Cooking Posts - 2015

Still playing catch-up with old posts - here are all my misc. cooking photos (and a small handful of one-off dining shots) from 2015: 

Homemade Gnocchi

 Eggplant Parm

Turkey Chili

Japanese Whisky Tasting

This was a really fun Valentine's Day gift from Leah - a tasting of five Japanese Whiskys.

Pear Tart

Margarita Cupcakes

One of my better dessert creations, if I may say so. The cake was baked and brushed with Cointreau, filled with lime curd, and topped with tequila buttercream, lime zest, and sea salt.

Whole Deep-Fried Pig's Foot - at the Breslin

Homemade Beer

Mezcal w/ Crickets - at Mesa Coyoacan

Foie Gras Sliders

Apple Skillet Cake

Poached Eggs w/ Red Lentils

Tacos and Micheladas - at Empellón Al Pastor

Salmon Bowl

Salmon Tacos

Shrimp Fajitas

Italian Sandwiches

Fancy Hot Dogs

Beet Salad

Homemade Pasta

Vegetable Soup

Poached Chicken Salad

Butternut Squash Risotto

Cocktail w/ Pickled Cherry Garnish

Roast Chicken

Pasta w/ Chantarelles

Butternut Squash & Carrot Soup

Meatloaf

Fat Barcade - at Barcade

This sandwich deserves a special call out. Anyone who has spent time on the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick, NJ knows about the "grease trucks" and their legendary Fat Sandwiches. For those not in the know, they're essentially the ultimate drunk food - a hero roll topped with a wide variety of items you might find on a diner menu, i.e. chicken fingers, burger patties, mozzarella sticks, french fries, bacon, fried eggs, gyro sauce, etc. There are hundreds of combinations, each with their own fun name, i.e. the Fat Cat, Fat Darrell, Fat Bastard, Fat Bitch, etc. 

I was delighted to find the Fat Barcade on the menu at the midtown branch of Barcade. They've since changed the recipe, but at the time I believe it contained Polish sausage, a burger patty, lettuce & tomato, mozzarella sticks, and deep-fried nacho cheese. Awesome!

Calf's Liver - at Becco

Oysters

Leah's aunt and uncle, who we visit on alternating Thanksgivings, live out in Oyster Bay, Long Island. As a special treat we get to enjoy freshly harvested local oysters, which you can see are quite massive. 

Pasta w/ Butternut Squash

Pork Chops w/ Sauerkraut

Shepherd's Pie

Duck Confit w/ Pickled Cherry Sauce

Empellón Cocina Kitchen Table w/ Al

For our annual dinner in 2015, Al and I chose to eat at Empellón Cocina, the (then) flagship restaurant of provocative chef and restaurateur Alex Stupak, who first became famous for his unique desserts at restaurants like WD~50 and Alinea. In his words, "A pastry chef likes Mexican food, has never cooked it, but decides to do it anyway." 

Our experience was at the unique Kitchen Table, a counter of four seats looking into the open kitchen, where we were served by Chef Stupak himself. 

El Mayor Añejo Tequila

Our first drink of the evening: a chilled glass of tequila to go with our first three bites. 

Wellfleet Blood Clam w/ Frozen Sangrita 

Blood clams can be pretty nasty, so we knew we were in for a ride when this was the first thing placed in front of us. They were served with a frozen "sangrita", which is a traditional tequila chaser often made from tomato. Sangrita means "little blood", so it was appropriate paired with the clams (in both name and flavor), and helped cut their intense fishiness. 

Rajas con Crema

It didn't take long to eat something spectacular. This was another play on tradition (a theme we would see throughout the evening) - normally the dish is sliced poblano peppers in cream. Here it was a pepper gelee topped with a smooth cream custard. 

Walnut Oil Mayonnaise w/ Golden Osetra Caviar

The nutty, creamy mayo paired perfectly with the equally nutty and creamy caviar. Stupak joked that he can't tell the two apart. 

Celery Root w/ Chilmole & Coconut Crema

A stunning composition eaten with chopsticks. The plate itself was in fact white, but coated with a layer of ash - in the areas hit with a bit of lime juice, the ash came up, imparting a wonderful smokey depth to each bite. The celery root was tender and accented by the bright raw celery and cilantro. The chilmole (black mole) was super-rich and flavorful. 

