Whiskey Wednesday: Forty Creek

For our first Canadian Whiskey of the entire Whiskey Wednesday series, we try one of the most acclaimed Canadians (to the extent that any Canadian is acclaimed), Forty Creek Barrel Select.

Forty Creek is made by Kittling Ridge, a winery and distillery in the Niagara area of south Ontario. Independently owned, Kittling Ridge makes wine as well as a wide variety of spirits including brandy, liqueurs, rum and vodka as well as Forty Creek, a blended Canadian whiskey.

Forty Creek has won some accolades and certainly has sought to separate itself from the ocean of Crown Royals and Canadian Clubs. Let's give it a try.

Tasting

Forty Creek Barrel Select, (Kittling Ridge Distillery) 40% alcohol ($20.99).

The nose is very distinct...fruity and sweet, more like a Cognac or even a rum than a whiskey. The whiskey is light on the tongue. It's syrupy though not as sweet as I would have guessed from the nose, and you can definitely taste the influence of the sherry casks along with a strong caramel flavor. I'm guessing it's mostly corn because I didn't detect anything in the way of rye flavor. The lightness is such that it almost evaporates on the palate leaving very little in the way of finish except for a quick but pleasant woodiness on the way down.

The lightness and the character make this a very different drink than the whiskies I'm used to. In some ways, I don't know quite what to make of the stuff. It's pleasant enough but doesn't really satisfy me with the full flavors I expect of a Bourbon or Scotch.

While I have no immediate plans to try new Canadians, I have been on the lookout for interesting ones and will hopefully sample more in the future.

Meals Fit for a King...or a Super Giro

I love my neighborhood for its diversity of cuisine. I sit smack in the middle of enormous Korean, Thai, Central American and Filipino populations. Within five blocks, I can walk to tons of pupuserias (including the best pupuseria in LA), Korean BBQs, and countless other spots. But the one thing my neighborhood is lacking is great tacos, tortas and other Mexican staples.

We have some of the best Oaxacan food around, which is great, but sometimes, you just want a great taco or torta stuffed with the carnitas and al pastor in the style of the western states of Jalisco and Michoacan.

What I really should do is finally get serious about East LA and do some Whittier Boulevard or Huntington Park exploration, but I haven't yet, so I get really excited when I get somewhere where there is a King Taco, and recently, I've added the popular Gallo Giro to my list.

El Gallo Giro [GUY-oh HE-ro] is a 20 year old chain which now has multiple locations, mostly in eastern LA, but also Long Beach, Van Nuys and Santa Ana. They do traditional Mexican fare: tacos, tortas, fabulous aguas frescas and pastries.

King Taco is in many ways a similar institution, dating back to the '70s and serving tacos and burritos to a crowd of hardcore taco fans from its outlets across LA County. In Long Beach there is a King Taco nearly a block away from a Gallo Giro, so I was able to try both and do a little compare and contrast. Being a porketarian, I concentrated on the al pastor and carnitas.


Al Pastor

The Gallo Giro al pastor was nicely spiced, but the King Taco pastor blew it away. The spicing on the KT pastor was above and beyond. Not only chili, but great seasoning with almost a bit of sweetness to it.


Carnitas

If KT wins the al pastor award, Gallo Giro takes it for carnitas. Their carnitas were crisp and oh, so juicy, if a bit on the fatty side. The KT carnitas were fairly standard.


Other

Both establishments serve excellent salsas. The red salsa at KT was spicier and I think the KT green was my favorite, but Gallo Giro's salsa were also quite good.

El Gallo Giro has great aquas frescas (loved the pineapple) and a panaderia, though I didn't try any baked goods.

El Gallo Giro also has daily specials, including the family pack: meat, rice, beans, tortillas and a liter soda for $15. Now, during a recession, that deal makes El Gallo a true hero.

So whether your a King or a Hero, there's good stuff (and pork) all around.

A Cut Above: Knife Skills Class at Sur La Table

Even though I love to cook and do a fair amount of it, I seldom write about it on the blog. Why? Because I am an ambitious but totally self-trained cook. I have terrible technique; the only things I know I learned from reading Julia or watching Alton.

About a year ago, I was trying to go all Iron Chef on some cantaloupe and I cut my thumb so badly that I had to visit the emergency room to get it stitched up. The next Christmas I received a well intended Sur La Table gift card to be used for a knife skills class (regular price, $70).

Well, it took me almost a year to get to it, but I finally signed up for a class at the SLT at the Third and Fairfax Farmers Market, and I'm so glad I did.

Super-animated but down to earth instructor Tina Rogers started with the basics of knives: the different knife types, sharpening and honing and proper handling. After that, she gave us demos of the basic cuts and hints about how to improve technique, subsequently setting us loose with the knives to try it all out. We sliced, diced and julienned to our hearts' content using everything from ceramics to santokus to big old Shuns.

Rogers was a great instructor with a good sense of humor who was game to answer any question, relevant or not, and I literally learned at least a dozen things that will improve my game in the cutting world. While there was a "shopping break" for which to use our complimentary 15% off coupon, there wasn't any hard sell, and in fact, Rogers was less than enthusiastic about the world of $300 knives and unnecessary knife accessories.

During the class, our beautifully cut food was carted away to the front kitchen where it was turned into a pasta dinner that we enjoyed, with wine, after the class. Considering this, and the fact that during the class there were ample snacks and bottled water, it's a pretty good deal for $70.

Now, I've got to admit, I'm not a Sur La Table fan. Let's face it, you can get pretty much everything they sell for at least half the price at Cost Plus or Surfas, but this class was both fun and gave me new skills. The next day, when I chopped up apples for my baby daughter, I took the opportunity to give her nicely julienned strips.

