Take a look at this ABC Nightline video interview of John T. Edge about barbecue joints such as Scott’s and Bertha’s in South Carolina. This makes me excited about my upcoming trip to Oxford, Mississippi next month with operations manager, Sean Hartley, and his talented wife, Julie, for Southern Foodway Alliance‘s fabled annual symposium. Here’s a quote from John T. Edge on his vision of a bi-racial South: “Church is segregated. Barbecue brings us together.” Amen, brother!
September 9th, 2010 | 3 Comments »
While strolling behind the glass wall that separates Serious Pie from the bread bakery, I caught Sparkle (the baker formerly known as Darren) loading English muffins into our huge French bread-baking oven and it was a fascinating process to watch! Sparkle and Gwen were making 300 English muffins that day, so they worked closely together to get all the freshly raised muffins perfectly lined up on the loader before raising it to the top oven door to unload them- a process similar to using a conveyer belt!! Watching these muffins turn golden brown in a few short minutes was awesome and don’t think I didn’t treat myself to one slathered with butter the minute it came out of the oven!! If you haven’t had one of our breakfast sandwiches that we serve at the Dahlia Bakery and Seatown Snack Bar then you don’t know what you are missing!!!
September 8th, 2010 | No Comments »
To raise money for my kids’ Seattle public school, Catherine Blaine (K-8), I donated my skills as chef to create a dinner for 8 people to be auctioned off at a school fundraiser this past spring. The package included dinner, wines, and a classical guitarist who played throughout the evening. I put this package together with the help of another parent, Christine, who hosted the dinner at her house. The dinner sold at the auction for $650.
To help with the costs of the dinner, Metropolitan Market donated a $150 gift card, which I used to purchase most of the ingredients. Tom Douglas and Jackie Cross donated Lola white and red wines, and Pamela Hinckley donated a delicious Banyuls for the dessert wine.
For the dinner menu, I served an heirloom tomato salad with green beans, a goat gouda, vinaigrette, and fresh basil. The entree course was a pan roasted medium rare lamb loin, sliced and served over a slow-cooked rich and chunky tomato fondue, and topped with sweet corn and honshimeji mushrooms. I followed that with a passion fruit sorbet, then an assortment of artisanal chocolates, plus a Saint Agur blue cheese and the Banyuls. Sometimes you plan and cook a meal that you don’t think is a total success, sometimes you flop, but I have to say this turned out to be PERFECT!
Thanks to everyone who helped me raise some money for my kids’ school, which is a great school, by the way!
September 7th, 2010 | No Comments »
Duskie Estes, of Bovola and Zazu restaurants, and Black Pig Bacon, competes on the next Iron Chef!! (She’s the one with the beautiful smile!) Duskie was a chef at Tom Douglas Restaurants for several years, and she was one of the celebrity chefs invited to do a demo at July 2010 Tom Douglas Culinary Summer Camp. We hope you win, Duskie!
September 7th, 2010 | No Comments »
Three racks of baby back pork ribs- generously rubbed with Rub with Love (a combo of Salmon Rub and Pork Rub), slow BBQ’d on indirect heat on a covered Weber charcoal grill by my husband, Frank, for two and a quarter hours at 250 to 275°F, glazed with Ancho Molasses Sauce for the last 15 minutes (Frank likes to doctor up the BBQ sauce with hot sauces, mustard, and who-knows-what), then demolished down to the bare bones by four friends.
September 7th, 2010 | No Comments »
I was working in the Tom Douglas company office when Garrett Melkonian (the superstar pastry chef who is helping us develop the recipes for the upcoming Dahlia Bakery Cookbook) called me to say: “You know, in Italy, cake would more likely be eaten in the late afternoon than after a meal.” “Is this your way of saying I should run over to the test kitchen at Dahlia right now to taste some cake?” I inquired. “That’s right,” came the reply. So I grabbed my cell phone (to take photos) and dashed right over.
There are times (probably not often enough) when I take a moment to reflect on what an amazing job I have, and what a fortunate life I lead. When I walked into the test kitchen to see the two slices of olive oil cake, one with cider poached dried figs and one with Bracchetto steeped cherries, both with unsweetened mascarpone and both with a little sprinkle of powdered sugar AND two little glasses of Bracchetto (an Italian red sparkling wine that Garrett believes makes a brilliant companion to certain desserts), well, I did take a moment to think about how lucky I am that my day is often filled with small pleasures.
Because, years ago and for several years, I baked the pastries for Tom’s restaurants, I have, over time, tried out quite a few recipes for Italian olive oil cake. Garrett uses a technique that I’ve never seen before that lightens up what can often be a somewhat stodgy and dense textured cake.
When you get our Dahlia Bakery Cookbook recipe for olive oil cake (and I should warn you that we still have loads and loads of work to do on this book so you will have to wait patiently for awhile), I think you will agree that it is relatively simple to make but has a beautiful fluffy and airy texture. This olive oil cake (plus all the little fruit accompaniments we’re dreaming up) promises to be one of the most versatile cakes in your repertoire!
September 2nd, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I finally got organized and brave enough to try making Brian’s version of “spam” with his guidance. Have the basics down now, just need a few tweaks. Just made some fresh kimchee too, so may make spam/kimchee musubis shortly. And then spam every which way for a few days!!
Editor’s notes:
Bruce belongs to Seattle Foodies and is a Tom Douglas Summer Camp lifer. Spam was a hit on Palace’s bar menu last winter. Because of all the buzz about Brian’s spam, we asked Palace Chef, Brian Walczyk, to give a demo on it at Summer camp this past July. Brian’s version of spam is, in my opinion, a million times better than the stuff in the can because what it really is, is a gorgeous, handmade pork terrine using the finest quality locally raised pork. Here’s the recipe that Brian wrote for the Summer Campers:
Brian’s “Spam” 
5 pounds pork shoulder
1 gallon ice water
14 ounces (by weight) kosher salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup insta cure
Cut the pork in 3-inch chunks. Combine all the ingredients for the brine. Submerge the pork in the brine and weight it with a plate to keep it submerged. Keep in brine for 3 days. After the 3-day brine, cut into grind size pieces (approximately 1-inch) and grind through the meat grinder 2X. This helps to emulsify the meat. Pack firmly into a terrine mold, tap the mold on a flat surface to remove air bubbles. Cook in a water bath, covered, at 250°F until internal temperature reaches 152 degrees, about an hour and a half.
Remove from the oven and press the terrine firmly with a weight to compact the spam terrine. Chill overnight, then slice.
(Intrepid cooks willing to try this recipe should be forewarned: though this recipe looks short and simple, I have a feeling that it’s a little more difficult to accomplish than it looks, and Bruce mentioned that he got additional guidance directly from Brian.)
September 2nd, 2010 | 2 Comments »
This is what I do first thing every morning: I stumble downstairs to the home office and sit at the computer. I go to the Tom Douglas website, click on Blog and News, then go right to Eat, Drink, Zack, Adrienne which is under “Blog Buddies” to your right. (Adrienne is our amazing Dahlia Sous Chef and she is on a 3 month travel adventure with her sweetie, Zack.) Then I check to see if the dynamic duo of Zack and Adrienne have posted any new adventures. Repeat… several times a day. This is what you should be doing too.
Today, Adrienne and Zack are in Denver, Colorado and they reviewed the restaurants Duo (above), and Colt and Gray, plus they give a heads-up about their friend Katy’s upcoming Denver cooking school, Stir.
September 1st, 2010 | No Comments »
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