Food on Television

I met a new foodie friend last night who was talking about the food product his family makes and how the nostalgia around the product should be part of future branding changes. An excellent idea for sure.

Nostalgia is not generally a sentiment I personally project. I typically live for today and tomorrow. This has always been true to some degree, I was always looking and thinking around the next turn and often forgetting the last step I had taken. This has certainly been magnified since my cancer diagnosis and treatment in 2003 but only for the better. That doesn’t mean the past doesn’t influence me, it just means I don’t carry the past close or very consciously.

Back to the story about food on television which does require a trip down memory lane. I’m starting in the mid 90’s, which is arbitrary AND not the beginning, instead it was the tipping point for Margot and I and our food obsessed lifestyle.

From the moment we got the Food Network on cable we were glued to it. We watched Door Knock Dinners (Gordon Elliot), Food 911, East Meets West (Ming Tsai), Grillin’ & Chillin’ (Bobby Flay), Essence of Emeril and many others. This was only a few years after the network launch so these were the NEW shows and ultimately some of the rising stars of the network. Along the way we have been avid watchers of Good Eats (Alton Brown), Iron Chef (original for laughs, new one for content), 30 Minute Meals & $40 a Day with Rachael Ray, Emeril Live!, Boy Meets Grill & Throwdown (Flay), Ace of Cakes (Duff), Alton Brown’s Feasting on Asphalt & Waves, Diners, Drive–ins & Dives (Guy Fieri), Unwrapped, biographies, holiday specials, and the list goes on.

Ming Tsai inspired us to take a course on cooking Dim Sum at the Cambridge Culinary Institute, something we have used several times since. Emeril’s restaurant NOLA was on our itinerary on a trip to New Orleans in 1999. Margot and I have always eaten well with the inspiration we have gotten from these shows, sometimes too well.


Farther back I remember watching re-runs of The French Chef with Julia Child and catching Yan Can Cook with Martin Yan, both on the local PBS channel in Connecticut where I grew up. Reality Food TV was in the kitchen at my home where Mom did a great job getting me interested in food and cooking. If only I had filmed it!!

I believe I can safely say that food related TV is the number one type of TV that has penetrated my eyeballs up to this point in my life. That isn’t likely to change.

Tripping over the Travel Channel (majority owned by the same company that owns Food TV) we also discovered No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. This show was a real eye-opener for us showcasing foods from exotic locations we had never dreamed of. We like him too, because like us he says what he thinks and lives in the moment. We have watched Man vs. Food a bit and some other the Travel Channel’s food related specials. It can get to be too much some weeks!

About two years ago we got the Fine Living Network and discovered the show Three Sheets, a study of beverages and drinking cultures around the world. Thank you Zane for taking one for the whole team, I learned a lot!

The Fine Living Network (owned by the same company that owns the Food Network) recently re-branded itself as the Cooking Channel. Margot and I are once again hooked. Sitting down and flipping on the new network feels like the old days with new shows and new ideas. We still have some core shows we watch on Food TV, but we aren’t much for the reality competition shows. The Cooking Channel with that exact change in format rescues us from that depression. Already I have filled up the DVR with tapings of Drink Up, The Thirsty Traveler, Indian Food Made Easy and Foodography. I even caught the tail end of an episode of The Galloping Gourmet yesterday. I vaguely recall seeing that show before, and what a personality Graham Kerr is! The word is that this channel will have new programs from some of the Food Network elite, like Emeril and Rachael Ray. While that will most likely be a good thing, I am hoping for a healthy mix of new faces and their influences to show up in my living room.

Yesterday afternoon while taking a quick walk on the treadmill I caught the last half of the "Summer Cocktail Party" episode of Boy Meets Grill. In this episode Bobby Flay hosted Ted Allen for some grilling and good times. After the last two days of stuffed steak in collaboration with The Manly Housewife I couldn’t help but think that that was two of us on the screen sharing our love of food and good company with the world. It is truly great to be able to do something you love and share it with other people who are passionate about the same things.

One of the newest Food Network shows we have enjoyed is titled Spice & Easy. In one segment the host, Janet Johnston, made a spiced soda from star anise, pink peppercorns, allspice berries, citrus peel, thyme, sugar and club soda. Pretty cool! We tried it and it is excellent. Check it out at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/savory-spiced-soda-recipe/index.html

Are you addicted to food on television? Leave a comment with your favorite show, recipe, chef or memories you have of food on TV. Is there something you don’t like or thought was a terrible idea, share it! Let’s all walk down this exciting path through the food and television memories most of us have!

Cheers!

--Jason

Cooking with Ancient Fire Wine

Every adventure has some twists and turns. The Manly Housewife is guest posting today with the conclusion of the Stuffed NY Strip story.

There is a lot to be said about the old adage that things happen for a reason. At the very least, a good argument could be made for this saying from my particular situation. I truly believe it happened for a reason. See, I just started blogging not that long ago, less than a month, actually, and it has been a great experience. Any blogger, as I am sure can tell you, gets very excited when he or she discovers site hits. Having recently re-watched the movie “Julie & Julia,” I now see it through different eyes. I had to laugh at the part when she gets all excited over her first blog comment. While just beginning my blogging adventure, I stumbled upon a site called Foodbuzz (if you’re a food blogger, visiting Foodbuzz is a must). Now that I have successfully launched my blog, it has sent me on an exhilarating rollercoaster ride of interesting visits and intriguing comments. I mention all of this as a preamble to an exciting story that happened all because of Foodbuzz. Three days after launching my new blog on Foodbuzz, I received a comment that one of my dishes had been paired with a wine. To let you know just how excited I was, I called everyone who knew I was doing this blog (and a few that didn’t) to tell them all about it, which really was a lot of people. Not only did this recipe (Smothered Pork Chops) receive great honors by being featured on Foodbuzz’s Top 9, it now had been paired with a great wine. We all have visions of grandeur in the things that matter most to us, and I love to cook. It’s not only fun, but it’s a passion to me. Only a few will understand the elation of having well-respected people pay respect to one of your dishes. After this great honor of pairing my dish with Pinot Noir and, specifically, the Francis Coppola Diamond Collection, I felt my desire of cooking elevate to a whole new level. I immediately contacted Jason at Ancient Fire Wines to thank him for granting me such a great honor, and I told him that I would love to do some additional pairings with him in the future. You see, The Manly Housewife has been an idea of mine for quite awhile, albeit an live-in-motion, ever-evolving idea, but an idea none the less. Each achievement only helps to confirm that this is exactly where I need to be. Jason and I had several conversations back and forth about ideas we could incorporate into our respective blogs to increase traffic, of course, but also to emphasize and complement one other’s talents. We finally decided on choosing a dish and both making our renditions of this dish. Now, before I go into my interpretation of the dish, let me quickly state that I did not fully keep up my end of the bargain, but that’s all explained as you read on below. . . .

