Devour Utah December 2019

VOL. 5 NO. 12 • DECEMBER 2019 • CELEBRATE!

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MUST-HAVE HOLIDAY TREATS & SWEETS P. 15

SAY GOODBYE TO SAD SIDES P. 10

Butter is better P. 35 Devour Utah • december 2019 1

2 Devour Utah • december 2019

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Contents

Amour Spreads

10 Sayonara, Sad Sides Should your side dishes need an upgrade, these chefs can inspire you

BY CLAIRE MCARTHUR

14 Holiday Highlights

Make the season bright with these crowd-pleasing treats

BY THE DEVOUR STAFF

30 The Spread Punch Bowl Social

BY MAYA SILVER

33 Hardly Bland

Vanilla’s earthy, ethereal fragrance conjures visions of exotic lands

BY MERRY LYCETTE HARRISON

35 Well, Butter My Buns

Few are forsaking the beloved yellow stick. And why should they?

BY CLAIRE MCARTHUR

4 Devour Utah • december 2019

PHOTO BY NIKI CHAN WYLIE

39 Easy, Cheesy Cheats

If they think I’ve gone all out, that’s OK by me

BY CAROLYN CAMPBELL

42 Cookbooks We Love

Gift-giving ideas for the cooks in your life

BY AIMEE L. COOK

44 Plate It

Harmons Just Burgers

BY REBECCA ORY HERNANDEZ

46 Spirit Guide

Picking the right glass for optimal impact

BY DARBY DOYLE

50 The Last Bite Let’s celebrate with a bunch of punch

BY JOHN RASMUSON

Devour Utah • december 2019 5

Contributors STAFF Publisher JOHN SALTAS Director of Operations PETE SALTAS Edi torial

Editor JERRE WROBLE Proofreaders LANCE GUDMUNDSEN, MEGAN WAGSTAFF Contributors CAROLYN CAMPBELL, AIMEE L. COOK, DARBY DOYLE, HEATHER L. KING, MERRY LYCETTE HARRISON, CLAIRE MCARTHUR, REBECCA ORY HERNANDEZ, JOHN RASMUSON, MAYA SILVER

Claire McArthur spends most of her day thinking about food—growing it, cooking it, eating it, discovering it and writing about it. If she’s not out in the mountains with her dog and camera, she’s probably in the kitchen making jam or pickling something. @claire__mcarthur

Production

Art Director DEREK CARLISLE Graphic Artists SOFIA CIFUENTES, CHELSEA NEIDER

Business /Office

Accounting Manager PAULA SALTAS Office Administrators DAVID ADAMSON, SAMANTHA HERZOG Technical Director BRYAN MANNOS

Circulation

Maya Silver is a Kamas-based writer covering food and the environment. For inspiration, she usually turns to the Park City Imperial Pilsner or a High West bourbon on the rocks with a cherry.

Circulation Manager ERIC GRANATO

Sales

Sales Director, Events Digital Operations Manager Senior Account Executives Retail Account Executives

KYLE KENNEDY ANNA PAPADAKIS DOUG KRUITHOF, KATHY MUELLER KELLY BOYCE, MICHELLE ENGSTRAND

John Rasmuson spends his days trying to put the right words in the right order. He wrote a column for City Weekly for 12 years that won awards every now and then when he got the words just right.

On the cover: Punch Bowl Social’s chicken ’n’ waffles (Courtesy photo) Distribution is complimentary throughout the Wasatch Front. Additional copies of Devour are available for $4.95 at the Devour offices located at 175 W. 200 South, Ste. 100, Salt Lake City, UT 84101 • 801-716-1777 • DevourUtah.com Email Editor@DevourUtah.com Advertising contact: Sales@DevourUtah.com

Copperfield Publishing

Copyright 2019 All rights reserved

@DevourUtah

6 Devour Utah • december 2019

@DevourUtah

@DevourUtah

Carolyn Campbell has written for Copperfield Media since the 1980s, where she’s published numerous cover stories for City Weekly, several of which earned top awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. She is the author of three nationally published books.

Devour Utah • december 2019 7

From the Editor

We Won’ t

Forget You A

t the end of each year, we often see a list or two in the local media about restaurants that have closed. For example, in 2018, we bid farewell to the New Yorker, Sage’s Café, Salt Lake’s MacCool’s, Finca, Shivers and even The Chow Truck, the gourmet taco sensation that sparked the local food truck revolution. Such stories have us recalling the gatherings we enjoyed there as guests, the people we dined with, the foods we consumed and the drinks we enjoyed. So often, there’s a sense of loss. An inner questioning of why we hadn’t visited the place lately. The hope that we don’t lose the chef’s talent, the prayer that they will come back with a new concept.

In 2019, we seen at least a couple dozen closures in Salt Lake Valley, including beloved institutions such as Cedars of Lebanon and Kowloon Café (whose longtime owners retired) as well as The Five Alls and Marie Callender’s (both of which may be coming back, so stay tuned).

There were the cultural institutions we loved—Aristo’s and Paris Bistro; theater district rock stars such as Fireside on Regent, Last Course and Bagels and Greens; comfort food hot spots Eggs in the City, Meditrina, Angel Café and Café Trio Cottonwood; the unique bistros that stole our hearts like Tin Angel (across from Pioneer Park) and Twin Suns Café; a chain that heaved its last gasp (Iggy’s Sport Bar); and cultural flavors we’ll surely miss: Alamexo Cantina (9th and 9th), Café Anh Hong, It’s Tofu, Kiraaak, Kungfu Hotpot and Su Casa (downtown).

There are all kinds of reasons for their endings (a few, for example, had come to the end of their leases, and rent increases could not absorbed). It leaves many consumers with the feeling that it’s a very tough business in which to thrive. There’s a statistic that’s bandied about frequently (which is false, by the way) that 90 percent of new restaurants fail. A Cornell study found that a more modest 26.16 percent of independent restaurants fail during their first year, while a study cited in Forbes found only 17% of restaurants did so.

Most mom-and-pop owners going into the business know the profit margins are slim, yet they “have a dream,” they don’t shy away from hard work and they believe they have the start-up funds in place to await profitability. And off they go! There are dozens of new entries ready and rarin’ to go to take the spots of those who bowed out or took a different route.

And we’re the beneficiaries of their optimism. Flipping through the pages of this month’s Devour, I’m reminded of the culinary talent along both sides of the Wasatch, of those striving for greatness as food creators, many of whom continue to produce their showstoppers into their old age.

Thus, while we lose a few good dining destinations each year, the bigger story is that the food industry is flourishing, with a new crop of visionary chefs, bakers and owners ushering in the latest food trends and flavors each year.

For those who hung up their aprons in 2019, we’re sorry to see you go. We appreciate your dedication and all you did to provide hospitality and succor in our lives. But we also warmly welcome the dreamers who will be expanding our food universe in 2020. And we look forward to scribing their stories in the coming year. ❖

—Jerre Wroble

8 Devour Utah • december 2019

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Devour Utah • december 2019 9

Sayonara, Sad Sides

F

or this obsessive home

BY CLAIRE cook, the sign of a MCARTHUR successful meal is when guests are digging into the side dishes just as much as the main entree.

And while it can be tempting to stick with the basics like mashed potatoes and plain ol’ green beans, we’re here to tell you that you can do better.

This holiday season, bust out of your cooking rut with inspiration from these four Salt Lake chefs who know a thing or two about culinary creativity.

Should your side dishes need an upgrade, these chefs can inspire you

Give potatoes a break and try your hand at polenta fries, courtesy of Proper Co. executive chef Jeff Springer

Fancy Fries

Ingredients ½ cup butter (1 stick) Mesquite wood chips 1 yellow onion, small diced 1/4 cup roasted garlic, chopped 4 cups water 4 cups milk 2 cups polenta 1 tablespoon salt ½ cup Parmesan cheese Process Smoke the Butter Place a metal rack in a 4-inch deep steam table half pan (or an old cake tin—one you don’t mind getting blackened). The pan acts as a drip tray while the metal rack holds the butter.

Quarter butter and place on the rack so it’s not touching the metal pan. Place mesquite wood chips on the opposite side of the butter

10 Devour Utah • december 2019

CLAIRE MCARTHUR

›Who: Jeff Springer, executive chef at Proper Brewing Co. (multiple locations, ProperBrewingCo.com) ›What: Polenta fries with Parmesan, herbs and Thousand Island dressing ›Why: “I like this because it’s an awesome substitute option for fries. People love good creamy grits or polenta, so why not take this to the next level and throw it into the deep fryer for that crispy and creamy feel? It takes a little more love and care, but it’s so nice and crispy on the outside and soft and gooey on the inside. The dish consists of smoked butter, roasted garlic and cream, topped with a housemade Thousand Island using our house pickles, boiled eggs, aioli and ketchup [which] gives it a nice sweet richness ... What can’t you like about this?”

in the pan. Using a torch, burn the chips until they are smoldering (you can also do this in a pan on the stovetop). Once smoldering, enclose the butter and chips with foil and let the chips burn out. Repeat this 2-3 times depending on desired smokiness.

While you are smoking the butter, in another pan, place whole peeled garlic with enough oil to cover. Cover with foil. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and roast for 30 minutes. Strain out roasted garlic. (You have now made garlic oil to use in future recipes!)

In a large saucepan (one that will hold 2 gallons of liquid), melt the smoked butter and sauté onions and roasted garlic until onions are translucent. Add water and milk to deglaze and stop the onions and garlic from cooking.

Bring water and milk mixture to a full boil and

slowly start pouring in the polenta, whisking aggressively to fully incorporate.

