The post How to smoke brisket at home, courtesy of a Texas golf resort pitmaster appeared first on Golf.

The post How to smoke brisket at home, courtesy of a Texas golf resort pitmaster appeared first on Golf.

***

Properly smoked Texas brisket is a delicacy, one that’s made all the more irresistible when you stop to consider the method of cooking that’s required to prepare it. Just uttering the words “low and slow” can oftentimes activate a barbecue fanatic’s saliva glands.

Sure, it seems simple enough. A quick glance at the recipe and you think, how hard can it be? But there’s nuance baked into that simplicity. The team at Omni PGA Frisco, led by Pitmaster Rick Adamo, has total command over the finer points of the process. It makes sense, after all, since the resort’s Ice House restaurant — essentially a BBQ hotspot — sells between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds of smoked brisket each week.

To do it right at home, you need to start with a cut of certified Angus beef brisket that’s covered by a fat cap from end to end. You’ll be able to gauge the quality of the meat by analyzing how you can maneuver it in your hands. “If it bends real good,” Adamo says, “it’s good brisket.”

If you’re going to trim the meat yourself, first place it in the freezer for a half hour or so. “Your brisket needs to be really cold when you cut it,” the pitmaster explains. “That will help you to get into it.”

Lifestyle

From there, you’re looking to trim the vast majority of the fat cap off the meat, leaving between a quarter of an inch to three-eighths of an inch of it attached. If you’re using a traditional smoker, you’ll be rewarded by trimming the meat so it retains an aerodynamic shape. This is a technique that Adamo picked up from Pitmaster Aaron Franklin, the proprietor of the famous Franklin BBQ in Austin, Texas, since the shape of the meat encourages the smoke to run over the top of it. “Aaron Franklin is like the God of cooking brisket,” he says.

In other words, it’s good advice.

You don’t have to do all the trimming yourself, though. Adamo acknowledges that a good butcher will be able to clean the brisket to the exact specifications that you’re seeking. “It might cost you a little bit more per pound,” he says, “but it saves you the hassle.”

Adamo likes to joke that the Ice House utilizes a secret recipe for its rub. In the next breath, however, he’ll tell you that it’s a 50/50 mixture of salt and pepper. When he does rub the meat with this seasoning mixture, he doesn’t actually rub it in. Instead, he sprinkles it on the meat, starting with the edges and then working over the entire piece. He makes sure that the meat is at room temperature when he does this, and he gently pats the meat afterward so the salt and pepper adheres to the brisket.

Don’t be stingy with the seasoning. But at the same time, you also want to exercise some restraint. “You don’t want to overdo it,” he says. “You still want to see the meat through the coating.” 

If you’re smoking the meat the old fashioned way, Adamo says that you can use any type of wood that you like. Hickory and cherry wood work great, but the Ice House only smokes its meat using Post Oak from central Texas. “It’s a mild smoke,” he acknowledges, “but it’s a good penetrating smoke. It adheres to the meat.”

Food

If you don’t have a traditional smoker, don’t worry. You can still make crave-worthy smoked brisket at home. Start by setting the oven to 200 degrees, then dilute some liquid smoke with a bit of water. After you’ve slathered the meat with that liquid concoction and seasoned it appropriately, put the entire piece of meat directly on a middle-positioned oven rack. Place a sheet pan underneath and fill it with some water for moisture. Then simply let the brisket cook, uncovered, for about 15 hours or until the point of the brisket registers between 198 and 200 degrees.

Once it’s to temp, remove the brisket, immediately wrap it tightly in butcher paper, and let it rest in the oven at 140 degrees for a while. “With brisket,” Adamo says, “it needs to have a good rest. We like to rest ours three to four hours before service.”

When it’s finally ready and you’re ready to dig in, slice it up and serve it with a generous portion of the Ice House’s specialty — Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce (see recipe below).

If, after reading all of this, you’re still unsure if you can successfully smoke a brisket at home, consider this advice from Aaron Franklin: “You only learn how to make good BBQ by making bad BBQ.” In other words, you’ll be one step closer to pitmaster quality, no matter how it turns out. 