The Sur La Table culinary program, which is only available at selected stores, includes a number of interesting sounding classes including baking, holiday meals, sauces and even molecular gastronomy. Some classes, like knife skills, are hands on, but others are demos, so check that out when you sign up. Tina Rogers seems to teach knife skills about once a month, but sign up early because they do fill up.

Given how much I enjoyed this class, I know I'll sign up for more. Until then, I plan to engage in lots of injury free cutting.

Whiskey Wednesday: Oh, Canada

I've been writing about whiskey for a year and a half and nary a drop of Canadian whisky has touched my palate. In many ways, Canadian whisky is treated as the ugly stepchild of the whiskey world; Americans treat Canadian whisky the same way they tend to treat the nation itself, pretty much ignoring its very existence. American whiskey publications seem to write more about Japanese whisky than Canadian, even though there are only two Japanese whiskies available in the US while Canadian is widely available.

So what is Canadian whisky and does it deserve to be passed over like so much cold poutin? Is there more to it than Crown Royal and Canadian Club? We will spend the next few weeks answering those questions, but first, the traditional Recent Eats whisky primer:


What is Canadian Whisky?

Well, Canadian whisky is whisky from Canada...pretty much any whisky from Canada. Per Canadian law, Canadian whisky is a spirit distilled from cereal grains which is aged in wood for at least three years. Canadian whisky may contain caramel coloring.

Canadian whiskies are mostly blends of different grains, though there are now some single malts being made in Canada, most notably Glen Breton, made by the Glenora distillery in Nova Scotia (which, of course, means "New Scotland") as well as a few single grains.

One element unique to Canadian whisky is that under the law, it can contain 9.09% flavoring agents. Those agents are often other spirits (Bourbon or Brandy are common) but could be anything, including vanilla, sugar or fruit juice. This is something that really sticks in the whiskey lovers' craw, as the idea of fruit juice or sugar in whisky seems designed to cover up the flavor of a substandard spirit. Of course, not all Canadian whisky uses flavoring additives, and particularly some of the newer Canadians are leaving this suspect practice behind.


Isn't Canadian Whisky the Same as Rye?

No. Well, at least not in the way we use the term in the US. Long ago, most Canadian whisky was rye-based, so people started calling it rye, and eventually all Canadian whisky became known as rye. This nomenclature has been preserved in Canadian law which uses the terms Canadian Whisky, Canadian Rye Whisky and Rye Whisky. However, nowadays, rye is not a central ingredient in most Canadian whisky, and the term just serves to confuse the stuff with American rye whiskey, which is actually rye-based.

That being said, there are a few Canadian whiskies that are still rye-based, including Alberta Premium, one of the well reviewed new Canadians.


What does Canadian Whisky Taste Like?

Canadian Whisky is known for being light, sweet and fruity. This is another reason that it tends to be looked down upon by serious whisky drinkers. Whether this reputation bears out is something we will have to see for ourselves.


Over the next few weeks we will sip a few Canadians and see what our frozen cousins from the north have to offer.

Next Wednesday: Forty Creek

The New NBC - Proud as a Peacock

NBC Seafood, in Monterey Park, has long been my favorite of the giant-palace variety of dim sum places. For the past couple of years, the strip mall in which it is located has been in the process of being very slowly dismantled, and the parking lot was a complete mess. Still, I regularly braved it for the excellent dim sum. Then, about a month ago, it closed down and the rumor spread that it had been sold. When a beloved eatery is sold, I always get a nervous chill down my spine. Will it stay the same? Will the new owners ruin a good thing? Okay, it's not that there aren't plenty of other great dim sum places in LA, but NBC is something special.

Well, this week was the grand opening, so we headed over this morning to see how NBC faired. What we noticed immediately was that the place looked better. The rundown old palace had received a paint job, a new sign and some better looking linens. The old, somewhat lackluster staff had been replaced by a more attentive and service-oriented group of staffers. Rumors had been that the new NBC had forsaken carts in favor of a Sea Harbor/Elite style menu system, but carts abounded.




But how was the food? Well, it wasn't the same. In fact, it was better. Ingredients were higher quality, shrimp were plumper and the cart dim sum were much fresher. The danger of cart dim sum, of course, is that the food sits on the carts for hours, but here, the cart food seemed fresh out of the oven. Pork buns glistened; there was shen jian bao, look fun and all the old favorites along with some new. For dessert there was a much improved yellow, sponge cake and cream buns filled with a purple yam paste. The only things I missed from the original NBC were the original cream buns and the duck. NBC's duck was always succulent, greasy and dripping with fat and jus. The new duck was still good, but a bit dry.

Overall, I was very impressed by the new NBC. For the most part, it retained the good and even improved it. I'll look forward to further sampling their menu.

NBC Seafood
404 S Atlantic Blvd (south of Garvey)
Monterey Park, CA 91754
(626) 282-2323

Good & Goaty: Andante Acappella

Andante Dairy in Petaluma, California is the one woman project of the musically inclined Soyoung Scanlan who has been making cheese for 10 years. Andante makes cow, goat and sheep cheeses.

I was very impressed with a small ash covered round of her Acappella goat cheese which I picked up at the Cheese Store of Silverlake. This aged cheese had an intense goaty flavor, though not in a barnyard sort of way. It was sharp and intense in the way that aged goat cheese can be when it's at its best, with the creamy consistency of a soft cow cheese. This little round packs an excellent punch.

I will be excited to try her other products.

Gone Votin'

Sku has been shipped out to a battleground state for the election. He'll see you after November 4 when we will continue the eating and drinking!