Changing seasons greetings dear readers! What a wonderous and amazing weekend it has been. I have, at last, fed a multitude! Saturday a good friend of mine and I catered a 100+ participant event called the Estalilla Kabaroan Escrima Subukan. A gathering of students and teachers of the Kabaroan Escrima style, to meet and greet each other as well as present demonstrations and have some friendly sparring matches.
First off, we had to come up with a menu. Thankfully desserts were already in the safe hands of the family matrons. So, we started off with the big 3, beef, chicken and pork. So we settled on bbq chicken legs and thighs, half dry rubbed and half marinated, pulled pork sandwiches and grilled tri-tip in wet and dry rubs as well. Then the plethora of sides with fresh made punset, a Filipino pork dish reminiscent of chow mein, grilled peppers and onions, grilled marinated zuccini and fresh made pasta salad, as well as some buckets of potato and macaroni salad and some bagged salad mix. I know, I know, but there had to be SOME effort saving dishes.
Whyzat? Well, because we started prepping at around 5pm the night before our 10am deadline! Whee! So it was an all hands on deck panic call to friends and associates to assist with the prep work of chopping and bagging veggies, defrosting and breaking down industrial hunks of meat and preparing whole storage bags of custom rubs and marinades. And seriously, we couldn't have done it without all of their help.
By around 11pm we were finally able to get cooking. Pork shoulder in a low oven, wok and hot water stations ready for the punset, scads of storage bags to hold marinating meats, pasta boiling pots, the whole shebang. And so did the coffee and beer begin to flow in earnest. It's a special thing when you discover that not only is your buddy a kickass friend, but he's also a pleasure to work with in the kitchen. And even with the motivating juices and smooth running efficiency, it took until 9am for the last dish to be bagged, tagged and ice chested for the trip to the park. Barely enough time for a quick cat shower and a frantic search for a sober driver.
Flying across town, cocooned in my happy fugue, we came upon our spot and got everything offloaded lickety toot. After a bit of a quest for the lifeblood of a bbq, frozen H2O, we got the mesquite fires going and banged the propane grill to life. And it's happily at this point I was able to happily (if nervously) shift the chef's hat to an actual trained chef with 30 years of experience under his belt. Of course, I had to linger and mince from foot to foot as I watched my hard work tried by fire. But my babies were in excellent hands and I was at last escorted off to go run video for the demos and sparring (which was some amazing stuff, I must say).
Service went well. And everyone seemed very happy with the dishes. The pulled pork was a little strong on the coriander for western tastes, but I'm told the folk from the Phillipines found it quite nice. The dry rubbed chicken was too salty, which was totally my fault. Using full salt Pappy's as a base for your rub is a bad idea, but we lacked the low salt version. Otherwise, everything else came out as close to perfect as I dared hope. The peppers, sausage and onions were insanely sweet, 6 whole tri-tips disappeared like they were never there, the pasta salad was crazy herby and moist without being wet. And dare I say, the true experts of Filipino punset, declared our puti punset to be allowable to be served to polite society. I was quite proud that we pulled off a very specialized and unfamiliar dish.
And I certainly learned a few things. First being, start shopping a week early and make damn sure you've got an entirely vacant kitchen to work in. Second, the rule that you get 3/4 of a pound of meat per person is a fallacy if you can't control portion size. Especially when you're feeding martial artists. Folks who work out are heavy meat eaters. Plan for a pound per at least. Third, don't even try to compete on the dessert tip with a Filipina, their coconut mojo is most strong. And lastly, it's hands down brilliant to secure a loving substitute chef to step in and cook so you can enjoy chasing gremlins in the grass for the rest of the afternoon.
All in all I was extremely happy with how everything turned out and was most gratified to see so many people happily eating our food. And the avalanche of compliments from friends new and old didn't really cause my ego much injury. And of course I have to happily share those with all of the great guys and gals who stepped up to help out and pull it off. It was an amazing day, with great people, having alot of fun together. I feel quite thankful to have had the opportunity and more than a little pride that we all pulled it off with something resembling style.
Next episode...maybe some recipes!
-Pook
Monday, October 3, 2011
Friday, September 23, 2011
Eating Out On The Run
Argh! Crazy week of craziness. So I leave unto thee a piccy postly thing of pan fried polenta with garlic, basil, aji lemon pepper sauce.
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Eating Out the Staycation
Howdy folks! Hope you all have had a wonderful heat-tastic Fresnummer. As you might have noticed, I took most of the flamethrower months off to be broke and watch my front lawn crisp up like a cruton. There's nothing like 100 degree temps to mash your apathy button until at least the evenings are tolerably cool.
But though I did not write, I did still eat! And being me, I forgot to bring my camera pretty much every single time. But that doesn't mean I still can't give a shout out to the Taj Mahal on west Shaw for their amazing naan selection and heating up their chicken vindaloo past the usual "white boy" level for a delicious meal that was wonderfully spicy, but not so much that I couldn't finish my meal. But it did help a bit to chase it with a couple high powered Indian lagers.
And my favorite restaurant that I discovered during my "blackout period", Luby's Chinese. Now, before you all grab torches and string me up for eating north of the Shaw border into Mordor. Let me preface this by noting that his original location was in the old Bullard loop and that it's owned and operated by the same awesome character known only as "Tom". And Tom is the shit. He still remembers every regular he's ever had from his original location and he remembers exactly what they want and how they want it.
I was brought across the DMZ by a friend and chef to experience what he called "The best goddamn Chinese food ever". And since he way buying, I was down. After the personal greeting, we were promptly seated and had cold beers in our fists. Without evening opening the menu he asks "Mongolian beef, extra hot?" to which we both emphatically say YES! And then he has a wicked gleam in his eye, to which my culianry guide says "Please Tom, edibly painful", to which Tom laughs and acquiecses.
While we wait, I peruse the menu and notice that there are vegetarian options for almost every single dish. My host noted that in each case, Tom is able to flavor and manipulate the tofu in such a way that even seasoned meat eaters would swear that there is beast in their meal. And thats a big compliment considering how delicious the Mongolian beef was! It was tender slices of seared beef, bathed in a cauldron of simmering pepper flavor. And oh brother was it hot! It rode right along my tolerable heat line. But it tasted so amazing, and yes you could totally taste the beef and the sauce around and through the heat. But the "Aha! moment" of the dish was when I mistakenly took my first break from madly shoving beef and rice into my gob. About 30 seconds after I began resting my jaws, the heat suddenly started to take off! Building to a sweaty, nose running cresendo that could only be put off by eating more of the dish. Poor me!
And as we reclined in our fullness, me fairly certain that flames were licking out of the corner of my mouth from the final bonfire in my talking hole. I found great love and respect for Luby's. I got exactly what I wanted in my meal and my heat level. I like to be challenged with a spicy meal, it tells me that the chef is paying attention to ALL of their dishes and care enough to tailor them to make the eater happy. Not to mention that we were stuffed to the gills on 1 dish a piece and a split order of eggrolls. Top it off with what a warm, fun and genuine character Tom is and I think my buddy wasn't exaggerating when he said that Luby's really was the best Chinese food around. And don't think that Luby's is just some sort of heat merchant. I like my hot stuff, but Luby's menu is less than 10% spicy. So don't fear that your fried rice will fry your tongue.
I know we're all broke as hell these days. So do what I did! Find some lucky schmuck rolling in dough and get his money-bag ass to take you out to Luby's! Hard times don't mean you can't find a way to hustle up a grand meal.
-Pook
But though I did not write, I did still eat! And being me, I forgot to bring my camera pretty much every single time. But that doesn't mean I still can't give a shout out to the Taj Mahal on west Shaw for their amazing naan selection and heating up their chicken vindaloo past the usual "white boy" level for a delicious meal that was wonderfully spicy, but not so much that I couldn't finish my meal. But it did help a bit to chase it with a couple high powered Indian lagers.
And my favorite restaurant that I discovered during my "blackout period", Luby's Chinese. Now, before you all grab torches and string me up for eating north of the Shaw border into Mordor. Let me preface this by noting that his original location was in the old Bullard loop and that it's owned and operated by the same awesome character known only as "Tom". And Tom is the shit. He still remembers every regular he's ever had from his original location and he remembers exactly what they want and how they want it.
I was brought across the DMZ by a friend and chef to experience what he called "The best goddamn Chinese food ever". And since he way buying, I was down. After the personal greeting, we were promptly seated and had cold beers in our fists. Without evening opening the menu he asks "Mongolian beef, extra hot?" to which we both emphatically say YES! And then he has a wicked gleam in his eye, to which my culianry guide says "Please Tom, edibly painful", to which Tom laughs and acquiecses.
While we wait, I peruse the menu and notice that there are vegetarian options for almost every single dish. My host noted that in each case, Tom is able to flavor and manipulate the tofu in such a way that even seasoned meat eaters would swear that there is beast in their meal. And thats a big compliment considering how delicious the Mongolian beef was! It was tender slices of seared beef, bathed in a cauldron of simmering pepper flavor. And oh brother was it hot! It rode right along my tolerable heat line. But it tasted so amazing, and yes you could totally taste the beef and the sauce around and through the heat. But the "Aha! moment" of the dish was when I mistakenly took my first break from madly shoving beef and rice into my gob. About 30 seconds after I began resting my jaws, the heat suddenly started to take off! Building to a sweaty, nose running cresendo that could only be put off by eating more of the dish. Poor me!
And as we reclined in our fullness, me fairly certain that flames were licking out of the corner of my mouth from the final bonfire in my talking hole. I found great love and respect for Luby's. I got exactly what I wanted in my meal and my heat level. I like to be challenged with a spicy meal, it tells me that the chef is paying attention to ALL of their dishes and care enough to tailor them to make the eater happy. Not to mention that we were stuffed to the gills on 1 dish a piece and a split order of eggrolls. Top it off with what a warm, fun and genuine character Tom is and I think my buddy wasn't exaggerating when he said that Luby's really was the best Chinese food around. And don't think that Luby's is just some sort of heat merchant. I like my hot stuff, but Luby's menu is less than 10% spicy. So don't fear that your fried rice will fry your tongue.
I know we're all broke as hell these days. So do what I did! Find some lucky schmuck rolling in dough and get his money-bag ass to take you out to Luby's! Hard times don't mean you can't find a way to hustle up a grand meal.
-Pook
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