Mayhaw Man

QuinaQen- While this statement is kind of true, in the broadest sense, I would not ever tell anyone to try and operate a still on their stovetop. The first reason is that pure ethyl alcohol and particularly alcohol vapor is highly flammable. You could burn yourself or your house for something that is not likely to be anywhere near as good or as inexpensive as what you can buy at the Liquor Barn down the road. The second reason that this is a bad idea is that distillation of any sort, by it's very nature, produces esthers and oils that are bad for you. THe primary reason that shine got the reputation it did (outside of disreputable producers using lead soldered radiators as cooling coils) is that many of the producers had no clue about the beginning and the end of a run of whiskey, when fusels were being produced in very large quantities along with the alcohol and these oils can cause devastating headaches (hence the term "pop skull)and other serious health problems. Distillation can be done safely and certainly well on a small scale (and clearly is in many parts of the world), but as with most things that involve science and food, much concern needs to go into safety. As someone who has spent alot of time and money around distillation projects, I caution anyone who is thinking about this to look into it very carefully-do much reading and study before you get all cranked up, because this is a quantum leap away from soaking grain in 156F water and putting it in a carbuoy in your closet with a airlock on top. QuinaQen Consult your local ATF agent with an anonymous phone call before you take this advice. While no one is going to get very upset by one of those table top distillation rigs that you can buy from Sharper Image, a few kegs welded together and properly set up with the right plumbing can yield a suprising amount of high quality entertainment and the way that the ATF calculates how much a still produces had NOTHING to do with how much you actually produced (scientific permit or not). Large quantities of untaxed liquor that you cannot prove you did not sell will at the very least make some law firm very happy and might land you in the pen for a short stretch. I have some very first hand knowledge of the enforcement methods and while the ATF is certainly more concerned with some clowns making meth, they are not going to pass up a good old fashioned shine bust. Think before you drink. Safety lecture over. We now return you to our regularly scheduled program.

I tried the same thing with Bobby Flay's programming. No dice. He's still annoying.

Phaelon, I agree that some decent cabinets can be arranged for (especially if you catch a sale as mentioned) from a large outlet that wholesales them. The question on the particle board vs. plywood/hardwood is another matter. Anything made out of particle board here in my little part of the swamp will soon cease to be a board and quickly become a particle. We have to use wood ( plastic would be better, but not as esthetically pleasing ) or we will soon have shelving and cabinetry that sloops in the middle and is basically useless because the hardware no longer fits the boards. Vermint, on the other hand may not have the hunidity issue quite as badly as I do (hell, I don't think the rainforests of Borneo have a humidity problem like the Central Gulf Coast, where many of us average 55 plus inches of rainfall per year, and Mobile-only 90 miles away- is the wettest city in the US) as I believe that Raleigh Durham is a much drier climate and certainly has a cooler temp profile. So maybe they would work for him. There are always tradeoffs in quality, but my natural reaction when I see the word particle board is to run. Incidentally, we actually found that several of our cabinet quotes from local guys were lower than Home Depot and Lowes. One of these guys had this cool trailer set up and pretty much built the cabinets for our bathrooms and some new interior doors right in the driveway. They were beautiful and fit and were hung perfectly. Still are. Some day I will get him to come back and reface the kitchen, but that will be 6 more years of Private school for two boys away.

You got it right in the second paragraph. Flavors are transferred along with the alcohol that is distilled off. In a post still situation more are transferred than would be in a column distillation. In a classic Bourbon rig there is the main still, a feed from it to a secondary still (often called a thumper box, due to the noise the steam causes as it glugs up through the mash in the second unit), and then a cooling coil. Many kinds of commercial liquor (vodkas, some rums, and other spirits) are made in a column distillation unit that pretty much draws off the steam at just the right point. These units are very efficient, but are not used that often in the production of spirits that are considered to be more flavorful, as the column does not transfer nearly as much of the essence of the beverage being distilled. Multiple distillations under pretty good control pretty much strips out all of the flavor from any spirit. This is how vodka is made (Newtral Grain Spirits), it can be made from damn near anything as it's flavor profile is to have no flavor (or very little, I am not looking for an argument from you expensive vodka drinking guys ) Hope this helps

Man you shoulda called me. I have mountains (literally, maybe small mountains, but mountains nonetheless) of them in my attic. Any time you need anymore, just let me know. You could go as Vulcan himself. Cool all greay costume and makeup with a flaming torch. Hve fun. Glad to see B-ham is getting with the program.

Dinner with Bleachboy (no Mrs. Bleachboy, my misunderstanding, maybe next time) was a very pleasant experience. I like Peristyle and am always amazed at the consistant quality of the place and I more or less completely disagree with the poster above who said that G.W. Fins, etc. was in the same league. They are wrong. Anne Kearney often ends up in the shadow of her other female compatriot in New Orleans, Susan Spicer, and everytime I leave Peristyle I spend some time thinking about the unfairness of that situation. The woman runs a lovely place with an atmosphere that is much like the downstairs dining room at Galitoire's without the din. We were served tiny little cheese puffs as we sat down. They were pretty tasty, much like cheese sticks in puff form, and not unlike what lots of people make around the holidays for snacking. Don and I both had the same starter-Duck Liver pate (a VERY generous portion) served with toast points, minced onion and capers. It was, to put it mildly, delicious. The hard thing to get right about pate is to add a little flavor tho the delicious meat without overwhelming it and in this Peristyle succeeded completely. Rich, flavorful, and satisfying. I could have easily gotten a couple more hunks and called it a night. But I did not. For entrees I had Tuna a la Anne-yellow fin seared and finished medium rare (perfectly cooked) served on a bed of potato-celeriac gratin, haricot vert and a demi glace with pine nuts, sultanas, balsamic sund dried tomatoes, garlic, and lots of rosemary (but not an overpowering amount of rosemary-but I love the stuff and wouldn't have noticed if it was a bit over the top. Don had a Pan Seared Veal Rib Eye with sweetbreads and artichokes. The veal had been marinated in a Dijon-Green Peppercorn marinate and was served on top of veal sweetbreads and artichokes and the whole thing was topped (New Orleans style steak service) with pink peppercorn compund butter. We both joined the "Clean Plate Club" Rather than going for dessert, we decided on a cheese plate that consisted of four cheeses, the best one being a blue cheese that (I believe) was from Point Reyes, CA. I did not get a list of the cheeses, but they were all above average and all from California. The blue had a nice aromatic vinegar front and finished on a very salty note. It was pretty damn swell. There was also a brie style cheese that had an interesting addition of rosemary and that was good as well. The service was perfect. Unobtrusive and smooth, No annoying every three second refills on the water-just the right amount of appearances by the staff. Service was unhurried and no one seemed particularly worried about turning our table. I asked for a menu on my way out the door (I collect them) and that request was filled promptly with the manager commenting that he didn't understand why more people didn't ask for them, as the menu changes frequently and no one can possibly remember the subtle menu changes that regulary occur with Ms. Kearney's whims. I enjoyed the dinner conversation and was really pleased to meet another egulleteer (especially one that could real me with tales of Trotter's and Trio). Don is quite the bon vivant and I look forward to seeing him again in New Orleans and taking him to a new spot or two. After dinner Don caught a cab back to his hotel and I started walking back to my apt (six blocks away on Royal) and as I was walking I decided that not having dessert was mistake-so I headed over to NOLA for a little Creme Brulee and Coffee. Perfect topping for a very nice evening. Thanks Don

There is so much cool hardware around these days for pullouts, lazy susans, slides, etc. that you can do some pretty amzing stuff with lower cabinets that used to have lots of dead space in them and generally look like big giant disasters. Especially stuff in the corners, those twistl out corner shelves coupled with double doors in the corners (I hope you know what I am talking about or that makes no sense )

Onions, Bell Pepper, Celery Duhhh

Exactly. If someone takes a whack at your okra (and I frankly find that hard to imagine, but it does happen, just put beans in their chili. That'll show 'em just how deep your feelings run.

Big Daddy. I tried to buy the junked out Pontiac wagon that used to sit out back a couple of times. He was a nice guy, but didn't exactly expound on the secrets of his fabulous ribs.

Just to make it clear, I am NOT whining. I am really perfectly fine with the whole thing and frankly there are some real positives to the whole situation as well. I grew up in the South and lots of people don't drink here for whatever reason (primarily cultural/religious) and so it is no big deal anywhere but fine dining (which I fortunately get to do more than alot of people). On the other hand I grew up around people who drink like fish and became a brewer and distiller as a choice of trades. So my experience with not drinking is not normal for ME. I don't know much about eating fine food and NOT drinking wine and my experience so far has been mixed at best. But that may be because I am missing something (bisides big fat Cabs ) and that was the basis for my question My question involved fine dining because it seems that so much of the service is often wrapped up in and around wine and I wanted to know how other non drinkers handled it.

Ordering unsweetened tea, something I do regularly, can be a problem in and of itself in the deep south. My wife's tea usually has half of the day's production at Domino Sugar in Chalmette in the bottom of it but I like mine plain and strong. We keep a gallon in the ice box and replace it about every other day, year round. I eat in a couple of soul food joints in New Orleans pretty regularly where I might as well be ordering Absinthe. THey dont have it and aren't even thinking about accomodating me. I just drink Barq's in that case, as they ALWAYS have that delicious beverage.

W.Z.?

This is exactly what I am NOT interested in doing. I am not trying to trick any server into anything. Accept me the way I am or you could potentially see your earnings drop. I'm a nice guy, have been in or around service all of my life, and know what to expect-and I expect it, regardless of my beverage choice. I can't drink for a while and was just wondering what people did as an alternative and how they felt the service might be affected by informing their server of the choice. I do love milk. I drink it everyday at lunch. I hardly ever order milk in a restaurant though, as I have worked in too many for too long to believe that the stuff is being stored anywhere but in a bev cooler behind the bar wedged in with some lemon/lime wedges, an old jar of marischinos, and a couple of cans of whipped cream. I have gotten so much borderline sour milk over the years on restaurants that I just gave up on it.

For a casual, but very well made meal, you might want to try Smiling Fish. This is run by George Barnes, one of the guys who originally ran 30-A and is really good and reasonable priced. Interesting, inexpensive wine list and a great apps. list. Any grilled fish choice is usually a safe bet. The tabletops are gorgeous works of art and belong in on a wall in a modern art museum ( of course, I am a little predjudiced, as my wife made them ) Fat Guy did some nice work down there and has provided some great reccomendations. As someone who has been going to Destin all of his life, I can safely say that if you haven't been there in five years you will be mildly shocked, if you haven't been there in ten you will not be able to breathe from the shock you will have at the development. It is stunning and frankly, to me and many other old hands, very sad. On the plus side there are now lots of great places to eat and there used to be very few. I love it there, but what was once a very sleepy area on the edge of some of the most beautiful beaches in the world has become condo land. You won't believe your eyes.

What do you drink during fine dining service when you don't or can't drink alcohol? Do you feel that the service is different for those that drink than for those that don't? Do servers suggest interesting alternatives or are you just stuck with tea and water of various sorts? I am only discussing fine dining here, that is, places where apertifs, wine, and after dinner drinks would be considered part of the whole service experience and not just something to do. Clearly this is not so much of an issue in low end dining. The reason that I ask this question is that I am currently taking medication that prevents me from taking a drink (although it is not so restrictive that I can't have wine cooked in food, etc.) as it renders the medicine much less effective and I need to take the whole course of treatment. Recently I have had dinner at Emeril's, August, John Besh Steakhouse at the Casino, and tonight will be dining with Bleachboy at Peristyle (mmmm, looking forward to it and to meeting him and his wife,as well). I would not say that I have been rudely treated anywhere (and at Emeril's it was treated as a big joke, because they know me and my reputation is definitely not one of a tea totaler ), but I think I can say that the service was "different"- though not in an unpleasant way. I am going to be on this stuff for a while and might as well get used to it, so I was just wondering what some of you thought about this subject generally. Also, before anyone chimes in with well wishes, I am fine and certainly this is nothing life threatening-but I might be stuck taking this stuff for a while (at least a year) so this subject is an interesting one to me and hopefully will be to some of you as well. Thanks

Monica, Are the pods seeded? Or do you just stuff on top of them?

I don't know how much this will help, but the first house we renovated in New Orleans (really giant old (1835) house on Tchopitoulas very near what is now the convention center) I pretty much had to tear out everything in the kitchen to repair the walls and insulate. We were working on various other parts of the house and more or less ran out of dough. I still needed work space in the kitchen so we did the following. Finished the floors. Heartpine. Resand and finish job. Messy but no big deal. Bought a very nice double, freestanding oven and built a box to house it. I bought a very old farmhouse dinner table (but nothing particularly expensive or valuable as an antique and a fabulous (at least for the time) Jenn Air cooktop with a grill and a bottom vent and mounted it in the table. I placed the table in the kitchen much like one would an island. It looked very cool and worked great. Accidental great idea. I went to a couple of cabinet places looking for cabinets that had been rejected for one reason or another. I bought one set with a sink in it and another upper set for dishes etc. I painted them to match along with the cabinet for the ovens. That's it. No more. 5 years later we finally finished it, but it was very easy as there was pretty much nothing to get in the way of the new cabinetry and carpentry. I dont need to right now (as I have my fabulous 50 year old O Keefe and Merrit Stove), but I would do that cooktop in the table again in a minute. We used the same cooktop when we built proper cabinetry and as far as I know it is still there.

I have seen quite a few guys at work with a bag full of them, but I think the reason you see guys carrying them around is the fact that as much as they are good knives, they are equally as good at holding an edge and not quickly getting beat up. Good work a day tools for working chefs. I use three knive for almost all needs: Sabatier 10" Slicer (about twenty years old) Sabatier Carbon Steel 8" Chefs Knife (at least 30 years old) (best knife I have ever owned) Sabatier 10" Chefs Knife (at least twenty years old) Along with these I have a drawer containing assorted Wusthofs, Henckels, 1 Kyocera chefs, many no names, cleavers, assorted serrated, etc., etc, and I still keep coming back to the same three. The only other knife that I use regularly is an offset serrated blade (no name brand) that I got at BB and B for about $30. I virtually never use a paring knife, but when I do I have a little Henckel's that does the trick nicely.

I have been on both the recieving and the investing end of this discussion and I can tell you, without hesitating, that 90% of the time the first (and most important) money is going to come from someone you already know. Maybe family, maybe some guy who sits in your dining room alot and just decides that he has enough money and you are good enough and smart enough to back in a deal. The majority of the money after that initial bump will come from this guy's friends and contacts and even more will come from an ever expanding circle around that guy or group of guys. IF you can raise the money, and IF you can get open in a timely and responsible manner and IF you can return money in 3-4 years, you will find that your next project will be much easier to put together. You might even find some bank money out there if you have a real solid track record. Jackal has written some very clear and honest words about this process and he is correct in pretty much every respect. I have never read a better description of a qualified or sophisticated investor (and I tried just yesterday in Bond Girl's thread to explain it ) than the one he has written above. I suggest you start looking around in your dining room, asking everyone you have ever known, calling up your old college buddies, whatever. If you think running a place is hard now, just wait 'til you are running one with somebody else's money.

My Friend, Just one word comes to mind after perusing your little slide show of horrors-SLEDGEHAMMER. I think you are looking at ripping it out if you are going to make any sense out of the thing. You could do it in stages if you needed to, but in the long run it looks like you are going to end up tearing it out anyway. I do kind of dig that cool red tile countertop. Very Seventies.

I am ignoring all taunts and heading back for the topic, as I sidelined this otherwise interesting and useful discussion with a bit of poorly chosen (but nonetheless true ) humor. I suggest you do the same. You can slag me by email if you wish, but this subject was rolling merrily along til I messed it up I apologize to all. You have hit the nail on the head as far as chefs go. When they are not eating out (which is rarely because they don't have time) they (the ones I know anyway, mainly New Orleans guys) tend to eat pretty straightforward stuff. Not too many sauce reductions and lots of braised meats and ettoufee/sauce picant/stewed type dishes. The same stuff all of us ate growing up.

A joke. Once Again. It was a joke. My whole family background up to the birth of me (1961) is Texas. Great grandfather served with Gen Hood/first medical doctor in Cass County/mama went to Baylor/grandfather in senate and house/yayayaya. 1848-now. Texas. Just a joke. Only a joke. Bring the ribs (brisket from Kreuz would be better than ribs, but you decide )

I'm not real big on Texans Actually I am one of those people that really will eat pretty much anything that I see other people eating and enjoying. I may not always love it (for example, I love virtually every Japanese dish I have ever been introduced to, but Natto is just not something I want to eat-and I GREW UP on a farm raising soy beans). I just like food. I like learning how to cook other people's stuff and using their cool native utensils. WHen I am traveling it is never a museum that I go to first, it is almost always some kind of market or grocery. You can learn a hell of a lot more about a culture by what they eat and how they shop for food than by what some archaeologist dug up and put on display (although, not to demean any antiquities experts, you can learn from old stuff too -you just can't eat an antique ). So to answer your question-so far I have liked everything that I have ever eaten on one level or another and it is a good thing that I play tennis often and hard, or I would be as big as a house.