Chris Amirault

From Chef from Clarens:

Finally got around to testing my sample (thanks, Richard!) today. My usual routine: 5g of tea, 400g of water just below boiling, 4 minutes in a prewarmed ingenuiTEA steeper. I picked up a slightly unexpected nose as well, though I'd call it "low tide" rather than "barnyard"; it dissipated over the course of the cup. Not unpleasant to me, but my grandfather was a fisherman and I have fond memories of low time. For my first pu-erh I guess I'm underwhelmed. Perhaps it's very subtle and my palate isn't, but I wasn't picking up much complexity in aroma or taste. Very soft, no tannins, earthy aroma: I could repeat what's been written above. It may be that this is the sort of tea that has been cultivated (in the broadest sense) for the particularities of sophisticated tea preparation, and therefore unsuited to Western-style brewing. Or maybe it's just not... my cup of tea. I couldn't resist.

It'd take a test tube.

The most poorly designed thing in my kitchen, hands down, is the ice made by my freezer's ice machine. It's a slim semi-circle that breaks into shards when you shake it for cocktails, slips out of your hand when you're grabbing a few "cubes" from the hopper, and -- best of all -- has a bulit-in curve fits neatly into the interior of every glass, pushing the liquid away from your tongue and toward the edges of your mouth. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Most poorly designed thing in your kitchen is...?

Re-roast? Say more please, sir.

Given its history (I'm a big Patriots fan), I'm shocked that I like this one: I went with Boomsma genever and my half-n-half orange bitters (Regan's and Fee's) for this one, and it's terrific. I'll break out the Genevieve next time.

Rereading the topic and thinking about those tinctures, I don't think I quite understand this. I certainly want my bitters to be bitter. Am I missing something?

Quick tip from this morning's gumbo packaging session: a canning funnel like this square white one by Leifheit is a real boon when you're freezing up wet items. You stick it in to the bag, which you can scrunch up to keep the top edge dry, and then pour whatever into the funnel. And a question. I've got a bunch of smoked pork hocks and pigs' feet that need sealing, and there are some sharp edges on 'em. Does anyone have any ideas for what to do? The edges have punctured the bags in the past and I don't know how to approach it. Thoughts?

Not entirely new. In James Oseland's Cradle of Flavor, there's a recipe for braised then grilled chicken thighs that created a lot of interest a couple of years ago. Here's a description of the recipe. Aidells's recipe adds the twist of grilling first to get the Maillard browning, which Oseland doesn't do (but which is common practice in the world of sous vide, though in a saute pan, not on the grill). I can't really see firing up the grill (I'm a charcoal guy) to get an external char, then braising for a couple of hours, then firing up the grill again, myself, but the braise-then-grill idea is a good one.

Oh my gosh. NY abounds with cheap foodie options. I'll leave it to the denizens to share their particulars, but a trip to Katz's is a must whenever I'm in town, and it's inexpensive. "Inexpensive" is relative, but I'd also bet that you can get one of the best cocktails on earth at a number of places (Death & Co., PDT, Pegu Club, etc. etc.) for just a bit more than you'd pay for crappy drinks at most bars in Stratford.

This, along with the problem of vast differences in size (especially if you shop SE Asian stores), is yet another reason to sign onto the Kitchen Scale Manifesto -- or at the very least indicating amoungs of chopped or minced shallots by volume.

Actually, i was struck by how amateurish the plating was -- especially as compared to these!

This may not be convincing, but here goes. One of the principles of classic and contemporary quality cocktails is that the flavor of the spirit is enhanced by the other ingredients. A well-made Sidecar, which is about as simple a drink as you can get, doesn't obliterate the brandy; it raises it up and makes it interact with the sweet and sour in ways that are pleasurably complex. You simply can't create that complexity with vodka.

Great stuff. Can attendees say more about the chicken marsala and skirt steak preparations?

New competition for the Chinese-American store on Park in Cranston. Henry and Lily Lee are expanding what used to be the 99 Marketplace at 72 Rolfe St. to the Phu Lam Market. I was over there last night and they are going for the full-on supermarket: equipment, supplies, even a few tables out front. The back freezers are not yet installed, and the produce section was limited. I did my shopping at the C-A market but will be interested to see what comes of Phu Lam Market in coming weeks.

Well well. I thought wrong.

Once you get your numbers down, I can get 2"x12" strips of skin-on pork belly very easily at my local Chinese market and would be willing to try this out alongside a standard cure to test texture through the process. Take one for the team, all that.

I'd add Chez Panisse and Jean-Louis, off the top of my head.

I guess my bottom line is, if it "depends on the rapport the bartender has with the customer," it's a comp. ← I didn't know Daniel Shoemaker & co. personally before that night, and the only thing we knew about each other was that we are all really, really into cocktails. The only rapport we have was built through that experience. Over the course of the night, I obtained what many people here would consider comps due exclusively, I believe, to my enthusiasm for their craft, which was fueled by their own. For some people, it's clear that comps that resulted from our shared enthusiasm would somehow threaten the legitimacy of any assessment I shared -- an assessment that would communicate that enthusiasm as a matter of course. That also suggests that someone who showed little to no interest in cocktails would both fail to get comps and would have more legitimate grounds for assessment. And that seems really odd to me.

The only difference between 2 and 3 is number. If you get three 2s in a row, then it's a "flight." And, remember, we're talking about tastes here. I'm certain I could get three tastes of just about anything in most bars. I dunno about 4 & 5, but I can see your point.

The Bradley doesn't produce enough NO2 to create one. Read more here.

By that measure, most of the items on the numbered list above aren't comps.

Good point. I guess I could post something asking you about Joe Agave, and you could refuse to answer. If you did, I'd write, "Your refusal to answer suggests a conflict of interest that you haven't disclosed." Then I could post that photo I have of you waving from the back of your yacht, "Gracias, Joe Agave."

Good point -- I read the code too quickly and assumed that. From a more careful rereading, I'd strike "I have none" and edit the post to read, "If the person has a relationship but says nothing at all about Joe Agave, or if the person refuses to answer questions about Joe Agave, s/he is clearly violating the code." Prompt correction in a subsequent post. That was easy.

Hrm. I thought it was a starter culture -- and sausagemaker.com thinks so too.