eatRISD

Kitchen on the TV

2009-05-07T05:58:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the opportunity to do a cooking demo on a local Fox affiliate. It was a little nerve racking getting to the point of being set but definitely worth it. Not only was it worth it, I enjoyed it immensely. This is a short blog because I'm just excited about having done this and hope I get a chance to do it again soon. So, for any of you living in the Rhode Island area check out the Rhode Show, Monday-Friday @ 8:00 AM on Fox. Anyway here's the link and maybe there'll be more one day.

http://www.foxprovidence.com/dpp/rhode_show/rhode_show_cooking/rhode_show_cooking_scallop_truffles_20090504

Chefs, artist or laborer?

2008-11-14T05:49:00.000-08:00

It's a strange thing sometimes working for a design school. Many people think that culinary arts are difficult, and many (often those on the outside) believe they are simple. I remember when I first started working at RISD at an event a voice in the crowd basically said, "well that should be easy it's just cooking". A facinating statement since "just" cooking is still a growing industry in this country.

I once had a discussion with a student about deadlines and how it's very different in my art form compared to theirs, when using a restaurant for example. Imagine someone asking for two of one style painting/sculpture/design within a time span that would really allow you very little room for error, then imagine that happening over an extended period of time (within a day) and then imagine it happening every day. In kitchens you have similar emotions to art studios and a space to foster the artistic spirit, but with constant questions, perpetual demand and then add heat (although many of these relate to other art forms).

I love cooking in kitchens but there is something to be said about having a few moments to reflect on the food you are about to serve. So many times when I do catering I revise the plate in my head two or three times before it hits the plate (and occaisionally one or twice after it hits the plate) but that is not a luxury for many establishments or many chefs. Plate presentation can come in many forms from high art to "rustic" to family style. It's tough if you haven't worked in professional kitchens to appreciate the difference between cooking and cheffing. Chefs have the advantage of time away from the minute to minute to make those reflective decisions that influence the shape of their foods. Cooks have to make split second judgment calls regarding everything from the doneness of a steak to the amount of dressing on a salad. All the time they might have the chef figuratively over their shoulder demanding nothing less than perfection.

I tend to think of culinary atrs as arts on demand, maybe that's why chefs are so popular these days. In our society we've come to appreciate what can be brought to us quickly and with consistency. It's a situation that you really can't judge until you've walked in someone elses shoes. All I know is that many chefs to be probably start their career hoping that one day they'll be culinary artists but until they have their culinary epiphany they're just food artists on demand.

Hope: talk the talk

2008-09-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while, since I need inspiration to write, but recently I was truly inspired.

The other night I had the rare opportunity to be the key note speaker for the Amos House in Providence, RI. For those of you not familiar, "the Amos House runs the ACE culinary arts training program, helping poor and unskilled individuals and those at risk of homelessness secure the skills they need to become more stable and self-reliant." I was asked to speak there because we had recently met with their employment specialist. We actually plan to start working with the Amos house here at RISD to develop asort of internship program. It was the first time I had to give any sort of inspirational speech, in a professional sense, and I felt a little out of my element. These people had done something spectacular to re-right their lives and now I was supposed to inspire them. It really felt the other way round. I haven't always gotten what I wanted from life, few of us ever do, but I consider my life to be exceptional and I feel pretty blessed. These people that I spoke to had come to a crossroads and were taking their destinies in their own hands, hoping to maybe turn their lives around and create a future for themselves and their families.

I was surprised by all the friends and family that showed up for these 13 individuals. Not because I didn't think people cared for them, on the contrary I found that people cared for them a great deal and that was part of the reason that they were in this program. It was just very intense; it was the emotional electricity of a sporting event at a graduation. I'm not sure if you can understand, since you weren't there, but these graduates had made their loved ones so proud that the sense of pride and of renewed hope was palpable. I hope that what I said inspired or at least remained with those I spoke to. I had a few guests and fellow speakers comment about the final story in my speech, which was not actually a personal anecdote but a Zen koan (a story sort of like a parable) I had learned many years ago. Nothing like a little mental/spiritual reality check. I don't know if they'll ever ask me to speak to their graduates again but if asked I would gladly accept. Inspiring others by your actions and words is nothing compared to the inspiration received from watching those who may not truly believe that they can do something, do that and more.

What about leftover leftovers?

