Farm to Table

Spring is coming to Adair. Albeit slowly, she's definitely on her way, and we're ready for her.  We have baby chicks this year with the intention of producing our own organic eggs.  We're also adding some raised beds for vegetable gardens and we've planted about 20 berry bushes.  Anyone who's stayed at Adair knows we use a great many eggs and berries at breakfast and with 200 acres, why not grow our own?

We also have 5 baby ducks, though their not so little anymore. They started out about the same as the baby chicks, but they are surely twice their size by now.  The ducks will be a permanent fixture in the front pond
and I am assured by those who know that they will bed down at night with their beloved friends the chickens.  They also tell me that duck eggs make the very best pastries.  I guess we'll find out. Somehow it makes me laugh that these ducklings are SO attracted to water. They just can't stay out of the water dish.

They can all be viewed at the Adair this summer.  You best be thinking of  some names or we're gonna start naming them after the guests.

‘Weekly Party of Four’ Catch up with Friends for FREE on Fridays

A fun and relaxing evening dining out with friends is just the antidote to a busy week of work and family obligations, and every Friday, now through the end of May, Adair Country Inn & Restaurant in Bethlehem, is making it easier than ever to enjoy some special time together. Catch up with friends for free on Fridays: when you make a dinner reservation for four, your two friends receive a 2-course dinner for FREE! Fine New England-style cuisine at a reasonable price prepared by Chef Orlo and excellent service from a staff that wants each guest to walk away with a unique experience is only a phone call away.

Unwind with a glass of wine in our comfortable dining room while you order from the menu that features dishes lovingly prepared by Chef Orlo using in-season, locally sourced ingredients. Enjoy the ambience and warmth of the fireplace on cool evenings, or the alpenglow of the mountains as winter gives way to spring. Ask the innkeeper about Adair’s unique history. Did you know that the Inn was originally a private home — a wedding gift from famous Washington, DC trial attorney John Hogan to his only daughter, Dorothy Adair Hogan, upon the occasion of her marriage to lawyer and WMTW television founder John Guider? Or that Mrs. Guider maintained a lifelong friendship with her childhood friend, the famous actress Helen Hayes? See if you can find the photograph of Mrs. Guider and Muhammad Ali, taken when he visited Franconia College (Hint: it’s in the telephone booth!).

 Once you’ve had a taste of Adair Country Inn & Restaurant’s hospitality, we know you’ll want to return again and again. Call today and reserve your “Weekly Party of Four” table, and enjoy an evening (Fridays 5:30-8:30) of good food, good friends, and a wonderful restaurant experience.

 Adair Country Inn & Restaurant is located right off exit 40 of I-93.  On Route 302 heading towards Bethlehem, take the first turn on the left onto Guider Lane. Prices excluding beverages, gratuity and NH tax. Not valid in conjunction with other specials, discounts, gift certificates or coupons. Call to make your reservation or for more information at (603) 444-2600.   80 Guider Lane | Bethlehem, New Hampshire 03574 | innkeeper@adairinn.com

Make Every Bite (and Sip) Count

Great Wines from the Lands Down Under

As I prepared the menu and started to think about the food preparations for our upcoming “Down Under” Wine dinner, I also started to think back on how much the wine world has changed since I started cooking over 25 years ago. Back then, very few wines from either Australia or New Zealand were served or even available to purchase here in the States. Things have certainly changed and definitely for the better.

Australia and New Zealand — the lands down under — have both gained a reputation for producing some of the world’s best wines. While both countries have been producing wines since the late 1700s/early 1800s, they have only in the past 30 years been recognized by the rest of the world as being on par with the best. Australia’s Shiraz and New Zealand’s Sauvignon Blanc have become the standard by which all other growers are judged.

In addition to the celebrated Shiraz (also known as Syrah), Australia is producing high quality Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Pinot Noir. The major white wines produced include Chardonnay, Semillon, Riesling and Sauvignon Blanc.

There are over 50 wine-growing regions in Australia, most of which are concentrated in South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.

