At EatDrinkEXPERIENCE, you’ll find ALL of the content you enjoyed here plus some very new and exciting posts… It’s gonna be a whirlwind over the next few months and I am sure you will enjoy it!

Thanks for all of the support you have shown and thanks for reading!

Be sure to check out the new site and say hi in the comments!

EXCITING NEWS!

Friends, family and readers of this blog… Many of you have supported me on a recent quest to be America’s Next MASTERCHEF… The support you have shown, some all the way back to filling out the original application and first level audition, has been incredible! I’m happy to announce that I WAS SELECTED AS ONE OF ONE HUNDRED CONTESTANTS! Earlier this year I was flown to Los Angeles and had the pleasure of cooking for Gordon Ramsey, Graham Elliot, and Joe Bastianich… Tune in Mondays and Tuesdays starting June 6th at 8pm/7central on FOX to find out what happens! Thanks for your support!

Click to read the entire press announcement, and find out who the other finalists are!

“MASTERCHEF” GETS COOKING MONDAY, JUNE 6, ON FOX

NATIONWIDE SEARCH BRINGS 100 AMATEUR COOKS

TO LOS ANGELES TO VIE FOR COVETED TITLE

Top 18 Revealed Tuesday, June 14

Famed chef Gordon Ramsay is back for Round Two of his culinary smash hit and last summer’s highest-rated new series, MASTERCHEF, Monday, June 6 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. After conducting a nationwide search, 100 of the best amateur cooks in America, including a police officer, an oil rig engineer, an interior designer, a forklift operator, a professional poker player, a classical pianist and a tattoo shop owner, were flown to Los Angeles in the hopes of becoming the next MASTERCHEF and walking away with the life-changing grand prize.

In the premiere episode, the hopefuls will prepare their signature dishes and present them to the renowned MASTERCHEF judging panel: Michelin-starred chef Gordon Ramsay; restaurateur and wine maker Joe Bastianich; and the youngest four-star chef in America, Graham Elliot. The judges are looking for presentation, flavor, originality and creativity, but most importantly – to have a chance – every contender must possess an immense passion for food. The amateur cooks will be put through the paces, and only the most deserving among them will win the coveted white apron and move on to the next round of the competition. One thing is certain in MASTERCHEF: Winning will be no piece of cake.

On Tuesday, June 7 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) and Monday, June 13 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT), the judges will continue to winnow down the Top 100 and ultimately reveal the Top 38. The competition heats up as more hopefuls are eliminated until the Top 18 are announced on Tuesday, June 14 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT).

Below are the hometowns, names and professions of the 100 amateur cooks:

-more-

“MASTERCHEF” TOP 100 – Page 2

-more-

“MASTERCHEF” TOP 100 – Page 3

-more-

“MASTERCHEF” TOP 100 – Page 4

Here’s a simple recipe that will make you the star of any summer cookout.

1 whole chicken, trimmed of excess fat.

[Basic] Brine:

61g Kosher Salt.

81g Honey.

27g Light Soy Sauce.

5g Yellow Mustard Seed.

5g Brown Mustard Seed.

1300g Hot water.

Dissolve salt and honey completely in hot water

add 453g Ice.

Stir until the brine is room temperature or lower.

Bag the chicken and brine in a ziplock, let the brine do it’s magic for about 24 hours. This brine can be used for any white meat, I brine almost every piece of chicken or pork I put on the grill… the brine seasons the meat from the inside out and locks moisture inside of the cell walls.

About 6-12 hours before cooking, remove the chicken from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Return the chicken to a bowl in your fridge, we’re looking to dry out the skin of the chicken, this will make it crispier when cooked.

Just before lighting your coals, remove the chicken from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature. This will reduce the thermal gap between the chicken and the grill and prevent the meat fibers from tensing up from the thermal shock.

