A work in progress and basked of ideas for the flow and menu of Smoke & Vapour http://fo.am/smoke_vapour

Aperitif: Effervescent and crispy

Drink

• Sparkling non-alcoholic drinks: eg. Sparkling Jasmine Tea or Chose (fresh grapefruit juice and tonic water with smoked ice cubes)
• Sparkling lightly alcoholic drinks: eg. lightly fermented infusions, sparkling sake

Food

• Smoked potato skins
• Smoked pistacho bread with carrot with carrot reduction
• Charred peppers in granular dust (smoked dukkah & popping sugar)
• Smoked quail eggs in shell
• (Smoked tempura muscles)

Sounds (pre-recorded, served on the same trays as the food)

• sound of the food
  • bubbling
  • evaporating
  • crunching
  • cracking
  • …

Place: entrance, in front of the green glass

Posture: standing, walking

Actions: Hand washing and drying on low tables (kneeling), sipping a drink, tasting bite-sized amuses, mingling

Props needed:

• water infused with herbs/oils (thyme, rosemary, bitter mandarin), a few bowls, long cloth and table for hand washing & drying.
• coat hanger
• 4 trays with food, drinks and speakers
• …

Isolation Ward: synaesthetic and meditative

Drink

• small glass of vapour distilled electrolyte water (add a bit of salt, pinch of sugar & lemon/lime), served before the food
• woody essential oil infused in hot salty water, evaporated over a hot stone (drinking through nose & skin)

Food

• a cold steamed seaweed/samphire starter
• a warm smoked mushroom soup

Sounds (pre-recorded and abstracted, from speakers under or next to individual chairs, perhaps small, barely audible, invisible live interventions)

• sounds from the source
  • forest
  • coast
  • sea

Place: under the high roof, in front of the metal panel

Posture: sitting on a chair, alone

Actions: Slowing down, listening, tasting, breathing

Props needed:

• 12 chairs
• 12 small speakers & cabling
• 5-6 large hot stones
• 5-6 flasks with hot infusions
• 12 small water glasses
• 12 containers (or a skewers?) for cold starter
• 12 earthen bowls for soup
• hand sanitiser for after the starter (just a few drops)
• …

Tavern: dynamic and absorbing

Drink

• (depending on food, probably at least 1 glass of wine/beer)
• water

Food (we need to make something the serving and eating of this quite light/etherial, even though ingredients might be stodgy)

• upon arrival 1 smoked mussel or scallop (with something steamed)?
• steam: a garden in the middle: (a selection of) steamed dumpling(s) on edible plates/rocks/wood. e.g. dampfnudeln, and/or semmelknoedel, and/or their asian alternatives (see dumplings from around the world in maja's library). a large plate shared in the middle of the table, with a selection of seasonal sauces with smoked/distilled/steamed ingredients. to decide what, how, when & where…
• smoke: a hearty dish with seasonal or dried vegetables, nuts… (arriving under a glass jar filled with smoke? some possibilities:
  • roasted (in salt crust?) smoked beetroot and/or other root vegetables (jerusalem artichoke, celeriac, potato…)
  • smoked sundried tomatoes & smoked almonds with dried porcini risotto (made with steamed rice)
  • sauerkraut with smoked paprika & smoked tofu/seitan mince
  • smoked chestnut puree
  • forest mushrooms smoked in wood-wrapped parcels
  • …

Sounds (pre-recorded and abstracted, from speakers under or next to individual chairs, perhaps small, barely audible, invisible live interventions)

• sounds of transformation
  • smoking
  • steaming
  • cooking/frying
• live improvisation (Stevie)

Place: under low roof, 'screening room

Posture: sitting on chairs in groups of 4 people

Actions: Sharing, listening, tasting, gesturing

Props needed:

• 12 chairs
• 3 islands of 2 tree & leaf tables (6 tables in total)
• 4 surround sound speakers & cabling
• (? theatre drapes to close off the room?)
• containers (spoons) for shellfish
• edible plates or other non-porcelain containers (rocks, wood…)
• plates and cuttlery for the 'hearty dish'
• 2 sets of 12 glasses (depending on the drinks)
• 12 serviettes
• 12 water glasses
• …

Kitchen table: light, social, colourful

Drink (all depending on the food served)

• japanese green tea (as .jp green teas are first steamed before being rolled, making them more green) - sencha, sencha with yuzu or gyokuro tea - or green tea ice-cream?
• steamed coffee (from mokka coffee cookers or find steamed coffee beans
• hot chocolate with smoked milk/cream
• some distilled digestive (depending on foods served…) with smoked ice cubes
• a few smoked drinks recipes
• Whiskey and cigars cocktail?

Food

• Smoked cheese platter (obvious but delicious!)
• Smoked garlic and Laphroaig tiramisu
• Pears steamed over a sweet red wine and orange peel (until it becomes a reduction)
• Steamed sweet dumplings
• Steamed green tea cake
• Steamed custard
• Steamed rice flour desserts (http://www.khiewchanta.com/archives/desserts/steamed-desserts/|e.g. thai style)
• Popping sugar: a few simple recipes
• Smoked chocolates
• …

Sound (pre-recorded, played and spoken live)

• sound of the kitchen
  • pots & pans
  • mechanical noises (cutting, slicing, shredding…)
  • cook's stories (smoking, steaming, ingredients)
  • describing the sounds of steaming & smoking
  • at the end, from 'formal stories' towards

Place: kitchen table, on our prep and plating table, that is covered with notes, instructions, drawings and stains

Posture: standing around the table

Actions: Observing, reading, tasting, listening (to the inner and outer environment), at the end beginning to chat

Props needed:

• big prep table covered in a writing material (paper of some kind), posca markers
• several small speakers on the prep table, cabling
• desserts in different containers (depending on what we decide)
• 12 cups for tea/coffee
• 12 glasses for water
• 12 shot and/or cocktail glasses
• …

recipe collection