The Sauced Chef

Sultan’s Delight

Makes 6 -8

1 deep pan with cover

1 small saucepan for puree

wooden spoon

spatula

fork

3 tbsp butter

2 onions finely chopped

2 lbs cubed lamb leg (can be shank as well)

2 garlic cloves minced

2 large green peppers seeded and chopped

2 large tomatoes seeded and chopped (I prefer roma)**

2 1/2 cups water, hot

1/2 tsp black peppercorns whole

2 tsp tomato paste

salt tt

Eggplant puree

5 oz  butter

3 tbsp flour

3 lbs eggplants

2 cups warm whole milk

4 heaping tbsp Ka-ar cheese or cheddar, grated

Nutmeg TT

S/P TT

1. Gently fry the onions in the butter until softened. Add the cubed meat and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionaly until the juice has evaporated.
2. Add the garlic, green pepper and diced tomato and cooked until the juice has evaporated and the tomatoes have softened.
3. Add the hot water, peppercorns, tomato paste and salt. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about an hour, or until the meat is tender.
4. For the puree, melt the butter in a small saucepan and sprinkle the flour in until slightly colored, remove from heat.
5. Pierce the eggplant skins in several places and cook over a charcoal fire, gas flame or roast them in the oven until the flesh is tender.  It is important to get a char on the skin before roasting!
6. Holding the eggplant by the stalk, scrape away the skin, than cut off the stalk.
7. Add that mush to the flour/butter saucepan and mash it with fork
8. Place the saucepan over heat and cook gently, beating with a wooden spoon.  Gradually add the warm milk and salt/pepper.  When the mixture begins to bubble, remove from heat
9. Add the grated cheese and nutmeg, stir well.
10. When serving, put lamb mixture on plate first than make hollow in center to pour in the puree.

** On my upcoming web tv series “The Quest”, you will see some aspects of this dish made live! Please try to contain your excitement, saucies!

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Fat Head’s South Side Saloon, Pittsburgh, PA

Pittsburgh, PA

www.fatheads.com

The legendary Fatheads is located on Pittsburgh’s vibrant south side, in the midst of many cool places to get your sauce on.  Conveniently, there is paid parking across the street.  Recognize this place by the big bloated mustached head with sunglasses

 Get Sauced: 4 out of 4

One needs to go no farther than here to go on a bender.  They have everything a booze lover could dream of.  It was like Fathead Wonka just opened up a oak barrelled door to his fantasy factory and blinded me with the IPA, Beligian Dubbel, Bock, Maibock, Pilsner and Wheat beer waterfalls, the whiskey rain, the scotch pond and the floofy area known as the wine flower garden.  Hopefully this dream world has a bathroom.  Seriously, one of the most impressive beer lists I’ve ever seen. Rogue actually brews an exclusive brand for Fathead only.  I guzzled the house-brewed Hunter’s Head IPA, which was hoppy with a good malt backbone and a diversity of flavor notes. I downed the house-brewed Heller Bock and immediately ordered a second.  This was my favorite. The Heller Bock tasted very similar to a dark wheat beer, but it had a lighter bread taste and a higher hop top note.  Utterly delicious.  I also tried their hand-pulled tap which was Bear Republic Red Rocket Ale from Cali, which I’ve had before, fantastic! Fatheads has a diversity of whiskeys and scotches and offers whiskey flights.  The wine list is as expected for a brewery.  If you go to Fatheads for the first time and order wine, I will personally come to your house and hide some stinky cheese under your pillow!

The Sauce: 4 out of 4

The menu is MASSIVE.  Normally, I would be turned off by such a large beast.  But, much like reading an exciting, adrenaline-pumping novel, I couldn’t put this bastard down (speaking of bastards, they actually have Arrogant Bastard battered onion rings!).  Take as much time as you need to figure out what you want.  The servers understand this, don’t worry. We started with the wings.  Fatheads offers 14 different wing variations from traditional favorites like honey-bbq and mild buffalo to creative new flavors like salt-n-vinegar and spicy parmesan.  My favorite was the spicy parmesan, a nutty and sweet topnote with a real tomatoey kick to finish it off.  My least favorite was the salt-n-vinegar, creative but tastes just like one would expect.  Now to the main course, the Headwiches! A Headwich is a gigantor sandwich inspired by a moment of genius of some member of the Fathead staff.  18 of these mouth-watering bad boys stared at me and it was damn hard to make a decision.  I pondered the Maxim award winning South Slope Headwich , made with pierogies, kielbasa and grilled onions.  I contemplated the Beer Camp Headwich, packed full of bacon, bbq sauce, sharp cheddar and house-made 1000 island dressing.  I salivated over the Artery Clogger Headwich, full of greasy goodness (bacon, fried eggs, mayo).  I ended up choosing the PCI Headwich, an italian style club with ham, salami, capicola, banana peppers and rosemary mayo.  This thing was spot on! The amounts of meat to veg ratio was perfect and the rosemary mayo provided a unique floral aftertaste.  I tried like mad to finish this tough puppy but (much to my chagrin) needed a woof-woof bag. I also sampled their cherry-pepper mayo and enjoyed the deep astringency of it with their crispy fries.

