Great Gifting: Mad Skills

My son is a really good cook. Not dependent on recipes, he makes what pleases him and follows his palate, throwing together flavors from different cuisines in an international melting pot of his own creation, with delicious results. So for the last few holidays when a present is required, instead of trying to come up with some new gadget or game, I've given him gift certificates for hands-on cooking classes where he can pick up some new skills or find out more about a cuisine he's interested in.

Portland's Culinary Workshop: Whether it's honing basic knife skills or learning butchery or making Chinese soup dumplings (left), Melinda and Susana (top photo) make it not just informative, but fun. Their prices are more than reasonable for the lifelong skills they teach and I don't know anyplace else that covers such a wide range of topics. Almost all of their classes are open to kids under 12 for a reduced price, and they have special classes for couples, too—a gift that would cross off two birds on your list with one pen-stroke! Portland's Culinary Workshop, 807 N Russell St. 503-512-0447.

Ramsay's Dram: If you have someone on your list who appreciates sipping fine whiskeys, there is no person better to sip them with than Stuart Ramsay, writer, teacher and whiskey aficionado extraordinaire. This Scotsman calls Portland home, but he's known worldwide for his dedication to sharing the history and joys of fine spirits, as well as the pleasures of beer and wine. Imagine listening to his lovely burr extolling the virtues of a decades-old whiskey, and I think you'll agree it's a gift worth giving. Schedule of classes to be announced, gift certificates can be purchased by contacting him via e-mail.

Cocktail Classes at Raven & Rose: One of the most brilliant gifts I ever gave Dave was a basic cocktail class. He learned to wield a cocktail shaker and muddler like a pro, and I have benefitted immensely ever since. Many bars in Portland are beginning to offer classes worth checking into…from personal experience, the ones given by master mixologist Dave Shenaut will more than satisfy any thirst for knowledge your giftee may have. Cheers! Raven and Rose, 1331 SW Broadway. E-mail Natalia Toral for certificates.

Read the other posts in this year's Great Gifting series: Gifts That Give Back, Kids Stuff, Bookin' It and Good Eatin'.

Follow the Bouncing Cherries

The message appeared on my Twitter feed one day from Dave Shenaut, aka Neon Dave, barmaster extraordinaire at Raven & Rose.

"Today's conundrum…what should I do with this 40 lbs. of sour pie cherries?"

Quickly cooking the cherries to retain their shape and texture is key.

Replies started streaming in: "Housemade Sourpuss?" "Rum soak some, shrubb, and cherry bounce." "They would make wonderful garnishes for sour beers or a nice fruity saison." There were suggestions for sour cherry liqueur, using them as garnish for sour beers and fruity saisons, as well as muddling them to make a cocktail called "So We're Havin' a BBQ, Huh?"

Filling the canning jars.

Now, normally when produce comes in the door of the restaurant it goes straight into the kitchen's walk-in and ends up on patrons' plates. It's not that common for the bar in a restaurant to be allotted a portion of the produce to make into cocktail ingredients that will end up in their glasses. But the team at Raven & Rose—owner Lisa Mygrant, chef David Padberg and Mr. Shenaut—are shaking up that convention by making their own cocktail ingredients, including shrubs, syrups, tonics and bitters, from the seasonal goodness from area farmers.

Mmmm…bouncy!

His executive decision? Make a cherry bounce, an infusion of cherries, sugar and a spirit, which Todd Appel, writing for Imbibe magazine, said dates back to the days of Martha Washington when "the first First Lady even documented her own version on husband George’s stationery."

And not being one to waste any of the leftover fruit juice, Shenaut saved it to use as a spiced cherry syrup in a fantastic sour cherry limeade (recipe below).

Cherry Bounce
From Lisa Mygrant and Dave Shenaut of Raven & Rose

2 qts. cane sugar
1 qt. water
2 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
2 qts. fresh sour (pie) cherries, stemmed and washed, NOT pitted
2 long strips lemon peel
20 oz. Slow N Low* (or other high-proof spirits such as whiskey, brandy, rum, or vodka)

Wash two 1-quart mason jars with brand new lids (note: new lids must be used for canning in order to achieve a proper seal) in hot, soapy water or run through the dishwasher. Fill a small oven-proof container with water, add the lids and place with clean jars (lids in water, jars not in water) in 250° oven to sterilize while you prepare the cherries.

Place the sugar, water, star anise and cinnamon in a large saucepan and bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. While this is coming to a boil, pour 10 oz. of your chosen spirit into each jar and place it back into the oven. This step is important because the entire contents of the jars must be boiling hot in order to achieve a proper seal and to remain sterile, therefore far extending the shelf life of the canned cherries.

