gotta love the gobble!!

turkey time...boy do i got mixed feelings about thanksgiving ..for one it's realy hard to be a chef and thankful on this day.It is a holiday i have not celebrated in a very long time ....little thanks allot of giving...second restaurants usually die down allot , land book solid for this glorious day meaning 4x the amount of work..all in all i do take a allot of pride on serving this meal being able to give a part of me to every family that attends. And this year our meal is down right incredible and to have a gourmet three coarse meal at only 39.95 per is amazing....I'll post pics of food tomorrow....

30 Second Cake

START WITH A PLASTIC CUP..NOT TO FLIMZY

MAKE SEVERAL SPLICES..

TAKE A BASIC SPONGE CAKE OR GENOISE BATTER

PLACE IN A ISO THERMOWHIP CANISTER

ADD 4 CHARGES OF FLAVORLESS NITRIS

COOL FOR 2 HOURS ...

ZAP IT ON HI FOR 30 SECONDS...AND YOU

MOIST COCOA FLAVORED SPONGE CAKE

Quail Wings

Cavendish Farms Quail, Sweet Siracha, Maytag blue, Celery leaf

On another note i just decided today to release my winter menu

two weeks earlier than planned, between that and the construction

of our new cafe on the side of our building it will make for a pretty

interesting winter tune into the website for more info cranebrook.com

Tasting Menu-11/13/08 Backwards....Oops...

White chocolate creme brulee, syrah mascerated cranberries.

Wolfneck Farms shortrib, smoked maple polenta, carmelized shallot marmalade, braising liquid reduction.

Toasted cashew encrusted Tuna, organic beluga lentil ragu, cranberry plum conpote, meritage gastrique.

Raviolo of chicken confit and apricot, asian spice, sweet soy, lemongrass and ginger sauce, crunchy vegetables.

Salad of local heirloom root vegetables, candy cane beet, golden beets, baby turnips, jus vinagarette, citrus bubbles, frisee.

Caprese bites..."Sweetish" Meatballs...

That time again!!

Being a chef..I'm proud of the fact that I'm a culinary nerd. I research trends,i buy cook books and magazines....I'm infactuated...One of my favorite shows is Top Chef the only reality based program that i love..Me and my fiance have a ritual that we've done since we met 2 weeks into season uno..every wed. is bravo night we grab dinner and drinks and watch the show and criticize the shit out it..."i would of made this.." "she should of done that.." we decide on performance halfway through who should go home...we have even noticed production faults that kinda give you who's going home in the first 4 or 5 minutes of the show... usually the second person you see talking is the one that gets the boot...the third or first wins the challenge..if there in the middle you most likely wont see there face. ... Yup I'm a nerd ...told you...TC's season premier is kinda like new years eve for me(as i sip a cold 16oz bud light the bravo count down clicking away the final hour to season 5's debut)..Let me give you my predictions (did i mention i did an extensive menu background on all contestants) so here it is........in the order that i think they gonna go.......

17. DANIEL ...this dude is dumb

16. Mellisa

15.Patrick.. ....gimme a break!

14.JILL.. I'm not sure how she even got picked working at a mom and pop

13.Gene ..skill less

12.radhika

11STEFAN

10 & 9 LEAH &LAUREN.. i gotta feeling with 17 there gonna pull the double axe this season.

8.HOSEA ..first HIS JOB NOW THIS

7.ALEX....

6.Carla... her hair Finlay got to Padma

5.FABIO...after William Shaetner lost 30 lbs he bribed his private chef to come home.

TOP 4 ..RICHARD JEFF JAMIE ARIANE

4.RICHARD

3. ARIANE.

2.JEFF

1. WINNER . JAMIE LAUREN ..

That's all i got don't be surprised if I'm right on the money!! then again don't be surprised if Daniel takes it home.......

Rainy Days...

Today..hm mm a inspirational day. Felt great to be in the kitchen after missing a few days..My Organic Poussin came in and i was eager to play. I brine the Poussin in juniper,vanilla sugar, and smoked maldon sea salt..I THEN took a Very yummy chocolate and sun dried cranberry dressing my sous chef had made the day before and stuffed the bird...with the bird stuffed and trussed i massaged rosemary butter under the skin and let it set.Next i took sous vied chestnuts pureed them into a spaetzel batter with a little pumpkin spice. i roasted the bird and pan basted it with tons of rosemary butter...and gave it about a 7 minutes to rest.i saute the the fall chestnut spaetzel with a bit of braised cippolinni and young arrow head spinach...We paired the bird with a red Cali. Zinfandel.....you gotta love them rainy days.

it's been a while

to catch up a bit i just finished moving ..Back to my hometown of Fairhaven ,MA .. I love it here ...the restaurant is doing awesome .my fall Ala Cart menu is getting rave reviews,and like i always do when i release a menu have started looking at the winter menu my dinner menu now features 29 dishes from raw bar to entree a choice of 8 tapas selections at the bar ,7 dessert choices, and sun-Thur an additional 8 entree selections for the dinner for two .....that may be a little to much the prep work load is exhausting at the least . and having to trim staff hours and food cost..and ordering has me beckoning for an easy menu instead of focusing on the quantity of choices ....I'm gonna focus on making a smaller menu all that much more tasty..winter ideas as of this morning...Poisson stuffed with roasted mushroom .pearl barley risotto .Bordeaux redux ...simple yet freaking delicious ..I'm contemplating the veg..and maybe a bacony element to lift the umami in the mushroom. or what about the old cocoa nib and cauliflower trick..hm mm. I'm also in deep thought of tweaking iconic American cuisine i.e .. tomato soup ..A-1 steak sauce..i found a supplier that sells pop top aluminum cans ,and steak sauce bottles .. i could find the fonts that are used and create my own restaurant inspired labels. crane classic in the Campbell's soup font. D-2 steak sauce ...and present both to the diner as an interactive element of a dish..imagine if your waiter or waitress comes to your table places a bowl in front of you with a honey ricotta cannolli nestled at the bottom and pops the top on a can of gourmet soup canned 1 minute before in the kitchen . this could spark some child hood memory of mom fixing up some soup with snow gathering on the windowsill....aha nostalgic...i could also sell the bottled steak sauce at our gift shop..I've been flirting with these ideas for a while and i think its time to start.. curds,jams,jellies,we can do it all i just got to work out the kinks...I'm also thinking about doing a cookbook with each menu to give away the recipes .or accumulate the year in review and start releasing crane brook volumes 08' 09 ' etc....I'm a busy man and a very happy man. i will start posting gain daily ..so check back to see things unfold