Urban Wine Tour!

Hey, this is Edible East Bay editor Cheryl Koehler telling you about our December 10, 2011 treasure hunt!  I took a whole lot of friends (even some I didn't know i knew) out to search at a select group of East Bay urban wineries rumored to have some gems at their tasting bars. Here’s a map (drawn by Mark Middlebrook) showing where these wineries, all members of the East Bay Vintners Alliance, can be found. “But where are the vineyards,” you ask? Well, as far as I know, there are no commercial vineyards located in the region shown on this map. Most urban winemakers purchase their grapes from growers in our surrounding wine-regions and they do the work of creating their wines in the city. So let’s head to the island of Alameda in search of an abandoned airplane hangar. “Oh, that’s easy,” you say! “It would be at the decommissioned naval air station at Alameda Point!” And yes, if you get a chance to look inside the hangar at 2301 Monarch Street, you’ll discover... Read more...

Florian Red Flint Corn video below

Floriani Red Flint from Joel Kurtz on Vimeo.

Ramirez Farm Mexican Corn

In our Harvest 2010 issue of Edible East Bay, writer Patricia Hayse Haller revealed the discovery of real Mexican corn growing at Ramirez Farm in Fremont. (Read the story here…) Mexican corn is the required ingredient for fresh corn tamales. Since these are different from the more typical tamales made of dried masa harina, we wanted to include a recipe. However, in order to create and test a recipe, we needed the corn, and when we went to press in mid July, it was not yet mature. August 6, 2010, we visited the farm and brought home a dozen ears of the first harvest. Tamale Trial #1 Following farmer Ramon Ramirez’s instructions, we carefully cut around the base of the ear and unrolled the husks to use as wrappers. Then we cut the kernels off the cobs, saving the cobs to use as a base in the steamer. First we tried putting the kernels through the Kitchen Aid grinder, but that piece of equipment was not up to the task, so we switched to the food processor. After grinding the kernels... Read more...

DON’T BE AFRAID TO EAT THE FAT!

It was just a little piece of assurance coming from a voice at the back of the room on the evening of Monday, February 22, as we pressed fork and knife into the beautifully fatty porchetta prepared by Café Rouge executive chef, Rick DeBeaord. The voice was that of Café Rouge executive chef and owner Marsha McBride, who was hosting a group of students interested in seeing how Scott Brennan, the café and market’s lead butcher, takes apart a pig. Modeling for the occasion on a makeshift stage in the middle of the café’s dining room was a mere half a pig, but no ordinary half pig at that. This one had been raised by Potter Valley rancher Mac Magruder, who was there to tell about why it was special. “It comes from a cross between European wild boar and Old Spots Pig,” said Magruder, as he explained that Old Spots are recognized as the oldest pedigree spotted pigs in the world. Magruder, who is first and foremost a cattle rancher, talks passionately about his... Read more...