Chris Amirault

I've been on their mailing list and I have to say I'm really impressed. This martini challenge/gin tasting is only $25, which is remarkable, and if you haven't forced your non-mixologist friends to sign up for the PDT home bar class, well, shame on you. Has anyone been to anything recently?

This Silver Lily variation allows the Creme de Violette a little more support. It contains some lavender syrup from the Absinthe book, The Art of the Bar, which I've been playing around with here. 2 oz gin (Tanqueray or even Aviation works here) 1/2 oz Maraschino 1/2 oz R&W Creme de Violette 1/2 oz lemon 1/2 oz lavender honey syrup 2 dashes orange bitters egg white The lavender and honey play nicely with the CdV, which pokes out slowly at the end. Sam's right: the R&W CdV s neither dry nor sweet, but it has a flinty edge that sticks around on your tongue. Wrong balance and you lose it.

Thanks for the post, phong. I'm also using the Ruhlman Charcuterie recipe with some CIA Garde Manger tips added. Why did you brine it for five days? Ruhlman says three, and CIA says 4-5. (They also inject brine into the meat.) And did you braise it whole or as needed for each meal? Melkor mentions doing the latter uptopic. I've got a brisket curing (24 hours so far) as we speak. I'm hoping to take it out of the brine Wed (72 hrs), let it get a pellicle for a day or two, and then smoke it in the Bradley with hickory. Not sure what next, though, so opinions on braise vs steam and whole vs in pieces are welcome.

Nice recipe for simple, clear RI clam chowder in the Boston Globe: click. It's heavy on the clams (everyone gets 2/3 cup) and potatoes (everyone gets 2/3s of a russet), but there's no cream or tomatoes to be found. As Domenic Bitto of Evelyn's states in the accompanying article,, Of course, by "cup of chowder" he means "cup of chowder and six clam cakes."

The Boston Globe again takes the clear chowder position in this article: The recipe lists no tomatoes or dairy.

More with the lavender honey syrup, which is clearly haunting me. I'm finding more and more that it plays well with big gins. Here's a basic Lavender Sour that is a nice companion to the start of a long weekend: 2 oz Aviation or Tanqueray gin 1/2 oz lemon 1/2 oz Maraschino 1/2 oz lavender honey syrup 2 dashes Fee's orange bitters Shake, strain, and serve up with a brandied cherry (if you like the lavender perfume) or a lemon twist rubbed on the rim and dropped in (if you like the lemon perfume).

Since members are now repeating posts from above, it's a good sign that this topic has run its course, so we're closing it. Thanks, everyone.

Absolutely. I'm happily embittered, myself.

What's the difference?

Fernet and orange bitters combined is a stomach potion!

I'll keep asking until you say something using the word "Sunkist."

As mentioned here, bitters fans will want to try the Goodnight, Chris, a creation of Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli of Eastern Standard in Boston, an "equal parts" drink if you don't count the orange bitters. 1 oz rye (Tom uses Thomas Handy; I settle for Rittenhouse BIB) 1 oz yellow Chartreuse (he breaks out the VEP; I just use some older stuff) 1 oz Fernet Branca dash orange bitters (he's got Angostura; I dash in a half-Regan, half-Fee's mix) Stir and serve over ice with an orange twist. If I could have a drink named after me (this wasn't at all), this'd do splendidly. It scowls less as the ice melts.

Erik, what orange juice do you use for this? I've had a heck of a time making this balance bc I think it requires a flavorful, tart orange, something I don't find as often as I'd like around these parts.

I had a great night at the Eastern Standard bar with BittermensAG (y JG!) Monday night while Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli made fantastic drinks, including the one that Avery mentioned above: Tom said the name of the cocktail is Goodnight, Chris, and who am I to argue with that? Tom also made a terrific Toronto Cocktail at night's end. Ok, he said goodnight to me twice. Sue me.

Tasted these guys -- -- which sat for two weeks and they were ready to get strained. Added 50 ml of molasses and 50 ml of pimento dram. I'm now letting it sit to settle before I strain it later. It's a whopper, and I'm not sure what the hell I'll actually do with it.... I had the good fortune to try a few new bitters at Eastern Standard Monday night, including the fantastic Angostura orange bitters and a few from Avery and Janet Glasser, the Bittermens duo. The thing I notice most about my home attempts is the lack of binding middle flavors: things tend to be all up front and at the end. My stuff is also not nearly as fragrant as the top-end stuff either, sadly. Still gots me work to do.

Moderator's note: We split off a topic on Pierson & Co BBQ here.

Moderator's note: We split off a topic on Pierson & Co BBQ here.

The Riveria is ingenious. There's been a crush of ripe pineapples up here, and I urge all to try this out.

Katie was kind enough to send along the pdf of the article. (If you're having trouble downloading it, be sure to use Internet Explorer.) Bar_Fun_Article.pdf

I had an Oxo and loved it, then the internal mechanism shredded or something so I bought a Zyliss. Maybe I'm just a dork, but I broke it within a month from pulling on the string too hard. Went back to the Oxo.

I like it a lot and think it's a good product. But I have noticed it being "splashed" into just about everything -- and I'm not talking about scotch-based drinks, either; adding a shot of St. Germain to your Cosmo is very trendy in some places here. It's a good example, I think, of a fine product that has been used to not very noble ends.

Do they skin the bellies as a matter of course as well?

I used to see PR junk replicated as articles in the supposedly legit press all the time when I reviewed films for a while in the 1980s. No internet back then, so I just wrote letters to the Boston Globe. Didn't get printed. Makes me curious to know which samples and blogs you're talking about there, Erik....

Moderator's note: I've just split off the discussion about spirits, selection, and standards into this topic.

Our own Devotay, Kurt Friese, has his book, A Cook's Journey: Slow Food In The Heartland arriving in stores this fall. The book explores and explains the Slow Food movement throughout the American Midwest. For more information on the book, click here. Book tour dates can be found here. Congrats to Kurt!