SAY CHEESE

I have been telling my chefs for years…when they are “playing” and innovating with recipes, that they MUST write everything down!  Why?  Because usually, typically, the result of such experimentation is good or very good, but only occasionally do we finsish with grand slams-out-of-the-park-holy-shit amazing!  Those “Eureka!!” moments too oftencome by accident–unplanned, a little of this, some of that–and WHOA, that is good!  BUT…what a shame if when you get there, you cannot remember how…and recreating the result is nearly impossible.  Here’s a great example of that, shared by Chef Rob Jean–as we continually asked him to add the “Emmenthaler Fondue” to the menu, that blew everyone away at our last Beer Dinner:

“I am up after watching football. About to watch, mind of a chef. I decided to check my email and after seeing this one and hearing the rave reviews about the emmanthaler fondu, I felt compelled to share a great chef story with you. This is the quintessential tale of how things happen sometimes! In the midst of all our successes, trials, food cost struggles and tough personnel decisions, I thought this lighthearted story would tickle the funnybone! By the way, may make a great blog and feel free to share with others. -Chef Rob

 “The day of the octoberfest dinner, sick as heck, as it turns out I was battling pneumonia, I said to myself ” no worries, I am the man, always have been and I could pull this off if I lost a limb this morning” What seemed to be one of my easiest projects of the day, turned out to be my worst nightmare! I proceeded to melt my expertly sliced emmanthaler in some properly portioned cream to produce the fondue that would be served deliciously with the pretzels. I went about my business putting things together and occasionally stirred the cheese to prevent sticking. I believed that melting the cheese that I had never attempted to melt before would be no big deal. I’m the man…I can do anything. Right? Wrong!

After a short time the cheese became a solid blob in the middle of my pot. What’s up? Ok raise the heat a little, it will happen, right? Wrong! I was running out of time and decided to strain out my blob and melt some muenster in the leftover whey, Which still tasted a little like my original cheese. I’ve melted and trusted muenster a thousand times. This would work, no doubt and no one would ever notice, right? Wrong! Still dont know if it was time, temperature, types of cheese, no idea but the muenster turned into a seized up lump of crap in the middle of my pot. Is there something wrong with me? Did someone sabotage me? All of a sudden I realized what it felt to make hollandaise in front of your culinary teacher for the first time. The only difference this time however, was that I was both teacher and student! There were other people around the kitchen as this disaster was unfolding but I used my extreme aura of confidence to hide the fact that I may not indeed have the fondue to serve for this dinner! I strained out my new blob and was left with a bucket of somewhat weakly flavored whey, I suppose. I am really running out of time now! I run two floors down, even though I feel like I’m going to die, and grab two containers of powdered Cabot Vermont cheddar. I run back up easily hiding those containers behind my back. I put my whey or ” flavored cream back on a low fire and when no one is looking, I add the powdered cheese and voila! In a matter of a few minutes, my fondue now gas the body, needed to serve with the pretzels! Turns out everyone loved it to the point where my friends, diners, owners and GMs alike, asked me if I could serve this new emmanthaler sauce with the pretzels on the menu! By the end of the dinner, I felt so ill, I could not hang around for formalities and thank you, etc.. So this is the first time I have shared this illustrious story. I love this story because it shows the humanity of our business and is probably how so many great recipes have been invented in the past, by accident! The only problem with this one is, I don’t think I could ever recreate the events that led to this fondue accurately no matter how many times I try ! I’m not even sure if emmanthaler is a meltable cheese!