En Crepinette

To wrap something in caul fat is something I have never done before. It looks like something out of a horror movie but has a crazy ability to transform the flavor and texture of meat. When you cook the thin fat membrane it melts and turns into a crispy wrapped package of deliciousness. It works almost like cooking sous vide and really helps to keep the moisture in the meat.

Caul fat is really inexpensive and totally worth buying. We are serving lamb chops en crepinette with tarragon, roasted fingerlings, a spaghetti of carrots and tarragon jus. I'll get a picture of the finished dish up later.

Makin' Bacon 2

Here we are smoking our cured bacon.MMMMMM BACON!

Turn Over

All too often we talk about turn over in the restaurant business. A lot of people come and go from restaurants like a flash of light. Often people leave for another job and make a small impression on the place of work. Then there are others. We recently lost a newly hired line cook to one of the best places possible: school. He decided to go back to school to study food science. What a great outlet from his former choosen career. And while he was a great employee one can't be upset at the loss of an employee to return to school.
This employee had been working on a bunch of homemade vinegars one of which included a beer vinegar. On his last day he brought us some of the mother from his beer vinegar so we could start our own. Here it is and we thank and wish good luck to Jeffery.

Lobster Lasagna

It is always strange where inspiration can come from. While down in the USVI my sister in-law made us lasagna one night for dinner on the boat. The lasagna was great filled with great Italian sausage, cheese and a great tomato sauce. The thing that set of the light bulb was the fact that my sister in-law rolled the lasagna instead of making a traditional layered lasagna. What a great way to present a uniform dish. Here is my thanks to Leigh.

We took her idea and ran with it. Lobster hit ur minds and trying to use all parts as always. We used our base pasta dough recipe and added the coral from the lobsters.

The lobster coral makes the dough bright green when it is raw but when cooked the dough turns a light a red. We rolled out the sheets and blanched thm. We then mixed the lobster meat with ricotta and marscapone and rolled it in the pasta sheets. Using the shells of the lobster we made lobster stock which we used to make a rich tomato sauce. Here is the finished product. While the sauce is running a little with the basil oil I can't help but love these imperfections.

Makin' Bacon

During our tour of Cane Creek Farms, our tour guide , after watching pigs trying to copulate, told us about making bacon. He told us every time a tour came through the pigs always seemed to get a bit randy. We got quite a kick out of that.

Here in the restaurant, we are "makin bacon"
Besides great pig and grass fed beef, Cane Creek has some awesome produce including yellow watermelon. These are small and sweet and really good. Here we are pickling the rinds.

Farm/Wine Dinner Menu

Here Is the menu for our wine Dinner. Specific Details can be found on the restaurants website.

First Course

Lobster Ceviche, pickled jalapeno, Mango gelee, and avocado mousse

Second Course

Beet Root “Carpaccio”, Valdeon cheese, watercress, and Cane Creek Farms Ossabaw Bacon

Third Course

Miso Braised Cane Creek Farms Ossabaw pork belly, pickled watermelon, and daikon salad

Fourth Course

Braeburn Farms grass fed short rib ravioli, Fava beans, wild mushroom ragout and cabernet reduction

Fifth Course

Roasted Local figs and cinnamon marscapone

USVI update

I'll be back very soon and wanted to update when I had the chance. I have a ton of pictures and I have had a great time. Ironically, not thinking about food has helped me think about food. Some great ideas have been brought to the forefront and I can't wait to bring them to the restaurant.

This a picture of Waterlemon cay on St. John. There is an old sugar mill here. The weather down here is hot but great.