Wine-Tasting Workout: Train Yourself to be a Better Wine Taster

When wine pros evaluate a bottle, they focus on six key things. Here, F&W’s Megan Krigbaum collects exercises from a trio of experts to help even a wine know-nothing become a smarter, happier, more insightful taster. Wine-Tasting Workout: Train yourself to be a better wine taster. Illustration by Julia Rothman. Illustration by Julia Rothman.

“Body is the sense of weight or richness or heaviness, and even the feeling of viscosity that a wine leaves in your mouth,” says Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson, author of Great Wine Made Simple. Generally, the more alcohol in a wine, the more body it will have, which means that wines from warmer climates (which produce grapes with more sugar to be converted into alcohol) tend to have more heft. Sugar, oak and the overall concentration of flavors in a wine can also add body.

“A key principle for pairing is to match body with body, so that the wine’s not too heavy or light for the dish, and vice versa,” says Robinson.

“Wines have different weights and richnesses, mostly due to alcohol. Milk can vary in the same way, but of course that’s due to fat,” says Robinson.

Equipment
4 glasses
1/4 cup each of skim milk, 2% milk, whole milk and heavy cream

Taste the milk in ascending order of richness, beginning with skim and ending with heavy cream, considering the texture of each and the sensation in your mouth. The skim milk should dissipate very quickly; the cream will coat your tongue.

White
1. Northern Italian Pinot Grigio: 2011 Tiefenbrunner
2. New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc: 2011 Kim Crawford Marlborough
3. White Burgundy: 2010 Domaine Faiveley Bourgogne Blanc
4. Barrel-fermented Chardonnay: 2010 Rodney Strong Sonoma County

Red
1. Valpolicella: 2011 Tedeschi Lucchine
2. California Pinot Noir: 2010 Dutton Goldfield Azaya Ranch Vineyard
3. Chianti Classico: 2009 La Maialina
4. Zinfandel: 2010 Ridge East Bench

Illustration by Julia Rothman.

Tannins are compounds in grape skins, seeds and stems that contribute to wine’s structure, complexity, texture and ageability—especially red wine. Tannins create a drying and slightly bitter sensation in the mouth, usually toward the back of the tongue. Tannic wines pair especially well with rich foods and substantial meat dishes because they cut through fat; fat also softens the perception of tannin, making the wines more approachable.

Equipment
3 mugs
3 black tea bags
Hot water

Pour 8 ounces of hot water into each of the mugs. Place one tea bag in each of the mugs and start a timer. After 2 minutes, remove the bag from the first mug; after 4 minutes, remove the bag from the second mug; and after 8 minutes, remove the final tea bag. Let the tea cool.

Taste the teas in increasing steep-time order, swishing the liquid around in your mouth before swallowing. Notice how the teas are perceptibly more astringent as the steeping time increases.

1. Beaujolais: 2010 Potel Aviron Côte de Brouilly
2. California Merlot: 2009 Simi Sonoma County Merlot
3. Bordeaux: 2010 Château Bellevue Bordeaux Supérieur

Illustration by Julia Rothman.

Acidity in wine comes from the natural acids (tartaric, malic, etc.) in the grapes themselves, or acids that are added during the the winemaking process. The acidity in grapes varies greatly depending on the variety, as well as sun exposure, climate and the soil in the vineyard; grapes grown in cooler areas tend to have higher acidity. When drinking a wine, you’ll feel the effects of acidity mostly on the sides of your tongue. Overly acidic wines will cause almost a stinging sensation or taste sour.

Acidity makes your mouth water, cuts through the fat in rich foods and refreshes the palate.

Equipment
Five 4 ounce glasses of water
1 orange
1 grapefruit
1 lemon
1 lime

Set aside the first glass of water.

Squeeze the juice of 1/4 orange into the second glass; into the third, squeeze the juice of 1/4 grapefruit; into the fourth, squeeze the juice of 1/2 lemon; into the fifth, squeeze the juice of 1/2 lime.

Taste in that order, starting with a sip of plain water, to experience increasing levels of acidity. Experiment by adding more juice to each glass to see how the acidity increases. Notice the point at which the juice becomes too sour.

1. Marsanne: 2011 Qupé
2. Sauvignon Blanc: 2011 Brander Santa Ynez Valley
3. Muscadet: 2011 Michel Delhommeau Cuvée St. Vincent

Illustration by Julia Rothman.

Sweetness in wine is measured by the amount of residual sugar (RS) in the liquid after fermentation. “Sweetness can only come from one thing in wine, and that’s sugar content,” says Master Sommelier Shayn Bjornholm. Acidity can mask some of the sweetness in wines by balancing out the sugar, as in German or Alsatian Riesling. Sugar can also contribute to a wine’s body and texture.

Equipment
16 ounce glass with 8 ounces of water
2 lemons
1 cup of sugar

Squeeze the juice of the lemons into the water and stir.

Taste the mixture; it will be very tart.

Stir in sugar 1 teaspoon at a time, tasting after each addition. You should notice when the juice achieves the right level of sweetness and balances the acidity of the lemon.

