I saw this and I was really pissed that I had not heard about it. Joe Beef (the #1 restaurant I want to go to on the planet) teaming up with L’Abattoir (My pick for the #1 restaurant in Vancouver) for a 12 course, $145 dinner in Vancouver. I would have booked my hotel the day it was announced and driven up to Vancouver for it. Heck, I did once drive up to Vancouver for a cooking demonstration.
I then found out the event was only open to holder of the Visa Infinity card, which seems to only be available in Canada and to Canadians. They have a dining series like this and I did actually see if I could get on the invite list, but alas, you have to have the card and you need to have an address in Canada to get one.
The meal looks amazing and I would have killed someone to be part of it. I think it was a bargain at $145 for 12 courses, with wine, gratuity and a copy of the Joe Beef cookbook included. Based on the account it was an overindulgent, rich meal, which is exactly what I would have expected from those 2 restaurants. I guess that I will just have to settle for drooling over my computer screen and going back up to L’Abattoir next time we are up in Vancouver (you should really go if you have not been) and trying to go to Joe Beef the next time I am in Montreal, whenever that might be.
Check out the pictures of this meal and tell me you wouldn’t have wanted to be part of it.
I have never been shy about my love for the local taco truck, El Camion, which has locations in Ballard, SoDo and North Seattle. I do go there frequently and I do tend to order the non-gringo items on the menu (tripas, cabeza, lengua and chorizo) and I love them. Actually, I am not sure I could tell you what their other stuff actually tastes like, but I am sure it is good. When you go to the truck and there is a Mexican in line ahead of you, I can almost guarantee that they will order one of the four above meats. Heck, I have had Mexicans in line behind me ask if I knew what I was ordering because they are surprised that a white guy would actually order them. But I digress.
Mrs. Iron Chef has been reluctant to go to El Camion because she has a thing against eating food from a truck. Well, she has that excuse no longer – El Camion is opening a non-mobile location in Ballard (in the space formerly occupied by Zesto’s and Ro-Ro BBQ) AND they are keeping their truck in Ballard! Hopefully they will find success there and have a few more items on their menu beyond what you can get on the truck. Let’s celebrate – dos tacos tripas for everyone!
Europe is very well known for its tasty, salted pig parts – ham, sausages, cured meats, pates , the list goes on. Thanks to the wisdom of the USDA, most of those delicious items are not available in the US, and those that are need to be processed in USDA regulated facilities in Europe, which sometimes means that what you get in the US is not nearly as good as what you have in Europe. Why this is the case is a tirade for another time.
Needless to say, this has led to a smuggling ring run by your everyday citizens travelling to and from Europe. I know people who have smuggled in ham, salami, cheese (in a diaper bag, which was odd since they didn’t have any kids) and all manner of seeds and mushrooms (Iron Chef Leftovers may or may not have been guilty of doing one or more of these things in the past). Saveur.com recently posted an article about this practice. While there is always the risk of getting caught and having your contraband confiscated (and possibly a fine levied), I personally think it is worth the risk for any cured meat product or cheese. Fruits, veggies, seeds and raw meats, well, those actually do pose a risk to be imported into the country illegally, so I do have some issues with those.
Not that I am encouraging this practice, but if you find yourself in Vancouver, B.C. stop by Oyama Sausage Company in the Granville Island Market and you may change your mind about breaking the law. If you do happen to go, please pick me up some of their phenomenal dried Spanish chorizo. It is far and away the best I have had in North America.
I really do prefer Jon Stewart, but I do find Colbert funny. He recently did a segment on his show comparing wheat to addictive drugs. If he is right, does this mean that Coltrane is a drug dealer? Possibly, you shoud see the way people jones for his bread.
The segment gets stranger with the introduction of McGnaw the Gluten Free Beaver.
This type of steamer basket works best. You can get them at Amazon.com for about $8.
