plattetude

Most chefs are lucky to get away and do one episode. ← As I understand it, Jeopardy tapes a whole week in one day. I'm sure Chopped could do 4 or 5 episodes worth in a day.... Christopher

Oh, it was THAT Johnny? He works the bar at PDT? I'm so out of it. Christopher

Would that be any different from corn meal?

The Easter Bunny brought a jar of premium popping corn to my 3-year-old with some sweet/salty popcorn topping this year, and it's been an occasional treat we've had this year. Funny thing, I never really obsessed about a method -- just a shallow pool of corn oil at the bottom of the All-Clad Windsor pot (sides flared out just so -- gives a little more room for the popcorn to expand from the narrower base), fill with a single layer of corn, cover, turn burner to medium high, and a few minutes later, done, with almost no unpopped kernels. Maybe I'll try uncovered next go-round and see if there's noticable fluffierness.... Christopher

I expect because, like with a standard tarte tatin, the crust on top during baking becomes the crust on the bottom when serving.

The post said "foreign winner" not "foreign contestant." None of the top chef winners, or even finalists (though Elia made it to the final four, as I recall), have been non-US citizens. Christopher

Just dropped a boatload of $ at a liquor store and finally picked up St. Elizabeth. I'm excited to sub it for Benedictine for one of my recent (unnamed) concoctions -- 2 oz Laird's bonded 1/2 oz R&W Orchard Apricot rinse of St. Elizabeth 2 dashes Peychauds If that doesn't evoke falling leaves and nippy weather, dunno what will! Christopher

Choucroute or charcuterie? I'm guessing the latter based on your description (since there's no mention of sauerkraut). What else looked interesting on the menu? Christopher

I'm pretty sure that's not the point. It's less about the *act* of cooking and more about the *art* of cooking. Sure, the process of slicing, dicing, fileting, sauteing, blanching, roasting, foaming, sous viding, quick freezing, spherifying, etc, are all tasks that anyone with a fair degree of dexterity can learn. But determining how to put disparate ingredients together in interesting and palate-enhancing ways, in ways that build on culinary traditions or perhaps even throw out said traditions, then building an artful progression of courses, that's certainly something that's beyond pure skill, if you ask me. Christopher

The wine service at jean georges is as good as the food. The two sommeliers are young, vibrant, easy to work with, and extremely knowledgeable. It is possible to do wine pairings with each course or anything else you desire. Just ask and I am sure you will be happy with what happens next. The wine list is evenly divided between old and new world wines. ← Good to know, thanks! C

So I've just plowed through/reread most of this thread in anticipation of my first visit tomorrow, for dinner, and I'm left with a big question mark. There's very very little mention of wine service here -- are the wine pairings just not terribly interesting or revelatory, are they simply not done, do people typically do a white followed by a red? I suppose it speaks highly of the food that so little is said of the drink, but... Christopher

Confirmed. Genevieve can stand up to a pretty healthy splash of St. Germain, as long as it's balanced with a good dose of orange bitters. (Actually, I've taken to using Bitter Truth Lemon Bitters with St. Germain.) Christopher

My memory has it as gin (Plymouth, as I recall), St. Germain, grapefruit bitters, and a (substantial) grapefruit twist. Over a rock. And that's confirmed over on the D&C website (tho that lists orange bitters rather than grapefruit). Christiopher

This sounds nice. I know you weren't looking for tweaks, but something I find works really well with Applejack and apple flavors is Benedictine. And Peychaud's plays well with apples too.... Christopher

Past as prologue... The Wine Clip Christopher

This is somewhat timely. My wife and I just moved into spacious new digs, and as such, we've been planning some kind of furniture piece for liquor storage. Currently, pretty much the whole collection of bottles, sans equipment, glassware, and bitters (which have most of a dedicated kitchen cabinet), sits in a sizable built-in storage cabinet under a bay window, but on our "to-buy" list is some kind of bar cart or armoire or such. About the only piece of furniture, short of an actual bar (which is just impractical for a bunch of reasons), that either of us has seen that would even remotely be viable for a decent booze collection (I'd put the bottle count in the 40-ish range right now) are these from Crate and Barrel. Anyone have any experience with these? They seem pretty roomy (the wine rack can be removed, I believe), and sit on casters, which is handy. Any other furniture ideas, repurposed or not, are welcome! Oh, and in terms of organizing, I like to line things up, best I can, by liquor type. For instance, the cabinet I've got now is set up arrayed from brown spirits (whiskies/whiskeys/whiskys, dark rums, brandies, etc) to transitional spirits (oude genevers, reposado tequilas, lighter rums) to white spirits (gins, blanco tequilas), then vermouths, then liqueurs. Makes it pretty easy to navigate, even in a less-than-ideal space. Christopher

