Two Jews One Kitchen

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Bone Marrow Bucatini with Squid

What seemed to be the hardest part to breaking down the steer is extracting the femur. The femur is connected to a lot of different cuts of the animal and it is also very heavy, so the process is both long and tiring. However, Pat La Frieda made it seem effortless. Once the femur was extracted, Pat brought it over to the electric serrated saw and cut it right in half to show us the bone marrow inside. When we were done butchering the steer and Pat was loading up a box with meat for us to take home we asked if we could take the split femur as well. He seemed surprised that we wanted it, but he was happy to give it to us.

When we asked for the bone marrow we thought we were simply going to roast it in the oven and make a toast with it as a snack. But we were inspired by a pasta dish at Marea; the two Michelin star restaurant owned by chef Michael White. His bone marrow fusilli with wine braised baby octopus has become a world renowned dish and is one of our favorite plates of pasta in the city. We decided to do our own rendition of this dish using squid instead of baby octopus and bucatini instead of fusilli.

To start the dish we needed to brine the marrow for a whole day in salt water. We decided that we were going to pan sear the bone marrow instead of roasting them in the oven, so it made sense to debone the marrow before brining them. To do this we put the halved femur bones into a warm water bath for 15 minutes to get the marrow soft and then scooped it out.

Then we transferred the marrow to a brine to extract the blood from the marrow. Over the 24 hour period we rinsed the marrow and put it in a new brine every 6 hours.

When the brining process was over and we were ready to start cooking the tomato sauce, we took the marrow out and diced it up into cubes and set it aside on a plate for later in the cooking process.

We then started to cook the tomato sauce. We believe that the key to fantastic tomato sauce is using both fresh tomatoes and canned tomatoes. To make the sauce we started by cooking some diced onions and shallots in a good amount of olive oil. Once that became soft we threw in about two things of canned tomatoes that had been mushed in a bowl, some diced fresh tomato and some thyme sprigs. We let that simmer for about an hour trying to thicken it up as we doctored it with salt and pepper.

Once the tomato sauce had the consistency we were looking for we started cooking the bucatini and the squid. We got squid tubes and tentacles and sliced the tubes into thick circles and left the tentacles whole. We cooking the squid in olive oil with salt and pepper until it started to barely get crispy and then we discarded the cooking juices and tossed the squid into the tomato sauce.

We then took the cubed marrow and put them in a pan with a light splash of olive oil. We cooked the marrow for about a minute until about half of it had melted into the olive oil and the rest was soft and delicate.

We then tossed all of that into the tomato sauce as well with some chopped basil.

The bucatini was perfectly cooked by the time the sauce was done. So we took tongs and transferred the bucatini from the cooking water to the tomato sauce. Once we stirred it all together we plated it in a bowl with some slices of baguette and sprinkled parmesan cheese on top. It tasted absurdly delicious.

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Marinated Hanger Steak

Hanger steak is one of our favorite cuts of beef. When we went to Pat La Frieda’s to butcher a steer we saw every single cut besides the hanger. This is because the hanger is in the middle of the steer. They split the animal in half along the spine before the butchering process starts, and if the hanger was still inside it would get shredded. So, the butchers take it out as the first steps in the butchering process. Although we didn’t see it taken out of the steer we got to get familiar with, Pat was gracious enough to give us some hangers to take home.

Hanger steaks can be prepared in many different ways. However, growing up we have been accustomed to seeing them marinated for about a day and then grilled to perfection. Typically this marinade consists of soy sauce, red wine vinegar, and honey. We were contemplating doing this marinade on the hanger, but we opted to be creative and do a take on this classic Wilson family dish.

We marinaded three hanger steaks in ponzu sauce, chili paste, grapefruit juice, burnt sesame oil, vegetable oil, and a sliced jalepeño. When making a marinade you really have to trust your flavor palate and taste the marinade as you make it so you can doctor it. 

The next day for lunch we took out the hanger steaks and threw them on the grill. We let them cook on each side for about 5-6 minutes and let them sit for 3 minutes after to finish cooking.

