A couple of weeks ago we splurge on a big chunk of Chilean Sea Bass. A
wonderful recipe with lemon grass, ginger and some Indian notes
deserved a crisp white, so I perused the shelfs at Central Market and
focussed on a white with which I was not that familiar, Vouvray. Label
said Loire Valley and Chenin Blanc.

I like Chenin Blanc, but don't drink it often enough, so I bought a
couple of bottles--two different producers. Wine turned out to be an
incredible pairing. Light, crisp, refreshing and with very distinctive
white peach flavors.

Good experience demands more research, and more Chilean Sea Bass this
week end. Returned to Vouvray with some of the same producers and two
more new ones.

Last night tried Ch. Moncountours 2005, and found it equally good but
this time with less peach and a distinct anise note.

The fish comes tonight for dinner and some of the previous Vouvrays
which will give me the opportunity to catch the producer names for a
post tomorrow.

So much wine, so little time.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 17:36:01 +0200, Mike Tommasi >
wrote:

>Ed Rasimus wrote:
>> A couple of weeks ago we splurge on a big chunk of Chilean Sea Bass. A
>> wonderful recipe with lemon grass, ginger and some Indian notes
>> deserved a crisp white, so I perused the shelfs at Central Market and
>> focussed on a white with which I was not that familiar, Vouvray. Label
>> said Loire Valley and Chenin Blanc.
>
>Voulez vous vouvray avec moi?
>
>I love Vouvray, specially from Chidaine. In California once I had what
>is referred to as Chilean Sea Bass, but from the taste and texture and
>the look of the thing before it got cooked, I think this fish has as
>much in common with Sea Bass as Vouvray has with a Mosel wine (or
>Mosel-Saar-Ruwer as it used to be called)...

Chilean Sea Bass is a magnificent fish, and at the going rate of about
$28/lb in my area, a special meal.

They don't carry it at Whole Foods Market because being ecologically
responsible they don't support fisheries that are "over-fishing" and
endangering the species. Somehow I don't go for that argument. While
price might indicate a supply/demand equation my suspicion is that WFM
has another agenda entirely.

I don't wear Birkenstocks, don't believe in global warming, and
delight in my good fortune at being born at the top of the food chain.
Waiting now for GEICO to offer commercials saying, "so easy a Fighter
Pilot can do it."


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

On Jul 29, 11:36?am, Mike Tommasi > wrote:
> Ed Rasimus wrote:
> > A couple of weeks ago we splurge on a big chunk of Chilean Sea Bass. A
> > wonderful recipe with lemon grass, ginger and some Indian notes
> > deserved a crisp white, so I perused the shelfs at Central Market and
> > focussed on a white with which I was not that familiar, Vouvray. Label
> > said Loire Valley and Chenin Blanc.
>
> Voulez vous vouvray avec moi?
>
> I love Vouvray, specially from Chidaine. In California once I had what
> is referred to as Chilean Sea Bass, but from the taste and texture and
> the look of the thing before it got cooked, I think this fish has as
> much in common with Sea Bass as Vouvray has with a Mosel wine (or
> Mosel-Saar-Ruwer as it used to be called)...
>
> --
> Mike Tommasi - Six Fours, France
> email linkhttp://www.tommasi.org/mymail

The Patagonian Toothfish has no relation to any seabass, other than a
name concocted to be more attractive than "toothfish"/

On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 09:17:45 -0700, DaleW > wrote:

>On Jul 29, 11:36?am, Mike Tommasi > wrote:
>> Ed Rasimus wrote:
>> > A couple of weeks ago we splurge on a big chunk of Chilean Sea Bass. A
>> > wonderful recipe with lemon grass, ginger and some Indian notes
>> > deserved a crisp white, so I perused the shelfs at Central Market and
>> > focussed on a white with which I was not that familiar, Vouvray. Label
>> > said Loire Valley and Chenin Blanc.
>>
>> Voulez vous vouvray avec moi?
>>
>> I love Vouvray, specially from Chidaine. In California once I had what
>> is referred to as Chilean Sea Bass, but from the taste and texture and
>> the look of the thing before it got cooked, I think this fish has as
>> much in common with Sea Bass as Vouvray has with a Mosel wine (or
>> Mosel-Saar-Ruwer as it used to be called)...
>>
>> --
>> Mike Tommasi - Six Fours, France
>> email linkhttp://www.tommasi.org/mymail
>
>The Patagonian Toothfish has no relation to any seabass, other than a
>name concocted to be more attractive than "toothfish"/

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet--and probably grace the
table for the meal.

