Chile Verde Paired with 2009 Stoneleigh Marlborough Pinot Noir and 2010 Matua Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

This pairing marks the official kick-off of the 2011 football season and is the first in what I intend to be a series of finger licking good football food.  All the football fans out there know exactly what I am talking about.  There is a whole class of foods that we fans of the game find nearly enjoyable as the game itself.  Settling down for a Saturday afternoon of college football or a Sunday afternoon of NFL football demands a certain cuisine.  Unfortunately, football food and wine pairing is not the first thing that comes to mind when dreaming of our weekends at the game, or in front of the TV cheering for our favorite teams.  Football (or pretty much any other sport) is usually synonymous with beer.  I like beer, but believe there is an unexploited audience of wine lovers that would enjoy a good football food wine pairing – and I am just the person to fill this void.

To kick off the season, we are starting with chili – a time tested favorite football food.  Never one to draw within the lines, we are flipping the coin in favor of Chile Verde, a favorite dish in New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado.  The offensive line for this meal is a pair of New Zealand wines which makes great sense – they play the more civilized cousin of US football – rugby.

The quarterback (chef) for this meal was “not so much a football fan” Dawn.  Golf buddy Steve and I were at the wide receiver positions and selected the wine.  After hearing Dawn’s description of the recipe, we decided on a double wide-out pairing with Steve selecting a Pinot Noir, and me selecting a Sauvignon Blanc.  Our selections included a 2009 Stoneleigh Marlborough Pinot Noir and a 2010 Matua Valley Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc.  I chose the Sauvignon Blanc with the idea of balancing the piquance of the recipe.  We hedged our bets, not having previously tasted the recipe, with Steve’s selection of a Pinot Noir with the thought of a better body balance.

Although the bright citrus flavors and healthy acidity of the Sauvignon Blanc did a fine job of balancing the heat of the chili, the heft of the dish overwhelmed the light body of the Sauvignon Blanc.  While enjoyable, the Sauvignon Blanc just could not stand up to the weighty front line of the chile verde.

On the other hand, the 2009 Stoneleigh Marlborough Pinot Noir went toe to toe across the line of scrimmage with the chile verde with perfect balance in body.  This Pinot Noir was not only a well balanced compliment to the chile verde with respect to weight, but was impressively smooth with well integrated tannins and flavors of bright berry fruits with darker berries lingering in the finish with a nice touch of sweetness that worked very well in balancing the mild heat of the chile verde.  While everyone enjoyed both wines, the 2009 Stoneleigh Marlborough Pinot Noir was clearly the best pairing choice.  At $15, both wines are very good values.

For the recipe used by Chef Dawn, follow this link to the Sunset Cookbook.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Trinidad Doubles, Cucumber Chutney, Trinidad Pepper Sauce Paired with 2010 Cupcake Vineyards Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc

At the time of this post, the most viewed pairing/recipe to date is “Curried Chicken and Potato Roti Paired with Chenin Blanc.”  The Roti post is so popular that it triples the next most popular post “Shrimp and Grits Paired with 2009 Cuvaison Chardonnay.”  The clear message is that there are a boatload of Trini food lovers out there.  With this in mind, I decided to press on with my next favorite Trini culinary delight – doubles.

For the uninitiated, doubles are a favorite street food among Trinidadians as well as the many visitors to Trinidad.  Next to roti, doubles are a bucket list worthy experience for anyone visiting Trinidad.  In my opinion, your gastronomic adventure in Trinidad must also include “shark and bake,” coconut water fresh from one of the Savannah vendors, corn soup, and cow heel soup.  Back to the double – doubles consist of two rounds of fried dough served with channa (curry spiced chick peas) and traditionally topped with cucumber chutney and the ever present Trinidad pepper sauce.  If you are visiting Trinidad and have not experienced the wonders of Trinidad pepper sauce, I recommend caution.  Doubles vendors will offer a slight, medium, or spicy option for your double.  I suggest starting with the “slight,” and work your way up the heat chain.  While on the subject of pepper sauce, it is interesting to note that Trinidad pepper sauce is a matter of national pride and every family has their favorite secret recipe for “the best” pepper sauce.  Sampling these highly guarded recipes is a sensational experience – in the truest sense of the word.

Like roti, doubles vendors pepper (pepper, get it?) the Trinidad landscape.  Although doubles are a relatively simple dish with little variation in the ingredients and preparation, ask any Trini and you will promptly be directed to their favorite vendor.  The origin and history of doubles are clouded in myth.  The apparent best accounts track doubles to the valleys of the Ganges in Northern India where many Trindadians can trace their roots.  Over the years, and as these East Indian laborers were released from indenture, small shops and stalls were established by entrepreneurs and the evolution of the double became a Trinidad staple.