Jason and I agreed to do a replica of a dish I had at Chef Pointe Café (an amazing, contradiction of a place, not far from my house). This is the craziest place you might ever eat. It’s been featured on Food Network because of its 5-star quality food, inspired, prepared, and served in, of all places, a gas station. Recently when I was there, I had the stuffed New York Strip Steak and was so intrigued that I was inspired enough to try to re-create it at home. We thought this would be a great dish to try and see what combinations we could each come up with. To fully explain how I didn’t keep up my end of the bargain is this: I did not use a New York Strip; instead I chose a ribeye. I like the ribeye better (and they were on sale). Also, because of a mishap on my part, which you can read about here Mandolin Safety, I omitted the potatoes and did not take as many pictures (it’s hard to snap photographs when your thumb is wrapped in a pressure bandage). And, lastly, after the mishap, I decided on stiffer drinks than what I had initially intended, knowing that Jason would totally rock that part with his recipe, and he did! But the show must go on. So my wife and I invited my parents over to enjoy a quiet evening of good food, good drinks, and good company.

Now that I am done rambling let’s get it on with the recipe. . .

Stuffed Ribeye Steaks
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 20-oz Ribeye Steaks (we’re talking about ¾” to 1” thick Fred-Flinstone-Style Steaks)
• Smoked Gouda Cheese (I used approximately ¼ -pound block of cheese and divided it between the four steaks)
• 8 Slices Canadian bacon
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 2 Yellow Squash, cut into ¼ inch rounds (again, careful with the Mandolin slicer)
• 2 Zucchini, cut into ¼ inch pieces
• ½ Small Red Onion, cut into wedges and then separated
• 1 ½ Cups Your Favorite Prepared Italian Dressing
• ¼ Cup Red Cherry Tomatoes
• ¼ Cup Yellow Cherry Tomatoes

 Directions (Steak Prep)

1. Sprinkle both sides of the steaks with salt and pepper.
2. Cut a slit along the fatty edge of the steak, ¾ length of the steaks.
3. Into each steak, add a generous slice of cheese and 2 slices of bacon (I would suggest quickly pan searing the bacon 1 minute both sides to help it crisp up).
4. Secure the stuffing inside the steaks with 3 to 4 toothpicks.
5. Let steaks sit for covered in the fridge for about and hour (this will allow the steaks to soak up the salt and pepper).

Directions (Vegetable Prep)

1. Slice Squash and Zucchini into ¼ inch pieces, discarding the stemmed end pieces.
2. Cut onion into wedges and separate into individual pieces.
3. Keep tomatoes separate from the rest of the veggies.
4. In a large bowl combine Squash, Zucchini, onion, and Italian dressing and mix well.

Directions (Cooking the Meal)

1. Spray grill grate with grilling spray prior to lighting.
2. Fire up the grill to medium high heat. You want it warm enough that you can only hold your hand for 2 seconds 3 inches from the grate.
3. Places steaks on the grill and don’t touch (moving them will cause the juices to leak out and make the steaks cook unevenly). Now here is a trick of mine: if the grill is to the correct temperature, you should cook ¾” to 1” steaks 7 minutes on each side for medium-rare steaks. For this recipe, I suggest closer to 8 minute each side to allow the cheese to fully melt and the center to warm up.
4. In a grill pan, add vegetables, excluding the tomatoes, and sauté’ over the grill.
5. Cook the vegetables until you begin to see that nice charred look around the edges.
6. Add tomatoes to the pan and continue to roast.
7. If done right, you should finish the veggies and the steak right about the same time.

To serve, add a couple of spoonfuls of vegetables to a plate. Remove toothpicks from steaks and serve over the top of the vegetables.

I hope you enjoy this meal. I still have my war wound from the mandolin accident, but the food was fantastic and well worth the pain. My original plan was to pair these steaks with a Grenache wine and a Hefeweizen beer. But, instead, due to my painful injury, my wife and mom enjoy a simple glass of White Zinfandel, while Dad and I jumped straight into the whisky stash. This was truly a fun and exciting co-blog that Jason and I did. He an I would both entertain offers to do this kind of combo blog with any other food bloggers. If you would like to pair up and do a joint blog like this one, please contact Jason at his Ancient Fire Wine Blog, or leave a message here.

Good Food, Good Drinks, Good Friends. . .

The Manly Housewife

Cooking Stuffed NY Strip Steak with The Manly Housewife

A few weeks ago I saw a post on a blog named “The Manly Housewife”. I can’t recall what the post was about, but the name of the blog certainly attracted my attention. I inquired about the mission behind the blog and found someone promoting more men in the kitchen. Preaching to the converted for sure. Without hesitation, and being a newly minted Foodbuzz Featured Publisher, I suggested we collaborate to help give something more to our respective readers.

We selected a Stuffed NY Strip to recreate based on his recent experience at the Chef Point Café in Watauga, Texas. I hadn’t heard of this place before and the description of five star dining at a gas station was certainly intriguing. The steak is stuffed with Canadian bacon and smoked cheese, served with roasted potatoes and mixed vegetables.

We decided we would each make the dish, with a couple of modifications, and pair it with both a wine and a beer and then blog about our experiences. During the initial planning we talked about anything that might need to be done differently. Additional seasoning for the steak was highlighted. We went with the addition of caramelized onions and a maple bourbon reduction to add some texture and flavor.