2008-06-12T02:41:00.000-07:00

Recently I've catered some events that require food for hundreds, if not thousands, of people. The math to produce adequate amounts for that many people gets a little fuzzy. So I'm sort of posing a question to the three or four people out there that may read this blog.

What is a fair and equitable way to "dispose of" leftovers?

I know the most obvious answer is to not have any. So much easier said than done and sort of a catch-22. You see, if we run out it looks like we haven't prepared for the event and we get criticized for that, but if we have too much then people accuse us of being wasteful. Now don't get me wrong we don't have thousands of pounds of food that we're discarding, still in today's market the dramatic increase in food prices really make any waste economically and socially questionable. It is up to we, who produce the food, to try and control this (over) production. So how? It is a question I pose to any who read this blog. I'm interested in the suggstions of others because I don't think there is a right answer. So blog away!

Unselfish about their shellfish

2008-03-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

I recently ate dinner execute by Slow Food RI and hosted by New Rivers restaurant off Steeple St. in Providence. For those who don't know Slow Food USA, "envisions a futurefood system that is based on the principles of high quality and taste, environmental sustainability, and social justice – in essence, a food system that is good, clean and fair." This particular meal was memorable, beyond the fact that New Rivers is a consistently well received establishment, but because the "theme" of the dinner was shellfish all harvested from the waters of New England. It was delightful to see these products, many locally harvested or produced, being brought together in a unique and harmonious concert of courses, flavors and textures.

I went with two of my co-workers, who enjoyed the meal as well, especially the wine pairing. They are both very passionate about the use of local and sustainable products used in food service. So, I was in good company.

The first course was raw seapowet oysters. Delicious!

Second, we had a salad of warm grilled squid over local greens with rose vinaigrette and charred pink grapefruit. I really like the charred grapefruit, I only wish I'd gotten more in my salad. C'est la vie.

Next, a stylized po'boy sandwich with Rhode Island scallops and crispy slow roasted pork belly. I wish I had a camera, the plate presentation was excellent. I thoroughly enjoyed the scallops and the pork but alas wanted more bite in my horseradish aioli.

Then, the braised Narragansett little necks with kale, white beans and chorizo chips. Wow! After one chip I thought that was good after two I was hooked. Coupled with the little necks and the beans, this had to have been my favorite dish. I'll say it again, Wow!

Following, was the grilled Point Judith lobster served on a Plum Point oyster pot pie with tarragon-cognac butter. An elegant dish and definitely a nice presentation but I think some of its subtleties were lost after the previous dish's exuberance.

Finally, the blood orange and campari sorbet with warm madeleines. An excellent finish, because its' light and palate cleansing properties help lessen the veil of excessive eating of delicious foods.

To everyone involved in the dinner, Bravo! It makes me miss the years I spent in restaurants and envy the level of creative adrenaline you must get from dinners like these. If you ever need a hand let me know and I'll do what I can. Until then, just let me know where they are and I'll be forced to enjoy a spectacular dinner!

Theft: Local but not Sustainable!

2008-03-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

Ordinarily I would not vent on my blog. Many do vent on blogs and quite honestly I go to blogs for pleasurable readings about subjects that interest me, not to hear (at least in my head) someone carrying on about their views on certain things that generally have no impact on me and mine. However, lately there's been a problem with theft in our food service program at RISD. Actually, it's more constant than simply lately. It's causing me to get overly paranoid and it makes it difficult especially for people like myself, who want to be able to develop relationships with students, but are forced to be a little leery. I find myself wondering will this person, possibly on their own or now because they know me, think that they are deserving of more than their dining points buy. There is a level of frustration caused by this unearned sense of entitlement that some students use as their logic shield to justify theft. It makes us (myself and my chefs) ask questions of ourselves; are we good role models, do we have enough available, are the prices too high? All potentially valid questions but as we watch students not merely take food but also flatware, sleeves of napkins and "plastic" cups and treat washable plates and cups as disposable it's difficult to fathom how this school has such a loud voice for local and sustainable. Contrary to popular actions, theft does not help to sustain anything and the only thing that makes theft local is that you are in a sense taking from your own.

Now, I've just started working with some ceramics students to see if we can have a closed loop recycling program using student made coffee mugs at the our dining facility the Portfolio. We had a similar program at the Freshmen dining hall, the Met, the only problem was that all the mugs got stolen. So, maybe we're hoping against hope that this other program will be more successful or maybe that the students won't want to take or destroy the work of their peers. Maybe it's too much to hope for.

A taste by any other name...

