Dinner Party Degustation

[Sher.eats]

EDITTED for more information + comments from other members

Long time lurker, First time poster.

Me and my BF are cooking for a dinner party of 6 (4 guests + us 2 ) and 4 kids (who won't be served everything) in 1.5 weeks time. Guests are foodies, but unfamiliar to french cusine and are virgins to the modern techniques.

We've devised a menu inspired by Joel Robuchon's L'Atelier dishes, Thomas Keller's French Laundry Cookbook, Ferran Adria's innovative concepts and RAIN Toronto's plating style.

Me and BF have cooked for parties of 10+ before, one of the guests will also help. We have a domestic helper to assist the placesetting, serving and washing. The Kitchen is reasonably spacious (in Hong Kong standards), the cooker has 5 tops but there is only one gas oven.

University hasn't started yet so we have all the time to do tests and walk-throughs and preperations....

~~~~

Le Menu Degustation

Iberico Skin Cracking

w Whipped Melon Marscopone

and/or

Sea Urchin in Lobster Jelly

& Cauliflower Cream-Foam

Liquid Ravioli of

Onion Soup

and/or

Fresh Pea Soup

Tasting of Pigeon (Alternatives?)

Pigeon Leg Confit

w Potato Chip (Alternatives?)

Smoked Pigeon Breast

w Potato Puree Robuchon style

Tomato Consumme Caviars (or just consumme or foam...)

w Crispy Basil

Beef Four Ways

Beef Tenderloin Tartar

w ???

Sliced Japanese Wagyu Rib Finger, slow roasted , brushed w soy

w sushi rice

Pan-Seared DryAged US Cube

glazed with bone marrow

Braised Beef Cheek red wine plum sauce

w ???

Foie Gras Duo

Pan-seared Foie Gras

w Black Cherry & Red Wine Reduction

and/or

Armagnac Foie Gras Terrine

w Brioche Toast

Cheese Course

Whipped Brie de Meaux

en Feuillete, Pepper & Watercress

Roquefort Trifle

w French Butter Pear Relish

Sicilian Cannoli

w Goat Cheese & Ricotta

Dessert Course

*Seasonal Fruit* Sorbet Shortcake

w Vanilla Creme Fraiche Sauce

Lemon Sabayon Brulee

in *Nut* Tart & Whipped Honey

Candied Apple

of Creme Farine & Poached Apples a la Mode

Petite Fours

- Red Hot Truffles (infused w chilli)

- Citrus Shortbread (yuzu scented)

- Grape Jellies

- Pistachio Torte

~~~~

Please help by giving a much anticipated comment! All advice wanted!

Edited September 4, 2007 by Sher.eats (log)

[jackal10]

While the intention is good, I think you are making it too complicated and you have ended up with too many similar textures.

Many of these are quite tricky techniques, and I would go careful unless you are familiar with them.

I would simplify considerably, and for the sake of your guests lead them gently - have quite a conventional meal with one or two modern styles and flourishes; keep it simple. It will also make it easier to cook and less likely to go wrong.

Please, no more than one jelly and two foams in the meal...and you have missed out savoury ice cream, or protein/activa glued noodles

Do you really need the luxury ingredients (kobe beef, foie, sea urchin etc) if you are showcasing the cooking methods. IF you are showcasing the ingredients then I'd use seasonal items - game, truffles etc

The sea urchin jelly, the raviolis, and the tomato consomme are all similar

The Kobe beef will get lost with all those beef dishes. Either have it as the star, or omit, or have another long cooked meat - oxtail or maybe tongue.

Two foie gras is overkill, especially next to each other. Also I would serve before the beef.

Simiallry four made cheeses is too much, Better one cooked dish, if you must, and a well selected cheese with interesting accompaniments, such as a truffled honey and nice bread and biscuits.

[mojoman]

Man, that is a complex menu. Unless you are really skilled in the kitchen and skilled in time management, I think that's a train wreck waiting to happen.

All of those raviolis, caviars, and foam need to be made a la minute and a lot of that stuff needs to be finished at the last minute too.

BTW, some people might take offense at your liberal use of "jap" in the descriptions.

[wattacetti]

As someone who's done several such multicourse menus, that's quite ambitious and probably a really bad idea.

Logistically this is a nightmare scenario if you're planning to do this without kitchen help (and especially if you're trying this with a home kitchen). I have done 63 plates on my own (7 x 9 courses); and the night was essentially a blur of cooking, plating, and washing dishes and cutlery for the next round. This with 6 courses prepared ahead of time and all of my mise-en-place done hours in advance.

