eG Foodblog: zilla369 - Derby Eats, Derby Week: Louisville, KY

[Pam R]

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Gorgeous!  I hope they enjoyed them - I love the flowers.

I'm catching up on what I've missed over the last few days - I hope you have a chance to sleep when this is all over.  Thanks for the wonderful blog 

Edited May 9, 2005 by Pam R (log)

[zilla369]

Please excuse me for my southern food ignorance Marsha, but what's a hot brown?  So far I see bacon, eggs, tomatoes, cheese (?)... are there potatoes underneath all that goodness?

Joie, you've got it almost exactly right. A hot brown is an open-faced sandwich that was invented at the English Grill in the Brown Hotel here in Louisville. It contains turkey, bacon, tomatoes, and mornay sauce. There is a starch underneath all that goodness, but it's toast points rather than potatoes. Although I could definitely get behind some potatoes as a base!

[zilla369]

Gorgeous!  I hope they enjoyed them - I love the flowers.

I'm catching up on what I've missed over the last few days - I hope you have a chance to sleep when this is all over.  Thanks for the wonderful blog 

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Thanks again, Pam. I would have been a nervous wreck without your input.

Hail to eGullet's powers of networking. That's what it's all about for me.

We're not worthy.

[zilla369]

Now that is a good julep!   I followed the recipe and YUMM-O! (ha-ha couldn't resist!)  I had a julep years ago and it was too minty and too boozy.  This is great sweet with the booze (and I get to control it).  I imagine as you go through the day- as with many mixed drinks- it will get stronger and stronger

Thank you very much for the mint julep recipe.

This blog is wonderful, and I love the mint julep recipe. Thanks so much.

I'm off to dinner at the home of some friends, and we'll be watching the Derby. Host has promised to make mint juleps! I'm very excited, as I've never tasted them before. But he said he has his own recipe and refuses to be swayed by anyone else's.  I'll be watching closely to see how similar his recipe is to yours. I do especially like your method of topping off the drinks. 

Thanks zilla369 for the charming post and recipe for mint juleps.

Marsha, I am very grateful for your excellent mint julep recipe (which you should certainly put on RecipeGullet!). As a northerner, I can't claim the status of an expert, but I drink these babies all summer, and your recipe will get some good green-finger-stained use around this house. I'll second your advice about a hefty mint sprig: the bouquet off of that sprig is crucial to the drink's appeal.

I guess i'm going to have to stop by the store today and pick up some good bourbon and mint

Oooh. Converts. Me likey.

I'm not going to try making that drink (in fact, like you, I should be asleep now), but it sounds like something I might actually like. Oddly enough, I like mint in leaf form (the leaves themselves or as tea) but dislike anything otherwise mint-flavored (candy, jelly, etc.). I'm going to try to find out where I might be able to get the drink as you described it in my neck of the woods without making it myself.

Hmmm. Wonder who makes the best mint julep in Manhattan? That'd be interesting to find out.

Michael L.: that's your mission - should you choose to accept it.

[ruthcooks]

The original Hot Brown contained no tomatoes, but pimiento pieces were used on top for decoration. To "uptown" the "Brown", use large croutes (think croutons) instead of toast. For each person, take two slices of a firm white bread like Pepperidge Farm. Trim crusts and cut one slice into two triangles. Brush both sides of all bread with melted butter and place on a baking sheet. Bake at 325 degrees until lightly brown on both sides, turning once. I don't think this takes long, maybe 15-20 minutes. They hold their crunch much better than soggy toast, and can be made a day or two in advance. The whole piece is placed in the center of the plate and the triangles on either side.

There are some mighty deplorable dishes being touted as Hot Browns, including ones with canned mushroom soup. It is never to be made with deli pressed turkey. (Shudder.)

[zilla369]

The original Hot Brown contained no tomatoes

She's right, of course.

Chopped tomatoes are a pretty common variance, however.

[zilla369]

I love the presentation of the samosas. How do you get the edges sealed? My filling always leaks out.

Egg wash.

And sometimes my pastry rises too much. How do you prevent the over-puffing?

After assembling the pastries, I always let them rest for a few minutes before baking or frying.

[Mooshmouse]

Joie, you've got it almost exactly right.  A hot brown is an open-faced sandwich that was invented at the English Grill in the Brown Hotel here in Louisville.  It contains turkey, bacon, tomatoes, and mornay sauce.

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Ooooh, mornay sauce. Even better than cheese!

