Steven Rojas

Duck Egg, gold leaf and Bottle poached Lentils

April Fools and Fun in the Kitchen

At the restaurant we try to have fun it keeps us sane and grounded. I was secretly looking through the fish stations mis en place I almost fell in laughter, I guess im easily amused.

    

Lobster bisque, Sunchoke puree, Mussel cream, Black olive oil. Those are the ones that really stand out. I guess the cooks have fun and love what they do. Its important to keep that level of sanity and calm with an element of reckless and creativity.

This picture Below was intended as an Amuse bouch for one of my cooks last day he had dinner at the restaurant. His last day was 31st and came in the 1st of April you all know what that means. A praline and mint jelly Sandwich

Lamb Assiet Terrine

   

The Terrine consists of Brine, Lambcetta, Lamb neck, Lamb Pave, Activa, a Combi oven, a Cyovac machine and Patience

Transglutaminase is a protein that is made by a fermentation process. Fermentation's are widely known throughout the food industry and many well known foods and beverages are produced by fermentation. Various forms of transglutaminase are found in animals, plants and microbes.

The Science of Sausage making

                                                                                                                             

12:18 pm and in the shits leaving my house and forgetting to take the suckling pig off the brine rich in Pink salt! Its for a Snail "Persillade" risotto and sous vide suckling pig

Will had a Clever way ferment the meat culture for molded dried sausages white/cream colored appearance. Since the bathroom wouldn't sit well the Health department he covered the sausage with trash bags and moist cloth towels. Which at 72 degrees and 90 humidity Inhibits the single strain culture containing spores of Penicillium nalgiovense which is a fast growing, traditional white mold culture for controlling the surface flora. It suppresses the growth of undesirable organisms such as indigenous molds, yeasts and bacteria. The culture has a positive effect on the drying process by preventing the emergence of a dry rim. The also mold degrades lactic acid during maturation resulting in a pH increase and a less sourish flavor YUM!

 

What a beautiful site site to see. Chorizo, Salumi, Cured Ham Leg, Lambcetta and Châteauneuf-du-Pape Hence the Blurriness in Mr. Brehm's "office"...Goodtimes

P.S. No peeing in the wine room, you know who you are...

A5 Kobe, Matsutake Gellee, Compressed Asian- jasmine Pear, Mugi miso and Persimon

Mojito snow

  


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chestnut Agnolotti, Ricotta salata, Black trumpet, Salted Butter scotch,

 

Foie Gras

The sweet Textured Monteray Abalone And a Rich Creamy Foie Gras Rocher, Squash blossoms, Tatsoi, Frisse And a Little Crispy Pig Trotter For Crunch.

The Foie gras that's been cooked in Duck consume tempered with egg yolks and baked in Bain-marie, The texture is remarkable sweet and rich.

Inspiration through blogging

Many Idea's and inspire me and stem from eating out, working or stints in various places. We are at a time where if we want to learn a specific technique or even looking at a technique being done we could with a little knowledge can click on Numerous blogs from chefs or even globe trekking foodies to see what a small up and coming Michelin stared restaurant in say Denmark, or even in Spain, japan and United states is doing. Old School chefs like the ones I used to work with  had  (if they wanted) to learn from such and such the only way they could even see what they do is to eat or work. There was No $200 cook books with huge pictures and recipes, or DVDs's that came with cook books, or even Websites and food Blogs for that matter. There wasn't even a database where cooks could exchange Ideas and Information to one another. Another reason Why we love blogs and and admire people that take time out of there busy schedule a rant rave about the dinner they had at some obscure little Kaiseki styled restaurant in Kyoto (with pictures!). But I must say there is nothing that will ever comes close to experience it first hand. There is nothing in the world more valuable than experiencing the culture and life and working in these places. To write about you must experience first hand to talk about it and one doesn't exist without the other.

  Where aspirations come from

Lamb at our Restaurant, the resemblance is striking

 

Noma

 

El Plobet

 

 Noma/ Manresa Dinner

 

Manresa

Culture and Food = Gastronomy, Scientific knowledge to Cooking or Gastronomy = Molecular Gastronomy

These are 12 areas that are evident in Molecular Gastronomy

Fine Arts, Plate composition, menu design and cook books are known as Design and Literature. How you move on the line with your fellow cooks in the kitchen is considered a Dance,  using a offset spatula or even a paintbrush to decorate your plate is known as painting,  Sugar blowing and chocolate sculpture is known as Sculpture and  architecture. All These are examples of the Fine Arts.

