The largest of the malbec producers in Argentina, Trapiche, sent winemaker Carla Castorina to visit their importers, Frederick Wildman and Sons, Ltd. I was fortunate enough to be invited to meet with her, along with several other beverage-type writers from blogs and newspapers and wine sites.

Frederick Wildman redid their offices when they moved here decades ago, and the tasting room looks convincingly like a wine cellar — except for the sunny south-facing windows, granted — with a rounded ceiling (covered in stamped metal with a grapevine motif), brick wall behind the library of books in the picture above, and…

…elegant in every way, down to the too-pretty-to-use spittoons built into one wall.

The first wine, as a sort of greeting to the space, was an extra brut sparkling, 70% chardonnay grapes, 20% semillon, and (surprising to me) 10% malbec. Since I’ve never met a malbec that wasn’t at least deep garnet, more often purple, it’s hard to remember red grapes don’t have to mean red wine. At any rate, this was a pleasant enough sparkler, on the sweet side for my tastes, but clean, crisp, and a perfect start to the afternoon.

You can see the second bottle in the photo above, after its demise. The 2009 Torrontes, in the “entry” Varietals lineup of wines brought to market by Trapiche, uses another of the grapes cultivated by Trapiche. It came off a little muddled, but suitably fruity, and shows its place among the wines offered by this huge winery.

The Torrontes did, however, pair up nicely with the “appetizers” portion of the luncheon. All food, save dessert, was brought in from Hill Country. I have to admit that hearing Hill Country mentioned almost provokes a Pavlovian response, but I kept the drool in check — it was a wine education event, not a barbecue, after all.

Still, the chips and guacamole were as good as I’ve made myself, with lots of avocado chunks and a surprisingly tangy flavor. The guac was well in balance, and I sampled freely from the house-made chips.

Of course, with barbecued spicy wings, why not go with a simple, tame white wine that serves to cool the palate after this hot-pepper-laden chicken part? It’s tough to eat these cleanly, so I apologize to anyone I talked to for the condition of my face at the time of introduction. I very much enjoyed the heat, especially as it sneaked up on my palate, from the wings.

Not pictured, though you can see the aftermath, are the cornbread and dollop of honey-ancho chile whipped butter that disappeared in a flash.

After the last of the stragglers arrived, we sat at this elegant table, with the wines of the day lined up in camera-friendly groupings.

The first three malbecs were poured for us, ranging from the lower-end Varietals malbec, to the oak cask and somewhat more refined Broquel. As the Broquel tops out about $15 per bottle, all these are quite accessible and, as Trapiche is so big, fairly easy to find around town.

Carla talked at length about Trapiche’s reach in Argentina. While much of their thousand-plus hectares lie in the famed Mendoza appellation, Trapiche spans farmland from the 22nd through the 42nd parallel in the country; in other words, their vines are everywhere. And as much of the land is located in what’s really a desert (getting maybe 8 inches of rain per year), Trapiche has to irrigate, meaning they can micromanage the land pretty much to their hearts’ content, resulting in fairly fine-tuned grapes.

These first three malbecs were paired with the piles and piles of Hill Country barbecue brought in for the event. From left, the Varietals malbec (2009), the Oak Cask malbec (2008), and the Broquel (2008).

The Varietal, I found to be rather “mushy”; sharp plum notes, and a warm cloud of alcohol to envelop, but the earthiness kind of mashes all the flavors together. Still, for the price it’s decent to my palate. The Oak Cask, aged for 12 months in oak barrels, is brighter, fruitier and more focused, with a plummy-peppery nose, and the tannins rather rounded off to provide balance. I enjoyed this one even if it didn’t deliver the explosion of flavor I love finding in a malbec.

