Live the Live ™

There seems to be no end to the bourbon craze, and until it does end, I’m constantly looking for new bargains. For example, for a long time, my go-to bourbon was Eagle Rare 10 Year Old, which I could get for about $32 a bottle. It’s now up to $70 a bottle in some places. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining. It probably deserves that price, being a 10 year old. But I’m not going to buy it for mixed drinks anymore. A good choice to replace Eagle Rare is Buffalo Trace. Interestingly, both are made by the Buffalo Trace distillery. But I can’t always find Buffalo Trace when I want it, so I needed to find something else. What I found was 1792 Small Batch.

1792 Small Batch bourbon is my latest bang-for-the-buck bargain bourbon find. At $28.99 for a 750 ml bottle, you just can’t beat it for mixing or dropping a big cube in it for sipping.

Barton 1792 Distillery makes the 1792 line of bourbons. They were established in 1879, and continue today as the oldest fully operational distillery in Bardstown, Kentucky.

I originally thought the name 1792 came from the year the distillery first created it, but in actuality, 1792 was the year Kentucky, widely recognized as the birthplace of bourbon, became a state.

I wasn’t much of a gin drinker until my recent trip to New Zealand, where I discovered a whole new world of gin.

But before my trip, I was looking for a London dry gin to use in my Vesper martini recipe, and had heard about Ford’s gin. It didn’t take much convincing for me to try it when I saw that the price was $28.99 for a full liter!

Ford’s London Dry Gin was created by Simon Ford, a man who was looking for one gin that would work in all of the gin cocktails out there, making it the bartenders’ choice for any gin cocktail. With the help of bartenders, distillers, and avid drinkers, he came up with this London dry gin, featuring nine botanicals. It’s delicious, not overpowering like many gins can be, so it really does work well with any recipe you might use gin for.

In addition to taste, he thought about the bartenders themselves. The bottle is tall and ergonomically shaped, making it very easy to handle. Back when I was considering going to market with my homemade honey liqueur, the shape and size of the bottle was an incredibly important decision. Shorter, wider bottles might be put in the front row of a bar, but they’re more difficult to pour, and small hands can’t hold them properly. A taller bottle is easy to spot, and easier to handle. Ask any bartender, and they will tell you that they will go for the bottle that’s easiest to use if they have to make drinks all night long. 

The bottle also has measurement markings on the side, which allows you to measure out enough for large batches of martinis, say, if you’re having a party.

But the best part of all is the value. And it’s great in a Vesper or a simple gin and tonic.

Much of my new gin knowledge came from my recent trip to New Zealand. I had some interesting conversations with Nick, the owner of Kismet Cocktail & Whisky Bar in Nelson, NZ, a very well stocked bar with a very enthusiastic and knowledgable staff. Finding a place like that in your own town is not as easy as it sounds, as many bars stock the same booze from the same suppliers and don ‘t really make an effort to stand out in the crowd. If you find a place like that, consider yourself lucky!

Starting in the mid 1700’s, sailors in the British Navy were given a daily ration of rum. They called it a “tot,” and the practice of daily “tot” distribution lasted for almost 200 years, until July 31, 1970. When it ended, not only were there many sad British sailors, but there was also a vast amount of leftover rum. Much of it was sold off at high prices because the taste was excellent and the methods of its distillation were no longer used.

It made sense. In the old days, when liquids were stored in wooden barrels aboard ship, water, beer, and wine would go bad very quickly. Only something with a much higher alcohol content wouldn’t spoil. Rum was the answer. And getting the sailors drunk every day kept them from deserting…it was good for morale!

But while the sailors drank rum, Royal Navy officers drank gin. The use of exotic spices in gin was made possible by imports from Africa and Asia. Gin’s prevalence around the world is largely due to the fact that sailors set foot in many new cities on new continents.

And though the British Navy stopped the practice of issuing alcohol to its sailors in 1970, the Royal New Zealand Navy abolished the practice as late as 1990!

Until my recent trip to New Zealand, I was not a huge fan of gin. I liked it. A gin and tonic was a nice refreshing drink on a hot summer’s day. And my fascination with the Vesper martini, a combination of gin and vodka, made me appreciate gin even more.

But it wasn’t until I went to New Zealand, and tasted their magnificent gins, in combination with delicious tonics only available in that country, did I really start to appreciate the subtle differences between them.

The first thing that caught my eye when I was served a sample of Roots gin, distilled in Marlborough, was the label: “Navy strength dry gin.” I asked what that meant. Well, for one thing, it had more alcohol. And the reason for that was surprising. Since gin, like rum, was stored in wooden barrels on ships, very often next to barrels of gunpowder, the gin had to contain enough alcohol so that if it spilled onto the gunpowder, the gunpowder would still ignite! Not enough alcohol in the gin would waterlog the gunpowder and make it useless. So tests were actually done by pouring gin on gunpowder to see what the minimum percentage of alcohol was required to keep the gunpowder burning. The answer was about 57%. Anything below that and the gunpowder would not burn. They coined the term “Navy strength.”