Crémant D'Alsace, Kuentz-Bas

Gordita Inflada w/ Salsa Verde Mousse

Another of our favorite courses. The gordita shell was fried, causing it to puff up and become hollow, perfect for filling with a creamy mousse. The salsa on top added acidity and complexity. 

Crémant D'Alsace, Kuentz-Bas

Egg White Omelette w/ Sikil Pak

The aroma of root beer hit our noses when this was placed in front of us, a product of the herbal leaf that wrapped this light omelette. The inside was filled with an earthy, nutty sikil pak, or pumpkin seed spread. 

Crémant D'Alsace, Kuentz-Bas

Kushi Oyster w/ Nixtamalized Popcorn Kernels

This tiny, clean oyster comes from British Columbia and is often compared to the delicious Kumamoto from Japan. Here it was served warm with a creamy sauce and topped with nixtamalized corn kernels. This process refers to soaking the kernels in an alkaline solution and cooking until tender, usually in preparation for grinding into masa. Here the corn imparted an interesting chewy texture, though I found them overpowering compared to the mild oyster. 

Riesling, Robert Weil, Rheingau

Avocado w/ Bread Crumbs & Crab

Another hit - the buttery shells was in fact made from ground Ritz crackers, adding a fun/trashy saltiness to the avocado core and crab meat salad. 

Riesling, Robert Weil, Rheingau

Trout Flautas

This was easily one of, if not the, best courses of the evening. Delicious chopped trout was encased in a "flauta" (normally a rolled, fried tortilla) of trout skin. Topped with trout roe and a nicely acidic salsa, these two bites screamed flavor. 

Riesling, Robert Weil, Rheingau

A quick shot of the kitchen at work. At some point around this time, Chef Stupak had a sort of freak-out toward his staff, at first reprimanding them about something before slamming his hands down on the counter several times, causing pots and pans to rattle. He came back out and apologized to us before proceeding to future courses. 

Many might be put off by this display but I felt like this was likely just another night in the very difficult restaurant business - I imagine this goes on behind the scenes on most evenings at most restaurants, so I considered it a peek behind the curtain of what we diners likely often take for granted. 

Did you notice the delicious-looking thing turning on a spit in the previous picture? It was there from the moment we sat down, and we watched as the items slowly browned over the course of the evening. I recognized them as onion, a piece of pork fat, and a pineapple - knowing what these ingredients typically come together to build in Mexican cuisine, I excitedly waited to see how they would be served. 

Chicken Wing w/ Salsa de Chapulines & Guacamole

Chef Stupak asked if we had any food aversions, then said "good" as he pulled out a large ceramic grasshopper vessel, filled with handfuls of roasted grasshoppers. He crushed them in a small mortar to make a salsa for this dish. The chicken wing was actually deboned so it was all juicy meat. The grasshopper salsa was earthy, and the guacamole and fried garlic chips nicely brightened everything with tang and crunch. 

Zapiain Cider, Spain

Abalone Milanese Cemita

A play on the fantastic torta (or cemita, as it's called in Puebla), this slider paired black bean purée with breaded and fried abalone and the typical condiments of avocado, salsa, and crema. While the taste was great, I found the abalone to be tough and kinda wished it was just chicken. 

Zapiain Cider, Spain

Scotch Egg

A breaded, deep-fried quail egg with a layer of what I believe was chorizo, all sitting atop a creamy saffron mayo. Below you can see a shot of the gooey egg interior. YES. 

Zapiain Cider, Spain

Salsa

Chef Stupak brought out a massive mortar and said it was time to have a bit of fun, in that we were to decide the ingredients of our next course, a salsa. Each diner chose one of the components of the salsa. The first was a choice between raw or roasted garlic (our companion naturally chose the roasted type). 

Next was a choice of chilies: pasillas, blackened chipotles, roasted habaneros, house-pickled jalapeños, fresh serranos, and one chile I had never heard of and can't recall. Our partner chose the pasillas and the fresh serranos. 

