Cache Dinner Club

[johnder]

congrats guys! You guys rock. I wanted to go out to Seattle before, now I am definitely coming!

John

[Ling]

Whew.  I didn't know that Lorna and Henry could do a down-home dinner rather than the usual crazy over -the top- gourmandise thay always display. I feel much less intimidated now.

That's one lovely red velvet cake. How much red food coloring? Frosted with????

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I love down home food. It's the stuff we cook for ourselves at home, mostly. We have a very casual Chinese meal scheduled for next month, also family style. I also can't wait for Southern Night II. There are so many dishes that I didn't get a chance to make.

I used 2 oz. of red food coloring. for 5 layers. So there's a little over an ounce of food coloring in that 3-layer cake you see there. (The other 2 layers were for a smaller private event.) And it's just cream cheese frosting with a squeeze of lemon juice.

John, we can't wait to cook for you in the near future, hopefully!

Edited March 14, 2007 by Ling (log)

[Shalmanese]

Bacon wrapped Bacon was clearly the most anticipated dish of the evening and it totally didn't disappoint. I was surprised by how slowly some of the diners were eating theirs, to "savor" it apparently, I don't have that degree of self control. The pork belly was so perfectly tender it just melted away in a river of pig fat, yum.

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You know, I really wanted to serve two big pieces of bacon wrapped bacon instead of one, but Mr. Lo thought that it would be way too much food. I just put up another encore event with the same "Kill You" dishes and I think I'm going to give people the option of getting another piece if they so wish...though they better have room for everything else to come!

Are you saying You had 12 extra Bacon wrapped Bacon pieces in the kitchen for leftovers? Oh my! Now you've gone and made me jealous.

[Ling]

No, he only braised half the pork belly I told him to buy. Then he braised the rest and wrapped it in bacon for the Tavolata crew when we went in for the dinner we won. But next time, I'll insist on extra BWBs for the table, if they want it.

[Pontormo]

I didn't have any time between cooking and plating to take any pictures of our past events, but here's the cocktail snack I made for the "Eat Your Veggies" dinner.

gougeres

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So, ummm, are there like puréed lima beans hidden in the dough?

I hope you're archiving the menus you create. I tried looking for the one for EYV on your link, but in vain.

Kudos, brava and bravo! I love the pictures of Lorna in her whites and Henry shaking a cocktail with verve.

Thank you for recording the meals.

Now, are plans for a meal of banned foods connected to Caché?

[hhlodesign]

Now, are plans for a meal of banned foods connected to Caché?

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Absolutely! We are headed to Canada this weekend to see what we can procure.

[Ling]

Pontormo, I delete the menus from past events, but you're right, maybe we should keep an archive somewhere. Off the top of my head, the menu for the Eat Your Veggies! night was:

-Caché cocktail, gruyere gougeres

-truffled, soft scrambled duck eggs with creamed spinach

-ricotta gnocchi with dried orange, raw milk Parmigiano Reggiano, and wild fennel pollen (<--that stuff was really expensive!)

-English pea soup with wild mushroom pie

-cardamom creme fraiche panna cotta and orange lace cookie

I forget the wine pairings.

[I_call_the_duck]

Bacon wrapped bacon? Duck confit pie? Truffled scrambled duck eggs?! Holy crap, all the more reason to make a trip to Seattle. Congrats guys, I wish you luck, and hope I can make it there in the future.

[ludja]

Hi Ling!

Congrats on your's and hlodesign's new adventures! The menus and food look great. Speaking of menus, are you printing up a menu for the guests at each meal? Menu design sounds like another area to have some fun with.

[Pontormo]

Pontormo, I delete the menus from past events, but you're right, maybe we should keep an archive somewhere.

-ricotta gnocchi with dried orange, raw milk Parmigiano Reggiano, and wild fennel pollen (<--that stuff was really expensive!)

