I came across this site with all these myths people have about the kitchen and food.

http://www.pgacon.com/KitchenMyths.htm

Some of them are kind of “duh” but others…ehh, ok. Check them out, see for yourself!

Everything turned out fantastic!

I think every chef’s main worry when cooking on Thanksgiving is making sure that the turkey turns out good. You don’t want to overcook the turkey, and you don’t want to pull it out raw either. It’s a tough juggling act, and even the pros have a hard time getting it done right.

Cheese Platter

I put together a quick cheese platter with a a blue cheese, a manchego, and a brie. I bought some yummy black figs, dried cherries, and apricots.

I made this awesome candied yam casserole. It turned out great for never really making it before.

 

 

Some Pigs in a Blanket. We ran out of puff pastry so we had to skimp on a few to stretch it out haha.

 

 

The turkey came out great!

 

 

The meat came off so tender it just fell off the bone when I took it off. I was surprised…the breast meat was really juicy and moist, and the legs and wings came off so tender. I think it was the brining process.

 

As for the glaze, this is what I did:

• I sauteed onions and serranos together until softened. Put as much serranos as you like.
• Add a 2 to 1 ratio of Cider vinegar to sugar. I used a mix of brown and white sugar.
• Once the sugar dissolves, I tossed in 2-3 Pink Lady apples.
• Let this reduce down and season with salt and pepper.
• After about 15 minutes, take it off the heat and let it cool. Once it cools, I threw in some sage and blended it together.

When it was done, my glaze was VERY spicy and sweet, and a bit of a vinegary smell. Once the turkey was almost done cooking, i started to slather on the glaze and let the turkey cook uncovered. The sugar will caramelize and leave a blackened look. Trust me, the black bits on the skin were not burned…it was the best part. The spiciness will penetrate slightly into the meat giving a good hint of the glaze. It was great.

 

I was really bummed out that I didn’t do a better job of timing the sides. Waiting for the turkey to cook, I accidentally overcooked the veggies, and the mashed potatoes got slightly dried out. Nonetheless, it was still good!

And Jessica’s pies turned out really well too!! She’ll make a great chef for me yet!

 

Needless to say, it was a great Thanksgiving.  I got a little ambitious with my menu, and not everything turned out as exactly as I liked, but for the most part I think the dinner was YUMMY!

Here’s a video of the Thanksgiving Prep work we did on wednesday. If you want the info to the music and such, Domenic has it on his site.

It was crazy! We prepped for about 4-5 hours roughly. It was all getting things ready for thursday. Domenic set up a little clock in the corner to show the time lapse. Pretty cool huh??

The day before Thanksgiving always means a crazy shopping experience; bordering on panic and chaos.

Luckily, we got to Berkeley Bowl early enough where the crowd was still pretty manageable. If you’ve never been to Berkeley Bowl, it’s a foodie’s(and hippie’s) haven. They’ve got an AWESOME produce selection; reasonable and even cheap in some cases. You can find tons of organic produce, rare produce, and some really weird stuff too.

I didn’t actually see these, but Jess said they’re “Buddha’s Palm” carrots. Freaky!

One of my favorite things about this place is the Bulk food sections. They’ve got a ton of things you can buy bulk from different dried foods, to spices, to salts and different flours. Very reasonable prices too!

Rock on Berkeley Bowl. Rock on.

 

 

Mis en place!

 

 

After all the food is prepped and packaged, it’s time to head over to my uncle’s house.

 

 

More butter! More butter!!!

 

 

Luckily, there’s lots of counter space.

 

 

Damn it smells good.

 

 

I’m the brown Mario Batali, and I wear shorts too heehee.

 

 

Me and Domenic working on the turkey so we can dunk it in the deliciously hot oil.

 

 

It is a damn good thing I turned the fire off before putting the turkey in. Even after we measured it overflowed!! Phew..!

 

 

Definitely need a hotter heat source next time.

 

 

Me and my Brat.

 

 

What a lot of work!! Domenic and I prepped the whole day Wednesday. We chopped, and diced, and blanched, and roasted everything we could to cut down on cooking for Thursday. Yah…didn’t help too much, there was still a lot of work to be done Thursday.

“SO…How will it all turn out??? Will the turkey taste good?? Are the mashed potatoes as creamy and yummy as you say they are!? Are you EVER going to post up recipes?!?!?!”

Find out how the food turned out tomorrow! (and recipes to come!!)

Gluttony overshadowed all other themes you can think of for this year’s Thanksgiving Extravaganza.

This year, like every year, I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for my family. This was probably the most ambitious menu I’ve put together in all those years. This was the first year I’ve cooked more than one turkey, the first year I’ve fried a turkey, and cooked for more than 20 people. For the most part, everything was great and everyone enjoyed it. There were a few dishes I was surprised turned out well (since I made up some of them as I went), and a couple of dishes I thought tasted better in my head than when executed. Sorry to those of you who were waiting for recipes! LOL, I was waiting to see how they would pan out first before I posted them up for people to try at home. I’ll have them up in a few days.

The madness started on Tuesday. After picking up Jessica, we stopped by the Ferry Building in San Francisco to have lunch and pick up a few things.

This place is singlehandedly responsible for triggering foodgasms in any gourmand who enters its halls.

 

Whatever specialty item you need, the Ferry Building will have it. Artisan breads and cheeses, fresh seafood and oysters, caviar, free range and organic meat, specialty mushrooms, chocolates, and olive oil. They have it all.

