Small Household Exchange @ Chicago Culinary Kitchen 5.19.19

The Small Household Food Exchange, among other things, is an opportunity for everyone to describe and show off their cooking skills.

It is also an opportunity to gather a small group to try a restaurant where a few people may not be enough. On this occasion, we are going to congregate at Chicago Culinary Kitchen - Texas BBQ at its finest. We will gather at 10:30 am to join those early birds for the 11:00 am opening. Since they have a reputation of closing around 2:00 pm when they run out, we are coming early to hopefully get all their specials. Their weekly menu is posted on Facebook a few days before, this thread will be updated with the menu. As an example these were their specials for this weekend:

This weekend’s specials!
Saturday:
-Char Siu Pork Belly
-Tri Tip with Chimicurri
-Matador Beef Ribs
-Blueberry Banana Cream Pie
Sunday:
-Brisket Burgers
-Char Siu Pork Belly
Both days: BBQ Tamales and Cornbread!
Come early, come hungry, come ready to rock!!!

So get to work cooking dishes to share with other LTHers.

Or don’t … everyone’s welcome to join for camaraderie, conviviality and companionship.

Note that we cap attendance at 12 with a maximum of 10 people exchanging dishes. Those who exchange dishes will have first priority, but they should post by May 11, to allow cooks to plan, shop and create.

The Basics
We’re always interested in fresh blood. Even if you can't exchange, please join us for dinner and conversation! But we encourage all to bring a few samples of the cuisine you enjoy at your home; it’s a great way for all of us to get to know each other better, discuss food and cooking techniques, and ultimately, later, have a meal at home that we might not have thought of making for ourselves.

What is the Small Household Food Exchange, you may ask.
Most importantly, it’s a gathering of like-minded folks at an interesting restaurant for a meal, taking advantage of the ordering power of a good number of people to share and sample a good number of menu items.

The Small Household Food Exchange started so that those of us in 1-2 person households who love to cook aren't stuck eating that big pot of chili for a whole week. Instead, we make 4-10 servings of one dish, and bring home 4-10 different dishes. Exchanging participants bring one pre-portioned serving of their food for every exchanger who has RSVP’d to come that month. The priority will be for entrees, meats, soups, salad, stews, pastas, grains, etc. (Check the Events Board, there’s a separate Dessert Exchange.)

The fine print
Number in the group: We will cap attendance at each gathering at 12, and food exchange participants at 10, so that participants are never making more than 10 servings of anything. Couples can be counted as one serving, or two — if you come as a couple, please specify whether you're bringing one or two dishes to exchange.

There will be no restrictions on the food – we’re an omnivorous bunch. IF ANYONE HAS ANY ALLERGIES, PLEASE LET THE GROUP KNOW.

The containers/delivery system: Everyone in the group should use the GLADWARE 3 1/8 CUP PLASTIC CONTAINERS (7” x 7” square container with a blue lid). You’ll portion your food into those containers to bring and hand out at the gathering. You can freeze them or not depending on your schedule and when you make your food. If you use something else to deliver your food that month (Ziploc bags, plastic wrap, etc.) you should also return the empty containers from the last round so that everyone always has a stash of these containers for the exchange, and no one has to run out and buy more. Ideally, everyone will find a way to label their containers, describing the contents, so we don’t end up staring into our freezers at a field of blue-lidded containers and wondering what’s in each one (not that there’s anything wrong with the occasional surprise …).

Please RSVP your attendance by responding in this thread one week before the monthly gathering. If you're exchanging, please post what you're bringing at least three days before the gathering.

The organizer will monitor the thread to see what people are bringing. The organizer will also make reservations for the group at the restaurant where we will be gathering.

Hope to see you there!

Attending:

Dinner and Exchange
Cathy2 - Turkey Tetrazzini
nr706 - Choux pastries — Pick A Choux
moetchandon - Cheese lasagna

Dinner and sparkling company
diversedancer
Pie Lady
Giovanna
JeffS

Sunday, May 19 at 10:30 am - yes, about 30 minutes early to be among the first customers of the day.

