Great Inventions That Were Mistakes

Many of history’s greatest inventions were mistakes or at least afterthoughts. Supper club menus can also benefit from a mistake or afterthought.

Did you know that the invention of potato chip was the result of a chef’s rage over a customer’s complaint? This must be the only example in the history of the world where rage benefited the person involved.

In 1853, in a New York restaurant, when a customer complained that the fried potatoes were too soggy and thick, and repeatedly sent them back to the waiter, the chef- George Crum- got so fed up, that he took the request for a thinner potato quite literally- he cut the potatoes into very thin slices, fried them, and covered them in salt. And, Voila! The most favorite snack in the world was born!

I have a similar, but different story. Years ago we had my son Brian’s friends over for dinner. His buddy Rishi is a vegetarian and loves all forms of potatoes. I took advantage of having some left over Potato Mousseline. This is a French dish that combines potato, butter, cream and a little garlic. (You can’t go wrong with these ingredients.) The classic dish is basically a casserole of mashed potatoes served with a topping of cheese. In this case I formed the leftover potatoes into patties and fried them up with butter creating a nice crust. And, Voila!

Rishi raved about them, but as he is such an appreciative eater I didn’t think much of it. A few months later he started asking me to make the “potato pancakes” again. At first, I had no idea what he was talking about. It took me a while to connect the leftover potato Mousseline patties to Potato Pancakes. With a little practice I have been able to replicate Rishi’s Potato Pancakes that have become legendary, at least to Rishi.

Check out the recipes for Rishi’s Potato Pancakes and Potatoes Mousseline.

I have plans to dress up Rishi’s Potato Pancakes for a supper club menu. What I will do is use a 2 inch cylinder to shape the patties. I will refrigerate the shaped patties for at least an hour to help them set and then fry them to get a crust. These can be made in advance, transferred to a baking sheet and then warmed up 20 minutes before serving in a 300-degree oven.

Steph & Rishi’s wedding. (He isn’t thinking about potato pancakes)

(The three buddies at Rishi’s wedding: Brian Kenny, Eric Brown and Rishi Bhula)

(The fun crew at Steph & Rishi wedding. I had to promise potato pancakes to Rishi to get him to smile…Susan Kenny, Steph Bhula, Paul Kenny, Rishi Bhula, Lauren Kenny, Whitney Brown, Brian Kenny and Eric Brown the blur)

And Voila! A supper club menu benefits from my mistake of making too much Potato Mousseline and the afterthought to call them potato pancakes. While I doubt Rishi’s Potato Pancakes will become as famous as the potato chip, they make a great side dish.

If you enjoyed this blog and similar other stories/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.

Blind Panel Taste Testing

When an expert tells you something will be good, the chances are you will think it is good when you taste it.

If my kids hear me complain about this again they will shoot me. We went on a tour of the Napa Valley and tasted some great wines. At each stop we asked about how the wines were rated. Numerous times we were told that ratings of the major publications were not based on blind panel tastings. From there, the vintner and I would go into a rant about how arbitrary non-blind taste testing is. If you hear the same story 10 times, I am told it gets a little annoying.

To make it simple, blind tasting is where you don’t know anything about the product. You don’t see the bottle, package, origin, blend components, producer etc. When you know the bottle, package, origin, blend components, producer etc. it can have a huge impact on how you rate the wine or anything that you taste.

A lot of us have a favorite wine. I love Joseph Phelps wines. We fell in love with the Phelps vineyards back in the 1980’s when we moved to California and would visit the Napa Valley regularly. To this day if I see a Phelps Cabernet on the wine list I will dig deep into my pocket to buy it. The Phelps wines bring back fond memories and I consistently enjoy their wines. I AM BIASED!

(Emma Kenny with her 3 liter bottle of Phelps Cabernet)

My experience is that taste is somewhat subjective and can be influenced. I used to work at Kraft with the guy that invented Kraft Mac & Cheese. This might be a bit of an embellishment as Larry didn’t really invent it, but he did develop the cheese sauce that was used for over 25 years. There is no hyperbole behind the statement that Larry was a cheese expert. We used to do blind taste testing of cheese sauces on a regular basis. The way it worked most days was you were given 3 samples marked A, B, C. Larry knowing which sample he wanted to approve would come in and whisper “You are really going to like sample B”. Of course B would be the winner. If the guy that has forgotten more about cheese than you will ever know likes it, it must be good.

There is a cute movie called Bottle Shock that tells a powerful story about Blind Panel tasting. The story is about the blind tasting French experts did in 1976 where shockingly, American wines rated higher than their French counterparts. As you could imagine this shocked the wine world and really annoyed the French.

Check out the trailer

In doing research for this blog (No wine was consumed) I checked both Robert Parker of the Wine Advocate and Wine Spectator’s statements on how they develop their ratings. Contrary to what I had been told during our Napa tour, they claim that their ratings were based on blind tasting (?). It leaves me not knowing whom to believe.

The moral of this story for supper clubs is that the host should talk up the menu. Tell people about the dishes. Tell your guests that they will like it. The chances are they will like it. Certainly don’t ask them to do Blind Panel Taste Testing…

You Could Put This On Shoe Leather And It Would Taste Good

Compound butter is one of god’s gifts. It delivers flavor and mouth-feel to a multitude of dishes and should be a regular ingredient for supper clubs menus.

One of the challenges that every chef faces, is the fact that flavor gets cooked off under the high heat of any cooking process. It is particularly bad with the high heat of grilling. You can try to add flavor with marinades, rubs and even salt and pepper, but the reality is that a lot of what you are trying to add, gets lost or changed during the cooking process. The beauty of compound butter is that you get to add it after cooking, so that the flavor is not lost. Additionally, you get the added benefit of adding it as your cooked meat (or vegetable) is resting. The fat from the butter combines with the juices of your meat enhancing the overall flavor. It’s a wonderful thing.

There are all kinds of compound butters, but I have a standard that I use all of the time.

Ingredients

1 stick butter (1/2 cup) softened to room temperature
2 cloves garlic sliced
1 shallot minced (1/4 cup)
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons of freshly chopped herbs (Chive or scallion for beef/pork. Dill for fish)

Process

Sauté garlic and shallot in olive oil under low heat for five minutes until translucent
Add all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until well combined

The beauty of this ingredient is that you can make larger quantities and store in the freezer for months. Pull it out and use it liberally on all sorts of things. Friends and family will think you are a culinary genius.

I use compound butters all the time but it was a central ingredient in one of my most favorites events. We had 75 people at my mom’s in Westhampton at a kickoff party for my daughter’s wedding weekend. The main course evolved around using compound butters with grilled strip steak, local swordfish and eggplant. There is a seafood wholesaler on the North Shore of Long Island where we can get a whole loin of freshly caught swordfish. The fresh fish was a thing of beauty. Combined with grilling with our hero compound butter led to a memorable culinary event.

Check out the video

It doesn’t matter if you are cooking for a supper club dinner party or a quick weeknight supper, compound butters will make your dish better. And remember, you can put it on shoe leather and it would taste good.