If I had to guess, I'd imagine they got their muddling stick expressly to make mojitos. Christopher

I suppose that depends what kind of spicy you're going for. At Cucharamama, you can get some pretty sublime spicy stuff, but it's decidedly non-Asian. Christopher

Rosanjin's existence counts as an easily google-able fact. Not sure I grasp this. How does one search for a restaurant if one doesn't know of its existence? I'm pretty sure that going to Google and plugging in "worthy restaurants in NYC I've never heard of" wouldn't bring back a valid sample set. Seems to me that learning that a restaurant that you've never heard of should be on your radar is worthwhile. Or am I missing the point? Christopher

Not sure if you intended to imply this or not, but being the stickler guy that I am, I will point out that I think Genevieve is a modern oude genenver style gin rather than a jonge genever. The reason I say this, is that the differentiation point between jonge genever and oude genever comes down to the amount of malt wine used. Jonge genevers have very little malt wine, being mostly neutral spirits. Oude genevers have a larger percentage of malt wine. Bols Corewyn, for example, is supposed to be made from a distillate of at least 51% malt wine. As far as I know, Genevieve is made on a distillate from 100% malted barley, wheat, and rye. There are no Neutral spirits in the mix at all. To me this makes it an Oude Genever style Gin rather than a Jonge Genever. ← Right. Thanks for keeping me honest. I wasn't really meaning to imply that Genevieve is a jonge-style genever, I was more running through in my head what bottles of *any* genever I have at home right now. Christopher

Okay, here's a challenge: I'm looking to concoct something that features both young genever (I'll say Boomsma, rather than dig into my dwindling stash of Bols or my Genevieve) and Irish whiskey (I've got Red Breast on hand) to honor a 2-year-old whose father is of strong Dutch extraction and mother is of strong Irish extraction. I imagine if I do them at equal parts, the whiskey would be completely obliterated, so as a starting point, I'm assuming 2:1 on the whiskey:genever. From there, what, a splash of maraschino, bianco vermouth, and some healthy shakes of orange bitters perhaps? Or maybe some green Chartreuse and Punt e Mez, for a Dutch-Irish Bijou riff? Other ideas? Christopher

Also, I believe Dale DeGroff uses both rye and cognac in his Sazerac recipe. ← Similarly, the Saratoga has both rye and cognac along with sweet vermouth. Something I concocted for a MxMo a while back was rye and reposado tequila in equal parts (1 oz each) with maraschino (1/2 oz) and orange bitters. Thought they played well together. (And I then tried a variant with St. Germain in place of maraschino, which I liked even more.) Christopher

Seems to be but why they changed the package is beyond me. The old ones looked way cooler and were much, much more bartender-friendly. At home I keep refilling my old ones, though that might be weird (no worse than the rest of you I'm sure ) ← And the caps on the new bottles may as well be made of aluminum foil. I opened a bottle last night with a mighty effort because the cap wouldn't separate from the collar band, and all my twisting completely hosed the threads on the cap. Once it came off (with the help of some kitchen shears to cut through the scoring), the cap was a misshapen mess that I had to mold back into its original shape. Christopher

Sorry if I'm a bit gullible here. I am a huge fan of the Last Word cocktail. Is this Final Word a real cocktail or just an example? I suppose I could try it, but am afraid to waste the ingredients. If so, is it: 1 oz. Rye 1 oz. Maraschino 1 oz. Lemon Juice 1 oz. Chartreuse ← Yup, that's it. But note, it's Final WARD, not Final Word, in honor of the esteemed creator thereof, Philip Ward (aka Phlip). Christopher

Omg, that's genius! I was looking at a mocktail book the other day to get ideas for future pregnancy drinks, and was lamenting the fact that they all seem really sweet. I guess it's difficult to replicate the classic simplicity of a martini or manhattan with non-alcoholic ingredients. But I do love a good Islay whisky, and I do love a good lapsang souchong. I shall have to experiment... ← For the love of Jerry Thomas, don't! I had the idea that lapsang souchong and scotch might be a good combination so I tried it using Talisker. ← Um, the idea for this thread is *evoking* scotch with a lapsang souchong, not infusing it with the tea. Right? Christopher