phaelon56

So sue me. Oops.... wrong guy to say that to It may be too easy but I'm struggling to come up with more than a candidate or two that seems as though it would work. I did once have a chocolate malted ice cream at Gramercy Tavern that was light on the chocolate and had a pronounced maltiness. I think it would work in a root beer float but it's not the kind of thing I'll find on the shelf in a grocery store.

Over in the National Root Beer Float Day thread (only on eGullet) the illustrious Varmint posed this question I myself can't think of another good candidate for root beer (other than bubtter pecans without the pecans) but it got me thinking about other possible soda/ice cream float combination Coke or Pepsi with lemon or lime sherbet (or sorbet for you foo-foo foodies ) Espresso or coffee soda with coffee or chocolate ice cream Cream soda with orange sherbet (I hate cream soda but even I might like this one) Fresca with rainbow sherbet Coke or Pepsi with cherry ice cream Italian orange bitters soda (Chinotto) with basil sorbet (I know, I know but they don't make basil infused sherbet) What have I missed?

I think it's all on the "Can Your Woman Grill?" thread but you, Al Dente, of all people, already knew that. So much for rhetorical answers to rhetorical questions. hey Bond Girl Your problem with this is what? I'll even contend that some men are just too caught up in a notion that is on the flip side. My former GF is the best home cook I've ever met in my life. She could try a dish in a high end or ethnic restaurant and a few weeks later replicate it but usually better - all of that in a poorly equipped kitchen that was about the size of my bedroom closet. Dhe is now engaged to a very nice man who never lets her cook - either he cooks, the housekeeper does or they go out. Go figure. This guy just doesn't know what he's missing.

I hear this argument a lot but in San Francisco, you could always get good coffee in North Beach and the mission and also in many other parts of town. A latte was correctly aglass of milk. Espresso was thick, dark and luxurious. Now with Starbucks, espressos are watery and the general level of coffee conciousness has been reduced. Maybe it's better for the country as a whole but San Francisco has suffered. I'm not entirely in disagreement with you but SF is more or less an isolated phenomenon. Yes, in an Italian neighborhood a lette is a glass of milk and a caffe latte has espresso in it. In many areas, espresso was a bitter and poorly made drink served only at a handful of Italian restaurants or upscale restaurants that wanted to offer a complete coffee experience but didn't have a clue. Most people had barely heard of espresso, much less gathered the notion that if properly prepared it could be a wonderful drink. Starbucks demystified it for many peopel by bastradizing it and dumbing it down but in doing so they openedd the door for many independent competitors who now benefit by introducing people to better quality espresso drinks. In short... there's more bad espresso out there than there's ever been but there's also more of the good stuff.

Actually.... that very same combination recently worked magic for me and I wasn't even the one drinking the Aviation

I happily jump right in unsolicited and do dishes for anyone who cooks for me but I've usually been a better cook (not to mention more motivated) than most of the women I've dated. They've customarily been content to let me do the cooking when we spend time together unless we're going out for a meal. My current GF(who is the final one - of that I am sure because she's the bomb) cooks a few very specific thigns really well but prefers to let me cook everything else. She'd rather use a frozen pre-made item or go to Olive Garden than go to much trouble to fix an elaborate meal at home. Then again.... she worked long hours for many years (still does) and did the bulk of the domestic chores for a household of four when she was married. It's understandable that cookign takes a back seat to more presisng matters. I cook because I enjoy it - it's that simple. I enjoy preparing food for other people even more so than for myself. If it's a woman I'm cooking for it's just that much better. I tolerate doing laundry but absolutely hate cleaning the house. When my dad turned 50 my mother took him down in the basement, pointed to the laundry equipment and said: "This is the washer and dryer. I do all the cooking and cleaning in this house. Now you're going to learn how to do your own laundry." That was thirty years ago and he's still doing his own laundry My father cooks: grilled hotdogs and burgers, canned soup and peas cooked in milk (don't ask). His idea of cookign is "let's go visit the Colonel" (KFC).

