Culinary Crafts recently had the honor of co-catering an event alongside world-famous chef Wolfgang Puck and his amazing team. The occasion was a retirement celebration for one of Utah’s movers and shakers, Todd Pederson, Founder and CEO of Vivent. With 600 guests, it wasn’t the biggest event we’ve done, but it certainly was one of the most memorable.
Days before the gala, Chef Puck’s team joined us in our Pleasant Grove kitchen and bakery, and preparations began. What a joy to collaborate with these consummate professionals who are not only masters of their craft but are so gracious, down-to-earth, and easy to work with! With our reduced staff (due to Covid), we had to scramble to find 75 team members to handle service. UVU’s Culinary Arts Program kindly recommended two dozen of their students, and they did a fantastic job. The incredible evening began with butler-passed hors d’oeuvres. The highlights of the world-class menu were Japanese and U.S. wagyu beef, served side by side, followed by the most delicious banana cream pie you’ve ever tasted! A surprise concert from pop star Justin Bieber topped off the fabulous evening. Since the event, our relationship with Chef Wolfgang Puck and his amazing team has continued. Four of our chefs and bakers were asked to help him cater Super Bowl LVI, and we look forward to other future collaborations.April 5, 2022
Culinary Crafts Hosts Team USA Olympic Party
November 20, 2019
Delicious Fall Harvest Pop Up Restaurant at the Tasting Room
Cocktail hour
To start off the evening, Pop Up guests enjoyed two passed hors d’oeuvres! The first on the list of dishes being passed was our classic butternut squash soup sip topped with Slide Ridge Honey apple cider cream and toasted Utah pepitas. A soup sip is a simple yet delicious way to warm up your appetite as the weather gets colder. Drake’s Family Farms goat cheese and Red Rock pistachios on a smoked Utah peach was the star of cocktail hour. We love to smoke fruit! It is an unusual addition to some of our fruit dishes that is always a pleasant surprise! With our late winter last year, we still had fresh watermelon come fall. This lent to making a beautiful signature cocktail for the evening. We made the Green River Mule that’s made from Green River watermelon which we froze into a granita, Jackson Hole ginger beer, fresh Utah mint, and Sugar House vodka.The Harvest
We started our 10-course dinner with an amuse-bouche. Amuse-bouche translates to “entertained or amused mouth” so this amuse-bouche for the evening was a brown butter and Utah acorn squash mousse on a dried Mountainland apple and sage crisp certainly was a delight to the pallet! What makes our Pop-Up Restaurants different from our standard events we cater? So many things but one of our favorites is that our pop up restaurants is a show where the food is the star! While enjoying a spectacular 10-course meal you get to watch our chefs prepare it all right in front of you. Every step will dazzle you. So this simple Snuck Farm greens with roasted Utah butternut squash, wild mushrooms and shallot duxelles with Slide Ridge honey vinaigrette became one of the favorite courses of the guests. Our chefs come out with large mezzaluna knives and chop huge bunches of greens at speeds that would astound you. The squash is toasted with torches table side. The mushrooms and shallots were then flambeed and sauteed to perfection. It was all plated with finesse and grace. A simple salad became enthralling. No Culinary Crafts event is complete without our house-made artisan bread! Guests enjoyed our black pepper brioche paired with our Utah sea salt butter and our Utah pumpkin cornmeal roll paired with our house-made Cox honey cranberry compound butter. We love sharing our love for fresh artisan bread! We have loved the resurgence of fondue! We as a society have fallen in love with fondue again! Dipping things in cheese is a passion of ours- and why not it is fabulous!! For our next course, we served individual fondues to each guest which featured local tomatoes and Drake’s Farm goat cheese. This flavorful dish had guests licking their plates! As we love to keep things local, we love to serve trout as often as we can. We are always delighted to show off another local vendor, Riverence. They are raising our favorite trout in these here parts! Many local Utahan’s are used to the usual river trout often caught in Utah, but their Ruby Red Trout is a trout unlike you have ever eaten. Our guests enjoyed delicious mesquite-grilled trout with Mountainland granny smith apple chutney grilled fresh minutes before plating. No fall meal would be complete without squash. Our trout was served with squash sauteed in pine nut butter and torches tableside! It was a perfect complement to the trout. For our first entree course, we wanted to keep things warm and very fall so we served a Chicken Honfleur soup! Serving the soup in a miniature sugar pumpkin added an extra holiday flair! Check out the November recipe of the month on our blog for the Chicken Honfleur recipe. Every single Culinary Crafts recipe