At first, I was thinking about baking six loaves of bread. After I stopped laughing hysterically, I had a more rational thought: muffins. But then, I thought – muffins? So boring, right? I need to step it up. So, I settled on BIG muffins. Big Chocolate Chip Banana Bread Muffins with Cream Cheese frosting, to be exact. Something I’d swap for. Something I might keep, now that I think about it.

And since I really like to mix things up, I’ve decided to bring three pairs of giant muffins (wow, that doesn’t sound right), and three containers of Indian-spiced hummus.  You know me and hummus.

I met FSC Christina at yesterday’s Schenectady Greenmarket (they were the day’s Local Expert), and I ran my ideas by her. She told me that cookies and brownies and those kinds of items don’t go over very well at swaps (“it’s not a bake sale”, she said), but that muffins and hummus would be just fine. Christina is wicked cool, and I’m so excited that FSC will be coming to Schenectady! Y’all better give her a warm welcome.

What’s cool about this food swap – since it’s new to Schenectady – is that they’re offering 20 “SWAP Curious” tickets to folks who just want to come and scope out the scene, and be sure they know what they’re doing before getting involved in an actual swap.

Me, I just dive right in the deep end of the cold pool while ripping off the Band-Aids.

As of this writing, there are only 8 SWAP tickets (and 17 “SWAP Curious” tickets) left – GET YOURS HERE

If you’re going to the swap, let me know so I can say hello!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I prepared “Black & White Hummus”, which consisted of black bean and white bean hummuses (hummii?), served with pita chips. There were 34 other chefs at the event, serving everything from pasta e fagioli,  surf & turf bruschetta, and chicken wontons to cookie dough brownies, bread pudding, and tiramisu mini cupcakes. Plus lots of beer and wine.

The event, summed up in a few bullets:

• My hummus was not a big seller. The people who tried it loved it, but it was generally met with more scowls than smiles. Apparently, hummus is still an “unknown” food in these parts. People are afraid of it, for whatever reason. And I realized that it was mostly men that were terrified of trying it. One guy actually said to me, “If you show me what a baby hummus looks like, I’ll try it.” Sigh. 
• Since I wasn’t able to give away much of it, I had quite a bit leftover. This is where fate stepped in. At the next table was my friend Marc Renson, owner of Ambition Cafe in Schenectady. We had been chatting all evening, and Marc tried (and really liked) both versions of my hummus. Towards the end of the night, I mentioned to Marc that I was pretty sure I was going to have a bunch left over and didn’t know what I was going to do with it. He turned to me with a serious look on his face, and said, “I’ll take it. I’ll serve it at the restaurant. We’re doing a ‘Dining Out for Life‘ event on Thursday, and I’m sure I can work it into a special or two.” I took him up on the offer (and there may be some $$ in it for the Boys & Girls Clubs), and Marc proudly served the hummus as part of a sandwich special during the event! He was gracious enough to mention me a few times in his Facebook posts, too. So, my hummus, while not what I’d call popular, has been able to help raise money for two very important causes. Which is pretty great.
• I didn’t win. First place in the Appetizer/Entree – Amateur category went to someone else. But a little birdie told me that the judges scored my hummus very high, and I actually came in a very close second. This is hearsay, of course, but I’ll take what I can get. Get a list of competitors and winners here. Congratulations to all!
• The event had a very special surprise “celebrity” guest: Gianni Russo, the guy who played Carlo Rizzi (abusive husband of Connie Corleone) in The Godfather. Forty years ago. I’m not really sure why this guy is still famous, but people seem to enjoy having him at events. He’s appeared at a bunch of Schenectady events over the past few years; someone told me his son lives around here.  It would have been nice if he had actually paid attention to where he was and didn’t thank everyone for helping the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts (the giant Boys & Girls Clubs banners hanging around the room didn’t clue him in). I really dislike that kind of carelessness. It just makes me think that he thinks he’s far too important to pay attention to details. Anyway, he yakked on and on about how he “beat Vito Corleone’s daughter and look at him now.” Nice. Some interesting “facts” I found about this guy on Wikipedia: Russo claims that he has personally known three popes, five United States Presidents and every Mafia boss in the United States. He also claims to have had romantic trysts with Marilyn Monroe, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Liza Minnelli. Over the years since the beginning of his career, he has owned a Las Vegas restaurant called Gianni Russo’s State Street, dated Dionne Warwick for more than a decade and claims to have successfully defeated 23 federal criminal indictments on a variety of charges stemming from alleged organized crime associations. Sure.

