When using bamboo skewers, soak them in water for at least 30 minutes before using. This will minimize the burning. If using metal skewers, select a shape other than round. Round ones will allow the food to spin when you try to flip it, something that can be a problem, especially on the grill.

I have a twelve bottle wine rack that I use to hold the wines that I go through on a rather quick basis. I thought that it might be nice to post up what it holds every once in a while. Since things turn over pretty quickly there, this might be an interesting look at some stuff. One thing to note is that most of these wines are bought sight or taste unseen, it is a rather experimental collection. Only the interesting get reviewed. As you might have guessed, my current selection is all over the place, but I seem to be spending a lot of time and effort on the wines of Spain recently. FWIW, the whites spend the time in the cooler, not in the rack so these will all be reds.

More...

If you have these compulsions such as I do sometimes, I just have to have every last strand of silk removed from an ear of corn before cooking. A dampened paper towel brushed downward on the ear of corn will remove all of it. Of course, you can always just pick it all off one at a time like I do and waste a bunch of time. Your choice.

This is a fantastic way to prepare duck on the grill. You can do the whole duck as well this way, but I prefer to use just the breasts for this one. It may look like you won’t have enough glaze to finish this duck but a little goes a long way. This recipe calls for a dry rub as well as a glaze. It goes great with a wild rice on the side.

More...

OK, I am definitely not a fan of playing with your food while it is on the grill. Put the stuff on there, turn it once, then close the cover and forget it. With duck breast it is a much different story though because of the high fat content. The first thing you want to do during your preparation is to cut slices in the skin, about 1/2 inch apart, in a cross hatch pattern. Then prepare the grill for direct low cooking. Place the breast on the grill skin side down and close the cover.

You are going to be cooking the breast for about 12 to 14 minutes in total. Cook the breast for two minutes then move the breast to another portion of the grill. Do it for another two minutes and move the breast again. Continue moving the breast until is has cooked for a total of eight minutes. Turn the breast over and cook for three minutes and move the breast again. Finally, cook until the desired doneness, one to three minutes more.

The reason for moving the duck breast is that as the fat drips out of the skin, it will catch fire and incinerate the duck breast. You want to move it to avoid flare ups. Some grillers will attempt to put out the flare ups with a squirt bottle of water, but that means you won’t be closing the lid, something that you’ll still need to do between movements of the duck breast.

When you are trying to slice meat thinly, it is often easier to do if the cut of meat is partially frozen.

In order to ripen avocados or tomatoes quickly, place them in a brown paper bag and leave them on the counter for a couple of days.

OK, I’ll admit that I had to go look up what braggot meant. It is certainly not a word that you come across every day. What I found is that braggot is a cross between mead and ale with at least 50 % of the fermentable sugars coming from honey. Well that explains a lot, especially as I found that the scent and flavor of honey was well represented in the Widmer Brothers, Brother’s Reserve Series Prickly Pear Braggot.

This is a light brew that tastes and feels more like a beer than a mead. It has a nice light goldenrod color and a very white, medium density head that rapidly vanishes. There was no lacing present at all. On the nose you get a scent of honey and a background of malty sweetness. There are no hops to speak of in the aroma. On the tongue you get honey up front carried along by a bit of earthiness in the mid palate. It finishes with a light, almost ephemeral note of fruit. There is bit of fizzy carbonation that completes the picture being painted on your tongue.

All in all this is an excellent brew. It is a pretty big beer, weighing in at 10% ABV but it is not really notable in the nose or on the palate. It is light enough that you could drink more than one of these but since they come in a 22 oz bottle, I think doubling up would lead to trouble down the road. A most excellent endeavor by the Brothers Widmer.

To avoid your brown sugar from hardening into a lump, store it in an airtight container and in a cool dry place. If you don’t have an airtight container large enough or it has already hardened into a brick, just take out your cheese grater and grate teh amount of brown sugar you need for your recipe. Then go buy an airtight container.

If you are anything like me at some point you will manage to spill red wine on something light colored that you would rather keep that way. If this happens to you, you should look for one of these two things to put on it immediately. 1) Club soda or 2) white wine. Club soda works because the carbonation helps lift the red wine out of the fibers and the salt in it acts to keep the stain from setting. White wine works because it neutralizes and dilutes the red wine. In either case, you should only blot the area with a thick towel after using one of these two methods. Rubbing the area will only force the liquid deeper into the fibers.