Category: Sous Vide

Enchanted Valentine: The Little Mermaid

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She saw the bright sun, and all around her floated hundreds of transparent beautiful beings; she could see through them the white sails of the ship, and the red clouds in the sky; their speech was melodious, but too ethereal to be heard by mortal ears, as they were also unseen by mortal eyes. The little mermaid perceived that she had a body like theirs, and that she continues to rise higher and higher out of the foam.

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Continuing the tradition from last year, Joe from Measure and Stir and I wanted to make another set of cocktail and bites. This year we wanted to focus on fairy tales, and we selected a few of our favorite classics. We start of with The Little Mermaid by H.C. Andersen. More specific the Disney retelling of the story is what inspired this dish

In the Disney version there was a different ending, but for the cocktail we wanted to bring the original its glory. We wanted to show case both in this first course. On the plate we have Sebastian, Ariel, Ursula, and Eric. Both worlds are separated by the beach. The cocktail is a Sea Foam cocktail as all Mermaids end as sea foam. The little mermaid were gifted with a soul for all the humane suffering she endured for her love. You can read more about the cocktail here, Out of the Fathomless Deep.

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A World a Part

80g Wagyu Beef
50g Octopus
50g King Crab
40g Salmon
15g Sun Toasted Sand
5g Sea Foam

Sun Toasted Sand:

100g Toasted Rye Bread
100g Toasted Panko
50g Toasted Pine Nuts
30g Butter Snow
5g Dried and Toasted Wakame
5g Grated Palm Sugar
5g Sea Salt
5g Lemon Zest
2g MSG

Butter Snow:

30g Clarified Butter
10g Olive Oil
18g Tapioca Maltodextrin

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Sea Foam:

50g Kombu
50g Bonito Flakes
200g Water
5g Sucrose Ester

First start off by making your Butter Snow by mixing the butter, oil and Tapioca Maltodextrin. The mixture should remind you of light fluffy snow. Toast up your breads and Pine Nuts to get them extra crispy. Once they are toasted combine with the Wakame and Lemon zest, coarsely grind. Balance the sand with salt and sugar.

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For plating I cooked the Wagyu steak (Prince Eric) Sous Vide at 54c for an hour. As King Crab (Sebastian) is not in season we had to settle for frozen, which was steamed back to life, sprinkled with a little fresh chopped parsley. The Salmon (Ariel) were quickly brined in a concentrated brine. This is to firm up the flesh and make it more vibrant. The Octopus (Ursula) we got pre-cooked from Seattle’s Pike Place Market famous fish monger. They cooked the Octopus super tender, not chewy at all. Place on top of the sand and add your sea foam. Decorate with seaweed. Bring the Kombu, Bonito flakes, and water to a boil and let the mixture steep for 30 minutes. Once cooled, strain and add the sucrose ester and whip with a as much air into as you can. This ester will create light fluffy bubbles similar to a sea foam. Skim the foam off the top and place on your plate.

See you next time. Hungry Eyes Full Heart, Can’t Lose!

BBQ Brisket Sandwich

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Today is National Sandwich day, so I found it fitting to post about my latest tasty meal I have been enjoying the past week. The Brisket Sandwich was just a vessel for my House BBQ Sauce. And trust me, it is truly amazing. Sweet, Smokey, Spicy, and a little tang. The good people over at ChefSteps have some great sous vide BBQ recipes.

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Spanish BBQ Sauce (House Sauce)

400g Ketchup (Not too sweet)
60g Dijon Mustard (Fine)
55g Apple Cider Vinegar
45g Worcestershire
40g Chipotle Tabasco
40g Olive Oil
20g Garlic
20g Green Onion
20g Tomato Paste
5g Smoked Salt
5g MSG
5g Pepper
3.5g Cayenne Pepper
1.5g Paprika
1.5g Smoked Paprika
0.35 Ghost Chili Powder
0.1g Saffron

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blitz until smooth. Put on to condiment bottles and get ready to use it on everything. A must for any BBQ. If you like spice, there is nothing stopping you adding a little more Ghost Chili.

For the Brisket I used a 50% Wagyu Brisket, perfectly marbled and not too aggressively trimmed. There is a great butcher/farmer that have some excellent beef if you are located in Seattle. Check out The Buther’s Table if you are in the South Lake Union (SLU) Area of Seattle. I followed ChefSteps killer Smokeless BBQ Brisket recipe, and made a cabbage and carrots using Kewpie Mayonnaise. I like thick pickles we a good crunch, so I added equal parts salt and sugar, along with Vinegar into a sous vide bag and compressed my thick cucumber slices.

