A Collaborative Kitchen

There is no comparison

The Japanese have done it again and if i may say so myself, nothing can top this Japanese mayonnaise.  The brand is ”Kewpie” (pronounced..kew-pea).  It’s really just the best mayonnaise ever and that’s it. 

Here at Woodlands, we’ve tried to re-create the distinct and unique flavor of the mayonnaise but it just hasn’t been done.  We have a soup and sandwich of the day on the lunch menu and some days this little jewel will be part of it.  It transforms all sandwiches into awesome sandwiches.  Don’t be fooled by imitations.  Some food distributors sell “Kewpie” but it’s not the same.  If it doesn’t have the baby (see packaging), it doesn’t have the flavor.  The most distinct ingredient in the mayonnaise being the mono-sodium glutamate (MSG….which rules).

Fall is one of my favorite times to create desserts and one of the best fall combinations (in my opinion) is dark chocolate and cranberry.  I love the way the richness of the chocolate works with the tart cranberries.

For The Dining Room at Woodlands Inn, I created a dish that centers around these flavors.  I have also added orange and cinnamon to tie the dish together.  The dish starts with a very decadent chocolate ganache which has been infused with cinnamon and orange.  We then add a tangy cranberry sauce (home-made of course… not from the can) and cinnamon cookies.  The whole dish is finished with some candied orange zest.

Visit us in The Dining Room to taste for yourself!

Is making wine a science or an art?

Stephane sample some wines.

During my last day at the winery, I was able to see the other side of  wine making and have a little fun sampling….why not!  The harvest was done and it was time to follow Katell, the winemaker, and ask lots questions including punching down, fining, yeast, fermentation, temperature and chemistry. During the afternoon I was able to spend time with Jonathan, the winemaker for sparkling wine, and learn about their Blanc de Blanc, Brut. 

At The Dining Room at Woodlands Inn we have been awarded Five Stars, Five Diamonds and Charleston’s Restaurant of the Year but when it comes time to select a wine By The Glass, we select for the taste.  That’s why we serve Virginia’s Kluge Blanc de Blanc Brut 2005, the domestic sparkling wine winner from the blind sampling picked by the staff. 

In my opinion a winemaker has the same job as a painter, he/she needs to bring to the glass of wine the best of the vineyard and make people dream about their visits.  We drink wine for health purposes, for our heart, for relieving stress and, for most of us, amateur to wine connoisseur it’s about the memories.  When you visit a winery that provides warmth, hospitality, and great wine you will tell your friends about your experience.  When Salamander Resort & Spa opens in Middleburg, VA, near Washington D.C., it will be the best destination on the East Coast for wine, food and lodging.

My time is over at the winery and hope that if you read this blog you will consider a visit  to a Virginia winery, particularily in Charlottesville, Middleburg or Loudoun County.

I arrived early at the winery, ready for a very busy day and learned our team was able to resolve the problem, yes everything was back to normal. I went to the sorting table and noticed after a couple of hours the clouds were getting darker.  Everybody rushed to the vineyard to help speed up the harvest before any rain could touch the grapes. It was not my first time harvesting but it’s always so pleasant to pick up the grapes from the vines, sampling some, feeling the soil and you can see why this is the most important job in the vineyard.

To my surprise I learned there are close to 200 wineries in Virginia and most are around Charlottesville and Middleburg. Our Founder and CEO, Sheila Johnson, is building a beautiful resort close to D.C called Salamander Resort & Spa and it will promote local food and local wine.  It will be a destination for everyone.  I am now even hoping to get an opportunity to move to Virginia, but we will see…I still love Charleston S.C.

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Stephane at the sorting table

My 2^nd day at Kluge in Virginia.

I woke up at 7am to be sure not be late for the harvest.  The winemaker lives next door  from the cottage and when I left at 7.45am I saw she was already gone.  She’s like a school teacher with so many students and a long to do list!  I arrived just before 8am and the entire winery was ready, everyone got their list, and we started to receive the first grapes from the Beausite Vineyard, beautiful and mature Cabernet Sauvignon. I put myself at the sorting table to select the grapes before they went to the crusher-destemmer: all the grapes at Kluge Winery have been seen by plenty of people.

From the vineyards the grapes are hand selected and the removed from the cluster if quality is not acceptable.  The grapes are then transfered from the small containers which are designed to prevent grapes from being crushed in transit from the vine to the winery. Once at the winery the grapes are brought to a sorting table where 6 people  remove any suspicious grapes; any unripe, damaged or mouldy grapes are cut out and any other matter are removed by hand. After this very important part, the grapes are brought to the crush-destemmer and sent to a stainless tank.

