Ricotta Diaries

Vermont’s Wine Future

2009-09-19T21:14:00.016-04:00

Topic of Discussion with Grape Growers OCT 30

There is a lot of buzz going on in Vermont grape growing circles, albeit still a concentrically small circle, but nevertheless growing as it hums about a newly released cold hardy grape varietal. On Friday, October 30th, Vermont estate winemakers will speak about the future of Vermont wine at a special dinner to be held at Hemingway’s.

Derived from the University of Minnesota Horticultural Research Center, the hybrid vine, Marquette, has been planted by at least two Vermont wineries with excellent results in barrel and now in bottle.

Withstanding temperatures as low as -36° F Marquette brings a ray of sunshine to what used to be a cloudy Vermont wine future. Not only does it survive cold, but also it is disease resistant and makes a quality wine.

There is also buzz about maintaining integrity in wine labeling in our small state. A recently formed Vermont Grape and Wine Council has become necessary for the 20 or so wineries that now exist from 25 years ago. Some members are pushing for self-regulatory guidelines mandating that grapes be grown in state if labels proffer Vermont wine. They contend that bnemaker, lending or sole use of viniferous grapes grown in warmer areas should be specified and in limited amounts. (Vitus vinifera grapes are common European varietals such as Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Pinot noir that have traditionally set the standard in producing excellent wines.)

Addressing this concern, Lincoln Peak Vineyard, for example, has this statement on their website about “Vermont wine, or ‘Vermont’ wine.

It's great to see the Vermont wine industry take off, but consumers should be aware that not all the wine that's sold by Vermont wineries is made from Vermont grapes. Some ‘Vermont’ wine isn't even made in Vermont. It's made in other states and simply bottled in Vermont. This wine may be perfectly delicious, and there may be situations where importing fruit is necessary -- when a new Vermont winery's own vineyard hasn't yet come into production, or when bad weather reduces the grape crop. But in the long run, I'm convinced that to gain identity and respect as a wine region, Vermont wineries need to grow and produce our own unique wines. As the largest grape grower in the state, I'm encouraging other Vermont wineries to produce the delicious wines that truly have the taste of our special place.

100% of the grapes in Lincoln Peak wine are grown here, and (barring weather disasters) always will be.”

We have held a series of harvest dinners at Hemingway's featuring local farmers since 1990, because we always enjoy educating the public to the pleasures of the table, and to the artful pairing of food and wine. Come taste, listen, learn, and enjoy with us!

A Thug I like

2009-09-08T12:43:00.001-04:00

Several years ago, I planted Rosa rugosa, a small, hardy, wild rose bush. It is finally at optimum height, is spreading, and is doing what it's supposed to do: provide fragrant summer flowers, and now in September, laden itself with fruit which I harvest for jam, jelly, or sauce. This year is our best crop thus far, and we will use the finished product at our fall harvest dinner featuring Vermont estate winemakers.

Rose hips, as the pome fruit is known, is tart, low in pectin, full of seeds, widely used in herbal teas, and is a source for vitamin C. Though I have not yet tried them, the leaves are said to make tea, and the flower petals are edible as are other rose petals.

Since it's sunny location was near the road I planted the shrub because of its easy care, tolerance for salt, sun, and poor soil. Some folks prune them, but I planted them in an area so they could go untamed without care. Seen growing wild along sea shores, it is also known as salt spray rose, sea rose, and sea tomato.

In some of these areas it is considered an invasive weed, but I would be happy to have this fruit bearing thug overtake other weeds and trees I prefer not to have. Perhaps in these milder areas they are more of a nuisance than here in our cold haven--just another reason to love Vermont!

Hyper Vine Longing for Sunshine: Ray Knutsen, Vermont Winemaker Part 1

2009-08-06T21:05:00.002-04:00

We spent the afternoon with Ray Knutsen at his vineyard and winery in Benson, Vermont. He is enthusiasm on steroids--the epitome of the garage wine mechanic. Able to leap large ideas in a single bound, he planted his first vines in the mid-seventies, going through the maelstrom of trying to bring vinifera to Vermont only to emerge years later as a sort of Guru of hybrid varietals. Based on his extensive research, trial and error, and uncompromising honesty about what can really work on a cold hilltop in Vermont instead of the Elysium slopes of the Côtes d’Or in France.

Ourselves being Vermonters for 30 plus years (don’t say that to a local) our first question was what we thought the obvious one: “How much cold can these guys handle?”

Answer: “40 below.” Ray nosedives his hand and then levels off. ”No vines like a major change from say 20 degrees to 30 below, but these Minnesota hybrids do fine here.”

But it’s not the bigger deal here in Vermont this year. What is, is rot, WEATHER, rain, mold, mildew, numerous fungi. The University of Minnesota being the vanguard of hybridizing vinifera so places like there and here can grow grapes and make wine. We suspect they are working on fungi after Ray animates the plucking of weaker strains from the test beds.

