The Scallop/Bacon Nuptuals

* If you are looking for a brief account of course #1 at the Valentines Day Food Night... look elsewhere. I have edited, re-edited, paired down, and deleted all I can. This is what's left. Maybe I'll post the "Directors Cut" of this post in the future, for those of you that just can't get enough of my ramblings.

Studies show, if you are reading this there is roughly an 81% chance you know who the bearded fellow pictured here is. That, of course, is Kevin Gillespie, contestant on the recently completed Season 6 of the wildly successful Bravo TV series "Top Chef". Kevin is your typical MIT scholarship-turner-downer-to-instead-attend-culinary-school. So, he clearly is genius material, and I do mean that literally. Furthering his case for Culinary Jedi status was the "Escargot Quickfire Challenge".

In a Quickfire Challenge, contestants have a brief period of time (in this case it was 45 minutes) to create a foodgasm-inducing dish for a celebrity chef (in this case it was uber-chef Daniel Boulud) The contestants were instructed to "Make a winning dish, using snails as the main protein". So what does Kevin do? He makes BACON JAM. I repeat; Bacon. Jam. He makes Jam... with Bacon in it. And of course he still has time to russle up some snails and other stuff in under 45 minutes. I can barely boil water on my stove in 45 minutes, let alone make bacon jam and snails. So the next time you are trying to dig that Smuckers* garbage that is only 43% fruit and 57% partially hydrogenated xanthan gum fructose red dye #40 out of that sticky-ickey glass jar, know that if you have bacon... and stock (obviously)... you could be spooning some baconey goodness onto your english muffin instead of that ridiculous smuckers.

* See what word you are left with when you take the "m" out of "Smuckers"? Yeah. I'm just sayin'.

But enough preamble... let's dive into Food Night's first course...

Scallops
bacon jam, stock reduction, citrus, maldon, cilantro, chile sauce

Can you turn on your oven and push "start" on your blender? Then you can make bacon jam. Look, it's just hanging out in the oven, practically cooking itself.... all you need to do is apply heat and stir.


Since I had it in my head that I wanted to recreate Kevin's bacon jam, and scallops with bacon are a frequently matched pair*, I thought I'd try to raise the bar a little on the usual "bacon wrapped scallop".

* You'll often see scallops wrapped in bacon skewered up and pre-packaged at your grocery store. Only problem is... it is near impossible to cook both the bacon and the scallop properly simultaneously. And frequently the grocery store will sell you inferior wet packed scallops** this way. Do yourself a favor; if you want to join some bacon and scallop in culinary matrimony, make this bacon jam and go to Coastal for your scallops (and for ALL your seafood needs for that matter). Food Night Truth #1; make your own stock. Food Night Truth #2; buy your seafood from a trusted source, that gets fresh product daily.

** Scallops that are without any additives are called "dry packed" while scallops that are treated with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) are called "wet packed". STP causes the scallops to look "nice" and white, and to absorb moisture prior to the freezing process. More moisture means they weigh more, and thereby cost you more (only you are paying for water, not scallop). And the excess moisture in these wet scallops makes them literally IMPOSSIBLE to sear properly. Moisture + High heat = Steam = No Caremlization = Rubbery Seafood = Bad times. So please. Get your seafood from a reputible source. And no - Coastal Seafoods does not contribute monetarily to Food Night. Quite the opposite, actually.


ANYWAY. Let's get on with the method...

Bacon Jam a la Kevin Gillespie

• 1 cup bacon (roughly 8oz), cut into 1'' pieces (get the good bacon from your butcher, please, not the prepackaged stuff packed with preservatives)
• 1/4 cup yellow onions, julienned
• 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 3 cups chicken stock*
• 1 tablespoon honey

* If you don't have any stock because you are waiting for me to post on how to make it, use water instead. Do NOT use anything that came out of a can or a box. But you knew that already.

Render bacon in heavy saute pan (cast iron works great) in 500 degree oven until crisp. Pull from oven, remove bacon, and saute onion in remaining bacon fat until onions are golden. Return bacon to pan, and add brown sugar, stirring to coat.

Add 1 cup stock. Stir, scraping up all browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Return to oven. Reduce until thick, and nearly dry.

Repeat with another cup of stock.

Add remaining cup stock, season with salt/pepper, and pour contents into blender. Process to fairly smooth.

Pour contents back into pan, stir in honey. Put pan back into oven, stir frequently until deep brick red color is attained. Remove from oven, swirl in butter.

Now that you have your Bacon Jam, you are ready to join said Jam, and a dry packed scallop, in blissful culinary matrimony. That process starts by searing the bejezuz out of the scallop, as follows...

Use a pan* like the one pictured above and add a film of high heat oil (peanut, grapeseed) while pan is still cold. Get the pan rip-roarin' hot, and only when pan is screamin' hot, add the scallop(s). Sear for maybe a minute, some browning will happen, the pan will hiss, and smoke, and you will want to poke/prod the scallop but DO NOT under any circumstances poke and/or prod your scallop. Leave it alone, you don't want to mess up the matrimony do you?! Didn't think so. After a minute or so, add a knob of butter to the pan (and garlic clove(s) with skin on, and thyme sprigs if you want, but you MUST add butter). Tip the pan, and spoon the melted butter oil over the scallop for another 30ish seconds, things should be noticeably brown around the scallop by now, but you haven't poked or prodded the scallop, have you. Remove scallop(s) from pan and invert onto paper towel (so browned side is up) when browned to your liking. Bang. Done. The End. How easy was that?!**


* You'll notice this pan is NOT a non-stick pan. Non-stick pans have many uses. Searing a scallop is not one of them. Nor is searing anything, for that matter.

** Answer; very easy! Please, if you haven't already, try it. It's not rocket science. Buy a good scallop. Sear the living daylights out of it. And revel in your accomplishment.

Note you did not turn the scallop over in the pan either. And if you have a bunch of scallops to sear (like we did at Food Night), work in batches, don't overcrowd the pan, and change the oil/fat between batches. The keys here are the proper pan, and making sure it is hot as the sun. And yes; I exaggerate. Again. But only slightly. That pan has got to be mega-hot.

The finished dish actually involved TWO kinds of scallops. When buying the sea scallops, I snagged some Nantucket Bay scallops* since Coastal had them on hand, and proceeded to sear them as above (except in a fraction of the time since they are a fraction of the size of sea scallops). You can see the finished product below... the bacon jam on the left, the supremes of grapefruit and blood orange on the right...

* These little guys (and gals. At least, I assume there are guy and gal scallops right? If there is an ichthyologist reading this... maybe he can enlighten us... Dad.......) are the candy of the seafood world. They are so sweet I think you could sear them just by THINKING of putting them in a hot pan. They are a seasonal product, available only November t0 March or there abouts... so get them while you can. There are four on the plate below...

The dish probably didn't need the reduced stock (which was kind of hidden under the citrus). But what was key to melding the flavors was Maldon salt. It functions as garnish, texture and flavor enhancer. Great stuff the Maldon.

And there you have it. Scallops & Bacon. Food Night style.

Valentine's Food Night - The Wines

Have you ever tried to follow an act that was wildly successful? Rarely is Act II as good as Act I. Unless you are Larry David, and you follow "Seinfeld" with "Curb Your Enthusiasm". Or unless you are Tim McKee and you follow La Belle Vie with Solera and Barrio. But clearly, I don't do comedy, and I don't qwiiiiiiite have the culinary acumen of a James Beard Award winner like Tim McKee. So I did what anyone would do - I panicked. And right after panicking, I set out to create a menu that would be a worthy Act II to the wildly successful Act I that featured...

• The first Food Night ever documented on the Internets.
  
• A Food Night that featured a freaking truffle (and not the chocolate kind, either).
• A Food Night whose wines included the best Priorat I've ever had, and Lafite's second wine.

One thing is never in question at Food Night... the wines will be Rock Star caliber. The food takes a bit of luck and thought and effort and luck and more luck and then a miracle happens and then I trip over a rabbits foot onto a four leaf clover patch, and then if all the happens the food turns out deece. OK, I exaggerate slightly, but the wines... the wines are never in question. Let's have a look at the Star Studded lineup this time that featured not one, not two but THREE Chateauneufs...