[Pan]

[...]Hmmm.  Wonder who makes the best mint julep in Manhattan?  That'd be interesting to find out. 

Michael L.: that's your mission - should you choose to accept it. 

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I did indeed start some inquiries.

[therese]

The original Hot Brown contained no tomatoes

She's right, of course.

Chopped tomatoes are a pretty common variance, however.

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Or even sliced tomatoes. We traditionally eat them when we've got leftover turkey, after the winter holidays, when tomatoes wouldn't necessarily be available, but they so improve the dish that we use them anyway.

[Malawry]

I make hot browns for my girls for lunch once or twice a semester. They love them. Mine don't look nearly as nice as yours, though, Zilla.

Thanks for the wonderful blog and photos. It is an ass-kicking experience, but also a worthwhile one.

[zilla369]

Good morning.

Let’s hear it for the restorative powers of sleep! I got ten hours in last night, which is more than I’ve had in any two other nights combined during this blog week.

I’ve got some pictures left that I haven’t managed to post yet, so I’ll be posting those today, and I’ll also go back and try to answer any questions I’ve missed.

I live in a part of town known at “Schnitzelburg” – it was originally settled by German immigrants. There’s a neighborhood bar on just about every other corner.

Doggone it, Marsha- that nostalgic feeling that I mentioned earlier has just been kicked into high gear. That's my mom's old neighborhood, and a great one at that! My dad used to hang out at Flabby's.

TongoRad, here’s that picture of Flabby’s Divine Food, as promised:

Flabby’s is a neighborhood beer-and-fried-food joint down the corner from my house. They’re known most for their “Flabby’s Famous Fried Chicken”. People even venture out of the ‘burbs on occasion in search of Flabby’s chicken – it has that much of a reputation. You can pick them out right away – they always have that sort of deer in the headlights look, because Flabby’s is always populated by hard-core regulars. It reminds me of Moe’s (the bar on The Simpsons) in more ways than one.

[zilla369]

Part of the prie fixe this weekend was a dessert trio.

Now, if I’m being pragmatic, I know that a dessert trio is a great idea in theory. Guests love the trio. But I always throw a little fit in my head when I learn I’m going to have to make components for several hundred of them. I never get an event order for just a few.

If, god forbid, I make grumbly noises when I find out, the catering sales staff always says the same thing:

“But…they’re just tiny,” they theorize (and in order to remain calm, I always picture Chris Rock making fun of this argument). “That’s only one-third the amount of work, right?”

Well, actually, no. It’s exactly three times as much per-piece production (even though not three times volume). Add to that the extra trouble of making tiny versions of everything, and the tripled-or-more time it takes to plate them. Finally, top it off with three times the anxiety that the people working in pantry will be three times as likely to grow weary of plating them the way I demonstrate. I don’t work hot line or pantry during shows or other busy nights, because I’m the expeditor, working the pass. I could just break down and cry sometimes over what I see sitting in the pantry window, waiting to go out as a dessert trio, because I’m very, very particular. I’d like to see them all go out with the components in the same positions, turned just so at the proper angles on the plate, sauced in a certain manner. But sometimes I just have to close my eyes and pretend I don’t see.

And, frankly, when the rush dies down and I walk the floor talking to guests, everybody’s usually happy. No one has ever said “hey, we loved the dessert trio, but we noticed that our poached pear quarter was at three o’clock on OUR plate, and at nine o’clock on the neighboring table’s plate.”

I have to learn to pick my battles better, sometimes.

The trio on this weekend’s prie fixe was “Miniature Riesling Poached Pear, vanilla bean crème brulee, and Morrocan Cigar.”

Now, I can throw down on some crème brulee. In this thread (and several others) in the Pastry & Baking forum, we’ve discussed practically everything about crème brulee technique. Wendy DeBord recently revealed that she’s getting nice consistent brulees without a water bath. I am definitely going to be trying that experiment when I get some free time!

Normal-sized crème brulee is a staple of our dinner menu at the bistro, and I make probably a hundred of those a week.

regular-sized crème brulees

This weekend, I had to make about 400 miniatures.

Well….we didn’t have any vessels appropriate for mini crèmes, so Chef went out to a glassware supply and bought me 150 adorable shallow porcelain ramekins that were perfect. Note that he bought only 150, rendering them a tad less adorable in my eyes. You do the math.

