Pigs & Pinot

We barely had time to catch a couple of winks aboard NWA’s red eye flight out of Honolulu before touching down at SFO and heading straight to the Ferry Building Marketplace and the Saturday Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. Why the rush to go grocery shopping? To find the freshest produce and meat for the Pigs & Pinot event in Mill Valley. Didn’t Top Chef already air that episode? Same name but different event. This one hosted by none other than one of the Two Japanee Bruddahs with a simple invitation request; to bring one pork dish and a pork friendly bottle of Pinot Noir. Finding a suitable Pinot Noir should be no problem at the Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant but what dish do I create?...

Finding Swine

I could have taken the simple path and simply purchased product from Boccalone Salumeria where Chef Cosentino is known for producing “Tasty Salted Pig Parts”. However cured pork products are usually a little too robust for Pinot Noir. Though Pinot pairs with a wide range of foods, salted pork products usually aren’t one of them. Think robust fish, any white meat including pork, chicken or (gasp) rabbit along with a bevy of hearty vegetables… you get the idea. How about stuffed pork tenderloin with roasted spuds? Pork tenderloin, check. Assorted fresh mushrooms, check. Fresh thyme, check. Fingerling potatoes, check. Porchetta sandwich, check. Wait a minute, what’s the porchetta sandwich for? Lunch silly, ok check.

California Pinot Noir

As I highlighted in a column several years ago, Pinot Noir is a fickle grape variety that’s prone to genetic mutation over time. While it can grow in most wine producing areas, it tends to only produce great wine in marginal growing conditions where the south facing slopes give just enough sun exposure for sugar ripening but cool breezes allow for physiological maturity. In California, the major growing areas are the Central Coast including the Santa Lucia Highlands and farther north in the Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast. Both provide cool offshore breezes that delay sugar ripening and allow the grape to develop physiological characteristics like phenolic flavor components and acid that is necessary for great Pinot Noir wine.
I find that the wines of the Central Coast tend to have richer flavor profiles and fruit concentration with loads of spice including Asian spice in their flavor profiles than their northern cousins. If you enjoy Syrah and Zinfandel, these are the Pinot Noirs for you. These wines are as hearty as Pinot Noir gets and can pair with rich pork dishes including cassoulet.
With Russian River Valley and Sonoma Coast Pinot, it’s more about terroir and finesse. These wines are usually lighter in color but balanced on the palate with a pleasing balance of earth, fruit, acid and tannin. If you enjoy Champagne and white wines, these are the Pinots for you.

Oregon Pinot Noir

Still farther up the continent is another hotbed of Pinot Noir; the Willamette Valley of Oregon. As California wine prices started to climb in the early 90s, Oregon wines were initially seen as a cost-friendly alternative. Maybe not as good as California wine but a lot more affordable. Today the quality of Oregonian wines, especially Pinot Noir rivals those in the Golden State. Unfortunately the cost has also followed suit where great California and Oregon Pinot Noir will set you back the same dinero. Oh well. Oregonian Pinot Noir seems to sit right between the flavor profiles of Central Coast and Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir. A little more concentrated than Sonoma Coast wines but a little more terroir than Central Coast wines.

Alternative Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir also is grown in New Zealand and Germany with New Zealand surprisingly producing rich, fruit forward wine (surprising because the Central Otago region of New Zealand is as cold as grape vines tolerate making Chicago look balmy) while Germany expectedly produces a lighter, perfumy wine due to the extreme climate there. I could elaborate further but that’s material for another column.

The Lineup

2007 Peay Scallop Shelf Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
One of my top 3 favorites, very nice balance of fruit, earth, acid and tannin with a seamless flow across the palate.

2006 Anthill Farms Anderson Valley Pinot Noir
Finesse on the nose and palate and very food friendly.

2004 Whitcraft Winery Morning Dew Ranch Anderson Valley Pinot Noir
Also about finesse more than concentration with earthier terroir and a touch more spice.

NV Jean Vesselle Oeil de Perdrix Brut
Not pure Pinot Noir but pure Pinot (Noir and Meunierre that is).

2006 Aubert UV Vineyard Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir
A perennial favorite of mine. A perfect marriage of old world Burgundian restraint and new world fruit centered flavor. Seamless on the palate!

2005 Roco Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
Rich, concentrated fruit with hints of mineral.

2006 Elk Cove Vineyard Willamette Valley Pinot Noir
A little more restrained that usual Oregonian Pinot with semi-dried red fruit, a touch of mineral and a nice finish

2007 Joseph Swan Vineyards Cuvee de Trois Russian River Valley Pinot Noir
Another of the top three faves with a nice balance of fruit, acid and silky tannin and very food friendly.

2005 Siduri Gary’s Vineyard Santa Lucia Highlands Pinot Noir
Rich, ripe concentrated fruit with loads of Asian spice and a long finish.

How did my creation turn out?

For starters, it was a treat to finally be able to shop at the Farmers Market during our brief vacation here. We always pay homage to the Ferry Building Marketplace but are usually left a bit… unfulfilled after leaving knowing that all we can do is “window shop” at the Farmers Market. I don’t think the staff at the Kabuki Hotel wants us using their kitchen to cook seasonal mushrooms and produce and baking with fresh cheese and butter. However the Japanee Bruddah’s ample kitchen allowed us the “luxury” of purchasing AND cooking the bounty of the Bay Area.I first purchased a couple of pork tenderloin from the Golden Gate Meat Company – I originally intended on procuring my pork from an independent Farmers Market vender but $40 plus for a 2 pound tenderloin!... I then picked up several pounds of mixed fresh mushrooms from Far West Fungi – shiitake, crimini, oyster, etc then some fresh herbs – mainly thyme and parsley – from a Farmers Market vender. Lastly I intended on roasting mixed fingerling potatoes (from another Farmers Markey vender) and mushrooms coated in cured pork fat (lardo from Boccalone) or artisanal bacon (to keep within the Pork theme) but decided that too much pork fat might be too much of a good thing and left discretion as the better part of valor (I settled on extra virgin olive oil). The pan sautéed mushroom stuffed pork tenderloin with simple pan reduction sauce served with roasted fingerling spuds and mushrooms I believe lived up to the Pork & Pinot theme adequately… but you’ll have to ask guests that were present.

The A B C of Nutrition

Nutrition really is that simple. Like A, B, C or 1, 2, 3. There are no magic potions, no magic nutrient combinations, no hocus pocus. Many “experts” publish books on the ideal diet more often than not focusing on some ideal nutrient ratio or combination that will make you shed pounds while others downright feed your ultimate food fantasies… “All the bacon I want”? However most fail to mention that the most sensible diet is a balanced diet… in moderation if your goal is to drop a few pounds. And the math is simple, consume fewer calories than you burn and you’ll end up losing weight. Consume and burn at an equal rate and you’ll maintain weight. Consume more than you burn and you’ll put on weight. Unlike accounting, law, many business contracts and even statistics, one plus one does equal two in nutrition. Over consuming even “healthy” foods can lead to weight gain and possibly disease, feasting exclusively on pure butter and lard can cause weight loss… if you burn more calories than consumed. Totally confused? Hopefully not.

The Big Three

Nutrients are grouped into two major groups; macronutrients and micronutrients. The macronutrients comprise the bulk of our diets, nutrients we consume in gram or even kilogram quantities. The big three are carbohydrates, protein and fat. This is where the calorie load resides. Since there seems to be lots of printed “evidence” in manipulating the ratio of these nutrients (I refer to being “published” as in medical journals and “printed” as in those magazines found at the supermarket checkout stand) leading to miraculous weight loss and health, I’ll elaborate on each macronutrient.

Carbohydrate
We all know our former friend, carbs. The main culprit that causes us to gain weight (even when consuming less than we burn) and the one nutrient we should avoid like the plague. Hopefully you’re not one of those who think I’m serious. Carbohydrates should be the bulk of our daily consumption. Anywhere from 45% to 65% of our total calorie load. The key is getting the proper type of carbohydrates; brown rice instead of white rice, whole wheat bread instead of white bread, whole grain pasta instead of refined pasta. And limit those simple carbohydrates like sugar (sucrose) and high fructose corn syrup. Also remember that carbohydrates come in many forms, not just rice, noodles, potatoes and bread. They come in the form of peas, beans, squash and corn… which also increases your vegetable consumption. Finally, the one truism I remembered from advanced nutrition class was that “fat burns in the fire of carbohydrates”. In biologic-geek-speak, our bodies need the union of one oxaloacetate molecule to join with one acetyl coenzyme A molecule to perpetuate the Krebs cycle and thus fuel the furnace which is our body. Try to burn fat on its own and you’ll end up in a ketotic state. At this point, your acetone breath will be the least of your worries.

