Text 8367, 88 rader
Skriven 2013-12-30 13:02:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: pennsy party prep 676
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Prep day, two days before the party. This involved chopping
of massive quantities of bacon, peppers, celery, onions,
and mushrooms, preparation of chicken for Annie's enchiladas,
schmaltz-rendering, and making broth and barbecue sauce.

Dan and Barb came over for holiday cheer, and it just so
happened that I'd just rendered the skin and fat of a whole
chicken, so to Annie's squeam the three of us chowed down
on a plateful of cracklings. The girls shared a bottle of
Schramsberg blanc de blancs 09, which was fine, nothing
special and no better than Dr. Frank's 07 from yesterday.
Dan and I finished the Dr. Frank Cabernet Franc, which was
of course respectable but no Leoville-Barton.

The event of the evening was Oyster Night at the Herdic.

We had a drink at the bar (the girl who was expertly mixing
drinks there was the same one inexpertly slicing beef at
the Christmas Eve party; then we were joined by the three
Mikes from across the river for the oysterfest. I was a
little disappointed by the menu, which was the standard
menu augmented by an "oysters rockefeller soup," a special
rack of lamb main, and five varieties of oysters, Kumamoto
and Shigoku from Washington, Wild Goose from Narragansett
Bay, Sewansecott from the Delmarva peninsula, and a novelty
to me, Montauk Pearl. Annie asked my advice, and I told her
to get half a dozen Montauks and half a dozen Narragansetts
- I am not a superfan of the cucumbery flavor of the
Japanese-origined west coast oysters and think the flavor
of the cold-water New Englands more intense than the
mid-Atlantic ones. Plus I am a partisan of Rhode Island and
Massachusetts shellfish. For myself I had a half dozen
Montauks, which were plump and briny but a little more
flabby than winter northeastern oysters ought to be. They
were also very small. I stolled by the shucking station
and found that the Sewansecotts were the biggest and all
the others uniformly minimum size. Odd, as the Sewansecotts
are said to have been grown for only one year, which leads
to a washed out flavor and very brittle shell. I didn't taste
the Wild Gooses but imagine they must have been just like the
Quonsets that I've often passed up, as they're from within
a couple miles of there. (I pass up Quonsets because Matunuck
Bays are better). Mike got grilled oysters with Parmesan,
which I think is a misbegotten dish; Jill I think had the
classic French onion soup; and Sarah had medjool dates
stuffed with goat cheese and grilled with bacon, which to me
sounds a little weird, but then I don't go for goat cheese.

I wasn't hugely hungry so got a main course I could pack up
for later - "tenderloin bolognese: a rich Bolognese ragu,
simmered with Misty Mountain Farm ground beef, tossed with
organic fettucine and finished with seared tenderloin tips."
I guess the word got back to the kitchen, and instead of
seared tips I got a full-size filet sliced up and served
around a pile of slightly tough noodles in what was much
creamier and richer than a real Bolognese (delicious though
that was). The filet had been sauced with a demiglace and
was extra rare, one shade up from the blue that I prefer.
I packed up half the meat for snacks. I asked for a glass
of Chianti, and the waitress said it was out. So I asked for
a glass of Malbec, and she said that was out too. So I got
a bourbon straight up. Kudos for not pouring some random
stuff and pretending it was Chianti or Malbec; brickbats for
being out in the first place. The whiskey was something like
Ten High, neither good nor bad, okay with meat, not so okay
with tomato cream pasta.

Annie got a crab cake; she usually gets the Parmesan shrimp
(another misbegotten dish but apparently good), but both
Sarah and Jill were getting that. I almost asked her to get
two crab cakes so I could taste some, but tasting crab cakes
anywhere not within an hour's drive of the Chesapeake is a
recipe for disappointment; further, it was Annie's turn to
pay, and I didn't want to pad things.

Mike had the rack of lamb special, rare, which looked and
smelled good. Despite my giving him an ounce of filet, he
didn't offer a reciprocal taste, which he normally does, so
I presume it was good. I was too unhungry to request a bite
anyhow.

Creme brulee for dessert: it was a little overthickened
and undervanillaed, but the portion was adequate, it was
nicely bruleed, and it did the job.

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