21 for 21 in 21 for my 21st

[Abra]

Your menu plans leave me uncharacteristically speechless, so I've only been lurking here until now. But I was all set to post "Shalmanese is a girl???" Whew, I knew you had to be a guy!

[Shalmanese]

Lets talk sorbets. It's winter so the range of fruits leaves something to be desired although strawberries are surprisingly decent. I want to extend my range a bit from the pure fruit sorbets that I've been making. I'm thinking a kiwifruit/tamarind/lemongrass sorbet, a Chilli-Lime sorbet with shavings of dark chocolate on top and a strawberry-balsamic sorbet with shredded basil. I want to do a pure navel orange sorbet as well but that goal has always been elusive for me to capture the purity of then navel flavour without comprimise and I don't think I'm yet up to the challenge. I would infuse the lemongrass and the chilli into the simple syrup the day ahead and then blend with the fruits.

Thoughts? I don't know about spicy desserts. They seem kind of gimmicky to me yet theres no reason why it shouldn't work.

Also, the scallops are being sadly bumped off the menu for the bread and butter pudding.

Edited July 19, 2006 by Shalmanese (log)

[Ling]

I've never tried bread and butter pudding, but I make my bread puddings with croissants or brioche. Just another option. (And I would definitely serve the bread pudding with a bourbon caramel sauce.)

I had an amazing Poire Williams sorbet this year that was just wonderful...I'm quite sure they have fresh pear in there too, because the body of the sorbet is so ripe and full. I also love lemon basil sorbet. The strawberry balsamic sorbet idea sounds great.

Edited July 19, 2006 by Ling (log)

[Shalmanese]

Lamb is coming from Rutherglen Lamb. Yet another provider which I've always been meaning to try but not had the chance to.

[Daniel]

Hey Shal,

I was wondering about the service you are going to do.. If I were doing it, I would break it down into 5 different phases.. .

Phase I. Breakfast: 3 dishes 7-930 am

Here I would do like a pancake, bacon, eggs, waffles, all very traditional fair...

Phase II. Lunch 1: 6 dishes 11-2

Here I would do all the heavy stuff...

Phase III. Lunch II. Here I would do like 4 dishes... 3-6

You have the snacks and stuff you were going to make.. Because dinner is going to be heavy too..

Phase IV: DINNER 7 Dishes

Phase V: Late night

Those awesome burgers you were talking about.. I really need to make those suckers.. To me 21 thing is limiting But I think we both suffer from the same over cooking problems...

In terms of spacing I was thinking there should be two big meals.. So an early big lunch I and a late dinner. Who knows, what are your thoughts?

[Shalmanese]

Pretty close. I have breakfast, sourdough bread and the dips coming out before 10. A series of light, small bites from 10 to around 2ish (carrot soup, braised shanks, duck salad, oysters, Coca Cola chicken, ravioli) interspersed with sorbets as palate cleansers. Around 3pmish is when the big food comes out for lunch, the brisket, risotto and bread and butter pudding. Then more sorbet, Another series of small bites (ceviche, pumpkin soup, ultimate bar snack). This is the light part of the day in preparation for dinner and this is probably going to be when the bulk of my socialising occurs. Dinner lateish, probably around 8pm. Starting with the rack of lamb, then the pizzas, cake and some creme brulee to finish, all rich foods. should be done around 10 - 11ish.

I dont want to keep a rigid schedule though. I want to keep a bit of sponentaity to it so I'm theres no absolute timing to everything. Logistics will constrain it a bit but it'll be what I think is right for that time.

It's amazing how closely we have the schedule.

[Shalmanese]

a question: The outer skin of a truffle has to peeled before using right? If I steep those trimmings in EVOO overnight, will that be enough time to make truffle oil? Should I finely dice it? blend it? steep and then strain or dont bother straining?

edit: also, what would be the difference between using a truffle slicer and a vegtable peeler?

Edited July 19, 2006 by Shalmanese (log)

[BryanZ]

This is so spectacularly bad ass, seriously. I'd offer to help, but I'm too far away.

You shouldn't have to peel the outer skin of the truffles, but you will likely have some trimmings left over. I might suggest making a truffle infused stock. Given the amount of time and truffles your have, I would probably prefer that.

[Kim Shook]

Shal, I am drooling! Do not forget to chronicle this in photos - including the prep. We food dweebs like prep shots !

edited because cronicle is actually spelled: chronicle

Edited July 20, 2006 by Kim Shook (log)

[Shalmanese]

Oh, most definately. One of the guests has a digital SLR so there should be some nice shots on the day. I'll take some photos of all the shops I visit as well to give you guys a sense of what the food shopping scene is like in Syd and so I have some record of it when I leave.

[BryanZ]

This will be like its own mini-blog. I'm pumped.

[Shalmanese]

Oh god, the enormity of this is finally hitting me. I just finished drafting a very basic shopping list and menu plan and the full scope of this project is finally evident. On my very preliminary run, my shopping list has run to 80 items and there are over 250 seperate things components to be assembled. Theres probably going to be another 30 or so things that I've forgotten on the first pass and I'm going to have to comb through this carefully and plan the logistics out VERY well.

For those who are interested, I've put the excel file up here so you can see what stuff I'm going to be needing. Among other things, I'm going to be needing 60 eggs, 5kg of flour, over 2L of cream, 50L or so of drinks, about 8kg of sugar... oh god.

