wolvesmouth

Black cardamom lime shortbread...

So uh yeah... Made some black cardamom and lime zest shortbread. Good... Better with fleur de sel oh yeah the recipe is a shuna fish recipe done is standard measuring

i took 2 black cardamom pods (hey are a lot bigger than the normal cardamom and have a smoky aroma) toasted and took out the little spice clusters. spun with a little of the sugar (about 1.5 oz) to give the cardamom something to grind with instead of bouncing around in the grinder. sifted. put aside the 4.5 ounces of sugar that now has the black cardamom in it. measured out my flour 9 oz (sifted aerated). had my butter sitting out at room temp 8 oz. fleur de sel i threw i good sized pinch in for the salty crystals. i creamed the room temp butter together with the sugar added some lime zest, lime juice, and vanilla, then folded the ap flour in gently as to not try to make too much gluten form. then wrap in plastic. place in fridge. once at least 2 hours go by, spread in between 2 pieces of parchment about 1/4-1/2 in thickness cut into desired shape then put into freezer to get chilled well before popping them into a 300f oven. 15 min then turn over and 12-15. there are little nuances to this recipe that you should read on her page. she always has the best pastry recipes as she is one gnarly chick who is amazing with anything pastry, i used extra salt for my own personal preference. but its up to you whatever you want to add. this is a basic recipe that relies on good ingredients, if you buy booty ass ingredients and make it and think it sucks don't blame me, i warned u, as with anything you need good quality ingredients to make your food taste good.

shunarecipe

actual recipe written easier to read.

2 ea black cardamom pods
4.5 oz sugar
8 oz butter -good quality!!! room temp.
cream together.
1 ea lime zest and juice
splash vanilla extract
still creaming together.
9 oz flour
folding in gently.

wrap let sit in fridge for a few hours or freeze.
300f oven and make sure they are chilled before baking to prevent too much spreading.

serve with some really good jam. or use as a piece in a ton of other desserts. or just eat plain.

white chocolate...olive oil...

 caramelized white chocolate is an ingredient i usually have around as i like the flavor of it more than plain white chocolate (although i do like white chocolate for all you haters out there). i was trying to find different ways of caramelizing it other than the roasting in the over method and the pressure cooker. i decided to just straight up cook it over the stove (why i didnt do this before is beyond me, i think it stems from doing pastry before and automatically doing things a set way without trying something "crazy" with things that you are taught will "burn" and separate into a horrible mess, yet the horrible mess is what i was after). when you think of white chocolate you can literally think of it as caramel, hell most of the caramel people normally eat has the same ingredients just in different ratios. i just put it on the stove let it go slowly as to not make it bitter by burning, once it turned to sand and caramelized i spun it with water and olive oil, then strained through a chinois. not a grain in the damn thing. it tastes like beurre noisette meets dulche de leche with olive oil. this is could be used in about 10 million ways once you start thinking about what you could do, maybe you could make flexible caramelized white chocolate with olive oil or other flavored oils, then set it with agar and gelatin? maybe make a vinaigrette out the stuff, add a little lime juice, or sherry, or tone down the sweetness and serve it with lobster? use it to macerate things, shit take out the olive oil and use it straight, drink it, i dont care, just give it a try before you talk shit about white chocolate (to the ones out there who continually bash it, saying its gross, once you try this you will wish you never said white chocolate sucked). 

cucumber.sudachi.mint...

so if you notice i am doing a lot of really simple shit lately. i am working on a little something on the side that deals with really simple concepts. anyways this dish is cucumber. the liquid was 55g sudachi juice. 50g sugar. 250g h2o. i dissolved the sugar in the water over heat, let dissolve and start to cool before adding the juice. reason being i wanted the juice to not take on a cooked citrus flavor. i also squeezed the juice of a lime into the mix as well as a little salt and lime zest from the lime. then poured the mixture which was still warm but not hot over the cucumber. let sit out for a few minutes then put into the fridge. once it was cool i added a little splash of orange blossom water (i wish i could find a lime blossom water) to give that aroma of the orchards. let macerate for a few hours. i went and picked some of the mint i have growing outside and the other stuff is the sosa mint paste. the idea for this "salad" is that you could have it with basically anything form fish to beef (although with beef you may want to flavor the cucumbers more intensely) to actually taking the liquid maybe adding a little more simple syrup and turning it into a granita to serve in some glasses with the cucumber on a hot day. you could also take the leftover cucumber if you parisienne them and spin that with the mixture as well as more mint or sosa mint paste (if you have it)  the idea is just a base, take the shit and do whatever with it, i know its not insanely original but what even is anymore...

as simple as that...

 so here is another egg dish that is in the works. whipped egg with chive. borrowing a page from alain passard and cooking my eggs over a double boiler while whipping constantly until they are not scrambled but they are not liquid, they are somewhere in the realm of a custard/scramble/sabayon. i want to add some stuff to it. this one is just chive puree, egg, little butter, salt, mushrooms. the thing i like about it is if you don't pay attention for a few seconds the whole dish is fucked.  sometimes when people put 19 things on a plate you cant quite tell what wrong but you also cant tell whats right so its just kind of ehhh (unless the person is fucking amazing which i am not so i opt not to). anyways what i would like to add is maybe some lightly cooked croutons of brioche or sourdough and maybe some type of pork product or a lightly cooked crouton cooked in bacon fat and cook the mushrooms with a little shallot. ehh whatever it becomes, it becomes. 

i hope i am not the only one...