2008-01-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

Recently I was reading an article in a professional culinary magazine and there was an article about "umami". Now I certainly don't think I know everything about food but I like to think I stay informed and I'd never heard of this. This word, umami(oo-ma-mee), refers to the fifth flavor that the mouth can taste. I was always taught that there are four flavors: sweet, sour, bitter and salty; this is the fifth taste - savory(?, there is no direct English translation). It was discovered in Japan one hundred years ago by an individual trying to determine the flavor profile for seaweed broth and he determined that glutamates and inosinates produce a "deliciousness". This is not so much a simply described taste as a binding taste philosophy.

I think as I read more about it I liked this word not simply because I like many of the things associated with umami: tomatoes, cheese, ham, shiitake mushrooms; I really like the concept of this other taste that through synergistic action makes these other tastes taste better. It's very much like, and the natural equivalent to, monosodium glutamate. Now I don't like MSG, but I certainly understand why it's used. Who doesn't want there food to taste better. The great part about this word/concept/taste is that it suddenly makes me realize why chefs have been putting certain flavors together forever, it's natural MSG! There are lots of opposing tastes that we put together; sweet and salty, sweet and sour, salty and sour. Now when I combine a salty or even sweet thing with an umami (glutamate based) flavor I'm going to be much more conscious of how people react to the dish and how I might feel that dishes flavor relates to similar dishes that aren't rich in umamai. This seems like something I should have learned in culinary school or at least in the last decade, but it seems they haven't really emphasized this information until recently. So for those of you who are like me and just realizing this taste sensation (even though we've been eating like this for years) revel in its new found wonder.

The Holidays and Grandma's rum cake

2008-01-02T09:56:00.000-08:00

The holidays are a time when most people celebrate the happy times in their life. Not surprisingly food plays a large part in the family psyche of most people from all walks of life. Recently a co-worker recounted how having gone to several family parties held by different family members there was a common theme that emerged, Grandma's rum cake. Each party was serving this hallowed dish and each time my co-worker went to sample some and each time was disappointed. It's funny, not really knowing this person's family, but hearing how important this one dish was to their gathering. It's unfortunate that even with all these people having the same recipe that none could exactly duplicate the original product but the truly emotional part to me is the idea that these people are all trying to create this sort of culinary homage to a woman who in her own way probably, hopefully, left mountains of happy memories that they would be able to feast upon throughout their life and maybe even share with their children and loved ones.

I too had a similar experience this holiday season upon visiting my great aunt Agnes. This woman is in her mid-80's and has been on oxygen for years, but that doesn't stop her from actively cooking. So around the holidays she makes any number of delicious baked goods. As I sat at her dining room table, which was covered from end to end with sweets, I listened to her and my mother speak in their mixture of French and English. She turned to me and said that I had to try the fudge. As I sat there holding my five month old daughter and eating just a great piece of fudge, she then turns to my mother and said that it was Memere's(French Canadian for grandmother) recipe. So this was the recipe from my mother's mother. She had passed away five years before and besides this great aunt and one other, all of her brothers and sisters had also passed away. The bittersweet that hit me as the sugary fudge dissolved on my tongue was that this was exactly as my Memere had made it and that one day this too would pass. I would give a lot to be able to make this fudge the same way. Being a professional chef you'd think it would be easy but often I let too much of my personality into my food. Still I will ask to learn this recipe and maybe years from now I too will go to a family gathering with my own version of Grandma's rum cake and maybe someone else will have a moment of happiness rekindled.

Pierre--on a roll

2007-12-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

Last night I had the pleasure of eating my way through Pierre's Showcase Chef dinner menu. It was an experience worth writing about:

First my fork foraged into the sweet potato hash (I naturally gravitate towards color). Warm, starchy orange-goodness filled my being. Dispersed throughout the mush were peices of red pepper. This added more color and texture (though no spice, as I was expecting).

Next my fork visited the neighboring pork tenderloin. I am not a huge meat eater and if I was ordering off a menu, my choice would not be pork. But I took a bite and everything changed. The meat was tender and aromatic, making me think of smokey bacon, fragrant honey and citus. The meat was graciously tender,wrapped in a magical cream sauce--also a bit smokey, also sweet and unmistakably buttery. The pork and its sauce were hands-down the best part of the meal.

