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viva

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Everything posted by viva

  1. Oh, Mrs. P, I like that idea. You could soak the dried fruits in liquor, grind half of them into the stollen dough to make it more moist, and then mix the rest in for chunkiness. Yum.
  2. I usually prefer stollen. Does that count as fruit cake? Fruit bread that I eat every day during the holidays? Epicurious has a nice recipe for stollen here. It does not have any liquor in it, which I think is the major problem with the recipe!
  3. viva

    Cachaça

    The Germana (plain & 10 YO) is wrapped in straw/raffia from top to bottom, so you can't see the color until you pour. Logic would dictate that the 10 YO would be deeper in color. Yeah, I'm betting that cachaca is more similar to rum (well, it is rum), in that I've never really gotten a big benefit from freezing it. I'm thinking I could start a good cachaca importation & distribution business. It boggles the mind that y'all can't get Ypioca... I get it at the grocery store (well, it's AJ's, but still). It's better than Pitu.
  4. And the jerk pork is better too. I adore jerk pork with breadfruit & plantains.
  5. For me, recipes are for ideas, learning new things & techniques, or baking. (And even in baking, there is a lot of leeway... like deciding to soak the raisins in the Quaker Oats oatmeal raisin cookie recipe in calvados... just 'cause every dessert with liquor is better. However, I never mess with the dough or batter of any baking recipe.) I usually improvise, then never remember what I did to improvise, so nothing ever turns out identical to the way I made it before. It's kind of like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I made a little fruit tart for a friend once, just out of random stuff I had laying around. Even though she begged for me to make it again, I have no idea what was in it or what kind of crust it had.
  6. This thread made me really hungry for a good diner. Where I'd have a patty melt, fries, and a cherry coke. And pie. I don't really use the term "coffee shop". Probably because I'm not a big coffee drinker.
  7. Oooh... <slurp... please excuse me while I wipe the drool off my chin> That sounds delightful.
  8. viva

    Pisco

    Thanks guys! maremosso, I've got some good cachaca that I picked up in Brazil already, it's good to know that the two are fairly interchangeable. George, the pisco punch looks pretty good. What might gum syrup be? Possible to use a simple sugar syrup? Any recommendations on good Pisco brands, anyone?
  9. viva

    Pisco

    I've seen Pisco mentioned in a few threads, but I didn't see a lot of information on different brands or a separate Pisco thread, so voila... my first new thread! Anyway, I'm heading to Peru in a couple of weeks, and want to pick up something special, so... What are good brands of Pisco that I should keep an eye out for, both in the US and in Peru? Someone mentioned a Chilean brand called Aba? Any drinks with Pisco other than the ubiquitous Pisco Sour? Any interesting recipes or variations on the Pisco Sour itself? Any other tasty Peruvian beverages that I should be trying out during the trip?
  10. viva

    Cachaça

    I'd like to report back on my preliminary (and just oh-so-painful) cachaca research... The Ypioca Crystal I bought in the US is officially deemed crap in my eyes. Because I brought Germana back with me, and it is good. Germana was about R$50 (US$17 and also at the airport where I am sure I overpaid due to lack of time). The Germana is more viscous and fuller/slightly sweeter tasting. There's a hint of caramel color. It doesn't have the raw edge of the US-available cachacas, therefore requiring a lot less sugar in my caipirinha to smooth it out. I'm going to pop it in the freezer and see how it is as a sipping liquor. Somebody please import this into the US for crying out loud. Of course, Ypioca is like US$5 in Brazil (but US$25 in the US), so you get what you pay for. I tried bbqchef's recommendation of Espirito De Minas as well, and it was nice & smooth (and also very reasonably priced!). I noticed that several cachacas in the store had "cachaca de minas" as a description on the bottle. Are most cachacas made in the state of Minas Gerais? The Germana appears to be. Now, they also had a Germana 10 YO cachaca, but it was R$450 (about US$150). ~~dreaming~~ On another note, I went to a trendy little restaurant called Spot near the Sao Paulo art museum (MASP), and they serve up a little raspberry caipirinha. Thick raspberry & sugar slurry at the bottom topped with crushed ice & cachaca in the usual way. It was pretty good for the first few mouthfuls, but when you got to the raspberry slurry at the bottom, it was too sweet and you had to filter it through your teeth because of the seeds. Not attractive. It almost had the appearance of raspberry jam, which made me think that the raspberries were frozen or perhaps cooked in a sugar syrup a little. I thought I'd post about this because I think as a drink a raspberry caipirinha has promise, and I'm sure the e-Gulleteers can improve upon it.
  11. My god, that's one of the most beautiful steaks I've ever seen. Everything they say about Argentinian beef is true~~~ Would you mind posting where you ate in BA? I will be going in January or February for work.
  12. This is a little late, but Baby Beef Rubaiyat does indeed still exist (and it's yummy!) Rubaiyat seems to be a popular family of restaurants, my favorite is Figuierido Rubaiyat. Anyway, bife de tira translates literally as strip beef. I believe it is either strip steak or top sirloin.
  13. Sweet! I will be in Peru in less than 3 weeks. I'm completely tracking down the guinea pig (will try not to think of the pet guinea pigs I had when I was young, but they were a pain the butt anyway). Any hints on what a guinea pig might be called in Peruvian Spanish?
  14. viva

