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You’ve written your menu, prepped dishes in advance, now all that’s left is finding the best wine for Thanksgiving. Discover our top picks.California vintner Joe Wagner can no longer reference specific Oregon appellations on his Oregon wine labels. That’s according to the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which has pulled its earlier label approval for Wagner’s Elouan and Willametter Journal Pinot Noirs. The wines, which are made with Oregon grapes but produced in California, have been mired in controversy over their use of Oregon’s appellations, or American Viticultural Areas (AVA), on their labels and packaging.
The decision has not ended the war of words between the creator of Meiomi and the Oregon vintners who object to him making wines across state lines.
The TTB order is the latest chapter in a row between Wagner’s company, Copper Cane Wines & Provisions, and Oregon winemakers and lawmakers. In September, the Oregon Winegrowers Association (OWA) and Oregon state representative David Gomberg alleged that Copper Cane was misusing Oregon’s AVAs on its wine labels and marketing materials, a contention that Wagner denies. “We are not misleading consumers in any shape or form,” Wagner told Wine Spectator. “We are making a statement as to where the grapes are grown.”
“This is a big deal,” said Jim Bernau, founder and winemaker at Willamette Valley Vineyards, who has been one of Wagner’s most vocal critics, when asked about the TTB decision.
At issue was whether Wagner’s Elouan Pinot Noir could include references to the Willamette, Rogue and Umpqua valleys on its back label and on its shipping boxes, since the wine is made in a facility in Rutherford, Calif. Oregon and federal labeling rules state that a wine must be produced in Oregon in order for it to display one of Oregon’s viticultural areas on the label. Wines produced in neighboring states may only use the broader Oregon designation.
“[The TTB] reviewed the labels and requested that we omit the references for the appellations, although the grapes are sourced from those appellations,” said Wagner. The labels for both wines will change starting with the 2018 vintage and will no longer include the appellations on the labels or on the case boxes the wines are shipped in. “We have complied with all of [the TTB’s] requests.”
Copper Cane will also remove the phrase “Oregon Coast” from the case markings for the Elouan Pinot Noir. It is changing the back label of the Willametter Journal, a wine made for retailer Total Wine & More, so that it no longer says the wine is sourced from the “territory of Oregon.” But Wagner says neither of the wines will change in style. “We are continuing to make the wines as we are, and appellate them as Oregon as we have been,” he said.
Critics see the order as a win. “What the TTB has done in acting against Copper Cane’s labels is coming to the defense of the American Viticultural Area designations,” said Willamette Valley Vineyards’ Bernau. He credits the TTB with moving quickly to deal with the issues.
Gomberg, who represents District 10 in Oregon, which includes parts of the Willamette Valley, is pleased with the decision. But he is concerned that the TTB did not order Copper Cane to change the label for the 2017 Elouan Pinot Noir, which is already in the market. He says it could take three years for those wines to sell through. “I think they have taken the right position but they need to close the loophole that allows Copper Cane to sell multiple years of product,” he argued.
“It’s disappointing that they didn’t require that the [2017 Elouan] should have been relabeled,” said Bernau, arguing that the TTB’s label reviewers were mislead. Bernau also questions whether the Elouan and Willametter Journal wines were made using 100 percent Oregon grapes, which he says is still being investigated. State law requires that a wine be made entirely from Oregon grapes in order to say it is from Oregon. The state’s winemaking regulations are also different from California’s, and Bernau has vocally questioned whether Wagner is complying with Oregon rules.
The TTB has ordered Copper Cane to voluntarily surrender seven labels, but did not mandate a change for the 2017 wines. “This is the determination we made based on the circumstances, and this is what we have done,” said Tom Hogue, congressional liaison for the TTB.
It’s not unusual for the TTB to receive complaints about labels. According to Hogue, some labels are occasionally approved that shouldn’t have been issued. “In this case we determined that the labels shouldn’t have been approved,” he said. The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) has yet to make its own ruling on the matter. It could potentially impact the sale of Wagner’s 2017 wines in Oregon.
Many in the Oregon wine industry insist that this isn’t an attack on out-of-state producers, pointing to the growing number of French and California wineries investing in the state. (Those producers make their wine in-state.) “We certainly aren’t trying to put anyone out of business,” said Tom Danowski, CEO of the OWA. “We just want everyone to follow the same rules.”
