Executive Chef David Scott talked about the restaurant, how he trains staff, and the appetizer that he was going to make for us to sample: Ragout of Blue Crab, comprised of lump crab meat, sautéed shiitake mushrooms and leeks, and lemon chive beurre blanc. The first photo below is of him making the beurre blanc sauce, the second is of the plating process, and the third shows the final product. Was it yummy! After devouring that, Chef Scott took us on a tour of the kitchen.
The next event we attended was a pastry demo performed by Ned Archibald, Keystone's Executive Pastry Chef. He made burgers, tacos, and spaghetti, all constructed from pastry, chocolate, and marzipan ingredients. The first photo shows Chef Archibald constructing a dessert burger. The bun is yellow cake, the meat is chocolate cake, the mayonnaise is buttercream frosting, and the ketchup and mustard are raspberry and apricot marmalade. The lettuce and tomato are fashioned out of marzipan. The second photo shows him topping a dessert taco with fake sour cream (more buttercream frosting). The next two photos show the results of his work. These were absolutely delicious and whimsical desserts!
After the pastry demo, we rushed over to the North American whiskey tasting that included Bulleit Bourbon, Bulleit Rye, George Dickel, Barrel Select Tennessee Whisky, Crown Royal Black, Crown Royal Reserve, and Crown Royal Cask 16. Accompanying the drinks was a lovely platter of crackers and cheeses. These events proved that you don't have to spend a lot of money to have a great time at the culinary festival, but from what I saw of the preparations, and from what the chefs were saying about it, the Grand Tasting Saturday evening must have been spectacular!
1 comment:
Wow! My parents took my brother and me here when we were little--it was like something out of a fairy tale. :) Glad to see it still has that Alpine glow!
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