Prep to plating at Saison

Mackerel cru. A broth of cherry blossom & cured plum

It only takes a few minutes talking with Joshua Skenes to realize he’s serious about his craft. At the brand-new fire pit he built outside Saison’s dining room, the chef dwells on a recent revelation. His methodical enthusiasm akin to an academic researcher that spends years on a single subject, in his case, ember and ash cooking. Skenes revelation is only six months old but his focus is razor sharp. Like at Assador Etxebarri, he is determined to bring out the deepest and subtlest of flavors from each of his ingredients; and achieve this by going back to basics.

In this dish, a dashi broth cooked on open fire meets a beautiful wild horse mackerel flown nonstop from Japan. Prepared in Saison’s pristine kitchen with the precision of a surgeon and all its accoutrements, the fish is neatly butchered in clean, swift strokes.

From the cutting board, the bones and skin are crisped in hot oil adding a nice textural balance to the raw fish. The broth is infused with cherry blossoms and salt-cured plum. Foraged herbs and flowers are carefully arranged. A few drops of freshly squeezed lemon and done. The final dish is simple yet unveils complex layering flavors that make worth all the R&D. It only takes one bite.

Prep to plating at Luce

“Le Jardin” — Vegetable Garden and its own soil

At first glance, Dominique Crenn may not look like your typical chef. Her sleek black hair, hazel eyes and slender, graceful figure almost seem out of place in a busy restaurant kitchen. But look closely and you’ll notice a large burn scar on her right arm, the honorable sign of a hands-on chef. The atypical veneer is perhaps a reflection of her deep enthusiasm for unconventional cuisine.

Raised in France, she moved to San Francisco in 1988 and today runs the kitchen at Luce, the new-American restaurant at the towering Intercontinental Hotel. A location that sometimes draws criticism from the press and bloggers alike. But Dominique’s cuisine is not what you’d classify as “hotel food”. It’s surprising, sophisticated and delicious. Enough to grant her a Chef of the year award by Esquire magazine.

For this essay, Dominique has prepared one of Luce's signature dishes, one that despite its apparent simplicity takes great care to be prepared. A celebration of spring vegetables, cooked sous vide and arranged artfully on a bed of carrot and sunchoke purées, presented over a slab of black granite. The recipe is below. Enjoy.





“Le Jardin” — Vegetable Garden and its own soil
(read it with a charming French accent)

2 baby carrots
2oz fava beans (seasonal)
2 oz peas in the pot (seasonal)
1 oz of baby artichoke
2 oz of baby zucchini
2 oz of baby spring potato
2 oz of baby parsley root
2 oz of baby turnips

At Luce, Dominique cooks most of the vegetables sous vide; here is another way to do it. Blanch vegetable separately starting with cold vegetable stock. Heat to a simmer until cooked al dente. Then cool them down in their own juice.


For the salad

Extra virgin olive oil
Verjus
Sea salt
1 oz of wild asparagus (keep it raw)
2 each tiny radishes
2 each tiny turnips
Peas shoots
Flowers


For the warm sunchoke puree

8 oz sunchoke (peeled)
Milk to cover
½ tablespoon of butter
Star anise
Sea salt

Simmer sunchoke in milk until soft. Discard star anise. Blend it and pass through a sieve. Keep it warm.


For the warm carrot puree

10 large carrots
Peel and juice 4 carrots. Peel and cut 6 carrots.
Simmer carrots in carrot juice until tender.

Season with salt and pepper, blend it with 1/2oz of butter and pass through a sieve. Keep it warm.


For the dehydrated black olives and rye bread

½ pound of Sicilian black olives
½ rye bread, sliced

Dehydrate for 4 to 5 hours in the oven at 105-112ºF until crunchy (you can also use a dehydrator). Then grind each of the components individually and mix them together.

To assemble the dish, start by placing a spoonful of each purée on the plate. Carefully arrange the vegetables over the purée (tweezers or chopsticks recommended). Complete with the salad and finish dusting the dehydrated black olives and rye bread over it. Voilà.

This photo essay was featured on the SF Chronicle's InsideScoop.