April 2009 Archives

When I first started drinking, I hated the taste of everything I tried: wine, beer, gin, jager (well, I still hate jager...). But I also knew/recognize/accepted that I had been brought up on fruit punch and soda, and so my taste buds were not ready for anything grown up. I pushed through the initial shock so that I could make up my own mind about what I liked and didn't.

Some of the first wines I could handle were sweet wines like Chenin Blanc or Riesling. MLEIV hated all sweet wines from the start, so we didn't drink them much. Now that I've spent many years trying to understand wine, I've come back to Riesling and have decided that I like it quite a bit, as long as its not too sweet.

This Reuscher-Haart kabinett style Riesling fits the bill just right. It was part of my "wine-merchant's case" from 2007. It is a very dry, solid wine. Lots of pear and lime scent, good feel and a nice finish. It would go with any number of dishes, particularly anything creamy.
three-out-of-four winos

On the sweeter end of the Riesling spectrum is the Hogue Cellars Riesling. I had some of this during my recent stay in Virginia and it worked really well as an after-dinner wine. For some reason, I had a very hard time finding any good Port out there. But given the terrible restaurant selection in the far-flung DC Exurbs where I was staying, I'm not surprised. In any case, if you want something a little bit sweet, this is an excellent, affordable, wine from Washington state (where many great Rieslings are hiding in plain site).
two-out-of-four winos

Also from Washington State is the Chateau St. Michelle Eroica Riesling. It is made in a partnership with a famous German winemaker and is kind of a standard-bearer for American Rieslings. I tried a bottle a few weeks back when I was getting curious about Riesling and thought it was a bit sweeter than the Reuscher-Haart, but less than the Hogue. Definitely a great wine.
three-out-of-four winos

Food is a very personal, and very emotional, topic. Ever try to tell someone from North Carolina that Kansas City BBQ is the best? You may find yourself in a fight. Or tell someone from Texas that you can, in fact, have any food that doesn't involve beef? You are likely to get shot (bad example: tell anyone from Texas that you disagree with anything they believe in and you'll get shot).

This tends to make us very boring people. I was at a dinner recently where a young woman (early 20's) was bouncing in her chair with anxiety at the prospect of trying a small bite of a scallop. She turned to her husband for support:

"I don't know!! Do I like them?"

"What's the worst that can happen? I'm eating it and I'm not dead. Just try it already!!"

(she did, I don't think she liked it--it was too new)

Recently I researched tips on making grits and I kept coming across the same online debate:

It seems that there are purists out there who firmly believe that you cannot make or serve grits in any way other than the one that they were raised on: with butter, salt, eggs, and bacon.

Anyone who tries to get all fancy with cheese or (god forbid!) spices can just go to hell.

Now, I'm all in favor of a well executed classic dish, but let's be clear about something: just because you were raised with a food done a certain way doesn't mean that is the only way it can be done. In fact, consider the possibility that your primary cook, when you were a child, was not actually a very good cook at all!

This is no slight to your childhood, your parents were probably like mine: very busy and not trained chefs. They probably just made what they could afford both in time and money and had to deal with finicky kids who didn't want to try anything new.

But as adults, can't we accept that there is a whole world of culinary experiences out there and we were probably not raised on many of them?

So please: mix and match, try something new, see what works and what doesn't. And if you find you only like the comfort foods of your childhood then go and make them and enjoy them, but don't get all defensive and tell the rest of us that we are somehow bringing about the apocalypse because we want to try shrimp with our grits.