february 2013 feast magazine

vietnamese comfort food

BEEF PHOst. louis’ wine geeks

SOMMELIERScooking with essential oils

DROP BY DROP

Inspired Food Culture | Saint Louis feastSTL.com | FEBRUARY 2013 | FREE

A TASTEoF ThEExoTIC

2 feastSTL.com F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

At Schnucks, we’re celebrating FeBREWary because we love beer!

We’re showcasing our selection that includes everything from popular brands to craft and microbrew beers. We’re proud to carry beers from some of the most respected brewers including an impressive variety brewed right here in St. Louis!

Don’t forget to ask about ordering barrels or kegs for parties. Check in-store for craft beer tastings and seminars!

For our beer and wine experts and locations, visit schnucks.com

Cheers toBeer!

©2013 Schnucks

3Inspired Food Culture F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 3

Inspired Food Culture | Saint Louis

FEBRUARY 2013

A VIBRANT Indian Feast

HONED58

36

the essence of flavor

53

Cover PhotoGraPhY of kheer (P. 42) BY Jennifer Silverberg

taBle of Contents PhotoGraPhY BY Jennifer Silverberg

from the staff

| 8 | from the PUBLIsher

explore more.

| 10 | feaststL.com

What’s online this month.

| 12 | feast faVes

our staff and contributors share inspired ideas for tasteful living in st. louis.

coLUmNs

| 20 | oNe oN oNe

Qui tran talks Mai lee and the magic of his mother’s cooking.

| 22 | the mIx

the reliable fox river.

| 24 | oN the sheLf

new and notable in beer, spirits and wine.

| 26 | mystery shoPPer

Buy it and try it: eucalyptus honey.

| 28 | how to

Getting dirty at sidney street.

| 30 | tech schooL

Boiled icing makes a comeback.

| 32 | gadget a-go-go

We put five oven mitts to the test.

| 34 | meNU oPtIoNs

savor a steaming bowl of beef pho.

| 66 | the Last BIte

feaststl.com writer Maddie Marshall pops into Blondie’s for a sweet treat.

4 feastSTL.com FEBRUARY 2013

46

wine wisdom

&somms


LASTDAYS

LASTDAYS

LAST DAYS!!


Volume 4 | Issue 2 | February 2013

Publisher and EditorCatherine Neville

Managing Editor, Print ContentBrandi Wills

Managing Editor, Digital ContentKristin Brashares

Art DirectorLisa Allen

Vice President of AdvertisingDonna Bischoff

Copy Editors/Proofreaders Andrea Mongler

Contributing WritersBrandon Chuang, Heidi Dean, Pat Eby, Chad Michael George

Erik Jacobs, Jennifer Johnson, Julie Longyear, Maddie Marshall Jeremy Nulik, Angela Ortmann, Lucy Schnuck, Matt Seiter

Michael Sweeney, Cassy Vires

Contributing PhotographersJonathan Gayman, Jonathan Pollack Jennifer Silverberg, Corey Woodruff

Contributing Videographer Hannah Radcliff

Contact UsFeast Media, 900 N. Tucker Blvd., 4th Floor

St. Louis, MO 63101feastSTL.com

Advertising InquiriesKelly Klein, 314.340.8562

[email protected]

[email protected]

DistributionTo distribute Feast Magazine at your place of business, please

contact Tom Livingston at [email protected].

Feast Magazine does not accept unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or artwork. Submissions will not be returned.

All contents are copyright © 2010-2013 by Feast Magazine™. All rights reserved.

Reproduction or use in whole or in part of the contents, without the prior written permission of the publisher, is strictly prohibited.

Produced by the Suburban Journals of Greater St. Louis, LLCJennifer A. Wood, publisher

Magazine

$20 in advance/$25 at the doorcall the leukemia & lymphoma society at 314.590.2230 for advanced sales or to

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enjoy live music by super jam acoustic duo, free carriage rides from 4 -7 pm and wine

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KOHLS

ST. LOUIS MALIBU HEADQUARTERS

MALIBUMALIBU


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Putting this issue together has inspired me. There are some issues of the

magazine that just speak to you in a new way and the common thread tying the February Feast together is a spirit of

exploration, a desire to seek out new experiences and ideas.

In The Essence of Flavor (p. 53), Julie Longyear introduces you to cooking with a much-overlooked ingredient, essential oils.

Ever infuse your baked goods with the aroma of bitter orange? She tells you how. Heidi Dean offers a peek of St. Louisan

Anjali Kamra’s annual Holi celebration, bringing this Indian rite of spring to life on p. 36. In Honed (p. 58), brandon Chuang

takes you to Nate bonner’s studio as he hand crafts bespoke knives. And on p. 46, Jeremy Nulik gets inside the growing world

of St. Louis’ sommeliers, wine professionals with an insatiable passion for exploring wine’s nuances and history.

Meet Qui Tran of Mai Lee, learn to make your own pho, taste eucalyptus honey and create a vintage cake with an equally

vintage icing, all within the pages of this issue. It’s been fun putting this one to bed and I hope you find it equally inspiring.

Until next time,

Catherine Neville [email protected]

Missouri Organic Association Annual ConferenceFeb. 7 to 9; University Plaza Hotel, springfield, Mo.

moamarket.org

Presentations by industry experts, events including Iron Chef Organic and MOA Organic Expo and fabulous organic food make this an event to remember. New this year: a focus on green energy and how you can use sustainable methods, tools and techniques at your business and home.

Falling In Love ... In Five Coursessat., Feb. 9, 6:30pm; Four seasons Hotel

314.539.5358 or [email protected]

James beard Award-winning chef Michael Mina will bring his flair for New American dishes to the St. Louis Community College Foundation’s annual gala.

Wall Ballsat., Feb. 9, 7 to 11pm; third Degree Glass Factory

scosag.org/wallball/

Wall ball is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2013. Don’t miss this unique silent auction featuring the live creative process of 30 top local artists.

Feast Book Club Meet-UpWed., Feb. 20, 6pm; Olio

RsVP to [email protected]

Join us to discuss Consider the Fork: A History of How We Cook and Eat by bee Wilson while enjoying complimentary hors d’oeuvres and drink specials. Purchase the book from Left bank books and receive 20 percent off.

St. Louis Working Women’s Survival ShowFeb. 22 to 24; st. Charles Convention Center

wwssonline.com

The St. Louis-area’s annual “girl’s day out” celebrates its 26th anniversary with more than 370 exhibits, unique products and services, fashion, fitness, health and food and drinks.

Schnucks Cooks Cooking ClassWed., Feb. 27, 6pm; schnucks Cooks Cooking school

$40, schnuckscooks.com or 314.909.1704

Join Cat Neville in the kitchen to make a full Vietnamese feast of beef pho, fried rice, spring rolls and Vietnamese coffee ice cream.

Baltic Odyssey Cruisesept. 3 to 13, 2013

314.968.9600, altairtravel.com

Join publisher Cat Neville, in partnership with Altair Travel, for our second annual Oceania culinary cruise. This year’s trip takes you to Scandinavia, the world’s newest center of culinary innovation. you’ll travel from Copenhagen to Stockholm with a three-day stop in St. Petersburg.

FEAST EVENTS

FEEdbAck?

A number of restaurants are expanding to second locations, including The Block, which will open its Central West End location this month. Turn to p. 14 for more on Marc Del Pietro’s newest spot.

pubLiShEr’S LETTEr


Doin’ it the Natural Way!Naturally Raised Pork, Produce and More!

Since 1916, there has been little change to the way hogs have been raised on the Geisert Farm, just east of Washington, MO. Pigs are farrowed in “A” frame houses in fields that previously had a crop harvested from it the season before. Today, grain is delivered by modern equipment rather than by horse, but when it comes to tending to the herds, it is still done by hand¼ many hands. Several generations can be found out in the field helping with sorting and feeding of the pigs, just as it was done over 90 years ago.

Check us out online for more information on the products we sell and where you can buy them.

If the sun’s up, we’re open!

4851 Old Hwy 100 • Washington, MO (On Old Hwy 100, One Mile East of Fifth St.) • 314.791.6942

Delicious cheesecake - and so much moreMy Daddy© s Cheesecake Bakery & Cafe is the ultimate indulgence this Valentine© s Day. Daddy bakes award winning, decadent cheesecake and bakery items. In February, stop by or call in your order for our coveted Chocolate Covered Strawberries made especially for your sweetheart.

Sit down & relax at My Daddy© s Cheesecake for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Delicious "Pick 2" Lunch Combos served with your choice of fresh soups, saladsor sandwich for $7.49

Bring in this coupon to receive a FREE Slice of Cheesecakewith the purchase of a lunch or dinner entrée/combo and a drink.Offer expires 3/17/13 Free Parking available in the back garage off Seminary Place.

6451 Clayton Road • Clayton • 314.725.9555 • mydaddyscheesecake.com

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PLUS - 31" Vanity Top & Porcelain Sink, select colorsHURRY! Offer Ends when Supplies are gone!

314.371.0300 • rivercitygranite.com

River City Granite

Tenacious Eats Presents Movies for FoodiesBy integrating film and food, we create an original experience, a feast for the senses, an event that brings food and film, chefs and diners together.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 Like Water for ChocolateTUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19 Big NightTUESDAY, MARCH 5 Monty Python and the Holy GrailTUESDAY, MARCH 19 The Commitments

Join us for multiple courses and drink pairings while enjoying our feature films. Meals are prepared with locally sourced and hard-to-find ingredients. Each new film inspires a new menu so each dining experience is unique. Reservations required. http://tenaciouseats.brownpapertickets.com/

4510 Manchester Avenue (at ��



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MULTImedIa Behind-The-SceneS Video: Big things are a-brewin’ in Breese, Ill. Excel Bottling Co. has recruited brewmaster Rod Burguiere (pictured) from one of the nation’s largest microbreweries, California’s Stone Brewing Co., to lend his expertise to its budding craft-beer production. We chat with the Alton, Ill., native and Excel team about what’s in the works and deliver an inside look at the brewery.

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Join US FoR BRUnch: Sump Coffee and Kitchen Kulture have partnered to create unique pop-up Sunday brunches. Our special video coverage brings you more insight from both parties on how they’re pulling off the unique pairing.

ONLINE CONTENT

The Magazine

ONLINEeXCLUSIVeS eXTended coVeRAGe: We continue this month’s spotlight on local sommeliers (see p. 46) with a look at three pros who work outside the restaurant setting, including Advanced Sommelier Stephen Gitto (pictured), a certified wine specialist at Schnucks. And, in a special video, Advanced Sommelier Andrey Ivanov demonstrates how much wine can enhance a meal through several paired dishes. PhOtOGRAPhy By J. POllACK PhOtOGRAPhy

enTeR To Win! We’re sweetening up Valentine’s Day with eight days of giveaways for food lovers. Watch feastSTL.com for details, or get in on the action now by visiting our Facebook page at facebook.com/feastSTL (Feast Magazine-St. louis via search) or scanning the tag at right.


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SOUTH COUNTY314-892-9002

O’FALLON, MO636-978-3500

SOUTH SIDE314-968-5595

O’FALLON, IL618-632-1700

DELLWOOD314-388-0200

ALTON618-462-9770

Daily 10-8

Sunday 12-5

are up all over!patterns

The new Spring styles are arriving, and the hottest fashion trend is boldly-patterned accent pillows and accent chairs. We invite you to see all the new styles at Rothman.


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Eric and Jenny Heckman have transformed their success with Tani Sushi bistro into a second location, Takaya New Asian, in Downtown’s Mercantile Exchange. This new venture mixes their mastery of sushi with a broader foray into Asian cuisine and takes the form of a stylish, contemporary dining space filled with the light and life of our Downtown streets. Takaya’s menu features popular sashimi and maki selections from Tani (but keep your eye out for some all-new maki coming this month) alongside inventive Asian appetizers and entreès. Start your meal with the Creamy Rock Shrimp, tempura-fried shrimp tossed in a lemony cream sauce tinged with spicy heat. There’s a notable Korean influence in the entrèe list, including sweet and tender Korean-style short ribs. The bulgogi sliders are an American take on traditional beef bulgogi, served on brioche buns and topped with greens and spicy mayo. Every dish at Takaya is artfully constructed to match the restaurant’s beautiful design and the excitement bustling just beyond the windows. – B.W.

634 Washington Ave., Downtown, 314.241.5721facebook.com/takayanewasian

takaya new asian


St. Louis-based wine enthusiast Jennifer Johnson is a sommelier, wine educator, journalist, and hospitality and marketing consultant who loves to celebrate life, family, food and wine.

the five year fizz @ robust

written by Jennifer Johnson

A great source for interesting wines, Robust Wine Bar also embraces craft cocktails beyond the aperitif: At robust, they know how to pair cocktails with food. the Five year Fizz is a rum-based drink made with falernum bitters (think almonds), brûléed orange syrup and baron de breban sparkling rosé. A distilled spirit originally from the Caribbean and Latin America, rum is produced from sugarcane and aged in oak barrels. Scarlet ibis rum, used in this cocktail, is trinidadian. it’s dark and fairly high in alcohol, making for a flavorful mixer. try this drink with the cassoulet, a French dish whose rich flavors − from duck confit and pork belly − stand up nicely to the cocktail. For a less bold but more memorable match, order the roasted pork loin. the Five year Fizz’s medium-bodied balance of fruit and exotic flavors mingles favorably with the pork’s brown sugar, orange peel and nutmeg seasonings. Further, the drink lends depth to the smokiness of the dish’s bourbon-caramel sauce, which is accented by hearty parsnip pureé.

