The True Cure

Organic Squash

2011-05-24T13:54:00.000-04:00

We recently received close to probably 100lb of organic squash from Hammock Hollows Farm in north Florida, and they are just beautiful. There is so much squash we could put it on every dish on the menu, and still have tons left to use. So for the tasting menu tonight, I was trying to create a dish the was relative simple, but still had some complex flavors, and allowed the squash to be showcased.

For the squash: I sliced them super thin, seasoned with j leblanc olive oil, fleur de sel, and compressed 5 times to break down the cell walls. Then I fill them with a truffle/ricotta filling.

Next I made a consomme from the squash. This is where I really wanted the complexity and flavors to come through. I made a very well seasoned "squash soup."

Next I clarified the soup using a .25% agar base.

Here is the final dish, Squash 'Raviolo,' Squash Consomme, Maitake Soil, Basil, Nasturtium

The plate up needs a bit of touching up, and it the oil got a bit muddled when I tried to move into better light, but I was pleased with the flavors, and had some good feedback from a couple of the servers who are always willing to try anything.

This dish will be served cold, and has just a touch of acid and slightest hint of spice to open up the palate. And is so light, but with such complex flavors that it lingers just enough to keep you interested until the second course arrives.

corn

2011-05-24T13:30:00.000-04:00

This post will be brief, but the other day as I was prepping for diner service and cutting the cornbread for the nights service I was trying to think of something to do with all of the waste. So, I decided to make a cornbread ice cream. I had never done it or tried it, but it was awesome. I was really pleased with how it turned out.

I took the scraps and made a concentrated cornbread base, and also charred off some corn and added it to the liquid. This is the base in the gelato machine.

The other night for the amuse I decided to do a dish based solely around corn. This is what I came up with

Cornbread Ice Cream, Corn Silk, Freeze Dried Corn, Pulverized Cornbread

Chicken Rillette

2011-04-07T02:34:00.000-04:00

The other day we were confiting milk fed chicken from Pasture Prime in Ocala, and I had an idea I had been wanting to mess around with for a while so I decided to give it a shot. Its still in the works, but the concept is good. I kind of just threw together a bunch of stuff we had just received, but also I want to keep it seasonal, so will make some adjustments. Hopefully we can run it on the tasting menu next week.

The Compnents:
Crispy Chicken Rillette, Buttermilk-Dijon Dressing, Egg Yolk, Ramp Top Fluid Gel, and a salad of Green Apple, Ramp and Arugula.

Everything went together well, but needs to be tweeked and the presentation tightened up.

Creativity

2011-04-07T02:11:00.000-04:00

Over the past few months I have been talking to someone who I became acquainted with through facebook via her blog. She has been an inspiration and has got me thinking a lot, and has opened my eyes to some issues in my "professional life" that I feel were holding me back, but I am now more motivated than ever before and am ready to create. So, do the fact that my curing chamber has recently been lined with salt blocks and is now being used as a dry age chamber for beef, I will not be doing as much charcuterie, but hopefully will be able to share thoughts or ideas. I will be posting these ideas (hopefully good) and attempts at these ideas (hopefully succesful) in order for me to create. This being said, I would still love the feedback and for those of you still curing... I will give you my address and would love samples!!!

And please check out my friend Najat's blog.. The Pilgrim Chef. Thank you Najat

Quick Update

2011-01-12T01:41:00.000-05:00

I have still been ridiculously busy, but have also been busy curing, pickling, smoking, pretty much whatever I can get my hands on , but a brief update on a couple of things....

First off, I was able to get a few duck in. I made a pate out of the legs meat, heart, liver and kidney. Then I also made some duck prosciutto from the breasts.

Second, after four months the coppa is finally ready. So happy with how this turned out, I want to get 10 of them curing as soon as possible. Well, I guess 8 more, because I just got two more from Pasture Prime Wagyu today.

Here is the charcuterie plate we've been running on the tasting menu this week. From top left corner clockwise...
Duck Prosciutto, Mangalitsa & Wagyu Pepperoni, Mangalitsa Coppa, and the bottom left is Bresaola.

Bluezoo Nominated for Best Seafood Restaurant

2010-11-16T23:16:00.000-05:00

Todd English's Bluezoo was just nominated for best seafood restaurant in Orlando, Fl by City's Best. We would appreciate the votes of anyone who has been in or wants to help support us in our goal to bring the best dining experience we can to Orlando. Our focus is fresh, seasonal and substainable which is something we pride ourselves in. If you haven't had the opportunity to stop in, please do not hesitate to!!

Vote BLUEZOO Here

Epcot Fod & Wine

2010-11-07T19:22:00.000-05:00

As I said in the previous post, we have been extremely busy and will continue to be busy. Last weekend and this past weekend we had separate demos at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival. The first one with Torm Siverson of Pasture Prime Wagyu demoing his mangalitsa pig and the second with Chef Todd English, followed by a 7 course dinner at the restaurant. There is more about the Mangalitsa pig and the demo on Torm's blog that has pictures of the event and is worth checking out.

photo courtesy of pasture prime wagyu

I also recently did a tasting for a sous chef position at work which I was unable to get any pictures of, but fortunately did get the position, so here is the menu.

foie gras mousse
brioche butter, caramelized milk solids, minus 8 gastrique

crispy sweetbreads
garlic puree, heirloom tomatoes, fried caper vinaigrette

olive oil poached halibut
roasted boniato, preserved meyer lemon, ham hock broth

sous vide pork belly
braised kale, cannellini beans, pickled chanterelles

wagyu ribe eye
pickled beet fluid gel, baby root veg in different textures, arugula, bordelaise

"napoleon"
foie gras, preserved strawberry, frangipan, ice wine

Bresaola

2010-11-02T13:28:00.000-04:00

This will be a brief post, but yesterday I cut into one of the bresaola, and was pleased outcome. I probably would bump up a couple of the spices and herbs when curing, but overall the flavor was good. It probably would have a better texture if I had used something other the tenderloin, but when I get free meat I don't complain. Here it is...

Where to begin....

2010-10-23T19:32:00.000-04:00

OK, so I've been super busy that past few months, this being the reason for the lack of posts. In early september we were working on the new menu, then I went and spent a week in new york for star chefs (met some awesome people, learned a lot, ate some great food), took the first flight home for a 5 course buy out for 180 people, did a tasting for a jr sous chef position at work, and we're in our busiest month of the year and haven't gone to sleep since...

