As Budd’s dish gets passed around (in the end, he decided against plating each portion individually), he describes it: flatiron steak cooked sous vide and finished on the grill, topped with a chimichurri sauce. He might have done more, he says, but he ran short on time. Someone jokes that sous vide is usually her go-to method, too, when time is running short (the technique involves slow-cooking food in a water bath at the desired final temperature).
“Do you want me to help you plate?” Shannon Hruza asks her friend Jason Budd. It’s not a question you typically hear at potlucks, but this is also not your typical potluck. The 14 guests are on the fifth course of approximately a dozen; the theme is Brazilian, and already there’s been pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread), empanadas, ceviche, moqueca (a traditional fish stew made with coconut milk), and cachaca cocktails. At one end of the table is a bookcase crammed with Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home, a five-volume set of Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking, The Oxford Companion to Beer, and Food: The History of Taste, among hundreds of other volumes.
Some meals have been more successful than others. Budd hated a lot of the food at the Viking dinner, he says. “It’s just not a delicious culture.” That was the dinner where someone brought a bunch of Icelandic salt cod, which according to McEwen—who hosted—is very hard. “He brought a mallet over to my house and was smashing it in my kitchen, and I was like, maybe you should do that outside.”
After dessert they pick the next theme: everyone writes an idea on a piece of paper and puts it into a bowl, then it’s down to the luck of the draw. Amato’s idea—”Kerala, India,” which is southern Indian cuisine—will be up next. They’ve been in the Hruzas’ apartment for approximately five hours at this point, and some might hang around for at least a couple more.
Justin Behlke’s moqueca (seafood stew)
Serves 8-10
Fish stock(makes about 2 quarts)
2 lbs fish bones 2 medium onions, sliced thin 2 carrots, sliced thin 10 cilantro stems 10 parsley stems ¼ c white wine Water
Saute onions, carrots, and fish bones over medium heat until the vegetables start to become translucent and the bones start to turn white. Add cilantro and parsley stems and cook five more minutes. Add wine and allow to cook off completely before adding just enough water to cover. Simmer for ten minutes. Turn off heat and let sit for ten more minutes to allow for greater infusion of all of the aromatics. Strain and set aside.
Tomato broth
3 medium onions, sliced thin 1 medium-large bulb of fennel, sliced thin 10 cilantro stems 2 cloves of garlic, smashed 16 oz strained tomatoes 2 qt fish stock 1 qt water Salt Pepper Lime juice 14-oz can of coconut milk
Cook onions, fennel, and garlic in a small amount of oil. Add cilantro stems, tomatoes, fish stock, and water. Simmer for two hours. Remove from heat, take out the cilantro stems, and stir in the coconut milk. Place contents in blender in batches and puree. Pass the broth through a fine-mesh strainer into a mixing bowl and season to taste with salt, pepper, and lime juice.
2 lbs firm white fish such as cod or halibut 1 lb mussels 1 lb squid, sliced into medium-thick rings 1 lb shrimp, cleaned and deveined Cilantro leaves Cooked white rice
Season the white fish with salt and place pieces in a pot over medium heat until they get a little color on each side. Add mussels and a few cilantro stems, place cover on pot, and allow to steam to open up the mussels. Once mussels are open, add the tomato broth and let the mixture come up to a gentle simmer. Add the shrimp and squid and cook for about ten more minutes at a gentle heat so the squid doesn’t overcook. Season with a little more salt and lime juice and serve with fresh cilantro leaves and rice.
