We dumped 5 tons of sand in the middle of the street behind PYT at the Piazza at Schmidts. 100 strong we ate clams, lobsters, mussels, crabs and the greatest corn bread ever!
A lot of work went into pulling this madness off and I have a lot of people to thank for making it happen:
Tommy Up and the amazing staff of PYT for giving us their space for a day and lending a million helping hands.
The Piazza and Tower Properties for letting us take over for the night.
JP Boudwin, Zack Driver and Kevin Ludwig for cleaning up the sand when we were done
Michael Campagna of Ava for making sure we got the goods to make the meal for the masses
Bart Mroz and Jesse Middleton of Open Chefame for choosing me to film this live monstrosity of an episode (and footing the bill)
Brian McElaney for filling his nice clean car with a half ton of live seafood and taking photos of the event.
Paul Ritchey and Joe Williams for filming and editing the episode
Leroy Conroy, Jesse MacPherson, Mike Matzik, Matt Phillips, Rebecka Weidman, and Leonard Wimbush: A kitchen dream team that I hope will make my future restaurant a success.
and especially Dan Platt, who helped me keep my sanity and helped pull the whole thing together
Recipe for Jalapeño-cheddar Corn Bread
Matt Phillips provided the baking chops for the Clam bake. This Jalapeño-cheddar Corn Bread may have been my idea but the recipe was all his, and it was real damn good.
Hardware
2 mixing bowls
2 muffin pans
Software
1 3/4 cups bread flour
3 cups AP flour
1 1/3 cups cornmeal
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp. salt
2 cups whole milk
3/4 cups vegetable oil
4 large eggs
1 cup jalapenos
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
cooking spray
Procedure
In a bowl, evenly mix flours, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, oil and eggs until evenly mixed.
Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until combined; do not overmix.
Add jalapenos and cheddar to cornbread mixture.
Spray a 9-by-13-inch cake pan with cooking spray or a standard muffin pan.
Place cornbread mixture in pan or fill muffin cups about half way. Distribute batter evenly.
Bake at 325 degrees for about 35 minutes. Halfway through, turn pan around and bake until the middle of the cornbread springs back.