Margot and I cooked our meal on Sunday June 6th. I picked up two 20oz NY Strip Steaks at McKinnon’s in Salem, NH where I also found the Canadian bacon and a smoked blue cheese that I felt would go nicely in the steak.

Here are the recipes and preparation steps for everything but the vegetables, which were simply cut, steamed and served with some spray butter and a little fresh grated parmesan cheese.

Oven Roasted Potatoes

5 medium Yukon Gold Potatoes
2 Tbsp butter
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp onion powder
Dash of ground mustard
1 tsp kosher salt, divided
¼ tsp black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp crushed dried oregano

Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces. Heat the roasting pan in a 375 oven with 2 Tbsp butter. Add spices, ½ of salt and pepper to melted butter and set pan back in oven for 2 min. Add potatoes, olive oil and return to the oven. After 10 minutes add and stir oregano. Stir every 10 minutes for a total of 45 minutes. Turn down heat to 325, add remaining salt and stir with 15-20 min. to go.

Caramelized Leeks

2 large leeks

2 Tbsp butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Wash and clean the leeks. Slice the white/light green part of the leeks ½ inch or less thick. Melt the butter in sauté pan over high heat. Add leeks. Once they are starting to brown, turn heat down to medium low. Saute, stirring occasionally for 25 minutes.

Bourbon Maple Reduction


1/2 cup bourbon
1/2 cup real maple syrup
¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Combine ingredients and bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until thickened

Stuffed NY Strip Steak


2, 1 LB NY strip steaks
Smoked blue cheese
6 slices Canadian bacon
Salt
Pepper

Pat steaks dry, season with salt & pepper. Grill to a good sear on both sides. Slice open back as close to fat end as possible to create a nice pocket. Stuff with bacon & cheese. Use tooth picks to secure the gaps. Wrap in foil, with the slit in meat facing up, and bake at 450 until meat temperature is 150 for a medium cooked steak. The meat will continue to cook as you unwrap and plate it.

I had never cooked a steak (intended as a single serving) as large as this, nor had I ever ordered or eaten one of this size. To truly honor this dish and make for some good pictures size mattered!

The aromas in the kitchen from the caramelized leeks and potatoes were very enticing and adding the permeations from the maple bourbon reduction got us hungry well before it was time to eat. To make sure we could separate the influence of the wine/beer from that of the food we opened both early and tried a few sips of each. When the food was served we tried the steak and potatoes without the beverages first.

For wine I chose a Burgess 2004 Napa Cabernet and for the beer I chose a recently homemade Belgian Trappist Ale. The Cab was a sure bet with the richness of the steak and is fantastic on its own. This selection came to me as a present from a former co-worker who does indeed have good taste in wine. With a deep red color the wine had some mocha and wood flavors and had the familiar green pepper aroma. The beer was malty and hoppy with about 8% alcohol and moderate carbonation. I was hoping the malty flavors would help surround the steak in a similar way the red wine would, and that the hops would add a bit of spice to each bite.

The meat was just slightly more cooked than medium-rare, juicy and extremely flavorful. Margot said it had a wonderful crunch on the outside without being burnt, obviously from a good sear to start. The smoked meat and cheese provided a nice foundation for each bite, and the maple bourbon reduction provided a good deal of zip without being overbearing. The caramelized leeks provided additional crunch and had soaked up some butter which added a creamy texture. The potatoes included a mix of spices that intermingled well and came out wonderfully. They were crunchy on the outside and soft inside, with a hint of mustard in each bite. A very good match with the steak. These will be made again by themselves or maybe for breakfast.

The Cabernet paired exquisitely with the steak and didn’t overpower or become overwhelmed by the strong flavors in the dish. It was not a good match for the potatoes which Margot was the first to notice.

The beer on the other hand paired with both the steak and potatoes. As I had hoped the flavors in the beer surrounded the meat and cheese and played off those flavors to create a warming, exciting bite, umami I would imagine. The earthiness of the beer, an influence I believe from the Belgian Trappist yeast, paired nicely with the potatoes, much better than the wine.

The finished masterpiece!!!

This was one of the most exciting food and wine experiences I have ever had. I haven’t focused on cooking beef too much as we don’t it as often. The method I used this time definitely helped retain the moisture, something I will do well to remember since I generally like my steak medium-well which means overcooked to many people. Researching what Canadian bacon actually was prompted me to think about making it at home. And of course collaborating with the Manly Housewife gave me opportunity to think creatively about yet another food and wine adventure.

Today I am guest posting on The Manly Housewife's blog. Be sure and check out this post over there today and check back tomorrow when the he will be our special guest cooking a similar meal here at Ancient Fire Wines.

Cheers!

--Jason

Our Wine Friends are the Best!

One of the blogs I follow is The MA Winemaker at Aaronap Cellars which is written by Noel Powell, who I just recently met in person at the WineMaker Magazine conference. He posted his re-cap about the conference with a huge shout out to us and a link to our blog as well. This type of recognition is a true honor and is cherished. Please visit Noel's blog for another take on making wine at home. He's a chemist so his perspective is definitely different from mine, something I hope to learn from.

Cheers!

--Jason

Photos from the Malbec Pressing June 5th, 2010

I asked Vincent to come and help me run the press. I had six buckets, about 110 pounds, of Malbec grapes that had been fermenting since the Monday prior. With only about 12 gallons or so of volume expected I was sure setup and cleanup would take longer than the pressing. Everything went smoothly and we ended up with 12 gallons on free run and light pressing and 3 gallons from a heavier press. We actually did a press over of my second run experiment which yielded some more from the Malbec for the whole mix. The gravity after pressing was 1.004. Almost dry and definitely ready for MLF.

Check out the pics on Flickr.

http://bit.ly/9hIPCn

Cheers!

--Jason

Making Over Mom's Grilled Ham, Tomato & Cheese

My mother, Helene was an amazing woman. Her and my Dad had six kids, and eventually took in three more. Even though money was tight there was plenty of love to go around. The house was crazy growing up and as the youngest I had more than my share of sibling, well, let’s call them “issues”. With a small budget and many mouths Mom always found a way to make food stretch.

