Super Bowl Strategies: Purple & Black

Baltimore looks its best when its bathed in purple light, don't you think?

 

If you're really a fan, you might consider eating nothing but purple food this week. Fortunately, you've got options.

 

At the Sun, Richard Gorelick put together a slideshow of local purple foods - he also included a few purple options in his roundup of Super Bowl Sunday dining options. One thing is for certain: It will not be difficult to find a purple cupcake in Baltimore this week.

 

My favorites: Kooper's Purple Black Angus burger:

 

 

Also, the Ravens Royale cocktail at Wit + Wisdom, which is made of vodka, lemon juice, purple honey and sparkling wine. Look how pretty:

And only $6 on Sunday!

 

But if you want to DIY your purple and black, there are plenty of at-home options, as well.

 

The good people of McCormick have to pretend to be neutral because they are a national company (but who we all know are Ravens fans, since they're headquartered in Hunt Valley). They make fantastic neon food coloring that will dye pretty much anything and everything purple (including your child's mouth).

 

They were nice enough to send me some - I used it to make pretty Coors Light and prosecco:

 

And yes, I realize it kind of looks black in this picture. Trust me, both looked purple in real life.

Also in real life, you could see the blackberries floating the prosecco.

 

Initially, I just played around with the purple color, which turned both drinks a reddish tint - kind of like red grapes. But when I actually followed McCormick's instructions for "Baltimore Purple Beer," I got much better results.

 

The website has all kinds of suggestions for dying things purple. I highly recommend it.

 

[Purple Black Angus burger photo swiped from the Kooper's Chowhound Facebook page.

Ravens Royale cocktail photo courtesy of Wit + Wisdom.]

Super Bowl Strategies: NOLA-Inspired

Have you heard that this Sunday is the Super Bowl? And that the Ravens are playing?

If you're in Baltimore, you have.

If you're having a Super Bowl party, there are a few different tacks you can take. There's the purple and black party. The Baltimore-inspired party. The standard Super Bowl snacks party.

And then there's the route I'm taking: the New Orleans party.

New Orleans food is legendary - and with good reason. It's full of amazing seafood and fantastic spices.

It's also, upon close examination, not so different from Baltimore cuisine.

Both cities are located next to the sea, which means both cuisines are seafood-heavy. Not necessarily the same creatures from the sea, but seafood nonetheless.

NOLA has creole and Cajun seasonings; Baltimore has Old Bay.

I talked with several local chefs who have New Orleans roots, or training, for today's Sun. On Sunday, I'll be making some of the recipes those chefs shared with me - and there are a lot of recipes. I don't think I've ever met a more enthusiastic group of chefs - each one was so happy to talk with me (even though at least one of them is a die-hard Saints fan).

Tomorrow and Friday I'll write about some of the other approaches to Super Bowl entertaining. This year, there's so much to celebrate.

Cool Shopping

My old friend Amy and a new friend of hers, Ellen, are starting something so cool I felt compelled to write about it.

The two of them are both longtime fans of fashion - Ellen worked in fashion merchandising for years and Amy studied fashion photography. Now they're living the suburban-ish life in Arnold, but they still love fashion. So they're starting a pop-up shop!

It's called "Here." and will occupy otherwise empty storefronts around the area for short stints. First up: March 1st through 10th at 47 Spa Road in Annapolis.

Every installment of the shop will have a different theme - the first theme is "flirting with spring."

The shops will feature clothes, accessories and home goods. Ellen and Amy are hoping to feature local designers as much as possible, too.

As soon as Amy mentioned this to me, I was in love with the idea. She's so creative and this is a fantastic outlet - it's such a great, low-risk way to start a retail business.

So if you're near Annapolis in early March, check them out! (Hours and other information are on their website.)

In the Mail: Food Lovers' Guide to Baltimore

Exciting times in my mailbox yesterday: I received my copy of the Food Lovers' Guide to Baltimore!

Obviously, I'd find a book like this interesting, but in this case, I was more thrilled than usual to crack it open...because it's written by Kathy "the Minx" Patterson and her husband Neal.

I'm a fan of Kathy and Neal's writing - they're funny and have a light touch that's welcome. Sometimes food and restaurant writing takes itself so seriously.

The book itself is super useful. Not only did Kathy and Neal hit pretty much every restaurant of note in the area, they also cover wineries and breweries, festivals and food-related events, local shops and farmers markets, and food trucks. AND they had local chefs contribute a handful of favorite recipes.

Oh - and they mention blogs and websites, too. Of course.

Not that their (very kind) words about M&G are influencing my recommendation. Actually, they're really not (though I appreciate the mention). Even if they'd ignored M&G entirely, I'd suggest buying the book. You'll never struggle to find a restaurant again.

Everything Old Is New Again

I'm finally getting around to reading Boozehound, Jason Wilson's 3-year old book about (surprise!) booze.

I'm not even halfway through, but finding the book very bloggable so far. Case in point: for years, Wilson and his brother have played a game called "liquor store archaeology." They go to older liquor stores - the kind that used to be busier, but today don't turn their stock over super quickly - and look for old, out of production bottles.

