Spotlight : Chef Jefferey Talbot of Ancora Pizzeria

Chef Jefferey Talbot of Ancora Pizzeria has a truly intimate relationship with his bread starter.  In fact, they have been seeing each other for daily feedings for over 7 years now.  Talbot says it's pretty much the only thing in his professional career that he has done so consistently and for such a long time.  I remember poking around Ancora right before they opened in 2011 and Jeff showing off his bubbling blob of a starter like a proud dad introducing his child.  This is a man, to put it mildly, that is in love with making bread.  He wears his flour covered t-shirt like a well earned badge, manning the stunningly beautiful wood-fired Italian oven on a nightly basis.  Jeff makes it a priority to personally tend to the oven himself.  He says that his favorite chefs are the ones that are intimately hands on in their kitchen.  Not because they are micro-managers, but because they just love the thing that they do so much, they can't pull themselves away from it.

  "I want to be the one making the pizza for everyone that walks through the door."
                                                                                                                -Jefferey Talbot

Jeff feeding the starter.  Love that hat!

So what is a bread starter and what makes it so special?  To put it simply, a bread starter is a mixture of some type of grain (like flour or rye), water, and yeast.  The mixture is allowed to ferment and kept alive through constant feeding for an indefinite amount of time.  Over time the starter picks up various ambient wild yeasts and cultivates a distinct profile based on its surrounding environment.  This greater diversity of microbial organisms leads to a more complex and interesting loaf of bread, or pizza crust for that matter.  The other more common way of making bread is to use commercial yeasts which are laboratory grown and have very consistent and predictable results.  There is a clear parallel in the  cheese world here which is raw milk cheese vs. pasteurized cheese.  Raw milk cheeses allow the naturally present and diverse group of bacteria in the milk do all of the fermenting work.  When cheese is pasteurized, the naturally present bacteria in the milk is killed through high temperature heating, then lab cultivated strains of bacteria are added.  These strains have very predictable results, much like commercial bread yeast. Using lab made bacteria and yeast limits the failure curve, but also reduces the complex and wide range of flavors that were possible due to the diversity of bacteria naturally in the milk.
 

Diavola Pizza (Spicy Salami, Fior di Latte, Chili ant Tomato)

Now on to more delicious matters.  Jeff uses his starter as the base for all of the breads turned out at Ancora, as well as for the pizza crust which he treats as a  bread as well.  Jeff's approach to pizza is in true Neoploitan style, which is to concentrate on the dough and process rather than the toppings. The Italians have outlined this process very clearly in their 10 rules for pizza making handed down from The Association of true Neopolitan Pizza.  You can find these rules written in chalk on the wall in the hallway at Ancora or on their website under "Pizza Rules". But perhaps a greater motivation for limiting toppings is that Jeff doesn't want to hide the years of work put into developing his bread recipe under a bed of barbecued chicken.  The dough speaks for itself.  It really needs so little to shine.

The result of all this fuss is a pizza crust with a great chew and a crispy bottom that is perfectly charred in just  a few spots.  There is a real rustic and earthy quality to the crust, with just a hint of acidity from the bread starter.  Texturally it is slightly more toothsome than your average thin and crispy style pizza.  The topping choices are purposely few, but well thought out and sourced from quality vendors.  My personal favorite is the Diavola with spicy salami, fior di latte (fresh mozzarella), chili and tomato.  But honestly, I have never had a bad pie here.  I highly recommend that you also try the dessert, which is a daily fruit and nut bread served with mascarpone cheese and honey. The starter has more of a detectable presence in the loaf breads, given that yeasts are allowed more time to ferment and develop character.  This dessert bread was honesty the catalyst for me writing a post on Ancora in the first place.  I love simple food treated simply, with very few, but very high quality ingredients.  Even the mascarpone is sourced from one of the best mascarpone producers in the country, Vermont Creamery.

Fruit and nut dessert bread with mascarpone cheese and bee juice

American publisher and author William Feather said, "Beware of the person who cannot be bothered by details."  Ancora is the kind of restaurant that stakes it's reputation on details.  And in my opinion, they knock it out of the park!


