Random Recipe: A Tale of Two Oceans

I was showing Puppy around the best fish market around this area... a small Japanese owned family joint we'll call Tuna Queen... actually, it's Fish King. The fish is lovingly showcased, and you can get quite a bit of lovely things here. I left the store with two Chesapeake Bay Soft-Shell Crabs, and half a pound of jumbo Pacific Scallops.


Fish King
722 N Glendale Ave
Glendale, CA
91206-2198

Phone: (818) 244-2161


Here's what I did with them:

A Tale of Two Oceans:

Serves 2


Atlantic:

Soft Shell Crabs with Lemon Butter

2 Soft-Shell Crabs, cleaned
Oil for cooking
Salt and Pepper
Juice and Zest of one lemon
2 TblS unsalted Butter (use good higher fat Euro butter)
2 Tbls Chopped Green Onion/Chives/Negi (Japanese onion)

Heat a pan over medium heat for several minutes until oil goes in easily. When oil is at a slight smoke, place soft shells top side down in the pan. Note: If you're doubling the recipe, remember to cook no more than two soft shells per 10-inch pan.
Cook for 2 minutes on the first side, then flip over and add butter and baste with the melted butter (pour over the exposed side with a spoon) another minute or two until just firm. Plate and then add in the lemon juice and zest. Swirl and pour over the crabs and top with chopped green onions.

Pacific:

Seared Jumbo Scallops with White Wine Chantrelle Sauce

1/2 Pound jumbo Sea Scallops

Sauce:

1/2 Cup White Wine
1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
3 Oz. Chantrelle Mushrooms, sliced in half
2 TblS Shiso Butter (see the recipe for the steak with French-Japanese sauce duo)
salt and pepper
starch and water as needed

Make the sauce: Reduce the Chicken Stock in a sauce pot to a 1/4. Saute the chantrelles in butter in a skillet until browned and tender, about 8-10 minutes. Add the reduced stock to the chantrelles and then monte with the shiso butter. Salt and pepper to taste. If needed thicken with the starch and water.

Cook the scallops:

Heat a pan on medium heat until hot. Salt and pepper the scallops and then cook 2-3 minutes on each side, until nicely seared and done.

Plate with the sauce.

I served this dish with whipped Yukon Gold Potatoes.

Happy Cooking!

Random Recipe: Rib-eye Steak with French-Japanese Sauce Duo

I was craving steak for some reason today. I tend not to eat too much beef on a regular basis. Not that I have anything against it, but I tend to eat more chicken and pork than beef. But I did get my steak craving today. I decided while I was at it the I should make something interesting and different. Mmmm this one's good!


Rib-eye Steak with French-Japanese Sauce Duo and Mushrooms

Serves 2:

1 lb. Rib-eye steak, 1.5-2 inches thick, cut into half to make 2 steaks

1.5 cups assorted sliced mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
2 TBls Unsalted Butter
Olive Oil

Soy Demi:

1/4 cup Soy sauce
1/4 cup Sake
1 ts veal Demi-glace
1/2 ts sugar

Shiso pepper butter:

1/2 stick unsalted Butter
2-3 Shiso leaves, chiffonade
Coarse ground pepper


Saute Mushrooms:

Slice the mushrooms into thin slices while heating a pan over medium heat. Add olive oil and butter with half the garlic, when the butter is melted, add half the mushrooms in a single layer and let sear for 2 minutes. Turn over and cook until all the mushrooms are nicely browned and slightly crispy. Repeat with the remaining mushrooms and set aside. This step can be done up to two hours before Service.

Make Shiso Pepper Butter:

Combine softened butter with the shiso and pepper. Set aside.

Make Sauce:
Combine the ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat. Reduce slightly. Set aside.

Cook steak:

Remove steak from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before cooking, and bring up to room temperature.

Heat a pan over medium heat until oil slides into the pan easily. Add in the steak and sear 3 minutes on the first side. Salt and pepper the steak. Flip and sear another 3 minutes. Then sear the sides 1-2 minutes each until nicely browned all over. Return the steak to the pan on the first side and then Cook 1 minute. Add in a pat of butter into the pan. Baste the exposed side with the hot butter for 1-2 minutes. The steak should be a nice medium-rare. Remove and put on a cooling rack, cover lightly with foil and let rest 5-10 minutes.

Reheat the sauce and mushrooms, then make whatever sides you need here -- I sauteed some pre-blanched shungiku (chrysanthemum greens), and had rice cooking in the rice cooker.

