Pawlcyn - Cindys Supper Club : meals from around the world to share with family and friends

Some of the recipes in this book include raw eggs, meat, or fish. When these foods are consumed raw, there is always the risk that bacteria, which is killed by proper cooking, may be present. For this reason, when serving these foods raw, always buy certified salmonella-free eggs and the freshest meat and fish available from a reliable grocer, storing them in the refrigerator until they are served. Because of the health risks associated with the consumption of bacteria that can be present in raw eggs, meat, and fish, these foods should not be consumed by infants, small children, pregnant women, the elderly, or any persons who may be immunocompromised. The author and publisher expressly disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects that may result from the use or application of the recipes and information contained in this book.

Text copyright 2012 by Cynthia Lynn Pawlcyn
Photographs copyright 2012 by Alex Farnum

All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Pawlcyn, Cindy.
Cindys Supper Club : meals from around the world to share with family and friends/Cindy Pawlcyn; photography by Alex Farnum. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: A collection of 125 chef-worthy global recipes presented in international dinner menus, drawn from renowned chef Cindy Pawlcyns informal gatheringsProvided by publisher.
1. International cooking. 2. Cookbooks. I. Title.
TX725.A1P36 2012
641.59dc23
2011047934

eISBN: 978-1-60774-207-4

Food styling by Katie Christ
Prop styling by Christine Wolheim

v3.1

DEDICATION
TO MY STEPCHILDREN WITH
MUCH LOVE: KIRSTIE AND
KEVIN TWEED, PETER LAIRD,
AND COLE WATANABEYOU
ALL KNOW WHY.

Cindys Supper Club is part travelogue of places I have been and part inspiration from places I want to visit. It is a culinary journey acted out at Cindys Backstreet Kitchen, my restaurant in the heart of the Napa Valley. The club was started by my friend Marianne Agnew, who is also the graphic designer for the restaurant. We were talking about how nice it would be if people could come after work and dinner would be ready. Marianne put together a great design of a copper saucepot that looks like a classic 1930s-era French poster, and soon so we were serving elaborate four-course dinners with wine for, I think, sixty bucks a head.

The debut dinner was held in August 2003, and I prepared my moms home cooking. At first, we sent out mailers announcing the upcoming menus, and then we did an in-house calendar. In the beginning, we scheduled one Supper Club each month. Some months the dinner sold out and others it didnt. For example, Zen Den, a Japanese menu, was popular. But the Supper Club that coincided with Halloween in 2007 was just the opposite. For inspiration, we drew from The Taste of Black by Bjrn Lindberg and Jonas Borssn, a book about food and the color black. Although the dishes were tasty, it was just too weird for folks. I think only four people, besides the staff, tried the whole menu.

Over time, we realized that four courses were too much for a lot of people to eat midweek. I wanted the Supper Club to be more popular, so in addition to the set menu, we started offering all of the items la carte. This change proved successful, but I was still getting comments like, Oh I have a meeting on Wednesday night and cant be here. So we started serving the club menu two nights a week, which has worked well. It keeps both the front-of-the-house staff and the kitchen staff on their toes, because each week they are dealing with brand-new dishes, ingredients, and cooking techniques.

Ive been traveling all my life. My first trips, seated in the backseat of the family car, were summer vacations to see America: Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, all ten thousand lakes of Minnesota (my dad loved to fish), Williamsburg, and Wall Street. We got around. Since the age of sixteen, I have been going to Europe on a regular basis. In the 1980s, I went to China, Hong Kong, and Japan, and later I added South America and Africa to my ever-expanding hood.

Wherever I have gone, I have always been happiest in a grocery store, farmers market, or food emporium. In the 1960s, my mother and sister had to drag me out of the food halls of Harrods after four hours. My cookbook collection also reflects my interest in the global table. I started out with both volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and the Gourmet magazine series books, then I moved on to the Time-Life series Foods of the World and Time-Lifes The Good Cook. I collect cookbooks from all kinds of sources, but one of my favorite places to shop is Kitchen Arts & Letters in Manhattan, which carries thousands of books, both contemporary and out of print, domestic and foreign, on food and drink. The first time I visited the store I spent three hours going through every section, and it is still one of the things I like to do best when I am in New York. In 2008, Celia Sack opened Omnivore Books in San Francisco, which, like my New York haunt, is devoted to volumes on food and drink. Of course, it is much easier for me to visit Omnivore and therefore more dangerous to my bank account. But it is far better than many other addictions.

Many of the dishes served at the Supper Club have come from these two sources: travel and books. Some of them have been huge hits, some not. The recipes that follow are the hits; there are my favorites plus what our customers picked as the most popular and their personal favorites. Thai, Mexican, and Italian menus are always popular, but Hungarian, Ethiopian, and Korean usually require a nudge to get people to try them. When you are deciding what to cook, dont pass up the cuisines that are new to you. Cook and serve something you have never prepared before. The timid can always sit down to Girl Scout cookies and tea.

Because we serve the Supper Club menus year-round, the seasons typically play a big role in what we decide to cook: spring in Paris, winter in Hungary, summer in Brazil, fall in Japan. But other times I will have just gotten back from a trip or just found a new book on an area that we havent cooked from at all and Ill decide to do a menu that is not just driven by the season. You need to be equally flexible. The recipes that follow have all been tested by home cooks who do not have the experience or the skills of a restaurant chef. If you are nervous, start out small and make just one dish from a menu. Or, try seasonings from a cuisine that is new to you with something that is familiar, like chicken.