The return of Champagne

In terms of Christmas-time drinks as a logical progression after vodka I must talk about champagne.  Imagine toasts by the Christmas tree with elegant stemware and gifts opening, champagne is just perfect.  What other better meal in the year than Christmas to take out a a bottle of French sparkling magic? It's the season to treat yourself, have a few exotic foods and toast in style.
I know, in the last 10 years Champagne has not been very popular.  Blame it on the vilification of luxury subsequent the economic crisis, blame it on an increasingly fast paced life that does not facilitate enjoyment, or blame it on fashion back-turning on the 90's.  Whatever the reason I do think that Champagne is ready for a big come back! But please don't drink it because it is the new fad! Drink it because it's delicious.

I'm not going to give you an encyclopedia-like description on Champagne here; just a few brief notes.  It is a French wine - aha! - from the namesake region. The non-vintage ones are complex blends of wines that recreate the typical essence of each marque, brand.  NV Brut Champagne is usually a 2/3 and 1/3, or 3/4 and 1/4 blends of Blanc de Noirs and Blanc de Blancs.  Of course you can also find 100% Blanc de Noirs and 100% Blanc de Blancs.

Blanc de Noirs = Chardonnay + Pinot Noir + Pinot Meunier.
Blanc de Blancs = 100% Chardonnay.
The Chardonnay provides delicate joyfulness, the Pinot Noir a more assertive structure and the Pinot Noir a softer and aromatic edge.

Alexis Lichine pointed out in his book on French wines that the "ethereal lightness" of champagne can be found in the Cote de Blancs where champagne is made with mostly Chardonnay grapes.

Contrary to pop culture Champagne should not be served very cold.  If the wine is younger or sweeter (demi-sec) then the temperature should be 6-8 C.  If you are drinking a NV brut then 8-10 C is better and at the champagne house Salon-Delamotte for older and more complex wines they suggest 12 C.
It is better to use a tulip glass or a regular wine glass than a flute if you would like to experience the wine in full.

Depending on your taste you now need to discover your favorite champagne.  I personally prefer the more "ethereal" styles with more Chardonnay.  Laurent Perrier's brut is an example and has a nice lightness that makes it perfect as an aperitif or for a celebration.  If you are having a super special occasion or looking for a nice gift for a wine enthusiast the 1997 Salon is "a sensuality of silk."

Other personal suggestions: Delamotte Brut ("balanced and elegant"), Diebolt-Vallois Prestige Blanc de Blancs ("dramatic intensity") come to mind.

Also underrated are the demi-secs which are sweeter and more playful.  These are great after a meal and used to be more popular when champagne was invented.

A suggestion: if you buy a NV Brut from a major house it will be better after 1 year.  The biggest houses churn out lots of wine and release it when it is still a bit young.  But check your preferred house's website. Some pre-age their wines so they are just right when you buy them.

All the info you might need can be found at http://www.champagne.fr/en

Bon Noel!

"Sipping Vodka" ??

In our life food is definitely a dominant theme - even if you try to ignore it.  It's funny how sometimes food shows up into other realms such as movies, music, art and pop culture.  It could be said that what we eat/drink in part defines us or at least reveals information about us.  If in a hundred years a historian was going to analyze this blog she/he would be able to point out certain things about me only based on the food topics I'm writing on.  An economist might make assumptions about my income and quality of life.

It's from one of this crossovers between drink and music that my post begins.  I have always been interested in hip hop culture and I still listen to a lot of rap music.  Regardless of how polite and correct it might be it is still a very fascinating music genre full of rhythm and inventiveness.  

Listening to the recent and very good King's Landing by Vinny Cha$e - vinnycha$enyc - mixtape preview - I came across a rhyme that captured my attention.  On track 6 of the mixtape, the appropriately titled "Coolin," Vinny talks of "sipping vodka."  As I did not recall that vodka should be sipped I immediately researched the topic. Is the word " sipping" used as slang? The Urban Dictionary defines sipping as: "process of drinking carbonated grape juice and liquid codeine mixed usually while smoking marijuana." It is obviously not a case of slang.  Vinny Cha$e implies that he's drinking so much vodka that it's like sipping it - a constant drinking process.  And the word "sippin" is for sure much more club-cool than drinking. One could not rap to "shooting vodka." It just doesn't sound right.

My quest continued.  Should vodka be taken in shots as I believe or should it be sipped?

From a logical point of view it should be drunk in shots.  Its main characteristic is purity and freshness of taste.  There is no benefit in sipping it.  Vodka is served from the freezer. The drinker is not trying to showcase or taste any subtle flavors.  If that was the case vodka would be served at room temperature.

But besides my experience in Latvia and general knowledge I searched the internet for more validation.

Esquire contains an article that is a bit oxymoronic: the title mentions that vodka should be "sipped with food" but later on it mentions that vodka should be "drunk in little chilled shots alongside little plates." That makes more sense.  Esquire is talking about zakuskis. These are Russian hors d'oeuvres served before a meal.  

I did go on to research the web a bit more and found plenty more evidence of Russian origin to support my statement that vodka should be drunk in shots.  It's important not to fill the glass to the rim and to finish the vodka in one gulp.  Vodka needs to be served chilled - the bottle kept in the freezer.  And make sure to give a toast when having vodka. 

So for this Christmas season instead of an aperitif or white wine why not pair your buffet of amuse bouche and hors d'oeuvres with shots of good quality vodka? 

Final notes:

From my vodka adventure I learned a few more things. 

YORSH: a Russian drink consisting of beer + generous amount of vodka. Don't ask me how it originated.

PICKLE JUICE: preferred Russian hangover cure.

PDO - Kalamata Olive Oil

Here in North America we have a good variety of extra virgin olive oils (EVOO) but local demand prefers lighter and more bland ones.  Growing up in Italy we had nicely "spicy" and flavorful examples from the southern provinces like Molise.  Finding extra virgin olive oil that matches this profile has not been that easy.  The large exporters from Italy like to blend Mediterranean oils from different countries with a golden color and sweet, light and often boring taste.

In recent years supermarkets have gone through a phase of offering more special and expensive, single origin oils.  Undiscerning consumers might think that if the olive oil is $30-$50 for 1 liter it must be good.  This is not always true.  Money pays for something that is rare and special but not necessarily better tasting.

On a recent trip to Milan the Esselunga Supermarket regular line EVOO was strong and flavorful and affordable.  I think that this kind of flavorful oil is only recently getting sold outside of Italy and now Whole Foods sells a 100% Italian EVOO but I still need to try it.

My search stopped when I bought Kalamata EVOO from Greece.  This oil has a dark yellow color leaning towards green, a sweet and fruity flavor with a fresh richness that is difficult to find. The oil is not too acidic or too strong but still super flavorful.  I bought the one marketed by Krinos - see picture.  It's EFFING GOOD!

The good thing about this EVOO is that it is a PDO product - Protected Designation of Origin so in theory the product comes from a specific area and you know what to expect.  If you buy a 100% Italian origin olive oil it does not guarantee much as Italy produces oils of very different flavor profiles.

Kalamata olive oil is from the Messinia prefecture in the south Peloponnese where the city of Kalamata overlooks the sunny Messenian Gulf.  Here the landscape is as warm and beautiful as the olives. At the same latitude of Sicily the climate is optimal for growing olives and the hills allow good aeration of the trees.  The soil is light and calcareous and the terrain forces some growers to use traditional methods of cultivation.  The plots are small and farmers take great care of their trees.  They are very experienced: more than 3,000 years of olive cultivation history.

The olives used are of two varieties Koroneiki and Mastoeidis.  The first is native to Messinia.

Kalamata olive oil stood the "bread test."  Pour some oil on a plate and use a piece of baguette to soak it up.  If the flavors and sweetness of the oil stands out when you eat the bread it means it's a very good olive oil.

This EVOO is quite strong so it's best used for cold food preparations, salads or added to hot dishes at the end of cooking.  You can use it also to pan fry white fish or chicken or on a fresh piece of cheese.

Acorns and Dotorimuk

This is a short post on acorns.  I was recently walking down a boulevard lined with oak tress and noticed a person with a plastic bag that was collecting acorns! Yes like those collected by squirrels.  I needed to investigate more.  What can you do with them? What's their place in the history of food?

The Grandpappy website contains a lot of useful information on the history of acorns and how to collect and process them for eating.  To be brief, the acorn was eaten since the beginning of time by populations living close to oak trees.  Apparently more acorns have been consumed over history than rice and wheat!

Acorns contain many nutritious vitamins and proteins and of course carbohydrates.  They also contain tannins which need to be flushed out before cooking.

It's quite a process to prepare acorns but if you are adventurous enough you can use acorns to make grits, bread, tortillas, and cookies.