Physics, It plays a role in everything we do, including cooking. Have you ever been using a microwave and said to  yourself, "How does this thing work?", or wondered what the difference between a convection oven and a conventional oven is. These questions can be answered using physics. This science tells us that cooking is based on the three methods of heat transfer

Conduction-   Direct contact to heat source like grilling and stove top cooking

Convection- The heated air is circulated continuously by a fan in the oven

Radiation-  the energy radiated or transmitted in the form of rays, waves, or particles. Microwave pop corn!!!!!

Mathematics-  We use math to recipe cost menus, scaling down or increasing a recipe and calculating Fahrenheit to Celsius

Chemistry-   If you know that table sugar is sucrose and coffee contains caffeine and sodium bicarbonate is another name for baking soda and even knowing leafy greens contain Chlorophyllyou know chemistry of food enough to say that chemistry plays a big role in understanding how food works once cooked or chemically altered

Biology-   Food is what is required by humans to grow and survive, and provide a 'fuel' for the energy needed in our biological reactions. Biology plays a role without us ( Cooks )realizing it. Why we crave Hot chicken soup when were feeling a little under the weather Why we make stews and hardy meals in the winter time and why we tend to eat or cook "lighter" foods when its hot. 

Geology/ Agronomy- Geology is the study of the Earth, the materials of which it is made, the structure of those materials, and the processes acting upon them. Agronomy is the science of crop production. It incorporates the basic sciences (biology, chemistry, physics, geology, microbiology, etc.) into an applied science which is the foundation for most agriculture. Soil science involves not only those aspects which relate to crop production but also environmental aspects of soil management. This scientific area is concerned with a wide variety of specialized topics. food - for humans, livestock and other animals; brewing beer and lager or distilling whiskey - using malt from cereals; Without it we wouldn't have the Knowledge to grow wine in the new world or even turn "bad Soil" into fertile rich soil to grow food.

History/Anthropology-  Cured meats, cheese making and bread making, wine making  has been done for thousands of years. Recipes have been brought down from generation to generation. Not knowing history we would not know how to create Delicious food, amazing wine everything else we take for granted. The Anthropology of Food is an analysis of food in culture. While the primary purpose for food is nutrition, it also has a cultural dimension by which people choose what they eat not only by flavor or nutritional value but by cultural, religious, historic, economic or social status, and environmental factors. The study of food and eating has a long history in anthropology, the study of food and eating is important both for its own sake since food is utterly essential to human existence.

Philosophy-    “Cuisineis both an art and a science: it is an art when it strives to bring about the realization of the true and the beautiful, called le bon (the good) in the order of culinary ideas. As a science, it respects chemistry, physics and natural history. Its axioms are called aphorisms, its theorems recipes, and its philosophy gastronomy.”
Lucien Tendret (1825-1896)

Psychology-  people unconsciously connect important past experiences with specific foods. Craving ice cream, for example, may stem from a desire to recapture carefree, childhood days of running in the back yard.

Aside from a shared love of ice cream, however, men and women craved different foods. While women tend to yearn for sweet, indulgent foods like chocolate, men usually seek hot dishes like a huge steak.

Sociology-  "What kind of activity is cooking? In the Norwegian food discourse the domestic cook is described as a scientist, an artist, an expert, a perfectionist, a patriot, a protector of nature, a politician, a gourmet, a good mother, a good wife and a domestic mistress. This makes daily cooking to something more than routinized housework, it is also a significant part of self presentation and identity formation. The material that will be presented is part of a doctoral project on the process of establishing food habits. An aim of the project is to get an understanding of what roles cooking has in everyday life. A characteristic trend in domestic cookery the last decades is the increase in the use of foreign and commercial food products, kitchen technology and cooking utensils. Cooking has become fashionable. Food processors, blenders, pasta-/coffee-/bread-machines are typical examples of necessities in middle class kitchens. However, there is little that indicates that this has saved time and labor, but rather has led to higher demands on the domestic cook when it comes to creativity and complexity. This is also due to the fact that cooking has shifted from a back stage activity more to a front stage activity. The ideal kitchen of the 50s was a closed working room, while the ideal of today is more open, available and informal. Food-programs on TV is also seen in association with this process. When food-programs first came in the 60s they reflected the goals of the Norwegian food policies. Cookery was portrayed as a serious activity and the TV-cook made sensible and traditional food. Today the most popular food-programs show cooking more as entertainment and self presentation."

Annechen Bahr Bugge 

In the end you people can say that "Molecular Gastronomy" is a" Phenomena" or even a "fad" .Its really the age of understanding and questioning how things work and why they do the things the do. If you would live life cooking what the cookbook says or even the chef on tv shows you and not ask WHY??? then there is no future in Gastronomy.

"As Chefs, we all must strive for perfection in all things food, we must embrace new ingredients and new techniques, and we must also respect the time honored traditions while searching for new and interesting flavors, textures, and combinations to please the public. Because what good is a new technique or ingredient if nobody enjoys it?"