Wagner doesn’t plan to change how he makes his wines, preferring to oversee production at a single facility. But he acknowledges that his critics may not back down. “I don’t think they will ever stop until we bring production up to Oregon,” he said. “That’s not something we are thinking of doing.”
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Get in on the Black Friday action with deals on a number of cool kitchen gadgets.
From a stunning cranberry pie and pumpkin risotto to crispy skinned turkey, these recipes will help you whip up a fabulous gluten-free Thanksgiving dinner.
Find out why a linguist, an insect expert, a neurosurgeon and some of the world’s best chefs are taking a trip together to The Amazon.This will be the only stuffing recipe you will ever need! So much fresh herbs and so buttery. It’s simply the best EVER!
Turkey shmurkey.
The only thing I truly look forward to during Thanksgiving time is the stuffing. That and the pumpkin cheesecake.
But we’ll get to that a little later.
The stuffing though – holy moly. Smothered in some turkey gravy with an afternoon nap – that right there is the holy grail.
And why mess with a classic, right? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
So that’s what we have here. A true classic made with perfectly toasted sourdough bread, so much fresh herbs, and all the buttery goodness one can hope for (mixed in with some of the sausage pan drippings, of course).
This will be the only stuffing recipe you will ever need! So much fresh herbs and so buttery. It’s simply the best EVER!
*This can be made 1 day ahead. Let cool; cover and chill.
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious.
The post Classic Thanksgiving Stuffing appeared first on Damn Delicious.
Wandering how to make Banh Mi, the famous Vietnamese pork rolls? Here is an easy and quick way to prepare this spicy sandwich.Cooking for a crowd? “The Feast” turns to ace chefs—who better to advise on feeding the whole crew?—for recipes, prep advice and, of course, wine pairings. Plus, we’ll give you 10 value wines recommended by our editors. Get ready: It’s time to feast!
With 48 hours to go before Thanksgiving, you can practically hear the nation’s stoves snapping to life. If your burners are still idling as you wait for inspiration to strike, you might want to think about committing. Lucky for you, Dale Talde gave us his recipe for an easy, seasonal dish that combines the cozy with the unexpected. By the end of Thanksgiving, your friends will be thanking you.
You might know Talde for his runs on Bravo’s Top Chef franchise. Today, he’s a co-owner, with David Massoni and John Bush, of Three Kings Restaurant Group, whose eclectic mix of New York–area restaurants and bars includes the flagship pan-Asian spot Talde in Brooklyn, the dim-sum house Rice & Gold in Chinatown and the Italian restaurant Massoni in Manhattan’s Flatiron District.
Talde grew up in Chicago, the son of Filipino immigrants. The title of his 2016 cookbook, Asian American: Proudly Inauthentic Recipes from the Philippines to Brooklyn, speaks to the identity politics he has negotiated all his life. Today, his approach is fiercely iconoclastic. “I’m gonna own all of it,” he says of his Asian heritage and U.S. upbringing. “I’m so proud to be Filipino, but my parents didn’t come here for me to say that we are anything but Americans. So why should my food have to reflect what you think I should be doing?”
These days, Talde says, his cooking tends to combine salt, fat, acid and heat in ways that speak to his own cultural mash-up. In his version of the classic Szechuan spicy minced pork over rice, you can just forget about the rice. “Why not put that with sweet potatoes instead?” he proposes. “Sweet potatoes are dope, and we’re in America, where this is indigenous to what we are. And it reminded me of disco fries, which is my jam. Hey, of course you could put it over rice, but try it with sweet potatoes and see how much more awesome it is.”
Plus, he says, the combination of crispy sweet potatoes and minced white meat is perfect for that Friendsgiving potluck where you want to bring something familiar, yet a little different. “It travels really well, and everyone’s like, ‘Yo, this is interesting, what is this?’” he says. “It’s really unpretentious. It’s easy to eat. There’s no fighting with your food. Think about bringing that to a Friendsgiving.”
In the spirit of proudly inauthentic, Talde encourages home cooks to make his recipe their own. “Everything’s a riff, right?” he reasons. “You don’t like pork? Do it with beef. You don’t like beef? Do it with turkey or chicken. It’s awesome with that. Do it with brown tofu.”
