The cast of characters. See also: The Usual Suspects.

Braised meats aren’t usually thought of when pondering Asian cuisine. Braising is generally associated with the French in dishes such as Boeuf Bourguignon, or American Pot Roasts. This is a fool-hardy assumption, however. Enter the Japanese preparation and staple of any ramen-ya worth its weight in rice, braised pork belly, or Chashu.

 
Yet another adaptation of a Chinese dish, char siu, chashu has become something else entirely. While char siu usually refers to a roasted meat glazed with honey and soy (and added red food coloring in some cases) the Japanese took most of the same ingredients, turned it into a braise, and added their own flair with the addition of mirin and sake. Also, the Chinese use the term “char siu” to refer to any number of meats roasted in the same manner, for the Japanese however, chashu is made with pork belly. Nothing else. We can get behind that.

 
The recipe that follows is a cross-reference between two other recipes I found and my own added spin here and there. The process is fairly long, as with most braises, but the ingredients are pretty cheap and simple. The differences in my recipe and the ones I referenced are these: One recipe called for rolling the belly, which is traditional, and the other did not. I went with the flat preparation. While rolling the belly takes longer to cook it comes out juicier, or so I hear, but that can be solved by simply cutting down on the oven time and keeping vigilant watch. There was, however, the issue of the skin. It likes to be cooked for a LONG time, which would make the rolled method more logical. I soldiered on with my plan though. The rolled recipe also called for skin on (or rind on) pork belly, while the other called for skin off. This suggestion I did follow. The flat prep recipe said to sear all sides and blanch the meat before braising while the other said to roll it and go. I seared, only the meat side, and did not blanch. I left the skin un-seared, and blanching after searing would inevitably wash away some of the brown color the sear provided. Color = flavor, a fundamental philosophy in all of cooking, so blanching after searing just seemed like a bad idea to me. That recipe was from a very highly respected chef, though, so what the hell do I know. One recipe also called for the addition of typically Chinese or South-East Asian spices like cinnamon, star anise and black peppercorns. This, too, I followed, predictably. Perhaps just as predictably the fish sauce was my addition. Had to be done. There was no way around it. It was for the benefit of science and all mankind, you see.

 
I expected the skin to be tough and un-chewable but I was wrong. Very wrong! It was gooey and sticky and gelatinous, and provided a very interesting contrast in texture to the supple fat and the chewy yet melting to the tooth meat. Next time I try this I’m going to try one of the suggestions I shied away from this run just to see the difference. But for now, I’m satisfied with these results. It was good. It was really good. It was really fucking good!

 
This is going to be a picture heavy post, so those of you who are easily offended by unadulterated and unapologetic food porn may wish to close this window now or just fuck off from the room. It’s about to get real up in this bitch.

 
Chashu, Japanese braised pork belly.

 
The ingredients:

Fuck you, Malbon! Any blood spilled because of this addiction is on YOUR hands!

2-2.5 pounds raw Pork Belly – uncured, not smoked, rind on
1 cup Mirin
1 bottle (300 ml) Hakutsuru Draft sake
½ cup of Honey
1 ½ cups Soy Sauce (Yamasa brand is my preference)
3” knob of fresh Ginger – peeled and crushed
1 Star Anise
1 stick of Cinnamon
1 tsp. Black Peppercorns
5 cloves of Garlic
6 cleaned and chopped Scallions
3 Tbsp. Red Boat Fish Sauce
Kadoya Sesame oil
Light Vegetable or Olive oil (No extra virgin!)

Yeah, yeah, I already know what your gonna say about overcrowding the pan… The meat is thick enough and is going to be cooked long enough to render that point moot.

Procedure:

 
Preheat oven to 275 degrees, 250 if it wil go that low. Oil a pan with the light veggie oil and heat until just starting to smoke. Sear the meat side of the pork belly until golden brown. Set aside.
Add a little bit of sesame oil and toast the dry spices (anise, cinnamon and black pepper) until aromatic, about 90 seconds. Add the crushed ginger and sauté for a few seconds, then add the garlic whole and stir fry for a few more seconds. When the garlic is just starting to take on a bit of color deglaze with the sake and mirin.
Reduce by about half, we’re really just looking to burn off the alcohol.  Once reduced add the soy sauce, honey, scallions and fish sauce and bring back to a simmer.

