EP 21 : Team Cuisine

EPsters from far and wide gathered on the evening of Saturday, Jan 21 for Team Cuisine at the home of Miss Tasty and Smooth Melon (all right, we gathered only from the East side of Portland, but we did represent N, NE, and SE). Team Cuisine, you ask? Here's Miss Tasty's original e-mail detailing the event. A few moderations were made, but we'll get to those later.

We all arrive and talk, and eat, and drink, as tends to happen at EP gatherings. Then, names are put into a hat. We are short a few people, so we decide that 2 teams of 3 are better than 3 teams of 2 (there are 4 crusts anyway, so each team will be able to craft 2 pies).

As the hosts, Miss Tasty holds the hat and Smooth Melon draws names for team captains. Then, each captain draws 2 additional names from the hat to complete the teams. Here are the details on round 1.

Team 1 - Hungry T as captain, Scoop and Smooth Melon as co-conspirators. The pie: coconut red curry sauce, curried potatoes, goat cheese, cracked black pepper, and cilantro, baked to perfection (or maybe just a touch short of perfection), served with wedges of fresh lime to be squeezed on top. Everyone agrees, points for both taste and creativity. By the time we get to eatin', the pie has cooled ever so slightly, and I feel it would have been a bit better if consumed when piping hot.

Team 2 - Miss Tasty as captain, V-Licious and JH as co-conspirators. The pie: tomato sauce, mozzarella, hot sopressata, and caramelized fennel. Then the twist, in the center, broccoli shavings and a dollop of goat cheese. This is genius, as it serves as a sort of built in amuse bouche for the slice, as the center is naturally the first bite. Pie was done perfectly, sopressata was slightly crispy. Lovely.

Oh, while photographing pie #2, I tweaked some setting on the camera that threw off the white balance, so pies 2, 3, and 4 will look a little darker than pie 1.

There are a few late arrivals, as we agree to add their names to the hat and re-draw for teams. Again, as hosts, Miss Tasty and Smooth Melon draw for captains. In turn, each captain draws three more names from the hat to complete the teams. After a short break for digestion and discussion, the cooking continues... Oh, forgot to mention that using the same ingredients you used on the first pie has been forbidden.

Team 3 - Scoop as capitan, with RT, KL, and Hungry T as sous chefs. The pie: olive oil base, zucchini sauteed in oil with a dash of salt and drizzled with agave honey, topped with a cheese blend, crushed Marcona almonds, and cracked black pepper. Tasty, well prepared, albeit a touch sweet, and all agreed that the color combination and overall visual design were lovely.

Team 4 - Smooth Melon as capitan, with JH, V-Licious, and Miss Tasty as sous. This will be the final pie of the night, and the pressure is on. The pie: tomato sauce base, sauteed asparagus, truffle oil, garlic, mozzarella, and shaved Parmesan. With this pie, Team 4 used on of those metal pizza pans with holes in it instead of the pizza stone (which had been used all night). Bold move at experimentation, which resulted, unfortunately, in a limp and somewhat soggy crust. The pie itself was delicious, though, faint hints of truffle, and that tasty asparagus. Mmm.

JH had a birthday last week. V-Licious made a carrot cake in his honor (and from a recipe from his youth). It was amazing. Moist, great frosting (just sweet enough, leaving plenty of zip from the cream cheese), no nuts or raisins, either. Just moist, lovely cake. Happy b-day, JH!

As always, a magical evening of food and friends. But, we are left with one unanswered question, does cheese count as a topping? Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments section.

EPsters, if I've left anything out, please feel free to add to this, and if I've gotten anything wrong, correct away. Oh, and now that I have this all written, and practically posted it, it occurs to me that it may be very bad form to post if you didn't host. Hopefully Miss Tasty will forgive me?

Until next time...

Best Wine of the Year (Thus Far) - 2006:1

Greetings, and welcome to a new column here at the EP blog, 'Best Wine of the Year (Thus Far).' What prompted this new column, you might ask? I had THE BEST wine I've had ALL YEAR today at lunch. Here are the details...

