Chantilly Cream, Vatel and the Bilderberg Group

One of the delights of French cuisine is Chantilly Cream. And while treasured by chefs everywhere for its unique sweetness, few in the Industry know its amazing history.

The story of how Chantilly Cream was created centers around Francois Vatel, who lived during the 17^th century in France, but of course. Many sites refer to Vatel as a chef but he was instead a “Master of the Kitchen”. In this position he was responsible for designing and implementing the vast culinary display dinners that were the hallmark of power and influence during the era of Louis XIV.

As a result, he was the creative director of all the talents within the kitchen as well as the final evaluator of all ingredients used.  As you might imagine, a man with such an array of talents was greatly sought after by the rich and wealthy.

The winner employer was the Grand Prince de Condé, who had been impressed by Vatel's skills and pleased by the cream he had created and named after the Prince's home estate, Chantilly.  

In 1671 the Prince announced to Vatel that Louis XIV, the Sun King himself, along with an entourage of 2,000 would soon be visiting the Prince’s estate and must be entertained in a style worthy of Europe's most elegant monarch.

Vatel, who was the son of lowly a Swiss carpenter, saw this as an opportunity to display what talent, not rank, could achieve. For the first evening of the King’s arrival on April 23, a light supper of turtle soup, creamed chicken, fried trout and roasted pheasant was planned.

The evening feast was set in a garden especially crafted to resemble paradise on a tropical isle.  But to Vatel’s shock, the thoughtless King arrived with an additional 75 unexpected guests. (What chef would not understand his anger at such a sudden expansion of the guest count?)

The next day a final evening feast of Sole Almondine, Anchovies Sevigne, Melon with Parma Ham, Lobster Quenelles with Shrimp Sauce, Leg of Lamb, Vatel Duck Saluted in Madeira Wine and Strawberry Bombes was to be served.

When the correct amount of sole did not arrive by late afternoon, Vatel committed suicide in his rooms. Just after he was found, the delayed sole arrived and the feast was served, but without the sole to honor the passing of this legendary “Master of the Kitchen”.

So think kindly of Chantilly Cream and remember Vatel, who never served less than the best.

Post Note, May 30, 2012: Sometimes it seems that history repeats irself. Beginning June 5-8, the elite Bilderberg Group, which like Louis XIV often seems to influence world affairs, will be meeting at the Marriott Westfields Hotel in Chantilly, yes Chantilly, Virginia. One can only wonder if any of Vatel's amazing culinary creations will be on the meal there for the world's elite. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

Spanish Food and Wine Connects to the Future with iPavement Tiles

The first decade of a new century is the perfect time to launch change and embrace the future. And no European city has done that better than historic Madrid, Spain’s classic and captivating capital. 

Working with the members’ of ASEPI, which include the best of the best among Spain’s universities, manufacturers, computer experts and skilled installers, the very new iPavement tiles have been laid in Madrid’s main square, la Puerta del Sol.

Each digital tile enables those in the Square to connect with the Internet and receive information about hotels, restaurants and culinary events in Madrid and beyond. Now in place, this new technology has brought this historic Square forward into a future where the cities of tomorrow will become dynamic digital habitats, not merely residential domains.

The ancient Romans who came to Spain in 214BC (and fell in love with the country as so many have) understood that roads were really about commerce.

Without smooth stone roads, Roman wagons full of goods could not move. Trade stopped.

Today the Internet is the new road of commerce. The insightful members of the ASEPI consortium understand that fact and so have laid new stones, using the innovative iPavement, to create a pathway to the future that can, for those with imagination, includes us all.

These amazing ‘stones of the future’ enable hotels and restaurants to move beyond traditional marketing beginning now. Their application points are nearly endless. 

The ancient Romans, who so loved Spain’s wine and cuisine, would have died to have such stones! Aren’t we lucky to be in the 21^st century!  

 (City of Art and Science - Valencia, Spain) 

 Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

You Can’t Have a Derby Day Horse Racing Party without Great Food and Cocktails

Soon it will be time for the running of the Kentucky Derby where fine food and memorable drinks (not to mention unforgettable hats) will mix with the thunder of some of the world’s  greatest racing horses.

In Louisville the most popular drink on Saturday’s Derby Day will be the Mint Julep. You simply can’t do Derby Day without one:

Mint Julep

Yield: 1 (12 ounce) cocktail
Preparation time: 10 minutes. Start mixing at least by 4:30 for 5:00 post time. 