My first question is have you done anything to this scale before? You are going to be pushing out ninety plates that night (10 x 9 courses), but your first four courses are duos, and your next four dishes have a total of twelve different components. By my count that's 200 portions for the evening. Are you using a home kitchen or a commercial kitchen? Do you have enough plates and equipment? Do you have prep staff and serving staff? Do you intend to be eating with your guests or just cooking for the night?

On the experimental side, if you're trying to ease them into new techniques, why beat them over the head with it? Too many similar textures, too many techniques that can break and a lot of it doesn't look like you can do with significant amounts of lead time. I also find that these techniques are not necessarily the best use of luxury ingredients so your guests may not be getting as much of a treat as it looks like on paper.

Conceptually I personally feel that you're overloading each course; if you look carefully at Robuchon, Keller and Adría, their courses are focused on the primary element(s) whereas many of your proposed dishes don't seem to be that harmonious.

I'd personally tone down the menu. Use seasonal ingredients to showcase one or two experimental techniques, highlight one or two luxury ingredients on their own so that they can shine, and simplify every dish. That's my two cents though.

You might also want to re-edit your post; I'm not loving your use of "jap" either.

[doctortim]

I don't have any advice about the menu, others will help you out with that. As for the logistics of the thing, a few points:

- You'll need help in the kitchen

- You won't have time to be eating with your friends

- 1.5 weeks is a very short amount of time considering you haven't even pinned down the menu yet

- If I asked you to make any one of these dishes, and regardless of which one I chose you could successfully make it without having to refer back to a recipe, that's promising. If not, you'll need to be at that level in a week!

- Prepare as much ahead as you possibly can. If you haven't done many of these sorts of dinners before, consider planning even the timing of things -- what you can prepare long ahead, medium-ahead, and what has to be done at the last minute.

I apologise for being so negative, but without knowing how much experience you have it's hard to tell what I should say. If you read this advice and think, "duh, obviously" that's a good sign and hopefully you'll be able to pull off a wonderful dinner for your friends!

[wattacetti]

Long time lurker, First time poster.   

EDIT: Two cooks + one helper, 5 stoves, 1 gas oven  , full week of prep/make-advance time

I re-read your post and the edit and you're catering. What exactly is your role in this? Cook (one of the two?), logistics guy, host…

1. Can you secure the ingredients that you want in the quality and quantity that you want?

2. Much of your menu is dernière minute stuff so that week won't really help you.

3. One oven overall or just one gas oven?

And one more question: exactly how did you come up with this menu?

I still think that you should simplify and re-order your menu: one foam, one jelly, one alginate (and not in the same course). Also dump the necessity to serve duos on each plate; either break it apart into more courses or just drop one idea and serve the stronger of the pair.

If you must do the ravioli, do one. Not sure that everyone wants to consume that much alginate at a time.

Not sure about the idea of serving foie gras after a beef course since that's one very rich plate right after a rich and heavy one. That should be earlier in your menu (perhaps after the pigeon if you still want it on).

If your salad is intended as a palate cleanser, keep it that way.

Is there a reason why you need to serve beef four ways? (four's generally not a good number to use in Asia anyway). You can make this a duo - I like the Kobe and the beef cheek or a leaner cut and the marrow.

Kill the three cooked cheeses, you're not showcasing cheese as a savory bridge to dessert by doing this. Jackal10's idea of one cooked and one or two contrasting accompaniments is the better way to go.

[Sher.eats]

Deeply humbled with your responses , thank you all very much. We have 2 main areas of uncertainty:

{A} Compliments of flavours and the progression of courses:

Is the amuse bouche of parma fat crackling with melon-mascapone whip too intense and consequently overshadowing the next delicate course of sea urchin lobster jelly with cauliflower cream? If we removed one, which would you recommend to kill?

Will a warm (but not hot) onion soup (temperture limited by alganate casing) taste inproper? Will serving 2 soups provide more ultility? & if not, onion or pea?

We're also questioning the use of red meat pigeon as well as beef. We've made duck confit and smoked duck breast before and with happy results. The 4 beefs are prepared {tartar, slow roasted, pan-seared, slow braised} uses {tenderloin, rib finger, striploin, cheek} with meat oringinating from (US Angus, Japanese Wagyu, Dry-Aged US Angus, Local (China) Cattle). We're beef (and cow) lovers and love to "tell" by demonstrating to people the different cuts and breeds require different methods of preperation. With regards to the Japanese Wagyu, on a previous dining ocassaion, a few of the guests argues the wagyu breed is unneccesary given the fat content. Problem is that comment was based on the Australian Wagyu not the proper Japanese one. If we take the wagyu out of the 4 and form its own dish, would have 2 beef plates be awkward?

