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Portable Start Menu 3.0: Simple start menu application for USB sticks and local PCs http://bit.ly/8fTq2G
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Long John Silver's new dollar stretcher menu
That's one place I'll not stretch my dollar. For some reason I really want to know what's up with the fish I consume and man, dollar menu fish is not cool. Beef, whatever. Chicken, whatever. Chicken made from beef, sure. Fish is a whole other story.
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What We Can Learn About Pricing From Menu Engineers
Rapp is a menu engineer. He helps restaurants maximize revenue by hacking common flaws in human decision-making. For example, by simply removing “$” signs from prices, people are less intimidated by them. And he advises against listing items from least to most expensive, because that focuses the consumer on price. Instead he mixes up items, making it hard to find their price — thereby encouraging the customer to emotionally commit to something before finding out what it costs. But my favorite strategy of his is that of putting some absurdly expensive item on the menu. Rapp doesn’t expect many consumers to buy it, but having it there makes expensive items appear cheap by comparison. Think about it: How many times have you ordered a bottle of wine in the middle of the price range?
via gigaom.com
Chef Kapo @TikiChef808 will be on the Big Island Cooking for "A Taste of the Hawaiian Range and Agricultural Festival"
Chef Kapolanialaimaka Kealoha is loading up his coolers and rapping up his knifes for the 14th Mealani's A Taste of the Hawaiian Range and Agricultural Festival.
It is kind of hard to miss our chef. He is the huge Hawaiian guy with the big knifes and a even bigger smile. Most of the time he is to busy to tweet but he said he is planning to try and tweet a few time at the event you can follow him at http://twitter.com/TikiChef808.
Chef Kapo said he loves this event because it showcase the best of locally raised meats — including beef, pork, lamb, mutton and goat — and locally grown produce and he get to cook along with 30 chefs.
Chef is working on a few new menu items to add at Tiki's and hopes to source even more products from the Big Island.
Mark your calendar for the 2009 Mealani's Taste of the Hawaiian Range and Agriculture Festival. Come and toast our 14th anniversary on September 18, 2009 at the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort on the beautiful Kohala Coast of Hawaii Island. As usual, the Taste itself will open to the public at 6:00 p.m. and run ‘til it's all gone or to 8:00 p.m., which ever comes first.
Indulge your appetite and show your support of local agriculture as the finest culinary talents in Hawaii showcase the bounty and diversity of Hawaii island's agricultural products. Featured chefs will create extraordinary dishes using locally grown range-fed meats utilizing every part from the tongue to the tail. In addition, lamb, pork, mutton, and goat will be prepared, all complemented by fresh fruits and vegetables from Hawaii Island farmers. Exceptional food products like Kona coffee, specialty teas, micro brewed soda, ice cream, candies, malasadas and other prepared foods will round out the evening’s fare. Tickets are $40.
What’s New in 2009?
Educational Seminar 12:00 noon, Kohala Ballroom
It's All About Taste - A Seminar on Locally-Raised Beef and Other Island Products
Want to deepen your knowledge of Hawaii's extraordinary agriculture products? Chef William K. Trask of Hawaiian Culinary Consultants, President of the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Kona Kohala Chefs Association and long-time advocate for local products, will lead participants through a side-by-side tasting of some of Hawaii's finest products. Find out more by meeting the farmers and ranchers, as well as learn simple, effective ways to highlight the best qualities of Hawaii's local products from the chefs of the ACF-Kona-Kohala Chefs de Cuisine.
Attendance by registration for culinary students, chefs, "front of house" personnel, retail and wholesale buyers, and media. To register, contact Michelle Galimba at 430-4927 or via email at mgalimba@kuahiwiranch.com. Space is limited.
Agriculture Festival Trade Show, 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., Grand Ballroom
A showcase of Hawaii Island food products for chefs, wholesale and retail buyers and media from throughout the state.
Attendance by registration only. (Not open to the public.)
“Cooking Grass-fed Beef”, 4:00 to 5:00 p.m., Kohala Ballroom
Corporate Executive chef of Roy’s Restaurants, Jacqueline Lau, and Executive Chef of Roy’s Restaurant Hawaii Kai, Ronnie Nasuti, will team together to cook up forage fed beef. They will provide tips for the home cook on the best ways to season, cook, and serve this tasty and delicious product.