Dan Barber's Speck.... AWESOME!!

Corton. Sic dinner, sic food

The dudes at olives hooked it up and killed it.

...and we don't plan on slowing down. Looking towards the future I will be cutting into a coppa and our country ham here in middle to late november, so I'm pretty stoked abou that. Chef Windus, myself and Torm Siverson of Pasture Prime Wagyu will be heading over to the Epcot Food and Wine festival this week to demo the Mangalitsa pig. Just pulled out about 200lb of fat to be rendered for a couple of different applications for the demo. The on November 6th, I will be heading back with Chef Todd English to do his yearly demo, race back to the resraurant and do another 5 course meal for at leats 180 people (which is always a great time), and then we break down and get ready for a full restaurant buy out the next evening. So, it may be another couple of weeks before I'm able to post anything interesting, but we are still pushing ourselves and the restaurant and do still have projects in the works. Stay Tuned!!!

More Coppa

2010-08-19T15:56:00.000-04:00

This time I actually was able to procure these coppa myself, since I was working butcher and received the massive mangalitsa shoulders. These things are serious. I just recently got some beef bung in, and it is a good thing that I did because I'm gonna need them. I have rubbed these down with salt, cane sugar, garlic, black pepper, cayenne, fennel, espelette, smoked paprika, and some cure 2. They just went in a couple of days ago, so I will post more about them later.

I have really high hopes for these bad boys. The smaller chunks of mangalitsa that I cured like coppa turned out really good, so my fingers are crossed.

This is a small plate i did a few weeks ago for a guest who came in and had the tasting menu 3 nights in a row. We gave him different courses each night, and I was stoked that I got to throw this one in.

From Left to Right: Pickled Okra, White Cuke, Cherry Bomb, Melted Lardo, Coppa, Bottom: Pepperoni, Lonzino

Bresaola

2010-07-28T19:50:00.000-04:00

I have recently been cross training to work butcher on the weekends. This is not only good because it gives me a bit more experience and is something new to do, but also because it will give me a little bit of extra time after my shift to hopefully get the charcuterie project rolling faster. Now with that being said, the other day we received some beef tenderloins leftover from a chef's demo. So, I decided to try a bresaola. We haven't tried this yet, so I figured what better time than now. Since I have never done a bresaola, I am going based off of len poli's recipe for the most part. I am not smelling as much of the garlic or rosemary by using the dry, so depending on how it tastes, I may change this next time around. However, I will give in a update on those in the near future.

Here are a couple of images that Chef Windus shot the other night from a VIP tasting we did for a friend of his. There were more courses, but these included some of our house cured products. there was one more that had house lardons on it, but I didn't get a pic of that one.

House Smoked Pork Belly, Mizuna, House Lardo, Yuzu Pickled Watermelon, Compressed Watermelon, Watermelon Vinaigrette, Miso Powder, Candied Ginger, Micro Mustard Greens

House Lardo Wrapped Black Cherry, Black Cherry Noodle and Powder, Pure Butter Shortbread Cookie

A Failed Sopressata, but Good Mangalitsa Dog

2010-07-17T14:27:00.001-04:00

I cut into this sopressata about a month ago, and was quite disappointed. It had such promise. Great ingredients, a nice mold on the outside, and I cut into it at about 38% weight loss. However, something had not gone right. The outside of the meat had dried and hardened into what I can only describe as what was like a "rind." The smell of the meat on the inside,( although not discolored but not dried either) was not right and borderline rotting. So needless to say it went into the trash rather quickly. There were only two but disappointing none the less. Better safe than sorry. I used artificial casings on these and have noticed that they dry up really quickly and don't shrink like natural casings, but there was also something that didn't go right on the inside.

On a brighter note, Chef Windus and I made some mangalitsa dogs for memorial day weekend. The ones in the following picture are the ones that I smoked at work (Chef has his own smoker at home). Then I grilled them up for a little BBQ we had for my wife's birthday. They were a hit. Better than the $2 12 pack dogs we bought...haha.

Some More Mangalitsa Jowl & The first peaches of the year

2010-06-25T03:33:00.000-04:00

So this jowl was brined with some of the mangalitsa bacon, smoked and then sous vide. We are trying to come up with a new pork dish at work, and this is one of the concepts that I have been messing around with. The concept is there, but I am still trying to balance out the flavors.

We had a VIP come in for dinner tonight, so I sent them out a version of the dish. I didn't get a chance to snap a picture, but one of the other guys did, so I may post it down the road.

The Concept:
I sous vide the already smoke jowl @ 158' f for 24 hours in a mixture garlic honey, mustard seed, korean chili paste, peppercorns, etc.

Pickled Peaches with a mixture of cider vinegar, simple syrup, cinnamon, ginger, and red pepper flakes

the peaches were really soft, so i didn't really get the texture that I wanted. I may try compressing the with the liquid and dropping the bag into boiling water and shocking, and see if I can remove the skin without overcooking the flesh.

And I also made a Peach based BBQ sauce which turned out pretty good (a touch too sweet though).

So here is one we made up to taste.

ELEMENTS:
Sous Vide mangalitsa Jowl
Peach BBQ
Fried Anson Mills Grits
Pickled Peaches
Arugula
Parmesan
Burnt Onion
Freeze Dried Charred Corn (which was plated with NL2 to appears as if it was still smoking)

Mangalitsa Country Ham

2010-06-20T01:36:00.000-04:00

Again, sorry for the lack of posts. I have been pretty busy, but will try to catch everyone up on what has been going on slowly but surely. So, the country ham has been cured, dried, smoked and will hang for a while (we're going for at least sixth months, but we'll see what happens).

The ham was cured with a mixture of cane sugar, salt, cure 2 and some spices and allowed to cure for just a little over 1 day per lb. I wasn't sure if it felt soft because there is at least 2 inches of fat surrounding the meat or if it hadn't cured enough so i let it go a little longer. I rinsed it, patted it dry and we allowed a pellicle to form before Chef Windus cold smoked it for about 2 days. I rubbed the exposed meat with a mixture of lard, semolina and black pepper and red pepper flakes (i read a couple of recipes who mixed the spice rub in with the lard).

