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Second NY Potluck Dinner


SobaAddict70

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We'll also be on the later side, maybe 6 or 6:30. Pace yourselves (he says to a room full of people who have joined together solely on account of their inability to do so).

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Jason and Rachel will post photos later on.

Thanks be to everyone who came, because it wouldn't have been the success it was if it wasn't for you. :wub::smile::wub:

My top 5 favorites (in no order of preference):

1. Elyse's cheese biscuits cookie puff thingies;

2. El Gordo's brisket

3. Jason's larb meatballs

4. Rachel's watermelon sorbet with key lime zest and rum

5. the lobster and tomato salad -- can't remember who contributed that.

A good time was had by all, and the company rocked!

Soba

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The first dishwasher load is done, only two or three more to do (paper plates would not have done justice to the gorgeous, fabulous food). I can't list everything tonight, but it was truly a great evening for food and drink and company. Highlights of the evening were Jason re-circling the table to take new pictures everytime a new dish was presented, and some of "the girls" poring over my Naked Chefs with Their Blenders calendar. And seeing everyone, one at a time, get glassy-eyed as capacity was reached. :blink::wacko:

The full list tomorrow, to identify the pix (Belmont3 also brought his camera, but he's not the geek Jason is. But he'll learn. :raz: )

Mmm, pie.

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1.  Elyse's cheese biscuits cookie puff thingies;

2.  El Gordo's brisket

3.  Jason's larb meatballs

4.  Rachel's watermelon sorbet with key lime zest and rum

5.  the lobster and tomato salad -- can't remember who contributed that.

Elyse's warm Brazilian cheese things were in my opinion the best. Anybody who got one fresh out of the oven would be forced to agree. And Elyse's pecan pie was the second-best thing, in my opinion. Which means Elyse should be shot. But the amazing thing was that everything was exceptionally good. That's extremely unusual for a pot-luck event. As some of us observed, if you looked at the bowls and platters, there was relatively even consumption of everything. Also unusual for a pot-luck, where the typical situation is for only one or two dishes to be good so everybody with a brain eats just them.

Great to see everybody.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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potluck2-spread2.jpg

potluck2-spread3.jpg

potluck2-soba1.jpg

SobaAddict70 at work

potluck2-fatguy.jpg

Fat Guy in full form, notice the motion blur after I had 2 glasses of rum

potluck2-lurie.jpg

Jhlurie really doesn't always have the psychotic look. He is just mocking me.

potluck2-seafoodsalad.jpg

Bond Girl's AMAZING spicy seafood salad

potluck2-salad.jpg

Nice green salad with with oranges, furnished by Aquitane!

potluck2-quiche1.jpg

Bacon/Onion quiche by Belmont3, this one was completely consumed

potluck2-pecanpie.jpg

elyse's Awesome pecan pie. I am still salivating over it.

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Suzanne F's pate! Yay!

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=Mark 's awesome Pasta Salad Sunrise!

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Soba's .. uh.. soba-like pasta with sausage!

potluck2-pandequejo.jpg

elyse's Pan de Quejo, by far one of the best things at the meal

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The infamous Larb Balls, Two Ways.

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Watermelon ice cream with Valhrona "pits"

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Cheezy Crackers!

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Fat Guy's brisket

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Olive bread

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Jhlurie's awesome baklava, imported from NJ

Edited by Jason Perlow (log)

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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cool beans.

recipes to come tomorrow, I promise.

it was percatelli with a sauce of sausage and wild mushrooms. :hmmm:

there was also fusilli with roasted cauliflower, capers and anchovies.

nice photos, Jason.

We have to do this again sometime soon....

Soba

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I'm not going to post a recipe for brisket braised in veal-sherry stock. Or, rather, I just did. And three of the sauces were no-brainers: 1) Mix horseradish into sour cream until it tastes good; 2) Mix wasabi paste into Miracle Whip until it tastes good (Jason's contribution); and 3) Refrigerate, defat, re-warm, and re-season the cooking liquid. The only sauce that required some actual technique and thought was Veal-mayonnaise ala Scantland (follow link for discussion and recipe). Also, those attractive thick slices are courtesy of Suzanne F's electric knife, which she utilized with aplomb. (Note that is only half -- the smaller half -- of the 7-pound brisket.)

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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The first dishwasher load is done, only two or three more to do (paper plates would not have done justice to the gorgeous, fabulous food).

And if no one else will do this... bless you Suzanne for bearing the grunt work of our dirty dishes.

Good lord I need teeth whitening. No wonder I never smile (writing note to self to go buy Crest Whitening Strips...). And bags? I think I've got enough to fill the trunk of the Perlow's Caddy under my eyes.

