In finishing up the "Come to Where Fresh Is" dinner,I get my chickens from a local farm, Myers Poultry , Diane is awesome at getting me birds pretty much any time of year and any time of day really. On the current menu I have some southern roots remnants with fried chicken and collards. For this evenings dinner I did Diane's chicken two ways, I took my favorite part of the thigh (the larger mussel from the outer side) and gave it a traditional buttermilk, egg, and hot sauce brine over night then breaded it with our own breading mixture. Nothing special really, but who doesn't love fried chicken? Especially if you're like me and a thigh man. I served the fried thigh over my favorite collards. The recipe for the collards is a combination of what Jeff and I used to make at Charleston Chops and what Chef Bob Wagonner used to make at Charleston Grill.
There's a swipe of smoked acorn squash puree (I can't tell you how amazing this puree smells, like smoked buttered popcorn on steroids).
I slow poached the breast in some brewed tea, sliced and served on top of the chocolate ancho sausage.
When trying to utilize local farmers, I finally got in contact with a local bison farm....only too late for the dinner. But, I have them on hand to use in the future. In doing these ribs, I wanted so bad to have the resources of other chefs, it's hard not to want all the latest gadgets to do these amazing things you read about with amazingly expensive pieces of equipment. But...then I realized, I have what some may remember...an alto-sham. A very familiar oven for cooking and holding prime ribs for steak houses or banquet facilities. Well, these ribs where braised at a constant 180 degrees for 22 hours in birch beer. The braising liquid was then turned into a fig bbq, the plate finished with smoked cauliflower, raisins and brussel sprouts. You can't see it here but there's a caramel spoon bread under the rib.
The last course was a bitch.It came down to crunch time (we also had about 800 ppl in banquets before this dinner was to take place, time to play and experiment was extremely limited) and still no dessert. I wanted to do two, but damn we didn't even have enough plates to do everything I wanted to do. This was going to be an introduction to fall, Pumpkin Pie Noodles with Spiced Apple Gelee and vanilla ice cream from a local supply. Valley Dairy honestly has some of the best ice cream I've ever had and their original factory is about five minutes from my house.
Another hard part about this dish was something coming from the Starchefs congress in NY last month. Watching Heston Blumenthal pour scented liquid over dry ice for the whole audience to enjoy got the idea just stuck in my head. It's such an easy and fun addition, except for finding the dry ice that is. Ed, my sales rep from Reinhart always comes through...60 pounds worth through.
So, dry ice was placed in the outer bowl and in front of every diner was a "light bulb" with our logo on it filled with Chai tea and other spices. It was placed there prior to them ever sitting down, so as the last dish was served I was explaining to the room what to do with their party favor.
It worked out pretty well. It's hard to fit dinners like this into a tight schedule and small staff, but damn if doesn't feel good when it all comes together. It's a rewarding life to feed others.
A recap of the evening can be read here: http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2008/10/05/news/news/news221.txt
