Our Passion for Salumi

As I sit eating one of my many favorite salames-sopressata with some crusty rustic Italian bread and alittle extra virgin olive oil, I was excited to read in our local newspaper, Greg Morago, Houston Chronicle food writer, tell us that one of the food trends of 2011 is the explosion of Italian cured meats or salumi. Salumi is the general Italian term for cured meats like proscuitto and pancetta although some cooked meats like mortadella and the famous steamed ham Proscuitto Cotto are included. Another name Charcuterie is the French term for cured meats.

I look for my book, SALUMI, by John Piccetti and Salumiere Francois Vecchio and read again about the facinating story of the oft-confusing categories of artisanal salumi as well as recipes for people who don't know what to do with cured meats other than slicing and eating them! John Piccetti owned the Columbus Salame Company in San Francisco and Francois, born in Switzerland, devoted 50 years of his life making salumi, including the training both salumierie and chefs in the art of curing meats.

I remember when I first toured Columbus, Francois was still there as a consultant, and he showed us the wonderful world of salami making. His passion was so strong. Little did I know 10 years ago that reviving old world traditions would be a big trend for 2011!

Most people don't realize that you can't import salame to the U.S per our regulations. Raw meats must be cured at least 400 days before we can import them. Ok with Proscuitto de Parma as its aged anywhere from 12 to 24 months but if you age salame over 100 days, you'd be eating sawdust. Thus the startup of many American salumi companies.

!Oops, I forgot a glass of Zin to compliment my salami and some good artisan sini pecorino romano to munch on. Food just can't get any better than this....

What's the Buzz! Beehive Creamery

Being a Utah State Aggie graduate, I've been following Pat Ford and Tim Welsh's cheesemaking at their Beehive Cheese Co. for several years.Their plant which opened in 2005 is set in the beautiful Weber Canyon in a valley between the forested Wasatch Mountains. To me, Utah is such a beautiful state and was fortunate to go to college in the city of Logan with many fun memories of school and friends. Pat and Tim were smart to incorporate Utah State, one of the few remaining universities in the country that has a creamery, to help develop the base for their cheddars.

One of their first cheeses and probably the best well known is Barely Buzzed. It's a traditional

cheddar rubbed with expresso (from Legacy Coffee Co in Colorado owned by Tim's brother) and lavender. This cheese has won 1st place at the American Cheese Society for the past 3 years and just last year in Austin, Texas. What intrigues me about this cheese is that the flavor doesn't just quit at the rind but continues all the way through the cheese. The expresso flavor is not overwhelming, and the lavender notes are subtle. Pairs well with beer and what a great name for a cheese!

I truly like their Seahive which is hand rubbed with their Beehive Wildflower honey and local Redmond RealSalt. Their newest cheese called Butter Bound is rubbed with cultured butter and aged for 8 months. I couldn't stop eating the samples that Pat sent last week of this sweet cheese.

The milk is what makes their cheeses so great, and they buy only Jersey milk from WadeLand Dairy near the mineral-rich Great Salt Lake. Its pure and clean and, they have done their homework locating the right dairy. The evening milk is delivered by the dairy the same night the cows are milked, and the cheesemaking process begins within a few hours. They make 8 batches of cheese per week by hand in their creamery which makes it even that more artistinal.

Sqeeky Cheese Curds are becoming a fun way to serve cheese and Beehive is coming out with many different flavors. Cheese curds are fresh cheddar cheese in its natural shape before being processed into blocks or wheels to be aged. Curds have a mild taste with a slightly rubbery texture and should squeak when eaten. In the midwest they deep-fry them. Sounds like a Texas thing to me. You will find them only at specialty shops like Hubbell & Hudson in the Woodlands and Antonellis's in Austin.

Its great to see these two guys so full of passion about making cheese the artisan way by hand, as well as carry the flavors of their cheeses from the terroirs of their beloved Utah.

Handmade Salami Review: Creminelli and Columbus Artisan - Scordo.com

Handmade Salami Review: Creminelli and Columbus Artisan

Cruising with Cheese

What fun to go on a cruise with family over New Years on the grand Ruby Princess to the Caribbean islands of Princess Keys, St. Thomas, Dominica, Bonaire, Grenada and Aruba. This ship holds over 3000 passengers and was built in Italy just two years ago. She certainly is a beauty.

Its great to have family on board and especially if you haven't seen everybody over a year.

