Archive for November 15th, 2007

Cutting the Cheese

Published by Josh on November 15, 2007 in Gadgets. 0 Comments

If you’re anything like me, you despise that giant plastic container of powdered cheese product that sits in the back of your fridge for those emergencies where you don’t have any real cheese. What is it anyway? It doesn’t taste or look like real cheese. Let’s have a look at the ingredients of one of the more popular brands:

Parmesan Cheese (Pasteurized Part-Skim Milk, Salt, Less Than 2% of Enzymes, Cheese Culture, Cellulose Powder to Prevent Caking, Potassium Sorbate to Protect Flavor).

Starts off OK, says it’s got cheese in there. I’ll take their word for it. Then we’ve got something called “cheese culture”… hmmm, could still be legit. Then it all goes to shit. Cellulose powder and Potassium Sorbate? Those don’t sound Italian to me!

My point is, why would you buy this second rate crap in a plastic bottle when you can buy a fresh hunk of the real deal, and grate it when you’re good and ready to eat it? I know, it’s cheap, easy and with that Potassium Sorbate in there the stuff should last forever!

I felt the same way (sorta) until about 2 weeks ago. It WAS easy, and for some reason my wife loves the stuff. She prefers Stove Top stuffing over the real stuff too, but we’ll save that for another post. What changed my mind? I’m glad you asked.

We just returned from a trip to Italy and Spain. We both agree that each of us had what could quite possibly be the best meals we’ve ever shoveled into our little mouths. Particularly in Italy. I think the magic comes from simple ingredients, used at their prime freshness in a thoughtful manner. Here’s an example. My super fantastic meal consisted of 5 ingredients: trofie pasta, pesto, potatoes, green beans and of course a generous dusting of Parmigiano-Reggiano.

It was so simple, yet so intense. The pasta tasted like it was made an hour ago. The pesto was bursting with more basil flavor than I’ve ever dreamed of getting from mine. The veggies were super fresh and only cooked slightly so they retained their color and crispness. The parmesan had clearly just been cut from a giant block that’s probably kept in a dark closet behind lock and key, with it’s own thermostat.

When you use fresh ingredients, your food just tastes better… every. single. time.

Where the hell am I going with this? I’m glad you asked that too. I already knew that I wanted to replace as many shortcuts as possible in my kitchen with fresh, homemade stuff. I started this vacation with the intention of buying a few cool kitchen gadgets from the other side of the world. So, as I was standing there looking in the window of this cute little kitchen supply store in the Cinque Terre, I knew I’d found my first gift to me.

crazy Italian cheese grater

Made from olive wood that’s probably thousands of years old (just go with me on this, ok?) and metal that is painstakingly formed into the perfect shape, I had to have that cheese grater. Our train was going to leave in about 7 minutes and all I wanted was that cheese grater. The nice shopkeeper wanted to explain in great detail every aspect of the thing, which I’m sure would have been fascinating if I’d had the time. But the idea of pulling that baby out at my next dinner party and wowing my guests with the taste of freshly grated parmesan served from the handy wooden box made me stand and listen politely.

The picture you see above is of me using it once we returned to Barcelona. I made a vegetable stew that I’ve been perfecting for years (which I’ll write about later) and decided it was time to christen the cheese grater. So, I did what any self-respecting food geek would do and asked my wife to man the camera… I was going in. Was it easier than using a regular ol’ Wal Mart cheese grater that goes for a 1/10th of the price? I really think it was. There’s no bowl to balance the grater over while you run the cheese back and forth, making sure not to let your knuckles touch. The wooden box holds the grater still AND it catches every last flake of that cheesy goodness. Then you slide the grater out, plop a spoon in the box and set it on the table proudly. It’s just that easy.

Now, how much would you pay for such a contraption??? Let me know, and I may give the guy a call to work on importing some of these babies.

Shiner Bohemian Black Lager Review

Published by Josh on November 15, 2007 in Beer Reviews. 8 Comments

Shiner Bohemian Black Lager

I really struggled with what beer I wanted to drink for my first review. I have a small cache of very intriguing beers saved, just waiting for me to tell their story. I wanted to start off with a bang.

Perhaps the idea of writing about some exotic brew that I’ve never had was too much for my first time. It could also be that I just needed to write something that really spoke from my heart to get the proverbial ball rolling.

Enter Shiner Brewing Co.

Like that beat up station wagon your folks taught you to drive in, or that shitty Yamaha guitar that you learned to play on back in high school… Shiner Bock saved me from an eternally boring life of drinking flavorless macroswill. It was my first taste of a “craft beer”, and although I don’t drink much of it these days, it will always hold a special place in my heart. If I’m feeling nostalgic, everyone might get a round of those shiny brown bottles with their understated yellow label. It takes me back.

So you can imagine the feeling I had when I saw the new release, in it’s curious all black packaging with silver typeface. That’s right, I was giddy. The Bohemian Black. Apparently it’s a re-release of the amazingly popular anniversary beer Shiner 97, but with a few tweaks. Word on the street is that it’s even being brought back as a new member of Shiner’s regular lineup. This was exciting stuff.

A traditional Schwarzbier, or “black beer” brewed true to style, the Boho in it’s sultry black attire was calling my name. While I don’t remember ever having the 97, I fell in love with New Belgium’s 1554 black ale a couple of years ago and have been wanting to explore the style a bit. Turns out they were very different beers for being so seemingly similar.

Poured from a bottle (thanks Lefty!) it was as dark as I’d hoped. There wasn’t much of a head, but what little there was had a nice toffee colored brown hue. It quickly disappeared to leave the ebony liquid to stand there all alone. Smell? Not much. I get smoky malts and a little bit of coffee, but that’s about it. Down the hatch.

It’s taste is slightly more complex than it’s aroma, but it still left me wanting more. The smokiness and coffee are more pronounced here. I pick up on the yeast too, a little bready. There’s also a hint of bitter dark chocolate. It wasn’t the magician that the 1554 is to me though. It was fairly straight forward… perhaps a little boring. Might I suggest a little more of those Saaz hops? I’m just sayin’.

Mouthfeel was underwhelming too. A big part of what I love about the 1554 is that creamy feel it has in your mouth. There was none of that with the newborn from Shiner. Lefty even asked if it seemed watery to me. It did.

That said, I enjoyed the hell out of this beer. I’m willing to admit that some of the reason for that may be the nostalgia and perhaps even a twist of sophisticated marketing. The style is meant to be a little “boring” though, so in that respect, the boys at the Spoetzl Brewery really knocked one out of the park with this one.

It was also unfair of me to go into this review ready to compare it to New Belgium’s black beer. Theirs is actually a black ale brewed with lager yeast “at relatively high temperatures”, so of course it’s going to have some funky shit goin’ on.

This would make a great session beer and I know that I’ll be drinking more of it. I’m also really glad to see Shiner branching out and trying to keep things new and exciting, even if they did strike out with their attempt at a Hefeweisen. Keep ‘em coming boys, I’m still here.

Would go well with: Some vegetable stew, a grilled cheese sammich and perhaps a little Pantera? Anything that’s dark and takes you back to your high school glory days.