A few weeks ago I raved about the Jean-Louis Cheese from Bobolink Dairy but didn’t get to take pictures. For my grand joy, I reconnected with Jonathan White, cheese maker and owner of Bobolink Dairy at the D’Artagnan Duckathlon. Jonathan was leading the cheese challenge; the contestants had to rank the cheeses by age, and for that he brought a selection of Baudolinos: “The “Brie of Barbarossa”, this soft-ripened wheel celebrates the pasture. Strong, fruity, and yeasty, this cheese is profoundly satisfying”.
Oh! yeah! all true and more. I did make several trips to the cheese station, and my reward was to take home of piece of Jean-Louis, which is their star cheese named in memory of chef Jean-Louis Palladin & made from New Jersey raw cow milk . We shared it with our friend Peter Cockelbergh, a writer, scholar and gourmand from Belgium who was blown away. I am telling you again, you can & should try it too! For a list of farmers markets and online sales for Bobolink click here. Jean-Louis Palladin couldn’t have hoped for a better homage; who cares about having a street, a park or a building named after yourself, but cheese of that dimension? That is pungent!
“She is making Cherry Coke Foie Gras!” says Ariane, nodding her head, pursing her lips, and cracking a demi-smile. She looks at my face and quickly adds: “she always wanted to do it“. Ariane Daguin, the Foie Gras goddess and childhood friend, is talking about her daughter Alix. Rose, Ariane’s best friend, and I have just been picked up at the corner of Madison ave. & 52nd street, and the three of us are now en route to Ithaca (N.Y) for the last Underground dinner of the season organized by an independent group of talented and inventive students from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. Alix Daguin is a founding member and one of the main emulator of the smart and energeticUnderground cohort.
So we are excited to attend the Underground #3 dinner installation and the last event of the season. The five hour drive passes very fast despite traffic, weather, anxiety to be late — and all that thanks to Rose & Jacques’ interaction. Jacques is Ariane’s French speaking GPS, who is much better at keeping us entertained than at giving accurate directions!
The premise for tonight’s dinner: six of the Cornell students work on six separate courses mentored by a master chef; each has to create one dish to be served to forty guests (2 servings of 20). The mentor chefs were: Daniel Boulud, Eric Ripert, Anthony Bourdain, Drew Nieporent, Rick Tramonto, and Francois Payard. The location is the beautiful private home of Ann Druyan and the late Carl Sagan on Cayuga Lake (all dinner proceeds are going to the Carl Sagan Foundation). Cocktails are served outside, overlooking the lake; there we meet Ann Druyan who graced the evening with her generous and caring hospitality —Ann is a writer, and also the founder and chair of the Carl Sagan Foundation. We are now called to dinner. We are taking our seats in the impressive below ground glass veranda. We look down at the kitchen, we look up at the trees, we are in a dreamscape like setting and the Nicolas Feuillate champagne helps!
The level of attention for details and care is very impressive. The chefs and waiters show total command throughout the soiree. The menu is creative, exciting, balanced and imprints my memory with beautiful flavors. I will not give a detailed review of every dish but I do need to return to the Cherry Coke Foie Gras. Yes! The idea is provocative, and I have to admit that for once the evil ingredient made itself discreet and (to me) it is it’s best usage ever! The Cherry Coke is used in the reduction, and acts as a gastrique (If i remember correctly I think that 2 cans are used for 40 servings), then the Cherry Coke demi-glace is spooned out under a perfectly pan seared slice of Foie Gras, accompanied by preserved black cherries, and garnished with a few slivered almond. The combination of the Foie’s silky texture, the fleshy tartness of the cherries and the light crunch of the slivered almond created a subtle balance of flavors and textures. Bravo! Alix, you sure are carrying on the family tradition with style and inventiveness. Bravo! to the entire Underground team, I hope that I will be asked back, I heard that not everybody makes the guest list. For more info read the review in the The Cornell Daily Sun of the Underground Dinner #1 and do not miss the video below. Meanwhile drool while reading the menu! & Thank you Ariane for taking me along.