However, the person that I saw collecting them was going to make Dotorimuk - acorn jelly.  This is a traditional Korean recipe that is regaining popularity as a health food.  Dotorimuk is commercially available in powder form that is ready for home use.  I'll see if I can find it at the local Korean supermarket.  If my search turns out empty Debbie Lee of the New York Times describes Dotorimuk as "a silk jelly that tasted faintly of chestnuts and artichokes."

Chanterelle - Girolle - Pfifferling - Finferli - Лисички

It's the season! Wet soggy autumn days followed by a few rays of sun. The right temperature and the woods are dotted in yellow.

The mornings start to be a bit foggy. The neighbor is testing the fireplace. The red wine choices are a bit richer and luscious. It's the time of chanterelles.

This is a very delicate and sophisticated mushroom, rich in vitamins and other healthy things to make you feel better. But let's be honest, we eat chanterelles because they are so delicious.

When dried they loose most of their flavor. They need to be as fresh as possible. They keep pretty well in the fridge for a few days in a bowl lined with paper towels to absorb moisture.

We like to do our own mushroom hunting.  This year it's been an amazing one and as the pictures show we were super lucky to find a lot of excellent chanterelles.  We pan seared them somewhat slow to keep them nice and soft, with shallots or onions, butter, black/white pepper and salt.  We added a smidge of white wine et voila - done! Super easy and the best way to showcase that saffron-like sweetness of chanterelles.

They pair nicely with a juicy steak.  Or we cooked them in a savory quiche with leeks and bacon.
A great way to eat them is to sautee them and add them to a cream sauce for nice egg tagliatelle. And don't be shy with the Parmesan.

Re-live van Gogh!

What was Vincent van Gogh thinking when he was painting "Sunset at Montmajour?" Probably not that the painting would turn out to be regarded as a fake. It has recently been identified as an original van Gogh, part of the Arles period.  The landscape portrayed is that of the Montmajour hill with the Montmajour Abbey on the top left corner of the painting.

Perhaps the painting has been regarded as a fake because it is quite mellow and lacks some of the more bright colors often used by Vincent.  "Sunset at Montmajour" has similarities with the "View of Arles with Irises in the Foreground."

Perhaps we should ask ourselves what was van Gogh eating in Arles while he was working on such iconic paintings as "Cafe Terrace at Night?"  I did some research and realized that food was probably not the inspiration of Vincent van Gogh's art.  He lived a frugal life and spent most of his money on art supplies.  It could be said that he sacrificed his enjoyment of food so that we could enjoy more of his art.  In a letter to Theo van Gogh, Vincent explains that he "breakfasted on a piece of dry bread and a glass of beer."  His main choices of foods were dry bread, pickles, potatoes or chestnuts.  Occasionally he would have some fried fish.

From the letters that Vincent wrote I got the impression that his choice of food was due to necessity rather than choice.  He could not afford a full meal very often.  It would be nice if we could travel back in time and have lunch with van Gogh.  Where could we invite him today in Arles?  I suppose somewhere close to the Place du Forum where he painted the Cafe Forum in "Cafe Terrace at Night."

The Hotel Jvles Cesar might be a bit too luxurious.  Yet, Vincent would probably enjoy the nice terrace at hotel's restaurant, the Lou Marques.  It's a quiet and colorful setting, perfect for a nice September lunch.  The set menu is surprisingly affordable at 21 Euros. Some of the choices in the menu would undoubtedly please even a more humble palate:

- Salade de saumon mariné à l’aneth sur un lit de riz de Camargue au basilic
- Filet de plie pané à la noisette, fricassée de topinambours et pomme de terre
- Aumônière aux pommes caramélisées à la cannelle

Another good choice in Arles would be the "Le 16." It has a set menu for 25 Euros which includes dessert.  The menu has traditional offerings in a cozy and rustic setting:
- Oeufs Cocotte au lard fume
- Filet de daurade a l'huile d'olive
- Palette de sorbets

Over lunch we could ask Vincent why in his opinion we now have difficulty ascribing the painting to him.  Or we could ask him if he believes that art has a place on the plate.  Or we could come out with ideas for a menu based on his diet and its ingredient: beer, dry bread, pickles, fried fish, chestnuts and potatoes.  How can these ingredients be revisited and mixed to create a van Gogh menu?

Let's start painting with flavors.

Out!

Yes, all out! In the sunshine, under an umbrella, in the garden, on a patio, out to enjoy the fresh air and summer.

