Toasts & Roasts

 fig. a:  holidaze 2013

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

1.  The holiday season is upon us.

2.  Good God, there's nothing like a perfectly seasoned, perfectly rosé slab of roast beef--preferably one that's then sliced extra-thin, and served with horseradish.*

Okay.  Yes, the holidays are here.  And that means it was time for our annual "...an endless banquet" Christmas spectacular.

 fig. b:  all aboard!

But, the thing is, sometimes LIFE confronts you with an unexpected storm, and, suddenly, you have to chart a new course.

That's kind of what happened this year.  Everything's fine now, there's no need to worry, but something came up that forced us to make a last-minute adjustment.  What it meant was that the Christmas spectacular didn't actually take place at our place this year.  Consequently, we toned things down a bit, scaled things back, and got "back to the basics."

The holiday bash that resulted might not have been quite as wide open as it had been in the past, it might not have been quite as extravagant, but it was still pretty spectacular, and it was much more of a collaborative effort--and all the better for it.  For all these things, we owe our undying gratitude to our hostess.  (TY, RD!)  Such a lovely apartment, such a wonderful atmosphere, such a great time!!

 fig. c:  S.S. Shamrock!

Originally, we'd come up with this vague Lake Champlain "holiday steamship" theme.  The "point of departure" was meant to be our apartment.  I guess we ended up docking just a little ways up the coast.  And we exchanged the S.S. Champlain for the S.S. Shamrock.

Did I mention that there was a pretty significant snowstorm the day of the party?  No big deal.  We're Montrealers, we know how to deal with such situations.

Anyway, "back to basics" meant simpler preparations.  It also meant fewer last-minute preparations.  But it was still pretty plentiful.  The spread:

 fig. d:  rye!

1 spiral-cut, cob-smoked, maple-glazed Vermont ham with mostarda cherries
1 roast beef with horseradish
nordic shrimp salad
smoked trout & smoked sturgeon platter with cream cheese
crudités & herb dip
baked artichoke dip & corn chips
cheese platter (featuring 1 Jasper Hill Moses Sleeper + 1 Shelburne Farms cloth-bound cheddar)
freshly baked Danish rye & corn rye loaves 

Spanish clementines
gingerbread cookies
festive fudge 

AEB rum punch
aged egg nog

 fig. e:  fudge!

And, yes, getting back to that point #2:  a perfectly executed roast beef is a thing of beauty.  It also seemed like just the kind of thing that would have been served in the dining room of an elegant steamship back in the day.

We discovered a method for a simple roast beef that we really love--and that's proven to be foolproof--earlier this year in the pages of The New York Times.  The recipe accompanied an article on Louisville's enigmatic Henry Bain sauce.  Though the sauce was designed to be served as a condiment with everything from steaks to game, it's a stone-cold natural with roast beef.  In fact, Sam Sifton claimed that this may be the sauce's "highest use" in his article, so he turned to Tyler Kord, the sandwich master at New York's No. 7 Sub, for a killer roast beef recipe to go along with his recipe for Henry Bain.  And that's exactly what he got.  I liked the recipe for Henry Bain--it was definitely unlike anything I'd ever tasted before, and, it's true, it made for a tasty accompaniment--but I absolutely loved the recipe for that roast beef.

As many of your probably know already, getting perfect results with roast beef can be a little tricky.  Nobody likes a roast that's extremely undercooked, and overcooking a roast is all too easy.  This recipe relies primarily on ambient heat to gently warm the roast all the way to its centre, resulting in that ideal rosy hue, not to mention an extremely savoury crust, optimal juiciness, and some outrageous pan juices.

I've been impressed with Kord's recipe since the first time I tried it, but recently I made an adjustment to it that's even more to my liking:  I added ground caraway seeds to its spicy-garlicky rub, giving it a finish that was very much in tune with the nordic characteristics of our Christmas party spread.

Off-Oven Roast Beef  

1 beef roast, like top, eye or bottom round, approximately 3 lbs
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tbsp freshly ground caraway seeds
3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tbsp olive oil
red pepper flakes to taste

prepared horseradish or horseradish cream

Remove the roast from the refrigerator.  

 fig. f:  raw!

In a small bowl, mix together the salt, pepper, caraway seeds, garlic, olive oil and red pepper flakes to create a paste.  Rub this all over the roast.  

 fig. g:  rubbed!

Place the roast in a cast-iron skillet or roasting pan, fat side up, and allow the roast to come to room temperature, about 1 to 2 hours.

About 15 minutes before you want to begin roasting, preheat your oven to 500º F.

Place the roast in the oven.  Cook, undisturbed, for 5 minutes per pound.  [I tend to go a little over this recommendation:  e.g. 15 minutes for a 2.6-lb roast, and 30 minutes for 5.25-lb roast.]

Turn off the oven.  Do not open the oven door.  Leave roast to continue cooking, completely undisturbed, for two hours.

After the two hours is up, remove the roast from the oven.  Slice as thinly as possible.  

 fig. h:  roasted!

Serve with pan juices and prepared horseradish.  Or use to make whatever your preferred kind of roast beef sandwich is. 

