A Word from Chef John Baker:
Hello All! We hope you are enjoying this somewhat damp, but otherwise enjoyable summer. June really flew by, with all the graduations and weddings of the early summer season. We've been very busy in Christopher's Catering, but this ol' sea captain has been very lucky with his assignments! Even with all the rainy daze, we've had only one grill-out where I had to wear my foul weather suit while cooking for money outdoors.
It's also an interesting sort of month in the realm of organizing Thursday Themes. It's a five-Thursday month, but a couple of 'special' weeks here, and my annual sailing trip, so we are going to "Jump Around" a little! No real theme except summertime fun!
July 2nd is an opportunity for us to offer our best idea for an Independence Day cookout/picnic. Southern fried chicken is a good place to start; I'll brine very nice pieces of chicken in buttermilk and Old Bay seasoning, then poach them tender, and finish by frying in beer batter. I've discovered a wonderful cookbook, called "The New Midwestern Table" by Chef Amy Thielen. Chef Thielen is an accomplished 'New Yawk big-time chef' who decided to return to her roots in 'way up north' Minnesota to write a cookbook of modernized old school cooking, the type I generally do... At any rate, it's a wonderful book full of excellent recipes, with pictures and well-spun yarns to go with. You'll be seeing more than a few items coming out of this book. The first is the potato and greens item we'll lay next to the chicken. Sort of a hot German potato Salad, similar to southern style greens, potatoes and bacon, but a little different from either. I think it's very good. The appetizer small plate is from the same book. Think of being in a North Woods saloon in the summer. Beet pickled eggs are pretty, and these will be very good, going with other devilled eggs and an excellent way to prepare 'bar cheese' with crackers. The blueberry galette dessert comes from the cover of the current Bon Appetit magazine.
On my get-away day, I'm going to offer an item enjoyed already this summer by my friend, muse, and catering boss Holly Park, at the famous Bluebird in Leland, Michigan. Holly and I have only known each other for about 8 years; but, we have both frequented this saloon in northern Michigan, separately, for about 35 years. I'd have trouble naming four harbourside places I like better... Pretzel crusted walleye and a wonderful summer salad of greens, peaches, feta, and mint. We'll make a nice corn soup for the first course, and I'll come up with an excellent dessert to go with...
July 16, our new Christopher's dinner Chef Ron Brown will present his first Thursday Theme dinner. He has brought a reputation for an excellent German repertoire, and will be offering a Corned Brisket of Beef entree, well garnished, with German Tomato Soup as a first course, and German Chocolate Cupcakes for dessert.
The following week, another very promising young cook, Sous Chef Brad Filburn, recent football hero at Fairmont High School, offers a dinner featuring an ingredient we have newly discovered: a local farmer is raising heritage pigs, and cuts beautiful pork chops he is calling Tomahawk Chops. They are gorgeous! Brad is going to stuff them with an apple and sage stuffing, then serve them along grilled fresh asparagus. We will prepare S'mores style Tiramisu for dessert.
We will finish the month with Restaurant Week. As of this writing, the RW menu is not quite finalized, but you can be certain it will be bold and interesting.
Assuming the Clerk of the Wind and Waves allows me, I will be back for more summer cooking in August. We'll do the best we can to offer some excellent items using the bounty of local harvests. Thank you so much for your interest and patronage. I am grateful that you enjoyed the June offerings so much. I was particularly enthused about the peppered beef item; I like it when an item has a chance to be special, and it turns out that way... Thanks again!
-Chef John Baker
Visit the
Thursday Themes page for detailed Jump Around menus.