United States
Calera, Selleck Pinot Noir
2001

Ridge, Monte Bello
2001

Northstar, Columbia Valley Merlot
2002

Swanson, Alexis Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
2005

France
Clos Des Papes, Chateauneuf du Pape
2006

Vieux Télégraphe, Chateauneuf du Pape la Crau
2000

Cuvée du Vatican, Chateauneuf du Pape, Réserve Sixtine
2000

Chateau Cambon La Pelouse, Haut-Médoc, Bordeaux
2005

Spain
Les Brugueres, Priorat Vi Blanc
2006

Rotllan Torra, Tirant, Priorat
2001

Italy
Manzone, Barolo le Gramolere
2004

By now, you are no doubt aching to find out which of these wines were the fave's of the Food Night crew. So let's not keep you waiting any longer... the prestigious GOLD MEDAL from the Valentine's Food Night goes to....................................

The 2001 Ridge Monte Bello! Absolutely no surprise there, it was certainly a notch (or two) above all other wines that night. The best domestic wine I have ever had was the 2004 Phelps Insignia, and the Monte Bello seriously made me reconsider that position, as it was absolutely spectacular. A sort of ripe banana aroma was incredible, as were the layers of texture and concentration. Certainly one of the better wines we've had at any Food Night. There was actually a great article in the New York Times this week about Ridge, and the Monte Bello in particular. You can imagine hard time I had convincing them to run it in conjunction with this post. Amazing that this little blog has gotten so much pull in such a short period of time, no?! In any case, I highly encourage you to check out the article.

When Tom extracted the unmistakably Ridge labeled bottle from the paper bag that had been concealing it during our blind tasting... many loud "OHHHHHs!!!!" were heard, many fists bumped, and chants of "We are not worthy!" filled the air. So many of us had been wanting to try this bottle for some time. A dream had been realized. Because that is what we do at Food Night. We make dreams... come true.*

* If your dreams happen to involve drinking great wine, that is. If you dream bigger than that, we probably cannot help you. Thanks for understanding.

Moving on, the SILVER MEDAL goes to.........

The 2006 Clos Des Papes Chateauneuf du Pape! The first (and last, prior to Food Night) Clos Des Papes I had was a the 1998 vintage at the old La Belle Vie in Stillwater. My wine knowledge at the time couldn't have filled a flea's bathtub, but I knew enough to say... wow... that's good. Fast forward several years, and Clos Des Papes is making even BETTER wine now, so says Wine Spectator, Robert Parker, and others who "know". And while it was absolutely fantastic, I think Tyler captured it accurately when he mentioned we probably did not max out this bottle's potential. It was decanted OVERNIGHT in TWO separate decanters for maximum aeration. Rich, decadent, and ripe, I'm really glad there are three left in my cellar. We'll break it out again for a Food Night in 2015.

And finally... rounding out the medal stand with the BRONZE is...


The 2001 Calera Selleck! If you know anything about the Food Night crew, you know we are pretty obsessed with Calera wines. The 2001 Selleck is what started that obsession. Perfume? Check. Bright acidity? Check. Gobs of Asian spice and other "non-fruit" aromas? All present and accounted for. Amazing stuff the Calera.

Personally, I really loved the Tirant Priorat too. I actually gave it the Silver on my ballot. Fantastically structured, with awesome aromas of asphalt and rich tobacco and smoke. Plus, check out the hand written bottle numbers! How cool is that?! Very classy.


And speaking of labels, how regal are these Chatty labels...


In the middle is the 2000 Vieux Télégraphe. That stuff (as Tim commented on) was indeed fantastic. I think it had the most terroir (ter-whah) of any wine of the night. You could smell and taste the soil the grapes were grown in, and the musty funky air of the cave that the wine was aged in.* The Clos Des Papes even goes so far as to print the word "TERROIR" right on the label! (Check out the picture below if you don't believe me). Above on the right was the 2000 Vatican Sixtine, and unfortunately it had a definite hint of TCA (or, it was slightly "corked"). It wasn't as prevalent on the palate, but once that smell is in my head, I have a hard time getting past it. A shame too, as the 2001 Sixtine was one of the best Chateauneufs I've ever had, so I was really looking forward to trying the 2000.

