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Blue Food

As some of you know I'm a chef... I'm very experimental and try to challenge the idea of what food is. recently I was contracted to do a New Years party where the theme is blue. Blue is not a color that often occurs in vegetables or meats. It's mainly an hors d'oeuvres party.
It's been rather fun and a challenge to put this together. Just wanted to toss my menu out there to get some opinions,

Purple Peruvian Potatoes stuffed with roasted red pepper salsa (Yeah I know they're not blue but close enough)
Blue beluga caviar served on a spoon shaped cracker along side a shot of Vodka
Blue corn tortilla chips infused with lime juice (just to set on the tables)
Martini glasses filled with blueberries
Filet Mignon bite sized and served black and blue of course
Stilton blue cheese fondue
Blue velvet cupcakes

I was thinking of something with blue fish but it's such a horrible fish to work with.
 
I don't know what any of that food is... I guess I've had a cupcake before, but not a velvet one! LOL!

I'd be thrilled to try any of that stuff, it all sounds good to me. :)
 
well there's red velvet cake I'm just gonna replace the red food coloring with blue food coloring... even though originally Red velvet cake was made with beet juice...

how about blue curacoa ice cream?
 
Caviar of any color gets my vote! :-D I don't care what color it is, it's just good no matter what!

Do I get a jar of it for helping choose? ;-)
(I only have about enough for one cracker left in my fridge... I'm rationing it LOL)

Could use edible blue flowers on the cupcakes, blue violas?
 
That sounds really good, kahnli. You're in the business, so you probably already know this, but blue is generally considered one of the least appetizing colors. Sounds like you've already got your presentation in order, but I would suggest including items with strong, relatively neutral aromas to reinforce the notion that everything is edible.
Curacao might be interesting, but it's an artificial blue. I would go for something like lavender, myself. Maybe even pair it with the blueberry martini. (Or is it just blueberries servedin a martini glass? Either way.)
Sounds like a fun gig - best luck!
~Joe

PS - How about blue fermented tofu? Just how bold are you clients? ;D
 
yes just blueberries in a martini glass... my partner in culinary crime is bartending the event so all drinks are up to him. Lavender could work but if I'm not mistaken there is a blue basil out there, Athough once again, more of a purple color it could work for the ice cream. I mean, mint and basil are the same family so why not...
 
only odd blue food ive had(other than berries themselves) was huckleberry glazed chicken.....it was....ummmm....interesting and wrong....tasted exactly like a huckleberry.....i love huckleberries but the texture of chicken and the taste of huckleberries at the same time kinda made my brain short circuit and i couldnt eat more than about 5 bites.....
 
Heh, sounds weird. I wonder how much they had to use, if they somehow managed to overpower the chicken taste...
Blue basil is purple, and on the red side of purple, if I recall. Not sure how it would come out in ice cream, although if it's anything like the stuff my friend made it should be plenty tasty. Lavender ice cream comes out purple as well, but the red is fairly subtle. You could do both - the only time I've tried either was when my friend made both, and they went very well together. If you dressed it with some sort of blue syrup no one would care much about it not quite matching. Or, perhaps if you garnished it with something yellow or orange, it would appear blue by contrast.
~Joe
 
Dude!
Beluga caviar with a shot of vodka?! Where is this party? I wanna come!
Fillet Mignon is always a good thing... even if it is bite-sized :)
 
  • #10
never been a huge fan of fillet mignon......pretty tasteless cut of beef which is part of the reason its wrapped in bacon............infact the only time i have it in any form anymore is in a T-bone or in wild game i shoot....much prefer something more along the lines of rib steaks or prime rib.....much more flavor....
 
  • #11
...but they're not blue...
I hate ribs myself though... feels like you're a dog chewing on a bone to me lol
 
  • #12
i didnt say ribs.....i said rib steak and prime rib.....you have never heard of prime rib? basically a roast from the meat around the ribs from the front half of the anmal that when its done cooking you cut it into steaks.......when done right it is lightly seasoned(and my preference lightly smoked) you wind up with a melt in you mouth steak that is extreamly flavorful....i will take it over any other cut of beef, especially if i get to do the cooking.....course i ont get it very often as it tends to cost about $10 a pound and i need a 5 pounder to feed the family....closer to 8 or 9 pounds if im cooking it for us and friends....rib steaks are basically prime rib with bones and minor muscles removed thats cut into steaks THEN cooked.......basically its the backstraps of the beef......flavor comes from fat and thats why the tenderloin is low on flavor, it has almost no fat.....which is why you need the bacon, for flavor and to add fat so it doesnt dry out when cooking....

i dont care much for ribs either unless they are country style....
 
  • #13
rattler...
no offense. But filet mignon is never wrapped in bacon, Anyone that does that does not know what they're doing. Also, yeah, fat does flavor meats but at the end of the day Prime Rib is only popular because it's the only thing that the elderly can gum down,
 
  • #14
you do realize im in the middle of beef country and have access to some damn good beef, hell by taste i can tell you if its range raised beef or fattened up on a feed lot beef....i buy it by the 1/4 or 1/2 from a local, professional, on the farm butcher....hell even the burger is ground how i want it....i have cooked and eaten damn near any cut of beef you can think of many times over....an as far as being popular because you can gum it down, the same can be said of the fillet mignon, its as tender as the prim rib, the only reason its expensive is cause there are only a couple pounds worth of it out of a thousand pound animal....it is nothing special other than in ppls minds......
 
  • #15
Can ya make blueberry cheeeeeeeesecake?
 
  • #16
Dimka,,, A style of cooking Filet is called "Black and Blue." You place it on a red hot pan and char the outside while the inside is still raw.

Rattler,
I'm just not a fan of biting into fat or gristle which is why I lean (excuse the pun) toward filet, hanger or flat irons. Just a matter of preference. If you're a fan of those cuts I should send you my recipe for short ribs. MMMmmmm... may have to run those for a special tonight.
 
  • #17
flat iron is a good cut, we have flat iron steaks on a regular basis....my main complaint with the fillet is its got no flavor compared to other cuts....if you think prime rib is biting into fat and gristle you havent had good prime rib......prolly doesnt help that being on the east coast most of the beef yah get is likely corn fed out of the midwest.....range raised has less fat....when beef cows are feed lots of corn and grain they develop the very heavy marbling of fat in the cuts which some love.....to me corn fed beef, regardless of cut, leaves almost an oily film in my mouth....range raised tends to be leaner and actually richer in vitamins(IIRC there is a huge difference in the amount of Vitamin E in range beef versus feedlot)....the difference in taste is enough and my preference is enough is i dont order steaks at restaurants once i get about half way through the Dakotas, ill eat chicken or fish or something else....
 
  • #18
Hey what about Blue Crabs??? Could be worked in, maybe blue crabs with that croquette mix in the shells??

And do you have a line on blue pansy petals?? Some kind of blue flower could serve at LEAST as garnish on somethin if you have them avaiable
 
  • #19
Hey, I never said anything against Fillet Mignon :)
My personal favorite, although it is not blue, is pork, marinated in mayonnaise/seltzer (or mineral water)/onions (cut small enough to give the juice, but not too small because then they'll burn when cooked, and you'll taste the ashes) mixture, and cooked on charcoal... mmm.
One can add blue food die to make them blue though :)
Oh and yes, fat adds a whole explosion of flavor, taken in moderation though. If there is too much fat, the meat just turns into... bleh!
There is a traditional herring/beats/eggs dish. It is served traditionally on New Year... the beats with mayo give it purple color :)
 
  • #20
mabudon, I can't believe I forgot about blue crabs. Too bad it's not soft shell season.
As far as flowers go I looked into that and my purveyors can get dendrobium orchids but the cost is nuts. And trying to keep my food cost at 30% so had to scrap that.
 
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