Be the That-Amazing-Dip Guy (or Lady) this holiday season!

Be the That-Amazing-Dip Guy (or Lady) this holiday season!

Bring a unique dip to your next potluck or party. In an article
published in the Evansville Courier and Press, AP Food Writer J.M.
Hirsch provides the tips and tools needed to improve a tried and true
dip recipe.

At their most basic, Hirsch points out, "dips and spreads usually
involve pairing something fatty or thick with something assertive."
Rethink the dip ingredients and even what you use for the 'chip' and
you'll set the tone for an adventurous and amazing meal!

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/nov/25/dip-and-spread-your-way-to-a-delicious-holiday/

Dips and other hors d'oeuvres pair well with dry Rose wines or crisp
white wines. Don't be afraid to pop a bottle of sparkling wine, it
pairs well with appetizers and many seafood based main courses.

Recipe Blogs and Food Blogs - the New 'Gourmet' Internet Destination?

I ran across a link-filled Reuters article describing the
proliferation of food, cooking and recipe blogs on the internet. Jane
Goldman, Lifestyle Editor at CNET Networks Inc. is quoted as saying,
"Everyone is a critic. People photographing and talking about their
food experiences is very different from the days when reviewers had
the only say on food experiences." This sentiment was echoed at a food
writing panel discussion I attended at the Saratoga Springs library on
November 18th by a local restaurant owner.

I understand the industry sentiment that Internet restaurant reviews
can be biased, especially in the current culture where bloggers are
not bound by the same code of ethics as their print journalist
counterparts. I do draw a line between restaurant review/food critic
bloggers and gourmet cooking blogs, where bloggers photograph and
share their kitchen experiences. I am glad to see more and more
people who love to cook sharing their passion by hosting a food blog.
I keep a constantly updated blogroll of local food blogs I recommend
on my website at http://www.kathleenlisosn.blogspot.com

The article is here: http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4270616a11275.html

What is your favorite food blog and why? Have you cooked a recipe you
found on a food blog?

Get to Know Portuguese Wine

This interesting overview of Portuguese wines could inspire you to drop by your local wine shop and learn about geography the fun way – through wine tasting! In the article,
In Portugal, a New Stop on the Global Wine Trail, Gisela Williams describes a food and wine pairing dinner as “earthy Portuguese fare: a big salad with juicy local tomatoes, followed by buttery potatoes and an enormous platter of cabrito (a roasted young goat) with sweet onions and carrots. And, of course, some of the vineyard’s top labels were served: Charme 2004 and the Redoma Branco Reserva 2005.”
Find out more here:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/travel/11next.html?ex=1352523600&en=0c2f900fe405120f&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Have you tried a non-Port Portuguese wine?

Video Review – Washington State; Get the Dirt on Wine

I have to be honest, I almost turned off this video in the first five minutes.

The video-game style graphics were really a turn-off, but I stuck with it and was rewarded with a real education gem of a wine video. This is a great hour and a half of wine education for anyone interested in the wines of Washington state or the ‘why’ of how wine grapes are grown.

‘Washington State; Get the Dirt on Wine’ is also a perfect video for anyone interested in geology. I set aside my distaste for the CGI graphics and learned a lot about how the soils, land features, bodies of water, and climate of Washington state work together to produce a unique growing environment for both white and red wine grapes.

Besides scientific information, this video also introduced me to several dynamic Washington state winemakers and taught me some fun cocktail trivia, like the fact that Washington vineyard ‘pests’ are a little wilder than your average hungry bird. Vineyard owners report seeing both bears and wild turkeys eating wine grapes!

I really enjoyed this video and learned a few new things about how wine grapes grow in the windy, water stressed environment of eastern Washington State. I would recommend adding ‘Washington State: Get the Dirt on Wine’ to your Netflix queue.

Have you tried a Washington State wine?

Wine Gizmos on your gift giving list?

Wine Gizmos on your gift giving list?

Hopefully you still have time to update your holiday gift lists. I ran
across a pull-no punches article on the Wine Lovers Page by John
Juergens that describes what to give a wine lover for the holiday and
more importantly, the expensive trash that Juergens says is a waste of
good money and wine.

