Is Serving Prosecco "Slumming It?"

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My friend, Jenny Johnson, puts creative spins on classic desserts on her monthly blog, Vintage Sugarcube. This month, in her entry, Too Poor for Couture, she asks readers if they have, "Champagne taste on a Prosecco budget?"

The question took me back a bit. On the one hand, Prosecco DOES cost less than Champagne. A good Prosecco can be found for around $15 to $20 (Mionetto Il Proseco, Le Colture Prosecco di Valdobbiadene Brut, Le Colture Prosecco di Valdobbiadene NV, etc...), whereas it's easy to drop $50 on a bottle of Champagne Fleury Fleur de L'Europe Brut NV, or $80 on a single bottle of Vouette & Sorbee Fidele 2008. Therefore, the question as stated, is based on a fiscal reality.

Beneath that reality though, lies the supposition that Champagne is a superior wine variety to Prosecco. I'm not positive such a premise can be accepted as fact across the board. While it may be true that, before the 1960s, Proseccos had earned a reputation for being sweet wines which lacked complexity, most of today's offerings fall into the; Dry, Extra Dry, or Brut; categories.

Perhaps, the tight definition of Champagne has added to its air of exclusivity. In order to be labeled Champagne, a wine must be a sparkling white wine made from a blend of grapes, especially Chardonnay and Pinot, via the Méthode Champenoise, produced in the Champagne region of France. Meanwhile, Prosecco has historically been a sparkling white wine made from the Prosecco grape via the Charmat Method, produced anywhere in the world.

That changed on August 1st of 2009, when the EU renamed the Prosecco grape as the Glera grape and strictly redefined Prosecco wine as, "a sparkling white wine from the Veneto region of NE Italy, made from the Glera grape via the Charmat Method." Producers making sparkling wine, from the Glera grape, outside of the Veneto region, now have to use the alternative name for the grape, Glera, on their label instead of Prosecco.

With its label being as tightly regulated as Champagne's, and the boost in quality over the last 50 years, one has to wonder why the disparity in price, and perceived quality, still persists? Granted, the Méthode Champenoise is more labor intensive than the Charmat Method, which explains a portion of the difference.  Yet, demand tends to dictate price more than production costs do, these days.  This leads me to think the answer has to do with tradition, more than other factors.

Think about it.  We didn't grow up seeing James Bond and Maurice Chevalier popping corks on bottles of Prosecco. Randall Jarrell's poem, entitled "Losses" didn't talk about, "A toast to her in Prosecco from her slipper." To my knowledge, Fred Astaire never used a Prosecco bucket & stand as a dance partner. No, it was all Champagne, Champagne, Champagne.

As, Champagne became our mental template for sparkling wine, Italian Prosecco, Spanish Cava, German Sekt, and the semi-sparkling Moscato D'Asti became thought of as "not Champagne." "Not Champagne," came to mean "less than Champagne" in our collective unconscious, which kept demand, and thus prices, low. Since decreased demand for Prosecco and increased demand for Champagne are the results of popular perception, price can no longer be seen as a lone indicator of quality.

Toasting 2012 with a Prosecco won't mean you're slumming it. It'll simply show you're savvy enough to take advantage of market conditions by enjoyong a quality sparkling wine for a fraction of the price of many Champagnes.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!
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Bonus:
No matter which sparkling wine you toast the New Year with, Jenny Meier's piece, Five Cheeses to Pair With Sparkling Wine, will help you choose a nice cheese to accompany your beverage.
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A Chef's Christmas by Anthony Bourdain: Review

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The crew at Restaurant Saint Germain find themselves miserable on Christmas Eve. Once a culinary hot spot, which could easily afford to let the bartender skim a hundred dollars from the till each night, the restaurant now sits as a lonely reminder of past glory. Even Executive Chef Rob Holland (the world's sexiest chef), has been a stranger lately to his own kitchen. This December 24th, the empty dining room of Restaurant Saint Germain serves as a constant reminder that the crew will soon be hunting for new jobs.

However, every good Christmas story features, at least the possibility of, a Christmas miracle. Just as things look their bleakest, will a feverishly made tasting menu consisting of; a torchon of foie gras, cornmeal blinis with shavings of homemade gravlax and Beluga caviar, lobster ravioli with white truffles and a morel sauce, sweetbreads crisped in duck fat, and other truly inspired dishes; made by Chef Rob Holland, be enough to save the dying eatery, or will it be Restaurant Saint Germain's proverbial last supper?

Originally published as a thirty page bonus story within Anthony Bourdain's 2006 book, "The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps, and Bones," "A Chef's Christmas" is available, by itself, as an hour long unabridged audiobook, read by the author. While this work of fiction is a rare departure from Bourdain's culinary non-fiction genre; the only other work of fiction, to my knowledge, being the murder mystery "Bone in the Throat;" "A Chef's Christmas" contains elements one would expect find within one of his books.

Filled with accounts of back kitchen shenanigans and vivid descriptions of world-class gourmet cuisine, "A Chef's Christmas" is unapologetically told through the mastered use of a colorfully raw vocabulary, which would embarrass many seasoned sailors and Teamsters. Anthony Bourdain's hardcore fans have come to accept, and even look forward to his brazenly crass writing style, possibly because it comes across as uncensored and therefor honest. Plus, referring to a Christmas tree salesman as an "inbred mother*&$%er" humorously sets the story apart from other works of the Christmas miracle genre, such as; "A Christmas Carol," "It's A Wonderful Life." or "Miracle On 34th Street."

Basically, if you're a reader/listener who can be excited by depictions of top-notch epicurean delights, and you can accept a certain degree of vulgarity without being offended, then "A Chef's Christmas" by Anthony Bourdain may be a welcome addition to your Christmas library. Personally, I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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*Described dishes are linked to recipes for similar fare, and listed gourmet ingredients; gravlax, Beluga caviar, and white truffles; are linked to definitions and further information. Recipes may not reflect the way Anthony Bourdain would prepare the dish in question.
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Enjoy Ye Butter While Ye May

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I was dozing to the news last night, when I saw a story on the current Norwegian butter shortage. Apparently, the people of Norway have been on such an extreme low carb kick, that the demand for the creamy condiment has skyrocketed. The increase in demand, coupled with a weather related decrease in dairy production, has lead to a notable absence of butter on Norwegian grocery shelves.

The absence of butter is being felt especially hard right now, because butter is the key ingredient in their traditional Christmas Pudding.

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NORWEGIAN CHRISTMAS PUDDING
Servings 6

1lb Butter
2 cups Water
6 tbsp Flour + 1 1/4 cups Flour
6 cups Milk
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Beaten egg
2 tsp Sugar
Cinnamon to taste

Melt butter & water, bring to a boil for 5 minutes, add 6 tablespoons flour, stir in with a whisk. Wait a few minutes & remove the fat that comes out (this is used later). Add 1 1/4 cups flour & stir again, add milk which has been heated, use electric mixer to keep it from getting lumpy. while beating, add salt, egg & sugar. Put in crock pot to keep warm with the skimmed fat poured over pudding & add sugar & cinnamon.

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The public's clamoring for butter has created a black market for the dairy based spread. Anyone in Norway can buy a pound of butter for $32.00, six times the normal price, provided they have no qualms about dealing with elements of organized crime.

Although I'm a food enthusiast, I probably would have forgotten this story, once I fell asleep, if I hadn't already been wrestling a buttery issue of my own. As shocking as it seems, at the ripe age of 41, I have a ponch around my middle. Parish the thought.

Keep in mind, I'm far from what any objective person would call obese, I simply have some tummy flab. OK, my most recent blood work came back with my Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels a few points higher than the accepted ideal. In response, my doctor sent my a list of foods to avoid, including;

Untrimmed fatty red meats,

Goose & duck meats,

Bacon,

Organ meats,

Processed meats,

Eggs,

Butter and lard,

Foods with tropical oils (such as coconut, palm, or palm kernel),

Whole milk,

Whole milk yogurt,

Cheeses,

and Ice cream.

With this, and the ponch, in mind, my mother is "encouraging" me to join her on The Mediterranean Diet after the New Year. And yes, even at 41 years of age one's mother can still wield quite a bit of encouragement in one direction or another.

The Mediterranean Diet focuses on fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, seafood, yogurt, olive oil, and small amounts of wine. I've weighed the options; keeping in mind my current low salt regimen, which has already lowered my blood pressure; and I've decided to be careful, but not to cut out any foods.

My doctor's plan allows me healthy processed cereals but no eggs, whereas The Mediterranean Diet allows eggs but no processed cereals. That basically leaves me with oatmeal for breakfast, which I couldn't choke down if Joe Rogan was standing over me with a million dollars in prize money.

No, I'm convinced moderation is the key to health. While eating and drinking anything to excess is stupidly unhealthy, I'm convinced low-salt butter, cheese, eggs, salami, steak, etc... can be elements of a healthy eating plan. Does that mean I can have; eggs, bacon, sausage, and brie on toast; for breakfast, a burger & fries for lunch, and a steak for dinner each day? OF COURSE NOT! However, I can have Special K & fruit for breakfast, and reasonable lunches a dinners 5 or 6 days a week, splurge a bit on the weekends, and be reasonably healthy. As far as that goes, when I have dinners with my mother, I can totally eat her Mediterranean meals, I like fish.

Will I lose my ponch doing it my way? No, but I most likely won't lose it anyway, it's simply a sign of age for many men. Since, I'll NEVER be mistaken for Charles Atlas under any eating plan, I choose to partake of reasonable delicious foods, including butter while I can. After all, just like the Norwegians, we may wake up one day and discover it's too late to enjoy our favorites.

Carpe Diem my friends! :-)

Recipe prints as one page by itself (page 2).
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