South Australia produces more wine than any other Australian state. South Australian vineyards are blessed with cool winters, warm summers and a long ripening season. The most famous regions in South Australia include the Barossa Valley, known for its Shiraz, the Clare Valley, known for its Rieslings, and the Adelaide Hills, known for its Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The Limestone Coast, known as “the Bordeaux of Australia,” is where the vines grow in rich, red soil and which is home to regions such as the Coonawarra and Padthaway.

Australia’s oldest and best known wine regions can be found in New South Wales (NSW). Located near Sydney, this large area has many diverse types of grape varieties. More than half of the wine produced from this region is exported to the United States.

Victoria produces some of Australia’s best sparkling wines. Vineyards such as Chateau Yering and Domain Chandon both export large volumes of their popular sparkling wines to North America that are made with the same grape varieties (Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier) used in Champagne.

Western Australia is home to some of Australia’s best new wineries. Vines are now grown from the Coral Coast (North of Perth) to the cooler Southern climates of Margaret River, the Swan Valley and Albany. Margaret River, especially, has become known for its great wine. Its 60 or so wineries produce only 1% of Australia’s wine, but 15% of Australia’s premium wine. Wineries in Margaret River include: Vasse Felix, Leeuwin Estate, Mad Fish and Evans & Tate.

New Zealand wines have a similar story. They have been produced for years, but just recently have they earned worldwide acclaim. Their vineyards are all relatively close to the sea and all enjoy the cooling sea breeze, which aids in their ripening.

While there are many different grape varieties grown in New Zealand, it is the Sauvignon Blanc wines which have become some of the best in world. With a climate similar to Australia, New Zealand is also known for quality Chardonnay, Riesling, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and Merlot wines as well.

New Zealand’s best known wine region is Marlborough, located at the northeast end of South Island. Here, the top wineries such as Oyster Bay, Villa Maria, Pernod Ricard, Nobilo and Sacred Hill produce the world-class Sauvignon Blancs for which New Zealand is most famous.

So, next time you are shopping for wine, do yourself a favor and explore some of the world’s best wines from the lands down under.

— Orlo Coots is Head Chef at Adair Country Inn & Restaurant. Enjoy his cooking featuring local produce, cheeses and meats Thursday through Mondays by making a reservation at (603) 444-2600. Orlo can be reached at cheforlo@hotmail.com for questions about this article or any other food-related questions. Remember — whether cooking for one or for a crowd, make every bite count.

A New Approach to Weight Management: Eating for Stomach Hunger

We made it through the holidays without any problems. A couple of people in the “10 Years Younger in 60 Days” program lost weight during the Week #4 weigh-in, some of us stayed level, and one of us gained just a couple of ounces while enjoying some of the tempting foods and desserts we associate with the holidays. Congratulations to everyone for keeping focused on your goals!


Our guest this week was registered dietician Virginia (Ginny) Flanders, RD, the Director of Nutrition and Food Services at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital in St. Johnsbury and a certified diabetes educator.

Ginny gave a great presentation on mindful eating, a new approach to healthy eating and weight management that eliminates the need to count calories or eliminate carbs. Mindful eating is all about being aware of the food you are eating. Not only do we need to choose nutritious and healthy foods to eat, but we also need to pay attention to our bodies, which tell us hour to hour how hungry we are.

All foods fall into one of three categories: proteins, fats or carbs. A fourth source of calories is alcohol. For the best nutrition and to give our bodies the energy they need to function optimally, we need a balanced diet – a variety of healthy foods, rather than eating only meats or eliminating all carbs.

 

Ginny led us through several exercises to help us determine why we eat like we do and to help us become aware of the triggers that lead us to eat even when our stomachs aren’t hungry. The Hunger and Fullness Scale lets you rate your hunger from 1 – Ravenous to 10 – sick. Right in the middle is 5 – Satisfied, which is the goal we should be aiming for. Buddhists say that we should eat until we are three-quarters full. Another way to look at it is to stop five bites before the end of your meal. Ginny explained that it takes about 20 minutes for us to feel full and satisfied. If you consume your food in less time, then your brain doesn’t recognize fullness.