CSB or PTF, it's still a wonderful chunk of meat for a meal...avec
Vouvray y moi ce soir.

Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
www.thunderchief.org
www.thundertales.blogspot.com

Mike Tommasi > wrote in news:5h3qdlF3hfkn6U1
@mid.individual.net:

> Ed Rasimus wrote:
>> A couple of weeks ago we splurge on a big chunk of Chilean Sea Bass.
A
>> wonderful recipe with lemon grass, ginger and some Indian notes
>> deserved a crisp white, so I perused the shelfs at Central Market and
>> focussed on a white with which I was not that familiar, Vouvray.
Label
>> said Loire Valley and Chenin Blanc.
>
> Voulez vous vouvray avec moi?
>
> I love Vouvray, specially from Chidaine. In California once I had what
> is referred to as Chilean Sea Bass, but from the taste and texture and
> the look of the thing before it got cooked, I think this fish has as
> much in common with Sea Bass as Vouvray has with a Mosel wine (or
> Mosel-Saar-Ruwer as it used to be called)...
>
>

You are correct, Mike. The fish in question is actually the Patagonian
toothfish, any idea why the marketing department changed the name?


--
Joseph Coulter
cruises and vacations
www.josephcoulter.com
877 832 2021
904 631 8863 cell

Joseph Coulter wrote:

> You are correct, Mike. The fish in question is actually the Patagonian
> toothfish, any idea why the marketing department changed the name?

Er, for the same reason the Chinese Gooseberry was renamed the Kiwi
Fruit? (i.e., marketing) ;-)

Mark Lipton, Professional Smartass
--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

"Mike Tommasi" > wrote in message
...
> Ed, I did not want to start a dogfight ;-)
>
> I do wear Birkenstocks in summer, they are confortable and the height of
> fashion here in Europe (without socks of course).

Now, I'm going to have to google/research this. Are you sure you're not
stuck in the 60's? ;-))


>
> I see nothing wrong with drinking Vouvray in my Birkenstocks. ;-)

Do you mean drinking V. 'out of'/from your Birkenstocks? Or while you are
wearing your Birkenstocks?

You're pretty funny, Mike!
Dee

> Mike Tommasi - Six Fours, France
> email link http://www.tommasi.org/mymail

"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
...
> Joseph Coulter wrote:
>
>> You are correct, Mike. The fish in question is actually the Patagonian
>> toothfish, any idea why the marketing department changed the name?
>
> Er, for the same reason the Chinese Gooseberry was renamed the Kiwi
> Fruit? (i.e., marketing) ;-)
>
> Mark Lipton, Professional Smartass
> --
> alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

And then there's rape/rabe.
Dee Dee

"Dee Dee" > wrote in news:f8j7re$9a9$1
@registered.motzarella.org:

>
> "Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
> ...
>> Joseph Coulter wrote:
>>
>>> You are correct, Mike. The fish in question is actually the
Patagonian
>>> toothfish, any idea why the marketing department changed the name?
>>
>> Er, for the same reason the Chinese Gooseberry was renamed the Kiwi
>> Fruit? (i.e., marketing) ;-)
>>
>> Mark Lipton, Professional Smartass
>> --
>> alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com
>
> And then there's rape/rabe.
> Dee Dee
>
>
>

As in Canola/rape seed oil?


--
Joseph Coulter, cruises and vacations
www.josephcoulter.com

877 832 2021
904 631 8863 cell

"Joseph Coulter" > wrote in message
. 97.136...
> "Dee Dee" > wrote in news:f8j7re$9a9$1
> @registered.motzarella.org:
>
>>
>> "Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
>> ...
>>> Joseph Coulter wrote:
>>>
>>>> You are correct, Mike. The fish in question is actually the
> Patagonian
>>>> toothfish, any idea why the marketing department changed the name?
>>>
>>> Er, for the same reason the Chinese Gooseberry was renamed the Kiwi
>>> Fruit? (i.e., marketing) ;-)
>>>
>>> Mark Lipton, Professional Smartass
>>> --
>>> alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com
>>
>> And then there's rape/rabe.
>> Dee Dee
>>
>>
>>
>
> As in Canola/rape seed oil?

