Momofuku is the debut cookery book from David Chang, a young Korean-Amercian chef based in New York, who has been dubbed one of the hottest chefs in the world, and the hottest in New York.  Buy the US version of the book here, and the UK version here.

Chang is chef-owner of Momofuku Noodle Bar, Ko – which has two Michelin stars – and Ssäm Bar – ranked 26 in the S Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants.  It was Chang’s Pork Buns that brought him fame and forture, and he still does not underrstand why this shoudl be the case.

“Every ticket started to have a pork bun on it,” he recently told The Guardian newspaper as he described his rise to Michelin stardom. “Four people would get four orders of pork buns. They’re only pork belly sandwiches, and usually people are so afraid of fat. I didn’t understand it. It’s not like we reinvented the wheel.” He shrugs.

Written with New York Times food critic Peter Meehan, the new book is a collection of recipes from all three of Chang’s New York restaurants.

Momofuku is Japanese for “lucky peach”, but it has been suggested that the name is a nod to Momofuku Ando, the inventor of instant noodles. Chang’s cuisine is heavily influenced by Japanese cooking styles as well as other Asian flavours and the recipes are littered with some lesser-known ingredients such as kochukaru (Korean chilli flakes) and wakame chazuke furiake (Japanese rice seasoning).

At the beginning of the book, Chang shares his thoughts on the perfect ramen (Japanese broth and noodles) and provides a recipe outlining the construction of the dish: from the noodles and the broth, to thepork belly and slow-poached eggs. Also included are details of his most popular dish, the Momofuku pork bun – a home-made, white bun stuffed with braised pork belly and topped with hoisin sauce.

As you make your way through the book, the recipes become more complex with the likes of shaved foie gras, lychee and pine nut brittle; pig’s head torchon; and the delicate soft-cooked hen egg stuffed with caviar and served with onions and potato.

The introductory notes for each recipe provide the story behind the dish and give a peek into Chang’s creative process. The narrative is as colourful and as outspoken as the chef himself, while the recipes – which are complex and precise – capture his unique style of cooking, which Chang himself describes as “bad pseudo-fusion cuisine”. He manages to combine Asian and American flavours, as well as making meticulous use of French technique alongside a dash of molecular gastronomy.

Colour photography by Gabriele Stabile provides an insight into the operation of Chang’s restaurants, as well as an idea of how the finished dishes should look.

If you liked this, you’ll love these:

Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen: by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall

Eating Korean: From Barbecue to Kimchi, Recipes from My Home  by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee

Fusion: A Culinary Journey by Peter Gordon

All over America, the TV show  Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution has sparked hundreds of ideas and events based on the same principles as his show.

***Danville’s Children’s Choice is taking a page out of Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution,” with a series of classes on cooking whole, healthy foods, from homemade pasta to handrolled sushi. The classes run through Aug. 7 in the Children’s Choice kitchens at 569 San Ramon Valley Blvd., Danville. For details, visit www.choicelunch.com.

***The school district in Crown Point Indiana will institute a variety of healthy eating programs beginning next school year as part of a recent push, inspired by first lady Michelle Obama and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” TV show, to make school food as healthy as possible.
In April,the School Board increased the prices of lunch and breakfast for the first time since 1999 to provide more fresh fruits, vegetables and whole grains and less processed food.
Once the next school year starts, the chefs plan to return to the schools to chat with students and see how well their recipes are received.

***Brook Burke’s travel show meets Oprah’s talk show meets Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Reality Show, with a ‘Unite the World’ global peace, yoga, lifestyle, humanitarian, and environmental sustainability theme.
Dashama’s Mission: To educate and inspire the viewers about global unity, encourage them to get involved in eco-tourism to lend a hand or send donations to each village or region that we visit, as well as involving them directly through a 10 minute yoga session (yoga, meditation and centering exercises that they can do to connect within.) Dashama will be offering real and effective techniques to help the viewers and families selected to transform their lives, over come addictions, and awaken to their best lives right now.
Celebrity guest appearances will add spice and appeal to all audiences. Those who already practice this lifestyle may include: Russel Simmons, Alicia Silverstone, Christy Turlington, Woody Harrleson, Leonardo Di Caprio, Jennifer Aniston, and Gwenyth Paltro.

