Glenlivet Dinner

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I am not a big scotch drinker. I claim ignorance on this holy water from Scotland but I do know enough to stay away from the lesser quality and appreciate the finer single malts. I have never seen the Tourist Tree doing scotch even though she claims that she has done a sip here and there out of friends’ glasses (whatever that means?). An e-mail flashed in front of my computer screen announcing a scotch dinner featuring a Glenlivet whisky lineup at the Swann. It looked intriguing. I have had scotch before and after meals but never with a meal. I said to Tourist Tree, “We’re going!”

Duck Fat French Fries, Lavender Salt, Malt Vinegar, Roasted Garlic Aioli. Glenlivet 12

We started the dinner with this canapé and the 12 year Glenlivet whisky. A small carafe of water was placed on the table so we could add a splash of water to the glass in our pleasure to open up the whisky. The fries were soft and mushy with a nice crispy snap on the outside. I liked the garlic aioli which was flavored with herbs and garlic but I liked the lavender salt even better due to its taste and granular texture. I have eaten fries many times with beer and even wine. My first experience with this odd couple of fries and Scotch whisky was…unexpectedly pleasant.

The restaurants at the Four Seasons have always been very accommodating with Tourist Tree’s food allergies. Besides modifying all the dishes for her, they also have warmed gluten free bread which tastes closer to regular bread than a chemical experiment. 

“Oysters on the Rocks” Applewood Bacon, Spinach, Scotch Cream. Glenlivet 15 French Oak Reserve

The fat from the bacon mixing with the juice from the oyster and the scotch cream was intoxicating. I loved the play between the textures of all the ingredients. Definitely could use a dozen or so more of this playful take off of Clams Casino which happened to pair quite well with the in depth flavor of the 15.

Vanilla Maple Glazed Muscovy Duck Breast, Red Cabbage Slaw, Apple Salad, Cumin Dressing. Glenlivet 16 Nàdurra   

This was a non-attention grabbing breast. Nothing outrageous. Nothing erroneous.  What grabbed my attention was the apple salad. Besides being delicious with its crisp texture and refreshing tart flavor, the apple salad also showed good knife work from the chef with each tiny piece perfectly cut into a symmetrical cube. It worked very well in tandem with the slight spice kick from the slaw and the sweeter, fruiter flavor of the cask strength, non-filtered 16 Nàdurra.

Charred Ribeye, Rutabaga Purée, Crispy Onion, Smoked Butter. Glenlivet 18

We were greeted by beautiful grill marks. It looked like somebody had spent a painful amount of time painting the perfect diamond pattern on the steak. The meat was flavorful, but needed a few more sprinkles of seasoning. Overall, it was a nice piece of ribeye cooked perfectly medium-rare but just not in the same league as those from some of the more noticeable steak houses in the city.

The 18 is made from blending whisky aged in 70 % American oak and 30% French oak. Its deep intense flavor was a nice companion for the steak…and its perfectly painted charred marks.

Warm Chocolate Scotch Bread Pudding, Honey Chantilly Cream, Cherry Compote, Vanilla Tuile. Glenlivet 21 Archive 

I was expecting a strong taste of scotch in the bread pudding. What best to capture flavor from liquid than bread? However, I was a bit disappointed that the scotch fragrance was not there. May be it got baked away? Regardless, the pudding was excellent in texture, moisture, and taste (if you take the lack of scotch out of the formula). The chocolate essence was restrained and so was the sweetness. This savory pudding was nicely contrasted by the sour zing in the cherries.

The 21 Archive was sweeter than all the whiskies we have had this night. It’s “honeyer” in taste and very much in smoothness.

Instead of the Bread pudding, Tourist Tree got the healthy choice version of fresh fruits. The berries and the pineapple were excellent as usual but unfortunately, the cantaloupe and the honeydew were a bit lacking.

Petits Fours

Yes, there was a pairing with the petits fours. The Glenlivet 25 was simply a “wow!” If there were an umami for scotch, this whisky has it. The depth, the intensity, and the smoothness were powerful and unmatched. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to taint my palate sipping this 25 with the petits fours, but a piece of strong chocolate did add a new dimension to the experience. If I only could have a cigar….

Since Tourist Tree was the designated driver, she only tasted each glass of the whisky in moderation during the dinner. At the end of the meal, we lined up all her glasses for a vertical tasting. The 12 was good; 15 definitely sweeter; 16 fruiter; 18 nutty and even sweeping; 21 taking smoothness to the next level; 25 was just a “wow!” Take a sip of the 12 after the 25 showed the ordinariness (even it’s not) of the 12 and could completely drive your palette insane.

