Cookiedō - The Way of the Cookie

I got some new kitchen equipment recently, and have been dialing in my cookies using the new gear.

I've been making a lot of cookies, and so I have been giving away... a lot of cookies. A couple of requests have come in for me to share the recipe, which I am very happy to do. But there is a story that goes with it. This is that story.

More than 30 years ago, I somehow generated the philosophy that a person should have four or five things which, if they were to do a couple of them - or even one - they could die happy. And I got it into my head that for me, one of those things would be baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie. It seemed sensible at the time, to a young man of a certain age. At any rate, for a couple of decades the perfect chocolate chip cookie became sort of a grail thing for me. I've backed off on the fanaticism somewhat, but I still take it seriously, and though there are extremely few things I know how to cook the quality of which I am comfortable of asserting, my cookies are one.

In the early days of this odyssey, I was trying out a couple of different recipes, and a friend of mine, knowing my obsession, passed on a recipe he had found. It turns out that Consumer Reports magazine, in their February 1985 issue, had done reviews of both packaged and boutique chocolate chip cookies. Along with their reviews of the available products, they had also tested and come up with their own recommended recipe, which they provided. My friend ripped the page out of the magazine and gave it to me.

This is the original page from February 1985. I recently laminated it so it wouldn't crumble away. The Smithsonian hasn't called yet, but I'm receptive.

This is the recipe I use today, slightly modified, and no I'm not going to tell you what changes I made. They're minimal, to craft the resultant cookie into something that reflects who I am and what I want to manifest as a cookie on this plane of existence, yadda yadda yadda. I encourage anyone interested to do the same. And let me try some!...

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups Flour
1 level teaspoon Baking Soda
1 level teaspoon Salt
3/4 cups white Sugar
3/4 cups dark Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 pound unsalted Butter, room temperature
1 teaspoons Vanilla extract
2 large Eggs, room temperature
12 ounces Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Procedure

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit

1. Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl and set aside

2. Use a stand-type electric mixer to mix the two sugars briefly at low speed. add the butter in small gobbets, mixing first at low speed and then at high. Beat the mix until it's pale, light, and very fluffy

3. Add the vanilla at the mixer's lowest speed, then beat at high speed for a few seconds. Add the eggs, again at the lowest speed, switching to high speed for the final second or so. The eggs should be well beaten in, and the mix should look creamed, not curdled

4. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt, one half cup at a time, mixing at low speed for about one minute, then at high speed for a few seconds.

5. Scrape down the bowl's sides with a spatula, add the chocolate chips, and mix at low speed for about 10 seconds. If need be, scrape the bowl's sides again and mix for a few more seconds.

6. Put tablespoonfuls of the mix on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until the cookies are pale golden brown (nine minutes in an electric oven, 10 to 11 minutes in a gas oven). Remove and let them cool on a rack.  Enjoy.

Maido

Maido is ranked #7 on the 2018 list of the best 50 restaurants in the world. We couldn't get dinner reservations, but we were able to book for lunch. We sat at the bar. It was the best meal I've had in my life.

The first course was paired with sake, and before that was served we were presented with a tray filled with a variety of sake cups, from which we chose what we would drink out of.

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Snacks

Tomatoes marinated in mirin, grilled avocado,, crispy chicken skin, free range hen eggs from Huacho, homemade bacon.  Amazonic sausage, roasted banana, sachatomate emulsion, crispy black cracker ponzu.  Aji negro chawanmushi.

Top left: Tapioca cracker. Treviso. I could eat this forever

Top Right: Sandwich in which the bread is chicken skin. Avocoado. Tomato. Basically, riff on a BLT. Fantastic.

Bottom: Some kind of custard. Taste of sesame seeds. Vinegary tasting fluid.

Sake: Nambu Bijin Shimpaku

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Poda Cebiche

Sarandaja cream, mackerel, shallots, aji, limo, chulpi corn, nikkei leche de tigre

Ceviche - mackerel clams, avocado, tiger's milk, white bean puree, canchas. The brown dots are gelatinous soy.

