Edible flower pastes are a great way to distill the flavors and colors of edible flowers into a form usable in simple syrups (how to make flower simple syrups), sorbets and compound butters (flavored butters).  Below you’ll find recipes for pansy paste and rose paste.

Flower Paste Recipes:

Pansy Paste Recipe

Pansies have a delightful wintergreen-mint flavor. Most (if not all) of this flavor is in the small green bulbs at the base of the blossom, rather than in the blossoms themselves, so we recommend leaving these on when making the paste…they won’t hurt its color.

Ingredients:                                       Makes Approx. 1 Cup
1 cup loosely packed Edible Pansies with stems
(we used 85% yellow 15% white, but any color will do)
1 cup Superfine Sugar

Directions:
1. Add the pansies and superfine sugar to the bowl of a food processor.

2. Run the food processor until a paste is formed (several minutes).  Periodically stop the blade and scrape the bottom and sides (the flowers will stick).

3. Use as called for in your recipe.

Rose Paste Recipe

Edible roses are one of those edible flowers that are probably better referred to as “food safe” rather than “edible” in their natural form.  Their petals are tough and if you eat them raw their flavor can be soapy.  Pasting them allows you to extract their beautiful color and a more palatable flavor for use in recipes.

Ingredients:                                       Makes Approx. 1 Cup
1 cup loosely packed Edible Rose Petals or about 4-5 Whole Edible Roses
1 cup Superfine Sugar

Directions:
1. If using whole edible roses, grab the stem end with one hand and the blossom with the other. Twist and bend.  The petals should come off the stem, leaving most of the seeds behind.  Give the petals a shake (and/or uncurl them) to get most of the remaining seeds out…but you can leave some seeds.

Discard the stems & seeds & use 1 loosely packed cup of the petals per cup of sugar.

2. Add the rose petals and superfine sugar to a food processor.

3. Run the processor until a paste is formed (several minutes).  The flowers will gravitate to the bottom and sides, sticking to the bowl, so you’ll want to periodically stop the blade and scrape the bottom and sides to mix them back in.

4. Use as called for in your recipe.

General Technique Tips:

1. You could likely use this same technique for other edible flowers…though we haven’t tried and so don’t know how well the flavor or colors will work.

2. Generally we recommend using a single color of blossoms for a paste, as it’ll give you a stronger, cleaner color, but you could of course mix & match.

3. Chopping the flowers into pastes often changes their colors somewhat (see photos for blossom vs. paste color comparisons).

4. In a pinch, you could substitute conventional granulated sugar or organic evaporated cane juice for the superfine sugar. However, we’ve found that superfine sugar gives you a much better consistency, and is probably the better choice for most applications.

We first learned this technique from Chef Traunfeld’s superb Herbfarm Cookbook.

___________
Browse More:
Edible Flower Recipes

Drink Pairing (with below side): Pinot Gris

Directions:
1. If they’re still attached, remove the small side muscles from the scallops and discard them.  Season the scallops with salt.

2. Heat a millimeter deep layer of oil in a large frying pan or cast iron skillet over high heat, just until it starts to smoke.

3. Add the scallops to the pan, taking care not to crowd them.  Once they touch the pan, they will stick.  Do not try to move them.  They will release from the pan naturally when they’re close to being ready to flip.

4. Sear them hard on one side to develop a good brown crust.

5. Turn off the heat, flip the scallops and let them cook in the residual heat for about thirty seconds, just until opaque.

_____________

Browse More:
Scallop Recipes
Seafood Recipes & Techniques
All Culinary Techniques

Dry aging beef  allows naturally occurring enzymes to break down molecules within the muscle into more flavorful & tender forms.  While you probably want to leave extended dry aging to experts with specially built facilities, it’s easy to dry age beef for short periods in your refrigerator.  Here’s how:

What Cuts to Dry Age:

When dry-aging you want to use large roast cuts (whole ribeyes, whole top sirloins, whole striploins, etc).  Once they’ve been aged you can roast them whole, cut into smaller roasts or slice into steaks.

Equipment You’ll Need:

A sheet pan or half-sheet pan (a baking sheet with edges), roasting pan or large plate – - to catch juices
A heavy-duty cooling rack or roasting rack – - to keep the meat out of the juices
Lots of room on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator

Instructions:
1. At least four days before you’re planning on cooking your beef, unwrap it & dry off all the surface moisture.

2.Move any foods that are pre-cooked or will be eaten raw away from the spot in your fridge where you’ll be aging the beef.  This is simply an extra safety precaution to avoid any escaped beef juices contaminating other foods.

