That Food Guy
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Double Musky – Birthday Dinner 2016
Cajun cooking, emphasizing steak & local seafood, in a roadhouse with Mardi Gras-style décor.
A Birthday Dinner Tradition
Mile .3 Crow Creek Road, Girdwood, AK 99587
The Double Musky is located in the Girdwood Valley, about an
hour’s drive south from Anchorage along the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet.
There is a world-famous ski resort there with a lavish resort hotel. It is a
very busy place during the winter ski season. It is still a mecca for the
Alaska visitor even in the summer although the pace is a bit more relaxed
during the warmer weather. The beauty of the Alaska wilderness surrounds and
seven glaciers in the surrounding Chugach Mountains can be seen from various
vantage points in the valley
On this occasion we would also have the pleasure introducing
another person to the Double Musky. Larry’s most charming and lovely companion,
Wasana, would be joining us for a night out with the boys. We had much to tell
her, much about why and how we came to this place and what this night was all
about. It took a bit of time to coordinate all of our schedules but we finally
got it all together October the eleventh. It was an overcast day with a raw
feel to the air, about 30 degrees. The Alaska fall weather was definitely here.
I did my home chores and a few local errands. In the afternoon I drove to
Anchorage’s Eastside to meet up with Larry and Wasana where we would carpool
for the hour drive to Girdwood. We didn’t want to leave too early because The
Double Musky is only open during dinner hours.
We arrived a few minutes before opening. There were already
several cars in the parking area. Our hectic schedules had delayed our birthday
get together for almost a month. The early cold weather had blighted the
usually verdant garden in front of the restaurant. On this occasion we would
miss the vibrancy of a floral garden. The building looked the same as always. The
doors were opened soon after and we were shown to a table by the window overlooking
the garden. We did look over the menu but at least Larry and I knew what we were
having.
Appetizer bread rolls are included. You have the option of salad
with dressing of choice. The entrée is served with your choice of baked potato
(with whatever fixings you choose) or vegetable of the day. All three of us
chose the salad. It was a mixture of lettuce and greens including spinach, some
shredded carrots and croutons. I chose 1000-Island for mine and a good grind of
fresh ground black pepper. Every one enjoyed their salads along with nicely buttered
pieces of the appetizer rolls.
The other Larry ordered the French pepper steak with the Burgundy
sauce on the side. His choice of a side was the baked potato with sour cream
and sliced onions. When ordering your steak, you select from the following menu
listed options: “Rare - cool red
center - Medium-rare - warm red center
Medium - hot pink center - Medium-well-well – Butterflied - takes time.” He ordered medium, grilled to a hot pink center. Usually Larry has a large chunk of the steak left over to take home. He was extra hungry this day and he happily finished off all of his French pepper steak and the baked potato, with lots of sour cream and sliced green onions, included. He thoroughly enjoyed his meal and was already thinking about the next time we would visit The Double Musky for our mutual birthday celebration.
The Double Musky Inn
In another reality Larry Tower and I would have been
brothers. As it is we share a common first name and share the birthday month,
September. Over the years we have developed a ritual, a tradition. We would splurge
a bit for our collective birthdays and go have a pepper steak dinner at the
famous Double Musky Restaurant in Girdwood, Alaska. See previous eating
adventure 2012 here.
It had been a long four years since we last were able to get together and share
a meal at the Double Musky. During this trip to Alaska, 2016, with joy we kept
the tradition alive.
The Double Musky is located in the Girdwood Valley, about an
hour’s drive south from Anchorage along the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet.
There is a world-famous ski resort there with a lavish resort hotel. It is a
very busy place during the winter ski season. It is still a mecca for the
Alaska visitor even in the summer although the pace is a bit more relaxed
during the warmer weather. The beauty of the Alaska wilderness surrounds and
seven glaciers in the surrounding Chugach Mountains can be seen from various
vantage points in the valley
On this occasion we would also have the pleasure introducing
another person to the Double Musky. Larry’s most charming and lovely companion,
Wasana, would be joining us for a night out with the boys. We had much to tell
her, much about why and how we came to this place and what this night was all
about. It took a bit of time to coordinate all of our schedules but we finally
got it all together October the eleventh. It was an overcast day with a raw
feel to the air, about 30 degrees. The Alaska fall weather was definitely here.
I did my home chores and a few local errands. In the afternoon I drove to
Anchorage’s Eastside to meet up with Larry and Wasana where we would carpool
for the hour drive to Girdwood. We didn’t want to leave too early because The
Double Musky is only open during dinner hours. 