Trapiche Costa & Pampa Sauvignon Blanc 2016

***

Chicharron Sandwich

Steamed buns, pork belly, kimchee emulsion, creole sauce

Pork belly slider with sweet potatoe crunchy thing. Yellow chile mayonnaise dots. Pork chops and applesauce, baby.

Reichsgraf Von Kesselstatt Goldtropchen Riesling Kabinett 2016

***

Sudado

Catch of the day, sudado reduction, creole sauce

Served in a very hot bowl - cod cheeks in a vegetable soup.

Stephane Ogier Blanc D'Ogier 2016

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Cuy-San

Cauliflower cream, garlic and rocoto cream, torikara sauce, Pachacamac greens

"Cuy Surprise" - cuy confitte, with a vegetable pepper puree.

Chivie Le Gardeta Finca De Villatuerta Chardonnay 2017

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Nigiris

Straight-up sushi. Yo.

From left to right: tuna, scallop, beef. Jet from the server's torch is visible

Saint Lizier Ultra Blanc 2013 - organic, unfiltered Peruvian

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Gindara Misoyaki

Cod marinated in miso, crispy Bauaja nuts, apple gel, Porcon mushrooms powder

Black cod fish, chestnuts on top, apple gel

De Martino Viejas Tinajas Muscat 2016

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Beef Short Rib 50 Hours

Native potato cream, crispy rice, cushuro

Beef short rib in a sweet sauce, with potato puree on the side.

Manos Negras Artesano Malbec 2014

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Sea Urchin Rice

Chiclayo rice, Atico sea urchins, avocado cream, wan yi, baby corn

Risotto with sea urchin, shreds of nori.

Heinrich Neuburger Freyheit 2016

***

Theobroma Cacao

Granadilla with mandarin sorbet, mucilage foam, cacao nibs, lucuma ice cream, raspberries

Mucilage foam, cocoa nibs, lucuma ice cream inside, topped with toasted chestnuts. Passion fruit sorbet under the foam. The grey rock is made out of sugar, but is not for eating.

La Spinetta Biancospino Moscato D'Asti 2017

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Theobroma Bicolor

Macambo seeds ice cream with smoked plantain and shoyu, crunchy nibs, sugar coated macambo, camu camu, goldenberry, and mucilage

Lucuma ice cream with soy sauce. Sprinkled with mucilage frozen with nitrogen.

Mistela "Rosa Victoria" 2015 Bodega Moquillaza Robatty

Kjolle

Pía León is Chef de Cuisine at Central Restaurante, and with her husband Virgilio Martínez Véliz, head Chef, has made Central into what it is today - the #6 ranked of the top 50 restaurants in the world for 2018. She has some ideas that don't really fit with Central's thrust, however, and so in this year - upstairs from Central - she opened her own restaurant, Kjolle, where she can indulge her culinary ideas.

In an interview with The World's 50 Best blog, she had this to say about her venture:

 “We’ll be working more with vegetables at Kjolle (pronounced koy-ay) overall. I’m investigating some projects with Mater Iniciativa, which is how we obtain information to create concepts, that Central hasn’t been able to revise and we want to show off in Kjolle. One example is mauka, a root that’s no longer used in Peru but has adapted really well to both Andean and Amazonian soils.

“I’ll be using lots of seafood plus I love tubercles so I want to take a fresh look at them. Mater’s work with herbs is very important so there will be plenty on the menu. I love citrus fruits from the Amazon, products that Central doesn’t necessarily use, while corn on the cob is my all-time favourite ingredient.”

***

Let there be bread! In this case, blue corn bread, with whipped butter and some kind of pesto with strong hints of olives

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Amazonian Colors

Catch of the day - Cacao - Taperiba

The catch of the day was sea bass; the frozen powdered taperiba fruit was a good compliment. The chocolate sauce was salty, with lime, and without a strong cocoa flavour. Paired with Muralhas de Monção, from an area on the border of Spain and Portugal.