1. Dry Riesling: 2010 Robert Weil Kiedrich Turmberg Trocken
2. Off-dry Riesling: 2011 Hexamer Kabinett
3. Sweet Riesling: 2010 Kerpen Wehlener Sonnenuhr Auslese

Illustration by Julia Rothman.

A wine’s flavors come from the grape variety, as well as the climate and the amount of sun exposure and type of soil in the vineyard. Different winemaking techniques will extract various flavors, too.

The truth is, everyone smells and tastes different aromas and flavors in wine. It’s a very subjective judgement. That said, the more tasting experiences you have, the more easily you’ll be able to pick out those flavors. Having your own flavor vocabulary can come in handy when ordering wine from a sommelier or talking with a salesperson at a wine shop—and, most importantly, when pairing wines with food.

Equipment
Blindfold
Lychee
Pencil Shavings
Mushrooms
Bacon
Rock
Sage
Raspberries
Cassis
Lime Zest
Orange Blossom Water

Put on the blindfold and have someone set out the aromatic items in front of you in any order.

Smell each item. “Aroma accounts for the majority of our taste, anyway,” says Bjornholm. Not only will this exercise give you a better idea of what you like, but it will also increase your Rolodex of flavors to have on hand when tasting.

Floral
1. Loire Cabernet Franc: 2011 Chais St. Laurent Chinon (sage)
2. Moscato d’Asti: 2011 Bera (orange-blossom water)
3. Australian Riesling: 2011 Rolf Binder Highness Riesling (lime zest)
4. Gewürztraminer: 2010 Lucien Albrecht Réserve (lychee)

Fruity
5. Zinfandel: 2010 Foxglove (raspberry)
6. California Cabernet blend: 2009 Justin Isosceles (cassis)

Savory
7. Red Burgundy: 2009 Pierre Morey Monthelie (mushroom)
8. Côte Rôtie: 2007 E. Guigal Brune et Blonde de Guigal (bacon)
9. German Riesling: 2011 Christoffel Erdener Treppchen Kabinett (rock)
10. Left Bank Bordeaux: 2008 Château Malartic-Lagravière (pencil shavings)

Illustration by Julia Rothman.

Oak barrels used in winemaking develop their toasty, caramelly, vanilla flavors from being fire-charred. The barrels can be toasted to different levels, depending on the winemaker’s preference; those barrels can hold wine while it ferments or while it ages. Some producers favor old oak over new oak because its effect on a wine’s flavor, tannins and structure is more subtle.

Equipment
Box of Cheerios
Marshmallow
Skewer

Crush up Cheerios and smell them. According to Joshua Wesson, the toasty, wheaty notes of the cereal are very similar to those in oaked white wine.

Skewer a marshmallow and roast it over a flame on a gas stove until it’s charred. “In red wines, oak leaves the impression of campfire smoke or the smell of a burnt marshmallow,” Wesson says.

1. Chablis: 2011 Jean-Marc Brocard Domaine Sainte Claire
2. White Burgundy: 2010 Joseph Drouhin Meursault
3. California Chardonnay: 2010 La Crema Sonoma Coast Chardonnay

1. Sicilian Frappato: 2011 Tami
2. Chianti Classico: 2009 Rocca delle Macìe
3. Napa Cabernet Sauvignon: 2009 Groth

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Pizza americana al pomodoro

E', senza ombra di dubbio, la pizza più amata e gettonata dai bambini...quella che su tutti i menu è definita come "americana", ossia farcita con wurstel e patatine. Se ne trovano sempre in 2 varianti, con e senza pomodoro. Qui di seguito, prepariamo insieme quella "rossa".

Operazione preliminare sarà senz'altro quella di allestire l'impasto per la pizza, che sarà poi messo a lievitare. Disponiamo la farina in un recipiente, la saliamo, pratichiamo un foro al centro e vi sciogliamo il lievito di birra in acqua tiepida

Continuiamo ad impastare fino a completo assorbimento dell'acqua

fino a che la pasta si stacchi dalle pareti e fino a formare un bel panetto sodo e compatto

Lo porremo a lievitare in un luogo fresco e asciutto

Al termine della lievitazione, si presenterà raddoppiato di volume

Oleiamo leggermente una teglia da forno e vi stendiamo adeguatamente l'impasto nello spessore desiderato (c'è a chi piace più o meno alta o più sottile)

Passiamo, poi, a preparare la farcia. Peliamo le patate e le affettiamo a spicchi. Dopo, le friggiamo in olio bollente

Quando le patate saranno ben dorate, aggiungiamo ad esse anche i wurstel, tagliati a rondelle

Ed ora, allestiamo la pizza. Cospargiamo la base di salsa di pomodoro, condita con poco olio e sale

Vi distribuiamo su la frittura di wurstel e patatine

e, per completare, copriamo con le fette di mozzarella

Passiamo la pizza in forno ben caldo (circa 220°) e cuociamo fino a renderla fragrante e morbida

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Caviar and Vodka - The Plateau of Gourmet Food

It is said that one cannot truly appreciate caviar without vodka. As Russian traditions go, caviar is best appreciated with a glass of vodka in hand. With that said, it is imperative that only ice-cold vodka is best served with it as the vodka has a subtle flavour that complements the saltines coming with the caviar without overpowering the delicacy. Choosing the caviar is another matter as well. To find the perfect caviar, consider the following.

