The Brew Lounge

Go back to Part 4a Speaking of Vagabonds Sean Paxton gets around, literally. Whether cooking on one coast or another, running GABF cooking demonstrations (as he's doing in 2009), or helping to get a new restaurant off the ground (he's the Executive Chef at Lion's Pride in Brunswick, Maine) he runs himself on what seems like a spare tank of gas some times. Fortunately, he's one of those kind of guys that only needs a few hours of sleep in a night...or a day...or whenever sleep comes. But this means that he's often using someone else's kitchen and working with staff, some of whom he would never have met before beginning the evening's work. So what is most challenging about that? Logistics and kitchen layout for starters. Take, for example, Ebenezer's. Not exactly the kitchen most conducive to this kind of dinner. Working with the staff under these kind of conditions can present challenges that no one really wants to deal with, but in the end, must. I constantly heard people complimenting Sean on his calm and the ease at which he appeared to be working the dinner. On the inside, much to the contrary he says. Inside he's a basket case, but won't allow that to show on the outside. "If something goes wrong and I point a finger in the kitchen, yell, or otherwise make a co-worker feel small and embarrassed, that trickles from the back of the house to the front of the house and the diners will likely notice", Paxton said. "When something breaks down, it's not about how screwed up it is, it's about how can we work to fix it... make it a learning experience..." He truly believes that this can work in most kitchens, even in the heat of the moment. When talking about the dramatic scenes played out on reality TV shows, Paxton weighs in with "People who do a lot of throwing, yelling, making messes can be chalked up as some form of entertainment", Paxton commented, "but what are they really teaching the viewer...what's being learned about the culinary world?" Sourcing locally is an issue as well. Paxton strongly urges chefs to take it as a responsibility to locally source as much of the ingredients in their kitchen as possible. Chefs, he says, should become familiar with local food, concepts, and traditions and use them to their advantage. Sometimes this means more cost. But, to believe in food means to taste the food, really taste it. Many times making the connection between local food and local taste is the key to pulling this off. Of course, things don't always work out as planned, especially as he attempts to manage a life both personally and professionally on two coasts. Sourcing local duck livers? Sean didn't give this a second thought as a potential risk point, but it became one that he needed to work around. Cheeses? Well, what he wanted was not available at the last minute so, plan B. Unseen, untested, untasted beers? Very big risk as well; though in his estimation there were no failures in the pairing department. The bottles of Vagabond from Allagash? Not ready, so they filled a 6 liter bottle and made it work. Strange Meat? Great pairing Then we moved on to one of the more debatable courses of the evening. The buzz even before the dinner began was the Bison Tongue. "Put your tongue back in your mouth" was just one of the jokes being made around the dinner tables. This was one plate that I saw more returned of than any other dish. But, as one fellow table mate said, "I paid $250 for this dinner, I'm at least trying it!" Now, that's the spirit. And, as most of our mothers have said, "How do you know you don't like it if you don't try it?" Here's my take on it. What's in a hamburger? How about a hot dog? Scrapple, liverwurst....shall I go on? You do know where I'm going with this, right? Nobody can say exactly what's in any of these "meats". In most cases, it a mixture of multiple parts from multiple animals. Face it, it ain't exactly appetizing when you get right down to it. Tasty? Sure, perhaps, but... The bison's tongue. One tongue. An exclusively identifiable part of the animal's body. Let's break this down. Paxton shared the approach to the dish with me to share with you. I found it intriguing and thought you would as well. These are the short notes I captured as he rattled off the process. - Soak the meat in cold water for about 5 hours, changing water every hour, to remove blood. - Grind spices to make a seasoned salt from 1/2 dozen or so spices - Coat well the tongue, vacuum seal and keep for 4 days - This opens the pores, extracts excess moisture, tenderizes - Cook at 180F for 24 hours to break down gelatin and tough parts - Chop and mix with pork belly What this turned into was another fine pairing. The alternating spiciness, sweetness, and saltiness of the meat and its accompaniments (leeks, shallots, figs) went all too well with the St. Bernardus Abt 12 (like the Val Dieu, it was served from a 6-liter bottle), reminding me of how much I enjoy this same beer with a solid plate of barbecue. While not one of the more "exotic" beers on the menu, it's one