The Bright (and Delicious) Side of Invasive Species

A cluster of zebra mussels. Image source US Fish and Wildlife Service.

The New Year is upon us, and the time is ripe for exploring new places, meeting new people, and, of course, sampling new foods. One emerging food group worth sampling is that of invasive species. The term “invasive species” refers to species of plants, insects, or animals that have been introduced to an area or eco-system to which they are not native. Such species generally have no natural predators in these new areas and they quickly overwhelm local plant and animal populations, often profoundly altering local ecosystems. In extreme cases, an invasive species may completely eliminate the local species that formerly occupied a similar ecological niche, as the Nile Perch did to Lake Victoria’s 300 species of indigenous cichlids when it was introduced to the lake in the 1950s. Dozens of invasive species currently thrive in the United States, including wild boar in the Pacific Northwest, kudzu in the South, and zebra mussels in the Great Lakes.

As popular fish species like tuna and salmon become increasingly overfished and the healthfulness and ethics of conventional farmed livestock is called into question, some people are attempting to turn the misfortune of invasive species into a culinary blessing through ‘invasivorism.’ These “invasivores” structure their diet around the consumption of invasive species in an effort to stem the growth of invasive populations, and in some cases, in an effort to relieve pressure on certain other, similar species, especially fish. As the species consumed by invasivores are usually wild, consumers have the added benefit of pesticide-free, antibiotic-free, and according to some, ‘guilt-free’ food.

In recent years, chefs have begun to tune into the invasivore frequency in a dual attempt to capitalize on the issue and ameliorate the effects of invasive species on local ecosystems. Chef Bun Lai of New Haven’s Miya Sushi, for example, offers customers a separate menu he calls his “Invasive Species menu.” The menu features numerous species of seafood that are currently troubling local waters, including the lion fish, European green crabs, and a bouillabase made from bycatch (“accidental” catch, in this case starfish, snails, and other small marine animals) from commercial fishing. This unique approach to cuisine is sure to be replicated elsewhere as conscientious consumers seek to tailor their diet to environmental concerns in ways that go beyond the local and organic.

If this all sounds intriguing, there exist a number of online resources to nudge prospective invasivores in the right direction. Invasivore.org is one such resource. The site offers curious eaters an interactive map of the United States that allows them to locate areas that are currently battling an introduced species, and provides information on the alien species in question. It also features a table of invasive species in the United States. The table currently lists twenty-six species with thirty-one accompanying recipes to show fledgling invasivores how to enjoy their foreign catch. With dishes like goldenrod bruschetta, cajun style crayfish, and spicy salmon tacos, it’s clear that even the most dedicated invasivores won’t have to skimp on delicious meals. So for a resolution you might actually enjoy, why not resolve to eat an invasive species in 2012?

- Chelsea Newson

Handmade Knives in Brooklyn

 

When I first moved to Brooklyn, an engineer friend of mine told me about a shop where cooking knives are made by hand and sold to the public. I became very intrigued by this, never having heard of high quality handmade cutlery in this country. It wasn’t until a few weekends ago that I made the trip down to Gowanus in search of this diamond in the rough. Only two blocks from the 4th Avenue – 9th Street stop on the G train, Cut Brooklyn stands out from its surrounding bodegas and markets.

The owner, Joel Bukiewcz, began working as a writer in Brooklyn but quickly craved a craft that was more hands-on. After endless hours spent grinding, sharpening, and polishing metal, he developed his own style of creating knives. Each blade is crafted from the finest material available, held in place by a custom wood handle. Bukiewcz often spends eight to twelve hours on each knife that he makes. A 9.5-inch chefs’ knife, a 7-inch utility knife, and a 3.5-inch paring knife are available for purchase at the workshop. He describes his knives as “quick and hefty,” which, now having held one, is exactly how they feel in your hand. The blades are razor-sharp, flowing seamlessly back into the handle, which fits nicely in your palm–creating a sense of control (exactly the feeling you both want and need with such an instrument).

Throughout the week, Cut Brooklyn is open on Wednesdays from 3 – 7pm and Saturdays from 12 – 5pm. The other days of the week Bukiewcz can be found in workshop. In a given week, he may make up to 7 knives, which aregenerally sold quickly in the shop. Custom knives can be ordered on  Cut’s website, but only if you are patient. There is over a year-and-a-half wait list for these pieces. The shop also offers handmade wooden butcher blocks and wall magnets to hang knives. Bukiewcz’s old assistant Nils Wessell, who now runs Brooklyn Butcher Blocks, makes both of these products by hand as well. The shapes of the blocks are unique and beautifully organic.

