Wine Country Gala : Northern California outdoor dinner to aid the American Wine Institute’s computer data bank proves that men are not the only ones behind the stove who can dish it out.

A voice originating in the far regions of the nasal septum sang out in the balmy Napa Valley night air.

“Well, we finally made it. We have proven we can do it as well as gentlemen,” said Madeleine Kamman, the keynote speaker at a $200-a-plate summer harvest dinner on the Beringer Vineyard grounds. The dinner honored 11 of the nation’s top women chefs and benefited the American Institute of Wine and Food’s computer data bank.

Never one to mince words, Kamman, the reigning culinary queen of cable television, cookbook author, teacher, lecturer, syndicated food columnist and one of the few female French chefs extraordinaire today, smiled like a pope giving a benediction. The 400 guests had traveled from far and near to wine and dine on the five-course dinner prepared by the star chefs.

Flickering light from the hundreds of votive candles on tables across the Beringer lawns danced on Kamman’s stiff French twist silver coif like a crown.

“I remember too well,” the nasal pitch crescendoed, “when Paul Bocuse (father of French nouvelle cuisine) announced that men belong in the professional kitchen and women belong in bed. At that time I turned a photograph of him upside down and he has been upside down ever since.”

Kamman had made her point. In enlightened professional kitchens, women are no longer regarded as second-class citizens, although not too many enlightened kitchens exist worldwide. But some women--a few in the United States--are now as famous as many of their male counterparts. And a good portion of those women had been summoned to donate their talents to the Napa Valley event.

A brief look behind the scenes will tell you who they are, what they do and why.

Let’s go back in time, just an hour or two before Kamman sprang onto the podium for her four-minute talk.

Let’s leave the serene elegance of the cocktail party crowd on the Beringer patio, where freshly frocked guests gingerly nibble on sui - mai, crispy spring rolls and corn tamales and sip Domaine Chandon Reserve and Schramsberg Blanc de Noir under a wash of jazz music wafting from a knoll where musicians Jim Purcell and Pierre Josephs play.

The place was transformed into a marketplace--complete with local produce, bales of hay and live fowl--by wine-country interior designers Julie and Gary Wagner, who also decorated the tables with whimsical scarecrows and bird houses clinging to vines. All partially donated.

Let’s hike up around the bend where the banging and clanging, moiling and toiling by the chefs is going on in makeshift tented kitchens spread out on the vineyard grounds into work areas, just the way they would be in a restaurant kitchen. The food service is about to begin, and, like Olympic sprinters, the chefs and their helpers have assembled in the service area to plan the last-minute grilling and serving of food that took all day to prep. The food service, up to the fifth course, would keep the women going until 10:25 p.m. Timing, after all, is what fine cooking is all about.

Smoke bellows from portable grills; faces, hot, red and sweaty under the labor of it all. Yet, there is an amazing calm among the women who have worked from noon to dusk and beyond, perhaps a sign more telling of the nature of women.

During the day, the place bustled with workers in kitchen whites--both men and women--helpers and stars mixed together. All volunteers--or partially so--for the cause.

One squints to separate the stars from the sous chefs and dedicated volunteers.

Ah, yes, there is Barbara Tropp of the China Moon in San Francisco, author of a definitive cookbook on Chinese cuisine (you can’t miss her trademark wide-brim lavender straw hat). She was showing her colleague Lydia Shire, executive chef at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles, how to fold the sui-mai dumplings so they look like flower petals. “That’s exactly right,” says Tropp in her precise, ladylike way. The confetti-colored sui-mai fillings, made with fish mousse and colorful garnishes, are a twist on the traditional Cantonese pork-filled dumplings. Arranged on a tray, they appear like splashes of paint on an artist’s palette. Gorgeous. Tropp is pleased.

Joyce Goldstein of Square One and Caffe Quadro in San Francisco was meticulously de-veining hundreds of shrimp for her chilled gazpacho, stopping now and then, just the way movie stars do, to pose for the cameramen who were covering the event for various media. She had carried loaves of homemade rosemary bread to serve with the salad course and was worried that they might have gone limp.

Leslee Reis of Cafe Provencal in Chicago, who had given up a career in biochemistry to work in the kitchen, was also worried about the heat. She had brought along several dozen flour-less chocolate-pecan tortes in her bags, but the hot weather seemed to be causing biochemical havoc with the chocolate coating. The ganache simply wouldn’t stay on. It seeped into the pores of the cake with every swirl of the spatula.