Free association now from Ray, a vortex of information on lessons learned in Minnesota, the dizzying number of vines tested each year, their process of elimination, the how’s and why’s of The University of Minnesota’s snail pace when it comes to releasing new hybrid grapes. I mean we are mortal, so if you want to get a leg up and move forward in the Vermont wine world you may have to live to be 200!

We try some Le Crescent out of one of the stainless tanks, reminiscent of Riesling, but a bit edgier, with less of the petroleum nose we’re used to in some European Rieslings. Clean, tight, a food wine as they say. Then we spit and miraculously the three of us all begin to crow about chewable, flabby, cream-soda-like, monster, American Chardonnays with alcohol levels that could kill off a sumo wrester after two sips. And they are not all cheap wines!

Ride of the Valkyries: Ray Knudsen, Vermont Winemaker Part 2

2009-08-05T09:29:00.002-04:00

The pirate Ray leaps towards a single barrel, “This may put us on the map!” He plunges his thief into the barrel. It’s Marquette (hybrids are named after towns in Minnesota) planted about three years ago. Wild cherries jumping out of the glass, spice and pepper with soft tannins. We think a softer version of a northern Rhone. There is only one barrel made.

“Wanna see the vineyards? Want this barrel? Wait. Dump. Wash. Here! Try this. It’s the base for my forthcoming sparkling." We get a fine Muscat aftertaste, yet of the clean finish in Champagne. Stay with this one Ray.

We follow Ray bouncing atop his ATV towards the vineyards. We’ve lived on the top of more than one mountain for near 20 years, yet Ray makes us feel suburban. At about 600 feet there is a sweep of land with 50 plus rows of grapes and a well-trodden road cut down the middle. The canopies, so familiar elsewhere, are different here--propped up along wires on posts that Ray has sunk himself over the years. They droop a bit, almost a cower compared to the vinfera vines that stand at attention and say, “I am the proud bearer of the fruit of centuries.”

“What’s going on Ray?”

“The hybrids grow down, vinifera grow up.” That simple.

“What happened to those few rows?” we ask, pointing down hill.

“Scrawny, huh? Minnesota thinks they may be too ugly or shabby or whatever. No official name yet. But it could be the future of red wine in Vermont.”

Okay one last thing. We storm back down to the winery, replete with a pile of rocks nearly blocking the door and raspberries ripe for harvest just an arms length away.

“Don’t think I need to have a tasting room for everyone, what do you think?’

We agree. “You don’t need tire kickers.”

You Know Thaaat! Ray pops a small bottle of a chilled wine that looks like sherry, smells a bit like Marsala and tastes like almonds soaking in apricots and apples.

“I had these extra grapes and didn’t know what to do with them so instead of throwing them out I called my friend, Chris Granstrom, who is also a winemaker in Vermont. We decided to haul them upstate and for no good reason to rent some locker space and freeze all of them whole and deal with them later. Want do you think?”

“Ice wine?” we asked

“Ice wine … sort of. A wine taster from Spain came by after we bottled it told and said we were sitting on a treasure.”

“It would go great with the dessert course on our wine tasting menu at Hemingway’s.”

“Agreed.”

We took the last little sip of our “non-spitter” and invited Ray to do a Vermont winemakers dinner in October with a few of his fellow winemakers.

“Of course,” he replied.

We got into the car and drove down the hill towards Fair Haven and then across to Rutland thinking, "We're going to have fun at our end of October dinner!"

No Crying in the Kitchen

2009-08-02T15:05:00.000-04:00

Friday, August 28 / 7PM

We're having dinner with guest author, Michel LeBorgne, of the New England Culinary Institute, and you're invited!

Gather with us for an entertaining dinner with affable Michel LeBorgne, of Vermont’s New England Culinary Institute. Chef Michel will chat about his recently published memoir, No Crying in the Kitchen, full of humorous stories behind his involvement with NECI, one of the best culinary arts school in New England. With his superlative work ethic as a teaching chef, Michel discloses he has done it all, and all for the rewarding success of his students.

Menu items will be intrepreted from recipes in Michel's book. Visit Hemingway's Restaurant website for details.

Special offer: autographed books only $18.95-- perhaps a great Christmas present for your culinary favorite!

This is an AIWF event. Proceeds from the dinner and books sold this evening help fund the America Institute of Wine & Food Culinary Scholarship Fund, available to Vermont students who seek a culinary education.

It is an honor to have Chef Michel with us on this special day, as we celebrate Hemingway’s 27th year of business. Some nightly surprises surely await.

A Plate Full Proposal

2009-07-14T09:39:00.008-04:00

Finding an exotic and unusual venue for one’s marriage ceremony is near de rigeur in our adventure seeking society. You may know a couple who tied their knot on, under, or over water, or while hanging cliff side, or while schussing around slope side.

And the proposal of marriage is now just as important as the wedding ceremony itself. There are web-sites and books devoted to unique engagement ideas, but we’ll save you the trouble of searching them out by divulging the story of an exceptionally devoted lover.
Hemingway's has long been noted as a hideaway for romance and weddings--even dubbed by Esquire as “One of the most romantic restaurants in America,” so the clever paramour solicited our help.

