Tag: salami

Eight Bells Winery: May 2025 Salt Blade Speaker Series

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-

Links:

Eight Bells Winery

Salt Blade

Smuggling Tasty Contraband into the US

By Iron Chef Leftovers

Europe is very well known for its tasty, salted pig parts – ham, sausages, cured meats, pates , the list goes on. Thanks to the wisdom of the USDA, most of those delicious items are not available in the US, and those that are need to be processed in USDA regulated facilities in Europe, which sometimes means that what you get in the US is not nearly as good as what you have in Europe. Why this is the case is a tirade for another time.

Needless to say, this has led to a smuggling ring run by your everyday citizens travelling to and from Europe. I know people who have smuggled in ham, salami, cheese (in a diaper bag, which was odd since they didn’t have any kids) and all manner of seeds and mushrooms (Iron Chef Leftovers may or may not have been guilty of doing one or more of these things in the past). Saveur.com recently posted an article about this practice. While there is always the risk of getting caught and having your contraband confiscated (and possibly a fine levied), I personally think it is worth the risk for any cured meat product or cheese. Fruits, veggies, seeds and raw meats, well, those actually do pose a risk to be imported into the country illegally, so I do have some issues with those.

Not that I am encouraging this practice, but if you find yourself in Vancouver, B.C. stop by Oyama Sausage Company in the Granville Island Market and you may change your mind about breaking the law. If you do happen to go, please pick me up some of their phenomenal dried Spanish chorizo. It is far and away the best I have had in North America.