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A Tasting Party,

stefanyb

By stefanyb
in New York: Dining

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CathyL

CathyL

Posted
Posted

Let's regroup. Here's Stefany's list, updated -

1.stefanyb- Polish hams, baguettes

2.Sandra Levine- Dijon Mustards

3. Alan Levine - potato chips

4.Nina W.- Salamis

5.Nina's Beau- paper goods

6.Cabrales- Macarons

7.Soba- Olives, other special goodies

8. Double 0 - chocolates

9.Wilfrid- Cheddars

10.CathyL- apples, smoked fish

11.Helena Sarin- Macarons

12.ahr- Peanut butters

13.Liza- smoked fish

14.Toby- Tarte tatins

15.Jordyn-

16.Shermar- greens

17.Shermar's Beau-

18. Suvir -

Should we make any changes - e.g., another type of cheese?

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jordyn

jordyn

Posted
Posted

Okay, now that I've had time to think about it, I was leaning towards bringing a few types of honeys. I could bring another type of cheese, instead, if people would prefer that. Maybe either various triple-cremes or blues.

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=Mark

=Mark

Posted
Posted

Um, lifes expectations have changed.

I can actually make this. Is it too late?

I can still do Salsas.

Will November forgive me?

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

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=Mark

=Mark

Posted
Posted
Not too late.  Glad you can make it!  Are you bringing something to dip in the salsas?

I can do chips. Might get Blue and White corn, with red salsa it can get downright patriotic... :cool:

=Mark

Give a man a fish, he eats for a Day.

Teach a man to fish, he eats for Life.

Teach a man to sell fish, he eats Steak

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CathyL

CathyL

Posted
Posted

A Mexican place in my neighborhood makes its own chips - nice and corny, not too much salt. I'll pick some up, if you like. Maybe I'll also slice up a jicama for those of us watching (or trying to rediscover) our waistlines. :biggrin:

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ahr

ahr

Posted
Posted

Plus two men, minus one.

I regret that I shall not be able to attend. To relieve any suspense, the product from Peanut Butter & Co. in the Village would have won the taste test. Easily.

Have fun, all

"To Serve Man"

-- Favorite Twilight Zone cookbook

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CathyL

CathyL

Posted
Posted

It's the official eGullet vertical tasting event, and YOU ARE THERE... This message coming to you live from the event itself!

Toby's amazing tarte tatins (several varieties of pear and apple) were just sliced and served, to great acclaim.

Sandra Levine: from the sublime to ridiculous -- we tasted eight Dijon mustards (Amora, Grey Pupon, Maille regular, Maille extra hot, Delouis Fils, Temeraire, Bornier, and Martial Picat). Amora, the cheapest one, came out well; regular Maille was also favored highly. The very hot version of Maille was not particularly appealing. The Temoraire (sic) was also not bad.

Cabrales brought several purveyor's coffee macarons, as well as several flavors from Payard. Alan Levine observed: "The Fauchon was the best; both a strong coffee flavor and a strong almond taste. The second best was Wegman's, with a very strong coffee (espresso-like) taste. Payard was lowest rated -- poor consistency; lack of substantial feel in the mouth; almost mushy. Alan sampled not only a horizontal of the Payard/Wegman/Fauchon, but a five-piece-plus vertical of the Payard. The only flavor from Payard that Alan appreciated was the raspberry." Others noted that the Wegmans' macarons were more "American" in character with bolder, more "in your face" flavoring.

Toby: The greens were wonderful, and provided a good balance to the other components of the tasting spread. Stefany's Italian jarred tunas in olive oil were excellent. One was bonito. The four versions (Arroyabe Bonito, Vantia Solid, L'Isola D'oRro, La Giara) were generally fairly good. They were superior to US-widely-available canned stuff.

Stefany -- Wilfrid's Scottish (Isle of Mull) cheddar was quite developed in taste. It was almost depleted by the end of the evening. Wilfrid also brought several other cheddars: Montgomery (English), Keen's (English), and Vermont (USA).

Cabrales -- The greens Shermar brought were wonderful -- collard, mustard, dandelion and kale were prepared in the same manner (loosely Mediterranean, with garlic and EVOO), thereby facilitating comparison. The greens were cooked just right, enabling the flavors to be distinguished. Furthermore, Shermar brought cut-up (salad type cuts) versions of the same greens (washed) for comparison between the raw and cooked states of the greens. Finally, Shermar brought whole "leaves" of the greens to permit their appearance to be broadly discerned.

The smoked fish platter from CathyL was promising-looking, and tasted good. The sable was moist, and glistening. It was interesting that bluefish had been included, and the smoked salmon was a difficult-to-sample variety (Maine, per CathyL).

Collective observations -- Each person was, unfortunately, not necessarily the recipient of each of the four tarte tatins. Since it was the end of a very filling meal, and the individual tatin portions were large, it was too bad that a horizontal was achieved by few of us. Toby included 2 pear tarts, along with an apple version and a quince variety. One of the pear tarts had a fairly nice crust, with nice moisture left in the pears. Also, this dessert had a nicely controlled sweetness level. The vanilla ice creams that were presented were numerous. However, few members completed a horizontal of the ice cream. CathyL provided sliced apples for dicing into a nice caramel sauce as well as another caramel sauce that was as nutty and rich as the filling of a pecan pie.

jordyn brought a number of blue cheeses: Cayuga Blue (goat cheese from New York); Bleu d'Auvergne (cow cheese from France); Kokorangi (cow's cheese from New Zealand); Ewe's Blue (sheep cheese from New York); and Cabrales (all three types of milk from Spain). It was interesting that goat's and cow's milk blues did not necessarily taste dramatically different.

It was also interesting that the ham sampling did not yield large differences, except for the Smithfield offering. The Smithfield was sliced thinner than the other versions, but it was much saltier than the other ones. It looked, and tasted, more like a proscuitto than the other offerings.

Nina brought several types of salamis. The consensus was that the Paprika salami from the Hungarian 80th and 2nd was the best, although Nina preferred the longer, skinny, and drier Hungarian sausage. Nina's beau brought some very nice silver disposable plates that supported the food nicely, both visually and physically.

Mark Stevens brought a variety of salsas, the details of which will be posted later. One of the salsas was intensely hot, and left several of us sweating and hoping that the heat would dissapate sooner than it seemed to be willing to. The rest were surprisingly tame. Alan Levine again: "The hot sauce was too hot, and wiped out everything except for the heat. Other than that, my favorite was the mango." Cabrales preferred the green salsas with the exception of the special stupid XX hot salsa.

Several members also had the opportunity to sample one of Suvir's tomato chutney recipes, as prepared by CathyL. This was met with wide acclaim.

[More information to be submitted, perhaps in this post, or perhaps by others.]

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