I was shopping around the cooking section of Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago, looking for yet another additon to my ever-expanding collection of books on food, and couldn’t seem to pick anything (for once!) A few of the books that we have in the office at the Dahlia kitchen have grabbed my attention recently (Mangoes and Curry Leaves: A Culinary Journey Through the Great Subcontinent by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, and Susanna Foo Fresh Inspiration: New Approaches to Chinese Cuisine by Susana Foo and Hermie Kranzdorf, for anyone looking for a new cookbook), and I thought I’d pick one up. I searched, but to no avail; they were either not carried or sold out. Luckily for me, The Flavor Bible, by Karen Page and Andrew Dorenburg caught my eye. I opened the book to a random page and instantly decided that I had to have it.
The Flavor Bible has three simple chapters. The first breaks down what flavor is. It explains why certain foods taste good and others don’t. A combination of taste, mouthfeel, aroma, and “the X factor” are explored and discussed by the authors as well as chefs from around the country, including Seattle’s own Jerry Traunfeld of Poppy, and Dahlia alumna Holly Smith of Cafe Juanita.
The next chapter goes through what factors attribute to great cooking, or as they call it, “Communicating Via the Language of Food.” The third chapter, which takes up 90% of the book, is called “Flavor Matchmaking; the Charts.” This is what sold me.
Anyone who loves food, knows food, works in the restaurant industry, or has spent any amount of time in a kitchen understands that certain foods go well together. This book is like a thesaurus for the culinary world. Fruits, vegetables, proteins, herbs and spices, regional cuisine, and even seasons are alphabetically listed followed by another list of the foods that go well with it. Those that are universally agreed upon are both in capitol letters and bold font, ones that are agreed upon by many of the 38 contributing chefs are in bold, and there are even “Flavor Affinity” equations at the end of most entries. For example, under “Bacon” it says, “Bacon + Chanterelle mushrooms + Salmon+ Shallots.”
I think that every gastrophile should own this book. Every time I open it, my knowledge and understanding of how food works is vastly increased. If I am ever stumped on what to make for an amuse-bouche, this book sparks my own imagination. Whenever I have something unfamiliar, or even boring, to use for family meal, I can simply open up to an ingredient and I am given all sorts of ideas. I know that this book will help me fill my culinary potential, and I hope that it can do the same for everyone with a desire to learn, cook, and eat!
November 12th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Last night the Cooks&Books Visiting Chef Series by Kim Ricketts took place at Spring Hill. This is an event I’ve eagerly been awaiting every day for at least the last month. David Chang of Momofuku (and other New York restaurants) and Mark Fuller of Spring Hill are, in my mind, an ideal chef pairing. I’ve never had the chance to visit a Chang restaurant, and Spring Hill is one of my favorite restaurants (outside of Tom Douglas land), so I hopped on my chance to buy two tickets as soon as they became available on the Brown Paper tickets web site.
The gala evening started with lychee and Prosseco cocktails which were passed along with oysters on the half shell garnished with a sliver of pork belly- appropriately foreshadowing a meal that would celebrate all things pork. (Oysters were destined to make another appearance as well.) Also passed: tiny spoonfuls of a multi-flavored, multi-colored sea urchin preparation. Then we took our seats and received our copies of the Momofuku cookbook.
The first item on the table was a perfectly fresh scallop in a little sauce of buttermilk, soy, and poppy seeds. This was my husband Frank’s favorite taste of the evening (though this is a little hard to believe by the amount of pork he consumed later in the meal.) The scallop was followed by a plate of warm English muffins (from the Dahlia bread bakery). The menu states that they were spread with bay leaf butter, but I think our server mentioned that a special lard was used instead of butter (not sure, it was hard to hear). Simple as it was, this was one of my favorites tastes of the evening- the inspired addition of bay leaf transformed TDR bread baker Gwen LeBlanc’s perfect English muffins. A salad of crisp Fuji apple slices with smoked pork jowl and maple labne (drained yogurt), dressed with a puree of kim chee came next.
Then, possibly the most spectacular item: Momofuku pork buns. The pork, encased by a soft pillowy bun, melted in your mouth. I could have eaten 3 more of these, and I thought about the pork buns for the rest of the evening. (One of our table mates, who has been to Chang’s New York restaurants, said he thought the pork buns were exactly the same as at Momofuku.) Read the rest of this entry »
November 11th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Recently I’ve discovered something that can bring people together, fill up the belly, and make even the roughest mornings seem manageable. Yes, frozen hash browns have found themselves leaping out of the freezer section at the Roosevelt QFC and into my kitchen. I’ve never really been a “Breakfast Person,” but I’ve since converted and I’m thrilled I did.