we share is something you can serve to your friends and family! The second entree of the evening was our sous vide ribeye from Double Ranch served with cowboy caviar, sweet Daley’s bacon and torched shishito peppers. Sous vide is one of our favorite ways to cook during the fall and winter. It lends to the perfectly cooked piece of meat every time and cooked perfectly all the way through. This ribeye we sous vide for 5 hours and then, using handheld torches, we added that idyllic crust and grill marks to the outside. This method lets us serve all our guests the best and freshest product all year round! At the end of every meal, we host we like to end with a tasting. We love to feature and educate about our local artisans. The iconic cheese and chocolate pairing was a perfect way to end this fall evening. The cheese menu of the evening included Deer Valley Truffle Double Cream, Beehive High West Whiskey Cheddar, Heber Valley Orange Rosemary, and San Luca Parmesan Reggiano. Each cheese has its own unique flavor profile all of which are made right here in the Beehive state! Did you know that one of the top chocolate companies in the world is right here in Utah? Amano’s use of Italian and French confectionery techniques brings out the natural flavors of quality cocoa beans which showed in their Morobe, Madagascar, Dos Rios and Ocumare chocolates we served during the Harvest Pop Up.Decadent dessert to end the evening
No dinner is complete without dessert! To end the wonderful evening, we served our flambeed Utah apple and plum crostata with vanilla pastry cream and our signature zabaglione gelato. It was a decadent end to this beautiful meal. As you read through this menu, it may have surprised you that the food kept coming. Dish after dish. How could guests have enjoyed this delectable dessert? At Culinary Crafts we believe in slowing down the eating experience. Meals are meant to be enjoyed and a leisurely affair. Our pop up dinners usually last 4-5 hours. Our biggest recommendation when planning your next event- from a wedding to your next family meal is to slow down, enjoy the moment and relish every bite. It isn’t something to check off your list. It is the highlight of the day. This fall season slow down and enjoy your company and every bite. In addition to all the local creations we got to create for this event, and the joy of hospitality we got to share with our guests, one of the most rewarding parts of our pop up restaurants is that each time we get to partner with one of our favorite local charities and donate the profits to them! At this specific pop up we partnered with The Green Urban Lunchbox! Check out their vision! They are doing amazing things: https://www.thegreenurbanlunchbox.com/. We loved hosting this incredible Harvest Pop Up at the Tasting Room in Salt Lake City and hope you join us at our next Pop Up Restaurant!October 31, 2019
Fantastic Halloween Open House in Park City
Cocktail Hour
Guests were greeted with a breathtaking cocktail bar set up in a decked-out welcome tent. The tent was fitted with lounge furniture, chandeliers, and stunning custom cocktails. The bar was decorated with a Halloween vibe using hollowed-out pumpkins as beverage tubs and marquee signs for custom barrel-aged cocktails. Cocktail hour continued with our artisan Culinary Crafts cheeseboards and housemade lavosh, and crackers. We couldn't forget the pumpkin decor galore!The Menu
To keep guests mingling and partying all night, the menu was all butler passed. As guests toured the house they were delighted with a myriad of selections all brought right to them. Some of the selections from the evening were our favorite fall salad with pears, goat cheese, and local mixed greens, seared polenta bites with a salted caramel drizzle, dried apricots, and candied pecans. Utah beef and pork meatballs with roasted vegetable ratatouille were also on the menu. The mini BLT sandwiches were served with maple bacon, butter lettuce, heirloom tomato, and red pepper aioli. Guests also enjoyed chicken and white bean soup sips that were all the right size for eating and chatting. The bites kept on coming and featured chipotle shrimp and lime wedge skewer with cilantro creme fraiche, bacon-wrapped sweet dates with smoked Utah goat cheese crema and Utah beef sliders on a house-made bun with Beehive cheese and angry onions. The centerpieces for the evening instead of flowers had a sugary spin as we served white cotton candy on each table for guests to grab and munch on.The Kid Zone
While the adults mingled and toured the home, the kids were invited to a special outdoor space just for them! The kids' area was equipt with movies and popcorn and endless amounts of games! We can't forget to mention the spooky touches to keep the Halloween times rolling. Spectacular food was served in the kids' area, haunted veggie cups with black ranch dressing, spooky fruit skewers, and the most delicious house-made corndogs which were battered and fried fresh at the buffet! Look at these personalized mason jars and straws with tags and each of the guests' names so the little guests didn't lose their cups! For dessert, a Halloween candy station was set up with our house-made skeleton cookies.Dessert
