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This article seems to indicate that exposure to sunlight can be a problem, but I don't think it means that you need to store the extract in an opaque bottle if it's already being stored in a dark cupboard. Salih FM. 2006. Risk assessment of combined photogenotoxic effects of sunlight and food additives. In Science of The Total Environment, 362 (1-3): 68-73.

It will definitely smell alcoholic for a while. Personally, I think that when it smells right is when it's pretty much ready to use. Smell is a big part of taste anyway, so I think that's a decent way to judge when it's ready. Got some new beans myself, so I'm going to get some cheap vodka and see if I can discern any residual off-flavors in the end product.

The strength of the extract seems to be defined more as a function of the process than from an examination of the end result. A quote from Rose Levy Beranbaum's blog: The FDA database results on vanilla are less specific, so I'm just assuming she's right.

You know you're at the wrong place when it smells of noxious, not even food-based, fumes. We spotted a Hawaiian plate lunch restaurant, and you don't really see a lot of those in Northern California. So, we stopped in the hope that we could indulge in a little home-state nostalgia for my husband, who grew up in Hawaii. "Plate lunch" is basically Hawaiian fast food, so the fact that this place was located in a strip mall in an economically "transitional" neighborhood was not necessarily a bad sign. There were cars in the parking lot, but then it was a shared lot for several businesses. We went inside, and BAM, a horrible smell hit us. I stood there, startled, trying to figure out what the smell could possibly be. Could it be some sort of melted plastic? Was it a roach bomb or some other poison fogging device? Or maybe, it was some kind of cleaning chemical? I hoped it was not the food, or in the food, but knew it had to have penetrated all the food there. There were no other customers and only one visible employee, who was at the cash register and facing the door. As we were about to go, the woman at the cash register, probably the owner, immediately asked us what we would like to order. My husband, who felt like he simply had no escape at that point, ordered (to go), and I told him that I would wait in the car. The smell CAME WITH ME. I had to roll the windows in the car down to get rid of it. About 15 minutes later, husband and food arrived, both smelling of the stink. I tried (in that I opened the to-go box), but I couldn't eat it. Neither could he.

Well, I don't know if it matters or not -- presumably all the flavors would matter at least a little, but maybe not. A test between extract made with cheap vodka and high end would be an interesting way to find out, though.

Eggplants also make a nice vegetarian katsu. What I do is: *Peel *Slice into "steak" rounds *Salt, let sit to leach some water *Bread, using panko crumbs (seasoned w/salt and pepper) for the outer layer *Fry quickly until brown *Check interior for doneness; if not done, finish in oven Serve over rice and shreaded cabbage, with accompanying tonkatsu sauce. Tonkatsu sauce is usually some variation of ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce blended together.

No, it's not an urban legend -- a number of people have tried it (like this guy)and posted their specific results on the web, stating pretty much what I said, that filtering it improves the flavor by removing impurities, but won't make it top shelf. That's also what they found in the mythbusters episode: There's also support for this on the Brewhaus forum. As they say, carbon filtering removes all flavors, good and bad. Which is why I think it would not be optimal for drinking, but might be fine for making extract.

Excellent! I've been curious how different spirits affect the flavor of the vanilla extract! On the topic of using cheap vodka, I think the problem with that would be the off-tastes you would get from the impurities in the vodka. You could get around that by filtering the vodka. If you ran it through a Brita-type charcoal filter a bunch of times, you would lose the impurities eventually. It wouldn't necessarily taste as nice as top-shelf vodka, but it would be free of anything off-tasting and might be a nice base for the extract.

I think I'd use about 5 beans, split, per pint of liquor, sealed up in a clear mason jar so that you can easily see what's going on. Shake the jar once daily for about a week until it is dark in color, and then put it away to continue to steep on its own. It should be ready to try in a in a few more weeks. It may not achieve the right concentration for 6 or 8 weeks. For the alcohol, I've never used anything except vodka, but if you have beans to spare, it might be interesting to have two test jars going instead: one using vodka and one using bourbon, and see which you prefer.

We make our own in a big mason jar, but haven't done it in a while, so I ran out and ended up buying extract from Trader Joe's. I don't really recommend their brand -- it has something in it that thickens it slightly, and just isn't as nice as the home brew. I don't remember our extract taking 3 months to get nice and dark, but it does of course improve over time. For the first week or so, we'd take the jar out of the pantry and shake it up to hasten the whole process, and then when it was deemed strong enough, we'd just start using it, leaving the split vanilla beans in there. The beans are obviously leached of their vanilla over time, so when you need to add more vodka, you should also add some more beans and steep the beans until dark again. I personally like using vodka rather than a darker booze because it's easy to tell when it's ready.

I want to express my heartfelt thanks to all who answered my cassoulet questions. In all the excitement, I completely forgot to take pictures, but it really came out gorgeous. The top layer of beans made a great crust, the beans overall had a wonderful flavor of pork and duck, the duck and pork belly meat were tender, the pork rind melty, and the sausage was a great compliment. The guests really loved it. We served seven (and a toddler), and still have leftovers. We weren't able to get Toulouse sausage or Tarbias beans, but substituted kielbasa and canellini beans to very good effect. It would be nice to have the proper stuff next time, though. We served a green salad along with the cassoulet. Considered serving it after, but it seemed to make the rich dish go down easier. For dessert, I made use of a gift of fresh Southern Oregon pears. I made a dessert of roasted pears, goat cheese, and mulled wine sauce. Really tasty. The pears are peeled, halved, pitted, rolled in a sludge of brown sugar, melted butter, and ground spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper), then baked. Right before service, they are flipped hollow-side up, filled with a couple of tablespoons of fresh goat cheese, and browned under the broiler. Then, the pears are served with the mulled wine sauce. It really went over well. Now, to decide what to do with the remaining duck parts and 6 lbs of side pork.

