raspberry lambic ice cream

you'll get dizzy watching the raspberry ice cream spin.

shortly after telling janel that i'm writing a food blog with my friend MV, she actually read it. the idea of making raspberry lambic ice cream got stuck in her head when she read a beer cooking article by MV.

"it's so red!" she said, sounding like it's our mission to make this rosy red beer ice cream. however the original recipe had gelatin. janel is vegetarian so bone marrow-based gelatin was a big no-no. "gelatin in your ice cream?! that's not very 'cream' at all." over a series of conversations, we planned to modify the ice cream recipe, using our previous knowledge and attempts of ice cream-making.

we decided to make a 'true' cream based lambic ice cream, bypassing the use of gelatin. here's what we came up with:

• 1/8 cup sugar
• 3 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 6 ounce raspberry puree (frozen or fresh. we used frozen.)
• 1/2 cup (more give than take) framboise lambic beer
• makes 1/2 quart in a cuisinart ice cream maker
  

we're not professional chefs so we winged much of the process. first, we puree the raspberries into her tiny generic magic bullet blender with spoon of sugar and short pour of lambic. "not too much!" janel warning me. "blending fuzzy stuff will explode!"

"don't worry," i said as i poured while she ran around the corner. "well, i'll be the one covered in lambic and raspberry guts," i said while blending. and of course, not bad happened. and a good thing too... i hate to ruin my favorite western shirt. the non-explosive raspberry puree was placed in the freezer. i just like scaring her.

"shouldn't we strain the seeds out of the puree," questions janel.

"what? we'll lose the crunch and texture," i rebutted. she gave me a look of 'are you crazy? it's your fault if the ice cream sucks.'

next we needed to build the cream base. janel cracked the eggs and juggled the yolks out from the whites into a bowl. we added a spoon of sugar while beating the eggs which we set aside.

for the cream, janel suggested a double boiler technique to prevent over cooking. we took a large pot filled with water and let it boil. in a smaller pot which will float on top of the boiling water, we added all our milk, cream and sugar. we slightly simmered the cream. with the medium hot cream, janel slowly poured half into the eggs while i stirred the mixture. the cream can't be too hot otherwise the eggs will cook. once the cream and eggs are incorporated together, pour that egg/cream mixture back into the small pot with the remaining cream. now you have the bases of the custard. slowly stir and simmer the custard until it's thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

with the thicken cream mixture, we had to quickly cool it and place it in the fridge. to prevent skin forming on the cream, we covered it with plastic wrap. "in france, milk skin is a delicacy," says french-blooded janel. "you spread the skin and butter on bread. it's so gross." yup, gross.

much of the hard work is done now. since i bought a really big bottle of lambic, we served ourselves a glass and toasted each other for a job well done.

while the main components of ice cream are sitting in the fridge, we played a card game of spit to pass the time. this was our first rematch since new year's. she won last time. and i'm determine to win. with her smooth confidence and reining championship spit title, she easily won the first game. "two out of three!" i whined.

"begging to lose," she replied with her hyper-competitive eyes.

in game two, i gave her a challenge. "let's check on the ice cream." she must be stressing over the possibility of losing to me. i agreed. the components were still warm so we continued the game of spit and wits. some time passed. this second round is getting intense. then, i lost. "ok, let's check if the thingies have cooled."

the ice cream components were indeed cold. we took them out of the fridge and stirred the two together. the rosy bright red puree swirled into the yellowish cream. the properly mixed "ice cream" is slowly poured into the ice cream maker. there's nothing like the noise of making ice cream. it's basically a loud motor noise. we stood around the kitchen chatting. "we should make a syrup!" said janel, looking at the leftover lambic.