 

We were all a little freaked out when Ginny passed out three tiny raisins to each of us. The objective of this exercise was to look into our bodies to decide how hungry we were on a scale from 1-10, and to assess where this hunger originated. We pretended we had landed on a planet and had to investigate what was edible with the only tools we have -- our senses of sight, smell, taste and touch. First she had us hold one raisin and look at it, then smell it, then place it in our mouths and roll it around. Only then could we take one bite. After chewing, tasting and swallowing it we had to rate our stomach hunger. Did it fill us up? Did we want more of the same food? After that we ate another raisin and had to rate our mind hunger – just what does our mind say about this food? Do our hearts say anything about it? Is it soothing or comforting? Would our hearts like to have more of this food?

Responses to this exercise ranged from “weird” to “it’s amazing how a raisin stinks” to “it makes you think about what you put in your mouth.” According to Ginny, if we slow down when we eat, we’ll become aware of each bite and eat less. “When you go to eat something where is the hunger coming from?” Ginny asked. “We need to eat for stomach hunger, rather than eye or nose or head or heart hunger. It’s a whole different way of approaching food and eating.”

Ginny also suggested that we should eat our meals without the distraction of television, computer or cell phone. Mindful eating is pleasurable eating, she said, and food can’t be enjoyed to its fullest when we are engaged in doing something else, like watching television.

Ginny recommended a couple of books we might find helpful if we choose to practice mindful eating:

 

- Mindful Eating: A Guide to Rediscovering a Healthy and Joyful Relationship with Food by Jan Chozen Bays
- Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan
- Savor. Mindful Eating, Mindful Life, by Thich Nhat Hanh

 

We especially enjoyed some of the approaches to eating in Michael Pollan’s simple book of food rules:

• Don’t buy your food at the same place you buy your gas
• Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
• Avoid foods containing more than five ingredients.
• Eat only animals that have eaten well.
• Eat colorful foods.
• Eat foods that have been pre-digested, like kimchee, a fermented cabbage.
• Eat oily fishes.
• The whiter the bread, the sooner you’ll be dead.
• Eat all the junk food you want, as long as you cook it yourself.

 

Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital will begin a 12-week weight management pilot program in mid-January that is based on the mindful approach that Ginny shared with us. It includes mindful eating, exercise and stress management. Anyone interested in learning more can contact Ginny at g.flanders@nvrh.org.

  

Healthy Snack:

 

This week’s healthy snack, a wonderful sweet potato soup, was prepared by Tinah, based on a recipe from Bob Greene’s “The Best Life Diet.” The soup was savory, with the taste and texture of ground chicken, even though there was no chicken in it, just chicken broth. Most of our group seemed to enjoy it, even the person who doesn’t care for yogurt, which is one of the soup’s ingredients, so this week’s snack gets a thumbs up!

  

Sweet Potato Soup
2 tsp. olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp. cumin
3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper
1-1/2 cups plain nonfat yogurt

  

Heat oil. Saute onion and cumin for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add sweet potatoes and broth. Cook until potatoes are soft, 25-30 minutes. Remove from heat and cool 10 minutes. Puree soup (if using a blender, work in batches and do not fill the blender more than half way). Return soup to heat. Season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the yogurt and serve. Delicious!

  

Next Week:

 

The beginning of a new year, and the countdown begins to the final four weeks of the “10 Years Younger in 60 Days” program. We are staying on track, working toward our individual goals and excited that we have already completed a month’s worth of healthier eating and more exercise. We’ll try to have some weight loss figures ready to share, as well as some comments from individuals in the group about their successes and challenges to date.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Heavenly Massage!

Stress relief is what we were looking for in the third week of “10 Years Younger in 60 Days, which also happens to be the week before Christmas, a time of stress for so many of us. Innkeeper Ilja had arranged for massage therapist Tamar Smookler, owner of Inner Truth Massage & The Healing Arts Studio in Littleton, and her associate, Gina Formeister, also a certified massage therapist, to introduce us to the benefits of massage.

