We were foolish enough to click on a web broadcast on Viking’s In Search of the Northern Lights that they announced in an email. In addition to a great 40 minute presentation, they took questions through the web site. We were totally captivated and decided we wanted to do that cruise which runs between October and March.
We looked at availability and found that January of 2024 was almost sold out already. by going out 22 months we got nice rooms on a good date for us and we got the inside scoop that If you take the London to Bergen itinerary you don’t have the same time in the northern Scandinavian cities as the Bergen to London itinerary and they recommend starting in Bergen which is what we booked.
The key here is that there is a huge pent up demand for travel that has been put off because of COVID for several years and many people appear to have put that money aside and have it available to spend as the latest surge appears to be over and some hopes that we will have lesser impact from COVID going forward, but not expecting it to totally go away any time soon if at all. If you have deferred some of your vacation plans and are ready to consider some travel again, popular destinations may be rapidly reaching capacity. Make your plans now and get your bookings in as 2023 may be fully booked already for some things like popular Viking cruises. Viking is very popular because of the fantastic job they do making their cruises very safe from COVID.
I had an error in how I set up the website for this blog that caused it to shut down on Sunday. I did not get any notice and only found out Monday afternoon when I tried to see the Italian White Wine posting. I was able to get it corrected and everything is back in operation this afternoon. Sorry for the this happening. If you have not had a chance to look at the Italian White Wine posting, I encourage you to do so.
For very good reasons Italy is known predominantly for its red wines. In my cellar Italian reds outnumber the Italian white wines by around 20 to 1. But there are some very good Italian white wines: Gavi, Vernaccia, and Falanghina are some good examples and maybe a blog on Italian White Wines should be on my To Do list. If I do that blog however, Pino Grigio would make that list only if I include one from the Alto Adige because I consider the rest of Italian Pino Grigio to be just Plonk. You are welcome to disagree with my lowly opinion of Pinot Grigio. I am only saying that almost all Pinot Grigio is not to my taste.
But there is one Italian white wine that is very much to my taste and it is from my favorite vineyard in Italy, Tenuta Guado al Tasso, the Antinori owned winery in The Bolgheri valley of Tuscany. It is their Vermentino, and that is the only white wine that they make. Vermentino is a widely grown grape with lots of it from Sardinia and up the Italian coast into Southern France. I have tried it a few times before the tasting I had with Guado al Tasso and Vermentino was solidly on my list of “Not Very Exciting”.
That changed instantly when I had the Guado al Tasso Vermentino a few months ago. When I recently shared with some family members who are not big white wine drinkers, they said it was the first white that was worth paying attention to. The wine is straw yellow in color with greenish highlights. Excellent aromatic intensity with pronounced green fruit aromas of pear and grape with just a gentle touch of grapefruit and secondary aromas of cheese and wild flowers. On the palate it’s dry and savory with the body and complexity that are generally only found with white wines at two to three times the $25 price tag of this wine. It has medium acidity and alcohol with good persistence of flavors and a long pleasant citrusy finish.
Ina Garten’s Roast Chicken with Bread and Arugula Salad
It is very good with seafood, including very flavorful dishes like Paella or Cioppino, which makes sense for vineyards right on the coast, as well as with white meats like Chicken and Pork. We had it recently with our favorite chicken recipe, Ina Garten’s Roast Chicken with Bread and Arugula Salad shown in the picture to the left, and it was a perfect match. While it is probably not likely to be on the shelf at your local liquor store, both Wine.com and Total Wine carry all the Guado al Tasso wines.
It is no accident that the Vermentino from Guado al Tasso is very different from the Vermentino made in the vineyards of Sardinia and most of the others up and down the coast. Guado al Tasso does not make any wines that are typical or expected from a Tuscany winery. Because of the terroir in the Bolgheri Valley, they do not grow any Sangiovese grapes. Their black grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Franc, and Petit Verdot. The “Bolgheri Blend” that they make compares very favorably with the blends of those same grapes from a highly regarded region of France. Their Bolgheri Superiore gets 98 points from Wine Spectator and is worth every penny of the $130 price tag it carries and it is one of the featured wines at Antinori’s lovely restaurant in Florence, Cantinetta Antinori. Their Bruciato Red in the $ 23-30 price range stands up to any Cru Bourgeois from Bordeaux. While Guado al Tasso is in Tuscany, their wines are totally unlike any other Tuscan winery and well worth getting to know.