Once polenta is all added, bring mixture back to a boil, then simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure polenta doesn’t stick to the bottom on the pan. Remove from heat and stir in salt and Parmesan to finish.

Transfer the polenta to a sheet tray that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking oil and lined with parchment. Smooth it out so it’s about ½-inch thick, then place in the refrigerator and let cool completely. Once cooled, pop out the polenta onto another sheet tray and cut into steak fry pieces.

In a fryer or sauté pan, fry at 350 degrees for three minutes until golden brown. Sprinkle and toss with salt, herbs and more Parmesan.

Drizzle with Thousand Island dressing.

Celebrate!

Adult-y Mac ’n’ Cheese

›Who: Andy Shay Morrison, executive chef at Caffe Niche (779 E. 300 South, SLC, 801433-3380, CaffeNiche.com) ›What: Risotto mac ’n’ cheese ›Why: “Our risotto mac ’n’ cheese started out as a side dish, but we agreed it was too good to not take the starring role as its own entree. This is a healthier version of classic mac ’n’ cheese, so you get all the satisfaction that a bite of perfectly cooked pasta loaded with gooey creamy cheese gives and still feel good about your decision to eat the whole bowl. It starts with a broth made from roasted carrots and golden raisins. This broth is rich and full of toasty sweet flavor, adding a similar texture to the risotto that a cream-laden pasta would have and creating layers of flavor. Then we add three cheeses: Crescenza and [Beehive] Promontory cheddar are folded into the mix, and Gold Creek Farms Romano is sprinkled on top to form a crust when it bakes. The results are decadent and unique.”

Ingredients 4 tablespoons clarified butter or ghee 2 cups Arborio rice 6 cups (approximately) roasted carrot broth (recipe below) 2 ½ teaspoon kosher salt ½ teaspoon ground white pepper 8 ounces Crescenza cheese 3 ounces white cheddar cheese 3 ounces Romano cheese

Caffe Niche chef Andy Shay Morrison updates the classic mac ’n’ cheese with a unique cheese blend and risotto

Roasted Carrot Broth Yield: 8 cups

Ingredients 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil 1½ cups carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch sections ½ cup shallots, peeled, end pieces removed 3 garlic cloves, peeled, end pieces removed ½ cup golden raisins ¼ cup celery, roughly chopped 8 cups water 1 teaspoon plus 2 teaspoons kosher salt

CLAIRE MCARTHUR

Process In a medium saucepan, heat the clarified butter or ghee. Add the rice to the pan and toast for several minutes until it begins to turn very light golden brown.

Adjust the heat to medium low and begin to ladle in the broth, 2 cups at a time, stirring constantly as the broth absorbs into the rice. After the first 2 cups of broth are absorbed, add the next 2 cups and continue to stir. Do this until you have added 6 cups total broth. The mixture should appear creamy but without excess liquid. Stir in the salt and pepper and taste the risotto to make sure the rice is finished cooking. If the rice is still not cooked, add and stir in more liquid until the kernels are al dente.

When the rice is cooked, remove pot from heat and stir in Crescenza and cheddar cheeses. Allow risotto to sit for about 10-15 minutes so liquid is absorbed and cheese “relaxes” into the mix.

Stir the pot again and divide the risotto evenly into 4-6 individual baking dishes or one 8-by-8-inch baking dish. Sprinkle the Romano cheese evenly over the top of the risotto and bake at 450 degrees for 8-10 minutes until golden brown and bubbly on top. Allow the risotto to cool for about 5 minutes before serving.

Process In a medium Dutch oven, combine the carrots, shallots and garlic. Toss with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt and roast in the oven at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes, stirring the vegetables mid-way through cooking. They are finished roasting when the vegetables are medium golden brown and aromatic.

Remove the pot from the oven and place it on the stovetop with medium heat. Add the raisins, celery, remaining 2 teaspoons of salt and water to deglaze the pot. Allow the broth to simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

After the broth has simmered, blend it with either an immersion blender or a high-powered blender such as a Vitamix until completely smooth.

Devour Utah • december 2019 11

A N F O O D H E AV E N G E RaM n Delicatessen & Restauran Germ

20 W. 200 S. • (801) 355-3891 • Catering available Open Mon-Wed: 9am-6pm Thu-Sat: 9am-9pm siegfriedsdelicatessen.com

12 Devour Utah • december 2019

t

Celebrate!

Jazz up standard gnocchi with the addition of spinach a la Charlie Perry, Eva’s executive chef and owner

Squashing Expectations

›Who: Jenny Cleveland, executive chef at Martine Cafe (22 E. 100 South, No. 200, SLC, 801-363-9328, MartineCafe. com) ›What: Roasted butternut squash with ricotta, brown butter, pine nuts and sage ›Why: “I love taking dishes or ingredients that have great memories for me and turning them into side dishes.”

Ingredients Serves: 8-18 1 butternut squash ⅓ cup olive oil ⅓ cup pine nuts 1 clamshell sage ½ cup ricotta ⅓ cup shredded Parmesan 4 tablespoons butter 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar Pinch black pepper 1 cup cooking oil Kosher salt

Process Slice butternut squash in half lengthwise, remove seeds and cut into ½-inch cross sections. Dress with olive oil and a few pinches of kosher salt. Lay flat on a sheet tray and bake at 375 degrees until tender.

While butternut is in the oven, season ricotta with salt and set aside. Heat butter in sauce pan over medium heat until butter melts and solids start to brown.

Remove from the heat and whisk in red wine vinegar, maple syrup, black pepper and salt.

In a small sauce pot, heat cooking oil to 360 degrees and fry sage leaves until crispy and green, not brown. Remove from oil, place on paper towel and season with kosher salt.

In a casserole pan, layer squash with dollops of ricotta, fried sage leaves, brown butter and Parmesan cheese. Top with remaining cheese and sage and heat in the oven, roughly 5-10 minutes, at 350 degrees. Remove from the oven before the ricotta breaks down.

NIKI CHAN WYLIE

CLAIRE MCARTHUR

Martine chef Jenny Cleveland’s roasted butternut squash with ricotta, brown butter, pine nuts and sage yields the perfect balance of sweet and savory

Gnocchi Dokey

›Who: Charlie Perry, executive chef and owner at Eva (317 S. Main, SLC, 801-359-8447, EvaSLC.com) ›What: Spinach and potato gnocchi with peas, mushrooms and a creamy white wine sauce ›Why: “It’s simple and familiar yet unique. The flavors are rich and comforting without being too heavy.”

Gnocchi Dough Ingredients 2 large russet potatoes 2 cups fresh spinach 2 egg yolks ½ cup flour 1 teaspoon salt Process Bake potatoes until tender, then cut in half and let steam come out.

Meanwhile use a blender to blend yolks, spinach and salt. Scoop the inside of the potatoes into a ricer or food mill then mix all the ingredients together. Roll with a gnocchi paddle.

To cook, heat 1 gallon of water (when sauce is ready) and boil for 2 minutes before straining.

Sauce for Gnocchi Ingredients 1 clove garlic, chopped 1 tablespoon oil ½ cup sliced mushrooms 1/4 cup white wine 1 cup cream ½ cup peas ½ cup spinach ½ lemon 20 pieces of gnocchi Truffle oil Shaved Parmesan cheese Process Heat oil on high in saucepan. Add garlic and mushrooms. Gently add wine and reduce. Once reduced, add cream and bring to boil. Add peas, spinach and lemon juice, followed by salt and pepper to taste. Pour sauce over cooked gnocchi and garnish with truffle oil and shaved Parmesan. ❖

Devour Utah • december 2019 13

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14 Devour Utah • december 2019

DEV UR D ZEN

H l day H ghl ghts Make the season bright with these crowd-pleasing treats

I

t’s undeniable that holiday sweets and treats give the season its pizzazz. Remember making popcorn balls with your mom or wrapping up soft caramels with your grandma? Every year, you yearn to rekindle those feelings of togetherness by making those treats. But, all too often, finding time to cook and bake just doesn’t happen. With the obligatory parties, concerts, gift buying and volunteering that demand our participation over the holidays, our dreams of whipping up holiday treats tend to remain in the realm of fantasy.

But, no need to sink into the pit of despair. Just put down the cooking sherry and walk away from the kitchen. Let the staff of Devour Utah help you find a solution. Check out the following

15 Devour Utah • december 2019

BY THE DEVOUR STAFF

locally crafted foods and snacks that are not only luscious in every way but ready-made to serve as party snacks or to give as gifts. From breads and cookies to candy and nuts, there is no shortage of heavenly bites made by Utah’s talented cooks, bakers and confectionary makers. The holiday season is their time to shine, and they’re only too happy to serve you, using top quality, fresh ingredients and making their goods in small batches that ensures they will taste great and be well-received.

Pick up a gift box, a platter and/or a package of their goodies and share them with loved ones. They might not be the popcorn balls of your youth, but in many respects, they’re even better.

Here’s to celebrating and creating new traditions.

Devour Utah • december 2019 15

SOUP SEASON IS HERE

Warm up with our Bonsai butternut squash soup 801-713-9423 | 5692 S. 900 E. Murray

www.japanesegrill.com

16 Devour Utah • december 2019

@yoshisensogrill

DEV UR D ZEN Rockin’ Around the Sourdough

Red Bicycle Breadworks The Market 1500 Snow Creek Drive, Park City 435-645-7139 RedBicycleBreadworks.com

Red Bicycle Breadworks bake 20 types of bread using natural Leavens

JOHN TAYLOR

What began as a Sunday outing in 2007—baking bread and pedaling it up to sell at the Park Silly Market on a red bicycle—has evolved into a sevenday-a-week operation for chef/owner Brent Whitford and his staff of seven who bake 20 types of bread.