Just before the quick lunch break, Gregory shows me around the beautiful Kluge vineyards.  Now I know why Salamander Hospitality is based in Middleburg, VA, they are in the middle of a wine revolution and are near some of the best wine! The state of Virginia has gained so much reputation with their Viognier and sparkling wines that a lot of people keep a very close eye on any new winery, even the world famous wine consultant Michel Rolland has only one winery on the East Coast and Patricia Kluge has him to be part of her team.

My entire day was spent at the sorting table to observe the quality and to sample some grapes to see how mature and tasty they were. The sorting of the grapes should lasted until 11pm but a piece of the destemmer went loose and at 9pm and could not be repaired quickly. I was so sad to see the team so frustrated but I was reliefed to go early to bed. The message was given to everybody that the next day will be very busy because some heavy clouds were coming to our way. I went to bed at 11pm to be sure I will have plenty rest for the early wake up.

Kluge vineyards in Virginia

After 7 ½ hours in my car listening to diverse music on the radio, I arrived in Charlottesville, VA to do the harvest at the renowned Kluge Estate and Winery.  Why a winery in Virginia?

After visiting Monticello and Charlottesville so many times, I learned about the great lifestyle in Virginia.  The fall is so beautiful with all the trees changing in color from the orange to yellow to red.  Virginia wines have been getting much more respect.  The fact is when we blind served the Sparkling wine ‘Blanc de Blanc (100%Chardonnay) to all our servers against 2 other challengers and they all voted for Kluge. It was an open mind and satisfaction to serve a wine from the East Coast by the glass. It was finally the time to stop my complaining about the distance from Charleston, SC to California’s Wine Country  and visit our wineries next door, Virginia’s Wine Country.  

Interestingly enough, Woodlands Inn ownership, Salamander Hospitality, is based out of Middleburg, VA which sits right in the heart of Virginia’s Wine Country just about an hour from Charlottesville. 

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Local Wadamalaw Island Wahoo

At Woodlands we try to use local product when it’s at its best.  Most often, we try to get local fish.  In the picture is a 34lb wahoo fish caught off the coast of Wadamalaw Island in Charleston, SC.  We’ve also had swordfish from there as well.  This fish was not only a monster in size but in flavor.  It has the same round loins just like a swordfish but it’s flakier and less meat like a grouper or a snapper. 

The wahoo is a gamefish caught on line boats just like sailfish or swordfish.  In Hawaii or other restaurants you can find this fish named Ono.  Wahoo’s belong to the family of fish known as scombridae which the family consists of mackerels, tuna, etc.  They’re grouped for their two dorsal fins, and series of finlets from the end of the second dorsail fin to the beginning of the tailfin.  The wahoo is actually the fastest fish in that family swimming up to 47 mph.
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Well,  Halloween just pasted and it was a blast!  We had a pumpkin carving contest with the Woodlands employees and found out that we have a huge amount of carving talent.  Sara, the Assistant Pastry Chef, carved “The Woodlands.”  It was so cool, who knew Sara could carve an awesome pumpkin!!  Local Summerville children were knocking at the door of The Inn.  We had so many kids in costumes that we went back to the store for a second round of candy. 

There were also really cool decorations.  Our Reservations Manager, Lori, put so many spiderwebs in her office, you could hardly get in there.  We decorated  the front of the house with pumpkins full of autumn flowers, our custom made jack-o-laterns and glittery gourds.

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Woodlands Wine Dinner Line-Up

Here at Woodlands we have monthly wine dinners on the third Tuesday of every month, except December when we have two champagne dinners.  The wine dinners are a great event where we get to taste wines a month or so before down in the wine cellar of  Woodlands with Stephane Peltier our Sommelier.  During the tasting we discuss the progression of the wines. 

For the first course we almost always begin with a white for a light and crisp start and we pair the flavors of the wine to what food we think would go best with the wine.  We do the same with the second course which sometimes can be a very robust white or most times a younger red wine.  For a main course we always do something along the lines of a nicely-aged full red wine.  Then onto desert where we’ll do a desert wine, of course, or sometimes even a champagne.   This process can take us as little as thirty minutes to as long as two hours, depending on complexity of the wines,  the menu from the past months, seasonal foods, etc. etc.  There are many factors, but it is really a wonderfully fun time. (more…)