Bacon and Stuff

Earlier this week, Curtis and I decided to create "the world's greatest savory martini". We started experimenting with agar agar clarification.

I decided that I wanted to do a bacon/blue cheese cocktail. Don't make that icky face just yet!!!!!
so, Curtis and I decided finally upon blue cheese infused gin with a bacon infused dry vermouth.


The blue cheese infused gin turned to be a great success. We decided to use a cheaper gin because we were afraid that infusing/clarifying the gin wouldn't work. IT WAS AN INCREDIBLE COMBINATION!!!!

We are also able to save the blue cheese that we use for the infusion as a garnish for the drink.

I want to invite the owner of Velvet Tango Room over to try this drink when it is finished. I hope Paulius will come over and try my tribute to their Manhattan. I loved theirs so much, that
I had to come up with my own!!!

We is farming now, Pa!!

Myself and 2 of my employees/friends have recently decided to venture into farming. This project started a couple of months ago. I spoke with Tom Wyant from Killbuck Mushrooms about using some of his property. We then started talking about how much land we could honestly grow stuff on. This, in turn, led to the decision of leasing a half acre to grow on.

We started late this year, so we only had time to plant garlic. We planted several 125 foot rows of garlic. Tom has been gracious enough to allow us to use all of equipment(including his sweet antique tractor) for free.

Next year, we will really get into gear. I plan on planting all of our spinach, tomatoes, melons, herbs, and other staples that we use at the restaurant.

I believe this is the next step for us to become more of a self sustaining/ self reliant restaurant. I really hope that by the end of next summer that we will have a greenhouse built to extend our growing season and we will be able to supply the restaurant with a steady supply of fruits and vegetables that we grow ourself. It will be nice to be able to say that most of our produce is grown by us.

I hope that this project inspires other members of our community and even the crew at Fire to take be more involved in the current "farm to table movement" that is currently at the forefront of modern cuisine.

Tom and I also think that this will be excellent cross promotion for both of our businesses. I can't thank him and his wife enough for all of their help and allowing us to use their land.


So, here's to tractors, corn cob pipes, and overalls!!!!! YEEEE-HAAW!

Gooseberry Obsession

This summer, I have become obsessed with the Cape gooseberry. We have great success with our gooseberry/champagne pan sauce for the scallop dish. The blue corn grits from Covered Bridge Gardens and the Niman Ranch pork belly confit really round out the dish.

Recently, however, we decided to infuse vodka with Cape gooseberries for a summer cocktail. As has been my experience with most infused alcohols, I don't ever seem to have the patience. After 2 weeks, it seemed like the flavor just wasn't being imparted into the vodka.

Some of the other chefs and I read a lot of blogs. One of my favorites, Ideas in Food, recently posted about clarification of liquids using a cryovac machine and agar agar. This sounded like the way to go. So we pureed gooseberries with vodka and heated up a little bit to "bloom" our agar. The agar mixture was then combined with the other mixture and allowed to set in the cooler.

The mixture didn't set all the way(probably due to the proof of the vodka). We then vacuum sealed under the highest pressure that we could muster. The mixture was then strained through a coffee filter and the result is one tasty product.

We can now start thinking about other alcohols to infuse with whatever we want. The possibilities are endless!

Drunken Swine Nettle Ale is GO!!!!

Finally bottling the 1st batch of nettle ale tonight. It almost tastes like Oberon, which I find kinda weird. I'm gonna tweak the recipe and make it just a tad more bitter. In a week or so, we'll see how it tastes after bottling. I hope that it doesn't explode!

Pig's Head Madness

Last week we got in a pig's head from Niman ranch, because I haven't made headcheese(or brawn if you're British) since culinary school. The head was extremely fresh and Dave Treaster and I tackled that thang with mucho gusto!!









For the headcheese I used capers, cornichons, citrus zest/juice, lots of parsley, and lots of salt and pepper. I then reduced the gelatin and we assembled the terrine. After cutting into the terrine, I wish I would've added more of the liquid. It was kind of hard to slice and fell apart slightly. We even got to serve some to Michael Ruhlman and family when they came in to eat.


In the end, I was pretty happy with my 2nd attempt ever at headcheesery. I even thanked the piggy, before we started, for the opportunity.
Thank you, my delicious friend.

Meddling with Nettles

Today, after hours of research, I decided to finally make some nettle beer. I adapted recipes that I read from several places and set of to make a batch of brew. I wouldn't have even attempted this if it wasn't for Hugh Whittingstall and an episode from one of his shows.

The brew needs to ferment for 10 days before I can bottle it. Hopefully, in a month, it will be ready to taste.

Randomness

I went out and bought some cool stuff today. I finally got some beer from Indigo Imp brewery. I can't wait to try it. As usual, I seem to be a day late and about 5 bucks short. Hopefully, in the future, I will be more informed of great things like this before everyone else knows about them.

I also purchased Michael Ruhlman's new book : Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind The Craft of Everyday Cooking.


I have actually been looking forward to this book for awhile. I think the image on the cover would make a sweet, functional tattoo. What do you think? Never again would you have to look up recipes, you could just look at your arm or leg!!

I noticed a post on Cage Free Tomatoes blog as well today. The post was about raising your own chickens. I want to do this really bad, but don't know if it is possible in Cleveland Heights. Anyone know if this is possible?

I'm also extremely pleased with the new Spring menu at Fire. Food is fun, simple, and clean. If you haven't checked it out, you should give it a try.

I'm also working on some pretty cool stuff that I hope to be able to share in the near future. Now, I finally got all of the random thoughts out of my head and it's time to enjoy some Indigo Imp!!