Protein
The building block of muscles. Though in a roundabout way. Just consuming extra protein won’t make your muscles grow; you also need resistance training to stress the existing muscle tissue. In fact, whatever extra protein you consume (other than to repair stressed or damaged tissue) simply gets metabolized and converted to energy via glucose or fat. So if you already are consuming enough fat and carbohydrate, the extra protein will simply add to your own personal “storage” reserve. And despite what you may perceive is a necessary amount of dietary protein, the average human only needs 0.8gm of protein per kilogram of body weight. For the average woman that works out to 45gm or so and 60gm or so for the average man. In fact even world class athletes don’t need more than 1.2 to 2gm per kilogram so it goes without saying that most of us consume more protein than we actually need.
Since dietary fat seems to be a traveling companion to dietary protein (especially in animal tissue), the key is selecting lean sources of protein. Seafood, poultry breast or skinned and trimmed poultry parts and lean cuts of pork and beef. And if consuming animal protein, limit your serving to 3 or 4 ounces – roughly the size of a deck of cards. And remember than any extra protein load places additional burden on our kidneys which needs to eliminate that additional nitrogen load from metabolized amino acids – not a good thing if you already have compromised kidneys or have diabetes mellitus.

Fat
What previously always wore a black hat is a villain no longer. Like lawyers, not all dietary fats are bad (there are good lawyers like Dale Minami and Don Tamaki). For starters dietary fat (linoleic acid) is essential in the diets of developing babies and necessary for all humans to absorb fat soluble vitamins. And where we previously recommended diets low in fat, it’s recommended to include 20% to 35% of calories from dietary fat, just keep consumption of saturated fat (and hydrogenated fat or trans fat) to a minimum. In fact, we now know that diets very low in fat (less than 20%) can lower levels of HDL cholesterol or the “good” cholesterol. And since most flavor molecules reside in fat, diets low in fat usually aren’t as palatable. Just try to get the bulk of your dietary fat in the form of monounsaturated fat (olive oil, macadamia nut oil and most nuts) and omega-3 polyunsaturated fats (walnuts, canola oil and cold water fatty fish).

I will also mention a separate class of nutrient that shouldn’t account for much of our daily caloric load – alcohol. Whereas carbohydrate and protein give us 4 kilocalories of energy per gram and fat gives us 9 kilocalories per gram, alcohol provides 7 kilocalories per gram. So in a sense, alcohol is like consuming extra fat (and you wondered why you can still put on weight with just beer). Therefore if you do imbibe, try to limit to 1 drink per day for women and 2 drinks per day for men (1 drink equals 5 oz of wine, 12 oz of beer or 1.5 oz of whiskey). In this case, more is definitely not better.

But I don’t eat nutrients, I eat FOOD

Very true, unless you live in the world of the Matrix (and we now know why everything tastes like chicken), you consume food, not nutrients. So in a nutshell, the bulk of your diet should come from carbohydrates – don’t limit yourself to traditional starchy foods but include legumes and starchy root vegetables as starches. When consuming traditional starches, try to go whole grain or mixed grain if possible. Select leaner cuts of animal protein or substitute seafood for terrestrial protein. Or better yet, substitute legume protein for animal protein. And dietary fat can be your friend, just select the right ones (like choosing a good lawyer). Canola or olive oil, nuts and cold water fatty fish.And though you may have heard it before, try to eat the rainbow everyday or get fresh fruits and vegetables in as many colors as possible. If you “eat the rainbow” daily, you’ll probably fulfill another recommendation to get 5 servings of fruit and vegetables every day. I’m still trying to accomplish that daily dietary goal but still fall short like most people. Along with fighting the middle age battle of the waistline bulge. And limiting alcohol on vacations. And getting enough daily micronutrients. But that’s another column.

Alan Wong's Pineapple Room

Located on the top floor of the Ala Moana Macy's, this is Chef Wong's sorta budget restaurant compared to his flagship Alan Wong's Restaurant. Mom was hankering to have lunch here primarily for their famous Loco Moco. Sitting atop a mound of fried rice and covered in veal jus (versus the standard brown gravy), the large (at least 1/2 pound) Maui Cattle Co hamburger patty was grilled to your liking (Mom had it hockey puck style - extremely well done - while the Mrs had it perfect medium rare). The patty had a pronounced smoky flavor (almost like Kiawe Grill) but to the point that the meat's flavor was quite muted. The veal jus was rich but not salty and a perfect complement to the fried rice.

After much discussion on the merits of Loco Moco (and who made the best), I personally still gave the edge to Ruby Tuesday due to cost and a pronounced beefy flavor of their USDA prime patty (only wished that they would cook the eggs sunny-side up instead of over-easy). Rokkaku at Ala Moana actually had the best Loco Moco I've tried but since it was a special (the patty was made with Wagyu beef) and not always available, RTs still gets the nod.

We also tried the Red Wine Braised Pork with Miso and Shoyu. Kinda like haimakamaka Miso Shoyu Pork. Fork tender and delicious with garlic mash and a glass of Turley Zinfandel but you end up downing copious amounts of H2O for the rest of the day due to the miso and shoyu.

Sis had the Calamari Salad which looked good but she needs to train her stomach to expand like the rest of the Tatsumoto Clan for copious consumption.

Use Your Noodle

For the past week or so, a high pressure system has been sitting just northeast of the Hawaiian Islands. Or so the meteorologists say. I don’t really understand meteorological speak since the weatherperson always seems to be guessing anyway. “Partly sunny, partly cloudy with chances of showers”. Duh, that’s like… everyday in Hawaii. It’s not like we’re prone to snow, tornadoes or sudden overnight hurricanes. What I do know is that the high pressure system is making life unbearable. Hot and muggy. No, more like HOT AND MUGGY. If you don’t bathe regularly, moss and lichens are prone to start sprouting on your skin. Sweat, sweat and more sweat. Sometimes it seems like I’m sweating while in the shower. Which brings me to my culinary point. What do you cook and eat in conditions like this? The house is already hot enough to slow roast any meat and what? You want to turn on the oven? Pan fry? Just as unappealing and even more so since I may inadvertently season the dish with my own perspiration. What about a cold salad or fruit? A better choice given the environmental conditions but sometimes you want something more. Cold noodle salad? Now we’re getting warmer… I mean cooler.

Origins of the Noodle

Despite arguments made by various food anthropologists and historians claiming the noodle’s origin as either China or Italy, I think it’s widely accepted now that ancient records of noodle making go farther back in China’s records. Several thousand years back. And though we mainly think of wheat flour based noodles due to Italian pasta, noodles are also made with rice, mung bean, potato and buckwheat. The oldest known Chinese noodles were made from millet.
The Gochiso Gourmet’s own personal explanation of how noodles came to be may not be far from the truth. Have you ever made bread? At some point you may have either added too much liquid or not enough flour to your dough. What happens? You get stickier, pastier dough that sticks to your hands. What do you do? You rub your hands together to get that sticky dough off of your hands. What falls from your hands? Long threads of dough. Like short handmade angel hair pasta. Perchance some of this fell into a pot of simmering liquid and voila, cooked noodles! I would bet that this is exactly what happened in any culture that started making noodles. The cook had some type of wheat, buckwheat or potato dough that was just a wee bit too sticky and accidentally cleaned their hands over a pot of simmering liquid. Farfetched as this sounds, the rubbing of hands with tacky dough is exactly how traditional couscous is made in the Middle East.

