Care for a Dip?

Tonight I'm attending a farewell party to be given for my good friend Todd -- he's moving to Washington, DC. Last night, I had dinner with the hosts and they told me they had settled on heavy hors d'oeuvre, arranged on a large table, in lieu of a formal dinner. This made a lot of sense because of the number of people attending. In short order, I was assigned a comestible and immediately volunteered to make a crab dip.

This is not because I am particularly good at making crab dip, but the thought appealed to me as I remembered my mother's crab dips from long ago bridge parties and other social events she and my father hosted at our home.

To find a good recipe, I first consulted www.splendidtable.org, but finding none there, I next visited www.epicurious.com, where I found this wonderful recipe for a crab-brie-artichoke dip with fresh garlic, tarragon, dill and parsley.

The only changes I made were to use celery salt instead of sea salt, Italian parsley instead of common parsley and I added some smoked paprika. I also used substantially more herbs and a 1/4 cup more cream, because it seemed wasteful to keep the small remainder of the heavy cream in the fridge for who knows what -- I simply do not use heavy cream often at all.

I'm looking forward to the party tonight, and hope that my dip is a hit with the Essential Bakery baguette slices that will accompany it!

What's your favorite dip for parties? Tell me in the comments.

No Tongues!

Ewww...

Sherman, Set the WABAC Machine To...

...June 2, 1953.

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the other Commonwealth realms were that day celebrating the coronation of their new Queen: Elizabeth II. Around the world, subjects rich and poor gathered around tables grand and simple to celebrate the crowning of their new Queen Regnant.

But what, you may wonder, did Her Majesty and family have for dinner that historic evening? As it turns out, something rather simple, which, given the excruciatingly choreographed ceremonies of the day, was likely a welcome respite. That evening, the table at Buckingham Palace was set with:

Consommé Royale

Fillet de Boeuf Mascotte

Salade

Glace a la Mangue

In the Queen's English, that translates as:

Chicken Consommé with cubes of egg custard

Fillet of beef with quartered artichoke bottoms, tossed in butter with cocotte potatoes and truffle slices

Salad

Mango ice cream

I know you're dying to be a queen yourself and enjoy this dinner, so, without any further adieu, I give you the key recipes:

Consommé A La Royale (from Classic Culinary Arts)

• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Beat eggs with a spoon, and add milk and salt
• Turn into a buttered cup, and place in a pan of warm water
• Cook in a slow oven until firm in the centre
• Set away to cool
• Cut into small and prettily-shaped pieces
• Put the pieces into a tureen, and pour one quart of boiling consommé or clear stock on it

Cocotte Potatoes -- I'm assuming you can figure out the beef and artichoke quarters! (from Tallyrand's Culinary Fare)

• 2 large russet potatoes
• 1 cup beef fat
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• Peel and turn the potatoes into barrel shapes, approximately 2 inches long and 1 inch thick at the midpoint; you can also do 2 inch balls
• Place in water and bring to the boil
• Drain immediately and shake in hot beef fat on the stove until completely sealed.
• Place on baking sheet in oven to cook
• When cooked (approx. 40 - 50 mins) remove and drain well
  
• Serve brushed with melted butter for an added glaze

Salad -- do your own thing

Mango Ice Cream (from About.Com)

• 1/2 plus 1/4 cup caster's sugar
• 2 cups fresh mango (about 3 mangoes)
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 2 to 3 handfuls of toasted coconut, as garnish
• 1 handful of mint leaves, as garnish
• Cut and score the mango fruit into bite-sized pieces. Stir in 1/2 cup sugar with the mango pieces. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Puree the mango and the sugar syrup. Add the lime juice and puree again. Add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar and puree one more time.
• Whisk together the egg with remaining 1/4 cup sugar.
• Warm the milk and cream over low heat. Add 1/2 cup into the egg and sugar mixture, whisking. Continue adding cream, 1/2 and then 1/4 cup at a time, whisking all the while.
• Add the egg and cream back into the warming milk/cream mixture. Turn up the heat as needed and whisk for about 8 - 10 minutes, until just beginning to thicken and the cream lightly coats the back of a wooden spoon.
• Strain into a bowl. Cool. (Place the bowl in another bowl of cold water to cool quickly).
• Stir in the pureed mango. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions. Garnish with the toasted coconut and mint sprigs if desired.

Thanks to The Old Foodie, a blog about food history, for inspiring this post. Enjoy your royal feast!

Book 'Em

I'm so ambivalent about cookbooks. Most of the ones I love, I love because they make fascinating reading: revealing unknown flavor/texture combinations; linking known techniques to unknown utilizations and vice versa; or, most pruriently, flashing lots of pretty pictures of food. I don't really ever hover over a recipe and copy it item for item, quantity for quantity...I'm much more interested in Cookbook As Guide versus Cookbook as Gospel.

