In my last blog l told you about the rehearsal dinner that we catered for Jimmy Buffet’s wedding.  That was tame compared to the catering job we did for his bachelor party.  The fun started when the party coordinator told us to reserve some of our garnish and cold food for a mysterious task to be performed later.  We were to set up a buffet for food service, some of it was served hot but the majority of it was chilled.  All of the food had a Caribbean theme; lobster, shrimp, crab and fish.  “Rolling Stone” Magazine was footing the bill so price was no object.  My mentor and teacher, Chef Gert Rausch was really in charge and I was absorbing.  So, off we went to build a huge buffet with lots of ice.  We had large buckets hidden under the table to drain the melted ice into.  We withheld as we wondered what did the event coordinators want with the extra garnish of flowers and ferns and the chilled food?

The party was in a Snowmass bar that I cannot remember the name of because it had a new name and look every year, everchanging.  Two years beforehand it was the Leather Jug Bar and I saw John Denver perform there as a solo act.  I thought this guy is good, little did I know.  At this point in his early career, he used his real name John Doseldorf on the “coming attraction” bill.  It was just before “Country Roads” came out and then he soared to fame and changed his name.

As we were putting the final touches on the buffet, and the feast was gorgeous if I do say so myself, the coordinators brought in a 6-foot-long beautiful wooden stretcher type apparatus and an attractive girl.   We were instructed to take all of our extras and return to the kitchen.  We still had no idea what was in store.  The large wooden carrier was taken back into the kitchen and placed on the center prep table.  We were instructed to put the withheld food and garnish around the wooden carrier.  When we got all of the garnish placed around the carrier the party coordinator said “Ok it’s time”.  The attractive girl who was wearing a robe took 2 Quaaludes, 2 shots of tequila and then disrobed.  There was nothing under her robe, but her naked body.  To our amazement she climbed up on the wooden carrier and laid down face side up, settled in to get comfy and announced, “I’m ready”.  After Gert and I picked our jaws up off the ground the party coordinator explained that the girl and the wooden carriers were to be part of the buffet and we were to decorate the girl with the remaining food.  That was a first and actually a once in a lifetime occurrence, making a naked girl part of the buffet.  This was certainly much more inventive then just having your expected bachelor party stripper.  In order to decrease some of the awkwardness, we put the food and garnish over her private parts first.  However, she passed out quickly and that made the decorating easier.  We were done decorating and assembling in 15 minutes and she looked like a work of art all covered in food and flowers.  We carried the table with the girl out to the dining room and added it to the buffet set up.

Hunter S. Thompson was in charge of the guest list and party favors for the evening.  Hunter stood at the door flanked by two muscle bound bouncers in tight black t shirts checking the guests in.  The party favors were an eight ball of coke, one Quaalude and a half hit of acid and of course an open bar.

This was the 70’s and it was such a different time and place than our present-day reality.  Cocaine was making a splash in the party scene and was on the cover of Time magazine and in their reporting, they declared cocaine was not addictive.  The Fourth of July parade in Aspen had a float from the Aspen Valley hospital and the nurses riding on the float would reach into a large fish bowl filled with white breath mints (altoids) and throw them into the crowd while yelling “Quaaludes”.  Hunter had run for Sheriff in Aspen and his caveat was that dishonest drug dealers should be set in stocks on the courthouse lawn, and that “it will be the general philosophy of the Sheriff’s office that no drug worth taking should be sold for money”.  The New York Times reported that he lost by 500 votes.  It was a unique time.

The guest list was impressive and unforgettable to me.  I served Glenn Frye, Don Henley, the entire Eagles band, Joe Walsh was there but he was not an Eagle yet, just released “Rocky Mountain Way” artists Jim Messina, Kenny logins and so many more.

Jimmy arrived carrying a big wooden stick to whack anyone wanting to harm or kidnap him.  Where do you think they got the idea for the movie “Hangover”, that was a real thing.

We were paid generously with a 20% gratuity included and Gert and I received a bag of coke and an invite to the wedding as a little extra thank you.

Stark, the bar owner was given the same expression of gratitude.  I walked into his office to snort part of my tip and I found him in his office in tears with a pencil stuck in his nose.  He had been too lazy and hasty to properly chop up his tip and just stuck a bar straw into the coke bag and snorted.  The rocks stuck in his nose and his nostrils had swollen tightly around the cocaine rocks.  He was trying to pry them out of his nose with a pencil.  As funny as it was he was in some fairly serious pain.  We laughed and told him it was karma.  Aaah to be 25, well maybe not.

The rest of the night slipped by in a fog.  I’m sure there were more funny stories that old rockers are telling at this very moment that I was not aware of.

The lobster in herb butter was the crowd favorite, right up there with the appreciation for the “party favors” and the unconventional buffet.  Below you will find the recipe.

Compound herb butter is versatile.  You can use it on steaks, veggies, seafood, anything.  When soft put compound butter in a pastry bag with star tip.  Make star medallions and freeze in a zip lock.  It will last for months and you thaw out as many medallions as needed and keep the rest frozen.

 

Ingredients for Compound Herb Butter

4 sticks of softened butter

Juice & zest of 2 lemons

2 tablespoons of minced garlic

4 tablespoons of minced shallots

6 tablespoons of mixed & minced herbs (I use equal parts of fresh basil, thyme & oregano).

1 teaspoon sea salt, add more if you like

Half cup of white wine (use a wine you would drink, not one you drank in college)

 

Method

Put all ingredients in a food processor with the S blade.  Process for 3 minutes or until the butter turns green.

Place soft, freshly mixed butter in a large pastry bag with a star tip.  Squeeze out star medallions on to parchment paper and freeze.  After they are frozen you can store in the freezer in a zip lock bag.  I like a big taste so I make the star medallions half dollar size.

Lobster

Remove 2 lemon herb medallions of butter (2 per lobster tail) from the freezer and soften to room temperature.

Cut the lobster tails in half, lengthwise from the tail to front end.  Pull the lobster meat out.  Smear the shell with herb butter.  Salt and pepper the lobster meat and return it to the shell.  Smear the exposed lobster meat with the herb butter.  The shell will be the vessel that semi protects the tail while it smokes and grills and bubbles in herb butter.  Lobster tails cook quickly.  It’s better to undercook than to overcook, about 5 minutes or until the meat becomes opaque, not glossy.  Lobster tails grilled in their shells with a lemon/herb butter are simple and tasty.

Serve it warm or chilled and enjoy!