KNOW PRESSA LOVE

One of my most favorite and pleasurable past times is eating the shoulder of the Pata Negra. I can not say enough about the taste and the flavor. It is the Black Amercian Express card of meat. An addictive flavor of forrest and acorns. It so sensitive on one’s tongue, it begins to melt immediately upon bite. The texture tethers away into an experience in mastication, I have known by no other food. My wife and I fell in love with this pig here in London.

The restaurant I work in is one of only several serving it, and fewer still prepare it as we do, over a charcoal grill.  I mean the most common availability is cured. So it is something of an experience to find it on a menu. Rarer still, is that at our establishment, you can have it cooked to your desired cooking point. Can you imagine pork cooked blue? It is amazing to not only have the option, but to take advantage of that option. I promise it is safe! The meat is so phresh, the most premium animal and is shipped frozen. Thaw and cook.

Here we are about to sit down for a Medium Rare prepared Pressa Iberico. All in the comfort of our own home. I love where this pig roams. It may in fact be roaming to the States soon…

ZEBRA AINT JUST FOR ZOOS

I honestly did not think my little brother would take to the Market like he did. I know he likes food, but as adventurous as he was, got things quite exciting. Like on 11.  It does not take much to get me thinking about eating  some crazy cut of a farm animal or a rare and or exotic beast. Picture him when I was all…  Gamstom Wood Farm is well know for its Ostrich market but sells Zebra, Crocodile, Kudu, and Dreams.

So we pulled the hunter gatherer trigger & invested much money into eating the South African trekking leg of a farm raised Zebra. We were told that it taste similar to Horse. Something you do not see much of on an American menu. I have eaten it once but in a cured and pepper corned sausage. I was told it would over cook very easy due to the leanness of the meat. I became curious on how the flavor may deliver.

We cooked it Rare on a grill for a little flavoring then transfered it into a skillet to give it the sensational brilliance all around and take it to Medium Rare. I was thinking blue would be a nice way to explore the potential flavor, but thought it may be too adventurous not knowing all about the dynamics of the meat, the slaughter, the company.

We cooked up two fillets. One was just prepared olive oil, salt, pepper & the other salt, pepper, and I de-glazed the pan with a little red wine and poured it over the top. I preferred the simple salt +pepper+olive oil version best. It was incredible smooth and silky and kept a distinct flavor although the texture was reminiscent of a trimmed sirloin steak. So with each strip I ate, I was fighting off the unfamiliar feeling of going to drink a glass of water and having poured a cola into my mouth. I wanted to say the steak taste a little different the whole time. It was a practice in learning another meat’s qualities for certain. I certainly would do it again. And from this image I think my brother is doing it again and again and again.

MY EYES ARE GLAZING OVER: SPRING ROLLED BUTTERNUT SQUASH PUREE with PARSNIPS AND CARROTS

Often times we listen to the same incredible song on repeat. Right now I got Florence + The Machine throwing my hands all up in the air. Or listening to Bilal ask me what love is. Otherly, we usually eat everything in our kitchen bare before we go grocery shopping. So that means similar looking plates. Mad Remixes. The things in life, you use.

This dish was using the bulb of butternut squash from our previous night’s dinner & the balsamic reduction.  I freestyled a puree of butternut squash, a little vanilla and lemon zest. Piped it into spring roll dough we had laying around from an experiment. (The puree was nice yet left some room for improvement. The ribbons of veg were gently pan seared with garlic.

I made this especially for my wife. She is a huge, so big on butternut squash and the balsamic reduction. Its a constant wish atop a very long list.

ABOUT THYME & OTHER HERBS

Our dear friend Nico Vascellari and his sweet hearted girlfriend Zoe stayed with us for a few nights just before the Holidays. And on the last night, we ate drank and watched seasonal you tube clips of death metal and skateboarding crashes and shark attacks. The table is detailed with a sculptural piece from Nico. Cast aluminum and burning candle. It was the same very spot that had been home, for a night, to a small scale  Takashi Murakami. Our table looks real epic soaked in blue chip art dotted with decent plates to eat.