Caviar Features

Some features of the caviar can readily influence the price of caviar sold in the market. Here are some of them:

Size. Caviar size indicates the type of sturgeon or fish that the roe is collected from. As each roe size corresponds to a particular fish variety, one can be assured of whether the fish eggs are mature when harvested. Beluga sturgeons have bigger sized roes where ossetra sturgeons have smaller roe.

Color. Each fish roe colour depends on where the caviar is gathered. Beluga caviar, for example, ranges from pale to silver-gray to black depending on the age of the sturgeon.Ossetra roe, however, has the color of gray to brownish and the imperial caviar has orange to golden in colour.

Maturity. As caviar's taste depends on the age of the sturgeon, the older the sturgeon, the more expensive the caviar is. Beluga sturgeon takes about 20 years for it to mature and to be capable of producing eggs. Other sturgeons like the sevruga takes about 15-20 years to mature.

Texture. Good caviar possesses a fresh sea scent to it, has a shiny coat and has good quality grains to it. Top quality caviar should be able to withstand the sieving process but is delicate enough to melt when eaten.

Types of Caviar

Another factor that affects the price of this delicacy is the type of caviar that one wants to buy. All of the caviar varieties are colour coded to make sure that consumers are not mistaken in their purchase of their caviar needs. One would normally see blue, yellow tin cans which corresponds to the type of the fish that the roe was harvested from. There are online stores that categorized their caviar so online shoppers can readily check the item that they want.

Depending on variety, there are four major Russian caviar in the market today - Beluga, Ossetra, Sterlet and Sevruga. Beluga is the rarest and most expensive of the caviar as the sturgeon takes a longer period to mature and develop their eggs. A fishing restriction is also implemented by the government wherein only 100 beluga sturgeons allowed to be fished in the Caspian Sea to ensure that the species will survive.

Sterlet variety is reserved for the Imperial family and as such, prohibited and banned for local people to eat the roe of this sturgeon variety. The popular caviar sold today come from the ossetra and the sevruga sturgeon. The sturgeon varieties are more abundant and take a shorter time to produce the said caviar.

The demand for caviar, however, resulted to sturgeon farms not only in Russia but also in other countries such as America, Iran and Azerbaijan. One can readily see caviar made from American milkfish, paddlefish as well as bowfins in the market. The taste and texture of the American variety is almost of the same quality but is much more affordable than the Russian caviar.

Nowadays purchasing one's caviar is more accessible with online shops that sell caviar and other gourmet products online. The online gourmet store guarantees 24 hour shipping which is a must to maintain the delicate flavor of the caviar and also reliable shipping companies making the caviar a timely hors d'oeuvres to just about any event halfway around the globe.

SensationCaviar.com offers premium caviar and other gourmet delicacies. Read all about caviar to know the latest about this gourmet food. Check us out at Pinterest - Sensation Caviar.

Brodo di carne

Il brodo di carne rappresenta una preparazione di base per molti piatti, dai risotti alle minestrine per bimbi fino ai 3 anni ed oltre. Per un buon risultato, sostanzioso ma leggero, tutto sta nella scelta degli ingredienti. Per quanto concerne la carne, sceglieremo un pezzo tenero, adatto proprio alla preparazione dei brodi...il taglio di punta di petto è tra questi. Anche gli ortaggi saranno naturalmente freschi. Ma vediamo nel dettaglio la preparazione...

Mettiamo circa 2 litri di acqua in una pentola e la poniamo su fiamma media. All'interno, vi mettiamo le carotine pelate e affettate a rondelle

Dopo, aggiungiamo la cipolla, anch'essa privata delle foglie esterne più dure e ben lavata

Aromatizziamo con le foglioline di prezzemolo spuntate e lavate, ottima fonte di vitamina C

Facciamo bollire per qualche minuto e, in questo intingolo vitaminoso, mettiamo a lessare la carne, affinchè scarichi nel liquido tutta la sostanza

Regoliamo di sale (tenendo in considerazione che la quantità di liquido poi si ridurrà)

Infine, lasciamo bollire per 30 minuti

ed ecco pronto il brodo di carne! A voi adesso la scelta sulla consumazione preferita...

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Gourmet Flavored Coffee From Cafes to Countertops

Coffee has been a flavorful way to experience camaraderie and enjoyment for centuries. From ancient Africa to modern cafés to countertop coffee makers, this rich treat has been an important beverage for many people.

The birth of coffee in Africa and Middle East seems distant but everyone relates to gourmet flavored coffee today. From grabbing a cup on the way to work to savoring a cup with dessert, it is served throughout the day. While drinking java alone is pleasurable, often java is part of socializing. It is served at work, at meetings and at social gatherings. From klatches to specialty bars, sharing a cup is an excuse to gather.

In decades gone by, a great cup of coffee meant going to your local diner or stopping by a friend's house after a fresh pot was percolated on the stove. It accompanied long conversations at the counter with the waitress and other patrons. Women gathered in the afternoons after they did their chores to share freshly perked cup and conversation before the children came home from school.

Over the past three decades, coffee got more sophisticated. As technology evolved, so did its presentation. Posh coffee houses sprouted up across the nation offering gourmet beans and exotic brews. Today many houses are known as coffee bars where patrons sit down to sip and socialize. Often patrons bring home their favorite varieties of gourmet coffee and tea to make at home.