 

 getting fed up when going to eat and "new" textures are the focal point of the meal. give me something where you remembered to season and cook it properly without concentrating on how cool the fucking strawberry in 76 forms is. yeah i get it, different textures, sweet deal, but its only cool when the main nourishing substance of the dish is actually that, a nourishing substance not an afterthought to your dick extender. 

not so pretty but who gives a truck...

 so this is a pretty basic plate up but this is usually what i do first before designing a plate per se. i basically just put everything together in the amounts that i think might work and try it out. there are changes i would make after trying this dish, and thats what this part of my cooking is for. this dish is yari ika (squid) stuffed with sweet potato (salt only roasted sweet potato put through ricer, let cool fill squid tubes let set slice in "scallop" then lightly whip egg white coat with flour and crushed rice crackers, lightly baste "fry") honshemeji mushrooms. kabosu (juice like yuzu) -sake-miso (just a little for depth) sabayon (oh yeah and i had to fucking whisk the thing with a handful of skewers that i had tweaked around to make them somewhat resemble a whisk because i left mine somewhere unknown to me (you know how that kind of shit happens, when you need it its never there, but everyday up to the that time its in your face)!!!). shishito pepper juice (shishito juice salt sugar vinegar all heated together and reduced a little, u need to balance the bitterness the juice has) so after doing this i would thicken the shishito juice depending on the serving vessel, and i would thicken up the sabayon a touch more, this is the first time in a long time i have been able to cook at home as i dont have much time off these days. today i basically went to japantown and grabbed stuff without thinking about how it was going to go together, got home unpacked it and just kind of went with it. this is how i like cooking the most because it forces you to figure out how to link things together that may or may not go together at first glance. so uhhh enjoy... 

back kind of sorta...

sorry about the lack of posts in the past few months, i have been doing a lot of work related stuff that isnt something i can blog about, as well as moving at the same time. i am hoping to be able to get a few days off and post up some pictures. i have a laundry list of things i want to put up but this week i have been thinking about braising traditionally and braising sous vide style. the way i was always taught to braise was brining/marinating/caramelizing whatever method you decide (maybe all of them). stock (whatever it may be). and the regular braising shit you already know about cause chances are if your reading this you already know what braising is, if not look it up braise a few things then come back and re-read. anyways, lately i have been thinking about braising in terms of osmosis and the way salt cod reacts in water. in nature everything likes balance so when you put the salt cod into the water the water is replacing itself with salt and the salt is replacing itself with water in an attempt to try and balance itself out, so when you apply to braising you can see how brining your meat ahead you may lose some of the salt you already imparted for flavor ahead of time and how that salt could end up in your liquid that usually isnt too salty cause you want to reduce the braising liquid to make the liquid a little more intense. but then you end up cooking your braise in something that isnt seasoned fully and lacks depth in the end. i have eaten a lot of braised at a lot of well known places and this is what i am thinking most of the time when i eat there as well. so with this in thought i was thinking about how i could make a newer version of the sous vide style braise while keeping the tradtional style mixed in as well. most of the sous vide braises nowadays are literally salt pepper olive oil and a few herbs, and maybe a small amount of stock. the braise i have been thinking about lately is light brine the day ahead, caramelizing the lamb shank take out of pan. taking your mirepoix grinding it up caramelizing, deglaze red wine or stock. adding tomato paste caramelizing. deglaze. grinding up dried  porcini,chanterelle,morels,black trumpets adding to the paste. deglaze. add stock and other liquids, add in another set of caramelized lamb bones or veal bones or chicken bones to keep it less gummy even. reduce make sure seasoning is on point. balanced. put aside let congeal take lamb with whatever extra shit you want to put in the bag then putting your congealed reduction (while reserving some for sauce) into the bag that is already seasoned (both are seasoned) then letting it come back to room temp then putting into immersion circulator cooking for a good amount of time then letting it rest in the bag for a day. to order toss in immersion circulator. once heated through, cut a small hole in the bottom of the bag to allow the liquid to escape. reserve liquid. marry with the other reduction after fat is separated. take sauce and sharpen however you see fit. take basically i liquid form of gastrique (vinegar or very tart juice and sugar) put lamb shank in a tin and place under broiler or salamander while every couple of minutes taking out of salamander to laquer more gastrique onto shank, the liquid will essentially reduce on the shank itself creating a  "glaze". do all your other garnishes plate it up. boom. bangin.done.  i left out a lot of steps that i assume you already know like skimming, straining over and over, etc.... this is just more of a mind spilling out while i am typing thing.