From the small amount I know, rape seed is used to make canola oil.
Broccoli rabe is the same plant and the name was changed for marketing
reasons.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
I once took a deposition from a man who first told me this in the 70's, a
man from Ireland who grew fields of it.
One of the reasons I remember him so well, is that he was the most handsome
man I've seen in my life time.

Dee Dee

In article >,
"Dee Dee" > wrote:

> "Mike Tommasi" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Ed, I did not want to start a dogfight ;-)
> >
> > I do wear Birkenstocks in summer, they are confortable and the height of
> > fashion here in Europe (without socks of course).
>
> Now, I'm going to have to google/research this. Are you sure you're not
> stuck in the 60's? ;-))
>
>
> >
> > I see nothing wrong with drinking Vouvray in my Birkenstocks. ;-)
>
> Do you mean drinking V. 'out of'/from your Birkenstocks? Or while you are
> wearing your Birkenstocks?
>
> You're pretty funny, Mike!
> Dee
>
> > Mike Tommasi - Six Fours, France
> > email link http://www.tommasi.org/mymail

I read it that way too LOL. There is overfishing of the Patagonian
toothfish so many places have taken it off the market not just Whole
Foods. Whole Foods also tells you the source of all of their fish and
tends to avoid sources that are excessively polluted so no Chinese
Tilapia either. I wear Birkenstocks in the summer but also wear cowboy
boots if I'm working out west in the summer so choice of footwear seems
to have little to do with my wine tastes.

>
> I read it that way too LOL. There is overfishing of the Patagonian
> toothfish so many places have taken it off the market not just Whole
> Foods. Whole Foods also tells you the source of all of their fish and
> tends to avoid sources that are excessively polluted so no Chinese
> Tilapia either. I wear Birkenstocks in the summer but also wear cowboy
> boots if I'm working out west in the summer so choice of footwear seems
> to have little to do with my wine tastes.

I appreciate what WF does. I particularly like their Niman Ranch meats.
I'm not a meat-eater, per se, but what I do eat I like it to be good -
similar taste to what I grew up with.

I just recently bought (because I like their meats) "The Niman Ranch
Cookbook: . From Farm to Table With America's Finest Meat." The majority
of the book is about the ranch, with recipes in the back.
http://tinyurl.com/2k9kd6

Dee Dee

Dee Dee wrote:
>> I read it that way too LOL. There is overfishing of the Patagonian
>> toothfish so many places have taken it off the market not just Whole
>> Foods. Whole Foods also tells you the source of all of their fish and
>> tends to avoid sources that are excessively polluted so no Chinese
>> Tilapia either. I wear Birkenstocks in the summer but also wear cowboy
>> boots if I'm working out west in the summer so choice of footwear seems
>> to have little to do with my wine tastes.
>
> I appreciate what WF does. I particularly like their Niman Ranch meats.
> I'm not a meat-eater, per se, but what I do eat I like it to be good -
> similar taste to what I grew up with.

Dee,
If you want to read a fairly scathing indictment of WF, I can highly
recommend Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma," which I am just now
finishing. He offers some very trenchant criticism of "industrial
organic," as he terms it and has certainly reinforced my own decision to
buy local whenever possible.

Mark Lipton
--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

"Mark Lipton" > wrote in message
...
>> Dee,
> If you want to read a fairly scathing indictment of WF, I can highly
> recommend Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma," which I am just now
> finishing. He offers some very trenchant criticism of "industrial
> organic," as he terms it and has certainly reinforced my own decision to
> buy local whenever possible.
>
> Mark Lipton


I live in the Shenandoah Valley and do buy milk and some eggs from
Hedgebrook Farm (a pesticide free farm) very near Winchester. I would like
to go to Polyface, as Pollan mentions in his book, but it is too far to go
EVERY week; but I think probably I should take a trip down there
occasionally. This reminds me to do it. It's just hard for me to go south,
as the town of Harrisonburg is so spread out, and Staunton is a strange town
to me.

