Do not come between a Southern gent and his bourbon.
We learned this lesson at a recent NYC party when we observed a Mississippi native seize a bottle of Knob Creek, shake its last drops angrily into a cup and grab a bottle of pricey, small-batch Woodford Reserve only to be outraged to find this also nearly gone. "I knew I should have hidden the good stuff from these people!" he shouted, shaking his fist at the guests he'd invited to his home.
The cause of this maniacal outburst from a mild-mannered gent? Bourbon, and the thought of mixing it with store-bought gingerale. A wide-eyed belle from Jersey had ordered up a whiskey-and-ginger. Since only his finest was left, he delivered the bourbon abomination with a sigh, grumbling about "corn syrup on beautiful whiskey" in a thick accent en route.
Making a whiskey-n-ginger with the best bourbon in the house is where we -- who have certainly enjoyed a Jameson 'n ginger or (hic!) three -- would draw the line. But what does Chris Morris, master distiller at Woodford Reserve (the official whiskey of Derby Day) think?
Slashfood: "A party guest wants to combine supermarket gingerale with your excellent bourbon. Do you flip out?
Morris: "To be quite honest, I think whisky and gingerale is a great drink. Woodford Reserve has hints of ginger and a nice little citrus note and goes well with gingerale, a classic highball. Our response to anybody who thinks it's an insult is the question, 'Well, do you enjoy it?' If the answer is 'yes,' it's perfectly all right. We want make a great first impression, so if that person is a gingerale highball drinker, what better way than with Woodford Reserve in place of your regular bourbon?"
Is it just us, or does this look like a canapé Snow White might serve at a party for an assortment of her big-eyed woodland friends and dwarfs? Those mushrooms are practically leaping off the screen, they look so freshly plucked. I bet Disney's tough guys would have scoffed at this chi-chi wasabi-ricotta concoction and gone for burgers and beer instead, though. Not Eating Out In New York (a culinary blog for anyone anywhere) attempted a pretty bold take on a classic appetizer, so let us know if you give it a shot in your kitchen and how it turns out.
You do follow our Twitter @slashfood, don'tcha? The Food & Wine Magazine's Best New Chefs festivities commence at 6:30 p.m. on April 1, and Food & Wine Editor-In-Chief Dana Cowin has been dropping devilish little hints about the winners via Twitter all day long. First person to solve the mystery wins two tickets to tomorrow night's event.
Won't you Tweet with us? If we're really lucky, we'll even post some red-hot guest chef David Chang or "Top Chef" winner Harold Dieterle cell-phone camera action.
Twit-tip: Follow all Best New Chefs posts using #BNC
This weekend, I'm hosting a casual dinner reception following a friend's fiction reading. In the past, I've used Evite and Facebook to create invitations, but the number of responses has been increasingly dismal, so I tried sending an email this time. Out of 40 invitees, only 11 have RSVP'd so far, despite a special request for replies so that I would know how much food to cook.
As a frequent hostess, I find this to be one of the most annoying side effects of the digital age. It's easier to RSVP by email or Facebook than by phone or snail mail, yet most people don't bother. Yet it's still just as wasteful to buy and cook food that nobody eats, and just as embarrassing to run out if extra people show up.
What's a hostess to do? Do I simply delete the incommunicado among my acquaintance from future guest lists? Send nagging emails? Or must I switch back to paper invites if I want to guarantee a courteous reply? Also, I'd be interested to know whether others face this issue, or whether my friends just happen to be particularly ill-mannered.
Being a beer writer isn't as fun and easy as it looks. Most weeks I spend more time staring down a computer than a pint. I do say "most weeks," however. This coming week will not be one of those weeks.
From Friday, March 6th through Sunday, March 15th, Philadelphia will be host to Philly Beer Week 2009 -- a 10 day extravaganza featuring over 650 events from well over 100 participants, including dozens of different breweries and brewers crashing the city limits and some points beyond.
They've tagged the event "America's Best Beer-Drinking City," and though that title can certainly be debated, the official Philly Beer Week website lays out some compelling evidence to back their claim. A quick look at the event map makes you wonder if there's anywhere in Philadelphia not involved in Beer Week and the list of events is nothing short of overwhelming.
I'll be in town tomorrow (Friday) until Wednesday, March 11th, blogging about events along the way. My first stop will be the Opening Tap if you want to come follow me around. But better yet, check out phillybeerweek.org and see what strikes your fancy. As a former Philly resident, so many of these amazing bars have a special place in my heart, I wouldn't even know how to start playing favorites. You'll probably see me everywhere, because almost anywhere you can get to is worth the stop.
