The Wino and I Know

Riddle me that.....Champagne

Riddling is the term used for consolidating and  removing sediment from champagne bottles.

The champagne bottles are placed in a pupitres, or an A frame wooden wine rack. Every 1 to 3 days the bottles are given an abrupt shake and downward tilt and placed back in the pupitre. After several weeks the sediment in the bottle collects in the neck of the bottle.

Champagne being riddled

When riddling is finished, the sediment collected in the bottle neck is frozen to form a "plug" which the next step in the process removes (dégorgement or "disgorging"). After adjusting the level of fill and setting the sweetness, the product is corked, caged, labeled, and shipped.

Sediment collected in the bottle after riddling occurs.

How Riddling Came to be:

Madame Nicole-Barbe Clicquot (of Veuve Clicquot)  was not a fan of theoften cloudy appearance of Champagnes of the early 1800s. Upon her husband's death, the young widow became head of Veuve Clicqot Champagne . Determined to improve the appearance of her product, she found that shaking the bottles loosened sediment stuck to their sides.  To get the deposits closer to the neck, she used gravity, cutting holes in her kitchen table to place the bottles upside down. In 1810, she employed Anton Muller to improve and refine the process that came to be called riddling.

Madame Cliquot on champagne cork topper

Opa!... Grappa

Grappa is a distillate made from grape pomace. It has been a part of the Northern Italian culture since the 14th century.  Grappa has always been seen as a drink for the working class; however, recently grappa has thrown off its Blue Collar associations and has attained a measure of respectability. Grappa is now seen as young, fashionable, and stylish. Once seen as a spirit to put into the first espresso in the morning, distillers are now exploring new avenues such as single varietal grappa, single vineyard grappa, aged grappa, and even peat-smoked grappa.

Greek grappa was featured in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding in which the bride and groom's family repeatedly take shops of grappa followed by shouting the word "Opa", the greek word for cheers.

 

Fried Turkey

For a while my mom and step dad have been frying a turkey on thanksgiving day. The "turkey fry party" has turned in to quite an event. A lot of our neighbors come over and we all hang out and eat different dished, the Cincinnati chili being the favorite. It is great to see neighbors and watch our turkeys being cooked in a fun and eventful fashion before we all sit down for the big thanksgiving meal.

The turkey fryer

Removing the fried turkey

The finished product!


 

Croissant Bread Pudding

The recipe is from my favorite T.V chef Ina Garten. We made her croissant bread pudding for Thanksgiving. It is my new favorite dessert. The bread pudding is so great and the croissants make it even more special. My mom and I soaked the raisins in brandy to give them a little more flavor. The soaked raisins were a great addition to the bread pudding.

Ingredients

• 3 extra-large whole eggs
• 8 extra-large egg yolks
• 5 cups half-and-half
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 6 croissants, preferably stale
• 1 cup raisins

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

 In a medium bowl, whisk together the whole eggs, egg yolks, half-and-half, sugar, and vanilla. Set the custard mixture aside. Slice the croissants in half horizontally. In a 10 by 15 by 2 1/2-inch oval baking distribute the bottoms of the sliced croissants, then add the raisins, then the tops of the croissants (brown side up), being sure the raisins are between the layers of croissants or they will burn while baking. Pour the custard over the croissants and allow to soak for 10 minutes, pressing down gently.

 

Place the pan in a larger one filled with 1-inch of hot water. Cover the larger pan with aluminum foil, tenting the foil so it doesn't touch the pudding. Cut a few holes in the foil to allow steam to escape. Bake for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for 40 to 45 more minutes or until the pudding puffs up and the custard is set. Remove from the oven and cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

 

Bacon Infused Whisky

A while ago, on an episode of dinners, drive-ins, and dives I had seen a restaurant owner that made bacon infused whiskey and wanted to give it a try:

• First I cooked some bacon and set aside the grease.
• While the grease was warm, not hot I poured it into a jar with whisky.
• Once the bacon grease cooled it hardened at the top and I skimmed it off.

A picture of the whisky and bacon grease while it was separating and cooling

The cooled grease once it hardened and collected at the top of the jar

A picture of the process of removing the grease

Removing the grease was the trickiest part of making the bacon infused whiskey, as you can see in the picture the bacon grease did not cool as a solid mass. Once I took off the grease there were still little bits of grease that I carefully skimmed off with a spoon. 

