Sophia Loren

Posted & filed under Lifestyle.

“Sophia Loren”

We are delighted to announce the grand debut of the new Lacanche Sully 1800 range that has made it into Frank Prisinzano‘s restaurant Sauce in lower Manhattan.  The “Griotte” red Sully is quite the stunner in the window of Tiberio Custom Meat’s, Prisinzano’s studio adjoining restaurant Sauce.  Tiberio Custom Meats is butcher by day, private dining by night where it transforms into a single-table restaurant seating a quaint 10.

sophia loren

The back of Frank’s Sully 1800 facing the private dining room. Photo credit: Thrillist.com

 

Lacanche and Prisinzano share many of the same strong-rooted philosophies about food, creating a seamless fusion for collaborative work.  While Art Culinaire’s mission is to bring your family back to the table with meals prepared with local organic produce, Prisinzano works exclusively with 100% sustainable products sourced locally.   Additionally, all of their animals are fed a complete vegetarian diet free of growth hormones and antibiotics.

Frank has named his new beauty Sophia Loren after the renowned Italian actress. Take a look at quick video featuring Frank Prisizano and his thoughts about Lacanche:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgU9FiCDnjE

 

Glad we could resolve our French vs. Italian rivalries and create a beautiful union together.

Gearing up for the holidays

Posted & filed under Events, Lifestyle, Recipes.

Turkey with Brown-Sugar Glaze

Print recipe
Turkey with Brown-Sugar Glaze
Serves 8-10
Prep time 40 minutes
Cook time 2 hours, 45 minutes
Total time 3 hours, 25 minutes
Meal type Main Dish
Occasion Thanksgiving

Ingredients

  • 1 Whole Turkey (about 12 pounds) (thawed if frozen, rinsed, and patted dry (neck and giblets chopped into 2-inch pieces; liver discarded))
  • 2 Medium Carrots (Roughly Chopped)
  • 2 Celery Sticks (Roughly Chopped)
  • 1 Large Yellow Onion (Roughly Chopped)
  • 1 Nonstick Cooking Spray
  • 1/4 cup or 1/2 stick Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
  • 1 pinch Corse Salt and Ground Pepper
  • 2/3 cups Packed Dark-Brown Sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon Grated Orange Zest (plus two tablespoons of orange juice)

Directions

Step 1
Let turkey sit at room temperature 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Place neck, giblets, carrots, celery, and onion in a heavy-bottomed metal roasting pan. Set a roasting rack over vegetables and coat with cooking spray.
Step 2
Tuck wing tips underneath body of turkey. Tie legs together with kitchen twine. Rub turkey all over with 2 tablespoons butter; season with salt and pepper. Place turkey on rack in pan; roast on bottom oven rack until golden brown, 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees. Add 2 cups water to pan; roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted in thickest part of a thigh reads 125 degrees, about 1 hour.
Step 3
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, bring vinegar, brown sugar, and orange juice to a boil over high, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is syrupy, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and whisk in 2 tablespoons butter and orange zest.
Step 4
When thermometer reads 125 degrees, brush turkey with glaze. Rotate pan and roast, brushing turkey with remaining glaze every 15 minutes, until thermometer inserted in the thickest part of a thigh reads 165 degrees, 30 to 45 minutes (tent turkey with foil if browning too quickly). Transfer turkey to a platter. Loosely tent with foil and let rest 30 minutes before carving. Reserve pan with drippings for Pan Gravy.

Happy November!

As the holidays near, we thought you might enjoy this!

Check out this video featuring a 26-lb turkey being cooked in our in-house Lacanche Cluny:

 

Also, here is a delicious recipe featured on Martha Stewart’s website for inspiration for Thanksgiving next week.  Our mouths’ are already watering!  We are thankful to be able to share this with you. What are you thankful for this year?

an afternoon in the hamptons

Posted & filed under Lifestyle, Oven Sizes.

Elisa and I took a sunny winter day to visit and cook in the beautiful home of one of our clients in Quogue, New York.

The cabinetry of the house was recently custom designed with Lacanche drawer pulls, oven knobs and towel bars to match their Sully 1800. The finished results were inspiring after sending out boxes full of our brass knobs from headquarters months before!

