I had a drink and snack at the Holy Grale last night and totally loved the place. They have an amazing selection of craft beers from around the world and a delicious snack menu. I ordered a Norwegian Nogne 0 Kollaborator Doppelbock - 8.5% ABV and a dish of poutine (fries, cheese curds and gravy) and I was stunned by the tastes of both. The Holy Grale is incredibly small and seating can be problematic on a weekend. Beware - they do small pours, 12 ounces , so at $6.75 my stout was very pricy. Catching a buzz here could prove to be very very expensive. The staff know their beers and are very friendly. A few questions pointed me to a beer that I can honestly say I loved on first sip!

Condensed Milk

Condensed Milk
I was watching an episode of a cooking show the other day and they mentioned that the Vietnamese use condensed milk to lighten and sweeten their coffee. This method is popular due to the difficulty in keeping dairy products in a tropical environment. I was immediately curious to try this method and see how it tasted. My first stab was to use about 3 Tbsp for a large mug of Cafe du Monde chicory coffee.The result was delicious! There is a nice balance between the milk and sugar and has a good finish. I think I have found a new habit!

Harvest -

Harvest on East Market Street

Farmers Market - Bardstown Presbyterian

Visited this market for the first time this morning.  A nice selection of the basics were available plus some more unusual products.  I ended up buying some Romanesco Zucchini which I will use in the Zucchini Bread I am making for the State Fair.  Additional purchases were Purple Viking Potatoes. 2 inch long baby Japanese zucchini and Zephyr squash.  I also picked up a cow tongue and some goat milk soap.  Next week I want to try the Douglass Loop Market. I understand that members of the Limerick Community Garden have a booth there.

Bourbon of the Week - Early Times

Early Times is a good whiskey. It is not a bourbon because it is aged in used barrels and therefore does not meet the official requirements. This is not necessarily a bad thing though; all Scotch is aged in used bourbon barrels as well. The second use of the barrels makes the whiskey a bit less woody than most bourbons. The taste is pleasant and its finish is very smooth. This is not a sipping whiskey though; it is best in shots where a smooth finish is desired or as a mixer. Its cheap enough that you don't feel bad about wasting a good bourbon in coke. If it cost more than $20 a bottle it wouldn't compare to more flavorful spirits like Maker's Mark or Jim Beam Black but, at $10 a bottle it is an excellent buy.

Bourbon of the Week - Kessler

Kessler Bourbon

This bourbon was originally produced by Julius Kessler in 1888 in Leadsville, Colorado.  Kessler was an immigrant from Hungary and his bourbon was popular in the Wild West of the late 19th century.  The slogan for the bourbon is "Smooth as Silk".   The brand was purchased in 1935 by Seagrams and was marketed as a drink below their Crown Royal price point.

The bourbon is 80 proof and is astonishingly smooth for a blended bourbon.  The body is a deep amber in color, has good legs and the nose reveals deep tones of licorice, citrus and leather.

Seagrams now produces the bourbon in Louisville (over on 18th Street) and blends and bottles in Clermont, KY at the Jim Beam Distillery.

In Louisville, I picked up a fifth for 10.99 and was impressed by the bang for the buck. The closest comparison to this product so far is Old Crow, which is one of my favorite everyday drinking bourbons.

When I lived in New York City and was working as a chef, I used to make this every New Year's and it always sold out.  Served over white rice and corn bread of course.  There are lots of southerners outside of the south :)

Hoppin’ John

• 1 pound black eyed peas, rinsed and picked through
• 2 large Spanish onions, one peeled and halved through the root, one medium diced
• 2 carrots
• 4 bay leaves
• kosher salt to taste
• 8 ounces bacon, cut into 1/4-inch strips
• 5 cloves of garlic, or more, smashed with the side of a knife and roughly chopped
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (3 if you like it really hot)
• 1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
• One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes

1. Put the black eyed peas, the halved onion, the carrots and 3 bay leaves in a large pot.  Cover it all with about three inches of water (you’ll need about 2 quarts).  Put the pot over high heat, bring it to a simmer, then turn the burner to medium low and continue to cook until the beans are tender, about 60 to 90 minutes.  Add two or three teaspoons of salt midway through the cooking.  (Add more water if the water level goes below the beans.)  Reserve two cups of the cooking liquid.  Strain the peas, picking out and discarding the onion, carrots and bay leaves.
2. While the peas are cooking: in a pot big enough to hold the beans cook the bacon over medium low heat  until the fat is rendered and the bacon is browned.  Add the medium diced onion and a three fingered pinch of salt.  Cook over until the onion is softened and translucent and beginning to brown, five or ten minutes.  Add the cumin, pepper flakes, and black pepper, turn the burner to medium and stir to combine the seasonings with the onion.  Add the juice from the tomatoes.  Then add the tomatoes crushing them in your hand as if you were furious with them, dashing them, their brains squirting out between your fingers.  (You could instead put them on a cutting board, of course, and roughly chop them, then scrape the tomato and juices into the pan with the onion.)  Add the last bay leaf.  Bring this to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or so to reduce and thicken the sauce.
3. Stir in the black eyed-peas, and cook to heat through.  Add some or all of the reserved bean liquid to keep it juicy (add all of it if you’ll be chilling and reheating it).  Taste.  If it needs something, try a little more salt.  Still need something? Try some fish sauce.  Want it hotter?  Add more pepper flakes.  Too salty?  Oops!  Need to make a half batch with no salt and add it to this one! (Actually I’ve always found the above recipe to be on the money.)
4. Serve immediately, or if it’s Wednesday and you’re not serving it till Saturday (the case here), cool then chill it in the fridge uncovered, then cover it when it’s cold.  Reheat it slowly so as not to burn the bottom; add some water or some wine if it looks a little dry.
5. Serve with rice and some crunchy toasted and buttered bread, and garnish with pickled chillis if you have them!

Makes about 2 quarts of beans, which will serve about 15.

Eulogy For a Dying Breed

The last free-standing A&W Restaurant, open since the early 1960's on Dixie Highway near Kosmosdale, unceremoniously closed its doors a few months ago. The building now is a location for a Hawaiian hamburger chain called Kahuna Nui Burger and Fries..

This is a sad development.  One of my earliest memories is of my parents driving us from Fort Knox for frosty mugs of root beer.  I remember hot summer nights and the yellow neon lights of the drive-in.  The car hop delivering our food and drinks.  My brother and I would be in the back seat and would greedily handle our cold and frosty mugs of root beer.  The mugs seemed so huge in our small hands!  My mother was particularly enthralled with their phenomenal pork tenderloin sandwiches. and would stop by every time she was in that part of town.

Another part of my childhood has now faded away.

Sweet Potato Pancake Mix

I made these pancakes tonight for dinner and was amazed by how great they tasted.  The pancakes came out sweet and were wonderful with butter, syrup and a dusting of 10x sugar.

 Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon white sugar

1 1/4 cups milk

1 egg

3 tablespoons butter, melted

½ Cup Cooked Sweet Potato

1 teaspoon cinnamon

 Directions

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, cinnamon and sweet potato. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg and melted butter; mix until smooth.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

The Book of Tea - Kakuzo Okakura (1862-1913)

This is one of my current bedtime reads. Kakuzo discusses how tea has affected nearly every aspect of Japanese culture , thought, and life. The book is very accessible to English speakers because Kakuzo was taught at a young age to speak English; and spoke it all his life, becoming proficient at communicating his thoughts to the occidental mind. In his book, he discusses such topics as Zen and Taoism, but also the secular aspects of Tea and Japanese life.   This is a wonderful book to read while sipping a hot cup of tea.  His explanation of the Japanese Tea Ceremony is particularly engrossing.