Food on the Sand

[filipe]

Imagine it's a warm Summer evening and you have to serve some fine dinning at a place like this :

You have no kitchen in the place. You have no water.

You might have some electricity (and so, maybe a fridge, a microwave, a toaster, a blender... not much more than that).

You might have some gas too.

You can do some food preparation and wash the dishes by the end of the feast, at a kitchen which is about 300m far from the place.

What would you serve ?

How and where would you cook it?

And don't forget it's fine dinning... ( I know this might sound like a Iron Chef challenge, but it's not )

Thanks in advance

P.S. - Don't worry about regulations and similar stuff, this is not in the U.S.

Edited March 10, 2008 by filipe (log)

[Basildog]

How did the unregulated dinners go down? is this a similiar thing?

[filipe]

How did the unregulated dinners go down? is this a similiar thing?

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it's a "in-between" thing...

[Domestic Goddess]

We do this all the time in the Philippines. No kitchen, no running water. When we're at the beach (especially on a remote island), we grill. Portable grills are easy enough to tote and so are the stuff to barbeque (steak, fish, kebabs, etc.). Just make sure that the plates are sturdy enough to handle the food.

[Doodad]

Start a fire for the grill station, dig a hole with hot coals for an oven. A wok on a portable gas ring solves most else.

[Chris Amirault]

filipe, can you say a bit about what you and your guests think "fine dining" means?

[filipe]

filipe, can you say a bit about what you and your guests think "fine dining" means?

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Yeah, that's the question.

For a start, "fine dinning" doesn't include grilled sardines...

It can include some grilled stuff but it shouldn't be nor look like a "barbecue menu"

Some well balanced and well presented salads might manage. Other cold entrées, as they can be prepared in advance, can work fine as well.

My main doubts are about the hot dishes. I guess it's completely nonsense not to serve fish at a beach place. So fish HAS to be in the menu. But grilled fish is the average offer in the surroundings. There's no oven. There might be a wok, a saucepan, boiling water... Any ideas on how to deal with fish with these cooking conditions?

Some grilled shrimps can work ok, if well balanced with some fresh or grilled vegetables... Anyway, the main problem about grilled stuff is the smell, as we're outdoors, and there migh be wind bringing the flavours to where they aren't desired...

Forget about risottos, It won't be easy to make them perfect at a "kitchen" like this. Pasta can work ok too, but i would like to avoid it.

But then there comes meat... I have some ideas "bubbling" on my mind but I'm really needing some help on here.

[Megan Blocker]

And don't forget it's fine dinning... ( I know this might sound like a Iron Chef challenge, but it's not )

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More like Top Chef, if you ask me!

I recently had a great roasted shrimp dish with Greek yogurt - it would probably work well with grilled shrimp, too.

[hathor]

Ceviche.

Then you are free to use your heat source for the meat.

[Doodad]

Steam the fish in parchment and stacked bamboo steamers that you can keep rotating through a pan on a portable gas ring. The right shaped pan could hold two steamer sets.

[RAHiggins1]

Blow torch and some Ahi Tuna

Roast Lobster by wrapping in aluminum and throwing in the fire's coals

Bring a gas grill and use it as a 2 eye burner. It's gas.

Not sure what kinds of meat you intend to prepare.

You could make in advance, Tartare or Carpacchio.

Beef or Pork slow roasted on a spit can be a wonderful thing.

If you bring the gas grill you could braise just about anything.

I find it really hard to cook at the location and not arouse palates. How do you mask searing meat over an open flame and why would you want to?

Edited March 11, 2008 by RAHiggins1 (log)

[hummingbirdkiss]

I am sorry but fine dining or not if you can not have grilled food on a beach then what is the point? ..not all grilled food is "BBQ" some dishes that come from the grill are very luxurious ..petit skewers of all kinds of tasty things plated nicely.....perfect premade cold sauces on grilled fish or other ...I can not imagine you would rule out a grill just because it is "fine dining"

sorry I should shut up ...maybe I can not help here because I don't get how grilling can not be "fine"

[RAHiggins1]

Seafood Paella over an open fire, how could you not call it fine?

[Chris Amirault]

I think that the issue filipe is struggling with has to do with expectations. Whatever we all think of grilled sardines or shrimp -- wondrous things indeed -- guests at this sort of event are looking for refinement, precision, and the like, which grilled just doesn't communicate.

I started wondering about whether or not cured things might work. Ceviche is one option, for sure, but it's expected; others include variations on the lox/gravlax theme with different fish, sophisticated smokes, etc. I'd also consider a crudo course with impeccably fresh stuff.

There might be some possibilities around other courses using the beach as a theme. For example, what about a carpetbagger-style dish involving beef and oysters? You could braise short ribs with five spice and serve the meat in a luscious pile topped with an oyster and kecap manis. Or a variation on rumaki using thinly sliced duck ham, foie gras, and an oyster?

[KarenDW]

how many guests, on average, and how often can you replenish your supplies from a "real" fridge?