Do you like to cook?

[Roy Hersh]

Do you consider yourself a talented cook? Do you like to cook for friends? What are your specialties?

We have not really broached this topic before and I think it would be fun to discuss.

Afterall, from the Port enthusiasts I've met ... they all seem to love to eat well.

[Marc J.]

I consider myself a semi-talented chef. At least once a week I try out another idea for a fun/complex dish that I think would be interesting to make. I also try to incorporate in unusual proteins (quail, bison, Cornish Game Hens, ect.) instead of the usual beef/chicken combo. If at all possible, I also try to incorporate a Port wine reduction.....

Marc

[Glenn E.]

I love to cook!

I think I'm a good cook, but not great. I do like to experiment and try things, but I rely heavily on the recipe in order to be successful. There are only a few things that I can cook without one, and to me a really good cook should be able to wing it and make something spectacular.

I'm also slow. Really slow. Part of that is because I'm constantly checking the recipe, but part of it is also because I cook as an activity and I enjoy the process. I'm getting faster... err... less slow... because I'm starting to figure out that you don't have to stand over the stove watching the onions while they saute and instead you can be chopping something else to save time.

Because of those two things, I really enjoy French cooking. Especially using Julia Childs' Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her recipe for Soupe L'Oignon takes a couple of hours to make, which fits perfectly with my speed. And her recipes are very detailed and thorough. I've made her Boeuf Bourguignon several times and it's fabulous. On the chicken side of things, Fricassee de Poulet a l'Ancienne is pretty awesome as well.

But then, it's hard to go wrong with butter, cream, onions, mushrooms, a couple of herbs, and some form of meat.

[Eric Menchen]

Do you consider yourself a talented cook?

I think so. Both of my parents like to cook and I worked in some restaurants in high school and my first few years of college, always in the back of the house. I think a good cook can follow recipes and prepare them well. A very good cook can read a recipe and know what it is going to taste like, and what other recipes would go well with it, even without ever having prepared that recipe before. And a great cook can come up with recipes from scratch and know what they are going to taste like and pair well with. I think I'm into the very good range, but not the excellent range.

Do you like to cook for friends?

Most definitely. We have friends over regularly for meals, sometimes elaborate planned dinners, sometimes improvised things thrown together.

What are your specialties?

I cook a lot of southeast Asian, and Chinese as well. I like Thai but cook Khmer more because you don't find it so easily in restaurants. After that, a lot of continental, some Italian, and then German and eastern European. Last night I made pecan-coated pork chops, a pretty simple recipe which I put in the continental category. I make a number of different cheesecakes that are pretty tasty, a variety of crème brulées, a fair number of chocolate desserts, and an occasional pear-ginger-custard tart.

Next week we're having a couple over for dinner that own our favorite restaurant. He's the chef and she runs the front of the house. I was a little leery inviting them over, but I'm going to go Khmer for the appetizer and mains, so that should be different territory. I usually like to keep a theme, but I only make a few Asian desserts and I want to do more for this meal, and serve a Port. So for dessert I'm thinking goat cheese cheesecake with red grape walnut compote. The Port? At the moment 1985 Fonseca and 1985 Burmester are my leading candidates. Marijke and I both love the Burmester, and it would be more different for my guests; but the Fonseca is a classic.

[Peter W. Meek]

Zero talent as a cook, but I CAN follow instruction. I have occasionally made something from "The Joy of Cooking" (which is about the most detailed cookbook around) and succeeded in making decent bland American-style food. What's the point? I can get that at any decent "home-style" restaurant. Don't MIND cooking, but I hate cleaning up after.

[Melanie R.]

I was just thinking about this very subject today. I was curious how many of you Port lovers are also "foodies."I love to cook! I actually work as a baker for a catering company, which is fun. But I like to cook and bake at home too. I'm not sure I have a specialty--I like to cook a variety of things. I prefer dishes with complex flavors, a lot of spices. I also love making soups. I am usually a "cook from a recipe" type of cook, but I'm starting to learn the basic techniques and knowhow so I can go more freestyle with it.