"sure. that would be great." we poured the remaining lambic into a small pot. we heated the lambic with about 1/2 cup of sugar until it reduced. after thirty minutes, the ice cream was ready and the warm syrup was cooling in the freezer. "i'm feeling a hungry. should we save the ice cream for dessert?" i asked janel. she mildly agreed, looking as if she wanted to eat the ice cream first. we packed the ice cream into a contain and hide it in the freezer.

we combed through her pile of menus for places around her apartment. but nothing seemed to interest us. so we walked out into the cold and headed downtown. we eventually settled to eat at le colonial where i order a pan-seared salmon in curry while janel order sea bass steamed in banana leaves. both were good. dinner ended with former sf mayor willie brown coming into the restaurant greeting diners at the table next to us. he noticed that i was looking at him. he says "hi. how are you?" and i replied a respectful nod.

raspberry lambic ice cream topped with blackberries and raspberries.

we quickly walked back to the ice cream. we warmed to two scoops of raspberry lambic ice cream that was dressed with fresh raspberries and blackberries. we dripped the lambic syrup over the fruits and ice cream. our version of the ice cream is much more pinkish than the rosy red gelatin version MV made. i think it's due to hers gelatin vs. our full cream base. we brought the ice cream to the table and continued another round of spit. the silky tasting ice cream was creamy and bursting with strong raspberries. however light on the lambic. maybe i like that fuller robust taste of alcohol in my food. the seeds did give it a crunch and texture which janel liked. she retracted her ealier comment about the seeds. from the look of her expression, she enjoyed her ice cream along with the taste of victory.

allagash curieux + chocolates

thursday janel got a last minute emailed newsletter on a city beer store & tasting bar event: "Properly aged in Kentucky bourbon barrels Allagash Curieux is a beer begging to be paired with rich dark chocolate. Awaken your curiosity with a marriage of chocolate and beer from 5:00-9:00pm," stated the email.

"this sounds fun... interested?" she asks.

anytime anyone has the idea of going to city beer store, i'm interested. located on the northern edge of soma (south of market), city beer store is a hidden gem for beer drinkers and beer nerds. the owner craig opened the shop under a year ago in a storefront of a "hip" loft complex. craig's idea came from wine tasting and wine bars which flooded every corner of this city like starbucks and locusts. his unique idea has created a beer cult. i don't visit city beer often but you'll see locals and familiar faces from previous visits. the shop has five fridges cooling selected beers while in the back corner have shelved individual bottles. you can either buy an bottle or a pack. the beers ranges from almost every country to every style of beer, depending what craig could get his hands on. in the center is a counter with small fridges where craig will chill your opened bottles along with four taps that rotates weekly. besides selling beer, there's a few beer glasses and books for sale.

[photo of the store by janel]

the event itself was a cool idea although i'm generally weary of anything pairing with chocolate. wine and chocolates? hell no. maybe vintage port. chocolate and bourbon? i don't know. wine and beer? what the?! chocolate usually works best on its own. luckily i was in good hands. janel was a former chocolate taster and has a stern palatte.

the first time i had a brew from allagash was around christmas. janel and ellie bought me a bottle of their curieux as a gift. allagash curieux is a tripel stored in bourbon casks for a few weeks. from the tap, the allagash tastes a bit different by being a little smoother. the color on first pour is a golden amber with a medium head. the scent was heavily fruity and citrus... with no hint of bourbon?! strange, where's the vanilla?! i recall from the bottled allagash that there was a subtle bourbon nose. did the kegged version lose it's bourbon-ness from storage? i don't know. however the fruits nose lead to a pear/apple taste which was crisp and malty without the bourbon flavors. has my tongue and nose adapted to the actual high proof bourbon? and hinting of bourbon doesn't really register with my senses?

so how did the curieux pair with the chocolates (80%? dark, cappuccino dark and milk)? not every well. craig said to concentrate on the bourbon vanilla of the beer when tasting. but the two just didn't work together. the dark was just ok. the cappuccino and the curieux was terrible. i recommend: never to leave any amount of cappuccino chocolate left on your tongue when taking a swig of beer. i flinched and scrunched my face... it's probably the same reaction i'll give when eating green bell peppers. the milk and curieux... er, nope. ok, so the pairing wasn't the greatest. however the chocolates were good. i can't remember the name of the dark chocolate one but it was janel's favorite when she was a chocolate taster. she has this expertise expression when she's smelling something. from her eyes, you can see she's registering and thinking about the scents given from the chocolates. whereas i'm like "WOHO! chocolates! me eat! me eat!"

the conclusion: i like allagash's curieux. it's a nice medium bodied beer that drinks well shared with company (like janel or a clone of her). and would definitely pair well with cheese. however the flavors of the beer and chocolates were battling each other like the armies of rohan and gondor duking it out with the hordes of orcs on the pelennor fields.