We happily oblige the gentleman's request, and with our usual aplomb the lady is served her main course. ‘Twas on a plate, of course, but not just any plate. This plate was shipped two weeks ahead along with another plate as well as detailed instructions of with what and when to serve. Nervously, he squirms with giddy delight as he watches his lady slowly eat her meal. She takes a bite, she speaks of the meal’s fineness, she sips some wine. She makes another cut, takes another bite, murmurs, sips a bit more wine.

At a do-it-yourself ceramic center and with no prior experience the starry-eyed admirer created plates of his own design and permanently inscribed under the glaze his secret seductions. Nonchalantly and with patient intent, the boyfriend watches his girlfriend squint. She, not wanting to believe something could be amiss, dines with silent smile, a gentle push of fork, a smear of sauce, a delectable bite, until finally she ruminates about a grander design.

Then she does see, “Will you marry me?” and he jubilantly confesses. The lady being questioned relishes her paramour’s request and says she will! And he too was served dinner with a plate inscribed “I Love You” so that they should dine happily together in anniversary ever after.

Killington Wine Fest Dinner

2009-06-21T20:25:00.000-04:00

Origin of the Species: Château de Beaucastel begets Tablas Creek

Friday, July 17 / 7 PM

Robert Z. Haas, founder of Vineyard Brands importing company and managing partner of Tablas Creek Vineyard in Paso Robles, California, will conduct our annual Friday night wine tasting in conjunction with the Killington Wine Fest.

In keeping with Bob's connecting role between California and French wine producers, he will compare the stylistic similarities and differences between the wines of Tablas Creek Vineyard and the esteemed Château de Beaucastel, partners in his Tablas Creek venture.

It is a closer connection than you might imagine!

Visit our website, Hemingway's Restaurant, for menu details.

Morel Adventures

2009-06-19T02:05:00.000-04:00

I love to stumble across a morel on a spring morning as my less than focused gaze glides along the base of ash trees--a sort of soft radar, a non-evasive foray into the mystery of brown and golden soldiers scattered across land, convincing me that any rational or scientific approach to determine their whereabouts will be dismissed by them as not an arcane enough approach and therefore one not to be rewarded. The harder you look the less you see. You look and rant and try to control the universe in which they belong, and then suddenly, they are there at your feet saying, “I’ve been here all along.”

Everyone has their favorite morel recipe, which more often is a morel story, as the adventure is half the prize. Recently someone dumped some dirt into a mound on a hill top road, where walking, not stalking to forage, is the rule. But there they were, popping out of the top of a small heap. The perfunctory ash tree stood watching me snap a blondie just inches away.

I prefer to cut out the bottoms, get a pastry bag, fill it with some rabbit mousse and shoot it into the hollow cavity of the morel. Bake in the oven not too hotly with some stock in the bottom of the pan until the mousse firms up, gets warm, and the morel starts giving off its woody tobacco sweetness without drying out.

Add some butter at the end into the pan with stock and there’s your sauce. Haunting textures, aromas, and flavors never forgotten.

Aside from sautéing them in butter with a drop of lemon, I also like to dry out the morels and grind them into a powder that can be used as a seasoning--or better yet as a coating, like breadcrumbs, on a piece of lamb or chicken. Great nose on that one coming off the stove.

Killington Wine Fest

2009-06-11T11:13:00.012-04:00

Saturday, July 19

Mark Raymond will be available for most of our dinner hours to answer your questions and discuss the wines of Frederick Wildman and Sons, which will be highlighted for the entire weekend on our nightly four course Wine Tasting Menu.

Special for the KWF weekend (FRI-SUN)
$75 for four courses of foods & wines
Menu TBA.
Featured Wines:
Astica, Torrontes, Lujan de Cuyo, Argentina, 2008
Olivier Leflaive, Bourgogne Blanc, Les Sétilles, Burgundy, France, 2007
Melini, Chianti Classico Riserva, Vigneti La Selvanella Tuscany, Italy, 2003
Hugel et Fils, Gewürztraminer, Alsace, France, 2005
Paul Jaboulet, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise, Rhone, France, 2006

Fiddlehead fern

2009-06-05T00:57:00.002-04:00

Fiddlehead refers not to a specific plant but to the general aspect of young, green, unfurled fronds of ferns looking like the curled head of a fiddle, thus circinate vernation.

Also known as the shuttlecock fern, Matteuccia struthiopteris, the Ostrich fern is the most edible species of the fern family. It can grow up to six feet tall and likes to live in places that offer constantly moist soil, such as flood plains. It has a papery sheath around the frond which needs to be peeled before cooking, and it has no fibrous hairs like some other ferns.

Chef Ted makes a soup of fiddleheads puréed with shallots, (chicken) stock, and an herb such as tarragon. At our spring foraging supper he served it with a small Maine crab cake, and garnished it with a few Canadian white violet flowers.

