Food & Wine

Caroline Jackson • July 26, 2011

For any industry to thrive, there must be infrastructure in place to support its maintenance and development. In the case of East Coast wine, an increasing number of educational outlets, quality control organizations, and winemakers’ consortiums are all valuable resources helping to bolster this quickly growing industry. There are many kinks to work out, however, if states like Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania hope to achieve as established a wine reputation as their West Coast counterparts.

Laws surrounding the production and sale of alcohol vary sometimes from county to county, and their complexities often prevent smaller start-up wineries from being able expand.

Pennsylvania’s Liquor Control Board is particularly archaic in its policies towards independent winery owners, often hampering the efforts of the ideal small business entrepreneur in a bourgeoning industry poised to bring revenue, employment, and tourism to a state in economic downturn. If anyone is wondering why people keep drinking California wines, I might point out a bill recently passed there setting aside $53 million dollars to further promote wineries, despite the state’s virtual bankruptcy. Although this sum seems a bit excessive, it is an example of how other American wine regions have benefited from the support of state institutions.

In Virginia, however, legislators have steadily begun to reform various agricultural and beverage control regulations to be more conducive to the wine industry. Simultaneously, Virginia Tech is on the brink of extending its viticultural degree to include an online program, making a quality wine education available to many more potential winemakers. In addition, Virginia’s wineries continue to find new ways to work together to evaluate and improve the quality of their products.

Virginia is now organized into six official AVA’s (American Viticultural Areas), a notable move towards industry coordination and quality control. This system of “appellations” is taken for granted in Europe, where strict regulations often dictate which varietals may be planted and how they are to be grown. There is much more freedom in the “New World,” but by grouping together certain areas with similar soil, elevation, climate, etc.— terroir, as they say in French—wineries can more effectively work together to develop the common characteristics that make their product stand out.

The majority of vines grown in Virginia are made up the world’s most popular grapes: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay. In the past few years, however, some producers have built their reputation around varietals that they believe will set their region apart. In the Monticello AVA, for example, Barboursville Vineyards is thinking outside of the box. Set on the grounds of the beautiful Barbour Estate designed by Thomas Jefferson, Barboursville has planted Italian grapes such as Barbera and Nebbiolo, originally from the noble Piedmont region of Italy.

Though maybe not as deeply complex as some of the Italian versions, the relatively young Virginia vines result in well made, balanced, and elegant wines. Most importantly, they push forward the frontier, employing the kind of experimentation that leads to revolutionary discoveries. Also make sure not to miss their delectable Malvaxia dessert wine.

While Charlottesville has the hotter growing season mimicking that of Italy or Bordeaux, the gentle hills of Northern Virginia are cranking out some spectacular vintages of grapes that can benefit from its cooler climate and continental breeze, such as Viognier and Cabernet Franc. I was impressed with the soft fruit and spicy finish of Breaux Vineyards’ 2006 “Lafayette” Cabernet Franc, as well as the well-structured 2009 vintage from year-old Paradise Springs Winery, currently building a new tasting room and winery facility in Clifton.

Surprisingly successful in multiple regions, Virginia’s Petit Verdot has been gaining notice from many national critics. Petit Verdot is poised to be to Virginia what Malbec is to Argentina. Both Petit Verdot and Malbec were originially used only for blending in the “Old World,” but have taken to their respective soils to produce some impressive and complex single-varietal wines. With common traits often more subtle and earthy than the bold fruit and classic flavors of other East Coast reds, Petit Verdot may be an acquired taste for some wine drinkers; but as wine and food culture continue to blossom in the Mid-Atlantic metropolitan areas, customers continue to expand their palates with a wider range of varietals, cultivating an appreciation for the vastness of style.
As more wineries continue to pop up throughout Virginia, it will be a challenge to maintain the quality reputation and cohesive marketing necessary to continue to advance in the global market. However, with open forums of communication within the business, and a little extra effort in funding and support from local customers and government institutions, the perception of Virginia wine will be no different from any other respected region in the world.

Sip of the Day

Pollack Vineyards 2008 Petit Verdot

This wine is full of soft black fruits and rich earthy notes of bramble and spice. While some Petit Verdots ere on the side of harshness, Pollack’s effort displays soft tannins and a smooth finish as a result of careful handling and minimal barrel aging in 100% French oak. Let it aerate a bit before drinking and pair with a flavorful red meat such as leg of lamb.

Caroline Jackson is the Assistant Winemaker at Blair Vineyards in Eastern Pennsylvania. She has a degree in English and a background in wine retail. Visit her blog, Sips and Sounds, which pairs daily music selections with a wine or craft beer.

Hayley Sanchez •

There might be no culinary tradition as richly and authentically American as pit barbecue. Like the blues, it is so irrevocably bound to Southern culture and Americana that it defies attempts at assimilation or fusion with the modern.

Predating the Civil War, a pig roast, or “pig-pickin’,” was a celebration in itself, bringing together poor Southern towns to partake in a communal feast. The community is alive today in Georgetown, shepherded by two men with opposite backgrounds, separate philosophies, divergent stories. Where they unite is in a love for the high art of the low and slow, the transformation of the raw to the refined. In the world of Richard Brooks and John Snedden, anyone who appreciates such heritage is welcome to the table. That it courses through the most historic neighborhood in Washington is no accident. It is instead a quiet reminder of what this city once was and who we once were.

More than a style of cooking, barbecue is a culture, and if you live below the Mason-Dixon Line, odds are you are a part of it. Washington, D.C. is an oft-forgotten wealth of Southern tradition, and while its barbecue scene may not have the clarion call of Memphis ribs or Carolina slaw, the craft is thriving. The Beer, Bourbon and BBQ festival at the National Harbor is this weekend. Safeway’s National Capital Barbecue Battle, now in its 17th year, holds court the weekend of June 26. It’s time to sharpen your palette.

Richard Brooks of Old Glory

Outside Old Glory BBQ, the scent of smoked meats permeates the corner of Wisconsin and M Streets like the Carolina State Fair. On a given evening, it is almost impossible to walk through Georgetown without catching a whiff of sweet pork and baked beans. Executive Chef Richard Brooks has been crafting a melting pot of regional barbecue fare since he came aboard in 1995.

Raised in Farmville, VA, Brooks grew up smoking and curing his family’s farm-raised pigs with his father and grandfather. “I never went to culinary school,” he admits. “I learned from my parents.” Though raised in the Carolina tradition — sweet pulled pork with a vinegar-based sauce — he has become a national representative for all styles of American barbecue. If they do it in Texas or Tennessee, odds are Brooks does it in his kitchen.

Old Glory’s position as a true and authentic barbecue restaurant comes as a result of the combined inspirations from each corner of the country. And while all cuts of meat have their cooking variations, Brooks explains that the greater distinctions in barbecue styles come from the sauces. The rubs, marinades and sauces Brooks devises are pulled from the six major barbecue regions; Savannah, Lexington, East Carolina, Southwest Texas, Memphis and Kansas City are all represented on each table in rows of labeled bottles. Brooks, who talks about diverse flavors like common hearsay, is acutely aware of the variables. He mixes each sauce in house on a regular basis, perpetually tweaking the recipes. “Just did Kansas City not too long ago,” he says. “Changed it up a little bit.”