“That’s how it is when you have to make do,” she said. In the end, she dusted the cakes with powdered sugar and sent them to the tables. That way, who would notice?

Mary Sue Milliken of City restaurant and Border Grill in Los Angeles was using impressive strength to carry two huge empty caldrons after mixing the salsa, to go with corn tamale appetizers, with both hands.

“My God, how do women do it?” one asks.

“You get used to it,” said Milliken, who with her partner Susan Feniger has won every culinary honor available to women chefs in America. Feniger didn’t make it to the event. She was in India learning more about spices.

Annie Rosenzweig of Arcadia and 21 Club in New York didn’t show up, either. She had fallen off a horse the day before and was lying low in Los Angeles.

But there was the “mother of California cuisine” Alice Waters of Chez Panisse and Cafe Fanny in Berkeley and the soon to open Central Market in downtown Oakland, sitting on a folding chair under an oak tree, cleaning tender wild strawberries grown locally, alongside her pastry chef Lindsey Shere, in preparation of a dessert course of berry sorbets with summer fruits. They looked more like models in a bucolic English painting than chefs. Waters did not hesitate to help others cook, clean, lug, lift, pull and set up whenever necessary. Nor did the others.

Amy Ferguson of Baby Routh in Dallas (she supplied superb grilled chipotle quails with wild-rice pumpkin-seed salad and mango-tomato salsa) helped Shire barbecue purple string beans on the grill. Shire helped Tropp. There were no prima donnas in this bunch.

“Do you do this often?” we asked Waters.

“Oh, no. Actually I hardly ever do this anymore. But I believe in the cause,” Waters said.

The cause seemed somewhat nebulous until explained. Increasing the data bank of the American Institute of Wine and Food is a tall order. Where does one begin?

According to Beringer Vineyards spokesperson Tor Kenward, Beringer, a founding benefactor of the institute and principal sponsor of the database, will make the computer operational by early 1988. The database project is currently in the research and development stage.

The computer, expected to contain a directory of resources and information related to all aspects of food and drink, would be accessible to anyone interested in gastronomy. The AIWF, which also publishes the quarterly Journal of Gastronomy, is a nonprofit organization for encouraging scholarship and fostering research in the study of food and wine.

“Time, energy and ingredients, all gratis?” we persisted.

“Oh, sure,” said Waters.

“Oh, sure,” echoed Ferguson when asked the same question. “Happy to do it. I’m one who would put on a party at a hospital for children at my own expense. I wouldn’t be in this business if I didn’t enjoy giving,” she said, turning the yellowtail tuna chunks listed as “wok-charred tuna with gingered tomatillo sauce” on the appetizer menu. Except that, since there was no wok on the site, the tuna was broiled on a griddle over coals for much the same effect.

A Napa Valley celebrity chef, Cynthia Pawlcyn, of the highly successful Mustard Grill in Yountville, Fog City Diner in San Francisco, Rio Grill in Carmel and her latest restaurant achievement, Tra Vigne, in St. Helena (the hottest spot in the valley at the moment), was cooking herb-cured pork loins with a fresh fruit chutney (mango) back at Mustard’s for convenience sake.

Annie Somerville is the dedicated Zen vegetarian cook of Greens, a successful vegetarian restaurant in San Francisco. She chose to contribute the vegetable course, which included grilled Bintje and Rosefir (hybrid small new potatoes grown at Green Gulch Farm near Mill Valley), red onions, Sunburst squash and Japanese eggplant to serve with Aillade, a sauce made with grilled tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil.

A salad containing a variety of red and green lettuces, rocket, red mustard greens and frisee, dressed with a lemon-tarragon vinaigrette, was to be served with Laura Chenel’s chevre, including the ash-covered taupiniere that is sprayed with white penicillium mold to produce a more pronounced, complex flavor and thicker skin.

Margaret Fox, a celebrated culinary artist and executive chef-owner of Cafe Beaujolais in Mendocino (also author of “The Cafe Beaujolais Cookbook”), provided an appetizer-course canape of smoked salmon and mascarpone cheese as well as a shortcake biscuit filled with berries and peaches for one of the desserts.

Food to Go With Wines

The food, of course, was designed to go with the wines. You cannot, after all, have a superb dinner in Napa Valley without the proper pairing with wines, which, for this event, had been contributed by 20 valley vintners. The grouping will, in any case, give you a good idea of how the professionals do it, and, perhaps, inspire similar pairings for your own menus.

