Podcast Companion: TK and Jesse Design a Menu in Real Time, Part II

Hi everyone!

Today is a continuation of last week's episode, a TK and Jesse-Only Affair.  We designed a 7-course formal menu, on the theme of 'Origin Stories,' entirely from scratch, in real time (or as close to real time as we could manage).  

NOTE!  If you haven't listened to part 1, go back and listen to it before listening to part 2!  There's crucial contextual info there.

This was super fun to put together!  Here's the completed menu, expertly photographed by Hot Dogs and Caviar's in-house photographer and recipe-tester, the infamous D 'Don't F*** With Me' Sutton.  

Errata: At 29:30, I (Jesse) committed one major booboo.  I said hollandaise sauce was bearnaise sauce with a tarragon, shallot, and wine vinegar reduction.  The reverse is true.  Hollandaise is the neutral sauce, bearnaise is the one with the reduction.  First year cooking student flub.  And I hadn't even had anything to drink this time.

Time Stamps:

1:58 Tarver’s Soup Course

11:13 Jesse’s Fish Course

23:14 Tarver’s Bread Service

24:55 The Guys’ Collaborative Meat Course

41:00  Jesse’s Cheese Course

52:45 Tarver’s Dessert Course

Links:

Over the course of the episode, we referenced several books that, if you don't have them, it's not our problem.  Specifically, they were La Repertoire de la Cuisine and Bo Friburg's brilliant The Professional Pastry Chef, the latter for its superlative crepe batter method.  The links will take you to where you can order your own copy from the evil empire.

We also discussed Brillat-Savarin cheese, the cheese named for the guy who said "A great meal without cheese is like a beautiful woman with only one eye."  Link will take you to Murray's, America's second-best cheese shop (Goat Sheep Cow doesn't have as informative a website).  

We discussed 'The Potato Puree,' which Nate and I took to calling 'Once-a-Year Potato Puree,' hoping no one would notice that we put it on every holiday menu, four or five times a year.  We never got called on it.  If you want to learn to make it, here is a link to me explaining it, on Quora.  

Terminology: 

Okay, so lots of terms flew by, but I was doing my best to explain them as we went.  One that I didn't was Anglaise, which is short for creme Anglaise, literally 'English cream.'  It's a dessert sauce made by thickening sweetened, vanilla-flavored cream with egg yolks.  In the US, it's mostly known for being the stuff you put in an ice cream maker to get ice cream.  

If there are any other terms that require explanation, respond in the comments, on facebook, on twitter, or wherever, and I'll add them here.

Super fun episode this last two weeks!  Look for the triumphant return of the Nate-Dogg, Master of Spin-Kicks and Abuser of Prep Cooks, next week, as he, TK, and I will TRY to deliver that hot wing episode we keep promising.