The Reduction: + 1  Ambiance  for  9  out of 10

Customer service was as expected.  The waitress knew the menu and did a great job giving me recommendations.  She was a bit slow on the beer refill take though, not penalty slow, just a tad bit molassely. The ambiance is unique in its simplicity, having a sports bar type feel inside a simple brick building.  I love all the hand-painted craft beer logos, word on the street says that the brewer himself does all of them.  There also is a aura of fun and awe (of what we are collectively experiencing)  by the customers, we immediately struck up a conversation with some British businessmen sitting next to us, just over the beer list.  The Sauced Chef will not rest until he’s tried every single headwich and makes it to the Fathead Elite.  You have to experience this place at least once in your life!

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Dancing Hush Puppies

Makes 6 -8

1 bowl

1 deep pan for frying

1 slated spoon

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon chopped finely chopped parsley (fresh)

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 egg

1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or as needed)

1 medium onion, minced (your choice, I prefer vidalia)

3 cups oil or fat for deep frying

1. Pour fat in frying pan and heat to around 300 degrees***
2. Mix or sift (sifting optional) cornmeal, salt, cayenne, soda and flour
3. Add egg and buttermilk until its the right consistency to hold its shape when rolled into ball
4. Mix in onion
5. Roll into balls about 1 to 2 inches across and drop in frying liquid
6. Fry until deep brown and crispy
7. Drain on paper towel and serve hot

*** If you don’t have a thermometer at home, just make a small test hush puppy first.  It should immediately bubble and start turning deep brown.  You should only need about 1 to 2 minutes maximum per puppy

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Iberian Brushchetta with Chili Aioli

Serves 4

½  baguette sliced into ½ inch slices and toasted till firm

3 eggs

1 quart of water

1 cup of vinegar

1 white yam skinned and sliced thin (only need 3 pieces)

1 tsp granulated garlic

1 cup mayo

1 tbsp sricha chili paste

2 tbsp fresh cilantro

1 linguica sausage (opened and made into 3 patties)

1 oz olive oil

S/P TT

1. In a large pot combine water and vinegar, bring to a boil than simmer gently, this is your poaching liquid
2. In a small pan add oil and sauté the sausage patties, seasoning with s/p if necessary, when done put on paper towled plate and set aside
3. In the same oil carmelize 3 white yam slices and place on toasted baguette slices
4. Place the sausage patty on top of the yam slices
5. Gently poach 3 eggs and place on top of sausage***
6. Combine cilantro (save some for garnish), mayo , garlic and sricha to make aioli
7. Smear brush on plate for pattern, garnish with cilantro

*** Poaching eggs is an art form.  First, make sure your poaching liquid contains some acid (vinegar, lemon juice, etc.) in it. Secondly, never crack your eggs directly over the poaching liquid! Crack them into a small bowl, then individual and gently slide the raw egg into the simmering liquid.  Doneness is determined by the cook, so figure out what you like and do it! Good luck. 

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This is Chef Will’s second recipe featured.  His mastery over comfort food is amazing! Impress your friends and get some delicious stew in their bellies before (or after) all the beer on St. Paddy’s day!

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Chef Will’s Lamb Stew

 
1 1/2 pounds thick sliced bacon, diced
6 pounds boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2 inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup water
4 cups beef stock
2 teaspoons white sugar
4 cups diced carrots
2 large onions, cut into bite-size pieces
3 potatoes
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup white wine 

1. Cook bacon over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
2. Put lamb, salt, pepper, and flour in large mixing bowl. Coat meat evenly. Brown meat in frying pan with bacon fat.
3. Place meat into stock pot (leave 1/4 cup of fat in frying pan). Add the garlic and yellow onion and saute till onion begins to become golden. Deglaze frying pan with 1/2 cup water and add the garlic-onion mixture to the stock pot with bacon pieces, beef stock, and sugar. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.**
4. Add carrots, onions, potatoes, thyme, and wine to pot. Reduce heat, and simmer covered for 20 minutes until vegetables are tender.
5. Enjoy!

