Cinnamon

What do carrot cake and apple cider have in common? Besides being signature fall favorites, they both wouldn't be craved without the help of cinnamon.

Native to Southeast Asia, cinnamon is harvested from the inner and outer bark of small evergreen trees from the genus Cinnamomum. The inner bark naturally curls into quills creating cylinders commonly referred to as cinnamon sticks. In Southeast Asian cooking, a few sticks are added, along with other spices, to hot oil and cooked until fragrant before other ingredients are added. Cinnamon is also used in ground form, which is freshest if made at home using a spice grinder or grater.

Cinnamon is used for it's intoxicatingly sweet woody scent and delicate yet vitalizing taste. Whether it's sprinkled in cake batter or dipped in cider, cinnamon is used throughout the world not only in sweet, but also savory dishes. It's combined with other spices to meats and vegetables as well as curries to maximize the succulent flavor. Wild Ginger adds the iron red spice to various dishes on the menu, including the Monk's Curry, and the seasonally available Sri Lanka Pork.

Clove

Autumn has arrived. While the leaves change from flourishing green to vibrant orange, yellow and vermillion red, people are starting to get ready for the cold of winter by seeping tea and baking treats. One of the most common spices used in these warming autumn favorites is clove. Wild Ginger uses this fragrant spice for it's rich scent and robust taste.

Indigenous to Indonesia, the clove tree is an evergreen that produces clusters of flower buds, which gradually change from a pale white to bright red making them ready for harvesting, once harvested the flower buds are then dried and used in cooking whole or in ground form.

Not a typical everyday spice, clove is sparingly added to a few select sweet and spicy dishes on the Wild Ginger menu, including the Monk's Curry, and the seasonally available Sri Lanka Pork.

Meet our Sommeliers ~ April

Meet April Pogue, one of our Wild Ginger Sommeliers. Like a Grenache from the Priorat region of Spain, she is approachable and easy going, but can be intensely focused, and is sometimes even a little flamboyant.

She joined the Wild Ginger wine team in 2010, and says her favorite part about working at Wild Ginger is having the opportunity to constantly learn more about wine, and the culture surrounding it, with such a diverse group of wine aficionados.

"We all have different styles and backgrounds, which creates such a dynamic formula." says April. "Plus, we work with the best list in Seattle, so everyday I look at it and learn."

April began her wine venture while working at the 5th Floor in San Francisco. "Upon joining the team, it became pretty clear to me that in order to fit in with the culture, I needed to bone up on more than just the basics of wine," says April. This observation influenced her to purchase her first wine education book "Windows on the World Wine Course" by Kevin Zraly. She soon became a wine fanatic. Her education was then furthered at Spago Beverly Hills by wine enthusiast Bonnie Graves, whose passion for wine and gift at teaching influenced group blind wine tastings which turned out to be a fun, informative challenge.

She found her most memorable wine managing a wine bar in Bellevue while getting together with the owners and participating in a monthly tasting group that sampled high-end wines. On a particular night, they had an assortment of 2nd growth Bordeaux from the 2000 vintage.

"My favorite was the 2000 Ducru Beaucaillou," says April. "Everything was perfectly balanced, the fruit, earth, tannins and acid. It was totally muscular, but had a lot of finesse as well. Yeah, I could drink that baby every night."

On the topic of food and wine pairing, Aprils likes to try the untraditional avenue. When selecting the fragrant duck, her favorite Wild Ginger dish, April goes for the Grenache while others would normally pick a Pinot Noir. She chooses Grenache for its pleasant fruit profile that complements the jammy sweetness of the plum sauce, yet reflects the robust earthy qualities in the duck.

"As for a perfectly balanced Grenache, I absolutely love the southern Rhone Valley and would choose the 2004 Domaine du Pegau, Cuvee Reservee Chateauneuf-du-Pape," says April.

Galangal

Wild Ginger uses Galangal for its fiery taste and fibrous texture which adds an extraordinary element to Asian cooking. The clean spiciness works in wonderful harmony with garlic.

Closely related to Ginger, this aromatic tropical rhizome, an underground stem producing edible roots, is also often called wild ginger. Originating in Indonesia, Galangal is used widely in Asian cuisines for its citrusy, bursting flavor and gritty texture similar to ginger, yet galangal roots, have a less peppery heat, are larger and pale yellow with zebra-like markings. It has become an important ingredient in many dishes and it is locally known as laos, leuqkuas, kencur or kah. There are two types of galangal- greater and lesser, both are reddish-brown on the outside with the inside being pale yellow or white.

Greater: (Alpinia Galanga)

The most common form of Galangal used in cooking for it's zest, especially in Indonesian and Thai cuisine, as well as in perfumes for its floral, rose scent.

Lesser: (Alpinia Officinarum)

Native to Southern China, and used there since antiquity, the flavor is mildly spicy and refreshing with less bite than the larger species of galangal. Cultivated in Southeast Asia, the lesser galangal is used in curries and aids in distinguishing the difference between Thai and Indian curries.

