Lamb Shank, "Muslim" Curry, Candied Orange and Carrot Palau, Honey-Saffron Foam, many garnishes

It's been quite some time since I've done a plated dish from Modernist Cuisine. I literally just moved to a new kitchen; which, while exactly as small as my last, is way, way sexier. And just like in prison (I guess?) I had to show it who's boss right away, lest it get any ideas. I picked this recipe kind of by default: I saw really nice looking lamb shanks at the butcher's counter and remembered that there was a lamb recipe in the book. Lamb vindaloo (goan) is probably one of my top 5 favorite things in the universe, but the instructions made literally no sense on their own and especially relative to the picture. Then I figured: hey, I'm Muslim - I'll do the Muslim one... And I can probably put the leftover curry sauce on some pork belly and really seal my fate in brown hell.

Braised Oxtail with Cauliflower

Although I wanted to do a beef dish I felt that I shouldn't add a pickle or anything with black garlic (can't have you guys thinking I'm a one trick pony). It took me forever to end up with something that I was happy with because I was plagued by variety of super sad garnishes: I discovered that alinea's braised red cabbage totally doesn't work with oxtail, chile threads aren't exciting if you don't use hot enough peppers, and spring onions don't really sear up very nicely. After nearly all hope was lost, I stumbled on MC's crispy cauliflower dish and decided that I could basically use half of it as a garnish... And it worked!

(Above: a sad plate with like 10 garnishes that don't work. Though the microwaved carrots were pretty tasty).

72 Hour Short Rib, Bone Marrow Aioli, Cherry Tomato Bomb, Sticky Rice

For some reason, it feels like everybody (yes, everybody) has decided that the 72-hour sous vide short rib is the ultimate expression of what you can do with an immersion circulator (maybe less the 63C egg) - and I might be inclined to agree: I try to make myself one once a month or so.