635 washington Ave., Downtown, 314.287.6300robustwinebar.com

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the block

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When concepting a second location for The Block, the popular meat-centric restaurant-cum-butcher shop in Webster Groves, owner Marc Del Pietro wanted to retain the best of what he’d built, but give the new place its own identity. Much of the original menu reappears in the CWE − the Potted Pig, Rensing’s Farm pork chop, the butcher’s cut grass-fed beef − but the new location has new items to enjoy, some with an Italian twist. Housemade pappardelle is swathed in a rich ragout of braised pork accented with roasted fennel and orange zest. The arugula salad sports pork-belly croutons. Mussels are wood-fired with housemade sausage and Civil Life milk stout. And housemade braunschweiger is griddled and served with pickled red onions and grain mustard. The Potted Chocolate plays off the Potted Pig app, the sweet version topping creamy chocolate with a honeycomb nugget and toasted housemade marshmallows. At The block’s newest location, rustic fare is given a modern, ingredient-driven focus that satisfies as much as it intrigues. – C.N.

33 N. Sarah St., Central West End, 314.535.5100theblockrestaurant.com


high-end honey

| 1 | Katz and Co. Branches Black Button Sage Honey, $14.95; Extra Virgin, An Olive Ovation, 143 Carondelet Plaza, Clayton, extravirginoo.com | 2 | Ames Farm Buckwheat Honey, $8.99; The Wine Merchant, 20 S. Hanley Road, Clayton, winemerchantltd.com | 3 | Miel Asturiana Chestnut Honey, $16.39; The Wine & Cheese Place, multiple locations, wineandcheeseplace.com PHOTOGRAPHy By Jonathan Gayman

This month’s Mystery Shopper column on eucalyptus honey (p. 26) has us dipping into more varieties of the sweet stuff. These three pots are full of new and exciting flavors! – B.W.

Sweet and herbaCeouS

Malty wIth hIntS oF MolaSSeS

SpICy and SlIGhtly SMoky

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wang gang sodas

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written by Brandon Chuang

ryan o’Day calls it “soda,” not “pop.” to be more specific, the owner of wang gang Drinks calls what he makes “designer sodas.” o’Day is also the owner of wang gang asian, the popular asian-cuisine restaurant in edwardsville. with the success of the restaurant, he began looking for ways to flex his entrepreneurial muscle outside the kitchen. “i looked at different asian products, like sweet and sour sauce − who actually goes to the store and buys sweet and sour sauce? nobody,” says o’Day. “but then it was brought to my attention that the average 8- to 18-year-old drinks about three sodas a day.” So o’Day launched with three sodas: black Chery bomb, 8ball ornge and nearly Famous root beer. with two more sodas coming to market this summer − including a coconut cola − o’Day is looking to make a big splash as he diverts on this separate venture. he’s even begun sponsoring athletes and sporting events like the big boys do. wang gang Drinks’ sponsorship roster currently includes mixed martial arts fighters, nationally ranked dart players and midget wrestling. “it’s a fun product,” laughs o’Day. “you gotta zig when others zag.”

wanggangdrinks.com


Celebrating Valentine© s Day

3400 Fosterburg Rd. • Alton, IL • 618.462.4620 • castell is255.com

Join us for our Valentine special Wednesday February 13 - Sunday February 17th

$25 per person. Includes our mouthwatering 6 oz. filet mignon, 4 hand battered shrimp, choice of soup or salad and a potato or a vegetable (coffee and tea).

Our regular menu will also be available featuring our Talk-n-Chick chicken, seafood, homemade pastas, steaks, etc. New wine list. Visit our website for a chance to win a $25.00 gift card!

Only 25 minutes from St. Louis. 255 N IL to Fosterburg Rd. Exit 13.

Open at 11am daily for lunch and dinner (Closed Mondays).

Jumbo Florida Stone Crabs now available!Stone Crab season is officially under way. For a limited time only, Gerard© s is carrying fresh Florida Stone Crabs along with the best Steaks, Chops, and Seafood available as well as imported pasta from Italy. Call for availability.

With over 600 Wines from around the world, Gerard© s was one of 443 restaurants worldwide to receive the Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator for the 13th year.

Private room available for parties up to 35.Please support locally owned restaurants.

1153 Colonnade Center • DesPeres • 314.821.7977 • stlgerards.com

Best fried chicken in the midwest

Join us for Sunday family style chicken dinners

114 W. Mill St. • Waterloo, IL • 618.939.9933 • gallagherswaterloo.com

*Not valid with Valentine© s Day Special or any other promotions or offers.Expires February 28th, 2013. Up to $5 Off on Lunch and up to $20 Off on Dinner.

We offer four romantic dining rooms and a special Valentine© s Day Menu. Early reservations Recommended.Let us cater your next special event.OPEN Monday - Friday 11AM - 2PM for LunchMonday - Sunday 5PM - Close for Dinner

Receive 20% OFF* Lunch & Dinner with this ad.

Join us for Valentine© s Day

10411 Clayton Rd. • Suite III • Frontenac • 314.432.8585 • branicafrontenac.com


olde town spice shoppeTucked into the charming row of historic buildings on St. Charles’ Main Street is a little spice shop with a lot of flavor. It’s hard to believe that Olde Town Spice Shoppe’s two small rooms can hold the myriad spices, sauces, mixes, teas and snacks on display. It’s a good thing owner Carol Hurst is incredibly organized.

Shelves are thoughtfully labeled by purpose, so you’ll find all your baking needs or canning spices grouped together, gourmet salts are all in one spot, and grilling goods are given their own cabinet. Positioned throughout the rooms are towers of canned products, mostly made in-house, as well as tables displaying quick party mixes or great gift ideas. Sampling stations let you try before you buy, and because Hurst really knows her stuff, the products on display are too tasty to deny. You’ll drop in for a jar of cinnamon and leave with enough dips and snacks to host a poker tournament.

You’ll also see a lot of regulars milling about the shop. Chefs from the nearby culinary school are there in search of inspiration, barbecue enthusiasts are stocking up for their next grill-off, DIYers are getting the goods to make pickles, root beer, cheese and more. The shop’s low-salt and no-salt spice mixes draw a following, as well as the locally made products they sell, including honeys, dip and soup mixes, sauces and salsas.

“The store is like a dream pantry for our customers,” says Hurst. “While the name says Olde we have a very modern approach to food. Whether you’re getting started with the basics or seeking out exciting ingredients like beer powder or dry vinegar, we have something for you. If you eat, you’ll like our shop.” – B.W.

334 S. Main St., St. Charles, 636.916.3600oldtownspices.com

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an| 1 | Pigs in the Garden is great for last-minute get-togethers. Simply whip up this dried bacon-veggie mix with sour cream and mayonnaise for a salty, savory and slightly tangy dip. It’s perfect served with cut veggies and cold beer. | 2 | Of the store’s many canned products, the cherry butter stands out for its sweet-tart complexity. In fact, Hurst says local chefs buy it by the case. It makes a tasty topping on waffles and shines as a substitute for balsamic glaze. | 3 | Olde Town’s Greek seasoning is one of the store’s most popular blends. It’s superb on grilled chicken, but get creative and use it to rim the glass of a bloody Mary. While you’re at it, grab the housemade dilled green beans for a garnish.

Three houSemade muST-haveS

| 1 | | 3 | | 2 |


MARCH 9 & 10SAT / MAR 9 8 PMSUN / MAR 10 2 PM

AT THE FOX

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E L L E R EM E R RY TAYNGGNN G STO NVVVVL LO R R &&&&& J AJ A-

Jeremy DavenportSaturday, February 2 at 8 p.m. Sponsored by Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale, P.C.Beverage sponsor: Maker’s MarkWelcomed by WSIE 88.7 The Jazz Station

Denise Thimes with Bucky Pizzarelli Be My Valentine Friday, February 15 at 8 p.m. Sponsored by YP

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder Friday, February 22 at 8 p.m. Sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLPIn-kind donations: Catering Your Way By Lisa

Pianopaloozawith Peter Henderson, Daniel Schene, Alla Voskoboynikova and Martin Kennedy

Wednesday, February 27 at 8 p.m. Made possible by The Mizzou New Music Initiative and the Sinquefield Family FoundationSponsored by Centene Charitable Foundation

Whitaker Foundation

call metrotix at 314.534.1111 or visit www.thesheldon.org

3648 washington blvd. st. louis, mo 63108


“I spent two years in college doing nothing I was supposed to be doing in college, so I decided to try my hand at the family business.” We can all be thankful that Qui Tran’s time in college was fleeting. That family business he’s referring to is the venerable Mai Lee, St. Louis’ first Vietnamese restaurant and arguably its best. Tran’s mother, Lee, opened the restaurant in 1985, and since then it’s evolved into a culinary hub where, if you’re lucky, you’ll spot our city’s culinary greats getting takeout for their crews or sitting at the bar, devouring a steaming bowl of pho.

For those unfamiliar, what differentiates Vietnamese cuisine? Vietnamese cuisine stands out from the rest of the Asian cuisines because of [its] strong European influence, particularly from the French, due to years of colonization. It is a harmonious balance of sweet, salty and sour. How “authentic” are you able to make the dishes? Our dishes are just as you would find them if you were invited into a southern Vietnamese home. Luckily now, all of the ingredients are easily accessible. Favorite go-to dish on the menu? Pho tai, the traditional Vietnamese beef noodle soup. What should someone looking for a truly unique, authentic dish order? Canh chua (lemongrass-tamarind soup with shrimp or fish). What do you make yourself when you’re off the clock? Packaged ramen noodles (only Asian brands) or a plate of cured meats and cheeses. What’s it like working with family? Just like working in any other business, there are ups and downs, but a great thing is being able to see each other more often than not. Any food or drink that you just do not like? I’m pretty adventurous when it comes to trying new foods, but I can’t really wrap my head around the concept of eating testicles. Mai Lee is known as a place where industry folks come when they’re not working – what draws them? Same thing that draws me. My mom’s cooking. Favorite food memory? It’s a tie between the smells of my mother’s cooking growing up or the 3½-hour lunch at Le Comptoir du Relais during my honeymoon in Paris. Favorite place to hang out on your day off? At home on the couch with my dog. Would you ever want to open another restaurant or a bar? Yes, definitely another Vietnamese establishment, but I’m still working the concept in my head. What’s in your fridge at home? Lots of Champagne at the ready [and] not much else right now. When you think about your life 10 years from now, what do you hope for? I still hope to win the lottery; otherwise I’ll see you at Mai Lee.

WRITTEn bY Catherine Neville PhOTOgRAPhY bY Jonathan Gayman ShOT On LOCATIOn AT 5 STAR buRgERS, CLAYTOn

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Fri. February 22nd 11am-8pm

Sat. February 23rd 10am-8pm

Sun. February 24th 11am-5pm

22 d

Special Guest Speaker

MARIA BELLO!Saturday Feb. 23

Watch Team Remy and Team Mason from “The Bull” as they judge each day’s

competition. But don’t let their hilarious antics fool you, taste testing is serious business. Check out all of the recipes to find your favorite or create your own.The ideas are truly endless with pork. Other

judges include Catherine Neville, Publisher and Editor, from “Feast” Magazine, as well as various

local chefs.

Tickets Available online atWWW.WWSSONLINE.COM

All weekend long on the Cooking Class Stage corks will be popped and pork will be chopped as St. Louis’ best chefs go head to head. Alongside the action, other experts will be sharing their favorite recipes for desserts, salads, entrees, wine and more on the Pork “Be Inspired” Cooking Class Stage.

The “ULTIMATE GIRL’S DAY COOKOFF”, along with the stage itself, is sponsored by the Missouri Pork Association. Naturally, PORK BE INSPIRED dishes will be the piece de resistance, and the cook with the best pork-related recipe, amateur or professional, will win a prize so fantastic you’d think pigs could fly.

Friday’s and Saturday’s winners will compete for final prizes on Sunday, and the last woman standing will be crowned our Ultimate Girl’s Day Chef! The winner will get her own bedazzled apron and chef’s hat, $100 gift card from Shop ‘n Save, a Pork “Be Inspired” trophy, a fabulous, super-fast “Thermapen” thermometer and a $100 gift card from Macy’s. On top of all that, each contestant that competes will win a prize.

Listen to “93.7 The Bull” for more details.Join the fun and sign up to compete. Go to 93.7 “The Bull” for details.

IT’S THE ULTIMATE GIRL’S COOKOFF375 EXHIBIT SPACES WITH UNIQUE PRODUCTS & SERVICES, SHOPPING,

EDUCATION, ENTERTAINMENT, TRAVEL, FOOD SAMPLING, MAKEOVERS & MORE!


If you look at the majority of cocktail recipes that came out of the Prohibition era, there is one similarity: simplicity. The bartenders of this time had two major jobs: Make the bad booze taste good and make it quick. The Fox River Cocktail is a prime example of both tasks. You don’t stir it for 30 seconds for proper dilution. You don’t shake it for 15 seconds. You don’t even make sure the sugar cube is dissolved. Just pour the stuff in a glass over ice and serve. Plus, the use of sugar and the potency of peach bitters would mask any poorly made whiskey.

Ever have a Colony or a Bee’s Knees? These are both gin cocktails I make for people who swear they hate gin. Why? The gin flavor most of them dislike is not present. Or at least it’s not prevalent. The

Colony is three parts gin, two parts grapefruit juice and one-half part maraschino liqueur. Grapefruit and maraschino are distinct flavors that can mask about anything. Bee’s Knees is three parts gin, two parts honey and one part lemon juice. The sweetness of the honey and the tartness of the lemon juice could wipe away any bathtub remnants of gin.

Even recipes that require shaking and stirring are simple. Many cocktails from this era are all equal parts. The Last Word is a concoction of equal parts gin, green chartreuse, lime juice and maraschino liqueur. The Twelve Miles Out consists of equal parts Swedish Punsch, rum and Calvados. Equal parts means less memorization. Know the ingredients, pour them equally and get the drink across the stick.

