Once again – a very informative how-to video from Oceanaire Orlando Executive Chef Garey Hiles. Enjoy…
-
Search It!
-
Recent Entries
-
Links
We Are What We Eat!
by VP of Culinary Development – Mr. Wade Wiestling
Today I prepare to embark on another trip to Boston to peruse the ginormous International Boston Seafood Show this weekend. As usual I am sent pre-show advertising and booth invites for this fish, and that fish, this importer, and that distributor. 
I use the show to look at new products, new distributors, meet new contacts and keep in touch with old ones. I also enjoy going to Boston because Oceanaire has a restaurant there that is popular with all the seafood show goers flooding into town, and I have to represent my pride and joy. Seafood buyers and distributors travel from around the globe to attend this yearly event. Japan, China, Thailand, Greece, Spain, check. US, Canada, Mexico, South America, check. One can explore almost 1000 exhibits of fresh, frozen, and packaged seafood products, services and processing equipment. It can be overwhelming.
If there was ever a moment that strikes me in the “where does our food come from?” vein, it is this event. I love, love, love the variety of seafood found here, it is much more than we could or would ever serve in our restaurants. In fact The Oceanaire’s outstanding team of chefs does a great job of sourcing relevant products for our guests.
Here is video that was shown to me by a friend, Rick Moonen who is a pioneer of sustainable seafood. I’m sure he knows Dan Barber, the chef and owner of New York’s famous Blue Hill, the farm-restaurant-educational matrix at work. Dan grows all of his own food he serves at his restaurant. Killer idea, but not scale-able right?
Here Chef Dan Barber squares off with a dilemma facing many chefs and restaurants today: how to keep fish on the menu, and how to source sustainably. With impeccable reasearch and deadpan humor, he chronicles his pursuit of a sustainable fish he could love, while he discovers a ridiculously delicious fish raised using a revolutionary farming method in Spain. It’s worth 19 minutes of your life to watch it, you might not agree with it, not 100% anyway… but it shows that there is hope. Hope we can all buy into.
I whole-heartedly agree that locally raised & community grown food should nicely supplement what we are already eating, but I also realize that there is a role for large-scale agriculture and food distribution. There has to be. I have nothing against farm raised fish, I think it is necessary for the future of the seafood industry, but it has to be done in the least impactful way to our environment. The most natural way present, and chicken free if you will.
After all, the farm described in this routine is just under 30 square miles. This is not so much community-based food production, quite simply, it’s massive agriculture… done responsibly. Wouldn’t it be great if that’s where all of our food came from? It’s a great story, and I hope you enjoy it.
I’ll see you Boston! Long Live the Oceanaire!
Posted in Crab, Fresh, Oceanaire, Salmon, Seafood, Sustainability, Uncategorized
Chefs That Educate
New Ways to Inform: PODcasting
Ever wonder how your favorite Oceanaire offering is prepared? Or wonder how Oceanaire incorporates awareness of sustainability issues into its every day menu? Well we here at The Oceanaire have a firm belief that education is the key – the key to knowledge, the key to understanding, the key to life.
“We’ve always stressed an emphasis on educating our staff and customers. Every day before opening the restaurant, our chefs describe each new item, its preparation and its history to the staff. Armed with this information, our servers can educate you, the customer, on how your seafood item of choice is harvested, delivered and prepared,” declares Wade Wiestling, VP of Culinary Development at The Oceanaire.
“Gone are the days of the ill-informed guest,” commented Steve Uhl, General Manager of The Oceanaire in Minneapolis. ”With smart phones, PDAs and laptops anyone can find out just about any information on a given menu item within minutes. We like to be the ones our guests can turn to with questions. ’Is this fish harvested in a sustainable manner?’ and ‘How exactly will my selection be prepared?’ are the most common questions we receive. We’ve included Facebook and Twitter updating with daily fresh offerings so our guest will know what’s in fresh today or even within hours of delivery to our restaurant.”
It’s with that commitment to education that The Oceanaire adds social networking options to their education pallet. ”The ease of use with blog sites such as WordPress has made it very easy for us to keep our guests informed,” remarked Joe Eickhoff, Social Media Manager at The Oceanaire. ” Many of our chefs have also started their own blogs. We even have a chef from Orlando that has dabbled in PODcasting.”
