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Today many ranches are serving up some of the finest Food and Wine anywhere. Organic and locally grown ingredients are finding there way to the kitchens of ranches and lodges around the world. In addition many of these properties are hiring culinary trained chefs. To celebrate this we welcome you to Ranchweb's Food & Wine where we profile properties that celebrate culinary excellence.
Jeff Miller - Papoose Creek Lodge
"I love using ingredients from the region," Miller says. "I like things that have a lot of integrity, items that I don't have to embellish too much."
Miller is executive chef at Papoose Creek Lodge, a five star property on the banks of the stellar waters of the Madison River. It's an eco lodge, just 40 minutes north of Yellowstone National Park. Guests come for the world class fly fishing and for hiking, horseback riding and birding. Not a few of them also come because of Miller's elaborate dinners.
After a day of wetting a line, they might start with smoked trout chowder with Tabasco crackers and Montana Whitefish caviar. They'll move on to Duck Two Ways, which is roasted Hutterite duck breast with braised duck tortellini, caramelized fennel and a Flathead cherry balsamic sauce. And they could finish with an apricot cherry and almond crostada with home spun pistachio chocolate chip ice cream.
"My training has been influenced by Northern Italian and Mediterranean influences," Miller says. "But I don't want to get too contemporary urban or chic here. I want to serve good rustic fare."
That may stretch your definition of "rustic." And the design of the lodge's kitchen may be quite different from what you've seen at most guest ranches.
"We have an open kitchen, there 's nothing behind the scenes," Miller reports. "And the kitchen is a large part of the lodge's culture. It comes as a surprise to some guests but other guests choose us for that reason. Having an open kitchen allows us to engage with the guests. And I'm always getting hit up for recipes."
Along with Miller's inventive cooking is a wine list that makes for some in-depth reading. You could splurge on a bottle of 1982 Chateau Lafitte Rothschild Pauliac at $1,125 if you felt like celebrating from their extensive lists of Bordeaux. Enjoy a well priced 1996 Sanford Pinot Noir for $35. Or a 1999 Ferrari Carano Reserve Chardonnay at $45 for one of Miller's fish entrees. And perhaps finish with a 1996 Chateau Suduiraut for $65, a fine sauternes indeed.
Sourcing for ingredients is an important part of Miller's philosophy. He seeks out small herd, grass fed beef, and naturally raised pork, lamb and poultry. And he taken pains to make relationships with the area's organic farmers.
"It has taken quite a bit of time to establish local resourcing," he says. "Since this is Montana, everything is 200 miles away. But buying from Montana producers is important to me. I'll get salad greens from one guy and potatoes from two other guys. My local list is really quite long."
Miller, whose own background includes an important stint at the fabled Olivetto in Oakland under chef Paul Bertoli, tries to run a democratic kitchen.
"I think that one of the most important things I do is to try and encourage my cooks to have a culture of collaboration," he says. "That's the way I was taught to cook. I encourage ongoing dialogue."
Which may be one reason they keep coming up with amazing dishes, such as cannelloni of wild nettles and local goat's milk ricotta with a roasted garlic tomato sauce. Or stuffed beefsteak tomato, filled with a ragu of Big Sky Natural Beef short ribs, with sun choke puree, red wine garlic sauce and Parmigiano chip.
After one of Miller's dinners, you might even forget about the trophy waters of the Madison River. For a little while, at least.
Visit Papoose Creek Lodge
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