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January 7, 2011 by admin

Seasonal Cocktail Creations from Corton

The goal of the cocktail program at Corton is to introduce guests of the restaurant to some of the diverse, seasonal elements that are the hallmarks of Chef Paul Liebrandt’s cuisine. Specialty cocktails change throughout the year, developing as fruits and vegetables come into their prime and certain tastes and textures become flavors of the season. We have recently featured syrups made from rhubarb, lemon balm, and blueberry as well as infusions of teas and spices.

The Spencer
Named for a particularly regal Chihuahua owned by Chef and Partner Paul Liebrandt, the Spencer is a refreshing beverage for all seasons and one of Corton’s signature cocktails. Its flavors are both citrus and herbal without being dominated by either. While it is recommended served up in a classic cocktail glass, it is equally enjoyed on the rocks.

2 oz Cîroc vodka
Cîroc is a vodka distilled from a grape called mauzac from Gaillac in the southwest corner of France. It is, in essence, more a grappa that has been distilled multiple times than a classic vodka. We use it for its clean, crisp flavor and bright citrus tones.

1 oz grapefruit juice

0.5 oz Lillet
A French aperitif with a base of white Bordeaux wine flavored with citrus oils and sweet and bitter orange.

0.25 oz St. Germain
A liqueur made from Alpine elderflower blossoms, St. Germain has flavors of extra-ripe pear, passion fruit, and red grapefruit. Along with the Lillet, it provides a small amount of sweetness to balance the alcohol of the vodka and the bitterness of the grapefruit.

All ingredients are shaken with ice, served up, and garnished with candied grapefruit zest.

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January 7, 2011 by admin

Black Cod with Miso

Ingredients
4 black cod fillets, about
1/2 pound (230 grams) each
3 cups (800 grams) Nobu-style Saikyo Miso
1 stalk hajikami per serving

Method
1. Pat the black cod fillets thoroughly dry with paper towels. Slather the fish with Nobu-style Saikyo Miso, place in a nonreactive dish or bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Leave to steep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.

2. Preheat oven to 400°F. Preheat a grill or broiler. Lightly wipe off any excess miso clinging to the fillets, but don’t rinse it off. Place the fish on the grill or in a broiler pan, and grill or broil until the surface of the fish turns brown. Then bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Arrange the black cod fillets on individual plates and garnish with hajikami. Add a few extra drops of Nobu-style Saikyo Miso to each plate.

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January 7, 2011 by admin

THE MAGIC OF NOBU

By Tracy Nieporent

Nobu Matsuhisa’s vision to use the ingredients of Japanese cuisine, along with an imaginative use of Western and South American flavors, started a culinary revolution.

Growing up in New York City in the 1960s, Chinese food—not Japanese—was the most prominent Asian cuisine. Trips to Chinatown were fun, but, in truth, you could enjoy good Chinese food almost anywhere in the city. Japanese food was mostly relegated to an afterthought, and sushi didn’t have wide appeal at that time. In the following decades, many more Japanese restaurants began to open, but with a fairly limited range—tempura and teriyaki dishes tended to be the featured dishes.

Everything changed with the arrival of Nobu New York City in 1994. Nobu Matsuhisa’s vision to use the ingredients of Japanese cuisine, along with an imaginative use of Western and South American flavors, started a culinary revolution. Amazing dishes like black cod with miso, yellowtail with jalapeño, tiradito, new-style sashimi, sashimi salad, and many others captivated New York City diners. The flavors were bold and vibrant, and each dish was plated like a work of art. The clarity came from the simplicity of using the finest ingredients served with heart—or, as Nobu says, kokoro.

This wonderful, inventive cuisine evolved from Nobu’s creative life experience and international travels. Listening to the guests was also part of this culinary renaissance. “New-style sashimi” was created in response to a diner who wouldn’t eat raw fish. Nobu topped the raw fish with ginger spears and sesame seeds, and drizzled it with ponzu. He then took sesame oil together with heated olive oil and poured it briefly over the fish. A wonderful cavalcade of flavors came together. The guest tried a mouthful and then eagerly gobbled up the entire dish. It is certainly one of the most popular dishes on the Nobu menu, and a tribute to a great chef’s ingenuity.

Through the years, virtually every celebrity you can think of has dined at Nobu. But, really, the foundation of the restaurant’s success, both here in New York City and in other places, is that the food, décor, service, and total experience have captivated the public at large. There can be no greater compliment. Going to Nobu is a wonderful experience that is eagerly anticipated because, quite simply, it makes people feel good. Thomas Keller, the revered chef and owner of the French Laundry and Per Se, sums it up best when he says, “Chef Nobu Matsuhisa’s dishes are not just nourishment for the body—they are a delight to the senses, and a soothing balm to the spirit.”

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January 6, 2011 by admin

Myriad F10 (flipbook)

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May 21, 2010 by admin

Kitchen Confidential with Paul Liebrandt

Corton’s Executive Chef shares his perspectives on creating new dishes, his modern approach to classical cuisine, and his view on the globalization of food.

At what point did you start seeing the bigger picture of your own identity as a chef?
We’re all still learning. I’m still discovering myself as a chef and still developing my own style, I would say.

In conceiving a dish, do you feel like you are trying to take that specific dish to the absolute limit of creative cuisine, or do you like to leave room for the dish to evolve?
The dish evolves with time. I am never satisfied with one iteration. We are telling a story with each dish, and every day the story changes—whether it be from our own ideas, guest feedback, or the seasonality of different ingredients.

It is said that you compose dishes that have a built-in harmony. Describe the process that you go through to achieve this, and at what point you know a dish is just right?
We build dishes, like I said, to tell a story. The rhythm of the story is dictated by the characters in play; i.e., the ingredients. The product itself is the foremost thing that I look at—the quality of what I’m putting on the plate. I don’t feel that the dish is ever truly finished. What I do is I give my interpretation of that story with that dish.

You describe your cooking as French technique with global influence—to be classic in a modern way, respecting the past while looking to the future. Can you provide some examples of dishes at Corton that demonstrate this?
One particular dish is the duck that we do here. It is classically cooked, a beautiful piece of duck breast. Looking at it from a classic point of view, we are trying to achieve a crispy skin. It’s always a balancing act when you are cooking duck, because you want to get the skin very crispy without affecting the flesh, without driving out any moisture or the blood from the duck, keeping it perfectly rosé. What we do to look to the future is we freeze the skin à la minute with liquid nitrogen and then render the duck with the frozen skin, therefore creating a perfect balance of crispy skin and perfectly cooked duck.

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April 7, 2010 by admin

A Helping Hand

Through the years, the Myriad Restaurant Group has worked with hundreds of worthy charities. Social issues, illness prevention, schools, and cultural institutions are among the many areas in which we’ve had involvement. We have affection and respect for everyone we work with, and here are a few of the organizations for which we have a particular affinity.

City Harvest has been feeding New York City’s hungry men, women, and children for more than 25 years. It all started with restaurants, and this year they will collect more than 25 million pounds of excess food from all segments of the food industry. This food is then delivered at no charge to nearly 600 community food programs throughout New York City using a fleet of trucks and
bikes as well as volunteers on foot. Each week, City Harvest helps 260,000 hungry New Yorkers find their next meal.
www.cityharvest.org

Table to Table is a community-based food-rescue program that collects excess prepared and perishable food and delivers it to organizations that feed the hungry in Bergen, Passaic, Essex, and Hudson counties in New Jersey. They’re delivering approximately 6 million meals a year at a cost of about 10 cents each. Now in their 11th year, Table to Table is as important in New Jersey as City Harvest is in New York City.
www.tabletotable.org

Citymeals-on-Wheels was founded by Gael Greene and James Beard in 1981, and the organization delivers more than 2.2 million nutritious meals to over 18,000 frail seniors in every borough of New York City. Additionally, their 1,500 volunteers collectively spend 62,000 hours visiting and delivering meals to these homebound elderly New Yorkers who can no longer cook or shop for themselves.
www.citymeals.org

A Helping Hand
Through the years, the Myriad Restaurant Group has worked with hundreds of worthy charities. Social
issues, illness prevention, schools, and cultural institutions are among the many areas in which we’ve
had involvement. We have affection and respect for everyone we work with, and here are a few of the
organizations for which we have a particular affinity.

Share Our Strength has led the fight against hunger and poverty for almost 25 years by inspiring and organizing individuals to share their unique talents and strengths. They have a mission to make sure that no kid in America grows up hungry. Their strategy is to weave together a net of community groups, activists, and food programs to catch children at risk of hunger, and ensure that they have nutritious food where they live, learn, and play.
www.strength.org

YAI/National Institute for People with Disabilities is an award-winning network of not-for-profit health and human-service agencies serving people with developmental and learning disabilities and their families. Their more than 450 programs serve over 20,000 individuals daily, primarily throughout the New York metropolitan area and New Jersey. They ensure that people with disabilities have a place for opportunity, a place for growth, and a place of hope.
www.yai.org

There are many other exemplary organizations—such as the Kristen Ann Carr Fund, Tuesday’s Children, Food Allergy Initiative, and the Tribeca Partnership—that we’d like to acknowledge in future issues of Myriad magazine. We are proud of our association with them, and of the wonderful services they provide.

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