*This post is not typical of what you find on Salty Seattle. I will return to regularly-scheduled programming soon.

Yesterday I checked my blog comments as I do several times a week and I came across this on my “about” page: Read more

Fact: when you stack things, they taste better.

Proof: ice cream cones, layers of cake, s’mores, and now this. What is this, you ask? It’s the silver lining. Yesterday I failed, albeit deliciously. Today I succeeded.

I turned a soggy pile of oxtail mush into a panko-fried cake and I put it on a round of polenta. Then I topped my savory “sundae,” but not with a cherry. Instead I used a port-poached plum. I love dessert, I really do. But as I go through life, the savory courses captivate me in a way no sweet ever could. I think it’s because you can tuck so many flavors into something savory- it can host salty, sweet, acidic, bitter and the elusive umami all in one bite. The alchemy is achieving the right balance between all five. With dessert, there is generally just sweet, with maybe a little saltiness thrown in if you’re feeling edgy. Read more

A delicious failure. This could be the title of my autobiography rather than the title of my dinner. There’s just something so tragicomic about it, no? If my life was full of exquisite meals yet devoid of the true tenets of success, I suppose I would be ok- who needs a white picket fence and neighbor’s named the Joneses anyway?

However I won’t be satisfied in my career if I only make food that tastes good. It has to be well-executed renditions of my original vision, too. I’d rather eat a terrible meal that is interesting than a delicious one that is boring. I know that pot roast and corn-on-the-cob have an undeniably-visceral appeal, but I’m confident I can make them passably 10 times out of 10. Instead, I would prefer to invent rather than to simply reproduce. Which is why I tackle some of the meals I tackle.

They start as inklings and get jotted into the notes section of the iPhone. A recent note read “foie gras. Peanut butter. Consider grape jelly from champagne grapes. Cupcake gone mad!!!. PBJ hot dog with foie gras.” The results of this stream-of-consciousness have yet to hit the plate because the idea isn’t fully congealed. Kind of like the demi-glace that ruined the dish I’m about to describe. Read more