Menu
Cherry Coke Foie Gras Alix Daguin mentored By Rick Tramonto
Rabbit and Chanterelle Tamales with Mole Trio Nicole Leong and Anna Bauer Mentored By Anthony Bourdain
Finger Lakes Schuyler Cheese filled Ravioli with Green Peppercorn Kevin Relf Mentored By Daniel Boulud
Pan Seared Halibut with Shellfish Emulsion and Spring Vegetables Max Kellman Mentored By Eric Ripert
Beef Tenderloin with Marrow Parmentier and Spring Garnish Peter Roumanis Mentored by Drew Nieporent
Lemon Verbena Sorbet Katherine Kiess
Chocolate Toffee Cake Danielle Tsuzuki Mentored By Francois Payard
Some pix and comments from the events mentioned in the blog “busy week“. April 27-28 I played Claudine inThe Cry, a vignette film, part of James Mehr’s project Veritas that will be on line soon.
on May 1st I had a great time performing Voyage dans la Lune at theNeo-Benchi and Experimental Video Night at Dixon Place. I enjoyed watching the brilliant pieces by: Sharon Mesmer, David Larsen, Linh Dinh, Brandon Downing, Abigail Child & Nada Gordon, Konrad Steiner, Julian Brolaski. Nada Gordon posted capsule reviews on her blog and I totally agree with her and Drew Gardner: Yes! moonmen being smashed into powder is a “colonialist” attitude! Thank you Pierre Joris for a great narration, Peter Knoll for the beautiful guitar soundscapes, Chiaki for the pictures, & Brandon Downing for putting the event together.
photos by Chiaki
On Saturday May 2nd was the much anticipated Brooklyn Food Conference. I didn’t see much of it as I spent from 12-9:30 pm in the kitchen along with a wonderful crew of people, mostly women, preparing and serving lunch and the banquet dinner for the conference. Though I did attended the panel Gastropolis: Food and New York City while the kitchen was having a little downtime between lunch and dinner. This panel was moderated by Annie Hauck-Lawson, co-editor of the book of the same name, and I was delighted to hear the speakers whose names I have known for a while but whom I’d never seen in person: Cara De Silva, Jonathan Deutsh, Mark Russ Federman, Anne Mendelson, and last but certainly not least Annie Lanzilotto. The presenters mostly read from their essays in Gastropolis: Food and New York City. The book is about New York City’s rich food heritage, & explores the personal and historical relationship between New Yorkers and food. I can’t wait to read it.
And to cap the week, yesterday May 3rd was the 5th Annual d’Artagan Duckatlon, a culinary competition where top city chefs present their best team in costume to compete in a series of challenges throughout the meat packing district. Restaurant Annisa came in first place after a most elegant and brilliant performance; second place went to Tribeca Grill with a very motivated and gracious team; third and sweetest was Jacques Torres. Last year’s winner Cercle Rouge won best costume and gave very entertaining and smokey performances throughout the afternoon.
I will post the video as soon as Joseph Mastantuono is done editing it — he is already working on it. I can already tell you that there were some really funny moments! Meanwhile more pix here.
LAST MINUTE NOTE: We just found out that the short filmCounting to Infinity directed by Derek Morse, in which Miles Joris-Peyrafitte played Seth (lead role) has been selected in the Cannes Festival Short Film Corner!
Thanks to COMFOOD, the listserve of the organization Community Food Security Coalition, I could learn more about the Swine Flu issue. The mass media community is having such a ball playing with the scare levels that the real info gets buried if given at all.
An insightful discussion on the COMFOOD list mentioned the blog Biosurveillance. This blog is operated by Veratect a company describing themselves as : “Veratect provides the earliest detection of emerging threats to human, animal and plant life while empowering corporations, government organizations, NGOs and global citizens with trusted, timely and actionable information”.
They have been praised in their field for providing the very first alerts regarding the Swine Flu Epidemic. The abstract below is from their regularly updated comprehensive timeline. I would think it is a good source to keep at hand during this unfortunate outbreak.
April 6
Veratect reported local health officials declared a health alert due to a respiratory disease outbreak in La Gloria, Perote Municipality, Veracruz State, Mexico. Sources characterized the event as a “strange” outbreak of acute respiratory infection, which led to bronchial pneumonia in some pediatric cases. According to a local resident, symptoms included fever, severe cough, and large amounts of phlegm. Health officials recorded 400 cases that sought medical treatment in the last week in La Gloria, which has a population of 3,000; officials indicated that 60% of the town’s population (approximately 1,800 cases) has been affected. No precise timeframe was provided, but sources reported that a local official had been seeking health assistance for the town since February.
