zilla369
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Posts posted by zilla369
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moderator's note:
I've merged today's thread about the upcoming Fox TV Show "Kitchen Confidential" with one that was started last fall.
As you were
,Marsha
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SC,
How lucky you are on the Cuban cigar front!
Have you (or anyone reading) ever had a Maker's Mark cigar? I've smoked 5 or 6 over the last couple of years. Smooth, bourbon-y goodness, IMO. But then I'm hardly a cigar expert, either.
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Let us not forget The Apprentice: My Life in the Kitchen by Jacques Pepin.
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Had a Derby party Saturday and made authentic Mint Juleps. Made the simple syrup the night before. Used the attachment on the meat grinder to crush the ice and then bagged it in the freezer. Slightly crushed the mint and had some whole leaves for garnish. Used Maker's Mark Bourbon, instead of Beam's mash. Bought a dozen silver-plated tumblers several years ago.
Rich: you get a gold star for getting the ice, the cups, the bourbon, the syrup, everything exactly right.
The silver cups are the part most people skip (understandably - they're a pretty expensive investment). But they add soooo much to the whole julep experience.
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Ladies, let me just say that it sure will be nice to see some home cooking after the frantic two weeks of Derby that I've just been through.
And, er....sorry about that thing where I replaced Candian Bacon with Country Ham for Derby Eggs Benedict
Looking forward to your blog!
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i have been following along...apparently in my sleep too! last night i dreamt that i won $42,000 at the kentucky derby
thanks for the great blog! i hope i dont dream about that pig's head tonight 
and i promise i will never drink jd again - makers mark for my next julip i reckon
Thanks, easternsun...a great note to end on. Yet another convert.
Finally, I just want to express my appreciation to my roommate, John the Pirateking, aka “Lunchbox”. Lunchbox re-sized and drop-shadowed most of my photos for the blog, and fetched my slippers a lot during this busy week. He also had to endure a lot of "which picture is better: this one, or this one?" moments. Thanks, John!
Sleep tight, race fans.
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Thanks, everyone, for reading along. I got a good nap today in addition to the sleep-in this morning.
Foodblogging was fun. I highly recommend it. It was a busy week, to be sure, and I'm tired, but I'm happy.
And never fear - I finally got my mint julep.
Ahhhh.
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Oh, I almost forgot. Two weeks ago, we started ordering pork from a local Kentucky-bred meat supplier. They're a small operation. But their product is so fresh, and so good...we've ordered about 10 fresh pork loins from them in the last couple weeks.
Since the price is so reasonable, the line cooks asked me if we could get a whole slaughtered hog and make sausage, etc. They specifically asked me to make sure the head was included. Unfortunately, it didn't get delivered when we expected it; rather, it was delivered Thursday, when we were already deep into prep for derby. So I had to put it in the deep freeze until this week, when we'll have time to deal with it. I really wanted to take pictures of us breaking it down, but I guess it's not to be.
True story: As I was walking out of the dining room to go home Thursday night, a table of guests waved me over and told me how great their meal was. This was an eight top. They discovered I'm the "pastry chef" and asked me some questions about dessert. Then the host of the party asked me why I was carrying a camera. I told him I'd been foodblogging all week, and called up the review function on my camera to show him some pictures.
Yep. The first one that popped up was the photo above. While they were in the middle of dinner.
Fortunately, they were good sports about it. Heh.
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So, that was my week. I didn’t eat much; as a matter of fact, I lost at least 5 pounds. Sadly, Steak ‘n Shake, near the beginning of the blog, was my only “formal” sit-down meal.
I drank far too many sugary beverages, as predicted, like these:
But I also drank a LOT of water.
Luckily, one thing I didn't drink was this:
I went to the going-out-of-business sale at a local grocery on my way home last night and picked up tons of cleaning supplies at 50% off in anticipation of the final push to move house this week. The roommate graciously offered to put away the groceries, since I'd done the shopping. So while I was finally relaxing, I hear this from behind the open refrigerator door:
"'Fabuloso, eh? What flavor is that? Strawberry?"
YIKES.
Good thing we don't have any children in this house. Notice the label reads: "Liquid Cleanser".
And I used a whole lot of this, for myriad purposes; but mostly just jammed in the top of everything sweet. Nature needs to come up with another green garnish that doesn’t frighten people.
If anyone has any questions, post ‘em if you’ve got ‘em. We’re almost done!
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Apparently, Chef's nine-year old daughter, Mimi, took this shot of herself while I was busy doing something-or-other. She's a cool kid, definitely a chef's kid. She can already roll sushi!