Position the chicken over an open beer can. Actually, open the beer, take a few sips, then place the chicken over the beer can. Cook the chicken over direct coals about an hour or until the skin is crispy and the meat is cooked through.

Because of the brining and beer steaming the meat is incredibly moist, while the extra time taken to dry the skin and the dry heat from the coals produce a crisp skin almost like peking duck. Is it ridiculous to start prep for a simple grilled chicken two days ahead of time? Maybe, but the prep time for brining and drying are minimal and these extra steps transform a mediocre product to one that is simply stunning… That’s what good cooking is all about, right? Taking as much care as needed to produce the best possible results. Plan, take the time, you won’t be sorry!

You can also modify the seasonings and spice of the brine to your taste or add a dry rub to the outside of the chicken before cooking. In this case, I wanted to keep the flavors simple so that the chicken and beer were highlighted… Now go grill some chicken!

Kata Robata. If you want to know more about Kata Robata, feel free to check out their website… But I hope you’ll enjoy reading about my experience at this culinary gem.

I found out about Kata Robata at the YTAC “Kiss My Grits” competition a few weeks ago. I thought the Chef’s kimchee grits were interesting (in a good way) and made a mental note to try out their restaurant which I had driven by countless times.

A week later, while traveling for business I read through the YTAC program and landed on the Bio pages of Chef Manabu Horiuchi and Chef Seth Siegel-Gardner… Let me hit you with the highlights:

Chef Horiuchi, or “Hori” as he likes to be called, served as the Consulate General of Japan’s Official Executive Chef – preparing family meals and cooking for large social events…

Chef Siegel-Gardner was Sous Chef at Marcus Samuelson’s Aquavit, he worked for Scott Conant at Alto, opened Maze with Gordon Ramsey – first as sous, then executive chef, opened C-House with Samuelson, and staged at The Fat Duck with Heston Blumenthal…

Holy shit! are you kidding me? These guys are cooking in Houston… where is their restaurant? TWO blocks from my house… How the hell did I not know about this place?! I had to eat here… I needed to experience their food… their experience. I couldn’t wait to try it out!

One of my first stops after my 13 hour commute home from Boston, was Kata Robata. I was tired, grumpy, and hungry. I had looked at the menu on-line and knew I wanted to try a couple of dishes…

I ordered the Kata Ramen ($9) and Shiso Yakatori ($5 Happy hour special). I know, this is a sushi place, why not order sushi… I have a confession… I don’t really like sushi… I’m in the process of being converted… having some decent sushi in LA, but I’m far from a sushi lover. <<more on this later.

The ramen was amazing! perfectly cooked noodles, a light but flavorful broth, a bit of fish cake, spinach, tender pork shoulder, and a hard-boiled egg. The only thing I would change about this soup is the egg. A 63 degree egg would have been perfectly at home in this delicious soup… but then again, I think a 63 degree egg would be at home on a bowl of ice cream…

The Yakatori was simple but well executed, with a bit of scallion, salt and pepper. A squeeze of lemon added the perfect bit of acidity.

These two dishes were a great lunch… Immediately my mood was lifted and I was in good spirits… but I was not done with Kata Robata yet…

I returned a day later (tonight) to give the menu a full taste.

A table of one, I asked to sit at the sushi bar… mostly so I could see the kitchen. The day before I had seen Chef Hori peel a cucumber with a small sword… it must have been at least a 10″ sushi knife that he wielded skillfully around the vegetable like it was a paring knife. Chef Hori was directly in front of me during my meal… slicing fish with speed and precision, selecting only the very best parts of each cut. It was almost hypnotizing to watch.

I started off my meal with an order of the Agedashi Tofu ($6). It was awesome… soft, silky tofu, lightly fried served in a light tempura sauce and topped with bonito flake. The textural contrast of the silky tofu and fried crust was awesome. The flavor of the tofu, savoryness of the bonito flake, and light sweetness of the tempura sauce balanced perfectly.

