Chef Sam Arnold
Owner, Executive Chef, The Fort, Colorado. This chat took place on the 11th of June.

Brad: Welcome everyone, Tonight's featured speaker is Chef Sam Arnold. To submit a question to the Chef click on the red question mark icon - and then type a question and hit return, or to ask a question type /ask before your question.

Chef Sam Arnold: I remember Paul McIlhenny putting Jalapeño Sauce on Buffalo Marrow Bones for the first time.

Chef Sam Arnold: He said it was better than the first kiss...

Rickco smiles.

Chef Sam Arnold: I have a great recipe for New Orleans Style Deviled Eggs. Mix the yolks with that N.O. hot sauce, TABASCO^®, in the big bottles. Add a little bit of mayo and put it back inside the egg. Put thin sliced onions across the top of the egg.

Brad presents the speakers with question #4 from Ramrod Brad: Swamp land with beaucoup gators and a big double whaahhh to brother Sam.

Chef Sam Arnold: Ah hah. Well... Which do you prefer, upper tail or lower tail?

Brad chuckles in amusement.

Brad presents the speakers with question #3 from Chip Brad: hey chef, what's yer favorite recipe?

Ejack: What a question!

Chef Sam Arnold: The bowl of the wife of Kit Carson It's chicken broth with cooked rice, garbanzos, chicken breast meat, chipotle peppers avocado pieces and cubes of monterey jack cheese, with a hint of oregano. Easy to make and delicious. But don't overdo the chili peppers... This needs a chipotle smoked Mexican sauce, so using the TABASCO^® Red or Green will not work.

Mrmac: hello all.

Skinnyman: hello mack daddy.

Brad presents the speakers with question #6 from Ramrod Brad: Mint juleps in Colorado? What are rattle snake eggs? Both at the Fort I hear.

Chef Sam Arnold: Yes.

Chef Sam Arnold: Try pickled jalapeño stuffed with peanut butter. Try a wide mouthed pint mason jar with three ounces whiskey, two teaspoons sugar, five fresh mint leaves and fill with ice shake 50 times with an Indian chant than drink, and your in the GREAT BEYOND.

Skinnyman: food.

Torio: yummy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ejack: Y'all know about Apache Grasshoppers? These are akin to rattlesnake eggs.

Torio: what? for a rain dance?

Brad presents the speakers with question #5 from Ramrod Brad: Buffalo bones & jalapeño sauce??? How did it taste?

Chef Sam Arnold: As Paul McIlhenny says, Better than the first kiss. In the old days, buffalo marrow was called Prairie Butter. So we serve it at our restaurant, The Fort from 4,000 lbs. a year. Take femurs, cut off the knobs and run them through a band saw lengthwise then crosswise yielding 4 pieces. Broil in a hot oven bone-side on the fire first Then finish with the marrow toward the flame about 5 minutes each side Serve with toast and TABASCO^® Green Sauce.

Ejack: Nah...easier than that - just throw a buncha Jalapeño and/or serranos in a microwave on high for about 10 minutes, then handle with care. Not to mention introspection!

Brad presents the speakers with question #7 from Mrmac Brad:: Where in the world have you traveled?

Chef Sam Arnold: North, Central and South America Souteast Asia, China, Russia, All over Europe, Morocco. But not yet Egypt nor Kenya, That's to come... I study the foods wherever I go.

Brad presents the speakers with question #10 from Mrmac Brad: Are you a cowboy?

Chef Sam Arnold: I'm more a mountain man, fur trapper type though I have done buffalo drives.

Brad presents the speakers with question #12 from Cbrease: Could you define Tex-Mex, where it got it's name, origin and what makes it unique?

Chef Sam Arnold: Tex-Mex is an Anglicized version of Mexican food which generally has too much tomato and not enough chili.

Ejack: Right on, chef!!!

Chef Sam Arnold: Since there are a million or more Hispanics in Texas and it was originally their territory, it's logical that the cuisine would evolve.

Ejack: Thank heaven it did...

Chef Sam Arnold: However, personally I prefer New Mexico style Mexican food which came more from the Pueblo Indians than from the indigenous native Indians in Texas.

Ejack: They DO make better chile verde in NM and CO than in TX.

Brad: To submit a question to the Chef click on the red question mark icon - and then type a question and hit return.

Brad presents the speakers with question #15 from Ejack Brad: Anybody have a recipe for Sopa de Medulla?

Chef Sam Arnold: Is Medulla brain? Is Brain Soup?

Brad: might make you smart.

Ejack: medulla is literally, spinal cord but I think it really means marrow in context.