As we grilled the steaks our friend Jonas, who came over for lunch, started to make a salad. He took whatever vegetables he could find in our refrigerator and cut them up. He then dressed the salad with balsamic vinegar, a touch of dijon mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Everything was quite delicious for the mid afternoon lunch, and it only took us 10 minutes to cook since we prepped the marinade the day before.

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Decoy Peking Duck Feast

We were invited to a new Peking Duck restaurant for friends and family night to try their first night of service. We were excited because we knew that it was going to be fantastic food since it is owned by the same person as Red Farm, our favorite Chinese spot in the city. In fact, it is right underneath Red Farm in the West Village.

The meal started off with some complimentary vegetables for the table, which were perfectly seasoned with flavor. The pickled curried cauliflower, which is the closest in the photo, was probably one of the best pickled items we have ever tasted. The mango, which is on the right, was perfectly ripe and had great sweet and savory notes at the same time. 

For appetizers we got two things that were recommended by the owner of the restaurant. The shrimp dumplings and the crispy branzino skin. The shrimp dumplings are also served at Red Farm upstairs, but we loved them so much that we thought we would order them. They did not disappoint. The dumpling's outer layer was extremely thin and had a nice doughy texture to it. However, the light dough let the shrimp speak for itself and when the sauce oozed out after penetration it was truly remarkable. 

The crispy branzino skin was something that we have never seen before on a menu and we were excited to try it. When it came to the table we could barely tell that it was fish skin. After admiring the presentation of the dish we tasted the pieces of skin and found them to be delicious. The crunch of the thick skin made for a beautiful texture and the skin melted in our mouths in a couple seconds. It wasn't as fishy as we thought it was going to be and was extremely salty. Quite delicious.

The Peking Duck was presented as the all star dish on the menu. It had its own section and it was apparent that they prided themselves on it. It came right in between the appetizers and the main course. We have not found a great peking duck spot since the closing Chinatown Brasserie, which was located on Lafayette and Great Jones Place. However, this is definitely our new peking duck spot. Their duck was perfectly tender with a crispy skin. You can tell a good peking duck by its skin, and this one definitely passed our test. The whole plate was gone within minutes as well as the four sweet and savory dipping sauces including hoisin, soy, and peanut.

Then for our main course we shared the Lobster and the Jerk Chicken. These were both fantastic but we were already so full after the peking duck course. However the Lobster and Chicken were both beautifully seasoned, cooked, and executed and couldn't have been much better. The lobster was a bit hard to get out of the shell, which should be expected when eating lobster, but we weren't afraid of getting involved with the dish so it was fine. When it came to the chicken it was easy to eat except for the sticky sauce it left on your fingers. We will order both of these dishes again when we go back.

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Braised Short Ribs with Celery Root Purée

We have yet to braise anything during this project, so we decided to braise the beautiful short ribs from Pat La Frieda. We received many suggestions on how to do this, but we listened to our close friend Alex, who has cooked in numerous New York City restaurants. He told us to pan sear the short ribs and then marinate them over night before braising them. We had never heard about this technique, but we trusted him.

On the first day we pan seared the short ribs for 5 minutes on each side and then made the marinade to accompany it. 

The marinade started with a mirepoix, which is a combination of onions, carrots, and celery. 

Once the mirepoix became soft, which took about 15-20 minutes on a low to medium flame, we added 4 sprigs of thyme and a whole 750 ml bottle of dry red wine. We used an ‘02 South African Lindhorst. 

After the wine is added the marinade needs to be reduced to about half of its original volume on a medium heat. Once the wine is reduced, the whole hot marinade is poured over the short ribs in an oven proof deep pan. It is important to make sure that the marinade completely covers the short ribs, because this is where it gains most of its flavor. Leave the marinade to sit over night in the fridge, flipping the short ribs once half way through the process. 

The next day we took the short ribs out of the fridge and cooked them in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour and a half. After an hour and a half we took the short ribs out of the oven, ran the marinade through a mesh sieve, and put 2 cups of the remaining juice back over the ribs.

