Chocolate and red wine pair well together. So the inspired producers of ChocolatRouge wines have created a line of dessert wines that blends rich chocolate flavors into quality red wine. Instead of the traditional dessert wine technique, which uses late harvest, sugar-laden grapes, ChocolatRouge infuses chocolate flavors into dry red wine.

We tried two of the three bottlings. We enjoyed both; one in particular has made it onto our personal holiday gift list.

Dark Red Blend: We’ll use the vintner’s description, “reminiscent of chocolate-dipped red berries with a soft velvety finish.” The chocolate notes are subtle; if you didn’t know the chocolate was there, you might think it was a conventional red dessert wine.

While Dark Red Blend is charming, our favorite is Milk Chocolate Flavors: We ordered a case for holiday gifting

Milk Chocolate Flavors: Looking like chocolate milk in a wine bottle, this treat is a chocolatey, creamy and rich. It reminds us of a chocolate shake blended with some red dessert wine…

While Milk Chocolate Flavors is also a dessert wine, it’s an anytime chocolate treat.

We didn’t have the third variety, Sweet Red Blend; but based on our satisfaction with its two siblings. we’ll certainly pick up a bottle when we come across it.

The ChocolateRouge website has recipes for lovely winetails (wine-based cocktails): Café, Cherry Cordial, Julep, Milky Way, Orangette, Red Velvet, Spiced and Winter Sangria. But we enjoyed drinking both bottles chilled, straight up.

There’s a store locator on the website.

You can also order it on Amazon.com for $12.99/bottle.
  

Need buttermilk for a recipe? Check out the
substitution below. Photo courtesy Wisconsin
Milk Marketing Board.

Don’t panic: A perfectly good ingredient substitution is as close as your browser. Just look up “ingredient substitution” and the item for which you need a substitute.

In many cases, you’ll never notice a flavor change. In others, the flavor will be a bit different but just as good (for example, a basil accent instead of parsley).

No saffron? Use turmeric. No soy sauce? Use Worcestershire. No beer? Use chicken broth.

Here are some of the most common ingredients you may need to substitute:

COOKING INGREDIENT SUBSTITUTIONS

 
Do you have a favorite go-to ingredient substitution? Let us know.

It’s the concept of a guest book ported to a bottle. With the gold ink, date an unopened bottle of Champagne and record the occasion (e.g., Christmas Party, 12.9.12).

Next, have party guests or the members of your family gathering sign the bottle of Champagne. Then:

 
We use the gold (and silver) metallic ink marker pens from Sakura, available in stationery stores or online.

WHAT TO DO WITH THE AUTOGRAPHED BOTTLE

What to do with the bottle after you’ve drunk the Champagne? We scoured the Internet for ideas:

 
Or, simply recycle the bottle and enjoy the memories.

WRITE YOUR MESSAGE ON GIFT BOTTLES

Use the gold pen to write any message on a bottle, from Congratulations! to Happy Birthday to Wishing You Health And Good Cheer in 2013.
  

Marinated with some heat, garnished with red and green, we could eat a dozen of these Christmas oysters. Photo courtesy Louisiana Seafood.

Oysters are a treat at any time of the year.

The old advice to avoid them except in months that end in “r” came from the time before refrigeration, to avoid potential spoilage in the warmer spring and summer months.

“Christmas oysters” are garnished in red and green for a festive Christmas appetizer.

To warm up the holiday season, the recipe below, from Louisiana Seafood, has a bit of heat—which is how they like things in Louisiana.

If you don’t like heat, substitute green bell pepper for the jalapeño and eliminate the hot sauce.

The recipe calls for Louisiana oysters, but you can use any variety that are fresh and appealing. Our personal preference is for jumbo Pacific oysters from Willapa Oysters—the larger and meatier the oyster, the happier we are.

CHRISTMAS OYSTERS RECIPE

Ingredients

Preparation

1. CLEAN shells and shuck oysters. Strain and reserve liquid. Reserve bottom half of shell; discard top half.

2. COMBINE oyster liquid, red onions, cilantro, jalapeños, lime juice, lime zest, tomatoes, hot sauce and olive oil. Add oysters and marinate for 5-7 minutes.

