SippitySup’s Menu – Dish by Dish

By now, everyone knows about Hollywood photographer, writer and chef, Greg Henry and why he came to Boquete last month. He’s lovingly called “SippitySup” due to his top-voted website, www.SippitySup.com.

The cooking class Greg presented, “Hollywood’s Golden Age”, included 6 recipes from 6 of the world-famous restaurants in Hollywood that were “glistening” back in the 1940-50’s. I attempted to gather photos of each dish as it was prepared, but I missed the Rumaki. If anyone has an actual photo of the Rumaki that was made during the class, please let me know.

The Cocoanut Grove’s Signature Cocktail was leading the menu, each student received one as they walked into my kitchen. That doesn’t happen very often, so it was a big treat for everyone.

Then came the Plaintains with Caviar and Black Bean Puree. The photo below shows Greg frying up the plantains. They were served buffet-style with lots of toppings available: red and black caviar, smoked tuna, sour cream, bean puree, and thinly-sliced red onions.

Barbecue Shrimp with Ginger and Lime was beautifully prepared and as you can see, this heaping platter of grilled shrimp gave everyone as many kabobs as they liked.

The final entree was the Brown Derby Original Cobb Salad topped with poached chicken and old-fashioned French dressing made from the original recipe. The freshly-picked organic vegetables were a special treat and the stars of the 40’s and 50’s probably didn’t have such luscious greens as we do today.

Dessert was Romanoff’s Chocolate Souffle’, almost as delicious looking as it tasted, especially when sprinkled with powdered sugar and topped with whipped cream.

For all these recipes and perfect photos of the “practice” dishes, click here. You’ll see Greg’s blogs about the renown restaurants and the Hollywood stars who frequented them.

And just think, everyone who enjoyed Greg’s cooking class was dining on the same delectable foods that were served 70 years ago during Hollywood’s “Golden Age”.
Cora

Hollywood’s “Golden Age” Dining

It was a very different sort of evening in my kitchen last Monday, when blogger, photographer, and chef Greg Henry from Los Angeles and sous chef, Liz Lees from San Diego were ready to present a special cooking class about how movie stars dined during the “Golden Age” of Hollywood. It was an age when “being seen” was EVERYTHING!

That afternoon, Greg and Liz measured ingredients for the famous “Signature Cocktail” from the glamorous Cocoanut Grove Restaurant in the center of Hollywood and they carefully scooped black and red caviar into old-fashioned champagne glasses for Trump’s “Plantains with Black Bean Sauce”.

They cleaned, sauced and sauteed chicken livers for Don the Beachcomber’s “Rumaki” and peeled, deveined and skewered shrimp for “BBQ Shrimp with Ginger and Lime” from the old Spago Restaurant, which overlooked Sunset Blvd.

They poached chicken breasts and saved the broth for me, boiled eggs, and chopped various lettuces and cheeses for the Brown Derby’s “Original Cobb Salad’.

The final dish was the “Romanoff’s Chocolate Souffle”, the perfect ending to this sumptuous meal. Liz had pre-measured the ingredients of this very glamorous finale into a beautiful “mis en place” arrangement, including 12 carefully separated eggs, milk, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, salt and powdered sugar.

As students arrived, they were greeted with stories about how Hollywood restaurateurs developed their menus, prepared their dishes and built their reputations. They learned how movie stars became the center of attention, while being surrounded by some of the most elegant cuisine the world has ever know.

As the evening progressed, everyone mingled like movie stars with flashbulbs popping, and they dined on great recipes prepared with flair by Hollywood photographer and chef, Greg Henry. Each famous, delicious and historic dish was fit for such super-stars as Dorothy Lamour, James Cagny, Judy Garland, Groucho Marx and Bing Crosby.

And just think, this all took place in my lovely kitchen high up on the side of a volcano overlooking Boquete, Panama.
Lucky me,
Cora