[2] White Chocolate Cashew Toffee.

Sometimes that tingle pays off on the palate, sometimes not. When you’re a food writer who has tasted thousands of products a year for 15 years, you acquire a deep perspective on what is good, great, and just O.K.

We hasten to add that, like the beauty in the eye of the beholder, individual tastes vary. We always use the chocolate chip cookie analogy. Even with a very good cookie, you have your preferences:

Chewy or crunchy, milk or dark, chips or chunks, nuts or no nuts, normal or densely-packed with chips and nuts, etc. Every chocolate chip connoisseur knows what his/her ideal cookie tastes like.

So how do you evaluate toffee? For us:

 
Fowler’s Toffee is a winner.

The family business has been making toffee for more than 20 years. It began as many artisan products do: batches given as gifts to friends and family.

The word got out, people came clamoring, and Fowler’s Toffee was born. It is available in:

 
The packaging is handsome: chocolate-brown boxes with grosgrain ribbon and a teal label. Custom labels are available for corporate gifts and special occasions.

If you like toffee as much as we do, click over to FowlersToffee.com and send yourself a treat.

Don’t forget Mother’s Day and Father’s Day gifts!
  

April 24th is National Pigs In Blankets Day. Some people call the food Pigs In A Blanket, but there’s only one pig per blanket. So, it’s Pig In A Blanket or Pigs In Blankets; and since no one has ever eaten just one, go for the plural.

But across the U.S., what caterers declare to be the most popular hors d’oeuvre is a cocktail frankfurter in a pastry blanket. Don’t forget the mustard.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PIGS IN BLANKETS

Culinary historians have tracked the first recipes for modern pigs in blankets—small cocktail franks baked in a flaky crust—to 1950. According to FoodTimeline.org, these pastry-wrapped piggies are likely direct descendants of Victorian-era canapés.

The earliest recipe found in cookbooks that’s called “pigs in blankets” was published in the 1930. But there was no frankfurter or other sausage: It comprised oysters wrapped with bacon (strange, but perhaps plump oysters were seen as the “pigs”).

FOOD TRIVIA: Ask for Pigs In Blankets in the U.K., and you’ll get a cocktail sausage wrapped in bacon (a pig in a pig).
 
 
RECIPE: BLUE CHEESE PIGS IN BLANKETS

The recipe was created by Chef David Burke for Samuel Adams, incorporating Samuel Adams Boston Lager in the barbecue sauce,

Chef Burke calls the is recipe Bacon Blue Cheese Dogs, a more sophisticated term, perhaps, then pigs in blankets. He uses Kobe beef cocktail franks, but any high-quality cocktail frank will do.

Chef Burke also opts to trade the mustard for a beer-infused barbecue sauce.
 
Ingredients For Approximately 32 Pieces

 
For The Barbecue Sauce

 
Plus

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the barbecue sauce. You can do this the day before. In a heavy-bottomed pot, toast all of the dry spices (cumin, coriander seed, celery seed, paprika, chili powder) over medium-low heat. Once the spices are toasted (you’ll begin to smell their aroma), add the honey and brown sugar, and cook until the mixture begins to caramelize. Then add the vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce, chili sauce, beer, lemon juice and zest, orange juice and zest.

REDUCE until the mixture thickens. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and cilantro. Let it stand for two hours, then strain through a fine-mesh, conical sieve. Place in a serving bowl and serve room temperature or warm, as a dipping sauce.

[1] David Burke’s take on blue cheese pigs in blankets, which he calls Bacon Blue Cheese Dogs. The sauce uses Samuel Adams Boston Lager (photo courtesy Samuel Adams).

[2] You can get fancy with the pastry, following this variation that limits carbs by putting just a strip of puff pastry around the center of the cocktail frank (photo courtesy Hillshire Farms | Facebook).

[3] Another fancy variation (photo courtesy Pepperidge Farm—try this recipe from Life Is Sweet By Design).

[4] Samuel Adams Boston Lager (photo courtesy Samuel Adams).

