If shrimp and grits are what come to mind when you think about food in Charleston, my hunch is that you haven’t been down to my neck of the woods lately. Since the late aughts, the city has undergone a culinary renaissance propelled by a cohort of chefs, notably Sean Brock, who brought the farm-to-table movement to new heights. In part because of this burgeoning scene, Charleston’s tourism sector has grown exponentially in recent years, and the city of just over 150,000 residents now receives close to 1 million tourists annually. (Some 35,000—including a handful of SAVEUR staffers—descend on the Charleston Wine + Food Festival each year alone.) 

But Charleson’s culinary evolution continues apace to the present. These days, a new class of chef-driven restaurants has cemented the city as an evergreen food destination, drawing from the traditional Lowcountry palate as well as international flavors and cooking techniques. 

Charleston is a thriving centuries-old port, and its food is grounded in the influences of enslaved people from West Africa and beyond who largely built the city from the ground up, grew its crops, and worked and cooked here. On this peninsula hugged by the Ashley and Cooper Rivers, they creatively combined spices and other foodstuffs that came off the ships with the bounty of this place—corn, game, shrimp, fish, crab, oysters—and established a singular cuisine at the intersection of many cultures. 

The peninsula is still Charleston’s gastronomic epicenter, which means a lot of the best restaurants are within walking distance from one another. However, as the city has grown, so has its culinary footprint, and now diners can be served—and served well—by spending some time west of the Ashley River, in the Park Circle neighborhood of North Charleston, and out on the Sea Islands. 

Charleston’s restaurants are marvelously diverse, and nowadays, you’re almost as likely to find flounder cooked in miso-infused broth as you are to enjoy it dredged in cornmeal and deep-fried. That’s why this primer runs the gamut.

I hope the list sparks your imagination: This city by the sea is where I dove headfirst into food writing, and almost two decades later, I am just as enamored with Charleston’s restaurant scene as I was that first soft-shell crab season. My biggest piece of advice? Come hungry—enjoying all that Charleston has to offer takes time, reservations, and a voracious appetite. 

The Glass Onion

1219 Savannah Highway
(843) 225-1717

Sixteen years and counting, The Glass Onion continues to churn out pitch-perfect po’boys with flash-fried plump local shrimp served on a soft yet crusty roll. Beyond the sandwiches, there are in-season vegetable sides like local field peas stewed with onions and fresh herbs, which are great to share alongside entrees including pan-roasted Carolina trout and succulent pork chops. The diner-style dining room is simple yet comfortable enough to linger for dessert, which may be a tart meringue pie one day and buttermilk panna cotta the next.

Costa

320 Broad St., Suite 160
(843) 969-2555

At this Mediterranean restaurant next to Colonial Lake, Chef Vinson Petrillo (of Restaurant at Zero George fame) reminds everybody why burrata became so trendy in the first place: This is the good stuff, ultra-creamy with a mild tang (and it doesn’t hurt that there’s an option to have it arrive gilded with caviar). Eggplant parmesan, bubbling from the oven, feels like a coat on a cool night, but regardless of the weather, I find myself returning to the cool beef carpaccio with velvety slices of meat encasing an Asian-inspired herby salad.

Da Toscano Porchetta Shop

109 President St.
No Phone

After moving to Charleston to open Le Farfalle, chef Michael Toscano connected with local pig farmer Tank Jackson and soon perfected his already exceptional porchetta. At this Charleston take on an Italian American butcher shop, try the flavorful, thinly sliced pork on a focaccia sandwich topped with salsa verde, or skip the swine and opt for the eggplant scapece sandwich with arugula, sun-dried tomatoes, and ricotta. When you’ve gone hard the night before, Da Toscano’s breakfast sandwiches—such as porcini-rubbed prime rib topped with a sunny-side-up egg—always save the day. 

Rodney Scott’s BBQ

1011 King St.
(843) 990-9535

There’s often a line out the door to this restaurant on Upper King, and when Rodney’s in the house, a line to see him, too. Rodney Scott is one of the great pitmasters of smoky whole-hog barbecue, which requires the strength to lift butterflied pigs over glowing coals, the stamina to tend it for multiple hours, and the patience to know when it’s crisp enough to serve with zippy vinegar sauce. The sound system is always playing some classic pop or blues in the sun-filled dining room, and the music is even piped out to the parking lot for customers at the drive-through. Rodney’s is a rare taste of country-style barbecue in the city—red cafeteria tray, pork skins, beans, collards, and all. 

Vern’s 

41 Bogard St. A
No phone

It feels like a cozy dinner party at this Cannonborough neighborhood haunt, where seasonal bistro dishes are the draw. A few recent standouts include escargot with tarragon and gruyère, gnocchetti with walnut arugula pesto, and bavette steak with sweet onions from Wadmalaw Island. Bethany, the co-owner, is a marvelous host, serving wine, hugging customers, and deftly maneuvering the crush of diners. Settle in for aperitivi at the bar, then peruse the wine list favoring low-intervention small producers. 

Kultura 

73 Spring St.
(843) 974-1674

There’s no cornbread in sight at this Filipino restaurant with a pleasant side yard patio—yet as any local will tell you, Kultura has quickly become a Charleston favorite since opening last year. Ingredients sourced nearby, like Peculiar Pig pork and a variety of vegetables, shine through in dishes like arroz caldo topped with smoked trout roe and tocino (twice-cooked pork ribs with banana ketchup and furikake rice krispies). It’s astonishing that the cooks can achieve such depth of flavor and beautiful plating using little more than an induction burner and a small oven. On Sundays, guests belt out karaoke hits at brunch while sipping mimosas and halo-halo cocktails made with coconut, sake, and ube foam. 

Chez Nous

6 Payne Court
(843) 579-3060

We’ve already professed our love for this spot swimming in fairytale European charm, but the lasting appeal of Chez Nous is how it connects the diner with the seasons—six menu items at a time. On a recent visit, there was crispy fish with peas and sofrito, shaved carrot and golden beet salad spooned over creamy mozzarella, and berries in vanilla cream for dessert—all served in an unhurried, well-choreographed procession. At Chez Nous, the candlelight glows, the Old World wine list flows, and there’s always a new season to celebrate.

Malika

1333 Theater Drive, Mount Pleasant
(843) 388-5178

This Pakistani street food mecca next to a movie theater is the Mount Pleasant sister restaurant of Ma’am Saab. Its walls pop with Pakistani street posters, and Bollywood music blasts from the speakers. Masala fries, sprinkled with the house chile-spice blend, come topped with onions, cilantro, and spicy ketchup; they’re a solid starter to munch on while deciding between mains like beef kabab with green chutney and tamarind or the paneer tikka masala combo with vegetable korma. For dessert, don’t miss the traditional kulfi (pistachio, rose, and cinnamon) ice cream. 

FIG

232 Meeting St.
(843) 805-5900 

Though FIG recently celebrated its 20th anniversary, reservations are as hard to come by as ever (so book ahead!). Favorites like the gnocchi and tomato tartine are always in seasonal rotation, but there’s always something new to try in dishes like broiled Steamboat oysters with green garlic (which go great with Cruse Wine’s sparkling rosé), beets with house-made cottage cheese, and sautéed snowy grouper served in a pool of artichoke dashi with peas and asparagus. After-dinner cocktails such as the “café de Carmen”—espresso, Hoodoo chicory, Giffard Banane du Brésil, and Cynar—make a wonderful pairing for desserts like rich Carolina Gold rice pudding topped with local blueberries. 

Bintü Atelier

8D Line St.
(347) 249-6594

Bintü Atelier is one of Charleston’s first African restaurants. Tucked in a house in Eastside with an old-fashioned kitchen store attached, the establishment cranks out stunning mains such as goat with melon seed and pumpkin; mafe, a groundnut stew with chicken; and fried soft-shell crab served over shito spicy crab rice. To wash it all down, there are fresh house-made juices from pineapple to ginger to soursop. This is a family-run operation (you can often spot chef Bintou N’Daw Young at the stove through the screen door), which adds to the warm, homey feel.

The Obstinate Daughter

2063 Middle St., Sullivan’s Island
(843) 416-5020

From wood-roasted clams to seasonal vegetables, the OD (as it’s affectionately called) is all about shareable French, Italian and Spanish plates. Start with oysters from the raw bar, a flatbread with butterbean puree, or Frogmore chowder with shrimp and sausage, then move on to a veal cutlet over creamy grits or the Capanelle made with seasonal fish, green olives, calabrian chili, and breadcrumbs. Make sure to save room for a gelato sampler from Beardcat’s downstairs, which uses local and seasonal ingredients ranging from strawberries to Counter Culture espresso. The OD is the rare restaurant that’s great for romantic dates, family celebrations, and everything in between. 

Bertha’s Kitchen

2332 Meeting Street Rd.
(843) 554-6519

Braving the long line here is part of the pilgrimage, and everybody’s in it together: construction workers, churchgoers, the lawyer from those TV ads, and now you. Bertha’s is about more than the silky okra soup, creamy mac and cheese, green beans like my granny’s, and fried pork chops (my go-to order ever since one of the owners gave me the up-down and said, “You look like it might be a pork chop day”). With its mural of Bertha herself and tables of impatient children waiting for their parents in line, Bertha’s is community across the steam table. 

Chubby Fish 

252 Coming St.
(854) 222-3949

Cooks here work hand in hand daily with local fishermen to bring patrons the best Lowcountry seafood imaginable. You might luck out with a snapper ceviche with avocado and cucumber on one visit, while the next, it might be fried soft-shell crab nachos. The dining room bathed in varying blues, the wine list with plenty of lights and white, and the ever-helpful staff make this Cannonborough neighborhood standby feel like a party—without getting in the middle of yours. Insider tip: The caviar sandwiches on potato rolls are one of the best Charleston restaurant experiences on the peninsula.

Lowland Tavern

36 George St.
(854) 895-4137

Lowland Tavern is the kind of place local chefs flock to when they’re not on the line: It’s cozy yet decadent, thanks to the art-saturated walls and ornate 19th-century fireplaces, and the menu is deceptively simple yet full of subtle culinary flexes. Take the Tavern burger and fries, for instance, inspired by James Beard Award-winning chef Jason Stanhope’s favorite burgers at Peter Luger Steak House and Minetta Tavern in New York: It’s bathed in creamy cognac sauce and comes on a pillowy, sesame-flecked bun that absorbs just enough of the juices so they don’t dribble down your chin. When I’m in the mood for something lighter, I spring for the celery salad with dates, walnuts, and mint. 

Jackrabbit Filly

4628 Spruill Ave., North Charleston
(854) 895-4137

The patio here on a summer night is Park Circle (North Charleston’s hip neighborhood) at its finest. The cocktails—perhaps a carafe of the sake-based If You’re a Bird, I’m a Bird—and easy-to-drink Lambrusco, chenin blanc, and rosé make for many gregarious rounds, and the dim sum brunch of dumplings, congee, and a big ol’ piece of chocolate chip banana bread is so popular it’s often standing-room only. No matter the occasion, at least one order of Sichuan hot karaage, drizzled with house “filly sauce” and served with sweet pickles, is a must.

The post Where to Dine in Charleston, According to a Local appeared first on Saveur.

Bourbon isn’t just a category of spirits—it’s a culture. The best bourbons are highly sippable and collectible, which is why this beloved category of American whiskey lends its signature smooth flavor to everything from maple syrup to candles. According to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, over 28.4 million cases of bourbon were sold last year. Clearly, it’s not going out of fashion anytime soon. 

If you haven’t sipped much bourbon without a mixer, learning quality and what’s worth collecting for your home bar can be a steep task. “What’s most important is that it’s subjective,” says Bill Thomas, a renowned whiskey expert and the owner of Jack Rose Dining Saloon in Washington, D.C. “If you think it’s amazing and you enjoy drinking it, start there.” 

In order to make your shopping a little easier, we consulted the experts to find the category standouts varying in budget, availability, and use. Although we do choose the best straight sipper, we’d happily serve any of these neat, no ice or mixer required.

• Best Expression of the Category: New Southern Revival Brand Jimmy Red Straight Bourbon Whiskey
• Best Value: Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond
• Best for Cocktails: Four Roses Bourbon Yellow Label or Single Label
• Best Enjoyed Neat: Willet Pot Still Reserve
• Best Gift: Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year
• Best Everyday Drinker: Buffalo Trace 
• Best Innovative Bottle: Wilderness Trail 6 Year

Our Top Picks

Best Expression of the Category: New Southern Revival Brand Jimmy Red Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Tasting notes: graham cracker and vanilla with a baking spice finish

Check Price

“This bourbon is totally different from any other bourbon on the market, but what’s so interesting about it is that High Wire has really gone back to literal tradition and thought inside the box,” says Thomas. It defies the modern tradition of mixed mashbills and long aging by going back to the source: corn.

