Chris Scott — ICE Chef

Chef Chris Scott's Buttermilk Lemonade Fried Chicken

aday — Thu, 06 Jul 2023 13:00:00 +0000

Chef Chris Scott's Buttermilk Lemonade Fried Chicken aday Thu, 07/06/2023 - 09:00 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/fried%20chicken%20header.jpg.webp?itok=7C-jJUWh The "Top Chef" season 15 finalist shares his professional preparation of fried chicken with Epicurious. July 6, 2023

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

Chef Chris Scott came into the spotlight on "Top Chef" season 15, when he finished in the final four. He's owned restaurants focused on Southern and soul food in Brooklyn and Connecticut and is an advocate for food history, regionalism and sobriety. Read more about Chef Chris.

In its 4 Levels video series, Epicurious pits professional ICE chefs against amateur and home cooks with a final analysis from a food scientist. In this episode, Chef Chris Scott demonstrates his twist on an old-fashioned Southern sweet tea brine — using lemonade.

When it comes to fried chicken, Chef Chris leaves the bones inside a chicken for juiciness and breaks the bird down into eight pieces. He uses a vacuum seal bag for his brine, removes excess air to compress the flavor of the brine into the meat and refrigerates the bag for four hours.

He uses a buttermilk bath to tenderize the meat, "massaging that juicy buttermilk goodness into it," and dredges the bird with all-purpose flour, cornmeal for an extra crunch, cornstarch and baking powder.

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Chef Chris' pro tips:

When breaking down a whole bird, put the breast in the oil first since it takes the longest to cook
Get the internal cooking temperature of the chicken to 165˚F
Use sea salt, lemon and a microplane for one more layer of flavor

Watch the video to see Chef Chris demo his lemony, crunchy, flavorful approach to fried chicken, and get the full recipe below.

Buttermilk Lemonade Fried Chicken

12 chicken drumsticks
1/4 cup dry granulated garlic
1/4 cup onion powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1/2 cup salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup hot sauce
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 quarts cold water
1 quart buttermilk
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons baking powder
1 cup cornmeal
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Combine the first 9 ingredients, minus the chicken, in a bowl. Whisk together until combined. Divide drumsticks in plastic bags and cover with liquid. Vacuum seal and let marinade for at least an hour, up to 4 hours.
After the time in the vacuum bags, remove drumsticks from plastic bag and place in clean container. Cover with buttermilk and let sit for 1 hour.
In a baking dish, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and cornmeal. Remove the drumsticks from the buttermilk and dredge in the dry mix. Fill deep fryer with oil and heat to 325 F. Carefully add the drumsticks, cooking in batches as to not overcrowd the fryer. Fry the drumsticks until cooked through and crispy, or until a thermometer inserted into the thickest point registers at 165 F. ŷ��Ƭ 12 minutes.

Explore a professional culinary career to elevate your approach to cooking the classics.

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Chef Chris Scott's Meatloaf Wellington

aday — Wed, 17 Feb 2021 19:35:25 +0000

Chef Chris Scott's Meatloaf Wellington aday Wed, 02/17/2021 - 14:35 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/meatloaf%20wellington%20header.jpg.webp?itok=XA5pwzoH Get the recipe for an elevated take on the hearty, classic American comfort food. February 17, 2021

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

On the latest episode of Epicurious' 4 Levels series, Chef Chris prepares meatloaf with beef chuck, lamb saddle, pork shoulder, a slab of smoked bacon, mushroom duxelles and boiled quail eggs, presented as a terrine in pie crust.

Follow Chef Chris' recipe below for a crispy, flaky, juicy wellington, and get his pro trick for preventing the dough from cracking or collapsing in the video.

Meatloaf Wellington

Yields 6 servings

Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 sticks very cold cubed butter
6 tablespoons ice water
2 tablespoons cold vodka
Egg wash, for assembly

Directions

Add flour, salt and sugar to a food processor. Pulse for 2 seconds until combined.
Add butter to the processor and pulse for 10-15 seconds until a dough/paste is formed. Add the liquid, pulse 5 seconds more.
Remove dough from the food processor and lay onto a piece of plastic wrap. Flatten the dough into a loose disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meat Farce

Ingredients

1/2 pound beef chuck
1/2 pound pork shoulder
1/2 pound lamb saddle
1/2 pound slab bacon, smoked
1/2 cup minced white onion
1/4 cup minced celery
1/4 cup minced carrot
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups toasted brioche or sourdough crumbs
1/4 cup whole milk
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire
2 teaspoons dry mustard powder
4 whole large eggs, beaten
Salt and pepper, to taste
8 hard boiled quail eggs, peeled and left whole