Back in the main house, to cap off the evening, there was a dessert station with treats galore! Mini black caramel apples with twig sticks added a yummy fall touch! It was a chocolate lover's dream thanks to the white chocolate dipped marshmallows on a stick with white sprinkles, dark chocolate dipped pretzels with a white chocolate drizzle and dark chocolate whoopie pies. Black and white swirled meringue kisses brought swirly tasty goodness. A delectable black velvet spider web cake was the centerpiece of the dessert station! Hoping this inspires you for this Halloween Season! Eat Well!September 25, 2019
Charming summer wedding at the River Bottoms Ranch
The Venue
The Menu
The Details
The Vendors for this event
December 26, 2018
A Very Special Baby Shower!
March 22, 2018
Knife Sharpening Skills with Chef Warren
45° angle
12° angle
I would recommend that you lay out your stone on a table over a towel to keep the water from getting everywhere. There are multiple ways to sharpen your knife on a wet stone. I do a simple side to side motion, and I do the same angle on both sides of my knife. What ever you do you're going to want to apply 4-6 lbs. of pressure evenly distributed across the knife. Some chefs want one side to be more angled than the other, that's all up to you and how you actually want to handle your knife.Side 1
Side 2
You'll want to take care of your stone so that it can take care of your knives. If your stone starts to bow you're not going to create an even edge on your knife! To do this, you'll need a flattening stone.
When your stone is wet, make some hash marks with a pencil across the entire the top of the stone. Rub the flattening stone along your wet stone until the surface is nice and flat and all the pencil marks disappear . This will ensure that your stone and your knives are kept in great condition!
Once you're done with your stone you'll want to make sure it's nice and clean (it will look black from the metal), dry it off (soak up any residual water), and keep it in a ventilated container or a nice dry area. Although this is our preferred method to sharpen knives, for the home cook who's intimidated by investing in and learning to use wet stones, there exist other very serviceable knife sharpening alternatives. We've achieved excellent results using an Apex Edge Pro device. This contraption helps to set the proper angle and encourage the proper motions without as much practice required as traditional stones. The end result can be effectively the same as a sharpening on a traditional stone. Highly recommended. Another option is a Diamond Hone knife sharpener. These offer preset angles. Some units will sharpen all knives to 20 degrees. Others will sharpen to 15. Some units allow you to switch and back and forth between multiple angles. These are very intuitive to use and will do a good job at making most knives plenty sharp for most applications. However, these don't get your knives quite as sharp as a true stone and in applications you may be left wishing your knife was even sharper. Something that most home chefs don't know is that many knife manufacturers offer a life time sharpening policy. You typically only have to pay for the shipping. Just mail your knives in and receive them back later with a fresh factory edge! If you use your knives daily, the waiting game may be unreasonable. But for many home cooks, this can be a great option. There are also some bad sharpening options to avoid. For example, devices like the one below can help you get through a project in a pinch when your knife is dull and not cutting effectively. However, these are not a long term solution and are certainly not recommended for regular repeated use. Instead of the sanding / polishing effect of a stone, these tend to shred the metal on the edge of the blade, which both removes the proper bevel and shortens the lifespan of the knife. What about honing steels? Many of you will have a honing steel already. These are often sold as part of a knife set. These are a must have tool and very helpful in the kitchen. However, it's important to understand that these do NOT sharpen your knives. Sharpening is the act of creating an angled bevel on the blade edge. Honing, on the other hand, is simply ensuring that the bevel is straight along the edge of the blade. If you've ever seen a barber strop a straight razor on a leather strap prior to a shave, you can understand the difference here. That razor gets sharpened on a stone whenever it's dull. But it is stropped (honed) on the leather before every use. Your knives should be sharpened as needed depending on when your knives are dull. Your knives should be honed before most every use. Your honing steel is the kitchen equivalent of the barber's leather strap. It should be used regularly, but it takes just a few passes to ensure that the edge is straight. Happy cooking! Chef WarrenMarch 9, 2018
Friday Instagram of the Week!