Most of the flavor in dry spices is locked in their oils. Toasting in a little oil brings them out more than if just pitched right in and gives them a little more complexity

Place your pork belly skin side down in a deep and tight fitting oven-proof container and cover with the hot liquid. Cover loosely and place in the oven for 2 hours. Check on it at this point, the point of a paring knife should sink through to the bottom of the pan with little resistance.

Once it’s finished, pull it out of the oven and place it in the refrigerator, still covered in its braising liquid, until fully chilled.

 
What will emerge is a slightly gelatinous liquid and pork belly that is much easier to slice into serving sized portions. If one were to slice it hot one would end up with a mess of basically pulled pork belly. Decidedly NOT what we are looking for here.

Ready to cover and lounge in the oven for a couple hours

Slice into 3 or 4 blocks through the narrower width (if it was whole this would be the length of the belly) and then into ½ to ¼ inch slices against the grain of the meat at the time of service.

 
To reheat there are a few methods you could take. You could thicken the liquid with cornstarch and use it to glaze the slices in the oven or in a steamer until heated through. Or you could simply drop the slices in some simmering soup and pour that over some ramen. If you own a brulee torch you could char it slightly, which is certainly the most dramatic approach. Or you could do what I did. I placed the slices on a broiler plate, covered it with its braising liquid and put it in the broiler until it started to audibly pop. The popping is from the skin that was left on. At this point I pulled it from the boiler, basted the slices with the liquid in the pan, and put them back under the broiler, repeating this a few times until the slices were nicely browned.

Ready for it’s semi-final destination. The Broiler!

Serving suggestions for this are myriad. As already stated, this is a classic topping for ramen, but Chef Takashi out here in Chicago serves it with steamed buns. Hell, you could just shove it in your slavering maw straight outa the broiler! By this point it’s been long enough in the making that any delivery method would be simply that. Just a means to get that unctuous pig belly into your impatiently awaiting face! The braising liquid in and of itself is a thing of beauty! Use it to season soup broth, as a pig infused marinade, as a fucking beverage! Seriously, its used to marinade the soft boiled, runny yolk but firm white eggs that are also a staple ramen topping!

Finally ready for a vicious tongue lashing! You dirty little pork belly…

I REALLY hope you guys try this, time investment be damned! Just like most braises, this one just gets better if left in the fridge for a couple days before serving. Which means you can make it well in advance and be the fucking hero of any dinner party! All the work having been done the day before, and being better for the aging, leaves you to focus on other things that might need to be done at the last minute. The pork belly will wait. It’s patient like that.
This is a seriously good accompaniment to just about any vaguely Asian inspired menu. You will be in love. You will want to pour the liquid in your eyes.You will want to rub the meat all over your body to attract a mate. And if they are repulsed by it, fuck them! They aren’t good enough for you anyway if they don’t like perfume of pork fat, ginger and soy sauce!

Kadoya. Ask for it by name!

Live well and COOK PORK!
-Jack

Serving suggestion! This or dive at it like a savage that hasn’t seen pork belly in years. Either would be completely appropriate.

]]> http://rogueestate.com/2013/05/06/bacons-more-sophisticated-cousin/feed/ 0 http://rogueestate.com/2013/05/01/mobile-food-blogging/ http://rogueestate.com/2013/05/01/mobile-food-blogging/#comments Wed, 01 May 2013 16:05:00 +0000 Bob http://rogueestate.com/?p=1968 so how easy will it be to publish from the iphone’s wordpress app with this bt keyboard?

this test post reveals all!

WTF is that STRAW doing in there?!!!

We have a great number of inventive brewers and quality brewhouses here in this country. People who have instilled a few generations of brewers, now, with an eye for quality ingredients and the care, knowledge and artistry needed to make some seriously world class beer. We riff on tried and true European styles, stamping them with our own spirit of adventure and exploration. We took the Pale Ale and made the American Pale Ale, for example. Somewhat lighter in color and body than the Brit version, but much more aggressively hopped, so creating a new species of fermented magic. We took the tradition of the Imperial Stout and applied it to, well, every style we could think of! It’s not uncommon to hear phrases like “Imperial Pilsner” or “Imperial IPA” bandied about in beverage stores like sports stats or celeb gossip. We have started our own tradition of brewing, borrowing, as we are wont to do, from the great traditions that preceded us. We call it “craft beer.” And I call bullshit on that!