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Scallops and Seeds

Pacae - Lime extract - Ginger

The pacae and lime extract combine to form the juice in which the scallops are nestled

***

Tubers

Oca - Olluco - Potato

All of the various tubers were held in place in the shell by a layer of goat cheese. Wine was Rossese Bianco (Piedmont Italy). I want to try this wine with each and every cheese there is, just to see what goes best.

***

Cured Duck

Squid - Onion - Kañihua

Duck tartare, garnished with the squid and onion. The pocket bread was kañihua with squid ink, and brought a slight sweetness to the party. Pack the pocket with the tartare, and go to town! Accompanied by Gaia Busquete, an Argentinean malbec/syrah.

***

Vegetal Diversity

Yacón - Coffee Broth - Chonta - Artichoke

And also avocado. Paired with Pisano Cisplatino, from Uruguay. Tannat grape, no oak is used - stainless steel only - the vintner wants to show only the grape flavour.

***

Beef & Coconut

Coconut - Cashew - Macambo - Paico

Beef shortrib, roasted 12 hours. On the left are seasoned cashew crumbles, and creamy coconut dressing thingy. Combined with the beef, the impact was insane.

***

Frozen Purple Mashwa

Pitahaya - Muña

Under the flakes and petals lie blue sweet potatoe ice cream and pitahaya fruit cubes. Paired with a 2017 Jadot Coteaux Bourguignons - 100% gamay rosé.

***

Cacao from MIL

Chirimoya - Amazonian honey

Under the top bits is a chocolate mousse in which are nestled chunks of custard apple (chirimoya). The whole thing is dusted with powdered honey. Paired with Alma 4, a sparkling red from Argentina (bonarda grape).

***

Bonus Chocolate!!!

Aaaaaaand just when we thought things were done, what should appear but two lovely nuggets of 72% cacao, dusted with coca leaf powder!

Astrid y Gastón

The food scene in Peru is off the rails. Global influences - Chinese, Japanese, European - have been present in Lima for decades. There is no keeping them confined. One phenotype of this organic fusion is Astrid y Gastón, ranked at #38 on the list of 50 best restaurants in the world in 2018.

We pursued the 13-course tasting menu. At the entry to the menu was the following:

Have we arrived? Maybe.

Its true we've been fighting for a long time, but here is our youth, dreaming in peace, celebrating without fear, grateful of being the children of this Lima of all bloods.

Sons and daughters of the Andes and the coast, the Chinese and Japanese, from Italians and Arabs, and Spaniards and Africans. Of impossible loves that somehow our parents knew how to defend and make bloom.

And here we are today, seeking to be free at last, telling everyone, among chilis and sauces, that we should not build walls but bridges that after the fraternal embrace of the peoples only the good happens; love triumphs.

***

Each course was given a title, because of course it was. To go with the courses, we also got a variety of kick ass breads, with spreads equally delectable.

On the left: butter. Lower right is roasted tomato butter dusted with charred tomato skin. The green is avocado, with salsa. Top right is lard, with an apricot gel. Putting the lard on your bread was like spreading bacon on it.

***

The indecent bed, the forbidden love

Fisherman empanada, stuffed blue potato with lamb, sea urchin toast

Light and crispy all around; impact of the urchin was chill and fresh. Served with a house pale ale.

***

From the Andes' rivers

River shrimp and apple

The apple part was an apple + basil ice that was spoon sprinkled over the shrimp when served. Was overall simultaneously herbescent and salty delicious. Served with a Koyle Costa, a Chilean sauv blanc.

***

From the city that carries cebiche on its heart

Cebiche of all bloods

With white corn, sweet potato, onion strings, and a very spicy tiger's milk. Paired with the same sauv blanc.

