Marit says, "Holiday Cooking is for the Birds."

by Marit Schroeder, intern

Well I did it. My first major holiday without my parents cooking for me, and it worked out just fine! Don’t get me wrong, I had other family in town to celebrate and cook with, but I’m allowed to be a little dramatic about cooking a holiday meal, I think.

When I first found out my parents wouldn’t be in town for Thanksgiving, I was given the major task of cooking the turkey for my 14 other family members. Talk about feeling overwhelmed!

Everyone here at Bite & Booze was super helpful with tips and tricks about how to cook the perfect turkey. Luckily, I have an aunt who took over the last minute stress to cook the turkey.

Rid of the turkey pressure, my next task proved to be even trickier: cook the food for my vegetarian family members. I love myself some meat, and it was hard to focus on a meal plan revolving around vegetables. As much as I enjoy them as a side dish, translating that into a more hearty meal was a challenge.

For an appetizer, we started out with a salmon mousse and cucumbers for dipping. Not so shockingly, my sister and I had never made mousse before so it came out like a cheese dip. It was definitely delicious as a dip even though it should have been more of a gelatin mold. Clearly my college culinary skills need improvement.

Salmon Mousse with cucumbers.

Next, we had to change up the stuffing and made ours with herbed wild rice and quinoa. Quinoa has been rocking the food world for the past few years and it’s a great grain substitute or complement for a plethora of dishes.

Vegetarian dressing featuring wild rice and quinoa.

Lastly, and most easily, I was in charge of a cheese tray. I took care of this by heading down to Calandro’s and picking up some of their pre-made cheese balls and fancy cheeses from the deli. 

Fancy Cheeses and accouterments from Calandro's

All in all, though daunting, I felt accomplished at the end of the day. It was a Happy Thanksgiving to all at my house, even for those non-vegetarians!

Sadly, this is my last post as a Bite & Booze intern. I hope you’ve enjoyed my grandmother’s recipe for red gravy and learning about my first brewery experience during our Hot Chicken on a Tin Roof event. Most importantly, I’m leaving behind the valuable (and expert) knowledge of where to find the best frozen daiquiris around town!

Get Caffeinated with Cafeciteaux Coffee Roasters

by Sydney Blanchard

Stevie Guillory, left, and Chris Peneguy, right, are the co-founders and roasters at Cafeciteaux in Baton Rouge

If there's anything you can learn from the roasters at Cafeciteaux, it's to never doubt the power of a hairbrained idea. 

Stevie Guillory and Chris Peneguy, the co-founders of Cafeciteaux Coffee Roasters based in Baton Rouge, met when they lived across the street from each other. The two became friends, and it was inevitable that after a couple of beers they'd dream up all sorts of potential business ventures.

Cafeciteaux is the one that stuck.

The Louisiana natives found themselves searching Baton Rouge for the best cup of coffee around and coming up empty-handed. Commercial coffee companies and national chains dominate the area, and only a few locally-owned coffee shops exist. 

When "cupping" or tasting coffee, a chart can be used to pick out certain flavors in each roast

In July 2014, the pair decided to start responsibly sourcing coffee beans and roasting them at home. With eight pounds of beans and a whirly pop, Guillory, a PA, and Peneguy, a CPA, taught themselves everything they now know about roasting coffee.

A coffee bean's flavor depends on a number of factors including how it's roasted, where it's from, what the planting conditions were like, etc. 

When they started, they were only able to produce and sell 40 one-pound bags of coffee that year. But by 2015, they had jumped to selling thousands of pounds of their responsibly sourced, locally roasted beans from places like El Salvador, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Sumatra, to name a few.

Now, their online sales are picking up, and you can find Cafeciteaux's single origin, blend, and espresso roasts in both Calandro's locations, at Alexander's Highland Market, and at other specialty shops across the state.

Cafeciteaux prides itself on responsibly sourcing beans from around the world to ensure quality

Guillory and Peneguy plan to eventually transition into roasting full-time and expand their reach to coffee shops and restaurants across the state whose passion for that perfect cup of coffee matches their own.

Check them out on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with the latest Cafeciteaux news, and listen to the podcast we recorded on site at Cafeciteaux!

Behind the Scenes: Calandro's Supermarket Celebrates 75 Years in Baton Rouge

Calandro's Supermarket has been the title sponsor of the Bite and Booze Radio Show since it hit the airwaves in 2011, and since then, our relationship with the store has grown in immeasurable ways.

