Max lets Behindtheknife know why he always keeps a headlamp handy November 12, 2009
Posted by Eli in : Cooking, In the News, Press, Video , add a commentBehindtheknife.com Chef Profile: Max Sussman
A must for every chef’s toolbox: a good headlamp…
The Chef: Max Sussman is executive sous chef at eve the restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Max is the co-author, along with brother Eli, of Freshman in the Kitchen: From Clueless Cook to Creative Chef.
The Toolbox: A red roll-style knife bag. “I keep it pretty simple,” he admits.
The Tools: Whiplash is setting in compared with Chef Hetrick in yesterday’s installment. Turns out Max Sussman is quite the minimalist though he, too falls victim to Sharpie Love. “I’ve got my chef knife, a paring knife, some tongs, a couple silicon heat-resistant spatulas, and a few Sharpies,” he says. “I live across the street from the restaurant where I work, so I rarely need to bring much more than that. If we’re doing an off-site catering event, I may add an extra knife.”
Max and Eli cutting it up in the kitchen.The Sentimental Tool: He tends to turn misty-eyed over his knife bag, since his girlfriend gave it to him. But he can be awfully sentimental about his 10-1/2” Mac Mighty chef knife. “No,” he quickly warns, “you can’t touch it.”
The Strangest Thing In There: Well, this is a first: “A headlamp,” says Sussman. “I once worked at a fishing lodge in a very remote part of Patagonia, Chile. The power was so unreliable with frequent brownouts, so at least once a week we’d have to turn the lights off and bust out the headlamps.” Even though he lives in the middle of civilization today, he still carries it everywhere with him. “The one time you need a headlamp makes it all worth it,” he advises.
The Tool That’s Inspired You: His Mac Mighty, of course. “When I cook at home, I like to use my knife and play around with different ways to cut ingredients. Cutting a pepper into a dice or julienne yields such such different flavors and can also change the whole look of a dish,” he says.
What A Psychologist Would Say About His Tools: “I think he’d say that I’m either a minimalist who like to keep things simple, or a drifter with a fear of commitment.”
His Voyeuristic Side: “I’m a knife guy, so I’m always curious about what type of knife other chefs use,” he says. “But I’ve noticed that even if everyone uses pretty much the same tools it’s what you do with it that counts. So I’m always looking out for other people’s technique and ingredients as well as their toolbox.”
Watch Max & Eli on YouTube and follow them @FreshmanKitchen on Twitter.
Max at Friday Mornings @SELMA May 21, 2009
Posted by Max in : Cooking, Events, SELMA , add a commentFriday Mornings @SELMA is a hub of Ann Arbor’s West Side local food community. Every Friday morning, a different guest chef prepares their take on a breakfast dish. It’s a delicious way to start off the weekend and there’s always ample Roos Roast coffee in addition to whatever the chefs prepare. Here, I should probably reveal that I was a guest chef a few weeks back and prepared two delicious entrees, Hippie Hash and Sweet and Savory Crepes (sounds complicated but really wasn’t). I held the record for attendees for a few weeks until Silvio came by with his Pizza Rustica.
I’ll be there again tomorrow, serving up Breafast Burritos with Jeff’s homemade chorizo, homemade authentic (that means lard, folks) flour tortillas (ok, we made vegetarian too) and a scrambled egg inside. Topped off with some homemade salsa and served alongside a green salad straight from the SELMA hoophouse…what more could you ask for? Stop by between 6 and 10AM for breakfast.
Bacon Makin’ May 12, 2009
Posted by Max in : Bacon, Cooking, Recipes , 1 comment so farMuch to the chagrin of our parents here’s another post on a delicious adventure involving a pork product. This time it’s Max’s first attempt at curing and smoking bacon.
In order to make bacon you need to start with a pork belly. These are available at any good butcher and I got mine via eve from Heritage Foods. First thing is you need to rub the belly with a blend of sugar, salt, and spices. Next wait about a week to let the cure do its thing as the salt and sugar soak in to the belly. It’s not an exact science and I use my favorite technique – poke it to see if it’s done. I used the smoker set-up at SELMA (thanks Jeff!) which is very basic but gets the job done.
On the left there is where we put the coals and once they cooked down a bit we threw some hickory sawdust on there. If you a good smoke going you can walk away which is what I did. Two hours later I had some intensely smokey delicious bacon!
However, the best part was later that night, since Kate and I were already planning on making burgers. Then some friends brought over some fresh morels they found earlier that day, so we made some bacon-morel cheeseburgers–a perfect way to finish the day.
