JJ Goode - Munchies: Late-Night Eats from the Worlds Best Chefs

Acknowledgments

EDITORS OF MUNCHIES

Thank you to MUNCHIES executive producers Chris Grosso and Lauren Cynamon. We wouldnt exist or be where we are without you. Thanks to the crew that came up with the idea of MUNCHIESthe original title for Chefs Night Outand executed our early episodes: Jesse Pearson, Chris Cechin, and Thobey Campion.

Special thanks to Farideh Sadeghin, who helped gather all of the recipes for this book, spearheaded a team of recipe testers, styled photos, and provided us with too many dirty jokes.

Thanks to MUNCHIES Publisher John Martin, who jumpstarted this entire cookbook process and convinced us that print is not analogue. Thank you to Tommy Lucente, who graciously herded all of the cats for us. Thanks to Nyasha Shani Foy and Leslie Stern for their continuous support in our delicious efforts.

Thank you to our friends at FremantleMedia; especially Keith Hindle and Elena Magula, and the Tiny Riot team: Regina Leckel, Devon Dunlap, Jessica Porper and Nathan Rea.

A very special thanks to Mario Batali and Reyna Mastrosimone. Cin-cin, motherfuckers!

Thank you so much to our agents at the Gernet Company: David Gernert, Anna Worrall, Chris Parris-Lamb, and Paula Breen for helping to make this dream become reality. Thank you to the entire staff at Ten Speed and Crown, and especially Maya Mavjee, Aaron Wehner, Hannah Rahill, Windy Dorresteyn, Serena Sigona, David Hawk, Daniel Wikey, and Allison Renzulli.

A massive thanks to our amazing cookbook editor, Emily Timberlake, who wrestled with our Cheetos-encrusted dreams and turned them into a printed expression of who we are. Thanks to Kara Plikaitis for making this thing look beautiful, despite our dumpster-diving aesthetic tendencies.

Thanks to Brayden Olson and Justin Hager for being willing to get creative and weird with the images in this cookbook.

Thank you to our Southern recipe wrangler and tester Ben Mims. All we can say is SAME. A big thanks to Yewande Komolafe and Alex Laudeman for their relentless help and knowledge in the test kitchen during the photo shoot. Rupa Bhattacharya, thank you for being our secret weapon throughout this project. Big love and thanks to our incredible kitchen interns: Jacqueline Ventura, Elizabeth Williams, Alex Burris, and Rodney Farquhar for helping us during this cookbook process. You are also beautiful hand models. Thanks to Barry Frish, our kitchen manager, for ordering all of the ingredients, including the extra pigs head thats still in the freezer.

Thank you to Nathan Mell and the entire team at Felt + Fat for providing your beautiful pottery to put these glorious late-night fever dream dishes on something beautiful.

Thanks to our incredible props stylist, Rebecca Bartoshesky, who saved the day and magically sourced bizarre objects from thin air as if she were David Blaine (back when he was at his prime in the late 90s).

Additional thanks to Gayle Gilman, Erica Winograd, Tracy Wares, Patrick Maguire, Shawn Phelan, Lee Tiernan, Lars Hinnerskov Eriksen, Bernardo Loyola, Khoung Phan, James Quinn, Elana Schulman, Peter Courtien, Bernardo Garcia, Randy Foreman, Peter Spark, Justin Cymbol, Brad Barrett, Zoe Kanan, Cal Elliott, Francesco Grosso, Olivia Young, Action Bronson, and Danny Minch.

Thanks to VICE co-founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi, co-presidents Andrew Creighton and James Schwab, and the entire VICE team.

A massive thanks and gratitude to the entire MUNCHIES family around the globe: lets continue to operate this strangely beautiful all-you-can-eat buffet.

And last but not least, thank you to all of the chefs of the past, present, and future who have generously welcomed us into your environments and allowed us to film your drunken adventures. You continue to remind us of why the restaurant industry will never become boring. Were not sorry for the hangovers.

CHAPTER 1

Drinks

Make Your Own Fernet

SAM ANDERSON

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

Watch enough ChefsNight Out episodes, and youll probably be struck by a few shocking things: chefs like tacos, chefs like pizza, and chefs drink a disturbing amount of fernet. If youve ever worked in restaurants, at least those where everything seems to be house-pickled or wood-roasted, youve probably ingested a good cases worth of the hate-or-love-it liqueur, though how a spirit that clocks in somewhere between licorice and Listerine has achieved such status, no one really knows. Weve heard that fernet, a variety in the amaro category of bitter Italian after-dinner drinks, gained popularity because it used to be the one bottle behind the bar you could reliably sneak swigs from without anyone noticing, because no paying customer ever ordered it. Not any more.

Now that the cool kids like it, youd be forgiven for tasting it and wondering what is wrong with them all. That is, until the moment your opinion on fernet evolves. First, theres outrage that someone said this was good. Then theres the WTF curiosity about whats in the acrid potion. Then theres the acceptance that you paid $10 for the glass, so you might as well drink the rest. And finally, Another fernet, please. It helps that when ingested steadily through the night, fernet seems to safeguard the belly. Rumor even has it that in San Francisco during Prohibition, fernet was legal to imbibe, because it was considered medicine, not booze.

Whats in fernet varies by the brandthe most common being Fernet-Brancaand even though the actual combination of herbs and spices is a closely guarded secret, you can typically bet they include myrrh, rhubarb, chamomile, cardamom, aloe, and saffron. But we wanted our own version, so we invited Mission Chinese Food beverage director Sam Anderson to hang in our test kitchen and show us the way. His version is made using homemade bitters and is so good we thought wed share the recipe with you. First, you make bitters, which it turns out is as simple as combining spices, herbs, and other aromatics, then giving them a three-week bath in flavorless high-proof alcohol. In glass mason jars sitting pretty on your counter, they look like little terrariumshence the name. After that, youve got cocktail bitters for the next decade and/or the makings of your own fernet. Serve fernet on the rocks with a twist, or pretend youre Erik Anderson () and take shots like theres no tomorrow.

SAM ANDERSON

DIY Fernet

MAKES ABOUT 3 QUARTS

This recipe is inspired by the fresh herbs Sam picked from the MUNCHIES rooftop garden; feel free to swap in your favorite fresh herbs.

1 quart Terrarium Bitters (recipe follows)

4 cups demerara sugar

2 cups rhum agricole (aka really good rum)

Warm all the ingredients along with 1 quart of water in a large saucepan set over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the sugar is dissolved. Pour into mason jars, seal, and store in the fridge until, oh, the end of time. The longer you let this sit, the better it gets.

Serve chilled as shots or on the rocks with a lemon twist.

Terrarium Bitters

MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART

Zest strips from 3 oranges

Zest strips from 1 grapefruit

bunch fresh mint

bunch fresh pineapple sage or regular sage

1 stalk lemongrass, smashed with the back of a heavy pan

1 bunch (about cup) fresh nasturtiums (stems, leaves, and flowers)