Enough about me. No, not really, but we'll have to settle. I have to point out that the "Nice green salad with with oranges" was in fact much better than nice. The photo can't convey the dressing--which frankly was too complex for me to easily explain the taste. Belmont's quiche was excellent, and of course I'm right there with the hurrahs for the Pecan Pie and the Pan de Quejo. Larb balls were great, although I gave Jason the standard razzing for "not making them hot enough" (this is kind of a running inside joke).

So no one thinks I MADE baklava of that quality... they are about the only thing "store bought" at the dinner (hey, sorry... I'm the token bad cook at the shindig, but with good judgement). These were from a place called "Cihan Patisserie", in Cliffside Park NJ, which supplies these to top-shelf Middle-Eastern restaurants around the entire Tri-State area, where they jack up the prices by a factor of about four or five times.

Best of all? Plenty of ice!

Edited by jhlurie (log)

Jon Lurie, aka "jhlurie"

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I wanted to add my thanks to Suzanne and HWOE for their wonderful hospitality. Elyse is an amazing baker and everything turned out exactly as she intended. She will be selling some of her baked goods at Bloomfield's Farmers Market on Thursday afternoons (that's in NJ, click here for more details). The recipes for the sorbets, ice cream and larb balls are already posted on RecipeGullet.

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Holy cripes! That food looks AWESOME. It also sounds like you guys had a really great time. I'm glad to hear it!

Elyse: good job! Seems as though you stole the show with your offerings. They certainly look delicious.

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2) Mix wasabi paste into Miracle Whip until it tastes good (Jason's contribution);

Actually, the wasabi dressing is

1) big glop of Hellman's mayo

2) a WHOLE tube of Pacific Farms FreshWasabi.com wasabi paste (its gotta be the real deal)

3) a dollop of Maille or other french mustard

Edited by Jason Perlow (log)

Jason Perlow, Co-Founder eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters

Foodies who Review South Florida (Facebook) | offthebroiler.com - Food Blog (archived) | View my food photos on Instagram

Twittter: @jperlow | Mastodon @jperlow@journa.host

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Well that definitely should go in the recipe database. :laugh:

I'm still recovering from sensory overload. I agree with all comments on above-discussed dishes. In addition, did anybody mention the brandade? Or that green dip? Or that olive-loaf thing? Or the smaller cheese-crackers in addition to the larger cheese crackers in addition to the cheese puffs? Or the sorrel drink? Or the wines? Or Jon Lurie's low-carb chocolate-bar tasting buffet? Everything was so damn good, save for that last item. We must dwell on the pate as well.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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I'm glad you mentioned Bid. I had been meaning to tell a story.

When I went to my freezer to grab my veal stock for braising the brisket, as I extracted two quarts from behind a bag of peas and a bottle of Icy vodka, a plastic pouch in the way-back caught my eye. Could it be . . .

When Bid was in its final days -- this would be a little less than a year ago, I think -- several of us loyal customers were dispatched with little care packages. I believe the Perlows reported receiving some baking-chocolate. I received stock.

Yes, it turned out I had a unit of Bid veal stock hanging out there in the back of my freezer. I figured, Bid's veal stock has got to be better than my veal stock, it lasts virtually forever in the freezer, and this group deserves the best, so I decided to go for it. I put it on the stovetop in an evasee and brought it to the boil. I let it cool a bit and tasted. Yes, definitely better than mine.

And so, tonight those of you who sampled the brisket or either of the stock-based sauces participated in a historic event: a final taste of Bid.

Steven A. Shaw aka "Fat Guy"
Co-founder, Society for Culinary Arts & Letters, sshaw@egstaff.org
Proud signatory to the eG Ethics code
Director, New Media Studies, International Culinary Center (take my food-blogging course)

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Well, I am speechless. Honestly, I am so touched by all of your compliments. I means so much to me especially since I'm going to be in business with these two (or three) items. And ESPECIALLY coming from all of you gourmands, and might I say food snobs? :biggrin: I am really really honored.

Truly, the food was amazing. Each dish was as amazing as the last. I only wish I could have eaten more, but as it was, I went home with a fedache. I keep trying to think of what my favorite was, but it's like juggling. One thing takes the place of the last until I come back to the first. GREAT job guys!

And for Suzanne and HWOE, how gracious and kind you are to have had us. Thank you so much.

Don't worry, Heartlanders, Tommy sucks here too.

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I want to thank Suzanne and HWOE for hosting this shindig. It was great to finally put faces with all of you. I am in agreement with most, the pecan pie was amazing, my only disappointment, I was in too much of a food coma to eat another slice. Looking forward to next one, potlucks are fun when everyone can cook!!!

BTW; HWOE thanks for swapping bottles, looking forward to trying it, but hate to waste it on my roomies.

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