We recently had the opportunity to attend the Salt Blade speaker series at Eight Bells winery. Events like these are always informative – people devote their lives to making good wine and good charcuterie, so they know a million times more about the subject than we do, and they’re happy to describe they whys and hows of what they’re doing in detail.
This event included wine with charcuterie pairings. The menu:
Our somewhat wrinkled menu. No wine or sausage stains though. We had two menus and this one gets the picture.
We were served the Rosé as a warmup. After some introduction from the principles, it led into the first pairing with Salt Blade’s Orange and Coriander stick. The Orange and Coriander is among Salt Blade’s best sellers, and for good reason, it has a universal appeal. The Rosé served as a great opener and it was a good marriage with the charcuterie.
Eight Bells and Salt Blade have done pairing sessions before. Some of the pairings were repeats from past events. One of the new pairings was Sangiovese with the Spring Lamb, which we thought was perfect. The Merlot with the Seattle Stick was pretty flawless as well. I like spicy, so I especially enjoyed the Southern Voyage with Sopressata.
There was further presentation throughout the pairings intermixed with Q+A about both the wine and the charcuterie. The doors were open and it was a beautiful spring night. We purchased more than a few things so that we can share some of our favorites with our friends. Thanks to everyone for a nice evening-
I recently saw a list of the top 10 selling cookbooks for 2012 and it is a rather disappointing list, led by the Barefoot Contessa’s new tome. It got me thinking, if I were stranded on a dessert island (no that is not a typo, I really would love to be stranded on a dessert island; a desert island just doesn’t seem like it would be all that much fun) and could only have 10 cookbooks/food related books with me, what would they be? Let’s just assume that I, for some reason, have a fully stocked kitchen and pantry (just don’t ask me how).
Here is my list, in reverse order:
If you were to own just one book on cooking, this should be it.
10 – Silver Spoon – it is generally considered to be the most complete Italian cookbook ever created and didn’t exist in an English translation until about 10 years ago. If you are serious about Italian cooking, you should own this monster.
9 – Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman. If you watch No Reservations, you know who Ruhlman is. This is a survival guide to curing meats which would come in handy in a stranded situation. It is also an in depth read about the how and why of charcuterie.
8 & 7 – I’m Just Here for the Food / I’m Just Here for More Food by Alton Brown. More useful for why and how things work with cooking than for recipes, I can pretty much assure you that if you ever had a recipe fail, you can find out exactly why here. Be careful, these books are a gateway drug into the world of molecular gastronomy.
6 – On Food and Cookingby Harold McGee. The book is incredibly long (800+ pages), very technical in parts and is not a quick read (it took me over a year to read it cover to cover), but it is probably the single most important book on food ever written. It covers pretty much every aspect of food and food science and you should have it on your bookshelf as reference even if you never read it cover to cover. I doubt there has been a food book written in the last 20 years that has not cited this one as a reference in its bibliography.
5 – Modernist Cuisine at Home. Another book that is more science than recipes, it is another one that you should own, even if you aren’t into the molecular gastronomy thing. Reading this book will make you a better cook even if you never try anything from the book.
However, if you were to own just two books on food, this should be the other one.
4 & 3 & 2 – Bones / Fat / Odd Bits – by Jennifer McLagan. These books are really essential for understanding and cooking the rest of the animal and should really be looked at as 3 parts of a single book; the ultimate in utility – you realize after reading them, everything is useable. They really fill in the gap for all of the stuff that most other cook books don’t address. It doesn’t hurt the descriptions are well written and the anecdotes are funny.
1 – Joy of Cooking – there should be a law that every home cook should have this book on their shelves since it pretty much has a recipe for everything in it. It has been updated about 14 times over its 75+ years in existence, but have some fun and get an edition that is printed before the 1960’s just to see how cooking has changed.
On a recent trip to Portland, Mrs. Iron Chef and I made a stop at Olympic Provisions for brunch. Located in a group of warehouses in the southeast part of the city, it would be easy to miss if you didn’t know exactly where it was. Olympic Provisions specializes in cured meats and it is a very industrial looking space. The food however is to die for.
Wanting to sample the charcutiere, their menu lists all of the current cured meats they have, priced at $4 per ounce. They had about 15 on the menu when we were there.
The happy little plate of cured meats, after we dug in.
Not knowing what to order, we stared our meal with the Chef’s Choice plate, which included 2 salame (cacciatore and andalusiuan), 2 pates (pork liver and country) and pickled vegetables. The salame was fantastic, the cacciatore, probably my favorite salami, was sweet and peppery was as good as some of the ones that I sampled in Italy. The andalusian was off the charts good. A great balance of spices with a hint of heat and clove, I could have eaten it all day with some bread. I would seriously go back to Olympic just for that salami. The pates were both outstanding. The pork liver was smooth and creamy with a nice balance of pork flavor and just a hint of liver taste; it was a pate that I would serve to someone who had never tried pate. It was amazing on the crusty bread that came with the platter. The country pate was a flavor bomb, and with the addition of a touch of the stone ground mustard on the board, was among the best I have ever had. The veggies, while good, had a lot of vinegar and would not be enjoyable if you did not like your pickled food really tart.
For our meal, we had the sweetheart ham sandwich and the eggs benedict. The eggs were probably the best I have tried. Perfectly cooked poached egg pillows sitting on top of sliced ham and an English muffin, covered (but not drowned) in hollandaise sauce. The sauce, with just a hint of lemon, exploded when the runny egg yolk combined with it, producing an unxious, delicious experience.
The ham sandwich, piled high with thin sliced, house cured ham, a fried egg and a brioche bun, was pork overload; the perfect sandwich for the morning after a little too much to drink. The perfectly cooked fried egg provided a wonderful contrast to the slightly sweet and smoky ham, especially as the yolk ran out of the egg.
The surrounding neighborhood. Great location.
Olympic Provisions has a small but “something for everyone” brunch menu with most items priced between 8 and 12 dollars. The Chef’s Choice plate was $16, and I believe the most expensive item on the menu for brunch. They also offer an extensive beer and wine list and have the hard stuff for those who are inclined.
They also have a second location in the Northwest of Portland. I would head back to Olympic Provisions any time I am in Portland, but I really need to get there at some point for dinner, which I am told is equally as outstanding as brunch.
This sign inside the restaurant really sums up what this place is about.
Overall, Olympic Provisions garners 5 laurel wreaths out of 5.
FlatbreadGarden 