Report: 2009 Heartland Gathering in Kansas City

[Kerry Beal]

I've been experimenting with the Smoke 'n Choke today. I made a fat washed batch of bourbon, then made a drink with that and then one with regular bourbon. I didn't get as much smokey flavour as I would have liked - perhaps due to the bacon I used - but I'm wondering if I could smoke something inert like eggshells then infuse the smoke into the bourbon that way.

Anyway - after a quick taste, I combined the two drinks, added a bit more cynar, a couple of drops each of lemon oil, orange oil and Canadian maple flavour - and used it as the liquid in a water ganache with white chocolate. It's a lovely combination of flavours - the sweetness from the maple and the bourbon, then the bitter hit from the cynar. Molded it in some white chocolate shells I had around. Tasty - although right now a tad boozy. Hoping that will mellow out a bit overnight - before I take them in to work tomorrow.

[moosnsqrl]

I finally got my pictures up from the weekend.  It's all Kansas City, though not all eG stuff.  I got a lot of pictures at Crum Farm, but not much of the other eating.  Oops.  Pictures are on flickr.

I want to add my and my mother's thanks to the organizers--it was a fantastic weekend.  Crum Farm was our favourite meal.  The food was great as was the company, but the setting and the Crum family (including my new friend "Buddy" and my new human friend Isaac) really made the meal special. 

Saturday's dinner was spectacular, and Toby's cheese course was outstanding.  Being cheese-deprived in Japan, I really took advantage of the abundance in volume and variety offered.  Yes, I'm a pig!  And Toby was especially kind in picking up 4 kinds of root beer for me to try!  Lost Trail was the winner of the night, and Foster's was the loser ("natural" doesn't belong next to "root beer").  I didn't try the diet one which I think was Virgil's.  The special Virgil's was in a really cool bottle, and it was second in my taste tests.

And Tom needn't have worried about the focaccia being lost next to the other crackers and bread.  Once I saw the focaccia was out, I used it exclusively as a carrier for my cheeses, and I ate some naked (the focaccia, not me) just to appreciate the beauty of it.  I got most of the leftovers of the second batch of focaccia.  First my mother took about 1/3 of the batch, and then I went back and took about 2/3 of what was left.  There was still a little left, and Tom offered it to me, but I was too embarrassed to take it, so I said, "No no, it's OK, we have lots."  My mother wanted to take the rest, too, but she was also too ashamed to do it.  Then today we were talking, and we said, "We should have just taken it!  Who cares if we looked like pigs!"

And I for one appreciated the break between Kerry's curry and Edsel (and Tom's) meat dish.  I was approaching explosion, and the break helped the food in my stomach digest a little, so I could make room for more food and dessert!

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It was great meeting you and mom and, even though you're focaccia hogs, you're always welcome

[prasantrin]

It was great meeting you and mom and, even though you're focaccia hogs, you're always welcome

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Oink oink!

[jgm]

Foccacia hogs? You speak of that as if it's something less than respectable!

Let's not get started about me and the bacon chocolate. (How do you spell a combination moan and oink? Oooooooooohiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiink?)

[moosnsqrl]

Some answers to life's persistent questions about Crum's Farm:

Anyway...someone asked about the crops we had planted...

Here we go...

bottom of the hill to top

Hoop House...tomatoes, cukes

Broccoli, asparagus, garlic, green beans, onions, eggplant, peppers, beets,tomatoes, kale...red and tuscan, chard, cabbage, pattypans, zucchini, yellow squash,

At the Edwardsville field...potatoes...Kennebec, Purple Majesty, German Butterball, Banana, carrots, onions, turnips, leeks

We have just planted the last two seasons some apple, pear, damson plums, blackberries and red rasberries. Yes...strawberries are in the plan for next year!

We have a small herb garden. Mostly basil to go with the tomatoes, right?

Already gone for now is lettuce, spinach, greens, peas, spring onions and garlic, radishes...fall however is just around the corner...

Itis rhubarb that I have started in the greenhouse...soon to be company with broccoli, cabbage, lettuce....I'm sure I'm forgetting something....

Oh yes...our bee keepers names are Ivan and Paula Owen...their number is 913.788.5017 and they sell from their home across from Providence Hospital.

Hope this helps answer the question about what we grow!

[Marmish]

Some answers to life's persistent questions about Crum's Farm:

Anyway...someone asked about the crops we had planted...

Here we go...

bottom of the hill to top

Hoop House...tomatoes, cukes

Broccoli, asparagus, garlic, green beans, onions, eggplant, peppers, beets,tomatoes, kale...red and tuscan, chard, cabbage, pattypans, zucchini, yellow squash,

At the Edwardsville field...potatoes...Kennebec, Purple Majesty, German Butterball, Banana, carrots, onions, turnips, leeks

We have just planted the last two seasons some apple, pear, damson plums, blackberries and red rasberries. Yes...strawberries are in the plan for next year!