We arrived a few minutes before opening. There were already
several cars in the parking area. Our hectic schedules had delayed our birthday
get together for almost a month. The early cold weather had blighted the
usually verdant garden in front of the restaurant. On this occasion we would
miss the vibrancy of a floral garden. The building looked the same as always. The
doors were opened soon after and we were shown to a table by the window overlooking
the garden. We did look over the menu but at least Larry and I knew what we were
having.
French Pepper Steak
($41.00 “Best steak in America,” says
Jill Cordes of the Food Network. A 16-20
ounce New York steak crusted with cracked pepper and covered with a spicy
burgundy sauce.)
Wasana read over the menu and had a lot of questions. You
can see the menu at the Double Musky
website. At long last she too knew
what she wanted to sample:
Crab Stuffed Halibut (Market Price, today $47.00 A delicious halibut steak, stuffed with
crab meat dressing which contains crab meat, mushrooms, shallots, chablis,
heavy cream, creole seasoning
and served with creole beurre blanc.)
and served with creole beurre blanc.)
Appetizer bread rolls are included. You have the option of salad
with dressing of choice. The entrée is served with your choice of baked potato
(with whatever fixings you choose) or vegetable of the day. All three of us
chose the salad. It was a mixture of lettuce and greens including spinach, some
shredded carrots and croutons. I chose 1000-Island for mine and a good grind of
fresh ground black pepper. Every one enjoyed their salads along with nicely buttered
pieces of the appetizer rolls.
Wasana’s selection, the crab stuffed halibut, was a large
halibut filet folded over the crab stuffing mixture and slathered with a thick delicious
lemon butter sauce and a sprig of parsley. Then accompanying baked potato had
ample sour cream and sliced scallions. It was a large portion but Wasana was up to
the task and there was little left to carry home in a takeout container. She
did enjoy her meal very much. The Creole seasoning was a bit different than she
is accustomed to but found it to be an enjoyable new encounter, one that she
would enjoy again in the future. Perhaps next year…
The other Larry ordered the French pepper steak with the Burgundy
sauce on the side. His choice of a side was the baked potato with sour cream
and sliced onions. When ordering your steak, you select from the following menu
listed options: “Rare - cool red
center - Medium-rare - warm red centerMedium - hot pink center - Medium-well-well – Butterflied - takes time.” He ordered medium, grilled to a hot pink center. Usually Larry has a large chunk of the steak left over to take home. He was extra hungry this day and he happily finished off all of his French pepper steak and the baked potato, with lots of sour cream and sliced green onions, included. He thoroughly enjoyed his meal and was already thinking about the next time we would visit The Double Musky for our mutual birthday celebration.
I ordered my French pepper steak medium as well, Burgundy
sauce over. My baked potato was with all the trimmings including the sour cream
and the sliced scallions. The steak, as is usual, cut easily with the knife and
was tender to chew. It meat was flavorful on its own, the Burgundy sauce delicious.
Some of the bites I took were plain, just a slight dash of salt. Some of the bites
were slathered in the sauce. I can’t really say which was better. I would have
been happy with that steak either way – I guess I just had the best of both
worlds that day. I finished my baked potato and would have eaten all of my
steak but I had a use for a bit of my pepper steak; more about that later.
At long last there was clink of forks being placed on the
plates for the last time. Everyone was sated, happy with full bellies, ready to
pay the bill and waddle home. That’s when our server arrived with a tray of
sample desserts. Larry and I had just eaten bread, a salad, a large baked
potato loaded with toppings and a one-pound steak with sauce. And now we were
being tempted with rich, luscious desserts! To coin a phrase, nothing succeeds
like excess. We decided to have dessert to finish off the meal. The other Larry
ordered a slice of banana cream pie. It was a nice large slice of pie, a tasty
pudding and banana filling, cream topping and toasted coconut; very tasty he
said.
It had been a big and filling meal. Wasana and I both
wanted something a bit lighter and we both chose the crème brûlée. The serving was a nice 4-ounce ramekin of velvety custard with a caramelized
crust. Very tasty, the sweetness was a nice counterpoint after the savory
meal. It all capped off the evening
nicely. I too look forward to the next visit with the other Larry to celebrate
our birthdays.
Oh, and that bit of steak I took home in a
doggie bag? Ah, yes – the next morning I fried up some potatoes, onion and the
meat cut into little pieces. In the end I added some peas and carrots to make a
big batch of Double Musky French pepper steak hash that would help top feed me
well over several breakfasts. Each of
those breakfasts brought back memories of a wonderful evening spent with Larry
and Wasana at The Double Musky Restaurant in Girdwood, Alaska.