I often tell her she's as warped as this sheet pan:
A cautionary tale, that photo. That's what happens to a sheet pan when it's abused, when it gets repeatedly super-heated and then thrown into water before it cools. That's what pastry chefs are bitching about when they say they can never find a flat sheet pan for pastries.
The roommate says he sees an image of Jesus in the surface of that sheet pan. Please excuse me while I go out front and set up stanchions to herd the crowds of faithful sight-seers.
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Mama Sita's. That is hilarious. Given how "punny" all the Indians I know are, it probably was intentional.
Quince - it is good served in chunks, with cheese.
You got to dip your own Marker's Mark bottle in wax? That is too cool. I became a "Marker's Mark ambassador" so I could name a barrel after our favorite local Hamburg soccer team. All I got besides that was a bunch of wax swizzle sticks though.
I have my own barrel, too. I tried to get them to show me the barrel (they're numbered), but it was buried deep inside one of the warehouses that were off limits to visitors. However, they assured me I'll get a notice when they open my barrel in 9 or ten years. They plan to have little ceremonies available for all the ambassadors' barrel openings.
Did you know, Maker's is the only bourbon whisky that rotates its barrels periodically during the aging process, moving them either towards the center of the warehouse (more insulated, less movement of the whisky in and out of the charred interior of the white oak barrel) or towards the exterior, more exposed to the weather, which causes more movement, thereby imparting more color and taste?
Say Yes to Noh! Heh.
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A shot of the Maker’s bottle I dipped myself at the distillery last Monday:
The dipping supervisor said my drippings were exemplary. That’s the best compliment I got all week.
Don’t worry, little bottle. I promise not to take your life on a Sunday due to blue laws.
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Another recent event was “Taste of the Derby.” TOtD was a charity event held at Louisville Slugger Field. I sure wish I had pictures of actual food. I did take some, but they were poorly lit and not worth wasting your time over (the photos, not the food!) Guests paid $75 each to walk around and sample the wares of over 75 restaurants, caterers and liquor distributors. We brought Moroccan Roasted Leg of Lamb with Caramelized Onions and Raisins, and hob-knobbed with a bunch of other chefs and cooks from all over town.
I’ve only brought it up so that I can post three pictures:
Uber-microbrewery above the bar at Slugger Field:
A needlepoint pillow I glimpsed at a wine distributor’s booth:
And this. By the way, this is NOT “photographer’s fuel”, as I kept insisting:
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But it looks like they got rid of the dank! The dank!!!!
No way, man. Flabby's invested in a Level III treatment of Perma-Dank® back in the seventies.
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Some random pictures from the week:
Fiddlehead ferns are in season. There are recent threads here and here about them. I’ve never eaten any, and I can’t wait to! I snapped this photo at the produce supplier when I was picking out edible flowers for the pavlovas. Definitely high-up on my “to-try” list.
Also added to the list of things I’ve never used, but am going to, soon: Organic crimson lentils.
I was intrigued by these cans:
Some sort of gelatinized sweet potato and quince. Has anybody used these? What are they used for? Do you melt them and use them as a liquid ingredient, or is it served in a wedge as pictured on the can?
Anyone in the know, please find or start a thread on them in the appropriate forum! I’d love to find out.
The amount of what I do not know almost overwhelms me at times.
For instance: Canned and ready-to-use ghee, that I ran across in the Indian market where I was shopping for samosa ingredients:
Of course, I’m not unfamiliar with ghee. I’ve just always made it myself when a dish calls for it.
But, regular and vegetable?! I’d like to know what sort of dishes would typically utilize vegetable ghee, and also see a recipe for making it yourself. Heh. I’ve been so busy, there’s probably a giant “Vegetable Ghee Rocks!” thread currently at the top of one eGullet forum or another, and I’ve been too busy to notice.
And what’s Irish Moss?
So many questions, and I had no time to ask the shopkeeper, who was very nice. He told me the samosa recipe I was shopping for sounded fairly typical, with the exception that most samosas are fried rather than baked. He also suggested trying them with toasted coriander seed rather than cumin seed.
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Quick aside: by the way, the poaching liquid left over from the pears makes an out-of-this-world mixer for champagne cocktails, so we feature those at the bar.
edited to add: And if you take the liquid and reduce the hell out of it, it makes a great dessert sauce, as well.
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Thanks for blogging, Marsha!
I love the South. I would love to visit Kentucky some day. Or move there. If I can find a job
Didn't you say you were moving, too? How's that going?
