I received this from Mario Batali and I believe it to be very educational on how tuna is prepared. I hope you enjoy it as well.
Uploaded by DelPostoRestaurant on Dec 15, 2011
Produced by Matt’s Media Mountain Shot & Cut by Matthew Marzano
Video features Kindai Tuna, the sustainably raised “bluefin” from Japan’s Kinki University. Del Posto was lucky enough to film Ushiwakamaru’s Hideo Kuribara as he butchered this monster (150 pound!) fish in our kitchen.
The Le Cordon Bleu went to a virtual library. All the cookbooks are gone, replaced with LCD screens and keyboards. We now have a virtual library. It was sad to me. I don’t know why we cant find a happy medium and incorporate both worlds. In my opinion, nothing feels better than a real book hard cover book in your hand.
I love this video: I hope you do to.
watch?v=SKVcQnyEIT8&feature=relmfu
Uploaded by crazedadman on Jan 9, 2012
After organizing our bookshelf almost a year ago , my wife and I (Sean Ohlenkamp) decided to take it to the next level. We spent many sleepless nights moving, stacking, and animating books at Type bookstore in Toronto (883 Queen Street West, (416) 366-8973).
This was a fantastic segment on the world of truffles. I never knew that this was such a hot topic. Once again, we need to stay informed in what is happening to our food supplies.
(CBS News) European white truffles can sell for as much as $3,600 a pound, making them and their fellow fungi the most expensive food in the world. One two-pound truffle recently sold for more than $300,000. All of which has brought organized crime into the truffle trade, creating a black market and leading to theft of both truffles as well as the highly valued truffle-sniffing dogs. Add to that the influx of the inferior Chinese truffles — masquerading as their European cousins — and you’ve got trouble with truffles. Lesley Stahl reports.
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7394364n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox?id=7394364n&tag=contentBody;storyMediaBox
I am recommending Calistoga Cellars Red Zinfandel, Napa Valley, 2007. This Zinfandel captures all of the fruit and spice Zin lovers desire. New to the variety? You’ll like this red’s medium body, red berry, and spicy finish. Zinfandel is a classic BBQ wine plus its great for the holidays. I always have a Zinfandel with my holiday meals along with a great Chardonnay. I am new to this Cellar, but they have a new fan. Check out there website at www.Calistogacellars.com. Enjoy!
I gathered this information from the Calistoga Cellars Web Site: This Zinfandel has a deep ruby-black color, a raspberry nose, and an elegant palate with lots of plump black cherry. Many wine lovers think of Zinfandel as a wine that is jammy and has high alcohol. Ours is quite different, with a medium body mouth feel and it drinks well right now. Try this wine with any kind of cuisine.
I believe in locally sourced and locally grown. Support your local businesses.
Carolyn Anderson, right, looks over some peppers with vendor John Goode as she shops for items at The City Market Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, in Kansas City, Mo. A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says sales of “local foods,” whether sold direct to consumers at farmers markets or through intermediaries such as grocers or restaurants, amounted to $4.8 billion in 2008. That’s a number several times greater than earlier estimates, and the department predicts locally grown foods will generate $7 billion in sales this year. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga
USDA: ‘Locally grown’ food a $4.8 billion business
JIM SUHR
Published: Nov 14, 2011
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Carolyn Anderson likes to chat up the growers at her local farmers market in Missouri, at times hanging out behind the beds of pickup trucks brimming with ears of corn.
For Anderson, 29, it’s all about keeping it “local.” And there’s fresh evidence of just how big of a deal that word can mean for farmers’ finances.
A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says sales of “local foods,” whether sold direct to consumers at farmers markets or through intermediaries such as grocers or restaurants, amounted to $4.8 billion in 2008. That’s a number several times greater than earlier estimates, and the department predicts locally grown foods will generate $7 billion in sales this year.