Check out this discussion on the Pizza Peel Thread slkinsey strongly recommends a 1" thick piee of soapstone as the best possible thign for home baking of bread or pizza but scroll to the middle fo the first page on that thread and check out scott123's idea. he suggest using fire brick, which is way cheap and available through (I think) masonry supply houses. It is very heavy and bulky bu the thermal mass is significant. I was using a 1/2" thick pizza stone but passed that on to my brother and got a nice 3/4" thick stone at a local Italian imports store. It was about $30 - $35 and wel worth it. In addition to being usable on both sides (my previous stone could only be used on the top), it seems to work better due to the additional thermal mass. Note of caution. leave it in the oven all the tiem and if you ever pul it out for any reason - wait until it's totally cooled off to room temp before doing so. My brother pulled out the stone with the bread onto a cooling racj rather than just using a peel to remove the bread. His stone promptly cracked across one corner due to the shock of the air temperature.

The "unique frothy coffee layer" is most likely a result of a "crema anhancing disc". Most espresso pod machines have these as do the lower end superauto espresso machines. It delivers somethign that looks great and is an enhancement for a cup of "regular" coffee but you're right - it's not real crema. real crema is an emuslification of the crucial coffee flavor components in a dense sort of creamy foam layer. It has a mouthfeel and intensity of flavor (if it's a good crema) that can't be duplicated by anything else. andiesenji said There are espresso blends that don't have a bitter base note - some are actually sweet (in a way but not in the sugary sweet sense). The challenge is not only being able to consistently roast and blend so that sweetness is present - it also takes good equipment and a motivated, experienced barista to pull shots that have this sweetness. Bitterness or sourness are the two most common artifacts resulting from a shot that is pulled incorrectly - could be overextraction, beans that are roasted too dark or ground too fine... there's a panoply of possible reasons. A bitter note to the flavor is in fact so common in commercial cafes that most peopel automatically think espresso = bitter. It takes a motivated, patient and determined cafe owner to change people's thinking and careful attention to process control to keep them believing (i.e. if you pull a great, sweet espresso shot for your cusotmer one day and one of your part time baristas pulls them a crappy, bitter shot the next day you've lost the opportunity). Knowing that there is usually a bitter base note in espresso (some people, especially many Italian blenders, actually want to include a bitter base not), I take my straight shots with a bit of raw sugar stirred in. I look for fruity and/or chocolate undertones in the flavor profile to balance the bitterness.

I've been fortunate enough to experience the Ethiopian coffee ceremony on a few occasions ajnd the coffee was always very, very good - once it was the best coffee I've ever tasted. It's my understanding that some households/families have a tradition of adding small amounts of ground spices and others do not. The preparation method includes the process of roasting the beans in a skillet or similar pan, passing the smoking pan in front of the guests so all can inhale the aroma and then returning to the preparation area where the beans are ground with a mortar and pestle before the infusion takes place. I'm guessing that the process of crushing the beans with the spices anhances the manner in which the flavors meld. I suspect that justign adding a bit of cardamom to the grounds in a drip maker or espresso machine would have a far less favorable impact or perhaps just less subtle. Thanks for bringing up this interestign topic Monica. I happen to love iced Vietnamese style coffee with condensed milk and Im thinking that a few subtle additions of spices to that mixture would be very interesting. By the way - Thai iced coffee is traditionally made with the addition of cardamom.

I think that most of the mugs Starbucks sells are actually NIssan's (used to be that way - not sure if it still is). Most of the time their prices are not competitive but then thay have a sale it's worth checking out - they recently had those little briefcase sized bullet style mini stainless thermoses for $10 0r $15 on sale - the ones with the leather wrapper on them. I would have grabbed one were it not for the fact that I already have three thermoses of varying sizes. Best prices I've spotted anywhere for the Nissan 14 oz spill-proof mug is at this eGullet Amazon link Nissan Mug My beloved mug

I just stumbled across this when browsing another site French Market Coffee Toddy package deal I have no affiliation with French Market but the Toddy Sytem sells direct from Toddy on their web site for $36. This deal includes a can of French Market brand coffee (you can always give it away as a gift ) and a ceramic logo mug. At about $24.50 it's the lowest price I've ever seen for the Toddy sytem and we still have plenty of hot weather left before fall. Not sure how much shipping is but it appears that Amazon doesn't sell it - this may be the best deal going right now.