Behind the scenes at Landry Vineyards, Jay Ducote chats with Jeff Landry

In many ways, if I hadn't had the store's support, I wouldn't be where I am today. That's why making this video for them didn't require a second thought. They play a huge part in the local community and should be celebrated as much as any locally owned restaurant for contributing to the Baton Rouge food scene. 

Jay talks with Mike Coullard of Panola Pepper Company, where Jay D's sauces are bottled

When I launched Jay D's Louisiana Barbecue Sauce over a year ago, Calandro's didn't just put it on their shelves. They threw me an over-the-top launch party timed with the Fourth of July. They helped roll out my Blanc du Bois collaboration with Landry Vineyards and more recently Jay D's Louisiana Molasses Mustard.

In a small way, this video gave me a way to give back to the Calandro family. I'm really proud and happy with the resulting ad celebrating Calandro's 75th year in Baton Rouge.

Working with tommysTV always makes the process easy and fun, and the finished product is always gorgeous. Some of my favorite shots are the ones we took at Landry Vineyards and the ones just driving through the state. 

If you haven't watched the video, take a look! Happy 75th year, Calandro's!

Sipping on Spookiness: Blind Tasting Seasonal Pumpkin Beers

by Sydney "Brown Nose" Blanchard

Fall was once my least favorite time of the year. Following the freedom of the summer months where the smell of chlorine permeates the air and snowballs abound, fall was an unfriendly reminder that school would soon be back in session.

Trapped within the physical and metaphorical walls of academia, I could never fully appreciate the way the beginning of falls feels on bare legs and arms during Louisiana's slow but steady march to cooler weather. I never noticed the color of the sky change or the days shortening or the browning of the leaves.

History and literature and geography ruled my world. I was more focused on stuffing information inside my brain than shoving myself outside my apartment.

Now that I've graduated, for the first time in my memory, I will fully embrace fall and all that comes with it: chunky-knit sweaters, Halloween playlists, and pumpkin-spiced everything.

Blair and I are no strangers to the PSL, but we figured a better way to start October would be to blindly taste and rate a number of pumpkin beers. We had Jay wander over to Calandro's to pick up a mixed six-pack of pumpkin brews for us to review.

We ranked each beer on a scale from one to five pumpkins.


STAY SPOOKY, FRIENDS.

[DOOT DOOT]

Legend:

One pumpkin: If somebody bought it for you, you wouldn't drink it.

Two pumpkins: You would drink it if it was free, but under no other circumstances.

Three pumpkins: You'd appreciate it if a friend bought it for you, but you wouldn't buy it yourself.

Four pumpkins: You'd buy this beer and happily drink it. It's worth the money you paid for it.

Five pumpkins: You'd buy this beer for a friend and sing its praises.

Imperial Pumpkin Smash, Crown Valley Brewing

"Bitter, I hate it. It smells like pumpkin pie, but it tastes like black coffee. Roast-y." – Sydney

"It almost tastes like a pumpkin car bomb. I love it." – Blair

Blair: 5/5
Sydney: 2/5
Average: 3.5/5

Pumpkinfest, Terrapin Beer Company

"It smells like cider and cinnamon, but tastes like PBR. Needs more pumpkin." – Sydney

"I get a lot of fall spices. I'm into it." – Blair

Sydney: 3
Blair: 3
Average: 3

Black O'Lantern, Wasatch Brewery

"This is super dark. It smells creamy and smoky, like coffee. Great beer, but I don't taste any pumpkin, which is like, one of my requirements when it comes to pumpkin beer. Could be great in chili, though." – Sydney

"Yeah, I can't really taste pumpkin. It's a little disappointing." – Blair

Sydney: 4/5
Blair: 3/5
Average: 3.5/5

Pumpkinhead, Shipyard Brewing Company

"Oh, this is very light. I definitely smell pumpkin, cider, apples. It tastes like cheap beer." – Sydney

"I get some fall flavors and spices, but it's bready at the end. Not getting any pumpkin vibes." – Blair

Sydney: 1/5
Blair: 1/5
Average: 1/5

Pumking, Southern Tier Brewing Company

"Wow, that's a very intense pumpkin smell. So far this is the only one that actually tastes pumpkin-y. I'm pleasantly surprised." – Sydney

"That's pumpkin candle smell. This is like, a Bath and Body Works candle. It's sweet." – Blair

Sydney: 5/5
Blair: 3/5
Average: 4

Age Old Pumpkin Stout, Crooked Letter Brewing Company

"This smells like dark chocolate and a PSL. Wait, a dark chocolate PSL would be really good. It tastes like real pumpkin and coffee." – Sydney

"It tastes like the guts of a pumpkin. In a good way." – Blair

Sydney: 4/5
Blair: 4/5
Average: 4/5

The Final Verdict

In the end, it was a toss up between the Pumking and the Age Old Pumpkin Stout. Next came the tie between the Imperial Pumpkin Smash and Black O'Lantern. Third place went to Pumpkinfest, and dead last came Pumpkinhead.

Would your ranking match ours?

Monday Morning Wakeup Call featuring Cafeciteaux (again)

by Sydney "Brown Nose" Blanchard

The Éthiopiques Blend beans. They were very aromatic. 

Perfect Monday morning perk-up.

For those of you keeping tabs, last week Blair and I decided we weren't hyper enough, apparently. We somehow thought it might be a good idea (productivity!) to sample coffees weekly and write about our findings. 

Last week we tried local roaster Cafeciteaux's Guatemala Patzun and wrote up a little blog about it. When we posted it to Facebook, the guys as Cafeciteaux insisted we try the Éthiopiques Blend next, and who are we to ignore an expert recommendation?

Blair and I both preferred this blend to last week's. The Éthiopiques Blend was significantly darker than the Guatemala Patzun, and the taste was darker as well. We picked up notes of dark berries and fruit, but we didn't notice much of the jasmine or lemon rind the packaging suggested. 

Any suggestions of what we should try for next week? Leave us a comment!

Cafeciteaux gets it right: the best roasts we've had in a while

by Sydney "Brown Nose" Blanchard

Cafeciteaux's Guatemala Patzen roast beans

If you're anything like us at Team Bite and Booze, you need coffee. It isn't an optional thing. It's a necessity. 

That's why we get deliveries monthly from Cafeciteaux. It's no longer a thing they do, but a while back they offered what they call "le pari," or the gamble in French. 

For a certain fee, they sent us different coffee beans each month to try. 

As a result, we've got bags and bags of coffee hanging out in the office, waiting to be drank.

Freshly brewed Cafeciteaux Guatemala Patzun.

Cafeciteaux is a great company for a number of reasons. First, they're local – their roastery is located on Airline Highway and you can buy some for yourself at Calandro's Supermarket. Secondly, these Baton Rouge-based roasters sell coffee beans that are directly traceable to the farm and mills where they were produced. 

I don't know about you guys, but I like to know where my coffee comes from. 

Blair and I decided to try the Guatemala Patzun first. We ground the aromatic beans and boiled some water to make the pour over coffee. 

The result was very cool. The coffee was very cloudy and a bit more viscous than other brands. The color of this roast was a dark amber, and we picked up hints of toasted sugar cane and dark dried fruits. 

We can't wait to try out our next bag of Cafeciteaux coffee beans. And thanks to our caffeine addiction, the next taste test might happen sooner than we anticipate.

Bourbon Flights at Lock & Key and Calandro's Single Barrels: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Lock & Key

Knob Creek Single Barrel at Calandro's

If you're looking for something special in the bourbon world you can always go to the Lock & Key Whiskey Bar in Baton Rouge. Their selection of bourbon, as well as all other types of whiskey, is extensive to say the least. Plus, they are knowledgeable and passionate, which goes a long way. In fact, on Wednesday, January 28th from 6-8 PM I'll be at Lock & Key along with Myrna Arroyo from Roux Wine Tours to discuss our trip to Bourbon Country in July. The whiskey bar will be offering special flights that will go along with the distilleries that we'll visit in Kentucky including a Bardstown flight, a Frankfurt flight, and a Louisville flight. Mark your calendar and I hope to see you then.

However, if you're looking for some special bourbon to bring home with you one day, then you have to head over to Calandro's Supermarket. They have expertly selected barrels of various bourbons and bottled the whole thing for their stores, making each of these bourbons truly unique and unavailable anywhere else. Their single barrel bourbons include:

Four Roses
OESK (Mashbill)
10 Years, 4 Months (Age)
55.9% Alc./Vol. (Barrel Proof)

OBSV (Mashbill)
8 Years, 6 Months (Age)
50% Alc./Vol. (Standard Proof)

8 Years, 3 Months (Age)
50% Alc./Vol. (Standard Proof)

11 Years, 9 Months (Age)
56.7% Alc./Vol. (Barrel Proof)

Four Roses Single Barrel Bourbons at Calandro's

Jay's own bottle of 1792 Ridgemont Reserve

Knob Creek
9 Years (Age) - Label: "Hand Selected by Our Friends from Calandro's"
60% Alc. Vol. (Standard Proof)

10 Years (Age) - Label: "A Hidden Gem We Found Along The Way. Mark & Taylor Calandro - CJ Webre"
60% Alc. Vol. (Standard Proof)

1792 Ridgemont Reserve
Age - N/A - Label: "Calandro's Single Barrel Select"
46.85% Alc./Vol. (Standard Proof)

Buffalo Trace
Age - N/A - Label: "Calandro's Single Barrel Select"
45% Alc./Vol. (Standard Proof)

All of these single barrel bourbons make pretty spectacular gifts and add something original to a whiskey collection. I've got my hands on a couple of them and hope to grab a few more!