Distilled in Charleston, S.C. with a landrace corn called Jimmy Red, High Wire Distillery’s bourbon has a 100 percent corn mashbill and is only aged a minimum of two years (some bottlings might vary a little beyond that), and yet it has complex tasting notes of baking spice, graham cracker, cinnamon, and vanilla. It’s also aged in seasoned oak. “If there is a must-have bottle that most represents what ‘bourbon’ means, Jimmy Red has the benchmark of oak, vanilla, and caramel,” says Thomas.

Best Value: Evan Williams Bottled-in-Bond

Tasting notes: classic vanilla and oak with a dry finish

Check Price

Thomas is a fan of Evan Williams B-in-B because it will hold up to whatever you want to do with it. It’s retail price typically ranges from $15-19 a bottle, making it a great low-cost entry point. A double gold winner at this year’s San Francisco Spirits Competition, it has classic bourbon notes of vanilla and oak, followed by a warm, dry finish.

 Bottled-in-Bond is a US Government standard that guarantees a whiskey has been aged four years, bottled at 100 proof, and clearly labeled with the name of the distillery who made it and Distilled Spirits Plant (D.S.P.) number in which it was made and bottled. While Evan Williams, which comes out of the Heaven Hill Distillery in Bardstown, is by no means the only bottled-in-bond bourbon on the market, it’s one of the most delicious and accessible countrywide.

Best for Cocktails: Four Roses Bourbon Yellow Label or Single Barrel – 80 proof / 100 proof

Tasting notes: maple syrup, cherries, long finish

Check Price

The Four Roses family of bourbons has “something for everybody,” says Demi Natoli, a Nashville-based bartender who currently splits her time between LA Jackson and Attaboy. “The Yellow Label is great for shaken cocktails that skew a little more refreshing—it provides great results and great value—and the single barrel is wonderful for stirred and more spirit-forward cocktails.” 

The Yellow Label is aged a minimum of five years and its slightly lower proof (ideal for many whiskey cocktails) while the Single Barrel sits in charred oak for seven to nine years and is bottled higher proof. Both have won a bevy of awards throughout the years, including the Tried & True Awards from Ultimate Spirits Challenge. 

Best Enjoyed Neat: Willet Pot Still Reserve

Tasting notes: vanilla lemon cake, with light spice

Check Price

Creamy, dreamy, and a stunner on the bar cart, Thomas says the nose on this beaut is reminiscent of vanilla lemon cake. This Kentucky straight bourbon comes in a signature bottle modeled after the original Willet still blueprints. The contents are a blueprint for how pleasurable an unadulterated sip can be. “I’ll pour this when I’m in the mood for sweet, spicy creaminess,” says Chris Hannah of Jewel of the South in New Orleans. 

Best Gift to Impress: Pappy Van Winkle 23 Year Family Reserve

Tasting notes: dates, warm tobacco, and caramel with a tinge of success if you can actually find a bottle

Check Price

This is the bourbon that has transcended the category to become a cultural icon. It’s significantly aged (23 years!) and made in limited quantities (just a few thousand cases a year!), yielding a special reputation and high price to match. The demand outweighs supply, resulting in perhaps the most desirable bourbon around. Ribbons of vanilla, honey, and sweet maple weave their way through the palate, accented by citrus and spicy notes. One sip makes it obvious that you’re drinking one of the most iconic spirits in the world—one that has been crafted carefully and matured slowly in Kentucky.  It’s an amazing way to say “welcome to the family,” “thanks for the support,” or “let’s sign that deal.” 

Best Everyday Drinker: Buffalo Trace Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey 

Tasting notes: brown sugar, dark fruit, with a spicy base

Check Price

Multiple brands come out of the Buffalo Trace Distillery (including the aforementioned Pappy), but for sheer pleasure of everyday bourbon drinking with friends, Thomas suggests this namesake spirit. “There is really no bigger gift to the market than Buffalo Trace,” he explains. “It’s one of those bottles you can drink with friends without having to really think about it, and the deliciousness just enhances the overall experience with them.” A low rye mash bill creates a smooth taste with notes of mint and molasses that’s complex enough for a round sip and good neat, on ice, or even in a cocktail.

Best Innovative Bottle: Wilderness Trail 6 year Silver Label

Tasting notes: cinnamon roll, toasted oak, and if you’re going for the rye, subtle, spicy finish

Check Price

“[Shane Baker and Pat Heist] are the smartest two guys in the industry,” says Thomas. “They have reverse engineered the bourbon-making process, they ask the right questions, and they have an academic way of looking at tradition.” The two former rock band members meld science with tradition, most notably in their unique infusion mashing process, which applies a precise amount of heat to gelatinize grains’ starches without degrading quality. Combined with their sweet mash process, it brings out the delicious nuances of naturally sweet corn and peppery, spicy rye. 

The silver comes in two styles: wheated bourbon (64 percent corn, 24 percent wheat, 12 percent barley blend) rye bourbon (with 24 percent rye instead of wheat). Thomas predicts this distillery is only going to get more renowned, so this is a star bottle to add to your collection now.

Runners-Up

Our top picks are heavily based in Kentucky, and with good reason since that was bourbon’s birthplace, but it is by no means the only good bourbon-making region in the country. Here are a couple of our runners-up, and a wild card for good measure.

Hudson Whiskey Four Part Harmony Bourbon

Tasting notes: Sugared nuts, a touch of nutmeg, and vanilla

Hudson’s newest release—and oldest bourbon to date—is a reimagining of its popular four-grain bourbon that debuted a few years ago. The distillery held a few barrels back to age longer (at least seven years), and with good reason, as the four grains —corn, rye, wheat, and malted barley—have melded into a hit song. This distillery in the heart of the Hudson Valley was the first to open after Prohibition, and it is still a leader among distilleries who choose to focus on local grains suppliers. So although it may not be a Kentucky bourbon, it’s definitely of its place and time, and that’s worth a hearty cheers.

Belle Meade Reserve Bourbon

Tasting notes: caramel-drizzled stone fruits with a spicy finish

A high-proof bourbon (108.3) with a lot of rye in the mashbill, this spirit plays well for both bourbon and rye aficionados, with a rich, full mouthfeel and hefty spice notes. Brothers Andy and Charlie Nelson launched their brand with this spirit when they decided to revive their ancestor Charlie’s Nelson Greenbrier Distillery, and although they are now producing many more spirits at their downtown Nashville location, Belle Meade is as popular as it once was when ol’ Charlie debuted it in the Tennessee town in 1878. Try it in an old fashioned when you’re torn between that and a rye Manhattan. It will satisfy both sides of the palate. 

Mulholland American Whiskey

Tasting notes: oak and maple with a sweet finish

Wheat-colored and without the bourbon designation, this spirit nevertheless has 94 percent corn, 4 percent rye and 2 percent malted barley, which is more corn than many a bottle bearing the bourbon moniker. It’s a wild card, just like its creators, cinematographer Matthew Alper and actor Walton Goggins, that’s been distilled in Indiana, aged in Kentucky, and finished in California. Its highest and best use is found in cocktails beyond the old fashioned, from a Whiskey Sour to a Chilled Cider Punch. And at around $30 a bottle, it won’t break the bank for merry-making for a crowd. 

Features to Keep in Mind When Shopping for Bourbon 

Age

Technically, bourbon can be aged for any length of time, although the aging process often adds prized vanilla notes. “Straight” legally means it has been aged for two years, and “bottled-in-bond” for four years, which are both good places to start. Aging typically translates to an increase in price, as it means distillers must delay profit and dedicate storage space until their product is ready to be sold. Industry folks in-the-know often note that bourbon can be overaged, which can give the whiskey too much of the oak’s characteristics, but we’d never suggest any which suffers from such a malady. 

Blend, Small Batch, or Single Barrel

Each barrel of bourbon roughly yields 250 bottles. The smaller the bottling run (how many bottles are filled at a time), the higher the price—and more distinctive and collectable the bottle. “Blend,” “small batch,” and “single barrel” are all terms used to denote how many barrels were emptied to bottle the particular batch. A blend is a mix of multiple barrels chosen by the distiller to achieve a particular profile (and it’s the most cost friendly of these three), a mid-priced small batch uses fewer barrels for that bottling, and a top-shelf single barrel is bottled from one barrel at a time. 

Ingredients

Bourbon is the official spirit of the United States, so in order to be labeled bourbon, a whiskey must be 51% corn and produced in the USA. Most bourbons are made from a blend of corn and a wildly individual combination of wheat, barley, rye, or even alternative grains such as rice or oats. 

Distillation Process

It’s a little tricky to, well, distill the distillation process down into simple steps. Generally, water is added to grains and cooked in either a sweet mash or sour mash. The mash is then cooled, yeast is added, and the mixture is allowed to ferment. Up to this point, the process is similar to beer production, but then it goes further by boiling the resulting fermented liquid, capturing the steam, cooling it back down to a liquid, then funneling that liquid into barrels to age. 

Cask Strength

By law, bourbon cannot be made higher than 160 proof (or 80 percent ABV), with standard bourbon bottlings averaging between 80–95 proof. Typically, bourbon is “proofed down” by adding water to dilute it to the alcohol by volume the distiller desires. The term “cask strength” means that dilution did not occur and the proof, or alcohol content, is the same when the bourbon was removed from the barrel or “cask.” Cask strength proof usually ranges around 110 proof and up—high octane stuff.

Cocktails Beyond the Old Fashioned

Although the old fashioned is classic for a reason, it’s not the only cocktail that plays well with bourbon. Here are three others to add to your skill set and “wow” guests while impressing yourself a little, too. 

Mint Julep

Most associated these days with the Kentucky Derby, this mix of bourbon, simple syrup, and mint is notoriously hard to perfect. There must be copious amounts of both fresh mint and bourbon, but not simple syrup. And all must be served over crushed or pellet ice, preferably in a silver cup so as it melts, the whole effect is cooling, from the scent to the taste.

Boulevardier

A Negroni riff for cooler months, this stunner of a sipper often packs more of a wallop than its Italian cousin. The recipe was first published in 1927, but as is the case with many recipes, was most likely around long before it was written down. The bourbon provides strong, sweet support for the Campari’s bitter bite, and the expressed orange peel is more than décor—its citrus oil adds a unifying note to the two spirits.

Egg Nog

While our decadent Egg Nog recipe from chef Mary Sue Milliken incorporates rum, the cocktail is such an old recipe–the word “nog” originally referred to a small cup that held alcohol—that many other spirits have been used through its iterations, including brandy and bourbon. In fact, bourbon is such a popular mixer for the creamy concoction that Evan Williams sells a pre-mixed version. There’s no substitute for the homemade version however, particularly when served by a roaring fire. 

Ask the Experts

Q: What’s the difference between bourbon and whiskey? 

All bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon. Here’s an example to help grasp that deductive logic: There are different types of whiskey as there are different types of birds. A stork is different than a robin like a Scotch is different than bourbon, but they are both whiskeys (and birds, respectively). 

Q: Is bourbon gluten-free? 

This all goes back to the mashbill, the whiskey world’s term for a recipe. By law, bourbon must be 51 percent corn, but that other 49 percent will more often than not include wheat and/or rye grains. Unless the bottle is made from 100 percent corn, then the answer is no. While the distillation process should remove all gluten, many distillers shy away from pronouncing their spirits gluten-free since they err on the side of safety for their customers.

Q: How long does bourbon age before you can drink it? 

There is no age requirement for bourbon. By law, it only has to be stored in a new charred oak container, so that storage technically could be minutes or decades. Once the distillate touches a new charred oak container, it legally becomes bourbon.

Q: Should I keep my bourbon in a decanter? 

“Sure, decanters look cool and all but after a month, it’s the best way to deteriorate your whiskey,” says Hannah. Keep in the original bottle with the original cap for best storage and store the bottle away from a window. If you have a large collection in storage, placing saran wrap over the cap seals can be extra insurance against exposure to air.

The post The Best Bourbons for Gifting, Mixing, and Straight-Up Sipping appeared first on Saveur.

When I was little, spending a night at a friend’s house was exciting for many reasons, and getting to try breakfast cereals that we didn’t have at home was high on the list. But when Claudine, the daughter of Jacques Pépin, invited her friends for sleepovers, her dad—the world-renowned chef who, among many other achievements, has cooked for three French presidents—would sometimes make them breakfast the next morning. And no, he didn’t serve the girls his perfect, pillowy omelettes. Pépin prepared crepes. 

