We were invited to a potluck dinner this past weekend at the C's. The original theme was Old World wines so the Mrs was a little excited as she's acquired a couple of older vintages of Chateau Pichon Lalande and was dyin' to sample them - especially since our current mantra is "life is short, drink the good wines now...". The theme later changed to wines from Nickel and Nickel or wines from the Napa Valley to celebrate 10 years of the Palaka Wine group or... whatever you wanted to bring... so we stuck with the original Old World theme.
And since it was a potluck, I took Friday off to start my kitchen prep - I originally intended on smoking then braising short ribs because about half of the Palaka group aren't very adventurous eaters. I'm pretty sure dishes like braised oxtail or beef cheeks wouldn't be well received... even if they would pair nicely with big California reds. But when those attending were some of the more adventurous eaters, I decided to make a trip to Chef's Zone to see if they had that 5 pound package of beef cheeks (plus we had to pick up our membership cards)...
No such luck but I found bags of frozen Berkshire pork shanks... JUST AS GOOD! Six shanks to a bag for $3.54 per pound...
I decided to prepare them osso buco style with chopped mirepoix, garlic, white wine and chicken stock with Italian seasoning. First brown under the broiler then braise at 350 degrees for 3 hours...
I also made "Duck Butter" Epic's duck fat... Just whip with a hand held beater until the fat stiffens a little then added fresh chopped thyme, cracked black pepper and smoked sea salt... I still thank that butcher of Panzano, Chef Riccardo Ricci for his original "Chianti Butter" using pork fat back...
I also made a Pate de Campagne with ground pork, ham and bacon spiced with thyme, allspice and Cognac first cooked in a ban marie for 3 hours then drained and pressed over night in the 'fridge before unmolding and slicing...
And you can have braised pork shanks without a side so I made a Pea Panzanella ala Chef Michael Chiarello though I added a little fresh mint to perk up the flavors...
And finally a Bailey's Chocolate Chip Pound Cake to finish the meal...
And this is the Palaka group which means wines... lots of wines... And the WOTN (wine of the night)... a 1979 Chateau LaFite Rothschild... Probably one of the top 5 red wines I've ever sampled! Subtle tobacco, dried herbs, stone with just a hint of dried cranberry with a seamless palate flow... And 1979 wasn't even considered a good vintage but this bottle apparently was perfectly stored...
The Mrs' 1983 Chateau Pichon Lalande Longueville also wasn't a slouch with a load of new tobacco almost like sticking your nose in a humidor but with more semi-dried red fruit and also a seamless palate flow...
My 1999 Rivetti La Spinetta Barbaresco Valeirano was good but paled in comparison to the two Bordeaux...
I also uncorked a 1997 Nicolas Joly Coulée de Serrant, a chenin blanc based wine that has that oxidized character of fino sherry. Once uncorked, they say that it continues to evolve over the course of several days - I originally intended on uncorking it at Vino but instead of asking Chuck directly, I pulled it up on my phone and showed it to him. He stated that he never "got" what the wine was all about so I just left the bottle in my wine bag. Since it was sitting in my 'fridge for the past 2 weeks, I decided to uncork it for the gang. It did change in the glass as the evening progressed from caramelized pineapple to cooked apricot to stone fruit tart with hint of honey and citrus curd. G thought it was the WOTN...
Other wines that were uncorked... Though I missed getting photos of several bottles including V's 2007 Detert Cabernet Franc which was also drinking quite nicely...
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