Doubles are constructed by by placing two of the fried dough rounds (barra) on a piece of thin waxed paper, adding a serving of channa and topping with cucumber chutney and pepper sauce.  The waxed paper is then folded up at the corners bringing the double into somewhat of a taco type configuration, then expertly spun by the corners to hold everything together.  I have witnessed two primary methods for eating a double.  The first method involves carefully opening the waxed paper, using the waxed paper as a way to hold things together and eating the double in taco fashion.  The second method involves fully opening the waxed paper, removing the bottom barra and using it to scoop or pinch the channa while leaving the second barra to act as a kind of plate supported by the waxed paper.  When you are done with the bottom/scoop barra, enough of the channa sauce will remain to accompany the remaining barra.  Clear as a rainbow leading to a pot of gold, right?

As you might expect, the flavors in a double are dominated by the curry, tumeric and piquance of the pepper sauce.  These are supported by the deep buttery flavors of the chick peas and barra and a nice cool freshness of the cucumber chutney.  For such wonderfully simple food, this combination of flavors results in a wonderful layering for which each component can be readily discerned – as long as you use the pepper sauce in moderation.  Heavy use of the pepper sauce tends to overwhelm the other flavors and tips the balance in favor of the piquance.  This is not a bad thing – it just depends on whether you are in the mood for some serious heat, or desire a more balanced flavor profile.

Like many of the spicy foods I have written about and paired, doubles require attention to overall balance in acidity, sweetness, body, and alcohol content.  In choosing the wine, I not only wanted to account for these characteristics, but also pay homage to the casual, street food heritage of the double.  In other words, I needed to find a wine with the right profile and keep it casual rather than something more pricey, complex, or extravagant.  For these reasons, I chose the 2010 Cupcake Vineyards Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc – a staple for many of my friends who look for an inexpensive wine they can enjoy regularly in the summer heat of Washington DC.  Here are the tasting notes from the winemaker:

“It’s the long cool season that allows the grapes to mature slowly, giving them levels of complexity and a vibrant zing, reminiscent of a lemon chiffon cupcake. It’s made up of integrated flavors of Meyer lemons, Key limes and a finish that awakens the appetite.”

This wine features bright citrus flavors with lemon taking the lead role.  The citrus flavors are supported by healthy acidity which in combination makes this wine both very refreshing and a piece of cake for wine pairing.  It is not as sweet as many Sauvignon Blancs.  While not critical, a touch more sweetness would have helped balance the piquance of the Trinidad Pepper Sauce and the cucumber chutney.  Overall, the pairing was a rousing success.  Doubles remind me of standing in the streets of Port of Spain Trinidad – in temperatures not unlike our DC summers – and enjoying some doubles at one of the many stands.  The crisp freshness of the 2010 Cupcake Vineyards Sauvignon brought a cool invigoration to the memory of Trinidad, and the heat of the doubles. 

Recipes

Trinidad Pepper Sauce

The following recipe for Trinidad Pepper Sauce is very similar to others you will find around the web.  The big difference with my interpretation is using a variety of peppers.  I did this with the intent of adding some depth of flavor to the intense heat.  I think I succeeded, but I won’t really know until my tongue grows back.  Unless you are Trini through and through, this recipe makes enough Trinidad Pepper Sauce to last several years, if not a lifetime.

Ingredients

• 5 Scotch Bonnet peppers
• 5 Serrano peppers
• 5 habanero peppers
• 5 Jalapeno peppers
• 5 Hot cherry peppers
• 3 heads of garlic
• 2 cups vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoon yellow mustard
• 2 bundles fresh cilantro

Preparation

1. Separate and clean garlic.
2. Wash and coarsely chop cilantro, removing large stem pieces.
3. Add garlic, cilantro, and 1 cup of vinegar to a blender. Blend until nearly smooth. Pour into bowl and set aside.
4. Remove stems from peppers and add to blender with one cup of vinegar. Blend until nearly smooth.
5. Add pureed peppers to garlic and cilantro mixture. Add salt and mustard; stir until thoroughly combined.
6. Pour into a clean bottle or jar, cap, and store in a cool place or the fridge. Don’t forget to label with "XXX," skull and crossed bones, or a toxic warning sticker. This stuff if potent and could do untold damage in the wrong hands.

