Thanksgiving

Good luck to everyone cooking at home today.

Remember

When in doubt ...add butter

Always keep some chicken stock on hand to moisten any dried out dishes

Neither Michelin, AAA nor Mobile travel guide inspectors will be stopping by to dissect your menu today.

And

Two fingers of Makers Mark, a few ice cubes and a splash of soda cures most ills.

Happy Thanksgiving

Cheese, Fromage, Formaggio, Queso

Cheese is wonderful. Alive like wine. The flavor and texture are the result of the passion and skill of the cheesemaker, the quality of the milk and the diet and geographic home of the cow, sheep and or goat. The best thing is, cheese can be served anytime and for any course. It goes well in salads, melted on top of soup, in pasta, on a hamburger, in an omelet, as a pre-pastry course in a formal menu or for desert. I once worked for a Chef who served a lamb chop with a melted disk of goat cheese on it and a quenelle of tapenade on the side. I was skeptical. Yea...try it.

Finally, after many years of living in a vacuum in the United States, we have joined the rest of the cheese loving world and are importing and producing great artisan cheeses. Thanks in large part to Steven Jenkins. With his 1996 book, Cheese Primer, the demand for local and chain food markets in the US to offer real cheese, not the industrialized orange plastic that was sold here under the lie: cheese, has skyrocketed. I had the pleasure of working with Mr. Jenkins as an assistant during one of his cheese classes in NYC. I've been a devotee of fine cheese ever since. In his classes, the group had the opportunity to taste many outstanding offerings. The most important aspect I took away from the experience though, was advocacy. He empowered and motivated us to DEMAND quality artisan cheese from our local markets. It worked. I was in a large corporate grocery store recently and there was a cheese counter that contained the likes of Roquefort, Gruyere and Morbier. This was unheard of twenty years ago. From the local cheese shops well stocked with once unattainable offerings, up scale food shops to chain grocery stores, we are now able to enjoy one of the great foods of the world.

The next time you have some quiet time on a Saturday afternoon, tear off a hunk of baguette, slice it open, smear some demi-sel butter on it, place a healthy slice of Comte or Emmental in it, pour a glass of Cotes-du-Rhone, flip on Dave Brubeck's Take Five and enjoy. You'll understand.

VETERANS DAY - 2010

To those who slip away in the night

To do what needs to be done

The BONES

The shooters and comm-guys

The coxswains

The head-shed and butt-shed

CHEERS

The Bacchus Report- Early Fall

Wow, we've tasted some great reds this fall. I've done something a little different recently in terms of purchasing wines though. Direct purchasing from distributors has become very easy in the past few years. Two companies that I find very fun are Kermit Lynch and Garagistewine.com. Kermit Lynch is based in Berkeley CA. and specializes in french wines, but other regions are available as well. By signing up for their newsletter, buyers receive email alerts as well as the monthly newsletter. Outstanding descriptions of the offerings accompany the emails along with prices. Purchasing is as easy as calling in, placing an order and a few days later the wine arrives. Right now they are offering pre-arrival orders for many outstanding Burgundies that will ship in January.

Garagistewine.com is slightly different. After signing up to receive their daily (sometimes multiple) emails, purchasers receive descriptions / price notes directly from Garagistewine.com in France. As he travels from vintner to vintner, emails are sent to the subscription list. Purchasing is accomplished by sending an email to garagistewine.com's home base in Seattle. Shipments only go out twice a year: Once in the fall and once in the spring.

Both are great companies and bring outstanding offerings to the home wine lover. This is not to say I don't support the local wind shop, I do, however finding the great mid-priced drinkable Burgundies that I loved when living in Joigny, France is difficult to find in many shops.

BURGUNDY

2008, Bruno Colin - Bourgogne, FRANCE

2008, Regis Bouvier - Bourgogne en Montre Cul, FRANCE

COTES DU RHONE

2009, Maxime - Francois Laurent - Il Fait Soif, FRANCE

ZINFANDEL

2008, RIDGE - LYTTON SPRINGS, NAPA

2007, RIDGE - THREE VALLEYS, NAPA

Culinary School-Basic-Part II

The Basic curriculum was full of terms and techniques that had to be mastered. After a week or so my class began to get in the grove and we felt pretty good about our performance. Then it happened. It seems that when my partner and I were preparing sauce diable we were a little out of sync. Sauce Diable is a reduction sauce that is made up of veal stock, white wine, tomato puree, lemon juice, black peppercorns, cayenne pepper and finished with parsley. Two novice cooks battling through school, stressed and short on time (time constraints were placed on all activities at FCI to develop "restaurant speed" ability) probably shouldn't be allowed around cayenne pepper. Our sauce burned Chef Denis' mouth so bad he had to dismiss the class early. We think, after a quick chalk talk, that we both seasoned the sauce...at least twice. He really didn't say much to us other than a rather LOUD explanation about why a Chef has to be able to taste everything throughout a shift and we pretty much ruined that for the day.

Oh Well.

Culinary School - Basic - Part I

The first phase of the French Culinary Institute Cuisine track is, or was when I attended, called Basic.

