The TecBlast Blog

These little fish make a special breakfast treat. Try this recipe, or simply replace Clover Leaf Kippered Fillets for traditional fatty meats in your favorite quiche, frittata or omelet recipe.

Ingredients

Nutrition Details

Nutrition Features

Bring a large sauce pan of water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to the water. Reduce heat so that the water is at a soft boil. Have eggs broken ahead of time. Gently roll eggs into the water. Stir the water around the eggs to keep the shape. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Hollandaise Sauce (or use canned sauce or your favorite mix) Melt 8 tablespoons unsalted butter and hold to the side. In the top or a double boiler; over medium/low heat, whisk together 2 teaspoons lime juice, 1 teaspoon white vinegar, and 3 large egg yolks until the mixture begins to thicken. Gradually add butter while constantly whisking. Continue until thick. Season with salt and pepper.

Place of the drained Clover Leaf Kippered Fillets on each muffin, top with a poached egg, then drizzle with sauce. Garnish with fresh dill. Serve immediately.

Ordering wine in a restaurant is not much different than buying it in a wine store. The main difference is that you have an audience. Yet ordering wine in a restaurant can be intimidating especially if the wine list is extensive.

Experiment or Homework
Keep in mind that even the experts will not be familiar with every selection on a wine list. If you are a novice and your are going on an important date, you should do a little homework to get some idea of what you might want to order. Unless you are feeling extremely adventurous, a restaurant is usually not the place to try something new since the mark up can range from 100 to 200%.

The Wine List
Today, most restaurants have a wine list, but expect a myriad of shapes and sizes. Some establishments might simply offer just a house red or white, while others have a daily blackboard to outline their rotating selection. Most wine lists are presented as a printed menu, with the wines arranged by color; red, white, and rose and the region of country. Additionally, many establishments will number their wines on the list, which helps big-time if you do not know how to pronounce the wine. You can simply say, “I will have the number 8″.

Before you order, you are going to want to factor in what you are going to be eating. Unfortunately, not a lot of menus give advice on food pairing. If you need some help talk to the wine steward, or sommelier. They are there to help you make the best decision for your occasion, and a good one will not try to take you out of your price range.

Getting the Best Wine for Your Money
• Skip the house wine. Unless you are familiar with the house wine, don’t bother because they generally carry the highest mark up.
• Scan the wine list too quickly to get an idea on the average price of a bottle. Try to stay within this median price range where the mark ups tend to be average.
• Choose a wine from the same region as the restaurant’s food specialty. A good French restaurant, for instance, should have a solid selection of French wines.
• Ask the server for a recommendation. Just ask if they have any special values currently.
• If two or more at your table are going to have a few glasses of wine, it is cheaper to order by the bottle than the glass.

Corkage
Many restaurants will open and serve a bottle of wine brought by the patron. A quick call to the restaurant will confirm if this is possible, and if so, they will charge a corkage fee. They usually charge between $5 and $15 per bottle, although some restaurants will charge a lower fee if the wine brought is not on their wine list.

Contributor: Stuart Glasure [A wine enthusiast and publishing member of the wine source: http://www.WineDefinitions.com.]

Beer making is a complicated process that involves several steps that should be carefully thought out. Here are some basic ideas that will help you to get started on your beer making adventure.

The first step in brewing is called malting. Malting involves steeping grain in water for several days until the grain begins to germinate or sprout. During germination, enzymes within the grain are converted to a type of sugar called maltose. At this point in the beer making, the grain becomes what is referred to as malt.

After several days, when the majority of the starch has been converted to sugar, the malt is heated and dried. This process of the beer making, called kilning, stops the malt from germinating any further. A portion of the malt may be further roasted to varying depths of colour and flavour to create different styles of beer.

After kilning, the dried malt is processed in a mill, which cracks the husks. The cracked malt is transferred to a container called a mash tun, and hot water is added. The malt steeps in the liquid, usually for one to two hours. This process of beer making, called mashing, breaks down the complex sugars in the grain and releases them in the water, producing a sweet liquid called wort.

In the next step of beer making, called brewing, the wort is transferred to a large brew kettle and boiled for up to two hours. During this stage of the brewing process, hops are added to the wort to provide a spicy flavour and bitterness that balances the sweetness of the wort.

After brewing, the wort is cooled and then strained to remove the hop leaves and other residue. The beer-making brewer transfers the wort to a container in which it can ferment. The first fermentation lasts from a few days to two weeks. When the yeast has consumed most of the fermentable sugar, the wort becomes beer.

Beer making has become a great pastime for many people over the past few decades. With the proper education and a little practice, your beer making can become an enjoyable hobby that produces something wonderful to drink for you and your friends.

Mike Corrado brings you smoking beer making supplies at http://www.quickandeasybeermaking.com