It’s incredible to see such a level of independent craftsmanship. By making each of his flawless knives by hand, Bukiewcz is able to focus on every detail. Each piece of cutlery is not only a work of art, but it is also a highly practical kitchen tool. These knives come with a lifetime warranty and free sharpening whenever the blade is in need of a tune up. It was a pleasure visiting Cut and meeting Joel Bukiewcz himself, who is a genuinely nice guy offering an honest, well-made product.

- Andrew Black

Beurre Noisette

Andrew's brown butter.

One of the first things I think of when winter comes around is the rich and warming foods that it brings. One element that stands out in these cozy dishes is brown butter. It’s easy to transform a good dish into a great dish with the addition of this simple component. Also, it couldn’t be easier to make.

You just melt your desired quantity of butter over medium heat until it foams and begins to smell nutty; whisk occasionally. When the milk solids in the butter begin to brown, lower the heat and keep a close eye on it. The butter will continue to brown even after the heat is shut off. Once the milk solids have reached a rich brown color and smell of toasted hazelnuts, turn off the heat and use as desired.

If you’re making a large quantity, the butter can be chilled over an ice bath while whisking. This will form the butter into a solid, which can be refrigerated.

Standard whole butter is an emulsified product that is mainly comprised of butterfat and milk solids.  When heat is applied to butter, this emulsion separates. The viscous butterfat rises to the top of the pan while the watery milk solids remain at the bottom. Clarified butter is what you have if you remove these solids, but if you continue to cook the butter, the milk proteins will brown. As it continues to cook, the solids will become darker while giving off nutty aromas. After making brown butter once, you’ll smell why its French name is “beurre noisette,” literally translating to “hazelnut butter.”

A classic dish that has been reinterpreted and passed through many chefs is sweet potato gnocchi with fried sage and brown butter. There is no doubt about whether the dish is tasty, but brown butter is so versatile that it can really be used with anything. Try it in place of whole butter in your every day recipes and see how new flavors come through. Also, desserts and brown butter go hand in hand. Ice creams, tarts, and cookies are easy ways to try brown butter in a new way. Last week I experimented with a holiday favorite: eggnog. I’ll just say: this won’t be the last time I make it.

Brown Butter Eggnog

Yields about 1 quart

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup 2% milk

5 egg yolks

½ cup brown sugar

½ stick brown butter, room temperature

3 tablespoons Cognac

3 teaspoons nutmeg

1 pinch cayenne

1 pinch kosher salt

Combine the cream, milk, cognac, nutmeg, cayenne, and salt in a medium saucepan. Slowly, bring to a simmer. While warming the cream mixture, whisk egg yolks and sugar in a medium bowl until it becomes pale yellow and thick. Slowly pour a few ounces of the hot cream mixture in to the yolks while whisking. Temper the yolk mixture back into the hot cream by pouring it all back into the saucepot. This prevents the eggs from denaturing (or scrambling) from the hot cream. Next, turn the heat to low and bring the liquid to 160 degrees Fahrenheit while stirring constantly. The best way to check if it’s ready is to dip a spoon in the hot mixture and run your finger across the back. If the line stays put, it’s ready.

Be sure not to boil or even simmer, as this will make the eggs coagulate unevenly. Finally, remove the pot from the heat and whisk in the brown butter. Chill the eggnog over an ice bath while stirring occasionally until cold. Adjust seasonings as you please. Enjoy!

- Andrew Black

Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain

The holidays are upon us. The season of nostalgia has descended, and it’s difficult to imagine a better afternoon than one spent strolling along wide streets paved in fallen leaves, sipping an autumn-flavored egg cream and indulging in the most nostalgic of sandwiches: the grilled cheese. Fortunately, all this is possible right here in New York City. A train ride away from the well-trampled sidewalks of Manhattan and the noisy bars of Williamsburg awaits Carroll Garden’s Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain, whose cheery soda jerks promise to transport you to a simpler time with the help of old-fashioned sundaes, sodas, sandwiches and more.

Brooklyn Farmacy is something of a local (and affordable!) gem whose off-the-beaten-path location has thus far kept it safe from swarms of sweet-toothed tourists. One of the shop’s main draws for locals—and one of the biggest ways in which it lays claim to its old-fashioned ethic—is the nature of the ingredients it uses in its food. The Farmacy makes many of its own sundae toppings and sweets, and purchases as many ingredients as possible from local New York City or New York state sources—from milk to syrup to mustard. It offers familiar menu items made from simple, fresh ingredients. All egg creams, for example, are made with Fox’s U-Bet Syrup and fresh milk sourced from the Hudson Valley (and, of course, seltzer). Egg creams are one of Farmacy’s biggest claims to fame, and it currently offers three deliciously traditional, year-round flavors (chocolate, vanilla, and coffee), as well as seasonal flavors like maple (highly recommended!).