The key phrase at at a recent Food Panel I attended in Saratoga
Springs was "what would your grandmother say?" as a potent antidote to
all the confused thinking about what and how to eat. This is a great
way to think about wine gizmos, too. Grandma would tell you to leave
the expensive gadgets in the store and just put the cap back on and
drink the wine in two or three days. Grandma would tell you that if it
sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Grandma would laugh at
wine bottle thermometers, and just remind you of the 20 minute rule -
20 minutes in the fridge for reds, 20 minutes after you remove the
wine from the fridge for whites.

Now go spend all the money I saved you on some nice wine and food and
invite your friends over to dinner.

John Juergens' article is here:
http://www.wineloverspage.com/oxford/gizmo07.phtml

Easy Rules for Wine and Cheese Pairing

I read a very informative article on wine and cheese pairing at WineSpectator online.

'Wine and Cheese, The current state of cheese, and how to pair wine with it' offers suggestions on what to pair with a specific type of wine, guided by the belief that, "the most extraordinary cheeses—the runniest, stinkiest, most intense in flavor—can overwhelm the nuancesof a fine red wine and even make it unpalatable. In fact, the wine that works best is usually white, not red, and often sweet, not dry."

The author recommends pairing a dry red wine with a mellow, firm-textured, aged cheese, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano or a California dry Jack.

A great idea is to choose a wine for dinner and then pick up a matching cheese for dessert.

Offering your cheese course as a European twist on dessert allows your guests to slowly savor the last few swallows in their wineglass.

The link to the article is here: http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Free/Newsletter_Tip_Main/0,3963,276,00.html

THE Thanksgiving wine and food pairing article

Aah, the Golden Grail of Thanksgiving wine and food pairing articles! I am excited to present to you The Bon Appetit Thanksgiving Day menu guide, including menus for country style, vegetarian and quick meal plans and wine recommendations for everything. Vegetarians will dine with a Syrah and Viognier, two of my favorite wines. Country style turkey eaters will tuck into their vittles with a glass of Chardonnay or Beaujolais. Have fun -
http://www.epicurious.com/bonappetit/features/thanksgiving_menu_guide

I picked up a bottle of Whitecliff Vineyards Gamay Noir Noveau from their Gardiner, NY winery this weekend. What wines are you serving on Thursday?

Wine and Food Pairing Tips from CIA Grad and Personal Chef Shawn E. Hubbell

I had the good fortune of learning a little about gourmet cooking from Chef Shawn E. Hubbell today at Brotherhood Winery. Chef Hubbell was sharing some cooking techniques and offering a wine and food pairing experience as a part of the winery's November Cooking with Wine series.

For ten dollars, I was treated to an informative behind-the-scenes tour from our pull-no-punches tour guide Kevin, followed by a cooking demonstration by Hubbell, a Culinary Institute of America-trained chef WHILE I enjoyed a wine tasting of several Brotherhood wines. If you are in the Hudson Valley, I highly recommend stopping by Brotherhod to experience this, especially if you can bring a few other food and wine lovers with you - see the winery's website for details: http://www.brotherhoodwinery.net

Chef Hubbell, who has a website with recipes at http://www.amuzae.com was kind enough to share some of his recent wine and food pairing successes. The video is here and recipes will be up on amuzae.com soon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BU-L36U_TU

Spice up Dinner!

Spice Up Dinner!
According to a recent article on Newsmax.com, the November issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter reports that a dash or two of herbs and spices might offer health benefits.
Regular use of spices offers a wide array of bioactive substances that have nutritional value, and spices also provide antioxidants, serve as a salt substitute, have cancer-fighting properties and mildly lower blood sugar.
According to the article, allspice, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, oregano, sage, thyme and turmeric powders are high in antioxidants. These plant chemicals may play a role in helping prevent conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s disease.
Research also suggests that antioxidants and other phytochemical substances found in garlic, rosemary, saffron, turmeric and other flavorings may have anti-cancer properties; and limited evidence indicates that cinnamon, fenugreek and turmeric may mildly affect glucose levels in people with diabetes.
See the article here: http://www.newsmax.com/health/Herbs_Spices_Add_Health/2007/11/02/46191.html

What should one drink with spicy foods? I recommend a white wine a combination of residual sugar and light acidity, or a fruity, low-tannin red wine with only moderate alcohol.

