On steeping herbs....

      Heres a technique i picked up from the place where I'm currently staging. The restaurant  is called Battesby its located in brooklyn on smith street. These guys are doing big things, definitely a restaurant worth going out to carroll  gardens for.......Back to the technique, normally when i make a stock or sauce ill add my herbs in the beginning in order for the flavors to develop through out the cooking process. A couple days ago while i was helping chef Joseph prep a vegetable and brown butter nage, he mentioned to me that he likes to add his aromatics at the very end. In this case he finished his Brown butter and vegetable nage by incorporating lemon,kaffir lime leaves, and thai basil after the sauce was finished. He steeped the herbs and citrus into the hot nage' for a bit before straining  out the aromatics. He shared that by using this application your able to get a more cleaner and more defined flavor profile from the aromatics. I decided to apply this to a lobster stock i made for an upcoming item on our new extended restaurant week dinner menu. I steeped lemon slices, basil, and mint at the end of the cooking process, strained my stock and tried to see if this technique had its expected results. The outcome was very impressive, the lobster stock permeated with notes of basil, lemon , and mint.  I will definitely keep this technique on my repertoire, its something so simple but has a dramatic effect when applied.  I reduced the lobster stock and made a glace wich i served with butter poached lobster, summer corn and cipollini, lemon cream and fresh herbs. here are some pictures of the upcoming dish.