These egg yolks were cooked at 65°C for two hours, seasoned with salt and put through our ricer. A fun new way to lighten and change the texture of super fresh egg yolks. These yolk strands hold seasonings well and are an exciting platform to build a dish on.

The lamb shoulder is cooked for 24 hours at 57°C in smoked lamb fat. This may be the tastiest lamb shoulder we have cooked to date. The meat is tender and juicy, with a rich, smoked flavor that permeates the entire shoulder. While the the visual appeal of cooking a whole shoulder is not as beautiful as some other cuts, the taste results far surpass the the need for something that is just pretty.

Stems cooked in and served with cabbage-kombu broth

Charred core

Smoked leaves

Dried and fried leaves

Leaf tips cooked in coconut fat

Cabbage heart roasted in butter

and its parts

We blended coconut milk with fresh ricotta and seasoned it with 0.5% salt. Once it was a smooth puree we loaded it into the centrifuge and let it spin for 40 minutes. The results were a dense coconut fat, coconut whey and a rich coconut ricotta. What we have found extremely exciting about using the centrifuge is the various textures that emerge after spinning. The coconut whey will be incredible for making our 10 minute grits served with our strawberry Bolognese while the coconut fat will be great for cooking everything from cabbage leaves to fish. The ricotta will work in both simple and complex preparations from cheesecake to a filling for ravioli.

It all began with a batch of risotto made in the pressure cooker. We cooked the rice for 3 minutes and then let the pressure dissipate naturally. The result was slightly overcooked risotto, perfect for making crisps. We spread some of the warm rice out on an acetate sheet and covered it with another. We rolled the rice grains out into a thin, uniform layer of smashed rice grains, that still retained some of their individual shape. Once the rice was cool, we removed the top layer of acetate and let the rice sheet air dry. When the rice pulled away from the acetate we put the sheets into our dehydrator to finish drying out completely. Once the sheets were crisp and brittle, we removed them from the the dehydrator and fried them in 400°F oil for ten seconds. Out came these bronze crunchy crisps. There taste and texture provide a wonderful contrast to raw fish and vegetable preparations and act as a fun and delicious garnish for a bowl of more traditional risotto. Next time we will explore different seasonings to garnish the fried risotto to see if we can take these delicacies even further.

We're happy to announce that we are finally doing a few local classes, at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia. They will be on Monday, May 2, 2011. The two classes will be 2.5 hours in length. The first class will be an Introduction to Hydrocolloids. It's a good opportunity to learn how to work with this incredibly versatile family of thickeners so you can implement them into your culinary aresenal. The second class will be an introduction to Activa (transglutaminase), our favorite culinary enzyme that does a lot more than glue bacon to filet mginon. Join us to explore the possibilities. The morning hydrocolloid class runs from 10:00am-12:30pm and the afternoon Activa class is from 1:30-4:00 pm. Each class is $100 per person and spaces may be reserved through Le Bec Fin (215) 567-1000.

On Tuesday, May 3rd we will be cooking a 9-ish course dinner at Le Bec Fin. Seats for the dinner are $100 per person for the dinner only, taxes, tips and beverages not included. The dinner and classes open to the public and we look forward to cooking in this incredible culinary landmark.