Aside from their egg creams, Farmacy’s major attraction is their ice cream. They use only Adirondack Creamery ice cream in seven flavors (vanilla, chocolate, coffee, mint, chocolate chip, strawberry, and coconut) and offer a variety of toppings to round off each scoop (including Redhead’s salty-sweet bacon peanut brittle). While a simple scoop with sprinkles sounds sweetly old-fashioned, if you’re indulging in their ice cream you may as well go all out, make like Farmacy’s most loyal yet pint-sized fans and order a sundae–they’re hard to resist with names like “Sundae of Broken Dreams” and ingredients like homemade peanut butter and coconut almond crumbles. Or, there’s always the option of super-thick shakes, floats, and ice cream sandwiches.

If you’re in the mood for something lighter, the shop stocks its own sparkling soda in original and seasonal flavors, as well as sodas made with P&H syrup. There’s also plenty of scrumptious fare to go along with your beverage (or dessert) of choice, from homemade black bean empanadas and seasonal soups to perfectly melted grilled cheese sandwiches with Sir Kensington’s Scooping Ketchup on the side. Don’t miss a chance to try one of their red velvet twinkles—a new, delicious spin on an old and somewhat suspicious staple (the infamous Twinkie).

Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain is located at 513 Henry Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and is open Monday through Thursday, 12-10 PM; Friday and Saturday, 10 AM-11 PM; and Sunday, 11 AM-10 PM.

- Chelsea Newson

DeBragga’s Dry Aged Beef

Image source: debragga.com/

The secret to delicious beef is aging – dry aging to be exact. While meat properly aged seems almost impossible to come by in grocery stores, DeBragga offers an impressive selection of various meats available to New Yorkers and to NYC-based vendors. Their website sells high quality dry aged beef, as well as naturally raised pork, lamb, veal, and poultry.  You no longer have to eat out at your favorite steakhouse to get that great ribeye or porterhouse when it can be delivered right to your door.

Located in no other part of town than the Meat Packing District, DeBragga dry ages all of their beef right here in the city. The process of dry aging is an expensive undertaking, applied only to high quality cuts of meat that have a high fat content, with marbling throughout the flesh. After slaughter, the animal is broken down into the main primal cuts, which are then held in walk-in refrigerators with multiple fans for maximum air circulation. The primal cuts (the initial cuts taken from the carcass, like the sirloin for example), are typically air dried for fifteen to thirty days. During this process, the moisture in the meat evaporates while the flavoring is enhanced. Because of moisture loss, the meat may weigh as little as half of its original weight, in turn increasing the ultimate price of the cut.

Also, natural enzymes in the meat’s proteins begin to break down, serving as a natural tenderizer; dry aged meats often develop their characteristic dark crust from the proliferation of these natural bacteria. At the end of the aging process, this layer is trimmed away, which again contributes to its overall loss of mass. The end product, however, is far superior to that of a typical store-bought steak. Since this process is only done with high-grade, fatty cuts, the meat remains juicy and more tender when cooked, packing the intensified flavor that we all crave.

As I just mentioned, there is a significant amount of weight loss inherent to dry aging beef. Evaporation and trimming are both factors that raise its sale price, but the fact that the meat is held in a temperature-controlled room for about one month on average is costly for the producer as well. Well worth the cost, DeBragga proudly offers the highest quality meats available, and ones that are properly aged so you can be sure that you’re getting the best of the best.

Debragga is becoming more popular amongst New York chefs. A list of the restaurants that serve their meats can be found on their homepage, here. The company doesn’t have a storefront yet; however, they do offer a free iPhone application to help you locate vendors carrying their meats and specialty products in the city.

- Andrew Black

The 14th Annual Chocolate Show

Image source: http://www.chocolateshow.com

This past week, from Thursday, November 10 through Sunday, November 13, the Metropolitan Pavilion in Chelsea was practically bursting at the seams with chocolate. The space had been turned into a chocolate lover’s mecca for the fourteenth annual Chocolate Show (or Salon du Chocolate, as its known in its France). The Chocolate Show, which is held each year in cities and nations around the world from New York to Paris to Shanghai, is the world’s largest event wholly dedicated to chocolate—and they do it big.

The most recent rendition of the Chocolate Show featured over sixty-five fine chocolatier companies, drawn from all over the United States, France, and even Ecuador. These chocolatiers—many of which are based in New York, including Jacques Torres, Liddabit Sweets, Peanut Butter & Co., Roni-Sue’s, and Xocolatti, among others—offered chocolate samples in every shape, color, and flavor imaginable. There were truffles, toffees, nibs and cookies, fondues, chocolate-covered pretzels, chocolate-covered potato chips, caramels, gelato, brownies, hot chocolate, and bar after delicious bar of chocolate in every possible percentage of cacao and covering everything from ginger to cardamom to bacon. Visitors could even exchange their ticket for a solid chocolate toy car, courtesy of Lincoln, one of the event’s sponsors.