The home java experience has also evolved through the years. Everyone can remember the silver coffee percolator grandma used to make when we were children. Our parents made it in a simple drip maker. Today there are a variety of machines used at home to create irresistible concoctions including espresso and cappuccino. A French press is used to make a full-flavored brew from gourmet coffee beans. Use a single serve maker if you live alone or just want one fresh cup.

Coffee drinking was simple when your only options were cream, milk and sugar. Today there are lots of flavors and types to choose from. Do you want a mocha espresso or hazelnut cappuccino? Would you like yours hot or iced? How about decaf? Much like fine wine, people often choose their brew based on the foods accompanying it.

You can even grab a cup on the go. Instant brew is made in minutes with coffee granules and boiling water. Chilled bottled versions are a refreshing pick-me-up on a warm day. No matter how or where you decide to get it, coffee is always a delicious and energizing treat.

To explore delicious gourmet coffee beans to brew at home make sure to visit Intelligentsia Coffee. Order gourmet coffee and tea online or find a local Intelligentsia coffee bar where you can be served gourmet flavored coffee.

Splash in the Pan: Cooking with Wine

F&W’s Grace Parisi scores half-empty bottles of wine after staff tastings, then uses them in her cooking adventures. F&W’s Grace Parisi loves cooking with wine.

One of the great perks of working in F&W’s Test Kitchen is taking home half-empty bottles that our wine gurus Ray Isle and Megan Krigbaum have just sampled in the Tasting Room. Ours is a perfectly symbiotic relationship: Ray and Megan haven’t bought lunch, and I haven’t bought wine, in years. More often than not, the wines are quite good and out of my price range (as is lunch in midtown Manhattan). Usually the bottles have several glasses remaining, which is more than enough for a quick braise or pan sauce. Or I might use the wine to poach fish: I’ll cook salmon in Riesling, then mix the liquid into a vinaigrette for a delicate salmon salad with butter beans and escarole. If there’s any wine left over after that, I pour it at the table—a reminder that the best wines to cook with are also the most delicious to drink.

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Facts About Gourmet Coffee Franchises

One of the greatest current franchise opportunities is with a gourmet coffee franchise. However, there are some facts you should take into consideration first before deciding to pursue this opportunity investment.

In fact, because gourmet coffee franchises have became such wonderful opportunities, they risk running into the problem of startling market saturation. This factor, as well as other things will affect which type of franchises you should evaluate. We will discuss these factors in this article.

First I want you to consider this - in the past five years, while coffee consumption as a whole has stayed the same, gourmet coffee consumption has almost doubled! That is why it has been such a ripe opportunity.

When you consider that the cost to create gourmet coffee is minimal it means that the profit margins are unnaturally high. Now add in that demand is bigger than ever and you get one of the most competitive industries in the business market. This means that you have to have your druthers about you if you're going to make a gourmet coffee business work.

What you want to look for are market opportunities to exploit. The best opportunity to exploit is to find an area that is currently untapped by any gourmet coffee shop or franchise. If you can determine that the logistics would work for a franchise in that area, and there is little to no competition, you're in a prime opportunity. In this instance I would urge you to quickly invest.

The other market opportunity to exploit is where there is a steady stream of competition, but you feel you can improve upon the competition and offer a better choice to the consumer. Competition is not necessarily a bad thing; it proves that there is a demand in that area.

However, it is not easy to take away someone else's share of the market. To do so will require that you have such a compelling advantage that they will choose you, a stranger, over someone that they currently trust to provide their gourmet coffee to them.

In this case, you either have to look for a share of the market segment that is currently not being catered to, but would like to be catered to, or come in with a very big competitive advantage to offer to an existing market segment.

Consider these facts and then determine if a gourmet coffee franchise to be right for you. If you can make it work for you, it should be a very lucrative investment.

You can find out more about a Gourmet Coffee Franchise as well as much more information on everything to do with coffee franchises and coffee businesses at http://www.CoffeeFranchiseBusiness.net

The Melbourne Identity

Why are American star chefs like Roy Choi so fascinated by the food scene in Melbourne? Writer Julie Powell flies across the planet to find out. The newly-developing South Wharf district is home to restaurateur Paul Mathis’s newest Melbourne restaurant, The Sharing House.

Roy Choi is so excited, he can’t get the words out fast enough. “It’s like a miniaturization of all my favorite cities: Tokyo and Seoul and New York and Los Angeles, all in one.” The F&W Best New Chef 2010 and famed owner of Los Angeles’s fleet of Kogi BBQ Korean taco trucks traveled to Melbourne, Australia, in 2011, and he returned a passionate devotee of the city. (He even has a commemorative tattoo on his left wrist: the street address of the restaurant Coda, where he did a guest stint.) Now I am heading to Melbourne myself to find out why ambitious young American chefs are so transfixed by its food scene.

“Here in the States, we lose our sense of direction. Things aren’t cool all of a sudden, so we trash them,” says Choi. “In Melbourne, you can be thorough, be honest, be pure, care about something all the way. If you act like you’re too cool for school, you get figurative eggs thrown at you.”

