This week we’re at the International Culinary Institute in Myrtle Beach. Joining Bob is a former graduate, and owner of The Warehouse restaurant (closed) in Conway SC, Executive Chef Eston McDowell. Eston serves up one of his restaurant’s staples, Taste of Summer Salad. It has cucumber, tomato, and Clemson Blue Cheese along with a spicy red wine pickle brine slaw. Topped with seared fresh tuna caught right off the SC coast.
Full Transcript
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Well, folks, this week we’re at the International Culinary Institute here in Myrtle Beach. And joining me is a former graduate, and he’s now the proud owner of The Warehouse restaurant in Conway, listen I’ll tell ya what, executive chef Eston McDowell. Eston, thanks, man.
Appreciate you havin’ me on.
Well, listen, it’s always great to have former students, and now see folks do good. You got some tuna for us this week.
I do.
Whatta you got?
We’re gonna do a taste of summer salad, and it’s kinda becoming one of our staples over at The Warehouse. And what it is, because it’s summertime, we like to do fresh produce–
Yeah, yeah.
And it’s been a lot of fun so far, a lotta people are comin’ and eatin’ it up. What we’re gonna do is, we’re gonna do a cucumber, tomato, and Clemson Blue Cheese. And what we do is, we do a spicy pickle brine slaw, that’s a red wine pickle brine.
Awesome.
So we’re gonna do that slaw over top of it, and then sear the tuna and put it over top of it.
All right, man, well let’s get started, I can’t wait.
So what we’re gonna do here …
Lay ‘er down, yeah, there ya go. And folks, if you want a copy of Eston’s recipe, just log on to BobRedfern.com, click on The Sportsman’s Table, it’ll be right there.
I like to hit it with a little bit of blackening, just to give it that little extra oomph.
Yeah, okay.
We’ve got some fresh local tomatoes from here.
Always certified S-C.
And what we’re gonna do is just hit that nicely with some cheese.
Mmm, and that’s blue cheese, right?
Yes, this is a Clemson Blue Cheese.
Clemson Blue Cheese, hmmm.
Then what we’re gonna do now is take a little bit of this slaw, and just layer it over the top.
Oh, man, that’s awesome, great colors, too. Y’know, I know it’s about presentation.
It is about presentation, but I think it’s more about that taste. I like that crisp crunch into it, it’s so good.
I mean, when the waiter brings it out, aahh, it’s that ah-ha moment, okay! Then what we’re gonna do real quick is just sear this.
Now, minute, two each side?
I like to, actually, we like to serve it mid-rare at The Warehouse, so what we do, we do about 35 to 45 seconds on each side, give it a real good, let that blackening sauce get just really good and seared on it.
Okay. And folks, also, the blackening sauce that he’s referring to is, of course, the rub, as we all know, on the fish, and he’ll have that on the recipe as well. Ooh yeah, look at that, ooh! And it doesn’t take long.
No, it’s a very very quick, very quick cook time. We do encourage you, if you do follow the recipe, and cook the pickle brine at your house, we do encourage you to let it pickle overnight, and serve it the next day, just to get all that flavor in there.
That’s awesome. This is a quick dish, man, no wonder folks like it at the restaurant.
That’s right, it does, it comes out very very quick. What we’re gonna do, is we’re just gonna cut this real quick.
Okay. Oh, okay.
What we’re gonna do is just cut this into strips real quick.
Aah, I got ya, awesome, look at that beautiful tuna. Ooh-ooh, now who’da thunk it? Look at that, ahh, man, mm-mm-mmm. All right, Eston, man, we’re ready to plate.
Yeah, and what we do here, and like I said, we really encourage you to kinda get that mid-rare.
Oh, I got ya, yeah.
But, what we’re gonna do is just lay it over top of the salad here.
Mmm, great, mm-mmm.
And what we like to do is this brine has a really really good flavor, so what we like to finish it off with is kind of use this as the dressing of the salad itself, and just hit that spicy brine over top of it.
Now is this mostly eaten as an entree, or before dinner?
You know, it’s kind of funny, we do a lot of both. We have a lot of customers that really enjoy it as an appetizer, and a lot of the ladies that are comin’ into The Warehouse are really startin’ to enjoy it as entrees, y’know?
And it’s fresh.
It is, it’s a fresh as it gets. And it’s so much fun to cook.
Well, The Warehouse, congratulations, in Conway, Eston. And listen folks, if you want more great food like this, on your visit to Myrtle Beach, log on to certifiedscgrown.com, and see what’s fresh on the menu for yourself. We’ll be right back here again next week, with another great recipe on The Sportsman’s Table.
[Announcer] To find out more information on food that’s fresher and tastier, go online at certifiedscgrown.com. Buy Certified South Carolina-grown products. It’s a matter of taste.