As the guests haven't had a proper cheese course, we thought making the roquefort, brie and goat cheese into "dishes" would be more welcoming from the guests' perspective. Then next time we could do the traditional biscuit serving...agree?

I planned to serve duo of foie gras after the beef because we like the Foie Gras pairing with sauterne wine, which also goes well with cheese. Otherwise the cheese course would come after foie gras and before the pigeon and beef courses...But I am concerned on whether the guests will have enough rich savory items after the 4 beefs for FG....

Second area of concern is {B} Time management - Here is our cooking plan:

Iberico Skin Cracking Cracked day beforehand

w Whipped Melon Marscopone Mixed in advance, ISI Gourmet-whipped on demand

Sea Urchin in Lobster Jelly Jelly setted night before

& Cauliflower Cream-Foam Creamed already infused, foam-ed on demand

Liquid Ravioli Two Ways

Onion Soup | Fresh pea Soup Both soups made in advance, raviolis made on demand

Tasting of Pigeon

Pigeon Leg Confit Confit made up to a week in advance, crisped on demand

w Potato Chip Not sure about potato chip

Smoked Pigeon Breast Smoked day before, gently heated on demand

w Potato Puree Made in morning, warmed w milk on demand

Salad

Caesar Salad of Parmigiano Custard Made day before, lettuce prepped afternoon

w Anchovy Dressing & Parmesan Crisps Dressing make day before, crisps day before

Tomato Consumme Caviars Not sure if can make in advance, if not replace with sorbet, if not to cliche?

w Crispy Basil Fried on demand

Beef Four Ways

Beef Tartar Made in afternoon, add quail yolk on demand

w ???

Kobe Wagyu, seared, brushed w soy Slow roasted in morning, warmed on demand

w sushi rice Not sure yet

Pan-Seared DryAged US Cube Seared on demand

a la bone marrow Roasted in morning, warmed on demand

Braised Beef Cheek Braised overnight, glazed on demand

w ???

Foie Gras Duo

Pan-seared Foie Gras Pan fried on demand

w Black Cherry & Red Wine Reduction Degalze after pan fry

Armagnac Foie Gras Terrine Made day before

w Brioche Toast Toast from frozen homebaked

Cheese Course

Whipped Brie de Meaux Whipped on demand

en Feuillete, Pepper & Watercress

Roquefort Trifle Whole trifle made in advance

w French Butter Pear Relish

Sicilian Cannoli Cannoli made afternoon, kept warm

w Goat Cheese & Ricotta Made beforehand

Dessert Course

*Seasonal Fruit* Sorbet Shortcake Sorbet & shortcake made night before, shortcake gently heated

w Vanilla Creme Fraiche Sauce Mixed on demand

Lemon Sabayon Brulee Made day before, brulee in afternoon

in *Nut* Tart & Whipped Honey

Candied Apple

of Creme Farine & Poached Apples a la Mode Made day before, Creme Farine deep fried on demand.

Petite Fours All made in advance to be served with tea.

- Red Hot Truffles (infused w chilli)

- Citrus Shortbread (yuzu scented)

- Grape Jellies

- Pistachio Torte

{C} HR

Me and BF cooking for BF's 2 relatives + 2 friends + 4 kids whom won't get everything. We have a domestic helper to assist the placesetting + serving + washing...

Once again thank you very much!

Edited September 4, 2007 by Sher.eats (log)

[GordonCooks]

It's an a la minute nightmare - if anything needs to me made beforehand, it's the liquid raviolis. To assemble them, rest them so the egg yolk seals the skin and cook them is a logistical nightmare. Add some guar gum to the soup to solidify and chill, and form the ravs while cold. Put the ravs in the fridge and boil as needed.

Edited September 4, 2007 by GordonCooks (log)

[Sher.eats]

It's an a la minute nightmare - if anything needs to me made beforehand, it's the liquid raviolis. To assemble them, rest them so the egg yolk seals the skin and cook them is a logistical nightmare. Add some guar gum to the soup to solidify and chill, and form the ravs while cold. Put the ravs in the fridge and boil as needed.