Following the Tofu was a grilled Hamachi Collar ($14). Collar is my FAVORITE part of the fish… it’s like the baby back ribs of the sea… there’s some bones you have to work around but the meat of the collar is laced with gelatin-y goodness. This collar was perfectly grilled, and served with two interesting accompanyments… Grated Dikon which was just fresh and waterly, a good pallet clenser after the rich fish, and a small red berry from japan that looked like a raspberry, but smaller and with a pit. It is called yamamomo (Thanks Esther!) It was the perfect amount of tart to compliment the fish… these guys are clearly thinking out each plate. I’m excited to order more.

Next up, one of the night’s specials… Blue Fin and Snapper Sashimi ($15). This was served with a colorful array of purple carrot, micro greens, a light cilantro pesto, and a bunch of other [delicious] garnishes… the plate was stunning. Sadly my iphone camera did not do it justice.

Okay, I’m feeling adventurous now and this is clearly as good a place as any to give sushi a go… I ordered a Crunchy Unagi (Eel) Roll ($8). It came with three different caviars, crispy tempura bits, and a sweet soy syrup… I found out that I like Unagi… a lot. The rice also didn’t have the over-seasoned vinegar taste that had turned me off from sushi before… I’m on my way to being a sushi-convert.

More sushi next… this time one of the signature rolls: Texas Hamachi Roll ($15). My server, Blake, who was also my server yesterday and had done a great job explaining the menu and giving reccomendations so far described this roll as spicy tuna, eel, and crispy shrimp wrapped in a rice roll, topped with yellowtail, jalepeno, and yuzu. He said it was one of his favorites… Now I understand why. This was really quite magical… perfectly balanced, different textural sensations, fresh fish, jalepeno heat, accented by the brightness of Yuzu.

and another pic:

And I’m full… Blake comes by and offers some dessert. I had intended to decline, but I decided to entertain the dessert menu. Blake hilights what he calls “Alice In Wonderland strawberry shortcake”… he says it looks nothing like strawberry shortcake but tastes like it. That is right up my alley! I’ll take it!

This dessert was nothing short of mind blowing… Better than my dessert at The Bazzar (Coconut Floating Island). On the menu it’s modestly listed as “Nasturtium”… here’s what it came out as:

It’s got a perfect brunois of strawberry, lightly masserated. Small dollops of yougurt and meringue (toasted). Paper thin slices of strawberry that have been dehydrated, and a bright green nasturtium brioche that I think was aerated with an iSi canister and microwaved a la Bryan Voltaggio (I may have seen Ferran Adria do this too) Blake is right… construct the perfect bite and you’ve got a mouthful of strawberry shortcake! One more pic because this one is AWESOME!

So in short, I HIGHLY reccommend Kata Robata… Chefs Hori and Siegel-Gardner are working some culinary magic over there… you can have lunch for under $20, or blow out an amazing dinner (I won’t tell you what my bill was, but it was worth every penny and then some)… truly world class food walking distance from my house.

I’m guessing, unless you were in Roses, Spain that you didn’t find any Easter Eggs like this in your yard today. Before we go any further, I have to give FULL credit for this idea to my friend Yi Lynne Weber. She conceptualized the entire dish, I merely executed.

Remember when “Easter Egg” referred to hidden extras on a DVD? That’s like what this dish is… for memicking, surprises, fun!

Yi Lynne had an idea to make a dessert for an Easter party. Her vision was a sweet “scotch egg“. A few weeks ago we were Facebook chatting and she had the idea to take mango spheres, wrap them in a coconut sticky rice and fry them… GENIOUS!

Here’s what came out:

So I used the reverse spherification method to produce the mango spheres.

Mango Sphere Base:

371g Odwalla Mango Tango (or fresh mango puree if you can get them in season).

10.2g Calcium Lactate Gluconate (2.75%)

3.7g Ultratex 8 (1%)

Reverse Spherification Setting Bath:

1000g Bottled water.

