Saturday, March 03, 2007
Me & My Microplane
Living down here in South America, at times I feel a little out of the gourmet loop in terms of kitchen gadgets. While we have the basics, there is no Williams-Sonoma, Sur Le Table, and imagine, Food Network. Back in October, a couple food-and-wine minded clients were raving about this special grater called the Microplane (the Micro-what?) and were convinced that I was the only (American) cook on the planet not to have this latest and greatest grater. Ok, it sounded cool but logisitically not feasible until my next trip to the US so I had soon forgotten about it...until one day the post man arrived with a large padded manila envelope. Inside, there was a wrapped gift that oddly looked like a lightweight dagger. Wondering how it passed customs and what it could possibly be, opening it I realized it was this famed grater that my clients had spoken of. They had taken it upon themselves to send me my first microplane grater. Hallelujah. A grater, you say--why, you ARE a food nerd! Well, my only response is that this simple kitchen gadget/tool is something I cannot remember NOT having. Let me tell you why I love it and use it all the time (and send thanks again to the Kleins for taking the initiative to get it into my hands!).
1. Far from being cheesy: Cheese grating takes on new dimensions as it shaves paper-thin in delicate ribbons. It does a beautiful job with hard cheeses like Parmesan, Manchego, even Gruyere. You end up using a LOT less cheese (good for cheese junkies like myself who tend to overdo it ). In particular on pasta, it distributes so evenly so you get the cheese flavor but not all the volume/quantity (and fat).
2. Spice it up: other condiments that grate beautifully are fresh ginger for your herbal tea or Asian/Indian concoctions, garlic, all citrus zests, dark chocolate (for cappuchino or ice cream). You can even the gratings to decorate plates and impress your friends at your next dinner party with your presentation pizazz.
3. Handle/grip: After having carpal tunnel surgery 3 years ago (from incessant chopping, sports, and tiny hands), this is a major plus. It is lightweight, has a large grip that is easy to hold even for my elf-sized hands, and you don't have to support it on anything to grate--you can do it "free form".
3. Easy to clean: I hate washing dishes and am sans dishwasher (still) here in Chile. Basically a quick rinse right after using and "listo". For some reason, it seems like less of a hassle using this than a traditional grater. Convenience and ease, after all, count.
So what are you waiting for? If you can get one, it is the best $15 you will ever spend on a kitchen toy. And if you aren't a cook but love food, this could be a great gift for any of your cook friends. Enjoy!
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Thursday, August 10, 2006
The Accidental Connoisseur (Book Review)
I just finished one of the most insightful and intelligent books about the wine world I have had the pleasure of reading in some time: The Accidental Connoisseur. Part of its lure is its engaging text written by Lawrence Osborne, a terrific writer who is anything but a wine expert. However, being astutely open-minded he asks the right questions, wanting to learn about what makes a great wine and weaving these interviews and experiences into an erudite tale. Stemming from his claim that, “I don’t trust my own taste”, he dives into 11 Quixotic wine adventures traveling the Northern Hemisphere from California to Europe (France and Italy) to find out what is truly behind this mystery of great wines (from Chateau Lafitte to Mondavi to those oddball Super-Tuscans): the people who make these wines and their passion, the places where they come from, and the economics of the industry that drives (and thrives) on it.
At times, it seems more like an intellectual journey of trying to capture what should make a great wine (its aesthetics), which inevitably is trying to contemplate that age-old wine lover’s question: Is wine more than merely a drink of fermented grape juice? (My response: it is and it isn’t). Parts of the book reminded me of Jonathan Nossiter’s film, Mondovino, depicting the dichotomies that coexist today in wine like: small vineyard owners v. powerful international wine lords like Mondavi; California v. France (and Italy now) and their influences; the concept of terroir and their vehement defenders like U.S. importer Neal Rosenthal (almost an evangelist of terroir in small appellations in Europe like the northern Rhone, Barolo, and Carema) v. globalized wines with no “soul” that have fallen to capitalism’s obsession with brands and product synergies. It is an easy but inquisitive read that at times hit home and for me, as someone who works in the industry on both the tourism and tasting side, asks those probing questions of truly trying to understand what good wine is and the world surrounding it. A personal word of advice—keep it lighthearted and pour yourself a glass of your favorite “juice”; and settle in for a fantastic book--but never loose sight of the fact in all this wine discourse that it is ultimately just a drink. Enjoy it.
Available at Amazon.com
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