Up next... The Chimay Cheeseburger from Avenue Pub
  

Dante's Kitchen and the Composed Cheese Plate

Dante's Kitchen 736 Dante St NOLA (right off of river road)  Photo ripped off from Dante's website

There are so many things to love about Dante's Kitchen;  their classic and beloved chicken under a brick, their delicious Sunday brunch menu, their adventurous new 7 item "Pieces and Parts" menu, and their composed cheese plate just to name a few.  There is, as I see it, no need for me to write a comprehensive review of this beloved local establishment.  (Though I think I will eventually do a piece exclusively on the "Pieces and Parts" menu).  Let me just say that I absolutely adore Dante's Kitchen and if you have not been, or have not been lately,  put it on your list.  The purpose of this article, and this blog in general, is to take a microscopic look at one singular,  particularly interesting thing that is going on in the New Orleans food world.  So today Dante's famous bricked chicken, as well as it's new beef heart and slow cooked duck neck dishes are taking a back seat to something a little more curd nerd worthy, the "Composed Cheese Plate".

So what's the difference between a cheese plate and a "composed" cheese plate?  A cheese plate is well... cheese on a plate, nuff said.  A composed cheese plate is when you pick an assortment of cheeses and pair each cheese with a very specific and creative accompaniment.  The cheese and condiment are meant to be eaten in the same bite rather than eating the cheese and using the other components on the plate as a palate break.  There is also an emphasis on the creative aspect of the composed plate.  You can't just spoon out some jarred fig preserves onto a slice of Gorgonzola and call it a composition.  There is a certain responsibility when "composing" a cheese plate to think a little outside of the box.  This is a responsibility that Pastry Chef Kristyne Bouley and the crew at Dante's kitchen did not take lightly.

  

        "I feel like we would be doing a disservice to customers if we didn't try and push them to eat something more than Brie"  -Kristyne Bouley

Chef Kristyne eating some noodles in San Fransisco

 Kristyne Bouley has been in the pastry biz for almost a decade.  She has worked in New Orleans for most of her culinary career.   She was pastry chef at Herbsaint for a stint and has been the Pastry Chef at Dante's Kitchen for a couple of years now.  Kristyne decided to add a composed cheese plate to the Dante's menu many months ago based on being inspired by a great cheese plate in New York and from feeling a general responsibility to challenge diners in new and creative ways.  In Kristyne's words "I feel like we would be doing a disservice to customers if we didn't try and push them to eat something more than Brie.  As chefs or people in culinary service, we need to educate diners about their food."

Bottom to top:  Ypsi, Bayley Hazen Blue, Rupert 

I personally think that these guys have really hit on something great here.  In fact,  there was recently a stretch of about two weeks where they sold as many cheese plates as they did chocolate cake.  A true testament to the power of properly presented cheese!

So, what is on this plate?   

1. Ypsi - Aged goat cheese form Zingerman's  Creamery in Ann Arbor, Michigan

Paired with - "Fizzy Fruits".  A slightly sweetened mixture of blueberries, grapes and peaches that have been allowed to ferment at room temperature for a couple of days.  A perfect pairing of foods that are at their seasonal best this time of year.



2. Bayley Hazen Blue - English style blue from the cheese wizards at Jasper Hill Farm in Greensboro, Vermont

Paired with - pickled chanterelle  mushrooms.   Dante's owner/Executive Chef Eman Loubier was the driving force behind this pairing.  He picked up a woodsy, musty, "floor of the woods" character in the Bayley Hazen, and since chanterelles were in season, and also grow on the floor of the woods he thought they would pair up perfectly.   He was right.

3. Rupert - Washed rind, slightly funky, cows milk cheese form Consider Bardwell Farm in West Pawlet, Vermont

Paired with - tomato crostini.  This idea behind this pairing was to capitalize on the meaty, umami quality of the cheese and pair it up with a seasonal fruit that had just as much savory backbone. That fruit ended up being the tomato.  This is my pick for the most creative pairing out of the bunch,  though all were outstanding combinations.

Dante's Kitchen is that rare kind of restaurant that knows how to seamlessly blend creative and sometimes eccentric cooking with classic sensibilities, bringing everyone along for the ride.  Always pushing boundaries just enough to keep things interesting but never so much as to scare regulars off.  Their cheese plate shouldn't be, and certainly is not, an exception to this precedent.

The current Composed Cheese Plate will be available through the summer, then on to Fall flavors.  Get it while it lasts.  And while you're at it check out the Hog Head Ravioloni or any of the other amazing creations on the new menu.  I hear that the escargot on a roasted marrow bone is particularly delicious.