The dish gains nuance and depth from an array of spices and condiments, many of them specialty Asian ingredients such as Szechuan peppercorns, toban djan (a spicy salty paste of chiles and fermented beans) and shaoxing wine (made from rice). Look for these at Asian groceries or specialty food markets, but if you can’t find them, he says, it’s no big deal. Swapping in black peppercorns won’t ruin this dish; neither will Sriracha or plain white wine. The resulting flavors will just be less funky and sweet. “I think people will see that they don’t have something and be like, ‘Oh, OK, I can’t make it.’ No! Cooking shouldn’t ever be that rigid. Philosophies and styles should never be that rigid.”
The most important element in the dish is the crispy sweet potatoes, which provide a textural contrast to the soft minced-pork gravy. Your best bet, he says, is actually to buy them frozen. “Frozen potato products always come out crunchier because they IQF [individual quick freeze] them,” he explains. “It draws moisture out and really, really gets them crunchy.” Look for sweet-potato wedges in the frozen-foods aisle. Follow the package instructions to thaw them before you sauté them.
If you’re going the home-cooked route with your sweet potatoes, he suggests washing, drying and slicing them the day before you plan to cook, then letting the wedges sit, uncovered, in the fridge overnight. This will dry them out a bit, helping them crisp up in the pan the next day.
In fact, Talde notes, if at some point in the future you make this with more than 48 hours before you intend to serve it, almost the entire dish can be made well in advance: “Make it a month ahead, whatever,” he says. “This thing freezes really well. It’s like chili.” You could make the pork gravy in advance, minus the tofu, then refrigerate it for a few days or freeze it for longer. Then, “Bring it up to a boil, get it ripping hot, put your tofu in. The tofu will break up, and then it’s warmed through.” Pan-fry your sweet potatoes, combine everything and you’re good to go.
He also has a tip for Thanksgiving day—no matter what you make. “My thing, especially when you’re cooking for a big group of people, is don’t ever turn the oven off. Because if that thing’s underdone—boop!” Into the oven it goes. And if you’re a good host, your guests probably won’t mind anyway: “‘Ah, guys, it’s gonna be another five minutes. Have another glass of wine.’”
To complement his bold cooking style, Talde typically goes for light- to medium-bodied, higher-acidity wines. To balance this dish, which he says is “more spiced than spicy,” he especially likes the juicy fruit core of the lively, fresh Viña Herminia Tempranillo Rioja Herminia 2014.
Talde likes having a couple white wines on the table as well. “That’s the fun part about wine, right? There’s not one right answer.” Grüner Veltliner is a go-to for him. “It’s light, it’s easy-drinking,” he says. And for a palate-cleanser, “If you can get Txakoli, it’s perfect. That effervescence shuts it all off, it turns the spice off, and then it gets you ready for the next bite. It’s made for this kind of food.”
If you’re going for extra Friendsgiving credit and want to bring a side dish to balance the pork and sweet potatoes, he suggests a light, refreshing smashed cucumber salad, a classic Szechuan complement to hearty foods. Cucumbers are cut into matchsticks, smashed lightly with a rolling pin or the back of a chef’s knife, and then salted and drained. Talde adds a simple dressing (play around with rice-wine vinegar, soy sauce and a pinch of sugar), along with shaved sweet-tart apples, such as Pink Lady, and herbs like cilantro, basil and mint.
And when it comes down to it, he concedes, “I would make a pot of rice. Hell, yeah. Pot of rice would be really good with this.” Sometimes a side of tradition has its charms.
For the sweet potatoes:
For the pork:
1. Place sweet potatoes in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Cover with cold water and add salt. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook until al dente but not soft, about 5 minutes. Drain and let cool. Optional: Transfer to refrigerator and chill, uncovered, overnight.
2. In a sauté pan, add the vegetable oil, and heat over medium. Place the cooled sweet potatoes on a cutting board and crush lightly with the back of a chef’s knife. Add the Szechuan pepper and black pepper to the pan, followed by the sweet potatoes, working in batches if necessary. Fry the sweet potatoes, flipping once, until brown and crispy on each side. Remove from the pan and drain on paper towels.
