The President of the Secret Sherry Society is pleased to present this week’s author on “Sherry Blogger of the Week,” Dr. Michael Lim of The Travelling Gourmet.
An internationally renowned Travel, Food & Wine Writer/Chef, Dr. Lim has traveled the world in a relentless search for good food and winsome wines. Trained by top 3 Michelin Star Chefs, LeNotre Culinary School in Paris & CIA (Culinary Institute of America), he is also a parachutist, fencer, SCUBA diver & big game hunter.
Each week we will feature a new wine blogger committed to sharing with readers their passion and knowledge of wine. If you are a wine blogger and are interested in being featured on our website please email us at secretsherrysociety@gmail.com.
Stupendous Sherry!
The intrepid Travelling Gourmet tells you about Spain’s gift to the world…
By Dr. Michael Lim, The Travelling Gourmet
My fondest memories of Sherry are from when I was an undergraduate student at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England. Every time you visited your friends or Professors socially, they would offer you a nice glass of Sherry. Inevitably, it was Harvey’s Bristol Cream. Then you would sit by the blazing fire in the living room and chat. At Christmas time, Sherry was the tipple to go with beloved Christmas Plum Pudding Flambe served with lashing of Rum Butter or Brandy Butter. OMG! It was super yummy! And who can resist that classic English dessert…Sherry Trifle with jelly, strawberries and custard! Made with Lady Finger sponge biscuits soaked in…lots of (what else?) Sherry!
Sherry actually comes from the Moorish language – “Seris”. In Spanish, Sherry is Jerez which is also the name of the Spanish town which is the center for Sherry production.
A typical sherry has a nose of blue steel like that of my favourite H&K USP 9mm pistol, light amber in colour, bone dry in the mouth, it is so powerful your first taste may be a shock to your taste buds…
John Harvey & Sons was founded in 1796 in Bristol and Harvey’s Bristol Cream has become the world’s best selling Sherry. How “Cream” became a part of this famous label is the stuff of legend. In the 1860s Harvey’s already had a popular blend called Harvey’s Bristol Milk. When an aristrocratic lady visited the cellars and tasted a new blend, she promptly declared: ”If that be the milk, then this is cream!” Made exclusively from Palomino fruit from their own Spanish vineyards in Jerez Superior appellation, it is a blend of four wines. They are Amontillado, Fino, Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez from more than 50 different Soleras with an average age of 8 years on bottling. Heady caramel and raisin aromas entice with a palate of dried fruit and nuts plus a lingering voluptuous finish…like the kiss of a ravishing woman. The cobalt blue bottle has been a distinctive feature since 1990.
Sherry’s Humble Beginning
Dry Sherry or Fino Sherry accounts for 95% of Sherry production. From a simple white wine crafted from the Palomino grape grown in this arid region of southern Spain, it is fermented till there is NO residual sugar. American oak casks are filled till five-sixths of the way and left partly covered.
Some, not all of the barrels develop a layer like cream cheese. Called Flor, it comprises Saccharomyces yeast and shields the wine from oxidation. The wine is lightly fortified and will be used to make Fino.
More alcohol is added to barrels without Flor. The wine oxidizes and they become Olorosos.
Solera aging
This is very complicated, which is why there are Almacenistas who are specialists in this art. In a nutshell, a part of the younger wine is added to an older barrel. From the older barrel, a part is added an even older one, and so on…A 100 barrels or more can make up a Solera! They are carefully arranged in a pyramid with the oldest at the bottom. Simply put, it is a precise form of fractional blending
Make mine a Fino…
Finos from Jerez, where the hot summer burns off the Flor, are heartier. while those made In Sanlucar, the milder weather is conducive to growing Flor all year-round and they are more delicate. The latter are known as manzanilla, perhaps because have nuances of chamomile tea which bears the same name. An example of ‘terroir’ or the taste of the place.
These wines are pale, light…to be enjoyed young. Chill before drinking for the best taste. On the contrary, having taken on unique flavors from the flor, Finos are very popular due to the collection of unique and complex flavours from the Flor. It is like caviar and foie gras an acquired taste, not for the hoi polloi.
Fino is generally young, about five years old. Age it to obtain Fino Amontillado. It begins to take on oxidative characteristics as the Flor disappears. Almonds and hazelnuts, toffee notes and a deeper colour. In the Soleras the younger more vibrant & expressive wines are foiled by the older, more complex wines.
OMG! Oloroso
Olorosos are older…richer and more costly but worth it if you are partial to such flavours and complexity. Oloroso means “fragrant” in Spanish. Sweet Amontillados and Olorosos are lovely with Crème Brulee, aged cheese and of course, a perfect match for Ye Olde English Sherry Trifle. Sweet Harveys Pedro Ximenez VORS Sherry explodes on your palate with voluptuous flavours of figs and Arabian dates. A dash of sherry also brings out the flavour of Lobster Bisque.
Say cheers to suprising Sherry…Salud!
The Travelling Gourmet’s SAS (smooth as silk) Sherry Trifle
A ravishing English lady taught me this recipe…
Ingredients
- Big clear glass bowl for the Trifle
- 1 packet of Lady Finger sponge biscuits
- Fresh Strawberries.
