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Jim Nofziger Brews His Own (You Can Too!) By: Lynn Ruth Miller
"As he brews, so he shall he drink" (Ben Johnson) Jim Nofziger loves food! It didn't take him long to figure out that the best tasting dinner is the one you cook yourself. "I've always loved to cook complicated unusual things," said the West Coast gourmet. "When I was young, I used to make fudge all the time." His finished product was unexpected, if not exotic. No matter how long he stirred and cooked, the result never became candy. It was more like chocolate soup. Now, any one who has met Jim Nofziger knows he is not one to let the little surprises discourage him. He served this unusual appetizer to his girlfriends, he became a combination mother figure and Galahad. "I always topped it with whipped cream and a maraschino cherry," he explained. As he watched his prey scrape the bowl and smile at him with undisguised adoration, young Nofziger learned the basic rule for successful romance: chocolate obscures a multitude of sins, including the original one. When he became more sophisticated, he realized that culinary success involved more than a romantic conquest for dessert. His cooking projects escalated from junk food to things more substantial, like Cioppino. Why Cioppino? " I grew up in an Italian community," he said. "When my dates invited me over for lunch, their mamas served me Cioppino and I loved I so much I wanted to make some for myself." Cooking is great fun, but a bad dinner is a disaster that no amount of candlelight can erase. The only thing that saves burnt fish stew is wine. In fact, if you serve enough wine, you can get away with serving braised thumbtacks on day-old toast. Now, wine is expensive and a poor working fellow cannot always afford to buy the quality vintage that would hide fractured muffins, rancid salmon and barbecued cow that mooed when served. Nofziger had two choices: either improve his cooking or find some cheap vino. As a boy, he spent his summers visiting his Uncle Bob in Fresno, California and that experience gave him his answer. "He had an orange grove and made wine out of the oranges he couldn't sell or eat," said Nofziger. " I helped him peel the fruit and smash it down. He didn't have a specific brewing method. He just dumped it the fruit into huge carboys and let it sit until it tasted right." In the winter when he wasn't helping his uncle make orange wine, Nofziger honed his cooking skills. He cooked and delivered for Chicken Delight in the days when you could get 4 pieces of chicken, cole slaw, French fries and a corn muffin for $1.99, delivered. Nofziger cooked up the evening's orders, loaded them in his car and off he drove, a veritable Brother Theresa bringing dinner to the hungry. It was very satisfying to see the people who ate his cooking and there never was a night when he didn't have a few surprises along with his tips. "I had one lady who always ordered two dinners at least once a week: one cooked meal for herself and one raw for her Ocelot," he said. But that was in the past. Inevitably, an ambitious dude like our Jim Nofziger was not planning to spend his life frying up $1.99 specials at Chicken Delight. He had other ideas and those dreams cost money. So it was that he studied to become a master printer and set up shop. But at quitting time Nofziger doffs his printer's smock and dons that irresistible chef's hat once more. Life's satisfactions are not all in the workplace, after all. Jim Nofziger still nurtured dreams of creating good food and excellent wine( for insurance). He didn't do much more than barbecue Safeway's best in the back yard and rustle up Cioppino for company until he bought a house in the suburbs with an apple tree in the backyard that grew far more apples every year than the entire Nofziger clan could possibly consume. They say that the secret to every great man's success is his ability to transform waste into profit. When Nofziger saw all those apples rotting in his yard, he refused to consider letting them become compost. That's not the way a true small town man thinks. No indeed. Jim Nofziger did some research on apple wine and then hustled down to The Home Brew Store in San Francisco to stock up on proper supplies. He wasn't going to leave his product to chance like Uncle Bill did. No indeed. He was going to make the best wine in the county. And so he began his long journey on the road of successful wine making to become the master winemaker he is today. "I bought a basic book on wine making, some glass carboys, vapor locks and a few of the ingredients that control the fermentation of the fruit," he said. And he was on his way! Every fall from that day on, Nofziger goes down to his basement to brew and each vintage gets better, he says. Fifteen years ago, Nofziger's sister moved to the Fresno valley and planted ten acres of Thompson grapes and that was when he began to take his wine production seriously. "Before they pick them commercially, I go down to pick what I need for myself," he said. " I make grape wine out of them and plum wine out of plums I harvest in my own back yard." And the wine our local vintner has created wins prizes year after year. This past year, the plum wine won first place at his County Fair and the grape wine won third place at the California State Fair. What does Nofziger do with all the wine fermenting in his basement? "I donate most of it to non-profit fund raising events," he said. "I enjoy making wine. It's a lot of work when I have to crush the fruit but it is excellent exercise and once your muscle tone reaches its optimum, it's relatively easy to do." So easy in fact, that Jim Nofziger, California' s most generous gourmet is going to share his never fail method with you. LA VINO BELLA SIMPLICICA One truckload of grapes (any size) Wipe out bathtub and plug the drain Spread grapes in the tub and remove both shoes and socks. Wash feet. (optional) Turn on any type of music with a heavy beat (rock and roll works best). Dance in the tub. When the music is finished, step out of the tub, dry your feet and scoop both the liquid and the mashed remains of the fruit into large glass container. You may add wine yeast for flavor. Leave this mixture in a cool dry area such as a garage for a week. Dump into a mesh bag to drain and pour the liquid into five-gallon carboys. Seal tightly. Insert one end of a plastic garden hose into the cover and the other end into your wife's laundry tub. If you do not have a wife, shack up with your significant other for the fermenting period. CAUTION: If air gets into the carboys, you will have vinegar and that tastes lousy on anything but a salad. Let bubble for a month. Pour the liquid into bottles and leave the sediment in the carboys to use for grappa. Every three or four months repeat this process until the wine is clear and ready to drink. The good news is that no matter how you mess up the process the alcohol is always in there ready to give you a lovely buzz. Surprisingly enough, home brewed wine offers many bonuses far beyond its alcohol content. "It keeps me in the house," explained Nofziger. "And it's very satisfying when people enjoy the wine you made yourself. " So there you have it. All you need is a backyard full of grapes vines, a clean bathtub and bare feet and you're ready to compete with any one from Fetzer to Gallo, Buena Vista to Manichevitz. No matter what caliber the result, if you drink enough of it, you'll think it is the nectar of the gods. "To drink to me with only thine eyes Is a terrible thing to do" (From the Fifties). |
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