I can't wait to taste it. It smells great and the meat had a dark rosy red color to it after smoking. It smelled up the walk-in for a couple of days when it first went in. Smelled like a barbecue every time someone opened the door.

Now we wait...

Here is the ham the first day into the cure

Hanging to form the pellicle before smoking

After smoking. You can kind of see how the skin has become a deeper brown color

Been Busy...

2010-06-12T11:20:00.000-04:00

Well, I have been busy the past couple of weeks at work, however have been able to still keep up with the charcuterie. I have recently received a nice piece of coppa from one of our mangalitsa and it is in the cure, the country ham has been smoking and will be hanging soon to dry, and we have made mangalitsa hot dogs, which disappeared in a matter of minutes. I dont have any pictures to post right now, but hopefully soon I will be able to show what has been going on.

Overload of Mangalitsa Jowl

2010-05-21T16:57:00.000-04:00

I had a picture message from Chef Windus today and was not pleased with what I saw. The weight of the 2 massive mangalitsa jowl that I had hung in the curing chamber caused everything to come crashing down on itself. I am told that nothing was lost during this disaster, but it is still a bummer. I am off today, but Chef is taking care of putting it all back in. We have had to resort to using thick oven racks thanks to the weight of the lovely mangalitsa (but I'm not complaining). The soppressata will surely be done by the middle of next week, and the coppa feel like they are really starting to lose some weight. Our country ham will come out of the cure on the 24th and we are planning to cold smoke it with white oak for 18 hours or so. Until then....

After the accident....

On the left is 20lbs of Mangalitsa Guanciale which caused the accident!!

Pepperoni

2010-05-17T01:55:00.001-04:00

I was very pleased with how this pepperoni actually turned out, due to the fact that it was stuffed by hand using a pastry bag. There really weren't any air pockets (except for one or two tiny ones) and no smearing. I do think that it probably could have used a bit more fennel and definitely more cayenne or red pepper flake, but overall the flavor turned out nice. I pulled this one at 32% because it felt firm and the casing aren't that big. It dried for about 4 weeks. The rest will continue to dry, but I actually like they creaminess that you get on the palate. I think this is partly that it hasn't over dried and also that I used a mixture of mangalitsa fat and wagyu fat, and mangalitsa shoulder. This is probably the most expensive pepperoni I have tasted thus far. I really like using the mangalitsa fat because it so creamy even when dried. You can see in the picture the difference between the mangalitsa and wagyu fat. The wagyu has a yellowish hue to it (some of which is picked up from the spices i think).

The Chamber is Growing

2010-05-14T10:39:00.002-04:00

Here is an updated shot of the chamber. I have since rearranged it into rows, in which I can slide the older meats forward and hang the newer behind without much difficulty. So as it continues to fill up it will look a bit more organized. I do have a couple things I want to tackle here in the next week or so (N'duja, Boudin, and Summer Sausage), but we have the Epcot Chefs Gala, a couple of off premise catering events, and a big buyout coming up, so it will be tough to squeeze it all in. But for now, here is the chamber. The Pepperoni and Sopressata should be done soon, so some tasting notes to come.

More preserving and pickling

2010-05-12T18:17:00.000-04:00

I know this entry is kind of late, but nevertheless I feel it is worth posting. With all of the amazing produce we get in the spring (most of which is foraged and reeived in abundance when available) and even as busy as we are, it is often hard to keep all of it fresh before you use it and unfortunately lose it. So, i have (and for a little while now) been studying preserving and pickling through the use of sugars, salt and vinegars. We do a few different styles of pickling at work. The one we use the most is a quick pickle where we'll pour a hot pickling liquid over, say celery, let it cool to room temp before we ice it down and stick in the fridge for a day or two. Another is allowing the natural lactic acids to build up and ferment for things like sauerkraut and kimchi. A few of the other guys at work, along with myself have been messing around with different recipes and types of kimchi. The first one I did turned out pretty good, but was too spicy for most. Another one that was done, which was sweet and a little less spicy, was a kimchi based mostly around cucumber as the main ingredient. This was then pureed and allowed to drain for a consomme. The flavor is really nice, a bit spicy but very light and sweet from the cucumber. We have a couple different kinds going right now including a swiss chard kimchi (where i made a brine that is poured over the kimchi. a technique that I have never tried before) and another batch of cucumber for the tasting menu. The other one, which is great for most things is using a mostly vinegar and salt based solution for things like dilled verts, dill pickles, pickled okra, etc. However the most recent that I have been exploring is pickling flowers and fruits. The first attempt ending up in a mango vinegar, and my latest some spring onion blossoms. I used a mixture of water, sugar and a chradonnay vinegar. I wanted it to stay sweet, and try to cut some of the pungent onion flavor that the blossoms burst with, but not too much of it.

I have unfortunatley not messed around too much with preserves, but did have some nice strawberries come in for a VIP dinner, and was able to grab a couple of the extra pints and thought it was time. So, I did a mixture of vanilla, sugar, lemon juice, white port and starwberry. Can't wait to use these up in the near future!!

Hear is a shot of a couple of ideas that i've been throwing around based on two main ingredients: squash preserves from last june and a red mole.

Wagyu Tenderloin, Hasta la Pasta Squash Preserve, Red Mole, Cocoa Meringue, Soubise, Burnt Onion, Freeze dried corn powder, salad of roasted carrots and tops, Candied Marcona Almonds

Honey brined Mangalitsa Loin, Red Mole, Preserved Squash Butter, Spring Onion Pudding, Cocoa Meringue, Micro Cilantro, Candied Marcona almond

Charleston, South Carolina and Mangalitsa Country Hams

2010-05-02T02:35:00.001-04:00

I recently was able to take a trip up to Charleston for a couple of days (it worked out that my 2 days off for each week connected Mon and Tues, and Wed Thurs... Thanks Chef) and absolutely love everything about that whole area. The city itself, the history, the cuisine, the passion for everything they do, southern traditions, the towns surrounding Charleston,.... you get the point.