It has been a long time since I’ve felt that excited about restaurant food. I am hoping Melbourne’s earnestness will soften the harder edges of my New York City neuroses.

At Golden Fields, empire builder Andrew McConnell uses Asian ingredients such as Kewpie mayonnaise in his crayfish roll.

Andrew McConnell owns four wildly popular restaurants in Melbourne. One of his newest, Golden Fields, is enthusiastically recommended to me by no fewer than six different people, including the hostess at Vue de Monde, Melbourne’s recently renovated aerie of haute cuisine. Golden Fields, in the once-posh-then-seedy-now-maybe-getting-posh-again neighborhood of St. Kilda, is the culmination of McConnell’s long-standing fixation on the ingredients he was introduced to during five years of working in Hong Kong and Shanghai. “Chinese restaurants here are mostly Cantonese,” McConnell says, explaining why people are responding so well to his hyper-regional dishes. “The more authentic and less diluted the food is, the more interested Melbournians are.”

A starter of cucumber and baby radish marinated in ginger and garlic is a kick in the head—crisp and strongly flavored. Equally so is a simple dish of sautéed Chinese greens in a spicy, homemade XO sauce. It tastes like something you could get at your neighborhood takeout joint, if your neighborhood takeout joint were run by a top-rate chef. He delves into the untraditional, too, like the lobster roll he ate on a trip to New York City and left wanting to reproduce. Informed by the lessons Chinese cuisine taught him about contrasting temperatures, he serves a buttered bun just short of hot, with pleasingly cool poached crayfish, some watercress and a smear of Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise to hold it together.

Ben Shewry’s Attica restaurant, in a Melbourne suburb, has been on the San Pellegrino World’s 100 Best Restaurants list for three years running, so I figure it’s a must-visit for my eating tour of the city.

A transplant from New Zealand, Shewry grew up on an isolated farm by the ocean. When he moved to Melbourne, he found himself obsessively drawn to the native foods that some Australians might dismiss as “bush tucker.” As he walks me through the restaurant’s extensive gardens, he plucks a purplish two-lobed fruit from a towering tree. “Pine plum.” He peels away the smaller of the two lobes, then hands the other one to me. “It’s got this intense aftertaste. Some people don’t like it. Try one.” The inky juice of the fruit stains my fingers; the flavor starts like a stone fruit, then goes puckeringly piney. It’s a challenging flavor, and one you won’t taste outside of this region—which is just Shewry’s point.

Shewry has described his dishes as “emo,” recalling his own childhood memories and eliciting childhood memories in others. After 10 astonishing courses—among them just-picked nasturtium and red basil floating in a rich shiitake broth—I’m presented with a dish that seems as if it were made just for me. It’s not that it looks familiar: A straw nest contains one delicately painted dessert called a pukeko egg. Alongside is a picture of the pukeko bird, and a definition: Natives of New Zealand, pukekos are tough birds, foragers, “confident, inquisitive and vociferous.”

The eggshell is white chocolate. When I bite into it, my mouth fills with salted caramel, and I’m hit with a memory from growing up: a day when my grandmother slipped me something off my mother’s verboten list. Shewry had gifted me with a grown-up version of the Cadbury Creme Egg.

In Melbourne, there’s a superabundance of up-and-coming restaurants. As in New York City, it sometimes seems that there’s a different place to eat for every citizen. Smith Street in the suburb of Collingwood is, much like Smith Street in Brooklyn, an energetic strip of restaurants and bars, often run on shoestring budgets by young hopefuls. Among these is Easy Tiger, a relatively new Thai spot. There is nothing fancy about Easy Tiger, with its inexpensive menu of family-style plates, narrow dining room and funky courtyard out back. What’s bringing people here is an idea carried out with maniacal focus. Chef Jarrod Hudson is mad for the craziness of Thai food, its complex mix of hot, sweet, bitter and sour.

The air is redolent with the spices that Hudson and his crew laboriously grind and mix by hand daily. The earthy, red oxtail curry has me gulping water, chile fiend though I am. All around me diners are unfazed, digging into crispy soft-shell crabs with house-made Sriracha, and ma hor, a shockingly sweet bite of prawn, pork and chicken cooked in palm sugar, served on a square of pineapple. I overhear someone refer to the ma hor as “dessert first.” It shouldn’t be good, but it is. The meal ends with chocolate and pandanus-leaf dumplings with melon and salted coconut cream. They are very weird, and just right.

Bar Ampere’s bartenders, dressed in lab coats, shake up cocktail experiments.

After they’ve eaten, Melbournians wander down alleyways and slip behind unmarked doors or up creaky sets of stairs to one of the city’s “laneway bars.” Supposedly. I have heard tell of these mythical places but have yet to manage to find one. Tonight, though, I am armed with maps, carefully drawn and marked on the backs of old menus or bar napkins by helpful waiters and strangers. One couple I meet at the beloved tapas bar MoVida leads me six or seven blocks out of their way (“Typical Melbourne,” I imagine Roy Choi whispering) to show me Meyers Place, one of the great examples of the genre—but it’s not open yet. One of the mysteries of the laneways’ bars is the incomprehensible hours they keep. I wander alone, squinting with increasing despair at my cocktail napkins. I pass by the restaurant Pei Modern, which Banjo Plane, the manager of Attica, had recommended. I stay the course, but I worry that I’ll never find one of these alleged pocket bars.

