Pork Chops & Chicken

Chocolate Review: Romanengo Cioccolato Fondente Amaro 61%

Pietro Romanengo fu Stefano is an exquisite candy shop from Italy that has been around since the late 1700's. I fret to use a generic term like candy shop, but it is truly what they make, only they make gorgeous, world-class candies and confections. 

A quick read on their history. Romanengo Past and Present

I was mostly familiar with their Dragée's or sugar coated almonds and their candied fruits that came in amazing wooden boxes for an incredible presentation, from when I worked at Formaggio Kitchen.

They also make these wonderful candied sugars with liquid centers. The centers were flavored with rose, lemon, anise and other wonderful flavors.



As well as Fondants di Frutta with a multitude of flavors like mint, lemon, Pears, banana and orange to name a few.



Recently I was given a bar of their dark chocolate. I am mostly a fan of Italian chocolates. The time and care put into their products is seen across the board in all the chocolates from any region in Italy. Knowing what kind of exquisite candies Romanengo makes, needless to say I was very excited about the chance to enjoy their chocolate bars.

Romanengo is from the Liguria region of Italy in the Province of Genoa. The coastal, northern region of Italy.

They are purists about their chocolate. This is important when dealing with high quality chocolate bars. They use Mexican beans for their chocolate, though I am not sure of the varietal currently. Pending information request.

Updated: The information about the beans they use has been given.

The "Messicano" chocolate you are tasting does not really come only from Mexico. It is an old and traditional name used by our company for more than 150 years. The beans actually come from a variety of places, mostly in Central America (if you want, it is not a "single cru", but a "blended" chocolate).

Our philosophy does not place a great importance on origin or on high cocoa percentages but on the process. We use a 1860 mixer with granite wheels (able to bring out all the flavors, which is not the case of modern machines) and we conch the paste for 72 hours (again, in a granite-wheeled machine). And we do not use soy lecithin which would speed up the process but somehow (we feel) spoils the taste.

From their website:

We produce our chocolate by mixing cocoa paste in a traditional old mill (mélangeur) and trough, both with their own granite stones, where the chocolate is "beaten" non-stop for three days and three nights. The granite brings out the chocolate's wonderful aroma.
We never use soy lecithin: Romanengo chocolate is made exclusively from cocoa, sugar and cocoa butter with absolutely no additives (except the milk used to make milk chocolate).
Romanengo makes bars of plain chocolate (62% cocoa) and bars of milk chocolate.
Our range also includes what we call "family" chocolate, once produced in endless varieties and melted to produce a delicious drink. It is made from near-equal quantities of cocoa and sugar but no cocoa butter. The chocolate is available in the traditional "santé" version or flavoured with cinnamon. 

Cioccolato Fondente Amaro

Bean Origin: Blended Central American Beans
Varietal: Unknown
Cocoa Percentage: 61%

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa-paste, cocoa-butter, vanilla flavor. Cocoa 61%

Amaro means dark in Italian. So the name of the bar implies exactly what you are going to get with a 61% cocoa chocolate bar.

The Nose: Light smokiness, rich tobacco, almost like pipe tobacco, tree bark notes as well as rich buttery notes from the cocoa butter, and berries.

Smells like classic semi-sweet chocolate chips. This is not meant to be an insulting characteristic or a generic term, but it rather it has a smell that reminds of me of home when I was a kid making chocolate chip cookies with my mother.

Texture: Smooth when dissolving on the palate, but a little dry and crumbly when bitten into. A little chalky. It melts very slow on the palate. Not as creamy as I had hoped for.

Side Note: I learned a little neat trick when tasting chocolate about the cocoa butter used from a great new friend, Pete Slosberg who used to own Cocoa Pete's and was the founder/owner of Pete's Wicked Ale. The cocoa bean is grown between 20ºN of the equator and 20ºS of the equator.

Cacao is grown plus or minus 20 degrees north and south of the equator.  What I was told by the technical people at my chocolate provider is that cocoa butter is softest near the equator and gets progressively harder as you approach the furthest north and south limits. Also, when chocolatiers mention a cacao percentage on the label, it isn't really pure cacao directly from the beans. It's cacao from the beans plus extra added cocoa butter, e.g. a 70% cacao chocolate could be 60% cacao plus an added 10% cocoa butter. The extra cocoa butter will smooth out the chocolate. It's next to impossible to glean how much extra cocoa butter is added, but it's worth asking the supplier directly.

I find this fascinating because this chocolate is very much representative of that factor. It's a slow melt in the mouth and the beans were a blend from around Central America. This would indicate that their beans were produced further away depending upon how much coco-butter they actually used.

Taste: A complex flavor profile. It begins almost tasteless until the bar begins to melt. Once it begins to open up there are rich nutty flavors. Slight roasted cocoa bean taste that doesn't stay on the palate for very long, but pops enough upfront to let you know it's there. Then it really opens up into bright cherries, and has a slow lingering tartness. There are fresh tobacco notes as indicated on the nose and a deep red wine grape taste. The finish is a light smokiness again as indicated on the nose.

Very low bitterness, but definite higher acid content based on that lingering tartness.

To me this is the reason the Italians reign supreme on chocolate making. Even with a higher acid content, it doesn't jab you in the neck from shoddy processing or less care in the fermentation process. Sometimes with lactic acid and the bacterial process in the fermentation can't be helped. But it's those chocolate producers who go to the farms and care to research the issues with their production who make all the difference in the world. Again you are getting tart fruit flavors that are wonderful to eat and experience in the flavors of chocolate versus actual physical reactions to the acid content.

I am stickler about this because once this factor of acid content became apparent to me, it really makes or breaks chocolate bars for me.

An excellent chocolate bar over all.

BBQ Chicken Pizza With Homemade Crust

One of my favorites. Ever since I found this awesome recipe for pizza crust, I make homemade pizza a lot. This crust was done a little differently for me this time however. I rolled it out a bit more for my round pizza pans. Normally I roll it out minimally for thick crust square pizza. Like these images here:

As you will notice in this recipe, when it comes to the toppings for the pizza, The pictures do not show what the recipe calls for. That's because while I was making the toppings, I realized I should have doubled the ingredients. So the pictures will look scant compared to what I think you should be using.

I didn't use cilantro for my pizza. I cannot stand cilantro unless it's in small doses. It's alright in pico de gallo and other Mexican dishes, but only in small amounts. People either love cilantro or they hate it. I am not a fan at all. It tastes overwhelmingly like soap to me. It dominates my palate. Some people think this is one of the clues to being a supertaster. I quite possible could have that palate based on a lot of sensitivities. I haven't taken the test yet to find out if I am one. It would be weird to discover I am one though. Hops and extreme hops tend to be no no's for supertasters. I am a freak for hops and double IPA's. You never know.

I cooked my chicken in a skillet and sort of stewed the chicken in BBQ sauce. It's fast and easy and I did it this way because my grill is not ready yet for the spring and summer. So if you have a grill go ahead and grill that chicken in coat it in BBQ sauce and slice it up for your pizza.

Let's begin with the pizza dough.



Thick Pizza Crust by Linda Larsen

This recipe for thick, or deep dish pizza crust, is easy and classic. Make it in a Pizza Pan for best results.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs. active dry yeast (1/4 oz or 2 1/4 teaspoons per package)
  
• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup warm water (Between 105 and 115 degrees)
  
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup warm water

Preparation:

In large bowl, combine yeast, 1/2 cup flour, and warm water in a bowl and mix well.

Side Note: Make sure the water for the yeast activation is between 105 degrees and 115 degrees. If the water is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Also since I have a giant bag of yeast from Costco, I usually sneak in a little bit more active yeast to the mix than the recipe calls for. It makes the the dough puffier and you don't need to add more flour or water.



Cover and place in warm, draft-free place; let rise for 30 minutes.

Stir down batter.

Add 2 cups flour, salt, and 1 cup warm water and beat well.

Side note: At this point I switch out my whisk attachment for the Kitchenaid mixer and use the bread hook attachment.

Gradually add enough of the remaining flour to form a soft dough.

Turn down onto a lightly floured board and knead for 10 minutes.

Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise until double, about 1 hour. 

Side Note: It is best to rise dough in a warm place. Some people do it in their ovens on a very low heat. I do it in the summer time, right on top of my stove. I open the door to the oven a crack and the let the heat rise up. Be careful with this technique on the stove. Make sure all knobs are off and nothing is hanging by the open stove. Be careful not to cause a fire.

In the winter time, I use my radiator in the kitchen. It's small and I place towels over the heater and place my bowl of dough right on top. Again make sure the radiator is not getting too hot or the dough won't raise, and make sure it's not too hot to put a towel on top of. Monitor both situations carefully.

 

Punch down dough and roll to 16" round. Place in greased 14" round deep dish pizza pan and form a raised edge.

Let dough rise for 30 minutes.

Side Note: As the dough is rising, you can begin prep on the pizza toppings. See below for ingredients and preparation.

 

[Onions will be darker than above image indicates when done caramelizing.]

Caramelized Onions

Two large red onions chopped

1/2 cup of white sugar

2 to 4 tbls. butter

Heat skillet to medium heat and put butter in the pan to melt.

Add in chopped onions and make sure all are coated in the melted butter. Toss onions in pan for a minute.

Then gradually add in of sugar.

Allow the onions to soak in the butter and sugar until soft. Then turn up the heat to about medium high. Cook until sugars begin to caramelize and brown. Do not over cook or leave onions to cook on one side for too long or they will burn.

BBQ Chicken

4 chicken breasts

1/2 cup to 1 cup of favorite BBQ sauce

3 to 4 tbls of oil

Salt and Pepper

 

Wash chicken breasts in cold water. Slice the breasts into thin strips. Salt and pepper the pieces.

Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat. Add chicken to the skillet and cook for a few minutes on each side.

Add BBQ sauce to the pan and let the chicken sort of stew in the sauce.

Once done remove chicken and dice in the small cubes. You want to cook them in larger pieces so the chicken doesn't dry out. Smaller pieces will cook in half the time and could over cook. Place the chopped pieces back in the skillet in the bbq sauce until ready to top the pizza with.

Now that your pizza crust has been rising, it's time to top the pizza.

2 8oz. packages of shredded mozzarella

2 8oz. packages of shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 cup give or take of BBQ sauce for each pizza

Caramelized onions

BBQ Chicken

Cilantro (optional)

Using about 1/2 cup of BBQ sauce, spread it around on the dough as the base.