The first time that I traveled to Charleston was for my anniversary. My wife and I took a few days and went in to eat at McCradys restaurant. I guy that used to work at Bluezoo (Chris) had worked there and I had heard nothing but great things about it. We did the Chefs tasting menu, and it was one of the best meals I have had. All of the flavors married well together. Southern inspired dishes with local ingredients (most of which are grown by the restaurant), simple plates with such depth in flavor, and a mixture of classical and modern avant garde techniques. However, the one thing that I really wanted to try, the Charcuterie plate, i did not get the chance....

So, back to current times.... I was able to put a couple of days together to stage in the Kitchen with Chef Sean Brock and his team. They were very hospitable and I was able to learn a lot just in the two days I was there. I would love to be able to spend at least a week straight with them, just to take in all that they have to teach me. The amount of knowledge and resources in the kitchen is ridiculous. I thank them for having me and putting up with me for those couple of days and if you are ever in the area, you MUST check it out. The charcuterie program there is freakin awesome thanks to the Sous Chef Travis and one of the cooks Jeremiah. They really know what they are doing and have a tremendous passion for it. And YES, this time I did have the charcuterie plate and some of their bar snack menu items. This is what we had that I can remember. Fried Bologna with beer mustard, duck rillettes with cranberry ketchup, coppa, duck mortadella, a couple of different kinds of salamis, pickled cauliflower, house pickles, pickled green beans, and more duck rillettes (they are amazing!!!). Unfortunately I was only able to snap a couple of photos.

This is a pic of the kitchen setting up for service.

And here is a pic of some of their country hams. Had to weigh close to 40 pounds each

I almost forgot to take a pic of the fried bologna.... I was killing it!

We also have a country ham going and will be putting a couple of more in the cure when we get our next big delivery of Mangalitsa from Torm. This was cured with a mixture of salt, cane sugar, red pepper flakes, black and white pepper. I can't wait to taste this one. It will cure for at least a day per pound, then we'll smoke it and age for at least six months. Wish I had started one of these six months ago. Oh well.

Mangalitsa Coppa

2010-04-29T00:01:00.000-04:00

This is my first attempt at a coppa. Our guy at culinary classics is working on getting me an actual coppa, but for now I just used cuts form the shoulder of the mangalitsa. They cured for 15 days in a mixture of salt, cure #2, cane sugar, garlic, black pepper, juniper berries, and red pepper flakes. Then they got rubbed down with a mixture of smoked paprika, cayenne, red pepper flakes, some espelette, etc.

This is my first attempt so I hope they turn out good. The most fun came when trying to case them!!!

I also have recently done some pepperoni and sopressata with mangalitsa. It's great having all of these mangalitsa rolling in because I am able to use all of the scraps on my projects and the quality of meat is superior. The pepperoni is a mixture of mangalitsa scraps and wagyu scraps. Should be tasty.

Here is another mangalitsa belly that I thought was worth posting. We have a handful of these going. These things are beasts.

I'll post on my recent trip to Charleston, SC and stage at McCrady's restaurant soon....

more mangalitsa and a chamber upgrade

2010-04-18T02:35:00.006-04:00

The mangalitsa is now coming in more and more that is being featured on our menu, and we have all sorts of things going on. We currently have working 2 bellies (chef has them in his molasses brine) for bacon, all sorts of lardo, guanciale, 3 coppa, and we will be making some salami and pepperoni on monday. I really want to do a country ham soon, but then comes the waiting and waiting and....

The jowl are so nice. They look more like regular bacon than the bellies do (because they are so fatty). I cured these with salt, sugar, black pepper, thyme and garlic for 15 days, and they will prob hang close to 3-4 weeks. I can't wait to render these bad boys out and taste them.

I have also recently had an upgrade in a curing chamber. Its a good thing too, because we have soooo much fat that we have lardo hanging from the roof (ok, that's an over exaduration), but still we have a lot. Half of which isn't even done curing yet.

We have been trying a lot of different recipes, ratios, spices, etc. for curing the lardo to find out which one we like the best so you'll see a lot of different types hanging. I would like to do a side by side flavor and texture comparison once we have one of each type ready, but until then here's what we got!!

LEFT TO RIGHT: lardo di toscana, pimente d' espelette, smoked paprika (behind the pimente), sugar/salt/black pepper, garlic, lardo di colonata (which is berkshire not mangalitsa) and has been curing for about 5 months.

The bottom half of the new chamber.

gunaciale, lonzino, boar salami

And the old chamber... thank goodness for the new!!!

Pasture Prime

2010-04-14T17:14:00.008-04:00

The other day we had the opportunity to travel up to Pasture Prime Farms in Ocala, Fl to take a look at their operation. The property is beautiful, and rests on hundreds of acres of open fields and is surrounded by woods. Spring was the perfect time to go out and see the farm as everything is beginning to bloom and is bright green.

Their story up there is unique. Once a dairy farm that was forced to shut down by large corporations and government regulations, pasture prime shifted its focus and has been raising 100% grass fed Wagyu since 2007. They have recently begun raising Mangalitsa (a.k.a. wooly pigs, which we have been lucky enough to be receiving), Naked Neck Chickens, and Red Bourbon Turkeys.

The trip was not only informational, but was inspirational as well. I can't wait to get my hands on some more mangalitsa. I see some coppa and salami in the future and we have more bacon and lardo already working. I thank them for their hospitality the other day and also for their passion for raising such great products 100% naturally the way they do. You can find them at www.pastureprimewagyu.com and on facebook.

I have so many pictures from the farm, but will only show a few....

The Wagyu

Cattle dog in training

The old dairy farm

The Mangalitsa

Naked Neck Chickens

Red Bourbon Turkeys

mangalitsa

2010-04-03T02:08:00.006-04:00

Although we have been extremely busy with the new menu change, and the addition of a 5 course tasting menu and 3 course prix fixe menu, I have been able to keep up with curing (large things anyways). I must say before I start, that this is in my own personal opinion one of my, if not the most successful and tasty thing we have cured yet. MANGALITSA BACON! which really looks like lardo, but if rendered properly is soooo good. I cured it for 17 days, Chef Windus smoked it for about a day, and now we eat it. The best way to cook it is pressed between 2 silpats in the oven, but was able to do an amuse for my uncle the other night (with I had snapped a shot) which consisted of bacon wrapped wild striped bass, stewed dragons tongue (white) beans, burnt onion and truffle jus. I was really pleased with it.