Residents claimed that three pediatric cases, all under two years of age, died from the outbreak. However, health officials stated that there was no direct link between the pediatric deaths and the outbreak; they stated the three fatal cases were “isolated” and “not related” to each other.
Residents believed the outbreak had been caused by contamination from pig breeding farms located in the area. They believed that the farms, operated by Granjas Carroll, polluted the atmosphere and local water bodies, which in turn led to the disease outbreak. According to residents, the company denied responsibility for the outbreak and attributed the cases to “flu.” However, a municipal health official stated that preliminary investigations indicated that the disease vector was a type of fly that reproduces in pig waste and that the outbreak was linked to the pig farms. It was unclear whether health officials had identified a suspected pathogen responsible for this outbreak.
And to be crystal clear, the way we used this information was to simply flag an event as worthy of closer scrutiny and higher awareness, as there was absolutely no proof of true involvement of this company in the outbreak- a proper epidemiological investigation is required to prove such links.*
Local health officials had implemented several control measures in response to the outbreak. A health cordon was established around La Gloria. Officials launched a spraying and cleaning operation that targeted the fly suspected to be the disease vector. State health officials also implemented a vaccination campaign against influenza, although sources noted physicians ruled out influenza as the cause of the outbreak. Finally, officials announced an epidemiological investigation that focused on any cases exhibiting symptoms since 10 March.
This information was available in our web portal to all clients, including CDC and multiple US state and local public health authorities.
We do know, after checking our web site logs, that the Pan American Health Organization, the WHO Regional Office of the Americas, accessed this specific report in our system on April 10th and again on April 11th.
*in blue are the most recent updates.
Also, for the french speakers Jean-Philippe Derenne, head of pneumology services at the Paris’ hôpital de la Pitié-Salpêtrière, co-author of «Pandémie, la grande menace» (Fayard), answers the readers questions in today’s Liberation.
And as my friend Jacques would say: keep smiling! By the way Jacques, your scientific expertise and knowledge would be appreciated if you have any comments.
Les semaines se suivent et ne se ressemblent pas or in English:
Week follows week; none are alike.
Here’s the one coming up for me, and wow, is it busy!
First, this weekend I am preparing for the shoot of a short independent movie “The Cry” by talented young director James Mehr. I will play the lead, her name is Claudine, a very dramatic French woman (contre emploi total!). The project is shot in super 16mm and I am really excited to get back into acting.
Then on Friday May 1st I will participate in one of the 2 movie nights extravaganza of Neo-Banchi and experimental videos at Dixon Place in Manhattan. Accompanied by Peter Knoll on electric guitar, we will perform an *enhanced* version of “Voyage dans la Lune,” a “Trip to the Moon”, the George Mélies 1902 sci-fi movie. A detailed program can be found on Brandon Downing’s blog; among the presenters are Bruce Andrew, Nada Gordon, Linh Dinh, Julian Brolaski, Edwin Torres…and more
MAY 1 & 2, 2009 8PM
A Mini-Festival of Live Interactives, Musical Attacks,
Neo-Benshi, Experimental Video and other damages
to the World’s Cinematic Legacy
A Benefit for Dixon Place
Advance Tickets: $12/show ($15 at the door) Both nights: $20
Advance Tickets Available (and highly recommended) at www.dixonplace.org
Saturday May 2nd is the very anticipated First Brooklyn Food Conference. I will be part of the evening banquet crew and will be working in the kitchen the night of the event and a few days ahead.
While the Brooklyn Food Conference is a FREE event, we would also like to invite you to join us for an evening of fine dining and dance at the end of the conference. The spring menu will be prepared by professional chefs using sustainable foods produced by local farmers and producers. Seating is limited. Wine and beer not included in the $20 ticket. Free childcare and a low-cost child’s meal will be available. Casual attire. Purchase tickets here
And last but not least, I will need to be in great shape for Sunday May 3rd, to assist Joseph Mastantuono in filming & documenting the D’Artagnan 5th Duckathlon. This yearly happening is a culinary competition where top city chefs present their best team to compete in a series of challenges in costume, throughout the meat packing district. Last year was GREAT FUN — see for yourself: below is the video shot and edited by Joseph.
Voilà, I will collect pictures, stories, recipes and more — and will report as soon as I can. Have a good week!
But before I go, save the date: Saturday May 16 at 6 p.m. @ Bowery Poetry Club for the concert release of “WHISK! DON’T CHURN” — my new CD with Michael Bisio