While there’s plenty of evidence local food sales have been growing, it has been hard to say by how much because governments, companies, consumers and food markets disagree on what qualifies as local. The USDA report included sales to intermediaries, such as local grocers and restaurants, as well as directly to consumers through farmers markets, roadside stands and the like.
It found that farm sales to people like Anderson have just about doubled in the past two decades, from about $650 million, adjusted for inflation, in the early 1990s to about $1.2 billion these days. The much bigger, $4.8 billion figure came when sales to local restaurants, retailers and regional food distributors were added in.
“Think of it as expanding what the picture looks like,” said Stephen Vogel, who helped do the study for the Agriculture Department’s Economic Research Service. “What this report does is say, ‘Look, this market is bigger than you thought.’”
But the report also puts the local food movement in context. It’s dominated by fruit and vegetable growers. While only 5 percent of U.S. farms sell their products in local and regional markets, 40 percent of vegetable, fruit and nut farms do.
Consumers tend to assume that the produce they are buying at these markets are fresher, made with fewer chemicals and grown by smaller, less corporate farms. That may be true in some cases and not in others.
“Local” also doesn’t necessarily mean “organic,” a label that carries strict requirements for growers and is overseen by the Agriculture Department. But the word still carries plenty of cache with consumers like Anderson, a farmer’s granddaughter who sees shopping at the farmers market in Kansas City, Mo., as a ripe opportunity to get to know the growers and what went into the stuff they’re selling.
“Especially on a beautiful day, you’re chatting with them about their livelihood – I enjoy that experience as well as the food that comes out of it,” she said.
The number of farms selling directly to consumers has grown, from an estimated 86,000 in the early 1990s to about 136,000 now, according to the USDA. And the number of farmers markets has about doubled, from 2,756 in 1998 to 5,274 in 2009.
Paul Gnaedinger has raised everything from organic corn and soybeans to wheat and rye on his organic farm near Pocahontas, Ill. Lately, he’s turned to grass-fed beef.
He sells regionally and wasn’t surprised in the growth in local food sales, chalking it up to consumers becoming more savvy in their purchases – and perhaps a bit greener, knowing that shorter shipping distances may lower the carbon footprint and the chances of contamination in transport.
“I don’t want to say they’re not trusting of other food sources,” said Gnaedinger, 53, who also works as a nurse. “They do tell me they don’t want to buy something in Colorado one day, then see it shipped to California before it’s shipped here.
“There’s real demand in the market for people wanting to know where their food is coming from, that it’s going through local channels.”
On his 1,800 acres near Friesland, Wis., Larry Alsum, 58, grows several varieties of potatoes that he sells mostly to grocers in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. He also handles wholesale distribution for farmers who grow everything from cabbage to sweet corn, squash, cucumbers and peppers.
He says his operation has blossomed into a $50 million business – roughly double what it was a decade or so ago – with a focus on locally grown food. Perhaps only one in five consumers actually cares what that means, he said, but it’s more than did just a few years ago.
“As the cost of oil and gasoline continue to rise, there are going to me more opportunities for locally grown,” he predicted. “And that just gives us a built-in advantage in marketing.”
© 2011 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
This is a great article by Clifford A. Wright. A great gift idea for the cook in your life.
Cooking Nose to Tail Print
Review: Jennifer McLagan’s book, “Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal,” fulfills its promise.
By Clifford A. Wright | Friday, 11 November 2011 | 00:18
‘Odd Bits’ cookbook by Jennifer McLagan
Jennifer McLagan, an Australian chef living in Toronto and the 2007 James Beard Cookbook of the Year award-winner for “Fat,” has now written the enormously interesting and appealing “Odd Bits: How to Cook the Rest of the Animal” (Ten Speed Press). McLagan, a lover of odd bits — or as we say in my house, the best parts — is not preaching to the choir but to the multitudes that either think “yecch” when confronted with innards or are clueless when they hear “sweetbread.”
