The Deans Divide

She Crab Soup - one of us can't get enough and the other won't touch it. Dean Pollak stated "it's just like drinking heavy cream", and Dean Manigault said, "Exactly!"

Dean Pollak thinks fresh picked crab is tastier cold and luxurious all on it's own. She wants as little tampering with the pristine jumbo lump crabmeat as possible. She likes a squeeze of lemon and a few twists of black pepper, no more. Dean Manigault, on the other hand, thinks that hot and creamy crab is the bees knees, be it in a soup, puff pastry, or in a souffle. Dean Pollak just realized that if you were to break down the Deans go to flavor profiles, Dean Manigault prefers hot and creamy, and Dean Pollak dry and crispy. Examples can be found in our different preferences for Thanksgiving stuffing (p 119 of our book), fried oysters and crab preparation. If you live in South Carolina, you can catch the crabs yourself. Crabbing is such a fun activity to do with friends and family.  Just grab some chicken parts, string, a bucket to fill with sea water and crabs, and a long handled net.  Find shallow sea water near the shore and start crabbing. Picking the crab clean is a bit of a chore, but the end result is well worth the effort.  

"Lowcountry Crabbers" by Charleston artist Doug Grier

One of Dean Manigault's favorite soups is from our friend Paula Deen.  Don't forget to watch us on her new network.  We are in the Naked Hot Wings segment and the Leftover Do Over Chicken Pot Pie segment.  Here are two recipes to use for your crab!

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SHE CRAB SOUP

(from Paula Deen)

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup chopped green onion, with tops
2 teaspoons minced garlic
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups fish stock
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 pound crabmeat, picked free of shell

1/4 cup sherry
1/2 teaspoon lemon-pepper seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 cup chopped fresh chives

1.  Sauté chopped green onion and garlic in butter until tender.  Stir in flour, stirring until well blended.  Slowly add 2 cups of the fish stock, continuing to cook until smooth and bubbly.  Slowly add cream and milk.  Stir in crabmeat.  Add sherry, lemon-pepper seasoning, salt and white pepper.  

2.  Simmer until piping hot; adjust seasoning (sherry, salt, and pepper) to taste.  

3.  Serve in bowls topped with cheese and chives.

Dean Pollak's favorite way to eat crab:

Pick jumbo lump crab meat carefully to remove the cartilage, leaving the crab piece in tact.  Chill crabmeat.  Snip chives on top, add a slice of lemon and serve in cocktail glasses.

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Not Being Hungry Never Stops the Deans

Everyday the Deans start thinking about what's for lunch about 10:30 in the morning, and bear in mind, we have both eaten breakfast. When Dean Manigault moved to Charleston from New York City she was appalled that people ate lunch at eleven and invited you for dinner at six. Twenty years later she can assure you it is her absolute favorite thing about living in the South. Now, when she goes back to NY and the dinner is called for 8:30 in the evening (or even later) she wants to weep like a little baby girl and she can't wait for her flight home.

We don't let being full or even GI distress keep us from enjoying the current meal. On last week's drive to Charlottesville Dean Manigault was excited to introduce Mamma Zu's in Richmond to Dean Pollak. Dean Pollak had entered the first stages of food poisoning but she did not let this impede her ordering four, and yet a fifth, appetizer, because she spied a little gem she hadn't tried yet. 

The Deans are the exact opposites of Buddhists. Gluttony is our deadly sin. We are not proud but we don't know how to change. 

Image courtesy of Artisan Meat Share

THE DEANS LIST 

Discover Craig Deihl's artisanal meats and so much more at Artisan Meat Share (of Cypress Restaurant.)  Customers can purchase cooked, cured and smoked meats (to name a few) on a daily basis.  The Artisan Meat Share also offers gourmet sandwiches, condiments, and wine or beer.

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Below are two recipes that will jumpstart your meal planning at anytime of the day.  

In the morning, the dinner preparation has already started.

THE ROAST

INGREDIENTS

Rib Roast

Sea Salt & Black Pepper

Garlic clove

1.  Coat a rib roast with sea salt and lots of black pepper.  If you are feeling zippy, smear it with crushed garlic.  

2.  Pop it in the oven at 375 degrees F and roast until your meat thermometer tells you it's done (about 125 degrees F), roughly 17 minutes per pound. 

3.  Easy, elegant, and uplifting.

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After dinner, we go to bed dreaming of what we will have when we wake up in the morning.

THE OMELET

Serves 1

INGREDIENTS

2-3 eggs (per person)

Butter

Salt and Pepper

Filling: spinach, cherry tomatoes, shredded cheese, bacon, diced ham

1.  Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat.  Crack 2 to 3 eggs into a bowl and whisk; season with salt and pepper.  Pour egg mixture into the skillet.  As soon as they are set, cover half of the eggs with your favorite filling.  