This particular dish is terribly easy to make and requires very little prep. It’s all allez allez allez once everything is on the counter ready to go.

1.Reduce 250ml of Balsamic Vinegar with 30-40 grams of caster sugar. Low/Medium heat 2. Cube the butternut squash season with salt, pepper, desired herbs and roast for near twenty minutes. 200 degrees C. 3.Put the water on the stove, salt it. High heat. 4. Wash what ever salad greens you may prefer. This particular dish was dressed with a seasonal green hand of baby spinach and not so seasonal water cress. 5.As your pasta is complete and in a colendar draining, toast up some pumpkin seeds. A little salt, a little olive oil and color them. Be careful not to toast to much as they have a tendency to snap crackle and pop from the pan to the range to the counter. Spitting little bits of oil as they fly all over. 6. Plate with your preferred grated cheese. Cest Fin!

PIG OUT ON FABULOUS

Last Tuesday, I worked a morning shift. Breakfast-Prep-Lunch-Prep and pass off the section for a night service. I went to a few shows, but had my dates wrong so I only saw the gallery doors. Yes, I messed up a little-yet was able to make some lemonade. Last stop was  to meet a friend at St. John. & I absolutely love this place. for me it is like going to an amusement park.

I have eaten at the tapas spot – Bread and Wine in Shoreditch plenty of times, but the restaurant only once.

So there I am  & one half full  glass of Bourdeaux. Then in walks,  not so surprisingly -but to my surprise,  Fergus Henderson. For me it was monumental. He milled about a little I gave him a head nod and he smiled back. Drank my drink and he did his. Me at a table him at the bar.  I finish my glass. I go over to the bar where he is standing to purchase a bottle,  in walks my friend, we share a pound-a dap and he sits -he notices me preoccupied and I stay  standing and decide walk over to Fergus from our table which is a stones throw away and proceed to share with him, Mr. Henderson, how much I appreciate his cooking and his work and how his philosophy and his conviction and struggle with ill health and how he has inspired me to eat more of oddities of a beast. I mean you can not say cooking in London and not footnote his work. Well I can’t, I don’t.

I think my excitement may have been a  bit much, although he seemed as though he thoroughly enjoyed it (maybe more how crazy I was acting), he was more than humble in accepting all of it.

So Fergus, thanks for being a tremendous sport and allowing me the celebrity chef moment. It had me on such a high.

COOKING BOOKS MORE AS ART

Since I started making work, art work specifically, there have been several artist’s voices I like the sound of hearing over and over again. One is Rirkrit Tiravanija. I have enjoyed -been inspired by his work so many times over, in person and while reading of his work and projects- as often times it exists in a dynamic transparent state, vying between myth and ephemera. In fact, I think I may have even been at the presentation of his Hugo Boss Award in early 2005. Swag!

I am really  enthusiastic of his work-working as a conduit for human interactions. I am a fan of making art that is about freeing people from traditional conditions that keep them from play, from participation & from satisfaction. I also enjoy the accessibility quotient of his makings.

Recently I was speaking with a friend about my recent makings, in the kitchen and in the studio-which has been in the kitchen & Rirkrit’s name came up. Long and behold, the very next day I got word that his newest book, with wife and photographer Antoinette Aurell, Cook Book has been published and available.
I am off to get my copy this Wednesday.

AVERAGE JOE vs THE VOLCANO FLAMBE

Artist Marina Abramovic working with Chef Kevin Lasko  make one of four dishes for a seasonal collaboration between visual and culinary artists, via Creative Time. I am so missing NY and wishing I was home for next and next and next gastronomic creations to come. Maybe I should send my sweat toothed pastry chef’n sister to experience and recap for us. Until then the New York Times (global) Dining and Wine does almost fine.