When selecting galangal, select the hardest, heaviest, mature rhizomes because they are hotter, and to some extent more flavorful, but be cautious because fibers of an old rhizome may hinder the fine cuts required for most cuisine. Like all exceptional things in life, it's all about timing.

What a surprise..

Today, in honor of the beginning of harvest, a whole, goat cheese whey fed, certified organic, ready to prepare pig from Yarmuth Farms was delivered to Wild Ginger, so we're creating some delectable dishes to celebrate this surprise!

Pictured: Yarmuth Farms Pork Chop

Featured items for Wednesday, August 31st:

Sweet and Sour Pork

Pork Liver Satay

Pork Kidney Satay-grilled and seasoned with salt and pepper

Grilled Pork Chop- marinated in fish sauce, soy sauce and black pepper

Pictured: Sweet and Sour Pork

Featured items for Thursday, September 1st:

BBQ Pork Belly- Pork Belly barbecued in banana leaves

Sweet Glazed Pork Belly- fried pork belly tossed in a Thai sweet glaze with cilantro and fried shallots

12 hour Braised Ham Hock

This whey-fed pork is flavorful, tender in consistency and sweet to the taste, causing words like scrumptious and yummy to come to mind. Enjoy!

Pining for Wine in the Pines

Jacky Lo, Executive Chef at Wild Ginger, spent the weekend nestled between the Evergreen tress at Swiftwater Cellars for the fourth annual Wine in the Pines, a wine and food festival that takes place over the mountains in Cle Elum.

New this year was the Wine Celebrity Seminar, a food and wine experience hosted by celebrity Master Sommelier and prolific author of food and wine pairing cooks Evan Gold Smith, M.S. Joining him was wine personality Leslie Sbrocco, host of "Check Please" on PBS network, the regular wine expert for The Today Show, contributing writer for publications including Good Housekeeping, O Magazine and Glamour. For the food pairing portion of the seminar, Chef Jacky prepared pine needle smoked lamb sauté with pine nut sauce.

Over 50 different wineries from Washington, Oregon and California poured a selection of wines while Chef Jacky presented the succulent Lamb Rendang with wine pairing in mind.

What a weekend. We had so much fun, one could say we're pining for next year!

Summer of Riesling Events Calendar

Wild Ginger Seattle Summer of Riesling Events

August 29th - Mosel Wine Merchants Tasting – Join Dan Melia, the visionary co-founder of Mosel Wine Merchants for a Mosel Riesling tasting, accompanied by lite appetizers from Wild Ginger's Kitchen. Dan will be pouring and talking about wines from Clemens Busch, Peter Lauer, Stein, Spater-Veit and Steinmetz.

• Cost: $15/person inclusive

• 5:00 pm - 7:00 at Wild Ginger Seattle

• Advance ticket purchase required. Limited to 60 guests
• Purchase tickets at the Wild Ginger front desk or by calling (206) 623 4450

Wild Ginger at The Bravern Bellevue Events

August 24th – Washington Riesling Dinner. We’ve picked 12 of our favorite Washington Rieslings, including Eroica, Poet’s Leap, Owen Roe Dubrul and Pacific Rim Wallula Vineyard, to show off how wonderfully this grape does in our own state. To top it off, we asked Shayn Bjornholm, who is a Master Sommelier and the Education Director for the Washington Wine Commission to join us and speak about why it is that these wines taste so darned good when they come from Washington. This will all take place at Wild Ginger at The Bravern in Bellevue.
Event details
• Cost $69 per person + tax and gratuity ($90 total)
• Reservations required. Limited to 30 guests.
• Reserve by calling (425) 498 8889

September 14th – Barth tasting. Norbert Barth and his family own some of the best vineyards in the famed Hattenheim region of the Rheingau in Germany. The wines, though not as famous as some of the other Rheingau greats (Goerg Breuer and Robert Wiel, for instance), are some of the most true and delicious Rieslings anywhere on the planet. Barth Ultra is also one of the best sparkling wines from anywhere, and made entirely from Rheingau Riesling. Join Mark Barth as he shows us his best juice, paired with a lite appetizers prepared by our chefs at Wild Ginger.

Event Details
• Cost: $18/person inclusive. (event limited to 24 guests)
• Advance tickets: (425) 295 8889 or stop by the Wild Ginger Bravern Front Desk
• 5:00 - 7:30 pm

The Triple Door Events

September 15th – Barth Winemaker dinner and Colin Hay concert. Norbert Barth and his family own some of the best vineyards in the famed Hattenheim region of the Rheingau in Germany. The wines, though not as famous as some of the other Rheingau greats (Goerg Breuer and Robert Wiel, for instance), are some of the most true and delicious Rieslings anywhere on the planet. Barth Ultra is also one of the best sparkling wines from anywhere, and made entirely from Rheingau Riesling. Join Mark Barth for an intimate tasting, followed by dinner and the Colin Hay concert from our private suites above The Triple Door Main Stage.

• Cost: $85/per person plus tax and Gratuity ($110.50 inclusive)
• Advance tickets required: (206) 838 4333 or purchase here>>
• 6:00 pm start time