The Southwest Texas sauce, for instance, uses three different kinds of chili peppers, and the Savannah sauce (highly recommended) is defined by a healthy dose of mustard. The key to a good sauce, according to Brooks, is the perfect mixture of the base ingredients — a balance between sweet, spicy and sour.

But there is no true guideline for barbecuing, as Brooks knows, and a lot of the process relies on intuition and an intimacy with the process. As a result, no man’s barbecue will ever be quite like his neighbor’s, and the variations, however subtle, are indeed endless.

“My kitchen staff knows most of my recipes,” says Brooks. “But it don’t taste the same when they make it … And I always tell them — I say, ‘Hey, you gotta make love to the food, man! You gotta do it right!’”

His process is simple: low and slow and plenty of love. The meat, be it pork, beef or chicken, first marinates for 24 hours, which, according to Brooks, “helps draw the salt out … so it will be real moist when it cooks.” The cuts then get put in the smoker. The smoke from slow burning hickory wood is ventilated through the smoker into the accompanying “pit,” a moisture-containing box, for the meat to cook at a temperature of around 225 degrees for 12 hours. Then the meat comes out, gets slathered in sauce and plated.

Brooks has confidence in the quality and popularity of the D.C. barbecue scene. With the growing popularity of the National Capital Barbecue Battle and the Beer, Bourbon and BBQ Festival, it is clear that many District residents are Southern at heart.

Still, he is aware of the growing health conscience of guests, and knows that his down-home offerings might not be too good for the waste line. Consequently, he is beginning to tweak the menu to better accommodate healthier crowds, fielding vegetarian options and some leaner meats. Still, there is more than a little irony to his voice when he says, “we’re putting some healthy stuff on there.”

But never worry. The slow cooked divinity of Old Glory will remain as fatty and delicious as any barbecue around. The brisket and accompanying brisket sauce will have you stuffing yourself well past the time your stomach fills up. The sticky chicken, Brooks’ personal favorite, is generously glazed with a pineapple bourbon sauce. The chopped beef with Memphis onions, sweet and juicy, is perhaps the most barbecue rich item on the menu. The ribs are a two-part harmony of smoky and sweet. And the pulled pork is no joke. It might as well be out of Lexington, NC.

However, the crowning essence of Brooks’ barbecue is not in any singular dish, but in its combination of all the national flavors. Brooks’ menu is something of a culinary democracy, representing a diverse array of barbecue from across the country.

John Snedden: Rocklands’ Barbecue Whiz

As a college student, John B. Snedden just liked to grill.

It’s not hard to imagine why, given that his alma mater, Washington and Lee University, used to sponsor campuswide pig roasts stocked with jungle juice and endless slabs of fresh pork shoulders — a tradition gone the way of the buffalo when oversized collegiate partying started making national headlines. At the time, Snedden, who grew up feeding on sausage and slow cooked pork in a family of six boys, wasted no time in joining the university’s official pig roast committee.

But what would fade to nostalgic — perhaps hazy — episodes of more intemperate days for his peers would become an obsession for the tall, winsome Philadelphia native. Snedden would go on to perfect his barbecue technique and establish Rocklands, the Wisconsin Avenue barbecue phenom that for two decades has sparked cult-like fanfare among locals and visitors alike, and has since expanded to three additional locations around metropolitan Washington. At the time, he may not have realized where his hobby would take him. In fact, after he graduated with degrees in chemistry, physics and biology, he very nearly traded in his grill tongs and tinderbox for a Petri dish and forceps.

“Part of the impetus,” says Snedden on his pursuit of barbecue, “was I was in [medical] school and just really not happy with what I was doing.” Halfway through med school, he was invited by chance to a barbecue competition in downtown D.C., organized by the Reagan administration. That day, he won first place for his ribs, and immediately began taking requests as a caterer. “I went home and told my parents that I had gotten this opportunity. I was very unhappy in school, and was going to take a change in path.”

It might be every parent’s worst nightmare about their child, up there with going to war or joining the circus: Mom, Dad, I’m going to swap out the M.D. for B.B.Q. To their credit, the elder Sneddens took it in stride, if a bit nervously.

“Uh, they were not real happy to hear that initially,” their son recalls. “[But] I had a decent relationship with my parents, so I think that they recognized that I was not real happy… I think they recognized you gotta do what you’re excited about.”

Fulfillment and prestige, it seems, don’t always go hand in hand, at least at first. The fledgling barbecue operation started small in 1990, mostly catering out of a basement suite in Glover Park. In the beginning, the company would often make what was asked of them, even entertaining exotic requests for ethnic dishes far removed from the down-home American scope. But barbecue was always the watchword, and Snedden was on a mission to solidify its creation into a singular, artful method.

“I think barbecue has been a bit bastardized in the industry,” he says, “because you can go somewhere and open up a can of tuna fish, put barbecue sauce on it, and they’ll call it tuna barbecue. It’s not, really, because they haven’t used the barbecue process … a process of cooking.”

Snedden is understandably mum about the nitty-gritty of his process, but calls it the “grease smoke method,” which he perfected on a grill of his own design. The concept is unorthodox: instead of funneling smoke from a side firebox into a cooking chamber, one slowly roasts the meat directly over a fire — fueled only by hickory and red oak wood — for up to 12 hours, being careful to keep the meat out of flame’s reach. He makes an eloquent case for the science behind it, rattling off the endothermic reactions and chemical formulas involved and somehow arranging it cogently for the layman.

Yet you sense there is something more to it, some unquantifiable element distilled from years of practice or perhaps just plain luck. Whatever it is, the proof is in the product, a smoky, dark-pink kaleidoscope of flavors that’s as tasty by itself as it is smothered in sauce, which, according to the Rocklands philosophy, is more of a distractive accessory of otherwise expertly cooked meat. Still, the house barbecue sauce, a slightly vinegary take on the Memphis tradition astew with onions and peppercorns, is awfully damn good. Armchair sauce connoisseurs will also enjoy the restaurant’s “Wall of Fire,” a sort of library of sauce bottles encouraging experimentation, mixture and fresh experience.

Twenty years after firing up the grill, Snedden’s creation remains consistent. Other than a few offbeat recipes — the Pearl and Dog Salad are perennial favorites with regulars — the Rocklands menu offers just the essentials: pulled pork and chicken, spare ribs, brisket, homemade slaw, baked beans. The company still holds a huge stake in catering (constituting 45 percent of its revenue), still donates food and time to school performances, charity fundraisers and community events, stills mans its four restaurants from a tiny freestanding bungalow in Glover Park, right next door to the original basement. Snedden brushes aside his accolades, instead crediting his staff and family, with whom he consults regularly, for his success. He hands off a good deal of autonomy to the managers at his satellite restaurants. When we tour the kitchen, he introduces the cooks by name. Inside, around noon, the smell of dry rub infects the air, smoke curls up to the ceiling, the customer line stretches out the door.