Posted in Alaska, Fresh, Oceanaire, Salmon, Seafood, Sustainability, Uncategorized, Wine
Calm Seas and Full Pots
This article was contributed by our own VP of Culinary Development, Mr. Wade Wiestling
The salty crab boat Captain Phil Harris, known to fans of Discovery’s Deadliest Catch, Captain of the crab fishing vessel Cornelia Marie, was called to the giant port in the sky on Tuesday the 2nd of February. The fan favorite Captain was reported to have suffered a stroke late last month while in port off-loading his crab catch at St. Paul Island in Alaska, where his sons, Jake and Josh, remained by their father’s side.
I had a unique opportunity to meet Capt. Phil and his boys up in Dutch Harbor a few years back, along with fellow chefs and crab lovers from the Oceanaire Seafood Room. He was friendly, outgoing, and welcoming; inviting complete strangers to tour and cruise the harbor in his crab boat. The Oceanaire has bought and sold a ton of crab from these and other crab fishing folks over the last several years, and it hits close to home when I learned of this titans passing.
Phil epitomized the very essence of the show and he was awesome, because he was exactly what we all thought a crab fishing captain would be. He was blunt, raw and real… he was a mythical Marlboro Man… dangerously brave, frequently swearing, chain-smoking, and stressing out; a teller of tales with a fondness for pranks; a gruff man who’d choose to stay with his ship in stormy seas even when his doctors said it was too dangerous; and a soft hearted guy who loved his family and who’d turn almost poetic when he reflected on the only job he’d ever known, fishing for Alaskan crab.
Thank you for giving us a glimpse into the lives of an industry, that supports our industry so well… calm seas and full pots.
Cheers to Capt. Phil!
Rice or Roni?
contributing once again, our VP of Culinary Dev – Wade Wiestling
When not working at Oceanaire, or staring at my iPhone, or eating in other restaurant type establishments, I do enjoy cooking at home. Most of the time, for the daddy of 5 yr old, cooking at home is something that ensues like a “Top Chef” quick-fire elimination challenge. A fast paced, short, simple and high pressured contest with a varying reward each week. Hurriedly, I rummage around to see what is lying in the confines of the fridge, checking out the pantry, looking at what is hidden in back of the freezer, seeing whats in my spice rack that I haven’t used since last year. I pull everything out, then quickly make up a plan, cook it and get it on the table within 1/2 hour or less… DROP YOUR KNIVES! TIMES UP!… some days more so than others.
On my day off this past weekend, I decided to slow down and do things my way. Slow food. I wanted to slow things down for a change and do things deliberately. Once I had everything mapped out, this dish came together in less than a 1/2 hour. This toasted pasta dish was inspired by a dish I was craving, a dish I used to make some years ago, in another life if you will. It is a pasta dish, a pasta from the Italian region of Tuscany that is made in the “style” of risotto, the classic Italian rice preparation based on a technique, resulting in a luxuriously rich and creamy pasta dish…
How it started… this is not so much a recipe, as it is a blueprint for deliciousness. We have some diced onion, minced garlic, some mixed dried mushrooms, dried pasta, chix broth, Parimigiano-Reggiano, extra virgin olive oil, whole butter, and some leftover cooked bacon…
First thing I did was rehydrate the dried fungi. I had some dried porcini, dried shiitake, and few dried morels in a mason jar hidden in the back of my spice cupboard. Heat up about 1 cup of chix broth just to a boil, and pour over the dried mushrooms, set aside for about 20 minutes or so to steep and soften the mushrooms…
Put the rest of the chix broth (1 qt. give or take a cup) on a med low flame. Once boiling reduce heat to barely a simmer to just keep hot. For this dish, I like to use, what else, my lime green Le Crueset dutch oven. It makes a great risotto pot. The heavy, enameled cast iron distributes the heat evenly. It gets hot and stays hot… it’s a green beast.
Heat 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 2 Tbsp of clarified butter over medium heat until hot and fragrant…
When the oil is hot, add a 1/2 box (1/2 lb) of dried pasta. I am using elbow pasta, but you can use any dried pasta that is small and evenly shaped such as penne, fusilli or orzo (I have even used spaghetti or linguine broken into smaller pieces). Only 1/2 lb. because the pasta will swell and double in size when the liquid is absorbed.
Stir it up. The oil is hot, so the pasta will start to toast and brown very quickly. The key is to toast it evenly, so you hafta keep stirring it frequently.
After a few short minutes, the pasta will start to toast and develop a wonderful golden brown color and roasty aroma….