- Fresh Raspberries
- Chocolate curls
- ½ cup Orange Juice
- Strawberry Jelly
- Pedro Ximenez Sherry
- Sliced almonds
- Custard or Crème Anglais.
Method
Place the Lady Finger sponge biscuits to line the bottom of the bowl.Then pour on orange juice and sherry to taste ( 5 tablespoons). The sponge will soak up the juices and sherry.
Add in the fresh strawberries. Make some strawberry jelly and pour carefully in. You can add strawberry jam to the jelly for more texture. Let it set in the refrigerator.
Before serving, make the custard, let it cool and pour it on top of the set jelly. Chill in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Garnish with fresh strawberries, raspberries, chocolate curls and serve immediately. Enjoy!
On Valentine’s Day, make a heart on top of the custard with strawberries, raspberries &cherries. Michelangelo always said: Trifles make perfection and perfection is no trifle!
The President of the Secret Sherry Society is pleased to present this week’s author on “Sherry Blogger of the Week,” Nathan Hazard of The Chocolate of Meats . You can also follow Nathan on Twitter @ChocoMeat
Each week we will feature a new wine blogger committed to sharing with readers their passion and knowledge of wine. If you are a wine blogger and are interested in being featured on our website please email us at secretsherrysociety@gmail.com.
By Nathan Hazard
Let’s be up-front, I am a relative newcomer to sherry.
A fledgling enthusiast.
A convert.
When I was younger, sherry was purely of the discount cream variety and sat on the shelf above the stove for ages beside the canola oil, spices, and kosher salt. It was used maybe twice a year, and tossed upon moving, to be replaced eventually by an equally abased bottle of Marsala. Then one adventurous eve at the market while in college, I picked up a bottle of fino sherry, checked out the label and decided to give this “bracing aperitif” another shot. I chilled the bottle as instructed and poured myself a taste. Akin to my first sip of grappa, the bone dry mineral sting came as an unpleasant surprise, and thus tawny port took a healthy lead in the fortified wine department.
Many years, bottles, and a port club or two later, experience has lead to a rekindling of curiosity. Following a stunning meal at downtown Los Angeles’ Latin powerhouse Rivera last year, I decided to leap once more and finish the meal with a glass of sherry. The server aided me in selecting an Amontillado. As soon as the first amber drop hit my tongue I felt shame, and by the time the almond aromatics filled the back of my mouth a tear had formed in memorial of lost time. Supple, elegant, fascinating, and sexy… I couldn’t recall the last time a single spirit caused such electricity on my palate. It was love. Latent, but true.
In approaching this post, I couldn’t ignore the rich world of sherry cocktails and not due to their burgeoning popularity currently, but for the sweet atonement the trend represents after years of bottom bar shelf desecration. Yes, on the heels of Amari, sherry’s unique notes are fast becoming the barman’s friend.
After a tipsy weekend recipe testing in my kitchen, I’m sharing a voyeuristic dip into my own affair – specifically with Amontillado. Echoing the simple Basque dessert Peras al Vino and named after the Spanish pear, this cocktail relies on subtle aromatics of the dry pear brandy, cinnamon bark and orange oils to enhance the smooth almondy character of the sherry.
Conferencia
- 1 oz vodka
- 1 oz dry Amontillado sherry (I used Gran Barquero)
- ½ oz Clear Creek Pear Brandy
- ½ oz Dolin Vermouth de Chambery Rouge
- 1 cinnamon stick, broken
- Orange peel
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with cracked ice. Shake lightly and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a flamed orange peel.
Because sherry is so food friendly, I couldn’t help but whip up a quick snack to compliment the cocktail.
I first fell in love with deep-fried olives when I worked for a summer at Bluehour in Portland, whose fried picholines were the hit of the Pearl District happy hour set. For these, I used larger Manzanilla olives, so I had room to stuff them. To prepare, first soak the olives in a water bath for a half hour or so to mellow the brine. Pat dry on a paper towel. Finely mince a couple slices of prosciutto and stuff in the olives, using an almond to cork. Line up three shallow dishes with flour, one beaten egg, and panko bread crumbs filling them respectively. Heat 3 inches of oil in a heavy saucepan until a bread crumb browns upon hitting the oil (375 degrees). Dredge olives in flour, shake then cover in egg, lastly rolling in the panko. Deep fry for about 2 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and let cool slightly.
Sip cocktail, eat olive. Let love do the rest.
Best Sherry Cocktail
Charles Joly
with: Bread & Wine
1 oz Dry Oloroso Sherry
1 1/2 oz Scotch
5 dashes Absinthe
1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
1/4-1/3 oz maple syrup (depending on tartness of lemons)
Fill Old Fashioned glass with ice, dash with absinthe and set aside to season.
Combine Sherry, Scotch, lemon juice and maple syrup in mixing glass. Add ice and shake well. Empty Old Fashioned glass, coating sides with absinthe. Add Kold Draft or large pieces of ice. Strain cocktail into glass. Cut a strip of orange zest using a vegetable peeler. Mist top of glass with oil, rub rim and place decoratively in glass. No straws please.
