Josh’s Journal – Fantastic Meals (The Fat Duck)
Nov 5, 2008 St. Louis, chefs, restaurants
The Fat Duck is a hideaway restaurant in Bray, outside of London. The food is science driven in many respects. Heston Blumenthal, the chef, uses scientific research, molecular knowledge, and classic techniques to heighten the dining experience. During my time in London, I had heard about his kooky food, but it was not until I graduated from culinary school that I splurged on his food.
Once you sit down, a palate cleanser arrives after you’ve nibbled on picholine olives. The cleanser acts as an amuse bouche, quite literally. The foam goes down smooth and the lime strips your mouth of all those bad flavors like the double espresso you needed just to find the right train. By this point I’d already decided on a few strange courses for my meal, but I didn’t know about the other surprises
Read the rest of this entry »
Josh’s Journal – Introduction & Preface
Oct 31, 2008 St. Louis, chefs, missouri
 |
Back in 2003-2004, I would go to Rue de la Course on Magazine, order a cup of Sumatra (usually the Rue selection of the day) and sit back with my smokes and write a journal of ideas. I loved that coffee shop, and I loved the people that I would talk to and meet before I had to go to work at Commander’s. Most of the ideas for the journal were already in my head, I just wanted to write them down because I knew I would forget. I’m afraid of forgetting because Alzheimer’s is prevalent in my family. I’m so scatter-brained, that I don’t remember to write down what I want to remember. This was my attempt at tranquility.
Here is my table of contents from that journal (and seriously, I wrote a table so that I would remember what I wanted to write). I might have to add some stuff since it’s been five years.
Topics
- Preface — proliferation of books about food, by cooks, and cookbooks
- Fantastic Meals — Fat Duck, Moulin de Mougin, Roussillon, Bella Luna (or fill in the blank)
- Working the Line — being in the weeds, Prep/MEP, end of the night
- People I’ve Met — Barbara Peterson, Alex, Australians, Pinrod, Tracie & London Gang, Ethan Powell
- Books — Read & Learn, Mass Transit, my books
- Bread — Bunny Bread, Poilane, Bread for Roussillon, Lunch
- Knives — buying, breaking, sharpening, ixnay on borrowing
- Bad habits — coffee, drinking, smoking
- The Dialogue
This is the first time I’ve really read this stuff since I wrote it. It may not be the most exciting info, but I felt it was important to get out there. Plus, since I’ve already written most of this stuff, it’s just a matter of typing it.
Preface
Tags: Joshua Galliano
How I Met Josh Galliano
Oct 31, 2008 St. Louis, chefs, missouri
Over a year ago, when I legitimately started posting on stlbites.com, I’d made a comment that home cooks have a difficult time obtaining things like offal or quality meats that have never been frozen. What I received in response was an entirely unexpected email from Josh Galliano in which he suggested passionate home cooks team up with local chefs and restaurateurs to coordinate a purchase of whatever it is they’re hoping to cook. In his own words he felt it would be a big win “as far as building trust, building community economies, and getting more people interested in great food.” He extended to me–as he had for many of his patrons—an offer to help order anything I wanted. At the time, however, not a single customer had taken him up on this.
“I ordered a batch of duck testicles that I thought you would be interested in trying… I’d like to share some with you.”