The pasta will turn a lovely golden brown color. You will also start to notice a gentle nutty aroma, not unlike popcorn or fresh roasted peanuts, as the pasta continues to brown… it smells like heaven.
Once evenly toasted, add the diced onion and minced garlic, continue stirring. Cook until the onion is translucent and the garlic is lightly toasted….
Add the cooked and chopped bacon… continue cooking.
Man o’ man… look at that beautiful photo! This comes together quickly. Continue cooking, continue stirring frequently, keep an eye on it and enjoy the scent of toasted pasta, onion, garlic, and smoked bacon wafting through the kitchen. Now is a good time to crack open a bottle of wine…
Next add a splash (1 cup??) of wine, use whatever you have open, red or white, to de-glaze the pan over med heat, this will bring a halt the browning process. Stir it around, stir it frequently until that first incorporation of liquid has been absorbed, and then pour yourself a glass while you’re at it…
Here is where it gets a little ticky-tacky… we need to add the hot chix broth 1 ladle at a time… stirring the pasta until the liquid has been absorbed…
Stirring, stirring, stirring… we’re making pasta, like risotto!
Stir until each ladle full of liquid has been absorbed into the pasta. Repeat about 4-5 times. Continue adding the hot broth 1 ladle or 1 cup at a time, and stirring frequently…
Stir until all the liquid has been absorbed… the pan should be nearly dry before the addition of more hot liquid.
OK, now we add the liquid from the re-hydrated mushrooms. This liquid has been steeped with the flavor of the dried fungi, so this imparts another layer of flavor into the pasta…
Once the fungi liquid has been absorbed, go ahead add all the re-hydrated mushrooms to the pasta in the pot…
Add the rest of the hot chix broth until it is all gone. Keep stirring, the pasta is releasing it’s starch into the dish, as opposed to being dumped out with the pasta water, resulting in a creamy and satisfyingly luxurious look and mouth-feel…
Here is where it gets difficult for most people (but not for me as I am a highly trained professional)… liberally add some grated parmigiano-reggiano and some whole butter. Restaurants dirty little secret… DON’T SKIMP! This is the difference between a good dish and a great dish…
Parmigiano-Reggiano, whole butter, take it over the top. We’re not counting calories and fat, we’re counting on adding flavor and silky consistency. Now season the pasta with some salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir it in and ….
…finally, if you have some, finish it with a flourish of white truffle oil. This will take it way over the top and off the hook.
This is a simple peasant dish, made luxurious and sexy with a few teaspoons of the funky fungi essence…
Dish it up! Serve it up! And finish with yet another dose of fresh shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano…
TIMES UP! Here is the finished product. The structured flavors of toasted pasta, earthy dried mushrooms, smoky bacon, funky truffle and chix broth make this dish sturdy enough to pair with many a red wine variety. Enjoy what you like, drink whatever you like, it’s just dinner after all… Cheers! Bon Appetito!
Posted in Fresh, Oceanaire, Seafood, Uncategorized, Wine
Right On Target!
contributed by Wade Wiestling, VP of Culinary Development for Oceanaire, Inc.
This week, the nations 2nd largest retailer, Target ( Oceanaire’s neighbor on the Mall ), made a big seafood news splash when they announced they will no longer sell farm raised salmon in any way, shape or form (or fillet.) Citing environmental concerns, Target will instead offer wild-caught Alaskan salmon products exclusively.
This is a major coop for environmental activism groups, who have become increasingly critical of open net-pen salmon farms, which have long been believed to contribute to pollution, chemicals and parasites into the surrounding ocean waters. These farming techniques can be very disrupting and sometimes decimating to the wild fish populations in the area.
But I believe it to be even bigger news for the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute (ASMI.) While Target is striving to be a responsible steward of the environment, the Alaskan salmon fishery has much to gain by being apart of something so large and far reaching as Target.
Alaskan seafood is an environmentally responsible choice. Wild-caught Alaskan salmon mature at a natural pace, and swim freely in the clean, clear, pristine waters off Alaska’s rugged 34,000-mile coastline. Careful fishery management, based on conservation, assures abundant stocks of salmon. Most of what Target will be purchasing will be frozen at sea (FAS) salmon sold in many value added forms, and selling it at the great competitive prices for which Target is known.