Fresh on the Shelves: The Bite and Booze Featured 5 at Calandro's

Bite and Booze Featured 5 at Calandro's Supermarket

I'm excited to announce a brand new promotion at Calandro's Supermarket, title sponsor of the Bite and Booze Radio Show! The Bite and Booze Featured 5 is a new monthly promotion supporting local products in your favorite neighborhood grocery store! You get 5% off of your entire basket (with no limit high or low) at both locations of Calandro's if you grab each of the five items being featured that month. We will be changing the items on a monthly, but starting now through the month of August you can grab these five items to ring up your discount:

Any Slap Ya Mama product
Any Cupcake Allie product
Any Hanley's salad dressing
Any Denicola's product
Any package of Richard's sausage or other pork products

Drop everything and head to Calandro's for the best local shopping deal you've ever seen, unless you hate deals... if you hate deals on great local products you may want to skip out on this one. All you have to do is check out with those 5 items in your basket and you'll automatically get 5% off your entire purchase.

Also, please leave a comment below about what local products you'd like to see in September on the Bite and Booze Featured 5!

Russia: Street Food Bite and Booze of the 2014 World Cup

As the heat blazes on in Brazil at the FIFA World Cup 2014, we sit down to another street food delicacy and cocktail from Russia (playing Belgium at 11am CDT): Potato Blini and "From Moscow with Love." From the last winter Olympics we learned things can be cold and a bit dreary in Russia, but let's perk up our appetites and see what they have going on.

Photo Credit: foodperestroika.com

A plethora of Russian pancake recipes exist, but this one for potato blini sounded scrumptious to me! Technically, these blini would be called oladi in Russia because of their thickness. Simple and bland in flavor, potato blini are basically pancakes with riced potatoes mixed in. I'm sure they keep you warm in the Russian winter time, but for our purposes, they'll hold us over until USA match at 5pm.

Bite and Booze Bonus: They're pictured with some type of caviar or beaded honey on top, but try getting your hands on some ghost pepper infused caviar--that'll take these from bland to GOAL in no time.

An ode to the old 007 film, To Russia, With Love starring Sean Connery, From Moscow with Love features vodka. Shocked, I presume. This fun play on a vodka soda will get you through the match just fine! Unless you're dead set on using an actual Russian vodka, I suggest swinging by Calandro's Supermarket and grabbing some of the Donner-Peliter Oryza Vodka. It adds loads of flavor to cocktails because of the long-grain rice from Crowley, LA it's made with.

Give me Liberty or Give me Sauce: Jay D's Louisiana Barbecue Sauce launches to shelves in style!

The official launch of Jay D’s Lousiana Barbecue Sauce is finally upon us, and it is one week of activities you won’t want to miss! Unique in flavor and consistency, this barbecue sauce redefines a Southern summer staple and does it in style. This isn’t your mom’s barbecue sauce launch—from bottle signings to hot dog eating contests, Jay D’s has you covered for your fourth of July week happenings.

While most barbecue sauces are thin and vinegary or as thick as molasses, Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue Sauce has a consistency somewhere between the two with flavors of tomato, Louisiana cane syrup and brown sugar. Follow that with flavors inspired by the heat of Louisiana cuisine including cayenne, Creole mustard, and Cajun pepper sauce and you’ve got a locally made and inspired concoction.

The schedule of events for launch week, all of which are free and open to the public, include samplings, and bottle signings is as follows:

July 1st – The week kicks off with the official launch party at Beausoleil Restaurant & Bar from 6-9pm. Executive Chef Nathan Gresham will prepare a variety of eats featuring Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue Sauce. This is going to be the coolest thing you could be doing on July 1st!

July 2nd – Red Stick Spice Company will be hosting me from 4-7pm for a cooking demo featuring Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue Sauce. Slow-cooked brisket sliders and grilled sausage will be served. They have tons of great products and if you've never had the chance to stop by, this is the day to do it!