Directions

Using a chilled meat grinder, grind the lamb, bacon, pork and beef into a chilled stainless-steel bowl. Set aside in the refrigerator.
In a saute pan, over medium heat, cook the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic until translucent with no color on the vegetables. You can use a little butter or oil in the pan. Let this cool to room temperature, then add to the ground meats.
Add the remaining ingredients, except for the hard-boiled quail eggs, and mix thoroughly.
Turn out the farce onto a piece of parchment paper. Flatten the meat farce onto the parchment. Top with the mushroom duxelle (recipe follows) and line the hard-boiled quail eggs down the center of the meat. Taking one side of the parchment, roll up the meat farce like a roulade. This way the meat, boiled eggs and duxelle don't leave air pockets when cooking. Set this aside in the refrigerator.

Mushroom Duxelle

Ingredients

1 pound button mushrooms
2 whole shallots, minced
Butter
1/2 cup red wine
3 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
3 tablespoons parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Using a saute pan over medium-high heat, add the butter.
When melted and bubbly, add the mushroom and the shallots. Cook until dry, then deglaze with the wine.
Cook this out by 2/3. Add the fresh herbs, season, and set aside to cool.

Juniper Berry Demi-Glace

Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup shallot, minced
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups beef stock
1 bay leaf
1 bunch fresh thyme
8 juniper berries, minced
2-3 spruce tips

In a saucepan over medium heat add the butter and the shallots. Cook until the shallots are translucent. Add the flour and whisk until slightly brown.
Add the beef stock and whisk until the flour is dissolved. Add the aromatics and reduce heat. Cook until slightly thickened, uncovered at a simmer.
Once the consistency is correct, strain through a fine mesh strainer. Keep warm.

Assembly

Remove the pie dough from the refrigerator (for about 15 minutes before you begin to roll).
On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness, lay this into the terrine and make sure it's in there snugly. You can use a piece of “scrap dough” to push it into the corners and sides. Leave about 1/2 inch of overhang dough to attach the top piece.
Place the meat farce into the terrine. Press down to make sure it's in snugly.
Cut a piece of dough to fit the top of the terrine and cover the top. Use the overhang to attach, then cut away any excess. Brush the top with egg wash, mark the top with any designs you’d like, using the tip of a paring knife. Make a small air vent hole using a pastry tip and leave the tip in the terrine when baking.
Place the terrine in a preheated 375 F oven and bake for 1 hour and 30 minutes until internal temperature reaches 160 F.
Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes before releasing it from the terrine. Then slice with a serrated knife.
Serve with the juniper berry demi-glace.

Study professional meat cookery in Culinary Arts at ICE.

Meat Recipe ICE Chef Epicurious Video

Meat loaf

Submitted by Victoria on April 19, 2021 6:47pm

Wow.. that was pretty captivating, I watched to the very end. Thank you making resourceful Chefs. I love the Pro level 3 recipe . Thank you for sharing your knowledge with others.

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Winter Vegetable Recipes

aday — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 19:10:03 +0000

Winter Vegetable Recipes aday Wed, 11/04/2020 - 14:10 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/carrot%20dish%20header_0.jpg.webp?itok=Clh6ij4Y "Top Chef" alum Chris Scott experiments with less common seasonal ingredients. February 26, 2021

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

"Top Chef" finalist Chris Scott shares winter dinner ideas with African yam, a molasses substitute and roasted winter vegetables. Here's how to incorporate winter produce into warming vegetarian recipes.

Each winter we get to play with the full bounty of root vegetables, and after months of cooking at home, we encourage experimenting. I use the usual suspects we expect on the dinner table, sweet potatoes, yams and maybe the occasional beet, but I tend to lean towards the not so immediately thought of root vegetables such as horseradish, celery root and Jerusalem artichoke. All of these can either stand alone in their glory or be wonderful accompaniments.

Root vegetables already contain a ton of nutrients from the soil in which they are grown. Carbohydrates, sugars and starches can be extracted from some root vegetables to make things like syrups, molasses or natural vegetable glazes.

For example, last fall I was studying yams and experimenting with all the ways I could utilize the tuber. In one instance, I peeled a yam, put the peel shavings in a saucepot and rough cut the yam. I filled the pot with water to cover and slowly reduced it down to a molasses. The sugar and the starches in the yam made it thick and sweet, and the peelings were there for the color. I then used the yam molasses in many applications such as a glaze for meats, a drizzle for ice cream and a sweet potato pie.

Once I even smoked the raw yam in advance, then peeled and boiled so that it had a slightly smoky nuance to the finished product. The pulp can be pureed and served with a little salt, butter and a crumble of toasted seeds on top.

