Small Household Exchange @ Great Sea Restaurant Jan 13 6pm

Chicken wings will be the featured food at the January Small Household Food Exchange. They’re the specialty at GNR Great Sea Restaurant.

It was 1964 when Teressa Bellissimo, at Anchor Bar in Buffalo, New York, developed a recipe for fried chicken wings in a hot, spicy sauce. After needing to come up with a late night chicken snack quickly, she only found wings, which were usually used for stock. She fried them up and added hot sauce. A legend was born.

Apparently, that even pre-dated Korea’s love of chicken wings.

Korea Herald wrote:The birth of the deep fried chicken dates back to the late 1960s when Myeongdong Yeongyang Center in Seoul began to sell the whole chicken grilled in an electric oven.

The nongreasy, crunchy yet tender fried chicken started to become a common staple in the 1970s in line with the nation’s economic growth, emergence of cooking oil and vast improvement in chicken farming.

So join us — whether bringing an exchange, or simply for the camaraderie — Sunday, January 13, 6 pm, at Great Sea Restaurant, 3254 W Lawrence Ave, Chicago. The Korean Chicken wings will thank you.

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 January 6, in case this dinner is as popular as it might be.

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!

Dinner and Exchange:
nr706 — Firm Spoonbread or loose Cornbread with sausage, bacon and veggies
Cathy2 — Stuffed Grape Leaves
moetchandon — Carne Adovada
Pie Lady — champagne chicken with mushrooms

Dinner and sparkling company:
GAF
eating while walking
C2 friend

Great Sea Restaurant
3254 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, IL 60625
(773) 478-9129

Hi,

I will be there for dinner and exchange.

Thank you for organizing this!

Regards,
Cathy2

I’m in for dinner and exchange.

MEEEE
At least for dinner. I'll know about exchanging closer to the date.

I'll be there for dinner.

Hi,

I will be making stuffed grape leaves.

Regards,
Cathy2

I will be making Carne Adovada.

NR706 convinced me to cook. If it sucks, blame him

I'm making champagne chicken with mushrooms. If I get an inclination to bake, I might throw together some bread and a sweet too.

Pie Lady wrote:I'm making champagne chicken with mushrooms.

I didn't know champagne chicken was a thing, so no matter what you contribute to the dinner, you've contributed yet another thing to this forum, as far as I'm concerned. I'm going to try this with a leftover holiday bottle of prosecco.

Aw thanks! If there's any left, I'll bring it to the restaurant for a tipple. (I bought 4 wee bitty bottles. Who knew that existed?)

HI,

I am thinking of adding hummus along with some dill rice.

Any idea if hummus will freeze ok?

Regards,
Cathy2

Hello, just saw this one. Is it too late to join?

eating while walking wrote:Hello, just saw this one. Is it too late to join?

No! Please do!

Cathy2 wrote:HI,

I am thinking of adding hummus along with some dill rice.

Any idea if hummus will freeze ok?

Regards,
Cathy2

Hummus never lasts long enough in our house. I'd think it wouldn't work but I can't explain why. How about checking the containers at the store? It should say "Do Not Freeze", right?

eating while walking wrote:Hello, just saw this one. Is it too late to join?

Join us for the dinner! For the exchange, some of us have already made all the portions that we thought we'd need to exchange, so we may not be able to exchange more this time. But next month ...

nr706 wrote:

eating while walking wrote:Hello, just saw this one. Is it too late to join?

Join us for the dinner! For the exchange, some of us have already made all the portions that we thought we'd need to exchange, so we may not be able to exchange more this time. But next month ...

Got it, I'll bring something to the next one. Please count me in for dinner at Great Sea.

Thanks

Hi,

I'm coming with a friend who will do dinner and the sparkling conversation thing.

Regards,
CAthy2

I don't see Katie on the list, is she still coming?

Pie Lady wrote:I don't see Katie on the list, is she still coming?

From rereading her comments, I think she was pleased to learn of this recipe. It did not suggest she planned to attend. Of course, if she shows up, she is welcome.

Cathy2

Okay, I have a pick for March. I call dibs.

I have a hankering for these lollipop wings but alas, they don't deliver to the south side. Do you know anyone else who does wings like this in Chinatown or thereabouts?