Cover the base of the pizza with shredded mozzarella. One package per pizza.

Top with onions and chicken.

Cover pizzas with remaining cheddar cheese. One package per pizza. If you do use cilantro, take some washed and chopped cilantro and sprinkle it on the pizza at this point.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20-30 minutes until crust is deep golden brown.

Beer suggestions for this particular pizza: I am going to go with a darker lager or a brown ale. I use brown ales all the time as my so called "default beer." But with BBQ, brown ales are perfect. Avery's Ellie's Brown Ale, Smuttynose Old Brown Dog, and even rich porters like Mayflower Porter. If you go with a lager, something like Old Dominion will work. I say something like Old Dominion because the brewery has closed and they brewed their final batch of beer recently so you might not be able to get it after a while. But the taste of OD lager is preferable. Darker in color, rich bread-y or buscuity notes. Or a good German Dunkel or doppelbock like Celebrator.

Pretty Things Social & Beer Dinner @ Vee Vee

Last night was a special night for beer lovers and long time friends in the industry of beer and restaurants. Two long time friends, Dann Paquette of Pretty Things and Danny Valachovic the owner of Vee Vee in Jamaica Plain. Together they hosted a wonderful evening of beer and amazing food.

We were introduced to the newest arrival of Dann's beer collection called Baby Tree. A Belgian style Quad with plums/prunes.

Dann Paquette has a long standing history with the Boston area as a brewer. He has a long love and passion for Belgian beers which has inspired him and many of his beers over the years. For many who know him, he is considered one of the most creative and brilliant minds when it comes to brewing beer. He will never admit to that however. But for the rest of us, we know.

He was a Brewer for Concord Brewing Company where he was the creator of Rapscallion and Blessing among many others. He also brewed for The Tap in Haverhill, Ma. where he created Leather Lips IPA. Since then Leather Lips has been brewed by others and now bottled. It's good, but not as good as when Dann made it.

Dann then met the lovely Martha, his now wife. She is from York, England. They moved to the U.K. He then brewed for Daleside Brewery where he became familiar with brewing the classic British styles, such as milds and bitters.

Today Dann and Martha are back in the Boston area. They are back with a mission of beer. Their concept is called Pretty Things. The name derives itself from their unique perspective of the ingredients that make beer. The small things that may not always be seen from the eye, such as yeasts and bacterias that are found in beer, and the the hops that grow from the dirty Earth, to the grains. All of these sometimes unsightly things that come together and make pretty things like beer. Such a fabulous way to look at it.

Dann then teamed up with Danny Vee a long time friend, whom recently opened up a new restaurant in Jamaica Plain. It is a modern American food focusing on grains, local fresh vegetables, and seafood.

When we arrived at Vee Vee, we were greeted with St. Bernardus Prior 8, a Belgian dubbel and chef Seth Morrison's selection of house offal as little appetizers and amuse bouche. The beer was chosen by Dann as a beer that has inspired him as a brewer.

This included: Fresh New England oysters, clams with kimchi, fried lamb tongue and cheeks, lamb hearts, and lamb kidneys.



We were then seated and Dann and Martha welcomed us and gave us an introduction to their beers and company story.


[Caption this contest for image two. LOL!]

The First Course:

        

Seafood Course: You'll be seated social-style and dig in to the "Bayou Bake", a Louisiana-style clambake. Communal bowls of wild shrimp, crawfish, crab, oysters, clams and mussels along with andouille sausage and new potatoes cooked in a beer broth. (Jack D'Or beer broth.)

Beer: Pretty Things Jack D'Or: Saison Americain 6.5%

Side Note: Please click the links to the beers. The Pretty Things website has the full story of the beers and the reasons for the names. It's well worth the read and better than I can describe them.

The beer is a very crisp and clean Saison. It is not cloying with too much spices as some tend to have. Nor is too funky with wild yeast strains as some of them can be. This beer is refreshing with nice carbonation and beautiful hops that give it a nice balance of bitterness.

These lighter styles of beer work awesome with seafood. Jack D'Or is no exception. It's clean and fresh hop flavors play nicely with the flavors of boiled crab. The sweet malts and light spicy notes of the beer allow things like Old Bay which the fish boil was seasoned with, to come out and not fight with one and other. The sweet shrimp and flavorful crawfish all work similarly with the beer like the crab. The clams were nice and salty which added an extra pop of sweetness from the beers malts.

This was truly an awesome course. It was served family style, allowing all of us at the table to dig right in and get our hands dirty and force us to be social with the newly met friends at our table.

Second Course: Spring Lamb In Three Parts

The lamb is a local fresh spring lamb bought through a co-op of local farmers.
From Vee Vee's Website:

At Vee Vee, we source our meat from a small cooperative in Vermont, which practices humane and sustainable methods of farming.

Beer: Pretty Things St. Botolph's Town, a rustic dark beer 5.7%. Served with all three courses.

        

A.) Loin of lamb, sliced and served with a salad of lamb's quarters.

This was a roulade and the lamb was rare and so beautiful and delicious. It was rolled with a salted lamb sausage. The greens were fresh local wild greens with some radishes and lightly dressed in oil and lemon.

