# The SBHonline Community Daily > Restaurants Wine & Food Off The Island >  >  Hey  Bart..egg results are in

## MIke R

Poached two eggs for 2 minutes in unseasoned water ...

blind taste test...one bite of each...little yolk  and a little white in each sample taste......both Wendi and I identified the fresh  farm egg  and the store bought egg 

would love to tell you it's because of our sophisiticated palates but the truth is the taste and texture of the farm egg  was so much better, it was very easy to distinguish between the two

FWIW

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## andynap

Nothing better to do?  :evil:  And who doesn't know farm fresh tastes differently? The ones who never tasted farm fresh that's who.

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## MIke R

I make eggs every Sunday morning anyway....was easy to do...

and i really was curious to see

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## andynap

> I make eggs every Sunday morning anyway....was easy to do...
> 
> and i really was curious to see



See my edit.

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## MIke R

> See my edit.




I agree..but  My new BFF disagreed...so I did s little test

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## andynap

He's the one that should do the test. I'm sure your palate is different than his.

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## Bart -my real name-

Too funny!  I was just thinking about this last night and wondering what ever happened to your experiment.

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## andynap

So now that you 2 are BFFs? No more making fun of him? Sad.  :tongue:  That only leaves me and JEK?

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## cassidain

...but wine aficionados are incapable (in your view) of distinguishing a burgundy grand cru from a california pinot noir.

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## Bart -my real name-

We have some friends who keep chickens.  I'll get some eggs from them and recreate your test.

I know this next bit is outside the bounds of your test and this discussion, but my wife bought a dozen eggs yesterday for 49 cents.  Our friends probably spend 10, 20, 50 times that amount on their eggs.  And that doesn't include the labor hours.  Yes the quality of the eggs may be better, but for them, there's a huge amount of time and money involved.

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## MIke R

> ...but wine aficionados are incapable (in your view) of distinguishing a burgundy grand cru from a california pinot noir.



My opinion and the PROVEN  RESULTS  of the good people who wrote Wine Trials,   where in  one of many examples they overwhelmingly LOVED the  12 dollar Chateau St Michele Sparking Wine from Washington over Dom 

and the fact that none  of you wine snobs  have ever stepped up and took  my challenge through the years, tells me all I need to know 

dont hate the player...hate the game  :tongue:

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## MIke R

> We have some friends who keep chickens.  I'll get some eggs from them and recreate your test.
> 
> I know this next bit is outside the bounds of your test and this discussion, but my wife bought a dozen eggs yesterday for 49 cents.  Our friends probably spend 10, 20, 50 times that amount on their eggs.  And that doesn't include the labor hours.  Yes the quality of the eggs may be better, but for them, there's a huge amount of time and money involved.



for me  it's not just about taste...it's about supporting the local economy, which by now you SURELY must know is a huge priority for me....to me there is something really cool about stopping at the farm down the road, grabbing a dozen eggs out of the cooler on his porch, and putting three dollars in the honor system cash box next to the cooler....but that's me 

YMMV

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## cassidain

> My opinion and the PROVEN  RESULTS  of the good people who wrote Wine Trials,   where in  one of many examples they overwhelmingly LOVED the  12 dollar Chateau St Michele Sparking Wine from Washington over Dom 
> and the fact that none  of you wine snobs  have ever stepped up and took  my challenge through the years, tells me all I need to know



i'll have a bottle of ste michelle waiting at the villa next april for kevin. he'll be thrilled.  :cool:

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## MIke R

Kevin is not  an elitist  like yourself...he will gladly try it .....guaranteed

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## JEK

*A Closer Look at The Wine Trials*

By ERIC ASIMOVAPRIL 22, 2008 6:20 PMApril 22, 2008 6:20 pm
Yes, I know, we have some pending business. But the New York weather has been so gorgeous recently that I cant help thinking about German riesling. Every spring, when the weather really begins to turn, I start thirsting for German riesling. This year, though, I was thinking about dry rieslings because Ive had a fair number of really good ones in the last few months. You can read my column on dry German rieslings in the newspaper on Wednesday.
Now, lets get back to our discussion of The Wine Trials, the forthcoming book by Robin Goldstein that has drawn so many comments in the last week. As I mentioned last time, Robin was kind enough to send me the galley and now Ive read the book. To a certain degree I regret my original post, because I hadnt read the book yet. But I jumped in because of the Newsweek article that grabbed my attention. I dont regret assailing the article, which took a gotcha tone toward wine lovers, but I think the book itself is considerably more nuanced, as I suggested last time.
Now, Im not going to review the book in depth, but I will offer a few opinions. First, the most useful component is an in-depth listing of 100 wines $15 and under that scored well in the trials. These are all bottles that should be widely available without having to find a specialized store. They represent a cross-section of mass-market wines that many people who dont spend all that much time thinking about wine  the book calls them everyday wine drinkers  can drink happily. My favorite parts of the listings are something Ive never seen before, design critiques of each label. 


