The Rest of Us

[Sneakeater]

And having been drinking this wine over the years since its release, boy is it in a good place right now.  The balance is just right.

[Sneakeater]

Hmmmm.  I wonder if a Pineau d'Aunis would be too light.  Might be even more perfect.

[Sneakeater]

No, it would totally work.

Maybe THAT next time!

[Sneakeater]

4 hours ago, Wilfrid said:

Many years ago at Bayona, there was a German dessert wine on the list with such a ridiculously long name that I couldn’t resist saying it to my server. Then I said “I don’t want that one.” And cracked myself up. Server took it all calmly.

If there's anything more fun than saying "Trockenbeerenauslese", I don't know what it is.

[Sneakeater]

Actually, I DO know what it is.

[voyager]

In praise of cooking for 1:    You have no idea how appealing your cockamamie meals are!    You enjoy nightly stuff that I have to hope to find on a restaurant menu, and most of your plates are "not bloody likely" at an ordinary city bistro.   So as you continue to protest modestly about your cooking prowess, do recognize how well you dine, please know how lucky you are.

[Wilfrid]

17 hours ago, Sneakeater said:

Breakfast for Supper II!

Devilled kindneys on toast.  Beans.  Grilled tomatoes.

I want to be clear that I planned this meal before the deaths of any reigning monarchs.  (You could imagine how thrilled I was, though, when I went to the butcher to pick up some kidneys late this afternoon, to be told they had just gotten the lambs in this morning.  The kidneys were fresh as can be!)

 

Before the death of the Queen Mother, there was a long-standing rumor that a newspaper would, on the occasion of her death, publish the headline “Old Baked Bean Brown Bread,” acknowledging her popularity in the East End of London by the use of rhyming slang.

Sadly, I don’t think it happened. 

The only other digression I can offer is that, as a child, I persuaded my mother to cook kidneys for breakfast because Bulldog Drummond ate them. I don’t think she would have devilled them though.

[Wilfrid]

But here’s a recipe from my mother’s 1959 cookbook which of course I still have. Curry butter mixes butter with cayenne, curry powder and black pepper.

I hope you didn’t forget the lace paper.

[bloviatrix]

@Wilfrid - is this lace paper?

[Sneakeater]

I didn’t even put on the parsley. 

[Sneakeater]

I can't help myself.  I'm sorry.

Rolled Beef on Rye.  Potato salad. As a green vegetable -- here comes the twist -- roasted broccolini with Nonnata di Pesce (what can i say?  I LOVE this).  Went pretty well, too -- although I'm pretty sure they don't have Rolled Beef in Calabria.

I've already decided that there's ONE best wine to drink with this.

2021 Chëpika Concord

I know I said I'd drunk my last bottle.  But I couldn't live without it.  Especially as I found some end-of-summer end-of-bin bottles on sale.

The joy that fills me when I eat Rolled Beef is just about exactly the same as the joy that fills me when I drink this wine.

Wonder what my dreams will be like tonight.

[Sneakeater]

@voyager:  I have a hard time counting myself lucky for not having a living spouse.

[Wilfrid]

6 hours ago, bloviatrix said:

@Wilfrid - is this lace paper?

Exactly how I serve my kidneys.

[Sneakeater]

Go slow!  You only have two!

[Sneakeater]

Bluefish broiled with a slosh of Garlic Horseradish Mayonnaise.

This recipe came from an article in The Times several decades ago about what members of the haute bourgeoisie served weekend guests at their beach houses in the Hamptons and Montauk:  dinner party-worthy dishes that don't require a lot of marketing or cooking.

The haute bourgeoisie of the Pappy Bush administration came up with a winner with this one:  this dish is absolutely delicious — and dead easy.

Even better, I mixed up too much mayonaise (no, I didn't make my own base mayonnaise from scratch, as the source of the recipe recommended; I can just see it:  "you all go to the beach and have a good time, weekend guests, while I stay here and emulisfy").  That's a good thing, cuz it means that now I'll have to make a Mississippi Roast:  if you could imagine a MIssissippi Roast's being even better, it would be with this Garlic Horseradish Mayonnaise used as the base for the ranch dressing.  (Too bad I won't have time to wait on homemade pepperoncini made from the gorgeous Calabrian peppers they have at the Greenmarket now.)

On the side were some steamed Dragon Tongue beans tossed in butter with garlic scapes and curry leaves.  If someone could come up with a Dragon Tongue bean that holds its color after cooking, the world would beat a path to their door.  But they remain one of the tastiest snap beans regardless.

I decided on a Grüner Veltliner with this.  Imagine my consternation when the bottle I pulled from storage and chilled in the refrigerator turned out to be a skin-contact Gewürtztraminer instead.  I am turning into the Mr. Magoo of the New York wine world.  (Look, even a 20-year-old would think the lettering  on this label is tiny.)

2020 Bloomer Creek Vineyard Skin Fermented Gewürtztraminer

If any fish could stand up to skin-contact Gewürtztraminer, though -- both in terms of fat for the tannins and flavor for the flavor -- it's bluefish.  Gewürtz was also good with the horseradish in the mayonnaise (I put in A LOT more than the haute bourgeoisie called for) (don't even ask what I did to the garlic count).  And certainly the curry leaves tossed with the beans didn't mind a skin-contact Gewürtz, either (this would be a wine I'd affirmatively seek out with many Indian dishes).

So even if this wasn't a pairing I'd primarily go for, it worked well enough.

It helps that this is an absolutely delicious wine.  It's not going to turn around any of the Gewürtz-averse, but if you like the distinctive flavor of this grape at all, you'd like -- more likely love -- this.

Indeed, it even has things for the Gewürtz-averse.  The affect seems a bit thinner and lighter -- a bit less overbearing -- than your standard Gewürtztraminer.  Less cloying, you might say.  It kind of jumps around in your mouth.

This Finger Lakes Natural winery continues to push all my buttons.  I'm their fan for life.  (And I'm so full of healthful fish fat right now, I feel like I'm gonna live forever.)