Here Katherine is dancing to music from one of the many bands playing on ship. Lots of parties, champagne and fun to ring in 2010.

Katherine with her New Year's hat sitting at dinner before the parties began. Kids sure make you laugh and entertain you when cruising!!

Elizabeth with her father sitting down for a lobster dinner. Did I say she ordered a burger and fries?

New to the ship is a international cafe and coffee bar. Across the deck was the wine and cheese bar. I was impressed!

Elizabeth at the dinner table after a day at the beach. I don't think we would get away with this at our age although I did see some 70' ish folks on deck snoozing before we even went to breakfast at 9 a.m.

Another pose of Elizabeth at the table...

Every night the menu included a cheese plate with bread and nuts. Cheeses available were: Morbier, Emmental, Brie, Cheddar and Stilton. What no Spanish Manchego or American Barely Buzzed from Utah?

Katherine loves brie so although the chocolate ice cream probably tasted better than the brie, she was a trouper who made room for alittle cheese.

We love chocolate.... napkin and all

Sam was our waiter for 10 days and would love somehow to get him this picture as he really catered to the kids and family. He has a family of his own in Thailand and am sure 9 months on a boat is a long time to be away from them. Sam said he will probably take 6 months off this time around.

Final day before disembarking the boat. Elizabeth is wearing her cowboy hat and holding a baa (sheep) which I gave her when she was one year old. She still is attached to baa and goes nowhere without it.

Vacation over and back to h-town. My tan is peeling but memories are great with pictures!!

Houston Wine School

November 9, 2009 was the beginning of my five week wine course taught by master sommelier, Guy Stout of Glazier Distributing and Eric Hasting, advanced sommelier from Eddie V in Houston. It was held at Peter Garcia's El Meson restaurant. Peter himself, is a certified sommelier and has two extensive wine cellars that he built at his popular Spanish restaurant in the Rice Village. He is so passionate about his wines which he is well known for, and it reflects in his extensive wine list.

Our sessions were divided into areas of the world where most of the varietals of grapes are made for wine. The first week started with the American wines from California,Oregon etc., and ended with wines from the French Champagne, Burgundy, Alsace, Rhone Valley and Provence region.

I was glad to help Peter and Guy out with some cheeses we had open in our refrigerator at work along with olives, nuts and fruit provided by El Meson. Such fun doing this!

Here we tasted some great wines from the Southern Hemisphere like Wolf Blass Shiraz from New Zealand and Dona Paula Malbec from Argentina. My, there are so many wines to learn and decided to keep it simple and write a diary of which wines I liked. Fun were the wines of Italy especially the Mionetto Prosecco and Bonfi Brunello which retails for $60 in the stores.

Our last class was exciting as we went thru the French region of Champagne, Alsace, Burgundy and Rhone. Our tip was to buy the Perrin Bros. Cotes du Rhone 05,06,07.
Guy brought a bottle ofVeuve Clicquot 1998. Never thought I'd be drinking a $200 bottle of bubbly!

As I leave my classes on wine, I know I need to take a few more courses which will help sink some of this knowledge in. Do I have another 10 years to learn wines like I have cheese???

A old Iowa love...

I was in Waterloo, Iowa (home of John Deer tractors) Oct 8-11 for my class reunion at West High School. I couldn't leave without having a maid-rite which I enjoyed as a kid growing up there. Back then, I remember having the ones in Clear Lake where we spent our summers. Across from the Surf Ballroom (famous as its where Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper played the night their plane crashed north of Clear Lake) was a little place where you would walk in and order your maid-rite which they'd put on a bun with a ice cream scoop. The really famous maid-rite is Taylor's in Marshaltown, Iowa, but was just glad to see two in Waterloo.

Time looks like it hasn't changed this place. Annie's is on Logan Ave across from Allen Hospital in Waterloo.

A maid-rite, fries, coleslaw and coke was $5.00 Loved it....

Made with 100% Choice beef with only pickles, onion and mustard.

Ketchup is available but you must ask.

I love Alison Cook's friday burger blog in Houston as she visits burger joints and blogs about them. I wonder if she has ever had a maid-rite? I should get Taylor's in Marshaltown, which does ship anywhere, to send her one and see what she thinks. Hopefully, she'd give it a A+ like I did.

YouTube - Wrapping Cheese 3

YouTube - Wrapping Cheese 3