Place rice or starch on the plate, arrange the veg on the plate, and then top the starch with the steak, add the soy demi sauce, top with the shiso butter, then top the steak with the mushrooms.

Mmmm... yum!

Happy Cooking!

Macrobiotic Eating at M. Cafe de Chaya

My model sister (hello, size -2) and her mate, Brazilian Tatoo Guy asked me out to lunch today. Given that I'm in Atwater Village, and they're in Westwood/Sawtelle, we decided to meet up somewhere in the middle at M. Cafe de Chaya at La Brea and Melrose. Of course, they're the healthy people, so they chose the place, since I didn't know any veggie/vegan/macro/raw/etc. kind of place in my area (ok, so I do, but I didn't want to go). Given that I've heard some amazing things about the food at both Chaya Brasserie and Chaya Venice, I thought this might be interesting. Since puppy-white-boy had the day off from his butchering job, I took him along. I do admit though, I did tell him to take a look at the menu on the website before we went just to make sure that he could find something that was appetizing sounding -- while puppy-white boy is making huge strides on his palate (he'll try just about anything without complaint), he's just not used to the whole vegie-macro-designer-sprout-model diet, so I thought I'd make sure he was ok with it all.

Basically, the mantra at M. Cafe is:
M Café de Chaya introduces Contemporary Macrobiotic Cuisine — featuring balanced, nutritious, creative cooking which can be enjoyed daily by everyone, not just vegetarians or people with dietary restrictions. Building on the foundation of Michio Kushi, our chefs prepare each item fresh daily, using only the finest ingredients without any refined sugars, eggs, dairy, red meat or poultry.

Not exactly Motor City food fare like Puppy's used to.

We get there, and yes, it's a cafe... Order at a counter (most of the food is pre-prepped and wrapped for easy egress), and if you can, sit down and eat once they plate the food for you. I got a Falafel and Hummus wrap with a side of Sesame Soba noodles, and puppy-white-boy got the panini provencale with a side of Chickpeas with Red Rice (I ordered that when I was told that the sandwich came with a side), we both had a couple OJ's, and I had an extra side of Spicy Tuna Rolls. With tip, it's a whopping $40. This food might be designery and healthy, but it sure ain't cheap!!! Damn!

Food comes... it's ok. I mean, the ingredients are all great and it tasted fine. That being said, I don't know if it was the sticker shock, but I really didn't much think that the flavors were great. Like they were trying so hard to make something macrobiotic and good for you that they forgot that the food itself had to more tasty at the prices they're commanding. Don't get me wrong, I love falafel and hummus -- you'll even see a hummus recipe of my own in the archives -- but for close to $12 with a side, I've had much better variants for much less. Maybe it's because the falafel was cold? Who knows? There was just something missing.

The soba side that I had was fine. Bland, but fine. The same sesame oil tossed cold soba salad you can get anywhere at a chi-chi deli.

The Panini Provencale was ok. It's a panini of "seasonal grilled vegetables, arugula, balsamic vinaigrette, pesto aioli and creamy tofu cheese on our house baked focaccia, grilled hot & crisp to order." Asked to describe it, Puppy thinks for a long while, says, "Ok... it was flavorful, but just not satisfying." Aha! See I was right! He added, "the chickpea salad was much better."

I think my sister got it right. She ordered the Bi-Bim Bop Rice Bowl. A bowl of brown rice topped with pan fried tofu, veggies, sprouts, shiitakes, etc, and served with a Kotchu-Jyan-ish sweet and spicy miso sauce. I had a bite and I think if I were to go back, I would try this for myself instead.

If you're into the whole vegamacro thing, I guess this is good. Since I don't though, the fact that it's healthy doesn't give it the right to not satisfy me (I don't eat to get full, I eat to enjoy), especially when it costs as much as it does. Give me less healthy full flavored food any day of the week. I'd rather enjoy mo good food in moderation than live on this kind of food only. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating that one eat a cheeseburger for every meal, but don't get on my case if I choose to every now and then.

All in all... why does healthy food have to be so bleh? I went vegan for a week while my daughter was here (she's vegan), and I was able to come up with some pretty good stuff. Don't just call a place "macrobiotic" and set up a pretty space in a nice neighborhood and expect me to love it. Make real good food that also healthy? Great!!!

Yeah sure, I'll try this place again... if I'm stuck with a bunch of vegamacros and I don't know where else to go. Otherwise... give me my full flavored good food. And... I'll take the falafel from the Israeli take out down the street next time.

