This week Michelle and I had a great Ethiopean dinner at Meskel, in Seattle. We used to go to Kokeb for Ethiopean fairly regularly, but they closed several years ago, and we hadn't really found (or looked for a replacement.) But, when we came across a recommendation for Meskel in this month's issue of Seattle Metropolitan. we figured it had been too long since we scratched our Ethiopean itch.

We were right. I'd forgotten how good Ethiopean food is. The slow cooked veggies and stews eaten with the spongey injera bread were fantastic. The Ethiopean beer and wine were reasonable matches with the food. Of course, the best part was the injera that was under the food on the communal plate, soaking up all the great flavors. Soggy with spice, it's always my favorite part of an Ethiopean meal.

The restaurant itself is in a house in the Central District; it is bright and airy as was the service. A good place; I'm sure we'll be back again.

Meskel
2605 E. Cherry Street
Seattle
206-860-1724

Throughout this blog, I've been using both spellings interchangably, but this kind of inconsistency drives me crazy. So, here's the word from Wikipedia (which also matches what I've read elsewhere):

The spelling whisky (plural whiskies) is generally used for those distilled in Scotland, Wales, Canada, and Japan, while whiskey (with an e; plural whiskeys) is used for the spirits distilled in Ireland and in the United States as well. A 1968 BATF directive specifies "whisky" as the official U.S. spelling, but allows labeling as "whiskey" in deference to tradition, and most U.S. producers still use the latter spelling. A mnemonic used to remember which spelling is used is that "Ireland" and "United States" have at least one "e" in their names, while "Scotland," "Canada" and "Japan" do not. International law reserves the term "Scotch whisky" to those whiskies produced in Scotland; Scottish law specifies that the whisky must be aged for a minimum of three years, in oak casks. Whiskies produced in other countries in the Scotch style must use another name. Similar conventions exist for "Irish whiskey," "Canadian whisky," and "Bourbon Whiskey." In North America, as well as in Continental Europe the abbreviated term "Scotch" is usually used for "Scotch Whisky." In England, Scotland, and Wales, the term "Whisky" almost always refers to "Scotch Whisky", and the term "Scotch" is rarely used by itself. The Welsh version is wysgi (though the forms chwisgi and wisgi also exist).

So there, more than you ever wanted to know. I will try to use the correct spelling depending on which country produced the stuff and will use the whisky spelling for the generic in deference to the original. Besides, I'm an American and Lord knows I'd hate to run afoul of the BATF... Guns, alcohol, and tobacco. My guys.

You can all rest easy tonight.

I'm sitting here enjoying a glass of Balantines 17 year (one of my very favorite blends, as I blogged about before) and nibbling on two Nestle Crunch chocolate Easter eggs I pilfered from the kids (sshhh, don't tell). OMG, it's lovely. Chocolate and Scotch is fantastic. I'm normally a chocolate and port or chocolate and Bordeaux guy, but this may very well be the best chocolate pairing.

I'm also learning to love Scotch and food pairings. It's a bit unusual for some people I think to consider Scotch paired with food, but as I mentioned, whisky and oysters are fab. I also think whisky is great with sushi. Smoked salmon, of course, is a natural.

I'll have to start working out more detailed pairings (like the Lagavulin and oysters). My work is never done...

I've been meaning to write about the Scotch Malt Whisky Society for a while now. The SMWS is a club based Scotland with branches around the world including the US. They purchases entire casks of whisky and then bottles them for a their members. This is unique in a few ways.

First, normally a bottle single malt scotch is comprised of whisky from many casks blended together; the only stipulation is that they need to come from the same distiller, otherwise it's a blended or vatted malt (blended can contain grain alcohol; vatted is typically pure malt). This blending allows the producer to create a consistent product year to year. However, any given cask could be very unique, sometimes very different from the regional or house style.

Second, the bottles are shipped at cask strength. This means they are not cut down with water to 80 proof like most whisky. This allows the true flavor of the whisky to come through and some would say preserves the whisky. You have to be careful with cask strength whisky though. The nose can burn your nose when you nose the scotch (love the three uses of nose) and the scotch is quite strong. I commonly will nose and taste it at full strength first, then cut it down with water, revealing new flavors and aromas plus making it less toxic.

Finally, the SMWS often finds casks from distillers that are no longer in business. It's interesting to get a bit of history in a bottle.

Anyway, as much as I love the whisky, I think I enjoy the descriptions of the bottles in the tasting notes. They are funny, evocative, and often useless but almost always fun to read. Here's a blurb from a recent mailing:

The most easterly of the Islay distilleries has a reputation for big smoke (the old maltings had no fans, allowing the smoke to penetrate the barley more). This sample is pale gold from the first refill barrel. The nose seems gentle compared to previous experience - plastic chairs by a swimming pool, putty, menthol, and some soap. Water brings the addition of paint tins, resin, and maritime notes. The nose might be youthful and temperate, but the taste is grown up and powerful - sweet tar, Germoline, pine forests, and lightly smoky with a dry finish; cooler with water. An angel wearing Doc Martins.

Mmm, paint tins...

In addition to the bottles, SMWS has tasting events around the world including Seattle (although I missed the one that just happened) and club houses complete with overnight rooms in Scotland and England. I'll have to try those out sometime.

It's a great way to try some really interesting whisky. If you're into whisky, I highly recommend it.

Oh my. Must try this.

Selfridges (a department store in London) is offering this amazing sounding sandwich. According to the BBC article:
The ingredients of the sandwich are: Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras, black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit and English plum tomatoes.

