Big Sky, a winter wonderland.

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Photo courtesy of Moonlight Basin

Tis’ the season for snow-capped mountains, skiing, snowshoeing, sleighride dinners and much more. Big Sky becomes a magical winter wonderland with ample adventures to choose from in the colder months. Here are a few of Buck’s T-4’s recommendations. 

We’ve used the ski-trail rating system to communicate the different difficulty levels of winter recreational activities in the Big Sky area. Green circle activities are designated the easiest, made accessible to beginners and recreationists of all levels. The next level up are the blue square adventures that are slightly more challenging, meant for an intermediate skill level or above. Lastly, black diamond pursuits are for the advanced and most adventurous.

Green Circle – Beginner

Snowshoeing– Get back to the basics with a trek on foot through the snow. Whether traveling alone or on a guided expedition, you’ll discover the wonders of winter - wildlife and majestic scenery and surroundings. Snowshoe rentals and trail information are available at outdoor retailers around Big Sky. 

Jakes Horses– Travel on horseback during the wintertime in Big Sky with a trail ride at Jakes Horses, located a short distance from Buck’s T-4. Running year-round, Jake’s recommends winter riders to dress warm to better enjoy the majestic mountain surroundings. Call for reservations and pricing. 

Snow Coach Tours Yellowstone National Park– Experience the grand beauty of Yellowstone National Park during the winter months on a guided tour. Snow coaches provide small groups the opportunity to access the park in comfort and style, while also stopping for guests to capture the major attractions and wildlife sightings. Accessible to all ages and physical abilities, plan this perfect activity for everyone to enjoy. 

Blue Square – Intermediate 

Cross Country Skiing– Relish in Big Sky’s alpine terrain on a pair of skinny skis. Voted Cross Country Skier Magazines #1 Nordic ski destination in North America, Lone Mountain Ranch hosts 85 kilometers of groomed trails for beginners and experts alike. Whether looking for a leisurely day with friends or a workout to get your heart beating, LMR offers both season passes and day tickets. Take a lesson, guided tour or go alone to explore this award-winning destination. 

On the flip side, Gallatin National Forest also provides a number of back country trails to venture out on cross-country skis. Rentals and ski condition information are available at outdoor stores throughout Big Sky. 

Snowmobiling (Canyon Adventures)– Throttle up! Miles of groomed trails and untouched meadows of fresh snow make snowmobiling a winter mecca for endless turns. Surrounded by the Spanish Peaks, Taylor Peaks, Lone Mountain and Madison Range, excitement will ensue in the crisp mountain air. Full and half day rates are available for rentals and guided trips at Canyon Adventures, which is right next to Buck’s T-4. Snowmobile right here in Big Sky! 

Dog Sledding– The dog days of winter! Travel into Montana’s back country on a pulled behind a dog-powered sled. Spirit of the North Dog Sled Adventures trips take off from Moonlight Basin, one mile above the Big Sky Resort Mountain Village, where you’ll take in the mountainous views of Lone Mountain and the Spanish Peaks. Located close to Buck’s, Yellowstone Dog Sled Adventures trips meet at the Rainbow Ranch Lodge in Gallatin Canyon, offering a 2.5-hour tour or one-hour dog-sled ride. Reservations recommended and required. 

Black Diamond – Expert 

Downhill Skiing and Snowboarding at Big Sky Resort– Known as the Biggest Skiing in America, Big Sky Resort has 5,850 acres of skiable terrain and 4,350 feet of vertical. One of the ski community’s best kept secrets, Lone Peak and the surrounding mountain landscape provide a big mountain ski environment and no-wait lift lines to create a skier’s paradise. Go big on the triple black ski runs from atop the summit of Lone Mountain, sitting at 11,166 feet, or take it a bit easier on the lower mountain trails. Either will fill you day with endless entertainment. With a vast spread, check out their terrain breakdown by skill level.

Terrain breakdown:

  • Beginner - 15% 
  • Intermediate – 25%
  • Advanced – 42%
  • Expert – 18% 

Back Country Skiing– Daring and dangerous, back country skiing isn’t for the faint of heart. Be prepared. It’s an absolute necessity to have an avalanche beacon, shovel and probe at the very minimum. Better yet, it’s smart to have avalanche knowledge from a certified course and go with a like-minded partner. 

With mountains all around, Big Sky’s back country becomes almost endless for the accelerated adventurer. Beehive Basin and Yellow Mountain Meadows are two favorite local spots.  

Make sure to review the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center’s daily avalanche forecast before heading out at www.mtavalanche.com.

Fine Dining | A Perfect Entree

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Every so often I dine at a restaurant and have what I consider to be the perfect entree. What are my qualifications?

Firstly, let’s look at flavor. There needs to be depth, so that sweetness or saltiness doesn’t just fall flat on my palette. I’m looking for complexity but just the right amount so that all the tastes meld together, keeping it rounded. In my own cooking, I fail most often at achieving this when trying to make a vegetarian soup from scratch that lacks cream or milk.

Secondly, everything on that plate needs to have a place and be equally perfect. So often a nice piece of fish or meat is served with an okay vegetable or a par side dish. Veg and sides have been tossed by the wayside, and Mr. Meat or Fish steals the whole show. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t need some fancy asparagus or crazy broccoli side, but let’s face it how often does the veg left to it’s own accord arrive overcooked or less than fresh?

Recently, I was in Fresno, California visiting family and we dined at Max’s. This little Bistro has become a favorite amongst my family. It’s well decorated, the service is pretty reliable and their menu is always inspiring. I had the fortune of having what I call a perfect entree there. I knew it from the first bite, when I opted to taste the side first as opposed to the nice salmon filet. I bit into a little square of eggplant and my palette about yelled in delight. I’d never tasted such buttery, wonderful eggplant in my life. I tried the rest of what was a herb roasted vegetable hash and even the cauliflower was divine (c’mon you have to admit how amazing that is?). Finally, the tines of my fork hit the salmon and it was confirmed that I was eating the perfect entree.

The last requirement to be the perfect dish is size. In America, so often we value size over quality, not just in food but in so many aspects of our culture. After a hard days ski or a long day exploring the park, there is nothing better than a heaping plate of Buck’s meatloaf with mash and gravy or a NY Strip Oscar style, but sometimes less is more. My perfect dish is exactly enough to satisfy; you’re left with a little feeling of I could really enjoy the taste of another bite or two. You are by no means hungry still, it’s just that like anything good in life, you wish it didn’t have to come to an end.

In my book, Buck’s T-4 has created my vision of the perfect dish for this winter’s new menu. I tried it yesterday and my palette squealed with joy. Two perfect dishes in one month, no way! Airline Pheasant Breast stuffed with wild rice and house made pheasant sausage, served with a roasted corn cake and a rich pan jus. Perfection!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the perfect entree or what you look for in a good dinner, from one foodie to another.

Tori

Fine Dining

Events | Summer Menu is Here, Doors Open Tonight

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summer menuWe’re back! Yep, it’s that time again, where we wow you with new summer creations and bring back old favorites that fit the warm weather and long sunny days ahead of us (they’re right around the corner, I’m sure).

Back after huge success last year, is our Summer Salad– yellow and red watermelon, fresh arugula, red onion and cotija cheese neatly arrayed with a knockout citrus ginger vinaigrette. A new item that is sure to strike your fancy is Green Eggs and Ham. Yep, we’ve made a breakfast sandwich for dinner and it has to be the dish I am most excited to eat all summer long. With Dr. Seuss as inspiration this killer open face sandwich is made with a slice of thick sourdough bread, house smoked Cajun Tasso ham, melted Swiss, wild baby arugula, sliced tomato and topped off with a pesto friend egg. Please feel free to quote Geisel as you’re enjoying this dish because it’s so good you could eat it on a train, you could it in the rain.

Buck’s restaurant is open daily starting tonight from 5pm-10pm. Bar open late and don’t even get me started on the new cocktails Lauren and Anna have created. (Er, Citrus Squeeze, so so good).

And in addition to our normal menu we’re also featuring the following weekly specials:
Fish Taco Fridays
Prime Rib Saturdays
Fried Chicken Sundays

Check out some pictures to make your mouth water and to show you our staff hard at work getting ready for tonight!

See you soon,
Tori

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Recipes | Russian Cream with Raspberries

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I have something new and exciting for you this week. Recipes! Periodically, we will sharing some of our favorite Buck’s T-4 recipes from both past and present. We hope to give you a deeper look into our kitchens, the minds that work the culinary magic and allow you to make at home what you have enjoyed at Buck’s. To start off, I picked one of my favorite T-4 traditions, Russian Cream with Raspberries.

To my dismay, I tried this delightful dessert in my first week at Buck’s and since have never really given the other desserts the time of day. I’m not the only one who has suffered from this problem because when I asked Mike, Chuck and Dave when this dish first appeared on the menu, none could quite remember–it was so many years ago. Before Dave’s time, before Chuck’s too and Mike’s best guess, 1980. That was 31 years ago and the most incredible detail is that it has never left the menu. Sometime around 1980 a new pastry chef who’d come from Jackson brought the recipe with them and while many subsequent chefs have tried to contemporize the sweet, they've never succeeded. If you've tried this dessert at Buck’s before then you know why failure was inevitable. And if you haven’t had the privilege of indulging in Russian Cream, make this very soon (tomorrow?) and you’ll know why, too.

