"Hands-On" Dinner Party Revisited

[Mayhaw Man]

I think if you go in the Mayhaw Man direction you should do a showier New Orleans-style dessert...bananas foster come to mind instantly. Though the Cafe Brulot sorta adds the same kind of theatre.

I do not recommend alligator on a stick if you are going with this theme.

Actually, alligator on a stick could be fun.

Do you think it's EASY to get them to stop wriggling and biting long enough to get them on a stick?

Banana's Foster is a good idea, but I really like Cafe Brulot. There aren't many places that put on the whole service and I find talking somebody into ordering it every time it is available.

You could make a foster sauce to go with the peach sorbet. Peaches, bananas, and rum are a very good match if you have never tried it.

Edited to say: I think that "the Mayhaw Man Direction" should be added as another point on the compass- Maybe South X South

[Malawry]

Hey...Varm could combine Asian and New Orleans flavors! Alligator satays!

OK, OK, I'll shut up now. Another soup idea would be turtle soup, which I absolutely adore. You are inviting me, right?

[Mayhaw Man]

I LOVE turtle soup. Turtle soup would be good on this meu. Bag the gumbo and go for turtle soup and bisque, I say!

I love turtles-just don't ever get roped into cleaning one. Yuck. I have cut up alot of stuff, but those big alligator snapping turtles have to be the worst. I don't even know what all of that goop is, but there sure is alot of it.

Actually if he does this I probably will include a little alligator just for grins from Insta-Gator. The son of the guy who owns it is my son's best friend and I am there picking one or both of them up three or four times a week (it is all of a mile from my house). I actually like alligator sausage if it has enough pork in it. Otherwise it tends to be too lean for eating as a stand alone dish.

[Varmint]

We need to find some way to get andouille and tasso involved here, too.

Tee hee, this'll be fun!

[Varmint]

One great thing about this dinner is that although I don't have an unlimited budget, my firm picks up the tab! Thus, we don't need to focus on low-cost items.

[Mayhaw Man]

One great thing about this dinner is that although I don't have an unlimited budget, my firm picks up the tab! Thus, we don't need to focus on low-cost items.

Live Softshells

Louisiana Crawfish Tails

Lump and Backfin Crabmeat

Sashimi Grade Tuna

Cowain

Lemon Fish

Skin on Redfish Filets

Skirt Steak

Not cheap. Price was no object in this menu.

[Varmint]

I won't be getting ALL of that stuff, Brooks! Now the wine is where I truly kill the budget!

[davidthomas8779]

Hell, I may as well just lock this thread now! Those are awesome suggestions, Brooks. Damn.

Query: What do we do for the landlubbers?

Tell them that you're sure that someone else would be happy to take them out for a steak.

[Mayhaw Man]

I won't be getting ALL of that stuff, Brooks! Now the wine is where I truly kill the budget!

Cheapskate!

[fifi]

There is a Prudhomme recipe for crawfish or shrimp in a tasso cream sauce that is to die for. The trick is, getting good tasso. I have been unsuccessful in that endeavor here in Houston and am about to just order it from Prudhomme.

It is really a simple dish but I can't find my one book of his just now. I remember seeing him cook it on a Larry King intervew a few years ago and I had to try it. Absolute heaven. Of course, what wouldn't be with tasso and heavy cream.

[Mayhaw Man]

I have been unsuccessful in that endeavor here in Houston and am about to just order it from Prudhomme.

These guys have great tasso that you could order.

Or you could call these guys and see who sells the stuff in S. Houston or Galveston. They are in Church Point-hell you could drive over, buy stuff to fill your freezer at Hebert's and Richard's, eat lunch somewhere swell and drive home through Cameron along the beach (the Cajun Riviera ), through the refuge, cross the bay on the ferry and be home in time for cocktails (you'll need one or two after that whirlwind trip).

If you do it on a weekend I might even be persuaded to meet you for lunch.

[ElfWorks]

if it isnt too late to make a suggestion, may i offer this:

BRAZIL!

xo

[Varmint]

I'm going to go with Brooks' idea of a Gulf-themed dinner. This is what I'm considering right now:

Nibblers:

Some sort of seared, spicy seafood (bay scallops?)

Sausage/Tasso/etc platter???

App: Small crawfish pies

Salad: West Indies Salad

Soup: Turtle soup

Entree 1: Crab-stuffed shrimp

Entree 2: Seared skirt steak (or flank steak) with Marchand de Vin

Dessert: I'll probably do bread pudding -- easy and cheap

Cafe Brulot -- Anyone want to lend me their set-up, including the Brulot ladle?

I need to be able to dress up these plates. What would you serve with the steak or the stuffed shrimp? If there are sauces are garnishes that would go well, let me know. I've also realized we're focusin on shellfish and not fish itself. I can be convinced to change my mind.

Brooks, we'll have 20 eating. What kind of costs am I looking at here?

[fifi]

That sounds like a great idea, Varmint. How about fried okra for a side? (I put that in just to confuse Brooks. ) While you have the grease hot, you could fry some crawfish tails. The only thing I can think of that you will need to confirm is that none of the guests are Jewish or have shellfish allergies.