July 3rd – Calandro’s Supermarket will be hosting a big local foods blowout in preparation for the Fourth of July at their Perkins at Siegen from 3-8pm. There's going to be a lot of great things to try that can really kick up your game for the 4th that are made and sourced locally. It's going to be a party for sure!

July 4th – On this day of national celebration, Frankie’s Dawg House is holding its 3rd hot dog eating contest at noon. Frankie’s was one of the first places to use Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue sauce on a menu item, so stop by and try a Jay Ducote Dawg, watch the competition, or see if you have what it takes to compete against yours truly!

July 5th –From 8am-noon, I will be selling bottles of Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue sauce for the first time ever inside the Main Street Market at the Red Stick Farmer’s Market! This is one of my favorite Saturday morning activities and I can't wait to sling some sauce, so come by and see me!

Mark your calendars for each of these barbecue-licious activities! A bottle of Jay D’s Louisiana Barbecue Sauce can be purchased at any of these events or at Calandro’s Supermarket (both locations), Red Stick Spice Company, Ambrosia Bakery, or online at Indie Plate and HugJayD.com. Look for the sauce on menu items at Ambrosia Bakery, Mason’s Grill, Leroy’s, Brew Ha Ha, and Frankie’s Dawg House.

Cheers!

Indieplate: Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket

Peru Sharma and Ben Bartage from Indieplate discuss their business
with host Jay Ducote

This week on the Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket I welcome Ben Bartage and Peru Sharma from Indieplate onto the show to discuss their business model of supplying fresh ingredients from the farm to your doorstep. Seriously, it is amazing. Also joining in on the fun is Blaise Calandro III from Calandro's Supermarket to talk about an event on this Thursday, May 8th, at the Perkins Road store as well as Raj Bhakta, the founder and CEO of Whistle Pig Rye Whiskey. Give it a listen... I think you'll enjoy this show!

The Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket airs on Saturdays at 5 PM and replays Sundays at 8 PM on Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge. The show is hosted by Jay Ducote and won a Taste Award in January 2014 as the best food or drink based radio broadcast in the country. The producer of the show is Chris Courtney at Guaranty Broadcasting and the field producer is Charles Pierce from the Me and My Big Mouth Show. It is also available on iTunes. The show's sponsors include Calandro's Supermarket, Visit Baton Rouge, Portico Restaurant and Bar, Lock & Key Whiskey Bar, Le Creole Restaurant, Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning, Mama Della's N.Y. City Pizzeria, Mason's Grill, Donner-Peltier Distillers (Rougaroux Rums and Oryza Vodka and Gin), Louisiana Cookin' Magazine, Juban's Restaurant, the Tin Roof Brewing Company, the Louisiana Culinary Institute and Triumph Kitchen.

Rougaroux, Oryza, LA1 Whiskey, Olive or Twist: Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket

The Donner-Peltier Distillery in Thibodaux, LA is creating some mighty fine spirits that not only should we all be drinking, but we should also be quite proud of. Making the Rougaroux line of rum out of Louisiana sugar cane, the Oryza brand of vodka and gin out of Louisiana rice, and now Louisiana's first legally distilled aged whiskey since prohibition, the folks down in Thibodaux are really doing it right. Johnny Culpepper, head of the sales team for DP, joined me recently on the Bite and Booze Radio Show. Also in studio, Josh Duke from Olive or Twist mixed up their 13 Pennies for the Rougaroux cocktails which features the 13 Pennies Praline Rum. Blaise Calandro III from Calandro's Supermarket, where you can find all the Rougaroux and Oryza products, came in studio as well. We had a great time, and the radio show should be a great listen!




The Bite and Booze Radio Show presented by Calandro's Supermarket airs on Saturdays at 5 PM and replays Sundays at 8 PM on Talk 107.3 FM in Baton Rouge. The show is hosted by Jay Ducote and won a Taste Award in January 2014 as the best food or drink based radio broadcast in the country. The producer of the show is Chris Courtney at Guaranty Broadcasting and the field producer is Charles Pierce from the Me and My Big Mouth Show. It is also available on iTunes. The show's sponsors include Calandro's Supermarket, Visit Baton Rouge, Slap Ya Mama Cajun Seasoning, Mama Della's N.Y. City Pizzeria, Restaurant IPO, Mason's Grill, Donner-Peltier Distillers (Rougaroux Rums and Oryza Vodka and Gin), Louisiana Cookin' Magazine, Juban's Restaurant, the Tin Roof Brewing Company, the Louisiana Culinary Institute and Triumph Kitchen.