See you next time. Hungry Eyes Full Heart, Can’t Lose!

Pappardelle with Shortrib Red Wine Ragu

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Usual lazy Sunday tradition consists of going to Ballard Farmers Market in the early morning, watch Football, American Football, or any other sports that are in playoffs. And making some food with my old roommate from college and great friend, Gualtiero. At the market, I browsing all the treats that are on offer. There are a few stands I always gravitate to, Pasteria Lucchese and Skagit River Ranch, they have such amazing products. Pasteria Lucchese is run by a true Italian, he is quite the character and amazing to chat with. Always helpful and encouraging. If you don’t get there early enough, many of the different pastas are sold out. He got me inspired to make my own Pappardelle pasta and my take on a classic tomato based Ragu.

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Egg Pappardelle Pasta

Egg Pasta

170g tipo 00 flour
55g durum semolina flour
9 egg yolks
15ml olive oil
45 ml water

In a food processor combine the 00 flour (All Purpose flour can be substituted) and semolina flour, add the egg yolks and pulse to get it slightly mixed. As you have the machine going, slowly add in the water and oil until the dough comes together into a crumbly texture. Pour the dough out on a floured workbench and kneed the dough. This is to activate the gluten in the dough. Kneed for a few minutes. The dough will be soft and not sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge. The gluten protein needs to rest before you can roll it out and cook it. Let it rest at least 30 minutes, but can rest up to 24 hours. Once rested get your pasta roller out and again flour (use semolina) the workbench. Cut the pasta dough into 4 even pieces and using your hand form to a flat oval disc. Run through the pasta machine until you get to 5 on the thickness dial on the machine. Gaultiero were keeping a watchful eye for quality control (checkout his pasta dishes). Gently fold the rolled pasta lengthwise and cut the pasta into 15mm thick ribbons. Hang or spread to dry a little bit before cooking in salted water (water should be as salt as the sea). This pasta dough can be used for other types of pasta (filled, lasagna, or ribbon pasta).

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Short Rib Red Wine Ragu

Short Rib Ragu

2 Carrots
2 Shallots
2 Celery ribs
500g Short ribs (bone in, medium to large pieces)
100ml Red wine (Bold Italian wine is preferred, I used a Masi Campofiorin)
180ml Tomato paste
180ml Beef stock
180ml Water
25g Dried Chanterelle mushrooms
100g Fresh Button mushrooms

I started the day before by sous vide the short ribs at 85c for 24 hours. Ideally you time the sous vide to be done when the sauce is done. Skagit River Ranch had some amazing Wagyu Short ribs that I used. If you are looking for some of the best meat, Skagit River Ranch got you covered. I have not had anything from them that have not been top notch. Go early to make sure you get some of the world’s best bacon. For the base of the ragu I start with rehydrate the dried mushrooms in the hot water for 30 minutes. Make sure to not toss away the leftover mushroom stock. Finely chop up the carrots, shallots, and Celery. In a pot add a little bit of oil and the chopped vegetables. Allow the shallots to caramelize and add the finely chopped dried and fresh mushrooms before deglazing with red wine. Once the red wine have reduced to about half add in the beef and mushroom stocks as well as tomato paste. Leave the pot on medium heat and reduce the liquid by half again. At the end add the short ribs (chopped/shredded, with no bones) to the sauce and let marry for 30 minutes on low heat. Add a little water if the ragu seems a little dry.

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Egg Pappardelle Pasta with Short Rib Red Wine Ragu

Boil the pasta until you get a slight chewy texture (al dente) and bring together with the ragu. The overall dish had a good texture from both the fresh pasta and falling apart tender short ribs. A nice sweetness from the tomatoes and mirepoix .The Chanterelle mushrooms and red wine really brought a deep rich flavor that just keeps you going in for more. Grate a little bit of Parmesan and finely chop some Italian parsley to sprinkle over the top. Served with a glass of red wine.

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Affogato with Talenti Chocolate Caramel Gelato

Affogato

To round of the meal, Gualtiero brought with him the Mokapot and some ice cream to make a sweet finish. He chose to use an Italian espresso blend for the coffee and Talenti Chocolate Caramel Gelato. Talenti makes an incredible selection of ice cream, gelato, and sorbet. I love Talenti’s line of desserts, as well as Snoqualmie Creme Fraiche ice cream.

See you next time. Hungry Eyes Full Heart, Can’t Lose!