Cucumber Chutney

Ingredients

• 1 large cucumber
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon finely diced fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon Trinidad Pepper Sauce
• 4 cloves garlic finely diced
• Juice from 1/2 of a freshly squeezed lime
• 1/2 teaspoon - brown sugar
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Julienne cucumber. If it is a long cucumber, cut to lengths of about two to three inches. Do not discard the center section with the seeds - julienne this as well - it will add moisture to the chutney.
2. Place cucumber in a bowl and add garlic, cilantro, Trinidad pepper sauce, and chives.
3. Adjust flavor with salt, pepper, brown sugar, and additional Trinidad pepper sauce. I would recommend using a light hand with the pepper sauce - you can always add more later.

Barra

Ingredients

• 4 cups - all purpose flour
• Dash of saffron powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric root powder
• 3 teaspoons - yeast
• 1 teaspoon - brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon - salt
• Canola oil for frying

Preparation

1. Put 1 cup of lukewarm water in a small bowl, add sugar and stir to dissolve. Sprinkle yeast over water and let sit until the yeas has activated and formed a thin cohesive mound over the surface of the water.
2. Combine flour, salt, saffron, 1 cup of water, cumin and yeast in a large bowl or the bowl of your Kitchen Aid.
3. Mix into a slightly firm dough - it will be plenty sticky. Adjust with water or flour to arrive at a consistency a bit less firm than peanut butter. Cover and let rise to double original volume.
4. Form dough into balls just a bit larger than golf balls. Coating your hands with oil will ease the process.
5. While assembling your golf balls, put a pot of oil (just an inch or so deep with oil) on to heat.
6. After you have assembled your golf balls, pat and roll the balls into thin circles roughly four inches in diameter. The thinner, the better.
7. Fry in hot oil, turning once. The dough turns a nice golden brown quickly, so pay attention.
8. Drain on plate with paper towels and cover to keep in the moisture. Stacking as you produce the barra is acceptable, and even encouraged.
9. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Channa

Ingredients

• 1 (16oz) can of chick peas or garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric root powder
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 medium sliced onion
• 4 cloves finely diced garlic
• 2 tablespoons finely diced fresh chives
• 1 tablespoon Trinidad pepper sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Sautee onions in the vegetable oil over medium high heat until translucent.
2. Reduce heat to medium and add all remaining ingredients. Stir until thoroughly combined.
3. Add water to cover the chick peas by about one inch, then raise the heat and boil chick peas until soft.
4. Remove about 1/4 of the chick peas and crush with a potato masher. Recombine and stir to incorporate. This should leave you with mostly intact chick peas, with the small part that was mashed becoming a thick sauce.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Hard Shell Chicken and Beef Tacos from the Austin Grill Food Truck Paired with 2010 La Ardilla Moscato de Valencia

The recent growth of gourmet food trucks is a good thing.  It is a particularly good thing if you live in a place that has some healthy competition among a number of these creative vendors.  In Washington DC, we are lucky enough to have a great variety of these young entrepreneurs. We have a sufficient number of trucks to warrant a website and an app for both iPhones and Android phones that shows you (in real time) where all the food trucks are located.  Go to Food Truck Fiesta to locate the trucks and find out about the App.

At the moment, Food Truck Fiesta lists 55 trucks with 12 more on the way.  With only a couple of exceptions, these trucks are all offering some unique cuisine.  These are not the hot dog trucks of our childhood.  About a month ago, I decided to make it my mission to methodically and scientifically work my way through each of these food trucks.  I started today with the Austin Grill food truck.

I will be honest and tell you that today’s wine pairing represents about 30 seconds worth of forethought.  Here is my story.  I was walking home from a meeting in NW DC and realized it was closing in on noon…my stomach let me know before my watch did.  So I pulled out my Food Truck Fiesta App and found the trucks that happened to be on my route home.  I selected Austin Grill.  Austin Grill specializes in Tex Mex and today had a $7 special that included two hardshell tacos (one with grilled chicken and the other with grilled steak), rice and beans.

At first, the tacos did not seem to be anything particularly special; corn shells, diced onion, diced tomato, lettuce and shredded cheese.  However, after the second bite, the magic started to happen.  The secret ingredient is the exceptionally well seasoned grilled meat (both the chicken and the beef).  Included in this seasoning is a hint of heat that accentuates the rest of the flavors.  The beans are better than average, and the rice is a unremarkable.  The reason to buy these tacos clearly lies in the perfect grilling and seasoning of the meat – worth the price of admission.

Paired with this little lunch time treat was a 2010 La Ardilla Moscato de Valencia.  When I saw the taco special at Austin Grill, I immediately thought of this Moscato I had tried just the night before.  I really enjoyed this wine.  It is intensely floral on the nose with crisp citrus, and complimentary flavors of citrus, honey, and apricot.  Many times with Moscatos, the sweetness buries the fruit flavors.  Not so with the La Ardilla.  I did not have to hunt for the flavors.  And this wine had a very pleasant surprise – a light effervescence.  The first impression is a wonderful balance between the sweet and the fizz that make this wine both fun and refreshing.

