nomnivorous

It takes a village to raise a supper club.
 
It’s taken me a full week to recover and re-examine the delight that was the Whiskey & Salt Southern Comfort Supper. An incredible, brutal, intense, amazing experience as a whole, I really wanted to spill some details and give some proper credit to our dinner. By the end of the night, I felt so happy and thankful. Truly, it felt like the whole village raised our supper club. The community that makes up Kathryn and my ife came together to help us. I know, corny, but whatever. You’ll see by the end of this recap what I mean.
 

The dinner was held in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, in the absolutely dreamy apartment of Kara Masi. She rents her apartment out for events when she’s not using it for her own booming business, Ted & Amy Supper Club. This apartment is killer and Kara is so welcoming and helpful, especially for us first-timers. Now we get into food. Pardon my greasy-lens pictures. It’s the best I could do in the madness!
 

 
We started the night out with cocktail hour. Three different nibbles, one house drink and beer were all shared. The cocktail was a thyme & gin lemonade. My thyme simple syrup, some delicious Bulldog gin, lemon juice and seltzer made a totally drinkable, light beverage. [Oh and here's where I thank my fantastic roommate and dinner guest B for helping us out with a beer run. We totally underestimated dudes' beer drinking abilities!] First nibble was a classic Southern throwback, Triscuits, cream cheese and hot pepper jam. This jam was my creation, a leftover from the Chile & Chocolate Takedown.
 

 
There were deviled eggs, another Southern staple. I mixed up the filling on the fly, using more vinegar and mustard then the traditional egg’s mayo and pickle-relish heavy-hand. Instead of being just rich and creamy, having a little kick from vinegar and horseradish made these babies so good. But, um, don’t make them. Not for a supper club of 16. No, really. Peeling those many [fresh] eggs were a major pain in the ass. First of many lessons learned.
 

 
I think the pièce de résistance for the cocktail hour was the toast. Kathryn’s idea of combining chicken liver pate, bacon jam and green apple was brilliant. Her chicken liver pate and my bacon jam were perfect rich pairs and the green apple gave that needed bit of tart crunch.
 

Then we corralled everyone to the table and they took their seats. It was interesting to see groups dividing up a bit, as seating was not assigned. I think everyone had a chance to meet and talk during cocktails, so it wasn’t too much division.
 

 
The first seated course was our shrimp and grits [picture thanks to Eryn]. Much debate and recipe trials occurred in deciding how to treat the shrimp. We both knew we wanted something that felt like true shrimp and grits, but creating that in a few bites can be challenging. But Kathryn brought up the idea of NOLA shrimp – shrimp cooked in a spicy butter sauce. This is actually a dish I grew up eating and forgot about it. So it was perfect, buttery fate! The grits were white and yellow stone ground grits cooked traditionally, with a heavy load of extra sharp cheddar cheese, a bit of butter and eggs added to it. Poured into a pan, cooled and cut into circles, then pan fried until warm, delicious! We paired it with some Creole-pickled okra I scored from Justin of JustCook NYC at the last Brooklyn Swappers. Pungent and spicy straight up, slices of this okra were just perfect in the middle of all the richness.
 

The next course was a saving grace! Unfortunately, we never got a picture of it! But here is where I thank the most wonderful person – Allison Robicelli. I went to visit her at Union Square holiday market the week before the supper club. Along with delicious cupcakes, she doled out some amazing catering advice. One: GARNISH. The chives and parsley that make an appearance are all her. Two: Slow cookers as steamer trays! A life saver for stove space. And three: A light, pre-prepared course in between the shrimp and the chicken. See, we cooked the shrimp and grits ready to serve, and the chicken was being fried at the same time. So to give us time to actually breathe and get all our chicken cooked, a small palate-cleansing course would be key. Here’s where we bring in our rendition of “slaw.” Shaved raw brussels sprouts, lemony mustard vinaigrette, roasted pecans and ricotta salata. Perfection!
 

 
The main course was our fried chicken, bacony greens and biscuits. The chicken thighs were brined with some herbs and stuff [whatever was laying around my spice cabinet], buttermilk dipped and fried in a perfectly spiced flour mixture, a la Ad Hoc. Before plating, we doused the chicken with Mike’s Hot Honey – making it sticky sweet, spicy and addictive. The biscuit was lovely and fluffy and full of flavor. Here’s a hint: cooled bacon grease. Yep, can’t go wrong. Speaking of bacon, using Harrington’s insane bacon ends, we served collard greens [here's where the slow cooker came in handy]. They were smokey with a dash of lemon, good enough to make any Southern grandma proud. But let me emphasize – Mikes. Hot. Honey. It’s Brooklyn made and crazy amounts of awesome. We put the bottle on the table and I watched it circulate many times around. People raved. It’s just perfect with fried chicken. [Also? We're never frying for a group again. If you missed out, you missed out. Just sayin!] In addition, we had a second cocktail come out then – whiskey, apple cider and my homemade ginger syrup, with some seltzer. Original plans included a smoked salt rim on the glasses but in the time crunch, it was nixed.
 

 

Dessert. We’re still going, oh yeah. Nanner puddin baked alaska. Nilla wafer cake – a cake made with crushed nilla wafers for most of the flour – topped with the most outrageous banana ice cream and covered in meringue. Add a few slices of banana and torch the hell out of the whole thing. Can’t say much more than ooooh baby. By the way, Bravetart’s “crazy banana ice cream” is to thank for this success. That stuff is heavenly – a big pain in the butt, but heavenly. [Did I mention Bravetart is my newest blog crush? Yeah...]
 

And not pictured, but still a part of the dinner, was a little take-home treat for everyone. In the spirit of Whiskey & Salt Supper Club, I whipped up whiskey and chocolate chip muffins, topped with smoked salt. With a hearty bite of whiskey, dark chocolate chips and some savory smokiness, it’s the perfect day-after breakfast. Again, I thank a friend here – Anna has the most perfect whiskey chocolate chip muffin recipe.
 

Besides thanking the many people that helped us make this happen directly or indirectly, I have to thank my partner in crime, Kathryn. She rocked out the day-of scheduling, chicken frying and generally ruled. For a double dose of recap-ery, check hers out too.
 

So is there more to come from Whiskey & Salt Supper Club? Yes! Add our site to your RSS reader, like us on Facebook, or subscribe for site updates – we don’t sell your email or spam you, only notifications on upcoming events!
 

And tell me in the comments – what would you like to see from W&S? What would properly sell you on buying a ticket to a supper club event?