Monday, May 23, 2011

It's Calld Chowdah

"After having said so much about Fishing it will not be improper to say a little about the Fish that they catch & of the Dish they make of it Calld Chowder which I believe is Peculiar to this Country tho here it is the Chief food of the Poorer & when well made a Luxury that the rich Even in England at Least in my opinion might be fond of. It is a Soup made with a small quantity of salt Pork cut into Small Slices a good deal of fish and Biscuit Boyled for about an hour unlikely as this mixture appears to be Palatable. I have scare met with any Body in this County Who is not fond of it whatever it might be in England Here it is certainly the Best method of Dressing the Cod which is not near so firm here as in London whether or not that is owning to the art of the fishmongers I cannot pretend to say."
-Joseph Banks (1743-1820)

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Rabbit and Bacon Naruto

Food idea inspired by momufuku: rabbit and bacon naruto. Naruto is that little white fish cake with the pink spiral. Take the rabbit loin, slice it out flat and pound like a paillard. Sprinkle with transglutaminase. Layer with bacon. roll on the back of a sushi mat for texture. Vacuum bag and cook sous-vide, leaving the mat in place. Freeze and slice. Related idea: Wild boar bacon dashi. Like D. Chang's bacon dashi, but I want to actually dry out the bacon like it was Bonito and shave it with a plane. I spread salt and sugar on the bacon and wrap it in a kitchen towel and stick it in the fridge for two weeks. When rock hard, break out the woodworking tools and make razor thin slices that dissolve in hot water with kombu. Add tare, ramen, poached egg, wild mushrooms, scallion, and naruto. eat.

That's the plan. so far I have the wild boar bacon rock hard and it shaves nicely. testing the dashi tonight with fiddlehead ferns. fiddlehead ferns are awesome in asian foods like noodle dishes- pad thai with shrimp, thai sausage and fiddlehead ferns rocked the house the other day. I expect ferns to be awesome in ramen as well.