The easiest way for me to find the correct fern is at winter's end or in early spring. I look for the dried, leftover frond that looks like a feather, and I sometimes mark the spot. The Ostrich fern can grow beside other inedible ferns, but the smooth fiddlehead with paper sheath is tell tale. Do not confuse it with the frequently found dried frond of the Sensitive Fern, Onoclea sensibilis, that has little beads running it's length.

ABOUT FIDDLEHEAD PICKING:
There are some who say do not pick a crown clean, rather only 2-3 fiddles from a crown. (The crown is the largish mass protruding from the ground from which the fiddle heads sprout and the underside from which the roots are attached.) They say if you do, the plant will die and/or there will be less fiddle heads the following year. Some old timers say fiddleheads are not as big as they used to be because of over picking.

Consider fiddleheads an endangered delicacy and only pick a few. Be sure to cook them throughly, as they are not ingested well when undercooked, and may even be toxic to some when raw.

Cattails

2009-05-20T08:38:00.005-04:00

grab your boots and use your hands
wade in water usually muddy
tasty and so sweet
cattails are a fine treat to eat!

Sung somewhat to the melody of "Sunny Side of the Street" while you contemplate your adventure into a muddy mire to grab lunch.

Not to be confused with water iris which also grow in marshy areas and ponds, cattails have stalks that wrap around one another as opposed to splayed fronds rising from a base.

Once you get to the cattail, straddle it, and peel back the outer layers sliding your hands down the stalk till you reach bottom, which is inevitably under water. Gently snap and pull the cattail out of the water. To prepare, cut off the bottom few inches, which is pale green to white, and peel off this section until you get to the tender nearly all white area.

Now you can make a raw salad of the white shoots or cook them so they magically turn into a "poor man's hearts of palm."

Poach them for about a minute with a little lemon, water, and a dash of sugar and salt. Cool and serve dressed with a citrus vinaigrette.

It is the hearts of cattails we want to recover, the white inner core at the base about 4-5 inches long. If they are invasive in your pond perhaps you want to yank them out--weed and feed of another sort.

There are other uses for cattails, like collecting the golden pollen that oozes from the fat brown "flower." This can be used like "flour" as a coating for fish or fowl before cooking or as a thickening agent. The roots too are edible, though we haven't tried them yet--saving this for another blahg....

Trout Lily

2009-05-13T21:30:00.002-04:00

This must be the year of the trout lily, at least if you saw my lawn, you'd think so. Our field lawn is bordered by woods which is where trout lilies like to grow. Eastern trout lily, yellow trout lily, Erythronium americanum, is also known as dogtooth violet or adder's tongue, and their is a white Minnesota sister lily or two.

Our Vermont version has pretty brown speckled basal leaves with a single, slender center stalk sprouting a delicate yellow flower. At first only one small leaf appears from the ground and it takes awhile before another sprouts. It takes several years for a flower to appear, so unless they are as abundant on your property as on ours, take heed in harvesting.

Trout lily corms are worth digging out unless the plant is endangered as is the white Minnesota dwarf trout lily (Erythronium propullans). Digging out the sweet, small fragile corms is not easy, so consider these little white gems a rare delicacy. Larger corms seem to have more starch and are less sweet. We happen to have enough trout lilies to last a lifetime--small and large, but digging them out of stony Vermont soil is a challenge. You can transplant them in the fall to encourage growth in an area where you would like them to spread so you can harvest for all to enjoy.

Now barely mid-May the flowers have gone, but the leaves are still around for picking. Wash well and use them raw in a salad as you can do with the flower heads and corms. You can see how Chef Ted uses some mid-size leaves as a flower petal on his wild leaf salad of our May 3rd post. Here is a link with more information and recipes.

Spring Forage Menu

2009-05-03T21:47:00.017-04:00

Had a fabulous romp through Vermont fields and woods for an annual spring forage--or as some prefer to call it--wild crafting. Following is the menu Chef Ted hand crafted from our finds:

Vermont pheasant with wild leaf salad, sherry & citrus vinaigrettes

fiddlehead soup with Maine lobster & crab, and scallop

wood-roasted salmon with sautéed ramps, Japanese knotweed, and potato-ramp pie, sauces of ramp, chive oil, and duck stock

wild ginger cobbler with Japanese knotweed ice cream and candied Japanese knotweed

Lee Jones said of his experience,"We thought it would be mildly amusing but it turned out to be a blast." T'was a beautiful and delicious feast!

This wild leaf salad (pictured) was comprised of leaves from Canadian white violets, trout lilies, dandelion, sedum, plantain, and Ox eye daisy. The violet leaves are sweet and comprised most of the salad. Trout lily, violet, and dandelion flowers are all edible. We shredded the dandelion flower as a sprinkling garnish. Pick only two inch dandelion leaves as larger ones are too bitter. Use sparingly in a salad unless you love bitter. Hearts of cattail (similar to hearts of palm) were poached with lemon and salt, and dressed in a citrus vinaigrette and arranged around the leafy greens.

I'll post more photos and blahg more in detail about specific ingredients in upcoming posts. Meanwhile don't assume you know what to pick by this list of ingredients, and if you do know, don't pick from polluted waters or unnaturally fertilized lawns.

Spring Forage

2009-04-13T12:31:00.003-04:00

For us, spring is Vermont's Other Foliage season and it’s subtle beauty is also the season of searching the earth for early shoots of fiddle heads, Japanese knot weed, wild ramps, maybe wild nettles, even morel mushrooms if we get lucky! Of course dandelions will be ripe for picking too.
Come romp through Vermont with us in search of these short-lived and limited delicacies. Chef Ted will create a supper around our finds or you can take yours home and revel in the culinary delights of your own cooking prowess. More details here....

A New Dow Index

2009-04-06T10:46:00.013-04:00

Up here in Vermont we have for years dealt with the daily vagaries of the local economy, but now the national and global economic crisis is creating a whole new correlative for us. We watch the jobs report, housing starts, GDP, consumer confidence, and all the rest of the so called indicators that the government or private industry publishes. The indices let us know how bad things are, or if things may be getting better. For our food loving friends there is also the Big Mac Index, most likely a better barometer for the value of things world wide.

This morning as I take out the trash--mostly paper, cat food containers, and other recyclables (owning a restaurant disallows us from normal garbage) the bag slips from the trash barrel and I notice something new. My wife has taken pieces of duct-tape and wrapped it around the barrel to secure the gentle disintegration of its sides. No big deal, but as the day unfolds I find duct-tape appearing in places it has never appeared before—a sock drawer, a pair of gardening clogs, a chair leg handsomely covered by a slipcover, a computer bag, my ski boots—and on the list goes to even the computer itself.

Then it dawns on me that I’ve discovered a perfect financial index, one so simple yet more indicative of the current malaise than all the logarithms the complex financial universe has to offer: The Vermont Duct-tape Index or VDI as its acronym asserts.

A simple measure of the number of feet or yards of duct tape used a year ago is subtracted from the amount currently used. This figure is divided into last year’s figure. If the indicator approaches 20% there is trouble in the household--and the world. Though it is a lagging indicator, it is also a desperation indicator, which mirrors the psychology of the consumer as well as their financial condition, due to it’s attachment to the idea that duct tape is a last ditch effort that may transcend logic.

As the use of this index prevails, it may even penetrate the big leagues when it moves from VDI to DOW: Duct-tape Overtakes World.

A call to our local hardware store provides further indication of the tape’s measure of successful indexing. Sales have increased by a whopping 18% over last year. We assume figures for 2009 over 2008 will be more astounding. We know for a fact from the Duck Tape Club that in 2005, 873 million yards of Duck® Tape alone was sold. We await figures for 2008 & 2009. Only time will tell if Countrywide’s canard will prevail globally and spur the rise of real Duck® Tape stocks!

Where has all the flavor gone?

2009-04-01T22:53:00.003-04:00

Since most of the fat is now culturally omitted from fresh pork in order that we have our heart attack later rather than sooner, we’re left with the problem of lack of flavor in most of the pork we buy today. We can purchase rubs, marinades, salsas, and barbecue sauces to give the relatively neutral condition of pork some life, but a less expensive home-made method might work better.

Many restaurants, Hemingway’s included, choose to brine pork for a short period of time and then use whatever recipe and cooking method they prefer. You can control the flavor by starting with a basic recipe of salt, sugar, and water; then add any aromatics, spices, or fruits to get to your final goal. Join our email list for our next newsletter with a full recipe and notes.

Restorers and Chocolate Lovers

2009-03-16T16:31:00.009-04:00

The word restaurant comes from the Latin root, "to restore," which is why when you feel in a slump, you may decide to eat out, reviving your corporal self as well as your soul.

Even though the economy is slumped, this doesn't mean you have to feel the slouch. Dining out is a stress reliever. You don’t have to spend big bucks even in your favorite big bucks place. A lesser bottle of wine, a shared chocolate--though for some sharing chocolate may be too hard to take--so if you have to, do whatever it doesn’t take.

This is a quasi poem entitled Restorers, and it is a musing about us at Hemingway's circa 1988:

There are tens that book, and tens that cancel.
We get ready, get set, get un-ready.
We're a constant flux of energy, sighing,
laping little waves.
It’s our little life. Here. There.
Providing sustenance in grand style,
and grand parties for grand occasions.
We endure, for fake flair is best left
to those who need to flare,
mere flashes in pans.
They soon extinguish,
their own juices gone dry.
Our nights continue, one after another,
just nearly nights in a bloodshot sky.
Stars spell out the marquis for real people of the night.
Our nights are sanctified, covered with roses in repose.
For some, a fortieth anniversary is more sacred than a second,
as if the enduring merits a medal,
and not the substance of the bond.
There’s sustenance in any relationship,
feeding when hungry, spoon-feeding if needed.
So eat and delete.
There’s no need to forgive chocolate lovers.
They can’t help themselves.