Next I dove into a piece of white fish (Corvina) accompanied by grapefruit salsa. The fish was meaty, flakey, not overly fishy. The salsa added just enough zing and juice to each bite. While delicious, the fish had a hard act to follow. Beside the fish was a steamy mound of risotto which instantly read 'fennel' to me. It was a creamy, open, quiet-feeling risotto--not overwhelming heavy or seasoned with pungent garlic and strong cheeses (as so many risottos are).

I then plunged into the dark leafy greens-turned out to be kale cooked southern style (w/ vinegar making them so tangy and sweet!---yummy). And I popped a few deep fried breaded okra bits into my mouth (which instantly transported me to a country fair).

Lastly, to crown the cake, I nibbled (because by now I was quite full) a bit of chocolate-dipped shortbread served with poached pears, a distinct familiar but unidentifiable syrup and bleu cheese custard--an adventurous desert, for sure. In the end, I am very impressed with Pierre (nothing new). I find his food creative, diverse, fresh and fun. And I'm not the only one. Just as I was leaving, I heard a student approach Chef Pierre to say "This meal was incredible! Thank you!".

If I were this food, how would I want to be served ?

2007-11-28T06:45:00.000-08:00

So in my quest to bring local chefs to the students here at RISD I've decided with a little friendly persuasion to feature myself as the last chef before the Winter session break. I was in a competition last year and recipe we had to create was based on the use of tofu as the main ingredient in the dish, I told at least a few students that if I won a medal (an American Culinary Federation event medal) that i would produce the dish for the students. So for this coming December 10th we will be presenting some of the culinary macinations of Chef Pierre.

Often when I'm making menus for catering events or simply producing items in my kitchen at work or at home, I ask my self; "if I were this item how would I want to be served?" This usually causes either my wife to ask me who I'm talking to or people in the kitchen to ask me if I ever answer back. To my wife I respond "myself" , which gets a shake of her head, and to my co-workers I simply say "if I didn't respond it wouldn't be much of a conversation now would it." So as I create things I try to not only take myself into consideration but also those who might be enjoying the dish. That is why when I produced the recipe for competetion I thought about what I wanted and also how the students at RISD might react to what was being made. So came the dish of Hickory smoked tofu with chipotle-tequila beurre blanc, sweet potato and poblano pepper hash and fried green tomatoes. Now when it's produced for the whole student body there will need to be some modifications but they will see where the idea for the food was going, and that's what's important. I will also be serving at this meal the possible fish dish for this years competition.

So without further ado the menu:
Monday, December 10, 2007, 55 Angell St. 5-8pm
Salads -
• Sweet poached gold beets with peppadew peppers and goat cheese over Arugula
• Julienned fennel and celery with red grapes and pommerai mustard vinaigrette (with or without chicken)
• Sesame noodle salad with fresh carrots, sweet peppers and snow peas

Entrée -
• Hickory smoked pork tenderloin with Chipotle-cilantro tequila beurre-blanc, sweet potato and poblano pepper hash and fried okra
o Vegetarian: same as non-vegetarian but with smoked tofu in substitution of pork tenderloin
• Pan seared Golden Corvina with toasted shallot, chervil and pink grapefruit salsa, fennel and Grand Marnier risotto and braised tuscan kale with tomatoes and white balsamic

Pizza -
• Margherita pizza with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil
• Nolio – (Bertucci’s throw back) caramelized onions, prosciutto, parmesan cheese and cream

Dessert -
• Red wine poached pear, served on a chocolate dipped short-bread cookie with red wine reduction and sweet bleu cheese custard.

I hope it will allow the students to see some of me through my food, since it is one of my last bastions of artistic expression.

Pax et Cibus

Project Apron: Fighting Hunger w/ Fashion

2007-11-25T13:45:00.000-08:00

Help Fight Hunger this Holiday Season: Join artists, activists and people who care for Project Apron: Fashion Show and Apron Auction
These aprons are ONE-OF-A-KIND--and not to be missed! They're made with love by members of the RISD + R.I. Community. All proceeds from their sale benefit the R.I. Food Bank. (A percentage of money raised will be matched by
the A.S.Feinstein Foundation and by R.I. farmers)

November 30th, 7-9 pm in RISD's MET Dining Hall (30 Watermyn Street. Enter through the glass doors on your left just up the hill from Benefit Street) *All are welcome *Lite refreshments served.

Sponsored by the C.A.R.E.S. Program @ RISD Dining. Because we care.