We arrived at this sold-out-in-a-matter-of-hours dinner seeing a men dominated venue with a few women sprinkled around the dining room. The question was, how many of women were dragged there by the men or vice versa? At the end of the dinner, it had become apparent that the question was irrelevant. A good scotch is enjoyed by men and women not just before or after a meal. The restaurant and its talented kitchen also showed us that it can be paired with a variety of food. Of course, nothing would work unless the whisky itself is well made with care and consideration as Glenlivet showed us. Among the good whisky and the good food, the most rewarding surprise was discovering that Tourist Tree was open to tasting the different whiskies and enjoyed them all.

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The Perfect Storm

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Bacon, mozzarella, cheddar cheese. Three ingredients that are pretty awesome on their own and can supercharge any dish into breathlessness. “You can’t go wrong putting them all together.” as Chef Brooke Higgins said to me.

That’s what she did to her biscuits at one of the Monday night BBQ buffets one night at Sweet Lucy’s. Putting the bacon, mozzarella, and cheddar cheese together in a biscuit is the perfect storm for wholesomeness.

The bacon was crisp. Chef Brooke cut them into relatively large pieces so each bite was substantial. You could really feel the bacon in your mouth. The mozzarella and the cheddar provided dueling flavors of sweetness and cheesiness to play with the salt, fat, and smoke of the bacon. This juxtaposition of flavors, taste and aroma was held together firmly by a yellow puff of golden biscuit holiness.

It is not a regular item on Chef Brooke’s buffet nor on the regular menu but I hope that this perfect storm hits more regularly.

http://www.sweetlucys.com/

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Romancing with the Tree

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We celebrate Valentine’s Day every year…just not on Valentine’s Day.  Knowing the pitfall of going out on major holidays like Valentine’s or New Year’s Eve, we have acquired enough common sense to do our celebration on another day for real food that the chef wants to make,  good service that the waiter cares to give, and at a realistic price that we don’t mind paying.

We decided our celebration would be a low key Sunday brunch at Amis on the day before. The restaurant is usually crowded and hectic but on this day, it was surprisingly tranquil and relaxing which gave us an rare opportunity to enjoy the exposed brick wall and nicely refinished hard wood floor décor mixing rustic and modern elements.

Prosciutto di Parma with Pear

I have never seen anything sliced so thin. I have also never tasted so much flavor from anything this thin. The meat was nutty and earthy. The oil drizzled on top along with the salt from the meat made it decadent and addictive. The pear was a nice touch to break up the saltiness in the dish.

This appetizer plate was a good companion for our Compari, grapefruit, and muddled basil cocktail. It was an expensive cocktail in a small glass, but it was a very delicious cocktail.

Mushroom Frittata with Arugula and Citrus

The mushroom was soaked in a butter marinade before cooking so Tourist Tree could not have it. However, the chef made a substitution with spinach, pepper, and tomato which made the Tree particularly happy.  Not sure 100 % if she even liked the dish but the Tourist Tree devoured the dish before I even had made an attempt to move my fork across to her side of the table.

Sunny Side Up Duck Egg with Grilled Guanciale and Pecorino Fondue

If you could call a pretty looking dish a looker, this dish would be a looker. On the bottom of the shinny stainless steel flat bottom wok like container is the Pecorino fondue, a soft polenta mixed with pecorino. It is topped with a semi-soft duck egg and pieces of guanciale. Yellow, white, red, and green from the chopped herbs finishes the color kaleidoscope of this dish.

Although it is called a pecorino fondue, the cheese flavor in the polenta was not overwhelming which I appreciated. The guanciale is similar to pancetta but is made with meat from the pig cheek, seasoned and cured by hanging dried. It was crispy, salty, sweet, fatty, and provided a wonderful contrast to the fondue. I loved the fat oozing into the mouth while chewing on the meat. The feeling of the fat and the flavor was beyond description. I love everything that has a runny egg yoke over it. The addition of the egg yoke did not distract the dish’s original flavor but definitely brought further enhancement to an already well composed dish.

Scrapple

This trattoria version of the Amish treat was made in-house with pork, minus the more interesting parts of the pig as commonly called for in the traditional method. In giving it the trattoria spin, polenta was used instead of buckwheat flour and cornmeal. The scrapple was nicely fried to a crisp on the outside while the polenta gave it a more dense consistency inside.  The scrapple was very good dipped in the runny egg yoke, but it needed a bit more kick in the spice department overall.

Mama’s Rice Pudding with Pine Nuts and Dried Fig

A meal is not complete without dessert, even for brunch. This rice pudding was another looker dish from the kitchen. It’s creamy. It’s silky. It’s smooth. It’s eggy. It’s custardy. It’s like running your tongue down a swatch of velvet. The pine nuts and the thinly sliced pieces of dried fig added textural and flavor dimensions to the silky smoothness. This was a perfect rice pudding hitting all the right notes.

