French Fries

This is how I make "triple cooked" chips. This idea has been around for a long time, even though it has gotten more attention recently from the likes of Heston Blumenthal. The details that I found were most important(although each detail is infinitely important if you want it to come out right) were the type and age of the potato, the temperature, size and seasoning of the water cooking step, and the first fry. This picasa page has photos to go along with the following recipe.
Ingredients:
Freshly dug, middle of the road amylose to amylopectin potatoes(I've tried superior, katahdin, NY114, and carola with great results, 5 lbs is a good starting point, but you could do more)
10000g water
230g salt
3qt oil
2 cup beef tallow
Method:
Peel the potatoes and cut them into large fries, the size of the potato will dictate what size is ideal, but they should be around 2cm by 2cm by the length of the longest side of the potato. Place the fries into cold water. In a very large pot bring the 10000g of water to a boil and add the salt. At a rolling boil, add a small amount of fries(you want to pot to recover a boil quickly) and cook for 13 minutes. They will be very soft, but remove them carefully and let them cool on a tray. Keep boiling the potatoes in batches until all are cooked. Let them further cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Once fully chilled, bring the oil to 310F. Fry, in batches, until the potatoes have developed a dry exterior and just start to turn color, about 8 minutes. Remove the potatoes, place on a tray, and let fully cool to room temperature(you can refrigerate them). Freeze the potatoes completely, in an air tight container if you are planning for long term storage. Once frozen, remove and let thaw in the fridge. Bring the oil, with the addition of the beef tallow, to 375F and fry the thawed potatoes until they are dark brown. Remove from the oil, lightly sprinkle with salt(they are already pretty seasoned) and serve once they have cooled slightly.

Oh dear...

Creamy seasoned middle, crunchy outside

Make 10 pounds at once, or 50, and freeze them all, then amazing fries are a thaw and quick fry away.

Oh, and remember Russet Burbanks have a high proportion of Amylose to Amylopectin(mealy), fingerling potatoes have the opposite(waxy), carolas are in the middle(trip-fries).

Longingly,

Adam

Blistered Tomatoes

I haven't come across many perfectly peeled tomatoes; it's a method problem. The only method I was taught was scoring the skin and then blanching in boiling water. The idea is that you separate the skin from the flesh without cooking the flesh. This works with tomatoes that aren't very ripe. Truly ripe tomatoes are very soft and get destroyed when using the blanching method. Very small tomatoes are the greatest test.
They have much less mass and overheat in water almost instantly. What you really need is more heat. Using a blow torch is a much better technique. This was suggested to me by my roommate Shiraz Noor, and now we spend our night effortlessly peeling even the ripest cherry tomatoes.

Plate it up!

White soy marinated cherry tomatoes with yuzu kosho, scallion, avocado, and pork terrine.

Tepidly,
Adam

Scallop Scramble

I've made this before with the whole adductor muscle, but I wanted to see if it would work with that little muscle that most people peel off and throw away.
Ingredients:
60g scallop meat(the small muscle attached to the large adductor)
60g heavy cream
10g water
2g salt
6 strands saffron
Method:
Blend the meat, cream, and salt until smooth. Pass through a fine mesh sieve. Add the water and saffron to a pan and boil it until almost dry. Turn off the heat and add the passed scallop mixture. Stir the pan with a spatula until the saffron is evenly distributed. Turn the heat to low and stir the scallop until it sets gently, like a soft scrambled egg.

This is what it looked like before cooking, after passing.

Plate it up!

Scrambled scallop with olive oil glazed turnips, English peas and cherry tomatoes

I definitely noticed a difference from when I used the whole adductor muscle, as opposed to just the scrapes, but the scrapes still work. They just need a little bit of the whole muscle to give the same texture; definitely not worth throwing away.

Passively,

Adam

Butter Poached Lamb Heart

Ziploc bags work well for everyday low temperature poaching. This recipe uses a bag filled with flavored butter to act as the cooking medium for the heart.

Ingredients:

60g butter

20g white wine

10g cream

4 black peppercorns

1 shallot, peeled and sliced

4 bay leaves

4 sprigs thyme

10 leaves rosemary

1 baby lamb heart

1 tsp. salt

Method:

Cook the wine, thyme, bay, peppercorns, shallot, rosemary, and salt in a pan until almost dry. Add all of the cream and then the butter a little at a time while swirling the pan to invert the emulsion. Place the lamb heart into a ziploc bag. Pour the butter emulsion over the heart, press out all of the air, seal, and submerge in a water bath at 68C for 28 hours.

I made this into a ravioli filling.

Plate it up!