of the most dependable year-in and year-out beers, especially for pairing with food. What Stinks? Don't worry, it's only the cheese that stinks. The cheeses were great, but what really stood out for me on the plate was the wort honey (made with Sean's collaboration beer with Matt Brynildson at Firestone Walker) and the berry compote. Dragging the bleu cheese through the honey and chasing it with the Orval beer made for incredible cheese course. I've asked Sean to recreate this wort honey and keep some aside for me! Also accompanying this course was to be "Tomme's Special Surprise" which must have been a surprise to customs, because apparently that's where it was at the time of the dinner. Instead, we had some more De Ranke, which is never a bad thing, though in this case it played second fiddle with the cheese course to the Orval, which with many cheeses is a slam-dunk. Is the 10th course the proper time for a palate cleanse? I still don't know what Sexy Time is, but that was the name of the course and it meant that Sean was bringing sexy back. Where it was, I have no idea. But...a little sweet sorbet at this point, made with $10 worth of beer per serving, was just what the palate needed. I don't know much about sorbet except for the palate cleansing role that it's supposed to play and that I usually enjoy it and finish it before I know what really hit me. That was the case here, but not before I felt refreshed and ready to conquer dessert. Coasting to a Nightcap? Just as you see these paragraphs getting shorter here, I was beginning to suffer from a bit of table fatigue by the 11th course. The dining room (aka screened-in porch just off the 2nd hole of the golf course) was just a bit too tight for someone of my size sitting on the leg of the table. And, I was pinched in between my wife (whose leg I was permitted to rub up against) and another lady (whose leg I was, obviously, not permitted to) while I sat on the 14-inch aisle and was bumped into each and every time someone walked behind me. I knew I wouldn't make it through the entire review of the dinner here without mentioning the logistics of seating 115 people in a screened-in porch and serving them 12 courses of food and drink over 6 hours. I was up and out of my seat after the second course and did so again at least 6, 7, or maybe 8 more times before the dinner was over. This was one reason, though, that I was fortunate to sit on the aisle; I could easily get up and out. But, not so easy was it for the poor souls who had to sit against either the inside or outside walls of the room. When one lady at our table needed to finally get out to use the restroom, three at our table and two at the next table needed to move to allow her to get out. As she said, "I didn't pay $250 to have to crawl under the table and have my plates passed to me by other attendees like I was at a baseball game." I can't say that I disagree. Let's get back to courses 11 and 12. The panna cotta didn't hold up to form so well. Was it the higher alcohol level that didn't allow to set? Was it the weather? Don't know; I didn't ask. It sure was tasty, but was a slightly-formed slippery texture of panna cotta whose memorable part of the course was the Saucerful of Secrets beer that I've had twice before but don't recall having been struck by its fruity nature before; maybe it was the dark chocolate in the 12th course helping to bring that characteristic out. Now I know what others have raved about. On the 12th Course of Beer Dinner...Sean gave to us... ...one of the best beer pairings known to beer dinners: Chocolate and more great beer from Firestone Walker. This time it was the coveted anniversary beer, the 12th in this case, blended a bit more with Russian Imperial Stout, Parabola, and Saucerful of Secrets to make 12 point 5, or XII.V (get it?) Or mabye the 5 represented the number of gallons in existence of this beer. Yes, this was only a five gallon batch of XII.V that was fermented in oak and then aged. Therefore this was the one-time/one-place the beer that goes so perfectly with a decadent chocolate dessert could be found. That was, simply, nice and satisfying. I could have cleaned up anyone's chocolate left behind on their table. In fact, I tried. I, like some others began to finish this course standing up, having sat plenty long enough at this point. Problem was, most others finished their chocolate as well. Between these decadent chocolate truffles and the dark Belgian Chocolate Biere Brittle, I could forgive the pork belly fat cookies...still to this day, the only part of the dinner that I truly could not figure out. What do we leave with? This is one question that Sean attempts to help us answer. He doesn't attempt to outdo himself at each dinner, making the next one bigger, better, more of this or that. Instead, he fervently believes (this seems like common sense, but is it?) that not enough people are eating well enough. Therefore, he wishes to give his dining friends "a gift" of trying something new, perhaps prepared in a different way