Brenne: Whisk(e)y Wednesday presented by Lock & Key

Brenne Single Malt French Whisky

Whisk(e)y Wednesday goes to France for the first time... which may be surprise because who has ever heard of French whisky? Wine or brandy, sure, but whisky? Believe it or not (you should because I've had it), there is a single malt French whiskey named Brenne which is aged in Cognac barrels. This rare find is available for $14 at Lock & Key and is definitely worthy of a taste. The nose starts with pure butterscotch. A sweetened butter candy aroma, seriously, straight up Werther's in a bad ass way, gives way to a creme brulee taste on the tongue with a soft, sweet, and clean mouth feel that goes down just as delicately. The whisky has a mellow medicinal quality upfront from the cognac barrel which gets drowned out quickly by the buttery candy all the way down. Though not very complex, the Brenne presents an amazingly balanced whisky with a totally unique flavor profile. There's no reason not to give it a try!

Brenne Single Malt French Whisky
Average Score: 78.25

Whisk(e)y Wednesday is a blog post series on Bite and Booze sponsored by the Lock & Key Whiskey Bar. Lock & Key has one of Baton Rouge's best selections of bourbon, Scotch, Irish, and other whisk(e)ys available for on premise consumption. This WW feature was scored by Jay Ducote from Bite and Booze, Arthur Lauck from Lock & Key, Jeremy Spikes from Old Maul, and Natalie Parbhoo from International Wine and Spirits. Scores are marked for Nose, Taste, Finish, and Balance and Complexity using our own proprietary scoring system. Marks are then added and averaged, leaving us with a final score out of a 100 point scale. Our scale should be looked at on the full range of 0-100 rather than an academic range where 70 is passing and anything less is failing. A 50 should be considered a very mediocre whisk(e)y (though not undrinkable) while anything below 20 is absolute horse piss and anything above 80 is rather extraordinary and anything above 90 is world class.

France: Street Food Bite and Booze of the World Cup

We're one bite closer to the end of the street food guide to the FIFA World Cup 2014! France is next on this delicious journey we've been taking! Known most for their breads, cheeses, wines and champagnes we're going to take a look at their simple street food and popular breakfast item the crepe and the even more familiar French 75.

Photo Credit: The Other F-Word

Most Americans have tried a crepe or five in their lifetime. It's a common street food in France and what we learned in Talladega Nights to be those "really really thin pancakes." They're incredibly easy to make and can be paired with almost any filling from savory to super sweet. This particular recipe is for Nutella Crepes. If you haven't had Nutella at this point in your life, I'm just not sure what you're doing. It's an amazingly scrumptious chocolate hazelnut spread that has a thick, but spreadable consistency and when heated, morphs into a hot fudge-like substance that is a million times tastier than hot fudge. I recommend combining any filling from Nutella to Jay D's Louisiana Barbecue Sauce in a crepe.

Photo Credit: Arnaud'sRestaurant.com

The French 75 is a popular cocktail in Louisiana and particularly in New Orleans. For a world class French 75 close to home head to Arnaud's French 75 in New Orleans and Chris Hannah will set you up! Arnaud's French 75 dates back to the 1800s and was originally for gentlemen only and in 1979 opened to the public. Featuring cognac and champagne, the cocktail is smooth, bubbly and slightly tart with a hint of fresh lemon juice. More common versions on the cocktail feature gin and champagne rather than cognac. Either way, it's a very simple, refreshing cocktail.

The Louisiana Culinary Institute presents the Third Annual Race to Cannes Cooking Competition

The Louisiana Culinary Institute (LCI) 

presents 

the Third Annual Race to Cannes Cooking Competition

I am extremely proud to be a judge for Round 2, Groups 3 and 4 of this outstanding local culinary challenge.  The Louisiana Culinary Institute's Race to Cannes allows its culinary students to compete in a single elimination, bracket-style cooking competition for a trip to the Cannes Film Festival, where the winner will be part of a culinary team that will cook for the entire Cannes Film Festival in France from May 7th-23th, 2011!

This culinary team, hosted by The American Pavilion, provides up to 1,000 meals per day and caters all of The American Pavilion’s cocktail receptions, press luncheons, parties, and special events. Prior to the Cannes Film Festival, students will enjoy a three-day orientation that includes visits to markets and vineyards, and meals with famed chefs, such as Roger Verge of the Moulin de Mougins.

The Race to Cannes competition is structured as a bracket-style tournament, where students are assigned a seed number. This seed number is used for student placement on the bracket, ultimately determining the match up in the head-to-head competitions. In each round of the competition, students have presented a different pre-determined protein, starch and vegetable to the judges. The winner of each round will advance in the competition, while the loser will be eliminated.  The dishes I'll be judging will consist of Chicken Livers, Red Lentils, and Oyster Mushrooms!  Delicious!