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Well, since you obviously don't need to drum up guests, there's little need to build up the elegant web site anymore than you have. However, it would be a lovely addition (especially with a photo or two) and good resource for the two of you.

The menus you have posted are so beautifully orchestrated and incredibly tempting. I'd probably go with the Pig Fest if I had to choose, though both the Chinese & SW France are appealing, too. I can't wait to see what you do when the seasons change and the markets have ramps ( ?), fava beans, artichokes...

As for the wild fennel pollen, I believe divina posted something somewhere about what goes on to collect it and why it is so expensive. I don't know if it's gathered any place other than Italy & wonder what effect it has on the following year's wild fennel.

[Shalmanese]

I suggested to Lorna that she should post up the previous menus but they're not exactly hurting for publicity as it is, their next "We're trying to kill you dinner" sold out in 2 hours! As I said to Lorna, my current operating theory is that they're planning to kill all of Seattle, 12 people at a time.

[rockdoggydog]

I see that you are using the Mandarin names for the dishes for the Chinese dinner. You go Henry!

Rocky

[hhlodesign]

I see that you are using the Mandarin names for the dishes for the Chinese dinner.  You go Henry! 

Rocky

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But of course!

[Ling]

Hi Ling!

Congrats on your's and hlodesign's new adventures!  The menus and food look great.  Speaking of menus, are you printing up a menu for the guests at each meal?  Menu design sounds like another area to have some fun with.

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No, we haven't started printing menus for guests, but that's a great idea!

Pontormo: I can't wait for ramps, but since I don't know exactly which week I'll see them at the market (and because I plan all the menus weeks in advance), they'll just have to be something we try to incorporate into the menu the week I see them.

Rocky--that's my pin yin you're reading, are there mistakes? I am rusty...I had to get Henry to repeat each dish like 5 times in Mandarin before I could try to pin it down...

[scarlett]

Pontormo: I can't wait for ramps, but since I don't know exactly which week I'll see them at the market (and because I plan all the menus weeks in advance), they'll just have to be something we try to incorporate into the menu the week I see them. 

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Hey Lorna...wanna know what's in season in the Pacific Northwest? Use the guide over at Seasonal Cornucopia.

This was designed by a friend of mine who worked at the Herbfarm (to help plan seasonal menus). She just got a big grant so expect more bells and whistles in the coming months...but it's a great guide for a quick online reference.

Edited March 15, 2007 by scarlett (log)

[Gastro888]

Just curious, ever thought of making your own air-cured Chinese bacon for one of your meals? That would be a great things to have at your porky part!

[rockdoggydog]

Rocky--that's my pin yin you're reading, are there mistakes? I am rusty...I had to get Henry to repeat each dish like 5 times in Mandarin before I could try to pin it down...

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It looks just fine to me. On the other hand Henry and I can butcher pronunciations with the worst of them.

Rocky

[hhlodesign]

Rocky--that's my pin yin you're reading, are there mistakes? I am rusty...I had to get Henry to repeat each dish like 5 times in Mandarin before I could try to pin it down...

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It looks just fine to me. On the other hand Henry and I can butcher pronunciations with the worst of them.

Rocky

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Hey! Speak for yourself!

[phong]

Attended last night's Foods of the Parsis dinner at Cache. It was great meeting Lorna and Henry, and although it was our first time, we were warmly invited into their home. The food was awesome, and there were lots of laughs with good company.

It was our first time having mutton, and it was a good first time. My girlfriend has had an aversion to crab for years, but loved the dish that subbed in for the poppy and cashew chicken curry.

We're both looking forward to visiting Cache again. Thanks Lorna and Henry! (And Seema and Dilip!)

[Ling]

Thanks for the helpful link, Traca!

Just curious, ever thought of making your own air-cured Chinese bacon for one of your meals?  That would be a great things to have at your porky part!

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No time to do this before our pork feast this Sunday, but we might do this if we can find the space in our very tiny kitchen! I did buy good Chinese cured meats (lap cheurng, lap yook) in Vancouver this week to use for our Chinese meal on April 15th.

Glad you enjoyed the evening, Phong! Seema and Dilip did all the work for the meal you ate, so we can't claim any credit. All I did was hang out in the kitchen and snag extra helpings of the coconut crab and mutton curry. Delicious!

[Shalmanese]

I had a wonderful opportunity to "stage" at Cache tonight for their "pig out" meal.

The dinner started off with a wonderful appetizer of Grilled cotecchino and Chianti mustard on crostini as well as the signature Cache cocktail. The cotecchino is from Salumi and I told Lorna it tasted like really good spam which kinda made her unhappy. Oh well, I loved it with the Chianti mustard. Just Chianti wine and whole grain mustard but it's an amazing sauce and definitely one I'm stealing (with tribute of course).

Next up was Five-spice pork belly, scallion purée with housemade flaky sesame biscuits. I loved the burn of the szechuan peppercorn in this dish and it was just a really rich, satisfying combination with the scallion puree.

The main course was Port-braised pork trotters with roasted shallots on creamed cauliflower and a fried sage leaf garnish. The cauliflower paired off so well with the pork, a nice creamy texture like mashed potatoes but with that extra grassy note that lent it sophistication.

Finally, for dessert, was their Valrhona chocolate ganache tart with pecans and caramel with bacon brittle powder. We joked that this was probably the healthiest bacon you'll ever eat since any trace of fat had to be removed to keep the brittle brittle. The bacon added that touch of salt that gave a lot of complexity to this dish and the 10 year old madeira it was served with was a fantastic pairing.

Finally, there were the chocolate chip cookies Lorna serves at the end of every meal although I didn't try any of those this time.

Both times I've been, the food has been wonderfully exciting and the execution flawless. Seeing the entire operation from the back of house was definitely a fun experience and, as a starving grad student, one much easier on the pocketbook .

[Pontormo]

Seeing the entire operation from the back of house was definitely a fun experience and, as a starving grad student, one much easier on the pocketbook  .

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Starving?

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much"--even if she is a guy.

[Ling]

I had a wonderful opportunity to "stage" at Cache tonight for their "pig out" meal.

The dinner started off with a wonderful appetizer of Grilled cotecchino and Chianti mustard on crostini as well as the signature Cache cocktail. The cotecchino is from Salumi and I told Lorna it tasted like really good spam which kinda made her unhappy. Oh well, I loved it with the Chianti mustard. Just Chianti wine and whole grain mustard but it's an amazing sauce and definitely one I'm stealing (with tribute of course).

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Tribute would go to Mario Batali, as I stole the chianti mustard idea from his cookbook.

Oops, I made a mistake on the website--the sausage was the cotto from Salumi, not the cotecchino (although we have also served the cotecchino on a number of occasions.)

We had a guest sommelier last night, and I think his knowledge added a lot to the evening! I had a great time drinking the extra bottle of wine he decided not to serve...

Edited March 26, 2007 by Ling (log)

[Ling]

I catered an Easter brunch this weekend. Got practically no sleep trying to make everything at the last minute so it'd be as fresh as possible. The only thing I got a picture of was the strawberry walnut cream danishes, which came out of the oven 10 minutes before they were delivered along with the second wave of pastries to the client's house. The danish dough recipe comes from Baking with Julia.

[MarketStEl]

Wow!

Had I run across this thread earlier, I might have retimed my West Coast vacation.

I'm going to want to keep track of this so I might be able to plan my next Seattle trip around one of these dinners if at all possible -- and trust me, this first trip to Seattle won't be my last (of course, having a brother and niece who live in Woodinville provides additional incentive).

Photos and report of that wonderful dinner (and cocktails beforehand) coming Real Soon Now. I promise.

--Sandy, back in the thick of things in Philly/Chester