James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour does Tour de Farm
Categories: Events
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| Grilled bison tenderloin with sweet corn panna cotta, corn relish and tomato |
Tour de Farm celebrates family farms by gathering local tastemakers and curious diners at the farms for meals created by some of the area's most talented chefs to raise awareness about local, sustainably raised foods and the people who provide us with them.
The Celebrity Chef Dinners celebrate James Beard, the emblematic cookbook author, by hosting dinners with marquee names and beautiful wine pairings to benefit the foundation that continues Beard's passionate work in educating people about American cuisine.
But the real draw, of course, was the food.
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| Grilled trout with warm baby beets, yogurt, and dill |
After touring the farm, guests carefully walked to a riverside table set for their first course. Planks of bread from Patisserie 46 and fat cubes of Hope Creamery butter held the hungries at bay as Andrew Zimmern and Tim Mckee squinted into the flames of a giant outdoor grill, carefully turning rolls of trout, crisping the skin. The first course was billed as "grilled trout." "I expected it to be more...trout shaped," Moskowitz Grumdahl observed. Rather, the trout appeared more like a little sausage, a dill-studded mousse rolled in its skin and cooked until set, topped with glittering jewels of roe and earthy, sweet baby beets, nestled onto a pillow of yogurt.
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| Duck as done by McKee and Zimmern |
The next course, again prepared by Zimmern and McKee, was grilled duck breast with duck confit, braised radish, clover-leaf-shaped sorrel, and a honey juniper gastrique. The skin on the duck breast was charred crispy, and the confit was rich and tender. The floral honey and woodsy juniper enhanced the meat's flavor, creating a experience so down to the moment of the season that you could have just called the dish "Late August Evening."
Scott Pampuch's dish was expertly cooked bison served with a lush panna cotta so purely sweet-corn-flavored that the lack of a cob confounded expectations. The ruby tomato and deep green charred relish with sunny corn studs popped in the mouth before coating the palate with garden-plucked goodness. It was so clearly a Pampuch dish, representative of his style--masculine, decidedly dude food, presented with refinement.
A cheese course of Love Tree Farms Big Holmes was served with an apple mostarda and grilled wild pears. The creamy sheep's-milk cheese was coated in piney herbs enlivened by crispy fruits.
The playful dessert seemed as though it should be another savory course, featuring chanterelle and lobster mushrooms, but the lush cream base of the chanterelle ice cream and the raw sugar coating of the lobster mushroom was so sweet and lovely, crunchy, soft, chewy, and rich, a beautiful balance.
Although each course was served with a chef's name beside it, many people pulled together to present each dish. From the staff of Corner Table to Moskowitz Grumdahl's personalized serving of the elegant wines to the efforts of Mike DeCamp, chef de cuisine at La Belle Vie, and Jamie Malone, newly minted chef de cuisine at Sea Change, who plated dish after dish for diners, it was a collective effort of people passionate about food at the height of their game.
Scott Pampuch's dish was expertly cooked bison served with a lush panna cotta so purely sweet-corn-flavored that the lack of a cob confounded expectations. The ruby tomato and deep green charred relish with sunny corn studs popped in the mouth before coating the palate with garden-plucked goodness. It was so clearly a Pampuch dish, representative of his style--masculine, decidedly dude food, presented with refinement.
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| What up Big Holmes? |
The playful dessert seemed as though it should be another savory course, featuring chanterelle and lobster mushrooms, but the lush cream base of the chanterelle ice cream and the raw sugar coating of the lobster mushroom was so sweet and lovely, crunchy, soft, chewy, and rich, a beautiful balance.
Although each course was served with a chef's name beside it, many people pulled together to present each dish. From the staff of Corner Table to Moskowitz Grumdahl's personalized serving of the elegant wines to the efforts of Mike DeCamp, chef de cuisine at La Belle Vie, and Jamie Malone, newly minted chef de cuisine at Sea Change, who plated dish after dish for diners, it was a collective effort of people passionate about food at the height of their game.
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