We have a small herb garden. Mostly basil to go with the tomatoes, right?

Already gone  for now is lettuce, spinach, greens, peas, spring onions and garlic, radishes...fall however is just around the corner...

Itis rhubarb that I have started in the greenhouse...soon to be company with broccoli, cabbage, lettuce....I'm sure I'm forgetting something....

Oh yes...our bee keepers names are Ivan and Paula Owen...their number is 913.788.5017 and they sell from their home across from Providence Hospital.

Hope this helps answer the question about what we grow!

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Thanks, Judy, for the detailed info. I didn't realize they also farmed another field.

[Aaron Deacon]

Wow, what a tremendous weekend! Many thanks to all those who made the trip to Kansas City. Sorry to take so long getting this written up.

Lidia's, Manifesto, bluestem, and the Crums all met or exceeded my expectations, which isn't always the case with these sorts of events, and for that I'm especially appreciative. The weather also cooperated beautifully, especially Sunday morning, when we feared a more typically sweltering late July day.

The BBQ tour wasn't as logistically problematic as I'd feared, but Arthur Bryant's was off its game, unfortunately. That's becoming the case more frequently, I still really enjoy it when it's on, but our group didn't get one of its best efforts.

LC's easily puts out my favorite BBQ in town, and while I found it very good last Friday, on its best days, it's even better. The beans in particular, seemed a little sweeter, a little less meaty and spicy than usual.

OK Joe's was better than I remembered, solid BBQ though still not my favorite. A previous visit caused my wife to describe it as “BBQ for people who don’t like BBQ.” I’m still not completely sold, but you can’t argue its popularity.

And Woodyard is just a jewel of a place...love that big outdoor smoker, patio, and special thanks to Frank Schloegel for making a special trip (after the guy at the counter called and told him we'd showed up) to come chat for a while, and then giving us all some sauce to take home.

(An aside…I wish we’d gone to Smokin’ Guns, I’ve been a couple times in recent weeks, and their ribs are worth the trip, different than LC’s, more competition style, but with a great, spicy rub and nice texture.)

The dinner on Saturday night was my first such event, and what a crazy, madcap, wonderful one it was. Great food and fellowship all around. It was such a pleasure to meet you all and so much fun to cook together.

I also want to extend some additional thanks to all those who weren't attendees, but helped make the whole weekend possible (some have been mentioned above since I started writing this earlier in the week).

--All the folks who hosted us throughout the weekend of course—ChefCAG, the Crums, Ryan at Manifesto, Paula at Studio 2131.

--Extra props to Ryan for swinging by on Saturday to whip up an item from the yet-to-be-released Manifesto menu: the Pisco Spice Trade. This may be my favorite Manifesto drink yet.

--Also to Alchemist from The Violet Hour for donating some of his summer bitters and sharing the recipe for the Part & Parcel, which I mixed up while Ryan was serving his drink.

--To the local brew behemoth, Boulevard Brewing Company, which pitched in some Single-Wide Pale Ale and Saison, even though I failed to pick them up on time. Boulevard brews were still well represented throughout the weekend—dividend picked up a good variety for Saturday; there were a few Smokestack series in circulation at Lidia’s; at BBQ and bluestem on Friday; and the stout was featured in Fat Guy and torakris’s tempura batter.

--The Market Master at City Market who gave us some interesting history prior to our shopping.

Finally, a huge thank you to moosnsqrl for being such an amenable and complicit partner in this madness. I’m amazed, looking back, at what a compatible planning pair we seemed to be. It’s been a real pleasure.

Oh, and one other unintended consequence of having people come to your city for this event is how well I’ve been eating since you all left. My brother was served a delightful short rib dinner for his birthday earlier this week; the kids have greatly enjoyed our shrimp curry; white lotus smoked salmon and cream cheese; BLTs with ronnie_suburban smoked bacon; more BBQ than I knew what to do with. It’s been delicious, and finally, I believe, gone.

Oh, and finally, Saturday recipe. I can’t take credit for any of the good parts of the griddled cornbread/pulled pork dish on Saturday, though I can take credit for taking these two superb pieces and mucking them up a bit.

Zeemanb produced the delicious smoked pork butt.

My wife cooked the cornbread on Thursday, and came up with the simple genius of griddling leftover cornbread in butter with salt and pepper. Such an obvious use, I hesitate to even say “came up with” because I’ve no doubt this has been done for ages, but I’d never seen it in all my cornbread-eating years.

