Andrew Mark Veety

Revisiting The BLT Cocktail

Last year Kelli Best-Oliver and I joined forces to create the BLT Cocktail in honor of the fifth annual Tour de Moose. Kelli took on making tomato water and lettuce ice cubes while I took a shot at making bacon infused vodka.

Simply, the goal was to turn this delicious looking sandwich...

...into a breakfast drink that would fortify a thirsty biker for the twenty mile bike ride and bar crawl that followed. 

Lambstravaganza V - A Feast In The Field

This past weekend I got the chance to participate in a great Slow Food St. Louis event called Lambstravaganza. Simply titled as "A Feast In The Field", the event allows some of St. Louis's finest chefs to celebrate the lamb raised by Dave and Barb Hillebrand on Prairie Grass Farms in New Florence, Missouri. 

Proceeds from the event are used to support Slow Food St. Louis’ Micro Grant program.  Started in 2009, the program has given more than $12,000 to area farmers to encourage them to produce heirloom and heritage vegetables and livestock.  It is the hope of Slow Food St. Louis that by taking on a share of the financial burden farmers are faced with by subsidizing the purchase of the necessary seed, livestock or equipment, that they can foster biodiversity to both maintain and enrich our region’s agricultural heritage.

I'd like to thank the Hillebrand's for having us out to their farm on such a fine Sunday afternoon. I'd also like to thank the chefs, beer and wine makers who donated their time and skills to help celebrate local food. 

The line up included:

Monarch - Joshua Galliano
Yia Yia's - Rob Uyemura
SleeK Steakhouse  - Steve Caraveli
Entre Underground -  John Perkins
Five Bistro - Anthony Devoti
Sidney Street Café - Kevin Nashan
Niche - Gerard Craft
Farmhaus Restaurant - Kevin Willmann
Schlafly Beer
Les Bourgeois Vineyards

I hope you enjoy these photos from the farm and just a few of the dishes served up that day. 

Prairie Grass Farms in New Florence, Missouri

Prairie Grass Farms in New Florence, Missouri

The menu of eight courses, by chef. Each course featured lamb, eggs and goat milk sourced from Prairie Grass Farms.

Offal, legs and chicken eggs.

Lamb loin.

Lamb shanks and rib sections.

Lamb shoulder, beef

Lamb neck, leg and sweet breads.

Thanks again to everyone who worked to put this event together -- I can't wait for next year. If you are not already a member of Slow Food, I highly encourage you to get involved. You can find out more information and locate your local chapter here.

Revisiting An Old Favorite And Two Rookie Efforts

The Old Favorite - The Tin Can Tavern "Ten"

A favorite stop of mine during football season is the Tin Can Tavern on Morgan Ford. Around noon friends make their way over to this South City landmark for stiff bloody marys and comfort food to:

1. Help soak up the toxins from the previous nights festivities
2. To nip at the proverbial hair of the dog, because for the Jets, Bills and Browns fans amongst us, it usually ends up being a long, long afternoon.

While much of the menu at the Tan Can is topnotch pub food, the mini corn dogs and tomato bisque are amongst my favorites, I usually find myself thinking about the burger on Thursday or Friday, long before Sunday ever rolls around.

The burger at The Tin Can is called the "Ten" and it comes with bacon, choice of cheese (including none, thankfully for me) and sauteed onions riding on two five ounce beef patties. While this is not a dominating double burger, at least compared to a favorite of mine - the "Big Block" Burger at The Penguin in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is well made and quite tasty.

Burgers are not cooked to order at the Tin Can, so every Ten is cooked to medium / well. However, what this burger lacks in juice it makes up with a crispy exterior to play against the star of the show - the pairing of perfectly cooked bacon and onions. The choice of side off this great menu of comfort food allows the diner to tailor the dish to the vibe of their Sunday. Make mine with mashed potatoes and gravy, a well executed cole slaw or the fries, which are quite good and would make a great partner of some malt vinegar or mayo if they were available at the table.

For the meek or calorie minded the Ten has a smaller brother, the "Five", but really, its Sunday and you're watching football, get the real deal and worry about it on Monday.

Rookie Effort 1 - Plaza Pastries and Donuts

Long under construction, the series of buildings at Connecticut and Morgan Ford has started to come alive with the opening of a child care center, a donut shop and soon, a family restaurant. The entire venture is the project of one family and the development of the property has been a labor of love filled with lots of do it yourself projects and sweat equity - just the thing a quickly developing street like Morgan Ford needs.

A quick check in with Google Maps shows that this new shop sits in the heart of the south St. Louis donut scene. Surrounded by at least a half dozen shops, some of which are Route 66 landmarks, the competition is indeed tough for this start up, but the shop should do well servicing the Tower Grove neighborhood. 

The morning I stopped in, the front counter case was filled with a variety of donuts, however I was disappointed to see several empty cases behind the register. Perhaps the owners are just planning for future demand, but for some reason that I still can't put to words, it made me worried about this small shop. It just made things feel incomplete, they didn't look sold out - they just looked empty. Very odd.

However among the several dozen choices, I was happy to see examples of both cake and yeast based donuts. The cake versions were well made; crisp from frying but not greasy. The yeast donuts I tried reminded me of a dense pâte à choux and came complete with a semi-sweet cream filling.

