The Play RED Captures the Essence of Cuisine without Ever Serving Food

A play entitle “RED” is currently appearing in various regional US theaters including Seattle Repertory Theatre about the famed abstract expressionism painter Mark Ruthko.

For those not familiar with Ruthko’s magnificent body of work, the play shares the extensive philosophy that motivated the artist’s efforts to reach the unique and the meaningful.

This includes his creation of paintings for and then withdrawal of those same painting from the walls of the famed Four Seasons Restaurant in New York’s elite Seagram Building.

RED (written by John Logan, who also wrote the film scripts for The Gladiator, The Aviator and Hugo) is a 90 minute exploration of the nature of creativity, truly worthy of the Tony Award that the play won in 2010.

And whether one agrees with Rothko’s startling decision to retain the Four Seasons canvases, his thoughts about the creative process are ones that any thoughtful culinary professional can relate to, especially if the words “art” and “painting” are replaced by the word “cuisine” as you read. :

“To us art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take the risk”.

“A painting is not about an experience. It is an experience.”

“The most important tool the artist fashions through constant practice is the faith in his ability to produce miracles when they are needed.”

“One does not paint for design students or historians but for human beings”.

Thankfully the Tate Museum in London was able to convince Rothko to show at least some of his Four Seasons canvases in their gallery to the applause of all who saw them.

But it is perhaps at the Rothko Chapel in Houston that one can see the full expression the artist’s commitment to meaning. The effect is stunning, simply stunning – spirituality without a restrictive creed, an expansive feast of simplicity that silently embraces everything. 

Today’s culinary professional will find a stolen evening’s viewing RED more than an evening off. They will, Instead, find the conflicting elements of their own career reflected in the play’s words and images.

As the curtain closes, one is left with the impression that if only Rothko had only spoken with the chefs, instead of the building’s wealthy financiers, he would have hung his paintings with pride at the Four Seasons, knowing there were others there who were ALSO artists just like him – those who create not with paint, but with the very ingredients of the earth itself: Chefs!

Post Note, March 1, 2012: Due to overwelling ticket demand, Seattle Repertory Theatre has extended the run of RED from February 24 to March 24, 2012. Fantastic! (Let's hope that all those who enjoy RED also enjoy dinner out before the play).  

Post Note, February 29, 2012: While RED plays in Seattle, the Portland Art Museum is hosting a not-to-be-miss exhibition of paintings covering Rothko’s entire career. Honoring this amazing show is the Hotel Lucia’s newest cocktail “Red on the Rocks”.

Following in the footsteps of Rothko, who believed that art should be enjoyed by everyone, the Hotel Lucia has followed suit and released the cocktail’s creative recipe:  

Red on the Rocks

• Layer .75 oz. of Cherry Heering Liqueur in a rocks glass.
• Soak 1 cube of sugar in bitters.
• Muddle sugar and 3 Cara Cara Orange slices.
• Add 1.5 oz. Bulleit Bourbon, .5 oz.  of Dolin Blanc Vermouth and ice in a mixing tin and stir.
• Pour into the rocks glass.
• Float .75 oz. of Campari Italian Liqueur on top.
• Garnish with one Amarena Cherry 

When done, raise your glass to honor creativity and then enjoy because life is short but art, real art, is forever! Thank you Rothko. Thank you John Logan!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012 

Discover Hollywood's Favorite Foods and Champagne Cocktail at the 2012 Governors Oscar Ball

Sunday, February 26^th is Oscar Night in Hollywood this year. And while the stars and artists of all things cinema will be watching the award ceremony at the L.A.’s Kodak Theater, chefs and event designers around the world will be analyzing the cuisine and décor at the offical post-gala Governors Ball.

Once again Cheryl Cecchetto will produce the must-be-at event with Wolfgang Puck overseeing the cuisine along with pastry chef Sherry Yard. This is the 18^th year that Chef Wolfgang has directed his Spago staff to cheer the winners and comfort the losers, all with his hallmark flare and creativity.

And this year is no different with some exciting changes in store. Unlike past evenings, this year’s event is no longer a formal sit-down dinner. Surprise-surprise. There will also be no buffet tables or long lines straining to grab a bite from crowded tables. Even bigger surprise.

Instead 550 pieces of customized furniture will be brought in to create a dazzling lounge, created with a welcoming open floor plan that will surely say ‘You can NOW relax and have some fun” to all with that sought after invitation card as all the food will be directly tray-offered to the lucky guests.

Yet soft suede, red roses, sparkling crystals and purple drapes still mark the event as one with classic Hollywood glamour.

And then there will be the food as only Tinsel Town can do it – 1450 pounds of Maine lobster for petit tacos for starters and finally dessert mouse served in golden hued eggs. Ah Hollywood!

But what’s a party without a cocktail – the Governors Ball has always had its very own signature one, thanks to the very elegant champagne of Moet & Chandon. So without further delay, card please – recipe card, that is…Enjoy!  

RED CARPET GLAMOUR COCKTAIL 

• Fill a chilled champagne flute ½ way with ice.
• Stir 1 ounce of fresh-squeezed sour mix (see below) and Hum Botanical Spirit with fresh ice.
• Strain into flute to fill ½ way.
• Top with Moët & Chandon Imperial.
• Garnish with a single rose petal.
• Continually refresh as needed with champagne.