According to the Selfridges site (which contradicts the BBC, but is most likely correct since it's their damn sandwich), for £100 you get the sandwich, some "spice dusted tortilla chips" and a mini bottle of Moet. Quite a bargain...

Unfortunately, this "deal" only runs through April 17. I don't think I'm going to make it to London before then.

Oh well.

I had a delectable treat last night -- Lagavulin 16 year Scotch whisky and Penn Cove oysters. The smoky, iodine flavors of the Lagavulin were perfect with the rich, salty, sweet oysters.

Simply fantastic.

I've blogged before about the advantages of eating locally, especially via the coop farm we belong to, the Root Connection.

Life Begins at 30 published a pretty good list of reasons why it's advantageous to eat locally as well. Some of the arguments are stronger than others, but it's a good list anyway. Perhaps more interesting is the "Eat Local Challenge" he espouses. January in Seattle might not be the best time to start this challenge, but it's an interesting idea. I'll have to think about it.

10 reasons to eat local food

I just opened a bottle of The Macallan Fine Oak - 10 Years Old single malt Scotch whisky (thanks to Felicity for getting this for me in New York.) Yum.

The Fine Oak line is very different from the other Macallan whiskies. This is a delicate whisky with a very light color -- quite a contrast from the darker, very sherried taste that defines the Macallan palate to me. Like the other Macallans, however, the Fine Oak has very little smokey/peaty flavor.

It's a very tasty sip. I'm one glass into the bottle, and I'm already excited to try the other bottles in the Fine Oak line-up, especially the 15 year old, to see the difference. Fun, fun, fun.

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...and not just because my brother moved there.

Banning foie gras? Really? Seems like an arbitrary line to draw. We do lots of horrendous things to animals in the name of food, ones that I consider even greater crimes.

For instance, in the interest of having a picture perfect turkey breast (and none of that scary dark meat that most Americans view as just a step above eating brains), we've bred the life out of the turkey to the point where most commercial turkeys are so screwed up they can't mate (they're artificially inseminated), their aortas rupture randomly, and they're so dumb they really do drown in the rain. We treat them, well, like animals to the point where farmers need to clip turkey beaks because they'll peck each other to death in their crowded conditions otherwise. But, because the Thanksgiving turkey is a sacrosanct part of American culture and broadly eaten, the Chicaco city council wouldn't dream of taking on that industry. If we're not careful, we may completely lose entire strains of "heritage" turkeys in the face of the mono culture of these horrible American White turkeys. More on this at Slow Food USA.

Even worse is the practice of shark finning. This where fishermen catch sharks, chop the valuable fin off, and then throw the still-living shark back in the water to drown. Although this practice makes economic sense to the fishermen, it's an incredible waste and incredibly cruel. What's more, it allows for a much broader massacre of sharks, which reproduce very slowly. The environmental carnage is incredible. Fortunately, this practice is now banned for American boats and in American waters. Disneyland Hong Kong also backed down in the face of public pressure and will not offer shark fin soup in the park.

Perhaps a greater crime against nature, though, are Smucker's Uncrustables. Frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Really? I'm shocked and appalled that anyone would consider making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches too hard or too much work. Instructions too complicated? Too time consuming? Ingredients too exotic, too hard to find, too expensive? WTF. (OK, this was a bit off tangent, but I've wanted to get that rant off my chest for a while.)

I'm certainly not against eating meat, but I would propose a few principles:

• Use the whole animal. Waste is disrespectful to nature and the animal and just stupid on our part.
• Eat only what the ecosystem can sustain. It's incredibly short-sighted to eat species into exinction. (For instance, check out the FishWise list to see what kinds of fish are harvested from sustainable fisheries.)
• Eat real food, not genetic freaks. Specifically, eat naturally produced genetic strains of meat and vegetables. They taste better, can be more nutritious, and are generally better suited for their local environments. This action may also slow the loss of genetic diversity in our food supply.
• Eat organically produced meat and veggies. The chemicals in the food are certainly not good for us and is very likely bad, plus the food is generally less nutritious. Furthermore, the Earth doesn't need more of our chemicals running off into streams or poisoning animals.

I hate grandstanding and arbitrary bans like the one being considered in Chicago. If you want to change the world, have a set of principles and then go apply them consistently. Anything else is random and ultimately ineffective.

I had an insanely great lunch Tuesday at Salumi with my friend and colleague Will. Salumi is a shop/restaurant in Seattle that makes and cures their own cured meats -- salami, prosciutto, etc. In addition to the cured meats, they do hot foods at the shop as well -- melt-in-your-mouth porchetta, meatballs to die for, grilled cured meats, and great looking sandwiches.

Will and I shared a hot plate and a cold plate, giving us a "skipper's platter" tour of the offerings. The range of tastes was amazing, from the spicy hot soprasatta to the silky culatello to the meaty meat balls slathered in a robust tomato sauce. I was stuffed pretty quickly, but I kept eating for the sheer pleasure of it. They make gnocchi on Tuesdays too, but there was simply no way I could physically take that on too; I'll just have to come back.

The shop itself is tiny, really just a food line and a few communal tables. The co-founder and "Principal Salumist", Dino Batali, is the father of Food Network's Mario Batali. I guess it runs in the family. I also got to meet Will's dad, Bill, who is a co-owner; he was a very warm guy who really seems to enjoy the restaurant.

If you're in Seattle, run, don't walk to Salumi. (Note, they're only open from 11:00am-4:00pm Tuesday-Friday.) If you're not in Seattle, come and try it out or order a taste from their website. I bought a little coppa, lamb prosciutto, and hot sopressata for home; I think I'll have a little snickity snack right now. Ciao...