That Soft Sizzle

2007-11-21T06:58:00.000-08:00

The day before Thanksgiving is almost nicer, for me, than the day of. Why? Because it is the quiet before the storm. The slowing, lulling pull of people heading home, quieting down, starting the pie crusts, sweeping the stairs. It is the moment before the guests arrive, before the windows get too steamed, before the sound of chatter overwhelms the sound of cranberries quietly simmering in a sugar sauce or garlic cloves in hot olive oil.

Glorious Purple Vegetable Brain

2007-10-30T06:47:00.001-07:00

I grew up eating a lot of cabbage. And it isn't because I am from Germain descent-- or had a particular affinity for this vegetable. It is simply because my mother served it a lot. I think this is true for a lot of people. Cabbage is an ancient, budget-friendly, long-storing, multi-use vegetable. If you think about it, cabbage is utilized around the world: It is shredded for the top of tacos. It is fermented into kimche (Speaking of--don't miss our Showcase Chef series-- Korean Food on Monday, Nov 5). It is boiled and used as a wrapper in Eastern European. It is mixed with mayonnaise and made into coleslaw (the word 'cole' meaning cabbage) in America's heartland. It is boiled into thick stew along with corned beef in Ireland.

In learning more about how cabbages grow, I've also learned why some cabbages taste more sweet while others taste more skunky. For the most part, the flavor of the cabbage depends on the weather: if there has been hard frosts, the cabbage (or any vegetable in the cabbage family, for that matter) will be sweet (the frost convert starches into sugars). If the cabbage has only grown in a mild climate (say it was harvested in California in August) it will be more likely to be pungent.

The Other Side of the Line

2007-10-15T15:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about the strange collection of interactions you have over the course of a day? I do. Think about it: I, or one of our staff on the line, might ask one hundred and sixteen people in one hour if they'd like rice on the side. I might ask sixteen of you how your day was. I might see that thirty three of you are so consumed with work / life that you can't even look up from your tray. I might learn from twenty of people what costumes they are wearing to the Artists Ball...And on and on. At the end of the day, I rarely think about how odd the sum of interactions has been. Regardless, when I do, it humors me.

Who Are My Eaters?

2007-10-10T06:05:00.000-07:00

Today is overcast and drizzly. I don't really have time to sit and write--but it just feels like that's what I need to be doing (I'm a writer at heart, after all). You know how overcast days can feel so productive, right? The student to your left is a RISD eater. I caught this snap during our Showcase Chef event at the beginning of the month. I am not sure what her name is or what her major is. I posted the picture though to discuss the fact that most of my eaters (save you loyal blog readers and those dozen or so friendly students whom I know by name) are rather mysterious beings to me. I see you in the Dining Hall each day... but I don't know who you are. I don't know if you liked mushrooms as a kid...or even like them now. I don't know if you're really into the food your ladeling onto your plate OR if you're just refueling so you can head back to the studio. It's a funny feeling to cook for such a mysterious (albiet quite hungry) mass. Its what makes instutiional dining different from any restaurant I've worked at or when I cook for friends and family.
I want to know the people I see on the street. What are you food loves and hates. I may not remember them all or you may come back hear after graduating and you may see me and say "Hey Chef Pierre!" and I might respond "Hey, asked me to make eggs over easy one slow winter morning because they just had a rough crit and it reminded them of home." The little pieces that I see of you are through what you eat and what we might say to each other in passing. From little details like these, I piece together stories of who my eaters might be.

Looking Local in the Eye

2007-10-01T17:42:00.000-07:00

Tonight for the Showcase Chef series our menu included a number of local foods. The greens in the salad were from Baby Greens in Exeter, RI. The potatoes from Foster. The squash from nearby Massachusettes. The Showcase Chef was Bruce Tillinghast from New Rivers, a Providence restaurant that strives to serve local, season fare.

While helping to prepare the meal I got thinking about the meaning of local foods: I'm realizing that buying locally grown food means more than just fresh food. It means supporting the community, connecting with neighbors, taking care of the local environment (and the global one for that matter). All these things are things I really care about.

For the last few years, I've been learning a lot about where my food comes from--I've heard the stories of what takes place before the supermarket isle. Books like Fast Food Nation and Omnivore's Dilemma have helped to open my eyes. What I've found out is that America is eating well-traveled, not-so-fresh, not-so-flavorful, not-so-meaningful foods. We're eating foods from the other side of the country, from Mexico, South Africa, China, Holland--but rarely from our own backyard. The patchworked, agrarian landscape of America is practically a romantic illusion. Enormous factories and expensive, heavy machinery produce massive quantities of generic product.