Once the syrup has boiled and the sugar has dissolved, turn it down to a bare simmer and add the cherries. You want to barely simmer the cherries for approximately 2-3 minutes, but no more. They are very delicate and will split easily. You want them to barely lose their raw texture but retain their fresh flavor and shape. After a minute or two, taste one. As soon as it is warm in the middle, it is ready.

Carefully pull the hot jars from the oven, add a strip of lemon peel to each one, and—using a canning funnel and being careful to keep the rims of the jars completely clean—fill with cherries and syrup to within 1/2 inch of the top of the jar. Make sure a cinnamon stick and a star anise make it into each jar, and close with the sterile lids from the water bath. Twist lids firmly but not too tightly; making it too tight can actually cause the seal to fail. You will have lots of extra syrup that doesn't fit into the jars with the booze and cherries. Save this and mix with lime juice and soda water for delicious sour cherry limeade (recipe below)!

As the jars cool, the buttons on the lids should pop down, indicating a proper seal. Store the sealed jars in a dark, cool place. Flavor will improve after a week or two. Once opened, store in the refrigerator. Unopened, they should store indefinitely.

* From Mr. Shenaut: "Slow n Low is rock and rye—a whiskey sweetened with rock candy syrup made by the same folks that brought us St Germain. Ask for it at your local liquor store."


Sour Cherry Limeade

3/4 oz. cherry syrup (see above)
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 dashes acid phosphate
Crushed ice
Seltzer**
Sour cherry garnish

Place ice in tall glass. Add other ingredients and top with seltzer.

** If you don't have phosphate and seltzer, simply substitute soda water. The flavor will be slightly different, but still lovely.

Quick Hits: Raven & Rose, Mirakutei, Clemente's

In recent years there's been a dearth of great places to have lunch downtown, with most of the hot lunch action taking place on the east side of the river. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, since that's my side of town, but when there are friends on the west side with prescribed lunch hours, it'd be nice to have someplace decent to drop into.

Perfect celery root soup with lardons, chive blossoms.

Fortunately for downtowners, there's more than just Clyde Common and Higgins for a nice-to-fancy spot for a business lunch, a meet-up with your auntie or just a soup-and-sando with a friend. And since it's located in one of downtown's oldest buildings, a former stable for city father William Ladd's horses, Raven and Rose provides plenty of fodder (ha!) for conversation.

Rabbit Caesar salad.

Open less than six months, R&R's menu offerings, under the direction of Exec Chef David Padberg, are coming along nicely, with the intimate dining room opening for lunch just a week ago. Lunch revolves around a selection of soups and salads, a few sandwiches and a sampling of larger plates with staples like fish and chips, shepherd's pie, a couple of seafood options and a pasta dish that are augmented with Padberg's stable of seasonal vegetables and greens along with herbs from his prodigious garden.

Rhubarb phosphate.

The rabbit Caesar I ordered was spot-on, the rabbit, sourced from a small local farm, braised to fall-apart perfection and shredded over a bed of tender local greens. My friend's black cod was similar to the version found on the dinner menu, roasted and placed on top of cannelini beans, chard stems, celery and wild mushrooms. I couldn't resist ordering a rhubarb phosphate, though I was tempted by the anise spritzer that was also on the non-alcoholic beverage list. There is, of course, a complete menu of fully-leaded cocktails, wine and beer available, but I like the seasonal sodas that Padberg and Dave Shenaut, R&R's bar director, are developing, a category that isn't often found on PDX bev menus.

Next time I'm going for the fish and chips, since I'm obsessed with finding a decent representative of that most quintessential pub grub, and the burgers and fries ordered by other patrons looked luscious. Comfortable and clubby inside, with outdoor tables ringing the building on sunny days, this is a nice place to spend even a short lunch hour.

Details: Raven & Rose, 1331 SW Broadway. 503-222-7673.

* * *

It can be said, without equivocating in the least, that I adore sushi and its riceless cousin, sashimi. They would be my choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner if it was possible. Though I'm married to someone who, while he enjoys it on occasion, is just not as cuckoo as I am for these articles of Japanese cuisine, which means lunches are a good time to head out for a fix.

There are several good places to experience this food in Portland, though it's slow going getting around to them due to the (mostly justifiably) pricey tabs that can be run up sampling this and that. Mirakutei, just over the bridge from downtown on East Burnside, is a little hole-in-the-wall spot to do just that.

It's built its reputation on ramen, but I found both the sushi and sashimi to be moderately priced and cleanly made, with super-fresh fish that was beautifully and simply presented. Well worth checking out, especially on week days.

