The second session at Omnivore NY Professional Master Classes was with Dovetail‘s John Fraser. Michelin-starred chef Fraser has been cooking since age 17. Originally from California, Fraser moved to New York and opened a couple restaurants before the New York Times 3-star rated, Dovetail.
Fraser says there’s a divide in cuisine. California is famous for its products, while New York is famous for technique. He also says New York has “the best diners and best cooks.” The best diners because they’ll eat anything.
When designing the restaurant, Dovetail, Fraser didn’t think of the food. Not typical. He says the style of cooking evolved over the years. Dishwashers became cooks, and now he has a total of 12 chefs in his kitchen. 20 people work in the restaurant.
About his style…Fraser likes to show off his dishes subtly, “like a fast Hyundai.” He prepares a perfect plate, then makes it messy. Addressing the theme of young cuisine, Fraser says to use “fresh, local produce.”
Fraser demonstrated cooking a dish that is only served to VIPs at his restaurant: Salt Baked Onion. Sounds ordinary, but Fraser layers his onion with truffles from Provence. Since he serves this all year round, he uses different truffles based on the seasons, which has different tastes. The summer truffle is cheaper (about $180/lb), has no strong flavor or perfume. During the winter, truffles can go for $900/lb. Fraser says “Truffle is used to garnish the onion in the winter, and vice versa for summer.”
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| Chef John Fraser shows his cut onion |
The salt baked onion recipe was adapted from a restaurant in Paris.
Ingredients
- Vidalia onion
- maple butter
- truffle
- egg white
- water
- salt
- toasted, unseasoned hazelnuts
- hazelnut oil
- radish
- arugula flowers
- green apple
- ash of burned ramp leaves and cucumber skins
Directions
- Cut the onion from North to South. Keep the skin, as it will will protect the onion from the salt. Separate the bulb scales starting from the center of the onion, working out to the final layer before the skin. Lay the scales on your workstation.
- Slice half of the truffle with mandolin.
- Now, reassemble the onion. Take the skin and first layer and spread the maple butter inside the onion. Using butter will keep the onion moist. Then layer several pieces of truffle on top of the butter.
- Repeat until all layers have been used.
- Mix the egg white, water and salt in a bowl. You want to get a “wet sand consistency.”
- The egg white is the shield; water is used to melt the salt.
- This method is the same salt bake used for fish.
- Truffles grow under hazelnut trees, so the flavors compliment each other
- The green apple also compliments the onion
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| Chef Fraser removing layers of the onion |
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| The layered onion |
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| Chef Fraser unveils the inside of the cooked salt shell |
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| Look at those truffles! |
The End Result
- The onion will be smooth and tender
- The transparency makes it look like a melted onion
- All flavors come to the nose first
- No salt is used in the plating process because, in theory, the onion is salty.
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