21 Course Dinner

A little while ago, someone sent me a Facebook message telling me I should check out a dinner party that his friend Michael was putting on. Always looking out for good food, I sent Michael an email asking him about the dinner; I had no idea what I was getting myself involved in. Michael Cirino often does dinners with a group of dedicated chefs called A Razor, A Shiny Knife. This time they were recreating a series of 21 course meals that Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz (of restaurants French Laundry, Per Se, and Alinea). I figured there was no way I could say no to this dinner. Having heard about the dinner only the night before, I didn't even know what time it was at or where to go. I called Michael to get the address, and he told me to show up any time after 4:00. Not wanting to miss anything, I show up at the house, an amazing victorian, soon after 4:00. I'm greeted by Michael, who tells me that this should be treated like a family affair, and that I can help out with the cooking if I want. I gladly accept, wanting to learn and play around with whatever they are doing. The first task they give me is to help spread the tuile dough. Although I had never heard of a tuile until a few weeks before, I had just made some for the Daring Bakers Challenge. Next up, I am put in charge of chopping a several hundred dollar black truffle to be used in some sort of truffle ragu sauce (with veal demi glace and truffle stock). More people start to arrive, so the Champagne is brought out, and the drinking begins. I am then put to work making beef and cabbage dumplings. We've got Lil Wayne playing in the background, and people are socializing, cooking, and drinking. Michael had a water stone soaking, and since I was curious about sharpening knifes, he decided to give a knife sharpening demonstration. It was way more complicated than I expected, so will probably be getting my knifes sharpened by someone else for the time being. Throughout the night there were plenty of crazy cooking techniques which I had never seen or heard of before. Next up was a demonstration of freezing spheres of coconut juice in little balloons using liquid nitrogen. By this time we had moved on past the Champagne, and were onto one of the first of several white wines. Finally, it was time for some food. All 24 of us went to the dining room, while the chefs kept cooking away.

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1st - Salmon Cornet, Black Sesame Tuile and Red Onion Crème An excellent way to start the dinner, this little bite was crispy, but had delicious salmon flavor.

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2nd - Char Roe, Coconut Parsnip and Maple The coconut was extremely tasty, and the maple noodles were a nice texture.

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3rd - Caviar, Lemon, Cauliflower I had never eaten caviar before, but it wasn't bad. The cauliflower was not so tasty, so I wish this dish was just the lemon gel and caviar. Luckily we had just moved on to a new wine, so I cleansed my palate with the new drink.

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4th - Crab, Avocado, Sudachi and Laurel Bay Branch This was absolutely delicious. It was one giant bite that was crunchy on the outside, but soft and gooey on the inside. Lots of flavor.

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5th - Truffle Oil-Infused Custard "ragoût" of Black Winter Truffles 6th - Musquée De Provence Soup, Sea Urchin Sabayon, Black Truffle Purée This was first of 3 dishes of the truffle flight. I had never eaten truffles in my life, so I was a bit scared. The soup was tasty, but I was not a big fan of the custard (even though I helped make it!). I am told by others that it was very delicious, but I guess I still need to get used to truffles.

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7th - Black Truffle Explosion, Romaine, Parmesan We were told by Michael that to eat this dish, you had to take the entire ravioli into your mouth, and then bite. As previously mentioned, I was slightly scared of the truffles so I accidentally bit too early. It truly was a truffle explosion, luckily my tablemates didn't mind too much.

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8th - Hot Potato-Cold Potato, Chive, Black Truffle The cool thing about this dish was that you pulled the pin out, and the butter cube, parmessean, chive, hot potato, and truffle fell into the cold potato soup. I liked everything on the pin, but the soup was a bit too strong for me.

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9th - Chestnut, Baked Potato, Quince, Smoke This was an excellent medley of different flavors and textures. I think my favorite was the chestnut cube.

