Our next 2 event pop-up dinners are based on the seasonal "Feasts of The Seven Fishes" and will obviously feature wild creatures from land but mostly from sea.

Due to the expanded detail of ingredients it would be infeasible to attend with any diet restrictions.

The poster above accurately reflects 14 ocean items that will be featured and will be Japanese and Spanish themed.

The dinners are on December 23rd  (UPDATE-SOLD OUT) and the 29th 2011.

Interested parties can book their seats on our

EVENTS PAGE HERE.

The last 2 events of this year.

Dates are Friday December 23rd and Friday December 30th.

Both are themed after the Italian La Vigila known as "FEAST OF SEVEN THE FISHES".

Both dinners however will have very little to do with Italy.

Dinner 1. Japanese Themed.    

Feature: Sea Urchin Brioche with Seaweed Butter.

Dinner 2. Spanish Themed.  

Feature: Sofrito Arancini with Liquid Sea Urchin Center.

Check back here to reserve starting Monday December 19.

The macaroon appears to have universal appeal even if you make it with radioactive isotopes therefore it is the perfect vehicle for absurd flavor combinations. I have a bored scientist friend with a huge freeze dryer who likes to eat good food and it makes for an excellent quid pro quo. He freeze dries whatever I send him...I cook for him. The operative ingredient is green coriander powder which requires you to do the following. 1. Plant a whole bunch of Cilantro. 2. Treat it like your first born child until it actually goes to seed. 3. Let is seed generously. 4. Remove the ENTIRE plant including the roots from the growing medium or soil. (This was hydroponic obviously since it is december on the East Coast of USA) 5. Wash it well and freeze dry the entire plant and roots. 6. Grind it to a powder. The powder above in the initial grind was just a mechanical grinding in a huge      BLIXER          but was eventually cryo-milled into a fine powder with liquid nitrogen. It has all the complexity of cilantro plus the floral sweetness of fresh coriander seeds. The final preparation was a Green Coriander Macaroon with Pistachio-Kosho (Green Yuzu Kosho + Sicilian Pistachio + Agave Syrup) Your bouche unfortunately will be more bemused than amused but it is a rather curiously odd assembly of flavors. It is topped with    LONG PEPPER.

While the realm of "breads" made through the     ISI GOURMET WHIP SIPHON        and microwaved have a fantastic fluffy texture they lack the intrinsic fermentation flavors of properly risen bread. The simple solution is to include either a brioche or sourdough starter or "biga" in the blended mixture of eggs-flour-sugar-salt-butter-milk. More complex dairy products could also be used in addition to cheese or dairy powders such as buttermilk and sour cream. A measured amount of properly blanched and pureed herbs of choice in this case dill make a fantastic herb brioche. It is interesting that resting the batter for 10 minutes before cooking results in a much more delicate "bread" with larger pores.

• 
• 
• 
• 

1. (LEFT) Maple Syrup SONICATED with Bourbon. All or most of the alcohol removed with evaporator centrifuge including some moisture loss resulting in a very intense bourbon flavor and deeper maple flavor that still retains it's complexity without any burnt notes. It could certainly be used as is but is absolutely perfect when diluted to taste with the original maple syrup to balance out the flavor. 2. (RIGHT) Maple Syrup SONICATED with Vanilla. Really intense maple-vanilla flavor. As above dilution yields the perfect balance but can be used as is. Best way to decant seems to be to let it flow directly into a mason jar slightly smaller in Dia. than rocket bottles giving maximum yield. The remainder is rinsed out with very hot water and used for a brine.

Eggs + Buttermilk + Butter + Flour + Brown Butter Solids + Salt + Sugar Poured into ISI canister. Cooked like EBELSKIVER which are just the finest expression of a pancake.

I think one should use all tools and thought within their reach to just see "What If". Unless you try you don't know. I love maple syrup in it's most natural form and with the recent proliferation of pedigreed maple syrups on the market with things like vanilla bean infusion, aging in bourbon barrels or crystallizing into powder I am trying to see what maple syrup tastes like when it is reduced carefully at various states of intensity much like German dessert wines. One could certainly just boil it down in a pot however indications are that too much heat for too long may fundamentally change the nature of the syrup and not for the better. While I gravitate between cooking carefully chosen high quality ingredients with a balance of interesting elements as the underlying cooking philosophy, I find MODERNIST CUISINE to be a fantastic public service by the MC team in terms of exposure to new tools and ideas. Referring to the second book "Techniques and Equipment" page 392. we are reducing maple syrup by 30 and 50% to compare to the original using the Genevac Rocket Evaporator. We started with 2 exceptional syrups Grade A-Medium Amber and Grade B directly from a reputable farm.     Load up the evaporation bottles. Reduce the samples. On a different note since the centrifuge cavity has room for 6 bottles we decided to also "wash" a good maple syrup with bourbon after cavitating it with oak barrel woodchips. All the alcohol washed out but most of the bourbon aroma and flavor remains simulating a more intense version of standard barell aged maple syrup which does take several months.....Total time here...about 3 hrs.