David Rosengarten's Chef Demo at Grand Central Oyster Frenzy

David Rosengarten, the popular television personality, cookbook author and publisher of the Rosengarten Report, will headline the chef demonstrations and tastings at the 13th annual Grand Central Oyster Frenzy on Saturday afternoon, September 26th, at the historic Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant in New York City. The ?Frenzy? gets underway at 12:00 noon, and at 1:50 pm, Rosengarten will concoct his version of the classic Oysters Bienville, made with Watch Hill oysters, and accompanied by Rosengarten White Wine. Admission is free, and the public gets to taste David-s recipe. Chef demos also include the Oyster Bar-s pastry chef Januz Noka, who will prepare Strawberries Romanoff at12:40 pm; and Aaron Bashy, executive chef, Maloney & Porcelli, who will showcase Fried Blue Point Oysters over Kohlrabi Slaw at 2:35 pm. Rosengarten is currently a bi-weekly food and wine blogger for HUFFINGTON POST, and a bi-weekly food and wine blogger for FORBES.COM, where he launched his own page in October, 2012. For all of these outlets he posts stories that include food, travel or wine. David is also well-known for his newsletter, THE ROSENGARTEN REPORT, which was published from 2001 to 2008. During its run, it won the James Beard Award as best food newsletter in America, and attracted a peak of 50,000 paid subscribers. David re-launched THE ROSENGARTEN REPORT in December, 2014. David is perhaps best known for his work as the host of TASTE, the award-winning Food Network television show devoted to the principles of good taste in food and wine. David performed in 2500 shows on the Food Network, and has been featured on a variety of other networks (most notably NBC, where he has regularly appeared on the Today show). David has appeared as a judge on ?Iron Chef America," and he recently appeared on the Food Network's new pilot, "Chef Marks the Spot." Rosengarten has covered great food products, restaurants, wines, gastronomic travel destinations, and related subjects for over 30 years. He has written hundreds of articles and contributed hundreds of original recipes to publications such as Gourmet (where he was Restaurant Critic from 1996 to 2000), The New York Times, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Harper-s Bazaar, Departures, The Wine Spectator and Newsday. Many of David's new writings can be found on his very popular, constantly updated website, davidrosengarten.com It will be an all-day Frenzy; a bivalve bonanza! Chef demonstrations by a trio of talented chefs, competition open to the public, sixteen varieties of oysters ? eight each from the East and West coasts ? and six championship wines ? including the ?Grand Champion? to be selected by a blue ribbon panel of judges? and the top professional oyster shuckers on the planet will highlight the competition at the 13th Annual ?Grand Central Oyster Frenzy,? co-sponsored by Blue Island Oyster Company, K&B Seafood and Casale Jewelers on Saturday, September 26th - at the Grand Central Oyster Bar (lower level, Grand Central Terminal) in New York City from 12:00 noon to 4:00 pm. The Oyster Bar-s executive chef Sandy Ingber (a.k.a. Bishop of Bivalves), presides. Q104.3 FM Radio personality Shelli Sonstein, oyster aficionado and co-host of ?The Jim Kerr Rock and Roll Morning Show,? will serve as MC. Defending champion Jose Valdez will try again to fend off the challenge of eight-time champion Luis ?The Menace? Iglesius, who is on his home turf at the Oyster Bar, in the Oyster Frenzy-s Professional Shucking Championships. Top competitors will vie for a grand prize of $3,000, and total purse of $3,750. Oyster Restoration and Education will be presented by Peter Malinowski, Director, The Billion Oyster Project, and Tom Kehoe, president, K&B Seafood. New York City-s ever-popular Naked Cowboy will once again make an appearance, sponsored by Blue Island Oyster Company. Casale Jewelers of Staten Island, New York ( 1639 Richmond Road) , a longtime partner in Oyster Bar events, sponsor, will sponsor a drawing for a pearl neckless and earrings at the Frenzy. Russian Standard Vodka will sponsor Oyster Shooter samplings throughout the day. The public will compete in the SLURP OFF COMPETITIVE EATING COMPETITION (whoever slurps 10 oysters in the fastest time); and the BEER SHUCKING CHAMPIONSHIPS sponsored by Bluepoint Brewery. (The fastest to open all bottles of a case of beer is declared winner). Here is David-s Oysters Bienville recipe: ‎ In the 1920s, oyster-lovers in New Orleans loved their oysters so much that they would go on progressive dinners around town--progressing on the same night from the cooked oysters at one restaurant, to the next, to the next, ad infinitum. Certainly on