Peter's Warehouse Walkthrough
November 1, 2024
Here is a vegetable that humbled me- Baby Leeks (28001-12ct) so much so I still feel bad about that I put the dish on the menu. The Leeks are so tender and had just the right mild oniony flavor that it matched perfectly with Dungeness Crab. It was a Grilled Baby Leek with Dungeness Crab with Sauce Mousseline. Sounds great- right? It was but it killed the station it came out of. Let me walk you thru it. Order came in and the leeks went on the grill till just about done. They were placed in the center of the plate and Dungeness Crabmeat was placed on top. Then to order Sauce Mousseline was made and ladled over to cover it all. If you are not familiar with Sauce Mousseline, it is an old school Escoffier type sauce. It is Hollandaise which you fold in whipped heavy cream. This could only be done to order as the Mousseline would start to separate after a couple minutes. Then it was placed under the salamander to give a little color on the sauce. Oh, don’t forget to sprinkle with chopped herbs as it came out of the salamander. Tarragon was the herb of choice back then. Any herb could work on this dish. You know, it was a little over 30 years ago we did this dish, and I still haven't apologized to Paul, the saucier at the time, for putting this on his station.
Here is an all around great Pear, The Concorde Pear is excellent for eating fresh or for cooking. Bonus- it is slow to brown when cut so it works well on the line. The Concorde pear is a happy marriage between the Conference and Comice pear varieties. The Conference pear is popular in Europe, which originated in England in the late 1800’s and shows resemblance in elongated shape and russeted skin to the Bosc pear. The Comice pear is well known in the U.S. for its abundant juice, creamy texture, and sweetness. We know the Comice as it is the pear used by Harry and David for their fruit baskets. Our Concorde Pears were grown by Rainer Fruit out of Washington State.
Thought we needed some color today and there it was in the split case room! The red peppers (21947-1-1/9 bushel, 21957- 3 lb) came thru in terms of color. Deep red that looked perfect for the grill. Interesting to recall- The bell pepper is the only member of the genus Capsicum that does not produce capsaicin, a lipophilic chemical that can cause a strong burning sensation when it comes in contact with mucous membranes. Bell peppers are thus scored in the lowest level of the Scoville scale, meaning that they are not spicy. This absence of capsaicin is due to a recessive form of a gene that eliminates the compound and, consequently, the "hot" taste usually associated with the rest of the genus Capsicum.
If you do not know, I go hiking about once a month. I have a good run having been doing it for over 7 years now or is it 8 years? Our last hike was Larch Mountain Crater Loop. We were blessed with a clear day and started the hike seeing 5 mountains: Rainer, St Helens, Adams, Mt Hood and Jefferson. Our hike soon descended into a lush quiet forest. Mushrooms were out all around. We saw about 8 or 9 types, everything from little purple mushrooms to Coral mushrooms. We did not see any Chanterelles while out and about. I guess I will have to rely on the Chanterelles (21605-5 lb) like the ones I found at work.