←

Oooooh Thank You, GordonCooks! I always thought the liquid raviolis were too fragile to be heated and needed to be made there and then... this would make my life SO much easier.

But what concentration of guar gum do I need for the solution?

Thank you once again!

Time to get some Guar Gum...

Edited September 4, 2007 by Sher.eats (log)

[Nina C.]

This is not my style of cooking but, a long-held rule of entertaining is that if the host is stressed out, the guests will be stressed out. Can you really pull this off and have fun doing it?

You might want to check out Slkinsey's Thanksgiving week diary, especially this post on dinnertime logistics.

[mojoman]

There is a surreal quality to this thread...almost like Sher is putting us on.

If you're an amateur and part of the party, do you really plan to pull this off?

[jackal10]

Its still a nightmare.

1. Feed the kids seperately - they will be happier with hamburgers anyway

2. You are effectively are only feeding 4 guests. You won't have time to eat.

3. Simplify drastically, especially what you have to do at the last minute.

4, People can't eat that much, especially such rich food

The average stomach capacity is about 4 cups, including drink, say 3 cups of food, You propose about 21 dishes. Anything more than a teaspoon or two of each and your guests will blow up. You are therefore proposing a meal of bite size canapes. Not enough to really taste. Cut out at least half, and have some focus, with the meal leading up to and away from the main feature.

In a classic menu large courses alternate with small courses

Here is what I would do, with roughly the same spirit:

Amuse 1 (with pre dinner drink)

Iberico scratchings with a dip if you like, but no cream or mascarpone - too rich this early.

Suitable drink would a fino sherry

Amuse 2: (at table. Traditionally oysters or similar. Cold, prepared and plated)

Salad of lobster (and sea urchin if you must) Maybe a cold foam.

Drink: a sweetish Alsace, maybe a Gewurz, which will also go with the foie

If you are doing a wine per course you could have a Pinot Gris, and the Gewrurz with the foie

Amuse 3: Foie

Foie Gras Terrine (cold) with Brioche toast

(leave out the pan fried, One is enough and unless you have experience don't go there)

Soup:

A hot liquid soup would be nice, such as the tomato consomme (hot).

Peas are not in season. Onion better with the beef

Drink: good red wine

Pigeon: Tiny portion, but you could attempt a warm smoked pigeon breast on potato puree, with a cube of pigeon confit

Salad: Ceaser salad etc

Beef: Main course and the star. Here is where to showcase the Kobe, or do a variety (but not both)

I'd like roast onion ice cream, maybe a garlic or horseradish hot gell, baby veg

Cheese:

Well chosen and some nice accompaniment to finish the red wine with

Desert (hot)

maybe a second cold desert

Petit four

Edited September 4, 2007 by jackal10 (log)

[Prawncrackers]

4, People can't eat that much, especially such rich food

The average stomach capacity is about 4 cups, including drink, say 3 cups of food,  You propose about 21 dishes. Anything more than a teaspoon or two of each and your guests will blow up. 

Do not forget the "wafer thin mint" too!

In all seriousness though that menu sounds mind-boggling. If you manage to even pull half of it off and enjoy it then hats off to you. Don't forget to journal it!!

[wattacetti]

Me and my BF are cooking for a dinner party of 6 (4 guests + us 2 ) and 4 kids (who won't be served everything) in 1.5 weeks time. Guests are foodies, but unfamiliar to french cusine and are virgins to the modern techniques.

We've devised a menu inspired by Joel Robuchon's L'Atelier dishes, Thomas Keller's French Laundry Cookbook, Ferran Adria's innovative concepts and RAIN Toronto's plating style.

Me and BF have cooked for parties of 10+ before, one of the guests will also help. We have a domestic helper to assist the placesetting, serving and washing. The Kitchen is reasonably spacious (in Hong Kong standards), the cooker has 5 tops but there is only one gas oven.

University hasn't started yet so we have all the time to do tests and walk-throughs and preperations....

←

I'm going to step on my "negativity" soapbox here and reiterate how much of a nightmare scenario you're proposing.

Unless you're seriously putting us on and are actually trained chefs, I'm reading that you're university students or junior faculty (?).

You are fooling yourselves if you think you have enough time to prep, practice and plate what is being listed. Look for bilrus' posting on making a 5-course meal from the French Laundry Cookbook if you want a real a sense on how much practice and prep is involved.

Adult menu: you're serving four guests but want to press-gang one of your invitees to help (doesn't sound like fun for the invitee). Don't kid yourselves that you're going to be eating with your guests. If you do this menu, you will be cooking and nothing but.

