Things have been pretty crazy lately but it doesn’t mean that I haven’t stopped cooking or anything. If anything, this blog thing is a way for me to slow down a little bit and catch my breath. So here’s a little update of what I’ve been up to lately.

(happy onion)

I’ve been working on a pho broth lately and I have it nailed now.  It started with using the Modernist Cuisine book for a little inspiration.  They used a pressure cooker and while that worked amazingly well I decided to use my low and slow broth technique for an ox tail pho that turned out to be pretty damn amazing as well.  Combine the two ideas and I came up with a pretty serious game changing pho broth for myself.   The only problem is that it ends up being a little more expensive than the $5.75 for a large bowl at a restaurant…..does it taste better?  Yes.     Hybrid braising techniques + clarification with agar (cooking issues guys) = Pho king amazing.

The dehydration station has been getting quite the work out lately.

Black olives and parsley.

Green bell peppers and red chili peppers

Shallots.  In a maltodextrin slurry then dehydrated for 12 hours ala Fat Duck.  Round 1 of these, many more to come.

Pickled gold beets.

On to other things…..  This is a little work with iota carrageenan.   I set this pickled golden beet “terrine” with iota carageenan and it turned out pretty good but I’m going to make it again with a touch less iota or even move to using kappa….just need more time to work with this stuff.

I have another round of pork pancetta going.   Should be done in two weeks.

Have a lot more duck prosciutto going……it should be done in another two weeks.

Cured my own corned beef.  It was a Chinese 5 spice that I blended and used for the spices in the brine.

Then I diced it, cooked it, and made it into tacos.

In more taco news.  I showed my friend Adam how to cook flank steak in a pressure cooker.   Takes about 25 minutes at 15 p.s.i.   We had a midnight taco party after work with some of my savoy cabbage kimchi.

(very blurry picture…oh well)

then chop it up, add pickled serranos and pickled gold beets then pickle it again and let it ferment and you have some kimchi.  You can put it on just about anything. I suggest a garam masala crusted seared tombo tuna.

Oh, and if any of this food seems to serious and pretentious for you then have a look at octodog.

Octodog is awesome!

So, I’ll be in Denmark working at Noma for a couple of weeks. I have some guest bloggers taking over the site so be nice to them!

Who is nervous?  This guy.

Eric

The second anniversary of this blog was a few days ago and if this was a year ago I would have been all over that but I have a few things going on.  That feels really great to say that because when I started this blog I was trying to find a way out of my previous business and I used to use this blog as a place to release my ideas and show my exciting new food discoveries.  There has been a huge transition in the way I do things now where the majority of my cooking is done at a restaurant and not for the purpose of posting a picture and a recipe (I’m so happy I stopped posting recipes on here….most of them were S&%* now that I look back on them).  Now before you think I’m going to stop this whole blogging thing I’m not.  I have been able to document my own progress so I can look back at what I have cooked.  I have also created a database for restaurants that I have visited where I can write my own likes and dislikes about them (you don’t see the dislikes).

My focus and drive is to be the best chef. I’m not a chef yet but I’m doing my best to think and act like one. I’m working my ass off and doing the right things in order to be successful. I’m in a constant search for ingredients, producers, techniques, methods, and ideas for my next dish.  I accept failure, success, cuts, bruises, burns,  and all that comes with it. I knew this wasn’t going to be easy but some of the things that were very hard for me six months ago are a walk in the park now but I continue to push myself further.

I have moved my way up from being a pantry cook to being a saute cook at the best seafood restaurant in Seattle (in a very short period of time).  I train people when they come into work at the restaurant and if I had more time and wasn’t in school then I’m sure I would be offered a chef position somewhere but that’s not what it’s all about.  I don’t care about being called a chef to be called a chef (people who are not in the industry value that label more than people in the industry……I introduce myself as Eric).  I want to learn from the best chefs in the world then I want to one day open up my own restaurant then focus on running a business of my own (again) and making it successful (again).   I do want to be considered one of the best chefs in the world….I’m not doing the things I do to be the nice local chef that everyone has admiration for or just another chef that people can say they know so they can get a free appetizer….I don’t want to be the douche bag that introduces himself as a chef then puts out horrendous looking food with bland flavors just to appease a crowd of unadventurous diners.  I want to strive to find the best cooks, chefs, and any one else that wants to be part of something great in my restaurant.  I’m gunning for the top and nobody is going to get in my way, not even myself.

In March I’m going to Denmark to work at Noma for 12 days (click).  I don’t know what the outcome of my time there will be but my goal is to earn a spot there so when I graduate in September I can go back there for some time. I’ve told a few people about that and the reaction has ranged from absolute excitement and joy to looking at me like “why you?”.  Why me?  I love every second of what I’m doing….good or bad. You bitch and moan, I thrive and get better.  I push forward even when I’m having an awful day in the kitchen because I know that it’s helping me get better.  Every single ounce of energy and bit of passion I have is put into this. I don’t accept the words and phrases like, “no”, “you can’t do that”, or “that’s not possible” without least trying them for myself or finding someone else who can.  I eat, sleep, and breathe this from the second I wake up to the last second before I finally go to sleep (takes a while sometimes).   I’m going to Noma to learn from the best and cook with the best.  I don’t care if I empty trash cans there or wash dishes there because I know that I’ll be learning something from the best restaurant in the world. I just want to learn, push forward, and create larger goals for myself (before I started culinary school I applied at a bunch of “top” restaurants in Seattle as a dishwasher, busboy, server, and whatever else and I told them I wanted to work my way up through their kitchen and learn how to cook….none of them got back to me…..I emailed Noma once and they contacted me on the same day.)

I have a few other things going on that you’ll see here shortly but for now just know things are changing around here.  In 2009 I wrote 1,000 posts….last year I wrote 400….this year will be much less for sure.  I’m not really that blogger guy anymore….I have a blog but it’s not the normal blog and I think people realize that. I don’t care about giveaways, free crap, or advertising crappy products just because a company sends them to me for free.  I just want to cook good food and if it ends up on here then so be it. I’m saving my best work for the restaurant and when I cook dinner for Mindy…..everything else…..meh.

Thanks for sticking around over the past two years. I’m happy with the few sponsors I’ve picked up that have helped me buy more cookbooks (have a few posts coming about those books) or specialty equipment (immersion circulator!).  Thanks to my parents and family that have been supportive and also been my kitchen guinea pigs.  Most of all thanks to Mindy for allowing me to share my meals with other people…..one day I’ll just cook for you and everyone else can just use my tips from my cookbooks to create their own kitchen innovations.

Eric