CBS News Sunday Morning-Food/Wine Special

This Sunday, November 18, the CBS News Sunday Morning will hold their annual food broadcast, anchored by Charles Osgood. It will be live and you can catch it locally on Channel 4 from 9:00–10:30am.

I do enjoy watching interesting food/wine programs on TV. I have never seen this particular program before but received a press release about it, and I was intrigued by the content. I think the show will have some interesting segments so I will be checking it out.

Here is a list of some of those segments:

Someone's in the Kitchen: Cooking schools are all the rage these days. Rita Braver visits the French Culinary Institute in New York City, where enrollment has doubled in five years. Many students, lured by the glamour of becoming a celebrity chef, come face-to-face with the reality of working 12 hour days, five days a week for $30,000 a year.

Hot Spots: So, does George Clooney always get the best table? It turns out that -- from Michael’s and The Four Seasons in New York to Spago in Los Angeles -- there’s a pecking order, even among “A” list eateries. Correspondent Tracy Smith finds out how to get the best table.

Take Five: Correspondent Seth Doane visits the set of the upcoming movie “Ghost Town” starring, among others, actor Greg Kinnear, to find out just what goes into creating the perfect meal break on the set of a Hollywood film. It's a safe guess that it's not exactly like the way the rest of us grab lunch.

The Spice of Life: Martha Teichner takes a look at the spices we’ll be using this holiday season and uncovers a rich history. From ancient Roman recipes to Columbus’ journey to America in search of pepper, spices have fueled global exploration and world trade.

How Sweet It Is: Did you know that the artificial sweetener saccharine was discovered by accident? Americans have long been on a quest to satisfy their sweet tooth without expanding their waistlines, but are these sweet promises a myth? Correspondent Joie Chen goes in search of answers to that age-old question – can we have our cake and eat it, too?

Fast Food: For thousands of years, fasting has been a ritual part of many religions and cultures. But as Serena Altschul discovers, these days fasting is also big business. At the southern California spa she visits, you can pay up to four thousand dollars a week to eat nothing – a lot of dough when there’s no bread involved.

Cornucopia: It's the season when corn commonly adorns many festive decorations. But corn plays a much larger role in our everyday lives. From high fructose corn syrup to animal feed, corn is a dominating, and sometimes unhealthy, ingredient in many of the foods we eat. San Francisco-based Correspondent John Blackstone has the story.

A Frank Discussion: Bill Geist enrolls in Milwaukee’s Hot Dog University – yes, it is real. Along with his fellow students, Bill learns the tricks of the trade and gets hands-on, behind-the-cart field training. Does Bill have the dogged determination needed to make it in the world of fast food?

In addition, Sunday Morning's Russ Mitchell visits restaurants serving only desserts. Chef Bobby Flay pays tribute to the lowly oyster. And from Washington, Correspondent Bill Plante joins the furious debate over the perfect stopper for a bottle of wine. Could the lowly screw cap be better than a classic cork?

Throughout the broadcast, viewers will also be able to log on to CBSNEWS.com for a variety of holiday recipes.

Holiday Wine Tasting-Woburn

Last night, I led a group of of the North Shore Winers to a Holiday Wine Tasting at Corporate Wines in Woburn. There were about 56 wines available for tasting.

I did not try all of the wines but the following are the ones I enjoyed the most of those I did taste. There were probably other good wines too, but I could not taste everything there.

2005 Chidaine Montlouis Loire, France ($22.75)--A 100% Chenin Blanc. An interesting wine. Full bodied, creamy, a little bit of sweetness
2006 Kiona Vineyard Riesling, Washington ($14.25)--Crisp, nice citrus flavors, only tinge of sweetness
2006 Victor Hugo Viognier, Paso Robles, California ($21.25)--I very much like the wines of this producer. Though I am not a fan of Viognier, this wine would definitely appeal to those that do.
2002 Changala Cabernet Sauvignon, Paso Robles, California ($18.25)--Lots of bright cherry flavors.
2005 La Reme Jeanne Cotes du Rhone, France ($12.75)--Nice, dark berry flavors
2005 Mont Olivet Chateauneuf Pape, France ($33.25)--Exceptional wine. Muscular, powerful wine with good berry flavors.
2005 Graciano Rosso Montepulciano, Italy ($12.25)--Excellent value wine, like a baby Brunello.
2003 Trentadue La Storia Cuvee 32, California ($34.25)--A Super Tuscan blend. Good blend of berries and spice.
2004 Chateau Ste. Michelle Indian Wells Cabernet Sauvignon, Washington ($19.25)--Good basic Cabernet
2003 Dom Martinho Vinho Regional Alentejano, Portugal ($14)--Dark, smoky wine. Blend of Aragones (Tempranillo), Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah.
2004 Dry Creek The Mariner, California ($44.25)--Bordeaux-style blend. Smooth, spicy, good fruit. Lots of complexity, well balanced.

Corporate Wines
16A Cummings Park
Woburn , MA
Phone: 781-933-WINE

Thanksgiving Wines & Smiles

Remember back to about a year ago, to Thanksgiving of 2006. Do you remember what specific wines you had with dinner?

I am sure that most people won't remember, except maybe that they had a Pinot Noir or a Riesling. They are unlikely to remember the producer or much else about the wine. What you are more likely to remember is the good (at least hopefully it was good) time you had, the family and friends that shared your table. You might remember whether the food and wine was good or bad. But the specifics may be foggy.

There are plenty of magazines, newspapers and online articles that provide wine recommendations for Thanksgiving. If you read several of them, you may realize that they present quite a diverse choice of recommendations. There are few types of wine that someone does not recommend. I could do the same here, provide more such recommendations. But do you really need that?

I don't think so.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that all you need for Thanksgiving are some good wines, the varietals and/or blends being much less important. As long as they do not blatantly clash with the meal, then they should work. And few wines are going to so blatantly clash.

A Thanksgiving meal is diverse, with many different flavors, from savory to sweet, and many different textures. No single wine is a perfect pairing with all these different dishes. So you need wines that people will enjoy in of their own right. I don't think too many hosts are seeking the "perfect" wine pairing. They simply want something that people will enjoy and which won't greatly detract from the food.

Anyways, who will remember the wines next year?

We must also remember that a wine shared with good friends and family is likely to taste better, or at least seem that way, than one drank alone. The circumstances of the day, the good feelings, the fond memories, the thanks for the past year, will all lead to your wine seeming better. And it is all those circumstances that people will most remember about Thanksgiving.

The wine is simply an extra, not a necessity. It pales in importance to everything else about the holiday. Like the Whos from "The Grinch Who Stole Xmas", there should still be joy even if all of the food and wine have been taken away.

I will probably bring a case of wine to my Thanksgiving feast, a mix of sparkling wine, white, red and dessert wine. In general, I will pick interesting and delicious wines that I feel people will enjoy. I won't spend much time worrying about pairing them with specific dishes and foods.

I just want wines that will make people smile.

Wine Blogging Wednesday #39

Today is another Wine Blogging Wednesday, the 39th edition of this blogger tradition. Started by Lenndevours, Wine Blogging Wednesday is a day when many wine bloggers all drink wines based on a shared theme. Then, each blogger posts a wine review and links them to the central site.

This month's theme was chosen by Brooklynguy and it was Silver Burgundy, wines of the Côte Chalonnaise or Mâconnais region of France. These are usually less expensive Burgundian wines and Brooklynguy had a nice description of the regions and their wines.

I was unable to participate in this month's event but I do recommend that you check out the reviews from all of the participating wine bloggers. You are likely to learn of some inexpensive but excellent wines.

Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook

It is Fall in Boston and temperatures are falling. Winter will soon be here bringing snow and much colder weather. So it is time for heartier foods, something to take away the chill. It is a time for chowders and stews, roast turkeys and ducks. I think it might also be the season for spicier foods, maybe some southwestern cuisine. If so, then maybe this cookbook will satisfy you.

Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook ($35.00) by Bobby Flay (with Stephanie Banyas and Sally Jackson) is published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House. Mesa Grill is a new hardcover cookbook with 278 pages.

The primary author, Bobby Flay, is certainly well known. His face can often be seen on TV, especially the Food Channel in shows such as the Iron Chef. Flay opened his first restaurant, the Mesa Grill, in 1991 in New York City. It specialized in innovative Southwestern cuisine. Since then, Flay opened outposts of the Mesa Grill in other cities as well as opening a few other, different restaurants. He has also authored six other books.

In Mesa Grill, Flay provides recipes from his restaurant, from what he calls 'contemporary Southwestern' cuisine. Yet he provides more than just recipes. He also provides a foundation for this cuisine, the ingredients and techniques you need for the recipes. This makes the cookbook more accessible and easier to use.

The cookbook begins with five pages describing the various ingredients of Southwestern cuisine, from avocadoes to tortillas. There are then three pages on chile peppers. Finally, there are three pages of cooking techniques, such as roasting corn, cold-smoking and making chile puree. All in all, some excellent basics.

The rest of cookbook is broken down into eleven chapters including Drinks, Soups, Salads, Appetizers, Shellfish & Fish, Polutry, Meat & Game, Sides, Relishes Sauces & Vinaigrettes, Desserts and Brunch. It contains about 150 recipes. Generally these recipes are of easy to moderate complexity to prepare. Most of the ingredients should be readily available in large grocery stores. The book does provide a Resources page listing where some of the less common ingredients can be found.

The Drinks chapter begins with a short summary of the various types of tequila and then lists four margaritas and a couple other cocktails. The Cactus Pear Margarita sounds intriguing, though you probably would have to order the Cactus Pear juice online.

As winter is soup/chowder season, the Soups chapter has a couple interesting choices, including the Pumpkin Soup with Cinnamon Crema and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds as well as the Sweet Potato and Roasted Plantain Soup with Smoked Chile Crema and Fried Plantain.

For Appetizers, I would like to try the Queso Fundido with Roasted Poblano Vinaigrette, BBQ-Duck Filled Blue Corn Pancakes with Habanero Sauce, and Mussels in Red Chile Pesto Broth. All sound like good Winter dishes.

The entrees that intrigue me include: Smoked Shrimp Cakes, Blue Corn Crab Cakes, Artic Char and Mussels in Green Garlic Broth, Pan-Seared Duck Breast with Red Chile-Pear Sauce, New Mexican Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Bourbon-Ancho Sauce, and the Lamb and Goat Cheese Enchiladas.

The Sides chapter has a delicious sounding Sweet Potato Gratin (with accompanying photo), Creamy Polenta with Cortija, Roasted Garlic Tamales with Thyme Butter, Sweet Potato Tamales with Pecan Butter. The Sauces chapter is extensive with salsa, chile sauces and other hot sauces. Even the Desserts chapter is very appealing with items such as the Chocolate-Coconut Bread Pudding, and Caramel Apple Shortcakes with Apple Cider Reduction.

The recipes, from appetizers to desserts, should appeal to a wide audience. There are plenty of enticing photos of the foods and they add to the appeal of this cookbook. Many of the recipes would fit well within the current seasons. I would definitely recommend Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook