Blast From the Past – Coq au vin

By Richard Wottrich

Coq au vin ((kōk' ō văN') is a recipe that goes back at least 400 years and perhaps further. Coq means rooster naturally and vin mean wine, so this is a simple dish of a rooster cooked in wine. On French or Alsace farms a rooster was kept as long as it was useful. When it wasn’t they would kill the rooster for dinner, but its meat would be tough at that point, hence the slow cooking in wine.

In the French region of Bourgogne (Burgundy), a red wine is typically used. This is the ubiquitous version of Coq au Vin. In Alsace, a Riesling white wine is traditionally used. Alsace is on the German border and hence has strong historical Germanic connections, which is reflected in both its food and wine. Cream and morel mushrooms may be added.

I usually prefer a "capon" (a young, castrated rooster) instead of a chicken. However the meat of a capon is so tender that normally I would roast it rather than mask its flavor by cooking it in wine. A cut up fryer will do quite nicely.

The Larousse Gastronomique (1961) recipe is simplicity itself:

“Cut up a young chicken into six pieces. Heat 3 tablespoons (45 grams) of butter in an earthenware pot, 3 ounces (90 grams) of lean breast of pork (lardons or pancetta), cut into dice, and some little onions. When these have browned, put in the pieces of chicken, a garlic clove chopped fine, a bouquet garni, morels, or other mushrooms. Sauté until golden on a lively heat, with the lid on; take off the lid and skim off the fat. Pour over a little good brandy, set light to it, and then pour on a pint (demi-litre) of Auvergne wine. After cooking on a good fire for 15 to 20 minutes take out the chicken, and pour over it the sauce, thickened with the blood of the chicken mixed with the pounded liver and some brandy. Do not cook the sauce after this liaison, because the sauce will curdle. Lacking blood, the sauce may be thickened with kneaded butter.”

Serve with snowy white rice, fresh toasted bread and Auvergne or Alsace wine. This dish is heaven on earth!

Perfect Bolognese Ragù

(Soupflower photography)

This traditional Italian meat sauce is the subject of endless arguments regarding its “correct” preparation. Registered in 1982 by the Bolognese delegation of Accademia Italiana della Cucina, the “secret” of Bolognese is confined to the ingredients of beef, pancetta, onions, carrots, celery, tomato paste, meat broth, white wine, and milk or cream. The dish is based on the traditional use both butter and olive oil for cooking the Soffritto of small amounts of celery, carrot and onion.

No matter how you make it the key ingredient is patience, with a long slow simmer of five to six hours. This allows the modern American cook to substitute the crock pot at the appropriate moment, work all day, and return to the most fragrant of aromas. The people of Bologna traditionally serve their famous ragù with freshly made tagliatelle (tagliatelle alla bolognese) and their traditionally green lasagna. But any pasta will do. I adapted this version from a Williams Sonoma recipe. Enjoy!

Ingredients

2 tbs. olive oil
1 ¼ lbs. ground Bison
1 ¼ lbs. ground pork shoulder
kosher salt and ground pepper to taste
4 oz. pancetta, ½-inch dice
1 yellow onion, diced
1 fennel bulb, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, diced
½ cup roasted red peppers (jarred is fine)
5 garlic bulbs, minced
½ cup tomato paste
1 cup Black Rooster Chianti (or any red wine)
1 cup milk
2 cans (28 oz.) whole tomatoes, passed through a food mill
2 bay leaves
1 Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese rind
grated Parmigiano-Reggiano for serving

Preparation: 1. In a large pot warm half the olive oil. Over high heat add the ground bison, pork, salt and pepper and cook until browned, about 12 minutes. Reserve to a paper towel lined bowl. 2. Add the pancetta to the pot and cook until crisp, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel lined plate. 3. Reduce the heat to medium and add the remaining olive oil. Add the onion, fennel, celery and carrots cook until soft and translucent (the Soffritto), about 8 minutes. Be patient here, as this is the flavor foundation of the ragù. 4. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, for one minute. 5. Add the tomato paste and cook for two minutes. 6. Add the wine and simmer until almost evaporated, about 5 minutes. 7. Remove the entire mixture to your crock pot insert. The combine together the cooked meats, crisp pancetta, milk, rendered tomatoes, bay leaves, cheese rind, and bring to a simmer on the “high” setting. 8. When the ragù is bubbling (about 30 minutes, depending upon your crock pot) taste and season to your liking. Reduce setting to “low” and simmer for five to six hours.

Presentation: When ready to serve remove the cheese rind and bay leaves. Adjust your seasoning if required. Serve with pasta of your choice – you can toss the ragù with the pasta or serve it on top of the pasta as you like. Serve the grated Parmigiano-Reggiano along side. Present with the same Black Rooster Chianti you cooked with and with fresh bread.

Richard Wottrich

US Lifts 21-Year Ban On Haggis

Haggis and its traditional accompaniment, whisky. Haggis was banned by US authorities in 1989 because they feared its main ingredient - minced sheep offal - could prove lethal. Photograph: Marco Secchi/Getty Images.

Smuggled and bootlegged, it has been the cause of transatlantic tensions for more than two decades. But after 21 years in exile, the haggis is to be allowed back into the United States.

The "great chieftan o' the puddin-race" was one of earliest casualties of the BSE crisis of the 1980s-90s, banned on health grounds by the US authorities in 1989 because they feared its main ingredient ‑ minced sheep offal ‑ could prove lethal.

Some refined foodies might insist it always has been and always will be: in the words of Robert Burns, in his Ode to a Haggis, looking "down wi' sneering, scornfu' view on sic a dinner". But now, as millions of Scots around the world prepare to celebrate Burns's legacy tonight with an elaborate, whisky-fuelled pageant to a boiled bag of sheep innards, oatmeal, suet and pepper, its reputation has been restored, on health grounds at least.

