Jan. 2009 VT Theme: Port pairing with food ...

[Roy Hersh]

It would be great to have this excellent start to 2009's Virtual Tasting ... using Frederick's idea about a Port that will pair with a specific dish or meal that you prepare. Preferably the Port will also be incorporated into the cooking of the dish as an ingredient as well as something to be enjoyed along side it.

You can cheat and start with New Year's Eve if you are celebrating at home ... otherwise, this kicks off in about 25 hours. Thanks Frederick!

[Frederick Blais]

Thanks for starting this Roy. I'll try to cook a decent dish during January and post the pictures here.

While celebrating with Portuguese, I was offered an entry made from bacon, port and black olives. The bacon has to be the fresh block, not the crappy slices at the regular store that we put in the microwave oven. Basically, cut the black olives in small pieces, cut the bacon in half inch by one quarter of inch(you get the idea, I'm not good with inches), then you mix this on the oven in a pane until the port is reduced and siruppy. It was made with cheap ruby but I guess with some LBV it can be better.

Happy Cooking.

Sorry for the topic, cooking, I just realise normally January is for diet after all the celebrations :)

[Roy Hersh]

I am finishing off the Jan. newsletter (hopefully by tomorrow!!) and in the mean time my wife is doing all the cooking. She made a brilliant version of healthy Caldo Verde soup last night and substituted brown rice for the potatoes and added carrots with the kale. Additionally, she used a low fat turkey sausage instead of Chorizo, and dropped in 2 ounces of the 2007 Quinta do Crasto Douro white. We drank the rest of the bottle with the soup. It not only paired well with the soup but it was delicious all on its own. Very interesting QPR white Douro juice, which seems like a cross between a New Zealand grassy style Sauvignon Blanc and a bone dry lime infused Alsatian Riesling. Yummy and very reasonably priced. One can not have enough of this reasonably priced quaffer!

[Frederick Blais]

Tonight with a friend, I did normally a recipe that looks always complicated but in the end I found out it was quite simple !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHQNV_5wozg

I did pair with a Douro red from Niepoort : Rolulo Sombre 2005 and the truffle favours of this wine was just a perfect pair with the portobello mushrooms reduction.

[Andy Velebil]

Tonight some friends are over and I thought it would be cool to sautee some Morele mushrooms with Port to see how they paired with some Filet Mignon's, grilled rare of course. I had some of the 1990 Noval LBV left so I used that. It worked quite nicely and everyone liked them. The mushrooms really took on a lot of the Port flavors and gave them a nice flavor profile. I also added some butter, olive oil, and a little garlic to the mix which helped give a little depth to them. It worked well and something I will do again. I now must get back to the 2006 Quinta do Crasto Old Vine Reserva.

[Glenn E.]

My wife made chicken vindaloo tonight, and since I'm still "practicing" for the big Port Gala at the end of the month I had some 2003 Taylor Fladgate LBV with it. I was a little worried that it would clash, and was pleasantly surprised that actually worked quite nicely!

The ginger and garlic in the vindaloo balanced nicely against the smooth, milk chocolate texture of the LBV. (This particular version of vindaloo wasn't spicy at all.) I enjoy Port with dinner any time, so the sweetness for me wasn't distracting. And the tannins did a nice job of clearing my palate for the next bite of chicken.

All this talk of Port and food does have me scouring the local grocery for some nice sea scallops, though...

[Eric Menchen]

I will have to try to make Beef Wellington some time. I love it, but also thought it would be hard to make. But Gordon just made it in 2 minutes, 17 seconds

[Glenn E.]

I love those videos of his, though. No measurements, everything's already prepped ahead of time, just toss it together and eat!

That's how it works in your kitchen too, right?

[Andy Velebil]

I love those videos of his, though. No measurements, everything's already prepped ahead of time, just toss it together and eat!

That's how it works in your kitchen too, right?

Yeap, especially when I get it from the drive thru

[Glenn E.]

I had a friend over last night for some Port and dinner. He's a fan of Taylor Fladgate, so the fact that I had two such bottles open this week prompted the meal. We started with Port and cheese, then had dinner, then finished with more Port and dessert.

The Ports:
2003 Taylor Fladgate LBV
Taylor Fladgate 20-yr Old Tawny

Red wine:
2005 Quinta dos Roques DAO Touriga Nacional

The cheeses (appetizer):
cave aged white cheddar
smoked gouda
gruyere
brie
manchego
fleur d'aunice

Dinner:
seared sea scallops with Madeira glaze
filet mignon with morel mushroom & black pepper cream sauce
carmelized green beans with pecans
rice pilaf
caesar salad

Dessert:
balsalmic pear tort
passion fruit tort
truffle grenache
NY cheesecake
Chambord cheesecake

Obviously we had a lot of food! The most interesting pairings of the evening came from the cheese course. The Fleur D'Aunice cheese, which I had never heard of, paired very well with both the tawny and the LBV. I also liked the cheddar and the gruyere with the tawny, while my friend liked the brie with the LBV. The manchego worked reasonably well with the LBV, but this particular manchego had a moderately harsh edge to it that didn't sit well (to me) with the tawny. Normally I like manchego cheese with a 20-yr old tawny, so this time around I think it was the cheese. The smoked gouda was good, but didn't pair particularly well. Neither one of us thought that the smokey note in the cheese complemented either Port, though we didn't feel that it detracted from them either.

I don't drink wine, so I had another glass of the 20-yr old with dinner while the others had the 2005 dos Roques. The wine wasn't as bold as I expected from a Touriga Nacional. It compared more to a Pinot Noir or possibly a Syrah than to a Cabernet Sauvignon. However, it managed to hold its own against the beef so the pairing worked well.

I'm still working through a bottle of RWC New York Malmsey, so I used some of it to create the glaze for my seared scallops. I normally use a tawny Port, but thought this would be interesting to try. I wasn't as happy with the result, but I can't really put a finger on why. The scallops did go great with the 20-yr old we were drinking, but to me they just didn't have the Wow! factor that they usually have when made with Port.

After a break to clean up the kitchen a bit, we dug into the desserts with some more Port. The balsalmic pear tort was really good with the tawny, while the truffle grenache was excellent with the LBV. The two cheesecakes split - the NY with the tawny and the Chambord with the LBV - but neither seemed to be a perfect pairing. We were actually too stuffed by that point to even try the passion fruit torte, so that's in the fridge waiting for tonight. We both predicted that it would go well with the tawny, though, as that seems to be the rule for fruity desserts.

5 hours later we were stuffed and getting really sleepy, so my friend headed home. We are both generally lightweights, yet we managed to drink two full bottles of Port. I told him about the Port Gala next week and he sounded interested in future events, so we may have another Port Nerd in the making!

[Andy Velebil]

Thats a lot of food! To bad about the madeira and scallops, but the only way to find out if its good or not is to try it. Glad to see your getting ready for the big weekend and get that friend hooked on

[Erik Wiechers]

Today i made pasta with homemade pesto sauce and with a sidedish mushrooms smothered in port-honey sauce.

The pesto i made myself out of fresh basilicum, pine seeds, parmesan cheese and olive oil. Mix them in a blender et voila. Simple but oh so good.

The mushrooms i baked for 7 minutes in oil, then added salt and pepper and let them swim in (in this case) a 10-year old Barrao de Villar. After 20 minutes the port was evaporated en i added 5 tablespoons of honey and some garlic. Stir for 4-5 minutes and you have a nice sidedish. Decorate it with some fresh parsley and you impress the hell out of everybody.