January 25, 2018
Knife Cutting Skills: A Step-by-Step Adventure
Right:
Wrong:
When you're not doing a close dice, chop or slice, your hand should be resting on your cutting board like so: Let's start with the onion. First, we dice! Slice the onion in half through the end bulb, like so. Remove any unwanted layers, but keep the bulb in tact. Next, you'll slice the onion perpendicular to the bulb without slicing all the way through the onion near the top portion. You should be left with an onion fan of sorts. You'll also want to slice the onion once in half parallel to the cutting board. Again, do not cut all the way through! Now rotate the onion and chop perpendicular to your first slices. You will be left with the perfect diced onion! Next is the julienne cut–also known as the french or straw cut. This is good for salads, soups, caramelizing, etc. This time, the first thing you'll want to do is cut off the bulb at the end. Cut far enough in so that your onion slices will be a uniform length. Start chopping! And you're done! *IMPORTANT* In between every use you should wipe down your knife with a clean rag. You always want to work with a nice, clean knife. Additionally, when you're done using your knife it should be hand washed and put away. Never put a knife in the dishwasher as it will cause the blade to rust and deteriorate, the handle to break down, and will eventually ruin your knife. Next I'm going to show you how to cut a butternut squash! These can be a pain to cut if you don't do it the right way. But, once you know how to do it they are a quick and delicious addition to soups, salads, or any dish! For easier handling, we're going to start off by cutting the squash in half. The best way to do this is to make sure you've got a sharp knife and simply break the flesh of the squash with the tip of it. Then, work your knife back and forth with a good amount of pressure until you make it all the way through. Next, we're going to get rid of all the skin. Start from the top and make a downward cut along the squash. Rotate the squash and repeat until all the skin is removed. After you have your squash completely removed of the skin, trim off the curved edge of one side of the squash. You will be left with a flat surface. Now cut a few slices off at your desired thickness, mine were about 1/2 inch thick. Place a couple slices on top of each other, flat on the cutting board. We're now going to do what chef's call "squaring off." You don't have to do this, but it makes a more uniform dice and a prettier presentation! To square off, simply trim off any edges that aren't straight. You will be left with a "square," although with a squash it's more like a rectangle. Now we slice! *TIP ALERT* To keep your squash stable while you're slicing and dicing, place your pointer finger over the knife so that it rests on the squash and holds it in place while you slide your knife through the squash.Begin the slice
Place finger over the knife to hold the squash down
Slide your knife through while your fingers are in place. Repeat!
Now for the dice we're going to turn our sticks the other way and do the same thing. For a good, square dice you'll want to chop at the same thickness of your sticks! Okay, now for the apple. I'm going to show you how a professional would slice an apple. First, cut your apple in half through the core. When slicing an apple, I like to hold my knife a little more on the blade than I would usually. I also hold it at a higher angle than normal (maybe a 60° angle). I begin the slice and then drag the knife through the apple, never leaving the board with my knife. The reason it is so important to slice and drag instead of chop, is because when chopping an apple the slice gets stuck to the blade. Like this: When I use the slice and drag technique, the slice simply falls to its side. Like so: It the end I am left with some BEAUTIFUL slices. Perfect for salads, desserts, garnish, or whatever else you might use them for! Next up I'm going to grab an orange. First, I cut off the ends and peel the orange using my chef's knife. Once I have the orange peel completely off (including all of the white pith). I switch to my pairing knife to do a cut called a supreme! If you're not familiar with this, basically what we're going to make this orange look like is like those little bare slices of fruit in a can of Mandarin oranges! For this cut, I'm going to cut between the little membrane segments and only get the flesh of the orange. This can be done with any citrus fruit and can be used in a variety of ways, or just for a fancy snack. Thanks for reading! Feel free to reach out with any questions. Sincerely, Chef Warren Check our more Salt Lake City, Park City, and Utah County catering at www.culinarycrafts.com!