Posts categorized 'General Interest'
Go Coastal with a Paella Gift Set
Paella Gift Sets at CM North Lamar
Celebrate the bounty of the sea with one of our handy Paella Kits! We offer 2 choices:
Mini Gift Set - $46.99 (SAVE $5)
Traditional Gift Set - $58.99 (SAVE $10)
Have a paella pan already? Stop by Central Market for your seafood, chorizo, paella rice and other ingredients and try our recipe for Shellfish and Chicken Paella.
CMFW presents: Fish Tales
Presenting a new series of blogs from your friendly Fishmongers at Central Market Fort Worth: Fish Tales! We hope to bring you intriguing stories and facts about all types of seafood, including history, fish facts, sustainability information, serving ideas, and even some science! For our first Fish Tale, we're focusing not on a fish, but on a shellfish – the elegant oyster. In addition to these blogs, we've got our GO COASTAL seafood event coming up July 21 through August 3 – be sure to swim in for that!
A BRIEF HISTORY OF OYSTERS
• Oyster appeared during the Triassic period some 200 million years ago, and have been an important food since the Neolithic period. Oysters were cultivated long before the Christian era.
• The ancient Chinese raised oysters artificially in ponds. In 320 B.C., Aristotle made a stab at how they generated, writing in Historia Animalium that oysters “came forth from slime via a process of spontaneous generation.”
• Best known for their reputed aphrodisiac powers, oysters have been a favorite of food lovers throughout the centuries, beginning with the Roman emperors who paid for them by their weight in gold.
• Oysters have always been linked with love. When Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, sprang forth from the sea on an oyster shell and promptly gave birth to Eros, the word “aphrodisiac” was born. The dashing lover Casanova was said to start a meal with a dozen oysters.
OYSTER FLAVOR PROFILES
It is in the warmest waters (East and Gulf Coasts) where that muscle is most put to work. As a result of all that exercise, oysters there tend to be the leanest in meatiness, and have less of that creamy, fruity taste savored by true-blue oyster lovers. In the coldest waters (Western coasts of Canada and the American Northwest) oysters live a more contented life, working that muscle much less and thereby developing a plumper, juicier, fruitier taste mingling with more distinctively briny, flinty flavors.
Northeast Coast ("Skinny") Oysters – Northeast coastal oysters tend to have a longer shaped shell, are leaner in meatiness, yet still retain a moderately briny, salty, steely flavor. They are delicious for eating raw or with no more than a squeeze of lemon or splash of mignonette (a white wine vinegar/shallot dip). In restaurants and markets, these oysters are commonly sold by their points of origin, such as Long Islands (the original Bluepoints), Wellfleets (Cape Cod), Delawares and Bristols (Maine). Similar to these are the oysters off Eastern Canada, also sold by location names such as "Novys" (Nova Scotia), Malpeques (Prince Edward Island) and Caraquets (New Brunswick).
Northwest Coast ("Fat") Oysters – The waters off the Northwest coasts of Canada and the U.S. are an oyster lover's paradise, giving the broadest, roundest, fruitiest, fleshiest and creamiest textured of bivalves. These variations of the Pacific oyster are also usually sold by their location names, such as Hama Hamas, Quilcenes, Hood Canals, Pearl Bays, Caraquets, Chef Creeks, Sinkus and the biggest of all, Tottens (literally a three or four bite oyster).
Olympia & Kumamoto ("Small") Oysters –
Great Pairings: Wine + Seafood
Crisp and Zesty Wines
For seafood, a crisp, white, zesty wine with bright acidity rules the day! The acidity serves a similar purpose as a lemon would and adds brightness and clean taste to the fish or shellfish.
Generally speaking, Sauvignon Blanc is a good choice. Spanish white's to try: Viura, Verdejo, or Albarino. Vinho Verde from Portugal pairs nicely with lighter seafood choices and most shellfish, especially crab. Let's not forget the many excellent choices from Italy--Pinot Grigio, Vermintino, Arneis, Falangina, and Soave--just to name a few.
To take the guess work out of the many choices, come in and talk to your favorite CM wine steward. They'll be happy to help you select the perfect wine for your particular meal and budget!
Fromagerie de La Brevine - Winner 2010 World Champion Cheese competition
World Champion: AOC Gruyere by Cedric Vuille (shown in the center of the image)
Cheese maker Cédric Vuille, Switzerland, took top honors out of 2,318 entries from 20 countries for his Gruyere.
Cheese maker Background:
Cedric is only 31 years old! With wife Sara they have owned the Fromagerie de La Brevine in Switzerland since early 2006. It is located in the Canton of Neuchâtel in the Valley of La Brevine; also called the Siberia of Switzerland due to the frigid winter temperature.
If you want to try this brand new cheese, it's JUST ARRIVED at Central Market. And...only at Central Market.
There are only 18 wheels of the Gruyere made by Cedric in the U.S and Central Market has secured all of them! So calling all connoisseurs and curious, don't let this world champion cheese get past your palate.
Limited quantities beginning Thursday, July 15, 2010 in the Cheese Department. Bon appetit!
Dinner Tonight!
Hot summer weather got you down? Not up to cooking but don't want to go out and fight the long lines and high prices? Forget the dirty dishes and messy clean up. We have dinner covered.
Pick up our latest and greatest Foodie Freebie in the Chef Prepared department. This delicious meal includes a Fire-roasted chicken, sesame noodle salad, and a helping of Asian slaw.
