Beer Tasting

On Saturday, November 15th I joined my brothers at a beer tasting at the Society Room, a well-appointed shebeen in Hartford, CT in honor of my brother Chris's birthday. It was a fantastic opportunity to hang out with my bros, talk beer with pros, and--naturally--sample the suds. All of the big craft breweries were represented, along with quite a few small Massachusetts, Connecticut and even Westchester (New York) breweries. Despite strong showings from the likes of Dogfish Head's Pangaea (sweet, a hint of cinnamon), Blue Point brewery's Winter Ale (a healthy Scotch ale), and Sierra Nevada's Harvest Ale (an English-style ale with a soothing earthiness), my hands-down favorites were pretty much the entire Victory line. Specifically, I tried the Prima Pils (pils is a stretch here--it's too rich and hoppy, but tasty nonetheless), the Golden Monkey (the quintessential Belgian abbey ale--rom a US brewery!),
Hopdevil (the name says it all) and the Storm King Stout (bitter chocolate and rich coffee).


I must give the hugest honorable mention, though to everything from Schmaltz Brewery, particularly their Coney Island Albino Python. This beer was literally like no other I have ever tasted, not least because it incorporates fennel and ginger into the brewing process.

Trout and Leeks

When I went to my local fish market yesterday the least expensive thing they had next to cod was trout filets. I picked up a pound and wondered how I would make this typically bland protein sing. Over the next 24 hours I hit on a plan: I would season the filets, bake them in foil and serve them over leeks, parsnips and a fancy rice blend.

The rice was a no brainer--we just followed the directions on the package and proceeded with the rest of the meal.

The key to the whole dish was the leeks and parsnips and Nina took the lead on this part of the dish. The first step was to slice both very thinly. Then she sauteed the parsnips in a healthy dose of oil until they started to turn transparent. At that point she added the leeks and allowed the mixture to sautee until the parsnips were well carmelized and were sticking to the bottom of the cast iron frying pan. Once the leeks were also transparent she removed the mixture from the heat and kept it on warm.

In the meantime Nina grated two tablespoons of ginger and sliced a lemon into thin slices. She then took the filets and placed about a tablespoon of thin butter slices on them, spread the ginger over them, and placed two lemon slices on each. She then wrapped the filets in foil and pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees. When the oven was hot she baked the fish for about 20 minutes.

We plated the meal by first laying down a bed of rice, then a layer of leeks and parsnips, and finally the fish on top. It was a bit tricky to get the filets on there in one piece, but with two spatulas we managed.

A Solid Meal

A couple of weeks ago we had a few chicken breasts left in the meat drawer. Maybe it was because Nina's cousin Ana was staying with us for a few days--a reminder of our wedding--or maybe it was because I just really felt the need to finally try making a couple of these dishes myself, but yesterday I went entirely by the Krstic family playbook: Vienna schnitzel (made w/ chicken instead of pork), dill and parsley peas, and potato salad.

To give the master her due, I ceded the pea preparation to Nina. My understanding of the process, though, is as follows. Let two pounds of frozen peas thaw at room temperature for one to two hours. Dice one large onion into pea-sized pieces. Chop about two cups of fresh dill and about one cup of fresh parsley very finely. Sautee the onions in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil until translucent. Add the peas and enough water to make the peas float. Add vegeta (a Serbian spice blend) until the water tastes salty (about two tablespoons). Cook the peas on a low simmer for about twenty minutes. Add the parsley and dill and allow to cook for two to three additional minutes. Slowly add cornstarch while stirring until the mixture is slightly viscous. Serve warm.

The potato salad I felt competent to conquer myself. I cubed about ten potatoes and then boiled them in salt water until I could just pierce them with a fork. I then drained them and ran cold water over them and allowed them to cool while I prepared the rest of the dish. That consisted of about three quarters of a cup of finely diced "dry neck" (a kind of cured pork) and two or three diced onions. I sauteed the dry neck in two to three tablespoons of oil until they started to brown. I then added the onions and continued to sautee until the onions were translucent. I tossed the potatoes gently with the sauteed onions and meat, perhaps a quarter cup of apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. Chill before serving.

The Vienna schnitzel is fun to make as long as you like to get dirty. Slice the chicken breasts in half horizontally and pound the halves until they are very thin. Coat them in lightly beaten egg, then mustard (I like Gulden's spicy brown) and finally dredge them in bread crumbs. Fill a skillet with enough vegetable (or similar) oil to just cover the cutlets and heat it until it just starts to shimmer. Fry the chicken in the oil until the bread crumbs brown slightly. As long as you keep the oil temperature steady the chicken should just finish cooking when this happens.

This hearty meal is a bit like a happy meal: all of a kid's favorite flavors without a lot of attention to balance, but man is it good! Prijatno!

Nina's Birthday

As usual I was determined to serve Nina a truly special dinner for her special day. Since she declined to make any requests, I devised a menu. The weather in the past week or so has taken on the crisp edge of fall, so I decided to go for hearty, homey flavors. For an appetizer I selected Butternut Squash Soup. The choice of entree meat--pork--was not necessarily related but my choice of an apple and leek puree seemed to me to do justice to the fall theme. I thought Potato pancakes made the perfect starchy complement to the meat and puree. I was stuck for a long time on a side dish, and the ultimate outcome is admittedly more August than October, but since it came to me in a dream I could not decline my muse: sauteed zucchini and cherry tomatoes. For dessert I served that old standby: grilled pears with vanilla ice cream. Recipes follow.

Butternut Squash Soup
Lacking squash soup experience, I turned to allrecipes.com for guidance and selected a likely candidate. My only innovation was to add just a dash of mace and a dot of cinnamon. In retrospect I should have added considerably more salt and pepper, but overall the result was delicious.

Pork
I selected a couple of comely bone-in pork loin chops to start with. These I marinated for about seven hours in the following:

• 3 to 1 apple cider vinegar to olive oil
• 3 to 1 finely dried sage to chopped fresh rosemary
• Honey in about half the amount of the herbs
• A small amount of salt

Shoot for about one cup of marinade per pound of meat.

When they were done marinating, I grilled the chops on direct medium, turning them halfway through. I also added a substantial dose of applewood smoke.

Puree
The puree was absurdly simple: I sliced the tender portion of a few leeks and cored and sliced a comparable amount of apple. These I boiled together until soft. I then blended the mixture with some sour cream. The one lesson I learned is that sour cream is best used sparingly. The puree was spooned over the pork chops and potato pancakes for serving.

Potato Pancakes
Although I know that Cook's Illustrated has a great article on potato pancakes I had no idea where to find it when I started, and thus found myself relying once more on allrecipes.com. I used this recipe, but to ensure that the pancakes would not be slimy inside I first blanched the shredded potatoes. In hindsight I also could have been more aggressive with the salt.

Zucchini and Cherry Tomatoes
Nothing special here: I simply cut some fresh zucchini into small pieces and sauteed them together with some diced onions. The cherry tomatoes I cut into wedges and added them with the spices to cook until just soft. The spices consisted of a healthy dose of dried basil, some dried oregano, and some salt and pepper.

Grilled Pears w/ Vanilla Ice Cream
Grilled pears are a complete no-brainer but taste sooo good. I prefer Bosc pears, which I prepped (actually Nina prepped them--I'm sure she helped with other things here as well that I'm forgetting) by brushing them with a little melted butter mixed with cinnamon. I then grilled them on direct medium heat until tender. Serve over ice cream.

Overall the results were delicious, and unless Nina is lying to me in the most egregious manner she thought so too. Happy Birthday, Nina!!

A Dinner Party

On Friday, September 26th, we held a dinner party for some close friends. The menu consisted of chicken, dill and parsley peas, garlic green beans and mashed potatoes. The big winner was the dill and parsley peas, one of Nina's specialties.

Dill and Parsley Peas

• 1 lb. frozen peas
  
• 1 medium onion
• 1 cup fresh dill
• 1/3 fresh parsley
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Vegeta
  

Chop the onions into pea-sized pieces. Saute them until slightly translucent and then add the frozen peas. Continue to cook until the peas are thawed. Add Vegeta to taste. Simmer for about 20 minutes to infuse the seasoningin to the peas and onions. Add dill and parsley. Stir in corn starch slowly until the dish is thickened slightly.

The only reason the garlic green beans were not the number one dish is that the peas were superlative. Usually the green beans make the night.

Garlic Green Beans

• 1 lb. green beans
• 8 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt to taste

Heat the garlic in the oil over low heat for at least 30 minutes. Make sure that the garlic does not crisp or burn. Steam the green beans until they are slightly softened--they will turn bright green when ready. Drain the green beans and toss in the garlic oil, adding salt to taste.

Sea Thai Bistro and Solex

Sea
Yesterday found us in search of a budget meal on the town, so I clicked on over to timoutny.com to use their restaurant search with its handy "cheap eats" feature. By focusing on the East Village I quickly discovered Sea, a Thai restaurant on Second Avenue. Situated in the midst of a busy block, it's a bit hard to spot given its unremarkable signage, but stepping down into the dining room revealed a cleanly--if boringly--appointed space painted a slightly nauseating shade of peach with the back wall covered by a sheet of stainless steel. A small bar tucked partially out of sight around a corner in the back completed the picture.

I ordered the lettuce rolls, which the menu described as filled with a chicken and peanut mixture and nary a mention of dough. I was surprised then when they arrived wrapped in a mushy dumpling dough that was as unnecessary as it was unappetizing. I contented myself with a sake bomb (a Singha beer with a shot of sake dropped in) while I waited for my wife.

She ordered one of the house cocktails, a worthy riff on a mojito that included lychee for sweetness. For her entree she dutifully ordered that litmus test that in our minds every Thai restaurant must pass: the cashew chicken. She seemed contented enough with it, though the bite I tried contained a cashew that had been toasted a bit too much and tasted slightly acrid.

My entree was grilled salmon with "dark" sauce. Here was where I really got interested. The sauce seemed to be a heavily reduced mixture of soy and ginger with an edge of sweetness added by sauteed pineapple chunks. Swimming is this velvety deliciousness was a perfectly cooked skin-on salmon filet.

Despite the off notes, we really had nothing to complain about considering that the whole generously-proportioned meal including drinks cost sixty dollars. We opted to skip dessert, but resolved to return if we were ever in the neighborhood again.


Solex

As the night was still young and we weren't quite sure of our next move, we plotted a course for an old favorite of ours, Counter. Despite its pretentious website, it is a thoroughly relaxing wine and martini bar on First Avenue. Apparently the nascent evening was already well on for the crowd that stood waiting to enter, so we happily allowed ourselves to be diverted to the handsomely appointed--and nearly empty--Solex next door.

Inside a long stainless steel maple-trimmed bar reflected the warm glow diffusing through the curved ceiling panels. A long row of slightly angled shelves held much of this wine bar's stock. A glance at the menu revealed a brief but happily eclectic list of wines. While by the bottle most of them were well north of fifty dollars, there were a number of them available by the glass in the six to eight dollar range.
I chose a dry riesling that perfectly balanced its sweetness with a crisp minerality and settled in to admire the healthy collection of high-end bourbons (oxymoron?) occupying a short stretch of shelf behind the bar. The menu revealed a long list of various other liqours from all over the globe, and even a nod to the hop--if only to keep beer-drinking boyfriends from abandoning their oenophile dates.

For dessert I had a Muscat recommended by the sommelier-cum-barkeep-cum-DJ and for the first and only time was thoroughly satisfied with the mellow nectary flavor of this specimen of the variety. All in all, not a bad evening.

Wedding Menu

So as most of you probably know, Nina and I got married September 6th. You can find some pictures here.

The tremendous generosity of our friends and family and my tendency to overestimate consumption by at least 100% when planning menus yielded a smorgasbord of at least two dozen dishes (if you include desserts). I suppose as the groom I am necessarily unqualified to editorialize, but all of the reviews that found my attention were rave. Just in case anyone ever wants to reproduce this meal in whole or in part, I am determined here to give a cook's account of the thing. I couldn't hope to recount the preparation of all of them, so here are my favorites among the main dishes: the turkey, the prebranac, the Russian salad, the cole slaw and the roasted peppers.

Turkey

My Mom raises a half-dozen turkeys every year on her small farm in Connecticut, and she kindly supplied one of these grass- and grain-fed beauties for our wedding. Prepared as described here it yielded the juiciest, most deliciously tender breast meat I've ever had from this fowl whose flesh is all too often rendered dry and unpalatable.

The technique is surprisingly simple, though it does have one or two catches. First cut up a handful of savory vegetables--onions, celery and carrot work well--for the pan. Place the turkey on a rack over these and cover the skin with four layers of cheesecloth. The point of the cheesecloth is to capture the basting liquid so that it stays on the bird longer during cooking and to act as a second skin to keep the real skin from crisping too soon.

Prepare a basting liquid consisting of about one cup of water, one cup of white wine and 1/3 of a cup of olive oil (for a turkey breast of roughly 12 lbs). Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and use the basting liquid to thoroughly soak the cheesecloth while waiting for the oven to reach temperature. Bake the bird at 450 for an hour and a half, basting it well every 30 minutes. After an hour and a half, turn the oven down to 350 and wait an hour between bastings. The total cooking time will be in the four to four-and-a-half hour range.

When the turkey is about 30 minutes from being done gently remove the cheesecloth. This can be a delicate operation since the cheesecloth by this point will be thoroughly browned and stuck to the skin beneath it. The trick is to baste heavily to help separate the cheesecloth, go slowly, and exercise patience. Return the bird to the oven and continue baking until the meat reaches temperature and the skin is crispy. Allow to rest before carving.

Prebranac

Prebranac (preh-brahn-atz) is a Serbian dish that one might call "baked beans," but that bears virtually no resemblance (other than the literal description) with the American dish of the same name. Aside from the differences in seasoning, this dish is made with lima rather than navy or similar small beans.

The secret to prebranac (as I learned it at this opportunity) is a ton of onions. The approximate ratio of onions to beans in this recipe is six onions (medium-sized yellow onions) to one pound of dry beans. The onions are simply peeled, cut into thin half-rings, and then sauteed with some vegetable (0r similar) oil. Throw in a few minced cloves of garlic for some extra flavor. In the meantime you will want to rinse and then boil the lima beans. When the onions are sauteed, add them to the beans. When the beans are thoroughly cooked, mix in some salt, some sweet paprika (enough to turn the mixture slightly red), and a couple of bay leaves. Spread the mixture in a baking pan and bake the beans at 450 degrees until well dried. The result should be a slightly addictive comfort food whose nutty sweetness is a combination of carmelized onions and the beans' natural flavor.

Russian salad

Russian salad is a mayonnaise-based salad that is delicious on dense, chewy bread. Its main ingredients are chicken (alternatively ham), eggs, carrots and potatoes. The approximate amounts of these are one chicken breast, four eggs, two carrots and two potatoes. These are boiled until the chicken is well cooked and the vegetables are quite soft. They are then finely chopped and mixed with sour cream, mayonnaise, and mustard into a thick salad reminiscent of egg salad. The dressing is nearly entirely mayonnaise: the sour cream and mustard are only for flavor.

Cole Slaw

It was great luck that my mom brought her super industrial-strength food processor, which came with a 1 mm shredding blade. We used it to turn three heads of cabbage into a very fine shred. We then peeled and shredded half a dozen large carrots. The dressing was made from six cups of apple cider vinegar, three cups of sugar, 1 cup of light oil (vegetable or canola), three tablespoons of celery seed, three tablespoons of finely ground mustard, and a few teaspoons of salt. Allow the slaw to wilt overnight. Turning occasionally is recommended.

Roasted Peppers

These peppers are another favorite from Serbia. They are made with bell peppers--however many you want. Cut the hearts out and remove them. Roast the peppers on a grill until the skins are charred. Close them in plastic shopping bags to cool. When the peppers have cooled off, peel them by hand. When they have been peeled, cut them into parts--halves or smaller. Mince a lot of garlic--about a half-clove per pepper--and mix it and the peppers with a dressing of mostly light oil to a small amount of vinegar.

Stacking up some English Ales

Here's a blind tasting I did a few weeks ago. The competitors were:

• Duchy Originals Organic English Ale
• Pitchfork 1685 Rebellious Bitter
• Ridgeway Brewing's "Ivanhoe"

And as to the tasting notes:

Organic English Ale

Color like whisky. Slightly smoky nose. Flavor crisp but with a strong smoky note. Finish a bit bitter with a hint of apple cider.

Pitchfork

A bit lighter than the Duchy, but a shade darker than straw. A slighty lemon nose and a caramel flavor. The finish was a bit more bitter than the Duchy.

Ivanhoe

The color is in between the Duchy and the Pitchfork. Nose: vaguely botanical. The flavor is slightly nutty with a bitter finish.

And the winner is...

The Duchy!!!! In this tasting I wanted to try to identify what to my mind is the true English ale, and despite this beer's short pedigree, it fit the bill.

Chipotle

This is the mighty, mighty Tabasco Chipotle Pepper Sauce (TPCS). Boring chile? Add TPCS. Boring pulled pork? Add TPCS. Boring gumbo? Add TPCS. Boring breakfast cereal? (jk) I think you get my drift. If you need a little heat, it works. If you need a little sour, it works. If you need some smoky flavor, it works. If you need something that is a little hot, a little sour, and a lot SMOKY, IT WORKS!!!

Hopmouth

I never want to knock a beer, but... There's no flavor here! Sure, you can taste the bitter from the hops, but mostly you get a swig of water, a peak of hop, and then a non-existent finish. According to the label "Go big or go home!" In the words of Frank Zappa, "Maybe you should stay with yo' mama..."

Tasting notes: Bland except for the hops. Zero finish.

Stats:

• Alcohol Content: 8% by volume
  

Brooklyner-Schneider Hopfen-Weisse

This "pale weissbock fermented with the Schneider yeast" and "dry-hopped with a blend of Amarillo and Palisade hops" is a collaboration between Hans-Peter Drexler of the Schneider Brewery and Garrett Oliver of the Brooklyn Brewery.

Tasting notes: Coriander and cinnamon nose. Crisp flavor with a hint of citrus and a light bitter finish.

Stats:

• Fermentation: Bottle
• Alcohol Content: 8.5% by volume