Boris_A

Hi balex > there is even a verb "baroleggiare" applied to barbaresco which resembles barolo. Didn' know that. "Baroling" a Barbaresco. Funny. > doesn't Barolo have to be spend longer in wood? Correct. Barolo requires londer maturing before realease. But wood can be very different For sure there are Barbarescos that are more Barolos than some real Barolos. My idea was: Given the large number of producers and styles, in the end the difference - under statistical considerations - should be mainly due to reasons of different terroir and less to different winemaking.

For me, in practice, an easy-to-understand textbook example for "terroir" is Barolo vs. Barbaresco. These DOCs are almost adjacent, cover roughly a circle of about 15 miles, made by 100% nebbiolo grapes, produced by many different winemakers, yet the wines display in general a recognizable sensoric pattern. If this difference is not terroir, what else?

Our master's voice: "However, there are some negatives to consider. For example, some of the prodigious 1947 Bordeaux (....), most notably Cheval Blanc, has residual sugar, elevated volatile acidity, extremeley high alcohol as well as pH levels that would cause most modern day oenologists to faint. Sadly, despite all the improvements that have been made, few modern day oenologists would permit a wine such as 1947 Cheval Blanc to ever get into the bottle under the name Cheval Blanc Anyone who has tasted a pristine bottle of this recognizes why most competent observers feel this is one of the most legendary wines ever produced in Bordeaux, All of its defects are outweighed by its extraordinary positive attributes. It is also the defects that often give the wine its singular individiuality and character. So, a word of warnig ... despite all the techniques to make higher qualitiy, there is still a place for wines with a handful of defects that give them undeniably character as well as greatness. Somehow, all these techniques need to make an allowance for wines such as these 1947s." Robert M. Parker jr., The Wine Advocate 146 , p. 4 "...all these techniques need to make an allowance.." aka "To control the uncontrollable."

My experience wrt. copper pans: Some weeks ago, I ordered two heavy copper SSL pans at Dehillerin, Paris. A 8-inch sauce pan an a 8-inch saute pan. Both are meant to prepare food for two persons. I paid $80 for the sauce pan and $70 for the saute pan and about $30 for shipping, customs and tax here in Switzerland.. I used the sauce pan several times for risotto and the saute pan already many times for sauteing. 1) I got good results for the risotto. Due to my unusual cooktop, I was able to regulate the temperature very easily and managed to have constant good heat wihtout any browning at the bottom. High responsivness is a very nice feature, but not that important. Better risotto than with the old SS sauce pan? Impossible to say. 2) The saute pan is really versatile. I like it very much because it has a simplicistic, sturdy retro-look. I used the pan for sauteing and frying. In general, I've the feeling that you can do everything with sensibly lower temperatures, which is very fine for my low temp cooking style. The danger of getting partially burned stuff and bitter flavours is lower. Compared with an evasee saute pan, the conducting bottom surface is significantly bigger. 3) The pans are quite heavy, even in this little size. For a 11-inch , you need strong wrists to turn them. I'd almost recommend some weight lifting practice. The (undestructable though) iron handles can get pretty hot, which is even worse when the pan is heavy. I suggest to hold the handle vertically in the air in order to empty a full pan. For women, the weight of the big pans could be more than enough. All in all, I had the impression of driving a racing car. A hard clutch (weight, hot handles) and nervous handling but incomparable performance. I don't care about the slowly darkening outside. Given the relatively moderate price and the "ancient" look of these Mauviel pans, I'm going to order one or two 9.5-inch and a 11-inch saute pan and a 9.5 sauce pan or "bassin de ragout" for bigger dishes. Maybe I'll add two 6.5-inch evasees for sauces and reductions. They look really nice, almost medieval, and you can store them easily in a batch.

On tradition, Adria's cooking and the use of anachronistic ingredients (i.e. rabbit brain) An architectural analogy: Can this work Stone House, Tavole, 1988 by Herzog&DeMeuron - a combination of most tradtional ingredients (drystone) with a concrete framework - classified as traditional? or modern? or neomodern? Same question for the Dominus Winery, wall detail, also by Herzog&DeMeuron. In my opinion the use of archaic (traditional) ingredients in a modern arrangement is the landmark of neomodernism.

Rabbit kidney and liver, veal brain, rooster comb (?), donkey meat and many other "strange" thing can be delicacies among aficionados. Youl'll find the recipe for the Piedmontesian "Financiera" dish (lots of that kind of ingredients) in the cookbook of Guido Alciati. And unfortunately, it's much easier to find expensive luxury dishes than a "Financiera" today, as Piero told me. And this is because of "la mucca pazza" (BSE), created by oeconomical reasonings to produce more pure muscle meat. Ironic, no? "The Times They Are Achanging".