Butter poached lamb heart ravioli with braised lamb flap, turnip greens, and a sauerkraut-lamb sauce

It wasn't the texture of a falling apart braise, but it was tender and meaty.

Constantly,

Adam

Bread Basket Pt.3 Egg whites in soft doughs

This is a test of two identical soft bun doughs. The only difference between the two is that one has egg whites substituted for the water. The white is around 90% water by weight anyway, so this substitution doesn't require much manipulation of the rest of the recipe.
Bun #1
100g bread flour
18g butter, room temperature
3g salt
3g yeast
40g water, at 40F
18g egg yolk
Bun #2

100g bread flour

18g butter, room temperature

3g salt

3g yeast

42g egg whites

18g egg yolk

Method for both buns:

Mix the salt, yeast, egg, water, and butter together in a bowl. Add the flour all at once and knead until the dough is uniform. Ferment at room temperature for 3 hours, or once the dough doubles in size. Shape into buns and proof for 1 hour. Bake at 400F for 9 minutes, or until lightly brown, egg washing after 3 minutes.

The results were closer in texture than I would have expected. The top bun in this picture has no egg whites.

Even though there wasn't a huge difference, I definitely preferred the bun without the whites. The whites make the crumb chewier, kind of waxy.

Plate it up!

Butter poached lamb flap with cilantro mayo, purslane, pickled daikon, pickled carrot, and chicken liver mousse on a soft, egg yolk only, bun.

There may  be too much fat in these, so much it is preventing the interior from being fluffy. I'll be looking for a lighter, fluffier sandwich bun.

Forcefully,

Adam

Yellow Squash Purée

I tried to produce a distinctly different flavor and texture than that of whole blended squash. The seeds and pulpy mass under the skin have great flavor, but not the color or texture I wanted. I decided to boil the middles and extract as much flavor as possible, but then strain and not blend the middles into the skin, just their liquid. The details follow.
Ingredients:
535g squash middles
65g butter +12g aside
430g water
6g salt
316g outermost skin of yellow zucchini
95g onion, small dice
5g lime juice
a few turns ground black pepper
Method:
Place the squash middles, 65g butter, water, and salt in a pot and boil until a little less than a quarter of the liquid is left. Pass through a fine mesh strainer(only about 100g of liquid should be able to be passed). Reserve the boiled middles for another use. Sauté the onion and zucchini skin with the extra butter until everything starts to soften. Add the passed squash broth and bring to a boil. Blend until smooth, adding the lime juice at the end of the blending. Season with the black pepper and additional salt if needed.
Plate it up!

Butter poached rack of lamb with ossau-iraty new potato gratin, crispy lamb belly, puréed yellow squash, and a stew of zucchini and chanterelles.

The boiled squash that doesn't pass through the strainer makes a great taco, but you will probably put it into a loaf of quick bread.

Tentatively,

Adam

Doughnuts

What could be better than Krispy Kreme? These are my best attempt through many trials. The biggest criteria I had was that they must be good eaten hot or cold. Almost every variation I tried was good hot, some better than others, but they were all good. However, very few were enjoyable after cooling. These are delicious right after frying or the next day.

The recipe requires a puree of potatoes, olive oil, and coconut milk. I make a big batch of the puree in advance and then use it whenever I want doughnuts.

Ingredients for recipe #1:

135g russet potato, peeled and cut into 2cm pieces

100g full fat coconut milk

20g olive oil

Method for recipe #1:

Steam the potatoes until they are soft. Add the coconut milk and oil to a pot and bring to a boil. Add the hot potatoes to the pot and boil everything while mashing with a spoon or a potato masher. Once you get the potatoes into a fairly uniform mash, pass them through a fine mesh sieve(make sure to get everything through the mesh). Let the puree cool to room temperature and then you can refrigerate or freeze until you need it. 

Ingredients for recipe #2:

200g potato puree with coconut milk and olive oil (from recipe #1)

50g honey

4g salt

5g yeast

17g egg yolk

8g apple cider vinegar

227g bread flour

Method for recipe #2:

Mix everything but the flour in a large bowl until it is relatively uniform. Add the bread flour all at once and mix until the dough is uniform. It should be soft and tacky, but not sticky. The variability of the potato may make you add a little more flour to get the right texture. Ferment, covered, at room temperature for 3.5 hour or until the dough doubles in size. Punch down and roll out into a rectangle, with a thickness of .5 cm. Cut out the shape you want and let rise again for an hour or until the dough doubles. Fry at 375F, flipping only once, after the dough has lightly browned.

Plate it up!

Glazed Doughnut

The Inside

I tried both traditional circle doughnuts and squares. I like the squares better, but only because they were easier to cut and didn't have as much waste.

Maybe cake doughnuts next?

No, but,

Adam