The titan of New Texas cuisine isn’t losing sight of his roots — even as he continues to refine and elevate the state’s culinary traditions.
For 30 years, Stephan Pyles has been a huge player in the evolution of Southwestern cuisine. “I’ve always said, in the beginning, there were four or five practitioners — Dean [Fearing], Mark [Miller], John [Rivera] Sedlar (this was long before Bobby Flay) — and that was it. Each of us had our own style. I was the only one from Texas. Because of that, my food has always been more Texas-centric. I have continued to develop and refine and elevate the food of Texas.”
This year, the flagship Stephan Pyles restaurant on Ross Avenue closed and moved across from the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Dallas Arts District. With the new location came a new name: Stephan Pyles Flora Street Cafe. Ahead of the transition, Pyles told C&I that the menu there will be changing a bit, too. “I’ll get back to more Texas,” Pyles said, referring to his recent ventures into the cuisines of Latin America (the 2015 James Beard Award nominee San Salvaje) and India (Samar), both since closed.
“It was very exciting to execute those menus, but the food for the new restaurant is really just food from my heart.” For Pyles, that has manifested as elegant Lone Star dishes such as seared red grouper with a smoked fish chorizo, white mole, cauliflower, and onion ash; smoked trout with Texas peaches, sorghum popcorn and fennel zest crema; and strawberry marmalade with saffron and a smoked vanilla sable cookie. The chef really is refining and elevating Texas cuisine in the fine-dining space.
Here is a Pyles recipe that is decidedly more approachable for the home kitchen.
Butterscotch Pudding
20 ounces butterscotch candies, crushed
9 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
9 sheets gelatin
8 egg yolks
Unwrap the butterscotch candies. Place candies in a zip-top bag and crush them with the bottom of a pot or a rolling pin until they resemble small pebbles.
Place crushed candies into pot with heavy cream and vanilla bean. Slowly bring to a boil over a low flame, insuring that the candies are completely melted.
Soak the sheets of gelatin in cold water until they become soft. Remove softened sheets from water and squeeze out excess water. Add gelatin to hot cream base and stir until the gelatin has dissolved.
In a mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks for 1 minute and then gradually add the cream mixture. Stir to thoroughly combine. Strain the mixture through a mesh strainer and let cool slightly.
Salted Caramel
⅓ cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
¼ cup pure maple syrup
¼ cup dark corn syrup
1 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon sea salt
Mix all ingredients except salt in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook over high heat until the mixture reaches 200 degrees on a candy thermometer. Let cool for 20 minutes and skim the surface if necessary.
When caramel has cooled, pour about 2 tablespoons into each of the desired containers. Sprinkle a little salt on top, and then refrigerate for 20 minutes.
Remove the containers with caramel from the refrigerator and pour the pudding ¾ of the way up the side. Refrigerate overnight. Serve with whipped cream and a cookie.
Adapted from the May/June 2015 issue.