Local Cheese

Today we swung by the Tuesday Farmer's Market to pick up our usual bounty and one of the goodies we picked up is an awesome wheel of cheese.  Believe me, there is nothing like driving a moped away from a farmer's market two deep with an eleven pound wheel of cheese, bags of greens and pints of strawberries...it really turns heads.

I often talk about what great produce we have in the valley and blab on and on about the great meats raised minutes away, but I tend to forget about another local delicacy that I feel is really making progress.  Cheese.  Lately, US cheese has been making huge strides in quality and Vermont cheese has been at the forefront of that movement.  What about Massachusetts cheese?  Some of the cheese we have in the Valley is exceptional.  The wheel we picked up today, a wheel of A Barndance from Robinson Farm, is a beautiful representation of high quality cheesemaking right here in the Pioneer Valley.  It is a washed-rind cheese made from raw whole milk and I think it could hold up to some of the famous tommes of France.  I have noticed a big improvement in the cheese making of Western Massachusetts since I moved here roughly three years ago and I see us being a major player in the cheese trade in a few short years.  Unfortunately, not enough attention is being payed to our hardworking cheesemakers.  Hopefully their presence (and samples) at farmer's markets, at local shops, and restaurants like ours will help with their notoriety. 

I have always said "all I need is a good glass of wine, a crusty piece of bread and a delicious cheese and I am a happy man"...

Lazy Days and BBQ

Today we closed the restaurant, hung out with staff, and had the in-laws over for pulled pork sandwiches.  A good day off and I hope everyone else had one as well.  My rhubarb crisp with caramelized lemon ice cream is calling my name...

Sunday Recap

This week I learned:

...to never assume you can predict how busy a night will be.

...that women like kale, men like chard.

...that hakuri turmips could be the most underrated vegetable.

...not all farmer's markets are created equal, but have same good intention.

...that ice coffee is not a bad thing.

...that dogs and ink shouldn't play together.

...that I celebrate Memorial Day for two reasons, my grandfather and smoked pork butt...

Summer Beer

Hot weather makes me crave an ice cold beer. We have a nice summer beer on the menu and I may just drink us out of stock this weekend, if my wife doesn't have anything to say about it. The beer is Brooklyn Brewery's Pilsner and I highly recommend it, especially for this holiday weekend...

One Good Knife

People like to look in awe at my roll of knives and I like to let them. I realized today that having that many knives gives the impression that I need all of them.  I have some really beautiful knives and even though some of them specialize in doing certain things, all I really need is a chef's knife and a sturdy pairing knife.  That being said, I still use all my knives...but not in the way that you think.  I use them in rotation.  Why?  Because I'm lazy.  Rather than sharpen my knives regularly I use one until it gets dull then switch to a new one.  Eventually I run out of knives and I have to sharpen them all once.  Believe me, I put it off as long as I can.  The moral of the story is pick one good knife and learn to use it really well.  Learn how to sharpen it and care for it.  There isn't anything you can't do with one good knife (and a pairing knife).  Having more than one knife means you are lazy...and you like to waste money...

Fomage de Tete

Here is a photo essay of the process of making fromage de tete (head cheese) from a local berkshire (kurobuta) pig that was delivered to the restaurant the other day...

Seasoning the head

Wrapping the head

Preparing the pot

Boiling the head

The cooked head

Picking the meat

Seasoning the meat

Lining the mold

Removing the set terrine

The finished product

Interns

I was an intern once.  All I really remember is the constant "push, push man" yelled at me in a thick french accent.  A common phrase yelled in a busy kitchen.  It means hurry, or better yet it means you should have been done with that hours ago.  I couldn't keep pace because I was naive to the work load and ethic needed to survive a restaurant of that caliber. 

I may not have kept up, but I tried.  I tried as hard as I could.  I watched everything around me and then went home and tried to replicate it.  I always wanted to get better and to learn more.  I wanted to know how to make everything, but more importantly I wanted to know how to make things better.  I used to dream about the places I would go out to eat if I could afford and think about how I would prepare what I would have ordered. 

