“I better enjoy this pretzel and beer in case of attack from a rabid ferret!”
So, as I progress along my culinary journey, grilling has become more and more the main outlet for my experimentation. Aside from standard meals like dinner and summer lunches on the deck, I’ve started exploring breakfasts, desserts and using the grill to infuse smoking flavor on other components of the meals such as smoking the tomatoes for use in a pasta sauce. To be fair, in that case, my work was done when I handed the smoked tomatoes over to Kelly, but we’d have never tried or even thought of doing that before. When it comes to meat, I’m leaving the comforts of my standards like the boring boneless, skinless chicken breast and the infamous “gourmet steak” from The Butchery that I’ve purchased for years because gosh darn it, it’s a good steak for a great price. I ignored the rib eye and other cuts like that as they were double or triple the price. I recently threw caution to the wind and dropped the extra $5 to learn what I was missing. Imagine having 2 BBQs, but scrimping on my meat, that’d be like buying a Ferrari and using the cheapest gas to save a bit of coin when filling up. My logic is strange at times. Anyway, even just grilling your veggies on the BBQ instead of cooking them up in the frying pan, and using wood chips in the grill can add a whole new element of flavor both in taste and scent.
Fresh cut veggies on the charcoal grill with some mesquite chips for extra flavor
When it came to my accompanying beverages with my tasty BBQ meals, I often stuck with a simple beer, or possibly a rum and coke (that was more rum than coke). In fact, a few years ago, I rarely drank wine at all. I think this has a lot to do with the wines I’d sampled growing up. The first wine I ever purchased (or actually had an older friend purchase for me) was a bottle of Entre Lacs, based on this commercial, and the fact that I could get a 1.5L bottle for just over $6.
Incidentally, I “paired this” with a frozen Lean Cuisine meal for my girlfriend and I, as I believed the meal was for an entire family. Hmmm, a liter and a half of wine with about 300 calories split between two sixteen year olds who have absolutely no experience with alcohol - what could possibly go wrong? It’s no wonder I didn’t really explore wine again until I was much older.
A few years ago when my wife Kelly and I went to California, we went to a few wineries and then again to Niagara-on-the-Lake area in Ontario. When I started to learn more about wine and taste different varietals (ie. not the grapes used in Entre-Lacs), I quickly fell in love with wine. For me, the accompaniment of enjoying a Cab Sauv or bold Zinfandel with a steak, enhances the enjoyment of both.
- Juicy Steak and Shiraz
- Grilled Salmon and Pinot Noir
- Seared Tuna and Gamay
- Flame-Broiled Hamburgers and Zinfandel
- Grilled Portabello Mushroom and Rosé
- Herbed Chicken and Syrah
- Lobster in Butter and Sparkling Wine
- Grilled Veggies and Sauvignon Blanc
- BBQ Pork Chops and Chardonnay
- Roasted Marshmallows and Tawny Port
What’s that you say, “but Jamie, what if my favourite meal is not on your list, like rabid ferret for example?!!?” Well not to worry as ‘there’s an app for that!’ Yes, Natalie has created a free app that you can snap a picture of a bottle bar code with your smart phone and instantly access tasting notes, scores, prices, recipes and food pairings for 150,000 wines available in liquor stores across the country. You can even click to see how many bottles are in stock in nearby stores! That’s one of those awesome apps that you hope the inventors of the Blackberry had in mind, and not simply to ensure that our boss can reach us out of the office.
Anyway, the point is to explore and try new things! If it ends up sucking, stop eating or drinking it and move on. The benefits of exploring new foods and wines completely outweigh the “risks”. Enjoy!
P.S. Special thanks to Natalie for the help on this!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment