Tuesday, December 11, Lead Story:
Deconstructing Champagne!
Drinking Champagne is easy, anytime. But evaluating Champagne…well, that’s one of the wine world’s toughest judgment calls! On Tuesday, I walk you through my long-tested criteria for a superior bottle of bubby…just in time for the holidays!
Potato pancakes–beloved of many cultures–are especially associated with the Jewish Hanukkah table. But no matter who’s frying them, you’ll see a basic dichotomy in styles: thick, heavy ones vs. thin, light, crispy ones. I prefer the latter latkes, and find the pancakes from the following recipe to be positively lacy. A classic deli way to serve them is with applesauce as a first course, but I think latkes have no higher calling in life than as a pot roast side dish with a good brown gravy.
Greek wine has been on the rise for decades…but what does it take to convince the world market that it’s not all Retsina? Well…how did California convince the world market that it’s not all jug red? In the latter case, the answer is…Mondavi. In the former case…the answer’s in this video from DRTV!
Yes, you bought a wok. Maybe even two woks! Yes, your cabinet is filled with the Chinese pre-mades of choice: soy sauce, sesame oil, hoisin sauce, etc. Yes, you’ve got on your shelf all the cool cookbooks on the subject of Chinese food, with hundreds of recipes at your disposal.
And yet, if you’re like me–or like I was for many years, before discovering The Secret–the Chinese stir-fries you make at home taste more like Bar Mitzvah food than Chinese restaurant food. (If you’ve never been to a Bar Mitzvah, substitute “wedding food“.) Where is that magical taste, and those magical textures, that every neighborhood Chinese take-out place–not to mention every Chinese restaurant of quality–seems to so effortlessly produce?
We’ve all heard a great deal about fish “sustainability” in the last twenty years. Mostly it comes down to chefs: who’s being irresponsible about endangered species, who’s not? If I serve some Chilean sea bass in my home to 6 people, t’ain’t such a big deal–but if a famous, influential seafood chef is serving it to thousands in his restaurants, a big difference is definitely being made.