Spaten, this is how the Germans get down.

Before you break out the pitchforks and torches, hear me out. The idea of American craft beer is based on one simple fact. One easily recognized difference from our Brit, German, Irish and Scot friends across the pond. Most of the beer consumed in this country is garbage. The status quo in this hemisphere is cheaply produced, mass marketed swill that tastes like it was collected from a urinal where somebody, who may have at one point in his existence brushed against a hop plant, took a piss. A vapid and unapologetic shadow of what real beer tastes like. There is a long history behind this though, and prohibition didn’t help matters at all. In fact, that’s the single biggest reason Anheuser Busch is the biggest brewery in this, or any other country. Our taste for beer got dumbed down. We, collectively, would pretty much drink what was available in those dark years between 1920 and 1933. There is a lot to this story, but Anheuser Busch was a well established company before the teetotalers and pretty much just ready and waiting to seize the opportune moment, to fill the void the nanosecond alcohol was legal again. Like Cthulu, dead but dreaming, awaiting the right words to be spoken to awaken and spread darkness over the land. Well, at least that’s how I envision it happened…

Scotland, where beer and skirts are taken seriously!

So, given this wretched state of affairs, it seems any brewery in this country that is trying in earnest to make a quality product is said to be making “craft beer.” You know what they call that in Europe? They simply call that a brewery that makes BEER! The word “craft” never enters the equation because most of them actually give a shit about quality product, grains, hops, water, yeast, etc. By our standards MOST breweries in Europe (admittedly not all) are producing “craft” beer. To them it’s simply what one does when one calls oneself a brewer. Quality is implied, a standard that tradition demands adherence to. The very act of calling our best offerings craft beer in itself shines light on the fact that the average quality across the board here in this country is far lower than theirs. I don’t want to have to use that word. I don’t want it to be necessary to use an adjective to describe quality above the norm. I want the norm to BE quality, making it only appropriate to add a descriptor if something sucks!

Suck, however, is the bar by which beer is measured in this country, and so the term “craft beer” was born out of necessity, but we CAN do something about it! Stop drinking shit beer! I know there are a lot of brewers and beer nerds out there that will drink swill because, as my home-brewer uncle says, “eh, it’s beer flavored.” I find that completely unacceptable! The next time you’re out in public (at a metal show it will be easier to get away with this) and see a hipster (yes, even at a metal show… they are everywhere!) looking particularly smug with his beverage choice of PBR, smash that cunt in the face with a Two Brothers, New Holland, Sierra Nevada or even a fucking Sam Adams! Stop kneeling at the altar of mediocrity! Let us all unite!

</ end rant />

Live well and drink better.
Jack

Ready to serve.

The word ‘ramen’ for most people conjures up images of college days or other times in their life when money was scarce and nourishment needed to be had on the cheap. Plastic bags of dried noodles with an accompaniment of soup base powder, that was primarily salt, in a small foil packet. This is a travesty. A disgrace. An outrageous insult to the soul of the real deal. Bear in mind, fair reader, that I’m not shunning the product in its entirety. The noodles are perfectly serviceable. Most of the offense comes from the contents of that little foil packet. Let’s face it though, at 20 cents a pack you get what you pay for. Most people know that going into the deal, and I’m just as guilty of slurping them down as the next guy, but with a well-stocked pantry and/or freezer you needn’t suffer through another nearly flavorless salt-bomb. My love affair with Asian style noodles has been long, and it all started with those horribly addictive foil packets. Once I started exploring outside the bag, though, and once I got my hands on the good stuff, my addiction only worsened…

Ramen was one of the many things that the Japanese adopted as their own. As with many other Japanese dishes, the impetus came from China in the form of chow mein. They are a little more delicate in flavor, but fresh Ramen noodles differ little from chow mein still. The biggest difference is in how the Japanese use them as opposed to the Chinese. Often in delicate broth-based soups. Though, the heartier chow mein noodles are used in one of Japans favorite dishes and (I’m convinced of this) what could be their greatest export next to sushi, Yakisoba. That’s another post, however.

The raw ingredients.

This is a dish I recently made for myself that is a good representation of Ramen done right. Simple ingredients and simple, technique driven preparation. The format of soup/noodle/garnish is usually a very forgiving one. As long as the right noodle is served with a sauce of the right intensity the rest of the cast of characters is more or less interchangeable. I wouldn’t recommend that approach with this recipe though. Maitake mushrooms are very delicate, and easily stepped on or shoved out of the way by other flavors in my experience. With that in mind I would advise against using other mushroom varieties in conjunction with them under any circumstance. Just let them and (in this case) the clams shine on their own, the noodles and the broth will do the rest of the work. Fresh Ramen can be found in the freezer section of most Asian or Japanese markets, and some have a section dedicated to refrigerated or frozen noodles specifically.

Ramen with Baby Clams in Dashi: Serves 2

• 1 lb. Littleneck, manila or any small variety of clams
• 1 bottle Hakutsuru Draft Sake
• 2 tsp. peeled and minced fresh ginger
• 1 tsp. crushed garlic
• 3 cups(ish) dashi stock
• 1 bunch Maitake mushrooms, sliced thin, stems discarded
• ¼ pound snow pea pods, cut across into ¼ inch strips
• 1 lime
• 2 packets or bundles fresh Ramen noodles (also known as chuka soba or chow mein)
• 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced
• Soy sauce
• Kosher salt
• Shredded nori and sesame seeds for garnish

Tightly closed and ready to steam. (Insert tight clam joke here.)

Start by putting a large pot of salted water (1 gallon or more) on a back burner over high heat and bring to a boil for the noodles later.

While that’s coming to a boil check the clams thoroughly. The general rule when cooking ANY bi-valve is if they are open when they’re raw, they’re garbage. If a tap doesn’t get the little bastard to close its shell, throw it out. And conversely, if they are closed after they’re cooked, they’re garbage. In either case you may be dealing with a dead mollusk, and it’s not worth finding that out the hard way. Throw it out.

After inspection, heat a 2 quart sauce pan over medium heat with a small amount of sesame oil and a small amount of any other light, tasteless oil. Sesame oil can be overpowering, so it’s sometimes a good idea to cut it

Ready for a sake steam bath.

with a lighter variety like peanut or canola. When the oil is hot and with your Sake already opened and at the ready, stir in your crushed garlic and minced ginger. DO NOT LET IT BROWN! Continue stirring for about 30 seconds, or until the smell of garlic and ginger fill the kitchen, and pour in half of the Sake. Bring to a boil and reduce the Sake by ¾, then add the clams and cover. Steam the clams for 90 seconds and check on them. If they aren’t open yet replace the lid and count to 10, repeat until they do. When they are open kill the heat and pull them out of the pot. It will not take long to cook them and the penalty for overcooking is tiny rubber balls of unchewable nastiness. Remove them to a plate and after they have cooled a bit pull the meat out of the shells. All but the 6 prettiest shells, leave the meat in these and use them for garnishing the finished plates or pull the meat but place it back in the shell for easier extraction at the table.

All opened and fit for consumption.

Now put the dashi in the pot with the clam cooking liquor and bring to a simmer. DO NOT BOIL! Boiling will destroy a well-made dashi. If you need a recipe for dashi stock, it’s simple. Soak a strip of konbu in 2 quarts warm water for 30 minutes then bring to a simmer. Remove the konbu, add 6 onces shaved bonito flakes and simmer for 30 minutes. And DO NOT BOIL! Kill the heat and let it sit, unmolested, for another 30 minutes, then strain and use, refrigerate or freeze.

Once the soup base is at a simmer, add the soy sauce in small amounts and taste between each addition. The goal of this is so the soy flavor doesn’t dominate the broth. Once you can taste the soy on even terms with the dashi add some kosher salt to bring the salt content up to where you would like it to be. You want the broth to be about as salty as seawater. This may seem like overkill but the noodles will absorb it, and if the salt content isn’t high enough once the noodles are added the whole dish will taste flat. Add the noodles to the boiling water on the back of the stove and cook as the package directs. Probably in the neighborhood of 4-5 minutes. Drain and rinse the noodles

Evicted from their homes, but not finished yet!

under hot running water until the sticky film coating them is gone. While the noodles are draining and rinsing, now that you’ve seasoned the soup the way you want it we can add the mushrooms and snow peas and stir until the peas are cooked. Cook ONLY until the snow peas are bright green, any longer and their color will be unappealing and they will lose most of their sweetness to the soup liquid. At this point add the shelled clam meat and heat through. Squeeze the lime juice into the pot until you can just taste it. Lime, too, can overpower.

Block of dashi pulled from the deep freeze and into the pot.

To plate, put the noodles in serving bowls and ladle the broth over, making sure to distribute the veg and clams evenly. Arrange the reserved clams still in the shell around the bowl and add the sliced scallion, black and white sesame and shredded nori, and serve.

Veggies in for a VERY quick swim.

Some of these instructions may seem a little intense. For optimum flavor this is not a dish you can walk away from, though. It will need constant attention, but it will come together and ready to serve in less than half an hour if you already have dashi on hand, so this is also not a long babysitting job like a stock.

(Tip: make dashi, or any stock for that matter, in large batches and freeze it in usable portions for future consumption.)

These are not high level techniques, in any case. If you can’t focus on your cooking for half an hour at a time then I can’t help you anyway. At that point I would suggest following the package instructions and just cover your ramen with water in a bowl, add the contents of that foil packet, and let “Chef Mike”(rowave) do the work for you.

Pre-dinner snack. Sashimi plate of Surf clam, Hamachi belly, and Bonito tataki.

Live well and cook better,
Jack-

We’ve been doing a lot of less than blogworthy stuff on the Rogue Estate Facebook Page lately, if you’ve been wondering what happened to us. Head over there and throw us a “like” to catch chef’s night food porn in near real-time as we cook stuff on Monday nights and join the discussion on relevant topics posted by other blogs.

We’ve got lots of new recipes, tasting notes and rants, a site re-design and some exciting product announcements in the coming months for this blog page as well, so stay tuned!

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We’ll have BBQ Pulled Pork or Beef Brisket Sandwiches, Mustard Slaw, Pickles, Smoked Sausages and of course RE’s SMolder Sauce for sale all hotted up and ready to eat, fresh from the smoker! Come grab dinner and shop the bazaar for cool locally produced gifts of food for the holidays.

Everything New is Old Again

I have an old friend. By that I mean he is a friend from my distant past that I have not been in contact with for a very long time. In addition, I am old now. So is he. In every sense of the term, we are old friends now.

Somewhat recently, he moved to South Carolina and dove right into gardening and the local wines, dominated by an active Virginia scene. Excited by social media, and good local wine options, he decided to share with me.

I uncorked one of his gifts tonight. And it was lovely. I like what Virginia’s producing now, and hope the region gets larger scale and better distribution at a steady pace, without sacrificing quality.

Blenheim 2010 “Painted Red”

2010 Blenheim Vineyards Painted Red (About $30, but SOLD OUT) Half Merlot with Cab Sav, Syrah, Petit Verdot, and Cab Franc.

Learn more about the winery: http://blenheimvineyards.com/about_blenheim/

Learn more about the bottle in front of me: http://store.nexternal.com/blenheim/painted-red-2010-p53.aspx

SEE: A very pretty bright clear medium red with a tiny rim of rose. For a wine this young, I had expected a larger, pinker rim. Someone knows what they’re doing.

SWIRL: The color amplifies with a swirl, leaving soft slow irregular legs on the glass.

SMELL: Heavily perfumed and ripe, with light floral and cherry scents, an undercurrent of tree bark, and warm sweet muffins.

SIP: On the tongue, the body is thin, with firm tannins and a refreshing bit of acidity. The flavor moves on to caramel and creme brûlée, with a faint finish of red apple.

SAVOR: Bordeaux, baby! With many of the typical characteristics artfully integrated.

Final impression: There is care here, and even a sense of terroir. More interesting and successful than the dozens of cheap (under $15) French Bordeaux’s that are creeping into the U.S. market.

Pair with: game birds, funky french cheeses or honest cheddars, walnuts.

And the whole Dave Matthews connection? I like Dave’s wine better than I ever liked his music. But I could just be getting old.

No relation to the Detroit Pistons of any variety, I assure you…

Six-pack Workout: Pistonhead Kustom Lager

Brewery: Brutal Brewing, Sweden

Style: Lager

ABV: 4.9%

IBU: 100 (guessing, found no actual calculation)

Price point: around $10 a six pack (Dad only bought one can so that price is based on that + exchange rate).

Color: Pale blonde.

Head retention: Poor

Aroma: Citrus, floral, citrus peel

Mouthfeel: Very light.