*** In SF’s South Bay, tweens and teens can learn the kitchen ropes at the Professional Culinary Institute of California this summer. A bakeshop camp for tweens and teens, for example, includes not just cupcakes, but also homemade marshmallows, eclairs and cream puffs. And a kitchen basics class explores the delicious world of fried chicken, jerk chicken, pho and spaetzle. 700 W. Hamilton Ave., Campbell; www.professionalculinaryinstitute.com.

***Chow Bella’s weeklong summer camps in Lafayette include a Mediterranean food fest that includes baklava, hummus and thin-crust pizza; a forkless wonders week with kebabs, mini turkey meatballs, chocolate bonbons and other kid-friendly finger foods; and an all-day buffet that includes DIY omelets, crepes and dessert classes. Founders Grove, 584 Glenside Drive, Lafayette; http://www.chowbella.net.

***Belmont’s Kids Culinary Adventures hosts weeklong summer sessions for all ages, including an Ace of Cakes camp for teens, a Green Eggs and Ham camp for young grade schoolers, and a barbecue extravaganza for tweens. 951 Old County Road, Belmont; http://www.kidsculinaryadventures.com.
(box) And San Jose’s Cucina Bambini offers camps for kids on such themes as “Around the World in 5 Days,” and an appetizer class for teens that includes dips, rolls, avocado egg rolls and tuna tartare on crispy wontons. 1041 Lincoln Ave., San Jose; http://cucinabambini.com.
Dashama is an internationally known yoga teacher and author who has been teaching this holistic lifestyle for years, incorporating yoga, meditation, diet, and sustainable living, globally through the internet, books, and instructional DVDs. This show will expand her currently popular internet reality TV series.
To show your support of this wonderful holistic lifestyle TV Show, please do the following:

• Click on this link: http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&respons…
• Click the play arrow to watch the video
• Click the vote button and vote
• Post a comment

Paul wants it all

“We take it to the butter-load, baby,” boasted chef Paul Prudhomme at his world-famous French Quarter restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans, Louisiana. The state has come under fire by health advocates for not banning trans fats used in cooking, seeing as it regularly appears in the top 10 most out-of-shape, overweight lists in the US.

Traditional New Orleans cooking just can’t do without a healthy dose of butter, bacon drippings, heavy cream or lard (or most of the above), but the introduction of trans fats into some cooking oils and margarine in order to give oil a longer shelf life and sustain higher cooking temperatures has also led to health concerns – namely, blocked arteries and risk of heart disease.

In December, New York City banned artificial trans fats at restaurants, and the likes of Starbucks, KFC, McDonald’s and Burger King say they will phase them out. Several states, including Michigan, California and Oregon, are studying a possible ban. But there has been no such talk in Louisiana.

However, New Orleans’ big-name restaurants say they don’t actually use trans fats for their haute Cajun and Creole cuisine. But that’s because they prefer the rich taste of natural oils and fats rathen than for any health concerns, it seems.

Prudhomme swears by a good roux – the flour browned in oil that helps give gumbo and Louisiana sauces their color and flavor – done with a natural oil, a favourite being peanut oil.

“And there’s nothing wrong with dripping a little pork loin in there,” continues the portly chef. Prudhomme’s signature dish at the restauarnt is the Blackened Louisiana Drum, seasoned and blackened in a cast iron skillet and served with drawn butter, potatoes and veggies. Certainly worth indulging in once in a while – but far from guilt-free.

Next…

The 135-room luxury hotel on Main Street (Houston) has also lost nightlife maestro Rande Gerber, model Cindy Crawford’s husband, from the lobby’s Whiskey bar in the fall – timed suspiciously to Los Angeles-based Lowe Enterprises acquiring the lodging. The real-estate investors have hired Destination Hotels & Resorts to manage the hotel – their other properties include the Driskill Hotel in Austin and the Gant in Aspen.

Vongerichten’s chef-de-cuisine Bryan Caswell and Bank restaurant manager Bill Floyd recently left to open Reef restaurant at 2600 Travis, and Jean-Georges sees no point in staying when all his friends have gone off.

He said of protégé Caswell: “We only did the restaurant because of Bryan. He wanted to relocate to Houston. He was Bank, so when Bryan called to tell me he was leaving, we decided then to not continue.”

Apparently the exodus was prompted by disagreement between the chef and the new hotel management over the ‘vision’ of the restaurant. Meanwhile, Bank gets to keep Vongerichten’s signature dish – tuna ribbons – until February 15th, when the menu will see an overhaul.

Are you not entertained?

Bruni’s two-star review of the restaurant has sparked some bitter cake-throwing between Ramsay’s supporters and critics. The critics intone that the menu isn’t imaginative enough, the atmosphere tepid and the clientele mostly British. The supporters wave Ramsay’s three Michelin stars and rant on about the Yankees’ bad taste.

And what does Ramsay himself do? Why, remove the offending review from every New York Times in the hotel, of course. Or so claims gossip mill Gawker.com. He has also complained that most of the criticism in the review is personal and nothing to do with the restaurant.

Consider the following excerpt from Bruni’s review:

“the restaurant fails to deliver the most important thing of all: excitement. And it’s impossible, given Mr. Ramsay’s reputation, not to be primed for it, and not to be rankled by the low-key loveliness that you get in its place.”

And there you have it – Ramsay in ‘too lovely’ shocker. Were it not for the many other criticisms Bruni levels at Ramsay’s menu selection you’d almost think it was personal.

A tin full of fairies

How many people know that one of Wolfgang’s most trusted lieutenants , a Doctor Koblin, is a cardiologist ? How progressive is that ? No wonder the WPC ,with its caviar omelettes and smoked salmon (and caviar) pizzas, is making such a striking and welcome contrast to totally fast food: Wolfgang counters the infinity of burgers and maple syrup with surgical precision.

That’s why Wolfgang, with his aura of euro- conceptualism, has been cleaning up , not just among Museums, Conference and Cultural Centres across the USA, but also at Airports , Casinos and , of course, Hollywood (where else was Keanu Reeves rumoured to have proposed marriage but at WP’s Cut)
Find the fairy up the amazon

His latest converts? Well, leaving aside the campaigning for children’s nutrition ,. the cancer research, the hosting of Hollywood evenings and chat shows etc – Wolfgang is working in units of cities : having contributed to Las Vegas’ panoply of entertainments, his role in the massive Borgata complex, The American Grille, is helping Atlantic City to catch up with Vegas.

But the biggest plum is the Washington Newseum, a museum of News, in which Wolfgang will reign supreme throughout a massive 250,000 square feet over 7 levels : this area of customized service is to be called The Source by Wolfgang Puck.

betting on Vegas – Puck

The man credited with starting the celebrity chef boom here is Wolfgang Puck, and he just added another notch to his belt of successful eateries. With iconoclastic panache, he opened his Bar & Grill right off the casino floor in the MGM Grand. Wood oven-roasted mushroom pizzas come flying out of the kitchen and the designer crab cakes floating on basil aioli are crowd-pleasers as well. The menu offers plenty of soups, sandwiches, pizzas, grilled panini, pastas, and grilled and sauteed foods.

3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South. 702-891-3000. Sunday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., till 11:30 on Friday and Saturday. Lunch $18-22, dinner $28-38 with beverage.

One ordinarily wouldn’t go to a restaurant based on which Hollywood personalities had eaten there recently, but in this case, Matt Damon and Lisa Marie Presley know their comestibles. Sensi, at Bellagio, is a new Strip sensation, and with its sheer beauty and impeccable cuisine, it deserves all the plaudits.

The ultrachic stone and granite restaurant boasts four cuisines (Asian, Italian, seafood, and American grill), and diners can get up close at the exhibition counter to watch the chefs at work or sit at the chef’s special table where off-menu items are served.

It’s cruel to mention too many delicacies if you can’t get to Vegas this weekend, so I’ll just name a few. The bento box includes ricotta gnocchi in chunky tomato sauce, Chilean sea bass, marinated chicken thigh with chili sauce, and cashew confit in a lettuce wrap. The wonton soup is served in two parts. First, the fresh ingredients are placed in your bowl, then the broth is poured over them.

The signature drink at Sensi is the Black Crush cocktail (raspberry-infused vodka and fresh blackberries), and a few appetizers would make a satisfying meal.

