again with even amounts of sugar.

Science is a good reason to stuff yourself with banana bread.

Attempting Rolls

Shamiq and I wanted to try to make our own rolls.

Turns out it’s pretty hard to make them look pretty. Instead they look more like modern art.

But it was a tasty endeavor.

Persimmon Starfish Pie

Last week, I made a persimmon pie for Kelly’s Friendsgiving dinner. I used a store bought crust because it was getting late, then adapted an apple pie recipe. I, belatedly, realized that using a 9inch store bought pie crust isn’t enough to make a lattice, so I cut some stars out and ended up with a pie that looks a little like starfish climbing over persimmon rocks.

Persimmon Pie
Adapted from this apple pie recipe

2 9in pie crusts, one for the top and one for the bottom
6-8 Fuyu persimmons, peeled and sliced (or however many you need to fill the shell)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3 tbsp flour
1/8 cup water
1/8 cup rum (or sub with water)
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2tsp all spice
1/2 tsp ginger

1.  Preheat the oven to 425 F
2. Melt the butter in a pan, add flour to form a paste.
3. Add water, rum, sugar & spices, reduce temperature and simmer
4. Fill the bottom crust with persimmon slices, put on the top crust (lattice or what have you)
5. Slowly pour the butter-sugar mixture over it
6. Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 350 F. Bake another 30-40 minutes, until the crust is golden brown. (I like my persimmons to not be blobs of mush. If you like them mushy, cook a little longer)

State Bird Provisions

State Bird Provisions serves most of it’s food dim sum style — on carts that are pushed around.

State Bird is super, incredibly popular right now. Shamiq and I were lucky to get a table in September and I’m going back tomorrow! It seemed like a good time to revisit what I ate last time and do something with the pictures…

Avocado something, tortilla chips, seafood salsa

Salmon & corn salad with heirloom tomatoes. I really liked the flavor combination in this dish.

Guinea hen dumplings in broth. Good, but very mild. Probably the dish that stood out to me the least.

Fried bread with burrata, one cannot go wrong with carbs and fat.

Short stack: corn pancakes, garlic chives, mt tam. I’m stealing this flavor combination.

Cocoa nib flatbread, chantrelle paste, cured yolks. This was magic. I’ve since tried to cure my own yolks, but I have no hope of recreating the flatbread or the chantrelle paste. Must go back.

State Bird with Provisions. I guess this is the dish they’re named for. It was good, but not as good as some of the other dishes. I propose they rename themselves to “Short Stack,” or “Magic Flatbread with Stuff.”

Steak tartar with shishitos.

Yeasted sesame pancake with bocalones.

Fried eggplant with avocado aioli. I love eggplants.

Japanese cheesecake with strawberries and tomatoes. Good, but paled in comparison to…

Fig ice cream sandwiches of amazingness. I think it’s both the flavor combination and being really, really well made.

Favorite dishes: Salmon + corn, Flatbread, Short stack & Ice cream sandwiches
Total cost for two, ~$110 (all of the above + a $6 pot of tea)

Brandy (Rum?) Cream

I made this persimmon pudding and accompanying brandy cream earlier. Persimmon pudding is one of those elusive things I had and loved as a kid, but I don’t remember much about the version from my childhood. This recipe was okay, but the persimmon flavor wasn’t very strong. Next time I’ll try another version, or perhaps, instead of rasins, chopped bits of dried persimmon?

The accompanying brandy cream, however, was great. Except I used rum, due to a lack of brandy. I could see this on any strongly spiced cake or pie.

