Pubdate: Fri, 20 May 2016
Source: Washington Post (DC)
Copyright: 2016 The Washington Post Company
Contact:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/491
Author: Maura Judkis

WHEN THE POT HITS THE PAN

Marijuana Is the Trendy Herb for Those Who Want to Get Baked During Dinner

As Matt Doherty wrapped up his cooking demonstration, a woman in the 
audience raised her hand to ask a question: How long would the 
cannabis-infused butter he had shown them how to make keep in the fridge?

"I've never had it go bad," replied Doherty, the manager of a Capitol 
Hill hydroponic supply store. He paused. "It doesn't last long in my house."

The audience at the cannabis food festival "Blazed and Glazed" 
giggled a little too hard at the joke. Many of the onlookers had 
arrived at culinary incubator Mess Hall as baked as a tray of the 
green herb that Doherty had put in the oven.

But wait - it's not what you're thinking. Hosting a cannabis cooking 
class is tricky when D.C. law permits a person to possess only 2 
ounces of marijuana, so Doherty used oregano instead. That herb is a 
good stand-in for the real thing in recipes for a tincture and a 
mossy green cannabutter, the building blocks of cannabis cooking - 
which has reached new highs as penalties for growing or possessing 
marijuana are eased across the country.

Forget the dorm room brownie. Instead, think cannabis-infused 
burritos, French macarons, salad dressings, duck breast or a 
cannabis-infused sous-vide (or "sous weed," as chef Mathew Ramsey put 
it) burger. Today, serious chefs are tinkering with the science of 
getting high, taking it into more rarefied culinary territory.

To the extent permissible by law, of course.

First, some chemistry: Tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is the marijuana 
molecule that gives you that buzz. It's soluble in fats and alcohol, 
and cannabis cooks often infuse a slow-heated butter or oil with 
marijuana and then use it as a substitute in conventional recipes. 
The technique has been around for decades, but now chefs are 
experimenting with it more openly.

"This industry is in its infancy, it's fascinating," said Raquel 
Pelzel, a former editor at Cook's Illustrated and the co-author of 
more than 20 cookbooks. Her next one, co-authored with Bob Marley's 
daughter Cedella, is a collection of Caribbean-inspired recipes for 
dishes such as quinoa and mango salad, with instructions for making 
cannabutter and cannabis oil infusions and adding them in the proper 
dosage. It will be released on April 20 - yes, 4/20, "Weed Day" - next year.

Last month, Pelzel participated in the first-ever panel discussion on 
cannabis cooking at the International Association of Culinary 
Professionals conference. "It's like the wild, wild West, and 
everyone's looking to stake their claim," she said.

But to do so, they have to work within the laws of various 
jurisdictions - and each one treats edibles differently.

Warren Brown, who brought the cupcake craze to Washington with his 
bakery, CakeLove, is now a partner in DC Taste Buds, an edibles 
company. But he won't be the one actually putting marijuana in his 
jarred cakes when the effort launches later this year.

In the District, "there's no legal way for an organization like mine 
to put a finger on cannabis," he said. The company is taking a 
conservative approach after consulting multiple D.C. agencies and 
finding the laws "pretty difficult to navigate," said partner 
Victoria Harris. "The language is incredibly vague."

Instead, they will make the products and partner with medicinal 
cultivation centers, which will incorporate the cannabis - how, 
exactly, is a "trade secret," Brown said - and sell the cakes at dispensaries.

"We're just going to stay within the bounds of what we can do with 
the law, and if the law expands to allow us to bake on-site with 
cannabis, we'll bake that way," he said.

Other chefs aren't so concerned. In New York, where medicinal 
marijuana is legal but recreational pot isn't, "Hawaii" Mike Salman 
and his wife host a private, invitation-only cannabis supper club, 
preparing free five-course meals for up to 30 guests at least once a 
month. Their first seating takes place at - naturally - 4:20.

Salman, a self-taught chef, uses THC-infused oils and butters in 
dishes you might see on a restaurant menu: sesame-crusted yellowfin 
tuna, sous-vide chicken breast, miso black cod, lamb chops with 
cauliflower puree. He says he may bring the dinners to Washington 
someday - he has already perfected a cannabis crabcake recipe.