(I've been quite busy and away from the blog but I have not forgotten "Effing Good." As a matter of fact, I've been thinking about it and all sorts of ideas and good food have been spinning inside my head. Unfortunately with little time for the blog I've decided to take a pause instead of churning out bland posts.)

This post is all about outdoor cooking.

PEACH ICED TEA
First, I need to suggest a perfect summer drink that in Italy we grow up with - te freddo alla pesca - peach iced tea.  The supermarket versions are tasty but very sweet and with a standardized flavor.  In June with the first really hot days of summer I started experimenting with my own recipes.  In my first test I pureed 6 white peaches and I added them to concentrated tea, sugar and water.  I then filtered the blend to obtain a lighter infusion.  This iced tea was very fruity and a bit murky (because of the peach residue).  It was good but not clear and as refreshing as I hoped. The peach puree idea was meant to extract as much flavor but I think that it was a bit of an overkill.

The second attempt was more straightforward.  I made a concentrated Keemun black tea (English breakfast is good too) added sugar (about 2 teaspoons per cup - you can play around with the sugar level) and mixed it.  I added enough water to fill the jug I was using and added 2 regular peaches in small slices.  I let everything steep for an hour or two and then filtered the tea and chilled it in the fridge.  This second version of peach iced tea has become my go-to recipe for the summer.  It is easy to make and produces a clear, peachy and super-refreshing iced tea. I love it and I keep a big jug in the fridge to cool down on the hottest moments of the day.

"OUTDOOR COOKERY" James Beard and Helen Evans Brown, Royal Books, 1965.
I recently found a copy of this book in the corner of a dusty old bookstore.  The book has its age but the recipes and suggestions for cooking and eating outdoor are very interesting and current.
I have included below some recipe excerpts from the book.  I think they will spruce up anyone's grilling repertoire.

- SCALLOP SKEWERS: I combined two suggestions from the book.  Dip the scallops in butter and olive oil mixed with parsley and crashed garlic.  Alternate the scallops with olives and grill them.

- LONDON BROIL: fancier term for a flank steak and honestly this steak deserves a fancier name because as the authors write, it is "unbelievably delicious." Procedure: slash any of the fat on the side of the steak, brush with olive oil and black pepper and grill for about 8 minutes.  The key for a delicious London broil is to cook it rare and serve it sliced diagonal and very thin. This steak is best served with French fried onions or a red wine shallot sauce.
Tip of the authors: add salt at the end of grilling so that the meat keeps juicier.

- GREEN TOMATOES SKEWERS: dip the green tomatoes in olive oil with ground ginger and grill. Ingenious.

- PINEAPPLE SKEWERS: dip the pineapple chunks in butter and grill them.  Roll them in macaroon crumbs and flare them with rum.

- BROILED SWEETBREADS: once or twice a year we can all indulge in some sweetbreads.  I do associate them with colder days but this grill recipe sounds perfect for any season. Procedure: first blench the sweetbreads for 15 minutes in salted water with a bit of lemon juice. This step will keep them white and firm.  Cool them in ice water, pat them dry and dip them in 1/2 cup cream + one beaten egg.  Roll them in bread crumbs and grill them at low heat until brown on both side. Serve with a younger red wine or an aromatic white with some depth.

- GRILLED TONGUE TARRAGON: boil the tongue for 1 hour in a pressure cooker or 2-4 hours in a regular pot (the cooking time is related to the size of the piece that you are cooking.)  Make sure to add a bouquet garni, onion, celery and carrot to the water.  Make a paste with: 2 cloves of garlic crushed, 11/2 tbsp dried tarragon, 1 tbsp mustard, 1 tbsp tarragon vinegar or vinegar and 1/2 tbsp salt.  Rub the boiled tongue with half the rub and mix the rest of the rub with 1/2 cup from the cooking water, 3 tbsp melted butter and 1 tbsp tarragon vinegar.  Spit-grill the tongue on medium heat for about 45 minutes until crispy and brown on the outside while basting regularly.

FIGS on the GRILL: do you have a fig tree and an endless supply of figs that you can't give away to friends and relatives because they don't know what they are missing? Perfect, the book suggests to wrap them in bacon and grill them like you would with dates. If you are vegetarian I would suggest grilling them quickly and serving them with fresh quality ricotta cheese and a drizzle of wonderful honey.

I have included recipes for both vegetarians and meat-eaters and I hope that you have found something inspiring. Go out! Get that dusty grill cleaned up and enjoy some relaxed outdoor cooking.