I happen to think that half the appeal of a donut shop is the coffee, which when made correctly should be thick enough to hold a spoon straight up and served by a lady in a beehive hairdo if at all possible. If I can't have that pairing, it at least has to be fresh (because of the volume of product moved) and a perfect foil for the fried goodness that is the American donut. The coffee should also be made for you, in my opinion. Alas, this is not the case at Plaza Pastries and Donuts, where I was given a cup of joe and a single serving of half and half before being told that the sugar was at the end of the counter and I could fix my own.

Am I nitpicking here? Probably. Did I feel let down? Without a doubt. Unfortunately for me, the ritual is just as important as the product most of the time.

In the end, I'm not so sure having this shop so close will stop me from making the drive to World's Fair or the Donut Drive-In, which not only produce outstanding examples of this classic road food, they have the coffee and old school service to back it up. I am excited that they are here though and the donuts are good enough to make this shop a great addition to the quickly developing Morgan Ford strip.

Rookie Effort 2 - Teaching Reis How To Make Peter Reinhart's Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough

Not much of an update here, but pizza night is a big deal in our home. So big that we have it once a week. I'm happy to report that Reis took a great interest in the construction of this Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough. I'll make a baker out of him yet.

WTF? The McNuggetini does not even have any NUGGET in it?

A few weeks ago, the bacon vodka I was working on ended up in a cocktail called a BLT. The beauty of this drink is that is is made with at least the essence of meat, in this case, bacon.

Now here comes the McNuggetini, where a white russian is basicly garnished with a nugget. If this is the current state of meat flavored drinks - we are all in trouble.

Project Planning - Trisket 2009 - A Turkey Stuffed Inside A Brisket

Scared? You should be.

Every year my friend (and sometimes contributer) Jeff and his wife Leslie have a meal called "Fakesgiving" for all of their friends here in St. Louis who are far from home for the holiday. Essentially a Thanksgiving themed pot luck dinner, Fakesgiving is largely a vegetarian event, but every year there is a small turkey breast for the carnivores, until last year when Jeff asked me to make something special for the event.

What to make, what to make? I decided to borrow the idea of the "turducken", but put a Thanksgiving spin on it and stuff turkey inside of a beef brisket. I ran my idea past my friend, Chef David Koon, and we worked out a stuffing that would hopefully hold up to the extended cooking time a brisket needs. While he was more than a bit suspect of the concept, I know he was sad that he missed out on this project after seeing the pictures and was really excited to hear about it after it was cooked and served.

You can read more about it and see a movie of the process here.

While I have claimed over the last 11 months that the Trisket was a one time only event, as summer has turned to fall I've really been thinking about giving it a go once again. Over the coming weeks, I'll be revisiting the contents of the original stuffing; ground turkey, heads of roasted garlic, leeks, shallots, red bell peppers, bacon and dried cranberries. I'm also re-tooling the vinegar-based cranberry, peach and habanero barbecue sauce that I served on the side.

For the stuffing, I'm thinking about switching things to a traditional southern corn bread stuffing or perhaps a sausage and oyster stuffing - although I'm worried about oyster meat making it though the 20 + hour cooking schedule. I'm still pondering how to leverage the classic tastes of the season with the fact that I'm basically creating a turkey meatloaf that rides inside of a smoked brisket. I think if I embrace the idea of meatloaf a bit more, I can come up with something special to blow peoples minds - a core of andouille sausage, inside a meatloaf, inside a brisket perhaps?

For the sauce, I''m leaning towards removing the cranberry altogether, or at least the addition of whole cranberries. Perhaps the addition of canned cranberry sauce might work, but the jury is still out here.

In any event, I know I said "never again" for this holiday cooking adventure, but the concept is just to tasty to walk away from. More to come. Thoughts and ideas are welcome.

Gobble gobble.

Hogs and Hooch

The BLT cocktail, the official drink of the morning of the Tour de Moose, and it starts with a base of vodka, bacon and peppercorns. 

Its resting in the basement now. We'll check back in on it in a few weeks.

Amuse Bouche For September 14th, 2009

• Sam Calagione of the Dogfish Head Brewery wants to spit in your beer.
• Excited that a second Pi location is scheduled to open in the Central West End the day before Thanksgiving.
• The jury is still out regarding the new pizza place opening at the old TFA shop - corner of Wyoming and South Grand. There was a sign in the window stating "National Pizza, thinking outside the square". The sign is gone and construction is ongoing. Interestingly enough I've seen 2 dudes sporting Dewey's tee shirts in the area - that is just blatant rumormongering though.
• Alex Hozven of the Cultured Pickle Shop talks with Lynne Rossetto Kasper about the realm of pickling.
• Also from this weeks Splendid Table, the BLT Cocktail, or as I am now calling it, "The Official Morning Beverage of the Tour de Moose".
• A Hamburger Today asks "What's Your Favorite Burger Size?"
• Gourmet Magazine showcases the recipe for some great looking corn dogs, kudos for leaving the ketchup out of the picture.

Amuse Bouche For September 11th, 2009

Another day, another group of disjointed things I've been reading and doing....