3. In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. Stir to incorporate and set aside.
4. Coat a Dutch oven with vegetable oil or canola oil and heat over medium-low. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for 30 seconds, until just fragrant. Add Asian five-spice powder and cook, stirring, just for 5 seconds or so. Add toban djan, increase heat to medium and add shaoxing wine, then add ground pork, breaking up with a spoon and stirring to coat with the toban djan mixture. Cook until pork is cooked through, stirring occasionally, about 10 to 12 minutes. Add soy sauce and chile oil. Cook, stirring, until some of the liquid has been absorbed, about 2 minutes. Turn off heat and cover to keep warm.
5. Drain off any accumulated water from the tofu and scatter tofu evenly over the pork. Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Let cook for 20 minutes. Add cornstarch slurry and sugar, and simmer for another 5 minutes, until thickened slightly. Taste for seasoning. Check sweet potatoes; if necessary, set burner on medium-low to rewarm.
Make ahead: Pork mixture will keep, minus the tofu, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month. Reheat over medium-low, then add tofu and cook until warmed through.
6. Plate one of two ways: classic disco fries–style, by scattering some sweet potatoes on each plate and topping with pork, or restaurant-style, by spreading pork on each plate and topping with sweet potatoes. Garnish with scallions. Serves 8.
Note: The following list is a selection of outstanding and very good red and white wines from recently rated releases. More options can be found in our Wine Ratings Search.
BODEGAS ONTAÑON Tempranillo-Garnacha Rioja Crianza 2015
This red is fresh and firm, with dusty cocoa, underbrush and licorice notes framing the black cherry and red currant fruit. Keen acidity and well-integrated tannins give this focus. Drink now through 2027. 10,000 cases made.
BODEGAS VIVANCO Rioja Crianza 2014
This plump red has a sweet core of ripe cherry and plum fruit, with leafy, cedar, toast and vanilla accents. Bright, juicy acidity and light tannins give this focus. Lively and harmonious. Tempranillo. Drink now through 2024. 60,000 cases made.
EL COTO DE RIOJA Rioja Coto de Imaz Reserva 2014
Light and crisp, this graceful red delivers cherry, berry, leafy and loamy earth flavors in a supple texture, with light tannins and orange peel acidity that give way to a spicy finish. Drink now through 2024. 100,000 cases made.
CUNE Rioja Viña Real Crianza 2015
Cherry and orange peel flavors show a bright, sweet-tart character in this red. Firm underlying tannins and lively acidity give this structure, while vanilla and spice notes linger on the finish. Drink now through 2025. 5,000 cases imported.
BODEGAS LAN Rioja Crianza 2014
This juicy red offers bright cherry, berry and sweet vanilla flavors, with spice and leafy accents. Citrusy acidity focuses the plush, gentle texture. Graceful and gentle. Drink now through 2020. 96,000 cases made.
FORSTREITER Grüner Veltliner Niederösterreich Grooner 2016
There’s a nice balance here between the peach and apple fruit and the herb and grassy flavors. This is harmonious too, leaving a fresh impression. Drink now through 2023. 3,500 cases imported.
SCHLOSS GOBELSBURG Grüner Veltliner Kamptal 2016
An aromatic style, boasting lilac and freesia accents. Apple and grapefruit notes prevail as this elegant white winds down on the graceful finish. Drink now through 2023. 3,700 cases imported.
DOMÄNE WACHAU Grüner Veltliner Federspiel Wachau Terrassen 2017
Elegant and well-balanced, with flavors of apple and dried apricot and hints of fleur de sel, all supported by firm acidity. Remains focused on the finish, ending with flinty, spicy notes. Drink now through 2020. 42,000 cases made.
ERREKALDE Hondarrabi Zuri Getariako Txakolina Saline 2017
This snappy white delivers bright citrusy flavors accented by briny and light herbal notes, powered by racy acidity and a light spritz. Very fresh, and shows some breadth. Drink now. 14,000 cases made.
ETXANIZ TXAKOLINA Getariako Txakolina Txomin Etxaniz Getaria 2017
This white shows the rapier acidity and mineral profile characteristic of the type, but offers broader flavors of apple and ginger that add depth, if also a touch of rusticity. Drink now. 7,500 cases made.
Clear pumpkin pie, roast turkey, mashed potatoes and the perfect pie crust: Thanksgiving dinner tips you’ve been searching for.