There are a handful of classics that I’m very fond of and will drink at home. The Fox River Cocktail is one of them. I first found this recipe in the 1927 edition of Barflies and Cocktails. I searched a few more old books and found that the same recipe appears again and again (the only variation being between bourbon and Canadian whiskey). If you know much about the history of cocktails, you know that a consistent recipe is rare.

Because this is a drink with a solid recipe behind it, I thought it would be just as easy to find the history of its creation. No such luck. However, through my own research, I’ve found what could possibly be the birthplace of this classic libation. There is an actual Fox River that flows through northern Illinois just outside of Cook County, where Chicago is located. On the banks of the Fox River, in a little town named Valley View, there has long been a steakhouse called Al Capone’s Hideaway & Steakhouse. (I’d like to believe that it wasn’t called that during Prohibition, but I can’t confirm.) Considering that this drink appears in Prohibition-era cocktail books and that Al Capone was a notorious booze runner during that time, an establishment once owned by the infamous gangster located on the banks of the Fox River is my best guess at retracing this drink’s history.

The drink itself is quite simple, and the procedure for making it just seems as if it was created in a speakeasy. You start by saturating a sugar cube with peach bitters. Do this by throwing the cube into the glass and dashing enough peach bitters over it to saturate it. Place one cube of ice in the glass. Measure out 2 bar spoons (equivalent to 2 teaspoons) of crème de cacao and add it to the glass along with 2 ounces of whiskey. Squeeze a lemon peel over the top and stir slightly. It is strong at first. However, once the ice melts and the sugar cube dissolves, it mellows and more flavors are exposed.

ProhibiTion CoCkTaiL baSiCS

Matt Seiter is a co-founder of the United States Bartenders’ Guild’s St. Louis chapter, a member of the national board for the USBG’s MA program and a continuing educator for all desiring knowledge of the craft of mixology. He is a member of Drink Lab and is the creator of the Sanctuaria Cocktail Club.

simplY REliABlE STORY AND RECIPE BY Matt Seiter PHOTOGRAPHY BY Jonathan Gayman

Fox river Cocktailserves | 1 |

1 sugar cube peach bitters 2 oz Elijah Craig bourbon 2 bar spoons Marie Brizard White Crème de Cacao lemon peel

| Preparation | As taken from Barflies and Cocktails: “In [an Old Fashioned glass] put 1 lump of sugar saturated with peach bitters, add 1 lump of ice, [2 oz] of bourbon whiskey and [2 bar spoons] of Crème de Cacao. Squeeze a piece of lemon peel on top and stir slightly.”


Box 1 • Grafton, IL 62037 • www.tarapoint.com • For Brochure or Reservations: (618) 786-3555 • Fax: (618) 786-3255

Tara Point is located just 12 National Scenic Byway miles upriver from Alton, atop a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Many say it’s the most beautiful view in the Midwest. All Inn & Cottage Suites have great river Views.

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STYLE: American Pale Ale (6.2% abv)AVAILABLE AT: Friar Tuck, multiple locations, friartuckonline.com; $9.99 (six-pack, 12-oz bottles) PAIrIngS: Hot and sour soup• Chicken Parmesan

With Deschutes’ arrival in the St. Louis market last January, I was quickly introduced to the wonderfulness that is Red Chair. This American Pale Ale features a slightly sticky malt backbone layered with a perfect blend of Cascade and Centennial hops. Luckily for us hop heads, this beer is around all the way through May.

STYLE: Robust Porter (6.7% abv)AVAILABLE AT: The Wine & Cheese Place, multiple locations, wineandcheeseplace.com; $8.79

(six-pack, 12-oz bottles) PAIrIngS: Barbecued pork loin•

Spicy chipotle salsa

The name New World Porter is quite fitting for this beer. This porter features a bigger emphasis on hops than your usual

porter. Avery created a new world of flavor by dry-hopping this beer with Columbus and Cascade hops, thereby creating what

might be one of the first examples of a “Black IPA.”

STYLE: Export Stout (8% abv)AVAILABLE AT: Dierbergs Markets, multiple locations, dierbergs.com; $11.99 (six-pack, 12-oz bottles) PAIrIngS: Sticky toffee pudding• Jerk chicken

Believe it or not, extra (or export) stout was originally designed to be shipped all over the world but really found its fame on the balmy beaches of the Caribbean. Higher in ABV than your typical Irish stout, this beer is a bit sweeter and a bit more viscous. It’s a rich, chocolaty beer that will at least make you think you’re on a beach.

ProVEnAncE: Kentucky (61.7% abv)AVAILABLE AT: Randall’s Wine and Spirits, multiple locations, shoprandalls.com; $99.99 TrY IT: With a little water. At this high of a proof,

water is a must or you won’t taste the complexity.

Buffalo Trace Distillery produces a series of special whiskeys, the most notable being the Van Winkle Collection. The Weller Barrel Proof bourbon is distilled from corn, wheat and malted barley. The use of corn in lieu of rye creates a softer, easier-drinking bourbon. You won’t find the spice that is usually in bourbons because of the lack of rye. Instead, once this is watered down to a reasonable proof, you’ll find soft notes of vanilla, caramel, citrus peel and tobacco.

ProVEnAncE: Barolo DOCG, Italy (16.5% abv)AVAILABLE AT: The Wine Merchant, 20 S. Hanley Road, Clayton, winemerchantltd.com; $63.99TrY IT: Chilled, neat.

Chinato is made exclusively in the Piedmont region of Italy. It is simply Barolo wine made into a digestif by infusing quinine bark, rhubarb, ginger, cinnamon and other aromatics. The end result is something akin to a high-end sweet vermouth but with stronger flavors and a rich and complex base provided by the Barolo. Some may find it tough to use this as a vermouth substitute, but the result creates complex Manhattans, Martinez cocktails and any other drink calling for sweet vermouth.

DeSchuTeS Brewery’S reD chair NwPa

avery BrewiNg co.’S New worLD PorTer

cocchi BaroLo chiNaTo

The ST. LouiS Brewery’S SchLafLy iriSh exTra STouT

beer spiritsWRITTeN BY Michael Sweeney

The creator of STLHops.com and founder of St. Louis Craft Beer Week, Michael Sweeney is also the craft beer manager at Lohr Distributing.

WRITTeN BY Chad Michael George

Award-winning sommelier and mixologist Chad Michael George is founder of Proof Academy, which covers everything from wine and cocktail list consulting to spirits and mixology education.

top FEBRUARY pICKS

wiLLiam Larue weLLer BarreL Proof BourBoN

ProVEnAncE: Scotland (46% abv)AVAILABLE AT: The Wine & Cheese Place, multiple locations, wineandcheeseplace.com; $65.99 TrY IT: With a few drops of water or over a big

rock of ice.

Highland Park has been making whisky since 1798 and at this time is the northernmost distillery in Scotland. Signatory Vintage purchased this vintage whisky from Highland Park and bottled it at 18 years of age after it was finished in a single sherry cask. Being a single cask release, fewer than 800 bottles were made. This whisky has a heavy dose of peat that is balanced perfectly by the trademark Highland Park sweetness with strong notes of honey, caramel and orange peel.

SigNaTory viNTage highLaND Park 1991ScoTch whiSky


Provenance: Victoria, Australiaavailable at: The Wine & Cheese Place, multiple locations, wineandcheeseplace.com; $15.99Pairings: Custards• Fruit desserts• Noodle kugel

This sweet yet spicy dessert wine offers a range of aromas and flavors, from dried and candied fruits to earthier notes of toffee, cinnamon and tobacco. Allowing grapes to ripen on the vines and then shrivel in the fall months concentrates the sugar levels of the juices before the fermentation and fortification processes. A re-corked bottle will stay drinkable for months.

Provenance: Savoie, Franceavailable at: The Wine & Cheese Place, 14748 Clayton Road, Ballwin, wineandcheeseplace.com; $19.99

Pairings: Gorgonzola dolce• Chocolate-covered strawberries• Spicy foods

Quirky yet delightful, this sparkling rosé is made from 100 percent Gamay, the grape used in making Beaujolais wine. Pops of

bright fruits such as strawberry, raspberry and cherry lead into a zippy mouthfeel while a touch of sweetness surprises in the

finish. Lower-than-average alcohol (under 8 percent) keeps this both an easy evening drinker and a charming choice for any toast.

Provenance: Piemonte, Italyavailable at: Bottle Cellars, 6039 Telegraph Road, Oakville, bottlecellars.com; $19.99

Pairings: Pasta with white sauce• Rich seafood

Proving that simplicity can result in elegance, this unique white exhibits richness through mouthwatering notes of peach and pear balanced by subtle nutty and mineral-like undertones. Bright acidity combined with a long finish makes the wine an ideal aperitif as well as a commendable food pairing selection.

winewriTTen By Angela Ortmann

STLwinegirl Angela Ortmann shares her passion for all things epicurean through her event and consultation business, which is dedicated to enhancing your food and wine experience.

PIerre BonIFaCe CaPrICe de roCaIlles nV

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Stop by to pick up more delicious recipes featuring eucalyptus honey. Visit straubs.com for information on its four locations.check it out!

Feast extra

Serves | 12 |

3 large egg whites ½ cup water 1/3 cup light corn syrup 2 cups + 3 Tbsp granulated sugar ¾ cup eucalyptus honey 1 cup diced dried apricots or other dried fruit

| Preparation | Place whites in the bowl of a 5-quart stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Place water, corn syrup and 2 cups sugar in a medium saucepan. Spoon honey into a second, smaller saucepan. Set both saucepans aside. Whip the egg whites on medium speed for about 2 minutes, until soft peaks form. With the mixer running, slowly add remaining sugar and whip about 2 minutes, until medium peaks form. Turn off the mixer. Place the pot with the honey

Throw out any notions you may have that eucalyptus honey is just a sweet, edible version of Vicks VapoRub. This is a complex, nuanced natural product whose flavor profile presents as quite exotic if all you’ve tasted is the generic honey found in bear-shaped bottles.

What is it?

Eucalyptus honey is considered a monofloral honey (although there are more than 500 species of eucalyptus tree). That is, the nectar the bees gather to make their honey is primarily from a single variety of flower. Eucalyptus trees grow well in Australia, South Africa, Italy and California, and these places are where you’ll find the most production. Beekeepers must be meticulous to understand flowering cycles for different plants so they can take the hives to these orchard areas at the exact right time to help with pollination and to craft a pure varietal honey. When the flowering cycle finishes, they close up the hives and move them to defend against cross-contamination from other flowers.

hoW do i use it?

Derived from the flowers of eucalyptus trees, eucalyptus honey is dark and creamy with notes of herbs, butterscotch and, yes, sometimes mild menthol. Less sweet than many varieties, eucalyptus honey adds a distinct richness to tea as well as to salad dressings and desserts. In summertime, grilled fruits drizzled with eucalyptus honey will be a smash hit. If you are a home brewer, try it in a honey brown ale or mead. And eucalyptus honey will shine when paired with a smoked blue cheese on your next cheese platter. Try Smokey Blue from Oregon’s Rogue Creamery.

WRITTEn By Erik Jacobs PhOTOgRAPhy By Jennifer Silverberg EUcAlYpTUS HonEY

over medium-high heat for about 2 minutes. The mixture will boil up considerably at this point. Don’t stir. Cook until the honey reaches 248°F. As soon as it reaches temperature, turn the mixer on high and add the hot honey in a slow, steady stream. Whip until stiff peaks form and then turn off the mixer. Transfer the pot of water, corn syrup and sugar to the stove and cook over high heat. Boil until it reaches 290°F. Again, don’t stir. Turn the stand mixer on high and add the hot syrup in

a slow, steady stream. Whip for 3 minutes. Add diced apricots and stir until combined. It will be very thick. Scoop the finished nougat onto a sheet of parchment paper. Cover with a second sheet of parchment and press the nougat into an even layer about 2 inches thick. Allow to cool completely. Remove parchment and cut the nougat into 1x2-inch pieces with a knife oiled with vegetable or another flavorless oil. Wipe knife down between cuts and re-oil the knife.

Apricot Nougat with Eucalyptus HoneyBy Kate splendoria, KAKAO

“Nougat is a confection that seems to be rarely made outside of Italy and France, but it is so delicious when it is homemade,” says Kakao’s Kate Splendoria. “This nougat recipe is a great way to use your favorite honey.”


Fun Food, Happy People, Great Drinks!FEAST FAVE

106 N. Main St. • Edwardsvil le • 618.307.4830

• Cleveland Heath Chicken WingsCrispy, Sweet, Spicy

VOTED BEST NEW RESTAURANT - 2012 by the RIVERFRONT TIMESVOTED FAVORITE NEW RESTAURANT - 2012 by SAUCE MAGAZINE Closed Feb 3 - Feb 10 • Mon-Fri 11:00-close, Sat 10:00-close Offering Saturday brunch First Come - First Serve (No reservations) Open Mon - Fri starting at 11 am and Sat starting at 10 am

7415 State Rt 15 • St. Libory, IL • 618.768.4328 • wenneman.com

Retail and WholesaleFor over 86 years, the Wenneman family business has been a tradition for many people in the St. Louis Metropolitan area. With total commitment to customer satisfaction as their primary objective, we place great emphasis on product quality and customer service.

Wenneman Meat Company is a full service, federally inspected, old fashioned butcher shop and meat market. We produce a complete line of our own meat, deli and poultry products. Our formulations and recipes have been passed down for generations, and remain unchanged, while continuing to grow our product lines. Retail and Wholesale

Valentine© s Day the Bavarian way

1415 McKinley St. • Mascoutah • 618.566.4884 • roemertopfl lc.com

Tell her "Ich Liebe Dich" and take her on a culinary trip to the old country. Discover authentic "Bavarian" cooking; Award-winning Bavarian Bier and famous sweet Riesling wines. Try our seasonal specialties and find out what "Gemuetlichkeit" means at the Roemer Topf restaurant.

