Dinner Parties

[happyguy2]

I just read a post by Steven Draker in the Deli in which he mentioned that he was hosting his first dinner party of the year tonight. I am hosting mine on Saturday night. So, I thought it might be intersting and useful for us to share our menus. I hope many will share, it will give us ideas for our own parties. Here is what I am doing: Champagne (one couple just got married and it is in their honor) with canapes; Marinated Smoked salmon with capers and onion and white wine (Chablis); Julia Child's recipe for Rack of Lamb with roast potatoes, baked tomatoes, glazed carrots (with Brouilly red); brie, blue cheese with grapes (and Port); My granny's Pecan Pie with coffee and tea; after dinner drinks in the living room. This is a special gathering for our two recently married friends .... What are your plans?

[orbital sander]

My plans are for a Mc-rib with fries

 

oh, and served with a ice cold (Heineken)

 

oh, oh, and my 38 loaded by my side...

[Guest countryboywny]

I'm a McRib and beer guy myself, but I won't get shot if I use Happy's menu

[leigh.bess.toad]

I'm a McRib and beer guy myself, but I won't get shot if I use Happy's menu

 

I'm sorry boys, but the McRib is a dirty phrase down here in the south where we take pride in our BBQ. What a miserable abomination. I know of self-respecting southerner who would admit in public to eating one. I know they do, they just wouldn't admit it. Now I want some real BBQ for dinner. Thanks a lot.

 

Countryboy -- I'll have to get you down here with me some time so I can show you what BBQ is supposed to taste like. But the McRib is to BBQ what the faux-lobster on some pedestrian all you can eat steak house is to fresh caught lobster in Maine.

 

Now Happpyguy's menu sounds great. Just avoid the Dan Ackroyd imitaiton of Julia Child incidents in the kitchen and you'll be fine.

[Luv2play]

Champagne with canapes; Marinated Smoked salmon with capers and onion and white wine (Chablis); Julia Child's recipe for Rack of Lamb with roast potatoes, baked tomatoes, glazed carrots (with Brouilly red); brie, blue cheese with grapes (and Port); My granny's Pecan Pie with coffee and tea; after dinner drinks in the living room. What are your plans?

 

This is my kind of dinner. I might go with a Bordeaux red instead of the Brouilly as lamb can take a wine with more body. Also my granny didn't do pecan pie so I would substitute another sweet. But really, a lovely menu that is very English inspired.

[happyguy2]

Lee, my sister lives in Atlanta and I have enjoyed some of the best bbq meals ever down there. Something tells me that countryboyny should follow Lee's advice and take up her invitation to a bbq. I bet bbq with Lee is out of this world! Luv2play, I will follow your advice and buy a Bordeaux red tomorrow when I go out shopping. As for Julia, wouldn't she have been a hoot at a dinner?

[Guest countryboywny]

I know of self-respecting southerner who would admit in public to eating one.

 

I'd be happy to eat a self-respecting southerner in public!! LOL

[josephga]

I'm a McRib and beer guy myself, but I won't get shot if I use Happy's menu

 

iv never had a mcrib are they any good

[Greathands]

I'm currently taking a short break from getting dinner ready right now. I usually have a Christmas Eve dinner on January 6th, in memory of my grandparents who were Russian Orthodox. (Many Russian Orthodox churches now celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, but there are a good number who hold to the Julian calendar date.)

 

So ... we're having my childhood favorites. Pierogi (with sauteed butter and onions), fresh and smoked kielbasa (and NOT the type you can buy in a grocery store ... yuk), salad with a homemade sour cream and vinegar dressing.

 

Though not a "tradition", we're having my gram's pistachio cake for dessert. That thing is just damn good, though I do update it a bit by throwing some Midori in it!

[Epigonos]

I love to entertain and I love to cook. I usually have guests over for dinner at least once a week and during the holidays it’s a lot more often than that. I’m what I call a scratch and a stand back and throw cook. What that means is that I make “everything” I serve from scratch (no package mixes or frozen foods) and I just open my pantry and refrigerator check what I have on hand and stand back and start throwing things together. I probably own two or three hundred cook books but I NEVER met a recipe I didn’t change some way. The one problem with this style of cook is that at times what I prepare can be difficult to replicate.

I’m having guests for dinner this evening. I will be serving roasted stuffed chicken, a mixed green salad with raspberry vinaigrette, oven roasted potatoes, and steamed broccoli. A friend gave me a beautiful trifle bowl for Christmas so for dessert I am having strawberry/rhubarb trifle.