When I purchased the tacos, I was expecting a little piquance and therefore immediately thought of the 2010 La Ardilla Moscato de Valencia to balance the heat with the sweet, fruit, and effervescent components.  The tacos did not have as much heat as I expected, but the pairing still worked exceptionally well – particularly on a hot-almost-July day in DC.

Other pairings that I might try with these tacos would be:

• Beef taco: Zinfandel, Malbec, Syrah, Shiraz, Spanish Rioja.
• Chicken taco: Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc.

When you have a choice, support our DC Food Trucks.  I want to see them stick around and continue to surprise us with their creativity.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Open Faced Steak Sandwich Topped with Sautéed Celery Root and Leeks Paired with 2006 Benziger Family Winery Sonoma County Merlot

For quite some time now, I have wanted to construct a pairing that featured pureed celery root.  Unfortunately, the celery root has not been available for several weeks (at least while I was visiting the grocery).  Well, I found celery root yesterday, and came close to making the celery root puree.  I say almost because as I looked at the stock in the fridge I found a leftover steak from the weekend grill-fest and decided to do something with it – and include the celery root.  The result was an open faced steak sandwich with a mound of sautéed celery root and leeks, oh, and a little cheese to hold the mound of flavor in place.

This wonderful little sandwich is rich in umami and layered with the aromatic celery flavors from the celery root and just a touch of piquance from the cayenne.  Warming the leftover steak in the beef broth was a key part of the process which “rehydrated” the steak and made things nice and juicy.

These flavors were joyously complimented with dark and vibrant flavors of blueberry and pepper supported by soft tannins in the 2006 Benziger Family Winery Sonoma County Merlot.  This Merlot is silky smooth and perfectly echoed the flavors in the sandwich.

I have to admit that like the dish, the pairing was not planned in advance.  Similar to the steak, the 2006 Benziger Family Winery Sonoma County Merlot was a leftover – we tapped into this bottle the night before to enjoy just a taste of our recent shipment from Benziger Family Winery.  We joined the Benziger Family Winery wine club during our January trip to California, and were ecstatic to find this Merlot living up to the wonderful experience we had while visiting the winery in Sonoma County.  We thoroughly enjoyed every wine we tasted, and I highly recommend you give them a visit at www.benziger.com.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 leftover steak sliced in to 1/4 to 1/2 inch strips
• 1 loaf of par baked bread (or make your own from scratch)
• 1/2 medium sized celery root coarsely grated
• 1 leek chopped
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 cup grated cheese (your choice of cheese, but I recommend something mild)
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Finish baking the par baked bread, in my case it was 15 minutes in a 375 degree preheated oven.
2. Coat the bottom of a small pan with olive oil and place on medium high heat.
3. Add leeks and cayenne pepper.  Sauté for about one minute.
4. Add the grated celery root and sauté until tender.  Season with salt and pepper then remove from heat and set aside.
5. If you time this right, your bread should be done now.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.
6. In a medium sauce pan, bring two cups of beef broth to a simmer.  Just before you are ready to assemble the sandwich, add the steak strips to the broth and warm through.  The idea is simply to warm the meat, not cook it.
7. Cut the bread into 1 inch or so slices.  In my case, the steak made three sandwiches which miraculously meant three slices.
8. Assemble the sandwich by laying slices of steak across the bread, adding a stack of the celery root and leek sauté and lightly coating with grated cheese.
9. Place the sandwiches on sheet pan and place under the broiler until the cheese melts. 1-2 minutes.
10. Remove from broiler and plate with a small saucer of the beef broth (for dunking bread).
11. This is somewhat of a “vertical” sandwich, so bring along a fork and knife.

My apologies for the lack of photography with this post.  It was a last minute thought and last minute happy coincidence.  However, if you give this pairing a go the next time you have a leftover steak in the fridge, I’m confident it will make up for the lack of pretty pictures.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Thai Chicken in a Peanut, Coconut, Red Curry Sauce Paired with 2008 Koonowla Riesling

Last week I was craving Thai chicken in a peanut, coconut, red curry sauce.  After a bit of research and a pair of attempts, I have satisfied the craving.  Selecting a wine for the pairing was quite easy although many people seem to have challenges pairing wine with Thai food, or more generally with Asian food.

As a final introductory comment, I want to tell you that the recipe (included at the end) is ridiculously easy, and this is literally a 30 minute prep – including the time to pour your self a glass of wine to quench your thirst while slaving away in the kitchen.  When you are craving flavor and don’t have much time or energy, I would put this recipe at the top of your list.