My goddaughter turns 1 today and the topic of conversation around her parents' house in recent weeks has been the perfect cake for baby to celebrate her first birthday.
It got me to wondering how parents choose the right cake for that oh-so-special Kodak moment. If you have a kid named Madeline or Lady Baltimore, you can get away with serving an eponymous cake. The rest of us have to weigh taste with what will look best smeared on that beaming butter bean's face. Do you go small or big?
My friends chose to stick with tried and true recipes -- a white cake with raspberry filling, cupcakes and a cheesecake for the adults.
Of course, Moet isn't a suggestion for any of the five menus Epicurious.com developed for each of the Best Picture nominees, but even if you do one of those, the Champagne will make a nice aperitif.
I've always been a fan of the theme party, where the menu, music, cocktails, and decor all play into the same motif. The last big-themed party I had was my "Leon Trotsky in Mexico" party, so called because it fell on a date right between May Day and Cinco de Mayo. While I did play some tango records and mix up a fair amount of Bloody Marys and anything else made with Russian vodka, the party's big attraction was the make-your-own-taco bar. It really is one of the easiest and most crowd-pleasing menus I've ever served. Suggestions for your spread include...
Not every football team has a (semi-) official beer, but the Steelers certainly do: Iron City. Brewed in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Iron City has long paid homage to the hometown team, even designing a series of beer cans in their honor back in the late 70's days of the famed "Steel Curtain" defense, as well as a Jerome Bettis can a few years back.
Despite the fact that Iron City's roots go back over 100 years, 'tis no microbrew. No, think more along the lines of a Pabst or Genesee: A blue-collar beer that gets the job done. Rather like the team it shares a nickname with. As such, Iron City always feels a bit of a sales bump whenever the Steelers hit the Super Bowl. The brewers are especially hopeful this year, as many of the workers in their Pittsburgh plant have been temporarily laid off. It's apparently just until some kind of trouble with the manufacturing line can be solved. Once it is, everyone will be back.
We certainly hope so: There was a time when the Steelers had two beers, back when Rolling Rock was brewed in Latrobe, a town northwest of Pittsburgh where the Steelers had their training camp. The brewery was bought by Anheiser-Busch, who then closed it and moved all operations to New Jersey, thus severing all ties with all things Pittsburgh. Given that I have family in Latrobe, I myself haven't let a drop of the stuff pass my lips since the sale. So, if you want to honor the Steelers on Super Bowl Sunday, go for the Iron City, not the Rolling Rock.
When snacking, the tendency is to automatically reach for whatever tortilla or potato chip is within reach. Pity, since there is a whole scrumptious world of other options. So, just in time to have everyone over to watch the big game, here are a few ideas to put something else in the basket on the coffee table and also a few suggestions about dips they might pair with.
Lime Tortilla Chips - Light-years ahead of the plain kind. Tostitos makes the tastiest ones. There go very well with fruit salsa, usually mango or peach.
Sweet Potato Chips - Everyone from Pringles to Terra manufactures these, though I would swing toward the latter, since the Pringles also have cinnamon. They match nicely with corn salsa or bean dip.
Banana or Plantain Chips - Yes, I know they're not the same thing, but close enough for my purposes. Another standout with fruit salsa, though I also like them with guacamole.
Pretzel Chips - A nice combo of two great salty snacks, the chips and the pretzel. Try with spinach or onion dip.
Tabasco Cheez-Its - Don't put anything on these. You'll wind up devouring much of the box and you don't want anything to get in your way.
Tomorrow one of the most historically significant Presidential Inaugurations will be upon us. Whether you're whooping it up or crying tears of sorrow into your glass, we've got ideas for what to drink at your party (or pity party).
If you're celebrating:
The obvious drink of choice is sparkling wine--American, of course. According to Iron Horse Vineyards, their sparkling wines have been served at the White House for five consecutive Presidential administrations, and Iron Horse hopes Obama will do likewise. Their Wedding Cuvee ($38) is a popular choice and widely available, or try the Russian Cuvee ($33), which is slightly richer and sweeter than the regular Brut.
Roederer Estate sparkling wines have also been featured in White House dinners over the years. The Brut NV ($22) is affordable and widely regarded by critics as one of the top sparkling wines in the U.S.