Massage feels wonderful, and it also has health benefits, say Tamar and Gina. It’s good for the detox process that some of us are experiencing as we change our diets because it brings blood to the body’s muscles and tissues, and helps get rid of toxins. Drinking a lot of water after a massage helps to flush out your system as well.

Massage helps your body recover if you are sore from exercising, it can help improve your spirits, is good for joint health, and aids in digestion. Getting a massage can also reduce anxiety and help lower your stress levels.

Getting a massage, says Tamar, stimulates our “happy hormones,” the feel good ones that produce a natural high. “It feels good and you don’t have to do anything!”

Gina and Tamar also demonstrated some simple self-care techniques we could use on a daily basis to help relieve neck and shoulder stress, one of the most common complaints of those who spend a lot of time in front of a computer or do any kind of repetitive job. Stretching to open your chest can relieve tension in the back and neck, as can gentle necks rolls or squeezing the back of your neck with your palms. Massaging your scalp and temples feels good and also helps release mental stress.

The massage therapists hold complimentary chair massages every Wednesday at 11:30 at the Littleton studio, followed by a meditation time. The complimentary sessions are open to the public. Learn more about the benefits of massage or book an appointment at the Inner Truth website at http://www.innertruthmassage.com/.

Following their introductory talk, we got to the fun part of the evening with Tamar and Gina – enjoying a chair massage. Each of us had a short session in the chair, with one of the therapists massaging our scalp, neck, shoulders, back and hands. Those who had never experienced massage were pleasantly surprised with how wonderful and relaxed they felt after just 10 minutes. And those who had had massage before really looked forward to their session. One person said she felt like her entire upper body had opened up and was lighter feeling.  

We were also excited to learn that massage can affect your blood pressure. A couple of people took their blood pressure before and after their massage and noted a marked decline in their numbers following their massage. A very positive ending to our introductory massage experience!

Week No. 3 Weigh In:

We’re starting to notice small weight losses when we step on the scale. A pound or two doesn’t sound like much, but it is if you’ve had trouble losing weight before. If we keep this up we’ll see 10-20 pound weight losses by the end of the eight-week program. And, it’s rewarding to get a high five from our “10 Years Younger in 60 Days” buddies for our accomplishments.

One person noted how eating the wrong foods can affect us. She had eaten a lot of chocolate-covered popcorn and said that it made her feel bad. Another person had made chocolate candies, but resisted eating any, deciding to make good food choices that day. Someone else has stopped eating chocolate all together (notice a theme here!), and has cut out late night snacks, leading to her modest weight loss. Chef Orlo reminded us that dark chocolate is good for us, but only in moderation!

Healthy Snack:

Brad’s Carrot-Pineapple Smoothie received a thumbs-up this week. While we could smell the banana in it, we had difficulty identifying the ingredients of the icy, not too sweet, pale orange fruit and vegetable drink. One of us thought it tasted of strawberries, but – surprise! – no strawberries.

3/4 cup fresh pineapple
1/2 cup ice
1/3 cup orange juice
1/4 cup carrots
1/2 banana

Blend until smooth and frothy.

“That is the recipe,” says Brad, “but of course a true chef puts his touches on any recipe and unfortunately I am no different. I just increased the quantities. More of everything -- carrots, pineapple, and orange juice. I didn’t put more banana in it so as to NOT upset my wonderful bride (aka Innkeeper Ilja) as she hates bananas!”

We decided this one’s a keeper, but be sure to watch portion sizes if you increase the quantities. You’ll defeat the purpose of the healthy snack if you guzzle it all down at once.

Next Week:

This is crunch week for us – making the right food choices over Christmas, when there are so many tempting foods to choose from. Our goal this week is to stay steady, and not gain weight. The scales will reveal whether we’ve been naughty or nice next Tuesday evening.

Merry Christmas to all!

Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Looks!

