PING ISLAND STRIKE

a simple bowl of rice…………..

the older we get the more we understand about THINGS. its pretty simple if you really think about it. WISDOM is a crazy thing to try and wrap your head around. somehow it just happens, you can try and force it as much as you want but I believe wisdom only happens naturally.

this very well be my favorite dish that we have ever served at McCrady’s and maybe my career. this dish is simple in appearance, but it tells an incredible story. Before we serve this dish we tell the diner about the importance of rice in Charleston during the rice era….which I believe was somewhere like 1700-1927….lots of speculation there of course….but regardless, the story is fascinating. it often helps people realize how a foodstuff can influence and help shape a culture. when you tell a story like this before a guest eats a dish their perspective changes completely…especially while sitting in an 18th century tavern in the middle of Charleston…..this is usually difficult to achieve….to truly have the full attention of the diner. but this dish is different….there is a connection between the room, the staff, the history, the city, the future and the diner….people love this kind of thing…i love this kind of thing…this dish is a journey thru the history of eating in Charleston.

the rice is served in the middle of our tasting menu….its always everyone’s favorite course….it IS pretty damn delicious….its pretty amazing how you can taste care, how you can taste intention, how you can taste respect, how you can taste hard work, how you can taste sacrifice, how you can taste true happiness…and how you can taste wisdom and lessons learned…well, at least I think its amazing…food taste better to me when those words are rolling thru my mind…sometimes these moments happen in your life and they can seem more important than they really are……but this is what makes this journey so fulfilling I suppose…….you never know what the future holds….

what is your bowl of rice?

Iphone 5 coming soon!

anyways…

thanks to the vinegar man, ideas in food, nordic food lab, JJ and the momofuku lab we have a whole new outlook on the world of vinegar. this is turnip juice that is on its way to becoming vinegar. our goal is to have vinegar for every vegetable and fruit that we work with. We are well on our way with almost 60 different vinegars working between the two restaurants. I am really impatient, i wish things were different but they simply aren’t. I taste these way too much during the vinegar making process. Sometimes being impatient pays off…..but only sometimes. I tasted this turnip juice about 4 days under the bubbler…it was so delicious. It tasted like biting into a turnip straight out of the ground. it almost tasted like prepared horseradish. it instantly brought a smile to my face and my mind started racing. we currently reheat some barely braised turnips in this juice a la minute. the results are mind bending. this is what we are striving for…..things in our pantry that can enhance the natural flavor of the product without getting in the way……cooking is so much fun.

oh yeah….don’t throw away the pulp from the juicing process……add some salt and ferment that shit….its super tasty

octo cooked low and slow in olive oil, real low and real slow. then charred over super hot embers. raw fennel bulb compressed with fennel essential oil and fennel juice, then dressed with variegated lemon and olive oil. potato puree enriched with squid ink. egg yolk with olive oil and fennel pollen. charleston coriander, fennel flowers, wild fennel fronds. yum

I’ve been playing a lot with this idea lately. The ember/live fire combo. Its hard to explain how delicious this pork was. You really have to stick with it and keep the fire the correct temperature and the embers the correct temperature while rotating the meat by feel. I adore cooking this way. How can we do this during a busy service? its best right out of the fire.

Do we have anything like this in America?
I need a lot and this stuff ain’t cheap.