Terrine Time Again

The 14th terrine event will be held on the August long weekend and participants are already selecting terrines to make and wines to serve with them. I was going to do a pork and sweetbread terrine, but the guy that loves sweetbreads had a scheduling conflict, so I am going to do a chicken and macadamia nut terrine.

Jenise advises that she is creating a terrine featuring potatoes and chevre cheese - intriguing!

I'll post tasting notes and pictures after the event. Unfortunately Photobucket as eliminated image links to previous events' postings, but I'll try and fix that when I have time.

Here is one of the dishes I served at a previous event, as well and Jenise's presentation.

Do explain about the cherry tomato - gherkin garnish on that first plate. Was there a theme?

Do explain about the cherry tomato - gherkin garnish on that first plate. Was there a theme?

Leave it to you to pick up on that....

Yes Jeff

It is basically a signature on my own dish so that in future years I can tell which was mine! I have since taken to 'enlarging' it to minimize prurient interest and now use an array of 6 small tomatoes in the pattern of a bunch of grapes with stem.

This year I am doing confit grape tomatoes with ginger.

If you want to look at some of the previous events, see http://www.rhodo.citymax.com/food-and-wine.html

You'll see the recurring theme! And you can try and figure out which one Jenise did each year (hint - it is usually the most creative!)

[Jenise]

Ah, my smoked duck breast en croute terrine with two pastries! I was pretty proud of the technicals on that one. My two favorites, though? 1) The other en croute I did, the New Mexico-flavored quail terrine with cilantro-flavored crust garnished with the diced avocado and roasted corn salsa and tiny corn and black truffle tamale. 2) And the manchego/asparagus/pea terrine with romesceau sauce and peach gazpacho on the side. Was also pretty proud of the uni-stuffed fried pork rinds with cucumber-avocado aspic garnish on the scallop ceviche terrine of two years ago.

Hard to pick favourites from yours. I intend to reorganize my photos in order for each year, so you'll be able to post them. Give me a bit of time....

It should be noted in Jenise's favour that although it qualifies as a galantine, Jenise has not (so far) presented a turducken! Although I probably shouldn't have mentioned that as she might take it as a challenge and create a pheasant stuffed with a game hen stuffed with a quail or something.

[Jenise]

Don't hold your breath, Bill! I realize you were joking but I have to say, layering whole birds doesn't appeal to me in the slightest. I have more of an Everest complex and am drawn to that which sounds difficult. Most of my terrines have come out of my own head, beginning with one of those "I wonder if..." thoughts. The Spanish vegetarian terrine came from me wondering if I could create a manchego cheese layer for something else, for instance.

Oh, and the polpettone rigoletto! That one was born the day I bought a little jar of black truffle 'caviar' at a foofooo store in Seattle and then wondered how to feature it in an Italian terrine. I made up the name Polpettone Rigoletto and fed that to you as a placeholder and then went to work creating the dish to wear it. The 'caviar' ended up being like the eggs in a bird nest of spaghetti, circled into muffin tins and then baked to mold them, then for service set on top of marinara sauce, the first in a trio of items set in a horizontal line on the plate, the middle being the polpettone (terrine) slice on pesto and the third item being three baby turnip halves braised in chianti. One of the best platings I've done, and all that cuz I bought that little jar.

Do explain about the cherry tomato - gherkin garnish on that first plate. Was there a theme?

Leave it to you to pick up on that....

Apparently, I am not alone in this.

The dill and tomato garnish was originally intended to allow me to instantly pick out my dish in years to come.

Unfortunately it seems to have taken the fancy of participants who, while normally staid correct characters, under the influence of sufficient fermented grape have been known to utter rather risque suggestions in that regard, which has resulted in my alteration of the signature to add several tomatoes in the shape of a grape cluster! Despite which, the repetition of similar foul calumnies has continued at subsequent events, but I do try to rise above all that.

Given the scurrilous behavior of Photobucket resulting in deletion of many images from previous events, I gathered all of the notes and pictures into one repository. See http://www.rhodo.citymax.com/food-and-wine.html

See if you can pick out which ones Jenise did (as per the previous paragraph, picking out mine is too easy).

Unfortunately it seems to have taken the fancy of participants who, while normally staid correct characters, under the influence of sufficient fermented grape have been known to utter rather risque suggestions....

Prurient interests are among the most interesting, don't you think?

Prurient interests are among the most interesting, don't you think?

My group excels at this!

Prurient interests are among the most interesting, don't you think?

My group excels at this!

Word!

[Jenise]

Prurient interests are among the most interesting, don't you think?

My group excels at this!

Only because there's something about you that invites it. Had George put that on his plate, we'd have presumed it an accident. But you? There ARE no accidents.

[Jenise]

Btw, speaking of 'marking' your plates, Bill--now that you've got the red vagina plates the garniture is superfluous.

Just went through all the years, was fun to look at how my own work progressed over time. And I am moved to comment, meaning no disrespect to those who are no longer with us, how annoyed I was by those who attended singly and provided only one wine for their terrine. Thought it cheap and cheesy--wasn't so much a quantity thing but hey, half the fun was the discussion of which wine paired best with the course. To only bring one because technically you were solo and therefore didn't HAVE to? Didn't work for me. Any year I show up alone, you can count on me for two bottles.