Bar Tartine

November 3, 2014
Chefs Balla and Burns, at their much-praised Bar Tartine, in San Francisco, have transformed the craft of drying all sorts of herbs, flowers, vegetables, fruits, and meats into an art form. They share their methods for creating dehydrated delicacies, be it via oven-drying, sun-drying, or a food dehydrator, and offer a selection of recipes that utilize those ingredients. It seems a very satisfying task to air-dry a batch of fresh red peppers, and then grind them into a powder to create homemade paprika, which can be used in fisherman’s stew full of catfish and egg noodles in a broth of fish stock and red wine. However, some of the techniques are perhaps best left to professionals. Black garlic is all the rage, but to make it at home, the fastest method is to place whole garlic heads in a slow cooker, set it to warm, and then check back in “about 2 weeks.”

February 15, 2015

By mastering such techniques as dehydrating, curing, picking, sprouting, and fermenting, Balla and Burns, co-chefs of San Francisco's Bar Tartine restaurant, have elevated pantry stocking to an art. Their first cookbook, split between methods of food preparation and meticulous recipes, demonstrates the many ways humble ingredients can be transformed. Oranges, for instance, can be processed into jams and syrups, dried and blended with tea, or dehydrated and ground to a powder. Many of these techniques are doable for home cooks, though it's hard to imagine amateurs making their own bottarga (which involves drying cured sacs of fish roe for five to seven weeks). Creative dishes (e.g., smoked potatoes with ramp mayonnaise; grilled tripe with paprika and fennel; steamed parsnip cake with cider, kefir, honey, and bee pollen) feature strong Asian and Hungarian influences and refer readers frequently to instructions for making their own vinegars, cultured butters, and spice blends. VERDICT Aspiring culinarians and serious enthusiasts will devour this eye-opening book, which provides an insider's look at an artisanal larder.

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