So last night I cooked for my friend Todd’s 4th of July party. Throughout the night there were about 50 people eating, from about 7pm to 1am. All in all, it was a success, with largely rave reviews of the food. There were certainly things I’d do differently if I hosted the party tomorrow, but for the most part it was a controllable chaos. Due to a lack of pictures of certain dishes, I’m going to quickly recap the foods I served and then post a separate in-depth recipe of the hit of the party - the Grilled Cheese with Short Ribs with Sandwiches - which were utterly gluttonous and thus fantastic. Let’s be honest, can you think of two more rich or satisfying foods than slow-braised short ribs and crispy grilled cheese? It’s like candy for grown-ups.
More detailed posts about the other dishes will be coming soon, once I can do them justice with worthwhile pictures.
So for the party I was given two requirements - I could only make finger foods and the budget was $200. I wasn’t exactly sure how many would be eating, but we assume in the 40-50 person range. Past those considerations, I was free to take it any direction I wished.
I wanted to serve some creations that weren’t usual party fare, but knowing that every palette is different, also have some food that are safe for all eaters. So, to start, I made a roasted garlic and lemon hummus, served with baked pita bread and a vegetable spread. The hummus, which was shockingly easy to make, basically consisted of garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, a few heads of roasted garlic and some kosher salt. The consistency took a bit of time to get down but with some tasting and adjusting it was solved quickly. Best yet, there was a plethora of hummus and it barely cost $10.
The choripan, pre-slicing...
Starters were not the focus here, however. For the more substantive food, there were three options. First, an Argentine street food specialty, choripan (above). It’s their version of our hot dog, but with considerable more zest and spunk. I’m going to write a full post about choripans later, but here are a few details. My version of the choripan consisted of a spanish chorizo, marinated in a chimichurri sauce, then fire roasted for a few minutes to get a nice char and served on a mini grilled baguette. Argentinians use a combination of beef and pork sausage, but I find that a spicy pork sausage works particularly well and is readily available here in DC.
Hardly scientific, the chimichurri sauce consisted of a ton of chopped up fresh Italian parsley, red chili pepper flakes, minced fresh garlic, kosher salt and medium-grade olive oil. Once the chorizo was roasted on the grill, 2-3 minutes per side (I used smoked chorizo so the time was shorter), and the baguette had been grilled for a minute or two, I assembled and sliced them into mini finger-food sizes bites. In all, the 25 chorizo cost $40 dollars and the chimichurri sauce was less than $10 total. Depending on preference, you can buy chorizo for far less than the $40 I paid.
At their best, the choripan can be spicy, zesty, hearty, chewy, crispy and altogether delicious.
Cheddar Sliders...
Second of the meat options were sliders (above), served either plain or with a sharp cheddar. Nothing too special here, this was the safe options for guests with less adventurous palettes - a nice way of saying boring eaters. The main takeaways here were making sure we had a cheese that melted well and preparing the meat with flavorful seasoning prior. For the seasoning, I used a mix of kosher salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, old bay seasoning and a healthy dose of worcestershire sauce. The burger meat, 6 pounds worth, went quickly and for hardly $15 it wasn’t practically free.
The grilled cheese with short ribs sandwich
For the final dish of the evening, I made a sandwich (above) of braised short ribs, sharp New York cheddar and sliced red onions on grilled sourdough bread (Taken/adapted from a recipe on Epicurious.com by LA chef Govind Armstrong). It was the hit of the night and given the time it took to make, it should’ve been.
I wasn’t exactly sure how many I’d be cooking for and what type of demand there’d be, so I bought 10 pounds of boneless short ribs ($3.99 per pound), three loaves of sourdough, and 3 pounds of a NY sharp cheddar ($9.99 per pound). While I always prefer to cook with meats on-the-bone, I simply didn’t have enough room to cook 20 pounds of bone-in short ribs just to end up with the same amount of meat as the 10-pounds of boneless. The cheddar, on the other hand, was picked for it’s easy melting ability and reasonable price.
The shredded short ribs, which had been braised for 4 or 5 hours while cooking, were incredibly tender and juicy on their own. In fact, at one point, one of the guests took a handful of meat on a tortilla chip and scarfed it down (I’d say one of the better compliments the meat could receive). Anyway, the ribs along with a delicious melted cheese, the crunch of a crisp red onion and a hearty bread created an utterly gluttonous and thus fantastic end product.
People started requesting the sandwiches at 7pm on the dot and at 1am I still had the grill fired up churning them out, so they were a success and I highly recommend them. They take plenty long to make, but all in all, well worth the effort. For instructions and details on the short rib grilled cheese sandwiches, read the immediate next post on Read Meat.
There was one notable exception last night which I should've accounted for, vegetarian food. Yes, hummus is vegetarian, but that's hardly substantive fare. I audibled and made simple grilled cheese sandwiches for the few veges in the crowd but that probably wouldn't fly in most parties.
Aside from that, I’d say the night was a success. (And I stayed within the budget too, albeit barely.)
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