Podcast Companion!! Tarver's Awesome UK Trip!

 


Hi everyone!!!  Sorry this podcast companion is a little late, Jesse kept getting called in to work.  Over and over and over.  But here it is!  It's a long one, but TK took us through all the details of his amazing UK trip.  Trigger warning!  TK is very excited, so there's a fair amount of profanity.  He can't help it, he's like an excited puppy, but his barks are f-bombs.  It's adorable, but Tarver's mom, if you're reading this, cut the guy some slack...

Time Stamps

:30 The Pre-show.  Thoughts on vodka and country pudding
7:55 A look behind the Hot Dogs and Caviar curtain
8:37 Jesse finally counts it in
11:44 Tarver’s Fat Duck stage
15:39 The Big Fat Duck Cookbook
18:47 Do they still make Bud Ice??
20:12 Dry Aged Fish
28:04 A new anchovy snack
29:44 Dinner
37:12 JUMP CUT
38:24 On unscrupulous fish vendors
40:13 Abundant Seafood
41:52 How to be a chef
42:48 Caviar and Burrata
44:44 The iconic Dinner dessert
48:26 Harrod’s
49:49 The Fat Duck
50:28 Bartender talk
52:34 Tarver rhapsodises about Fergus Henderson

1:06:02 The Fat Duck
1:12:00 On culinary Lister-mint
1:15:45 Ikoyi
1:19:06 Crab Fat
1:25:00 Michelin Theory, and 11 Madison Park
1:32:00 The Fried Rice Thing
1:35:22 Jesse’s Burrito Theory
1:37:48 Jesse and Tarver’s 2 lunches

Links (All to restaurants discussed)

Okay, when TK was telling us about a place that reminded him of Saint Peter Paddo, the place in Australia that dry-ages fish, (and that's short for Saint Peter, Paddington, as it turns out), he kept calling the place 'Sea to Sea.'  The name of the place was actually The Sea, The Sea.  Apologies to those fellas, check out their website, absolutely SICK!

Of course, a lot of this discussion revolves around the legendary The Fat Duck, Heston Blumenthal's Michelin Three-Star institution.  If you don't know who he is, that's not our problem.  Get on it, the guy's a genius, and he's also super cool, in an ultra-nerdy kinda way.  Check out his book, available from the Evil Empire in a less expensive edition than the one Jesse, TK, and Nate bought.  Impatient boys, every one of them.

Tarver also talked about his stage at the Waterside Inn on his days off at the Fat Duck.  The dude's addicted to effort.  TK knows how to make good use of a stage.

Tarver also went to pay tribute to the great Fergus Henderson at St. John, in London.  The Hot Dogs and Caviar Media Consortium's feelings on Mr. Henderson are a matter of public record, and if you don't have his cookbook, it's not our problem.

Lastly, TK talked about an amazing meal he had at Ikoyi, which required extensive research to pronounce and spell properly.  Check out the website, it looks like an issue of Art Culinaire came alive.

Recipe

Lastly, Jesse said he'd give his recipe for the Boulevardier, a fearsome Campari cocktail.  It's a variant of the Negroni (which is equal parts London dry gin, sweet vermouth, and Campari), substituting bourbon for gin.  (As if a Negroni needed any more massive flavor.)

Jesse's modern contrivance is to alter the proportions, so that it's half bourbon (or gin), and one quarter the two accent liquors.  Campari is tough stuff, and American tastes have been moving away from vermouth-heavy cocktails.  

Here's the recipe:

1.5 oz bourbon (I use Maker's, usually, or Bulleit)
.75 oz sweet vermouth (Carpano Antica is awesome, or Dolin, but Martini and Rossi works just fine)
.75 oz, Campari (except no substitutes)

Mix in a rocks glass.  Add ice cubes to the glass rim.  Garnish with an orange peel (or an orange slice, some people like to crush a little orange in there, and if there's ever a drink that could use a little user-serviceable mellowing, it's this one).

Watch out, this is a tough-ass drink.  

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