johnder

I second that! I second that!

Ok, I think it is safe to agree that making multiple reservations and canceling them at the last possible minute is bad, and is frowned upon by everyone -- but hopes are that David is making his decision on which place he is going (Kittichai) and canceling the others ASAP. That said, let's try to get this back on track.

I would actually try an make a forcemeat out of the chicken, stuff the blanched cabbage leaves with it -- cook that off and make a bacon vinaigrette and serve it on top of either Boulangerie potatoes with truffle oil, or mashed w/ truffle oil.

Last Wednesday the New York Times posted a feature article on London and Cocktails The article was great coverage of the scene in London, and has quite a few quotes from Audrey Sanders of Pegu Club. A brief except: And their list of the best cocktail places in London:

First off, nice to see you blogging again Megan! Flying pigs bacon is amazing. I have a freezer full of the stuff. They really take care of their pigs and it shows in their product. Mmmm bacon.

Both Pegu, D&C and I think Flatiron crack ice to order for stirred drinks. No towel in the hand, just cube and spoon. The drinks have probably 4-6 cubes in them, all cracked -- the mixing glass is filled pretty much %80 with ice. It's hard core. John

Do anyone have this book by chance? It seems to have a reference about the origins of Pad Thai. Everything You Need to Know about Asian-American History I wonder where the closest library is from here....

Well I wasn't sure if there was anything about it having to use ingredients that could be found easily.

Oh Yeah. I am all over this one. Would a drink with Red Hook Rye disqualify me?

I am preparing for the worst. Stocking up on limes and lemons for my fridge. Right now I haven't seen any increase in my local Korean Market, Limes and Lemons are still 4 for a buck.

Ah good catch Sneak, I totally missed the opening date. From the picture it looked like they were pretty much complete. I noticed upon closer inspection there is no liquor in the photo, so I would guess they are waiting on their final permits. John

Has anyone been to Alchemy which just opened in Park Slope? Kevin Read converted the space and has Jared King from Peacock Alley as the chef. There was a blurb about it today on grub street. I have to say I am interested, especially by: Alchemy is at: 56 5th Ave, Park Slope Brooklyn

So New York Press did a review of Death and Company this past Tuesday, it can be found here. The touched on the food briefly and gave well deserved kudos to the drinks: The part that was bizarre about the review though was: I am not sure I would want more than 2 oz of 100 proof rye in my glass at any point anyway. I may have wanted a goblet of Jack when I was 18, but I have since moved beyond that.

admin note: New Thread Created, originally a breakout discussion from Gordon Ramsay

I agree. Having a drink that has a lemon peel wiped around the drink and discarded (or kept in the glass if you prefer) to actually having lemon juice is a huge difference. The other big difference, more so with this drink in their list as opposed to others, is there are no commonalities in liquors between them. Zero. The only shared item is lemon, but that is even in different forms. I don't know why bastardization of Sazerac's bother me so much but it is a pet peeve of mine. It is just such a perfect drink as is.

So chow posted an article talking about classic cocktails resurrected with a twist. While I am all for experimentation and innovation, one line in particular really bothered me. That hurts. The Harmony looks like a good drink, but how can the be considering a twist on a sazerac? Because it has a chartreuse rinse maybe?

Here is a link to the Time Out Review, and a few passages.

For me, the term "fusion" cuisine does not mean having one dish that is Asian, one that is French and one that is Mexican. For me it is more about blending the cultures, either in technique or ingredients. An example of something along the lines of fusion would be taking a classic Poulet Roti and serving it alongside some ponzu flavored long beans and coconut milk green curry eggplant. Not that I am advocating that, but that is taking a classic french dish and pairing it with asian accented accompaniments.

Well given that Dave lives about 20 blocks from me, I can sleep well at night knowing that I have a backup reserve of chilled mixer glasses available in case of emergency. Dave, if you ever want a super cold martini mixed in a chilled mixer let me know. Hopefully when Sidecar Bar finally opens, we can convince them to have chilled mixers too. John

I keep 2-3 mixing glasses and a few cocktail glasses in my freeze. I don't think I am pompous -- I just have the room to store it in my freezer. When I make a stirred drink I will add the ice and liquor(s) into the glass and stir for 30 seconds, then take my time getting my garnish and glass out of the freezer. During this time I let the drink sit, then right before serving give it another couple of stirs. John

Read my mind exactly.

Ok tonight I made a beefeater martini with my grapefruit bitters. I did 1.5 oz Beefeater .5 oz Noilly Dry 3 dashes grapefruit bitters big fat flamed grapefruit twist. Very tasty. The bitters didn't overpower the drink and gave it a great aroma.

So I have been playing around with some versions of grapefruit bitters recently and came up with a pretty good version. The big test will be of course if it is shelf stable, and won't cloud up on me. The recipe can be found here in recipe gullet. The end product is bitter -- definitely get some of the bitterness from the grapefruit, but the bitter from the gentian helps settle the pith like bitterness from the grapefruit. The end result is very yellow and has a tremendous aroma of grapefruit. Now to see what I can use it in. John

Grapefruit Bitters A decent version of grapefruit bitters for use in cocktails. This recipe is about the 5th iteration of an original recipe and turned out fairly decent. More details on this recipe can be found here. 180 g grain alcohol 60 g Grapefruit zest (no pith -- in strips from vegetable peeler) 10 g Grapefruit zest with pith 10 g Lemon zest 4 g ginger (2 pieces) 5 g gentian 1 g dried spearmint 5 g dried lavender 30 g water Combine all ingredients, let sit overnight (12 hours) Strain solids and set aside. In saucepan melt 3 tablespoons sugar until very dark brown, add 1/4 cup water, stir until dissolved. Add 3 teaspoons of burnt sugar syrup to strained bitters along with 1/4 cup water. Keywords: Cocktail ( RG1933 )

Wow, that indeed is a good deal. Considering it cost me close over a c-note for my hard cover second edition, and that was after weeks of looking. Congrats! Did they have any other good cocktail books?