2002
Domaine Latour-Giraud
(no, not Louis Latour)
Meursault-Charmes 1er Cru

And it's not just me who feels this way. Three of us at lunch (wine geeks all) agreed that this wine is outrageously good. All agreed that it's the best wine we've had in 2006, and certainly in the top 10 if we're looking at 1/20/05 to 1/20/06.

And, I'm not a Chardonnay fan (I've even admitted to a few folks that this includes the oft lauded white Burgs). But this wine is smokin'!

It's got a killer nose. Yeah, it smells like Chard, but there is this intriguing high toned note in this nose too. And the palate, whoa! Well balanced with a lovely finish. Creamy without being buttery.

Seek this wine out. Buy it if you can find it. If you live in Oregon, too bad for you, as it is not currently imported here. If you live somewhere else, make it your quest to consume this gem. You will pay dearly, I'm sure, but it will be worth it.

Cupping at Stumptown

6 of us EPsters met up at the new-ish Stumptown Annex on Belmont at 11AM on Sunday, January 15, 2006. Cheesy T is not in attendance 'cause she's not too into coffee and Stumptown can only accommodate 6 at the cuppings (thanks Cheesy T for sacrificing for the good of EP, we missed you!!). Hungry T, Miss Tasty, Smooth Melon, Scoop, JH, and VP are in attendance.

We get there a touch early, but can't begin until 11AM, even though we fill all 6 spots for the cupping. The intense aromas make it hard to wait. While suffering through the smell of the sweet, sweet bean, we check out the display of grinders and brewers from both past and present, some of us wondering 'how the hell does that machine work??' Finally, 11AM hits, and the ceremony begins...

Our host (whose name I didn't catch) begins by setting 6 small blue trays on the counter, followed by 18 small white bowls and 6 clear glass cups. Then comes the coffee. Our host (who is both knowledgeable and friendly) asks if we have any requests. We leave it up to him, but do request the house blend as a sort of control. He pours six different kinds of beans into the six blue trays, and places a card into each one, listing the name of the coffee.

Our host then begins to grind. A small scoop of each type of bean is ground and divided among 3 of the white bowls, which means there are 18 bowls sitting around the bar. But I am getting a bit ahead of myself. Here is the rundown of the coffees we were presented (for more info on the coffees themselves, check out Stumptown.com)...

• Colombia La Esparanza
• El Salvador Peaberry Reserve
• House Blend
• Kenya AA Thageini
• Panama Esmeralda Especial
• Sumatra Mandehling Grade 1

So, the first step, we are told, is to note the dry aroma. We hold the bowls, give 'em a little shake, and plunge our noses in. We work our way from the right side of the bar to the left, smelling each coffee in succession (this corresponds to 'top to bottom' on the list of coffees above, by the way).

Step two is to note the wet aroma. Hot water is added to each of the 18 bowls, bringing the level nearly up to the rim. Hot water is also added to the 6 glass cups (one for each coffee). After a few minutes, a cap has formed atop the water. At this point, we stop being passive observers and before active participants. There are spoons for each of us. We now break the cap. This is the point where the aroma is most pronounced. With the spoon in eating position, we plunge the cap of grounds slowly and gently back into the liquid. Rolling the spoon, we smell the exterior, which is now coated in foam and grounds. This is where the magic is. What aromas and sensations! Between each of the 6 types of coffee, we rinse our spoons in the cups of hot water (we don't want to cross contaminate our coffees, do we?).

Step three, naturally, is to taste. Our host scrapes out any remaining floating grounds out of the bowls with two spoons. He then demonstrates how to taste. Fill your spoon with coffee, and slurp it up. Sounds simple, right? There is a bit of a trick... there are tastebuds all over your mouth, so you have to 'vaporize' (for lack of a better word) the coffee by slurping it with GREAT force into your mouth. Let me just say I have NEVER heard a louder slurp in my life. No matter how hard we try, we are not as loud (and we DO try, believe me). We are given the option to spit into a paper cup, and as I had plenty of coffee at breakfast, I do just that.

Overall, a great EP field trip. We learned a lot and had a great time. I'm going to let my fellow EPsters comment on their favorites. My top pick was the Panama Esmeralda Especial. Floral, citrus, acid, and truly unique amongst the others.