About the only thing I read is about cooking, be it as complex as a Ducasse or Roux brother's cookbook or as simple as a Cook's Illustrated or a Saveur.  I study Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz as much as I do Escoffier and Childs.  I literally live, breathe and eat food.  I work as hard as I can and I always want and work to get better. 

Sometimes I think that cooking professionally in America is still considered job, not a career.  In other countries it is considered as elite as law and government.  It is hard to think that so many "aspiring young cooks" thing that all they have to do is show up...

Strawberries

I was walking around a particularly great farmers market with morels in one hand, chickens in the other when I see my wife with a pint of strawberries.  As it were, Enterprise Farm had some early strawberries grown in their greenhouse and my wife nabbed some.  It took about thirty seconds for me to get halfway through the pint, so we bought some more.  They were picked a touch early but still, few things are as good as the first strawberry of the season.  I can't wait until the season really comes in...

On the News

WGGB 40 did a piece on us tonight...http://www.wggb.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=5880803&h1=Out%20and%20About%3A%20Mon%2C%20May%2024th%20-%20Bestro%20Les%20Gras%20in%20Northampton-&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=151000&LaunchPageAdTag=News%20-%20Special%20Coverage&activePane=info&rnd=57982571

It's unfortunate that the food had to sit so long and the bright lights washed it out, but it's nice to be recognized every once in a while...

Sunday Recap

This week I learned...

...that a little rain never hurt anybody, unless they have allergies.

...that spring ingredients, as few and far between as they are, make cooking so much more entertaining.

...that raw asparagus is better than cooked, at least in my opinion.

...that I forgot how much fun working the farmer's market can be.

...that everyone loves pulled pork.

...that the a last meal is personally defining.

...that seasons are change, and change is always  a good thing...

Last Meal

My cooks had a pre-service discussion about "a last meal" last night, no doubt mused by the forthcoming rapture.  I walked into the kitchen just in time to hear some pretty interesting selections.   You can tell a lot about a person by what their last meal would be.  Now that I think of it, it would be a great question to ask in an interview.  What would my last meal be?  It would depend on the time of year, but if I had to pick one today (you know, because the world is supposed to end today) I would probably go with slow-cooked beans, carne asada and fresh tortillas with a heaping side of green chile.  I would want something satisfying, filling, extremely comforting and something that carries a strong and positive memory for me.  This reminds me of eating at my grandparents house in Taos, New Mexico, the place I grew up visiting and loving, the place my wife and I met and the place I hope to retire.  I have been asked many times why I haven't opened a New Mexican restaurant and the answer is always the same.  Cooking like that is my grandparents job and I love to miss it.  If I had a New Mexican restaurant, visiting my grandparents and Taos would lose just a little bit of special.  Maybe when my grandparents are gone I will open southwestern restaurant as a way to remember them.  For now if I want my grandma's tortillas, I will wait until I visit my grandma.

On a side note, if you are applying for a job at BLG and I ask what you last meal would be, please don't reply with some elaborate, upscale, pretentious dish.  If that is really what you would like as the last thing you ate in this lifetime, you are probably not the right person for the job...

Plat du Jour

This is what we ended up having for dinner last night and it turned into our plat du jour for tonight:  roasted fish over a fricassee of spring vegetables (radish, asparagus, ramp, greens) with lardons and a warm olive oil sabayon.  It was delicious last night, hopefully it fared well tonight...

An Evening Away

After a long day of paperwork, I opted to take the evening off...sort of.  I brought home some spring produce in the hopes of creating a fun special for the weekend.  I brought home hakuri turnips, spring garlic, wild arugula, french radishes and asparagus.  Time for the creative juices to get flowing, maybe the wine needs to start flowing first...

Menu Vertigo

I have had true vertigo once.  I was skiing the back country in Taos, New Mexico when I jumped a small cliff and lost my footing on the landing.  I tumbled roughly 150 yards which felt like an eternity.  Both during and shortly after I couldn't have told you which way was up or the difference between the snow and sky.  The tumble was too much too fast and everything was one big confusing mess.

I kind of feel like that right now.  I am working on too many different menus and I am starting to get menu vertigo.  I just worked out the Tuesday Market menu, I have been slowly working on a Restaurant Week menu, I have menus to plan for my cooking classes at Different Drummer's Kitchen, there are consistent specials for both the dinning room and The Market Tapas Bar to be orchestrated and I have the Bistro's June menu to work out.  Oh so many different styles and they are all melding into one big mess.  The Restaurant Week needs to define us but be extremely cost effective.  The Tuesday Market needed to be comforting, local lunch food.   The cooking class has to be restaurant quality yet fun and easy to do at home.  The tapas bar needs to be fun and zesty, a few bites of delcious.  The dinning room special needs to be fresh and exciting.  LAst but not least there is the June menu, which needs to be...well, perfectly June.  Oh, and my wife wants to know what I want for dinner...

Farmer's Market

We love farmer's markets.  It is so much fun seeing new produce each week and the anticipation of the dish we will create with that produce.  Last year we worked the Tuesday Market every week, but this year we only have the time to do it once a month.  When the opportunity presented itself for us to be a part of the market last year, we were both honored and excited.  Working directly alongside the farmers is what we love to do and we use it as a foundation of our restaurant.  We try to use our business as a way to relay our passion for food and to help educate the importance of the local food movement.  So many aspects of life boil down to how we eat and what we eat, and a good farmer's market is the seed of this movement.  I believe the best way to be influential is to practice what you believe, so taking part in this market is almost necessary to me.  

The food we prepare for the market utilizes almost only ingredients available at the market.  We do this to inspire and encourage people to use more of the produce available.  Sometimes customers aren't certain of how to use an unfamiliar product so they shy away.  Our hope is to show that these ingredients are easy and delicious to use.  This year the Tuesday Market is going to host cooking demonstrations by local chefs to help inspire market-goers to use more of the delectable ingredients they may be less familiar with.  This fantastic idea was presented to me today and I couldn't wait to sign on.  There is so much great food available, some people just need a little help figuring out what to do with it. Sounds right up my alley...

Slow and Low Pork

Just cooling the pork shoulders a bit before I pull them and let them rest in their juices overnight.  Serving hot pulled pork sandwiches at the Tuesday Market tomorrow and it is hard to keep the staff (myself included) from "testing for quality."   I really need a cooler with a lock on it...

Sunday Recap

What did I learn this week...

I learned that back pain will forever be my nemesis.

I learned that I need to order more food next year for graduation weekend.

I learned that I have two insane dogs, but they can do no wrong by my eyes.

I learned that I am really not a breakfast person, anything above a snack in the morning just slows me down.

I learned that I need to remember that everyone starts their career with no experience, my intern deserves my patience.

I learned that cooks should read books for pleasure and cook for experience.  Cooking involves more than just knowing what to do, it's a sensory experience and sometimes intuition will serve you better than page 22...

Graduation Day

Graduation in the Pioneer Valley is pretty incredible.  The shear number of people that flock to the area for this weekend is almost overwhelming.  This is a weekend that we could do no wrong, everyone is happy and celebrating.  It is remarkable to see so many gratified faces around the restaurant, smiling and toasting the night away.  All of the family and friends gleaming with pride in their eyes, while the blissful graduate enjoys having the weight of the world lifted from their shoulders, at least for the weekend.  For a few days a year we run a shift that has nothing to do with the food.  Congratulations and good luck...

It Happens...

I missed my first post yesterday!  I apologize.  Unfortunately blogger was "experiencing technical difficulties" and I couldn't log in until this afternoon.