* I have no idea if it was stored in a cave, but it sure wouldn't surprise me.


Rounding out the wine summary, was a 2004 Manzone Barolo, which is a wine I've had twice before. First time was the 2001 vintage, and at the time, it was the best Barolo I'd ever had. I distinctly remember it's leathery bouquet and wonderfully acidic structure. The second time was the 2004, and I decanted it for hours and hours, but was unable to extract it from it's youth. That seems to be a pattern for young Barolos. Sometimes you can give a young powerful wine some air and time in the decanter, and it will reveal itself to you. Not so, the Barolo. It is the most stubborn wine I've come across in that regard; it seems there is simply no substitute for bottle age with Barolo. That isn't to say the 2004 Manzone wasn't enjoyable - it certainly was, and it will surely be a gem in another 5+ years. But like the Clos Des Papes, another wine we opened before it's time.

And now, sadly, I must wrap up this riveting post on the wines of the Valentine's Food Night. I could go on, but, A) it's almost St. Patrick's Day, and B). I need to save my energy for detailing the food of Food Night. And as you might imagine... there was a lot of pretty deece (and this time, unique) food to detail.

Valentine's Food Night Preview

I know I'm in the minority here, but I cannot stand previews. Previews at the movies, previews on TV that show what's coming on the next episode of my favorite show "24", previews of anything that gives away anything more than a tease. I went to the movies last weekend, and the previews were 23 minutes long*. That's a bit excessive, don't you think? Previews have become the bane of my electronic media existence. I understand they serve a purpose in that they attract new viewers. They say "Hey, look how funny this movie is going to be" or "Hey, look at the scrum Jack Bauer has gotten himself into THIS time".

* Yes, 23 minutes. I timed it. Twenty. Three. Minutes. I think there is something like 23 minutes of content in your typical half hour sit-com. I can deal with and actually enjoy a couple of previews, but after one or two SHOW THE FREAKIN' MOVIE ALREADY!

Is it really necessary to give away so much during the previews? Less is more. Previews should be like the Amuse Bouche. A little statement that wets your appetite, teases you, shows you what's possible, but doesn't spoil your dinner. Last weekend I saw a preview for a movie with the Guy from 300 and Friends Gal and the jist of it was that they were lovers, but not anymore, and now he is a bounty hunter, and she has run afoul with the law somehow, and now he needs to haul her off to jail, and she hits him in the neck neck with a taser, and she wears short skirts, and he wears a towel as he's getting out of the shower, and he chains her to the bedpost, and she chains him to the bedpost, and the Mafia gets involved, and they get into this massive car chase, and AHHHHHH !!!!! Cripes, if I wanted to see such a ridiculous movie in the first place I wouldn't NEED to any more because I've seen everything there is to see! I've seen him, I've seen her, I've seen them, I've seen their dilemma. But of course what what I'm TRYING to see are 10 foot tall blue computer generated human/alien hybrids with tails battling rocket ships with bows and arrows while riding on the backs of monsters that they have "bonded" with via their special nervous system that extends out the end of their magic hair braid. Obviously.

Less is MORE. Show some restraint. Quality, not quantity. If you have a quality product, people will take notice, and they will come. Channel the Amuse Bouche. Wet the appetite. And people will come. They will most defintely come*.


* Wow. Is that a goose bump inducing monologue or WHAT?! That movie hits me right where it counts. Fathers and sons, James Earl Jones, "...and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters". I could be wrong, but if that speech doesn't move you, or doesn't make at least one hair on the back of your neck stand on end, then there is something wrong with you, my friend.

What I'm trying to say here is.... previews suck.

So naturally, I give you... a Preview of the Food and Wine at the Valentine's Food Night! A preview done right, of course. A few photos, and a few words* to hopefully wet your appetite for subsequent posts. So enjoy the Amuse, and check back later for the Main Courses.

* As for the words, before continuing I suggest you find your inner Don LaFontaine. No really... click on the link. And turn up the volume. OK? Good. Commence preview Amuse...

"In a world, where people gather and bottles of spine tingling wines flow, like so many juice boxes at a Girl Scout Field Trip...."