It's ground to a complete and utter standstill, that's how it's going.
Luckily, I have until the 17th to complete the move. -
Wednesday (I think…it’s all a blur at this point): Fancy reception and plated dinner at Glassworks, Louisville’s glass art mecca. This venue is adjacent to their gallery gift shops and overlooks the glass-blowing production facility.
When we cater here, they encourage us to use pieces from the gallery as centerpieces for the tables. Which makes for lovely tables, but I’m always paranoid that some ham-handed server or guest (or my ham-handed self!) will send one crashing to the floor. But so far, so good. Knock on crystal.
The dessert for this dinner was the full-sized version of the Riesling poached pear – later plated as part of the trio I posted about above. I love the flavor of the pear, which is poached in a mixture of sugar, water, Riesling and cinnamon. Usually I just plate them sitting upright (the pear, not me – I’m usually standing), in a shallow bowl with fresh berries around and mint leaves at the stem.
During the tasting in preparation for the dinner, the party coordinator expressed some interest in having a chocolate sauce design applied to the rim of the bowl. Had I been there, I would have tried to talk her out of it. Garnish a pear with chocolate sauce on the rim? Not only inappropriate, but also a logistical nightmare, what with transporting them and serving them (where, exactly, is the server supposed to steady the bowl with their thumb?).
But our catering sales department’s motto is: give the client what they want, no matter what. And, coincidentally, * ahem *…. I’m not welcome at pre-tastings anymore. Heh.
So….the only thing I could figure out was to plate the pears at the venue, rather than pre-plate them and transport them on speed racks. Because the coordinator wanted a soft, liquid-y chocolate sauce that one could theoretically swipe up with a bite of the pear.
Sorry about the blurry photos. I was sorta distracted, what with plating NINETY of these things:
Later on I heard that the catering staff had a hell of a time getting the extraneous chocolate sauce off the staging tables (which belonged to the venue, not us). By that point, I’d already rushed back to the bistro to expedite, so I wasn’t able to help clean up.
Mua-ha-haaa.
Damn, I can be perfectly evil, can’t I?
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Tuesday I had to make “Focaccia bites with plum tomato, fresh basil and parmesan” for a reception:
I love making bread. And I have an absolutely perfect place to make it – it’s too big to fit more than one side into this picture!:
Check out that prep table, baby. Fully twelve feet long by five feet wide, wired for electricity, and equipped with not one but two sinks with running water It’s in my separate pastry kitchen.
Unfortunately, with all the hats I wear, I don’t have enough time to make bread for regular service. So we buy in a really good par-baked yeast roll that everybody loves. But whenever I have to make focaccia for hors doeuvres, I just make a giant batch and bake the rest in loaves, which gets portioned and frenched to the tables along with the yeast rolls:
Focaccia bread with caramelized red onion and fresh basil
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Part of the prie fixe this weekend was a dessert trio.
Now, if I’m being pragmatic, I know that a dessert trio is a great idea in theory. Guests love the trio. But I always throw a little fit in my head when I learn I’m going to have to make components for several hundred of them. I never get an event order for just a few.
If, god forbid, I make grumbly noises when I find out, the catering sales staff always says the same thing:
“But…they’re just tiny,” they theorize (and in order to remain calm, I always picture Chris Rock making fun of this argument). “That’s only one-third the amount of work, right?”
Well, actually, no. It’s exactly three times as much per-piece production (even though not three times volume). Add to that the extra trouble of making tiny versions of everything, and the tripled-or-more time it takes to plate them. Finally, top it off with three times the anxiety that the people working in pantry will be three times as likely to grow weary of plating them the way I demonstrate. I don’t work hot line or pantry during shows or other busy nights, because I’m the expeditor, working the pass. I could just break down and cry sometimes over what I see sitting in the pantry window, waiting to go out as a dessert trio, because I’m very, very particular. I’d like to see them all go out with the components in the same positions, turned just so at the proper angles on the plate, sauced in a certain manner. But sometimes I just have to close my eyes and pretend I don’t see.
And, frankly, when the rush dies down and I walk the floor talking to guests, everybody’s usually happy. No one has ever said “hey, we loved the dessert trio, but we noticed that our poached pear quarter was at three o’clock on OUR plate, and at nine o’clock on the neighboring table’s plate.”
I have to learn to pick my battles better, sometimes.
The trio on this weekend’s prie fixe was “Miniature Riesling Poached Pear, vanilla bean crème brulee, and Morrocan Cigar.”