DOC Bolgheri was only approved in 1995 and since then its wines have gained international recognition. The Bolgheri Amphitheater is surrounded by rolling hillsides that faces the Tyrrhenian Sea which sits between Tuscany and Corsica. This has created a unique microclimate with constant breezes that mitigate both the summer heat and the harsh winter weather and ensures a clear sky that gives excellent exposure to the sunlight. It is one of the most picturesque vineyards in Italy.
Dinner at Guado al Tasso
Beth and I joined a virtual wine tasting with Guado al Tasso put on by Wine.com in the summer of 2020 and then had the pleasure of following up with a visit to the winery in November of last year. We enjoyed several of their wines in their lovely Tasting Room and then moved into the adjoining restaurant for a delicious dinner.
The challenge with visiting Guado al Tasso is that it is a 2 hour drive from Florence or 3 hours from Rome and there is really nothing other than Guado al Tasso worth visiting in the Bolgheri Valley. That is a long trip just to visit a winery. Since you will be tasting some great wines, you don’t want to be driving. My suggestion would be to hire a car and driver for the day to get you to Guado al Tasso by mid morning. Their Tasting Room opens at 10:00 AM every day but Tuesday. You could do a tasting, possibly a vineyard tour, and then have lunch at the restaurant there. You can then have the driver take you to San Gimignano and get there about 2:00 when the crowds really start to thin out so you can walk that lovely town for a few hours, sample the lovely Vernaccia, have dinner there, and then get driven back to Florence to your hotel. If this idea appeals to you, I suggest you make a reservation for lunch at the restaurant at Guado al Tasso. I highly recommend either their daily special or their Steak Florentine which you can watch them grill on the fire at the back of the restaurant.
Adapted from Aaron Franklin’s excellent YouTube Video on Brisket. Before he created his Master Class on Brisket that you have to pay for, he did a set of three videos on prepping, smoking, and carving brisket which were really good.
The goal of this sauce is to get the upfront sweet taste first and have the heat kick in later to get the sweet heat taste. I do not cook with this sauce, it is on the table to be added to whatever BBQ you are having as people like. I think the Blackstrap Molasses is the ingredient that differentiates this from most tomato based BBQ sauces.
The ingredient list below has one column for 1/2 cup of sauce for 4-6 people and a second column for a full cup of sauce for a larger group. Obviously this sauce does not have any preservatives but it will keep for several days covered in the refrigerator if you want to make a larger quantity to cover left overs. I like to make the sauce a day ahead of time because sitting overnight lets the different chili powders settle in and lets you taste what the heat will really be. Easy to add Tabasco or some additional chili powders the next day if you want kick it up a notch.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup 1 cup Sauce
1/2 cup 1 cup Catsup
1 TBS 2 TBS Butter
1 TBS 2 TBS finely chopped onion
1 TBS 2 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 TBS 1 TBS Light Brown Sugar
3 TBS 1/4 cup Orange Juice
3/4 TSP 1 1/2 TSP Chili Powder, total – I mix Guajillo, Ancho, and Chipotle
1/4 TSP 1/2 TSP Each Kosher Salt and coarsely ground black pepper
1/8 cup 1/4 cup Molasses – can substitute honey but I like molasses better
Dash 2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
Heat – you can use any relatively mild chili powder or combinations. Add different chili powders to get the level of kick that you want but you can’t really go backwards to make it less spicy so add in small increments. Guajillo is my base. Ancho adds some smoky flavor. Chipotle adds some depth. Habanero adds a lot of heat so be very careful with it if you want to add that to the mix. You need to let the sauce simmer for at least 15 minutes after adding any chili powders to get any idea of the impact it will only be the next day where you will get the final taste. It generally has a little less kick and shows up a little later in the taste the next day. I don’t have measurements if you want to use different chili peppers instead of powder so I can only say add to taste and again, that taste will evolve considerably over time.
Making the Sauce:
In a stainless-steel pot melt the butter and cook the onions in the melted butter. Aluminum pans may react a little with some of the ingredients so stainless steel is recommended. When the onions are translucent add the other ingredients and, using a large wisk, combine them together. Let simmer for at least 20 minutes and taste. Correct to your taste buds, heat, sweetness, and acidity, and let simmer a little longer and then remove from the heat.
Three choices to finish:
Save as is with the onion making it a little lumpy. The finer the chopped onion, the less they will be noticeable. Some people do not like any lumps in their BBQ sauce.
Put in the blender to liquify the onion. If you use any chili peppers instead of powder blending is recommended.
Run through a strainer to remove the onion chunks. This is what I usually do.
In 2020 my focus was on Rhone Valley wines. In 2021 that focus shifted to Pinot Noir and especially (virtually) exploring the Willamette Valley in Oregon which I think is second only to Burgundy in the production of excellent Pinot Noir.
The Elton Pinot Noir from the Willamette Valley Vineyards is a great example. While only in the bottle for two years after 16 months in French oak, 29% new oak, it has a deep intensity and very full body. WVV suggests that the peak drinkability will be 2026 but I suspect this wine could continue to age very well for a few years beyond that and I will lay a couple of bottles down to see.
I did a quick taste when I opened the bottle and then I decanted it and let it sit for 45 minutes. What a difference!! It had fully opened up and the initial aromas of cranberry and a little raspberry were expanded to include blackberry as the lead aroma. The secondary aromas were some cedar and anise. The initial taste had only a medium intensity with a rich ruby color but giving it a chance to fully open brought the intensity level up to deep with a rich nose. The acidity is medium. The decanting definitely softened the tannins and let the complexity develop in my mouth. That is what makes me think this could easily age for 10 years or longer. The body was medium plus and nicely rounded with a lovely long aftertaste.
The price from the WWV web site is $60 with discounts available for club members. I have not found any local sources for WWV wines in the DC area yet so buying from the vineyard may be the best way to get this excellent wine.
WWV Estate Tasting Room
This is a single vineyard wine from 60 acres on the east/southeast slopes of the Eola Hills.
Note: This review is not totally unbiased. I own a few shares of preferred stock in WVV and get a 25% discount as a minority owner. Shares of the preferred stock are still available and if you would like a link to the web site to find out more about this, use my email from the Contact Me page to send you your email address and I will send that link to you.
Significant portion of the whites have not started to cook yet
If you can’t fry an egg then you might be a candidate for the Worst Cooks show on Food Network. But there is a real challenge in properly frying an egg. How do you get the white all the way cooked and still have the yolk nice and runny? If you are putting that egg on top of a dish so the yolk runs out and provides a sauce for it, getting the egg cooked properly is not easy. It takes a long time for the white to fully cook, as shown in the picture, and by then the yolk is usually overcooked and turning solid.
For years I would order my eggs in a restaurant “over VERY easy” and most times them came out OK. Basting the egg in the fry pan with butter or oil works but is a pain and significantly adds to the calorie count of that meal. On Beat Bobby Flay he shared his trick for fried eggs and after using it successfully, I am passing it on here.
After 15 seconds under the broiler the egg is perfectly cooked
Before you start with the eggs, turn the broiler on in your oven and get it fully up to high heat. Then fry your eggs in a fry pan that can be put in the oven under the broiler. I like the MadeIn Carbon Steel pans for this but cast iron will also work well.
Leave the pan under the broiler for 15-20 seconds. Keep an eye on it because it can go from fully cooked whites to hard cooked yolks in just a few seconds. You can always pull it out to check and put it back for another couple of seconds but you can’t recover if the yolks have been hard cooked. In the picture you can see the whites are fully cooked now and the yolks are still soft and runny.
Egg on top of Corned Beef Hash
I then served the eggs on some Corned Beef Hash that Beth had made us for Brunch and the yolk provided a rich sauce for that delicious meal.
Poaching an egg is another approach and many recipes call for a poached egg to give that rich egg taste and the enjoyment of breaking it open with your fork and seeing the yolk streaming over the dish. But I don’t have any secret tricks on how to simply poach an egg and this approach that gives a perfect fried egg is my go to when I want to top off a dish with an egg that has a nice runny yolk.
Chateauneuf-du-Pape is the the standard bearer for the Cote du Rhone and Hermitage is its counterpart in the Cote Roti at the north end of the Rhone valley. But just like Michael Jordan took a lot of the limelight away from Scotty Pippen, Gigondas in the Cote du Rhone and Crozes-Hermitage in the Cote Roti don’t get the same press while they produce excellent wines, and at a much lower cost. I promise to do a blog on Gigondas but today the focus is on the 2016 Crozes-Hermitage from Guigal.
Let’s start with Robert Parker calling the Guigal brothers the best winemakers in France. James Suckling gave this wine 91 points and there at not many wines under $30 that get that kind of ranking.
This is a big, full bodied red wine with a deep ruby color and pronounced intensity. It is 100% Syrah and the primary aroma is red fruit, particularly red cherries and the secondary aromas are leather and smoky wood from the 24 months that it is kept in large oak barrels after being fermented in stainless steel tanks. The 2016 had complex tannins that relaxed some when I decanted it. Like many Syrah/Shiraz wines, it has a fairly long finish that I really enjoy.
It will age for at least 10 years and improve significantly from that aging. I bought mine from Wine.com two years ago so it had just been in the bottle 2 years then. I have not done a vertical tasting to prove how the additional two years in my cellar improved the flavor but I put this Guigal wine very high on my list of wines that are a great bargain at under $30.
It has excellent availability with Total Wine and Wine.com carrying the 2017 and 2018 vintages and some online stores still have some of the 2016.
The vineyards are low yield on the hillsides around Crozes-Hermitage and controlling the yield concentrates the flavor. If you like bid red wines, I think you will be very happy paying less than $30 for this wine.
I am a big fan of Viking cruises. Their approach is very much focused on what I want on a cruise: people over 40 and not families with children, good food and wine, a choice of excursions, and especially smaller boats and no huge crowds. I have no issue with people who are looking for all the things that I am looking to avoid and we can each enjoy the kind of cruise that appeals to us.
I have done two Viking river cruises and one ocean cruise. There are things I like about each of them and this blog will do a comparison that might help you with your travel planning. Two major disclaimers:
The river cruises I took were before COVID. Some of the things that I will talk about that I really liked about river cruises may be different while we are dealing with COVID. The ocean cruise I took was in November of 2021 and I give Viking the highest marks for the things they did to make us feel safe and protect the health of the passengers and crew.
The ship we sailed on for our ocean cruise has a capacity for 930 passengers. We only had 471 on board so just over 50% capacity. The experience on the same cruise with the ship at full capacity might be different in some ways.
As indicated, I am a Viking fan and am planning another cruise with them in 2023. The things that I really like about any Viking cruise, river or ocean, are:
Very targeted marketing: The Viking cruises that I see on their web site are for an English speaking audience that is looking to cruise with people in the 50-75 year age range. Some are younger and some a little older but while accommodations are made for those with handicaps, most of our fellow passengers were in good health and active. The younger people on the cruise were generally mother/daughter or father/son combinations with the child at least in their late 30s. The activities on board and the excursions were very focused on things this age group would enjoy.
Excellent service: The entire Viking staff is committed to help each passenger enjoy their cruise. Within 24 hours of getting on board my stress level is at its lowest and I am enjoying excellent service and people trying hard to make my day very enjoyable. On the recent ocean cruise we were totally spoiled with the service including being able to walk into any of the restaurants and have a table available. When the ship has a full capacity of passengers, I believe having reservations at the different restaurants is required and the staff would have more people to wait on.