Sourcing local ingredients such as flour and grains from Central Milling in Logan, Redmond Real Salt and all-natural yeasts, Red Bicycle bread has become a household name and a must-have on dinner tables, especially when entertaining.

“I just started getting into baking bread for the restaurant I was working at for their table service,” Whitford says, “and then started baking at home.”

Whitford is most proud of his sourdough ($5.99), which, he says, is a three-day process from start to finish. “We are probably best known for our sea salt and olive oil stick bread ($3.50), selling between 200 and 1,000 of those a day.”

Red Bicycle doesn’t ship its bread and only currently sells it at The Market in Park City. Whitford likes keeping things small and local. He is happy to accommodate large orders but needs a few days’ advance notice. (Aimee L. Cook)

It’s a Wonderful Cookie

RubySnap 770 S. 300 West, SLC 801-834-6111 RubySnap.com

Ruby Snap’s ‘Amy,’ a triple chocolate cookie with chocolate buttercream and carmelized cocoa nibs

TAMI STEGGELL

Growing up in Saudi Arabia without many modern conveniences (such as a local grocery store!) led Ruby Snap owner Tami Steggell to learn how to cook from scratch. Her mother made everything at home, from tortillas to cream puffs, and proudly passed on her recipes. After becoming a young wife, Steggell honed her culinary skills and learned how to make delicious cookies at home. In the 1990s, she became an avid cyclist and wanted to make delicious treats on her off-training days. Not wanting to waste precious calories on a mediocre product, she soon realized she had a mission. She cashed out her savings and left her career as a designer to open RubySnap.

“What makes us truly different is that every ingredient is hand-prepared, or uniquely sourced— from whole vanilla beans, fresh eggs, rich butter, clean nut butters, pure chocolates and fruits and veggies from quality farmers,” Steggell says. Every day, the bakers hand zest, cut, squeeze and peel their ingredients, from citrus to root veggies.

“We have a ‘no yucky stuff’ policy,” Steggell says, noting that real ingredients deliver real flavor. “This also ensures that our product is being made fresh every day. RubySnap freshness and quality are what we live by,” Steggell says.

RubySnap produces 450 dozen cookies a day, just for their Salt Lake store. Popular cookies include the Mia, a vanilla bean sugar cookie, with a buttercream beet frosting; the classic chocolate chip Trudy and the cherry-chocolate Suzie. You can also purchase their frozen cookie dough at Harmons grocery stores.

(Aimee L. Cook)

Devour Utah • december 2019 17

18 Devour Utah • december 2019

DEV UR D ZEN Hark How the Balls, Sweet Rice Balls, All Seem to Say, Throw Cares Away

AIMEE L. COOK

Kyung Bakery’s sweet rice balls

While Kyung Myers excels at baking Korean goods, although she’s skilled with French pastries as well.

The former baker for the Bill White Restaurant Group in Park City is a self-taught baker, having learned the art 20 years ago. “Over the years,” she says, “I have provided breads and desserts to many local restaurants,” and she still works with some Park City and Salt Lake eateries including Blue Lemon and others.

Particular about ingredients, she uses real butter and distilled water in her pastries. Using red bean paste and powder, green tea and sweet sticky rice, she prepares a plethora of Korean-inspired sweets and savory items in the bakery that she opened a year ago. Sweet rice balls (3 for $2.99) are a soft and chewy treat that come in a variety of flavors like cake crumb and green tea, and red bean powder. Homemade Korean breads are filled with red bean paste ($1.89) and the large dough pockets of the traditional Korean favorite, koroke, are stuffed with potato, cabbage, onion, carrots and curry ($3.49).

Her sweet breads are filled with lemon and coconut ($2.49) or melon ($2.99). Other standouts include Myers’ eclairs ($3.49), fruit tarts ($5.99) and cinnamon caramel sticks ($1.99).

In a season noted for sugar-overload, Myers has carved a niche with her delicious gluten-free, dairy free and low-sugar desserts. Hers is a bakery with a strong following of happy customers. (Aimee L. Cook) Kyung Bakery 153 E. 4370 South, No. 17, Murray 801-904-3849

Love and Baklava Come to You

COURTESY PHOTO

Bohemian Baklava’s ‘Cheesecake’

19 Devour Utah • december 2019

“Punk’D Out Baklava”—that’s how Elif Ekin describes her homemade treats. Ekin took her mother’s Turkish baklava recipe, made a few changes and began selling it at the local farmers markets in 2004. After her success there and having her recipe featured by Martha Stewart in 2008, she began selling baklava and other items at the Tea Grotto, and now has expanded to local businesses such as Laziz Kitchen and BGR. “My baklava is different in that I only use 26 layers.

I use a sugar, water and lemon syrup, which makes it lighter, and I do not butter every layer,” she says.

She’s always up for a challenge, whether it’s creating a boozy product or combination—such as bacon and bourbon—or a candy line using dark chocolate. “I will try just about anything,” she says.

Elkin makes trays of 96 bite-size pieces ($100 for traditional). Her nuts are ground fine so that ingredients combine well together, and she uses a reduced amount of syrup—just what is necessary to create the texture she wants.

Her unusual baklava offerings include flavors such as lemon zinger, chocolate walnut, marzipan, Twizzlers, s’mores and Mango Madness. There’s even a cheesecake baklava!

Order through her website. Special orders (and challenges) are always welcome, with a minimum purchase of a quarter-tray. (Aimee L. Cook) Bohemian Baklava 645 E. 700 South, SLC 801-674-7047 BohemianBaklava.com Devour Utah • december 2019 19

Corporate gifts made easy!

801.485.1031 | 2057 East 3300 South finecandies.com

20 Devour Utah • december 2019

DEV UR D ZEN It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Toffee

Cache Toffee founder Lori Darr learned the art of toffee-making from her mother, who made the confection for family and friends as a holiday treat. After mastering toffee-making herself, Darr continued the tradition with her family and friends. In 2016, she decided to bring her toffee collection to market and launched Cache Toffee. The handcrafted, small-batch toffee is made with fresh local butter and chocolate. The candy has a melt-in-your-mouth creamy crunch that’s accompanied by flavors inspired by the changing seasons.

Her Summit flavor ($40/pound) reminds her of fall colors in the mountains. Layered with locally made Solstice dark chocolate, the irresistible toffee is blended with seeds, nuts, dried berries and fruit. It’s finished with a sprinkle of sea salt and organic green tea leaves, which Darr says remind her of the musty, damp, fall smell.

“Blondie ($40/pound) makes me think of summer,” she says, “with the sun shining in your face. I use Solstice white chocolate, local bean-to-bar chocolate, with mangoes, rum and toasted coconut.”

Cache Toffee’s use of quality ingredients, she notes, “is what really sets us apart.”

Sampler boxes, gift boxes and corporate gifts are available on the website, and you can find many Cache Toffee flavors in local Whole Foods, The Store and Provisions on Main Street in Park City. (Aimee L. Cook)

Cache Toffee

COURTESY PHOTO

Cache Toffee CacheToffee.com

The Cheddar Express

Heber Valley Artisan Cheese 920 River Road, Midway 435-654-0291 HeberValleyArtisanCheese.com

Heber Valley Artisan Cheese

COURTESY PHOTO

The Kohler family has been at the heart of the Heber Valley for nearly 100 years. Their dairy farm has long produced rich, premium raw milk and in 2011, the family decided to build the new Kohler Creamery and make handcrafted artisan cheese as a way to preserve the farm and land for the future.

Today, the Kohlers operate using a cow-to-consumer philosophy. “We want our customers to understand the dairy process, what quality dairy products are and where they come from,” explains Russ Kohler, the fourth generation to raise dairy cows on their land in Midway. “We want customers to understand everything about the process from the cow to the cheese.”

Together, Russ and his father, Grant, along with their families and, of course, their 150 free-roaming, grass-fed dairy cows now make a wide range of cheddars as well as raw milk and fresh cheese offerings. The Holsteins graze in Midway’s mountain valley pastures and drink from the area’s natural springs. They’re milked up to five times a day using one of the first robotic milking systems installed in the West.

The father-and-son Kohler team are widely celebrated as success stories in preserving their farming heritage while adjusting to a changing economic landscape. And the results are delicious.

Whether you choose to gift a basket of locally made Heber Valley Artisan Cheese cheddars this holiday season or celebrate with a decadent charcuterie board at home, a wise choice includes Heber Valley’s Snake Creek 6-Year Cheddar—a very special farmstead cheddar available only in Utah that offers an intense, sharp bite. “It’s an amazing cheese,” Kohler says. “It’s been in the cheese cave for six years waiting for that perfect time to come out, and it has amazing flavors ...”

The award-winning cheddar displays strong citrus notes of pineapple, key lime and blood orange at the forefront and a palate-pleasing crystalline texture.

You can find Heber Valley’s Snake Creek 6-Year Cheddar, and many of their other cheeses, at all Utah Harmons and Whole Foods locations as well as at Kohler Creamery in Midway. (Heather L. King)

Devour Utah • december 2019 21

Join

London Belle to Welcome

2020!

Reserve your table for a prix fixe dinner and party Dont delay.

Space fills quickly.

Call 801-363-8888

22 Devour Utah • december 2019

DEV UR D ZEN A Cup of Good Cheer

COURTESY PHOTO

The Hive Winery crafts more than 100 fruit wines, brandies, ports and hard ciders

The Hive Winery and their brandy producing spin-off company, The Hive Brandy Co., have a beverage for everyone at your holiday table or as stocking stuffers from Santa.

