Chris Amirault

Any idea which sherry?

More Lustau PX fun tonight. I found the Arawak Cocktail in Trader Vic: 1 1/2 oz sweet sherry 1 1/2 oz Jamaican rum dash Angostura bitters Stir; strain; no garnish. First time, I used Appleton V/X and followed the recipe directly. Very tasty, but also very sweet, and the rum was lost in the PX. So I tweaked it a bit -- and cracked into one of my truly precious bottles: 1 oz Lustau PX 2 oz Inner Circle Green scant dash Angostura scant dash Bittermens Xocolatl Molé bitters scant dash Regan's orange bitters The drier, higher proof rum out front, and the array of bitters, turn this into a remarkable drink, changing with each sip and with a long, long finish thanks to the trio of bitters.

I just grabbed the Ardbeg for a wee dram and... Whatever briny means? That stuff is briny.

I guess companies called Saltworks and Salt Traders can't get up on a soapbox and decry NaCl.

It's because "best results" varies from person to person and application to application, particularly in regards to texture. One of the great things about SV is that you can prepare several small bags and pull the same cut of meat out at different stages, testing to see what you like. I'd give that a try.

Start with Talisker. I love that stuff.

I use a FoodSaver all the time for SV and it works perfectly. You can't compress things as you could with a chamber machine, but you can get the air out of stuff and seal it for the water bath. Lots of people have brined SV proteins to good effect. There are several entries on the subject in the SV index I just mentioned above.

Just getting started thinking about this in our household, and I'm not sure at all what we'll be doing. Anyone got plans?

I'm going to a SM scotch tasting next week (for locals, Elliot is hosting it for Town Wine & Spirits in E Prov at Waterman Grille), and they're featuring two scotches I've never had: Balblair (1997, 1991, 1989, 1975, and 1965) and Old Pulteney (12, 17, 21, and 30 YO). Any thoughts on either?

Welcome, Keith! Nathan has a long post about this subject here. You can read more using the index to the original sous vide topic. Short answer: there's general agreement here that Keller's temps and times are overcautious. Smarter people than I can weigh in on the particulars.

My Sunbeam arrived. Not only does it look great, but it's just about the coolest thing in the world. I'll take a video and post it here soon. Oh and the toast? It's fantastic.

You know who probably makes a perfect Perfect Manhattan? Kazuo Uyeda.

As I finish off an ounce neat, I can say that the El Dorado 15 is a remarkable spirit, one that all serious rum fans deserve the opportunity to nurse.

I should note that my family now accuses me of undersalting.... I think that the perception of saltiness is as much a part of salt as anything. Salted fats that coat an item you've sautéed make the item seem more "salty" even when it isn't; balancing that fat's saltiness with, say, the salt content of blanching water is important. And, yes, using acid appropriately is also important. I don't want people thinking that I serve everything in a salt crust! The idea here is to talk about when, and why, you salt when you do.

Wow. I go through one box of Diamond kosher salt each month, minimum.

I read every one of Caroline Bates's reviews in Gourmet. Tom Sietsema and Corby Kummer seem smart, more often than not. I trust this Shaw fellow, too.

From Hollinger & Schwartz's Art of the Bar: Le Demon Vert 1 1/2 oz gin (Citadelle) 1/2 oz absinthe (Leopold Bros) 1/2 oz falernum (Taylor) 1/2 oz lime Shake; strain. Didn't have a black licorice stick for garnish, sadly. Excellent, nonetheless.

The more I talk to people about designing cocktails, the more I realize that very few people take the time -- and I mean a few minutes, not seconds -- to smell, feel, and taste spirits. Those that do often make the mistake of treating spirits like wine, sipping and sucking in half a lungful of air before choking on the fumes. A small mouthful of spirit, swirled around your mouth, tongue, soft palate without air; breathing in through the nose and tasting what you pick up; breathing out through the mouth and tasting some more.... These steps will tell you a whole lot about what that spirit will and won't do in a drink. Yes, there's alchemy when two things added become more than the sum or their parts. But if you can't pick up the chewy smoke wafting off Ardbeg, or haven't taken the time to notice the Rittenhouse spice scraping your tongue, you're not likely to find that alchemy in your mixing glass.

Sorry. I made it sound like I do all of those things every time. That was a list of all of the possible times. Of course, I didn't say how much salt I use in each instance. Perhaps I'm not using enough! Posted from my handheld using the Tapatalk app. Want to use eG Forums on your iPhone, Android or Blackberry? Get started at http://egullet.org/tapatalk

I've been trying to watch my salt, not for health reasons but because my family has made it clear that, to them, I often oversalt things. I realized that I salt at various stages of preparation, and have been trying to think this through. There's the liquid cooking medium, whether it's salted water for blanching or salting the olive oil in which I'm going to saute onions. There's presalting the item itself, salting a piece of steak prior to going in the pan or brining. There's during cooking. There's after cooking with finishing salts. Trying to hit the right level of salt has been tricky, but this multiple salting process also has me thinking about perceptions of saltiness when eating. I don't know quite how to wrap my mind around it all, and thought it might make a good topic. How do you approach salting your food?

Ok, so who's got a perfect Perfect Manhattan? What ryes/bourbons, vermouths, bitters, ratios, garnishes?

I'm obviously exaggerating for effect here. Interestingly, the folks who have asked for Perfect Manhattans at my bar have done it because "it's their drink." Usually with Jack Daniels, too. I've tried to have a conversation about it and can't get to the bottom of it.

Best name -- and sauce -- ever. Clicky.

Try as I may, I cannot get over the belief -- nay, the conviction -- that "Perfect" drinks aren't perfect at all. Indeed, Manhattans are perfect -- not "Perfect" -- when you use only sweet/rosso vermouth; cutting it by half to add some dry vermouth is, well, nuts. So where does this "Perfect" language come from?

I was thinking about this topic today when I was making a Scofflaw. I don't think of rye and dry vermouth as effective dance partners, but, by golly, they are in this drink. It's a testament to trying out combinations that are wacky to you -- but might not be after you've tried 'em out.