Saturday, March 08, 2008

The night that Adam died...

It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of Adam Johnson; meat connoisseur, glutton & founding member of TCNYC. Towards the end of Grant's 6 course flesh-a-thon, Adam finally succumbed to a lethal overdose of meat. He will be missed.

Ok, jokes aside, Adam was seriously hurting by the end of course #5 & was flailing around on the floor like a beached whale screaming; "No More! No More!" Great stuff! Now onto the grub;

1. Crispy Olives Stuffed With Sausage
Adam, Teddy & myself arrived on time for a change & we were glad to see that Grant had everything pretty much lined up & ready to go. The olives were stuffed, breaded & waiting for a quick dip in the oil. A porky, olivey scent wafted in the air as we tucked into our first bottle of wine. The taste of the sausage was far more subtle than I had expected, but I particularly liked the 3rd degree burns I got on my tongue when I bit into these tiny little morsels. A perfect amuse bouche to keep us occupied as Daryll arrived & Teddy spun up some Gin & Tonics

2. Moules a la Poulette (Mussels with cream, spinach and shallots)
Steamed in white wine, shucked, served on a roasted half-shell & drizzled with the heavily reduced wine, cream & vegetable mixture, these were a real treat. I forget the name of the mussels that Grant used, but they were MASSIVE! Roasting the shells was a nice touch, but made them somewhat brittle, so we had to slurp & be careful where we bit down. The flavors were delicious & we moved onto the next course unscathed.

3. Roasted Tomato with Gruyère Toast
Course 3 was up next & I was pretty convinced that I would make it all the way to the end without internal damage. The soup was an incredibly thick & intoxicating when the Gruyère toast was dipped into it. Delicious!

4. Chicken Liver Salad
This is the course when I realized that I might not make it out of Grant's Apt. on my own steam. Chicken livers have a texture all their own which might be why I love them so much. Cooked till they were just pink inside & served on top of a salad, I was really enjoying myself. The portions were massive & I was forced to leave a few stray livers in my plate for fear of rupturing some unmentionable & most likely vital organ.

5. Asian Style Braised Short Rib with a side of Braised Cabbage & Smoked Duck Bacon
This was the nail on all of our coffins (Adam in particular). Even though we had a much needed 20 minute break after the last course, I was starting to get a bit dizzy. Grant's mass email with the menu on Wednesday had promised smoked bacon, but when I discovered that the cabbage was fried with a stick of butter & smoked duck bacon, I knew that I had to take one for the team & scarf the lot down! the short ribs were extremely tender (you gotta love braising), sweet & my personal favorite; fatty. Even though I felt that I was dying a little with every bite, I couldn't stop eating!

6. Home Made Éclairs
Bravo to Grant for pulling this one off! They were really sweet, incredibly tasty & the filling was to die for. The best part was Grant's 'Everton Topping' (no doubt to 'celebrate' their loss against Fiorentina).

All in all, a culinary tour de force. Nice one buddy.

3 comments:

Teddy said...

those mussels were New Zealand green-lipped. Top bivalve.

Unknown said...

*hanging head in shame*

I cried myself to sleep that night....my tears tasted like short ribs.

Jason said...

I couldn't sleep... Laying eggs all night!

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