 ** Deglazing means to get all the fatty goodness from a cooked surface.  To deglaze just add water and put over heat.  As the water gets hot, use a spatula to scrape any carmelization so it mixes in with the water. The pan should look almost clean when you pour the water out.

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 At the Sauced Chef blog, we like to feature hobby culinarians as well as professionals.  I couldn’t ignore this unique recipe that was sent to me by Dawn Louigie. Enjoy

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Bio (kinda):

TSC: Dawn, love your recipe… can you write a quick bio about yourself? I want to introduce you to the people before I publish it

Dawn: Sure………….
Well, we live on a farm and have 10 horses, we do a lot of camping in the summer and I do a lot of cooking in the winter!! love good old fashion home cooking as well as unique and different recipes. I have yet to find a recipe that I can actually follow without changing it and “making it my own”, LOL……..I should go on American Idol huh…(making it my own) ha ha

not much to tell other than that…………glad you liked the chicken pizza…………it’s different.

Recipe Comments: I use lots more cheese and I also add canned mushrooms to the chicken when I brown it.

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Dawn’s Spicy Garlic Chicken Pizza

Mama mia ready pizza crusts or Boboli crusts (they come 2 in a package
so i double this recipe)
12-16 oz. chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
1/2 cup sliced green onions
2 cloves garlic minced
3T white vinegar
3T soy sauce
2T olive oil
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp black pepper
1T olive oil
1T corn starch
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese shredded (I use more of both)
1/2 cup Monterrey jack cheese shredded
2T pine nuts or sliced almonds

1. Marinate chicken in bowl with half of the onions, garlic, vinegar, soy
   sauce, olive oil (2T), and pepper for at least a half hour (or overnight).
2. Drain chicken and reserve marinade.
3. Stir fry chicken in 1T olive oil till no longer pink.
4. Add corn starch to the remaining marinade and
   pour into skillet with chicken. Cook till thick and bubbly.
5. Spread over mama mia ready crusts and top with cheeses.
6. Bake 12 minutes at 400 degrees.
7. Remove and top with the rest of the green onions and
   sliced almonds. Bake for 2 minutes more…………
8. Enjoy!

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Walnut Crusted Salmon Steaks

food processor or blender

medium size baking pan (with a lip)

1 small bowl

1 small brush

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

2 salmon steaks (8 – 120z) or filets (sockeye perferred)

1 cup fresh walnuts

1/4 cup fresh parsley

2 vanilla wafers

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Salt TT

 Pepper TT

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Combine walnuts, parsley, vanilla wafers and cayenne pepper in food processor and thoroughly blend (until small and crumblike)
3. Taste the crust mixture and finish with salt/pepper to your saucy taste!
4. Beat egg and milk in small bowl to make an eggwash
5. Pour crust mixture on working surface or bowl (not the one you will bake in)
6. Have greased baking pan ready
7. Egg wash the salmon filets lightly with brush and throughly cover each one with crumb mixture and place in baking pan (be sure to use every last bit of crust mixture)
8. Bake in oven for 10 – 20 minutes or until salmon feels firm and begins to flake
9. Serve with rice and veggies for a healthy meal!

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Cucumber Cilantro Tater Salad

 2 or 3 potatoes of choice, cut into thin square wedges (Yukon gold)

2 cucumbers of your choice, peeled, cut into thin square wedges

8 oz capers

2 green onions diced

1 cup fresh cilantro

½ cup cilantro vinaigrette

½ cup greek yogurt or tzichi sauce

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Pinch cayenne pepper

Salt TT

White Pepper TT

1. Boil potato WEDGES until al dente set aside to cool
2. In large bowl combine all ingredients except taters
3. Once taters are just warm, add them and mix thoroughly
4. Cover, refrigerate at least 3 hours and serve
5. Garnish with some fresh cilantro

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Traffic Jam & Snug

Detroit, MI

www.trafficjamdetroit.com

This is truly one of the hidden gems of Detroit.  They make their own beer, cheese, bread and ice cream in house.  Despite the name, it is all one place.  Local lore (from the waitress) says that in the 70′s it used be separated with one part for the drinkers and the other for the kiddies. 

 Get Sauced: 4 out of 4

Wow, very impressive! This place made me wish that I wasn’t driving! They have a small but well-rounded wine list that fits.  They also feature a German mulled or spiced wine with hints of clove and apple.  The brewer had two beers on tap when we visited, an Altbier and a Pilsner (the Grand Theft Pilsner, to be exact). Naturally, I tried them both.  With its hop-forward bite and subtle malt finish, the Altbier was my favorite, but the Pilsner was done well too.  For those of you ready to drink hard, Traffic Jam has an extensive libation menu as well.  From spicy classic like the “Red Eye Bloody Mary” to unique experiments like “Chai One On” (a vodka, milk and chai martini) this place overs a variety of ways to get sauced!

