March Gulp: Gulp!'s Peeps Come Out on Easter Eve to Determine Battle Between Beer and Wine

I am sad that I missed the last Gulp! Event but I am very glad our guest blogger Brian Bixler was there to record all the excitment.  So without further ado take it away Brian!  (sorry no pictures, it seems Ashley was missing that day too).

Behind BX Beer Depot's unprepossessing storefront we gathered next to a thatch-roofed tiki bar and long tables set with tablecloths, silverware, stemmed glasses and snifters awaiting libations that would flow freely so that we could compare which one went

best with the delectable dishes that would be set in front of us.

And so it began, Gulp!'s third tasting that would pit beer against wine in an event that attracted an eclectic and fun-loving group that included members of the media, musicians and artists, entrepreneurs, and employees in the hospitality industry who have one thing in common: they're all foodies interested in learning more about the food they consume and the beverages they drink. The Wrong's lead singer Jimmy Brogan was there as well as videojournalist and sometimes Shakespeare by the Sea actor Wally Lurz and his fiancée Krystina Parker.

And the setting, warmly lit by tiki torches on Easter Eve, was entirely apropos, casual, communal and comfortable. Sally Parsons is one of the first business owners in Palm Beach County to recognize the growing demand for craft beer and her small tap room, tucked away on Second Avenue North in Lake Worth, has all the accouterments for making your own brew at home. The walls are lined with dippers, utensils, copper coils; and in a huge walk-in refrigerator she stores yeast, hops and heavy bags of grain that can be used to make everything from a chocolate-flavored beer to coffee-infused stout.

Sally was a wonderful co-host for the evening, not only serving the Gulp! guests but providing a personal tour of her business, which may be Lake Worth's best kept secret (aside from Gulp! of course). As a tasting room, it provides a wealth of craft beers by the bottle ranging in cost from a couple of dollars to larger sizes in the $20 range. But even the brands with higher price points don't deter true beer connoisseurs, who come from as far away as Vero Beach and Miami to visit Sally's store.

"It's like a fine wine," Sally said of her inventory. "We have customers who can buy a bottle of beer and sip it for two hours."

In addition to coming for the array of craft beers, patrons are also looking for the supply of fresh grains stored in tight containers that allow home brewers to create an assortment of beer at home. And for those who want to know what their own concoctions might taste like, BX Beer Depot also has a tempting variety of its own brews on tap that are kept cold in the refrigerated unit just waiting to be dispensed in a glass and raised to your lips.

Naturally, Sally also offers beer-making classes for those who want to learn more about the age-old beverage revered by America's Founding Fathers, especially Ben Franklin. She also offers wine-making kits and guidance and has recently branched out into cheese-

making. And so, her business provided the perfect location for Gulp!'s boxing bout between beer and wine. And the pairing of Gulp! and BX Beer Depot was as natural as the coupling of food and beverage that night. As Sally said, the two companies share the same model and mission of providing education and socialization for their guests.

It was my initiation into a Gulp! tasting and I couldn't help feeling a little bit like a pledge being inducted into a secret society like Skull and Bones (on second thought, scratch that, make it more like the Algonquin Round Table).

There were plenty of regulars there to recall the very beginnings of Gulp! when Coreen Gottschalk would research various wines and pull facts and tasting notes together, then invite a few friends to her home, serve the wines and pair them with tasting-sized portions of food and discuss them. ClearChannel radio host Deb Knepp (who sat crocheting tiny Easter Bunny heads from yarn for everyone to wear as a pin or hair adornment for the evening) shared memories of those first days, along with other veterans like massage therapist Michelle Getty.

I felt so proud for my friend Coreen, one of the most extraordinary people I have met in my life, to see how her simple idea of spending time with friends has grown into a truly professional venture and full-fledged business with help from her partner LeBeau Kpadenou. But I wasn't the only newbie in the crowd: the very-blue-eyed Laura Powell, a server/bartender from O'Shea's Irish Pub, was also experiencing her first Gulp! tasting.

"Nothing excites me like good food," said Laura, who, by the end of the evening, expressed how much she enjoyed it and promised to return for future tastings.

And tastings -- tempting and plentiful -- were what the evening was all about, paired with carefully selected beers and wines that were meant to complement the food and bring out the various spices and flavors of meats, cheeses, herbs, fruits and vegetables.

The Tastings

The first course was an inviting little morsel: a slider-size burger stuffed with pesto and a tangy Chaumes cheese from Périgord in southwest France. Wrapped within the burger, the cheese provided a full-bodied flavor not unlike brie. The tasty treat was presented in a crispy wanton cup topped with a sprinkling of tomato and clover sprouts that provided additional flavor and texture to the appetizer. It was a great way to start the meal.

LeBeau introduced the first wine of the night, presenting Dry Creek Valley 2010 The Federalist, a California Zinfandel from 2Sons Winery. It was a fruity, medium-bodied red wine meant to compete with the first beer selection by Corey from BX Beer Depot, who chose Wychwood Brewery's Hobgoblin, an imported dark English ale made from chocolate and crystal malts with a dash of citrus aroma.

Round One went to The Federalist with more than half of the diners preferring it paired with the appetizer than the ale (Ben Franklin might have been disappointed, even though the wine bottle pays homage to fellow Founding Father Alexander Hamilton).

The second course, courtesy of a recipe from Corey, was, for me, the most interesting dish of the evening: Éphémère salad, made with jicama, apple, fennel, sweet pepper, red onion and oranges tossed with a dressing made from Éphémère Ale and Mint Oregon Garden Vinaigrette. The melange had an autumnal flair to it but was neither overly sweet nor spicy; but an exciting blend of the two. I would make this salad at home. Even though it reminded me of fall, I could also see it being a crisp, refreshing salad on a hot summer day.

LeBeau paired it with a playful, low-alcohol, sparkling wine, Moscato d'Asti, from the Piedmont region of Italy, more associated with Christmas in that country than Easter. Corey cleverly chose to pair the salad with the beer used an ingredient in the dressing:

Éphémère, a Canadian ale brewed with apple juice, coriander and orange peel, with a hazy clarity. The Belgian-style witbier was intended to bring out the spices in the salad. Once again, the wine won the round, with more guests raising their hands in favor of its

pairing with the food. But that didn't mean the beer didn't have its defenders.

"This beer has so many wonderful flavors in it," said Barry Imhoff, owner of Mad Rush design and graphic arts in West Palm Beach. "So, to pair it with something neutral like french fries would be very nice."

The third course, the entree, was a deliciously moist and flavorful herb roasted pork tenderloin, or as LeBeau introduced it, "the same cut on a pig you would get filet mignon on a cow." Perfectly seasoned with a selection of herbs, served with baby white potatoes and covered with a vermouth sauce, the tenderloin was prepared medium-to-well done which failed to reduce its tenderness. Many diners went back for seconds after LeBeau announced he had made enough for an Easter dinner.

He paired the meat with what he considers to be one of the best wines of its kind, a 2010 Trimbach Riesling 2010 imported from Alsace, France. In introducing the wine, LeBeau commented that "this is what a Riesling should be" -- not sweet, but elegant and dry.

Corey noted that Germans know pork and sausage and which beer goes great with it. Taking a cue from those barons of Bavaria, he chose Great Divide Brewing Co.'s Hoss rye lager from Denver Colorado, an American beer based on the Märzen lagers of Germany. Savory, malty and carmel-ly with an unusual red-orange color, the beer was the first of the evening to win a round with an overwhelming majority of votes from the tasters.

Between courses, discussion included talk about the pairings, with a general consensus That all of the choices were excellent, whether they won the round or not.

Audrey Farrelly, manager of O'Shea's, attending her third Gulp! tasting, remarked that making a decision between the unusual beers and fine wines being served was a tough call.

"It's like having two children and saying which one is your favorite," she said.

But that was before Sally and Corey delivered the coup de grâce: BX Beer Depot's own milk stout, that was served as something extra for the evening to be enjoyed with Coreen's "sexy," decadent and oh-so-scrumptious crème brûlée with caramelized organic cane sugar that Coreen created herself.

"I got to wield a blow torch, which I recommend even if you're not making crème brûlée," she told us all before we slid into the silky dessert with our spoons.

The wine for Round Four was Castlenau de Suduiraut's 2007 Sauternes, a French dessert wine with an excitingly sweet aftertaste. In presenting the wine, LeBeau described to his guests how it is made from grapes that have been affected by Botrytis cinerea, also known as noble rot. The fungus shrinks and sucks the water from the grape, causing it to become partially raisined and resulting in concentrated and distinctively flavored wine. Another beer, St. Ambroise Vintage ale from Canada brewed by McAuslan Brewing in Montreal, was offered by Corey, but the overwhelming favorite paired with the crème brûlée was the freshly brewed milk stout. Audrey made it clear that it was her favorite child.

So, since it was a draw -- wine winning two courses and beer winning two -- there was no real TKO that night -- just plenty of succulent food and really interesting selections of beer and wine that delivered a powerful punch!

I'm sure Mame Burkett will be back for the next tasting after some recuperation but I was so glad to be her substitute for the night. I usually don't like to use the word "special" to describe things because it's so trite, but in this case it's absolutely fitting for the night's festivities and my first tasting.

I Love Chocolate and Aphrodisiacs or It’s February Gulp!

 

Oh February how quickly you have come and have left but you can’t take away the wonderful day Gulpers had at the Warehouse.  That’s right we celebrated chocolate and aphrodisiacs at Coreen and Lebeau’s Warehouse location in Lake Park.  A  transformation has taken place in this once stark and sterile place.  Sheer draping, twinkle lights, woven baskets and various other fun details really softened the space and made it very welcoming and comfortable.  The space truly reflected our wonderful hosts.  It was a wonderful introduction to the new Gulp Gathering Place and maybe it was the food but I think it was the location and guests that helped me feel a little romantic and friendly.  John loved my mood when I got home….just sayin.

Before I get to the pairings let me give you a quick lesson on aphrodisiacs.  I promise to keep it PG.  Stop laughing!  I can keep it clean!  Okay, an aphrodisiac can be a food, a scent, a feeling that evokes and increases sexual desire.  (see that was clean).  The most popular aphrodisiacs are food because they work on all five senses.  There are a couple of odd ball things that have been popular over the centuries.  One is Rhino Horn which is used in the wilds of India and said to make a man’s virility unstoppable….whatever.  The other one is a breast feeding woman.  Again this is considered more of a turn on for a man. 

Back to the food.  Foods that are considered as having aphrodisiac properties are often visual representations of a man’s penis.  There I said it! Penis! These foods are asparagus, carrots, cucumbers, and Olive Garden’s breadsticks.  Other foods that are sexy are ones that smell and/or taste luscious and sensual.  Chocolate is probably the most famous and that is why it is the most popular of Valentine Gifts.  Oysters are popular because they are juicy and cold and slippery and….well, you get the picture.  Wine is also considered an aphrodisiac.  The aromas of smoky, fruity and sometimes flowery set the mood while the alcohol loosens the libido and conscience…I think that says enough.  As a non-expert of aphrodisiacs but a married woman of a pretty good 30 years I recommend a regular diet of aphrodisiacs.  Some of my favorites are lobster with butter sauce, think “Flash Dance” and  for dessert chocolate sauce, think….        whatever you want. 

Onto the pairings!

The First Course was a lovely twist on an asparagus and swiss cheese quiche and a leaf lettuce salad with a raspberry vinaigrette. The asparagus is well known as an aphrodisiac.  English herbalist from the 17th century, Nicholas Culpepper, wrote that asparagus "stirs up lust in man and woman." The little twist to this savory pie of libido enhancers was instead of a pie crust for the quiche Coreen used croissants.  I loved how the eggs melded into the buttery bread.  The asparagus was fresh and still had bite.  The swiss cheese brought it all together and added a lovely umami element.  The salad was a great offset to the creamy, soft quiche.  The lettuce had snap to it and the vinaigrette gave just the right amount of acid that lightened up the whole dish.  Lebeau paired this with Barton & Guestier Sparkling Rose’.  This is a refreshing rose slightly sweet with a nice effervescence.  The nose is full of strawberries and summer.  It tastes just the way it smells.  The pairing of the rich eggy quiche with the sparkling wine was spot on.  It cut the richness of the quiche and then joined with the salad for a wonderfully light entre’.  Everyone at the table was thinking this was a perfect Sunday brunch course.  It would certainly perk up my Easter Sunday.

The next course was an intermezzo.  Well, not really, since an intermezzo is usually a palate cleanser in between the first and main course.  This was a delicious foodie treat our friend and fellow Gulper, Kyle provided.  His family owns a fish market, Captain Clay and Sons Fish Market, in Delray and they make their own smoked fish dip.  I don’t like fish dip.  It is always overpowering with smoke and fishiness and mayo…yuck.  Not so Kyle’s offering.  It was spicy, rich and yes smoky but it was not overpowering and it lightly dressed with mayo and it was fresh.  Kyle served it on a slice of crusty french bread and a couple of slices of pickled jalapenos.  Those spicy little green circles with their tang of vinegar helped cut the richness of the dip and the bread held it all together for a perfect bite. 

The Second course was another one where a few Gulpers said they didn’t like the main ingredient then had to take it back.  It featured, what I think most people consider first when we talk about aphrodisiacs, oysters.  This was Coreen’s take on an oyster stew and it was my favorite course of the day.   The oysters were perfectly tender and creamy.  The bacon was there but didn’t overpower the other flavors as it can sometimes do.  Barry loved the addition of the chard.  It added a wonderful bite of texture and the bitterness of the green refreshed the palate before going in for the next rich spoonful of stew.  Lebeau selected Rodney Strong Chardonnay to go along with this course.  Great pick Lebeau!   This crisp and refreshing wine was the perfect foil for the stew.  There was vanilla and apple with just the right amount of toasted oak for a delicious glass. This course was a perfect example of something I have said many times before; the best thing about pairings is how the wine transforms the food and visa versa.  These were a couple and they were making my mouth feel nothing but love. This course was so good the room went silent except for occasional slurps and moans of happiness; some very sexy sounds for foodies.  There was one exclamation of “But I don’t like oysters!”  Then she went silent again as she returned to her bowl.    Oh yeah, this was good.

The Third course took us to the hot side of aphrodisiacs.  Thai basil beef contained spicy chile and sweet basil, both of which are considered aphrodisiacs.  The chile is pretty obvious as it warms up the insides but basil is a little more subtle.  This sweet and slightly peppery herb dates back to Greece and has chemical properties said to enrich the blood and one’s desire.  Put these together and it’s a hot time in the ol’ bed tonight.  Coreen paired them up with tender ground beef, green beans and red bell pepper then nestled them gently into romaine leaves.  The fact that you can eat this with your hands makes it a sensual and playful dish.  The Henry Fessy St. Amore Beaujolais with its aromas of strawberries and spice made the meat juicier and amped up the spice in the meat mixture.  The food mellowed out the acid in the wine and brought out cherries on the tongue.  It was really, really delicious.  My table-mate Corrina said this was her favorite course.

Our Fourth and final course was as sweet as the Valentine Holiday!  Coreen created a honeyed goat cheese chocolate truffle which she lovingly placed atop vanilla ice cream and added a cocoa dusted almond.  Lebeau  paired it beautifully with a ruby port from Terra d’Oro.  Here again was a course with a disliked ingredient transformed.  Steve Hussey loudly proclaimed he HATED goat cheese.  HATED IT!  He LOVED this dessert.  I think he may have eaten more than one truffle and asked for more!  The truffle was a delicious combination of the tangy goat cheese tempered by the honey and enriched by the chocolate.  By the way this little mouthful is an aphrodisiac powerhouse.  Both the honey and the chocolate are classic aphrodisiacs.  In fact, honey was called the nectar of Aphrodite by the Greeks.  Sticky, gooey sweetness…oh yeah I am feeling amorous just thinking about it.  The vanilla ice cream was just as luscious and of course vanilla in the ice cream is also a classic aphrodisiac.  The aroma of the vanilla increases our sense of anticipation and excitement.  It is also comforting and relaxing.  Put the three together and somebody is very ready for love.  Wait, don’t stop at the food add the Terra d’Oro Ruby Port and the whole thing gets even sexier.  This is a Zinfandel port, deep dark and mysterious.  The aroma is dark chocolate and raspberries and the flavor adds raisins and coffee to the party.  It is a wondrous thing we weren’t seeing half the room leave the event early to go home and work off all those sweet, sensual and sexy ingredients that were flowing through our veins.  I know I left quickly.  I had a sudden urge to see what my husband was up to! 

It was a very very good day.  Thanks again Coreen and Lebeau!

March is Wine v Beer at Bx BeerDepot!  Signup early!  It is going to be awesome!  See you next month!

Umami–Who knew?

January’s Gulp was curiouser and curiouser.  It wasn’t exactly sweet, certainly not bitter, it got a little salty and never did it get sour.  Hmmm…what was that rich, fatty, almost meaty taste left in my mouth?

Umami.  That’s right, the fifth taste of the tongue is umami.  It is that taste that conveys richness, it makes the mouth salivate and coats the tongue.  It makes you want more and then helps with making food taste satisfying.  This long debated taste was the topic for our pairing and let me say right up front that LeBeau did an awesome job sharing and demonstrating what he learned about this elusive taste.  Just a tip from LeBeau as we proceed.  Taste is that thing the tongue senses.  Flavor is the result of combining aroma with taste.  I will try hard not to get the two confused.

A little background before we get to the tastings. Umami has been used for centuries in Asian cuisine.  As early as 1200 years ago Japanese cooks would add seaweed to food as a flavor enhancer.  Umami was first identified way back in 1903 by a chemistry professor at the Imperial University of Tokyo, Kikunae Ikeda.  By himself he spent a lot of years isolating the elusive “receptor”.  Glutamates were bandied about and nucleotides were twisted. He discovered in the right combinations these elements deepened the flavor of food.  He used dashi, a broth made of seaweed and dried fish to prove his theory. LeBeau treated us to a sample of the broth to start the day.  I can’t say it was a really pleasant flavor.  It coated my tongue like a fat but there was no fat in the broth.  I got the sense of rocks, kind of metallic and earthy.  Daphine said she got smoke from it.  These are all examples of what umami does on the tongue.  Umami isn’t a single taste like salty, sweet or sour.  It is the thing that makes those tastes bigger more flavorful.  In fact, the first commercial use of umami was a flavor enhancer called “Accent.”  As their commercials advertised “It wakes up food.”  It really does it in a way that the other tastes just miss.

Examples of food with umami are seaweed, pretty much all meat and seafood, mushrooms, parmesan, milk, spinach tomatoes and asparagus.  Think about them; there is an element beyond salty in all these foods that make them taste richer and even more satisfying than foods without umami.  LeBeau shared so much information that our collective brains swelled 10 times 10 that day and it was good.  He recommended a cookbook called “The Fifth Taste, Cooking with Umami” by Anna and David Kasabian to get inspired by delicious recipes that are made even better with umami.  There are also many many websites to further anyone’s more scientific interest in this topic.

Onto the pairings!!

We were treated to Domaine St. Michelle Luxe Sparkling Wine.  This lovely sparkler was a bit dry with a grapefruit aroma. It had a nice finish lingering in my mouth.  There were flavors of pineapple and something spicy on the tongue.  Later I would find out the creamy note I sensed was a hint of umami maybe from the aging of the wine in oak barrels. 

The daschi was to follow and I wouldn’t say this was a pairing. 

The first official pairing of the day was a really cool creation of Coreen’s called California Roll Salad.  Basically she took the classic ingredients of a California Roll, krab, rice, avocado, and cucumber then added lettuce.  She tossed it all with a vinaigrette bursting with umami flavors like soy sauce, sesame oil and a little kick of wasabi.  Finally, she sprinkled crushed nori on top for crunch.  It was fantastic.  Adriel and KP both said while they weren’t fans of the well known roll they would eat this salad all day long. Adriel even went so far to say, “Maybe I should smash my California roll next time!”  It was paired with an Angoves Clare Valley Riesling that was more dry than the average Riesling and quite refreshing with notes of lemon.  Paired with the salad it changed a little with a grassy note joining the citrus which was actually really nice.  The acidity of the wine cut the savory dressing and made the salad taste lighter that it was.  Another example of how important the right pairing improves everything.

The second course was spaghetti with prosciutto, asparagus, parmesan and tomato.   It was paired with an Estancia Reserve 2007 Chardonnay.                                            This was my favorite course of the day and I am going to tell you why.  It was in a word DELICIOUS! Lebeau spent a lot of time explaining how the different chemical elements came together to create a sensation of fatty, savory, even buttery on the tongue giving the diner great satisfaction and even a feeling of satiation.  You know that old adage of how quickly you feel full after eating Chinese food and then 30 minutes later you’re hungry again?  Well the Umami does that and it did this in this course with perfection.  This was an incredibly simple dish made with almost no fat.  They used a little olive oil to keep the noodles from sticking and for a little moisture.  This dish was on the dry side and yet I didn’t seem to mind that at all.  I wanted to just keep eating.  The tomatoes popped and the asparagus gave a fresh garden taste.  Then add the oaky creaminess of the Chardonnay and suddenly there was this HUGE party going on in my mouth.  Flavor danced all over my tongue.  I felt like I was eating a fatty, creamy dish and there wasn’t a speck of butter or cream anywhere to be found!  White wines grapes don’t in and of themselves have the glutamates or amino acids in enough abundance to create umami.  The fermentation process however, especially if fermented on oak and/or on lees can increase this.  The creamy mouth feel of the Chardonnay along with it’s smoky/apple-y flavors work with the umami in the food to create an intensely savory, deeper flavor on the tongue.  KP said the tomatoes burst in her mouth.  “This is a lively example of how wine and food can be spectacular!” 

The third course ran a close second to the spaghetti.  LeBeau prepared umami burgers.  In the meat he added garlic, pepper and a secret ingredient which he revealed after much quizzing as Vietnamese fish sauce.  The fish sauce is all umami all day long.  It was accompanied with a truffle aioli.  Again, truffle is very rich with umami.  The burger was served on a soft bun that added a lovely touch of sweetness to the burger and a little lettuce for crunch.  It was paired with a Catena Cabernet Sauvignon from Argentina.  This was a very nice example of Cabernet.  It had a leathery, chocolate aroma and the flavor was pretty close with a lovely dash of pepper.  Remember in the last course I mentioned white wine grapes didn’t have so much umami.  That isn’t the case with reds.  While the umami is not the overwhelming taste in red wine it definitely increases the deep woodsy, earthiness that is often associated with reds.  This Cab really enhanced the already mighty umami in the burger, not so much by punching it up as much as smoothing it out making all the flavors linger on the tongue.  Oh yeah, this was something I wanted to keep eating! 

The 4th course was a further demonstration of umami.  LeBeau made a miso soup.  I hate miso soup.  When I go to Saito’s for lunch I always refuse the miso soup.  So you know I don’t like this stuff.  Then I tasted LeBeau’s and I wanted to call up Saito’s and ask them why they can’t make proper miso.  It was really good!  It won’t ever make my top five soups but this was tasty.  Miso is a very simple soup made with miso paste, daschi and tofu for a little texture.  Miso paste is made from fermented rice, barley or soy.  The most common is made from soy and I believe LeBeau said his was soy.  Anyway, it was salty, eathy, even meaty tasting.  Tasting this soup, I started to understand why miso, soy and the like are so often used in vegetarian preparations.  The umami gives food a meaty, fatty quality without the meat!  I know, you can see the light bulb shining above my head.  I drank the cabernet from the previous course with this and I have to say it worked pretty darn well.  I was so busy being amazed I liked this soup I forgot to take a picture of it.  Silly me.

The fifth and final course was a lovely dessert of green tea ice cream with strawberry sauce and a chocolate chili sauce.  Coreen made the ice cream.  I have had her ice cream before and I was excited to know she was making some for this event.  She didn’t disappoint.  The ice cream was smooth and sweet with the added depth of the green tea.  The strawberry sauce was not the highlight for me.  It was the chocolate sauce!  It was deep, rich, sweet and just a little bite of heat.  It is a very wonderful sensation to have cold and heat in the mouth all at the same time.  Loved it.  Here’s a tip from Coreen:  Instead of spending big bucks on a specialty chocolate sauce you can use your favorite brand of chocolate and stir in the spice yourself.  Thinking this way my mind spins with possibilities.  Choco orange or lavender or curry.  Think about it.  I paired this with the sparkling wine from earlier in the day and I was very happy!

That does it for this episode of Gulp.  I want to take a moment and thank Ashley for the pictures she took throughout the day.  My Dream Share pictures were great.  I really liked that they were stamped with the Gulp logo!  For those who would like more information on Umami and wine checkout this nifty blog I found:  the swami of umami.  Enjoy the pictures and I will see you next month!

Umami Gulp VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays Gulpers!

Wow!  It was a fantastic contest!  It was a perfect party.  It was a new location!  Coreen and LeBeau invited the group to their office/warehouse in Lake Park for a Christmas pairing event.  As is our Christmas tradition, (wait…we’ve been together long enough for Christmas traditions?) we split into teams, took all the knowledge we have accumulated and prepared our own special pairings.  There were six teams and while there were 3 winners there were no losers.
Here are the teams:
 Team 1-Michelle Getty, Kelly Ainsworth, Tracy Cottle, Bryan and Tony .  Their pairing was a  Malbec and a Crostini with bacon jam, brie and roasted tomato.

Team 2-Coreen, Chris Pawlowski, Heather Hatter, and Todd Johnson .  Their pairing was a pan seared mahi with a grapefruit vinaigrette and micro greens with a grapefruit mimosa.

Team Three-Mariana and Aladia Nascimento,  Adriel Wright and Barry.  Their pairing was an apple crisp with carmel popcorn and Riesling.

Team 4-Jim and Kelly Brogan :) & Xtina & Wally Lurz :)  They paired a 3 cheese mac and cheese with a Spanish Rioja Crianza.

Team 5 - Mame Burkett, LeBeau Kpadenou, Ashley Walker, Pam Schuster.   These guys paired a spice cupcake with sparkling rose and smoked bleu cheese with Riesling.

Team 6 - Deb Knepp, Alicia, Steve Hussey and Keil Brand.  Olive picnic pizza was paired with Reisling.

