Trail Blais was at MOSH in Jacksonville Florida on Friday night. We served as the special guest and caterer and I put on 3 demonstrations inside of their science theater.
This trip was full of behind the scenes drama. It actually would have been the perfect pilot for “Trail Blais” the TV show.
Hypothetically speaking….
Would you watch a show where a rising celebrity chef ( sorry, what else do I call it ) and his team of diverse culinary talent, travel to a Science museum, and work alongside a dysfunctional local caterer. Shot in two drastically different backdrops; a beautiful science and history museum and a 30 year old “catering facility” that I can best describe as a pirate ship, a sinking pirate ship. BTW, the pirates themselves were helpful, nice guys and in the spirit of international football, we traded our blue aprons for their eye patches.
Watch the drama unfold between the guest chef and the local restaurateur obnoxiously protecting his turf. Witness the palpable stress of the pretty PR rep trying to be the glue holding it all together.
Do you want to know what the oldest stock pot in the world looks like ?
Do you enjoy karaoke ?
Have an interest in molecular gastronomy ?
Feel at home with an escort of storm troopers ? (I do, in fact. Look for this. I may just start traveling with Vader’s 501st)
Then, perhaps you would have enjoyed this trip… as a television episode.
Of course, it wasn’t.
The event was a smashing success. MOSH got a great turn out. The guests were more than awesome and once again I feel like I made a few hundred new friends.
In fact, we have been invited back for next year, and I can guarantee it will be a killer show. Bigger, better and stronger.
Culinarily, it was a trip that reminded me of how important some basic things are in our kitchen. Deli containers, green tape (shit, any color tape) vacuum bags, 9 pans (hell, any pans ) and most importantly.... enthusiastic help. All of which were in demand at some point during the weekend.
The presentation, with a science lab as our stage ( how freaking cool is that ), was a good push. This was the first time where we demonstrated a wide array of techniques.
Too many people to thank individually, but thanks to all.
Looking forward to rolling deep at MOSH next year with an army of culinary students… and storm troopers.
Off to NYC, as soon as I clean up the glass from my broken car window. Who breaks into a car for sneakers?
Showing posts with label LN2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label LN2. Show all posts
Monday, September 15, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Oooo Buuurn!
Antonia Lofaso's (http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/4/bios/index.php?cat=chef&p=antonia ) liquid nitrogen burn (on her foot) from our last tour stop in LA. I've seen better!
More to come on my trip to the West Coast.....
Thursday, August 7, 2008
The Misadventures of Markus Cannon
I'm back from Jamaica from my participation in RTI. RTI is similar to Spring Break in Jamaica. Although my spring break experience is limited, I don't think our version would stand a chance in a competition.
What a trip! Since I am from New York and have a best friend that is Jamaican, I'm into dancehall reggae music and I would say that is a prerequisite to have fun down there (at least it helps). I brought Mark Nanna, now officially recognized in the Jamaican media as Mark Cannon, and since renamed Markus Cannon by me (http://jahkno.com/party-reviews/daydreams-was-more-than-all-white-for-rti ). This is my second trip to JA with Marco, and my third trip in the calendar year working with Red Stripe beer on innovation and events.
Our work had us running a molecular mixology bar at 4 of the main parties over the weekend. We learned many lessons from cooking / mixing for thousands of people at a time.
Mainly, it's as close to chaos, a good chaos mind you, that you'll want to get to.
And we hope we get invited back next year!
“Big Up” to Donette for handling us, and Safia for putting up with my relentless e-mails and text messages.
One of the featured drinks...
"My Thai"
some good jamaican rum (Not Appleton, as they are Red Stripes mortal brand enemy!)
mashed up cilantro, thai basil, lemongrass, ginger, mint
double the rum with a lime punch
and finish by floating some red stripe beer, ginger beer, or citrus soda
and if you have it, a swirl of some liquid nitrogen
As I thought about the events on the trip home, and how many people were at each one, I was really left with a very cool feeling about Jamaican people. I mean I didn't see one fight, one almost fight, nothing. And I can't even imagine the last concert or house party I was at that didn't produce some drama. The closest thing to a fight was Mark and I arguing over whether or not to go to an after party....... I won....... we didn't.