The girls would line up at the kitchen counter or around the table, Pépin recalls, while he set out jars of apricot jam, strawberry preserves, and shaved chocolate in front of them, whisked together eggs, flour, and milk, and melted butter on the stove. As the crepes came hot out of the pan, each of Claudine’s friends decided for themselves what toppings to add. 

It certainly beat the heck out of Froot Loops.

But the French crepe is so much more than a confectionery fantasy topped with whipped cream and jam. “The basic crepe is usable in a savory dish or as a dessert,” says Pépin. The versatile recipe can serve as either a delicate garnish or provide a foundation for any number of ingredients. That’s the power of this ultra-thin pancake that has become an emblem of homestyle French cuisine. 

Featured in Essential Pépin, the chef’s carrot crepes showcase the sweet root vegetable in a savory batter. According to the chef, the flour content may need slight adjustment depending on the moisture from the carrots and the size of your eggs, so aim for a silky batter with a consistency thinner than that of pancakes. This mixture results in a pale orange-colored crepe, in line with the season’s pastel color palette. The recipe works well in sweet applications, too—just omit the scallions.

Whether you decide to go sweet or savory, one of the most ingenious parts of this dish is Pépin’s decision to incorporate the carrot-cooking liquid into the batter. This trick not only imparts a deep, sweetly vegetal flavor, it is also waste-conscious. When I made this dish at home, I cooked the carrots ahead of time and cooled them down right in the pot before blending.

When made savory as the recipe suggests, these crepes have faint sweetness and a tender texture punctuated by bits of lightly browned scallion. They work well as a brunch or simple supper with ginger-spiced shrimp or smoked salmon and crème fraîche. If you decide to go in a sweeter direction, a sprinkle of powdered sugar is sufficient adornment—or gild the lily and top them with a swish of mascarpone and seasonal berries. Versatility is really the point of the humble crepe, so do like Jacques and use it to elevate whatever you happen to have in your kitchen—whether that’s a few choice leftovers or, indeed, whipped cream and strawberries, the stuff of Saturday morning dreams.

Recipe

Carrot Crêpes

The post Jacques Pépin’s Carrot Crepes Go with Everything—from Leftovers to Weekend Brunch appeared first on Saveur.

Sure there are the horses, the hats, and the legendary racetrack, but May seventh’s 148th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs has our brains on bourbon. Not only did this iconic American spirit get its start in the Bluegrass State—the most famous bourbon distilleries are still based there—the Derby’s official cocktail is also the classic, bourbon-laced mint julep. So if you’re thinking of hosting a get-together that includes friendly wagers and fancy hats, consider adding bourbon to the menu. 

Of course, there will be plenty of cocktails to consider, but bourbon’s many culinary virtues extend far beyond the bar. Whether you go sweet, savory, or stick with those sips, these recipes are sure winners (even if your horse isn’t one). 

Bourbon Cocktails

Of course, the most obvious recipes for bourbon are those of the cocktail variety. We’re especially fond of the quintessential mint julep and a sweet and citrusy twist on the old fashioned, two of the cocktail canon’s most iconic bourbon drinks. But because bourbon is the official American spirit, this liquor also suggests our plucky individuality with a dose of fun, so the other cocktails in this category mix things up a bit and take it beyond the bar. Cheers.

Mint Julep

This version of the iconic Southern cocktail—which combines three parts bourbon to one part simple syrup, bracingly infused with fresh spearmint—is sanctioned by the Kentucky Derby as its official mint julep recipe. Get the recipe >

Extra Orange Old-Fashioned

A proper Old Fashioned would become diluted and unappealing with juice, or with muddled fruit. But using an oleo saccharum as the sweetener brings in even more of those orange oils, for a drink where the citrus flavors are bright and powerful, without any juice to compromise the drink’s strength and clarity. Get the recipe >

Bourbon Chai

The rich, spicy warmth of chai is a perfect drink for a cold winter’s day—and it’s made even more warming with the addition of a bourbon like Maker’s Mark, whose notes of clove, vanilla, and caramel marry perfectly with the ingredients in the chai. Get the recipe >

Peanut, Pepsi, and Bourbon Float

Peanuts in Pepsi, once a common tobacco field snack, is now a tall glass of fabulous. This foaming spectacle of sweet, salty, creamy, crunchy, and boozy is the gold standard of ice cream floats. Get the recipe >

Savory Bourbon Recipes

Just because bourbon likes to hang out during cocktail hour and return for dessert doesn’t mean that you should eschew it during the main part of the meal. Lean on its mellow heat to balance a barbecue sauce or marinade, up the ante on the buttery roasted lobster, or add depth to sweet potatoes. And that’s just the beginning.

Bourbon-Roasted Lobster

Loads of herbs, and butter make a lobster pan-roast even more lavish, a flambee with bourbon lends as much flavor as it does drama. Freeze your lobster for 15 minutes before splitting it in half to make it easier on yourself (and the lobster). Get the recipe >

Sweet Potato Casserole with Bourbon and Pineapple

A variation of traditional sweet potato casserole this side gets its depth of flavor from bourbon and pineapple. Get the recipe >

Chicken Liver Toast with Spiced Pecans

This Southern appetizer classic gets the Louisville treatment from the city’s own Proof on Main. Grilling the bread helps the bread stay crunchy through the cocktail hour. Get the recipe >

Braised Brisket Sandwiches with Pimento Cheese

Stout, bourbon, and soy sauce create a potent umami braise for the brisket in these delicious sliders, from Chef Edward Lee of 610 Magnolia in Louisville, Kentucky, which are then topped with spicy pimiento cheese spiked with a Korean red chile paste called gochujang. Get the recipe >

Sweet Bourbon Recipes

Bourbon mash, by law, must be made from at least 50 percent corn, so it’s naturally sweet; the resulting distillate is then aged in new American oak, which lends its heady baking-spice flavor and aroma—a match made in heaven for many dessert. These five recipes showcase classic pairings, from chocolate and creamy butterscotch to pecans and peaches, and they’re a good primer to help bring a boozy dessert to the table.

Croissant Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce

This extravagant dessert—from author and editor Sarah Gray Miller—uses croissants and a generous amount of heavy cream. Soak the raisins in the bourbon while you assemble the rest of the dish. Get the recipe >

Bourbon Balls

These chocolatey confections are what editor-at-large Shane Mitchell calls Southern truffles—”boozy and bad to the bone.” Get the recipe >

Roasted Peaches in Bourbon Syrup with Smoked Salt

A handful of pantry ingredients—brown sugar, smoked salt, cinnamon, vanilla, and bourbon—transforms simple roasted peaches into a sublime summer dessert. Get the recipe >

Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie

A scoop of vanilla ice cream makes a wonderful foil for the bitter, intense dark chocolate in the filling of this pecan pie. Get the recipe >

Sufganiyot with Bourbon-Orange Glaze

The use of chemical leavening—baking powder—makes chef Sara Bradely’s Kentucky riff on the classic Hanukkah donut recipe quicker and easier than old-school yeasted versions, while drizzling the warm donuts with boozy orange jam eliminates the need for fiddly piping bags. Get the recipe >

Bourbon-Butterscotch Ice Cream

This grown up frozen treat pairs bourbon-laced custard with pockets of dense butterscotch. Get the recipe >

The post Your Kentucky Derby Party Needs Bourbon-Based Refreshments (Along With That Statement Hat) appeared first on Saveur.

At 86, Jacques Pépin still speaks with an unmistakable French accent that makes the chef immediately recognizable.

“But I am the most quintessential American chef,” he asserts, citing his long tenure in the U.S., his focus on a wide range of culinary influences beyond traditional French culinary training, and his stint at Howard Johnson’s, a beacon of mid-century American dining. For Pépin, his journey has cemented his place in American culture: a culinary icon who has remained accessible through the intimacy of his role as chef instructor and master of technique. 

Throughout his career, Pépin has shared his vast culinary knowledge through multiple mediums. He has released more than 30 books, starred in various instructional television shows through a longstanding partnership with PBS, and even filmed a series of videos in his Connecticut kitchen for Facebook and Instagram. But Jacques Pépin’s most comprehensive cooking primer is perhaps the 685-page Essential Pépin: More Than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food. First published in 2011, the volume compiles many recipes from across his wide-ranging source material.

Although Pépin started working in professional kitchens at 14, his interests have always been diverse. At one point, he thought he might teach a literary subject at Columbia University, where he earned a graduate degree in French literature, but he “went back to cooking, what I know the best, and what I’m the best at,” he says. Through the connections he made while working at New York’s Le Pavillon (one of the top French restaurants in the world during its time), he later went upstate and taught private cooking classes in the Catskills. To reconnect with his love of writing, he also penned a food column for Helen McCollough, food editor of House Beautiful, who had become a good friend and introduced him to James Beard, Julia Child, and Craig Claiborne. 

In 1974, Pépin suffered a bad car accident. After recovering, he found that teaching was more palatable than spending hours behind a restaurant stove. By the mid-70s, cookware shops equipped with kitchens were popping up all over the U.S., so Pépin began touring and teaching, all the while hosting a lecture series at Boston University. Then PBS came calling, and his career reached a new stratosphere; suddenly, Pépin graced TV screens across America on a weekly basis, cheerfully deboning a fish alongside Julia Child or showing his daughter Claudine how to make rice paper rolls with avocado and sun-dried tomatoes. His skill is undeniable on camera; his knife moves deftly as if an extension of his fingers, while he calmly chats with a co-host or instructs viewers.

Pépin stresses that, as a teacher, he is not so much patient as he is pragmatic. His practical approach to technique shines brightly across his canon of work—from his television series Jacques Pépin: Fast Food My Way, to the cookbook The Art of Cooking which includes 1500 images, to Facebook videos he shared during the pandemic demonstrating how to make eggs en cocotte and butter roses in step-by-step fashion. His explanations are easy to follow, and his careful guidance helps readers and viewers believe that they, too, can master the recipe or technique.

Pépin himself learned to cook by visual instruction, repetition, and a hefty dose of osmosis during his formative years. He grew up in the family’s restaurant and began his career with a formal apprenticeship at Le Grand Hôtel de l’Europe in Bourg-en-Bresse. He later joined the military, where his cooking skills were lauded and he even cooked for heads of state. At every step of his journey, Pépin gleaned culinary techniques and practiced different preparation styles. The education was immersive, and his resulting understanding of different ways to learn has made him not only a beloved teacher, but also an innovator in a culture hungry for…well, culture. 

When Essential Pépin debuted in 2011, Bonnie Benwick of The Washington Post wrote: “This cookbook is not all dacquoise and cocottes and foie gras in aspic. The [then] almost-76-year-old master was an early adapter of good food prepared fast. His inventiveness outshines any fix-it-quick, Food Network fodder I’ve seen.”

Dishes such as shrimp-cilantro pizza, cucumbers in cream, and eggs with brown butter are all “fast and easy” recipes—ready to eat in the time it takes to bake a frozen pizza—yet they’re still real food, with a dash of panache. 

In Pépin’s eyes, he still has work to do. There is always more to teach and more people with whom to share his knowledge. He has always been willing to try something new, and that impulse remains. 

Most recently, Pépin shared subscription-based videos on the new platform Rouxbe, which offers—among other expert-led courses—exclusive content from Pépin, grading from industry experts, and certification. Pépin’s proceeds will go toward The Jacques Pépin Foundation, a non-profit he launched in 2016 to support community kitchens that offer free skills and culinary training to adults with high barriers to employment, including previous incarceration, homelessness, and lack of work history. 

Pépin’s work with both Rouxbe and the Foundation are simply two more ways for the chef to continue teaching essential skills that can bring his students a lifetime of joy in the kitchen. And yet, as much as he cooks in his day-to-day work, he still loves preparing food as much as ever.

“I basically am a glutton, and I am hungry every day, and that’s why I cook,” Pépin says with a twinkle in his eye. “But there is something soothing, also, in the cooking process—of cooking with friends, eventually sitting down and sharing the food. You know, that is an extraordinary thing.” And with Essential Pépin, there are more than 700 recipes to inspire that daily practice—a lifetime of apprenticeship under the simple guise of putting dinner on the table, one recipe at a time. Extraordinary indeed.

Braised Green Peas with Egg Yolks

Get the recipe >

The post Jacques Pépin Is the Teacher and His Ultimate Apprentice is America appeared first on Saveur.