[Moses Botbol]

For the style and types of food I cook, I will put my dishes up against anyone.

I can take chickens apart like I worked at Perdue, prep like I was line cook. Make the kitchen messy like a typhoon... I tell Elys if you want me to cook the meal in short order, the kitchen is going to get messy. Want to eat at midnight, then the kitchen will be clean...

My style has lot of French prep techniques with Middle Eastern, Indian, and North African seasonings influence. Yes, Turmeric with everything

[Eric Menchen]

Yes, Turmeric with everything

Fresh tumeric! I love it. I asked one of my local grocers for this and every now and then she gets some in. If I want to drive further I know a place that always has it, but they require buying more than I can use in a reasonable amount of time. I buy it anyway and give away some.

[Peter W. Meek]

Yes, Turmeric with everything

Fresh tumeric! I love it. I asked one of my local grocers for this and every now and then she gets some in. If I want to drive further I know a place that always has it, but they require buying more than I can use in a reasonable amount of time. I buy it anyway and give away some.

If it ain't bright yellow, it ain't curry (to me).

[Moses Botbol]

I can buy fresh tumeric like ginger locally. That being said, I use the powdered most often. Too much hassle and finger staining to grate tumeric for a fried egg for instance. Put some powdered tumeric in oil and there you go.

I am also paprika crazy. Spanish is my favorite; both hot and smoked.

Into my smoker. Been BBQ and smoking meat for 10 years. Been cold smoking Linguica a lot; Gaspars or Armarals. 30 minutes smoke and then 4 days in the fridge. Newest tricks are using pecan shells & cinamon sticks for smoking wood.

[Eric Menchen]

I can buy fresh tumeric like ginger locally. That being said, I use the powdered most often. Too much hassle and finger staining to grate tumeric for a fried egg for instance. Put some powdered tumeric in oil and there you go.

I am also paprika crazy. Spanish is my favorite; both hot and smoked.

Into my smoker. Been BBQ and smoking meat for 10 years. Been cold smoking Linguica a lot; Gaspars or Armarals. 30 minutes smoke and then 4 days in the fridge. Newest tricks are using pecan shells & cinamon sticks for smoking wood.

Lots of finger staining, and counter staining, but it goes away after a few days. For paprika I like Spanish, Hungarian, smoked, sweet ... all good, it just depends on the mood. I like smoking foods (and grain for beer), but haven't done that much. My last smoking was a turkey at Thanksgiving, over hickory. I regularly use hickory, mesquite, and alder depending on the food. I once used cherry, and I have some grape vines for future use. I know a brewery that used some pecan for smoking grain, but not pecan shells. Interesting. What cinnamon Moses? I'd think "true" cinnamon would be gone quickly. Cassia, commonly sold as cinnamon in the US might last a little longer. I've seen something in Asian grocery stores that I think is related and even thicker, but I don't remember what that was called.

[Moses Botbol]

Interesting. What cinnamon Moses? I'd think "true" cinnamon would be gone quickly. Cassia, commonly sold as cinnamon in the US might last a little longer. I've seen something in Asian grocery stores that I think is related and even thicker, but I don't remember what that was called.

The cinamon sticks that come in two pound size bags at the indian grocery store for $10.00. I'll throw in 10 sticks of cinamon at the beginning. I buy most spices at indian or middle eastern stores. The paprika I buy online. I buy Valencia rice in 10 KG bags for paella which is been a staple at my house.

[Andy Velebil]

I'm a horrible cook and only decent on the BBQ. Cooking is the one thing I never really did other than spaghetti, which I ate almost every night for dinner....oh the life of a bike rider.

Baking is another story. The one thing I learned living with my grandmother was how to bake. Pies, cookies, cakes, fudge, etc all from scratch. Oh so good but my waist line doesn't think so.

[Eric Ifune]

I like to cook, but do so infrequently. I've even done some baking. Most of my knowledge comes from my mother who is an excellent cook.