The culinary background I came from was made up of words and phrases like: instant, ramen, boil in bag, cream of, canned, roni (ex: pasta-roni, rice-a-roni, noodle- roni) seasoning packet and Kraft. Mom did her best and to be truthful she shined on the holidays which were filled with delicious turkey, Canadian pork stuffing, homemade peanut brittle, sucre a la crème (a Canadian fudge) and oh her delicious, fought over doughnuts. During the holidays there seemed to be a bit of extra money and more time to make the food just right (most likely due to threats of no presents if we made her too angry).

One of my favorite treats she made when she could was a grilled ham, tomato and cheese sandwhich.

Mom’s “recipe” was simple:

Take two pieces of white bread and spread cream cheese on the inside of each slice. Then place a piece of ham on top of the cream cheese on one slice. Top the ham with fresh tomato slices, another piece of ham and them the second piece of cream cheese bread. Coat the outside of the bread with butter (Mom used margarine) and grill on each side. Simple and delicious this sandwich was one of my favorites and a treat as deli meat was not always in the house due to expense.

My Experimental Make Over

The replacement for the cream cheese was easy, I used Chavrie Brand Goat Cheese. I have come to really love goat cheese over the last year, its tanginess has always reminds me of cream cheese. I kept the tomato because to me that was such an essential ingredient, but replaced the white bread with whole grain to add some earthiness to go with the goat cheese. Where I was stuck was the meat. Mom used plain old deli ham, no smoking, or strange curing, honey this or maple that. I really wanted to try something different, but was not sure of what. I came back from the deli counter with the following:

Canadian Bacon., Eh? I’m Canadian American after all.

Prosciutto, cause it was a good excuse to buy some.

And Mortadella , which was purchased because I had heard about it but never had it.

I made Mom’s version just as she would have (though I have to admit I replaced the store brand white bread with English toasting bread). Then I assembled half sandwiches using the Goat Cheese, Whole Grain Bread, Tomato and one of the three meats. Rather than spread the butter on the outside of the bread I melted it first and then brushed it on. I have found when grilling sandwiches this creates a much more even grill.

Jay and I had a taste test and this is what we found:

Prosciutto : I did cook the prosciutto in a pan over medium heat prior to using it on the sandwich and that worked well. Once on the sandwich the meat really overpowered the rest of the ingredients. Jay thought that when he had a bite of the sandwich without the meat it was great because the salty essence of the meat was there without being too strong. I would probably do this again in the future but finely chop the prosciutto and sauté it then mix it in with the goat cheese before I spread it.

Canadian Bacon: This worked quite well but ended up with the opposite problem of the prosciutto, the meat was overpowered by the other ingredients and left no real mark on the flavor.

Mortadella: Ah, this one was surprising, Jay and I both agreed it worked really well and balanced perfectly with the other ingredients. The Mortadella held its own flavor without being overpowering. The texture of this pressed meat worked extremely well with the crunchy grilled whole grain bread.

Mom’s classic version: Nothing bad to say about this. It is the original and still brings me back to childhood. As I have made it for Jay throughout our marriage he called it familiar.

The overall winner was the Mortadella, goat cheese, tomato on whole grain bread. It was a fun twist on familiar flavors and really brought more complexity to the party. We will most definitely be making this one again.

Until next time I encourage you all to try a new twist on a child hood favorite. For my first in a series I think this went well, good food, good memories…..great Mom.

Mangia,

Margot

Seattle Drinking & Dining

Pike Brewing
http://www.pikebrewing.com/

Pike Brewing is located adjacent to the historic and very lively Pike’s Place market at the western edge of downtown Seattle. Having been here before I knew that the beers would be great and suspected the bar food would also live up to the need. We arrived in Seattle on Sunday night and wanted to venture out to get some refreshment before crashing after the trip from Stevenson. After checking out Fonte, see below, we needed something to eat and of course a more to drink. Pike Brewing is right up the block and open late on Sunday nights.

We pulled up to the bar and ordered a couple of pints to start us off. I tried the Belgian Tripel and Margot started with the Weiss. I was interested in the Tripel since I had just bottled a Trappist Dubbel with a kick and suspected it would be similar. The beer was full and smooth with some noticeable yeasty aromas. The malt flavor was present, but not in a sweet way. Definitely a good choice, and with 9% alcohol definitely one to put a smile on your face. I tried the Weiss and was not disappointed although light wheat beers can often be too light and lack personality so it didn’t resonate with me. Knowing Margot is typically interested in a mellower beer this choice worked out.

We ordered the Dungeness Crab & Artichoke Dip and the BBQ Pork Nachos to work with our beers. Real bar food Seattle style, for real beers! Both were very good and overall the dip worked better with the lighter beers while the nachos handled the darker and more alcoholic beers quite well.

I ordered a six beer sampler wanting to try a few others before we bailed. I knew we wouldn’t be back with so many other plans on deck, and I wanted to be able to say some more for anyone heading out there. The sampler included the Pike Pale, Naughty Nellie, Kiltlifter Scotch Ale, Tandem and the Stout.

The Tandem is a Belgian Double Ale and something I took away from it was confirmed in the tasting notes on web, fresh baked bread. What a neat aroma to be able to capture. The Kiltlifter was more malty and smoky so I definitely was enjoying it. Margot wonders how people can drink such things, including big IPA’s. I showed her how we do it, step by step. Lift glass to lips, drink, swallow and repeat! The Pike Ale and Naughty Nellie were nice, but not distinctive enough for me to recall much. The XXXXX Stout was a nice treat to finish with, like an unsweetened mocha. It was smooth and creamy with a mild aroma and deep, dark color.

Pike Brewing was definitely worth another visit and for any beer enthusiast should be on your list when you are in Seattle. I didn’t make it to Pacific Maritime or their pub the Jolly Roger, but some local friends agreed that it would also be worth a visit.

