68 - Wednesday, November 21 inquisitive GARDINER Quick cooking curdles custard THERE’S NOTHING pretentious about custard. It’s one of those special dishes we associate with se- curity and comfort. For some, custard, still warm from the oven, offers a soothing finish to a hectic day. But for many, its sweet warmth, slightly spiced with nutmeg, calls forth memories that nourish the soul, Its ingredients are kitchen staples -- eggs, sugar and milk, plus salt and vanilla for flavor. Making custard demands only that yau keep an eye on its cooking temperature. Heat the milk first to approxi- mately 185°F (85°C) to dissolve sugar and salt and reduce cooking time. Then add the milk slowly to the eggs, sugur and flavoring. There are two kinds of custard. One is simpy baked in the oven, and the other, a soft custard, is stirred on top of the stove. Though eggs play the strongest role in thickening, they can’t take all the credit for the delicate gel. Custard won’t set at all without the minesal salts that milk sup- plies. Milk proteins also have a minimal thickening effect. Take your time in stirring a soft custard. When it’s heated slowly, custard begins to thicken at a lower temperature so there’s Jess chance of overcooking. When a custard heats rapidly, there may be a difference of only one to three degrees between suc- cess and failure. That’s why custard seems to curdle instantly when you’re in a hurry. {f you’re using a thermometer, the thickening temperature will be 181-185°F (83-85°C). Cool im- mediately, so the residual heat in the pan doesn’t continue to cook the custard. Soft custards are never as thick as baked ones, because stirring constantly breaks up the thicken- ing network. Soft custard resem- bles the consistency of whipping cream. As it cools it thickens slightly more. Serve simply with fruit, or use more elegantly in flans or eclairs. {f you’d rather do without the thermometer, try the simple coating test to determine doneness. When soft custard forms a thick, velvety coating on a spoon, it’s done. Use a metal spoon rather than a wooden one as it’s easier to distinguish a creamy covering on a smooth sur- face. Baked custards need cradling to slow the speed with which heat travels from the oven to the egg. Let the custard dishes bask gently ina pan of hot water in a moder- ate 350°F (177°C) oven. When a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean you know that the liquid is held in a fragile gel. Or tilt the custard cup to check that the miik at the centre slightly ripples, but no longer flows. A good baked custard is tender right to the bottom of the dish, without any sign of leaking. A 1987 Cabernet Sauvingnon from the Villa Gigliotti undergoes the critical — but affectionate — eye of creator Frank C‘gliotti, a Passion for IF ASKED to associate ‘‘passion’’ with a room in the house, most people would reply ‘‘bedroom.’’ But Frank Gigliotti is an exception — the Blueridge resident is at his passionate best in the basement. That’s where Gigliotti (for the non-Italians among us, that’s pronounced Gee-lee-oh-tee) in- dulges himself in his favorite ac- tivity: winemaking. Also his se- cond favorite activity: enthusing about his art to anyone who’s interested. And that’s where News photographer Mike Wakefield and I recently spent a decadent afternoon sampling the offerings of the ‘Villa Gigliotti’ (the ar- tistically personalized labels are just the first indication of the care with which each wine is treated) and hearing the stories behind their creation. One quickly realizes that pa- tience is indeed a virtue when coaxing elixir out of the grape. Gigliotti, who began making wine in 1987, is just now enjoy- ing his Cabernet Sauvignon of that year. **You can learn in year five or six the mistakes you've made in year one,” he says, pointing to the ever-present clipboard on which he notes every step he makes along the way. “‘If you screw up your wine, you've lost a whole year.’’ Fortunately, Gigliotti has Never produced a wine that he hasn’t enjoyed, although some Beaujolais Nouveau By Peggy Trendell-Whittaker News Reporter he might have handled different- ly. And he has produced a lot of wine: approximately 200 gailons in four years, the equivalent of 1,200 bottles of Cabernet Sauv- ignon, Chardonnay, Sauternes, Port, Merlot, Zinfandel and Riesling. Does he save money? Gigliotti shudders at the thought. “The secret of good winemak- ing is you should never make wine to save money on alcchol,’’ he says. Between oak wine barrels, which can cost up to $450 each, $250 filters, $200 presses, ‘‘lugs’’ of grapes and a variety of other necessities, Gigliotti estimates the cost of his wine at approximately $6 per bottle. Just as it is vital not to serimp on care and attention to detail, you can’t cut corners on the quality of ingredients, he says. Gigliotti has equally strong philosophical beliefs regarding wine critics: ‘‘They know their labels, but they don’t know their wines.”” And about wine com- SEVERAL LOCAL restaurants are offering special) wine and food celebrations this month, many in recognition of the traditional ar- rival of this year’s Beaujolais Nouveau. The Nerth Shore News was notified of the following: © The Four Seasons Hotel and its restaurants celebrate the cuisine and wines of Italy with its Italian Food and Wine Festival running until Nov. 25. Executive Chef Wolfgang von Wieser has designed special menus for the festival, highlighting the Frescobaldi wines of Italy. The Marchese Leonardo de’Frescobaldi, vice-president of the House of Frescobaldi, will be attending the festival to present his family’s wines, and hosted the Nov. 19 Four Seasons’ Winemaker Dinner. NEWS photo Mike Waketile! North Vancouver man who is dedicated to the art of home winemaking. the grape Winemaking more than a hobby for Gigliotti petitions: ‘‘Every wine that’s made is its own reward. It’s like a beauty contest. Every woman is beautiful. Who should say that one is more beautiful than the other?’’ Washington and California vineyards. Such enthusiasm has afforded Gigliotti opportunities not always available to home winemakers. He was taken under the wing of an expert winemaker who became his mentor and_ later passed on his aged oak wine barrels (‘‘It was like inheriting Mickey Mantle’s baseball bat,’ ) and he ecstatically describes the grapes he was able to obtain from the Otis Vineyards in Washington. The grapes, after being col- MORE WINE STORIES: PAGES 69,75 So if he didn’t start winemak- ing for fame or fortune, what was his motivation? Well, for many years, he didn’t have any. In fact, for the first 20 years of his life, he thought he hated wine. Then he discovered that it was just some of the homemade wine he’d been exposed to that he didn’t think much of, and he began exploring the bigger world of wine. When he finally ‘‘woke up one morning and decided’? to make wine of his own, he embarked on a two-year study of the art prior to putting his knowledge into action. “I really, really wanted to do it well,’ he says, recalling the books he read and his tours of the Columbia Winery at 7 a.m., were fermented, pressed, ‘‘racked’’ over several months to remove the sediment and are now being aged in barrels, on their way to becoming Gigliotti’s finest Cabernet Sauvignon. A taste drawn out of a barrel — “it’s very raw,”’ he cautioned — had Gigliotti spouting the ad- jectives for which wine con- noisseurs are famous. ‘‘It’s fat, it’s wide, it’s huge,’’ were but a few of his enthusiasms. The best part about winemak- ing? “V’ve always found that good wine makes good friends,’’ Gigliotti reflected. “‘It brings an appreciation for life.”” lected from heralds celebrations For nore information about the Four Seasons Italian Food and Wine Festival, call 689-9333. ein the Wedgewood Hotel’s two restaurants, Liaisons and the Bacchus Bar and Ristorante, a special menu has been created by Ex- ecutive Chef Gordon Cowen to complement three young wines — Mommessin Pichet’s Beaujolais Nouveau, Frescobaldi il Fiore’s Vino Novello and Georges Duboeuf’s Beaujolais Nouveau. For more information, call 689-7777. © And The Landing Restaurant also celebrates the 1990 Mom- messin Beaujolais Nouveau with a menu by Chef Claudio Valentini, featuring such dishes as Monkfish Medailions with Grape and Ver- mouth. For more information, call The Landing Restaurant at 688-4800.