Food & Wine

Yes, I know--many are thinking about grilling now. This doesn't lessen the value of the magazine for me; it comes monthly with seasonal dishes and ideas for parties, formal and casual, as well as general items that would be appropriate all year round. The grilling article this month concentrates on atypical grilling possibilities -- grilled salmon with dilled mustard glaze; grilled Maryland soft-shell crabs with tartar sauce; grilled pork tenderloin fajitas; barbecues leg of lamb; many other things, including the grilling essentials (from taste-oriented requirements such as dried vines and herbs to practical needs such as mitts and a brush).

That issue of magazine also had An Ode to Beer & Baseball, another apropos article, with the subtitle which reads:

'Forget Chardonnay. The only drink that can do justice to baseball is a lukewarm, sudsy, mass-produced domestic beer.'

Now, you might not agree with this (I personally would prefer a higher-grade beer with my low-standard hot dog at the ballpark), but from this you can see this is not just a 'woman's magazine', as so many magazines of this sort get labelled.

The magazine is well-organised, well-pictured (I like to see the way food is supposed to look), and well-written; it has an index of recipes in the back of each issue, separated by food types--soups and starters, salads, eggs, vegetables, pasta etc., fish & shellfish, meat & poultry, desserts, condiments & sauces, and (in this particular issue) salsas. They also index types of cooking (formal, fast, etc.), wine recommendations and reviews, and places.

Past issues included a gatronomic tour of the restaurants of San Francisco, as well as Amsterdam. One previous issue did a 'tour of the islands', which took in not only Caribbean islands, but also Tahiti, Madagascar, and Australia. There is always at least one international article in Food and Wine which discusses both local cuisine and restaurant options, as well as how to recreate some of the dishes at home.

The section on wines is always of particular interest to me. A recent issue included a useful guide to 10 common blunders with wine, which includes storage tips, glassware cleanliness (don't destroy a good wine with a glass which has a soapy residue!), serving sequences, and more. The preceding issue kept with it's island theme by going over the best wines from islands by wine experts from 12 top resorts; earlier in the year articles included tips for getting best buys at restaurants (how to really read a wine list), how to buy to build a collection, and how to determine value in the confusing world of French wines.

One article I highly recommend comes from the February 2000 issue, The $100 Dinner Party, which discusses chef Julia Serrano from the Picasso restaurant in Las Vegas and his construction of an elegant dinner party for 10 that only cost $100. Then it has pages of wonderful tips for those on a limited budget (like poor struggling seminary students!) on how to build good and memorable menus on a shoestring.

I was given a subscription to this magazine as a gift from someone who despaired of my Domino's diet, and I have maintained the subscription due to the wonderful variety of articles, the interesting writing style, and the temptation the magazine inspires each month.

Bon appetite!