"... and with that wine, various Food Stuffs descend from the heavens (or, Whole Foods)..."

"... and are transformed before your very eyes into dishes so shocking, they can only be described as.......... DEECE...."

"Only one group of dedicated, impatient souls would DARE open wines YEARS before their time..."


"Food Stuffs and wines and fabulous company like this can mean only one thing; another FOOD NIGHT has transpired, and is coming............ to your interweb machine!"

"Tyler is ready....."


Are YOU???.............................

Calling all Valentine's Food Night Participants...

Before I begin documenting the happenings at the Valentine's Food Night, there is a little housekeeping I need to do. We are going to start a running feature here at Food Night. Those in attendance will vote for the Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal winning wines of the night. And you most definitely can vote the a wine that you brought. Additionally, participants will vote for their favorite food course of the evening. Won't this be fun?!

So.

If you attended Food Night on 2/13, please cast your ballot in the Comments below for your Gold, Silver, and Bronze medal winning wines of the night. Then while you are at it, toss out what was your favorite course of the evening.

If you are having trouble remembering what we drank, here is a little reminder...


And if you need a refresher on what we ate...

In the future, we'll collect this information at Food Night, so as not to use up interweb bandwidth that could be used for far more important pursuits. Like this.

Thank you. Posts on Food Night details coming to your internet machine shortly.

To the cook, go the Leftovers

Invariably, the day after Food Night my kitchen looks like a grenade went off at the Sigma Lamda Delta Alpha Beta kegger* on Halloween. And the worst part of it is not the dirty dishes, it's the fact that... aw, man... Food Night is over. Kind of like the day after Christmas when you were a kid. That day, and the day after my birthday, I recall being the worst days of the year. The mental hangover, the knowledge that you are a full YEAR away from the joy and jubilation those days bring, was always a drain that day after. But on the bright side, there were the toys you got to play with that lessened the disappointment. Similarly, the day after Food Night has it's own set of toys.... Leftovers!


* A kegger where the cheap beer is replaced with Priorat, Chateaunuf du Pape, Bordeaux and Chardonnay. Which happens from time to time, I'm told.


You remember the pickled tomatoes? Yeah, no leftovers there. Every one of those flavor grenades had it's pin pulled, so to speak. However, I couldn't bring myself to toss out the brine I pickled them in, so it sat in my fridge for a few days. And then I remembered that in that brine were some strips of meyer lemon peel. What a treat that was, to discover that after a few days, the peel had become really intense and bursting with flavors from the brine! Almost like a poor-man's version of the preserved lemon that Sameh garnishes dishes with at Saffron.* Leftover lemon peel. Who knew?

* Sameh and his restaurant Saffron deserves a post of it's own. I'm sure that'll happen. For now, please know that the preserved lemon he GARNISHES his dishes with is about the best thing you can eat. It's a foodgasm, and if I have to explain what that is to you, then just nevermind. And it he uses it as a freaking GARNISH. Yeah. Dude has some game in the kitchen. To say the least.

What we did have after the Truffle Food Night was leftover venison. And the sauce, the silky rich sauce. The chards of leftover venison and the plethora of sauce called for one thing; pasta. So after work one Tuesday night, I brought the venison back to life in a skillet full o'sauce, and then tossed it up with some goat cheese, chili flakes and cilantro.

Deeceness ensued........


One of the best things about braised meats is that the deliciousness factor of said meat increases as it chills in the refrigerator post-braise. Flavors intensify. Textures meld. Goodness is amplified. I don't know the science of what is occurring, but rest assured it is good (eats).

Just another reason to braise more meat.

Scheduling update

A song, to announce something way cool that is coming up very shortly, sung to the theme of this all time classic...

Food, Exciting and new,
Come aboard, we're expecting you.
Wine, life's sweetest reward,
Let it flow, it floats back to you...

Food Night! Soon we'll be making another run,
Fooooood Niiiight, promises something for everyone.
Set a course for Feb 13,
Your mind on a new bottle of vino.