And then there one is, down a cobbled alley, under an archway next to an electrical substation—Bar Ampere, tiny enough to happily entertain hobbits. Inside it looks like a 1930s-era laboratory, with white tile, a wall of wine bottles and a dark varnished bar shaped like a horseshoe. The diminutive, mustachioed and lab-coated fellow behind the counter welcomes me and, at my request, pours me a cocktail newly minted and enigmatically named: the Keen Keener, made with gin, China Martini liqueur, Herbsaint and both orange and Angostura bitters.

“Let me know how you like it,” the bartender tells me. “It’s all still an experiment.”

The Sharing House, in the waterfront district, serves family-style dishes like mussels with tomato and cumin.

Paul Mathis is a bundle of nervous energy; he seems always to be thrumming, moving, questioning or holding forth. After three decades of success as one of Melbourne’s most prolific restaurateurs, every new venture still seems to fill him with anxiety. “I just want people to come here and have a good time,” he says. “Is the menu too precious? Is the room right?”

We’re sitting at a window-side table at the Sharing House, the latest of five restaurants he’s opened in less than a year. Mathis needn’t worry; the bright room with huge ceilings feels just right. Its bar is inlaid with Lego blocks, and the floor-to-ceiling windows look out on the docks and warehouses of Melbourne’s newly developing South Wharf district. As its name suggests, the menu encompasses both small plates and enormous family-style servings. I smear buttery potted shrimp over tiny crumpets as fast as I can before they cool; a mastodon-size slab of perfectly pink beef Wellington looms on the table before me. Right next door, just a thin partition away, is an entirely different venture, Akachochin, Mathis’s new Japanese restaurant.

It’s clear that Mathis has made himself a little crazy with this ambitious expansion schedule. He is the only openly neurotic person I’ve met since arriving in Melbourne, so I feel a kinship with him. It doesn’t surprise me that he names New York as one of his favorite cities. “Melbourne is like New York in a way, I think. There is this multiculturalism. Everyone here is originally from somewhere else. Of course,” he adds, dismissively, “We’re so much smaller.”

I wonder if it takes a fresh eye—a Roy Choi, a Ben Shewry, a me—to clearly see what a born Melbournian takes for granted. To see that at the bottom of the planet, where people and ideas from around the world seem to collect like foreign coins and forgotten lipstick at the bottom of an oversize purse, the locals are nurturing a food scene that couldn’t exist anywhere else. Something all their own.

New York City-based writer Julie Powell is the author of Julie & Julia and Cleaving.

World-famous chef Ben Shewry showcases native Australian ingredients in what he calls “emo”—emotion-stirring—dishes of enormous delicacy. attica.com.au.

For his new restaurant, chef Andrew McConnell draws from his time in Hong Kong and Shanghai, creating a menu of small-plate Chinese dishes such as chicken congee. goldenfields.com.au.

To flavor authentic Thai dishes like oxtail stew, Jarrod Hudson and his staff grind Thai spices daily. easytiger.co.

In this bar, concealed in one of Melbourne’s narrow lanes, bartenders in lab coats serve creative cocktails, plus wine that has been infused with liquor and herbs. barampere.com.

Restaurateur Paul Mathis has opened five restaurants in less than a year. His latest has cute design touches (a bar inlaid with Lego blocks) and comfort food served family-style. thesharinghouse.com.au.

Shannon Bennett’s restaurant has a new location atop a skyscraper but the same ultra-elegant food. Prix fixe menus start at $158. Rialto 525 Collins St.; vuedemonde.com.au.

Sophisticated French bistro food from Sydney star chef Mark Best. peimodern.com.au.

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Gourmet Cheese of the Month Club

Gourmet cheese of the month clubs are one of the dozens of "of the Month" club memberships that are available. What better way could there be to discover delicious gourmet artisan cheeses from around the world. If you love cheese but aren't sure what makes a cheese "gourmet" or "artisan", a club membership is a perfect way to find out.

If you already belong to a club and have been appreciating handcrafted aged cheeses, you can share your love with friends and family by giving a gourmet cheese of the month club membership as a gift.

What is Gourmet?

Some cheese of the month clubs call themselves just that, a "cheese of the month club". Others have the name "gourmet cheese of the month club". In many cases the name doesn't mean anything, but just in case, you might want to become educated in exactly what a gourmet or "artisan" is to make sure you are getting what you want. Some of the differences between an artisan cheese and the typical cheeses purchased in the supermarket are:

1. Artisan cheeses are manufactured by hand using old and traditional techniques.

2. An important part of artisan cheese making is the aging and ripening. This is how the flavors develop as well as the texture and firmness that are associated with each cheese.

3. Mass-produced cheeses that are manufactured in big operations are packaged, shipped and sold almost immediately after production is completed.

4. These mass-produced cheeses have very mild flavors because they are not aged or ripened.

What Type of Cheeses Can You Experience?