3. Put the sheet pan or roasting pan on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator.  Put the rack on top of it, then put your beef on top of the rack.  Do not cover the beef.

4. Age your beef.  Flip the meat half-way through the aging process.

5. Once the beef has aged as long as you’d like, you can cover it with plastic wrap, cook immediately or freeze.

Before cooking, trim off any partially dry/discolored portions of meat & fat on the surface and discard them.

__________
Browse More:
Culinary Techniques

These thin, firm sheets of baked parmesan cheese are an elegant, flavorful garnish for all sorts of savory dishes.  They can even be formed into very delicate cups if you’re quick when they come out of the oven.

They’re already full of flavor (especially if you use real parmigiano reggiano, which we highly recommend for this), it’s easy to add other finely ground ingredients to impart additional flavors.  We experimented with both porcini powder and chile powder with very tasty results.

If you’re grinding your own chile powder, you can control the spiciness level of your chiles by removing some or all of their seeds prior to grinding…the more seeds you leave in the hotter the powder will generally be.  We used dried japones chilies with all the seeds in…which gave these tuiles a late, but very potent, spicy kick following the initial burst of cheesiness when you took a bite.

Ingredients:
Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese

Optional:
Porcini Powder (or make your own from dried porcinis – How to Grind Mushroom Powders)
Chile Powder (How to Grind Chile Powders).  We used Dried Japones Chilies.

Equipment:
Box Grater
Baking Sheet
Silicon Baking Mat (aka Silpat) or Parchment Paper

Optional:
Small mise en place cups or ring molds for molding the tuiles into shapes

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Finely grate the parmesan cheese.  We used the smallest holes on a conventional box grater.

3a. For Plain Tuiles: Pile the cheese in separate mounds on top of the silicon mat or parchment paper.  The more cheese you use, the larger the tuiles will be.  We used roughly ¼ cup of cheese for each.

3b. For Flavored Tuiles: Build the piles, but only put half of the cheese you’re using for each one on the pan.  Add 1-2 pinches of your flavoring evenly distributed across the cheese.  Cover the flavorings with the other half of the cheese.

4. Bake the cheese in the oven on the middle rack.  Start checking your tuiles after ten minutes.

5a. For Flat Tuiles: Remove the pan from the oven and let the tuiles cool. Serve.

5b. For Parmesan Cups: Remove the pan from the oven and let the tuiles cool briefly.  They will firm up as they cool, so you want to wait until they’ve hardened enough to hold together, but are still flexible.

Quickly drape the tuiles over the small cups or in ring molds to form them into rustic cup shapes.  Let them finish cooling. Serve.

________

Browse More:
Cheese Recipes

Whole/In The Round: Whole fish or fish “in the round” are being sold completely intact, exactly as they were caught.

Examples: Whole Rockfish, Whole Fresh Sardines

Drawn/Gutted: Drawn fish are whole fish that have been gutted…i.e.  had their viscera (stomach, roe sacks, other guts) removed.  Gutted/Drawn fish generally last longer than fish that are 100% Whole/In The Round, because the guts spoil faster than the meat.

Example: Whole Rainbow Trout

Headed & Gutted (aka H&G): Headed & gutted fish have had their viscera (guts) and head removed.

Example: Whole Pink Salmon

Dressed: Dressed fish have had their viscera, head, tail, and fins removed.  They have also been de-scaled.

Bullets: Head, tail, fins, other pieces and viscera removed, with the skin on.  This term is generally used instead of “dressed” for sturgeon, because they have particularly unusual anatomy requiring more cleaning and the end product is a bit different.

Portioned Sturgeon fillets are generally considered more consumer-friendly than bullets because they are much smaller and can be cooked similarly to other fish fillets.

Browse Whole Fish (most Drawn or Headed & Gutted)

Fish Portion Terms

Portion Types

Steaks: Steaks are portions of fish that have been cut across the body rather than along the sides.  Often, but not always, they include a section of backbone.

Example: Swordfish Steaks

Fillets: Fish fillets are cut along the entire side of the fish, removing the meat from the spine and most of the bones.

Browse Fish Fillets

Butterflied Fillets: Butterflied fillets are two fish fillets in one.  Both fillets are cleaned similarly to normal fillets, but they’re left connected to each other.

Example: Yellow Perch Fillets

Fillet Portions: Fish fillets, especially those from particularly large fish, are often cut into smaller portions to make them more manageable.  A fairly standard restaurant portion weighs 6oz, but larger or smaller filet portions are also sold.

Cheeks: Some large fish have portions of meat on their heads, separate from the fillet, that are of sufficient quality to be harvested and sold separately.

Example: Halibut Cheeks

Preparation terms

The below terms are most often applied to fish fillets.