Types of Noodles

The most common variety of noodles are those made with hard wheat semolina flour and go by their common name; pasta. Short of a gluten allergy, I’m sure everyone has their favorite shape of pasta whether it is long, short, wide, flat, curled, small or large. Therefore I won’t be spending much time discussing the common varieties of pasta. However there are updated versions of pasta that are made with whole grains – the type of grains that we all should be trying to consume as the bulk of our dietary carbohydrates. Sometimes it’s in the shape of whole wheat pasta; sometimes it’s a blend of various whole grains. In both cases these are not the original brown colored, unappetizing pastas that were previously only found in the neighborhood “hippie” health food store. With the use of hard white wheat (as opposed to hard red wheat), these whole wheat pastas virtually look, cook and taste like refined wheat pasta. Throw a little sauce on the pasta and the slightly darker color will be obscured by even the finickiest eater at the table.
Though I usually don’t promote one particular brand over another, I do enjoy the multi-grain pasta by Barilla. Their Barilla Plus angel hair, spaghetti and fusilli are made with traditional semolina flour plus lentils, chickpeas, spelt, barley and oats so that each serving contains 17 grams of protein and 7 grams of dietary fiber. The cooked noodles also have the usual pasta consistency but don’t get as soggy if mixed with sauce for next day leftovers. I specifically love them in my cold pasta salads since they maintain a good texture (even when sitting in various dressings for several days) and are healthy to boot!

For a Japanese touch there’s soba (usually a combination of buckwheat, wheat and yam flour) and somen (wheat flour) and since both are traditionally served cold (or room temperature), they make the ideal meals when the mercury is on the rise. Both can also be served with traditional shoyu based dressings or dipping sauces or tossed with western vinaigrettes for fusion pasta salad. Another benefit of these noodles is that they take very little time to cook especially since the last thing you want to do when it’s 95 degrees and climbing is stand for 10 to 15 minutes over a boiling pot of water.

Beat the Heat

So the next time Mother Nature decides to provide an outdoor sauna for you, you can either decide to dine in… in your neighborhood market freezer aisle or use your noodle and try one of these cool noodle dishes.

For my Easy Barbecue Pasta recipe (printed in the Nichi Bei Times on August 2007) visit: http://www.gochisogourmet.com/Aug_2007.html

For my Shrimp Cilantro Pesto Pasta recipe (printed in the Nichi Bei

Times on July 2009) visit: http://www.gochisogourmet.com/Jul2_2009.html

Pasta Sea Salad

½ lb Barilla Plus angel hair pasta
½ lb seasoned seaweed salad
3 tbsp furikake
Shredded surimi strips

Dressing:
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
½ tsp sesame oil
2 tsp honey
1 tbsp shoyu
~1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 dash sesame seeds

Break angel hair pasta in half and cook Barilla pasta according to package instructions then drain and rinse with cold water. Toss with next 3 ingredients then toss with dressing (can also use bottled dressing of your choice). Serve chilled or at room temperature.

You can find seasoned seaweed salad at Japanese markets or do a web search for “seasoned seaweed salad” to find distributors in your area.

Somen Salad

1 package dried somen noodles
¼ cup cooking oil
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp sesame seed
2 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp shoyu

Cook somen in boiling water according to package instructions (usually once the noodles rise to the surface, they’re done). Drain noodles and rinse with cold water. Mix next 6 ingredients and toss with cooked somen noodles.
Can also portion individual servings of cooked, drained and cooled somen noodles in a large flat container. Lightly cover noodles with shredded iceberg lettuce, thin strips of kamaboko (fish cake), thin strips of fried egg, sliced green onions and sliced char siu or ham. Cover with the same dressing right before serving.

Encore to La Spinetta

Since it was a three day weekend, we followed up La Spinetta Starderi with a cult CA Pinot Noir and a consistent CA Cabernet.

Kosta Browne 2007 Russian River Valley Pinot Noir

From the exalted 2007 vintage, this wine was full of ripe red berry and Asian spice. Not much terroir but it was seamless on the palate with a moderate finish. Looking foward to the individual vineyards (Kanzler, Koplen, Amber Ridge) which will be released next month.

Jones Family 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon

Not like the typical flashy CA Cabs - not over the top fruit bombs but restrained ripe red fruit and currant with touches of dried herb, excellent balance and a moderately long finish. Jones Family has also held the line with their pricing keeping it under $100 for over a decade.

