Gluten Free

If you know someone who has celiac disease making sure their supper club menu is gluten free is essential. Celiac disease is a serious autoimmune disorder that can occur in genetically predisposed people where the ingestion of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine. It is estimated to affect 1 in 100 people worldwide

There are two approaches to making a gluten free menu:

Developing a menu of items that are gluten free. Researching ingredient lines to make sure a dish is gluten free. Segregating production to insure that there is no cross contamination from gluten based ingredients. Serving items so that those with gluten intolerance know what is safe for them.
Developing gluten free dishes, substituting gluten free ingredients (flour) for regular flour or other gluten free ingredients. This is a lot more difficult because you really need to test items. Gluten adds structure and texture to flour and plays an important role in cooking. You will need to add gums (guar or xanthan) and possibly eggs to get the desired results.

Taking steps to make sure your meal is gluten free isn’t all the hard. It just takes some knowledge and diligence. The hard part is that wheat based ingredients are used pervasively in the food industry and you need to be careful.

Gluten free has become a fad for perceived health benefits. The good news is that there has been a proliferation of gluten free products. The bad news is that many of the gluten free products are not really good for you. It is much like the fat free fad of the 1990’s and the tropical oil scare of the 1980’s. Manufacturers will make what the market wants. Unfortunately, the result isn’t always healthier products.

I have developed menus for events where we have had people with celiac disease. The menus have included both gluten free and traditional dishes. I start with a little research of labels delineating ingredients to make sure there isn’t any gluten.

See the worksheet.

The next step is preparing all the gluten free products separately to make sure there isn’t any cross contamination. I do a wash down of the workspace, cookware and utensils in between traditional and gluten free production. The final step is to label dishes and to provide ingredient lists to those who have celiac disease

Check out the recipe for Caramelized Shallot and Gorgonzola Dip.

People with celiac disease can have a hard time with food, but there is no reason they cannot enjoy a supper club dinner party.

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.

When the hostess comes out in a negligee

When is it time to leave? This is one dinner party question that hangs out there. Following are some leading indicators

Dessert has been served

The end of a meal is usually a pretty good indicator. While I am not generally a dessert person, I do believe that if you are writing a menu that you need to have a dessert option. Following is my recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream with Berries and a Grand Marnier Sauce

Check out the recipe

There is no more wine

Conversation tends to dry up when the wine is gone. We did have one lively party where the host ran out of the wine he had bought for the dinner party and asked if I thought he should open a bottle from other wines he had. Silly question asked of the wrong person.

The host or hostess goes to bed

If either the host or hostess disappears it is probably a good time to leave.

The hostess comes out in a negligee

This has happened and while all were still having a really good time, it wasn’t that type of party

Someone starts washing the dishes

My parents loved to entertain and my father had a rule that you didn’t start cleaning up until guests had left. This led to some late nights, for my poor mother.

It is time to join another party

In our neighborhood supper club where there can be 5 dinner parties going on at once, we have on occasion had everyone head to one home for dessert and an after party. As you might guess the larger numbers have led to larger times.

Someone goes on a political, religious or homophobic rant

There is the old rule that you don’t discuss religion or politics at a dinner party. Some times old rules are good rules…

While there are no set supper club rules for this question, you probably will just know.

If anyone has other good indicators they would like to share, please list them in the comments below

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.