Music and Spice

A friend (Bruce) asked me one day to design a five spice blend for a piece of music he wanted to write. Not Chinese five spice, but a completely different blend. The idea was that I would also assign an instrument to a particular spice. Well, it sounded like fun, and I though about it for a while. I decided to call it BK five spice (the friends initials who commissioned it) and it ended up as tarragon, basil, fennel seed, rosemary and lavender. It’s a nice light pleasant blend that works well on lighter meats, especially whitefish and is enhanced nicely by lemon juice.

After days of pondering and tasting, I thought the resinous aspect of the rosemary reminded me of the resinous sound of a bow gliding across the strings of a cello. Basil, the brash high notes of a trumpet. Tarragon, a softer deeper licorice like taste similar to basil made a flugelhorn come to mind. Well, the flugelhorn didn’t sound great so we mixed an alto flute and trumpet to give a similar effect. Fennel seeds, with their nice sweetness called up a viola in my mind. The flute was perfect for the floweresque character of the lavender. And lets not forget the lemon as an accent, while not technically in the blend, was much like an acoustic guitar to me.

And there it was. Bruce ate his way through inspiration for a week and then sat down to men the spices onto a staff. The result AND the recipe are here:

Recipes for our Products

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Pulled Meat the easy way!

Two forks with four tiny tines. 7 years later the pork shoulder is finally shredded! There has to be a better way…. well there is. But, Alton Brown doesn’t seem to think so…..

… but you know what? He is wrong! It was just too much fun for him to ridicule the meat claws. I think he secretly liked them and could not pass up the chance to play superhero. The guy struggling to use them at the start isn’t using them correctly anyway, so no wonder he is shown struggling. Phooey!

While I tend to agree with him that products serving only one purpose are a bad idea, there are exceptions, and this is one if you do a lot of pulled meats, or you have space to store this for use once a year. I have shredded a pork shoulder 4 times faster than I ever could with a fork, and it is especially good for those sections of meat that are more dense and don’t shred as easily. They are super sharp, they stay sharp, and the way the blades are curved and semi hollow makes them feel super sturdy and unbreakable.

Well, these are what I bought. I bought them for $5.99 three years ago, so no idea why they are $25.95 now! But I feel I need to show the EXACT product I used. You can make your own decisions after that. If mine broke, which really doesn’t seem likely, I might try out the “Bear Paws”. If you are looking at metal instead, the ‘Easy Life’ product looks to be the best to me.

Most of the videos out there show holding the meat with one while shredding with the other, and that is fine, and will usually shred off large chunks. I find that they really shine when you shred these larger pieces into smaller with both together by interlacing the blades over the meat. I also seem to hold them opposite of most, and I think there is more power that way.

I don’t care what Alton says, 7 minutes vs. 7 years? I’ll take them!

JelloThon!

Long long ago, I was invited to a yearly event by a friend where 10 or 20 people got together and had to come up with dishes made with gelatin, agar, pectin . There were the 50’s abominations of fruit or veggies (like green peas! yucch!) jiggling in a green, pink, or orange mold, some fun little lemon things that looked like baby lemons, and then to lube up the mood, LOTS of jello shots of various flavors.

Well, for those who know me, I don’t have a sweet tooth, so this would be quite a challenge. So “Why not?” I thought. This was about the same time as the Craigs Child dinner where I used a lot of ‘molecular’ products and techniques to make the edible props, so it wasn’t long before an idea began to congeal.

I decided to make a BLT! First, I had a bunch of bacon fat laying around, so I made a stock from it, skimmed the fat, and made a bacon jello sheet. My mind went on to the tomato, and made a jello sheet of a rich tomato juice. And then came the mayo jello sheet! I had my basic elements. I decided to use bread and lettuce in their original forms. I thought this was sacrosanct and it would be going TOO far to make some sort of mushy bread and lettuce jello! The crisp snap of the lettuce and crunch of the toast would be key.

Thus, the ‘NASA BLT’ was born – my contribution to the future of space food. A congeal-atory concoction that lived up to my savory predilection.

Note the 3 square sheets: the white bottom one is the mayo, the red middle is tomato, and the cloudy top square is the bacon.

Well, the competition began. The three categories were ‘Best Taste’ ‘Best Presentation’ and ‘Best in Show’ – Well, there were a lot of ‘Worst’ categories as well.
The results are tallied, and I win the ‘Best Taste’ (it DID taste good, I have to say). Next I win ‘Best in Show’ – the contestants are starting to grumble now…. And then I win ‘Best Presentation, and all the jello shots consumed turn the group into an angry mob ready to lynch me! I quickly look over the tally sheet, because I did think there was a really nice presentation that was better than mine, and sure enough, the tally was wrong. I pointed out the real winner and the crowd cheered at my defeat! The peace was maintained, and the rest of the jello shots were quickly consumed amid a boisterous roar.