I do entirely too much reading of cookbooks. These days, I am not really looking for recipe ideas, more just to learn techniques. One thing that I hate to cook, but Mrs. Iron Chef loves to eat are potatoes. For me, they really are just a vehicle for adding stuff to it, much like chicken breast, so you go from healthy to unhealthy in a hurry since potatoes don’t inherently have much taste. For my End of the World meal, I was making beef stew served in a can, which I thought about it, and what goes better with beef stew than potatoes (well, celery root puree, sun choke puree…just humor me here). I took a hybrid technique from Modernist Cuisine and Cook’s Illustrated to come up with this recipe. This really isn’t much more difficult to do than making regular potatoes, but you will get better texture on them and you can actually do stage one in advance and finish them when you are ready to serve. When you are done, you should end up with potatoes that are creamy on the inside and crispy on the outside. The only special equipment you really need is a steamer basket.
The Software
1 large Yukon Gold potato, cut into ¼ inch slices
2 tablespoons fat (bacon fat, duck fat, butter or olive oil all work well. See note below)
Salt and pepper
The Recipe
Stage 1 – Fill a large pot with water to just below the surface of the steamer basket. Heat water over high heat until steam is visible. Add the potatoes to the basket in a single layer. Cover the pot and steam for 13 minutes. Check the potatoes for doneness – you are aiming for them to be slightly al dente and they should have leached their starch to the surface, so they will feel tacky. Remove them to a plate lined with a couple of paper towels and dry. It is important that the potatoes are dry before starting stage 2.
Stage 2 – Heat a large (12 inch) skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes (don’t use non-stick here). Add the fat and heat over medium-high heat until it just begins to smoke. Test the heat of the fat by dipping the edge of one potato slice in the fat. If it sizzles immediately, the fat is hot enough and you can add the potatoes in a single layer. If they all won’t fit in the skillet, you can do stage 2 in multiple batches. If the fat is not hot enough, continue heating it until you can get your test to sizzle. You are really just browning/reheating the potatoes and looking to get a golden crust on each side, so you probably won’t need more than about 2 minutes of cooking time on each side, checking after 1 minute to see the progress. After both sides are browned, remove to a cooking rack or a plate with a paper towel, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve right away. It pairs nicely with this Beef Carbonnade recipe.
Your end result should look something like this. You can also get really classy and serve it in a can, like I did.
Notes
You really want the potatoes dry before putting them in the fat since hot fat + water = bad news. Your cooking time will really depend on what type of fat you use. Animal fats (butter, bacon fat, duck fat) have a lower smoke point than vegetable fats (olive oil, vegetable oil), so they will reach that stage quicker and take longer to brown the potatoes, which is why you really want to check them after about the first minute. You can actually skip stage 2 if you want and just serve the potatoes steamed. Just increase the cooking time to about 16 minutes in the steamer. This dish would also benefit from the addition of some fresh rosemary, sage or thyme.
Too bad the Mayans hadn’t actually invented this dish, they might be remembered for something other than they amazing grasp of astronomy and a faulty calendar.
I like quinoa – it is nutty, easy to cook and really healthy for you since it is a whole grain and does not contain gluten. It is also one of the oldest cultivated agricultural products on the planet. I recently served a quinoa hash as a side dish for my End of the World meal. If you need a hearty side dish or something that can be expanded to a meal and cooked in really short time, this is one for you. I got the idea from this recipe from both Modernist Cuisine at Home and Cooks Illustrated, but the recipe is pretty much my version.
The Software
½ cup red (or any type) quinoa
2 teaspoons olive oil
¾ cup stock (chicken of veggie) or water
½ can black beans (preferably low or no sodium)
2 oz. queso fresco
The Recipe
Rinse the quinoa and drain. In a medium sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat until it begins to shimmer. Add the quinoa and toss to coat with the oil. Sautee the quinoa for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and fragrant. If it starts to brown deeply, lower the heat to medium. Add stock to the pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered until the quinoa begins to unfurl, about 15 minutes. Drain the beans and fluff the quinoa with a fork when it is finished. Add the beans to the quinoa, taste (add salt as necessary) and let sit covered for 10 minutes. Plate and sprinkle queso fresco on top. A sprinkle of chopped cilantro would also be nice.