Aha, good tip on rendering the fat! It also does make sense to me to skin the legs ahead of time, since they'll all be used for the cassoulet. So, I'll go that route.

I couldn't locate duck legs for this project, but I did get my hands on two ducks, which are now defrosting in the refrigerator. I assume that in order to render the fat, that I'll need to cut the skin and fat away from the carcass and slowly melt it over low heat (though I am certainly open to any suggestions on this point). Would that include the skin and fat on the legs, or should those stay intact? The duck confit in this thread is made with skin and fat attached to the legs, but the author already had quite a bit of rendered duck fat on hand, while I don't, and am not exactly sure how much I would get if the fat stayed on the legs. And I would think that the skin would be removed anyway before adding to the cassoulet, as I can't imagine that it would stay crispy. So, is the confit made using legs that have already been skinned and de-fatted? Bourdain's recipe doesn't specify.

That is what I suspected. I mean, 10 cups of beans? 12 sausages? And an entire duck leg each? Good lord. I think I will pull the duck meat off before serving so that everyone will get a nice portion of it. Thanks!

Excellent point about there being enough fat from the confit anyway. Apologies for monopolizing the thread, but I have another question -- this time about quantity. Bourdain's recipe indicates that it feeds four. We'll be feeding 7, but would doubling the recipe make far too much food? Or make the dish too greasy with the added fat? A doubled recipe would use: Duck Confit: 8 duck legs 4 C duck fat Cassoulet: 10 C beans 4 lb pork belly 2 lb pork rind 12 sausages 8 duck legs (from confit) That really seems extreme to me, but maybe I'm wrong. I imagine that would more than fill my 7 quart (?) Le Creuset French oven. We certainly don't want to be short on food, though, so I am a bit stumped.

Wow, thanks! The soy albumin must be what is crypically referred to as "soy protien" on the marshmallows sold through veganessentials. Also, I bet that boiling the agar and sugar together rather than separately, as I had been doing it, makes a difference.

Aha, that does seem much easier and neater than fishing the rind out after. I assume the rind has a layer of fat attached? Should I be careful not to let it boil too long so that all the fat does not melt away?

Actually, I think you should be fine using real sassafras. Here's a quote: "Sassafras Root Bark naturally contains safrole, a suspected carcinogen, but since 1976, commercially available Sassafras Root Bark has been treated to remove safrole." From: http://www.viable-herbal.com/singles/herbs/s938.htm

I looked into making my own rootbeer this last summer and found that this wiki article is a good source for narrowing down where the flavors in root beer come from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_beer The article says that these are typically the main ingredients in natural root beer: honey, sarsaparilla, sassafras, hops, coriander, and wintergreen extract. Then there's another brand mentioned that contains slightly different ingredients: sweet birch, licorice root, sarsaparilla, cinnamon, clove, anise, wintergreen, and vanilla. I would think that the spices used in root beer would make a really nice spice cake, maybe glazed with a syrup using the same flavor profile or frosted with a vanilla buttercream for a root beer float kind of taste. I do think the foam would work too, and would probably nicely simulate the foam that forms on the top of a root beer float. I'm not that crazy for foams generally, but this application makes sense to me.

Some in my clan might even prefer it that way!

Thanks, that helps! I kept picturing somebody digging in for a big helping of cassoulet out of the pot and coming up with a giant piece of stewed skin.

Ah okay, so cut it up like bacon, line the casserole with the strips, then start layering everything on top of the rind-lined casserole. Then after baking, you remove the rind strips and dice them, then put them back in?

We're thinking of doing cassoulet as an Xmas Eve dinner dish since it's so hearty and flavorful that it obviates the need for a bunch of sides. About the pork rind -- Bourdain's recipe says to line the inside of the dish with the pork rind as if it were a pie crust. So, does that mean that it's kept whole and put in as a whole piece, or do you cut it into smaller pieces first and lay it in the dish? I'm having trouble picturing that stage of the process.

The vegan marshmallows were a bust. I boiled agar agar, acacia powder, and tragacanth gum together until very thick and gelatinous. I tried adding it at the beginning with the strawberry puree, and then when I could tell that wasn't going to get beyond a foamy gel, and certainly nowhere near the appearance of the normal fluff, added more after the sugar had been incorporated. That seemed to thicken it slightly, but it didn't fluff up no matter how long the mixer ran. So, no idea how the commercial vegan marshmallow makers do it.

I've read that you have to actually simmer the water-agar solution for 5-10 minutes, not just mix with water. Aha, here's a recipe that claims success: http://www.recipezaar.com/78524 The relevant comments are on the right-hand column, not in the recipe itself: "You need to soften the agar in cold water and then cook it (simmer) for about 10 minutes for flakes, 5 minutes for powder. The resulting liquid should be clear." I imagine the acacia powder should be treated in the same way?