From a distance--say, a view from a knoll overlooking the mass of tables and hundreds of brightly colored Chinese rice paper lanterns dancing in the gentle breeze above them--the sparkle of wine glasses covering the tables from end to end was dazzling.

The volunteer service crew in white and black poured a preliminary sampling (more like an enological serenade while guests were being seated) of five white wines, including 1985 Cain Cellars Carneros Chardonnay, 1986 Cakebread Cellars Sauvignon Blanc, 1985 Domaine Michel Chardonnay, 1985 Monticello Chevrier Blanc and 1986 Simi Rose of Cabernet.

Goldstein’s first course of gazpacho with prawns brought out the 1984 Freemark Abbey Chardonnay and 1985 Trefethen White Riesling (nice to keep in mind if you ever need a wine idea with cold soup).

And with Milliken’s lop cheung (Chinese sausage) salad with cucumber and chiles, Reis’ garlic sausages with potato salad and Shire’s huge grilled marinated lobster, blue fish and green bean platter, came 1983 Inglewood Napa Valley Charbono, 1980 Joseph Phelps Alexander Valley Zinfandel and 1984 Sterling Merlot.

Accompanying Ferguson’s main-course grilled marinated quail, Pawlcyn’s pork loin served with Goldstein’s corn brushed with lime chile butter, and Somerville’s grilled vegetables, were 1982 Beringer Private Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon and 1983 Far Niente Cabernet Sauvignon.

There were few slip-ups (none major), and overall a smooth flow of new glasses to replace used ones, tasted or not.

Even the table service help seemed to view the event as a cherished cause worthy of their time and energy.

“Most of these people are doing this because they want to be part of what the chefs represent,” said Beringer executive chef Gary Danko, who himself is one of the bright stars in the California culinary galaxy. Danko served as trouble-shooter, coordinator and all-around supervisor of the outdoor kitchens. “We never had so many chefs under one tent, so to speak,” he said. The harvest feast climaxed a series of events at Beringer aimed at pairing wine with appropriate foods.

Heralding the end of the main courses was a refreshing all-greens salad with tarragon vinaigrette served with Laurel Chenel’s goat cheeses plus the lovely breads from a local bakery as well as Goldstein’s rosemary bread (which arrived miraculously fresh and crisp at the table). With the salad came 1981 Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon and 1983 Sebastiani Zinfandel.

The fitting finale for the meal was a trio of desserts: Water’s assorted berry sorbets served with China Moon’s cookies, warm berries and peaches with shortcake biscuits, and Reis’ chocolate-pecan torte. And there was the final pouring of wine: Robert Mondavi’s 1983 Botrytised Sauvignon Blanc and the Christian Brothers’ 1980 Napa Valley Zinfandel Port.

In case you want to attach a recipe or two from the chefs’ event to your future party plans, here are a few recipes that can be selected for a lovely late summer menu.

BARBARA TROPP’S CONFETTI SUI-MAI

1 pound unseasoned fish paste

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root

1 green onion, minced

8 fresh water chestnuts, cut into peppercorn-size dice, or 1/2 cup minced jicama

1 teaspoon coarse Kosher salt

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine or dry Sherry

30 to 35 paper-thin round sui-mai or won ton wrappers

Finely diced red peppers

Chopped fresh cilantro

Finely minced cooked carrot

Finely cut chives

Dipping Sauce

Combine fish paste, ginger root, green onion, water chestnuts, salt, pepper and wine, stirring to blend. To form dumplings, place scant tablespoon filling in center of round won ton wrapper. Bring wrapper up on 4 sides to form loose cloverleaf, then press each rounded leaf toward filling to form cupcake-like dumpling with 8 scalloped edges. To decorate, turn dumpling upside down and press exposed fish paste gently into diced red pepper, cilantro or carrot and chives.

Arrange dumplings 1/2-inch apart, filling side up, in concentric circles on oiled steamer tray, alternating green and red-crowned dumplings for colorful pattern. Steam over medium-high heat 15 minutes. Then turn heat off and let rest in covered steamer 5 minutes. Drizzle few drops of Dipping Sauce over each dumpling to serve as finger food. Makes 12 servings.

Note: Fish paste is available at many Chinese fish markets, or if unavailable, blend salmon, sea-bass or other mild-tasting fish fillet in food processor until it forms paste.

Dipping Sauce

1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar

1/4 teaspoon Chinese or Japanese sesame oil

Combine soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil. Drizzle few drops of sauce over each dumpling to serving.