Skin On: The fish skin is left on the portions.  Skin on fish fillets & fillet portions are often used in pan seared fish recipes, so the skin crisps up, providing an attractive texture and presentation.  If desired, you can remove the skin from skin-on fillets after you buy them.  See how to remove fish skin for the basic technique.

Skinless/Skin Off: Skin removed prior to sale.  Whether to leave round fish skin on is often a question of personal preference, the species being used, and the recipe being used.  Flatfish skin is very leathery and generally considered inedible

Pin Bones Out (aka PBO): Many fish fillets have small, thin, flexible bones distributed along the side of the fillet.  Generally these are removed (usually with a pair of tweezers) prior to cooking and serving the fish.  “Pin Bone Out” fillets have already had the pin bones removed for you.

Frozen At Sea (FAS): Is a term for fish or fish portions that have been frozen within hours (usually 5 or 6 hours) of the fish being caught.  The fish are cleaned, processed, and frozen on the vessel that caught them.

Frozen at sea fish has a reputation for being much higher quality than fish frozen much later, and even some fresh fish depending on how long it has been out of the water.

In addition, FAS fish may be more environmentally sustainable because it can be transported more slowly than fresh fish (and thus usually using lower-carbon methods – i.e. trains instead of jets).

See Can Chefs Cozy Up to Frozen Fish? (Washington Post, 2008) for more info about FAS fish.

__________
Browse More:
Culinary Tips & Techniques
Seafood Recipes

Here’s the technique for taking the cleaned lobster bodies (minus their claws, tails, and innards) and turning them into lobster stock for use in sauces, soups, and other dishes.

Ingredients:
4 Lobster Body Shells (cleaned of innards) & Legs
1/3 cup Cognac
5 Carrots, peeled & roughly chopped
1/2 head of Celery, leaves removed, ribs roughly chopped
2 Onions, peeled & roughly chopped
1/2 bunch Fresh Thyme
1/2 bunch Fresh Fennel

Directions:
1. Tear or cut up the lobster bodies into large chunks and sauté them in a little oil over medium heat until their shells turn orange, stirring occasionally.

2. Move the toasted shells to a stock pot and crush them lightly with a wooden spoon.  Continue to brown.

3. Drizzle in the cognac, then add the carrots, celery & onions.

4. Sweat briefly to start the vegetables cooking down, then fill the pot with water.  Add the thyme & fennel.

5. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

6. Strain out the solids & discard them.  Use the stock in recipes or chill/freeze for later use.

_____________
Browse More:
Lobster Recipes
Culinary Techniques

Here’s the basic recipe for lobster poached in beurre monte/beurre fondue, an emulsified blend of butter and water.   See how to make beurre fondue for more process photographs and technique tips.

Once poached the lobster can be tossed with pasta, added to salads, added to finished soups or used in a range of other recipes…just be sure to add it at or near the end of the dish’s cooking process, so its heated through rather than further cooked.

Ingredients:
Peeled Lobster Meat, Cubed         (We used Lobster Tails)
1lb chilled Unsalted Butter, cubed
2tbsp Water

Directions:
1. Bring the water to a simmer.

2. Turn the heat down to medium low.  Whisk the butter into the water a few pieces at a time, whisking constantly.  Once the mixture is thick and creamy, add the lobster meat.

3. Poach the lobster for five to seven minutes, until cooked through.

4. Use the lobster in the recipe of your choice.

___________
Browse More:
Lobster Recipes

Using a Grater: For whole nutmeg you will need to use a nutmeg or Microplane grater.  Simply drag the whole nutmeg nut across the surface of the grater repeatedly, taking care not to catch your fingers.  Microplane graters also work well with long pepper.

Note: Some standard box graters include a grating side suitable for nutmeg.  Its teeth should look like the ones on the nutmeg grater in this picture.

Using a Mortar and Pestle: 

These are great when you want to carefully grind up spices like star anise (pictured) and juniper berries to a very specific size.  They can also be used to just crack open whole cardamom or Tellicherry peppercorns for making infusions.  We highly recommend that you choose a mortar and pestle with a rough texture in the bowl, as the friction will speed up your grinding considerably.

Using a Bladed Electric Coffee Grinder: 

Truth be told these don’t do a great job of grinding coffee (for that you want a burr grinder) but they’re very affordable and great for grinding spices in the home.  Just be sure to clean them out after each use (grinding and then discarding some dry white rice is a good way to do this) so that you’re not accidentally mixing spice residues into your coffee.  While you don’t have as much control as when using a mortar and pestle, coffee grinders are a fast way to grind spices like annatto seed, long pepper, grains of paradise, and lavender buds. They’re also a great way to make chile powders. 

