TN: brutal Brut, plus Charvin, Chave, Strub, etc

Monday Betsy made leg of lamb, with a basil-anchovy sauce; accompanied by chard with pinenuts and boiled potatoes. The sauce is surprisingly wine friendly; in this case I decided to go for a Rhone. The 2001 Chave "Offerus" St. Joseph was exceedingly tight upon opening, just tannin and barely perceptible fruit. An hour in the decanter presented a more agreeable wine. Blackberry and blackcurrant fruit with an edge of peppery Rhone spice, good finish. Still tannic, but the meat helps out. We drank half the bottle,had the rest next night with a puttanesca sauce. Not really a recommended combo, but the wine had enough acidity to do ok. On day 2 the fruit had more of a red raspberry/cherry flavor, with a herby nose. Good wine, needs time. If negociant wine is this good, would love to try the estate. B++

Wednesday Betsy made Eric Ripert's version of Keller's butter poached lobster, with a Champagne/tarragon sauce. She didn't actually use Champagne, but a bottle of 2000 Windsor North Coast "Champagne" (my italics) Brut (this was a gift from a non-drinking neighbor, his company was giving out these with their own holiday label). Ok for the recipe, but not easy to drink. Sharp green apple fruit, somewhat coarse mousse, slightly off (herby?) smell, short finish. C

I pulled out the first white I saw in fridge, the 2001 Strub Niersteiner Bruckchen Kabinett. Seemed a little bigger than last bottle tried, though still on the lighter side. Nice balance of acid and sugar, not closed at all. Peach and cherry fruit, lengthy chalky finish, nice wine. B+

So Thursday Betsy tells me that friends are coming to dinner, and she is making Nigela Lawson's duck with blueberry sauce, from Wednesday's NYT. Duck with fruit sauce actually isn't my favorite, especially as a wine match. But I never stand in the way of Betsy wanting to try a new recipe. I polled cyberspace for opinions, and got suggestions of Rhone, Burgundy, RRV PN or Syrah, Petite Syrah, Zinfandel, and more. So I went with a few options based on what I had handy: '01 Claude Dugat bourgogne (rebottled in 375, refrigerated earlier in week) '01 Strub Kabinett (because it was open)

2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone 2003 3 Thieves Zinfanfel (because my guests love Zin, and are always looking for budget ones)

the results: well, first of all the match wasn't as bad as I feared. Betsy said "duck in blueberry sauce", and I had visions of purple duck (a blueberry version of duck l'orange). But what she actually served was roast duck with a blueberry sauce (made with fresh blueberries, not extraordinarily sweet)on the side. I sampled each wine with just duck, a quick dip of the sauce, and with mucho sauce. With just duck, my favorites (in order) were: Burg, CdR,Zin, Riesling. With duck and a touch of sauce: CdR, Burg, Riesling, Zin. The couple of experimental bites heavy on sauce: Riesling, CdR, Zin, Burg (with only the Riesling being even a halfway good match).

As to the wines, the 2001 Charvin Cotes du Rhone really showed well. Medium-bodied, ripe but not flabby, bright raspberry and cherry liqueur fruit. Some smoke and herb, clear clean if not especially lengthy finish. Baby CdP, indeed. Buy more at $15. B+/A-

The 2003 3 Thieves Zinfandel ($9 for a liter retro jug) is a pleasant easy to drink Zin on the red fruit end of the Zin spectrum, with bright raspberry fruit and a hint of white pepper. Fun easy wine, nothing complicated, good QPR. B

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

Reply to
Dale Williams
Loading thread data ...

Does the sauce use raw eggs? I've been looking for a good one that doesn't (had an excellent one with raw eggs one time, but I'm afraid to use them myself, and the pasteurized substitute stuff is not the same). If no raw eggs, can you please share the recipe? tia

\/

Reply to
Vincent

"Vincent" skrev i melding news:LHdId.20336$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com...

I don't exactly understand that? It sounds like they are risky where you live? Or is it that you find them revolting? Do we get a comment from our resident cook, Ian? And, hey, what is substitute stuff? Pasteurized eggs? Anders

Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

Vincent,

For the sauce:

1.5 cups packed basil .25 cup packed mint .25 cup packed flat-leaf parsley 2 anchovy filets 2 teaspoons drained capers 1 cup EV olive oil combine first 5 ingredients in food processor. Then keep processor running and slowly pour in oil until dense sauce forms. Season to taste. Betsy served over roasted leg of lamb
Reply to
DaleW

Anders,

Raw eggs can be a source of salmonella. Pretty rare, but for someone with a compromised immune system it could be fatal. There are pasteurized eggs available in US.

Reply to
DaleW
Reply to
Anders Tørneskog

The problem is that most fresh eggs bought in a grocery store come from huge egg farms/chicken processing facilities where salmonella has been introduced into the food chain basically because we feed chickens...among other things.....chicken. They make chicken feed from the offal and now raw eggs are somewhat unsafe. Some folks lightly poach their eggs to 140F to use in in place of raw egg. Artisinal eggs are, for the most part, safe. Bi!!

Reply to
RV WRLee

"Battery" chicken? "Battery" is a word I don't know in this context, Ian. Can you elucidate?

Reply to
Ken Blake

Salut/Hi Ken Blake,

le/on Fri, 21 Jan 2005 18:21:42 -0700, tu disais/you said:-

Sorry, Ken, I thought this was a term generally used throughout the english speaking world. Sigh.

In the UK they talk about "Battery Farms". These are huge scale production facilities, where the chickens are kept almost immobile in many tier wire cages in near darkness. The stink there is indescribable, and both chickens and eggs are - to put it mildly - not comparable with the real thing. However the prices are low.

Reply to
Ian Hoare

Hi Dale,

Thanks for that. The mint looks interesting and the capers might make this go well with salmon as well. I will add this to my "recipes to try soon" file.

I also served my sauce (found on the internet) over lamb, but it was on a sandwich (a Tueday tradition at our house: soup and sandwich night). I substituted the egg yokes with 2 TBS pasteurized egg yokes though, but I think it might have taken something away from what it could have been. Here's the original recipe I found.

1 cup chablis 1/2 cup white wine vinegar 8 garlic cloves; chopped 2 shallots; chopped 6 anchovy fillets 1 bunch basil 2 egg yolks 1 lemon, juiced 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1 salt (to taste) 1 pepper (to taste)

In a small saucepan place the Chablis, white wine vinegar, garlic, shallots, and anchovies. Heat the ingredients on medium low and simmer them for 8 to

10 minutes, or until the liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup. Strain the liquid. In a blender place the basil and the strained, reduced liquid. Pur,e the ingredients until they are smooth. Add the egg yolks and the lemon juice, and pur,e them. While the blender is running, slowly add the olive oil. Season the sauce with the salt and pepper.

\/

Reply to
Vincent

Thanks, Ian. They do much the same thing in the US, of course, but I've never heard that term before.

Reply to
Ken Blake

Reply to
Redhart

DrinksForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.