johnder

So I guess the $10,000 question is: In all the old classic cocktail recipes that called for what would it have been? A sweeter liquor based one, or a dryer eau-de-vie?I am assuming the former.

Hey, all I know is I went to the restroom after consuming 5 drinks with slkinsey and at least 7/8th's of my sea fizz and when I came back the glass was gone. I didn't refuse to drink it. The apry drinks were good, but I think I need to try them when I am a little more uh, sober. John

For those that want some rather dense reading, there are a ton of scientific papers on MSG here. Granted they are from www.msg.org.au, but I am assuming the are not biased. One interesting one from the bunch is this one which discribes the issues with a lot of the testing done with MSG in that most of the tests don't match up the doses of MSG with the persons body weight.

I expected it to be sweet, but for some reason I didn't really get a lot of apricot flavor from it. It was like sucking on a big yellow jolly rancher. Of course this could be just my taste buds being killed after I think 4 or 5 drinks. BTW Sam, after you left I stupidly had another drink with Donbert -- a Sea Fizz. Holy crap. That was a mistake.

That's awesome. I have to say I tried Apry last night for the first time (with the bottle Donbert picked up from New Haven, CT) and wasn't super impressed. It was very sweet and syrupy, like a fruit roll up. It is a shame that a usable apricot liquor isnt available, as there is such a huge swath of cocktails that I can't make that are supposed to contain some form of apricot. It would be super awesome to have better brands available. John

So I found an online retailer in Conneticut that apparently has it in stock, but won't ship it to New York. Grand Vin Wine and Sprits Looks like a road trip.

wow, my house upstate has tons of mushrooms all over, especially after this super wet weekend. I have bought numerous books and charts but never felt like I could easily identify anything enough that I would consider eating it. I am pretty certain that I have some yellow chantrelles around, and some that look like mini shitakes almost. I need to find a mycologist in upstate new york. There are TONS of puffballs around too, I never thought they were good eating.

If you do end up serving a gin based cocktail to people who don't like gin, just call it a juniper infused vodka based drink.

So I was over a friend of a friends parents house and while rummaging through the liquor cabinet to make a cocktail waaaay in the back of the cabinet I found a bottle of orange bitters The label says: Giroux Orange Bitters contains: Alcohol, Cane Sugar Syrup, Partially deterpenated orange oil, extractions of quassis and other vegetables, salt, sugar, colors. Alcohol 30% Has anyone seen this before? I did a few searches on line but didn't turn up anything. The bottle is half full, I am currently in the process of trying to see if I can obtain this bottle for furture research!

you can always thicken it up with a little lechitin as well. (assuming you have some)

I think I found tomorrow nights drink recipe, I just need to track down a bottle of orgeat. John

You could always try blending up some fruit into a puree, freeze it into a solid block, put it into a cheesecloth lined strainer and let it defrost and drip through. Mix in some simple syrup to taste. Kind of like what Vadouvan did with his cucumber/melon soup here. I assume the same principle would work for fruit.

I have actually been playing aound with something along the same lines. I picked up a bottle of quince juice that I reduced to a syrup and have been using that in some drinks. I haven't had too much time to experiment with using it, but I did mix some in with some applejack, a little sweet vermouth and some hess bitters. It was a little overwhelming. I may need to cut the quince syrup down with some water. edit: to fix typos induced by too many honeymoon cocktails.

tonight, utilizing my new stash of lairds bonded Honeymoon Cocktail 1oz Lemon Juice 3/4 Oz Applejack 3/4 Oz Benedictine 1/4 Oz Orange Curacao Very good, I like the heavy lemon notes, followed by the Apples.

I wouldn't pick Le Bernadin personally. If you want specific reasons why, you can check out my post in the Le Bernadin thread.. I have always had a great meal at Danube. The room is pretty amazing, and when I was last there (granted it was about a year ago) the service was spot on. I haven't been to Robuchon yet, but from the inital reviews of it, it seems pretty awesome. Depending on how soon you go, the service may not be 100% up to snuff. Bouley is another great choice. I don't want to sound like shill for DB, but I had an awesome meal there a few months ago, and like Danube, service was terrific. Just my thoughts... john

nope not I. I grew up in a house with a hard core non-insulated wolf stove. At a young age I quickly realized anything on the stove was hot even if that specific burner wasn't on. The monster just radiated heat from every orafice. With my current wolf stove (the home model) I am still in the habit of never leaving anything on the stove unless it is being heated or about to be heated -- I don't even touch the oven door handles without a kitchen towel because I assume it is hot. Same way I never ever touch a pot handle on the stove without a towel in my hand, even at other peoples houses. Once burned, twice shy. edit: typo

My favorite shop is already carrying it. I already snapped up 3 bottles from there. Better hurry.

Wow, you really do like watermelon. Look at the size of that one in the van! John

Sweet. I always heard they won't budge on the demo. Good to hear otherwise. I will be sure to relay this information to my friend.

So lets say, hypothetically of course, one had $800 bucks to spend on a Thermomix, does anyone have any ideas of how to obtain one without the requisite in-house demo? I looked on ebay, for uh, my friend , who, uh was interested in purchasing this, but couldn't find any. I have to post this for my friend, because if my friends wife found out about this, I would, I mean he would be dead.

Did you look in the whole foods frozen section? I found frozen tangerine concentrate there a few months ago. Not a replacement for fresh, but decent none-the-less. I would definately bump the bitters up. Also if you are going to use the passion fruit, I would try bumping up the lime, especially if the passion fruit nectar is very sweet. The lack of egg white would definately impact the drink.

Hoard them is right. They are incredibly hard to find. They used to be somewhat available at Dean and Deluca, but somehow they started to dissapear when a certain bar opened up close by. I have one lone, sad little jar left.

I have been using Ronnybrook farms heavy cream in my Ramos' -- talk about killer. I am not sure what the fat content of their cream is, but wow it is rich. John

last night I had a State Street Cocktail 1 1/2 oz plymouth gin 1 oz pineapple juice 3/4 oz lemon 1/2 oz lime 1 egg white 1/2 oz simple syrup Pretty good drink -- very refreshing. I am going to play around with the ratios a bit The original recipe called for a jigger of pineapple and the juice of 1 lemon and 1/2 lime. I am not sure of the size of the lemons and limes back in 1937, but now I get about 1 ounce of juice from the lemons and limes I get at the store.

So I found a book in a used bookstore the other day entitled: Famous New Orleans Drinks and How To Mix Them, first printed in 1937. They of course have a looooong blurb about the Ramos and they author states that the recipe is the "authentic" recipe. 1 tbs powdered sugar 3-4 drops organge flower water 1/2 lemon (juiced) 1/2 lime (juiced) 1 jigger dry gin 1 white of egg 1 jigger rich milk or cream 1 squirt seltzer 2 drops vanilla extract The interesting thing is the vanilla extract. The author goes on to say that the "Old Timers" that worked for Ramos said the drink didn't include vanilla, while others Has anyone tried a Ramos with Vanilla? I am curious enough that I will give it a shot tonight.