All of the food was a delicious but the winners were: 
In third place was the cheesy group of Team 4-Jim and Kelly Brogan :) & Xtina & Wally Lurz. 
Second place went to the spice gang of Mame Burkett, LeBeau Kpadenou, Ashley Walker, Pam Schuster.
drumroll please…….
In first place with a blinging and “look at me” table  was Team 1-Michelle Getty, Kelly Ainsworth, Tracy Cottle.
Congratulations to all the winners! 
In addition to the food pairing contest there was also a Yankee Christmas swap.  Since your intrepid blogger was sick with a head cold I didn’t stay for this part of the evening.  Can someone tell me who picked the redneck wine glasses? 
Finally, what a year this has been.  Engagements, Elections and Excitement abounded.  We met locally and across the country in search of more knowledge and adventure in wine pairings.  Some of us struggled sometimes and some of us announced wonderful successes and triumphs.  We did it!  We filled up another year of living and loving and drinking wine the whole dang time.  I wouldn’t have missed a minute with all of you.
So lift your glasses my friends with the fruit of the vine and the juice of life.  As Mr. Grgitch said, “Men need only two things.  They both start with “W”…women and wine.  Women need three things. 

The Party VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

They all start with “M”….men, money and merlot.  No matter what you might need may 2013 bring us more of all!  Happy Holidays Gulpers!
See you next year!

November’s Gulp got Cheesy

Florida’s weather has been absolutely gorgeous this month.  Temperatures are in the 70’s, low humidity and sunny skies.  The conditions were perfect on November 17th to get together at Casa La Sally and make some cheese.
What you ask?
We drink wine but we don’t make cheese.   Well, you’d be Wrongo Marylou.  
Thanks to the excellent mentoring skills of Jojo Milano of Delilah’s Dairy we Gulpers can now make cheese to go with our wine. (This post is ripe for bad puns and cheesy jokes.  I will try to keep them to a minimum).  I have to apologize in advance to our loyal followers, this was a hands on class.  I didn’t get a ton of notes or even pictures.  I did get the process of making paneer cheese pretty well documented and some silly video of the mozzarella making that if it doesn’t instruct you it will make you giggle a little. 
Let the cheese making begin!
We start with a few very important and serious instructions.  The most important being sanitation.  Everything must be clean and sanitized.  We made our cheese from Jojo’s fresh whole goat’s milk.  It was raw which means it hadn’t been pasteurized which means it is essentially alive.  We must treat it with respect and care.  All the pots, utensils and such should be well washed and sanitized.  Our hands must be well washed and sanitized too.  Jojo had a soapy solution with a little bleach in it for our washing needs.  One Gulper said she felt like she was prepping for surgery!
Another interesting point was because we were using raw milk our cheese would be considered vegetarian, NOT VEGAN, vegetarian.
You can use store bought milk to make this cheese but you need to make sure it isn’t ultra-homogenized.   The process changes the milk radically, removing calcium and changing the protein in a way that makes it unable to cut the cheese.  If you don’t have access to raw milk, (please see Jojo), then make sure it is only homogenized.  Organic milk can be ulta-homogenized so make sure you read the label.  Whole Foods sells one brand that would work, I think it is called 365? Jojo also mentioned Publix Greenwise milk would work too but make sure to read the label!  You could use skim or whole milk but keep in mind the butterfat is what gives the cheese more flavor.  What’s the point of going through the effort for no flavor?  Just my opinion.
Finally, while there is certainly an art to cheese making it is also a science.  Directions matter.  To get a good curd the milk needs to be at a specific temperature before adding the acid.  Rinsing is important to get rid of excess whey and makes the cheese last longer.
Let’s make some Cheese!
Paneer is a fresh simple cheese found much in Southeast Asian cuisine.  In the U.S it is called Farmer’s Cheese.  In Mexico it is Queso Fresca.  It is made with milk and an acid like lemon, citric acid, vinegar or yogurt.  In our lesson we used goat milk from Delilah Dairy and vinegar from Publix.  The recipe calls for 1 gallon of milk to a 1/2 cup of vinegar for approximately a pound of cheese.
Here is what we did:
1.  In a large saucepan bring the milk to 187 degrees stirring constantly.  Do not stir vigorously or you might spill the milk and then someone might start crying and that would be well, crying over spilled milk and just not done.
2. Once it is at temp slowly add the vinegar.  This will make the milk curd which will become the cheese.  Note:  even though the directions are for a half cup of vinegar we needed to add an additional 1/4 cup to get a good curd.  Jojo said that was fine.  “While there is definitely a science to cheesing making it is also an art”, wisely advised the day’s sage. 
3.  Once the curd is formed begin spooning it out of the pan and into a cheese cloth covered colander.  This allows the whey to continue to drain.  After scooping out all of the curd from the pot pick up the edges of the cheese cloth and twist to continue draining away the whey or a whey it goes!  (I couldn’t help myself).
4.  Take the curd in the cheese cloth to the sink and rinse it under running water.  Then twist again to squeeze out water and any left over whey.  Be careful not to over squeeze.  Too much and all you will have left is no curds and whey.  Seriously, too much and it will reduce the amount of cheese produced.
5.  This is now for all intents and purposes cheese.  But how do we make it taste good?  Well you gouda add herbs, ( I swear no more), but first add salt.  IMPORTANT:  Do not use iodized salt.  It will turn the cheese green!  I am not kidding it is true.  Use kosher or canning salt to season the cheese.  Here let Jojo explain:

no green cheese allowed

After the exciting adventure with paneer cheese the gathered Gulpers sat back and enjoyed noshes prepared by Coreen and Lebeau.  While I sipped my Brandsen Reserve 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon I munched on cheese and sausages, mini tacos, sweet potato fries with a sriracha sauce, mini blt bites, and pears with spiced ricotta.   In the meantime Jojo prepared the stage for a demonstration on mozzarella cheese making.  Once again I am going to let Jojo do the talking.  Give her your unfeta’d attention:
The recipe for the mozzarella is as follows: 

yes I know the first few frames are sideways. The wine was very good!

