Brewers go big with bourbon-barrel aging
Call it a St. Louis-style whiskey and water. ‘Cause it’s beer. Really, though, your local brewers are doing some cool stuff, whether your drink of choice is beer, a boilermaker or Pappy Van Winkle’s. (For the latter in particular, do read on.) They’re aging beer in bourbon whiskey barrels in hopes that you’ll sip it…
Stacked: Layer cakes meet our sweet expectations
Elaborate, multitiered wedding and party cakes are perhaps best left to those who craft them for a living. But there’s nothing to stop the home baker from putting one layer atop another in a way that will still make guests feel special. It may take a bit more time and patience, but making layer cakes…
Strike it Rich: Bloomy rind cheeses are silken, complex joys
Truly good cheese is one of those luxurious foods that, like wine, is constantly changing, rewarding diners with complex flavors, aromas and textures. Perhaps the most indulgent of all cheeses are those that belong to the bloomy rind, or soft-ripened, classification. These cheeses ripen from the outside in. On their exterior lives a soft pillow…
Native Variety: Old American foods liven up the Thanksgiving spread
Turkey: check. Potatoes: check. Cranberry sauce: check. Pumpkin pie: check. Fry bread: … eh, check? It may not have been on Sitting Bull’s meal rotation, but fry bread, a flour-based quick bread that’s pan- or deep-fried, has been all the rage in Native American diets since government rations of flour and lard first hit the…
Good Catch: How restaurants get fresh fish
St. Louis sits about 700 miles from the nearest coast, yet restaurants around town offer an array of fresh seafood. How do chefs in the middle of the country get fish that tastes like it was just pulled out of the ocean? Executive chef Lisa Slay summed it up in one sentence: “Thank God for…
Southern-style Corn bread*
• Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. • Coat the bottom and sides of a 10-inch cast-iron skillet with the vegetable oil and place the skillet in the oven to heat. • Whisk the eggs and buttermilk together in a large bowl. • Add the cornmeal, baking soda, baking powder and salt (if using them,…
Chocolate Ganache Frosting
• In a large heavy pot, heat the cream, butter and sugar over medium-low heat until the butter is melted and the sugar is dissolved. Watch carefully so that it doesn’t boil over. • Just as the mixture reaches a boil, turn off the heat, add the chopped chocolate and let it sit for 5…
KiowaKat’s Pumpkin Fry Bread
• Combine all the ingredients and knead until the dough is soft but not sticky. If the dough appears dry or stiff, add a bit more water; if it sticks to your hands or drips through your fingers, add more flour. • Shape the dough into balls the size of a small peach. • Allow…
Chocolate-Orange Cake
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. (Do not bake in a convection oven.) • Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, baking soda and sugar until they are well-blended. • Dissolve the instant espresso in the water. • Gently beat the eggs and mix in the milk, oil, extracts and espresso. • Make…
Wild Rice and Sage Stuffing
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. • Place the bread cubes on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven until the edges are brown. • In the meantime, sauté the onions in oil or butter until golden brown. • Combine the bread, onion, wild rice and sage and then mix in just…
Pan-Seared Scallops with Tomato Chutney and Cilantro Oil
For the chutney: • Sweat the onions, garlic, cumin and coriander. • Add the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes over low heat. • Add the honey, vinegar, ginger, red chile garlic paste and salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes more. • Allow to cool and then fold in cilantro. Note: Chutney can be…
Northern-Style Corn bread
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. • Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. • Add the remaining ingredients and stir just until combined. • Pour the batter into a greased 9-inch square baking pan. • Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the…
Review: Robust Café & Wine Bar in Webster Groves
How cool is it when you dine at a restaurant that has a sommelier? I don’t know why, but I’ve never grown out of the stage where I get giddy, like I’ve just found the answer to life, the universe and everything. I love putting myself in a sommelier’s capable hands and just riding the…
Review: The Jive & Wail in St. Louis
When one of the piano players at The Jive & Wail told me that the audience in St. Louis was different than in other cities he’s hit, I can’t say I was surprised. I assumed “different” meant we requested Van Halen’s Right Now more than Elton John’s Bennie and the Jets. When he said that…
Strawberry-Passion Punch
• Combine the tequila, banana schnapps and lime juice in a cocktail shaker with ice. • Shake well and strain into a pint glass filled with ice. • Top with passion fruit juice and stir. 1½ oz. strawberry-infused tequila ½ oz. banana schnapps Juice of half a lime Passion fruit juice Ice
Savory Roasted Garlic and Chive Cheesecake
1 9-inch cheesecake
Persimmon Pudding
6 to 8 servings
Vanilla Margarita
• To salt the rim, rub the lime slice over the rim of a highball glass. Dip the rim into a saucer of salt. • Combine the tequila, Cointreau and Licor 43 in a cocktail shaker with ice. • Shake well and strain into the glass filled with ice. • Top with sour mix, stir…
Demystifying the cost of wine
When you walk the aisles of a wine shop or examine the pages of a restaurant’s wine list, you are probably looking at the prices as much as you are at the labels. Most wine purchases are certainly affected by the price, but just how is that price determined? Why does one Napa Valley Cabernet…
Gather ’round: Dining tables turn meals into celebrations
For almost a year now, Diana Grayson’s young sons have used the family dining room as a makeshift wrestling arena. There’s no table there. Not anymore, anyway. Grayson said she and her husband sold their dining table around New Year’s in the hopes they’d have fresh impetus to find a new one. A dinner table,…
Don’t be fooled by this funky-looking fruit; sweet persimmons are a true – and tasty – sign of fall
Hally Bini, market manager for the Maplewood Farmers’ Market, remembered a grove of persimmon trees in Umbria, Italy. “They had dropped all their leaves, and these brilliant orange fruits hung on bare branches – beautiful.” This fall, she’ll find Missouri persimmons close at hand when grower and forager Ivan Stoilov brings them to his stand…
Josh Allen builds community with more Companions
Josh Allen is the president of Companion. Not Companion Baking. The name’s recently changed in conjunction with the company’s current growth spurt. “Now it’s just Companion,” Allen said. “As we expand the concept and broaden who we are, we’re moving forward.” Along with the new name and the new logo, Companion is opening two new…
Foodies cheer the infusing possibilities of tequila and whiskey
Some folks pursue one perfectly crafted kind of cocktail. Others drink to bring on and manage a buzz. We like to think that we drink like we eat: to experience new flavors. (Is Hendrick’s Gin a flavor?) So if we sense that our palate’s about to go on an adventure, we’ve been known to clap…
Annual film FESt presents a cinematic pre-Thanksgiving feast
Gentle reader, forgive the film fanatic in your life if he’s distracted from common Thanksgiving contemplations. Stuffing the turducken … the structural integrity of the uncanned cranberry goo … the infernal labyrinth of pickup and drop-off at Lambert … these things matter not to him … … for SLIFF has returned. While most people are…
Eau Bistro’s brunch is a symphony of flavors with ovation-worthy desserts
When it comes to brunch, Eau Bistro at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel knows what it’s doing. You know you’re in for an incredible experience when you pass through a “gallery” of nearly 25 different desserts en route to your table. The display is stunning, with items garnished with painted chocolate, orange rind or other…
The business of baking cheesecake can be reduced to temperature, temperature, temperature
Ahhh, cheesecake. Go to dinner almost anywhere and you’ll likely find this velvety classic, typically in plain vanilla. While cheesecake’s appearance in restaurant after restaurant may lead you to believe that chefs have gotten lazy, I suspect they’re just smartly responding to the demand. We all know that proper cheesecake has a creamy smoothness that’s…