Korbel has been the official sparkling wine for the past six inaugurations, but apparently Obama won't do sponsorship agreements this year and Korbel has to angle for honors with all the other wineries. At home, try Korbel's Brut Rose ($12) or Extra Dry ($12), which, ironically, is a little sweeter.
With any of these sparkling wines, splash in a bit of pomegranate liqueur or blue carucao (but not at the same time!) for the red, white, and blue look.
Another all-American wine is Zinfandel, a big, bold, fruity wine also ideal for celebrating. Try one from Lodi or Paso Robles for even bigger-than-normal flavor (Seven Deadly Zins ($17) is a good example) or a classic from Sonoma like Seghesio ($36).
What to drink if you're not celebrating--after the jump.
When a friend of mine recently asked me to help throw her a baby shower, I had many questionable suggestions-- like making it race-car rather than baby themed (accepted) to making a baby-shaped red-velvet cake with gooey red filling, except the diaper part, which would have brown icing filling (rejected).
But one of the things she was most excited about was my suggestion that I make a meatcake. That is, a cake made of meat, an idea I had found (like so many nutty ideas) on the interwebs. I took the concept, but created my own recipes--two, since a non-red-meat eater needed turkey. It may sound peculiar but the result was delicious and even rather spectacular. If you want to try it yourself....
I've mentioned before that my idea of hell on earth is a meal at Chuck E. Cheese, but if a Michigan franchise gets its way, they'll be easing the pain for parents with beer and wine offerings--adults only, of course. Other Chuck E. Cheese franchises offer alcoholic beverages, but one township trustee thought it was a bad idea, saying, "It's a fun kid place. Just leave it like that."
Eating rubbery pizza with fake-tasting sauce while listening to the whir and jangle of ten thousand games going at once and trying to make small talk with other parents while our kids race around on a birthday-cake induced sugar high is not my favorite way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and yet I seem to end up there several times a year. If I can take the medicine with a spoonful of sugar--er, a glassful of wine--it might not taste so bad.
I do most of my cocktail inventing around the holidays. The reason for this is twofold. One, I always visit my parents and they possess a liquor cabinet that shames some bars, not only in actual number of bottles, but also in the array of top-shelf and/or rare liquors. Two, when does one find oneself in need of a drink more than the holidays?
Whether it's the merriment of celebration, the release of stress, or simply the desire to take a breather from all the socializing by indulging in a brief respite behind the bar, December is the time for mixing. And also for giving, so allow me to give you my two newly-invented cocktails for 2008: the Ginger-Pear Cocktail and the Nihilist.
Champagne or another bubbly might possibly be my stuck-on-a-desert-island drink of choice, but not everyone feels the love. Monday I posted my top eight bubblies for the holidays, but if you just don't dig sparkling wine, what can you toast with instead? Here are a few ideas.
Syrah/Shiraz from Washington state or Australia, which is big and voluptuous, smooth and silky all at once. Skip old world Syrah from the Northern Rhone, which, though it hails from the grape's true home, can give off aromas and flavors of green olives, white pepper, leather, and even meaty bacon. Great with a big ol' hunk of meat, not so great as the jumping-off point to a midnight kiss or a glass-raising toast to the man of the hour. Try the Sequel Syrah from Long Shadows Winery in Walla Walla, Washington, a Shiraz-style wine that's perfect for sipping without food.
Moscato d'Asti, a low-alcohol, barely bubbly Italian sweet white that my friend John calls "party in your mouth" is the perfect alternative to the dryness of Champagne. Try toasting with a bottle from Michele Chiarlo.
Dessert wine is best for a tête-à-tête celebration rather than a room full of happy toasters, both because it comes in half-size bottles and it's usually spendy. Splurge with Sauternes, the world's best dessert wine, or try a late harvest Riesling from Chateau Ste. Michelle.
Anything in a bottle bigger than 750 mL: a magnum (2 bottles), Jeroboam (4 bottles), or Nebuchadnezzar (20 bottles, but you'd better have help pouring) will always wow the crowd, no matter what's inside.
We can change the way we make eggs -- scrambled, poached, fried -- but what about changing the eggs themselves? Mix up your scrambling routine with quail eggs.
Being a beer writer isn't as fun and easy as it looks. Most weeks I spend more time staring down a computer than a pint. I do say "most weeks," however. This coming week will not be one of those weeks.
When a friend of mine recently asked me to help throw her a baby shower, I had many 
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