Top 3 Signature Dishes with Wine Pairings

Why is it important for a chef to have a repertoire of mind blowing dishes in their arsenal?

Is it for customer satisfaction? Yup.

Personal gratification? Mostly.

Survival? %100

I’m talking about the dishes they have served, tweaked, perfected and ingrained so deeply into themselves that they could produce them in their sleep, and yet they become more honest and comforting every time they share them with a diner.

I say it’s about survival because, at least in my experience, in the kitchen you spend a good few years trying to pretend like you know what is going on. Showing up early day after day, making mistake after mistake like a glutton for punishment. Who knows why they hold your hand through it all, possibly because chef used to be in your shoes. Truly, he needs the cheap labor.

Eventually, you get comfortable being out of your league, surrounded by chefs who produce masterpieces seemingly on a whim. All the whole you slowly become a sponge to their mannerisms, unbeknownst to yourself.

Not long after that you start to produce your own rusty wheelhouse of dishes. These taste nothing akin to your predecessor’s, but you will spend the next few years trying to get it right at the expense of your current employer.

Then, after hundreds of trials and failures something magical happens. These dishes morph and become more a representation of yourself than anything you started out trying to imitate.

I find these dishes selfishly nostalgic, and constantly evolving (honestly because of the better wine at my disposal). Most importantly these are the sorts of dishes that have real love in them, and people can truly taste that. It’s a beautiful thing to share.

So I wanted to share a few of my favorite things with you today. An entree, salad, and dessert. These are the recipes and wine pairings that have made my career, and hopefully made a few special evening for some diners.

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1 BBQ Pork-chop

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(Description)

Bbq Spiced Pork Chop, served with Sweet Corn Gravy, Chili Pickled Cabbage, and Fried Green Tomatoes. Served with Merlot.

Let’s start with the spice rub, and chop.

2 parts kosher salt, chili powder, smoked paprika, and onion powder.

1 parts ground coriander, ground thyme, granulated garlic, black pepper.

Rub deeply into a bone in pork chop right before you pan sear and finish in the oven.

Next the Sweet Corn Gravy

2 c. Minced bacon

1 yellow onion diced

4 cobs corn kernels

4 c. Chicken stock

2 T. Minced garlic

2 c. Heavy cream

2 T. Sherry vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

Start by rendering the bacon, then add the onion garlic and corn. Deglaze with stock, bring to a simmer and add cream. Reduce by 1/3, adjust seasoning and then blend.

This can easily be done ahead of time and heated to order in a sauté pan, a touch of cream or stock won’t hurt to loosen it up.

Next we will Chili Pickle Cabbage

The pickle liquid is as follows, adjust batch sizes as needed to submerge your shredded red cabbage.

6 c. Champagne vinegar

4 c. Water

2 c. Sugar

1 T. Coriander, ground

1/2 c. Togarashi

2 T. Garlic, minced

1/2 c. Kosher salt

Bring this to a boil, lower to simmer for 5 minutes and then let cool properly. Then pour over shredded cabbage, and allow one night before use.

Finally all you gotta do is fry some good old fashioned green tomatoes. Get some good quarter inch slices. Then dredge them in flour, egg wash, and coat with your secret breading mixture (One cup flour, one cup semolina, 3 tablespoons blackening seasoning). Fry until golden brown.

The beautiful thing about this dish is no matter how you plate it, it will be a hit, you could serve it in a greasy spoon or a country club. I’ve done both.

(Wine)

The reason merlot works so perfectly is because it needs a Medeium bodied wine to reason with the spices. The mild sweetness of the dishes components is complimented as well by the less tonic nature of the wine.

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2 Blackberry Salad

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(Description)

Lightly pickled blackberries with mixed greens, candied pecans, red radish batons, goat cheese, bermuda onion and a blackberry vinegarette. Served with Reisling.

Let’s candy our pecan halves first

- Blanch nuts in boiling water 30 seconds to I minute.

- Strain and shake off excess water .