Her odd bits are not only offal, also called variety meats or innards, but all those parts of the animal that most consumers ignore, such as neck, ears, jowl and feet. At the moment only restaurant chefs seem interested in these cuts and inner parts, exemplified by books such as Fergus Henderson’s “The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating” or restaurants such as Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo’s Animal in Los Angeles.
McLagan has organized the book from front to back, literally. Chapter 1 begins with the head of the animal and successive chapters follow the contours of the body, including the middle (innards) and the tail, with a final chapter on basic recipes such as beef stock and poultry stock. Her extensive introductory notes are sensible and reassuring for offal neophytes. They’re reaffirming for readers who are offal know-it-alls too. She has perfunctory historical notes about cuts of meats and the cultural roots of the various dishes she offers as recipes. A more thorough book might have had more on that, but her goal is just to get the reader comfortable with cooking odd bits, and that she does well.
“Odd Bits” has great photographs and recipes that turn bloody guts into delectable dishes. Making tripe, brains and heart might not be standard fare, but McLagan poses a solid case for eating every part of the animal.
Good luck finding a butcher
As far as finding these odd bits, she writes: “I want to encourage you to find your own sources. I am adamant about seeking out local butchers.” All I can say is, “Good luck.” You might find pig’s feet, lamb necks or chicken livers in the supermarket, but remember that most butchers — and there are very few real butchers anymore — have to buy a 20-pound box of kidneys from their wholesalers. After they sell you one pound, they can’t unload the rest. The advice McLagan could have offered is: Look to cultures that eat odd bits; find a Chinese butcher in your nearest Chinatown.
McLagan’s recipes are appealing and challenging without being impossible for a home cook. Try the Sweetbreads With Morels and Fresh Fava Beans and see for yourself what a celebration this cookbook is. If you’re a neophyte you can’t go wrong with Beginner’s Tripe, which sounds utterly delicious and comes with the sensible advice: “If you’re still a little hesitant, serve the tripe with pasta.”
As good and as useful as McLagan’s cookbook is, she’s butting up against modern society’s aversion to eating innards. There may be a half dozen chefs promoting offal but that’s no trend.
Enlightened look at offal
McLagan is aware that today we are so far removed from the sources of our food that in our shrink-wrapped world we might not realize that meat comes from a living animal. She cares about what she eats and her approach is enlightened, sensible, non-dogmatic (thank god). Her section on our loss of food literacy, that is, understanding where our food comes from, how it is raised, how it is slaughtered, and how it is butchered, is a real gem and hits the mark. I couldn’t agree more with her comment “the idolizing of chefs has left home cooks thinking that cooking is a specialized skill.”
This is as wonderful an introduction to “odd bits” as you’ll find. McLagan is unabashed in her exploration of these meats. Whether you’re an offal aficionado, curious or adventurous, you’ll learn a lot about what to do with a pig’s head, ears and feet, veal cheeks, lamb brains, tongue, spleen, sweetbreads, heart, oxtail, testicles, blood and, of course, liver. Her section on tripe is good, but the nomenclature for tripe is far more confused than she indicates, and she doesn’t delve deeply into the uses of all four ruminant stomachs, which is important in so many of the culinary cultures whence many offal recipes emanate. Maybe she chose to omit the others because the only tripe you’ll ever find in a supermarket is honeycomb tripe, and that rarely. It’s the second stomach, and so-named because of its resemblance to a bee honeycomb, and a perfectly fine product.
I have only one last complaint — and none of my complaints detract from the book: cutesy heading titles such as “get a head,” “lend me your ears,” “if I only had a brain,” “cooking in tongues.” Ignore those and just go right for the delicious and well-chosen recipes. Once you’ve bought this book — which I recommend most highly — your next step is to find a butcher and start talking with him or her. That’s what I did.
Zester Daily contributor Clifford A. Wright won the James Beard / KitchenAid Cookbook of the Year award and the James Beard Award for the Best Writing on Food in 2000 for “A Mediterranean Feast.”
Top photo composite: Jennifer McLagan. Credit: Rob Fiocca; “Odd Bits” book jacket. Credit: Clifford A. Wright.
Here is one of my all time favorites during the holiday season and its easy to prepare and is a crowd hit. Listen, I brought this to a chefs only party and they dug it so you can give it a try. The secret is the goat cheese and the figs. Just saw fresh figs at the store and got me to thinking and sharing.
Ingredients:
1- 8-ounce log fresh local sourced goat cheese, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rounds
1 cup stemmed dried Black Mission figs or Brown Turkey halved- Use 2 cups Fresh Figs when in season. Prefer Black Mission or Brown Turkey varieties.
1/3 cup water-*Note: if using Fresh Figs omit the water.
1/3 cup halved pitted Kalamata olives or other brine-cured black olives
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon drained capers
1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper to taste
1/4 cup toasted walnut halves
Fresh thyme sprigs (optional)
Balsamic Glaze
Assorted breads and/or crackers
Procedure:
Arrange cheese rounds in overlapping circle in center of medium platter, or arrange length wise.
Combine figs and 1/3 cup water in heavy medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until liquid evaporates and figs are soft, about 7 minutes. If using fresh figs omit the water and add the olive oil and sauté the figs for 2 minutes.
Mix in olives, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, capers, chopped thyme and chopped walnuts. Sauté for about 3 to 4 minutes until the flavors have blended. Season tapenade to taste with salt and fresh cracked black pepper. Spoon the warm fig mixture over the room temperature goat cheese or into center of cheese circle. Garnish with walnut halves and thyme sprigs, if desired. Drizzle the balsamic glaze over the warm fig and cheese mixture. Serve with breads and/or crackers.
*Note: Fig mixture can be made 2 days ahead. Cool, cover and refrigerate. Bring to room temperature before serving and warm in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes.
A wonderful article about a women who decides to go to culinary school and write about every moment from getting up in the morning, to production and finally clean up. Great information if you are thinking about going to culinary school and a well written piece depicting the life a a culinary student.
Elizabeth Laseter, an aspiring food journalist, is a recent graduate of Johns Hopkins University and lives in Washington, D.C. She received her diploma in Writing and Art History and is now pursuing a Culinary Arts Degree at L’Academie de Cuisine in Gaithersburg, Md. The one-year program includes six months of learning techniques in the classroom and six months at an externship in a D.C. fine dining restaurant. Elizabeth documents her food adventures through two blogs, The Baltimore Food Rag and The D.C. Food Rag. She decided to attend culinary school after interning at Baltimore magazine and working with the food editor.
Read Elizabeth’s diary below to learn about the trials and tribulations of culinary school (yes, she slices her finger).
Monday, September 26
8am: Today, I’m starting the next chapter in my life since graduation in May. Finally!
9:10am: Before I walk out the door to my car, I double check the route to school. I’m nervous about the 40 minute commute to Gaithersburg, and hope I don’t get lost.
9:55am: I get lost. But I’m only a few miles from the school. Just great, I’m going to be late on my first day.
10:02am: I sprint into the classroom for orientation, out of breath and panicked. The admissions director gets me a chair, whispering, “breathe.”
10:05am: I look around the room, taking in my new classmates. Some of the students look much older than I do, while others look younger. I like what the president of the school says in his welcome speech: “You aren’t here to learn or memorize recipes. You’re here to understand food.”
11am: Chef David, our culinary instructor, tells us about the school’s policies. Class is Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. More than anything, he emphasizes punctuality. It’s pretty serious — five tardies and you’re automatically on probation.
1:15pm: Chef David scares me again with his “be on time” speech. Before we leave for the day, we receive our uniforms, knife kit and textbooks. The knife kit contains a full set of knives, one that is so ridiculously large it looks like it came from the set of Friday The 13th.
2:30pm: First day, done. Tomorrow, we’re in the kitchen.
12:30am: I try on my uniform before bed. Black checkered pants, a white apron and coat (embroidered with my name), a neckerchief (I can’t figure out how to tie it) and a silly little cap that is about three sizes too large. Never did I ever think I’d end up in this get-up after college.