Fonte
http://www.fontecoffee.com/

Margot found Fonte online before we left and from a look at their menus for breakfast, lunch, dinner, coffee and wine we were pretty sure we wanted to make a visit when in town. Fonte is presented as an upscale, luxury coffee and wine bar which is to say that their advertising certainly wants to plant that impression. While I can’t say the modern décor, low lighting, comfy leather chairs or high stools and tables didn’t extend the impression, I don’t think a place like this should only attract upscale clientele. The bar area was neat and clean and the staff were attentive and helpful. With several people working laptops and some obvious first dates going on, we felt cool enough!

We went on Sunday night looking to try a flight of wines we hadn’t ever had. Margot went with the WTF (What the Fonte?) which is pitched as a flight of unusual wines. With selections like a Gruet Sparkling from New Mexico and the Graf Hardegg Gruner Veltliner that is often described as having white pepper flavors and then of course a Berger Zweigelt that has been described using the word blood, I’d have to agree. She’s brave for sure. I didn’t try the sparkling, but I did try the other two and found them to be interesting, but totally drinkable and worth a first experience. The Zweigelt definitely has some iron minerality to it that I could see the blood connection with. It was a bit spicy as well and thus I got to finish it!

I ordered the Lewis & Clark flight which features a Pinot Gris and two Pinot Noir’s, all from Oregon.
The flight included the Westrey Pinot Gris, Matello Pinot Noir Rose and the Domain Drouhan Pinot Noir.
I have been fascinated with Pinot Gris since I had one earlier this year; made by Lange in Oregon. I haven’t found another one quite like it yet, but all of them I have tried were very worth it. Typically dry, light and fruity I have found good pairings at every try. This particular example is dry and focused with some fresh fruit and slate like character to it. The two Pinot Noir’s were quite different in their appearance, with the Matello Rose much lighter in color and with less earthiness to both the aromas and flavors. It was pleasing, but very subtle and not something I would seek out to pair with. The Drouhan was an example of what I had come to the Pacific Northwest to find, a rich and bold Pinot with strong fruit and a healthy dose of earth to let you know what you were drinking. While not the best Oregon Pinot I had on the trip, I definitely enjoyed this one to round out my flight.

Lola, Downtown Seattle
http://tomdouglas.com/index.php/restaurants/lola

If you surf fine dining materials before you visit any city you will find out the names of a few hotspots. If you call early and reserve a table you might get to have a meal and some wine and think about the chef and staff’s influence on your night. And then you start thinking of how much you aren’t sure how to approach it and how much will it cost. This night didn’t have either of those problems

Great food. The spread sampler, pita bread and house rose kicked us off. This is a project for the diner, so keep this in mind. Fully engaged though, we had fun talking about what we were eating. Fresh tomato, dill, olives, beans, figs and sour cream. Those were the base ingredients in six different spreads. Check the menu. While you are checking it out, check out Tom Douglas, the Seattle chef who brings us LOLA and other spots. There is a book out there we saw about him, interesting read for sure.

I had the Red Wine and Garlic Lamb kabobs with the Smashed Garlic Fried Potatoes. Margot went with Lamb Burger with Chickpea Fries. Everything was exceptional. We talked about our first day in the city, vacation phase 2 we called it, and what we would do tomorrow. We visited the zoo that day in the bright sun, we were happy and the crew at LOLA was great to us.

When we moved on to dessert I ordered the donuts with honey nut drizzle. A solid choice with the warm sweet bread and nutty sauce to make it taste like candy. Then to the wine. I ordered two, because they were there, a Vin Santo and an orange muscat. The donuts were exquisite with both wines representing two different mixes of flavor.

Ray’s Boathouse
http://www.rays.com/boathouse/


Last night in Seattle. We visited with Amy and Chris who we met in 1999 when they lived, as we did, in MA and working in the craziness that is the Boston area. They moved a year later, first to Austin, then to Seattle. Amy helped us find several nice views and good times in the city on our visit and we asked them to pick a place for us to have dinner before heading home. Ray’s Boathouse in the Ballard section of Seattle is a beautiful restaurant right on the sound with a view of the Cascades out the window. One glance of the menu and I was sure this was going to be wild.

I had a new and potentially strange dish for my palette, something to think about I guess. Prawns, clams with a squid ink risotto. Slightly briny and salty, the squid ink wasn’t at all weird. I tried a whole bunch of wines, from a local Pinot Noir, a local Pinot Gris and a German beernauslese Riesling for dessert. Their wine menu online doesn’t list any of them, so having been distracted with memories of the past I didn’t capture the details. Dinner was great and the company made the week. Thanks Amy & Chris!

Pike’s Place Market

When we came to Seattle for the cruise to Alaska we had several visits to the market. This was the one place I knew Margot would want to see when she was in town. Obviously we had to go back, this time knowing what we could buy to enjoy while we were there, and it ended up being very sweet. Margot bought jewelry and we bought wine, cheese, bread, olives, spices and chocolate to enjoy at the hotel.

Cruising the market at different times allows you to take a pulse of that part of the city. Coming in the morning allows you to see the vendors setup and maybe get something new or rare to use or eat. Take a look at the pictures for a story of your own.

Flowers smell great in the morning.

Smiles, anyone?

Hey, sup dude?

Throw me some fish, eh?

Pike's Place Market

3 years aged, very cool

1 year aged?

\

Oink!

Cheers!
 
Jason

Fantastic Fermentations

The week since we got back from Washington & Oregon has been busy tending to my "children". In all I have ten batches of wines fermenting, all at various stages on their journey to blends and varietal bottlings that with some age should proved to be quite good.

I picked up grapes from Chile and frozen white grape juice from Lanza Vineyards and Sutter Ridge, all through M&M Wine Grape in Hartford, CT.

http://www.juicegrape.com/

I also made a few changes this year with the addition of a yeast re-hydration agent and a gentler yeast nutrient to use along the way. Go-Ferm and Fermaid are products from Lallemand, a well known and trustworthy source of yeasts, enzymes and cultures. The equipment shop at M&M had these on hand.

Once the buckets warmed up from being frozen, on the count of me being out of town for a week the day after the grapes arrived :(, I tested them for pH, TA and Brix and decided not to make any adjustments based on other numbers and notes I had seen from folks using similar products.

Above is a picture of the top of one of the Malbec buckets. I have been punching the caps down on all the red wine buckets several times a day all week!