Dr. Pepper BBQ Sauce

Courtesy of Omni PGA Frisco

Ingredients:

2 cups Dr. Pepper
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/2 oz. smoked paprika
1/4 oz. mustard powder
1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Preparation:

In a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat, add Dr. Pepper and bring to a boil. Continue cooking until the liquid has reduced by half. Add the remaining ingredients, then reduce the heat to medium-low and bring to a simmer for one hour.

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The post Making Masters-inspired pimento cheese at home is a cinch. Here’s how to do it appeared first on Golf.

The post Making Masters-inspired pimento cheese at home is a cinch. Here’s how to do it appeared first on Golf.

For those lucky enough to be onsite at Augusta National this week, the famous sandwich is still available for only $1.50. But for the rest of us watching from home, our only shot at getting a taste is making it ourselves. Luckily, that’s easier than you think.

Chance Cozby — also known by his social media handle @3piecesofpecan, which boasts more than 1.6 million online followers across multiple platforms — demonstrated just how simple the process is with a quick video. Here’s how to do it.

Chance Cozby’s Masters-inspired pimento cheese

-8 oz sharp cheddar cheese, grated
-8 oz sharp white cheddar, grated
-1/2 cup mayo
-4 oz pimentos, strained
-4 oz cream cheese, softened
-1/4 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne

The prep — grating the cheese and straining the pimentos — is probably the most difficult part of this extremely easy mixture. That’s how simple it is!

All you have to do is combine each of the ingredients listed above into a serving dish, then chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

There’s no better way to take in the final-round action than with some traditional Augusta National fare, so gather up the ingredients you need and settle in to an afternoon of viewing — and snacking! — unlike any other.

“Make a sandwich, as a dip, on a burger,” Cozby says. “Pimento cheese on Masters weekend is damn good.”

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The post This $1,000 whiskey was poured at Masters Champions Dinner appeared first on Golf.

The post This $1,000 whiskey was poured at Masters Champions Dinner appeared first on Golf.

You won’t soon catch a livestream of the gathering, but this year Augusta National did give us a tantalizing peek behind the drapes by way of a short-form social-media video that shows various scenes from the event: club staffers ironing the tablecloth; kitchen workers in Augusta National-branded chef coats plating dishes; and Scottie Scheffler, the defending champion and dinner’s host this year, noshing on a bite-sized burger.

One quick cut also revealed a rare whiskey that was on offer Tuesday evening: Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye.      

If you’re a whiskey connoisseur, you may be familiar with Van Winkle. If you’re not, you likely won’t be surprised to hear that, like many of the attendees at the Champions Dinner, the whiskey is legendary.

“The Van Winkle line is one of the most respected names out there and most difficult to find,” Tom Fischer, a whiskey journalist and educator who founded Bourbon Blog, told GOLF.com.

Fischer said to earn a “rye” designation, a whiskey needs “at least 51% rye in the mashbill, versus bourbon which needs to be 51% or more corn.” He added, “At 13 years, Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye is layered and well-balanced: think leather, clove, light hints of some floral against serious oak, old library notes, and sweet tobacco.”

When asked if he was surprised to see the rye served at the Champions Dinner, Fischer said, “A bit, because it’s the rarest of the Van Winkles.” Fischer said the distillery doesn’t release numbers as to their whiskeys’ rarity, but that the rye is thought to be the hardest to attain in the Van Winkle lineup.

The whiskey retails for $120 a bottle but “good luck finding it for that,” Fischer said. It’s about as rare as a green jacket. You can pick up a bottle on the secondary market, Fischer said, but expect to fork over at least $1,000 and up to $1,500 or more. “Insane prices,” he said, “but it is where we are at in whiskey.” 

If you’re not into whiskey-hunting or handing over a paycheck for a taste, Fischer recommends a couple of more gettable alternatives: WhistlePig 15 Rye Whiskey or Hard Truth Rye Whiskey. Both are from Indiana, he said, and “both are delicious.”

