By John, 8 February, 2013

A Little Something For Your Honey

Chili Mead with ChocolateMead is making it big in New England. There's good reason for it to do well, as another artisanal product in a region that hes been very good for foodie artisans. Even Yankee Magazine has noticed.

Mead is not just for Vikings anymore. It is one of the most ancient fermented beverages, known from many cultures around the world. It is brewed from honey, but the honey-sweetness varies greatly from very sweet to very dry depending on how you ferment it.  

Honeymaker Lavender MeadHoneymaker Lavender Mead paired very nicely with a savory fresh ricotta tart made by Annette for our mead tasting dinner. It would make a lovely Valentine's Day dinner.  They make a variety of fine meads; I selected the lavender because I thought it especially suited Valentine's Day and because Annette loves the scent of lavender.

By John, 8 February, 2013

Craft Beer and Medieval Mead in Midcoast Maine

Pemaquid PointI love visiting windy, rocky Pemaquid Point in the winter. The rocks there are dramatic, long banded fingers of stone with crashing surf on all sides. It doesn't look like anyplace else in Downeast Maine. The lighthouse is photogenic, there are picnic tables and rest rooms, and it's easy to reach from Damariscotta and Newcastle, and even from Boothbay Harbor.

Oxbow Beer, Newcastle, MEOur destination after Pemaquid Point was in the farm country just on the other side of Route 1. I had read about Oxbow Beer and even sampled their flagship Farmhouse Pale Ale at Le Garage in Wiscasset. I knew they brew a line of "freestyle" one-off brews and other interesting brews, taking full advantage of the flexibility offered by their small size and dedicated following.

Resting casks of Oxbow alesWe were not disappointed! We chatted with Celeste and Jake, two young but very helpful and knowledgeable employees (Lorna also got to meet the cute and furry Director of Security, Matilda Barncat).

By John, 7 February, 2013

Getting Sociable? Skew 'em!

You can see from the right-hand sidebar that your gas-guzzling Pilgrim is also active on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites.

Due to technical limitations, some sites on which we post are not listed there:

By John, 3 February, 2013

Le Grand Aioli

Le Grand AioliAioli is a traditional Provencal sauce that is often used as a dip or dressing. It is a strong garlic mayonnaise that is easy to make at home from just egg yolks, olive oil, salt, and plenty of garlic. It is a fine accompaniment to many dishes, especially fish and steamed vegetables. In fact, there is a traditional Provencal meal made from those ingredients; it is called simply Le Grand Aioli. It's a beautiful feast, and an easy one.

The Veggies and Eggs

In the winter, while I embrace the chill and think of cold-weather cooking, Annette's thoughts wing their way to sunny Provence. Our Grand Aioli was her idea, and it brought us a splash of summer sunshine on the first of February!

Annette steamed the vegetable platter, which by tradition should number at least six, plus hard-boiled eggs. We had:

  • Steamed carrots
  • Boiled young potatoes
  • Cape cod turnip
  • Steamed fennel
  • Steamed leek (I know - that's only five.
By John, 20 January, 2013

John's Russian Birthday Dinner

John's Russian DinnerOn a snowy day a few weeks ago I got it in my head to make a Russian dinner. As my birthday was rapidly approaching and I would have to come up with a feast anyway, I decided to make it a Russian feast.

I don't know quite what put Russian food in my head that day. I have always enjoyed it, ever since first finding the excellent Please to the Table Russian cookbook, and cold weather makes those heavy dishes more attractive to me. I had most of the ingredients to make some of my favorite dishes, so...

Here's what we did:

Pork with ApplesThe main course was Pork Chops with Apples Braised in Beer. This was naturally accompanied by chilled vodka! None of us are vodka fans, but a Russian dinner demands vodka, so I got a bottle of Berkshire Mountain Distillers Ice Glen Vodka and put it in the freezer. It was delicious! I must learn more about it. At least we did not kill the bottle.

