Weekend Cook and Tell: Play Sommelier
Welcome back to Weekend Cook and Tell. Every Wednesday we look though the food sections of various national newspapers and come up with an article or recipe to inspire a weekend cooking project. We want all of you to cook along with us and share your experiences, recipes, and photos.
This week's topic comes from The Dallas Morning News. Tina Danze wrote an article explaining how to pick the best wines for under $12. This got me thinking about wine pairing and inspired this week's challenge - Play Sommelier.
Not everyone finds a trip to the wine shop to be an enjoyable experience. All of those shelves filled with various varietals, regions and styles can be intimidating. There are many ways to learn about wine but in my experience the best way to expand your knowledge is to drink it. This week's topic is all about getting to know about wine without spending an arm and a leg. Here's the mission: Find a bottle of wine for under $12 and build a meal around it.
There are so many ways to pair wine and food. You can use classic regional pairings, boeuf bourguignon with a bottle of Burgundy, or an Alsatian white with choucroute garnie or the opposites attract rule, spicy pad thai with Riesling. Throw all of those stodgy old wine rules out the window - this weekend you are the sommelier!
Keep us posted and let us know what you are eating and drinking over the weekend. Show us your photos on Photograzing (make sure to include "Cook and Tell" in your submission title) and tell us about your recipes in Talk with comments on this thread! If you'd like to blog along from home, leave a link to your Cook and Tell blog post in the comments. Next Wednesday we will be posting a round up of your photos and recipes. We can't wait to see what all of you are going to be cooking and pairing over the weekend!
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
14 Comments:
Borsao at $8.99 with Magic Dust rubbed Pork Ribs finished on the grill with Open Pit BBQ sauce.
pksmash at 11:04PM on 06/24/09
@pksmash - Fantastic! I love any combination of wine and barbecue. Gamay and brisket is perfection!
Caroline Russock at 1:52AM on 06/25/09
This will be interesting just to see what wines cost what where and for that matter what is available where...
samueltobin at 11:29AM on 06/25/09
We have several bottles of red and white wine collecting dust probably in that price range that we've received as gifts over the past 10 years from my coworkers. No one drinks wine at home -- husband doesn't care and I cannot.
This will be interesting asking him what food he thinks of when we open up a bottle or two, to plan the (likely) small meal. It's near 90 here, so I hope he thinks of something light and cool!
Cassaendra at 12:19PM on 06/25/09
@samueltobin - I was thinking the same thing.
@Cassaendra - Can't wait to see what you come up with!
Caroline Russock at 2:44PM on 06/25/09
I Have a wine that nearly, if not totally impossible to find anywhere. MEAD! Yeas Mead, that delicious wine made from honey. I used to brew my own, but lost the space to kids. However one of my friends picked it up and he does a lot better then I. His stuff is magical, and pairs well with any dessert.
thepirateking at 8:38PM on 06/25/09
Since we can’t due something pricey, like a early 90’s Chinon paired with cheese-steaks I am going with a summery cheap white pairing of a Broadbent Vinho Verde. Vinho Verde is perhaps the most well know of Portuguese wines, the green in the name refers to its youth, not color. Like any good summer drink Vinho Verde is cheap (maybe 10 bucks for the Broadbent) and a little sparklingly (more prickle than bubble). While I would and do drink it with anything (especially ice and Campari) I would suggest paring it with a classic food of both summer and Portugal: clams. Also let’s do them with a hibachi at a beach park (east river park off Kent in Williamsburg – get there early).
Bring 1 dozen small good clams, a little olive oil, sea salt, pepper, a lemon and small baguette (pack the olive oil, salt, pepper and parsley in jam jar if you like – you can put the wine in a travel thermos too). Chop your herbs, slice lemons, combine in jam jar with salt, pepper and half the lemon and some olive oil - open wine. Get your fire hot, post flame but not white ash stage. Put the clams on a grate right above it – listen to them go nuts – after they open drizzle oil, salt, pepper, lemon and parsley mixture/dressing this will flame up (who cares?) wait one more minute then remove, (discard any clams which didn’t open) dress with reminder of dressing, rip up bread to serve along side and enjoy with the wine. Yeah you could also grill chorizo with this if you want, but then make sure to bring another bottle or two.
samueltobin at 5:46PM on 06/27/09
Sparkling shiraz with pulled pork.
jboylan at 8:30PM on 06/27/09
Maryhill Winery (Washington State) makes a decent red blend, so I decided to try their Winemaker's White Blend. It was 8.99 at the local market. I had butter lettuce, herbs and onion from my CSA that I needed to use so found Pork Top Loin Roast With Asparagus, Spring Onion and Butter Lettuce below:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/29/dining/292srex.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=pork%20loin%20with%20butter%20lettuce&st=cse
Both the wine and the dinner were pretty tasty.
kalajo at 8:10PM on 06/28/09
Husband suggested sake and sukiyaki. Not exactly what I had envisioned when I first read this thread, but here's my contribution...
http://cassaendra.blogspot.com/2009/06/cheers.html
Cassaendra at 12:30PM on 06/29/09
a cheap sake with some sushi take out! lame, i know, but delicious.
puotinen at 2:18PM on 06/29/09
@puotinen--notlame at all. In fact, I prefer a nice hoppy beer, such as Fullers ESB with sushi! @pirateking--my mom loved Mead, loved it. Yes, it can be very difficult to find.
donnie at 3:33PM on 06/29/09
I was making pizza on Monday when I realized I didn't have any crushed tomatoes to use for sauce. An improvised sauce was created from sauteing half an onion with some garlic, throwing in two chopped tomatoes, adding a couple glugs of an $8 Foxrun Vineyards Merlot, and lots of fresh basil and oregano. It was delicious!
patoo at 8:45AM on 06/30/09
I made a spinach and gorgonzola stuffed chicken breast this weekend which I paired with J. Lohr's Chardonnay ($11). It was quite awesome.
Amandarama at 10:03AM on 06/30/09