Very good excursions: Both of the river cruises and the ocean cruise did most of their sailing at night, so we were at our next destination in the morning for that day’s excursions. For the ocean cruise the only day time sailing we did was a few hours the first day from Civitavecchia up to Livorno. On the river cruises we would start our morning excursion where the boat had docked, and it would sail up the river and we would rejoin it at that location. There were a few times when we stayed on the boat and enjoyed sailing up the river instead of being on an excursion. Every day has a at least one free excursion and several ones that cost extra. On each trip we had one location where Viking really had a challenge finding excursions that were interesting and enjoyable and we took that as an opportunity to just crash for the day on board, sleeping in and just lounging around. Viking gives each passenger a wifi receiver with headset and is linked to the guide for that excursion and the groups are generally no larger than 25 people. This lets you clearly hear the guides, who are very qualified, and with the small groups, they have lots of time for questions. The only negative I can say about Viking excursions is that they do not do a good job with excursions where wine tasting is a key element. We skipped both of their wine tasting excursions in the Rhone Valley, one of the top wine regions in the world, because they were only tasing two wines. We scheduled our own wine tasting through Viatour and enjoyed 8-10 different wines each time. The Chianti wine tasting dinner we had on the ocean cruise was very poorly done and the entire group was very unhappy about it. However, the wine tasting dinner on the Portugal river cruise was outstanding and the two other excursions that included wine tasting were mixed with one good one and one disappointing one at Sandeman’s Port Winery. The excursions are generally excellent in quality and I only bring this up because it seems to be a theme that Viking does not have excursions geared towards people who are serious about wine. For culture, history, scenery, and food – the excursions are all very high quality.
Dining – The food on all three of our cruises was excellent. Very good choices and delicious. My only criticism is that I think the menus could be more closely tied to the cuisine of the region being visited. The Portugal river cruise did a pretty good job of this. But the Rhone Valley cruise had one very good lunch buffet of local dishes but nothing else that was tied to that region. On the ocean cruise we were doing Northern Italy, Southern France, and Spain; three regions known for their outstanding cuisine. But the top restaurant on the ship, the Chef’s Table, had three different theme menus, none of them related to where we were cruising: The Spice Trade with spices from the Orient, California, and Mexico. I am sure the dishes were excellent, but we did not come to the Mediterranean to eat Mexican food, even of the highest quality. Again, as with the note above on wine tasting excursions, this is a complaint about just one aspect of an otherwise excellent dining experience. Viking provides free wine and beer with lunches and dinners. I highly recommend the Silver Beverage Package which is priced per person based on the length of the cruise. It was about $130 per person on the three 8 day cruses we did. Under this package you can select wines form a very good wine list at no charge to you and all drinks form the bar are included. We enjoyed some nice after dinner drinks in particular and are big fans of the Silver beverage package.
Bundled travel – I have lifetime status on United and lots of points to get me in Business Class, so I have not taken the package with Viking that includes the airfare. But I am very jealous of the people who do take that package. They are met at their arrival airport by Viking with transit to the ship with their luggage taken care of and on the return Viking gets them and their luggage to the airport on time for their flight. On several of the cruises some people were going from one Viking cruise to another and again, they had someone taking care of them the whole way.
River Cruises
What I particularly liked about the two river cruises we took was being on a ship with only less than 200 other passengers. There is one dining room and everyone eats at the same time. On our cruises most of the tables were for 8 people and you could meet different people at each meal. On both cruises we met some lovely people and arranged to do excursions with them and join them for meals. We did not get to know any other passengers on our ocean cruise. This was very much due to COVID restrictions and the collaborative atmosphere that we really enjoyed on the river cruises may now be a victim of COVID. For the both river cruises the bartender and the wait staff in the dining room was talking to me by name and knew what my preferences were because of the small number of passengers.
Viking Longboat in Porto Portugal
There is one bar serving drinks before and after dinner. Before dinner there is a talk on the next day’s excursions and after dinner most evenings there is some form of entertainment for those who are interested. Taking your after-dinner drinks, included in the Silver Beverage Package, up to the Sundeck is a very pleasant alternative if the entertainment is not to your choice.