Based in Layton, The Hive Winery established itself by specializing in fruit and honey wines made with local ingredients. Founders and winemakers Jay and Lori Yahne are adamant about supporting Utah’s strong agricultural heritage, so their boutique winery produces small batches of seasonal offerings featuring honey from Yack Brothers Honey in Roosevelt, fruits from Rowley’s Red Barn in Santaquin, berries from Weeks Berries of Paradise, and produce from Payson Fruit Growers Co-op, to name just a few. “We believe the wine should taste like the fruit it’s from,” Jay says. “We look for the best ingredients and make some very unique blends.”

The Yahnes are geotechnical engineers by trade but fell in love with winemaking as a hobby. Over the years, they’ve crafted more than 100 fruit wines, brandies and ports along with hard ciders.

One of the first hard apple ciders made in Utah is The Hive’s Stinger Hard Cider. Using apple juice blended from a variety of apples sourced from Rowley’s Red Barn in Santaquin, this carbonated cider is on the sweeter side—truly reflecting the taste of the apple juice it’s made with.

Stinger Dry is a less-sweet option. Seasonal fruit Stingers featuring raspberry, black currant, peach, blackberry and raspberry jalapeno or mint and autumn (cinnamon and nutmeg) flavors are available on a rotating basis.

Select products from The Hive Winery can be found in DABC liquor stores across the state with a full selection available at the winery in Layton where tastings are also offered for $5. (Heather L. King) The Hive Winery 1220 W. 450 North, No. 2, Layton 801-546-1997 TheHiveWinery.com

Our Finest Nuts We Bring Pa Rum Pum Pum Pum

COURTESY PHOTO

Diverse offerings of trail mixes at Western Nut Co.

Quality and tradition keep satisfied customers returning to Western Nut Co. throughout the year for the best nut mixes, brittles, toffees and fudge.

Generations of Utah, Wyoming and Idaho families continue to shop here to pass on fond memories of special favorites and treats, especially during the holiday season. Since it was founded in 1966, only the highestquality nuts—sourced from around the world—are used and roasted at the Factory Store, which can be viewed through glass windows. Plump peanuts, silken cashews, meaty walnuts and pecans, firm almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts and more are oh-so tempting.

Western Nut Co. maintains a quaint old-fashioned shop atmosphere at the retail store but keeps modern by creating new mixes such as the supernutritious Antioxidant Medley Mix and Golden Spike Trail Mix along with sugar- and salt-free offerings. There are shelves of dried fruits and hard-tofind specialty candies such as Holland mints and Jordan almonds.

As a member of Utah’s Own, the charming store has displays of locally made jams, sauces, fun gifts and décor, and you’ll find a huge selection of bee- and beehive-themed items. Creative gift baskets and pre-wrapped gift boxes are available in-store or for online ordering and corporate giving. Holiday kiosks and store displays pop up in malls and grocery stores during the season.

There is truly something for everyone, even a fun Nut of the Month Club that gives superior nuts to those you love all year. Part-owner Lee Mercer says they are happy to help businesses create specialty mixes like the one they are currently working on for a brewery.

Western Nut Co. really knows its nuts! They maintain a strict threemonth sell-by date, whereas many stores keep nut products on the shelf a full year. Customers can rest assured that their nut purchase is fresh, whole and delicious any time of the year. (Merry Lycette Harrison) Western Nut Co. 434 S. 300 West, SLC 801-363-8869 WesternNut.com Devour Utah • december 2019 23

DEV UR D ZEN Oh Bring Us a Figgy Pudding

Amour Spreads features ripe fruits grown in Utah

NIKI CHAN WYLIE

Casee and John Francis delight in bringing together fresh fruit, pure cane sugar and organic lemon juice to produce flavor-filled, jewel-toned jars of Amour Spreads jams and marmalades. This passion has been both their hobby and business for nearly a decade.

Amour Spreads highlights perfectly ripe fruits primarily grown and harvested in Utah. Plums, elderberries, peaches, apricots, chokecherries, tayberries and even heirloom tomatoes follow the seasons into each jar of Amour Spreads preserves. As Amour Spreads uses nothing frozen, when an ingredient run out, they’re gone until the next harvest season.

It’s their true dedication to traditional artisan ways that have earned the Francises acclaim as craft producers. “It’s not about the volume—it’s about the quality,” Casee says of their products. Their blackcurrant blackberry jam won a Good Food Award in the preserve division in 2016—celebrating the dark, tart and earthy fruit grown in Paradise by local farmers.

Jams are made by hand in traditional copper pans in the commercial kitchen of Amour Café. John says the copper’s conductive properties provide an even cooking surface and prevents scorching.

In 2016, Casee and John opened Amour Café near Liberty Park to further serve their community—and also are building a place to showcase their jarred creations. Savory egg plates and grilled cheese feature Amour Spreads’ Heirloom Tomato jam while baguettes brim with Black Mission Fig jam and brie. Full jars are available for purchase.

Holiday shoppers can mix and match their favorite flavors of Amour Spreads by shopping at Amour Café or other specialty stores like Caputos and Liberty Heights Fresh. Better still, give a gift that lasts all year. The Amour Jam Club is a selection of 12 jars of jam shipped in three collections throughout the year that reflect the best of the best from Amour Spreads.

It’s a delicious way to spread the love of local fruits. (Heather L. King) Amour Spreads and Amour Café 1329 S. 500 East, SLC 801-467-2947 AmourSpreads.com

Have Yourself a Merry Little Croissant

Crumb Brothers 291 S. 300 West, Logan 435-753-0875

24 Devour Utah • december 2019

Crumb Brothers almond croissant

COURTESY PHOTO

Crumb Brothers has been a Cache Valley staple since it opened in 2004.

For years, the bakery produced more than a thousand loaves of bread each day—much of which was delivered around Salt Lake City to restaurants and grocery stores. But the retirement of the original owners Bill and Diane Oblock and eventual closing of the bakery in 2015 was cause for mourning by loyal customers—until bread lovers and Logan residents Rudy and Luba Otrusinik bought and reopened Crumb Brothers featuring many of the original recipes and employees.

Since then, there’s been significantly more focus on catering to the local Logan community with Crumb Brothers’ celebrated artisan breads and European-style pastries. The restaurant offers drool-worthy breakfast, scratch-made lunch and a hearty Sunday brunch menu. Wine Wednesday dinner also features seasonal dishes and special wine flights.

Yet, it’s still the baked goods that customers most clamor for. Using organic flours and locally sourced ingredients—everything from black garlic in focaccia, cherries in the cherry chocolate sourdough or polenta and corn flour in the corn ball brioche—the flaky pastries and crusty breads are showstoppers, whether in the restaurant or at home.

For the holidays, a selection of scones, Danish and croissants are the perfect centerpiece for a winter wonderland brunch, while a sourdough braid or crusty baguette makes a delicious and festive hostess gift.

Customers living to the south of Logan are able to regularly find Crumb Brothers baguettes and loaves at farmers markets from Ogden to Murray during the warmer months. And this winter, enjoy breads and pastries in Salt Lake at the Downtown Winter Market at Rio Grande Depot from November to April. Of course, the best selection of fresh-baked items is always available at the flagship bakery in Logan—and always cause for celebration. (Heather L. King)

Devour Utah • december 2019 24

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DEV UR D ZEN The Crunch Before Christmas

COURTESY PHOTO

“There’s a lot of love in this toffee.”

—Linda Peterson, Garden Gate Candy

In 1942, Cornelius Vanderlinden, bought Garden Gate Ice Cream, which he and his wife, Helen, operated while raising their family. As time went on, the Garden Gate eventually became a chocolate store.

Cornelius “worked many hours every day,” his daughter, Linda Peterson, recalls. After he died in 2009, Peterson became a co-owner along with her mother, Helen Vanderlinden, and sister, Connie Plumb.

Operated seasonally, Golden Gate Candy opens for the holidays on the first Monday in November. Its bestseller, Garden Gate toffee, is known for its deep, rich flavor with just the right amount of sweetness.

Each year, members of the Vanderlinden family blend the toffee mixture of sugar and butter in a big copper kettle. When it reaches the optimal temperature, they pour it onto a 15-foot marble slab to cool.

Then, Peterson says, they use a pizza cutter to cut the toffee to fit on cookie sheets. They cut the sheets of candy into still smaller pieces and dip them in a thick coating of melted Guittard Chocolate, ordered from California. They then roll the toffee in freshly ground almonds. The nut dusting provides both a flavor and texture to complement the chocolate and toffee.

They also use the imported Guittard chocolate to coat caramels, cinnamon bears and Oreos. “We dip marshmallows and pretzels in caramel and then in the chocolate,” says Peterson.

The toffee, however, remains the star. “We ship it all over the United States,” Peterson says. “And when we sell out, a day or two before Christmas, we close for another year.”

After 77 years, Garden Gate remains very much a family enterprise.

“There’s a lot of love in this toffee,” Peterson says. (Carolyn Campbell) Garden Gate Candy 928 E. 900 South, SLC 801-328-8436

I’m Dreaming of a Mint Sandwich

COURTESY PHOTO

Fernwood Mint Sandwiches

Mint sandwiches, a melt-in-your mouth blend of mint and chocolate, are a top-selling confection at Fernwood Candy, says Bekah Staheli, manager of the Fernwood Factory in Logan. “As far as I’m aware, we have sold mint sandwiches since Fernwood opened in 1947,” she says. “They are still as yummy now as they were back then.”