The greens were nice and earthy and added a nice fresh taste with the lemon that had a unique way of working with the rustic brown ale flavors of roasted, sweet malts. The roasted malts tend to have a toffee, chocolate, and coffee notes, combine that with the earthy flavors on the greens and salted flavors of the lamb and you have one hell of a combo. The beer is a surprisingly bitter beer with a dry finish despite the initial onslaught of huge toasted malt flavors.

This was * "a playful little dish" * and the lamb was so soft and absolutely divine.

*Quote from American Psycho that was totally appropriate for this course. "New York Matinee called it 'a playful but mysterious little dish'."

        

B.) Roast leg of lamb, served with spring vegetables: favas, fiddleheads, snap peas...

The tender and beautifully soft lamb again was deliciously and perfectly cooked. Salted and presented with spring veg. and snap peas. This pairing brought out a different effect of the malts. It was sweeter and caramel like, less roasted flavors. The beer also brought out the very subtle rosemary that seasoned the lamb. Generally with lamb, rosemary is a no brainer, but this was subtle and pleasant. The lamb being so fresh and juicy, it didn't need to be masked by heavy rosemary.

        

C.) Beer-braised Lamb Shank & Shoulder Stew, with garlic and Cranberry beans.

This was presented to us and then a St. Botolph's Town/Lamb stock broth was poured on top. It also had braised leeks. This part of the course in a way, got the shaft. It was beautiful and tasted amazing. But by the time we got to this course, we were becoming very full.

This cassoulet had the most tender chucks of lamb shoulder and again this lamb with the most soft texture and delicious flavors really shined though. The flavors from this rich stew again added another unique perspective as the broth brought out richer and deeper flavors of the beer. Less sweet malts, but more rustic earth notes. More raw grain flavors.

Truly a unique and wonderful experience to be able to have three courses in one setting with lamb that bring out all the different intentions with this beer in pairing it with food.

Last but not least,

        

Cheese Course: A selection of farmhouse cheeses and accompaniments will bring this springtime feast to a close.

Beer: Pretty Things Baby Tree, a Belgian-inspired Quadrupel 8.6%

This was the first time I had tasted the beer. It was very clean and refreshing for a Belgian-style Quad. The plums/prunes where apparent along with deep berry flavors. The plums left a delightful lingering taste on the palate and the beer finished clean when normally big Quads tend to hang on in the mouth feel with a lingering cloying effect. This was fresh and quite different.

The cheeses were a German Kasse (aged cows milk, similar to a gouda, but more dry and aged) which I never got the name of, and Tallegio (an Italian cows milk cheese, soft and funky with a washed rind.)

I missed the whole presentation of what was on the plate. And frankly I had no interest in the kasse because the tallegio was paired with a raw honey comb and was absolutely perfect with the beer. I wanted to focus on that.

It's not like me to deny myself cheese and I am not about to fake it in my review that I tried the kasse pairing. But as far as the kasse and fruit compote, the reason it would work is because Kasse tends to have sharp rich flavors. It's aged and has crystallized whey crunchies in it. The rich flavors like similar to gouda have a rich flavor and strong sharpness as well as a creaminess despite the aged dry texture that the sweet fruits in the beer marry well to each other. The fruit plays with the cheese and the crisp nature of the beer and the hops cuts through the oils and allows more of the grass and raw flavors to come out on the cheese. The fruit compote only enhances the fruit that is already in the beer and tags along with the malts in the beer.

Over all this was a wonderful experience. A very long night, but spent well with good friends, new friends, wonderful food, and extraordinary beers.

Dann Paquette has come back to the Boston area with a vengeance. A breath of fresh air to our brewing community. New ideas, new approaches to how we look at beers and styles.

Dann's beers are incredibly drinkable. From the nice surprise and pleasant hop kick in the saison, to the roasted malts that are very typical of American style brown ales in a beer made to be an homage to the English styles he loves, and the very clean and less sticky Belgian-style Quad. There is definitely love and well thought out care to these beers. You can expect more greatness from Pretty Things in the future to come.

As for Vee Vee, wonderful! You must go there and visit. Even if it is all the way out in JP, it's well worth it.

Sonic Screwdriver Cocktails

I know I normally blog about recipes, food, and beer, but sometimes a cocktail plug is necessary. Especially if you are a big Doctor Who fan like I am and someone creates a drink called a Sonic Screwdriver.

This comes via drwho-online.co.uk by Liz Mulhern.

1 1/2 oz vanilla vodka
1 1/2 oz Blue Curacao liqueur
6 oz clear lemon-lime soda

Half-fill a clear 12 oz. glass with ice. Pour 1.5 oz Vanilla Vodka, 1.5 oz Blue Curacao, and 6 oz. CLEAR lemon/lime soda over the ice. Stir lightly, and Enjoy!

Classic Chef Salad

It might be snowing 2 feet of snow in Colorado currently, but it is technically spring time. Therefore we should start thinking about spring and summer foods. It's still pretty cold in the Boston area, but if we start sending out vibes and thoughts, maybe we can will it to be warm.

Well how about an easy salad? A classic chef salad. It's really easy to make, and if you make it Candice style, it's really big and hearty as well.

Ingredients:

Mixed baby greens
Carrots
Cucumbers
Green Peppers
Tomatoes
Sliced Deli Ham
Sliced Deli Turkey
American Cheese or Provolone or Monterey Jack Sliced
Croutons
Ranch Dressing

This is an open recipe. Feel free to add whatever vegetables you desire to this salad. And feel free to switch up your dressing.