their rounds they had their fill of Oysters Bienville, named after the founder of New Orleans, Jean-Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville; the dish is not as well-known as Oysters Rockefeller, but with its creamy, cheesy, capsicum-scented topping is at least as delicious. The following recipe is pure time travel, taking you back to the genteel, white-tablecloth restaurants of another era that served "American" food. The following recipe is an adaptation of the recipe from Antoine's, the great New Orleans restaurant that claims to have invented the dish. makes 4 first-course servings 2 cups milk 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons flour pinch of nutmeg 1 medium green bell pepper, minced (about 1 1/2 cups) 1 bunch scallions, minced (about 1/2 cup) 1 large clove garlic, minced 1/3 cup dry white wine 1 7-ounce jar pimiento, drained and diced 1/4" (about 1/3 cup) 3 ounces white American cheese, shredded (about 1/2 cup) 1/8 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper 3 pounds rock salt or other coarse salt 24 oysters lemon wedges for garnish 1. Make the béchamel sauce base: In a small saucepan, warm the milk over medium heat and bring almost to a boil, watching it carefully so that it doesn't boil over. Remove from the heat and reserve. Meanwhile, place another small saucepan over medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of the butter. When it has melted and the foam begins to subside, sprinkle in the flour, stir the mixture to blend, and immediately turn the heat down to medium-low. Continue stirring while the mixture bubbles for two minutes. Gradually whisk in the reserved warm milk, raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, whisking continuously. Reduce to a bare simmer and add the nutmeg, a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring regularly, for 15 minutes. The sauce should be very thick, but still pourable. Whisk in a small quantity of milk if you think it needs thinning. Pass the mixture through a fine-meshed sieve into a small bowl and set aside. 2. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the green pepper, scallions and garlic, and cook gently for 5 minutes. Do not let them brown. Add the white wine, raise the heat to medium-high and allow it to reduce by half. Add the pimientos, American cheese, breadcrumbs, cayenne, a few grindings of black pepper, a pinch of salt and the reserved béchamel sauce, stirring to incorporate the mixture well. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let the sauce gently simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. When finished, it should be almost, but not quite, the consistency of mayonnaise. Taste the sauce for salt. Transfer the sauce to a small bowl and set aside. The sauce can be made up to 2 days ahead and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 3. Divide 1 1/2 pounds of the rock salt between four dinner plates, each large enough to hold six oysters. Distribute the salt evenly on each plate. This is simply to provide an attractive base on which the curved oyster shells can evenly rest. Test with one oyster, placing the more deeply curved shell side down. If you need more salt to support the shells, add it. Set the plates aside. Now divide the remaining salt between two roasting pans, each large enough to hold a dozen oysters in one layer. Distribute the salt as you did for the plates (if you run out of salt, you can also use dried beans or lightly crumpled tinfoil on the baking sheets). 4. Open the top, flat side of each oyster (the deeply curved shell should be on the bottom.) Retain in each shell as much of the oyster liquor as possible. Discard the top shell, and free each oyster from its muscle. Transfer each oyster in its bottom shell to the salt-lined baking sheets. 5. Arrange the oven racks to accommodate both baking sheets, and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 6. Place 2 teaspoons of the bechamel mixture on top of each oyster if they are medium-sized (a bit more if they are larger, a bit less if they are smaller). The mixture should almost, but not quite, cover the meat of the oyster. Place the baking sheets with the oysters in the oven and cook until there is a lively bubbling at the edges of the oysters, about 20 minutes. If your oven has hot spots, rotate the pans 180 degrees after 10 minutes. (And if your 2 roasting pans are on different levels, after 10 minutes carefully reverse the bottom and top baking pans to ensure even cooking.) When the oysters are done, allow them to cool for 2 minutes and, wearing rubber gloves or with the help of a large spoon, carefully transfer 6 oysters to each of the salt-lined dinner plates. Garnish each plate with a lemon wedge and serve immediately.