**The Prizes! Worth the near lynching!**

Grilled Harissa Chicken

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“Date with a Pig” sliders

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The Small Plates Dialogues

Dinner with Craig Childs

These are the 2 Books that inspired the dinner. They are highly recommended!

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Read more about JT Thomas – Photographer

In 2014, I was asked to cook for a "Dinner with Craig Childs", a local writer and adventurer. The idea was a simple dinner or buffet in which diners could question and converse with the author. After reading a few chapters of various works and being drawn into them in a powerful way (see links to books at the end of this post), I decided that I needed to illustrate the stories with food. And so, the "Small Plates Dialogues" was born from the authors book "The Animal Dialogues"
As a side benefit, it seemed this would prevent any awkward moments from a lack of questions or participation. Each course would easily introduce a topic for discussion. Here is a gallery of samplings from the 2 dinners we did in 2014 & 2015.
Below each image is the authors text that inspired the course. Click on the magnifying glass of an image for a brief description of the course.
Some of the courses were plays on "camping food" because Craig and JT did so much trekking, they were SURE to have carried some of those items around!

I lay the net into the surge. When I pull in another crop of smelt… The wave takes me … and the dip net is quaking with smelt … we are standing in the middle of creation. (Craig Childs: Animal Dialogues: Smelt)

Like Weddel Seals sleeping head-on into the wind, drifts sculpted around its motionless head, I wonder if it is they that I need to take my cues from. They lie side- or belly-up for hours, digesting their fill of fish and crab, seemingly content with their exposure to the blank and brutal terrestrial elements.
JT Thomas in Antartica

Camping Food: Spam & a Slim JM

… In essence, the entire squid is a brain… (Craig Childs: Animal Dialogues: Squid)

Apocalyptic Planet – Dry hot windy deserts with the salt of the earth and water flowing below. A salar cocktail – Atacama desert

More Camping Food

…The shuffle of hooves working down to the ice grass.… … The elk dive into the drifts, jerking to get from one leap to the next. … There I hurl my spear, … … (Craig Childs: Animal Dialogues: Elk)

Lake Whillans is a 25 foot deep lake with 20 feet of mud at the bottom and 5 feet of water under the Antarctic ice. Neon green fiber optic cable was used to send down cameras.

Read about Lake Whillans - Make sure to see slide 3

Cold Sesame Noodles

An old favorite in our post college days from an often visited Chinese Restaurant in Colorado Springs

½ to 1 lb. Chinese egg noodles or spaghetti

SAUCE:

3.5 TB tamari or soy sauce
2 TB hot sesame oil (chili sesame)
6 TB Toasted sesame oil
1 TB Mirin3 cloves crushed garlic
1 TB rice vinegar
3 TB grated ginger
3 TB toasted sesame seed
3-6 scallions (Cut in thin rings)
1 tsp tahini (optional)

GARNISH

Directions:

Boil the noodles. Drain and rinse under cold running water. Drain well, then toss in 1 TB soy sauce and 1 TB toasted sesame oil. Cover and chill about 1 hour.

Combine all sauce ingredients in a jar and shake well.

Keep noodles and sauce separate until service.

To Serve noodles, place on plate, shake sauce well and pour over noodles, sprinkle garnish on top.

Subs.

No tahini? Peanut butter, or just skip it.

No Mirin? Add 1 more TB of vinegar and ½ tsp of sugar

No hot chili oil? Use 1TB more each of plain and toasted sesame oil and ¼ to ½ tsp cayenne

No toasted sesame oil?

La Tourangelle Toasted Sesame Oil 16.9 Fl. Oz, All-Natural, Artisanal, Great for Stir Fry, Noodles, or as a Marinade — Get some.

Cold Avocado Soup

Rich, deliciously satisfying blender soup. A great fall or winter soup. Probably would be nice with some fresh lemon slices or wedges in summer. I like to serve it at room temperature rather than chilled to the bone.

3 avocados
1 pint chicken broth
1/2 cup pistachios
3 cloves garlic
1 cup cream
¼ tsp cayenne
1 Tb fresh Cilantro
salt to taste

Halve all avocados and remove pit. Use a spoon to scoop out the meat and place in blender or cuisinart.

Add garlic, cayenne, and ½ the pistachios. Blend, adding chicken broth slowly to allow blender to chop garlic.

Add remaining broth and cream as necessary to achieve a liquid consistency.

Serve cold using remaining pistachios and chopped cilantro as a garnish

Serves 6-8

Unique Spice blends that Sing

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