Children: you are now going to have to create something that four children are going to eat. Entirely separate menu and entirely separate logistics. Either drop the kids or dump the existing menu and serve something the kids will also like.

Your kitchen setup is a home kitchen. I don't know what HK kitchens are like space-wise but I've seen "big" ones in Taiwan. My apartment's galley kitchen is immense compared to them, they are not set up for individual plating and you want to do intricate plating (you're being influenced by the Rubinos?). In addition, you have one cooktop with 5 burners and one oven, which means that it's going to be really tricky completing any one dish and starting the next one in the amounts that you're looking for.

Okay, you're going to make some of this stuff in advance. Have the appropriate storage for all of it and your dernière minute fresh ingredients?

Your "helper" (maid?) is not a trained waiter and probably won't appreciate having to wash dishes for several hours.

You haven't mentioned at all whether you know how to execute any of the techniques required but your comment "Iberico Skin Cracking Cracked day beforehand" tells me something. Based on your reply to GordonCooks, it also appears that you might not have all of your ingredients available to you. 10 days is a really short time to source stuff.

I now count 23 discrete preparations over nine courses, with two courses have four preparations each. That's a lot of food. In contrast Guy Savoy's "Couleurs, Textures et Saveurs" tasting menu has 10 courses, but topped out at 19 discrete preparations when I saw it (I didn't eat before that dinner and still had to work hard at it). Are you sure that your guests can eat all of that? jackal10's right: none of your dishes work as bites and in order for your guests to understand what you're trying to do, they're going to eat small plate quantities. You have pigeon (1/2 bird each), 4 types of beef, 2 servings of foie, 3 cooked cheeses and seven dessert items.

Your menu continues to be unbalanced. When I look at it following your comments on being influenced by Robuchon, Keller, Adría and the Rubinos(!) I have this nagging feeling that you're blindly picking out of the el Bulli cookbooks and what you see on the Lifestyle Channel. Re-think, revise and reorder.

If I had to deal with this:

Keep

Liquid Ravioli of Fresh Pea Soup

Pan-seared Foie Gras w Black Cherry & Red Wine Reduction

Sliced Japanese Wagyu Rib Finger, slow roasted , brushed w soy w sushi rice

Braised Beef Cheek red wine plum sauce

Cheese Course - just get cheese

Petite Fours

- Citrus Shortbread (yuzu scented)

- Grape Jellies

Dump the rest. You still have French technique, you still have one modern technique, you get to keep some cow, and it's focused. Even with this, you're still not eating with your guests for anything except perhaps the last dish.

But that's my two cents and I'll get off the soapbox now.

I expect that you'll probably decide not to t deviate too much from you've already proposed so it'll be interesting to see your documentation of the process (supporting photos perhaps?) and how well the night goes. Takers for an eG blog?

[Sher.eats]

Thank you Wattacetti for the comprehensive comment!

My BF & I are honestly amateur cooks, but are quite serious and precise about cooking. We're going to create most of these dishes this week to test for feasibility of the meal on a whole. (and we're gonna photo document it, pictures should start flowing in tmr )

We've done similar dinner parties before (none to with such a extensive menu), and we do understand eating with the guests is something we will need to sacrifice.

As for the children, we're going to serve some of 'snacks', such as the crackling and the ravioli (I think we're gonna cut the ravioli down to one). And serve them something simple (haha) like a hamburger (gourmet kind, not Mcdonalds kind).

As for plates & cutlery, we will be buying some new glassware and avoid using the same plate consecutively so I think the dishes won't be much of a problem for now.

& We are killing bits off the menu as I speak, namingly the beef tartar and the parmesan custard salad thing. We're probably going to end up with around 16 preparations when we're done. All the dishes are bite size and we will be explaining to our guests this concept beforehand.

Skill-wise, I think we are adequately skilled for all the dishes, most we've already made before with great success and confidence, a few we have yet to tweak for perfection.

Ingredient & Costwise, I think we are pretty well covered. Everything required can be obtained without difficulty, and none of the ingredients are mindblowingly pricey.

Since order and sides of the dishes are still being shuffled around... I hope the flow of the meal will work much better when we come up with version 2.0 of our menu. =]

Thank you v much! Keep posting...

Edited September 4, 2007 by Sher.eats (log)

[Chris Amirault]

Welcome, Sher.eats!

