A New Mountain Cookery

Banana Consomme

...and an unexpected find.

I started today hoping to make a gelatin-filtered consomme with a banana stock, but things turned out surprisingly different. A stock was made with 2 bananas, about 5 cups of water, some cloves, red onion, a bay leaf, and salt and pepper. It simmered for about an hour...

Long story short, it tasted delicious. The banana really came through and provided a base for the counterpoint of clove and onion, which together formed a really nice sweet and savory pairing. Better yet, I didn't even filter it, as it was already fairly clear. Yum.

A funny thing happened on the way however, as the onions in the mixture picked up an amazing amount of delicious banana flavor while still maintaining the onion flavor that is so loved. The texture was really nice as well, as the onion had a really nice crunch while still being full of sweet flavor.

More on what comes of this consomme later...

Summer in Virginia

The waning days of summer are best spent on a patio overlooking the mountains with freshly made sangria.

The Postmodern Pantry

A sample of maltodextrin sitting next to some Uncle Ben's rice and some sunflower seeds and lentils.

Check out Alinea's wiki on the topic...

Thoughts

A great article by way of Andrew Sullivan... 

Food for Thought

New Beginnings

Soon I will be starting working in Lexington, and while the Charlottesville area has a large place in my heart, it is time to move on to new ventures. 

This blog will become more centered around one space, its food, and the local inspiration in the greater Lexington area.  Hopefully, some very interesting experiences will come out of the change in scenery. 

Red Hen Dinner

I assisted Tucker with an 11 course dinner Wednesday night for some of our investors.

Swiss chard from Stonehouse Farms:

Tomatoes with morning dew:

More veggies from Brendan. Baby turnips, carrots, and pickled carrots. The turnips and carrots were cooked at 83 C for a few hours and were delicious:

The circulator hard at work cooking the lamb:

36 hour short ribs. These were the standout of the night.

Tucker explaining the lamb dish. This kitchen was gorgeous. Huge thanks to the Wallers for hosting this party:

For pictures of all the food, head over to the restaurant's blog

From top to bottom, the dishes were:

Shrimp sheet with watermelon, tomato, strawberry, and jalapeno
Sweetbreads cooked in molasses butter with dandelion puree and blackberries
36 hour short rib over wade's mill grits and caciotta al tartufo
Seared halibut with green bean and tomato salad and caramelized spring onion
Lamb with swiss chard, lamb confit, and wheatberries
Frozen peach air with fresh peaches and raspberry puree
Sage pastry cream with blackberries and pie crust
Chocolate-earl grey ganache with lemon shortbread and honey.

Huge thanks to everyone who made this possible.

Pork Belly Sous-Vide

I got some awesome local pork belly from Polyface Farms yesterday. All of this meat came off of a super pig apparently, as the entire belly was enormous.

Following Tucker's model...

Clockwise from the top left:

Chorizo-poached
Soy-Maple-Chili
Thyme-Cracked Pepper
Dijon-Apple

In the bath at 158 F. Let's see how it turns out...

Rising food costs

A good read from Reason magazine about rising food costs across the world...

http://reason.com/news/show/127428.html

Chocolate-Cranberry-Miso

I made a chocolate chantilly a la Herve This and froze it in order to see what it would do. It ended up tasting delicious, like ice cream but not. Like a Wendy's frosty made with dark chocolate. It melts in the mouth immediately and provides a great texture. Unfortunately, it also melts immediately on the plate, hence the shoddy picture.

For a more scientific explanation of the chantilly, here's Heston Blumenthal making it.

Chocolate and salt are delicious, so I finished the frozen chantilly with cranberry-miso taffy and some smears of its puree.

18 Hour Short Ribs

136 degrees.