Now, I can throw down on some crème brulee. In this thread (and several others) in the Pastry & Baking forum, we’ve discussed practically everything about crème brulee technique. Wendy DeBord recently revealed that she’s getting nice consistent brulees without a water bath. I am definitely going to be trying that experiment when I get some free time!
Normal-sized crème brulee is a staple of our dinner menu at the bistro, and I make probably a hundred of those a week.
regular-sized crème brulees
This weekend, I had to make about 400 miniatures.
Well….we didn’t have any vessels appropriate for mini crèmes, so Chef went out to a glassware supply and bought me 150 adorable shallow porcelain ramekins that were perfect. Note that he bought only 150, rendering them a tad less adorable in my eyes. You do the math.
However, he really came through for me in that he got the line cooks to poach all those pears, and he taught the pantry line to roll all those cigars (all that phyllo work on top of everything else would have sent me right over the edge).
Mini crème brulees, ready for the oven. Note the nickel in the photo for scale:
Traying up the completed minis to take to the pantry line. Aren’t they cute?
Regrettably, I didn’t get a shot of the plated trios, completed. I was a little busy at the pass whenever they were going out.
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Good morning.
Let’s hear it for the restorative powers of sleep! I got ten hours in last night, which is more than I’ve had in any two other nights combined during this blog week.
I’ve got some pictures left that I haven’t managed to post yet, so I’ll be posting those today, and I’ll also go back and try to answer any questions I’ve missed.
I live in a part of town known at “Schnitzelburg” – it was originally settled by German immigrants. There’s a neighborhood bar on just about every other corner.Doggone it, Marsha- that nostalgic feeling that I mentioned earlier has just been kicked into high gear. That's my mom's old neighborhood, and a great one at that! My dad used to hang out at Flabby's.
TongoRad, here’s that picture of Flabby’s Divine Food, as promised:
Flabby’s is a neighborhood beer-and-fried-food joint down the corner from my house. They’re known most for their “Flabby’s Famous Fried Chicken”. People even venture out of the ‘burbs on occasion in search of Flabby’s chicken – it has that much of a reputation. You can pick them out right away – they always have that sort of deer in the headlights look, because Flabby’s is always populated by hard-core regulars. It reminds me of Moe’s (the bar on The Simpsons) in more ways than one.
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I love the presentation of the samosas. How do you get the edges sealed? My filling always leaks out.
Egg wash.
And sometimes my pastry rises too much. How do you prevent the over-puffing?After assembling the pastries, I always let them rest for a few minutes before baking or frying.
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The original Hot Brown contained no tomatoes
She's right, of course.
Chopped tomatoes are a pretty common variance, however.
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Now that is a good julep!
I followed the recipe and YUMM-O! (ha-ha couldn't resist!) I had a julep years ago and it was too minty and too boozy. This is great sweet with the booze (and I get to control it). I imagine as you go through the day- as with many mixed drinks- it will get stronger and stronger Thank you very much for the mint julep recipe.This blog is wonderful, and I love the mint julep recipe. Thanks so much.I'm off to dinner at the home of some friends, and we'll be watching the Derby. Host has promised to make mint juleps! I'm very excited, as I've never tasted them before. But he said he has his own recipe and refuses to be swayed by anyone else's. I'll be watching closely to see how similar his recipe is to yours. I do especially like your method of topping off the drinks.
Thanks zilla369 for the charming post and recipe for mint juleps.Marsha, I am very grateful for your excellent mint julep recipe (which you should certainly put on RecipeGullet!). As a northerner, I can't claim the status of an expert, but I drink these babies all summer, and your recipe will get some good green-finger-stained use around this house. I'll second your advice about a hefty mint sprig: the bouquet off of that sprig is crucial to the drink's appeal.I guess i'm going to have to stop by the store today and pick up some good bourbon and mintOooh. Converts. Me likey.
I'm not going to try making that drink (in fact, like you, I should be asleep now), but it sounds like something I might actually like. Oddly enough, I like mint in leaf form (the leaves themselves or as tea) but dislike anything otherwise mint-flavored (candy, jelly, etc.). I'm going to try to find out where I might be able to get the drink as you described it in my neck of the woods without making it myself.Hmmm. Wonder who makes the best mint julep in Manhattan? That'd be interesting to find out.
Michael L.: that's your mission - should you choose to accept it.
Foods you inexplicably hate
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Put another checkmark in the coffee column. I probably drink two or three cups a year, and only out of desperation (for the caffeine).
also:
hot tea
honeydew
cantaloupe
WATERMELON - blech!