[Michael Hann]

I enjoy cooking and typically cook a special dinner for my family -- for me? -- on Saturday night. While I cook a variety of things, generally I tend to cook dishes in the vein of French Provincial cooking (hence, humble rather than deluxe ingredients that are cooked according to traditional methods not requiring an army of cooking staff) and more particularly Alsatian cooking. Rather than a talented cook -- what does this mean? -- I would characterize myself as a diligent, attentive, and careful cook. I'm not content just to slap stuff together and slam it on the table. There is a preferred point of doneness and being shy of this point or beyond this point is not acceptable. I take fairly detailed notes about my cooking experiences in a cooking journal -- now extending to four volumes -- so that as I adapt and adjust the recipes that I begin from I can capture and reproduce successes. I do find that, other than very simple dishes, almost everything I have cooked I learn to improve upon over time. Even in preparing simple things there are often nuances that can be discovered that improve the final result. Just as a very simple example, I like to make a thing called "tarte flambee," an Alsatian preparation. This comprises a very thin bread crust over which is spread a rich savory sauce of 1/2 creme fraiche, 1/2 sour cream with some nutmeg in it, some chopped sauteed pieces of bacon (not cooked to a hard brown stage but to an intermediate cooking stage -- browned but not like shoe leather) sprinkled thereupon, and some sauteed pieces of onion sprinkled on top of that. The onion is prepared by cutting down into the onion in a crossed pattern and then cutting off slices, rendering thin lengths of onion about 1/2" long. I have found that baking this in the oven just until the tips of the onion begin to blacken provides an extra dimension of desirable flavor -- a mild, barely noticeable, haunting carmelized flavor. A very humble and simple dish, but even here there is nuance that can be found that improves the final prepartion.

Depending on what I cook, I can get overwrought and can be cranky with people who may be drifting around in the kitchen while I'm cooking. My wife doesn't like me at this time. I cook best for a small group -- my family -- and would never dream of trying to cook professionally, as I'm sure I would expire from exhaustion and/or a heart attack from my attitude while cooking.

[Moses Botbol]

I like to make a thing called "tarte flambee," an Alsatian preparation. This comprises a very thin bread crust over which is spread a rich savory sauce of 1/2 creme fraiche, 1/2 sour cream with some nutmeg in it, some chopped sauteed pieces of bacon (not cooked to a hard brown stage but to an intermediate cooking stage

Been big into making creme fraiche recently. So cheap to do it yourself.

[Michael Hann]

Been big into making creme fraiche recently. So cheap to do it yourself.

Yes, creme fraiche is easy to make. It seems, however, about the only thing I make which calls for creme fraiche is this same tarte flambee I mention above. I make a trout dish that calls for creme fraiche (salt, pepper butterflied trout inside, coat with flour, sautee to brown in butter, lay on a bed of minced shallots in a shallow baking dish, douse with some Alsatian riesling wine, braise in oven 8 minutes -- basting twice -- at 400 degrees, pour creme fraiche over trout, braise about another 20 minutes, meanwhile sautee slivered almonds in butter until browned -- but not burned! -- serve trout with browned almonds on top), but in fact it seems just as good with ordinary heavy cream.

[Moses Botbol]

I use creme fraiche in a lot of stuff. For instance, I'll use it instead of cheese in risotto or with fresh berries for dessert. I use in Indian food instead of yougurt or ghee. I'll cook the curries with as little liquid as possible and add the creme fraiche at the end. Same for pasta dishes; a little creme fraiche and cook the pasta in it for a few minutes at the end.

We made bread pudding last night and used creme fraiche along with milk.

Heavy cream is so cheap at Costco, why not make it?

[Luc Gauthier]

I burn the salad everytime

[Glenn E.]

All this talk about cooking made me crack open my copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking one more time... and tonight I'll be making Fondue de Poulet a la Creme. I've made it before, and it's a wonderful dish that just happens to go pretty well with an older tawny Port.