In the science world, you’d call that kind of experiment a breakthrough.
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Georgetowner •

We’ve scouted the town to bring you our picks for the best pizzas in D.C. Whether you’re after a traditional recipe or something with true pizzazz, Washington’s contributions to America’s favorite food stack up easily to the best efforts of New York or Chicago.

Best Margherita Pizza: RedRocks Firebrick Pizzeria
Columbia Heights (1036 Park Road)
www.firebrickpizza.com

Perhaps it would seem bizarre to discover that a converted brothel out of Columbia Heights has emerged as one of the area’s tastiest pizza destinations, but RedRocks makes no apologies — nor do they have reason to. While their base of operations is the corner house of a modest residential block, with an interior recalling a speakeasy, their traditional Neapolitan pies exemplify the culinary history of their Italian ancestry. RedRocks gets the Downtowner’s vote for best traditional margherita pizza in the city.

The selling point here is the crust. Their dough, prepared fresh daily, is a blend of imported “Caputo 00” Italian flour, the finest milled grain widely recognized as the world’s best pizza flour. Thin yet crisp, bubbly and slightly charred, the wood-fired crust has an extra pinch of salt to help the mozzarella and fresh tomato erupt with flavor, wholly fulfilling the aromatic anticipation. The liberal use of basil leaves, tossed whole onto the pie, adds an herbal flourish that cools and refreshes the palette.

The menu has a wide array of choice vegetarian options, notably the “Pizze Bianche,” with roasted eggplant, goat cheese and pesto. The umbrella-cluttered patio, almost as large as the interior seating area, makes for ideal summer dining. Their Monday night special, half price bottles of wine, is another draw. This one is not to be missed.

Pizza with a Kiss & a Kick: Moroni & Brother’s Restaurant
Petworth (4811 Georgia Ave.)
www.moroniandbrothers.com

In 1991, José and Reyna Velazquez were dishwashers at Pizzeria Paradiso, having just come to the US from El Salvador. They worked their way up to head chefs there, perfecting the craft of the wood-fired, brick oven pizza. Almost 20 years later, Moroni & Brother’s brings together their native and entrepreneurial influences, serving traditional Salvadoran cuisine by day and gourmet pizza by night.

Though the restaurant is only three years old, one might assume upon entering that Moroni & Brother’s has been in the neighborhood for decades. There is a local complacency to the dim atmosphere and unpretentious décor, the brick oven behind the small bar toward the back, unromantically wedged between towers of pizza boxes and aluminum shelving.

Their pizza, however, is as robust and tasty as they come. Although José maintains that his pizza is strictly and traditionally Italian, his Salvadoran roots betray him — much to the delight of pizza lovers. The crust is thick, soft and mellow, with a touch of sweetness that complements the fresh vegetables and frequently utilized spicier toppings. The Diavola, one of their best sellers, is lushly topped with spicy sausage, red onion, sweet peppers and jalepenos — not the most traditional Italian pie, but a damn good one. Other noteworthy additions include the Explosive, with spicy salami, black olives, and hot pepper flakes, and the Bianca, with oregano, parsely, red onion, pine nuts and parmesan. Moroni & Brothers is yet another reason to keep an epicurean eye on Petworth.

Best Lunch & By-the-Slice Spot: Pete’s New Haven Style Apizza
Columbia Heights (1400 Irving Street, Suite 103)
www.petesapizza.com

Pizza by the slice is difficult to find outside of New York City, but Pete’s New Haven has introduced it to the District with serious verve. Sitting on top of Columbia Heights Metro and selling a wide, creative variety of pizza by the slice at a great price (starting at $2.50), Pete’s is the ideal place to stop for a quick bite or a tasty lunch.

New Haven-style Apizza (pronounced “ah-Beets”) is a lesser-known, yet thoroughly distinct style of pizza. “The focus is on the crust,” says Dominic Palazzolo, assistant manager. It has a characteristically thin crust that is crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. The pizzas are enormous — 18 inches in diameter — and the slices hold their shape when picked up, without folding over and spilling.

The toppings are just as noteworthy. Their best seller, “Edge of the Woods,” is heaped with ricotta cheese and spinach and blanketed with crispy fried eggplant. This pie is a signature, unique to most any pizza experience you are likely to have. Their “Staven,” a twist on the traditional pepperoni and sausage, comes with caramelized onions, red pepper flakes and whole roasted cloves of garlic.

The Sorbillo is another rare treat. The “birthplace of the pizza,” this rectangular crust is filled with salumi and mozzarella, and topped with a healthy dollop of ricotta.

Though perhaps most impressive of all is that Pete’s New Haven has gluten-free pizza on the menu. The dough is made with tapioca starch and chickpea flour. “It’s a great feeling for us,” says Palazzolo of the gluten-free pie, “to be able to provide pizza for people who haven’t had it for upwards of five to 10 years.”

As a family owned and operated restaurant, it is a mission of Pete’s New Haven to support other small, local businesses. Their soda fountain sports only Boylan Soda, a New Jersey-based organic soda company. Likewise, many of the ingredients and toppings are organic and locally grown. With a new location in Friendship Heights opening this week, there’s plenty to go around.

Best Dining Experience: Il Canale
Georgetown (1063 31st St)
www.ilcanaledc.com

Just off M Street in Georgetown, Il Canale has fashioned a reputation for serving up authentic Italian cuisine and thin crust gourmet pizza. It is in a comfortable location by the C&O Canal, far enough removed from the bustling traffic to feel secluded and intimate. Sitting in the small patio on the antiquated brick sidewalk, the atmosphere alludes to a small Florentine eatery. Inside the décor is chic and modern. The waiters are well informed of the restaurant’s mission, and delight in discussing the menu and culinary traditions with customers. It is a good place to enjoy good food.

This is not to detract from the food itself. Steeped in the richness of Italian tradition, there is a reliable consistency in the confidence with which each dish is prepared. Even the table bread comes with an excellent dip of olive oil, pepper flakes, marinated garlic cloves and rosemary.

Their Neapolitan pizzas have fluffy, substantial crusts, well browned on the outside. The tomato sauce is ripe, tangy and fragrant, and the buffalo mozzarella tastes farm fresh, absorbing the strong, fragrant basil. The resulting pizza is a perfectly balanced work of craft. Artisanal pizza at its finest.

Best Pizza after the Game: Matchbox
Chinatown (713 H Street), also Capitol Hill (521 Eighth St. S.E.) and Rockville, MD (Fall 2010)
www.matchboxdc.com

The four guys behind Chinatown’s Matchbox — New Yorkers Perry, Ty, Mark and Drew — make no bones about the wide ethnic influences on their menu, a sort of neo-Mediterranean-Southwest-American blur. Believe us, it’s no detriment. Delightfully labyrinthine floor plan, professional, friendly wait staff and wood-and-glass-intensive décor aside, the menu alone is enough reason why Matchbox has earned loving nods from foodies across the city since it opened in 2002.