M. Cafe de Chaya
7119 Melrose Ave. (@ Detroit)
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323-525-0588


Happy Eating!

Yakitori... redux

Yakitori the other night was so good, I had to make it at home. My friend Rice-eating-lanscaper-guy complained several times that he was bored, so I invited him over for a little "dinner party" after dropping puppy-white-boy off at Metro to get to Virgin Grain High End Food Emporium.

Side note: I live in the Atwater Village/Silverlake area and have found that Super King (real name) supermarket on San Fernando just past the 2 Freeway is an excellent market. Got lots of ethnic things, a huge deli counter, and a butcher that has a lot of fresh things. To top that off, it's CHEAP!!!

Armed with a 5-lb whole chicken ($4.58) I get home and start dismembering it for parts. Breast... Breast... Skin... Thigh... Thigh (not THAI like the girl spelled it at Kokekokko on the sold out board).. Drum Stick... Drum Stick... Wing... Wing... Carcass. Whew! That was some work. Next time, just get pre-dismembered chicken and proceed directly to skewering.

Basically, the means here are simple. Cut up chicken into small parts and thread onto skewers.

I ended up this time making the following out of my whole dismembered chicken.

2 x Skin
4 X Breast
2 X Breast Tenders
4 X Thigh
2 X Negima (thigh and Japanese onion)
2 X Wings
2 X Thin Sliced Breast wrapped around Okra (stole that one from Kokekokko)
5 X Tsukune (chicken meat balls: Take 2 knives and chop the hell out of a chicken breast until it's "ground" Mix in one egg, 1/2 cup bread crumbs, salt, pepper, dried yuzu peel, 5-6 shiso leaves julienned and chopped, and mix with hands until it comes together -- put on skewer)

Not too bad for a single chicken. I didn't bother with the drum sticks today, so those went in the fridge for me to use for dinner another day.

The rest is simple... cook the skewers over charcoal until done. Better yet, put charcoal into a table-top grill (Konro -- look at pics, or MacGyver one out of a small terracotta pot and some wire mesh or a metal cooling rack or something) so you don't have to get your lazy ass up and you can be a host. Do them a few (of the same) at a time and enjoy a beer with friends. Place just a teensy bit of a condiment or two (my list below) just before serving and keep your guest(s) dazzled with your ability to put flavors together. Continue for several hours until all the chicken runs out.



Where's the recipe for my sauce, you ask? I took a page from the grill master at Kokekokko, and did a purely salt based menu. All you have to have is some good sea salt ready to pinch or grind over the chicken while it's cooking. The rest is in the condiments. I had:

Lemon
Pepper
Sansho Pepper
Shichimi Pepper
Yuzu Peel Powder
Grated Garlic
Grated Ginger
Wasabi
Yuzu Kosho
Butter

Most of these go on alone.

Lemon with sansho is one of my favorites. The acid blends well with the numbing flowery-ness of the sansho. The wings got a Lemon-shichimi combo which works well too.

Although not very "Japanese," a combo that really worked was Grated garlic, pepper (I used a 5-pepper blend here, but regular black would work fine), and butter. Sinful I tell ya, sinful!

The art of yakitori -- Little Tokyo

Server: Have you been here before?
Guest: No
Server: Do you know that we don't make sushi here?
Guest: Yes
Server: You know there is minimum order of 5 skewers per customer?
Guest: Yes
Server: Counter or table?
Guest: Counter
Server: Please wait for a minute.

This is the exchange that happens upon entering into Kokekokko, a small Yakitori restaurant on Central Ave. Yakitori is Japanese for "grilled chicken." Every part of the chicken is skewered and grilled to perfection over charcoal, and you eat sort of tapas-style, where a skewer or two show up every 10-15 minutes, and you wash it all down with a nice frosty beer.

Kokekokko is a very authentic experience if you remove the above exchange first -- if you're in Japan and enter a Yakitori joint, you know that they don't do sushi. The grill master here is a middle-aged Japanese guy (well, the whole staff is Japanese) who almost seems like he could have spent some time in the Yakuza once you hear him yelling at the staff... Definite Grill-Nazi potential here. But then again, once you're eating, he'll come over and ask how you like things done, if you're enjoying yourself, and will adjust seasonings and condiments based on whether he thinks you're worthy, or not. But I get ahead of myself.

