Cooking Corner - Give-and-Take Is on the Menu When Chefs Gather to Eat, Drink

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Give-and-Take Is on the Menu When Chefs Gather to Eat, Drink

By Peter Rowe

Defining "Cooks Confab" is like trying to scoop up a mouthful of smoked prune pork sausage with a cleaver. You can do it, but only if you are careful.

It began simply enough three years ago, when some of San Diego County's finest chefs gathered for gossip, food and drink.

"We were all cooking at each other's restaurants just for fun," said Andrew Spurgin, proprietor of Waters Fine Catering. "We were a drinking club with a cooking problem."

In short order, these sessions gained themes -- sustainable seafood one time, truffles the next -- and customers. The Confab began offering meals where, for the all-inclusive fare of $90, diners could sample the work of a dozen or more local culinary stars.

These events always feature more food than anyone could eat, and more camaraderie than anyone might expect. The cooks share a similar outlook as students of the farm-to-table school that promotes local and seasonal ingredients.

But let's proceed with caution here, as if that sausage-laden cleaver was bearing down on our tender and as-yet-unscarred lips. These great cooking pals, these fellow Confabbers? They're all rivals in a cutthroat business. You might wonder about the wisdom of gathering all these strong, opinionated competitors near so many open flames and sharp blades.

You might. They don't.

"This is exactly what I need," explained Christian Graves, executive chef at Jsix, while preparing the aforementioned smoked prune pork sausage for the most recent Confab dinner. "It's nice to get out, break the mold and be with all of these chefs who are my friends."

Chefs make friends with their colleagues in kitchens across the nation, of course, but Jeff Jackson suspects this group is unusual. Now executive chef at A.R. Valentien in The Lodge at Torrey Pines, Calif., Jackson worked in Los Angeles and Chicago, where great distance and sizable egos prevented similar fraternities from forming.

San Diego's chefs are models of humility?

"Oh, we have egos too," Jackson said with a laugh. "But it's different. When I came here (in 2002), I was immediately welcomed."

That's no shock -- Jackson's credentials, from his training at the Culinary Institute of America to his Bocuse d'Or USA award, are impeccable. Perhaps more surprising is the group's openness to suggestions from outsiders like Brandon Hernandez.

A local writer with a passion for food and beer, Hernandez noticed that the national Brewers Association sponsors an upscale beer dinner on the East Coast every spring. "But am I really going to go to Washington, D.C., for one meal?" he asked.

Instead, he contacted the Confab and proposed that its August event pair fine food with local microbrews. To Hernandez's surprise, the group swiftly agreed.

"Since San Diego is such a mecca for craft beer," noted Spurgin, "it seemed only natural."

Oh? For centuries, high-end dining seemed to enjoy an exclusive relationship with another bottled beverage. "I was brought up in a French kitchen, where you have wine with food," Jackson said. "The whole idea of beer with food, it's new to us."

To explore the possibilities, the Confab organized field trips to six local breweries: Stone, Lost Abbey, Green Flash, Ballast Point, AleSmith and Lightning.

Chefs quaffing beer? What could possibly go wrong?

Two years ago, Jim Crute opened his Lightning Brewery to another band of chefs. In less than an hour, Crute recalled, "they were all wasted. They looked at beer as something to have with shots. 'Do you have any lime in this?'"

This time, Crute's visitors were almost shockingly sober.

Jason Knibb, executive chef at La Jolla's Nine-Ten, has drunk beer before. But before visiting Lightning and other breweries, he couldn't distinguish a crisp, light-bodied lager from a malty, robust doppelbock.

"I'm here to get educated, really," he said, doubtless to Crute's relief.

The Aug. 9 event on The Stingaree's rooftop was like your typical neighborhood barbecue -- assuming, that is, your typical neighborhood is overstocked with top-notch chefs.

Knibb fashioned a jerk chicken with plantain puree and Scotch bonnet pepper jam. Diners doused this fiery dish with Green Flash's Le Freak, a Belgian-style India Pale Ale.

Olivier Bioteau, chef-owner of Farm House Cafe, served Alaskan salmon confit over pancakes made with wheat flour, beer and corn, garnished with fennel relish and harissa oil. Those cakes were moistened with a splash of Lightning's Ionizer lager.

Amy DiBiase, Roseville's chef, plopped doppelbock ice cream -- made with Ballast Point's Navigator -- onto hazelnut brown butter cake, accompanied by beer macerated cherries and candied lemon.

Patrons sampled, sipped and considered beer's proper place at the fine-dining table. "I thought it was interesting," Coronado's Teri Louden said. "Different."

"I think it was terrific," said her companion, food writer and blogger Marcie Rothman.

Peter Zien, AleSmith's brew master, agreed. "To have a group of chefs like this excited about beer -- it's fantastic."

So was the linking of Graves' sausage and Stone's Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale. The grilled meat was served with watercress, wild rice and a fork, not a cleaver.

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PORK SAUSAGE WITH PRUNES

2 pounds ground pork (80 percent ground pork, 20 percent ground fat)

1 cup chopped prunes, diced small

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 sprigs of thyme, chopped fine

2 tablespoons red wine

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 bunch minced parsley

Salt to taste

Olive oil for frying

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. With a wooden spoon, whip meat for about five minutes. This will help emulsify the fat and incorporate the herbs. Let stand in refrigerator for about 20 minutes until cold. Form into patties the size of a silver dollar. Heat enough olive oil to lightly coat bottom of a large saute pan. Fry sausage patties about 5 minutes per side till cooked thoroughly.

-- Executive Chef Christian Graves, Jsix Restaurant

Peter Rowe writes about food for The San Diego Union-Tribune.

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COPYRIGHT 2009 THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.

This news arrived on: 09/03/2009

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