• Excited that I'm developing a new concept around work day lunch time eats, angered that I forgot my camera when I left for work, again.
• Lamenting that it looks like I will miss American IPA night at The Good Pie as well as Hop In The City this year.
• S. 1650: A bill to amend the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to improve the purchase and processing of healthful commodities for use in school meal programs has entered the Senate. More at Slow Food USA
• Really enjoying the September 21st edition of "The Nation" which is dedicated to essays on Food Democracy, with essays by Alice Waters and Michael Pollan among others. Complementary to a recent article in Time on the real cost of cheap food.
• Sauce Magazine takes a tour of some of the best fries in St. Louis, manages to forget the amazing fries at The Dubliner. They make up for it with the recipe for the Subcontinental at The Royale on page 30 of the Wine, Beer & Spirits supplemental to the September print copy. While I almost always avoid cheese sandwiches, I'm oddly intrigued by the photo of the meatloaf melt at Jennifer’s Pharmacy. I blame Jonathan Pollack's tasty photo for my change in attitude.
• A year ago today I juxtaposed George Washington, Geroge W Bush and Sarah Palin. 8 years ago I walked out of my office to grab some coffee, looked up Broadway and saw the WTC on fire. I'm also still unsure if I should develop the roll of film I took that morning as I walked out of the city to Queens.
• Sure it works on the coasts, but will my Son get beat up when I pack him his first Bento Box for a school lunch?

Amuse Bouche For September 10th, 2009

A collection of items that peeked my interest and raised my dander on this Thursday afternoon.

• Wishing MJB the best of luck as he leaves for TechCrunch50. Very cool stuff, if only I had an iPhone.
• Looking forward to putting up and taking down some O’Fallon Chocolate by the Barrel Cream Stout, which after a long wait has finally arrived. STL Hops via Twitter
• St. Louis' own Dave Nelson provided the bubbly to an overview of sulfates and headaches for The Noble Writ.
• Mark Graban continues the series of posts on Slice that feed my desire to design and build a back yard pizza oven. Permission from the wife, check. Backyard to build one. Nope. Perhaps its time to move.

I'm also preoccupied with being worried about my good friend Dave, formally the sous chef at Morimoto NYC and currently of Marea, who experienced a stroke yesterday morning. I have known Dave, in his early thirties, since college. Dave got me through several hard years when I lived in Queens, stood next to me in my wedding and helped me work out the logistics of my greatest culinary adventure, last years Fakesgiving Tristket, a turkey stuffed inside of a brisket.

The last time I saw Dave was this past spring when we had dinner at Rod's Steakhouse in Morristown, New Jersey. Dave was just back from a 6 month trip around Asia to research street food and ramen shops before attempting to open his own place in New York City. At the time he was not feeling well and did not have health insurance, which worried me greatly.

While his new position in the kitchen at Marea surely will cover his health care needs, (I hope) it highlights the need to provide a safety net for everyone in the United States. This was only highlighted when I heard about Dave a few hours after President Obama's address to congress last night.

"Irony can be pretty ironic sometimes." - Buck Murdock

I'm worried about my friend as he lays in a hospital bed in Brooklyn, and I'm angered that after 40 years, we don't have a public option for health care in this country. I'm distressed that Mr. Obama has to go before both houses of congress and state the following like it's news to the masses:

"Here's what you need to know. First, I will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits – either now or in the future. Period. And to prove that I'm serious, there will be a provision in this plan that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don't materialize. Part of the reason I faced a trillion dollar deficit when I walked in the door of the White House is because too many initiatives over the last decade were not paid for – from the Iraq War to tax breaks for the wealthy. I will not make that same mistake with health care."

Seriously. This is an idea that totally escapes a segment of our population. They complain about the cost of providing for the worst off in our society, yet they allowed the Bush Administration to take a budget surplus and make it deficit. They said nothing as the cost of the war in Iraq, which has already cost over 10 times the anticipated amount, was accounted for via special requests to congress and supplementals to the overall budget process.

As Mr. Obama wrapped up his speech, I took to Facebook and posted a note with the quote above. Then I added my own post script:

"To my Republican friends - that means you lose.

You got your war and your 8 years of lower taxes, now its everyone else's turn. Additionally, in the spirit of fair game, the health care that we want to give to everyone can be enjoyed by you as well."

For more reading, the Citizens for Tax Justice argue that the Bush tax cuts cost almost $2.5 trillion over the decade after they were first enacted (2001-2010).

And while Maureen Dowd encourages President Obama to be "Less Spocky, More Rocky", I'm inclined to borrow a quote from Mr. Spock that fits my mood perfectly:

"Logic clearly dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few."

Get better soon Dave. Wake up America.

Amuse Bouche For September 9th, 2009

Some recent food related items that have caught my interest.

• Lack of love for hamburgers is featured in this Flickr group - Anti-Burger Propaganda! 
• St. Louis local Kelli Best-Oliver discusses the film Julie & Julia, Mastering the Art of French Cooking and an attempt at beef bourguignon over at The Novice Foodie.
• A Hamburger Today asks, "What Drink Goes Best With a Burger?".
• The American Farmland Trust publishes its list of "America's Favorite Farmers Markets" for 2009.

I've also created two maps highlighting the locations of my past reviews.

• St. Louis, Missouri Posts
• National Posts

Matt vs. Food

I was lucky to have my brother Matt and my future brother in law Chris in town for a visit recently. 