When conducting my experiments, absolutely nothing goes to waste. I even fold the pulp into pancake batter! So this season, don’t be afraid to experiment with new seasonal ingredients.

Study plant-based cooking in Health-Supportive Culinary Arts.

Here are a few recipes that you can try at home.

Yam Molasses

1 large African yam
2 small sweet potatoes
1 pound (455 grams) dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 fresh bay leaf

Peel the yam and reserve the peels. Heat an oven to 350 F, and roast the peeled yam until tender, about 40 minutes.
Peel the sweet potatoes and reserve the peels. Cut the raw sweet potatoes and roasted yam into rough chunks, and add them (and the peels) to a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Fill with enough water to cover the tubers by 1 inch. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot, cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium, remove the cover, and simmer for 1 hour.
After an hour, use a hand strainer or spider to remove all of the tubers and peelings from the liquid and discard them. Return the liquid to medium-low heat, and slowly reduce until the mixture becomes thick and dark brown in color but still translucent, around 1 1/2 hours. The starches from the tubers should be enough to thicken the liquid, but you can make a cornstarch slurry to help it along if need be. The flavor should be very potent and a delicious complement to everything from meat to bread to dessert.

Roasted Carrots with Buckwheat

Ingredients

For the roasted carrots:

1 bunch baby carrots, with the tops intact
1 small handful frisee greens
Juice from 1 lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground ginger

For the buckwheat and mushrooms:

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
2 shallots, thinly sliced
1 pint (54 grams) oyster mushrooms, trimmed and cleaned
1 tablespoon thyme, finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup (175 grams) buckwheat groats, cooked according to package directions
Yam molasses (recipe above) and lemon juice for serving

Directions

Wash and scrub the carrots, including the tops. Remove the tops and cut one-third of them into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces (you can save or discard the rest). Toss the chopped tops with frisee greens and dress with lemon juice and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Place the carrots in a bowl and toss with the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil, the salt and the spices. Place on a baking tray in a single layer, and roast in a 350 F (175 C) oven for 25 minutes or until tender. Let cool at room temperature.
In a cast-iron skillet or sauté pan, add the olive oil and butter and heat over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the shallots and stir frequently until shallots are translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, thyme, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir frequently until the mushrooms are tender, about 4 minutes.
Add the buckwheat, turn the heat to high, and stir continuously, letting the buckwheat toast. Cook for about 6 minutes, then transfer to serving plates. Top with the roasted baby carrots and drizzle with yam molasses and fresh lemon. Top with the carrot top/frisee salad.

Learn more about buckwheat from Chef Olivia, and consider serving these dishes with Chef Chris' winter salad.

Plant-Based Vegetables Vegetarian Recipe Winter Ingredient Exploration

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Korean-Style Chicken Wings

aday — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 18:12:24 +0000

Korean-Style Chicken Wings aday Wed, 11/20/2019 - 13:12 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/chicken%20wings%20header.jpg.webp?itok=7ICbkDBM Chef Chris Scott fuses Korean and Southern flavors for his original hot wings. November 20, 2019

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

Epicurious' 4 Levels series features two cooks and a professional chef from the ŷ��Ƭ preparing different versions of classic comfort foods. In the latest episode, Chef Chris Scott shares a spicy, tangy recipe.

"My dish is going to be a fusion of two cultures," Chef Chris says. "My wife is Korean, my background is in Southern food. This dish encompasses both of our styles."

He sources free-range, hormone-free chicken, tenderizes the meat with yogurt, and uses garlic, soy and sesame for flavor. Chef Chris fries his wings for golden crispiness and utilizes more of the meat with a crépinette, or sausage.

Watch the video to see how kimchi and Gochujang are incorporated, and get the complete recipe below.

Korean-Style “Chicken Wings” with Kkaennip Kimchi and Gochujang

For the kimchi:

60 Parilla leaves (Kkaennip)
3 tablespoons Korean red chili flakes
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon roasted sesame seeds
1/2 cup Water or Kombu Broth

For the chicken wing crépinette:

1 1/2 cups ground chicken (wing) meat
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
1 teaspoon fresh cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon minced ginger
Salt and pepper to taste
Caul fat

For the chicken wings:

6 whole chicken wings
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tablespoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup Greek yogurt
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 tablespoons vinegar powder
4 tablespoons Gochujang powder
2 tablespoons salt
Fresh scallions, for garnish
Fryer oil

For the kimchi:

Wash the kkaennip under running water, holding the stems together, shaking off excess water. Pat dry with a paper towel.
Mix all the seasoning together in a small bowl. Take a teaspoon of this mixture and spread over each leaf, and place in a stack. Pour remaining sauce mixture over the leaves and cover tightly with a lid. Let this sit out unrefrigerated for a few hours then place in refrigerator. This will keep for a few weeks.