Ingredients

• 8 to 10 mint leaves
• 1 sprig of mint for garnish
• 1 tablespoon of sugar, more or less to taste
• 1 1/2 ounce clean fresh Kentucky spring water
• 3 ounces premium Bourbon (try Woodford Reserve) 
• Crushed ice

 Directions

Rinse the mint but don’t dry.

Put the leaves in a 12 ounce cocktail glass & pour the sugar on top.

Muddle them together with a muddler or the handle of a wooden spoon.

When the leaves & wet sugar begin to turn to a mushy paste, add the water & the bourbon

Stir with a fork until the sugar dissolves.

Top with crushed ice, garnish with the sprig of mint.

Serve, if possible, in a silver tumbler.

Now that you have a drink in hand, it’s time to add a food to the fun as legendary as your drink – Hot Browns from, but of course, the Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky by Chef Fred K. Schmidt in 1926. It is a creative variation of the traditional brunch classic the Welsh rarebit. Your guests will love it:

Derby Hot Browns

Yield: 35 appetizers

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1⁄8 tsp. white pepper
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup sherry or additional chicken broth
• 1⁄3 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
• 35 slices snack pumpernickel bread, toasted
• 1 1/2 lbs. sliced cooked turkey
• 4 medium tomatoes, halved and sliced
• 12 cooked bacon strips, crumbled

Directions

In a large saucepan, melt butter over low heat.

Stir in flour, salt & pepper until smooth; gradually add the milk, broth & sherry.

Bring to a boil; cook & stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.

Stir in the cheddar cheese & 1⁄3 cup Parmesan until cheese is melted.

Remove from the heat.

Place toast slices on a baking sheet.

Top each with turkey, sauce mixture, tomatoes and bacon.

Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan.

Broil 3-4 in. from the heat for 3-4 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Have fun with both and may the best horse win!

Post Note: If you want to expand your celebration to include all the cuisine made famous at the two other racces that complete the Triple Crown in racing, be sure to enjoy:

From the Preakness Stakes Race in Baltimore, Maryland - The Black Eyed Susan Cocktail (named after the state flower) and Preakness Crab Cakes.

From the Belmont Park Race in Elmont, New York - The Belmont Breeze Cocktail (just watch those horses wizz by) and Manhattan Clam Chowder

Post Note, April 5, 2012: “I’ll Have Another”, the horse purchased for a mere $11,000, just beat the other million dollar horses in this year’s Running of the Roses, i.e., the Kentucky Derby.

Ridden by an almost unknown jockey, “I’ll Have Another” bided his time in the middle of the pack and then blazed past the leaders in the final furlong to win to the roar of thousands.

It was an amazing feat – one not equaled in any of the 138 runnings of the race of race. So, if your day is hard, prepare yourself one of these famous racing cocktails and then raise your glass to toast the little horse that came from behind and remember we can all do the same. Have a great day!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

Why You Should Celebrate the Real Cinco de Mayo Holiday

Many Americans are surprised when they learn that a beloved U.S. holiday, the Cinco de Mayo, is rarely celebrated in Mexico.

This can be a startling awareness as this fifth of May holiday is linked, in a somewhat confusing manner, to two separate events in Mexican history.

First off, the Cinco de Mayo holiday does NOT celebrate Mexico's independence from Spain.  That event occurs on the sixteenth of September when the nation remembers Father Miguel Hidalgo who bravely rang his church bell and asked his fellow townspeople to claim their freedom from colonial control. His courage sparked the revolution that finally set Mexico free in 1821.

The beloved American Cinco de Mayo holiday honors a different event where Mexico once again for her independence from foreign powers. And herein lays an amazing tale of commerce, history, beach songs and creative marketing.

After Spain lost her hold on Mexico in 1821, many other European powers sought to replace her and control the rich resources of the nation, especially France.

This was supported by many of Mexico’s great landowners, who holding vast colonial land grants, feared change under the new constitution.

As the powers that be struggled to form a new and more just Mexico, France’s Napoleon III approached a young (and recently unemployed) Austrian Archduke Maximilian and his beautiful (and very talented) wife Carlota, asking if they would like to be the emperor and empress of Mexico.

There was only one big problem – no one asked the people of Mexico if they wanted an emperor and empress instead of elected officials. When the imposed, though naïve, new rulers arrived on Mexican soil with a supporting army, Mexican troops defended them initially in the Battle of Puebla on, you guessed it, May 5, 1862.

