Chef Kevin Williamson entertained the wine fest audience during his cooking demonstration.
Chef Kevin Williamson explains the inner-workings of his dishes.
A group of volunteers get a lesson in making tomales.
Don't let the title of "flap" meat steer you away; this delectable dish paired nicely with Cliff Lede's cabernet.
On the opening day of the Nantucket Wine Festival, Chef Kevin Williamson offered three different interpretations of Texas game and beef. Williamson's creations were paired with award winning wines from Cliff-Lede Vineyards. Check out the three methods for preparing meat in this Texas Throwdown:
- Dish 1: Sugar cured quail, with a dry rub, award winning dry rub for beef
council and a carrot salad with tamaron glaze and california raisins - Dish 2: Flap
meat, witha roasted scallion marinade soaking in a beer, with roasted cubana peppers, mashed potatoes & sauteed mushrooms - Dish 3: Texas Black Angus beef brisket & fig tomale, made with white corn mesa
Williamson, who is a national spokesperson for the Beef Industry, as well as the Texas Beef Council & Texas Dept. of Agriculture. "I've been fortunate enough the last couple of years to travel all around the world and train chefs, usually at 5-star hotels, like in Hong Kong or Singapore or Brazil, and teach them how to use underutilized cuts of beef," he said, "Normally we all are familiar with the beef filet, or the New York strip, the rib-eye, the more common, expensive cuts, but when it comes to the flat iron or the shoulder tender, or the knuckle, or the briskiet, they're very, very flavorable cuts of meat that are very reasonable and it's good to cook at home, and they're cuts that are showing up all across the world at some very high end restaurants.
Vice President and General Manager Jack Bittner from Cliff Lede Vineyards was on-hand to pair the exquisite dishes with his Stags Leap district Cabernet. "It's challenging to pair with spicy foods," Bittner said, "You didn't feel you needed something cold, like a beer [with the quail]." Bittner's wines were paired with each dish differently, making the Texan-inspired dishes shine even more, despite the pairing of BBQ with fine wine. Yes, barbeque and fine wine. Bittner himself asked it best, "I grew up having beer with BBQ. Are we taking a tragic wrong turn here?"
Williamson's response was, "I think we're taking the proper slope. The Black Diamond Mountain Wine slope [is good] especially with quail, we serve a lot of wine in the restaurant."
For more, take a look at our profiles on some of this year's Nantucket Wine Fest Luminaries. Stay tuned to Plum for more from the 2008 Wine Fest.
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