Mine is the same basic shape and suize as Adiesenji's and it's been perfect. Mine lacks the plug in warming feature but with preheating a full mug of really hot tea or coffee wil easily remain drinkable for an hour.

Brushed steel is fine. The key factor is that it must be double walled stainless steel and the inside liner must be steel. There are lots of cheapo travel mugs out there that look like the good ones but actually have plastic liners with a brushed steel exterior. They're pieces of crap and not worth the $2 - $10 that people pay to buy them. Plastic liners don't retain heat and they don't clean up nice and clean after years of use the way steel does. Here's a Coffeegeek.com Nissan thermal mug review that provides more detail than you may really need but it does cover some important features and issues that should be considered for any mug purchase. A good one should be 18/8 or 18/10 steel inside and out (look on the bottom of the mug - the grade should be listed there). Mine has a big loop handle and the base tapers sharply inward, allowing it to fit in every car cupholder I have yet encountered. I've seen some newer styles that dispense with the handle but I really like the good grip I get when driving when that handle is locked in my hand. I've also seen some newer style that don't fit well in the cup holders on some vehicles - check carefully before committing to a travel mug. The lid on my still fits snugly after five years of heavy use - it has a small sipping holer on one side and a small vent hole opposite from it so the air flow will allow coffee to come out. I've seen newer ones that have a button you ush that totaly closes off the top when you'[re not drinking. if my mug is really full and I wave it around a bit of coffee will spill out but I've never had problems with normal use. Lastly, be sure to fill it with hot, hot tap wter or some water from a teaketle before you put your coffee in. Leave the hot water in there to preheat the cup for a few minutes while your coffee is brewing. It makes a huge difference. My mug has kept coffee warm enough to remain drinkable for one to two hours of car travel even during wintertime up here in frigid central NY state. Also - it used ot be that Nissan made all the good mugs but there are some knock-off brands these days that look pretty good to me. (true confessions: the best mug I could find five years ago was at Starbucks - I used a plastic scrub pad to remove their name and logo from the front of the mug but no alarms went off and it works really well to this day.)

The Starbucks web site offers the follwing info for a Venti sized Coffee Frappuccino. It gets worse if you have mocha, caramel flavoring or one of the other extras. Then there's the whipped cream (in the immortal words of Heavy D the Overweight Lover.... "you can't have ice cream without whipped cream" ) Yes it's bad. Making it at home I'll wager that I can easily cut the fat content in half (or better) and decrease the sugar by 75%.... all that and still have a better tasting drink that is almost as creamy and doesn't have artificial stabilizers etc. I'm with ya on that Chef S. As an avowed espresso fiend and middle aged guy who's always trying to balance intake so I can still enjoy what I like, I've been know to do thigns like make my own half-caf espresso blends and work with lower fat milk for capuccino's or lattes. Try as I might to get consistently good and lasting microfoam with 1% milk I've settled on 2% as the lowest fat content that will work well. I can happily eat breakfast cereal with non-fat milk any day of the week with non-fat milk but as for adding it to coffee or espresso? It's about as effective as pouring in a mixture of talcum powder and water (I'll have to try that sometime - it might be better than non-fat milk ) I have discovered, however, that 1% makes a passable iced latte, especially if espresso cubes are used so that the drink doesn't become too watery as the ice melts. When I venture into a cafe that has only non-fat and whole milk, I usually order one with non-fat milk and then add half 'n half to tatse until it gets the body I"m looking for.

He may not be an actor but he is an entertainer and I don't see the problem with that. When folks like Emeril raise the consciousness of the mass market about the value of using fresh and high quality ingredients, more people begin demanding those types of items from their local grocery chains. More demand means better selection, sometime more competitive prices and at the very least it means I don't have to hunt as far and as wide for some items I want to cook with. That works for me. These days I can buy good quality pine nuts, imported cheeses, decent olive oils and the like at my local Sam's Club Wholesale store. I have to think that the influence of Food TV and the like has been a factor in this realtively recent development. As an analogy let's consider Starbuck's - many coffee drinkers and espresso lovers think they're BS but the fact is that they have raised the bar for independent operations, increased consumer awareness and actually increased the market for better quality coffees. By the way.... Emeril was the head chef at Commander's Palace in New Orleans at a rather young age - early 20's if I recall correctly. You don't get a job like that by having shtick or connections - you earn it by being very good at what you do and having an intuitive ability to get other people to work with you as a team. I don't give a whit what people think about the TV shtick - the guy's got skills.

Point well taken about the context, which is never evident from these reports. My uncle worked in the meatcutting and grocery business for years. A salesman might walk in through the warehouse and then stub his cigarette out underfoot on the warehouse floor by the entrance to the meatcutting area. Ten minutes later an inspector walks through and writes it up as a violation. Oh well. I look for other signs. It's probably a poor indicator but I'm always curious to see how clean and well kept the bathrooms are in a restaurant. If they're absolutely spotless and well maintained I figure that such diligence most likely extends to kitchen cleanliness as well. Is this irrational or might it have some merit?

Yes.... enquiring minds want to know Akwa - not to worry about impropriety - if we ask and then you supply us with the name of your establishment it is not advertisement or shilling - that occurs only when people post unsolicited info about their own business solely for the purpose of drumming up business.

Great topic. I grew up in a household where the menu was dictated by my dad's extremely narrow food tastes - basically just meat and potatoes with chicken and occasionally fish interspersed. We even had things like lamb patties and pork chops once in awhile but almost never dined out. he refused to eat pizza or anythign else with red sauce. All I wanted on my birthday at a younger age was pizza (Chef Boy-Ar-Dee worked because I could help "make it" and that was part of the fun). I also requested spaghetti and meatballs because it was so exotic to me - I literally had the chance to eat it only one a year. Moving through adulthood I never made much of a deal out of my birthday (it's just the way it is in my family). It was almost irrelevant what the meal was but if I ate at my folks house my mom would still make a chocolate cake with sea foam icing - my favorite as a young child and I still love it. My new beloved, who is the greatest woman I've ever known, by chance also shares my birthday. We traveled together and had a fantastic birthday dinner together at La Cocay in Cozumel MX our first year - last year circumstances had us apart. Haven't picked a destination yet but plans are once again to be traveling on our birthday and have a special dinner out somewhere - most likley New Orleans, Key West or SF - not really sure yet.

The prepackaged liquid sugar / simple syrup products are just becoming available in the US (or perhaps they have been but haven't been widely distributed). I have yet to see any available in Starubucks or in independent cafes. There was some discussion about this on the Wet Sugar thread Regrettably, it will probably be slow to apear in the US market unless there's a demand driven by consumersa. I should think it will happen eventually but it takes a big chain liek Starbucks to drive the market. Once they started offering Turbinado sugar most of the independents and a few other chains followed suit. I forgot to mention one other huge beneift of making blended and iced drinks at home: the opportunity to adjust sugar and fat content levels to your own needs. I love Frappuccino's but the fat and caloric content is over the top. I can make a drink at home with 1% milkl or even a mix of 1% and non-fat and achieve close to the same creaminess with all the flavor and about 1/4 the sugar content.

akwa - you may get some helpful additonal visibility by posting this on the listings at the employment related section of this community JobGullet

I've been intrigued by this process since seeing an Iron Chef rerun last week where the theme ingredient was Guinea fowl. The challenger made a paste in a food processor that consisted of lots of coarse black pepper, salt and water or some other liquid (lots of pepper - the paste looked speckled). The bird was place in a casserole dish and the top surface entirely encrusted with about a 1 inch thick layer - it was then chipped away after roasting. Does the meat get especially salty or does it form a crust of some sort and only the surface gets salty? Very curious. Sounds like walking down a dark alley late at night Have you explained to her that this is a very safe neighborhood here at eGullet with a great neighborhood watch program?

It's been a rather cool summer here and I just recently got back into iced coffee drinks again. After getting a few iced lattes recently when traveling I quickly remembered why I like the ones I make at home so much better than what I buy in cafes (in their defense I should mention that one of our local establishments makes a good one using the same technique). Make some extra espresso shots - three doubles should suffice - best to pull the shots into one small container like a little metal pouring pitcher. Depending on taste, put a bit of sugar in the bottom of the pitcher before pulling the shots. Stir to blend the sugar (I use Turbinado sugar - the taste is so much richer than white sugar). add another couple ounces of water and stir again. You should have about 8 or ten ounces of liquid. Pour in an ice cube tray and freeze. I make extras and keep them in ziploc bags in the freezer. This same process can be done with Moka pot coffee or extra strong drip coffee also. The uses are multi-fold and they're all good 1) Use in place of regular ice cubes in an iced latte, iced cappuccino or iced coffee. As the ice melts, rather than diluting the flavor of the drink and making it progressively weaker, it remains rich and as strong as it was when originally mixed 2) Nice addition to a chocolate milkshake - the ice makes the shake a bit fluffier and less creamy than a traditional shake but with a nice rich coffee taste 3) Great for making your own cloned version of a Frappuccino at home - I think we have discussed home made blended iced coffee drinks here before but if not I'll start a new thread as this is a favorite topic of mine. Using espresso cubes eally kicks up the intensity of the espresso or coffee flavor. I've actually come to realize that to duplicate the commercial Frappuccino, extra strong coffee (e.g. brew some French Roast with half the usual amount of water) is more to my liking than espresso but the addition of the espresso cubes is just right. 4) It might be really cool in a mixed drink. I"m not a drinker and will leave that for someone else to ponder. 5) Uhhhhh.... increases the caffeine content of iced drinks (as if I need it ) Tips for making a good iced latte or cappuccino - it would seem to be common sense but I have to give instructions to the people in most cafés - if I don't the result is usually a drink that gets watery too fast and has the sugar sitting undissolved in the bottom of the drink (if I use sugar, which is often necessary) Add sugar or other sweetener to the hot espresso or coffee and stir to dissolve Now add the milk and stir to cool the hot liquid last step is to add the ice and if necessary, top off with a bit more milk I consistently find cafés adding the hot espresso directly on top of the ice cubes, which hastens the melting process. Then they add the milk and now the sweetener (often needed because so many cafés have bitter espresso) won't dissolve properly in the cooled liquid.

Apparently we are on a similar wavelength soda-wise 1) Fresca rules. It's even better with about an ounce or so of cranberry to top off a tall glass of Fresca with ice. If only they made Diet Ting my world would be complete 2) I'm not only with you on Diet IBC root beer (A&W's diet is not too bad but doesn't compare) but cream Soda is an abomination and must violate some fundamental rule of nature. I'm certain of that. 3) 2 out of 3 ain't bad. Diet Pepsi, Diet Coke - ho hum to all the diet cola's - the wtwo are markedly different but I"m nto a big fan of either 0although the Cokek does beat the Pepsi).

My local Wegman's grocery has the Senseo product marked down because it's not selling (I'm pretty sure that's what they have - I don't think it's the Black & decker product). I recall reading commentary a few years ago from someone who'd tried it on a trip to the Netherlands, where it's very popular. They raved about it but suggested that best results were obtained with the Douwe Egbert's brand of pods. When I visited ireland last year the onoy good coffee I could find was in convenience stores in a machien that ounctured and brewed the coffee from individual plastic pods that one purchased at the register. IIRC that coffee was the Douwe Egbert's brand and was a darn good cup (unlike the swill i was served everywhere else).

Justifiably made famous to some of us Northerners by that classic soul song which ends with this memorable phrase Polk Salad Annie lyrics I've always wondered what it tasted like. Just curious - am I correct in remembering that it can also have some sort of consciousness altering properties? I could swear I read something about that somewhwre.