Food & Wine March 2019

2017 DOMAINE CHAPEL JULIÉNAS CÔTE DE BESSAY ($33) I had this silky, layered red at NYC’s Racines restaurant; now I wish I had a case. Cru Beaujolais is the ultimate start-of-spring red, so if you see this domaine’s wines, snap them up. Other top producers are Marcel Lapierre, Jean-Louis Dutraive, Clos de la Roilette, and Julien Sunier. 2016 RIDGE EAST BENCH ZINFANDEL ($32) I retasted this seductive Sonoma County red not too long ago and was reminded once more that California’s premier Zinfandel specialist really does make killer Zins. This one bowls you over with wild blackberry, dark chocolate, and spice notes, yet it somehow never seems too big or too ripe. TENSEI ENDLESS SUMMER TOKUBETSU HONJOZO SAKE ($34) March may herald the start of springtime, but in New York City, where I live, it’s…

SLICE INTO GRAISON GILL’S COUNTRY BOULE from the cover of this issue and you’ll smell a nutty, almost molasses-like earthiness. Take a bite, and the dark brown, caramelized crust gives way to a tender, chewy, tangy crumb. How does Gill deliver such complex flavor with just flour, water, and salt? Good technique and a hot oven help, of course. So does a kicky sourdough starter. But the real difference-maker is more fundamental: Gill bakes with freshly milled flour. As writer Rowan Jacobsen details in “The Miller” (p. 44), Gill fermented a whole-grain revolution in New Orleans when he brought a 3,000-pound stone mill to Bellegarde Bakery. His bakery created a new micro-economy in town, selling freshly milled heirloom grains to local chefs. It also linked him to a network of like-minded…

1 COOK OVER F&W recipe tester Paige Grandjean dove deep into the world of fresh-milled flours with Bellegarde Bakery’s Graison Gill. For Gill’s tips on baking with fresh flour and a recipe for the Country Boule pictured on the cover, visit foodandwine.com/bellegarde-country-boule. You’ll find a simpler recipe for his versatile ciabatta on p. 92. 2 FIND MORE RECIPES We’re thrilled to bring you more weekly recipes with the launch of F&W Cooks, a new digital recipe community featuring Gail Simmons, Ruth Reichl, yours truly, and many others. foodandwine.com/fwcooks 3 READ THIS Speaking of makers, Stephen Satterfield’s Whetstone, a smart and gorgeous quarterly publication about food origins and culture, should be required reading for all food lovers. whetstonemagazine.com 4 SHOP HERE When I lived in New York City, I frequented LeNell’s in Red Hook, Brooklyn, to buy bourbon…

1. A CREAM “Rather than using plain whipped cream, I make a mixture of mascarpone and heavy cream, so when it is whipped it tastes kind of like Cool Whip (in a good way). It also makes it a bit more stable, so it’s good for traveling.”—CHEF PAT O’MALLEY, HUNGRY PIGEON, PHILADELPHIA 2. A DRESSING “My best friend came up with this ‘Save the Day’ dressing; I add this magic enhancer to a lot of things I do. It always makes them better. It’s a mix of fish sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, salt, and togarashi.”—CHEF HILDA YSUSI, BROKEN BARREL, THE WOODLANDS, TEXAS 3. AN EMULSION “I always travel with my saffron emulsion sauce. It works great for pasta, seafood, fish, and filet mignon. I make it with shallots, saffron, clarified butter, heavy cream, and salt…

IN AN ERA WHEN we are embracing all things handmade, from fresh pasta to one-of-a-kind ceramics, it’s still fairly uncommon to see a restaurant hand-rolling its own couscous. That’s because the process of making it from scratch is labor-intensive, repetitive, and time-consuming. Cooks must roll the semolina flour over and over so that the tiny particles stick to one another, clumping up into tender granules without forming a dough. Chef Meir Adoni from Nur in New York City, one of a few restaurants making couscous this way, refers to the motion as a kind of rubbing, “as if you are warming your hands.” But the lighter texture and fresh taste of hand-rolled grains make it worth the effort. Ron and Leetal Arazi, owners of the artisanal food company New York Shuk—which…

KISH-KASH NEW YORK CITY Chef Einat Admony’s restaurant—named after the Hebrew word for a couscous sieve—focuses on Jewish North African cuisine with an emphasis on hand-rolled couscous, offered in dishes like chicken tagine and fish in a spicy tomato sauce. kishkashnyc.com SABA NEW ORLEANS At his Israeli restaurant, chef Alon Shaya serves hand-rolled couscous as a side dish, flavored with dried cherries and Persian lime butter. “We steam our couscous, rather than boiling it, to help keep it soft and light,” Shaya notes. eatwithsaba.com NUR NEW YORK CITY Chef Meir Adoni, who learned how to hand-roll couscous from his Moroccan grandmother, serves it two ways: with lamb chops, pumpkin tershi, roasted carrots, and yogurt, and an off-menu vegetarian version with Broccolini, cabbage, and roasted potatoes. nurnyc.com MOURAD SAN FRANCISCO Mourad Lahlou has been serving hand-rolled couscous—served with fava bean puree, Swiss…