Chris Amirault

Agreed that chicken feet contribute massive amounts of gelatin to stock, but, without some meat, I think it's not as chicken-y as I'd like. Definitely good to toss a few into the pot, though!

Quick note: the pastrami rub (which I make in vast quantities because I make the short rib pastrami in vast quantities) is outstanding as a rub for roasted bluefish.

Any updates? I have reservations at Ravenous Pig so far, and am very interested in Sushi Pop, but the added miles are a drag for those without cars. What's the skinny on eating in the immediate convention center area? I know that they're all likely to be chains, but what chains are there? Any southern restaurants you can't find in the northeast?

I'm increasingly convinced that I have a serious jones for Yunnan black teas. That Yi Mei Ren is in my regular rotation now, and the spring 2011 bag from Norbu is excellent. However, I jumped online to report that a sample from Greg has knocked my socks off: it's the Hong Mao Feng Yunnan, spring 2011. Deep, rich, earthy and soft, it's like a velvet fist to the kisser in the morning. The closest comparison I can make is toAberlour a'bunadh cask strength scotch, which I'm also silly about these days.

That's some fantastic news right there!

Agreed, Janet. It's why you taste, taste, taste during cocktail workshops: where do I need to adjust? You think you have the perfect set-up and then.... Oh, and sorry, Darienne: lost those photos!

Say more! What neighborhoods of Istanbul did you visit? Did you get outside the city? More detail the better!

That bottle of Inner Circle Green keeps staring at me. I'm loathe to drink a drop of it, given that it's unavailable stateside and I bought the last two bottles in the northeast of which I'm aware. I'm down to my last six or so ounces, but... aw, what the hell: Rough & Tumble 2 oz Inner Circle Green (sub in Brugal Extra Viejo or Smith & Cross for interesting, yet not identical, versions) 1/2 oz Branca Menta 1/2 oz Creole Shrubb Stir; strain over craked ice in an OF glass; Ti Punch lime or orange slice.

What Toby said. As for books, you'll find a lot of topics around here on the subject -- and, like Toby, I'd suggest a few classics. I'm very partial to Gary Regan's Joy of Mixology, as it was the first book that I read cover to cover and it's primarily geared toward working bartenders (unlike the vast majority of cocktail books). I also think that his "family" approach, in which he groups drinks according to certain characteristics, is one excellent route into the morass of cocktail taxonomy. When I teach intro to classic cocktails workshops, I recommend that, DeGroff's Craft of the Cocktail, Dave Wondrich's Imbibe!, Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits & Forgotten Cocktails -- a title that contains a misnomer now thanks in part to his reclamation of the forgotten -- and Art of the Bar by Jeff Hollinger and Rob Schwartz. The last is a book you can find in remainder bins and Marshalls/TJ Maxx stores, but don't be fooled: it's the best summation of the ways that the west coast bartenders remade the classics in their image. I should add: I was one of the original Rogue Cocktail book owners, love that book to death (click for breathless rave at this post and following), and have a recipe in the remake/remodel Beta book. But I think that's something to return to once you've got a sense of the foundations, not a starting point. I have so many more books to recommend, but best that you get those above and start studying them at some actual bars where humans make other humans drinks. Don't be a snob: you can learn a lot from just about anywhere if you approach the place with the right attitude. TGI Fridays will school you on check-handling at peak hours, minimizing movement, bottle placement, station design, and the like. Your neighborhood tavern will learn you about customer relations, shutting people off, and how to get over your asshole self when someone orders a Natty Light and you want to hit them with a bottle of Chartreuse Vieillissement Exceptionnellement Prolongé. Of course, taking in masterful bartenders making remarkable cocktails is important, too. Find the quality bars with quality people making quality drinks, watch, and learn. Many of us can recommend specific people and places depending on the city. If you're ever in Providence, let me know you're in town so I can join you at my place, Cook & Brown Public House, for example. Unlike other professionals, bartenders create a supportive social network in which sharing, learning, and camaraderie are the norm, not the exception. Take advantage of it.

Saw a copy that a friend got at Tales the other day. Same basic design, new drinks... if you haven't picked up the original by now and read this forum, I'd urge you to grab it. And if you're trying to use up that bottle of Bluecoat, well...

Enjoying a second (and for now last!) cup of the Jin Xuan Xiao Zhong Spring 2011free sample I got from Greg at Norbu with my last order. It's a Taiwan black in the Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong (Lapsang Souchong) style. If I had to guess, I'd surmise that Greg sent it because I had ordered quite a bit of black tea and some Tie Guan Yin charcoal roasted Taiwan Oolong before, but this is far more subtle and mesmerizing. It's aroma is sweet and ever-so-slightly funky in the best possible sense of the word, with wet earth and a bit of seaweed. The smoke is just a wisp on your nose and tongue, where that creamy sensation takes over. If there was a way to describe a tea that's both meaty and delicate, this would be it. A brewing note. I always brew Western, and, from Greg's description, it seems that the longer steep, which draws out the astringency at the end, is essential. Of course, YMMV, but for something as subtle as this I certainly need that astringent spine.

Be sure to do a straw taste after shaking and have some simple syrup handy in case you don't like being socked in the kisser.

Rogov was an outstanding member, a worthy debate combatant, and encyclopedic in his knowledge. He lived a good, smart life, and will be missed.

It's a Biter, I'll tell you. Most London dry gins stand up just fine; I usually make it with Beefeater but was out. I add a dash o absinthe; much more takes over, especially with the sort of big-boy absinthes I have around here.

Tonight, a Biter: 1 1/2 gin (Junipero) 3/4 green Chartreuse 3/4 lemon absinthe (St. George Absinthe Verte) I added a dash of salt. Shake, strain, lemon twist. Excellent.

Yep, sure have. Here are some pix from my first foodblog. I think it's great.

Charcuterie preparation took place in the fall and winter, in cool cellars, outdoors after a kill, and so on. It's my understanding that different regional specialities are precisely a response to those variations. You made dried sausage X in region Y because that's what region Y provided; you wouldn't bother making the sausage Z someone made 250 miles away. I think.

Several of the Plantation series rums are out of this world, and they're all worth trying.

Maybe it's time to try the base Cruzan line again. Around these parts it's consensus that, about two or three years ago, something went awry and it started sucking on a Bacardi-esque level.

Agreed. I'm just crabby about a line that has somehow made its way onto our backbar and it... uh... hrm....

That's too low. We have a bottle at Cook & Brown and they are an unqualified triumph, on par with Regan's #6 Orange, Scrappy's Grapefruit, Bittermens Xocolatl Mole, and the Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Decanter bitters as the best of a over-crowded and -hyped field. It's the sort of product that gets you dreaming about ways to use it. All bitters fans should grab a bottle now.

Which bottle? This may be a quality control issue; I've had precisely the same reaction -- to the Cruzan line. Sorry -- didn't see the reference to the base silver rum. I repeat: I think that this is a QC issue, because I've had many solid bottles of Don Q rum. Not to say yours was lousy; as I said, I have the same reaction to the Cruzan base spirits.

We're got "pies" and "calzones" here. Wikipedia on the matter.

shar999, can you clarify what you mean by "Martini"? You don't mean a classic Martini (gin, dry vermouth, orange bitters) but rather something following the more common usage with vodka, yes? A recipe would help too!

Me, too. And, fwiw, I'd LOVE that collapsable loaf pan...! I am checking in to report that, this afternoon, at a Savers near by, I found one of my Holy Grails. I've been grabbing several of the hardcover volumes of the Time/Life Foods of the World series, but it's nearly impossible to find the spiral-bound complete recipe booklets. Today? The entire set. I'm speechless.