While the uninitiated may come for the traditional entrees, spend your energy (and hard-earned cash) on their pizza, fired expertly in an 800-degree wood oven and served up as a 10- or 14-inch pie. We tried the veteran “spicy meatball” pizza, a regulars’ favorite from day one, featuring pureed garlic, bacon bits, crushed red pepper and halved meatballs over a layer of fresh mozzarella. Simply superb. The low, smoldering spice is enough to satisfy the discriminating three-alarmer, but won’t overpower those who prefer a milder flavor. Also delicious was the coppa and arugula pie, termed quasi-vegetarian (and truly so, if you forego the ham) and topped with decorous rounds of charcuterie, Roma tomatoes and a lush bundle of Mr. President’s favorite green. Expect a generous smoky carbon taste from the crust.

Matchbox is also known for their mini-burgers, minimal wine markups (a bottle of 2006 Duckhorn merlot will run you a very reasonable $76) and respectable selection of craft beers. If you’re not making a beeline here after a Caps or Wizards game, you’re just plain missing out.

Best Place for Pizza and a Brew: Pizzeria Paradiso
Dupont Circle (2003 P St.), Georgetown (3282 M St.)
www.eatyourpizza.com

If you’re a local, you’ve no doubt caught wind by now of Paradiso’s legendary pizza. If you’re especially plugged in, you may even have learned it goes better with one of their painstakingly selected craft beers, most from breweries so indie you’ve probably never heard of them (Yeah, we did just say that. Please forward outraged complaints to our editor). Add in a casual, community atmosphere with Hendrix and Johnny Cash blaring overhead, and you’ve got a recipe for a night (or lunch) out that can’t fail.

First, the pizza: The brainchild of virtuoso chef Ruth Gresser — who once held court at Dupont’s Obelisk — Paradiso’s spin on Neapolitan pizza (they call it “Tuscan”) flaunts a puffy, airy brown crust loaded with astonishingly fresh tomato chunks and Italian cheeses ranging from Parmesan to pecorino (and, of course, mozzarella). We recommend the “Atomica,” a moderately spicy spread of salami, briny black olives and pepper flakes. But let’s be honest: you can’t really steer yourself wrong here. Pies come in 8- or 12-inch sizes.

Then there’s the beer. When you finally navigate through the dissertation-length beer list, you’ll find yourself frothing at the mouth with questions (wild yeast ale or Flemish sour?). Or maybe it’s thirst. You may also be a bit overwhelmed, so if you’re still at a loss, ask one of the very knowledgeable servers to get you started. From there, start exploring. The two Paradiso restaurants boast nearly 30 taps and 300 bottle varieties between them with amazingly little overlap. They also rotate their brews every two weeks, so exercise patience with all your might; you’ll get to try them all in due time. Don’t miss a chance to stop by the downstairs bar on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 5 to 7 p.m. All drafts are half off, making for, arguably, the best happy hour in town.

Most Authentic Italian: Two Amys
Cleveland Park (3715 Macomb St.)
www.2amyspizza.com

The one trouble with Cleveland Park’s most famous pizzeria is just that — it’s famous. There’s a reason the atmosphere is packed and boisterous, and it likely has to do with the crowds thronging at the doorways on the weekend just to get a seat. But trust us, it’s worth it. On a Saturday night, a party of four should have just enough time for a quick stroll to the National Cathedral before their table’s ready. Once inside, sit down and take in the Spartan, quaint décor — rub your hands along the bare wood bench tables, dish out a little red pepper from the square jar and order yourself a stemless glass of montepulciano. If you’re with your sweetheart, head to the back for a half pint of Moretti beer at the woodplank bar, over which cured meats deliciously hang.

The menu at Two Amys is quick to point out that the restaurant abides by Neapolitan pizza standards outlined by the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC), the Italian quality assurance standard (and you thought it was just for wine!). Sink your teeth into a bite of their signature Margherita Extra and you won’t be surprised it gets a stamp from the Italian brass. Lovingly floated on a chewy, slightly salty crust are impeccable chopped tomatoes, creamy, essential buffalo mozzarella and ripe cherry tomato halves for good measure. If you’re feeling adventurous, order a little arugula on top and tuck in. The pies are served unsliced, so have your knife and fork at the ready, and keep your “bellissimas” to a low volume.

Miss Dixie •

The steak and martini is a classic food and cocktail pairing. It’s something your grandfather would have ordered at an old boy’s club steakhouse, and it’s something you would feel comfortable ordering today with a cut of Japanese wagyu beef.

So it was no surprise that the martini and its various incarnations were highlighted during a recent mixology seminar at Georgetown’s Bourbon Steak restaurant. Bourbon Steak’s bartender Duane Sylvestre taught the class, in which guests received a primer on basic bar techniques, an overview of various spirits and the history behind many cocktails.

The martini, according to Sylvestre, is one of the most misunderstood cocktails. The classic martini consists of gin and dry vermouth, stirred and served with either olives or a lemon twist. But over the years, the drink has transformed into different things.

The vodka martini, in particular, has evolved from its original form. While a traditional vodka martini should be made with vermouth, Sylvestre says that most vodka drinkers prefer theirs without. However, many people mistakenly order an extra dry vodka martini, believing that the term means “no vermouth,” when it actually means the opposite.

A “dry” martini refers to the addition of dry vermouth. This term came into play years ago as a way to distinguish the martini from its forerunner, the Martinez, which was a gin and sweet vermouth mixture. Therefore, the term “dry” came to mean dry vermouth and extra dry came to signify extra vermouth.

Even though James Bond has dictated the martinis should be shaken, not stirred, Sylvestre is a stickler for stirring. His rule is that any cocktails containing only alcoholic ingredients, such as gin and vermouth, should always be stirred, while drinks that include non-alcoholic mixers should be shaken.
However, he makes an exception with vodka martinis. “Most vodka drinkers want their vodka cold and served straight up,” he says so he lets the market dictate how the drink is prepared.
After making a vodka martini for the crowd, Duane mixed a classic gin martini with a twist using Plymouth gin, which he calls a mild and agreeable gin. “It’s going to add complexity, depth and character,” he said, “without the gin taking over the cocktail.”

The choice of garnish — either an olive or lemon twist — is a simple matter of taste, unless you are ordering a dirty martini, which includes olive juice.

Duane taught the class how to make a lemon garnish by using a vegetable peeler. After cutting the peel from the fruit, he stretched the skin around the rim of the glass in order to extract the citrus oils before dropping it into the martini.

When I got a chance to sample the finished tipple I could see the citrus oils floating in the drink. The added hint of lemon provided a refreshing twang combined with the gin and vermouth. The timeless classic was an ideal balance of bitter, citrus, dry and sweet.

Gin Martini
2 ounces Plymouth gin
1 ounce dry vermouth
Stir well. Serve in a martini glass. Garnish with lemon peel or olives.

Readers may sample the martini at Bourbon Steak restaurant, located in the Four Seasons Hotel at 2800 Pennsylvania Ave. Ingredients to make the martini may be purchased at Dixie Liquor, 3429 M St.

