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Vinous in the Kitchen: Fire-Roasted Branzino with Swiss Chard Horta
Vinous in the Kitchen
, Jul 2020
Today we are going to talk about fire roasting a whole fish, dressed with a sauce of lemon, olive oil and herbs that will practically make itself. We are also going to prepare the same fish to be served as fillets with the same sauce, without tearing up any of the tender juicy meat. For this preparation, I'm going to look to a classic fish that can be found on menus around the world and at any self-respecting Mediterranean restaurant, and that’s Branzino, also known as sea bass. However, you can use this process and the tips below to pick out and prepare nearly any whole fish. Also, don’t be afraid of the term “fire-roasted” because we are going to make this from start to finish under the broiler in your oven. Lastly, to top it all off, we are going to prepare a Horta using Swiss chard, one of my absolute favorite sides when eating Mediterranean.
2017 Domaine de la Romanée-Conti: A Day’s Work
France: Burgundy, featured, Verticals & Retrospectives
, Jul 2020
The annual presentation of new releases from Domaine de la Romanée-Conti in early March was the last tasting I attended before lockdown. Initially I thought I would publish this article as a bookend, when things returned to normal. Back then, I could have never imagined where we would be today. After reading Neal Martin’s article Complex, Not Complicated: 2017 DRC in Bottle chronicling the London edition, I decided to shamelessly rip off his format. So, here you have my version…
Albion Gets Serious: English Sparkling Wine
United Kingdom, featured
, Jul 2020
I used to groan when an ordinary English sparkling wine was heaped with praise. My palate has not changed; what has changed is the quality of English fizz – a category that now needs to be taken seriously on the world stage. It’s time to discover the leading producers.
Delivering Where It Counts: Meyney 1971–2017
France: Bordeaux, featured, Verticals & Retrospectives
, Jul 2020
Continuing my focus on Bordeaux wines that offer both quality and value, my final château visit before lockdown was to Meyney in Saint-Estèphe. How has their wine improved so much in recent years?
Cellar Favorite: NV Mullineux Olerasay 2°
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, South Africa
, Jul 2020
Readers that saw last month’s Vinous Live with Chris and Andrea Mullineux will have noticed that both interviewer and interviewee in Surrey and Swartland respectively, were drinking a sweet wine, the Olerasay 2°. Having received the bottle a few weeks earlier I kept it back for that interview. My expectations were high since the maiden release had received my highest ever score for a South African wine. Until now.
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Vinous in the Kitchen: In Pursuit of the Perfect Burger
Vinous in the Kitchen
, Jul 2020
What is the perfect burger? Is there really any such thing? Let’s be honest here - my idea of the perfect burger may be similar to yours, but it won’t be the same for everyone. In fact, in my house, I have four people who all love different levels of doneness, with or without cheese, bacon over or under the cheese, toasted buns or not, and then me – I go bunless, but with a bigger patty that includes ground lamb. I’m sure you can imagine the production burger night is at my home.
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Saar Riesling 2018: Beating the Heat
Germany: Saar, featured
, Jul 2020
The precocious 2018 vintage with its hot, dry summer, held the potential for wines short on acidity and high in alcohol. Fortunately, adept growers worked successfully to avoid that outcome, and estate owners nearly everywhere saw a combination of generous ripeness with unexpectedly abundant yields. This report focuses on the Saar, whose hills and side valleys are known for being cooler and breezier, and for birthing Rieslings correspondingly more acid-retentive and buoyant.
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Beyond Wine: Crate Digging: 10,000 Maniacs by In My Tribe (1987)
Beyond Wine
, Jul 2020
In My Tribe remains an important album for me. It brings back a lot of memories of growing up in my hometown. My social life might have revolved around clubbing and the exciting new sounds of techno, but when I got home, it was music like 10,000 Maniacs that I listened to.
Cellar Favorite: 2010 Haut-Bailly
cellar favorite, Cellar Favorites, France: Bordeaux
, Jun 2020
In my write-up of the 2010 Bordeaux vintage earlier this year, it was unfortunate that one bottle in the blind tasting was so hideously corked that it rendered every participant’s glass unusable. (Hopefully, the injured stemware has recovered by now.) The culprit turned out to be Haut-Bailly, and unfortunately we did not have a backup at hand.
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Vinous in the Kitchen: Pantry Essentials 101
Vinous in the Kitchen
, Jun 2020
Frankly, anyone can stock a pantry, but there are a few things that separate my family from the average household, and these have given me some interesting insights. For one thing, since the day I graduated culinary school, it was decided that I would be doing all of the cooking in the house. And so, like many households where a chef or ex-chef does all the cooking, there is a certain set of necessities that we were taught to always have on hand. Therefore, our pantry is incredibly diverse, and it has been now for over a decade, which has given me a number of thoughts into what should be in a well-stocked and maintained kitchen. Plus, just to make sure I had all of the bases covered for the average family, I made sure to quiz as many highly-qualified moms from around my neighborhood as possible.