Spring Forward

BY JIM MATHIS

Those few warm days we had back in March really woke me up this year. After a year of pandemic, quarantine, doom and gloom, those warm days and bright sunshine really gave me a sign of hope! The timing of my first COVID vaccine shot certainly helped to lighten my mood as well. Now we’re a couple of weeks into Daylight Savings Time, the weather is getting warmer and my beloved and I are fully vaccinated. We are truly ready to spring forward!

Other signs of spring are also appearing; fresh asparagus is showing up at the Food Co-op, the Farmer’s Markets will be opening in early May and the smell of charcoal is starting to waft through the evening air. Maybe it was the general sense of doom and despair, but I didn’t grill as much this past winter as I usually do. Now I’m making up for lost time and firing up the grills again. Who’s with me? Let’s start by making sure your grills are ready for the season.

Gas Grill Check-Up

Your grill has been through the same long South Dakota winter you have, so you’ll want to give it a little attention before your fire it up. First, clean it up. The grill grates may have gotten a bit rusty

or cruddy over the winter. Give them a good thorough scrubbing, and while you probably run a brush over the top of the grates before each use, flip them over and scrub and scrape both the top and the bottom this time. Then check the firebox to make sure you don’t have a bunch of leaves or critters taking up residence in there. Moving to the outside, wipe everything down using paper towels and a good household cleaner to help cut the grease. Finally, check the gas and connections. If you use a propane tank, make sure it’s still got gas and be sure to double check the lines. A little soapy water on each of the gas line connections while it

is turned on will help to point out any leaks. If you see bubbles, tighten it up. If they are already snug, but still making bubbles, turn off the gas and go to your local hardware store right away for replacement parts. Leaky gas lines are too risky to mess with!

Charcoal Check-Up

Whether you use a trusty Weber kettle grill, a steel-drum smoker or a Komodo-style grill, they all need a little TLC in the spring. Again, start with the grill grates; give them a good scrub and scrape top and bottom. Then clean out any old ash and charcoal that may be left in the bottom of the grill. It’s probably picked up a little moisture over the winter, so clean it all out and start fresh. This will also get rid of any debris that might have crept in. Like your gas grill, you’ll want to clean off the outside of the grill and any side tables or platforms. If you’ve got a ceramic cooker like my Big Green Egg, I avoid harsh chemicals on the ceramic. Hot water and elbow grease do a great job of cleaning the outside of the dome.

Other Essential Gear

Check that wire-bristled brush you just used to clean the grates. Are the bristles coming loose? Is it worn down? Toss it and buy a fresh one. And spend a little extra on the grill brush; cheap and poorly-made brushes can come apart and leave little bits of metal on the grill, that’s not good and can be dangerous. I find even the high quality grill brushes only last about one season. Mine is from Williams Sonoma and I can just replace the heads each year. You can also try wooden grill scrapers if you’re looking for something eco-friendly.

There are three other tools I use literally every time I cook outdoors, and they all need to be checked to make sure they’re in good shape. First is a pair of stainless-steel tongs. I like the simple

Large Big Green Egg Williams Sonoma Black-Handled Grill Cleaning Brush

Thermapen MK4 ThermoWorks

ones you get at the kitchen supply store, not the fancy “grill gear” kits. Mine lock closed for easy storage, clean up great and give really good control whether I’m turning a 14-ounce steak, a rack of ribs or an individual piece of asparagus. I’ve got four pairs of these and they last just about forever.

Next is my instant-read thermometer. I trust the ones from ThermoWorks. Their Thermapen MK4 is the king of instant-read thermometers. It will set you back a cool hundred bucks, but it’s worth every penny. Think about how much you spend on steaks throughout the year. Saving a few of them from being overcooked is worth it. If you’re still not sold, they also make a few basic models like the ThermoPop and EXEC that sell for under $35. That is cheap insurance that can save you from undercooked chicken and overcooked steaks. Seriously, you should order one now before you take the cover off the grill this year.

Finally, you’ll want a good pair of grill gloves. My choice is a pair of Extra Long Barbecue Gloves by Steven Raichlen. He’s the strange guy you see grilling on PBS. I’ve tried dozens of different gloves (including welding gloves), oven mitts and potholders and these are the ones I keep coming back to. I just ordered my fourth pair. The last pair made it through about three grilling seasons. They give you control while protecting your arms halfway up to the elbow. These babies have saved me a bunch of singed arm hairs over the years.

Remember, my friends, April showers give way to burgers on the grill in May, ribs on the smoker in June and countless steaks, chickens and fish from now through October. Let’s spring forward and get grilling! Do yourself a favor, grill something good today.

When he’s not grilling in the backyard, is Jim is an old ad guy, working in advertising and marketing for more than 30 years.

BY RICCARDO TARABELSI

There seems to be a five-step process for just about anything… Laundry: Load, Wash, Rinse, Spin, Dry. Subway: Bread, Meat, Cheese, Vegetables, Sauce. Learning: Dilemma, Question, Evidence, Decision, Evaluation. Change: Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement. Even the writing of this article requires five steps! Invention, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Reflecting. And as I reflected on this article, I noticed a pattern that we all experience when engaging a five-step process: the first step is always the hardest or is the most time consuming. It makes sense though, doesn’t it? In winemaking, there are five general steps that eventually lead to the bottled fermented juice we enjoy with dinner, but the first step is always the hardest, and, often, the most important.

