Chris Amirault

Over in the cocktail competition pinned at the top of the Spirits & Cocktails forum, Erik posted this: More information at the Averna USA website. ← I'm game to give this a go, particularly after my embarrassment at not reading the rules carefully before hitting send at the Spirit World Raiders of the Lost Cocktail contest for Benedictine. However, the Corsa Italia Cocktail that I submitted got me thinking about the Averno as well. Here's the Corsa Italia Cocktail: 2 oz rye 1/2 oz Benedictine 1/4 oz Fernet Branca dash orange bitters & twist I've got to run out but I hope to fiddle around a bit with the Averna tonight along those lines, maybe nix the Benedictine... try yellow Chartreuse... I dunno. Anyone else interested to take a crack at a Sicilian vacation?

We clearly need a "ketchup bottle" v "quick tip" dash off.

What's on that list?

Which bitters did they use? The winter bitters weren't available when I was there in November.

Geek? I was actually ashamed at the lack of accurate scientific equipment.

When Kirk from The Violet Hour shows up next month, ask him to make you a Blue Ridge Manhattan.

I'm bumping this up because a lot of the links are dead (though not this one, which looks intriguing) and I'm wondering what sorts of bottles people are using for their homemade bitters besides recycled Angostura bottles. I'm also wondering if there are other bottle & dropper options save for these 1/2 oz amber glass ones and these 1/2 and 2 oz Nalgene squeezers.

I just got out the four different bitters bottles I have (Angostura, Regan's, Fee's screw-top and flip-top), all about 3/4 full. Each took between 16-22 dashes to hit 1/4 oz. So, depending on which 3/4 full bottle you grab, each dash is about 1/88-1/64 oz, or more like 1/14-1/10 tsp -- all smaller than 1/8 tsp and pretty varied. Two light dashes from the stingier, 1/14 tsp bottles would be about the same as one dash from a more generous 1/10 tsp bottle. I didn't count drops. Halftime only lasts so long.

Got a new batch going: 3 kg of the most basic recipe. I found that the spiced-up version was less versatile, and that the porky goodness was hidden somewhat by the complexity of the spices. Nothing too interesting to photograph, but I'll post result later.

Rona, you could make salt pork with it for flavoring beans and the like. If you're really gung-ho, you could cure some lop yuk or unsmoked Chinese bacon. It's not perfect to have mostly fat, but, hey, it's sure better than having no lop yuk at all.

We all learn from each other, Blamo! So, in that spirit, can you tell us more about what you did? Meanwhile, I've got some more confit left from my last batch for cassoulet and I'm wondering what people do with their confit that doesn't involve a three-day process.

Decided I should give a test from Janet's eGCI Taste and Texture course a go: I put a few grains of the MSG onto my tongue and swirled 'em around. I'd agree with Janet: it's more of "a unique combination of taste and sensation" than just a taste. The umami is clearly part of what makes, say, a good pho stock good, but when you have just the MSG you can taste the difference between the mouthfeel of gelatin in a well-bodied stock and the roundness of taste that comes from using enough meat, some mushrooms, and so on in that stock. I sprinkled a bit of the MSG into Fuchsia Dunlop's kung pao chicken from Land of Plenty last night, and it bound the different components very nicely, making the whole far more balanced than usual.

Dude, you do not want to be shelling periwinkles for chowder!

I use a wide-mouthed glass jar so that the container isn't ruined for other future use, lay down a layer of kosher salt, put the anchovies into the jar (less any liquid), and keep 'em covered with as much salt as needed.

← Weird quotation from Thorne, whom I usually admire. Sewing and carpentry are, with few exceptions, solitary events, and I'd venture to guess that preparing the family meal is much less so in most of the homes where cooks still cook. In addition, the rise of "mausoleum" kitchens is connected not to the death of the family meal but to the rise of kitchen design and appliances as status symbols. It's not as if $75,000 McMansion kitchens prevent people from making dinner. Creepy, sure, but portending the erasure of food preparation? I doubt it.

I'm not sure what you're asking for exactly. I'd urge you to follow the tried-and-true methods of real contesters. What criteria have the judges used in the past? Figure them out and follow them. Trad? Stick with cream, butter, S&P, seafood. Wacky? Make a lemon rind confit, put a teaspoon of it at the bottom of each serving, and top it with smoked paprika and chiffonaded chervil.

Great stuff, fengyi! The photo above, which included a bag of the stuff, prompted me to start this topic on cooking with MSG.

One of the things that you learn when you pick up non-US Chinese cookbooks, or even some that have been published in the US a while back, is that monosodium glutamate (or MSG) is included in many, many recipes. It's a bit like salt in US cookbooks: most savory dishes have a pinch or so. I was reminded of this when I saw the following photograph from fengyi's Western New Year in China topic: So, today, while I'm doing my shopping at the Chinese American Market in Cranston RI, I spied a bag and grabbed it for tonight's Sichuan meal. And now I'm wondering about how to use it, where to use it, and the like. Please note: this is not a topic to debate the science of MSG's effect on humans, the ethics of including it in your food if diners don't know, and so on. It's a topic devoted to using it to best effect in your cooking -- Chinese and otherwise. So how do folks use MSG? Do you measure? Pinch n toss? What sorts of dishes are best for it? What sorts aren't?

Just got back from Shaw's, where I did some of the week's shopping, and did what I nearly always do: grab a bag of this or a bar of that as a reward for doing the deed. They are rarely the sort of thing that I would otherwise buy, and not an item on the list. In addition, they are nearly always something inexcusable, given my general predilection for quality food. To wit: today I popped open a bag of Michael's Gold 'n' Good Sour Cream and Onion Flavored Ripple Chips. The photo on the taquitos.net page even includes the price. Retail is $1.39, but special today for $.79! (Every day is special when you buy a bag of Michael's.) Tang, crunch, salt, umami, and a slight transfat hangover in the checkout line. Now that's a reward. What's your present to yourself when you shop?

Boy, I second that. Yikes.

I'm surprised not to see any julep strainers here. I was looking at this one but wasn't sure what to look for. Thoughts? Sources?

I decided to give the thermometers a bath today. Here are the culprits: That's a Taylor dial thermometer (limit 220F), a Pyrex candy/oil thermometer (limit 400F) and a Maverick Redi-Chek thermometer (limit 410F). Because I had another wire and probe from a previous Maverick whose sensor fell into a stock pot, I tested that too. I had suspected that the Taylor was low by 3F based on some previous use over in the Cocktail Temperature topic. That checked out here as well, as it read 209F. It was also speedier than I had expected, getting there in about 10-12 seconds each time. Not instant-read, by any stretch. The Pyrex thermometer was accurate, as far as I could tell, going to what looked like 212F/100C (it has both scales). The thing clouded up on the inside and water beaded on the outside, however, and the scale was not very fine. But here's the thing: it took over a minute to get to 212F. Yikes. Next was the Maverick. The probe seen above was spot-on and about as quick as the Taylor, 10-12 seconds. And then there was the other probe from a previous thermometer: Yes, that says "248."

Parsley salad with fennel, shaved parmigiano reggiano, olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Here's the link. What are people going to be checking out?

So Kroger bacon is $5.33/lb? Hard to cut your costs at Kroger?