swan & dolphin james beard dinner

The chef team from the Swan & Dolphin Resort at Disney in Orlando recently went to New York's James Beard House for a dinner themed in colors.  The event consisted of passed hors d'ouevres themed in color pairs then plated courses themed in individual colors.  Chris Windus of bluezoo sent pictures and descriptions of the dishes to me.

Yellow and Black

64.5 degree egg yolk, pressure cooked meyer lemon and vanilla puree, meyer lemon oil, golden beets, perigord black truffle caviar(agar and oil method), johnny jump up

Blue and Purple

Brittany

blue lobsters, shaved purple cauliflower hearts, purple cauliflower puree, opal basil,

Adirondack

blue potatoes, we coated them with aspic made from the turbot so they wouldn’t spin on the metal picks

Brown and Gold

Duck demiglace, morel agar disk, golden raisin

Chantilly

, duck croquette rolled in gold powder

Green

Compressed cucumber and honeydew, baby fennel puree, honeydew caviar tossed in mint oil, brunoise fava beans, spring pea puree (under the bruoise fava in a parisienne cut out of the honeydew), micro mint and chervil

Red

Foie torchon, gastrique of zinfandel vinegar with honey then mounted with foie fat, blood orange and strawberry salad, bulls blood, strawberry rhubarb gelee.

White

Turbot (brined, sous vide, cuisine solutions method), turnip gratin, pomme fondant (stuffed with white bean, white anchovy and mascarpone puree), topped with julienne poached hearts of palm, and a micro white carrot.

Pink

72 hr veal cheeks, guava and pink grapefruit vin, guave and beet sabayon, baby candy striped beets, bacon beet powder, micro amaranth

Orange

Orange greek yogurt mouse, confit kumquats, carrot crisps, orange saffron vanilla soup

The Swan & Dolphin Chef Team

Left to right...

Greg Shimoda (complex garde manger chef), Arnaud Violtat (complex executive sous chef of restaurants), Howard Stilianessis (complex banquet chef), Laurant Branlard (executive pastry chef), Robert Ciborowski (complex executive chef), Chris Windus (executive chef bluezoo restaurant).

Comments

[Duccio]

Good Job guys from an old friend
Duccio

[shaun]

how did all those combinations work? To me they all seem like a mish mash of ingredients that all happen to be the same color.

[CHRIS]

Thanks Duccio, hope everything is alright in Nashville.

Shaun, I have been given the opportunity to respond by Chad. So here is a little background on how we put the menu together. We wrote down all the colors, then made a list of all the seasonal ingredients that were these colors or had these color in their name. I know a brittany blue lobster won't be blue when you cook it but it was blue at one point. When your going to do a dinner like this you have to think out of the box but you can't tell me that a potato cylinder poached in seasoned buerre monte over a pilot light, the hallowed out and filled with a puree of white beans that have been lightened with mascarpone then seasoned with white anchovies that had the skins removed and pushed through a tamis with a little milk isn't good. Pair that with organic turnip gratin, where the turnips were shaved, soaked in cream with a little egg white then layed out, steamed, and pressed. Poach some Costa Rican hearts of palm(by the way try getting the hook up on some super nice ones considering the rains in costa rica)in water, sugar, lemon juice, salt and butter. Then a blanched micro white carrot from chef's garden. Super fresh monster turbot, I could have payed for my kid's tuition for the year for the cost of that alone. Then flame out a semi sweet riesling from the finger lakes and make an air out of it. This is only one dish, and I could tell you that if I sat down and was served that I would be happy. I will say it is different making monochromatic courses because there is no visual contrast and usually as a chef we try to make dishes that cover all the bases between flavor, texture, color, and technique. It isn't as easy as it seems to make everything all one color and make it look decent. A mish mash of ingredients with the same colors, yes it is, but I could say any dish on any menu is a mish mash of ingredients with different colors. It is how you prepare them and put them together that will make it taste good. Shaun, if you have any further questions about the preparations and how the flavors come together you can contact chad and he can give you my email, I can draw you a picture.