2.  Fold the other half of the eggs over the filling and slide onto your dinner plate.

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Never Say This

At some point you will end up saying something dumb or regrettable. The following list is by no means exhaustive, but the Deans have heard the following comments in the last year, so we want to help you avoid these monstrous pitfalls. We promise you, with our own ears, we have heard them all. 

2014 Top 7 Off Putters

Never let the Deans hear you say the following:                                                                                                                                                                               

No. 7 “Sorry, I have to cancel. I've got a different event."                                                               This is just rude and no host wants to hear that their event is not on the top of your list.  This excuse trumpets both indifference and a lack of social awareness, and marks you as a person who waits for better offers. 

No. 6 "You look so tired".                                                                                                                   We may think we look great, and hope we always do, so to hear we look tired is a total buzz kill. 

No. 5 “Can I bring my child to your party?”                                                                                          If you have children the host knows this so if your host wanted your child, they would have invited him or her in the first place.

No. 4 “The sliced tomatoes were fantastic”.                                                                                     This is a perfectly generous statement when the meal is simple and the tomatoes are outstanding. However, if the sliced tomatoes are placed next to an obviously labor intensive dish, then the comment will stick in the ear of the host. Dean Pollak made a timbale from Giuliano Bugialli's cookbook and the new girlfriend of an old friend raved about the tomatoes which took 30 seconds to slice and stayed silent about the piece de resistance. Dean Pollak is rankled. 

No. 3 “I just found someone online. Can I bring him or her to your dinner party, even though I haven't me them in person myself yet?"                                                                                           Hell no!

No. 2 “Your living room is too hot. Can we move to another room?”.                                   Arranging the flow of an evening from room to room is not arbitrary, If we have you in a certain room, it's because we want you in this room.  If you are uncomfortable at our house that is your problem, not ours.

No. 1  A guest is asked what he or she wants to drink. The host replies that quaff is not available. The guests retorts "Well that's what I want" or "I can't believe you ran out".  Both these statements put us on the spot and make us feel ungenerous. 

Our Daily Fix

We are almost afraid to post this because we may never see our favorite sandwich again.  On one of Charleston’s most charming streets, Church, and below Broad no less (outside private kitchens, the only food below Broad) sits a dainty little shop called Goat. Sheep. Cow.  Inside they sell a fragrant dizzying spectacle of cheeses from every corner of the globe and cured meats to match, as well as a comprehensive selection of affordable wines.  But that’s not all!  We are going to let you in on the secret.

             Owners, Trudi Wagner and Patty Floersheimer

They ALSO sell a daily sandwich! The store uses Charleston’s best bread (from EVO bakery) down to the millimeter of the right depth for a sandwich.  The bread is highlighted but is not the whole story. You don’t end up with a mouthful of bread unable to taste anything else, which is lucky, because ‘anything else’ changes daily but is always delicious.  They pluck from right out of the case thinly sliced cured meats, aromatic cheeses and layer with fresh or pickled vegetables or fruit preserves.

                                                                                                                  Image courtesy of Goat.Sheep.Cow

Part of the thrill is wondering if you are even going to get the sandwich because it sells out the minute the store opens at 11 a.m.  By the time you realize that nothing but a Goat. Sheep. Cow. sandwich will do, they very well might be sold out. Lucky for the Deans that we are always hungry for lunch by eleven.

Since this sandwich comes wrapped in sleek white butcher paper you don’t know what the sandwich will be until you disrobe it.  High drama Academy style!

What we take away from these lunch experiences is that a little surprise can add a lot to a home cooked daily dinner. Stop asking your unresponsive family members what they want for dinner and go out on some tangent you have been thinking you want to explore.

If you don't live in Charleston don't despair. The owners of Goat. Sheep. Cow. have given us the fundamentals of their mini masterpieces. 

Sandwich Combinations:

• Proscuitto Cotto, Triple Cream Brie, Fig Jam with Orange, Butter Lettuce or Arugula.
• Italian Sweet and Dry Salame, Fresh Bufala Mozzarella, Roasted Marinated Tomatoes, Arugula, and either Pesto or Balsamic Vinegar.
• Speck, Raclette, Plum Jam, Olive Oil, and Arugula.
• Proscuitto Cotto, Big John's Cajun Cheddar, Lusty Monk Whole Grain Mustard, Vermont Creamery Butter, and Cucumber Slices.
• Finocchiona, Marinated Feta (aka Crack Cheese), Marinated Roasted Tomatoes, and Arugula.
• Lonza, Promontory Cheddar, Dijon Mustard, Mayo, Roasted Peppers and Arugula. 
• Proscuitto Cotto, Pt. Reyes Tomma, Bacon Jam, Roasted Marinated Tomatoes, and Avocado Slices.

