100 SECTION D

TIMEOUTFOOD+WINE

Contact us:Food Editor

Jackie Burrell l 925-977-8568 jburrell@bayareanewsgroup.com

Features Editor Lisa Wrenn l 925-943-8251

lwrenn@bayareanewsgroup.com

Follow us atTwitter.com/BayAreaFoodEd

www.facebook.com/BayAreaNewsGroup. Food. Wine

Bay Area News Group » Thursday, February 2, 2012

INTRODUCING

BAY AREA NEWS APPSDownload Bay Area Newsfor your iPad and iPhone

WWW.MERCURYNEWS.COM » WWW.CONTRACOSTATIMES.COM » WWW.INSIDEBAYAREA.COM 000 SECTION E....

....

By Jackie Burrelljburrell@bayareanewsgroup.com

Tailgaters are a passionate bunch. Cruise by Candlestick or the Oakland Coliseum on any game day, and you’ll see them fi ring up their grills hours before the game.

But pair a group of die-hard 49er season ticketholders with a Super Bowl party, and the results are, well, epic — even when their beloved team fumbles the ball.

George and Melanie Astin and their fel-low “3rdrail9ers,” who hail from Antioch, Livermore, Lafayette and nearly every city in between, have been tailgating together since

1982. And for more than a decade, when Super Bowl Sunday rolls around, the tailgate moves tothe Astins’ Walnut Creek home — tents, grills, projection screens and all. There’s a bouncy house for the kids, a fl at-screen by the outdoor fire pit and a chili contest to keep things lively. There’s even a TV in the loo, lest the call of na-ture interfere with a fourth down.

They’re not the only ones to turn Super Bowl Sunday into a day of feasting and rev-elry, of course. Super Bowl menu planning runs year-round for Hillsborough’s Peterson family, who continue the “Souper Bowl” tra-dition their mother began in the 1970s. And

friends still talk about the time Belmont resi-dent Lori Skender turned her entire home into a football gridiron, complete with pom-poms and halftime show.

Some people watch the Super Bowl for the gridiron action, others for the ads or halftime show, but a really great Super Bowl party be-gins with the food.

Skender may not cover her fl oors with green plastic “grass” this time around, but she’s defi nitely using the nation’s ballparks to inspire her buffet.

ASUPER PARTY

Everybody can cheer for a winning game feast

DAN HONDA/STAFF PHOTOS

Top left, George Astin, left, and Nick Benigno enjoy their specialties. Top right, Nikki Porter tends the bar. Above, from left, Kimo Sanborn, Astin, Tammi Bachecki-Ish and Cindy Cherry, with friends gathered behind them, enjoy a tailgate party in the parking lot of Candlestick Park. Their feast included, below from left to right, pheasant gumbo, deep fried mushrooms and grilled tri-tip.

Smack dab in the middle ofSan Francisco Beer Week isanother holiday — Valentine’sDay. So don’t get so caught upin beer week that you forget tobuy your significant someone a

little chocolateto show yourlove. If yoursweetheart is abeer lover, too,it will be eveneasier.

Chocolateand beer canbe a beautiful,

tasty combination, and there are many ways to enjoy the twotogether, including a beer that’sactually brewed with chocolate.

Pairing perfectionThere are at least two ways

to create an inspired pairing ofbeer and chocolate. Some beersgo particularly well with cacao— chocolate cake, for example,is a delight when paired witha Belgian Framboise lambic, abeer that has been refermentedwith raspberries. There are both sweet and sour Framboise lam-bics, though the unsweetenedones are the more traditional.But either pairs perfectly withany type of chocolate.

Depending on the dish, otherfruit beers work well, too. Krieks— which are refermentedwith cherries — are especiallygood, but any fruit beer can bepaired. Stronger stouts, such asimperial stout, work nicely withchocolate, as do the more hard-to-find Baltic porters.

Chocolate and beer din-ners are a great way to see foryourself how many differentways these two flavors can becombined, so keep an eye outfor one.

Dark beer, dark chocolateMany beers, especially the

darker ones, have chocolatenotes both in the nose andthroughout the taste profile.That’s because they use maltsthat have been roasted to givethem their dark color. Thosedark malts impart additional fla-vors, often including chocolatenotes. There’s even a variety ofroasted malt known as “choco-late malt,” a nod to its strongchocolatelike flavors.

Dry stouts such as Guinnessdon’t exhibit that characteristic.Head instead to the sweet stouts — such as Young’s DoubleChocolate Stout — or the impe-rial or American stouts, thoughthe latter tend to be more bit-tersweet.

Many porters use somelevel of roasted malt, thoughit’s often more subtle than instouts. Marin Brewing’s Porter,for example, has very strongchocolate notes, and goes reallywell with dishes made withMexican-style mole sauce. Andsome doppelbocks, usually thedarkest examples, will have light chocolate character.

Chocolate beerMany brewers add actual

chocolate to their beer duringthe brewing process — enough

JAY R. BROOKSBROOKS ON BEER

Chocolate,beer makea fine pair

By Jackie Burrelljburrell@bayareanewsgroup.com

It’s not often you see scientists clearing off their lab tables with dough scrapers.

But when the lab belongs to St. Mary’s College chemistry professor Michelle Shulman, all bets are off.Crime scenes littered the lab during one January term, and art restora-tion equipment and paintings were splayed over the tables for another

course.So no one blinked when Shulman

stocked her chem lab last month with King Arthur fl our, gluten-free baking mixes and Kitchen Aid mix-ers for a four-week course on the science of baking.

Each January, students at this small liberal arts college in Moragaare encouraged to step outside their major to sample other curricular fare. Professors have grown savvy about marketing their “Jan Term” topics to students who might not LAURA A. ODA/STAFF

From left, St. Mary’s students Niharika Bhatnagar, Angelica Tabuena,Anne Marie Vicencio and Jessica Porter test their chemistry project.

Learning chemistrywith cinnamon rollsProfessor’s class exploresthe science behind baking

See SUPER, Page 2

See BEER, Page 2

See SCIENCE, Page 4

The Elder Ed PlayersPresent

“Caring for Mom sipping a Mai Tai in Maui”Entertainment for Boomers!

Laugh, munch and learn how! Discuss legaland financial issues, options for care,

cost of care, fi nancing care andmuch more with our local experts.

The Bridges Golf Club-San RamonTues Feb 7 7-8:30pm

Call 925-984-0118FREERegister at

pointsoflife.orgNovartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation© 2011 Novartis 9/11 T-XMG-1099611

February 7, 2012 6:30pmHomewood Suites by Hilton

39270 Cedar Blvd, Newark, CA 94560

NovartisMS Education Link

HearJay Rosenberg, MD

Please RSVP by February 6, 2012 by calling 800-973-0362.Light food and beverages served.

discuss information about multiple sclerosis (MS) and a prescription treatment option.

949819

2-29-12 SJMN777

Travel ConnectionL o d g i n g • G e t a w a y • R e s o r t s

To Advertise in the Travel Connection, Call (408) 920-5589

800-938-9767 www.CostaRicaDeluxeTours.com

“Costa Rica is our only business” Experts since 1987

Special Rates to Dec 14. Custom Adventure, Eco, Deluxe & Guided Tours.

Plan For Holiday Travel NOW!

ADVENTURE & DIVE TOURS OF COSTA RICA

MAUI

ALL OCEANFRONT-KIHEI MAUI

1 & 2 br. deluxe vacation condos. Pool, bbq, A/C,

Whales, sunsets, tropical tradewinds. Koa Lagoon.

Free color brochure

1-800-367-8030

AFFORDABLE LUXURY ON MAUI FROM $199/NIGHT!

Stay at Hale Pau Hana Beach Resort right on the

beach in sunny South Maui. All oceanfront 1 & 2br condos.

Golf Pkg & Car Pkg avail.

800-367-6036www.hphresort.com/sj

YOSEMITE

ROOMS, CONDOS, COTTAGES AND

VACATION HOMES. CENTRAL YOSEMITE!

559-642-2211

www.yosemitewestreservations.com

Rates from$114/nt in Kihei, Wailea & West Maui350 + Studio to 3 br condos.

call & talk to one of our Agents on Maui at

800-822-4409www.MauiCondo.com

MAUI CONDOS-Spring/Summer Special!

E4 BAY AREA NEWS GROUP 001 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2012FOOD & WINE

otherwise enroll in a class on,say, the history of the Hunsand Longobards though youcan bet they’ll take a class dubbed “Barbarians!!!” that includes falcons, Vikings and a medieval ball.

But who needs Vikingswhen you’ve got cinnamonrolls?

And when it comes tomaking chemistry pertinentand fascinating, Shulmanmay be the queen.

“I love to bake,” she says.“And I pick things I have aninterest in, hoping it transfersto the students, excites them,interests them and makeschemistry approachable.”

Frankly, she says, fewthings are more laden with bio-logical and chemical reactionsthan a yeasty cinnamon bun, a buttery cake or a gluten-free loaf of bread. Baking isn’t just delicious, it’s educational.

“It’s not a Home Ec class,”Shulman says. “We connectit back to chemistry. There’s the gelatinization of starch, thecoagulation of proteins, cara-melization and the Maillard reaction (a chemical reactionbetween an amino acid and asugar that gives muffi ns their

signature golden brown hue).”What they’ve done in this

class, she says, is to “decon-struct flour.” They’ve washed it, to reveal the stretchyprotein composite known as gluten, which traps the CO2 produced by yeast, bakingpowder or baking soda.

The class spent the fi rst two weeks of class studying and deconstructing the com-ponents of baking. They took a field trip to the San Francisco Baking Institute and sampled their fair share of scones, muf-fins and breads before formu-lating hypotheses and design-ing experiments around yeast, eggs and, of course, gluten.

For the one in 100 Ameri-cans with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder, gluten must be avoided at all costs. Those who jump on the glu-ten-free bandwagon thinking it’s somehow more healthful or low-carb are seriously mis-informed, Shulman says.

Most gluten-free fl ours are a mix of white rice fl our, tapi-oca starch and potato starch. Unless you know what you’re doing — in which case, you’re mixing in quinoa, millet, ama-ranth or buckwheat to in-crease the nutritional heft or choosing a whole grain com-mercial mix — you’d be bet-ter off with white bread.

But one thing is crystalclear. The presence or absence of gluten, gums and chemical additives makes an enormous difference. On this particular day, the proof is on Shulman’s desk, where two loaves of glu-ten-free, yeast bread repose. Their ingredients are almost identical, but one loaf is heavyand square — absolutely leaden without the lift provided by gluten. The other is domed and light in texture. The differ-ence? A mere 1¼ teaspoon ofxanthan gum.

Scientific proof may not be in the pudding — but at St. Mary’s, it’s defi nitely in the bread.

King Arthur Gluten-Free Whole-Grain BreadMakes 1 loaf

Note: You must use an electric mixer to prepare the batter; mixing by hand isinsufficient. For a dairy-free and slightly different version, substitute soy, almondor rice milk for the milk called for in the recipe.

I have long been a propo-nent of meat, often expound-ing on the virtues of pig fat and beef cheek. However, Ido not hesitate to declare, inblack and white, that there isvery little more delicious than

a perfectlyripe pear orlocal ear ofcorn in sea-son. In aninterviewwith “60Minutes”last year,my friendand con-

stant inspiration, Jose Andres, called meat “overrated.” Headded, “I believe the future isvegetables and fruits.”

I don’t think that meatis overrated per se. It’sdelicious, and I enjoy meatfrequently, especially agood burger. It is, however,overused — not out of maliceor foolishness, but out ofhabits learned over the lastcentury. It is the centerpieceof most tables in Americafor most of our meals. But Ido agree with Chef Andres’sentiment that its reign atthe center of the plate iswaning. Fruits, grains andvegetables are undeniablythe future of sustainabilityand of healthful eating andnutrition in this country andeventually the world. In thewords of the sage and excel-lent writer Michael Pollan,“Eat food. Not too much.Mostly plants.”

Yes, it’s winter. It’s not

necessarily the time of year you think of “just picked”freshness, especially in NewYork City where I live. We’re typically emptying out root cellars and pantries of cans

for hearty soups and stocks.But warm and hearty isn’t necessarily synonymous withmeaty.

In my first column, I shared a recipe for Brussels

Trenette With Jalapeño PestoServes 8-10 as a first course, 6 as a main

MARIO BATALI’STABLE

Meat put on back burner in this pasta dish

MCCLATCHY TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE

Bon appétit: Trenette with Jalapeño Pesto is a meatless,zippy and exciting pasta. Try the recipe with your family.

Jalapeño pesto: 6 fresh jalapeño peppers,

cored and seeded5 fresh Serrano chilies,

cored and seeded1⁄2 medium red onion,

chopped into ¼-inch dice 1⁄2 cup sliced blanched

almonds

1 cup extra-virgin olive oilSalt

Pasta:1⁄4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 6 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 11⁄2 pounds trenette or

linguine1⁄2 cup fresh breadcrumbs,

toasted

1. Make the jalapeño pesto: Place the jalapeños, Serranos, on-ions, almonds and 1 cup olive oil in a food processor and process until smooth. Season with salt to taste.

2. Bring 8 quarts of water to a boil in a large pasta pot.3. While the water is heating, combine the 1⁄4 cup olive oil and

the garlic in a 12- to 14-inch saute pan, and saute over medium-high heat until the garlic is almost brown, about 3 minutes. Add11⁄2 cups of the jalapeño pesto and bring to a simmer.

4. When the water comes to a boil, add 2 tablespoons salt.Drop the trenette into the boiling water and cook for 1 minute less than the package instructions indicate. Just before the pasta is done, carefully ladle 1⁄4 cup of the cooking water into the pancontaining the jalapeño mixture.

5. Drain the pasta in a colander and add it to the jalapeñomixture. Toss over medium heat for about 30 seconds, until nicelycoated, and then pour it into a warmed bowl. Scatter the bread-crumbs over the top and serve immediately.

— Mario Batali, “Molto Batali” (Ecco, 336 pages, $29.99)

Sprouts with Pecorino andThyme. We’re making thisMonday “meatless” with a zippy and exciting pasta:Trenette with Jalapeño Pesto.

What we commonly thinkof as “pesto” is only one vari-ety of the sauce. Pesto Geno-vese, the basil pesto native to the beautiful Ligurian coast in northwestern Italy, is the one most commonly replicated

in America. But pesto can be made by combining any greenleafy vegetable (or even a ripeor preserved vegetable, say, sun-dried tomatoes) with Par-migiano-Reggiano (or someother kind of cheese) and usu-ally some nuts. Here, I mix hotLatin American peppers with onions, almonds and olive oil.

In my house, familydinners are fairly regular.

3 cups King Arthur Gluten-Free Whole-Grain FlourBlend

1⁄4 cup milled flax2 tablespoons sugar2 teaspoons instant yeast11⁄2 teaspoons baking

powder11⁄4 teaspoons salt11⁄4 teaspoons xanthan gum1 cup warm milk2 tablespoons vegetable oil

or melted butter3 large eggs

1. Place the flour, flax, sugar, yeast, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum in a bowl. Whisk together well.

2. Place the milk, oil or butter and eggs in the bowl of anelectric mixer and beat well.

3. Blend in the dry ingredients a cup at a time, beating for a minute and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl aftereach addition.

4. After all the dry ingredients have been added, beat for 2 to 3 minutes at medium speed to make a very smooth,thick batter. Cover the bowl, and let the batter rise for 1 hour.

5. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl, deflat-ing the batter in the process. Beat the batter for about 1 minute.

6. Grease an 81⁄2-inch by 41⁄2-inch loaf pan. Scoop the dough into the pan, doming it in the middle, using a spatula or your wet fingers. Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap.Set it in a warm place to rise until the loaf barely crowns above the rim, about 60 to 75 minutes. Toward the end ofthe rising time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

7. Bake the bread for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden brown.Tent the loaf with foil the final 10 to 15 minutes of baking, to prevent over-browning. An instant-read thermometer insertedinto the center of the fully baked loaf will register about 205degrees. Remove the bread from the oven, turn it out of thepan, and cool on a rack.

— King Arthur Flour, www.kingarthurflour.com

Mondays are meatless, andI always cook. Tuesdays are either homemade by me or“takeout Tuesdays,” utilizing New York City’s unique Chi-nese offerings, or my own Otto Pizzeria just down the block. Wednesdays and Thursdays are almost always homemade Mexican fare by Chef Leo, my boys’ baby sitter of 10 years.Eventually, when the boysmove away to college or trade,I hope that Chef Leo will staywith us, simply because she’ssuch a great cook and a trueforce around the house.

For family meals, the schedule is as important asthe discussion. It’s the little things like rhythm and ritualthat bring the family around the table and trigger a shiftin mentality away from the guarded thought processes developed during long and stressful days, and toward the relaxed state of mindfound in the safety and com-fort of the family supper.

This pasta dish serves eight to 10 as a first course,all’Italiano, or six as a main.Use any leftover pesto to topcooked vegetables or as a spread for crostini. Storedin a plastic container with a snap-tight lid and covered with a thin layer of olive oil, itwill keep nicely in the fridge for two weeks.

A presto!

Mario Batali is the owner ofBabbo and other restaurantsand author of “Molto Batali,” published by Ecco.

LAURA A. ODA/STAFF

Balloons atop flasks filled with different ratios of yeast and cinnamon give a visualmeasurement of gas emitted as the activity of the yeast produces carbon dioxide.

ScienceContinued from Page 1