Updates

    Knowledgeable sources indicate that the Kingsford website will be updated to include the charwood.

    In re Dishes for Gish, Pullquote readers know what happened:

Ultimately, in the interest of fighting anemia, London broil with bearnaise, creamed spinach, and buttermilk mashed potatoes were served to the starving undergrads, who felt so at home a couple ducked out to the store to get Pillsbury cookie dough to make dessert.

    Like Travis says, I think it was a good choice. Anything southern would have seemed unduly droll, (hell, a few foods might have gotten me fired)and it did not seem like a crowd eager for anything too recondite, so the food of my people seemed sound. Because of schedules and DWG's decision to string us along for 187 minutes of Clantastic excitement, the prep was a bit rushed. I'd worked through the timing, and it seemed tight but possible to do what I had to do in the time I had to do it. Spuds first, held in warm oven, start coals, start spinach (not actually so creamed by the way, and accented with nugmeg and shallots), do steaks, make bearnaise while steaks rest. The bearnaise made me nervous, as I had it break on me last time, but my plan was to do two pans side-by-side, one bearnaise, and one sauce choron,  like the Lodge 10" skillets were Technics 1200s, and I was  Jam Master Jay.  That was the plan. Unfortch, the Upstate version of the Mistral was blowing, and my coals did not light initially, and burned in a somewhat mercurial way.* I was doing two steaks to feed the anticipated  hordes, and had two kettle grills going with 2-level fires set up on both. I never really got the fire I wanted, and rushed the process throughout, but slight differences in size between the Weber 18" grill and the Charbroil 18" grill allowed me to put the steak right on the fire, so I got a good sear. Also, while the cinetrix likes her steak like she likes her Eddie Murphy vehicles,  all of the guests shared this preference. The cinetrix was vamping, with only a small bowl of pistachios and a big bottle of Duboeuf Beaujolais Villages to keep seven seniors at bay.* The grill is outside, and we keep the stove in the house--in an effort to get the show on the road, I started the bearnaises while the steaks were still on the grill. A beter delegator would have thrust a whisk into the hands an  undergrad, and talked them through the process, but that did not cross my mind until it was too late. I am not that kind of gator. Part of the rationale for the bearnaise on the 1s and 2s was that if one broke, there would still be enough unbroken bearnaise for at least one serving.. As I scampered back and forth between the grill and the stove, and cinetrix attempted to conceal a jus disaster, bearnaise one broke. Seconds later, bearnaise two broke. If this had happened before my house was full of students, I definitely would have been swearing like a bosun during Trafalgar, and hurling spatulae across the kitchen into the sink, as is my custom when things demulsify. But I did not. I kept my mouth shut, and carved the steak. Judging by the amount of steak consumed, and general lack of leftovers, I got the sense that even with the botched sauce, the students seemed to enjoy  this meal more than most of what they eat. There is some sort of lesson here, I suspect, or at least confirmation of the wise advice on entertaining from Didi Emmons: "Never apologize, never explain." In any case, am considering having an apron made with my new slogan:  "Taste the taste that beat Aramark."

*Sauce Choron which is bearnaise with chopped tomato. (I commend this variation, esp if you have good tomatoes and a nice firm bearnaise. Props to Bittman for thowing it in to HTCE.) The class is twelve students, but this screening was optional.
** A mix of old and new charcoals, so nothing definitive for the lump charcoal database.
***The 2003 "Vintage of the Sun" is a decent buy at $14 or so for a 1.5 L. Chez Cod, smaller formats are viewed with suspicion and unease.

Comments

[Codmonger]

For your consideration.

[alizinha]

Aramark? I hadn't thought of them in a LONG time. It was going into my senior year at University of Delaware that the dreaded Aramark invaded... Yuck.

(I don't know if I'd be bragging about being better than them, though--that's not that difficult.)

[max]

The rumor used to be that there was no difference between the food at UMass and Walpole State -- both catered by Marriot at the time.

It seems to me that bearnaise in cast iron invites unnecessary risk. Or did I misunderstand?

[la_depressionada]

i thought the food of your people was martinis and rumaki.

[Skeen]

What's up with those Lodge pans? I have an ancient cast-iron pan that works well and that I love. But recently I bought a large (13") Lodge pan, and I've been really dismayed at how unevenly it heats. Is it just that it's a big pan? Or is the cast iron of worser quality?