Butter Up
Seaweed washes ashore in the breadbasket
Umami-rich seaweed is popping up in the most unexpected ways. It rims cocktails at Chicago’s Yusho (one of Tasting Table’s picks for the top cocktails of 2012) and is fried into chips at San Francisco’s Saison. But at the new Nashville restaurant Rolf and Daughters, chef Philip Krajeck is whipping momoya, a seaweed-and-dashi paste, into butter. As a child, Krajek traveled to coastal Normandy, where seaweed-flecked beurre and brioche were routine table toppers. Now he brings a taste of Normandy to his Nashville breadbasket. If you can’t find momoya, no worries: Krajek shared his recipe for a homemade version that we’re happy to break bread over.
Seaweed Butter
Yield: ½ pound seaweed butter, plus extra seaweed paste
- INGREDIENTS
Seaweed Paste*
5 sheets kombu, rinsed with cold water
2 tablespoons plus 1½ teaspoons soy sauce
1¼ teaspoons sweet soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2½ teaspoons mirin
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Seaweed Butter
½ pound high-quality unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon flaky sea salt, plus more for serving
1 small baguette, thinly sliced on a bias
1 bunch radishes
About The Chef
Philip Krajek staged at Upstate New York’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns and New York City’s Gramercy Tavern, Marea and Chanterelle before moving south to Atlanta, Georgia, to become the chef de partie at the now closed Joël Restaurant. He moved farther south, to Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, to be the chef de cuisine at Fish Out of Water for six years. He opened Rolf and Daughters in Nashville, Tennessee, in the fall of 2012.
Rolf and Daughters, 700 Taylor St., Nashville, TN; 615-866-9897 or rolfanddaughters.com
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