Slowly starting to fall to pieces.

edit: updated list. 110 things to buy, 274 components to assemble. 60 eggs, 2L of cream, 6 sticks of butter, 1.5kg of cheese, 8Kg of flour, 6kg of carrots, 25 lemons, 20 limes, 8kg of sugar, 21 bunches of herbs, 6 bottles of dried spices...

Edited July 21, 2006 by Shalmanese (log)

[Rebecca263]

Hey, you're still 20! Plenty of youthful energy to draw from, kiddo! Go for it!

edited by me:oops, you're already 21! Maybe you're getting tired in your old age.

Edited July 21, 2006 by Rebecca263 (log)

[Shalmanese]

Rutherglen has apparently had a huge backlog of orders since a media piece on their lamb and cannot fulfil my order . I'll get some from the snooty butcher down the road but I was looking forward to the Rutherglen.

[Daniel]

Hey Shal,

I am thinking its something like Wednesday the 26th over there, but here its your birthday!!!! Happy birthday. Hope you have a great year and lots of luck in Seattle..

Edited July 21, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Shalmanese]

A sneak peek at the menu as it currently stands:

Edited July 22, 2006 by Shalmanese (log)

[Daniel]

Menu looks and sounds awesome.. I am going to start digging now, I will hopefully be there by the Chimichurri Lamb.

Edited July 21, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Shalmanese]

Onto the drinks,

I'm thinking of having a general drinks table where people can serve themselves. There will be homemade Lemonade and Sangria a couple of bottles of cheap but decent red & whites some spirits with mixers, fruit juices and soft drinks.

I'm also thinking of doing a mini wine pairing with the food as well for those who are interested (not everyone there is a big drinker). I'm not too experienced with wine pairing or wines in general so I would appreciate some help in this area. I'm thinking a fairly assertive white to go with the oysters, duck and carrot soup. Then a switch to a big heavy cabernet for the Shank, Risotto and Brisket. A nice, minerally NZ Sav Blanc for the Ceviche, Ravioli and Chicken then a lean Pinot for the Soup, Lamb Pizzas and finish off with some Champagne for the desserts. 5 wines in total aiming for about 2 - 3 glasses total per person at maybe 16 people. Should work out to be 10 bottles or so right? 2 of each wine?

What about a basic cocktail bar? What would a minimal set be? Keeping in mind, this is a rum & coke, gin and tonic crowd, not martinis and manhattens.

How much liquid should I budget per person? How much alcohol?

edit: From here

At a standup party, guests typically consume an average of two glasses of wine per hour. Therefore, if you expect fifteen guests for a three-hour hors d'oeuvres party, you will need thirty glasses of wine, or five bottles roughly one bottle for every three people enjoying wine in moderation.

So for 21 people in 21 hours, I'm going to need 882 glasses or 147 bottles of wine . I hope they'll throw in a stomach pump as well.

Edited July 21, 2006 by Shalmanese (log)

[Shalmanese]

So... did a bit more thinking with a foodie friend. The vanilla creme brulee is far too boring. Going to replace it with a granny smith apple one with apple chips.

Had too much chilli/lime on the menu as well so the chilli lime sorbet is going off. Had a tough time deciding on a replacement. Managed to come up with something which I think should be fairly cool: a cucumber gin sorbet. The backing notes of the juniper should pierce through the nice iciness of the cucumber. Dunno if it'll work but I can taste it in my mind. We'll see. Probably going to me more of a granite than a sorbet though. Any thoughts?

Still wavering on the Duck and the Ceviche. The recipes sound pleasant enough in my head but they don't grab me like the others do. If anybody wants to suggest a modification, I would be happy to hear.

[Daniel]

Do like a cooked duck thing then.. A duck quesadilla or a t-basil duck spring roll... Or duck on skewers with a basil dipping sauce.. Or little duck pizza's.. And replace that for the ceviche..

Edited July 21, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[Kim Shook]

Do like a cooked duck thing then.. A duck quesadilla or a t-basil duck spring roll... Or duck on skewers with a basil dipping sauce..  Or little duck pizza's.. And replace that for the ceviche..

←

Yep, I second this! Love the idea of a duck quesadilla. Or you could borrow this recipe and make it with duck.

Shal, I read your shopping list. What is 'speck'? And if you keep track, I'd love to see a total at the end of this project. Don't forget to have fun!!!

[racheld]

A sneak peek at the menu as it currently stands:

←

Chris just walked up beside me, looked at the menu and said, "What is he, a Hobbit?"

[Daniel]

I just posted this duck quesadilla in the 3 am thread.. I was drinking so I dont recall the recipe.. But I would smoke my own duck.. And then do something nice with it..

Edited July 22, 2006 by Daniel (log)

[lexy]

Are you going to have assistants to help you out? I enjoy cooking for friends too, but if attempted solo this menu looks like it could become a bit of an ordeal.

[Shalmanese]

Yes. Currently, I have 3 people to help me with shopping in the morning, 6 people to help prep on the friday and as many people as I can rope into doing the cooking on the day. I'm trying to have an "executive chef" model where I'm rarely in the kitchen and everything is delegated out. We'll see on the day how well that theory will work.