The other day, as part of a practical culinary final, I was served a kale salad by an Advanced Techniques student. I thought at that moment that the circle had finally been closed, the connection between the real world and what we teach in lab was complete.
But alas I was only partially correct; seasonal eating had been established, at least with that student, trends in eating had been observed and copied, but the actual production of the dish suffered from a lack of extensive research to determine exactly which type of kale was suitable for raw salad and what type of techniques needed to be used to make the salad edible.
Kale is a funny green, one of the most nutritious of vegetables it portrays itself as tough and bitter. Buy organic, as conventional tends to be grown along with nitrogen rich fertilizers which create an overabundance in the kale which is naturally nitrogen soluble. Buy in cooler weather, or if you must buy young tender leaves.
The best kale comes in the late fall after a good frost when the kale turns sweet. My favorite is the dinosaur or lacinato kale and spring winter or fall we look for the youngest, tender leaves to grill, roast, sauté and wilt under a warm bacon vinaigrette. Had the student known all or any of this their salad would have been markedly better, but still they got high marks for creativity.
The best kale comes in the late fall after a
good frost when the kale turns sweet
And that is where a gap continues to exist, from the mind to the plate. Too much is made of the new and exciting ways to twist food in many directions. Too little work is done by student and chef alike to actually understand the food they are working with. Should we be turning things into foams and powders without a full knowledge of the best use of the product, simply to attract attention?
Does the act of disguising one food as another, done since the advent of the restaurant in post royal France really accomplish anything more than a parlor trick? I do not attempt to denigrate anyone’s culinary skills and I know I am horribly out of date with most but what can replace a perfectly roasted chicken, and shouldn’t we focus on that first?
If I were to re-design a culinary curriculum I would start with a trip to a supermarket, a farmers market and a farm in that order. The trip from familiar to the exotic to the otherworldly couldn’t help to have an impact on most culinary students. It wouldn’t include the pedantic rant of the moment, how we all should be eating local and organic.
Rather it would focus on true identification of fruits, vegetables, herbs and animals. In using this technique you start from the beginning of the process and in a student’s head that backs the thinking up to a few steps before the food magically arrives in the labs born form the commissary and delivered by the commissary manager. With this technique the dialog between student and teacher takes on a deeper more relevant tone, one that Thomas Keller touched on with his “rabbit story” revealed in The French Laundry cookbook.
In order to really cook the rabbit well you had to not only be the cook of the dish but the taker of life, only then could you understand the connection and respect its roots. Chef Keller’s food can be playful, flirt with science, and still stay true to the essence of the product. It’s done primarily through meticulous research, sourcing and incredible technique, all things that cooks should aspire to and culinary schools should focus on.
And the general consumer should not be left out, nor should they abdicate their role in cooking from the ground up. While it may be fun to play around in the kitchen, it can become very expensive in a short amount of time. There is also the role that every home cook plays in the trends of the moment. There is a rising tide of cooks both professional and amateur who will deal only in organics, leaving out a large segment of growers who do a great job of agricultural husbandry.
This attitude can be counterproductive for a large part of our society that can’t afford organic but would buy local if offered a chance. Farmer’s markets react by planting and selling more organics and raising prices to make their bottom line. Left out is the consumer who just wants some kale to cook, the way they learned to cook it when they were the student and an adult was the teacher.
Opportunity is lost by one group when the trend of the moment is embraced by another. Restaurants can even rise on fall directly on the wrong choices they might make on what’s really popular. I would prefer to focus on what’s really good, whose technique is sharp, where the quality local goods are sold and maybe at the end, a twist I hadn’t seen coming or a method I wasn’t familiar with. But it should start with an understanding of the food, a respect for where it comes from and a love of bringing the best out of it that we can, almost like raising a child!
The many ways I like kale
I do not have many memories of kale, mine are more of cabbage, with corned beef or on its own.
Early in my culinary career kale was what we garnished trays with, hard and brittle but durable as a border for cheese and fruit trays. The dinosaur or lacinato kale intrigues me with its versatility and flavor. At The Sage Rabbit we often strip the rib out (save for stock!) dress it with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast it until crisp and slightly brown in a hot oven.
Tossed in a pan with a bit of fresh tomato, garlic and a little balsamic it’s a great side to roast pork or chicken. If I’m tossing it as a salad I’ll blanch it quickly in boiling water and then chill it. If that’s too limp for you look for very young kale or it will be too bitter and tough. Once wilted it great with grain salads and a strong mustard vinaigrette.
Finally I will treat it like spinach and simmer it with some cream, the richness of the cream taking some of the natural edge off.
John Foster is an executive chef who heads the culinary program at Sullivan University’s Lexington campus. A New York native, Foster has been active in the Lexington culinary scene and a promoter of local and seasonal foods for more than 20 years. The French Culinary Institute-trained chef has been the executive chef of his former restaurant, Harvest, and now his Chevy Chase eatery, The Sage Rabbit.
To read more from Chef John Foster, including his recipes, click here.