The process of making the candy involves pouring a thin layer of velvety-smooth melted chocolate on the factory’s large granite tables. The green “mint-chocolate” center of the sandwich is added next, followed by a top layer of chocolate, completing the layers that in essence form a chocolate sandwich. “We still use a big knife to cut them into squares,” says Staheli.

Mint sandwiches are available in both dark and milk chocolate, or in packages that include both varieties. They are sold in an assortment of options ranging from a two-sandwich foil-wrapped package and in boxes ranging from 2 to 14 ounces. There is a 2-pound box and it’s possible to purchase a bulk order of 10 pounds of mint sandwiches.

“People really love them,” Staheli says, “and we have a ton of repeat customers. They are especially popular around the Christmas holidays.”

In 2016, Staheli’s parents, Mike and Linda Staheli, purchased Fernwood Candy from Dick Wood, son of the original owners, George and Leah Wood. The name “Fernwood” is a combination of their last name, Wood, and Fern Street—where their home was located when they were newlyweds. Originally an ice cream parlor and candy store, Fernwood Candy now offers orange and raspberry sandwiches along with the popular mint confection. They also sell other handmade chocolates including nut barks, chocolate-covered pretzels and dipped cookies. Sea salt caramels and pecan logs are also popular during the Christmas holidays, while almondettes are a hit every spring.

Mint sandwiches are available online and at Frost’s Books and Deseret Book. At Christmastime, Kroger and Associated Food stores also sell the mint, raspberry and orange varieties of the chocolate sandwiches. (Carolyn Campbell) ❖ Fernwood Candy 6937 S. 1300 East, Cottonwood Heights 801-566-1045 FernwoodCandy.com Devour Utah • december 2019 27

28 Devour Utah • december 2019

Devour Utah • december 2019 29

Celebrate!

COURTESY PHOTO

The Gateway Mall just got a lot more fun with Punch Bowl Social’s bowling lanes, darts, karaoke, ping pong, foosball, retro arcade and Jenga

the

Spread Punch Bowl Social

P

unch + a from-scratch menu with a maverick streak + Victorian industrial mountain lodge feel + locally inspired design + games. That’s the genius formula behind Punch Bowl Social. Since it served its first ladle of punch in Denver seven years ago, the concept has spread rapidly across the country, and as of September, its 19th location is in Salt Lake City.

Located on the second floor of The Gateway, the Utah Punch Bowl Social takes interior design cues from the 2002 Olympics. Founder Robert Thompson took the ambience in an Olympic Greek direction, with lightning bolts, Grecian busts and celestial patterns.

Another more obscure source of local inspiration? Floyd, a flamingo that escaped from Tracy Aviary and took up residence at the Great Salt Lake. Pink Floyd, the bird and the band, inspire the décor in the private, Korean-

30 Devour Utah • december 2019

BY MAYA SILVER

style karaoke room.

A private room where you can belt out “Another Brick in the Wall” is just one of many themed spaces to explore. A fireside lounge here, a hall for flinging darts there. Duck into an ’80s arcade with a galactic ceiling, then vie for a strike in the bowling lane.

Wherever you land at Punch Bowl, come thirsty. Though Punch Bowl is oriented around the fruity party drink, Utah prohibits serving an actual bowl of punch—a hurdle that Patrick Williams, Punch Bowl’s national beverage director, describes as “a new challenge for us.” The workaround? Cocktails built with the principles of punch. Take the Lost Barrel Expedition, juiced up with Teakoe Pineapple Tea, spiked with two styles of rum and brought to life with cardamom syrup, lime and Angostura bitters. A huddle of mocktails made with nonalcoholic spirits, tonics and clever

flavoring deserve the attention of the thirsty, as do the shakes and malts.

But before you order a sweet treat, don’t skip the main meal, which dabbles in everything from reinvented diner classics and Southwestern dishes to Mediterranean flavors.

Chinese takeout fiends will love the Crab Cheese Rangoon Dip, served with housemade wonton chips and nostalgic packets of hot mustard and duck sauce.

A whimsical dip, dinner, dessert, a round of foosball, punchy cocktails—every part of the Punch Bowl equation is strong, but the sum of its parts is truly Herculean. ❖ Punch Bowl Social The Gateway, Level 2, 6 N. Rio Grande St., SLC 801-948-2989 PunchBowlSocial.com

JERRE WROBLE

COURTESY PHOTO

Punch Bowl Social’s signature chicken ’n’ waffles

COURTESY PHOTO

The Punch Bowl Social creates a reallife hangout with cool games, a munchable menu and craft beverages

COURTESY PHOTO

Punch Bowl Social’s Rice Krispies Treat

JERRE WROBLE

How Utah does punch: The Lost Barrel Expedition features Rumhaven Coconut Rum, Goslings Black Seal Rum and Teakoe’s Pineapple Tea

COURTESY PHOTO

COURTESY PHOTO

Patrick Williams, Punch Bowl Social’s national beverage director

Devour Utah • december 2019 31

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Vanilla: Hardly Bland

The ethereal fragrance of vanilla bean pods conjures visions of lush exotic lands

BY MERRY LYCETTE HARRISON

Make Your Own

For a quality vanilla, consider making your own. Slice 7 vanilla beans longwise and place in an 8-ounce jar. Cover with 1 cup vodka, bourbon, rum or brandy. Let sit for 8 weeks. Shake occasionally. It will be greatly appreciated as a gift any time of year. ❖

In eight weeks’ time, you can make your own vanilla extract at home

KELLY THOMAS

After tasting vanilla ice cream in Paris, Thomas Jefferson is said to have popularized the flavor in the U.S.

DREAMSTIME

Vanilla was an ingredient in the original “brain tonic” known as Coca-Cola

VITO YURNIK

The bloom of the vanilla planifolia orchid vine becomes the seed pod from which vanilla extract is made

in the Library of Congress.

In 1886, vanilla was an ingredient in John S. Pemberton’s launch of an “esteemed Brain tonic and Intellectual beverage,” Coca-Cola.

Vanillin is one of the major constituents that gives the spice its flavor.

Vanillin can be synthesized, artificially, from wood pulp. Artificial vanilla is made with vanillin and is inexpensive. Look for Pure Vanilla Extract and read all labels to make sure you’re getting the real deal. A little sugar added to the alcohol extract is fine, but be sure there is no corn syrup or caramel coloring.

Some notable high-quality brands are Rain’s Choice (VanillaQueen. com), Nielsen Massey (Nielsen Massey) and fair trade, organic Singing Dog (SingingDogVanilla.com).

Blue Cattle Truck Trading Co. in Springville, imports Mexican vanilla from the Canosa family’s vanilla plantation near Veracruz, Mexico. The company is the exclusive distributor of the award-winning, private reserve of traditional Mexican vanilla extract (VanillaImports.com). Their product line includes pure and traditional extracts, beans, paste and mixes. The primary difference between the traditional and pure products is the amount of alcohol in the vanilla. Look for their attractive displays in stores or order online.

Vanilla is essential. Ingredients gather round it and are the better for it.

Like the dowager countess, it enriches and unites.

Devour Utah • december 2019 33

RACHEL GREENE

T

he role of vanilla as an ingredient is not unlike the role of the dowager countess Violet Crawley (played by Maggie Smith) in Downton Abbey: She’s elegant, refined, tasteful, commanding of respect and essential.

She can hold her own or serve as the unifying factor under sweet or savory circumstances.

Vanilla was at one time considered an aphrodisiac and its complex fragrance conjures visions of lush exotic lands that are home to other spice such as cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

Vanilla planifolia is an orchid vine that when mature, at 3 to 5 years old, blooms for only a day during which time it must be pollinated by hand in the morning if it is to produce fruit, after which you’ll see long, beanlike pods growing. If temperatures and humidity are just right, the green pods will be ready to be picked five months later. Then they’re doused in boiling water, wrapped in blankets, moved in and out of the sun to avoid mold and massaged by workers to maintain moisture consistency. Finally, months later, they’re dark and fragrant with the sheen of essential oils, ready for export.

All this labor and time result in a high price, second only to saffron in the spice world. Prices have fluctuated greatly since the 1970s due to typhoons wiping out crops. Currently, the cost of vanilla is about 10 times what it used to be. In 2018, there was a shortage of Madagascar’s Bourbon Vanilla, which supplies about 80% of the world’s total. East Africa, India, Polynesia and Mexico also grow and export it. The yields in 2019 have been adequate.

Ice cream had something to do with its rise in popularity in the U.S. It’s believed that Thomas Jefferson tasted vanilla ice cream during his time in Paris (from 1784 to 1789), and upon returning to the U.S., vanilla ice cream was served in his kitchens for the rest of his life. The recipe he used is now

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CHANCE PICKERTON

Few are forsaking the beloved yellow stick. And why should they?

BY CLAIRE MCARTHUR

T

he holiday season is the one time of year we throw butter into everything with abandon. But our society has a complicated relationship with the yellow stuff.

High in fat and calories, we’re told a little goes a long way in terms of our own heart health and body-mass index.

Should we shun it in favor of coconut oil? Throw it in our coffee to boost our brain? Should it come from grass-fed cows? Or from goats? Should we ignore one study praising it in favor of the latest one maligning it?

In Anthony Bourdain’s (may he rest in peace) famous 1999 New Yorker piece, “Don’t Eat Before Reading This,” he explains that to chefs, “butter is everything.”

He writes, “In almost every restaurant worth patronizing, sauces are enriched with mellowing, emulsifying butter.

Pastas are tightened with it. Meat and fish are seared with a mixture of butter and oil. Shallots and chicken are caramelized with butter. It’s the first and last thing in almost every pan … In a good restaurant, what this all adds up to is that you could be putting away almost a stick of butter with every meal.”

