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The Maligned Merlot

January 18, 2010 / / 0 Comments

by Executive Chef Joshua Hebert of POSH

Can a movie affect our views on food and wine? Apparently, yes.

A few years ago, the movie Sideways actually proved this when the main character, a self proclaimed “expert” on wine, maligned Merlots and extolled the relative virtues of Pinot Noir. The movie started a trend, Merlot sales crashed with the “in crowd,” and I can’t keep enough Pinot Noir at POSH. The thing about this movie is that the entire character of Miles is meant to be ironic (in true sense not the Alanis Moressette definition), and his views on wine metaphorical.

The main character in Sideways, Miles, is an alcoholic who disguises his alcoholism in a cloak of wine enthusiasm. The reason we identify with Miles is that he is what we are all afraid of becoming. His entire MO is that he is a failure at love, at writing, and I must say, at understanding wine. His identification with Pinot Noir is less about wine than about himself.

From Roger Ebert’s review of the movie:

They’re talking about wine. He describes for her the qualities of the pinot noir grape that most attract him, and as he mentions its thin skin, its vulnerability, its dislike for being too hot or cold, too wet or dry, she realizes he is describing himself..

A subtle allusion to Miles’ weaknesses is his disparaging Merlot but praising the ‘61 Chateau Cheval Blanc, a Bordeaux, as a great wine. This particular wine is a blend of Cabernet Franc and, you guessed it, Merlot. By the way, Miles is not a fan of Cabernet Franc either.

There were some real world wine experts at the time who felt that the Merlots were overrated, over popular, and over produced (probably still do). They felt the demand for these wines was trumped up and that many vineyards were producing the very popular and profitable wine without standards. That is likely what impacted the character’s view in the flick. There was some truth to that, and because of the reputation and the movie, winemakers have been forced to refocus. In 2008, the wine crush for Merlot was down 25%.* Less Merlot produced means that vineyards have reallocated their efforts more appropriately and that the Merlots that are produced are better wines. Also, just because something is popular doesn’t mean there is not substance.

So, while we have all fallen head over heels for Pinot Noir in the last few years, it may be time to set aside our DVD’s and revisit Merlot. While softer than most Cabs it ripens earlier and is more likely to produce a mature crop. A good Merlot can have a beautiful acidity and great tannins. It ages well in a good vintage, pairs well with food, and drinks well on its own.

Bordeaux wines like the Cheval Blanc never lost their reputation partly because they use a blend and partly because they are… well… French. But Napa and Sonoma make some excellent Merlots. For my money, there really is none better than Duckhorn, which has been the standard bearer in Napa for years. The only problem is that it could set ya back $50 or more. In the $30 price range, the Beringer Knights Valley Merlot is a great buy.

It is almost sad how the comments of a flawed character in decent movie can nearly take down a great grape. At the same time, now that it is down and out, it’s kinda of a good thing that winemakers have had to adjust, and we have the opportunity to check out the values. Who knows, we might be able to try a bottle of 61 Chateau Cheval Blanc, except WE will know it’s a Merlot… shhhh. 😉

* Wall Street Journal Online 2007

 

 

To Purchase Merlot Wines Online Click here: Merlot

To Explore Bordeaux Wines Online Click Here: Bordeaux

 

About Joshua Hebert

 

To make an online reservation at POSH click here: Online Reservations

Chef Joshua Hebert is Executive Chef at POSH Restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona. He is the winner of this years C-CAP Heavy Medal Culinary Competition and a Sommelier. He is nearly a native of Scottsdale.  He began his career at Tarbell’s in Phoenix and spent his 20’s in San Francisco and Tokyo. He returned to head the kitchen at Tarbell’s, North and Dual, before making POSH his obsession.  Joshua is married, has no kids, but an awfully cute pound puppy named Kassy.

The Shopping Deficient Husband

January 15, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Ever sent your husband to the grocery store and ended up really regreting it? How about when you go to the store with your husband and are so surprised by what he does that you never want to go again? I have one of those husbands, God Love Him!

First, let me tell you a bit about my husband just to juxtapose my example with his capabilities. My husband has a Masters Degree from a top business school, he is a college professor, he speaks Chinese and he has been an Executive at a Fortune 50 company dealing with all the big wigs. You would think that a trip to the grocery store would be like a walk in the park.

 

So, last Sunday, we went to the store to get some football food supplies and a few steaks to share with our neighbors for the playoff game that evening. T-Bones were on sale for $5.77/pound, but they were huge! The butcher, being a good guy, suggested some pre-packed items, thinner cut, four to a pack. It looked good to me. It was either that or we pick up some big ass pieces of meat and share.

“No! No!,” says my big exec husband. “Let’s just get these and then everybody has their own.”

I’m thinkin’ “Wow is he trying to impress these folks.” Now I love my neighbors, but…

Fifty dollars and seventy five cents later the Professor said, “Why are those steaks so expensive? I thought they were about six bucks a pound?”