While often used as a sweetener on toast, in vinaigrettes, or drizzled over yogurt, the best honeys aren’t just sweet. “Honey should have flavor; it shouldn’t be just sweet,” says Marina Marchese, author, the founder of the American Honey Tasting Society, and a self-proclaimed honey sommelier formally trained by the Italian National Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey. “Color, scent, flavors, and texture widely vary, and terroir plays a big part in that. Learning to really taste honey has a lot of similarities to learning wine.”

Marchese fell into her own buzzing beehive of research when she moved back to her native Connecticut from Manhattan and took up beekeeping as a hobby. “When I started to collect my own honey, I was blown away by how different it tasted from the honey I’d always had, and soon I started trading honey with other beekeepers, and there were distinctions between them. I started learning from there.” 

Marchese teaches popular online classes and sends honey tasting education kits through the mail, focusing on teaching depth and complexity of taste as a marker of quality. But in order to sweeten your senses and lure you like … well … a bee to a flower into this wide world of tasting honey, we’ve chosen seven of the best honeys to try this spring. They hail from all over the country, from the Pacific Northwest to the swampy riverbanks of Florida, and remind us of just how sweet biodiversity can be on the plate, and for the planet. 

Our Top American Honey Picks

• Best overall: The most local honey to your home location
• Best for experimentation and finding your flower preference: Jacobson Salt Five Vial Honey Collection
• Best finishing honey: Heaven’s Honey Local Chicago Honey
• Best for drizzling on fruit: Zach and Zoe Sweet Bee Farm Wildflower Honey with Ginger Root
• Best bourbon barrel honey: Apis Mercantile Bourbon-Barrel Aged Orange Blossom Honey
• Best for a sweet kick of spice: Mike’s Hot Honey
• Best name recognition: L.L. Lanier & Son’s Tupelo Honey

Best Overall: The most local honey closest to your home location

Type: Various | Ounces: varies | Company: Your friendly local beekeeper | Good For: possibly allergies, definitely your local economy | Raw: preferred

Why we chose it: The best honey for you is the one that is harvested closest to you. It’s usually fresher, sold by someone who you can pepper with questions at a farmer’s market, and is a food that just might have the ability to make allergy season less uncomfortable.

The best honey is your most local honey. It not only has the pollen and flower flavor of your local area, those local molecules just might help you build up immunity for allergy season. “And the number one question I get is ‘How do I know a honey is good?” Marchese says. “My answer is to know your beekeeper. Buy it directly from the source, most likely at a farmer’s market, ask them about the flavors, and if they have a sample, taste it.” 

Honey is a foodstuff, and when it comes to food, fresh is best, and fresh is easiest to obtain when you’re getting it from the source. Whether it’s a wildflower, clover, or orange blossom, getting to know your local honey will help you get to know what grows in your region, which is knowledge that can make you a better cook, too.

Best for experimentation and finding your flower preference: Jacobson Salt Five Vial Honey Collection

Check Price

Type: Various | Ounces: 5 vials = 9.35 ounces | Company: Jacobson Salt | Good For: Cheese boards, roasted peaches, a simple spoon | Raw: Yes

Why we chose it: Appropriate as either a  host gift or for solo sampling, this sampler pack illustrates the wide world of flavor diversity in American single-source honeys. 
They had us at carrot flower, one of the five flavors found in this collection. This beautifully packaged 5-vial pack of single-source honeys comes from Jacobson Salt, an Oregon-based company we already like for its finishing salts, and they provide the same high standards when it comes to sourcing honey. Each vial is distinct in flavor and color, the labels include the single source and its location, and it’s a wonderful way to sample and select the flavor profiles your palate craves, including the aforementioned carrot flower, whose base note recalls one of our favorite spring veggies.

Best finishing honey: Heaven’s Honey Local Chicago Honey

Check Price

Type: Clover | Ounces: 1 pound, 10 ounces | Company: Heaven’s Honey | Good For: Cheese boards, fried chicken, ice cream  | Raw: Yes 

Why we chose it: Plenty of Chicago’s leading chefs champion this honey for its clean, bright flavor and focus on bee health. 

Abdullah Motiwala founded Heaven’s Honey Inc. in 2015 as an effort to revive the dying bee population and fund local farmers, and he is known in the Chicago culinary community as a bee advocate, increasing awareness of bee-friendly ecosystems and even gifting bees to budding apiarists.

“It’s floral, rich, with a super clean and bright flavor, and I love it as a finishing honey,” says Chef Aaron Cuschieri of The Dearborn in Chicago. “I love even more the mission of the people who produce it, who are really focused on increasing bee populations and managing their bees really well.” While Heaven’s Honey will work in a variety of recipes, you can find it on the current brunch menu at The Dearborn served with Dutch apple pancakes. At home, we suggest following Cuscherieri’s advice and using it as a final drizzle before serving anything from pound cake to prosciutto and melon. 

Best for drizzling on fruit: Zach and Zoe Sweet Bee Farm Wildflower Honey with Ginger Root

Check Price

Type: Wildflower | Ounces: 16 ounces (1 pound) | Company: Zach & Zoe Sweet Bee Farm | Good For: Mango, strawberries, tea | Raw: Yes

Why we chose it: In the world of flavored honeys, this ginger-laced honey from New Jersey stands apart for its fresh flavor and versatility with fruit. 

This New Jersey company began because Summer and Kam Johnson started looking for raw honey to give to their son Zach for his allergies. Now it’s a growing business on the family’s land, there is a shop in Chelsea Market, and the list of stores that carry some of their wildflower honey extends all the way to Glasgow. This smooth, ginger root-infused honey is sublime on so many fruits, but most especially a perfectly ripe mango. It provides a gingery bite to your afternoon herbal tea, and in general provides an added depth to any baked good that incorporates it.

Best bourbon barrel honey: Apis Mercantile Bourbon-Barrel Aged Orange Blossom Honey

Check Price

Type: Orange blossom | Ounces: 12 ounces | Company: Apis Mercantile | Good For: Buckwheat pancakes, roasted strawberries, sweet potatoes | Raw: Yes

Why we chose it: We have already heaped praise on High Wire Distilling’s Jimmy Red Corn Bourbon, so sampling a honey aged in its barrels is a sweet pairing indeed. 

Although there are plenty of bourbon barrel-aged honeys out there, not all of them are created equal. Apis Mercantile (begun by two college hobbyists turned entrepreneurs) partners with small-scale beekeepers to source high-quality honey, and their infusions have quickly become popular in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. The pairing of supremely floral orange blossom honey with Jimmy Red’s notes of vanilla, graham cracker, and cinnamon creates a depth beyond the usual “sweet-on-sweet” honey and bourbon pairing. Aging in a barrel also reduces some of the water content of the honey, so the mouthfeel is velvety and slightly heavier than others on this list. 

Best for a sweet kick of spice: Mike’s Hot Honey

Check Price

Type: Unidentified | Ounces: 10 ounces | Company: Mike’s Hot Honey | Good For: Pizza, cocktails, brussels sprouts  | Raw: No

Why we chose it: A spicy squeeze of this Brooklyn-based honey adds a kick to any kitchen.

While apprenticing at Paulie Gee’s pizzeria in Brooklyn, NY in 2010, Mike Kurtz brought in a bottle of his homemade pepper-infused honey (that includes chile peppers and vinegar) to try on pizza, and “The Hellboy”, with hot soppressata and a drizzle of Mike’s Hot Honey became an instant hit. 

“I don’t know if it was Mike’s Honey, but I first had spicy honey on pizza at Pi Pizzeria in St. Louis,” says Amy Mills of 17th Street Barbecue in Murphysboro, IL. She came home, bought a squeeze bottle of Mike’s, and it’s been a home staple in her kitchen ever since. “I like its little zippy flavor, and it’s great on my homemade grilled pizza.” If a BBQ expert says she likes this level of spice, we’re inclined to agree, and yes, we know we’re only a two-step away (with the inclusion of vinegar and pepper) from a true hot sauce. Let’s keep dancing.

Best name recognition: L.L. Lanier & Son’s Tupelo Honey

Check Price

Type: Tupelo | Ounces: 6.4 ounces | Company: L.L. Lanier | Good For: warm biscuits, pear and goat cheese salad, panna cotta  | Raw: yes 

Why we chose it: One of the most iconic honeys in the world produced by one of Florida’s oldest beekeeping dynasties elevates a simple smear on toast into an act of poetic beauty. 

Tupelo honey is produced when honey bees collect nectar from the blossoms of the white Ogeechee tupelo (Nyssa ogeche) tree, trees that are distributed along the borders of rivers, swamps, and ponds primarily in the remote wetlands of Georgia and Florida. What results is a supremely delicate, floral honey with a greenish cast, and one with such a sublime flavor that it inspired Van Morrison’s 1971 folk classic, Tupelo Honey. The Lanier family has been intimately intertwined with this honey tradition since 1998, and their raw, unfiltered tupelo honey is the industry standard for this iconic single-origin honey.

How We Chose These Products

Honey is a daunting subject as it’s been prized since the earliest civilizations, so we focused on American honey, slurped a lot of samples on spoons, and then tapped some regional experts to help us narrow down some favorites in different areas of the country. We favor raw, unfiltered honey for its terroir, and if the honey is infused with other flavors, those flavors have to be true, not flavor extracts, and must complement the flavors of good quality honey without overshadowing them.

Features to Keep in Mind When Shopping for Honey

Type

Most honeys prized by cooks are single-origin, that is, collected from bees who primarily visit one blooming plant, such as a tupelo tree. Wildflower honey is the result of bees that flit to multiple plants to collect pollen, but it can still be a worthy addition to your pantry. Simply pay attention to the region of origin, and remember, the more specific, the better. 

Flavor/Taste

By nature, a good raw, unfiltered honey (without any flavor infusions) will taste like the specific flower from which the bees gather nectar. Beyond that, locality and the care of the beekeeper when collecting the honey play a big role. The flavor can be rich and even a little acidic, or bright and clear, depending on the flowers the bees visit. 

Other Ingredients

Other ingredients should complement, not cover-up, the honey itself. Look for real infusions, not flavor extracts or additives.

Color

Real, raw honey can have a wide range of colors, from light straw tones to deep brown (from something such as a pine forest), but most stay within the brown and yellow ranges, with few exceptions, most notably tupelo honey in the United States, which often has a greenish cast. 

Texture

“The texture mostly has to do with the water content,” Marchese explains. “It comes down to the water content in the nectar molecules the bees collect, and that goes back to the location. Many tropical honeys will have a runnier consistency because of the presence of more water in the climate and the flowers, whereas honey from a dry mountain range might be a little thicker in texture.” 

True Source Certification

“There are very few regulations for honey in the US,” she says, “ and for the most part, no one’s enforcing the few regulations we have. So essentially it’s the wild, wild West, and that’s why knowing your source is so important. At least 70 percent of honey sold in the US is imported, and much of the honey sold in bigger stores is blended from a few sources.”

In addition to that, there is scant regulation on additives, water content added, and even other sweeteners, so for real honey—not something else that simply passes for it—follow our lead and look local or from otherwise reputable sources. 

Ask the Experts

Q: Does honey go bad/expire?

“Honey is pretty fragile, so it’s best to consume it soon after it is collected from the hive,” says Marchese. But of course, in a home such as hers that has an ever-rotating selection of honeys, that might not be doable; her rule of thumb for honey expiration is around two years. “I will start to see changes in color with honey that’s over two years old; the flavors become muted and faded, and in general it’s not at its best.”

Q: What’s the difference between filtered and unfiltered honey?

Filtered honey is usually briefly heated and then filtered to remove particles. This usually means that tiny particles of pollen as well as beneficial bacteria can be removed during this process, both of which contribute to beneficial properties and sometimes even flavor. Raw and unfiltered honey is best. 

Q: Can local honey cure my allergies?

We are not medical experts here at Saveur, nor do we attest to be, but many people swear by the allergy-reducing effect over time when consuming local honey. Consult your medical practitioners for more specific advice, but for us, we’re going for the “it can’t hurt” effect, especially if it elevates our morning bowl of steel-cut oats.

Q: Is honey safe for my child?

According to the CDC. “Honey before 12 months [of age] may cause a serious type of food poisoning called botulism. Before your child is 12 months old, do not give him or her any foods containing honey, including yogurt with honey and cereals and crackers with honey, such as honey graham crackers.”

Q: My honey has turned into hard crystals, should I throw it away?