As with any job there are downsides to being a cook.  One that coincides with standing for countless hours on end is back pain.  It happens every so often and it sucks every time.  As luck would have it, it only seems to act up during a busy weekend and this just happens to be graduation weekend.  Yup, one of our busiest weekends of the year.  Sometimes I wish I was the type of person to feel comfortable not being at work because then I could go home and sleep until the ache is gone, but I am not.   I am in quite a bit of pain today but the show must go on.  I am chewing ibuprofen like candy and rationing my muscle relaxers and pain killer in an effort to make it through the shift and to not show that I can barely walk.  Everyone's a doctor and if anyone catches a glimpse of me grimacing and hunching, I get to hear a friendly remedy.  I have heard it all tried most.  After talking to multiple doctors, the only permanent fix is, well, I think I will rule that one out for now.  Now back to the line, tomorrow is a new day...

Farmer's Markets

The summer farmer's market is back and it is amazing to me how much food is available this early in the season.  The farmers in the Valley never cease to amaze me.  The entire meal in the picture was made from the Northampton Tuesday Market (behind Thornes).  This is a market that showcases a lot of the farms that we get our food from.   The Tuesday Market is a market with a purpose.  Easily one of the most progressive markets I have been to, growing leaps and bounds every year.  I must say I am a touch partial, mainly because this is a market we happily take part in.  Last year a little more so than this year, but none the less we work a booth at the Tuesday Market.  How many restaurant owners have the leisure of working (more like hanging out) outdoors with friends, farmers and customers?  How many get to spend that much face time with their clientele outside of the actual business?  While we think of it as a marketing venture, we use it as platform to discuss food and business with our clientele.  We get to intimately inform you of what we are doing and why and the favor is returned by the things you have to say.  We get to see what you are purchasing, what ingredients you like and don't.  We get to answer your food questions and you get to answer ours.  We get to show you how important our commitment to local food is and how much we value you as a customer.  Most importantly, we get to have fun. 

We will be serving our first market of this season next Tuesday.  We picked up some beautiful pork shoulders from Pete at Mockingbird Farm, so pulled pork is what I have in mind.


Just in case you were wondering, this is a list of what went into that delicious and easy meal.  Of course all of the ingredients were available at the last Tuesday Market, except the flour (for the tortellinis):

baby greens
wild sorrel
hakuri turnips
asparagus
shitake mushrooms
eggs
burdock root
new crop potatoes
herbs
pork
bread

King Salmon

Wild salmon season is upon us and few fish are as delicious.  I like to start with king and as the summer gets hotter move to the coho and sockeye.  King is perfect for the spring because it has a wonderful "marbling", layers of delicious fat making it rich and succulent.  Once king salmon's short season ends, you still have months of sockeye and coho.  Sockeye and coho are much leaner and have a deeper red flesh which lends them to much "fresher" preparations. 

A question I hear a lot once salmon season starts is "what temperature do I cook this to?"  What ever temperature you like best.  I think all of the salmons are excellent raw and cured, so sushi (like the dinner we made the other night-->) and crudo and gravlax are excellent preparations...as long as you trust that your fish is very fresh.  Personally, I think that king salmon is best served rare (just barely warmed through, about 125 degrees F), it accentuates its richness.  You just want to warm the layers of fat so they melt in your mouth.  Now sockeye and coho are different.  Because they are so lean, rare doesn't quite do them justice.  I like my coho and sockeye medium-rare to medium, but cooked slowly and evenly.  I feel you get more flavor from the fish the more it is cooked, but if you cook it too far  and too fast you can dry it out.  Now if you cook it all the way through in a moist and fatty environment, (say in an olive oil bath) very slowly (in a 200 degree oven) you will have an absolutely fantastic piece of fish.  Just as different cuts of meat are better at different temperatures, salmon is too.  In the end it is your fish and you are paying top dollar so you should have it which ever way you see fit.

No matter how you decide to enjoy salmon, make sure you take advantage of the short wild season.  Farmed salmon is just not the same.  It's like craving bacon and then someone brings you turkey bacon instead.  Although in this case the bacon (wild salmon) is much, much, much better for you.  I love wild salmon, almost as much as I love bacon...

