Heavy Table Hot Five: Jan. 5-11

Each Friday, this list will track five of the best things Heavy Table’s writers, editors, and photographers have recently bitten or sipped. Have a suggestion for the Hot Five? Email editor@heavytable.com.

The Hot Five is a weekly feature created by the Heavy Table and supported by Shepherd Song Farm.

Bourbon-Barrel-Aged Belgian Quad Spoke Wrench by Sociable Cider Werks
This Christmas Eve we broke out a bottle of the (very) good stuff — a hard cider blended and barrel-aged with a Belgian quad beer, made by Sociable Cider Werks. At 9.1 percent ABV, Belgian Quad Spoke Wrench packed a remarkable punch, and its imperial-stoutlike notes — a sweet warmth akin to spiced butterscotch — created a flavor something like a caramel apple pie finished with cloves.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by James Norton]

Wilhelmina Bread at Brake Bread
The Thursday special at Brake Break (must be new, cause there’s nothing online about it) is a pan loaf that is rich with the smell of caraway and fennel. It’s got seeds, spices, and that sourdough tang. When warm, it was so comforting that I wanted to eat the whole loaf and go back to bed for the rest of the day.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Ted Held]

Graise Farm Pork Share
We picked up our Graise Farm pork share (half a hog that we’re sharing with two other families) at Natural Valley Meats in Northfield late last week, and we’re already enjoying the dividends. The hogs at Graise Farm lead a classic pig lifestyle. We met them onsite months ago and got intrigued by the idea of making one of them into the cornerstone of our cold-weather diet. We’ve got about a half-dozen different Cryovaced pork products in our chest freezer right now, and so far we’ve had some stellar pork chops (just a heavy salt-and-pepper crust and a hard sear in a hot All-Clad saute pan) and old-fashioned spaghetti punched way up with pan-seared medallions of spicy, Italian-style sausage.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by James Norton]

Soft Gingerbread Tiles with Rum Butter Glaze
My husband asked me what makes these cookies from Sweet by Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh so good. I said I thought it was the intensity of the cocoa, pepper, and dark molasses in the dough, and the rum in the barely crunchy glaze. The cookies are originally from Tartine in San Francisco, but they didn’t go viral until they found their way to London and were published in Sweet last September. The recipe is all over the internet, but here’s an accurate version.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Jane Rosemarin]

Smoked Beet and Chevre Cheesecake at Peg Brewing in Winnipeg
The smoked beet and chevre cheesecake with candied ginger at Peg Brewing in Winnipeg was the final course of their New Year’s Eve beer vs. wine dinner. The wine pairing, a sweet, late-harvest sauvignon blanc was the perfect match for the earthy and creamy cake, and the subtly of the beets elevated the plate.
[Debuting on the Hot Five | Submitted by Paige Latham Didora]