FOOD-LIGHT

There is light in food.  This is a Truth – figuratively, literally, metaphorically.

The connection of light to food is simple to trace.  Even post modern molecular gastronomist must concede petro-chemical food at one time was light – sunlight to plant-life to rotten mass buried, subsumed and compressed into crude, then refined back to digestible molecules reassembled.  (A form of alchemy.)

One intention of the alchemist of old was to transform food-light (molecular gastronomy is an example of this).  The intent of a twenty-first century alchemist should be to preserve food-light and to keep that light in the fore of one’s work.  (“Cook” and “chef ” are ranks of Alchemy, as is the Zen “tenzo”.  As the alchemist grows in their practice, cooking remains essential to that practice and hence food-light remains essential).

A rhetorical question: “what does food-light taste like?”

A second rhetorical question: “why preserve food-light, and keep it in the fore?”

One answer to both is illustrated in a small dinner I prepared the other evening.  The occasion was a get together to send the Young Master of the House (a novice in training) off to France for the summer, friends were chaperoning him on his flights, which coincided with theirs.  It was also the occasion to share a special bottle of wine they had given me.

I start with a “recipe” and then some thoughts about it all.

BEEF BRAISED WITH SOUR CHERRIES, GARLIC SCAPES, NEW PURPLE ONIONS, RED WINE AND SPICES.

To be served with an older (20+ years) red Burgundy from Gevrey-Chambertin

Serves 6

Pre-heat oven to 275°F

• 4 pound piece of bone-in chuck roast of beef from Hickory Nut Gap Farms
• salt, pepper
• cooking oil
• 3 pints of fresh sour cherries (picked from my backyard)
• 1 bottle of red wine, pinot noir
• 6 purple new onions, cut into 3 inch pieces or leave whole
• 6 garlic scapes, leave whole
• 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
• one-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled, thinly slice
• 4 allspice berries, whole
• 1/4 teaspoon cardamom seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon mace blades

Method: Wash the cherries, place them in a stainless steel sauce pan.  Pour the bottle of wine over the top and bring to a simmer.  Cool until the cherries are completely cooked and soft.  Remove from the heat, allow to cool enough to handle.  Place a strainer over a bowl and pour the cherries into the strainer.  Using a heavy rubber spatula, work all the cherry flesh through the strainer.  You may have to pour some of the wine back over the cherries to do this.  Be sure to scrape the bottom of the strainer, to collect all the flesh.  Discard the seeds.  Reserve the cherry/wine liquid.

In a heavy enamel casserole, over medium-low heat, heat some cooking oil.  Brown together the onion and garlic scapes.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  Remove and reserve.

Next, dry the meat and season well with salt and pepper.  Add some additional cooking oil, turn the heat up slightly.  Brown the chuck roast on both sides.  Remove and set aside.

Add the spices to the pot, cook a few minutes to intensify their flavor.  Add the flour and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  All at once, add the cherry/wine liquid, stir well.  Add the onions, then the meat, finishing with the garlic scapes on top.  Correct the seasoning.  Bring to a simmer.  Cover with a lid and place in the pre-heated oven.

Cook for about 3 hours.  Check occasionally that the liquid is just simmering and not drying out.

When the meat is tender, turn the heat down to serving temperature (below 200° F).

Server with some braised new greens and some sort of simple potato dish.  (I made a potato gratin of potatoes and duck fat).

This beef was served with a 1987 Combe aux Moines, Gevrey-Chambertin.  It was a successful and happy marriage.

Why this meal?

I started out with a few thoughts – what is the occasion of the meal, who are the guests, what do they enjoy, what do we have from the season, what wine are we drinking?  A going away party, dear friends, rich and hearty fare, the cherries from my yard, fresh vegetables from surrounding gardens, a special wine that all of us would enjoy; one’s whose own essence was filled with food-light.

Each of these qualities filled with complexity – a first summer for a young man traveling between families for the summer, a friendship of twelve years that started over food and wine, the first real harvest of cherries from a tree I planted years ago; fruit perfectly tart so not to overwhelm the wine with excessive sugar, the subtle character of the garlic scapes, a wine we were all familiar with; hopefully at the peak – balanced between, youth, middle age and maturity.

My task as cook and alchemist was to bring all this together – to bring the food-light of beef, cherry, wine into the light of farewell and friendship.  This meal will be bound in our collective memory.

The taste of food-light is the deep harmony of grass beef, changing light of old wine – youthful brightness fading; the edge of dusk approaching, clear sharpness of fruit acid creating a chiaroscuro effect, the subtle complexity of spice binding all together – in a word, the taste of food-light is the taste of “alive”.

Not all meals attain such a plateau, nor should they.  However, all meals should contain the intent of this one.

-Mark Rosenstein