So says Weight Watchers lifetime member Joe Palazzolo of Bethlehem, who gave a very inspiring talk to our “10 Years Younger in 60 Days” group on Tuesday evening. Joe lost 75 pounds in a year’s time and overcame severe health problems by following the Weight Watchers eating plan.

“Weight Watchers saved my life,” Joe told us. “I embraced the program, and it embraced me. It’s not a diet, it’s a way of life.”

In January 2007, Joe had already had a triple bypass and suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes, high triglycerides and high cholesterol. By December, he had dropped 75 pounds (and his wife lost 60) by following the Weight Watchers food plan and beginning an exercise program.

Because we are all trying to eat more healthily during our eight-week program, we wanted to know how the Weight Watchers program works, and more significantly, could it help us eat better and lose weight. Joe says “Yes!” provided we do the work.

Weight Watchers is based on portion size and has a point system. All fruits are free, as are most vegetables, but other foods are assigned a point value. Each person who joins Weight Watchers receives a specific number of points they can use each day, based on their age, weight and gender. They also receive an additional 49 points they can use throughout the week.

When Joe and his wife joined Weight Watchers they weighed or measured all of the food they ate and counted points and they still do. “You have to change your mindset,” he says, “and it becomes a habit. We teach you how to eat, and you have to track what you eat every day.”

He recommends the Simply the Best cookbook for anyone interested in following the Weight Watchers eating plan or for healthy eating in general. A member of our group who had lost 15 pounds through Weight Watchers several years ago, also gave the cookbook a thumbs up.

We were impressed with the healthy choices that Joe and his wife have made. Anyone can join and change their eating habits – and their life – according to Joe. Meetings are held locally in Littleton, Lancaster, Woodsville and St. Johnsbury; check Weight Watchers online for details and times.

“Every meal you make the best choice you can make,” Joe told us in conclusion.

Week No. 2 Weigh In:The scale was waiting for us as we descended the stairs to Adair’s Granite Room, reminding us immediately of why we were here. With the results in, we learned that some of us lost a pound or two during the first week, and some of us gained. Resisting cookies and other goodies this time of year is difficult!

More Goals:Two more Adair employees joined the group on Tuesday evening. Both want to lower their cholesterol. One wants to drop 25 pounds, the other wants to stay healthy and run a race in the spring and then take on a marathon at a later date. When she’s in her 80s she wants to feel like she’s still in her 30s, she says. What a goal!

The Wave!There’s the wave you do at football games, and then there’s the Wave that Lynn brought along to show us. This piece of exercise equipment is somewhat like a half circle. Placed on its flat ends it’s stable and you can step off and on easily – perfect for step aerobics and other stationary exercises.

Place it on its curvy side and you can rock back and forth and get a different type of workout. It comes with a CD, and Lynn says it’s the best piece of exercise equipment she’s every purchased. Several of us tried it and thought it was a blast. Thanks, Lynn!

Healthy SnackThis week’s snack was yummy – apple and cheddar cheese slices provided by Lynn. Unfortunately, we learned that to keep it healthy, we could have just two slices of cheese. Plenty of apples, though.

Next Week:

Innkeeper Ilja will have another motivational speaker to inspire and educate us about an aspect of healthy living. We’ll be striving to make better food choices throughout the week, and find the time to exercise, so that when we hit the scales, we’ll see the numbers creeping downward.

Apples: The True Taste of a North Country Autumn

Fall is upon us and that means many things here in the North Country. The leaves are starting their annual burst of color bringing in the leaf peepers, the pumpkins are starting to become fixtures on porches, cool comfortable days are followed by crisp nights and, of course, apples are ready to be picked. Everywhere one looks there are apples and apple products. The apple harvest is one of the glorious aspects of autumn here in New Hampshire. Biting into a just-picked apple is one of life’s true pleasures.

Of course, eating a fresh apple is not the only way to enjoy the splendor of the harvest. Among the other products and preparations of apples are cider, apple juice, apple butter, apple jam and, perhaps most famously, apple pie.