Labels: Alaska, baked potato, banana cream pie, burgundy sauce, crème brûlée, Double Musky, French, Inn, pepper, salad, scallions, sour cream, steak
¶ 6:00 PM 0 Comments
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Small Batch Potato Salad
Place the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold
water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. When the water starts boiling,
cover with a lid. On my ceramic top stove I turn off the burner but leave the
pot on the hot surface. On my gas stove, I let the pot boil for almost a minute
after I cover it. Set a time for 20 minutes. I know, all the pundits say 15
minutes but I always have better luck peeling the eggs when I cook then the
extra five minutes. As soon as the time sounds, remove from heat and drain in
the sink. Fill the pan several times with cold running tap water. Add a cup of
ice and place in the refrigerator for half an hour. When it is time to peel,
tap on both ends to crack the shell then gently roll the egg under palm
pressure to crack the shell all around. Start peeling from the pointed end and
most of the shell will come off in large pieces. Rinse and dry with a paper
towel.
Prepare the mixing bowl: Place 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise,
1 tablespoon of mustard and 2 teaspoons of chicken base in the bottom of the
bowl (chicken base is paste used to make chicken broth, similar to bouillon but
in a paste form). Mix well. Add pepper, celery seed, bacon pieces and paprika
to taste. The chicken base will add a significant portion of salt.
This batch that I made filled the 1-quart deli potato salad
container to the top with about ½ cup left over for a taste test. Preparation
time was minimal and the results were excellent. The radishes in the garden
were not quite rip but they could have added nicely to the dish. My personal
preference is to add a bit of sweet pickle relish but the wife does not care
for that addition so it was left out of this batch. That’s not to say you
couldn’t add a bit of chopped dill pickle or even some capers if that is to
your liking. As well, a few sliced black olives would also have added to the overall
dish. There you have it; a quick and easy one-quart of potato salad that makes
all deli potato salads pale in comparison. I hope you enjoy.
This was about the potato salad but it did share the plate
with the chicken. These were fresh chicken boneless and skinless chicken
breasts so I put them in the freezer for about 40 minutes to firm up. After
forty minutes in the freezer, the chicken breasts were easy to butterfly.
Butterfly the breasts to even out the thickness which produces a nicer, evenly
cooked chicken, no overcooked edges while the center is still raw. I seasoned
with a slight bit of grated sea salt, finely ground white pepper and just the
slightest sprinkle of ground ginger. I then marinated them in lemon juice and
key lime juice from the trees in our back yard for about four hours. Use a plastic
bag with a zip-lock top. Squeeze most of the air out of the bag before closing;
that way you can use a small amount of juice to marinate the chicken. Turn a
few times to even out the contact with the juice. Preheat the grill. Over
medium to high grilling heat cook chicken for two minutes. Turn chicken and
cook for an additional two minutes. Turn chicken 90-degrees and cook for two
minutes. Flip chicken and cook for a final two minutes. (The time is a
guideline – it will vary slightly with your grill) You want to just cook it to
the 170 degrees recommended for white meat chicken The chicken will still be a
bit pale but the sugar in the juice will make nice ross-hatch grill marks on
both sides, cooked through but still be tender and juicy with a wonderful grill
and lemon-lime flavor . It is one of our favorite ways to prepare chicken. I
hope you will enjoy it too.
St Petersburg, Florida
December 21, 2012
It is just a fact of life. Even the best deli potato salad
isn’t very good. In most cases you would probably be better off ordering the
coleslaw. What brought this to mind was what I found when rummaging through the
refrigerator. It was a container of supermarket deli potato salad that still
had about one serving left. Last week, when we were going to run short of time
because of engagements, we planned on sandwiches and potato salad from the
deli. It just wasn’t that tasty and we purposely made our helpings small. There
was that dab left but no one was willing to finish it off. It had only been in
fridge a few days so it hadn’t turned bad – just no one was willing to eat any
more of it. Even though I was foraging through the fridge looking for something
to eat, I chose to feed the last bit of deli potato salad to the hungry little
microbes in the compost pile. While washing the container before putting it in
the recycle bin, I started thinking. I usually make my own potato salad
tailored to my tastes. I usually make it following the rule of ones – that one
ten-pound bag of potatoes, one pound of bacon, one dozen eggs, one bunch of
celery… Well, you get the idea. It makes a large batch, a very large batch that
is better suited to a large family gathering. As a result, it is a rare treat.
While I was washing that 1-quart deli container I decided
that I would work on a quick and easy potato salad recipe to just fill the
container (well, with a bit left over for a nice, leisurely taste test); enough
for the two of us for a couple of quickie meals. This is what I came up with. I
hope you will enjoy.