It depends. Marchese stresses that honey crystallization can be a sign of good quality, and that honey can crystalize after two weeks, two months, or when exposed to fluctuating temperatures. However, she asserts, if you spy liquid honey on the top over a layer of crystals, and some deep crystals at the bottom of the jar, that might indicate crystallization breaking down after a long time. Avoid that jar on the store shelf, and judge accordingly if it’s just been pulled from your pantry. 

Our Take

Honey is much more than sweet. It holds within it the terroir, or flavor essence of a locale, and can vary in color, texture, and flavor. If you’re looking for its beneficial health properties, local is best, and as in every foodstuff, sourcing and farming practices bear out in the flavor of the final product. 

The post The Best Honeys to Sweeten Up Your Day appeared first on Saveur.

For most of us, oyster shucking is not an everyday skill, but whether you shuck on the regular or only a few times per year, having the right oyster knife can be essential to eating well—or struggling to eat much at all. 

“We lose about half our knives a year because people accidentally throw them away, so I’m always thinking about oyster knives,” says Hope Barber-McIntosh of Bowen’s Island Restaurant, located on its own namesake island just outside of Charleston, South Carolina. Last year alone, the restaurant served 2,500 bushels of roasted oysters. That’s a lot of knives lost, a lot of knives replaced, and a lot of educating people on how to use them. 

“First off, it’s important to protect your oyster-holding hand with a towel or a glove,” Barber-McIntosh says. “And then it’s essential to have an oyster knife with a handle that is well attached to the blade, comfortable, and sturdy.” Beyond that, since good oyster shucking always begins with cracking the shell’s hinge, a sharp point to the knife is a good thing, especially when shucking wild oysters (such as the kind served at Bowen’s) that often have thicker shells than the farmed variety. 

Regardless of whether you’re eating wild or farmed oysters—raw, roasted, or baked with breadcrumbs and cheese—a good oyster knife is an essential kitchen tool for the seafood-serving cook. Here are some of our favorite picks. 

Our Top Picks

• Best Overall: R. Murphy Knives New Haven Shucker
• Best Value: OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Non-Slip Oyster Knife
• Best for the Beginner Oyster Enthusiast: Toadfish Oyster Shucker’s Bundle
• Best for the Gear Head: Swissmar Malpeque Shucker Paddy
• Best for Precision: Melocean Oyster Knife Shucking Set 
• Best Classic / Modern Combo: Made-in Oyster Shucker
• Best for a Special Occasion: Emergo Designs Original Oyster Knife

Best Overall: R. Murphy Knives New Haven Shucker

Check Price

Blade length: 2.58 inches |  Blade: High carbon stainless steel | Handle: Recycled plastic  

Why we chose it: There are few better ways to celebrate the bounty of the ocean than by shucking a sustainable bivalve with a shucker whose construction materials have been cleaned from the ocean. 

Chances are if you’ve been to an oyster festival in the last few years you’ve seen one of these bright green babies in the hands of someone shucking oysters, since they’re versatile for both beginners and professionals, have a non-slip grip, and clean up easily. Durable and made in the USA from recycled ocean plastic, these knives are meant to be serviceable (and they definitely hold up to bushels of oysters), but we especially love them because they are also good for the environment: just like oysters.

Best Value: OXO Good Grips Stainless Steel Non-Slip Oyster Knife

Check Price

Blade length: 2.75 inches | Blade: Stainless steel  | Handle: Non-slip plastic

Why we chose it: Oysters are a great party activity and food, and these sturdy knives are economical enough to buy multiples, yet durable enough to be a worthy take-home gift for favored guests.

With their non-slip grips, OXO brand products have become intertwined with the idea of safety in the kitchen, and so it makes sense that they’d build a sturdy, non-slip oyster shucker. The bulb of the handle fits easily and comfortably in the hand if you haven’t quite worn a callus from shucking bushels of oysters, and while wet shells might be slippery, this handle won’t be. And since these knives are not only useful, inexpensive, and dishwasher safe, they’re our choice for oyster parties, whether roasted, raw, or slurped dockside.  

Best for the Beginner Oyster Enthusiast: Toadfish Oyster Shucker’s Bundle

Check Price

Blade length: 3 inches | Blade: Japanese stainless steel | Handle: Recycled plastic  Included components: Two blades and a cut-resistant shucking towel 

Why we chose it: This is the oyster knife set that can grow with you as you hone your oyster-shucking skills.

The person who has discovered the art and joy of shucking oysters will find this beautifully designed package from Toadfish the invitation to continue the journey. Not only is there a versatile, bent-tip knife designed for beginners, there is also a professional edition blade for cracking open thicker shells, perfect for when the novice is ready to go pro. Another pro touch is the cut-resistant cloth, which is way more fashionable than that dirty towel you’ve been reaching for. And a portion of Toadfish’s profits go to support oyster bed restoration. Win, win.

Best for the Gearhead: Swissmar Malepeque Shucker Paddy

Check Price

Blade length: 2 inches | Blade: Stainless steel | Handle: Plastic 

Why we chose it: Versatility, precision, and the promise of speed with this knife means you can get to eating beautifully shucked oysters even faster.

If you’re looking for an oyster shucker that might be a part of the toolbox on BBC’s Top Gear, then Swissmar knows your style. Designed in collaboration with Patrick McMurray BPHE, World Champion oyster shucker, and Guinness Record Holder for 39 oysters opened in one minute, this shucker, with its dual-axis pistol grip handle design and integrated finger guard is built for precision and speed, just like that car you’ve been eyeing since forever. Because it is different from a lot of other shuckers on the market, it does take some practice, but once the learning curve is completed, you can achieve those competition-shucker dreams. 

Best for Precision: Melocean Oyster Knife Shucking Set 

Check Price

Blade length: 4 inches | Blade: 3cr13 Stainless steel | Handle: Wood 

Why we chose it: A sharp tip and sharp knife edge assist in opening oysters cleanly and detaching meat from the shell with ease. 

While Hao Phan, line cook and oyster shucker extraordinaire at Automatic Seafood & Oysters in Birmingham, Alabama has an ever-expanding knife and shucker collection, he counts these Melocean shuckers as favorites. “Most of the bigger blades don’t slice through the inductor blade, and you end up having to scrape, which works, but makes it easier to mess up the oyster,” he says. His goal is to “shuck them fast, but make them look nice,” and the pointy tip on these knives can make quick work of breaking the hinge and getting into the oyster. Since Phan shucks 600-800 oysters during any busy shift, we’re inclined to take his advice. Another piece of his advice: “Treat these with the same care that you would a chef’s knife, and they will treat you well.” 

Best Classic / Modern Combo: Made In Oyster Shucker

Check Price

Blade length: 2.63 inches | Blade: 420HC High carbon stainless steel | Handle: Walnut 

Why we chose it: As beautiful to include in an Instagram photoshoot as it is functional when the cameras are off and the party is on, this crosshatched handle will keep you shucking all night long.

This cookware company has made a splash with chefs and professional cooks, and its oyster shucker delivers as well. For those that want a classic look that shies away from plastic, this dark walnut handle with its brass rivets looks the part, while its sharp blade and crosshatched, slightly oversized handle create a sturdy grip suitable for even less experienced shuckers. We suspect the crosshatching might splinter after years of use, especially if this sits in a puddle of salty water on an oyster table too long, but so far, its style and functionality have kept us going, as it works on everything from raw oysters from Prince Edward Island to roasted oysters, hot and bubbly out of the oven. 

Best for a Special Occasion: Emergo Designs Original Oyster Knife

Check Price

Blade length: 2.5 inches | Blade: RWL34 stainless steel | Handle: Padauk wood 

Why we chose it: Oysters are often celebratory, and if you’re celebrating something special, this knife is an heirloom in the making. 

Made by a craftsman and engineer from an oyster-farming family that spans generations, these knives are beautiful and functional, and one-of-a-kind if you choose to engrave them. The handle is crafted of African Padauk wood, which has a subtle sheen, high durability, and natural resistance to decay (well-suited for the messy work of shucking oysters). It also comes in a wooden case with knife oil and a certificate of authenticity, so we don’t have to mention that this is hand-wash only, correct?

How We Chose These Products

The author is an oyster enthusiast who knows her way around a briny bivalve and has shucked many times with sub-standard oyster knives, so she knew what not to look for in a shucker. Then she tapped some professional restaurant experts who provided guidance—and in Phan’s case, a specific knife recommendation—for the best attributes in quality oyster knives. These knives most closely matched up with those qualities. 

Features to Keep in Mind When Shopping for Oyster Knives

Safety 

“The bigger the oyster, the sturdier the knife,” Phan says. At the beginning of each shift, Phan carefully arranges his various shuckers on a sheet pan so that he can make varying choices depending on the oysters the guests have ordered. West coast oysters might need a more delicate touch as their shells can be brittle, while wild-caught gulf oysters need a bit of heft to break the hinge, and thus a hearty blade. 

Design

Cook, know thyself. If you’re the type of person that leaves that one hand-wash-only dish lingering in the sink for days, then do yourself a solid and choose a dishwasher-safe version. The same idea holds true if you want to shuck on the regular versus only occasionally, which will direct you to different knives on this list. 

Quality

The most important aspect of quality is the blade, followed by a well-attached handle or a tang that runs through the length of the handle. If the blade is flimsy and will warp or loosen from the handle, it will be easier for the knife to slip while you’re using it, increasing the likelihood of an injury. An oyster knife is a knife, after all, so similar considerations as to construction and materials apply. 

Ask the Experts

Q: Do oyster knives need to be sharp?

Usually yes, but sometimes not so much. That ambiguous answer is because of how you shuck an oyster—by holding it in your hand with a cloth. While professional shuckers like Phan love a sharp edge to cut the inductor muscle cleanly, those new to shucking oysters might find the combo of slippery shells, shucking in hand, and sharp knives, well, dangerous. However, for both amateurs and professionals, a pointed knife tip is essential to maneuver through the hinge. 

Q: What is the difference between an oyster knife and a clam knife?

Oyster knives have shorter blades with sharper tips than clam knives, which usually sport a more rounded tip. But while we found that a sturdy, well-made oyster knife can also open other shells, a clam knife can be unwieldy for many oysters. 

Q: How do you hold an oyster knife?

“Hold it at the edge of the blade with your index finger and thumb [in your dominant hand], like a chef’s knife,” Phan says. Point the tip of the knife at an angle into the hinge of the oyster in your other hand. Proceed carefully. 

Q: Should I wash oysters before shucking? 

Yes, preferably with a strong stream of water. Oysters live in mud, and while mud makes the oysters happy, it doesn’t have the same effect on your tastebuds—and it’s unhygienic. Discard any oysters that are open, then spread the rest in a single layer before spraying off to make sure each shell is clean before getting out those oyster knives.

Our Take

Well-made oyster knives should have a pointed tip and a strong stainless steel blade well-attached to the handle. Beyond that, the choices vary depending on your skill as a shucker, the type of oyster you’re shucking, and the speed and precision with which you wish to open the shells. All of these selections are worthy additions to your home kitchen. 

The post The Best Oyster Knives Make Shucking a Breeze appeared first on Saveur.

Let’s get one thing straight: even a less-than-stellar piece of bacon is still bacon. It’s the thing that greets us at a 24-hour diner when a late night turns into an early morning, the star of sandwiches, bean pots, and even some salads, and it can convey “I love you” next to a well-made omelet on a breakfast-in-bed tray.

“From a chef’s standpoint, bacon is prized for its versatility,” says Chef Bob Cook of Edmund’s Oast in Charleston, South Carolina, where each week the kitchen transforms 25 pounds of bacon into bacon jam to top burgers and accompany charcuterie. “I’m not a overuser of bacon, though. It’s familiar to most people, but from a cooking perspective, it can really open your eyes to the uses of fat.” 

In 2015, Purdue University confirmed that fat is the sixth foundational flavor element, so as a cook, it’s important to know how to use it to your advantage. Bacon is a great way to begin, but not all bacons are created, sliced, smoked, and served equally.

By standard definition, in the United States, bacon is a cured meat from the sides and belly of a pig, so even though the idea of “bacon” has widened—from duck to soy protein—we held steadfast to the standard and only tested pork bacon from across the country. For anyone looking to up their breakfast or BLT bacon game, here are some of our favorites. Time to heat up those skillets.