- Transfer to bowl and coat blanched nuts in powdered sugar.( roughly 1 cup sugar to 1 cup nuts) It will look like a wet icing.

- Quickly deep fry until nuts are floating and glossy, but not getting dark. Do not overcrowd fryer.

Transfer nuts to cooling area and seperate individually by hand. Finish with some salt, while oil on nuts is still hot. These hold beautiful on the shelf or in a freeer for months.

Next

Lightly Pickled BlackBerries

2 parts champagne vinegar, and sugar.

4 parts water

-Bring to a simmer, cool completely, submerge berries, and allow 2 days before use.

All we have to do now is make a vinegarette before we assemble with our freshly chopped meis en place.

BlackBerry Vinegarette

One part sweet (honey)

One part sour (apple cider vinegar)

Two parts olive oil.

Blend one part blackberries with honey and the apple cider vinegar, next add the olive oil gradually to the running blender.

So now we just have to assemble this beast.

Let’s assume you’ve already sliced your red radishes razor thin, as well as matchsticked some red onion slices. Put several into a bowl with some mixed greens. Add a few of your candies pecans and mix in with your vinaigrette (also season with a pinch of salt and pepper, mhmm)

Form your salad in the bowl and move to a plate. Pinch off as many chunks of goat cheese as you want and stick them on your salad like your decorating a Christmas tree. Throw in some more candies pecans if you have a sweet tooth.

(Wine)

Serve with a dry Reisling, this wines balances of acid and sugar will prepare your diners for an entree guaranteed. Normally it’s nice to not mimic the dishes balance of a sweetness and acidity, I feel like as part of a tasting menu, or an appetizer this dish segues brilliantly into a second order.

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3 Chocolate Zuchinni cake

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(Description)

Rich chocolate cake served with yogurt frosting, immaserated blueberries, blueberry cooli, and a no bake chocolate cookie.

Cake ingredients...

1 c. butter room temp .

2 c. Sugar

1 c. honey

4 ea. eggs

2 t. vanilla

1 c. buttermilk

2 1/2 c. flour

4 oz. cocoa

1 t. baking powder

2 t. sea salt

2 t. baking soda

4 c. caursley grated Zucchini

Cake procedure...

- Cream butter and sugar.

- Sift dry ingredients.

- Lightly beat eggs and add to butter until fully incorporated.

- And honey and milk to wet batter.

- Slowly add dry ingredients untill well mixed.

- Fold in zucchini by hand.

- Grease and flour a 200* hotel pan, pour in cake, and spread evenly .

- Bake at 325 + for 35-45 minutes. Check with a tooth pick or cake tester to make sure cake is set.

So now your slice of cake needs a cookie side, a frosting, a garnish, and a jam

the Chocolate No Bake Cookie

1 c. peanut butter

1/2 c. honey

1/2 c. butter

2 t. vanilla extract

2 1/4 c. quick oats

3T. cocoa powder

-Warm the peanut butter, honey, and butter on a stove until well combined.

-fold in remaining ingredients.

- roll into bite sized pieces. (Great with rice crispies instead of oats as well.)

Blueberry Jam

340 g. Blueberries

80 g. Caster Sugar

10 g. sea salt

100 g. Chardonnay

2 g. cinnamon

5 g. Pectin

.5 c. lemon juice

- Bring to a simmer - 1 min. Then blend and return to a simmer with pectin for - 1 min.

Frosting

Sweeten Greek yogurt with powdered sugar until you can’t take it anymore. It will be just thick enough to put into a pastry bag and decorate your cake slice.

Decorate your cake slice with frosting, boozy blueberries, and a no bake cookie. Serve with Port

(Wine)

Find a Port that is middle of the road, too sweet and it will overwhelm the chocolate, too acidic and it will clash harshly. The good news is that to most palates this is unlikely, and Port and chocolate generally do wonders for each other.

Thank you for reading and my bottom line is... I don’t care what dish you have an emotional connection to, develop it. You will also progress someone else’s passion by sharing it with them.