Tussius

I realize I'm a bit late, but I'll post some recommendations on wines from Veneto anyway (as I like the region): In my opinion (and others) the following producer are worth buying from Veneto: Pieropan (his Soave Calvarino is possible the best Soave around, and it's quite affordable), Tedeschi, and Ca' La Bioda. Coffele and Ca' Rugate also have some nice wines. In general there are lots of mediocre to poor wines from Veneto, it's not the most quality oriented region in Italy, but the ones that are good are quite unique and gives you value for money. The Soaves are very different from Verdicchio (made from the same trebbiano grape, but Soave is a blend), but when well made they combine fruit with a velvety texture and almond notes. That gives them an affinity for some foods that aren't easily found in other wines. For the reds I prefer Valpolicella Classico, not the amarones or ripassos, as I like the fruity elegance the best examples show. Try Ca La Bionda's standard Valpolicella Classico for a good example. Here as well; stay away from the cheapest ones or producers you don't know focus on quality. Low quality Valpolicella tends to be among the least drinkable wines in the price cathegory.

I just finished my sommelier training, and during that time we tasted some 300 wines. In quite a few instances I asked our lecturer: "Has this been fermented with wild yeast?" In each instance it had. What does this mean? Can I taste (or smell) wild yeast? The short answer is "no". What I noted was the same "funky" aromas that lambic(*) are famous for, the same aromas the come from brettanomyces. What I smelled was, in my opinion, poorly made wines. As it turns out I'm particularly sensitive to brettanomyces(**), which has led me to a few discussions with some of the natural wines fans. Brettanomyces comes from the skin of the grapes and develop much more easily in natural wines for two reasons: 1. The cultivated yeasts that most wine producers use (natural wines is still a very small niche in a niche (biodynamic wine)) overpower brett and thus makes sure it never develops. 2. The low to none sulfur additions that are also part of natural wines also aids brettanomyces as the sulfur, being an anti-oxidant, would inhibit brettanomyces growth. Wild yeasts, as has been mentioned, are the yeasts that later have been cultivated so that one can choose which properties one wants the most. Also, a wine maker in Austria once told me that lab tests show that wild yeasts will eventually, during fermentation, develop into the same yeast strains as the cultivated ones, and that they are 70% identical. The difference isn't that big, according to him (he's a biodynamic producer, but not a natural wine producer), but he preferred the predictability of the cultural yeasts. Also; a lot of cultured yeasts are cultured from yeasts strains from that area, meaning that they do originate from the same terroir as the wild yeasts would. (*) Lambic are the wheat beers from Belgium, named after the town Lambeek, that are yeasted with wild yeast. (**) Fascinatingly enough we all have different levels of sensitivity to different aromas. For example the studies that are being done by Centro de Aromas show that the difference in sensitivity to rotundon (which is the smell of black pepper often found in shiraz/syrah) varies a lot. Some people can detect levels as low as 0,000000016 nanograms per litre and others still can't pick it up at 4000 nanograms per litre (one in five, in their tests, actually). I am not sensitive to pepper, rather below average, but very sensitive to brett and about average on TCA. We are all different, which makes smelling wine both fascinating and frustrating.

I love dining alone. Not more or less than dining with someone, as I love that too, but as an alternative. I'm all about the food and the restaurant business (which is the business I'm in), and would much rather eat alone that with someone clueless and oblivious about being clueless. Like my fathers new mother in law who recently proclaimed both gnocchi and sage inedible for anyone. I have a few friends with whom I like dining more than others, though. Their common denominator is that they are all foodies. I do have a lot of foodie friends, I've come to know quite a few of them through common interest in food, and my girlfriend and I have another couple who we dine with as often as possible. Whether at our or their home, or in restaurants. Anyhow, I like eating along, and prefer fancy places to less fancy places if I'm alone. If an upscale place is out of the question for that particular night I'd rather eat take out. Also, I have a few places where I know the staff)and/or owner). I don't mind going there, for sure. When I was a waiter myself both I and the other waiters loved the solitary diners, and in particular the ones that had the six course menu. We'd go out of our way to make their meal as good as possible.

Hi all. I'm going to Bochum, Germany, for the weekend of 29th of October to 1st of November with a friend. While there we'd like some recommendations on where to eat in Bochum on Saturday the 30th and Sunday the 31st. We eat pretty much anything, and regional cuisine is appreciated (though one regional and one non-regional might be nice). The only problem is that we won't be ready for dinner until about 21:30 on Saturday. If you're wondering about the prices I'd say a three course meal under 50 euros would be our price range. We are also going to Heldmanns Restaurant on the Friday, which is about 44 kilometeres from Bochum, but we have the day open so a little extra travelling for extra good food is not a bad thing. I'd really appreciate it if someone had recommendations for us.

Parsnips are relatively little used by most people here (Norway), and thus underappreciated, but it's still rather expencive as they're either imported or, when in season, produced in small numbers. I myself truly love them, they are used a lot in stews (with lamb or game), I don't think they add that much to soups as they have a rather mild flavour which tends to get cooked out in the soup (but they do add a nice sweetness to the consomme). It's still good, but it seems like such a waste. However; I love them served with meat, pan fryed and caramellized to enhance their sweetness, or as a puré (which gets even better with carrot). They are truly best at the start of the harvest when they are tenderest and you can roast them whole with butter and a little broth. Hm, I guess I have to buy some now. Btw: here parsley root is also very under appreciated (as a lot of root vegetables are).

