A New Standard
Tastemakers prove that remakes can beat originals.
For the bacon consommé:
½ pound bacon
½ large yellow onion
1 ½ quarts water
1. Dice onion and cut bacon into pieces. Sweat together until the bacon browns.
2. Transfer everything, including all rendered fat, into a pressure cooker.
3. Add water and cook on high pressure for 40 minutes.
4. Strain.
For the potato cream:
1-2 pounds small potatoes, fingerlings or small Yukon gold
2 cloves of garlic
a spring of rosemary
salt and pepper, to taste
heavy cream
1. Toss potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast at 350 degrees F until fork tender.
2. Let cool for a few minutes and then slip the skins off. Reserve the potato flesh. Return the skins to the oven, add the rosemary sprig and garlic to the pan, and roast until golden brown. Transfer skins, garlic and rosemary to a small pot and cover with heavy cream. Simmer for a few minutes. Discard rosemary and garlic.
3. Let the mixture infuse in the fridge overnight. Strain before use. You should have about a cup of cream, thickened from cooking and the potato starches.
For the potato crumble:
1 cup of instant mashed potato flakes
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1¾ tablespoons of sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
generous pinch of salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2 eggs
1. Pulse dry ingredients in the food processor to combine. Add butter and pulse until it resembles coarse sand.
2. Beat two eggs lightly and add to the food processor. Pulse together. The mixture will clump.
3. Spread onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, breaking apart with your fingers to resemble oyster crackers. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 minutes, or until browned.
To prepare the chowder:
1. Steam 3-4 clams per person in a shallow pan with white wine and a few thyme sprigs. When the clams open, remove the bodies from their shells.
2. Shuck 2-3 oysters per person, reserving their juice.
3. Warm the consommé with half of the roasted potatoes. With an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Add potatoes and blend until you reach the consistency you like.
4. With the blender still running, add the potato cream in a thin stream. Strain through a fine sieve. Check for seasoning and ladle into soup bowls.
5. Drop in cooked clams and raw oysters, and drizzle with reserved oyster juice. Garnish with chives and pepper and serve alongside the potato crumble.
For the microwave sponge cake:
80 grams of almonds
80 grams of sugar
20 grams of flour
125 grams of egg whites
90 grams of egg yolks
1. Combine all ingredients in a Thermomix (food processor) for two minutes.
2. Place combined ingredients in a canister with three chargers.
3. Add the mixture to a small cup with three small slits on the bottom and cook for 40 seconds in a 900-watt microwave.
For the vanilla custard:
500 grams of whole milk
80 grams of sugar
5 egg yolks
15 grams of cornstarch
1½ vanilla beans
3 gelatin sheets
200 grams of whipped cream
1. Combine whole milk, sugar, egg yolks, cornstarch and vanilla beans to make a basic pastry cream.
2. Add the gelatin to the mixture and let cool. Then fold the mixture into the whipped cream.
3. Freeze the combined mixture on small cylinder molds for four hours then cover with chocolate spray using a spray gun.
For the chocolate spray:
300 grams of 64% dark chocolate
150 grams of cocoa butter
1. Melt the dark chocolate and cocoa butter together.
2. Add the mixture to an electric spray gun.
For the chocolate sauce:
125 grams of 66% dark chocolate
250 grams of heavy cream
20 grams of honey
30 grams of butter
1. Bring the heavy cream and honey to a boil.
2. Melt the dark chocolate and pour the cream and honey mixture over then add the butter.
3. Reserve the mixture in the fridge.
For the chocolate cream:
125 grams of heavy cream
15 grams of glucose
15 grams of trimoline
90 grams of 70% dark chocolate
225 grams of heavy cream
1. Bring 125 grams of heavy cream to a boil with the glucose and trimoline.
2. Pour the cream, glucose and trimoline mixture over the melted dark chocolate and mix slowly to create friction with a spatula.
3. Add 225 grams of heavy cream and reserve overnight in the refrigerator.
4. Whip the ganache and form it into a quenelle to serve.
For the lobster sashimi:
4 lobster cull
1. Blanch lobster tails for three minutes and claws for four minutes. Shock in ice water.
2. Shuck and reserve tail shell for garnish. Reserve remaining shells for lobster stock. Slice on a slight bias.
For the lobster stock:
4 lobster shells
2 tomatoes
1 onion
1 head of garlic
1 rib celery
1 carrot
4 cups sake
1 bay leaf
1. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until loosely combines.
2. Spread on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees for 40 minutes. Transfer to a stock pot.
3. Deglaze the sheet with sake. Add the sake mixture to the vegetables. Cover with water and simmer for one hour. Strain and reserve for up to five days.
