Maison Maenad Vineyards, St. Laurent de la Roche, Jura, France.
September 2022 saw a collection of bakers, chefs, winemakers, farmers and sommeliers coming together to build this communal cob oven at the crest of Katie Worobecks’ 5 hectares of grapes. 95% of the build was constructed with elements found within the vineyard itself, or sourced from neighbors.
The base was dry stacked from slabs of limestone found in the hills, topped by repurposed hand hewn beams to form a solid slab. An insulating layer of wine bottles and lava rocks were covered by a layer of fire brick, then a hand woven basket of saplings as scaffolding to support the cob itself. Next were hand formed bricks made of red and grey clay dug from the hillside, mixed with straw for structure.
An insulating blanket of spun ceramic fibers came next, followed by a thinner layer of plastering clay (this time combined with cow manure) for a smooth surface. After sufficiently drying by aid of small fires, the oven is now ready to be used on a regular basis, to provide nourishment, warmth and a space to gather around for an ever-expanding community.
Sourdough bread is fermentation science at its best. Water, flour and ambient natural yeast blend together to create a starter; which is then fed more flour and water to create a levain. A selection of flours, kneading with salt and water rise gently over many hours into a complex loaf with depth of flavour and aroma. The long, slow fermentation of sourdough is a coordinated effort of yeast and bacteria living off of starchy sugars in a happy symbiosis. They ingest complex sugars, transforming them into elements which rise sourdough. By the time we eat a slice, the carbohydrates contained within have been transformed into a more easily digestible form of nutrient, allowing our bodies to absorb more of its beneficial elements.
The process of creating, feeding and maintaining a happy starter is the ultimate pleasure in baking sourdough bread. You develop a relationship with your starter - naming it (mine is Levon the Levain in honor of Levon Helm), noticing how they change dependent on weather, humidity, flour type, water and temperature. Your starter brings in a deeper level of connection with the outside world, then turns around and nourishes you.
I have baked bread in ancient Parisian ovens with no temperature gauge, in cast iron combo cookers, in wood fired ovens both on the beach in Central America and in a field in the middle of the Catskills, NY. Every loaf is different with a resounding recognition of place alongside a familiar tang of personality from Levon.
Charcuterie is the art, process and respect of finding a use for every last piece of an animal.
Trim from cuts of meat are collected, seasoned, blended with liver and ground into pâté.
Jowls are cut from each side of the head, cured with salt, sugar and spices, then hung to dry into guanciale. The remaining head is simmered in flavoured stock, then pressed into head cheese.
Each culture has their own book of recipes for getting the most out of their cuts of meat, as well as ways of preserving them without refrigeration. It is the ultimate reverence to an animal who has given its life to nourish yours, that one should look upon all parts of the body with equal value.
My style in pastry leans towards the rustic and simple, focusing on tarts, layer cakes and custards brightened by seasonal jams and preserves.
One of my favourite books growing up was Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine, written about a boy in Illinois trying to capture, collect and record summertime memories after helping his grandfather make a batch of the titular beverage.
The notion of distilling the essence of a natural object, preserving it for long winter nights when the faintest memory of summer’s heat will warm your thoughts, was an idea that has made a lasting impact on my culinary methodology and practices.
I strive to be that memory-keeper, that collector of scent and flavour who can bottle up the essence of a single day into a jar.
Hand hewn and carved chairs have become a recent passion of mine after taking a class with Russ Filbeck in San Diego.
I love the process of transforming raw materials into functional objects, using mainly hand tools.
The ladder back chair was made entirely by hand, using a shaving horse along with draw knife, hand-hewn spoke shave, spoon bits and other tools.
The Windsor Chair was made using a combination of hand tools and machinery.
The spokeshave I made by hand.
The act of transforming earth - clay - mineral - water into a solid object is a beautiful creation, even more so when I have the honor of repairing it when broken from loving use. Kintsugi is the art of mending broken pottery with urushi: sap-based lacquer from a Japanese sumac tree. The mended piece celebrates its’ usage, and because of the nature of the lacquer is able to continue its use for eating and dining purposes. Upon introduction to oxygen and humid, warm temperatures, the lacquer polymerizes creating a solid and strong bond. This method takes time and patience, but is very much worth the wait.