Details: Mirakutei, 536 E Burnside St. 503-467-7501.

* * *

Tables of steam trays, racks of meat under heat lamps and baskets and bowls heaped with pastries and out-of-season fruit have always puzzled me as a solution to a holiday breakfast. Maybe it's that Grannie and Uncle Henry and the nieces and nephews can all find at least one thing in the pile they'll like, but, really?

Clemente's.

Call us fogies, but we rarely go out for a traditional brunch or even for breakfast, preferring to sit and sip our coffee, read the paper and maybe have toast or an omelet, all in the comfort of our jammies and slippers. So on Mother's Day, when the males in the household said we were going to go on a road trip dubbed the Magical Mother's Day Mystery Tour, especially when it was mentioned that the dogs would be coming with us, I was in.

A terrific Bloody Mary.

Without a blindfold, it was pretty obvious when we hit Highway 30 that we were heading for the beach, so when we pulled into Astoria around one-ish I was more than ready to fill the gaping hole that had opened up since toast and coffee earlier that morning. Fortunately, we pulled up in front of Clemente's, the refreshing addition to Astoria's previously moribund dining scene, a place where seasonal and local rule and ingredients are treated with knowledge and respect.

Supremely satisfying crab Caesar.

It was a casual, order-off-the-menu brunch-or-lunch scene with not a steam table in sight, and I exercised my mother's privilege of ordering a Bloody Mary made with house mix and home pickles, followed by a half dozen local oysters. They needed just a couple of drops of lemon before being consumed, and then my crab Caesar arrived with a pile of Dungeness smiling up at me from the plate. Though Dave hit the jackpot with his seafood-alicious cioppino (top photo), crammed with salmon, oysters, scallops and crab. Other than a puzzling spoonful of quinoa on one side of my salad, it was a particularly satisfying way to celebrate the holiday, especially since it was followed by a romp on the beach and a (for me) sleepy ride home.

Details: Clemente's, 1198 Commercial St., Astoria. 503-325-1067.

Spring in Your Step? Try Spring in Your Glass!

The red stalks of rhubarb that appear at farmers' markets and grocery stores this time of year, along with tender green things like raab, nettles and miner's lettuce, are among the first harbingers of spring, a sure sign that, once again, winter has breathed its last cold breath on the Willamette Valley.

The rhubarb phosphate.

I've been a fan of this sourest of vegetables from childhood, when I'd take a stalk off the kitchen counter where my mom was chopping it for a crisp or pie and, much to her chagrin, chomp down on it, letting the full glory of its acidic sourness fill my mouth. So when I heard that my dear friend Dave Shenaut at Raven & Rose was working up a cocktail featuring my favorite spring ingredient, I asked if he'd be willing to share a recipe or two with the readers of GoodStuffNW.

The Bonnie Wee Lass rhubarb cocktail.

The best part is that these drinks are based on a syrup rather than an infused alcohol, meaning it can be used as an ingredient in a delicious cocktail, of course, but it can also be combined with soda or lemonade for a refreshing beverage to serve at brunch or for sipping on the patio. The syrup will keep for a week or two in the fridge, but it can also be frozen for enjoying on a hot summer day.

And a note on phosphates, those spritzy, fizzy drinks that were the specialty of soda fountains in the late 1800s and early 1900s. At Raven & Rose, Mr. Shenaut is determined to bring back classic beverages like the phosphate, and is looking to beverage writer and itinerant bartender Darcy S. O'Neil's book Fix the Pumps as one of his guides. I'd highly recommend it, as well as O'Neil's blog, Art of Drink, for some fascinating reading.

Rhubarb Syrup
From Dave Shenaut at Raven and Rose
3 lbs. rhubarb stalks, chopped into 1/2" pieces (redder rhubarb will make a more intensely colored syrup)
Water
Sugar

Place chopped rhubarb in large saucepan and add water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Cook over low heat until rhubarb is tender, 15-20 min. Strain through fine mesh sieve or several layers of cheesecloth, pressing gently to release the liquid. If you want a completely clear syrup it might take more than one filtering. Discard the solids. Measure or weigh the remaining liquid and add an equal amount of sugar. Heat the syrup in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Chill.

Rhubarb Phosphate
From Dave Shenaut at Raven and Rose
3/4 oz. rhubarb syrup
1/2 oz. lemon juice
2-3 drops rose water
10 dashes of phosphate
Seltzer*

Half fill a glass with ice, then add the syrup, lemon juice, rose water and phosphate. Fill with seltzer. Garnish with sprig of lemon balm.

