Dragonmead Brewery Beer tasting

at the Wrought Iron Grill.

A list of Brews and accompanying Appetizers, specifically paired to each beer.

Thursday, March 4 th at 7:00 pm

• Bill’s Witbier- Cured Salmon Sushi.
• Lancelot’s Cream Ale- Goat cheese pate’ with herbs and Almonds.
• Crown Jewels IPA- Crab cakes with a Chili Watermelon dipping sauce.
• 6T’s Dortmunder- Fleischkuechle ( Flesh-Keek-Luh)  Pan fried beef and onion in dough.
• St. Nicole’s Weizenbock- Sweet Potato tart, Maple Pecans.
• Russian Imperial Stout- Black currant and plum buns with vanilla.
• Bob’s Holy Smoke- Smoked Sausage with apples and pears.

http://wroughtirongrill.com/ on Feb. 4, 2010 Feature the Beer from Arcadia Brewing in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Food and beer pairings:

1) Cereal City Beer-Straw yellow/slight gold in color, flavors of grains, breads, spicy/earthy and sweet malt with aromas of golding hops.  4.2% abv, 32 IBU’s’s

Food Pairing-Parmesan encrusted whole grain bread filled with gruyere and grilled

2) Extra Special Bitter-An English Style ESB deep copper color with ruby undertones.  Full bodied, caramelly toasted malt character finishes slightly sweet and is balanced by a solid hop bitterness.

ABV 5.5% IBU’s 30

Food pairing-Prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe

3) Sky High Rye(12^th Anniversary Ale)- In honor of our adventurous friends at Sky Dive Inc. in Hastings, Michigan, we crafted a truly adventurous brew in Sky High Rye.  A West Coast-style Pale Ale with rye malt, Sky High Rye boasts a massive floral aroma of resinous hops.  The hops contribute flavor notes of lemons, peaches, and pine needles, combined with the sweet, malty flavors of toffee and bread.  Rye adds a pleasant peppery, spicy note like a fresh slice of pumpernickel bread.  Very well-rounded and very drinkable, Sky High Rye will surely inspire adventure in all who taste it. 6.0% ABV, 5 IBU ’s

Food Pairing-Poached Alaskan Cod with grapefruit buerre blanc atop a corn tortilla

4) Coco Loco-A truly one-of-a-kind brew, we like to call this our Triple Chocolate Milk Stout.  A combination of three different chocolate malts, cocoa nibs and 63% cacao bittersweet chocolate make this a sinfully delicious brew.  The addition of lactose lends the beer a creamy quality- not unlike a milkshake- while the Blackstrap Molasses adds rich, burnt, syrupy flavors.  Flavors of baker’s chocolate and espresso dominate, while rich malty flavors and a subtle kiss of hops add nice balance.    7% ABV   39 IBU’s

Food Pairing-Espresso rubbed bbq beef atop bibb lettuce

5) Hop Rocket-After 11 years of brewing beer with balance, our Brew Crew took a left turn with Hop Rocket Imperial IPA, a massive Imperial that focuses on the hops!  At 111 IBUs, this huge ale Rockets off the charts with a massive nose of sticky, resinous hops and flavors of grapefruit, lemon peel, spruce, earthy mushrooms and dew-covered grass.  While the focus truly is on the hops, a pleasant, sweet malt base backs the beer and balances it to a delicious level of drinkability with notes of toffee and freshly baked biscuits.   9% ABV   111 IBU’s

Food pairing-Applewood bacon wrapped jalepeno filled with citrus and scallion cream cheese

6) Cereal Killer-Brewed in the traditional English style of Barleywines, Cereal Killer is an explosion of full-bodied, malty goodness.  Huge syrupy flavors flow over caramel, toffee, molasses and toasty notes.  All these rich malt flavors are balanced out nicely by just the right amount of citrus-like hoppy bitterness.  A high alcohol content makes this a beer for the cellar.  As this brew ages, it will continue to develop more sherry-like flavors and aromas similar to a cask-aged port.  9.1% ABV   45 IBU’s

Food Pairing-Grilled duck and fois gras salad crostini

7) Shipwreck Porter- This beer was aged in 10-year old whiskey barrels. A very dark brown, nearly black beer with a thick cafe au lait head. A bit of lace. Sweet chocolate aroma, and noticeable whiskey. Mostly tasted of sweet chocolate, some vanilla.  13% ABV

Food Pairing-Beef tips rubbed with green peppercorns, almond encrusted, skewered, baked and served with rosemary hollandaise

  I have been contemplating the many aspects and techniques to cooking lately.  The recent release of Thomas Kellers, Ad Hoc has sparked a lot of conversation on the how and why you do what you do as a Professional Chef.

  I have not had the opportunity to reveiw the book myself (I have since borrowed a copy!),  but have had discussions on it with people who have.  The interest and discussions on food have been great!  Prompted me to go back and review his book Bouchon.  It is remarkable how every ingredient and recipe is spoken of in a romantic passionate way.  Truely a love for ingredents and a delicate care for how even simple items are composed.

