Not According to Plan
© Henry Dombey/FACECOLLECTIVE
Can anyone say disaster? I think Dana Cowin can, only she pronounces it “cat food.”
Yes, this week’s challenge didn’t go quite as I had planned: a rustic French pork rillette to pair with the French pinot noir I had chosen. For those of you who aren’t familiar with rillette, it’s a rustic French dish similar to a spread-able pâté. It’s traditionally stored in a crock covered in fat and served as a spread with toast points. My first mistake was probably attempting a dish that I’d never done with pork before. I had made several rillettes, always with rabbit, in which case the rabbit is salted overnight, braised in stock or water until tender, shredded and mixed with duck or goose fat. Turns out, there’s a slight difference in technique between rabbit and pork rillette, which is that pork is braised in fat, while rabbit is braised in liquid.
My arguably larger mistake here was attempting this lengthy technique in our limited amount of time. I skipped the salting and curing stages in the interest of brevity, and without this preparation, the meat needed more time to braise, not less. Sometimes you can, in fact, make several mistakes in the course of a disaster. I had never timed a braised dish before, as it’s not a cooking method dictated by time. Mostly braising is used for cooking tougher cuts of meat where heat, time and moisture aid in breaking down the tough connective tisuue and collagens. When it’s done, it’s done, but not a minute sooner.
I’d like to think that when made properly, a pork rillette would have been an excellent pairing for that French Pinot Noir, though of course it’s hard to say. It wasn’t my first choice of the wines we tasted, nor my second, nor my third. I’m not much of a red wine drinker, truth be told, as it more often than not gives me a headache. When I do partake, I enjoy pinot noir and I almost exclusively drink varieties from the Russian River Valley. Ask any Pinot lover and they’ll tell you that the best California Pinot grapes come from the unique blend of Goldridge and Franciscan soil, from the early morning fog, from the warm days, cool nights and afternoon sea breezes you’ll find only in the Russian River Valley, in western Sonoma County. Living in San Francisco, I would never buy a French Pinot Noir. It would be a waste of food miles for it to travel around the globe, when I could get a superior wine two hour’s drive from my house.
My friend Kevin worked for a number of years at Navarro Vineyards and I usually rely on him to help me put food and wine together. Kevin’s terrific at pairing. On the day of this challenge, I certainly wished that I’d paid more attention to Kevin’s choices over the years and asked more questions when I had the chance. With my very little experience drinking French Pinot Noir, I took my first cue in planning the dish from the region itself. I took for granted that a French wine likely pairs with French food and right off the bat, committed myself to making a rillette. There was no going back. I really didn’t have the time to second guess this initial decision again until it was done.
But I knew something had gone wrong when I began mixing the shredded pork with the duck fat. Instead of the pâté-like consistency I knew it should have, the meat was stringy–probably a result of shredding it before the braise had really finished. Despite my best attempts to add more fat, in the form of butter when there was no more duck, I couldn’t smooth it out enough before the time ran out. Now I realize, of course, there was no fixing the texture at that point anyway.
Every chef has had a day in the kitchen when things don’t come out as they’d planned. I still remember, and so does my family, the time I made blueberry muffins when I was seven and I added 1T of baking powder instead of 1t. I’m sure I’ll never live it down. But in the interest of learning from my mistakes on this show, I spent some time researching pork rillette upon my return home and gave it another go. This time, I followed the salting and curing process to the letter and then confit the pork in pork fat. This time, with experience on my side, the dish was a success.
I love that in cooking, there are always lessons to be learned. Don’t rush a salt curing or a braising, cook the pork in fat and perhaps most importantly, don’t experiment with something new while competing on Top Chef. It’s not the proper arena.
Hi Chef Laurine,
I’ve finally gotten around to teaching myself to cook. I don’t know how I put off learning kitchen skills for so long, but somehow it happened. Anyway, I just bought a food processor the other day and suddenly I feel like I can start advising reality TV show contestants on cooking. Food processing has that sort of affect on me.
Anyway, so I made this pesto with fresh basil and ridiculously expensive pine nuts the other day because there was a recipe for it in my food processor manual. So there I was eating some pasta and pesto and I realized that pesto has never really been something I gravitate toward when I go to an italian restaurant. Why had I actually spent time preparing pesto when there were so many other things I could have prepared that I would have enjoyed more? Uh, I didn’t know the answer to that. I think I was having some unrealistic basil fantasies or something at the time.
Anyway, so the whole thing got me thinking about how I wanted to approach recipes in my culinary learning process and that lead me to drawing up a list of things I like to eat. So I came up with a few food paths I want to go down:
Fennel seeds- I’ve always liked them. I love rye bread. I should figure out how to use them in recipes.
Bacon- It’s a great flavor. It also seems unforgiving. I need to figure out how to incorporate it into things.
Scallops- I love the texture of them and their subtle sweetness. I should find recipes and sauces for them.
Oregano, Basil, Parsely – They seem like the meat and potatoes of the spice rack, but I can’t argue with that. I like them.
Anyway, I could on about eggs, cheeses, red sauces, chiles, etc., but I’m really just using these food elements to point out that I’m defining some fundamentals for my kitchen. It seems to me that a lot of the Top Chefs lose track of their fundamentals. I think the best chefs stick with their basics, as best they can, and make sure everything is cooked properly. You might not have the tastiest dish, but don’t let anybody have an opportunity to criticize a dish for not being prepared properly. Okay, I have to get back to my food processor. Good luck. Oh, and by the way, I think you should stay away from ceviches. It seems like for every 5 ceviches 3 of them fail. And when they fail, they fail hard.