“ideas in food” workshop

Most of you know I have the greatest job in the whole world. I work on the most amazing yacht on the water with the greatest owners and the best crew ever. I love my boss’ from Motor Yacht Salu. And they love me too. They have given me the opportunity to travel and learn food to bring back and use for the Owner and Charter season in the Mediterranean for 2011.

This year I will be working with Chefs, Dean Fearing, Chef De Cuisine Eric Dreyer and Pastry Chef Jill Bates of Fearing’s Restaurant at the Ritz Carleton in Dallas.

I started working at Fearing’s restaurant early in January 2011 and will continue after the workshop in Philly. I’ve worked only a short amount of time, but learned so much already. Different frying techniques, smoking, braising, breading, plating, garnishing and just cooking in general.

After I come back from Philly I’ll be helping my long time mentor Chef Tre Wilcox open his new restaurant called Marque. I’m going to be the saucier making all the stocks, soups and sauces. Hopefully Tre will let me experiment with all the new techniques and ingredients I’ve learned from Alex and Aki.

My off season learning time is really going to start with workshops from Chefs H. Alexander Talbot and Aki Kamozawa of the web blog “Ideas In Food.” I have eleven straight days of classes from two chefs who consult for and with chefs like Wylie Dufresne and Harold McGee. Harold McGee could be considered one of the God Fathers of the current culinary movement known to some as “Modern Cuisine.” They hate Molecular Gastronomy. .

Wylie Dufresne is the chef/owner of WD-50 in NYC. He’s making things like fried mayonnaise and real noodles made out of shrimp. These chefs can make blueberries into “glass.” And freeze foie gras with liquid nitrogen and turn it into powder.

With Alex and Aki I am going to be thrown into a world with temperature controlled circulating water tanks, chamber vacuum sealing machines, meats and vegetables to cook “Sous Vide.” I’ll dehydrate pig skin to make cracklings. All sorts of Hydrocolloids to thicken and bind foods to make gels and foams. I’m even going to use a product that bind proteins using live enzymes. Imagine turning a puree of shrimp into “noodles” that look and feel just like spaghetti

Chef adam aschner 2011
Link to adamthecehf.com

I have been working on the yachts now for over six years. I’ve kinda come to a place in my career where I need to cook hands on with other chefs. Sure I have more cooking books than most. I study chefs and restaurants from all over the world thanks to the World Wide Web. But I really feel the need to further my education. So that’s what I’m doing. I’m taking four months this year to cook with as many chefs as I can.