And BTW, the resort we were booked at was a nude resort. However, I couldn't convince Mark to trot down to the beach in only flip flops. You don’t get to do that often, I thought it would be fun.
Items left at hotel : a tee shirt and a pair of grey socks.
What a trip! Since I am from New York and have a best friend that is Jamaican, I'm into dancehall reggae music and I would say that is a prerequisite to have fun down there (at least it helps). I brought Mark Nanna, now officially recognized in the Jamaican media as Mark Cannon, and since renamed Markus Cannon by me (http://jahkno.com/party-reviews/daydreams-was-more-than-all-white-for-rti ). This is my second trip to JA with Marco, and my third trip in the calendar year working with Red Stripe beer on innovation and events.
Our work had us running a molecular mixology bar at 4 of the main parties over the weekend. We learned many lessons from cooking / mixing for thousands of people at a time.
Mainly, it's as close to chaos, a good chaos mind you, that you'll want to get to.
And we hope we get invited back next year!
“Big Up” to Donette for handling us, and Safia for putting up with my relentless e-mails and text messages.
One of the featured drinks...
"My Thai"
some good jamaican rum (Not Appleton, as they are Red Stripes mortal brand enemy!)
mashed up cilantro, thai basil, lemongrass, ginger, mint
double the rum with a lime punch
and finish by floating some red stripe beer, ginger beer, or citrus soda
and if you have it, a swirl of some liquid nitrogen
As I thought about the events on the trip home, and how many people were at each one, I was really left with a very cool feeling about Jamaican people. I mean I didn't see one fight, one almost fight, nothing. And I can't even imagine the last concert or house party I was at that didn't produce some drama. The closest thing to a fight was Mark and I arguing over whether or not to go to an after party....... I won....... we didn't.
And BTW, the resort we were booked at was a nude resort. However, I couldn't convince Mark to trot down to the beach in only flip flops. You don’t get to do that often, I thought it would be fun.
Items left at hotel : a tee shirt and a pair of grey socks.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Who freezes popcorn?
Garrett Popcorn event in NYC
So I randomly got involved with Garrett popcorn. Garrett is a nostalgic gourmet popcorn company based out of Chicago, and recently just opened up a few shoppes in NYC. My mission was to help develop a summer time treat featuring their product, and with the request of using liquid nitrogen, we decided to develop “popcornsicles”
Now many people will think that dipping a popcorn ball on a stick in liquid nitrogen is crazy, and groundbreaking, and well, it is I guess, but it’s also something science teachers have been doing for years. I only address this, because someone, who has way too much time is going to find out that many creative chefs have played around with popcorn and liquid nitrogen, and then someone is going to say he stole that, she did that first, and here we go with the never ending shit storm that the haters bring to the table. Any time more than 1 chef has a similar idea that involves very creative cooking people rush to call him a thief. But no one does this for French fries ?
Off topic, I know.... but if you research some very old science material and work books, you will stumble across these things, like for example, Ferran Adria’s caviar. Now, of course these textbooks don’t have them flavored with apple, or packaged, but you get the point.
So during the 4 days in NYC this past week, a lot happened.
Me and Billy, one of my sous chefs served over 4,000 popcornsicles for free, to everyone ranging from media to, well, honestly, the homeless. It was a great undertaking, and a great experiment for me, as it proved that people easily embrace creative cooking when combined with a familiar flavor. It was very easy to give away a caramel and cheese popcorn ball, even though it was smoking and dipped in liquid nitrogen. Most people find liquid nitrogen scary and/or dangerous. But people know caramel and popcorn, and it made the risk of experiencing something new less intimidating. If we served the popcorn w/o the nitrogen but with an unusual flavor profile, it would not have been received as well. Just some thoughts, but useful ones to me, as I do feel super creative cooking will only grow if it can tip into the mainstream.
I met with a well known publishing house who contacted me in regards to putting together a book. This is crazy, I have always wanted to do this, and also just crazy that they contacted me.
I pitched a television show to a major executive for a major network. I can’t go into it much further, but I couldn’t scrape the Seinfeld episode out of my mind where they pitch what is basically the Seinfeld show to NBC. Also, while we were in Jamaica, Mark and I came up with a
television show based on our driver, called “Driving with Mr. Ricos” or the working title in Jamaica of course “ Soon come...” Even though I was pitching a food show, I figured if it wasn’t going well, that “ Soon come...” would be my last resort, and maybe a way to lighten up the pitch…..