Some of the gourmet clubs have gained a lot of experience at pairing cheeses with wine, food, and even the different sexes. Many of these clubs have experts choosing their cheese based on what they see at wine and cheese exhibits in which they participate. By observing who tastes what as visitors stop by their exhibit, some experts have observed that men seemed to enjoy cheese like the bold cheddars and Gouda, while women prefer the more delicately flavored cheeses.

With each month's shipment, some gourmet cheese clubs send out an assortment based on the type of wine they pair with or what kind of tastes they appeal to. Here are some examples.

· Cheese for Women - This group of cheese may include things like white Stilton flavored with different tastes like ginger or mango. Another might be a particularly creamy blue cheese or one of the varieties of "drunken" goat cheeses made in Spain that bathed in wine.

· Cheese for Merlots - California and the Bordeaux region of France grow most of the merlot grapes used in winemaking. Merlots are smooth and soft with a plummy taste. If a monthly shipment for your cheese of the month club contains cheeses best served with merlots, it may include:

o An aged Gouda. The aging develops the body of the cheese and gives it an intense flavor.

o Manchego - This is the most famous cheese that Spain makes and is made from sheep's milk. Its zesty taste comes from the variety of herbs added to the cheese.

· Cheese for Cabernet Sauvignon - These are some of the best wines in the world. Flavors associated with a Cabernet are deep cherry, currant, mint, and tobacco. Cheeses that pair well with Cabernets are:

o Smokey Blue Cheeses - This is similar to Roquefort and is smoked for 16 hours. The flavors of a cabernet are perfect with a smoked blue cheese.

o Aged Mimolette - This cheese is traditionally made in the Italian Alps. It has a fruitiness to it that comes from the milk of Alpine cows that feed on wild grasses.

These are just examples of the type of cheese you can get with your gourmet cheese of the month club membership.

What Do you Get with a Membership?

Most clubs have different levels of membership and let you choose different lengths of time that your membership lasts, normally 3, 6, 9 or 12 months. You will probably receive about ½-pound of three different cheeses each month.

A membership to a good club will often include a monthly newsletter with plenty of helpful information. It should explain the monthly selections you received, the origins of each cheese and how the diet of the animal and when the animal is milked can have an effect on the final product. The newsletter may also have tips on ways to cook with or serve each cheese and may even include recipes.

I write because I love to help people.

There is a Cheese of the Month Club waiting for you.

The Hungry Crowd: Walt Frazier

New York Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier talks about his fashion flair and NYC restaurant. Walt Frazier Photo © Adam Pantozzi/MSG Photos. Walt Frazier’s New York City restaurant.

I really like to meet and greet the fans, old and new. The biggest trip is the 12- and 13-year-olds who beg their parents to take them to Clyde’s—young kids who obviously weren’t born yet when I played for the Knicks, but they know my stats and like my words and like my suits.

I cover up. I drape the tablecloth across my lap, and I tuck my napkin inside my collar so it covers my shirt. I used to always have a little spot on my tie, and eventually I was like, “C’mon man, you look sloppy!”

I think Marcus Samuelsson at Red Rooster in Harlem is one of the best. When I met him, the first thing he said was, “Oh, man, I thought I was dressed up, but look at you, Clyde! I got to up my game when you come in!”

In those days, I would go over to First Avenue for the original T.G.I. Friday’s and Maxwell’s Plum. And of course there was Studio 54. That’s the place I miss the most, because of the diversity of people, and the scene—the music, the ambience, people just looking to have a good time.

I learned a lot from my idol and teammate Dick Barnett. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink and ate a lot of seafood and chicken. And also from Cazzie Russell; “Muscles Russells” was a fanatic about healthy food. He used to carry his own teapot into the locker room. Because of them, I started caring about nutrition, vitamins and a proper diet. I even tried being a vegetarian for a while in the ’70s, but that didn’t work out because I just wasn’t getting enough energy.

I’ve always hated plane food, so I only used to eat Raisin Bran. I ate it so much then that now, I never eat Raisin Bran except when I’m traveling, because otherwise, I wouldn’t have anything to eat on the plane.

Delicious and nutritious. Tantalizing and mesmerizing.

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Gourmet Coffee Gift Baskets - The Perfect Gift For Any Coffee Lover

Gift giving can be a daunting, even nerve racking task. How do you decide what to give your office secretary or your best friend who has everything? If they drink coffee then why not give them a gourmet coffee basket? You can purchase one online or at your local gift shop or you can make it yourself and add your own special touch.

Gourmet coffee baskets are wonderful gifts to receive. They typically contain an assortment of flavored coffees and cappuccino's, sweet treats to enjoy with the coffee and much more. Before you start putting together your gourmet coffee basket, assemble your items.

Items

* Basket - this can be any size you want as long as it will hold the items

* Basket Fill - to make the basket pretty use a colored shredded filler. This can be purchased or you can shred your own using a shredder and colored paper.

* Basket Wrap - your local arts and crafts store should carry clear wrap made for baskets that shrinks to fit the basket when heated with a hair dryer

* Coffees: Your local grocer or gourmet shop should carry a wide variety of flavored coffees. You can usually get them in sample sizes. Get as many as you want for the basket.

* Creamers: A fun addition to the basket, you can get individual sized flavored creamers in liquid form that do not need refrigeration or you can purchase powder forms in flavors as well.

