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The Book and the Cook 2002
Andrea Immer at Savona
The Evening Reviewed, by Beth Sheligo |
The annual Book and the Cook festival was held earlier this month in Philadelphia, PA. For the past 15 years or so, the city has promoted its restaurants by inviting cookbook authors to work with local eateries in designing special dinners based on the author's work. The author is on hand for the meal, and circulates thoroughout the room, signing books and answering any questions. This year, the highlight of the event was a dinner at Savona restaurant in Gulph Mills, PA, on March 22, with guest Andrea Immer. Ms. Immer, one of the few female Master Sommeliers in the United States, worked with the staff at the restaurant to pair wines with a 6 course dinner. The event was really a great value: $125 per person covered the cost of the food, wine, tax, gratutity and one copy of the book (hardbound) per couple. Seven members of the Cencibel wine group had a wonderful experience, which I will try to do justice to here:
Before the formal meal began, the house offered a thimbleful of a delectable cream soup featuring artichokes and white truffle oil. This primed the palate very well for the first course, and was also an excellent match for the first wine.
Mozambique Langoustine: Grilled Langoustine, Woodear Mushrooms, Lemon Beurre Blanc, paired with Sauvignon Blanc, Chateau Turcud, Entre-deux-Mers, Bordeaux, 2000 The wine had a very muted grassiness in the nose, good acidity, excellent minerality, with a slighly earthy tone that picked up the mushrooms in the dish (as it did the white truffle oil in the soup). The dish was garnished with celery leaves, which hit a perfect note with the muted grassiness of the Savignon Blanc. Rating: Very Good.
Virginia Black Sea Bass: Plancha Seared Black Bass, Truffled Fork Mashed Fingerling Potatoes, Truffle Froth, paired with Chardonnay, Raymond Estate, Monterey, 1999. This was a highly sucessful dish. The Bass had crsipy skin and a moist, delicate white flesh underneath. The truffle froth added an undercurrent of allspice and other exotic flavors to the dish. The wine, alas, was not a good pairing. Oaky, with some lemon notes, creamy textured but with too much vanilla and a slightly hot finish, it was too blunt for the subtle flavors of the fish and overpowered the dish. Rating: Fair.
Sonoma Farms Duck Moulard Duck Breast, Herb Risotto, Raspberry Wine Reduction, paired with Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Fattoria di Palazzo Vecchio, Tuscany, 1998. Clearly, the dish and wine pairing of the evening. The duck was a perfect medium rare, flattered by the raspberry sauce and given dimension by the herbed risotto. The wine had very forward raspberry fruit and strong acidity, underpinned by medium oak, which added a midly earthy quality. Raspberry meets raspberry and all is well; the herbs and the earthiness of the wine also melded well. Rating: Excellent.
Australian Lamb: Porcini Dusted Lamb Loin, Panisse, Star Anise Tomato Compote, Sauteed Maitakes and Hedgehogs, Lamb Jus, paired with Shiraz, Petaluma, Bridgewater Mill, South Australia - Victoria, 1998. Probably the least sucessful paring of the night. The wine had a big, jammy nose full of ripe, juicy fruit; black cherry flavors tailed off into a raisin/ashy/tobacco finish. The biggest offener seemed to be the Anise, which made the wine taste minty. The mushrooms were delicious, but far too earthy for the huge fruit in the wine. Rating: Poor.
Cheese: Brie, Appenzeller, Goat Cheese, Gorgonzola, paired with: Cabernet Sauvignon, Domaine de la Vistoule, Vin du Pays d'Oc, 1998. A rather controversial choice, pairing cheese with Cabernet. We asked Ms. Immer the logic behind this. Her reply was that fotified wines, such as Port, normally served with cheese, are limited in their applicability, and not at all goat cheese friendly. We were not 100% sold on this logic, but it was not a bad pairing. The wine had a mild leathery, lead pencil nose, cherry flavors and a noticeable tannin on the finish. The cheeses were straightforward and nothing unusual. Rating: Good.
Crepe: Apple Stuffed Vanilla Crepe, Almond Cream, Dried Apricots and Cherries, Caramel Sauce, paired with: Cockburn's 10 Year Tawny Port. A truly unique dessert, we asked the pastry chef to explain it to us, and he supposedly provided the recipe to one of our lucky number. The crepe was made into a bag that contained the fruit, with the top tied by a strip of vanilla bean soaked in Brandy. The bag sat atop a ring of, what for lack of a better description I thought of as a granola ring, which contained almond cream. The caramel sauce was spread around the outside of the plate. The chef said he could whip up 150 of these in a day, no problem (well, he has help!). It was utterly delicious. The wine pairing was a no brainer: lovely almond flavors, rich but not cloying, match made in heaven. Rating: Excellent.
If there was any downside to the evening, it was the fact that we were at the early seating, and had to work through this meal in 2 1/2 hours - a tall order! Still, after 10 years of participation in this event, I found this to be one of the all time best I have attended. Thanks to my delightful dining companions for making the evening even more enjoyable.
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