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Winter 2011 Edition |
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Michael Caspi You find a book by Hazan or Thomas Keller and you find a whole new world, with the chemistry and everything. Once I discovered Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, it- wow- it opened my mind. It's just given me so much juice for creativity. He talks about everything, he's the genius of his generation. It's opened the minds of many, many people. He has a really, really crazy mind about how we look upon things. So, I'd spend hours and hours- if I had to calculate the time I spent on the subway- it was an hour every day, just McGee, for three years. I read this book over and over again. Of course, there was a lot of research, too- I had a huge file on my computer, only about this book, notes and everything. I learned this book. I never spent time in culinary school. I started at Daniel, working there for free. So, the experience of preparation and butchering, I got from there. Mostly, that's it- books and experience caused me to come to a level where I can produce my own dishes comfortably. What is creativity, basically? Something that comes from inside of you that's new and it helps you keep going, it's not boring. So, for us to change the menu two, three times a week, it's really good, because nobody gets bored. Everybody is challenged to make this dish right and make sure the flavors are correct. One time, I worked for a chef and he told me, "It's my way or you're not here." I never understood why. Maybe it came from his being afraid that he doesn't have enough creativity? I don't know where this comes from. But my dad is also a chef, and his way was to always share and let the other people express themselves. The creativity and the sharing bonds everybody together. It's really exciting to sit and talk, to catch a moment in the kitchen. I know I have enough creativity, so why not share and let other people, with my techniques, show their opinion and create something new? Immediately, we will meet, if, say, table five said, "I didn't like the burrata," which happened last week. It was the first dish, actually, where we met and nobody liked it much. I liked it, personally, but I don't have the ego to say, "Oh, they don't understand!" I told myself, this is my own palate and probably it's not good. I took everybody together, asked what they'd think if we took carmelized pears and add cream and put in something crunchy? Then, someone else came up with some more ideas, so we combined everything, tried it, changed it a little bit and then tried it again. Eventually, we came up with a new dish for the burrata and cheese. So, it's kind of nice.
Not everything is local, but most of our stuff is local. The big vegetables, they're only for stocks and sauces. I think it's wasteful to use the farm vegetables for the stocks and sauces, so we use big carrots, big leeks and big onions from big companies. We don't support any big farms that raise their cows and chickens inside cages. I'm just not supporting that. I believe that, if you eat this kind of food, it's not so healthy for your soul, you know? If you eat a cow that's been treated in a bad way, or their life was spent in a dark place- you're not going to see milk-fed veal here, I'm not going to serve that. I believe that, okay, you enjoy the taste, but your soul will be infected with the suffering of an animal. This is my philosophy. Did this animal suffer? They don't know, but I'm sure that one day, they're going to discover that bad husbandry of an animal not only affects the quality, for sure- but also your own spirit, your own soul. Everything comes from food. People say there is science and there is god, two different ways. But, I don't think so- there's just one way. I think science is just a younger way to look at the world. So, it's all one thing. Science just gives us the opportunity to look at the details more closely and make fewer mistakes. But, in the end, there is a concept behind it and there is an idea. We can't call it "scientific food" or something that it's not. It's just our tools in our heads to make fewer mistakes. |
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Cauliflower Flan M Restaurant at the Morris House Hotel Ingredients: Cauliflower Flan: |
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Procedure: For the meringue: For the cauliflower flan: Click Here for more recipes from Center City restaurants! |
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| ABSOLUT Pears Peary Afternoon 4 Parts ABSOLUT PEARS 1 Part Dark Rum of Jamaican Type 2 Parts Lemon Juice 2 Parts Simple Syrup 1 Dash Bitters 1 Part Vanilla Liqueur 1 Quarter Melon |
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Fill a shaker with ice cubes. Add all ingredients. Shake and strain into a chilled highball glass filled with ice cubes. Garnish with melon. Download more recipes and find information about ABSOLUT Berri Acai, visit absolut.com
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Thank you to all participants and patrons of the recent Center City District Restaurant Week presented by TD Bank. We'll be announcing the dates and details of the Fall 2011 event in a little while. Remember, you can always stay on top of the news by following us on Twitter, at @PhilaRestWeek. Palm Restaurant Del Frisco's Porcini Caribou Café |
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Le Bec-Fin Bliss Joseph Poon Chef Kitchen New Openings Opa, 1311 Sansom Street, 215.545.0170 Le Pain Quotidien, 1425 Walnut Street, 215.751.0570 Dandelion, 122-124 South 18th Street, 215.558.2500 Freshii, 1414 South Penn Square inside the Residences at the Ritz, 215.977.7123 Marabella Meatball Company, 1211 Walnut Street, 215.238.1833 The Corner, 102 South 13th Street, 215.735.7500 |
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