Eat. Drink. Better.

As summer rolls into fall and fall goes screaming into winter, one’s culinary palate yearns for the muted flavors of  braises and stews, the consoling warmth of roasts and for me, the comfort of fried chicken. Yes, I said Fried Chicken.

This isn’t your aunt Flo’s fried chicken. Call it Uncle Thomas’ fried chicken - Thomas Keller, that is.

I’ve adapted a Lemon-Brined, Buttermilk Fried Chicken recipe originally published in the October 2007 Food & Wine magazine from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc restaurant in Yountville, California.

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To me, cider is one of those comfort foods. Reminds me of days gone by, memories almost forgotten and curling up in front of the fire with that special someone.

Hard cider is making a comeback - not that it ever went away - especially cider produced from artisans farming sustainably and producing product using the heirloom method. Just like in wine making, one must consider factors like the type of apple, the fragrance, color, clarity, and blend of tastes. Also like in wine making, the best hard ciders are a blend of juices from different fruits balancing the acidity, tannins, and aromatics. Read the rest of this entry »

Rumor has it the first hard frost will arrive in Wisconsin sometime tonight. We quickly pulled in our tomatoes, peppers, basil and the last bucket of raspberries. After another busy summer on our farm, I’m ready for the frost, the fall, the feeling of relief that life will slow down a bit. It’s the perfect time for a grateful toast in thanks for the abundant harvest as Mr. Snow Miser waits around the corner.

But wait — what should we toast with? In my early homesteading days I experimented briefly with beer and wine making, but my brewing career ranked short. I’m more of a cook than a scientist and couldn’t explain fermentation even if a free dram was on the line. After an attempt to make hard cider turned into five gallons of vinegar, I discovered a much easier form of homemade hooch: vodka infusions.

The basic concept is simple: Take cheap vodka, add fruit and sugar. Cheap vodka works fine for infusions as you are adding flavor through the fruit. While recipes and perspectives vary on how long you need to let the fruit and vodka sit and age, I find more time adds up to stronger flavor.

With that last bucket of raspberries harvested today, I made my annual batch of the Raspberry Cordial recipe below. This raspberry cordial often seconds as an eerie decoration just in time for Halloween. When the raspberries “float” in the vodka during the first step of the raspberry cordial-making process, the vodka turns a rich red color and the clumped together raspberries turn white, resembling a brain floating in blood. Talk about creative recycling.

Raspberry Cordial
Ingredients:
2 quarts (8 c.) raspberries
2 quarts (8 c.) vodka
2 quarts (8 c.) water
2 ½ c. sugar

Directions:
* Mix raspberries and alcohol and let sit two weeks in sterilized gallon-sized glass jar with a tight-fitting lid.
* After approximately two weeks, strain raspberries into a sieve.
* Mix water and sugar. Heat until dissolved. Mix water and sugar with strained raspberry mixture and stir well.
* Pour into sterilized glass containers and age in a dark, cool spot for a couple of months. Adjust the final infusion based on your personal taste, adding water as needed.

Yield: About 1 ½ gallons

Recipe from Edible Earth: Savoring the Good Life with Vegetarian Recipes from Inn Serendipity

Photo Credit: Lisa Kivirist

Localism, regionality, indigenous, terroir. What does it mean and why should we care? It’s mysterious. Ask two different winemakers, chefs or farmers for their definition and you will get three different answers.

The classic definition of terroir (pronounced ter-whahr) is “a taste or sense of a place” or it’s an item that “uniquely reflects its place of birth.” Literally, the French translation for terroir is “soil,” a term for the effect of land on flavor.

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Although Panzanella was created out of the need to do “something” with leftover bread, this traditional Tuscan salad is far from the ordinary, not a cliché and certainly not an afterthought. To me, this bread and tomato based salad is the epitome of local, seasonal and flavorful.

One of my culinary passions is bread baking - partially due to my friendship with my colleague master bead maker, author and teacher Peter Reinhart. There is always a loaf or two of something in my kitchen or freezer. Add the fact that our garden is currently bursting with heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and garlic and the equation adds up to Panzanella.

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Ethos is indirectly the origin of the modern English word ethics and the definition of ethics (from the Merriam-Webster online dictionary is:

a set of moral principles : a theory or system of moral values

The New Internationalist Magazine (NI) June 2008 issue brought to light “Bullshit in a Bottle”. Just so happens, Ethos has a new definition. It’s the name of a bottled water company with a slick website and “is a profit-making enterprise disguised as humanitarian relief”.

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Two confessions - One, I’m not a cocktail drinker. I prefer my alcohol straight-up or at  most with a splash of tonic or dry vermouth. Second, when I was working in France, I sneaked away from the daily grind of the restaurant to go taste the magic liquor, the green fairy, Absinthe. Who was I to argue with the likes of Vincent Van Gogh and Oscar Wild?

According to scientist and author Harlod McGeee,

Absinthe is a distilled spirit flavored with a variety of herbs and spices, primarily wormwood, an aromatic, bitter shrub. The key constituent of wormwood is a chemical called thujone, which gives it - and absinthe - a penetrating evergreen aroma.

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I’ve had a few run-ins with boxed wine in my day, mostly in college, and they’re experiences I’d care not to revisit.  But when I visited a local wine shop that focuses on budget-friendly wines, and saw French Rabbit’s eco-friendly claims, I had to check it out.  My thoughts, after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Summer’s fleeting, but we’ll undoubtedly still have a few hot days and men are still selling watermelons off trucks by a gas station near my house.  I love watermelon, and I love agua fresca, the fruity, refreshing beverage sold at taquerias on Cherokee Street in St Louis that are easy to make and easier to drink.  You can use any juicy fruit you like, but as long as watermelons are around, I’ll be using them.

Watermelon Agua Fresca

6 cups cubed, seedless or seeded watermelon (about one medium watermelon)

sugar, honey, or agave nectar, to taste

juice of two small or one large lime

2 cups water, divided

pinch of salt

mint leaves, for garnish

1. Puree half the watermelon with half the water.  Strain juice into a pitcher.
2. Repeat with remaining watermelon and water.
3. Add lime juice, sweetener to taste (a tablespoon or two should do it), and a pinch of salt.  Mix well.
4. Chill.
5. Serve cold, garnished with mint leaves

If you desire, you can turn this into an adult beverage with the spirit of your choice.

Photo courtesy of Steve Evans at Wikimedia Commons

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TableTours is offering a three-day local eating and drinking tour of Kentucky’s Bourbon country October 2 - 4.

The price of the tour is $350 per person and includes diverse Bourbon tastings, customized breakfast, lunch, and dinner menus from some of Kentucky’s most celebrated chefs, distillery and museum visits, and lectures on Bourbon and Kentucky history. Lodging is on your own from a selection of Bardstown bed-and-breakfasts.

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