Pair of Winemakers

2009-03-05T23:17:00.015-05:00

We hail the arrival of two quality wine makers from the Burgundy region of France with a special wine tasting dinner on Tuesday, March 24. Jean-Pierre Latour and Michel Caillot from the respective wine estates of Domaine Latour-Giraud and Domaine Michel Caillot, will speak about their wines along with Jim Elston of Chemins des Vins, importer of these fine European selections.

Since this is the first time the winemakers, who are friends, have the same distributor in a state, they decided to travel together. The distributor, Vermont Wine Merchants of Burlington, will also host trade tastings in Manchester and Stowe while the winemakers visit.

Wines from both producers are highly rated by many of the leading wine publications. “In the cellar, Michel is a fanatic for quality and is committed to the principles of non-interventionist winemaking. Michel's wines have a clear house style. The whites are beautifully balanced, combining pure, clean lemon-citrus fruit, the fascinating minerality of the soil, a fine, creamy texture and a crisp, long and complex finish. The vanilla oak is in the background, but does not obtrude, and the individual character of the different vineyards is allowed to show through. The reds are smooth and supple with pure berry and cherry aromas, soft, round tannins and lush, ripe fruits on the palate.

The Latour-Giraud estate has been established on the Route Nationale in the village of Meursault for many generations. Focused primarily on Meursault, the estate owns an impressive range of premier cru and villages vineyards... {W}ith the arrival of the genial and perfectionist current winemaker, Jean-Pierre Latour, the estate has undergone what Le Review des Vins de France has called a ‘true cultural revolution.” {from CheminsdesVins.com}

Hemingway’s dinner will focus on wines from the years 2005 and 2006, two of the best Burgundian vintages in this decade. Bourgogne Blanc Les Herbeux, by Caillot, for example, is a great value for most of the grapes are from declassified Meursault fruit. (Each year in France local committees rate grapes according to their typification. The grapes used in the table wine of Caillot’s 2005 Bourgogne Blanc are actually of a higher standard than allowed by law, but cannot be stated as such on the label.) The 2006 Meursault-Genevrières Premier Cru from Latour-Giraud is a first growth wine from one of Meursault’s top three Premier Cru vineyards, of which the family owns a majority. These white wines will be followed by the red wines, Pommard 2005 and Maranges la Fussière 2006, the latter in white is also designated a Premier Cru or first growth.

Jump Starting Weekends

2009-02-22T18:18:00.006-05:00

VALUE: “a quality {Hemingway’s} that gives something {dining} special worth {$30 three-course meal} Merriam-Webster.

This February Friday the 13th was a lucky night for us. With our value priced Sweetheart Dinner we jump-started the holiday weekend, helping folks beat the Saturday night St. Valentine crowd. It was a huge success.

In our 27th year of business we heard from grateful fans around the region. Thus we offer another rosy deal mid-week, Wednesday through Friday. This is not food for thought: it’s a win-win, good for both goose and gander. As a measure of value for quality this recessionary offering is fabulous!

We will, of course, still offer our famous nightly Wine Tasting Dinner along with a fairly new a la carte menu. Reservations, as always, are appreciated.

We know times are tough, but dining in a great place shouldn’t be.

Half Full!

2009-02-02T09:29:00.020-05:00

In our New World, recommending a movie or restaurant to friends is a dicey affair. Even your most favorite of restaurants may receive objection for so much depends on one's mood while participating. I have learned what is slow service for some is leisurely for others--or the room so romantic to lovers may be too quiet for you. Plus a group in the midst of a good-time din could spell a bad time for neighboring diners.

Of course there are genuine mistakes, and they should be compensated, but if the sign of a great restaurant is excellence, day in and day out, then we believe Hemingway's meets this standard. Of the 30 plus tables serviced on a busy night only sporadically do we have an issue. In our 27 years of operating Hemingway's we believe this is an admirable average.

Given these odds it is surprising that the i-net is not overwhelmed with the positive, often glowing, comments received nightly. To the public at large these voices are mostly mute, thus it is through our own initiative they are more widely heard, predictably broadening us as a target.

It is our commercial obligation to recognize the culturally disabled or the squeaky wheel, and to right a wrong, but it is a sad analysis that in our society the boring grievance details of what should be a private communication and reconciliation between business and client is now made into a social spectacle.

We are compelled to address the low tolerance levels of the mean spirited as well as the general human malaise of seeing a glass half empty, conditions too often encountered. We hope you take subjectivity and stereotyping into consideration when confronted with such attitude. Meanwhile, we wish good fortune to all in this New Year in a New World.

Comforting Winter Beef

2009-01-25T13:50:00.000-05:00

Our Duo of Beef is two different cuts of beef, sirloin and short ribs, prepared two different ways in consideration of the best method for each cut. The sirloin is first trimmed and cut in half the entire length of the strip. Steaks are then cut from two lengths of the strip, so they are thicker and a bit rounder than a typical strip steak. They actually look more like a small filet mignon. The steak is then pan-seared and roasted in the oven to medium rare.
The ribs are braised for about 3-4 hours with aromatics, herbs, red wine, and veal stock.

