The American Lunch 7 July 2026
Food report by James Hill
On a day when Belgium beat USA and it wasn’t fake news, our talented kitchen team prepared an American-themed lunch for our enjoyment.
Canapés
First up, some corn ribs seasoned with salt and pepper and condensed milk then grilled.
Then came mini hot dogs in a potato bun with lashings of ‘ball park’ mustard and ketchup
To finish our canapé service we had beef sliders in a milk bun topped with ketchup, onion, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, malt vinegar and melted cheese.
Main
Our main today was 24-hour marinated beef short ribs with a wicked mac and cheese and sautéed green beans.
There was plenty of meat on the ribs. They were slow-cooked for three hours, and the marinade was brown sugar, honey balsamic and malt vinegar.
All the food served today was high quality, deliciously flavoured and perfectly executed.
A big thanks to our kitchen brigade led by executive chef Amosh KC.
Cheese
Our cheese master, in theme, chose a Cabot clothbound cheddar .cheese from Vermont in the USA
This clothbound cheese is the result of an unusual collaboration and is now recognised as one of the finest traditional cheddars produced in the USA.
Cabot Dairy Cooperative makes the cheese with milk from a single herd of Holstein cows and their own unique starter cultures at their huge facility in Vermont. The wheels are then transported to Mateo and Andy Kehler’s picturesque farmhouse dairy at Jasper Hill for expert ageing. After being carefully bound in cheesecloth and smeared with lard, the 16kg wheels are matured for at least 12 months in the underground caves carved out of the green hillside.
The result is crystalline-flecked, moist and crumbly cheddar with a sweet, tangy caramel flavour.
A salad of rocket and pears accompanied the cheese.
Wine
Wine report by Stephen O’Halloran
A modest crowd of 25 or so tucked into an American-themed lunch to mark America’s national day on 4th July, just a few days previously. We had some great American-style food prepared by the very talented Amosh & his team in the REX kitchen. Well done boys, see food report for details.
With regard to wine, we started brilliantly with a Brian Croser Tapanatta Chardy 2021, 14%. This was a really nice wine, indeed a high-class wine from the famous Brian Croser from grapes grown in the Adelaide Hills region of SA. Clear & clean with lively acidity, a gleaming green/gold appearance. Traces of citrus & peach on the palate. Impeccable balance of acid & quality fruit. A beautifully made wine from one of our top Chardonnay makers. Say no more!
The first wine on the lunch list was an American Chardonnay from Kendall Jackson, a Californian wine at 14.5%. The comparison with the previous wine was stunning, to put it mildly. I have always known that Americans like their Chardy to be on the sweet side, but this wine took sweetness to the next level. If you like your Chardy with lots of sugar, then this wine is for you. Go ahead, knock yourself out! To me, the wine was just drinkable, a mouthful more than enough. Impossible to do a review of the wine as all I could taste was overpowering sweetness, blotting out any other flavours. Sorry, just could not write in any more detail.
Wine 2, also from America, was much better. A 2021 Murphy Goode Zinfandel at 15%. This was a good wine, a perfect partner for the excellent Beef Ribs we had for lunch. A full-bodied red, dark ruby colour, bursting with black fruit flavours. A powerful wine, but quite in balance with its oak & tannin flavours. Rich & luscious with a nice, clean finish. I would like to see more of this wine in our cellar, just for something different.
Wine 3 was a Chateau Bonnet 2020, a Bordeaux Blanc at 13%. This wine & I just did not get on right from the start. A Sav Blanc/Semillon blend, mostly Sav Blanc, was to my taste overpowering with what I describe as the smell of just crushed Lantana leaves, pungent & strongly vegetative, off-putting. I did not enjoy the wine.
What is evident is that Sav Blanc grown in Bordeaux has a vastly different taste to the same grape grown in the Loire, such as a Sancerre, which is quite delightful.
Wine 4 was another Chateau Bonnet wine, a 2021 Diane Rose at 12.5%. Fresh & clean, showing delicate fruit on the back palate. A nice aperitif wine on a warm afternoon with a good terrine. I must say that my taste buds had been smashed by the previous wine’s pungency, so that it was hard for me to get a real grip on this light rose, which however was quite enjoyable. Both of these French wines were kindly donated by Society member Tony Scott.
My wine of the day was the Tapanatta, by a whisker over the Zinfandel.