Attendance limited to 100; tickets are $10.
Who Should Attend This Event?
Farmers, ranchers, and other food producers who would like to have their products featured. Also, residents, chefs, restauranteurs, tourists, aficionados of good food and anyone interested in tasting the bounty of Hawaii Island. And anyone looking for great food, a good time, and a great deal. The planning committee is committed to making this year’s festival another great tasting event of ono-licious cuisine.
For general information, please call (808) 981-5199 ext. 201 on Hawaii Island or email Susan Miyasaka at miyasaka@hawaii.edu.
WSET Lesson 1 part 3 (8/9/09)
Wine Service
'Has it been chilled? Can you pop an ice cube in it?'
If, like me, you serve wine and food to customers for a living then this question will be as familiar as the statement 'Ooh the soup's nice and hot.' Yes, I've spent my whole career, as has the chef, ensuring I can put a bottle of wine in a fridge and the chef a saucepan of soup on a stove. So what else am I to learn from my WSET about wine service? Chilled wine has a place, as has the degree of chilling. Wine has an optimum placing, both arriving in its best receptacle as much as what next to.
Food fridges generally are set to 2–5ºC to ensure food is kept in its best condition for as long as possible. Drinks fridges not so cold. The coolest these should be at is 6º. bettertastingwine has conveniently posted the matrix http://www.bettertastingwine.com/serving_temperature_chart.html so I'll not simply repeat, but it is of note that the fuller the wine the warmer the service temperature. The light chilling of paler reds has become more common practice in the UK now. I shall be less keen with the ice bucket for the fuller whites, also our snugly warm room temperature is way too warm for even the biggest reds, it'll be half an hour on the doorstep for the home service of these this winter at home.
I can open a bottle of wine, well practised, but there are a host of options for getting in there.
My preference is the little green chap second left bottom row, the waiters' friend. My nemesis to his right. I've never tried the twin prong, so still have things to look forward to then. This image is from http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm who conveniently has a lovely selection of wine glasses too and some sound advice on their care. I particularly like this quote:
'If, like me, you don't particularly care to handle your delicate crystal glasses after consuming more than one serving, then thoroughly rinse the wine residue out of the glass and clean it in the morning when your motor functions are more stable.'
One opening rule of some importance is the safe opening of sparkling wines. After ripping off the foil top, unwinding the cage, keep a thumb over the cork, turn the bottle away from people, hold at 30º take a firm hold of the cork and with the other hand turn the bottle. The force of the gas pressure in the bottle will send a cork away from you at dangerous speeds, but not a bottle away from the cork at noticeable pressure. If the fizzy has been a bit shaken up on its way to your hands, as the house Champagne seemed to have been on its way to http://www.graze-restaurant.co.uk while I was there, then the covering of the cork with a clean tea towel, then holding it through that, prevents the cork shooting out of your control and covers any lively activity after that. Done with flourish this looks professional. Sparkling wines always go back in the ice bucket to keep them cool, so a tea towel around the neck to dry the bottle is obligatory wherever it's being served.
So, looking professional with wine service, there's a code of practice here. Show the bottle of wine to whomever has ordered it. The oldest gentleman is not necessarily this person these days, and the 'host' has often had the most botox so determining the most senior is treacherous in dimly lit service spaces anyhow. This is for them to read the label. I have been thankful of the 'host' paying attention here on many occasions. Offhand 'I'll take the Pinot' could result in many a wine of many colours coming to the table, once they've said yes it's their issue. The other important thing they're reading is the vintage. Vintages run out, wine suppliers could tell the restaurant they've moved on, but this may not yet have been updated on the wine list. For certain wines this is significant, let the discerning customer make this choice. They get to taste the wine, only 50ml or so. They can say yes or no at this point. It could be wrong in any way, off, tainted, too young, or simply not typical of type. Whatever, it is my rule is to not serve it if the customer doesn't like it, each restaurant has its own feelings on this. Pour everyone else's glasses before returning to the 'host's'. How much? Well, in the ISO glass it was filled to the point where the bowl is widest; it's safe to use the same rule with the glasses on the dinner table.