Where are you going to get turtle and what recipe are you going to use? I would love to be able to duplicate Brennan's turtle soup. I am not all that sure that the recipe in one of the cookbooks is authentic.

You might want to think about this recipe for Pickled Shrimp for nibbles. It isn't really Cajun but it is authentic Gulf Coast. It is absolutely awesome and you can make it a day or two ahead. Actually, that is preferred.

I have had a bread pudding (I forget where) that was flavored with Pernod that was pretty awesome. (Or was the Pernod in the sauce?)

How about our southern "national" corn pudding for a side for the steak? I am talking about the one that is basically a wet cornbread with creamed corn and such.

I am still working on sides for the stuffed shrimp. All I can think of is French Fries which is not very helpful. Maybe a creative slaw of some kind. I like the slaws that are NOT sweet and have shrimp and Cajun seasonings. Sweet onions are available now and are great in this kind of slaw.

[Varmint]

The dinner is on Friday, and I'm just now getting around to finalizing the menu, all based on what Brooks is able to find:

Hors D’ouevres

Marinated Grilled Gator Tails

Assorted Grilled Louisiana Sausages

West Indies Salad

Grilled Shrimp Cocktail

First Course

Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes with Spicy Remoulade

"Soup"

Shrimp and Andouille Gumbo

Fish Course

Roasted Lemonfish with Piquant Crawfish Maque Choux

Meat Course

Grilled Flank Steak with Marchand de Vin and Crispy Fried Green Tomatoes

Dessert

Peachy Bananas Foster

I'm trying to sort out the wine pairings on this. Any suggestions would be appreciated. What's a classic, light NOLA-ish cocktail we can do for pre-dinner?

[eunny jang]

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  What's a classic, light NOLA-ish cocktail we can do for pre-dinner?

Hand Grenades.

(just kidding, of course. Grown-ups carry on, please)

Edited June 2, 2004 by eunny jang (log)

[scottie]

A light Nola cocktail, hmm...

Sazerac?

Do you have any Herbsaint?

Pernod will do, in a pinch.

I don't think Brennan style Milk Punch really works here...

Maybe good ol' Mint Juleps.

Not 100% NOLA, but close enough, and more refreshing, and a little apropos with Smarty Jones and the Triple Crown coming up soon...

If not Juleps, then maybe Mojitos. People like those, they're refreshing, and everone knows New Orleans is just a colony of the Caribbean.

[Varmint]

Any champagne cocktails that'd do the trick?

[beans]

Varmint,

Let's start with some Champagne cocktail basics:

A few items are necessary: ice bucket, a bar towel, calibrated shot glass/jigger (or if you are skilled at eye-balling it ), a long bar spoon, flutes, ice, a paring knife and a small cutting board. Champagne cocktails don't need much shaking or stirring as the bubbles do a nice job at combining the flavours. Besides, you don't want to loose that fiz.

What is best is to chill the other ingredients, such as your liquor(s), liqueur(s) or fruit juice(s) prior to mixing the champagne cocktails. Place the liquor bottles in the freezer, the liqueurs and juices in the fridge will do the trick -- early in the day.

Most champagne cocktails, on average, uses about 4 ounces of champagne. Each 750ml will yield about eight cocktails.

Varmint, are your law clerks relaxed enough to be more of themselves than still on their best interview behaviour? I ask because I wonder if you'd expect each will have one or two pre-feasting cocktails.... That should help you out on how many bottles will need.

Also, I suppose expense and the message being sent here in this one would not be in order.

[Trump's] “You’re Hired” Cocktail (aka French 1000)

2 oz. L'Esprit Courvoiser

1 1/2 oz. Chateau d'Yquem Sauterne

1 oz. Fresh Grape Juice

Splash of Fresh Lemon Juice

Splash of Simple Syrup

1 1/2 oz. Dom Perignon

Served in a Champagne Flute.

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=39200

Here are a few to consider: (Southern theme with champagne)

Champagne Julep

This is served at the Savoy in Lodnod. The orange slices -- "squeezes" would work nicely, but the attractive half wheel may fit, depending on the size of the orange. Also, I suppose superfine, loose sugar would work as well if hesitant to use cubes.

1 sugar cube

mint (adjust to taste, etc.)

6 ounces Champagne

1 orange slice

Gently mash the mint and sugar in the bottom of the flute. Fill with Champagne and give it a quick but gentle swirl with the bar spoon. Garnish with with the orange slice and a mint.

Not big on mint?

French 75

This is the gin version. This cocktail is also made with cognac. Somehow this popped out thinking about the French Quarter, but really for no other reason.

1 Tablespoon dry gin

1 splash of lemon juice (a good squeeze from a slice)

4 ounces Champagne

an orange twist

Pour the gin into your flute, squeeze the lemon juice and toss away the piece of lemon. Slowly pour Champagne and garnish with the orange twist.

Sorry Varmint, these are not quicky making drinks and can be a bit more fussy than mixing a gin and tonic. But they're yummy. And worthy of fuss.

Champagne Bayou

A variation of the French 75.