By BBQ_Mike, 31 December, 2012

New Year Treat: Lime Grilled Scallops on Rosemary Skewers

It is New Year's Eve! Happy New Year everyone!

Lime-Grilled Scallops on Rosemary Skewers

New Year's Eve is traditionally amateur night for drinkers. Christine and I like to find a happy home locally to get together with friends, cook good food, have a few drinks to celebrate the greatness of last year and happily bring in the hopes and dreams of the New Year.

I am making a dish that I cooked at a competition a year and a half ago. Even though it did not score that great with the judges, it is an amazing dish. Lime marinated scallops, wrapped in prosciutto on rosemary skewers.

As a competitor on the BBQ trail, I have had my fair share of highs, lows, and "Should Have Beens". While getting started in BBQ, some of the teams associated with NEBS (New England BBQ Society) will mentor rookies testing the waters. Originally, I was allowed to cook with Andy King and The Bastey Boys. I have become a Bastey Boy. I was fortunate enough to cook with Michelle Taft, Terry Sullivan, and Sully (no Gary Taft this time) of Lunchmeat at the 2011 Roc City Rib Fest in Rochester, NY.

As a mentoring BBQ cook, I cooked only one category. Being the coastal rat that I am, I selected scallops as my entry. Competition is tough in Rochester. Fifty BBQ teams converge on the shores of Lake Ontario for Memorial Day. These are not your run of the mill teams. The competition is some of the toughest around.

By John, 25 December, 2012

Annette's Ritzy Birthday Dinner

Royal Pudding a la Belle IndienneA few years ago we celebrated Richmond's 65th Birthday Dinner with a feast that might have been served at Boston's legendary Locke-Ober Restaurant on the day of his birth.

Annette has always been more partial to the restaurant at the glamorous Ritz-Carlton Hotel, so for her birthday Richmond and I created a dinner from The Ritz-Carlton Cookbook.

Here's how we did it:

Winnemere Cheese from Jasper HillWe opened with a Winnemere cheese from Vermont's Jasper Hill. Winnemere is a Vacherin-style  washed-rind cheese wrapped in spruce bark. It is full of rich, earthy flavors and it was at peak ripeness. The cheese course was accompanied by a fine Pauillac Bordeaux from the Talbot cellar. It had been brought back from a trip to France some years earlier.

Scallop and Saffron BisqueNext we had a delicious Scallop and Saffron Bisque.

By John, 15 December, 2012

Best of New England Dinner '12

8 Bells and a Van Vleet cocktailOur friends the Halls came to dinner in early December. I had worked with Jim for years, and he has heard a lot of our adventures, so I made a special Best of New England dinner for them. I ended up including fine food and drink from five New England states, and I only missed Rhode Island because we hadn't been there recently.

Here's what we enjoyed:

  • Jasper Hill HarbisonWe opened in the living room with a Van Vleet Cocktail made with lemon juice, New Hampshire maple syrup and 8 Bells Rum from Portland's New England Distilling. This was a fitting accompaniment to a wonderfully rich and complex, perfectly ripe bark-wrapped Harbison cheese from Vermont's Jasper Hill Farm.
By John, 9 December, 2012

a new chariot

The new ChevyOur usual Saturday adventure was almost entirely displaced today by the very important matter of replacing our backup conveyance. After 13 years of Chevy Malibus, your earnest and hard-working Pilgrims will be exploring New England in a Chevy Impala. Friends and relations of your ever-lovin' Pilgrim know how terribly conservative we are, but time marches on and there was no Malibu to meet our needs. This week's Saturday will be on Sunday, in the Impala!
By John, 7 December, 2012

Search works again

The Search function works again, but it will be a little while (a few hours) before the site is completely re-indexed. Until that happens, you might search for something and miss a result that has not yet been indexed. By tomorrow morning the search should be working and reliable. Thank you for your patience!
By John, 4 December, 2012

The Search function is broken.

I had to disable Search because it was broken. A behind-the-scenes software change in a module at the hosting site caused the Search function to break. I have an upgrade to fix it, and hope to get to it by the end of this week or on Sunday. I apologize for not having this valuable function!

