Scott Mason’s Food Trips
By Scott Mason, Owner/Chef of Ketchum Grill where warming dishes are being served nightly. Be sure to check out Scott’s recipes for Lentil Soup and Rosemary Raisin Bread, as well as his assorted food tips.
So, this week marks 22 years of marriage for Anne and Me. I sit here at the keyboard wondering what to write about when all I can do is think about the next 10 days. We will be taking the time away to research the cuisines of another place and also re-kindle the love of food that Anne and I have shared for all those 22 years. We naturally have so much in common but food brought us together and will be there when death does part us… Luckily for you… I love food almost as much as I love Anne. Nary a day off do I take from the hobby of looking for the newest or best tasting something. And with my trusty and trusting companion I’ll have the balance to know whether you’ll “eat it up” when we get home and begin with the experimentation for the menu. Get out your violins here because…I’m going to tell you exactly what it’s like to travel as chef and companion.
Well the day begins…coffee in hand thinking about …not the food on the plate in front of me but what’s for lunch and what’s for dinner. That is where the ritual begins…over coffee. This really happens everyday but especially on a food trip. If there is a market nearby we will surely make a pass or two to see if there are any inviting local beauties to entice us for a home cooked dinner and if the market falls short in the morning we begin the search for a place to dine out. Some times the places are pre-planned before arrival but usually we like to trust the local palate for who has the best regional or fresh cuisine.
Photo: Flickr user HK2006
Shopping menus as if we were buying lingerie; looking for the best, most revealing fit to determine the local cuisine scene. If we are in the wine country…any wine country, we invariably arrange for a meeting/tasting with a local vintner or two or more. As is often the case with wine folks they are the perfect fit with food folks and we often will move from the winery to the kitchen where the food, wine and new friendships flow. Really this is work. Picture if you will…Thanksgiving dinner for days in a row. I just happen to really enjoy my work. If the lunch goes too long the dinner will be too late for most people and sometimes the meal is determined by how late those feeding us are willing to cook.
Sometimes the next days coffee is needed just to remove the food hangover to start it all again. With any good food trip there is some time set aside for working up an appetite. Plenty of walking, riding and just hanging about usually do a dandy job of removing the satiation. And then back for more we go. So with the fruits of my marriage comes the harvest of really fun stuff right here in Ketchum….Hmmm…. What’s for dinner?
If you have questions about these tips, ask them below.
About Scott Mason:
Scott and his wife Ann Mason have owned and operated the Ketchum Grill since 1991 and that little place in the mountains called the Ketchum Grill has pulled in more celebrities, foodies and mostly just regular folks than you‘d care shake your stick near. “I’m not sure why they come… I just cook it and they do” And it’s no wonder why. An award winning wine list, food tasty enough to eat every night and reasonable enough for an average Joe to play big spender. Snow Country Magazine chose Ketchum Grill as 1 of the “8 best Ski town restaurants” with “food rivaling Manhattan’s best.” Book reservations online or call 208-726-4660. For directions, click here.
And The American Dairy Counsel chose Scott to be one of their Premiere Chefs of America 1997 spokes people . “I love to cook, I love to eat. What more can I say”
As a simple analogy Scott relates trends in food and taste to trends in music… “Mozart and good wine here to stay…the Beatles and Organic Produce staying too…. Back Street Boys and Snail Caviar… only time will tell.”
Read more about Scott, Ann and the Ketchum Grill here.