3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South. 877-234-6358. Daily, lunch 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m.; dinner 5:30-10:30. Chef’s five-course off-menu tasting dinners start at $75.Also inside Bellagio is a shop opened by French pastry chef Jean-Philippe Maury. His Jean-Philippe Pâtisserie has a cake station, a crepe section, rows of sumptuous pastries (even a few that are sugar-free), exotic coffees and teas, take-home boxes of designer chocolate, and, food pyramid be damned, 16 flavors of rich, thick gelato. While you eat, you can gaze at the world’s tallest liquid chocolate fountain, which flows in a glass tower.

3600 Las Vegas Blvd. South. 702-693-8788. Sunday-Thursday 7 a.m.-11 p.m., Friday-Saturday till midnight. Pastries $5.50-$6.

If the name Alain Ducasse makes your heart flutter, head to the famed French chef’s latest endeavor, Mix, on the 43d floor of THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. If Stanley Kubrick had designed a restaurant, this would be it. The futuristic decor includes rounded, semi-enclosed dining booths called ‘’pods” and a three-story chandelier made of 14,482 bubbles of clear blown glass from Murano, Italy. The views from the panoramic windows extend to infinity. The wine room boasts an extravagant 12,000 bottles. The meals begin with ketchup and bacon bread and progress to appetizers like corn soup cappuccino. The lobster is served in curry and one of the waiters whispered that no one should leave without trying the cheesecake sorbet.

3950 Las Vegas Blvd. 702-632-9500. Daily 6-11 p.m. Special tasting menus start at $95.

For an elegant bistro meal, Napa’s legendary Thomas Keller has followed his successes at The French Laundry and Bouchon in Yountville, Calif., with a new Bouchon at the Venezia tower. The atmosphere is casual, upbeat, and friendly, without a hint of pretension. Fresh bread is heaped directly on the table (there is no bread basket), hot pistachios start the meal, and the menu is printed on butcher paper. The food is wonderful, or, as the Frenchman at the table next to me put it, merveilleux. The leg of lamb is roasted to perfection, braised pork is crispy outside and tender inside, and brined, marinated roast chicken doesn’t get more flavorful than this.

3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South. 702-414-6200. Breakfast 6:30-10:30 a.m., lunch Saturday-Sunday 11 a.m.-2 p.m., dinners daily 5-10:30 p.m.

Average dinner for two with salad, entree, dessert, and coffee $100. The man credited with starting the celebrity chef boom here is Wolfgang Puck, and he just added another notch to his belt of successful eateries. With iconoclastic panache, he opened his Bar & Grill right off the casino floor in the MGM Grand. Wood oven-roasted mushroom pizzas come flying out of the kitchen and the designer crab cakes floating on basil aioli are crowd-pleasers as well. The menu offers plenty of soups, sandwiches, pizzas, grilled panini, pastas, and grilled and sauteed foods.

3799 Las Vegas Blvd. South. 702-891-3000. Sunday to Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., till 11:30 on Friday and Saturday. Lunch $18-22, dinner $28-38 with beverage.Repeat visitors to the plush Four Seasons Hotel will find that the casual Verandah restaurant has been totally remodeled and can now be described as serenely elegant. Black napkins are used to keep lint off dark clothes. The gazpacho is tricolored, the big, chunky crab cakes are perfectly crusty outside and soft inside. And the signature foie gras jelly doughnut wins first place for the most unusual appetizer on the Strip.

3960 Las Vegas Blvd. South. 702-632-5000. Leisurely dinner for two including cocktails and wine, $100.

New York’s fabled Carnegie Deli has opened a branch at the Mirage. In the kitchen are oceans of matzo ball soup and mountains of chopped liver. The pickles and meat are all brined and imported from the Big Apple. For anyone who loves deli and craves pastrami, corned beef, cheese blintzes, cheesecake, and other noshes, this is the place. Regular sandwiches contain a pound of meat, and the Woody Allen sometimes hits two pounds. Leftovers can be stored in a hotel minibar and eaten for breakfast.

3400 Las Vegas Blvd. 702-791-7310. Daily 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. Items $12-$22.

If you are a Japan fan, head to the upscale area of Summerlin, half an hour west of the Strip. At the JW Marriot resort and spa is a first-rate new Japanese steakhouse called Shizen that serves up relaxation, calm, and exquisite sushi. Try the Caterpillar (eel, cucumber, and avocado) or the Hawaiian (tuna, avocado, mango, and cucumber), or the Volcano Roll (shrimp and chili sauce). Shizen also specializes in teppanyaki, or tabletop cooking that the chef prepares while he performs juggling tricks and balancing acts. The sakes are as excellent as the efficient and friendly service.

