Beef on Weck Paired with 2009 Boisset Family Estates Fleur De Lyeth California Proprietary Blend

This pairing comes from a confluence of inspirations that include my recent exploration of California blends, a weekend at the crab shack in the midst of canning madness, and family ties to Buffalo NY.  The weekend was dominated by a gathering of family and friends to prepare and can at least a dozen varieties of fresh vegetables.  Somewhere in the chaos, brother-in-law Bill mentioned a Northwest NY sandwich delicacy – beef on weck.

A beef on weck is a sandwich made on kummelweck bread (think of a kaiser roll topped with caraway seeds and coarse salt) with thinly sliced slow roasted beef heated in au jus before serving.  Horseradish is added as a condiment.  Finally, the truly special part of this beauty, the top half of the roll is dipped in the au jus to add another layer of juicy flavor.

According to Wikipedia; “The origin and history of the beef on weck sandwich is not well established.  It is believed that a German baker named William Wahr, who is thought to have emigrated from the Black Forest region of Germany, created the kummelweck roll while living in Buffalo, New York.  A local pub owner is said to have used the roll to create the beef on weck, with the thought that the salty top of the roll would make his patrons drink more.”

With this inspiration and description of a beef on weck I set out to create my interpretation.  I did not stray far from the original concept with the exception of a big right turn with respect to the beef.  Having just prepared a slow roasted boneless leg of lamb, I decided to make a meat substitution and created the “Lamb on Weck” sandwich.

First I made the kummelweck bread.  I am not including a recipe, but kummelweck bread recipes are easy to find, or you can use a recipe for a kaiser roll and simply add some caraway seeds and course salt.  Alternatively, go to your local baker, buy some kaiser rolls, brush on a egg wash and top with caraway seeds and salt.  Pop this into the oven for a few minutes to bake off the egg wash and cement the salt and seeds in place, and there you have it.

I then sautéed some onions until brown and added 2 cups of beef stock to the onions.  Thinly sliced lamb was added to the stock and brought to serving temperature. The sandwich was constructed by placing a healthy portion of the lamb on the kummelweck roll and topped with the sautéed onions and prepared horseradish. Staying true to the roots of this great sandwich, I dunked the top half of the roll in the au jus, snapped a few photos and made a mental transition to a Buffalo pub. 

There is good reason this sandwich is a Buffalo favorite.  The layers of flavor that come from the caraway seeds, salt, horseradish, au jus soaked bun, and in this case, lamb, all combine to something ridiculously tasty.  While I have not visited Buffalo and enjoyed this local delicacy on its home turf, I am confident the substitution of lamb was a nice modification.  The moderate gaminess of the lamb added a distinctly enjoyable twist in comparison to beef.

Imagining these wonderful flavors, now add a velvety smooth blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Malbec from the 2009 Boisset Family Estates Fleur De Lyeth California Proprietary Blend.  This pairing was a winner!  Here are the tasting notes from the winemaker:

“Nose: The nose offers bright cherry and aromas of dusty oak and dark plum.
Palate: Opening with luscious flavors of bing cherry and plum with a touch of strawberry and cherry cordial, the wine is perfectly balanced by a subtle oak backdrop. With a light-medium body, round tannins and a clean finish, this wine is very smooth and easy drinking.”

In my opinion, the tasting notes represent my experience precisely.  My single comment would be to emphasize the velvety smoothness of this wine.  The satisfying fruit flavors complimented the lamb perfectly and the body was perfectly matched to the sandwich.  The cherry and plum flavors were a wonderful complement to the slight gaminess of the lamb. 

While this wine is lusciously satisfying on it’s own, the medium body and wonderfully distinct fruit flavors and velvety smoothness make this a great pairing wine that will work well with many dishes demanding a medium bodied wine. 

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Gorgonzola Juicy Lucy Hamburger with Sautéed Onions and Mushrooms, Garlic Aioli Paired with 2009 Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet

This pairing was inspired by my recent and intense exploration of California blends and an episode of America’s Test Kitchen.  If you have not explored the many blends coming out of California, I recommend you give them a chance.  Most popular among these blends are a combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Zinfandel.  Of course there are other blends, but these seem to be the dominant grapes used in these proprietary blends.