I had the opportunity to take several wine classes at COPIA in Napa, California last week. In the wine and food pairing class I learned first-hand that I have found that, rosemary matches well with red wine. I have a small rosemary plant in my apartment and I look forward to trying a Syrah or Barolo with a rosemary-based dish in the future.

The book pairing Wine and Food by Linda Johnson-Ball recommends pairing a ginger-based dish with one of my favorite wines, Gewurztraminer and a garlic dish with a Rose wine. Both oregano and thyme match with a Sauvignon Blanc, and sage pairs well with a new-world Merlot.

Wine Blogging Wednesday - White Burgundy

Wine Blogging Wednesday

I stopped by the Wine Cellar in Stuyvesant Plaza, to pick up a wine for this month’s Wine Blogging Wednesday.

Our goal this month was to taste a white Burgundy that was NOT made in the Cote D’Or. I found a bottle of Macon-Lugny Les Genievres, imported by Louis Latour, a nice Macon Villages wine and sautéed up a few raviolis for lunch on my day off.

It was a fair tasting food wine, and the oak flavors highlighted the brown sauté marks on my ravioli. Having recently returned from Napa, I could immediately contrast the sweetish, buttery new-world California Chardonnay flavors with this Burgundy wine’s lightly oaked, acidic, more restrained taste. The Macon Villages did not cover up or compete with the cheesy flavors in the ravioli like a big, up front new world wine would have, so it served well as a wine to have with food.

I suppose that Burgundy is like New York in the sense that there are two ‘hot wine regions that everyone is familiar and comfortable with. For Burgundy, it is the Cote de Nuits and the Cote de Beaune, collectively referred to as the Cote D’Or. For New York, our ‘hot’ wine regions are the Finger Lakes and Long Island AVAs. Choosing a wine from the Maconnaise or Chalonnaise in Burgundy let me recognize the fact that quality wines are produced in those areas as well. In the same spirit, I encourage New York wine lovers to try wines from the Niagara, Hudson Valley and Thousand Islands-Seaway wine regions.

I would like to thank the Brooklyn Guy’s blog for this eye-opening education! View more about Wine Blogging Wednesday here: http://brooklynguyloveswine.blogspot.com/

How to choose wines for Thanksgiving Dinner – Fried Turkey Style

Fried Turkey ?
It’s not an urban myth – families actually do ‘Deep Fry’ turkey for Thanksgiving. If you decide to fry your bird this year, Tina Danze of the Dallas Morning news offers a few wine pairings that will also compliment side dishes like savory stuffing, creamy mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potatoes, sugared carrots and cranberry relish.
In her article, Danze points out that fried turkey calls for a fuller-bodied, richer style of white wine. She recruited a few wine experts to try out a number of affordable wines with a mock Thanksgiving feast at a local restaurant.
Danze’s team of wine tasters picked the following four types of wine: German Riesling with low residual sugar, good acidity and lots of flavor and body; a Medium-bodied, fruit-forward wine laced with spice, for example a cru Beaujolais (one whose label bears a named village); and a dry rosé, either sparkling or still, with fruit and earthiness.
To please everyone, offer more than one type of wine with dinner, but be wary of buying wines that you enjoy by themselves - bigger, bolder wines like Shiraz can overwhelmed the traditional Thanksgiving flavors you spent all those hours in the kitchen creating for your family.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-nf_winepanel_1031liv.State.Edition1.e7c877.html#

Italian for Dinner and a Sicilian Wine?

