Chris Amirault

In response to a fact-check question, I typed up a few notes on what I found about the etymology of the word "pu pu" as used in this context. My several albeit hinkey sources (menus, books, and various anecdotes collected hither and yon) indicate that the Hawaiian word "pu pu" was a word that meant a lot of different things. Wikipedia does a pretty good job of explaining what I've come to believe is the Hawaiian version, with a U of Hawaii definition I've seen referenced all over the place: The problem is that the word was borrowed from Hawaiian and applied to these appetizers by "Polynesian" restauranteurs like Don and Vic, and no one believes that "pu pu platters" are related to Hawaiian food at all. (Or to Polynesian food, of course.) The earliest reference I can find is 1962: I have a menu from the Islander restaurant (my notes are unclear but I think it's the one in Stockton CA) that heads its first page with "Puu Puus (Appetizers)," giving the parenthesis to explain what the word meant to the uninitiated. This use of "pu pu" wasn't restricted to stateside restaurants. The archivist at the Johnson and Wales Culinary Archive found two community cookbooks from Hawaii that mentioned "pu pu": one church in Honolulu had items like "chex mix" under their "pu pu (snacks)" category in 1955; another from a Kalahikiola church explained that pu pu were "hors d'oeuvres" in 1961. That suggests that the word was being used by Christian-church-going cooks for "appetizers" even before the word was widely used in restaurants. Like so many transformations of one word to another, the shifts are sloppy, uneven, multidirectional, and hard to track. In addition, usage of the word in colloquial Hawaiian appears to have shifted as well -- there's a Hawaiian bar pidgin dictionary that apparently lists pu pu as "appetizer" -- making the question of "authenticity" even harder. Finally, the English transliteration of "pu pu" can apparently mean other things in Hawaiian involving snails, sleeping, etc. depending on inflections and other pronunciation shifts. I think that this mess is worth bearing in mind when talking about the origins of the phrase "pu pu platter," as it seems the phrase cannot be clarified without oversimplification.

Click here for pimento dram information.

My guess is that the pimento dram, the brandy, and the citrus are meant to evoke a spicy potpourri on a cold winter's eve. Of course you do.

Not to throw a wet blanket on your project, LizD518, but I cannot imagine any sort of endeavor that would address my particular problem. Tonight I made a sichuan pork dish in the hopes of obliterating my annoyingly inept taste buds but... it didn't work. Makes me think that all that advice about "educating your palate" may be claptrap to a large percentage of those who have "uneducated" ones.....

Don't rinse. If that doesn't work for you, get sticky rice (sweet rice) and that should make him happy!

How much did you pay for it?

I just picked up a 1982 edition of "Putting Food By" and it's amazing. It doesn't just have information on canning either. Indeed, I'm mesmerized by the sections on freezing, pickling, curing, and root cellaring.

I don't think I follow. Wouldn't the seasoned surface be on the concave interior of the pan, and thus not come in contact with the shelving? Or am I missing something here? I can't quite picture it. FWIW, a hanging rack is ideal for cast iron, I think: air circulation, you can hang it hot, no contact with other things on the interior, etc.

Yes, though I (and most others I know) make it 2:1 and not 1:1. That's more my addition than something listed in Berry or Bergeron, though; I've found that it makes more sense than simple syrup in a few tiki drinks.

Holly and gariotin, I'm so sorry to hear of your plights. The thought of dealing with this for more than a week or so is unbearable to me, so I don't know how you do it. The comments about colds and sinuses don't make sense because (1) I've had versions of a head cold several times this winter and haven't lost any sense of taste, (2) the only time I've had this problem has been when I've taken decongestants, and most notably, (3) the decongestants relieve the pressure in my sinuses and clear my nasal passages -- that is to say, I don't have a blocked nose. To confirm this, I just smelled a series of colognes in the house and I can't detect any difference in my ability to smell their nuances. Meanwhile, I just had a See's chocolate caramel (from my west coast Easter-loving in-laws) and only got sweet off of it. Go figure.