Next came Al's choice - traditional rinsed raw onion or roasted. Again he opted for the roasted variety. My choices (not pictured) were between fresh or roasted tomatoes and raw or stewed tomatillos. I chose the raw tomatillos and the roasted tomatoes. 

After some smashing in the mortar, our salsa arrived with masa crisps. It was rich and delicious - a true team effort. 

Quesadillas w/ Chicharrón & Quiletes

Another vessel for our salsa, this little quesadilla was packed with the flavor of pork belly and herbs. 

Braven Pilsner

Next, our beverage server came by and added a few ingredients to our remaining beer to make wonderful, revitalizing micheladas. My favorite!

Blood Sope

Comparable to the traditional sope (a sort of thick corn cake) but with the addition of blood, making it a bit like a blood cake. I can't recall the topping, but chorizo seems likely. 

Braven Pilsner Micheladas

Inverse Tacos al Pastor

At last! Just as I was talking to Al about the rotating delights in front of us, Chef Stupak very seriously came out and turned off the machine, picking up his knife with a solemn look in his eye, as if to say "this is it". He carved off individual slices of the pineapple and pork for our next dish. 

As Stupak explained, his favorite taco is the Al Pastor, made of spit-roasted pork and fresh pineapple (as frequenters of his excellent Empellón al Pastor restaurants know first-hand). 

Here he did a reversal, making the pineapple the star. It had been heavily flavored by the pork lard sitting atop it on the spit. The flavor was at once bright from the pineapple, but meltingly fatty and rich due to the long, slow cooking process. A spectacular end to the savory courses. 

Braven Pilsner Micheladas

Masa Waffle w/ Smoked Maple Syrup & Chicken Liver Butter

What can I say? Everything you need to know about this incredible first dessert is in the title. 

Valveran 20 Manzanas Frost Cider

Ripe Plantain w/ Mole Poblano

Here the sweet plantain was hollowed out and filled with a luscious, liquid poblano mole. Earthy and sweet at the same time. 

Valveran 20 Manzanas Frost Cider

Black Mole w/ White Sesame

My favorite dish of the night. Chef Stupak expertly cut the quenelles for this dessert one at a time, placing them on the frozen plates in front of us in quick succession. No Mexican meal would be complete without a course showcasing mole, the famously complex sauce that has a thousand variations. 

Here, the mole was frozen and paired with sesame. I found the execution to be a testament to both complexity (in terms of the depth of flavor) and simplicity (in the execution). Quite extraordinary. 

10-Year Tawny Port, Wine and Soul, Douro

Chocolate w/ Vanilla, Tamarind, & Prune

Though the plating was beautiful, this dish was a bit low on impact. The chocolate ganache didn't have much flavor, and the other elements, like the pile of cinnamon powder, seemed imbalanced. 

10-Year Tawny Port, Wine and Soul, Douro

Tres Leches w/ Kabocha Squash & Pecan

This was a stunning take on my favorite Mexican dessert. It used cow, goat, and sheep milk in the different creams on the plate, and the whole thing topped a moist cake and squash purée set in a well in the dish. Despite the modernization, it had all the flavor of the humble cake it was based on. 

Antique Fino Sherry, Fernando de Castilla, Spain

To put us over the top, out came a bottle of mezcal, which was simply left for our enjoyment. Chef Stupak poured himself a shot and downed it with us, saying, "I need it - it's been that kind of night."

Orange Sorbet w/ Sal de Gusanos

Normally mezcal is served with oranges and salt made from ground worms that live in the agave plant. According to Stupak, the worms are considered as much a part of the drink as the plant itself. 

In this final dessert, those pairings took the form of orange sorbet in a crisp orange tuile, topped with the worm salt. A refreshing end to a spectacular meal!

The complete menu. This was one of the more unique meals Al and I have enjoyed, both in terms of setting and the food itself. Mexican is one of my absolute favorite cuisines, and it was quite fun to experience modernized New York takes on it in such high fashion. It was a pleasure to be served directly by a renowned chef, temper and all, and I felt that creating the dishes for a meal like this must be one of the things that keeps him interested after his success. 

Since this meal, the restaurant has closed and reopened in a different space and format, and unfortunately the Kitchen Table is no longer option, however I remain all the more grateful to have had had the opportunity to enjoy this unique culinary experience.