Our Top Picks

• Best Overall: Benton’s Hickory Smoked Country Bacon
• Best Bacon & Eggs Bacon: Peter Luger Extra Thick Cut Bacon
• Best Bacon for Cooking: The Baconer Uncured Smoked Lardons
• Best Bacon for a BLT: Edwards Sliced Hickory-Smoked Peppered Bacon
• Best Bacon for a Bacon Burger: Kiolbassa Dry Cured Hickory Bacon
• Best One Piece and Done Bacon: The Baconer XXL Smoked Paprika Bacon Steaks
• Best Bloody Mary Garnish: Nueske’s Applewood or Cherrywood Smoked Uncured Bacon

Best Overall: Benton’s Hickory Smoked Country Bacon

Check Price

Type of bacon: Dry-cured | Type of cut: Thick cut | Flavor: Salty, intense smoke, porky | Where it’s made: Madisonville, TN | Weight: TK 

Why we chose it: There is simply no other bacon that tastes this distinctive; one bite and you’re transported to the traditional smokehouses of the Appalachian Mountains. 

Despite the wide fandom this bacon elicits in culinary circles, Allan Benton and his team still operate up close and personal to the pork they cure. “By hand” is the operative phrase: it’s dry-cured by hand with salt, brown sugar, and black pepper, then packed by hand after about three weeks spent curing and drying in a refrigerator and 2-3 days continuously in a small wood stove smokehouse. Yes, you read that right, a wood stove in the smokehouse for that true old-fashioned flavor.

“Benton’s is very smoky, so if you like that really smoky flavor, then this is the bacon for you,” says Cook. For home cooks that use bacon in their cooking, this product is economical too, because you don’t need very much of it to impart smoky, porky flavor throughout a dish. That’s why it’s a favorite of hundreds of chefs throughout the country, including David Chang, who was one of the initial evangelists of this beloved bacon, along with Benton’s country ham.

Best Bacon & Eggs Bacon: Peter Luger Extra Thick Cut Bacon

Check Price

Type of bacon: Uncured | Type of cut: Extra thick | Flavor: Classic pork with light smoke | Where it’s made: Brooklyn, NY | Weight: 12 oz.

Why we chose it: A slice or two of this decadent bacon on a breakfast plate makes us feel like a high-roller any morning.

Originally served at the iconic Brooklyn steakhouse just for employee meals—usually sandwiched between two slices of bread and eaten “on the fly”—the comforting chewiness of this thick-cut bacon eventually became an off-menu item in the 1980s and a public menu item in the 90s. 

Although many folks either get this as a standalone item or with a burger, at home it is undeniably the best bacon to serve alongside eggs. The salty, chewy texture and extra thick cut is a mighty contrast to tender, fluffy, jammy, or runny eggs (any way you like them), and if you’re into frying an egg, use the smoky bacon drippings for a decadent dining experience, no jacket required.

Best Bacon for Cooking: The Baconer Uncured Smoked Lardons

Check Price

Type of bacon: Uncured | Type of cut: Pieces | Flavor: Pleasantly porky and slightly smoky | Where it’s made: Emeryville, CA | Weight: 8 oz.

Why we chose it: These smoky nuggets are ultra-convenient for cooking. 

Whether you want gourmet bacon on your salad, or are diving into building a French tartiflette, lardons not only save time in the kitchen (and keep you away from all that chopping and dicing), these nuggets of pork goodness provide a pop of flavor to any dish in which you incorporate them. The Baconer is a Bay-area business that begins with responsibly sourced pork, and that pork goodness really shines here, 

When cooking these, pay extra attention to not crowding the pan over medium heat and only flipping once—you’ll be rewarded with slightly crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside bite-size beauties. 

Best Bacon for a BLT: Edwards Sliced Hickory-Smoked Peppered Bacon

Check Price

Type of bacon: Hickory-smoked | Type of cut: Thick cut | Flavor: peppery, porky | Where it’s made: California, MO | Weight: 12 oz.

Why we chose it: This black peppercorn-coated, thick-cut bacon cooks up chewy but tender with a decisive peppery bite.  

An iconic Southern brand that began when ferry captain S. Wallace Edwards tucked his family-recipe cured ham into sandwiches and fed them to his hungry passengers on Virginia’s James River, this is a company that knows its pig, from country ham to bacon. A fire devastated the company in 2016, and in 2021, Edwards sold to the Missouri-based Burgers’ Smokehouse. The friends of the Edwards family continue to produce the family’s traditional recipes. 

While the company is no longer based in Virginia, its flavor certainly is, and when summer tomato season rolls around, there’s hardly any better bacon to highlight a warm-from-the-garden tomato in a sandwich in a beloved BLT. Without debate, we will be using this peppered bacon on our first BLT of the season with extra mayo, and suggest you try it the same way. It’s chewy enough to stand up to slicing, but tender enough to bite through and not pull a slice out of the sandwich.

Best Bacon for a Bacon Burger: Kiolbassa Dry Cured Hickory Bacon

Check Price

Type of bacon: Dry cured | Type of cut: Thick cut | Flavor: lots of meaty flavor | Where it’s made: San Antonio | Weight: 20 oz.

Why we chose it: Atop a burger, this bacon will shine because its classic, meaty flavor and thick cut can stand up (and enhance) almost any beef patty. 

This package of bacon just looks like it would come from Texas, a slab of thick-cut slices that seem to be just the kind of thing beef lovers (like many a Texan) would put on a burger. The dry-cure means no extra moisture is added in the curing process, which makes for less splatter during cooking. 

“It’s a really great product,” says Chef Steve McHugh, who uses Kiolbassa bacon at both Cured and Landrace in San Antonio. Although McHugh cures a lot of the proteins he serves at both restaurants, he simply uses too much bacon to make his own, so he turns to his San Antonio neighbors for a reliable source. “This company is regionally recognized and socially responsible, contributing a lot to our community,” he says, and suggests if you’re making bacon for a burger topping, then follow his lead and “utilize a sheet pan in the oven, which produces a great taste and presentation.” 

Best One Piece and Done Bacon: The Baconer XXL Smoked Paprika Bacon Steaks

Check Price

Type of bacon: Uncured | Type of cut: 1/2-inch thick cut | Flavor: slightly spicy and delightfully dense | Where it’s made: Emeryville, CA | Weight: 20 oz.

Why we chose it: One slice of this bacon on an otherwise veggie-forward plate can elevate any home cooked meal to hero status.

There’s so much to love about The Baconer, they made our list twice. Camilo Velasquez and Elisa Lewis, the California husband-and-wife team behind the brand, source their pork through Premium Iowa Pork, which for 100 years has partnered with a community of family farmers who raise their pigs humanely on small family farms.  

One bite of this paprika-spiced slab of pork, and it’s easy to imagine how expertly an XXL steak would pair with some slow-cooked beans on a cool, cloudy day. In fact, any meal where ham or country ham has a place on the plate would offer a whole new twist if you switch out a smoked paprika steak for the pork player. Whatever you do, this is a bacon for highlighting and not tucking into a dish. 

Best for a Bloody Mary Garnish: Nueske’s Applewood Smoked or Cherrywood Smoked Uncured Bacon

Check Price

Type of bacon: Applewood Smoked is cured; Cherrywood Smoked is uncured | Type of cut: Standard (medium) cut | Flavor: Smoky and slightly sweet | Where it’s made: Wittenberg, WI | Weight: 12 oz.

Why we chose it: We’re not necessarily suggesting one of those over-the-top bloody marys garnished with everything but the plate; however a crispy slice of either of these bacons, along with an olive and a lemon in the spicy tomato cocktail, will start a weekend brunch on just the right foot.

The flavors imparted from the different woods varied only slightly, but either one of these slightly sweet slices would balance a spicy bloody mary cocktail with a bite. The bacon is a medium, or standard cut, so it cooks somewhat crispier and faster in a skillet than other kinds of bacon on this list, making it a sturdy garnish, or if you prefer, a crumble atop a salad instead of a cocktail accoutrement. 

How We Chose These Products

In order to test these bacons, we cooked them all at the same temperature in a medium-heat cast iron skillet, making careful to not crowd the slices in the pan. We then drained on paper towels and sampled each one while still warm, taking notes of specific characteristics, and judging on thickness, meat-to-fat ratio, flavor, and overall mouthfeel. 

Features to Keep in Mind When Shopping for Bacon

Taste 

“I want a high fat content with marbling,” says chef Mailea Weger of Lou in Nashville, Tennessee, and someone who also admits that “as a consumer, I want bacon, and I love brunch. I adore cooking it, writing recipes for it, and I want bacon every single time. For me, I don’t want it oversalty or overly cured, but farming practices have become important to us.” 

At Lou, Weger specifically looks for producers who use Berkshire pigs, which, along with careful farming and production practices, impart a classic meaty flavor. She stresses that no matter your flavor preference (smoky, peppery, or sweet), making sure that the classic cured pork flavor is the foundation for it all will always serve you well. 

Texture 

The most important factor in texture will be how you decide to cook it. Some people press their bacon flat, others like it lightly seared, and still others want a crumbly texture, something crunchy and well done. Beyond that, consider the slices’ fat-to-meat ratio. 

For cooking, if you want to render more fat, look for more soft fat striations between the meat, or for a bloody mary garnish, a high meat content so the bacon slice will crisp and stand up nicely in the glass. In the small-batch bacons we sampled, that ratio may vary slightly within a single pack, so eye a few packs if you can before choosing your specific slice. And finally, the cure can affect the texture, especially when it comes to peppered bacon, which, when done right, cooks up with a meat rind of salty, peppery goodness. 

Type of Cut 

Thick cut was the norm for most of the small-batch bacons we tried, and it’s most assuredly a distinguishing factor between artisanal bacon and many commodity products on big box store shelves. While there might be a time for a thinner cut (when you’re looking to crumble bacon easily atop a sour cream and chive potato, for instance), thick-cut bacon is the most versatile for both eating and using in recipes. 

Cured vs. Uncured

First and foremost, all bacon is cured—that’s what makes it bacon and not just pork—so the cured vs. uncured designation on packages is understandably confusing. The difference is about what is used, namely nitrates. They are present in both cured and uncured bacon; the difference is whether they are a specific additive to the process (cured) or occur naturally in the curing products, most commonly by using celery powder (uncured). 

Ask the Experts

Q: What is the difference between center cut bacon and regular bacon? 

Center-cut bacon is simply bacon with the fatty ends cut off, so it has become a popular choice for those looking for a less fatty alternative. However, in a good-quality bacon, that fat won’t curl at the ends, and beyond that, it’s bacon we’re talking about here, so fat is the feature, not something to be avoided, but used to your advantage.

Q: How long can bacon last before it’s opened and after it’s opened?

Most companies advise keeping bacon refrigerated after opening and consuming the entire package within a week. “If you notice that when it’s out of the refrigerator, the meat starts losing moisture and seeping, then it’s past its prime,” Cook says, “but I’d have to say it’s been a long time since I knew anyone who had bacon go bad from not eating.” 

However, if that’s you, bacon lasts for months in the freezer, so store any packages, unopened or otherwise, in the freezer until about a day before you’re ready to use. 

Q: What is the best way to cook bacon? 

“I’m a pan girl, although it’s very messy,” says Weger about her preferred bacon cooking technique. “The pan is cooking in its own grease, so the fat content is somewhat maintained. Baking is best if you are wanting to take it to a crispier level.” 

Note: while we did taste a variety of maple-flavored bacon, none made our final list because they seemed artificially sweet with a lingering, not-altogether-pleasant flavor. Instead, Weger shares this sweet bacon cooking method that keeps brunch regulars coming back at Lou: 

“This is same bacon recipe I did when I worked in Paris. Blend 3 part fennel seed to 1 part chili flake powder, then combine that in equal parts with white sugar and store in an airtight container. When ready for bacon, start with thick cut bacon, and parbake it in the oven. Then remove from the oven to a skillet on medium heat, sprinkle sugar mixture over it and cook an additional 5 minutes. The fennel and sugar kind of melts into the bacon, and then we finish with a light drizzle of maple syrup to just make it sticky.”

Our Take

Bacon is a versatile product for both cooking and as a protein centerpiece for the plate. Meaty, pork flavor is essential, and then it’s up to the cook and the diner to decide between sweet, smoky, or spiced. And when it comes to the cut, thick-sliced is usually preferable.

The post The 7 Best Bacons for Brunch, BLTs, and Beyond appeared first on Saveur.

The first fish roe I ever encountered was on my grandad’s breakfast plate, one sunny North Carolina morning, mixed up with scrambled eggs, alongside a mug of black coffee. I’d most likely spent the night at my grandparents’ house, so all was exotic anyway, but my grandmother gently brushed my curiosity aside. “You know, Pa-paw fishes,” she explained, steering me calmly to my cinnamon toast. Over time, this memory faded—that is, until my work covering the foodways of the American South brought me back to my own Carolinian roots. 

