The Freshman in the Kitchen 2011 Food and Restaurant Trends Report

Brick and mortar restaurants- These are going to be huge in 2011. If you just got into food or you live in a dense urban center you might not have realized that in certain parts of the US, restaurants exist inside buildings with the name clearly displayed on the outside. In 2011, expect restaurants to move away from wheels and institute a floors windows chairs and tables policy.

New serving dishes/techniques – Things served in small portions and sent to the table in mason jars will be gone with the stike of midnight on Dec 31st 2010. Expect restaurants to embrace recycled brown paper bags, planks of wood and simply dumping the food right on the table as the new hot ways to deliver your food to you.

Fiscal Responsibility is the new being green/organic – With wounds still raw from the housing and financial implosion, fiscal responsibility is a huge industry buzz word as the calendar rolls over. Expect chipped plates, mismatched glasses, silverware remaining on the table for multiple courses and waiters bringing out skillets and sliding your food onto the same plate you used for your appetizer. When restaurants pass along the savings, everyone wins.

In restaurant slaughtering – 2010 was chock full of chefs passionate about breaking down large cuts of meat with an audience. Classes at restaurants filled up weeks in advance to see chefs break down a pig and then send everyone home with the remaining parts of entire animal. But the animal was dead every single time long before the class started which is kinda lame. We’ve already received word that in January a Portland gastropub already filled a 20 person class where in the first hour, each attendee will have the opportunity to kill a live lamb. Butchering classes? 2010. Slaughtering classes. 2011. Quite possibly the most aggressive of all the 2011 trends we’ve discovered.

Savory desserts in the shape of cupcakes and that taste like vegan brownies but are made of frozen yogurt – This 2011 trend may be hard to visualize, but it provides further evidence of chefs blending the lines between creativity, reality and perception. It’s all so very whimsical and eclectic and creative!

Outdoor restaurants (we mean seriously outdoors) – on the completely other end of the spectrum we’ve received word that outdoor restaurants with no running water, reliable heat sources, tables or permits will be making an imprint in several cities. We’ve received word of two illegal restaurants in parks (BYOBlanket), one in a parking lot where they cook off bunsen burners (window service like an old fashioned A&W) and a raw restaurant where you eat all the dishes in seasonal and evolutionary order while taking a 9 mile hike called Forage on Foot.

Indian Food – Certain trend reports are saying Indian is poised to make a huge  splash onto the mainstream with several high profile chefs attached to open  Indian restaurants around the world. We agree with other trend reports in spelling only. Yes, the big food trend of 2011 is going to indian food…but Indian as in Native Americans. Chief Greyfeather of the Inuit tribe (and long time oracle of wild game cuisine) is consulting on a new restaurant in the MGM grand called Sky.Earth.Water.Wind. If this is a success, expect the copy cats to be sprouting up everywhere. (ed. note: Phllip Stark will be designing the interior which has been reported as futuristic minimalist teepee)

The ten hot food items for 2011 (this year’s “bacon”):

1) Water from the tap – much more cost efficient than it’s purified or bottled brothers, this will be the go-to for restaurants wanting to display fiscal responsibility

2) Gushers –  Nabisco announced that the famous snack/lunchroom currency will be discontinued in 2010. Chefs across the United States have been acquiring boxes however possible (with one crate going for $3,400 on e-bay). Expect to see a few trademark desserts at Michelin starred restaurant finished with a handful of gushers.

3) Schmaltz- 2011’s top new hot app. 2 pieces of white bread served with chicken fat on the side. Gelatinous golden globules of flavor

4) Cheddar cheese – often marginalized and left off the charcuterie/cheese plate cheddar will move to the forefront and displace high priced, long aged stinky versions.

5) Infused hot waters. Often referred to as soups, broths or teas, expect to see lots of hot liquids taking on lots of different flavors.

6) Asafoetida – sulferic in smell, rarely used. Will start popping up in broths because its tough to surprise anyone anymore and this is used so rarely it will help chefs differentiate themselves from those that simply fall back on finishing everything with truffles.

7) sunflower seeds – long marginalized as a baseball player snack n’ spit, these seeds will be encrusting kobe beef steaks and anchoring sauces in 2011.

7a) Balsam seeds – usually used to flavor hippocras (a type of mulled wine) and usually restricted to times of celebration due to its scarcity, balsam seeds are already being used as drink garnish in Abu Dhabi because purchased by the oz, the seeds are now more expensive than gold.

9) Goldfish – a goldfish disaster at the largest fishery in Maryland has left many goldfish varieties extinct. With limited quantity comes greater desire from the dining public. Prices rose to $120 an oz. in November so expect goldfish to push caviar to the wayside in 2011 as prices continue to soar.

10) Ostrich – new legislation in North Dakota has helped subsidize the largest ostrich farm outside of Australia. Designed in part to steal a piece of the $22 billion a year non-beef/chicken market (made up primarily of rabbit, alligator and quail sales) ostrich burgers are rolling out in Portland, Seattle and New Orleans. Expect Red Robin and Chili’s to be close behind.