3. ARRANGE oyster shells on a bed of ice or kosher salt (it’s much less expensive to use in bulk than coarse sea salt). We prefer shredded red cabbage with some white cabbage mixed in—it’s more festive for the holidays (you can shred it in the food processor or slice it thinly with a knife) and you can eat it with some lemon juice or cocktail sauce. Place 1 oyster on each shell and top with cherry tomato half, red onions, 1 slice of jalapeño, some juice from marinade and a couple of crystals of sea salt.

Growing oysters off the coast of Louisiana. Photo courtesy Louisiana Seafood News.

4. GARNISH with fresh cilantro leaves and serve immediately.
 
Find more of our favorite seafood recipes.

*Any oysters eaten raw must be freshly shucked, to avoid bacteria build-up.

Born on the Iranian side of the Caspian Sea (home to the beluga, sevruga and osetra sturgeon) and raised on the Russian side, Melkoum and Mouchegh Petrossian emigrated to France to continue their studies of medicine and law, which had been interrupted in 1917 by the Bolshevik Revolution.

Unable to gain entrance to French medical and law schools, they became caviar merchants. Had they become a doctor and a lawyer, their names would probably have been lost to history. Instead, they became known worldwide for setting the standard in fine caviar and creating a dynasty of purveyors of the finest delicacies.

They pestered the Soviet embassy to sell them caviar and, eventually, the diplomats arranged for a shipment to Paris.

Initially, the French were uninterested in the salty, fishy eggs. The first customers to patronize their shop and restaurant were White Russian émigrés. Finally, Cesar Ritz, the great hotelier, placed an order and caviar became the rage. The rest is history—exquisitely delicious, if pricey, history.

The current generation of Petrossians does not rest on the family laurels. Their creative product development has been remarkable. Three of our favorite food products of last year—and forever—were the Petrossian’s newly-launched Caviar Powder, Caviar Cubes (see photo below) and Papier Russe (Russian Paper—think nori, the sushi wrapper, made of caviar instead of seaweed).

Many thanks to Alexandre Petrossian (grandson of Mouchegh and son of Armen), director of the New York shop and restaurant, for introducing us to these marvels of quality and creativity.

INTRODUCING CAVIAR CREAM

Sturgeon caviar is one of the most expensive foods on earth. But create Caviar Cream by mixing it with some heavy cream (plus a pinch of salt and some stabilizer), and it brings the cost down—as well as creates a simply delicious spread for hors d’oeuvre: blini, brioche, toast points and potato slices, for example, or stuffed into miniature tomatoes and potatoes. Had we won the recent half-billion-dollar lottery, we’d be ordering it by the case as a dip.

Definitely at the top of the “good things come in small packages” category, Caviar Cream will be a long-remembered gift for the caviar lover. Buy it at Petrosian.com. A two-ounce jar is $42.00; but the memories are worth far more.

For a bit of romance, all you need are a bottle of Champagne, a jar of Caviar Cream and some toasted brioche.

CAVIAR POWDER

We’re on our second refill of Petrossian Caviar Powder, a unique way to enjoy caviar. We gave it our Food Innovation Award of 2011.

Fine caviar is dried via a proprietary technique that intensifies its flavor. It comes in a grinder that enables you to grind the pearls over your food (eggs, buttered toast, grilled fish or seafood, potatoes and pasta for starters) or sprinkle full pearls of the caviar on the food.

A 30 gram mill of Caviar Powder is $88.00; refills are $74.00, at Petrossian.com.

The greatest garnish for a Martini: Caviar Cubes. Photo courtesy Petrossian.

CAVIAR CUBES: THE PERFECT MARTINI GARNIS

Another beloved caviar innovation: Petrossian Caviar Cubes. Wow your guests with these cubes of pressed caviar, the size of a cocktail garnish.

On a martini, atop canapés and other hors d’œuvre, these cubes of caviar create luscious memories.

To paraphrase Loreli Lee, upon seeing her first diamond tiara in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, “I just LOVE finding new ways to eat caviar.”*

Get them at Petrossian.com: 20 grams, 16 to 20 cubes, $45.00.

Learn all about caviar in our Caviar Glossary.

*The original quote: “I just LOVE finding new places to wear diamonds.”