Knife inspired dinner

The other day I opened an egg and it had two yolks in it.  It could have been twinnie chickens but instead it became a high cholesterol scramble.  Like most of my posts, my brain is scrambled today.  Let me talk about knives.#random

Sometimes you get the inspiration for a dinner from something you ate, or something you saw.  Other times it’s completely random like a double yolked egg.  If you get a knife, be warned of the slippery slope…  Get the one that suits you.  What I mean by that is get the ones that look good, or have utility, are heavy, are light, are big, are small.  made in the US, or Japan, hand forged, single bevel, double bevel, less HRC, higher rockwell, samurai sword…So when I wanted to break in the MAC Slicing knife, it needed a victim.  I figured most suitable action would be to gently slice a loaf of crusty bread or attack a FIFTEEN pound Boulder Valley Dry-Aged Prime Rib Roast.

Here with a 10.5″ MAC Slicing knife

A different knife that is designed to be a go between a cleaver and a wieldy chefs knife is the Moritaka Deba, held at the perfect point where I hold my knives

A few inches choked up and the knife is out of balance

Held back and the balance shifts the other way.

moritaka deba

In short, the Moritaka is so well made and balanced it feels like an extension of your hand. Here is a video I found of a Moritaka Gyuto in use:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xg0APPrgOtY

The deba is used for fish and meats.  I needed more subjects.  Here rockfish…

rockfish

This is a picture that was unincluded in more Boar Food, but!  look at the layer of fat on the pork rack on the left. it made the 36 hour duck confit to the right taste healthy 🙂 Yes, it was scored and the herbs were wild herbs found in Malibu.

home cured bacon

even in the non-fatty pieces the bacon has extreme marbling one chef said “the marbling was insane”.  Another who has taught many 2 and 3 star michelin chefs in Italy said the fat was the “best he ever tasted.” So Sweet.  Score~! Fattier is better.

very dry aged.

15 pounds of meat, it’s clearly not my house (noting the vegetarian book)

I was so excited about the prime rib, that at 5:30am Saturday woke up to drive to downtown to get some surf with the turf.

Well the prime rib seemed fitting to go with something healthy…lobster tails a buddy caught during season to be steeped then removed from the shell, kumamoto oysters, bottarga, black truffle dust, and interesting CO2 wine cork poppers (press a button and air pressure shoots the cork off.  throw patience out the window.

experimentation w/ serrano vs jalapeno, with meyer lemon & yuzu

after decapitating the sweet shrimp, I reserved the bodies in a mason jar (these are awesome things to have around) and created something simple w/ sweet shrimp tail, tapatio, cilantro, lime & dried & crushed black truffle dust

You could drag a live cow through a warm room and it would be cooked enough for me.  A couple notes of learning: cooking in a different kitchen is always interesting. I haven’t used convection, and the oven was temperamental that once the temperature was set, you couldn’t switch the oven off without cutting the fuse in the backyard.  The plan was to roast at 450 then cut the temp to 275.  After a few hours, We had a small friendly debate whether the roast was done based on touch.  I thought it was but a few chefs differed.  Go with your instincts :D.  Half (inside jokes) aside, a few books on prime rib recommended weird temperatures and to very lightly season the outside with salt.  The color turned out perfect for me but the seasoning that the MEAT book recommends is off.  I like a nice salt-crust on the outside just like when seasoning a bird.  Life is a big experiment, no?  It was worth a try; Also I prefer a much darker, more caramelized crust so next time (tomorrow?) will roast at high in my own oven. roundabout way of saying color was great, taste could be improved with more char.

quite proud I am wearing her apron. the sides were creamy mashed potatoes boiled, ran through a ricer, heavy cream, european butter; macaroni & cheese w/ melted macaroni & extra sharp cheddar w/ parmesan, dijon & a touch of tabasco

the next day I took the shrimp heads for a shrimp stock, sautéed w/ bay scallops, a splash of cream & shallots, crispy pancetta

thank you to my friend for taking this photo in my sleepy stupor + all the hospitality + the new kitchen to cook in + friends + good laughter + generosity, with good bottles of wine ranging from France to Spain, Napa Cabs from Orin Swift to Ray’s friends reserve barrel from Viader @ ~ $250/bottle, and everything in between including good champagne for yellowtail sashimi, oysters, & sweet shrimp.  Good wine is always impressive if you want to be super impressive bring a bottle from Antarctica. (html link “_1” because there will no doubt be another…))

Peace,

-E

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