If there are other trends this report missed that you’ve seen first hand or read about, please leave them in the comments section

Ok – that picture of coleslaw sucks. I knows it. But hey, you try starting to drink at 1pm while cooking and entertaining 40 people and then trying to remember to take picture of the food. Yes, the coleslaw recipe will be in this post…but wait…we are getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s rewind to Saturday evening around 7.30pm.

I went up to my favorite place to buy meat - Marconda’s at the 3rd street Farmer’s Market (http://www.yelp.com/biz/marcondas-meat-market-los-angeles) to snag 8 lbs. of beautiful fatty pork butt. Little known fact - Jews actually  learn how to spot a good cut of pork butt while studying for their haftorahs. And…now that we’ve offended several dozen people with that joke let’s move on. 
At Marcanda’s I  had a good conversation with a guy next to me at the counter who was buying 20 lbs of pork butt for his Super Bowl party (ok, showoff Mcgee). He and HIS buddy had gone halvsies on a $500 smoker and were going to town starting it at 5am (oooo la-fuckin la, Im SOOO impressed early risers). 

Since I had just drank an orange pop, which to my sensitive system might as well be made out of adderall,water and orange food dye, and since I wanted to knock this guy off his meat high horse, I told him I was starting my pulled pork THAT NIGHT bc I’m that dedicated to my craft. I then did some side to side finger snaps, told him to talk to the hand and took a huge bite out of a raw steak to let him know a) I’m crazy b) don’t step to this bull bc he WILL get the horns. Supposedly he was just trying to make casual conversation, but I was way too much in the zone.

I got home at about 8ish, cleaned some of the fat off the top for the (heart attack alert)pork fat sauteed onions and then put a nice dry rub all over the PB. The dry rub consisted of Salt,Pepper,Onion powder,Paprika,Brown Sugar,Cayenne Pepper,Cumin and Garlic Powder. I seared the pork belly and cut off a small hunk to make a pork sandwich for that evening cuz, dudes gotta eat. 

 Then I put the remaining butt in the dutch oven with the braising liquid, which consisted of – apple juice,ketchup,grey poupon mustard,more cayenne and a whole yellow onion. Into the real oven set at 220, I placed the dutch oven ever so gently and waved goodbye.”When I see you again you’ll be pulled pork!!” I said. It was as emotional as it sounds.

At 1.30am as Ashton Kutcher continued to be consistently unfunny on SNL,I knew I needed to taste the PB and make sure this train hadn’t gone off the rails on the way to flavortown. I pulled the pork using two forks,my massive triceps and all the personal will i had to not gobble it all down right then and there. The aroma wafting up was like if Albert Einstein built a special BBQ in heaven for Julia Childs to make God’s BBQ lunch. I put the shredded meat back in da dutchie,closed the oven door and let it do it’s damn thang.

Still awake at 3.30am, I made an executive decision to not leave the oven on all night for fear of liquid evaporation and separated the pork from the liquid allowing both to cool faster. At around 4.15 I put it all in the fridge. The next morn at 10am it was back in the 220 degree oven cooking away till 2pm. By mid-party, the sun still high in the sky, discouraged party guests were left with nothing else but the ability to wipe clean the sides of the dutch oven to gather the last tasty morsels of liquidy porky goodness. 8 lbs taken down in no time. Save your clock/portion management mumbo jumbo for someone else.To me, THAT is party success.

In addition to the coleslaw and the slow cooked pulled pork I made a variation of German potato salad with pork fat onions and bacon and then a sample pack of handmade donuts. Here’s a shot of the donuts

from L-R : M&M encrusted, Vanilla Frosted, Almond and Vanilla, Caramel coated.

Overall the Super Bowl party was a slambash of epic proportions. Half a keg, 100+ beers, a handle of Johnnie Walker, 8 lbs of pork, 5 pounds of slaw and 10 pounds of potato salad. If you were to tell ME that you left hungry, I would tell YOU that you also left a goddamn liar (or perhaps you just came a vegetarian…)

Jalapeno Coleslaw

1 head green cabbage, quartered then sliced into strips. 
2 medium sized jalapenos,cut in half lengthwise then sliced on a mandolin
1 whole carrot, grated
1 red onion, quartered, sliced nearly paper thin on mandolin (while drinking Gin)
juice of 1 lime
2-3 tablespoons mayo
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 cloves of raw garlic diced fine
salt and pepper to taste
OPTIONAL – 1-2 shakes Cayenne pepper (this will obviously make it spicier)
 
 Cut all veggie ingredients. Mix well.
Add mayo and gently toss.
 add vinegar and lime juice.
salt and pepper. Mix well.
Taste it.
if you want it to have more of an acidy flavor (more bite) add another 1/2 tablespoon vinegar until its where you want it.