Reservations recommended!

Live music every 2nd & 4th Saturday • Groups welcomeTues-Fri 11-2 & 5-9, Sat 5-9, Sun 5-8. Closed on Mondays.

Open Weekends and Valentine© s Day

4426 Randall Place • St. Louis • 314.533.9830 • bissellmansion.com

ª Nursery Crimes” Fairytale land isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be ± just ask Humpty Dumpty. He didn’t fall off that wall, he was pushed! Well today, we are all grown up and now we will find out the truth. Fairytale land is not so sweet and innocent. It© s full of gamblers like the Queen of Hearts, and the fighting duo, Jack & Jill and don© t forget about those shady characters known as Mandy Muffit and Little Jack Horner.

This interactive comedy mystery will be presented with a 4-course meal to DIE for.Call the Bissell Mansion to make your reservations now 314.533.9830

Bring in this ad for $10.00 off per person.Thru February 2013. Not valid for groups or Valentine© s Day."Nursery Crimes"


At SidnEY StREEt written by Brandon Chuang PhotograPhy by Jonathan Gayman

On any given Saturday night in St. Louis, at any given upscale restaurant, you’ll see plenty of well-dressed people. in fact, looking around the dining rooms of the city, you’ll notice they’re all well-dressed people. granted, there is some variety – a sartorial spectrum that runs from selvedge denim to slim-cut suits depending on exactly which establishment you’re patronizing– but i can guarantee you that no one is rolling into a place like Sidney Street in the middle of dinner rush on a busy weekend night looking like a bum.

Unless you’re me. Sorry, Mom.

to kick off this new column where i basically run around like an idiot for your entertainment (you’re welcome), we began looking for an idea that you normally wouldn’t find in a publication like ours. Something that offered our readers a different glimpse into food while still being fun and entertaining. in the middle of our brainstorming session over beers that night, i blurted out, “i want to wash dishes at a fancy restaurant on a busy night.”

and thus begins the story of how i wound up at Sidney Street on a Saturday night and simultaneously ends the story of the last time i ever drank while brainstorming.

Living in Soulard, i’m very familiar with the building that is home to Sidney Street Cafe. big. brick. brightly lit. i’ve always had a good time there when dining, but then again, i’ve always come in wearing at least a shirt with a collar attached to it. on this night i’m sporting a Cardinals t-shirt that probably would be better served in the hamper, stained chinos and a wool beanie.

Lucky for me, the staff handles my entrance gracefully. the hostess deftly guides me to the kitchen, where chef/owner Kevin nashan is waiting for me. he quickly throws me an apron and towel and introduces me to Jildo and Leden, the father/son dishwashing team of Sidney

Street. Unlike the staff and guests in the dining room, they both laugh a little when they see me.

it takes me about 10 seconds to realize why they’re laughing: my shoes, a pair of navy blue Jack Purcells that i forgot to change out of before coming to work. For those who don’t know, Purcells were designed in 1935 by the shoes’ namesake, Jack Purcell. their original intent was for use on dry badminton courts. today their apparent intent is to concuss mildly obese taiwanese guys as they slip all over wet kitchen floors while trying to sling dishes.

to outsiders, there’s no job less exciting in the restaurant world than that of the dishwasher. there’s no glitz, no glamour, no Top Dishwasher on bravo. the head chef and sous chef? they’re easy to romanticize. the line cooks? they’re culinary assassins biding their time until they become chefs. the dishwashers? Silent and forgotten.

but if we go with most people’s assumption that the chefs and the line are the brains of the restaurant, then it has to be known that the dish station and its tenders are the heart.

the layout of Sidney Street’s kitchen is fairly typical: sauté, grill and garde manger – also known as the place where salads and cold appetizers come from – in the front, prep kitchen in the back. Dish station smack in the middle. why the middle? because everything revolves around Dish. you may have the skill to make a pretty plate of food, but you sure as hell can’t do it if you don’t have an actual clean plate. as i start working alongside Jildo and Leden, things are buzzing all around us. bussers running back and dumping tray upon tray of empty plates, glassware and utensils; servers flitting about polishing silver; cooks throwing mixing bowls and storage tubs while sauces and scraps fly through the air — and that’s just in the first three minutes.

being in the middle does have its advantages;

you get to see everything that’s going on in the kitchen that others aren’t privy to. namely how many people work back there. by my count there are at least 5,000 employees working in Kevin nashan’s kitchen, and the insane thing is that it’s so organized. no music. no yelling. Just a controlled fury of whirling bodies and moving pots, pans and plates, all of which, at some point or another, need to be washed.

in most kitchens, dish washing isn’t about the execution; it’s about the results. no one cares how you do it as long as it comes out clean. this is not the case at Sidney Street. Jildo, who doesn’t speak much english, starts me on silverware. because of the way commercial dish-washing machines are engineered, everything that goes through them must be placed on a rack of some sort. glasses have a compartmentalized glass rack, dishes have a pronged dish rack that allows you to stack plates as you would in your machine at home, and everything else pretty much goes into a self-explanatory flat rack. My job is to remove the silverware from the flat rack and place it into a caddy to be sent through the wash again. wanting to show these boys that i’m not a soft magazine guy sent in for some fluff piece, i dive in.

“no. Stop.”

i don’t know the extent of Jildo’s english vocabulary, but i am 100 percent confident that the man knows the words “no,” “stop” and “bad.” he’ll use them many times over the course of the evening, but this first time is because i didn’t organize the silverware in the caddy by type: forks in one bin, knives in another, steak knives in another, etc.

as the learning process slowly continues (sorry, Jildo), i see that everything at Jildo’s station is organized. there’s an entire table specifically for clean dishes off to the side, and there’s a specific spot for each type of dish that comes out of the machine. b&b’s (bread-and-butter plates)

go exactly on the top left corner of the table. Directly underneath are the slightly larger round plates; below that are the long cigar-shaped plates used for certain appetizers (i think). i consider myself a fairly intelligent guy, but even after 20 minutes of organizing and stacking, Jildo has to keep coming over to correct me. never saying anything, always organizing.

once the organizing table starts to get full, it’s the dishwasher’s job to return the dishes to their rightful places. Considering that there are about 15 different types of plates, not to mention the blenders, pots and other cooking detritus that make their way to the Dish, this is no easy task. Slaloming around waiters, bussers, hostesses and cooks, i fumble my way around the kitchen, leaving a trail of “excuse mes” and “behind yous” in my wake. every once in a while i look for what i’m certain will be a red-faced Kevin nashan ready to throw me out, but it never happens — he’s far too busy to worry himself with me. that’s what Jildo and Leden are there for.

in fact, much like the dishware, all the employees at Sidney Street have their positions, and they execute them impressively. i bump into a few people here and there, i wait sheepishly in corners while people who know what they’re doing rush by, but no one gets mad at me or seems flustered.

and though i didn’t notice it at first, nashan has been watching me. he asks his pastry chef to make me a dessert — something i take only a single bite of out of guilt because i don’t want everyone to think i’m loafing. a bartender comes back and hands me a beer. i quickly look to Jildo, again guilty, but he just shakes his head and smiles.

after all is said and done with my time behind the Dish, nashan informs me that it was a fairly busy Saturday night – all told, they served about 260 guests. assuming each guest had at minimum bread, appetizer and an entrée, that’s nearly 800 plates from the dining room alone. Most people had soup, salad and dessert too. and i didn’t count the silverware. through it all, Jildo, Leden and the staff at Sidney Street didn’t break a sweat. in fact, once or twice Jildo and Leden both walked away from the station, leaving just me and the dishes.

in those fleeting moments of panic, i just sprayed and racked, cleaned and organized. it was then that i realized the reason for the system. though i was there for only a few hours, i found myself settling into a pattern. Slowly but surely i began to learn where the plates went. i found myself knowing exactly how long the wash cycle ran so that i could time my other actions around it. the moment you realize you know exactly what you’re doing, even though you thought you didn’t, it’s calming. a cadence begins to appear in your work. a measured tempo. a rhythm.

Like a heartbeat.

Sidney Street Cafe, 2000 Sidney St., benton Park 314.771.5777, sidneystreetcafe.com

GEttinG diRtY


Hwy 61 Roadhouse Pardi Gras 2013

34 S. Old Orchard • Webster Groves • 314.968.0061 • hwy61roadhouse.com

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Each day our kitchen crew will feature two different, off the menu Cajun and Creole dishes for you to indulge in.

Saturday, February 9 we’ll open at 8 a.m. with our Mardi Gras Breakfast Buffet for only $8.99. Buffet runs until 11 a.m.Pardi Gras Bus to the Soulard Mardi Gras Parade Live Music by Zydeco Crawdaddys 1-5 p.m. & then 6-10 p.m. north of the Quarter.

Mardi Gras “Fat Tuesday” February 12 Bones & Tail Night, 61¢ Ribs, Smoked Wings & Shrimp 6-10 p.m.Blues Jam and Open Mic 7:30 - ?.

*Valid only with purchases of two dinner entrees. Dine-in only. Not valid on holidays, restaurant special events or with any other discount. See web site for exclusions. Tax and tip not included. Expires 2/28/13.

Simply the best Steaks and SeafoodKreis’ serves the finest USDA Prime Mid Western Corn-fed Beef,aged four to six weeks in house. We offer an extensive choice of the classic Steak Cuts and Seafood including our famous Prime Rib. Simply the best available-Top 2%. As well as Colorado Lamb Chops, the best you can buy!

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Serves | 8 to 10 |

Red VelVet Cake Adapted from The Waldorf-Astoria Cookbook 2 cups granulated sugar 4 eggs 1 cup vegetable oil 1 tsp vanilla extract 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp baking soda 1 pinch kosher salt 3 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted 12 oz roasted beets, peeled and puréed 1 tsp red food coloring

Boiled iCing 1½ cups sugar ¼ tsp cream of tartar ¼ cup water 3 egg whites at room temperature 1 tsp vanilla extract

| Preparation − Red Velvet Cake | Preheat oven to 350°F. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla and mix

until creamy and well-combined. Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and continue to mix on low speed until well-incorporated. With the motor running, add the melted chocolate, beets and food coloring. Continue to mix on low speed until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

Divide batter evenly between 2 buttered and floured 8-inch round cake pans and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until cake springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted into the center comes up clean. Cool for 10 minutes in the pans and turn layers out onto a rack to cool completely.

| Preparation − Boiled Icing | | 1 | Place the sugar and cream of tartar in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepot. Add the water carefully, pouring it around the edges of the pot. This will help keep crystals from forming on the sides of the pot. Place a candy thermometer in the pot and place the pot over medium-low heat. Do not stir the mixture, but rather gently swirl the pan occasionally.

| 2 | Meanwhile, combine the egg whites and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat on high until stiff peaks begin to form. Once the sugar mixture has reached 240°F, turn the mixer on low and very carefully pour the sugar in a slow, steady steam into the whipped egg whites. When half of the sugar mixture has been incorporated, return the rest of it to the stove and increase the mixer speed to high. When the remaining sugar mixture reaches 240°F, reduce the mixer speed to low and add the mixture in a slow, steady stream. | 3 | Return the mixer speed to high until the peaks are firm and glossy.

Remove the bowl from the mixer, taking care, as the bowl is now hot. Working quickly, spoon a large amount of icing on one of the layers and spread evenly. | 4 | Place the other layer on top, put another large spoonful of icing in its center and carefully start spreading from the center out until the top and sides are completely covered. Gently place the back of a spoon on the icing and quickly pull up to create decorative peaks.

Boiled icing, also known as seven-minute frosting and white mountain icing, is a vintage “housewife’s” recipe from the early 1900s. The suspected reason for its popularity is that it was a way to make a beautiful frosting without breaking the bank on butter, which increased from 26 cents per pound in 1900 to 74 cents per pound by 1950. Boiled icing, however, is simply an Italian meringue, which is thought to date back to the 18th century. This “vintage” icing is getting a new life across the country as chefs are exploring classic foods.

At its most basic elements, meringue is a mix of egg whites and sugar. When egg whites are whipped, air is incorporated, and the more the whites are whipped, the smaller and smaller the pockets of air that are created. The smaller the bubbles, the stiffer the peaks of the egg whites. The addition of sugar isn’t just for flavor. The sugar acts as a stabilizer for those air bubbles. Acid, such as cream of tartar, vinegar or salt, can also be added to further stabilize the peaks.

Italian meringue incorporates cooked sugar. This hot sugar creates a very firm, stable meringue ideal for icing cakes. It also brings the temperature of the egg whites high enough to eliminate the risk of salmonella. While it’s the most stable meringue, it is also the most difficult to make. Cooking sugar is an art and a science. A candy thermometer must be used to ensure the sugar reaches but does not surpass the soft-ball stage of 234°F to 240°F. Also, sugar at this temperature can be very dangerous and should be handled with extreme care. If it comes into contact with the skin, it can cause very severe burns. (Turn to p. 32 for advice on choosing the best oven mitt to protect your hands.)

There a few guidelines to making boiled icing or any other meringue. Equipment should be clean and dry. Any liquid, especially a fat such as oil, butter or even lotion, could prevent the chemical reaction from occurring. Also, ingredients should be pure and untainted – no yellows in the whites and no flour in the sugar. Finally, start with egg whites at room temperature. This will yield more volume.