Gianni Russo, star of stage and screen.

Wendalicious, her hummus, and the extra chin that magically appears whenever someone takes out a camera.

CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS

As an added incentive for you to buy a ticket, I will be one of the amateur chefs! I’ll be serving samples of my “Black & White Hummus” – black bean hummus served alongside classic white hummus.

I spent most of today in the kitchen of the B&G Club, making the hummus. It’s amazing how much time it takes to prepare enough food for 200 servings! My hummus recipes take about 15 minutes (tops) to make at home, but it took me FOUR HOURS to make two pans of hummus! The most tedious part was picking the leaves off seven bunches of cilantro. Holy crap that was tedious. But, I think the results will speak for themselves.

The participants will be competing against each other in a few categories:

• Professionals: Pasta Dish, Appetizer, Entrée, Soup, Dessert
• Amateurs: Appetizer/Entrée, Pasta Dish and Dessert

I was told today that it’s a friendly competition, and that it’s all for fun, but I am in it to win it. Go big or go home!

Seriously, I am excited to be taking part in such a fun event. I hope to see some of you there! Let me know if you’ll be coming, and be sure to stop by and say hello if you do! I’ll share photos of the event on Tuesday.

I’d like to extend a very special thank you to the manager on duty at the Clifton Park Hannaford store yesterday. I needed to buy 40 cans of beans (as well as limes, lemons, and cilantro), and he helped me clear the shelves and was super nice about the whole thing. He even gave me a peek into the back of the store – which was fascinating in its emptiness (a story for another time). Thank you, nameless manager! I’ll make sure to figure out your name and thank you personally next time I’m in the store. 

I’ve been a little under the weather for the past week; last Friday, I underwent septoplasty surgery to correct a “grossly deviated” septum. My right nostril was almost 100% blocked, which means I haven’t been able to breathe properly since I don’t know when. Truthfully, I don’t know when – I have no clue when my septum took a sharp right turn. My guess is that it stems from facial trauma I suffered during a car accident in 2001, when my car was totaled and my airbags deployed. But why didn’t I notice a problem then? Again, I can only venture a guess here, but my thinking is that I didn’t notice any problems with breathing through my nose until a few years ago, when I moved in with my husband and was introduced to his hairy demon from hell cat. I am, apparently, allergic to long-haired cats, and the allergies made my poor respiration that much more noticeable and frustrating.

Anyway, since the procedure, I’ve been suffering from mild pain, swelling, congestion, and general malaise. It took five days and an entire bottle of Extra-Strength Tylenol for me to feel even remotely human again. It was awful. I’m not even allowed to blow my nose! But probably the worst part of this ordeal was the fact that I had lost my senses of smell and taste due to the considerable swelling of my nasal tissue (No joke. For a while there my nose was looking like Shrek’s). I’d been restricted to a “soft foods” diet, which really didn’t bother me too much because I couldn’t smell or taste anything anyway. In fact, the removal of my two favorite senses made me completely disinterested in food (!!) – so much so that I really wasn’t eating much. I actually lost 5 pounds in the past week because food just seemed like such a waste of time and effort. I was hungry, but hunger pains weren’t enough to entice me to merely ingest calories. Food without taste is just stupid.

Yesterday I felt pretty good – no pain, and I even ventured out of the house for a bit to do some desperately-needed clothes shopping. And today was even better: I had a late afternoon appointment to remove the splints that were inserted into my nose. After an uncomfortable few minutes (imagine someone rooting around inside your nostrils with a giant pair of metal tweezers and a penlight and extracting two Star Wars action figures holding fully extended light sabers, followed by strong suction to whisk away compacted mucus), I experienced something I haven’t experienced in more than four years: full breaths passing through clear nasal passages. It was a minor miracle. My doctor cautioned that my bliss would be temporarily short-lived, however; the congestion would return after about 10-12 hours, followed by another week of slight congestion, after which I should be back to normal. Well, better than normal: actually able to breathe fully through both nostrils. But I still can’t blow my nose for another week or so.

The best part of today: my senses of smell and taste made a reappearance. Not 100% restored, but enough for me to feel like eating and drinking some stuff, just to take my senses for a spin during my window of opportunity. Luckily for me, today was the Downtown Schenectady Merchant Mashup, a neat little event where downtown Schenectady restaurants set up inside downtown retailers for the evening and offer free samples of their menu items. There were eleven restaurant/retail pairings throughout downtown, and I wanted to visit as many as I could in the hour I had to enjoy it. The weather was gorgeous, and the event was really fun, even if I was by myself.  My little trip is documented after the jump.

Welcome to Jay Street!

• Taj Mahal Restaurant @ Zaria & Bella’s: Chicken Tandoori (Chicken marinated in a variety of Indian spices) and Masala Vada (Vegetarian crispy snack made of lentils/spinach and spices). The tandoori was perfect: bright pink/red, cooked until it was juicy and falling off the bone, and with enough spice to make my tongue tingle. The flavor of the masala vada was good, but it suffered temperature and crispness problems from sitting out in a hotel pan for too long. Taj Mahal is a great Indian restaurant, and a favorite among downtown workers looking for a cheap, delicious lunch. I must apologize to the proprietors of Zaria & Bella’s – I never made it inside.
• Tara Kitchen @ New York Folklore Society: Roasted Eggplant and Garlic Dip; Grilled Ground Chicken Kebab with Pomegranate Seeds.  Probably my favorite stop of the evening. I am a huge fan of Tara Kitchen, and I’m thrilled that their little Moroccan restaurant is doing so well since its opening a few months back. Moroccan food is a vivid mosaic of savory, sweet, and spicy flavors, keeping your mouth guessing as to what’s coming up next. The chicken kebab were flavorful (if a tad dry), but Tara Kitchen really hit one out of the park with the eggplant dip. Creamy, spicy, salty. I didn’t detect any pomegranate seeds, but I didn’t really realize that until later.  If you’re interested in checking out this new Schenectady treasure, I’d do it sooner rather than later: they got a great review in the recent issue of Metroland, and people will be crowding the few tables there for the foreseeable future.
• Cafe NOLA @ The Open Door Bookstore: Crawfish Jambalaya – crawfish tail meat and andouille sausage blended with fresh herbs, spices and rice. Pretty good, with a nice kick. I haven’t had crawfish since my high school trip to N’awlins back in ’86.
• Cornell’s Restaurant @ Patricia’s Room: Utica greens (sauteed spinach with garlic and onions, cherry peppers, cappicola), and vegetarian ratatouille (summer squash and zucchini simmered with tomato sauce). I had never had Utica greens before today, and now I’m sorry I’ve wasted so much time. They were fantastic! Nicely spicy, but not overpowering the earthy spinach flavor. I am a convert. The ratatouille was good; not great, just good.
• Bastardo’s Bistro @ From Here to Antiquity: Entrée with layers of chicken parmesan, eggplant parmesan and roasted peppers. Bastardo’s is a recent addition to Schenectady’s Little Italy section (such as it is), opening about six months ago. Their menu looks like pretty standard red-sauce Italian fare, moderately priced. The sample they served me was really tasty, and there’s a pretty good chance I’ll be heading there for lunch one of these days.
• Manhattan Exchange @ Downtown Designs – Turkey Club Wrap. Neat little shop, so-so sandwich.
• Apostrophe Café @ Anthology Studio: Homemade brownies, coffee samples. Not a whole lot of effort shown here by Apostrophe, but Anthology Studio is a beautiful space and their flowers are spectacular.

Places I didn’t hit:

• The Alto Grille @ Bliss Gifts and Home Decor: Strawberry Banana Fruit Smoothies
• Pinhead Susan’s @ The Katbird Shop: Irish Stew
• Katie O’Byrne’s @ Lennon’s Irish Shop: Guinness Irish Stew (really? two places serving Irish stew?)
• Moon & River Café @ Orenda Yoga & Healing Arts: Basmati Rice Pilaf, special iced tea blend

The event was pretty great; it was so nice to see downtown Schenectady filled with people on a beautiful Friday evening. There was delicious food, live music, booming business, and a festive atmosphere – everything the event planners were hoping for. Congratulations to the folks at Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation for a job well done. I took a bunch of photos; they’re in the gallery below.

If you missed tonight’s festivities, you’ll have another shot in August: the DSIC is planning another Merchant Mashup for the third Friday in August. You can get updates about it, and other downtown events, by checking out their website, www.downtownschenectady.org.

Me? I’m just happy to be on the upswing of recovery. I’ve got a ticket to tomorrow night’s Urban Roots local food/beer event at Brown’s Brewing in Troy, and I am excited to have use of my senses again in time to enjoy it.

I think hummus is probably my favorite food; I make some version of it just about every week, and not a drop of it goes to waste.

You know how to eat it, right? I don’t need to tell you, do I? You’ll be tempted to rub it on yourself, but frankly, what you do in your kitchen is your own business.

First, I’ll give you my most recent favorite hummus recipe, which is a Mexican take on the Mediterranean classic.

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Black Bean Hummus

• ½ cup (or more) chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons sesame tahini
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (or chili powder)
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1-2 garlic clove(s), peeled
• ½ small jalapeño pepper, seeded

Place cilantro, tahini, and next 8 ingredients (through jalapeño) in a food processor; process until smooth.

Seriously, that’s it. 

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If you’re more of a traditionalist, you can try my other stupid-simple recipe for a more classic version:

Classic Hummus

• 3 tablespoons sesame tahini
• 2-3 tablespoons water
• Juice of one lemon
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt & black pepper to taste
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1-2 garlic clove(s), peeled

Pro-Tip #1: Buy a 1-lb bag of dried white beans. Pick over and rinse 1/2 of the bag. Put in a crockpot, and cover with cold water until the water is about 2 inches above the beans. Cook on low overnight. In the morning you will have perfectly cooked beans! Drain, rinse, and make hummus! Cost: about 75 cents for the beans, plus maybe $1.00 worth of other ingredients. Plus, you still have beans left over for the next time.

Pro-Tip #2: For smoother hummus, use warm beans. A quick spin the microwave is all that you need to warm them up.

Pro-Tip #3: Sesame tahini can be found in either the ethnic food aisle, or near the peanut butter. My preferred brand is Sadaf, but Joyva makes a nice (and nuttier) version.

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Want to sample these recipes, served to you by yours truly? Then you need to get yourself over to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Schenectady’s “A Taste of the Capital Region” fundraiser on Monday, April 23 from 6-8pm at the Rotterdam Clubhouse on Curry Road. I’ll be there, along with dozens of other amateur and professional chefs, cooking up tasty dishes and helping one of the greatest organizations in the Capital Region.

I’ll be preparing “Black & White Hummus Duo”, which is a bit of each of the hummus recipes above, along with some pita chips and veggies (and maybe a surprise). Tickets are $50 per person, which includes unlimited food tastings, as well as beer, wine, and soft drinks. And proceeds benefit youth development programs for more than 9,000 school age children at twelve sites and extensions throughout Schenectady County.

From the Boys & Girls Clubs website:

A Taste of the Capital Region is a relaxed evening of great food and live musical entertainment. With a wide array of appetizers, entrees, desserts, delicious wines and specialty beers, the event will have something for everyone!

Can’t go wrong there. Click here to buy tickets!

I was literally sick after sampling a dozen cupcakes on Saturday, as part of the Great Albany Cupcake Tasting. Some of them really were sickening, as it turns out.

Daniel B. planned this tasting event, as a way of finally deciding once and for all which cupcakery can claim dominance over the others in the Albany market. The bakeries selected to be part of the tasting were selected from the four most recognizable names in the Albany cupcake scene – the ones with the cupcake trucks. The bakeries: Bettie’s Cakes, Sweet Temptations, Coccadotts, and Fluffalicious.

