In my excess of free time, I’ve been planning a dinner party for the family. They couldn’t come on account of the blizzard today, but I went ahead and cooked it anyway.
The theme for this meal was fall-into-winter flavors (it’s the solstice, after all)- I’ve got tons of fun summer-style drinks, and spring flavors come easy for cooking, but the colder weather limits your palette to heavier, smokier flavors. I wanted to start the meal with a bit of lightness and freshness and build up to a heavy conclusion.
Aperitif:
Applejack Sazerac
I started with an “Applejack Sazerac.” Applejack is an American apple brandy with a fair amount of inherent sweetness, even in the case of the Lairds 100 proof. The Sazerac is now typically made with rye whiskey, but was originally made (about 150 years ago) with brandy.
Taxonomically, it fits into the Old Fashioned category, and is made in much the same way except with the addition of absinthe and the substitution of peychaud’s bitters.
Build in rocks glass:
rinse of absinthe
2 oz Applejack (Laird’s 100)
1/2 oz simple syrup (or sugar cube, muddled)
hearty dash of Peychaud’s bitters
One of the themes I had for this dinner involved winter spices, and the traditional western winter spices (cinnamon, clove, etc.) overlap a lot with Chinese fivespice. One of those flavors is anise which is the primary taste component of both Peychaud’s and absinthe. Even in these slight quantities, the distinctive anise smell comes through strongly – even a teaspoon more would be overpowering.
In further explorations of this drink, one could also substitute a ginger liqueur or Pimento (Allspice) Dram for the sugar – a stick of cinnamon also makes a nice garnish if you have one to spare.
1st course:
Squash Salad
Salad is not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of winter meals nor when considering squash preparations. However, I had heard about this on Top Chef (?) and it was just too weird to resist.
You will note from this point forth I do not use many measurements; clearly I put much more thought into the drinks than the food.
With a mandoline, make a bunch of matchsticks (french-fry setting) of butternut squash. These will have roughly the taste of raw carrots, but a little more bitter.
Slice another squash (in this case, I used acorn squash, though I can’t recommend it) at the thinnest setting. These are going to be the “leaves” of the salad.
Chop fennel ribs (anise flavor again!) as you would celery. The bulb is not used; the leaves make a nice garnish for the next course.
For a little bit of spice and extra color, toss in some sliced radishes.
Dressing:
Juice of one lemon
about equal amount of oil
salt & pepper
whip into semi-emulsion
Mix it all together and let it sit for a while – the dressing will help the vegetables soften.
This was peculiarly compelling, but it had two major flaws:
1. The acorn squash was too bitter with not enough flavor. Some online recipes call for zucchini or pumpkin; the butternut and acorn happened to be what was already in the fridge.
2. The radishes and dressing didn’t add up to enough “zing.” Some onions or shallots would have really helped make it more well balanced.
If/when I do this meal again, I’ll still make something like this, but I’ll do a smaller size and follow it with a squash soup – Squash two-ways, as a pretentious chef would say.
Second course:
pot roast- sous vide style
Chuck is my favorite cut of beef, because it’s cheap and it has a lot of flavorful fat. It also has a ton of gristle, though, so it’s tough as hell if you don’t cook it long enough.
I sure cooked this long enough, though – I made a ghetto sous-vide.
Rub the meat with salt and assorted spices:
anise
cinnamon
ginger
clove
szechuan pepper
Seal this up in an airtight bag, preferably a vacu-seal but more likely a ziploc with the air squeezed out.
Poach this at about 145 degrees from when you wake up until when your guests arive. The simplest way to do this is to set up a probe thermometer to go off when the water temperature goes over 145; alternate between the burner being completely off and on its lowest setting.
After eating the first course, take the bag out and drain the juices into a pan and reduce by half. This is your sauce – there’s not that much there because most of the juice is still in the meat!
Carve the meat on the bias and give it a quick sear on each side to get a little Maillard Reaction going on. Alternately, (though I didnt get to try this) you could do a dramatic sear tableside with a bruleé torch.
Long story short, you get something that tastes like a really good standing rib roast for pot roast prices.
Digestif:
Egg Nog
I made this using Jefferey Morgenthaler’s method.
2 large eggs
3 oz (by volume) granulated sugar
½ tsp freshly-grated nutmeg
2 oz brandy
2 oz spiced rum (I use Sailor Jerry’s)
6 oz whole milk
4 oz heavy cream
Beat eggs in blender for one minute on medium speed. Slowly add sugar and blend for one additional minute. With blender still running, add nutmeg, brandy, rum, milk and cream until combined. Chill thoroughly to allow flavors to combine and serve in chilled wine glasses or champagne coupes, grating additional nutmeg on top immediately before serving.
I don’t have much to add, besides that when entertaining mixed company it would make more sense to add the liquor afterwards, to fit their respective tastes.
Also, when this initially comes out of the blender, the foam can separate from the nog, and an enterprising molecular mixologist could incorporate some additional flavors / aromas into that to create a multi-layered drink.