A sturdy countertop mixer is essential. Once the egg whites are whipped to stiff peaks, the hot sugar should be added with the motor on low, allowing the two mixtures to slowly combine. The finished product is sweet and glossy and creates beautiful peaks and swirls on cakes or cupcakes. But work quickly, because once the frosting sets, it becomes impossible to spread evenly.

Story and recipe by Cassy Vires photography by Jennifer Silverberg

Red Velvet Cake with Boiled Icing A vintage icing calls for a vintage cake. This red velvet cake uses the traditional red coloring provided by beet juice.

BoilEd icing

Cassy Vires is the owner and chef of Home Wine Kitchen. She received her culinary training in Houston and has a knack for reimagining classic dishes.


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Visit schnuckscooks.com for Schnucks Cooks videos, recipes, locations, our monthly newsletter and more!

©2013 Schnucks

Our Schnucks Cooks how-to videos are full of tips and techniques from our team of culinary experts. If you want to learn more, check out our video library at schnuckscooks.com. You’ll also find a variety of

Schnucks Cooks recipes for quick, easy and affordable meal solutions.

At our in-store Schnucks Cooks stations, our experienced teammates will demonstrate how to cook our featured recipes and sample them for you to try! You’ll find all the ingredients

for each recipe next to our Schnucks Cooks station in select stores.

Remove the skin by scooping it out, slice and dice it first then scoop it outor score the skin lengthwise and remove.

An avocado is ripe when it turns dark green to black and is firm but gives slightly. To ripen an avocado, put it in a paper bag for 2-5 days.

Store avocados by wrapping tightly in plastic wrap in an airtight container in the refrigerator for one day or freeze for up to 4 months.

Preparing AvocadosAwesome avocados are available year round at Schnucks. Watch our step-by-step how-to video online to see how to prepare them. Always sprinkle cut avocados with lemon or lime juice to prevent discoloration. Here are a few steps to get started.


Slip on your favorite oven mitts and bake up the classic red velvet cake with boiled icing in this month’s Tech School.

Room ESSEnTiaLS ovEn miTT

PROSThese inexpensive oven mitts offer a workhorse neoprene grip. The Target style shows in the square quilt pattern and the great retro-turquoise color. A pair will set you back just 10 bucks. Perfectly adequate for top-of-stove pot handling and for retrieval of baked goods, casseroles and cookies. A good starter set for new cooks.

CONSNo extra expense went into the cut of this mitt. Straight up and down. The twill cotton shell, stitched to an inexpensive nonwoven liner, is so lightly quilted that you can clearly feel the heat of the pot. Plenty safe, but you don’t want to hold on for long.

$4.99; Target, multiple locations, target.com

SiLiconE ovEn miTT

PROSIf you make jellies and jams, practice home canning, or make soup stocks on a regular basis, buy these mitts. Protection to temps of 500ºF, burn resistance and waterproof qualities make them a must-have if you bake high-heat breads, grill super-hot or fry turkeys. A BBB exclusive design, the mitts are fully lined with cotton to absorb moisture. The raised design on the silicone gives a good grip. Available in red, black, blue, sage, rust and purple.

CONSThey’re big but supple. Not much of a con.

$9.99; Bed Bath & Beyond, multiple locations, bedbathandbeyond.com

JESSiE STEELE ovEn miTT

PROSA not-too-tight but tidy fit for women’s hands both in the mitt and in the thumb, the close cut of this quilted cotton mitt eases pickup of smaller items like baked potatoes or foil packets. The designers cleverly cut this mitt on the bias, so the quilting channels and fabric give and flex during high-heat transfers from oven or stovetop. Points for style with clever print choices and for comfort with a liner of the softest terry cloth. An excellent choice for everyday baking and cooking.

CONSDefinitely not gender-neutral. Not for the highest heat applications.

$9.95; Kitchen Conservatory, 8021 Clayton Road, Clayton, kitchenconservatory.com

oXo Good GRipS SiLiconE ovEn miTT wiTh maGnET

PROSThe magnet sewn into the cuff works well for keeping the mitt close at hand, stuck to the stove. Marrying soft and flexible fabric with high heat resistance and the good grip of silicone is a good idea.

CONSThis particular marriage can’t be saved, even by the wonderful OXO design team. The silicone ridges don’t conform to the bend of a hand. The thumb juts so far away from the palm that the grip seems forced. Big, rigid and clumsy.

$19.95; Crate & Barrel, 1 The Boulevard, Richmond Heights, crateandbarrel.com

cannon ovEn miTT wiTh nEopREnE

PROSAs much as I love my large Le Creuset Dutch oven, lifting the heavy pot from a hot oven always makes me nervous. The Cannon mitt feels so right for this task. The neoprene grip molds soft and supple. A small dart sewn in helps cup the grip around the hand. The shaped and centered thumb piece adds to the sense of security. The mitt works equally well for more pedestrian jobs such as removing Bundt pans, cast-iron skillets, cookie sheets and glass casserole pans. A good value for the dollar. Good colors too. Choose from green, taupe, yellow, purple and burgundy.

CONSThe cuff sweeps high on the outside to shield the forearm but dips low on the inner wrist, offering less protection than other mitts tested.

$6.99; Kmart, multiple locations, kmart.com

OvEn Mitts

whaT To Look foR :HOt, HOtteR, HOtteSt OR SmOkiN’. Protection’s the first order of business with oven mitts, so think about your cooking patterns before you choose a pair. The level of protection you need will determine the materials, the length of the cuff and even the closeness of the fit for mitts.

mateRialS. Cloth, silicone and neoprene alone or in combination make up the choices. Plain quilted cotton mitts offer the widest range of color and pattern selections. They function well for most stovetop tasks and for most home baking. Choose silicone for use with high heat as well as flame and burn resistance and protection from hot liquids. Fabric mitts with silicone ridges or neoprene patches can provide a nonslip grip and better heat protection than cotton quilting alone.

iN-StORe teStS. Unlike a tool, mitts lend themselves to in-store exploration. Try on mitts and then pick up a pot, casserole, small object and utensil. Look for these things:•GRiP aNd SliP. Make sure your grip feels secure and doesn’t slip. Quilted cottons should have some “tooth” to the surface and not be slick. •FliP aNd Fit. Mitts should reverse completely to fit right and left hands since you’ll use two to lift most things. If the nonslip silicone pattern on a mitt appears on only one side of a combination fabric-and silicone mitt, it doesn’t reverse. •Flexibility. Find a mitt that flexes with the motion and shape of your hand to fight hand fatigue and maintain a secure grip on hot pots.

wrITTeN By pat Eby PhOTOGrAPhy By Jonathan Gayman

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PACO PEÑAFLAMENCO VIVO!FEBRUARY 287:30 PMat the Blanche M. TouhillPerforming Arts Center, UMSL

This quintessential Spanish ensemble presents Flamenco Vivo, in a go-for-broke performance by authentic Spanish dancers, singer, and three guitarists, including the renowned Paco Pena!

TICKETS: 314.516.4949 or visit www.touhill.orgPresented by the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society. Co-sponsored with financial assistance from the Whitaker Foundation, and presented as a Special Project with the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission in Celebration of the Guitar Society© s 50th Anniversary Year (2013).

Sole Survivor25 east main street

downtown belleville618.234.0214

solesurvivorleather.com

m o n - t h u 9 - 6 f r i - s a t 9 - 5 s u n 1 2 - 3

Learn about our new courses at the school of leather at Sole survivor Join us for an OPEN HOUSE on Sunday, Feb 17th noon-5 FEBRUARY 14TH, 2013

FIRST SEATING AT 6:00PM – $70.00

PER PERSON

includes 5 course menu and complimentary champagne and wine

SECOND SEATING AT 8:00PM – $85.00

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includes 7 course menu, amuse bouche,and wine, champagne and spirits

chef’s tips :

34 feaststL.com FEBRUARY 2013

When it’s cold outside, a great bowl of soup can seem like the only thing that will warm you up. Instead of the standby chicken noodle or common beef stew, take a trip to Vietnam and savor bold, fragrant and fortifying pho. Pho is a common street food in Vietnam that is believed to have originated in the

Pho 1 lb rice vermicelli noodles 1 Tbsp sesame oil 1 lb strip steak, slightly frozen 1 lb bean sprouts 2 bunches scallions, thinly sliced ½ cup chopped cilantro 1 bunch Thai basil or regular basil 1 bunch fresh mint 1 serrano chile, thinly sliced 2 limes, cut into thirds

| Preparation – Broth | In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Sear the beef bones in batches. Once they are all seared, return them to the pot and add the chicken wings, onion, carrots, celery, ginger, mushrooms, scallions and

Serves | 4 to 6 |

Broth 3 Tbsp grapeseed oil 5 lbs beef bones 2 lbs chicken wings 2 yellow onions, large dice 2 carrots, peeled and chopped 2 celery ribs, chopped 1½ cups peeled and chopped ginger 1½ lbs shiitake mushrooms, chopped with stems on 3 bunches scallions, roughly chopped 8 cloves garlic, unpeeled ¼ cup fish sauce, plus more for seasoning 8 whole star anise 2 tsp Chinese five-spice 5 whole cloves kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

StOry and recIPe by Lucy schnuck PhOtOgraPhy by Jennifer silverberg TAking STock

Stock tiPS. this dish is really about the broth, so it’s important that you do it right. to make a faster broth that is still delicious but a little less work, you can start with high-quality premade stock. combine chicken stock and beef stock and add aromatics, such as onions, carrots, ginger, mushrooms and scallions. Simmer them in the premade stock for about 30 minutes. Strain and season with fish sauce and salt and pepper. this will cut your preparation and cooking time down quite a bit.

Vegetarian VietnameSe. you can follow the above shortcut using vegetable stock and water and omitting the fish sauce. you will have a slightly lighter broth, but you will still pick up those bright Vietnamese flavors. Instead of steak, use thinly sliced firm tofu.

Beef pho

early 1900s. the star of this Vietnamese soup is rich and flavorful broth. We’ve created a menu that complements this fresh, aromatic pho. Spring rolls, Vietnamese fried rice and a creative twist on ice cream that mirrors classic Vietnamese iced coffee offer a comforting and creative winter dinner.

get hands-on: Join Feast and schnucks Cooks Cooking school on Wed., Feb. 27,

at 6pm to make the dishes in this month’s menu. tickets are just $40 for a night of cooking, dining and wine. RsVP at schnuckscooks.com.

make the meaL: ○ Beef Pho ○ Vietnamese Fried rice ○ Spring rolls ○ Vietnamese coffee Ice cream

Learn mOre:In this month’s cooking class you’ll learn to make stocks and broths from scratch. With the multitude of vegetables and garnishes used in this menu, we’ll bone up on knife skills and cutting techniques. and you’ll learn how to use rice noodles and rice paper in cooking.

JOIN US! RSVP:

schnuckscooks.com 314.909.1704

garlic. cover with cool water (at least 6 cups). bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes. you will see foam and fat form on the surface. Using a spoon or ladle, skim these impurities occasionally throughout the cooking process. add fish sauce, star anise, chinese five-spice and cloves and simmer for another 30 to 45 minutes. Strain, skim and season to taste with salt, pepper and additional fish sauce.

| Preparation – Pho | While the broth is simmering, cook rice noodles until tender. drain and toss noodles with sesame oil to prevent clumping and sticking. Set aside. Slice the slightly frozen strip steak as thin as possible and set aside. Prepare the rest of your garnishes.

When the broth is strained and seasoned, divide the noodles and the garnishes, except the limes, among four to six bowls. Pour the hot broth over each and serve with lime wedges.


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A VIBRANT Indian FeastWritten by Heidi Dean | recipes by Anjali Kamra | photography by Jennifer Silverberg | see all recipes on p. 44

CommoNly KNowN AS THe FeSTIVAl oF ColoRS,Holi is celebrated throughout India by people of every conceivable stratum. It’s a national holiday that originated as a spring harvest festival and this year will be celebrated on March 27. Although it’s associated with several Hindu legends, Holi is considered a secular holiday by most.

Anjali Kamra is a Kolkata (Calcutta) native and

St. Louis resident who revels in celebrating Holi with her family and friends each year. She’s the founder and designer of a clothing and accessory company called Rungolee (a modified spelling of rangoli, which are symbolic paintings of intricate Indian patterns on a courtyard floor or front door). Though Kamra has long lived far from the holiday’s source, her celebrations are carried out

with fewer modifications than you might think.

Holi is a two-day affair, with a bonfire on the first night that many say is meant to commemorate the fiery demise of an ancient king’s evil sister. Her name was Holika, and thus holi means “burning” in Hindi. The day after the bonfire, Kamra recalls, “we [would] all dress in white and

watermelon and watercress Salad okra-Potato Stir-fry

… spend the morning spraying each other with pichkaris (syringe-like water pistols) full of colored water, rubbing dry color on each other’s faces and dunking people in a large tub full of colored water.”

After a thorough scrubbing and a change of clothes revelers ready themselves for the festival’s final event: a big garden party with lots of delicious food. Because India is massive and diverse, the foods associated with Holi vary from region to region, but

one thing remains constant: Tradition dictates that sweets and desserts are prominently featured. At Kamra’s house, this gives her teenaged daughter a welcome excuse to make chocolate cake and brownies to serve alongside traditional kheer, a thin rice pudding. “We like to mix it up,” Kamra says.

Other traditional sweets associated with Holi include gulab jamun, milky dough balls that are fried and soaked in syrup that’s often rose-

scented, and mishti doi, a yogurt-based dessert. Kamra explains mishti doi as “a mix of sweet and sour, flavored with saffron. It’s a hung curd – you take the yogurt and strain out all the water so it becomes coagulated, like pudding or custard.” It’s a dish for which Kolkata is so famous that “everyone who comes to Kolkata takes it back home on the plane,” says Kamra.