I'd like to take a few steps back here and ask a basic question: What are you trying to accomplish? Given the weighty tasks proposed, I would submit that some of the possible goals may conflict with each other.

If you want to have people enjoy innovative, compelling food they've not had before, then you're barely giving them a chance to enjoy one thing before bringing on the next, and as Jack points out, you're unlikely to be able to serve more than a nibble or two if they need to walk after the meal. Enjoyment requires time, space, and breathing to savor.

If you want to seduce newcomers who are"unfamiliar to french cusine and are virgins to the modern techniques," then this experience may well be counter-productive, overwhelming them and turning them off to both. I'd also agree with other members that the richness of the food may blunt their palate to such an extent that they'll be belly-up halfway in.

If you want people to ooh and aah at your techniques and ingredients -- and, let's face it, if you're like most of us, you probably do! -- then you'll also want time between courses both to do the a la minute preparation, to perfect each plate (and plating is going to be a lot of work with this menu), and to get out to the dining room, absorb praise, discuss ingredients and preparation, and so on. That means slowing each course waaay down and/or cutting out courses, and either way it's going to involve a lot more time than you might think. Perfect, even passable, food of this quality and scope is tough to pull off.

If you want to have a convivial eating experience with friends, then you'll need to cut courses and their prep, and on a la minute preparations in particular. While it is radically different in scope, technique, and difficulty, I had to scale back on this relatively straightforward Christmas menu from last year because, well, it was Christmas, and I wanted to be out sharing the experience with my family instead of arranging sturgeon eggs into precise spirals atop an oyster foam orb.

Finally, if you want to perform the culinary equivalent of keeping a few dozen plates spinning for seven hours, exhausting yourself and your guests in the process but inspiring awe all the same, then don't change a thing!

[weinoo]

There is a surreal quality to this thread...almost like Sher is putting us on.

If you're an amateur and part of the party, do you really plan to pull this off?

←

Funny, I was kind of thinking the same thing!

I make leg of lamb for my friends and relatives !

[Chris Amirault]

Any update?

[Jonathan Kaplan]

I must say that my first thoughts were that it was ambitious, yes, but not insane, and that I really wanted to be there!

As a 'reality check' I looked over a menu for a dinner party I held a few months ago (if anyone is interested, they can find it at: http://oregonstate.edu/%7Ecloughs/JonsPane...enuApril607.pdf

I was working alone in the kitchen, and had only a half-day to do prep the day of the event (and another half day the day before). I got to sit with my guests a fair bit, but obviously not as much as I'd like (that's what after dinner drinks are for!).

If you can use the reverse-spherification technique for the ravioli, they at least can be made in advance and held. Otherwise, that is a bit of a pain.

The biggest problem I've had is trying to do three or four different preps of something at once, so the beef tasting scares me a bit. If these were served not all at once but in order, as four 'short' courses, I would be more comfortable with the timing, etc. (I once tried to do the three scallop preparations on the above menu at once for 8 people -- 24 plates, three heating techniques, too many accompaniments to keep track of, and a huge mess -- much easier as three courses!)

Keep us posted, and good luck!

jk

[BryanZ]

Fun thread. I want to see results and the prep going into them.

Part of me says go for it. I do dinner parties of your size quite frequently, with the same philosophical motivation (but admittedly fewer courses). With that said, based on the menu you've planned it's going to be a bitch. Possible, I think, but not something that you'll enjoy in the moment. If you can pull it off, however, mad props. I will have something to aspire to.

Doing s'fers for service is just annoying if you don't have someone whose sole job it is do make them for you. If your guests have never seen them before, fine, go for it. But I don't think it's worth the time given your constraints.

[Shalmanese]

I'm going to take the contrarian view and say that it doesn't look technically impossible. If you have kitchen chops and are disciplined, it should be quite within your reach. As you noted, there's not too much a la minute cooking involved, just a bit of searing. There's a lot of plating and you could be surprised at how long plates take to get out when there's so many components. Still, you have the luxury of a home kitchen and the patience of your guests, your meal will easily take 4 hours but if they're up for it, it's totally doable.

As to whether you want to do it or not, well, it's up to you. I will predict that it probably won't be a very fun dining experience for either you nor your guests. You'll be in the kitchen all night and barely have time to speak to them and they'll be eating a complex, abstruse, restaurant style menu inside someone's house. What it will be is challenging. If you and your guests like challenging, it can be done so it's enjoyable and satisfying.