When attending the FCI I lived on 32nd street between 2nd and 3rd avenues. It was a great neighborhood. Full of young professionals and med students who worked at the nearby NYU medical center. Good bars and locals restaurants made up 2nd and 3rd avenues between 28th and 36th, my neighborhood. So, every morning I walked the few blocks up to Park and 33rd to board the 6 (local) train. The ride to my stop in SOHO at Spring St. took about twenty minutes, then three blocks and into school. Sometimes I'd jump on the 4 or 5 train (express) at 33rd and if my timing was perfect I could cross the platform at the 14th street station and get through the closing doors on the 6 local just in time and cut my transit time in half. For non-New Yorkers or anyone who has never lived in the city, that move doesn't mean anything to you. But, it's a skill that pro strap hangers execute every day all over the city. As a matter of fact, last winter when I was in NYC my instincts took over and I used the local and express trains / platform cross maneuver with ease...I still have it.

Basic is a bit nerve racking at first. The goal is to start everyone from the beginning, literally how to turn on stoves and ovens, boil water, etc. Nothing was assumed. Each person in class is paired off with another class mate and the daily routine began. Every morning, we would set our stations and wait for Chef Denis. He would lecture then demonstrate and we would work. This went on all day. Every technique and piece of equipment was explained and demonstrated before we did anything.

A station was a cutting board, knives and small equipment like spoons and peelers etc. We learned real quick the proper way to work is left to right. Raw ingredients on the left-work on the board- finished prep placed in a bowl or other container on the right and scraps placed in a container that was placed directly at 12 o'clock. God help you if you put anything on the prep table. All products pre or post prep had to be kept in some sort of container. To this day I still work like this anytime I cook. From day one cleanliness and organization was stressed beyond belief. The hierarchy of professional kitchens, especially ones run by Europeans is very strict. A cook's reputation is made by working fast, clean and precise. FCI trained us in this philosophy from day one.

A few terms that a beginning cook at FCI quickly learned was "mis en place," "in the weeds" and "shoemaker." Mis en place is translated as "everything in place." Sounds fairly benign but it's not. The meaning con notates having all your prep done in a timely manner (prior to meal service). Cooks over the years have invoked poetic license that would make E. E. Cummings proud with the use of the term mis en place. "Do yo have your place ready" (are your prepped for service?), "F%*&! my mis is blown from last night!" (I used all my prep last night during service, I am so screwed right now), "I'm placed pretty good" (my station is fully prepped and ready for anything), "Your mis is S#&*!" (your station is a mess and your prep is sloppy). Yes there is quite a bit of gutter mouth in the kitchen, but usually in a interesting way. Straight up cursing really isn't a good image for a professional cook and cursing in front of the Chef is considered disrespectful. "In the Weeds" means a cook is totally behind schedule in getting ready for service, as in: "I over cooked all my haricot verts, now I'm in the weeds. Shoemaker: one of my favorites. I first heard this from a second phase Chef- Instructor that cooked at the venerable Russian Tea House during it's heyday in the 1980's. A shoemaker is simply a bad cook. If ever referred to as shoemaker, it would be recommended that a career change was in order, like being a waiter.

"The Life" had begun.

Pat Conroy, Education and Braised Pork

I am in the midst of reading The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy. What a great read. Yes, it does pair well with a bourbon. The book tells the story of a young teacher named Pat Conroy, one in the same, who takes a teaching assignment on a small island off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. Without ruining the story, the young idealistic teacher runs straight into a challenging situation where the student body is comprised of kids living on an island that modernity left in its wake. Being a part of the education system, I have a strong urge to share a thought on the current national buzz regarding education. Documentary film makers, politicians, First Ladies, teachers, administrators and news channel talking heads have all chimed in lately which, in my opinion is great. It is a much over due discussion and I am glad it is taking place.

This is not a scientific, academically rigorous thesis, rather, a thought. Educators, students and parents is the principle cohort responsible for education. If an English teacher you know doesn't have a house full of books and their resting heart rate doesn't spike and knees tremble when the words of the Bard are interjected into conversation, in the classroom or not, and if the same English teacher doesn't become flush with thought when the likes of Becket, Steinbeck, Whitman or Wolf are read and discussed, he or she is not an English TEACHER but rather an instructor of English curriculum. Passion, subject matter expertise and a driving desire to connect kids with learning are the qualities of real TEACHERS. These are the teachers that matter and should be revered. Parents should set expectations high and be a team player in the process. Students should be challenged and rise to the occasion with the best of their ability to learn and develop the analytic skills needed in our "flat world." To use a athletic coaching philosophy: excuses are a sign of cowardice.

Which leads me to braised pork. Hey, the prose of Conroy is a perfect marriage with the nuances and layered flavors resulting from braising. When you read Conroy, the southern United States is felt. The warm, sweet, albeit humid air, the accents and inter-coastal waterway and marshlands all are on parade for the reader's senses. Rosemary braised pork loin, radicchio, Gnocchi and a Cote du Rhone. What an evening we had. I've never braised stove-top so this was a new experience and it was well worth the effort. The result was a tender, flavorful roast perfumed of rosemary and sauced with the braising liquid bound with a small bit of Dijon mustard. The gnocchi was baked in a sauce bechamel and topped with Parmigiano Reggiano. The velvet bechamel-gnocchi combination topped with a crisp Parmesan crust was ........ yea. Wilted radicchio added a nice texture and slightly bitter and spicy flavor. Paired with the rustic quality of a superb 2007 Domain Gramenon, Il Fait Soif was perfect. The wine jumps out with sour cherries, herb and pepper which works well with the richness of the gnocchi and complexity of braised pork.

Cheers!

Recipe for The Braised Pork can be found in The Sliver Spoon, Phaidon Press Inc.