Ok, sorry, I dunno where that came from but here's the deal.... FOOD NIGHT... is back on the books! Mark your calendars for February 13th. That's right, the day before Valentine's Day. And since we haven't exactly "done" that Food Night, we may go heavy on the red themed ingredients. You'll understand, won't you? Then again, perhaps we'll completely ignore the Hallmark Holiday. Who knows. Or maybe I should just stop talking now and let you go about your day...

But before I go, just an FYI that I'm almost done with one more post from the Truffle Food Night. I hate it when day jobs get in the way of recreation! But it's just a brief little number about what happens after Food Night, once the guests have gone home, and the food stuffs* that are left in the fridge are begging for attention... stay tuned......

* I love that term. "Food Stuffs". When I think "food stuffs", I think of DEECE ingredients. Pheasants, parmiggiano, good olives, heirloom tomatoes, micro greens, anything from Coastal Seafoods. Food Stuffs. That, is where Food Night begins... with simple Food Stuffs.

Oh, and happily, one of the main Food Night Players will be making a return appearance. You might think "Oh, I didn't even know anybody left". And you'd be RIGHT! You didn't know because I never told you. It wouldn't exactly seem right to say "Howdy, here's Food Night, and one of our main dudes is moving to California". I don't know much, but I know telling you that one of the main Food Nighters fled to Cali right after Food Night is not how to build momentum. But he's coming back. And if I had a picture of him, I'd put it right...... here. But I don't, since we seem to take more pictures of food stuffs* at Food Night than we do of ourselves.

* Told you it was fun to use that term. Food Stuffs. So delicious, yet so vague!

The Truffle Food Night, the dramatic conclusion

The Truffle Food Night transpired on 12/12/2009. My watch currently reads 1/10/2010. You see how massive Food Night has become?! One decade is not enough to contain the international phenomenon that is Food Night. Some might say the Truffle Food Night has been "dragged out". Others might say that Christmas and New Year's got in the way of finishing up the posts (and they would be correct, by the way). But who cares about all that, let's get going on the details of what transpired when I attempted to cook the leanest hunk of meat I've ever seen.

Braised Venison

fingerling potato confit, pickled red onion, meyer lemon cream

If there was a molecule of fat on this Top Round Roast* of venison, I didn't see it. Probably because fat molecules are really, really small. And this deer's muscles were definitely properly pumped up. So, given that this roast was 99.999999999% lean**, much like the Austrian gentlemen pictured here, I decided to chat with a few very, very talented and incredibly friendly local chefs about how I might want to go about cooking it.

* Really excellent diagram of exactly where this roast is located on the animal here (it is a part of the Whole Round), and a close up photo of the roast here (click the 'click to view' next to Top Round Roast on that page for the close up).

** What is going on with deer these days? I think all they do is eat (in my garden), work out, and make little deer. And they do all three of those with GREAT proficiency. I can't throw a rotten egg out my back door without hitting a deer. Currently I think there might be a deer pilates class on the north side of my house on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Stop by if you are interested. And bring your rifle, please.

After getting the advice of the aforementioned super chefs, I settled on a fairly traditional braise. Braising is something I do virtually every Sunday in the fall/winter, so that is something that is in my comfort zone, something I thought would work for the venison, and something I could do a little ad-libbing with if anything went wrong. The first step was to sear the roast in the workhorse 5qt Le Creuset. Then I caramelized some onions in the resulting mess that was on the bottom of the pan after searing.

Those are the caramelized onions on the right side of the stove, along with some chicken stock right before the aromatics (carrot, onion, celery, etc) were added... but of course, you already know stock is another post.

I made some seeeeeriously delish pork stock the day before, so during the onion caramelization process I dumped some of that stock in there a few times to pick up all the crusty goodness on the bottom of the pan. Then when I was out of pork stock, I used maybe a cup of this very slightly smoked dopplebock beer from New Holland Brewing (buy it at Haskells in White Bear Lake). The stock was actually smokier than the beer, and the beer had a pleasant touch of sweetness to it. Plus it had a cool pig on the label. And it was already open... so, why not use it, right? Indeed.

