Matthew Levin's FAHRENHEIT825:

Pork Belly

This pork belly dish was the on the menu at Lacroix about 4 months ago. We had a very successful run of pork belly with grilled cuttle fish, Cuban black beans and “BBQ” sauce. It wasn’t broken but I wanted to change it anyway. We had great success with the combination of pork belly and fish before, so I decided to try it another way. This version had baby Portuguese rock octopus, a Jamaican allspice fluid gel, a lightly pickled sweet potato salad and a super rich pork reduction. We cured the bellies in muscavado sugar, sea salt, and a lot of all spice, Ceylon cinnamon and basil. It cured for 24 hours before rinsing and then a slow braise at 160 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 hours. What was left was a velvety smooth almost custard like belly. As for pork belly and fish, we are 2 for 2. I don’t know what it is but it seems to be the difference in texture but pork belly and octopus or cuttle fish really work. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this combination and what you’ve served with belly lately.

Rabbit Meatballs

Rabbit meatballs with falafel, pine nut “risotto”, goats milk foam and licorice. We looked everywhere for these skewers, finally we found them on Williams and Sonoma’s website. I ordered them online, they came in and were too long, so we cut them down and then had points put back on them. The meatballs were a mixture of ground rabbit legs, foie gras, carrots, garlic, fat back and Middle Eastern spices like zhatar. The falafel was soaked chic peas, garlic, parsley, mint, basil and thaini paste. To make the pine nut risotto we soaked fresh pine nuts in water overnight. Then sweat some shallots in butter and cooked the pine nuts in the exact style of risotto, adding stock slowly and finishing with whipped cream and parmesan cheese. It really played tricks on your mind because it looked just like rice and had the creamy texture like risotto, but eat it and you will see that it ate like rice also. Crazy, but the flavor was intense pine nuts. This led to other dishes for tastings but this is the only dish that made the menu with the pine nut “risotto”. As a sauce we infused fresh goats milk with herbs and garlic, then added coarse lecithin and foamed it, this gave a good acidic richness to the dish that needed some lightening up. We finished with a rich rabbit reduction that had a good amount of licorice root in it and then melted black licorice into the sauce. It gave it a great dark color and a bite of anise. It was a pretty sexy dish that too a bit of time to get its legs on the menu, but once it did the comments were strong. Thanks to Jason Varney for this titties picture.

Valentine's Day Menu

Vanilla Poached Oysters

Winter Melon, Curry Drops

OR

Japanese Kampachi Tartare

Chipotle Miso, Tangerine Soup

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Alaskan King Crab

Foie Gras, Brussels Sprouts Leaves, Mango Vinegar, Mustard Seeds

OR

House Cured Lamb Salad

Strawberries, Chartreuse, Sesame Black Truffle Crackers

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Axis Venison Saddle

Eggplant Dumplings, Nori, Pomegranate Chips, Basil Purée

OR

Pompano Sous Vide

Cocoa Nibs

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Chocolate-Cherry Clafouti

Dark Chocolate, Morello Cherries, Vanilla Creme Anglaise

OR

Strawberry-Champagne Trifle

Champagne Cream, Macerated Strawberries, Rose Foam

The Bo Bo

Please bare with me I haven't posted in a few days because i've been super busy this week and now my dog Arthur a.k.a. the Bo Bo hurt his leg and has been laid up the past few days but we got him to the vet tonight and he is doing much better. Looks like a pulled muscle or ligament thank god. He's the man he was in the photo with me for style mags cover story a few months ago. I'm planning new posts starting this weekend with some tight new things we've got going on at Lacroix.

My Menu

Tasting Menu – Your Choice of Any

3 Plates  ____________________________                                                                   69

4 Plates  ____________________________                                                                    78

5 Plates ____________________________                                                                     85

Desserts are a Gift from Chef Levin

RAW

Maine Sweet Shrimp – White Soy, Apples, Menthol

Kobe Beef Sashimi – Shiitake, Cashew, Blis Maple, Mushroom Soy

($6 Supplemental)

Japanese Hamachi – Red Peppers, Marcona Almonds, Chicory

Vegetable

                        Warm Mozzarella – Hearts of Palm, Ginger, Kimchee Consommé

Celery Root Cubes – Pistachio, Smoked Caviar, Root Beer, Hot Powder

Banana – Mastic, Truffle, Majorero Cheese, Shortbread   

Shellfish

           Snails – Bone Marrow, Mushrooms, Coca Cola

Cold Water Lobster – Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Passion Fruit, Chai Flavors

Wild Red Lipped Abalone – Frozen Pink Grapefruit, Wasabi, Charcoal

($6 Supplemental)

fish

Spanish Mackerel – Beet Pearls, Green Olive, Sherry- Miso, Hazelnut

Black Sea Bass – Milk Poached Endive, Tater Tots, Thai Pepper

Spanish Octopus – Butternut Squash, Guinness, BBQ

Poultry / Game

           White Chocolate Chicken Wings – Smoked Paprika, Nori, Maldon Salt

                       Sika Venison Saddle – Avocado-gin Soup, Kohlrabi, Salmon Skin

Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras “Bacon” – Cornbread, Ranch Dressing