It upsets me because I know there are farms less than 20 minutes from my house (Providence). It upsets me because food doesn't HAVE to travel 2,500 miles or three weeks before I eat it. And it upsets me because I know if we don't support our local family farms NOW, they won't be around for my children's child to enjoy.

Luckily, I like to focus on the positive: We CAN eat local foods. In fact we do every day at RISD. Tonight there were potatoes. Tomorrow, we might have local peppers. Or bread from a small, family owned, long-standing bakery. Or granola from a small company in New England. Or apples from an orchard I drove past last Sunday.

By buying locally grown---by committing ourselves to local farmers and producers--we can change this food system to become one that is more sustainable and more flavorful. Instead of choosing the cheapest head of lettuce or package of chicken, we can stand up and say "I believe in local farms because I believe in my community and I believe in flavor!"

Harvest of the vine

2007-09-30T07:41:00.000-07:00

During the fall my Father-in-law and I try to make wine for the following year. It happened as a lark one year, he'd been making it with his friends and I think he thought it was something we could connect over. Well it was and it is and now some ten years later we have an activity that is both fun and infuriating.

At the end of September/beginning of October you need to harvest your grapes or in my case buy some from a local distributor. It's hard to say which grapes are best. I prefer either grapes that will make a dry wine with less alcohol(Chianti) or a juicier wine with higher alcohol(Zinfandel). Some people blend the grapes for color but I find that if enough time is spent fermenting and the skins are kept with the juice the color should be fine; this is only for red wines, white wines should be crushed and pressed immediately so the light color remains pure. I tend to make red wine, though not exclusively. I also hope that other people appreciate that the tools we use to make wine are probably 75+ years old, but they still work like a charm. It's such a simple process of crushing, de-stemming, fermenting and storing. I guess it always surprises me when wine is created by it. It's easy to see how it's such an ancient drink, but all the nuances necessary to make a mediocre wine good or a good wine great are what make it a real challenge in culinary terms.

Showcasing Local Chefs

2007-09-25T07:07:00.000-07:00

The first Monday of the month will bring sensory treats to the students of RISD. Because that night will be our Local Restaurant series, a program created by RISD Dining to help expose students to some of Rhode Island's great cooking talents. Each month a Showcase chef will be invited to WOW the students with some of their signature dishes that showcase the reason they do what they do! Right here at the MET (55 Angell St.).
On October 1st, we'll be presenting Chef de Cuisine Beau Vestal of New Rivers Restaurant on Steeple Street in Providence. For more information on the restaurant where Beau cooks, visit: www.newriversrestaurant.com. Accompanying Beau will be Bruce Tillinghast the owner and founder of New Rivers. Bruce is an alumni of RISD, showing that art thrives in many forms and that there is life beyond school.

Onion in the Mother

2007-09-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

A friend asked me the other day what she could do to increase the flavor and sourness of her sourdough breads. I told her: Add a piece of onion. My friend keeps what is called a 'sourdough mother' or simply a 'mother'. Other things in the cooking world use this type of nucleus to create a larger product and they are also called 'mothers', vinegar has 'mothers' for example. Perhaps it has to do with the nature of sour. For sourdough it's 'mother' is nothing more than a jar filled with a partially fermented flour and water paste. In 'Chef-World', it is known that adding a peice of raw onion to this mixture helps develop the flavor, this can be added to the mother or the off-spring but will have to be exchanged occaisionally with fresh pieces.
She uses a part of this paste each time she wants to make bread. Why this mixture works to leaven the bread is that the mother contains thousands of naturally occuring yeasts and bacterias. When they are fed with water and sugar (sugar in the form of flour), they eat and burp. This burp is the gas that causes the dough to puff up. When my friend puts her dough in the oven, the yeasts and bacteria die (which is why it stops rising). And about that onion: it is perhaps a wive's tale or a magic trick. I'll let my friend report back to us on how the onion wedge works.

Mozz Pull

2007-09-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

Mozzarella Pull tomorrow, folks! Stop by the MET anytime between 3 and 6. We will set you up with a little curd, some very hot water and instructions on making mozzarella. The making of mozzarella is said to date back to the beginning of the 15th century when it was simply called MOZZA. Now prepared almost exclusively from cow's milk, originally it was a buffalo milk cheese. There are two primary forms of mozzarella: fresh and aged. Fresh is often sold in a container filled with water. Its texture is soft, tender, delicate. Aged mozzarella is the form we commonly associate with pizza or buy pre-shredded from the store. The distinguishing characteristic of mozzarella is it's fillated or stringy dough. This quality makes it an especially entertaining cheese to eat. On a personal note my oldest daughter can consume her body weight in fresh mozzarella. She does her Italian heritage proud.

