Virtual Banquet Thread

arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
Been on the road for a week. Spent a couple days in San Antonio for work, but spent most of the week in Morrison, CO (next to Red Rocks) doing the legal recreational thing and looking into restaurant and B&B opportunities.

But I was so wasted, I forgot to take pics of any of the food I ate or, more importantly, the four-course meal I cooked for folks there on Friday. Sorry- had been dabbing blue hash plant earwax for an hour before I started cooking.

But the menu was: scallops in bacon fat and sherry nutmeg cream (they had freakishly fresh scallops and other seafood, apparently flown into Denver daily; then 18 month aged gruyere, fried in herbed egg wash (Jack Herer) and in bacon fat, butter, and brandy mustard cream and fresh savory; then lamb and sheep ricotta herbed with Lashkar Gah in fresh ravioli in lamb demi and grand mariner; and truffled pork tenderloin (got a black Umbrian truffle in Denver) in sherry, crimini mushrooms, more truffles, and veal demi, with bucheron crostini and spinach in veal demi, garlic, bacon, sherry and pecorino. Desert was kief and hash brownies made from Ghirardelli chocolate. Everyone loved the food, locals begged me to come and open a place they could eat at. But our top investor has developed a serious drinking problem, and we clearly don't want to be in business with an alcoholic. So not sure what is happening now. May just open a restaurant somewhere, cheaper than a B&B.

Seriously considering doing an Indiegogo or kickstarted and just doing a restaurant on my own, either in CO, here in Maryland (we decriminalized this month) or Seattle.
 
fft

fft

Well-Known Member
Made pizza this weekend. I've been working on my pizza technique for quite some time and its a fun thing to make when people come over with kids. This time I upgraded my flour and it made a big difference in flavor. Used a 40/60 combination of KA 00 and this 00 flour from Wild Hive Farm in NY that is ground with the germ which gives it a whole wheat flavor.

Here's the dough starting out in the mixer...its a little browner than usual due to the funky flour.
P7CWK2R.jpg


I make a simple sauce from ground canned tomatoes without cooking. I strain it through my trusty superbag to get it to a paste like consistency so it cooks quickly in the oven without water pooling up.
6sPEErh.jpg

Some shots of the finished product.
IepIAxj.jpg

ZjqGCvX.jpg
 
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
fft said:
Made pizza this weekend. I've been working on my pizza technique for quite some time and its a fun thing to make when people come over with kids. This time I upgraded my flour and it made a big difference in flavor. Used a 40/60 combination of KA 00 and this 00 flour from Wild Hive Farm in NY that is ground with the germ which gives it a whole wheat flavor.

Here's the dough starting out in the mixer...its a little browner than usual due to the funky flour.
P7CWK2R.jpg


I make a simple sauce from ground canned tomatoes without cooking. I strain it through my trusty superbag to get it to a paste like consistency so it cooks quickly in the oven without water pooling up.
6sPEErh.jpg

Some shots of the finished product.
IepIAxj.jpg

ZjqGCvX.jpg
Click to expand...

Very nice. But i have always found hand-kneeding makes a much better texture. It's a pain in the ass but it makes a difference. We even did that at a few good pizza joints I worked at.
 
fft

fft

Well-Known Member
arf777 said:
Very nice. But i have always found hand-kneeding makes a much better texture. It's a pain in the ass but it makes a difference. We even did that at a few good pizza joints I worked at.
Click to expand...

I agree. I start in the mixer to bring everything together and hydrolyze the dough...about 4-5 mins. Then after a rest I take the dough out, break it into balls for each pizza, then hand-knead each ball separately until they are smooth and stretchy. Then I do an overnight rise in the fridge.

For a while I was using the mixer for a much longer time, after reading that you need it to really develop the gluten. But I think I was way over-working the dough so went back to the hand knead.
 
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
Here's s chunk of the black Umbrian truffle I picked up in Denver. If you get out there, check out Truffle Cheese, an amazing cheese shop (with truffles) - http://denvertruffle.com.

Also Oliver's Meats, a nearly 90 year old butcher shop in Denver, that makes all their own sausage, dry ages their own beef., and makes a variety of demis for folks who can't make their own. One of the best butcher shops I've ever been in. Got all the meat I cooked there. http://www.oliversmeatmarketllc.com

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And some truffle butter. Just truffle, butter and salt.