Enjoy,
Tori

Russian Cream with Raspberries
Yield: 8-6 oz servings

1 ½ tsp Gelatin (Knox, e.g.)
¼ Cup Water
2 ½ Cups Regular Whipping Cream
1 ¼ Cups Sugar
2 1/4 tsp Vanilla
20 oz sour cream
Frozen Unsweetened Raspberries, slightly thawed (Or other berries of choice)*

Place gelatin in water and dissolve over low flame until clear. In a large saucepan, heat cream and sugar over low flame until sugar melts and mixture is hot. Add vanilla, then gelatin. Stir mixture vigorously with wire whisk until gelatin is thoroughly dissolved and well-mixed. Remove from heat and add sour cream, mixing continuously with whisk. Place in large container and cool until firm (preferably over night).

Alternate layers of cream blend with your frozen raspberries or other berries of choice in 8 parfait glasses, wine glasses or other clear glass of choice. Top with fresh whipped cream and garnish with a sprig of mint.

If not serving immediately, skip the whip cream step and cover individual portions and refrigerate until ready to serve.

*Eek, frozen berries? Really? Yes, really. The beauty of using frozen unsweetened berries in this dish is that as they thaw the juice that is released has a nice slightly sweet but still tart flavor that mixes with your cream. It is the balance you are looking for.  If you have fresh berries on hand or the ones at the store can’t be resisted then I recommend doing a blend of fresh and frozen so you still have that juice. But, be creative and tell us what combinations you come up with.

 

Snow Today, Summer Tomorrow

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Summer ActivitiesLet’s just ignore the fact that it snowed today because now it’s sunny, the sky is blue and the clouds are big and white, and I want to write about summer.

We have had one hell of a winter this year, more snow than we’ve seen in years and the powder junkies came from far and wide to feed on the fruit La Nina bestowed on us in Big Sky, MT. Those of us who had the privilege of spending all winter long enjoying the fruit of La Nina are quite happy to see her go. We want summer and if you have ever had the opportunity to taste the Montana summer then you know exactly why.

Our summers are golden. Endless days, fresh mountain air, pristine streams, panoramic vistas to be had in every direction. Ever see the campaign about getting lost in Montana, well summer is definitely an excellent time to do it.

I’m addicted to the long days; it’s 8:30pm as I write this and not even close to dark. In another month night won’t come until after ten. One of my families favorite summertime activities is to sit outside by the river, build a fire and sip on glasses of port until the dark descends. I think that qualifies as heaven. Another new favorite that I’m just getting the hang of is fly fishing. I’ve been utilizing the assistance of an expert and managed to catch three rainbows in 15 minutes the other night at my super secret fishing hole. For me, summer evenings are what I live for, when the light becomes rich and honey like and somehow manages to make this beautiful place even more so.

Have I painted an enticing picture? If not, here are some images of Big Sky in the summer and some of the fun we get up to here (besides sip port by the fire).

Cheers,
Tori

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22 Chefs, 22 Pizzas, 22 Smiling Faces

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Ophir-2nd-Grade-Pizza-004Recently, we had 22 miniature guest chefs on premises at Buck’s T-4. We had the privilege of hosting a field trip for the second graders from Ophir school in Buck’s kitchen. It was one big pizza party where all the students had the opportunity to create personal pizzas.

Doug Starz, Todd’s right hand man in Buck’s pub came up with the idea while reading to his son’s class at Ophir School. He asked if the kids would like to do something different during his reading time in the future and came up with a couple suggestions. The make your own pizza party at Buck’s was a unanimous hit. The children’s teacher, Miss Ellis, found creative ways to incorporate the fieldtrip into her lesson plan.

In preparation for the fieldtrip the kids used pizza toppings to practice their multiplication tables. They also learned about steps in a process, just like when you build a pizza from the crust up. And probably the best lesson was the Pizza Pokey, a twist on the classic Hokey Pokey song. It goes something like, “You put some sauce on, you take some sauce off…” Jayne, the hotel manager, heard all the little voices singing from all over Buck’s property.

Each student was assigned their own chef’s uniform, consisting of a big white apron and a tall chef’s hat. Executive Chef Todd Christensen made up the pizza dough and Doug cut up an assortment of toppings for the children to choose from. Each student made their own personal pizza with the help of Todd and Doug. The best part was having a big party where all the kids enjoyed eating their creations.

“The whole field trip was amazing,” Miss Ellis told me. “I had no idea it would be such a blast. Everyone at Buck’s was so generous with their time and resources. The kids just had a wonderful time.”

When Doug approached Todd and Buck’s Food and Beverage Director Chuck Schommer with the pizza party idea, they were immediately on board. Buck’s is always happy and open to participating in the community in any way it can. Besides, it’s usually a great deal of fun. Just look at these pictures of Todd, Chuck and Doug. Who’s having more fun, the kids or them? Hard to tell if you ask me.

Cheers,

Tori

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