I’m not going to bore you with all of the details of the tasting, but I’ll give you a rundown, and then share with you a gallery of the competition cupcakes.

• This was a blind tasting; none of us knew which cupcakes belonged to which bakeries (though some of us had out suspicions)
• The bakeries had no idea they were going to be part of the tasting; orders were placed earlier in the week, and picked up on Saturday morning. Everyone invited to the tasting was sworn to secrecy so that none of the bakeries would be tipped off.
• We all paid for the cupcakes we ate and the milk we drank; nothing was given to us for free.
• We tasted cupcakes from the four bakeries in three categories – Round 1 was vanilla cake/vanilla buttercream; Round 2 was chocolate cake; chocolate buttercream; Round 3 was Specialty Cupcake: Peanut Butter Cup. We judged on cake, topping/frosting, and overall appeal.
• The flavors were chosen as a way to see if the bakery can handle the basics (Rounds 1 and 2), and also to see how they do with a fancier local favorite (Round 3).
• Each Round had a winner, and then gave each bakery a ranking (1-4) in cake, topping, and overall.
• There was a very clear winner (Bakery A), and 2 very clear losers (Bakeries B and C). The losers were both pretty bad, and seemed to be only marginally separated score-wise. The fourth (Bakery D) was not very good, but better than the bottom 2, and not nearly as good as the winner. I’ll let Daniel reveal the names of the winners and losers.
• It’s pretty safe to say that I am done – DONE – with cupcakes (and cake) for a good long while. I was sooooo sick on Saturday afternoon from all the sugar.

It was brilliant of Daniel to keep this tasting a secret; we panelists were able to sample the cupcakes that they were offering for sale to average customers. I know bakeries are capable of putting out high-quality products, if they know they’ll be judged. We got to see some of the normal products that anyone walking in off the street could buy on a typical Saturday morning. And it was not pretty.

I was actually quite appalled at what a couple of the bakeries let out the doors. Really, they should be ashamed to give them away, let alone charge $3 or $4 per cupcake. I ate vanilla buttercream that tasted like black pepper, buttercream that tasted like it had gone bad, and buttercream that was crusty and hard. I ate cake that had obviously been sitting out for days. Cake that was obviously stale. Cake that was overcooked and tough. There is NO EXCUSE for this. None. Except laziness and complacency, and those are terrible excuses.  You bakery owners better stop resting on your laurels and start making some quality products, if you plan on staying in business much longer. Cupcakes will always have a place in bakeries, but I can assure you that the cupcake trend will go away someday (soon, I hope), and you won’t be able to get away with peddling inferior products just because they’re trendy.

The best part of the day? Getting to meet and taste with such notable folks as DerryX, Val & Drew, and others. I’m sorry I didn’t get to mingle around more; though I did get to chat with AOA Greg, too, which was great.

You can get the full tabulation of scores and the winners over at All Over Albany when it’s posted; I’ll link over there as soon as I get word that the scores are up.

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The official tally is live, but I’ll give you the short story, for the record:

• Bakery A – Fluffalicious (WINNER)
• Bakery B – Sweet Temptations (LOSER)
• Bakery C – Bettie’s Cakes (3rd Place)
• Bakery D – Coccadotts (2nd Place)

Food will be prepared and served by students and faculty in SCCC’s School of Hotel, Culinary Arts and Tourism. The menu will feature hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, salad, pasta, carving stations and a “make your own sundae” station.

Entertainment will be provided by Al Santoro and Friends; there will be a silent auction and a cash bar will be available.  New York State Assemblyman James Tedisco will serve as Honorary Chairman of the event.

Tickets are $50 per person, and proceeds from the dinner will benefit victims of Hurricane Irene in Schoharie, Schenectady, Greene and Montgomery Counties.

Guests are asked to RSVP in advance to one of the following Storm Aid officers: Janice Thompson, Founder/President, 518-372-0035; Diane DeMeo, Vice President, 518-372-0642; Cheryl James, Treasurer, 518-895-2468.

For more information about the dinner, please contact Janice Thompson.

For the seriously bargain price of $50.00 per person, guests will be treated to local foods grown and made by Schenectady Greenmarket vendors and prepared by SCCC faculty and students in the Hotel, Culinary Arts & Tourism department.

