Supper Club thread

Brendan_Lee_56950

I host a monthly (ok we skip a month here and there) supper club for about 10-12 folks at my house. I pick a theme, design a tasting menu (usually 4-6+ courses) and test my nerves in my tiny home kitchen to pump out a great meal. We have done 2 dinners thus far and I unfortunately was too busy to photograph the first meal but my friend's wife was kind enough to snap a few pics of our second dinner a few weeks back. I figured this would be a cool place to share what I've been cooking and also to invite menu ideas and techniques!

I will attach the menu from the dinners and the pics I have. Feedback is welcome and encouraged!

Supper Club I Menu

Supper Club II Menu

Supper Club II:
First Course

Second Course

Third Course

Desert wasn't photographed since it was my friend's bday and his wife brought a cake in lieu of my pound cake but the amaretto sabayon was so unbelievably good.

Our next adventure will be an asian theme in March. Going to break out some family secrets!

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Comments

Mason_Perry_34060

Nice thread I am sure I will be stealing some ideas! I plan on doing something like this with wine pairing.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I have been leaving it up to my guests to bring things they think will pair well. We're mostly beer and liquor folks so we always have a nice assortment to play with.

Mason_Perry_34060

Same with me I don't drink wine, just cook with it, I let the hosts pair wine with a menu of send them in advance. It works well and saves me money on wine.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Yup, I send out my menus at least a week in advance and then they bring their own beverages of choice. I like wine a lot but my allergies have been getting worse over the years and it limits what I can drink without sniffling for hours.

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Brendan, great thread! I have the same SS gratin dishes that you used in the third course and use them for everything!

Brendan_Lee_56950

@jack, I love them! so cheap and versatile.

Ryan_Matthew_Smith_2910

looks awesome!!

Brendan_Lee_56950

Thanks!

Brendan_Lee_56950

I just finished planning the menu for my next dinner. Going with an Asian theme this time around. The menu can be found here: Supper Club III Menu

prince_of_porcelain

@Brenden, Thanks for sharing! Looks like some fantastic meals. Maybe I'll get up the gumption to share some of my menus.

prince_of_porcelain

@Brenden, Thanks for sharing! Looks like some fantastic meals. Maybe I'll get up the gumption to share some of my menus.

Wow...weird. I posted that comment, and shortly thereafter received this notification from chefsteps: "Getting this far requires gumption, something you have in spades." Must be a sign. Who uses the word gumption anyway? Besides, apparently, me and someone at chefsteps I mean.

Brendan_Lee_56950

haha that's definitely a sign!

Shannon_Barnes_68642

Brendan, that menu looks amazing. Pho bo is one of my favorites.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Mine too! My grandma used to alternate saturday lunch meals between pho bo and chinese roast pork, i now realize how spoiled i was growing up to be able to eat that on a regular basis!

Shannon_Barnes_68642

Char siu? Or something different? I love char siu served cold with hot mustard, like they do in chinese restaurants. I just made a batch of the marinade and am marinated pork belly in it, then will sous vide it. I am so looking forward to eating it!

Brendan_Lee_56950

We'd do char siu sometimes but mostly actually siew yuk which is five spice roasted pork with the super crisp skin.

Shannon_Barnes_68642

I hadn't heard of siew yuk, I just looked it up. I'm in love with pork belly, I just cooked it for the first time a few weeks ago, and can't believe I'm just now discovering it! I'll have to try a siew yuk recipe next time, that looks really good!

Brendan_Lee_56950

My love affair with crispy pork skin goes way back. I can honestly say I've probably eaten more pork and duck than chicken or beef in my life.

Brendan_Lee_56950

So I'm working on a dish for my (April) Fools Dinner next month and I want to riff on green eggs and ham.

My thinking is to do the fake sunny side up egg a la wylie dufresne and have the white be a salty/sweet coconut with the yolk being yellow curry so the overall dish would be a riff on yellow thai curry. The part i'm running into difficulties with is the "ham". I have a few ideas in mind but would love for some feedback/crowdsourcing of this dish.

Current Ideas:

1) puree tofu and flavor with tomato, chili, and red pepper to mimic the thai curry accompaniments and then add some Activa and gelatin to restructure into a loin shape and cut/warm/sear to look like ham.

2) do crispy pork threads like @chris demo'd in the past challenge and alter the presentation of the dish a bit

The way I have it pictured in my mind currently is basically eggs benedict style plating with the ham underneath the faux egg and then a drizzle of cilantro and jalepeno puree for the "green" aspect. But i'm not married to that plating.

Thoughts?