We then put the ribs back in the oven and broiled them for 45 minutes, flipping them every 15 minutes. After this the meat should fall right off the bone and should be easily cut with a butter knife.

To accompany the braised short ribs we wanted to do classic mashed potatoes. However, we knew that this may make the dish too heavy since the short ribs are extremely fatty. So, we went with a lighter option; a celery root purée. We had a celery root purée at Eleven Madison earlier during this project and we were inspired to make our own version.

To do this we chopped up an onion, a medium potato, and a large celery root. We brought 2 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of chicken stock, and a cup of water to a boil. Once it got to a boil we threw in the chopped vegetables and let them soak in the broth for around 20 minutes until they got soft.

Then we drained the cooking liquid out of the pot and put the remains in a food processor with some salt, pepper, and 3 tablespoons of butter. Once the concoction is pulsated it is ready to go right on the plate. 

It was very tasty and we highly recommend making this dish. The short rib melted in our mouths and the purée had a perfect light texture with a copious amount of celery flavor.

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Our Trip to Pat La Frieda's

Josh's mom scored us a private tour through Pat La Frieda's butchery with Pat himself. This included a lesson on how to butcher a full steer. His butchery used to be located in the west village, but recently moved out to New Jersey for a larger space.

When we got there Pat greeted us at the door with a huge smile on his face and brought us into the factory. He showed us a couple rooms where the butchering happens and in one of them was the steer we were going to break down with him. We got to see employees at work grinding up beef for the shake shack burgers, which are sourced from Pat La Frieda's. He brought us in the back room where they age certain cuts of meats. The smell of this room was fantastic and unlike anything we have ever experienced. There was more steak in the room than we could count, so we wont give you an estimate of how many cuts were inside. However, this photo shows about 25% of the room, and we saw two of these rooms.

We then went on to butcher the steer with Pat. He told us that he has been butchering various meats with his dad since he was 10. He told us that the steer was about 1000 pounds and from the second he started to carve into it, it was obvious that he was an expert. Throughout this 3 hour process he answered all of our questions and explained the differences in each cut. He was laid back throughout the whole process and was patient with us as we learned about the steer. It was a great learning experience for both of us.

Pat was nice enough to give us all of the meat we wanted from the steer, so we took home a couple of ribeyes, strips, t-bones, hangars, and some bone marrow from the femur. That night we had a serious hankering for steak so we made our favorite type of ribeye.

We made a red wine bordelaise to eat the steak with. It has been one of favorite steak sauces ever since we had it at Nick and Stef's under Madison Square Garden. To make it you throw 2 shallots, a bay leaf, 1/4 cup of thyme, and 3/4 cups of dry red wine into a sauce pan. You then boil that down until it is about 1/2 as much volume as it originally had and then you add 2 cups of beef stock. You then add salt and pepper and boil it down until it is thick and leaves a coating on a wooden spoon. After you let that sit for a second you run it through a mesh filter to filter out the thyme, shallots, and bay leaf. The thick sauce adds a lot of flavor to the steak.

For the ribeyes we simply pan seared them and then finished them off in the oven. We brought a cast iron skillet into the oven and heated it up to 500 degrees. We then took that out of the oven and put it on a high flame on the stove. Meanwhile we put salt, pepper, and olive oil on the ribeyes. We did not want to rub them with anything else that would disrupt the freshness of the meat. We then seared the ribeyes for 1 minutes on each side and then put them into the 500 degree oven and let them cook for 4 minutes on each side. They came out perfectly medium rare.

This is the steak with the sauce on top. It doesn't look gorgeous and it isn't a full dish, but it is one of our favorite things to eat in the world.

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Chicken Pesto Rollatini

We wanted to go big with our first Italian dish, so we decided to make our own version of a classic chicken rollatini. A traditional chicken rollatini is a chicken breast wrapped around cheese, prosciutto, and a spinach ricotta stuffing. When it came to deciding what we were going to put in our rollatini we immediately agreed that we should replace the spinach with something that would transform the dish. We loved all of the other ingredients and knew we could make a better ricotta stuffing. So, we broke out the food processor and made a pesto to mix with the ricotta.