Biking begins

This was a facebook picture that one of my cooks, an avid biker, posted to his wall.

Gas prices are steep and only going to get steeper, but the real issue here is how much we needlessly use our cars.  I needlessly use my car all the time. My excuse?  Too busy I guess.  Too lazy I suppose.

This picture has given me motivation.  I rode my bike to work today and going to commit to do it as much as possible.  I am not going to rely on my excuses anymore and take some initiative.  Besides, a thirty-ish minute bike ride home is the perfect way to burn of the steam of a long shift.  Just long enough to sweat out the "seasoning" of a night in the kitchen, to think over the evening's service and then relax the mind.  A chef with a relaxed mind is a better cook...well at least a more relaxed chef...

Mother's Day

As much as I hate hallmark holidays, it does force us to remember people that have influenced our lives.  Mothers have a pretty strong case for being an influential being, I dare you to argue otherwise with one.  I definitely would not be who or where I am today without all the Mothers in my life.  It wasn't until recently that I realized how special it was for me to grow up with a Great-Grandmother, a Grandmother and a Mother.  While you can learn a lot from one, well, as they say, three heads are better than one.  They have taught me respect for people and everything else, which has influenced me to learn to use every part of anything I eat and practice that on a daily basis.  They have taught me patience, which is just a good thing to have in general but especially the service industry.  They have taught me to be proud of who I am and that is clear in the way we run our business.  They have taught me to love all kinds of foods, whether it was as simple as fresh picked sugar snap peas from my great-grandparents garden or as comforting as my grandmother's fresh torillas with frijoles and chili or as complex as the diversity of ethnic foods I grew up around.  They have taught me to always appreciate when others cook for you and to never look a gift horse in the mouth.  Most importantly they have taught me to work hard and always do what makes me happy.  Happy Mother's Day to all the loving mothers in our world...

Burning Brulees

Happy with May

May is shaping up to be a great menu.  We have been very busy this month and thus far customers have been responding very well to the new menu.  It'ss not too often that I am this happy this early into a new menu.  Every month I find amusement in noting the "hot" items at the beginning of the month and then comparing them to the "hot" items at the end of the month.  Right now I am selling the heck out of our scallops.  Not surprising, scallops are a New England comfort food (I have never lived in an area that eats so many scallops!)  The scallop dish will be the worst selling item at the end of the month.  Odd but true, it happens every month.  Which ever item is the most popular at the beginning finishes last, and which ever item is slow at the beginning is white hot at the end of the month.  A game of the tortoise and the hare.  This month's tortoise will probably be the chicken, easily my favorite entree this month.   Which came first, the chicken or the egg?  At Bistro Les Gras, which ever you decide to eat first.  We pound out a chicken breast, bread it and give it a nice saute until golden.  We top it with a warm salad of ramp bulbs, asparagus and some spicy arugula seasoned with lemon, olive oil and fleur de sel.  Next to the chicken cutlet is a soft-cooked egg topped with pickled ramps sitting over a bright green arugula puree.  The dish is vibrant, comforting, fresh and whimsical.  Kind of like me...

One of My Favorites

If you have never been to Fernandez Family Restaurant in Holyoke, you are depriving yourself of some of the best Puerto Rican food this side of Puerto Rico.  In my opinion they only have two faults...they are only open for lunch and the portion sizes are out of control.  I am probably the only person who thinks the latter is an issue.  A small order of rice and beans with some unbelievable roast pork feeds me for three days (or stuffs me for two, which is usually the case).  I guess I can't complain about having to eat pork with rice and beans and a healthy dose of plantains for three days.  I could honestly eat something that comforting every day.  Speaking of which, my lovely wife surprised me with some take-out for dinner...

Where have they gone?