Prep you vegetables by peeling your cucumber and slicing it. Halving your tomato and slicing wedges. Slicing your green peppers into strips. And in my case I had shaved baby carrots (not pictured). I simply halved them and then cut the halves in half.

I had to take a second picture of my tomato. It was probably the most perfect tomato I have ever handled. It almost looked fake or ones they use in fast food commercials when they want to convince you their ingredients aren't shit.



Building your salad. Again this entirely up to you. Salads should be free for you to build as you please. Place ingredients where you see fit or in their order of importance. If you are serving someone else, just make it look pretty.



I started with the mixed baby greens plopped right in the center of my plate.



I then scattered carrots and green peppers and cucumbers on the greens and placed my tomatoes around the plate.



Up next the deli meats and cheese. I used sliced monterey jack, and black forest ham, and a house smoked turkey from Whole Foods. The turkey was dry, but nothing a little ranch couldn't fix.



Roll the cheese into the turkey and ham and then slice the rolls. Place the slices evenly around the plate.

 

Dress with ranch (or dressing of your choice) and croutons.



This is a nice organic ranch from Whole Food's brand 365. Nothing fancy, but very decent.


I did not take pictures with it dressed and covered in croutons. I am a bit of a crouton whore and don't really feel like showing how much I can actually ruin salads with the amount of croutons.

 

I will give you an idea. I bought a 2 pound bag of croutons from Costco and there are only 2 people in my house. Yeah I know it's wrong on so many levels.


Beer pairing suggestion: I am going for an easy one with this salad. Allagash White. Something clean, effervescent, and light.

Other fun suggestions would be Great Divide's Raspberry Ale. Or even something fun like Unibrou's Ephemere, apple or cranberry. All of which are ligh style ales with fruit flavors that are not disgustingly sweet or over bearing. The nose on the Ephemeres are misleading as you will think this very robust, but isn't overkill on the taste.

If you want to get creative, a nice bread-y lager like Old Dominion Lager would work with this kind of a salad too. The smoked turkey, spiced croutons, and the earthy flavors on the mixed greens would all work well with a good bread-y lager. The sweetness would become more pronounced and become a pleasant marriage. Amber ales will also do the trick.

SIDE NOTE: When it comes to any salad, when you ad fruits and nuts, you can take real risks like pairing a scotch ale with a salad. I once attended a beer dinner event at Cambridge Brewing Company a few years ago where they had a salad with papaya, macadamia nuts, and arugula tossed with a little bit of olive oil and salt as it's dressing. There were other ingredients, but sadly I can't remember what they were, however I specifically remembered why this pairing worked. The simple ingredients were packed full of flavors. The nuts, the earthy taste on the greens, and soft mellow sweetness of the papaya all balanced and married perfectly with their scotch ale.

James Beard Award 2009 Finalists For Mass.

 

[Image via YumSugar]

The James Beard Award Finalists For Massachusetts. For a list of other states finalists please visit: Hugging The Coast where the states have been broken down.

Massachusetts:

Best Chef/ Northeast Finalist: Michael Leviton, Lumière, West Newton, MA

Best Chef/ Northeast Semifinalist: Tony Maws, Craigie On Main, Cambridge, MA

Best Chef/ Northeast Semifinalist: Marc Orfaly, Pigalle, Boston, MA

• Outstanding Chef Semifinalist: Barbara Lynch, No. 9 Park, Boston, MA

• Outstanding Chef Semifinalist: Ana Sortun, Oleana, Cambridge, MA

• Outstanding Restaurant Semifinalist: Hamersley’s Bistro, Boston, MA

• Best New Restaurant Semifinalist: Hungry Mother, Cambridge, MA

• Rising Star Chef of the Year Semifinalist: Will Gilson, Garden at the Cellar, Cambridge, MA

• Best Chef/ Northeast Semifinalist: Gabriel Bremer, Salts, Cambridge, MA

• Best Chef/ Northeast Semifinalist: Gabriel Frasca and Amanda Lydon, Straight Wharf Restaurant, Nantucket, MA

• Best Chef/ Northeast Semifinalist: Andy Husbands, Tremont 647, Boston, MA

• Best Chef/ Northeast Semifinalist: Steve Johnson, Rendezvous in Central Square, Cambridge, MA

• Best Chef/ Northeast Semifinalist: Michael LaScola, American Seasons, Nantucket, MA

The awards will be announced on May 3rd and 4th at Alice Tully Hall in New York City.

The best news about this is that a good portion of these restaurants are all right around the corner from my house. Oleana, Craigie (A bit further down the road), Salts, Rendezvous and Hungry Mother are all with in 2 minutes from me. It is however, disappointing that Eastern Standard didn't make it some where on this list.

And what's up with the beer categories? Why aren't they on there? More praise for wine and food and beer and food gets the shaft again. One honorable Mention was Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery announced as one of the finalists. Except he was announced as a Wine Enthusiast. He is well versed in wine and food as well as beer, but still we need to kick some fucking doors down and get recognized. Word!

Todd's Birthday Menu

This Monday I held a surprise birthday party for my husband at The Publick House and Monk's Cell in Brookline, Mass.







