Category — Food Porn

What’s better than bacon? Well, arguably, pork belly is. Afterall, bacon is pork belly, and, at that, it’s just one specific method of cooking this fantastic meat. You can cook pork belly all sorts of way, and with any flavor you want!

This pork belly happens to be braised with plenty of stout and ginger. Garlic, molasses,cinnamon, anise, and orange are also added to the braising liquid, which, after the pork belly is fall-apart tender, is reduced to a thick, syrupy glaze. The liquid is reduced so far, in fact, that the stout adds a significant malt flavor to the final dish.

The other elements of this dish include braised mustard greens, potato and mustard puree, fresh whole grain mustard, caramelized garlic chips, and friend potato strands.

A close up of the layers of meat and fatty goodness in the braised pork belly.

This dish owes its conception to internet collaboration, and specifically Google Wave. Google Wave is a new form of internet communication. Instead of receiving hundreds of emails with CCs, hard to decode responses, and reading through and ever-growing list of replies, Google Wave is a hosted conversation. This means that one person can create a “wave” about a specific subject, in this case pork belly. Whoever is included in that wave can respond to any and every addition to the wave. The additions, responses, and corrections are displayed in a manner that makes it easy to follow the chronology and evolution of the conversation.

This pork belly dish was created in a collaborative conversation on Google Wave. It started with the simple request of “Let’s create a new dish.” Myself and a few other chef friends decided pork belly would be nice and we exchanged ideas on what flavors to use. It was eventually decided that mustard, potatoes (in some form), and braised greens would pair nicely with the fatty belly. I especially admire mustard with any pork product and wanted to feature it as a significant element in the final dish. One we knew the flavors, we could easily communicate what form each of them would take. I decided to add the garlic chips and fried potato strings for some crunchy bits of flavor and dramatic visuals.

Braised Pork Belly: Another example of how the internet can be one of the most powerful tools in the kitchen.

Suggested Wine Pairing: Alsatian gewürtztraminer

This stunning photograph was taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

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We eat vegetables almost exclusively in savory dishes. Many vegetables, however, are naturally sweet and have intense aromas which work exceedingly well in desserts. I wanted to create a dessert featuring vegetables and I started by brainstorming which vegetables could work well in a dessert.

The first vegetable was an easy choice: Carrots. Carrots are one of the sweetest vegetables on Earth and they pair well with baking spices like clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice and with sweeteners like honey and molasses. We add carrots to stocks for an added sweetness and carrot cake is a staple of bakeries around the country.

Beets might seem like an odd dessert flavor but they are quite sweet. Afterall, a great portion of granulated sugar is processed and refined from sugar beets. One of my favorite side dishes is roasted beets with honey and dill. Used with restraint, the unique flavor of beets can work well in a dessert.

The final vegetable in this dessert is celery. Celery is almost more of an aromatic than it is a vegetable. It has a delightfully musty and sweet aroma. Celery is also nothing new to dessert at Garrett’s Table. With a bit of added sugar, celery can add a refreshing, aromatic flare to any dessert, along with a crunchy texture.

Ok so what the heck is the dessert??? A very soft thyme spongecake is filled with a beet and honey caramel. The caramel is quite thick at room temperature but, when baked in the center of the cake, it becomes very liquid and flows out of the cake when cut.

Next to the thyme and beet caramel cake is a spiced carrot and cream cheese sorbet. The sorbet is frozen into the shape of a carrot (a technique I’ve used previously in a Tiramisu Créme Brulée) and it is resting on some ground, candied walnuts.

A sweetened celery puree adds brightness and acidity which help to cut through the richness of the spongecake. Dollops of honey-fluff, fresh thyme leaves, and diced celery are the finishing elements of this unique dessert.

So go ahead…enjoy your vegetables!

I’m more than happy to share my secrets and my recipes. If you would like the recipe for this vegetable dessert, simply sign up for the Garrett’s Table e-mail newsletter. Signing up couldn’t be easier. Click the button below and enter your e-mail address and you’ll start receiving Garrett’s Table updates along with subscriber-only recipes and content. I’ll include the recipe for this vegetable dessert, with instructions on how to make your own sorbet mold, in my next mailing (April 1, 2010). All e-mail addresses are confidential and you can unsubscribe at any time.