The Sauce: 3 1/2 out of 4

Yahtzee! This chef speaks my language! Every sauce I had was unique and delicious.  We started with the egg rolls paired with a red pepper sauce.  The sauce was fantastic! I immediately tasted the heat that lingered (but didn’t overpower), followed by a gingery-sweetness then finished with the subtle tartness of the red pepper! I couldn’t get enough of this stuff. I tried the vegan lentil soup and was blown away by the heartiness of it.  The soup also had an understated tomato-curry flavor that was addictive.  For my main, I had the meatloaf with the Cumberland sauce.  The meatloaf was savory and had multiple notes of onion, carrot and currant.  The sauce was sweet and deep! A true decadence of umami coupled with a light and airy currant sweetness.  My only complaint was the quantity of sauce on the meatloaf, not enough! We also sampled 4 flavors of the homemade ice cream: coffee, mint chocolate chip, pistachio and vanilla.  The vanilla was superb, as well as the pistachio and mint chocolate chip.  I was disappointed in the coffee ice cream, it lacked a strong coffee flavor.  It tasted like coffee with too much cream and sugar in it.  I like my coffee ice cream to be have bitter strength followed by understated sweetness.  This didn’t do it for me.  Overall, the sauces at Traffic Jam are a force to be reckoned with.

The Reduction: + 1 Customer Service and + 1  Ambiance  for  9 1/2 out of 10

If you live in Detroit or are visiting, go here! The waitstaff was friendly, funny and courteous.  Our waitress had a mastery of the menu and made some educated recommendations tailored to our tastes.  She also knew a lot of the history.  This place is huge, btw! It has a real mish-mash of different designs and aesthetics that somehow work together in harmony. Its a fun place to sponge up the booze with a electric college atmoshphere on the weekends and a laid back vibe during the week.  Traffic Jam also sells its products, stop by to pick up some rich and pungent bleu and asiago cheese or a gallon of vanilla ice cream.  Either way, get your pampered little behind to the D and check out Traffic Jam & Snug!

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I just got married to a wonderful woman who is crazy enough to put up with my sauciness (among other things).  Yay for me! However, that is not what I want to blog about. 

What the hell is up with wedding food and, more importantly, what the hell is up with wedding food expectations? My wife and I have probably been to 50 weddings in the last 5 years and we (subconsciously or not) began to catalog the cuisine we experienced.  We realized that one of the most important reflections on us at our wedding was going to be the food. 

Let’s establish one thing, we are not food snobs! We don’t scoff at the wedding buffet line or turn up our noses at mastacoli and green beans just because they are mastacoli and green beans.  Hell no! However, if the green beans are soggy, mushy and resemble something in texture a baby frog monster would defecate and the mastocoli breaks apart at the bite and has absolutely no seasoning then I catalog this as a “non-memorable meal”.  I try to forget the bad and focus on the good, the “memorable meals”.  Anyway, after all this field research we thought we had decided on what we wanted at our own celebration, only to be confronted with a non-sensical wall of doubt brought on by tradition and outdated etiquette by various members of our families (mostly mine!)

So, my wife and I fought back and ran UP the hill.  It worked and people were happy, including us! To anyone planning a wedding, don’t be swayed by the MYTHs.  Don’t let Aunty Coral or Uncle Rex or your mom’s friend at work dictate to you what HAS to happen at YOUR wedding. Behold the 7 Myths of Old, and watch as I cut and chop and crane kick through the smoky haze of assumption.

 myth 1: you have to please everyone but yourself with the food

What! This is the largest fallacy of them all! You not hosting a dinner party, you are getting married! This is one of the most important and memorable day(s) of your lives! The imperative customers are the bride and groom. Think about that, ponder it, because this is a concept (in my experience) that the older generation doesn’t quite understand. Case and point,  Carrie and I wanted to have a memorable and non-traditional meal at our reception (lamb and duck).  The backlash from our family was quite unexpected.  We didn’t want to do steak or chicken and we never waivered. 