Red Wine Granita with Grapefruit and Orange

Colorful would be a good word used to describe this dish, both for the color of the components and also the flavors. This granita was not a frozen icicles of sugar water with some artificial flavor thrown in. The wine essence was present but the overwhelming taste of sugar was not. The acid and bitterness of the red grapefruit and the zaniness of the orange added a nice complement of flavors and brought a nice end of this lovely brunch.

www.amisphilly.com  

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Black Forest Cake

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I do not remember when Black Forest cake became my favorite cake. It could be a combination of the unique ingredients; skills required for a competent pastry chef to get it right with all the ingredients while giving his own touch without altering the character of the cake; the scarcity of a well made one, especially in this country….

It all started when I was growing up in Hong Kong where the Black Forest cake was popular among expats as well as the locals. It was widely sold in shops as a whole cake or in small rectangular shape slices. Not all things are created equal. Some were slightly altered to suit the local taste while some were truly authentic with varying amount of Kirschwasser. The moment of enlightenment for me did not come until I had my first bite of the cake from the cake shop at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. It was a cloud so above the others and with such magical power that I was hooked instantly.

That was many years ago. Both the cake shop and the hotel itself have gone through changes and big dollar renovations. The humble cake shop with a casual café attached when my mom and I used to go to meet up with my dad after his work has transformed into a sleek looking outlet looking more like selling high end Prada chic than pastry eatables.

Picture right: The pastries and bake goods are as impressive as the look of the shop.

The Black Forest cake was still on the menu, both as a whole and in slices. It wasn’t as the same as I have remembered since the cake had gone through the same sleek transformation as the shop but it still had retained the smell, taste, texture of the old cake with all its essence and magical power intact. It was still the best.

Picture left: Tourist Tree salivating over the sweet delicacy in the display case.

Fast forward a few years. My love affair with the Black Forest cake was reignited when I asked Chef Jessie Prawlucki at Le Bec Fin if she could make a Black Forest cake for me. Not sure if she had made such a cake before but the finished product was hitting all the right notes. Her pronominal cake brought back the nostalgia of those I had from the Mandarin Cake Shop of my youth.

Chef Jessie is now the co-owner of Fond, one of our most favorite restaurants in Philly. When I recently asked her if she could make another Black Forest cake for me, she replied, “Hum…, I don’t remember the recipe…but I’ll give it a try…” 

Her new rendition of this classic cake had a simple cream frosting that was light as a cloud. The cherries between the moist spongy chocolate cake layers oozed a wonderful fruity sweetness to compliment the fine chocolate taste in the cake.  To balance out the flavors, the cherries on the top of the cake remained tart and still carried bits of sourness as contrast. I missed the chocolate shavings customarily covering the outside of the cake, but this cake was just as pretty without it.

The Mandarin Oriental Cake Shop:

www.mandarinoriental.com/hongkong/dining/cake_shop/

Fond Restaurant: http://www.fondphilly.com/

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Law Bo Gow

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Although it is a staple served in dim sum places throughout the year, the law bo gow (turnip cake for the qweilos) holds special places during the Chinese New Year when it is eaten as a snack with the cake symbolizing prosperity and good fortune.

The cake is very simple. Its main ingradients are white turnip and rice flour with a few pieces of dried mushrooms, Chinese dried sausage or dried shrimp thrown in; then steamed for an hour or so. My mother used to labor herself for a whole day to make several pans of the cake just before the new year. Unfortunatey, with her cooking skills, the cakes usually had a slight quality control problem. Fortunately, the law bo gow is widely availbe in Chinatown these days with bakeries and snack shops making larger aluminum pan versions during the Chinese New Year.

The store bought law bo gow is cooked and ready to eat. It should have a firm spongy consistency and depending on the quality of the sauce, it either has a nice blend of dried shrimp, mushrooms or Chinese sausage mixed in or just a few sprinkled on top. Since it has been cooked by steaming, the cake should be nicely moist, soft, and dissolve easily in the mouth with lots of flavors from the turnip and the mixed in supplemental ingredients.

The law bo gow can be eaten as is, warmed, or my preferred way of cutting it into small thin pieces and pan-frying them until a crispy crust is formed. Besides adding texture to the cake, the pan frying also brings out the fragrant aroma and flavor of the dried shrimp and the Chinese sausage. To go for that extra mile, put a dab of oyster sauce and Sriracha on it.

If you like the law bo gow, you may also want to try its cousin, the woo tul gow (Taro root cake).  

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