Ingredients:
5 or 6 small russet potatoes
2 large stalks of celery
3 or 4 scallions
1 cup frozen pepper strips (I always have a bag of these in
the freezer in case I run out of fresh Bell peppers)
2 hard-boiled eggs
¼ cup prepared bacon pieces (more or less to taste)
¼ cup yellow mustard
½ cup mayonnaise
Seasonings: ground black pepper, celery seed, paprika and
chicken base
Place the eggs in a small saucepan and cover with cold
water. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. When the water starts boiling,
cover with a lid. On my ceramic top stove I turn off the burner but leave the
pot on the hot surface. On my gas stove, I let the pot boil for almost a minute
after I cover it. Set a time for 20 minutes. I know, all the pundits say 15
minutes but I always have better luck peeling the eggs when I cook then the
extra five minutes. As soon as the time sounds, remove from heat and drain in
the sink. Fill the pan several times with cold running tap water. Add a cup of
ice and place in the refrigerator for half an hour. When it is time to peel,
tap on both ends to crack the shell then gently roll the egg under palm
pressure to crack the shell all around. Start peeling from the pointed end and
most of the shell will come off in large pieces. Rinse and dry with a paper
towel.
Instead of boiling, use the microwave to cook the potatoes.
Select similar sized potatoes and microwave until a fork just pierces the
potatoes easily, about five to six minutes depending on your machine. Set the
potatoes aside to cool enough to handle. One the potatoes have cooled, they can
easily be peeled by hand using gentile pinching motions with an occasional
fingernail scrape for the stubborn peel. Set aside.
Prepare the mixing bowl: Place 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise,
1 tablespoon of mustard and 2 teaspoons of chicken base in the bottom of the
bowl (chicken base is paste used to make chicken broth, similar to bouillon but
in a paste form). Mix well. Add pepper, celery seed, bacon pieces and paprika
to taste. The chicken base will add a significant portion of salt.
Dice the previously peeled potatoes and add to the mixing
bowl. Stir the potatoes to coat them with the seasoning mixture.
Slice the scallions including the green stems. Add to the
potatoes in the bowl. Dice the celery and add to the bowl. Dice or chop the
peeled hard-boiled eggs and add to the bowl. Add the remaining mustard and
mayonnaise (more or less to personal taste), folding to mix well and distribute
the flavoring mixture with the later mayo addition. The first taste will be
slightly salty until the potatoes absorb some of the chicken base. Taste and
add celery seed, pepper, paprika, mustard or mayo as needed to personal taste
remembering the salt will change over a couple of hours.
This batch that I made filled the 1-quart deli potato salad
container to the top with about ½ cup left over for a taste test. Preparation
time was minimal and the results were excellent. The radishes in the garden
were not quite rip but they could have added nicely to the dish. My personal
preference is to add a bit of sweet pickle relish but the wife does not care
for that addition so it was left out of this batch. That’s not to say you
couldn’t add a bit of chopped dill pickle or even some capers if that is to
your liking. As well, a few sliced black olives would also have added to the overall
dish. There you have it; a quick and easy one-quart of potato salad that makes
all deli potato salads pale in comparison. I hope you enjoy. 
This was about the potato salad but it did share the plate
with the chicken. These were fresh chicken boneless and skinless chicken
breasts so I put them in the freezer for about 40 minutes to firm up. After
forty minutes in the freezer, the chicken breasts were easy to butterfly.
Butterfly the breasts to even out the thickness which produces a nicer, evenly
cooked chicken, no overcooked edges while the center is still raw. I seasoned
with a slight bit of grated sea salt, finely ground white pepper and just the
slightest sprinkle of ground ginger. I then marinated them in lemon juice and
key lime juice from the trees in our back yard for about four hours. Use a plastic
bag with a zip-lock top. Squeeze most of the air out of the bag before closing;
that way you can use a small amount of juice to marinate the chicken. Turn a
few times to even out the contact with the juice. Preheat the grill. Over
medium to high grilling heat cook chicken for two minutes. Turn chicken and
cook for an additional two minutes. Turn chicken 90-degrees and cook for two
minutes. Flip chicken and cook for a final two minutes. (The time is a
guideline – it will vary slightly with your grill) You want to just cook it to
the 170 degrees recommended for white meat chicken The chicken will still be a
bit pale but the sugar in the juice will make nice ross-hatch grill marks on
both sides, cooked through but still be tender and juicy with a wonderful grill
and lemon-lime flavor . It is one of our favorite ways to prepare chicken. I
hope you will enjoy it too.Labels: bacon bits, celery, chicken, chicken base, ginger, lemon, lime, marinate, mayonnaise, mustard, potato salad, scallions, sea salt, white pepper
¶ 2:28 PM 0 Comments