The Broquel, however, aged 15 months in oak (60% of the wine, anyhow; the other 40% stays in stainless), this one was a winner. The Broquel starts with a cherry nose mingling with the alcohol cloud, and an earthiness that doesn’t muddle things like in the Varietal, with spicy-peppery flavors and a big tannic presence. There’s more of a sharp contrast between the fruit and the spice here, and it’s more juicy and fruity than the previous wines. Plus, the oak stands out here, with some vanilla creeping in. Fortunately, Frederick Wildman does a great job of getting Trapiche into wine stores, so I’ll be picking this up this weekend!

We were encouraged to fill our plates with the wide assortment of Hill Country meats and sides provided by our hosts. Brisket, lean and moist, pork spare ribs, the famous Kreuz market hot sausage (mild were also offered), “White Shoepeg Corn Pudding”, Longhorn cheddar mac and cheese, and sweet potato bourbon mash graced my plate (I went back for more when virtually no one else dared). There was coleslaw, too, but I didn’t want to be a pig.

None of the food disappointed, though I was sad that so much was left over. I was in love with the ribs, but then I love them at the restaurant, too. The moist brisket? Some of the best in the city. Same goes for the hot link, though it’s far too spicy to pair with anything but more meat. The sides were more or less all right; I’ve been guilty of buying the mac and cheese too often on-site, and the corn pudding makes me think I’ve been hitting the wrong dishes all along — sweet, but not cloying, and just so tasty in every bite.

We were treated to pictures of Argentine barbecues, which involve a lot of slow, indirect cooking near open flames (no smoking of meat), and simple salt. Pictures of meat hung up “a la cruz” — on the cross — were kind of funny, but if I were invited to partake, oh you bet I would in a heartbeat. Tasty, tasty photos and descriptions.

The stars of the show, however, were these three single-vineyard malbecs. Starting with the 2003 grapes in 2005, Trapiche has held a contest of sorts every year, blind-testing the wines of their winemakers and choosing the best three for their very own bottling. The 2007 vintages were all on hand for us to taste, and showcased the huge variety a winemaker can achieve thanks to technique and terroir. I’m no wine expert, but my notes were as follows:
- Adolfo Ahumada: Big heady alcoholic nose in a cloud of spice, full and rich plum and berry flavors up front, then… poof — dry. Cleanest of the three.
- Domingo Sarmiento: Fruitier, and far less pungent than the Ahumada. Mildest of the three. The sweetest malbec of the afternoon, big plum and berry flavors, but still quite dry and lingering.
- Fausto Orellana de Escobar: Big, rough wine. Sharp alcoholic nose, a little licorice. Dominant alcohol, quite minerally, so very dry, though the character of the grape comes through almost as distinctly as the others. Wood shines through more than the other two. Of the three, the favorite.

After tasting the eight wines offered during lunch, plus of course the ton of barbecue and the enlightening wine talk, we weren’t exactly sent out empty-handed.

A bottle of each of the two Varietals we sampled, Torrontes and the Malbec, plus a wine towel and apron, bucket, and waiter corkscrew. Frederick Wildman and Sons really pulled out the stops to introduce Trapiche in-depth, and I was happy to be part of this event and able to taste the range of malbecs Trapiche brings to the United States.

© BeerBoor for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: malbec, Trapiche, wine

Every once in a while, I discover just how amazing I am. 

Sincerely, I am not bragging here.

Just telling it like it is.

Really, though, it’s how amazingly well I treat myself.

I mean, sometimes life just takes a turn for “WTF” and you kind of want to just curl up in a ball and roll over and say “Forget it!” but instead

I made myself a sandwich.

Not just any sandwich, my friend. 

But a pretty damn close approximation of … omfg… Roli Roti!!!

Oh no I didn’t – but OH YES I DID 

*whimper

Yeah, that good.

It’s a little labor intensive, but the end result is so amazing and wonderful and those of us on the East Coast can’t really get this here, so it’s totally worth it and after a Sunday of perfuming the house with delicious smells, you have a week (or more, depending on how many you have eating them) of sandwiches that would make anyone jealous.  SO WORTH IT.