Chef Sam Arnold: Marrow soup made with toast, marrow, caramelized onions.

Brad presents the speakers with question #13 from Ramrod Brad: Chef, Isn't Denver a little high for oysters?

Chef Sam Arnold: We call them Rocky Mountain oysters but they are actually fresh water mussels dredged out of Glenwood Canyon by unemployed peach pickers.

Ejack: RM oysters are cojones, for the linguistically pure...

Chef Sam Arnold: They have a ball doing it.

Ejack: says, LOL!

Ejack: Yummmm!

Brad: chuckles in amusement.

Brad presents the speakers with question #14 from Skinnyman Brad: Are you a native of Colorado?

Chef Sam Arnold: I came originally from Pittsburgh, PA, but have been in Denver for 48 years. I also lived for a time in Santa Fe and have a home there.

Ejack: Here's a quickie....try a dash or two of TABASCO^® Green Sauce in the bottom of a tumbler; fill with Clamato (or generic equivalent) juice. This IS an eye-opener.

Brad presents the speakers with question #18 from Ramrod Brad: How many varieties of chili do you use in your restaurant ?

Chef Sam Arnold: Five.

Ejack: Which 'uns? :)

Brad: any details?

Chef Sam Arnold: Serranos, Jalapeño, Mulletta, Chipotles.

Ejack: But of course..... Yeah!

Chef Sam Arnold: and Big Jims or Sandia #10.

Brad: what's the hottest one?

Chef Sam Arnold: Probably the Seranos.

Ejack: I agree with the Chef...of that batch...

Chef Sam Arnold: Habaneros or the 4 Scotch Bonnets are hotter than these but not my favorites.

Brad: says, Tario wants to know how old are you, chef?

Chef Sam Arnold: So old that when I swallow my Viagra I do it quickly so as not to get a stiff neck.

Brad: laughs hysterically.

Cbrease: smiles.

Brad presents the speakers with question #21 from Cbrease: Chef, describe your ideal dinner

Chef Sam Arnold: My ideal dinner: Avocado and Iceland Baby Shrimp Cocktail, Skull Cracker Soup, Gonzales Steak filled with green chili Chaquehue, pronounced CHA KAY WAY which is a New Mexico blue corn polenta, with toasted pine nuts and green chili,then green peas with the vanilla flavoring and fresh mint. For dessert: a Margaria Pie using two cans Eagle Brand milk three oz. Cuervo white Tequila 2-oz. Cointreau and juice of one and a half large limes mixed together and put in an Oreo cookie crust. It's strong and tastes like a wonderful margarita. No cooking required, just mix.

Brad: what is skull cracker soup - sounds painful...

Chef Sam Arnold: You can find the recipe in my new cookbook called, The Fort cookbook.

Brad: Is it online somewhere, Chef?

Chef Sam Arnold: It's basically a browned beef or buffalo bone broth in a bowl with a tamale lying in the bottom of the bowl. The tamale is the brain.

Brad: ah! I should have guessed!

Chef Sam Arnold: It's a delicious soup and is reminiscent of how the Aztecs enjoyed their friends and enemies.

Brad: LOL!

Brad: uh oh.

Chef Sam Arnold: They were cannibals...

Brad: Try this chef ....seed, then chop up about 1/8th of an Habanero into about a half pint of plain old white vinegar, let it rot on the sink counter for a couple of days. Then sprinkle a drop or five onto a plain soda cracker.....

Brad: ummmn.

Brad: That will hint at the heat, but give you the odd sweetness that only Habaneros/Scotch Bonnets seem to have, without....

Brad: Egad, gang, next he'll be telling us about Quinoa! (large grin) Flan with élan! Dulce de Leche, I think I mean....

Cbrease: waiter, please send a glass of your best cabernet to the chef with my compliments.

Brad presents the speakers with question #25 from Rickco Brad: What prompted you to become a chef??

Chef Sam Arnold: I built a restaurant and hired a chef who on our first Thanksgiving ran out of food during the first hour. I knew I had to go into the kitchen and learn the business. I always enjoyed cooking so this was no hardship.

Brad: LOL! I learned to cook because I married a woman who didn't like to!

Chef Sam Arnold: After 7 years and some 80,000 pieces of meat grilled by my own hands I began going abroad to study foods all around the world. I sold the restaurant in 1976 but came back to it in 1986. By this time I had studied at La Varenne in Paris and in cooking schools in many other countries. Also with Jim Beard.

Brad presents the speakers with question #22 from Court Brad: do you have a favorite area of the world in terms of cuisine?

Chef Sam Arnold: Yes - I would like to eat Thai food. It has a greater variety and enjoys chiles as much as I do.

Mrmac Brad: bows gracefully.

Brad: Thai food is terrific, for Us pyrophiles...

Brad presents the speakers with question #26 from Marie Brad: Do you know of a cure for accidentally getting habanero juices on your skin or in your eyes

Brad: Skin yourself and pluck out your eyes...

Chef Sam Arnold: A Smith & Wesson 38.

Brad: chuckles in amusement.

Brad presents the speakers with question #24 from Marie Brad: chef, what is your signature plate?

Chef Sam Arnold: A combination game plate featuring 4-oz. of Elk medallion, 4-oz buffalo tenderloin and a charbroiled teriyaki marinated quail. We sell about 900 of these plates a week.

Brad presents the speakers with question #29 from Ramrod Brad: Is there any limit to the different types of meat one can use in making tamales?

Chef Sam Arnold: It is unlimited. If you read the descriptions of Montezuma's menu from the early 1500's you'll see they used everything on earth.

Brad: Yum...thigh of warrior tacos...

Brad presents the speakers with question #30 from Court Brad: what would you consider to be your favorite place to dine? other than one of your restaurants.

Chef Sam Arnold: Hmmm, Anywhere in the world or just in the Denver area.

Brad presents the speakers with question #32 from Skinnyman Brad: Why is your restaurant called The Fort?

Chef Sam Arnold: Because it is a replica of a historic Colorado fur trade period fort. It is made of 80,000 mud and straw bricks of adobe made on site.

Brad: wow.

Chef Sam Arnold: It surrounds a central courtyard as the original did in 1834. It was a privately-owned fort as mine is today, never a military fort. Kit Carson shot meat 1,000 lbs. a day to feed the employees at the original.

Brad presents the speakers with question #34 from Cbrease: was this a second career & if so what was the first?

Chef Sam Arnold: My first career was as a public relations and ad agency owner and I specialized in promotion of British Sports Cars, nationally. I did the advertising for MG and Jaguar. Then I made a right angle turn and met my first buffalo. We serve over 50,000 buffalo entree dinners a year and have the seen the industry rise from 30,000 animals in 1963 to 250,000 animals today. The meat is so delicious and healthful as well.

Brad presents the speakers with question #36 from Ramrod Brad: Do you have a recipe for wild duck?

Chef Sam Arnold: No recipe for wild duck. However, roasted with lots of larding and its fun to do it a Chinese way by dusting the skin with water chestnut flour mixed with honey and soy.

Chef Sam Arnold:Read my new cookbook The Fort Cookbook published by Harper Collins. It has just been picked as the book of the month club choice. It has been praised by Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines. Buy it today from your local bookseller and make me rich...

Brad presents the speakers with question #39 from Marie Brad: Was the Fort built for you or was it built before you moved in?

Chef Sam Arnold: I built it as a home originally and it was so large that I needed a way to make it pay for itself so I opened the lower level as a restaurant and lived upstairs with wife, children, and a young black bear cub.

Brad presents the speakers with question #8 from Mrmac Brad: Tell us about raconteuring...

Chef Sam Arnold: I was a story teller this Easter at the Easter egg roll on the White House lawn. I told thousands of children how to freak out bears in the zoo by making authentic bear sounds. I had breakfast in the White House with Uncle Bill and Aunt Hillary and was joined as a story teller by Amy Tan, Art Garfunkle and Jane Seymour. The four of us entertained the mob.

Brad presents the speakers with question #23 from Court Brad: have you ever punched a doggie?

Chef Sam Arnold: No but I have punched plenty of buffies...

Brad presents the speakers with question #9 from Ramrod Brad: Any ideas on novel ways to open a champagne bottle?

Chef Sam Arnold: The way we do it at the Fort is to take a towel-wrapped cold bottle remove the wire and run a tomahawk up the neck of the bottle , hitting the little ridge of glass by the cork. This will snap open and shoot away. It your champagne is quite cold, you won't lose any. Beware of glass and keep the bottle well-wrapped in a towel because sometimes they implode. I taught this to Julia Child and she demonstrated it with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show. Don't use really cheap champagne as the glass isn't good.

Brad: Well thats about it for tonight's chef chat. Any closing comments chef?

Chef Sam Arnold: The Fort Cookbook contains 190 recipes interspersed with my life so It's my life between the covers.

Brad: Thanks alot for coming. We will be hanging out in the auditorium for awhile. Stay and chat.

Brad: Thanks again to our speaker, Chef Sam Arnold. And thank you all for coming!