Gosling's Black Rum and Ginger Beer

My wife just finished And a Bottle of Rum: The History of The New World in Ten Cocktails, so we decided to stop at the liquor store and check out some of the finer rum selections. We took home a bottle of Gosling's Black Seal Rum and some of their Ginger Beer. This combination is called a Dark and Stormy. Here is what it looks like (Sorry it's only half a glass, I tasted it and somehow it just seemed to disappear.)

I'm used to the kind of rum that you normally see at parties, like Captain Morgan or Bacardi. I will never buy that crap again. This rum was only $20.99 and it tastes like good liquor. I tried it straight, just sipping, and it had more of a whiskey-like character to it, albeit sweeter. The ginger beer is exceptional. I am a ginger drink enthusiast and this is so refreshing and pungent. It doesn't taste like that gingery syrup that is added to most ginger ales. It feels really infused with fresh ginger. This drink replaces my Seven and Seven. I'll probably never buy that cheap stuff again. Plus, there's a cute seal on the label! How could you refuse that? Even my wife likes it.

I give Gosling's two slurred hips and one stumbling hooray up!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We did Thanksgiving with Paige's family on Sunday, so we did a small dinner today with just the two of us and her mom. We had a Cornish hen each stuffed with portabellos, which turned out to be wonderfully juicy and delicious after the brine that I did, and we had roasted Brussels sprouts with chopped pecans and her mama's au gratin potatoes. With a pear/pecan/feta/bibb lettuce salad and a bit of Laughing Cat Riesling, makes for a fantastic dinner. We haven't even had the hazelnut tort yet. Today, my to-do list will have visual aids.

Beer that is good - Sam Adams Blackberry Wit

It's time to talk about beer. I am an one who appreciates beer and find beer to be as diverse and tantalizing to the palate as food and wine can be. I prefer lighter beers. Beer that I can drink two of and not feel full. I tend to like the sort of 'kicking a few back' type as opposed to the sipping a single glass type. Heavy beers just don't appeal to me very much. If I do drink a dark or heavy beer, I usually switch to a complimenting light beer afterwards. Above all, I really hate beers that have too much hops character.

Basically, you'll mostly find me in either the pale ales section, the lager section, or the wheat/wit/hefe section. Which brought me to tonight's beer selection.

 I don't drink Samuel Adams very often, and I'm not sure why. I love their Cherry Wheat, and have enjoyed their Boston Lager on occasion. The Cherry Wheat is delicious and has that unfiltered, opaque quality that makes for a smooth beer, albeit slighty heavy.. While the cherry flavor is very appealing, it can be overwhelming with the second glass.

Tonight I'm having Sam Adams' Blackberry Witbier. The witbier is type of wheat beer that I only discovered a few years ago from one of our many microbreweries in town. I have essentially fallen for it. It has all of the qualities I love about a hefeweizen, with none of the heaviness. This particular wit is very smooth and subtle, but has a tart finish due to the blackberry flavor. It has a 5.5% alcohol content, so it won't knock you on your butt, either. The color is wonderful. Be sure to swirl the last bit before you pour it to shake up the yeast that has settled at the bottom. You won't want to leave that behind.

Since this is my first post about beer, I have a rating system, but I might decide to change it in the future.

FLAVOR                    7/10
Very pleasing, as most berry flavored beers are. Slightly too tart after one glass.
COLOR                      9/10
A golden yellow, opaque hue that reminds me of sunny wheat fields.
BITTERNESS            9/10
Balanced. Cleanses the palate and permeates taste and scent.
SMOOTHNESS         8/10
Slightly thick. Goes down well. 
OVERALL DRINKABILITY              33/40

It's reminding me that I should drink Sam Adams more. I want to try their Winter Lager.

We're makin' lasagna!

Lasagna is one of those dishes that everyone loves, but nobody wants to make, and for good reason. It takes all day. When I got up on Saturday, I ate breakfast, made a grocery list, went grocery shopping, and then started the red sauce that I would use for my lasagna. That's all I did for the rest of the day. The lasagna only cooks for about 45 minutes, but the prep work is painstaking. Not that I mind or wish there were shortcuts. I love making lasagna. It's my signature dish, which is why you will not see a recipe. The secret is the red sauce. I don't call it marinara, because Grammy didn't call it marinara. She called it red sauce. I don't put meat in my sauce, either. That's cheating. Good cheese is also imperative. I use only whole milk mozzarella and ricotta.

While I won't give you my red sauce recipe, I will tell you a few things that I do to ensure a 5-layer lasagna that stays together when you cut it.

You can try, but you'll only get a maximum of 3 layers out of those 9' x 13' Pyrex baking pans that have a depth of only 3". You really need to get a good lasagna dish. Now, I normally would throw holy water on Rachael Ray, but I received her lasagna pan for Christmas last year, and I've made 3 lasagnas in it so far. It's terrific.

The architecture of a lasagna is very important. You can't just throw sauce and cheese and noodles into the pan 5 times and call it good. Here are the most important structural laws of lasagna:

THE NOODLES SKILLZ - The dryer the better

What I do is boil the noodles in a HUGE pot until they are al-dente. Dump most of the water, then throw a bunch of ice in the pot with the noodles and remainder of the water to cool down the water because you will be putting your hands in it. Make sure your noodles are still submerged so they don't stick. Then I will take out a noodle at a time, and hold it hanging with one hand, and run my other hand down the length of the noodle to get all the water off. then I will hang the noodle on the side of the pan to stay dry. repeat this with all the noodles. Once you have gone all the way around the pan, you can start layering them on top of each other. The goal is to have your noodles dry and ready to layer into your lasagna.

THE CHEESE SKILLZ - The glue that binds it all together

You should have gotten some fresh whole milk mozzarella. If it is in brine, make sure you take the cheese knots out and let them dry on a paper towel before you start assembling. All I do with the mozz is smash it up like playdough in my hands and crumble it on. You will need to make a thin layer that has a good amount of coverage. Don't forget the corners and sides! The ricotta we will dump into a freezer bag and squeeze out as much air as possible. Then cut an eighth inch hole in the corner of the bag to pipe the ricotta onto the lasagna.

THE LAYERING SKILLZ - Why is this so complicated?

This is very important. Your shall be assembled in no order other than this one:
The bottom layer is sauce, and don't do something stupid and grease the pan or something. Then it goes in a noodle/sauce/cheese/repeat pattern. The noodles must be layered in a very specific method. Start at one of the long sides of the pan and lay down a noodle. Then lay another noodle that covers a little less than half of the one under it. Repeat until you reach the other side of the pan, then tear a noodle to fit the gap that is probably left on one of the small sides, since your pan is 13" and your noodles are only about 10". On your next layer of noodles, start at the opposite side of the last layer you did. This ensures that the layers are fortified and won't slide around when you slice them. Here is a fancy diagram I baked up.

So these are the main important things about the construction of a lasagna. The flavor is in your hands because my sauce recipe is under lock and key. When it's all assembled, just throw it in a preheated 400 degree oven for about an hour or until the cheese on top starts getting brown and melty.

Kind of like this.
Click to enlarge the cheesy, saucy goodness!