AMY FERGUSON’S WOK-CHARRED TUNA WITH TOMATILLO SAUCE

2 pounds fresh yellow tail tuna, cut into 8-ounce steaks

1/2 hand ginger root, split

2 small cloves garlic, split

2 teaspoons minced thyme

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 tablespoons oil

Red romaine lettuce

Red leaf lettuce

Sunflower sprouts

Julienned daikon root

Julienned carrot

Tomatillo-Ginger Sauce

About 30 minutes before cooking, rub tuna steaks with ginger, garlic, thyme, soy sauce and oil. Allow to season. Sear tuna on both sides in very hot dry wok. Tuna will be seared outside and pink inside. Slice tuna thinly and arrange on side of plate.

Arrange red romaine, red leaf lettuce and sunflower sprouts on plate next to tuna slices. Garnish tuna with julienned daikon and carrot. Drizzle with Tomatillo-Ginger Sauce. Makes 6 servings.

Tomatillo-Ginger Sauce

1 inch ginger root

1 small clove garlic

1 shallot

10 tomatillos, halved

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon cilantro leaves, minced

Salt

3/4 to 1 cup diced tomatillos

Peel and chop ginger, garlic and shallot. Place halved tomatillos and ginger mixture in blender and process until smooth. Add vinegar and cilantro and process until blended. Season to taste with salt. Stir in diced tomatillos.

MARY SUE MILLIKEN’S LOP CHEUNG SALAD WITH CUCUMBERS AND CHILES

1 package Chinese sausages

6 pickling cucumbers

1 bunch green onions

Leaves from 1 bunch celery

1 bunch cilantro, rinsed

3 large red onions

Bitter Lime Sauce

Roast Chinese sausages lightly, then cool and slice diagonally. Peel cucumbers and slice lengthwise, then slice each half at angle. Slice green onions diagonally, using all of white and some of green parts of onion. Toss sausage, cucumber, celery leaves, cilantro leaves and green onions in bowl. Set aside.

Peel red onions and slice off ends. Carefully separate layers of onion into cups that can hold salad. To serve, toss sausage mixture with Bitter Lime Sauce. Spoon into onion cups. Makes 6 servings.

Bitter Lime Sauce

3 tablespoons palm sugar or brown sugar

1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

1/2 cup shrimp sauce, or 1/4 cup soy sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 serrano chiles

1 tablespoon bitter lime leaves

Soften palm sugar with lime juice and shrimp sauce. Add garlic. Thinly slice chiles, discarding stems. Chop lime leaves, then add to sauce.

JOYCE GOLDSTEIN’S GAZPACHO WITH SHRIMP

9 large beefsteak tomatoes, peeled

1 onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar or to taste

1/3 cup olive oil

Salt, pepper

3 tablespoons red onion, minced

1 green pepper, minced

Croutons

6 Prawns, cleaned and cooked, optional

Chopped parsley

Puree 3 of tomatoes in blender or food processor until liquefied. Reserve tomato juice.

Place onion and garlic in blender and puree. Set aside

Pulse cucumbers with small amount of vinegar in food processor until coarsely chopped. Set aside.

Chop remaining tomatoes coarsely in processor.

Combine tomato juice, chopped tomatoes, pureed onion mixture and cucumbers in deep bowl. Add olive oil, remaining vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Chill soup several hours.

Ladle some of soup into each bowl and garnish with diced onion, pepper and Croutons. Garnish with prawns and parsley. Makes 6 servings.

Croutons

3 slices French bread, crusts removed

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

Cut bread into cubes. Fry in butter mixed with oil and garlic clove. Toss well until bread cubes are golden brown.

CYNTHIA PAWLCYN’S HERB-CURED SMOKED PORK LOIN WITH CHUTNEY

1 (7- to 8-pound) center-cut boneless pork loin

10 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed

3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, minced

3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, minced

1/4 cup fresh chervil, chopped

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons sea salt

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Fresh Fruit Chutney

Fresh Herb Riot

Trim excess fat from pork loin. Reserve.

Mix garlic, thyme, basil and chervil with sugar, salt and cayenne pepper. Mix well. Add mustard, olive oil and vinegar. Mix well again. Spread herb mixture evenly over pork loin and marinate 12 to 24 hours.

Build small fire in smoker or covered barbecue grill. When hot ash stage is reached, place 2-inch-deep steel pan containing soaked apple and hickory chips on ash bed. Place pork loin on grate, cover and smoke to desired degree of doneness.