Most river cruises have locks that they transit and those are interesting, at least the first few times. The lock we had in Portugal has one of the highest elevation changes of any lock in the world I believe. Hopefully the picture conveys that.
For those who want a casino and different night club shows every night, river cruises may not be for you. Also, they do not have pools or health clubs to work out in. Before retiring my life had high stress levels with deadlines and many meetings. I am looking for a vacation where things are at a slower pace, and I can be waited on while I sit in a comfortable lounge chair and watch the scenery and maybe read my book. What I liked most about our river cruises was no crowds, the only schedule to worry about was when the excursion left, and good food and wine.
We will be taking the Viking River Cruise from Amsterdam to Brest in December where we will visit the Christmas Markets in 7 different cities. I suspect here will be lots of pictures from that cruise.
Ocean Cruises
The very first cruise we did was a Princess Cruise from Vancouver to Alaska on a boat with 3,500 passengers. The scenery was great but I didn’t really relax until we got off the ship for the land portion of the trip. I had pretty much ruled out cruises from our vacation plans after that until we heard about Viking river cruises. Having really enjoyed them and talking to several friends who took the Viking Mediterranean ocean cruise, I was willing to give it a try on a ship like the one in the picture with only 950 passengers. I really enjoyed it and we are looking at several other itineraries for future Viking ocean cruises.
Viking Ocean Ship anchored in Nice, France
The major differences for the ocean cruise are the broader range of choices available on the ship.
Dining – There were four major restaurants and several other smaller ones like the pool bar. Two of them required reservations and based on how much you paid for your accommodations drove how many reservations you could have in each and how much ahead of your boarding the ship you could make those reservations. As noted earlier, because of the low passenger count, we could walk into any of the restaurants and be immediately seated. This gave us a very wide range of cuisines to choose from with each of the restaurants posting that day’s menus on line. When the ships are back to carrying a full load of passengers, the dining choices each day will be much more limited and driven by reservations for a specific restaurant at a specific time.
Entertainment – Entertainment is not a high priority for us on a cruise and while the choices were much more than on the river cruise, they are nothing like the huge cruise ships with 7,000 passengers. The ocean ship ship had many more entertainment options including four different Viking resident musicians which were a solo guitarist, a harp player, a string duet, and two very talented singers doing popular and classic rock songs. At different times they played in different locations so we could enjoy some lovely background music or more lively entertainment. The closest thing to a night club type environment was the singers in the ship auditorium but with the head count even that had lots of open space. Other entertainment options included:
A Viking Resident Historian offering a set of lectures and discussions on a variety of topics.
Guest lecturers on the art, architecture, music, and geopolitics of the places we were visiting.
Destination Performances – at least one cultural performing group from the region we were visiting.
TED Talks.
Port Talks on the next days excursions.
Pool and Spa – The ship had two pools, each with a Hot Tub. At the very stern of the ship was an Infinity pool and mid ships was a larger pool with a sliding roof that they could open or close. While we were in the Med, it was November so they kept the roof closed most of the time so passengers could take a dip in the pool or enjoy the hot tub. They also had a well-equipped health club and spa and both my wife and I enjoyed a massage. For us, the hot tubs and the Spa were things we very much enjoyed that are not available on the river cruises.
Nooks and crannies – The ship and many different places on different decks to sit and relax or talk. The chairs were very comfortable, and it was never far to get a glass of wine. We upgraded our room to the Junior Explorer Suite which had a sofa as well as two chairs with a curtain to pull between the sitting area and the bed so one of us could read without having a light on while the other slept. But with the different nooks and crannies we never felt like we had to stay in our room and could easily find more comfortable chairs to relax in. Again, with twice as many passengers on board, more of those nooks and crannies would not have been vacant.
Sailing vs mobile hotel – For our itinerary virtually all the sailing was done in the evenings and overnight. We were at the dock in a new port most mornings. That made the experience more like a mobile hotel than a cruise. Talking to other passengers, mostly during the excursions, who joined the ship at an earlier departure point, they said they had some days where the ship was sailing, and they could sit out and enjoy it. From Barcelona where we ended our cruise, the ship had a few other stops around the Med and then was going to South America so that would be several days at sea with no excursions. If you want to enjoy some sailing time on the boat and not just a very nice mobile hotel, check the itinerary so see what will be available.