All the buckets had been sulfited before freezing so once I hit the mid 60's in temperature I had to be ready to pitch the yeast and keep an eye on them.

I also used Opti-Red and Opti-White this year. These are enzymes formulated for to sequester more of desired molecules in a grape must and either make them available to the fermentation or drop out of the process. Everything I had heard and read suggested this step as a big enhancement.  What you see to the left is the new Cab/Syrah blend in the picture on the left and five gallons of a jalapeno cooking wine that will be used to make drinks and sauces on the right. The other reds are a Cab, Syrah and a Malbec.

Rehydrating the yeast with Go-Ferm according to the very easy steps on the package resulted in a start and no problems since for every single bucket I pitched. Including the smaller buckets that makes 15 total!!

Last night the first batches of whites went from bucket to carboy. They are moving along nicely with pleasant aromas and some nice color. Before blending I will have two buckets of Chardonnay, one Sauvignon Blanc and one Viognier. I'm not sure what the configurations and bottle counts from the remaining will be just yet.

Overall I am very happy with the fruit, but not until the wines get a bit farther along will I really be able to say how wine made from it will be this year. With no fermentation troubles I am hopeful that I'll have lots of fun stuff to do.

You can see the orange color of the Viognier to the right, it is the second carboy from bottom. The image with the full carboys staring down their former containers was unintended, but it is pretty entertaining.

We started our first malo-lactic fermentation on a Chardonnay last night. Should be interesting to see how it comes out compared to the other batch that won't see MLF or oak.

Thank you to my wife for being crazy enough to let me do this, M&M Wine Grape for good products and services and WineMaker Mag for the conference and chance to meet some very nice and very helpful people.

Cheers!

--Jason

#WAWINE Real-time Celebration of Washington Wines

Check out #WAWINE on Twitter and http://www.facebook.com/TasteAndTweet?v=wall on Facebook to check out the Virtual Celebration of Washington Wine.

I just learned about it the day it was to be on and this is what we came up with.

Chateau Ste Michelle Eroica Dr Loosen Riesling 2006 with butter crackers, cream cheese and assorted jams/preserves. As a sommelier in training I wanted to find something that I both had on hand AND helped showcase the wine. We had a tomato, raspberry, apple/maple, apricot and strawberry jams. The raspberry made the wine taste sour, but all the others let the crispness of the wine come through without making it taste at sour.

If it wasn't for the WineMaker Magazine conference I might not have gotten out to WA wine country as soon. The trip was fun, check out my other posts for updates from the trip.

Cheers!

Jason

Talking Winemaking

Following up on some connections from the WineMaker Magazine Conference I have been visiting a list of web sites some of which are new to me, some not.

Not long after you start making wine, beer or cooking with sharing in mind you learn that tastes and experience are both broad and deep, and there is no single right answer for any question. From this I have adopted a sense of openness and I attempt to celebrate all the diversity that surrounds wine and food, even if I don't feel it fits for me personally.

I found myself in the middle of a vibrant conversation about kit wines versus grape wines in competition with some the crew from the Westchester Winemakers Club. Check out their blog and activities at http://www.westchesterwinemakers.com/. I have won medals for both and am increasingly focusing on fresh fruit, juice and grapes so I am less of problem for the prevailing sentiment. I did learn some solid fundamentals like sanitation and yeast health from my kit making, good things to have in hand when moving on to other mediums. The Westchester Winemakers Club’s members are very honest, strong in their convictions and passionate about what they do.

With differing opinions in hand there are truly multiple sides to this question and for me I don't really care what side you are on as long as you are happy with your own work. I am, and I have enjoyed the fruits of several other amateur winemakers’ labors so I think we all have a lot to be proud about.

Beyond that discussion I spent some more time looking through the group's postings and comments on winery visits, AVA specific tastings used to get inspiration on areas to look for grapes from, winemaker interviews and articles about any and all practices needed to make wine. My conclusion, these guys know their stuff! Not that they need me to confirm that, but credit is due so there it is. My next goal, try some of their wine.

I found an article on an experience making braised short ribs and pairing it with a member's Zinfandel to be very reminiscent of many of my own posts. http://www.westchesterwinemakers.com/2010/02/26/enough-academics-let%e2%80%99s-get-real-for-awhile/. With the kind of range the articles represent and the obvious depth of knowledge it is a worthy read from any winemakers at any stage.

Cheers!

--Jason

Red Wine Paired With Bacon

Hopefully that title will generate some interest. This pairing was accidental but was so interesting it warranted a quick write-up.

Last year we went in on half a pig with friends and were overjoyed when the bacon turned out to be juicy and lean, light on salt and had a nice smoky flavor. We have enjoyed it many times, but sadly the supply is dwindling.

Last night Margot cooked up a breakfast plate that featured some of the tasty bacon, scrambled eggs and some pan fried potatoes actually made by our friend who we shared the pig with. The potatoes were on the menu on Sunday and we scurried away some leftovers for last night.

I wanted to finish the bottle of Petit Verdot I opened on the weekend lest it oxidize and have to be poured out. This was one of two bottles that I corked when I was transferring the homemade batch from a larger glass tank to a smaller one earlier in the year. The wine was made from an award winning limited edition kit produced by the WinExpert company. The wine is young, and I wanted to see how the early bottle tasted before I consider what to do with the rest of the batch that is aging in the basement.

We'll I sat down and tore into a piece of bacon and immediately went for my wine glass out of habit. The pairing was amazing. The gamey, smoky taste of the bacon melded perfectly with the earthy, dark fruit flavors in the wine. Margot tried it and agreed. I kept trying it to enjoy the surprise. This pairing wasn't revolutionary for me, we tried deli roast beef with Pinot Noir a few years back for a big wow, but it wasn't planned and REALLY tasted good. I'd recommend trying such a pairing with real country smoked bacon and an earthy wine like Bordeaux or a Rhone blend.

Cheers!

--Jason

Award Winning Strawberry Wine

After this year's WineMaker Magazine Competition I will have won medals of all types (gold, silver, bronze) for my Viognier, Amarone and Strawberry wines since 2008. My Strawberry wine has been a special project based on a local product I knew I could source.