Q

mussels eaten on 3.23.07. photo by ellie.

you can't get any simpler than naming your restaurant after an alphabet. located in the inner richmond on clement street, Q is simple american comfort food with a southwestern twist. Q's menu is vasts with a hamburger, pork chops, fried chicken and daily seafood specials. what makes Q so unique about their menu is the listed wine pairing with each item. this is the third time i've eaten here. their brunch is an egg lovers' heaven with your usual omelet to poached eggs on corn beef hash.

my friends janel, ellie and myself went to Q after an art opening at the park life gallery across the street. like usual, there's a line at Q with a 45 minutes wait. yes, 45 minutes. after a few minutes of wondering around waiting, we decided it was too cold to be outside and we settled at the bar. Q has a huge wine list with several beers on tap. janel orders a north coast scrimshaw pilsner while i ordered a deschutes black butte porter which she said was really good. as for ellie... well, she was still looking through the wine list. the porter was really gentle, smooth and hints a bit of chocolate. most porters tend to have a quick bitter kick finish but this one didn't. i took a little sip from janel's pilsner and i was WOWed. this philsner was so crisp, clean, light and hoppy. this is a wonderful pilsner for summer-in-the-sun drinking. janel and ellie took a sip from my porter and gave a nod of approval. eventually, ellie makes a move and orders a glass of wine. but the bar gave her a little hassle for wanting a taste. they were pretty stingy. but we couldn't figure out why. they had a few opened bottles of the same label. the wait was long and filled with a random conversation between the three of us. i finished my porter and ordered a pilsner.

thirty minutes has passed and the waitress seats us. Q is very eccentric. one wall near the bar is a painted blackboard with their specials. along another wall is a series of steel sheets with magnetic letters. there's wrought iron artwork with stringed lights of chili peppers. with whatever letters we had, the girls spells out: "who r u texan."

while we were waiting at the bar, we looked through the menu. so when we were seated... we knew what we wanted. janel ordered the catfish and chips. [i know i mentioned janel was a vegetarian in a previous posting but vegetarianism doesn't mean no fish.] ellie ordered the pork chops. and i ordered the sesame crusted ahi tuna with coconut rice. without any disagreement from janel and i, ellie ordered a dish of mussels.

the mussels were gralicy and spicy. it was worth every bite. i noticed ellie fighting a every single mussel but she resisted and shared. in previous conversations, she mentioned she once hated shellfish (she still does) but grew to love mussels after a trip to france. with all the mussels done, we ordered some more bread to dunk into the sauce.

janel gave me a bit of her catfish which was very light. the taste of catfish is subtle. it's very gentle and not too oily. i generally eat catfish the chinese way: steamed with green onion and coated in a soy sauce/sesame oil sauce. surpringly the frying of the catfish didn't overwhelm the flesh. ellie's pork chops were tender and juicy.

i really like my ahi tuna. i mean really liked. "like it? i love it? ... i want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant."* the tuna was thickly crusted with sesame, surrounding really tasty coconut rice, and topped off with wasbi mustard. the presentation was amazing with its pea pods pretending to be sun-rays.

after finishing our meals, we tried to decide on dessert but i think we were take too long. the restaurant crew were cleaning up and preparing to shut down the kitchen. eventually, we told one of the waitress that we're done for the night. B+/A-

* quote from tracy jordan (tracy morgan) in 30 rock from the episode, "hard ball."

suppenkuche on sunday (3.18.07)

photo courtesy of 7x7 magazine

it's another sunday night out and about after attending the san francisco jazz festival featuring the dave holland quintet. myself, janel and ellie are once again looking around for dinner. herbst theater which hosted the concert sits on the edge of hayes valley, a gentrified neighborhood with urbanite restaurants and shops. at last year's sfjazz festival, janel and i passed by a german restaurant called suppenkuche at the corner of hayes and laguna street. back then, we passed it up for pizza. this time, we walked in.

the darkly light interior has simple pine tables, chairs and benches. dining parties will be seated with other parties at a table. there's a subtle butterfly theme around the ceiling and walls. there's a bar in the back with its own tiny seating spot. in the far back, there's a room but i didn't explode that.