Sour Mix: Combine 1 cup sugar with 1 cup water until sugar is completely dissolved. Add 1 cup fresh lime juice and 1 cup fresh lemon juice and refrigerate.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012 

Gumbo Is the Perfect Food When Tying on Some Mardi Gras Fun

It’s Mardi Gras all over the world right now and no food says “Carnival!” quite like a bowl gumbo from a warm Louisiana kitchen. And no food better represents the diversity that is critical to the culinary world that we all enjoy each and every day.

American gumbo owes its first conception to the French settlers who colonized the southern region of the Mississippi River for King Louis XIV, hence the name "Louis-iana", in 1682. Being on a great river and near the Gulf of Mexico, they adapted their beloved bouillabaisse fish stew from the French port city of Marseille to include the local ingredients that were then available.

Home cooks who lived near the region's various waterways enriched their sea stew with crawfish, catfish, oysters, crab and shrimp. Those cooks who lived further inland added instead wild birds, deer, duck, squirrel, goose and boar instead – all flowing with the season’s availability.

The resulting hunting trips and journeys along the area’s many bayous and streams, led to the French colonists encountering the region’s first inhabitants, members of the Choctaw Indian nation. The tribe’s resourceful cooks shared their knowledge of file’ - a unique flavorful powder created from ground sassafras tree leaves, with the newly arrived Europeans. Everyone agreed the resulting difference in the stew was simply amazing.

As Louisiana expanded and grew in wealth, its cuisine continued to develope, embracing in a unique way all the influences that made it then and now one of America’s truly great cities.  

Spanish influences added the tomato, still considered a poisonous fruit in the northern English colonies of Massachusetts and Connecticut, as well as bell peppers, celery and onions.

Black slaves were soon brought from Africa to work in the vast landed cotton plantations and rice fields of the South in one of the darkest periods of American history. And though enslaved, many still remembered their homeland and added okra to flavor and thicken the stew. In fact, it is the Africa word for okra that gives gumbo its present name.   

Many of the freed black slaves of New Orleans (yes, there were freed black slaves in the city and many ran very successful businesses) were known as outstanding cooks. Many spoke French and ran restaurants, bakeries and taverns  – all adding to the elegance and flare that is still the hallmark of Mardi Gras today.

That unique style can be seen in how the freed black women of New Orleans worked around a restrictive and oppressive law that required all freed female slaves to wear a scarf or fabric tie around their head instead of the fashionable hats worn daily by the elegant white ladies of the City.

Working again with the ingredients at hand and their rich African heritage, these remarkable women created wrapped head turbans, called tignon, that were works of art and far more stunning than any milliner’s creation.

Today those head wraps form the basis of many of the much more elaborate head pieces worn in Mardi Gras parades in Rio de Janeiro and around the world. 

Similarly when file’ and okra were not available, these cooks reread their vaulued French cookbooks and created a roux of flour browned in pork lard that added color, texture and taste to the now legendary gumbo of Louisiana.

Later additions would include cayenne peppers, Tabasco and other hot seasonings, but to this day, the purist among southern cooks adds NO additional spices and depend on the essence of the base ingredients (along with the mandatory roux, okra or file’) to do the job.

Perhaps that simplicity is a lesson to us all as well as a reminder to do the simple with such flair and style that our efforts become as unique and as unforgettable as la belle New Orleans herself.

Laissez le Bon Temp Rouler! Longue vie Carnival!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

The Future Will be Transparent

Technology is moving the present rapidly into the future. From films to the Internet, medium after medium is joining with others to create a richer, more integrated experience.  Kitchens (and chefs) once were invisible to diners, a mystery behind sheltering white walls and stainless steel counters.

Today these once solid walls and gleaming counters are becoming more and more transparent, which if addressed creatively, can be a marvelous thing. Just consider the wonder of "A Day Made of Glass" as envisioned by Corning:

Transparency, whether crafted of glass or dots per inch (dpi), can widen our the world and remind us all that in this modern era  we are all connected to the past, the present and especially to the future and to each other.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012     

Republican Candidates Offering American Voters Quite a Menu of Choices

Currently Republican Party members in the United States are watching an interesting array of candidates all vying for their party’s 2012 nomination against the popular U.S. President Barack Obama.  

After 19 angry debates the field has narrowed to four still eager contestants – Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum.

And while their suggested policies for improving existing economic conditions ranging from voluntary self-deportation for non-citizens to a fantasy manned lunar space colony, perhaps their political points of view (and personalities) are most clearly reflected in their choice of favorite foods.

Ron Paul loves healthy organic soups and salads. Mitt Romney enjoys traditional New England baked beans while Rick Santorum likes a plain grilled cheese sandwich.  And Newt Gingrich, well, he loves ice cream with everything on it.

The above is not exactly a menu (or an array of candidates) that will likely delight insightful diners or thoughtful Republican Convention delegates as they contemplate the actual needs of the 21^st century.

It seems there are only two choices possible – ones that any experienced chef would recommend: (1) change the menu or (2) get ready for an empty dining room (and a massive electoral loss).

The results of the American presidential election is a matter that effects more than just the United States. As every chef who sources his or her products from around the world knows, we live within a very connected community on this small planet.

It is vital that the American people reach beyond a simplistic diet of phrases and political rhetoric to a larger cuisine of inclusive understanding and mutual respect.   

Without such a choice, well, we're all going to need a very big drink in the very near future to make it through the darkening evening of our very legitimate concerns.

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012