For 10 years, The Dabney has been incomes nationwide acclaim, and even a Michelin star, for its wood-fired dishes made with recent, mid-Atlantic elements and a continuously burning fireplace in D.C.’s Blagden Alley. Govt chef Jeremiah Langhorne says the unique inspiration behind the D.C. establishment was how conventional dishes from the Chesapeake Bay have been cooked over fireplace and time he spent in Charleston, North Carolina, working with barbecue pit masters. He dives into an entire day of prep within the hearth-focused kitchen inside a country former row home.
First, Autumn Olive Farms drops off a hog about as soon as every week, which they’ve refined over time to suit the particular excessive fats ratio that The Dabney crew is after. Langhorne and chef de delicacies Timothy Buell break down the entire pig and focus on the household model entree they’re getting ready for the night time, which is able to take hours of charring and resting a pork loin, getting ready ham sausage, curing the jowl, and crisping up the pig’s ears.
Bread service prep is subsequent, together with the restaurant’s well-known candy potato rolls (which have been on the menu since opening) getting a primary proof with sorghum syrup earlier than being formed into toasted buns simply earlier than service. A grain-filled sourdough used for dishes like tartines can also be prepped and made into loaves. Buell prepares a freshly delivered Chesapeake rockfish for dry getting old, slicing off the scales and gutting the fish earlier than it’s aged for 5 to seven days within the walk-in.
Recent greens are delivered by Hearth Farm, as Langhorne explains how he at all times asks farmers he works with to advise him on which seasonal produce is at its peak. He roasts fava beans are over the fireside’s coals, and serves them nearly like edamame with their peeled pores and skin and loads of tarragon, lime, and chile. Invasive blue catfish is filleted and fried as Langhorne talks about his dedication to utilizing the damaging fish and at all times retaining it on The Dabney’s menu, tucked right into a candy potato roll slider. Langhorne visits the restaurant’s rooftop backyard, discussing how recent herbs make such a distinction in a dish.
Langhorne talks by the menu with front-of-house workers, describing a brand new rockfish dish served with roasted okra and a roasted cherry tomato sauce. Then, service kicks off with cooks transferring shortly throughout the open kitchen to roast, toss, slice, and plate dishes. Langhorne fries up blowfish, which known as fried Sugar Toads on the menu, treating the succulent fish like fried rooster slathered in sizzling honey. Little recognized produce turns into juicy and succulent after a fast roast within the fireplace.
“The fireplace is the center of the entire operation,” Langhorne reiterates. “Most likely 90 % of the objects we prepare dinner listed here are going by that fireside and it permits us to impart a stage of taste.”
Watch the most recent episode of Mise en Place to see how Langhorne and The Dabney crew use recent elements from native farmers and instill nearly each dish with the smoky, earthy taste of a charcoal-powered fireplace.
