Text 11844, 131 rader
Skriven 2008-08-11 00:39:00 av JIM WELLER (1:123/140)
Ärende: A great steak dinner
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Our company had its annual bbq (grill) last night. As always (my
co-workers have no imagination) we had the standard Canadian summer
classic: steaks, foil wrapped baked potatoes, corn on the cob and
Caesar salad along with copious amounts of beer, wine and bloody
Caesars.

But this year's affair was better than most.

We held it at a co-worker's house. She has a place about five miles
out of town on the banks of the Yellowknife River right by a bridge
that crosses the river (one of just three such places, built before
the land development freeze that is part of the ongoing Federal-
Native comprehensive land claims settlement talks). It's on a small
lane within sight of the road and the bridge on a hill overlooking
the shore. There's a rocky path down to a dock, but no beach. The
yard is chuck full of wild roses and ten kinds of berries. A great
get away, calm and peaceful, but a short haul from the city.

The dinner was catered. My old friend Sato, who ran a successful
steak house here for years, finally retired, leasing out his
building and business to some younger newcomers. I haven't been back
since the new people took over but I hear it has been extensively
modernized and renovated (it had a dated 60s steak house look) with
several new additions to the menu, expertly executed. Any way, the
new owner's sous chef catered our supper on his day off with help
from another employee from the restaurant.

The steaks were prime Alberta black Angus New York strips. The
seasoning was the secret steak seasoning Sato developed. I detected
salt, pepper, garlic, rosemary and coriander but there is more to
it than that. Sous chef guy got all of them grilled precisely as
requested, rare for me, medium for Roslind.

All his other dishes had an added twist or little something extra to
transcend them from the realm of the home grill amateur in his back
yard to top steak house standards.
                                       
He did a small batch of chicken breasts for starters and in case
there was someone there who didn't like steak. A great spice rub
based on the steak spice plus other things like sage and savory, the
breasts nicely blackened but moist and even a little pink on the
inside. Moist because they had been heavily brined beforehand but
the saltiness was welcome with the hot weather and cold beer.

Also off the grill: corn on the cob brushed with chile butter,
asparagus with garlic butter and of course the mandatory baked
potatoes served up with the standard sour cream, scallions and bacon
bits (real bacon though).

Three salads: a tangy cole slaw with a citrusy dressing served in
radicchio leaf cups, a classic, very garlicky Caesar salad and a
light pasta salad, heavy on the vegetables, light on the pasta.

For dessert: triple chocolate mousse cake, spiced apple pie and
fresh peach pie.

I had one helping of everything but the potatoes and apple pie, two
of the asparagus and chicken.

The company supplied several coolers of beer including Kokanee which
is a cut above the other mega-swills and Corona which several of my
fellow employees consider exotic.

Also several bottles of 2007 Black Chook Shiraz-Viognier from
Langhorne Creek, Australia.

(Wine review cobbled together from web sources.... "As the bigger
sibling of Woop Woop, the Black Chook once again represents a
collaboration between Ben Riggs the wine maker at Penny's Hill, and
Tony Parkinson, proprietor of Penny's Hill. The Black Chook is
sourced from McLaren Vale, known for it's consistent, Mediterranean-
type climate and Langhorne Creek which characteristically produces
Shiraz that is spicy, flavorful and elegant. Co-fermenting small
amounts of Viognier skins with Shiraz adds wonderful apricot
perfumes, at the same time as intensifying the deep rich color and
velvety mouth-feel of the wine.

In Canada Woop Woop & Black Chook are imported by Delf Wine Group of
Delta, British Columbia.

91 points Robert Parker: "Talented winemaker Ben Riggs has fashioned
this blend of 94% Shiraz and 6% Viognier, which spent 10 months in
French oak. This terrific value represents the frugal person's
Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline. Its dark ruby/purple color is
accompanied by an exotic, floral bouquet revealing aromas of
apricots, black currants, and cherries. With loads of fruit, a soft
texture, and an adventurous, exotic personality, it will be a fun
wine to drink over the next 2-3 years."

According to the Wine Spectator: "Youthful, vibrant and flavorful,
with the floral spicy note of Viognier singing harmony with the
juicy currant and plum fruit ... an attractive, honest red.

Chook is Australian for chicken. And though germane this fact might
be, it has nothing to do with this concentrated juicy little number
from South Australia. As one might expect there is a black chicken
on the label, but what really matters is the small proportion of
white grapes in the bottle. Yes, that 5% viognier adds its special
something in the form of femininity and perfume, just like in Cote
Rotie."

There was also a Malbec that I didn't get around to tasting as the
Black chook was "morish" and a white that I passed on. Oh yeah,
there was an assortment of those alchy-pop coolers as well.
 
My broker also made a huge batch of most excellent Caesars using
Mott's Clamatto juice (which has nary a clam in it anymore) enriched
with a bottle of real clam nectar. Caesars go well with steak and
make a nice buffer between the beer before and the wine after.

All in all a tasty meal and a delightful laid back evening. This is
one of two nights per year (the other being the Saturday before
Christmas and our other staff party) where everyone turns their
cells off, ignores their clients and schedules no open houses the
next day, so we can totally relax. People drifted home between
midnight and 7 AM depending on their youth and stamina. A limousine
service ferried us back in shifts.

I may have, just possibly, just slightly, gone over Roslind's imposed
four drink limit so the limo was welcome. And my cell is still (9 PM
Sunday) on call forwarding to voice mail as I cope with a rare
hangover. But we need these blowouts twice a year to cope with the
stress; that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Cheers

YK Jim 

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