than in the past...hoping to connect the diner with what food is, what food can be. Another of his primary missions is to help showcase and promote beer at least as sophisticated as wine and to demonstrate that it has every right, in many cases more, being on a culinary menu. He used an example, close to home for him to illustrate this point. How many pages of wine are on the menu at French Laundry? And how many beers? Only 8 beers? Most times (as we all know) beer is the more pairworthy beverage with a piece of food than is wine. This is a message that he feels he must get out and he's doing everything he can to support that mission. Where does Sean Paxton go from here? Here's a guy who cooks for small groups, large groups, in demonstrations, and in restaurants. He's only 36 so there's lots of potential still, right? So what's next? I couldn't tell if he really does float with the wind or if he was being guarded. He certainly exudes an appreciation of what it has taken to get to where he is now. He claims to really not do much long-view planning, and does not sound like a man who is necessarily looking for a get-rich quick type of fame or celebrity. When he said that Charlie Papazian complimented him on his pork being the "best that's ever passed his lips" and how that was worth more to him and opens more opportunities than a one-day payday, I believed him. What's more immediate for Paxton is the Great American Beer Festival where he'll be sharing the stage with some of the craft brewing industries leading brewers, like Barnaby Struve (Three Floyds), Matt Brynildson (Firestone Walker) to discuss using malty and hoppy beer flavors in cooking...and Ron Jeffries (Jolly Pumpkin) and Will Meyers (Cambridge Brewing) to discuss using sour Belgian beer flavors in cooking. Sean's a talented guy. If for some reason the work in the kitchen falls by the wayside, he has other hobbies that he's not only passionate about, but also very good at. Photography, gardening, woodworking, and writing all hold his interest and could make him very happy if the apron ever got too messy. But, that feels like a distant possibility and until then, I'd recommend anyone take in a dinner where Sean Paxton, The Home Brew Chef, is in charge of the kitchen.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

On the Road with The Brew Lounge, Part 4a

Just a Bit more Background, I promise Sean Paxton, 36, hails from Sonoma, California and takes a lot of inspiration and motivation from his local French Laundry's legendary Thomas Keller. He cites Keller's technique with and understanding of flavor components and (importantly) keeping the whole kitchen experience fun by injecting humor and lightheartedness as qualities that he attempts to emulate. Sean is self-taught in the culinary world. The learning goes all the way back to when he was helping to cook in the kitchen at the tender age of 5. His first batch of homebrew was with dad at age 16 and it's been on to bigger and better things ever since. He and Chris Lively first talked via Skype after only having chatted online (in text, that is). Their passions for great food and beer and the integration of the two quickly became obvious and led to the dinner extravaganza in 2008 to kick off Lively's annual Belgian Beer Festival at Ebenezer's. It was such a hit and created such a buzz in the beer (and food) world that they planned to do it again. It didn't hurt the buzz that Paxton has also delivered staggering dinners at the likes of Toronado and for the National Homebrewers Conference. As extraordinary as those dinners were, they may have paled in comparison to the dinner event that took place during a Stanford football game for an alumni group of close to 5000 people that Paxton once served. Paxton began planning the 2009 dinner almost as soon as he arrived home from 2008's. The conceptualization of the menu began with an R&D trip to Belgium (where he found the halibut he wanted to incorporate into the dinner). After a half dozen rewrites, countless hours of recipe research and fine tuning, and even 40 hours of menu design alone, the dinner was ready to go. Sean arrived in Maine almost a week early to begin with the sous vide approach to preparation. I've never worked on Sean's side of the restaurant operations, so I won't even begin to attempt to explain this approach other than to say that it involves taking the food preparation to a certain point, and then vacuum sealing for a number of days until ready to finish the preparation. I can certainly see how it makes a dinner of this magnitude much easier to tackle in the kitchen. That's a bit of background on Sean. Let's get into the first couple of courses here and then I'll come back to more about Sean, Ebenezer's, and the evening as it unfolded. If you want to see the entire menu, instead of printing again here, I'll refer you to a picture of it that I posted prior to the dinner. After getting a sneak preview copy of the menu a couple of weeks ahead of time, there were certain things that drew my eyes and appetite right in to. Of course, dessert (the dessert, or shall I say, the two courses of dessert) was very, very high on my list. But, patience grasshopper, that's still at least 5 hours away! Course Number One, the beginning Duck Rillettes (think: pâté), Duck Liver Mousse, and an Oud Bruin mustard served with assorted crackers and breads sat along side what it sounded like was Sean's pride of the platter, the Halibut. Sean discovered the halibut during a trip to Brugge last year during one of those "R&D trips" that I described earlier. The research paid off. This was a great way to start the dinner, teasing the palate with the rich and smooth fattiness of the duck and the succulent halibut while being offset and cut through by the tartness of the Hanssens Oude Kriek from, oh, 1978. The staff also slid an '08 version of the Kriek next to the '78 for us to compare. While the '08 had a nice snappy tartness to it, the '78 had a greater complexity with more layers of sour, tart, funk. Not bad what a "little" age can do for a lambic. Belgian Beer Dinner 2009, we have arrived! Sean Paxton, the hombrewing multi-tasking chef Let's see now. Sean was the mastermind behind the dinner, co-conspirator in the beer pairings, along with a dozen other things that he has on his proverbial plate. So, it should figure that I wasn't surprised to see him come out to introduce the dinner at the beginning of the evening. And, then the second course, the third....yes, every course throughout the evening. Paxton even had time to squeeze in a couple bites of food here and there. And take pictures of it. And pictures of people. He expedited dishes tableside (of course, he had plenty of help from the kitchen and waitstaff, lest I get in hot water for neglecting to say as much), and moved from table to table as if he was at his own wedding reception making sure that each guest was greeted and made to feel comfortable, asking for feedback at every table. This is not necessarily uncommon at hosted, fixed-price, timed dinners. But, Sean took it to another level, taking great care to introduce the food, introduce the paired beer's brewer (if there in attendance), and talk to the guests at a point somewhere between his level and ours. There are certainly some beer dinners whose hosts I know could/should take a page from this book. Sean's approach to the dinners he prepares will vary a bit from event to event. He certainly does not look at it as an "ego thing". He takes it more as a challenge to understand the diners and to try to satisfy a large group of people from all walks of life. Therefore, size doesn't really matter; it could be a group of 10 at his house or 115 at Ebenezer's. He asks himself: Have they been challenged? Not in an aggressive way, but in a good and not overwhelming way? More importantly, are they walking away satisfied? As a result, the pacing, flavors, and approach will vary from one dinner to the next. To him, this is all just part of his natural approach to dinner planning. Dinner from the Sea The next three courses focused on the sea. First, Day Boat Scallops paired with 1990 Duvel. Then, Russian River's Damnation Batch 23 paired with Roasted Eel. The fourth course featured a favorite of mine, Waterzooi, paired with the Val Dieu Triple. Again, what doesn't Sean do during a dinner? As I mentioned in finishing dishes tableside, Sean dusted each diner's plate of scallops with a bit of fennel pollen for just a touch of sweetness, and just a touch of spiciness. I say just a bit, because the fennel had a robust aroma that was detectable from the next table over. A nice touch, indeed, to provide the tableside service. The scallop dish and Duvel was quite a wide range of flavors. The beer was sweet, actually quite sweet and moreso than I might have guessed. But, after almost twenty years in the bottle, it's understandable that the sweetness is what remains. In the dish of scallops and endive, were there parsnips in there or was it the endive that added a rather earthy flavor to the dish? In any case, the fennel came along and provided a nice contrast in flavors to both the earthniess and the beer's sweetness. An interesting dish and pairing, though not nearly my favorite of the evening. The eel and Damnation, to this point of the dinner, stole the show for pairings. Of course, it was only the third course, so perhaps this wasn't the greatest test. The roasted flavor of the eel, the bitter/earthy flavor from the De Ranke XX bitter puree, and the wood and alcohol from the 10.5% abv Damnation (remember, this is the special 'Batch 23' version) made for a near flawlessly executed pairing. Speaking of tableside service, the waterzooi was finished tableside as well with the creamy and spicy broth being poured to drown the tender morsels of lobster, crayfish, and mussels. Near perfection when paired with the Triple. Though while the food was enhanced by the beer, I didn't think it was the best pairing, since the beer got lost a bit in the creaminess of the waterzooi dish. To tell the truth, I enjoyed