Unboxing Kitch-inspirtation: The Magic that is CrateChef

by Sophie Spring, intern

The whole office was excited when the CrateChef box addressed to “The Charming Jay Ducote” showed up at the #officehouse. This box, created by Chef Karl Worley featured selections from his restaurant Biscuit Love, with two popular locations in Nashville, and a third coming soon. Chef Worley is known for his southern, homestyle dishes and his warm, fluffy biscuits for obvious reasons.

My challenge: use the box’s ingredients to make something delicious- preferably in the office during work hours. This box was chock full of ingredients: Biscuit Love gravy spice mix and Summer Peach preserves, an Olive and Sinclair 67 percent cacao sea salt chocolate bar, Red Clay Southern hot sauce, Weisenberger Mill stone ground grits, and Aretha Frankenstein Insanely Great Pancake Mix. 

I decided to go for the breakfast route, and have some hot pancakes waiting for the crew when they came in. I used the Aretha Frankenstein Insanely Great Pancake Mix, and the name does not lie. The pancakes turned out fluffy and light, and the batter took all of 3 minutes to make. FIlled with melty Olive and Sinclair chocolate or fresh juicy blueberries, the pancakes were the perfect texture and beautifully golden.

Raspberry and Sea Salt Chocolate Pancakes

Using the Summer Peach preserves from Biscuit Love, I made Whiskey Peach syrup to top the blueberry pancakes. The syrup was fruity and sweet, with a little whiskey kick at the end. With a side of crispy bacon, CrateChef’s goodies gave us a great breakfast to kick off this rainy Wednesday!

Sign up for CrateChef and keep a look out for Jay’s specialized box coming soon!
Below, you can find my recipe for the Whiskey Peach Syrup and try it out for yourself!

Whiskey Peach Syrup:

12 oz jar summer peach jam
¼ cup water
1 oz whiskey
1 cinnamon stick
½ teaspoon vanilla
pinch of ground cloves

Mix all ingredients in a small pot and simmer for 15-20 minutes on low heat. Serve hot over pancakes.

New York City's Clinton St. Baking Company

My last day in NYC brought about the need for a Sunday brunch after a Saturday night of bar hopping and parties.  Molly and I found the Clinton St. Baking Company on Manhattan's Lower East Side and thought it looked like a spectacular option!  The cozy little cafe and bakery was packed but we fortunately got a table for two right away.  After a quick glance at the menu my stomach made an excellent decision: banana walnut pancakes with warm maple butter!

Banana Walnut Pancakes with Warm Maple Butter

The pancakes themselves were warm, fluffy, and beautifully golden brown.  The bananas and walnuts were just a topping, but that's okay.  I still enjoyed them as accessories to the scrumptious flapjacks.  The warm maple butter that came served on the side lit up the plate and consumed every bite of griddle-fried dough with its essence of sweet delight.  I'd gladly hit up the Clinton St. Baking Company again whenever I'm in the neighborhood.  It is a great little restaurants that the locals clearly embrace.  I'm always down with that!

The Clinton St. Baking Company

The Netherlands - The 2010 FIFA World Cup Bites and Boozes

The Netherlands

Ah, The Netherlands.  Holland.  The Dutch.  The side in orange.  They defeated Brazil 2-1 today in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, and while their magical run in international play continues, their turn on the Bite and Booze World Tour is now. Dutch cuisine is shaped by the practice of fishing and farming, including the cultivation of the soil for raising crops and the raising of domesticated animals, and the history of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is renowned for its varieties of cheese and it is where Dutch process chocolate originated. Dutch cuisine is somewhat limited in its diversity of dishes (like many Northern European cuisines) and includes a high consumption of vegetables compared to the consumption of meat.

Since it is early in the morning in America as The Netherlands and Brazil square off on the pitch, we'll take a look at some Dutch pancakes. A pannekoek (plural pannekoeken) or pannenkoek (new Dutch spelling) is a Dutch pancake. Pannekoeken are usually larger and thinner than American or Scottish pancakes. They may incorporate slices of smoked bacon, apples or other fruits, stem ginger, cheese, or raisins. Plain ones are often eaten with white or brown sugar. The ingredients are flour, milk, and eggs. Beer may also be added to the mixture in order to give it a better flavor, but most of all it helps the batter rise. In Dutch pancake restaurants (pannenkoekenhuis) many more toppings can be ordered with them, including eggs, pear, or even pineapple, and they are often topped with Dutch stroop (sugar beet syrup), a dark, thick syrup common in the Netherlands. The closest taste equivalent to this syrup in the U.S. is sorghum syrup. In the Netherlands, a pannenkoek naturel in a pannenkoekenhuis is a plain pancake which one can top with as much powdered sugar or stroop as one desires from the condiments standing on the table.