I just found a great article entitled ‘Spilling the secret on Sicilian wines’ by Tim Teichgraeber, for the Star Tribune. He says that the Italian island “now produces about the same volume of wine as the entire continent of Australia,” and offers details of many of the wines produced there. Much more than Marsala, Sicilian wines naturally pair with Italian food!
The story is here: http://www.startribune.com/438/story/1534687.html

How to match wine with Umami foods

Umami, a term foodies use to describe a fifth kind of taste when it
comes to food, can be tricky to pair with wine. Basically, umami is
that meaty, savory or ripe taste/texture in the mouth. It can come
from ripe, fermented, cured or preserved foods. The chemistry behind
umami is also why MSG makes foods taste better.

If something tastes good in your mouth, savory, but it is not sweet,
that flavor is likely to be umami-based. Umami foods are best paired
with a low tannin wine, or a wine with some bottle age.

Umami is why Pinot Noir is a better pairing with Salmon than white
wines can be.

I like to think of it as the 'wrinkle factor.' A more seasoned, 'ripe'
or aged food has complexity and the pleasing flavor of maturity. Match
an umami food with an umami-like wine - mature and bottle aged, the
wine should have a complexity to match.

Silverado Vineyards has an excellent webpage that talks more about the
subject here -
http://www.silveradovineyards.com/html/umami.html

Another great resource is on the wine lover's page here -
http://www.wineloverspage.com/randysworld/umami1.phtml
Read to the bottom of the article for an eye opening suggested pairing
for American beef!

Alaskan Seafood and that bottle of white wine in your cellar

Get out your bottles of white wine! Here is an outstanding resource,
designed for cooking professionals by the Culinary institute of
America, on creating spectacular meals from Alaskan seafood.

http://www.ciaprochef.com/alaskaseafood/

This website is worth checking out just to print off the herb and spice charts.

Video Review - Enjoying Wine with Mark Phillips

Video Review – Enjoying Wine with Mark Phillips

I recently rented Enjoying Wine with Mark Phillips, a video originally
broadcast on PBS, from Netflix. Phillips, the founder and Executive
Director of the Wine Tasting Association, provided a lot of wine
information in a seminar format in front of a live audience, including
his tips on how to taste and purchase wine.

I disagree with much of his advice. Phillips, when describing the wine
service procedure at a restaurant, does not explain what specifically
to look for when tasting a wine (evidence of TCA), but instead
encourages wine drinkers to send a bottle back if they do not enjoy
how the wine tastes. In fact, he specifically encouraged new wine
drinkers to send a bottle back just for practice.

An unfamiliar type of wine at a restaurant, much like an unfamiliar
dish, should only be sent back if it is defective in some way, not
solely because the drinker does not prefer the taste.

I enjoyed parts of this video, and recommend watching for his advice
on tasting wine in order to develop mental 'wine profiles' as a part
of learning to enjoy wine more fully. He also gets it right in
recommending a 20-minute refrigerator rule for wine serving
temperatures, freezing wine for future recipes, utilizing a wine
'expert' in learning about and purchasing wine, and the role of
histamines in red wine headaches.

Overall, I would not recommend this video to a new wine drinker. I
loved his enthusiasm in teaching his 'students' how to taste wine in
the first segment, but too many of his opinions in the segments that
followed made me scratch my head.

How to Buy Bordeaux

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/30/AR2007103000332.html

Conde Nast Traveler senior wine correspondent Joseph Ward recently penned an excellent and informative article on buying Bordeaux on a budget for the Washington Post.

He offers the following four strategies for purchasing this world class wine:

Even if you already have a trusted wine source, you might need to branch out and find a good wine merchant that buys value, not just highly rated wines. Joseph Wards test? Tell your merchant that you love Bordeaux but are troubled by the high prices. If he recommends a Chilean cabernet, find another merchant;

Buy the best wines you can afford, but purchase good, rather than great, vintages, including 2001 and 2004. These wines already have a few years age on them, so they will be ready to drink before the 2005 vintage;

Wait for the dollar to recover, rest assured, 2005 will not be the only "vintage of the century," and

Look for undervalued great wines from earlier vintages. Ward recommends choosing Medoc wines from the 1996 vintage and St. Emilion and Pomerol wines from the 1998 vintage.