James Beard House: Rugged Alaskan Luxury

I recently had the pleasure, once again, to be invited to the James Beard House for dinner by my parents. This time around was “Rugged Alaskan Luxury” presented by Chef Joshua Slaughter of McCarthy Lodge & Ma Johnson’s Hotel in McCarthy, Alaska. You are probably asking yourself “Where is McCarthy, Alaska?” It is in the middle of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve, which happens to be the largest national park in the country. McCarthy is a town of 41 people that used to be a big copper mining area in in the first half of the 20th century. The park is in the southeast corner of Alaska near the Canadian border(I don’t think they can see Russia from their backyard.) Also of note, the hotel/restaurant is only open 4 months out of the year. What do you expect in the middle of Alaska?

Now you may also be asking yourself how a chef in the middle of nowhere ended up at the James Beard House. It turns out that Chef Slaughter trained under Thomas Keller at Bouchon and worked at WD-50 with Wylie Dufresne. Those are pretty impressive credentials, so I was not worried about eating frank and beans or SPAM.

The highlight of the whole event was that the Chef brought a lot of local ingredients from Alaska including Wild Copper River Salmon, local farm-raised produce and proteins. Chef Slaughter and his sous chef even flew by bush plane to a 50,000 acre parcel of land that burned in a forest fire last year to pick morels. I learned that morels grow extremely well in the carbon rich environment of burned forest.

Here is Chef Slaughter prepping hors d’oeuvres in the tiny kitchen.

The cocktail hour started with a choice of drink; Roederer Estate Brut Rose or Midnight Sun Brewing Co. Sockeye Red IPA. I went with the IPA and it was delicious. Crisp and refreshing without being too strong as some IPAs tend to be.

The Chef had a lot of different items to try. Unfortunately, between the lighting and trying to hold the beer glass, picture taking was a challenge. Luckily, I got a few snaps in the kitchen of some of the items.

First up was Salt Cod Brandade. It was nice and light without being too salty.

Copper River Red Salmon Sashimi. Super fresh fish! It was definitely different than the farm-raised I usually eat.

Beet with Goat Cheese and Bacon. This was one of my favorites of the night. The huge beet slice was used to hold the bacon and goat cheese. A perfect combination of salty, sweet, and tangy.

King Midas Crabcakes. A nice finger shaped crabcake with a bit of gold leaf on top. I wonder why Chefs continue to use gold leaf? Yes, it very pretty, but since it is flavorless, it is just an expensive accent to a dish.

House-made local pork sausage. It wasn’t very “sausagey,” but a nice pork bite.

Alaskan Anchovies. This was a nice briney bite. My Mom mentioned that she is usually “afraid” of anchovies since she is usually reminded of the canned version. This was much fresher and lighter.

House-made local Copper River Red Salmon Gravlax.

Finally, Braised Pork Belly with Onion Gastrique. This was also another of my favs. The pork was perfectly cooked with a nice crispyness on the outside, while tender on the inside.

On our way to our table, I decided to take a picture of the table in James Beard’s bedroom. It is pretty cool since it is raised a few steps up over the rest of the room. You need to have a large party with you in order to sit up there.

The first course was Elk Sausage with Morels served with Beronia Rioja Reserva 2004. The Morels were pretty amazing especially considering the effort made to get them(see above.) The elk sausage tasted more liked chopped meat to me than anything resembling sausage.

Halibut with Alaskan Carrots and Barley served with Dry Creek Vineyard Fume’ Blanc 2009. Unfortunately, the halibut was overcooked so it had the consistency of a brick. The carrots were very sweet, as a result of growing in such a cold environment. The barley added a healthy dimension to the dish instead of a plain rice or the like.

Alaskan Salmon with Alaskan Peanut Potatoes and Kale served with Januik Lewis Vineyard Syrah 2007. This was one of the best salmons I ever ate, eventhough it was a tad underseasoned for my palate. I don’t think I have ever had Peanut potatoes before. They were good, but not dissimilar for the more traditional fingerlings.

Pig Pave’ with Smoked Pasta and High-Bush Cranberry Jus served with Kenwood Jack London Vineyard Zinfandel 2008. I think almost every person in the place was wondering was “Pave’” is. Turns out Pave’ means stone in French, so this was basically pulled pork formed into a brick. It was delicious. The plate also had a pork chop on it that was tasty, but a bit too chewy for my taste. I detected only a tiny hint of smoke in the pasta, but since I was getting full, I didn’t eat too much of it.

Finally, dessert was Baked Alaska served with Quady Essencia Orange Muscat 2008. This was a deconstructed version of the class dish. I guess I had too much to drink because I dug in before taking a picture. I only had a couple bites to just get a little sugar to end the meal.

All in all, another lovely meal at the James Beard House. Thanks again to my parents for bringing me along. It was quite surprising to learn about such high quality food being prepared in the middle of nowhere in Alaska. I would definitely be interested in flying out to McCarthy to see and eat everything it has to offer.