From all what I have learned from my parents and relatives, I can say that in Italy many, many (poorer) people used to eat virtually every part of an animal. You don't need to go back to 12th century. Just about 50 years. Have you arguments why this should have been different in France or in Spain? Or why rabbit brain is an exemption? Just because you can't imagine something, it doesn't make it unreal. I can't stress that enough.

Just click your heels together and say "There's no tradition like eating rabbit kidneys" and POOF! there will be you tradition. This doesnt' answer my question

I've eaten a lot of veal brain in Italy. I'v eaten a lot of rabbit in Italy and France. I like to visit small, traditional restaurants. But I've never seen a dish made specifically of rabbit brains (or ears). I found a lot of veterinary stuff when googling with "cervello di coniglio", but I didn't find a single recipe for it. And I can't remember of having seen a recipe in one of my Italian cookbooks OTOH, when I prepare a rabbit, many times I made a tiny sautée of kidney, liver or the heart of the rabbit and eat is as a snack when cooking as I learned it from my old Italian uncle. Of course there are no recipes or dishes for this kind of food in books or restaurant. Having this said, is there a wider tradition for dishes with rabbit kidney?

The most famous is "Gantenbein", but it's rather difficult to get bottles and prices are in the $30 range. From the same region Bündner Herrschaft, I like the very reasonably priced wines of Mrs. Irene Grünenfelder, Weingut Eichholz in Jenins. Two sure bets for values in northeastern Swiss pinots from the lake of Zürich region: - Jürg Schneider from Meilen - Herrmann Schwarzenbach from Meilen Schwarzenbach Prices are $10 for simpler steel tank pinot and up to $15 for barrique wines. Unfortunately, I don't know of a supplier in Ticino where you could find some tasting bottles. OTOH, I suggest a detour to the Malcantone Ticinese (should be around the corner for you) and visit some guys like: - Christian Zündel in Croglio/Castelrotto near Ponte Tresa - Daniele Huber in Termine di Monteggio (between Ponte Tresa and Luino) Addresses and phones are supplied in "I Vini di Veronelli". They produce interesting, high rated, quite unique Merlots (Zündels "Orizzonte" and Hubers "Montagna Magica", $25-$40 though) and they should know some insider talk about pinots from Northern Switzerland .

Hello Craig How about searching in Burgundy near regions like Alsace, Jura, Switzerland? I had more then once the opportunity of professional blind tastings with Burgundy pinot noir compared with pinot noir from Switzerland. Especially in the lower price ranges $12-18, some Swiss pinot did better compared to wines from Burgundy in the $18-25 range. However, the style of the wines are similar. Because I'm a bit familiar with the region: especially 2003 could be a great vintage for pinot in nothern Switzerland (Lake of Zurich region, Buendener Herrschaft). I think today it's maybe the best source for underrated Burgundian style pinto noirs. It's still an insider secret and availabilty at the best producers is not always much better than in Burgundy itself. And (I don't say unfortunately), there's almost no export of these wines. Here's a example tasting report: Burgundy vs. Swiss pinot Among the tasters was Stuart Pigott. The ratings and the price tags don't need to be translated. Of course, searching in "obscure" wine regions not emerging in the radar of the big media is always a lot more difficult than to order some DRC bottles and requires a self-confident tasting judgment. But when I read your excellent articles, it's obvious that you know quite a lot about that kind of hard, adventurous work.

Hi jogoode! I looked up in my archive and found by CliveCoates: Château Guiraud, Sauternes, 1962: Quite a deep colour, almost a little old. An old nose, slightly resinny. Now lacks class. Sweet, some "pourriture noble" but has not lost grip and intensity. 14.5/20 points, drink up. Review was published in 1995. Regards, Boris Publisher of vinfox, the comprehensive wine buyers guide.

Seems logical to me. Yes. But an invitation for a Win Clip test with bottles Viader Napa, Léoville Barton, Cailloux Châteauneuf Cuvée Centenaire, Coche Dury an some others - then I would be very happy. Very, very happy. With or without the Clip.