Tuesday, September 27
5:30am: I probably slept for an hour last night. As a former night owl, I can’t get used to this new schedule.
6:30am: I arrive at the school and throw on my culinary gear, but I still can’t figure out how to tie my neckerchief. It’s apparently just like tying a tie, but I’ve never tied a tie. I make a knot and leave it, too tired to fuss with it anymore.
7am: Chef David wasn’t joking. We start class at 7am sharp. Our first lesson is Soupe à l’Oignon.
9am: After Chef’s demo, we are thrown into the kitchen and have two and a half hours to make the soup. I’m about to begin chopping my onion, but Chef informs me that I am using the paring knife instead of the chef’s knife. Like I knew the difference?
9:20am: Giving us onions on the first day must be some kind of sick joke on the newbies, kind of like hazing freshmen in college. My eyes tear and burn as I slice into the dreaded thing. When I’m finished, I throw the onion slices into a pot on the stove with a generous portion of butter and add a little salt.
10:30am: The next step, caramelizing the onion, requires some serious patience. First, you must cook the onion slices slowly on low heat until they turn golden brown. This way, the onions develop a sweetness, an essential part of French Onion Soup.
11:15am: After 45 minutes and a lot of stirring, my onions are brown and softened. I add chicken stock, white wine and a little salt and pepper. After the soup simmers and thickens, it’s ready to serve. I’m done! And best of all, I still have all 10 fingers.
11:30am: Everyday, our lunch is whatever we make earlier in the day. We enjoy our soup with the pastry students, who also share their creations with us. Chocolate chip cookies!
12:30pm: After lunch, students must always clean up the kitchen and demo room. I guess the rule, “I cook, you clean,” doesn’t apply here.
1:30pm: We spend the remainder of the day learning about our recipe book, in which we will record all of the dishes, vocabulary words and techniques we learn throughout the program.
Wednesday, September 28
5:30am: This morning, I’m wide-awake. Thankfully, I was so tired from lack of sleep I passed out pretty quickly last night.
7am: Today’s menu: Quiche Lorraine, Green Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette and French Onion Soup (this time with French Bread Crouton and melted Gruyere cheese).
9am: Multi-tasking is key this morning. I struggle, not browning the onions enough and not adding enough water to my quiche dough, making it crumbly and difficult to roll out. The chef instructors watch me like hawks, waiting for an opportunity to pounce and critique.
12:30pm: Although we take an hour longer than expected to prepare our lunch, the quiche, salad and soup are delicious. It feels good to sit down.
1pm: Since we are running behind, we skip cleanup to learn how to make chicken stock. The stock is an essential base for so many of the dishes we make (such as the soup). For the next hour and a half, I slice fat and guts off raw pieces of chicken. Later, this chicken, in addition to a mixture of carrots, celery and onion, will be poured into a stockpot with water to cook.
2:15pm: There are chicken guts stuck in my nails. Gross.
8pm: For dinner, I make the mustard vinaigrette that we learned yesterday. Chopped and diced garlic, scallions and parsley mixed with Dijon mustard, then whisked with balsamic vinegar and olive oil until the ingredients emulsify. I can’t believe how simple it is to prepare. My roommate raves about the dressing.
Thursday, September 29
6:15am: I’m halfway to school when I realize I’ve forgotten my apron. It’s so hard to remember everything this early in the morning. Thankfully, I’m able to borrow one.
7am: Today, the topic is knife skills. We learn how to prepare two vegetable dishes, Potage Cultivateur and Salade Composée. Potage is a French soup that contains a medley of seasonal vegetables. Salade Composée, meaning “composed salad,” contains vegetables arranged artfully on a plate, dressed in vinaigrette. In addition, we have to make another Quiche Lorraine.
9am: After preparing the dough for the quiche (it’s much better today), I start the salad by julienning vegetables. Chef David gives us more vegetables than I can count: carrots, red peppers, radishes, green peppers, yellow peppers, beets, celery, tomatoes, endives and cucumbers. For the soup, I dice more carrots, yellow squash, potatoes, turnips and green beans into small cubes.
10:15am: Ouch! I accidentally slice my finger while dicing a cucumber. I have to wear an outrageously bright blue latex glove to protect the food from my bloody finger. I feel like I’m wearing the dunce cap.
11:20am: I finish my quiche, soup and salad just in time. I’ve made a huge mess. There’s red beet juice all over my hands, chicken stock on my apron and flour caked on my shoes.
11:30am: Time to eat! After yesterday’s cheese assault, I’m glad to have some vegetables on my plate. I like how the vegetables in my soup are diced small enough to all fit onto my spoon at the same time. I also love the colors in my Salade Composée; the red, yellow and green peppers make for a bold and inviting presentation.
12pm: After lunch, I’m assigned to clean up the classroom we were in this morning. This involves wiping down the cooking surfaces and restocking supplies, which doesn’t sound too bad. I read the list of items the room must always have: blue steel pan, stainless steel pan, stainless steel pan with Teflon, sautoir, sauté pan. This is bad. I have no idea what any of those are.
1pm: Afternoon lecture concerns an upcoming research project on spices and herbs. My assignment is thyme. I have two weeks to write a 1000 word essay, create my own recipe with the herb, and then make a dish for the class. I didn’t think I’d be writing papers in culinary school!
2:30pm: I stay after school to work on the chicken stock we started yesterday in class. Every student has to help out with the stock at some point, and today is my turn. I scoop excess chicken fat off the top of the stock and pour it into a bucket until the stock liquid is clear. After simmering all night, the stock will be ready to use tomorrow.
3pm: Before I leave, I ask Chef David to teach me how to hone, or sharpen my knives. This is surprisingly much harder than it sounds. In one fluid stroke, I run the edge of my chef’s knife along the honing blade. Chef David cringes at the nails on chalkboard noise that comes from scraping the sharpening rod incorrectly. He makes me practice continuously until I do it right.
3:30pm: Week one, complete! I’ve learned so much –- everything from the proper way to hold a chef’s knife to how to make a pie crust for quiche. I’ve learned to julienne and emulsify. It’s time to enjoy my three-day weekend!
Who could not use a Craft Beer Glossary Handy? Wonderful article for understanding the increasing number of micro and craft beers in stores, supermarkets and local watering holes. This article is by David Jensen, Craft Beer Expert for Menuism.com
To truly understand and appreciate craft beer, and to communicate about it with friends and enthusiasts, it helps to know the terminology used in the beer world. Expanding your craft beer vocabulary can help you better understand the differences between different styles and appreciate your beer more. For beer newbies and longtime enthusiasts, this beer glossary covers all the beer jargon, beer terms, and beer descriptors you need to know to enjoy drinking craft beer.
The Basic Ingredients of Craft Beer
There are four basic ingredients used to make beer: malt, hops, yeast and water. Depending on the style of the beer, other ingredients such as grains or even fruits and spices may be added. These are the basics.
Malt: The base grain for all beer, malt is almost always made from barley. (However, wheat is used in addition to barley for particular styles of beer such hefeweizen or wheat beer.) Malt is created by soaking barley in water and allowing it to germinate before drying and kilning it. This process enables the production of enzymes, which, during the brewing process, will convert starch into fermentable sugar. The kilning process can also result in malt with characteristics that impart different flavors and colors in the final product.
Adjuncts: Other un-malted grains or sugars that are added to a beer to create different flavors or colors. Some examples are oats, rye, wheat, rice and corn. Honey and other sugars also fall into this category.
Hops: A green climbing vine that produces a flower in the shape of a green cone. After being harvested, the cones are dried and then used to make beer, lending bitterness and aroma. The aroma differs by variety. Popular varieties of hops in craft beer include: Cascade, Centennial, Amarillo, Chinook, Saaz, Northern Brewer, Willamette, Mt. Hood, Goldings, Tettnang, Fuggles, Northern Brewer and Hallertau.