Kamra’s hometown sits on the banks of the

Hugli River, a tributary of the Ganga (Ganges) that empties into the Bay of Bengal; the area’s abundant waterways make fish central to Bengali cuisine. Kamra recalls feasting on “fresh fish bought in the morning, dal puri (fried bread stuffed with spiced lentils) and eggplant cooked with panch puran (a blend of five spices).”

One of Kamra’s Holi must-makes is a fish curry from her mother’s recipe file that she says is “very

Bombay Pau Bhaji eggplant in Coconut milk


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○ Watermelon and Watercress Salad – A refreshing salad tossed with cilantro, ponzu sauce and chile-lime dressing

○ Okra-Potato Stir-fry – A Punjabi specialty

○ Bombay Pau Bhaji – A delicious mash of potatoes and buttery vegetables served with naan

○ Eggplant in Coconut Milk – From the southern coast of India

○ Mustard Fish Curry – Cod in a Bengal curry

○ Boondi Raita – A cumin-flavored dip made with small chickpea fritters

○ Kheer – Indian rice pudding

HOlI luNCH MENu

much a Kolkata thing. The pungent mustard taste is very unusual, and it’s great with plain white rice.” The eggplant curry she serves at Holi is also one of her mother’s recipes, though it’s become one of Kamra’s signature dishes. In addition, she’ll serve stir-fried okra with potatoes and, in a nod to her time in Mumbai (Bombay), a classic street food called Bombay pau bhaji, a saucy vegetable masala served on soft, freshly butter-toasted rolls. Here in the States, she uses dinner rolls or

even hamburger buns. She says, “The key is to rub a stick of butter on a pan and then toast the bread in that butter.”

Supermarkets are increasingly common in India, but many shoppers still make the rounds of their neighborhood green grocers, fish vendors and sweet shops. Home cooks may also pluck their produce from handcarts pushed down residential streets by wiry men who plod along, barking out

what’s on offer – often staples like onions and tomatoes. Regardless of the source, quality is always top of mind. Kamra says, “I remember my dad going to buy the meat and fish himself, standing over and watching to make sure he got the best stuff.”

Kamra does much of her shopping at supermarkets, but for specialty ingredients like spices and Indian vegetables, she favors Global

Foods Market in Kirkwood. The store’s country-by-country layout also suits the way she cooks. “I like trying an ingredient from another culture in my cooking and seeing how they go together,” she says. “Sometimes it’s terrible and sometimes it works, but if you don’t play, you don’t know.”

Like many experienced home cooks, Kamra relies on her instincts when spicing her dishes, but for anyone who’s serious about cooking Indian

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food, she recommends having cumin, coriander, chile powder, turmeric and lots of ginger and garlic on hand. If you want to experiment with the aforementioned Bengali spice mix panch puran, it’s composed of equal amounts of five seeds – cumin, black mustard, fennel, nigella and fenugreek – heated in oil to release their essences before vegetables and fish are added.

Holi celebrations typically include extended family

members, but since Kamra’s are all still in India, she’ll invite a mix of Indian and American friends to join her immediate family. Just as in India, she’ll spend days “setting the table, doing the flowers, getting the house ready for friends and family to come over.” To welcome her guests and keep color front and center, Kamra will make a large rangoli and place it on the floor just inside her front door.

Kamra sometimes assembles her rangoli on

a platter, upending tradition and making the decoration portable. To keep the color theme going, she’ll “set the whole table with little plates of rangoli.” Weather permitting, the meal will take place outside, which is also where she and her family (and her more adventurous guests) will fling colors at each other, which is called “playing Holi.”

There are at least two explanations of this tradition involving the young Lord Krishna and

his female cowherd friends. Regardless of what celebrants believe, Krishna’s reputation for mischief gives everyone a license to let loose.

The color play also has a leveling effect. Because everyone’s in white, Kamra says, “it makes it very democratic, like everyone’s one. It’s not about the clothes you’re wearing. It’s just about having fun.” And that might be the best reason of all to celebrate Holi.

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Watermelon and Watercress Salad Pictured on p. 36

The ponzu dressing has an overall citrus flavor but also has a bit of a kick to it, so start with the smaller amount of chile powder.

Serves | 8 to 10 |

1 large seedless watermelon, cut into 1-inch dice 4 to 5 bunches watercress, chopped chopped cilantro to taste ½ cup ponzu-soy dressing* juice of 2 limes ¼ to ½ tsp Indian chile powder* salt to taste

| Preparation | Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and toss gently. Chill before serving.

Okra-Potato Stir-fry Pictured on p. 37

Serves | 8 to 10 |

5 lbs okra 7 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided 1 tsp cumin 1 tsp ground coriander salt 4 potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch dice ½ tsp turmeric ½ tsp amchur* (mango powder) cilantro

| Preparation | Wash and dry the okra and cut into ¼-inch rounds (remove and discard the tops and tails). Heat 5 Tbsp oil in a large flat-bottomed pan and brown the okra, stirring frequently. Add the cumin and coriander and season to taste with salt. In a separate pan, heat the remaining oil. Add the potatoes, and stir to coat with oil. Add turmeric and season with salt to taste. Cover and cook on low heat until potatoes are cooked through but firm. Add the potatoes to the okra. Add the amchur to the potato and okra mixture and adjust salt as needed. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Bombay Pau Bhaji Pictured on p. 38 Kamra spent several years in Mumbai and says of this dish: “The ultimate street food. Best with soft, buttery pau bread. I use dinner rolls or hamburger buns.”

Serves | 8 to 10 |

Bhaji 4 to 5 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 cup grated carrots ½ cup grated green beans 1 stick butter, divided 2 Tbsp + ¼ cup water, divided ½ head cauliflower, grated ½ green pepper, grated 3 to 4 scallions, chopped 2-inch piece ginger, grated 4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced 1 32-oz can crushed tomatoes

5 potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided 3 to 4 Tbsp pau bhaji masala* 2 to 3 tsp salt ½ tsp Indian chile powder* 3 to 4 tsp tamarind*, softened in water, seeds removed 8 to 10 soft dinner rolls or hamburger buns

Sauce 1 medium onion, diced juice of ½ lime ½ tsp salt chile powder cilantro

| Preparation – Bhaji | Heat oil in a large pot and add carrots and green beans. Cook until tender. Add 1 Tbsp butter, 2 Tbsp water and cauliflower. Continue cooking while mashing the vegetables. Add 1 Tbsp butter, green pepper, scallions, ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the crushed tomatoes and cook about 10 minutes. Add mashed potatoes and stir together. Add half the cilantro and stir well. Add pau bhaji masala, salt, chile powder, 2 to 3 Tbsp butter and ¼ cup water. Cook on low heat, constantly mashing the mixture. Add 1 Tbsp butter and remove from heat. Check salt and adjust if necessary. Add tamarind paste and remaining cilantro and stir to combine. Rub a hot frying pan with remaining butter and toast the cut sides of the rolls until golden. Serve vegetable mixture piping hot alongside the toasted rolls.

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| Preparation – Sauce | Combine the onion, lime juice and salt. Season to taste with chile powder and cilantro. Serve in a separate dish alongside the bhaji.

Eggplant in Coconut Milk Pictured on p. 39

Kamra inherited this recipe from her mother, and it’s since become one of her signature dishes, a must-have at any celebration. “Everyone loves my eggplant curry,” she says.

Serves | 8 to 10 |

10 Japanese eggplants, cut into 1-inch pieces salt 2 cups + 4 Tbsp vegetable oil, divided 1½ Tbsp grated ginger 1½ Tbsp grated garlic 1 tsp turmeric 1 32-oz can crushed tomatoes salt and freshly ground black pepper ½ tsp Indian chile powder* 1 tsp ground coriander ½ tsp sugar 1 can coconut milk 2 green chiles, sliced chopped cilantro

| Preparation | Place eggplant in a mixing bowl, salt liberally and set aside for 15 minutes. Drain. Heat 2 cups oil for frying. Fry eggplant pieces in batches and drain on a paper towel-lined plate. In the meantime, heat remaining oil in a large pot.

Add the ginger, garlic and turmeric and cook on low heat for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until you begin to see oil on the surface, about 10 to 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add chile powder, coriander and sugar. Stir to combine. Add coconut milk and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the fried eggplant and green chiles and stir to combine. Garnish with cilantro and serve piping hot.

Mustard Fish Curry Pictured on p. 40

This recipe originated with Kamra’s mother. She adds: “My sister, who is an amazing cook, makes the same recipe but wraps each piece of fish (marinated in the mustard sauce) in a banana leaf, ties it with straw and then bakes it until it’s soft, fluffy and melts in your mouth. She always cooks it for me once on every visit back home. It is my favorite!”

Serves | 8 to 10 |

1 cup milk ½ tsp Indian chile powder* 3 tsp dry mustard salt and freshly ground black pepper 10 fresh cod fillets, about 3x5 inches each 3 to 4 Tbsp vegetable oil 1 tsp mustard seeds 1½ Tbsp ginger, grated 1½ Tbsp garlic, grated 1 tsp turmeric 2 dried red chiles* 2 green chiles*, sliced

2 to 3 Tbsp water chopped cilantro cooked Basmati rice

| Preparation | Combine milk, chile powder and dry mustard powder in a bowl and set aside. Salt and pepper the fish and set aside. Place a large flat-bottomed pan over medium heat and add the vegetable oil. Add mustard seeds, and when they begin to pop, add the ginger, garlic, turmeric, red chiles, green chiles and water. Reduce heat to low. Add fish in one layer. Turn the fish pieces gently. When fish is almost cooked through, add the milk mixture. Cook a few minutes longer. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rice.

Boondi Raita Pictured on p. 41

This raita gains interest and texture thanks to boondi, tiny chickpea flour fritters. You can find packages of boondi at Asian grocery stores such as Seema, Jay International and Global Foods Market.

Serves | 8 to 10 |

2 32-oz containers of nonfat plain yogurt 1 cup water 1 tsp cumin ½ tsp ground coriander ½ tsp Indian chile powder ½ tsp sugar salt ½ cup boondi* chopped cilantro for garnish

| Preparation | Beat the yogurt in a large bowl until smooth. Add water and beat together. Add

the cumin, coriander, chile powder and sugar. Stir together and season with salt to taste. Stir in the boondi. Add cilantro to taste and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Kheer (Indian rice pudding) Pictured on p. 42

This classic Northern Indian dessert can be made with skim, 2 percent or whole milk. When cooking the rice, be careful not to overcook it, as it will cook more in the milk.

Serves | 8 to 10 |

½ cup rice 3 quarts milk ¼ tsp cardamom powder 1 pinch saffron ¼ cup slivered almonds, plus more for garnish ¼ cup golden raisins ½ cup sugar (or more to taste) ground pistachios

| Preparation | Cook rice until done but still firm and set aside. Boil the milk on low heat, stirring frequently. Add the cooked rice, cardamom powder, saffron, almonds, raisins and sugar. Continue cooking on low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 30 to 40 minutes, until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and pour into serving bowls. Garnish with pistachios and slivered almonds. Can be served warm or cold.

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When Dee Dee Kohn, owner of EdgeWild Restaurant & Winery in Chesterfield, Mo., asked my brother, Colby, what kind of wine he would normally drink, it took every ounce of self-restraint I could muster to keep myself from laughing. This was the same guy I witnessed just weeks earlier opening a bottle of $3 wine with a hammer and screwdriver (he had misplaced the corkscrew).

Colby replied that he likes red wine but was willing to try something new. Kohn, a certified sommelier, then ran through a number of wines the restaurant had in stock that Colby would likely enjoy and then asked whether we planned to order an appetizer. Colby enthusiastically held up the menu and pointed to the Pistachio Crusted Herbed Goat Cheese.

“I will start you with something crisp and clean like a Pinot Gris and a Gewürztraminer so it does not compete with the fullness and creaminess of the goat cheese,” said Kohn, who rarely stops smiling when she talks about wine. “It’s always a good idea to move from light to red and from sweet to dry.”

CERTIfIably PassIonaTE abouT WInEWhile all of this french and German was Greek to a guy like Colby, he was stoked to try something new. This was due in large part to Kohn’s infectious enthusiasm. It is the same passion that helped carry her through the navy-sEal-like process for becoming a certified sommelier (som-uhl-yay). for the uninitiated, a sommelier is a wine steward – a person in charge of stocking, maintaining and selling wine on a restaurant floor who acts as a walking encyclopedia about all aspects of wine. sommeliers also need to

WRITTEn by Jeremy Nulik | PHoToGRaPHy by Jonathan Gayman | sHoT on loCaTIon aT EDGEWIlD REsTauRanT & WInERy

Sommeliers can make a dining experience brand-new

understand food and other beverage pairings, including beer, spirits and sake.

becoming a certified sommelier with the Court of Master sommeliers involves the hardest test you have never heard of. by the time a candidate reaches the master level, the exam has about an 8 percent pass rate.

“I took six months to study for the advanced sommelier exam,” says andrey Ivanov, general manager and beverage director at Elaia and olio, a st. louis restaurant and wine bar. of the four levels of sommelier certification, Ivanov has attained the level 3-advanced. The others are level 1-Introductory, level 2-Certified and level 4-Master. “With each level, the exam gets harder, and there is greater expectation.”

according to Ivanov, the exam has three components. There is a theory exam that covers fundamental questions about the world of wine, spirits, beer and service. also, there is a blind tasting exam during which candidates are given a series of wines. using their deductive reasoning, candidates are asked to evaluate every aspect of the wine down to the varietal, vintage and more. The last part is the service exam that tests candidates’ knowledge of food and wine pairing as well as their communication ability.

