Chris Amirault

From Toby Maloney (Society member Alchemist): Bartenders wanted: Calling all cooks, baristas and new bartenders. The Violet Hour in Chicago is looking for a Bartender. We are looking for passionate people with exceptional palates who know the value of following a recipe to tend bar in a classic, culinary style. We press our own juices daily, utilize egg whites and make our own bitters. While labor intensive and mentally challenging, the end results are rewarding on multiple levels. Don’t worry if you have never poured a drink. It can actually be an asset. Training is many, many hours behind the bar. There is no time specification. You train until you are ready. For a more comprehensive idea of the scope of our program, please follow this link to a recent NY Times article and pay particular attention to the paragraph on minimalism. In your cover letter, please include a brief insight as to why you want this job. Resumes without a cover letter will not be considered. Please send to theviolethour1520@gmail.com We look forward to speaking with you soon.

I've made daube a bunch since last posting, and last night I tweaked it a bit to good effect. After browning the meat (chuck shoulder -- excellent) in butter and olive oil, I added the liquid from a can of chopped tomatoes and the coffee-filtered soaking liquid from a few ounces of dried porcini. As I did these steps, I dumped the tomatoes and chopped reconstituted mushrooms into the bowl with the beef. Once that liquid had picked up all of that fond, I poured it off, rinsed out the pan, and then sautéed pancetta lardons in the cleaned pan. Once they were browned, I dumped them into the bowl of stuff, added the mirepoix, sautéed that a bit, and dumped it into the bowl. With another layer of fond now in the pan, I dumped in the tomato/mushroom liquid and a bottle of cabernet, reduced it about 2/3s, and then added that to the bowl ingredients. (No blending -- kept it chunky.) The rest is pretty standard: salt, pepper, thyme; brought to simmer on stovetop; 225F for about 3 hours -- I don't time any more since I go by doneness -- rest and cool, and then finished by bringing up to heat on the stove top for service. But I think that reducing the copious liquids beforehand had a very good effect on the stew. Makes me realize that we're often in possession of a bottle of red wine that would best be used in this way.

Just got this and am enjoying it. The beet and blue cheese salad was a bit of a miss for us with a Bayley Hazen blue from Jasper Hills, but her gnudi was fantastic, which I made with her homemade ricotta. My shaping and fork indentations need work, but they were excellent with a simple browned butter and sage sauce. What else are people making with it?

You know those red plastic bags that onions come in? Turns out they are great for holding your cheesecloth package while your homemade ricotta drains.

Got a bottle of George T. Stagg 2009 bourbon, which clocks in at 141.4 proof. Wanted a simple Old Fashioned using the Jerry Thomas decanter bitters, but something unexpected happened. To recreate, here's the booze & bitters: Added a few drops of gum syrup, stir, and: Am I right to assume that this has something to do with the high (>70%) ABV? It happened with Everclear (95% ABV) just now as well.

I'm very interested to know the specifics of Aleppo pepper, too. I can try to swing by the store (run by Armenians, as it turns out) and ask this weekend, but it'd be great if a Society member could chime in here!

Yeah, I do a similar thing that I call a Rough and Tumble bc of the edgy Brugal -- my favorite nightcap, in fact: 2 oz Brugal (Extra Viejo if you can find it) 1/2 oz Creole Shrubb 1/2 oz Branca Menta

Looks good, and great name! Too bad most of the peeps won't get the reference. What rum with that? I could imagine something higher end, like 10 Cane, would be delicious -- but I'm not sure your customers are going for that price point.

Yet more on the subject with the Atlantic's Caitlin Flanagan's "Cultivating Failure" in the Atlantic taking Waters et al out behind the woodshed for a serious public flogging: As if outsized hyperbole is the only tool available to refute such claims, Kurt Friese (Society member devotay) of the Civil Eats blog writes, More to come, I'm sure. Thanks to John Sconzo for the links.

It's an interesting question. I'd guess it has to do with consumers on low-sodium diets. And the fact that most people don't salt their pasta water at all, in my experience. They expect spaghetti to be bland.

Right: let it hang, embrace your anxiety, rub 'em down if they're fuzzy, and see what happens.