Making wine is an art form; however, did you know that wine can be created without even touching the grapes? Wine can spontaneously result from a series of events: a bunch of grapes fall to the ground, gravity presses the grapes, and the natural yeasts in the skins of the grapes begin the fermentation process, and, voila, you have wine. Mother Nature provides everything that is needed to make wine; it is up to humans to augment, enhance, improve, or totally decimate what nature has provided, to which anyone with extensive wine tasting experience can attest. The one main ingredient that is vital to creating a wine, or for any five-step process for that matter, is passion.

There are five basic components or steps to making wine: Harvesting, Crushing and Pressing, Fermentation, Clarification, and Aging and Bottling. Undoubtedly, one can find endless deviations and variations along the way. In fact, it is the variants and little deviations at any point in the process that make life interesting. The steps for making white wine and red wine are essentially the same, with one exception. The making of fortified or sparkling wines is also another matter; both require additional human intervention to succeed.

The Harvest

Harvesting or picking is certainly the first step in the actual wine making process. Without fruit there would be no wine, and no fruit other than grapes can produce annually a reliable amount of sugar to yield sufficient alcohol to preserve the resulting beverage, nor have other fruits the requisite acids, esters and tannins to make natural, stable wine on a consistent basis. For this reason and a host more, most winemakers acknowledge that wine is made in the vineyard, at least figuratively. In order to make fine wine, grapes must be harvested at the precise time, preferably when physiologically ripe. A combination of science and old-fashioned tasting usually go into determining when to harvest, with consultants, winemakers, vineyard managers, and proprietors all having their say. Harvesting can be done mechanically or by hand. Many estates prefer to hand harvest, as mechanical harvesters can often be too rough on the grapes and the vineyard. Once the grapes arrive at the winery, winemakers will sort the grape bunches, culling out rotten or under ripe fruit before crushing.

Crushing and Pressing

Crushing the whole clusters of fresh ripe grapes is traditionally the next step in the wine making process. Today, mechanical crushers perform the time-honored tradition of stomping or trodding the grapes into what is commonly referred to as must.

Sometimes, winemakers choose to allow fermentation to begin inside uncrushed whole grape clusters, allowing the natural weight of the grapes and the onset of fermentation to burst the skins of the grapes before pressing the uncrushed clusters.

Up until crushing and pressing the steps for making white wine and red wine are essentially the same. However, if a winemaker is to make white wine, he or she will quickly press the must after crushing in order to separate the juice from the skins, seeds, and solids. By doing so, unwanted color (which comes from the skin of the grape, not the juice) and tannins cannot leach into the white wine. Essentially, white wine is allowed very little skin contact, while red wine is left in contact with its skins to garner color, flavor, and additional tannins during fermentation, which of course is the next step.

Fermentation

Fermentation is indeed the magic at play in the making of wine. If left to its own devices must or juice will begin fermenting naturally within 6-12 hours with the aid of wild yeasts in the air. For a variety of reasons, many winemakers prefer to intervene at this stage by inoculating the natural must. This means they will kill the wild and sometimes unpredictable natural yeasts and then introduce a strain of yeast of personal choosing in order to more readily predict the end result. Regardless of the chosen path, once fermentation begins, it normally continues until all of the sugar is converted to alcohol and a dry wine is produced. Fermentation can require anywhere from ten days to a month or more. The resulting level of alcohol in a wine will vary from one locale to the next, due to the total sugar content of the must.

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Clarification

Once fermentation is completed, the clarification process begins. Winemakers have the option of racking or siphoning their wines from one tank or barrel to the next in the hope of leaving the precipitates and solids (called pomace) in the bottom of the fermenting tank. Filtering and fining may also be done at this stage. Filtration can be done with everything from a course filter that catches only large solids to a sterile filter pad. Fining occurs when substances are added to a wine to clarify them. Often, winemakers will add egg whites, or other compounds, to wine that will help precipitate dead yeast cells and other solids out of a wine. These substances adhere to the unwanted solids and force them to the bottom of the tank. The clarified wine is then racked into another vessel, where it is ready for bottling or further aging.

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Aging and Bottling

Next time you embark on your very own five step adventure, remember you will be faced with a plethora of choices, each one

The final stage of the wine making process involves the aging leading you down an unknown path. Whether it’s doing laundry, and bottling of wine. After clarification, the winemaker has the losing weight, writing an article, or making wine, do it with passion choice of bottling a wine immediately, which is the case for for the best results. Carpe Fermentum! Beaujolais Nouveau, or he or she can give a wine additional aging as in the case of Grand Cru Bordeaux or big Napa Valley Cabernet When Riccardo is not following his five (or is it 50?) Steps to G o G r e e n f o r S t . P a t r i c k ’ s D a y ! Join our Loyalty Club! Sauvignon. Further aging can be done in bottle, stainless steel or ceramic tanks, large wooden ovals, or small barrels. The choices and techniques employed in this final stage of the process are nearly endless, as are the end results. However, the common result in all cases is wine. Owning and Operating a Restaurant at R Wine Bar & Kitchen on the East Bank of Downtown Sioux Falls, he and his wife, Marybeth, and their sons Dante, Berent, and Jaxon enjoy spending time together and getting ready for Berent’s graduation from high school this year.

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