We pretty much ate and drank from the moment they got off the plane from North Carolina until they left three days later, starting off with some outstanding sushi at Tani Sushi Bistro in Clayton. For the midwest, Tani somehow manages to get fish that is of a better quality than I can normally find around town. 

Standouts at Tani include the sashimi, the dragon ball, a collection of inventive rolls (sadly many include cream cheese which continues to confuse me) and a real treat - the hot rock - served in a thick bowl and accompanied with thinly sliced raw beef in a soy, garlic, ginger and yuzu. The beef cooks directly on the stone in seconds and is a perfect foil to the sushi.

I took the guys to the City Diner for breakfast the next day and to discuss what we would end up doing during their visit. After a half hour of fruitless discussion, my brother suggested that a eating tour of St. Louis might be in order. 

I was into the idea of a tour of my favorite places here in town, however I had no desire to actually complete such a task myself. I let him know that if he felt up to it, he would be eating alone for the most part and that when in doubt, I would be ordering for him.

Lucky for everyone my brother is hungry, brave and willing to entertain his big brother - and what follows is a minute to minute and bite to bite recap of Matt vs. Food - St. Louis Edition.

09:43:46 AM - City Diner - St. Louis Missouri

The plot is hatched and the day is full of possibilities. I kick Matt's day off with a slinger - two eggs with sausage and hash browns, topped with chili and cheese. Friends recommended that the City Diner slinger should be topped with mustard as well. From the way Matt devoured the dish - I can only assume it was a good addition.

The mere mortals amongst us enjoyed BLT's and The Southsider - eggs, biscuits and gravy with hash browns.

Fortified on sturdy carbs from breakfast we headed out to get Matt the St. Louis eating adventure that he demanded, nay deserved, for flying in to spend the weekend with me.

11:37:56 AM - Woofie's - St. Louis Missouri

I last visited Woofie's in November and I reviewed and contrasted Chicago style and New York style dogs. I suggested the Chili Pie for Matt - a Vienna dog served on a bed of chili, Fritos, onions, pickles and cheese. 

Matt knife and sporking it at Woofies, enjoying each bite a bit to much.

01:22:51 PM - Carl's Drive-In - St. Louis Missouri

I wrote up a long time favorite of mine, Carl's Drive-In, last fall. I can't think of an out of town visitor that I have not tried to bring to Carl's because the burgers are executed so well. Pressed flat on a griddle, the burgers become completely caramelized and for some diners take on a sweet flavor that plays along with the toppings. Matt enjoyed a double cheeseburger with all the fixings and a mug of home made root beer the size of his head.

A few hours and stops in, Matt was motoring along and devouring everything I could put in front of him.

01:48:12 PM - Kolache Factory - St. Louis Missouri

A kolache is a small dough treat filled with any number of meat, vegetable or fruit fillings. The Kolache Factory is a small chain with a shop in St. Louis and serve several dozen varieties of this eastern European treat. 

Matt opted for a Philly Cheesesteak while Chris took a chance with the bbq pork. In hindsight, this seems to be the first time I captured gastronomic distress in my brother.

02:14:53 PM - Ted Drewes Frozen Custard - St. Louis Missouri

Ted Drewes has been serving frozen custard in St. Louis since the 1920's and its likely that no other local location has received as much attention by the national media than it has - the place is known far and wide for its frozen treats. Because of this, "that custard place" is always on the lips of visitors as someplace they would like to stop while they are in town. 

It could be that the massive quantity of cream, eggs and sugar are leading to the serious nature of this picture, however it could be that a concrete from Ted Drewes is nothing to joke about and he's just getting down to spooning that sweet treat into his already filled food hole. 

02:39:47 PM - CC's Depot Dog - Home Depot - St. Louis Missouri

A hot dog from Home Depot? You bet your ass. CC's Depot Dogs can be found nestled by the exit doors of the Kingshighway Home Depot, and they serve up some tasty hot dogs for a price you can't beat for quick lunch - a loaded Chicago style or custom dog will run you about two bucks after tossing a quarter into the tip jar.

Matt "enjoying" a CC's dog in the parking lot, not to mention his third or fourth soft drink of the day. All that sugar - rookie eating tour mistake for sure.

03:12:14 PM - Gus' Pretzels - St. Louis Missouri

Gus' rests in the shadow of the Budweiser brewery and has been making pretzels since the 1920's. With dinner reservations at Modesto for later that evening, I figured that this doughy and salty treat would be perfect for soaking up all the grease and chili Matt had taken down.

Matt Veety - eating machine - he will break you.

10:59:46 AM - Chris' Pancake & Dining - St. Louis Missouri

The next morning we began again, this time at Chris' Pancake & Dining for some much needed breakfast. To my amazement Matt dove right back into the challenge after a nights sleep and healthy constitutional, this time opting for steak and eggs with hash browns. The only issue with his order resulted from his relative unfamiliarity with the menu. When you are offered a side of toast or pancakes at a pancake house, you always, always say pancake. After a quick discussion he indeed have the pancakes.

I joined Matt for the carb load by taking down a stack of pancakes with bacon, eggs, hash browns and a bloody mary. However, to be fair, I didn't eat much the day before and I had just finished running up all 42 floors of the Metropolitan Building for the American Lung Association.