Motion sickness – The river cruises are never far from shore and did not have any time when they had any motion that could cause sea sickness. Many times there was no sensation of movement at all. Several times we finished dinner and walked in the companion way to see that while we were at dinner another Viking boat had some in and was between us and the dock and we needed to walk through it to get on and off. But we had no idea the ship was moving to make that happen. The big Princess boat we were on did go through one storm on the way to Alaska and even with its gyro stabilizers at least 1/3 of the passengers skipped dinner with waves breaking against the windows in the dining room. But we had no bad weather in the Med during our cruise and virtually no sense that the boat was moving at any time.
Summary
I really enjoyed both the Viking River Cruises and the Ocean Cruise. But I have no interest in getting on any of the big cruise ships with 5,000+ passengers so I will stay on the much smaller boats like Viking has for any future ocean cruises. In choosing between booking a Viking river cruise or an ocean cruise my recommendation is if you are primarily interested in what you will do each day when the ship is docked then a river cruise might be your first choice. If you are very interested in what you can do on board the ship, especially in the evenings, then you might enjoy the ocean cruise more. River cruises have things to do each night but nothing like the choices that the ocean cruise has. Ocean cruises have great excursions but you are covering a much larger area from the start of your cruise to the end so you get breadth where the river cruises give more depth. Our Rhone Valley cruise started in Avignon and ended in Lyon 8 days later. You can drive from Avignon to Lyon in a few hours so we really had a chance to explore the Rhone Valley. On the Portugal trip we sailed from Porto up the Duoro River to the Spanish border and then sailed back for 6 days on the boat. For the ocean cruise we started in Civitavecchia, the port city for Rome, and went around the coast up Italy, across France and ended up in Barcelona. Three different countries compared to two different cities. Both are very good, just pick the itinerary that best fits your interests.
Of the three cruises we did the Portugal River Cruse was my favorite but we really enjoyed all three and are looking forward to our December cruise. I hope this post has been interesting and helpful to you.
When we hear Beef Stew we usually think of bowls of potatoes and vegetables with hunks of inexpensive meat cooked for a long time. A simple family meal. In Provence a slightly different approach was taken to produce a big pot of delicious beef that has been slowly cooked, or stewed, for tenderness and rich taste over several days. This approach to a daube would use several different pieces of left over meat as the basis and this recipe recommends using at least three different cuts to get different tastes and textures.
Beef Marinating Overnight
I really enjoy making slow cooked dishes and this one is a three-day process. Several my food blogs will be about slow cooking, smoking, and sous vide recipes. Marinating the two primary ingredients in wine for at least 24 hours in wine is the start.
The freshly ground nutmeg in the marinade perfumes the dish and brings out sheer animal essence of the beef. The best cooking vessel is enamel potbellied casserole, or Dutch Oven, with a lid. Suggested beef cuts – short ribs, top or bottom round, Shoulder blade or arm, neck, heel of round. This beef marinates for 24 hours in wine and then slow cooks for 2 days so the result will be tender regardless of what cut is used. Using 3-4 different cuts is highly recommended.
The Congealed Fat Is Easy To Remove
The daube then slowly simmers for hours the second day and then cools down and is refrigerated overnight. As shown in the picture, that allows the fat to rise to the top and congeal so you can remove it the next day.
On the third day the final ingredients are added, and the daube simmered for a few more hours before serving. As good as the dish looks sitting on the table, the comments your guests make about the aroma when they walk in the house will make the long effort very worthwhile. Serve over some pasta in a bowl with a slice of crusty artisan bread. I used one of our favorite table wines, the Chateau Segries Cote du Rhone for the marinade. It is only about $12 a bottle but has all the Cote du Rhone flavor and body. I served it with a $35 Chateau Raspail Gigondas and got rave reviews from everyone.