2001 La Spinetta Barbaresco Starderi

Visited Vino last night, mainly for their special pricing of Rivetti's La Spinetta 2001 Barbaresco Starderi. With dark cherry and raspberry mingled with licorice and tar notes that immediately jump from the glass then earth, pebble and leather that follow on the back end. Delicious on its own, even better with Chef Keith's Moroccan spiced braised short ribs:

And since life can't be all Nebbiolo and short ribs (wait a minute, why not)?, we started with Chef Hiroshi's Foie gras sushi with kabayaki sauce:

We also had their Margherita pizza with Italian sausage, PEI mussels in a tomato broth (which provided the perfect dippin' sauce for Chef Keith's home made bread, fried artichoke hearts with aioli and tomato ragu and ended the evening with the Chocolate ooze cake, the perfect balance of chocolatey goodness and buttery richness:

Bon appetit and a voitre sante!

Almost Sake

What is almost sake? Is it cheap sake that you purchased several years ago to use for cooking that has turned a healthy dose of brown? Nope. That’s past sake. Is it pure rice based Shochu? Not really, that’s more like sake on steroids. What about these Asian inspired martinis that combine flavored vodka and sake? Almost, though you can’t purchase those libations premixed and must depend upon your favorite mixologist to concoct. Then it must be pre-bottled sake infused with fruit flavors with a touch of sweetness. Bingo! A little like Asian Bartle’s & James. Whoa! Before you use this column to line your kitty litter box, hear me out.

Takara Sake

The company had very humble beginnings in the 1840s when Unosuke Yomo started producing mirin (sweet rice wine for cooking) and shochu in Fushimi, Kyoto. In the 1920s, Takara Shuzo Co, Ltd was established though it took almost 60 more years before the company started operations in Berkeley, California. Since the 1980s, Takara Sake USA has introduced a steady stream of products including namazake (unpasteurized sake), premium Ginjo sake, organic namazake, rice fermented vodka (Kissui vodka) and the fruit flavored sake line through their Hana line of sake products. Almost sake.

Hana Flavored Sake

The Hana line of flavored sake includes Fuji Apple, Lychee, Raspberry and Plum. The flavored sake starts as traditional brewed sake but then is blended with fruit flavors to create the flavored sake. They are meant to be chilled and served either as aperitif before dinner, with dinner for specific types of cuisines or after dinner as a delightful liquid dessert. And at about $10 per bottle, you won’t need a king’s ransom to purchase these beverages.

Do I Actually Drink These?

Why yes. They do make refreshing fruit flavored beverages on those hot summer afternoons and because the alcohol content is about the same as imported beer (8%), impaired concentration (and driving) isn’t a concern with 1 or 2 glasses. And though these aren’t the first sake I think of when consuming sushi or sashimi, they do occupy a little niche in my own personal list of wine and food pairings. Due to their subtle sweetness, low alcohol level and fruity qualities, I feel that they are perfect liquid companions to Vietnamese, Thai and spicy Chinese cuisine. The low alcohol content doesn’t magnify the chili pepper burn in spicy cuisine, the fruit flavor complements the flavors of sweet basil, fresh shrimp, fresh spices and coconut milk found in Southeast Asian cuisine and the subtle sweetness also balances the heat from chili peppers.

These flavored sake can also be used in the kitchen… and more than the proverbial “I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even put it in the food”. Instead of using simple fruit juice and sugar to macerate fresh berries, substitute equal portions of these flavored sake – Raspberry for fresh red berries, Lychee for mixed melons and Fuji Apple for fresh stone fruits. Add some chiffonade fresh mint and lemon zest and you have the perfect fruit salad.

Or you could decide to forego food entirely and try one of these libations… be forewarned that vodka increases the incoherence factor logarithmically so make sure you have a designated driver or better yet, stay at home.

Sake Inspired Martinis

Lychee Sake Martini

1 & ½ ounce litchi flavored vodka
¾ ounce Hana Lychee sake
Fresh or canned litchi on cocktail skewer

Raspberry Sake Martini

1 & ½ ounce raspberry flavored vodka
¾ ounce Hana Raspberry sake
Fresh raspberry on cocktail skewer

Fuji Apple Sake Martini

1 & ½ ounce vodka
¾ ounce Hana Fuji Apple sake

Peeled, cubed fresh Fuji apple on cocktail skewer