To the pot of caramelized goodness, I added a bunch of San Marzano tomatoes, rich brown chicken stock, some delish green olives from Kowalski's, garlic, ancho chile, bay, a little honey, and other seasonings, covered it*, and stuck it in a 210 degree oven, and waited. Actually to be more specific, I went to bed. The venison went in the oven at 10pm Friday night, and came out at 8am Saturday morning. I know I mentioned in a previous post that I couldn't really classify this dish as "simple". But dang it, sure it is! Braising is amazing AND simple. Father Time does most of the work in a braise. So, sorry if I misled anyone... won't be the last time I'm sure.

* One of the coolest, and simplest, things I learned from The French Laundry Cookbook was that Chef Keller rarely has a lid on a pan in his kitchen. On page 190, there are instructions for how to make a parchment paper lid, which allows for some evaporation/concentration of the braising liquid, but keeps the meat from becoming too caramelized. Simple, yet effective. If it is good enough for Keller, it is good enough for Food Night, so that's how we roll - parchment lids.

The potatoes were done ahead of time as well. Thursday I gently poached them in olive oil and garlic, and stored them in the oil and garlic and a couple dried chiles until Food Night. Then Saturday night, I tossed them in a cast iron pan to put a nice sear on them. This was a quality, and painfully simple, do ahead preparation that I'll definitely use again. In fact I can't believe I haven't done this before. Plus I like saying "confit" potatoes. Sounds so regal and impressive, when it's actually easy as falling off a log. Can you simmer olive oil in a pan? Of course you can - and therefore you can make these potatoes, the inspiration for which I got here. Confit'ing is gonna become more common in my kitchen, I can tell. I wish I had done the venison that way, actually.

So, while I put together the first three courses of the evening, the venison was back in a really low oven, in the braising sauce had since been buzzed up with an immersion blender. When it was time to "slice" the roast, a small wave of panic passed over me. After poking and prodding the roast a bit, I could tell this thing wasn't going to be quite as succulent and tender like a lot of other braise-friendly cuts of meat I had worked with before. When I finally did take a knife to it, it flaked apart. Kind of like pulled pork, only without the moisture provided by fat (which as we've discussed, was nowhere to be seen here). It was indeed fairly dry, yet still tender, if that makes any sense. It certainly did not slice, so I did the only thing I could think of; I tossed the now "pulled venison" with plenty of that delicious sauce. Have another glance at the finished product... (there is venison in there, trust me, it's just being a little bashful)...

The final dish turned out really well. Better than I thought when I realized the roast had gotten somewhat dry. It had a nice slightly earthy/gamey flavor, without being overwhelming. Certainly nothing that I'd call an overwhelming success or anything. But the potatoes were very good, and the meyer lemon cream (basically sour cream, meyer lemon juice, salt) lent a nice contrast to the rich sauce.

In the end I was happy that I didn't completely ruin Tom's venison that he graciously donated to the Food Night cause. A week or so after Food Night, I was at Brasa for lunch and was talking to Tony about how the dish turned out. He suggested perhaps a brine would have helped. Great idea. Next time, I'll probably do that, or try to confit it, or use a gift that Santa brought me this year (pictured, from the interweb).

So that about does it for what the Food Night crew deemed "the best Food Night we've ever had". But fear not, because we of course have another Food Night coming up! It's looking like early February, but there certainly could be something done ad-hoc between now and then.

Finally, I'm really excited to announce that I have managed to convince a VERY special guest to attend a future Food Night! This guest is truly a gifted chef, not just some yahoo with a house, a couple cookbooks, a knife and an internet connection like yours truly. No, when this mystery guest goes to work every day, he goes to a restaurant. A freaking amazing, unique and fabulous restaurant. HIS restaurant, actually. OK, I need to stop there or I'll give away the surprise or have a stroke, and both of those things would lessen my enjoyment of the next Food Night.

So keep checking back as there certainly will not be a dearth of posts between Food Nights. I've actually got a few in the queue already, not the least of which is the one you've been clamoring for. The one I had to call Comcast to request extra bandwidth for. The one that will change your life.* The Stock post. I'm telling you, my cooking life is divided into B.S. and A.S. Before Stock, and After Stock. Wait, what did you think B.S. meant?

* Individual results may vary.

I guess what I mean to say is, we are just getting started here at Food Night. Glad you are along for the ride.