* If you don't have phosphate and seltzer, simply substitute soda water. The flavor will be slightly different, but still lovely.

Bonnie Wee Lass
From Dave Shenaut at Raven and Rose
2 oz. gin
3/4 oz. rhubarb syrup
3/4 oz. lemon juice
2 drops rose water
Sprig of lemon balm for garnish

Fill a shaker 2/3 full of ice. Add gin, syrup, lemon juice and rose water. Shake, then strain into cocktail glass. For the garnish, Mr. Shenaut mists the sprig of lemon balm with absinthe and sprinkles it with superfine sugar before setting it gently on the surface of the cocktail, but the sprig by itself would be fine, too.

Shrubs Growing in Portland Bars

It hasn't hit an episode of Portlandia yet, but drinking vinegars and their close relatives known as shrubs are taking over some of the city's toniest bar tops. The shrub has been around since the 17th century or so when vinegar was used to preserve fruits and berries for use in the winter. The fruit would be left to infuse the vinegar, then the fruit would be strained off and the resulting liquid would be sweetened with honey or sugar to make a syrup. It could then be mixed with water or soda to make a soft drink, or with alcohol to make a cocktail.

The advent of refrigeration made this method of preservation unnecessary, but in the last few years the shrub has experienced a resurgence among bartenders who are making their own syrups and bitters. A recent visit with Raven & Rose bar manager Dave Shenaut gave a glimpse into the process of making this shout-out to his predecessors of yore, as well as a recipe for a mighty fine cocktail to be featured on the specials board at that establishment. (Shenaut warns, however, that there is a limited quantity of the syrup, so get it if you see it on the board.)

The recipe for the shrub calls for medlars, an unusual fruit that was popular in the Victorian era but, like the vinegary shrub, fell out of fashion, perhaps because of its extreme astringency. Chef David Padberg, also of Raven & Rose, got a delivery of these fruits from a uniquely named fellow, Tremaine Arkley, who grows the equally arcane quince on his farm in Independence, Oregon. His experiments with the strange fruit resulted in several new applications, including this shrub. (Read a more complete description of medlars and their Shakespearean bona fides in Padberg's post, What to do with a Medlar?)

As You Like It

For the medlar shrub:
4 c. medlars
2 c. demerara sugar
2 c. muscat vinegar

For the cocktail:
3/4 oz. madeira
1 1/2 oz. pisco
1/2 oz. medlar shrub
Splash of Bittermen's Orange Cream Citrate

The medlars, like other astringent fruits such as persimmons and loquat, should be so ripe that they're mushy, or bletted, when used. In a large glass jar or other glass container combine the bletted medlars with the sugar. Cover and let sit in a cool, dark place for 24 hours. Add the vinegar and stir until the sugar dissolves, cover and let sit for a week or so in a cool, dark place. After a week, pass the mixture through a food mill, then strain through cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer to remove most of the organic matter. Taste and adjust the sweetness. Store in the refrigerator for another week until the vinegar flavor mellows.

For the cocktail, fill a mixing glass half full of ice. Add madeira, pisco, the shrub and the splash of orange cream. Stir for a minute or so to chill and serve up with a twist of lemon.

Photo of medlar, top, by David Padberg.

Food Farmer Earth: Making Raven & Rose

In my interview for Food Farmer Earth with Lisa Mygrant, she relates her journey from a home where fresh food played a central role to starting her own restaurant where sustainably raised, local ingredients are a prominent feature.

Lisa Mygrant admits that buying a 7,000 square foot, high-profile historic building in the center of downtown Portland was a larger project than she’d envisioned for her first restaurant.

“Terrifying,” she said when asked how it felt when the deal went through. “But really exciting. It was an amazing opportunity and such a special building.”

Braised short rib with roasted vegetables and Yorkshire pudding.

She described the menu for Raven and Rose as “American farmhouse cooking with a nod to the British Isles.” The goal for the kitchen and the bar would be to source ingredients as much as possible from local and sustainable sources.

“It’s really important for us to have direct relationships with farmers,” she said, emphasizing that it isn’t a marketing angle but something she feels passionately about because of the way she was raised.

Read the rest of the article.

In part two of this interview, Mygrant explains why sustainability and buying from local suppliers is at the foundation of her restaurant. Get an easy recipe for Ham and Cheese Sandwich with Ale-Braised Onions from Raven and Rose chef David Padberg, then get tips from master bartender Dave Shenaut on "How to Make an Irish Coffee." To get regular updates on local producers featured on Food Farmer Earth, consider a free subscription.