We now eat it frequently for breakfast with maple syrup and maybe some sausage. And it can make a great savory course too.

I added a little tomato sauce to Zeemanb’s pork (tomatoes, onions, salt, pepper, Mexican oregano). Atop the pork were fresh green zebra tomatoes and fresh corn from the market, a little cilantro. Also cooked some purple hulls with some of Ronnie’s bacon and some market onions. A little okra crumble on the side, okra (unrinsed, soaked in buttermilk, Tabasco, salt, and pepper) tossed with corn meal and fried in the leftover tempura oil.

The griddle corn bread was what I really wanted to highlight here, but I got caught up in market fresh adornment. Oh well. The pork was wonderful.

Cheers,

Aaron

ETA: There's a little of this upthread, but I'd love to hear more about what else those who came early or stayed late ate while they were here.

Edited July 31, 2009 by Aaron Deacon (log)

[prasantrin]

The day after our Crum Farm visit, we headed back out in that direction to Kansas State University in Manhattan. For some reason I thought it was only an hour away from KC, but it was more like 2 hours. Oops.

We mainly just wanted to see the place because my dad did some graduate work out there, but when we found out there was a Dairy Bar, we wanted to go shopping, too. They've got a little store with freezers and coolers at the back filled with products the students put out.

All sorts of hard-to-find (for us) beef and pork products as well as standard cuts. We picked up some skirt steak, bacon, lots of cheese (cheddar, monterey jack, and pepper jack) and I can't remember what else. I don't know about quality (I don't think the meat is organic and there's no mention of how the animals are raised), but it was sort of interesting. They also have diary products like butter (all out when we were there), cheeses (the cheddar was packed just a couple of days earlier), milk (chocolate milk only came in a 1 litre or imperial equivalent container, so I couldn't try it), and ice cream. The ice cream is so-so.

I don't know if it's worth the two-hour trip--we had wanted to go out there after Crum Farm but the store is closed on Sundays--but it was sort of interesting.

Manhattan is pretty limited in terms of restaurants, so we went to Texas Star which is the brother of Hibachi Hut (they're right next to each other and share an entrance). Food was find, but not worth two-hours driving time just to eat there. The only reason I'm mentioning it is because of the root beer.

They had root beer on the menu, so I asked what kind of root beer they had. The server replied, "Actually, we just got rid of the root beer and got diet Dr. Pepper instead."

?!??!?!?!

I was soooo sad! What's up with Dr. Pepper in KC/MO? Where's the root beer love? I always thought root beer was an American favourite, but I think it's more popular in Canada than the US.

[moosnsqrl]

Wow, what a tremendous weekend!  Many thanks to all those who made the trip to Kansas City. 

The dinner on Saturday night was my first such event, and what a crazy, madcap, wonderful one it was.  Great food and fellowship all around.  It was such a pleasure to meet you all and so much fun to cook together.

Finally, a huge thank you to moosnsqrl for being such an amenable and complicit partner in this madness.  I’m amazed, looking back, at what a compatible planning pair we seemed to be.  It’s been a real pleasure.

Oh, and one other unintended consequence of having people come to your city for this event is how well I’ve been eating since you all left.  It’s been delicious, and finally, I believe, gone.

I agree wholeheartedly on all counts (but sub Aaron's name for mine; I didn't find myself all that amenable much of the time).

And I have to add a hearty thank you to my s.o. of 23 years (today, as a matter of fact), who has quietly and imperceptibly become pretty darn helpful; in the kitchen and in life.

[ronnie_suburban]

I did thank them both in person but I just wanted to extend additional on-line thanks to both Aaron and Judy for organizing an utterly amazing weekend. I feel like I really got to experience KC, especially with stops at Manifesto, Crum Farm and (unofficially) El Camino Real, which all seem relatively off the beaten path.

Also, a big thanks to Steven for taking on the nearly thankless task of organizing the group dinner, which was really fantastic. Steven, our meal benefitted greatly with you at the helm.

I also would like to thank Chris Hennes for not only bringing and sharing some of his amazing chacuterie but also for being an absolute beast on clean-up duty. We all got to do our cooking things and eat on time because of the great job that he and (his wife) Karen did. THANK YOU, both!

So . . . where we goin' next year?

=R=

[moosnsqrl]

I also would like to thank Chris Hennes for not only bringing and sharing some of his amazing chacuterie but also for being an absolute beast on clean-up duty.  We all got to do our cooking things and eat on time because of the great job that he and (his wife) Karen did.  THANK YOU, both!

=R=

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I second that. I could really get used to making as big of mess as humanly possible and just tossing it to some poor galley wench and saying I need it back clean STAT! Amazing how fast power goes to one's head.

