Morgan James Red Carpet Event

I was honored to be part of Morgan James Red Carpet event last week in Nashville. Morgan James is the publisher of Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide To Supper Clubs and they hosted an event for 17 of their recently published authors.

The authors present were a very impressive group with CEO’s, CFO, doctors and people with amazing life stories. The cornerstone of the event was a live TV stream where the authors were interviewed about their books. With all these high-powered people, who did they pick to go first?, the “Party Guy” with his hopefully humorous book about socializing over a meal.

Here is a link to the live stream of the event.

The whole event was a lot of fun. Nashville is city exploding with excitement. Once a sleepy southern town, today it is a trendy city with an amazing array of entertainment options. With country music, professional sports, night life , restaurants and more it is a great place to visit. It is also the home of Ingram Content Group that is a global leader of book sales, distribution and production. Meeting Ingram representatives was very helpful for first time authors as they build an understanding of the book business.

The second day of the event was designed to help educate the authors on what it takes to market their books. It isn’t easy as even books like “Chicken Soup for the Soul” took two years before anyone bought it. The publisher also dropped the fact that it usually takes two or three books to be published before anyone takes notice. Authors like John Grisham and J.K. Rowling were on book three before anyone bought into book one. So you can expect to hear about “Impromptu Friday Nights – A Guide To Wine Clubs” in the not so near future.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

The “Goldilocks Approach To Grilling”

The single most asked question I get at supper clubs is: “Can you teach my husband to grill?”. Most of the time the complaint is that the steak is overcooked. The key to grilling the perfect piece of meat is the touch test, just like with Goldilocks.

The Goldilocks touch test

  • The meat can’t be too hard (Overdone)
  • The meat can’t be too soft (Underdone)
  • The meat has to be in-between (Just right – medium rare*)

Here is where my wife interjects: “What is easy for some is hard for others”. It is true that knowing what is perfect takes a little practice, but it can be taught. At Kraft Food Ingredients we had a promotion where Sales personnel had to go into customers facility and prepare a demonstration of grilled beef. To pull this off we did training on the touch test. We gave them three pieces of meat:

  • One that was cooked to well done. (It was as hard as a brick)
  • One that was cooked to rare (It was as soft as my stomach)
  • One that was cooked to a perfect medium rare (It was in-between well done and rare)

After that we had the Sales people do a little practice and the concept became clear. Granted these Sales people were smart folks. Many had degrees in food science. But, most were admittedly lousy cooks. Anyone can train themselves with a little practice.

When in doubt… cheat!

I have seen one of the best chefs I know cut a little slice to check the doneness of a piece of meat. There is nothing like being able to confirm the touch test with visible confirmation. I know that this breaks one of the golden rules of cooking in that when you cut a piece of meat you lose the juice. The way I look at it is, that if you have a guest that likes more well done than medium, they don’t like juicy anyway. You could serve them shoe leather and they will not know the difference (but I digress). By making a little slice you get confirmation and you also accelerate the cooking for the those that like more well done meat.

Rack of lamb has become my signature dish. The testimony behind it is that multiple times I have had guests tell me beforehand that they don’t like lamb. After trying my rack of lamb they become lamb lovers. The key to this dish is the perfect medium rare and the Goldilocks touch test with a little slice to check gets you there.

Check out the recipe.

 

For your next supper club dinner party (or any meal) try out the Goldilocks touch test and let me know…

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.

Notes: *I have asked chefs at fine ding restaurants what is the most asked for meat temperature. The consensus is that 85% of diners prefer medium rare

Is Papaya Killing Your Sex Drive?

Have you ever heard that papaya can kill your sex drive? Everyone knows this to be a fact? I certainly didn’t.

Several years ago I was traveling in Asia with my buddy John Huang. John is a Chinese Filipino who was our sales manager for Asia and we were in the midst of a long car ride in Korea. John is a devout Catholic and I had told him that my uncle Pat was a Catholic priest. Out of nowhere John says to me: “Your uncle must eat a lot of papaya.” My response was: “excuse me?” “Yeah”, John said: “Everyone knows that priests eat a lot of papaya because it kills your sex drive.”

I explained that my uncle didn’t have a sex drive. He was a priest living in a monastery at Villanova University. Picture an 80 year-old Archie Bunker in a Roman collar. Father Pat probably didn’t know what a papaya was. He was strictly a meat and potatoes kind of guy and certainly wasn’t worried about his sex drive.

Fast-forward a few years when I was visiting my cousin Virginia in Hawaii. Ginny and her husband Rich live on Maui near Hana. They have an organic farm and one of their principle crops…you guessed it…papaya. One morning Rich and I go off into their orchard with a long pole to pick some papaya for our morning smoothies. So I say to Rich: “You know that papaya kills your sex drive.” Well Rich certainly didn’t know that and almost took offense to the suggestion.

What got me on this tangent? I was watching an old episode of the Barefoot Contessa where she starts her day off with a papaya smoothie.

Check it out https://youtu.be/Ikf92NioGUE

I always love Ina Garten because of her practical cooking and entertainment advice. I am also a fan because she opened her first shop in Westhampton N.Y. down the road from my mom’s house. She was in Westhampton (the poor man’s Hampton) for a few years before moving to Easthampton where the real money is. A story she tells really explains the difference. She had just opened her shop in Easthampton when she noticed a customer hemming and hawing over how much lobster salad to buy. Ina was fearful that her price of $25 a pound was causing his reluctance. When she asked if he needed help he told her: “I am just not sure if I need 5 or 6 pounds”. There is real money in Easthampton and they certainly are not worried about papaya killing their sex drive.

How about a rum infused papaya smoothie as an amuse bouche at your next supper club dinner party? It would be a hit…just don’t tell folks that it may kill their sex drive.

 

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and check out my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs. Published by Morgan James Publishing and available through most channels where books are sold.