Notes
The quinoa can be made in advanced and reheated with the beans prior to serving. This serves as a nice base for chicken, fish, veggies, or pretty much anything that you would want to put with it. Make sure you rinse the quinoa first and drain most of the water before putting it in the oil. Rinsing it removes a naturally occurring chemical on the grain that produces bitter flavors if you make it without washing it first. Quinoa can be found at most supermarkets either in the bulk food section, the rice isle, organic section or the ethnic foods section.
Mr Bourdain, is that a beef knuckle in your pocket or are you just happy to see me? An actual picture from “My Last Supper”.
Well, it looks like the Mayan’s were wrong* and we survived the end of the world. It got me thinking again, what would be my last meal if I could actually pick it. A few years ago, a book titled (appropriately) “My Last Supper” by Melanie Dunea asked the same question. There were very little qualifications – the meal could be anything and cooked by anyone, dead or alive. The meals ranged from the simple – Anthony Bourdain wanted roasted bone marrow with a parsley salad to the extravagant – Gary Danko wanted this insane meal that would have made a Roman orgy look like a Golden Corral buffet. Chef’s play this game late at night sitting around drinking and it is an interesting question. You should check out the book, in addition to some great stories, there are some really wonderful photographs.
I digress. I think about the last meal and I am pretty sure I know what I would want it to be, so here it is:
Tortellini with Cream Sauce made by my dad. I have so many fond memories of this, I have spent years trying to recreate the flavors exactly and I have never quite been able to do it.
Perogies made by my grandmother (mom’s mom). Another insanely simple thing that I have never been able to get quite right. Just fried up in some butter please!
French Onion Soup made by my mom. She didn’t make it very often, but I still compare every other one that I have ever had to it.
Tripe Soup made by my dad. Say what you want about tripe, it is delicious and when I try someone else’s that is remotely close to my dad’s it pretty much brings me to tears.
Rabbit Stew made by my grandmother (dad’s mom). I had it once, when I was very young and I don’t remember much about it, but my dad’s parents lived on a farm, cooked over an open fire and made hearty meals. I will take the ultimate comfort food any day.
Bread baked by my grandfather (mom’s dad). My grandfather was a baker by trade and I never once remember him actually making bread (he was retired by the time I was born). I want that opportunity to try it.
Wine made by my grandfather (dad’s dad). Hey, you need to wash the meal down with something, don’t you?
I have had many amazing food experiences in my life, some that I can remember every little detail about, but when it comes down to it, the food that I grew up eating made by the people who made it for me is how I would want my last meal to go.
* I am writing this about a week before the Mayan prediction for the end of the world. If you are reading this either the world did not end or it did but the internet survived. If the Mayans were right, my apologies to them for doubting them.
Well, the Mayans were wrong and what a better way to celebrate the fact than throwing a hedonistic feast in their honor. I will do this post in a couple of parts – this one with the menu, descriptions and any links to existing recipes that I used to make them (along with any tweaks) and a second set of posts with the remaining recipes (some of these are a pain to write out, so it will take a bit to get them out there). I really wanted to have fun with the meal, so I opted for simple preparations with fun plating and names. So, without further delay, I present to you “Meal of the Apocalypse”!
Cocktail: Heart of Darkness
I am pretty sure that I didn’t make this one up, but I have absolutely no idea where I would have come across it either. It is a champagne based cocktail, which are always delicious and refreshing and this takes about 1 minute to make.
The Heart of Darkness is looking a little lighter and more refreshing these days.
Here is what I wrote about the drink on my menu:
The story Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad is the inspiration for one of my favorite movies, Apocalypse Now. It seemed appropriate to make a drink based on that, given the theme of the night.
Since I like you, I will give you the recipe here.
The drink is 1.5 oz. blood orange juice or soda, 4 oz. sparkling wine, 3 drops Scrappy’s Chocolate Bitters and a frozen strawberry, served in a wine glass.
I would recommend using a drier sparkling wine for this so that you don’t get overloaded with sweetness. I personally used Washington produced Treveri Pinot Gris sparkling wine in this version.
