stlbites.com – st. louis food blog of bill burge

Ruhlman: Signing, Demo

Nov 19, 2007 events, general food

Sorry for the delay…

When I went to Borders to meet Michael Ruhlman a couple weeks ago I was incredibly early. But as a book fan I love Borders, and so with time to kill I began looking around. At one point, out of the corner of my eye, I realized Ruhlman was standing beside me looking at a few cookbooks of his own, and maybe this is dumb, but as excited as I was I wasn’t sure if I should bother him and say hello or just let him be. I opted for the the latter as I knew I’d be meeting him soon enough at the semi-official book signing.

And semi describes it accurately. It amounted to Ian arriving and introducing himself to Ruhlman, the other two of us there at the time doing the same, and then our just standing around talking for about 30 minutes in the middle of the store. In the end I felt silly even having him sign my book as the most rewarding part of the evening was the conversation. We talked about blogging, Ian’s reviews, the St. Louis dining scene, and of course pork and the two pounds of Hinkebein cheeks in my freezer before anyone else had even arrived. As others trickled it became obvious that just like my chefs are people too comment, Ruhlman is a great guy. He seemed genuinely interested in what each of us had to say and has a real passion for talking about the pleasures of food. In fact, the conversation with everyone was so lively we almost got kicked out of Borders. Oh, and apparently the ladies swoon for Mr. Ruhlman as well — who knew.

I can’t really convey how cool it was to meet someone I have such respect for and for whom I’d been so eager to meet. Unlike most people, my nervous tick is that I actually speak more than normal. If you know me, it’s hard to imagine my talking more than I do, and for once it worked out beautifully because instead of sounding like a goober mustering up something stupid like “you guys were great” the way I would at the end of a concert, I was able to take part in an articulate exchange that I am grateful to Ian for having arranged.

And of course I did have him sign my book, and as silly as it might seem to me, I certainly didn’t regret doing so when I read the inscription:

“To Bill, Good luck with the bloging and the pork cheeks”

Pretty awesome I have to say, and it’s definitely one of my favorite autographs ever. An interesting side note: my all time favorite is from a chef in Chicago, Paul Kahan, who coincidentally wrote one of the back cover blurbs on Ruhlman’s new book.

As for the steeply priced Viking demo…

At first glance you might think Ian stole the most memorable lead quote for any description of the evening. For those in attendance, including myself, it will be hard to ever forget his request that we echo back “pork is good” in unison. But my favorite quote, which I think says a lot about Michael Ruhlman and exactly where he’s coming from is as follows: “Bacon is one of the great pleasures on earth.” And so it is.

Unlike you and I Ruhlman has had the great fortune to learn a lot of amazing things first at the Culinary Institute of America while writing his first book, The Making of a Chef, and then, perhaps more importantly, at the hands of world class chefs like Thomas Keller and Eric Ripert. From these experiences it was instilled in him that the best food comes from taking great ingredients and utilizing them with basic, but flawless, fundamental skills.

Like me, it seems to sadden him a bit the way people eat in America. Often in our country, people don’t take the time to truly enjoy their food and take pleasure from it. He believes that “even more than sex” food is the most pleasurable thing in our lives as it’s something we must do each day.

And that was the basically the theme of the demo as he walked us through the following menu/prep list: fundamental techniques and pleasure.

An Evening With Michael Ruhlman

Lardon Salad with Spinach and Arugula

“Pancetta-Cured Bacon”

Chicken Stock

Blanquette de Poulet with Fresh Noodles, Sauteed Mushrooms, Roasted Shallots, Gremolata

Fresh Pasta

Cinnamon-Sugar Choux Doughnuts with Ice Cream and Chocolate Sauce

Although several of us were initially put off by the $70 price tag, when we arrived we found that we’d actually get to eat which assisted in softening the blow somewhat, and of course I took pictures: a goat cheese tart Viking provided when we arrived, the salad which actually only had spinach, the pasta, and the doughnuts which had no cinnamon sugar.

I wish I could go into great detail about how wonderful everything was, but because it was so universally bad, I’ll just say that it was a strange disconnect to have someone talking to you about the basic fundamentals of cooking, and then have a kitchen serve you food that missed on practically every level. Everything was either under seasoned, over-cooked or cold, and in the case of the pasta, all three. I wish we could have eaten what Ruhlman had made. Shame on Viking.

The highlight of the demo for me was the question and answer session at the end. For starters, it was around this time Ruhlman took his first sip of the Missouri red wine Viking provided. The look on his face was completely priceless when the sweetness hit him. Clearly not the dry red he’d expected, it sent me on a giggling spree from which there was no return because then we entered into the crazy questions…

One woman inquired about a cider reduction sauce. I think her exact question started out along the lines of “how would you make a cider reduction sauce?” as if he was going to just start rattling off recipes. It somehow morphed into the fact that she’d attempted to make one previously and it was apparently terrible. He seemed perplexed by the randomness of both questions but kindly played along and asked her how she’d made it. As she detailed the process, she finally came to the fact that she’d used canned broth. He determined this to be the problem which highlights another point he made several times throughout the night: you’re better off just using water if you don’t have the time or simply don’t want to make stock.

Hands down the most entertaining questions came from a guy that seemed to have an unhealthy hatred for Bobby Flay–whom Ruhlman said was actually a really nice guy. He was also filled with a seemingly endless list of conspiracy theories regarding Iron Chef America and although he did turn up a few interesting things — the chefs know thirty minutes in advance that the secret ingredient will come down to one of two possibilities — mostly he monopolized much of the question and answer session meaning I didn’t get to ask the couple questions I had. I wonder how he feels about Symon winning.

Anyway, it was fun getting to hang with Ruhlman briefly, and then sitting with Mike, Irene and Ian at the demo.

And if you are or know who this guy is — we’re sorry we upset you by talking during the demo. We thought food was supposed to be fun. Perhaps you should listen to Ruhlman’s advice: “if you’re not having fun in the kitchen, you should probably get somebody else to cook.”

Also, I’ve since emailed Ruhlman my questions and he asked me to resend them when he’s back in Cleveland. So maybe I’ll be able to share them and their subsequent answers on another day. The way my weeks have been going though, it’ll be like February before I get around to it.

Tags: Hinkebein Hills Farm, Michael Ruhlman, Viking-Demo