Friends of Rose Park •

Now in its eighth year, the Georgetown Farmers’ Market in Rose Park, sponsored by the Friends of Rose Park in cooperation with the D.C. Division of Parks and Recreation, is open from 3 to 7 p.m. every Wednesday (rain or shine) until the last Wednesday in October at the corner of O and 26th Streets.

Each week the Friends of Rose Park suggest a recipe using ingredients in season and available at the farmer’s market. This week we are featuring a recipe for Tomato Bread Salad, provided by Pam Moore of the Friends of Rose Park. There are delicious tomatoes and tasty fresh bread available at the farmer’s market, and this recipe produces a wonderful salad for a hot summer evening.

Tomato Bread Salad
• 1/2 12-inch French baguette cut into 3/4-inch chunks
• 1 large garlic clove
• Olive oil

Rub bread with oil and garlic, toast in a skillet on the stove until golden brown.

• 6 medium or large tomatoes, cut into large chunks
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Place drained tomatoes in bowl. Whisk vinegar and oil together. Mix all ingredients and serve immediately.

Georgetowner •

When Washington chef Ris Lacoste navigates her hatchback Saab into a tight corner space at one of a half dozen farmers’ markets in D.C. and Northern Virginia, there’s scarcely enough time for her to hop out before being met with a bear hug from a smiling, bronze-skinned farmer materializing by her door.

Talk about a warm welcome.

“I still go to the market. I love going to the market. It’s church to me,” Ris says. And you can’t help but notice, as she holds to her nose a ripe peach or fistful of basil, a kind of ecclesiastical intensity, a spiritual joy struggling to be both reverent and unloosed at once. Having purchased top-quality produce direct from farmers for 20 years — ingredients that have, in part, accelerated her reputation and assisted her meteoric rise to executive chef of 1789 and, most recently, the much-lauded RIS — you could say she’s a defender of the faith, of knowing who grew the food on your plate, which makes it all the more sacred.

In a city hemmed in on all sides by farmland, that congregation is growing fast.

New farmers’ markets are springing up almost every year in the District, and like any fad, enduring or not, it is bound to come equipped with buzzwords. So too within the farmers’ market niche, in which you’ll often hear “organic” tacked onto pesticide-free crops, or the “quality over quantity” concept anointing produce with a kind of life force, a value all its own beyond the bulk rate doled out by grocery clerks.

Above all, you’ll hear the word “community,” a vast concept with particular resonance in the world of food, encompassing everything from breaking bread with one another to the symbiotic bond between farmers and those they feed, the cyclical relationship that underpins such a gathering of neighbors and friends.

With Ris as my guide, I visited five of Washington’s markets, on the lookout for the best produce, but mostly with an eye for the men and women who grow it and bring it to our fingertips. Come meet the region’s farmers — and what they have to offer.

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Glover Park and Burleith
—
Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Wisconsin Avenue and 34th Street (Hardy Middle School parking lot)
Through Oct. 30

It’s worth the trip up Wisconsin to this Georgetown newcomer, just two years old but already ahead of the pack in its community outreach efforts, not to mention its role as a hub for Georgetown, Glover Park and Burleith neighbors out for a Saturday stroll with family, friends or the pooch. Executive Director Lauren Biel and team, who manage the market through a non-profit known as D.C. Greens, have worked overtime to make the market an engaging community center, bringing in bluegrass musicians, jugglers and even a road bike technician. The organization is also pitching a program to build gardens at public schools across the District this fall, and staunchly supports the D.C. Farm to School Network, an initiative tapping local — and higher quality — food sources for the District’s public schools. Biel says such an environment will help draw residents away from the impersonal environment of behemoth supermarkets.

“[By moving away from farmers’ markets], you lose the agora, you lose that community meeting ground, so to have this come back … we know that we need these places, that it’s the right way to live life, a fuller, more mutual experience,” she says.

Making the rounds, we were impressed by the selection, ranging from Jason Edwards’ stunning hydrangeas to authentic Parisian croissants, courtesy of Bonaparte Breads’ Claudio Schmidt. Whitmore Farm’s Will Morrow showed us four different color varieties of beet and offered up a few of his game rabbits, raised on site in Maryland and now making a popular resurgence. At Montross, VA’s Westmoreland Produce, Arnulfo Medina’s nonpareil selection of cherry and heirloom tomatoes — including the strange, robust Cherokee purple variety — caught our eye, along with his melons (honeydew and yellow) and grab-bag of chili peppers.

Finally, at Suzanne Smallwood’s Veggie Emporium, we stumbled across something even Ris had never seen before: a lemon cucumber, a yellow, tart variety of the classic salad topper with a loyal following.

Recipe: Blue Goat Cheese Panzanella Salad

3 stalks celery, sliced
1/2 head radicchio, cut into roughly 1-inch squares
2 cups baby spinach, cleaned and dried
1/2 head romaine, cut into roughly 1-inch squares
6 radishes, sliced
48 cherry tomatoes, cut in half, any or mixed colors
1 small red onion, cut into julienne

1 loaf raisin walnut bread, cut into half-inch cubes for croutons
9 ounces blue goat cheese, cut into half-inch cubes

For the dressing:
Makes 5 cups, much more than you need
2 shallots, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
Zest and juice of two oranges
2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup Kalamata olive brine
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup walnut oil
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup peanut oil
Salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

For the port glaze:
16 ounces port
8 ounces balsamic vinegar

To make the glaze, combine the port and balsamic vinegar in a heavy based non-reactive pan and reduce to a thick syrup. The 3 cups of liquid should reduce to about 4 ounces. Let cool and keep covered in the refrigerator for as long as a month.

To make the vinaigrette, combine all of the ingredients except the oils in a bowl. Slowly whisk in the oils one at a time starting with the walnut oil followed by the olive oil and then the peanut oil. Vinegars and oils vary in strength and flavor. Each dressing is different. You may therefore not need to add all of the oil in this recipe. Be sure to taste the vinaigrette before adding the last of the oil to check for desired level of acidity. Taste for seasoning and adjust. The vinaigrette can be made and kept covered in the refrigerator for up to a month. However, it is best served at room temperature.

Toss 1 1/2 cups of the raisin walnut croutons in olive oil and toast in a 350 degree oven until golden.

To make the salad, combine all of the ingredients in a bowl, including the croutons but not the cheese. Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Dress to your liking with the olive vinaigrette and divide the mix into 6 bowls. Stud each salad with about 1 1/2 ounces of the blue goat cheese and drizzle with the port glaze.

—

Rose Park
—
Wednesdays, 3 to 7 p.m.
O and 26th Streets
Through Oct. 27

Started by the Friends of Rose Park in 2003 under a partnership with D.C. parks and rec, this is the original Georgetown market, run by volunteers and conveniently located for locals and downtown visitors alike. We took a moment to chat with Anchor Nursery’s Jim Breger and his wife Alice, based in Galena, MD. While the nursery specializes in growing herbs (basil is a perennial favorite among customers), the Bregers also stock a variety of exotic veggies, including a flying saucer-shaped squash and the oriental heirloom eggplant, roundish and hued whitish-purple. Fans of spicy will feel right at home next to Anchor’s barrel of hot peppers — jalapenos, poblanos and super chilis among them.