The Forgotten Fowl

Cornish Game Hen

Cornish Game Hens have changed since the last time the Deans went to cook them.  The rule of game hens of our youth was one for each person.  Dean Pollak went to cook dinner for herself the other night (her husband was away) and she was shocked about how large the modern day game hen was, but this did not daunt her in the slightest.  She realized that she could get two meals for the price of one.  The game hen retains a hint of gamey flavor, lost in larger chickens.  A simple preparation we find is easiest and tastiest.  Everyone's favorite kind of recipe. 

Our favorites are by Belle and Evans.

Crispy Cornish Game Hens, Edamame Beans and Juicy Heirloom Tomatoes 

CORNISH GAME HEN

INGREDIENTS

Herbs de Provence

Cumin

Olive Oil

1.  Run hens under cold water, inside and out, and dry with paper towels.  Sprinkle heavily with Herbs de Provence and Cumin.  Put hens on a plate, uncovered, and let rest in refrigerator until ready to cook, for up to a day. 

2.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Remove hens from frig. 

3.  Place a very light film of olive oil on a saute pan just large enough to hold the number of hens you will be cooking.  Put pan in oven to heat.  When oven temperature has reached 425 degrees F, take pan out of oven using pot holders (pan handle is very hot by now) and place hens back side down in saute pan.  Place back in oven for one hour. 

4.  Remove and eat right away, room temperature, or cold the following day. 

School Night at the Manigault's

Cooking is Dean Manigault's artist outlet, but yet, she has been cursed with two daughters who don't like to eat her food. Last night's dinner was a roast chicken with a homemade gravy, black rice, haricot vert, and melon and prosciutto. India (15) took one slice of chicken and one string bean and then ate neither. Gigi (12) took several pieces of chicken, a little bit of rice and some beans. She ate a few beans, a bite of rice, and left most of the chicken and gravy. After seven minutes of communal dining they both begged to be excused. Thankfully Dean Manigault has two neighbors who love to come to dinner most nights, because her ego couldn't take the lashing her daughters inflict. 

Since Dean Pollak's children are adults, she knows what works. Her solutions:  Give birth to seven foot sons. Insist that your children participate in a lively sport every day. Only allow carrots and apples for snacks. Any food that they look askance at, announce that the food is just a different kind of chicken, such as, "that's not salmon, that's pink chicken." The final and most useful tip is to enlist the children's help in cooking, starting when they are toddlers and taking over a whole meal by the time they are teenagers. 

Below are a few recipes that may help entice your child to participate at dinner.

FRIED ZUCCHINI

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

1 cup water

2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1 pound zucchini, sliced lengthwise 1/8 inch thick and 2 inches long

Vegetable oil, fro frying

Salt

1.  In a shallow bowl, whisk together the water and flour.  The batter should have the consistency of sour cream.  Adjust your measurements accordingly. 

2.  Into a Dutch oven or stock pot, over high heat, pour enough oil to come 3/4 inch up the side of the pot.  When the oil reaches 375 degrees F, dip the zucchini slices into the batter.  Transfer to the hot oil one handful at a time, so as not to crowd the pan.  Flip a couple of times until the zucchini are golden brown all over.  Your oil must be hot enough so the cooking is finished within 2 to 3 minutes.  

3.  Sprinkle with salt and serve piping hot with homemade mayonnaise or remoulade.

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EGG STRATA

Breakfast for Dinner!

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

1 sourdough boule, sliced 3/4 inch thick

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

Thin slices of Gruyere or cheddar, enough to cover the bread on the bottom of the pan

6 eggs

3 cups whole milk

1 pound bulk sausage, browned

1.  Grease a 9x11 inch glass or ceramic baking dish.  Spread both sides of the bread with the butter.  Layer the bread in the bottom of the baking dish.  Top with the cheese.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.  Pour over the bread, up to 1/2 inch below the top of the baking dish.  Any more liquid will bubble over when cooking.  Add the sausage.  Cover and refrigerate the strata overnight or for up to 2 days.

3.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Bake the strata until puffy and golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

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Find the Chicken Pie recipe and many more recipes here.

Missing Maris

On September 2, Father Massoud, the interim minister of Grace Episcopal Church in Millbrook, New York, gave the best homily for Dean Manigault’s mother, Maris Van Alen,  that she has ever heard and many people felt the same way. Dean Manigault knows she is unique, of course, in having had a difficult relationship with her mother but perhaps one or two of you can relate.  Father Massoud pointed out that Maris had been no saint, but then asked the congregation what was a saint really? Isn’t a saint someone who lets God into his heart to improve himself? Don’t we all have the opportunity every day to do that? Isn’t a saint someone who uses major life changes to improve herself  and isn’t that just what Lee’s mother had done? She used her husband’s shocking death to turn inwards and grow spiritually. She continued to be challenging, but infinitely less so. She worked through her grief and over time became a woman who was admired by many. Just as she was emerging from her grief and enjoying herself again, she was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer and given a life sentence of six months. During the last six months of her life Maris was more generous, thoughtful, interesting, and interested than she had ever been previously. Dean Manigault and her brother created a whole new relationship with her, and find now that she is not here, a real hole is left in their hearts. Father Massoud asked the congregation if Maris’ death wasn’t an opportunity for us to look inward and use her death as a growth opportunity. In the last eight years of her life Maris went from a person her children often avoided to a person they greatly admired. If that isn’t the work of God, then Father Massoud asked us, what is? 

Dean Manigault collecting flowers for her mother's funeral

Monticello's Heritage Harvest Festival

The Deans are giddy after our talk at Monticello. We simply had the best time ever. We cannot encourage you more heartily to attend the Heritage Harvest Festival in 2015. We already have next year's event on our calendar.

Monticello invited the Deans to kick off their Art of Living portion of the weekend. We were put up in the most sumptuous guesthouse we have ever seen on a farm in Keswick. On Friday morning we took a walk to get our blood flowing and then on to Monticello for a Behind the Scenes Tour (all four floors) with the most competent tour guide who has ever led us around. The house spoke to us and we listened. Thomas Jefferson is THE founding father of gracious living.

Monticello's Dining Room 

Image credit: Thomas Jefferson Foundation/Sequoia Designs
Copyright © Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc.

Friday night's Heritage Harvest dinner was sublime; atop Monalto was a glorious food tent filled with the best wines, ciders and foods that Virginia has to offer. Thomas Jefferson was passionate about vegetable cuisine, plant experimentation and sustainable agriculture...a full two centuries ahead of his time!  Aaron Keefer, the head gardener for the famed French Laundry, was the keynote speaker Friday night and the Deans were enthralled.  He led the audience around his garden and even brought samples including a spinach that tasted EXACTLY like an oyster.  Both Deans wanted to put him in a doggy bag and take him home. 

Saturday saw us on a panel with Charlotte Moss moderating, and Annie Vanderwarker (Fearless Flowers), Holly Shimizu (former director of the US Botanic Gardens) and Gabriele Rausse (Monticello's Director of Gardens and Grounds) and the Deans, all answering questions about The Art of Living. After posing for copious photographs, we were whisked away to deliver our own standing room only talk. We left the Visitor’s Center to sign books on the lawn of Monticello, then were in a short video interview and on to an unbelievable dinner at Red Pump. We are tired just reading about it. How we did it we’ll never know, but boy, it was fabulous. Thank you, thank you Monticello.

Fun facts we learned this weekend:

• Jefferson kept 33 chairs in Monticello's front hall so anyone who wished could wait to see the great man himself.
• Jefferson was so egalitarian that even in his own house, as well as the White House, seating was first come first serve.
• There is no central staircase at Monticello because Jefferson thought it was a waste of precious space and heat. The Deans would follow President Jefferson anywhere, but we are not sure he was 100% on this point:-)
• He made sure his granddaughters were educated because he told them they had a one in fourteen chance of marrying a blockhead.
• The fact that resonated most with the Deans: Thomas Jefferson used his dining room twice a day! How many times have you used yours in the last year?

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The Monticello dining room has seen many fabulous meals in its day.  In the book Dining at Monticello: In Good Taste & Abundance, we have found an authentic recipe from Monticello using Mutton Chops which today can be substituted for lamb. 

MUTTON CHOPS

Serves 4 to 6

INGREDIENTS

8 mutton or lamb rib chops (at least 3/4 to 1 inch thick)

Salt

Whole black pepper in a pepper mill

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup Mushroom Catsup (can be found by some specialty condiment companies)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits

1/2 cup freshly grated horseradish

1.  Prepare a grill with hardwood coals.  When the coals have burned to a medium-hot fire, rub the grill rack with a cloth dipped in lard or bacon drippings and position it about 4 to 6 inches above the coals.

2.  Season the chops with salt and several grindings of pepper and grill them, turning once, until cooked to the doneness of choice, about 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium rare.  Remove them to a warm platter and set aside to keep warm.

3.  Bring the water to a simmer in a small saucepan.  Add the Mushroom Catsup, additional salt if needed, and simmer for about 1 minute more.  Remove from the heat, whisk in the butter, and pour it over the chops.  Sprinkle a little horseradish over them, and spoon the remaining horseradish around the edges of the platter.

NOTE: Readers who are not concerned with authenticity or who are unable to grill-broil may use the oven broiler.  Position a rack about 6 inches below the broiler and preheat for 20 minutes.  Rub the broiling pan rack with lard or drippings and lay the chops on it.  Lightly brush them with melted butter and season with salt and pepper.  Broil, turning once, until done to taste, about 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium rare.

This Weeks NYT Food Section

Dean Pollak's favorite restaurant of 2014 is the Saltry, on a tiny slip of an island, Halibut Cove, (population 30) off Homer, Alaska. She's been wondering how to get herself back to the coolest spot on the most western tip of the United States to relive an extraordinary July day feasting, boating, and hanging out with the Hotes Foundation gang. Today's NYTimes Dining Section came close to the rescue with a lovely profile of Saltry and its owner, Marian Beck. The Times photos capture the spirit of the restaurant, sitting on stilts overhanging Halibut Cove.

Maybe because Marian Beck grew up on Halibut Cove, she had to learn how to do EVERYTHING. Cook, bake bread and pies, grow vegetables and flowers, preserve moose plus berries, catch salmon, halibut and cod, paint, fillet fish (I watched her fillet a giant salmon with the ease that I chop cabbage), greet customers and make the world's most extraordinary chocolate cheesecake. So Academy fans won't feel left out, we've copied Marian's cheesecake recipe below, from her fabulous cookbook, Salmon Patties & Rosehip Pie. 

CHOCOLATE CHEESECAKE

Serves 24

A Saltry Classic; Saltry Restaurant, Halibut Cove, Alaska

INGREDIENTS

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

2 1/2 cups sugar, divided

1/4 cup butter, melted

3 pounds cream cheese, softened 

6 eggs

2 cups sour cream

1 pound high-quality semisweet chocolate (Marian Beck: top quality European chocolate)

1.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

2.  Prepare a 12-inch springform pan by cutting baking paper in a circle to fit the bottom.  Mix graham crackers, 1/2 cup sugar, and butter together and press against the bottom and sides of pan, keeping the top edge uniform so it will be attractive when sliced.

3.  Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.  Add eggs, 2 at a time, and sour cream, mixing all the while.  Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, and when it's completely melted and silky in texture, add it slowly to the cream cheese mixture, beating constantly.  Pour into the pan and bake for about 1 1/2 hours.  Watch it carefully; you don't want it to crack or the edges to puff up too much. 

4.  Serve with a drizzle of chocolate and whipped cream.

WWJD

What would Jefferson do?  The Deans are packing up to go to Monticello for the Fall Festival Harvest this weekend to ask him ourselves. We couldn’t be more excited.

Thomas Jefferson's ethos is the plinth atop on which the Academy perches. What the Deans espouse, Thomas Jefferson taught us: a house is the ultimate tool for living. Remarkably, both Deans live in 18th century houses, so we have loved poring over Thomas Jefferson’s style of household management and find much that we can incorporate today and much to ponder. One question that we simply can’t get out of our heads is where did Sally Hemings sleep? Did he bring a French chef back to the United States? What questions do you want answered? Let us know and we will ferret out the answers anon.

Left: Exterior home of Lee Manigault                                                                           Right: Interior home of Suzanne Pollak

Being ever hungry Deans, we plan to stop at least half a dozen places to eat on our drive up 95. Please let us know if there is a gem we might miss. The first night we are there, we are sampling some of Richmond's delights.  Rappahannock we hear is fab, as well as a jewel called Mamma Zu.  Perhaps a night in the historic Jefferson hotel to get us in the mood? We are booked for a behind the scenes tour of Monticello on Friday and we are tickled pink.  We plan to sit in the lotus position being carried room to room so we can absorb as many vibes from TJ himself as we can.  We just know he has been dying to share his secrets with us personally, so we can spread his message, just like the seeds he so loved to scatter.  Saturday finds us speaking from 12:00 - 1:00 p.m. and on a panel with Charlotte Moss, Annie Vanderwarker, Holly Shimizu, and Gabriele Rausse. Heady company indeed. 

Get tickets here to join us at the festival where we will talk about Living Like Thomas Jefferson: 18th Century Living in a 21st Century World.

Monticello's West Front and pond

Cocktail Shakers Gone Wild

Our new favorite piece of kitchen equipment is one we don’t own at this moment. We’ve owned them in the past, of that we are sure, but where the hell are they now? Like socks in the dryer, cocktail shakers seem to be out and about without consulting us. We know cocktail shakers are the life of the party, and we mistakenly thought we could own one, but evidently you just give temporary shelter to a cocktail shaker because neither one of us can find ours. Hopefully ours have come to rest in some of your bars and are shaking your parties up.

Since we can’t find our cocktail shakers the Deans will waste no time in shopping for new ones. One of us wants stainless, the other wants sterling, and which wants which changes from moment to moment. 

The Williams Sonoma cocktail shaker gets our seal of approval.

Summer Entertaining Essentials

Summer only has a few weeks left, so maximize relaxed extended evenings by throwing last minute dinner parties. There can be too much of a good thing during long nights. Guests cannot relax until they get a sense of the shape of the evening, so if you don’t plan on serving dinner until 10:00 p.m. apprise your people before hand. Remember, if you are in the kitchen the entire time your guests will miss you, and more importantly, they lack a leader. You might not think of yourself as a leader, but anytime you have guests, you are! Guests take all their cues from you.

The Deans reserve the rights to change these essential tips at any time.

Planning.  The great skill of all leaders.  Getting most of the cooking done ahead of time means the meal will be room temperature (perfect for summer.)  You will be relaxed with nothing to do at the last minute, so guests will be too. 

Delegating.  Put someone else in charge of grilling at the last minute.  Men feel so manly stoking a blazing fire. Someone else can also be making the drinks. You can't be doing everything.  If no one is at hand, buy cool six packs of various micro brews. Beer and summer are a match made in heaven.

The Charleston Beer Exchange - every beer known to man in the coolest little shop in Charleston. 

Staging.  Use all your space, inside and out.  Don’t forget industrial fans.  We envy our Alaskan and Adirondack friends this time of year. Those party pros are enjoying perfect weather right now. And Bonus time: Alaskans can stay up all night with no artificial light, while the Adirondackers can blaze a fire every night.  Lucky South Carolinians have to contend with a wind that blows like a hot fire all day and night.

Learn creative party planning tips and so much more from our book, The Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits: A Handbook of Etiquette with Recipes.

The Two Most Dreaded Words in the Western World: School Lunches

The only person we ever knew who liked making school lunches was Dean Pollak. She relished what the others of us despise. She even took it to irritatingly dizzying heights: homemade breads, hand pulled mozzarella, organic apples picked by virgins –- even she can’t believe what a dork she was. Not until years later she discovered that her children never ate those lunches, and were further burdened because they couldn’t trade them with anyone else either. Today they would kill for those lunches but not back then.

So, what are the rest of us to do? Dean Manigault has her children join her at the store so they can select what they will actually eat, not what she wants them to. You can’t have your child starving all day, neither can you have them eating lunchables. If they truly adore Oreos above all other cookies, let them have an Oreo but counterbalance it with a piece of fruit. Let them choose, just not the entire lunch. Compromise is key.

Lunchtime...

Starting in kindergarten make your children invest their own time and energy making their lunch the night before so there is no time crunch involved in the morning. 

Even though her mom is a Dean, Gigi Manigault's favorite mac and cheese recipe is not her mom's, but from local chef, Robert Stehling, from Hominy Grill. Maybe because Robert's daughter, Carson, is Gigi's classmate, or maybe because this is the best mac and cheese recipe ever? The Deans use Yeti's thermos cup to keep the mac and cheese at the optimal temperature until lunchtime because Gigi does not like the cold mac and cheese, and we doubt anyone else does either. 

An alternate version to the classic mac and cheese is our cheesy rice recipe which provides just as much cheesy satisfaction.

Beginnings and Endings

We simply cannot be on call for you people 24 hours a day.

This summer we begin our mornings with sliced peaches and strawberries and iced coffees. Sometimes we need a kick and grind black pepper into our fruit. Have the Deans lost their minds? Certainly not! Originality is in our DNA. While everyone else ups the sugar content, we prefer spicing things up. Black pepper and creme fresh bring fruit to a level you cannot imagine on your own. If you don’t agree, the Deans will hang up their aprons. 

We start our evening around 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. by signing off and creating dean-lious cocktails for ourselves. We always garnish our drinks from our pickle pantry. While in our pantry deciding on our perfect peppery pickle, sometimes we grab a jar of our homemade jam to create a tasty tart with which to end the evening. Since we usually keep homemade pie pastry in the freezer (we always make two pie doughs at a time, one for now, one for freezing) it takes no time to defrost (Charleston is HOT this summer), roll out, and fill with jam. Keeping the summer vibe going!

The Salad Question

No less than the venerable and esteemed Dick Jenrette, formally of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and Classical American Homes, was thoroughly distraught on when to serve his salad. If the Deans had come a moment later, Dick’s salad leaves would have completely wilted.

At first, salad service may seem like a not so difficult problem to solve but immediately upon reflection, the Deans realized that Dick was right. There are many aspects to consider. Salad means many things to many people.

In restaurants the custom is to serve salad before dinner because it is a light and easy first course.

Some always want salad with their food, hence the salad plate. It sits off to the left awaiting to fulfill its purpose.

However, if you want the elegance and grace of the Deans (and frankly who doesn’t?) you must serve your salad after the meal. Its better for the dinner’s timing, conversation, and digestion, not to mention, it is the perfect time to serve a little bit of cheese. When can that be wrong?

The Deans solved the salad question once and for all. 

A few seasonal salad recipes to try and Discover more recipes from the Deans here!

Enough with the Summer Salads - The Deans Crave Meat

The Deans consumed so many salads this summer we are a tiny bit bored. Is our skin turning pale shades of green and leaves sprouting from our ears? We do not know. We do know our bodies need a big hunk of meat.

What better choice than prime rib? Prime rib belongs on many more tables than December's Christmas Dinner. It's a one roast wonder. Sliced left overs can fill french rolls, replace ham in cocktail biscuits, cut into thick strips and tossed into tomato and peach salads, diced for breakfast hash or chopped and combined with something fat and stuffed inside ravioli...the question is when isn't prime rib appropriate? 

The Deans are of two minds when roasting our slabs of ribs. Sometimes we salt them all over and pop in a 425-degree oven for one hour and 15 minutes. Other times we need a quicker job. The oven is cranked up to 500, the meat slathered with salt and pepper and slit randomly with a knife tip to insert bay leaves into those slits. This roast cooks for 30 minutes and then another 30 minutes at 325.

Naturally, the Deans have a few tricks to put up your sleeves: 

• Make sure your oven heats to the temperature that it says it is. 
• Use a meat thermometer - at 125 your meat will be rare and delicious. 

Gin and tonics and cold prime rib are a match made in Academy heaven. For the best tonic order Charleston's finest, Jack Rudy. 

Outside summer buffets, garden cocktail parties, picnics - all are perfect opportunities to showcase the summer prime rib. Its an unusual hot weather menu choice which immediately establishes you as a free thinking original hostess. No one needs to know that you learned the surprise summer menu trick from the Deans. 

Mind if I Stay a Few Days?

This is the wrong way to phrase this request.  The proper question is, "I would love to see you, are there any days in August that are convenient for you?" Never ask for more than 3 nights. EVER! The only exception to this rule is when the person has a whole guest house.  

They might be able to tolerate one or two extra days.  But we wouldn't suggest pushing it.  Your host becomes a prisoner in his own bedroom, and the guest is unaware.  Your guest wonders why you stay in your bedroom all the time, and the host wonders why you never vacate his favorite chair.  Always, always, always leave people wanting more of you.  The stench of you overstaying is impossible to scrub clean and will taint a friendship.  And don't forget, if you haven't been able to pick up copious dinner checks, you cannot go overboard with the thank you gift.

Hoping for the Best is Not a Plan

Since we have several PhD's in Food and its Many Uses and Feeding the Family Nightly , we are the perfect experts to lead you through the Grocery Store.  

If you go to the supermarket at 10:30 a.m. you hit the yoga Pilates crowd.  If you go at 3:30 p.m., you slam into after school mom's.  And between 5:30 - 6:00 p.m., you encounter the onslaught of Afterworkers. The Deans like to go at 8:00 in the morning.  We are fresh and plucky and like to get this chore done early.  A small caveat: sometimes deliveries are running late and the selection is from yesterday, not today.  This means a last minute menu change and dinner becomes Bottles, Cans, Boxes and Jars.  

Make sure most of your shopping is done around the perimeter of the store.  Why? Because this is where the vegetables, meats, dairies and wines are located.  These are the items that need to be front and center and filling your grocery cart.  We see too many carts brimming with sodas, boxed snacks, cartons of crackers and cookies and per-prepared frozen dinners.  The Deans cannot stand seeing this much waste in terms of calories as well as money.

Number one rule is to not go shopping with an empty stomach.  You will buy way too much and regret most of your choices.  Rule number two; have a plan about what you want to eat tonight, tomorrow night and what's for breakfast and lunch if you're going to be at home.  Rule number three; in order to be the best prepared, most organized as well as to not waste valuable money - have a written list.  The more you have going on in the rest of your life, the more important the list becomes.  The Deans have both spent time tracking down exotic spices only to return home with one million bags of groceries but not the center piece of the meal.  We know we didn't invent the list, but it's so important that it bares repeating.  Often, we bring the magazine or book we are cooking from with us instead of transcribing so there is no room for error.  

If we see something particularly good-looking or a wonderful sale item, and we are not sure how to use it, we Google the item right in the store to come up with ideas.

If you are a creative person, cooking can be one of the most fun outlets.  Taking a huge array of  non-homogenous items that, alone don't amount to much, and creating one tasty meal, is quite an accomplishment.  

Mint. More Than an Herb. Almost a Way of Life.

Everyone spends the whole summer simpering about basil. Why is basil so great while mint whiles away in ignominy?  Mint elevates all it touches; tea, lamb, lemonade, watermelon, salads, chimichurra sauce, tarts, ratatouille, cocktails, ice creams and sorbets and for extra freshness, iron your sheets with mint infused water.  This fall plant some in an indoor pot, just like you did with basil in the summer, and when you feel like basil, try mint instead.  We guarantee a new love in your life, and who doesn't want that?

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MINT JULEP

INGREDIENTS

2-3 sprigs of fresh mint plus 2 sprigs for garnish

1/2 ounce simple syrup

2 dashes Angostura bitters

2 1/2 ounces bourbon

1.  Rub three sprigs of the mint with your hands, strip the leaves off the stems and add the leaves, syrup, and bitters to a highball or julep cup and muddle.

2.  Add bourbon and fill cup with crushed ice.

3.  Stir and garnish with more fresh mint. 

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FIGS with MINT, GOAT CHEESE & VINAIGRETTE

INGREDIENTS

1 head red or green leaf lettuce

1 cup mint, leaves off of stems

20 ripe figs, halved or quartered, depending on size

4 ounces creamy goat cheese

one bunch green onions, white and pale green parts finetly chopped

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

3 tablespoons olive oil

1.  Place green onions, mustard, salt and olive oil in a bowl and whisk. Add an ounce of the goat cheese and whisk to get a creamy dressing. Add lettuce and mint to the dressing and toss gently.

2.  Cut the figs and arrange over leaves. Place the rest of the goat cheese, in small pieces over the lettuce.

3.  Serve with salt and pepper. 

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MINT PESTO

INGREDIENTS

half bunch Italian flat leaf parsley, about 30

bunch of fresh mint leaves, about 30

bunch of basil leaves, about 15

5 tablespoons unsalted (sweet) butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 cup Parmigiano cheese

1.  Place the parsley, mint, basit and 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt in a stone mortar and use a pestle to grind ingredients together. (This can be done in a food processor too. Switch on and off so ingredients do not puree).

2.  Transfer mixture to a bowl, add butter, cream and cheese and mix with a wooden spoon. Add salt and pepper.

3.  Sprinkle with mint leaves after tossed with pasta. 

Heartbreak at Home

The Deans biggest heartbreaks this summer have not been affairs of the heart in the traditional sense, but we are heartbroken nonetheless.  How is a solid, sturdy structure sometimes a sucking vortex?  The Deans are not geologists, astrologists or whoever studies the phenomena, so this question stumps the Deans. It doesn’t matter how valuable the object is, from socks to fine jewelry. Ostensibly the front door has not been opened, yet things are not here. Dog’s stomach? Ether? Hidden in a closet? Thrown away by accident?

We don’t know…that’s what being lost means. You can’t find the item. Remember when saying the dog ate your homework? Far worse is when it’s true. Sometimes our co-inhabitants are the culprits.

Dean Pollak came home the other night and her dog had dragged her white crocodile pocketbook onto the living room floor and had eaten her tiny orange Hermes jewelry pouch within. Ominously the entrails - the straps - were beneath the sofa, and after a hard target search of the house, left the only remaining place it could be: Teddie’s stomach. After several long walks around town, the evidence mounted.  

CROCODILE PURSE - notice chewed handle on left side...

And the culprit...

STRAPS 

Dean Manigault has scoured her house from top to bottom because she is missing four individual earrings. This wouldn’t be so odd if she had worn any of the pairs in the last year. Maybe she would have taken one off to talk on the phone or traveled somewhere and left one, but no, they should be right where she left them. Surely a thief would have take both. And Dean Pollak hasn’t brought Teddie over, so last week’s perpetrator is off the hook for this caper.  Dean Manigault’s ex-husband would blame every missing item on a poltergeist which goes a long way to explaining why he is her EX-husband.

THE LONE SURVIVORS 

Dean Manigault's heart is heavy and sagging in her chest at the sight if the four lone beauties.  The pendant earings were a gift from her late father when she was 15.  Where oh where are they?! So baffling.  And seemingly unfair.  

Some mysteries are never to be solved.  That is why they are mysteries.  The air of suspense does nothing to dampen the pain and in the cases of the lost objects, the pain is deep and wounding.  We may not be able to take it with us, but we had hoped to hang onto it a bit longer! Maybe Dean Manigault should have stayed married, because poltergeists do exist in our houses.