Quick Update

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

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

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

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....

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

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

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