planning a tasting menu HELP!

[makemewarmer]

I'm planning a 6 to 8 course tasting menu to serve at a dinner party with 6-10 friends. It's a project I've been wanting to take on for a while and I'm doing it now as part of a personal documentary film class I'm taking in school. I have a tentative menu that I've been working on and I figured I would post here for advice as I'm only a home cook (who hopes to cook professionally one day). Here is what the menu is looking like so far, some things I've tested and worked on, and others I haven't yet:

duck with red tea

duck legs braised in rooibos tea, vanilla parsnip puree, lime air

pork sundae

braised pork belly, duck fat butterscotch, rosemary marshmallow, curry banana, roasted walnuts

norwegian woods

smoked beer braised rabbit, concord grape, peanut butter curry mousse, quail egg, hen of the woods, wild boar bacon

bubble gum shot

bubble gum vodka, grapefruit, tarragon

s'moked

chocolate smoked sea salt ice cream, roasted marshmallow marinated in brown butter, black pepper, and cayenne

I'm also playing with a few other ideas:

maybe an apple carpaccio?

an encapsulated butternut squash soup? (aka butternut squash ravioli)

a course with olive oil ice cream?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

[Punk Rock Chef]

the first thing that really caught my eye was the duck and red tea. i think red tea might be a little too floral for duck. I did a dish not too long ago with roast cod in a fish fumet infused with red tea. the fish stock balanced out the tea nicely for a not too floral and not too fishy broth.

[Chris Amirault]

Welcome, makemewarmer! I had a few thoughts:

Overall the dishes seem... a bit forced. While I get the Keller-esque play here, I note stuff that would, at least in my head, produce a lot of dissonance for cleverness. In particular, I worry about the juxtaposition of rosemary, curry, and banana, and think that delicate rabbit might not make its existence known given the potent other ingredients.

The bubble gum shot seems misplaced. Given the attention to everything else, I guess I can't help but think flavored vodka, of all things, is a bit cutesy. What role do you see it playing in the course of the meal? It doesn't seem to me to function as a palate cleanser, or a dessert, or even interesting booze.

Maybe that's the question: what's the story you're trying to tell in this meal? What's the trajectory you're charting?

[mkayahara]

Are you really kicking off the meal with a whole dug leg as the first course? Or are you shredding the meat and serving it in some other form? Overall, I'd be worried about the amount of food you've got here: there's a lot of rich and sweet ingredients, and even with a good dose of balancing acidity, you may find that you quickly overwhelm your guests' satiety signals. Of course, it's hard to know for sure without having more information on the composition of each course.

[makemewarmer]

Welcome, makemewarmer! I had a few thoughts:

Overall the dishes seem... a bit forced. While I get the Keller-esque play here, I note stuff that would, at least in my head, produce a lot of dissonance for cleverness. In particular, I worry about the juxtaposition of rosemary, curry, and banana, and think that delicate rabbit might not make its existence known given the potent other ingredients.

The bubble gum shot seems misplaced. Given the attention to everything else, I guess I can't help but think flavored vodka, of all things, is a bit cutesy. What role do you see it playing in the course of the meal? It doesn't seem to me to function as a palate cleanser, or a dessert, or even interesting booze.

Maybe that's the question: what's the story you're trying to tell in this meal? What's the trajectory you're charting?

Thanks for the warm welcome, and thank you for the criticism. I understand your concern about the sacrifice of flavor for cleverness, it is something that I have certainly been concerned with. My approach to food is inspired by chefs like Grant Achatz, Andoni Aduriz, Rene Redzepi, and Quique Dacosta. I'm interested in utilizing food as a medium to convey ideas, emotions, and concepts; these are often the things I initially address when conceptualizing a dish.

I think you are right about the curry banana in the pork dish, originally I was going to do a balsamic poached cherry instead but since cherries are now out of season I've been trying to come up with something else. Any ideas?

The bubble gum shot is sort of a reflection of this past summer and is a miniature version of a cocktail my ex-girlfriend and I created. I sort of pictured it as a pre-dessert sort of thing.

Many of the ideas in these dishes were actually a collaboration between my ex-girlfriend and myself, so the story I'm going after is that of our relationship through food, or something like that. This menu was something we were originally going to create and serve together but now things have changed and the story is less about romance and more about nostalgia.

One of the other dishes I didn't post here was something we came up with called "First Date" which is a miniature version of the first meal we cooked together. It would be gnocchi, sage brown butter, and porcini mushrooms served as one bite in a spoon. That is what was going to start off the meal. I was apprehensive about posting this sort of stuff because of the personal nature of it.

hah, I hope I didn't get to mushy there or anything.

