Chris Amirault

From Kevin, the cocktail enthusiast -- CA I've long enjoyed adding egg whites to cocktails as a means of justifying my drinking. After all, who can't benefit from some extra protein? The Apple Blow Fizz is a cocktail that combines an egg white, fresh lemon juice and apple brandy. It’s a veritable cornucopia of health foods, all rolled into one. Apple Blow Fizz 1 1/2 ounces apple brandy 1 ounce fresh lemon juice 1 egg white 1 teaspoon sugar Club soda Shake all ingredients except club soda with ice, and strain into a highball glass over ice. Top with club soda. For the full post and a photo, head to cocktailenthusiast.com.

I'm seeing a lot of buzz about Scrappy's bitters, which I understand wowed those who tried 'em at Tales. Adam at Boston Shaker will be carrying them soon, and I'm curious. Any reports?

I talked to the shop owner the next day and found out that they had been delivered five days before; when I got home, they were looking pretty tired. I ended up serving some of them on a raw vegetable plate, and I'm eager to get more and try out a soup.

Yow! That torch is something else. Does a match not work?

While out apple-picking today I stopped at Stamp Egg Farms in Johnston (pdf of Edible Rhody article here), when they called out to me: three small eggs. Of course, small eggs are the size used back when most classic cocktail recipes were created, so I came home and mixed up a Baltimore Eggnog, using this cocktail.db recipe and adding Fee's Old Fashioned bitters: A rich, layered nog that belies its brief history, it's a keeper. Cock-a-doodle-doo, indeed.

My packing list, no order: booze ice strainers muddler ice cube tray mixing tins mixing glasses barspoons cocktail glasses (erp) knife channel knife cutting board straws little cups picks for cherries matches rags citrus cherries mint handouts name tags

Tomorrow is session one, and I've been dealing with distributors (thanks, Mike!), stores (thanks, Liz!), supplies, handouts, my note cards, and a bunch of other stuff. As I do, I thought I'd jot down a few notes. After a trip to the restaurant, I've decided to bring as much large cube ice with me as I can. I have two gallon bags filled so far and will be adding more later today. There's been a lot of interest in mixing, so I think I'm going to see whether we can do more hands-on stuff than I had anticipated. Not sure what I think about that. I decided to break down the French Pearl into its component parts and have everyone taste each one before serving the drink. I'll also be teaching the mint abuse lesson then. I've bagged the liquor cabinet handout entirely, folding that information into the cocktail recipes. I do have an equipment handout ready to go, though.

Carl Summers -- who's In Search of a Cocktail -- offers the Canadian Rumba Batida -- CA The Mash Bill: 1.5oz Cachaca 1oz Evaporated milk (Condensed makes it very, very sweet) 1/2oz Maple Syrup 1/2oz Pineapple Puree 1/2oz Passionfruit Pulp The Work Order: 1. Fill Blender with enough ice to fill your glass 2. Pour all ingredients 3. Blend until smooth 4. Pour into your choice of glassware 5. Garnish with a Pineapple wedge 6. Serve Cheers!

Here they are:

I'll photograph later this morning, but I'm quite sure they are water lily stems -- at least, that's what they're called in the resources I have. Having said that, I don't know what lotus stems look like, so who knows.

Not sure. I'll give 'em a toss in the wok tomorrow to find out.

After ogling them for months, I finally grabbed some remarkable water lily stems from a local Khmer market. However, I can't quite figure out how to use them. In Riviere's Cambodian Cooking, they are used in a sour fish soup and raw in a cold coconut shrimp soup, but I'm serving a samla and don't want another stewy/soupy item. Riviere suggests that celery is an acceptable substitute, but I don't know what that means for other dishes exactly. I am preparing a big Khmer meal tomorrow that hasn't yet used the prolet in anything, and I'm looking for other ideas. Thanks.

Really easy to test out, I think: weigh out equal amounts of chips, soak half in cold and half in hot, drain after a while, and then reweigh. The next questions for me would be: which is better and why?