The Food

Following my normal routine for preparing a recipe, I started by considering what other people are doing.  I looked at half a dozen recipes to provide a foundation, then selected the flavors I wanted to emphasize.  In this case I wanted clearly be able to distinguish the peanut, coconut, curry, and balance this with a moderate level of heat (picante).  The recipe is quite successful in forming this balance that allows each of the flavors to shine through.

This dish would go equally well over rice, but I had not prepared rice noodles before and wanted to give it a go.  I’m glad I did – the rice noodles added a wonderful texture to the dish.  Another great thing about this dish is that it is equally good, if not better, the next day.  I ate some for breakfast this morning (hey, it beats the hell out of oatmeal), and found the noodles held up well, and the flavors seemed to be completely saturated.  Oh, and I finished off the leftovers at lunch.  I just can’t get enough of this stuff!  Yum!

The Wine

I decided to take two approaches to wine pairing.  During a test run of the recipe I went the sweet, big fruit, low acidity route, and on round two with a less fruity, dry Riesling with ample acidity.

The first round wine was the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling.  As I said, this wine is sweet, big fruit flavors of peach and apricot, and relatively low acidity.  This wine is a hoot to drink particularly if you are in the mood for something sweet.  At $10 per bottle, this wine is an exceptional value.

The second wine, a 2008 Koonowla Clare Valley Reisling (Australia) filled the role of less sweet and high acidity with less dominant fruit.  We really enjoyed this wine as well.  Mild sweetness is well balanced with fresh citrus flavors and strong acidity.  This is a great food wine and a good value at $20 per bottle.

The Pairing

This pairing is the most complicated I have done yet.  Not because it is impossible to pair wine with Thai Food as some people would leave you to believe, but because we had the same recipe two nights in a row paired with different wines.  To complicate things even more, for the second round of pairing, Golf Buddy Steve and Formerly of Austin Dawn brought another bottle of the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling.

So here is the blow-by-blow.  The first attempt with the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling went exceptionally well.  The sweetness cut through the heat and spice of the curry and chili paste and danced a minuet with the coconut milk.  The bold peach and apricot flavors also played very nicely with our Thai Delight.  Overall, this was an excellent pairing.  With a bit more acidity in the wine, it would have been ideal.

For round two we started with the 2008 Koonowla Clare Valley Reisling.  The combination of citrus flavors and high acidity (and a little help from the mild sweetness) was perfect for the Thai chicken recipe.  The acidity balanced the heat and spice splendidly and the sweet citrus complimented the coconut and peanut flavors with nothing but refined manners.  Chef Sue then commented that she thought the 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling from the prior evening was a better pair because of the sweetness; she did not see the acidity argument as compelling as I did.  So sure enough, we broke open the bottle of 2009 Chateau Ste Michelle Columbia Valley Harvest Select Riesling brought by Golf Buddy Steve.  We all did some side by side tasting, assessing it alongside the food and came to the conclusion they both worked extremely well for two very different reasons.

This was a nice discovery and a good example of why general guidelines for wine and food pairing can be misleading.  In this case, it would be perfectly reasonable to suggest pairing a Riesling with Thai Chicken Curry.  However, as we experienced, different Rieslings will react quite differently with the same dish.

Final Words

As a final thought, I would like to share my generalized conclusions on pairing wine with spicy Thai food.  Here are a few things too consider:

1. Stay away from high alcohol wines; the alcohol can intensify the heat.
2. Strong acidity is good.  The strong flavors of Thai food need the acidity in the wine in order to go toe to toe.  A less acidic wine will fade behind the big spicy flavors.
3. Skip the tannins.  Tannins combined with spicy food can result in some off color flavors.  This is not true in all cases, but in general, you will not be pleased with the result.
4. Go sweet, but not too sweet.  Sweetness balances the spicy flavors.  More spice and more heat = more capacity to carry a sweet wine.
5. Pass on the Oak.  With all the fun exotic spices in Thai food, I don’t see the vanilla notes common in oaky wines playing well. Here is an example.  I think a bright, citrus laden acid hound of a Sauvignon Blanc would work great with this recipe.  Make that an oaked Sauvignon Blanc, and the result may be less desirable.
6. White wines tend to work best as a rule, but light bodied, low tannin, fruity reds can be equally enjoyable.

Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 package of rice noodles (8 ounces)
• 1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts, cubed
• 2 tablespoons sesame seed oil
• 3 tablespoons red curry paste
• 2 tablespoons chili paste (sambal oelek if you want to be authentic)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
• 2 cans (13 ounces each) coconut milk
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• crushed peanuts
• 1 lime

Preparation

1. Bring pot of water to a near boil (enough water to submerge the rice noodles).  Remove water from heat and add rice noodles. Let stand for 15 minutes.
2. Heat sesame oil In a large sauté pan or pot and add red curry paste, garlic, and chili paste. Keep on medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Add the chicken and cook until all sides are browned.
4. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar and peanut butter.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Strain rice noodles and combine with the chicken and sauce. Stir and turn until noodles are well bathed in all that coconut curry goodness.
7. Serve in a bowl and sprinkle with crushed nuts and garnish with lime wedges which can also be used to fine tune the acidity.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Pork Stuffed Pork Wrapped in Pork and Roasted Cauliflower Paired with 2009 Caretaker Pinot Noir

In my last post “Pork Stuffed Pork Wrapped in Pork” I shared some photographs of the ingredients that made up last night’s pairing.  As promised, I am back to offer you the blow-by-blow along with recipes for the menu.  Golf Buddy Steve brought the 2009 Caretaker Pinot Noir, and we were joined by Photography Buddy John.

The Food

The pork stuffed pork wrapped in pork is a creation of my wife, Chef Sue.  For this meal, I made some modifications to Sue’s approach which resulted in some wonderful surprises, and “some opportunities for improvement.”  From the flavor perspective, my adaptation was a great success.  This comes from my use of home made sausage rather than pre-made sausage.  This gave me some control over the flavors.  My intent was to heat to balance the sweetness of the pork (particularly the bacon) and the fruit glaze that was added during the last 30 minutes in the oven.  This part worked brilliantly with one exception.  I had intended to add apple and orange to the sausage (see the photos of ingredients from “Pork Stuffed Pork Wrapped in Pork”), but somehow failed to add these important acidic and sweet components.  This was not a critical flaw, but it would have been better had I paid closer attention.

The second improvement applies to the texture.  The home made pork sausage texture was not far from the pork loin texture after roasting.  Gratefully, there was a nice textural difference with the bacon.  The dish could have been improved tremendously by drawing a further distinction between the stuffing and the pork loin.  So here is my recommendation (ok, not mine – this comes from Chef Sue):  If you attempt this recipe, I would follow the directions for making the sausage.  I would then prepare some seasoned bread stuffing (make it from scratch with toasted stale bread, or Pepperidge Farm, your choice) then combine the sausage and bread stuffing with 1/3 sausage by volume and 2/3 stuffing.  Also, when you hydrate the bread stuffing, make sure you prepare it with butter (1 tablespoon per cup of dry bread crumbs) along with your broth or water – the sweetness of the butter will be a noteworthy added flavor.  The addition of the bread stuffing to the sausage will make for a layer a softer texture and therefore contrast nicely with the pork loin and the bacon.

Like the lack of apple and orange, the textural improvement was not a critical flaw, just another opportunity to make a wonderful meal even better.

With respect to flavors, the stuffed pork loin is a matter of balance; fat balanced with the heat of the sausage, the sweetness of the bacon and fruit glaze in balance with the heat in the sausage.  The dominant taste components included sweet, umami, and piquance.  The roasted cauliflower and onion was a nice mild supporting actor for the pork.  Flavors from the cauliflower and onion were a very pleasant nuttiness that was enhanced by the roasting.  The texture was tender yet firm. 

Finally, I highly recommend you try the recipe for the roasted cauliflower.  It is simple, features straight forward flavors and may win over that person in the house who is not a fan of Cauliflower (we saw exactly this happen with Photography Buddy John).

The Wine

Golf Buddy Steve brought a 2009 Caretaker Pinot Noir.  This wine has gained some notoriety through sales at Trader Joe’s.  A quick search of the web revealed our experience with this wine was consistent with all but a few who were not impressed.  Our judges for the evening enjoyed the 2009 Caretaker Pinot Noir, and agreed that the $10 price tag makes this a great value.  This Pinot Noir easily stands up to Pinots for which I have paid $20 to 30.

From a tasting perspective, the 2009 Caretaker Pinot Noir is a surprisingly nice balance of earth and fruit (dark cherry, raspberry, and a hint of plum).  The fruit in this medium body wine is also well balanced with the acid which makes it food friendly.  With a medium body, this wine is able to keep pace with some stronger flavors on your dish.

