Tag: 240808

In the kitchen with Eric Alexander

Eric Alexander, Chef de Cuisine, Unwined in Milford, began his culinary journey in Rhode Island. Cooking in Newport, Eric embraced local ingredients and crafted dishes that were popular with both the locals and culinary circles. Then, at Johnson & Wales University, Eric dove into both the art and the practical side of gastronomy while polishing his cooking skills. He worked at Catalyst in Boston, Branch Line and Disney World, gaining experience in fine dining, large-scale culinary operations, seasonal ingredients and farm-to-table practices. Returning to New England, Eric continued developing menus and crafting culinary experiences as a personal chef before bringing his wealth of culinary knowledge to the Unwined team as Chef de Cuisine. His wife helps run a shelter and they foster and train dogs together, and have three dogs of their own. Seeunwinednh.com.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

My must-have tool is good spoons. They are useful for tasting, stirring, scooping food, and to help maintain consistent portioning.

What would you have for your last meal?

A Quarter Pounder with cheese, a 20-piece order of nuggets, a large order of fries and a chocolate shake.

What is your favorite local eatery?

Ansanm. Their food is incredible, and their plating is beautiful.

Who is a celebrity you would like to see eating at Unwined?

Comedian Dave Smith; he is a hilarious comedian and a smart guy.

What is your favorite item on your menu?

I like the rib-eye. Steak and potatoes is a timeless combination, and a good Bordelaise sauce is one of the best things there is.

What is the biggest food trend you see in New Hampshire right now?

Hyper-local sourcing is a trend that I am seeing. A lot of restaurants are trying harder to support their local farmers.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

My favorite thing to cook at home is whatever my wife wants.

Sumac Yogurt
From Eric Alexander

2 cups Greek yogurt
1 clove of garlic, microplaned or finely minced
1 Tablespoon sumac powder
juice of 1 lemon
zest of ½ lemon
salt to taste

Gather and measure all ingredients, then combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir until combined.

Hippo Note: Sumac is a sour spice from the Middle East. This yogurt would be an excellent side dish to anything spicy or Mediterranean.

Perfecting gluten-free bread

Dishon Bakery crafts artisanal bread loaves without the wheat

Evan Lang described his perfect, platonic ideal of a loaf of bread.

Made of flour, water, yeast and salt, it “would have a thick crust to give it a little bit of character,” he said, “baked pretty dark — caramelized in a way that you get flavor also from the crust. “The crumb should be relatively open. It should not fall apart; it should stay together, and it should not be gummy, meaning if you take the knife and you cut into it, we don’t want anything stuck on the blade.”

One of Lang’s missions in life is to make that bread, but without any gluten. At Dishon Bakery in Manchester, he is doing it.

Gluten is a stretchy protein found in wheat and a few other grains that helps give conventional bread its texture. As yeast ferments various nutrients in wheat flour, it gives off carbon dioxide gas, which is trapped by the stretchy gluten fibers in bread dough, allowing the dough to puff up — what bakers call “rise.” Unfortunately, some people — those with celiac disease, for instance — can’t digest gluten, and others choose not to eat it for nutritional reasons, so for bakers like Lang the trick is to find a way of duplicating gluten’s stretchiness without the actual gluten.

“If you go to the supermarket and you check out the gluten-free bread there, it’s not great,” Lang said. “It’s either small or crumbly. And if you’re looking at the ingredients, it’s more like cake; it’s full of sugar, it’s full of starches. We’re creating a product that’s a little more artisanal — kind of like real bread.” The secret, he said, is a slow, cold fermentation, and high hydration — meaning that his dough has more water in it than conventional wheat breads.

“Traditionally, bread and pizza have different hydration percentages,” he explained, “from 60 percent up to 100 percent for really, really Neapolitan-style pizza. “Our breads are all over 100 percent hydration.” This means that Dishon’s bread dough has more water than flour in it. By fermenting it slowly, at a low temperature, Lang gives it time to completely incorporate all that water.

Lang’s dough starts with brown rice, sorghum and millet flours — all gluten-free grains — and potato and tapioca starch, then builds the dough up to the point where it can be treated much like wheat dough.

“We bake on a stone like regular bread,” he said. “Traditionally gluten-free bread is kind of like a batter. It’s baked in a tin and ours are baked free-form on the stone.”

Dishon Bakery started as a cottage business in New Jersey in 2022.

“We were selling in farmers markets, and we very quickly outgrew that,” Lang remembered. “We moved to Philadelphia and we were baking in a commercial kitchen there and doing a lot of wholesale, continuing with farmers markets and shipping online. We were doing a pretty good online business. People would order online, we’d package it up and ship it out. We moved up here and we re-evaluated what we were doing.” The Langs decided to focus more on face-to-face interactions with their customers. “Since we did have enough demand for the product, it made no sense for us to sell more [wholesale]. So we’re going to try here to exclusively do retail, direct to consumer.”

Many gluten-free bakeries produce mostly sweet products — cookies, cakes, pastries and so on — but Dishon focuses almost exclusively on bread products. Lang keeps a freezer case with other gluten-free products for customers who are looking for something less bready.

“We have sweets that are New Hampshire-based,” Lang said. “We want to give them an outlet here. None of them are based in Manchester. So this brings their product to Manchester and also allows us to fill the case with products that we don’t do and we don’t specialize in.”

Dishon Bakery
915 Elm St., Manchester
Open Thursday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Orders can be placed online at dishonbakery.com

The Weekly Dish 24/08/08

News from the local food scene

• Food trucks and muscle cars: Windham’s Recreation department will host aFood Truck Festival and Car Show on the grounds of Windham High School (64 London Bridge Road, Windham) on Sunday, Aug. 11. In addition to eats from local food trucks, there will be music and games of cornhole. For more details contact the Windham Recreation office by phone at 965-1208 or by email at recreation@windhamnh.gov.

• Dinner and a show: The Atkinson Resort & Country Club (85 Country Club Drive, Atkinson, 362-8700, atkinsonresort.com) will host Drag Me To Dinner, an evening of fine dining with a Tastes of Spain menu and drag entertainment, on Saturday, Aug. 10, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The event will be emceed by the duo of Kira Stone and Kris Knievil. Tickets are $65 through Eventbrite.

• Bubbles: August’s Brunch and Bubbles event at Flag Hill Winery (297 N. River Road, Lee, 659-2949, flaghill.com) will take place Sunday, Aug. 11, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This month’s brunch menu will include sparkling Cayuga and a full mimosa bar with a farm-to-table brunch featuring mac & cheese bar, fresh pastries and fruit, quiches, frittatas and more. Tickets are $65 each, available through Eventbrite.

• International wine-off: Wine on Main (9 N. Main St., Concord, 897-5828, wineonmainnh.com) will host an Old World vs. New World Wine Class Tuesday, Aug. 13, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Participants will taste and compare wines. For example, how does a French Crémant stack up against a premium sparkling wine from California made in the Champagne method? The cost is $35 per person and the class is limited to 20 people. It includes six wines and light snacks. Reserve your place at Wine on Main’s website.

On The Job – Cathy Garland

Owner of Granite State Stomp

Cathy Garland runs Granite State Stomp (granitestatestomp.com), where she teaches line dancing and works private events and corporate events, and even choreographs line dances for other instructors to use. One of her dances, titled Texas Hold Em’ EZ, has been nominated for the Best Beginner Dance of 2024 by the International Line Dance Association.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I teach line dancing for a living, full-time. I’m either teaching or entertaining at different clubs. I also have a lot of private events … and then I’m also doing tutorials and choreography online as well.

How long have you had this job?

Like most people because of Covid I completely pivoted from what I was doing for over 40 years. I’ve been in the fitness industry my whole life and was at the Bond Wellness Center in Peterborough and when that closed permanently I kind of looked at my husband and said, ‘I need to reinvent myself now.’ So I took a chance on this line dancing thing and went all out…. That happened in May of 2023 because the Center didn’t officially close until then.

What kind of education or training did you need?

For me, believe it or not, I went to college for computer science… When you’re in the fitness industry and you’re dealing with wellness coaching or personal training or especially when you’re dealing with a high-risk population, you really do have to have a ton of training, a ton of exercise science training and background and most of them [certifications] come through nationally recognized organizations. For line dancing … you don’t need to be certified in anything, which probably made it easier for me because I have that fitness background … I do have certifications and all that training.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

My typical attire is country. I’m usually in boots. I’m usually in some kind of Western hat and I’d say most of the time like denim shorts and a T-shirt, tank top…. Always kind of making it fun for everybody.

What is the most challenging thing about your work, and how do you deal with it?

New to me is the world of social media. … if one of my videos gets outside of the group of line dancing, I think the most difficult thing is how negative people can be on social media.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

I don’t think people realize what goes on behind the scenes and how much you really have to practice and work to be able to go out there and queue a group for two hours … I think people just think we can just show up and put the music on and go.

What was your first job?

I was a fitness instructor at a place called — I don’t even know if they called us fitness instructors back then — but it was called Gloria Stevens…. We’ve come a long way from that but I did enjoy working with those women ….

—Zachary Lewis

Five favorites
Favorite book: This is weird but my favorite book is The Long Walk by Stephen King.
Favorite movie: Dirty Dancing. I could watch it over and over again.
Favorite music: Country. I would say mostly modern country.
Favorite food: Pizza.
Favorite thing about NH: The peacefulness.

Featured photo: Cathy Garland. Courtesy photo.

Treasure Hunt 24/08/08

Dear Donna,

I’m checking with you for advice. I have inherited this pair of sterling silver marked Gorham candlesticks. They are in good condition but in need of cleaning. Should I clean and what would you recommend if yes?