To make the stuffing we toasted 1/4 cup of pine nuts with some olive oil on the stove. After toasting them until golden brown we threw them in the food processor with 2 cups of basil, 1 1/3 cups of parmesan cheese, 3 cups of ricotta cheese, olive oil, salt, and pepper. This makes a lot of stuffing, which is fine since you can save it and use it as stuffing for something else like ravioli.

We specifically bought thin chicken breasts for this so we didn't have to pound them out too much. However, it is necessary to thin them out for this dish so it can wrap around all of the ingredients easily. We marinated them with salt, pepper, and olive oil for a good 20 minutes after we pounded them out. We wanted to give the chicken a crunchy texture on the outside, so we threw together some panko and parmesan cheese in a 3 to 2 ratio and coated them. To do this we simply dipped the chicken breasts in egg whites and then put them in the panko and parmesan.

Once the chicken breasts were coated we immediately started to wrap them. We put in 2 slices of prosciutto and a healthy tablespoon of the rich ricotta pesto. We rolled that up tight and then threw it in the oven at 450 degrees for 25 minutes.

Once they were in the oven for 25 minutes, we took them out and layered a nice sliver of mozzarella cheese on top of each rollatini. We let that sit in the oven for 3 more minutes until the cheese was perfect melted consistency. It was truly beautiful.

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Octopus with White Bean Purée and Crispy Prosciutto

When it comes to Octopus, Max's dad, Steve, does not play around. He is often referred to as "Octoman" in the restaurant business. His Spanish tenderized baby octopus is served in many elite New York City restaurants, including Charlie Bird.  When we saw an article in the New York Times about the octopus dish at Charlie bird we knew immediately that we were going to recreate it.

When it came time to get our octopus we did not have a problem. Steve gave us a beautiful baby octopus. We had seen octopus prepared a few different ways over the past couple of years, but this was the first time we would tackle one by ourselves.

There are two other components to this dish besides the baby octopus. The first is the white bean purée. For the purée we put a can of cannellini beans into a pan with olive oil sizzling at a medium to high heat. We let that cook for about seven minutes and then transferred them into a blender. We then blended in half a tablespoon of olive oil, a splash of lemon juice, a generous amount of salt, and some black pepper. We wanted to keep this simple.

The second component is the crispy prosciutto di parma. To make this we cooked a couple of prosciutto slices at 375 degrees in the oven for 15 minutes. Once they become crispy there is no excess fat and it has a smokey, salty flavor. The crispy crack of the prosciutto goes perfectly with the tender octopus.

The most important part of the dish however is the baby octopus itself. The baby octopus we received from Steve was pre tenderized, so all we had to do was boil it for 5 minutes and then turn the flame off and let it soak in the warm water for another 10 minutes. We then took it out, cut off the head, cut it down the middle into 2 pieces, and seasoned it with olive oil.

After this we turned the grill on to high and charred the octopus tentacles for about 4 minutes on each side. This gives the supple octopus a fantastic char.

We plated this dish with the purée at the bottom and the tentacles lying right on top of it. We then rested the crispy prosciutto di parma on the top of the tentacles and hit the dish with some balsamic vinegar to finish it off.

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The Ultimate Breakfast Bowl

Breakfast is said to be the most important meal of the day. Busy young men as ourselves need to consume clean fuel to keep us going. This must include proteins, vegetables, and carbohydrates. So, we decided to make the ultimate breakfast bowl to start our day.

When we first envisioned the dish we knew that we were going to have both hangar steak and eggs in it. We also thought that rice would complement the bite the best out of all possible carbohydrates. Using rice as the foundation of the bowl allows it to be scooped in a bite with any of the neighboring ingredients, so we wanted to make sure all of the remaining ingredients were compatible in flavor.