Hot Fish and Cold Sake

2007-09-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

I was at a restaurant the other night named Ichi-ban, meaning number one in Japanese. This extravagent almost whole in the wall place, with an internal decor that is belied by it's simple exterior, is both Japanese and Korean. The owner/chef is Korean, James "Jim" Kim, and I find so much of the food to be Korean, I feel like they throw in the word Japanese because of the sushi, but I always thought that the Korean's were eating raw fish before the Japanese.

Any way, a large ice cold sake with shredded cucumber and a bowl of homemade noodles in an extra spicy seafood and vegtable rich broth really makes me want this chef to come to RISD and show us the intricacy of his country's cuisine. I think the real appeal are all the little amuse bouche that they bring to intrigue the palate before you get your entree. Fried anchovies with a slightly sweet sauce (sweet and salty, nice), kimchee (hot, but more pungent), pickled shredded daikon radish (nice and clean tasting) and julienned vegetables with fishcake. All of these work in unison to get you ready for the most amazing unsung cuisine from Asia. This chef is definitely on my list to WOW the students with his cuisine.

The passing of an Artist

2007-09-13T10:25:00.000-07:00

The first picture was taken at the NY chocolate show in '05, I'm on the left and Steve is on the right. The above picture is the birthday cake for my oldest daughters 1st birthday. It was made by my friend and co-worker Steve Dansereau. I found out a little while ago that the man who was for many years the Pastry Chef for the Rhode Island School of Design, Steve Dansereau, passed away after a long battle with Leukemia. It makes me sad on many levels, for the sons he leaves behind, for the family members and loved ones who worked so hard to help him through this sickness and the people who will never know the beauty(both visual and taste)of his work. It is a difficult thing to deal with the passing of someone. I learned this personally at a fairly young age. Hence I don't handle death well, not that any of us do.
So my deepest sympathies to all those who knew and cared for Steve, for all those who loved the man or simply loved his food and to all those who will never have a chance to know either.

Farewell Steven.

Ox Heart

2007-09-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

An heirloom tomato, according to Wikipedia, is an open-pollinated (non-hybrid) cultivar. Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular and more readily available in recent years. You might find them on a salad from the Watermark. Or on a sandwich at Portfolio. The thing about heirloom tomatoes is that they haven't been bred for shelf-life and shipping. They have been passed on through the ages because of their hardiness (ability to withstand the pressures of insects or weather) and because, most importantly, they taste like real vegetable(fruit actually). In this over homogenized and sort This picture is of an Ox Heart heirloom tomato given to me by the farmer at Arcadian Feilds Farm in Hope Valley, RI.

Heirloom tomato can be found in a wide variety of colors, shapes, flavors and sizes. Some are prone to cracking or lack disease resistance. As with most garden plants, cultivars can be acclimated over several gardening seasons to thrive in a geographical location through careful selection and seed saving---cool! You can be a mini Mendel.Ox Hearts are one of many. Here are some others you might encounter at a RI farmers' market or on the menu at RISD Dining:
* Big Rainbow –
*Baby Special –
*Black Krim –
*Cherokee Purple –
*Green Zebra –
*Hillbilly –
*Jubilee –
*Lillian's Yellow Heirloom -
*Mortgage Lifter –
*Traveler –

Ginnie and Me

2007-09-13T05:10:00.000-07:00

Here I am with the Boss-Lady, Ginnie Dunleavy. Ginnie's got the sight. She's always full of good ideas, like what color her hair should be. Red, pink or platinum. Or how we should organize a national food drive. That's right National. The world needs more Ginnies. I just don't know if the rest of us would survive.

Its Friday Night and I'm Hangin' with the Ladies

2007-09-07T18:35:00.000-07:00

It is Friday night and here I am...with my darling little ladies. Little Francesca just turned one month. She is quite new to the world. Her older sister, Eva, is a bit more mature. She explains to me why she needs to stay home from preschool. Stuff like that. And, of course, there is their mother, my dear wife.

And that is Friday night here in the land of Chef Pierre.