Texas' only Basque gastronomic society recently held Txoko Number 12 in an ongoing series of food orgies held quarterly in the Austin metro area. A few notes on the food and wine enjoyed by the gastronomes present
We recently celebrated our 11th Txoko (Basque gastronomic society) For the uninitiated, a Txoko is a culinary-based gathering of men who collectively prepare an enormous meal and drink copious amounts of wine, beer and liquor.
We're the only Txoko in the state of Texas. As with any good society, there are rules that must be followed: no women, no politics and no religion. We model our Txoko off the ancient social groups of Basque country and these rules must not be breeched.
Our most recent gathering saw a modest 7 courses trotted out of the kitchen. We've been known to go upwards of 15 but forbearance was the order of this day. At least we did manage to consume 18 bottles of wine amid the cocktails and beer drinking.
Below is the menu along with the wine pairings and intermezzo. All the men in the group pride themselves on being superb home cooks. We often ponder as to whether any group of people dine as well as we do during our quarterly gatherings.
I'm still haunted by that spit roasted chicken of all things. Sometimes the simplest dish of the entire evening wins out.
Beef marrow bones prior to a vigorous roasting at our most recent Txoko (Basque Gastronomic Society) gathering.
Read about Texas only Txoko: http://www.scrumptiouschef.com/food/index.cfm/Txoko-A-B
We recently celebrated a milestone: the tenth gathering of our Basque Gastronomic Society, known as a txoko {choco}. Our guild was formed in September of 2010 in a backyard in North Austin, about as far away from the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain as you can get, yet we still strive for authenticity.
Our Txoko continues to grow and mature. Well, except for one dedicated member who went face down on the sofa after a Herculean intake of wine and beer.
More's the pity. After 4 straight nights of burning the candle at both ends it was bound to happen. Complete dissolution has not arrived just yet but it is peeking at me over the horizon.
Our Basque gastronomic society had Txoko number six last night. We've established a titanium-strength core of seven dedicated eaters/cooks who take this project very seriously.
For the uninitiated, a Txoko is a Basque gathering of men from all walks of life who congregate in a home or clubhouse [in Spain] with big bags of groceries and bottles of wine.
Our Basque gastronomic society had Txoko number five last night. The core group of seven dedicated eaters combined to put out a 12 course bacchanalia of food and wine with a Mediterranean slant.
Which gave me the perfect excuse to dust off my Turkish cooking skills as Turkey is the dominant culinary player in the Mediterranean region.
As East End wines is the dominant player for under the radar, sleeper wines in Austin we always utilize them as our provider. To the tune of 15 or so bottles.
Our Txoko is growing up. We have a good solid core of committed gastronomiques who take the tradition very seriously.
When we decided to give our most recent Txoko a culinary theme it was pretty easy to choose the foods of the Basque people as the focus.
The Basque invented the Txoko and two of the founding members of our Austin group are indeed Basque.
It was clearly time to do some serious research.
