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The recipes that follow are from my recently published cookbook, A Cook’s Table (co-authored with Todd Wernstrom). The recipes in the book are really a compendium of my many years in professional kitchens in my native Denmark, San Francisco and Miami at Two Chefs, my restaurant that has been serving dishes like those that follow for more than 30 years. All of the recipes employ classical French technique and many are among restaurant greatest hits. Many others are updates on the classics while still others touch on many other cuisines. All of them deliver lots of flavor. You will see that there are wine recommendations for each dish. The book has a very significant wine component that will make food and wine pairing easy (ordering info below). Enjoy!
Oysters Rockefeller
Serves 6
Unlike the origin stories of many famous old recipes, this one may actually be true. Because of a shortage of snails, Jules Alciatore, chef at New Orleans’ legendary—even at that time—Antoine’s (founded in 1840 by his father, Antoine) in 1889 (or 1899, depending on your sources) substituted the readily available local oysters. He christened the dish “Oysters Rockefeller” in honor of the Standard Oil tycoon—would-be monopolist, if you prefer!—John D., then said to be the richest man in the world.
The dish, while not complicated, has been part of the standard repertoire, particularly in steakhouses, for generations. But the recipe has been bastardized over the years and is now largely made with creamed spinach and breadcrumbs. According to my research, spinach came into use primarily to save prep time while still retaining the bright green color presentation.
When choosing your oyster, try to find a large variety, like the French Belon. Whichever variety you go with, you’re looking for a very plump and briny one, which will work extremely well with the green topping and licorice flavor of the Pernod. The parallels to oysters done in the Burgundian fashion are obvious and would have most likely been the inspiration for the dish.
Ingredients:
● 18 large oysters, shucked
● 1/4 lb butter
● 1/2 cup chopped shallots
● 3 garlic cloves, chopped
● 3 large bunches of Italian flat leaf parsley twisted and torn from the stems
● 3 large celery stalks
● 1 small to medium leek, rinsed
● 1 bunch scallions
● finely grated zest from 1 lemon
● generous splash of Pernod
● black pepper
● 2 cups panko or other breadcrumbs
The topping:
Finely chop parsley by hand, starting with a chiffonade, then continue to chop until a rough, chunky consistency is achieved. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Slice the leek and scallion thinly by hand, then chop them the same way the parsley was done. Transfer to the bowl. Slice celery stalks thinly, then chop similarly to the way the parsley, leek and scallion were done. Transfer to the bowl. (If this seems like a lot of chopping by hand, it is best done this way so as to not crush the fibers of the ingredients which would then release any of their bitter qualities. Yes, you could use a blender but you’d risk making the mixture into mush rather than a textured topping for the oysters. After all, I can’t imagine Chef Jules shouting for a blender in 1889!)
Next, melt the butter in a small pot, but do not let it color, then add shallots and garlic, and cook until tender for 2-3 minutes. Add the Pernod and let the butter mixture temper a few minutes, then pour it over the “green” mixture. With your hand, mix gently, squeezing the ingredients together to a chunky paste. If you feel the mixture is in need of more moisture in order to keep together, then melt a little butter and add in.
Place the opened oysters on a thick bed of salt so they don’t tip over and lose their precious juices. Place a dollop of the “green” mixture on top of each oyster, covering the whole animal. Sprinkle a generous and even layer of breadcrumbs on top of this. Place the oyster underneath a medium-hot broiler until browned. Serve with lemon wedges.
Kitchen Wisdom:
Oysters Rockefeller is best made fresh, cooked and served, but it allows for an advance preparation, kept cold after being cooked. But in that case, remember that it’s essentially an ice cube you’re browning in the broiler, therefore there will be a longer cooking time, so use the oven to kick start the process. Chop the ingredients by hand, it’s worth the effort.
What to drink:
Give in to your inner John D. and splurge on a vintage Blanc de Blancs here. The dish is obviously rich so the wine’s great acidity will be welcome and the complexity of an aged Champagne in this category would be as well. If you’re not feeling quite so flush, really any style (except Rosé) would do as long as the wine doesn’t have an extreme amount of bottle age.
Hamburger with Smothered Onions and Sunny-Side-Up Egg
Serves 4
A hamburger must be the most written-about dish, and with the most opinions on how to best make it. My “first” hamburger—other than the fast-food species—dates to my time at Stars in San Francisco. It was the first time I had seen meat ground specifically to become hamburgers.
We aimed for a ratio of 80 percent lean meat to 20 percent fat.
