With the delight of a kid with a new toy, executive chef Peter Smith, owner of Penn Quarter’s PS 7’s, talks with great cheer about how he uses gin mash (the used botanicals from distilling gin) to cure meats. Dried beef as “ginola?” Pancetta as “gin belly?” “[The cured meat] tastes like gin,” said Smith, with a chuckle. “I also use gin oil for poaching fish, say for a ‘gin and tonic halibut.’ It has a nice mellow flavor with a tonic foam.” But don’t assume that Smith is all about culinary frivolity. He is a very serious chef with a penchant for twisting the rules to achieve unparalleled gastronomic results. Playful may be the key word to understanding Smith’s cooking strategies, but simplicity and seasonal ingredients also guide his cooking decisions. As he explains, patrons must understand what he serves them, but each dish must have a “wow” element. Poaching halibut in gin oil certainly fits, as do his house-made hot dogs.
Smith’s love for cooking got ignited when he was only 10 years old he says. The key? Trying to make a chocolate cake pictured on the cover of Gourmet magazine. Though his efforts failed, he loved the whole creative venture. And his grandfather acted as prime motivator in the young boy’s life. An inveterate cook, and an Italian with a passion for presenting elaborate Sunday dinner, Smith’s grandfather recruited the boy to prepare these family meals. Often, recalls Smith, he had to stand on a kitchen stool to reach the stovetop.
| IF YOU GO |
| PS 7’s Restaurant |
| » Where: 777 I St. NW |
| » Info: 202-742-8550 |
| » Hours: Lunch, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday to Friday; dinner, 5:30 p.m. to last seating at 9:45 p.m. Monday to Thursday, 5:30 p.m. to last seating at 10:30 p.m. Friday to Saturday |
Although his military family lived in various countries, they settled in Northern Virginia just in time for Smith to start cooking in a local country club. Thereafter, the majority of his training took place in local restaurants and at Gaithersburg’s L’Academie de Cuisine. As he honed his other skills, even from the beginning he taught himself the basics of charcuterie. So much so that Smith has built something of a local reputation on the house-cured meats: Don’t be surprised to see an entire glassed-in room at his restaurant devoted to hanging sausages and other meaty enterprises.
And all of that has led up to his current enthusiasm pairing his cured meats with cocktails. “That’s the biggest change in the past few years,” he said. “It started with Gina’s cocktail one day. I went into the kitchen and made a dish to taste with it. It was something with pineapple or watermelon. So I made pork and pickled watermelon.” Now, the mixologist helps him create cocktail to go with his “7 cocktails-7 courses” menu.
Curing meats may be one passion, but preserving seasonal vegetables is another. “I am trying to preserve the harvest,” said Smith “That’s the best part about canning. You can open up [spring] flavors in the winter with snow on the ground. … If you open asparagus in December, it better be asparagus from the spring, even though it is preserved.”
Q&A
What is your comfort food?
Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. My ration: 1 part peanut butter to 1 ? parts jelly.
What’s in your fridge?
A giant lasagna, fresh fruit, vegetables, peanut butter, jelly, and 2 beers.
Which is your favorite restaurant?
That’s tough becuas I haven’t been out to lunch. But I just ate at Graffiato. We ate almost the whole menu. Obelisk is my all-time favorite. My best meal was there.
Which is your signature dish, your most memorable meal?
Hot dogs, tuna sliders, and half smokes. For entr?es, it’s steak and cheese all part and pieces of Kobe roast beef. Bracciole, mushroom, onions, roasted onion demiglace…served with shaved Midnight Moon cheese.
Scallop Boudin with Pine Nut Persillade and Strawberry Gastrique
Serves 4 to 5
Scallop Boudin
1 pound sea scallops, rinsed and patted dry
2 tablespoons Scotch or sherry
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon chopped parsley
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 cup very cold heavy cream
Place the scallops and Scotch into the bowl of a food processor and pulse 4 to 5 times. Add the egg whites and pulse until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the salt, lemon zest, parsley, pepper, and nutmeg. Pulse to incorporate. With the machine running, slowly add all of the cream. Scrape down the sides of the bowl 1 last time, put the lid back on and run for 5 more seconds. Spoon the mousse onto a 1 ?-foot-long piece of plastic wrap and roll up into a 1 ?-inch diameter cylinder. Tie off both ends; continue this until you have used all of the mousse ; you will have enough for 3 cylinders.
Place the cylinders into a large pot of simmering water and cook to an internal temperature of 140 degrees. Place the cooked cylinders into an ice bath to chill. Once chilled, cut the cylinders into ?-inch-thick coins.
Pine Nut Persillade
? cup toasted pine nuts
? cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon minced thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Rough chop the pine nuts and place into a bowl; add the panko bread crumbs and combine. Stir in the melted butter followed by the minced thyme. Season to taste and set aside. The persillade will be sprinkled on top of the cut boudin.
Smoked Strawberry Gastrique
? cup granulated sugar
? cup raw wild honey
1 pint strawberries, stemmed and sprinkled with smoked salt
? cup white balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons fine Scotch or sherry
In a heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and honey and cook over medium heat until very fine bubbles appear, add the smoked strawberries and mix. Add the vinegar and the Scotch, and cook until the strawberries are very soft. Remove from the heat ,and pass the mixture through a fine mesh strainer, pressing lightly.
To serve, place boudin on individual plates and top with persillade. Drizzle the strawberry gastrique around the plate.