I think a funny thing here is that I'm in this Japanese restaurant, speaking Japanese, and the entire staff take about 20 minutes to realize that I do the lingo. Granted, I had puppy white-boy next to me that needed some explanation ("No fork for you!"), I was amused that these people had such a hard time looking at me and hearing native Japanese coming out of my mouth. You'd think that in LA of all places, they'd be used to a not-so-Japanese looking guy speaking Japanese. The Oyaji (grill master) finally got it and asked "Sansei?" (third genereration Japanese immigrant), and I explained that I'm first generation (i.e. born and raised in Japan) but half. The service got MUCH better at this point.

The first skewer up was breast. It's actually the breast tender that in Japanese is called "sasami." Once the above exchange was completed and Oyaji understood that I was native, he tells me, "I'm doing this more Japanese style, medium-rare." Yes, I said that. Yes, chicken, yes, medium-rare. Actually it came out more raw than not. I trust a place like this, and if I actually were in Japan, I could have gotten the chicken completely raw. He tells expediter-boy to season our "breast" with wasabi and ginger. The first two bites with that sinus clearing blast of wasabi, the second two with the warmth of ginger. At this point, I'm in heaven. Expediter-boy still things I only speak English though...

The whole meal was really masterful, each piece perfectly seasoned and served with the perfect condiments. We had chicken balls (soft and salty and sinful), gizzard (crunchy and no offal taste whatsoever), quail eggs (yum), and a couple other pieces.

Finally, it gets through to expediter-boy that I'm Japanese, so he leans over the counter and asks me if there are any "specials" I'd like to have. I ask what's available, and go for neck meat (yippy-ki-yay! that was good), and cartilage (mmmmm, meaty... crunchy...).

All in all wonderful experience. I felt like I went back to Japan for a little while and I was so happy. I was also happy that puppy-white-boy that I went with didn't pull what some others around me have in the past... he not only let me enjoy the wonderful food, he tried everything end enjoyed it too.

Go, it's worth it!

Kokekokko
203 S. Central Ave., Little Tokyo
(213) 687-0690

Happy Eating!

Rillettes, anyone?

Rillettes
[ree-YEHT, rih-LEHTS]
Meat, usually pork but also rabbit, goose, poultry, fish, etc., that is slowly cooked in seasoned fat and then pounded or pulverized (along with some of the fat) into a paste. This mixture is then packed in small pots, RAMEKINS or other containers and covered with a thin layer of fat. Rillettes can be stored for several weeks in the refrigerator providing the fatty seal is not broken. This mixture, resembling a smooth PÂTÉ, is served cold, usually as an appetizer spread on toast or bread.

~ © Copyright Barron's Educational Services, Inc. 1995 based on THE FOOD LOVER'S COMPANION, 2nd edition, by Sharon Tyler Herbst.

Rillettes, lovely and homey, and always reminiscent of a picnic in the French countryside. Although I live in a neighborhood (Silverlake) of a city (Los Angeles) where there are plenty of gourmet purveyors out there that carry rillettes (let's see, Say Cheese, Silverlake Cheese, The Gourmet Market at the Alcove Cafe, among others), I decided that as a self-proclaimed foodie, I had to make them myself. Come on, it's not like I don't have half a dozen cookbooks that have them listed in them.

Well, my take was to look at a couple (Anthony Bourdain's Les Halles Cookbook, and Brian Polcyn and Michel Ruhlman's Charcuterie) and to compose one for myself.

Right off the bat, I hit a snag... the recipes call for pork belly. Puppy-white-boy , my long-term house guest just got a job as a butcher at Virgin Grain High-End Food Emporium so I thought I'd drop him off for work and pick up a couple pounds.
Apparently, gourmet market or not, it's not likely I'm getting pork belly here. Fine, if that's not going to work, I'll Plan-B it.

Off to Glorious Filipino Mart that popped up in the basement of Eagle Rock Shopping Center a little while back. I know I can get it there, and for cheap at that. Sure enough, I walk in, and there's the pork belly staring right up at me. And at $1 per pound, I'm not about to complain. I pick up a pork shoulder roast for good measure, and off we go.


Rillettes:

Makes quite a bit, so have a lot of ramekins or containers to put them in!

2 lb Pork Belly
1 lb Pork Shoulder
4 Cups Water

Herbs (I made my bouquet garni out of thyme, oregano, sage, and bay leaf along with a handful of peppercorns)

Salt and Pepper to taste
1 TblS Veal Demi-Glace
Pork Fat, cut thin


Cube up the pork. Line the bottom of your slowcooker/Dutch oven with the pork. Cover with water. Add the herbs.

Cook on low for 6 hours.

