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Kevin Fischer is a veteran broadcaster, the recipient of over 150 major journalism awards from the Milwaukee Press Club, the Wisconsin Associated Press, the Northwest Broadcast News Association, the Wisconsin Bar Association, and others. He has been seen and heard on Milwaukee TV and radio stations for over three decades. A longtime aide to state Senate Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature, Kevin can be seen offering his views on the news on the public affairs program, "InterCHANGE," on Milwaukee Public Television Channel 10, and heard filling in on Newstalk 1130 WISN. He lives with his wife, Jennifer, and their lovely baby daughter, Kyla Audrey, in Franklin.
Culinary no-no #20
When October and fall roll around, I do love what you can do with pumpkin.There’s pumpkin pie.
And pumpkin cheesecake.
Pumpkin crème brulee.
Pumpkin bread.
Pumpkin muffins.
Pumpkin cookies.
Pumpkin ice cream.
Pumpkin seeds.
Pumpkin soup.
Sometime this month, I’ll venture over to Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant at Mayfair and have one of their seasonal pumpkin martinis.
The San Francisco Chronicle newspaper website says:
Maggiano's is part of a nationwide chain of Italian restaurants, and the Pumpkin Martini was created by David Pennachetti, director of beverages.
The drink is a simple affair that calls for pumpkin liqueur, spiced rum and half-and-half. It's a great cocktail for this time of year. There are so many liqueur flavors on the market that it's possible to make drinks that taste of almost any fruit, nut and herb. To find the best liqueurs, look for the percentage of alcohol in the bottle. You'll pay more for a higher alcohol content, but the alcohol boosts the flavors in the liqueur and adds a sophisticated dryness to the product. Bols and Marie Brizard are very good brand-name liqueurs with extensive ranges of flavors, and both the Mathilde and Edmond Briottet lines, while not hugely wide-ranging, are superb products.
The Pumpkin Martini Recipe adapted from Maggiano's Little Italy restaurant.
INGREDIENTS:
3 ounces Bols Pumpkin Smash liqueur
1 ounce Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum
1 dash half-and-half Ground cinnamon, for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS:
Shake the ingredients over ice, and strain into a cocktail glass rimmed with sugar and cinnamon.
Sprinkle a little more cinnamon on top.
Serves 1 PER SERVING:
375 calories, 0 protein, 38 g carbohydrate, 0 fat, 1 mg cholesterol, 6 mg sodium, 0 fiber.
Ok, so I love pumpkin. When do we get to the no-no?
Right now.
Our own Milwaukee-based Lakefront Brewery and others make a seasonal pumpkin beer.
I’m sure people drink it, otherwise breweries wouldn’t make it. This weekend while dining out, I saw a woman putting a pumpkin beer down. Seems to me that’s just not right. Imagine pouring a Miller Lite into a glass, and then opening a can of pumpkin paste and spooning out a dollop to drop in the glass.
This whole notion of fruity beers has me scratching my head. Lakefront also makes a cherry lager. Now I can understand lemon or lime flavoring for beer since ales are bitter in the first place. But cherries and strawberries and chocolate and……………..pumpkin?
Rick Steves of Rick Steves’ Europe program on PBS visited Scotland this week. Steves was in a Scottish pub, talking to the proprietor behind the bar while sampling some Scotch whiskey. Ever so accommodating, the bartender said, of course, they’d serve the Scotch any way the customer wanted, but straight up was the best way to go. As he told Steves, if someone wanted pineapple juice in their Scotch whiskey, that’s what they’d get, but they be “ruining” or “wasting” good quality alcohol.
That’s my point.
In my book, pumpkins should be on your plate, not in your beer.
PREVIOUS CULINARY NO-NO’S
1) Ketchup on a brat
2) Green peppers on pizza
3) The dirty martini
4) Fruity brats
5) A Bloody Mary after dinner
6) Women “manning” the grill
7) Eating pizza at Festa Italiana, brats at German Fest, or tacos at Fiesta Mexicana. (Be adventurous. You can have those items anytime).
8) Eating a cream puff as though it was a hamburger.
9) Taking your own bottle of sauce when invited to a barbecue.
10) Touching the grill if you’re a guest at an outdoor barbecue.
11) Coaching the host on how to grill.
12) Some regional flavored ice cream…..like black licorice.
13) Taking the husks off before you grill corn on the cob
14) Being afraid to chill red wine
15) Pizza on the grill
16) When serving exotic or strange dishes to guests, do not tell them exactly what it is. Instead, use a more inviting term (caviar) rather than being blunt (fish eggs).
17) In late summer and early fall, this time of year, don’t buy zucchini. Somehow, someway, you will find zucchini or zucchini will find you.
18) Showing disrespect to your restaurant server.
19) Eating out on a Monday night.
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