Red Meat: Howard Foer
Posted by Warren Rojas / Tuesday, July 19th, 2011
Manor House chef/founder Howard Foer wants to let us in on a little secret:
The restaurant biz is hard work. After a long, arduous day of catering to everyone’s gustatory wants, just about the last thing a working chef wants to do is head home and beeline for the kitchen. But this chef cum inn operator soldiers forward, keeping his Casanova retreat front and center while also developing a line of signature preserves and a pending cookbook.
WR: Salt. Pepper. What other spices/herbs could you not live without?
HF: I love fresh marjoram. It reminds me of great memories (that I can’t discuus[sic]) when I was young.
WR: What’s the very first dish you ever mastered? How long did it take? Do you still make it today?
HF: Mastering the use of the egg. Poached, scrambled, Hollandaise. Of course the egg is an integral part of the classical kitchen and mine as well.
WR: What seasonal ingredient(s) get your creative juices flowing?
HF: Fresh vegetables and tomatoes!! If that was all I could eat all summer, I would every day and enjoy!
WR: My latest cookbook obsession is …
HF: I do not have much time for cookbooks. I work very hard to keep up on products and trends that are available to chefs and are ever changing every day.
WR: What’s the most challenging dish you’ve ever attempted? Would you make it again?
HF: I make great soups and bisques, but I am not a big soup eater. But making a great consomme is a challenge and a great accomplishment when done correctly … and so elegant to boot!
WR: If I could the spend the day working alongside any local chef, I’d love to collaborate with …
HF: I would like to spend the day with Patrick O’Connell. We are both in the business in the same region local to each other. And a glass of nice white burgundy and the end of the day with a chat would be great!
WR: What’s the easiest/quickest–but still wholly satisfying–meal you make for yourself?
HF: Working long hours always makes it very difficult for some chefs to be overly creative at home on a day to day basis. My wife and the kids love to make a great salad sometime with protein and sometimes without. The key is to have great vinegar and olive oils. I do not like the packaged dressings.
WR: In the next six months you won’t want to miss my …
HF: Two things I have been working on is compiling recipes for a cookbook; maybe this will happen in the next 6-8 months. The other is I have been working on a few products that I like to package: lobster butter, apple honey and foie gras butter. They are great and I would like to expand this line!
WR: It’s quitting time. I’m pouring myself …
HF: After long hot shifts in the kitchen I like to have a glass of a nice chablis. Like an old wine making couple in France told me, making a good bottle of white wine is like making a perfectly fitted dress. I agree!!
————————————————————————————————————————————————
Chilled chablis and lobster butter sound like ideal summer splurges. Appreciate the inspiration, chef.
Come back next Tuesday for another helping of Red Meat.
–Warren
Tags: cookbook, cooking, Gut Check, Howard Foer, Inn at Little Washington, Manor House Restaurant, Northern Virginia Magazine, NoVA, Patrick O'Connell, Poplar Springs Inn, preserves, Red Meat, restaurants, Warren Rojas, Warrenton