However, he really came through for me in that he got the line cooks to poach all those pears, and he taught the pantry line to roll all those cigars (all that phyllo work on top of everything else would have sent me right over the edge).

Mini crème brulees, ready for the oven. Note the nickel in the photo for scale:

Traying up the completed minis to take to the pantry line. Aren’t they cute?

Regrettably, I didn’t get a shot of the plated trios, completed. I was a little busy at the pass whenever they were going out.

[zilla369]

Tuesday I had to make “Focaccia bites with plum tomato, fresh basil and parmesan” for a reception:

I love making bread. And I have an absolutely perfect place to make it – it’s too big to fit more than one side into this picture!:

Check out that prep table, baby. Fully twelve feet long by five feet wide, wired for electricity, and equipped with not one but two sinks with running water It’s in my separate pastry kitchen.

Unfortunately, with all the hats I wear, I don’t have enough time to make bread for regular service. So we buy in a really good par-baked yeast roll that everybody loves. But whenever I have to make focaccia for hors doeuvres, I just make a giant batch and bake the rest in loaves, which gets portioned and frenched to the tables along with the yeast rolls:

Focaccia bread with caramelized red onion and fresh basil

[zilla369]

Wednesday (I think…it’s all a blur at this point): Fancy reception and plated dinner at Glassworks, Louisville’s glass art mecca. This venue is adjacent to their gallery gift shops and overlooks the glass-blowing production facility.

When we cater here, they encourage us to use pieces from the gallery as centerpieces for the tables. Which makes for lovely tables, but I’m always paranoid that some ham-handed server or guest (or my ham-handed self!) will send one crashing to the floor. But so far, so good. Knock on crystal.

The dessert for this dinner was the full-sized version of the Riesling poached pear – later plated as part of the trio I posted about above. I love the flavor of the pear, which is poached in a mixture of sugar, water, Riesling and cinnamon. Usually I just plate them sitting upright (the pear, not me – I’m usually standing), in a shallow bowl with fresh berries around and mint leaves at the stem.

During the tasting in preparation for the dinner, the party coordinator expressed some interest in having a chocolate sauce design applied to the rim of the bowl. Had I been there, I would have tried to talk her out of it. Garnish a pear with chocolate sauce on the rim? Not only inappropriate, but also a logistical nightmare, what with transporting them and serving them (where, exactly, is the server supposed to steady the bowl with their thumb?).

But our catering sales department’s motto is: give the client what they want, no matter what. And, coincidentally, * ahem *…. I’m not welcome at pre-tastings anymore. Heh.

So….the only thing I could figure out was to plate the pears at the venue, rather than pre-plate them and transport them on speed racks. Because the coordinator wanted a soft, liquid-y chocolate sauce that one could theoretically swipe up with a bite of the pear.

Sorry about the blurry photos. I was sorta distracted, what with plating NINETY of these things:

Later on I heard that the catering staff had a hell of a time getting the extraneous chocolate sauce off the staging tables (which belonged to the venue, not us). By that point, I’d already rushed back to the bistro to expedite, so I wasn’t able to help clean up.

Mua-ha-haaa.

Damn, I can be perfectly evil, can’t I?

[zilla369]

Thanks for blogging, Marsha!

I love the South.  I would love to visit Kentucky some day.  Or move there.  If I can find a job 

Didn't you say you were moving, too?  How's that going?

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It's ground to a complete and utter standstill, that's how it's going. Luckily, I have until the 17th to complete the move.

[zilla369]

Quick aside: by the way, the poaching liquid left over from the pears makes an out-of-this-world mixer for champagne cocktails, so we feature those at the bar.

edited to add: And if you take the liquid and reduce the hell out of it, it makes a great dessert sauce, as well.

[zilla369]

Some random pictures from the week:

Fiddlehead ferns are in season. There are recent threads here and here about them. I’ve never eaten any, and I can’t wait to! I snapped this photo at the produce supplier when I was picking out edible flowers for the pavlovas. Definitely high-up on my “to-try” list.

Also added to the list of things I’ve never used, but am going to, soon: Organic crimson lentils.

I was intrigued by these cans:

Some sort of gelatinized sweet potato and quince. Has anybody used these? What are they used for? Do you melt them and use them as a liquid ingredient, or is it served in a wedge as pictured on the can?

Anyone in the know, please find or start a thread on them in the appropriate forum! I’d love to find out.

The amount of what I do not know almost overwhelms me at times.