My husband is Todd Alström, the co-founder and co-owner of BeerAdvocate.com. He celebrated his 40th birthday on Jan. 10. That is what inspired the London trip I have recently blogged about.

Thanks to the efforts of the head chef Brent D. Mimeault, and the owner and personal friend David Ciccolo, we successfully pulled off a wonderful party for Todd.

Todd had no idea because the party was after his birthday. We tricked him with a fake ploy of a forgotten wallet in a drunken moment to come back to the bar and pick it up. Low and behold, his friends lay in wait to completely catch him off guard.

It was inspired by two great friends. Kate Baker and Suzanne Schalow of Cambridge Commons. Kate recently celebrated her birthday with a huge surprise party thrown for her by Suzanne. When people had found out about Todd's big iconic 40th, they were disapointed that they were not able to share his birthday with him.

In talking to David, we decided the best course of action was to "Bring Belgium to Todd." Todd really wanted to go back to Belgium for his birthday, but sadly we were just not able to afford it this time around. London was signifcantly cheaper so we went there instead.

The Publick House being the most well known Belgian Beer Bar in the US at this point, was the ideal location.

This was the menu for Todd's party. I sadly did not take pictures of this glorious spread, but I thought the menu should displayed.




We also had two very delicious homemade cakes. A Ghiradelli chocolate pudding cake with white frosting, and a peanut-butter cake with milk chocolate frosting. These cakes were made by our good friend Honah Lee.



That is the milk chocolate and peanut-butter cake. "Old Balls" is my loving pet name for my "old" husband.

Gratuitous Food Pic

The first meal in London. Proper Steak and ale pie made with Sam Smith beer, chips, peas, and carrots served at the Chandos pub in Trafalgar Sq.


[Image via iPhone]

Candice Alstrom To Speak @ Craft Brewers Conference

[That's so not me in the pic, but I liked the thumbs up. I am congratulating myself here.]

I just got invited to be on a panel of speakers at the up and coming Craft Brewers Conference that will be in Boston this year on April 21-24.

I am very excited. It is my first panel to speak on and for this event, it's kind of a big deal.

"I don't know how to put this... but, I'm kind of a big deal... people know me... I'm very important... I have many leather-bound books... and my apartment smells of rich mahogany." Ron Burgundy, Anchorman.

The topic is:

Beer according to Women:
How women brew, present, pair, and sell beer (yes, gender matters!)

To be moderated by Sebbie Buhler of Rogue Ales.

This is very exciting news for me. I will be there not only representing Beer Advocate, but women as well.

This is taken from the CBC website for any of you who are interested in what the CBC is.

What is the Craft Brewers Conference?

This is the only industry event that serves both brewpubs and breweries.

For professional brewers, the Craft Brewers Conference is the number one environment in North America for concentrated, affordable brewing education and idea sharing to improve brewery quality and performance. The conference is also a great social event with over 2,600 beerfolk enjoying craft brews together. BrewExpo America® allows exhibitors and buyers to develop profitable business relationships and helps brewing and brewery restaurant professionals encounter the latest and the best that industry vendors have to offer.

Don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity to be a part of the conference and trade show for the brewing and brewpub industry!

Who organizes the Craft Brewers Conference?

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The Aztec Beer Dinner

This beer dinner was truly one of the highlights of my career. It deserves to be mentioned and described based on how great it turned out. Sadly for being such an amazing dinner, I didn't manage to get one single picture of the food and the courses we served. I remember everything in perfect detail. Enough to talk about and discuss some of the amazing concepts an ideas that you can do when it comes to beer and food pairings.

This idea came to me randomly. I was at a wonderful restaurant in North Hampton, Mass. called The Sierra Grill. The owner, O'Brien Tomalin and I were talking about all of the amazing dinners he has hosted there before. One of the dinners he mentioned is a staple dinner that he does annually called the Big Beer and Big Game dinner. This is all about big game meats like elk and venison. Thinking about the venison, I told O'Brien about a dinner I had recently done called the Beer and Chocolate dinner. I paired every single course with chocolate, cheese, and beer. Our main course was grilled venison with a cocoa Madeira glaze and blue cheese foam. Absolutely incredible. We talked about doing something fun like that together.

The idea of doing an Aztec beer dinner popped up in my head. Thinking about the chocolates, and recent threads on Beer Advocate in the food forums asking what pairs well with spices and chilies, it was only natural that my focus immediately went towards Latin American cultures.

The dinner never progressed with The Sierra Grill. I was pretty bummed about it too. The restaurant is very good and they take proper care of their beers and give you incredible pairings and portions. I still had the idea on my head though. I mentioned it to a few friends. The reaction was pretty much, "Aztec Beer dinner? What's that going to be like?" I had no idea just yet. I just knew spices and chocolates and one beer called Southern Tier Choklat. But I had to make it different from the beer and chocolate dinner.

The place I normally host my beer dinners at Upstairs On The Square, came to me and said we need to do another beer dinner. I told them the timing was perfect because I had been sitting on this idea about the Aztec culture, but I wasn't sure where to go with it yet.

