Food102

Bacon dinner at Opus

2009-11-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

Mike Long, owner of opus invited my wife and I to a bacon dinner. Mike asked me about a week ago to do a bacon ice cream for him. I agreed knowing that I could fill my small tank at a local welding store. On Friday I went down and filled my four liter tank. Joe the manager asked what I was driving. I pointed to my Honda in the parking lot. He informed me that I had to have a pickup truck for him to release the nitrogen. It turns out that some guy had a small dewar in his car that spilled all over him and caused third degree burns a few years back. With no pick-up and no one to help at 4 p.m. on a Friday, I parked my car 6 blocks away and told Joe I was going to walk it home. I had to do it, I promised Mike I would make it happen. I made the ice cream base and went to the dinner. We had a great dinner that included

Bacon wrapped scallop with pancetta risotto

Roasted ribeye stuffed with sous-vide pork belly

Peanut butter nougat and bacon chocolate bar with bacon ice cream

It was good to be back in the kitchen for a night. As far as the bacon ice cream, it turned out pretty good but I probably will never make it again

Goodbye and Thank you

2009-11-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me at O's steak and seafood for the past 3 and 1/2 years. It is time for me to move on to bigger and better things. I walk away happy and excited to work on a project that I have been planning for the last 2 years.

Top 5 Things I will not miss

1. Getting sick 45 minutes after eating in the cafeteria

2. The ridiculous circa 1960's chefs hat they made me wear

3. Being open 365-24-7

4. Cooking a "pop-up" for 150

5. No music

Top 5 Things I will miss

1. The Strabucks machine in the lobby

2. The limitless supply of liquid nitrogen

3. Some of the people

4. Being able to order 20 lobsters, a piece of foie and some kobe

5. The engineering department

Taste of Elegance Competition

2009-11-07T12:41:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite events is coming up next Thursday. It will be held at Mile High Station this year instead of D.U. I was given my wines yesterday to pair with my dishes. I received a Proseco and a Petite Sirah. I am going to make the graham cracker soft shell crab with tropical fruit, coconut mousse and soy dipping dots to go with the Proseco. I will match the Sirah with a blueberry allspice sorbet with frozen honey crystals. There are tickets still available for $100 a pop. There will be 18 chefs competing this year from all over the United States. http://www.denverwinefest.com/order.html#toe

Tasting menu 103

2009-11-05T10:53:00.000-08:00

We had a huge snowstorm come through Colorado this week. It dropped 2 and 1/2 feet of snow at our house ( this is our air conditioner in the back yard) It reminded me of mountain snow, very light and fluffy. I will spend a little time on making some snow textures with liquid nitrogen this week.

Graham cracker encrusted soft shell crab
Coconut mousse, tropical fruit, soy dippin dots

Grilled goat cheese
House made caper bread, goji berry carpaccio, tomato caviar

Berbere sous-vide pork loin
Grilled banana puree, brown sugar gelee, compressed apple salad

Lavender honey baklava
Roasted pumpkin ice cream made table side with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 102

2009-10-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

Not a lot to talk about this week, things are pretty quit around here. I am just sitting back and watching the homemade kid driven space balloons fly over the hotel. The world is definitely coming to a end.

Garlic grilled New Zealand mussels
Fried dynamite, pickled vegetables, lemon grass air

Smoked Buffalo sausage
Guinness gelee, porcini, red wine glass

Sous-vide ½ lobster
Yuzu, caramel carrots, fried avocado

Smore spring roll with smoked sea salt ice cream
Served table side with liquid nitrogen

What I have learned about liquid nitrogen

2009-10-14T19:19:00.001-07:00

1. This stuff can really burn you. I have had 3 serious burns with this -320 liquid. The worst one happen about 3 months ago when I did a demo at whole foods with my wife. I filled my sorbet bowl with strawberry puree to accommodate all the people watching. I had to much product and not enough spoon. The nitrogen will freeze your nerve endings so quickly that you don't react to the pain like you would a heat burn. My thumb was in the liquid for over 10 seconds. My thumb blistered to about 3 times it's normal size and it was pretty jacked up for about 6 weeks. Nitrogen burns take twice as long to heal as a heat burn would. I would compare the pain to frostbite if you have ever had the pleasure of experiencing it

2. When filling your dewar you need to make sure that the container is cold. Liquid nitrogen is expensive and you loose a lot of it when you are filling a warm container. I will leave our 25 L dewar in the freezer overnight before I fill it the next day. We do this so it takes less nitrogen to bring the dewar to a temperature that will hold the nitrogen.