For the chicken wing crépinette:

In a small mixing bowl add the ground chicken, garlic, egg, herbs, ginger and seasonings. Mix together until combined.
Lay out caul fat and cut 2-inch-by-1-inch squares. Put about 2 tablespoons of the meat farce in the middle of the caul fat square. Spread the meat and roll up the crépinette like a cigar.
Take a saute pan and over medium heat, sear the crépinette on all sides until golden and cooked through. Serve immediately.

For the chicken wings:

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, add the sesame oil, garlic powder, soy and yogurt and mix together. Add the raw wings and marinate for an hour or more.
In a separate bowl, mix the all-purpose flour and cornstarch.
Take the wings out of the marinade, taking off excess, and dredge in the flour mixture.
Fry in a preheated dutch oven at 350 F for 6 to 8 minutes or until wings have internal temperature of 165 F.
Once fried, transfer to a wire rack to drip dry.
Season with the mixture of salt and powders. Garnish with fresh scallion.

Learn more about Korean cooking at ICE.

Chicken Recipe ICE Chef Video Epicurious Global Cuisine

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Simple Winter Salad Inspiration

aday — Tue, 19 Nov 2019 18:15:07 +0000

Simple Winter Salad Inspiration aday Tue, 11/19/2019 - 13:15 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/winter%20salad%20header.jpg.webp?itok=9oo8EezD “Top Chef” alum Chris Scott makes a case for using more hearty winter greens with festive, colorful vegetables. November 30, 2019

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

When you think of summertime foods, you immediately go to refreshing things like cool cucumbers or icy cold watermelon. Bright flavors such as citrus are at the ready to add that extra boost to sea urchin, crispy fried squash blossoms or even fresh-picked peaches. You can keep the same summertime flavor mindset throughout the year by exploring all of the wonderful and healthy options that are readily available during the cold months.

Once that first autumn breeze blows in, we almost immediately switch gears to heartier foods. Inspired by what’s happening around us with the changing leaves crunching under our feet, the aroma of burning fireplaces open the mind to smoked foods.

Pine and juniper infusions come to mind when roasting foods or a gentle splash of the oils in wintertime cocktails. Pumpkin spice is everywhere, and at this point you simply give in to the pounds you’ll potentially gain from all the glorious spreads on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s.

But keeping the same summertime flavor mindset throughout the year is quite fine when you explore and realize all of the wonderful and healthy options that are readily available during the cold months.

My wife and I are big fans of salads, so some of our dinners will be a bowl of leafy greens with some fancy cheese and a small amount of grilled meat, simply dressed with extra virgin olive oil, cracked black pepper, a squeeze of lemon and sea salt. That’s really all we need.

To channel this simple pleasure during the colder months, I prefer the more robust leafy greens, such as escarole, radicchio, endive, kale and collards. I like these because of their heartiness and ability to go well with other wintry items, such as warm chestnuts, pomegranate, farro, black rice, cranberries, persimmons and roasted squashes, just to name a few. Combining the greens with thinly shaved Brussels sprouts, small florets of roasted cauliflower, toasted barley and beet vinaigrette can add festive color and flavor for any holiday get together.

These winter creations can be super low-maintenance, like simply roasting a pear and pairing it with seasonal greens, shaved parmesan and a simple balsamic vinaigrette. The possibilities are quite endless. Who says you have to quit your beach body regimen just because you’re wearing layers? Jump on the winter salad bandwagon and get ahead of the summertime game.

Here is a very simple winter salad that is as delicious as it is easy to prepare.

Warm Roasted Radicchio, Smoked Mozzarella, Buckwheat, Aged Balsamic

For the buckwheat:

1 cup buckwheat groats (kasha)
2 cups water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the marinade:

1/2 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1 ball smoked mozzarella
1 head radicchio
1 bunch curly spinach, washed and spun dry

For the aged balsamic vinaigrette:

3/4 cup aged Balsamic Vinegar of Modena (matured is also fine)
2 cups extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Cracked black pepper, to taste

In a saucepot, add the buckwheat, water, oil and salt and bring to a simmer.
Remove from heat when buckwheat is just tender, not overcooked and mushy. ŷ��Ƭ 10 minutes at a mild simmer.
Drain out the water and rinse buckwheat. Lay out on a sheet tray and let cool to room temperature. Once room temp, place in a bowl and toss with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Set aside.
Take the head of radicchio and cut into quarters, leaving the bottom stem attached to hold the leaves together. Toss the radicchio quarters in the marinade until totally coated. In between the leaves, place thin slices of smoked mozzarella.
Lay the stuffed radicchio on a sheet tray and roast in an oven at 350 F until leaves are slightly wilted and cheese is melted. Remove from oven and set aside.
In a stainless bowl, take washed spinach and toss with 3 tablespoons of the aged balsamic vinaigrette.
On the plate or serving bowl, gently plate the warm stuffed radicchio. Place some of the buckwheat on top and finally, add the dressed spinach. Drizzle with balsamic as desired.

