A Copper Beech Experience

So as many of you know, I was working fine dining for years. Experimenting with new, exciting ingredients all the time.  And more recently I have changed things up, I have been working in a small breakfast/lunch restaurant.  Granted we do dinner on Friday and Saturday nights, it is not where my passion truly lies.  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my job and I am happy (for the most part) with my place.  With the economy and this industry it is hard to find a restaurant with the style and people I enjoy working with.  As of now I enjoy my present co-workers and that is the biggest reason of working where I am, well that and the increased responsibility.  I like being in control, and I love being creative.  So when I was asked to stage at the Copper Beach Inn; Brasserie Pip, I jumped at that.  I was able to work with one of my former co-workers and friend, Jesse, and after that whole evening it felt so good to work with great ingredients, among such bright, ambitious culinary minds. I was impressed by the ingredients and being around the great people, and the kitchen itself.

Here’s how my evening went.  I drove a little over an hour to get to the small restaurant(which is also a bed and breakfast). I felt fine because after all it was just another kitchen.  But as I walked up to the door I saw a large display case of the awards and recognition the restaurant received.  Somehow this was the only thing that startled me a little.  well at that I walked in, and I was handed a white coat (neglecting to have one not entirely needing one for the past year), and put to work.  I just did grunt work, breaking down wild mushrooms, vacuum-sealing product, mixing and grinding meats.  Things like that, but after a few short hours of working, they insisted I sit at the bar for a drink and a meal.  They decided to feed me a seven course tasting menu.  I know a lot of people think wow, 7 (or multiple in general) courses is too much.  These people are wrong,  if you go to a great restaurant, like this, it is perfectly portioned and should be just filling enough.

They started me out with the Amuse-bouche, which is a traditional in any fine dining establishment.  This was a tiny cheddar Gougere with pickled shallot, simple, small, and just enough to start-up my palate.  Then next came a simple yet elegant salad of Beets, baby salt roasted beets, roasted beets and house-made goats milk ricotta and a delicious nutty tuille.  This was perfect because before working in nicer restaurants, I hated beets, but with proper preparations they can be a wonderful taste of what the earth has to offer.

The next course was a plate of seared scallops with cauliflower. This may sound simple but searing a scallop is an art, many cooks might disagree and say it’s so simple, but these were perfect.  Hot crisp sear with a warm inside, so tender, sweet, and still tasting slightly of the ocean.  The cauliflower was prepared as a puree, bread pudding, and if a remember properly a little roasted as well.  There was also nice little sauce over the top.  This was a pleasing dish.

This was the Sea Bass Amandine, to be honest, this was my least admirable of the courses, but was still very good.  The only reason I wasn’t as fond of this as the others was almonds.  The fish was perfect, the squash both puree and roasted was delightful, the sauce of what seemed to be curried pine nuts and the like, piqued a great interest, but I have always despised almonds.  Yet to their credit I did eat them all , they were the best almonds I’ve ever had.  I just don’t like almonds, but I thought I would give them a try.  I guess every cook has the one thing he just cannot stand.

Okay, this was outstanding, the sweetbreads.  Those of you who don’t know what sweetbreads are, don’t look it up just eat them.  Slow cooked sweetbreads, with chestnut veloute,  parsnips and green apple.  The sweetbreads had a crunchy outside, and a soft melt-in-your-mouth inside, and just exudes flavors.  The compliment of the sweet-tangy apples with the mild peppery parsnips was great, and went exceedingly well with the chestnut veloute.  Overall a great dish.

This dish was, the always crowd-pleasing, pork belly, it tasted unbelievable.  The belly fell apart, as it should, and just released amazing flavors, of the spices, and light smoky flavor, it was a great piece of pork.  I loved this dish especially because I love pork.  it came with endive, a little greens, and mushroom.  Drizzled with a little acidic vinaigrette, it was a transcendent plate.

This was my favorite dish, this was the squab.  I love the dark game birds and squab is one of my most appreciated.  This was cooked perfectly, of-course, and came with a small piece of seared Foix Gras.  It was also served with an amazingly delightful sweet potato hash, I have never been fond of sweet potatoes until then.  I loved this squab dish, I was glad it finished off the savory showcase they had to display.

This tiny piece of cake was served with Panna cotta and a small ball of poached pear.  There was a light caramel sauce on the plate and it was all very enjoyable.  I like a moist cake and this was moist enough for me, I do tend to be picky about cake so this one passed the test.

The final plate was the chocolate mousse, with house-made Dulce de leche ice cream.  there was a crumb layer that was very good and had a hint of peanut butter.  I feel you can never go wrong with peanut butter and chocolate it is just a sinful combination.

So over all as you can tell I had an amazing time, and a great new fire in my belly for the culinary arts, to see what we as cooks and chefs are capable of makes me feel like I can get back into experimenting and having fun.  Thank you at Copper Beech, and thank you Jesse and Tyler for the opportunity, I look forward to seeing you again.  Thank you for reading and I expect to be having fun in the kitchen again.

Keep Cooking

Brendan