TIME To REally sMEll THE floWERs – REallyIf the exam seems extreme, it is nothing compared with the preparation time. It’s not as though there is one centralized study program for sommeliers. Many of them have had to find creative ways to train their minds, palates and senses.

stanley browne, owner of Robust Wine bar in

Webster Groves and Downtown st. louis and a certified sommelier, grew up among wine enthusiasts in England and Ireland. His father had a wine cellar, and browne began to study wine as early as age 18. He thinks the amount of study time necessary depends upon your previous life experiences with wine.

“your palate is based on your exposure to all the different scents such as fruits, herbs and flowers, so if you grew up eating and trying many things, you’re one step ahead,” he says. “otherwise you have to go to the grocery and try some new things. Have you had a star fruit before? How can you describe it unless you had it? you have to expose yourself to many new flavors and scents.”

It took browne one full year of intense study to prepare for the certified sommelier exam that he passed 12 years ago. He says many people start with a tasting group and learn everything about a certain varietal or region and then organically grow their knowledge base from there. Even the most veteran of sommeliers know there is no end to the depth of knowledge about wine. but any real understanding comes only from making an earnest beginning.

“being knowledgeable enough to pick out a region comes from tasting experience and studying,” says browne. “let’s take napa Valley versus Willamette Valley. napa is a much warmer climate, so you would expect more tropical fruits like peaches and pineapples. Willamette is cooler, so fruits (in white wines) would be lemon and lime. also, Willamette is further north and cooler, thus there is more acidity in cooler-climate wines. so many

Dee Dee Kohn, leading guests through a tasting experience at EdgeWild Restaurant & Winery

factors give us telltale signs of what and where the wine is about.”

unlike when browne passed the exam and had to read through 50 different books on wine, there are now study guides available online, and browne encourages those with a thirst for more knowledge to join a study group and get going.

THE DEPTH of WInETo some, this much ado over a beverage may seem excessive. However, those with the passion to become certified sommeliers understand that the context and experience of wine can mean so much more.

“Wine is just fermented grape juice,” says Ivanov. “but a sommelier can share an authentic experience that creates context. When I present you with a varietal from Dominio do bibei, I can tell you that I have stood with Gerardo Mendez in Ribeira sacra, spain, and have seen the 200-year-old vines. I can tell you about what effect that has on the wine. My job is to help you to have an incredible experience.”

Ivanov is no slouch when it comes to wine knowledge. He went to the 2012 national finals of Topnewsomm, a national sommelier competition for the Court of Master sommeliers. He was also the 2013, 2012 and 2011 regional finalist at the best young sommelier Competition. The 27-year-old is hoping to sit for the Master sommelier exam in six months. If he achieves this feat, he will be one of the youngest master sommeliers since the designation began in the 1970s.

only 197 people worldwide have ever become master sommeliers – none of them in st. louis. Ivanov says that to be a sommelier requires first a passion for wine, attention to detail and a desire to learn.

“When you really go down the rabbit hole of learning about wine, it encompasses all disciplines,” says Ivanov, who recently went on a tour of vineyards and met with notorious winemakers all over Europe. “It is history, geography, geology, political science, sociology and horticulture. The trick is to translate all of that knowledge into something that deepens and enriches another’s experience.”

PEoPlE WHo KnoW a loT abouT WInE aRE PRETEnTIous jERKs anD oTHER VICIous lIEsKnowledge, however, is a tricky thing. some would assume that a person with this level of understanding of wine would be a know-it-all. not so, according to aleksandar jovanovic, general manager and wine director at Truffles.

“It is important to not be intimidated by the sommelier,” says jovanovic, who is also a certified sommelier. “Knowledge is a dangerous thing, and sometimes people think too highly of themselves. but keep in mind that the sommelier is there to be the steward of the wine and to guide you in the selection. He’s there to help you and not the other way around.”

some report that the level of training involved with becoming a sommelier creates a kind of humility as opposed to a pretense. shayn

bjornholm thinks so at least. He should know. He’s one of the 197 people who have ever passed the Master sommeliers exam, and he’s also the examination director at the Court of Master sommeliers, americas.

“What has to be there first is the passion because that creates a thirst for knowledge,” says bjornholm, who is based outside seattle. “Then, once you get all of this knowledge, you realize how much you don’t know. There is no end to knowledge when it comes to wine. That creates humility. and that humble carriage makes it easier to listen to people instead of having to have all of the answers.”

sT. louIs, THE WIlD WEsT foR soMMElIERsuntil recently, sommeliers were rare in st. louis, but according to jovanovic, that’s changing.

“In just the last two years, I have seen a lot of momentum, and I think we are on a path to catching up with the bigger wine cities,” says jovanovic. “We now have three advanced sommeliers in the market. one of the things we have compared to other areas is our local wines. Many people around the world have not tasted the wine from augusta or st. james. If things continue to grow, then we could be leading in the domestic wines.”

bEInG boRn aGaInKohn beat the appetizer out of the kitchen with the two wines she wanted Colby to try. she handed him the Pinot Gris and a Gewürztraminer. after allowing him to drink the way he normally would, she took the glass and

swirled the wine – letting him know that this releases more flavors.

“now hold it in your mouth for a while before you swallow it,” Kohn said. “That releases a whole new set of flavors, and you will begin tasting with another part of your tongue.”

Kohn then satiated all of Colby’s questions about tasting new wine. she explained why there were no flowers on the tables (the scent interferes with taste). Why the soil types in napa Valley result in wines that lead with fruit flavors and how the soil types lead to hints of limestone or chalk characteristics. Why the acidity and the sugar content are inversely related in wine. In general, the simple meal and drinks came to life. The evening took on a richness and fuller flavor.

Then, to top it off, Kohn brought out a 2010 EdgeWild Pinot noir from oregon. It is blush in color and behaves like neither a white nor a red.

“This is the perfect bipartisan wine,” Kohn said. “It is loved by both red and white wine drinkers.”

Colby took a sip. His eyes widened, and then he frowned. His head moved to the side. and, possessing the full lexicon of a communications major, he uttered, “Wow.”

and that was the moment Kohn had been waiting for. Inside that “wow” was a new understanding about wine and what it can mean. It was as though Colby was tasting it for the first time. and, for a certified sommelier like Kohn, there is no greater joy.


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suggested reading FOR THE TRUE BEGINNERWine for Dummies – Scoff all you want, but if you’re starting from scratch, this book will make you feel comfortable with the common wine words and the basics of how wine is made.

FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT WINE BUT FROM AN EVERYDAY, APPROACHABLE ANGLEOldman’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine by Mark Oldman – This book tackles the styles and topics of wine without pounding you with the nitty-gritty details. The goal is to make you feel at ease with different styles and regions as well as pairings and purchasing.

FOR THOSE LOOKING TO TAKE THE NEXT STEPWindows on the World Complete Wine Course by Kevin Zraly – For years, this has been a go-to book on dipping more than just your toes into the wine world. Each chapter is set up like a class, taking you through regions and styles of the wines of the world. Diagrams, photos and charts accompany the text, and each section finishes with a quiz.

FOR SOMEONE WHO IS IN THE RESTAURANT INDUSTRY OR IS THINKING ABOUT GETTING CERTIFICATIONSThe Wine Bible by Karen MacNeil – This is a book

geared toward those ready to know the ins and outs of wine, including soil, climate, wine-making styles, labels and laws.

local classes THE WINE MERCHANTFor a nominal fee, you can get in-depth knowledge about certain regions and varietals. winemerchantltd.com

ST. LOUIS WINE MARKET AND TASTING ROOMPeriodic tastings of wine and other spirits. stlwinemarket.com

SAINT LOUIS CELLARSTastings that are centered on seasons and holidays. saintlouiscellars.com

THE VINO GALLERYWine classes include Wine 101: An Introduction to Vino. thevinogallery.com

online resourcesWINE SPECTATORThese courses are free to members of winespectator.com. winespectator.com/school

THE WINE CENTERInteractive learning programs that award Wine & Spirit Education Trust qualifications. thewinectr.com/online-study re

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geek The world of wine can be overwhelming. No one knows this better than sommeliers. But all of them

had to start somewhere. If you want to sharpen your wine wit, here are some tips and resources from Angela Ortmann, certified sommelier and owner of STLwinegirl.

and more ...STUDY TOOLS FROM THE GUILD OF SOMMELIERSStudy through every major wine region and bone up on wine and spirit laws, classifications and appellation systems. guildsomm.com/Study-Guides.aspx

A TOUR OF EUROPEGo on tour with Andrey Ivanov, advanced sommelier and general manager of Elaia and Olio in St. Louis, as he takes a tour across regions of Europe. postphylloxera.com

NEW DOCUMENTARYA documentary, SOMM, is soon to be released and follows five candidates in their journey to become master sommeliers. You can get a taste of what it takes to become one of the elite. vimeo.com/34996725

MORE ONLINE! Scan the tag or visit feastSTL.com for an online feature about sommeliers who work beyond the restaurant floor. And watch the website this month for a point-of-view video showing Andrey Ivanov in action.

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the essence of flavorstory and recipes by Julie Longyear | photography by Jonathan Gayman | dishes prepared by Angela Komis

essential oils are most commonly associated with candles, fragrances and beauty products. however, the volatile oils produced by plants, their roots and their fruits are

the building blocks upon which we create flavor in cooking. We grind herbs in a mortar and pestle when making vinaigrettes to extract the rich oils. We

zest lemons and limes for the concentrated flavor found in the oils of their skins. so why don’t most people cook with bottled

essential oils? Many oils available on the market aren’t intended for consumption. but seek

out those essences made for cooking and you’ll open your kitchen to

a whole new world of

flavor.


The plants are sent straight to distillation to capture their true profile, and distillers are careful not to compromise the quality of their oils with heat or other factors. In addition, one can access varieties of plants and unusual flavors that are simply not available in other forms. Neroli, for example, is the bitter orange flower. It’s very famous in perfumery and is only available as an oil. Bitter orange flowers are not sold for use, and even if they were, the aroma is so delicate and transient that by the time the blossoms reached you it would have deteriorated.

So how do you begin working with these intense and intriguing oils? Start by substituting them for the herbs and spices in your favorite recipes, keeping the following guidelines in mind.

essential oils are oil-based and will dilute well in alcohol, vinegars, oils and fats. These elements need to be present in the

Cooking with essential oils is simply another way to season dishes, much like using spices and herbs. But they bring with them a number of benefits. Most notably, the concentration of flavor. Oftentimes just one drop of essential oil is enough to infuse an entire dish with flavor. No picking, peeling, chopping, grinding or grating necessary. The distiller has already done all the work for you by presenting the volatile oils in their straight form. And unlike with dried herbs or ground spices, shelf stability isn’t a concern. Essential oils are not vulnerable to bacteria and don’t go rancid like vegetable oils might. Some oils can change a bit over time or oxidize, but in general, essential oils keep for years.

If the oils are purchased from a reliable source, quality and freshness of flavor are unmatched. Essential oil suppliers grow specific varieties of plants and use the best growing conditions to maximize the aromas in the plants they harvest.

recipe you’re using. Foods that are naturally rich in fat, such as dark or rich meats, fatted dairy products and coconut milk, work well. Starchy vegetables, beans, lentils and grains can also distribute the oils well enough if they’re also blended with a little cooking oil. Stews and chunky, thick soups are a good place to start, and dips, pestos and creamy sauces are the perfect testing ground for working with essential oils.

essential oils are quite potent. If following a recipe, you can use the ratio of 1 Tbsp dried herb = 3 Tbsp fresh herb = 1 drop essential oil. If you need to use less than one drop in a recipe, dip a toothpick in the oil and swirl it into the dish. Essential oils can also be diluted with food-grade oils. Create 50 percent, 25 percent or 10 percent dilutions for use in smaller batches of food. If you’re experimenting on your own, start slowly by adding one drop at a time. Taste the dish and

adjust the seasoning based on your preference.

essential oils will “flash off” with extended heat, so using them in cold applications is a wonderful way to get the maximum benefit. Using a small amount in olive oils and vinegars as a final dressing to foods works well. If using them in soups and sauces, add them at the last possible step, when heat exposure is minimal. Baked goods obviously will be exposed to heat, so some loss may occur. Consider increasing the amount of essential oils used in baked items to ensure the final product will still have lots of flavor.

We’ve included some helpful tips on the following page, including a list of good oils to start with and ones to avoid to help guide you through cooking with essential oils. And visit feastSTL.com for a collection of recipes featuring a variety of essential oils in a number of applications.

Oftentimes just one drop of essential oil is enough to

infuse an entire dish with flavor.

Go to feastSTL.com for a full menu made with essential oils including this triple celery soup and ice cream with Assam tea cookies.check it out!

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favorite oils for food use:GinGer: Adds sweet, spicy warmth to cocktails, desserts, marinades and sauces. Wonderful in Asian dishes and especially coconut curries.

rose: Unusual floral flavor from a botanical esteemed for having therapeutic properties and being the queen of flowers. Nicely ties other flavors together. Use very, very lightly, as the flavor is potent.

neroli: Delightful floral/citrus notes that add a perfumed quality. Blends wonderfully with other citrus oils and is a sublime addition to desserts.

Black PePPer: All the spicy aroma without the heat if you use the essential oil instead of the ground spice. Add a bit to breads, soups, meat marinades and sauces.

Jasmine: Incredible in desserts. One of my very favorite aromas of all time. Heavenly.

lemonGrass: Not commonly kept in the average American kitchen, this oil makes it super fast and easy to whip up an Asian-based recipe with exotic flavor.

Palmarosa: Similar to lemongrass but with a more floral note. Fruity marinades, dressings and baked sweets would be lovely with this oil.

Pink PePPer: Surprising, clean aroma that blends well with citrus and floral notes as well as earthier, more herbal combinations. It makes a delightful counterpoint to vanilla when used in ice cream.