Oranjebitter is a drink developed in the 17th century in order to celebrate festivities of the Dutch monarchy. It's distilled with several types of oranges. In the 17th century it used to be sweet (liquor), in the 18th and 20th century it was made without any sugar. Nowadays people tend to prefer sweet so 10% sugar is added.  Oranjebitter is made from distilled Curacao peel, bitter orange, and brandy.

To see what Eric has to say about Dutch beer, and how he avoids the two most famous beer producers which are Heineken in the west and Grolsch in the east, go to the BR Beer Scene.

Thanks and Credits:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_cuisine
http://www.dutchbakery.nl/nl_pannenkoeken.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pannekoek
http://www.thedrinkshop.com/products/nlpdetail.php?prodid=3722
http://www.delta.tudelft.nl/nl/archief/artikel/altijd-zo-geweescht-oranjebitter/19461

A Late Night Excursion to Mel's Diner

After our recent trip to the Parish Brewing Company we obviously needed to put a little food in our stomachs.  As luck would have it, Andrew knew of a place right around the corner from his new warehouse brewery that offered late night dining for drunks like us.  Eric, Eusebio, Dustin, Andrew, and I all settled into our booth at Mel's Diner where a waitress named Flo (no kidding) sat us down and took our drink orders... a round of water!

Mel's Diner, Broussard, La

There were a few things that I really liked about Mel's Diner.  First, it really did feel like we were mingling with laid back country folk just like on the movie Dumb and Dumber when Harry and Lloyd were waited on by a waitress named Flo (in case you didn't get that reference earlier).  Second, the prices on the menu were low, and the portions were rather large.  However, we really didn't need large portions because it seemed like every one of us ordered two breakfast entrees to scarf down.  I, for one, went with the steak and eggs and a stack of five large pancakes!

A Couple of Beautiful Biscuits

The steak and eggs, just like everyone else's meals, came with a side of two delightful biscuits.  Seriously, I had been boozing, but these biscuits were enormous and incredible.  For some reason the lighting didn't work out in the picture above, but these buttery and flaky hockey puck-sized treats made everything right with my craft beer-filled gastronomic reservoir. 

Steak and Eggs with Grits

Ah, steak and eggs, the cornerstone of any late night, alcohol induced breakfast.  Oh, and don't forget to throw in the grits, we are in the South, after all.  The steak at Mel's certainly could have been better.  I didn't expect anything more, but this particular steak was about as cheap of a cut of meat that can get away with being called steak as you'll ever find.  However, while the slab of beef consisted of far too much gristle, the seasoned flavor of the red meat actually impressed me for a 24-hour diner.  The eggs came scrambled and plain.  They didn't add anything to them, so a little salt and pepper was needed, but past that they were pretty standard eggs.  The grits were grits, and I ate them up, that's for sure.  I do love grits, and these were perfectly fine in my book.  All in all the quality is about what the place and price make you expect, but when drunk after hours with Andrew at the Parish Brewing Company, this food is all that one could ask for!

To-Go Box with Pancakes and Other Leftovers

When Flo (I don't know about you, but I'm still laughing) brought out our food she thought something went terribly awry with the order.  It is rare to see a look of such utter confusion of the face of a waitress, but Flo really couldn't comprehend what happened.  There were five of us at the table and we ordered enough food for eight to ten, easily.  Flo didn't take our order, so when the food came out of the kitchen she grabbed the tray and brought it to us, only to find a full plate of food in front of each of us already.  Confused, Flo started to take the food back to the kitchen, so we called out, "Excuse me, Flo, that is our food, too!"  Well, it surely had to be something along those lines anyway.  Flo returned to the table and placed a plate with five large pancakes in front of me.  These pancakes rivaled the biscuits for my favorite part of the meal.  Large and perfectly cooked, the stack of flapjacks would have been enough to feed me by themselves, and for only $4.95.  I added two of them to about half of my steak, eggs, and grits and got a to-go box for the rest.  My eyes were certainly way larger than my stomach, which didn't have normal capacity since it was still full of brew. 

Mel's Diner hit the spot after our tour of the new Parish Brewing facility and rounds of beer tastings with Andrew.  My thanks to Andrew for such a great evening and inviting us to sample and help critique his trial runs at nano-brewing.  I can't wait to order my first pint of Parish at a bar!  As for Mel's, I doubt I'll be back when sober, but there's a good chance I'll return at some point when I need something to bite in order to soak up more booze!