Choose one of our flavor-packed chickens - Herb, Traditional, Citrus Peppercorn, Beijing, Sonoma and Spice Trade (Beijing and Spice Trade are my favs)
Asian slaw consists of a trio of cabbages, mixed with fresh cilantro, daikon radish, snow peas, a hint of jalapeno, and thrown into Asian vinaigrette. We make the sesame noodle salad by combing asian noodles, red, yellow, and green peppers, and green onions, then toss them in a sesame ginger dressing. (This dish is best served cold or at room temperature.)
All this will feed a family of four for only $7.99. Restaurant quality dinner...no tipping required.
Big State, Big Taste, and Great Creativity!
Central Market Fort Worth's Partners celebrated our Big State, Big Taste event in a big way, with a contest to design the best apron. We had lots of entries from across the store, and all of them were really creative! Some Partners used paint, some used glitter, while still others used a needle and thread. Then there were the really unique ones, using package labels from Texas products, or themed designs from Texas history. Our staff of managers took a secret vote and declared the winners of first, second and third place, and those winning Partners all got to take home prizes of CM gift cards – what better way to celebrate Texas?
Here's a shot of our first place winner, Pamuela, who is a Foodie, showing off her hand-painted and appliqued "Howdy Doody" themed apron, using handkerchiefs and felt pieces. Our second place winner is Lisa, from our Healthy Living department, who created a hand-painted apron featuring the Texas flag, a longhorn, and a beautiful Texas sunset, even including a piece of rope for authenticity! Our third place winner is our Deli-Cheese manager, Brandon, who fashioned a rattlesnake out of paper mâché and hand-painted the Texas flag across the entire front of his apron.
These three Partners and all the other entrants showed so much creativity, we can't wait to see what they come up with next year!
A Fourth of July Pork Roast
The Fourth of July is all about freedom. The freedom given to us by our forefathers, the freedom to set off colorful explosions in our front yard, the freedom to lounge around with our favorite beer (or beers) and the freedom to grill ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING WE CAN GET OUR HANDS ON.
This year's Fourth of July we walked past the hotdogs, hamburgers and sausages and went for a more unconventional cut of meat; the bone-in pork roast. Basically it's a pork tenderloin, the way man and nature intended it to be. The bones intact, giving the meat a richer flavor when cooked and also giving the individual chops a handle in the event that you want to eat with the lollipop approach. The meat also has a large cap on fat on one side, which is essential when it comes to grilling, as it keeps the meat moist and imparts a great deal of flavor to the meat.
We started off by brining the 6-bone roast overnight in a solution of 1 gallon of water and 1 1/2 cups of kosher salt. The next day, after the meat had brined for about 24 hours. we removed the meat and dryed it off, allowing the meat to sit out for 30 minutes to come to room temperature. Next, we rubbed the meat down with olive oil and dusted it heavily with a mixture of sweet and spicy smoked paprika and seasoned with salt and black pepper.
We started cooking the meat, fat side down, in a 700º grill to give it a nice sear. Then we allowed the grill to drop in temperature to about 400º and let it cook, turning once after about 30 minutes until the meat reached an internal temp of 150º. Then we allowed the meat to cool on a tray for 10 minutes before cutting into it.
To accompany our meal, we made a succotash of grilled corn (then shucked), grilled okra, grilled small onions (we used noonday onion) and cocktail tomatoes, all tossed in a bowl with butter, salt, pepper and fresh chopped oregano. We also grilled slabs of sweet potato slices to have something sweet to pair with the smoky spice of the paprika.
The juiciness and flavor of the meat was far superior to that of a standard pork loin and made for a much more dramatic centerpiece for the table. Try giving this humble cut of meat a chance at your next gathering.
Look What We're Doing With Summer Fruit
Now is the perfect time to enjoy summer fruits and our Bakery knows exactly what to do with them.
Vermont Butter & Cheese Cremont An American Original
Cremont is a mixed-milk cheese, combining local fresh cows’ milk, goats’ milk and a hint of Vermont cream. The cheese is made from fresh lactic curd that coagulates overnight using a special cocktail of yeast and mold that create its unique flavor. The “Cream of Vermont” combines the nutty taste of our crème fraîche, the creamy texture of our Bonne Bouche and the wrinkled geotricum rind of our Bijou. An American original, Cremont is crafted in the bucolic Green Mountains of Vermont and aged for 80 days. This cheese is sure to please fans or goat cheeses and bries.
This cheese's hazelnut and cooked bread flavor makes it a great addition to pastas, desserts with fresh berries or even just crumbled over a burger.
This wine pairs well with: Pinot Grigio or a sparkilng wine, Wheat beers, fruity black olives and even a light Belgian beer like Stella Artois.
A grilling surprise!
You know how you enter drawings and contests never expecting to actually win anything? Well, that's how Tracie Murdock felt last week, just before we called to tell her she'd won the Central Market Fort Worth drawing to win a Weber CharGriller Duo Gar & Charcoal Grill!
Tracie came by on Tuesday to pick up her brand-spanking-new grill, and we snapped a shot of her (second from left) with Carla, our Foodie Lead and event organizer extraordinaire, plus four other CM Partners and Managers, Brandon, Scott, Brandon and Randall. Assuming the rainy weather lets up this weekend, we expect that Tracie will be out on her patio, grilling up some (Central Market!) steaks, burgers and other Fourth of July fare.
So, the next time that you start thinking that no one ever really wins those contests, remember Tracie, and remember the Fort Worth Central Market!