04:41:01 PM - Tin Can Tavern and Grille - St. Louis Missouri

As part of my plans for the weekend, I pulled together a bar crawl around Tower Grove Park with stops at The Royale, Three Monkey's, The Tin Can Tavern and Grille, The Amsterdam Tavern, Tower Pub, Stella Blues, Friendly's and The Blackthorne Pub. 

Matt waited all day to try out the mini corn dogs at The Tin Can and compared their doughy goodness to the classic appetizer called pigs in a blanket - an observation I can't bring myself to argue with.

Keeping up the impressive consumption, Matt didn't hesitate to enjoy a cold PBR with his mini corn dogs, while I enjoyed the opportunity to share my neighborhood and friends with my family.

07:59:49 PM - Stella Blues - St. Louis Missouri

While others faded, Matt saddled up the bar at Stella Blues and took down a basket of onion rings.

Moving into his 48th hour of eating, Matt kept taking his best shot at menu's all over St. Louis. It was an epic showing that left me proud yet concerned about his body's ability to process all that grilled, fried and steamed food. 

10:17:35 PM - The Blackthorne Pub - St. Louis Missouri

Regular readers might remember my post on the Blackthorne Pub, where they serve up Chicago and pan style pizzas in the land of the inedible thin crust pizza topped with provel - St. Louis. The Blackthorne turned out to be the end of Matt's eating tour as well as the bar crawl, which is probably a good thing for all of us.

A group of us destroyed several pizzas in a matter of minutes before retiring for the evening. While we all had a great time, I find myself wishing great piles of vegetables on my brother to help him recover from this eating challenge - because as I was creating this post - I noticed his meals were totally devoid of them. 

Good times - great meals.

Let's never do this again.

Fast Food: Ads vs. Reality

Kudo's to The West Virginia Surf Report for this detailed analysis of Fast Food Ad's vs the Real Deal. According to the site:

"Each item was purchased, taken home, and photographed immediately. Nothing 
was tampered with, run over by a car, or anything of the sort. It is an accurate  representation in every case. Shiny, neon-orange, liquefied pump-cheese, and all."

The real truth after the jump...

And while I am thinking about it, this analyis reminds me of a great scene from the movie Falling Down, where Michael Douglas tries to find breakfast at his local Whammyburger.

 

Enjoy your lunch.

Food With Faces - Eggs Benedict At The City Diner

The City Diner in South St. Louis consistently serves up comfort food for the folks in my neighborhood, and Sara and I stop in on a regular basis for great burgers, killer BLTs and breakfasts that keep you fueled up all day long.

I visited the City Diner today with friends to recapture a few of the calories we burned running around Forrest Park in the St. Louis Track Club's Frostbite Series race. 

This happy plate of eggs benedict was just begging for a french fry smile. 

My love affair with diners, eggs benedict and making faces out of food continues.

Thanks for Jeff Lash for his handy iPhone camera and picture.

Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery

The Finger Lakes are a chain of eleven lakes in the Upstate New York, dotting the landscape that my wife and I grew up in. The lakes are long and deep and reminded early map-makers of the fingers of a hand. 

Because of the lakes' great depth and geography, the area provides cover to over 100 vineyards that flank the shores of Seneca, Cayuga, Canandaigua, and Keuka Lakes. This "lake effect" retains residual summer warmth in the winter, and winter's cold in the spring. Grape fields are protected from disastrous spring frost during grape formation, and early frost before the harvest. 

I got a chance on a lazy weekday afternoon to visit the Cayuga Ridge Estate Winery and had the pleasure of a tasting and tour given by a family member who happened to be working the tasting bar that day. After generous samples of the entire wine list and clinging to a glass of semi-sweet Riesling, I ventured into the cellar of the winery to poke around.

Residing at the bottom of a great old barn was a home-brewers dream, large jacketed fermenters and brightening tanks, a small bottling line and racks of Missouri Oak casks aging Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay. Enjoying a drink in the cellar would normally be the perfect ending to a winery trip, but I ventured out the basement door and face to face with the owner and winemaker at Cayuga Ridge. They were moving recently fermented Cabernet Sauvignon though a hydropress before racking into casks for a long rest and maturation. 

A hydropress is basically a large stainless steel container with a rubber bladder inside that fills with water and acts as a press. The pressure of the bladder presses the recently fermented wine, called lees, to remove residual yeast and precipitate before aging.

The cab was pleasantly cloudy like an unfiltered wine. It also was missing any of the oak flavor and mellowing that a rest in a cask would add. Instead this wine reminded me of the fields it came from. I shared some with family who found the taste harsh and in one case "dirt-like", however I think that is exactly why I enjoyed it. 

When making beer at home I taste and smell all my ingredients before brewing. I take time and sample wort hot from from being sparged, from hydrometer readings and the bottling bucket. Knowing your ingredients and following the path to maturity allows you to get to know where a beer is going and is the reward for crafting a product from scratch. It was exciting to see a sliver of the path that wine takes from grape to bottle. 

Many thanks to Danny Bell for the wine, tour and unique experience.

Trisket - A Turkey Inside a Brisket

Trisket is an idea I thought up for a friends annual Thanksgiving celebration, Fakesgiving, where we all gather and bring a dish to pass, pot luck style.

In honor of this yearly event, I took a beef brisket and stuffed it with ground turkey thighs, bread crumbs, bacon, roasted garlic, peppers, cranberries, leeks, mushrooms, shallot and flat leaf parsley. 

