Fridays are nuts. I woke up thinking about my new menu; what I like and what needs to change. Generally the changes are tweaks I need to make so the dishes flow thru the kitchen with ease. This is where chefs can have big problems, if the menu does not flow then the cooks get backed up and customers wait for their food, neither is good.

Chug some coffee, no time for suduko today, and I am out the door at ten. Fridays start the mayhem of the weekend; we’ll have 400 to 500 people in for brunch (and this week we are doing brunch on Monday so add another 100, Columbus Day) plus dinner service(another 200-300), so there are a ton of people around cracking eggs, making mornay, slicing bacon and basically getting ready to serve the masses. Fridays also happen to be the day that all managers work so why not throw 2 meetings on top of everything else…..

Meetings and Prep make a busy day, and of course final changes to the menu just to make it a little more exciting.

Here are some of the new items

Tempura Shrimp
ginger pickles, wildflower honey

Korean Style Short Ribs
green papaya salad,
spicy cilantro dipping sauce

Maple Cured Grilled Pork Chop
bacon braised cabbage, turnips,
dried cherry & pecan relish, cider glaze

3 Tastes Of Fall
parsnip potato cake, roasted baby carrots,
vegetable strudel

Garlic Rubbed Grill Roasted
“Free Range” ½ Chicken
mashed potatoes, broccolini, lemon herb pan jus

Pan Seared Giant Scallops
lemongrass steamed rice, sugar snap peas,
hoisin bbq sauce

Grilled Arctic Char
parsnip fonduta, lemony greens, pear chutney

Wood Grilled Flat Iron Steak
basil braised fennel, seared raab,
rosemary-scented fontina stuffed tater tots

It was a slow process for the Pork Chop. I was pouring thru magazines and cookbooks looking for something that would get me going. Nothing. I started looking thru old notes and menus and came across the first menu from Rouge and there it was, just what I needed. We had run a Pork Confit with whole grain mustard glaze (with Steen’s Cane Syrup) over Riesling braised cabbage with lardons and turnips. I contacted my old chef Billy Barlow, one crazy Southerner who is now the chef of Bonita, fantastic mexican restaurant in Brooklyn, to see if he had the recipe, he did.

I loved this dish; the sides were so awesome (as was the pork), nice acid balance with the smoky richness of the bacon braised cabbage. The sharp peppery purple top turnips tied it all together.

Here it is:

Wood Grilled Maple Cured Pork Chop (cure also has cumin, cinnamon, cloves)
Bacon braised cabbage with roasted turnips and a dried cherry, shallot and pecan relish

We tweaked it all day and now all I can say is yum!

Next week is looking nuts for me:

A busy weekend followed by….
A sold out BBQ dinner at 647 on Monday
Hells kitchen try-out on Tuesday morn at 9:00AM
Martha’s Vineyard Food and Wine Fest Thursday thru Sat
Staying up all night Thursday to smoked pork butts
Sat travel to Nesenkeag farm to roast a pig all night
Sunday head to DC for Share Our Strength’s Conference of Leaders ….

It’s a wild life, stay tuned, I’ll take lots of pics….

Here’s the funny thing, I still do not have a new pork dish, maybe it doesn’t need to be pork maybe it should be duck, lamb, venison, why not quail. It’s weird but I am being called to pork and feel the need for one this fall, I need one now! And yet, nothing is coming, I am still thinking dried fruits, maple….I can feel it coming, I’ll drop it again and it will come.

When the idea comes I can see it, I can taste it, down to the last caramelization of the grill marks, I think I can smell it. It’ll just make sense. The last pork dish is dead to me now, I chopped it up and braised it with Cambodian chili peppers, lemongrass and coconut milk and am serving it over steamed rice for a special. Its sweet, spicy, rich yet light. I priced it low to so it’ll move and I can stop morning the last pork dish and celebrate the new one that will come, please come soon, fall is here….

The funny thing is that it’s not like I can’t be creative and I have ‘writers’ block, it’s only this pork dish….after my blog entry yesterday I wrote my New Year’s Eve menu and a Champagne Dinner Menu with ease….strange how it ebbs and flows…

Here are the menus I wrote:

Moet Hennessy Champagne Dinner
Gordon’s Fine Wines & Liquors Culinary Center
December 3, 2008, 7:00pm-9:00pm

First Course
Pan Seared Scallop
parsnip fonduta, brioche bread crumbs, almond gremolata

Ruinart Blanc de Blanc

Second Course
Oyster on the Half Shell
warm apple honey salad, cranberry jus

Moet Grand Vintage, 2000

Third Course
Cider Cured Grilled Pork Tenderloin Salad
dried apricot & hazelnut relish, dried cherries soaked in Champagne vinegar

Veuve Clicquot Rose, NV

Forth Course
Chervil Roasted Halibut
lemony buerre blanc, sweet potato & turnip hash, pickled beets

Dom Perignon, 2000

Dessert
Mango Tart Tatin
Moet Nectar sabayon

Moet Nectar

______

New Year’s Eve, 2009
$59 per person

Amuse
Tibetan Vegetable Momo
soy-sake, sriracha

First course
Parisian Basil Gnocchi
chanterelle mushrooms, fresh basil

Spicy Peeky Toe Crab Salad
tempura nori chips, ginger pickles

Grilled ‘Mini’ Steak
rosemary mashed potato cake, Madera reduction

Oyster Gratin
parsnip puree, chorizo crumbs

Second Course
Lobster Chowder
sweet potato biscuit, sage butter

Arugula Salad
toasted almonds, Muscat grapes, parmesan, fennel, creamy herb vinaigrette

Third Course
Vegetable Napoleon
roasted wild mushrooms, chic pea puree, cumin scented butternut squash

Spice Crusted Grilled Swordfish
pomegranate-miso glaze, minted Brussels sprouts, sweet potato puree

Bourbon Braised Short Ribs
crawfish jambalaya, avocado, cured tomato relish

Pan Roasted Giant Scallop & Soy Braised Crispy Pork Belly
lemongrass steamed rice, Hunan bbq sauce, sesame spinach

Dessert
Chocolate Fondue
fresh fruit, ladyfingers

Blood Orange Chiffon Cake
Champagne sabayon

I spent the morning in Food Pak, an Asian grocer for restaurants. I stood there and looked at shelves and shelve of ingredients until my eyes were blurry. Sometimes when you want to change a dish it’s so hard, when you press for an idea they just don’t come. Other times I can write a book on ideas, in fact I did….

The pork dish I have on the menu now is getting great response and I loved it when I put it on. For some reason I am now struggling with it, therefore it must go…..

Brown sugar cured pork chop on steamed rice with a ‘pho like” consomme, braised pork shank, veggies, and enoki mushrooms. Topped with a XO sauce and toasted peanuts.

I wonder what it is that makes me want to change it? I guess it doesn’t really matter. Change happens.

An hour later I am still looking at the shelves and have nothing, nothing! I can see how musicians go insane trying to come up with something ‘new’, sometimes everything feels old and stale.

I purchased what I came for and nothing else. I haven’t solved my pork problem, though feel myself leaning towards maple cures, apple cider, cranberries, and candied nuts….generally when I relax around it the creativity comes…

Its Tuesday and I need to stop thinking about the pork chop and focus on 2$ taco Tuesdays.

Here are those shelves:

Tired
Need shower
And food
Results: 5th overall in sides, 8th overall in bbq!
So psyched.

2pm

Last turn in
Kenny and I folded roasted garlic and fresh basil in Italian sausage. Dusted it with garlic powder, black pepper, and sea salt. Smoked at 300 for 1 hour.

Kenny made the glaze with reduced balsamic, brown sugar, and basil.

Awards at 4…..

Chris rocked the brisket….

Only sausage left to turn in

Unbelievable pork

12:55pm

Sooo tender

12:22

Ribs rocked, sweet and spicy

Chris nailed it! Skin is tender, meat is sweet, juicy, with a slight spice kick.