Category: Drink

Let’s get cooking

Usually, we make New Year’s resolutions that involve eating less food or at least less of the stuff that tends to add pounds to our waistlines.

Many of you will very likely try to take a similar approach this year, and hey, I don’t blame you. It’s just that I know from personal experience it’s not worthwhile for me, so I’m going to slap on an apron and get cooking because this guy needs to eat.

At this time of year, when the holidays are just about behind us and the weather is cold, I’m craving rich stews and roasted meat — aren’t we all?

Stews are great for a number of reasons but I love that you can take a tough cut of meat, like beef chuck or pork butt, and just simmer it for hours until the meat is tender and delicious. The finished product is nearly always flavorful, warming and satisfying and that’s really what we’re going for.

So let’s make some beef stew — and in case you were wondering when I was going to bring up beer, that moment is now because we’re going to use beer in the beef stew.

Beef stew is so forgiving, especially if you use chuck. Really, the only issue is that you have to be patient and just keep simmering it until the meat is as tender as you want it. I like big chunks of meat and vegetables but chop or dice the ingredients to whatever size you please — just try to be consistent so items cook at the same rate.

Using stout for the broth adds a layer of complexity and richness that, I’m sorry, you can’t get from broth alone. I really like how the flavor of the thyme — and I would emphasize that fresh thyme is critical in this case — pairs with the beef, garlic and the maltiness of the stout.

In choosing a stout, I think Guinness is your baseline but any dry stout or porter will work. Smuttynose Brewing Co.’s Robust Porter or the Workingman’s Porter by Henniker Brewing Co. would be great choices. I think stouts with lots of coffee and chocolate notes are delicious but I’m not sure how well they’d work in this stew. I’m not saying don’t try them; I’m just saying don’t blame me if it doesn’t work out.

Get your apron on.

What’s in My Fridge
Fat Tire Amber Ale by New Belgium Brewing Co. (Fort Collins, Colorado)
This is just an easy-drinking beer that has just enough flavor to make it memorable. I bought a six-pack recently just to make sure I had one beer that would please anyone. Cheers!

Beef and Stout Stew
4 pounds beef chuck, cut into 1-inch cubes
2-3 large carrots, chopped
2-3 large celery stalks, chopped
3 large onions, chopped
3-4 large potatoes, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
16 ounces stout
4-6 cups beef broth
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 sprig fresh thyme
Fresh parsley

Heat a large Dutch oven over high heat and when hot, add oil. Season meat with salt and pepper. Brown meat, in batches, until all sides are browned. Remove meat with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Turn the heat to medium and add onions, celery and a big pinch of salt and cook, stirring for 5-10 minutes. Add garlic and stir for a minute or so. Add carrots and cook for 5 minutes so carrots soften up a bit.
Add flour and cook for a couple minutes, stirring. Pour in stout carefully as it will bubble up, and scrape the sides and bottom of the pot. Add meat back in, along with another pinch of salt, pepper, potatoes and thyme.
Pour in 2-4 cups of the beef broth and assess the consistency. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for roughly two hours, adding more broth if needed, until meat reaches desired tenderness and the stew has reduced to your desired consistency.
Serve with fresh parsley and a beer.

Featured Photo: Let’s make stew with some stout. Photo by Jeff Mucciarone.

A conversation with winemaker Mark Neal

On several Napa Valley winery tours, my wife and I were asked by the tasting room manager what plans we had for our visit. Our response usually was, “To visit the best wineries in the valley recommended by our friend, Mark Neal.” That was always greeted with a smile; Mark is well-known in the valley, an authority on vineyard farming and experienced in producing some of the best wines from his vineyards in the valley and on the slopes of Howell Mountain. I’ve known Mark for about 15 years. We met at Leary’s Fine Wines & Spirits in Newburyport, Mass., and I was one of the people who convinced him to sell his wines in New Hampshire.

Recently Mark and I had a long phone conversation about his years in the wine business with some follow-up questions by email; here (edited and condensed) are his responses to my questions.

How did you get involved in the production of fine wines?

Upon returning from the Korean War, myfather, Jack Neal, worked for other farmers, managing their ranches and orchards. … In 1968 he formed his own company, Jack Neal & Son, to manage these ranches and orchards, the same year I bought my first tractor.

When did you begin to buy land and grow your own grapes for wine?

At the age of 20 I bought my first property, 1½ miles away from my parents in Rutherford. … In 1990 I bought land on Howell Mountain to develop into a vineyard. … Our first wine from this property was produced in 1998.

The year 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us. Napa Valley was much in the news twice, with fires threatening the valley from different directions. What have been the effects of these fires?

The Aug. 17 LNU fire … was in the eastern part of Napa County and it headed east. The second fire, called the Glass Fire … started Sept. 27 and came down Calistoga to St. Helena … then crossed over the valley…. The fires spread rapidly because of a surplus of deadwood within the forests. These trees typically have a lifespan of 30 to 40 years, and the forests must be managed. This has not happened, and in its path not only did [the fire] devastate the forest but [it] destroyed many wineries, homes and vineyards. Both fires left the smoke and ash to settle on the grapes for weeks. Our grapes were damaged by smoke and ash, so we didn’t make wine this year … You cannot make ultra-premium wine with damaged fruit or with these conditions that were left from the smoke that would have resulted in a smoke-tainted wine.

However, beyond losing one vintage, a greater cost has come as a result of the continuing Covid shutdowns. This not only has sent ripples through the vineyards but through the entire distribution chain with the closing of restaurants, other businesses, and employment.

What is the biggest challenge you and/or the California wine industry faces in 2021? 

I believe that [the impact of] Covid 19 … will continue into the 2021 wine business. …We [have] already seen the destruction of wine sales in the restaurants and wine retail shops in the last nine months. Some have shut the door for good. Some I believe held on for the holiday rush and that of course has been shut down.

What is the biggest opportunity of 2021? 

We will continue to strengthen relationships with our distributors, retail and restaurants … to meet everyone’s needs during these times. … We will also continue to support and grow our direct-to-consumer segment. 

Neal Family Vineyards has several wines available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets. The 2018 Napa Valley Sauvignon Blanc, priced at $19.99 andsourced from the Rutherford Vineyards, has tropical notes of pineapple and citric, with a clean finish. The 2017 Rutherford Dust Vineyard Zinfandel, priced at $23.99, has a bit of petite syrah added to it, enhancing the fruit. The 2015 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, priced at $49.99, is superb with great dark cherry notes and a long finish.

Featured Photo: Mark, with sales marketing director and daughter Jessica, and winemaker Jordan Stanley. Courtesy photo.

Do you remember reading those Choose Your Own Adventure books when you were a kid?
You’d get to a turning point in a story, then find instructions like:
“To poke the sleeping bear with a stick, turn to page 130.
To run away from the sleeping bear as fast as you can, turn to page 170.”
So, then you’d turn to page 170, and read something like:
“Oh, no! You run away so fast that you don’t watch where you are going and ram into an oak tree, dislodging a porcupine, which falls on you. You scream so loudly that you wake the bear, who eats you, then picks his teeth with the quills. The End.”
This drink is a little like that, minus the hostile wildlife. It is an adventure in sesame.
I’ve been thinking a lot about fat-washing, lately. Fat-washing is what upscale bartenders call a method of infusing alcohol with the flavor of something oily. You hear occasionally about bacon-washed bourbon, or butter-washed rum. Almost any food that is fat-soluble is also soluble in alcohol. Shmancy bartenders can use that chemical loophole to add background notes to a cocktail. Theoretically, you could use this technique to make a peanut butter and jelly martini, for instance. (Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Let me write that down…)
A week or so ago, it occurred to me that if you can fat-wash peanut butter, couldn’t you do the same thing with tahini, the sesame paste used in hummus? I adapted a recipe for peanut butter-washed bourbon:

Tahini Rum

1 liter inexpensive white rum (As usual, you probably don’t want to use your good stuff, when you are covering up most of the subtle flavors with tahini. I used Mr. Boston.)
16 oz. tahini (I like Krinos.)

