There are a number of events surrrounding the holiday from those that you plan to those that just happen! We took some time to get tips from Chef Tom Douglas, an Executive Chef, Restaurateur of Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen Restaurant Group, author and radio show talk host. He is known for his innovative role in defining Pacific Northwest cuisine. He won a James Beard Award in 1994 for Best Northwest Chef and in 2012 he won another for Best Restaurateur. He is the author of Tom Douglas' Seattle Kitchen which was named the Best American Cookbook by the James Beard Foundation and KitchenAid in 2001. Later he would appear on an episode of Food Network's Iron Chef America where he defeated Chef Masaharu Morimoto. With a number of restaurants under his belt, Prosser Farm which provides all his restaurants with organically grown produce, a catering business, an event space, a product line of sauces and spices, a cooking school and NY Times Best Selling Author, he seemed like the perfect person to get us ready for our culinary challenges as well as how to be the hostest with the mostest. ATHLEIURE MAG: When did you realize that you wanted to be a chef? CHEF TOM DOUGLAS: Well you know, back in Highschool, I took Home Ec and it turns out there were a lot of girls in Home Ec and it seemed like I was in the right spot! I’ve been enamored with it ever since and it has become my life’s challenge, work and passion. AM: How do you define your style of cooking? CTD: I would call it Northwest in a way because for us the real key is to keep it simple. For us, I’d say that we spend about 50% of our time on trying to buy the best product and then really, it’s all about getting out of the way whether that comes down to wine or fish or meat. You just try to buy the most delicious things, put them together, walk away and let people enjoy them. That’s a real Northwest style.
AM: What is the most important part of creating a successful holiday party. CTD: The plan! You have to have a plan. I plan everything – the dishware and the wines. I buy the wine about a week in advance so I can taste them and see what kinds of foods I want to serve with them. For me, at a party, I always want to have a little sparkling wine for people when they walk through the front door so I bought the Domaine Ste Michelle Brut and I made a homemade cranberry syrup, I got some cranberry bitters at the store and I made what I like to call, a Cranberry Fizz. It’s a welcoming pink fizz cocktail that goes great with Goat Cheese Fondue which is goat cheese, cream and chives that are mixed together – super simple with grilled bread and apple slices which gives you a welcoming feeling that says, “I’m happy to have you at my house.” AM: That sounds pretty easy for a lot of people to do! CTD: Well, it’s super easy and I serve them in individual goat cheese fondue pots so that you don’t have the big crush! A lot of people have the one big fondue pot and it gets a little funky in there after a few minutes. With these, I can just put them around the house because they have little tealight candles under them and you can refresh them at any point and just a couple of people are eating out of them. It’s a nice way and trick to have a successful fondue party. AM: You mentioned that you want to test the wine about a week in advance – why is this something that we should do? CTD: Because I want to think about things and get things prepped in advance. So let’s take this Eroica Riesling for example, I tried it and it has this lemony kind of citrusy flavor. It’s a bit sweet and has nice acidity. It seemed to me that it would go with all sorts of foods and I know that in my menu planning, I want some vegetarian and some not and some gluten free and some not for dishes. So it’s all part of that process and I thought about the wine
