WWTCD?

I don't know which Sunday night it was, but during one of our infamous Sunday night dinners, we were joking around about Top Chef. We were saying that in any cooking situation, cooks should always ask themselves "WWTCD?" - That is: What Would Tom Colicchio Do?

So for Christmakkah, Julia designed a t-shirt on Neighborhoodies.com (see the picture above). Don't worry everyone, I will be wearing this shirt on the day of the competition. It will serve as a constant reminder to keep my standards high, to make sure that everything is "seasoned properly," and to be creative.

But that wasn't the whole gift: she also got me this snazzy butane torch for anything and everything that needs to be torched in the kitchen. This opens up a lot of possibilities, especially because on the day of the event, the oven will be in high demand. I could torch a piece of raw meat to sear it instead of using the stove top, or I could use it for the standard creme brulee. Hell, I might just use the torch for all of my food, following the theme of "keeping the flames of love hot."

Tiffany- if the torch and the tee don't stir you out of your slumber, I don't know what will...

Moving Forward

I can't wait forever for Tiffany to post, and while I fear that I'm dominating the blog, I can't let her lack of training stop me from posting about how I'm going to win this competition. I've been VERY busy in the kitchen, and I've extended my studies outside the kitchen as well. Anne and I ate at The French Laundry, and I want to share a few observations about that experience.

Needless to say, the food was outstanding. When we arrived, we looked into the kitchen, and saw a cook emptying huge blocks of butter into a bowl. I'm going to guess that they use butter for nearly everything, and it helps. My favorite dish was a seared diver scallop prepared in, you guessed it, butter, with celery, chestnuts, and mandarin orange. Who knew that combo could be that good? How do you find out what flavors go well together? Besides experience, I think there must be some intuition involved. I don't think I have this intuition, so for the competition, I'm going to have to keep reading recipes.

We returned from the French Laundry, and in the spirit of Thomas Keller - using all parts of the ingredient - I attempted to make a beet reduction/glaze/sauce whatever you want to call it. So after roasting beets and peeling the skin in an icebath, I took the reddened water and reduced it with sugar. After straining and reducing, reducing and straining, it turned into a nice syrupy sweet sauce/glaze/reduction. I don't know what I would do with it, but at The French Laundry, there were lots of these types of liquids, and they were paired with different foods, and you just swiped your food through them.

I also played around with some potato...blanching it in water, slicing it thin, layering the slices into a mille feuille, and then browning all the sides in butter. It wasn't that good, but technically it all worked out.

I'm going to take this last sentence to call Tiffany out, to ask where she's been, to write about her adventures. Where are you Tiffany?