On the menu:
– Gourmet mac and cheese with Savignon Blanc and Cougar Gold aged cheddar
– Beet salad with vinagarette dressing
– Roasted chicken with mushrooms
– Apple tartin

Our culinary choices allowed us to use the magnitude of features on the Sully 1800; we baked the pie crust in the electric oven, roasted the veggies with the gas oven, simmered the cheese sauce on the french plate, and got the big pot of pasta boiling over the set of 15,000 btu burners. The range has the added bonus of allowing us both use the oven at the same time without any space sharing issues – this is truly the cooking duo’s dream range.

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the cluny turkey

Posted & filed under Lifestyle, Recipes, Tips & Tricks.

Classic Herb Turkey with Orange-Tea-Bourbon Brine

Print recipe
Classic Herb Turkey with Orange-Tea-Bourbon Brine

Ingredients

  • 1 Turkey (Fresh or Frozen)
  • Zestand juice of 5 oranges (wide strips)
  • 1 cup Sugar
  • 12 Black Tea Bags
  • 4 Bay Leaves
  • 6 Cloves
  • 12 Peppercorns
  • 1 cup Burbon
  • 4 sticks Unsalted Butter (softened)
  • Parsley
  • Dried Thyme and Sage
  • 1 pinch Paprika
  • Ground Gloves

Directions

Step 1
Fill a large pot with 2 quarts water; add the orange zest, orange juice, 2 cups kosher salt, the sugar, black tea bags, bay leaves, cloves, peppercorns and bourbon. Bring to a boil, then simmer 10 minutes. Add 4 quarts cold water and let cool. Submerge the turkey in the brine, adding water to cover, if necessary. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight.
Step 2
Remove the turkey from the brine; rinse and pat dry. Mix 2 sticks softened butter, 2 tablespoons parsley, 1 tablespoon dried sage and thyme, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/4 tablespoon paprika. and 1/8 tablespoon ground cloves.
Step 3
Put the oven rack in the lowest position; preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Put the turkey breast-side up on a rack in a large roasting pan, tucking the wing tips under. Tie the drumsticks together with twine. Roast until the skin is golden brown and a thermometer inserted into the thigh registers 165 degrees F, about 15 minutes per pound. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest 30 minutes before carving.

One of the most frequently asked questions here at Art Culinaire: Can you fit the big Thanksgiving turkey in the Cluny oven? The answer: YES!

I went shopping for the biggest turkey I could find, bringing a 20 pounder into the showroom for the Cluny experiment; the record from our staff is 26 pounds! With plenty of room to spare, I brined the turkey with lots of love and sugar, using a recipe from the Thanksgiving issue of the Food Network Magazine. After the overnight brine and a 3 hour roast in the compact gas oven, my bird and came out as crispy, juicy evidence that the Cluny is truly a wonder when it comes to preparing the holiday meal.

 

island and wall spacers

Posted & filed under Tips & Tricks.

One of the most important decisions in the process of a kitchen remodel is deciding where the oven is going to be placed. Unless you place your Lacanche on an island, you have two options for allowing the appropriate amount of distance between the wall and your range: a smooth, flat island spacer or our complimentary wall mounted back spacer, which is elevated about 6 inches above the top of the range, extending the body in height in just the back. Both create the same dimensions in depth.

Folks who plan to have decorative tile usually go for the island spacer, since the wall mounted back spacer will obstruct part of the design. On a recent visit to the San Francisco bay area to visit some Lacanche owners, I met with a Cluny 1400 owner, whose beautiful kitchen displayed a bold design behind her stove:

As you can see, the back of the range top is entirely flat, so you have a clear view of the design behind it.

Our in-house Cluny at Lacanche headquarters, on the other hand, has the wall mounted backspacer, and our painting of the countryside accomodates the extra 6 inches that extends up.

Whichever spacer you decide on will complement the range, but this is one of the important things to contemplate as your dream kitchen comes to life.

crostinis in the chagny

Posted & filed under Lifestyle, Oven Sizes.

I had the opportunity to visit a client’s home in beautiful north Capitol Hill in Seattle recently. Working with clients to select the main attraction in the heart of the home has its own payoff, as conversations about food, family meals and holiday feasts arise. Getting to see the end result is truly a special treat.

Simple roman crostinis with proscuitto, mozzarella, and rosemary butter (recipe below) were on the menu for my afternoon cooking date, where I had the opportunity to try out the petite electric oven featured in the Chagny.

The lovely host told me that the Chagny’s petite electric oven was absolutely perfect for toasting bread and roasting vegetables. She even said it would be spacious and capable enough to bake a pie! So much use for such a small space.