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The post How to make Augusta National’s delightfully simple chicken salad sandwich appeared first on Golf.

The post How to make Augusta National’s delightfully simple chicken salad sandwich appeared first on Golf.

***

Ask anyone who has set foot on Augusta National’s hallowed ground about their Masters week experience and they’ll likely be eager to share two revelations: The course’s elevation changes are unbelievable. And the food prices? Unreal!

Indeed, the concessions at Augusta National — like so much of the property — are a throwback to simpler times. The prices are refreshingly low, ranging from $1.50 for snacks and sandwiches to $6 for a glass of chardonnay — and nothing is made to order. Patrons line up to grab what’s available — in a tidy, logoed bag — and head on their merry way.

The concessions menu of two dozen or so items has remained largely unchanged of late, save for a few well-received additions over the years, like the coveted Georgia peach ice cream sandwich. When a new menu item does join the Masters concessions pantheon, it’s treated with considerable fanfare. Such was the case with the chicken salad sandwich, which made its Masters menu debut in 2021, complete with its own introductory Instagram post.

The public’s appetite to replicate the Masters’ simple yet beloved concessions staples is immense. During the pandemic, the club began releasing Taste of the Masters hosting kits, which included staples like pimento cheese and egg salad along with branded coasters, cups and more. The kits sell out every year.

While Augusta National is famously tight-lipped when it comes to sharing proprietary information like recipes, chicken salad is blessedly simple to make at home, though there are some best practices to keep in mind.

Lifestyle

Marc Johnson, executive chef at Santa Lucia Preserve in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Calif., serves a popular curry chicken salad at his club and says the key to making chicken salad sing at home comes down to a few key elements: quality ingredients (like whole roasted chicken), good mayo and seasoning. You can get as creative as you want from there.

“I like to put a little fruit in there, too, to balance the fattiness of the mayo,” he says.

Slather the salad on a bun or white bread and pair it with a pilsner and potato chips, and you have a Masters-week meal worthy of a green jacket.

Basic Chicken Salad

-1 cup roasted chicken
-1/4 cup mayonnaise
-2 tbsp chopped celery
-Salt and pepper to taste
-Squeeze of lemon

In a bowl, mix the chicken and mayonnaise. Add celery sparingly, and salt and pepper to taste. “You want celery for the crunch factor and texture,” Johnson says. “But it can add a bitter note to the mixture, so a small amount goes a long way.”

The final step: a squeeze of lemon. “A little acid gives a nice balance and brightens everything up.”

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The post Dewar’s 21-year-old Stone Toasted Scotch whisky is the first to utilize a unique finishing process appeared first on Golf.

The post Dewar’s 21-year-old Stone Toasted Scotch whisky is the first to utilize a unique finishing process appeared first on Golf.

Dewar’s first began double aging — the process of blending matured Scotch whisky, then placing it back into casks to mature even further —in 1881. The result: a supremely smooth and balanced finished product that made Dewar’s a household name for more than a century.

Lifestyle

Dewar’s pushed the bar even higher by introducing double-double aging in 2019. Double-double aging is a four-step process that starts with the maturation of single malt and single grain whiskies for over two decades. Those whiskies are then vatted separately, matured further and eventually combined for one final maturation before being finished in a special cask. This process produced a 32-year-old Scotch whisky that won Best Whisky in the World at the International Whisky Competition in 2020.

Now, Dewar’s has introduced the latest double-double iteration: a 21-year-old Stone Toasted Scotch whisky ($140; dewars.com). This Scotch whisky has been further elevated with a unique finish in magma-stone-toasted French oak casks, making Dewar’s the first whisky brand in the world to utilize the process, which is more prevalent in the high-end wine industry.

Stone toasting involves placing heated magma stones inside a metal cylinder in the casks to delicately and gradually “toast” them over the course of several hours. The heat opens the oak’s pores, and the finished whisky is enriched by a smooth symphony of flavors, which include notes of honey, caramel, stewed apples, pears, cinnamon, toasted oat and cereal grain.