Following the simple instructions on the bag and topping them with ketchup is always delicious and easy. But I needed a different accoutrement for my taters and I was up for a challenge, so what started out being simple caramelized onions took a tasty turn once I looked around my pantry and fridge. I tossed a couple diced sweet onions in a rippin’ hot pan to get some good color on them, and once they started to soften, I deglazed the pan with a tablespoon or so of apple cider vinegar. Then I added a dash of Worcestershire sauce and about half a cup of apple juice and let all that reduce down and really soften the onions. At my house, the choice apple juice is Tree Top, and yes, we only buy them as juice boxes because they’re “way cuter.”
When the liquid had reduced almost completely, I added some butter to get it all sort of saucy. I poured some of the onions over a hearty portion of salty hash browns and topped it all with a lovin’ spoonful of sour cream (I use reduced fat because I, obviously, like to watch my calories). It only takes about 15 or 20 minutes to make a delicious and easy breakfast.
I took the leftover onions and put them through the food processor and ended up with a delightful onion puree that I use on my bread when I make grilled cheese sandwiches, or just on toast in the morning with bacon and eggs.
November 10th, 2009 | 3 Comments »
(Editor’s Note: Anyone with Dahlia memories, please pass them to me so I can post them on the blog this month! Here’s a memory from Julia:)
I was looking through my recipe files and found this, the Dahlia chocolate cake recipe. We went to the Dahlia (the old Dahlia) in May of 1998 to celebrate our anniversary and had the chocolate cake for dessert. (This was before I worked at TDR.) Because we were raving about the cake, our server gave us a copy of the recipe that had just been featured in Gourmet’s R.S.V.P Favorite Restaurant Recipes column. I’ve saved it all these years, so I thought I’d pass it along to you.
(Editor’s note, this is an old recipe that we haven’t served at Dahlia in many years. My guess, by the 1998 date, is that our pastry baker Anna Morrow came up with it; she was in love with milk chocolate.)
Chocolate Layer Cake with Chocolate Glaze Read the rest of this entry »
November 10th, 2009 | No Comments »
Dahlia Sous Chef, Adrienne Lasko, told me that today was the first day for the new Dahlia lunch menu featuring seasonal appetizers, “Shellfish from Around the Sound”, so I had to rush over to try the new stuff.
Shigoku oysters from Willapa Bay, WA are served on the half shell on a bed of ice with mignonette sauce. These are really special and delicious oysters. They are grown by Taylor Shellfish in floating bags. You can read about the unusual oyster growing technique that Taylor has developed here in The Oyster Guide.
These oysters completely fill their scoop shaped shells. They’re clean flavored, meaty, and dense without being too large. (Personally I don’t like large oysters- especially I don’t like large, flabby oysters.) The Shigoku oysters are nestled carefully into trays packed into a wooden box (photo right). If you’re an oyster lover, it’s worth a trip to the Dahlia just to taste these babies: $3 each or $15 for a half dozen.
Taylor Shellfish mussels are steamed in a simple wine-butter preparation, and they’re served with a paper cone of fries and a little dish of aioli. Simple, delicious, and only $8 for this appetizer portion. (Photo top left)
It’s hard to say which of the three was my favorite (still thinking about those cold, meaty little oysters!) but the Penn Cove clams are definitely a contender. The clever set includes bits of shredded pastrami, a sauce perked up with Dijon mustard, and a piece of grilled onion rye perched on top. (Photo bottom) The flavors of a pastrami sandwich in a clam preparation!! This may sound like a too-clever concept, but it was truly delicious, and only $8 for an appetizer sized portion.
November 9th, 2009 | No Comments »
Check out these customer testimonials for the Epicurean Chef’s Board from the Tom Douglas by Pinzon line! Since the Chef’s Board is even big enough for a turkey, you may want to order one here.
Also take a look at the cute video of Tom and Jackie- love the fist bump and Jackie’s giggle at the end!!
November 9th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
About a month and a half ago, I was invited on an educational food excursion at Dog Mountain Farm in Carnation. I like to call this experience: “City Girl Plays Farmer for a Day.”
Myself, Becky Selengut, private chef known in the twitter world as @chefreinvented, Amy Pennington of GoGoGreenGarden, and Angela Garbes, contributor for the Seattle Weekly’s Voracious column, set out to learn the process of how to take a live chicken/duck and turn it into something that could be cooked in our kitchens at home.