The Pairing

The pairing worked well and was certainly one of those cases where the sum of the two was better than the individual components.  The best combination was a proportionally balanced small bight that included the sausage stuffing, the pork loin and a bit of bacon followed by a taste of the 2009 Caretaker Pinot Noir.  This became particularly evident when Chef Sue challenged us to taste with just the pork loin and the wine, and then with the stuffing and the wine.  What a tremendous difference.  The Caretaker Pinot Noir with the pork loin was nothing more than ok.  However, combining the spiciness of the sausage with the wine sent sparks flying; the fruit from the wine quickly rushed to the front of the stage and bowed hand in hand with the spice.  There was also a subtle sense that the earthiness was helping with this balance while blending nicely with the sweet nutty and smoke flavors in the bacon.

The conclusion from this little experiment  was that the dominant spiciness from the sausage stuffing was balanced nicely by the dark fruit flavors in the 2009 Caretaker Pinot Noir.  And therefore the pairing was successful.  Anther good choice might be a Zinfandel (dark fruit flavors like this Pinot Noir, and complimentary spice).

Final Words

So once again, you read that I could have done things better.  I’m ok with this.  It clearly demonstrates you are getting the real deal on this blog.  The comments come from our guests, and this is a one take episode (unless I decide to try it again) and the chips fall into place with no Jedi tricks.  I promise that even if I completely blow something, I will let you know, and let you know why (as a warning to avoid my mistakes).  Fortunately this pairing was a success.  My helpful critics were very kind in offering suggestions for improvement.  Honestly, if it were not for the fact that we were intentionally sitting around the table wearing our critic hats, it is unlikely anyone would have said anything other than “delicious.”

Finally, after some further experimentation this week, I am ever more satisfied with my new do-it-yourself lighting rig.  I was happy with the photography before, but am very pleased with the improvements resulting from the addition of nicely diffused light.  Check in at Craig Corl Photography this week to learn more about the construction of my lighting rig and my experimentation to get the most out of this rig.

Recipes

Home Made Pork Sausage

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. pork shoulder
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 3 tablespoons salt
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon sage
• 1 finely diced apple
• 1 finely diced orange
• 1 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 3/4 oz. fennel seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes

Directions

Plug in your Kitchen Aid and find the meat grinder in the back on the bottom shelf just to the right of the oven. I know, you don't use it often, but now I am giving you a reason! Run the meat though the grinder - just once to keep it on the coarser side.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. This is more sausage than you need, especially if you take my recommendation to combine this with bread stuffing (1/3 sausage and 2/3 bread stuffing by volume). On the bright side, this sausage is so tasty you will want it for breakfast, made into a patty and grilled like a burger, or just about anything else you can imagine. You can use the excess over the next week, or stick it in the freezer for later use.

Stuffed Pork Loin

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 pound pork loin
• 6 pieces of extra thick hickory smoked bacon (or any bacon you want)
• 1/2 cup fruit preserves (cherry, raspberry, or blackberry work best)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice or any fruit juice hanging around in the fridge

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350.

Open your pork loin by beginning a cut about 1/2 inch thick, then sort of spiral around until you run out of loin.  The ideas is to transform a cylindrical piece of meat into something flat that we can wrap around the stuffing.  Trust me when I tell you that you will not be happy if you decide to just open it with a cut like a hot dog bun.

Add the sausage (or sausage stuffing) and roll up.  Wrap in bacon and hold the whole thing in place by spearing some toothpicks through the bacon.  Place in the oven on a sheet pan for one hour.

Heat the preserves until thinned (a minute in the microwave will do the trick), and combine with the fruit juice.  After one hour in the oven remove the pork from the oven, and poor 1/2 of the fruit preserve/juice mixture evenly over the top.  Put the pork back in the oven and repeat in 15 minutes.  Put the pork back in the oven for another 15 minutes or until the internal temp has reached 160 degrees F.  Remove from the oven, cover in foil and let rest for 20-30 minutes.

Roasted Cauliflower and Onions

Ingredients

• 1 large head of cauliflower cut into 1/2 inch thick slices
• 1 large onion sliced thinly
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Combine all in ingredients in a bowl and toss to evenly coat the cauliflower and onions.  Place your happily bathed veggies on a sheet pan and send off to a preheated oven (400 degrees F) for 20 minutes or until golden brown and tender.  For the menu described in this post, the oven was doing some double duty – at 350 degrees F, it took about 30 minutes for the cauliflower to show some nicely browning edges.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig

Taste and Flavor for Food and Wine Pairing

The photograph leading off this post is simply gratuitous.  Unlike most posts, this one is more about words than photos.  So if you are just looking for the pretty photographs of great food, you can turn back now.  However, if you want to read about taste and flavor, read on.