[recipe based very closely on Tyler Kord's Off-Oven Roast Beef recipe, as featured in The New York Times, January 17, 2013] 

Just how good is this roast beef?  Well, the photos above are of the 2 3/4-lb roast we made the day after we made a 5 1/2-lb roast for our party--a 5 1/2-lb roast that completely disappeared (as tasty things often do).  You see, the next day we found ourselves still having major roast beef cravings, so I went out and picked up another roast and we whipped up another batch--this one served with roasted broccoli and a mixed greens salad.  And horseradish, of course.

The point is:  this recipe is a keeper any time of year, but it's great for the holidays.  Great for a party spread. Great for pleasing a crowd.  Great for making sandwiches.

Happy holidaze 2013!  Eat well!  Drink well!  Be well!

aj

*Actually, roast beef's a pretty lovely thing to serve with radishes à la crème, too.  In fact, the two combined would make for a pretty amazing open-faced roast beef sandwich.  Just a thought...

On the Road 3: Liquor Barn, Lynn's Paradise

Bourbon Paradise

You're probably not going to find this all that shocking, but Louisville's a mighty fine place to shop for bourbon whiskey.  It's also a great place to drink it.

Which is kind of like saying that Detroit is a great place to shop for a car.  Or drive one.  (You know that Eminem soundtrack kicks in just as soon as you turn that ignition key.)

Anyway, this is a town that prides itself as a "gateway city," as the starting point for Kentucky's rather extensive Bourbon Trail.

 fig. a:  gateway city

This is also a town that's also cultivated its very own rather extensive Urban Bourbon Trail.

But if you've never been, I want to give you a sense of just how fine the bourbon shopping is.

1.  There's no shortage of liquor stores.

2.  The liquor stores tend to open for business early, and they hold long hours.

3.  Even the most generic-looking places can be a wonderland for the bourbon enthusiast, in terms of selection, quality, and connoisseurship.

Take the Liquor Barn chain.  As the name suggests, these are spacious stores.  It would be nice if they were housed inside of reconditioned timber barns, but this is the 21st century, so they're generally just refashioned supermarkets/superstores, with all the charm of a Safeway, a Staples, or a Toys "R" Us, depending on the location.

But the one I visited had a selection of bourbon that was impressive, to say the least, in addition to a selection of spirits, wine, and beer that was positively ridiculous.  Just how much bourbon are we talking about?  Well, they'd taken an entire supermarket aisle (a large one) and they'd renamed it Bourbon Street.  And with good reason.  The entire length of the aisle was fully stocked with bourbon--on both sides, top to bottom.  Bourbon whiskeys of all kinds and all makes.  Some common, many rare.  Some pricey, many very reasonably priced.  Most of the staff members I encountered seemed indifferent ("Bourbon?  Yeah, just over here..."), but the store manager was as savvy as they come, and not a snob by any means.  And Bourbon Country being what it is, this manager was on very good terms with many of the nearby distilleries, like other Liquor Barn locations, he frequently hosted distillers at his store, and he regularly visited the distillers to make his very own barrel selections.  More importantly, he was happy to dispense some advice.

And I was happy to take some advice.  I walked out with a few of his barrel selections, none of which set me back more than $30-35 (and all of which were phenomenal, as it turned out), and I couldn't have been happier, especially considering it was still 9:15 a.m.

 fig. b:  the remains of the Four Roses

If you're just blowing through town on a road trip, like I was,* and you're a bourbon fan, like I am, the Liquor Barn makes for an awfully handy pit stop.

Lynn's Paradise

If you watch a lot of television, especially of the talk show/food variety, you might have encountered Lynn Winter, of Lynn's Paradise fame.  She's got a big personality and she's something of a local/Kentucky legend (among other feats, she was the one who introduced the very first espresso machine to the Bluegrass State in the 1990s [!]), so she gets her fair share of air time.  In fact, I saw her on some morning show whipping up her delirious take on Louisville's famous Hot Brown sandwich not too long ago.  Anyway, her restaurant is one of those places that's big on personality, too.

 fig. c:  Lynn's mascot

You know the kind.  The ones with the arty/retro/über-kitschy ambiance.  The ones where one of your servers might just happen to be dressed like a pirate for no apparent reason.**  Well, Lynn's Paradise is one of those restaurants.  But somehow, quite miraculously, its oversized personality doesn't detract from the experience.  Their staff may dress funny, but they're friendly, they've got a sense of humour, and they're attentive without being clingy.  But, even more importantly, Lynn's happens to be one of those places that hasn't lost sight of the food.

 fig. d:  Lynn's bacon & eggs breakfast

Sure, your breakfast setting might come complete with a wacky "old salt" mug staring right back at you, but they know how to put together a thick-sliced country bacon & eggs breakfast with cheese grits and biscuits.  In fact, they know how to do it well.  And from what I could tell, Lynn knows her way around a Hot Brown, too.

Unfortunately, I was only passing through Louisville, but what I saw, I liked, and Lynn's definitely makes for a tasty, if somewhat kooky, stop.

Liquor Barn, multiple locations across Kentucky, including several in Louisville

Lynn's Paradise Café, 984 Barret Ave., Louisville, KY, (502) 583-3447

aj

* ...which explains the car metaphor up top...

** Hell, what do I know?  He might actually be a pirate.