Getting Into the Action

Whether they are mashed potato bars or create-your-own seafood martinis, action stations never fail to attract a crowd

by Marilyn Odesser-Torpey (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
February 2007
 

No matter how sophisticated the menu or how worldly the guests, people love playful food. Give them a martini glass and they’ll happily stack up a mashed potato sundae, a potato pancake quickly becomes a canvas for artistic appetite expression. Even a limited or lack of pastry production area or staff can earn accolades with simple recipes presented in imaginative ways.

“Action stations never fail to attract a crowd,” says Jonathan Holzer, Executive Chef at Longue Vue Club in Verona, Pa. “People love to watch their plates built right in front of them and, even better, to participate in the building themselves.”

Potatoes with Panache
One of the most popular at Longue Vue is the potato pancake station. Using a mixture premade in the kitchen, station chefs sauté the crispy circles to order, then direct guests to help themselves to a torrent of toppings that usually includes caviar, sour cream, cheddar and gorgonzola cheeses, applesauce and scallions. If the crowds are particularly large, extra pancakes can be whipped up in the kitchen and held in chafers to keep the service flow going, Holzer suggests.

Mashed potato bars (smooth scoops of spuds placed into martini glasses with topping options that often include slices of smoked chicken or other protein) are still among the most requested buffet elements, he says. At Austin Country Club in the Lone Star State, Executive Chef Ron Cooke allows guests to add sex appeal to their spud scoops with sun-dried tomatoes, roasted corn, sautéed mushrooms, jalapeños, red onions sautéed in red wine reduction, grilled artichoke hearts, ham and broccoli. The Texas club members also like Cooke’s addition of sweet potatoes, along with alternative add-ons such as mini marshmallows, brown sugar, pecans and melted butter, to the station.

For a distinctively Southern spin, Gary Smith, Executive Chef at River Hills Country Club in Lake Wylie, South Carolina substitutes a grits for potatoes as the star of their own station.

Make-Your-Own Masterpieces
On the rise at Longue Vue are seafood martini bars, where guests can customize their own appetizers by mixing and matching items such as scallop ceviche, coconut milk-marinated mussels and grilled shrimp on a base of shredded broccoli or other vegetable slaw. At Austin, the “martini” ingredients include layers of calamari, scallops, shrimp, tuna and mussels—all sautéed in garlic herb butter and served on a bed of angel hair pasta.

Barbecue Bonanza
Cooke takes barbecue upscale for banquets by pairing house-brined-and-smoked chicken, brisket, pork shoulder and ribs with a variety of homemade sauces. Some recent sauce sensations have included such ingredients as watermelon, tamarind and cherries. Austin Country Club’s barbecue station usually features at least five different sauces and an assortment of sides such as sweet corn succotash and jalapeño cornbread to go with the Southern-influenced sauces and Napa cabbage-veggie mixes to compliment Asian flavors.

Tempting Tapas
À la minute-prepared tapas also take on a Texas twang at Cooke’s club with the inclusion of pan-grilled lamb T-bones with a roasted shallot demiglace and jalapeño cheese grits and lobster quesadillas with smoked poblanos, Oaxaca cheese and arugula on a sun-dried tomato or cilantro tortilla. Cooke also suggests using sun-dried tomato risotto, cooked ahead on a sheet pan, cooled, cut into triangles, flash-heated in the oven and layered in chafers for presentation as a glamorous, make-ahead base for a seared sea scallop appetizer (his also features lime buerre blanc and haricots verts).

Decadent Desserts
Dessert action stations are hot—literally. At Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines, Iowa, guests never fail to “get a big kick” from the Cherry Bomb, an almond crêpe filled with vanilla ice cream, topped with cherry sauce, drizzled with light and dark chocolate and flamed with 151 rum, says Executive Chef Jeffrey Stahl. Cooke combines classic carnival fare with chic presentation with stations equipped for frying doughnut holes and candy bar popsicles. For the latter, he inserts popsicle sticks into miniature candy bars, freezes the petite sweets, then plunges them into tempura batter and into the fryer for a crispy outside and gooey inside.

At the same station, ice cream makers churn out three-quart batches of vanilla and chocolate (there’s extra in the back to keep the scoops coming no matter how heavy the demand. Bowls of melted chocolate, honey, powdered sugar and rainbow sprinkles are available to allow guests to create their own signature sundaes.

“Cooking desserts to order does require some extra labor, but the interactive element adds a lot of value to the presentation,” says Cooke. “We actually save money because we don’t have to overproduce and we’re not left with a lot of leftover product.”

Updated twists on classic recipes make it easy for Smith and Holzer to produce party-pretty desserts even without the support of pastry chefs. Crème brûlées particularly lend themselves to a wide range of elegant flavors and presentations.

Smith, for example, prepares his blood orange crème brûlée in a hotel pan. To serve it, he scoops each portion into a champagne glass to show off its festive ruby-colored swirl. (If the burnt sugar layer requires a re-crisping once it is transferred into the glass, he gives it a quick hit with the torch.) Holzer displays at least four different crème brûlée flavors such as espresso, pumpkin, bananas foster or spiced rum) in small (1-1/2 oz.) espresso cups so that guests can choose one or try them all.

House-made walnut raisin bread pudding, presented in a large chafer or in individual portions, and served with a choice of whisky crème anglaise or rum raisin sauce is a comfort classic that is often requested for banquets and weddings at Longvue, says Holzer. Ditto for the club’s popular warm fruit cobblers and crisps topped with whipped cream or ice cream and a sprig of mint.

Assortments of chocolate truffles flavored with espresso, rum or fruit or nut liqueurs are favorite no-bake additions to the Strahl and Holzer’s banquet and wedding dessert tables. Guests can select their own from decorated serving trays or a tasting selection of the truffles can be pre-plated for quick pick-up. C&RB