(Do you really have something else that would be more fun already booked for this date and time? Really?)

Chicago Culinary Kitchen
773 N. Quentin Road
Palatine, IL 60067
(847) 987-0369

open Saturday & Sunday 11 am-SOLD OUT (usually by 2 pm last couple weekends)

Is anyone surprised that it's already on my calendar?

Oh there's pie. Why didn't you say that before? Down for both.

I'm in for sparkling conversation at this point. I have MY group in the evening, but being mid day I can do both. Hope we don't pig out on food....

diversedancer wrote:Hope we don't pig out on food....

You can only control yourself.

I'm editing my response. Due to time constraints (details later) I'll join you for the chow but not the exchange.

I'm going to plan to make this event as a lunch participant [not cooking].

I'll be still, don't know if I can manage sparkling.

[BTW, a true LTH aficionado knows to carry a cooler & ice packs with them at all times, or at least when they anticipate a big feed. It is the best way I know to avoid tragic regret.]

Giovanna

Giovanna wrote:I'm going to plan to make this event as a lunch participant [not cooking].

I'll be still, don't know if I can manage sparkling.

[BTW, a true LTH aficionado knows to carry a cooler & ice packs with them at all times, or at least when they anticipate a big feed. It is the best way I know to avoid tragic regret.

Giovanna

Hi,

I'm glad you can make it. I was going to nudge you about this.

Regards,
Cathy2

I will be making a cheese lasagna. Saw a recipe that looks interesting and made in a manner I’m not use to. So you will be my guinea pigs.

moetchandon wrote:I will be making a cheese lasagna. Saw a recipe that looks interesting and made in a manner I’m not use to. So you will be my guinea pigs.

I like what I hear!

I may be cooking a turkey over the next few days. Do you want the frozen carcass?

Regards,
Cathy2

Cathy2 wrote:

moetchandon wrote:I will be making a cheese lasagna. Saw a recipe that looks interesting and made in a manner I’m not use to. So you will be my guinea pigs.

I like what I hear!

I may be cooking a turkey over the next few days. Do you want the frozen carcass?

Regards,
Cathy2

I would love the carcass! Thanks for offering. We can always use stock at home.

Hi,

I did roast a turkey (straight from the freezer) for Mother's Day.

Unless I change directions, I plan to make Turkey Tetrazinni.

Regards,
Cathy2

Sunday specials:
- Knuckle Sandwich
- Thick Cut Candied Bacon
Both days: Cornbread and Jalapeño Cheddar Sausage!

Making a variety of filled Choux pastries — Pick A Choux.

... a variety of savoy-stuffed choux pastries

I'm in for lunch and sparkling conversation. Sorry for the late notice but I'm just recovered from the bug that's been going around.

Gentle reminder: CASH ONLY!

Sign in window says "BBQ" and "Craft Beer", do they make their own beer, or just sell that made by others? Update: Ok, found website, they don't make beer.

I'm reasonably sure they sell craft beer, not make it.

At the last minute, I will join you. I might be a few minutes late (after 10:30), but well before 11:00.

nr706 wrote:Making a variety of filled Choux pastries — Pick A Choux.

Pikachu.jpg

... a variety of savoy-stuffed choux pastries

GAF wrote:At the last minute, I will join you. I might be a few minutes late (after 10:30), but well before 11:00.

Great!

Sorry to have missed eating with you. Working today was unavoidable. Tom said the food was very good. Hope Cathy and Jen enjoy my exchange and Tom talked it up for you.

See you next month.