The menu has not yet been finalized, but among other things, Chef Christopher Tanner (SCCC instructor and Certified Executive Chef) has promised a delectable-sounding Charcuterie Station:

• Vegetable terrine and rillettes
• Charcuterie Trio – Porchetta di testa with fines herbes salad; Black Forest Ham; Herbes de Provence-infused Chicken Galantine
• Smoked salmon and Russian gravlax

The Details:

Local Harvest Dinner

Thursday, November 17

Reception 5:30pm; Dinner 6:30pm

Van Curler Room, Elston Hall, Schenectady County Community College

A Reminder:

Schenectady Greenmarket is open Sundays from 10:00am-2:00pm. The market will be outdoors (around City Hall) until October 30; it moves inside Proctors (432 State Street) beginning November 6.

Schenectady Greenmarket Links: Follow on Twitter. Subscribe on Facebook.

The Dominican Retreat & Conference Center will be presenting “Sundaes on Sunday” on August 14, which includes  free ice cream sundaes, contemporary & traditional Christian music with the Dominican Retreat Center Choir, and a tour of the center.

The event will take place from 1:00pm-4:00pm; concerts by the choir will take place at 1:00pm and 2:30pm.  The Dominican Retreat & Conference Center is located at 1945 Union Street (Troy – Schenectady Rd.) in Niskayuna.  The event is free and open to the public. Further information is available by calling 518-393-4169 or at www.dlcny.org.

Some historic notes: the Dominican center is a neat little place, which has an historic windmill on its grounds.  The windmill was once part of the Clark Witbeck estate, and was used to pump water into the house. The windmill still exists on the property, but the mansion was torn down in 1972.  The windmill is now used as private lodging for individual retreats.

Clark Witbeck was a Schenectady businessman, founder of  the Clark Witbeck Company, which sold wholesale hardware. There’s a building in Schenectady named after him, which even contains a faded (and partially painted over) building advertisement. Here’s what it looked like originally. The building was once the Daily Gazette press building, and now houses the Edison Tech Center.

I don’t remember doing it, but I even once took a picture of Witbeck’s mausoleum in Vale Cemetery!

Photo (postcard) circa 1910. The postcard reads, "One of Schenectady's Fine Residences"

The windmill as it looks today

Classe’s chef Jeremy Kane was our guide through a menu of traditional bbq items that they’ll be offering to catering clients who are looking for something casual yet upscale, but perhaps not as upscale as their regular white-glove catering services. I am certainly no barbecue expert, nor do I even pretend to be.  I was glad to be seated across from The Profussor, so I could ask him what was what. I offer my humble review of Big KaHoona BBQ (caption text taken from menu provided by Classé):

"CERTIFIED ANGUS BEEF BRISKET, Seasoned with our signature rub and slow smoked for 12 hours"

BRISKET: Nicely trimmed of fat, and was moist and tender. Not quite tender enough to cut with a fork (should it be? I don’t know), but not at all tough. It was smoked for 7 hours, which gave it a rich and…well, smoky flavor that I really enjoyed.  The lengthy 24-hour brine gave the meat a terrific juiciness.  What I learned: not everyone loves their brisket trimmed as much as this one was. Some prefer a thick layer of fat, melting into and flavoring the meat. Not me. I’m always on a diet, so the less fat the better in my opinion.

PULLED PORK: seasoned with our signature rub, smoked for 24 hours and tossed with a chipotle bbq sauce and served on a warm buttermilk biscuit. COLESLAW: hand shredded and tossed with caraway, vinegar and sugar

PULLED PORK and COLESLAW: Two barbecue items that can be my absolute favorite things. This coleslaw was definitely done well – not overly dressed in mayonnaise, with a nice tang from the cider vinegar. I thought the addition of a sprinkle of caraway seeds was brilliant – absolutely the right flavor.  The pulled pork was very good, but very unlike other pulled pork sandwiches I’ve had around here. Much of the time, the pork is swimming in a gloopy, cloyingly sweet barbecue sauce, and served on a squishy soggy bun. Not this one. The meat was dressed lightly in a sharp, tangy vinegar-based sauce (Carolina style) that was not sweet.  The drawback to this particular dish was the biscuit it was served on. The biscuit itself was tasty, but a bit too crumbly to stand up as a sandwich container.