The Daube Is Ready To Serve
RECIPE
Monsieur Henny’s Three-Beef Daube
Adapted From Patricia Wells “At Home In Provence”, 8-10 Servings
Ingredients:
Marinade
6 medium onions peeled and chopped (or 4 large onions)
6 cloves
5 lbs beef (at least three different cuts to give different flavor and texture, see note below)
2 bottles Cote du Rhone red wine (a good basic table wine like Chateau Segries is perfect)
A handful of fresh thyme
5 fresh bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Daube
3 Tbs EVOO
2 Tsp sugar
3 Tbs tomato paste
2 lbs. carrots
14 oz can peeled plum tomatoes in juice (can use diced or crushed tomatoes as an alternative)
3-4 beef marrow bones
4 oz bacon
Grated zest of one medium orange (or ½ large orange)
4 oz imported black olives, pitted
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Preparation:
Cut the beef into 1” cubes
Cut 5 of the onions in half lengthwise and slice them into thin strips. Halve the remaining onion and insert three cloves in each half
In a large bowl combine the meat, onions, wine, thyme, bay leaves, and nutmeg. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 24 hours. Can also put the marinade mixture in your cooking vessel with the cover on for the 24 hours. You can also put the mixture in two large zip lock bags in the refrigerator if you want them to marinate for more than 24 hours.
When you are ready to make the Daube, peel the carrots and thinly slice them into rounds.
Browning the meat in that vessel takes about 4 batches since the individual pieces need to have space around them to turn them on all sides for browning and each batch takes about 10 minutes. I suggest also using a stainless steel or no stick fry pan to do two batches at the same time. Since each side only takes about two minutes to brown, you will be very active turning the pieces if you have batches in two different pans going at the same time. That fry pan will be deglazed with some of acidic wine marinade so recommend not using cast iron or carbon steel pans for this. If you are using two pans to brown the meat, add the remaining oil to the fry pan and start the first batch of meat while the onions are browning. Regulate the heat to avoid scorching it. Do not crowd the meat in the pan and be patient. Each batch should take about 10 minutes with equal time on each of the 6 sides of the beef cube. Good browning is essential to allow the beef to retain its full flavor. Use tongs to remove the browned meat from the pan to a platter, do not pierce the meat. Put a second batch in the primary cooking vessel after the onions are removed and use both pans until all the meat is browned.
Immediately season the meat on the platter with salt and freshly ground pepper. Deglaze each pan with some of the marinade liquid using a wooden spoon to scrape up the residue from the browned meat. Add the liquid from the deglazed fry pan to the primary cooking vessel. If you want to just do it all in the primary cooking vessel then just ignore the comments related to the second pan.
Add the browned onions, meat, tomato paste, and remaining marinade liquid to the cooking vessel. Bring to a bare simmer, cover, and cook for an hour. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Add the marrow bones, bacon, tomatoes, and carrots, stirring to distribute all the ingredients and have the marrow bones fully covered by the liquid. Return to a bare simmer and cook, covered, for at least 2 hours. Check the tenderness of the meat and simmer for another hour or so if needed to make the meat fully tender.
Let cool and then refrigerate overnight.
Remove the cooking vessel from the refrigerator and skim the fat off the top. This is important to let the full richness of the slow cooked beef stand out without being clogged by the fat. Slowly bring the daube to a simmer, covered. Remove the marrow bones and the onion halves with the cloves and add the black olives and orange zest. If you want you can pull out the cloves, and slice the cooked onion up and put it back in the pot.
Simmer for at least 2 hours before serving. Leave the cover off if you want to reduce the liquid a little but you want lots of liquid in each serving so don not reduce it too much. The daube can sit for several hours at low heat before serving and only get a little richer in taste. Should be at a full simmer before serving.
Serve over some pasta in a bowl with a slice of crusty artisan bread.
Any full bodied red wine like a Zinfandel or Shiraz would be good with the daube but a rich Cote du Rhone like a Gigondas or Chateauneuf-du-Pape would be ideal since the marinade was done with a Cote du Rhone wine and having the wine you drink consistent with the entre is always good.
Bill's Thoughts on Wine, Travel, and Food 
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