I. Love. Mushrooms.

 

On Tuesday and Saturdays they have an outdoor farmers’ market that sells all the traditional farmers’ market fare, plus a lot of uncommon seasonal items. The famous Slanted Door is also here. I haven’t eaten there yet, but I have cooked with Charles Phan himself, and the dishes we made were pretty damn tasty.

What?? Purple Bell Peppers??

 

If you go to the Ferry Building, be prepared to spend some money. Nothing is cheap here. You won’t be finding China Town deals in this place. Not only is the food of high quality, it’s also a tourist trap. You also get people from the Financial District coming here for lunch; and those folks are used to paying a premium for good food. Parking is also tough, but if you get a spot in the Washington St. lot, the merchants will validate your parking.

When all was said and done, I went home with a tiny bottle of White Truffle Oil and some dried Bing Cherries. haha…I figured I’d get the rest of my stuff from Berkeley Bowl in the morning. What a mad house that turned out to be!!

Truffle oil: Just another gateway drug.

Up Next: Wacky Wednesday and the prep work madness for Turkey day…..

Last month we catered a party for Google! The party was down near the Google headquarters, on the Shoreline Amphitheatre grounds.

They erected this HUGE dome tent. Everything was decorated in white. The dome was really cool, when it got dark they projected the night sky and stars on it, along with a huge earth rotating. It was as if they were planning…world…domination….!!! hmmm…..

 

 

Too bad I couldn’t get a picture of it during dinner. Sadly, I was actually working.

 

 

 

They definitely spent some money on the event. All of the cocktail tables were made completely of ice, as well as both bars. It was really awesome.

 

 

 

 

 

As far as food goes, we served this awesome amuse course. I forget what’s in it, but i think it was hamachi and kiwi…it was awesome. We served it on these ice plates that were a bitch to get done. Some of our chefs had to prep in a freezer truck, and it was a real tight window of service so the plates didn’t start melting before the guest got them!

 

 

 

For those of you who don’t know what an amuse bouche course is, it’s basically a bite-sized morsel of food before the appetizers or first course is served. It’s supposed to get you in a great mood to eat. If I remember my french correctly, amuse bouche means “happy mouth” literally. (feel free to correct me on that).

 

 

 

 

 

We also served up a duck salad with a calvados gastrique. It was really good!!

Go try and enjoy your Hot Pocket now lol.

The catering company I work for does all the fancy parties for the Bay Area Elite. I don’t think I’ve worked for a company I love more than this one. I work whenever I feel like working, I eat AWESOME food, I cook with the best chefs, and I get to meet famous people! How can you not love this job???

Here are some of the highlights from over the year(note that these are all taken with my camera phone!):

My Office!!

 

 

A tomato salad a coworker and I made.

 

 

This was a sweet banquet style set up

 

 

haha…I thought it was a chinese wedding at first with all the red. Definitely was not.

 

A really expensive wedding cake. That’s Fondant that they use for the ribbons and flowers.

 

Individual Wedding cakes! Well, ok…they’re more for people to share.

 

The main wedding cake. Yes, it is expensive. No, I don’t know how much.

 

Catering Pimp with a Mohawk

 

Sorbet shaped in the fruit they’re flavored with. AND passed in a heavy ice bowl. Poor waiters…heehee.

 

This sexy leg was made by a groom for his wedding! (it’s proscuitto if you can’t tell) How pimp is that?? He made proscuitto, mortadella, toscano, …they were all SO good! We served it to the guests JUST LIKE THAT! And he had bought an old school slicer off ebay for the other meats. It was cool!

 

I love these parties, you learn so much. Keep posted…I’ll be putting up pictures from the Google party we did recently!!

I have been making Thanksgiving dinner for my family since I was 15 years old.

To be honest, I don’t remember too much from that first Thanksgiving meal. All I remember that I was dead tired, nervous that nobody would like it, and hating that I slaved away all day. Haha, I’m curious to know how I’d critique that meal if I got a chance to go back and try it.

Some years I would cheat and enlist the help of Spuds, Stovetop, and Canned Cranberry Sauce. I’ve learned the hard way that their help wasn’t worth the shortcuts. It wasn’t until a few years ago did I really start to expand the menu, get a little ballsy, and stuff my family with experimental(yet tasty) dishes. And after finding some motivation, I think this year’s menu is going to be the best yet. I’m so excited – you have no idea!!

Thanksgiving Extravaganza ’07

Appetizers

Apple, Jicama, and Fennel Fall Slaw

Pumpkin and Chevre Quesadillas

Spicy Chicken Wings with Cilantro dipping sauce

Pigs in a Blanket

Cheese Platter – Humbolt Fog, Camembert, Manchego with dried cherries, figs, grapes and plums

 

Main Dinner

Fried Turkey

Herb Roasted Turkey

Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Classic StoveTop Stuff (yes, you read this right!! It’s like crack!)

Apple & Butternut Squash Soup

Pear, Beet and Bibb Lettuce Salad with a Pear Vinaigrette

Baby Roasted Vegetables with Herb Butter

Fresh Cranberry Compote

Sweet Potato Casserole

Cranberry Walnut Bread

 

Dessert

Jessica’s Famous Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Ice Cream

 

I think I got so wrapped up with the main dishes, that I neglected the desserts. Certain people have already given me slack about “buying” pies, so in order to maintain my dignity, I’ll be baking desserts. (like anyone is gonna be hungry enough for dessert!! ::rolls eyes::) Once I have a better idea of what I want to bake, I’ll update the menu.

Also, if anyone wants any of the recipes, let me know. I don’t have exact recipes for most of them, but I can give you something to work with. If you want to come, just send me a message; all are welcome!

And keep posted for pics and results of the event!!