What you need to make this sandwich of my dreams:
Porchetta
Roasted Shallot spread

The rest is just assembly, I promise. 

For the porchetta, I used my lovely friend Hungry’s recipe adaptations of another person’s recipe.  Resist the urge to eat all that lovely skin because you’ll want it for your sandwich.

For the roasted shallot spread, which is something that I just made up off the top of my head:

1-2 lbs of shallots, peeled and trimmed
a good, aged balsamic vinegar (I used Cherry Gold, which tastes amazing, but is a bit cost prohibitive; just make sure you use real balsamic and none of that ‘caramel color + vinegar’ crap that masquerades as balsamic a lot of times)
a couple of glugs of good olive oil (I used extra virgin since that’s all I stock, but if you want to use olive oil, I don’t think that will be a problem)
kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. 
Put the shallots in a baking dish. 
Pour a little balsamic vinegar and then put your hands in, massaging the vinegar into the shallots, coating each one. 
Pour a little olive oil in, and toss to coat again. 
Cover with tinfoil and slip into the oven, roasting for about an hour until it’s all caramelized and mooshy, turning once at the 30 minute mark. 
Remove and let cool for a little bit.
Pulse in processor until you get a nice mix. 
Season with salt/pepper as desired. 

Store in a tightly covered plastic container, I imagine it would be good for a few weeks in the fridge, but mine next lasts that long as it works on a spread for anything! 

Sandwich Assembly:

I used Fresh Direct’s par-baked ciabatta sandwich rolls, which I adore.  You can use whatever ciabatta you like; I like these especially because I can bake one at a time (I live alone!) and make it fresh just there and never worry about the bread going bad.  And it’s hot when I make it…
I cut that open, and slathered one side with the roasted shallot jam. 

On the other side, I laid down a few slices of the pork. 

Then – this is crucial – I took a piece of skin sized approximately how big my sandwich was (yes I cut it this way on purpose), laid it on my cutting board fat side up (ie, the part that touched the meat facing me), and ran my knife over it; not cutting through, but crunching it a bit so it will maintain its crunchy integrity while in the sandwich, but still will split when I bite into it (I copied this method directly from Roli Roti, as I saw the guy doing this).  Otherwise, the skin will just slide out of the sandwich… 

So top the meat with the crunchy skin, then a bit of peppery arugula, which adds a really nice flavor to it (and I don’t even like arugula!). 

Next, sprinkle a little kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper over the shallot side, unless you are satisfied that it’s salty enough as is. 

Last but so not least, put the sandwich together and ENJOY THE HECK OUT OF THAT SANDWICH…

Excuse me while I go make one of my own! 

HAPPY EATING!!!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: porchetta, sandwiches

Before the movie, we stopped at CT’s favorite local sushi place, Iron Sushi. I have walked by a bunch of times, but never went in or ordered take out as it looks like another generic sushi place. Although CT hadn’t been in a while, she used to come here at least once a week. I hadn’t had sushi in a long time so I was looking forward to this.

After being seated, we were given an “amuse” of spring rolls. These were meh-tastic! Frozen, cabbage filled, bland.

We were both pretty hungry, so we shared an appetizer of Monkey Bites. With a name like that, how can you not want to eat them? They are “Lightly deep fried white fish, shrimp, peaches, avocado wrapped with soy sheet.” Unfortunately, they fell apart as you picked them up with chopsticks. The flavors were pretty indiscernible. I would pass on Monkey Bites in the future.

CT says: I agree. Although, since it fell apart so easily I ate mine is smaller bites and individually, each bite was pretty yummy.

CT went ala carte with her entree. Salmon and Tuna sashimi, Eel and Uni sushi, and the Mango Shrimp roll. Her eyes were definitely bigger than her tummy. Way too much food. I had a piece of the Mango Shrimp roll. It was tasty with spicy shrimp, mango, and tempura flake.

CT says: The Mango Shrimp roll is a favorite! I never liked the idea of mixing fish and fruit, but tried it once when a friend once ordered it and now it’s a staple. Beware though, it does have a bit of a kick.

I got the Sushi Deluxe(2 pcs. tuna, 2 pcs. salmon, 2 pcs. white fish, 1 pc. yellowtail, 1 pc. eel, 1 pc. ebi & 1 tuna roll.) Like CT, I ordered way too much food. All of the fish was super fresh! I was pretty happy with my choice. It also came with a side salad and the standard carrot/ginger dressing.

We passed on getting the Tempura Fried Ice Cream for dessert. We were way too full.

CT says: No dessert, but they did give us a sliced orange with the bill; I always enjoy this as an ending to a meal – light and refreshing!

All in all, it was a great choice for a quick bite before the movie. The quality of the fish was very high and the prices were very reasonable. I would definitely return when I get my next sushi craving.

© TT for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Sushi, TT

I’m a strange bird.  A place can be on my list for quite a while, for whatever reason, and for no solid, real reason will it jump to the very top.  And so I found myself at RUB BBQ one slightly rainy night… Weirdly enough, I used to take dance classes across the street once a week for about 6 months, but I never managed to cross the street and try it, though this night, I got up off my couch and dragged my lazy butt into the city to have dinner with a friend.   

I’m a sucker for wings, and appetizers, and fried foods, so I was indulged and “allowed” to order whatever I wanted, which included BBQ chicken wings, coated in a thick and sticky, slightly sweet BBQ sauce, served in a paper basket with a cup of blue cheese.  I liked these enough, though they were by no means wonderful nor amazing.   

Next up, fried green tomatoes, which I’ve only tried once and were AWFUL (I don’t even want to link to my review, but the place was bad).  These stayed hot way too long for me to enjoy while we were at the restaurant – my friend kept trying to eat them all while my sensitive-to-excessive-heat-mouth made me refrain, so I finally yelled “Stop eating that! I want to try one when it won’t burn the shit out of my mouth, geez!” and was obeyed.  The ‘green’ of the tomato spoke strongly to my taste for the savory; I love a ripe tomato but this appealed in a different way.  Expertly fried with a crisp exterior and a piping hot interior, I think, if there were no such thing as health repercussions, I would eat these daily for the rest of my life.

BBQ bacon chunks, deliciously salty, fatty, awesome.  I could feel my arteries clogging as I consumed this, but I couldn’t bother to care, they were so good.  Little nuggets of joy, melting happily in my mouth… mmm 

The real kicker though, the final push to the bypass I had to order later?  BBQ chili cheese fries; smothered in bright yellow liquid cheese (I’m a philistine, I love liquid cheese, ha!) and – be still, my pounding heart – no wait, don’t be still, because that means you’ve finally clogged completely – their house made chili… with brisket and burnt ends… omfg!  OMFG!  Each morsel of brisket/burnt end was meltingly tender and delicious, the cheese added to the fries and the fries were crisp enough and potato-y enough to stand up to what was piled atop it.  Love, love, love, these are the chili cheese fries of my dreams.  If I dreamed about such things.  Okay, who’m I kidding, of course I dream about chili, and liquid cheese, and fries… mmm

My dining companion ordered the burger of the day, the Mediterranean.

I don’t recall the details, but I know it was not enjoyed and was, in fact, proclaimed a soggy yucky mess. 

I was there for BBQ though, so I ordered a platter combining four meats.  Wait, that doesn’t look right… yeah, our waitress, who was fairly inattentive (it took forEVER to bring us anything, though it was not busy that night… though later, another server came by to tell us he was our new server because she hated us, then amended by saying she wasn’t feeling well and went home…), brought me the above and then ran back over to ask me if I’d touched it because this wasn’t my order.  I hadn’t touched it because I was so busy photographing it, but amusingly, I hadn’t even noticed that there was a sausage link where none should be. 