The other day I when I was glorifying the wonders of a collar of fish, I mentioned asking your fish monger to save you one.  What fish monger?  Where is there a true fish monger anymore?  The same goes for butcher shops.  Supermarkets have ruined quality product...yes, even the nice supermarkets like the River Valley Market and Whole Foods (trust me, I know the local farms and what they deliver to the supermarkets.  There is a hierarchy to who gets the better product and said markets are usually the last stop). 

As most do who live in New York, I became unbelievably spoiled by the bounty of butcher shops and fish markets seemingly on every other block.  I understand that big cities have more of a need for specialized food stores, but why doesn't the Pioneer Valley?  We love our food, we love getting our food from local farms and we love talking about where our food comes from over our food.  So why isn't there a place that specializes in just meat and a place that specializes in just seafood right here in the valley.  It is amazing to me that with all the restaurants and "quality" food shops in the Valley, I have to special order whole fish.  It worries me a little that even though we live so close to the ocean, businesses are comfortable getting pre-filleted fish and pre-fabricated meats.  What happened to restaurants caring enough to butcher their own animals and fillet their own fish.  We do.  What happened to being able to go to a place that is willing to cut a shoulder of pork while you ponder over a nice selection of sausage or a shop that carries whole fish and fillets it while you wait.  Aah, there it is.  While you wait.  Too bad we are in such a hurry these days.  If I find the right space in town, BLG Butcher will come soon after...

A Tuesday

8:00 am - alarm goes off
8:30 am- Actually get out of bed and shower
8:45 am- Kiss the wife, pet the dogs and leave for work
9:00 am- Turn on the kitchen
9:10am- Coffee
9:20 am- First order arrives
9:30-10:30am- put away orders and re-arrange coolers for new menu
10:30am- re-arrange kitchen to suit new menu
11:00am- prep begins
1:45pm- off to pick up plates for tapas bar
2:10pm- stop at the Farmer's market to get goodies
2:45pm- Realized have not eaten yet, so we have scarf some crappy burritos
3:10pm- back to prep
4:00pm- Place early orders (dry goods and such for Friday...almost to late)
4:45pm in a frenzy to get Market open
5:00pm- Go over new menus with staff
5:15pm- coffee and cookie break
5:18pm- break cut short, customers start arriving
5:20-9:20pm- a blur of food, orders, tickets, etc.
9:30pm- Start getting orders ready for tomorrow, need to be in by ten
9:50pm- Call in orders
10:10pm- break down and clean
10:45pm- go over prep list for tomorrow
11:10pm- glass of wine and re-cap with Beth, talk about tomorrows "to-dos"
11:30pm- Arrive home to feed dogs and start cooking rice for dinner
11:45pm- write blog
11:50pm- shower
12:10pm- eat dinner and deflate with the wife
1:30pm- Bed

Spinning

We are busy doing the last minute stuff for the opening of The Market: a french tapas bar, due to open tomorrow.  We have a lot of last minute things...maybe a little too many things.  People who know me say that I am not comfortable unless I am stressed out with too much to do and too little time.  We will see tomorrow.  I will post pictures and a finalized menu tomorrow, for now back to work...

Halibut Collar

Yesterday I mentioned that we used halibut in our fiddlehead gumbo.  We used halibut collar to be exact, my favorite part of the fish.  Unfortunately, the only thing glamorous about the collar is the flavor.  It can be a mess to pick through and awkward to serve but I am more than happy to look past all of that to get to the moistest, most succulent and most flavorful meat the fish has to offer.  If you can find a fish monger that still breaks down his own fish, you should ask them to save you a collar (any fish will do).  I think it is easiest and best to braise the collar but it can also be roasted.  If you braise or stew it you get a two-for-one because of all the collagen, fine bone structure and flesh turns the broth into liquid gold.  And like any "chef cut," it is most likely dirt cheap.  Dirt cheap and able to feed a large family, a win-win situation.  Wait.  Dirt cheap, able to feed a large family AND the most flavorful part of the fish, that's a win-win-win in my book...