First Course: My Last Meal
Being Italian, it seemed logical to start off the meal with pasta. I did a meat ravioli with a taleggio, shallot and sous vide egg cream sauce and topped it with a sprinkle of guanciale, just because I could. It was decadent and over the top, but it pared nicely with the 2010 Wilridge Pinot Grigio, which has a bit of sharpness to it that cut the richness of the dish.
Since it seems I didn’t actually take a picture of the pasta, I give you one of the cats sunning himself on the couch. This was the general happy response to the pasta, so let’s just call this the after picture.
My notes on the dish:
One of the components of my last meal on earth, if I got to choose it, would be something that my dad made for me when I was growing up. This is my adult version of the meal that I enjoyed as a kid.
Second Course: The Mayan Slaughter
I wanted to make mole without making mole, so I basically took a bunch of the spices that are used in mole and made a spice rub for some pork tenderloins. Then to get the chocolate component of the dish, I made a chocolate gastrique as a side sauce that was meant to be eaten with the pork. I really felt like I nailed this one as the combination of the spices and the chocolate really reminded me of a mole, although a more complex one than you might expect since the fruit notes in the chocolate really came out. I served it with a toasted quinoa hash (quinoa, black beans, queso fresco) that I got the basic idea from Modernist Cuisine at Home. I pared this with a completely killer Argentinian Malbec from my cellar that a friend brought me back from Argentina – 2006 LaGarde Riserva Malbec.
Too bad the Mayans hadn’t actually invented this dish, they might be remembered for something other than they amazing grasp of astronomy and a faulty calendar.
There was one problem with calling this dish the Mayan Slaughter:
The Spanish brought pigs to the new world and they became a main protein of Mexican cooking well after the Mayans. A deconstructed mole sauce is a tribute to the Mayans, although the Mayans didn’t really invent it and quinoa is actually from South America. We will just ignore those little details.
Third Course: Side of the Road Salad
Just a simple salad of wild arugula, dandelion greens, truffle oil, 30 year old balsamic vinegar and alder smoked sea salt. I wanted to add some sun chokes to this, but my attempt at making a sun choke crouton didn’t work. I served this with a 2009 NHV Rose which wasn’t a fan favorite by itself, but worked well with the salad.
No picture of this since: A) salads are boring and B) I forgot to take a picture of it before I started eating.
My story about the salad:
You could, in theory, survive in Seattle eating nothing but foraged food (there are people who do this willingly), if you know where to look. This just proves that you can do it and still eat well.
Fourth Course: Raid the Emergency Supplies
This was one that I went really creative with the presentation. What better to celebrate the world not ending then with eating your stockpiles of emergency supplies? I made my Belgian Beef Carbonnade recipe, topped it with a potato slice and served it in a tin can. Of course, since I went with the really classy presentation in a can, I had to serve a great bottle of wine, in this case the 2001 Conti Sertoli Sforsato in a mason jar.
Here are my thoughts on this:
You should have a stockpile of emergency supplies including canned goods in the event of a natural disaster. If Dinty Moore beef stew tasted this good, I probably would be eating it every night. When serving stellar food in a can, it is only appropriate to serve a killer wine in a mason jar, just to keep it classy.
Dessert: Last in Line for the Human Sacrifice
I really needed to have a human sacrifice as part of this meal; it just seemed fitting and, after much debate, decided that it would be at the end of the meal. So how do you have a human sacrifice without killing an actual human? Well, you first take an altar made out of chocolate pudding. You then take a human made of a sugar cookie and place him on the altar. Then you take some raspberry blood and dot that on the plate. Then you take a spoon and kill your cookie man and enjoy. Just for the hell of it, you pair this with a Maison de Pagett Pillow Talk Vanilla Port. Human sacrifice has never been as fun or delicious as this one.
Our vicitm just before he meets his untimely end. In an interview just before the sacrifice, he was quoted as saying, “No thanks, I would rather be lost.”
The gory details:
A line from a George Carlin bit about being lost. No proper post-apocalyptic meal would be complete without a sacrifice at the end. There was also much debate among my friends about where in the meal the sacrifice belonged. We will try it here.
This was posted on Alton Brown’s Facebook page a few days ago with the caption “November 18th. That is all I’m saying.” I wonder what he could possibly mean?
FlatbreadGarden 