We knew that the major part of the dish was set with the steak, eggs, and rice, so we only needed a vegetable option. We couldn't decide between using avocado versus some type of corn. We figured that we had big enough bowls and big enough stomachs to add both. We selected to use a couple of avocado slices, making it easy to combine with the other ingredients, and a corn salsa that would bring a much needed tanginess to the bowl.

The corn salsa is as simple as it tastes. It includes off the cob corn, sliced cherry tomatoes, and a touch of diced red onions. The ratio is 50%, 30%, 20%, respectively. Then we hit the combination with some salt and pepper, a splash of rice wine vinegar, a splash of soy sauce, and a dollop of honey. Once that is all mixed together with a spoon take a taste to add seasoning your liking.

We then took the steak out of the marinade we had it resting in for about an hour. The marinade consists of soy sauce, honey, chili flakes, salt, and pepper. 

We then threw this on the grill for five minutes on each side. It came out medium rare with a perfect char. We then sliced this up at a slight angle, which is how hangar steak is cut.

The rice takes 20 minutes to cook and it is very easy. We put in 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water with 2 bouillon cubes and brought it to a boil. Once boiling we put a lid on the pot and turned the flame down to low. Making the rice perfectly is essential in creating this dish.

The eggs are also simple to make, however they can take numerous tries to master. We soft boiled ours for this dish. To do this we boiled the eggs in their shells for 7 minutes and ran them under cold water for 45 seconds. Then we cracked them with a spoon and peeled off all of its shell. We then took a sharp knife and cut the tops off the eggs, so that the yolk was visible but still looking clean. The yolk is meant to ooze out of the eggs as it is cut into.

Slice up the avocado right before you plate this dish to ensure freshness. We used a small 3x3 cookie cutter to mold the rice in the middle of the dish. Then we simply put all of the ingredients on the side of the rice in four different sections: the steak, the soft boiled eggs, the sliced avocado, and the corn salsa. Once it was plated we hit the eggs with a pinch of Dean and DeLuca truffle salt to make this dish truly ours.

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Eleven Madison Park

For Josh's belated birthday celebration, we were treated to a fourteen course meal at one of the best restaurants in the world, Eleven Madison Park. We knew what we were getting ourselves into when we were invited to this meal, but we were still amazed by the experience. The fourteen course meal takes approximately three and a half hours as it starts out with a rapid succession of light dishes and slowly gets richer with every course. This meal also constantly looks fantastic as every plate is well thought out and crisply constructed. In hindsight, we both agree that this is hands down one of the top dining experiences we have had.

This meal has greatly inspired us, but we are only going to share four of our favorite dishes from it.

The first was an oyster. The oyster itself was very tasty, but there was nothing special about it. What made this dish come alive was the garnishing. The green vichyssoise and black caviar made for the perfect bite, as the flavors erupted and then proceeded to dance on our taste buds.

The second dish was the pan seared foie gras. This course was absurd. In the past year we have eaten some pretty good foie gras together, and when we stuck our teeth into this elegant foie, we knew it was the real deal. This foie gras could not have been much better. It was seared with sunchokes, hazelnuts, and solera vinegar and then topped with chopped hazelnuts to make for a nice crunch.

The third dish was arguably our favorite dish of the night. It was a poached lobster under a piece of kale with sea urchin foam and parsnips. We are suckers for good sea urchin, and we frequently indulge in it. However, we never had sea urchin foam. This form of sea urchin didn't fail to disappoint our affinity for this creature. It was divine.

The last dish we are going to share was a perfect truffle dish. It was a braised celery root with black truffle sauce. The celery root is so light yet the texture is so thick, which is why it absorbs the flavor of the truffle impeccably. We love truffle, so we had to share this delicate plate with you guys.