1. let milk stand to room temp 55 ° and above in pot.
don't start heating till :
2. in 1/4 cup of chilled water add 1/4tsp of rennet put back in fridge
in 1/4 cup of chilled water add 1.5 tsp of citric acid
in% cup of chilled water add 1/4 tsp of lipase powder chill in fridge 20 minutes till
dissipated
on stove
1. with room temp milk add the lipase powder and the citric acid and stir stir stir.
2. heat milk to 88 ° (i can sometimes go up to 90 °)
3. pour in rennet. stirring as you go. up and down motions for about 30 seconds.
just make sure all rennet is stirred into milk.
4. make sure milk is still at 88-90 ° a bit above is fine.
5. take milk off stove and let sit for 20-50 minutes. cover it.
6. at 20 min. check to see if you have one giant curd. stick your finger in to test.
should look custard like. if not, leave it alone.
7. Cut curds into 1 inch squares.
8. put on the stove to heat it up again to about 105-108 ° to firm things up a bit. or
if a good firm curd just let sit for another 10 minutes. can remove soMe whey.
you can start to stir to mix the curds. they should start sticking together and first
look of gooey mozzarella is starting.
9. take off stove and pour out tome of the whey. are curds melding tOgether? if
not, put back on stove to heat up to 108 °
10. ladle the cheese into a colander (plastic is fine), start to fold curds into each
other, get the whey out. should be clear.
11. take the big ball of curd and place in a microwave bowl. place in the
microwave 30-50 seconds (my microwave) where its almost too hot to touch.
and start playing with it. seeing a stretch starting, when slightly cooled to touch
determine if its too soft or too hard, or not pulling enough put in microwave for
another 30 sec. repeat above.
12. add some salt to itkeep pulling
At this point you should have a lovely shiny, long, stretchy mozzarella.
13. rope. braid. roll.
14. stick in an ice water bath to chill the moz... 10 minutes.
It was an amazing evening.  The setting was perfect.  The friends were perfect and the cheese beyond all expectations.  I butter quit for now.  I camembert for the next event!

getting our cheese on! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I love Oktoberfest with Gulp!

Before I begin this post I just want to send out prayers and well wishes to all those affected by Hurricane Sandy.  We in South Florida know what you are going through and feel your pain, aggravation and need for electricity.  For anyone who reads the Gulp posts who wishes to help out our Northern neighbors visit www.redcross.org or donate blood at your local blood bank.  That’s what neighbors do, we help each other out when the times get tough!
Onto the pairings!
This was a unique pairing event.  Not because it was beer.  We’ve done that.  Not because it was Oktoberfest, done that too.  We have never done, however costumes.  Yep, that’s right people came in costume to celebrate Halloween!  I give big props to everyone who dressed up but my personal favorite was the ooompa looompa!  Yes, I have pictures…hehehehhee.  It was also unique because this pairing featured not only Coreen’s skills in the kitchen but also her brewing chops as well.  Two of the courses were paired with a homebrew created by Coreen and I can tell you right now that I liked both.  Great job young lady!  This was also the largest gathering to date with 35 Gulpers joining in on the fun and learning about beer pairing. 
1st Course:  This was a course as far away from Germany as one could get.  Coreen and LeBeau went deep into the heart of Dixie and made chicken and waffles.  Can Y’all say finger lickin’ good?  The waffle was freshly made with a pat of butter and maple syrup and it was topped with a crispy fried chicken tender.  It was paired with Coreen’s first brew of the day.  The Vanilla, oatmeal and maple syrup stout was like breakfast in a glass all on its own!  Paired with the crispy chicken and sweet, toasty waffle I was visioning big verandas, roman columns, and oak trees dripping with spanish moss.  (I refuse to see myself in hoop skirt or crinoline.)  Seriously, the aroma of the stout was all maple syrup and then when I took my first drink I got the maple but right behind it the vanilla coffee.  The oatmeal gave the brew body and weight making it definitely a meal.  It paired wonderfully with the waffle.  The maple in the stout said hi to the maple on the waffle and chicken and they all became very good friends in my mouth.  Michelle said she was going to have this for breakfast everyday!