1. Combine rum and tahini in a very large jar or other air-tight container. Shake with great vigor.
2. Store the jar somewhere warm and dark for seven days, shaking twice per day.
3. Strain through a fine mesh strainer, then filter through a coffee filter.

This results in a fantastic sesame rum. It is silver in color. It is smooth and tastes delicious. You could easily sit in an armchair with a brandy snifter of the stuff. There is, however, a drawback:
The rum and the tahini have spent a week getting their groove on. At the end of it, the rum has gotten everything she wants out of this fling, says, “Well, this was fun…” and goes on her way. The tahini, on the other hand, has turned into Rick Astley, and is determined that he is never going to give her up.
As much as the rum has bonded with the tahini, the tahini has bonded with the rum, and without the use of a lab-grade centrifuge — which my wife will not let me buy — a liter of rum nets you between 10 and 12 ounces of finished product. Given that there was a relatively small investment in the rum to begin with, that might be OK.
But there is another way:

Sesame Rum No. 2

1 cup white sesame seeds
4 cups white rum

1. Over medium-low heat, toast the sesame seeds in a small skillet, stirring constantly, until they have turned the color of a graham cracker or a lion.
2. Transfer seeds to the same large jar or airtight container. Add the rum. There will be a satisfying sizzle.
3. Shake, then store in the same warm, dark place for four days, shaking twice per day.
4. Filter through a coffee filter.

This sesame rum is not as smooth and silvery as its little brother, but it is also delicious. It has a deep golden color and really pops in your mouth, shouting, “It’s SESAME TIME, Baby!”
And you net about a quart of rum.
So, now you’ve effectively made the first of your Choose Your Own Cocktail choices — silvery and sleek, or bold and bronzy.
Here is your second choice:
The Vera Cruz Chameleon
3 oz. Tahini rum
3 gr. (a very small handful) cilantro
¼ oz. simple syrup
Tonic water to top (I like Fever Tree)
Tiny ice cubes

1. Rinse the cilantro, then muddle it thoroughly in the bottom of a cocktail shaker.
2. Add rum, then dry shake. (This means without ice.) This will allow the alcohol to extract color and flavor from the cilantro.
3. Add ice and simple syrup, then shake again, until cold.
4. Strain into a large glass, over tiny ice cubes.
5. Top with tonic, then stir gently.

This is really delicious. The first flavor to hit you is the cilantro, but there is a delightful, smooth sesame aftertaste. If you are a cilantro fan — and of course you are, because you are smart and tasteful — you will love this.
But wait! What’s that you say? You’re not a cilantro fan? That’s very sad, but I’ve got you covered there, too.

The Lebanese Chameleon

3 oz. Sesame Rum No. 2
3 gr. (a very small handful) flat-leaf parsley
¼ oz. simple syrup
Tonic water to top
Tiny ice cubes

1. Rinse, muddle and dry shake the parsley as above. Do NOT shake a second time.
2. Filter your parsley/sesame rum through a coffee filter, into a tall glass, half filled with tiny ice cubes.
3. Add the simple syrup and stir vigorously.
4. Top with tonic, then stir again, this time gently.
5. Drink with immense satisfaction.

So, do you remember that classic of American literature, The Cat In The Hat Comes Back? The one where the cat leaves a greasy pink bathtub ring that threatens to engulf the neighborhood? If you don’t filter the parsley rum, you will get the same stain, but in swamp green. It will taste delicious but will not look appetizing. If you want to skip the filtering step, drink this cocktail in a tiki mug.
A note on tiny ice cubes: I recently discovered that you can buy small silicone ice trays that make tiny (about ¼-inch) ice cubes that are like crushed ice, but better! They chill your drink extremely well and they look really, really cool.
So you can make a cilantro-based cocktail with tahini rum or sesame rum, or use the same recipe — again, with your choice of rums — with parsley, instead. You are somewhat spoiled for choice.
And there are no bears.
John Fladd is a veteran Hippo writer, a father, writer and cocktail enthusiast, living in New Hampshire.

Featured Photo: The Vera Cruz Chameleon. Photo by John Fladd.