For thousands of years, preparing and eating food around a wood fire was a communal ritual. Jim Holderbaum is reviving that tradition and can bring it to your backyard with his catering business, Range & Reef.
Watching Holderbaum and his staff grill is part of the fun. He has clients throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and has had requests to cater parties as far as way as New York City.
“It’s not typical catering,” Holderbaum says. “It’s all designed around food onsite and outside, where food and preparation are part of the event.”
Holderbaum ventured into the catering business after working for the state department as an international development advisor. He traveled to about 60 countries doing agricultural and environmental work. Then he decided to make a career change.
“I was just getting burned out,” Holderman says. “When you are traveling to Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and even North Korea. That stuff wears you out. I wanted something new.”
Holderbaum, a Bowie resident, became fascinated with cooking during his extensive travels and had been using wood-fire grills at home for more than two decades.
In preparation for his business, he volunteered to work in the kitchen for a couple months free at Harry Browne’s in Annapolis. After a successful stint there, Holderbaum was on his way.
We recently talked to the 60-year-old Holderbaum about what makes his catering company unique, the types of woods he uses to match with certain foods and flavors, and why he loves guests watching him cook.
How would describe your catering?
We are not precooking food. For the live-fire grilling, I use a number of different woods. It means I don’t use charcoal or propane grills. Its all-natural wood fires, so we do a lot of top sirloin, prime rib, tenderloin on oak, shrimp, scallops, salmon on peach wood, swordfish, racks of lamb, pork on apple wood. We also grill all kinds of vegetables. I will get requests for doing things like large sardines and octopus. Then I do some specialty seafood. We do a shrimp and seafood boil. It’s gulf shrimp, clams, mussels, fresh corn, brussels sprouts, and smoked Kielbasa. We also do a traditional lobster clam bake.
You encourage people to watch the process? Why?
It’s almost by design to have people watch because they usually don’t get to see it. I love when people come around the grill. Like at a wedding reception, people are coming up and, in their suits, ties, and dresses, asking all these questions. The smells are amazing. They ask, “How long are you going to grill the shrimp?” That’s fun to me and to me it’s part of the process. There’s nothing better than having a bunch of people gathered around the grills. We are up front and center when we do this. I have had 30 or 40 people standing around.
How do you match a certain food with certain wood?
Heavier woods like oak have higher amounts of tannins, which is a chemical found in hard woods. It’s just a heavier, more intense smoke coming off of it. You wouldn’t want to be grilling scallops over oak. Most of the beef we cook with oak. For lighter things, especially seafood, wood that has a lighter smoke and aroma to it is good because you are not overpowering the taste of the food. Peach wood is probably the best wood you can grill with. The peach wood will match with shrimp and scallops. I like to do swordfish on it and a lot of vegetables. Pork and lamb—I like to use applewood because it has a very distinct flavor to it. Or the wild cherry because it is a little heavier.
How did you get into your current business?
A big part of those trips was getting together with people and their families and a lot of cooking. That was an important thing and a common thread with all these countries. People sitting around grilling, sharing food, and sitting outside. Some trips were very difficult. I was out in Indonesia after the Tsunami and Kosovo after the whole Serbian War campaign. My way to decompress was to grill at a cookout. So, I would have a party and invite 50 to 100 people. I would also do all these things at home. That had a lot to do with me going into catering because I loved grilling out.
Do you have a culinary background?
No, I don’t. I wanted to get into the food business. I wasn’t sure I was going to work as a manager at an Outback or have my own my restaurant. I met with executive chef at Harry Browne’s downtown and he suggested getting into the restaurant business. I didn’t know if that’s what I wanted to do. I said, “I am getting kind of old to be a chef.” I told him, “I will come work for free if I can work for you.” He said, “Are you serious?’ I said I was. The owner said if this guy wants to work for free, go ahead. I worked there for two or three months and did prep work for them every day. The chef said I had the skills to do that.
What did you do before starting your catering business?
I worked for the state department and traveled all over the world. I have a PhD in agriculture. I did a lot of agriculture rural development sort of like analysis, and environmental work. I did some work under both Bush administrations, and some things for the Clinton administration and Al Gore with environmental issues in Siberia. I was involved with the first Bush administration with the multilateral peace talks with Israel and Palestine. I spent a lot of time in rural communities
What type of events do you cater?
I have a lot of corporate clients and financial firms. I also cater a fair amount to private homes. Events like summer parties, graduations, and anniversaries. A lot of times it’s for a fall party or a winter party. We also do wedding and we are a little more selective on that. Everything is done on site and served. I also do fundraiser type of events.
What is most popular item?
We probably get more comments about the grilled shrimp. These are gulf shrimp. Someone at every event inevitably comes up and says, “This is the most amazing shrimp I’ve ever had.” I marinate them. The marinade has olive oil, some chalets, dry basil, cilantro, and garlic.
Why do you use Grill Works grills? What are they?
Grill Works is a company based in Michigan. They probably manufacture the best woodfire grills in the world. There are two types: live fire grills which I have, and in-kitchen grills. Grill Works has its grills in Wolfgang Puck’s kitchen and five-star restaurants in New York City and in Toronto, and all over the world.
Steamed Clams
in White Wine, Garlic, & Butter
Serves 4 as a main course or 10 guests as an appetizer.
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons butter
- 6 cloves fresh garlic, minced (or more if you like)
- 1 cup dry white wine (such as Pinot Grigio or a dry Riesling)
- 4 pounds (about 50 clams) of Littleneck or Midneck clams (clams that are 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches work best)
- 3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (as an optional garnish)
- Serve with a French baguette. Slice it or let guests pull off a piece for dipping into the broth.
Directions
Clean clams with a stiff bristle brush and rinse under cold water. Discard any clams that are cracked or open. In large sauté pan or heavy skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add the white wine and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then add the clams and cover with a lid. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until most of the clams are wide open. Cooking time may be longer for larger clams. Discard any that remain closed. Transfer the open clams to a large serving bowl and ladle the broth over the clams. Garnish with the chopped parsley and serve with rustic (French) baguettes.