2 ounces dry gin

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon superfine sugar

3 ounces Champagne

Mix as above, but put sugar into the glass first.

I found a couple of other Champagne cocktail recipes, at least in name would seem to fit in. However they both seem a bit on the sweet side. The Southern Lady calls for Cherry Marnier liqueur and rose petals and the Southern Belle combines amaretto and apricot brandy.

Hmmmmm. More New Orleans oriented cocktail classics would take some quick experimentation.

Maybe a variation on the Roffignac? Go with the cognac and sub the bubbly for the soda/seltzer?

I'll think some more on this. I think I'll give this lengthy post a break and scroll upward to review that menu again.

I hope some of this helps.

Oh, and have fun with those newbie law clerks. I used to back in those mischief filled, young legal assistant days. (get yer minds out of the gutter -- we had traditional pranks that we pulled on those yearly classes of eager beavers)

[Varmint]

Thanks, beans! This event most definitely puts the clerks at ease, because they are involved in making the dinner. And I've seen them all drink! Maybe I'll task one of them to be the champagne cocktail maker!

[Varmint]

I'm still recovering from Friday's party. We served 24 people, and each individual helped in preparing at least one dish. We also managed to go through 30 bottles of wine, so the photography is not great, and got worse as the dinner progressed.

Okra, just for Mayhaw Man.

Here's some of my mise. I did most of the prepwork, so the guests could have the ingredients ready for them to add to a dish. They had fairly basic recipes from which to work, too, as I wanted them to get a feel for cooking.

Some gator bites. These were marinated in lemon, orange, jalapeno and salt and then quickly pan cooked. I forgot the skewers, so they didn't hit the grill.

Grilled jumbo shrimp that were brined in beer, "spices", and worcestershire.

Three types of grilled boudin: pork, spicy pork, and gator. I served these with 3 different kinds of mustard. The boudin, gator and shrimp were hors d'ouevres.

Simple pan-fried crabcakes with a spicy remoulade. This worked very well and showed folks that it's better to go simple with the crab.

Shrimp and andouille gumbo served with extra crunchy fried okra. Adding the fried okra as "croutons" was something I thought might work, and it kicked ass. I intentionally overseasoned the okra just a bit, but it was perfect for the gumbo. The okra didn't get soggy and retained its crunch -- I added a bit of semolina to the cornmeal. By the way, I chose not to serve the gumbo with rice, as the meal was heavy enough as it was.

Fried okra. You just can't get enough okra, can you?

Roasted catfish with a piquant crawfish maque choux. This was actually too rich, as the crawfish and corn was so sweet and rich, you lost the flavor of the fish. Plus, we were starting to get a little silly in the kitchen.

Grilled London broil with fried green tomato and marchand de vin. The sauce was fantastic. This dish worked quite well, particularly with the amount of tasso and veal stock I used!

Peachy bananas foster, semi-melted. This was fine -- just a standard, classic dessert. It melted way too quickly, however, which shouldn't be a surprise when you make it for 24 people. The peaches were a nice touch.

We did different champagne cocktails, but in the end, many folks just wanted the champagne straight or wine.

[Mayhaw Man]

All Okra! All the Time! That's what I'm talking about!

It looks like things turned out great and I'm with you on the okra "croutons". I'll have to give that a try next time around. The veg. stands and the farmers market are filled with the stuff right now as it is just coming in (conveniently along with tomatoes, onions, and garlic-as they go together like Rogers and Hammerstein, or is it Jones and Wynette?).

Next time, try the maque choux with small hominy. It works great and is not nearly as sweet. The crawfish will become the center of the dish, as opposed to the sweet corn.

The peaches and bannanas thing looked great. I'll steal that too.

THose crab cakes looked pretty swell. About ten bucks apiece?

Wine list? Or was is just 30 bottles of Night Train, Strawberry Hill, and MD 20-20?

[Varmint]

I was actually able to find fresh jumbo lump crabmeat for 21 bucks a pound, so that made me happy. We made 48 mini-crabcakes out of 3 pounds of crab, so that's, what about a $1.30 each?

For the champagne cocktails, we used a nonvintage Castellblanch Brut Cava from Spain.

We drank a lot of 2003 Leverano Rose before dinner -- very crisp.

For the crabcakes, we had a 2002 Four Vines Naked Chardonnay. This chardonnay came nowhere close to any oak but still had plenty of richness. It worked well.

We actually served a red wine with the gumbo, a 2002 L'Oc de la Bouysse Rouge (mostly grenache, but the other grape boldened it).

We served a white wine from the same winery for the fish and maque choux. I was not memorable (and neither is the name).

With the beef, we had a 2000 Sequoia Grove Cab. It was a good choice for the price (about 23 bucks per bottle).

With dessert, a 1976 Smith Woodhouse Colheita Port. This was a bit too caramelly and rich. It went pretty well with the dessert, but I think a high acid wine would have been better.

Grappa, limoncello and aquavit came out after dinner. Ugh.

[Varmint]

Final cost: $822 or about $34 per person. Not too bad when you consider the cost of some of the ingredients that were used!

[Mayhaw Man]

Is that figure with or without tip?