Chef Jason Hook turns food upside down and inside out. He takes it apart and then puts it back together, a rearranged puzzle, playfully plating the familiar and the surprising. It's not uncommon to hear diners ask “what is that???” after sampling a dish during a multi-course dinner he's presented in the Lehigh Valley. Hook aims for the gotcha moment: think of a citrus and fennel salad, reimagined with dehydrated pineapple instead of the customary oranges. Usually, he performs such feats by employing a variety of tools in his arsenal that most home cooks don't have access to, such as sous vide machines or high-end dehydrators. Call it molecular gastronomy, call it avant-garde fine dining, but whatever you call it and whatever tool he uses, the end result will be delicious. Taste trumps the tool. “Science in the kitchen is really only used to enhance the food's inherent qualities,” he says.
The 36-year-old chef grew up in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania. After a childhood of thinking about painting and fine art and thinking he'd attend Kutztown University, life had other plans. Cooking grabbed him; he started working at the Inn at Reading's kitchen as a teenager. “I wound up cooking for my senior prom,” he says. After high school, he enrolled in the culinary arts program at Northampton Community College, graduating in 1998.
Here's where Hook's trajectory starts to distinguish itself, however, even among highly motivated food professionals. During college, Hook lived in Reading and split his time between commuting to Bethlehem for class and Philadelphia for his job as a line cook at the legendary Le Bec-Fin. After NCC, Hook lived—and cooked—in New York, Paris and Rhode Island.
He's logged time behind the line working for some of the best chefs in the world, such as Alain Ducasse, Philippe Legendre and Jean-Georges Vongerichten—the latter is where he learned food styling and became interested in photography. These experiences provided the classic French foundation—the gold standard in culinary training—and set him on his course. But what he brings to the plate in terms of execution stems from a combination of those hard-honed skills, his artistic eye and his sense of humor (burnt toast ice cream, anyone?).
Although these days he's back to his roots—he returned to Berks County last year after living in the Lehigh Valley for a bit—he's still on the move. He regularly pinch hits in the kitchens of friends (and photographs the foods of) George Sabatino and Chris Kearse, stars in the Philly restaurant scene. He's even self-published a cookbook based on his term working at the Glasbern Inn, full of his own ideas and images about farm to table cooking.
Name-dropping aside, Hook has found his niche with h2o kitchen, a moniker inspired by a structure—the Powder Valley Inn, a former mill that abuts a giant waterfall, in Zionsville—where the concept was born. These days the business is a mobile enterprise, whereby he and his rotating team of sous chefs appear at your home and teach you how to cook things like classic coq au vin or, more simply, familiarize you with your knife block. Or enlist him to come to your workplace for a cooking demo, like what he's done with Goggleworks Center for the Arts in Reading or corporate clients such as Baldwin Brass. H2o is also prepared to cater special occasions, such as parties. You will also see him at pop-up multi-course tasting dinners, too, like the ongoing arrangement he's struck with Artisan Wine and Cheese Cellars in Bethlehem, where Hook has been hosting a (mostly) monthly dinner of wine and food pairings. Their next event is scheduled for July 17. For more information, visit artisanwineandcheesecellars.com.
484.577.3731 | h2okitchen.com
Beets & Crème Fraîche
fennel/pumpernickel/pickled mustard/house crème fraîche
Beets
6 medium-sized beets (red, golden, etc.)3 egg whitesLots of salt (kosher)
Place beets in a casserole dish. In a mixing bowl, whisk the whites until frothy. Add the salt to the whites until a soft paste is formed. Cover the beets with this salt mixture. Bake in a preheated 375-degree oven for about an hour. Remove, cool and peel. Cut into desired shapes. Reserve.
Crème Fraîche
1 cup heavy cream2 Tablespoons buttermilk
Combine both in a mixing bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen cloth. Put in a cool spot in the kitchen and let set for almost 20 hours. That is it.
Pumpernickel Puree
1 cup cubed pumpernickel bread1 cup water1 Tablespoon grain mustard1 Tablespoon pickled mustard seeds (3x acid blanch)
Combine all in a small saucepot and bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for one minute. Blend in a high performance blender briefly and then pass through a chinois, or fine mesh sleeve. Chill and reserve.
To plate: Layer elements neatly starting with the crème fraîche. We garnished with paper-thin radish slices, shaved pecorino and nasturtium leaves, but you can also use arugula or watercress.
Surf & Turf
rib eye and lobster/white corn soubise/roasted potatoes/pearl onions/farm egg béarnaise
White Corn Soubise
1 onion, peeled and julienned1 ear white corn, shucked and cleaned3 Tablespoons unsalted butter1 Tablespoon sugarsalt, to taste
In a small saucepan, heat butter until foamy. Add all ingredients and cover with a parchment paper lid and place over low heat and cook for approximately 2 hours. Blend in a high performance blender briefly and then pass through a chinois and reserve.
Farm Egg Béarnaise
3 egg yolks
roe from 1 female lobster
1 cup clarified butter
1 Tablespoon fresh tarragon, minced
1 Tablespoon minced shallot/white wine reduction (simply cover the shallots with white wine and reduce until dry)
salt and pepper to taste
In a high-performance blender, add the yolks, tarragon, shallot and roe. Buzz in the hot clarified butter that you just brought to a simmer until emulsified—if too thick add a little water to adjust. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and reserve in a warm spot in the kitchen.
Assembly: Cut a rib eye steak from the center, trim and tie with butcher twine. Sear on both sides and add a good amount of unsalted butter until it foams. Add crushed garlic along with some fresh thyme, tourne* potato, peeled pearl onion, etc. Baste the rib eye until desired doneness, remove and rest. Continue to cook the vegetables until tender. For the lobster, I like the females because of the roe* (which you reserve). Kill it*. [sic] Remove the tail and claws from the body. Blanch the tail (I skewer mine from the back middle tail fin all the way through to prevent curling but no need for the home cook to bother) for three minutes and the claws for five. Remove all meat from shell and reheat in the same butter from the rib eye. Plate all and sauce with the béarnaise.
*Use the following links for detailed lobster and tourne potato tutorials:ehow.com/how_8177975_tourne-potatogma.org/lobsters/eatingetc.htmlfinecooking.com/item/11058/video-how-to-kill-a-lobster
Peach-Brown Miso Cobbler
brown butter panna cotta
Brown Butter Panna Cotta
1/2 cup unsalted butter1 quart heavy cream1 cup sugar1 vanilla bean, scraped1 sheet bloomed gelatin (cold water bloom)
In a small saucepot brown the butter—strain the solids through a cheesecloth. Add the browned solids to the quart of cream along with all the other ingredients. Bring to a boil, remove the vanilla bean and pour into desired dishes. Chill and reserve.
Peach-Miso Marmalade
1 cup diced peaches1/4 cup sugar1 Tablespoon organic brown miso3 Tablespoon unsalted butter
In a flat-bottomed pan over medium-high heat foam the butter. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 5 minutes or until just soft. Remove from the heat. Reserve and keep warm.
Cobbler Crumble
1/4 cup unsalted butter1/4 cup sugar1/4 cup flour
Combine all ingredients with your hands, making a doughy crumble. Lay out on a silpat (non-stick silicon mat) and bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven until golden brown. Reserve.
Plate the cobbler by first filling the serving dish partially with the panna cotta, then chilling to set. Once set and before serving the cobbler, warm up the peach-miso marmalade and spoon over. Sprinkle with the baked-off crumble.