Here's what I would do:

You have way too much food, you're going to have to make some hard choices and cut stuff out. Have you ever cooked 10+ course tasting menus before? It's surprisingly difficult to get portions right. Here's a tip I use, you can have 2 plates that are the size of 2 packs of cards, every other plate has to be under a pack of cards. Which means if you're doing beef & Pigeon & foie, with 4 elements on the plate, you're essentially looking at a spoonful of each element, 4 spoonfuls for 4 people. It's incredibly hard to cook in these quantities and you end up overloading the plates.

If possible, buy a lot of tiny service items (shot glasses, chinese soup spoons, little trays etc.) and preload as much of the cold stuff onto them as possible. Present as many components to the table as possible, don't have it coming out in flights. And my own personal little secret is that I always schedule an planned interlude halfway into the meal, right before the main course. The interlude lets people digest their food, talk about what they've eaten and gives you a bit more breathing room to plate a more elaborate dish. Get everyone out of the dining room into the lounge, play some music, give them half an hour or so and then bring them back.

Have fun!

[Shalmanese]

Ok, I'm looking at your menu more closely now:

Le Menu Degustation

Iberico Skin Cracking

w Whipped Melon Marscopone

Are you sure crackling will hold up for a day? How are you planning to store it? I'm worried it will absorb moisture and get stale. The flavor combination doesn't wow me either.

and/or

Sea Urchin in Lobster Jelly

& Cauliflower Cream-Foam

Eh, sounds unappetizing. Needs something sharp to punch through the cloyingness, lemon thyme? chives? dunno.

Liquid Ravioli of

Onion Soup

and/or

Fresh Pea Soup

These just sound boring to me and they don't complement each other. Pea ravioli was great the first time Adria did it but it seems just too cliche now. Can't toy raviolize a more interesting soup? Something with a bit more interplay?

Tasting of Pigeon (Alternatives?)

Pigeon Leg Confit

w Potato Chip (Alternatives?)

Smoked Pigeon Breast

w Potato Puree Robuchon style

The potato things will bite you in the ass. Chips and mash sound really easy to pull of because they're such basic recipes but when you have to coordinate them with everything else, it gets messed up. Deep frying is generally *never* a good idea in these circumstances. I would recommend replacing it with some other starch &garnish preparation that's less fussy.

Tomato Consumme Caviars (or just consumme or foam...)

w Crispy Basil

Again with the deep fryer, not a good idea.

Beef Four Ways

Beef Tenderloin Tartar

w ???

Sliced Japanese Wagyu Rib Finger, slow roasted , brushed w soy

w sushi rice

Pan-Seared DryAged US Cube

glazed with bone marrow

Braised Beef Cheek red wine plum sauce

w ???

Why are you slow roasting wagyu? Sounds like the flavors don't really meld in this, I don't see anything that ties them together. You have the cheeks which are sweet and then the soy which is oriental and then marrow and tartare...

Foie Gras Duo

Pan-seared Foie Gras

w Black Cherry & Red Wine Reduction

and/or

Armagnac Foie Gras Terrine

w Brioche Toast

You realise that for 4 people, the appropriate serving size is about one slice of the terrine between the 4 of you? what are you going to do with the rest? You can't really downscale a terrine so you better have a good plan for the leftovers.

Cheese Course

Whipped Brie de Meaux

en Feuillete, Pepper & Watercress

Roquefort Trifle

w French Butter Pear Relish

Sicilian Cannoli

w Goat Cheese & Ricotta

Can you get cannoli shells small enough? Do you need 3 cheeses at this point?

Dessert Course

*Seasonal Fruit* Sorbet Shortcake

w Vanilla Creme Fraiche Sauce

Lemon Sabayon Brulee

in *Nut* Tart & Whipped Honey

Candied Apple

of Creme Farine & Poached Apples a la Mode

Sorbet shortcake? Sounds interesting and tasty if a little crowded.

Petite Fours

- Red Hot Truffles (infused w chilli)

- Citrus Shortbread (yuzu scented)

- Grape Jellies

- Pistachio Torte

Maybe cut down to a single petit 4 at this stage if you even get to here.

[wattacetti]

It's going to be interesting to see Sher.eats' V2 menu, though from her last post (16 elements) it's still going to be a lot of food to prep (excluding the kids' menu) and consume.

Shal - interesting course-by-course dissection of the original menu.

[Sher.eats]

Hello caring & wise eGulleters! Sorry for the delay.