Out of the many I have recently tasted, I am very pleased.  It is a tough job, but I am up to the challenge.  These wines are smooth, layered with flavor, and generally inexpensive.  The 2009 Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet was next on deck and was my choice to pair with the Juicy Lucy Hamburger.

Before viewing the episode of America’s Test Kitchen that inspired this pairing, I had never heard of a Juicy Lucy Hamburger.  Simply put, a Juicy Lucy is a hamburger stuffed with cheese.  According to Wikipedia;

“Two bars on the same street in South Minneapolis both claim to have invented the sandwich: Matt's Bar and the 5-8 Club. They differ in how they spell it; the former omits the letter "I" in "Juicy", while the latter uses the standard spelling. Shirts worn by staff at the 5-8 Club have the motto "if it's spelled right, it's done right" while advertising for Matt's Bar says, "if it's spelled correctly, you're at the wrong place."

If you are like me, the Juicy Lucy solves an important hamburger challenge – melted cheese.  I consider the construction of a hamburger something of utmost importance.  In other words, all the stuff that goes on a hamburger must be placed in a specific order to ensure the flavors combine optimally, and most importantly, the cheese must be placed directly on the burger to ensure it melts. 

There may be a few of you that are thinking I’m a lunatic.  But most of you will secretly admit you have your own routine and rationale for the proper order of hamburger ingredients.  I know you do – don’t be shy.

The Juicy Lucy elegantly takes care of the melted cheese issue by putting the cheese inside the burger and ensuring gooey, cheesy goodness in every bite – and no sliding cheese issues.  America’s Test Kitchen went into great detail on the best way to form the burger with the cheesy surprise in the middle.  They suggested taking a chunk of cheese and forming a small burger around the cheese to seal it completely.  The next step involves adding another layer of ground beef to form a fully sized patty.

Chef Sue decided she wanted to use crumbled gorgonzola which made the America’s Test Kitchen method difficult.  Chef Sue decided to go with two thin patties to encapsulate the cheese and firmly seal the edges to keep the cheese in place.

Chef Sue also decided to make her own hamburger from fresh sirloin and a handful of other ingredients you will find in the recipe.  Chef Sue’s unbridled creativity paid great dividends.  The burger was absolutely fantastic.

To accompany our Juicy Lucy hamburgers we chose the next California blend which was patiently waiting on deck – the 2009 Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet.  From the winemaker:

“Our first blended red wine for Cupcake Vineyards has over the top aromas of chocolate, deep rich blackberries, red fruits that follow through the palate to a creamy mocha finish that is unmistakable in its intensity and length, with a hint of coconut. It’s reminiscent of a blackberry chocolate cupcake with a mocha coulis.”

“Red Velvet is a blend of Zinfandel, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petite Sirah; each variety lending structure, aroma, depth of flavor and a long creamy finish to this wine.   The grapes were harvested from some of the finest vineyards of California’s viticultural areas; each picked for their ability to engender these grapes with distinct characteristics that will add to this blend. Each varietal was fermented separately and later blended and put through a unique oak regime that imparts a certain creaminess.”

We concurred with the tasting notes with the exception of the hint of coconut we did not pick up.  The body of this wine was perfectly matched to the hamburger and the chocolate and fruit flavors were a wonderful complement.  The wine also worked surprisingly well with the twisted pasta and vegetables we chose to accompany the burger.  Overall, this was an exceptional pairing.

This pairing is another great choice for your grilling season and certainly works great as another arrow in your quiver of great football food.

Recipes

Gorgonzola Juicy Lucy

Ingredients

• 1 pound sirloin
• 10 cloves roasted garlic
• 4 tablespoons crumbled gorgonzola cheese
• 1/2 medium red onion (for burger mixture)
• 1 red onion, sliced, to top burger
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 6 cloves roasted garlic (for burger topping)
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation

1. Run sirloin, garlic and onion through meat grinder
2. Combine salt and olive oil with ground sirloin.
3. Form two thin patties, about 3/8" thick. (you will have enough ground sirloin for four complete burgers)
4. On one patty place 1 tablespoon of gorgonzola cheese in the center.
5. Top with second patty, and form into a single patty.
6. Continue until you have prepared all four burgers.
7. Place on preheated grill for four minutes.
8. Flip, puncture with a small hole to release the steam from the cheese, and continue to grill for another three minutes.
9. Top with sautéed onions, mushrooms, and garlic.
10. Drizzle with garlic aioli

