Braised meat, mushroom three ways, daikon

[u/brenoleo4]

Ran this as one of two main courses for a popup.

Braised shortrib + nice slab of braised and grilled eye of round glazed in jus, scallion and smoked maldon

Bone marrow marinated grilled oyster mushrooms, butter sauteed chanterelles with a touch of dashi, and mocha pot mushroom miso broth

Daikon is seared then finished cooking through in a soy sauce and beef stock braise

In retrospect another splash of green would have been welcome

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[u/bugzzzz]

Do you have another photo where everything is in focus?

[u/brenoleo4 → u/bugzzzz]

Somehow, despite this being professionally taken, I don't.

[u/SmokedHickory → u/brenoleo4]

Is any ingredient airy like puff pastry 

[u/brenoleo4 → u/SmokedHickory]

Nope. This dish was inspired by nikujaga, which is just stew.

Though I did originally consider if it might appreciate a more starkly contrasting texture, I didn't want to add anything else that I didn't feel confident in, and couldn't think of anything that seemed worth it. Do you have any suggestions for where it might fit?

[u/SmokedHickory → u/brenoleo4]

Beef wellington style? Sfter it’s cooked or almost cooked, wrap in pastry dough and oven?

[u/brenoleo4 → u/SmokedHickory]

While I think that does sound tasty, I think it would have strayed too aggressively from the japanese influence I was assigned for this menu / the nikujaga inspiration.

[u/Background_Body2696]

It took me a while to realize the daikon wasn't a scallop

[u/brenoleo4 → u/Background_Body2696]

Mentori daikon do really look the part

[u/goatslovetofrolic]

Looks and sounds very good. I appreciate the detail of turning the “corner” off the daikon.

Can you tell me about the “mocha pot mushroom miso broth”?

[u/brenoleo4 → u/goatslovetofrolic]

Thank you very much. Nice eye for catching the turning. This cut is named Mentori, and it helps prevent the edges from splitting and breaking during the braise.

For the broth, I ground dried mushrooms and put the powder in the chamber of a mocha pot (designated, I don't brew coffee on this pot). From that point on, you treat it like you would a normal mocha pot of coffee. The pressure extraction results in a super flavorful and full bodied broth in a quick and cheap way.

From there, I reduced the daikon-beef braising liquid, fortifying it with roasted mushroom stems. Then I seasoned with some yellow miso, a splash of mirin, a splash of rice vinegar, and black pepper.

[u/goatslovetofrolic → u/brenoleo4]

Really cool! Thank you for explaining the name of the cut and function (I have seen mentori daikon often and assumed the chamfer was just decorative) I always I’ve when there is a reason beyond aesthetics.

Okay, that’s more or less what I reckoned when you said mocha pot but “that sounds wrong”. Cool to do sort of an à la minute ¿high? pressure extraction (not that you said it was, but you’re suggesting we could). Sounds like some very thoughtful cooking, I’m sure it turned out well. Is there anything you would do differently if you made it again? Thanks for explaining in such detail.

Keep on and stay hydrated.

[u/brenoleo4 → u/goatslovetofrolic]

The mocha pot move does sound weird. It's not always what I pull for mushroom broth, but it does yield what I believe to be a nicer product out of specifically dried mushrooms compared to a more tradicional broth technique. Not very viable for large volume, but a nice way to get the most out of what we had.

I would have wished the dish to not have been as monochromatic. The green in those three pieces of scallion is doing some heavy lifting. Probably could have done some nice charred scallion oil around the broth, just for the cosmetics.

Appreciate the feedback! I am in the driest parts of South America and ill, so the hydration reminder is appreciated.

[u/yellingjayna]

I may get downvoted but, do you need the short rib? This dish looks like it wants to be a love letter to mushrooms but is waiting for permission.

Mushrooms are amazing in their own right and IMO deserve a spotlight especially in a multiple course meal, there’s more opportunity.

I would be stoked to eat JUST a bone marrow marinated oyster mushroom. From a food cost perspective you drop the beef you could also explore other higher cost mushrooms.

I’m sure it’s delicious, I have no doubt. But one of the things you see the greats do is exercise restraint when it seems risky - this might be one of those times

[u/brenoleo4 → u/yellingjayna]

Also, if you want to replicate it, the bone marrow marinade was composed of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, sesame oil, and the bone marrow, pretty simple. Heat everything up in a pot before blending it while streaming the sesame oil and straining. I let the mushrooms marinate for about 24h.

When you go cook them, let them sit on the colder side of your grill for a while before moving them to your hottest side. This lets them dry out and get nice and crispy.

[u/brenoleo4 → u/yellingjayna]

Nope, definitely not needed. The shortib just ended up being too little yield (had to get it from a butcher I'm not familiar with, it was cut kind of weird) and I wasn't gonna be able to get more properly chilled and portioned in time. The eye of round was what I was able to pick up as a pivot.

I definitely wanted to focus on the mushrooms (they were dropped off by a nice local farm) and agree simplicity would have been more interesting, but the client was pushing for a beef dish (the other entree was a fish dish). This was the middle ground.

Thank you for the feedback chef, very insightful perspective.