The 4^th of July being American Independence Day, the theme was food eaten in America on this day with chef of the day Roger Straiton assisted by our very own American, Scott Witt.

Canapés. Yep we started off with little boys/wieners/saveloys/whatever with mustard. General consensus was that the colouring was probably carcinogenic and that there may have been some meat in there somewhere. A fine American tradition. Next up were some crabcakes which were very tasty and certainly full of crabmeat.

Aperitif wine. A cracking start to the lunch with William Fevre Chablis 2012. Dry and with a degree of minerality, it cut through any oiliness with the canapés.

Main course. Continuing on the Independence Day theme, Roger and Scott prepared chicken fried steak a new experience for most in the room. Substantial pieces of prime rib eye fillet were battered in a pepper and paprika mix and pan-fried. This was served with mashed potato, peas and a white gravy. Very flavoursome, even though some people kept unkindly referring to it as Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The wines.

• Heidi Schrock Blaufrankisch 2012 (cork, 13.5%)
• Chateau Belloy (Canon-Fronsac, predominately Merlot) 2010 (cork, 14.5%)
• Seghesio Zinfandel (Sonoma) 2011 (cork, 14.8%)
• Bowen Cabernet 2002 (cork, 13.5%)

This week we had all wines under cork and encouragingly there was no significant bottle variation. The Austrian Burgenland Blaufrankisch was as expected soft and aromatic with a pure fruit finish. The right bank Bordeaux was drinking very well with a typical European tannin structure. The 2^nd set of wine with the cheese were a substantial step up in terms of size. The Zen came from old vines and was lush, spicy but relatively elegant. It was not a particular favourite in the room. The Bowen at 15 years of age with a large wine from a substantial year. It was drinking very well and was deemed to be a very good Australian Cabernet

Cheese and coffee. To nobody’s surprise, our Cheesemaster, James Healey, joined in the spirit of 4^th of July and served us the Cabot clothbound cheddar from Vermont in the New England area of the US of A. We have enjoyed this cheese previously and once again it was a beautifully balanced cheese fruity and of a sweeter style with a degree of maturation evident.

We had a commercial coffee week with Spencer Ferrier providing Illy coffee, a brand he believes is the best available commercial coffee. We have enjoyed this before and Spencer advise beans from our normal supply and more commercial coffees.

A few hundred Americans flags were destroyed in the cooking and eating of this lunch.