Recipe: Girl Scout CEO Camp Salsa
By Ris Lacoste

4 medium tomatoes (about 1 1/4-inch, diced)
1 small onion, diced (1/4-inch, 1/2 cup diced)
1 small poblano chili, finely diced (3 tablespoons, finely diced)
1 jalapeno chili, minced (2 tablespoons, minced)
1 large clove garlic, minced (1 tablespoon, minced)
3 scallions, diced (1/2 cup, diced)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Juice of 1/2 lime (1/2 ounce, 1 tablespoon)
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Makes about 3 cups

Cut the 4 tomatoes in half horizontally. Squeeze out the seeds into a bowl. Discard the seeds. Puree 4 of the tomato halves in a blender. Cut the remaining 4 halves into 1/4-inch dice. Place tomato puree and diced tomatoes in a bowl and add all of the remaining ingredients. Mix well with a spoon and taste for seasoning. Adjust with more salt, pepper, sugar or lime juice to balance the flavors to taste. Adjustments will be necessary depending on the ripeness and acidity of the tomatoes. Make your own version of salsa by adding other ingredients such as tomatillos, corn, cucumber, other summer vegetables, pineapple, mango, fresh or roasted chilis of any kind. The options are endless. Serve with tortilla chips.

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FreshFarm Market, by the White House
—
Thursdays, 3 to 7 p.m.
810 Vermont Ave.
Through Nov. 18

Part of an 11-market network governing the Chesapeake Bay region, FreshFarm’s White House location serves as an easy midpoint between Georgetown and the city center, its proximity to the executive mansion even earning a nod from the first family (Michelle Obama stood alongside Mayor Fenty during the market’s opening ceremony this spring). Ris and I stopped by Jim Huyett’s Sunnyside Farm, based in West Virginia, for a crate of delicious peaches, perfectly ripe for the season. Across the aisle, Firefly Farms’ Gloria Garrett sliced off a few samples of their “Merry Goat Round,” a mild, creamy goat cheese that took silver at the prestigious World Cheese awards.

Recipe: Peaches and Honey Bread Pudding (serves 12)
By Terri Horn

1 loaf brioche or challah, crusted and cubed
6 peaches, peeled and sliced and tossed with a bit of honey and a dash of lemon juice
8 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks

Custard: 1 quart heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
9 eggs, whisked just to mix
6 ounces sugar
Whisk together eggs and sugar

Heat cream with vanilla bean just to a boil. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar. Temper the hot cream into the egg mixture. Strain. Fill buttered 6-8 ounce molds half full with brioche cubes. Stud with peach slices. Cover with more brioche cubes. Stud with 3 or 4 white chocolate chunks. Pour warm custard over and let sit for 30 minutes, adding more as it sits to keep mold full. Bake in water bath at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the mold. Serve warm with crème anglaise, raspberry sauce and/or lightly sweetened whipped cream.

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Arlington
—
Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Courthouse Road and 14th Street, Arlington (Courthouse parking lot)

Arlington is great for the 20- or 30-something on the go. Located within sight of the Court House Metro stop (and surrounded by ample parking), this well attended gem stacks up to any market found in the District. We first paid a visit to Jesus Ochoba of Laurel Grove Farm near Reston, VA, which offered an assortment of greens, yellow squash, white and purple eggplant, red radishes and potatoes. The next tent over was Ellen Polishuk with Potomac Vegetable Farm, Ris’ favorite for shallots and herbs.

Afterward, we stopped by to visit an old hand at Arlington’s market. Westmoreland Berry Farm, founded by Chuck Geyer and a charter member of the market for nearly three decades, was selling plump tins of blueberries by the pallet and walnut-sized blackberries, true to form. Delicious.

Recipe: Mixed Berry Upside-down Cake
By Chris Kujala

Makes 1 – 8 inch cake
1 1/2 – 2 cups mixed berries

For the topping:
8 ounces unsalted butter
8 ounces light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cake batter:
1 cup semolina flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 egg whites
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
8 ounces unsalted butter, melted
Set the oven to 325 degrees.

Spray or grease one 8-inch cake pan and line with parchment paper. Melt the 8 ounces of butter in a heavy based sauce pot. Add the sugar and vanilla and stir until dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Pour into the prepared cake pan and chill until firm.
To make the cake batter, whisk together all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together the egg whites, milk, vanilla, lemon juice and zest. Whisk the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Whisk in the melted butter.
Add a single layer of mixed berries to cover the bottom of the pan set with the chilled brown sugar-butter mixture. Pour the cake batter over the fruit and tap the pan on the counter a few times to eliminate any air bubbles. Bake in a 325-degree oven about 20 minutes or until a toothpick placed in the center of the cake comes out clean.

Serve warm with ice cream of your choice.

—

Dupont Circle
—
Sundays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (10 a.m. to 1 p.m. January-March)
1500 block, 20th Street
Year-round

Earning nods from the Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times, the Dupont farmers’ market, also part of the FreshFarm network, is likely the closest thing to a flagship within the Northwest quadrant. Two hallway-like rows of shouting vendors line the street of this already lively neighborhood, letting visitors experience something reminiscent of Old World bazaars. It’s a hoot.

Our first stop was the Pennsylvania-based Toigo Orchards, helmed by none other than Mark Toigo, a gregarious descendant of Italian grappa makers with an encyclopedic command of the science behind his crop. If you can tear yourself away from this raconteur’s captivating stories, don’t forget to check out his produce — particularly unique are his jars of fresh honey (harvested on site) and a Jamaican green called callaloo, stewed with okra and Caribbean spices.

Heinz Thomet, recommended highly by Ris for his figs, had set up shop next door. Across the path, Zach Lester of Fredericksburg’s Tree and Leaf Farm showed us his beautiful, tear drop-shaped Magda squash and heirloom carrots, which, interestingly, are more flavorful in winter.

Tom from Leesburg’s Blue Ridge Dairy showed off his collection of artisanal cheeses and yogurt, including aged smoked mozzarella, mascarpone, Greek yogurt, Honey YoFresh (made with whole milk) and several other delights.

Ris and I made a final stop at Eli Cook’s Spring Valley Farm, located in Shepherdstown, WV. Not to be missed are his wall of corn, a mound of pristine stalks barely a day old, juicy peaches and lush bunches of opal basil, slightly less flavorful than the traditional variety but lit up by a stunning purple color.

Recipe: Crab Cakes with Jalapeño Creamed Corn

6 crab cakes

For the jalapeño creamed corn:
4 ears sweet corn
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 freshly diced grilled or roasted jalapeño pepper
Sugar, if needed
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
Unsalted butter

For the garnish:
Scallions, cut into fine julienne
Basil sprigs

Cut kernels off ears of corn (should yield about 2 cups of corn) and place kernels in a saucepan. Barely cover with heavy cream. Add jalapeño pepper and a pinch of sugar, if needed. Cook until cream reduces slightly. Finish with salt, white pepper and a little butter. Feel free to lighten this recipe with milk and/or light cream. Or use corn milk made by covering the shucked ears of corn with milk, bringing to a boil and simmering gently until the corn milk is released from the ears, about 20 minutes

In a sauté pan, heat the oil or clarified butter. Sauté the crab cakes until golden brown, about 4 minutes per side.