Study plant-based cooking in ICE's Health-Supportive Culinary Arts program.

Winter Salads Recipe ICE Chef

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Chris Scott's Seafood Chili Recipe

aday — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 20:17:27 +0000

Chris Scott's Seafood Chili Recipe aday Thu, 11/14/2019 - 15:17 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/chilli%20header.jpg.webp?itok=hohdajGT The "Top Chef" alum says these clean and bright flavors hit the spot. November 14, 2019

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

Epicurious' 4 Levels series features three takes on a classic recipe — amateur, advanced and professional — and insights from a food scientist. In the latest episode, ŷ��Ƭ Chef Chris Scott elevates chili with a professional approach to stock.

Chef Chris says his main proteins — jumbo lump crab meat, fresh shrimp, scallops and a blue crab — make for a flavorful stock. He adds white beans for sweetness, orange zest for brightness and shrimp for an element of joy. Pro tip: Add the fresh herbs at the end so the flavor is still potent when the soup is served.

Watch the video for his demo and get the complete recipe below.

Seafood and White Bean Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small Spanish onion, diced)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
5 tomatillos, chopped until pulpy
2 oranges for zest
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
3 tablespoons ground cumin
3 whole dried chipotle peppers
1 cup white beer (hefeweizen)
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup fire-roasted tomatoes, chopped till pulpy
4 cups chicken or fish broth
2 small cans cooked white beans, drained
1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 pound sea scallops, cleaned
1/2 pound jumbo lump crabmeat
1 whole raw crab
4 bunches fresh cilantro
2 whole limes for garnish
Cornbread

In a dutch oven, heat the oil. Sweat the onion and garlic until translucent.
Add the dried spices and the dried peppers, toast all of this over medium-low heat until fragrant.
Add the peppers and cook until tender. Add the tomatillos and the fire-roasted tomatoes. Add beer and stock. Add white beans and bay leaf.
Let this simmer on low heat for at least 45 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add seafood and orange zest and cook for 10 minutes more.
Add chopped cilantro and serve in a bowl with a warm slice of cornbread.

Make seafood, stock and seasonal recipes in a recreational class at ICE's New York campus.

Recipe ICE Chef Video Epicurious Fish & Seafood

replication

Submitted by kevin on November 30, 2019 2:14am

i made it and it tastes so good! Nice recipe Chris

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Chef Chris Scott's Bee Pollen Miso

aday — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 19:22:20 +0000

Chef Chris Scott's Bee Pollen Miso aday Mon, 10/21/2019 - 15:22 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/Bee%20Pollen%20Miso%20header.jpg.webp?itok=WUU6Q6ZY The "Top Chef" finalist shares how he developed his floral, unctuous umami bomb. October 23, 2019

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

When describing my food style or the way that I cook, I’d say it’s pretty simple. My philosophy is to let the food do the “talking” and let it tell you what it wants to become. Now, you can only achieve this if you know about the food or the ingredients.

Take an heirloom tomato for example. Delicious right off of the vine with its naturally sweet and somewhat acidic boldness, it can be easily paired with a sprinkle of sea salt, a little olive oil, maybe a piece of basil if you wish. An inexperienced chef might bypass all of that to add microcrystalline cellulose with a dash of calcium lactate and xanthan to make some foam or gelee. I get it, it’s fun, shows creativity and pushes the boundaries of cuisine to the next level, but to me, that’s all about putting the attention on the chef or the method rather than the ingredient. That same tomato began its transformation on the vine, and I think of the entire process when it comes to the plants that we grow and eat.

Since I consider myself a purist when it comes to food, I rethink the origins of our food history and heritage across all cultures. Watching bumblebees buzz around fennel fronds and the little yellow flowers on tomato plants at Snug Harbor Farm piqued my curiosity about how honeybees bring pollen from fennel, shiso and any other flowering plant and create this wonderful honey or what would occur if we bring the creation of the bee back to the plant without any man- or chef-made tricks and fancy ingredients. Rather than the bee taking the pollen from the flower and making honey, I am taking pollen to a plant in the natural form of umami.