Except for one: Jamie's Dinners, by Jamie Oliver. Oh sure, it's beautifully photographed and easy to follow, but it's glory is in the fact you don't want to change a thing with the recipes! And many of them are basic fundamentals of cooking -- Oliver opens the book with "The Top Ten," a magnificent procession of culinary delight: sausage and mash with onion gravy; burger and chips (fries...remember, this is a British book!); lasagne; baked potato with a half dozen stuffing options; salmon; apple pie...oh Jamie, you had me at sausage!

Further chapters are divided into intuitive and helpful chapters: sarnies (sandwiches); salads; soups; meat; fish; and, desserts, for example. Two particularly helpful chapters are Five Minute Wonders -- surprisingly creative meals one can prepare in 1/12th of an hour, such as Parmesan fish fillets with avocado and cress salad or beef with pak choi, mushrooms and noodles -- and The Family Tree, wherein Oliver builds extensive menus from the basic platforms of pesto, simple tomato sauce, slow-cooked lamb, stewed fruit and puff pastry...dozens of menu items grow from this "family tree" of basics, leading to a dizzying number of potential combinations.

Oliver wraps up his book with a brief chapter addressing the basics of kitchen utensils, cookware, appliances and cooking tips.

Throughout Jamie's Dinners, a casual tone drives the written and photographic content...smeared clothes and faces (gotta love kids and spaghetti!), people in comfortable clothes, chopping block tables set with paper napkins and carry-out packages -- this is no Gordon Ramsay. And therein lies its charm, its capacity to win one over and lead a cook to follow its recipes more closely because a) it seems possible to do so and b) the food looks so darn good you want to make it look exactly like that on your own table.

That said, many of the items on display here in their working class guise look just as beautiful on a fine dining table. Only a few of the items -- burger and chips, fish and chips, and the cheat's dessert come to mind -- are simply too inelegant to serve to His and Her Grace from the castle down the street.

Thanks to my friend Stu, who gave me this book for Christmas in 2004, I've enjoyed learning some basic cooking techniques and combinations. The cover and pages are stained with the memories of many happy meals and good times with friends. If the best books open doorways to new ideas and experiences, this Jamie Oliver cookbook may very well be on the next Booker Prize shortlist.

What's your favorite cookbook? Why do you like it? Let me know in the comments!

Let's Go To the Hop

The infallible Smith chef Eliot Guthrie last night joined with the formidable brewers from Schooner Exact to unveil a new exclusive-to-Smith beer; and, at the same time, feed about 20 brewing aficionados course after course of delicious food.

We lucky diners sat at the beautifully set communal table in the middle of the house, jealously observed by the "regulars" in booths and tables arrayed around us. Preston and I were lucky enough to be sat directly next to the Schooner Exact team: Heather McClung (The Boss); Matt McClung (Alchemist); and, Marcus Connery (Minister of Propaganda). They explained to me how the company began by brewing one batch at a time, testing different ingredients, until they settled on their current offerings (an IPA, a Pale Ale, a Hefeweizen and a seasonal Winter Ale) and began to market their wares. In addition to Smith, Schooner Exact products are poured at dozens of regional pubs. As an IPA lover, I heartily recommend their version; it's hoppy and bold as it should be, but doesn't blister the inside of your mouth with obscene hoppiness as some other local IPAs do.

Back to the food...

The first course, served with the IPA, was paper cones of french fries and assorted marinated olives.

Next came a beautiful orange and white pumpkin soup, so rich and flavorful that it seemed like Autumn in a bowl (did I taste roasted parsnips in there, too?). Following that was a salad of frisée, chilled steamed green beans and cauliflower on a paste of Kombucha squash. These were served with Schooner's Pale Ale.

Then Eliot fired the big guns: house-ground lamb-pork sausage the size of zeppelins and just-pink in the middle, on a bed of slow-cooked haricot beans and sauerkraut -- pretty much a cassoulet without the bread crumbs -- and a glorious ratatouille. The sausages were so mild they allowed the earthy beans and sweet tang of sauerkraut to assert themselves, and the perfectly cooked ratatouille showcased the consistent freshness of Smith's vegetables. Speaking of which, the very fun Gloria Wu, of Frank's Quality Produce, was seated to my left and we had a lot of fun discussing produce sales, romanesco, torn up napkins and other topics.

Quite rightly, this course featured the new Smith beer, of which I am pleased to provide a world premier review: from an ESB-style base, the brewers added special malts, rye, wheat and the crucial and inspired sweet orange peel to produce the perfect compliment to Smith's meat-forward menu. Abundant spice with just the right amount of citric sweetness and a pleasant balance in its effervescence...wow! I can't wait for the beer to make it to Smith full-time. Watch this space!

The final course, accompanied by a sweet Belgian Trappist Ale, was a frozen yoghurt huckleberry sorbetto. And if there had been one "wafer thin mint" offered in addition, I would have exploded.

Schooner Exact impressed me, not only with their beers but with the passion and commitment that the owners so clearly feel for their business. I wish them every success. And, once again, Eliot Guthrie made it all happen. Is there a better young chef in Seattle? You're really going to have to convince me otherwise. We're living in a special time in local culinary history...get to Smith and take a bite of it.