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arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
A classic poulet truffe - pounded chicken breast seared in butter; sauced with gran cru sauternes, black truffle, butter and cream. Garnished with more black truffle. Asparagus is blanched and tossed in butter and lemon juice.

0uHG5DQ.jpg
 
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
It is looking more and more like I'll be opening a restaurant in Aurora, CO, which just voted to allow dispensaries for the 1st time. Nowhere near as tourist developed as Denver or Lakewood, cheaper rent, and not a lot of good restaurants yet.

So I'm looking for names. At the moment my two favorite options are Fumee (French for 'smoke', which given my cooking works) or something goofy, like Abe & Craig's Pig Hut (I'm Abe the Dumpy Jew and my business partner is Craig the Tall Texan). Anybody else got a good idea? I hate the fact that it matters, but the name of a place can make a big difference. We don't want to be too openly canna friendly - we found that even places that are just canna themed, but serve nothing related, get fucked with by landlords.
 
fft

fft

Well-Known Member
arf777 said:
It is looking more and more like I'll be opening a restaurant in Aurora, CO, which just voted to allow dispensaries for the 1st time. Nowhere near as tourist developed as Denver or Lakewood, cheaper rent, and not a lot of good restaurants yet.

So I'm looking for names. At the moment my two favorite options are Fumee (French for 'smoke', which given my cooking works) or something goofy, like Abe & Craig's Pig Hut (I'm Abe the Dumpy Jew and my business partner is Craig the Tall Texan). Anybody else got a good idea? I hate the fact that it matters, but the name of a place can make a big difference. We don't want to be too openly canna friendly - we found that even places that are just canna themed, but serve nothing related, get fucked with by landlords.
Click to expand...

Great news. What's the concept / menu / price point going to be like?
 
fft,
fft

fft

Well-Known Member
arf777 said:
What most of my posts here are like - smoked stuff (mostly NC style, but some kosher and Kansas City as well); French, mostly Provencal and Lyonnaise but some Parisienne too; and Northern Italian.
Click to expand...

Then Fumee sounds perfect. Captures the blend between styles perfectly imo. Can be as dressed up or dressed down as you like. The other makes it sound like a regular BBQ joint.
 
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
Only thing that makes me unsure about Fumee as a name is the history French-named restaurants have if they're in the wrong neighborhood. It's my first choice, but I want a more American back-up name, depending on final location.

Meanwhile, out of the smoker so far today - beef spare ribs, rubbed with sea salt, brown sugar, black pepper, Coleman's mustard, and sage. Then smoked over pecan and sugar maple and glazed with balsamic-plum bbq sauce.

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Still have a chicken in the smoker that was marinated in an NC style vinegar sauce- cider vinegar, chardonnay, brown sugar, Texas Pete, garlic, sage, celery seed, black pepper, sea salt. And a pot of stock going for bacon demi glace.
 
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
Another burger variant- 80/20 beef with garlic, seared in bacon fat and braised in bacon demi. Topped with Muenster, sherry-Drambuie bacon, kosher dills, tomato, mayo and ketchup.

FUL4WmC.jpg
 
arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
..and even my healthy dishes are full of tasty fat-tonight's veggie side dish, creamed spinach- spinach, cream, butter, veloute, garlic, ricotta and romano, topped with more romano and under the broiler.

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Which went along side truffled scallops- truffled scallops seared in butter and bacon fat, than hit with armagnac, cream, more truffles and more butter.

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lazylathe

lazylathe

Almost there...
I need to get my act together...
Toast and jam for dinner!! LMAO!!!

But for those adventurous souls, here is a desert drink recipe!
A typical drink found on most menus in South Africa!
Have one in hand now actually!

Ingredients:
French Vanilla Ice Cream (get the good one!)
Jamiesons Irish Whisky (again don't cheap out!)
Milk/cream (cream is better)

Blend them all together till you get a creamy, delicious drink!

And there you have it!
Your very own Don Pedro!
 
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arf777

arf777

No longer dogless
Canneloni - stuffed with a mixture of left-over creamed spinach from last night, some fennel sausage I made (got some from the butcher but didn't like it and made my own instead - ground pork, fennel seed, sea salt, black pepper, chili flakes, horseradish, garlic, nutmeg), and ricotta. Sauce is a pink sauce- tomato puree, cream, garlic, basil, bacon fat, extra virgin. Baked and then topped with pecorino romano and in the broiler.

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