Turkey inside of a brisket = trisket.

I started with a 6lb grass fed organic beef brisket from Whole Foods with a pocket cut in it to hold the stuffing. The brisket held up well using this method, as it is essentially a large muscle and up to the task of having a turkey stuffing crammed into it. All told, the stuffing added another 4-5 lb to the overall cooking weight. In hindsight I'm sure I could have gotten some more stuffing in there if I really wanted to. 

For the turkey, I used ground thigh meat which had the best chance of making it though the 13 hours of cooking without drying out. To add some Thanksgiving flavor, I mixed the ground turkey with heads of roasted garlic, leeks, shallots and dried cranberries.

The key to this stuffing is to maintain moisture throughout the long cooking time. The ample fat marbling of a beef brisket did a great job keeping the meat moist, however I also added thick cut bacon to the mix to help baste the stuffing as well. I used a mixture of bread crumbs and cremini mushrooms as a binder and to absorb moisture. 

The brisket was stuffed the day before cooking and rubbed with a mixture of sea salt, black pepper, smoked paprika and onion and garlic powders. After rubbing, the brisket was wrapped tightly in plastic wrap, placed onto a cookie sheet and stored in the coldest part of the refrigerator for an overnight rest. 

At about 4am the next morning, I took the brisket out to warm up while I made coffee and started a fire for the smoker. While the idea of letting meat rise to room temperature before placing on the grill works great with steaks, 30 minutes was not enough time to do much for a 10 lb roast and the meat was still refrigerator cold when it was placed in the smoker.

This brisket was smoked over apple and hickory wood at 200 - 215 degrees for 10 hours, refilling the smoker every 45 - 60 minutes to maintain this low temperature. I used a spray bottle filled with beef stock and apple cider to baste the meat when the grill was open. 

After smoking all day, the brisket was then placed in a roasting pan with some of the basting liquid, covered tightly with foil, and placed into a 190 degree oven for another 3 hours to finish cooking.

The end result was a great beef brisket on the outside and a turkey meatloaf on the inside. The brisket turned out perfect with a great looking 1/4 inch smoke ring. The turkey was moist and had all the smells of a Thanksgiving meal.

The Trisket was served with a vinegar-based cranberry, peach and habanero barbeque sauce on the side. The use of fresh cranberry and peach added a tartness and sweetness to play against the heat of the habanero chili. While I can't see myself making a Trisket again anytime soon (it really was a two day process) I do think this barbeque sauce would match nicely with slow smoked ribs or chicken.

Thanks to Chef David Koon for his help taking this idea from idea to application.

Newstead Tower Public House

Nestled among the treasure trove of new restaurants in The Grove section of St. Louis you can find the Newstead Tower Public House. The owners use the term gastropub and public house to describe their eatery, but in the end the meaning is the same - kicked up pub food paired with great beers and wines. 

Among my favorites on the menu is the burger, locally raised grass fed beef topped with field greens, whole cap mushrooms, caramelized onions, house made quick pickles, ketchup and mayo. Burgers are served with super thin house made chips that play off the meal nicely, without weighing you down like a basket of fries can.

Burgers are skillfully cooked to order, in my case medium rare with a good sear and juices that mix with the toppings and run gloriously down your chin and hands. The bun also appears to be house made and performs admirably to the task of holding this burger together from start to finish.

Opinion: Recommended

4353 Manchester Ave.

St. Louis, Missouri 63110

314-535-7771

Election Night 2008 Recap

Tuesday night's election gave me an excuse to embrace decadence in multiple forms as long as I could tie it into the theme of the day - the election of Barack Obama.

My first stop was a post work happy hour with friends at The Three Monkey's, where lots of election day food and drink items were on the menu. That is, except this, which I named the Obamargarita. True, it was just a blue margarita, but it was tasty nonetheless.

For dinner I tried my hand at making a Chicago style deep dish pizza in a cast iron skillet. You'll have to excuse the lack of detail and instruction as I try my hand at documenting the trials and errors of turning out a onion, mushroom, garlic and spinach pie from scratch on a work day. 

 

An olive oiled cast iron skillet, brushed on both the bottom and sides. I've read that some pizzerias in Chicago do this to help the dough release after cooking. While I didn't think I would try to turn this pie out, I did want to be able to cut and serve it.

This is a version of the Neo-Neapolitan dough that I discussed back in August, with corn meal cut into the dough. Once baked I thought the dough came out more like a hybrid pizza/cornbread crust, which was tasty, but not what I was looking for. Room for improvement here for sure.

Sliced mozzarella cheese builds the base of a Chicago style pizza. All told this was about 6 or 7 slices.

The next layer was a mixture of spinach, onions, garlic and mushrooms that I sauteed on the stove before adding to the pizza. My goal was to cook most of the water out so it didn't end up pooling in the pizza during cooking. 

The next two layers were a chunky tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese. Next time I think I'll try adding the cheese layer about half way into cooking, if only for aesthetics when the pie is pulled from the oven.

I made a quick foil rim to cover the crust for the first 30 minutes of the 400 degree / 50 minute cooking time. I also let the pizza cool and set up for about 15 minutes before cutting.