When I plan a beer dinner, unless I am so sure of what the menu should be or has to have on it, I bring in a selection of beers with Head Chef Steve Brand and Wine Director Matt Reiser of UOTS, to sit down and formally taste them. From the beers, we construct a menu. For this dinner particularly I knew I had to use Negra Modelo, and Southern Tier Choklat (Mayan influence chocolate). Negra Modelo was the most important to me. One because beer snobs need to know that you can drink Macro beers and pair them just as well as you can with any craft beer. And two because Negra Modelo stands alone when it comes to typical Mexican beers. It's the only choice when the other options are Tecate, Sol, or Corona. It's also part of the culture and I will explain later on in this post. Negra Modelo is an underrated beer when it comes to Mexican and Latin American cultures. It works so well with a lot of the foods.

I brought the Negra Modelo, and the Southern Tier Choklat, as well as a few German selections. This tasting was right after I came back from a Tour of Southern Bavaria. I selected Ayinger Dunkel and in a last minute panic not sure if I should or not I grabbed a bottle of Schlenkerla Urbock (Rauchbier). I was thinking about the smoked flavors and smoked meats. I knew smoking meats and jerky was big in the culture. I also did light research before this pre-tasting and found out that there was a fermented honey drink that the priests would drink. So I had a vintage bottle of Brother Adams Bragget from Atlantic Brewing Company. I don't honestly remember the rest of the beers I brought to taste out. I knew we would be using 3 of the beers aforementioned. I was curious about the Negra Modelo vs. the Ayinger Dunkel. Both similar in styles, steely and coppery malt flavors. Ayinger is a far superior beer, but in the end it had to be highlighted that Negra Modelo can be treated to a proper pairing. The Schlenkerla Urbock was chosen by the chef on sight. He snatched the bottle up and said "I know this beer, I love this beer, we have to use it in some way." I was grateful for that. It's not something everyone is in love with based on it's huge smokey flavors, but I personally love it.

So with the beers selected, Negra Modelo, Brother Adams Bragget, Schlenkerla Urbock, and Southern Tier's Choklat, this is what we came up with. This was a fusion dinner with traditional ingredients. These beers chosen in a slight random nature, have an awesome correlation to the time period of the Aztecs which I will explain with each course.

 

It's important to note that while the Aztec empire no longer remains intact, a lot of their culture, agriculture, and what they ate is still reflected in Latin American culture today.

The Aztecs believing that one of their gods would come back in the form of a pale man, were met with the Spanish Conquistadors. Pale men with blond hair and beards. The Aztecs offered them their gold and foods. The Conquistadors in turn brought the Aztecs small pox and other diseases. They then conquered them with the help of surrounding tribes who didn't want to be under the Aztec rule anymore. 

What the Aztecs gave back to the Conquistadors among a serious amount of gold and riches were beans, squash, tomatoes, chills, corn, avocados, sweet potatoes, vanilla, peanuts, pineapples, and the papaya.

Seems like a fair trade. (Sarcastic.)

First Course: Market Ceviche with Lime and Avocado paired with Negra Modelo

Beer: Negra Modelo
Style: Vienna Lager
ABV: 5.4%

Negra Modelo has a long history with Latin America. It was first brewed in 1925. It's is a Vienna Lager style although Beer Advocate has it listed as a Munich Dunkel. That was the reason why I selected the Ayinger Dunkel as a back up in case the Negro Modelo did not go over well because they are both so similar in styles. Everyone agreed that we had to highlight the Negra Modelo. Both have the same characteristics. Dark in color, coppery or steel-y malts, and sweet biscuit flavors. The origins for Mexico were Austrian Brewers who came to Latin American and started brewing their styles of beer in the late 19th century.

Seafood was a big part of daily life for many Aztecs. For this course we paired Negra Modello with a ceviche that included large pieces of scallops and shrimps dressed in lime and cilantro, on a bed of avocado.

The seafood was lush and fresh and served in huge portions. Not minced but in whole pieces. It was lightly dressed in lime and cilantro. The lime tied in the flavors of the beer. The steel-y malt flavors and the citric acid cut into each other and allowed the raw flavors of the beer and seafood to be met with balance. You normally add a lime to your Negra Modelo so the lime dressing acted as the lime for the beer. One of the few times fruit in beer is acceptable is in Mexican beers. The avocado was more of a puree that the seafood sat on.

Delicious course over all. Simple preparation and yet packed full of flavors. A most excellent start to the dinner.

Second Course: White Bean Puree with Duck Prosciutto and Honey Drizzled Squash paired with Brother Adam's Bragget

Beer: Atlantic Brewing Company 2006 Brother Adam's Bragget
Style: Braggot
ABV: 11.8%

The style of beer known as Braggot has it's orgins from around the time period of the Aztec culture. Between the 1200's and 1400's. Early Aztec origins on the timeline. Braggot is, in rough terms, a supped up mead. Mead is fermented honey and water, while braggot has the addition of grains and spices. Brother Adam's Bragget uses 2000 lbs. of honey and cellars it for a year before bottling. It is best served about 2 years after the year it was bottled. And note that the style of beer is braggot, but Atlantic Brewing Company purposely named their beer Bragget.

The Aztec priests used to drink a kind of fermented honey drink. Not to be confused with chica. It was coincidental that the time period of the Aztec and the time period of braggot correlates together. The Braggot simulating the fermented honey drink. I read about the priests and instantly thought of braggots.

This course truly encompasses a lot of the ingredients native to the Aztec culture. The Muscovy duck was a big part of their diet. As well as beans and squash, and honey.

