BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- Oscar nominees have a lot going on in their stomachs during the ceremony - knots, butterflies, maybe even an ulcer or two.
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A pastry chef in celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck's Beverly Hills, Calif., restaurant holds a tray of ingridients for the desert dish for the post-Oscar Governors Ball. The centerpiece of the desert, the edible Oscar statuettes, are formed out of cookies and chocolate and finally dusted with actual gold powder.
Associated Press
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Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck garnishes the main course for the dinner at the post-Oscar ceremony Governors Ball with grated black truffles from Perigord, France, which come at a cost of $800 per pound, over a roasted filet mignon and Maine lobster, at his restaurant in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Associated Press
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But once the envelopes are all torn open, the winners cheered and the losers consoled, it's Wolfgang Puck's job to soothe their hungry bellies.
The celebrity chef will spend Feb. 29 overseeing his tenth Governors Ball, the post-ceremony bash where Hollywood's elite gather to wine, dine and bite the heads off of little chocolate statuettes dusted with actual gold powder.
Puck makes 3,000 of them.
"So for the people who don't win an Oscar, they get one from us," he said while preparing a preview of the menu at his iconic Beverly Hills restaurant, Spago.
The only other Governors Ball staple that carries over from year to year: smoked salmon carved into Oscar silhouettes.
Otherwise, Puck starts with a fresh menu each time. But there are no movie themes - no Lord of the Onion Rings or "Seabiscuit" sea biscuits. "We'd have to create five different dishes," he said. "Or else maybe you'd pick one that doesn't win and the others get upset."
This year, he said he was aiming for a surf 'n' turf style, "only more elegant": roasted filet mignon and Maine lobster, with celery root puree, two truffle sauces and a side of baked potato topped with cream and Iranian caviar.
The main course is garnished with grated black truffles from Perigord, France, at a cost of $800 per pound. He expects to use 15 pounds.
Appetizers include asparagus wrapped with prosciutto and marinated artichoke salad.
And for desert, besides those chocolate Oscars, there's a 12-layer miniature chocolate cake topped with a hard sugar wrap designed like a blue ribbon and accompanied by a scoop of espresso ice cream and a sugary Oscar-shaped cookie.
In other words, enough carbs and calories to keep Hollywood's personal trainers working overtime from here to the Emmy Awards.
Puck will oversee 200 cooks, 453 waiters and 50 bartenders on Oscar night, serving about 1,650 people. "It's almost like the Army," said Puck - but he shrugs when asked if he's the general.
He said that duty falls to Lee Hefter, his Spago executive chef and one of his trusted supervisors the day of the party. "I always call Lee the general because I can be nice and he's the tough guy."
Throughout the day, Puck himself will cook, chop, grate - whatever is needed. "I taste and taste and taste, but I never sit down to eat," he said. "At the end of the night, I might come out and have a glass of champagne or wine."
Serving so many people simultaneously is the greatest challenge, but that also limits the menu. Puck said he can only serve food that can be prepared in huge quantities in advance while still staying hot and fresh.
"If they said, 'OK, we would like to have angel hair pasta,' we couldn't do it for so many people. It would be overcooked by the time we served it."
Everything he cooks can be adjusted to be ready right when the show ends - which is never on time.
He suggests that viewers at home follow the same time-preserving philosophy for their own Oscar-watching parties.
"Prepare something where you don't have to spend the night in the kitchen. A buffet is the perfect thing; you can make a stew or a roast which can sit and still be tasty. At the end, pass out some small deserts and you'll have a wonderful party.
"The most important thing is to get good wine and good champagne - and have people dress up," he added. "Make it into an elegant party, not come like in sweat pants or tennis shoes. It is all about glamour."
Wolfgang Puck's Oscar banquet recipe
Here is the recipe for "roasted filet mignon and Maine lobster with celery root puree and two truffle sauces," the main course for chef Wolfgang Puck's 10th annual Academy Awards banquet. It serves four.
FILET MIGNON & LOBSTER
Ingredients: Four 6-ounce filet mignons, kosher salt, ground black pepper, two medium-sized fresh lobsters (1/2 lobster per person), 8 ounces unsalted butter, melted.
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Salt and pepper both sides of each filet.
3. Over high heat, sear both sides in a frying pan.
4. Remove from heat and place in oven for seven minutes. Reserve.
COURT BOUILLON
Ingredients: 1 gallon water, 1/2 gallon white wine, 1 quartered lemon, 1 medium onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stalk, 1 bay leaf, 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, 1 sprig tarragon, 1 sprig parsley.
Directions: Bring mixture to a boil, then add live lobsters. Cover, cook for eight minutes. Remove lobsters from water, cut each in half. Remove claw and tail meat. Toss in warm butter. Reserve.
CELERY ROOT PUREE
Ingredients: Celery root (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes; 1 or 2 small baking potatoes (about 4 ounces) peeled and cubed; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter; freshly ground white pepper.
Directions: Place celery root and potato in medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Season with salt and cook 15 to 20 minutes until soft. Drain water and return celery and potato to pan. Pour in cream and simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until thickened and most of the cream is absorbed, about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir in butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Puree in a food mill, return to pan, and keep warm over simmering water. Use as needed.
BORDELAISE SAUCE
Ingredients: 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1 shallot, peeled and sliced; 2 cloves garlic, smashed; 1 pound beef scraps; 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, toasted and cracked; 1 sprig fresh thyme; 1/2 cup sherry vinegar; 1 bottle (750 ml) red wine; 2 cups port wine; 1.25 cups veal demi stock; 8 cups chicken stock; 6 ounces unsalted butter.
Directions: Combine olive oil, shallots, garlic, beef scraps and peppercorns in medium saucepan over medium high heat; caramelize until all the natural sugars are released. Add the thyme and sherry vinegar and cook until it just about disappears. Add the red wine and port wine and reduce until the mixture takes on a syrupy consistency. Add the veal demi and chicken stock, and simmer until this reduced to about 3/4 of original volume. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter until it is totally emulsified into the sauce base. Salt and pepper to taste. Reserve.
TRUFFLE SAUCE
Ingredients: 1 ounce truffle jus; 3 ounces truffle peelings; 2 shallots; peeled and sliced; 1 cup white wine; 1 cup chicken stock, homemade or store bought; 1/2 cup heavy cream; 1 tablespoon unsalted butter.
Directions: Combine truffle jus and peelings in food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Reserve. Place shallots and white wine in saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced to about 2 tablespoons. Add chicken stock, and continue to cook until reduced to 3/4 of volume. Add cream, continue to cook until reduced by half.
Whisk in the truffle puree. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter. Salt and pepper to taste.
Presentation: Spoon celery root puree onto four warm plates. Place one filet and one half-lobster on top of each plate. Cover with each of the two sauces. Serve.