For the smoked clam salad:
8 littleneck clams
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 shallots
2 cloves of garlic
2 shiso leaves
1 cup sake
2 ears roasted corn
4 tablespoons umebudo (sea grapes)
1 burnoise jalapeno
¼ burnoise cucumber
Roasted corn (recipe follows)
3 tablespoons potato vinaigrette (recipe follows)
Roasted corn puree (recipe follows)
1. Wash the clams. In a hot skillet, sauté with butter and oil. Add the garlic, shallots and shiso. Saute for two minutes.
2. Deglaze the pan with sake and cover. Steam until clams open. Remove and cool.
3. Clean the clams and cold smoke for 15 minutes using cherry wood. Quarter the clams and reserve.
4. Mix all ingredients together to create a salad.
For the roasted corn:
4 ears of corn
3 tablespoons of butter
Salt and pepper to taste
1. Cut corn from cob.
2. Combine all ingredients and roast in a 500 degree over until golden brown.
3. Reserve half for clam salad (above) and half for the corn puree
For the roasted corn puree:
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic
1 shallot
roasted corn
3 tablespoons saikyo miso
1 cup dry sake
salt and pepper, to taste
1. Sweat the garlic and shallot in butter. Add corn and miso.
2. Deglaze with sake and stew until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
3. Blend and then pass through a chinoise. Cool before mixing with clam salad.
For the potato vinaigrette:
1 russet potato, roasted and peeled
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard
½ cup canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
1. Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Slowly pour in canola oil to emulsify into a creamy salad dressing.
For the lobster coral emulsion:
½ cup onion, diced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic
2 cups piquillo peppers
2 tablespoons lobster coral
1 cup lobster stock
1 cup dashi (recipe follows)
¼ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Salt and espalette pepper to taste
1. Sweat the onion, ginger and garlic in a little canola oil. Add the piquillo peppers, lobster stock and dashi.
2. When most of the liquid has evaporated, add the lobster coral, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
3. Pass through a chinoise and cool.
For dashi:
1 pound konbu (kelp)
1 pound bag of bonito flakes
5 gallons of water
1. Combine water and konbu in a stock pot. Bring to a simmer for 45 minutes.
2. Discard konbu and add bonito. Remove from heat and steep for 25 minutes.
3. Strain and cool. Reserve for up to five days.
2½ pounds pork butt, cut into one-inch cubes
2½ pounds hanger steak, cut into one-inch cubes
13 grams Pimenton de la Vera paprika
4 grams white peppercorns
4 grams yellow mustard seed
3 grams coriander seed
4 arbol chiles
10 grams garlic, mashed to a paste
1 cup ice water
1. Grind pork and beef together.
2. Grind spices until very fine.
3. Mix spices and garlic into the ground meat. Using a food processor, working in batches to process the meat adding small amounts of ice water as needed, process until the meat is a very fine and even consistency.
4. Stuff the meat into approximately eight feet of hog casing or 16 feet of sheep casing (for a size more similar to a hotdog), creating six-inch links.
5. Cold smoke links with wood of your choice for about an hour.
1 medium onion, peeled and diced
1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 red jalapeno, thinly sliced
4 cups cooked black eyed peas (reserve 1 cup of cooking liquid)
tomato jam (recipe follows)
½ cup cider vinegar
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup Dijon mustard
½ cup bacon rendered until crisp (reserve fat)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Add bacon fat to a large saute pan and heat over a low heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger and jalapeno to the pan and saute until fragrant and softened but without browning.
3. Add the beans, tomato jam, cider vinegar, brown sugar, and Dijon mustard and stir to combine. Increase the heat to medium-high, bring the mixture to a boil and then carefully transfer to a cast iron or heavy ceramic baking dish or dutch oven.
4. Place in oven and bake for one hour or until a golden crust has formed. Remove from oven, garnish with crisp bacon, and serve.
For tomato jam
 (makes 2 cups)
4 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated ginger
1 Thai chile cut in half
½ cup chardonnay vinegar
1. Place the ingredients in a heavy bottom sauce pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Lower the heat to medium low and cook until the tomato mixture has reduced to a thick jam consistency, about 45 minutes, being careful to constantly stir to prevent the bottom of the pot from scorching.
2. Remove the Thai chile from the jam, cool and transfer to a covered jar, and reserve in the refrigerator.
3. Grill and serve.
Brother Cleve’s Ward 8
1.5 ounces Pierre Ferrand 1840 Original Formula Cognac
½ ounces Grand Marnier
½ ounces grenadine
2 dashes Bittermens Boston Bittahs
1 good dash Fee Brothers Lemon Bitters
Stir in a Boston shaker over ice. Serve in a martini glass and garnish with a Maraschino cherry and a peel of orange.
*Tip: to make homemade grenadine, boil a quart of pomegranate juice with 2 cups of sugar for 15 minutes over low heat. Refrigerate and use within a week.
