How does a chef create, and then plate, dishes that titillate the taste buds and dazzle the eyes? Oiji in NYC is known for swoon-worthy food and Brian Kim, chef and co-owner takes inspiration wherever he can, even if that happens to be potato chips.
“Approximately 7 years ago there was a craze in Korea with packaged bags of potato chips that had a honey flavor. There was not enough supply to meet the craze leaving store shelves. Once people got their hands on the product it started showing up on Korean auction sites for around $40 - $60 per bag.” Chef Kim explains of the inspiration behind his iconic Honey Butter Chips which went viral appearing on Good Morning America among many other outlets.
While the chef, who was born and raised in Korea, opened Oiji as an homage to the flavors of home and subtle nuances of Korean cuisine he never thought his break out dish would feature a plate of fancy potato chips. Chef Kim who attended the Culinary Institute of America after testing out kitchens in Seoul utilizes his unique perspective to combine seemingly unlikely ingredients into culinary gems. Hot, crispy and sweet potato chips with a cold scoop of ice cream is just the beginning.
The infamous Honey Butter Chips from Oiji in NYC.
Signe BirckSo how does Chef Kim create his delectable dishes? Read on for a Q & A with the rising star of the NYC culinary scene.
Where did the ideas for the Honey Butter Chips and the Wagyu dish come from?
While we were getting ready to open Oiji back in 2015, we were curious why this craze was happening in Korea. We started playing around with house made chips and honey butter emulsion. We added cayenne pepper later to give it a kick. It started with curiosity and ended up becoming our staple beloved dessert.
MORE FOR YOU
Wagyu Samhap: The origin of this dish can be found in different forms in Korea. The word “samhap” means three ingredients that work best together. The most traditional trio is fermented skate, aged kimchi, and steamed pork belly. For our “samhap,” we wanted to come up with ingredients that are more popular and common to NYC that could represent Oiji’s style.
The Sam-Hap from Oiji with Wagyu, uni, egg yolk and soy sauce.
Dan AhnHow did you conceptualize plating?
Honey Butter Chips: We wanted customers to feel as many different sensations as possible in one bite. Chips get seasoned with salt and cayenne and glazed with honey butter emulsion. We serve this with scoops of vanilla ice cream, giving hot, cold, savory, salty, buttery, and sweet at the same time.
Wagyu SamHap: Any dish that comes out of Oiji should be delicious. Not only delicious, but it should also look appetizing and fun. To deliver both, we focus on aesthetic and interaction when conceptualizing plating. We carefully choose plate ware that can help components to pop out complementing each other.
The new Sam-Hap from Oiji being torched table side.
Dan AhnWhat flavors/textures are you focusing on/highlighting in each dish?
The focal point of our Honey Butter Chips is about impacting all senses in the palate. Savory, sweet, salty, buttery, mildly spicy, crispy, warm, and cold are all focal points of the dish. It sounds complicated, but to create simply delicious Honey Butter Chips all the criteria must be present.
Importance of Wagyu Samhap is all about flash torched wagyu instantaneously consumed while all the fat is softened. After servers torch tableside, our special citrus soy sauce is poured over and an egg yolk is added on top to give acidity and creaminess. Sea urchin, aged kimchi, and Korean mustard are served separately to make things more explosive on the palate. Sea urchins add on extra oceanic complexity while it melts together with wagyu. Aged kimchi and mustard give an explosive sensation that cuts through all the fats from wagyu and sea urchins. This truly represents both land and sea at its best combination.
Final addition of the egg yolk on the Sam-Hap from Oiji.
Dan AhnHow much does social media factor in?
SNS is a crucial marketing tool for restaurant business. Prettier and fancier food is more likely to get posted and liked than those plated without intention. Customers eat with their eyes first, that is why I think it is crucial to make sure all our dishes need to be appetizing and pleasant to the eyes. When food is pleasant on their eyes, guests naturally take photos regardless of SNS and this tends to give better chances for more exposure. Regardless, taste comes first, because it is almost like false advertisement when the food looks so good but tastes horrible.
How much time do these dishes take to create?
In general, it really depends. Sometimes it happens right away and sometimes it can take months. For instance, Oiji’s fried chicken took several hundred times before it was perfectly cooked while being light and crispy.
It took us almost one year to complete our Honey Butter Chips. In the beginning we started serving just Honey Butter Chips with salt. We added cayenne pepper after a few weeks and added ice cream after one of our regular guests brought it up. I believe in teamwork and am always open to suggestions. Any dish can improve overtime, even if you think you’ve already perfected something. There is always room for an improvement. As a chef I need to be critical over my own food.
The Wagyu Samhap did not take too much time. We had solid ideas regarding the combination of the three items, but the difficult part was sourcing perfect wagyu from a consistent ranch. For the first month, we got beautiful American Wagyu ribs from Wisconsin but they could not keep up with our demand. We tried different cuts and ranches time after time from different vendors. Now we have a consistent product, but this can always change so our job is to carefully check the quality and taste of every cut. As for Kimchi, it takes several months to make aged kimchi and if aged improperly it will become unusable. This took some time to master making proper juicy and sour aged kimchi.
How complicated is the plating?
Restaurants always fight against time. How we prepare food before the service is crucial to the flow of service. Plating should always be simple with a sustainable system. If the plating takes too much time it can cause a delay in general service and harm the quality of food. As a chef, I’m always battling with temperature - hot dishes must be hot, cold must stay cold and sometimes you have to manage multiple temperatures at the sametime, which makes it more difficult.
Our Honey Butter Chips may look simple, but the hot and cold components make the dish difficult to execute. Once the hot honey butter chips are poured over ice cream, it must be delivered to the table immediately so guests can experience the dish to its fullest extent. In addition to actual plating, coordination of the restaurant and staff plays a crucial role.
Our Wagyu Samhap can be tricky, because once slices of wagyu are plated, we must depend on servers to finish the dish on the tableside. Depending on how cold or thick the meat is chefs must communicate with servers for how much to cook. It can be tricky, but with good coordination it can be done.
The Link LonkMay 16, 2021 at 01:40AM
https://ift.tt/33K3Rsk
Honey Butter Chips? How Oiji NYC’s Chef Brian Kim Creates Culinary Magic - Forbes
https://ift.tt/2RGyUAH
Chips
No comments:
Post a Comment