The Fifth Annual Sausage and Beer Dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns
The Fifth Annual Sausage & Beer Dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns had copious amounts of coppa, big plates of bologna and huge portions of hog. I was stuffed — and that doesn’t usually happen at Blue Hill.
The dinner was filling — but also fabulous. My one and only hors d’oeuvre:
I don’t know how people who had more of them survived. (I’m kidding, of course. Maybe I shouldn’t have eaten four of the chive-bacon biscuits?) Photos from the dinner, after the jump.
The cocktail hour, held downstairs in the Hay Barn:
Serving beer during cocktail hour:
Now we’re upstairs in the Hay Loft at Stone Barns:
A gorgeous space, isn’t it?
Le menu:
First course:
Stone Barns Charcuterie
head cheese, mortadella, smoked loin, rillettes, beef salami, coppa, fennel salami, lonzo, pickles, beer mustard
Kelso of Brooklyn and Blue Hill ‘Collaboration Pilsner’, Brooklyn, NY
(Above, top right: insane biscuits.)
Passing the meat at the table. At first everyone is polite and reserved, friendly to the strangers at the table.
Second course:
Fried Bologna
rye bread, warm lentil vinaigrette
Defiant Brewery Abominable Snow Beer, Pearl RIver, NY
What do you say to that? It’s fried bologna! Gorgeous.
Third course:
Blood Sausage
sunny side up egg, onions, crackling focaccia
Defiant Brewery Belgian Style Tripel, Pearl River
Rich. Sinfully.
In the way back in the whites is chef Adam Kaye. Maybe you saw the profile I did on him that advanced the sausage dinner. He works very hard to pull this off, and this year’s event was a great success (as have the past ones been.)
Between each course, Adam led a short discussion with a farmer and a brewmaster. Here are Matt Halloran of Halloran Family Farm in Callicoon Center, left, and Scott Vacarro of Captain Lawrence Brewing Company in Pleasantville, right.
Matt raised the venison in our fourth course:
Venison Bratwurst “Faire Chabrol”
cabbage, carrots, venison consomme
Captain Lawrence “St. Vincents Dubbel”, Pleasantville, NY
Faire chabrol is a French expression that describes how when you’re almost done with your soup, you pour your wine in the bowl and slurp the bowl to finish the dish. So they splashed some beer in the bowl, and Adam encouraged us to slurp away.
See the foam from the beer along the side of the sausage?
By this time all reserve is gone and we’re laughing and chatting noisely. So naturally we all slurped our bowls:
The dish was delicious — a little bitter, which was just what we needed at the time.
Especially when you consider the final savory course….
Franks and Beans
braised belly, shelling beans, sauerkraut
Kelso of Brooklyn Bourbon Barrel Aged Chocolate Lager, Brooklyn, NY
Tender, tomato-y, creamy, meaty:
Here’s Mike Greenberg. He is the private dining room manager at Blue Hill, and is also the creator of the restaurant’s artisanal beer program. He works with Adam and the brewmasters to pair the beers for the night.
Bravo, Mike.
Dessert, by pastry chef Alex Grunert.
Chocolate Sacher Cake
red jacket apricots, pickled raspberry sorbet
Captain Lawrence “Black Cow” Espresso Beer, Pleasantville, NY
Just when you think you can’t take another bite, along comes an elegant dessert. Somehow you find room.
And then there’s this:
Another year, another great dinner. I can’t wait to see what they put together next year.
The 411 on Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
Previously:
Savoring Local Sausage.
Sausage and Beer Master Class, Part 2
The Fifth Annual Sausage & Beer Dinner is Coming Up, So Here’s a Look at Last Year’s Event (the fourth anuual).
The Third Annual Sausage & Beer Dinner.
Other posts on Blue Hill at Stone Barns:
The Local Angle on Top Chef at Stone Barns.
The Last of the Tomatoes at Blue Hill at Stone Barns With Video
Holiday Countdown with Josh Lawler
New Cocktail at Blue Hill at Stone Barns: With Photos of Bar Snacks.
The 12 Days of Cocktails (featuring the Berkshire Pines cocktail from Blue Hill)
that looks incredible!