5g Sodium Alginate (0.5%)

You’ll want to mix both of these solutions the night before to allow the hydrocolloids a chance to fully hydrate and air bubbles to escape.

Before you start making spheres, fill a container with fresh water for holding the completed spheres. Be sure to have towels on hand to wipe the bottom of the spoon each time it enters the alginate bath. This will prevent a skin from forming in the mango base. You can also put the mango base in a squeeze bottle for easier dispensing…

Wait! Before you make the spheres make some coconut sticky rice… Sushi rice (about three cups), rinsed of excess starch repeatedly until water runs clear. Cooking liquid should be half coconut milk, half water. For the fluid measurement, use the technique listed here. Pressure cook that shit for 3 minutes on high pressure, with a 7 minute slow release. Stir in shredded sweetened coconut to your taste. I used about two cups of coconut. Allow the rice to come to room temperature.

Back to spherification. Carefully drop 1/2 tablespoon of the mango base into the alginate bath. Allow the spheres to “cook” for about 30 seconds before removing them from the alginate and carefully putting them into the fresh water bath. While the spheres are in the alginate bath, make sure the spheres are fully submerged. The calcium in the mango liquid needs to come into contact with the alginate solution to form the “skin” that holds the liquid centered spheres.

Okay, this is the hardest part: forming the “eggs” I used plastic Easter egg shells as a mold, and also did some hand formed ones… the hand formed ones look more like goose eggs:)

make sure you have a good seal between the halves. Be careful not to press the rice too hard or you’ll break the mango yolk. Plan on making more than you need… my final yield was about 40% of the eggs I shaped. Some separated as I was battering them. If one of these yolks breaks while it’s in the fryer… um, well that would be bad news…splatter splatter.

Dry Tempura Mix:

250g Rice Flour.

250g Cake Flour.

20g Baking Powder.

To Mix Batter:

Revere about 1/2 Cup of dry mix for dredging the eggs.

2 Cups dry tempura mix.

1 Egg, beaten.

Ice cold club soda… enough to make a pancake batter consistency.

Dredge, batter, and fry at 375F until light brown.

Serve warm.

I like Pho. I grew up on the national dish of Vietnam. If you’ve never had it, I feel sorry for you. It’s got a light but flavorful beef broth flavored with five spice, lemongrass, ginger, and garlic. When you order it you get a side plate of lime wedges, thai basil, cilantro, jalepeno, and bean sprouts. If you’re at a proper Pho selling establishment, you’ll quickly receive a big bowl filled with broth and rice noodles topped with raw thinly sliced beef. The heat from the broth cooks the raw beef perfectly. I always order Pho with the beef raw and on the side to ensure that the kitchen dosen’t pre-blanch the meat for the american pallete. If your Pho shop won’t serve you this way, find another pho shop.

The problem with Pho is that I live in Houston. Summer is nearing, the temperature was over 90 degrees today. So a big hot bowl of piping hot soup… not exactly seasonal. So I decided to see if I could transform this classic soup into a salad.

The result was perfect. All of the flavor of Pho, without the warming broth… here’s how I did it.

Recipe:

1 carton of beef broth (cause I wasn’t going to simmer one for hours).

1 Stalk of lemongrass, bruised.

3 cloves of garlic, smashed.

1 half sweet onion.

4 green onions.

1 (thumb sized) piece of fresh ginger, smashed.

2 Cloves.

2 Star Anise.

1 Tspn Fennel Seed.

1 Tblspn Sechwan Peppercorn.

1/2 Tspn (Vietnamese) Cinnamon.

^Pressure cook that shit, 20 minutes, slow release.

2 cups of seasoned broth (above) strained. Reduce to about 1/3 of a cup.

After broth is reduced, add:

1 tspn fish sauce.

2 tspn Siracha Sauce.

2 tspn Hosin Sauce.