About to try my first Epoisses.

Another group of unsuspecting innocents lured into Tikidom. Congrats!

Welcome, indianfoodandy! I'm hoping we can sort this out, as I have the same question. If I read correctly, cteavin was asking whether fermented batter can be kept indefinitely in the fridge and "fed" like a sourdough starter is fed, regularly giving it a bit of something to prevent it from over-fermenting. Your response suggests that the answer is no: that once batter is fermented, you've only got 2-3 days before it over-ferments. However, I think your response suggests a solution, namely, keeping unfermented batter in the fridge and taking it out in small quantities to ferment when needed. So, two questions. Is the information above correct? And how long does the unfermented batter last?

I've never heard of a NY Mix either, but I've been doing just that -- measuring out an equal amount of both Fee's and Regan's and putting them in its own bottle -- for a while now. I also keep separate bottles of both, as there are applications where the bass notes of the Regan's work on their own. (Fewer situations where the top-note of the Fee's is needed, though I wonder about a Fee's/orange flower water aromatic....)

Just made one of Toby Maloney's 41 Jane Does, with a slight adjustment to switch to gum and lower the syrup ratio. After some hardcore dry and ice shaking both, the gum syrup creates a great mouthfeel both in the drink itself and in the stable meringue, which has sustained itself for a remarkably long while. That is to say, these damned bubbles are tiny, and they ain't popping. If I were making drinks at a bar on a regular basis, I'd build the menu to be sure to have several, if not most, egg white drinks amenable to the gum syrup. The next experiment is a straight-up Pisco Sour, to see how the malty syrup plays with the edgy pisco.

Still don't know what Grandma's up to, but I revised this slightly to: 1 oz applejack 1 oz R&W pear 3/4 lemon 1/2 2:1 gum syrup egg white Fee's OF -- which I dashed into the drink instead of a garnish. We have house unanimity on the deliciousness of this drink.

Toby, do you think we could have the formulae for the Empire Falls and the Carpetbagger? (Yes, I just got a bottle of the R&W Orchard Pear.)

Agree with the comment re: gin[.] However, I'm not sure I agree that they don't work as well with rye or bourbon[.] De gustibus etc. etc. Have to say that I'm a bit annoyed at that comment regarding lucre as it's never been about money for me. Given my record here as an early adopter and fan, I'm not sure what why raising production costs and retail pricing as an issue is annoying. It seems entirely reasonable for those business fundamentals to have an effect on the way that anyone designs a product -- entirely necessary, even.

I've never tried it, but a couple of people in Boston have recommended the Hiram Walker curacao as a pretty good alternative if you can't get Curacao de Curacao, Marie Brizard, etc.

Are there any "ethnic" enclaves in Orange County worth navigating?

I think that most tiki folks would urge you to step away from the blender and use crushed ice for these drinks. If you don't have an ice crusher, just bash a few pounds in an old pillowcase or towel using a wooden mallet or rolling pin and put it back in the freezer, then take it out for use. Don't bash it all to powder, or else you'll have watery drinks. When it's time to serve, shake with some of the crushed ice. You can also bottle the drinks for service, either by making entire batches (including the fruit juices) or just by combining the non-juice base and then measuring out an appropriate amount, squeezing your citrus, shake, and serve. It eliminates a persnickety step from making these drinks in bulk.

Well, it's a stroke, let me tell you. I think that the WBA bitters would really work well, all that cinnamon and clove. ETA: using Kubler instead of the supercomplex Marteau might leave more room, too, I should add.

Hands down, no question, without peer: Audrey's French Pearl. One sip of that drink has transformed more people into understanding and appreciating quality cocktails than any other drink I know. It blows people away -- and then you tell them what's in it, and they flip out again. It's more recent and far less heralded, but I think that Jeff Morgenthaler's Norwegian Wood belongs on a top 10 list, too.

There's a flavor element -- as noted above, it's a bit malty, which is an added bonus in some drinks. But the gum arabic thickens the drink to give it a silkier mouthfeel. The Improved Whiskey Cocktail, for example, is decidedly luscious with the gum syrup, sort of like foie as compared to duck breast.