Remember that as this sits overnight, the flavors/spice will intensify

Elizabeth Schiele          September 23, 2009

Brothers in the kitchen: Eli and Max Sussman sign their new cookbook, “Freshman in the Kitchen,” and conduct a cooking demonstration at two events. 6 p.m. Saturday. $10. Whole Foods, 3640 N. Halsted St. Information, 773-472-0400. And 6 p.m. Tuesday to benefit Common Threads. $60. The Chopping Block, Merchandise Mart. Information, 312-644-6360.

Thanks to the Chicago Tribune for including us in the Good Eat’s Section of today’s new-sa-paper!

Thanks to the Daily Press in Newport News, VA for including us in the graduation gift guide. Getting included in gift guides make us feel warm and gooey inside.  If sales in VA spike, we only have one place to thank for that.

Friday – Eli arrived in Michigan at about 5.30am, Max drove down from Ann Arbor (a few hours later) and we headed down to WDET 101.9 to do our interview with Craig from Detroit Today.  Eli had never been on the radio before and had no idea what to expect, while Max was a seasoned vet from WBCN’s 3am slot.  It turned out pretty well and we were happy to get on such a prominent show and radio station for 15 minutes. We spent the rest of the day prepping food for our first book signing to take place the next morning in Lexington Michigan. We both were very responsible and were in bed by 3am.

Saturday – We were on the road by about 8.30am heading up to Noble in Lexington. Lexington is right on Lake Huron and is one of Michigan’s many mini-resort small towns with fudge shops.  Noble is a home and garden store housed in a beautiful 2 story building. We arrived, set up our food and then went to the outside garden where we were set to sign. We didn’t anticipate such intense heat though and by 11.30am it was over 90 degrees. Feeling that talking about our book while we were pouring sweat and constantly wiping it out of our eyes wasn’t the best selling technique, we moved indoors to take advantage of the A/C and the closer proximity to the store patrons. We were really pleased with everyone’s reception to the book. We sold a lot more books that expected and of course our extremely supportive family came out in full force to check out our very first book signing (which we hope to become quite historic).

Sunday – The bookbeat was the childhood bookstore where we grew up learning how to read and expanded our book consumption beyond the obvious harry potter-esque fare. Big special shout out goes to Sharon Zimmerman who was our personal reading guide as we were growing up and was there helping sell our cookbook. The Book Beat went so much better than we could have expected. The turnout was quadruple what we anticipated and we signed books for about 3 hours straight…not that we are complaining about that. We even had some walkups going to other stores who tasted the goods and then bought the book and that was one of the most exciting things to happen – total strangers convinced only by a taste of our food to buy our book.

Monday – Once again we spent all day in the kitchen.  For this party we got to use the kitchen at eve – the restaurant so we were able to expand and make a much larger area incredibly messy as opposed to just the small kitchen at our parents’ house.  We added a few dishes to the ones we had been cooking all weekend and were cooking right up until 6pm when the first people started showing up.  The rest of the night is kind of a blur, it was basically everyone we knew in town who we hadn’t seen yet.  The bar was open and there was tons of food, almost all of which got eaten which was quite a feat.

Big thanks go out to Sheldon and Gene of Noble Lexington, Cary and Colleen of Bookbeat and Eve Aronoff of eve – the restaurant for joining with us on our launch weekend to make it a huge success.

We’re not done yet–there will be plenty more opportunities to get your copy or say hi, just check our calendar for upcoming events.

Pre-orders will begin shipping August 23rd the moment the books touch down from the printers.

Remember when purchasing the book online that we will be having several book signings around Michigan so if you plan on attending one of those we will, of course, sign the cookbook for you (I mean we think that’s what happens at a book signing). We have been eagerly awaiting people to ask us to sign things and have been practicing our signatures for months now (and they look totally awesome). But if you won’t be able to make it to one of our events then please order a copy online.

So CLICK HERE to pre-order your copy now!

(Remember : Copies will ship on August 23 or later so expect your book mid-September).

Here are the events:

Saturday August 23: Book Signing at Noble Lexington. Maybe you’re vacationing in beautiful Lexington, MI this weekend? If so, stop by Noble Lexington and say hi, we’ll be signing books and cooking up some delicious dishes from the cookbook!

Sunday August 24: Book Release Party at the Book Beat.  We’re excited to be signing books and sharing some recipes at the Book Beat, the bookstore where Eli and I got some of our first books as kids and have been getting books ever since.

Monday August 25: Book Signing and Party at eve – the restaurant.  This is it, folks. The Ann Arbor party to celebrate the release of Freshman in the Kitchen is going down at one of the town’s best restaurants. We’ll be providing some tastes of our favorite dishes from the book and eve’s well-stocked wine bar will be open throughout the evening. Books will be available for purchase, Eli and Max will be happy to sign, and there will be music and merriment all evening long.

Come stop by, grab some snacks and a signed copy of our new book! Feel free to RSVP by clicking the link for each event but it’s totally cool if you just show up!!

Also keep checking our calendar on the right side of this website for more events in Southeast Michigan, LA, and beyond throughout the year.

MORE TO COME SO CHECK BACK SOON!!

Also, this site will be undergoing a lot of changes in the next few weeks as we work out the kinks. So keep checking for more info!