Portland Culinary Alliance

PCA members and guests got their Dungeness crab fix Thursday night at a delicious Dungeness crab event put on for us by McCormick & Schmick’s Harborside Restaurant and the Oregon Dungeness Crab Commission. Although it’s true that you can never have too much Dungeness crab (the food of the gods — in Oregon, anyway), a lot of attendees had to ask the servers to bring a doggy — er, a crabby bag to carry home what was left of a whole crab.

And that was after sampling generous portions of crab croquette, crab-mango salad and crab cakes. Oh, and shall we talk about the appetizers? Smoked salmon, loks, scallops, shrimp, calamari, clams . . . am I forgetting anything?

Nick Furman, executive director of the Dungeness Crab Commission, had to talk over the roar of the Happy Hour that was in full swing directly below us. But in a strong voice fortified by years of eating crab, he shared with us that the crab harvest in recent years has been terrific. News reports that it was in trouble after the season opened December 1 applied only to the ocean waters off of California. There the haul has been somewhat slight. In Oregon, the crab supply is ample.

One reason for that, Nick said, is that Oregon’s commercial crab fishermen are sticklers about following the rules concerning sex, size and season. In other words, they don’t catch crab outside of the official season, which lasts through mid-August, with the peak during the first few months; they don’t keep the females, which are left to do their job of reproducing; and they don’t keep crabs smaller than 6-1/4″ wide.

Nick also showed us a video about crab processing. After watching the speedy processors, who can remove crab meat from shell in seconds flat, we all seemed to agree that cracking crab should be a leisurely pursuit. With plastic bibs around our necks and nutcrackers in hand, we dug into our whole crabs at our own pace. Volcano fudge cake and vanilla ice cream awaited as the dessert. Just before dessert was when most people requested a crabby bag.

Thanks, McCormick & Schmick’s and thanks, Nick Furman, for a delicious and educational program.

Cookies are wonderful treats any time of the year, but there’s something about cookie baking during the holiday season that enhances their tastiness. Mix the specialness of holiday cookies with bite-size confections created by the Two Tarts, and you’ve got a recipe for some very cheery chewing.

The Two Tarts are Anna Phelps and Elizabeth Beekley. After building a loyal clientele at the Portland Farmers Market with their exquisite cookies, they recently opened their own Two Tarts Bakery at 2309 NW Kearney St.

On the evening of Dec. 7, PCA members had the pleasure of watching Elizabeth (the baker) and Anna (the master marketer) prepare Hazelnut Tassies and Cashew Shortbread in the kitchen classroom of In Good Taste. Check out this video of Elizabeth making Hazelnut Tassies.

Our hostess, Barbara Dawson, PCA’s secretary and co-owner with her husband Matt of In Good Taste, contributed to the holiday cheer by serving everyone flutes of sparkling wine. The Tarts passed trays of some of their best sellers: peanut butter creams, cappuccino creams, graham crackers dipped in chocolate, marionberry linzers and chocolate chip fleur de sel.

As Elizabeth baked and Anna gave us information about their business, they both shared tips on favorite ingredients (Freddy Guys hazelnuts, Schokinag chocolate, Cremerie Classique butter) and gadgets. There followed a run on In Good Taste’s supply of pastry stampers, wooden dowels resembling cocktail muddlers, used for pressing dough into cup shapes in muffin tins (a technique used in making the tassies). Favorite cookbooks they mentioned were the Macrina Bakery & Cafe Cookbook from the famed Seattle bakery, and BakeWise by Shirley O. Corriher, which is available at In Good Taste.

Anna and Elizabeth said there are no timers in their bakery kitchen; they use their noses and their fingers to determine when a cookie is done baking. When they press a cookie’s center to see if it springs back, they’re careful to try a cookie that’s in the middle of the cookie sheet or pan.

When the Tarts concluded their demonstration, the PCA members in attendance unveiled their own cookie offerings. We set out an assortment of cookies that we brought for a cookie exchange. Then we and the Tarts strolled along the counter to fill our boxes with more tasty treats. Our tummies were already full of the Two Tarts delicious creations, but at the holidays or any time, you can never have too many cookies. Also, Barbara Dawson sent us all home with goodie bags with kitchen gadgets that will come in handy the next time we bake up some cookies. Since we were all inspired by the Two Tarts, that will probably be quite soon.