We marched around NYC a lot. And I realized that I don’t just miss being in NYC, but that I need to be in NYC more often. I was literally just running into so many people who write for that magazine, or represent that company, or run those events, or operate those restaurants.
Bullfrog & Baum rock the house…
And we appeared on the TODAY show. Now I’ve done a bit of TV, Top chef, Iron chef, a lot of local stuff, but the TODAY show is like a pretty big deal to me. Needless to say, I was a touch intimidated, as the digital preview to the show read. Morgan Freeman, Meryl Streep, Heidi Klum, and Richard Blais... Richard who ?
I walked by Heidi, couldn’t get enough nerve to say hello, I bumped square into Matt Lauer, and then of course I did the bit with Hoda and Kathie Lee. I grew up with Kathie Lee man, that’s crazytown…
So the Garrett event went well. I hope they invite me to do more work with the brand, they are good people for sure.
So I randomly got involved with Garrett popcorn. Garrett is a nostalgic gourmet popcorn company based out of Chicago, and recently just opened up a few shoppes in NYC. My mission was to help develop a summer time treat featuring their product, and with the request of using liquid nitrogen, we decided to develop “popcornsicles”
Now many people will think that dipping a popcorn ball on a stick in liquid nitrogen is crazy, and groundbreaking, and well, it is I guess, but it’s also something science teachers have been doing for years. I only address this, because someone, who has way too much time is going to find out that many creative chefs have played around with popcorn and liquid nitrogen, and then someone is going to say he stole that, she did that first, and here we go with the never ending shit storm that the haters bring to the table. Any time more than 1 chef has a similar idea that involves very creative cooking people rush to call him a thief. But no one does this for French fries ?
Off topic, I know.... but if you research some very old science material and work books, you will stumble across these things, like for example, Ferran Adria’s caviar. Now, of course these textbooks don’t have them flavored with apple, or packaged, but you get the point.
So during the 4 days in NYC this past week, a lot happened.
Me and Billy, one of my sous chefs served over 4,000 popcornsicles for free, to everyone ranging from media to, well, honestly, the homeless. It was a great undertaking, and a great experiment for me, as it proved that people easily embrace creative cooking when combined with a familiar flavor. It was very easy to give away a caramel and cheese popcorn ball, even though it was smoking and dipped in liquid nitrogen. Most people find liquid nitrogen scary and/or dangerous. But people know caramel and popcorn, and it made the risk of experiencing something new less intimidating. If we served the popcorn w/o the nitrogen but with an unusual flavor profile, it would not have been received as well. Just some thoughts, but useful ones to me, as I do feel super creative cooking will only grow if it can tip into the mainstream.
I met with a well known publishing house who contacted me in regards to putting together a book. This is crazy, I have always wanted to do this, and also just crazy that they contacted me.
I pitched a television show to a major executive for a major network. I can’t go into it much further, but I couldn’t scrape the Seinfeld episode out of my mind where they pitch what is basically the Seinfeld show to NBC. Also, while we were in Jamaica, Mark and I came up with a
television show based on our driver, called “Driving with Mr. Ricos” or the working title in Jamaica of course “ Soon come...” Even though I was pitching a food show, I figured if it wasn’t going well, that “ Soon come...” would be my last resort, and maybe a way to lighten up the pitch…..
We marched around NYC a lot. And I realized that I don’t just miss being in NYC, but that I need to be in NYC more often. I was literally just running into so many people who write for that magazine, or represent that company, or run those events, or operate those restaurants.
Bullfrog & Baum rock the house…
And we appeared on the TODAY show. Now I’ve done a bit of TV, Top chef, Iron chef, a lot of local stuff, but the TODAY show is like a pretty big deal to me. Needless to say, I was a touch intimidated, as the digital preview to the show read. Morgan Freeman, Meryl Streep, Heidi Klum, and Richard Blais... Richard who ?
I walked by Heidi, couldn’t get enough nerve to say hello, I bumped square into Matt Lauer, and then of course I did the bit with Hoda and Kathie Lee. I grew up with Kathie Lee man, that’s crazytown…
So the Garrett event went well. I hope they invite me to do more work with the brand, they are good people for sure.
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