The Best Canoli

Time Flew by in Boston

Wow, the twelve weeks I was up in Newburyport, MA flew by. A few things to talk about, Boston does have some good Italian restaurants, the bad thing is most of them especially in the north end only accept Cash, this a downer considering a meal would typically cost between 30-50 dollars. If one wanted the best canoli in the east coast, stop by Mikes Pastry, granted there will be at least a thirty minute wait for a canoli, but it is worth it. Side Note: They also only accept cash.
I really bonded with my housemates, even though they were a bit crazy and out of whack, but that makes for fun times at the house, lets just say there was never a dull moment at the house. Julia the lady I rented the room from has a son Austin and he is 11 years old. When I first moved into the house he weighed 165 lbs, by the time I left he weighed 130. I was so proud of this. Austin would cook for himself in the morning and since he really didn't know what to cook and even what was healthy for him he usually made chicken fingers, or a quesdilla. After noticing this, I started to show him how to cook for himself in the morning, I also had his mom buy yogurt, and oatmeal and fresh fruit. He really didn't like the change at first, but then he was starting to make his own breakfast and also starting to eat healthier for dinner. I will post more on Austin in another post.
I was working for a food company, Greencore, they are based out of the UK, and the plant I worked at was there first one in the US. I was working as NPD Intern, which means I was researching and developing new recipes or changing new ones for the better with help from the product development chef. I got to work on some big accounts and my one project gets launched in September, I am looking forward to seeing my products at Wal-Mart.
Since I had a normal job, I had the weekends to explore around Boston and such, I went on the freedom trail once it was neat, I also got to explore Salem home of the famous Salem witch Trials and also home to the house of the seven gables author and the actual house he wrote the book on. I got to explore New Hampshire, and Maine also. More will follow!

Now I am up in Boston

Hello All,

I know I haven't written much over the last month or so, but I am back. I recently accepted an internship up in Boston working for a food company doing NPD- New Product Development. I will be starting on my fourth week of work this week and time has flown by. My hours are 8-5:30 and I love those hours.

I have only been out to eat once so far while up here, I just love cooking dinner at home and knowing what is going in my food.

Look for more posts to come within the next week.

-Bill

Smoke Points of Oils

SMOKE POINTS of Oils

Almond oil 420°F 216°C
Avocado oil 520°F 271°C
Butter 350°F 177°C
Coconut oil 450°F 232°C
Lard 370°F 182°C
Macadamia nut oil 390°F 199°C
Olive oil 320°F 160°C Extra virgin
420°F 216°C Virgin
Peanut oil 450°F 232°C
Safflower oil 450°F 232°C

Soybean oil 450°F 232°C

Bacon Popcorn

This will warm you up on a cold day.

Canola oil 12 TBS
Popcorn, preferably dusty blue variety 1 1/3 C
Applewood smoked bacon, thinly sliced 1 Lb
Butter-2 Lbs
Salt -as needed
Instructions:
1. Heat canola oil in a large pot, add popcorn and pop. Place in large bowl.
2. Fry bacon until crispy, reserving rendered fat.
3. Purée cooked bacon and rendered bacon fat with melted butter. Toss popcorn with bacon butter, season with salt and serve.

$40,000 Lobster Press

There it is, the Regent Grand Hotel in Bordeaux, France has this great piece of equipment. It works just like a duck press, two people work the machine after removing the tail and claws the lobster goes into the machine and out comes lobster jus, so much more developed than lobster stock. This piece of equipment weighs 90 pounds and is made of silver. I could deff see Daniel or Le Bern in New York buying this machine and using it. I know Daniel has a duck press.

Recipe for Coke

The recipe:
Fluid extract of Coca: 3 drams USPCitric acid: 3 ozCaffeine: 1 ozSugar: 30 (unclear quantity)Water: 2.5 galLime juice: 2 pints, 1 quartVanilla: 1 ozCaramel: 1.5 oz or more for color

The secret 7X flavor (use 2 oz of flavor to 5 gals syrup):Alcohol: 8 ozOrange oil: 20 dropsLemon oil: 30 dropsNutmeg oil: 10 dropsCoriander: 5 dropsNeroli: 10 dropsCinnamon: 10 drops

Alinea ***

On Sunday December 5th 2010, Ric, a fellow intern from Charlie Trotter's and I went embarked on what is called the best restaurant in the United States- Alinea.

