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Richard Kilgore

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Posts posted by Richard Kilgore

    Sake/Saké Recommendations?

    in Wine

    Posted

    Sake can be harsh to ho hum, but I was totally spoiled for sake by a bottle friends bought for dinner at the Dallas gem Tei An. So I am not looking for ho hum or harsh, but welcome experiences and recommendations for any sake from pleasant to spectacular at any price point. (And yes, I know it's not a wine.) Price is an object, but let's pretend it's not.

    Japanese Green Teas - Sencha, Gyokuro...and more,

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    As a follow up to my last post where I mentioned that even the clay of the teacup may effect the taste of the tea: yesterday I was doing more gyokuro exploration and discovered that the yunomi I got on sale from a chain tea store was negatively impacting the tea. I poured the Organic Asahina Gyokuro Tsuyuhikari gyokuro from yuuki-cha.com out of the Banko and into the chain store yunomi or a relatively neutral fine porcelain tea cup and the difference was not at all subtle. I may have to re-order this gyokuro, as well as using the Organic Gyokuro Karigane, to continue some of my testing of the effects of brewing and drinking vessels using various materials and methods.

    What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    Are you still drinking the Spring 2009 TGY? Last week I got the new Fall 2009 from Greg at norbutea.com and just opened it this morning, Greg thinks it is a little more complex than the Spring harvest and I think I agree, but have not done a side by side tasting. At any rate, I very much like it.

    New to Tea.

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    Welcome, LuckyGirl!

    As you explore more internet tea merchants, you will find that many offer 1 or 2 ounce samples, which gives us even more opportunities for learning about and enjoying more teas, as well as trying some more expensive ones that we might not otherwise try.

    You'll probably also find that the more you know about tea the more difficult it is to have any confidence at all that you can compare teas and tea prices between internet tea merchants by reading their sites.

    And I think you are right that tea merchants sites vary widely in terms of how much information they provide, the quality of that information and how they organize it. As you say, the way a site is organized may be less important before long.

    Have fun with it!

    What Tea Are You Drinking Today? (Part 1)

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    Today started with the Assam Panitola Estate, Whole Leaf from TeaSource.com. This is a really nice, smooth Assam, but I'm about out. I'll probably order another couple of ounces of this, but I also want to try some more Assams.

    Later, a "2000 Langhe Tea Factory Aged Ripe Tea of Menghai" from Yunnan Sourcing on eBay. Very smooth.

    Now, a cup of Chamomille from The Cultured Cup.

    Japanese Green Teas - Sencha, Gyokuro...and more,

    in Coffee & Tea

    Posted

    Really seeing a difference between the grades now?

    That's an interesting question and one I considered going in to exploring senchas and gyokuros. As I have tried a few of each, read more and picked the brains of tea people in Japan, it has become clearer that we can look at it as a matter of levels of quality, but it's really more complex -- organic vs non-organic, one green tea growing region compared to another, and even somewhat different styles from farm to farm within a region. Then add to that the effects of different clays used in the kyusu teapots...and maybe even the clay the teacup is made of. The final result - the aroma and taste - is formed by many factors.

    I'll post an in-process summary soon to sketch this out in more detail, but I am sure I am just scratching the surface. Fortunately, going further will require more tasty field research.

    Tasting: Cultured Cup Tea & Scardello Artisan Cheese

    in Texas: Dining

    Posted

    Last week I attended a tea and cheese tasting at The Cultured Cup in conjunction with Scardello Artisan Cheese. Adam Sachs from TCC provided commentary on the teas and Rich Rogers from Scardello's provided tips on cheese tasting in general, as well as walking us through the pairings with Adam.

    All the pairings were interesting and the ability of a tea to enhance a cheese or vice versa was striking. Here are the pairings for that evening. I understand that they will be doing this again, so contact one or the other if you're interested.

    Mozzarella di Bufala, Italy & Pai Mu Tan (White Peony), China

    Zimarano (semi-hard, sheep), Spain & Sencha (Green), Japan - Shizouka Preficture

    and

    Hill Country (washed rind, mixed), Texas

    Brazos Valley Feta (fresh cheese, cow), Texas & Dragonwell (Longjing - Green)), China

    Le Moulis (semi-soft, cow), France & Tie Guan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy - Oolong), China - Fujian

    Brie de Nangis (soft, riped cow), France & Green Dragon (Olong), Taiwan

    Monte Enebro-Rafael Baez (surface riped goat), Spain & Jungpana Estate Darjeeling, 1st Flush, India

    and

    Brenham Blue (blue, goat), Texas

    Barely Buzzed (semi-soft, cow), Utah & Assam Jamirah, 2nd Flush, India

    Rogie River Blue (blue, cow), Oregon & Pu-erh Imperial (aged 18 years), China - Yunnan Province

    Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking by Paula Wolfert

    in Cookbooks & References

    Posted

    Well. Got the book. I'm sure I'll love cooking from it, but I do have one quibble. I was . . . well, dismayed is the word . . . to find almost no pictures! There are a few beautiful photographs of the finished dishes, and in one or two we can actually see the clay pots they're cooked in, but there are not even any drawings in the introductory section. Even after reading the description, I still didn't know exactly what a cazuela was supposed to look like until I googled its image. Maybe it's just me -- I guess I just need pictures in my cookbooks. :sad:

    Oh, and I know this sounds mean, but the first recipe I looked up in the index (the no-knead bread in a Romertopf), showed a typo - her mention of it (she doesn't give the recipe) is on page 266, not 366. (I can't help it; I'm a librarian, and one of the first things I check in a new book is the accuracy of the index.)

    While I agree that a labeled drawing or photo of each type of clay pot in the introduction would be helpful, it is inaccurate to say there are "almost no pictures". I count 26 photos. All of them show clay pots or clay pots with the finished dishes in them. And on page 321 is a listing of "Pots Featured in This Book", with a description and a source where you can buy them.

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