Here in the States, apple cider generally refers to what other countries call apple juice. To keep things clear, hard cider is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented apple cider; apple cider is the unprocessed liquid extracted from apples; apple juice is cider which has been filtered and frequently sweetened. Different flavor profiles are determined by using any of the dozens of different varieties of apples grown in the area.

Cider is essentially apples which are cored, chopped, mashed and pressed into a liquid. This unfiltered drink is rich with a deep, fresh apple flavor. Served warm or cold, cider tastes almost as good as an apple straight from the tree. Once the liquid is filtered, it becomes apple juice. Sometimes sugar is added and the resulting beverage is much less tart and usually more kid-friendly. The juice is of course clearer and cleaner tasting. While very refreshing, it does lack that right-off-the-tree taste.

Hard cider is the term used for fermented cider. This was perhaps the most popular beverage in North America in the early- to mid-1800’s due to its availability, low cost to produce and freshness stability. The decline of its popularity started when Americans moved from rural towns to urban areas, cutting down apple orchards as the production of cider became less profitable. Then the new immigrants brought more of a taste for beer than cider, further contributing to its demise. Ironically, it is the renewed interest in craft beers that has led to the revival of the cider industry as well.

There are several other products made from apples, the most popular of which is applesauce. Making applesauce is perhaps one of the easiest things to do. With a mixture of sweet and tart apples, about the only other ingredients you will need are a cinnamon stick and some water. No extra sugar is needed when the apples are at their peak of flavor. I simple cut and core the apples and put them in a pot with just one-half inch of water and a cinnamon stick. Add a pinch of salt, cover and simmer until the apples are completely soft. Run it through a food mill. Check for desired sweetness and either leave as is or flavor with rum, bourbon or any other flavoring of your choice.

Another simple, though a little more labor intensive product is apple butter. Depending on the recipe (there seems to be as many recipes for this as there are varieties of apples), make your applesauce using cider instead of water, process through the food mill, add sugar and spices, then cook down until very thick — a crock pot works wonderfully for this. Apple butter is a beautiful spread full of spiced apple flavor that can add a special touch to many dishes.

Then, of course, there’s apple pie, one of the most enduring American desserts. While the pie has English origins, its original source probably goes back centuries before.

Finding only crabapples in the New World, (they are the only apple native to North America), English colonists brought over seeds and planted them in the rocky soil of New England, which was the perfect condition for them. Because of the great apple crops and the many varieties of apples that grew, apple pie soon became a favorite dish of the settlers. While there are differences in recipes depending on the country of origin — English, Dutch, Swiss, etc. — the basic recipe has changed little through the years. The addition of sugar is perhaps the biggest change to the basic recipe as people’s taste and desire for sweeter foods has increased. Apple pie in America is still one of the great treats of fall, though it certainly tastes wonderful all year long.

So, as autumn is in full swing, go pick some apples, eat some right off the tree and use the rest to savor the true taste of fall here in the North Country.

New England McIntosh Cake
This easy-to-make apple cake is good either as a dessert or for breakfast.
3 McIntosh or other New England apples, peeled, cored, and chopped
1 c sugar
1-1/2 cups canola oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
2 tsp. vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9" x 13" baking dish. Beat sugar and oil with a whisk or electric mixer. Add eggs and beat well. Mix in dry ingredients. Stir in apples, nuts, and vanilla. Pour into baking dish. Bake 60-70 minutes. Cake should be golden brown and firm. Top with cinnamon cream cheese frosting and enjoy.

MAKE EVERY BITE COUNT - FOOD AND WINE PAIRING

There are several ways to approach the wine and food pairings, whether doing it is at a restaurant or to enjoy the proper wine with your dinner at home. The first step is to decide on the food to be served. At the Inn, I always start with the food. It is much easier for our wine expert and me to match wine to food than food to the wine. If you will be doing multiple courses, make sure to start with lighter flavors and work your way up to bigger, bolder flavors, then end with sweet dessert. The wines will progress the same way and the flavors from the earlier foods and wines will not overpower the following courses.

