Pennington's Foodstory

    I'm southbound!  Been a little slack with my writing, but for good reason.  The plate has been quite full due to a pending move to South Carolina.  We're taking this party to the beach (in or near Pawley's Island, Charleston to start) for heightened inspiration from one of my favorite food areas in the country.  Soon are the days where I can buy shrimp and fresh fish off the dock and produce from stands that dot Hwy. 17.      The woman and I have been itching to get to the beach for quite a while, and in a "careful what you ask for" moment, opportunity came a knockin'.  It's a return to the area for me, I lived out on Folly Beach and Isle of Palms with some good friends way back in the day.  Charleston is where I had my food and wine epiphany that forever changed the course of my life.     For those not too familiar with the area, it's all about fresh, fresh, fresh!  Great local produce, fr...

    I was at this great tapas bar in Nashville where they serve this kickass dish of Brussel sprouts with red onion, Marcona almonds, finished with red pepper and a smoked white wine vinegar.  Smoked vinegar?!  Yep, I looked on every food site that I could think of and found no recipes for smoked vinegar.  The flavor the vinegar brought to the dish was unbelieveable!  So what do I do?  I smoked the hell out of some vinegar!     Not really knowing where to begin, I bought a bottle of white wine vinegar and figured I'd smoke it like I would BBQ.  I found a ceramic baking dish that I felt would be safe on the grill, and since I wouldn't be putting it over direct heat I thought it would be cool.  I didn't want to use a metal dish in case it threw off any funky flavors.      I built a fire using big Maple chunks that can be used instead of charcoal.  Again, thinking of any possible funky flavor...