I see one escort on a regular basis. He always comes to my place as he doesn’t do in calls. We have developed a pattern where he tells me what he would like for an entrée and I decide on the rest of the mean. I always make enough so he can take hope tons of left overs.

[seeker630]

I'm sorry boys, but the McRib is a dirty phrase down here in the south where we take pride in our BBQ. What a miserable abomination. I know of self-respecting southerner who would admit in public to eating one. I know they do, they just wouldn't admit it. Now I want some real BBQ for dinner. Thanks a lot.

 

Countryboy -- I'll have to get you down here with me some time so I can show you what BBQ is supposed to taste like. But the McRib is to BBQ what the faux-lobster on some pedestrian all you can eat steak house is to fresh caught lobster in Maine.

Careful, Lee! Here in North Carolina, people can get into violent arguments as to what constitutes 'real' BBQ and the Easetern vs Western NC styles.

[+ Charlie]

We had friends for dinner on New Year's, but one of them is not very adventurous foodwise. Therefore, we had steak, mashed potatoes, green beans with almonds, braised leeks (OK, he passed on them), and a simple green salad with grape tomatoes and hearts of palm in a mustard vinaigrette dressing. We spent the day before, however, baking a harvest tart (buttery shell, filled with cooked apricots, prunes, golden raisins, and walnuts, all soaked in Grand Marnier), served with a side of vanilla ice cream. Last night we made a meal of the leftovers. (Our guests are teetotalers, but we couldn't mortify our own flesh, so we had a bottle of Bridlewood Arabesque that we bought at the vineyard in Solvang. )

[orbital sander]

iv never had a mcrib are they any good

 

 

Not really, and how anyone could ever equate a McRib with a real BBQ is beyond me...

 

I have had way too many Amazing Asados in Argentina so I am ruined on American Beef or Lamb. I do like a St. Louis pork rib though (not baby backs).

[Epigonos]

I will readily admit that I'm a barbecue freak. I'm convinced that I could live on good barbecue. The key word here is "good" barbecue which is damn near impossible to find in Southern California. I try to head out to Austin and Central Texas at least once every two years. Texas barbecue is centered on beef not pork like other areas. The beef cut of choice is brisket. True Central Texas barbecue does NOT use sauce. The flavor is derived from long smoking using mesquite wood. If you know where to go you can also find my favorite of favorites; huge beef ribs. There are absolutely wonderful barbecue joints in places like Llano, Luling, Taylor and Lockhart to name just a few. Large number of immigrants from Central Europe settled in this part of Texas. They brought their sausage tradition with them and if you are a smoked sausage fan (called hot guts) here they a supposedly fantastic; not really my thing.

[Guest Spanky]

I will be serving roasted stuffed chicken, a mixed green salad with raspberry vinaigrette, oven roasted potatoes, and steamed broccoli.

 

I have a friend that used to be a professional chef. He always says that if you want to impress a pro cook, don't try to make some fancy restaurant meal, just show them your roast chicken. I showed him mine once, and he wasn't impressed...and I don't think he liked the chicken either!

[instudiocity]

I'm sorry boys, but the McRib is a dirty phrase down here in the south where we take pride in our BBQ. What a miserable abomination. I know of self-respecting southerner who would admit in public to eating one. I know they do, they just wouldn't admit it. Now I want some real BBQ for dinner. Thanks a lot.

Ain't it the truth, Lee. My father, a Baby Back Ribs connoisseur of long standing. I've watched him eat a rack of baby backs at Houston's (my favorite rib joint). He sat there eating for 45 minutes straight not saying a word. When he finished, he said, "If I wasn't full as a tick, I'd order another plate."

 

Recently, he tried a McRib sandwich. He said, "It's three lies for the price of one. "Not pork, not ribs, and not edible!"

[NYTomcat]

I will readily admit that I'm a barbecue freak. I'm convinced that I could live on good barbecue. The key word here is "good" barbecue which is damn near impossible to find in Southern California. I try to head out to Austin and Central Texas at least once every two years. Texas barbecue is centered on beef not pork like other areas. The beef cut of choice is brisket. True Central Texas barbecue does NOT use sauce. The flavor is derived from long smoking using mesquite wood. If you know where to go you can also find my favorite of favorites; huge beef ribs. There are absolutely wonderful barbecue joints in places like Llano, Luling, Taylor and Lockhart to name just a few. Large number of immigrants from Central Europe settled in this part of Texas. They brought their sausage tradition with them and if you are a smoked sausage fan (called hot guts) here they a supposedly fantastic; not really my thing.