Bitter almond (due to prussic acid content)sweet BirchBoldosPanish BroomcalamuscamPhordeertonGuehorseradishJaBorandimuGwortmustardPennyroyalruesassafrastansythuJawormseedwormwood

local suppliers of essential oils for cooking:whole foods market wholefoodsmarket.com

the natural way thenatway.com

recommended online suppliers:aftelier chef’s essences aftelier.com/chefs-essences

white lotus aromatics whitelotusaromatics.com

orGanic infusions organicinfusions.com

cumin: A great base flavor in bean dishes, soups, stews and ethnic cuisines. Fantastic on meats and vegetables alike.

GraPefruit: Most people don’t use grapefruit peel as much as more common citrus like lemon or orange, but it is an incredible addition when you want something zingy. Salad dressings, tropical marinades, desserts and more are all extra-tasty with a little of this.

Blood oranGe, tanGerine or BerGamot: When you want an out-of-this-world orange citrus flavor, skip the grocery store fruits and head for the more potent, more exotic varieties of citrus available in essential oil form. These oils burst with tart flavor that’s fantastic in a wide range of dishes including salad dressings, marinades and desserts.

Basil, thyme, tarraGon, dill, oreGano, marJoram: These commonly used spices are available in essential oil form and offer the benefit of long-term stability so you’re not risking your dried herbs becoming less potent over time. A fast and easy addition to olive oil for bread dipping. Mix into butters or cream cheeses for instant spreads with no chopping or time needed for flavors to ripen. And add them to sauces for topping vegetables and anything for which you’d use the dried or fresh herb.

essential oils not safe for consumption:tea treearnicawinterGreenaJowan

essential kNOWleDgemountain rose herBs, mountainroseherbs.com

from nature with love, fromnaturewithlove.com/soap.certifiedorganicingredients.asp

eden Botanicals, edenbotanicals.com

flavor vs. aromaa Good rule of thumB is that if a Plant is used as a sPice in dried or fresh form, you can use the essential oil in cookinG. There are a few exceptions to this because of the parts of the plant commonly used for distillation or the fact that the flavor of the essential oil doesn’t match up with the scent as well as one might think.

cinnamon or cassia: Cinnamon distillations for aromatherapy purposes are generally done using cinnamon leaf and not bark. Cinnamon cassia has a wonderful strong, sweet, spicy aroma but tastes exceptionally bitter. For cinnamon either look for cinnamon bark specifically labeled as a bark oil or just stick to using the ground spice.

myrrh: This oil is actually tremendously valuable therapeutically and is not toxic when ingested but has a bitter flavor that will likely be objectionable. The aroma makes it seem like it would offer a lovely smoky base note, but unfortunately it doesn’t work out that way.

JuniPer: This oil gives a really soapy taste if used in the wrong dish. I’d recommend sticking to breads and maybe blending with rosemary or another herbaceous flavor. It can be good in a cocktail, but just a tiny bit will do.

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In the history of the world,few things carry the import, the weight, of a knife. It was one of mankind’s first tools. The Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age − the evolution of human society was driven by the need to better shape materials to a fine, sharp point.

Today’s knife makers understand this significance. The Germans tell tales of a trade that’s been passed down for generations from fathers to sons. Elite Japanese bladesmiths say their modern knives are direct descendents of ancient samurai swords. Nearly every respected knife maker in the world tells a similar story, one that’s based on years of dedication, training and practice. Which is why it’s kind of messed up that Nate Bonner learned how to make knives from a giant cowboy over a weekend at Silver Dollar City.

WrITTEN By Brandon Chuang phoToGrAphy By Corey Woodruff

It’s very difficult to know what to expect when you first meet a knife maker. Is he going to mirror the blades he makes by being cold and precise? Will he be quiet and introverted as a result of countless solitary hours over a table grinder? Most important, because he’s around knives all day, will he be crazy?

Nate Bonner is none of these things. In fact, when you first meet him, he comes off as, well, bro-ish. Wearing a T-shirt, camouflage cargo shorts and a cherubic grin, Bonner looks less like a knife maker and more like that old college buddy your wife hates. When I tell him I brought a few beers along with me to this knife-making ride-along, his response is succinct but apropos: “Sweet.”

In terms of steps, knife making is fairly simple. First you shape the blade. Then you heat-treat it to harden the metal. Finally, you complete the blade’s finish through various grinding and sanding methods. The maddening aspect of all of this is the fact that each step can take hours upon hours to complete. And if, for example, you ruin the finish of the blade, you basically have to start over − except now the knife has been heat-treated, making reshaping a nearly Sisyphean task. This is the work Bonner has relegated himself to, basically leaving his thriving career as a chef, and he couldn’t be happier.

As a child, Bonner moved in two circles. Living part time with his mother in California, he would help her sell homemade tie-dyed shirts in the parking lot of Grateful Dead concerts. The other half of his time was spent with his father and stepmother, living in upper-class neighborhoods far removed from “Casey Jones” and “Shakedown Street.”

“It was hard going back and forth,” Bonner says about the differences in his childhood. “But I think it was great for me in the long run. I got to see both sides of the tracks.”

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Today, the workshop for Bonner’s company, NHB KnifeWorks, is on his father’s side of the tracks, in Ladue. It’s a workshop-ified version of Bonner himself: a duality of dust and direction surrounded by sharpening strops and knives in various stages of completion suspended along the walls. It’s here that he started making knives. At first solely by hand but now with the well-used machinery that surrounds him throughout his daily quest to make bespoke tools in a sea of uniformity.

Look around the cutlery section of any kitchen supply store and you’ll notice one thing: Everything looks the same. While many modern knife makers will tell you that their methods for shaping and honing knives are unique, they won’t lay any claim to any distinction in their handles. That’s because they’re pretty much all alike: Some are metal, some are made out of rare wood, but they’re all almost afterthoughts compared with the moneymaker: The Blade.

Bonner’s love of the blade began when he was a child and his grandfather gave him his first one – a basic multipurpose camping knife. From there, Bonner became obsessed, buying knives as often as he could and selling older knives he’d gotten bored with so he could go out and purchase new favorites. His collection was always in flux, changing with his whims and wants throughout the years, the only common denominator being the utilitarian way in which Bonner approached his buying.

“I never purchased the cheap, sci-fi stuff you see on TV,” explains Bonner. “Every knife I’ve ever bought has always had a purpose. A reason.”

When he was growing up, his parents feared he didn’t have a purpose. He skipped class to skateboard and raise hell with his friends, and Bonner’s father was worried his son wouldn’t finish high school. So Nate Bonner did what anyone who knows Nate Bonner would see as a very Nate Bonner thing to do: He tested out during his sophomore year. Upon graduating from high school he moved to California, where his mother lived, to attend the culinary program at a local community college. (“My parents wanted to make sure I was really serious about cooking, so I tried it out first.”)

Realizing he was serious about cooking, Bonner soon moved on to the New England Culinary Institute in Vermont. At NECI he excelled, eventually being asked to come on as an instructor. After a five-year stint in Vermont, Bonner bounced around, never truly with reason but always landing on his feet in situations he never expected: executive chef, cooking instructor, cooking school director − all while in his 20s. Even Bonner himself can’t really explain it. Asking him to is akin to asking a lottery winner how he won.

“I’d always been a take-it-as-it-comes kind of guy,” Bonner admits. “There’s only so much you can do, you know?”

PERFECTIO

By many people’s definition, “there’s only so much you can do” could describe Silver Dollar City quite nicely. For those who have never been, Silver Dollar City is a theme park located in Branson, Mo., that borrows much from the Ol’ West, including a period-accurate section of craftsmen who make everything from candy to glass to, yes, knives. And while listening to Bonner describe the bladesmith he learned from down in Branson, you’d think he was talking about Paul Bunyan or John Henry.

The man was huge – easily 300 pounds by Bonner’s description – and tall as a redwood. And as with all the craftsmen in Silver Dollar City, he was dressed in period clothing. Bonner had been going to Branson for years with his family, but this particular visit was his first time meeting the large knife maker dressed as a cowboy.

“I couldn’t stop going back,” Bonner says of his time spent in the knife shop. “My family kept pulling me away to do other things, but I just kept coming back.”

Over the course of the weekend, Bonner returned many times to watch as the man shaped and reshaped blades, all the while

peppering him with questions. By the end of the weekend, the man had grown accustomed to his presence, and when Bonner went to leave with one of his newly purchased knives, the man placed his massive hands around Bonner’s and proceeded to bless them.

“I know it sounds ridiculous,” Bonner says about the situation. “It was almost like he was quoting Scripture. ‘DEAR LORD, BLESS THIS KNIFE! LET IT CUT TRUE!’ This went on for, like, four minutes. It was kind of embarrassing, but at the same time, it was deeply moving. I think he could tell that I was actually serious about continuing to learn more.”

And Bonner has continued to learn, making the knives it seems he was destined to make. With his partner at NHB KnifeWorks, Tom Stone, Bonner is setting out to create knives that are unique to the industry by focusing on the blade and the handle equally.

“We use the same steel as the big guys,” Bonner boasts about his blades’ materials. “And you see them using mammoth tooth and coral in their handles, and we work with that stuff too, but we do way more than that.”


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Once Bonner returned home from Branson, he began to research and put into practice the information he learned. Through patronizing a local woodworking shop, he became acquainted with Stone, who specialized in unique multicompound treatments for wood and other materials. Together, they began concocting knives with handles made of highly unlikely material, like shrimp − yes, as in cocktail.

Other materials include mussel shells and burl − diseased wood that is fragile to the touch “but looks amazing.” The two use a proprietary compound solution that allows them to solidify their materials of choice so that they can then carve and shape them like wood. The results are as insane as what’s in their handles.

“We come up with ideas like a chef would,” Bonner explains. “What’s local? What’s around right now? What can I make out of this?”

The surprising thing about Bonner is how old-school he is as a chef. As he explains it, he attended culinary school right as molecular gastronomy and all the other food-as-art movements were beginning to take off. Because many of his professors scoffed at such things, he was trained in the old ways.

“I can definitely plate pretty, but not like these new guys. I’m more foundational with my cooking – making stocks and classic dishes. I think that’s why I’m [making knives]. It’s my creative outlet.”

Every day Bonner comes down into his workshop and sets to work. There’s no clock, and for good reason: He doesn’t want to know how long he’s down there. “I started to worry about speed, but when you start worrying too much, mistakes happen,” he says. He’s hesitant to put a number on the amount of time each knife takes because each one is different. However, he does know that

each knife is touched − as in picked up and worked on − at least 30 to 40 times before it’s finished.

It’s important to note that as we’ve talked, Bonner has been working on two knives. He had already shaped and ground them out of the steel blanks he received from a source back East. He also had them sent out to be heat-treated. He has pinned the handles, which initially started out as mere blocks of material − both with vibrant shocks of color eerily similar to tie-dye − to the tangs of the blades to keep them in place. The hand-shaping of the blocks to complement each handle is complete, and Bonner has sealed them and started finishing the knives. Since I arrived, he has been buffing out any rough spots caused by the sealant and placing the final edges on the blades. In essence, Bonner was approximately 95 percent done with the knives before I got there. He’s been working on them for nearly three hours.

He’s still not done.

To meet Nate Bonner is to meet two men. He does come off a bit Dude-Where’s-My-Car at first, but as you talk with him you can hear the determination and the intelligence. The duality is most evident in his knives, with equal emphasis on the aesthetic of the handle and the austerity of the steel. Bonner wants to make money, yes, but he also wants to ensure that even the nonbusiness end of your knife has as much effort and detail put into it as the end that most normal people pay good money for – think of it as either a testament to the value of true craftsmanship or a shining example of ignorance toward basic economic principles.

Regardless of which side you fall on, there’s no mistaking what he’s done. He’s created something unique, uncharacteristic and, before recently, unknown.

And for now, for Nate Bonner, this is enough.

1: Number of brick-and-mortar establishments where you can purchase NhB KnifeWorks products (Bertarelli Cutlery on the hill). Bonner is working on distribution deals on both coasts, but for now customers can purchase only from Bertarelli or NhBKnifeWorks.com.

2: Items that NhB makes other than knives. Bonner and Stone have already expanded to making pepper mills and chef pens (so named because of their quick and easy operation), with salt bowls and other items to come soon.

3: The different types of knives that NhB delivers. paring knives (starting at $80), petty knives (starting at $180) and chef’s knives (starting at $280).

189: ZDp189, to be exact. It’s a type of Japanese steel that Bonner recently acquired for the custom services that NhB offers. Individuals can contact Bonner and Stone through NhBKnifeWorks.com and work in tandem with discerning clients to create one-of-a-kind pieces using varying kinds of steel that Bonner acquires as well as materials that are “in season.”

ARTISAThe umbers behINd hb KNIfeWorKs

Hot Fudge PoPover

For a deliciously unique sweet, my choice is the Hot Fudge Popover from Blondie’s Coffee and Wine Bar. Located on Washington Avenue, Blondie’s is a hip urban oasis full of natural light and comfy seating. This fun take on a classic hot fudge sundae is perfectly large enough to share. One of Blondie’s signature warm popovers is topped with Serendipity’s vanilla ice cream, hot fudge and fresh whipped cream. Whether you’re catching up on life’s gossip with your best friend or dining out with your sweetheart, this yummy goodness has the ability to make any day that much better. Depending on my mood, I pair this dessert with one of Blondie’s cappuccinos or a glass of white wine.

Blondie’s Coffee and Wine Bar 1301 Washington Ave., Downtown, 314.241.6100 blondiesstl.com

Follow Maddie around town as she covers food and drink events on The Feed at feastSTL.com.

PHOTOgrAPHy By Jonathan Gayman

COnTrIBuTOr: Maddie Marshall, writer

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