* Sweetener: If you find flavored sweeteners, they make a unique addition to the basket; however they are not widely available. Some online coffee retailers carry them.

* Coffee Mixes: There are many companies that carry coffee and cappuccino mixes, for example General Food International Coffees. These make perfect gift basket additions.

* Sweet Treats: Everyone loves sweet treats, especially with their fresh, hot coffee. Biscotti can be found individually wrapped for adding to the basket. You can also purchase specialty cookies and individual sweet cakes.

* Flavored Stirrers: If you really want to make this basket a treat, make some flavored stirring spoons to add to your basket. These are simple to make and really make your basket stand out.

To make flavored spoons - Melt dipping chocolate. Dip plastic spoons into chocolate. When dry seal in small candy bags (available at your local craft store). Your friends will be delighted with your creativity.

* Mugs: What coffee basket would be complete without a pretty mug to enjoy the coffee from? Choose the mug based on the recipient. For example, a coffee gift basket for the teacher might include a mug with 'Teachers are Special", for the golfer you might find a mug shaped like a golf ball. This makes the basket uniquely theirs and show you put thought into making it.

* Book or other novelty: Add something special to the basket. If you know the person likes to read, add a novel or daily devotional. They can enjoy a cup of coffee while they read their new book. Or maybe they like music. Toss in a relaxing CD. These are just ideas, this is your gift, and you can spend as much or as little as you want.

Assembly

To assemble your gift basket, fill the bottom of the basket with colored filler then situate your heaviest items in the middle. Arrange other items creatively around this item. Wrap in the shrink wrap and secure with a bow. Your basket is now ready for giving to your favorite person.

Gourmet coffee baskets make thoughtful gifts for the coffee enthusiast in your life. You can be as creative as you want to be or you can order one pre-made. Making it yourself assures that you are happy with the arrangement, either way, it is sure to be a delightful gift.

Sharon V Chapman writes on the joys of coffee and provides information on gourmet coffee gift baskets for Gourmet Coffee Guide - http://gourmet-coffee-guide.info

Fusilli alla carbonara con speck e noci

Per tutti gli appassionati di intingoli e primi piatti gustosi...una variante della più classica carbonara...con l'aggiunta di striscioline di speck e un trito di noci diventa un condimento squisito per i fusilli che qui di seguito andremo a preparare.

Versa l'olio in un tegame e vi fai tostare lo speck, tagliato a listarelle

Aggiungi anche i gherigli di noci grossolanamente spezzettati

Nel frattempo, porta a bollore la pentola per cuocere i fusilli e portali a cottura. Rompi le uova in una ciotola e vi aggiungi un pizzico di sale

Condisci le uova con il latte ed il parmigiano grattugiato

Quando i fusilli saranno cotti, scolali e mantecali nel condimento

Versa sulla pasta il battuto di uova e formaggio

Tutto pronto...non ti resta che assaporare questa squisitezza!

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How I Learned to Love Mold

Writer Peter Meehan was initially skeptical about the deliciousness of rot, but he became a believer pretty quickly. The Art of Fermentation Cover image courtesy of Chelsea Green.

Over the last year, I’ve watched chefs all around the world become fascinated by aging and fermentation—different but related processes that rely on time and often microbes such as bacteria, yeasts and molds—to alter the most basic structure of food. At first I thought: Really? Did everybody just buy copies of Sandor Ellix Katz’s 2012 book The Art of Fermentation? (It’s a road map to all kinds of rot, written in an encouraging, homesteader-ready style.) And why now? Why are so many people hiding crocks of months-old this and that in the corners of their wine cellars?

Fäviken Magasinet, a tiny restaurant in the Swedish countryside with one of the most-talked about chefs in the world, ages beef for nine months; in contrast, “long-aged” beef in the States gets only 28 days. In his Fäviken cookbook, out this month, Magnus Nilsson writes that the beef “may smell a little bit like mature cheese, which should not be alarming as long as it smells pleasant.”

Daniel Patterson of Coi in San Francisco, a chef who has been on the forefront of the fermentation trend, explains it as the DIY effect: “These days, everyone is into the personalization of not just their dishes, but their own ingredients.” He continues, “The greatest, most profound flavors in the world are created through fermentation,” citing wine, vinegar, soy sauce, kimchi, miso and sauerkraut.

Patterson has been making his own garum, a stinky (or, if you like, “strongly aromatic”) fish sauce-like condiment that was popular in the days of Pliny the Elder. After aging the garum for six months or longer, he combines it with lamb, in a nod to the Provençal combination of lamb and anchovies. Patterson says part of the appeal of ingredients like garum is what he calls their slow-fast flavor. “It’s slow to develop, but quick to use. And transformative.”

It would be easy to react in a knee-jerk way to this new interest in all things aged, to think that it’s just another chance for restaurants to cram another adjective in the “house-made” style on their menus. But the flavors many of these chefs are conjuring are distinct and unique, new weapons in their arsenals. And with basements, attics, barrels and refrigerators full of ingredients that time and nature are slowly transforming, we’ve only begun to see the results of these chefs’ experiments. With time, we’ll see many more.

Peter Meehan is co-editor of Lucky Peach magazine and a freelance writer based in New York City.

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