We talked a lot about Strawberry wine while I was on the conference trip and luckily we brought some to share. I introduced the topic when answering a question about how I processed fruit a whole bunch of times. I said I froze it and then let it defrost so I could crumble it into straining bags, easily extracting pits if needed. Excitement was shared many times at how useful this practical trick is.

The response to the wine was amazing and we thank all of your for it. I never expected this fun hobby would net me such awesome feedback. I wanted to share my recipe for this wine and my thoughts on what this year will hold.

This year will be year four for us making Strawberry wine, and the recipe has never been the same from one year to the next. Here is the list of ingredients for the first batch in 2009 from frozen fruit.

2009 Strawberry Wine

(6 gallons)

1 tbsp Bentonite prepared in hot water

20 lbs sliced strawberries (in straining bags)

1.5 lbs golden raisins (in straining bags)

12 lbs sugar

1/4 tsp KMeta

1.5 tsp Pectic Enzyme

5 tsp Yeast Nutrient

1 tsp wine tannin

10 tsp Acid Blend

1 pkg Lalvin D-47 Yeast

This was the wine I brought to the competition and that won the gold medal. I sulfite the fruit after it defrosts and pitch the yeast 24 hours later. The fermentation process is really like any other, you need to macerate the berry bags twice a day and then when you are done there won't be anything left. It fermented nearly dry and halted easily. I did back-sweeten it with some white grape concentrate but only a few percent total volume. But here is my problem. This was frozen fruit and it didn't look as nice. Here is the second recipe we made from fresh fruit. We know the color and flavor is better here but we over-sweetened it and it lacked balance. Bronze medal though!

2009 Strawberry Wine #2
(6 gallons)

25 lbs sliced strawberries (in straining bags)

12 lbs sugar

1/4 tsp KMeta

1.5 tsp Pectic Enzyme

5 tsp Yeast Nutrient

1 tsp wine tannin

10 tsp Acid Blend

1 pkg Lalvin EC-1118 Yeast

Over two weekend days in June 2009 we picked 38 pounds of berries at Sunnycrest Farms in Londonderry, NH. It was fun and Margot picked on me for making her work. All in good fun!

You will notice a couple of changes right away. No bentonite up front, no golden raisins, more fruit and a different yeast. The fruit broke down to about 31 pounds and 6 was reserved frozen until the wine was complete to be used in a strawberry sugar syrup to flavor the wine. Otherwise I added the routine of adding yeast nutrient 1/3 of the way through. This wine fermented similarly to the past years.

We drank almost all of it, excluding a sweetened version made as a dessert wine that needs some age. Nothing lost in all of it for sure.

For this year I think I will use some amount of white grape juice where I had previously used golden raisins, and leave the fruit quantity the same as the second recipe. I am not sure if I will switch the yeast again, but what I can tell you is that I will use Go-Ferm to rehydrate the yeast and a good nutrient at 1/3 and 2/3 of the way through the ferment.

The sweetening syrup should have one cup of sugar to every 3 cups of fruit or less to start. Some water or white grape juice can be used to liquefy the reserve berries. If you need more sweet then add more plain sugar syrup or white grape juice in a second round. In the end I would expect you might end up adding 5-8 % of the original volume back up to 6 gallons in flavoring, it really depends on how dry the berries ferment. My second batch needed less than 5% fruit and sugar. Without the sweetener the wine is like a very light rose with clear fruit but quite dry.

I hope I can produce another good drinker because we are so low on it we are worried there might be panic! I hope anyone who tries it the best of luck. This can be the best wine with a blue cheese topped salad on a hot day.

If you have questions about this recipe or other wine and food topics just drop me a line at jasonphelps@yahoo.com or leave a comment on this post. I look forward to meeting many of you again and happy winemaking!

--Jason

Winery Visits in Woodinville, WA

Chateau Ste Michelle & Columbia Winery Visits
Woodinville, WA - May 2010

As far as we can remember Chateau Ste Michelle was the maker of the first Washington wine we ever had. We recall it being a Riesling from a tall, sloping bottle and that we had it many times after the first. This Riesling has popped up at many gatherings since and has been offered to us by friends far and wide. And why not? It is a very good wine.

So as we would be in Seattle for the tail end of our Pacific Northwest vacation, we arranged a tasting at Chateau Ste Michelle (CSM) in Woodinville, about 30 minutes northeast. What a beautiful property! Some of the buildings date to the 1800’s and the grounds contain flower gardens established by the original owners. It was raining so we didn’t get much in the way of pictures to share.

Our private tasting was in the library of the main house. The interior of this house was ornately decorated, with beautiful cortains, rugs and  large works of art on the walls. Beside a very nice couple from Edmonton, Alberta we had the full attention and service from Christina from the Chateau's staff.

The wines poured for the tasting were from several select vineyards in the Columbia Valley, or were blends from several labels that are made in much smaller batches than those wines from CSM we can get at home.

2007 Cold Creek Chardonnay - Nice fruit flavors and a smooth finish. An excellent example of a commercial Chardonnay that was not “over-made”.

2005 Ethos Reserve Merlot – Excellent nose and complex flavors. Washington Merlot was a surprise for me, something I hadn’t really had previously.

2006 Wahluke Slope Syrah – Bold and coating on the tongue. This was my favorite of the group. Flavors of dark berries and strong coffee.

2006 Artist Series Meritage – Smooth and complex, lots of flavors from a blend of Cab, Merlot, Malbec and Petite Verdot.

2006 Ethos Chenin Blanc Ice Wine - We had a choice for our last wine and once offered the ice wine it was decided. As you would imagine it was very sweet with incredible fruit flavors and that ever popular honeyed backbone. This was a nice treat to finish up the tasting.

As each wine was presented some distinctions about the locations and conditions of the vineyards were offered as well as history and background of the labels and how they came to be.

After the tasting Christina suggested we take the tour which is not only fun and informative but gets us three more tastings of different wines. How could any self respecting wine drinkers refuse?