Many chefs are only interested in the end result rather than learning the process. But we can learn so much from the pollination process, and sometimes working in reverse can even lead us to new flavors. This led me to miso, a seasoning produced by fermenting soybeans with salt and koji (the fungus Aspergillus oryzae). The result is usually a thick paste used for sauces, pickling vegetables, mixing with dashi … the possibilities are endless. And it’s high in protein and rich in vitamins and minerals.

Inspired by "The Noma Guide to Fermentation," I’m combining the texture of miso in an experiment with bee pollen to accentuate the flavor of any vegetable from the garden. Since the dawn of humanity, we have always fermented our foods, from alcoholic beverages made from fruit and honey to various milks fermented to produce yogurt. Cheese, bread, vinegar, kimchi and kombucha are examples that tell the story of how we fermented things due to lack of refrigeration.

Here's my gluten-free method and technique.

Bee Pollen "Miso"

Yields 1 jar

3 cups of bee pollen
2 1/4 cups water, room temperature
200 grams koji
2 1/4 cups water
3 tablespoons salt

Blend the bee pollen and first 2 1/4 cups of the water until completely liquified.
Add the koji, salt and the second 2 1/4 cups water and continue blending until liquified.

Here’s the trick: I take this liquid and place it in a rice cooker. I layer a piece of plastic wrap on the liquid and weigh it down with a small plate. Then I close the lid to the rice cooker and press the warm button for a constant 140 F.

I let this sit for three weeks undisturbed, and then I open the rice cooker and give it a stir. I cover again with plastic and close the lid. I let this go for another five days, remove from the rice cooker and place in mason jars with the lids. This will stay in an ambient place for 30 days until it reaches a desired taste — sweet and floral bee pollen, salty umami with sweet undertones and the "funk" from fermentation.

Back to those tomatoes: I slice a piece of my heirloom tomato and sprinkle a little olive oil on it. Then I place it under the salamander and roast until bubbly, about 2 minutes at high heat. Finally, I spread a little bee pollen miso on top and rip some pieces of shiso for more flavor, and that’s it. The dish takes time, but it is simple and delicious without manufacturing or manipulation.

Read more recipes from Chef Chris and explore your own learning process in Culinary Arts.

Recipe Ingredient Exploration ICE Chef Umami

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Carolina-Style Pork Barbecue

aday — Fri, 09 Aug 2019 15:16:09 +0000

Carolina-Style Pork Barbecue aday Fri, 08/09/2019 - 11:16 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/bbq%20sample%20header.jpg.webp?itok=h3AyjtNj Chef Chris Scott's Carolina-style barbecue sample at the August First Friday. Chef Chris Scott shares his crowd-favorite First Friday recipe. August 30, 2019

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

Barbecue is a culture that goes deeper than what I’m able to do. I understand the theory and fundamentals, but what I get out of barbecue is from memory. I make what I like or remember from growing up in the South.

There’s a river in South Carolina called the Pee Dee River, and anything east of that is vinegar-based barbecue: cider, brown sugar, chili flakes, if you like it spicy; it’s very wet. It’s mopped on to the food and caramelized on the coals for that sticky, icky feel. Anything west of that is the mustard-based barbecue, which is what I remember the most and the one I like. In that area, no tomato product is added, that’s more of a Kansas City or Texas kind of thing. There are even mayonnaise-based styles.

Bread soaks up the fat oil drippings and sauce with barbecue, and when the sauce is too spicy, bread can be a coolant. My sauce was inspired by the slice of white bread that normally comes with this regional barbecue. For two years, I've been working on a bread course that isn't what the diner expects when it arrives. The bread could be served in the form of a liquid, gelee or foam, containing all the ingredients that we're familiar with when it comes to bread, including flour and yeast. This concept can even taste like bread but isn't the bread that we're all familiar with.

My liquid form is a sauce. The "bread" that came with this barbecue was garlic, lemongrass, hondashi, creme and very toasted sourdough. I cooked this all together for an hour or so, strained it and then thickened with a little bit of xantham. You have to know what you’re doing with xantham or it will be like glue. Home cooks can often use corn starch to thicken the sauce.

I served the bread sauce with wild rice and sizzling dry rice at August's First Friday, along with my take on Carolina-style pork barbecue, below.

Carolina-Style Pork Barbecue

1 small pork butt
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup yellow mustard
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
Salt, to taste
1 cup hot sauce

Place all of this in a saucepot and cook over low heat for 2 hours.
Separately, rub and smoke a small pork butt for at least 4 hours, or until able to pull apart and shred by hand.
Stir the juices from the smoked pork into the barbecue sauce.
Shred pork and put into a saucepot dry. Add barbecue sauce until it's very wet. Cook this over medium heat until hot.
You can now serve the pork however you wish: on sandwiches, over rice or over bread.