I know these pictures aren't very good, but they give you an idea of the fat on these things....

We also have some mangalitsa lardo that has been hanging, and a bunch of chunks that recently went into the cure...

We're also messing around with flavor profiles....

Piment d'Espelette

Hot Smoked Paprika

Have some guanciale on the way as well.....STOKED!!

Spring pasta

2010-03-28T23:52:00.004-04:00

We have recently received our first batch of spring vegetables including spring onion, spring garlic, fiddlehead ferns, favas, english peas, and some flambeau radishes. I love spring vegetables the best out of all of the seasons. The flavors are so fresh, the colors are so bright, and you can use pretty much every part of each vegetable(and even though some of the vegetables are a bit tedious to clean, they are sooooo worth it).

So the other day the Chef de Cuisine, Aaron told me to come up with the idea for the pasta that would work with parsley root puree, (our first batch of) soft shell crabs and house made tagliatelle. So, I looked through the walk in and picked through some of the vegetables. I wanted to keep it as fresh and bright as possible. Simple, clean flavors.

What I came up with was spring onion used 4 different ways. Puree, Grilled, Braised bulbs (along with cippolinis), and burnt. I also cleaned and pickled the roots, but they're not done yet.
Then I took some flambeau radishes and compressed them with some meyer lemon zest, fleur de sel, and J. Leblanc Olive Oil.
I finished the plate with cherry tomatoes, arugula and meyer lemon vinaigrette, and the pasta is tossed in some butter, meyer lemon and herbs.

I tried to have one of the guys snap pictures of the plating process so you could see the bright, fresh colors.

this was for a vegetarian

Wild Boars

2010-03-10T10:08:00.003-05:00

I recently received some Florida wild boar from one of the servers at work. I deboned the shoulder, ground it with a 3/8" die and let it marinate over night with some garlic, red wine, dextrose, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, and some piment d'espelette. I then reground the meat and then the fat through the 1/4" die. Stuffed it into hog casings, fermented for about 36 hours at 74 degrees and the hung in the curing chamber. Since they were so small, they cured quick. This one had 45% weight loss after just 12 days. The boar is super gamey, but the "wintery spices" if you will, come through nicely. My only problem is that there are some minor air pockets in areas, and I didn't really get much heat from the piment d'espelette.

Mangalitsa

2010-03-10T00:52:00.011-05:00

I apologize now for the lenght of this post, but without further ado....

The other day we went to Ocala to visit Torm Siverson of Pasture Prime Wagyu and the first ever Florida raised and killed Mangalitsa pig. It was awesome to actually get to see the slaughter process from start to finish seeing as its been about 14 years since I last saw a pig slaughtered and 8 or so since my calf experience. I snapped a lot of photos, however I will try to keep the blood to a minimum.

the pig weighed around 300 pounds before the slaughter
and about 225 after cleaning

here he is rolling around in the mud

here is Torm with him before they took him in to slaughter

the pig is bled and prepared for removing the hair

the water bath the pig is placed in

removal of the hair

the pig after removing the innards

me and my march mustache admiring the size of the jowls

Since this was the first pig, we only received sample parts which consisted of the head, a shoulder, the loin and a belly. I was able to get my hand on some lardo, the belly, some jowl and the ears. This is what I came up with.....

Bacon

The jowl and ears were sous vide for 24 hours and then pressed.

And then it is seared and crisped up, it was pretty good

there are some cracklings too.....

Unfortunately.....

2010-03-02T00:51:00.004-05:00

Like I said I was planning on showing my trials, hopeful successes and errors. Unfortunately this is an error. Well, maybe not so much of an error, but an unsuccessful attempt none the less. In the previous post I believe that I talked about the fact that the casings were wayyyyyy too big for the loins. So after talking to a couple of different chefs, and Scott from sausage debauchery I decided to remove them from the casings, wipe down with a vinegar solution and hang bare. Well, as you can see in the following pictures I lost a couple to mold (which was my main concern from the beginning. It all started under the casing). I was however able to save three that were covered with white mold, thankfully.

this was actually two loins I cased together, originally there was no separation, but I pulled it apart to see how the inside smelled and of there was any mold. They smelled great actually, but the outside is whats scary. I am looking forward to cutting into the others though.

On a brighter note, I took a trip to Ocala to see the first ever Florida raised and killed mangalitsa pig from Pasture Prime Wagyu. I will post more on that soon, but for now you can check it out Bluechefs or Wooly Pigs.

Lonzino

2010-02-11T00:38:00.002-05:00

The other day I was lucky enough to receive some kurobuta pork loins from the banquet kitchen. I cured the loin with some cure 2, black pepper, salt, garlic, etc. I kept the flavors simple and straight forward (even though I was pleased with my Cocoa rubbed lonzino last time around) hoping not to hide too much of the natural pork flavor, especially since it's kurobuta. My only worries this time around are that a) I have never used synthetic casings (not very stoked about it) and b) they were too big for the loins after curing, so I had trouble getting a lot of the air out. I used my probing needle to poke holes and tied them as tight as I could, but don't know what is going to happen.

I am expecting these to take about 3 weeks, maybe a bit less since they aren't very big. After curing for about 10 days they were cased, hung to dry at 75' for about 16 hours and will cure in my chamber between 58 - 65' with an RH of about 75 - 80% (after the first couple of days. The humidity always gets jacked up when I first hang fresh batches in it). Here are some pictures of the loins before going into the chamber.

after curing

here you can see the one that most of the air didn't come out of

STOVE MONKEYS!!!

2010-02-08T13:29:00.002-05:00

The other day I received my Prosciutto T from stove monkeys. If you haven't checked out the website or any of the products you have to. The owners Matt Mytro and Anthony Lynch created a clothing line for chefs (as young chefs) that could be worn on an everyday basis. The shirts are super comfortable and the designs are SIC!!! They have a new line coming out soon and have been working with chefs to create shirts that best represent and support them.

You can check them out at their website Stovemonkeys.com, Twitter, and Facebook. You won't be dissappointed.