Cooking through the seasons by Joel Robuchon was a smaller book but every bit as passionate.  They both have profoundly influenced me.  It is a Geneaolgy in the Chef world…I can trace back my lineage to great French Chefs.  Recipes pass from one to another…a passing of traditions and passion.  Did I work for a Great French Chef..no.  I did work for one that worked for one…and so on and so on!  I can say that I worked for a Chef that  worked for a Chef that worked directly under Ferdinand Point….Whew…small world.  I can say that the Marjolaine we made was not the same as what was published!  An Awesome perfect dessert!

  I really can’t say enough!  Keller, Roubochon, Bould and others Have shaped my life, my work.  Bould’s letters to a young Chef is a must read!  La Repitoire is also a great reference.

  I am always struck by the prose like quality and the passion with which food is discussed.  Many aspects of being a Chef are not so Romantic…the long hours, weekends, and working during the Holidays to make it special for your customers.

But the Food….

The Food is a Passion, A Romance…….

  I have been considering the TOP 20 FOOD TRENDS FOR 2010 and have compiled a list of what I feel be the biggest for 2010, ranked by my own opinion of what will HOT in the New Year.

Of course things may change, and will be certainly shaped by Great Chefs.  Thomas Keller’s recent release  of Ad Hoc will no doubt have a huge impact on the thinking of Chef’s and Gourmet’s.

Some continuing trends I have weighed less.  Ethnic/Fusion cuisine and flavors have and will continue to play a role in inspiring Chef’s…they are, however hardly a new trend.  Culinary Cocktails…as awesome as they can be I view as a Fad and will go the way of the Fondue pot.  Even if Fondue has an opportunity to make a comeback every 30 years?

I do really like the trend toward Simplicity/Back to basics foods.  As I watch my Twitter feed I see cupcake and Crockpot recipes are a hot topic.  Speaking of the Crockpot.  Braising is the Classic tried and true method for ” Homestyle Hearty Food”  I believe this is Bigger and goes beyond the idea of Comfort foods.

Love em or Hate em these are ( Yes sometimes biased opinions) of what to look for in 2010.  If you would like to check out what other Chef’s ranked for 2010 in the National Restaurant Association’s Chef Survey check out http://www.restaurant.org/pdfs/research/whats_hot_2010.pdf 

I have reviewed the survey myself and am going to throw a number of items into one broad category.  People are very conscious of were there food comes from and how healthy it is.  Anything that is of HIGH quality in taste and nutrition that is Local, Organic, and Sustainable will be in high Demand, no matter what category it falls in!  Healthy food is a HUGE trend!

1. High quality, Nutritious sourced Foods that are Local, Organic, Sustainable or are Branded as such.
2. Gluten-Free/Food Allergy conscious
3. Bite size Mini Desserts
4. Dessert flights/Combos ( great value in terms of dining experience)
5. Newly Fabricated cuts of Meat
6. Braising ( welcome back old friend!)
7. Non-traditional Fish ( People still need some adventure)
8. Flavored/Specialty Salts
9. Appetizer salads
10. Micro-vegetables/greens
11. Super Fruits ( Mangosteen etc. Anything with lots of Antioxidants)
12. Black Garlic ( Hell who doesn’t like Garlic?)
13. Amuse Bouche (A small surprise is welcome at any table)
14. Oil poaching/Confit ( Thank you!  I love a good Rillet)
15. Food and Beer Pairings (Beer snobs are much cooler than wine snobs!)
16. Simplicity/ Back to Basics Cuisine
17. Quinoa
18. Artisinal Cheese’s ( I love Cheese!  Hell who doesn’t?)
19. Smaller 1/2 portions at a lesser price
20. Buckwheat ( in anything)

After many years in the Restaurant Biz. I have many thoughts on what not to do!

The first most important thing to know is that it is a very unique and (not neccesarily profitable business). You buy and store raw product on site, manufacture it ( prepare it ), serve it, and receive imediate feedback!

The biggest mistake that you can make is getting in with fixed costs that are to high ( primarily rent or mortgage). I refer to the old 80/20 rule. 80% of your business will come from the first 20% of effort. Simply by opening your doors and trying to do things right! However, for example if you have 100,000 people living within a 20 mile radius. Your potential “pool” of customers is limited. Drawing in more customers from further away to pay your bills is difficult.

The next way to kill your business is employee relations. In some businesses employees are considered ” Intellectual assets”. You need to be caring and flexiable…everyone has their own needs, problems and desires. To many owners think that employees need to be simpathetic and responsive to their problems and needs, but completely disregard the employees? People will say ” screw you!” to such an attitude. All of us would rather work for someone who respects us, do you really respect someone who doesn’t respect you?

Rule number 3 is tied to the first two. This businesses is hard and takes a lot of hard work and long hours. After a while owners want to step back and live a little more. So if you have paid attention to the first two you are in a position to have quality employees who can run you operation. If not, then you have a slowly dying business.

Lastly delievering a poor product or service…which is the most desasterous of them all, because it shows you do not care anymore! Most owners who care know that the customer is ” King ” and care most about that! Lose that and you lose everything!