I am not completely against farm-raised salmon by any means, in fact there are several high caliber outfits that are pioneering and working towards producing high-quality, low environmental impact, natural salmon such as our friends at Loch Duart who can provide us with beautiful fresh salmon (when fresh wild salmon in not available), and there is a place at the table for everybody.
Nonetheless, I applaud Target’s initiative as a worthy effort to provide a sustainable wild salmon product to masses of consumers and supporting the Alaska brand. Right on, Target!
Posted in Alaska, Fresh, Oceanaire, Salmon, Seafood, Sustainability, Uncategorized
A Behind the Scenes Look at the Making of a Wine Dinner
contributed by the VP of Culinary Development for The Oceanaire Seafood Room, Wade Wiestling.
If you have been fortunate enough to attend a wine dinner, you know how it all unfolds…
You decide what you are going top wear, get all dressed up to go out with friends for an exquisite evening of food and wine pairings. You arrive at the restaurant, sit down and for the the next two plus hours you are treated to course after course of food and wine. Everything is in its place when it needs to be, you never have to ask for anything throughout dinner service. It’s all an exceptional experience.
During wine dinners I like develop and challenge my guest’s understanding of wine so when they come back, they order the wines they enjoyed again and again. My advice is don’t go prepared. No,don’t do it… Let the chef and wine buyer do the geekie cork-dork research. Then expect that they will put the time into it and put it into consumer-friendly terms. You want to go to a wine dinner to be entertained. There are plenty of wine seminars to select from if you want a heavy dose of education.
Professional pairing of wine with food takes knowledge, experience and instinct. I prefer to look at pairing as finding the heart and soul of the wine. Seasoning has to match with the fish, poultry or proteins. Likewise wine has to match with the food. You can’t serve an artichoke salad with a heavy red wine, everything has to match and be well balanced. It’s all quite blissful and relaxing… in the dining room. In the kitchen, however, not so much… controlled chaos is more appropriate.
It goes a little something like this… Weeks Out: You taste the wines, you plan the menu, you write the menu and wine pairings and prepare to fill it. Days Out: Scheduling the staff, finalize the menu, ordering the products needed to produce the dinner of this magnitude, receive the wines, plan the seating charts. Prep for a wine dinner begins a few days out in some cases, depending on the dishes being prepared and served. The day of the event – it’s time to shine. Bust a move. It’s a little hectic, a little extraordinary and a lot of fun… Here is a little photo log from “behind the scenes”.
Family meal, crew chew... has to be grab and go. You eat on the fly, and chow on the move. Todays meal - Hot dogs, tater tots, fritos and salad.
Next, you've got to keep motivated, inspired, and caffeinated. Today's beverage of choice. Throwback Mountain Dew. None of that high fructose corn syrup here... REAL SUGAR is where its at!
Then you have to keep hustling. Time to keep moving along, and you have to be able to use certain pieces of equipment as it’s available. So we mark off and put a sear on our products ahead of time. Preparation is key…
Putting a char on some squid...
Searing fresh herb crust onto the Sturgeon...
Polish the silverware...
The Plate up...
Shaved vegetable salad...
Grilled Calamari & Shaved Vegetable Salad
Plate up of the 2nd course...
Herb seared California Sturgeon, Orzo Pilaf
3rd Course... Grilled Loch Duart Salmon
- 4th Course… “The main event” Braised 1000 hills Short Ribs, Butter Poached Laughing Bird Shrimp, Skordalia
Final course... Raspberry - Chocolate Mouse Parfait... plated and ready for service.
Sous Vide at Home. Cooking Salmon “Under Vacuum.”
by Wade Wiestling, VP of Culinary Development
Anyone who has watched reality cooking shows in the last 5 years has undoubtedly seen Sous Vide cooking techniques employed. Sous Vide is just a fancy French term for “Under Vacuum”, originally as food packaging technology. Increasingly in this country, in high-end restaurants, experimental chefs are getting creative with sous vide cooking. On TV and in professional kitchens there’s a lot of big fancy and expensive equipment to do this with, vacu-sealers, immersion circulators, temp probes, discombobulators and whatnot. This is not something you would typically see at our resturants as we tend to favor the more traditional and time honored cooking techniques, but it’s fun challenge non-the-less.
Here is my attempt to demystify the mystique of Sous Vide cooking….