Sharon

Chicago Culinary Kitchen in suburban Palatine has GNR written all over it. This is a distinctive "restaurant" with a serious approach to BBQ and to service (skull, tattoos, rock'n'roll, and much beer included). I particularly enjoyed the deep flavor of the "knuckle sandwich" and the all-in-one goodness of the El Jefe supersize sandwich (is this our Jefe?). I was glad that we arrived early, well before opening. Great Mac'n'Cheese. While they didn't run out of food, by 11:30 the line stretched out the door.

GAF is correct when he says that Chicago Culinary Kitchen is a GNR-worthy establishment. I'll put some notes in the restaurant's thread and here. Mods are welcome to move them as appropriate.

This was my second visit here. I stayed around after the others left waiting for an order of brisket to bring home. So, observations:

They do take credit cards (not sure when that started).

The knuckle sandwich was rich and delicious and unexpectedly spicy. The jus was spicy and gave me a lengthy sneezing fit. They did a version of char siu that didn't taste terribly Chinese, but was a wonderful mouth full of smoked, savory pork belly.

While the line was long at the beginning of service, by the time I left around 12:20 you could just walk in and order food. There was space at the tables to eat, and at least a dozen people eating outside. Sure, they run out of some items within the hour; they were out of the sausage special, pastrami, and running low on chicken. However, as a neighbor at my table noted, "so what if they run out of something? everything they make is great".

What I'm suggesting is if you want to go, and aren't anxious about getting a particular special or meat treatment, wandering by around 12:30, as opposed to standing in line at 10:30, can provide you with a very nice meal.

Giovanna

Contents of picture sort of left to right: bookending the bread was "F'n Mac and Cheese" and "Esquites" (I think in that order). Then "knuckle sandwich", "Jalapeno Chedder Texas Sausage Char Sue", "Candied Thick Cut Bacon" and the "El Jefe" sandwich. An equivalent flash picture (which I prefer) was posted to restaurant's thread. The color is better here, but it is a bit fuzzy (more obvious in the original 13 megapixel version). With computer processing I could probably adjust the flash color to be close to this color.

I heard the person who placed our order ask for ribs (because I wondered which ribs they meant), but apparently that didn't get entered to the computer and nobody noticed (was not on receipt).

diversedancer wrote:The color is better here, but it is a bit fuzzy (more obvious in the original 13 megapixel version). With computer processing I could probably adjust the flash color to be close to this color.

Food taken with a flash looks artificial. All those moist surfaces reflect.

I tend to take multiple pictures of the same item at different angles. I pick the best.

diversedancer wrote:I heard the person who placed our order ask for ribs (because I wondered which ribs they meant), but apparently that didn't get entered to the computer and nobody noticed (was not on receipt).

How could they hear with the music cranked up? Over time the sound level was brought down, so probably the menu input accuracy went up.

Cathy2 wrote:Food taken with a flash looks artificial. All those moist surfaces reflect.

I tend to take multiple pictures of the same item at different angles. I pick the best.

Well, when the camera is shooting at 1/20 of a second, no number of angles will help. Other dinners might complain if I got out the mini tripod and set it up in a group situation (making them wait), but I could certainly do that when dining alone or with somebody that likes me enough they won't stop liking me for the delay. Anyway, I get dirty looks by the third picture if I do more than one. Or the other dishes brought at the same time are half gone by the time I'm finished photographing the first.

I have some (bought used), maybe $800 cameras, not enough better. Maybe a $2000 camera (or a $1000 lens) would help. Or, maybe the slightly better camera I have, plus a separate flash unit that I do have but haven't really used yet, plus (that I don't have) a flash diffuser (aka soft screen or soft box).

I hate autofocus, with my old 35mm slr I could focus about as fast as I could shoot. And I had F2 lenses (24mm 50 mm) and F2.8 (135mm), and with ASA (1600 for sure, but I think faster later, 6400?) film, focus at F2, but stop down to f 2.8+ 1/60 th for the picture). Current lenses less than F3.5 are very hard to find and VERY expensive.
Yes, the $800 cameras I have can be set for manual focus, but it is slower and more subject to error for me.