Breathing, not just whilst you're at the table, but the wine too. Whites and rosés don't need it, but, as I was corrected, ALL red wine opens up with some breathing, even the lightest Gamays. The more mature reds will need it to pour off the clean wine away from the sediment. The bottle must have settled for a day or so, so no shakey-shakey on the way to the table. Best to decant away from the table after tasting. Do it against a light source, the romantic traditional way is in front of a candle. This is so you can watch the wine as it pours into the decanter, then as the sediment reaches the neck of the bottle stop pouring, this little bit is for the stock pot, not the wine glass. Even non-sedimented reds open more after decanting. It's the aeration that gets oxygen into contact with the wine, so allowing aromas to come out. This makes a huge difference to very tannic reds as after a while the fruit aromas become more pronounced. There is an optimum time for this, so more than a few hours is generally too much. If there is something up with the wine, especially brett taint, then it becomes more apparent as the flavours develop. Double decanting is sometimes done to speed this aeration up. In some establishments the bottle is cleaned out and the wine returned to it. What makes no difference is simply opening a bottle of wine. The surface area at the neck of the bottle is too narrow to have any impact on the wine. If all you're to do is let the wine breathe, pour a little into a glass, the customer's hopefully, so the surface of the wine is in the body of the bottle.
Which glass for what? Beautifully shown on http://www.davidstuff.com/wine/glasses.htm The best shape, like the ISO, is a tulip shape. This is to maximise the surface area of the wine in ratio to the enclosed area above. Maximize your olfactory stimulation this way. The air above the wine is where the enjoyment all begins, so don't generally fill the glass above the 2/3s mark. The mid-20th century fashion for Champagne in Coupés was a bit of sacrilege; Marilyn had generally spilt most of it while tripping over anyway. The progress of the bubbles up through the Champagne imbues them with the wine's flavour, so the longest route gives the most aroma. The flute always wins. The white and rosé glass is slightly smaller and tighter than the reds' to concentrate their aromas. The 'bowls' for red wine allow all the bigger aromas room to dance. Fortified wine glasses are smaller again, not just as the measure served is less, but as they have higher alcohol present that vapour should be allowed to dissipate to accentuate the fruit and floral aromas. Sherries and brandies too have their respective glassware that bring out their best attributes.
So there's the synopsis for bottle service, how about the 'by the glass' customer? Here there has been great debate on size. The Paris goblet? So beloved of Sharon Watts for a swift shot or two of Gin, Angie-style, when she needed a 'li'l stiffna'! That's really the best use of this 70s wine service globe, 125ml GS (Government Stamped) mark nicely eroded by the glasswasher over long reuse. There is no reason to have nasty glassware for glass service of wine. Any glasses can be sent off to get the GS, or wine can be measured before pouring into the glass to comply with licensing law. So again it's back to how much?
125ml was the standard glass of wine size for many a year, then 175ml appeared as large. As our habits changed and eating out became more normal 175ml took over as the norm. This resulted in 250ml becoming large, pushing the 125ml definitively into being small. This is all well and good for choice, though few establishments offer all 3 sizes. Problems have arisen with compliance with due diligence as a licensee as wines have increased in ABV (Alcohol by Volume) through the late 80's & 90's. Without going all maths teacher (I don't have the cardigan range), if wine were sold in 1 litre bottles the maths would be easy.
Wine at 8% would have 8 units in 1 litre. Wine is sold in 75cl bottles, so multiply the ABV by 0.75 to calculate the units of alcohol in a bottle. In this instance 8 x 0.75 = 6 units. Confused?
Well, that's easy, so how many units in a 'glass' of wine? This is very important for people counting their units, usually drivers. Wine from this bottle in a 125ml glass = 1 unit; in a 175ml glass = 1.5 units; in as 250ml glass = 2 units.
With no 'standard' for a 'glass' of wine the discerning or conscientious customer has a raft of questions to ask. More importantly the average ABV for most wines sold in the UK is upwards of 12%, that's at least half as much again as illustrated. With 175ml taking over as the 'standard' it pushes units consumed well over 2, even with food, dangerously close to a driver over the limit of their BAC (Blood Alcohol Concentration). This is what is used to measure the levels of ethanol in blood that causes intoxication. The speed of alcohol becoming ethanol in a person's blood stream is affected by gender, health, weight, recent food intake, personal absorption and metabolism just to name a few factors. So how large measures of wine should be served in and at what ABV to be responsible licensees is a hot topic.
'How much til I'm over the limit mate?'
'Just step in this medical examination chamber adjacent to the restaurant and I'll let you know after an hour of tests!'
You've the wine in the desirable glass at a size you are comfortable with, now you'd like food with it. Unless drinking the wine on its own or finishing it before food then compatibility is pretty important for complete enjoyment. Many people choose wine after choosing food, or choose wine that will partner many food styles to keep everyone happy. I like a G&T before dinner so I can choose the wine after food choices. Restaurant Il Sanlorenzo (http://www.ilsanlorenzo.it) won me over on their approach by presenting first the aperitif menu (the only wines being by the glass); then food menu; then and only then the wine list.
There is great debate in restaurants over food matching, especially when 'taster/grazing/degustation' menus offer a matching wines option. It seems the golden rule on incompatibility is oily and salty foods don't partner tannic red wines well.
I'm going to run through the prescribed matches in the order of the Systematic Approach:
• Intensity – intensely flavoured food = intensely flavoured wine. Not to be misread as heavy or rich.
• Sweetness – sweet food, also salty =s weeter than the food sweet wine. Use the sweeties also with salted nuts and oily pâtés.
• Acidity – acidic food, also salty food = acidic wines. Many tastings will show high acidity, that watering mouth feel.
• Tannin – it's the red meats here = tannic wines.
• Body – lighter flavours = lighter bodied whites and reds. Often the steamed meats with light sauces. Intense, creamy, rich foods = Full bodied whites and reds. This is where the seared meats, creamed potatoes and slow-roasted foods partner the chewy wines.
This is a bit of an over simplification perhaps, but as I get through the tastings I shall note the classic pairings, and as I cook I shall try some of these out myself too.
WSET Lesson 1 part 2 (8/9/09)
The senses are being tuned, so how about the wine?
Now I could have gone a right old rant after grabbing a bottle on the way home from last week's class from Martin McColl, only to get it home and find it had already started the journey to making a lovely red wine based soup while being stored for sale. Heat and any wine ain't a good situation while it's still in the bottle.
This beautiful shot of a natural cave cellar in Bekaa, Lebanon, isn't available in every dwelling. The environment that the wine is stored in is very important for its preservation.
Wine, obviously, is stored in all sorts of larger vessels while in production, however when finished it needs to be transported. A lot of progress has been made over the centuries in the vessels that wine is stored in. From the pottery, leather, wood or metal vessels in ancient history through various bottle shapes, many looking remarkably like modern port decanters, through to the now almost universal 75cl glass bottle. Here there is a great range of shapes that almost always in the old world are synonymous with a specific region. I will be learning region by region further along in the course, so will get to grips with the whys and wherefores of that along with the tastings of the regions. When on holiday in Var it's always fun to take along the 4 litre plastic container to fill up petrol station style with the local young rosé, but this container is only good for wine you're having within a day or two.
Long term storage of wine is always done in bottle, and has been for a couple of centuries. These generally are in a dark coloured glass to keep light away from the wine; though for younger wines, often the whites and rosés, the glass is now clear to allow the drinker to see the colour of the wine. The bottle needs a closure of some kind to keep the air out and the wine in. For the last few centuries this has generally been cork. Cork was a good solution in terms of success then; now it is becoming nearly universally agreed that cork itself presents too many problems to be the ongoing number one closure of choice.
Cork is a natural product. It is harvested by stripping the bark from the Quercus Suber, a sort of oak. This process doesn't harm the tree and is repeated every 9 years from the tree's 25th year. The tree only grows in certain climates, between 100m and 300m above sea level; annual rainfall between 400 and 800mm; temperatures never falling below –5ºC. The coastal margins of the Mediterranean have traditionally seen it grown, though areas of the new world are put aside to its production. Catalunya had been the centre for its production. It still remains a major producer, but, during the Spanish civil war, Portugal stepped in to become the European cork producer, now growing 30% of that market. With much of the manufacturing process centred south of Oporto, Portugal now processes 50% of the world's cork. Much is imported from the European western Mediterranean and also north African regions, Algeria having been Catalunya's major rival before cultural shifts there in 1960s.