I had called a month and a half in advance, I knew I had wanted to go there as soon I as I got to Chicago. I told them I worked at Trotters and got the hookup. We got a few extra courses and some Champagne and some wine on the house.

Pictured are the Edible drinks which are:

Passion Fruit-Flor de cana 4year, matusalem clasico, sailor jerry

Lemon-Luxardo bitter, luxardo amaro, grapefruit

Apple-Laird's apple brandy, grenadine, thyme

Squash-Cynar, carpano antica, flor de cana 7 year

Kumquat- rittenhouse rye, peychaud's, demerara

Next was Chao Tom- Sugar Cane, Shrimp, Mint

Next was Bass-Black Pepper, Vanilla, Lemon

The next picture is- Canard a la cussy from Escoffier

The first picture is of the famous Chocolate Dessert- it's plated on the table with red wine soaked blueberrys, honey and peanut.

It was an amazing meal!!! There were a few misses, but overall it was totally worth it.

Update

So, its been a few weeks since I have posted a new entry, I am still alive and doing great. I recently had a stage(unpaid day of work) at the Palace downtown and I have one lined up for this friday at another great restaurant downtown. Meanwhile I have been calling a lot of people from the Research Chefs Association(RCA) trying to find an internship/co-op for the spring qtr. I have had some luck getting names of companies that are accepting internships and such and my instructor at school this past week even set me up with a company down in Florida and I talked to the research chef last night for forty five minutes and it seems like a great fit, the company is growing and they need a bright culinary mind like myself.
Also I went and visited my sister, brother in law and nephew up in Brooklyn over the mlk holiday, what a great time had by all. I enjoyed spending so much time with family, and my nephew is getting huge, and he eats everything. I know when I was 19 months I probably wasn't eating a fourth of the foods he is. While visiting, we all got the chance to go to eatly by mario batali, what a great concept. We were all amazed by the space, so many different Italian restaurants and plus meat counter, fish section, pasta section, gelato section, dessert section. It is a spot for everybody to check out, I can not do justice just writing about it.

Vie Restaurant- 1 Michelin Star

So I was asked by my fellow co-workers Anistar and HeeJu to go to dinner with them before I left Chicago. I agreed and they selected the restaurant Vie (http://www.vierestaurant.com/) The restaurant is described as seasonal, contemporary American cuisine. The chef is Paul Virant, he has worked at such Chicago restaurants as Charlie Trotters, Black Bird, Everest.
The restaurant is in Western Springs, IL so we took the bus down to union station and then took the Metra to Western Springs. A note about the restaurant, Mondays are half off bottles of wine.
We decided to get the eight course tasting menu.
Amuse-wood-grilled laughing bird shrimp, dill vinaigrette, hard cooked egg.
first-Pan roasted diver sea scallops, caramelized salsify, thyme, royal trumpet mushrooms, preserved lemon butter.
Second- House smoked and seared black cod, spanish olived oil potato puree, grilled fennel and pickled snow peas.
Third- Caveny farm "American buff" goose pate, perigold truffle, semolina bread, pear butter, goose cracklings, swiss chard.
Fourth- Crispy anson mills rice flour gnocchi, creamy celery root, pea shoots, perigold truffle.
Fifth-Butter roasted turbot, crispy bone marrow dumpling, roasted parsnips, baby leeks, baby leeks, bordelaise sauce.
Sixth- Mint creek farm goat bolognese: slow cooked goat and house made sausage, cavatelli, perserved tomato sauce, hend of the woods mushrooms, kale, prairie fruits farm kaskaskia.
Seventh- Wood grilled dry aged ribeye and braised burgundy snails, fried vie toast, wilted spinach, garlic and parsley butter, candied hillside orchard chestnuts.
Eighth- prairie fruits farm "Little bloom on the prairie", cranberry jam, cornmeal crackers.
Sorbet- Lemon lavender sorbet
To finish- Moist chestnut cake, dark chocolate mousse, coffee caramel, chestnut sable cookie, chocolate coffee ice cream sandwich.

Wow where to begin, our server was great made great recommendations for wines. The restaurant really took care of us also, we got a glass of Champagne when we sat down on the house. After the dinner we met chef Paul and everybody from the kitchen when we took a tour and even got a nice little parting gift from the sous chef. The owner then gave us cocktails at the bar and beers to take on the train ride home.
The food was great, the only thing we agreed on was the snails were sweet with the ribeye and it brought the dish down a little. The fish was cooked perfectly with every dish. I can see why they got a star.