Literary Tapas

Originally published by Paper Palate (paperpalate.net) on June 24, 2008.

Small dishes from the rhealm where paper meets palate.

In the May/June ’08 issue of Draft Magazine, Bruce Paton helps everyone with the often daunting task of what wild food should be paired with each obscure micro-brew. He suggests pairing wild blackberries with Maylon’s Dragoon’s Dry Irish Stout, trout with Mad River Steelhead Extra Pale Ale (a no-brainer), figs with Urthel Samaranth, pine nuts go with Stone Pale Ale, and of course if you are drinking Marin Point Reyes Porter you will need plenty of Morel mushrooms.

Blogger and food writer extraordinaire Molly Wizenberg explains in the July ’08 issue of Bon Appetit that she realized she had met the man of her dreams when he made her marshmallows . . . from scratch. Wizenberg then goes on to offer a brief but informative history on what the French once called pâté de guimauve, perfect for those wondering just what the heck a marshmallow actually was.

Sergio Esposito’s new book Passion on the Vine: A Memoir of Food, Wine, and Family in the Heart of Italy is being well received. Bill Buford (the food writer not the drummer from 70’s art rockers Yes) states, “Without qualification, the best book about Italian wine today, if only because Sergio Esposito understands that its mysterious greatness is in its poetry – the earth, its diurnal magic, the ghosts of great-grandfathers. A beautiful, boldly sentimental memoir.” Passion on the Vine is the latest in the growing genre of “culinary adventure” that began with Buford’s best seller Heat and continues with other publications like Bob Spitz’ the Saucier’s Apprentice which I am currently reading.

A recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated had Christopher Kimball and crew (specifically Erika Bruce and Adam Ried) rating the world of Dijon mustard. Their findings? While they rated France’s Roland Extra Strong Dijon Mustard as their #1 pick, their top 5 was dominated by American-made Dijon’s headed by Grey Poupon which is manufactured by Nabisco. Who knew?