She chose the color Mandarine with brushed stainless trim for her golden kitchen. The space exemplified the fact that bold colors need not be flashy nor over eccentric, but simply cheery and bright.

The Chagny lives in the center island of the kitchen, and in this brilliant set-up, the oven is not the focal point of the room, but allows the cook to have the perfect view of the kitchen, being able to face and interact with others in the room.

I learned from her that a standard cookie sheet WILL fit into the small compact oven featured on the Cluny and Chagny models!

The kitchen also featured artful glass lighting sculptures and a highly practical open shelving unit that stores and displays a large collection of platters and teapots.

Our afternoon snack was simple perfection. Here’s the link to the recipe from Food Network for you to try: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/crostini-alla-romana-recipe/index.html

the new cook

Posted & filed under Tips & Tricks.

Even though I am 21 years of age, I have lived a rather privileged culinary life and not done much cooking on my own. This can mainly be credited to the many grueling hours my mother has spent in the kitchen and “delicious” meals I’ve enjoyed during my college years at the University of Washington.

As a new addition to the Art Culinaire team, I eagerly awaited a chance to cook with Showroom Manager, Abby, for our weekly staff “Lunch Bunch” meal. On the menu? Breakfast for Lunch. Perfect on a somewhat gloomy & windy Seattle afternoon.

We indulged ourselves in fluffy french toast featuring fresh sourdough bread and authentic maple syrup from Vermont. Secret ingredients in the batter? Nutmeg and of course extra splashes of aromatic vanilla. Also in the mix was a savory twist on a breakfast favorite, muffins. Abby & I prepared egg & bacon muffins, which got doused with spoonfuls of a gooey spinach & cheese florentine sauce. Today was my first time trying Tillamook Vintage Extra Sharp White Cheddar. Honestly.. phenomenal.

All of the menu was prepared here in our Woodinville showroom on our standard matte black Cluny and I started to understand what all of the fuss over the ranges was about. The traditional French plate spread the heat evenly & allowed me to bring my florentine sauce to a nice simmer. While preparing the florentine sauce on the stovetop, the small but ever powerful Cluny baked our french toast & muffins simultaneously in dual gas and electric ovens. The entire experience with the Cluny was very efficient.. minus a few snafoos due to user error 🙂

Although I hadn’t really been able to get my hands “dirty” in the kitchen before my big “Lunch Bunch” debut, I am happy with the way everything turned out and am very grateful for the tips & tricks Abby provided me along the way. I certainly hope to cook again on the Cluny in the near future! Stay tuned!

 

classique vs. traditional

Posted & filed under Tips & Tricks.

One of the most popular questions the sales team addresses is the difference between the Classique and Traditional stove top configuration.

On the Classique stove top, the large 18,000 BTU burner will sit below a standard cast iron grate, similar in style to each of the other smaller burners.

This style is similar to any standard gas top oven, although the big classique burner has more power than your normal range. The large burner will bring water to a boil and ingredients in a pot to high temperature with extreme quickness.

On the Traditional stove top, the large 18,000 BTU burner sits below an enclosed cast iron simmer plate, with the option to take the center ring out for direct pan-to-flame contact.

The entire surface of the plate heats evenly, allowing for the perfect simmer of soups and sauces. The traditional top is the more versatile option, allowing a seasoned chef access to a unique method of preparation.

The middle of the traditional French plate does get extremely warm! We recommend turning the burner off once the plate is heated to maintain a consistant simmer. Large, thick pots work best here.

table spread

Posted & filed under Lifestyle, Tips & Tricks.

New York is full of beautiful displays of decadent pastries everywhere you turn!

The only challenge for arranging our party table display was deciding which sweet treats to serve amongst the endless bounty of desserts available in the big city. Cupcakes are my personal pick for prettiest go-to ornament, but anything sweet can make the perfect table decoration. We decided that our main displays for our recent celebration would be cakes from the French Ceci-Cela Bakery and cheese from Murray’s.

I also included classic New York black and white cookies in the arrangement; they looked elegant on silver 3 tiered trays. The cupcakes sat pretty on vases flipped over covering a bed of rocks. Cheese always looks best on a thick cutting board arranged with purple grapes; nuts, crackers and jam make the perfect addition.

Stacking and creating different levels for food is key in creating a beautiful table arrangement. A pretty cutting board and multi-tiered trays are always useful to have. When in doubt, consider displaying food on a cake plate.

For some truly inspiring arrangements and ideas, check out the artists at Hostess Blog!