Remove pork from the slow cooker and place in a large bowl. Carefully shred the meat with forks until no chunks remain. Salt and Pepper to taste. Add in demi-glace and some of the cooking liquid and mix until it holds together.

Separate out pork into ramekins, top with fat, cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for 3 days.

If you've made a lot, you can freeze the extras. According to most all sources, rillettes will keep for about a month in the fridge as long as the fat covering is intact.

When you're ready, just bring the rillettes up to room temperature, and smear it on some bread and munch on. Add some cornichons and we're definitely in business!

As Anthony Bourdain put it in his cookbook:

Jesus, this dish is easy. Don't tell your friends. Let them think you're a genius, a master charcutier, while they're busy cooing and gaping.

Happy Cooking!

Craving Udon

Ok, food craving time again. This time it's udon. Although I tend to keep dried udon noodles as a pantry item in my house (it's not like it goes bad), I thought of trying something different and actually making my own noodles. I mean, how hard can combining FLOUR, SALT, and WATER be?

Well, this isn't difficult, but it is somewhat time-consuming. It's worth it though, since the end product has much more body than a dried out commercial one does.

Udon Noodles:

Serves 8-10

1 KG AP flour
450 g water
50 g salt

potato or corn starch for kneading

Equipment:

Large bowl
scale
plastic bag
large knife


Mix salt into water and stir until completely dissolved.

In a bowl combine water with flour. Mix thoroughly with hands and place the mixture in a sturdy plastic bag. remove as much air as possible from the bag and seal.

Step on the dough slowly using both feet (and entire body weight) in a circular manner (go around the dough clockwise or counter-clockwise slowly) until you have a disc that is about 1/8 inch thick.

Remove the dough from the bag, and fold as many times as possible, return to the bad and repeat the stepping process.

Collect the dough into a ball, and leave in the plastic bag to rest (1 hour in summer, 2-3 in winter)

Throw starch on a board and roll the dough with a rolling pin into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick (adjust the thickness to taste). Throw starch on the dough and then fold the dough loosely twice lengthwise to a third and then cut thin and EVEN slices.

With hands that are starched, separate the individual noodles before cooking to prevent sticking. At this point, noodles can be saved for later use.


To cook:

Bring a large pot of water to boil, and boil the udon for 10-13 minutes depending on the thickness of the noodles. Rinse the noodles under cold water to remove the starch from the surface and then drain well.

Serve in a hot tsuyu-broth, cold with sesame sauce, or however you like it.

Happy Cooking!

Tomato-Garlic pasta from Capricciosa Tokyo

I woke up the other day with a hella craving for a dish that I last had probably 14 years ago. It was one of those things that friends and I would go eat when we were in high school and had no money. There was this great Italian chain in Tokyo called Capricciosa that served all their pasta dishes family style in giant portions. If I recall, their signature spaghetti with tomato-garlic sauce went for about 1700 yen ($16-ish) at the time and easily fed four hungry teenage boys, or two REALLY hungry boys. Add a cheese filled rice croquette with meat sauce and you're all set. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

The dish, while by no means high brow or fancy, is just one of those guilty pleasures that's tangy, garlicky, spicy, and oh so yummy. It's actually seasoned well enough that you really don't need meat in it to make it good, although you most certainly could add some in there if you prefer a richer taste.

So, off to cyber-land to see if I could recreate the dish. After about 20 minutes of looking around, I found a couple Japanese blogs/postings that had different opinions on how it's made. Given that this is a "corporate recipe" of sorts, I did find out from a site where former employees of restaurants give out "forbidden recipes" that there were some interesting things that go into it. I'll go through the method -- it's easy and fun, and easily adaptable. Try it and see if you like it.

Capricciosa-style Tomato-Garlic Spaghetti

Yield: 4 Servings

8-10 Cloves of Garlic, thinly sliced
1 Medium Onion, diced
2 dried Japanese Chiles, sliced, OR 1 TBLS Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (adjust up or down depending on heat level desired)
1 ts Dried Oregano
3/4 TBLS Chicken Base or 2 Chicken Bouillon Cubes
1 ts MSG (this is a corporate chain recipe, what did you expect... omit if you're squeamish about this)
1 24-OZ Can Whole Peeled Whole Tomatoes
2 cups + extra Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Cup Powdered Cofee Creamer (really)
3 TBLS Oil
Salt and Pepper to taste




Slice Garlic into thin slices and place into a cold pan over medium/medium-low heat along with Chiles/red pepper and oil. Carefully toast the slices until crunchy and golden brown, about 5-7 minutes. DO NOT BURN THEM. Remove and reserve on paper towels.