This is the full menu from the meal:  

    April 6, 2014

    Cheddar

Savory Black and White Cookie with Apple

  Oyster

Vichyssoise and Caviar

  Scallop

Marinated with Apple, Lime, and Water Chestnut

  Beef

Tartare with Caviar and Smoked Bone Marrow

Pastrami with Pickles, Rye, Mustard, and

  Foie Gras

Cured with Sunchokes and Fermented Mustard Greens

  Foie Gras

Seared with Sunchokes, Hazelnuts, and Solera Vinegar

  Apple

Waldorf Salad with Celery, Cranberries, and Walnuts

  Lobster

Poached with Razor Clam, Sea Urchin, and Kale

  Celery Root

Braised with Black Truffle

  Duck

Broth with Sausage and Gruyère

Roasted with Lavender, Honey, and Rutabaga

  Greensward

Pretzel, Onion, and Dried Fruit

  Sweet Potato

Curd with Espresso Meringue and Orange Sorbet

  Vanilla

Baked Alaska with Rum, Raisin, and

  Pretzel

Chocolate Covered with Sea Salt

  Chocolate

Sweet Black and White Cookie with Cinnamon

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Lamb Chops with Salsa Verde

As we drove down Bleecker Street towards the local whole foods on Houston Street, Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market’s red awning caught our eye. They have been an active butchery for over 100 years, and when we walked into meat lover’s paradise we were excited to talk to the staff. They told us that the lamb chops were looking good and we knew that a salsa verde would complement them perfectly, so we bought them.

Then we drove to whole foods the get the the ingredients for the salsa verde. This includes: 2 cups of loosely packed fresh parsley, 2 medium tomatoes, 3 scallions coarsely chopped, juice from 1/2 a lemon, lemon zest, 1/2 a teaspoon of dijon mustard, 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper.

When we got back to the kitchen we broke out the blender to put together the salsa verde. We sliced and diced the ingredients and then pulsed them in the blender at a steady pace. Once the everything was pulsated, we tasted salsa and added salt and pepper to our liking.

We then took out the lamb chops we bought and hit them with some S&P along with a little bit of olive oil, which makes for a nice char on the grill.

We then took the chops, placed them perfectly on the grill’s sweet spots, and closed the top, letting them sweat in the smoke. We flipped them after about 4 minutes on a medium/high flame. They came out perfectly

The plating on this dish is quite simple. We really wanted the lamb chops to speak for themselves and not be over-powered by the potent salsa. So, we took the salsa and swiped about a tablespoon of it across the plate. Then we laid two chops down on the right side of the plate, where the smear of salsa ended. This dish is both simple and delicious.

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Bacon Egg and Cheese Sliders on Biscuits

For our first dish we decided to do a take on the traditional bacon egg and cheese sandwich, which is a staple in most New York City kid's diets. When we started planning our own version we broke it down into the four components of the sandwich: the bun, the bacon, the eggs, and the melted cheese (commonly known as chez in NYC slang).

Our first decision was to make a biscuit instead of using the traditional roll. Not only would this infuse our sandwich with more flavor, but the light and airy biscuits make for a unparalleled delicate texture. For our biscuits, we used Andrew Carmellini's recipe from his cookbook, American Flavor. We figured that the "world's best biscuits" could only help us make the best bacon egg and cheese.

The link to the biscuit recipe: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/11/the-worlds-best-biscuits-recipe.html

Making the biscuits was probably the longest part of the whole process, for we had to make the dough, knead the dough, roll it out and fold it back up seven times, cut them into circles, and finally bake them. Here are photos from the process:

Josh hitting the marble counter with some flour to make the dough not stick.

While the biscuits were cooking we realized we had more than enough for ourselves, so we invited our fellow musician and jew, Lenny Weissman to come and snack with us. As we called him, we threw some slab bacon in the oven at four hundred degrees, knowing it would need to cook for twenty minutes. 

Once cooked:

As the bacon and biscuits were about to finish cooking we started scrambling the eggs at a low temperature on the stove. Once the eggs were about to be done we hit it with some salt and pepper (S&P) and layered some american cheese on top of it. As the cheese melted we started to cut open some biscuits for the sandwich. Then we plated them and ate them with Lenny.

As Lenny reflected on the meal he claimed, "Wow! This is guaranteed to tantalize and delight the taste buds."