Duck confit with lamb tenderloin medallions

The amazing thing was that after all the concerns, complaints, couched suggestions, subtle hints and outright freakouts, the guests LOVED the meal, not because it was lamb and duck, but because it was done well! People who had never had either of these proteins, or had bad experiences with them, had their palates blasted with something new and something MEMORABLE.  We still have people come up to us and say things like:

“Wow, I can’t believe I like lamb/duck!”

or

“Holy shit, that was duck/lamb? I would have NEVER ordered that!”

or (my favorite)

“I always thought that I hated lamb/duck. but ever since your wedding meal I have been aching to have it again somewhere”

myth 2: the more expensive the food, the better it is

False, false, FALSE!!! We’ve been to weddings that cost well into the 6 figures and I’ve never had a dryer, blander piece of salmon.  it was like pink cardboard with water sauce. The presentation was ok, but I want some TASTE! . We’ve also been to buffet style weddings where the jerk pasta was seasoned well, textured well and had flavor that smacked the taste out of my mouth! That’s why I had to keep on going back to get more. 

Some suggestions for determining your wedding meal

1. Make a list of foods that you both love and show prospective catering candidates, see how they react.

2. Write down names of caterers that you’ve been impressed with at different events. 

3. Go to your favorite restaurant and ask the chef who he/she recommends in a particular price range. 

4. Go with a company that EMBRACES the idea of creativity.  

5. Make sure that you taste a sample of their food before signing on the dotted line! After you sign make sure that you taste your meal and offer suggestions.  Don’t be scared, be aggressive!

myth 3: food has to have a common theme

We had an appetizer area and below are some of the things we featured:

- Creole Crabcakes with mango remoulade

- Mozzarella Caprese skewers with balsamic vinaigrette

- Italian meat and cheese spread

- Thai Spring rolls with ginger scallion sauce, spicy mustard and sweet/sour plum sauce

-  3 cheese brushetta with garlic aioli

Plate of appetizers

What do all these things have in common? One thing, Carrie and love them all!  I submit to you that variety done well at a wedding has a higher success rate than one particular style of food.  Themes are fine too, but don’t feel like everything has to match.  Be playful and have fun with your food.

myth 4: all the guests are happy with buffet lines @ weddings

Again, there is nothing wrong with buffet lines.  Like I’ve said, buffet food done right can be a beautiful thing.  Just as, buffet food done wrong can be a complete disaster!! Just remember, if you are having a moderately large wedding, you may want to have MULTIPLE buffet lines.  Tables should finish their food around 10-20 minutes of each other.  There is nothing worse than just sitting down with your food when the first round of tables have been done eating for an hour or more.  Guests will get cranky, especially if the bar is closed during dinner!

myth 5: you have to have a wedding cake (even if you don’t like cake)

Again, some like to gently push tradition, we like to kick it in the balls and send it a bill.  Tradition exists for a basis, a rough model of the way something is “supposed” to be. The reason that the father of the bride gives the away his daughter to the groom is actually based on the “tradition” of treating a woman as property that the father was giving to his son-in-law.  I am not saying that the giving away the bride is not a beautiful moment in modern times exchanged between father and daughter, but it came from murkier waters (like the dollar dance). Anyway, Carrie and I thought the cutting of the cake was a blatant waste of time.  Time that could be spent by our guests doing other, cooler, things. We also despised the obligatory cake-smashed-in-mouth feeding of each other. So we eliminated the cake, but had a kick-ass dessert buffet of various crème brules, tarts and decadent morsels. This little trick will obviously only work if both the bride and groom are of a like mind.  Just remember, if you both don’t like cake, let them eat pie (or something else not cake-like)!

myth 6: big portions are the bomb, y’all!

Hells yeah, I got a leg, a breast, a thigh, lasagna, taters, green beans, gravy, steak and turkey on my plate, playa! It weighed ten pounds and I only ate half, but…. wait, now I can’t move!

Don’t be fooled by the big portion sell.  Remember, you want your guests to be fed, not gorged! Guests with 10 pounds of Turducken in their gullet probably won’t get up and do the hustle. A wedding is like Thanksgiving with rings and dancing.  The calorie count is OBSCENELY high.  Keep the portions small to medium size and try to offer fresh veggies somewhere to cleanse the palette and keep the meal lite. 

myth 7: long unfed breaks between the ceremony and the reception are ok

Nope, not ok! Most guests don’t eat before the ceremony and most ceremonies are pretty long.  Have the apps ready to go when the guests arrive to the reception site.  Remember, provide them with a variety of normal size portions to whet their appetite for dinner.  I am a big proponent of serving a salad or soup during the speeches and toasts.

When the bright ray of light known as marriage finally shines through to your cubbyhole, expect the storm cloud of food myths hovering in the distance.  These bad boys will pop up when least expected and when they do remember that: (1) Someone actually married The Sauced Chef and (2) He says a myth-free, fullfilling and exciting celebration is absolutely possible!

Bottom Line: The Bride and Groom must be happy!

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