If you’re in the Detroit area, Join us for the 5th annual BBQ Rib Burn Out behind Dino’s Lounge in Ferndale!

Rogue Estate and The Hungry Dudes have teamed up to put the delicious smack down on the competition for this charity event. This year’s charities are: The Ferndale Youth Assistance & Michigan Aids Coalition

Full details can be found on Dino’s site  here and Facebook, here.

Rockin’ Blues BBQ Rib Burn Out!
HEATED PARTY TENT in the parking lot behind Dino’s Lounge! WRIF will be there with “Rock Girl” Sarah!

Ferndale Eduation Foundation will be raffling of a new Ford Focus!
Tickets $10. Noon – 7pm, then move the party inside Dino’s! Tickets go on sale next week! Get yours before the party to be sure you get in!

4,000 heated sf with tables & chairs & lots of Bud & Bud Light (16oz $4), Buffalo Trace Bourbon & Cokes ($4) and RIBS! You get to sample ribs from each team & cast your vote for The People’s Choice Awards – 8 teams competing* (that’s 16 ribs!)

5th Annual BBQ Rib Burn Out – Noon-4pm
Celebrity Judges & People’s Choice voting until 5!
Winners announced at 5pm

Entertainment:
Tent Noon-3pm – The Chris Brantley Band (Mitch Ryder’s guitarist)
3:30-7pm ADJ (acoustic covers from Johnny Cash and Cee Lo Green)
Dino’s – The Reefermen with James Whalin takes the Dino’s stage @ 9pm

Raw ingredients for the soup. In the case of the cheeses, raw milk cheeses to be exact...

At the same Chef’s Night that yielded the previous two recipes posted below, my offering was this Cheddar/Ale soup made almost entirely from ingredients that are made within an hours drive from where we cooked. The focus of the evening was warming winter foods with an extra emphasis on locally made ingredients. We tend to look for local whenever possible to begin with, but this night the focus on Michigan bounty was even more intense than usual. There was a professional photographer and fellow food blogger/obsessive present, Joe Hakim of The Hungry Dudes, so we had to bring the A game and swing for the bleachers.

I think we accomplished our goal. Links to the photo galleries and printed article spawned from this evenings culinary melee at the end.

Recipe for Michigan Cheddar/Ale soup:

Ingredients for 4 servings:

1/2 medium size yellow onion diced
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
2 large jalapenos seeded and diced
1 Tablespoons fresh garlic, peeled and crushed
2 bottles Mad Hatter IPA (New Holland Brewing Company)
1 pint chicken stock
1 pint Guernsey Farms heavy whipping cream
1/2 pound bacon diced (home made by a friend of the Estate, so local as well)
1/2 pound Rosewood Products raw milk cheddar shredded
1/4 pound or 2 oz. Rosewood Products raw milk goat cheddar shredded
1/4 pound or 2 oz. Oliver Farms sharp cheddar curds
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 Tablespoon Chicken Soup base (“Better Than Bouillon” brand paste)
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
Zingermans pretzel bread made into croutons, or crushed pretzels

Procedure:

Don't stop stirring! Burnt cheese does not taste good! Well... at least not in this case.

Mince the diced onion and peppers in a food processor until almost a paste. Brown the diced bacon in a pot over medium heat and add the minced veggies. Cook slowly for 25 minutes, or until most of the moisture is gone. At the same time melt the butter in a small pan and add the flour, cook for 15-20 minutes on low heat, stirring continuously, and refrigerate. Turn the heat on the soup pot up to high and add the garlic. Stir continuously until the garlic smell is very strong, 30 seconds or so. Add 1.5 bottles of Mad Hatter, and boil until only 1/3 of the volume is left. Add the chicken stock and cream and bring back to a simmer. Once back to a simmer add the cheeses and stir constantly until dissolved over medium heat. Or add bit by bit until it’s all been incorporated, but the central theme here is do NOT stop stirring until all the cheese is melted! If you stop stirring during this part of the process, the cheese will just sink to the bottom and burn. Once dissolved, and back to a simmer, add the last half bottle of Mad Hatter and the chilled butter and flour mixture a little at a time until the soup is thickened to your liking. Stir in the chicken soup base a little at a time, tasting between each addition to make sure you don’t over salt, and add as much fresh ground black pepper as you wish to your own tastes. Taste for seasoning, and bowl, using the pretzel croutons for garnish and a few turns on the pepper mill for added contrast and aroma.