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From this Lima that falls in love with everyone

Tiradito Lima - Sichuan

Scallop ceviche, paired with Eramona, a Spanish sparkling wine.

***

From our Cantonese heritage, the chifa

Cuy pekin

"Chifa" in Peru refers to Chinese food. Crispy savory Peking guinea pig, rolled up in a moist black tortilla and gobbled by hand. With a 2016 Morgon gamay.

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From our Okinawan heritage, the nikkei cuisine

Sancochao dumpling and pepián

Savory beef dumpling, paired with an Italian white, Follia.

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Catch of the day, a tribute to Chucuito

River shrimp, menestrón emulsion, chupin sauce, lima beans

Grouper and prawn, basil in the emulsion. Crunchy seaweed looking stuff. With a 2012 Le Chevalier de Sherimberg.

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From this Lima with no walls that welcomes all with affection

Rabbit in Lima curry, quinua jasmine

The round puck reminded me of a wurst, and tasted to me faintly of liver. Served with two wines, Cara Sur vino blanco, and Concreto, an Argentinian malbec.

***

Anticucho de lengua

Beef tongue skewer, carmelized arracacha, picantería sauces

The orange sauce blobs are a verdant chile; the darker swirls a biting paprika. I wanted to lick the plate, but this was an elegant joint, so I used my finger. Same two wines as above.

***

From that Lima cuisine of all bloods, all corners, all flavors

Roast short rib stew and his faithful companion, chaufa rice

Eating this involved a lot of moaning. Paired with Apostoles Sherry (Spain).

***

Chicherito

Chicha de jora sorbet, coca, quinoa and tamarillo

Palate cleanser before the dessert courses. I thought it was gross. Julia enjoyed it.

***

La Papa

Potato, saffron, Kumquat, honey, huacatay, manjar blanco y Porcón Mushrooms

Presented as an intact sphere on a bed of saffron, when cracked open the potato shell disgorged a sweet, delicious, multivariate goo. Paired with Oremys Tokati - a Hungarian late-harvest.

***

El cajacho

Cajamarca chocolate mousse, nougat, cacao nibs, yuzu and lemon

Served with Parce rum (Colombian), scented with an orange skin squeezed and waved around near the glass when poured.

***

When we thought everything was over, a man showed up with a box. The box had drawers, and lids, and secret compartments, and when the man had opened everything up, it looked like this.

It was a variety of chocolates, in variations too numerous to name. The man explained them all, and then said, "Take as many as you like". For just a moment, Julia and I were both eight years old again.

The chocolate was delicious.

Cusco

From Huanchaco, we flew to Cusco to spend three days acclimatizing at 11,000+ feet. We stayed at the Palacio Manco Capac. It was beyond charming, and there are some Inca walls on the actual grounds.

Entryway courtyard

Standing in the same spot, and looking to the right. This was our room.

The view off of the balcony. The trees are eucalyptus, and gave off a mild aroma. The hotel was surrounded by eucalyptus.

Also from the balcony. There are a pair of alpacas that hang out in the wooded park area across from the hotel.

The headboard on our bed. It hearkens back to the 1500's conquistador era, during which time this would have been considered subdued and reserved.

Cupid watched over us. It was cool.

***

Sacsaywaman

The remains of an Incan fortress, Sacsaywaman, are a major site of interest to visitors to Cusco, and as it happens they were a short walk from our hotel. Constructed around 900AD by a pre-Incan civilization, the fortress was considered vital to the defense of Cusco, and was enhanced substantially by the Incas.

The stones were "sanded" into shape for a perfect fit, and were set without mortar. Spanish chroniclers marveled at the construction, noting that not even a very thin knife could be fit between them.

How is Sacsaywaman pronounced? Well, "sexy woman" is pretty much how. If you can remember Steve Martin's "Swinging Czechoslovakian Brother" sketch with Dan Aykroyd, and imagine him saying the phrase "sexy woman" in that accent, that nails it dead on.