the pairing even better when I substituted in a St. Feuillien Triple that I picked up from the bar inside; it seem to cut more cleanly through the stew's creamy broth. Plus, the St. Feuillien lasted another four or five courses for me. (See, I told you I always need a little something of beer on the table to be sipping on throughout the dinner; so, I made it happen.) What's in a Pairing? I frankly don't know how it's done. But, then again, I've only taken up food as a hobby in my own kitchen, never really pushing myself to understand food chemistry anywhere near to the point that Sean has done. I mentioned early on that he has no formal schooling in food preparation; he is self-taught...which boggles me even more so. When asked whether he believes keen senses or an understanding of food chemistry is more important to his success, he sure doesn't discredit senses but believes that a firm level of understanding food chemistry is more important. To support that belief, first, he understands that everyone's palate is different. No two people will taste the same thing in exactly the same way. The trick for Sean begins with an exercise in understanding base flavors. Then, it turns into a challenge of how to take flavor components and make them both complement and build upon each other. For example, Rodenbach Grand Cru will work so well in pickling cherries (as they did in the Foie Gras course) but, if attempted to use in a Crème Brûlée, will curdle the cream. In marathon dinner events like this one, it becomes even more challenging in upholding another of his beliefs---the need to minimize the replication of flavors and concepts throughout the dinner. Paxton is aware of diner fatigue and especially considers this when planning longer format meals such as this one. Therefore it becomes even more of a science to overlay flavors and textures from one course to the next. Understanding the connection between the various ingredients so that he knows the complimentary and interchangeable parts is a key to this science. Tender is the Word No matter the position you take on the Foie Gras delicacy, it's extremely difficult to argue the bubbly delicacy that DeuS is (2006 in this case) could go much better with anything else. The melt in your mouth, fattened livers (sorry, I know that won't sit well with some of you), the tart cherries, the crispy brioche, and the palate popping Deus made for a memorable course. More tender meat? Yes, please. The tender, succulent meat falling off the duck leg bones and the dried cherry chased by the powerful Consecration from Russian River might have made it one of the top dishes of the first half of the evening. Yes, my friends, we're only half way there. And, the theater of pouring 1 of only 3 nine-liter bottles of Consecration in existence (that Sean and Chris had to do untold things to get from the Cilurzo's....ha, just kidding of course) was magical all in and of itself. Of course, as soon as I say 'of only 3', will be the moment that someone reports more elsewhere. Oh, and if you looked closely at the menu, you might have noticed that one of my all-time favorite beers from Cambridge Brewing, the Cerise Cassee, was used in the preparation of this dish. This beer was one of my earliest and most memorable experiences (isn't that the way it normally goes?) with American-made sour beers oh around 4-5 years ago or so. So, you can probably imagine my, let's call it, glee when Will Meyers (Cambridge Brewing) announced that he brought along a small keg of it from the brewery. Duck Legs, Consecration, and Cerise Cassee...again, yes please! Wow, as if I thought the Consecration and Duck Legs couldn't get any better. Yes, in my opinion, the Cerise Cassee upstaged the Consecration by a nose. Rounding out the tender-is-the-middle-of-the-menu theme were the veal cheeks. Those strong veal cheeks that spend all day chewing. Cooked slowly down, this was yet another tender piece of meat on the menu cooked with the very special, very never-to-be-seen-again-in-this-form Vagabond beer. Jason Perkins from Allagash stood and shared his experiences with helping to craft this beer. Let's see if I can capture the story in a sentence or two. Basically, the name Vagabond comes from the idea that this 3 barrel oak-aged batch of beer began its life in the old brewery 4 years ago and subsequently was moved into the "new" brewery. It's been whiling away in various barrels and has been blended into what is being released this fall (only at the brewery) in 375ml bottles. We, at the dinner, had the honor of having one of the first bottles, a 6-liter bottle at that. I think it's time to bring in the halftime show. Or, at least give you all some sort of a break. There's just as much material to share with you from the remainder of the dinner and after party. So, I'm going to let you catch your breath and share the rest with you tomorrow morning. Consider this, Parts 4a and 4b. And, if you're thinking that this might never end, ask yourself: Why does it need to?! Continue on to Part 4b