For our annual dinner this year, a lively group of PCA members and guests descended upon Belly restaurant for an evening filled with great food, wine, and a few special treats in store.

The evening began with passed appetizers from our hosts. Favorites included creamed braising greens and grana padano tartlets and a modern riff on “fish n’ chips” of a house potato chip topped with tuna tartar.

Soon, we were asked to take our wine to a table in the dining room, after which Susan Hauser welcomed us and recapped the year on our new mike system. Our proud president remarked on successes such as our hugely popular and educational Pathways to a Culinary Career event held this November. She also reported that our membership has grown this year, thanks to dedicated member referrals and the few events we’ve opened to the public that have attracted multiple new members.

With the business complete, the games began. Susan and Vice President Lota LaMontagne hosted a foodie trivia game in which we all participated in hopes of winning great prizes. They ranged from a gift basket from Bob’s Red Mill to a consultation with LAD Communications. The members who won were thrilled with their prizes, and still buzzing about them as the staff began serving dinner.

We greatly enjoyed Chef Cameron Addy’s homestyle cooking, showcased in a first course celery soup with a smoked trout salad garnish, and in an entrée of fork tender pork osso bucco served with a cannellini bean bacon ragout and mustard fennel slaw. While he cooked, his wife Linda took good care of everyone, refilling our wine glasses and leading a team of great servers throughout the night.

Between dinner and dessert, we held the annual gift exchange before tucking into pieces of warm pear spice cake and toasting another great year for the PCA.

On a gorgeous fall day last weekend, a dozen or so PCA members made the trip to Panther Creek Cellars in McMinnville for an afternoon focused primarily on Pinot noir.

The PCA’s wine liason and host, Ron Kaplan, greeted guests with a tour of the facilities and commentary on the winemaking process as we watched it unfold before our own eyes. Ron satisfied our curiosity about how grapes go from vineyard to bottle by answering our numerous questions, and also shared a bit of history about Panther Creek, one of Oregon’s most established Pinot Noir producers.

After such an in depth conversation about winemaking, we were eager to taste. In the airy tasting room and winemaking facility, we sat down before a lovely spread of artisan meats and local cheeses and started sipping. Ron opened many bottles of Panther Creek Pinot, each made using grapes from one of the various vineyard sites they source their grapes from. Sipping the different wines side by side, we began to understand how greatly the region’s terroir influences the flavor and characteristics of each bottling. We compared tasting ‘notes’ on the spot and found that most everyone had their own favorite wine.

Next, Ron invited winemaker Michael Stevenson and assistant winemaker Bill Hanson to take a break from the harvest to come speak with us about their work at Panther Creek. They shared their thoughts on the wine we’d just tasted, responded to our questions about the winemaking process and lifestyle, and even gave us some pointers on other great area producers to sample from. And as a surprise, they invited us to try their lesser-known chardonnay to finish off the afternoon tasting. The wine had beautiful green apple aromas, cleansed our palate, and - for at least two guests - convinced them to buy their first ever bottle of chardonnay.

Eager PCA members gathered together last night at the Oregon Culinary Institute for an informative program about honey bees, the beekeeping industry, and that golden nectar itself. Beekeeper George Hansen of Foothills Honey Company in Colton welcomed us with a glass of mead, the alcoholic beverage made by fermenting honey with yeast. As we sipped, Hansen shared with us his work as a beekeeper of more than 30 years.

Following Hansen’s talk, students from the Oregon Culinary Institute paid the classroom a visit and shared the story behind the many honey-infused desserts they’d prepared for us that evening. Among them were a moist honey apple cake and addictive honey walnut crisps.

Enjoying the rare opportunity to have dessert before dinner, we filled our plates with these honey-sweetened treats and settled in to watch the evening’s film, Pollen Nation. Hansen makes an appearance in this film, which discusses the role of bees and the important work of beekeepers. Additionally, the film provided us with some background on the challenges of beekeeping and the need to make sure the industry continues to grow and thrive.