Cork goes through various processes before becoming a stopper. Cork is porous, so is cut at 90º to the growth to minimise any gaps. Bacterias and fungi are present in its structure; to help kill these it has been bleached with chlorine-based bleaches. Other processes are now being explored, the major reason being the presence of TRICHLOROANISOLE. This compound will probably be cork's final undoing as it has been found that the bleaching isn't where it becomes present. Despite this drawback there is much in cork's favour; the trees are an environmental bonus, their acorns a cornerstone in feeding the finer end of pig farming; 90% of the time they form a perfectly good barrier for keeping the wine in; they are flexible, so when factors unfavourable to the wines good storage cause the wine to expand or contract the cork maintains the air seal. The major rival now to cork is the STELVIN, steel-vin (wine), screw-top favoured by many a British supermarket, or the synthetic, plastic, cork. Occasionally glass stoppers are used, there are all sorts of pros and cons for all the closures. Progress, research and development continues on all of them.
Transport is obviously never going to be a friend to wine, but the minimum of heat, light and vibration during this is a bonus. Bottles are good for this, but it is often during transport that any of the closures are compromised. The stelvin has an Achilles heel in that a strong knock can break its integrity so making a hole letting wine out and air in, or even a momentary loss of air seal that lets air in. To this end more finished wine is transported in bulk containers and bottled at, or near to, the country of sale. I am looking forward to a visit to Constellation's Avonmouth bottling plant in two weeks' time. Bulk transport actually is good for wine, however I will be putting in a link here where the provenance of some wines has been 'flexed' due to political market forces in the Balkans.
So the wine's in the bottle. It has a closure. Now where is it going? The cellar! I don't have a lovely cave for my wine, nor I suspect do most of you. The key thing for wine storage isn't the appearance, but stability.
Cool and constant; within a temperature range of 10º–15º, not within a day, but within a year. Cellars had obviously been the best for this as the ground worked as a great insulator to the day's and season's changes. It is the expansion and contraction of the wine that pushes and pulls on the closure that crucifies most wine. Constant refrigeration is bad too as it causes corks to contract. That air-seal integrity is what is paramount for maturation of many a stored wine. In the age of climate control the storage cabinets that can be placed anywhere that allow wine to be stored longterm where no cellars are available.
Lying down; for bottles under cork, the wine stops the cork drying out, so doesn't contract, maintaining that air-seal. The problem here is if the cork has any nasties in it then they are going to get into the wine. The damp nature of cellars again is a bonus for keeping the airside of the cork moist. With the modern closures of stelvin, synthetic and glass the reverse applies. Bottles are stored upright without the wine in contact with closure, so minimising any potential contamination from it. The synthetic is still viewed with suspicion in certain circles for its potential tainting by long contact with the wine, so it may become disregarded for long term storage. Stelvins have had extensive ongoing research and development into their ability to be complete or breathable seal for the long term storage of wines.
Darkness, natural light and artificial light adversely affect wine. Not only does it cause heat, but light can cause unwanted chemical reactions in the bottle. This is why traditionally wine bottles were dark coloured. Wines served young obviously don't hang around long enough for the presence of light to affect them, so hence the ever increasingly light coloured or clear glass bottles around as we drink more young wines.
Vibrations; not for imbuing an extra cosmic element to the wine, but the wine should be still. Changes go on with wines made for maturing in bottle that cause particles to form in suspension, these either should remain motionless there, or should settle out. Railway arches or old freight yards near still operating lines, or depots near major roads, are not the best places for long-term wine storage, despite the arches having other cellar-like bonuses.
Most of us aren't in the privileged position to be laying down fine wines to mature for a number of years or decades, or to be choosing which part of the cellar has the least light for the re-building of the racking. Many of us are storing wine for a while though and so often it's in the kitchen, which couldn't be more unsuitable as cooking causes the temperature to sore and plummet. Lounges are often poor homes too if they have heating or fires. Funnily it's the hoover cupboard under the stairs off of the unheated hallway that wins in most modern homes.
I'm off again to heat up my kitchen for some lunch. Next blog will have getting the wine out of the bottle at the right temperature, into the right glass, then a little on how to keep it happy if it's being saved for later.