My purposes for Craig’s Grape Adventure are several including a great excuse to enjoy great food and wine, explore food and wine pairings I have not yet experienced, uncover the “why” of food and wine pairing that creates a sensation greater than the sum of it’s parts, and of course to enjoy making it all look good through photography. The purpose of this article is to begin discussing our experience of taste and flavor to lay the foundation for understanding why food and wine pairings work – or don’t.

For those of you who already have a solid understanding of this, I apologize – like my good friends who enjoy all the pretty pictures, you too can turn back now. However, among my group of friends and others who have written to me, I know that the understanding of pairings vary dramatically; from those who are eager learners to those who are more skilled than I am. I trust everyone will find a grain of useful information. To begin the discussion I want to focus on taste and flavor. While some argue the distinction between taste and flavor is a matter of splitting hairs, I believe there is good reason to distinguish and hope to make the case here.

We are all aware of the five basic tastes; sweetness, bitterness, sourness, saltiness and the less well understood and more recent acknowledgement in western cuisine – umami. And this story of tastes is a debate that has not yet ended. Consider the flavor of piquance that comes from the Spanish word “picante” which reflects our sensation of spiciness – as in spicy hot – a taste with roots in Chinese, Indian, and Japanese cuisine. Personally, I like the expanded definition of tastes; it gives us more and better ways to describe our experience. For my less than scientific purposes, I will admit all six.

Because umami is less well understood in Western culture, let me take just a moment to talk about it. Umami comes from the Japanese and means a pleasant savory taste. Some research suggests that rather than a distinct taste, umami refers to a distinctive quality or completeness of flavor which in the West we would generally describe as savory or simply delicious. Personally, I generally use it as a declaration of particularly delicious food like a steak fresh off the grill when I exclaim “ooooooh mommy!” Umami is common among proteins, like the NY strip steak I just seared and grilled to perfection, and vegetables – think of ripe tomatoes, eggplant, fish, mushrooms, soy sauce, and spinach. When you think of these foods, you can imagine the mild and pleasing taste that is difficult to describe. Just thinking about it starts the salivation and conjures flavors concentrated in the back of the mouth.

While on the subject of umami, a good question is whether we experience umami in wine. The answer is yes! But unfortunately it is not commonplace. Umami develops in wines that are at the peak of maturity and quality and typically appear in wines that have been treated with extreme care and involve artisanal methods such as barrel or cuve fermentation, malolactic fermentation, extended barrel development, bottling with no filtration, and aging in temperature and humidity controlled cellars. Chances of experiencing umami in wine increase with bottle aged wines in the three to ten year range.

The debate of umami and wine continues to rage – mostly because of the chemical-receptor processes involved (too deep for me!), but I am confident I have experienced it. A recent umami experience with umami in both the wine and the food came with my Ghost Block Cabernet Sauvignon pairing with lamb from the Decanting Napa Valley cookbook. That was a serious ooooh mommy moment. Finally, don’t expect to find umami flavors in young fresh wines. These wines focus on the tastes that generally do not include umami. When it comes to umami and wine, think of mature rather than fresh.

When we experience food, these basic tastes are just the start. Other strong contributors to our experience include smell, texture, temperature and the visual component. I won’t dwell on the visual component, but I am confident we have all had the pleasure of a beautiful dish (or not so much) that affected our expectations and therefore influenced our judgment of the flavor.  Now we get to the hear of the matter; the difference between taste and flavor. Taste refers to the receptors that send a signal to the brain. Flavors are the more complex combination of all these additional components. In other words, when you take your first bite of a perfectly prepared and plated foie gras, the combination of appearance, aroma, texture, taste, and temperature all contribute to your experience and judgment of flavor. It is this integration of the senses that compose the flavor. This helps explain why we describe wine in terms of flavors (fruit, citrus, acidity, earth, fresh, dark, deep, spice, and so on) rather than taste. Another way to think about it is understanding taste as physical (bitter, sour, salty, sweet, umami) and flavor is the sum of our perceptions from all these tastes plus the aroma, texture, temperature, and appearance. Flavor is cognitive – meaning it is the recognition that happens after the taste signals are transmitted. Taste is a finite chemically induced piece of information, while flavor is an infinite mental construct which can also include intangibles of memory and place such as that bite of lobster macaroni and cheese that takes you back fondly to a New England dockside food shack with lobster boats bobbing in the distance.

To wrap up this first installment of the “stuff” that informs our choices of food and wine pairing, the conclusion is that flavors are complex and infinite. The good news is that with an infinite (ok, maybe almost infinite) set of flavors and flavor combinations, we have lots of room for making food and wine pairing an extremely pleasurable experience. In future posts we will look at flavor descriptions, flavor and aroma, and some of the rules of thumb that help us understand why pairings work – or don’t.

In vino veritas, buen provecho.

Craig