The Menu v2.0 has arrived! A couple of things have been cut from the menu and the Jelly & Beef-Cheek have been tested tonight (pictures included below).

~~~~

Le Menu Degustation v2.0!

Sea Urchin in Lobster Jelly

& Cauliflower Cream

Liquid Ravioli of

Fresh Pea Soup and will be followed by:

Iberico Skin Cracking

Foie Gras Duo The guests did say that they like FG and therefore we would like to give them a tasting of FG in two ways.

Pan-seared Foie Gras

w Black Cherry & Red Wine Reduction

Armagnac Foie Gras Terrine

w Brioche Toast

Vegetable

Whipped Ratatouille Foam (w ISI Gourmet Whip)

I've tried this already, and ratatouille in a foam has a very nice flavor+texture (no picture )

Its appetizing flavor seems like an appropriate introduction into the beef course.

Beef

Pan-Seared DryAged US Cube

glazed with bone marrow

Braised Beef Cheek Red wine Plum sauce This should be plated separate from the Beef cube, and as shown in picture below.

w Potato Puree, Caramelized Baby Carrots

Cheese Course Since the guests have never had a proper cheese course, we thought making the roquefort, brie and goat cheese into "dishes" would be more welcoming in the guests' perspective. Each cheese dish will be bite-size.

Whipped Brie de Meaux

en Feuillete, Pepper & Watercress

Roquefort Trifle

w French Butter Pear Relish

Sicilian Cannoli

w Goat Cheese & Ricotta

Dessert Course cut down to one dessert

Candied Apple

of Creme Farine & Poached Apples a la Mode

Petite Fours Served w Coffee or Tea

- Red Hot Truffles (infused w chilli)

- Citrus Shortbread (yuzu scented)

- Grape Jellies

- Pistachio Torte

~~~~

Tested Dishes & Pictorials:

Sea Urchin in Lobster Jelly

& Cauliflower Cream, Dotted w Wasabi-infused Grapeseed Oil

The flavors (savory, umami, slight nuttiness, creamy) + textures (soft, smooth, melty) are very complementary and light. Good for an appetizer.

The jelly appears slightly foggy (How can I avoid the lobster stock from being foggy?), and I only bought the second grade sea urchin for the test, the actual will have the larger first grade sea urchin. The infused oil is ideally 'green' from parsley essence, but I just ran out so I had to substitute with wasabi, which was still barely green...

Braised Beef Cheek Red wine Plum sauce

w Potato Puree, Caramelized Baby Carrots

Soft falling-apart beef cheek, with an aroma of red wine & plum flavors. The potato puree is modeled after Robuchon's Echire-Butter Potato Puree, with extra cream for good luck . Tender caramelized carrots brings a gentle honey scent to the dish.

The actual portions are likely to be even smaller.

Thank you all very much.

More to come... hopefully soon.

Edited September 7, 2007 by Sher.eats (log)

[wattacetti]

Well, that's at least fewer components than version 1.

As it stands with your intended progression (and without any changes), it starts of light (jell-o, ravioli) and then goes very heavy before dessert (foie, beef, cheese). Texturally, apart from toast, crackling, and (hopefully seared rare) sirloin, everything else up to the cheese is soft.

Any thought as to wine pairings?

Sea urchin

Presentation's a little blah especially in regards to color. Would be interesting to see this as a free-standing cube of jell-o but that would be difficult unless you intend to also stabilize the cream and the oil.

Any thought as to a contrasting flavor and texture to play off the soft and creamy?

You can clarify the lobster stock by using the synerisis technique (add gelatin to the stock; let set and freeze; thaw block through a coffee filter).

Ravioli

I originally sided with the pea since I felt that the taste would be fresher overall than onion soup, but I can also see Shalmanese's point in that "it's been done." Now that the crackling is paired with the ravioli, how does the crackling fit with this apart from just being another texture either before or after the sphere?

Flavor-wise, I've had ham and peas before, but they were together on the same plate (and as a side). Others have already discussed how to encapsulate a solid within the liquid but doing that sort-of defeats the purpose of having crackling.

foie gras

Why the necessity of a duo?

Where does the ratatouille foam fit into this? Terrine? The flavors and textures of the foam work well together, or with the foie? I'm not really picturing this combination doing that well with either foie preparation.

beef

Where does the sirloin get plated? In hindsight this pairing reminds me of Harold Deiterle's Top Chef plate.

cheese

Tell me again why there is an insistence on keeping three cooked cheese dishes for your cheese course? Doesn't show off the cheese and just feels unbalanced.