 

After living in the southland im convinced that other than Mexican there is no good food in so Cal. We couldn't even buy ingredients to make good Italian. But we may not have known the hidden specialty stores

[josephga]

I find the best BQ is that which comes from these hole in the wall mom & pop places, something that looks like a good gust of wind might blow it down lol sonny's bbq is not imo real bq. when it comes to burgers We use to have this hamburger place that was great. When you went inside there was only 2 tables they did allot of carry out business. you wanted a soda you got it out of this ice cold floor cooler, in the back where they cooked the burgers the walls were covered in black from all of the smoke and the place smelled like a outdoor cookout. And they only served one thing hamburgers.

[Epigonos]

Tomcat I have a friend who lived in New York for many years and then moved to Southern California. She has lived here now for over twenty years and she has never ceased complaining about the terrible Italian food in Southern California. She claims that Italian food is available in New York in the same way Mexican food is available in So CA. We have hundreds of hole in the wall Mexican nearly all of which are excellent she claims the same is true with Italian food in New York.

 

We do have specialty food shops but they are few and far between and are located all over the basin and frequently require a long drive. I’m fortunate to have a great Italian food shop in my neighborhood.

 

We also have some really outstanding Asian restaurants. There are dozens of great Chinese restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley. Little Saigon, in Garden Gove, has numerous excellent Vietnamese restaurants. So CA also has a long tradition of good Japanese restaurants.

 

Probably the best Italian restaurant in So CA is Valentino’s on the border between L.A. and Santa Monica. Piero Selvaggio’s food is creative, and wonderful he also just happens to have the most incredible wine cellar imaginable.

[+ deej]

I will readily admit that I'm a barbecue freak. I'm convinced that I could live on good barbecue. The key word here is "good" barbecue which is damn near impossible to find in Southern California. I try to head out to Austin and Central Texas at least once every two years. Texas barbecue is centered on beef not pork like other areas. The beef cut of choice is brisket.

 

I'm with you on finding BBQ in SoCal. It's *so* difficult to get brisket done well in the first place, and BBQ adds another requirement.

 

It's why I bought a smoker, actually. And then the next hurdle is to find a beef brisket that hasn't had all the fat trimmed off of it. You can't even special order them in the grocery stores, most places. The only way smoking a brisket works is if you literally let the fat slow-melt and drip through the meat carrying that smoked goodness through the meat while tenderizing it. I usually make new friends in the neighborhood when the smoker is running.

 

I also have a Pastrami recipe that's due for another go. You haven't had Pastrami until someone you know brines and then smokes a brisket.

[Epigonos]

Deej how right you are. Just thinking about the brisket served at Louis Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Texas makes my mouth water. Traditionally in Texas barbecue is served on butcher paper without utensils. Fingers are all you need. Paper towels are provided in place of napkins. Free sides usually include sliced raw onion, pinto beans, dill pickles and either soda crackers or old fashioned white lunch bread. To drink there is usually sweet tea or lemonade. “It sure as hell ain’t fancy BUT it sure as hell are good.”

[gp0560]

Let me see now, just where did I put that can of Chef Boyardee? Tonight I'll have that along side a thick slice of Spam in Rainbow bread. To drink, some warm grape Nehi. For dessert, cherry Jell-O and Cool Whip, accompanied by a big mug of Sanka decaf.

[instudiocity]

Let me see now, just where did I put that can of Chef Boyardee? Tonight I'll have that along side a thick slice of Spam in Rainbow bread. To drink, some warm grape Nehi. For dessert, cherry Jell-O and Cool Whip, accompanied by a big mug of Sanka decaf.

If you get the trots later, you only have yourself to blame.

[orbital sander]

If you get the trots later, you only have yourself to blame.

 

Oh...YUMMMY!!

[+ deej]

Deej how right you are. Just thinking about the brisket served at Louis Mueller Barbecue in Taylor, Texas makes my mouth water. Traditionally in Texas barbecue is served on butcher paper without utensils. Fingers are all you need. Paper towels are provided in place of napkins. Free sides usually include sliced raw onion, pinto beans, dill pickles and either soda crackers or old fashioned white lunch bread. To drink there is usually sweet tea or lemonade. “It sure as hell ain’t fancy BUT it sure as hell are good.”

 

Yep. And people wonder where my table manners came from! LOL

 

It isn't real BBQ unless you wear it up to the elbows. It's like roastin' ears drenched in butter. You roll up your shirtsleeves because the butter runs down your forearms.

 

There was a little place outside Little Rock. You'd never find it on Google. They never advertised. (I'm not sure they even had a business license.) But everybody in town knew which days the did brisket and which days they did ribs. You couldn't get anywhere near the place on days they were smoking turkeys.