When I visited with Chef Dan Barber at his farm and restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, I learned about the way that they raise the vegetables and animals that are eventually used in the restaurant. He taught me that it is important to pay attention to the grazing rotations of the animals and to move them from one location to another fairly rapidly. This ensures that the fields do not get over-grazed but also that the animals get to eat a varied diet.

The chickens, for example, are kept in “chicken tractors” which are little chicken coops on wheels. During the day, the chickens can move about freely in a certain field where they eat vegetation and bugs. At night, the chickens walk up the ramps into their coop and then the farmers can close them in and move the tractor to another location so that they can eat something new the next day. It is a great idea and works really well. Dan and I gathered some eggs that day and went back into his kitchen where he showed me a really amazing technique for cooking “the perfect egg”.

While Dan practices traditional techniques in both the kitchen and on the farm, he is very open to new discoveries and technologies. His restaurant kitchen is state of the art and he enjoys playing with some of the more scientific equipment that chefs like to use. Dan showed me how they can cook an egg perfectly in a circulator bath set at 61.9 degrees. When we cracked the egg, it came out in a flawless pod—like the perfect poached egg. The fresh farm egg was full of flavor and the yolk was a deep yellow color indicating that the chicken that laid it was extremely healthy. The egg that he cooked in that water bath turned out to be one of the most delicious eggs I have ever eaten.