Ale yeast: A top-fermenting yeast used to make ales. Ale yeast ferments at warmer temperatures (close to room temperature). The many varieties of ale yeast used for different flavors and aromas make it popular among craft brewers.
Lager yeast: A bottom-fermenting yeast used to make lager-style beer. Lager yeast ferments best at lower temperatures, such as cellar temperatures that range from 40º to 50º F.
Brettanomyces (aka “Brett”) and wild yeast: A special yeast used to make sour or wild beer. Usually, brewers and winemakers try to prevent this yeast from getting into the beer. However, barrel-aged and sour ales almost always have Brett or another “wild” yeast strain in order to produce the acidity and funky aromas.
Craft Beer by the Numbers
If you look at the side of a bottle of beer from Southern Tier Brewing Company or Rogue Ales, you’ll notice that they list the ingredients as well as some numbers about the beer, some of which might seem cryptic. Here’s what they mean.
ABV: Alcohol by volume. This is a measurement of the amount of alcohol in the beer.
Gravity: The amount of sugar in the beer (or wine for that matter). Original gravity is that measurement before the beer has been fermented. Final gravity is the measurement after fermentation. Alcohol content of the beer can be calculated using the original and final gravities.
º Plato: A measurement of original gravity. This term is used in both the wine and beer worlds.
IBU: International bittering units. Although sensitivity to bitterness will vary from person to person, this is an objective measure of the bitterness of a beer. This number is based on the amount of a natural resin (known as “alpha acids”) in the hops, how much hops are used, and when the hops are added to the beer.
Making Craft Beer
Some breweries will use beer-making terminology to describe certain aspects of their beer. They might even use that terminology in the name of the beer itself. For instance, just after the hop harvest you might see a beer named “Wet-Hopped Ale.” Here’s what those terms mean.
Mash: A product of the brewing process, mash is what occurs when the malt and adjunct grains are steeped in water at a specific temperature, usually around 150º F or more. Steeping the grains activates the enzymes in the malt, which in turn converts the starch in the grains to sugars, a majority of which will be fermented by the yeast.
Wort: The sugary solution that is collected from the mash and then boiled. Beer is called “wort” until it has been fermented, at which point it becomes beer.
Boil: A step in the brewing process when the wort is boiled and hops are added to the brew. Boiling removes certain compounds from the wort, stops the enzymes that were activated during the mash, and sterilizes the wort. The boil typically lasts 60 minutes but can be longer depending on the brewer. For instance, Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA is boiled for 90 minutes.
Bittering hops: Hops that are added to the beginning of the boil, resulting in more bitterness and less aroma in the final product.
Aroma hops: Hops that are added at the end of the boil, producing less bitterness and more aroma in the final product.
Dry-hopped: Refers to the addition of hops after the boil, during transfer to the fermenter, in the fermenter itself, or even after fermentation. This technique adds a lot of hop aroma without adding much more bitterness to the beer.
Wet-hopped (aka “fresh-hopped”): Normally hops are dried before being used to make beer. Wet-hopped beer uses hops that have been freshly harvested and not dried, producing unique flavors and aromas. These beers are produced after the hop harvest in August and September and area usually ready by late September or early October. Drink your wet-hopped beer as fresh as possible.
Fermentation: After the boil, the wort is cooled and transferred to a sterile fermenter, where yeast is added. Yeast eats the fermentable sugars and produces alcohol and carbon dioxide, thus fermenting the beer. Different varieties of yeast can result in different flavors in the beer. A beer made with a Belgian strain of yeast is much different than one made with a Californian strain of yeast.
Conditioning: The process of maturing and carbonating the beer. It is the last step before the beer is ready to drink. Carbonation can be added through natural conditioning in the bottle, cask or conditioning tank. Beer can also be force-carbonated.