looking at the menu, you clearly can see it's german -- pork, sausages, beef and lots of meat. there's also a daily special of more meat. we couldn't decided. both ellie and i were thinking maybe sausages but we had a bbq picnic the previous day. eventually we closed the menu and decided. i ordered the venison even though i was eying the trout. janel who is vegetarian ordered potato pancakes. ellie ordered the flat steaks. for drinks we all had german white beer mixed with soda -- berliner weisse with raspberry or woodruff. with woodruff, the beer looks green and commonly drank as the green beer on saint patrick's day. as we waited for our food and drinks, we were given flax bread with some kind of herb butter (we could figure out the herbs).

the beers arrive. the beer were light tasting and similar to a lambic. honestly, you don't even notice the beer. raspberry is definitely raspberry while the woodruff is slightly sweet and well, woodruff. it's hard to describe woodruff which you just have to taste. i preferred the woodruff vs. the raspberry. lemonade or lemon juice is another flavor used with berliner weisse.

finally, our food arrives. and wow, big portions. janel's plate had three large harsh brown patties with a side of apple sauce. ellie's came with a flat steak stretching across her large oval plate with a side cucumber salad. while my dish arrived with three medallion cuts of the venison, a side of plum wine sauce, red cabbage and spatzle. spatzle was described as gnoochi but it's not. it's more like pan-fried crumbled egg noodles. the venison was tender and medium cooked. i never had venison but it's very lean and virtually had no fat on this cut of meat. the red cabbage was sweet. janel's pancakes were like... hash browns. they're simple but tasty. and makes a great brunch item. ellie's medium rare steak was also tender and surprisingly sweet.

the service was B+. the waiter was friendly and somewhat knowledgeable. he did screw up our drinks order. we wanted two woodruff and a raspberry but got that reversed. the food arrived in about 10 - 15 minutes. the only thing that bugged me was our seating location. we sat right next to the entrance. i think the girls were ok but my back was freezing. i was literally sitting a yard away from the door where the chilly sunday night wind blows through. overall the experience was great. i definitely have to go back and try the sausage/mash potato dish and the potato pancakes.

what i'm drinking: st. patti's day @ park chalet

me @ park chalet with the menu and the beers
Originally uploaded by Eri•chan. Photo by Janel.

ahh... saint patrick's day, how a saint is celebrated with drinking. that saturday my friends janel and ellie (including my self) had a picnic in golden gate park. but i'm not writing about the picnic (fresh salmon burgers, sausages, lambic beer and much much more).

after the picnic, we walked around the park toward the ocean where beach chalet resides. we went in for some coffee and tea but somehow got enticed by the menu. the building houses two chalets -- beach chalet and park chalet. beach is the more formal dining (although there's nothing formal about it) with a beautiful view of the ocean while park chalet has smaller dishes, a fuller bar, fireplace and a bunch of patio chairs in the park. since the day was cloudy and misty, we decided to sit by the fire to warm up.

the chalets brew their own beer and offers a sample of their six regulars -- VFW light, west end wheat, playland pale ale, presidio IPA, riptide red ale and fleishhacker stout. sadly their brewer's special isn't part of the sample. we ordered three with a plate of beer beard and string onion (think fried strands of onions).

VFW light: this is much lighter than i expected from microbrew. it tasted lighter than say, bud light. however the taste is much better. "light" crisp with a follow-up of hoppy wheat. a quick refreshing brew. one of my favorites.

west end wheat: a cloudy hefeweizen that surprisingly tasted like the VFW but wheatier and malty. again, it's a quick drink.

playland pale ale: a standard pale ale brew. malty, simple and mildly bitter.

presidio IPA: i'm not a huge fan of IPAs. yes, i know... all beer drinks should love IPAs but i wasn't too keen on its instant bitterness which overwhelm the flavors and lingers. both janel and i were flinching with each sip.

riptide red ale: i'm a huge fan of amber ales (fat tire, ful sail amber, etc). mild, malty, quick hops and very quick bitter finish.

fleishhacker stout: i love stout. i'm a guiness kinda guy. here's a stout that isn't trying to be guiness. it's lighter with a toasty caramel taste and a foamy head. i wouldn't say it has a smooth finish. maybe a bit bitter.