Just before serving, remove chip pan. Increase coal bed and grill pork loin to caramelize outside. Cook to internal temperature of 139 to 145 degrees. Remove from coals and let rest 15 minutes before serving.

Slice into 1-inch slices to serve with spoonful of Fresh Fruit Chutney and sprinkle with Fresh Herb Riot.

Fresh Fruit Chutney

1 cup bing cherries, pitted, stemmed and split in halves

1 cup raspberries, blackberries or boysenberries

1 tablespoon each minced opal basil, anise-flavored mint, chervil

1 tablespoon crystallized ginger

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

Combine cherries, berries, basil, mint, chervil, ginger, olive oil and vinegar in jar with tight lid. Cover and store in refrigerator several days.

Fresh Herb Riot

3 to 4 fresh shiitake mushroom caps, sliced julienne

2 to 3 sprigs opal basil, leaves split

2 to 3 sprigs Thai basil, leaves left whole or halved

10 to 12 sprigs cilantro, leaves split

1 tablespoon minced lemon grass

1/2 cup (1-inch) chives slices

1 red pepper, seeded and cut into 1-inch julienne slices

Mix shiitake, opal basil and Thai basil, cilantro, lemon grass, chives and pepper. Mix well.

ANNIE SOMERVILLE’S GRILLED VEGETABLES WITH AILLADE

1 1/2 pounds small potatoes, baked or boiled until tender

1 1/2 pounds sunburst squash, cut into halves or wedges

5 Japanese eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch thick lengths

2 medium red onions, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick rounds

1/2 cup olive oil

3 cloves finely chopped garlic

Salt, pepper

Balsamic vinegar

2 red peppers roasted, seeded, peeled and sliced

1/4 cup Nicoise olives

Aillade

Cut potatoes and sunburst squash in halves and thread on metal skewers. Brush potatoes, squash, eggplant and onions generously with oil mixed with garlic. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Marinate roasted peppers in garlic oil. Add salt and pepper and drizzle lightly with balsamic vinegar. Set aside for garnish.

Grill remaining vegetables over mesquite or charcoal of choice, about 5 to 8 minutes, depending on vegetables, turning often. Remove from heat, season to taste with salt and pepper, if desired. Serve with Aillade. Garnish with roasted peppers and handful of Nicoise olives.

Aillade

2 medium tomatoes

1 small bunch basil

2 cloves garlic

1/2 cup olive oil

Red wine vinegar

Salt, pepper

Roast tomatoes over open flame or on mesquite grill. Peel and seed tomatoes when cool enough to handle. Put basil, garlic and olive oil in blender container and puree until smooth. Add tomatoes and puree until smooth. Season to taste with vinegar, salt and pepper taste.

MARGARET FOX’S WARM BERRY AND PEACH SHORTCAKE

3 cups blueberries

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Dash salt

2 small or 1 large peach, peeled and cut into eighths

3 cups raspberries

2 tablespoon raspberry liqueur (preferably St. George Spirits) or other fruit-flavored liqueur

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

8 Shortcake Biscuits

Combine blueberries, granulated sugar, lemon juice, cornstarch and salt in nonaluminum saucepan. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer over low heat until blueberries break up and juice thickens, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Add peaches and heat about 1 minute, then add raspberries and raspberry liqueur. Carefully fold in. Mixture should be slightly warm.

Beat cream until frothy. Beat in vanilla and powdered sugar until stiff, but not dry. Split biscuits and place bottom halves in dessert bowl. Top each with 1/6 of berry mixture. Garnish with dollop of whipped cream. Place top half of biscuit slightly off center. Serve at once. Makes 8 servings.

Shortcake Biscuits

2 cups unsifted white flour

Sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-teaspoon-size bits and frozen

Whipping cream

1 egg yolk

Mix together flour, 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar, baking powder and salt. Add frozen butter bits and blend quickly until butter is broken up into pieces size of peas. Add 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon whipping cream. Stir with fork to mix until just moistened. Turn out onto lightly floured board and knead 10 times. Small lumps of butter will be visible.

Roll out to 3/4-inch thickness, keeping dough square-shaped. Cut into 8 (3x2-inch) rectangles. Place biscuits on ungreased baking sheet and brush with egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon whipping cream. Sprinkle with 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar. Bake at 350 degrees 15 minutes or until golden brown.