For what feels like the fiftieth time this winter, I'm sick: headache, cough, sinuses, blah blah blah. Because I had a necessary and rough week at work, I took decongestants (diphenhydramine and phenylephrine, for those in the know), soldiered on, and kept my fingers crossed. But, as sometimes happens when I'm on cold meds, I lost most of my sense of taste. I didn't lose all sense of taste, mind you. I just lost mine, which I rely upon a lot more than I think when I'm taking it for granted. I hate this experience, of course, but this time around I decided to try to put it to good use by documenting what food and drink tastes like when I have little sense of taste. I have no idea whether this experience speaks to anyone else with lessened or lost senses of taste, but, boy, the diet I crave is pretty interesting. Most notably, all subtlety in taste is lost. All I get are certain dominating flavors, many of which are unappealing. Take wine: a glass of wine has no start or finish, no minerals or blackberries. All I get is a mouthful of very unpleasant astringent alcohol that's almost vinegar-like. While most flavors are gone, precious few remain. Indeed, my mouth has become a machine for the detection of salt and sugar. Salt seems to carry other flavors along with it slightly; the salt in popcorn allows me to detect the barest sense of melted butter (but that may be an illusion; more on that later). Without excessive salt, flavors in savory dishes are nearly impossible to acknowledge at all. I had mac & cheese out at a favorite restaurant two days ago, and I couldn't taste a single bit of cheese without dumping the shaker's contents on each forkful, and even then I got precious little cheesiness. Umami is similar: I just needed 1/4 t of MSG to register. As for sugar, I'm practically a refractometer: if something is sweet, my tongue registers brix and nearly nothing else. Good vs bad chocolate? Junky milk is a whole lot more pleasurable than some 85% cacao content crap, since I can't detect anything complex (chemicals, interesting notes) in either but sure like that sugar in the former. While salt and sweet are appealing, anything bitter is nearly inedible, because the bitterness dominates in a very unpleasant way. As I've been chronicling around here, I've been creating a variety of homemade bitters, and each of them now tastes overpoweringly and only of the bitter gentian root; none of the spices, zests, and so on remain. Ditto capiscum: hot food just leaves a nagging burning sensation in my mouth, a shrill pennywhistle lacking the symphony of other flavors. With little subtletly of flavor left to me, I find myself addicted to foods that provide interesting textures. If it's crunchy, I want it. I'm also drawn to the texture of meat; I like the resistance of the chicken in my rice right now, for example. And if the only thing that a bite of something gives me is the lingering caress of fat on my tongue... well, without flavor I'll gladly settle for mouthfeel. Are you noticing a pattern here? I want salt, fat, MSG, crunch, and meat for dinner; subtlety is lost on me, so why bother; hot and bitter foods are inedible; load up my cocktails with sugar so I don't notice the alcohol. In short, I crave fast food, soda, snack chips, syrupy vodka drinks, and oversweet sweets -- the manna of industrial food production that I would usually find unpalatable. This disheartening experience leaves me with a lot of questions. Does anyone else have this experience with cold meds? Are these experiences indicative of anything other than my own current and temporary bad taste buds, or do they speak to the ways that most other folks taste food? Do Frito-Lay, McDonalds, and the people who bring us premade vodkatinis know this already and I'm just dense? What would an evolutionary biologist say? Most depressingly, is this what it's like to have the mouth of one of my friends or family members who, when they take a bite of my cassoulet or a sip of a Last Word say, "Eh.... It's okay"?

I've been meaning to do a summary of non-rum ingredients for the ne plus ultra tiki bar drawing from recipes in books by Beachbum Berry and Trader Vic. I've starred what seem to me to be the most common ingredients. Comments encouraged: Generic Spirits & Liqueurs applejack apricot brandy* aquavit blue curacao bourbon brandy cherry brandy* creme de banana creme de cacao* creme de cassis curacao* gin macadamia nut liqueur maraschino* (especially in Trader Vic's recipes) okolehao parfait amour pimento dram port sherry sloe gin tequila triple sec* vermouth (sweet & dry) vodka Branded Spirits & Liqueurs Barenjager Benedictine Campari Cointreau* Galliano Grand Marnier Herbsaint* (see discussion above) Licor 43/Cuarenta Y Tres Pernod* Syrups demerara falernum* grenadine* honey maple syrup orgeat* passion fruit syrup* Rose's Lime Juice simple* Juices & Nectars grapefruit guava nectar lemon* lime* orange* papaya nectar passion fruit nectar pineapple juice* Etcetera Angostura bitters* coconut cream* coconut snow* coffee half n half/heavy cream sweet & sour mix

I've had Butcher Packer casings in the fridge well salted for months with no ill effects.

Agreed on the other points -- and adding chopped chipotle in adobo works very nicely, I found.

I think that's correct, especially the last sentence. I also think that regional food editors generally see themselves as boosters and not wranglers of food critics, and so reviews tend to be positive anyway. Sure is true around here, where the bar for food reviewer expertise is about as low as can be in many publications. Hell, one of the major food PR people in town writes reviews for a local magazine.