They did a GREAT job and I think we would still be there cleaning if it weren't for their dogged persistence.

On a semi-related note . . . Toby, I have your Corningware dish. If you PM me contact info for your north KC friend I will attempt to get it to her before I break it. Those little yellow dots worked - as we stood in the prop pantry staring at probably no fewer than 2 dozen similar white, fluted baking dishes I was ready to abandon hope but very near the top of the first stack, there was the dot.

[jgm]

Hmmm...I've been looking for the Steve Paul article in the KC Star. I thought it was supposed to be published today. I'm not seeing it online. Anybody know anything?

Jenny

[Kerry Beal]

Hmmm...I've been looking for the Steve Paul article in the KC Star.  I thought it was supposed to be published today.  I'm not seeing it online.  Anybody know anything?

Jenny

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He said his deadline was mid August. So maybe another week or two.

[Lior]

Absolutely a fascinating read. I have to go back and read, I "gulped". Maybe then I will understand some more. Heartland etc... (?) Anyway I am totally "green" once again. But glad everyone had such a wonderful time.

[Aaron Deacon]

Also, a big thanks to Steven for taking on the nearly thankless task of organizing the group dinner, which was really fantastic.  Steven, our meal benefitted greatly with you at the helm.

I also would like to thank Chris Hennes for not only bringing and sharing some of his amazing chacuterie but also for being an absolute beast on clean-up duty.  We all got to do our cooking things and eat on time because of the great job that he and (his wife) Karen did.  THANK YOU, both!

Yes, huge second on both counts....in trying to remember all the little thank yous, I omitted two very large ones.

[tino27]

Just in case anyone was interested, starting with this morning and continuing through next Wednesday are five blog entries that are posting related to my Heartland Gathering Kansas City experience. Today's post is all about making focaccia dough for the dinner we had two Saturday's ago.

You can read about it here: Focaccia is Fantastic

And yes, the recipe is included.

[dividend]

^^^Yeah!

I've been thinking about this focaccia for a week. Can't wait to try it!

[Aaron Deacon]

Turns out the bourbon in the Smokin' Choke is actually smoked, rather than fat washed.

Smoking the bourbon:

Making the Smokin' Choke:

[Kerry Beal]

Turns out the bourbon in the Smokin' Choke is actually smoked, rather than fat washed.

Smoking the bourbon:

Making the Smokin' Choke:

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Thanks for those links Aaron. My cold smoking attachment for the Bradley showed up while I was gone, thinking I can do some sort of Rube Goldberg thing to get my smoked bourbon (likely won't do a litre though). Think I'll also experiment with a drop of liquid smoke and see how that compares.

Of course if you happened to have an old bong around you could probably use that too - you might want to come up with some other method to get the smoke flowing than sucking on it however.

I was interested to see the proportions for the cocktail - I assumed a whole lot more cynar would be used. And for my version it was!

Edited August 7, 2009 by Kerry Beal (log)

[tino27]

The pictures from our amazing brunch at Crum Farm on the final day of the weekend are now up and posted on my blog. Please feel free to stop by and check them out.

You can read about it here: Brunch Is Bountiful

There are also two entries (the previous two before the brunch) that detail our dinner at the 2131 Studio space as well.

[tino27]

Not to be a thread hog, but I just received a Tweet from Steve Paul this morning, the reporter from the Kansas City Star who attended all of the events from this year's gathering, and he said that the magazine article he is writing is scheduled to appear on August 30th (assuming it doesn't get bumped).

[joiei]

The pictures from our amazing brunch at Crum Farm on the final day of the weekend are now up and posted on my blog. Please feel free to stop by and check them out.

You can read about it here: Brunch Is Bountiful

There are also two entries (the previous two before the brunch) that detail our dinner at the 2131 Studio space as well.

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I enjoyed reading such a complete posting of everything I had to miss. I love my job but sometimes - .

[Chris Hennes]

Not to be a thread hog, but I just received a Tweet from Steve Paul this morning, the reporter from the Kansas City Star who attended all of the events from this year's gathering, and he said that the magazine article he is writing is scheduled to appear on August 30th (assuming it doesn't get bumped).

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He tweeted about it again today, so it looks like it's still on.

[prasantrin]

He's got a picture of Kerry's curry up!

[jgm]

The whole story is now up: CLICK

Edited to add: No doubt several people will want copies from the print version. If you will contact the newspaper, I would think they would allow you to purchase copies of the magazine only, and send via snail mail for a reasonable fee. If not, contact me and I'll see what kind of plan B I can concoct.

Edited August 28, 2009 by jgm (log)