3. BEAT the eggs for the egg wash, with 2 tablespoons of water (1 tablespoon per egg).

4. MASH together the blue cheese and minced jalapeños. Crumble onto the puff pastry. Cut the puff pastry into 1½-inch wide strips, wide enough to roll a cocktail frank and leave a ½ inch overlap per frank. Place a piece of cooled bacon on top.

5. BEGIN rolling the first cocktail frank, leaving enough puff pastry to fold over and seal it. Brush the ends of the puff pastry strip with egg wash to seal over the cocktail frank. Continue rolling the cocktail franks in the puff pastry, cutting and sealing as you go. Repeat until finished.

6. PLACE the pigs in blankets, seam side down on a parchment-lined sheet tray and brush with the egg wash. Bake at 375°F for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Place on a platter and serve with the sauce and cocktail napkins.

[2] The different shades of rosé wines depend on the types of grapes and length of skin contact (photo courtesy JotDot).

[3] Ditto! (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[4] Riedel’s new Fatto A Mano pink-stemmed rosé glass (photo courtesy Riedel).

The wine has been growing and growing in popularity, replacing that “glass of white wine” in the hearts and hands of people who used to always sip on chardonnay or pinot grigio.

In fact, rosé outsells white wine in France!

Some sources claim that rosé may be the oldest known type of wine, dating to around 600 B.C.E. The theory is that it has the most straightforward wine-making technique, leaving the crushed skins of red grapes in contact with the white juice for a short period.

(WINE TRIVIA: Rosé wines are made from red grapes. The darker color of red wines comes from a longer period of skin contact with the pressed juice.)

Rosé can be made from just about any red grape, and there are many styles of rose: drier, sweeter, lighter, fuller, pale in color, deep in color, still, sparkling.

And, there are many shades of rosé, based on the grapes used, the length of skin contact and other winemaking factors. Take a look at photos #2 and #3.

Here’s more about rosé, including food pairings.
 
 
ROSÉ IDEAS FOR MOTHER’S DAY

1. Have A Rosé Tasting

If Mom is a rosé fangirl, pick up different brands and styles from a wine store (the staff will gladly assist) and have a tasting. Participants will learn more about the different styles of rose wines, and their preferences.
 
2. Give A Sparkling Rosé Wine

Some rosé drinkers aren’t even aware that there are sparkling rosés: in champagne, cava, prosecco and other types of sparkling wine.

In terms of looks, there’s no lovelier bottle for gifting than Pata Negra Brut Rosé Cava (photo #1). The label design was inspired by the gates of Gaudi’s Casa Milà in Barcelona.

Pata Negra Brut Rosé Cava is a sparkling rosé from Penedes, Spain. Made from top grapes in the traditional method, it gets high scores from wine rating magazines and websites. And at $14.99, it’s very affordable.

The grapes are 80% trepat, a local grape, and 20% pinot noir. The blend yields aromas of red berries and pomegranate. One reviewer wrote: “Very fine elegant bubbles tickle the palate offering fruity flavors of strawberry and raspberry with a long elegant finish.”

Another reviewer pairs it with a particular pink food, ham; although rosé is so versatile it pairs with everything from chicken to Asian food (see the chart below).

For casual sipping, serve it with nuts, cheeses and strawberries.
 
3. Give A Bottle With Rosé Stemware

Riedel, world-renowned for engineering glassware that shows off the qualities of particular types of wine, has added a rosé glass to its collection.

Riedel is adding a pink-stemmed rosé glass to its popular Fatto a Mano (made by hand)series.

It’s a luxury gift: $100/glass, $540/set of six, available on Amazon and at RiedelUSA.net).

Alternatively, Riedel’s excellent Extreme Rose Champagne/Rose Wine glasses are just $45.00 a pair.

As with all Riedel glasses, they are perfectly engineered to reveal the bouquet and flavor of a particular grape varietal; in this case, rosé still and sparkling wines.

By the way: We always tell naysayers to pour a glass of wine into a regular wine glass and into the specific Riedel wine glass. You’ll smell and taste the difference.