For instance: Canned and ready-to-use ghee, that I ran across in the Indian market where I was shopping for samosa ingredients:

Of course, I’m not unfamiliar with ghee. I’ve just always made it myself when a dish calls for it.

But, regular and vegetable?! I’d like to know what sort of dishes would typically utilize vegetable ghee, and also see a recipe for making it yourself. Heh. I’ve been so busy, there’s probably a giant “Vegetable Ghee Rocks!” thread currently at the top of one eGullet forum or another, and I’ve been too busy to notice.

And what’s Irish Moss?

So many questions, and I had no time to ask the shopkeeper, who was very nice. He told me the samosa recipe I was shopping for sounded fairly typical, with the exception that most samosas are fried rather than baked. He also suggested trying them with toasted coriander seed rather than cumin seed.

[fou de Bassan]

zilla, thanks for blogging this week! I wish you much sleep in the nights to come. I can't say about the sweet potato paste but we eat quince paste with slices of queso fresco and a bit of honey. This makes a great snack in warm weather.

[TongoRad]

Flabby’s is a neighborhood beer-and-fried-food joint down the corner from my house. They’re known most for their “Flabby’s Famous Fried Chicken”. People even venture out of the ‘burbs on occasion in search of Flabby’s chicken – it has that much of a reputation. You can pick them out right away – they always have that sort of deer in the headlights look, because Flabby’s is always populated by hard-core regulars. It reminds me of Moe’s (the bar on The Simpsons) in more ways than one.

But it looks like they got rid of the dank! The dank!!!!

Just kidding- I really do appreciate that photo, it's just hard to resist a Simpsons shout-out. Those Flabby's folks are definitely doing something right, that's for sure. They've been there a loooong time.

I gotta get back to work now, but excellent job on the blog so far!

[zilla369]

But it looks like they got rid of the dank! The dank!!!!

No way, man. Flabby's invested in a Level III treatment of Perma-Dank® back in the seventies.

[zilla369]

Another recent event was “Taste of the Derby.” TOtD was a charity event held at Louisville Slugger Field. I sure wish I had pictures of actual food. I did take some, but they were poorly lit and not worth wasting your time over (the photos, not the food!) Guests paid $75 each to walk around and sample the wares of over 75 restaurants, caterers and liquor distributors. We brought Moroccan Roasted Leg of Lamb with Caramelized Onions and Raisins, and hob-knobbed with a bunch of other chefs and cooks from all over town.

I’ve only brought it up so that I can post three pictures:

Uber-microbrewery above the bar at Slugger Field:

A needlepoint pillow I glimpsed at a wine distributor’s booth:

And this. By the way, this is NOT “photographer’s fuel”, as I kept insisting:

[zilla369]

A shot of the Maker’s bottle I dipped myself at the distillery last Monday:

The dipping supervisor said my drippings were exemplary. That’s the best compliment I got all week.

Don’t worry, little bottle. I promise not to take your life on a Sunday due to blue laws.

[Behemoth]

Mama Sita's. That is hilarious. Given how "punny" all the Indians I know are, it probably was intentional.

Quince - it is good served in chunks, with cheese.

You got to dip your own Marker's Mark bottle in wax? That is too cool. I became a "Marker's Mark ambassador" so I could name a barrel after our favorite local Hamburg soccer team. All I got besides that was a bunch of wax swizzle sticks though.

Edited May 9, 2005 by Behemoth (log)

[zilla369]

Mama Sita's. That is hilarious. Given how "punny" all the Indians I know are, it probably was intentional.

Quince - it is good served in chunks, with cheese.

You got to dip your own Marker's Mark bottle in wax? That is too cool. I became a "Marker's Mark ambassador" so I could name a barrel after our favorite local Hamburg soccer team. All I got besides that was a bunch of wax swizzle sticks though.

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I have my own barrel, too. I tried to get them to show me the barrel (they're numbered), but it was buried deep inside one of the warehouses that were off limits to visitors. However, they assured me I'll get a notice when they open my barrel in 9 or ten years. They plan to have little ceremonies available for all the ambassadors' barrel openings.

Did you know, Maker's is the only bourbon whisky that rotates its barrels periodically during the aging process, moving them either towards the center of the warehouse (more insulated, less movement of the whisky in and out of the charred interior of the white oak barrel) or towards the exterior, more exposed to the weather, which causes more movement, thereby imparting more color and taste?

Say Yes to Noh! Heh.