Chris Amirault

Typically the Martinez is the drink that fits this bill for me, and given that I have all of these ingredients on hand -- as well as a bottle of Boker's bitters, which is perfect for this drink -- I will weigh in later tonight, likely with happiness.

Volition, when did you order and then receive it? And where? I'm getting radio silence from Stoughton Steel, from whom I ordered it at the MC website, and it's been nearly two weeks since I dropped the cash for it. ETA: As if by magic, I got a response just now referencing lost packages by FedEx. Will report back.

I never know what to say when asked what my favorite cocktail is, a question I get a lot, especially when I'm doing workshops on same. But there are times when I know that there isn't a better cocktail on earth, when I'm drinking something that affirms my faith in the art of distilled spirits, human invention and creativity, and the profundity of the cold liquid sitting in the beaded glass on my left. Tonight, it's an El Presidente: 2 oz Barbancourt 5 star 1 oz Dolin blanc 1 oz Cointreau barspoon homemade grenadine Stir, strain, lemon (not orange -- too sweet) twist. You?

I go into some detail about them starting here in the fresh pasta topic. I've made them fewer than half a dozen times since then because (1) it's quite a production that (2) doesn't result in a superior product compared to (3) the ones I can now buy fresh at my local Asian market any time.

No rum?!? Sigh.... If I were feeling a little devious, I'd make Wondrich's Mississippi Punch and tell people there's no rum in it.

Thanks, Lisa. That's a question I also have. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Not having a dog in the on-going Neapolitan pizza steel-cage death match, I'm also interested to see what other tasty pies are being made out there, D.O.C. notwithstanding.

Yeah, I went and ordered the Modernist Cuisine Special Edition Baking Steel. My 50th birthday is coming. Tease away. Anyone else take the plunge? Have you been using it? What for?

I loves me an equal parts drink: 1 oz Laird's BIB apple brandy 1 oz Ransom Old Tom 1 oz PF dry curacao 1 oz Rothman & Winter pear 2 dashes Aphrodite bitters

When the sun and your parsley are both nice and high this summer, a salad with that, fennel, lemon, olive oil, and parmigiano reggiano will make you happy.

A few weeks ago, when making a simple red bell pepper agrodolce, I became convinced that the sweet/sour syrup leftover from making them could be used in something or other. Turns out that half an ounce or so added to your typical margarita is most excellent.

Very interesting. I wonder whether a gum syrup would help....

There are quite a few bartenders I know adding a bit of salt, either in crystal or liquid form, to their sours as standard practice for the reasons above.

I was all "flat is best" until I read Fergus Henderson's praise of curly. He was right, of course, so now I use either/both.

Why no mint?

(1) I have, and I found that the bulghur gets weird -- gummy, less toothy -- if you omit the hot water step. If you have time, you get an even toothier bulghur if you just soak it in room temp water for a while. (2) I never have them around, but, sure! (3) Salt, black and Aleppo pepper, cumin, olive oil, lemon juice.

I make tabouleh a lot, and when I make it I make a lot so we have it on hand for a few days. Here are a few things I do: Use more parsley than most recipes call for. Squeeze out the cooked/rehydrated bulghur with a towel as hard as you can. Avoid tomatoes (and their water) and use diced red bell peppers, raw or roasted, instead. Make a dressing instead of dumping various ingredients over the top (oil, lemon, salt, etc.). Add both lemon zest and minced preserved lemons to every batch along with the lemon juice.

Yes -- correct -- dry, not blanc. My error. What's a man to do but work out whether it's true?

As it's named after one of my favorite songs, I've wanted to try this Rogue Beta Cocktails recipe from Tonia Guffey for a while, but I rarely have both Dolin blanc and Amontillado on hand at the same time. So, I made adjustments as indicated: 1 1/2 oz Cynar 1 1/2 oz Rittenhouse rye 1/2 oz Dolin blanc 1/2 oz Lustau PX sherry (instead of dry amontillado) 3 dashes (instead of 2) Regan's orange bitters Stir, strain. Flamed lemon twist. (I didn't have a lemon.) A terrific drink that makes me wonder what you'd get if you pulled the PX raisins and got that leathery, dry Amontillado as indicated...

Whoever told you that you're supposed to like a Pimm's Cup needs to be told that it's positively manky with 7-UP. A good ginger ale, however, and bravo!

Getting a new batch ready to go as we lost our last bc of a week-long power outage. Anyone else using a master sauce these days?

I would hope that, with some of the drinks above, there must be an execution problem somewhere. (Dan, I would love to make you Old Fashioneds to convince you otherwise, in particular.) And it's not surprising to see the haters hating on Negronis, Martinis (Jeff Morgenthaler hates them), the Kill or Cure, and other potent potables. Having said that: I'm with Mike, Rafa, and anyone who has actually consumed a Monkey Gland, the sole condition that is both necessary and sufficient to know with certainty that the drink utterly and unredeemably sucks.

Seriously: 1 oz Four Roses yellow label bourbon 1 oz Old Monk rum 1 oz Cocchi Americano Some crazy comet-inspired thang. Old Monk is whack....

It's my understanding that Smokehead was designed to meet precisely this niche.

That sounds low to me. We hashed out dashes several years ago in this topic, and I figured out that a typical dash from the usual suspects was somewhere in the 1/14-1/10 of a teaspoon range. That lead to a "20 dashes = 1/4 oz" approximation, useful for batching, but also included much caution given the variety of approaches to dashes, fill levels, openings, and so on. As for calculating exact number of drops (and what is a drop, exactly?), I gladly hand off the task of figuring that out to a younger obsessive.

Start with either bourbon or rye or both. If you can find Rittenhouse, Bulleit, or Wild Turkey rye, start there. Get a fresh bottle of dry vermouth. Noilly Prat, Martini & Rossi, Dolin: any of those would get you started. If you can find Dolin, start there. Get a bottle of bitters. If you can find Regan's #6, Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas Own Decanter, or Angostura, start there. Put 2 oz spirit, 1 oz vermouth, and two dashes of the bitters in a mixing glass. (Expel a dash by holding the bottle above the glass, pointing down, and quickly gesturing downward into the glass, moving your forearm about 8-12" in a firm, stabbing motion. Do that twice.) Stir the liquids with enough cold, large pieces of cracked ice (or small ice cubes if that's what you've got) for 30 seconds or so. Strain the drink into a chilled glass. Twist a small piece of lemon peel over the top of the drink and drop it in. Enjoy.