Text 6391, 125 rader
Skriven 2006-10-11 01:06:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: dinner at Beth's 386
============================
National Frappe Day
7 October 2996
Stoneholm
Chez Riely

[The remainder of the menu is unaccountably in French,
so I've retranslated it]

Smoked mussels on bed of fennel bulb in phyllo shells -
these were from Ducktrap Farms so reliably tasty and
well made; the fennel had probably been poached and was
very delicate. Phyllo shells are a clever variation on
puff pastry shells - they are of course incredibly
crunchy and not subject to the vagaries of regular
puff pastry. Nice contrast of firm, soft, and crackling,
strong smoke and smooth fennel.

Country pate with mustard and cornichons on peasant
brown bread - the pate was kind of bland despite the
whole green peppercorns sown amid the pork bits; garlic
was negligible, which was the main way one could tell
that I didn't have a hand in making it. I sliced it up and
made canapes with the supplied ingredients: that Germanic
brown bread that you get in leaden little loaves, grainy
Dijon mustard, and tart delicious cornichons.

Campari and soda

Chowder of seasonal vegetables with shrimp - the seasonal
vegetables included red bell pepper and corn, semi-pureed,
rather nice, with brined large shrimp on top. 

2001 Macon-Lugny Les Genievres, Cote d'Or (Louis Latour) -
this wine was beginning to show its age, with the fruitiness
having given way to the granitic almost Chablislike aspect.
Lemon and herbs on the nose, good legs, a strong Chardonnay
palate and good finish. Emphasized the shrimpiness of the
shrimp and slightly damaged by the sweetness of the soup,
but I'm not sure what wine would have gone with that.

Muscovy duck breasts with mushrooms - Beth asked me for
advice regarding how to do the duck: we agreed that starting
the breasts skin side down with the skins deeply scored to
release some of the fat, cooked at a pretty high temperature,
then flipped and finished at a somewhat lower setting. They
were cooked way way longer than I'd have done them, so they
were sort of medium well and had a nice ducky livery taste.
What I'd probably done was cooked them skin side down at a
medium low temperature for a very long time, periodically
pouring off the fat, and then just flipping them for a few
minutes so the interior was very pink.

Lundberg Black Japonica rice, red and black mixed - starch.
Probably $5 or more a pound, but I'd prefer any kind of
white rice. The color - ebony and lacquer - was striking
though.

Broccoli rabe - the usual. No garlic, probably in respect
for the wine.

1967 Chateau Pichon Lalande (Pauillac) - It has been said that
every bottle of Pichon Lalande is riddled with TCA - up to 10
times that that renders a lesser bottle "corked." The strength
of the bouquet overcomes that, and the corked aspect is said
to add to the character of the wine. This wine was CORKED. Some
of this blew off, or else the character of the wine came out to
overwhelm it. At best, a bit of greenness and woodiness in among
the blackcurrant jamminess. I'd likely have tried to send this
wine back had it been at a restaurant, but it was Nicholas's
hundred-dollar wine, so I just made polite noises and mentioned
the TCA word ten times or so. The finish was fine. The wine was
medium red with just a tad of thinning around the rim.

1999 Chateau Pichon-Longueville, Comtesse de Lalande (Pauillac)
- lots of ripe fruit up front, blackcurrants and berries and a
fairly large bit of tannin that made me think Hugh Johnson was
nuts when he recently rated this wine as ready to drink. Coffee
and vanilla caramel. A bit lactic. Not the greatest wine in the
world, but a good long finish. Velvety dark red throughout. It
deteriorated in the glass, though, which the 1967 did not, and
after an hour had become a black-peppery fruitless corpse in
the glass - a remarkable transformation. By the way, this is
the same chateau as the 1967, only it had changed its label
in the interim.

Green salad with pomegranate and dry-toasted hazelnuts - and
pepitas too, with a light dressing of Balsamic and EVOO.

Reserve Gouda Koninkrijk der Nederlanden - good dark color,
promising a cheese of years' age. Flavor was milky as most
Dutch cheeses are but with a bit of a bite and some of that
crystalline aspect that you get in aged Cheddars and Parms.
Not bad at all, but I'd prefer a 2-or-3-year Cheddar at
half the price.

Monchevre goat milk Cheddar (Belmont, Wisconsin) - dead old
goat. What can I say?

1957 Vougeot Clos de la Perriere, Cote de Nuits (Lupe-Cholet)
- a remarkable wine, as it looked as though it was a 1997
or something, with bright ruby highlights, no age thinning
around the rim. Fresh nose, no mustiness (although the cork
had been moldy), bright cherry-like flavors. Not a wine for
deep examination, but very pleasant in the way that a fine
young wine can be. And this was 49 years old. I think that
it would benefit from another few years' cellaring!

Lavender shortbreads, vanilla and apricot ice creams, with
redcurrant and Damascus plum sauce - none of these was
particularly sweet, which was good. The shortbreads had a
delicate floral taste except when one bit into an actual
lavender bud. The ice creams were not rich - more like gelati
- but full of flavor. 

1995 Gewurztraminer, Hengst, Wintzerheim, Alsace Grand Cru
(Dom. Zind-Humbrecht) - an overpowering honey and flowers
bouquet, with flowers and tropical fruit on the palate.
Unfortunately, we were served this as a dessert wine, and
although not bone dry, it was minerally and not sweet at all.
Also a vigorous young wine, at its peak. Delicious by itself, but
even the semi-sweet desserts brought out a lot of bitterness.

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