Tasting notes: This is a very easy drinking beer. Not much body to speak of, goes down smooth and fast. Despite the fact that it’s a lager, they dry hop this brew like an IPA so it’s pretty hoppy, but the lack of body and malt profile that typify an IPA don’t get in the way here so all you get is a glass of liquid hops. Not in a bad way though. It doesn’t make you swallow your own face from puckering. It does, however, deliver a pure, unobstructed flavor profile of the Cascade and Amarillo hops used in the kettle and the fermenter.

Pairings: Summer cookout foods. Brats, dogs, burgers, potato salad, etc. Cheddar, aged gouda, mustards of all types, pork in general, BBQ.

Comments: Wish I could say I’ll buy this again, but the chances are pretty slim. If the opportunity presents itself I won’t hesitate. For the sake of humor I’ll share with you what’s written on the back of the can:

“CRAFTED IN OUR BRUTAL BREWING WORKSHOP.

THE KUSTOM LAGER IS A SMOOTH, NO-NONSENSE BREW.

IT’S DRY HOPPED WITH CASCADE AND AMARILLO HOPS TO OFFER

A SPICY CITRUS EDGE, PLUS IT’S ORGANIC. AND IT

GLOWS IN THE DARK. NEED WE SAY MORE?”

I didn’t notice any luminescence, but the name of the brewery alone is enough to give me a chuckle.

-Jack

Here in the Great Lakes region the harvest season is in full swing – the bounty of the summer’s labors piled high on tables in every farm market and every kitchen counter for those who’s gardens survived the punishing summer drought. What started as a quick “I want to use some of this stuff from the garden” side dish last week has been refined as the main course this week and I’m happy enough with it to share it here.

This one is pretty simple and  can be served hot or cold. The preparation of the squash is flexible – steaming squash is one of the few tasks I think a microwave oven is perfect for: 12 minutes in a modestly powered microwave should be enough to produce a perfectly al dente 2lb spaghetti squash every time and you don’t need to dirty a single dish.

The Software:

• 2 lb Spaghetti Squash
• 1 lb fresh tomatoes, diced
  (Use a few different types if available)
• 1/4 cup onion, diced
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 tblsp unsalted butter
• 1 tblsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup minced fresh herbs
  (Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Chive)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• Black Pepper to taste

The Method:

Halve or quarter the squash and scoop out the seeds and other goop. Like pumpkin seeds, seeds from all squash varieties are absolutely delicious when dried, toasted and salted, so save em up and make yourself a nice little snack. For the sake of simplicity, (Simplicity? is this really The Rogue Estate?) stick the squash portions in the microwave and let it go for 12 minutes. Check it at 6 minutes if you are unsure of your microwave’s capabilities and adjust accordingly.

Before, during or after the squash steaming described above, put a 1/4 inch dice on the tomatoes and onions, removing any excess seeds or other goopy bits. Put a real fine mince (or a chiffonade if you’re fancy) on the herbs. I used roughly equal parts of Oregano, Basil, Parsley, Chive for this application, but let your own preferences guide you – spaghetti squash’s mild flavor lends itself compatible with just about everything, much like it’s namesake pasta. Melt the butter and whisk it into the olive oil, then put everything else into the bowl and toss or stir to coat and combine. Season with salt and pepper to your liking and set aside to let the flavors meld a bit.

Back to the squash – you’ll know it’s done with you can pull it apart with a fork and little to no effort. Use the fork to scrape the husk clean  and discard the husk. Portion out the squash onto whatever individual serving vessels suit your fancy – in this case I used 8″ plates.  At this point you can serve hot or allow the squash to cool. Give the sauce a good stir to redistribute the liquid and scoop it on top of the plated squash. Drizzle an extra spoonful of the liquid over each plate and serve immediately.

This dish goes well with an autumn sunset and a hunk of good bread to soak up the juice and oil leftover when the squash is gone.

Drop a reply here or on the facebook if you give this a whirl, we’d love to know how it turns out and if you came up with any great modifications. As with any of our recipes, this is but a guide – explore, modify and make each dish your own – taste, taste, TASTE!

-///

Fur and feathers are filtered out before bottling.

Brewery: Argus Brewery, Chicago IL.

