Cayman Cookout Day #2
Day 2 of the Cayman Cookout dawned a little bit brighter, but the rough seas prevented the day's kickoff event, Burgers in Paradise, from taking place at Rum Point Club. The waves on the North Sound would have had everyone leaning (or heaving) over the sides of the catamarans. So, the whole catamaran ride / stingray city prelude was axed and the barbecue was relocated to the Ritz's beach. The good side was that allowed an extra hour or so of sleep-in time to recover from the previous day's debauchery. Ah... but Burgers in Paradise was only the start of another long day of eating, and drinking... and eating ... and drinking ....
 1 Cayman Cookout Day 2 started around 11am with Burgers in Paradise on the beach in front of the Ritz. The local high school steel band provided the entertainment. |
 2 Due to the iffy weather, they setup under huge polyethylene tenting to block rain and wind. |
 3 In fact, gray rainy skies eventually turned to much needed sun |
 4 Each chef had their own "burger stand". Each burger was pretty small, but there was way more food than mere mortals could reasonably cope with. Chris Southwick was doing pretty darned yummy duck burgers. |
 5 And David Serus was doing rock shrimp burgers |
 6 Xavier Saloman was ostensibly doing cheeseburgers. But taken to the next level, they had Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor cheese, quince jam, and pancetta. |
 7 Max orders an ahi tuna burger from Eric Ripert |
 8 Scott Popovic stuck to his midwest Amish roots and went with toppings of apple butter, cheddar, and beef bacon. |
 9 New friends LR: Marina Trejo (from Ridgefield, CT), Max, Carol (a personal chef from Winston-Salem), a couple from Eau Claire, WI, Dave, and Francisco Trejo (also from Ridgefield) |
 10 Among all the grilled animal flesh, Pedro Contreras was not getting too many takers for his veggie burgers with black trumpet mushrooms and topped with truffle aioli and a fried egg. |
 11 So, he walked over and made converts out of us |
 12 Patron is one of the sponsors of the Cayman Cookout, and let's just say that there were some pretty interesting libations flowing freely. |
 13 Tony Abou Ganim is the "Modern Mixologist" who has won 3 Iron Chef America competitions pairing cocktails with Mario Batali. His Negroni was something else! |
 14 Burgers in Paradise started winding down around 1:30pm with a celebratory cheers from the participating chefs |
 15 No meal is complete without dessert "burgers"! |
 16 |
 17 No rest for the weary! We have barely an hour after Burgers in Paradise wraps until the demo with Mr. Chocolate, Jacques Torres, is about to get underway after brief consultation with Daniel Boulud. The young man behind Jacques is his son in-law, who is an engineer in charge of his facility's chocolate making machinery. He was standing in as sous-chef which made him the butt of lots of good natured ribbing. |
 18 Jacques shows how it's done. This and some white chocolate will be part of a mousse creation. |
 19 One must always make sure that the master chocolatier is properly fueled.... |
 20 First up are salmon filets, pan seared in cocoa butter on one side coated with roasted cacao nibs. |
 21 Salmon filet with cacao nibs over a bed of leeks, also sauteed in cocoa butter |
 22 The mousse will be served in chocolate bowls made by dipping ballons into the melted chocolate |
 23 A swirly effect is created by dipping the balloons a second time into melted white chocolate |
 24 The balloons are stood up on a parchment sheet and placed in the fridge to harden |
 25 After the chocolate coated balloons harden, pop the balloons and voila, you have chocolate serving bowls. Dark and white chocolate mousse are put into separate piping bags, which are then placed together in an outer piping bag. This allows to create a swirly decorative effect with the mousse. |
 26 Et voila! (yummilicious too) |
 27 But wait, there's more! Yes, it's time now for a late Saturday afternoon seminar on classic cocktails with Tony Abou-Ganim, the "Modern Mixologist". Tony is a legend, having invented the Cable Car while heading up the Starlight Room in SF, was head of the cocktail program at the Bellagio in Vegas, was head bartender at Mario Batali's first restaurant, and has won 3 Iron Chef America competitions, most notably his first pairing cocktails with Mario Batali's cooking. |
 28 And the answer to "have we had enough to drink yet" is clearly "no!". We are greeted at the door to the cocktail seminar with some pretty awesome margaritas! |
 29 Tony Abou-Ganim starts out by reviewing the "palette" that the mixologist has (or should have) at his disposal. |
 30 This is going to be entertaining.... Tony calls up two rather cute volunteers to help demonstrate how to make mojitos |
 31 Muddling the mint takes on some double entendres |
 32 The proper way to crush ice is definitely not to use the crush setting on your fridge's icemaker. Reason- the crushed ice touches many warm parts and melts too much before you get it in the drink, making the cocktail watery. Instead, put whole ice cubes in a canvas bag, called a Lewis bag. Then use a mallet or muddler to smash the ice. The canvas absorbs the water and you end up with very dry crushed ice that holds up to the cocktail. Who knew?? |
 33 The result is a damn good mojito |
 34 Another volunteer assists Tony on making margaritas. Watch and learn! |
 35 Next on the bar menu is making Negronis |
 36 Saving the best for last, Tony teaches the steps to making the perfect martini, while discoursing on the various nuances and pitfalls. In order to compare "shaken" vs. "stirred" he needs two volunteers. So yes, that is me, Dave, as the "stirred" martini contestant! Watch and enjoy... |
 37 We've survived most of Saturday and it's finally getting towards dinner time.... Invasive lionfish are an ecological disaster that are threatening the marine ecosystem from the Bahamas, through the Keys, and througout the Caribbean. They lay 30,000 eggs a week, eat everything in sight, and have no natural predators. Until now that is- us humans. So Saturday night at Camana Bay started with a waterfront reception and a demo by local chefs showing how to clean and prepare lionfish, hosted with color commentary by Eric Ripert and Tony Bourdain. |
 38 Fileting lionfish for ceviche |
 39 The Cayman Cookout paired a guest chef with each of 3 restaurants at Camana Bay. Our choice was Daniel Boulud cooking at Mizu, a brand new Asian fusion restaurant. |
 40 The incredible menu to come, Daniel goes Asian style! |
 41 Daniel Boulud welcomes everyone to the restaurant |
 42 Pure chance or did they know we were coming?? We're seated at the head 8-top with Daniel's wife Katherine, and Eric Ripert's wife Sandra. The woman on the left is married to the head of Bragard, the largest international provider of chef's uniforms. We're also sitting with the wife of one of the co-owners of the restaurant. |
 43 Carrot soup served in a hollowed out coconut and conch ceviche. Apparently a couple of workers were driving around the island for the previous 2 days trying to spot and cut down enough coconuts for the dinner. |
 44 Yep, we're having mighty fun! |
 45 Some kind of wild sorbet'ey dessert made with mango vodka and ginger infused sake |
