(Photo: The Shoal Grass Lodge's Beef Tenderloin with Benjamin Port Wine, portabello mushrooms and Peppercorn sauce. Not a bad looking entree, and I'm not terribly snobby about table settings, but what's up with the blue plate on that charger? Sheesh.)
Do you like port? I love port, but my appreciation of it has only developed in the last 5 years or so. I think that's because I always drank really cheap port before, which is kinda like pouring Ripple into some cough syrup. Kinda. I particularly like tawny ports, which unlike ruby ports, are aged more than two years, and up to 40. There are also white ports and vintage ports, but I like tawnys for the bang for the buck.
Ports pair beautifully with food, which is why you see them served with fruit and used in sauces. Cherries, blackberries, cranberries and pear, amongst others are magical with port.
I saw an article at Nation's Restaurant News written by Erica Duecy that put port into my mind again. Free registration required, so I'll get you drooling with some of the dishes the chefs in the article are featuring this month:
• Grill 23 in Boston, the slow-roasted beef tenderloin served over mashed potatoes with tawny-port-and-Stilton jus, according to chef Jay Murray. "It's the one item on our menu that has been a constant," Murray says of the $36 dish. "People just love it."• Hamersley's Bistro in Boston, chef Gordon Hamersley offers crispy duck confit with wilted Napa cabbage, toasted walnuts, Roquefort cheese and "port essence," as Hamersley calls it. The essence is a sauce made from reduced port and duck stock.
"Reducing the port gets rid of the alcohol and intensifies the fortified wine aspects, the sugariness and the rich berry flavors," Hamersley explains. The appetizer runs $17.
•A simple port reduction accents an entrée of golden chanterelle mushroom risotto when it is drizzled over the dish with green-chive oil at the new casual-neighborhood restaurant Filbert's in Portland, Ore., according to chef-owner Bill Sutherland. "It's a beautiful dish, with the ruby red port, the bright green from the chive oil and the golden chanterelles," Sutherland says. It sells for $19.
• Chef Mark Dommen at the American restaurant One Market in San Francisco, favors port syrups and vinaigrettes. Dommen offers several salads with port flavorings, including roasted fig salad with house-made duck sausage, candied pistachios and fig-port wine vinaigrette for $11.
Lots more ideas, check it out. If the old saying "any port in a storm" holds true, I hope it rains here soon.
Love, er, loved the port too, Scott. Have you ever tried the '80 Graham's?
Yep. Good stuff. Port is an amazing thing once you get it.