But France was determined that their expansive new foreign would be a success, including within it the southern American states when the Confederacy hopefully won the Civil War then raging to the north. To protect their plans, vast new numbers of French were sent to occupy Mexico.

The young Maximilian and his lovely wife believed they could bring enlightenment to Mexico and begin to issue rulings that angered their hard line conservative supporters who thought they would return colonial benefits, not overturn them.

Without their support, Napoleon III saw his dreams of an empire in the New World evaporating and quietly withdrew his supportive troops. The result was Maximilian was executed and beautiful Carlota went mad.

Mexico returned to its internal struggle for freedom and let the years of French occupation fade into history.

Sadly, freedom does not come easy for any nation whether it is America in the 1700s or Egypt today. There are always those who seek to take advantage of the disorder that change creates.  One such individual in Mexican history was Porfirio Diaz, who had fought as a young general at the Battle of Pueblo against the French.

He levered his battlefield fame into a dictatorship that lasted from 1876 to 1911which provided some internal stability but limited political freedoms. Finally when the people could stand the oppression no longer, they rose up in a rebellion against the priviledged and favored that lasted for 10 bloody years.

Because of the violence, many Mexicans immigrated to the United States, especially California. In seeking to express their heritage in a new country that had previously largely ignored its own internal hispanic legacy, they searched for an appropriate holiday. 

As they had left Mexico while she was still fighting for freedom against the entitled and endowed, they could hardly select the 16^th of September as a day of celebration.  Sp why not celebrate the Cinco de Mayo instead?

And so a California ethnic holiday was created, but not a national one. That would only occur in the 1980s when the Mexican beer company Corona began exporting beer to the U.S. in 1979.

At first the product was not successful but after conducting  marketing focus groups with male college students, they changed their image to embrace the Cinco de Mayo date as a day of fun, not the memory of a battle.

They supported this theme to include tropical Mexican beaches as captured in the songs of their new spokesperson, Jimmy Buffett of “Margaritaville” fame.

And the rest, as they say, is history – an American holiday with a history as rich and varied as the population of America. Hopefully this Cinco de Mayo this wealth of diversity, in both people and cuisine, will be remembered and honored by all as a treasure and never a libility. 

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012

White House Correspondents Dinner Features a Menu of Hope and Humor

Each year on the last Saturday in April, the President of the United States hosts the leading members of the American press corps and other select guests to the White House Correspondents Dinner at the Washington Hilton Hotel. 

This year’s event was a memorable gathering that offered a menu of outstanding cuisine, belief in the future and insightful humor.

The very busy chefs in the Washington Hilton’s kitchens delighted the over 3,000 guests attending with the following menu:

Salad 

Black Lentil Terrine with Lump Crabmeat
Tango Green and Red Artisan Greens
Red and Yellow Tear Drop Tomatoes
Dill Vinaigrette

Entrée
Texas Rubbed Petite Filet with a Calvados Demi
paired with Duo of Jumbo Shrimp seasoned with Red Curry
Roasted Haricot Verts, Baby Pepper, Patty Pan Squash
Tasso Mache Choux Risotto

Dessert
The Galaxy -- Rich Chocolate Truffle Mousse
layered with Chocolate Genoise and Almond Macaroon
and a Ganache Truffle Center with chocolate glaze
garnished with fresh raspberries

Wines - Estancia Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon

Michelle Obama, the nation’s elegant first lady, worn a floral gown by the Indian born American designer Naeem Khan. As always she charmed and put at ease all that she met.

But the true stars of the evening were Barack Obama and political humor.  For those who questioned the appropriateness of laughter in an era that faces global unrest and fearful unemployment worldwide, it is important that since 1920, when the first dinner was hosted, humor has always been an invaluable tool to de-stress and remember through the laughter what is truly important.

Should Obama be re-elected, his second term will be his last as dictated by the American constitution.  As a result, the President sought through humor to ask his audience to reach to the future.

After the dinner on Monday morning, the Democratic campaign team released their first major video ad listing, yes, the accomplishments of the President’s first four years but also setting a “FORWARD” theme for the next four years.

“Forward” is a wise choice as change and innovation requires motion as any member of the hospitality industry knows. That forward motion must include everyone, not just a few  - be they single departments or selected social groups. No hotel or restaurant is successful only in part and neither is any nation.

Together is better and that’s no joke!

Your Culinary World copyright Ana Kinkaid/Peter Schlagel 2012