“They are,” says I, “And, each steak is about 2 pounds!”

“Oh,” said my International Masters Degree in Business love of my life, “I thought each steak was $6.00, so that’s 4X6 = $24.00.”

I don’t know about you, but my constitution just doesn’t allow me to ingest 32 ounces of medium rare, red meat without serious complications.

Today’s breakfast: steak and eggs, lunch steak sandwich. Can you make soup with a T-Bone??? Guess we’ll find out. I’ll keep you posted.

Live Well, Eat Well.

Cheers

Heidi

PS: I thought I was alone in this until, ironically, my mother in-law sent me this video. Check it out. It’s hilarious.

Download:

FLVMP43GP

 

 

Chef Glenn Humphrey’s Roasted Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Soup with Chipotle Cream

January 10, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Chef Glenn Humphrey has been referred to by some of his admirers simply as a “bad-ass chef.” Standing 6′ 4″ and arriving on his Harley, one would tend to think of him that way. But that is only half the story. He is also known for being a genuinely nice guy, a teacher dedicated to his students and a real do-gooder in the community. That makes him “cool” to us. You can find him on 1440AM in Phoenix on Tuesdays at 11AM or on intothesoup.com in a video later this week. In the meantime, here is his fabulous Roasted Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Soup with Chipotle Cream.

Ingredients

  • 1 small pumpkin, about 2 pounds or 2 cups canned pumpkin
  • 2 Butternut squash, about 2 lbs
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 slices bacon, diced
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream, plus 1 cup, for garnish
  • 1/4 cup orange juice
  • Large pinch freshly grated nutmeg
  • Pinch of cinnamon
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon chipotle pepper, pureed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Halve the pumpkin and the squash from top to bottom and with a spoon remove the seeds and place it, cut side down, on an oiled baking sheet. Bake until the pumpkin and squash can be easily skewered, 25-40minutes. Cool for about 20 minutes.

Scrape the pulp and reserve. Discard the skin. Melt butter in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the bacon and onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft and the bacon is just turning golden, about 7 minutes. Add the pumpkin and stock and simmer until the pumpkin falls apart, about 30 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes.

In batches, puree the soup in a blender on high speed, 3 minutes per batch, until very smooth. Strain through a fine mesh into a clean soup pot and add the cream, orange juice and nutmeg.

Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. If the soup is too thick, correct the consistency with additional water or stock. Chop 1 tablespoon chipotle pepper. Whip 1 cup cream to soft peak. Stir peppers into cream. Ladle the hot soup into bowls. Spoon dollop of chipotle cream into soup.

 

About Glenn

Glenn Humphrey  CEC, CCE  is Placement Director and Instructor at the Arizona Culinary Insitute; Former Instructor, Scottsdale Culinary Institute; The Culinary Institute of America; Marie Callendar’s, Orange Co.; Restaurant Enterprises, Irvine; Hungry Tiger, Inc.; Friendly Hill Country Club, Whittier; Holland America Cruises, Seattle; The Burlington Inn, Burlington; Norwegian American Cruises, Oslo

Heidi Swears by It: Nasty Bits

January 9, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Some people are not as enamored with Anthony Bourdain as I am, but you have to admit, he tells it like it is, and he has been there (wherever “there” is). One of our callers to the radio show once compared me to Bourdain, and though I could never claim to be even near his level, I was thrilled because he is one of my inspirations.

In Nasty Bits, Tony pulls it off yet again with his ‘kiss my ass’ vernacular and ‘I really could have attended Cambridge’ writing abilities.

I was rather surprised by his taste bud organization of essays (sweet, sour, salty and bitter) because it seemed rather bush-league for him. But hey, this is intotheSoup.com, and it works for us. Still, it is one thing to compose a chronological memoir such as the phenomenal Kitchen Confidential and quite another to write individual, shorter works which each have the power of an entire book. That’s art.

Some of his stories are dishes I’ve tasted before watching No Reservations, but his behind the scenes revelations add new flavor to what we have seen. 

For example, he tells of a time, while shooting in the Greece, when he gets peeved at his local fixer. The man has failed to deliver on any of his promises, so, naturally, Bourdain takes a dare to jump off a 150 foot cliff while his crew fears for his life and their livelihoods.

Bourdain’s travels, travails and naked repartees give us further insight into a hard rockin’, hard workin’, hard playin’ travelin’ chef. What interests me most about him is his honesty about how the experiences of his life have changed and even softened him. He appreciates what he has learned about the world, food and himself and is not afraid to say it.

Anthony Bourdain may act like a hard-ass chef but after reading Nasty Bits, he doesn’t scare me. How cool would it be to run into him at some slum chef joint on the upper eastside and get completely hammered together? 