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Joshua Galliano, Monarch
Slow Food Art of Food Menu
Jul 24, 2008 St. Louis, chefs, missouri
This is why you want to buy tickets for Art of Food
222 Artisan Bakery / Goshen Coffee – Debbie Sultan / Matt Herren
- 222 Artisan breads in roll form: bacon, brioche, and sun dried tomato olive and feta
- Goshen-roasted Costa Rican pour-over drip coffee
Bailey’s Chocolate Bar / Rooster – Robin Murphy
- Fruitland roast beef sandwich with red onion marmalade and herbed Heartland Creamery goat cheese on a housemade roll
- Bailey’s buttercream chocolate bar cake
An American Place – Joshua Galliano
- Prairie Grass Farms lamb and foie gras ballotine, apple mustard, chickpea salad, saba
Annie Gunn’s – Lou Rook III
- Duroc pork belly confit on Companion brioche roll with Atomic horseradish mustard and house made local peach chutney
Araka – Mark Curran
- Prairie Grass Farms housemade sausages
- Local heirloom tomato salad
Erato on Main – Kevin Willmann
- House smoked Guthrie Farms chicken with local vegetable chow chow
Local Harvest Grocery – Clara Moore
- Housemade hummus served on local cucumber circles and local tomatoes tossed with fresh pesto and served on Companion crostinis
Moxy Bistro – Eric Brenner
- Duck breast with grilled peaches
Niche – Gerard Craft
- Slow-roasted Greenwood Farms pork butt sandwiches with brussel sprout slaw on Companion bread
Schlafly Bottleworks – Matt Bessler
- Schlafy “Gardenworks” beet and Arugula salad
- Troutdale Farms smoked Trout Mousse with English cucumber cups
- Bacon-wrapped Hinkebein Hills Farm smoked pork tenderloin with Schlafy pale ale raspberry BBQ sauce
Sidney Street Café – Kevin Nashan
- Hinkebein Hills Farm smoked pork butt with cornmeal “toast”, Eilerman Brothers peach bbq glaze, Claverach Farm greens and pickled peaches
- On the Wind Farms watermelon gazpacho with jumbo lump crab
Veruca – Mathew Rice
- Local peach and lavender trifles
Tags: 222 Artisan Bakery, An American Place, Annie Gunn's, Araka, Art of Food, Bailey's Chocolate Bar, David Bailey, Debbie Sultan, Erato on Main, Eric Brenner, Gerard Craft, Goshen Coffee, Joshua Galliano, Kevin Nashan, Kevin Willmann, Lou Rook, Mathew Rice, Matt Bessler, Matt Herren, Moxy Bistro, Niche, Rooster, Schlafly Bottleworks, Sidney Street Cafe, Veruca
If you were cool…
Jul 21, 2008 St. Louis, events, slow food
you would be at Mad Art Gallery this Saturday for Slow Food St. Louis’s annual fund raiser, The Art of Food.
Full event details are at artoffood.org though what you’ll really want to know is who the chefs are:
Debbie Sultan & Matt Herren – 222 Artisan Bakery and Goshen Coffee
Joshua Galliano – An American Place
Lou Rook – Annie Gunn’s
Mark Curran – Araka
David Bailey – Bailey’s Chocolate Bar and Rooster
Kevin Willmann – Erato on Main
Eric Brenner – Moxy Bistro
Gerard Craft – Niche
Matt Bessler – Schlafly Bottleworks
Kevin Nashan – Sidney Street Cafe
Mathew Rice – Veruca
and possibly more to come…
Tags: 222 Artisan Bakery, An American Place, Annie Gunn's, Araka, Art of Food, Bailey's Chocolate Bar, David Bailey, Debbie Sultan, Erato on Main, Eric Brenner, Gerard Craft, Goshen Coffee, Joshua Galliano, Kevin Nashan, Kevin Willmann, Lou Rook, Mathew Rice, Matt Bessler, Matt Herren, Moxy Bistro, Niche, Rooster, Schlafly Bottleworks, Sidney Street Cafe, Veruca
Josh Galliano at the Beard Banquet
Jun 27, 2008 St. Louis, chefs, missouri
In the better late than never file (because I was asking permission to use these pictures and didn’t see I got the okay), here’s Josh Galliano’s spread at the James Beard House when he went a few weeks ago for the James Beard Awards banquet.
His dish was Braised Pork Belly with Pickled Peach Salad, Molasses-Glazed Scarlet turnips, and Peach Butter.
He’s told me a lot about the weekend, and you too can get a glimpse of his experience by reading about the event in Josh’s letter to Joe Bonwich on his blog Off the Menu.
photos courtesy the ulterior epicure.
Battle Royale at Clayton Farmers’ Market
Jun 26, 2008 events, farmers' markets
The opening Iron-Chef-style battle at Clayton Farmers’ Market has pulled the stops for the initial judging…
Clayton Farmer’s Market on Saturday, June 28th at Straub’s will be the scene of a star-studded Iron Chef competition. Celebrity judges are: Gerard Craft Chef/Owner of Niche (featured in this month’s Food &Wine), Cary McDowell Chef/Owner of Revival (who hails from Daniel Boulud and Wolfgang Puck), and Josh Galliano Chef of An American Place. Using items provided by local food producers, outdoor competition begins at 8:30 am with Chef-instructors Pat Jones v. Tony Hedger from L’ecole Culinaire.
Not sure how I missed the mentioning for the first battle.
Tags: Cary McDowell, Gerard Craft, Joshua Galliano
St. Louis Beard-related News
Jun 9, 2008 St. Louis, general food, missouri, restaurants
Unfortunately over the weekend Julia Usher did not win the Food-Related Columns James Beard Award she was nominated for–meaning St. Louis will have to once again live vicariously through a Danny Meyer win. We can, however, rest a little easier with the knowledge that some of our own, in the form of Joshua Galliano and a few of his An American Place crew, were cooking at the gala and serving up genuine Hinkebein Hills Farm pork belly.
And don’t forget you can read Julia’s nominated Prep School articles in the Sauce Magazine archives.
- Braising: A magical transformation from tough to tender (Mar 1st 2007)
- Quick-process and refrigerator are two pickles you’ll want to be in (Oct 1st 2007)
- In the game of pâte à choux, the classical method wins (Dec 1st 2007)
Tags: Hinkebein Hills Farm, James-Beard-Awards, Joshua Galliano, Julia User
Top Chef Spoilers
Apr 17, 2008 Television, general food
This season of Top Chef seems to be filled with more Real Worldesque drama than ever before. It’s annoying and it detracts from what made the previous seasons so enjoyable to watch even when the challenges were ridiculous like that airplane one.
And speaking of challenges we’ve had two now that were aimed at lower brow food the chefs would most likely never serve in their restaurants. I didn’t get the impression that the Sandra Lee crowd was the mainstay of Top Chef viewership but perhaps I’m wrong.
Really though this show should be called Top Cook and not Top Chef because they’re judging cooking more than any of these people’s ability to lead. How could they have time to lead with all the constant posturing? It’s like stags fighting it out for a mate.
Never-the-less, spoilers…
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: avec, blackbird, Joshua Galliano, Koren Grieveson, rick bayless, Top Chef
That is so Offal
Apr 14, 2008 chefs, general food
In this video Chris Cosentino chats about offal and mentions a cookbook he’s been working on for four or five years stating that “nobody has the balls to put it out.”
(a) funny choice of words considering the topic
(b) book publishers are in the business of making money and a book about offal cookery for the American market is still–sorry to say–way ahead of it’s time.
(c) How much of what Cosentino does is to shock people? He seems to relish in freaking people out more and more, and while he’s doing a killer job raising awareness about where meat comes from, and I’m still eager to eat in his restaurant if I find myself in San Francisco, he’s starting to come off a bit condescending towards people that just don’t want to eat the nasty bits.
And how about this shot from Gourmet Magazine about a month back?
Apparently they have gotten a healthy dose of hate mail for this picture and have thrown up a poll on gourmet.com to get a consensus on how people feel about. I would link you to the poll except for the fact that I can no longer find it but, it pretty much boiled down to something along the lines of: “provocative or gross?”
While I don’t think it’s particularly gross it does strike me as being disrespectful in some way because the pig did die so that someone could consume it. It could have been used for something like the porchetta di testa Josh Galliano posted about a while back instead of just going into the dumpster.
I wonder if Saw got any royalty checks for this?
Tags: Chris Cosentino, gourmet magazine, Joshua Galliano, offal
From the mountains of Panama and Ethiopia, to the urban-jungles of Portland and Chicago, journalist Michaele Weissman takes us behind the scenes for a look at the world of third-wave specialty coffee. How did we get to Starbucks, and where we go from here?