Preserved Cherries

2010-02-03T18:41:00.004-05:00

My parents are coming in this weekend for dinner, so I am messing around with a couple of ideas so they can taste some of the things that I've been making over the past year. This is the dessert that I am planning on sending them. It needs a bit of tweaking, but for the most part this is how it will be. I plan on sending this after the entrees as a semi-savory transition into the sweeter desserts.

Long Pepper Preserved Cherries, Frangipan, Brown Butter Powder, Amaretto Meringue, Tonka Been Ice cream

Prosciutto de Orlando

2010-01-29T00:43:00.007-05:00

Tonight I decided that I could no longer wait to cut into my suckling Prosciutto. I have been waiting months, and would wait no more!!! The only problem with charcuterie is the wait, but as they say, "Patience is a virtue." Well, I had waited long enough. The prosciutto had probably been ready for a month or so, but since this was my first attempt at curing a ham I decided to let it go as long as I possibly could without giving in...(and I did....both!).

I cured the prosciutto, rubbing it down with just kosher salt for a month. I covered the exposed muscle with a mixture of lard, semolina and ground black peppercorn, and I then hung the little thing at room temperature for about 72 hours, and then in to my curing chamber it went where it has been at about 62' F with an RH of 75 - 80%, with a constant breeze from my trusty little cool-eaze fan. It went into the chamber some time around early September, so hung for a total of about 5 months. Here is a picture of the finished prosciutto before I cut into it.

The yield on this thing was pretty bad (obviously) however my main goal with this project was to a) cure a prosciutto succesfully and b) prove that my chamber works. I feel that I was successful at both, and am more than happy with how my prosciutto turned out. Here you can see my yield after removing the semolina paste, skin and one of the muscles.

Clockwise from top: Semolina paste, muscle, skin, rest of prosciutto.

Now onto the flavor. I was happy with the way the flavor turned out considering the drying conditions are not quite as good as a barn in Parma. The color is a nice deep red. The smell is like a prosciutto, but is a bit gamey smelling (but in a nice aged meat way). It's almost nutty and grassy. The flavor is salty, a bit of melon at the beginning, but the finish is really gamey and reminds me almost of a country ham. (I wish my grandfather still had the property he grew up on in Kentucky. I would love to get into the old 'summer house' and hang some country hams.) The only problem is since the muscle is so small, I have to cut it with the grain, otherwise the pieces would be way too small. So, it is a little tough when cut this way, but what can you do?

These 2 are pictures of the muscle before I removed the skin

This is the cleaned prosciutto before slicing

Sliced and ready for tasting.....

Eat Local Week

2010-01-25T12:35:00.002-05:00

Today is the start of Eat Local Week in Orlando. You can find a list of the restaurants and purveyors involved at the Slow Food Orlando website. Here is a copy of the menu Chef Windus put together for Bluezoo.

3 Course Tasting Menu $39

1st

Cape Canaveral White Shrimp…
3 way hammock hollows cauliflower, pickled flambeau radish, meyer lemon vinaigrette
Hammock hollows herb co. cauliflower, radish, and meyer lemon,
Gary's seafood fresh florida shrimp

or

Rabbit confit…
maitake mushroom, truffle beurre noisette
Seely Farm, Dunnellon, Fl

2nd

Rosas Farms Grass Fed ribeye…
hammock hollows glazed turnips, baby sweet potatoes
Rosas farms beef, hammock hollows turnips
or

Florida black boar…
smoked shoulder, beer braised belly, celery root
Rosas farms boar, Orlando brewery beer

3rd
florida citrus pavlova…orange ice cream, citrus filled meringue, grapefruit gel, orange caramel
hammock hollows sunburst tangerines, Chinese honey oranges

TASSO!!!

2010-01-24T11:50:00.003-05:00

A few days ago I cured another batch of pork shoulder for the house smoked tasso. The shoulder is cut down into slabs and then quick cured, rinsed, patted dry, rubbed down with a mixture of spices and smoked for 12 hours. We then dice it up and render it a bit with some tomato as a base for the risotto on our "Dirty South Swordfish", which is barbecue rubbed and seared in a smokin hot cast iron. I'll try to snap a shot of the finished product and the whole dish and post it up soon before the spring menu change.

Here are some shots of the shoulder being cured....

Lardo

2010-01-10T23:47:00.003-05:00

When reading about lardo in books and online, I came across a couple of different ways of curing it. Traditionally I believe that the Tuscan "Lardo di Colonata" is rubbed in salt, a mixture of herbs, black pepper and garlic, then placed in a marble tub called a "Conca", which is then placed in caves for 6 months and then hung to dry.

I will do most of my belly in this traditional fashion rubbed with a mix of rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram, garlic and bllack pepper. This will cure for six months and then I will hang it to dry.

The second method I will do combines the method described in Rhulman's Charcuterie. They cure the fatback for a recomended 10 - 12 days (or until firm throughout). I will combine this with one that was posted on studio kitchen, where the fatback was rubbed with all of the ingredients and then cryovaced, which in theory should reduce the curing time. To this I added red pepper flakes, hoping that a tiny bit of heat may come through.

I will keep you posted on the results before and after hanging, and hope that both of these methods turn out.

the fatback

being salted

ready to be packed and pressed

cryovaced fatback, ready to be pressed

New Year, New Ventures

2010-01-03T01:30:00.003-05:00

I must admit, the past year has gone extremely fast. There were many short days, many long days; busy days and slow days. I was able to do some things that I wanted to, but not everything. I hope to be really busy this year with curing meats, making sausages, pickling, preserving, etc. (That's the plan anyways).

The first project that I have begun is some preserved meyer lemons that we got in from Hammock Hollows. The citrus they have been sending us is ridiculous. The Honey Oranges are super sweet, the tangerines are sweet and tart, and the meyer lemons are HUGE!!! They are the size of oranges. I will cure them with a mixture of sugar, salt, some spices and bay leaf. I am also going to be curing some fat back for Lardo starting tomorrow. I am going to try a few different ways of curing, and plan on posting that adventure, so stay tuned......

But for now Happy New Year!!!!

Service

2009-12-18T00:58:00.004-05:00

The Holidays are getting closer, but I will try to also snap some shots of what we do at the restaurant when I can (when my charcuterie is at a standstill) in order to have topics to post about. It is slowly starting to pick back up with the families starting to trickle in(Disney World is a busy time during the holidays), so don't know what I'll be able snap shots of. Nevertheless I will try my best.