Once you have the foods decided upon, now comes the tricky part of matching the wines. Of course, the most important choice is to make sure to drink what you like. If you prefer a particular wine regardless of the food you are eating, by all means drink that. There is absolutely nothing wrong with drinking a light white wine while eating a steak, just as there is never an issue with drinking a big cabernet sauvignon with a piece of light fish. What matters most is that you like how your wine tastes. However, to make every bite count, by matching the flavors and characteristics of the wine to the flavors of the foods, I think that you can more fully enjoy how certain wines pair with some foods.

Now that you have decided to try to match wines to your foods, the most basic guideline to follow is light foods go with light wine and heavy foods go with heavy wines. But you must also keep in mind the accompanying ingredients. For example, a Sauvignon Blanc goes very nicely with a piece of fish with a light sauce. However, if you were to add tomatoes and a rich lobster stock to the sauce, a medium bodied red wine like a Pinot Noir will actually be a great choice. The old rule of white with fish and red with meat is a great place to start, but do keep in might what else will be on the fish or meat.

If you are going to do a spicy dish, this will certainly determine what type of wine you choose. Certain wines more perfectly complement the spiciness of certain dishes, just as the spiciness can bring out the good (or bad) flavors of the wine. A slightly sweet Riesling or Gewürztraminer is a very good choice for spicy foods.

The best way to find the best pairing for your food is to do a little internet research. There are hundreds of websites that can guide you to the right match. Simply Google the name of the dish and add “wine pairing” and you should have several hundred links to choose from for a suitable wine choice.

If you are planning a special dinner, another option is to test the dish beforehand with two or more wines. Yes, this can be time consuming or costly, but you get to sample wines and make sure you know how to prepare the dish before the big dinner. Sounds good to me! Make sure to taste each wine without the food first, then, taste each one after taking a couple of bites. See how the flavors all come together (or not, if they are the wrong choices).

Now, if you already have a special bottle of wine, you can always match a food with that. The bottle may have some basic suggestions. If not or if not enough information is provided, go to the winery’s website and look up that wine. There will probably be some more detailed suggestions on what to have with the wine. The next step is Google the name of the wine and add “food match”. There should be plenty of links to follow.

Remember- wine and foods go great together, so do not get too intimidated with finding the perfect wine to drink with your meal. Focus on flavors and characteristics of the foods, do some research, ask questions at the wine store or even call a Chef. I have taken many phone calls and emails from family, friends and strangers asking for advice on what to drink with a particular dish or what to eat with a particular wine.

With all of the wines out there to choose from, it can be somewhat daunting, but drink what you like, like what you drink and make every bite count.

Poached Pears with Spicy Honeyed Vermouth Syrup
This dessert is very easy to prepare, looks fancy and difficult and matches very nicely with a sweet dessert wine like a sauterne or late harvest Riesling.

6 servings
1 bottle dry white vermouth
½ cup honey
½ teaspoon black pepper (preferably freshly ground)
½ teaspoon powdered ginger
1 cinnamon stick
6 pears, preferably Bosc

In a sauce pan deep enough to hold the pears, add all ingredients except pears. Bring to a boil, then, turn to low simmer.

Peel pears, leaving whole with stems intact and cut out core. A melon baller works best to core from the wide, bottom end for this.

Put pears into pot, turn up heat slightly, cover and cook pears until soft enough to easily pierce thickest part with a knife, approximately 20-25 minutes. You can do the pears in batches if needed.

Remove pears from syrup to cool.

Once all pears are cooked, reduce liquid uncovered until it is a thick golden syrup. Let cool.

To serve, place one pear on dessert plate, drizzle with some of the syrup. Garnish with mint and some unsweetened whipped cream. Serve with your favorite dessert wine and enjoy.

Orlo Coots is Head Chef at Adair Country Inn and Restaurant. Enjoy his cooking Thursday through Monday. (603) 444-2600. Orlo can be reached at cheforlo@hotmail.com for any questions about this recipe or any other food-related questions you may have. Remember- whether cooking for 1 or for a crowd, make every bite count.