Saute onions in the same pan until translucent, then add the entire can of tomatoes with juices into the pan. Bring to a boil and add back in the garlic. Turn down the heat to low, add in the chicken base and MSG, then simmer for 20 minutes, making sure to not let the sauce burn. Once the tomatoes are cooked through, smash them into chunks with a mixing spoon, and then add the grated cheese and coffee creamer to the pot. Mix, cover and simmer for another 5-10 minutes until the tomatoes have broken down a bit further, and the cheese and creamer have melded with the sauce.

Serve on top of freshly boiled spaghetti (slightly thick spaghetti works really well here), top with more grated cheese and enjoy.

Happy cooking!

New Style Sashimi... my adaptation of a Nobu classic

So, I posted about my experience eating at Nobu, NYC. Like I said, some of the dishes were stellar. Since I couldn't find any of Daniel Boulud's books at the local B&N, I ended up bying Nobu, the Cookbook to see about trying different things.

I tried the Toro Tartare... good, but the sauce wasn't balanced without the caviar (I don't just have caviar lying around the house... duck fat maybe, but not caviar). The wasabi-pepper-soy sauce was a tad on the sweet and oily (read: butter) for the toro IMO.

The new style sashimi, on the other hand was rocking. For those of you unfamiliar with Nobu's cooking, new style sashimi is a dish where the sashimi is dressed with soy and citrus juice on a plate, then hot oil is poured over it effectively searing it. I first tried it with hamachi, which worked great. I love having a Japanese market within 3 miles of my house which sells things like hamachi and toro on a regular basis.

What I tried last night, however, was REAL good, and different. I got some fresh BISON tri-tip and used that for the new style sashimi. It was melt in my mouth and amazing. I blowtorched the outside of the bison meat block (cut into "saku" shape to be able to cut sashimi like slices out of it) to seal in the outside and to give it a slightly "charred" taste. Basically, at this point, if I sliced and served the meat, it would be a "Tataki" in Japan, a technique often used for Wagyu beef, and Bonito.

I went the extra step here, and put the seared bison saku in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill and firm up. Cut usuzukuri slices out of it (note to self: practice more Japanese knife skills -- I'm just not good enough it seems), season, and serve.

Here's my recipe.

New Style Sashimi of Bison

Yield: 2 servings

1/2 pound of Bison sirloin or filet

1 TBLS soy sauce
1 TBLS yuzu* juice

2 Cloves garlic, grated finely
1 TBLS toasted white Sesame seeds
Ginger, cut into hair-like threads
Chives, cut to 3/4 inch length

2 TBLS Fruity Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 ts Toasted Sesame Oil

* Yuzu can be substituted with lemon, although the fragrance won't be the same. If you can't get the fruit or the juice, you can also omit the soy here and use a commercial Yuzu Ponzu, available in your neighborhood Japanese/Asian market, or get dried Yuzu peel and sprinkle it over the dish with the lemon juice.

Sear Bison meat with a blow torch, or over an open flame just to slightly char the outside. Wrap in plastic and place in the freezer for 20 minutes.

Cut Bison into paper thin slices and arrange on serving plates. Top each slice with a dot of garlic paste, a few slices of ginger, a couple chives, sprinkle the sesame seeds all over. Just before service, pour the soy-citrus mixture over the plate to season it.

Heat the combined oils in a small pan until smoking, then quickly and carefully pour over the sliced meat. It should sizzle and smell mighty good.

Serve immediately.

Happy Cooking!

Speechless

As much as I'm often critical about food, I just had an experience where I was left speechless. Both my dining companion Jose (also notorious foodie and cook) and I had nothing to say and could only make strangely orgasmic noises. As Jose put it, "I finally understand the reason why the old woman said 'I'll have what she's having' in the diner scene in When Harry Met Sally.

The restaurant in question? Daniel in New York. Yes, Daniel that occupies the old Le Cirque space on E. 60th Street, and where the chef, Daniel Boulud, has proven to me that he is a God... And yes, he was in residence that night in the kitchen.

All I can say is, go. You won't be disappointed. It was the best meal of my life. Truly. This foodie now has another bar to compare everything else to.

And for once, the food was so good the inside of my brain just went fuzzy with static. Every scent, texture, flavor... overwhelming and just brilliant.

Daniel
60 E. 65th St.
New York, NY
Tel: 212.288.0033