This is my wheelhouse. I've currently got a bottle of Tia Maria, a bottle of brandy, and a half-drunk bottle of pre-mixed vodka sour sitting on the counter in my kitchen. Cail pulled them from my grandmother's bar over Thanksgiving and I brought them home with me - not so much to drink as to ogle.

Wilson observes that he never quite finds what he's looking for, but often finds something he couldn't have imagined in the first place.

But these days, he doesn't always have to look as hard for the obscure, since many of those old timey bottles, the smaller brands, are being resurrected and marketed to hipsterish bartenders (I say that with love).

One of those so-old-it's-new liqueurs is crème de violette, a floral mid-century staple that fell out of fashion - and production - by the late 1960's.

Crème de violette got its first mention here on M+G about a year ago, when I was searching for purple cocktails during the Ravens playoff run (this year I went the kir royale route...and it worked, obviously).

I'm considering buying a bottle for the Super Bowl, but that is actually beside the point. What I find so interesting is our generation's obsession with anything and everything from our grandparents' generation. Mad Men, mid-century furniture and design, cocktailing, even baby names.

The lesson here, I guess, is this: if it's two generations old, it feels fresh again.

But let's just hope this doesn't carry over to the food. I've seen my grandmother's cookbooks. I'm pretty sure I don't want to start stealing from them.

Trendy: Cynar

Cynar, the Italian-made bitter liqueur, definitely has next-big-thing status right now.

I started reading about it, here and there, maybe a year-ish ago. Now I'm seeing it pop up on menus and in recipes with more frequency.

So here's my question: are artichokes the new cucumber? That was my original thought.

But maybe it doesn't have anything to do with the vegetable angle. Maybe it's just that bitters are so incredibly hot right now, bartenders are busy searching out every single bitter liqueur the world makes.

Then writing about it.

Soup Season

Pre-grated gruyere is awful. Dry and crumbly and it doesn't melt right. And it's expensive (not that gruyere is ever cheap.) Seriously, don't buy it. Especially if you're making onion soup.

That said, you should buy Ceriello's homemade chicken stock if you're in a soup-making frenzy. I'm thrilled that they're selling it now. And it's good, though I did have to strain it before using.

(I made Jacques Pepin's onion soup last night, which is so unbelievably easy, but is also so much better when the cheese melts the way it's supposed to.)

That is all.

Chevre Disaster

This made me think I could make goat cheese:

This made me realize I could not:

 

Let me back up. Just before Christmas, I got a Food52 Shop email hawking

the Belle Chevre goat cheese box. It would be a fun activity for Dixon and I

to do together, I thought. He likes science. Cheese-making is kind of science.

 

So I bought the box and gave it to him for Christmas. Then I ordered the milk from

Atwaters (who couldn't have been nicer) and last Sunday, he and I set about

making some goat cheese.

 

According to the instructions, it's as easy as adding some citric acid to milk,

then heating it up.

 

You're supposed to heat it to 185 (they even give you a thermometer),

stirring continuously, then let it sit for 10 minutes.

 

After that, you pour the liquid into a cheesecloth-lined bowl, where

you let it sit for a bit longer, then you strain out the liquid.

 

Except for me, at that point, it was still all liquid.

 

And it remained that way.

 

Maybe I heated the milk too quickly?

That's the only thing I could've done incorrectly.

 

Oh - and fun family activity? HAHAHAHAHAHA.

 

After about 30 seconds, Dixon's arm hurt from stirring,

so he asked if he could go back downstairs to play video games.

 

Sigh.

 

At least Cooper helped.

 

Helped me make a big bowl of hot, acidic goat's milk, that is.

Want: Saucy Wallpaper

I just saw this on Kiel James Patrick's Tumblr:

 

And now I want to build a small powder room on our main floor,

just so I can hang it there.

 

(You can buy it here.)

Trendy: Stuff I Might Actually Do

Food trend list season brings out my food snobbiness.

It didn't used to. For several years, I wrote at least one food trends post a week. I was full of fresh enthusiasm. I loved trend lists.

But then something changed. The lists all seemed stale. It was harder for me to spot trends early because nothing really seemed new anymore. I'd read too much about food. When you're deeply entrenched, it becomes impossible to figure out what's trending, even if it's just hype.

And the fact is that even though I stopped writing those "trendy" posts (mostly) a few years ago, stuff I spotted back then is still popping up on lists this January, like it's brand new.

That said, I appreciated this HuffPo compilation. The busy beavers at HuffPo food compared a bunch of other lists, culling the items that landed on more than one and putting them together in a nice neat little slideshow.

While most of what they include feels familiar to me - chicken, you say? - it seems that this year's lists have turned up a couple of trends that I'll probably try out myself here at home.

