Jerek Bowman/Barry Mooney, Graduates of Molecular Gastronomy 101. Plus a little self BOHK promoting!

This is everything.

Actually, this is everything I could get into the shot. By far the best was the Reverse Spherical Green Olives seen in the center. It's best compared to laying on a beach somewhere tropical, finding twenty dollars, and paying off the mortgage; ALL IN YOUR MOUTH.

Chocolate Micro Sponge So cool. It's poured into a perforated paper cup, microwaved for 30 seconds and rested for a minute before serving. We played around with a Sweet Pea version as well. What I liked more was taking the finished product and dehydrating it to make it a cool crunchy garnish.

Lemon Juice in it's own little silicon molds... obvious...

Ohh... Reverse Spherification using Jasmine Tea... -then taking one of those nifty lemon ice cubes and putting it into the middle of the tea mixture to set it into a sweet freakin' rav. ...not so obvious...

Jasmine Awesomeness

Thermo Circulator. This one is only $750 (Can.) That is good news. Getting closer to justifying it at home...

Whoowhipped Aromatic EVOO... IN A CAN!!! This was golden. Add aromatic olive oil to an ISI Charger, N20 the dickens out of it and bobs your uncle. There is a similar method to producing Hollandaise via ISI as well, though, it does take a little time to Sous Vide the egg yolk/reduction mix.

Spherification... again... Melon and Cola. I think we are pretty much experts on this by now. Still a good trick to know though.

Chef John Placko schooling us at Humber College. Shown here creating "Carbonated Fruit". Take fruit, make sure it's cut smaller then the ISI Charger hole, launch it in with liquid (we like Grand Marnier) and C02. Fridge for a couple hours, dispel the gas (story of our lives...) and pour the newly fizzy fruit into a bowl. Serve with Sous Vide ISI Charged Sabayon because you are clever like that.

Fruit. Fizzy. Clever.

While you are at it... Take a bunch of tomatoes, blend them up with gelatin sheets and freeze the puree in a hotel pan.

The next day, wrap the frozen block into cheese cloth to form three layers and set on a cooling rack above a bake sheet. Walk away for a day leaving everyone in the kitchen awe-struck by your mysterious confidence.

Day #3 Strut into the kitchen and take the dispelled tomato water and add algin. In fact, go ahead and make a ravioli with it. Half way through setting the rav, whip out your trusty syringe and insert some basil oil into said rav. Let it set for an extra minute.

Place the beautiful "Spherical Tomato Water with Basil Oil" on any stupid random surface because you lack the foresight to find something that will make it visually pop. Next, taste it, or let someone you really want to impress taste it.

This is fun. Some people have strong opinions over molecular cooking. While cynics see it as a total fad, others are completely enthralled by anything coming from it. I tread into the grey here. While I think it offers some amazing methods and techniques, at the end of the day I will choose to use it as a way to compliment existing classic flavor profiles and combinations. It's a great tool to finesse, garnish, and make a dish that more interesting. More to come...

Finally, My editor said some shameless self-promoting was in order so we here at BOHK have some new links to hawk out. Observe the right hand side of the blog: note the RSS feed, as well you can now BOHK Yourself by subscribing to us through email, that way we can hassle you right on your 'pewter's front door. Lastly, enjoy the Video Foodie Bar and the snazzy new layout of it all. I'll leave you with one lasting proverbial question; why can't all internet browsers just get along?

-Jerek

Vanessa Fiorini and her cake and her french macaroons and her verbatim directions she sent me via BBM.

Vanessa Fiorini of Vanessa Fiorini Cakes.

Her link is located on the Foodie Section here. ...please look to the right.

I love french macaroons. Much more in fact then their runty little cousins, the coconut macaroons. I asked Vanessa to send me pics and a recipe from her Blackberry the next time she had to make them.

This is a great example how one cook will write a recipe out to another regardless of the degree of difficulty involved in the preparation. Here is what she sent;

336g ground Almonds

444g icing sugar

270g Egg Whites

75g granulated sugar

5g meringue pdr

Whip whites and 75g sugar and meringue pdr, sift together ground almonds and icing sugar in separate bowl. When whites are at stiff peak fold in icing sugar/ground almond mixture . Pipe on to parchment lined trays let stand for 20mins. bake at 300f for 15 min.

http://www.waterlooregioneats.com/2011/03/jerek-bowman-chef-tournant-fairmont-royal-york/

Thank you Vanessa for the recipe and pics and basically doing this whole blog entry on your own. Awesome. Thank you as well for not always sticking around the Pastry Department, thus leaving your freshly made french macaroons completely defenseless. Your honest negligence is my gain.

-Jerek

The Pressure of Making Beef Bourguignon in 30 minutes, The Yoplait Competition, and a Couple Sweet Links.

Barry ("Stop referring to me as C.W.C.") Mooney

Barry and I are currently running in a competition for Yoplait Yogurt. The rules are straight forward. Create one dish, either an app. or dessert which consists of 15% yoplait yogurt. Submit the recipe with photo. If they like what they see, a couple chef schools will recreate your dish. If they like what they taste, first prize is a thermomix. Second is an Ipad.