1) Wrt. moving conductive fluids through a magnetic field: Even pure (destilled) water contains ionisized particles (contcentration balance of dissoziating H0+ and. HO- ions) and is a conductive fluid therefore. Normal (tap) water is a better conductor because it's a solution of pure water and some salt. (= additional ionisized particles) I'd expect wine to be (hopefully) even more concentrated than tap water. Electrical current is created. (function of generators by induction). I'd expect this current creating alteration of ionisation of particles, but, hmm, frankly I don't know. The assumption that the wine pours in a laminar way and not turbulent is an improbable hypothesis considering the way the fluid looks when poured out of a bottle. And when we find turbulent fluid dynamics and variable angles consequently, it gets very complicated. So I think we can't exclude physical interdependence a priori and hence an influence is to be expected (at least not excluded). As for the order of magnitude .... this is subject to speculation for me. 2) Wrt. glas shape and wine quality The found effect with different oxydation surface of a Flute and a Bordeaux glas seems obvious. But to conclude from this fact to the assumption that a shape of the glases by a certain brand has sensible influence compared with the very similar shape of glases by another brand (say Riedel vs. Spiegelau Bordeaux type glas) is not supported by the quoted research. For me it's hard to imagine that Riedels are a priori "better suited" for all those different imaginables mouth holes than say, Spiegelau. ( I like my Stoelzles, BTW) 3) Wrt to testing/tasting arrangement: I'd go with the tasting/ test procedure suggested by balex (Oct 13 2003, 10:41 AM) , where you have in every flight three glases and two of them are from the same bottle. The taster has to determine the pair poured out of the same bottle. This particular testing system ("triangle" test) is quite popular among wine producers in my surrounding to determine sensoric threshold when they alter the wine (by acid, other wine (assemblage) or similar).

Well, from a culinary view, Piedmont is the preferred place with a 4-1/2 hours ride from my home and having friends owning a vacancy house near Canelli. I'm a very, very lucky man, no? (Can't resist: a little requiem here. The first time I was "Da Guido" was back in 1980. For me, it remains the best restaurant ever. Food was mostly very good to excellent, but foremost the atmosphere was unique for a famous, star-rated restaurant. Familiary, sometimes a lot of loud talking guests, laughter, more then once an Italian family dinners with 20+ people. Several times I was there from 8:00-0:30, even two people only. Thanks again here, "ironhead" Guido! We'll never forget.) Other "standard" places are north of Italy, Austria and Alsace. My girl friend used to live for four years in China back in the 80ies. I have hope for a come-back of classic chinese top-cuisine in China. Next stops: Perigord, Landes, Basque country, Cantabria-Galicia (Spain), northern Portugal, Montenegro, eastern Europe (Lemberg), Morocco. Dream places: western Asia (ex-russian-republics), American West-Coast. (being a lurker here: a small kingdom for a dinner in the French Laundry.) Culinary preferences: regionality, simplicity, atmosphere. Perceiving the world as being similar to a Mandelbrot-fractal-set: the closer you get the more structures you detect. Good food is nice, but we shouldn't forget our Grandfather Epicureus when he once called a meal with goat cheese, bread and wine a "true feast".

I think an elementary point is that scores are based on tasting series of little sips from many different wines. But drinking an entire bottle of the same wine combined with food, this is a pretty different thing wrt. to sensoric impressions. In his excellent book "Wine Snobbery", Andrew Barr tells a nice little anecdote: When the owner of Haut-Brion was asked to comment on the fact that Lafite-Rothschild scored better than Haut-Brion in a comparative tasting he replied: "Haut-Brion is meant to be drunk with food and not with Lafite". As for Parker vs. WS ratings: Parker is an individual taster. WS is a gremium (no?). So I go with Robert Parker, but also with Stephen Tanzer (WineCellar) and Clive Coates (TheVine). They all have different preferences, but I can learn to realistcally guess what they found in the bottles. A gremium has no distinct preferences other than a normalized taste (based on a normalized fashion, as John pointed out correctly) Hmmm, somehow I'd like to drink a beer now.

Excellent piece of work! I made my first "bad" experiences with high rated wines several years ago when I tried to pare with classic food. It just didn't work well. Since then I "classify" the high rated, modern "juices" as "Port". Better to sip after meal. The extremely high alcohol content (>14%) makes them especially difficult for women, maybe because they have less body weight and tend to dislike too much alcohol in their venes. But thanks to better wine making technology for lighter wines also, I find more an more excellent bargain food wines from lesser known appellations. Examples are Loire reda, Valtellino nebbiolos, Pinot Noir from eastern Switzerland, old style Rioja (Lopez de Heredia), old mature vintages (80ies) from samller Bordeaux châteaus and german semi-sweet kabinett rieslings (~´7% alc.) as aperitif. Kudos again for this article!