2 tblspn grapeseed oil.

1/16th tspn xanthan gum (two tiny pinches, to hold immulsion).

whisk together.

Cook a small strip steak 54 Celsius in your circulator using the sear-sous vide-sear method. My steak was pretty thin so I opted for the blow torch as my searing device.

Fill a large pot with water and the remaining seasoned beef stock. bring to a rapid boil and cook 1/4 package of Banh Pho (Fettuccini sized rice noodles). Once the noodles are al dente, drain and rinse the noodles. Toss the noodles in the dressing with:1 cup bean sprouts, Mint, Thai Basil, Cilantro, and green onions to taste.

I also made a Pho-spiced vodka to drink with the salad. I used the iSi pressure infusion technique with Tito’s Vodka, Lemongrass, Cilanro, Thai Basil, Ginger, Jalepeno, Clove, Star Anise, Fennel, Sechwan peppercorn, and gralic. I served this in a stemless snifter- straight up room temp. It was awesome, the heat and herbal flavors of pho, a slight vodka bite. I think it would also be VERY good with ice and tonic water.

Dress the plate.

Last night I had the pleasure of attending the Young Texans Against Cancer “Kiss My Grits” cook off. I have to thanks my new friend Mr. Jay Ducote from biteandbooze.com for showing me some AMAZING hospitality in my own city. Kiss My Grits was hosted by Winter Street Studios in Houston and featured eleven local chefs and their innovative approach to Grits. Mr. Ducote came in from Baton Rouge, LA to be a judge for the event and invited me as his “+1″ even though I forewarned him that I was not putting out.

The Chefs and restaurants participating included:

§  Chef Jonathan Jones of Beaver’s

§  Chef Jamie Zelko of Zelko Bistro

§  Chef Elouise Adams of Ouisie’s Table

§  Chef Mark Holley of Pesce

§  Chef Jason Gould of Cyclone Anaya’s and Quench

§  Chef Randy Rucker of Bootsie’s Heritage Cafe

§  Chef Jeramie Robison of Zimm’s Little Deck and Restaurant Cinq

§  Chef Richard Knight of Feast

§  Chef Chris Shepherd of Catalan and
Underbelly

§  Chefs Seth & Hori of Kata Robata

§  Chef Randy Evans of Haven

The Chefs each had a unique
take on the theme ingredient of Grtis. Some stayed
traditional with shrimp and grits, others explored the globe producing things
like Chef Holley’s grit gnocchi, Chef Evans’ Grit Congee, and <Spoiler
Alert> Chefs Seth & Hori’s Kimchee grits.

My personal favorites of the
night were Chef Gould’s fried grit cake filled with pulled pork. The dish was
surprisingly light and balanced thanks to a corn mustard and apple and arugula
salad dressed in apple cider vinegar. I also enjoyed Chef Jones’ hyper local
grits cooked in Way Back When Dairy’s unpasteurized milk. These creamy grits
were served with a smokey pork shoulder, jus made
from the smoked pork bones, and parsley and flowers from Chef Jones’ garden at
Beavers. Rounding out my top three were Chef Zelko’s
Cheese grits, spicy sausage, and microgreen salad
dressed in a soy-agave glaze.

Guests were given a single
strand of red beads to vote on a fan favorite. It was a close call for my beads
between Chef Jones and Chef Zelko… Chef Zelko’s dish was excellent but she ran out of grits one
plate before me! Feeling like a judge on Top Chef by necklace went to my next
favorite preparation of grits- Chef Jones.

Many local companies also
sponsored the event including my favorite Houston Brewery St. Arnolds and benefits of the silent auction and ticket sales went
directly to YTAC. I’ll definitely be attending again next year! I’ll also be
eating at many of the restaurants that donated their time and food to the
event. Not only because EVERYTHING was delicious, but as a way of supporting
businesses that give back to the community and saying thank you to the chefs
and owners.