These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

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Scallops, because of their naturally high sugar content, sear wonderfully. The crisp, golden brown crust of a seared scallop creates texture and accentuates its sweetness. I think scallop pair exceedingly well with tropical flavors, and this dish features quite a few.

First is a puree of young coconut. Young coconut is an immature coconut, and the meat is tender and mildly sweet. The puree is both rich and refreshing, a unique quality of coconut.

The diced pineapple is tossed with fresh Jalapeño and dark rum. The pineapple is then compressed in a vacuum sealing bag. As you remove all the air, the sides of the bag apply large but equal pressure on all sides of the pineapple, compressing the cell walls and creating a unique texture along with an intense concentration of flavor.

The dish also features a smooth avocado and lime sauce. The unctuous sauce combines the richness of avocado with the bright, acidic qualities of lime juice and lime zest. It contrasts well with the richness of the scallops and coconut. Leaves of fresh cilantro add intense bursts of flavor to the dish.

Finally, a fried slice of plantain adds some much needed texture and additional tropical influence to this seafood dish.

Young Coconut Purée:

• 1 young coconut
• Kosher salt, sugar, and lime juice to taste

Carefully crack open the young coconut above a bowl or other large container. Collect the juice, then remove the coconut flesh from the inner shell. The flesh will have remnants of the shell stuck to it. Trim the brown remnants from the flesh, taking care not to remove too much of the young coconut flesh. Place the coconut in a blender and add about half the coconut water. Purée on high speed for 1 minute. Add extra coconut water as needed to achieve a sauce with the consistency of chocolate syrup. Season with kosher salt, sugar, and lime juice.

Left to right: A young coconut, un-trimmed young coconut meat, cleaned and trimmed young coconut meat

Rum-Compressed Pineapple:

• 1 ripe pineapple
• 1 Jalapeño chile
• 2 Tbsp. dark rum
• Kosher salt, to taste

Slice the rind from the pineapple then cut into medium dice. Juice (or eat) the scraps. Slice the jalapeño into quarters lengthwise. Remove the seeds and the skin. Dice the jalepeño fine. Toss with the diced pineapple and add the pineapple juice (if you didn’t eat the scraps) and dark rum. Season with kosher salt. Place the diced pineapple mixture into a vacuum sealing bag and seal on high. Store in the refrigerator until needed.

Avocado and Lime Puree:

• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 limes, juiced and zested
• Kosher salt, to taste

Place the avocado in a blender with lime juice and zest. Season with kosher salt and blend into a fine puree. Pass the purée through a fine mesh strainer or chinois. Press plastic wrap directly on top of the purée and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Fried Plantains:

• 1 plaintain
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• Kosher salt and ground allspice, for seasoning

Slice the plantain lengthwise on a mandolin to 1/16 inch thick. Fry the plantain slices at 365° F until golden brown and crisp. Season with a mixture of kosher salt and ground allspice.

To Assemble and Serve (For Each Portion):

• 3 large diver scallops
• Vegetable oil, as needed
• 1 Tb. whole butter
• 2 strips lime zest
• Cilantro stems
• Young coconut purée
• Avocado and Lime Purée
• Rum-Compressed Pineapple
• Fried plantain slice
• Cilantro leaves, for garnish

Clean the scallops of the small but tough side mussel. Season on all sides with kosher salt. Rest and dry the scallops on a paper towel. Heat a cast iron sauté pan over high heat and add a thin layer of vegetable oil. Sear the scallops to a deep golden brown on one side and then flip. Immediately add the butter, lime zest, and cilantro stems. As the butter begins to melt and brown, spoon it over the scallops (A French technique called poulet).

Arrange the purées, pineapple, and cilantro leaves on a plate. Add the seared scallops and a fried plantain slice. Enjoy!