Any other suggestions/comments/criticisms would be much appreciated! You seem to understand the approach I'm going for, even though I didn't make it entirely clear. I hope this helps.

Are you really kicking off the meal with a whole dug leg as the first course? Or are you shredding the meat and serving it in some other form? Overall, I'd be worried about the amount of food you've got here: there's a lot of rich and sweet ingredients, and even with a good dose of balancing acidity, you may find that you quickly overwhelm your guests' satiety signals. Of course, it's hard to know for sure without having more information on the composition of each course.

As I said above I totally agree about the amount of richness and sweetness in the menu, and it is a concern. I'm not exactly sure why I'm attracted to the interplay of sweet and savory ingredients, but it seems sort of natural to me and it's something I need to be more aware of. If you have any other suggestions for ingredients/flavor profiles I would love to hear them.

The duck course isn't going to be the first course, right now the menu is still a rough draft and I just happened to write it in this order. It isn't going to be a whole leg, only a small portion of the meat, probably shredded as you said.

[therippa]

two thoughs...

-it seems like there is a little too much sweet, you are using marshmallows twice, the bubblegum shot

-I like the First Date idea.

[LindaK]

Welcome to eG! this is the sort of group project that we love, so I hope you take any criticism as constructive.

There are a lot of interesting ideas here (a pork sundae? you've come to the right place!) but I also think Chris A. is asking the right question about the "story" you want to tell with this meal.

I would echo the caution about the numerous sweet flavors that appear in all your savory dishes. Butterscotch (though a duck fat butterscotch does sound divine), marshmallow (twice!), peanut butter, bubble gum...I could not get through a menu with this many sweet elements.

Interestingly, while I agree with Chris that the bubble gum shot seems out of place, I can say that you have some good instincts with some of the flavor combos in that course. One of the best desserts I ever had was a vanilla souffle with a grapefruit-tarragon granita on the side. who knew? it was sublime.

[makemewarmer]

Thanks LindaK and therippa, your comments are so appreciated!

Maybe I will do a tobacco whipped cream instead of the marshmallow for the dessert course. I've been wanting to use tobacco as a flavor for sometime now.

I do need to get away from this sweet thing....

[Chris Amirault]

Thanks for the warm welcome, and thank you for the criticism. I understand your concern about the sacrifice of flavor for cleverness, it is something that I have certainly been concerned with. My approach to food is inspired by chefs like Grant Achatz, Andoni Aduriz, Rene Redzepi, and Quique Dacosta. I'm interested in utilizing food as a medium to convey ideas, emotions, and concepts; these are often the things I initially address when conceptualizing a dish.

Gotcha -- the Achatz connection especially makes sense to me given your comments about nostalgia.

I think you are right about the curry banana in the pork dish, originally I was going to do a balsamic poached cherry instead but since cherries are now out of season I've been trying to come up with something else. Any ideas?

The dish seems to have enough objects on it. How about a gastrique with a dried fruit, or some of Achatz's burnt toast sauce for bitterness? Just a bit of it on the plate as a counterpoint....

One of the other dishes I didn't post here was something we came up with called "First Date" which is a miniature version of the first meal we cooked together. It would be gnocchi, sage brown butter, and porcini mushrooms served as one bite in a spoon. That is what was going to start off the meal. I was apprehensive about posting this sort of stuff because of the personal nature of it.

I think that sounds like a fantastic amuse for lots of reasons: it's a great way to kick off the story in an unmanipulated, authentic reference to your past; porcinis are in season, and the entire dish screams "autumn," so it references time (both now and past); it's a classic dish that's both everyone's and yours -- sort of like love itself. Finally, it would also taste great.

hah, I hope I didn't get to mushy there or anything.

Nothing wrong with mushy.

[Tri2Cook]

One of the other dishes I didn't post here was something we came up with called "First Date" which is a miniature version of the first meal we cooked together.

I think that sounds like a fantastic amuse for lots of reasons:

Me too.

I also like the gastrique idea. A cherry gastrique would follow the sundae theme nicely and provide some relief from the fatty and sweet elements of the dish. Dried fruit is never out of season and, if time allow, you could infuse the vinegar you use for the gastrique with cherry to bring even more of the flavor.

The bubblegum shot could be reworked to be part of the story without hitting your guests with a mid-meal vodka shooter. I'm picturing something like a gelee of the bubblegum vodka, a grapefruit granita and a tarragon cream. Break up the gelee with a fork, fill a spoon with equal parts of the gelee and granita on each side, add a dollop of the cream at the back of the spoon and garnish with fresh tarragon. A single bite that makes the point, carries the flavors and retains the balance of the drink in a more textural setting.