Recipe: Tartiflette w/ Dancing Fern

First things first, I promise to never post a recipe on this blog that I have not personally tested.  Though I am not a professional cook, I am an avid home cook that is a bit obsessed with doing things right, and constantly frustrated with bad recipes.  I don't plan on posting too many recipes but I do feel the need to clear these things up first.  That being said, enjoy!!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter or oil

2 medium onions (sliced)

8oz cubed andouille sausage (or bacon)

3 pounds potatoes (sliced 1/4 in and boiled until tender)

8oz Dancing Fern cheese

8oz dry white wine or chicken stock

1/4 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

4 green onions or 1/4 cup chives



 Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees

Heat butter over med-hi heat

Add onions and saute for 8 minutes

Add andouille and cook until rendered and crisp, about 5 minutes

Turn heat off

In a casserole dish (I used a 10-in LeCruset Saute pan) place half of the sliced, boiled potatoes on the bottom of the pan.  Cover with half of the onion, andouille mixture.  Repeat with remaining potatoes then remaining onion mixture

Whisk creme fraiche/sour cream into wine/stock,  pour this mixture over the casserole

Slice Dancing Fern cheese into 1/4 inch slices and lay on top of casserole

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes

Finish under broiler if top doesn't brown thoroughly

Sprinkle green onions/chives over before serving

***The classic wine to have with Tartiflette is a French Savoie wine called Apremont.  It can be found at Bacchanal, The Wine Seller or Cork and Bottle.  Call for availability before you go, it's kind of an obscure wine but worth the effort.  Absolutely bone dry, which perfectly compliments the rich, cheesy cooking of the Savoie region.

Reblochon fans unite! ...and get some Dancing Fern!!

French Reblochon (and some walnuts)

If you are a connoisseur of fine cheese, you probably already know about Reblochon.  Maybe you discovered it on a trip to France and attempted to score a bit from your local cheese shop after coming home.   At which point you were let down by the disappointing fact that it is not available to the US market.  I can't tell you how many times i've encountered this exact scenario and have had to break this sad news to my cheese customers.
 
If you have never heard of  Reblochon, here's the deal.  It's a soft, raw cows milk cheese from the Savoie region of France that is typically aged for about 3 weeks.  Reblochon came about as a way for the French farmer to stick it to the 14th century tax collectors.  The strategy was to partially milk your cows, pay tax on that quantity of milk, then when the taxman was gone, re-milk your herd and make cheese from the "second" milking.  The root of the word Reblochon is "reblocher" which loosely translates to "milk again".  Surely the most delicious story ever told about tax evasion.

 In the Savoie region, Reblochon is typically used for a dish called tartiflette, which is a gratin style dish that combines onions, lardons (bacon), potatoes and Reblochon cheese.  It is an undeniably delicious dish!  But Reblochon on its own is well.... kind of underwhelming to be frank.  I'm certain that half of the lure of Reblochon in America is due to the fact that it is illegal to import because of our raw milk cheese requirements.  Current FDA rules prohibit the sale of raw milk cheese that has not been aged for at least 60 days.  Reblochon would turn to cheese soup if it were aged 60 days, so we just can't get it here in the states.  What are we to do?  I suggest... Forget Reblochon!  Buy Dancing Fern!

A particularly runny wheel of Dancing Fern

Dancing Fern is a Reblochon "style" cheese made by cheesemaker Nathan Arnold of Sequatchie Cove Farm in Sequatchie Tennessee.   It is the absolute closest thing to Reblochon that I have ever tasted in my 7 years in the cheese business!  In fact, depending on its ripeness, I like it even better than many Reblochons i've had.  The dominant flavor of Dancing Fern is that of rich cultured butter, which is a direct reflection of the high quality, grass fed cows milk.  There is just a tiny bit or earthy mustiness which is exactly what one should expect from that style.  Texturally the cheese gets a bit liquid under the rind but retains a nice soft, slightly dense center.  Dancing Fern is a new addition to the New Orleans market, along with two other Sequatchie cheeses, which is a welcome addition to the relatively small selection of southern cheeses available.  Just this weekend it was awarded a first place ribbon at the American Cheese Society Competition.  Go southern cheesemakers!

Now I am through and through a French cheese lover!  But when a cheese like Reblochon is just so dang hard to come by, and there is a domestic producer doing it right, I say save that Reblochon for your next visit to France.  If you are an epicure in America, consider it your duty to support as much domestic artisan food as possible!  We have the talent and dedication here in the states, we just all have to get behind it as consumers.  Then in time, our food culture will be as vast, deep and interesting as in France or any culinary minded country out there!  So go pick up some Dancing Fern and make a local version of tartiflette.  I suggest replacing the lardons (bacon) with andouille sausage.  Recipe follows on next blog post.

You can find Dancing Fern at St James Cheese Company 5004 Prytania St.