The facility we visited is the site of the white wine production for CSM and of course the visitor center. Impressive in size for sure, it is amazing to think that they have another facility at least as large to produce the remainder of their wines. Some history of the winery was offered, and displays of medal winning wines, recent partnerships, and expansions were found along the tour walk. The bottling line was in the middle of a break in the action, but looking at the raw material queued up I could see how much volume it could produce!

At the end of the tour we lined up at the tasting bar and sampled three additional wines, including the Muscat Canelli which was tart and fruity with hints of spice. The tasting room and retail store are dressed in lots of wood and feel very much like you are working in the winery.

We wandered around the retail store for a bit and selected six bottles of wine to have shipped back east. Combining our favorites from the tastings to enjoy at home is sure to bring back some fun memories.

Across the street is the Columbia Winery, a Washington producer that we have more recently become familiar with. I had been told by some friends that their red wines were worth trying so I added this stop to our trip to check on that advice. It was good advice to take for sure!

Columbia Winery’s tasting facilities and tasting room have a very different feel than CSM. I would describe it as not channeling the history of the property and buildings that CSM can. With a modern feel, dark wood and lots of light the contrast was a nice way to transition to a different batch of wines.

Merlot came up again and scored big with both of us. We tried Merlot, Syrah and red blends from the Otis and Red Willow vineyards, and finished with the Geuwrztraminer. All of the reds were rich and flavorful with nice complexity. We are very familiar with the Columbia Cellarmaster’s Riesling but had never tried the Geuwrztraminer from the same line. With a strong fruit and floral nose the wine was sweet, but not in an overpowering way. Another strong finish.

Ready to move on and get something to eat before heading back to the city we asked our server for a recommendation. In the course of the conversation we found that we had travelled across the country to meet someone who used to live in Boston and had previously worked at the company I now work for. Truly a small world. The food recommendation resulted in the Purple Café & Wine Bar, from which Margot’s pizza blog entry from a couple days ago came.

If you are going to be in the Seattle area you should definitely take a look at the large concentration of wineries in the Woodinville area and build your own adventure.

Cheers!

--Jason

Breakfast at the Gorge

Ahhh Breakfast…going out to dinner is great, but give me a good breakfast over that any day. Starting my day usually with a fruit smoothie, or Special K cereal it is nice to take a break on vacation. Words like griddle, toast, and omelet or better yet……homefries, make me so happy. I suppose I get it from my Mom who lived for weekends when she could make her and my dad breakfast: eggs (his poached, hers were fried), toast and bacon. I mean, when the woman finally had her dream trip to France she went out and bought a fry pan, eggs and bacon because the host breakfast of fruit ,cheese and bread did not cut it. Now that is commitment!

One of the things that I most looked forward to when we recently stayed at the Skamania Lodge in Washington was the fact that they had a full restaurant on premises that served breakfast. Boy, I was not disappointed. On my own for breakfast and lunch each day (that Jay guy was in winemaking classes….) I got to plan my day. And plan I did, entirely around breakfast. I figured if I had a big breakfast a wee bit later in the morning I could skip lunch. It was well worth it.

If you are interested in checking out their dining options you can do so here http://www.skamania.com/columbia-gorge-dining.php

Day One: Meandered down to the restaurant which has breath taking views of the gorge. The smell hit me immediately. They had a good looking buffet but I was all about the Salmon Hash that I had seen on the menu. When it came I was not disappointed, you could tell it was all freshly made. Shredded potatoes (not those crappy frozen ones) julienned peppers and onions that we slightly crunchy and not greasy at all. This nest of flavor was topped with two poached eggs and a huge piece of fresh salmon. I was happy that the salmon was not over marinated or smothered with some sauce. It had a light, slightly spicy, dusting of flavor. Topped off with some freshly made sourdough toast and strawberry jam and I was a happy gal. Note: this illustrates one of my favorite things about breakfast over other meals, you can always blend salty and savory with sweet.

Day Two: Well, I’ll be honest this was the morning after I was at a Winemaker dinner with over 400 amateur winemakers who all brought some wine to share……I’ll leave my condition to your imagination. Moving a bit slow I decided that room service was best. This time I went all out, the Blue Dungeness Crab Omelet, served with homefries of course and a fresh fruit smoothie. Everything was good and hot. I would say though that the flavors were not quite as balanced as the Salmon Hash the day before. There was a lot of crab but even the quantity could not make up for the huge amount of cheddar cheese fighting for attention. It would have been better, I think, to have used a smaller amount of a more flavorful cheese, like goat or maybe even gorgonzola. This would have added some salty flavor without smothering the crab flavor. The smoothie was great and, let’s say, medicinal for my ailment.

On our last morning I finally had company and we decided to go to the restaurant and partake in their champagne buffet. The food was good, and there was A LOT! Pastries, and omelets, carving stations, desserts, an assortment of lunch items. Though I enjoyed all the food it was not quite as good as my made to order breakfasts were. I had Jay try the Salmon Hash after my wonderful experience and it was only OK. The salmon had been shredded rather than one large filet and the potatoes, peppers and onions a little limp, all of this as a result of being a “buffet”.

In the end, if you head to the Skamania Lodge, definitely get some breakfast. But, if you go to the buffet remember the golden rule: No matter how much it costs….it’s still a buffet, even if they are serving champagne.

Mangia,

Margot

Iced Coffee with Espresso Hazelnut Cheesecake Ice Cream

I saw this recipe for Espresso Hazelnut Cheesecake Ice Cream in the Foodbuzz Top 9 today. Check it out at http://www.foodbuzz.com/recipes/2301662-espresso-hazelnut-cheesecake-ice-cream.

At first I was thinking about what kind of wine would go well with this ice cream, but that might not be the right flavors here so I am going to recommend something else.

Iced Coffee.

Ice cream with iced coffee on a hot day? Sounds good to me. I would recommend making a strong coffee (1.5 - 2x normal) and letting it chill well. Pour the coffee and add your favorite cream and sugar combination and mix. Add a few cubes to keep it cool long enough to drink. The flavors in both the iced cream and coffee should meld well. I know there isn't much in the way of contrasting flavors with this pairing, but I do think the hazelnut in the ice cream will make its way to the coffee for a nice treat.

Cheers!

--Jason