By the way, Anthony, Grey Goose is this lady’s favorite drink.

Live well, Eat well,

Heidi

 

P.S. Buy Nasty Bits at our great partners at Longitude Books by Clicking Here. They are our kind of people AND it helps us out if you buy from them. 🙂

Members of Into the Soup get free shipping. Check out how by signing in and clicking here.

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My Life as a Caribbean Galley Slave!

January 5, 2010 / / 0 Comments

I’ll betcha that my first kitchen was smaller than yours! Well, maybe not my first kitchen, but my first ‘professional kitchen’ had to have been. All of about 16 square feet included space for the stove top, oven, the refrigerator (reefer), cupboards and counter tops! It was the galley of a charter yacht, and I was its slave!

The picture above is very similar to one that hung on the bulletin board of my office for four months while I planned my escape from corporate America, I was 24 years old. I cashed my $1,600 IRS refund check, piled all my stuff in my parent’s garage, threw on my new backpack, and headed off on a grand adventure…. into the world and into the world of food. 

The Virgin Islands beckoned me, and I needed and heeded their call. I’d met some folks in the city who’d actually lived and worked in the Caribbean. They told me that the Charter Boat lifestyle was the most lucrative and the most fun, so I went with that idea.

I didn’t exactly know what I was getting myself into, but I didn’t exactly care either. The traveler’s life was real and fantasy. It was tangible and ethereal. It was at the same time terrifying and so very thrilling! Two days after my arrival on the Island of St. Thomas, I had a job as a stewardess on a 70 foot power yacht owned by a wealthy furniture mogul. He and his wife were coming down from New York for a weeks’ stay, and I was the ‘helper.’ The day they arrived, the Chef quit in a rage, and the captain asked me if I could cook – I lied. Now, I was the helper AND the Chef and my life changed forever. After a few hiccups, we pulled it off. The guests were happy, the captain was happy, and I had a Charter Boat resume!! 

It took awhile, but my farm girl work ethic, nice smile and nice rack got me a permanent job as ‘Chef’ on Sailing Vessel Rhapsody. She was a 73 foot Biot French racing boat with a tini-tiny little kitchen. We carried eight guests for seven days, four separate meals per day. Including the crew, that’s 308 plates of food a week and no dishwasher! I had a lot to learn!!

I was a pretty good cook to start, confident and creative, but it was a real challenge to work with limited products and faulty generators. Not to mention I had only one oven, a three burner stove-top, and a toaster that worked like a salamander when it wanted to. Improvisational cuisine? Sailboat chefs invented it!

To prepare, I interviewed top notch chefs, bought a million cook-books, wrote new menus, went to lunch often, created paper recipes and cooked every night for my crew mates and friends all while taking criticism in stride (along with a bottle of wine or two).

The recipes contained in this book were my fool proof, go-to’s as a Charter Boat Chef and are still some of my favorites 20 years later. I’ve added a few from present day to change things up a bit. Out of necessity, most are quite simple recipes with simple ingredients, but they are more than just a set of instructions for making or preparing a dish. They represent part of my journey and are therefore, part of me.

So, if you ever get the chance to take a chance, whatever that chance may be, I highly suggest you say yes ~ it’s so worth the ride! 

For Members of Into the Soup, I have compiled many (38) of my recipes developed on the boats into an fun and easy cook book. All you have to do is download it by signing in and clicking here. DOWNLOAD Check it out and let me know what you think. Not a member yet? Shame on you… Click here to become a member. There are lots of benefits and more to come.

Live well and be well!

 Cheers,

Heidi

 

Chef Larry Canepa’s Creamy Bacon Mushroom Soup

January 3, 2010 / / 0 Comments

This week’s soup comes from Chef and Sommelier Larry Canepa who is also our Wine & Spirits consultant. Click here to read Larry’s Article on Sherry Wine.

Ingredients

  • 10 Bacon Strips, diced, cooked crisp, and drained
  • 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1 pound Fresh Mushrooms
  • 1 medium White Onion, chopped
  • 3 Garlic Cloves, minced
  • 1 quart Heavy Whipping Cream
  • 1 (14-1/2 ounces) Chicken Broth
  • 5 ounces shredded Swiss Cheese
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 3 tablespoons Cold Water
  • 1/2 teaspoon Fresh Ground Black Pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon Salt

 

  1. Add olive oil to stockpot. Heat over medium heat.
  2. Sauté mushrooms, chopped white onion, minced garlic until mushrooms begin to soften.
  3. Stir in heavy whipping cream and chicken broth.
  4. Stir in cheese in several batches, until melted.
  5. Add cornstarch, cold water, salt, and pepper to small bowl. Stir until smooth.
  6. Stir cornstarch mixture into soup.
  7. Bring to a gentle boil. Simmer 2 minutes until thickened.
  8. Serve in individual soup bowls. Garnish with bacon bits.
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