Just to point out the obvious here: there's a bunch of Yanks around these parts who believe that the UK is filled with cookbooks using a superior measurement system. The moment is ripe for the return of the Empire (at least on our cookbook shelves)! Pray, what exact books can be had on your bonny shores that we 'Mercans can try to hunt down? Same goes for y'all in the other, better colonies.

I have been on a freezer frenzy, making lots of stuff ahead of time, vacuum-packing it, and sticking it in the freezer for later consumption. I can attest to the high quality of blended soups, tomato sauces, chili, meatballs, macaroni & cheese, among other things. I can tell you that stuffed cabbage is an unmitigated disaster, that vegetables in soup, tofu sticks in braising liquid, and other high moisture items lose their texture upon being defrosted, and that beans must be undercooked slightly if you want them to retain any shape. There's a ton of good ideas in here, but I'm also looking for guidance on what else I should NOT freeze.

My question too. If you have tare, then you do this: Bowl without dough = zeroed with tare Bowl with dough = 4267 g Still gotta do the division, though.

Virtually all cookbook authors who commence this battle are confronted with the fact that most home cooks are scared of weights, and especially of the metric system, in the US, and their editors and publishers force them to sacrifice the perfect (scales) for the good (sales). However, baking cookbooks often include weights, especially serious bread books, and there are a few mass market general cookbooks that also use weights. Indeed, I think we need a topic on that subject over in Cookbooks: click here.

Over in the Kitchen Scale Manifesto topic, much sorrow was expressed at the lack of weight-based measurements in cookbooks. Off the top of my head, I realized I had a few books on the cookbook shelf that fit the mold: James Peterson's Sauces, the rare rigorous non-baking book. His Glorious French Food has a lot of weight-based measurements, but it's not as complete as Sauces. Grant Achatz's Alinea -- no surprise there. Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie and the sections on charcuterie in Paul Bertolli's Cooking By Hand. The CIA books: Professional Chef and Garde Manger. Again, not a shocker. From the baking section, quite a few, including Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice, Maggie Glazer's Artisanal Baking Across America, Jeffrey Hamelman's Bread, Pierre Herme's Chocolate Desserts (though NOT his Desserts book, strangely), and the King Arthur Flour's Baking Companion. What are the other books that use weight, and not volume, in their recipes?

We're not sticklers here. I'm nearly always serving it to kids, and rice balls are de rigueur for the short set.

Sigh. I never thought I'd curse the perfect fit of Sitram handle to my simian hand, but the ring of blisters screams otherwise.

I think I have four, all of which are homey dishes that require a lot of time and sides, and none of which I can take credit for. David Thompson's incredible Beef Panaeng recipe from Thai Food, an intricate but simple dish with which I serve lots of sticky rice, pickles, salads, and a simple soup. It changes the way that everyone thinks about Thai food. Gumbo, which I haven't made the same way twice in my life. Lately I've been emphasizing tasso, but that'll change in time, too. Ditto cassoulet, which I vary according to available meats and ingredients and serve to all comers on New Years Day each year. And, finally, my butt: method here, rub here. It's no accident that most of these dishes are a result of the ideas and support of other Society members here in eG Forums. Couldn't have done it without y'all.

That's really, um, gross, fooey. As for me: I will never again grab, potholder-less, the handle of my Sitram stainless steel saute pan after I've roasted potatoes at 450F for an hour, nor will I then hold it for two seconds, while it sears the interior of my hand and I shriek, looking for a place to set it down without spilling the precious spuds. Well, I probably will do it again. And when I do, I hope I remember that sticking my hand in an ice bath for 14 hours -- including all night long -- is the best way to prevent my hand from losing two layers of skin and creating grape-sized blisters. Leftover Vicodin from a back injury helps, too.

Maggie beat me to it: a long soak in hot, soapy water and a good tooth-brushing.

Members might want to check out the Kitchen Scale Recommendations topic for some great product tips.

Though sold on the orange flower water addition. I was skeptical about Sam's vanilla idea until I added a few drops to my Jack Rose tonight. By gum, that was a tasty addition. Not sure it would always work, but I'm a convert with that cocktail, at least.