Recently returning from Portugal I feel the need to mention prego no pão. A sandwich with sauteed onions and garlic studded beef. Oh, and bifanas (from a different part of the country) sure are worth a mention as well. I often like the simple sandwiches, although I did drool when I watched the No Reservations where they had a triple pork sandwich in Chicago.

Thank you very much. Restaurants have been noted and reservations have begun Regards, Morten Båtbukt

My girlfriend and I are going to Portugal on Sunday, and while reading through this thread I've realised that I'm far behind on my planning. The planning tends to fall on me more than not, but we don't plan that much in general. I like to use guides and recommendations for restaurant visits, and that's the total we plan. We are going to be in Portugal from the 6th to the 17th and have so far gotten accommodations for the 6th - 8th in Lisbon, 8th - 10th in Pousada Santa Cristina, on the 11th to 12th (+ a restaurant reservation), the 12th to 13th in Quinta de la Rosa and on the 15th -17th in Lisbon. We have a rented car to drive around with and I was wondering if any of the many helpful and knowledgeable people in here could recommend a place to go on the 13th to 15th and also I'd love recommendation for restaurants. We eat just about anything (I more than my girlfriend, but she's rather unpicky as well) , and we want to eat good food rooted in the place where we eat. We would also like to have a restaurant recommendation for the 15th in Lisbon as we'll be celebrating my birthday there. Also, is there some dishes, simple, traditional, specialities or others that I simply MUST try while in Portugal (I plan on eating seafood and bacalhao at least), and please bear in mind that I plan to write one or more pieces about my trip for a local online magazine (www.upop.no) that I'm a food writer for. Thanks in advance for any help! Regards, Morten Båtbukt

Salted and dried cod are usually served one of three ways in Norway, and there's a difference of klippfisk (salted and dried outdoors on cliffs) and tørrfisk (salted and dried on racks under roof) and their uses. The klippfisk is considered a finer product with more delicacy (but then again my father and his family comes from Kristiansund, where they make most of it and have an annually festival for it). Klippfisk I'd use with as little seasoning as possible as in grilled or baked with bacon, potato puré and tomato concasse. Tørrfisk we make brandade from (very common in Bergen, where I'm from, but originally from Italy) or what we call bacalao which is a stew. I don't have any exact measurements as stews rarely need it but these approximations should work well: Dried cod (tørrfisk) without bones Potoes and onions in thick slices. Make a sauce from tomatoes, diced bell peppers, chillies, garlic and basil. Build the stew with alternating layers of potato + onions and dried cod. Fill in the pot with the sauce and bake or braise until fish and potatoes are cooked (about 1 hour). Oh, and like most stews it's better when reheated the next day

I don't know this wine, but if it's Italian I'm assuming it's bicicletta which means bicycle. In my opinion this is absurd. To me it's like putting ketchup on a San Daniele prosciutto. It doesn't make sense to me as it's about taking a product of someone who cares and loves for it and dominating the taste with something entirely different. That's how I judge it for myself. For you; who am to judge? You're drinking it, why should I care whether or not you change it's character? Why is this different from a red wine sauce? I still won't do it, but I can't bring myself to judge others based on what I think I should do.

Anyone have the recipe for perfect pho bo ga? I'm not sure that's the way to write it, but the vietnamese beef and noodle soup. Do they do something special with the stock? I'm assuming that's where the hidden ingredients might be

Finding out how to make that burger took me surprisingly long, but then again everything seems easy once you know how to do it. It was amazing in the end. Btw: This thread is starting to become a combination of a favourite and something to dread for making me hungry every time I look at it.

You must have a recipe for red wine sauce, red wine glace and probably beurre rouge somewhere assuming you're the typical EGullet user? Whenever we do the classic cod + whichever red wine sauce we prefer in the restaurant we use one of these three. The glace is a basic beef demi glace + red wine reduction + honey. The red wine sauce is a reduction of redwine with shallots, juniper berries, pepper and laurel leaves mixed with beef stock and set up with butter. The beurre rouge is just butter with red wine reduction (reduced with shallots). Whenever I look for a classic recipe I usually pick one from one of the cookbooks that I trust. They are usually very good.

The safest way is to fish it yourself or buy it alive. From the standpoint of potential parasitic infection, there is nothing particularly safe about this whatsoever. ← I meant "safe" as in "be certain that it's fresh", hence the quote on frozen fish at the fish market. I'm aware of the possible parasites, but they remain very uncommon and most of the time the parasites pass through the body without doing any harm. I don't know if there's a law on freezing the fish before serving sashimi here, but in the restaurant where I work we get the salmon delivered as "sashimi grade salmon pre frozen", and I believe that's what most restaurants use. It's completely different to me to serve food that might cause infections to other people compared to eating it, knowing the possible hazards, myself.

Burger made by 70% chuck, 30% rib-eye steak, brioche buns, red onion marmalade, tomato sauce, lettuce, bacon and truffle mayonnaise. Most certainly worth repeating!