2nd Course:  This course put us smack dab into the middle of Fall.  The beer was Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpkin Stout and it tasted the way its name sounds.  It was big, and bold with aromas of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove and pumpkin.  Its flavor was caramel-y and pumpkin-y with a faint note of citrus on the back end.  It was paired with more pumpkin in a lasagna that everyone wanted seconds of.  The pumpkin lasagna was lovely thin layers of tender noodles filled with ricotta, pumpkin and acorn squash puree.  It was topped with mozzarella and parmesan.  The parmesan was a smart ingredient that gave the lasagna a nutty, salty component that kept the rest from being really sweet.  The match between the brew and the food was phenomenal!  Almost every Italian will tell you cream sauces are enhanced with a touch of nutmeg and the stout provided that touch.  This was savory, warm and creamy meets cool, spicy and satisfying.  In short, yummy!
Dessert in the middle:  Before we moved to the third course we were served dessert.  This lovely little bite was created by our own Deb Knepp.  It was a pumpkin pound cake w/ amaretto cream cheese frosting.  It was moist rich and dense cake topped with a decadent cream cheese frosting that just melted in my mouth.  I have to say I am a sucker for cream cheese frosting and this one reminded me why.  I love the sweet, tangy creamy flavor and then mix in a cake that was full of pumpkin goodness I could have eaten a lot more, as it was a had two pieces!  I paired it with the pumpkin stout and wow was that delicious!


3rd Course:  With this course we came fully into Oktoberfest.  Coreen braised brawursts in stout and caramelized onions in the same stout and put the two together in a soft bun.  My mouth is watering at the memory.  The aroma of the meat and onions tickled my nose as Lebeau presented it to our table and I knew then and there I was in brat love.  They paired  them with a Lefthand Oktoberfest Marzen.   This pretty amber colored brew smelled sweet and a little yeasty.  The flavor followed suit.  After two fairly big flavor beers this one was lighter and if I may say refreshing especially against the sandwich with it’s porky, fatty goodness.  There was a caramel note to the beer as well which matched the sweetness of the onions.  It was a really a perfect pairing.

4th Course:  Coreen excels at sweets!  This is a bit funny because she isn’t much for eating them.  Personally, I don’t care about that, just that she keeps coming up with these tasty closings to every Gulp meal.  This one was a banana fosters cup with banana mousse, chopped nuts, caramel sauce and ginger cookie crumbles.  REALLY?  Oh yeah, really and it tasted better than its description.  Creamy, cool mousse meets banana and then crunch, crunch, crunch go the nuts and cookies.  Crap! It was good.   Coreen’s homebrew heffeweisen was the perfect match with all that banana flavor.  It was slightly cloudy and a smelled a little yeasty.  It was mild in flavor and I thought a perfect foil for the richness of the dessert.  All I wrote at the time was YUMMO!
Well my friends that is it for this edition of the Gulp Recap!  Have a great November and if I don’t see you have a Happy, Safe and Grateful Thanksgiving!
Enjoy the Halloween costume pictures:

		Oktoberfest Fun VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Sonoma, The Friday Brewery Tour

Friday was the brewery tour.  I was not there for all the fun so I am turning the reporting duty over to Coreen.  Take it away Coreen:

 

The Brewery Tour VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Twas a beautiful, sunny day as we all loaded onto the Platypus tour bus with Scott for our second tour date. Today, September 28, Scott picked us up outside of our hotel and we headed off to the first stop for brew!
We went to Russian River Brew Pub in Downtown Santa Rosa. Here, we tried 32 different beers ranging from stouts, to blondes, to IPA’s, and even some sours aged in pinot noir barrels.  For some of us, (me) it confirmed our love for the hoppiest IPA’s with Pliny the Elder, one of the most fantastic brews I had all day, (at this brew pub anyway).
Then there was Redemption, Benediction, Damnation, Temptation, Salvation, Consecration....all the lovely ations made me salivat-ions. We worked on a pretty nice buzz at this pub.
We “MOO”-ved on to a photo shoot of a pastured cow and hot air balloon mural on our way over to the second watering hole … Third Street Aleworks. We did a couple of flights of 7 here, but it was really about coating our guts for the next stop. So we all shared some parmesan fries, zucchini sticks, and calamari and then headed to our third stop for the day.
Next stop, Lagunitas in Petaluma, CA. We met up with our ever loving Sally here, who set up a tour for us...it just seemed like one heavenly sight after the other after that! Met up with Don (Mr. Nice Guy), our tour guide for the day, he brings us upstairs to this loft rock star hang out and cranks on some music and goes to town hanging out with us and pouring us samples of beer while we stroll around and take in all the funky sets and props. He makes us an Imperial Stout Ice Cream Float, and float we did, it was amaze-balls! So there we are overlooking the brewery on one side of us with all the fermenting tanks, that to any brewer or brew patron, just looked like castles amongst this fantasy world we are all in with Don, our Unicorn Tour Guide! Once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us, sincerely.
We unsaddled from the bar stools (literally) and went on a tour of the place. One stop after the other learning and cruising around this place was amazing. Fermenting warehouse, control center, on to the bottling house where we all donned safety glasses and got this funky bottle beat going from all the noises of clanking and clunking bottles. Don screams out “Everyone go ahead and grab a Hop Stoopid off the line!!!”Whhaaaaa???? We were giddy! So there we are drinking Hop Stupid in its birthing room!
Hard to move on from that huh? But we did, he then brought us into the warehouse area showed us the process of bottling and packing their delicious brews. Then he takes us to the tap room and pours us a ton of free beers and sends us all on our way without taking a single penny for a tip or anything! I swear, even the guys were swooning over our unicorn by the end of the day! 

Our amazing, patient and tenacious tour guide Scott then brought us back to our hotel, let us drop off all of our items and left us off safely at Bear Republic Brew House in downtown Healdsburg where we proceeded to get nice and toasty. Well, I did, anyway.