Chris Amirault

Comparing Vegetarian Epicure and Moosewood Cookbook to see which is worse is sort of like trying to decide whether a flat tire or a shattered windshield is worse. They both really, really suck.

On average, Oreos last two hours at our house. Round 1: just a few because they're such a treat! Round 2: sneaking them between shop and dinner. Round 3: dessert! Gone. Oreos are God's sign that s/he truly loves us. My entire family agrees with this statement.

Seriously, if that blow technique works, it's the best tip I've gotten in about a decade. I stir for centered yolks, btw, Mitch. Doesn't always work though....

Rotisserie.

When did you buy yours? I don't have these problems at all, so I wonder if they've made a change.

Either an aged rhum agricole or something Jamaican. You could double up the Appleton.

I think that "regulating the heat" business is a red herring in practice. You rarely, if ever, need to go from low to high in a split second, and it's easy to pull something off heat for a bit while an electrical burner cools -- and that doesn't take that long. FWIW, I moved into a house with a 1970s-era Thermador rangetop, and I love it to death. Like Other Chris, wouldn't go back to gas if you paid me.

Could you point? Or even look? Or were they like Nigel in Spinal Tap with his guitars?

No way. No smelling??

Dan, your North Star Cocktail intrigued me: I had some Presidente brandy that I needed to finish off, and I'm enjoying playing with a bottle of Scrappy's grapefruit bitters, so: 2 oz Cynar 1 oz Presidente brandy dash Scrappy's grapefruit bitters Yum. The Cynar/grapefruit combo is delicious.

Is it my imagination, or are these clear ice chunks (a) harder, even at the same temperature, as my usual cubes, and (b) likely to melt more slowly? I will absolutely defer to any argument that suggests both are fetish effects and not science.

That's a nice problem to have.

You can wrap a small piece of paper towel around the end of the bone to make it less likely to puncture the bag. I used the aluminum foil tip from up-topic: conducts heat better than paper towels do.

Perhaps you share my disappointment. Who can you trust for the skinny on spirits? Increasingly, I find, you can't turn to most cocktail and spirits bloggers with confidence, who cheer the arrival of "booze fairies" delivering free hooch and then suddenly find several outstanding recipes for said hooch, which they declare to be delicious. Can't turn to brand ambassadors, either. Some very nice people, I must admit, and I like making drinks for them with their stuff when they visit the my bar. But their labor is part of multimillion dollar roll-outs devoted to sell product, not to help me figure out what to drink or serve. Ditto distributors, ditto liquor store salespeople.... This state of affairs leaves me pretty jaded about who I can and cannot trust as a reviewer of spirits out there. I wonder about Paul Pacult, say, whose Spirits Journal carries no advertising (but who works for the Pernod/Ricard BarSmarts program, by whom -- full disclosure -- I've been certified). His Kindred Spirits books are a treasure-trove, and I generally agree with his assessments. I've held off subscribing due to the expense, but perhaps I'm holding out for a Platonic ideal that doesn't exist. Is Pacult as close to objective (whatever that means) as one is likely to get in the cash-saturated world of booze? Where do you turn for sage advice before you drop a few Jacksons on something potent?

I am a big fan of the Rogue cocktail book, discussed at length here. The book has a number of very bitter cocktails, which suit my taste very nicely (and make others cringe, to be fair). One of the features of the book is the inclusion of large doses of Angostura and Peychaud's, using them more like, say, Fernet than a dashed bitters. I thought I'd give that a try with this drink. Like those Rogue drinks, it's not for anyone looking for something cuddly. A bit formal, a bit scruffy, sort of like, say, the collared peccary native to Trinidad, known there by a more colloquial name: Quenk Cocktail 1 oz Plantation 1991 Trinidad rum 1 oz Appleton Reserve 1/2 oz (homemade) pimento dram 1 tsp Angostura bitters 1 tsp Taylor's falernum 1 tsp Cruzan blackstrap rum Stir; strain onto a big, clear rock. No garnish. Let that ice melt.

Interesting.... My bottle of Amer Picon is more caramel-y than Suze + bitters, but perhaps I'm missing something. More in a sec; uploading pix of tonight's bitterfest.

Fascinating. I had no idea it was designed to be bad from my perspective. I don't get the melting and making new ice part. My ice maker dumps the half-moons into a bin where they sit frozen.

That's about what a decent oven and range would cost in the US, and while I'm getting a lot of use out of my SVS I don't see it replacing my stove!

Can you use it for drinks asking for raspberry syrup, like a Daisy?

Booze often don't get no respect at all. Vermouth for wine in sauces, deglazing a pan, risotto, braises.... I loves me my vermouth, mind you, but it isn't just wine anymore. Scotch for shaoxing. Ecchh.

As much as I complain about my home ice maker, those half moons are cold and thus dry. Isn't that a freezer temp problem and not an ice machine problem? Having said that, the ice crusher is a disaster -- though the 5 year old love the stuff that falls out.

No, I wasn't, but I'll see what I can dig up.

Made 48 hour short ribs yesterday served with homemade tortillas, and the oregano indio was spectacular. Also tasty on some fine Good Mother Stollard beans from you-know-who.

Thanks, everyone, for the light feedback. Starting to think about a pendant lamp that can be raised and lowered over the surface.... Meanwhile, I figured out what the little white switch on the face of the left oven is: Any guesses?

I thought that they were supposed to be firm?