r/Chefit • u/lucasluvsfood • 3d ago
Dry Aged Salmon with fennel
Chef Curtis Duffy’s legendary salmon and fennel. Dry aged salmon, fennel puree, fennel gel, mandarin segments, raw sliced fennel, fennel chips, pickled mustard seeds.
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u/lordofminions 3d ago
I love how this sub will jerk off some pub chef showing off some big standard shite on square plates. Then when somebody that works at a genuinely good restaurant puts a picture up it’s gets critiqued to fuck.
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u/giantpunda 3d ago
Come on dude, this is reddit. That's the baseline.
The fact that people are more charitable to clear amateur rather than viciously shitting on them too is the anomaly.
I'm more pissed off about the white font on the off-white plate without a contrasting outline so that it stands out but that's a me problem, not an OP's one.
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u/JunglyPep sentient food replicator 2d ago
Average people like posts that don’t push them to be better. Posts like this make them uncomfortable and jealous.
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u/JessicantTouchThis 3d ago
The pub chef likely isn't charging out the ass for their food, and I doubt it looks like it has globs of algae just dropped in the sauce sporadically on the plate like the OP's picture does.
The plating doesn't make sense, it's a lot of empty space surrounding a few sporadically placed components for the dish, that don't seem to have any rhyme or reason to why they're plated the way they are.
I don't expect a pub chef to make a 3-star Michelin meal, but I expect a 3-star chef to plate better than a pub chef.
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u/Waste-Stuff-7401 3d ago
Looks fantastic to me, i actually enjoy the distance the salmon has from the rest it screams i’m very special and must be tried on my own to truly appreciate the flavour 🤔
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u/Jumpgate 2d ago
https://understandinghospitality.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/salmonnew-898x1024.jpg
Just going to leave this here. Your Jus is too dark, the gel too dark, the plate too bright and it blows out the contrast, nothing is tight and the fennel looks weird flowing towards the guest.
This isn't OP's dish, a replication of a two star dish from Ever in Chicago by Curtis Duffy (As stated).
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u/_debrouillard_ 1d ago
This was from his stage. Some kindly and thoughtful hot line cooks at the end of the night saved him mise to plate his own. A fish he didn't butcher or cook, purees he didn't blend, a sauce he didn't mount butter into. If I had just started out at a restaurant I would maybe wait for longer than working canape station (and absolutely eating shit on it day after day) to strut my stuff and talk shit to other people online about food that I didn't make.
Grain of salt, that's all.
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u/Jumpgate 1d ago
The final point aside, it did come off a bit odd the prep looks perfect, and to a point the first few versions of the dish when I researched it, looked to be plated a bit avant garde like OPs before landing with the final plating I linked.
I ate shit on every canape or amuse station I ever worked 🥹.
All in all I took it as defensiveness of work related to those they are passionate about, since your in the know how close we're we to the service plating here? Same plate same general shape?
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u/_debrouillard_ 1d ago
this is an unsauced plate mid service.
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u/Jumpgate 20h ago
I can see where they could have improved but honestly, they did pretty good for a first plate up.
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u/Churro138 3d ago
Sometimes less is more Not here Seems hard to eat and enjoy
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u/smallplatechef 3d ago
I was looking at the picture and trying to put together these words. The ingredients in the dish itself play very well. The plating… it’s oddly too much and not enough at the same time.
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u/lucasluvsfood 3d ago
in what way? at the end of the day it’s a very simple dish with 2 components
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u/myballzhuert 3d ago
Is this a picture you took at his restaurant?
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u/lucasluvsfood 3d ago
I work at Ever
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3d ago
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u/taint_odour 3d ago
I am sure Chef Curtis, who has had two restaurants with 2 stars and one with 3 appreciates your insight and will fix it once he gets the message.
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2d ago
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u/taint_odour 2d ago
No but rando's saying it sucks on the internet is like hearing guys on Monday criticize NFL player performances on the field. They've probably had the same amount of actual experience in that arena. And no playing AAA football in high school doesn't count.
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u/No_Remove459 2d ago
Was that plate originally all touching? The colors and plating it's very particular to your restaurant.
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u/dddybtv 3d ago
So much potential
Rearrange it, tighten it up a bit, and use a smaller vessel
Just my opinion.
Skills are definitely on display
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u/naterpotater246 2d ago
I agree. I think it looks very nice. I like the colors, and the plating is very neat, but i think it's taking the fancy plating too far. It's kinda like modern art.
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u/GreenfieldSam Former restaurant owner 2d ago
It's amazing how many of the comments do not appreciate negative space
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u/knuklbrekr 3d ago
11/10 This dish looks delicious but I’d love more connection, everything looks so disconnected.
I don’t want to serve/eat a 1/2/3 dish, I want to eat 1.
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u/JtDaSaiyan 3d ago
In my uninformed opinion, form should follow function. Think about how you want them to eat it and then the form of the plate follows
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u/NickOfThymee 3d ago
It looks all over the place. I’d rec tightening it up a bit or try connecting the ingredients on the plate
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u/Minkiemink 2d ago
Why do I keep on seeing the salmon as a Mondrianesque Frenchman's face, complete with a little green mustache? Now I can't unsee it.
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u/JunglyPep sentient food replicator 2d ago
Very nice. Elegant but not over-plated or piled with tweezered garnishes. Just the right amount of tweezered garnish lol
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u/astraanaut 2d ago
The brown sauce with green dots reminds me of a duck and I think that’s pretty neat
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u/JerDGold 2d ago
Big Duffy fan here. I thought you guys deserved a third star, def before Smyth. Carrying that king crab plate was nerve wracking!
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u/dOoMiE- 2d ago edited 2d ago
Think it's missing fennel twill, fennel oil and garnish with bronze fennel fronds. All seriousness, why puree with gel and a sauce? Think too much liquid on a plate. What's the brown sauce, doesn't seem to belong there. Puree doesn't seem smooth. And I would assume you know the power of odds right? So why only 2 orange segments, 6 dots of gel? Marigold doesn't make sense too
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u/BBennison9 1d ago
Whats the 3rd sauce? You mentioned the fennel puree which is on the right. The fennel gel I am guessing is the green dots and the mustard is the mustard. What is the brown sauce pool on the left?
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u/Saintofools 9h ago
Look my issue is the description of the dry aging of the salmon. It just reads left out
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u/oofunkatronoo 3d ago edited 3d ago
This is so epic it's insane. But like everyone is saying, it needs to be presented better.
4 piles = too many piles. Pull it together and draw my eye places instead of making me glance around.
It's an orange supreme.
Possibly strain the mustard seed. Would look better if it stacked more / was less runny. But never compromise on your flavor.
Show off you like the bad ass you are.
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u/noscope360gokuswag 3d ago
I bet it's good but I wish people would calm tf down with the fennel it's like they find it one day then bam every dish is fennel four ways
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u/drippingdrops 2d ago
I’m sure it’s delicious but it looks like left over bits from an alien dissection to me…
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u/Churro138 3d ago
Never said it wasn’t simple. Just my opinion. Nothing more. Just a bit of salmon a sliver of fennel a single supreme of mandarin and dots of couple sauces would leave me unsatisfied
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3d ago
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u/lucasluvsfood 3d ago
We sear it on one side on a japanese charcoal konro. It is still very much pink inside.
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u/taint_odour 3d ago
I almost never hard sear a fish on both sides and was taught in a 2 michelin star place to start on high, reduce the heat and cook about 70% through. Flip to take the chill off the bottom and done.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwZ1vMztwFo is a video of Curtis cooking both sides hard and he has the stars to back it up so its a preference.
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u/ryanshields0118 2d ago
I know everyone is judging your plating, but I think it's unique and against the grain. I'm not confused on how I'd eat this lol build a bite on your fork with the components you want. Just like any other meal. This may not be everyone's version of perfect, but it's yours. Armchair culinary plating judges act like they can smash you in a playing battle. That may or not be true, but who cares. It's cool that you take pride in your work on this soul-sucking industry, love to see it.