We do not recommend using coffee grinders to grind whole cloves or whole allspice, which can damage the plastic.  If you want to grind these using this technique, you’ll want an actual motorized spice grinder with a metal compartment.

Using a Pepper Grinder: For Tellicherry pepper, the best grinding method is to use an actual pepper grinder.  Grinders that incorporate different settings that control how fine the resulting grind is are becoming more common and are great for gourmet cooking.  Depending on your grinder’s design and construction, it may be possible to also use it to grind peppercorn-sized spices such as Szechuan pepper, and allspice, though it will depend on your actual grinder and whether you want to add different flavor notes to your peppermill.  If your pepper grinder cannot handle other spices, simply use an electric coffee grinder or mortar and pestle as normal.

___________

Browse More:
Spice Recipes
Culinary Techniques

Like the American meat grading system (Select, Choice, Prime) the Japanese system is based on an examination of fat marbling (called intramuscular fat) in a given piece of meat.  Fat not only carries flavor, but when distributed properly in tiny veins throughout the meat it melts during cooking, resulting in a more tender and moist steak.

In Japan, very heavily marbled steaks are highly prized, and they have bred wagyu cattle to attain levels of intramuscular fat far beyond those found in conventional American beef.  This gives them a silky smooth texture and rich, buttery flavor totally unlike conventional beef.  They are also believed to freeze better than conventional beef.

Even low-grade Kobe beef is more tender and has more flavor, less saturated fat, and a lower melting temperature than typical beef.

The Japanese Beef Scale

The Japanese marbling scale (aka the MBS) runs from 1-12.  Converting between disparate scales is tricky, but to better illustrate what these numbers mean: Prime (the highest grading category on the USDA scale), tends to come in between 3-4 on the Japanese scale.  USDA Choice (the highest grade of beef found in most grocery stores) tends to come in at or below a two.

Marx Foods Kobe Beef

We offer both Australian and American Kobe beef in bulk. Premium steak cuts (Kobe ribeye steaks, Kobe strip steaks, Kobe Filet Mignons, etc) have their grades displayed on each product page. Many other cuts (cheek meat, flank steaks, etc) are ungraded.

Grade 5, 6 & 7 wagyu beef is generally regarded an affordable compromise that gives you high quality Kobe beef while avoiding the extravagant prices of the highest grades.

We currently offer higher grade Kobe beef tenderloins and can special order other cuts in higher grades should you want to go all out.  To inquire about these higher grades, please contact us.

Kobe Burgers & Kobe Hot Dogs

Kobe beef burgers and Kobe sliders are decadent– taking the humbler burger patty to extravagant heights. They’re rich, juicy, and full of flavor. We’ve made many of our favorite burger recipes with them.

___________

Browse More:
Kobe Beef Recipes
Culinary Techniques
Meat Tips & Techniques

Fresh wasabi rhizomes (colloquially known as fresh wasabi roots) are a rare and precious culinary commodity prized by high level sushi and fine dining chefs. Fresh grating is key with fresh wasabi rhizomes.  Below are instructions for how to get the best flavor out of fresh wasabi. 

How to Use Fresh Wasabi:

1. Rinse the wasabi rhizome.

2. Trim the tip off of one end. Put this end down, then use a knife to strip the outer peel off the end of the wasabi (try not to expose any more than you plan on using).

3. Using the finest grater you can get your hands on, grate the wasabi root into a fine paste. In the picture below, we used a microplane, but a metal Japanese wasabi grater would be even better, with the best option being the traditional Japanese sharkskin grater (called “oroshi”).  In a pinch, you could also use the finest hole size on a box grater.

4. Form the wasabi paste into a small pile to minimize its exposed surface area.

5. Use the fresh wasabi paste in the next 5-10 minutes for optimal flavor.

Reviving wasabi:  About 15-20 minutes after being grated, wasabi starts to lose some of its nuanced flavor, becoming simply hot. Its subtle flavor notes can be somewhat revived, however. Vigorously mix in 1-2 pinches of granulated sugar (we recommend superfine sugar) per teaspoon of wasabi paste. The paste will briefly regain some of its complexity.

How to Store Wasabi Rhizomes: Store whole wasabi rhizomes in the fridge, wrapped in a damp (not wet) towel. Check the towel daily to make sure it hasn’t dried out and re-dampen or refresh with a fresh towel.  Though they are often most potent in the few days after arrival, wasabi rhizomes can remain fresh for as long as three weeks if carefully stored.

Recipes Using Fresh Wasabi Rhizomes

___________

Browse More:
Culinary Techniques
Root & Rhizome Recipes