From Tales of the Cocktail to Tails of the Pig?
July 17th, 2009 by HHG
Liz just got back from the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail event in New Orleans, where she witnessed the amazing ingenuity of many award winning mixologists, chefs, and bartenders. Cocktails are making a resurgence in popularity with the use of new techniques and flavor combinations moving from the kitchen to behind the bar. We are all really excited to start experimenting with all of these new ideas to come up with some unique, flavorful, fun cocktails made especially for the Asheville community. There is so much to look forward to!
Speaking of new ideas, Katie has been ravenously absorbing all of the creative energy pouring out of the El Bulli pastry kitchen and turning that energy into dessert ideas of her own. One sleepless night she came up with idea of a beautiful dessert inspired by the image of a bell jar terrarium. The flavor profiles are bright, floral, nutty, slightly herbaceous, with a hint of tart goat cheese. One original dessert idea down…many, many, many to come.
Felix has been busy making contacts in Los Angeles. Last week he met Raul Martin of Embutidos y Jamones Fermín and Fermín USA, the company who recently introduced the famous Iberico ham to the United States. Iberico ham is an amazing tradition in Spain and Felix and Katie are very much looking forward to learning more about the raising of these famous pigs and the ritual that goes into slicing the prized jamón on a visit to the Fermin farm in Salamanca, Spain in January. Having the fruity, buttery, nutty, complex flavors of Iberico ham available in Asheville….a possibility that we are definitely going to look into!
Posted in Chapter One: The Four Corners of the World | Comments (0)