Aren't you being hoisted by your own petard here? Unless the reviewer is wrong, which you seem not to be implying, then the reviewer is just stating what's what. If you feel that you were unfairly ripped by a review, that's a different matter. But if you're putting out lousy food, just expect lousy reviews and keep advertising. Put differently, if advertising would be part of your business plan, hopefully quality product would be as well. But if it isn't and you're churning out junk, who cares that a reviewer called you on it? You'd still want to get the word out about your place, right? So why cut off your nose (promoting your business) to spite your face (flipping off the paper)?

As suggested, a skimmer works great but you will scoop up some of the tasty bits, that just the way it is. Really, you don't lose all that much. ← You can always just rinse the skimmer under warm water, which will make the muck rinse off but leave the mirepoix atop the screen, at which point you can dump it back in.

Sounds like I'm sunk. ETA: Sounds like that AAA Cocktail is going to be my first and only entry. Sounds good to me, as it's the one I've made a few times and found tastiest so far.

I got mine at Whole Foods.

One quick point about this homemade orgeat revealed when I kept my Mai Tai in crushed ice. As the ice melts, the nut oils (I assume) prevent the water from combining easily, and the drink gets sort of a weird mottled look. Not a problem with strained drinks, of course -- I didn't see any separating out with that Japanese #1 -- but with rocks drinks it's a little off-putting.

Two quick points of clarification about "eGullet"'s relationship to healthy eating. Despite some references here to the contrary, there is no such thing as "eGullet," some protean, omnipotent being that does or does not give priority to one or another food-related topic. As a result, statements about what "it" is or does don't make too much sense. There is an eGullet Society, of which posters are members, and eG Forums are the part of that Society in which our membership starts and promotes food-related topics of interest. In addition, this claim is untrue: There are no subforums related to health because we believe that health is relevant to topics throughout eG Forums, and thus the subject should not be merely in this or that subforum. The same is true for other subjects that transcend one broad category, such as food science. In addition, a great many topics throughout eG Forums are devoted to healthy cooking and eating. To list a few current examples, the Food Traditions and Culture forum in which this topic exists includes a great many such discussions, including Feed a Cold Pre/Probiotics Food Allergy Guidance Food and Pregnancy Weight Watchers Given that this topic is itself health-related, let's stay focused on food, eating, weight, and health. If you have questions or comments about eG Forums, feel free to send me a PM and I'll be happy to address them. Thanks!

That pistachio version sounds luscious. Since you're soaking and then grinding them, whole/sliced/blanched probably wouldn't matter. However, I think that whole almonds would probably be better quality, if only because it's hard to hide the imperfections. I made a Mai Tai last night and the orgeat was overpowering. I think you have to cut back on the stuff a bit if you use this recipe because it's so much better than the bottled stuff....

Over here I mentioned that I was making some orgeat: Just finished a batch tonight and made a Japanese Cocktail #1 -- and, if I may channel Jasmine for a moment, it's a whole new world: the texture, flavor... it's amazing. Tossed the Fee's I hunted down for months a moment afterward. A few notes on that Art of Drink recipe. I used a very old, very powerful stainless Waring blender for the grinding of the soaked almonds, and that worked like a charm. I dunno if a newer, less brutal machine would work, though; if you'd end up with chunks, it wouldn't work. The sugar dissolves oddly quickly with little heat. I actually thought I'd heat only half of the liquid with the sugar, and indeed after only a couple of minutes and some brisk whisking I had dissolved everything in the almond liquid. Then I added the (unheated) rest of the liquid. I had rose and orange flower water on hand, so I added a smidge of both, and I used inexpensive but solid cognac (Baron D’yllac Cognac VSOP) instead of vodka. The resulting flavor is very complex, and because of the almond oils it travels across the tongue in a manner radically different than I expected. Seriously. A whole new world. A dazzling place I never knew. Every turn a surprise, with new horizons to pursue.

You mean like this? Or something lower on the price/performance scale? ← I'm a big fan of Northern Tool also. I've had my meat grinder for several years and never had a single problem with it. I have used it to stuff a lot of sausage and it's a lot easier to use than others I used in the past. ← That's the one I'm looking to buy, yes, but I feel like there ought to be something that doesn't plow through 300+ pounds per hour for less than $300+ bucks.

What a great stack of information! Thanks for tracking it down. The point about stronger casings really makes sense to me; the "cleaner" ones I've gotten at Whole Foods have broken more often than the Butcher Packer ones I've had.