For the past two decades, Americans of Scottish descent ‑ of whom there are at least 6 million ‑ have been forced to celebrate Burns' night without a true haggis, much to their distress.

There are stories of Scots smuggling in a haggis for their starving cousins, risking deportation in the process. Others are said to have secretly tried to create homemade, bootleg haggis, desperate to sample that particularly peppery concoction.

Meanwhile, butchers in the US have tried, and failed, to make their own versions of the pudding without using the vital ingredient: sheep. "It was a silly ban which meant a lot of people have never tasted the real thing," said Margaret Frost, of the Scottish American Society in Ohio. "We have had to put up with the US version, which is made from beef and is bloody awful."

The long-running campaign by Scottish ministers to reverse the ban has been reinvigorated by Alex Salmond, the Scottish National party leader, since he became first minister, privately lobbying US officials during his visits there. The reverse in policy from the US department of agriculture is now expected by Salmond's government after the World Organisation for Animal Health decided that sheep lungs no longer carry a risk of contamination by scrapie, a close variant of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.The latest sales figures suggest haggis is more popular now than ever.

Nearly £9m worth were sold in the UK alone last year, the 250th anniversary of Burns' birth, up by 19% on 2008. Richard Lochhead, the Scottish environment secretary, was delighted. "I am greatly encouraged to hear that the US authorities are planning a review of the unfair ban on haggis imports," he said. "We believe that reversing the ban would deliver a vote of confidence in Scottish producers, and allow American consumers to sample our world-renowned national dish."

guardian.co.uk

Danish Meatballs in Celery Sauce

Sadie Valeri's silver boat would be perfect to serve this dish.

3 Cups Chopped Celery or if you can get them 2 Chopped Cleriacs
1/2 lb each ground pork, veal, beef
1 large onion
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1.5 cups soda water
1 egg
celery salt
white pepper
1/2 c blanched fresh spinach
butter
3 tblsp.flour
vegatable broth
2 beaten egg yolks (Optional)
Puff pastry triangles baked acording to the directions on the box.

Toss onion, bread crumbs, egg, spices, spinach, in food processor & pulse, then mix with meats. Using a wetted spoon, fry quennelle shaped (like little boats) meat balls in butter until browned & cooked through. Keep warm. Add the Celery or Celarics to the brownings in the pan. Cook until soft. Toss in flour and brown lightly (make a roux). Add vegetable broth & cook to make a sauce & simmer until smooth & thick. If desired, add small amounts of the hot sauce to the egg yolks and when the danger of curdling passes incorporate into the remaining sauce. Serve over the meatballs, reserving enough to pass. Decorate the edge of the meatballs with puff pastry triangles. Enjoy this dish with red cabbage or pickled beets, Akavit & a good Danish beer.

Maria Batiali’s Braised Pork in the "Black Rooster"- Brasato di Maiale Nero

This Mario recipe is drop-dead delicious with a broth that is nectar from the Gods.

Ingredients

1 (4-pound) pork loin, tied at regular intervals with butcher's twine
2 teaspoons kosher salt
8 fresh sage leaves
2 1/2 ounces pancetta
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup flat parsley leaves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup plus 1 cup "Balck Rooster" Chianti
1 (28-ounce) can tomatoes and their juices, crushed
Black pepper

Directions

Season the pork with the salt, rubbing it into the meat, and place the sage leaves around the loin, secured under the twine. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Mince together the pancetta, garlic and parsley to form a homogenous, smooth mixture. In a large, cast-iron casserole or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil and add the pork paste, cooking until it has melted into the oil. Place the pork in the pan and brown on all sides so that a uniform crust is formed. Add 1 cup "Black Rooster" Chinati and reduce by 3/4. Add the remaining cup of wine and the tomatoes, cover, and bring to a low simmer. Cook for 2+ hours, until meat is fork tender.

Remove meat from casserole, allow to rest 15 minutes, and remove string and sage leaves. Serve in 1/3-inch thick slices.

St. Maarten, Caribbean – Lolos

(Photos: RLW)

“Lolos” are what St. Maarten locals call informal outdoor barbecue restaurants. They are found all across St. Maarten. Two of the most famous lolos are located in Grand Case, on the French half of the island. Grand Case is St. Maartin’s restaurant nexus along a narrow street running parallel to the ocean, filled on each side with restaurants ranging from fancy to very simple. The lolos are basic delicious home cooking, a laid-back attitude and cheap. The local owners of these open-air restaurants usually offer “1 dollar to 1 euro” currency conversions, which these days is a pretty good deal for Americans.

The menus at Talk of the Town and Sky’s the Limit (among others) are displayed on wooden easels right on the sidewalk, and the delicious smell of shrimp, lobster, chicken and ribs on the grills drew us in. The lolos are composed of picnic tables protected under canopies, adjacent to an open grill and a wooden bar. For less than ten dollars you can choose a main dish with a plate load of sides, cooked to order.

We ordered Creole shrimp, BBQ Ribs and chicken. Our plates came with heaping helpings of sides, each of which can be ordered for a couple of bucks. Sides include green salad, corn-on-the-cob, fried Plantains, coleslaw, French Fries, mac and cheese, red beans and rice, dirty rice, and spaghetti in Creole sauce. Everything is made that morning and meats are barbequed while you dine. They offer a pungent local barbeque sauce, Kalina, bottled and sold on the island.

While we dined the grill smoke wafted through the tables while a local steel drum band played. The lolos fill up fast for good reason, so get there before Noon. Take-out works.

Richard Wottrich, Blog Editor