To serve, ladle 3 oz. of corn cream on to 8 plates. Place 1 crab cake on each plate and garnish with scallions and basil.

UPDATE: Check out CNN’s spot on Ris and Spring Valley farm [here](http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/07/17/natpkg.farm.to.table.cnn?iref=allsearch).
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Miss Dixie •

The Caribe Hilton is one of the most well established resorts in all of Puerto Rico. The hotel is set on the edge of San Juan on its own peninsula amid a lush tropical garden and private beach. It rose to prominence in the 1950s for its famous guests, including Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth Taylor and John Wayne. It even garnered a mention in Hunter S Thompson’s first novel, “The Rum Diaries.”

The holiday spot has also earned its spot in cocktail history as the birthplace of the piña colada. Before my visit to San Juan, I learned from my Frommer’s guidebook that the piña colada was created in 1954 by bartender Ramon “Monchito” Marrero at the Hilton’s Beachcomber bar. Marrero spent three months mixing, tasting and discarding hundreds of combinations until he felt he had the right blend. It’s been estimated that some 100 million piña coladas have been sipped around the world since then.

The resort boasts two watering holes — a casual outdoor grill with a swim-up bar and the sleek and stylish Oasis Bar, complete with a floor-to-ceiling glass view of the churning Atlantic sea. However, I thought the most fitting way to sample the piña colada would be to have one delivered by a handsome cabana boy on my beach chair at the Hilton’s exclusive lagoon.

The drink was frothy and sweet. It provided an ample antidote to the scorching Caribbean sun. For a girl who is accustomed to drinking martinis, the recipe was did not pack much of a punch, but its flavor was enhanced by the glamorous beauty surrounding me.

Later in the week, as I wandered through the streets of Old San Juan, I came across the Barrachina restaurant with a plaque mounted outside, boldly stating “The House where the Piña Colada was created in 1963.” Intrigued, I headed inside to a bar in the garden courtyard and ordered one.

According to the Barrachina, the piña colada was invented when the Barrachino’s owner met Spaniard Ramon Portas Mingot, who had worked in some of the finest bars in Buenos Aires, during a trip to South America. Mr. Barrachina hired Mingot as head bartender. While experimenting, Mingot mixed pineapple juice, coconut cream, condensed milk and ice in a blender, creating the drink known as the pina colada. I guess they’re always two sides to history.

The drink at Barrachina was thicker and creamier. The lovely courtyard lined with tropical plants and wrought iron exuded a graceful ambiance that fit in with the charm of Old San Juan. Barrachina’s cocktail had more of a rum kick and the price was bit easier on my wallet. Given a choice between the two, I preferred Barrachina’s version. Still, there’s something to be said for having your cocktails delivered by a suave young man on a private beach.

The Barrachina piña colada
48 ounces pineapple juice
15 ounces of coconut cream
10 ounces water

Blend ingredients, but do not mix with ice. Instead, freeze the mix, stirring occasionally until it reaches a slushy consistency, or by using an ice cream maker. Pour rum to taste in individual glasses and add frozen mix. Decorate with cherry and pineapple.

Ingredients to make a piña colada can be purchased at Dixie Liquor at 3429 M St. in Georgetown.

Georgetowner •

Grocery shopping when you forget your list is never fun, but at least you’ll always remember the five basics — bread, milk, eggs, orange juice and cereal. So this week for “Is the Price Right?” five area grocery stores — CVS, Giant, Safeway, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods — went head to head as The Georgetowner team went back to the basics to explore the prices of the simplest grocery items.

Whole wheat bread can be found at a low price at Safeway with its name brand item for $1.49. It’s also fairly cheap at Giant for $1.99. Trader Joe’s charges $2.59 for a loaf of their name brand bread and CVS Nature’s Valley bread is $3.49. Whole Foods 365 Everyday Value brand is $2.99 a loaf.

Whether it’s to put in your cup of coffee or for the kid’s breakfast cereal, everyone needs a gallon of milk on hand in the morning. The cheapest place to find a gallon of 1 percent milk is your local Trader Joe’s for $3.29. Safeway, Giant and CVS are all relatively priced at $3.79, $3.99 and $3.89. Whole Foods is the most expensive for a gallon at $5.29.

Trader Joe’s and CVS have the best-priced eggs at one dozen for $1.99, while Giant sells eggs for $2.19. Safeway name brand eggs are $2.29 and Whole Foods’ eggs are $2.59.

Safeway advertises the lowest priced orange juice with their name brand 64-ounce container for $2.50. Giant and Trader Joe’s name brand juice costs $2.79 and $2.99 respectively. CVS Florida Orange Juice costs $2.89 and Whole Foods brand name orange juice is $3.99.

Corn flakes are an old favorite and Safeway’s 18-ounce box only costs $2.59 as opposed to products like CVS’ 12-ounce Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and Trader Joe’s 12-ounce Oatmeal Flakes that cost over $4. Giant’s name brand 18-ounce corn flakes cost $2.59 while Whole Foods’ 18-ounce name brand cereal costs $2.59.

Visit our Web site at www.georgetowner.com for a complete breakdown of prices. Make sure to check back next issue for more great shopping deals!

Miss Dixie •

The Museum of the American Cocktail (MOTAC), along with Mr-Booze.com and Giramondo Wines Adventures, recently sponsored a “Cocktail Class for Beginners” at the Embassy Hilton in Washington. The event, hosted by MOTAC founding member Phil Greene, started off with a lecture about the history of cocktails.

According to MOTAC, the word cocktail was first defined in 1806 in the Balance and Columbian Repository, a newspaper in upstate New York. The word cocktail was used in reference to an article about a recent election.

At that time, politicians on the campaign trail would spend lots of money on alcohol, essentially buying votes by having a really good party. The newspaper published a tongue-in-cheek article about how much a particular candidate spent, even though he lost. This was the first recorded use of the word “cocktail,” and after this article was published, the editor felt compelled to define the word as

“A stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and bitters, it is vulgarly called a bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion inasmuch as it renders the heart stout at the same time fuddles the head. It is said also to be of great use to a democratic candidate because a person having swallowed a glass of it, is ready to swallow anything else.”

For decades later, a cocktail was just that — a spirit and bitters diluted with water and sugar to take the edge off. This simple recipe may sound familiar to anyone who has enjoyed the cocktail known as the Old Fashioned.

Originally, the name “Old Fashioned” referred to any old–fashioned style cocktail such as a martini or Manhattan. Some people believe that Colonel James E. Pepper, a bourbon distiller and bartender at the Pendennis Club in Louisville, KY, created the Old Fashioned cocktail. What is more likely, according to Greene, was that the term “Old Fashioned” was applied to the drink known as a “Whiskey Cocktail.”

