THE PRESS GUIDE TO DINNING OUT

Press, 8 March 1978, Page 10

THE PRESS GUIDE TO DINNING OUT

There are two schools of thought on cooking with wine. One is that, as long as the recipe stipulates wine, any cheap old grade will do. The other is that no wine which is not reasonable drinking should be used. -

The latter idea makes sense. Since all the alcohol will be evaporated during cooking, the residual flavour will be that of the wine. The idea of cooking with wine is to enjoy its flavour and. just as it would be unthinkable to use stale eggs, rancid butter, or weevil-in-fested flour or spices. I see little point in using a wine which is quite undrinkable. A good wine has the advantage that whatever is left over from the recipe may be drunk with the dish.

Apart from the fact that a cheap wine will not bring out the best in the dish, is it really very cheap? When acceptable wines are available at from about $2 is it worth buying cooking wine at 1.80? Certainly most cooking wines are slightly fortified to ensure a longer life after being uncorked, but table wines may be preserved by floating a good cooking oil on the surface. Before corks were invented the Italians used this method and designed the long-necked Chianti bottle specifically for the purpose. The wine was filled to part of the

way up the neck and topped with oil. while t raffia stopper was provided to keep out t vermin I

Cooking with wine is not the highly technical process which many may think, at least not in the Hunter menage. Regardless of any direction in the recipe we add wine to almost anything—sherry to soup, sherry to mushrooms just before thickening for a steak sauce, white wine to chicken, fish and veal, red wine to goulash. Stroganoff, common old mince, to a sauce for iamb’s fry and bacon, stews, steak and kidney, and niarsala to wiener schnitzel, to name a few.

Those interested in pursuing the subject may care for some of our favourites.

FILLETS OF FISH WITH WHITE WINE 8 small fillets of fish |-tablespoon lemon Salt and pepper juice 2 slices of onion 2 tablespoons melted t-cup dry white wine butter Wipe and place fillets side by side in a shallow, ovenproof dish. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add wine. Sprinkle with the butter and lemon juice. aßke at 350 F for 15-20 minutes. Place fillets on plates, pour over a cream fish sauce and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

I (Dinner

Dymand Steak House 653 a Colombo Street Tel. 66-681. Give the average Kiwi a choice of cuts of meat to eat. and nine out of 10 will choose steak. And rightly so: a good juicy steak is hard to beat. Dymand Steakhouse lias responded to this popular demand for more than six years. I had my first steak there soon after they opened, and the standard they then set lias been kept up ever since. Prices, of course, have risen during the intervening years, but not as much as might have been expected, and they are still competitive. The atmosphere is pleasant and comfortable. and the decorators have fortunateljavoided any suggestion of “artiness.” There is the beauty of natural wood where it is appropriate, but it is not overdone. The walls are papered in a quiet Regency design, in cream and light turquoise. The comfortable chairs, which swivel but are very stable, are in a dark turquoise colour, and the carpet is in the same shade, with a black pattern.

The tables are nicely set. with fresh tablecloths and blue placemats, and it is all very easy on the eye. This is sunprising', because most interior decorators would prescribe warm colours such as browns, burnt orange, and reds for a dining-room, but the colour scheme at Demands works very well.

The temperature is kept at a comfortable level—l do not apologise for using the word comfortable so often, it is the right word here and there is piped music at just the right volume. ’

The “soup of the day” was a chicken broth, with rice and a julienne of vegetables, full of flavour.

The “New York special cut” I had was a pound of steak at least one inch thick, broiled and delicately flavoured with barbecue herbs. 1 could not fault it.

My partner in crime chose a flounder (the menu, apart from a great variety of steaks and other cuts of meat, also includes a wide range of seafoods and salads); this received a good reference. To look at it alone was enough to get peckish.

For pudding we had black Doris plums and ice cream, and boysenberry pie: homely fare, but again nicely done.

The service was efficient—almost too much so—but friendly. Good restaurants seem to attract good waitresses—or is there an inter-action?

A feature noticed on most of our visits to Dymands is the number of families eating there. The restaurant caters for children—children’s helpings start at 50c, and there is a high chair available.

Most of the kids I observed seemed to enjoy large helpings. Everyone knows how hard it is to fill the tummy of a fast-growing teen-ager, but even the most enthusiastic young trencherman should not go away hungry. Tiie present premises are too small, and Dymands are moving to a larger three-storey place across the road: the aim is to shift by Christmas. The new restaurant will be fully licensed, the ground floor will serve similar meals to the present restaurant, the first floor will be lounge and bar, and the third floor will be a fully-licensed restaurant.

At present Dymands are licensed to bring your own wine.

Dinner for two, with coffee, was $9.45