I also made a batch with that I added some maple syrup to. I just love the combination of bacon and maple syrup.

The whisky turned out well, I used evan williams whisky, the bacon gave the whisky an added smokey taste with a hint of that great bacon flavor. The batch the maple syrup had a hint of the maple flavor, which worked nicely with the bacon whiskey flavor.

A Garden Fountain Filled with Alcohol....

During the reign of William III, a garden fountain was once used as a giant punch bowl. The recipe included 560 gallons of brandy, 1200 pounds of sugar, 25,000 lemons, 20 gallons of lime juice, and five pounds of nutmeg. The bartender rowed around in a small boat, filling up guests' punch cups. 

An image of the trevi fountain with red water, similar to what the punch may have looked like

Just imagine a man in a canoe floating around filling up guests cups. That would be a great party!

The Wino and I Know in the Salisbury Flyer!

Some of you may have seen an article about the Wino and I know in the November issue of the Salisbury Flyer, below is a longer version of the article seen in the Flyer. Both articles were written by my lovely friend and sorority sister Amanda Kimmish! Enjoy!

Blog is an outlet for wine information and reviews

By Amanda Kimmish

Staff Writer

Ak09722@gulls.salisbury.edu

There’s a new blog in town with food and wine tips, factoids and traveling anecdotes. “The Wino and I Know” is a new blog created by sophomore Carolyn Moore and her stepfather Tim O’Hare.  The site boasts wine reviews, ratings and recipes from O’Hare, the professional wine expert, with a fun and modern twist courtesy of Moore.

O’Hare said the name came from a Jimmy Buffett song.

“I am the wino and Carolyn is the ‘I’,” he said. “We want it to be a wine blog that helps people in and not in the wine industry to learn about wine.”

O’Hare is a regional director of education for a prominent alcohol distributor and is also working on his Master Sommelier, which is the highest distinction a professional can attain in fine wine and beverage service.  Only 170 people worldwide currently hold this title. 

“I put his advanced knowledge into terms that other people with not as much knowledge about wine can understand,” Moore said. “When we did research on other blogs we saw they were really dry and boring and we wanted ours to be a funny, enjoyable and easy read.” 

Recent blog posts include reviews on The Deli, EVO pumpkin beer and chocolate wine, with sporadic pictures and fun thoughts, such as wine out of a vending machine, Pop Art and Don Perignon.  Moore and O’Hare also recently attended the Salisbury Wine Festival. 

“I am going to start posting more about local restaurants and reviewing them,” Moore said.  “I also saw on ‘Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives’[A Food Network TV show], this bacon flavored Whiskey drink which I plan on making and posting the recipe and my review of it.”

One of the most popular posts was “Gourmet…College Style,” in which Moore gave her recipe of salmon with a whole grain mustard and maple syrup glaze with roasted baby carrots.  She said the recipe was “simple and turned out better than expected.”

Many posts include Moore and O’Hare’s travels to South Africa and the multiple vineyards they visited there, as well as O’Hare’s trips to France, Napa and Chile. 

“I think that a wine and food blog is awesome,” said junior Caitlin Connors.  “It’s cool that you can check out easy recipes and it is easy for people to read who aren’t wine experts.” 

 

Food and Wine Pairing Tips

 

In Search of the Loch Ness Monster!

Last winter break I went to visit my good friend Kristen Conner, where she goes to school in Edinburg, Scotland. We took a 2 day trip in to the beautiful Scottish highlands. One of the Highlights was visiting the the Loch (the word the scottish use for lake) where the famous Loch Ness monster is said to live! Unfortunately we did not see the monster but we had fun looking. The Loch in which the monster is said to reside is a whopping 7 miles long! So the monster has plenty of room. The rumor of the monster has been around for about 400 years. The town bordering the loch was very charming and not as touristy as i thought it would be. I had a lunch of fish and chips and Kristen had Haggis ( a traditional Scottish meal which consists of sheep parts stuffed into a casing )

The Loch

Kristen "looking" for the Loch Ness Monster