The night did not end there…
After the Grits cook-off, Jay and I went to Red Bull Thre3style. A competition
for local DJ’s hosted by Red Bull. Each DJ is given 15 minutes to rock the
crowd… Right as Jay and I walk in the door he meets a college friend who
hooks us up with VIP wristbands… bottle service in the balcony? Yes PLEASE!

Good music, redbull
cocktails, and scantily clad 20-somethings… a good way to end the night.

When I dropped Jay off at his
hotel, he also shared with me St. Arnolds DR9 AND DR10! What a Guy! I am scared of the hospitality that Jay will
show me if I ever go to Louisiana!

Thankfully I was my only audience for this particular failure night… There was one success: the meyer lemon pasta came out awesome. So why blog about this minor disaster?

Because it’s important that we learn from our mistakes. In fact, we should learn more from our failures than our successes. I can pretty much make fresh pasta with my eyes closed, one hand behind my back… well that might be a challange, but I can definately make ravioli from scratch after a late night of drinking. And what did I learn from my perfect meyer lemon pasta tonight: mix in some lemon zest into your pasta dough and it will taste lemony… AKA not much. What did I learn from the other failures, let’s take a look:

Mozzarella Meringue- Don’t whip your egg whites after you fold in the flavor base (deflates the mix), if its too sweet before you bake it, it’ll be too sweet after (should have known that one), Powdered egg whites are not as cool as they seem, low and slow is the key to crispy mirengues, dispite what other recipes say… the list goes on.

Tomato Espuma- 1% Gelatin is too little.

Bone Marrow Ravioli- too rich- keep it simple stupid.

So, tonight’s kitchen failure was actually another great learning experience. It’s learning from our mistakes that pushes our food and skill forward. Ferran Adria has an entire lab dedicated to testing new recipes. In the off season of his restaurant, El Bulli, Adria(s) and a team of chefs test new ideas undoubtedly “fail” everyday… they cataouge these failures so they can go back and find out why they failed. This is part of the process that creates the stunning plates at El Bulli.

The only bad thing about failing… now I gotta go find something to eat.

WARNING: What follows is graphic food porn. It’s not for the faint of heart- or vegetarians. Proceed with caution.

Bone Marrow. Mussels. Bread. Heirloom tomato. Other orgasmic flavors. This ladies and gentlemen, is chef’s food… meant to be eaten on a day off or after a hectic seervice. Humble ingredients (often scraps) transformed into stuffing flavors.

I had never had or cooked marrow bones before tonight… Now I see why Anthony Bourdain goes on and on about this particular bit of offal. It’s rich and buttery, slightly gelatenous… It’s the sandwich spread that meat intended…

Is there anything better than a piece of crusty bread soaked in mussel broth? Yes… A piece of bread soaked in mussel broth, topped with bone marrow, mussel, bacon, onion, chilis, tomato and parsley! How’s that for an amuse bouche!

Before I get into how this sordid affair started, here’s the recipe:

For the marrow bones:

2 Marrow bones (about 2″ pieces)

salt.

Roast at 450 for about 15 minutes or until a knife slides easily in and out of the marrow.

For the tomato gremolatta:

1 Heirloom tomato, seeded (seeds reserved) and diced 1/4″.

1 handful fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped.

1 Meyer lemon, juiced and zested.

Onion tops (~4″ piece), chopped fine. You can substitute a green onion if onion tops are not available.

Salt/pepper to taste.

Olive Oil to taste.

Mix all ingredients, reserve.

For the Mussels:

1 bulb onion, sliced thin.

2 Fresno chiles, seeded, sliced thin.

2 strips of bacon, sliced into 1/4″ lardon.

1 Dozen fresh mussels.

1 cup beer or dry white wine.

1 tablespoon butter.