This dish is often accompanied by a potato pie that has sliced potatoes, thyme, diced tomato, onion, and garlic, all tossed with a touch of olive oil, salt, and pepper, then layered into a small roasting pan, and baked in the oven for about 1-2 hours. When cooled to room temperature, the potato pie is cut into three inch diameter circles. These are heated in a slow oven and served with Swiss chard braised with sliced shallots and coriander, and butternut squash diced and roasted in the oven until golden.

The sauce is is a combination of some of the de-fatted braising liquid along with a roasted shallot veal reduction.

This beef dish is good for ski season as it offers a balance of roasted and braised meats, while addressing the winter fix of an elevated comfort food that is deep, rich, but not heavy as one might think.

Part of the challenge at Hemingway's has always been to translate traditional dishes into a modern, cleaner, yet satisfying cuisine.

As Turkeys Come & Go

2009-01-07T22:26:00.002-05:00

On September 12, the day after our sad and shocking 9-11 catastrophe I watched a parade of wild turkeys wearing hooded robes march single file around our pond. These hooded monks formally came to grieve as professional mourners. Perhaps it was my morose mood, but their big, black, feathered bodies slowly trotting and solemnly picking their way along the snowy path, were all knowing. Had I been in a better mood I might have equated their turkey trotting to a rejoicing country dance--for it wasn't even hunting season.

Though Chef Ted once cooked a wild turkey given to us by aforesaid hunters, the turkeys we serve now at Hemingway's are from Vermont's Misty Knoll Farms. Family-owned and operated, they produce some of the finest naturally raised free-range turkeys in the country.

I have just learned that these wild birds, an eastern subspecies of wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) were scarce after Vermont forests were cleared in the 19th century. They have since replenished now that Vermont forests have regrown.

Thus change happens, and whether slowly or quickly, it is constantly upon us. You've heard of the phrase, The meek shall inherit the earth. It can be reconsidered when examining the etymology of the word, meek, to mean submissive, pliant, or subject to change, instead of weak. Thus considered, Darwin wins again.

Change is in the making in this New Year, whether effected by our new President, or by our selves. Meanwhile we wish you a Happy New Year while we busily tend to all the skiers and their excitement with all of our heaven sent powder!

For the Birds, Part 2: Turkey

2008-12-20T12:48:00.013-05:00

At Hemingway's we've spent years trying to perfect roasting local organic turkeys that we serve at Thanksgiving and at Christmas. After many roasting theories, with failure as well as success, we realize the answer is not to roast, no matter how blasphemous it appears to our cultural consciousness. I mean not roasting a turkey questions grandma, tradition, ambient smells carried over a day, seeping in and out of what a family is or is supposed to be ... not to mention guilt associated with a famous Rockwell painting, where all the smiles and warmth on the faces of those present are due to the crackling brown turkey emerging from the oven, whole and glistening, a trophy not to be tampered with.

Oh well... on to taste, deconstructing the bird, and its method of cooking--without ripping apart the culture--forgetting that a large amount of angst over the years has been derived from determining whose method of roasting is best. It’s a sort of Hatfield and McCoy standoff with an implacable perspective where every division of the family ceases to give throughout their small window of life on this planet. (Sorry, says L, he can’t help himself.)

Blast it with heat the night before and leave in an oven, turned off, until the next morning; roast it slowly for so many hours at such and such heat; baste every half hour; don't baste; deep fry it; poach it and use a blow torch to crisp the skin...on and on....Generally what we all seem to agree upon is that somehow the bird should emerge from an oven whole and shimmering, then dutifully carved by one of the males present who has more skill with a knife than beers in his stomach.

As I discussed with quail and birds in general, in order to give the best flavor experience, my preference is to view the bird as two entities to be considered uniquely in their cooking methods. So, before any roasting happens I prefer to remove the legs, thighs, and breasts from the bird and keep them separate.

Take the carcass and wings along with aromatics such as celery, carrot, and onion, and roast these in a 400 degree oven until golden. Remove all from the roasting pan and place into a stockpot—the size of which depends on the size of the bird. Add water and simmer for a good four or five hours. This will be the base for our sauce. This could be done the day before, as could a good portion of the remaining preparation, which would allow the cook to watch TV, or actually communicate with the rest of the family.

Strain the stock, skim the fat, and begin reducing the remaining liquid to the point where you feel comfortable with the viscosity of the jus, or sauce, or gravy, or whatever pleases you and your family.

I like to confit the leg and thighs a few days before--that is to cure and then braise them in duck fat, giving the meat a wonderfully dense aromatic flavor, along with moisture, all while fooling the mouth into believing it's been roasted.

