5 Egulleters and 3 SOs

[stefanyb]

This is just the opening salvo.

Dinner for 8 was enjoyed this evening and I'm here to post what I remember. The hope is that everyone else will contribute their memories and recipes etc.

The menu, as far as I can remember:

A nice wedge of Rolf Beeler Gruyere as openers

Barbequed shrimp (in the shell with head fat) from a Paul Prudhomme recipe

Cornbread for mopping up sauce

Mixed greens salad with many additions including grapes

25 hr. slow-cooked pulled pork shoulder with sauce

Dirty rice with pheasant sausage

Cooked collard greens with ham hocks

Sweet potato pudding with pecans

Cole slaw

Lemon macaroon cake

New York Style cheesecake

Tea

Someone else correct and amplify please. FYI, everything was made by one or another egulleter, except the cheese

[jaybee]

Gee, Babbo's menu has changed a lot since last Thursday! You must have asked Mario to cook for you.

[Toby]

We decided to forget about Mario and do it ourselves.

Dinner was wonderful. In all the talk about chef's cookbooks, I sometimes forget how wonderful Paul Prudhomme's first two cookbooks are. I've never cooked anything in either of them that didn't come out perfectly. Huge quantities of butter do help. The barbecued shrimp were so good and had a lovely amount of perfectly seasoned sauce. Prudhomme always wrote about balancing spices and herbs so that the flavors "dance" on your palate, each spice hitting a different part of your mouth, and yet the seasoning wasn't excessively spicy at all.

The cornbread recipe is two different recipes cobbled together. First you have to cook some grits. I get yellow grits in bulk at Commodities Natural Store (I actually think what they sell there is closer to polenta). I used to buy fancy stone ground grits at Dean&Deluca, but they went rancid very fast. Either is preferable to instant grits or the white supermarket stuff.

I cook the 1/4 cup of grits in 1 cup half&half, a teaspoon of garlic, and a small amount of salt and black pepper. Bring to a simmer, turn heat down very low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring once in a while. Let grits cool. (They can be made ahead and refrigerated).

For the cornbread: sift together 1 cup yellow cornmeal, 1 cup white flour, 1-1/2 tablespoons sugar, 1 tablespoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon salt. In another bowl, mix together 1/2 cup of the cooled cooked grits and 1 large egg. Mix well, breaking up the grits. Add 1-2/3 cups buttermilk and mix again until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in the oven in either a 9" round cake pan or a 9" cast-iron skillet. Let the pan get very hot and the butter really start to bubble and even get a little brown. Pour all but 1 tablespoon of the butter into the buttermilk-egg-grits mixtures and stir well. Sprinkle a spoonful of flour over the bottom of the baking pan and pour the batter into the pan, working quickly, as the mixture immediately stirs to rise. Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper and/or freshly crushed red pepper flakes over the top of the bread and bake at 450 for 35 minutes. Let rest for a minute or two and then turn out of the pan.

(I actually made two breads, one in a cake pan and one in a cast-iron skillet. The cake pan one always rises a little more and seems slightly lighter in texture; the one made in the cast-iron pan is crustier.)

I'd never eaten real pulled pork before, done in a smoker. It was amazingly good, as was the sauce served on the side.

I would love to have recipes for the sauce and for the beautiful cheese cake.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Now who spent 25 hours cooking a pork shoulder?

[Miguel Gierbolini]

No one. "You set it and forget it."

[Liza]

Now who spent 25 hours cooking a pork shoulder?

If I'm not mistaken, that sounds like a CathyL extravaganza.

[CathyL]

It was and I did. Not quite 'set it and forget it,' but close.

I would have been happy to make a meal of the shrimp and cornbread. Lord, what a heavenly combination. The collards, dirty rice and sweet potato casserole were just as fabulous.

The sauce for the pork is mostly cider vinegar, tarted up with ketchup, Worcestershire, onion powder, ground chipotle and a little Kitchen Bouquet. It's based on a Lexington NC-style 'dip' from Bob Garner's "North Carolina Barbecue: Flavored by Time."

I also want Stef's cheesecake recipe, and Nina's secret vinaigrette.

Fantastic food, great company and SO much more fun than almost any restaurant experience I can think of.

[Shermar]

Leftovers?

[La Niña]

I just ate lefovers for lunch: sweet potatoes, dirty rice with sausage, salad, cheesecake, and lemon cake. And I ate a spoon of one of ahr's peanut butters....'

ahhhhhh.....

Nobody talked about the wine - we brought a '98 Bandol which I really liked...

...will post my "secret" vinaigrette later...

[La Niña]

Fantastic food, great company and SO much more fun than almost any restaurant experience I can think of.

It was really so, so much fun. Thank you, CathyL, for providing your home (once again!).

[Toby]

The Bandol was delicious, as were the two white wines (names??).

The rice, actually, was red rice with smoked pheasant sausage, not dirty rice. (I'd originally thought of cooking dirty rice, but changed my mind.)

Just had leftovers for dinner myself.

[CathyL]

Yes, the Bandol was lovely.

One of the whites was Ca' del Solo Big House White, a Randall Graham production - inexpensive and fun to drink. The other (courtesy of ahr) was a very nice Bordeaux - Chateau du Cros sauvignon blanc.

Such a treat to have friends over who do most of the cooking! Thanks to everyone for helping with cleanup too.

A consultation is in progress here as to whether the leftover pork, coleslaw and greens should be shared with the friend stopping by and probably staying for dinner, or whether we should hoard it and order Chinese.

[La Niña]

Hoard it! Hoard it!

[Sandra Levine]

I'd never eaten real pulled pork before, done in a smoker.

Do we have a local Col. Klink? CathyL, do you have a smoker?

[stefanyb]

I have no idea from where this Cheesecake recipe originates but I call it Florence and Al's Cheesecake after a couple I once knew 30 years ago who were wonderful cooks and lovers of all things porn (not that that has anything to do with the recipe but I thought everyone would get a kick out of it). It was their recipe.

This cake must be baked in an 8" round cake pan with 3" sides

NOT A SPRINGFORM!

you will also need a 10" round cake pan for the bain marie

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

1 T. softened butter

32 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups sugar

2T. lemon juice

1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Generously butter 8"pan, line bottom of pan with wax or parchment paper and butter the paper

Put graham cracker crumbs in pan and shake around covering all sides and bottom;shake out excess crumbs

Cream the cheese and sugar until well combined and light

Add eggs one at a time beating well after each addition

Add lemon juice and vanillla

Gradually increase speed of beater and beat until there are absolutely no lumps

Fill 8" pan with batter and place into 10"pan; add 1 " of boiling water to 10" pan

Bake 1 1/2 hrs until lightly brown on top

Do not open oven door any more than necessary

Turn off oven and leave cake in oven for 20 minutes

Take cake pan out of oven and place on a rack for 4-5 hours

Place sheet of wax paper and a flat plate over top of pan and invert onto plate; remove bottom wax paper

invert again onto cake plate

Chill overnight, eat

Get fat

You asked for it, you got it.

Thank you Cathy for your generosity and putting up with the unholy mess we made.

Edited December 10, 2002 by stefanyb (log)

[La Niña]

My "secret" vinaigrette:

First of all, no EVOO. Never.

Walnut oil

Vegetable oil (I use Mazola, but it's not so important what brand - corn oil and canola oil are okay too)

Balsamic vinegar

Red wine vinegar

mayonnaise

dijon mustard

salt

pepper

pinch of sugar

one big clove of garlic, crushed

juice of one lemon

dried thyme

I do about 1/3 walnut oil to 2/3 vegetable oil. about 1/3 balsamic to 2/3 wine vinegar. Oil to vinegar is between 2:1 and 3:1. Start with that. Then adjust your other things depending on how much dressing you're making. If I'm making a cup of dressing, I use a healthy teaspoon of mustard, a tablespoon of mayonnaise, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme, etc. It's a little different every time. Sometimes I put in a little cider vinegar. Sometimes a little tarragon or rosemary. Sometimes extra garlic. The sourness of the lemons can vary, so sometimes I add a little more oil if need be, at the end. I use a little whisk to mix it, then keep it in a glass jar with a lid so I can shake it just before dressing the salad. I always make extra, and it lasts fine for at least a few days..just take it out of the fridge a little bit ahead of time.

[Sandra Levine]

Sounds delicious, Nina.

[Toby]

Yes, thank you Cathy, and you too, Stefany, for the cheesecake recipe. This was, beside being delicious, the most beautiful cheesecake I've ever seen. It was golden brown all over and perfectly smooth. And thank you Nina, for vinaigrette recipe. The salad was great, especially the grapes in it.

Edited December 10, 2002 by Toby (log)

[helenas]

The rice, actually, was red rice ...

For the first time yesterday i tried to cook red (camargue) rice. The instructions on the packet said 25 minutes: after 40 minutes it was still not cooked, and i declared a complete failure (i hope i can tell the difference between chewey and uncooked ).

No side dish that night, luckily we had plenty of wonderful country bread from WholeFoods.

[Toby]

Helena, "red rice" as a dish is a South Carolina low country preparation -- it's more like a rice pilaf -- I fried some diced bacon until crisp, removed bacon, then sauteed some sliced smoked pheasant sausage (or could use andouille, or tasso) in the fat, poured off most of fat and reserved sausage, then stirred rice around in the fat left in pan, added some tomato puree and let it cook down, then added chicken broth, salt and sausages, brought to boil, turned heat low, covered and cooked for 30 minutes. Served garnished with scallions (and also parsley, but forgot to add that) and reserved bacon pieces. (As a critique of the rice, I put double the amount of broth to rice, and it was a little too much liquid -- rice was a little sticky; also, it needed better seasoning -- it was a little bland, I put a lot of Tabasco on it when I ate it.)

I've never tasted camargue rice, but am curious about it. I've seen it at Kalustyans.

[Sandra Levine]

Toby, did you use regular long-grain rice? This sounds delicious, too. With a salad, it would be enough for dinner.

[Toby]

Yes, regular long-grain rice (I used Canilla, which may have been the wrong rice, because it doesn't need as much liquid; Carolina might have been better). I've also made it with popcorn rice (from Louisiana, comes in a cloth bag) and that was great. And with a salad, it's really enough for dinner.

[CathyL]

Do we have a local Col. Klink?  CathyL, do you have a smoker?

I have two smokers, a largish one and a little one. I'm hardly in the Col.'s league, smokewise, but I do love playing with fire.

Thanks, Nina & Stef, for the recipes. I'm going to try & forget I ever saw the cheesecake one...

[tigerwoman]

I have no idea from where this Cheesecake recipe originates ...

This cake must be baked in an 8" round cake pan with 3" sides

NOT A  SPRINGFORM!

you will also need a 10" round cake pan for the bain marie

Here's a old pastry chef trick if you only have a springform pan.

Wrap the pan in a single oversized sheet of HEAVY DUTY aluminum foil. Then the water from the bain marie won't leak in and you can use the springform release method.

You could also subsitute a roasting pan for the bain marie pan but that might change the results as it won't be as close to the other pan (reflective heat???)