*Is this useful to anybody who is more than a casual wine drinker? Not really, and that is one of the contradictions of the book. The Wine Trials makes the case that peoples buying decisions are influenced by many factors, including price, marketing, power of suggestion, etc. The book suggests that if you take away all of these factors and make buying decisions strictly on the grounds of what tastes best in the glass, everyday wine drinkers prefer cheaper wines to more expensive wines.* 
*Of course, its more complicated than that. Lets say first out, that the study shows that everyday wine drinkers prefer cheaper mass-produced wines to more expensive mass-produced wines. None of the wines considered would fall into the artisanal, natural or hand-crafted categories. 

**Second, as hard as the book tries to make the tastings objective, to eliminate outside influences, one unaddressed fact is the mass-tasting environment. Its a completely unnatural way to taste and to judge wine. Rather than drink wine in a natural environment with food, wines are pitted against each other, sipped and spit, one after another. I personally think wine is experienced in a different way when its consumed with a meal over time, and thats one reason why, in this blog, I do not write about wines that Ive only sipped in tastings.* 


Journalists have contradictions, too. I participate in mass tastings with the wine panel even though I dont believe they are the best ways to judge wines. Its a compromise because it may be the only way to judge large numbers of wines as we are often called upon to do. These are old arguments that I dont want to go through again now.

More to the point, The Wine Trials makes it clear that what appeals to everyday wine drinkers is significantly different than what appeals to wine experts, which the book defines as those whove had some sort of training or professional experience with wine. The experts in general preferred the more expensive bottles, and the book suggests that the tyranny of the experts may be unconsciously compelling everyday wine drinkers not to follow their own preferences and to waste money doing so. 

Meanwhile, the book assails publications like Wine Spectator and Robert M. Parker Jr.s Wine Advocate for consistently giving higher scores to more expensive wines. These publications are directed to people with more than a casual interest in wine, so is it really that surprising that these critics would have such a preference? Especially since the preference was echoed by the more experienced wine drinkers who participated in the books tastings?

Several other things bother me about The Wine Trials. First, I think the book is way behind the wave in overstating the power of Parker and the Spectator in shaping the sorts of wines we drink. Fueled by the magazine critics, who often seem to reserve their highest ratings for big, concentrated wines, the New World style is poised to wipe the Old World style off the map in the realms of both expensive and cheap wine, we are told.

And this: Parker is famous for preferring Bordeaux to Burgundy, and his power is such that many top Burgundian wines are currently marginalized in the marketplace when compared with top Bordeaux wines. As a result, even in Burgundy there is now a push to make wines in a more concentrated, oaky style, which is totally antithetical to the regions historical character.

Marginalized in the marketplace? Try looking in the sale bins for a good Burgundy. The Burgundians are doing great! If anybody is marginalized its the small vignerons all over Europe who are trying to compete against the mass-produced wines that are promoted by this book. By the way, Parkers critic for Burgundy these days is David Schildknecht, who is very much respected in Burgundy and everywhere else in the wine world. 

Frankly, the notion of a Manichean wine culture was overstated in the movie Mondovino and its overstated here. Of course there is tension between corporate marketers and the public. One wants to separate the other from its money, and isnt too particular about the tactics it employs. The Wine Trials uses Dom Pérignon as its prime example of a wine that has been vastly overvalued through marketing. Its not a bad example, yet the book misses the point by suggesting that Dom Pérignon is popular with everyday wine drinkers. Please. Dom Pérignon is well known to everyday wine drinkers, but very few have actually tasted it, unless by everyday the book means wealthy conspicuous consumers. Veuve Cliquot would be a much better example of a Champagne that is wildly popular because of advertising and marketing, but that seriously lags in quality. 

In my opinion, the solution is not the $11 bottle of sparkling wine from Washington State, as good a value as it might be. The solution to the conflation of wine with luxury goods is right there in Champagne, with the momentous movement of small grower-producers who are not only changing the public perception of Champagne but changing the way some of the bigger corporations are going about their business. Similar self-generating solutions exist in many other regions.
The bottom line is that wine is a far more complex picture than the one painted in The Wine Trials  at least it is for people who love wine and are seriously interested in it. For those whose interest stops at picking up the occasional bottle for dinner, there is little need to complicate that picture.

Think of visiting a museum of modern art. Those who dont study art, and rarely think about it, will have a much different reaction to, say, a Jackson Pollock, than somebody whos greatly interested in modern art and knows a bit about Pollock and his contemporaries. Many people might have to do some reading and research on their own, or even take an art history course, to begin to understand what critics and art historians saw in Pollock. Some might conclude its all hogwash, but others might gain a deep and rewarding appreciation.

Im not saying wine is the equivalent of art. I do say that wine can be appreciated on many different levels, but that nobody should ever feel obliged to appreciate wine on any level. In the end, the book seems to divide wine consumers into the casual buyers who are pushed this way and that by forces they dont understand, and the wealthy conspicuous status seekers who also are not quite aware of capitalism and marketing. Unacknowledged are the serious wine lovers who are knowledgeable, experimental and passionate, and who, yes, are in control of their own destinies. The book may speak to the first two groups, but not to the thir

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## MIke R

Well....Step up and take the challenge then!

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## cassidain

> Kevin is not  an elitist  like yourself...he will gladly try it .....guaranteed



i seriously doubt that. other than perhaps a sip just to be nice. kev is a very nice gentleman. who adores grand cru bourgogne. but will drink a premier cru if well presented. or perhaps even a village wine if particularly thirsty.  :cool:

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## MIke R

> i seriously doubt that. other than perhaps a sip just to be nice. kev is a very nice gentleman. who adores grand cru bourgogne. but will drink a premier cru if forced to. or perhaps even a village wine if particularly thirsty.




You couldnt be more wrong......and you dont know either him or I well enough to make that call anyway ...but...whatever 

Kevin is just as comfortable when he comes to PTown drinking swill in the Old Colony Tap, which is a fishermens dive bar, as he is hob knobbing with the beautiful people in Front Street over a bottle of Cakebread Chardonnay

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## cassidain

i drink very simple, but correct, french and italian wine everyday. but enjoy immensely beautiful wine. like the case of bolly just delivered for christmas and the few bottles of '10 conti costanti brunello di montalcino that followed. my guess is that kevin enjoys both simple, well-made wine and grand bottles. i hope he doesn't drink swill. kevin? 
my christmas present to myself was a bottle of pappy's 15 year old. cheers to you both !

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## Dennis

> my christmas present to myself was a bottle of pappy's 15 year old.



Well played!

You must have been VERY GOOD!

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## andynap

All about eggs.

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## MIke R

> i drink very simple, but correct, french and italian wine everyday. but enjoy immensely beautiful wine. like the case of bolly just delivered for christmas and the few bottles of '10 conti costanti brunello di montalcino that followed. my guess is that kevin enjoys both simple, well-made wine and grand bottles. i hope he doesn't drink swill. kevin? 
> my christmas present to myself was a bottle of pappy's 15 year old. cheers to you both !




Swill figurative not literal...and I'm not spending two grand on a bottle of bourbon .....Woodford Double Oak is very ok with me

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## cassidain

> Well played!
> 
> You must have been VERY GOOD!



need to schlep back some cal-va-dose from sbh in march  :cool: 

FullSizeRender.jpg

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## KevinS

I've said many times that I surf both ends of the wine list.  I do prefer very nice white burgundies, but they are not the only wines that I drink.  My goal when ordering wine on St Barth is to enjoy bottles which I  may never see again.  Not every wine list permits that, and I do just  fine when they don't. 

On my most recent trip, the white that I chose for Thanksgiving dinner at Maya's was a Châteauneuf-du-Pape blanc, a Rhône, while Phil chose the red for the table.  On my two previous trips I rediscovered some nice Chablis.  At home, with Oysters, I'll often order a glass of Muscadet.  While I go through a lot of white Burgundy at home, I probably drink more California Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc. There's always a chilled bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut in the fridge, and several more in "ready reserve" in the wine fridge.

When I visit the Old Colony Tap I drink beer.  Out of a bottle.  Possibly a Bud.  Down the street at the Nor'East Beer Garden, it might be a Spencer Trappist Ale or a Lagunitas of some variety.  In between the two, it's probably Rum Punch at Top of the Pot, Cakebread at Front Street, or Grey Goose L'Orange at Aqua Bar.  And I have the numbers for Cape Cab and Mercedes Cab on speed dial.  

In an effort to get this thread back on track, below are some farm-fresh eggs which I was privileged to enjoy on St Barth last month.  Yes, there are chickens on St Barth, they lay eggs, and if you know the right person...

2016-11-29 08.46.54.jpg

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## andynap

Kevin said: "In an effort to get this thread back on track, below are some farm-fresh eggs which I was privileged to enjoy on St Barth last month. Yes, there are chickens on St Barth, they lay eggs, and if you know the right person..."


On my list.  :thumb up:

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## JEK

[QUOTE=KevinS;966010.  Possibly a Bud. [/QUOTE]

Tomorrow I have a lunch with a friend from my working days. We always meet at the VI (Vienna Inn) for a chili cheese dog and a Bud in a bottle.

The kind of place Mike would love.

http://www.viennainn.com/index.html

Screen Shot 2016-12-18 at 5.18.52 PM.jpg

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## MIke R

Yeah except I'm a beer snob .....and I don't  drink Bud ,......ever

and I don't sell any Bud products in my Cafe .....ever 

 :cool:

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## JEK

Well, they have other beers, like Bud Lite. 

Big keg place. Softball teams stuff like that.


Screen Shot 2016-12-18 at 6.25.24 PM.jpg

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## MIke R

Awful selection....

but yes softball teams  would love that ....

other day a guy came in.....you got Bud?....nope.....what do you have that taste like Bud?..... nothing......
so what do you recommend?.....that you go downstairs to the sports bar and order yourself  a Bud..LOL

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## Reed

Chill cheese dogs are my food nirvana with diced onions and Nance's sharp and creamy mustard.

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## JEK

Dominion is pretty good. Can you follow your own advice and just skip a reply if you don't have anything to add or offer? 51,519 and counting . . . .

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## JEK

> Chill cheese dogs are my food nirvana with diced onions and Nance's sharp and creamy mustard.




 :thumb up:

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## MIke R

> Dominion is pretty good. Can you follow your own advice and just skip a reply if you don't have anything to add or offer? 51,519 and counting . . . .



No.....no one else does.....LOL

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## Bart -my real name-

> 51,519 and counting . . . .



You better be careful!  You're knocking on the door.

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## JEK

> You better be careful!  You're knocking on the door.



All of mine are constructive.

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## MIke R

> All of mine are constructive.




Your nose must be hitting the screen by now ......

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## Bart -my real name-

I'm on chicken duty for my chicken keeping friends who are out of town. We're about to do our Christmas morning taste test. 

Results to follow, but here are the (dirty) eggs. 

IMG_8459.jpg

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## andynap

Wash first.

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## Bart -my real name-

The eggs have been washed, the test has been taken and the results are in.

Each egg was poached for 2 minutes in plain water and served with no salt or any seasoning.  The taste testers were blindfolded.

I went first and picked the Safeway egg.
My wife went second and picked the Safeway egg.
My son went next and picked the Safeway egg.
My daughter went last and picked the Safeway egg.

No joke, we went four for four on the Safeway egg over the free range, neighbor's egg.

The eggs tasted very similarly but we were all very surprised at the result.

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## amyb

Shocked at the results of your scientific taste test. But a great family project.

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## Bart -my real name-

Thanks Amy!  A rematch is planned for tomorrow. It may have just been a "bad" egg. There was nothing wrong with it, and it was very fresh, the yolk looked very much like a store bought yolk.  That is to say it looked plain yellow and not the almost orange color the fresh eggs have.   (That's why we used blindfolds - you can usually tell them apart by the differences in color, but not these)

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## andynap

This thread is hysterical.

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## cassidain

> The taste testers were blindfolded.



best to also bind their feet and hands

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## MIke R

My theory is because you only eat store bought eggs your taste buds are biased that way and because we only eat farm fresh eggs our taste buds are biased that way as well.......hard to believe they looked the same as store bought....our farm eggs have deep orange yolks  with clear thick whites. ....lots of double yolks too.....and Not that runny translucent white you get from mass produced eggs......eggs do differ from farm to farm here though as the diet of free ranging chickens can be vastly different on each parcel of land and the chickens could be different  breeds as well..lots of variables here ,.......

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## andynap

Is this the same as your palate is different from someone else?? Did you blindfold the chickens when you got their eggs??

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## cassidain

like people are used to that california crap and think that's what real wine tastes like  :cool:

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## MIke R

Such pathetic attempts .....LOL

groundhog day.....

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## JEK

How does one recover from egg-biasing?  If there a therapy group?

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## cassidain

would require eggaustive counseling

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## MIke R

Ok..I'm getting on a bus now and done for the day.....I need to mislead a little more in the carry on thread and then I'm done.....

Meanwhile Do your  Groundhog  Day thing now.....enjoy 






or something....LOL

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## andynap

> Ok..I'm getting on a bus now and done for the day.....I need to mislead a little more in the carry on thread and then I'm done.....



You're safe. You know who is still sleeping.  :Sleeping:

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## Reed

I must chime in and say that I loved my now passed on former father in laws statement......."I won't ever eat anything that comes out of a chicken's ass".  I barfed up scrambled eggs kind of out of my nose when I was like 3.  Not a big egg fan other than hidden in a fried rice or something like that.  I have food texture issues.......I look at beautiful frittatas we do for clients and simply don't go there.  Funny topic. kr

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## JEK

IMG_4305.jpgIMG_4306.jpgIMG_4307.jpgIMG_4314.jpgIMG_4315.jpgIMG_4316.jpgIMG_4313.jpg

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## cassidain

going to look up "tl;dr" and see what that means  :cool:

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## KevinS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oaa-5CbWLY

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