You read that right: A stick of butter.

And there are many to choose from. There’s salted and sweet (also called unsalted). Cultured butter is treated with active bacteria, similar to yogurt, allowed to ferment and then churned for a distinctive, slightly tangy flavor.

It’s delicious slathered on a piece of freshly baked bread.

European butter is slightly richer thanks to an 82% butterfat minimum abroad versus an 80% minimum stateside.

Then there’s Amish butter, which, if it’s truly authentic, is made using cream from mostly pasture-raised cows raised

by Amish farmers in historically Amish states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. It’s slow-churned and hand-rolled into a log, and like European butter, can have a higher butterfat content suitable for baking treats like pie crusts.

We can’t forget about the latest hype over grass-fed butter. It’s sourced from cows that graze on grass during the warmer months and eat hay during the colder ones. They

“It’s the first and last thing in almost every pan … In a good restaurant, what this all adds up to is that you could be putting away almost a stick of butter with every meal.”

—Anthony Bourdain

still may be fed a small percentage of grain to supplement their diets, but the butter is said to be more nutritious and have higher concentrations of healthy fatty acids than standard butter.

And let’s not leave out clarified butter. By slowly cooking the butter, the water from the butter is turned into foam as it evaporates and the butterfat and white milk solids separate. Removing the water and straining out the solids leaves a richer, purer and shelf-stable butter with a nutty aroma. Ghee, which has been used in India for hundreds of years, is a form of clarified butter that has recently become popular in the Western world. It’s cooked even longer until the water is totally evaporated and the milk solids brown and sink. The result is an even nuttier flavor. Both have a higher smoking point.

Despite Utah’s bounty of dairy farmers and artisanal cheesemakers, the craft butter scene along the Wasatch Front is relatively sparse, but there is one Utahbased plant churning up high-quality butter for the masses.

In 1995, West Point Dairy—a creamery established in Nebraska in 1947— opened a satellite plant in Logan, that eventually moved to Hyrum. Today the plant produces, on average, 2.5 million pounds of butter a week.

To produce at that level, they bring in 5 million pounds of cows’ cream from dairy farms across the West. A majority comes from southern Idaho, but they also source from Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Texas, Colorado and Montana.

Devour Utah • december 2019 35

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CHANCE PICKERTON

When Table X makes its own cultured butter, the first step involves using Winder Dairy cream to make creme fraiche

“Good cream makes good butter, good milk makes good cream,” says Todd Rasmussen, West Point’s quality assurance and control manager. “If we don’t get good milk and good cream, there’s nothing we can do to make the butter better.”

As such, the dairy farm is focused on raising good cows and following guidelines for filtering milk and keeping it sanitary and cold.

Some restaurants in Salt Lake City have taken it upon themselves to make their own artisanal butter. At Table X, a cutting-edge eatery tucked away in Millcreek, they churn their own cultured butter.

The key is using quality cream from Winder Dairy in West Valley City. Their nearly week’s long process begins with cream cultured with buttermilk to make creme fraiche. Then there is blending, room-temp resting, chilling, churning, rinsing, massaging and pressing. The end result is a tangy, well-loved butter that’s served alongside a variety of fresh bread made daily.

Up in Ogden, a new coffeeshop-meets-wine-bar, WB’s, is getting creative with their butter selection. “With WB’s, I was inspired to be playful with butters on a trip to Tulum [Mexico] last year and create a Latin European-inspired concept,” says Amy WanderleyBritt, a Southern transplant who also owns the trio of Pig & A Jelly Jar locations. From breakfast to dinner, diners will find unique infused butter combinations such as cilantro coconut, hibiscus habanero, chimichurri mango and cactus berry.

“Right now, I’m really into the chimichurri mango butter, not only for its vibrant color, but the vibrant flavors with the lemon and herbs that blend themselves so well with the tart sweetness of the mango,” says Wanderley-Britt.

While scientists go back and forth on the potential benefits and downsides of butter, one thing remains clear: It’s damned delicious … and you won’t find this writer subbing coconut oil for the good stuff anytime soon. ❖

COURTESY PHOTO

A modern butter churn

Devour Utah • december 2019 37

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Cheesy Cheats Easy,

If they think I’ve gone all out, that’s OK by me

BY CAROLYN CAMPBELL

Three Ingredient Cheese Ball My cheese ball has only three ingredients, takes five minutes to prepare and is very flavorful. People ask me how I season it so perfectly. My secret lies in a special pouch.

Ingredients 2 8-ounce blocks of cream cheese 1 pouch of Good Seasons Italian salad dressing mix 3/4 cup chopped pecans.

Process Mix the cream cheese and dry saladdressing ingredients together using your hands. Form the seasoned cheese into a ball and roll it in the nuts. It couldn’t be easier. The process is simpler if the cheese has been left out to soften slightly.

Party Chicken This recipe has saved me on countless occasions when I wanted it to seem like I took the trouble to create an elegant main dish. The sumptuous sauce also provides instant gravy, should you choose to serve it with mashed potatoes. This casserole goes into the oven three hours before dinner, leaving you free time to continue working on your deadline (or streaming Love Actually).

You can make it exactly as shown below, or vary the soup and use cream of chicken instead.

When using cream of chicken soup, consider melting Swiss cheese slices on top just before serving for a chicken cordon bleu effect. Also, add a half teaspoon of Dijon mustard to the soup mixture when making the “cordon bleu” variation.

Depending on the number of guests who are invited, you can easily adjust the recipe. Just be sure the number of cans of soup corresponds with the number of cups of sour cream.

Easy Stuffed Mushrooms If you are ever tempted to cheat, this appetizer—with only three ingredients—is one of the easiest ways to pull it off.

Ingredients 1 pound Jimmy Dean pork sausage 1 8-ounce block of cream cheese 1½ pounds whole mushrooms

Party chicken

VINCE HULSEY

Y

ou may know me as a reporter and writer, someone who’s written cover stories for City Weekly and articles for local and national magazines, such as Ladies Home Journal and Redbook. I have given talks about home organization to hundreds of churches, businesses, associations and clubs. Yet, for all my virtues, I do have one vice: I have been known to cheat on meal preparation.

It all started when I was on deadline over the holidays but still needed to entertain friends and family. I put a meal together in minutes but had my guests believing I’d slaved over a hot stove. I didn’t let on that I have a few deceptively easy recipes up my sleeves.

And now, for the first time, I’m revealing my secret holiday recipes.

Ingredients 6 boneless chicken breast halves 1 package Buddig dried beef sandwich meat slices 6 slices bacon 1 8-ounce container of sour cream 1 can cream of mushroom soup (You may want to increase to two cans of soup and a 16-ounce carton of sour cream to use the sauce as gravy or to expand the number of chicken breasts to 8. Just remember to use equal parts of soup and sour cream.)

Process Grease a two-quart casserole dish. (A 9 x 9 casserole dish is usually big enough for a single recipe. Use a 9 x 13 if you add additional chicken breasts.) Line the dish with a single layer of Buddig dried beef slices. Place chicken breasts on top of dried beef.

Place a slice (or half a slice, if you choose) of bacon atop each chicken breast. Mix soup and sour cream together and spread over the top of the casserole. Bake at 275 degrees for 3 hours. If you plan to melt the cheese on top, do so during the last five minutes.

Process Remove mushroom stems by twisting them until they break off. Stir together equal parts of sausage and cream cheese and fill center of mushrooms.

Place under heated broiler until sausage mixture is browned.

Devour Utah • december 2019 39

KALECIA PAINTER

Peanut butter caramel corn

Peanut Butter Caramel Popcorn

The place to stage your next dramatic conversation, meaningful occasion, interesting situation, or holiday celebration

Making popcorn balls and wreaths is festive, but it’s also messy and difficult, so I was pleased to find a workaround.

This recipe uses peanut butter, which “unsticks” the corn syrup, making it easy to form popcorn into wreaths and balls. The peanut butter flavor is also quite mild, so many think these are traditional caramel popcorn balls.

Don’t tell my neighbors but I sometimes use this recipe to make popcorn wreaths for them. I place them on a paper plate and fill the center with red and green Hershey kisses for a splash of Christmas color.

Ingredients 1 cup sugar 1 cup light corn syrup 1 cup peanut butter (creamy or chunk style) 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional) 3 quarts (12 cups) popped popcorn

Contemporary Japanese Cuisine Drinks. Sushi. Plates.

Gift Certificates Available

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Process Measure popcorn into a large pan with tall sides. Pour corn syrup and sugar into a heavy saucepan or cast-iron pressure cooker. Bring syrup and sugar mixture to a vigorous boil and cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.

Remove pan from heat and add peanut butter and vanilla.

Stir mixture briskly with spoon until smooth. Pour syrup over popped corn in the large pan.

Stir syrup through corn quickly, before syrup cools.

With a long-handled spoon in each hand, mix syrup through popcorn as you would toss a salad. Work from the outsides of the mixing pan toward the center, lifting the popcorn and then dropping it gently back into the center of the pan. Count 200 strokes, until each floweret of corn is coated with syrup.

With a pan of lukewarm water at your side to wash your hands as needed, form popcorn into balls or wreaths. Makes about 10 small popcorn balls.

Easy Red Holiday Punch In Utah, adding booze to the punchbowl can be a risky proposition. But one cup of this bubbly concoction will put your guests in a celebratory mood, spiked or not.

Ingredients 4 cups cranberry juice 4 cups pineapple juice 1½ cups sugar 2 quarts ginger ale Process Mix first three ingredients.

Stir until sugar dissolves. Add ginger ale before serving. ❖

' n i ll Fa for you!

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It’s about the people and companies who help us get out there.

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Open everyday for breakfast & lunch!

Cottonwood Heights Cafe 7146 Highland Dr. | 801-947-0760 Open 7:00am-2:30pm

New Location!

Devour Utah • december 2019 41

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THINGS WE

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LOVE s k o o b k o Co

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Cannelle et Vanille by Aran Goyoaga Jamie Kirby, cookbook author and bookseller for The Kings English Bookstore, has cookbooks that cross her desk every day, so you may think picking a recommendation would be impossible. But Kirby enjoys cooking when it doesn’t feel like work so those are the books she gravitates toward. And it helps if the photography is stunning as well. “Aran is a stunning photographer, and it is an all-around gorgeous book,” Kirby says. “She is an exceptional cook; the book is suitable for both gluten-free friends and those who are not gluten-free.”

Sasquatch Books (2019)

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BY AIMEE L. COOK

Even in this digital age, chefs, home cooks and culinary educators still relish the visual excellence of a great cookbook in their hands. Keep these recommendations in mind for gift-giving or as a coveted addition to your own collection.

by Brad Thomas Parsons Confidence by 2 Bitters 3 Cake With the amount of research Mandy Merriman

Matt Caputo does for his job as Caputos CEO, you might expect him to recommend a book about cheeses or Italian meats. Although he has plenty of those in his library, this cookbook recommendation actually takes the reader on historical journey and includes some great recipes as well.

“This cocktail book won a James Beard award, which makes it really special,” Caputo said. “Just the introduction of this book alone would give someone so much insight into cocktail culture, cocktails that were created here in America, but unfortunately Prohibition put a halt to that. At the time, creating cocktail bitters was a huge business. The book goes into the history, how cocktails came into being and how bitters were inseparable to them.”

Ten Speed Press; 1st edition (2011)

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When you are a personal chef like Lindsey Kaye and an expert at managing all types of dietary concerns, you want your baking experiences to be as successful as your cooking.

“Her recipes are amazing; she has a cinnamon roll cake that I just made. It was so good!” Kaye said.

“In this book, she explains everything, it is like a cake class in a book. She explains how to get the smooth sides and how to stack your cakes. There are four recipes per cake, and she makes it doable.”

Front Table Books (2019)

4 Immeasurable Place by Blake and 4 The Lavinia Spalding and Jennifer Castle

As a culinary educator and co-founder of the Salt Lake Culinary Education, Diane Sheya likes cookbooks that have a story behind them, explaining what the recipes are about. Her recommendation is the second book by the duo who founded Hell’s Backbone Grill and Lavinia Spalding, which is filled with 70 recipes created at Hell’s Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah. These women won the hearts of the small town early on, expressing their Buddhist beliefs and fostering connections from the land to the table. “That is what Blake and Jen are all about, the story behind the food,” Sheya said. “They grow over 60 percent of the produce that they serve in the restaurant, and they partner with local farmers for their meats and cheeses. They have created an amazing farm-to-table restaurant.”

HBG Press; 3rd edition (2017) ❖

READER GIVEAWAYS Holiday Gift Guide and Giveaway

NOV. 1 THRU DEC. 15

During the months of November and December, you can enter to win beautiful prizes from local shops and restaurants featured here in our special Gift Guide section.

Visit devourutah.com and sign up for Devour Utah’s newsletter to get weekly updates on prizes.

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1. 3 Cups

Three Cups is committed to providing the highest quality coffee, delicious food, and gracious customer service.

We believe in creating an enriching atmosphere for our customers to enjoy that is aesthetically pleasing, clean and filled with a friendly, knowledgeable staff who are helpful and willing to educate our customers about what we serve. We value quality over quantity and have a desire to support the local industries and people in our community.

4760 S. Holladay Village Plaza #104 Holladay, UT 84117 385-237-3091 3cups.coffee

2. Arempa’s

12 years in the making and finally we are able to provide Sandy’s famous food to the public! Taste influence from both Colombia & Venezuela, Sandy has combined both flavors along with a hint of American taste to bring the beloved “AREMPAS” to life in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. Arepas, empanadas & patacon are some of the staples of the Venezuelan culture! A place to impress your date, bring the family together and to continue a late night out with friends!

350 S. State St. Salt Lake City, UT 84111 385-301-8905 arempas.com

3 The Brickyard Bar

Formerly Lumpy’s Highland location, The Brickyard Bar has kept the charm and neighborhood bar feeling, yet updated its appearance and menu to appeal to a downtown crowd without having to go downtown.

With a menu designed by and award wining chef, an ever expanding liquor and craft beer selection, and a premium TV setup, we are confident you will enjoy your drinks, food, and sports at The Brickyard Bar. 3000 S. Highland Dr. Salt Lake City, UT 84106 thebrickyardbar.com

4. Carmines

This is Italia at its finest.

Finally an Italian restaurant in Utah where you can enjoy the best Italy has to offer in food, wine and service. Carmine’s offers full service catering for weddings, anniversaries, company gatherings and any other occasion where quality food, service and attention to detail is desired.

2477 Fort Union Blvd.

Salt Lake City, UT 84121 801-948-4468 carmines.restaurant

5. Holystone Distilling

Holystone Distilling is a unique, artisan distillery where we turn the extraordinary into the exceptional. Our awardwinning, ultra-premium spirits are handmade with passion, patience and skill.

Tastings • Tours • Retail • Bottle Sales 207 W. 4860 South Murray, UT 84107 385-800-2580 holystonedistilling.com

6. Kathmandu

The Kathmandu on Highland opened nearly a decade ago, and has been a family owned business for the last three years. The owner, Yubara j Sapkota, opened new location on September 2018 on 250 West 2100 South. The second location is located closer to the I-15 on 2100 south and easy accessible to people in Utah who are craving for some authentic Indian and Nepali cuisine!

Multiple Locations thekathmandu.net

7. Park City Culinary Institute

A great culinary school teaches technique.

You can see the results by looking at what the students can accomplish after their program. Certain items are easy to make without much technique, like muffins. You might develop a better recipe, you might even have a better way to present them.

But at the end of the day, a muffin is still a muffin, and it’s pretty hard to mess up a muffin. I certainly wouldn’t want to go culinary school to learn how to make a muffin. When we look at what we’re going to teach, we focus on skills that create memorable results. We spend the time going over the science of how things work. We want our graduates to develop techniques. That’s what sets our graduates apart from other people in the industry.

Our graduates develop meaningful skills, and can create memorable results.

1484 S. State St. Salt Lake City, UT 84115 801-413-2800 parkcityculinaryinstitute.com

8. Seaquest Utah

Gift unforgettable memories this holiday season with a gift card to SeaQuest Layton! For a limited time, purchase a $50 Gift Card for just $40! See, Touch, Feed 1200 animals at SeaQuest Layton.

1201 N. Hill Field Road #1072 Layton, UT 84041 801-544-4938 utah.visitseaquest.com

Devour Utah • december 2019 43

Celebrate!

Plate

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JUST BURGERS

it

Harmons Just Burgers

T

ired of all the fancy, rich, celebratory holiday food and just want something simple to satisfy your hunger in the middle of all the hubbub? Sometimes, a simple burger fits the bill perfectly. Come midDecember, frankly, this writer craves digging her teeth into a delicious, juicy burger. And now, with the high-quality ingredients of Just Burgers, you can get just that—a simple, delicious burger, and one that even the most finicky of foodie snobs will approve of.

Chef Aaron Ballard of Harmons Grocery did his research and perfected the flavor by combining just the right ratio of marbling for the 1/3-pound All-American patty that’s a custom blend of Snake River Wagyu and Double R Ranch choice beef. The burger at Just Burgers is fired up on the flat-top grill (using rennet instead of vegetable oil) and is cooked to-order

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BY REBECCA ORY HERNANDEZ

and served with or without melted American cheese.

The bun, which is a local Stone Ground Bakery ciabatta bun, is lightly toasted and perfect for holding its shape even if you pile on the toppings. There’s a gourmet burger-toppings bar, complete with freshly sliced tomatoes, lettuce, onions, arugula, pickles, beets, jalapenos, pineapple, grilled mushrooms and roasted garlic. Along with those toppings come a variety of sauces—fry sauce, mayo, mustard, ketchup and the like—of which a favorite of mine is a house-made savory aioli. And the fries! The potatoes are hand-cut fresh daily each morning and timed to be placed hot on your plate to accompany your burger.

Seriously, there are so many great reasons to gather at Just Burgers on the Café Level of Harmons, from a lunch reunion with an old

friend to meeting up with a large group. Heck, bring the family down before taking in the festivities downtown or going to the slopes. And where else can you find free covered parking— an important consideration this time of year?

Below the café level, there’s an entire grocery store where you can shop for local food gifts and get a party tray. Celebrating the holidays with a great burger and fries is everything that the ham and turkey dinner is not—it’s such a nice way to “hit the spot” and take a break from the hustle and bustle. The best finish? You won’t even have to clean the dishes. ❖ Just Burgers Harmons City Creek 135 E. 100 South, SLC 801-428-0366 HarmonsGrocery.com

Devour Utah • december 2019 45

Spirit Guide

Vessels Matter Picking the right glass for optimal impact

BY DARBY DOYLE

F

rom old Southern etiquette books to contemporary bar manuals, drinks pros recognize that the right glass for the job is about more than appearance. Glassware determines the volume of the beverage served, and how long and well it stays chilled. The ratio of rim to bowl influences how aromas are concentrated or dissipated, an integral part of the spirits experience.

One of my favorite vintage bar guides, Charles H. Baker’s 1939 The Gentleman’s Companion, Volume II: The Exotic Drinking Book, includes a delightful rant on why all drinks should be served in stemmed glasses (except for Old Fashioneds).

Not only do stems prevent clammy handshakes but they keep drinks colder longer.

“Many people hold that all cocktails can be served in the usual 2-ounce Manhattan type glass,” Baker writes, “and just as rightly we contend than anyone can wear a crimson bow tie with tails.”

The horror. For those curious about resurrecting Baker’s extensive service pantry, he recommended nine varieties of glassware—not including several additional types of wine glasses!—as a minimum for a proper cocktail glass wardrobe. Talk about an investment in storage space.

The best glassware collections, in my opinion, are a reflection of the host’s unique entertaining

personality. Interesting glassware says as much about a host as their (hopefully overflowing) bookshelf, music selection or taste in art. True story: most of my glass hoarding collection was inherited from generous relatives, comes from restaurant supply warehouses or was scooped up from yard sales. I’ve found some real treasures at second-hand stores, like adorable Nick & Nora coupes I found for 68 cents each at a Deseret Industries store. With apologies to Baker, glassware doesn’t need to be prolific to do the trick: With just five general categories, most beverage serving scenarios can be satisfied, including wine.

Coupe Glass

I’ve come to love the shortbowled wide-rimmed coupe glass as the elegant multi-purpose “straight up” cocktail standard of my glass collection. Any drink calling for a martini glass works equally well in a coupe, and the angle of the coupe rim makes for easy garnish balancing. Like traditional wine glasses, coupes are intended to be held by the stem so that the drinker’s body heat doesn’t warm up a chilled cocktail. As for using coupes as a Gatsby-esque vessel for serving champagne, the shape does allow for a “fuller” wine aroma through greater surface area being exposed and direct proximity to the drinker’s schnoz versus a narrow flute. However, coupes also dissipate bubbles, bouquet and temperature quickly making for potentially flat, warm champagne if not consumed quickly (this is generally not a problem at my parties). Oh, and that legend that its saucer shape is modeled after Marie Antoinette’s breast?

Unlikely. Benedictine monks discovered the champagne method in the 17th century, and English glassblowers were creating the distinctively shaped coupe vessels for drinking bubbly by the 1660s, long before the bratty French queen was born in 1755.

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Rocks Glass

Also called an Old Fashioned glass, this sturdy tumbler is the workhorse of neat whiskey drinkers and highball mixers alike. Although most are straight-sided, there are interesting variations with slightly belled shapes, or tilting/rocking bases (which always make me nervous). For flexibility, look for “double” glasses that are roughly as wide as they are tall, with a capacity between 8 and 10 ounces. This means that spirits served neat or with a big ice sphere have plenty of room to breathe and open up after serving, or there’s plenty of room to fill with ice for standards like gin and tonics, whiskey sours and highballs. Don’t overlook an interesting rocks glass as an all-purpose tumbler for serving festively dipped rimmed drinks like margaritas and bloody marys.

1624 South1100 East Breakfast and Lunch Open from 7:30am to 2:30pm daily Located between the airport & ski resorts

Pint Glass

Let’s talk beer. Until glass could be cheaply made during the Industrial Revolution, most beer and cider drinkers consumed their spirits from pewter or ceramic tankards, often designed with a flip-top lid to keep out flies and other floaties.

Also, as electricity illuminated formerly dark and dingy pubs and industrial filtration methods made for clearer product, pub owners and beer manufacturers switched to clear glasses to show off the quality of their beverages. Handled, dimpled or multi-sided glass variations went in and out of fashion. The iconic ‘Nonic’ glass (think of the bulging-shouldered Guinness pint) was developed after WWII to prevent fragile rims from shattering, to improve grip on the glass, and make for easy glass stacking without sticking. In the UK and Ireland, measurement standardization requires beer to be served in an Imperial (20 fluid ounces) measurement or half-pint (10 ounce); selling beer in unmeasured, non-calibrated glasses is illegal. Outside the UK, standard beer servings range from the U.S. pint (16 ounces), Flemish pintje (about 250 ml), German pintchen (one-third litre), Australian pint (about 570 ml), French pinte du roi (varied by region, but usually 48 French cubic inches), and the list goes on. German and Belgian regional traditions encouraged serving beer in proper glass shapes from goblet to narrow pilsner to enhance the characteristics of each style; a beer nerd rabbit hole that’s a pleasure to spiral down into given the shelf space and budget.

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Spirit Guide

Wine Glasses

Traditionally, the wine glass wardrobe included three basic varieties: red, white and bubbly.

Arguably, bubbles could be served in a coupe glass (see caveats, above) or a white wine glass, which many connoisseurs of champagne prefer as a happy bubbly medium between traditional coupe and flute. Some sommeliers argue that a well-designed medium-size “universal” wine glass—you’ll recognize them by the more shallow and very angular base of the bowl—can stand in for all three shapes. As they’re generally more expensive ($60-$90 each) and very fragile, you’d hope so. As for stemless glasses, keep in mind that the purpose of a stem is to prevent body heat from transferring from hands to the wine; not a problem for reds, but many people find the shape antithetical for enjoying whites and bubbles.

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Red wine glass

Aroma is a key part of the wine experience, and aerating wine—that swirl that looks cool but also serves the purpose of exposing more surface area of the wine to oxygen—is made easier with a large bowled glass. That’s why most red wine glasses have a relatively large capacity but are only meant to be filled with a few ounces of wine at a time. A larger bowl with more height (typical of a Cabernet Sauvignon glass) is great for wines with a lot of tannin. Basically, giving some space between the wine and the drinker’s nose to dissipate ethanol and tannins a bit before the wine hits the palate. A tapered, narrower rim with a large bowl (as for a syrah/shiraz glass) helps retain and concentrate jammy or fruity notes in the glass, adding to the drinker’s aroma experience.

White wine glass

Full disclosure: I used to collect and covet very delicate glassware for wine glasses, especially whites. There’s just something about holding that fragile stem and sipping a crisp, zippy Albariño that makes my day. Over years of entertaining, however, I’ve come to appreciate the benefits of slightly more hefty glassware because A. I’m not devastated (and neither is my guest) if it breaks, and B. they usually fit in the dishwasher. An all-purpose white wine glass to start with is a mid-range Chardonnay style glass, meant for young, fresh wines. Due to smaller surface area, the narrow bowl and rim keeps white wine colder longer. This is also a good default glass for fortified or sweet dessert wines. ❖

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Last Bite

Sweet Relief

And now, for a punchy ending

BY JOHN RASMUSON

S

ome punches pack a punch. Some don’t. Those that do have tended to rely on rum for clout. It has been that way since the heyday of the British Empire centuries ago.

“Punch” derives from a Sanskrit word meaning “five.” It refers to the drink’s five ingredients—sour, sweet, strong, weak and spice. In the 1600s the “strong” foundation of punch was either wine, brandy or arrack. After 1655, the developing West Indies rum trade made rum-based punch a staple in Boston and London taverns. Barbados Rum Punch evokes those days. It is made by following an oft-repeated ditty: “One of sour, two of sweet, three of strong and four of weak—dash of bitters, spice and ice.”

In other words, one part lime juice, two parts sweetener, three parts rum, four parts water, then nutmeg and ice.

In colonial Philadelphia, around 1750, a social club called the Schuylkill Fishing Company was known for its Fish House Punch. Served cold in summer, hot in winter, it was a potent mix of black tea and rum—four cups each—two cups of cognac, a half-cup of peach brandy, one cup of lemon juice and one of sugar. The effect of a few punches, I imagine, was to disabuse club members from fishing.

Rum punch never caught on in Mormon territory. Even Utah’s accomplished man of letters, non-Mormon Bernard DeVoto, disliked it for his own reasons. In his 1948, book-length “cocktail manifesto,” The Hour, he wrote that rum “is drunk as all sweet liquors are, in a regressive fantasy, a sad hope of regaining childhood’s joy at the soda fountain.”

Nostalgia for Cherry Coke days at VaLora’s notwithstanding, plenty of

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Utahns love punch—so long as it is alcohol-free. No Relief Society recipe book wants for punch recipes. Mormon hostesses love punch because it is sugary, eye-catching and passably chic. Moreover, punch solves one quandary of holiday entertaining: Anchor the hors-d’oeuvre table with a pitcher of Kool-Aid? Liters of Shasta? Grandma’s cut glass punch bowl brimming with “Mormon Champagne”?

It’s an easy decision.

I found this recipe for Mormon Champagne in the 1992 edition of the Grant Fifth Ward Relief Society Cookbook: For a “great punch for church parties,” mix 10 pounds of sugar, 3 ounces of citric acid, 3 large cans of pineapple juice, 24 ounces of orange juice concentrate, and about 7 gallons of water in a 10-gallon container. Float 5 pounds of dry ice in the punch a half-hour before serving.

Dry ice adds pizzazz to a punch bowl of any size. Berries add color as do floating disks of orange or lemon. Ginger ale adds fizz; dollops of sherbet, texture. A pint of Everclear in a prankster’s pocket sets the stage for Shakespearean comedy.

DeVoto’s other objection to punch is that it is miserly by nature. The remedy, he wrote: “If you can’t serve good liquor to a lot of people, serve good liquor to a few.” For non-drinkers that means deconstructing the punch paradigm. Globalization offers the stuff that dreams are made of—lychee, calamansi, lucuma, acai, jamun, passion fruit. So, crank up the dream machine! Amazon.com will deliver exotic fruit and edible flowers.

Red Bull will deliver the punch. ❖

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