Mullet has been a North Carolina delicacy for generations. Historically, local fishermen and their families enjoyed the fish’s roe after a lucky morning catch, just as Pa-paw did: fried up fresh with eggs and grits as part of a late breakfast. However, in some area fishing communities, the large lobes were preserved, as pictured in a photo from the State Archives of North Carolina. Taken in Onslow County sometime in the 1930s, the image clearly shows several sacs of salted roe, laid out to dry in the sun on wooden slats. 

Variations on this technique exist all over the world today. In fact, from Egypt to Korea, many coastal cultures have a tradition of cured mullet roe—a prized delicacy made only during the spawning season, when fish which normally live in temperate and tropical saltwater lagoons, creeks, and estuaries, head for the open ocean in large schools to mate. Although regional differences abound, Italian bottarga is most often made from the prized flathead grey mullet (Mugil cephalus) which live in Sardinia’s salt lakes and in the harbor lagoons off the Tuscan coast. But the species thrives in temperate and tropical regions worldwide, so it makes sense that a similar product could be easily made elsewhere. Once the mullet are caught, their delicate egg sacs are carefully removed, then salted and left to slowly dry until most of their water has evaporated and the soft lobes have concentrated to a firm and gratable pantry staple. 

In the United States, the niche ingredient had all but faded away until fairly recently, when Mediterranean bottarga began popping up shaved over pasta dishes at seafood-forward Italian restaurants. In the meantime, a widespread taste for umami-rich foods, from Parmesan to fish sauce to fermented black beans, has contributed to a renewed interest in salted roe, with its distinctive taste of the sea.

According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch, the striped grey mullet is “highly fecund, relatively short-lived, with a low age at maturity,” making it overall relatively resilient to heavy fishing, and thus earning the organization’s “Best Choice” designation—effectively the top recommendation for sustainable seafood. The fish are an important food source for a lot of other ocean creatures within their ecosystem, so some limits are in place; however, the mullet typically run in massive schools of more than 10,000 pounds of fish—far more than even the largest commercial boats can pull in.

One of the United States’ top mullet producers is the State of Florida, and in fact, Seth Cripe of Cortez (home of the “Cortez hot dog”—a smoked mullet in a bun) was the first to market a domestically produced bottarga nationally. Others followed, and until recently, North America’s limited bottarga production seemed to be centralized in the Sunshine State. That is, until North Carolina’s Locals Seafood, a hybrid wholesale and retail fishmonger and restaurant with locations in Raleigh and Durham, began producing it in 2018.

“I love mullet,” says Locals’ chef Eric Montagne, who is spearheading the operation. The Florida transplant, who grew up in the Keys, didn’t always feel that way. As the son of a commercial fisherman, when he started working in kitchens, he instead looked inland, studying whole animal butchery to get away from the water. But when he moved further north to work for Vivian Howard at eastern North Carolina’s now-shuttered Boiler Room, the local mullet on the menu brought him right back to his roots. As he began to delve into the state’s local foodstuffs, seafood, including mullet—usually fried or grilled—became more and more a part of his cooking. He began to apply his knowledge of whole-animal butchery and sustainable protein preservation, but with an emphasis on seafood.

“When you’re using fish filets, that’s only like 55 percent of the animal.” he tells me. “I started to ask, ‘What could we do with that other 45 percent?’” He began using the roe to make his own bottarga, but in restaurant kitchens, he often struggled with sourcing a steady supply. That is, until he started leading the kitchen at Locals Seafood and suddenly had access to the distributor’s expanded buying power. “Finding the roe was always a scavenger hunt,” he recalls. “I could only ever make a small batch.” 

Historically, North Carolina has been one of the largest producers of mullet, at one time fueling Westward expansion through a robust dried fish export business to workers building American railroads. These days, the state’s catch is mainly auctioned off to Japanese and Italian brokers or sold domestically to the booming recreational angler market for use as bait. Coastal residents still enjoy old local traditions like grilled mullet, or fried roe and eggs—just like Pa-paw liked it—but those old-school practices aren’t enough to sustain an industry. Offshore fish like snapper, jack, tuna, grouper, and wahoo continue to crowd the market as marketing efforts, consumer tastes, and the “premium” appeal of larger and harder-to-harvest fish overshadow the humble mullet. 

“But people still fish for mullet,” says Glenn Skinner, Executive Director of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, himself a commercial fisherman. And “roe-grade” mullet is by far the most prized, despite the fact that a 1,000-pound catch typically only yields about 150 pounds of roe. In 2019, North Carolina fishermen sold just over 550,000 pounds of exclusively roe-grade mullet, most of which was exported to other continents. 

But the industry is still struggling. Mullet catches were slowly declining over the past decade (both changes in the ecosystem as well as industry response to lagging demand) and they took a sharp downturn in 2020 when borders closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, halting the supply chain for much of the overseas seafood market. “A domestic culinary consumer mullet market would help sustain us,” Skinner says. 

And it’s at just that inflection point that Montagne and his team look to effect change—while also minimizing kitchen waste and creating a profitable specialty product. Because of the wholesale company’s 12 years of building relationships with fishermen, they can buy more fish than the average restaurant, thus helping Montagne boost production of his North Carolina bottarga. 

Nowadays, the Locals team cures an average of 300 pounds of bottarga a year. Most of it is used in-house, though Montagne parcels out a percentage of the production to select area chefs, and a sample from each batch is sent to the UDSA for shelf-stable approval. Later this year, Locals will expand into a larger facility which will allow the chef to increase bottarga production and continue developing other cured seafood products—from fish sausage to crunchy fish organ dog treats. 

Although by commercial standards Montagne’s production is low, he and other chefs are helping realize the much greater potential for restoring North Carolina mullet and its roe to to its former glory—and its rightful place in the American palate, whether through a microplane of salty, sea-scented crumbles atop a bowl of pasta, or a plate of fresh roe, eggs, and grits (a fisherman’s treat I now order every time I spy it on a diner menu). Pa-paw would be proud.

Where To Buy Bottarga

Although Locals Seafood does not currently ship its house-cured bottarga, that is set to change soon: Montagne and his team plan to move into their new production space in time for the 2022 autumn mullet run. In the meantime, domestic versions may be ordered online from both Clearwater and Cortez, Florida; imported Sardinian bottarga is available on Amazon. 

How To Use Bottarga

In Durham, some 30 miles or so northwest of Raleigh, chef Josh DeCarolis at Mothers & Sons Trattoria uses Locals bottarga in riffs on traditional Italian cuisine. One of his most popular menu items is squid ink tonnarelli, tossed with local shrimp, fennel, scallions, and bottarga butter. The dish is finished with a flourish of grated bottarga. “I’ve never been a fan of eggs and roe, so seeing someone here use [the ingredient] for a different purpose is exciting,” he says. Bottarga speaks to tradition, and I like to rely on it to add another layer of depth.”  

As for the taste, DeCarolis thinks Locals’ version stands up to the Italian stuff. “I’ve used bottarga for years, and this one is very special…It’s a little more concentrated and drier, like the taste of ocean water.” 

Montagne, on the other hand, loves to promote the ingredient’s potential for mass appeal, stressing that one lobe can last the average home cook close to a year. “It’s shelf stable, so just store it in a jar or a bag in the pantry and grate it fresh. The more you use it, the more ways you’ll find to use it.” And at Locals’ restaurant, he introduces uninitiated diners to the house bottarga in approachable ways, either incorporated into a Caesar dressing or shaved atop hot french fries. The cured roe’s nuanced flavors and aromas bloom when warmed, and as the marigold-colored shavings cling to the chef’s crispy potatoes, the heat of the fryer releases an unmistakably oceanic fragrance.

Recipes

Squid Ink Pasta With Shrimp, Fennel, Tomatoes, and Bottarga Butter

Get the recipe >

Bottarga Caesar Dressing

Get the recipe >

The post Once a Coastal Carolina Staple, Mullet Roe Is Making Waves Again with Local Chefs appeared first on Saveur.

If you think of cheese from the American South as simply studded with pimento peppers and mixed with mayonnaise, it’s time to get reacquainted with the region’s dairies. Specialty cheesemaking in the South—in states like Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, and the Carolinas—is on the rise, with many producers inspired by the raw milk farmstead traditions practiced in parts of Europe. Makers are prioritizing the use of local milk and sustainability-focused techniques—and developing an exciting new regional identity.

At its core, cheesemaking is a method of milk preservation, which explains why many of the best cheeses are produced by those who raise the dairy cows themselves or have close proximity and relationships with those who do. Artisans who practice farmstead cheesemaking, according to the American Cheese Society’s definition, produce cheeses that are “primarily made by hand with milk from the farmer’s own herd, or flock, on the farm where the animals are raised.” The use of very fresh milk tends to preserve the flavors of the pasture, imbuing the resulting cheeses with added complexity. 

Many, though not all artisan cheesemakers in America practice or have been influenced by farmstead techniques. The tradition of artisan cheesemaking is well established in New England, the Midwest, and California—but the Southern part of the country had not developed as robust of a specialty cheese market. However, the last decade has spurred a decided shift, as the region’s producers continued to hone their craft. Now, a new crop of artisans is contributing innovative and delicious additions to the Southern cheese catalog—and to your cheeseboard. 

Eric Casella and Nora Granger are the husband-and-wife team behind Counter Cheese Caves, a small-scale purveyor in Charleston, South Carolina, that focuses mainly on cheeses made in the American South. The couple met while working at Murray’s Cheese in New York City, and when they decided to open a shop of their own, they wanted to develop a regional focus.

“Eric had previously served as the domestic buyer at Bedford Cheese Shop and had formed relationships with a number of Southern cheesemakers,” Granger explains. “This got the wheels turning that the Southeast was sort of the final frontier of cheesemaking in the country.”

Many artisan cheesemakers seem to share an understanding that if good milk is the backbone of good cheese, good grass is the backbone of good milk. Conventional American dairy farming focuses on grain or hay for livestock feed. In the South, however, many specialty dairies can provide fresh grass as the staple of the animals’ diet. This creates a distinct taste connection to the land itself.

“Although this region is relatively new to cheesemaking, we are not new to farming,” says Jessica Little, board member of the Southern Cheese Guild and co-owner (along with her husband Jeremy) of Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville, Georgia. “We Southern cheesemakers already knew that we were able to make delicious and singularly flavored milk from cows that spend the majority of their lives in green pastures due to our mild winters and access to an abundance of water.”

Although her creamery is not technically a farmstead operation, the farm is just a 30-minute drive away—owned by Jessica’s parents, Al and Desiree Wehner. The pair practices intensive grazing management, a sustainable farming practice that involves rotating livestock through multiple pastures so that each plot of land has a chance to rejuvenate. In the early days of the creamery, the team welcomed a consultant from the French Pyrenees to teach them the art of that region’s cheesemaking—resulting in Thomasville Tomme, a simple table cheese that remains one of the creamery’s bestsellers. In this cheese, the flavor of the farm’s grass shines through. “We can apply the delicate and detailed techniques of French cheesemaking to really bring out the distinctive grassy and mushroomy flavors of the milk from our pasture-based cows,” says Little.

Further north in an idyllic Appalachian valley sits Sequatchie Cove Creamery, a farmstead operation (that operates entirely on solar power!) near Chattanooga, Tennessee. The husband-and-wife team Nathan and Padgett Arnold work in partnership with Sequatchie Cove Farm to look after a 50-head herd of cattle and produce award-winning cheese from the milk. Since they began making farmstead cheese in 2010, their Reblochon-style cheese, Dancing Fern, has remained a consistent bestseller. It’s a raw milk washed-rind cheese featuring notes of cultured butter, mushroom, and walnuts. True Reblochon cheese is not imported into the U.S. because its appellation mandates it be made with raw milk and aged only six to eight weeks (less than the FDA’s 60-day requirement for raw milk cheeses in the U.S.). Dancing Fern is aged for 60 days—slowly, at a low temperature—in order to retain the soft and umami-filled paste that defines this style. By nature a very young cheese, it is close to the milk from which it’s made, meaning it is infused with the taste of the Sequatchie Valley.