($6 Supplemental)

Meat

Veal Sweetbreads – Artichoke, Sesame, Kumquat

Veal Cheeks In Glass – Pears, Brussels Sprouts, Soft Egg

Elysian Fields Lamb Belly – Cucumber, Garoxta- Mustard Puree, Clams

* Vegetarian Options

2/3/2008

CHEESE SELECTION FROM AROUND THE WORLD

3 Cheeses $12 Additional – 6 Cheeses $18 Additional      

Please Refrain From Cellular Phone Use In The Dining Room, Thank You

Black Truffle Dinner

Hamachi Collar, Char Sui

Black Truffles, Kaffir Lime

Crémant, Marquis de la Tour Rosé, Brut

Loire Valley, NV

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Torchon of Foie Gras

With “White Chocolate Truffle Truffle”

Gewurztraminer, Clos Gaensbronnel

Grand Cru Kirchberg de Barr, Alsace, 2002

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Black Truffle Scallop Pie

Sous Couverture

Mercurey Rouge, Premier Cru, « Les Champs Martin »

Domaine Menand Père & Fils, Burgundy, 2000

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Whole Roasted Suckling Pig Table Side

“Pluie de Truffes”

Château du Courlat

Lussac Saint- Emilion, Bordeaux,  2000

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Fig and Chocolate Pavé

Black Truffle Ice Cream

Mas Amiel, Cuvée Spéciale « 10 ans d’âge>

Maury, Languedoc-Roussillon

Wing Bowl 16

Well I'm exhausted! Last night was the 1st of many future wing bowl all night tailgates.  Lee, Bernie, Adams, Jessie (Wally pussed out) and I spent the night cooking up sides of Hamachi, beer can chicken, burgers, dogs, rib-eyes and the most insane clams and chorizo that even made the frozen bread taste good.  The drinks and there were many included, Red Stripe,  shots of Patron, hot cider with spiced rum and of course Mexican coffee that Jessie made.  We got to the lot around 11pm Thursday night and partied till 5:30 am when we walked into the Wachovia center.   Highlights of the night included the huge bon-fire we had on Lawrence street, stupid amounts of food, Jessie and Bernie's "dirty white guy dance", the self guided tour of the Philadelphia fish market before we were escorted off by security and of course the rib eye Frisbee toss from my truck to Bernie’s window, followed by the burger beaming provided by Lee Majors.  Once we got inside it was crazy all my boys from WIP were there, Glen Macnow, Hugh Douglas, and all the morning crew. Hugh was texting me talking about this girls "under carriage" that girls "under carriage".  If I think about I can cry it was that funny... It’s 6am we’ve been up for 22 hours now and the alcohol is wearing off, sweet Adam says 1 hour till BEER! They were not selling beer until 7am so what better way to kill and hour than watching the parade of exploitment around the Wachovia center, from midgets in hockey helmets to beat up stripers.  Wow what a morning, stripers, midgets, balloons and beer, what more could anyone ever ask for?  Joey Chestnuts took the prize with a ridiculous 241 wings in 30 minutes; Adams owes Majors $5… Thank you to Glen, Hugh and everyone at WIP for the VIP passes.

basic chicken stock recipe

2 Chicken carcasses quartered

6 chicken wings (this will give your stock body)

1 1/2 gallons of water

2 medium Spanish onions peeled

1 carrot peeled

2 stalks of celery washed root and leaves removed

2 bay leaves

2 tbsp black peppercorns

3 cloves of garlic

4 sprigs of thyme

Method:

            Remove as much fat as possible from the chicken and place in colander into e sink allow cold water to run over it for 4-5 minutes to clean any excess blood, this will keep the stock from getting cloudy and prevent it from becoming bitter. After your bones are clean, put them in a large heavy bottom pot; make sure their will be enough room to completely cover with water by about two inches. Add the water and start to cook on medium high heat. While the water is heating, Dice your onions carrots and celery all to the same size and set aside with your other aromatics (the herbs, garlic, and spices). When the water comes up to a boil, turn the heat down and with a spoon start to skim the grayish froth that has formed on the surface along with any fat. These impurities are just coagulated proteins that will cloud your stock and mask the clean chicken flavor. At this point you are ready to add your vegetable and aromatics. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for about 4 hours, occasionally skimming anything that may float to the surface. After four hours carefully remove the hot stock from the stove and drain through a fine mesh sieve. The golden fragrant liquid you are left with is your chicken stock, ready to use for just about anything. Whatever you don’t intend to use immediately can be stored frozen in containers for later use.