    Roasting Turkey

    My best turkey was brined & drained a la Cooks Illustrated (although I doubled the water in the brining solution without doubling the salt, which I think prevented the too-salty complaints others have had). Then made a paste of an ungodly amount of roasted garlic (40-50 cloves), ancho chiles, honey & corn oil. Massaged that under and over the skin in every nook & cranny of the turkey. Nothing says love like your hand buried under a turkey's skin. Cooked it upside down, then flipped (those orca oven mitts are key here) halfway through. Didn't bother with the sideways flip as the logistics just seemed too difficult. Crispy, tasty skin, juicy, tangy meat. Yeah, baby. This year will be my first turkey-on-grill experiment, I need the oven space.
  15. viva

    Gorging at the Trough

    I'm in Brazil on business right now (actually come about once a month), and churrascarias are everywhere. And they are GOOD. I'm so spoiled on Brazilian beef that it's not even funny. Anyway, being in a place where I'm presented with an ungodly amount of really fantastic food on a regular basis, I've had to develop some strategies for dealing with it in order to be able to fit in the one seat on the airplane back to the US. I started by watching my Brazilian comrades. First... if it ain't good, don't bother. If a cut of beef doesn't wow my tongue off, I push it to the side and move on to the next one. Second... I'll come up with a focus meat... chicken tonight, beef tomorrow night. Third... eat slowly and savor the experience. If I don't scarf the piece of sirloin I'm enjoying so much, I won't have to eat 2 or 3 more right away to feel satisfied. Fourth, and most important... drink plenty of caipirinhas.
  16. I've seen little gnats or what-have-you in soup or salad - they don't bother me. I pick them out and move on. A large, juicy bug like a roach would bug (heh) me, but I've never experienced this. Same if I see a hair - I just convince myself it is mine. The most unusual item I've been served was a piece of wood mulch in my cup of Wendy's chili. I threw it out and ate the rest. That which does not kill me makes me stronger.
  17. You've got to insert the point of a dinner knife between on the side of the jar between the jar and the lid. Pry enough to break the vacuum seal and voila, twist open. The dinner knife is key, if you use your nice steak or chef's knives with pointy tips, you break the pointy tip off. Not that I speak from experience.
  18. Actually, when I get migraines, a few Doritos will help. I always assumed it was the sodium or MSG content. Along with a little caffeine.
  19. The Grilled Jerk Chicken that Toliver linked to as part of the Epicurious jerk search results is PHENOMENAL. I make bigger batches and keep it in the fridge for quick marinades. I've been to wonderful local jerk chicken joints in Jamaica, and this recipe is the closest I have come to reproducing it back home. Don't seed the habaneros and it's even closer. Sort of O/T, there is a jerk joint in Montego Bay called Scotchie's, which is by far the hottest jerk sauce I have ever tasted. It was wonderful and this thread is making me miss it terribly.
  20. In order of preference: Waffle (but ONLY good stuff... cheap ones have a nasty metallic taste to them) Sugar (The crispiness is king) Cake (I like the little slots at the bottom of the cake cones... seems to go particularly well with soft serve) Cup (although the cup is much more convenient if there are a lot of toppings I need)
  21. Katie Loeb gets the credit for the "tangerine-cello" inspiration - her recipe is listed in the limoncello thread, and at the end of the recipe she suggested trying oranges using the same recipe as well. Seemed like a fine idea to me! I used a microplaner to zest the tangerines, which did the job very nicely. I'd also like to weigh in with the reposado-in-margaritas love... my favorite old reliable reposado is Hornitos. I don't like anejo in margaritas, although I did infuse some El Tesoro anejo with pineapple which made a mighty fine slushy pineapple marg.
  22. I agree the shorthand concept, but I think the problem is that "a vegetarian who eats meat on occasion" is an oxymoron. If you eat meat on some occasions, you're not a vegetarian. You're an omnivore. We don't need the word flexitarian if we've already got omnivore. Me? I'm carnivore who eats vegetables on occasion. I'm also a potato-phobe that eats french fries on occasion.
  23. viva

    Cachaça

    A couple of my Brazil buddies recommended 51 as a good basic cachaca. There's an interesting article on the trendiness of cachaca and caipirinhas in general here, and 51 is mentioned. I leave Sunday for Sao Paulo, and I'm bringing back as much cachaca as the US government will allow!
  24. There was a post in the limoncello thread that discussed using it in a margarita in lieu of an orange liqueur. I'm making my own limoncello and "tangerine-cello" now and am eagerly anticipating how they taste in a margarita! I'll post with the results. Cointreau is about $27 here in Arizona for a 750. On the store-bought front, I vastly prefer Cointreau over Grand Marnier. GM is just too sweet for me.
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