Hunt2Table

June 8, 2009

Chefs have weird, almost fetish like ideals about food. There’s something beautiful about turning what is good and true into something nourishing for the mind and body.

I like to believe that I am part of a special relationship, a liaison between food and patron, as a priest between god and sinner. Each an old friend which I will soon chop, throw in a pot, cook the hell out of and feed it to you: the hungry subject.

But I’m not here to talk about the mysteries of this thing of ours we call chefdom. I do enough of that between the hours of dusk and dawn, sitting after work with alcohol induced kitchen pirates contemplating what it is that we do.

This is about what allows us to belong to our profession, the true star in the kitchen.

Every ingredient has an untold story. How did it get here? Where did it come from? These are not normally questions we ask ourselves as we enjoy the spoils of feast. Typical routine as follows: we want it in our belly and we want it now!

My complete obsession is to find the freshest possible ingredients I can without cheating. By cheating I mean using my advantages as a chef (wholesale purchasing, access to purveyors, and so on.) I want to put my self in the shoes of the average home cook and uncover where to find all that we enjoy, which in turn I hope will help inspire you to reach out of your comfort zone and further express your own skills in the kitchen.

Half the fun is going on the hunt, searching as far as I can to find the treasure, unspoiled and at its best. The other half is turning that into something delicious, without totally altering the way it was meant to be enjoyed.

Each week I will be tracking down a new foodstuff and tell a bit about its life, along with avant-garde recipes inspired solely by that ingredient.

This is a solute to all that we call delicious.

This is a single chef’s tale of our foods journey from Hunt to Table!