Next, Greene demonstrated the ease of making this primitive cocktail, which follows the same definition published in 1806 — liquor, sugar, water and Angostura bitters. While Phil used a muddler to ensure the sugar was fully dissolved, he also suggested substituting simple syrup. For an added flavor boost, Phil squeezed a lemon peel over the mixed drink, releasing its essential oils, before dropping it in as a garnish. He also noted that nowadays bartenders will sometimes muddle an orange slice or other fruit into the mixture.

While many modern drinkers may see this potable as downright “old-fashioned,” perhaps this granddaddy of cocktails deserves a second look. Its rudimentary formula has served as a building block for numerous contemporary drinks. The Old Fashioned’s straightforward composition and uncomplicated taste make it a refreshing alternative to many of the overly sweet and convoluted concoctions we see on so many restaurant menus today.

—
The Old Fashioned Whiskey Cocktail
1 sugar cube (1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon water
2 dashes Angostura bitters
2 ounces rye (or bourbon) whiskey

Muddle sugar, water and bitters together until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Fill glass with ice, then add whiskey. Garnish with a twist of lemon peel.

For more information about upcoming seminars go to www.museumoftheamericancocktail.com or www.mr-booze.com. Ingredients to make the Old Fashioned cocktail may be purchased at Dixie Liquor at 3429 M Street in Georgetown.

Jordan Wright •

In the blistering heat of a summer’s day a battalion of gardeners in full purple T-shirted regalia toils beneath my window plying their weaponry against the unruly grass. They strive to conquer all they survey with baying mowers, droning blowers and edger wands with the ear-splitting sound of concrete on steel.

Adding to their fearsome cacophony are whining electric drills and triple-octave cicadas telegraphing for the perfect mate. The drills are the worst. Long after the landscapers have moved on and the bugs have cast off their brittle casings, homeowners, spurred by an overdose of do-it-yourself shows, will still be building, re-building, repairing, sanding, painting and patching up what seems like every wall and roof in the neighborhood. Did I mention the road crews?

Here in my cool cocoon, I have strategized my own military operation geared to thrash back the blistering temperatures with frosty ice cream treats and luscious fruit cobblers. I consider this an important mission.

A few summers ago Wheeler Del Toro, author of “The Vegan Scoop,” was serving up samples of his recipes at National Harbor’s Food and Wine Festival. Founder of the Boston-based Wheeler’s Frozen Dessert Company, Del Toro learned his craft at the posh Berthillon ice cream shop in Paris and turned his knowledge and skills into his own interpretation of the icy confection by using all-vegan ingredients.

Now I am most assuredly not vegan, but I do try to limit my consumption of dairy products when at all feasible. So this month I finally got around to trying out some recipes from the book. I started out with Del Toro’s cantaloupe, which was not rich enough. Then the strawberry, not luscious enough and the berries too chunky and hard. I was really excited about the red bean, hoping to replicate any one of the versions I enjoy in Japanese restaurants. Here I met with another failure when I inadvertently used a jar of a red bean paste called for in the recipe, but, alas, didn’t notice the second ingredient on the jar read salt! The whole horrid mess met the drain with a vengeance!

Feeling as though nothing worse could befall my amateur attempts, I hit upon my tour de force: quasi-vegan (since I used Nestle’s chocolate chips) coffee ice cream with bittersweet chocolate chunks and almonds. ‘Quasi’ … more convenient and economical and I didn’t want to have to jettison a cup of chopped Scharffen Berger if things didn’t go my way yet again.

I became convinced that substituting the arrowroot called for in the recipe for cornstarch was the clincher. The final product had a smoother mouth feel and more body. Just remember if you decide to try it my way the ratio is one part arrowroot to two parts cornstarch.

Dairy-Free Coffee Ice Cream
From “The Vegan Scoop,” adapted by Jordan Wright

1 cup (235 ml) plain soymilk (not the light variety), divided
2 tablespoons (16 g)
arrowroot powder (or 4 tablespoons corn starch)
2 cups (plain) soy creamer
3/4 cup (175 ml) fresh strong coffee (I use decaf)
3/4 cup (150 g) sugar
1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract (I use half vanilla, half almond)
1 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1 cup chopped skin-on whole almonds (raw or toasted)

In a small bowl, combine 1/4 cup soymilk with arrowroot. Set aside.

Mix soy creamer, remaining soymilk, coffee and sugar in a saucepan and cook over low heat. (This took me forever to heat up so I ratcheted it up to medium.) Once mixture begins to boil, remove from heat and add arrowroot cream. This will cause the liquid to thicken noticeably. Add vanilla extract.

Refrigerate mixture until chilled, approximately 2 to 3 hours. Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. In the last two minutes, while the ice cream is still soft, stir in the chocolate and almonds.

Note: Since this product results in a firmer freeze, it is best to leave the ice cream on the counter for about a half an hour before serving.

—
Fruit Cobbler — Tried and True and Stunningly Simple

On weekly forays to the farmers’ market I often find myself lured by the bounty of locally grown produce and come home laden with baskets chock-a-block with far more than I can use up in a day or two. My winter-starved senses crave redemption from anemic supermarket fruit and I cave at the glorious sight of towering tables of berries, peaches, plums and nectarines bursting with vibrant color and flavor and the sweetly floral scent of just-picked fruit.

Lately I have turned my over-buying into a successful solution. At least once a week we are invited to a party or picnic where we are asked to bring a dish to aid our over-burdened hosts in filling out the menu for a large gathering. For years such an invitation has put me into a tailspin as I mentally review my hundreds of go-to recipes to arrive at the perfect offering.

Here are my typical requirements for a summer’s dish: not too fancy, not too complex and assuredly fail-proof. Won’t melt, easy to whip up with a minimum of on-hand ingredients, cooks up while taking shower, needs no additional on-site preparation, poses no challenge to most food allergies and is able to withstand brutal temperatures without poisoning the guests.

Notice to gracious hosts entertaining in July and August: You need not alphabetize me to determine sweet or savory. The following dish handed down by my husband’s mother, an 87-year veteran of every church, garden and civic club potluck dinner in the Commonwealth of Virginia, is what you can expect.

Grandma Fredia’s Fruit Cobbler
Adapted by Jordan Wright

1 cup self-rising flour (unsifted)
1 cup sugar
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
1 quart skin-on and sliced peaches (about 6 large), nectarines (about 8),
blueberries or blackberries or a combination of the above
1 stick of butter

Set oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together sugar and flour. Add buttermilk and vanilla to make a batter. Don’t overmix. Put stick of butter in glass or enamel casserole dish and place in oven until it begins to bubble, about 5 minutes, but keep checking till you get the hang of it. Do not leave the kitchen at this point, even to hunt for the sunscreen. Remove dish and place fruits evenly over the melted butter. Pour batter to cover all fruit. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes till nicely browned on top. Remove and set on rack to cool. Now would be the time to wrap the hostess gift.

Serve warm or at room temperature with whipped cream, ice cream or crème fraiche.