Snack Hall of Fame

Pret A Manger is my favorite fast food business on the planet. Fresh, organic, delicious, efficient...I can hardly think of enough positive adjectives to list when speaking about them.

In London, I eat one of their egg-and-cress sandwiches daily. They opened a branch in New York City a block away from my office and my preferred hotel (on Bryant Park, FYI).

But above every offering they provide, their pickled onion crisps are supreme. Slightly thicker than Walker's crisps, they deliver a double-whammy punch of pungent onion and tart, lip pursing vinegar. With a beer, or when craving salty goodness, there's nothing better on this good green earth.

Just Desserts

About seven years ago, something amazing happened in the little high street area of North 56th Street in Seattle's quaint Tangletown neighborhood (so named because its streets were purposefully laid out in anything but straight lines when it was developed decades ago): Hiroki Inoue opened his small storefront (with tables and chairs in back for in-house dining) and began to provide the world (or at least, Seattle) with dessert excellence, baked on the premises.

Since that time, Hiroki has gone from strength to strength. Today, he prepares desserts for several restaurants around town (including Victrola coffee shops), has been featured in the "Best of Seattle" list of Seattle Magazine, and on the KCTS "Chefs" program. Not exactly an unknown quantity, then, but still a generally exclusive treat, known to neighborhood locals and many of the more discerning sweet-teeth around the city.

While the offerings in the two glass-faced dessert cases rotate, there are several stand-bys that one can generally count on finding every time they visit, including...

...the gorgeous scarlet of the cassis mousse torte, and...

...the candy-hued lilikoi haupia (Hawaiian passion fruit-coconut cake).

Hiroki also features seasonal surprises, such as these pumpkin-cream stuffed puff pastries:

On a quiet Saturday early evening, I sat down with Hiroki amidst the orchids and local art that grace his dining area to talk to him about food, faith, the "second smile" and cakes shaped like sports cars.

INTERVIEW WITH HIROKI – OCTOBER 9, 2009

DID YOU STUDY COOKING?

Yes, at the Art Institute of Seattle. I took the culinary program for chefs, not the pastry program.

WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO COOK PROFESSIONALLY?

When I opened my store here [in Tangletown], so about 7 years ago.

WHY DO YOU HAVE A PASSION FOR DESSERTS?

I like to make people happy by providing them with good food – but it can be hard to do. Many people provide a good meal that can make people smile, and I think desserts can provide a second smile. I like to give the “second smile!”

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DESSERT TO MAKE?

Puff pastry or a baked fruit, something rustic and baked dark in the European style.

YOU SEEM TO HAVE A REAL ATTENTION TO THE BEAUTY OF YOUR FOOD. DO YOU CONSCIOUSLY TRY TO CONVEY A CONCEPT OF BEAUTY IN YOUR FOOD?

I don’t really think about it too much – it tends to come naturally because I like simple beauty….clean and sophisticated. You won’t find me making a cake decorated with dinosaurs or shaped like a sports car.

WHAT WAS THE MOST PRODUCTIVE “ACCIDENT” YOU EVER HAD?

Once, one of my team forgot the baking powder in a lavender cake, and it came out very dense…too dense to sell on its own. But we found that, in slices, it worked very well with the chiffon roll cakes; its texture was the perfect compliment to the cream filling.

WHAT WAS THE SMARTEST BUSINESS DECISION YOU EVER MADE?

Staying small, staying local. This allows me to have the quality control I require. Having personal relationships with my customers and being seen as a neighbor brings people back to my shop.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NON-DESSERT FOOD?

Pasta, but I cannot eat it anymore because I have a gluten allergy. Really, I love anything Italian.

YOUR BUDDHISM IS IMPORTANT TO YOU – HOW DOES YOUR FAITH INFLUENCE YOUR FOOD AND YOUR BUSINESS?

I think it drives me to see the shop as more than a business. I want people to come to me, to talk with me, to interact with them. And I always try to show compassion to all my customers. You know, I have faith in good people…because good people bring more good people. I have been lucky because I have only had good customers.

IS IT CORRECT TO SAY THAT YOUR CULINARY INFLUENCES ARE GENERALLY FRENCH AND ASIAN?

Yes, some of both. But I also bring my own original ideas, so I would say that my cooking is bigger than the sum of its influences.

You can find Hiroki Desserts on the Web here. Even better, you can visit in-person at 2224 North 56th Street, Seattle, WA 98103. The phone # is 206 . 547 . 4128, and hours are Wednesday - Friday: 11:30 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.; Saturday & Sunday: 9:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m. Weekends feature some extra special savoury items like sausage rolls, and the world's best orange rolls and berry cream cheese rolls.

Hiroki is a gift to our city. He's a wonderful soul with the ability to bake the perfect cake. What a combination!

What's your favorite Hiroki dessert? Let me know in the comments.