Tonight the Sous Chef, Danny (a.k.a. Richard) was brainstorming and came up with this pasta which allowed us to utilize product we had lying around the kitchen. We get crazy amounts of organic produce from Hammock Hollows Herb Farm based out of Gainesville, Fl, but never know what he is going to send us. Today we had 8 cases of organic greens come in consisting of Red Romaine, Arugula, Carolina Mustard Greens, Blue Tuscan Cale, Baby Collard Greens, Mizuna, and also cases of Sunburst Tangerines and HUGE!!! Meyer Lemons (I have to try to remember to snap a shot of them... they are seriously bigger than naval oranges). We also get beautiful root vegetables, such as turnips, watermelon radishes, and kohlrabi from them. But back to the pasta....

So the Chef's pasta special tonight was 'Confit Chicken Thigh, House Pappardelle, Truffle Cream, Fall Mushrooms, Wilted Arugula, and Glazed Turnips.' It came out really nice. The great thing about running the Chef's Pasta special is that with the amount of great produce we get in, the possibilities are endless.

Pickle Crazy

2009-12-16T01:24:00.008-05:00

It was a few months back for my third wedding anniversary that my wife and I traveled up to Charleston, South Carolina. We stayed in a hotel just outside of town, but spent most of our time in downtown.

The first day we were there, we were lucky enough to have been greeted by the Sunday morning Farmer's Market. It was awesome!!! There was great food, crafts, produce.... I mean, what an experience. Later that night we had dinner at McCrady's restaurant, and it was a wonderful meal prepared by Chef Sean Brock's staff(if your ever in the Charleston area you must go). But one thing that I had noticed while at the farmers market, and that stood out to me while dining at McCrady's was all of the different pickled items. What a great way to add contrast and/or balance to a dish. You can have salty, sweet, sour or fermented pickles.

So, needless to say, the next day when my wife and I went shopping I bought a couple of old southern pickling books and have been at it ever since. If there is anything lying around the restaurant unspoken for, you better believe I'll take it in a heartbeat. Here are some of the things that we have done. Once again, most of these pictures were taken with my cell phone, so apologies for the quality.

From left to right:
Balsamic/Port Cherries, Spicy Vanilla Cherries, Gooseberry Preserves, Pickled Sunchokes.

From left to right:
Spicy Mango Vinegar, Hasta la Pasta Squash Preserves, More Gooseberry's, Longpepper Cherries.

From left to right:
Sweet Pickle Chips, Chef Windus' Schichimi Carrots.

Pickled Organic Okra

Pickled Hot Peppers

FARMING

2009-12-13T15:19:00.005-05:00

So Chef Windus told me the other day that he is planning on clearing off some land he has. I'm pretty stoked about it. He told me that he plans on raising pigs at first, and then seeing how it goes from there. Now don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of farm to table and buying local produce, however am a bigger fan of MEAT. So, I will be helping him clear off the land and hopefully will be able to have my hand in a good bit of learning how to raise the pigs and will be able to help as well. I'll probably do some mini posts about it, but it can be followed to the full extent @bluechef. Here is picture that Chef took of the land.

suckling prosciutto

2009-11-30T22:50:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture of my suckling prosciutto. It has been hanging for a couple of months now. This is based off of len poli's recipe for the traditional way to make prosciutto. After about a month of curing it was rubbed down with a mixture of semolina, black pepper and lard and will hang at 60 degrees with 65% RH for a total of about 6 months. It could probably go a little less, due to the fact that it is a rather small suckling ham. Hope it turns out!!! Here are some pictures of it drying.

Sorry the photos are poor quality, they were taken on my cell phone.

LONG time, NO updates

2009-10-12T22:57:00.005-04:00

WOW!! So, it has been quite a while since i've posted anything, or done much of anything extra while at work. The busy season is upon us and I quite frankly haven't had the time to get to mess around with much. EXCEPT!!!!.... A suckling prosciutto that I cured for about a month and have recently hung, but more on that much later.

Here are the updates on my Salami and Merguez (and no I didn't wait this long to taste them..ha). I will start with the Merguez. I didn't think the flavor was that bad for my first attempt. There was a nice heat and salt level, however the recipe said to dry it for at least 18 days, (which was thoroughly bashed by one of the sous chefs of the resort, and I agrre with) which was probably about 15 days too long. Nevertheless, I was still able to get a nice mold growth, which I was stoked about.

The Lamb Salami I was very pleased with, except for 1 minor error... I cut the fat way too big, and do to my lack of inexperience thought that it would shrink with the meat. If it did, it wasn't by much. However, the flavor turned out really well I thought. It could have used more heat, but had a nice salami flavor with a nice hint of fennel, and then the SUPER creaminess of the fat wasn't bad with some crackers. Overall I was pleased and look forward to new adventures hopefully in the near future.

These are some of the really fatty pieces. There were others which turned out nice with a better meat to fat ratio.

Kimchi

2009-08-03T01:24:00.006-04:00

So, the other day Chef Windus showed me a lexan full of brussel sprouts and said "kimchi." I had already written down a recipe a week or so before, because I was talking with the junior sous chef about stuff in our walk-in that we could try the flavors with. So sure enough, I pulled out my notebook and said "I got this." Chef cleaned them and quartered them, and I soaked them for 4 hours at room temp in a salt brine. Then I made a paste from fish sauce (didn't have any shrimp paste), red pepper flakes (no Korean pepper either), garlic, ginger, scallions, sesame seeds and sesame oil. This paste would actually be a delicious dip for a crudite (in my opinion) if you can handle the heat. Next I grated some black radish over the drained and rinsed brussels, threw in some chopped scallions, and mixed everything together. We only fermented it for 3 days (according to the recipe), but I would like to try again and move to the fridge at different intervals and see how far we could take it. The true test comes Tuesday when we'll taste it. I know that it continues to ferment, but am nevertheless excited to taste it as soon as i can.

Here is a quick updated shot of the Merguez after 2 weeks of drying...

And here is a shot of my only spot to store the products for now...

