Gorgonzola has rapidly become one of our favorite cheeses. We cook with it, we eat it after dinner as a cheese course with wine or port, and we always have it on hand. Much of the reason for this is because we are fortunate enough to live close to one of the top Gorgonzola producers, Hook’s Cheese, in Mineral Point, WI. Read more about them here!

So, what did I do with my latest hunk of Hooks Gorgonzola cheese?

First, I made a Gorgonzola Buffalo Burger. Lean, grilled to perfection, then liberally topped with fresh spring greens (heavy on the arugula!), bruchetta and gorgonzola, this burger can quickly become addicting. Put the gorgonzola on the burger while it is still on the grill so that it becomes a bit oozy. You won’t regret it!

The next thing that I really like to do with gorgonzola is create a gorgonzola compound butter. It’s easy to do. You merely need to take a stick of softened butter and 3/4 of pound of slightly softened gorgonzola. Blend it in your food processor and add your ingredients of choice to the blending. For this particular butter, I added scallions and garlic. Spoon it out of the food processor and onto a sheet of saran wrap. Hand roll it into a log and put it in the refrigerator.

Once you’ve done this, there a plethora of uses for the compound butter. Once such use is to simply glop it on top of a nice, thick, juicy grilled New York Strip (below). You can also use it as a butter spread, or you can toss it in some hot pasta for a quick, simple sauce.

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Our Cuisine Capers gathering on New Years Eve served a number of purposes…

1. We had a newly remodeled kitchen to break in - mission accomplished
2. We had to watch the Packers maul the Bears on national TV - mission accomplished
3. We had to see Brett Favre play his last game - we hope that mission wasn’t accomplished, but it sure looked like it might have been judging from the sobbing breakdown he had in his post game interview
4. And last but not least, we had to see in the New Year - mission NOT accomplished. We’re all getting too old to stay up that late.

Prep for this event started the day before, with Vic and Irene gathering at Victor’s house to start making food in Vic’s newly remodeled kitchen. A new Wolf cooktop, dual convection/microwave oven and convection ovens, a shiny new refrigerator, a huge, granite island and lots of other things were newly installed and completed right before Christmas…

Shrimp as prepped, cucumbers were peeled and sliced for serving with hummus, tenderloin was roasted for sandwiches, and cheesecake was made. Beer, of course, was also drank.

(The ironic thing which must be noted here is that we never made the shrimp because there was already too much food, and we completely forgot about the cucumbers. We did, however, drink the beer)

The next day we gathered to celebrate New Years Eve. We had WAY too much food. Thankfully that is mostly Vic’s problem, as the event took place at Vic’s house.

We had antipasto, olives, spiced mozzerella balls, parmesan twists, hummus, black bean hummus, olive tapenade, chicken satay, sliced tenderloin, lots of chips, a really good carmalized onion dip, and much more.

We also made some homemade pizza - a margherita, a pesto, and a pepperoni.

We had found a really interesting looking wine - a Sparkling Syrah. We picked it up on a whim and brought it to the festivities. It was really good and we will buy it again.

The Packers mauled the Bears, as was hoped. It was a good game, and we refrained from singing “The Bears Still Suck Polka” (too loudly, anyway), due to the delicate (pregnant) condition of the sole Bear fan in the crowd.

And today - leftovers and the Wisconsin Badger Bowl game.

Happy New Year to all.

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Our local paper yesterday carried the news that because Hurricane Frances was swirling away off the coast of Florida, the ozone layer was causing haze and pollutants all the way up here, in Wisconsin. The reporter should have done his research. That wasn’t hurricane-induced haze on the horizon. What the reporter was catching drift of was the aromatic, thick, smoky haze of…. ready for this?….

BRAT FEST 2004: The Labor Day Edition!

Don’t believe me? See for yourself:

And what, pray tell, is Brat Fest, the unfortunate may ask? No, it’s not an event where one drops of their nasty children before fleeing. It’s a bratwurst fundraising event that is held twice a year in Madison, on Memorial Day and on Labor Day weekends. It has become a tradition that heralds in the summer, then escorts it right back out. The feeding frenzy over Memorial Day broke a World Record with 189,432 Bratwurst consumed. Sauerkraut is also a hot commodity at this event, with over 4,000 pounds consumed! That’s a lot of kraut!

We headed to Brat Fest on Saturday at around 9:30 AM, on our way to the first UW Badger Football game. Realizing that I had left my camera at home, it was determined that we’d just have to go back again the next morning for breakfast so that we could take photos. Mmmmm, brats for breakfast.

While at the Badger game, I mentioned to the guy to my right (who just happens to be my Cuisine Capers Cohort, Vic), that we needed pictures of Brat Fest. So he also made the ultimate sacrifice and forced himself to take his family there for dinner on Saturday night.

Between all of the Cuisine Capers entourage, we did our Madisonian duty and consumed about 20 tubular meats (so far, anyway - the tally may rise. After all there’s 1 1/2 days left!). The fest goal this weekend: 200,000 brats! We may need to step up to the plate (heh, heh, heh) and give additional assistance towards meeting that goal before the weekend is done.

Finally, here’s Brat Fest, in all its glory!

The Grill
On hand was the Johnsonville Brat Grilling Truck. For those of you that have never seen this wonder of the modern world, the Johsonville Brat Grilling Truck is the world’s largest grill. (I can see some of my fellow foodie bloggers drooling already!). It’s a semi truck which hauls around a trailer that converts into a grill for major bratwurst events, like UW Badger football games, Packer games, and, of course Brat Fest. This truck has a top speed of 9,000 BPH (brats per hour). Take a look at this, guys, and imagine it at your next backyard barbecue:

The Oscar Meyer Weinermobile
Oscar Meyers is headquartered in Madison, and they show up in full force to deliver hot dogs and to give kids a closeup of the Weinermobile. Growing up in Madison, this was a common sight as a kid:

The Tents
There are a number of tents. The main tent serves up the brats, of course. There’s also a condiment tent (run by people in “Condiment Commander” t-shirts… don’t mess with them!), and a Brat Gear tent, featuring shirts to dress your brat (as in, child) in, as well as jars of the official Brat Fest Mustards.

And speaking of condiments…

And finally, THE HAUL:

Two brats and two hot dogs, with 4 sodas, costing a total of $3.00.

For entertaining Brat Fest statistics, click below:

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And no, I am not referring to the abnormally cold weather that we are having. It’s the Great Taste of the Midwest tomorrow! More than 100 breweries, offering a total of more than 400 beers to taste!

I’ll be taking a camera and posting some pictures.

And tonight we’re celebrating tomato season by going to the world class L’Etoile restaurant. This is the top restaurant in Madison, WI, bar none!

All in all, a pretty gluttonous weekend!

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