(Although the bottle of Roots gin above weighs in at 54.5%, it’s properly called “Navy strength.” In 1866, to keep sailors from getting completely hammered, the British Royal Navy reduced the alcohol content of the rum they were distributing to 54.5%. Hence, a new “Navy strength.”)

The other advantage to a Navy strength gin is taste. If you’re not diluting it with water, not only are you getting more alcohol, but you’re also getting more of the herbaceous flavor you want in a gin.

Up until my trip to New Zealand, my experience with gin was limited to the usual list of suspects: Tanqueray, Bombay Sapphire, and Hendrick’s. I also more recently discovered Ford’s, a very nice London dry gin I use in my Vesper martinis.

But in New Zealand, many of the gins were floral and herb-forward, and I found that I like that. I like that a lot. For example, Victor, another Marlborough gin, was like “Hendrick’s on steroids.” I said that to my bartender at the Urban Eatery and Oyster Bar in Nelson, NZ, and she agreed. Delicious.

Although gins may vary in alcohol content, rules about serving liquor in New Zealand are very strict, certainly by US standards. For example, a “double” in New Zealand is 30ml. That’s 1 ounce! And that’s a standard pour for a cocktail. You can, I found out, ask for a “double-double.” And in that case, they would serve you a 1-ounce shot on the side with your drink, and you would have to pour it in yourself.

When I told the bartenders in New Zealand that we have 4-ounce martinis at any decent steakhouse in the US, and they realized that was 120 mls, their jaws pretty much dropped and hit the bar. One bartender gasped: “That’s irresponsible!” I told her that two of those drinks is widely considered the “businessman’s lunch” here in the states. She just shook her head.

The phrase “proof” also has a very different meaning.

In the states, it’s pretty simple: it’s double the percentage of alcohol. So a bottle that’s 40% alcohol is 80 proof.

But the phrase “proof” comes from there British Royal Navy’s “proof” test. They would take the gin, pour it onto gunpowder, and if it ignited, that would prove there is sufficient alcohol in the gin. They would say that the gin was “gunpowder proof,” and it would be allowed onboard the ship.

So in the UK, a spirit with 57.15% is 100 degrees proof. A spirit with 40% alcohol is 70 degrees proof.

For me, it’s easier to simply remember to check the percentage of alcohol, and go from there.

One of the reasons I fell in love with New Zealand gin was because it was often served with East Imperial tonic, a New Zealand product not available in the United States. When the amount of alcohol you’re allowed in your glass is limited (by our standards, anyway), what fills the rest of it up becomes incredibly important. East Imperial is the best line of tonics I’ve ever tried.

Made in small batches like craft beers, East Imperial tonics make all the difference. The closest thing we have here in the states is the line of Fever Tree products. Before they came along, tonic was tonic, and we were perfectly happy with whatever we found in the supermarket or what came out of a squirt gun at our local bar.

It stands to reason that a great cocktail is the total sum of its parts: great gin, great tonic, great ice.

I was in the supermarket the other day, and a pack of pork chops called to me as I walked by the meat department. I hadn’t had pork chops in ages, and it was time to try something new with them.

The balsamic vinegar used in this recipe is not the crazy expensive stuff. It’s the bottle you probably already have in your kitchen cabinet that costs about nine bucks.

The cool thing about this recipe is that you make it all in one pan, and on the stovetop.

4 or 5 bone-in pork chops
olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 large Spanish onion, diced
2 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth (homemade is always best)
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
5 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
6 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

Season the pork chops with the salt, pepper and thyme.

Add some olive oil to a large pan, and when it’s hot, sear the pork chops on both sides until they’re nice and brown.

Remove the pork chops from the pan and set them aside. Pour out the fat in the pan, add a touch of olive oil, and put it back on the heat. Add the onions, sautéing them for about 10 minutes until they’ve softened, and then add the garlic. Sauté a minute more.

Add the chicken broth, Dijon, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce. Stir to combine.

Return the pork chops back to the pan, nestling them down into the sauce. Add any of the juices that may have collected when you set the chops aside.

Bring the pan to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover the pan. Let it cook for 45 to 60 minutes. I like to flip the chops about halfway through the cooking process.

To serve, remove the chops from the pan, and smother them with the sauce! You may want to reduce or thicken the sauce a bit, but I like it just the way it is!