Meet more chefs over demos and drinks at our next First Friday event.

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Sobriety in the Kitchen

aday — Thu, 09 May 2019 18:30:53 +0000

Sobriety in the Kitchen aday Thu, 05/09/2019 - 14:30 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/kitchen%20header.jpg.webp?itok=WBv4MxoT “Top Chef” alum Chris Scott shares his story of substance abuse that led to sobriety and cooking from a clean spirit. August 5, 2019

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

You can really change a lot in five years… if you want to. That’s how long ago I last drank alcohol. If you include drugs in the mix, it’s been at least 12 years, but I stopped counting after a while. Although I ran the gamut with all kinds of recreational drugs, it was indeed alcohol that damn near destroyed me.

I’ve seen the destruction from alcohol firsthand in my life and in the lives of people I’ve known and worked with. I even had two cousins destroy their livers and pass away from alcohol abuse well before the age of 45.

The restaurant business is certainly a place where I feel the most free. When things are going right, it is where I lose myself and find myself again. I’m able to get creative with various flavor profiles and marry together two or even three food cultures in a dish, and every living chef has at least 10 food concepts in their pocket. It is where true artistry comes from emotion and experience and appears on the plate, leaving and recreating memories with every single bite. It’s beautiful.

It is also a place where drugs and alcohol run rampant. Drugs and alcohol were often free for me in the restaurant industry. If I was holding some weed, and someone had some blow, then of course we were sharing. And alcohol is easily accessible right down the hall, in the office or behind the bar. At one job back in Philadelphia, we’d show up for work around 10 a.m. and work well until midnight. During a shift, we’d drink a constant flow of beer or cocktails out of those tin shaker cups. If we got too buzzed from the alcohol, we’d “balance out” by doing lines of cocaine. If we felt too up from the coke, then we’d deflate by smoking weed in the walk-in or out in the back alley. We’d call this mix “the trinity.” After our shift, we’d all meet up at a local bar or club and really pour it on then do it all again the next day. I’m amazed that we all seemed to get through all of that and still put up a decent product on the plate day after day.

For me, things got bad after my mother passed away the day before I got married.

My mother had cancer. Before this we barely got along. She was a single mother, sometimes working two jobs to make ends meet. She gave up all her own dreams in order to take care of me. My father chose to not be a part of our lives. Not only was he abusive, but he literally left us broke and living in my mother’s car while she was deciding on how to move forward. She decided to move back in with her mother (my grandmother) and this is where we remained. Her bitterness toward life bled out in negative ways, including her relationship with me. So when she became sick, we tried to quickly reconcile our relationship, and we did to a point, but there were still many things left unsaid. Her dying the day before I got married and three months before the birth of her first grandchild took a toll on me and affected my spirit. Alcohol was there as a crutch.

I absolutely believe that alcoholism is a physically dependent disease, but when you tie in the mental health aspects of it, it can absolutely destroy you.

Restaurant work in general can be brutal. Not only is it difficult on your body, but it also steals away more than 50% of your time. In the beginning of your career things can be hard, whether you haven’t mastered the craft as quickly as you wished, others climb the ladder faster than you, or the pay isn’t enough to sustain your cost of living. Things can look bleak, careers may change and alcohol is there as a crutch.

On top of the difficult workload, I was also struggling with my own mental demons. That seems to be a common thing in the industry these days, or in fact it’s something that’s always been around but now coming to light after the death of Anthony Bourdain and the related conversation on mental health issues in kitchens.

It got to a point where I was becoming a recluse, drinking my life away and pushing away everyone who ever loved me. I had no confidence in myself or my work. I lived lies and made horrible decisions based on drinking. I was at a point when I could have lost everything. I needed help.

I began to seek out meetings and to talk to individuals who were going through similar situations. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink. That was absolutely my thing when I began seeking help. I would attend meetings and come back home and drink. You must either have a moment when all hell breaks loose or when you’ve just simply had enough to get serious about recovery. For me, it was a little bit of both.

Once I began the process of healing, I discovered things about myself. All the things about me that I used to hate, I began to love. I began making amends with all the family members and friends that I’d hurt. My cooking even got better because of my ability to focus and cook from a clean spirit. Almost in a matter of months of being sober, I could see myself rounding the curve, with things that I would have NEVER imagined starting to happen, and it was beautiful.

It's long overdue in this industry to look at this subject long and hard. How many situations like Anthony Bourdain's do we need to endure until we stand up as a group and say something? I'm living proof that there is another side, the light at the end of the tunnel. With a platform like "Top Chef," opening up about my experiences and struggle with alcohol has inspired many, but it can't stop there. If I can talk about it, blog about it or post about it, then I will. I can only hope to keep inspiring.

In my restaurants today, I do not offer shift drinks, and I do not condone a drinking lifestyle, even if it’s casual. I know too well the dangers and bad decisions that can come from one drink too many.

Since I shared my sobriety story with the world, many have joined me. I answer each and every person who reaches out for words of encouragement or looking for a path to heal. Only with one another’s help do we all succeed. And I look forward to helping as many as I can.

For assistance or resources on substance abuse, call 1-800-662-HELP or visit samhsa.gov. ICE students can hear Chef Chris share his sobriety story on Aug. 20. Learn more in the student newsletter.

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America's Essential Connection to Cornbread

aday — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 17:45:21 +0000

America's Essential Connection to Cornbread aday Mon, 03/25/2019 - 13:45 /sites/default/files/styles/width_1400/public/content/blog-article/header-image/cornbread%20header.jpg.webp?itok=9WNuQN9A “Cornbread. Ain’t nothing wrong with that.” The joke from Chris Rock’s standup act rings true. March 26, 2019

By Chris Scott — ICE Chef

I always say, “If you want to truly know a culture… eat their bread.” In France, it could be the baguette; in Ethiopia, you’ll have injera; if you travel to parts of India, you’ll enjoy chapati; Italy will provide focaccia; in West Africa, you can sample a lovely flatbread called ngome. Here in America, there is cornbread.

Some would almost immediately think that this bread has no place on a world stage with other “celebrated” breads. Cornbread tells the story of lack and can get caught up in the stigma of shame and class. For whatever reason, some might refuse to let their brains show love to this bread without realizing that cornbread and its variations were here in the Americas with the Indians, prepared by white folks living in the Appalachian Mountains and put together by black folks before, during and after slavery. Knowing how we think about cornbread shows a path of overlooking or turning a blind eye to how racism exists even in the foods that we perceive to have “importance” on the global scale.

Another angle of looking at it is that cornbread is the product of making something beautiful out of humble ingredients. In ancient times, having corn was like having gold. Native Americans used corn to prepare other dishes, everything from grits to alcoholic beverages. African Americans would make unleavened pone, corn fritters or even hoecakes. For some, even the mention of cornbread creates spontaneous exclamations and smiles of recognition followed by stories usually involving a family member.

Most American families, regardless of background, have a recipe for cornbread. It’s normally one that’s been passed down from aunts and grandmothers, scribbled on the back of a postcard or an old tattered napkin. To me, those are the love letters of generations past that tell a defined story of who we are and speak to our culture in little ways. For example, if you’re from the north, then your cornbread recipe probably has sugar or honey in it. If you’re from the south there is most likely no sweetener. If you are from the Appalachians, then you might tend to prepare your cornbread in a very old-fashioned manner with no leaveners, using simply ground corn, hot water and lard. The luxury of having butter, buttermilk, sugar, honey, baking powder or baking soda usually indicated that you had money. Decoding a simple family cornbread recipe can tell the underlying story of where you come from.

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A post shared by chris scott (@chefchris512) on Nov 30, 2017 at 4:25pm PST

You can see what I mean when I say, “If you want to know about a group of people or their culture: Eat their bread.” No American food has more historical and cultural connections than corn, from Native Americans to the Pilgrims to us today. No single food native to America has become more essential to the survival of so many different nationalities around the globe.

My aunt Sarah Mae was the baker in the family. Her cakes and pies were to-die-for. In the summertime after dinner, she’d prepare some of the absolute best milkshakes made with ice cream, one egg, one banana, milk and a little vanilla extract. She had four children and was a housewife, so she was always in the kitchen preparing something. Many of the deepest kitchen conversations I’ve held onto come from my experiences with her. She was a walking, talking instructional YouTube video when it came to baking technique, never giving you exact measurements, but instead, giving you the play by play of how an ingredient needed to be dealt with in order to gain the best result.

One Sunday after hours of baking cornbread, I was assisting her in wrapping up loaves of cornbread for a church function (in aluminum foil, of course), and my job was to wrap each loaf and write the names of the recipients. For one of the loaves, I asked her, “Aunt Sarah Mae, whose cornbread is this?” She replied by saying, “This cornbread is ours, sweetheart.” And that’s how I feel about us as a culture of human beings when it comes to this delicious American staple.

Whether it’s made in a cast-iron skillet or the end of a hoe, mashed into a paste and fried in lard or all gussied up with leaveners and sweeteners, this cornbread is ours.

Bake your own bread in a professional development class at ICE.

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