Raven & Rose: First Impressions

I am a complete sucker for old architecture…homes, buildings, barns, cabins. (Regarding the last two, the more decrepit the better.) Maybe it had to do with growing up in older homes, ones with creaking floors, out-of-plumb walls and door jambs and hidden nooks and crannies. The first home Dave and I owned in Sellwood turned out to be the oldest in the neighborhood, with support beams made of logs (including bark) that had been cut from trees on the property.

House-cured gravlax, crumpets, winter chicories.

So it was no wonder I was taken with the story of the Ladd Carriage House, built by William S. Ladd to house his horses and the carriages they pulled through the streets of what was then jokingly known as Stumptown. He arrived three months after Portland was incorporated with a load of alcohol on consignment from a college pal in San Francisco. Ladd then proceeded to make a fortune selling liquor to the new city's thirsty inhabitants and, with that same college pal, set up the first bank north of San Francisco (take that, Seattle). He was elected mayor twice and built a grand home on Southwest Broadway with his horses lodged across the street.

Jasmine and Blood & Sand in the Rookery.

His house didn't survive but the carriage house, amazingly, did. In 2005 the First Christian Church, which had bought the property in 1971, got a permit to demolish it to build a parking lot. (Proving Joni Mitchell was right.) A group, Friends of the Ladd Carriage House, quickly formed to save the building and arranged to move it several blocks away while an underground parking garage was built. The Carriage House was then moved back to its original site.

Mr. David Shenaut.

Restored with the help of historic photographs, the building was subsequently bought by the Mygrant family of Hayward, California, when their daughter, Lisa, who was looking for a spot to open her first restaurant, saw the building was for sale. Long story short, she recruited David Padberg of Park Kitchen as her chef and David Shenaut of the Oregon Bartenders Guild to run the bar program. The restaurant is scheduled to open Jan. 4.

Braised shortrib, horseradish cream, Yorkshire pudding.

I was invited to attend a test dinner recently, and jumped at the chance to preview the space and see what was in the works. While certainly not intended as any kind of review, the dinner went off without a hitch, the bar was spot on and the food was terrific. According to Padberg, the menu will be similar to a European gastropub with "a nod to the British isles." It will feature as many local ingredients and suppliers as he can cram onto it, including eggs from Lisa Mygrant's own chickens. In the initial phase, Padberg said, they'll open with a limited menu of spot-on entrées featuring Northwest ingredients like sturgeon, salmon, mussels and short ribs accented with seasonal produce like root vegetables, chicories and greens.

Working the wood-fired oven.

On the beverage front, the two bars, one in the restaurant dining area and another called The Rookery Bar in the former hayloft, will have a list of house specialties along with classics, as well as an extensive wine and beer selection. I plan on going back in the near future, and I suggest you should, too.

Details: Raven & Rose, 1331 SW Broadway. 503-222-7673.

Look for an upcoming episode of Food Farmer Earth featuring my interview with Mygrant and a tour of the building.

Food Farmer Earth: Whiskeys, Brandies, Liqueurs

In part two of my interview for Food Farmer Earth with distiller Sebastian Degens of Stone Barn Brandyworks, he describes the different distillation processes he uses to make his signature whiskeys, brandies and liqueurs.

Watch part one of this interview, "Distilling the Essence of Fruit." Get tips from Raven and Rose master bartender Dave Shenaut on "How to Make an Irish Coffee." To get regular updates on local producers featured on Food Farmer Earth, consider a free subscription.

Food Farmer Earth: Distilling the Essence of Fruit

In this interview for Food Farmer Earth, I spoke with distiller Sebastian Degens of Stone Barn Brandyworks to find out how he makes his amazing brandies, whiskeys and fruit liqueurs.

“Yeast never sleeps,” said Sebastian Degens. Which is a good thing, since Degens and his wife, Erika, depend on it to ferment the fruit and grain mashes they distill at their Stone Barn Brandyworks in Portland, Oregon.

As a child, Degens grew up in Germany with distilled spirits like eau de vie and schnapps in the house. He eventually moved to the United States, getting interested in trying to make his own spirits when a Swiss friend, who’d grown up with similar European spirits, mentioned a desire to learn how they were made.

Their research led Degens to attend a three-day intensive workshop in Chicago at Kothe Distilling Technologies, a manufacturer of stills. On returning home, he and Erika started bicycling around various neighborhoods, looking for a small, affordable place that had enough room for the equipment they’d need to start their business.

Read the rest of the article.

Watch the second part of my interview with Degens, "The World of Distilled Spirits." Get tips from Raven and Rose master bartender Dave Shenaut on "How to Make an Irish Coffee." To get regular updates on local producers featured on Food Farmer Earth, consider a free subscription.