LCI will provide the winning student with round-trip airfare to France and The American Pavilion’s program fee, which includes housing, breakfast, official Cannes Film Festival accreditation and pre-festival programming.  Not a bad prize, right?

The Race to Cannes competition will be fierce, attracting several top-notch students and judges from Louisiana’s culinary and media community (hey, that's me!).

This is also a great opportunity to view the premier culinary school not only of Louisiana but of the entire South. If you'd like further information about LCI or the Race to Cannes, please contact Charlie Ruffolo at 225-769-8820 or by email Charlie@LouisianaCulinary.com.

France - The 2010 FIFA World Cup Bites and Boozes

France

French cuisine is one of the most world-renowned food cultures on the planet.  While to some it may be one of the easiest World Cup tour posts to imagine, for me it is one of the most difficult to write.  What should I focus on?  Classic French culinary techniques?  Haute Cuisine?  Champagne, Cognac, Bordeaux? This is tough!  My real challenge here is to try to be creative and find something that isn't so obvious.  However, in doing my research, I realized that I ought not to focus on one dish, but rather offer a glimpse of what French food is really all about.

Camille Lepage wrote an article for Spiked Online in which she revealed why her country's food culture is still alive and well despite the immigration of "Le Big Mac."  In the article, Camille, a French woman, begins with a bit about the history of French cuisine before getting into the real meat of the article: why French food is far superior to that of the English. I found this paragraph to be particularly insightful: "... France remains at the heart of global food culture. It’s not all about what we eat, it’s also about the way we do it. Yes, we are fond of food itself, but we also crave the social aspect of eating. We pay a lot of attention to the way we eat, cook and how we share our meals. Lunch and dinner are sacred in France - they are particular moments of the day during which people talk and spend time together. In France, it’s rare to see a person on his or her own in a restaurant, and even rarer to see someone walking and eating at the same time in the streets, sights which are commonplace in the UK."  Camille goes on to say, "As a French person, my expectations towards food are high; after a year and half in England, I have never found a restaurant worthy of the name. Prices are lower here (England), but I’d rather pay more and have the quality I can find back home at any corner of any street. The British do not make food, they heat it. Most of the food you can find in restaurants in the UK has been frozen and is warmed up before being served on a plate."

HAHA... "the British don't make food, they heat it!"  I find that to be hilarious, and indeed also true of plenty of American cuisine.  In many ways we really are a "Fast Food Nation," afraid to slow down and care about what goes into our food or the process by which it is prepared.  We want instant food, ready for consumption with just a zap from a microwave or a quick stroll through a drive-thru window.  This is also, in my mind, what separates chefs from cooks in America. The vast majority of chain restaurants (and even locally owned establishments) have set menus that require no extra creativity or passion.  The employees simply cook the food that has been given to them in an often frozen and ultra-processed form.  If there is one thing that can be said about French food, it is that there is too much passion in the average citizen to let that kind of "heating" qualify as their national cuisine.  I say good for them.

And now for some adult beverages... There are plenty to choose from in France, but I found something other wine, champagne, cognac, and beer (for which you can check out the BR Beer Scene).

Pastis is the most popular aperitif in France. Aniseed flavoured aperitifs (Pastis is made with anise, licorice and other aromatic plants) were developped in South France (Marseille) after World War I, when Absinthe, an alcool that was considered as too dangerous, was forbidden. Paul Ricard launched in 1932 "the real Pastis from Marseille" and Pastis became popular all over France. Surprisingly, average Pastis consumption today is higher in Northern France regions that in South. Average price of a 1 liter bottle of Pastis in France is around 15 Euros ($14) and more than 80% of this price is in taxes. Famous Pastis brands are Ricard, Pernod, Pastis 51, Duval, Casanis and Berger.

Although many people, including in bars and cafes serve Pastis and then add water and ice, the "official" way is to put water first. 1 volume of Pastis for 5 volumes of water is the traditional proportion but if you want it more refreshing, you can add up to 10 volumes of water. Pastis is popular abroad and in some countries is served in a way that would horrify the French "purists". In France "le "perroquet" and "la tomate" are 2 famous Pastis cocktails : Un perroquet : pastis, mint sirup, water. Une tomate : pastis, grenadine sirup, water. Pastis is also used in several fish, meat or dessert recipes.

Thanks and Credits:
http://www.tokyoworklife.com/english_town/frenchdining.html
http://www.ffcook.com/pages/frenchdrinks.htm
http://www.frenchentree.com/france-provence-food-drink/DisplayArticle.asp?ID=17273