3. Don't trust anyone to handle it. Especially look out for drunk people and small children. It is the chefs responsibility to make the demonstration safe and lets face it kids don't know and drunk people don't care.

4.Make sure the liquid nitrogen is completely evaporated before giving it to someone. The space foam is a favorite technique here. The structure of the foam will allow small pockets of nitrogen to form. I have burned my tongue pretty bad because I did not wait long enough for the nitrogen to burn off. We also like to do marshmallows in LN for the kids. Kids have very sensitive tongues so it is important to make sure that it is safe

5. Where protective glasses, not protective gloves. My first thought was to wear latex but that was a very bad idea. I have also tried to wear welding gloves but I actually had some spill inside and they are not very sanitary. My advice is to get a very long spoon. The nitrogen will splash out of the bowl so it is important to wear glasses and make sure you are far enough away from the guest so you don't splash them

6. It is a great show. Remember table side when it was fun. Ceaser salad, banana foster, you just do not see it anymore. This gives us the opportunity to say hello to the guest and make them a unforgettable course at the same time. Again I will point out that it sucks making sorbet for drunk people, everything is a joke

7. This is not science fiction. This is the best way to make ice cream and sorbet. As a chef I am always looking for the best technique to make the best product. If I could throw a steak in the microwave and it would be the best steak I ever had I would repeat it again and again. Yea its a fucking microwave but it made the perfect steak. Yea it's nitrogen, a very cold mysterious liquid, but it makes the best product. I will take a tank of the cold stuff against your hand crank any day.

8. By a new dewar and not a used one. Even a small crack in the tank or the plastic top will allow the nitrogen to escape. A 4 liter dewar will loose it's contents in less then 2 hours.

9. Have fun, this is the most amazing medium that I have ever played around with. Next I am on to liquid helium and super flows

Tailgating with liquid nitrogen

2009-10-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

I do a lot of charity work for http://www.projectpave.org/, a local organization that helps at risk youth. Joe Hubbard (pictured here on the right) asked Greg from the Broadmore(pictured on the left) and myself to cook a tailgating party to help raise some money. I can honestly say we had one of the best spreads ever in that parking lot. Roasted tenderloin, seared scallops, lamb chops, smoked sausages and liquid nitrogen ice cream were just a few of the items we put out.

Tatsing menu 101

2009-10-08T11:01:00.000-07:00

Thank you to everyone who came in to help us celebrate number 100, the support for our tasting menu has been incredible over the past couple of years. The unbelievable part to me is not how many tasting menus we have done but more so where we are. If I can pull this off in Westminster Colorado, it can be done anywhere, it is all in the approach. My advice, make people comfortable with the food, they will be more open to trying news things. Simple is the best- not to many ingredients or flavors. Use the best tool to come up with the best product. Don't make it about a label, let the food speak for itself

House made pancetta
Green beans, compressed heirloom tomato, honey-dijon jel

Dashi broth
Chinese mushrooms, lump crab, sriracha caviar

Sous-vide duck breast in hoison and orange
Celery root puree, tempura grapes, foie wonton

Sweet potato and maple ice cream with streusel
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting Menu 100

2009-09-29T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well here it is number 100. I pulled from a lot of different menus to come up with this all star menu. I am doing a extra course for the special occasion this week. I truly believe that we are going to move into some pretty exiting things in the near future. It takes a lot of work to be creative and if you are not in the right situation or frame of mind, creativity is a very hard thing to come by. I have learned a lot in 100 tasting menus, the thing I will take with me the most are the smiles I get when I can introduce a new food memory to someone.