Warming, cheesy, peppery, pretzelly goodness! Perfect for a midwest winter night!

I tried to go as simply as possible with this recipe, as there was a chance it would be published in a local magazine, so I wanted it to be accessible to the home cook. It’s come to my attention that I’m not always very good at that though. I guess 20 years cooking professionally has somewhat disconnected me from what the term “home cook” implies. That aside, this recipe is very adaptable, you can substitute any local or even non-local variant of any ingredient included and still have one hell of a soup at the end of it.

Live well, and eat better!

-Jack

Gallery from Joe Hakim of The Hungry Dudes blog

Rogue Estate Facebook Gallery

Real Detroit Weekly’s article on the meal in question

Shrimp and cheese? You bet. The cheese in this is an amazing mild Dutch (“Dorothea Potato Chip Goat cheese“) that incorporates potato, onion and herbs into the finished product. We found it at Westborn Market in Berkley, and it’s worth searching for.

We prepared this as one of the Winter Comfort Foods for a recent Chef’s Night menu and it’s been featured in a photo gallery by The Hungry Dude’s Joe Hakim, a Photo Gallery on the Rogue Estate Facebook and an article in Real Detroit Weekly. Enjoy!

Shrimp Gratin Appetizer (Yields 4 small 4 oz. ramekins)

2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter
1.5 – 2 cups half & half, heated
6 oz. grated Dorothea Potato Chip Goat cheese
24 (31-45 count) raw shrimp peeled and deveined, thawed, tails removed
3 scallions finely sliced
2 cloves garlic minced
dash white pepper
dash nutmeg
dash salt
2-3 oz. grated Raclette cheese
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1.5 tbsp Virgin Olive Oil
pinch paprika
pinch dried thyme
pinch of salt
Flat-leaf parsley (for garnish)

1) Make Mornay (cheese sauce)
Combine flour and butter over medium heat, simmer while stirring until raw flour smell goes away (10 minutes). Add 1.5 cups half & half and stir until thickened, lower heat (if too thick, add more half & half). Add grated Goat cheese, stir to combine.

2) Assemble
Add shrimp to cheese sauce, and simmer on lowest heat for only 1-2 minutes. Spoon into mixing bowl; add scallions, garlic, pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste, stir. Spoon gratin into into 4 small ramekins, making sure each contains 6 shrimp. Make crumb topping: stir together Panko, oil, paprika, thyme, and salt. Top each ramekin with 1/4 of the Raclette and crumb topping.

3) Bake
Bake ramekins at 350°F for 10 minutes until golden on top. Remove, let cool slightly, garnish with parsley.

Pairs very well with a chilled Alsatian or Oregon Pinot Gris.

[When Bob isn't wandering the markets in search of new products and exotic produce, he's back in the kitchen cooking.]

It’s winter and that means it’s time for braising and pot roasting. This recipe works fine by either method, or a combination of the two. The most important thing this dish needs is time – so plan ahead to give it plenty. It only gets better the longer it cooks.

We prepared this as one of the Winter Comfort Foods for a recent Chef’s Night menu and it’s been featured in a photo gallery by The Hungry Dude’s Joe Hakim, a Photo Gallery on the Rogue Estate Facebook and an article in Real Detroit Weekly. Enjoy!

Beef Burgundy to serve a table of 4
This is a very flexible and forgiving dish that is perfect for the beginner. Ingredients are inexpensive and short of full out neglect,  it’s tough to actually mess up. Like most soups; leftovers taste even better the following day.

The software:
3lbs Beef Short Ribs or Flatiron Steaks, roughly chopped
2 Tablespoons peanut oil, vegetable shortening or bacon fat
2 cups diced yellow onion
2 tablespoons crushed garlic (more if desired)
3 cups diced carrot
1 cup finely diced celery
2 cups full bodied red wine – I used Chateau de la Taille Bordeaux
2 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons butter
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 star anise
Salt
Black Pepper
3 hours of time from prep to serve

The hardware: A Large (12″+) pan or dutch oven, preferably cast iron. Large (2+ Qt) saucepan optional.

The Method:
Prep all ingredients before starting – this will make things go much smoother during assembly and cooking.
For the wine – use something you’ll enjoy drinking, since there will likely be some leftover. If it tastes good in a glass, it’ll taste good in a recipe.
When chopping beef & veg, smaller pieces mean less cook time. This recipe was timed with beef cut to roughly 1 1/2″ cubes. 1/4″ dice on the onions and 1/4″ slice on the carrots & celery.

With everything cleaned, sliced, diced and ready, add the oil or fat to the pan and heat it on med-hi until nearly wisps of smoke appear. Salt the beef and add to the pan carefully (It will spit a little). Don’t over crowd the pan – brown in batches. Brown on all sides. When a good color & crust is on the beef, remove to a bowl. A good set of tongs is the best tool for this job.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions and garlic. Cook the onions and garlic down until they’re translucent.

Crank the heat up to high and add the wine to the pan to deglaze. Use the tongs or a spatula to scrape all the stuff off the bottom of the pan and mix it around with the onions and wine.

As the Wine begins to bubble, reduce the heat to medium-low.
(If using a sauce pan, transfer everything over to it at this time.)

Return the beef to the pan, add the carrots, celery, beef stock and star anise.
Give everything a stir and let it simmer for at least 2 hours. Reduce the heat as needed.

Things should be bubbly but NOT boiling. Time is your most important ingredient here.
Don’t fuss over the pan. Check every 30 minutes, give it a stir, add beef stock and/or wine as needed to keep everything 1/2 submerged. As the beef and carrots become tender enough to mash with a fork around the 90 minute mark, allow liquid to reduce and thicken.

After 2 hours, everything should be tender and the liquid should be thick, similar to gravy. If not, cook a little longer. Fish out the star anise, add the butter and lemon juice, stirring everything to combine. Taste the liquid and add salt & pepper as desired, serve immediately.

Not surprisingly, this dish will pair perfectly with the wine you used to cook with. Goes great with some fresh, hot bread of any type on the side for scooping, or even just as a carrier for butter. ;)

We look forward to your questions and success stories in the comments below or on our Facebook!

-///

(The Bottle In Front Of Me is a series of regular, brief tasting notes from the Rogue Estate’s resident wine guy, Ian.)

Que Syrah, Syrah…

Lost Canyon Syrah had such promise.

I recall several years ago when Syrah came to the attention of Cab drinkers as both an exotic being heavily marketed by Australia (AKA Shiraz) and as a funky Californian upstart (Syrah). It’s always been a capable blending grape, good for adding some ripe dark fruit and syrupy mouthfeel to its sometimes more austere vinifera cousins. On its own, it yields a relatively simple but potentially very deep crowd-pleaser.

The battle continues, Cali VS Aussie, MegaCorp VS rebel producer, to this day. I have few preconceived notions about the grape, or the wine it gives up. In my experience it’s good with meat, sweet, and smoke. BBQ AKA the barbie.

But I was sad to hear that we lost Lost Canyon (in its original incarnation) as a contender.

2007 Lost Canyon Russian River Syrah (About $15)

Learn more about the winery: http://www.princeofpinot.com/winery/205/
Learn more about the bottle in front of me: http://buyingguide.winemag.com/catalog/lost-canyon-2007-trenton-station-vineyard-syrah-russian-river-valley

SEE: Dark, deep brilliant red through and through
SWIRL: A nice heavy coating of the glass, with quick, striking legs
SMELL: Rich blackberry and black cherry fruit, leaves, leather, vanilla, plums, and even smoked bacon, heat from the alcohol.
SIP: Tart and tannic, black fruits, and vanilla from fairly new oak
SAVOR: Chewy/meaty but not as syrupy as more common new world versions

Final impression: All The classic brambly fruit notes, a bit tight, rough and young. Yet it’s as good as any Syrah I’ve had at the price and a nicer alternative to cheap Aussie Shiraz. Next week I plan to test a comparable Barossa Valley Shiraz to compare.

Pair with: BBQ with sauce, or any meats with grilled onions.