Rum Cream Sauce: 
(adapted from here)

1 egg
1/2 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
pinch of salt
2 tsp rum
1 tsp vanilla *do another tsp of rum for stronger rum flavor
1 1/2 cup whipping cream

1. Beat the egg until fluffy, then beat in butter, sugar, salt, rum and vanilla.
2. Whip the whipping cream until stiff peaks form.
3. Fold the egg & butter mixture into the whipping cream.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Waffles

One of my favorite tricks for gluten free waffle making is substituting the flour for a mix of glutinous rice flour and cornstarch. You end up with a waffle that is still chewy, though a little softer and lacking that rich wheat smell I associate with… uh, things made of wheat.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Waffles:
(adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Pumpkin Waffles)

1 1/2 cup glutinous rice flour
1 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves

4 large eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk
1 cup canned pumpkin
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Mix together flour, brown sugar, baking powder and soda, salt, and spices. Whisk eggs in with buttermilk, pumpkin, and butter until smooth. Combine with dry ingredients. The Smitten Kitchen version has you beat the egg whites to soft peaks separately, but I’m lazier and I’ve been happy with my mix-whole-eggs results.

At this point, make them however you make waffles. I tend to find that this batter needs more time than the gluten-including original. On my waffle maker, this batter takes a few minutes at heat setting “3” — I put the batter in, wait for the green light to come back on, then wait another two minutes. Whereas the gluten-including version, I do at heat setting 4, taking them out when the green light comes on.

Eleven Madison Park

Eleven Madison Park!

Due to some last minute miscommunications about going to the Madison Park Shake Shack, Shamiq and I got a last minute table at Eleven Madison Park this last Tuesday. And this is what we ate —

Black Truffle And Parmesan: Savory Black and White Cookie

After the cookie, we got a 4 by 4 grid of ingredients to choose from. I chose foie gras, lobster, mushroom and plum. Shamiq chose langoustine, parsnip, squab and fig.

Sea Urchin: Custard with Baby Squid, Manila Clam and Apple

Cranberry: Gelee with Smoked Curds and Agretti

Cucumber: Snow with Lapsang Souchong and Grape

Eel: Roasted with Foie Gras and Swiss Chard

Sturgeon: Sabayon with Chives

They brought this bell jar of smoke out to our table and told us we couldn’t touch it. A few minutes later, they bought out more pieces for this dish —

Sturgeon: Smoked with Everything Bagel Crumble, Pickles and Caviar

The pickles — onion, egg, iceberg & some sort of crumb that was a bit too salty for my tastes.

Foie Gras: Torchon with Maple, Walnuts, and Cremini Mushrooms

Cutting it open revealed…

a pocket of maple syrup! It was so rich I could hardly finish my half.

Langoustine: With Fennel, Sour Cherries, and Clam

Carrot: Tartare with Rye Bread and Condiments

Preparing the carrot at table side.

This was my carrot tartare once I’d added in the fixings. Some of the options were pea puree, sunflower seeds, ginger, cheese, chives, and sea salt. I don’t remember them all.

Lobster: Poached with Escarole and Almond

Parsnip: Roasted with Sesame, Parsley and Dijon

Mushroom: Sauteed with Pine Nut, Quail Egg, and Bulgar Wheat

Squab: Roasted, with Plum, Kale, and Bone Marrow

We got a picnic basket!

Greensward: Pretzel, Mustard and Beer

The contents of our picnic basket — beer, mustard, pretzel stick, Concorde grapes, cheese. Delicious.

Malt: Egg Cream with Vanilla and Seltzer

Plum: Marinated with Jasmine and Cashew

Fig: Glazed with Orange, Sage and Tapioca

Huckleberry: Goat Cheese Cheesecake and Lime

And there was a surprise under my plate!

Pretzel: Chocolate covered with Sea Salt

The meal was book-ended by another black and white cookie, but we took those home to go. They were delicious the next day, but I’ve got no pictures. Oops.

To me, Eleven Madison Park beats out Alinea in terms of the food. It’s not quite as novel, but everything was very solid and many of the flavor combinations were amazing and unexpected (lobster and almond?). Shamiq disagrees, but to each their own!

Total Bill: Menu ($390) + Cocktails (2 x$8) + Beverage (Bottled water, $16) + Tax ($37.45) = $459.45 for two