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10th - "Galette" Hudson Valley Moulard Duck Foie Gras, Italian Pistachio "Financier," Compressed Red Sensation Pear and Garden Mache The Foie Gras was Michael's favorite dish, and I thought it was ok. I had never eaten foie gras, so didn't have much to compare it to. People seemed to enjoy this one though.

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11th - Wild Striped Bass, Shellfish, Chamomile, Ginger The bass was very tasty. There was a gelatinous blob sitting on top of it, which added some interesting texture.

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12th - Japanese Green Abalone, Yuzu, Tapioca, Seaweed, Matsutake Mushroom Broth I hate mushrooms, so was a bit worried about this soup, but I ended up enjoying this soup quite a bit. I had to give my mushroom chunks to the person next to me, but gladly finished all of the broth. Someone recently told me that they also hate mushrooms, but love mushroom soup; don't know what it is about it, but its delicious.

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Tartine Brioche Only about halfway through the meal, and we are given our first piece of bread. Tartine is an amazing bakery, and their brioche was the perfect bread at this point in the meal. I saved pieces of mine for several of the next courses.

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13th - Lamb, Fennel, Pernod, Coffee-Scented Air Probably my favorite dish, there were 4 types of lamb. There was lamb tenderloin (sous vided and then deep fried for a crust), which was amazing, lamb neck, tongue, and deepfried sweetbreads. The tongue was very flavorful, and although I was scared of the sweetbreads, they were my favorite piece.

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14th - Snake River Farm's "Calotte De Boeuf Grillee," Brisket and Cabbage Dumplings, Horseradish Pudding, Sour Cherries At this point in the meal, my stomach is about to explode, but the food looked too good to stop. The meat was the rib cap, and I loved the tangy sour cherry sauce. The brisket and cabbage dumplings (which I helped make), were a great side. This could have been a meal of its own.

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15th - Bacon, Butterscotch, Thyme, Pepper Finally we begin to move onto desserts. This dish had good flavor, but the bacon was way too chewy. Some people were still working on it a few minutes later. I just treated this like bacon gum, and got rid of it when I had enough of the flavor.

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16th - Eggnog - Encapsulated 17th - Kunquat, Cranberry, Gingersnap and Rose Served along with the bacon, the eggnog was a refreshing drink. There was a ball that when you crushed it, exploded with flavor. Much more pleasant than the truffle explosion from earlier. The gingersnap and kumquat were fun too eat off of the skewer.

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18th - Diane St. Clair's Buttermilk Sherbet, Quinoa, Blueberry Ribbons, Blue Sauce Blueberries After at least half a dozen full glasses of wine, I was starting to neglect my journalistic duties. I never got a picture of this dish, but I do remember liking it. I also remember looking forward to the fact that I would be able to stop eating soon.

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19th - Spice Cake, Rum, Persimmon, Carrot I believe the port was brought out at this point, and I was too involved with the drinking and eating to get a picture. This spice cake was another amazing dessert; I wouldn't of minded if it was the only dessert we had.

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20th - Chocolate Smores - Graham Cracker Crunch, Chocolate Crémeux, Creamy Fluff Toasted Marshmallow, Chocolate Emulsion These were definitely the fanciest smores I've ever had. No real complaints, but I think I honestly like the campfire ones more.

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21st - Candy Cane - Frozen and Chewy This was the best way the meal could have ended. I could not handle any more food, so it was lucky that this was just a tiny morsel of frozen goodness. It completely refreshed my taste buds, and was soft and cold.

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By the time we were finished, I was so stuffed I could barely move. I was told that we had eaten somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/4 of a pound of butter each, and around 7000 calories. I slowly walk home to ease my stomach, and stumble into bed about 12 hours after I had started this whole experience, 4:00 AM. Thanks to Michael and his crew who put this whole event together: Michael Cirino Andrew Rosenberg Brian Sullivan Cathy Erway Jonny Cigar Akiko Moorman Keiko Takano