Suggested wine pairing: California Sauvignon Blanc

These stunning photographs were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

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Plantains are almost identical to bananas in appearance. In some parts of the world, plantains are called bananas and what we know as a banana is a “dessert banana.” A plantain, however, is much harder than a banana, with a very high starch content. Plantains require cooking and, as I like to describe them, are like the lovechild of a banana and a potato. They combine the flavor neutrality of a starch with the sweetness of a banana.

Like bananas, plantains are native to Southeast Asia, however, they have flourished in Central America and the Caribbean, both botanically and culturally. Plantains are a staple starch in the Caribbean and Central America. Tostones are ubiquitous in this part of the world. They are made by first frying a slice of plantain. Once the slice is slightly softened, it’s flattened into a disk then fried once more, often in pork lard, to create a crisp-on-the-outside, creamy-on-the-inside delicacy that can be topped with anything from mango to black beans to coconut.

Tostones: A fried plantain delicacy

The plantain tree yields other edible treat besides it’s fruit. The blossoms are often harvested and used in salads in Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos, much as you might find banana blossoms on the menu at a Thai restaurant. Plantain leaves can be used as wrappers for Mexican and Central American style tamales. Since the plantain is in a family of starches, thin slices can be deep fried and caramelized to perfection, yielding a slightly sweet but impressively crunchy snack.

Keep your mind, eyes, and RSS feeds glued to Garrett’s Table in the coming days for a dish incorporating fried plantains, along with other tropical flavors.

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I get great pleasure from modernizing classic dishes. There’s no doubt that duck and orange go together like peas and carrots and the flavor combination has stood the test of time. Duck A l’Orange can be found in any classic French cookbook, and each chef, Escoffier included, argues that their recipe is the best and only rendition of this dish that has so perpetuated the ethos of French culinary superiority. This is Duck A l’Orange only in that it is duck and orange, and not necessarily a strict adherence to any classical French recipe or dogma.

The dish features both duck confit and seared duck breast. I first cured the duck legs in a mixture of salt, sugar, orange zest, and fresh thyme for 2 days. Afterward I cooked the legs in their own fat for 5 hours at about 200° F with plenty more orange zest, fresh thyme, cracked pepper, and a few drops of pure orange oil. The result is a tender, sweet, and delicate duck confit inundated with the flavors of orange and thyme.

The duck breasts I marinated overnight in fresh orange juice and thyme, with a touch of the curing mixture. After marninating, I dried the breasts well, then seared them in a smoking hot cast iron pan. Once I seared the skin to a deep caramel brown, I flipped the duck breasts then added (once again!) orange peel and fresh thyme with a chunk of whole butter to the hot pan. I spooned the browned, flavored butter over the breasts (a technique called poulet) and then brushed the skin side with a glaze of raw honey, orange juice, and orange oil. I finished cooking the duck breasts in a 400° F oven to medium-well, brushing the skin twice more with the honey-orange glaze

The duck breasts being seared with a poulet of butter, orange zest, and thyme

The third flavor I added to the dish was fennel because I believe it pairs fantastically with both duck and orange. The white bulb I segmented then cooked sous vide at 185° for 2 hours, until the fennel was unnaturally tender. I finished the wedges by searing them in a very hot pan to create a nice char.

Fennel bulb segments vacuum sealed and ready to be cooked sous vide at 185° F.

Fennel stalks, chopped and separated into equal sized portions. Ready to be blanched and pureed.

Because they believe them to be too tough and light on flavor, chefs all to often discard the green fronds and stalks of the fennel bulb. This is an unfortunate waste. To make a light sauce that adds a touch of brightness to the contrastingly rich components of the dish, I made a fresh fennel puree by quickly blanching the stalks and trimmings, then pureeing with a bit of water, sugar, salt, and lemon juice.

Finally, navel and blood orange supremes add more bright flavor and vibrant color to this rich, early-spring dish while keeping it appropriately seasonal.

Voila! Duck A l’Orange

The stunning, professional photographs in this post were taken by Mike Boehmer.

Mike is a very talented, Chicago-based photographer and a regular contributor to The Windy Pixel. Please visit www.mikeboehmer.com for more fantastic photography!

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