There are many recipes for the cure, but basically it's salt, sugar, and whatever spices you choose. Place ingredients in a bowl and dredge the legs and thighs, patting them down a bit as you go. Place them on a rack and leave them overnight in the refrigerator, making sure you have a pan underneath to catch residual liquid. The next day rinse them well with cold water, taking care to get as much of the cure off as possible. Pat with paper towels to dry, and place them in a pot. Cover with duck fat, which can be purchased at a gourmet or butcher shop—or try olive oil. Heat slowly until the fat just begins to bubble. Ideally you should cover them with a lid made of parchment paper, but some aluminum foil with a few holes in it will work. Place over a whisper of heat for about 2-3 hours, or until the meat is completely tender shredding from the bone. You can also place the pot into a low oven for the same amount of time, so as to not have it staring at you, questioning your ability to maintain the proper temperature.

Before removing the meat from the bone, allow to cool a bit, or overnight, in the fat. As an added act of culinary insanity, you can crisp them in a frying pan before serving, to give a sense of tradition to the dish.

Onto the breasts! Make a simple brine of sugar, salt, orange peel, herbs, and chopped olives. Place the breasts in the cure for about 4 hours (depending on the size). Remove and pat dry. Sear skin side down in a hot pan. Once golden, transfer to a moderate oven and roast until perfect. This also can be done a day or two before, so you have complete control over the moisture in the breasts, as they are not drying out while waiting around for the legs to cook.

Stuffing can be made on the Stove Top :) or in the oven, using some of the juices from the above preparations.

All that is left is for you to enjoy the compliments.

For the Birds, Part 1: Quail

2008-12-01T18:46:00.002-05:00

Now that Thanksgiving is over we will concentrate on the upcoming Christmas holidays. This is the season for game birds, so our next few blogs will be about just that. First up is quail.

When we started Hemingway’s Restaurant in 1982, we drove for hours each week to pick up game birds from a small farm in Massachusetts. Luckily, Bill and Rick Thompson in Cavendish, Vermont, decided to raise pheasants, and subsequently quail. Hemingway’s became one of their first commercial accounts and to this day we still use their fine products.

Over the years we have continued to work with both the whole and semi-boneless breed Coturnix, which originated in Asia and is also known as Japanese or Pharaoh bird. It is mild flavored, almost sweet, and delicate while still having rich overtones--making it extremely versatile for a myriad of preparations. It lends to smoking, marinating, or quick brining before one roasts or sautés. (vs Vermont breed?)

As a rule, when using the whole quail, we tend not to roast, but rather sear it for a few minutes, flash it in a high oven, let it rest, then remove the meat. At the pick up we finish it in a hot pan. This procedure allows us to extract flavor from the bones, yet gives us complete control over the final product. As most cooks know you cannot get legs and breasts to cook at the same rate, so this dilemma is solved by sautéing at the end, monitoring the precise doneness. The added plus is crispy skin without overcooking!

I think boned quail should be treated altogether differently. Of course you can marinate it, throw it on the grill, or sauté it. But wait, you have a wonderfully flavored vessel that asks to be stuffed. Simply take a toothpick and secure the wing end of the bird. Stuff the cavity, then take another pick to secure the leg.

Whatever it is -- animal, vegetable, or starch (or a little of each,) it has to be put into the quail at the doneness with which you want to consume it--for most people, cooked, seasoned, moist and not dried out. In this way we again control the temperature of the meat because we do not worry about cooking the interior ingredients, only warming them through. At Hemingway’s we use a little protein, say braised pork along with fennel, mushroom, and something politically correct, say quinoa to stuff the bird.

Now give the bird a quick sear, and finish it in a moderate oven, or just rub it with oil and spices, and roast until medium. Ah, we are semi roasting, which gets us to the meat of this matter ... keeping it moist.

If you want dry birds without flavor don’t waste you money on quail, just get some chicken, throw it in the oven, mow the lawn, have a glass of wine, read a book, then take out the chicken and douse it with a sauce--and make sure you have enough liquids to wash down your meal. Birds can be moist without being raw, regardless of what the food fascists dictate. It just takes care and attention. Call our hot line with any culinary question.

Peepers of another sort

2008-10-24T22:59:00.012-04:00

I began this blog last spring when peepers, aka tree frogs (Pseudacris crucifer,) poked through pond water and peeped throughout the night. We now end this third quarter with peepers of a different kind: those who pursue perfect leaves. Our little brown frogs survive winter's sub-zero temperatures by lowering their metabolic rate and freezing along with the pond, but when the trees loose their splendor the two legged leaf peepers simply migrate to the sunny south. Weathering our current economic downturn will sort real peepers from the leaf lore. Having Hemingway's restaurant which has survived for 26 years proves we've met challenges like this before, so again, until a thaw occurs we shall dig deep and ice up along with prevailing temperatures. Before, however, we begin our winter burrow, we shall fly south for a short respite, and when we return for Thanksgiving this blog will resume.
PS! I found my first Agaricus campestris or pink field mushroom this week, right next to our front walk. Of course we do not use pesticides here, so it was safe for picking.