Stay tuned...

My mother bought me a pressure cooker for Christmas.

This is exciting because I produce a ton of pasta dishes in my domesticated Italiano household. Lo and behold, I do not always have time to braise lamb shanks for 14 hours to casually throw on a Gnocchi dish for two people. I do, however, have 1.5 hours. So this baby works great. Brown whatever, add appropriate vino, reduce au sec, add stock, sachet, cook for however long it takes to become love-me-tender, add mirepoix, cook accordingly, take credit for 14 hour braises. Bob's your uncle.

Behold; A lackluster photograph!

Straight from the pressure cooker; Beef Bourguignon, freshly made milk bread Take my word for it, this dish killed impressing people!*

*... my mom

Barry's stab at the prize;

Crisp Salmon Belly, Heirloom Beet Puree, Yogurt Basil Pistou, Watercress

Some links to check out;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErRHJlE4PGI&feature=player_embedded

Above is what I think local, sustainable cooking is all about.

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/food/625-for-worlds-most-extreme-cookbook-2464072/#photoViewer=1

Ever see a $625 cookbook before?

To finish off, a F.O.H. buddy of mine left some pivotal notes about wine that I thought I would copy and paste here. So, enjoy.

Serving Wine with Food What, When and How to Serve Wine

Here are a few simple tips for serving wine and creating successful food and wine matching combinations:

Serving:

- Serve lighter wines before more full-bodied wines, younger wines before older wines, whites before reds and dry wines before sweet.

- Serve the wine at the appropriate temperature. Serve whites too cold and you will not smell or taste much. Serving reds too warm will make them taste flabby and alcoholic. Reds served too cold will taste overly tannic and acidic.

Ideal serving temperature guidelines:

Sparkling Wine 6-10 °C

Rosé Wine 9-12 °C

Lighter, unoaked Whites 8-10 °C

Fuller, oaked Whites 10-14 °C

Light Fruity Reds 14-16 °C

Medium, full Reds 16-18 °C

Late Harvest/Icewine 4-8 °C

- Decanting may be necessary for mature wines that throw a sediment- mature reds or port-styles -which can be bitter to the taste. It is normally not necessary to decant younger reds and whites.

- In terms of glassware, the simpler and plainer the glass the better. Glasses should be clear with a long stem. Tulip-shaped for whites, with a more rounded and larger bowl for reds. Sparkling wine is best served in tall and thin flutes, while Icewine can be served in white wine glasses.

- Clean glasses in very hot water, with no detergent coming into contact with the inside of the bowl. Air-dry or wipe with a clean linen cloth. Avoid storing glasses in cabinets or cardboard boxes which can leave an odour and affect the taste of the wine.

- Fill glasses no more than two-thirds full, so that the wine can breathe and be swirled around for full enjoyment of the bouquet and aromas.

Matching:

- Match the weight of the food to the weight of the wine. Full-bodied dishes with full-bodied wines, light with light.

- Take the whole dish into account when matching. This includes the sauce and accompanying vegetables.

- You can also match the wine with the strongest flavour on the palate, eg. An apricot sauce accompanying a roast pork loin is more pronounced or flavourful than the roast itself and the wine should be chosen with that in mind.

- If you had to single out one attribute that makes wines easier to match with numerous food types and flavours, it is surely acidity. Without acidity, wine would taste sweet and flabby and make average-to-poor food companions.

- Wines with good acidity make an ideal foil for salty, smoky, oily or buttery foods, as the acidity cleanses and refreshes the palate.

- Wines with some residual sugar are good matches for spicy or hot dishes.

- Complementary and contrasting flavours can contribute to successful wine and food pairings. A complementary match is dessert with a sweet wine, where the sweetness provides the common bond. An example of contrasting flavours is a fish dish with a cream sauce paired with a high acid wine like Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc. The wine's acidity makes the sauce feel lighter and livelier and accentuates the flavour of the fish like a few drops of lemon would.

- Dessert wines should always be sweeter than the dessert.

-Jerek

To the people who came up with wrapping a banana; will you have to SPLIT the promotion? A little sarcasm and a couple link-ups to awesome foodstuff.

Yea.... this did happen.
What is the freakin' purpose of this? Does this give assurance and confidence to domesticated non-cooks or something? I am hoping this is not ACTUALLY serious. No way right..? Currently I pay $.69 a pound for a pile of fair trade organic top of the line bananas. ORRR, say $.30 per fruit, kinda wonder what the new markup is for the designer packaging above.
Kinda feel a little barfy looking at it...

Ok, on a way better more positive direction in the culinary world, check out http://umamiburger.com/gallery/
They are a Cali. based Burger Joint that makes everything in house. They process their own cheese!!! It's gloriously greasy food done right. I hooked you up straight to their gallery of food porn.

SECOND! Del Posto Restaurant has a series of youtube clips that showcase specific recipes. THIS STUFF IS OUTSTANDING!! The music and editing are enough to make me very jealous and enviable over the crap videos I use to put out in my skate days (like...wow, 10 years ago....really??).
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=del+posto&aq=f

-Jerek