Read more spirit and cocktail content

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The post How to make this iconic Masters cocktail the Augusta-National approved way appeared first on Golf.

Given the azalea’s abundance, it makes sense that the signature cocktail of the Masters would be named after the azalea too. The pink libation has traditionally been served with vodka or gin as the base spirit, which is then blended with a mix of pineapple juice, lemon juice and grenadine.

Lifestyle

As with all cocktails, the best way to make an Azalea is, of course, your way, but for anyone wondering how close their personal recipe is to the one served on Magnolia Lane, last year, we received a definitive answer when Augusta National released its official Azalea cocktail recipe on Pinterest (handle: @masterstournament). And the recipe contained a surprising omission: no pineapple juice!

Instead, the Augusta National way to make the drink replaces the pineapple and lemon with lemonade. A revelation!

Demand for the cocktail continues to grow, as this year, a limited-edition Azalea-making kit was released alongside Augusta’s annual “Taste of the Masters” kits, and it sold out almost immediately.

The kit contained cups, coasters, stirrers, a jigger and a bottle of pre-made Azalea cocktail mix. The listed ingredients for the cocktail mix included sugar, water, lemon juice concentrate, grenadine syrup, lemonade flavor, citric acid, potassium sorbate (preservative), sodium benzoate (preservative), orange blossom flavor, natural red color, and sodium citrate.

Alas, with the kits sold out for the year, Azalea aficionados will have to mix their own versions according to Augusta’s recipe. Check out the official measurements below:

Official Masters recipe: The Azalea cocktail

Ingredients:

-Ice
-1.25 oz vodka
-5 oz lemonade
-0.5 oz grenadine
-Cherry and lemon wheel garnish

The recipe doesn’t specify whether or not the mixture should be shaken or stirred, so we’ll leave that up to personal preference. Just make sure to pair one with another Augusta staple: pimento cheese. Cheers!

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The post At this Texas club, chicken-fried lobster is a member favorite. Here’s how to make it appeared first on Golf.

The post At this Texas club, chicken-fried lobster is a member favorite. Here’s how to make it appeared first on Golf.

***

Most proud and passionate Southerners will tell you that you can chicken-fry any type of meat. Steak is the most popular choice, but venture through the South and you’ll certainly come across chicken-fried pork chops, venison, even chicken. We’ll admit, the latter doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us, but that’s another matter for another time.

Fourteen years ago, Chef Gilbert Moore at Horseshoe Bay Resort in south central Texas took this staple of Southern cooking in an entirely new direction, introducing chicken-fried lobster. Available only at the community’s Yacht Club, the dish was an immediate crowd pleaser, so much so that it’s remained a staple on the restaurant’s menu ever since.

“It’s the contrast in textures,” says Chris Besaw, the Yacht Club’s current executive chef, explaining what makes the dish so successful. “When you deep-fry something, you get this beautiful crispy crust, and when you cut through that into a super tender, almost buttery, lobster tail, it screams decadence.”

Although it requires a bit of preparation, some research, and a willingness to experiment ahead of time, recreating the dish at home is very doable (see recipe below). “It can be intimidating,” Chef Besaw acknowledges, “especially when you’re working with higher-end ingredients. But that’s where the research comes in.”

By research, he means watching some YouTube tutorials on how to break down a lobster tail. He’s also referring to trial runs using more affordable ingredients. You want to make sure you get a thin, even layer of breading on the lobster before you fry it, so practicing how to properly dredge the protein using shrimp will allow you to refine your skills on a less expensive piece of seafood. That will also give you a chance to tweak the ratios of the dried herbs that make up the seasoned flour mixture, should you want to add more or less paprika, Old Bay seasoning, or granulated garlic, for example.  

“It’s a big investment to make this dish,” Besaw says. “It’s worth it when you pull it off, but it’s a big risk. Knowing before you cook this expensive, delicate shellfish is better than knowing afterwards. Not everybody can afford to just go out and buy a bunch of lobster and play around and if it doesn’t work, just throw it away.”

