Food Safety

Have you had your hepatitis shots? This is something you don’t want to hear just as your digging into some sushi in Manila. My friend John Huang dropped this question on me while we were enjoying a sushi lunch one day in Manila. Fortunately. I didn’t have any problems.

The biggest single cause of food poisoning is people touching food ingredients with their hands. Hepatitis is a whole other issue. My friend Johnnie Huang had a battle with Hepatitis after a trip to Papua New Guinea. That is why he asked about my having hepatitis shots. After that I did. If you are traveling to the tropics you should too.

Food poisoning isn’t something you worry too much about at your wine group gathering, but it is a risk whenever and wherever you eat. The old line is if someone asks you how your meal was, you can answer I’ll let you know in 6 hours.

Food born illnesses can take between a few hours and a few weeks to incubate. A common denominator for feeling the effects of food poisoning is the 6 hour time frame. Having worked with many food scientists and microbiologists over my years with Kraft foods I know more than I want to about food poisoning and pathogens.

I ran a Coconut company in the Philippines and traveled there quite a bit over a period of 20 years. On one of my first trips there I traveled with a microbiologist who scared the daylights out of me. Of course hearing about all the possible issues seemed to lead to a case of “Marcos’s revenge”. Getting sick overseas is just no fun.

I do have a supper club story connected to my Philippine travels. I was at a restaurant in Manila and saw someone who looked familiar but couldn’t place where I knew him. Sure enough a few months later I see the same guy at a supper club dinner party. I go up to him and say “Two months ago I saw you in Manila”. He gave me that “Oh shit what was I doing look”. Oops

As far as a real message for someone preparing food for a wine group gathering, make sure you wash your hands, a lot!

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/wine group/supper club lessons follow me on Facebook and Twitter and 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.

You Need An Exit Strategy

I don’t care how good a dinner party is, it is always good to have a plan in place to leave gracefully.

The all time leader in this category is my buddy Phil Rose. His classic line is:

Peggy is getting cranky

Of course Peggy is his wife who never gets cranky. Phil inspired a comfort food menu of mine that is probably leader in the clubhouse for complements. The menu centers on an upscale meatloaf that is really good:

Check out the recipe

Another really popular exit strategy centers around the line:

We have to go ransom the kids from the babysitter

There are several variations to this one such as: “Gotta go, the kids are with the in-laws”. As the kids get older the line becomes: “We have to leave the kids are Home Alone.”

There are also some bad strategies.

My line of: “We have to go, I have an early tee time in the morning” has gotten me in a lot of trouble. We did have one supper clubber that left with the pronouncement of: “We are leaving, my wife is getting drunk”. My guess is that this faux pas was instrumental to the divorce that followed a few years later.

A little planning is a good idea for any social event. With supper clubs the expression “Too much of a good things” occasionally comes into play and it great to have an exit strategy

If you know of other great exit lines, please leave them in the comments below and I will follow up with a future blog.

Mise En Place

“A Disaster beyond your imagination will occur”

The line from Phantom of the Opera has always been a motivator to be prepared for a supper club dinner party. The key is Mise En Place. This is the French expression that loosely translates into “put into place”. In a word it means preparation!

Have you ever wondered how a restaurant can turn out so many fabulous meals in a very short time frame? The answer is Mise En Place. It is a key concept that is taught in every culinary school. By doing a large percentage of the prep in advance restaurants can turn out great meals in short order. Mise en place is also the key to a successful dinner party and a way to be prepared for any disaster that could occur.

A great example of how Mis En Place works can be demonstrated in preparing to make Seared Baja Beef Tenderloin With Spring Greens and a Parmesan Horseradish Sauce;

Check out the recipe:

It sounds difficult but if you get your mise en place done, or said a different way, do your preparation in advance, it becomes simple.

The Mise En place consists of:

Make the Baja rub (Can be done weeks in advance) and set out in a bowl
Prepare the Parmesan Horseradish Sauce (days in advance)
Cut and slack out the beef to room temp (an hour in advance)
Prep the spring greens (set aside covered with a wet paper towel)

Final cooking/assembly

Heat a sauté pan over high heat
Add oil
Dredge beef in Baja rub
Sear beef in hot pan (2 minutes a side)
Plate beef with greens and sauce
Serve

Prep time is 18 minutes and cook/assembly time is 5 minutes. It doesn’t get much easier and people will think you are a culinary genius. Have your mise en place done and you will be ready for anything so you can just have fun.

If you enjoy this blog and similar other stories/supper club lessons subscribe to get future blogs at www.impromptufridaynights.com/blog and be on the look out for my book Impromptu Friday Nights a Guide to Supper Clubs due out from Morgan James Publishing on January 30, 2018.