From Left to Right: american honey bacon, smoked merguez, mole lonzino, lamb salami, and the dried merguez.

lonzino and updates

2009-07-30T02:54:00.004-04:00

I recently did a mole rubbed lonzino (got the idea from Grant at Blackhoof) with some of the suckling loins left over from our pigs. The spice rub was an adaptation of a rub we did at Beacon (when I was in New York) with a couple of spices (that I wanted to throw in), plus cure 2, salt, etc. I had never made a lonzino, but it was pretty easy. They dried up SUPER quick. They were at about 58% water loss after about 2 weeks or so, maybe. Needless to say they turned out good. There is just the hint of cocoa (I would have liked there to maybe be some heat), a nice saltiness, and a nice gamey pork finish. I was thinking it would make a good amuse with pickled corn and candied pumpkin seed powder. I'll have to try it out, maybe throw the idea at Chef. I also weighed one of my Lamb Salami today and it is right about 33% weight loss, but still feels a little soft (gonna check it in another 5 to 7 days) so I put it back into the chamber. Right now i'm hanging right around 60' with an RH of 80 - 84% (which i'm having trouble controlling due to the small size of my chamber), but all in all everything seems to be moving right along with no major problems (got a nice mold growing).

Lamb and more Lamb

2009-07-22T12:45:00.006-04:00

I was looking through the freezer at work and came across some lamb shoulders that were in there from the past menu change. So, I went home and looked through "The Art of Making Fermented Sausages," and came across the Merguez recipe (we added some zaatar spice as well). Talked it over with Chef Windus, and decided that it would be an easy enough recipe for us to execute. (The reason that I like Marianski's book is that all of the sausages are fermented and then smoked/dried or dried.) However, when I got over to the commissary the grinder is a hand cranked grinder/stuffer combo, and let me just say that I worked out twice that day. Anyways here are some pictures of the Merguez at day 1 and a shot I snapped at day 5. My chamber is super humid, but I just have to kind of monitor it everyday, and often times crack the door to let some moisture out. Overall I was pleased with the flavor (a nice subtle heat).

Now that the Merguez was working, I still had about 3 lbs of Lamb left over, so I thought why not try to make a Salami. I didn't use a recipe for this one, just some basic guidelines for a normal salami (cure weights, bactoferm, etc.) and then added what spices I thought would be good (fennel, black pepper, crushed red pepper, red wine...nothing too crazy). This one was definitely a challenge for me though. Everything was going smoothly since I used an electric grinder this time, however since it was such a small recipe, I wanted to just hurry up and get it done before service (which hurry up didn't happen...and by hurry up I mean pipe it into casings instead of walking over to the other hotel and use the stuffer). Nevertheless it turned out well. The salamis are incubating right now, and I will hang them in a couple of days.

Guanciale

2009-07-20T01:31:00.007-04:00

When Chef Todd English was in town, we had tons of sucklings in, so I took about 6 or so of the heads and decide to de-jowl them. Now, the jowl of a suckling is super small compared any normal 200 - 300 lb pig (obviously). Nevertheless, I decided to go ahead and try to cure them and make guanciale. I did the basic cure out of Rhulman's Charcuterie book to about 5 of them, a maple glazed cure to a couple and then BBQ rubbed a couple of them. They turned out really well actually. A bit salty when eaten on their own. Chef Windus decided to use them for our Chef's Pasta dish and so they were brunoised, rendered out and used in a carbonara. Overall I was pleased, but know there is still a lot that I need to learn (and I definitely am).

Here are pictures of cooked Jowl and the dried ones.

the curing chamber (its what I have to work with, and low budget)

Chef Windus and I made some Merguez this past weekend, and I have some left over lamb, and I had this thought of lamb salami with the leftover lamb. Definitely going to be doing that here in the next couple of days, so I'm pretty stoked. Hope that it turns out caus eI'm doing this one without a recipe, just some basic guidelines.

Lots O' Suckling

2009-07-18T10:10:00.009-04:00

I guess I should first start by telling you that most of my first attempts at creating sausages, prosciutto, or any cured muscles for that matter have been with left over suckling pig parts that aren't being used by anyone else. You can often times find me walking around with a cart of random animal parts that I have taken from the butcher before he threw them away (one mans scraps is another mans salami).

So, in saying that, the first successful thing that I actually did was, as most of my original attempts were, inspired Grant Van Gameren. If you haven't heard of him or his site, you should definitely check him out.

I took the suckling belly and cured it in a pastrami brine that I got out of my CIA Garde Manger book. Cured them in the brine for 5 days and then allowed them to dry uncovered overnight in the walk-in to form a pellicle. I rubbed them with a black peppercorn-coriander mixture and hot smoked them on a rack on the grill (I was doing it during service... not always an easy task). I then thought instead of braising them I would cryovac them with the tiniest bit of water and cooked them at 82' f for 12 hours. They were a bit salty and I think it was from being cryovac'd, however they were pretty good eaten with other components.

Here is the process from start to finish.

the blog

2009-07-17T20:55:00.007-04:00

This blog is pretty much just going to be me documenting my attempts (successful and unsuccessful) in Charcuterie at home and at the restaurant in which I work(Bluezoo). I don't know exactly when I became completely interested in the art of curing and preserving. I think it has to do with the fact that a) I love salt, pork, offals, beef... well, lets face it, I'm definitely not a vegetarian (or vegan for that matter); b) I love the fact that you can take something and instead of letting it go to waste, you can preserve it and often times make it last indefinitely; and c) love learning about food and how different ingredients can effect it.

I believe that it's in Thomas Kellers "Under Pressure" where one of his sous chefs tells a cocky CIA student (curious about "molecular gastronomy") that "he should come back to him when he knows all that he can about NaCl....Sodium Chloride"...AKA Salt. This got me thinking. As a chef/cook I use salt in everyday preparations from dressing salads to seasoning pieces of meat, but how can I transform something into a different texture or flavor using salt, as apposed to adding modified starches, hydrocolloids, etc. (which don't get me wrong, I am also very interested in).

So, like I was saying before, due to the fact that I am just starting to build a foundation in Charcuterie I will be documenting as much as I can from failures to success stories (hopefully mostly the latter), and would hope that if anyone actually reads this blog would share thoughts or suggestions, as we are all trying to achieve hopefully the same general goal in our profession: Continuing to learn about products and using this knowledge to provide people with the best food and greatest experience that we can possibly give them.