I'll have to give several aspects of this recipe some thought before attempting again, especially the dough, which was sturdy enough to hold up to the mass of this pie, but not really what I was looking for. However, for all the things this pie was not, it was a welcome change from our normal pizza night pies. It was also a great night of celebration with friends stopping by all night to watch the results come in and partake of this Chicago masterpiece.

Blumenhof Winery - Fall 2008

A little known fact about Missouri is that we used to be the wine production capital of the United States, circa 1880. Truth be told, Missouri used to be the capital of many things, but was unable to stop the manifest destiny leading people from the east to the west coast of America in the last half of the 1800's. That is why St. Louis is called the "Gateway to the West", and I often remark that we are the only city in the world that constructed a monument (The Gateway Arch) to people leaving.

Getting back to our wines, Missouri's climate, with its long, hot summers, good sun exposure, and thin rocky soil, is excellent for growing grapes. This combination led European immigrants, Germans and later Italians, to this part of the country where they started a wine making tradition that lives on to this day. 

While Missouri may no longer lay claim to the volume of wines produced, there are still many family vineyards across the countryside creating fine wines using the Cynthiana/Norton, Vignoles, Seyval, and Chambourcin grapes.

With the understanding that fall in Missouri is short and wonderful, we took what might be our last chance at enjoying the sun and fruits of our local producers labors. Loaded down with breads, cheeses, olives, artichoke hearts and San Marzano tomato's that I roasted and covered with Spanish olive oil, we shared food and bottle after bottle of the wines from the Blumenhof Vineyards & Winery.

Of the dozen or so wines they have right now, we really enjoyed the Devil's Den Red and the Vignoles. Both were perfect for an afternoon surrounded by the changing leaves, warm sun and good friends.

While there was more than enough food to go around, I managed to pull together a foraging party to scope out a small barbecue shack positioned near the tasting rooms. With a full stomach and a healthy attitude I ordered a rib eye sandwich, cut thin, grilled and served on a sesame seed hamburger roll.

A quick visit to the fixings bar resulted in an addition of onions, sauerkraut and a spicy German mustard. Upon returning to our table I topped what I will forever call a "travesty on bread" (a recycled line from a sandwich I used to order when I worked in White Plains, New York, and a story for another time) with my aforementioned roasted tomatoes. Delicious indeed, but owing more to the day than a sandwich I would go out of my way to create again.

Can Chicken Experiment 01 - A Delicious Failure

I've always enjoyed making beer can chicken on the grill. With a little practice this method for cooking a whole chicken produces a moist and flavorful bird that will leave your guests asking for seconds.

A while back I threw a barbeque for a dozen friends and I decided it might be fun to switch up this classic meal by not only using a twelve ounce can of Budweiser, but also a Coke, a Dr. Pepper and a Schweppes Ginger Ale as well. My goal was to have a taste test to see which liquid additive resulted in the best tasting bird.

I began by brining each chicken overnight in apple cider, kosher salt, brown sugar, fresh ginger, quartered oranges and allspice berries. The next day I dried and rubbed each bird with the spice mixture I described in my post about float trip picnic chicken. The goal was to treat each chicken the same until it was put on the grill, which conveniently enough is the time when this culinary adventure veered off into failure. Yes, the final product was moist and delicious, but it was a failure nonetheless. 

As I planned this day my goal was to push as much barbeque flavor as I could into each bird, and for me this included cooking each chicken over indirect heat and using an abundance of mesquite smoke. After five hours of smoke and slow and low cooking, each bird was indeed flavorful, moist and fall off the bone tender. However, lost in the brine, spice rub and wood smoke was the purpose of this experiment - the taste imparted by each individual liquid. 

 

My guest were gracious and insisted that as far as taste was concerned we had reached a tie between beer and ginger ale. That may have been the case, but I’d like to reserve judgement until I have a change to revisit this idea. Next time I’ll skip the massive dose of smoke and cook at a higher temperature to really test my idea. 

Here is to happy mistakes and crazy ideas. I can’t wait to try this experiment again, because failure or not, can chicken makes for a great summer time meal.

Llywelyn's Pub

I have been struggling with the concept of “best” lately, especially what it means to achieve its largely objective status. 

As one who often represents his own opinions as facts, I am trying to develop a healthy understanding of what the term “best” actually means. When applied to food, best seems to be a dichotomy. Best is an appreciation for perfection. Best also represents the end of the search for that perfection. 

With this in mind I visited Llywelyn's Pub in St. Louis to try what has been deemed by many as one of the best burgers in town. Llywelyn's has several locations; Webster Groves, the Central West End and Soulard. Conversations with friends led me to the Soulard location, which is known for having the best service and friendliest waitstaff. Indeed our waitress was attentive and pleasant though out our meal.

The Llywelyn's Pub burger is a six-ounce chuck burger topped with caramelized onions, bacon and sharp cheddar cheese. The burger and toppings ride inside a thick English muffin which is browned on a griddle before serving.

The beef burger is quite good and cooked as requested, which for me is medium to medium rare. The patty was well caramelized, again appearing to result from a griddle and not an open flame, and added an additional layer of flavor to the interior juices and unadulterated beef taste. Kudos are deserved for the choice of an English muffin for this burger, its heft and dense structure absorbs the juice from the burger from start to finish without becoming soggy or weighted down.

Condiments are available table-side, but are quite unnecessary given the pub burgers choice of partners. The bacon is crisp without being burnt and while the onions were not caramelized in the true sense of the word, they had been sweat to the point where they were a sweet and savory addition. 

I continue my tradition of being outwardly hostile to idea of adding cheese to a burger, but my wife thought the healthy slice of sharp cheddar fit well with the concept behind the burger - telling me exactly that multiple times throughout our meal.

It is at this point that the idea behind the “best” begins to fail me yet again. Is the burger at Llywelyn's Pub the best in St. Louis? I think probably not. It is however one of the most well thought out burgers I’ve had in a while and appeals to my appreciation for culinary simplicity. To often burgers hide behind toppings to compensate for poor technique and lack of attention. This is not the case at Llywelyn's and for that reason I can say it is one of the better burgers I’ve had in town - if only to not allow the idea of “best” end my search.

Opinion: Recommended

1732 9th Street

St. Louis 63104

314-436-3255

World Vegetarian Day 2008

World Vegetarian Day is observed annually on October 1st. It is a day of celebration established by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977, "To promote the joy, compassion and life-enhancing possibilities of vegetarianism."

While I fail any school of vegetarian thought in an epic way, I have many friends who have changed the way that I think about food and my relationship with it, while filling my stomach with meals that are not only healthy but good for the Earth as well.

Without shame I admit my site is very meat centric. However, day to day I do try to pay attention to the amount of meat I prepare in addition to focusing on where that animal protein is raised and how it is sourced.

Over the last year I've made a point to try the meat replacement products I can locate with the goal of working them into my daily diet. At every turn, it seemed my efforts were always met with limited success. I could not get over the fact that I would much rather have a sloppy joe made with hamburger instead of textured vegetable protein. I found that things like taste, and more importantly mouth-feel, kept me from using these products more often.

Upon reflection, my issue with these products was that I am looking for a vegetable protein to actually replace an animal protein. This is an unfair proposition by any standard. However, recently I have been experimenting with a product called Match from Match Foods that is changing my opinion.

According to Match Foods:

"Match premium meat alternatives are the natural choice for meat lovers because they are made with a relentless commitment and passion to Match the taste and texture of unprepared animal meat. Substitute Match premium meat alternatives seamlessly in your favorite recipes; whether you sauté, bake, or grill, you will enjoy high-protein, non-animal meat with no cholesterol, saturated fat, hormones, antibiotics or artificial colors. Match food products contain natural plant proteins and flavors."

My research indicates that Match Foods uses a new product - Prosanté XCL - from Cargill. Prosanté XCL, is a textured soy protein, with a structure that "closely mirrors whole-muscle meat". According to the nutritional information provided by Match Foods,  Prosanté XCL adds no saturated fat, cholesterol or trans fat to their product, while acting as an excellent source of protein and dietary fiber.

My experience so far is that the product lives up to its marketing. I've had it in "crab cakes", made with their crab replacement. I hosted a "chicken taco night" with friends with their chicken replacement product. I have used their beef and pork replacement products to make meatballs that I browned in olive oil, baked for 30 minutes, and then simmered in tomato sauce for hours.

Therefore, on this World Vegetarian Day, I would encourage you to try out one of the products that Match Foods has to offer, especially if you have the same hangups around meat replacements that I do. In the past I have felt that I need to adjust my cooking to use a replacement product, but with Match I don't feel the need.

Now go eat a vegetable. At a minimum it will make your Mom happy.

Giving Into the Crave.

A highlight of the fall in St. Louis is our yearly bike race, The Tour de Moose. We've stepped things up this year with a planning board and training rides to accommodate a ridership that has grown from 20 to 60 in three years, with 100 expected this year. 

Our first ride of the season was this morning and what started as a quick bike ride with a few adult beverages planned afterward quickly evolved into a culinary and gastrointestinal adventure as well. 

Our Sunday morning ride started around 9:30 AM and about an hour later we happened past a White Castle that my friend Moose (of the Tour de) wanted to put on this years tour as a pit stop. The idea is to offer a break between legs where riders can roll past and grab a slider like marathon runners reaching for bottles of water. As we were already testing our bikes and the race route, we figured it would be a good idea to test our stomachs as well with a mid-morning slider break. 

From left to right we have a fish slider, a traditional White Castle, and resting like a king on its orange throne the new A1 White Castle. My impromptu goal was to compare the A1 slider against the original, and truth be told the only difference is a dollop of A1 Steak Sauce and a lack of pickles. For me, the pickle is what makes a White Castle and they are missed on the A1 where the bite of sour would play nicely against the steak sauce and onions. 

Both burgers benefited from the early morning visit. While the sign out front states that they are always open, it seemed that the bun was fresher than you would find at midnight visit to White Castle. The freshness of the bread did a good job soaking up the grease and onion juice that usually meld a slider to its box and eventually the bag. 

In full disclosure, I added the fish slider because I had skipped breakfast and really, who orders the fish at White Castle? In my opinion it is the best item on the menu, but it too could benefit from the liberal application of a pickle or two, alone or riding in some tarter sauce.

Opinion: Recommended with reservations, usually the morning after.

Uncle Bill's - 3:00 AM

Because even pigs in a blanket get cold and need a bacon quilt.

 
Jeff Lash - Photographer