The three big ones:

• Winter veg, served raw. OK, I probably won't really make shaved turnip salads at home. But I'm sure I'll see this stuff in a restaurant or two - and it feels legitimately fresh. Not so fresh? The trend involving vegetables in the center of the plate. I'm pretty sure Alain Ducasse has been doing that for a few years.
• Gochujang, the Korean hot sauce that's poised to be the next Sriracha. Do we need a new ethnic hot sauce every year? Doubtful. But can I resist ethnic hot sauces? Nope.
• Barrel-aged hot sauce. I have a barrel. I have made my own hot sauce (and we have a seemingly endless supply of cayennes in our garden - it's January and they are still growing!). Barrel aging the hot sauce is such a logical next step, I can't even stand it.

So it looks like around here, at least, 2013 is going to be one spicy year.

Tube Evolution

My sister just sent me a link that is so up my alley. It's a short article about the London Tube turning 150 - and the evolution of its iconic map from a more traditionally-drawn diagram to the angular, modern schematic we're familiar with today.

The basis for the current map was actually drawn back in 1931 by Harry Beck (that picture at the top is the 1933 version). It's amazing how totally fresh it still looks today.

If you're at all interested in old maps and changing graphics, check out the link. You won't regret it.

Underground Dinner Recap

Cooper and I spent the last Saturday night of 2012 at an underground dinner hosted by private chef Beej Flamholz.

We went to Beej's first-ever underground dinner last March and had a blast, but weren't able to make the others he held during the year (he hosts one quarterly-ish).

The dinner was in a super-cool location: the 2640 Co-op on St. Paul Street. Located in an old Methodist church, the co-op is a partership between the church and Red Emma's bookstore. The space was big and sort of crumbling - it felt like eating inside a semi-ruined church. Which you don't find much in America.

I didn't take any pictures during dinner, but I do have the menu, and it was fantastic:

Roasted Chestnuts with Parmesan and Rosemary

Wild Jonah Crab

Tsar Niccolai Estate Caviar

Cucumber Frisee

Hudson Valey Foie Gras

Red Pear and Veuve Cliquot Jam

Pistachios, Challah, Petite Mache - Nasturium

Pan-Roasted Sea Scallop

Butter Poached Lobster

White Truffle Cream

Flaming Lucky Sorrel

Local Apple Cider Granita with Calvados Macerated Apple

Butterut Squash Maplebrook Ricotta Ravioli

California Grapes (Roasted)

Mussini Riserva Balsamic

Micro Basil

Chive Oil

Turducken Roulade

"Stuffing" Bread Pudding

Bowtie Brussels Sprouts

Clementine Mostarda

Black Pepper Crusted Waygu Short Rib

Braised Kale

Potato Latke

Karate Mustard and Cognac Pan Sauce

Salted Caramel Cake

Chai Ice Cream

Vanilla Poached Pear

Orange/Cranberry

Candied Walnuts

Pear Tuile

With the first few courses, we drank a bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne. When we moved on to the Turducken, we switched over to a 2005 Chateau Haut-Bergey that we've had sitting in our cellar for a few years. We're not sure if we bought it or if it was a gift, but either way, it was really lovely - soft and interesting.

My favorite parts of dinner were the foie course (the champagne jelly was especially good), the white truffle cream served with the shellfish (super subtle), and the clementine mostarda that came with the turducken. I'm pretty sure Cooper's overall favorite was the short rib, which really was excellent.

And the dessert was phenonmenal.

As always, one of the best parts of the meal was sitting with and meeting new people. Between these dinners and the wine dinners we went to at Dogwood, we've gotten to meet so many interesting people. At this particular dinner, I met local food lovers Tamar and Robbie (aka Robert of Cross Keys) for the first time in real life.

We also met a couple who run a non-profit called God's Economy, which funds development and educational projects in Africa. (The husband of that couple is also part of the third generation of his family running Clement's Pastry Shop in DC. Their son was in the kitchen, working with Beej.)

Good food, good company. Such a nice way to send out 2012.

Who's the Booziest?

The Daily Beast ranks the top 25 American drinking cities using an uncomplicated equation combining average number of drinks consumed per month, binge-drinking percentage of the population and "heavy drinking" percentage (based on CDC data).

Baltimore weighs in at #13, with 14.7 drinks per month, 16.3% classified as binge drinkers and 4.8% classified as heavy drinkers.

Considering that I average more than 14.7 drinks a month, I shudder to think where I fall in those two percentages.

Those stats don't seem surprising to me, but what did surprise me is that Baltimore is ranked higher than Buffalo and Fargo (where people drink to numb themselves from the cold) and Philadelphia, which just had a Layover episode in which the theme was, "You're in Philly, time to get drunk!"

On the high-ranking side, DC came in at #9 (need to drink to deal with politics), New Orleans at #7 (and that's not even counting the tourists) and - this one was a surprise - Norfolk at #2. Norfolk. Kind of random, right?

I won't share #1, but I will say this: a lot of pretty major cities don't make the cut. I wonder if it's because people in warmer climates (LA, Miami) are healthier so they look good. And people in NYC are healthier because it's trendy. All those juice fasts and all.