For this home version, without fancy equipment, some nice salmon will work fine. It is easier to work with than say, steak or lamb, which requires more time. This is some Wild Alaskan Sockeye, remove the skin, pin bones and bloodline. Two 6 oz. fillets are perfect for two people as an entree….
Liberally douse the fillets with your finest extra virgin olive oil, a generous grind of peppercorn, and a nice flourish of fancy sea salt…
Next, add the fillets to a Ziploc type freezer bag. Use the gallon size, and don’t allow the fillets to touch each other, leave about an inch of space between the two…
This is how we will “vacuum seal” the bag. Submerge the open zipper bag into a pot of cold water, the water weight will displace the air in the bag and seal the salmon fillets in thier place. Push it all the way into the water, being careful not to let any water escape into the bag, using you hands and fingers work to remove all the air bubbles from inside the bag and shake it a bit to let all the air escape before you lower all the way before finally zipping the bag closed…
Voila! Now you have 2 beautifully vacuum sealed fillets of seasoned wild salmon…
This is a meat thermometer I bought at Target a few years back…$9. It has a silicone cord to use in the oven for meats, and the digital readout hangs off the oven door. This is all you need to do Sous Vide at home…
Simply submerge the temperature probe in a pot of water. I like to use a heavy Le Creuset pot because the enameled cast iron holds the heat perfectly. I set the max temp alarm for 125 degrees; I want to keep my water consistently at about 120-123 degrees farenheit. Turn the heat on your water and let it come up to temp, 120 degrees, when it reaches temp, turn off the heat. The heavy pot should do the rest, and let the temp come down a bit if needed.
Perfectly cooked medium rare salmon is at 120 degrees internal temperature. So monitoring the water temperature, apply a little heat if needed for a few seconds, turning it off as soon as it starts rising. Submerge the sealed salmon fillets into the water bath….
Use a spatula to move and circulate the hot water bath from time to time…
I was able to effectively keep the water between 120 and 123 degrees. I guessed about 12 minutes cooking time for 1″ thick salmon fillets at 120 degrees…
At the 10 minute mark…looking good. Water bath at a consistent 121 degrees. You can see some of the fat coagulating in the bag as they cook. Molecular gastronomy and science at work…sshhhhh!
At the 12 minute mark, remove the salmon from the hot water bath and…
Carefully remove them from the zipper bag… be careful, as they are cooked at this point and very delicate…
Now we will put a finishing sear on them. Heat some extra virgin oil over med high heat in a saute pan…
Carefully add the cooked salmon fillets into the hot oil presentation side down (skinned side up). We will only sear these on the one side to give them a little lovely color and a pleasing crispy texture…
After about 3-4 minutes, remove the fillets from the hot oil. You can see the caramelization giving it some nice color and the contrasting texture we are after…
And serve up the salmon… Serve it with whatever suits you, pasta, rice, potatoes, or vegetables. I happen to use some balsamic caramelized apples w/ bacon and a little oven roasted broccoli….
And the money shot… a little Kistler Pinot and perfectly cooked salmon. Sous vide salmon has a drastically different texture than normal salmon. Moist, delicately soft and creamy in texture, the seared exterior on top contrasts the inside texture to a perfect consistency…
Bon appétit! With a little confidence and determination, you too can put out dishes like sous vide wild salmon.
Cheers!
October is National Seafood Month
I know what you’re saying – Seafood Month? I know October is National Arts and Humanities Month and National Cyber Security Awareness Month, but Seafood Month? What gives?
Well just hold on – October has been designated National Seafood Month since the late 1940′s, and yes all of those other topics deserve recognition, but doesn’t seafood deserve it’s month in the spotlight too? Don’t we need to stop and reflect on the importance of a perfectly chilled shrimp cocktail, a beautifully seared piece of Ahi tuna or a nice hot bowl of New England clam chowder?
Nature's Beautiful Bounty from the Sea.
At The Oceanaire, we believe every month should be National Seafood month. In fact we celebrate the bounty from our seas every day, and not just local delicacies like Idaho Rainbow Trout or Island Creek Oysters from Massachusetts. We sing the praises of international offerings too such as; Mahi Mahi from Ecuador, Arctic Charr from Iceland and a Sea Bass from the Mediterranean called Branzino.
So why not stop in and help us celebrate. Take time out to observe National Seafood Month with an assortment of Oysters from British Columbia, Oregon or New Brunswick. Come on in and we’ll celebrate together.
Posted in Fresh, Oceanaire, Seafood, Sustainability