Vanilla poached lobster
Apple lego, apple meringue, compressed apple salad

Blackened sweet breads
Chipotle battered onion ring, fried mayo, grits

Foie Benedict
148 degree egg, avocado, lump crab hollandaise

Floating truffle
Ice wine sorbet with blackberries

Sous-vide tenderloin
Loaded baked potato gnocchi, smoked air, black truffle blanket

Mexican fried ice cream
Frozen caramel powder
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 99

2009-09-16T10:54:00.000-07:00

It is nice that the kids are back in school because my wife and I have some free time during the days to try some places out. We had a great lunch at Encore the other day and ran into some old friends. It feels like I have lost my creative fire for the time being. I used to have time to experiment and see if my crazy ideas work. Now it seems like I am just filling a notebook for sometime in the future when I will have time again. I am starting to plan for the next menu, number 100. I never thought that I would reach it.

Brown sugar grilled peaches
Smoked brie, compressed apples, butternut squash wonton

Duck confit relleno
Avocado paper, honey, red pepper

Butter, thyme and saffron sous vide Alaskan king crab
Corn shitake succotash, cauliflower chip

Pineapple bread pudding with coconut ice cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting Menu 98

2009-09-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

Luck has it that I was selected to sit on a jury last week. It gave me an appreciation for our justice system. The gentleman was found guilty of 3rd and 1st degree assault on a person of risk. Sometimes I wonder if I could have had the patients to be a lawyer or a judge. Instead I chose a profession where I am constantly judged.

Lobster popcorn fritter
Tempura seaweed, yuzu jel, bok choy

Buttermilk fried tarragon chicken
Corn flan, sous-vide ranch potatoes, coconut gravy

Berbere grille New York
Smoked plum puree, compressed portabella, cheddar bacon risotto

Blackberry ice cream with hazelnut cream
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 97

2009-08-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

I have jury duty tomorrow, something I am not looking forward to at all. Don't they know that a crazy chef should not make any decisions pertaining to anyone else. I can barley keep my shit together as it is. Here is the menu for the next 2 weeks

Pear, apricot, plum gastrique
Poached shrimp, goat cheese marble, vanilla

Smoked trout Bruschetta
Salt water caviar, frozen tomatoes, chili threads

Sous-vide lamb chops
Peppers from the garden, Colorado corn, chayote chips

Crème brulee ice cream with burnt palm sugar
Made table side with liquid nitrogen

Real Photos 2

2009-08-14T15:45:00.000-07:00

Marc Piscotty from http://www.marcpiscotty.com/ shot these photos for the Denver magazine issue. He was nice enouph to send me some pictures to put on the blog. Thanks Marc

Edible chalk line

2009-08-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

I was building a shed out back yesterday when my father in law pulled out his chalk line. I asked him," What about putting edible powders inside and snapping perfectly straight flavored lines." He looked at me like everyone else does and just laughed and shook his head. Back to the hardwood store!!!

Musuem of Contemperary Art Mixed Taste Lexture

2009-08-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

This past Friday I fortunate enough to be invited to mixed taste which is a 30 minute presentation given by 2 people on unrelated topics. At the end of the presentation the audience ask questions that try to connect the 2 subjects. The other presenter did Machiavelli, a 15 century political philosopher. We arrived around 5:00 and set up a station where people could grab some strawberry sorbet before sitting down. My presentation went fairly smooth. I started off with Herve talking about how the term molecular gastronomy is wrong. I moved on to talk about the presentation I went to in New York where Harold and Linda talked about taste. People were fascinated by the supertaster theory. I then talked about molecular products that people use everyday with out knowing it. We then moved onto to the additives where I included a lot of pictures from the blog. The zebra steak got the biggest roar. The question and answer session was fun fun. One of the questions was what would the menu look like at the Machiavelli cafe.

I ended off the night freezing a pickle and shattering it on the ground and sucking down some space foam. Mixed taste happen every Friday night at the MCA. It was a blast and I can't wait to be invited back

Rasberry pistachio nougat

2009-08-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

Denver Magazine

2009-08-02T15:58:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Denver Magazine for including us in their performance and visual arts issue
http://www.denvermagazine.com/savor/2009/07/plating-style

Tasting menu 96

2009-08-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

I am getting pretty nervous about my presentation at the museum of art for mixed taste next week. I have to build a keynote presentation which I have never done before. It will be hard to sum up molecular gastronomy in 20 minutes. I will rely on the two speeches I heard from Herve This and Harold McGee to explain the base premise of the movement. I will throw in some of my crazy experiences and highlight some dishes from other chefs. We will end up the evening like always, next to the nitrogen take whipping out batches of creamy sorbet. This tasting menu will run from Wednesday 8/2 through Saturday 8/12

