Lardslinger

Supporting Farmers and Creativity

 

As a chef, I am always on the lookout for the best ingredients I can possibly serve at my restaurant, within reason. I have found that the vast majority of things that I can find locally taste better, fresher, more vibrant. This is not true of everything but for the most part the things I choose to buy from local farmers is of higher quality than a conventional produce vendor. Sometimes they cost more than you would pay from your produce vendor also but quality costs. The thing that irritates me ( here it comes), is when chefs put “ we support local farmers” at the bottom of their menu and then buy a pound of radishes at the market. You know who you are, I see you at the market, widening your eyes at how much things cost. The thing is, I get it, some things are expensive, and most restaurant owners will crawl up your ass about food costs. But, the thing I guess that bothers me is, that idea of support. Are we really supporting the farmer? Sometimes if a bag of radishes is all you can afford, fine, better to buy it local. But do you recommend his stuff to other chefs? Do you talk about his farm at your server meetings? Do you engage your customers about his farm and/or products? Support can mean many things. I think true creativity is finding a way to use the best possible product and still do right by your food costs. This is always going to be a challenge but I find it extremely rewarding. I am extremely fortunate to work in a very busy restaurant that allows me great buying power, but with this buying power comes other responsibilities. It’s sometimes challenging to train my staff about how special and unique these items are, to treat them with the utmost respect.In fact this is probably one of my biggest frustrations. Sometimes I feel like I am the only one who gets excited when certain things come in season. I remember when asparagus became available at the market, I was so excited I think my head was vibrating on the way to the market. I had so many dishes I wanted to play around with and experiment, but it seemed like no one really cared all that much. But I still wanted to put two asparagus dishes on my menu and let everyone how great Mick Klug asparagus really is. I very much believe in fighting the good fight, I will always find a way to use these ingredients no matter how daunting of seemingly expensive. Anyone can take some local organic eggs and cook them up and have them taste pretty good. I think it’s much more difficult to use those eggs as your house eggs when they cost three time as much as conventional eggs, and still keep your food costs in line. A lot of chefs like to think they support local farmers but how many really do? I feel that when you make a commitment to using local products, you don’t throw that out the window when things get tough. Sometimes I can’t use as much as I would like for whatever reason, but this doesn’t stop me from educating my staff, customers, and anyone else who will listen. If you make a commitment to a farmer you can’t ditch when you have a bad month, or the owner is second guessing everything you buy. Find a way to make it work, you might have to buy less, or go to the farmer and explain your situation, sometimes they will work with you. I don’t think I have ever been asked for a credit application  from any farmer at Green city market. How many produce vendors will do that for you? The relationships that I have made with local farmers have quite honestly, changed my life. They have made my job much more rewarding, I still get excited on market day. As chefs we have a responsibility not only to our owners, employees, customers, but also to the community we live in, how well we fulfill these responsibilities is the true measure of success. 

 

 

 

 

The Importance of Mayonnaise

My favorite sauce or condiment or whatever you want to call it, is mayonnaise. Aioli is how I usually refer to it on my menu because sometimes mayonnaise doesn’t sound as cool. Wikipedia says mayonnaise is” a thick condiment made primarily from vegetable oil and egg yolks.^” I think when most people think of mayo they think of

Hellman’s or Real Kraft, or whatever, another reason to use the word aioli. There’s nothing wrong with either of these condiments, I grew up with a terrible fondness for Real Kraft mayonnaise on everything! However a homemade mayo is much different and usually much more decadent. First , why does mayo taste so good? Fat. A mayo is basically made up of eggs and oil, sometimes mustard, vinegar, and lemon juice, but at its very essence it’s an emulsion of eggs and oil. Some say mayo comes from Spain, more specifically Mahon, hence mayonnaise. I don’t know if that’s true but whoever came up with the idea of combining eggs, oil, garlic, and lemon juice together to make a sauce should be revered. I think garlic aioli is quite possibly one of the most versatile sauces or condiments or whatever you want to call it. Garlic aioli can be served with almost anything I can think of; fish, meat, vegetables, fries, vegetables, chicken, bread, anything.

One of the things I always try to do in my kitchen is create dishes that taste great but are also fairly easy to execute on a very busy night. Aioli is a very handy and powerful tool in that regard. It can be kept room temperature or chilled, which means no reheating or holding in a steam table. It‘s very consistent, you make it before dinner service and it tastes and looks exactly the same all night. Usually I pair aioli with seafood because I find lemon and garlic flavors can be paired well with almost any fish. Although not very groundbreaking or original I find it tastes really good, and that’s usually what I think is most important. As I grow older I find pleasure in simple things. I think simple things done extremely well are the most satisfying, I don’t see the need for wacky combinations or for 107 condiments or sauces on a plate. When you look at the cuisine of great chefs, take Daniel Boulud , their cooking is often very simple ideas and concepts elevated to another level by quality of product, technique, and execution. I had a dish at Daniel that was basically Halibut cooked in brown butter that was one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. Really crispy fries with a little sea salt and garlic aioli is extremely satisfying, add a craft beer to the equation and I can’t think of too many things more luxurious to me.

It seems that nowadays young chefs want to impress with unusual technique or what Anthony Bourdain usually refers to as torturing food to make it look or taste like something else. This seems somewhat sad to me, I don’t think many of these chefs have ever sat down and tried their own food. Alice Waters has been a huge influence on me and when I first looked at her cookbooks as a young chef I didn’t really get it. The recipes were very simple and straightforward. I didn’t understand what the big deal was; most of these dishes were things I cooked in culinary school. It wasn’t until later in life I had my epiphany, it wasn’t the recipes so much, it was the ingredients. High quality ingredients cooked very simply and with great care and passion are what it’s all about. It took me about 15 years of banging my head against a stove to figure this out but I’ve always been a slow learner.

What does this have to do with mayonnaise? Well, if you know how to make a mayonnaise (some cooks who graduate culinary school still don’t know), you can put a lot of things together and it gives you a foundation to build upon. Making a mayonnaise grounds you in tradition, tradition every cook should be aware of. Before you learn how to cook a steak, a piece of fish, or make coffee caviar, you should be able to make a mayonnaise blindfolded. Some cooks miss these basic skills, it’s sad to me. I know some young chefs think mayo is tired or boring but both Thomas Keller and Wylie Dufresne have forms of mayo on their menus, if it’s good enough for them it’s good enough for me.

Alice Waters’ recipe for aioli

· 2 cloves of garlic

· a couple pinches of coarse salt

· 1 large egg yolk

· 1 tablespoon of water

· 1 cup of oil