My daughter wanted something special for breakfast a few Saturdays ago, and she brought a ready-to-mix box of Belgian waffle mix out of the cupboard. I read the instructions, and it required using the entire box, which made 10 gigantic waffles…way too much for us to eat in one sitting!

I figured there had to be a homemade Belgian waffle recipe somewhere online, and using ingredients I already had at home. The Food Network’s Alton Brown is usually my go-to source for recipes like this, and sure enough, he had a waffle recipe. But it used buttermilk and whole wheat pastry flour, neither of which I had in my pantry or fridge. Alton’s recipe would have to wait for another day.

I finally found one that used regular milk instead of buttermilk. I combined organic all-purpose flour with organic whole wheat flour; I like the richness in flavor whole wheat flour brings.

I try to always use organic unbleached flours, because wheat is another one of those crops that gets blasted with pesticides and chemicals in both growing and processing.

The Kitchen Aid might be overkill, but I don’t have a hand mixer!

*Separating eggs*
I like to take 2 small bowls and place them on the counter. I take an egg and crack it on a flat surface, which reduces the chance of a shell fragment getting into the egg. Going back and forth between eggshell halves, the yolk stays in the shell while the whites drip down into one of the bowls. The clean yolk goes in the other bowl. Repeat with the other egg.

It’s important to remember that you CAN have a little egg white with your yolk. It won’t hurt anything. BUT…you can NOT have any yolk with your egg whites! The whites will not whip up if there’s even the tiniest bit of yolk in them!

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 large eggs, separated
2 cups milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre-heat the waffle iron, spraying it with cooking spray. (I like to use a high-smoking point oil like avocado oil.)

In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose and wheat flour, the sugar, baking powder, and cinnamon.

Carefully separate the eggs whites from the yolks, placing the yolks in a bowl with the milk, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Whisk until combined.

Place the egg whites in a bowl and beat with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. (I don’t have a hand mixer, so I used my stand mixer for this job.)

Add the yolk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Next, fold the egg whites carefully into the bowl. You should have a beautiful, light airy batter, that has a wonderful cinnamon fragrance.

Ready to fold in…

Pour the batter into the hot waffle iron (according to your iron’s directions.)

Serve the waffles immediately with butter, syrup, fruit, whipped cream, or anything else you love!

On my recent trip to the northern half of New Zealand’s South Island, I made it a point to try as many foods as I could, from simple cafes to pubs, from farm-to-table fine dining to roadside shacks. On my journey of over 1000 miles, here are some of the best plates I enjoyed.

The market fish crudo at Urban Eatery and Oyster Bar in Nelson. The market fish of the day was warehou, a delicious fish I had on several occasions in New Zealand. Plated with scorched cream, orange segments and curry leaf oil, this was the only dish of my vacation that I had twice. The cream was so good, you were glad they served it with a spoon!

Troy’s line-caught Grouper “wings” at Saint Clair Family Estate in Blenheim, Marlborough wine country. One of the great discoveries of this trip was how many wineries had their own fantastic restaurants! Nestled among the grapevines were outdoor tables, plus plenty undercover inside. Meaty and delicious and on-the-bone, these grouper wings, on a spicy tomato salsa with coriander and lime, were just amazing! Had I stayed in Marlborough longer, I would have come back for these again!

Baked Mills Bay (Havelock, NZ) mussels with tamarind mayonnaise, Sichuan chili oil, and chives at the Boat Shed Cafe in Nelson, NZ. It’s literally a boat shed, a tiny place serving up great food on the Nelson waterfront. I had these for lunch, and they were out of this world! And these bad boys were big…because that’s the way they grow ‘em here!

Ora King salmon, edamame beans, confit garlic, pickled daikon, fried wakame, lemongrass and lime dressing. Also from the Boat Shed Cafe in Nelson. I ate my weight in Ora King salmon on this trip, partly because it’s hard to find in the United States and partly because it’s so damn good! I’ve had it raw, smoked, and cooked. This was my favorite version of all that I had tried.

My first dish in New Zealand, and a sign of great things to come. A delicious fish with the texture of mahi mahi: it’s called tarakihi, with fried artichokes, almond, fennel, olive and ruby grapefruit at Hopgood’s & Co. in Nelson, NZ.

No, I didn’t just eat seafood! Of course, you have to have the incredible pastured grass-fed lamb when you come to New Zealand, and this was my favorite roasted version of it, offered at the beautiful Black EstateVineyard in North Canterbury, NZ. BBQ Wash Creek (Canterbury) lamb, smoked eggplant, carrot tops. The bean side dish was delicious, with varieties I’ve never had before: BBQ Little Owl beans, honey and sesame. Another amazing vineyard that not only has fabulous wines, but serves beautiful local food.