For this course we had originally intended for the duck to be more like a prosciutto chip to dip into the white bean puree, but instead we had it thinly sliced and draped on top. It was presented as white bean puree in a small cup draped with the duck prosciutto with a salad of squash drizzled in honey and topped with toasted pepitas.

The honey flavors married perfectly with the sweet squash. The duck prosciutto added the right amount of fatty flavors to cut through the heavy honey sweetness and bring out the wildflower flavors in the honey used in the braggot. The white bean puree added the perfect texture to balance out the dish. Even the toasted pepitas added just enough flavor to enhance the braggot.

A truly playful dish that worked in so many different ways. From the historical aspect to the flavor explosions from all of the different elements coming together. Nothing in the flavors over powered one and other, and the beer, despite it's strength in alcohol did not trump the food flavors. It is a very delicate tasting beer despite the ABV.




Third Course: Spiced Chicken with Mole, Corn Spaetzel paired with Schlenkerla Urbock

Beer: Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier Urbock
Style: Rauchbier
ABV: 6.6%

Another happy accident of history when it comes to the time period of this beer and the Aztec culture. Originally we had planned for this beer because of the smoking and drying of meats frequently used by the Aztecs. We wanted the smokiness of the beer to highlight that. But upon research of the brewery, it began in 1405. Right smack in the middle of the Aztec timeline. So while the smoke is represented, the brewery itself has it's place with the timeline.

Rauchbiers are heavily smoked beers. Opening this beer and immediately you think of bacon and eggs. The way they taste, is the way nearly all beers once upon a time tasted like. When drying the grains or Kilning, they placed them under wood burning fires. This would in turn leave a smoked flavor on the grains and the outcome would be smokey flavored beers. It wasn't until the addition of modern tools for kilning that the beer lost it's smokey flavors.

Schlenkerla has mastered this tradition of smoked beers and continues the tradition on today. They smoke their beers with beechwood. They have a small fire where you can pitch some wood into to simulate what the brewing process is like, but the true methods are a tightly kept secret. The original brew pub is still in existence in Bamberg, Germany. And the brewery had been handed down from the same family generation after generation.

The dish itself however, is not exactly true to form for the Aztec culture. While chocolates and chilies in the mole sauce were very prevalent, as well as corn, one of the biggest and key ingredients in Latin America, the chicken was not native. Chickens were brought over by Europeans. The Aztecs ate venison, dog, iguana, duck, seafood, geese and other wild foul. Since I had already used venison for a previous beer dinner, I thought it best that we skip the venison. We settled on chicken, only because we knew that it would be the best thing for the mole.

Steve Brand the head chef was so in love with the Urbock, he wanted to go all out and honor this beer. So he made a corn spaetzel to accompany the meal and keep some German flair in this dish as well as keep it primarily Aztec with it's ingredients.

The Mole was perfect. Just the right amount of chocolate and chilies with not a lot of heat from the chilies. The chicken was cooked to perfection. It was spiced and then pan seared leaving a crispy skin and perfectly juicy meat inside. Everyone grilled the chef after the dinner about how he prepared the chicken. It laid on a bed of mole sauce. The flavors were rich and paired amazingly with the beer. The Urbock is a deep, dark ale with heavy smoked flavors. It has big smoke flavor but actually finishes sweet. The spiced chicken was enhanced by the smoked flavors and the mole and chilies played with the complex flavors of the malts from the beer. The corn spaetzel also brought out the sweet flavors on the beer.

This was almost the "piece de resistance" course. Even some friends of mine who were fiercely against the beer due to the heavy smoked flavors, loved this course. But we haven't talked about the dessert course yet.

Fourth Course: Ancho Chili Chocolate Bread Pudding with Southern Tier Choklat

Beer: Southen Tier Choklat
Style: Imperial Stout
ABV: 11%

This beer was the very first thing thought of when considering doing the Aztec Beer dinner. Most people are familiar with chocolate and Latin American cultures. It's all over the place and it's origins are old. But the interesting part about the Aztecs, was that they used to drink their chocolate cold and usually it was served or poured for the rulers and gods. So we used this beer to represent that aspect. The brewery itself goes into the Mayan aspect of chocolate. But most cultures of this region respected and cultivated chocolate.

Making sure that we used chilies properly for this dinner, we used ancho chilies in the bread pudding. It turned out perfectly. It had the slightest hint of heat from the spices. It also sat on a bed of vanilla cream sauce. Vanilla is very big in Latin America.

Normally I don't like to pair similar flavors on top of one and other. Chocolate on chocolate. It can be over kill. But the chocolate in the beer was very bitter. And being a stout it was very thick. So adding the sweet chocolate bread pudding brought out the raw chocolate flavors on both. The sweet and the bitter combining to tame each other and marry at the same time. The vanilla also helped tame the bitterness on the beer and make for a much smoother finish. Sometimes beers like this are so big and hard to drink. When you add something so sweet to it, it tones it down and makes for a more drinkable beer. The chilies added that slight bit of heat to make the course absolutely fun.

All in all this beer dinner was simply amazing. Chef Steve Brand really knocked this one out of the park. And the beers held their own to such marvelous pairings. This kind of dinner is something that I personally love because it shows you how creative you can be when it comes to pairings and how far you can go. Beer can be paired with anything and almost always pairs better with food.