Twisted Pasta with Anchovies and Fresh Vegetables

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound fettuccini (Chef Sue made fresh pasta and twisted)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1 roasted red pepper
• 3 anchovy fillets finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon capers
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 ounce grated parmesan cheese.
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Sauté garlic and anchovies in olive oil and lemon juice.
2. Add remaining vegetables and 1/2 cup liquid from the pasta boil
3. When the tomatoes become soft, add pasta, remove from heat and let set for 2 minutes.
4. Season to taste.
5. Top with grated parmesan.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

California Blends: Tasting Some Pleasing, Affordable and Approachable Wines

I would prefer to be writing about our latest palate bending pairings, and there have been several, but unfortunately the three pairings waiting on deck were all tasty creations by Chef Sue.  Yes, we are married and live in the same house, but pinning her down for an interview and capturing the recipe for her latest creation is about as easy as stopping a New England Patriots scoring drive – she never stops.  Literally, she has a little beeper gizmo that reminds her it is time to take another walk.  Until I can get an appointment with Chef Sue, I will tell you about a little wine tasting side road I am taking.

I’m sure that like me, you have a couple staples in your wine rack.  Pleasant, enjoyable, and affordable wines that are the equivalent of comfort food.  If you don’t, this may be a nice starting point for you to consider.  In our home, the Folie a Deux Menage a Trois California Red Wine is a long standing staple.  I had never given the wine a great deal of thought.  Comfortable in the knowledge this was a wine that fit my tastes, is readily available, reasonably priced, and quite flexible with respect to food pairings, it has remained a steadfast pillar of the wine rack.  In other words, it is like that one pair of shoes that fit perfectly and are always at the ready for nearly any occasion – just tastier.

Quite honestly, I only infrequently acknowledged the  Folie a Deux Menage a Trois California Red Wine is a blend (well, the “menage a trois” was a hint).  I was recently introduced to Apothic Red, another California blend, by good friends Richter and Meredith.  Like the Menage a Trois, the Apothic Red is another affordable example of “comfort wine” with nice complexity and layered flavors that make you sit back and say “where did that come from?”  The Apothic Red is a great example of fun and surprising California blends – my first and unfiltered impression was that of a chocolate covered cherry bringing back childhood memories of the holiday season.  The flavors are distinct, harmonious, and sheer pleasure.

With two California red blends hitting on all cylinders, I decided to venture out and look for other blends that fit the mold of affordable, approachable, offer ample opportunities for food pairing, and enjoyable (read “comfort food”) while offering unique individual characteristics.  With this in mind, here is my list of California blends to taste, think about, and consider more seriously:

• 2009 Folie a Deux Menage a Trois California Red Wine
• 2009 Cupcake Vineyards Red Velvet
• HRM Rex-Goliath Giant 47 Pound Rooster Free Range Red
• 2009 Apothic Red California Winemkaker’s Blend
• 2007 Marellotto Santa Ynez Valley Grenache Syrah Mourvedre

All of these wines come in at $12 or less with the exception of the 2007 Marellotto.  I would not have included this one based on the “affordable” criteria, but the folks at Schneider’s of Capitol Hill would not stop raving about this wine.  I have a 100% hit rate on wines from Schneider’s (with probably 100+ different wines) and decided to acquiesce to their endorsement.  I’m confident I will not be disappointed, and it will be a nice point of comparison with the less expensive blends.

The other part of this sidetrack into California blends is testing a couple of iPad apps designed to assist with wine tasting.  In other words, rather than the normal routine of sitting around with friends, tasting, discussing, then trying to remember all the nuances the next day, I am trying a couple of apps that let you record your impressions by touching the screen.  Hell, a typical wine paring at my house already involves a dinner table surrounded with lighting gear and photography equipment, why not an iPad in place of the salad bowl?

If you already have a wine tasting aid in the form of an app, I would love to hear about it.  More importantly, if you have a favorite California blend you think I should add to my tasting lineup, I am anxious to hear from you.  Leave a comment, or send me and e-mail.

I will return with my thoughts on these wines – after I take care of the pork shoulder that has been cooking low and slow for the last few hours.  Yum.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig