Chef Paul Virant to share the craft of canning at English Grill dinner

Paul Virant, owner of Vie and Perennial Virant in Chicago, will be the featured guest chef at an Aug. 9 dinner at The Brown Hotel’s English Grill.

Chef Paul Virant.

According to a news release, the evening will include a four-course family-style meal prepared by Virant and hotel executive chef Laurent Geroli, and celebrate the release of Virant’s new cookbook, “The Preservation Kitchen: The Craft of Making and Cooking with Pickles, Preserves, and Aigre-doux.” In the book, Virant, a Michelin-starred chef, discusses and teaches the use of traditional canning techniques used widely in both of his restaurants.

Guests can meet Virant at an opening reception at 7 p.m. Dinner, paired with wines, follows and costs $65 per person (plus tax and gratuity).

Carmichael’s Booksellers will be on hand to sell copies of “The Preservation Kitchen,” which Virant will personalize.

For more information or to make reservations, please call the Brown Hotel at (502) 583-1234.

The evening’s menu features:

• Plated hors d’oeuvre: charcuterie platter; chicken liver mousse on grilled bread with assorted pickles and jams, served with beer jam Manhattan
• First course: fried green tomatoes with basil mayonnaise and local lettuces
• Second course: grilled New York Steak with fennel panzanella salad served family-style with braised lima beans and a pickled summer squash salad
• Dessert: raspberry brown butter cake topped with yogurt ice cream and elderflowers