As for that lobster, the chef doesn’t expect home cooks to be butchering live lobsters in their kitchens, but he’s quick to point out that the dish can still be great if you’re using frozen lobster tails — you just need to make sure you talk with a specialist at a high-end supermarket like Whole Foods or a fishmonger to ensure that you get the freshest lobster possible. In other words, you want lobster that was flash-frozen and packaged recently. You also want to make sure that it’s only been frozen once. “You don’t want something that’s been in the freezer for a couple of years,” he says. “And you don’t want something that’s been thawed out and refrozen, because the meat will fall apart.”

Food

When you bread the lobster prior to frying it, first coat the meat in seasoned flour, then dip the meat in an egg wash, and finally re-coat it in the flour mixture, making sure you dedicate one hand (or pair of tongs) to the dry ingredients and the other for the egg wash. This will prevent any breading clumps from forming. Also, make sure you use a neutral-flavored oil with a high smoke point, such as canola oil.

The chicken-fried lobster is best served with a black pepper gravy (recipe below), but don’t forget to add citrus. “Right before you serve it, hit the lobster with a squeeze of lemon,” he says. “It’ll be delicious. It brightens up the entire dish.”

Chicken-Fried Lobster Tail

Courtesy of Chef Chris Besaw at Horseshoe Bay Resort

Ingredients:

6 oz. lobster tail
4 large eggs
2 oz. half-and-half
1 lb. all-purpose flour
7 oz. corn starch
1.5 oz. freshly ground black pepper (toasted)
1.5 oz. Kosher salt
1 oz. Old Bay seasoning
0.5 oz. granulated garlic (or garlic powder)
0.5 oz. granulated onion (or onion powder)
0.5 oz. Spanish paprika

Preparation:

Slowly cut away the shell from the lobster meat until you reach the tail fin (keep the fin attached and intact). Flip over the lobster tail and repeat the process from the other side. Using the tail fin, slowly pull the lobster meat from the shell.

In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients, whisking until well incorporated.

Pre-heat a table-top deep fryer or a Dutch oven filled with canola oil to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and half-and-half.

Dredge the lobster tail in the flour mixture. Transfer it into the egg wash, making sure the entire lobster tail is coated. Then dip it back into the flour mixture, shaking off any excess.

Carefully drop the lobster tail in the hot oil, frying for approximately four minutes or until the meat reaches an internal temperature of 140 degrees.

Black Pepper Gravy

Courtesy of Chef Chris Besaw at Horseshoe Bay Resort

Ingredients:

1 quart whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
4 tbsp. butter
4 tbsp. all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. freshly ground black pepper (toasted)
2 tbsp. Kosher salt
0.5 tsp. celery seed (toasted)
2 bay leaves (toasted)
3 sprigs of fresh thyme

Preparation:

Using cheese cloth and cooking twine, create a sachet for the thyme, bay leaf, and celery seed.

Set a saute pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the butter and, when melted, fold in the flour. Continue cooking for three to four minutes, stirring frequently until the roux mixture has lightly browned. Remove from heat and keep warm.

In a medium saucepan, add the milk, heavy cream, and herb sachet and bring to a simmer.

Slowly add the roux, whisking constantly until fully combined.

Cook for five minutes, then season with salt and pepper.

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The post How to replicate East Lake’s delicious ‘Waggle Burger’ at home appeared first on Golf.

The post How to replicate East Lake’s delicious ‘Waggle Burger’ at home appeared first on Golf.

***

A smashburger is inherently appealing. Its seared beef patty with crispy edges covered in melted cheese is equal parts comforting and decadent. The sandwich’s connection to classic diners also renders it an unmistakable symbol of Americana. The only thing better than a delectable smashburger is one that comes with a compelling story; and that’s exactly what’s served at Mac’s Shack, the unofficial name of the halfway house at East Lake Golf Club.