Ann

Dear Ann,

Good question, to clean sterling silver or not! Gorham has been around since the early 1800s. Gorham Silver, later Gorham Manufacturing Co., was a very well-known producer of quality silver — not just candlesticks but many other items as well. The company was located in Providence, Rhode Island, and had a long and interesting history.

Cleaning silver is to me a personal choice. It needs to be done correctly. There are many cleaning and polishing products you can use. Just follow the instructions and never use anything abrasive. A hint for cleaning is don’t bother unless you want to keep doing it. The exposure to sir, sun etc. will tarnish it again. So if you’re just going to keep them for family history, pack them in cloth and an airtight bag and store away. Sterling silver is beautiful and reflective, but a lot of work keeping that way as well.

The value of your pair of weighted Gorham candlesticks is in the range of $250+. (Weighted silver is a thin coat of silver over sand or cement, mostly used in the base for stabilizing.) Nice treasure to inherit! Thanks for sharing.

125 years of town festivities

Londonderry celebrates Old Home Day with four days of events

By Zachary Lewis
zlewis@hippopress.com

The 125th Annual Town of Londonderry Old Home Day starts on Wednesday, Aug. 14, and goes until Saturday, Aug. 17.

“Old Home Day started in New Hampshire in 1899 by Gov. Frank Rollins. It was designed to bring New Hampshire’s, as he puts it, ‘sons and daughters back to the state,’ who had moved elsewhere. It was an effort to revitalize tourism and celebrate the smaller communities in New Hampshire amidst what was a population decline,” said Kirsten Hildonen, Administrative Support Coordinator for Londonderry, who is leading the event along with colleague Doug Cole.

“Forty-four different towns celebrated Old Home Day that first year in 1899 and Londonderry was one of them and we’ve been doing it every year,” Hildonen said.

‘Days’ may be more accurate, but the spirit of the event is the same.

“It’s gone back and forth, historically, between Old Home Day and Old Home Week. What we’ve really landed on is a four-day celebration in Londonderry.”

After 125 years, what’s new?

“One of the unique things about our Old Home Day celebration is that it’s not the same every day. Each day is a different event, different celebration. So it’s not four days of the same thing, it’s four very different days with very different activities,” Hildonen said. Each day is an experience.

“One of the big events on Wednesday that’s always a big hit is our Senior Bingo and BBQ … the seniors are served by the police officers, our town leaders call bingo and it’s free. We usually give out 220 tickets,” she said.

Music is always a great time in Londonderry.

“That evening on Wednesday is one of our most popular Concerts on the Common. It’s the Studio Two Beatles tribute band. It starts at 7 p.m. and last year we had almost 1,000 people attend, ” she said. More music occurs on Thursday. That concert “is run by our Londonderry School District Music Director … and that starts at 7. [It’s a ] bunch of different local bands competing to see who comes out on top.”

Slightly before the Beatles tribute is a very colorful race.

“We started a color run for families, kids, people of all ages. That’s going to be held at 5:30 p.m., at the LAFA Field. There is pre-registration up on our rec program website for that event,” she said. The cost is $15 per person but caps at $45 per family. “Everybody throws color at everybody. Everybody is encouraged to wear a white T-shirt.”

“The biggest event, Friday — this is the one I think people outside of Londonderry will have a ton of interest in — is our food truck festival and fireworks on Friday night. We get about 25 food trucks together. We open it up at 6 p.m. and people can stake out their place for fireworks that night. We have such an awesome variety this year, really excited about the different trucks we have…. There’s something for literally every taste,” Hildonen said. The food trucks close down at 9 p.m. Around 15 minutes later, or when it gets dark, is a long bout of fireworks.

“About a 25-minute firework celebration so it’s pretty big and pretty huge,” she said.

“The big kickoff to the day [Saturday] is our Old Home Day Parade down Mammoth Road, which starts at 10:15 and runs from Central Fire Station down to Mack’s Apples,” Hildonen said.

The day is filled with more activities than the age of the event.
“We have a bunch of different local businesses, local organizations, churches, town committees, everybody, so many different people, they rent booths on the Common and they have games and activities … something interactive for families and kids to do. There’ll be all kinds of raffles, both free and paid, all kinds of people selling food.”

On top of a Touch-a-Truck there are even more fun activities for kids.

“We have a Kids Zone in our town forest with carnival games and prizes and that’s a fundraiser for the Londonderry Athletic and Field Association, LAFA is going to be running that this year,”she said.

125th annual Old Home Day in Londonderry
Wednesday, Aug. 14, to Saturday, Aug. 17
Free admission
londonderrynh.gov/oldhomeday
The Color Run: Thursday, Aug. 15, 5:30-6:30 p.m. at LAFA Fields, registration at LondonderryNH.MyRec.com

Featured image: Courtesy photo.

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