When visiting France’s Savoie region, Nathan fell in love with the concept of imbuing cheese with an essence of the local environment. The couple decided that they wanted to adopt similar practices in Tennessee. “Nathan noticed very quickly how similar the landscape of the Savoie looks to the Sequatchie Valley,” Padgett recalls. During the warmer months, the slopes and valleys of the Savoie are carpeted with grass and wildflowers. Famous cheese varieties from this region, including tomme and Reblochon, are produced from the milk of cows that graze on those fields. The Tennessee mountains are similarly lush, and the couple’s goal is to express those Appalachian grasses through the cheese. When cows enjoy living grass as a staple of their diet, Padgett explains, the natural environment shines through in the resulting cheeses.

“The complexity of their cheeses—including Dancing Fern—rival their European counterparts,” says Frank Stitt, chef and proprietor of Highlands Bar & Grill, Bottega, and Chez Fonfon in Birmingham, Alabama. His were among the first restaurants to feature cheeses from Sequatchie Cove on a menu. “The nutritional density of the grasses is akin to the European style of farming, and biodiversity in a field is important not only for farming, but for the final product.”

Twenty Paces is a farmstead sheep’s milk creamery in the foothills of Charlottesville, Virginia, that, according to both Casella and Granger, is one of the most exciting up-and-coming cheesemakers today. “Different cheesemakers have different edible microflora in their caves, whether naturally occurring or intentionally introduced, which act in harmony to create a flavor or ‘taste of place’ specific to that cheesemaker,” Casella says. “Twenty Paces has incredibly successfully matched their ‘cave flavor’ to their style of cheesemaking. The exclusive use of farmstead, raw sheep’s milk in combination with these rustic, mixed mold rinds sort of pulls the wool over our eyes—warning, that’s a cheese pun—into thinking we’re tasting cheese from a millenia-old sheep’s milk producer in the Italian Piedmont.”

This mingling of natural yeasts and molds provides a flavor profile that runs like a thread through all of the creamery’s products. Noah’s Arcade, a rustic washed rind (which means it is periodically bathed in brine as it ages), is a creamy cheese that pairs well with orange wines, dark breads, and salty charcuterie. Twenty Paces’ blue cheese, Commander Chicory, has the characteristic velvety tanginess of this cheese variety, without the sharpness that often permeates mass-produced versions. 

Over the state line, but still in the Appalachian mountains of the Virginia Highlands, is Meadow Creek Dairy, a farmstead creamery that has established perennial pastures (the ideal outcome of intensive grazing management), which means the biodiversity of the fields is rich and well-established. This creamery produces washed-rind cheeses, including Grayson, a cheese the creamery has been producing since 2000 after a visit to Wales and Ireland (countries also known for producing cheese using very fresh milk from livestock grazing on lush, green pastures). Grayson is meaty, but becomes silky as it warms, releasing a sweet milky flavor with an intense earthy undertone from those Virginia grasses.

Distinct flavors like those, instilled with an essence of the South, could only come from this region.

More Southern Cheeses

Other standouts include Dirty Girl Reserve, a Basque-style Tomme from Prodigal Farm, north of Durham, North Carolina; Sharp Gouda, an exceptional 12-month cow’s milk Gouda from Forx Farm in Anderson, South Carolina, produced by Dutch immigrants Tammy and Ron Lubsen from Hickory Hill Farm milk; and a chive-studded, slightly tangy bloomy called Doeling made by Boxcarr Handmade Cheese in Cedar Grove, North Carolina, that transports the taster to green fields blooming in high summer.

The post Will The American South Be The Next Big Cheese Region? appeared first on Saveur.

As temperatures drop and a dram of whiskey by the fire begins to sound like a good idea, it’s time to spice up your home bar. If you love bourbon, rye’s sassy baking spice character and cocktail versatility is well worth a try. It’s made from rye grain—the same ingredient found in distinctively earthy rye bread—so if you love the loaves, you might want to give this whiskey a try.

“It really works well in cocktails and pairing those cocktails with food,” says Mark Gillespie of Whiskycast, a popular beverage media platform with a long-running podcast. “The spiciness complements the flavors of many foods yet doesn’t get overwhelmed by it. It’s an excellent pairing with many Indian dishes. And the best way to learn pairings is by trial and error.” Sounds like delicious fun.

Traditionally manufactured in the Northern U.S. and Canada because the area was conducive to growing rye, the whiskey’s presence in American glasses almost disappeared with Prohibition. However, the past few years have seen a resurgence of the rye whiskey distilling throughout the country, including many distillers in states far away from the Great North. We consulted the experts to steer you through the store aisles for the best rye whiskeys to add to a home bar.

• Best Splurge for a Gift: Whistle Pig Boss Hog Series
• Best Splurge for Yourself: Wild Turkey Rare Breed or Russell Reserve
• Best Value: Rittenhouse Rye
• Best Whiskey Back: Virgil Kaine Ribbon-Rail Rye
• Best for that Brunch Cocktail or Coffee Add-In: Angel’s Envy Rye finished in Caribbean Rum Casks
• Best for a Manhattan: Willett Family Estate Cask Strength 4 Year
• Best Canadian: Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye
• Best for a Highball or Splash of Soda: Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye Vermouth Finish

Features to Keep in Mind When Shopping for Rye

Style

Reading the label is the best way to decipher what’s inside a rye bottle. “Straight” means that the whiskey is made from 100 percent rye grain. “Single barrel” refers to the fact that the bottle you’re holding contains whiskey from a single cask chosen for its exceptional flavor, not a few casks that have been blended together, and single-barrel is always going to be more top-shelf than its blended counterparts. “Barrel proof,” unlike most whiskeys which are “proofed down” with some water before bottling, means how strong the whiskey came out of the barrel is how strong it is in the bottle—in other words, higher proof than the average bottle of whiskey.

Rye Grain Percentage

By law, the mashbill (the distillery term for recipe) of rye whiskey only has to be 51 percent rye to be labeled as such. The most common additional grain used is corn, which will add sweetness, so if you’re looking for a softer rye “bite” look for mashbills with a higher percentage of corn.

Aroma and Flavor

Rye can vary in its nose (the technical term for how it smells), but will almost always have notes of cinnamon and baking spice, a whiskey tasting term that can mean a combination of anything from clove to nutmeg or any other flavors you consider when thinking of apple pie or coffee cake. The spice notes are often accompanied by those of graham cracker, caramel, cherry, and even baking bread. “And there can be flavors of dill,” says Gillespie, which might show up in the nose, too. “There’s a bit of controversy around that. Some distillers like the flavor of dill, and others find it a fault.”

Age

Rye is a whiskey, so aging is important to many consumers. Many ryes average between four to six years in a barrel, and special releases might be up to 17 years or so. However, rye aged less than four years can still be delicious, especially if it’s from a craft distillery using an heirloom or other variety of rye that packs a complex flavor profile into the distillate.

Our Top Picks

Best Splurge for a Gift: Whistle Pig Boss Hog Series

Check Price

The Boss Hog series is a special annual release from Whistle Pig distillery in Shoreham, Vermont. This year (VII for the seventh year of this program), the distillery’s release is the Magellan’s Atlantic, a straight rye whiskey that has been aged for 17 years, then double finished, first with Spanish staves and then with South American teakwood. Each wood provides a layer of flavor that eventually builds a strong, complex spirit with a scent that includes vanilla, cinnamon sugar, and toasted wood, and lingers long on the palate with cherry and warm oak. It’s fancy, rare and has a price tag to match in the $500-$700 range, depending on your state of purchase.

Best Splurge for Yourself: Wild Turkey 8-Year Rare Breed Rye

Check Price

Created by famed master distillers Jimmy Russell and his son Eddie, who between them have 100 years of experience, Gillespie likes this rye as a home bar centerpiece. It has smooth caramel and dried fruit notes and isn’t too spicy, but since it’s barrel proof, it’s still a special rye for sipping not shooting. “The Russells are legends, and depending on the area of the country you’re in, you can also find Russell Reserve,” he says. It’s another bottling from the famed Kentucky distillery that’s a modest splurge at $60.

Best Value: Rittenhouse Rye

Check Price

“Rittenhouse’s intersection of value and product make it the best for everyday cocktail making,” says Chase Bracamontes, beverage director of Chef’s Special Cocktail Bar in Chicago. “It’s hard to beat, honestly.” It’s bottled-in-bond (by law aged for four years at 50 percent ABV), so this bottle consistently delivers on quality, and the long, spicy finish characteristic of the rye category means that it shines through in cocktails. This bottle provides the spicy note that keeps bartenders reaching for it again and again, and it is easily available in retail stores for around $20.

Best for that Brunch Cocktail or Coffee Add-In: Angel’s Envy Rye finished in Caribbean Rum Casks

Check Price

It’s not brunch without a cocktail—and Justin Simko, Husk Charleston’s head bartender, knows a thing or two about brunch cocktails. For those who decide to go big instead of going mimosa, he pulls Angel’s Envy rum finished rye. “It straight up smells like maple syrup, and it actually pairs really well with brunch foods like pancakes,” he says. Husk has approximately 175 American whiskies, but this one, aged an additional 18 months in rum barrels, is a sweeter addition to coffee than table sugar ever could be.

Best for a Manhattan: Willett Family Estate Cask Strength 4 Year

Check Price

The Manhattan is the rye’s classic cocktail delivery system, and for that, Bracamontes suggests Willet Cask Strength. “It’s a classic,” she says. “It has perks of spice but it’s integrated, and the strength means that this spirit-forward cocktail really delivers.” The proof varies per batch depending on the barrels, so take note. But when it comes to mixing that classic cocktail, there are a lot of cherry notes in this small batch whiskey, which are only going to be enhanced by the cocktail cherry garnish of a Manhattan.

Best Whiskey Back: Virgil Kaine Ribbon-Rail Rye

Check Price

A shot and a beer, otherwise known as a “beer with a whiskey back,” is a classic way to sip this classic whiskey, and Virgil Kaine’s rye is the perfect match to your pint. This blended rye from Charleston, South Carolina is a mix of three rye styles, including one that’s finished in chocolate porter beer barrels from neighbor Revelry Brewing. While its caramel and spice (not to mention chocolate!) pair well with plenty of beers, Simko is currently using it in Husk’s seasonal old fashioned.

Best Canadian: Alberta Premium Cask Strength Rye

Check Price

Although Canadian whiskey as a category might be listed as “rye” for historical reasons, that does not assure that each brand and bottle includes rye. Cut through the confusion with an Alberta Premium Cask Strength, which has been in operation since 1946 and is now owned by Beam Suntory. This bottle is made with 100 percent rye, and “it’s intense, bold but still has complexity,” says Gillespie. That complexity is the result of the choice of rye by the distiller and his ability to coax flavor out of it during the distillation process.

Best for a Highball or Splash of Soda: Dad’s Hat Pennsylvania Rye Vermouth Finish

Check Price

Some nights call for a fizzy highball that can be made fast. Luckily, Dad’s Hat Rye fits as snugly into a highball as you do in your after-work slippers. The rye is initially aged six months, then finished in a Quada Winery sweet vermouth barrel for an additional three months, adding sweetness and some fruity orange flavors. Take the idea of a vermouth spritz to spicy new stratospheres with a simple splash.

Ask the Experts

Q: What is an “expression”?

An expression is a distiller’s alternative style for a standard distillery issue. It usually refers to an added flavor element achieved by additional months in a barrel that’s already had something else in it, from rum to vermouth to even chocolate porter, in the case of Virgil Kaine. Once aged to the distiller’s specification, the rye is removed from its original barrel and funneled into another barrel that’s held a spirit or beer, where it sits for additional months and takes on residual flavors from within the wood pores, adding another layer of flavor. This is called “finishing” or “double barrel.”

Q: Is rye whiskey stronger than bourbon?

In short, no. This may be a misconception because of rye’s cinnamon-stick style spicy bite, which can be enhanced by the alcohol’s burn on the palate, but “bourbon and rye are two sides of one spectrum,” Bracamontes says. “I shouldn’t have to convince anybody that they have to be into rye.” Those that drink it and use it love it for its spicy character, so if it feels too strong on your palate, stick with bourbon.

Q: What’s up with “whiskey” versus “whisky”?

“Whisky” is the traditional spelling of the term, used in the U.K. and Canada. “Whiskey” is the American English spelling of the word, although you will see some U.S. companies and even some American drinkers and writers who choose to go with the old spelling.

Q: How long does rye whiskey last after being opened?

Rye whiskey has an indefinite shelf life. Its high proof keeps it from spoiling, but keep the bottle out of sunlight. If you’re a collector who stores bottles in boxes or even a storage unit, applying cling wrap around the caps can keep the air from getting in and rye leaking out.

The post Spice Up Your Home Bar with the Best Rye Whiskeys appeared first on Saveur.