Drinking Craft Beer
Beer geeks use a lot of ways to describe the beer they drink. The following are some common beer descriptors that you might hear a beer geek use.
Hoppy: A beer that strongly exhibits the flavor and aroma of hops. Since hops can have many different flavors and aromas, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly what somebody means by “hoppy.” Typically, the beer is bitter and smells like citrus, pine resin or flowers. Other popular hop aromas include herbal or earthy.
Malty: A beer that strongly exhibits the qualities of the malt. The flavors and aromas of a malty beer may be described as grainy, barley-like, syrupy, roasty, fresh sweet toasty bread, and cooked sugar. Maltiness is not a measure of the sweetness of a beer because many malty pilsners are not sweet. A beer can be both hoppy and malty.
Head retention: The foam that rests on top of the beer after it has been served. Retention is how long the head lasts in your glass. The head will exhibit aroma attributes of the beer that are not found after the head has died down. For this reason, as well as aesthetic and stylistic reasons, a beer with a good long-lasting head is desirable. Although a vast majority of beer styles call for good head retention, it is not the case for all beer styles.
Mouthfeel: How the beer feels in your mouth. It can range from thin and watery to thick and silky. Most beers are somewhere in between.
Imperial: Beers that are described as “imperial” or “double” are larger versions of the style listed on the beer–not in volume, but in certain characteristics. For example, imperial beers usually have more malt, more alcohol, more sweetness, more bitterness and/or more hops.
Session: The basic idea of a session beer is that you can drink multiples of these beers over the course of an evening without falling off your stool. Some people are adamant that a session beer must have no more than 4% alcohol by volume, but the term is somewhat relative. A session beer could almost be considered the opposite of an imperial.
Beer Vessels
Beer is served from a variety of vessels. The bottle is the most common but even certain types of bottles have their own names.
Bomber: A 22-ounce bottle of beer.
Cask (aka firkin): A barrel-shaped vessel for both conditioning and serving ale. The beer is placed in this vessel, stored at cellar temperatures (48-56ºF), natural carbonation conditions the beer, and then the beer is served at cellar or room temperature (cellar temps are preferred). Casks are either connected to a special tap called a beer engine, or are served directly from a spigot in the cask.
Keg: A large vessel for serving beer on draft. Kegs come in many shapes and sizes. The typical keg is ½ barrel or 15.5 gallons. A pony keg is ¼ barrel or 7.75 gallons. A corny keg is 5 gallons. One gallon of beer yields ten and a half 12 oz. servings.
Can: Large breweries have been using cans for years but craft beer in a can is a recent development. Cans never impart a metallic flavor because all cans are lined with plastic so that the beer never touches metal until you pour it out. Cans are great for beer because the beer is never exposed to light, and cans are more airtight than bottles, preventing oxidation.
Growler: A big glass jug used to hold beer. Most brewpubs will allow you to buy and refill a growler.
Further Learning
Still want to learn more about craft beer? There are many great online resources to expand your beer vocabulary. CraftBeer.com has a wonderful glossary of beer terms and Wikipedia usually has a good definition of most beer geek jargon. Finally, to learn more about these terms in context, you can read craft beer reviews on blogs like mine, Beer 47.
What beer terms do you use to describe your favorite beer?
David Jensen is based out of San Francisco and is the primary writer and photographer for Beer 47, a blog focused on craft beer, beer events, cooking with beer, and homebrewing. In addition to the blog, you can frequently find David on Twitter as @beer47, tweeting interesting news and sparking up conversations about craft beer while sipping his favorite Double IPA. By day David is a software engineer for a small Internet company.
For Beer Lovers Only: A Craft Beer Glossary was originally published on The Menuism Blog.
Related Links from Menuism:
15 Craft Beers to Try Before You Die
All About IPA: A Primer on India Pale Ales
All About American Pale Ale
Craft Beer Festivals: A Survival Guide
Follow Menuism on Twitter: www.twitter.com/menuism
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