In addition to plenty of samples and chocolate-flavored products to shop around for, the event featured cooking demonstrations and chocolate lectures in two separate culinary theaters. These smaller events took place throughout the day, each day, and informed viewers on everything from how to make chocolate-related dishes and goodies (such as salted chocolate caramels, Italian chocolate pasta dishes, and chocolate breakfast breads like double chocolate focaccia with cream cheese crumbles and chocolate chip biscuits with chocolate butter) to the benefits of direct-trade chocolate, how chocolate was made in colonial times, and how to create chocolate ornaments for the holidays. They also featured readings and book signings by authors of chocolate-themed books like the children’s book Chocolatina. The entire event kicked off with a chocolate fashion show, which featured costumes and accessories made of chocolate and designed by fashion designers in collaboration with pastry chefs and chocolatiers. Proceeds went to the non-profit Groove With Me, which provides free dance classes to low-income girls in New York City.

This is definitely an event worth sampling. It’s overwhelming in the best way, and sure to satisfy even the most fanatic chocolate lover’s craving. If you do decide to indulge next year, one word of warning: pace yourself. It’s all too easy to leave the pavilion feeling nauseous from overextending yourself in that cornucopia of cocoa.

- Chelsea Newson

Foragers

Chic restaurants are beginning to discover and take hold of a few up and coming food trends. Foraging and local farming, two trends that go hand in hand, are being practiced frequently by kitchens across the country. Ingredients unfamiliar to most cooks and diners, such as ramps and purslane, are being hand-picked and showcased on nightly menus. While these culinary topics aren’t new per se, they’re becoming more popular among a larger group of chefs. All in all, there has become a greater interest outside of the traditional chef’s garden.

The self-foraged dish at Noma in Copenhagen.

A handful of restaurants have pushed the envelope over the past few years in terms of local product sourcing–this has resulted in the movement happening now. To mention a few hot spots, Noma, Coi, Manresa, and McCrady’s are restaurants that have been recognized for their dedication and commitment to finding the best local ingredients possible.  Chefs working in these restaurants not only work with dozens of surrounding farmers in their area, but also take the time to go out and forage ingredients for their mise en place themselves. In addition, the service pieces on which these bizarre ingredients are plated often times consist of earthenware material, further enhancing the  “farm to table” concept.

I was formerly familiar with foraging as a concept, but recently it caught my attention on a much deeper level while talking with a fellow cook that previously worked at Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark. He explained that one signature amuse bouche that they offered was featured in a small clay pot, much like you would find in a home garden; it was filled with edible “soil.” This dark crumble, composed primarily of malt and hazelnut powders, was laced with a dill cream, which buried varieties of raw carrots, turnips, and radishes.  Curious diners picked their own vegetables right at their table. Also, what makes this experience even more special is that the vegetables were grown and picked by hand on a farm not far from the city.

Even the modernist restaurant Alinea, known for serving unique dishes consisting of gels and foams, has shown their respect for their farmers in a recent dish. In this case, baby lettuces are grown by Ted, the restaurant’s local farmer, and served to the guests still attached to the root in the soil. Then the diners use scissors to cut their own salad right from the earth in which it was grown.

Coi, a humble restaurant in San Francisco, features locally foraged ingredients on a daily basis. For example, Lungwort lichen, a fungus typically found growing on boulders, is turned into a powder which crusts their pasture-raised beef. The lichen itself was foraged by the chefs on their day specifically set aside for duties like this.

In South Carolina, McCrady’s is a restaurant with a creative chef inspired by crops from long ago. He focuses on rediscovering grains from a century past that were originally grown in the restaurant’s back yard. Upwards of ten farms are also featured by name on his daily menu. Another place to find farm-driven produce is at Manresa in Los Gatos, California. All of the fruits and vegetables are grown exclusively at Love Apple Farms, located just fifteen minutes away from the restaurant. Furthermore, all compost from the restaurant is taken back to the farm to help continue the local cycle.

Many chefs have a close relationship with their farmers now, or in some cases, the chef is the farmer and in some cases, the forager. Foraged herbs and vegetables aren’t just found in the deep dark forests like you might imagine. Large varieties of roots, blossoms, berries, bulbs, and mosses can be found almost anywhere. Sandy coastlines, rocky mountains, and even some sidewalks by the street offer edible treats. Serving food like this also puts a spotlight on what is available in the area, which diners seem to have a growing sense of respect for.

As the “molecular gastronomy” trend begins to wane, the local, foraged trend is definitely on the rise. Whether this makes you feel good about eating their food, or just hip to the culinary trend, it is nice to know that more chefs are aware of exactly where their product is coming from.

- Andrew Black