My real platter of pastrami, brisket, ribs, and pulled pork, along with collards and onion strings.  The collards were fairly bland, and needed a bit of salt, but worked well as a foil to the salty meat (not too salty, but salty, obviously).  Pickles were just taking up stomach space (though good), and the bread was ignored.  The onion strings, as expected, quickly turned to an oily, greasy ball… but what you want to know is about the meat.  I was excited to try smoked pastrami, and it was tasty, but needed something to elevate it to new heights (which, I discovered using the leftovers, was an egg sunny side up, which also went well with the bacon bits from earlier).  The brisket was on the dry side, but better with sauce; even more amazing when made into chili by the crew at RUB, yum!  Pulled pork lacked oomph and the ribs were just so-so…

So what am I saying?

Yvo says: The BBQ was not amazing.  Most of it was solid but flawed, which is to say, not suited for my palate.  I know people rave about this place so clearly those people and I are just looking for something different in our ‘cue.  I wouldn’t argue against going back, but nor will I fight to do so (except maybe for some takeout appetizers! and bacon chocolate chip cookies, of which they were sold out that night).  And I wouldn’t argue if someone handed me a big container of any of these meats, I just might find myself frying an egg with a raw yolk to pop over the meats… mmm
middle of the road; liked the appetizers, the main was OK

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: BBQ, Burgers, fries, pastrami, wings

I think if I made Yorkshire pudding more often, I’d invest in a popover pan, whose deep sides will support these puddings better

Traditionally, it’s baked in beef drippings (fat) until it’s super puffy and flavorful.  Sometimes it’s made in a muffin tin, and other times it’s baked as one giant pudding.  It just depends on your needs and how you want to present it.  Personally, I like making Yorkshire puddings in a muffin tin because there’s more crusty goodness in an individual serving than in one large pudding.  Also, it’s the way Aunt L taught me!

My early attempts at Yorkshire pudding were a bit dismal.  They collapsed into dense, heavy messes, and gave up on ever making Aunt L’s Yorkshire pudding.  Some time later, as I was making a bunch of savory cream puffs for a party, I realized that in order for the puffs to stay crisp and airy, I had to cut an opening for the steam to escape while drying them out in the oven.  So I tried Yorkshire pudding again, and this time, I applied my cream puff theory and poked each pudding with a skewer.  It worked!  I still had to eat them rather quickly, but they didn’t deflate as fast or as nastily as they did in previous attempts.

I forgot to take pictures of them when I took the puddings out of the pan

Yorkshire pudding is actually very easy to make, but you do have to have a bit of patience as well as time it correctly if you’re planning to serve it with roast beef because the batter has to rest for a while.  After you get the hang of this, feel free to experiment with different flavors.  Maybe you’d like to use a bit of truffle oil in the batter instead of melted butter?  Or add finely minced chives?

Yorkshire Pudding

3 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 TB melted butter
2 TB sunflower oil (or other oil with high smoking point)

1. Whisk eggs and milk in large bowl until well combined.  Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl and gradually add to egg mixture; whisk quickly until flour is just incorporated and mixture is smooth. Cover batter with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for at least 1 hour or up to 3 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.  Whisk 1 tablespoon of melted butter into batter until bubbly and smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer batter to large liquid measuring cup or other pitcher.

3. Measure 1/2 teaspoon of oil into each cup of standard muffin pan; a popover pan also works really well.  When oven has been at 450 F for at least 20 minutes, place pan in oven to heat for 5 minutes or until oil just starts to smoke. Working quickly, remove pan from oven, close oven door, and divide batter evenly among muffin cups, filling each about 2/3 full. Immediately return pan to oven. Bake, without opening oven door, for 20 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes longer. Remove pan from oven and pierce each pudding with skewer to release steam and prevent collapse. Using dinner knife, lift each pudding out of tin and serve immediately.

© The Blind Baker NYC for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: popovers, Yorkshire pudding