I met David Kinch when we went to Manresa, and I was very impressed with him and his work.
The show seems to devote about 4 episodes to each chef – they have just finished a sequence about Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune (in Manhattan) and I think Kinch is next up.
I need to record these shows!! And of course I recommend the program, I think everyone here would like it.
Great show. I’ve seen more than one Kinch episode so it may be when your local PBS outlet is airing them.
Love this show! You should get a copy of David Chang’s “Lucky Peach” magazine too, in case you haven’t already
Seasons 1-3 are on Netflix, we recently just discovered this show and have been binge watching. I like the post-David Chang episodes much better. Reminds me of a cross between No Reservations and a good cooking show.
I think this is the very best show about food I’ve ever seen. I don’t see it as a cooking show in any way and think it’s in a whole other stratosphere than No Reservations.
thanks - didn’t know these were still on going.
Not so much the first season but in the second season (at least the april bloomfield episodes) they quickly walk through a lot of recipes.
I’ve watched 2 of the David Kinch episodes of “Mind of a Chef” and found them VERY interesting. We ate there with Max Hauser in 2012 and the restaurant (Manresa) was started in 2002. In 2014 the restaurant burned down, evidently due to arson. It seems like someone threw a Molotov cocktail on the roof (my interpretation of the facts I heard on the show).
I am glad that we went before the fire. He has had to re-think everything, and did a lot of thinking during the six months or so when the restaurant was being re-built. I am glad that we went before the fire because post-fire, everything seems a little more “precious” and it looks like the servings have gotten smaller. I didn’t mind paying hundreds of dollars for the “theatrical” side of a great restaurant, when I was getting nice platefuls of food. I do know that it bothers me a little when you keep getting three bites of this and three bites of that.
Still I have been stimulated to buy a few things to make it possible to make some things that he talked about. For example I bought an egg topper and egg cups (not expensive). At a minimum that means you can soft-boil an egg, make a perfect circular cut on top and serve it standing up. At a higher level you can make the “Arpege Egg” or the David Kinch version of it – you top the raw egg, pour off the white, gently boil the yolk in the shell. The topped eggs float around in the hot water like “rubber duckies” and when they are cooked outside and soft inside you stop. Then you put in a little fleur du sel and some chopped chives and fill with whipped cream that was dosed with sherry vinegar. And put a tiny touch of maple syrup on top, so that when the diner plunges a spoon down to the bottom and withdraws it, you get a wonderful array of flavors, and a luxurious soft texture. Thomas Keller also has a rather different version of this in the French Laundry cookbook.
David Kinch also invented a drink called “The David.” It uses a whiskey which is flavored with hops, a very complex red vermouth, Aperol, orange bitters and a twist of orange peel. He served it over a big spherical ice “cube”. I found that all of the ingredients were available from Astor in NYC and ordered them. I also bought ice makers that produced spheres. I tried my first “David” tonight and it was really enjoyable but I don’t think it’s better than a glass of good Scotch. Which is probably a good thing.
If you Google “Arpege Egg” or “Manresa David Charbay” you can find recipes online.
I think there is a third episode and I am hoping I can find it and get it on my DVR. The series is really good and thought provoking, maybe one of the best things Anthony Bourdain has done on TV.
I think everything they have done has been brilliant, and the Francis Mallmann episode is like a warm blanket that I could wrap up in again and again. David Chang was brilliant because it was totally raw and that guy is the real deal. But I get the change in style there, I just love them all. Haven’t seen the Kinch episodes and I cannot wait.
After obtaining the ingredients for the “David” I learned about the Negroni served at the restaurant Spago. Interestingly they call for the same red vermouth – Carpano Antica Formula – and in part the same bitter liqueur, Aperol. One jigger Carpano, one jigger Hendricks Gin, one jigger half Aperol and half Campari. Cut a large piece of orange zest, 1.5 by .5 inches and flame before rubbing the rim and dropping into the drink. Both the David and the Spago Negroni are served at the restaurant with an ice “sphere” which melts more slowly than cubes. I’ve been alternating between one and the other for an occasional drink and really don’t know which I like better. The Negroni is more delicious but the David is more complex.
By the way I DVR’d all 4 Kinch episodes and it’s quite interesting to see that they have a relationship with a “bespoke” vegetable farm which explains how they get all the flowers and tiny herbs that they put into many of their dishes. Very artistic and very hard to do at home. I have the Manresa cookbook but mostly enjoy it for the art, of course it has the pre-fire menus but the dishes are all difficult for the home cook.