This snack bar of sorts takes its moniker from the name of a longstanding employee at the club, Mac Tomlinson, who is described in East Lake’s written history as “a purveyor of refreshments.” When the club broke ground on a significant restoration/renovation project of its heralded layout just after the Tour Championship in 2023, the club concurrently began work on the construction of a new venue at the turn. When its attention turned to the construction of the halfway house’s menu, decision-makers at the club soon settled on the understanding that Mac’s Shack needed a crave-worthy burger.  

Legend has it that the burger that Mac originally served at East Lake was to die for — so much so that members and guests would make visits to the club just for lunch. Although details of those legendary sandwiches are hard to come by, East Lake’s staff at least knew where to start: a griddle-cooked patty topped with American cheese and some sort of special sauce.

The club held a competition open to any staff member who daily wore an apron, and of the dozen entries submitted, two stood out — one for its preparation and style, the other for its secret sauce. (Truth be told, the sauce isn’t really that secretive.) In the end, the Waggle Burger was born from the combination of those two entries. It features a Wagyu beef patty, melted American cheese, and the aforementioned Waggle Sauce (recipe below), which is an aioli concocted by Chad Parker, the club’s president and general manager, who in his spare time competes in serious barbecue competitions.

Perfectly replicating the Waggle Burger at home might be a tough order, so we asked the club’s Director of Food and Beverage, Lauren Rosenzweig, for tips on making an exceptional smashed burger, no matter what components or condiments are used. As we learned, it starts with the cooking surface. If you don’t have a commercial-grade flattop at home — and who does? — use a cast iron pan. Just make sure you get it smoking hot.

“To get the perfect consistency,” she says, “you have to smash the beefy patty very firmly and quickly on an extremely hot surface, creating a very crispy outer crust while keeping the inside nice and juicy.”

You might think the meat is the most important ingredient in a smash burger, but you’d be wrong. Sure, patties made from locally sourced Wagyu beef will never hurt, but using the wrong type of cheese always will. “It needs to melt well,” Rosenzweig says, “and, more importantly, fast.” For those reasons, she says you can’t go wrong with American cheese.

Food

As for the number of patties, East Lake’s director of food and beverage believes a true smash burger is always a double. “One patty is too thin,” she says, “and it gets lost in the bread.”

On the topic of bread, East Lake relies only on three-inch potato rolls, which are softer and a little sweeter than a traditional burger bun. Plus, according to Rosenzweig, “they’re the perfect size for a grab-and-go bite at the turn.”

No matter how you choose to make and dress up your own smash burgers at home, if you can follow Rosenzweig’s explanation of what makes the Waggle Burger so successful, you’ll never go wrong. “It’s simply good quality ingredients,” she says, “coming together to make a great tasting product.”

Waggle Sauce Recipe

Courtesy of Chad Parker

Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp. ketchup
1 tbsp. yellow mustard
1 tbsp. Sambal or Sriracha
1 tbsp. sweet relish (recommended: Wickles Pickles Relish)
1 tbsp. spicy dill pickles, roughly chopped
1 tsp. spicy dill pickle juice
1 pinch Kosher salt
1 pinch fresh cracked black pepper

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The post How to make TPC Sawgrass’ trophy-size pretzel at home appeared first on Golf.

The post How to make TPC Sawgrass’ trophy-size pretzel at home appeared first on Golf.

***

If your golf travels should take you to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and you’re fortunate enough to tee it up on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, golf fans everywhere — once they learn of your experience — will all ask the same question: How did you do on 17?

Of course, those in the know, whether they’re members of the club or they’ve visited in the past, will ask an equally important follow-up question that has nothing to do with your golf game or that infamous par 3: Did you have the pretzel?

There’s nothing about its description or positioning on the club’s lunch menu that suggests the TPC Pretzel is a can’t-miss item. Yet, that’s exactly what it is. According to Anuj Kumar, the club’s executive pastry chef, TPC Sawgrass sold 4,700 of these gigantic, handmade (and hand-twisted) soft pretzels in 2023, only to top that number by more than 1,000 in 2024. In fact, last year she says the club’s restaurant sold 5,820 of them, which averages to nearly 30 pretzels a day!