I won’t go into the process and minutia of the killing and butchering, but suffice it to say that the experience was incredibly fascinating/eye-opening (and a touch messy)- and if you’ve never done it, there’s certainly a value in doing it at least once.
There is no shortage of sights, sounds, and smells to take in when doing this for the first time. I’d like to think that I’m not sentimental when it comes to eating things that were once living, breathing critters, but having killed a live chicken at 1pm, to have to roast it and have it sitting on my table by 8pm was definitely a mind trip which left me uncertain as to how sentimental I really am. It is one hell of a process to make a chicken edible- and not only was the chicken fresh that evening, but so were my memories of it a mere few hours earlier.
I ate all my sides that night: heirloom tomato salad, roasted carrots, fennel, and parsnips. I drank my glass of red wine. And then another. And I ate a single measly chicken wing. It was all I could muster up to do. At that moment, I believe the only thing I said about the chicken was “too soon,” feeling like it was a little too “farm to table” for me for one day. Never has such an exclamation point been put on the fact that I am, and have been, a city girl disconnected from her edibles.
November 9th, 2009 | No Comments »
To get to the Dahlia Lounge/Serious Pie/Bakery office, one must navigate a labyrinthine course, up a narrow twisted staircase, knock twice on a false bookcase, climb through a hole in the wall (only a slight exaggeration). Sometimes delivery people get lost for hours, occasionally we find the skeletons of those who simply didn’t make it. It takes about 45 minutes to climb back to the restaurants and renenter normal society to get a simple glass of water.
About a month ago we got a water cooler. Oh, simple pleasures!
Now we have cool, refreshing water all day long as well as the delightful gurgling sound and a place to stand around and gossip, though mostly we just talk about how much we love the water cooler. Morale hasn’t been this high since we put up the Nerf hoop! Thanks, Tom!
(Editor’s note: standing, Jessica Prince. Seated Molly Melkonian, Dahlia Bakery Manager.)
November 5th, 2009 | No Comments »
Thierry is off galivanting about town, leaving Tom in the studio solo… but no fretting because he’s got the lovely Kathryn Robinson, of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, on the show for a full hour to talk shop. What they’ll talk about is anyone’s guess, but it my educated guess is that there will be a large amount of witty banter regarding food and restaurants- and that’s well worth tuning in for.
Of course we have our weekly contributors on: Amy Pennington of GoGoGreenGarden and Mike Teer from Pike and Western Wine Shop. Amy will be talking about fava beans, while Mike will be talking about (no, not Chianti… although that would have been clever programming) a new 2007 release from a winery located here in Seattle!
We also have David Chang on the program to talk about his new book, Momofuku, and his upcomming dinner with Mark Fuller at Spring Hill.
And if all that just doesn’t do it for you… well then, you’re probably a little food dead inside.
Listen to the show here!:
First hour
Second hour
Third hour
November 5th, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Twenty years…. I’ve worked with Tom since the first day of Dahlia’s existence (and for about 3 years before that at Café Sport), so Dahlia’s 20th anniversary represents a big chunk of my life. For me, it’s a big deal- momentous. What memories are stirred by this anniversary month? Here are a few:
Before opening day, the painters masked and taped that lofty space (ground floor plus mezzanine) at 1904 4th Ave. Then they spray painted the whole thing a deep, blazing red. We gasped; too much? A mistake? But when the masking tape came off, the space looked beautiful. With a coat of red paint, the Dahlia was born.
Tom had the idea that Dahlia food would be comfort food. Before we opened, he told me he wanted a coconut cream pie, a bread salad, and gnocchi on the menu. In the weeks before the opening, I tried out recipe after recipe to perfect these dishes for the Dahlia menu. The coconut cream pie is still on the menu, lightly tweaked but mostly the same after all these years. The bread salad is still on the menu, but was vastly improved by two innovations when we moved to the new space: a wood burning grill and our own bread bakery. The grilled bread in the bread salad went up several notches in quality.
The Seattle Goodwill Games in 1990 almost put us under. The media spread the word to avoid going downtown at all costs because the crowding would be unbearable. This message was so successful, the Goodwill Games turned out to be the only time you could find a parking place anywhere you wanted in the deserted downtown area. Oh yeah, and then there was the New Year’s Eve big snow storm. Our staff numbers diminished. Read the rest of this entry »
November 5th, 2009 | 4 Comments »
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