Chef Showdown ticket sales went into overdrive yesterday with the announcement of our dueling chefs who've stepped up the proverbial plate.

Chef Chris Hastings of Hot and Hot Fish Club and FIG Restaurant’s Chef Mike Lata CAN stand the heat! They’ll hit the kitchen in the Music to Your Mouth Chef Showdown on November 17. Plate for plate and palate for palate Chris and Mike will joust course for course and guests will be the judge. Armed with the same wines and food budget, these two kitchen connoisseurs will create their own menus to match the wine selections of Chateau de Beaucastel. Four wines. Eight plates. You decide.

Got tickets?

Kelly Sherrill, a.k.a. @flipflopgirl, followed us on Twitter, entered our Music to Your Mouth contest, and by "tweeting" her favorite southern supper, she won tickets to the Saturday Culinary Festival. Kelly deemed "Blue Crabs steamed in Old Bay, fresh corn on the cob, iced cold beer and homemade "nutty buddies" as her top meal.

We couldn't resist, so we requested the nutty buddies recipe and are sharing it here with y'all.

Good eatin' ...

HOMemade Nutty Buddies

Ingredients

Breyers All Natural Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

1 lb good Dark Chocolate (any brand will work)

¼ cup Half & Half

 1 cup Salted Peanuts, coarsely chopped

Sugar Cones

Directions

Begin by clearing a spot in your freezer to place a half sheet pan, lined with parchment paper.

Place one large scoop of ice cream on a sugar cone and immediately add it to the pan in the freezer, do this until all cones are in the freezer. You can lay them on their side or stand them up whatever works best in your freezer. Let them harden in the freezer for at least an hour.

Next, melt the chocolate in a metal or glass bowl over a pan of gently boiling water, slowly add the half and half to the melted chocolate until smooth and completely incorporated. Turn the water under the chocolate down to keep the chocolate warm.

Place the peanuts on a shallow plate beside the chocolate pan.

Now for the messy part - Removing only one cone at a time from the freezer, quickly dip and coat in the warm chocolate and roll or sprinkle with the chopped peanuts and immediately replace in the freezer. Repeat these steps until all are covered and back in the freezer. Freeze on the pan for another hour and then you can place each in a plastic sandwich bag and store in the freezer.

They will be slightly irregular in shape which is what makes them special and definitely homemade. They have been a hit with my family and I certainly hope they will be with yours. Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Kelly Sherrill, “Best Southern Supper“ Contest Winner, 2011

Wow. Time flies when you are having fun, or recovering from the 2010 Music to Your Mouth festivities. No rest for the weary here, as we immediately dove into the details once the 2010 events wrapped.

We kicked off 2011 with a full (and impressive) wine dinner series, and our monthly Buffalo's wine dinners.

Today, we kick off the Festival-related antics. Come November 14th, we'll embark on the 16-event 5th Annual Music to Your Mouth Culinary Festival. We've gathered the best tastes, tunes, and tonics in the south and we're looking forward to sharing all that we are cookin' up with you.

That's right, with YOU! So, hit the events page and check out all that we have planned. We look forward to seeing you in November.

Our 10-day "Dish Your Dish" contest concluded on Friday. The team selected an entry at random, and together we unveil the winner ...

Dish Your Dish Announcement from Courtney Hampson on Vimeo.

Winner Lee Fogel described his favorite southern dish like this: 
There was a little restaurant called The Bakery on King Street in Charleston S.C.. I remember going every morning for breakfast and had these absolutley fabulous low country crab cake eggs benedict.....OMG!!!! In a word....well you just can't say it in a word!! I have never had anything that wonderful since....I miss that little place!!

Searching for the finest nectars to pair with our favorite Music to Your Mouth nibbles is a process that we revel in.

Sommelier Jason Carlen swirls and sips his way through a litany of libations until he finds the perfect balance of wines, liquors and beers to satisfy any palate. It is draining work but someone has to do it. As his research concludes, Jason has unveiled the liquid lineup for this year's event.

A frozen buffet. No power. Non-flushing toilets. A rogue sprinkler system. This month in CH2 magazine, we share some of the hilarious and stressful stories behind the scenes at Music to Your Mouth, and let you get to know the Music to Your Mouth team a little better. Check out the full story here ...

In under a month we will be joined by two exceptional Malbec Masters from Argentina, Winemaker Luis Reginato of Luca and Tikal and Santiago Mayorga of Mendel. We will relish in a traditional Argentine “Asado” of grilled meats, empanadas, fresh vegetables and a multitude of Malbecs.

After my inspirational trip to Argentina last year, I decided to bring their many traditions home to Palmetto Bluff. When you fly over the Andes into Argentina you instantaneously feel a tangible difference in the air. There is a vibration or a magic that is undeniable. You can feel it throughout the city, the vineyards and in your interactions with the locals. That feeling was so powerful that I put aside my distaste for meat and feasted on various cuts of beef, pig, lamb and many other meats for the first time in 18 years.

If we do our jobs well you too will be inspired by the six magnificent wines produced by these extraordinary makers that will pair with our “Asado”. If the food and wine isn't stimulant enough the soulful sounds of Jazz Guitarist Victor Varner and Violinist Beek Webb should seal the deal.

September 25^th, 2010 at 6pm

Five Paired Courses

$125 per person

One of the hot trends in the wine world is wine on tap or out of a keg. It is practically unheard of on this side of the country but some are starting to see the light because of the many benefits. Wine from kegs is more efficient than bottled wine because there is no waste and it keeps some wines fresher. There are also the numerous eco-friendly aspects to take into consideration. Once the stainless steel keg is used it can be refilled by the winery and used again. There is no longer a need for labels, bottles, boxes, corks or capsules. The shipping costs are less as well because a five gallon keg which holds 25 bottles of wine or over two cases weighs approximately 50 pounds while the average 12 bottle case of wine weighs 30 - 35 pounds per case. 

I recently installed a small brewmaster tap tower behind the bar of our flagship restaurant, The River House. The brewmaster had to be upgraded to become a winemaster because wine kegs are not exactly the same as beer kegs. I changed out the taps to stainless steel taps and changed the gas from CO2 to Nitrogen so we wouldn't have sparkling sauvignon blanc. I also added a line to the outside of the system to give us the ability to pour a red wine on tap as well. 

The man responsible for inspiring this recent addition to the Inn at Palmetto Bluff is the always charming Dan Donahoe of Teira Wines and his keg wine business called Silver Tap. Dan is joining us at Music To Your Mouth for the first time this November. He will be pouring wines from keg and bottle; I challenge you to tell the difference. We will soon be adding two other wines to the Wine Tower. Our good friend and frequent visitor Dave Miner of Miner Family Vineyards in the Napa Valley has agreed to keg his most recent vintage of Chardonnay for our system. Lastly, we are adding an Anderson Valley Pinot Noir from one of Palmetto Bluff's favorite wineries, Lioco Wines. 

Join us prior to the Music To Your Mouth food and wine festival for a taste from the tap, the River House is open nightly. 

Its official, the jolliest man in Germany is making a trek across the pond to join us for our food and wine festival, Music To Your Mouth. Johaness Leitz of Josef Leitz Winery or as you soon will be calling him, Josi, has agreed to make a special trip to Palmetto Bluff to share his gift for riesling. When you meet Josi, you will instantaneously like him, he is just that guy but when you taste his rieslings you will love him. I am awestruck by the purity of his wines. I want to use the word finesse to describe the wines but that would imply that he dressed them up for the party or fixed them in some way. Instead, I will use the word effortless because these wines seem to be an extension of the man himself, humble, charming and infinitely giving. 

The Marlboro Man of the wine world was here for one night only. On June 12^th, Paul Hobbs visited Palmetto Bluff to host “Home for Dinner”, an evening of home cooking paired with eight of Paul’s tremendous wines.

I will admit that I was a little intimidated at the thought of meeting Paul; after all he is a legend in my world. We were to spend at least an hour together in the car on the way back from the airport and it could have been awkwardly silent but thankfully he is down to earth and easy to talk to. You would have never known that he is the head of an empire and one of the most influential winemakers in the United States not to mention his projects in Chile, Argentina and Hungary.

We instantaneously hit it off at the airport and chatted our way through a few errands and throughout our journey to the resort. In anticipation of our time together I had a long list of questions that I was eager to ask him but our conversation never made its way to wine. We discussed politics, wealth, the Bohemian Club, corporate America etc. but never a mention of our one commonality. It was surprising and refreshing.

The evening started off in the garden of Marge and Norm Agin, our hosts for the evening, which was complete with a coy pond and miniature locomotives circling atop the pond.

The dinner began with Paul telling us about his childhood, the early part of his career and how the Paul Hobbs Winery began. As dinner started Guest Chef Kevin Gillespie of Woodfire Grill in Atlanta, GA eloquently explained his approach to the menu and his creations for the evening. Our Executive Chef Kirk Gilbert shed some light on his menu items and revealed the meaning behind his “Home for Dinner” menu item, “Spaghetti & Meatballs”.  

I think we made quite an impression on Paul and hopefully it convinced him that there are some serious food and wine lovers in the south and to visit Palmetto Bluff again soon.