Valentines Day Cocktail Hour: Cocoa Nib Macaron With Candied Orange And Orange Butter Cream

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Hello, my name is Johan Moe, and welcome to the first entry to MOEdernKitchen.com. Here I will share creations from my kitchen and for you to try at home. You will find traditional and modern dishes with a touch of influence to take it to the next level.

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Blood Orange and Cocoa nib liqueur, with cocoa nib Macaron filled with Orange butter cream

The idea behind the cocktail hour was to create a romantic trio of cocktails, building on the foundation of love, affection, and companionship. Each drink to symbolize a different emotion. This was a collaboration with my good friend Joe. Joe enjoy creating craft cocktails of high caliber. The trio we created were as follows: Raspberry coulis and Calvados with a Rose air cocktail with candied berries, Blood Orange Juice and homemade Cocoa Nib liqueur Cocktail with a Cocoa Nib Macaron filled with candied Orange and a Orange butter cream, and lastly a Creme Brulee cocktail with toasted Brioche topped with a Miso caramel sauce.

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A flight of Pappy Van Winkle to get the creative juices flowing. With Joe (left) and me

The idea to this started Joe wanted to create a trio of cocktails for valentines day. It started off with something sweet, something red, and something good. Joe shared this idea with me on our trip to Vegas (You can read about the bar crawl here). The drinks were already pretty much locked down, but I was able to contribute with some theater and tasty bites. For full review of the cocktails head over to Measure and Stir.

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Cocoa Nib Macaron filled with Orange butter cream and candied Orange

For my main contribution to the trio, the French Macaron. These delicious delicate little cookies are so hard to perfect, but well worth the effort to learn. For a basic Macaron I highly recommend checking out this class on Chefsteps. They have made it really easy to follow and get a great result every time.

 

Cocoa Nib Macaron shells

150g Almond flour (extra fine)
150g Powdered sugar
110g Egg whites
1g Egg white powder
55g Water
165g Sugar
20g Cocoa powder

To create the shells for the Macarons, you will need to separate out egg whites and let them come up to room temperature. While you wait measure out the remaining ingredients. The Almond flour, Cocoa powder and powdered sugar will need to be sifted, as you do not want lumps in the batter. Mix in half of the egg whites to make an almond paste. Mix together the remaining egg whites with the egg white powder. Egg white powder helps add more stability to the cookies. Whip until soft peaks and keep in running on lowest setting. In a small sauce pan combine the sugar and water and bring it up to 118C / 244F. Once the Sugar have come to temp, put the mixer to high and slowly pour in the sugar in a gentle stream into the egg whites. Mix for another 5 minutes until you have firm peaks. Combine with the Almond paste gently, as we want the most amount of air in the cookies. Pipe out to a cookie tray with a silpat, and let the cookies try until they are no longer sticky. Sprinkle some Cocoa nibs on top of the cookies as they dry. Bake for 12-13 minutes in the oven at 165C / 330F. Baking the cookies require you to know your oven, so a few test batches are needed, but it is never a bad excuse to try again.

Orange German Butter Cream

10 Egg yolks
100g Sugar
120g Whole Milk
60g Marmalade
15g Clement Creole Shrub
3 dashes Orange bitters

German butter cream is traditionally a softer cream. I wanted something that would hold up a little bit more. So opted to cook the eggs Sous Vide (What is Sous Vide). The eggs were cooked for 30 minutes at 82C / 180F. This will create a solid egg mixture, and an added benefit of create an intense eggy flavor. This helped cut down the richness of all the sweet elements added and the cookies themselves. So to get the creamy constancy, combine the milk and eggs together in a high powered blender. In a mixer cream the butter and add sugar. Once combined add the milk/egg mixture, as well as Marmalade, Orange liqueur and the Orange bitters. Place in the fridge to set up a little before piping. Candy some Orange, and add it to the cream filling for an extra pop of flavors. Recommended to keep the cookies in the fridge and take them out 30-60 minutes before enjoying them, if you can manage to wait.

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Raspberry Coulis and Calvados cocktail with rose air, served with candied berries

The other bites were candied berries and a toasted brioche with Miso caramel sauce. The berries were candies using egg whites. Coat the berries in the egg white and then sanding sugar. Leave to dry overnight to create a hard crunching shell texture. To make the Miso caramel sauce bring sugar up to a soft ball (118C / 235F)  and carefully mix in some heavy cream and Miso paste. Leave to cool. Serve on toast or ice cream.

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Creme Brulee Cocktail with toasted briocheand Miso Caramel sauce

I hope you have enjoy it. Check back soon for more updates and tasty treats. Hungry Eyes Full Heart, Can’t Lose