But the tricky thing about cooking with cannabis is that it affects 
every diner differently. One person's stairway to heaven is another 
person's bad trip.

With edibles, "it takes a little bit longer to metabolize and digest. 
You don't feel the effects so soon," said Kevin Sabet, president and 
chief executive of Smart Approaches to Marijuana, a bipartisan 
organization that opposes legalization. Sabet considers edibles extra 
dangerous: "You could be eating a beautiful lemon chiffon, and you 
don't feel anything, and then half an hour later, you could be having 
a psychotic episode."

"We want you to be responsible, and part of being responsible is 
knowing when you're good," said Salman, who said he paces his meals 
to help guests achieve a pleasant high without going overboard.

Still, he acknowledged, "You can't control everybody." Sometimes, 
people "go a little crazy, and they'll take something off someone 
else's plate. We walk through the experience with everyone in the 
beginning. We really try to provide an environment that is safe and 
comfortable."

Cannabis restaurants are on the horizon, too, though so far, they 
still face plenty of obstacles. Garyn Angel is the chief executive of 
MagicalButter, a company that sells a $175 suite of kitchen tools to 
help home cooks make cannabutter. He tried to open a cannabis 
restaurant in Seattle two years ago, but no dice.

"It was a little ahead of its time," he said.

Because Washington state's Initiative 502 doesn't permit public 
consumption, "you can't have marijuana in public view in any way," 
said Brian Smith, spokesman for the state liquor and cannabis board.

Even if public consumption laws were changed, a state-bystate 
patchwork of testing requirements and regulations governing edibles - 
in Washington, a sample from every batch must be tested for potency - 
would still pose numerous hurdles for a cannabis restaurant. And then 
there's the fear of legal troubles should a guest have a bad reaction 
to a marijuana-infused dish.

In the meantime, trained chefs who like working with cannabis have 
found work in grow labs. Dain Colandro, a graduate of the Culinary 
Institute of America, is now director of production at Connecticut's 
Advanced Grow Labs.

The more grow labs expand their product lines, "the more there's 
going to be a need for chefs or trained cooks," Colandro said. Given 
the amount of food science that goes into cannabis cooking, "I think 
they should start to teach this kind of stuff in culinary school."

Chemistry, of course, isn't the only important thing - chefs are 
interested in the flavors, too.

"Cannabis is a hard ingredient to work with," Colandro said. "Because 
it's so bitter, it could be a very aggressive or strong taste that 
you have to work around or try to mask." He has found that it doesn't 
pair well with acidic fruits, such as lemons. There's also a harmony 
to be found in pairing certain strains with certain foods. The sativa 
strain produces a more vibrant buzz, so Pelzel, the cookbook author, 
says she thinks it goes well in breakfast foods, or a granola bar 
before a long hike. The mellower indica is better for desserts or an 
evening tea.

"Once all the stigma and the negativity surrounding it is put to bed, 
it will be interesting to see all the incredible ways that people 
dream up to use the plant," she said.

Until then, aspiring marijuana foodies learn online, or in 
oregano-scented sessions such as Mess Hall's, which drew more than 
200 attendees, from 20-somethings to elderly couples.

After the demonstrations, people strolled around a marketplace where 
they could buy paraphernalia or, with the purchase of a Tshirt, 
choose a "gift" made by Giovanni Merle, a French-trained pastry chef 
whose chocolate mousses and macarons each contained a mellow amount 
of active ingredient.

"This opens the door to a lot of things," said Melissa K., 36, who 
declined to give her last name. She said she usually just makes 
brownies, but now, "I was thinking about making some cinnamon toast, 
or being a little bit hipster and making avocado toast."

But even as savory uses for cannabis enter the mainstream, junk food 
is still where the business is. Pot brownies will never lose their 
appeal. Even chef Mario Batali has posted his recipe for them. And at 
Colandro's Advanced Grow Labs, they're still the top seller.

The industry still has some growing up to do.

"I think that it's like when you turn 21 and everyone goes out and 
does crazy shots and drinks silly drinks. And as you get older, you 
learn about Scotch and whiskey, and you start to refine and curate 
your palate and your collection," Pelzel said. "I think the same 
thing will happen with cannabis. Everyone will be silly, and then 
they'll mature."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom