Chris Amirault

All I can think is, "Why oh why did I give away my reservation two years ago?"

Got to thinking about this all over again, with similar issues and questions, and in the same burg. I'd love to hear any new thoughts people have about this subject.

Do you have a list of what booze is and isn't kosher? That's going to determine a lot. Is this accurate? Lots of info on batching here. Once you have your treyf list, we can get to work.

It was. I keep thinking about it. If you've just gotten a Yarai Japanese mixing glass and like 'em bitter, try to find this book somewhere: it's no end of fun.

Along the same lines, tonight's libation was The Warning Label, a crazy-ass quilt with Cynar, Lemon Hart 151, Punt e Mes, Bittermen's grapefruit bitters, Campari, Regan's orange bitters... Just lovely. I think that these Piles of Bitter are the book's real forté, either to its credit (says me) or debit (says others). "This one needs to cook a little longer than you'd expect," says Maks. Uh... yeah.

After a quick confab with Dave, I decided to throw caution to the winds and use a cornmeal dumpling recipe from the 1997 edition of Joy of Cooking. Since it resembled a hushpuppy receipt, and since I had some spiced flour left over from the dredging, I added some onion and scallion before tossing the quenelles... um... wait... check that... the big clumps of dough onto the stew. More, with photos, after dinner. Fingers crossed.

Dave: "standard dumpling recipe" = ?

Turkey'd work, I'd think. You're just risking deathly dry flesh with a long braise. I got chicken thighs a la Dave the Cook above. As I think about making this tonight, frankly I'm terrified by the prospect of making decent dumplings after many years of failure at such tasks. If I'm going the biscuit route, I'm trying to follow the basic tenets, right? Get out the White Lily, cut in the fat (leaf lard?), don't overwork it, all that. Si? No?

Perhaps, but I'm just a dork, so two is better than one for the full fist approach.

Thanks. That feedback totally makes sense -- and I can see how it would enable you to get much thinner original slices than you would otherwise get slicing down vertically. Actually, watching the videos, it doesn't seem scary at all. I think that part of what's so critical to these techniques is the focus and precision. I mean, duh, obviously -- but my point is that the resulting techniques seem more, and not less, scary than watching someone rock 'n' roll their way through a pile of parsley, a gesture that demands you keep your fingers clear from harm.

First, a combination of mutsu and granny smith; the second time, just granny smith. I think their tang works better than the less tart (but otherwise excellent) mutsus.

Kaiser roll dough? That seems insufficiently moist to me -- but perhaps there are more and less moist kaisers out there.

I'm shocked to discover that the indispensable Brix isn't listed here. I relieved them of Batavia Arrack van Oosten, George T. Stagg bourbon, Rothman & Winter orchard pear, and Anchor Genevieve just the other day.

Just want to say that substituting Laird's bottled in bond (100 proof) straight apple brandy for cognac in Grigson's saucisson sec recipe kills. More soon with photos.

Anna, be sure to try it again with the Aleppo pepper, which makes a huge difference. Using high quality lamb shoulder is the other key: the dish really depends on the quality of lamb for everything. When I made this last for a friend from the Middle East, using Eco-Friendly lamb shoulder, he said it was the best lamb dish he'd had in the states: "It tastes like home."

The price of cavolo nero has finally been lowered to general kale status at the Whole Foods nearby, and I've been making it every which way: roasted, quickly sauteed, and simmered with all sorts of alliums, capiscums, and salty things (bacon, anchovies). Tis the season, too, for that earthy flavor. What are people doing with theirs?

Two updates. Has anyone seen the Macallan ice machine in action? Two pieces of copper on guides that join to form a spherical mold; the ice placed into it forms into a sphere within moments, we read. Pretty damned cool if it works. I'm not waiting for the Brown Truck of Love to pull up with that in a box, however, so I put this Muji silicon ice ball maker on my wishlist. It's available come mid-February, so the website states; our manager in Shanghai, Erin (nakji), says it works like a charm.

Results? Inquiring minds, etc. I'm another big fan of the green stuff. Eager to hear about any test runs there, too.

I have a basic question about Japanese knife technique that's illustrated here in this ginger julienne diagram. The technique involves cutting by drawing the edge toward your free hand while your fingertips press down on the object being cut, allowing for very thin slices of ginger that would likely be impossible without an extremely sharp and thin blade. There are other instances when this technique of cutting toward your hand seems essential, such as . That is to say, I can't think of any other way to cut the daikon to produce this effect. But I'm not sure I understand the benefit of this technique -- if that's even the right word -- for something like the ginger, which I julienne using my nakiri atop a cutting board, on which I first slice thin slices of ginger, stack them like fallen dominoes, and so on. It makes me think that there are certain advantages to this cutting toward the hand that I'm not seeing. Thoughts?

Tomorrow is today Down Under; today Down Under is Australia Day. When I read about that, I realized I knew very little about Australian cocktails. Like, are there any? What makes 'em Australian? Do share alternatives to Fosters here.

Interesting. One of the constraints on my tea compositions has been self-imposed: I don't always have a supply of Earl Grey-ed Tanqueray on hand. But perhaps it's worth experimenting with just this sort of a la minute steeping....

Fair enough: I really like it, too. I said "tricky" because I didn't think it worked well in the Monkey Gland I made; then again, that's an unfair proving grounds for me.

The key feature for these last three glasses -- and one that's now often missing -- is the perfect, tapered grip. I especially like that double bump on Kim's first set.

I'm eager to know the answer to this question. I use a thin Wustof slicing knife that I try to keep wet when I'm slicing, but it's not a perfect system.

Are we talking primarily about European protein preparation here, meat and two veg sort of thing, with little additional seasoning to the protein? Lamb can work great with simple roasted cauliflower if it's also roasted with simple flavors; a blistering lamb curry, however, would overpower that same simple cauliflower. Shrimp Diane demands white rice, or perhaps a baguette, and little else; fried shrimp benefit from something pickly or slawy, as well as fresh tomatoes. Seems hard to declare sides given the wide variety of preparations for these mains!