Brendan_Lee_56950

Here are a couple of photos from tonight's dinner. More will come once I get to the cameras used tonight. First is the starter from the dinner. The garden rolls are green papaya salad infused in the chamber vac with nuoc cham dressing rolled with SV shrimp that has been butterflied and charred with the torch with sesame oil. The opposite corners are shrimp noodles made with pureed shrimp and activa RM dressed with julienned carrots, cucumbers, green onions, jalepenos, fish sauce, and lime juice. The plates were purchased at CB2 and the dipping sauce is a mix of sambal olek, roasted peanuts, and thai peanut sauce.

The second picture is clam shells stuffed with SV clams, crawfish tails, black bean garlic sauce, ginger, green onion sitting on top of a mix of SV green beans sauteed with red onions, black bean garlic sauce, ginger, SV blanched bok choy, SV green beans, vac chamber compressed red bell peppers, and sambal olek.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

@Brendan Lee, a dish I have done a few times that confuses people is a play on Oysters Rockafeller. I take the "oysters" from chickens, cook them then place them in an oyster half shell. Top with a toasted flavored crumb and a brown butter sauce. I've had people ask how I can get oysters to taste like chicken.

Brendan_Lee_56950

That's a good idea @tim, i'll have to put that in the memory banks for a future meal.

Shannon_Barnes_68642

Oh, wow, Brendan, that looks awesome! How did you cook the clams sv?

Brendan_Lee_56950

I bagged them in a single layer and steamed them for a few minutes to open them up. Then I shucked them, cleaned them, and re-bagged them with their own liquor and cooked at 56C for about 10 minutes.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

This is the menu from a dinner party I had earlier this year.

Chicken Liver Pate with aquavit. The recipe was from this book (p146). Served with grilled sourdough and some pickled beets I found in the back of the fridge.

Caramelized Carrot Soup with fresh ginger. This recipe I make at least once a month. When I need carrots, I always buy extra just to make this dish. I don't have a centrifuge so it is cloudy carrot juice and plain butter.

Ménage à trois of Quail. This was inspired by the Wood Pigeon recipe in this book (p176). The book is in Danish and English. In a nut shell, the breast are removed from a quail and salt/herb cured overnight. The breast are then dehydrated to make a "jerky". A sauce is made from the quail bodies. Quail eggs are boiled for 2 mins and peeled. Plating is a dollop of sauce, quail egg on top and the jerky Microplaned on top with a dusting of vegetable ash.

TFR and Waffles. TFR =Texas Fried Rabbit. I made a a caseless rabbit sausage using meat glue (Activa RM). This was SV in duck fat at 62C for 1 hour. Pucks were cut off and fried after a mustard egg wash and ground Panko. The fried rabbit was placed on a waffle and a maple/mustard/butter sauce drizzled about. On informal occasions I fry rabbit on the bone following this Fergus Henderson recipe. This is the best fried food I have ever had.

72 Hour Short Rib. I did a version of this recipe . I had portioned the rib and seared it before going into the bag. I also reduce the sauce to a glaze for service. The rib was served on a 12" long baked potato sheet with the last 4" fried GBD. I use a Japanese rotary slicer, but it can be done if you have mad knife skills. A carrot puree, pea puree and burnt onion stick were also added.

Cheese Plate with Seasonal Fruit. I was lazy and bought a trio of goat cheeses and fruit.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Sounds like a nice meal!

Tim_Sutherland_52834

It was a good meal. Nearly everything was prepped a day ahead. All I had to do on the night, other than heat, was cook the waffles and frying.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Supper Club IV from last night.

Crab Salad - Crab dressed lightly with lime juice, olive oil, togarashi, and green onion. Cucumber thinly sliced and compressed with sweet soy, raw cucumber, and a cucumber dice under the crab. Micro cabbage greens and an avocado wasabi puree.

Spinach and ricotta agnolotti - Pureed spinach, shallot, and truffle salt with ricotta. Fava beans, charred sweet onion, asparagus, lemon nage.

Lamb Chop Lollipops - SV with thyme and oregano, seared. Sunchoke and cream puree, chimichurri sauce, confit radish in duck fat and clover honey.

Striped Bass - SV with butter and thyme. Fried artichoke hearts and stems, fennel aioli, leek ash, olive oil, assorted flowers, garlic chive blossoms.

Raspberries and Strawberries - Vanilla whipped cream, torn mint, aerated brioche made with the iSi in the microwave.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

That is a nice set of plates @Brendan!

Brendan_Lee_56950

Thanks. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. I can't wait for crab season to be in full effect though because this canned crap isn't cutting it!

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