221 North Rampart Blvd. 702-869-7900. Dinner only: Friday and Saturday 5-11 p.m., Sunday-Thursday till 10. Sushi rolls, 4-8 pieces, $5-$16.Beef lovers were thrilled when the steakhouse at the extravagant new Wynn opened, but now they are sighing because it’s almost always full. Here is a great, meaty secret: Directly across the street, on the third floor of Fashion Show Mall, is one of the best steakhouses in Sin City. The Capital Grille has 22 restaurants across the country (including Boston), and this one is open and airy with a great view, white tablecloths, serenity, and seafood (specialties include lobster-laced crab cakes), soups, salads, and poultry dishes to supplement their fine filets.

3200 Las Vegas Blvd. South. 702-932-6631. Steak entrees $21-$38. Lunch Monday-Friday 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday noon-3; dinner Monday-Saturday 5-11, Sunday 4-10

The Wolfgang Puck cafe is his 5th Las Vegas eastery. Even after all these years and the 12 restaurants he’s opened, Puck remains concerned with keeping up the quality of the dishes he serves.
“If I am here 24 hours a day, there’s the same concern,” Puck says, standing in the kitchen of Postrio in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. South. “Because you cannot do it by yourself. So while I am making the pasta someone could mess up the pizza or the duck. The most important thing is to hire quality people with the same philosophy.”
For his second Postrio, Puck hired executive chef John LaGrone, a graduate of the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and former chef at Postrio in San Francisco; Spago in Las Vegas and Chicago; and Chinois in Las Vegas.
“We tailor the restaurants more to who the chef is,” Puck says. “If the chef likes to cook more Asian food, we have more Asian food. If the chef likes to cook more Italian food, French food—whatever they are good at. Because it is hard to get good at something if you don’t really like to do it. So that’s why it always changes a little.”
This Postrio differs from the one in San Francisco only slightly. It has different decor—the 60-seat dining room features dark red wood and more subdued lighting, while being housed on one level, compared to the trilevel Postrio by the bay—but the cuisine is similar: San Francisco-style seafood with Mediterranean influences.
The dinner menu features seafood starters such as chilled Snow Creek oysters on the half shell ($12); Dungeness crab gratin with asparagus and brioche bread crumbs ($17); and a shellfish platter for two that includes a half Maine lobster, Dungeness crab legs, oysters, mussels, shrimp, littleneck clams and trio of sauces ($42).
Among the appetizers are roasted pumpkin soup with cinnamon-apple compote ($9); arugula salad with Anjou pears, candied pecans and goat cheese fondue ($13); potato galette with house-smoked sturgeon and dill cream ($16); and blini with smoked salmon, creme fraiche and osetra caviar ($18).
Pasta dishes include artichoke tortellini with oyster mushrooms and Parmesan reggiano ($16); black-pepper pappardelle with braised short ribs and cippolini onions ($22); steamed half lobster with sweet pea ravioli with lemon-chive butter ($26); and seafood risotto with shrimp, crab, mussels and clams ($23).
For entrees there’s sautŽed striped bass with braised rapini and eggplant caponata ($19); roasted turbot with sautŽed wild mushrooms and leek nage ($32); Peking duck with Asian vegetable spring roll and huckleberries ($24); roasted Petaluma quail with crisp sweet potato gnocchi and rosemary jus ($24); and grilled cote de boeuf with french fries, crisp onions and red wine shallot sauce ($36).
And last, but not least, there are recipes from Austrian-born Puck’s childhood—Wiener schnitzel with warm potatoes and watercress ($18), Hungarian goulash with spaetzle ($16) and rotisserie double-cut pork chop with braised red cabbage ($25).
Master sommelier Greg Harrington oversees the wine list.
Don’t look for any more Puck restaurants in Las Vegas—Spago, Chinois, Trattoria del Lupo, as well as Postrio and Wolfgang Puck Cafe—is enough, he says.
“It’s like making children. You have to raise them after a while. You cannot say, `OK, we’ll make a new one,’ and behind us close some down.”