Stocking Up

Chowder made from this Fish Stock, photo by Richmond TalbotThe Jews, the schools, and the auto companies all have the right idea.  The year begins in the fall.  The cooling of the weather puts you in the mood to restart your life.  Naturally I'm making resolutions.  One is that I'll keep the freezer and refrigerator full of material for good homemade soups.

I made a batch of chicken broth.  Old cooks say that you can't make chicken soup properly without the feet so when I'm near a Chinese market I buy a pound of them to keep on hand, but my supply was a little outdated, and a freezer burned chicken foot is not a pretty thing.  I omitted them in this latest batch. I got two family packs of drumsticks on sale and put them in a tall pot with parsley, celery, onion (including the skin for color) carrot, and peppercorns.  I added no salt; it can be put in later if needed.

Epic Mac & Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf

I see some of the "Finer" things that John is doing with this site. My mouth waters every time I read his posts or I yearn for the items he is showing off from the Farmer's Markets and vendors. This stuff is just spectacular. I love the local flare shown here. Whether we know it or not, we are all local flare. Did you know that?

The Epic Meatloaf, cut I am not sure how many of you have children. Some of the "Finer" things in children's lives are connecting with their parents on any level. As much as they may rebel against us, like we did with our parents, they love us as we do our parents. What better way to connect with our children than getting down to the most basic of life's requirements? Social eating is as old as caves. Cooking with children is about that old.

As we get more and more into a service lifestyle where we tend to order our basic needs online we need find a way to keep some of the basic rituals alive especially cooking.

I have been divorced for a long time. My daughter was 5 when this happened. Right now, I am happy to say, my daughter and I have a fantastic relationship that somehow developed around getting together to eat. I didn't have much money so I would bring her over to my house and cook dinner for her. It wasn't long until I had her helping. That basic element created a fantastic bond that continues to make us closer.

Of course, after time, the skill development and the imagination grew. And, the internet began to influence our thinking. My daughter found a YouTube series of videos called Epic Meal Time.

By John, 28 October, 2012

Welcome Fall Feast 2012

Welcome Fall 2012 FastWe had an excellent feast to welcome autumn 2012! This year was a real surprise - our discoveries hit home runs on every front. That is not hyperbole; this was a really great dinner.

Every year I am so glad when the fall comes and I can cook all the great harvest goodies. This year I already knew what I wanted to make ever since the Mass. Brewers Fest in late August.  There I got to try the Brut from Enlightenment Ales and I knew what I had to serve with it when the time came.

Enlightenment Ales BrutI have been pairing foods with beers from New England Craft Brewers for some months now, and this planned pairing really excited me. I am glad to say it worked out very well.

Enlightenment Ales makes Biere de Champagne, an exciting new style of beer that has the celebratory effect of champagne, the dry seriousness of fine wine, and the accessibility of craft beer. The Brut is effervescent and dry, but hoppy-herby in a way that wakes up spices and complements mild flavors without overpowering them.

This feast would be a great menu for vegetarians for a Thanksgiving feast.

By BBQ_Mike, 19 September, 2012

Smoking a Sausage Fatty

Mini Sausage FattyFor the longest time I always thought sausage came in two ways - either cased like a "sausage" or else in a patty. You could mix it with tomatoes to create nice gravy for your spaghetti, grill it to enjoy with peppers and onions, pan sear it for breakfast, or whatever. It was not until about a year and a half ago that I discovered Sausage Fatty. Google it, it is a real thing that can inspire much cooking creativity.

This weekend I competed with the Andy King and The Bastey Boys in a BBQ Cooking Contest at the Harvard Fall Festival  in Harvard, MA. There were two sausage contests; People’s Choice and New England BBQ Society (NEBS) Grilling. The past two years I have entered these events using a homemade sausage from the Sausage Lady on Rt. 27 Hanson. I would buy her Smoked Provolone & Roasted Red Pepper sausage and grill it, with excellent results.