Confusion

"Barbeque" is not a device, it is a style of food. You might even go so far as to call it a method. A "grill" and a "smoker" can be used to create barbeque but you cannot "throw something on the barbeque" anymore than you can throw something on the remouillage.

"...be generous, be extravagant. Without generosity there's no love, and without love there's no understanding. A mean cook is a failed cook."

-Marco Pierre White

Banana Fritter with Coconut Crust, Tamarind, Spiced Rum Ice Cream

The beauty of bananas is you really don’t have to do anything to them to make them pop - both on your palate and on the plate. The flavors are naturally vibrant and intensely floral. I can’t think of anyone who could say they don’t like a fresh banana. We use them right now with the lamb dish. We simply puree the raw banana with a little vitamin c and xanthan gum to thicken. No sugar, no salt.

In flavor and execution the banana fritter dessert was quite nice but the presentation was definitely lacking – brown, darker brown and off-white. Unfortunately we didn’t get a picture since it was a one time dessert.

For the Fritter:
Take very ripe bananas and mash them with a whisk in a large bowl. We wanted the fritter to have some texture so we didn’t puree the bananas. Add brown sugar, vitamin c, banana liquer and .24% dried agar flake by weight. Heat the mixture while whisking over a double boiler to 32C. Pour into molds and set overnight. In our case it was a sheet pan since we didn’t have rectangle molds for 150. Once they have set they can be sliced but are fragile. When you’re ready to bread them, unmold or slice as desired. We cut them into flat rectangles. The result is sort of a warm flourless banana cake.

Process equal parts panko crumbs and rice crispies. Add to that 50% chopped unsweetened coconut. Bread the fritter using standard procedure.

For the tamarind coulis:
Pour hot water over dried tamarind pulp and work with your fingers until everything but the hard skin is dissolved into the water. It should be a thick gloppy consistency. Add brown sugar, coffee, dark rum, lemon juice, salt. Pass through a fine chinois.

The rum ice cream was the only component for which a proper recipe was developed.

Rum Ice Cream

750ml whole milk
750ml heavy cream
14 egg yolks
100g white sugar
150g brown sugar
600g gold rum
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 (1”) orange zest
2(1”) lemon zest
¼ tsp nutmeg, ground
11 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks

Our test batch was made with dark rum which had a nice flavor but intense. The gold rum is a little more rounded and showcases the spices a little more. If you use spiced rum, omit the vanilla.

Set the rum aflame and allow to burn out. Cover and refrigerate. Whisk the egg yolks and sugars together. In a pot, heat the milk, cream, vanilla, orange and lemon zest and spices to 50C. Pour over egg mixture while whisking. Add back to the heat and bring up to 70C for ten minutes. Remove from heat. Its best to let the custard cool with the spices overnight or at least 4-5 hours before straining. Add the flamed rum to the cold ice cream base and churn.

We plated these on a rectangular plate with the fritter at one end and the sorbet resting on shredded coconut at the other. A painted stripe of tamarind sauce connected the two.

Desserts

Desserts have been a constant struggle since we opened the dining room. In previous years all the pastries were outsourced from a company who is as mediocre as ubiquitous in the area. There is no room physically or in the budget for a pastry person. Neither myself or the chef have any real pastry training and the result is a lot of time wasted and a lot of frustration. Just as I'm about to give up, I look through the desserts we've run so far, and think about how much I've learned in a desperate attempt to make salable pastries.

sorbets:
green apple
red plum
cucumber
lavender
kirsch
banana
banana-lavender
espresso
spiced rum
blueberry
gazpacho
celery leaf
grape
saffron
croissant
green tea-mojito
black olive-root beer

Next week we'll try a mango dessert with a lychee bavarois and rosehip jelly. Quebec strawberries are nice right now. I'm thinking it would be nice to marinate them in strawberry juice and serve with a white grape-vanilla mousseline and tarragon syrup. Cherries - always on the brain.

Cornish Hen

I've had to sit two weeks on my awesome new rebel xti without having anything of which to take pictures. Last night was slow so I packed up some mep and cut out early for a quick photoshoot.

I'm really glad I got a picture of this because we recently stopped running it due to lack of sales.

We connect the supremes and skin with activa. The leg meat is made into confit and stuffed into the raviolo which is glazed with port wine reduced with spices and fresh plum juice. We roast the carcasses to make the chicken jus. There is a little bit of silky parsnip puree in the background. Not a bad dish - but nothing really special.

I managed to get about 3 pictures of the lamb dish before the camera battery died. Argh.