Left-overs..no flavor left behind

"Oh, we don't do left-overs, if there is anything extra we just throw it out". Wow! Many people have shared this with me when I ask " what ya gonna do with that tomorrow?". So many people consider that extras left after a meal to be "left over", not good enough to keep. The way I see it, nothing is "left over" unless it is thrown away. In my house anything that is extra from the meal is considered an ingredient for the following meal. Turkey and cranberry sauce are not another turkey dinner. They are the ingredients for a turkey quesadilla with cranberry salsa. Extras are not left-overs when I can deconstruct a meal into its base components and see the food for what it is. Parts of a meal and not just the meal it was initially a part of. Look beyond the obvious. When your at the table look at what you're eating and consider all of the flavors and how they can be reconstructed into other meals. New combinations and new dishes may become family favorites. Who doesn't love meatloaf sandwiches or roast beef and mashed potato burritos?
Be imaginative. The food we eat gave it's life to nourish our bodies. It will nourish our soul only if we respect it and do not waste. No flavor left behind

Coffee

Since its discovery by excited dancing goats somewhere in Ethiopia, coffee has captured our attention and even commanded us to praise it in morning rituals around the world. Grinding. Scooping. Plunging. Pressing. Dripping. Percolating. Centrifuging. No matter what our methodology, to create the perfect eye-opening cup of deliciously brewed coffee is the common objective of this ritual. For some of us just waking up early enough to grind the coffee is too much of a daunting task. For these people an automatic grinder set to grind (and even brew) before they wake is optimum. Some of us, though I shudder to think, buy our coffee pre-ground. For us true lovers of this energizing seed from the "coffea cherry", the previous methods are not acceptable. Instead we will go to any length necessary to brew a respectable cup. Consider the Ethiopian method/ritual for the perfect cup. Brewing coffee in some villages is as much a social practice as anything else. What would we do if when we really wanted a cup of coffee we had to gather with our closest friends, sit and talk for about an hour waiting for that perfectly brewed hot elixir. We would go nuts. First, the cherries are hulled to extract the seed. Then the seeds/beans are roasted over an open fire in something resembling a shallow cast iron skillet. Next, the beans still hot are ground and and finally placed into hot water to steep. The hot coffee is then strained (or not) into a cup. Now, about 55 minutes later you may enjoy your coffee. 55 long agonizing minutes. We could have been Tweeting, Blogging, Texting, Facebooking or even better, sleeping an extra hour. Who wants to slow down enough to catch-up with the members of our community? Whats so damn important about sitting and talking to your friends face to face? Maybe...just maybe, before we sip to speed up we need to slow down to appreciate our small world.....gotta run!

Garlic

Why do we love this stinking rose so? Allium Sativum has been used through out history for both culinary and medicinal purposes. It has been used to treat everything from acne to the plague. Used as insect repellent and vampire repellent. Garlic is a welcome addition to almost any soup and almost everything I cook. Garlic is both exploited and respected. Exploited when we use it for absolutelty everything without ever considering the beauty of this plant. We chop it grind it peel it roast it and sometimes we even waste it. Our love for garlic at time leads to obsession. Using it like salt in every dish we make. What if Miles Davis played the same note in abundance in every composition. Davis once said that the essense of jazz is knowing when not to play. The spaces between the notes. Garlic is respected when we understand how to reserve its beautiful potentcy. Waiting for the right time, the right amount or maybe just this time ...none at all.

Soup

Who made the soup? Any chef that sets out to make a soup must consider 3 very important points.

1. Ingredients and quality. After all is a soup much more than the sum of its ingredients. At time yes. Consider the origen of the ingredients. The sea, field, orchard, roof top, the farm. The source of the ingredients reaches much deeper that the corner market or mega grocery store. In a simple soup we can imagine tracing it back to its roots so to speak, we may even imagine what the fisherman was like or was it raining when the tomatoes were plucked from the vine. The ingredients and the freshness of those ingredients are paramount to the goodness of what is ladled into the bowl.
2. Timing. The best soups are those that are not rushed. In fact, it is my belief that the soup is always best served the day after it was made. A soup is slowly prepared with care and consciousness. The chef must be aware of the life that is or was in all of the ingredients. This is very important for the transfer of the chi of the soup into the eater. Time must be taken when sauteing or sweating the aromatics. timing and patience translates to love and respect for the food we consume.
3. Essence. A great soup is more than the sum of its ingredients. A great soup is the essence of culinary experience. A bowl of soup is eaten not with the mouth but with your heart. a soup is not tasted on your tongue but on the pallet of your soul.

It is these 3 key points that should not just be considered but lived by when making a soup......in all aspects of life.

Bake

What is it? Culinary science? Mad prose? Can't really say. In this world in which we live in every one wants to bake a cosmic cake. Deep moist cake glazed with shiny success. It feels like I've been shopping for the ingredients for far too long. The perfect flour, sugar, eggs, all in the "just right" amounts. Because baking a cake is a formula driven process right? Well, it would seem that I might be wrong about that. I once heard Chef Roland Messnier, White House pasty chef for 5 presidents, say "as long has you have the right ingredients then just play with the amounts until you create what you want".

How do you know when you have all the right ingredients in your pantry? maybe you will never know.