I am aware of the 'corn' and oil business. What a fright!

When I read a book, I try to consider the author's background and agenda.
I notice that in his book, Botany of Desire, his first few pages are about
Marietta, Ohio (a town just a few miles from where I was born and raised.)
And in "Omnivore" he is speaking of Virginia (where I now live). So I am a
little curious after reading his bio what draws him to this area. I think I
checked out 'Botany' from the library, but my mind slips, so I don't recall
any details.

I like the thoughts of buying local myself, but sometimesI wonder about
that, too. Winchester is/was a big supplier of apples. So for me, apples
grown here are 'local' to me, but I don't buy 'apple juice' that is probably
made from these very same apples. But I do go to the back roads apple farms
and buy and talk to the people that might know about the amount of spraying.
One never knows what a farmer does.
Thanks,
Dee

Dee Dee wrote:

> I live in the Shenandoah Valley and do buy milk and some eggs from
> Hedgebrook Farm (a pesticide free farm) very near Winchester. I would like
> to go to Polyface, as Pollan mentions in his book, but it is too far to go
> EVERY week; but I think probably I should take a trip down there
> occasionally. This reminds me to do it. It's just hard for me to go south,
> as the town of Harrisonburg is so spread out, and Staunton is a strange town
> to me.

LOL!! I see that you're not unfamiliar with Pollan's book. I have to
say that his lionization of Polyface struck me as a bit much: I'm
certain that there are quite a few other operations doing an equally
good job of stewardship of the environment.

>
> I am aware of the 'corn' and oil business. What a fright!

Agreed. I'd never really thought about the role of fossil fuels in
modern agrobusiness, so I really had "food for thought" in that book.
And, as an organic chemist, it was hard to learn that one of the giants
in my field (Justus Liebig) is pretty much the villain of his story ;-)

> I think I
> checked out 'Botany' from the library, but my mind slips, so I don't recall
> any details.

For my money, it was the more fascinating book. Pollan describes it as a
"plant's eye view of evolution" and explores the intriguing thesis that
our relationship to domesticated plants is an example of co-evolution
that benefits them as much as it does us (a theme that continues in the
current book with its profile of corn). He looked at four plants as
case studies: the apple, the potato, the tulip and cannabis.

>
> I like the thoughts of buying local myself, but sometimesI wonder about
> that, too. Winchester is/was a big supplier of apples. So for me, apples
> grown here are 'local' to me, but I don't buy 'apple juice' that is probably
> made from these very same apples. But I do go to the back roads apple farms
> and buy and talk to the people that might know about the amount of spraying.
> One never knows what a farmer does.

Well, that seems to me to be the point of buying local: establishing a
relationship with local farmers and learning about the details of their
practices, something that is nigh unto impossible at a Whole Paycheck™.
For instance, at my local farmer's market I can buy produce from a
local farmer whose farm I have worked on. Although he's not certified
organic, his practices are far more salutary than many who are. In the
absence of that relationship, how would I know? I agree that local
shouldn't be equated with better, but it is the prism through which
farming practices can be viewed and screened.

Buying local has another benefit, too. As Pollan points out, by
reducing the distance traveled to get products from farm to your hands,
it reduces the need for fossil fuels needed for trucking, etc.
Additionally (also mentioned in the book), the direct sale of products
from farmer to consumer puts far more money into the hands of the
farmers than the industrial agribusiness chain does.

Mark Lipton
--
alt.food.wine FAQ: http://winefaq.hostexcellence.com

On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:26:13 +0200, Mike Tommasi wrote:
> As an italian I worry even more about 90% of canned tomatoes coming from
> a place like China where they probably still use DDT

Recently, I've heard several times that the whole DDT scare was just
that, a scare, and that banning DDT caused far, far more harm than the
substance itself supposedly did (millions dead or sick from AIDS because
of the massive proliferation of mosquitoes)


--
* John Oliver http://www.john-oliver.net/ *