Style: IPA

ABV: 6.5%

IBU: 60

Price point: $9 for a 6-pack

Color: Amber-Red

Head retention: Fair

Aroma: Citrus (Yuzu?!), mild malt undertones.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, smooth.

Tasting notes: Citrus, walnut, more body and flavor than the typical American Pale Ale with the same hop bite.

Pairings: Curry and spices, blue cheese, good cheddar, roast game. Avoid grilled foods with this one. The harshness of the grill will overpower the balance of this beer, I think (not tested though, so correct me if I’m wrong, please).

Comments:
An American IPA that’s true to the Brit style, not overly hopped to the point of tasting like soap. As much as I like the American riffs on the English Pale Ale and IPA originals, I think American brewers go a little more than overboard with the hops sometimes (Bells Two-Heart, for instance) which is why this was a refreshing change of pace for me. Some other beer review sites have dogged them for this, but I applaud them! Another thing I saw them bemoaning about was the lack of citrus notes in the nose, typical of the style. Again, I must disagree. In fact, that was the first thing that struck me. No doubt this is due to the fact that I live a few miles from the brewery, so the batch that I got my paws on was most likely fresher. What struck me the most about nose wasn’t just the citrus, but the specific type of citrus, yuzu! Whether accidentally or contrived, the brewers found the precise blend of hop varieties to give this beer the aroma of that much beloved Japanese fruit. Well rounded flavor, and balanced hop/malt finish make this a beer I will buy again.

-Jack

http://www.argusbrewery.com/

A VIP menu of BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich, BBQ Spare Ribs, Detroit BBQ Co‘s FrankenBakon, Mustard Coleslaw, Smoked Mac & Cheese and Fresh Dill Pickles put smiles on a lot of faces.  Photos by Robbie Small and EatItDetroit.

-///

This post is to introduce people to the concept of the CSA or community sustained agriculture.  The CSA is a pretty basic concept of basically purchasing a share of a farmer or collective of farmers output.  The CSA service has a few different options and concepts behind them.  Most CSA’s operate by having individuals purchasing a “share” of the farm’s output before the season starts.  This allows the farmers to fund the farm during slower months and gives them capital to use for seasonal start costs such as seeds and supplies.  Some CSA farms have work options that give reduced cost to the customer in exchange for a work share that the customer provides by working a day or even a few hours at the farm.  Sometimes this work share is once a month or more depending on the farms needs or harvest schedule.  The schedule varies by farm and region but most will run from May through September sometimes later.  The great advantage is that you get seasonal fresh produce and a relationship with the people who grew it.

The CSA is a great way for people to get involved with their food and their community as these CSA’s are generally localized.  The CSA will either drop off the share at a central location or farmer’s market or will require the customer to pick up their share from the farm directly.  Some CSA’s allow their customers to specify what their likes and dislikes are and in some cases allow the customer to choose their exact product.

My own experience with CSA’s was cultivated over two years with a share of the Wild Way Out CSA based out of Coldwater.  The owner, Kate Weilnau, is a small-scale sustainable organic farmer who had a pick-up point nearby and had the interesting concept of a “wild” option that included wild and foraged goods.  The CSA introduced me to many unfamiliar vegetables and Kate had options and suggestions as to how to prepare them.  The “wild” option introduced me to many interesting things I had never had before including stinging nettles, burdock leaf and root, cattail pods and shoots, amaranth, purslane, wild grapes (which turned into a fantastic grape jelly), chestnuts and my absolute favourite rattail radishes.  Megan and I decided not to renew our share this year because we’ve now discovered enough vegetables that we like and we know where to find them, plus we put in a bunch of vegetables in our garden based on what we learned from Kate’s offerings.

The CSA is a great way for people to get to know where there food comes from and helps to support small-scale local farmers by giving them an outlet for their efforts.  It also gives the unadventurous or the overwhelmed a good starting point for culinary creativity.  You’ll have a bag or box of fresh vegetables in front of you and you’ll need to discover or learn how to prepare it.  Most CSA’s are vegetable based but there are an increasing number of  farms that offer meat shares and dairy shares (in fact it is almost impossible to buy raw milk unless you “own” a share of a cow).  The best starting points are Local Harvest at www.localharvest.com and also at your local farmer’s market.  Many farm market vendors also offer CSA’s with pick-ups available at your local market or it gives the farmer the idea that there may be people interested in a farm share CSA option.