One such beekeeping challenge is solving the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder. This disorder has many potential causes, and threatens to disrupt the bee industry and our nation’s agriculture industry as well. (For more information on this mysterious disorder, be sure to read PCA President Susan Hauser’s article, The Mystery of the Missing Honey Bees, in this month’s Northwest Palate magazine.)

After a Q + A session with Hansen and a honey tasting, we departed, armed with fresh knowledge about bees and a gift bag from the National Honey Board filled with everything from a honey cookbook to coupons for Haagen-Daz honey bee ice cream.

PCA members got a taste of some Oregon superlatives at a special Oregon Bounty program August 17 with an emphasis on craft distillers: Oregon has the only distillers guild in the country (17 members so far), Oregon is second only to California in the number of craft distilleries (20 so far), and Portland’s Distillers Row has more distilleries (7) within walking distance of any other neighborhood in the world, and that includes Scotland and Kentucky!

On top of all that, Portland’s Integrity Spirits was just the second distillery in the U.S. to produce absinthe, the mysterious anise flavored drink known as the Green Fairy, after an almost century-long ban was lifted last year.

Integrity Spirits, at Southeast Ninth and Yamhill, hosted the event. Distilleries from all over the state, 12 in all, displayed their spirits and offered tastes of artisan gin, vodka, rum, whisky, liqueur and, of course, absinthe.

After a tour of the distillery to learn something of the distilling process, members and guests sampled a variety of spirits, including some lip-smacking flavored vodkas redolent with the fragrance of berries and herbs.

Absinthe got the most attention, however. We watched as drops of water dripping from an antique water dispenser, made especially for absinthe drinkers, turned the spirit cloudy, or, as the French say, louche. The herbal and licorice fragrance was, well, intoxicating. To finish off the event, chefs from the neighboring Green Dragon Ale House & Bistro served absinthe ice cream with whole cinnamon sticks as spoons.

Connect with your PCA community on Linked In!

Being a professional member of the Portland Culinary Alliance, you already know that the food and beverage community in Portland is the place to be. Now you can showcase your support of the organization with your professional connections on Linked In (www.linkedin.com) by becoming a member of the new PCA group! From your Linked In profile page, click on “Groups” at the left and enter “Portland Culinary Alliance” in the search box at the top right. Click on the link to join the group and you’ll be all set!

Thanks to Jennifer Fields for setting up the group.

About 40 members and guests showed up at Dan and Susie Wilson’s Canby farm for our annual summer potluck picnic on July 27. An accident on I-5 delayed many guests but almost everyone was present (and hungry) when the lamb was ready to be served.

Dan and Susie, who raise sheep for wool and for meat at their SuDan Farm, had a hand in every step of the lamb’s way to our fully laden picnic table. Dan and his friend Nick, a Portland surgeon, performed the operation to convert the beautifully roasted beast into bite-size pieces. For those unusual folk who don’t appreciate the taste of lamb, Dan also roasted a couple of chickens, following the time-tested recipe for beer-can chicken.

Early arrivals also enjoyed the appetizers cooked on the barbecue next to the large lamb spit. There were dates, dried prunes, goat cheese, slices of bacon and skewers for do-it-yourself roasted bacon-wrapped dates. Members’ contributions to the picnic table of appetizers, salads, casseroles and desserts (including home-made ice cream) rounded out our summer Sunday feast. A generous supply of beer was compliments of BridgePort Brewery.

After eating, we were all ready for a constitutional around the farm and Dan obliged by leading us on a tour. We visited the baby chicks and turkeys in the barn before traipsing across the field to meet adult chickens (roasters, as we called them behind their backs), heritage turkeys and ducks, as well as the pampered and lovely layers.

We found the fowl to be quite sociable and when we visited the sheep in the field and the feeding shelters we were greeted by a chorus of friendly bleats. We didn’t tell them that we had just consumed No. 1220. (Dan said only the wool-bearing sheep have names, which was a relief for the sentimental lamb noshers.)

Many heartfelt thanks to Dan and Susie for hosting a perfectly lovely picnic on a perfect summer day!

We could have spent another day exploring some of the venerable natural foods manufacturers that have been thriving in Eugene for decades. As it was, we filled Friday, June 20, to the brim with great experiences of touring and tasting.

We convened in the conference room at Springfield Creamery, where Sue Kesey, her daughter Cheryl and Nancy Hamren (the Nancy of Nancy’s Yogurt) gave us a history of the business and the hippie serendipity that resulted in Nancy’s Yogurt. We had a tasting of all the products, which are all natural with no additives or preservatives. The creamy cottage cheese and the cream cheese were delightful revelations to those who had never tried them.

Next stop was Toby’s Family Foods, where we met Toby, whose product, tofu pate, was the result of creating a vegetarian sandwich filling for her kids that would help their lunches fit in with more traditional fare in the school cafeteria. A lot of people over the years have believed the tasty concoction was really egg salad. After a tour, Toby put on a fabulous spread (in both senses of the word) for us, sharing variations of tofu pate, as well as Genesis Juice.

After an enjoyable and delicious lunch we proceeded to Glory Bee Foods and marveled at their vast array of products — not just honey! We all enjoyed shopping at the retail store, buying beeswax candle making supplies, agave syrup, honey, olive oil and other items.

Our final tour of the day was at Golden Temple. We toured the production facility where cereal and granola is made and Yogi Tea is packaged. We enjoyed the potpourri of delicious odors. That evening we toasted a fabulous field trip with delicious cocktails and food at Bel Ami restaurant.

Those of us who stayed overnight spent the next morning at the Farmers Market and Saturday Market before meeting for lunch at Cafe Yumm! Mark and Maryann Beauchamp shared the story of their business with us. As with the other stories we’d heard during our Eugene field trip, it involved considerable serendipity, passion for good food and fun.

More Cheese, Please!

“Eat good cheese. Eat less of it. And Enjoy.”

That was the advice from Steve Jones, founder of Steve’s Cheese, and the host for Wednesday night’s Wine and Cheese Tasting; an exclusive event put on for the Portland Culinary Alliance. Teaming up with Dougal Reeves of Square Deal Wine Company, the two took a mix of 18 PCA members and their guests through the world of American cheese.

The theme of the evening’s cheeses was selected varieties of goat and sheep’s milk from small farmers throughout the U.S. who are making hormone-free and certified organic cheeses. The majority of those we sunk our teeth into was made from raw milk and had been aged 60 days or more prior to consumption (a legal requirement for serving raw cheese).

“Very stinky cheese,” “So soft,” “Creamy,” “Sweet, nutty, and salty,” “Can anyone else smell chocolate aromas in this cheese, or is it just me?” were just a few of the comments coming from the happy mouths and noses of those seated around the large, wooden table basking in the wide array of flavors that paired so perfectly with each chosen wine. “This wine really makes the flavor of the cheese pop,” said one patron enjoying our first combination: an Ampelidae Armance B sparkling white from the Loire Valley and Nancy’s Camembert cheese from Old Chatham dairy; the largest sheep’s milk dairy farm in the U.S.

As the evening moved along, the cheese continued to get passed around and our wine glasses seemed to continuously refill themselves, which, of course, paved the way for an entertaining evening of great conversation and sharing amongst all who were in attendance. We worked our way through seven more pairings that seemed to only get better.

Throughout the event Steve was asked many questions and showered us with his expertise in the world of cheese, selecting cheeses and preserving cheese. A few of his tips on cheese purchasing and storage:

1. Purchase your cheese in paper and avoid plastic wrap, which can impart a negative flavor on cheese.

2. Change the paper every three days.

3. It is ok to wrap the cheese in paper, and then tuck it into a plastic baggy or Tupperware container. This allows the cheese to breathe, but does not cause it to dry out.

4. Eat the cheese within three to five days if it’s a soft variety. Hard cheeses can last three to five weeks.

5. Parchment paper is a good option for storing as is wax paper.

6. Try to avoid the “cut and wrap” program – cheese that is already cut, wrapped tightly in plastic and placed on grocery store shelves for days. He also noted that Steve’s Cheese always cuts away the outer layer of a wedge of cheese each day if it’s been sitting in plastic prior to serving.

7. “Find a good cheese monger and come see us every three days,” Steve Jones.

For more information on Steve’s Cheese or Square Deal Wine Company, visit: http://www.stevescheese.biz or http://www.wineaccess.com/store/squaredeal/.

-Jennifer Fields