BABY BACK RIBS: Brined for 24 hours, dry rubbed for 12 hours, smoked for eight hours and finished with Big KaHoona’s house-made barbecue sauce

BABY BACK RIBS: I must be honest, I did not even know what I was looking for here. I’m not really a fan of ribs, so mine is a very amateur impression. The crust on the ribs was crisp and sweet, with a hearty helping of smoke. The ribs were not fall-off-the-bone tender, but according to my sources (Daniel), they shouldn’t be. So, a point here. If you like ribs, you will probably enjoy these.

MAC AND CHEESE: Elbow noodles tossed with an extra sharp Vermont cheddar cheese sauce, “burnt ends”, Dijon laced buttery bread crumbs and baked until golden brown

MAC AND CHEESE: This offering was inspired by Chef Kane’s grandmother’s recipe.  I love me some mac and cheese. And there was much about this version to love: it was filled with traditional and comforting elbow macaroni, topped with crispy buttered breadcrumbs, and studded throughout with smoky burnt ends of brisket. The thing that was missing was cheese – there just wasn’t enough.  They didn’t miss the mark by a lot, but the addition of a few more handfuls of Vermont cheddar would have sent this dish over the top.

COLLARD GREENS Stewed with ham hocks, onion and vinegar

COLLARD GREENS: I tried collard greens for the first time a couple years ago at the legendary Hattie’s in Saratoga Springs. I was immediately entranced by their earthy green-ness, which was offset by a smoky spiciness, which I guessed was from nutmeg.  I saw Chef Jasper walking by, and asked him what he put in the collards. He said nothing. I’m pretty sure he was lying, because I have yet to find collard greens as good as Jasper’s.  Chef Kane’s are pretty good, though. They’re a bit on the crunchy side, which is great – mushy greens are awful. These were seasoned sparingly, taking most of their flavor from a ham hock and some cider vinegar. The real flavor of the greens shone through. I could eat a whole plate of these.

JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN: Marinated in island spices, grilled over charcoal and glazed with a light mango barbecue sauce

JAMAICAN JERK CHICKEN: It was good chicken, but it wasn’t jerk-y enough. The meat was cooked perfectly, with a nice juiciness.  But I was hoping for a more aggressive spice – jerk spices are best when they’re right in your face, letting you know what you’re missing because you’re here and Jamaica is all the way down there, with people having fun and drinking Red Stripe without you.  This chicken lacked that punch, and also lacked a crispy, almost-burnt skin that you come to expect from a grill.  Chef acknowledged that he was also disappointed in the soggy skin, and noted that it won’t be the case in the future.

Also on the menu:

BAKED BEANS: Just ok. Pretty standard, barbecue sauce with some bacon pieces.

SKILLET CORNBREAD: The menu promised jalapenos, but I didn’t taste any in there. Which is fine. The crumb was dense and moist, and it was not overly sweet. Delicious.

SAUCES: Four varieties – House Barbecue, Peach Jalapeno, Chipotle Mango, and Dr. Pepper Barbecue, all made in-house from scratch. The only one that I didn’t really care for was the Chipotle Mango. I thought the consistency was too thick, and there wasn’t enough chipotle flavor. The other sauces were fantastic, but the Dr. Pepper sauce really won the day. Everyone was raving. Chef Kane told us that the recipe was created by his teenage nephew, who convinced his uncle and Classé Catering to bottle it for him. They plan to start selling it soon at the Troy Farmers Market.

Chef Kane was incredibly gracious, accepting our compliments and discussing our criticisms with both professionalism and candor.  It was nice to know that he was really listening, and taking our comments seriously.  I got the sense that he really has a desire to do the very best he can to create delicious food.

I would have no problem recommending Big KaHoona BBQ to anyone looking to have a terrific barbecue, for any type of event.  Many thanks to the accomodating and helpful team at Classé Catering for opening their doors to me and my fellow bloggers!

We should do this again soon.  How’s next week?