Salt to taste

Render the bacon fat, remove bacon pieces and reserve. Sautee onions and peppers in the rendered bacon fat with a heavy pinch of salt. Once the vegetables are translucent, add the mussels and beer. Cover and cook for three minutes then remove from heat and keep covered. Just before service, add butter and stir thuroughly so that sauce, onions, and peppers go into the shells of the mussels. Top with crispy bacon pieces after plating.

For the bread:

1/2 loaf Ciabatta bread.

Remove centers. Tear into pieces, keeping outer crust whole. Toast in 425F oven until light brown and crispy.

Now, if you haven’t already stopped reading this to make this [I would have if I were you]… here was my journey to this culinary porn and life changing offal experience.

Walking through the grocery store, I saw that mussels were on sale. I picked up a dozen… then got this crazy idea to do a surf and turf… mussels and bone marrow. I picked up a few marrow bones from the butcher (had to ask for them but most butchers will stock them) and headed to the produce department. Total bill for the protiens of this surf and turf: $5.90.

I was looking for some leeks, but there was a beautiful looking pile of local sweet bulb onions with the greens still attached. They were cheaper than leeks and more beautiful… sold! I picked up a couple of fresno chilis, a loaf of fresh ciabatta bread, and a Rouge Juniper Ale (that the bagger FORGOT to put in my cart! #Fail).

I had a few things at home and quickly got to work. Sadly the marrow bones were frozen solid, so I bagged the bones in a ziplock and turned on the immersion circulator. Set it to 22 degrees Celsius and had a hyper speed de-froster! While the bones were thawing, I got to work on the mise en place.

Bacon, cut into lardon and rendered in a cold pan over medium heat.

Onion and peppers (seeded), fine julianne.

I took the center out of the bread and tore it into pieces… this got toasted (dry) in a 400F oven.

Look at this tomato:

It got diced and tossed with the tops of the onion (about a 4″ piece), the juice and zest of a meyer lemon, a handfull of chopped parsley (flat leaf Italian), a two finger pinch of kosher salt, a few grinds of black pepper, and a quick drizzle of olive oil. This “gremolata” [kind of] would cut through the richness of the bone marrow.

The marrow bones got a touch of salt and went straight into a 450F oven… they roasted there for about 15 minutes.

While the marrow bones were roasting, I sauteed the onions and peppers with a two finger pinch of salt (in the reserved bacon fat of course!). Once they were tender and slightly translucent, I dropped the mussels and about a cup of beer. I had intended to use white wine for this, but none was available… I guess I need to buy some wine. But what we’re looking for here is a bit of flavorful liquid for the mussels to steam in, and to deglaze the pan. Beer served the purpose just fine and also was able to capture all of the alcohol soluable flavors in the pan… good substitution!

I covered the mussels, and cut the heat after about 3 minutes. They rested, covered, until I was ready to plate.

The plate started with arranging the toasted bread and the seeds of the heirloom tomato. At $4.99/lb, you really want to use every bit of an heirloom tomato. The seeds are what Ferran Adria calls “tomato caviar”- the quintessential essence of tomato with the texture of caviar.

I put the mussel broth into a stemless wine glass to preserve the plating, mussels went right on top of the arranged bread crusts (and topped with the crispy bacon), bone marrow went on the plate and got topped with the tomato gremolatta.

Pure un-adulterated food-gasam followed.

Still reading? Haven’t gone to your favorite butcher to get marrow bones yet? The least I can do is share some of this graphic surf and turf love with you…

Still reading? How can I convince you to source these ingredients and start cooking? Let me tell you how good this plate was… I turned down an evening with two lovely ladies for this meal. My friends Harmony and Lydia called me just after I left the grocery store asking me to go to some crepe place with them… I told them I was staying in. Disappointed, they texted me a few minutes later saying that I was missing out. I told them to watch the blog and facebook for the food porn coming soon. Lydia then called me a dirty slut and I told her I loved a big thick bone marrow. I feel like I made the right choice tonight. Now go cook some marrow and mussels!