It’s important to rest the burger and flip it a few times before serving so juices won’t escape and ruin a perfectly toasted bun. Speaking of which, the bun should be 10 percent larger than the cooked meat patty. This is a really important point but often not mentioned. Important because each bite will cause the burger to shift a bit, pushing it toward the other side of the bun. The larger bun will allow you the pleasure of a juicy bite without the need to triage the burger and the positioning of the toppings.
The meat should be a perfectly shaped patty, gently formed rather than pressed or slapped together with warm hands—to do so will result in overworking the meat causing some of the fat to begin separating from the lean. It should not be seasoned ahead, as salt will extract moisture from the meat, drying it out and making a proper sear not possible.
Now here is a point that will not please those of us—myself included!—who feel that just being outdoors working the grill is the highlight of cooking and serving a hamburger, but the simple fact is that a hot skillet will produce the best product.
The bun, which allows for the visceral, hands-on-eating approach, while messier than the knife-and-fork technique, should be made the day before. Do not use a fresh bun, as it is less qualified for receiving and absorbing the juices from all components of a properly cooked and dressed burger. It’s likely to have disintegrated halfway through the eating process. The bun should be toasted with a smear of butter under a broiler to golden brown. Flipping each half to repeat the crust on the other side works, too.
Lettuce, tomato and onion, typically all in their raw states, are standard additions, but personally, I don’t like raw onion unless it’s somehow combined with an acid, like in a ceviche. And also because raw onion has a way of waking up my esophagus a few hours later!
While sauces/condiments, like mustard, ketchup, relishes, flavored mayos and more recently, hot sauces, have long been essential players, to me, in the end, they really add up to being distractions. The star—and point—is the meat patty served between layers of bread. I don’t pretend that I can convert anyone to my way of thinking. I’d only ask that you try it without any of them once to see if it works for you. That said, I do welcome an egg cooked sunny side up, maybe even poached, if the burger seems too naked to you. And if onions are a desired component then cook them first, caramelized in a skillet, so they offer a sweet flavor rather than a harsh vinegar note. Between these two, they offer everything a hamburger might need to accentuate juiciness (the egg yolk) and the smothered onions can complement the dish in a way that prevents indigestion for those who have issues with raw onions like me.
As for the addition of cheese, if you are so inclined, choose a flavorful one. I’m a fan of Gruyère. Mozzarella, even low moisture, seems too gooey. Cheddar would work as well.
Again, it’s your burger, but for me, tomato, despite its long and proud burger lineage, isn’t necessary. Better to serve a tomato side salad so that the tomato’s acidity doesn’t clash with the burger.
Give the hamburger a small squeeze to break the egg yolk and let that become your additional moisture for your cooked hamburger. Pick it up and start from one end, finish at the other, and by all means, please don’t cut the burger in half!
● 4 9-oz hamburger patties, formed as instructed above, scored, and with a small indentation in the middle which prevents the burger from puffing up; this will yield 4 8-oz burgers when cooked
● 2 garlic cloves
● 1 sprig rosemary
● 1 sprig thyme
● 1/2 stick butter
● 1 oz olive oil
Heat a large skillet (or two mediums) to medium-high heat, add the olive oil, and once hot, place a patty in each quarter of the skillet. Do not touch them once placed in the pan.
Space them out so that they are neither right up against the edges of the pan or so far from the pan’s center where the heat is concentrated. So, it is crucial that your pan be the right size for four at a time. If not, better to do two at a time.
Sear and brown them to an amber color, flip them, add the butter, garlic and fresh herbs to the middle of the pan and swirl. Once browned thoroughly, turn off the heat, flip patties again, and after 2 minutes, flip again. Then place cheese on top if using.
● 2 onions, julienned lengthwise
● olive oil
Sauté the onions in a skillet until tender and golden brown, and season with salt and pepper.
● 4 whole eggs
● olive oil
Crack the eggs into a heated skillet, allowing them to cook gently until the whites are set. Transfer with a spatula to the hamburgers and serve.
Kitchen Wisdom:
When starting to cook the hamburger patties, score each side of them with a knife, make a small indentation (small crater) in the middle of each. This will prevent the burger from puffing up or doming in the middle.
What to drink:
This is a great example of a dish that would be suited to essentially any style of Cab. The only tricky thing is that if you go rogue—which by all means you should feel free to do!—by making your burger really spicy or accented by exotic flavoring agents. It seems that many are no longer content with the traditional burger “canvass.” In the case of adding heat, you’ll have to ratchet down the “bigness” of the wine or the alcohol will make the spiciness even more pronounced.
Enjoy.
I hope I have inspired you to have a bit of fun, maybe challenge a dusty pot and pan to return to the stove. Otherwise, call 305-663-2100 for reservations.
Jan Jorgensen, Two Chefs Restaurant
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