This ist not a question, but just admiration for your words and book on "slow kitchen". I laid out some principles of my way of cooking " A kitchen of the rewarmed and concentrated") here: eGullet Members Bios and maybe you can imagine my smile when I read your article here on eGullet. An interesting research would be about how the "cuisine" in the first half of this century transferred from the hand of women to the hand of men. I suppose this was accompanied by the transformation from slow to fast wrt to the high prestige cuisine. Anyway, as the title hits the bullseye on my cooking techniques dartboard, I have to have your book. Kind regards, Boris

Suzanne Very kind, thank you. I've already orderd you suggestions (Evan Jones, Betty Fussell) at Amazon. Then I found there a reference to "The Frugal Gourmet on Our Immigrant Ancestors: Recipes You Should Have Gotten from Your Grandmother" with many 5 star rviews and ordered it for another $2. I' m always very keen on learning something about social and gastronomic history. I'hope it's not premature to add another: 3 books! Regards, Bors

Hi Craig Just a word about Bresaola: I found huge differences in the way Bresaola tastes. At its origins in Valtellino, I was able to spot artisanal Bresaola, which has a perfume like Salame, say Felino. It has a definitely "fermented" flavour. When I had a very big round several weeks ago, I insisted to drive down from Zurich to Valtellina (shall I say something about riding in full sunshine over Passo di Bernina listening Mozart?) to get my 7 kg from my source. (Macelleria Saligari in Berbenno or Chiesa Valmalenco). Everyone called me crazy before, but when they tasted the stuff side by side with "regular" Italian Bresaola, they had very happy faces. Sure I'm going to taste the Bresaola at Boccodivino next stop in Milano. BTW, I think Valtellino ist hot from a culinary view (development in wine, cheese, charcuterie, artisanal-alpine food). This said by a long time Piedmonte-Fan with a grandfather from Parma. Regards, Boris

70. They are at different places, so it's more a good guess. Sorry. They are from different cuisines and in different languages. BTW, there's a void in my collection. With respect to my participation here, i think it's time to close the gap: Is there a not too big, but still comprehensive US-American cookbook about traditional and/or regional dishes? I mean, I tormented so many recipes in the past that I'm allready damned to stay in the bonfire of a big kitchen afterlife. So why not to start torturing American recipes now?

Well, actually I'm a happy owner of a French restaurant stove. Beside two strong gas burners, it has a big (85x50cm, 50kg) asymetric heated iron cast cooktop. It has kind of a hot sport right above the burner, an gradually less heat to the distant edge. I've operated it with some used ss pro-stuff I was able to pick up when they closed a hotel restaurant. Most remarkable ist the "infinite" heat capacity at reatively low temperature, so you can sauté or fry in a kind of slow-motion. The food gets slowly from haselnut to browner colors an develops almost no liquidity. At the cooktop edge, you find best temperatures for butter sauces or stirring risottos. Nevertheless, after reading your article, now I'm convinced that copper is "de rigeur" on such a iron cast cooktop. I'm going to order some (Mauviel) stuff at Dehillerin in Paris to give copper a try. It's only about 50% of the Falk prices. If the experiment is truly convincing and there is a considerable quality (responsivness) leap wrt. to the particualr iron cooktop, I'm sure I'm going to add one or two of the expensive Falk 11"an 9" copper curved evasees. Thanks again for your excellent and extensive piece of work.

Well, actually I'm a happy owner of a French restaurant stove. Beside two strong gas burners, it has a big (85x50cm, 50kg) asymetric heated iron cast cooktop. It has kind of a hot sport right above the burner, an gradually less heat to the distant edge. I've operated it with some used ss pro-stuff I was able to pick up when they closed a hotel restaurant. Most remarkable ist the "infinite" heat capacity at reatively low temperature, so you can sauté or fry in a kind of slow-motion. The food gets slowly from haselnut to browner colors an develops almost no liquidity. At the cooktop edge, you find best temperatures for butter sauces or stirring risottos. Nevertheless, after reading your article, now I'm convinced that copper is "de rigeur" on such a iron cast cooktop. I'm going to order some (Mauviel) stuff at Dehillerin in Paris to give copper a try. It's only about 50% of the falk prices. If the experiment is truly convincing and there is a considerable quality leap (wrt. to the special cooktop), I'm sure I'm going to add one or two of the 11" copper curved evasees. Thanks again for your excellent and extensive piece of work.

Hello, I'm completely new here on egullet. I've followed the cookware discussion with interest. My question: Can we separate technical aspects of cookware and of stovetops (heat resources, i.e. capacity, responsibilty, temperature etc.), as they always work together? Or did I miss this discussion somewhere?