Beer and Old Bay Beurre Blanc
What would a Chesapeake Beurre Blanc look like? I wanted to take a traditional Beurre Blanc and adapt it to our region. Local Frederick, MD beer was used (Flying Dog's Underdog Atlantic Lager) instead of wine. It was reduced with shallots, lemon juice and Old Bay,...
Umami Bomb
Yesterday was a bit like Christmas. My sales rep from RC Fine Foods brought in samples from their new umami line of seasonings. I'm not sure how they do it, but I assume it's some kind of dehydration or spray drying. I think there are nine flavors. They come in...
Twisted Tea and Other Oddities
Yesterday, as I was taking a liquor inventory, I found a few relics buried in the back of the liquor cage. A previous bartender had picked up a case of Raspberry Twisted Tea shortly before she moved on. This isn't something that has moved with our customers, and I...
Mahon and Grits Croquettes with Pecan Romesco Sauce
I was going to post this recipe a while ago, but I've been holding off. It was recently included in the Fall 2013 issue of Culture magazine, which is all about cheese. Many of their recipes end up on their website, but this one didn't, so I thought I'd post it here....
Rusty Nail Ganache and The Cocktail Project
Recently I've begun what I'm calling "The Cocktail Project". The idea is to make cocktails I love and use them as ingredients in dishes. Make a drink and add it to a dessert. Make a drink and deglaze with it. I've already done some work on this, starting with...
Practice What You Preach
This past weekend I catered a dinner party for some friends. They had a theme, and emailed me a list of ideas, but ultimately left the menu planning to me. Included in the email was a link to a cake that had caught their eye. I knew nothing about the website it came...
My Best Cookbook Finds of 2013
As always, there were a lot of "Best of" lists flying around the past few weeks. This year was a great year for cookbooks. I don't need to get into which ones I thought were the best, because they were probably the same ones everyone else had. What I want to list are...
Cultured Buttermilk Coffee Rum Eggnog
It's not traditional, but it's tasty. Merry Christmas Cultured Buttermilk Coffee Rum Eggnog 4 oz Whole Milk Homemade Cultured Buttermilk 1 each farm fresh egg 2 oz Sea Island Java Coffee Flavored Rum 1 oz Rittenhouse Rye Pinch Grated Nutmeg Bar Spoon Wildwood's Barrel...
At My Fingertips
This week my family and I moved. While we only moved .9 miles, remaining in Frederick, Maryland, this move felt almost as challenging as moving across the country. If packing is the tedious part, unpacking is the fun part. While it's hard being away from my kitchen,...
Carrot Beurre Blanc Recipe
Carrot Beurre Blanc Here's a recipe for a carrot beurre blanc. We made this sauce this week to go on top of pan seared hake that was being served for an event. Technically, I shouldn't use the term "blanc" because it's not. Obviously, the sauce is a vibrant orange....