Chris Amirault

As noted above, this is the recipe I've been using, tweaked from Dale DeGroff: 12 extremely fresh medium eggs, separated 2 c caster sugar 2 quarts whole milk 1 quart heavy cream 8 oz bourbon 8 oz Jamaican dark rum 2 oz pimento dram 1/2 nutmeg berry Beat the yolks until very light, adding half of the sugar as you go. Stir in milk, cream, bourbon, rum, & pimento dram, and grate in half of the nutmeg. Chill mixture thoroughly. When you're ready to serve, beat the whites until they are foamy, and then add the additional 1c sugar. Peak meringue to soft peaks, and fold into the chilled mixture. Serve in a chilled bowl surrounded by ice, grating a bit of nutmeg atop each cup. I've aged the yolk/booze component and it doesn't seem to make a big difference. Having extremely fresh eggs (like go to a farm), caster sugar, and folding the whites in just before service is crucial.

No, it's driving into the heart of the matter, for me anyway: the relationship between the technique and the results. Your descriptions of action and purpose are illuminating. Thanks.

That's the source, my dear.

And soon that obsession will cause you to toss the KA grinder & stuffer attachments and get dedicated machines for each.

Of course -- but that could be true for any cultural practice. Clearly some people's experience of drinking is enhanced by flair, too. By the same token, some people don't want to wait around while people turn labels toward them: they want their hooch. Call 'em lowbrow if you want, but it's hard to escape cultural relativism when you're talking about enhancing gustatory pleasures.... Actually, that video makes me think, "I want to practice opening bottles that way" and "I'd spill a drink filled to the rim every time." Thanks, Kohai. I'm very interested in your reaction, particularly regarding technique. Those of us who can get to Tokyo (I hope to visit Tender in June) can enjoy the unique talents of Mr. Uyeda ourselves. But the vast majority will have to settle on our imperfect attempt to use his techniques, and I'm having a hard time getting any clear information about them. FWIW, It seems completely reasonable to me that free pouring can be accurate. Dale DeGroff mentions practicing "free pouring" in his books, using the same equipment and repeatedly remeasuring to confirm accuracy; as a result, it's not really free pouring in the beer-and-a-shot sense. Given the uncanny precision of Uyeda's technique, it seems reasonable to assume that he's spent some of the last 40 years getting that skill down. So I'm willing to believe that a sufficiently disciplined bartender can pour accurately in desirable ratios. The thing is, we all can also pour accurately using measuring glasses and jiggers, so we don't need to improve that aspect of our technique. What are the aspects of the technique demonstrated by Uyeda and Iguchi that you have brought back with you as valued components of your practice?

What makes it Korean exactly? It seems like a standard-issue garlic shrimp dish.

The beef crack is from Dunlop's Land of Plenty. For the peanuts, I always follow Ah Leung's pictorial. It's worth it to make the big batch he sugests: they go quickly around here. The chicken also came from Land of Plenty. I had a bunch for lunch yesterday, and save for the soggy scallions, the dish is still great. Erin, the kitchen whiteboard makes a ton of sense. I wonder if I can get away with one here. I'm hoping you'll share the pickle recipe when you've perfected it; I haven't got one that I like for meals like this. The corn soup and tourtiere sound fantastic!

Thanks to a work bonus, I'm enjoying quite a few cooking-related presents. Got the Ultra Pride early, and bought myself a Yarai mixing glass from Cocktail Kingdom a couple of weeks ago, featured here with last night's Bijou Cocktail: Three cookbooks are on the way thanks to gift cards: Ad Hoc, Momofuku, and The Complete Robuchon. Also got a ThermoWorks infrared thermometer, which is proving its worth in about a jillion ways. (Some depressing: that fridge is, um, not supercold.) Finally, I've got a Vinotemp 58-bottle wine cooler en route that I'll be using to cure meats. Lots of stuff to support projects in the new decade.

Ten guests, and thank goodness for the new dishwasher.

Pretty tired, but the list thing really helped. That was the first one; I then wrote up one starting at 1:30 with every 15 minutes marked off. Had a lot of good-natured help (especially after the punch was out).

Made a variation of this ginger rum punch from Rumdood's website subbing in 10 Cane, Myers's, Batavia arrack, and some Barados Plantation rum for the Mount Gay products, as well as Maine Root ginger brew for the Bundaberg and Taylor's for the Rum Dood falernum. Very nice, especially given the Chinese food with which it was served. Now figuring out punch for the New Years Eve Eve party... leaning Fish House way....

Great meal yesterday. Here's the recap. First, the Xmas Eve/Xmas Day to do lists: The prepped sauces lined up on the shelf: Pork post-mincing: Naw mai fon base being prepped: Brined chicken in a soy/honey marinade before I took it out for an hour to warm up before roasting: Branzini after cleaning, heading back into the fridge: Everything turned out very well. The apps included the nam yu peanuts: And the dried beef -- which we called "beef candy" -- a multiday affair that was a huge hit: And then the main dishes. Lop yuk with garlic and fatty, rich chicken stock: Steamed branzini (Mediterranean sea bass) with ginger, mushrooms, and lop yuk skin: Pickled green beans with pork: Steamed scallops with tofu and black bean sauce: Braised shiitake mushrooms: Dan dan noodles: Soy & honey roasted chicken: Naw mai fon: Spicy stir-fried cucumbers: Shredded red oil chicken: Sweet & sour bell peppers: Didn't take a picture of the lu shui pork, but it was the hit of the evening.

Late night last night getting the dried beef a bit further along. Here's what it looked like after marinating: Deep fried at 325F for a few minutes: I'm going to finish it later today. Meanwhile, got the poaching chicken onto the stove: I'm a fan of Barbara Tropp's bring it to the boil and turn it off method. Worked well this time: Have to debone and shred it after this post is done. I also soaked the mushrooms and tofu sticks last night: Here's the set-up for the water chestnut peeling, which takes a while. If you hurry, you break of chunks off the best bulbs: There's always a few lousy ones, but it's a joy to see this on first cut: 30m of fine knife work with the bird's beak and: Assembled the ingredients for the lu shui pork (pork cubed last night, onions, tofu sticks, mushrooms, halved water chestnuts): Started on the stove and now in a 250F oven. I'll pull it out when it's just this side of done for reheating tomorrow. Off to debone the chicken!

I have some understanding of the tea ceremony connection and the relationship between ritual, service, and tradition. But -- if I understand correctly -- the technique of the ceremony serves to promote the quality of the tea. I don't see that consistently here.

I'm bumping this back up because of early reports on a three-day Stanislav Vadrna seminar in Seattle attended by blogger Jeffrey Morgenthaler and Society member Paul Clarke. They haven't written about it yet, but their tweets suggest lots of energy expended practicing the "hard shake" with raw rice, as well as proper bottle handling and the like. Meanwhile, I've just booked a trip to Tokyo this summer, and I'm starting to read about cocktail culture in Japan, Ueda's influence, and so on. Much of the evidence I've seen of this technique, including what I can glean from Vadrna's and Ueda's translated material, suggests a heavy emphasis on style, performance, ritual, and service. Don't get me wrong: I find all of that fascinating, and our trip will include a lot of style-heavy exploration. (My 12-year-old is a budding expert on Japanese youth culture, particularly Harajuku style and LoliGoth.) Those videos are fun to watch, and I can appreciate the pleasures of spectacle. But I'm having a hard time finding anyone anywhere saying that this technique serves the interests of quality drinks over quality spectacle. The videos repeatedly show strange lapses in care, often, it seems, as a result of ritualized action. is a good example: glasses are inadequately chilled by big cubes and then grow warm after being emptied, while the mixologist performs his beautiful show. I'm not anti-show, mind you; hell, I'm making Blue Blazers for Christmas. I just want to know what place does the quality of the drink play in this technique and in Japanese cocktail culture in general. Can anyone attest to the quality of the drinks made by Ueda or Vadrna, and, specifically, to the role that this precise, demanding technique plays in the creation of those drinks? And, while we're at it, does anyone know where a guy can get a drink on par with the drinks at PDT, Violet Hour, Teardrop Lounge, or any of a few dozen incredible bars in the US? Bon Appetit can declare Tokyo "cocktail capital of the world," but with paragraphs like this one, describing a drink served at Ueda's stick, I'm not convinced: "[A] bit light for my taste. Not a bad thing." Not the bell ringing a TKO either. Derek Brown at the Atlantic dips his toe into the quality question just a bit with this US vs Japan teaser and this "debate" post, where he writes, Neither am I. So what gives? Can anyone shed more light on this quality question?

Spent a bit of time at the liquor store (Town Wine & Spirits in East Providence for locals) and had the good fortune to taste two very good, and very different, single malts. The Laphroaig 18 was a real shock to someone used to its younger sibling: smooth and creamy, but still in the same smoky family. Loved it. A very different bottle, the Balvenie Madeira cask strength, was soft, fruity, creamy, a great balance of scotch and madeira elements. I almost grabbed it instead of the Macallan cask strength I went to get. Maybe next time. What other scotches have people been grabbing this holiday season? I really wanted to swim around in the Taliskers....

The thought I've given them is to toss 'em off the menu. If I hadn't had a cold the last few days I'd be able to devote a stack of time to them tonight, but I'm behind as it is. Plus those dried beef things are a lot of work. Let them eat jerky, I say. (Well, plus peanuts.) Yep: that's it exactly. I have two chickens so I'm thinking about roasting one of them with five spice & honey after a brine for the folks who don't like Sichuan heat....

Hurt being the key concept here.

Getting ready for BBs for three guests at Christmas and wondering about heating the booze. In his detailed treatise on esquire.com, Dr. Wondrich doesn't suggest it; the Macallan cask strength I just got (on his recommendation) is 117 proof, which seems plenty volatile to me. Thoughts?

Thanks to busboy I hunted down Eco-Friendly meats at the Alexandria farmers market and had the best lamb I've ever had in my life. It might take some doing to get the stuff, but you will be blown away.

Your signature pistachio-encrusted pate, you mean! Deliciously Lekker, what prosecco cocktail are you making?

Battling some lousy cold, but I got the bulk of the shopping done (save scallops and whole fish; fingers crossed for Thursday's selection). After dinner, I got started on some prep. Here's the basics. I wanted to refresh the lu shui, so that's simmering on the stove with a few new ingredients and aromatics, following both Barbara Tropp and Dunlop: I also chopped up the lops (homemade yuk and store-bought cheung) for the naw mai fon: Got the green beans (yard long beans, specifically) pickling: And prepared the nam yu peanuts (oh, baby): I also started making the dried beef, which has 3-4 cooking stages, depending on how you count. First, I started with 2# of flank: Doused it briefly in boiling water: Quick rinse in cold water: Then into the braising liquid: Out: Sliced: Into the marinade: About done for the night, but I have a decent head start.

The corn soup always surprises me: it seems so American, even New England-y, and not Chinese. Perhaps I need to make this for Christmas Eve dinner...!

I'm excited. I will document the installation and use fully, bc at $250 that unit is a steal if it works.

Still figuring out the dumplings, but now leaning toward boiled, perhaps even in broth as a starter. I have all my book pages marked for xeroxing, which I do as a matter of course nowadays. After that is the shopping list, which worries me a bit: I'm afraid I'm relying on a lot of quality ingredients that may be hard to track down....