“It’s not even listed on our dinner menu,” Kumar acknowledges, “but we sell just as many in the evening thanks to word of mouth or because someone catches a glimpse of one coming out of the kitchen.”

Yes, the famous par-3 17th with its island green has become the Stadium Course’s signature golf hole. But inside the club’s restaurant, this giant soft pretzel has become TPC Sawgrass’s signature dish.

Food

Fortunately, if you’ve never had it, you don’t need to travel to the PGA Tour’s hometown to experience it. Chef Kumar has shared the pretzel’s recipe with us (see below); and before you convince yourself that any at-home replication attempts will be wrought with frustration, know that it’s only intimidating until you’ve given it a try. “This is an easy recipe to follow,” she says, “even if you’ve never made bread before.”

The pivotal step in the process is making sure you spray the dough with the water-and-baking-soda mixture. That’s what gives the pretzel its deep brown color and ensures that salt can stick to its surface. As for twisting the dough into that iconic pretzel shape? It’s a technique that comes with practice, but Chef Kumar acknowledges that the pretzel’s final appearance is of little importance, so long as you mix and bake the dough properly.

“You don’t need to stress about getting the shape perfect,” she assures. “Get creative and make them any shape you like. Just have fun with it and enjoy the process.”

Turns out, that’s good advice for your next round of golf, too.

TPC Pretzel

Courtesy of Executive Pastry Chef Anuj Kumar (Yields 2)

Ingredients:

1 lb. high-gluten flour
1.5 cups water
8g sugar 
8g instant dry active yeast
5g salt
0.25 cup baking soda

Preparation:

Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and, using an electric mixer, mix on low until the dough begins to knead into a ball (roughly 6 to 8 minutes).

Remove the dough and divide into two equal portions.

Roll out the dough into 1-inch round sticks (about five feet long), and twist into a pretzel shape. Place the pretzel on a parchment-lined baking sheet and allow to proof until it’s doubled in size.

In a large spray bottle, combine 1 quart of warm water and the baking soda, then spray the mixture generously over both pretzel-shaped servings of dough.

Bake at 450 degrees F until golden brown (roughly 10 to 12 minutes).

After removing the pretzels from the oven, immediately brush with melted butter and sprinkle with desired toppings (salt, cinnamon-sugar, etc.).

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The vegetarian option was added to the restaurant’s offerings by food and beverage director Luis Quezada in an effort to provide a hearty steakhouse-style entree choice for diners who wish to forgo the steak itself.

“The cauliflower steak is a great option if you don’t eat meat because you still feel like you’re part of your party eating a steak,” Quezada says.

Food

So how does one achieve a carvable texture and smoky taste from cauliflower? Quezada and his team start by slicing a head of cauliflower in thirds, leaving part of the stem. The cauliflower is then drizzled with salt, pepper, olive oil and Tajin spice, and baked in the oven before being finished on the grill.

“Cauliflower really doesn’t have much flavor on its own,” Quezada says. “So you have to season it and prepare it really well.”

While the decision to season with Tajin was inspired by Quezada’s Mexican roots, the chef makes a concerted effort to tie in local flavors to every dish. The cauliflower steak, for example, is paired with pigeon pea risotto — a nod to the traditional Puerto Rican pairing of pigeon peas and beans. The risotto adds a weight and depth of flavor to the dish, which is further enriched by the addition of mint chimichurri. The cauliflower is topped with a pinch of pistachios and golden raisins before serving.

Pair it with a glass of chardonnay and your “steak” dinner is complete — and completely delicious.

Prime 787’s Cauliflower Steak

-1/3 cauliflower head
-1 tsp Tajin spice
-1 tbsp olive oil
-Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Slice cauliflower so it is about 3/4 inch wide, leaving part of the stem.

Coat cauliflower with Tajin spice, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Place on a baking sheet and cook in the oven at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.

Finish the cauliflower on a grill to add a smoky flavor.

The plated version of the entrée includes:

-1 cup pigeon pea risotto
-Cauliflower pieces layered on top
-1 tbsp mint chimichurri
-Pinch of pistachios and golden raisins to finish

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