It was hard to keep a straight face asking people questions about the site.

Three tiers of defense. These walls are more than twice the height of a man.

This picture is taken from a rise opposite the defensive walls. A tour group walks along the shallow valley in between

As tour groups started walking along the walls of Sacsaywaman, I also noticed a group of 15 or 20 alpacas walking along ahead of them, munching here and there as they were effectively herded by the slow-moving tourists. Julia and I walked out into the space in front of them and just waited for them to stroll by.

 Rhiannon

A small group broke off to inspect Julia

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Pachapapa

We had lunch back in the heart of Cusco, at Pachapapa (meaning "Father Earth"). We started off with a couple of drinks. Some house variation of a pisco sour, and a mule with house-made ginger ale.

We ordered a couple of appetizers, and waited, because our main course was roast cuy, which takes an hour. While we sipped drinks and noshed, we listened to the mellifluous tones of Andean Harp Guy.

To the right of the harpist was a domed, wood-fired oven, in which many of the foods served were cooked, including roast rodents.

At long last, our sought after cuy arrived. It was brought out on a bed of chilies, to be photographed, which apparently is a thing.

Eat me.

After being digitally recorded for posterity, it is taken away to be quartered before serving. The diner is offered the option of having the head and legs removed and left behind. Fie upon that!!

Ready to party

Cuy is quite tasty - kind of somewhere in between gerbil and prairie dog. I considered it somewhat tedious to eat though, in a manner similar to quail. You kinda gotta want it.

Cuy cheeks are tender and succulent

A slab of chocolate mousse-like stuff made for an excellent finish.

Eat me too!!

***

We went touring and stopped off in the town of Chinchero to check out some alpaca goods.

'Sup?

Want another picture of cute alpacas? Happy to oblige. Never gets old.

The establishment we visited, in addition to having lots of cool alpaca wool items for sale, also had a presentation on some of how the wool is (or used to be) processed.

The wool is washed by... washing it.

A variety of organic components are used to dye the wool in a panorama of shades.

Though we actually saw wool being simmered and dyed using these components, it would not surprise me in the least if these methods were no longer in use. Even if that's currently the case, it was still cool to see how it used to be done.

The cochinillo (carmine beetle) lives on/in prickly pear cactus, The lump just above the middle, in the center, is one such

Crushing the beetle and adding moisture renders a rich red pigment

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The Salt Pools at Maras

Near the town of Maras is a saltwater spring. This spring is diverted into a series of shallow pools, where salt is produced and collected.

This picture was taken from the road, up the mountainside from the salt ponds. The spring arises on the left, and the leftmost salt ponds have been in existence for salt production since the times of the Inca

Over the years, ponds have continued to be added, with different families owning different pools

The pools are roughly one inch deep. Salt is collected by hand.

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Back in Cusco, we had a mid-afternoon supper at Cicciolina.

You know that whole "Mexican Coke" thing? Made with real sugar - no corn syrup. Same thing in Peru. Bliss.

Alpaca carpaccio, with beet and potatoe chips

Beef consommé

Mild chile risotto, with seafood. Calamari, prawns, and some other kind of mollusk

Alpaca fillet in cream pepper sauce, asparagus, roast balsamic tomatoes, yuca souffle

***

Looking down from near our hotel, this is Cusco's central square, the Plaza de Armas. It has not one, but two cathedrals, built by the Spanish - one was the "main" cathedral, and another was built by the Jesuits, presumably to taunt the main cathedral as part of their (eventually successful) master plan to get kicked out of Spain.

There are lots of things to do in or near the Plaza de Armas.

See a statue of Pachacútec, royal Incan dude.

Get your picture taken holding an enthusiastic lamb

Eat at KFC. Originally, I turned my nose up at the mere thought, but then I heard they served cuy. I would have liked to compare original recipe with extra crispy, but events conspired to prevent our trying it out...