White anchovies
Heirloom cherry tomatoes, basil paper, mozzarella sheets

Chorizo
Dirty rice puree, old bay shrimp, cashew clams

Buffalo short ribs
Pumpkin powder, pineapple gnocchi, hearts of palm

White chocolate mousse ice cream
Chocolate dipped raspberry nougat
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Warning

2009-07-31T15:20:00.001-07:00

We just got a new slicer that has a automatic setting

This was the label attached to the new death machine

Notice the fingers have been cut clear off

New Menu

2009-07-30T20:47:00.000-07:00

We have started a new menu here at the hotel with some major changes to our menu format. We have cut our menu by 40% changing most of what we have done in the past. Our tasting menu will now be offered for 2 weeks instead of one and we will now offer it 4 days a week Wednesday through Saturday. With a smaller menu you can produce better plate presentations. Our new chef is all about quality, a trait I admire. We have no more mixed greens rather a array of baby greens to garnish plates. All of our tomatoes are heirloom giving lots of color and flavor to salads. With new ingredients and some molecular technology, I am very excited about this menu.Here is a list of some of our dishes:

Lump crab cake, avocado relish, salt water bubbles

Crispy shrimp, Mexican papaya salad, ginger caviar

Compressed apples and beets, goat chesse vinaigrette, puffed wheat

Berbere rubbed pork belly, Israeli cous cous carbonara, 148 degree egg

Lemon grass salmon, blue crab rice, wasabi pop rocks

Tasting Menu 95

2009-07-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

I am back after a very nice vacation. It will be a very busy couple of weeks for me. We are changing all menus right now including room service. Someday I will have time to get caught up on some post and get some of the pile of recipes I have on the blog. I will have some exciting news coming up pretty soon.

Grilled baby leeks
Chicken cigar, edamame hummus, red pepper pipette

Apple wood bacon powder
Blue cheese-apple-walnut terrine, baby iceberg, smoked grapes

Lemon grass salmon
Tobiko champagne jelly, lump crab fried rice, compressed melon

Bloody marry sorbet
Crystallized celery made table side with LN2

Tatsing menu 94

2009-07-07T15:12:00.000-07:00

I am repeating the crepe course for a photo shoot we have for Denver magazine on Friday. We will run this menu for the next 2 weeks, I will be taking next week off. We have a few concerts planned along with some rafting and some quality time with the kids.

Heirloom tomato carpaccio
Fizzy capers, crispy silver fish, basil gelee

Lobster crepe
Black truffle caviar, mornay, salt water bubbles

Berbere and beer braised pork belly
Israeli cous cous carbonara, 148 degree egg

Flur de sel ice cream with frozen pretzel dust
Made tableside with liquid nitrogen

Tasting menu 93

2009-07-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

I sure needed the last couple of days off. You really don't know what you are capable of doing until you are right in the middle of it. We have a lot of people out the last couple of weeks. I found myself running a omelet station in a banquet room at 6 am one morning. I have not worked omelets for awhile, my first couple really sucked. I will have to schedule my self for a few more breakfast shift to get the skills back.

Chicken and apple sausage
Compressed peppers, grilled onion jel, tomato bubbles

Bone marrow
Garlic Bruschetta, crimini

Sous-vide tiger shrimp in olive oil and herbs
Crab roll, dashi tempura, peach salad

Watermelon brulee
Watermelon textures made table side with LN

Bloody Marry Popcorn in Liquid Nitrogen

2009-06-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

This was one of the courses for the Gabby Gourmet dinner last night. I started by dehydrating roma tomatoes for 48 hours. I then placed them in the spice grinder with celery salt, Cayenne and sugar. We then sprayed vodka on the popcorn before it went into the liquid nitrogen. It was a hit.

Gabby Gourmet Radio Show

2009-06-29T16:21:00.000-07:00

Gabby asked me to come on her show this past Saturday. We did a remote brocast from Snarf's, a sub shop on 11th and Ogden in Capital hill. I had the Italian, one of the best sandwiches I have ever had. This is Snarf, he is from Chicago and he knows a good sand.