lostmyshape

I have Global's "Asian Chef's Knife", which is neither truly santoku or chef's knife. my wife and i adore it. it's super sharp and easy to hone. it's also really light, which we love, but that's a preference. i know a lot of people hate global because they're so light. my wife has really small hands and i have relatively big ones and we both feel really comfortable with it. the shape really lends itself to more chopping and slicing (like a chef's knife), but i wouldn't be afraid to put it up against almost anything except thick bone (but a regular chef's knife wouldn't do that either). it replaced a henkels 4-star that was tough to keep sharp and heavy. we still use it, but it's been relegated to back-up duty. although you probably can't go wrong with any of the knives on the websites people have posted, you're probably best off trying them out (although all that sharp, shiny metal is tempting me, too). just an anecdote: a friend had some super awesome european chef's knife that cost more than twice my global. it was a fine piece of craftmanship, but i just felt really clumsy with it. just wasn't my thing. moral: try it out first, if you can!

you people are too awesome. ok... i learned the joy of rye and sugar (actually, in sazeracs... i've polished off half a bottle of old overholt this way). last night my wife added some mulling spices to grocery store apple cider. i promply dumped an oz of rye in my cup... holy crap... instantly made a tasty drink a much more interesting one. now... if i did the whole spices and citrus peel "rock and rye" would this even further improve the cider? is this type of rock and rye drinkable on its own? if jerry thomas was making "rock and rye" the simplistic way, when did fruit and spices make their way in there? hmm... rye is relatively cheap... so i might make an attempt at it myself. and kurt, thanks for the reply! noah

i am at this moment drinking a Preakness. mmm, mmm, tasty! sweet and spicy! i just want to take a moment to thank those of you who have been pushing Rye. i have been trying to enjoy whiskey for the last 4 or 5 months... attempting to expand my horizons from gin. Rye has been my way into whiskey. after developing a taste for it, i'm finding that i'm liking bourbon and scotch way more than i ever have. thanks!

this whole state store thing is too complicated and annoying. already checked for the luxardo... none within 100 miles. they said that they can special order it, though. i might have to buy a whole case, but that's not the end of the world. oh, and sorry to all for highjacking this thread to chat about the lameness of buying liquor in PA. back on topic... just a nice glass of port and a warm fire works as well. sometimes simple is best.

ok, experts... kurt and i are both getting confused about Rock and Rye. what's the real deal? fruit and spices? or no fruit and spices? looks like classically, they're included. any favorite recipes? we need to know before we can be properly ready for our christmas parties! noah

Thanks for the tip, Katie! i thought that was the case, but i asked at my local store and they said that it was discontinued in the state... kindof annoys me. most state liquor store employees know very little about liquor or the state sales system. ugh. now if i only could get luxardo in this corner of the state... think i'll have to special order that. i'm really gonna have to start trying to mix gins for martinis. that sounds great!

oh, lordy... i'm not sure some of you people have been drinking with the proletariat recently. in 99% of the bars in america, vodka is the new vodka. i know a few whiskey drinkers, but if it doesn't have the words single and malt and scotch, they won't touch it. i'll believe that rye, bitters, tinctures and fresh citrus are trends that will continue, but mostly in cocktail epicenters, only. oh how i pray that it trickles down!!! here in pittsburgh, the appletini is still considered new and chic. and the chocolatini, too. oh, and the peartini... truthfully, i think that in the mainstream vodka isn't going away anytime soon. although i have seen quite a few better craft vodkas and vodka infusions that are at least moving toward spirits with flavor. i could see infusions getting bigger (although of vodka, only.) gosh, i think the main 2006 cocktail trend might simply be that sales will continue to go up. which is great! i really think that things like rye and bitters are gonna take a long time to make it "across the country" to places like pittsburgh.

i guess i wasn't clear earlier about what Rock&Rye was. i didn't realize it was a simple drink. but now that you've enlightened me, i've been enjoying these (as well as sazaracs). the rock and rye recipe that i saw came from a magazine ("Drink", i think) and was for a hot apple toddy. you basically made a spiced cider and then added "Rock & Rye" which was a concoction with sweetened rye and citrus peel and spices. it was much more like the juaquin's rock and rye liquer (which looks nasty). but i've been set straight. i think i'm gonna try that Hot Port Sangaree. sounds great and i like that it can be made one glass at a time. thanks! noah

i'm guessing that good ole' sam is speaking with a bit of irony. at PA liquor stores you're lucky to find 4 types of rye, but there are about 15 shelves full of vodka. it's a shame, too. wasn't rye traditionally made in PA, on the Monongahela River? i think it may have even been called Pennsylvania whiskey (correct me if i'm wrong, historians). none made here now. i keep thinking it would be cool to start a distillery here in Pittsburgh (on the Mon, like days of old) that specializes in Rye. that's a tough business to start, though, isn't it?

hmm... and what's the philosophy of mixing 2 different ryes? just adding complexity? is the michtner's also 100proof? (i know it's darn expensive. oh, and can you beleive that PA liquor stores no longer carry noilly pras? the only vermouth i can get here is martini&rossi and stock... ugh.) for some reason i associate egg drinks with winter... so i've recently done flips: brandy, rye, and boston flips... although in the boston i substituted port for the madeira, because i had it in the house. maybe the grated nutmeg makes me think of the holidays, thus a winter drink (as opposed to fall). plus my wife gets disgusted when i break a raw egg into my drink, so that's a bonus no matter what time of year.

ok... christmas music on the radio already started 3 weeks ago. although we had a 60 degree day here in pittsburgh last week, i think the cold is here to stay (a balmy 33 degrees this morning). I need to get ready for those christmas parties by getting some hot drink recipes! what are your favorites? i'm thinking about making hot cider toddies with some rock and rye (anyone have a good rock and rye recipe?). and of course there's the hot buttered rums and the tom and jerrys... anything interesting that you guys (and girls) have cooked up? maybe off the beaten path? any ideas for a hot ginger drink? I love that warming of the mouth that spicy candied ginger gives. would it translate to a sweet and spicy hot christmas drink? thanks! noah

ugh... i wonder: does most of this pertain to "store" bought meat (meaning large outlets who get most of their meat from factory farms)? or do i need to worry about locally produced meat that the co-op or whole foods carries? i like my meat awfully rare (as do many of you, i'd guess). i guess i can be cautious, but looks like i need to start praying, too. even with meat i buy and cook myself. don't think i'll change the way i prepare meat. oh, well. thanks for posting the article. i knew most of this stuff, too, but kinda forget it when i go to the store. always good to be reminded to be more vigilant.

not that this thread needs another positive Pegu Club reveiw, but why not? thought that i'd be there with 3, but we picked a few people up along the way. 7 was too many to sit at the bar, unfortunately. got the Little Italy, a variation on a manhattan with rye and cynar. it totally kicks the manhattan's ass. i really need to pick up some cynar and rye (where do i find rye in pittsburgh?). then i had sazerac (after reading a short dave wondrich article in drink? magazine). it was mighty tasty, also. my friends had a variety of drinks, all good. my wife actually stumped the bartenders by ordering a holland house cocktail. it's sort-of an aviation with genever instead of dry gin that we discovered on the internet cocktail database. i'm not sure what type of genever they're using at pegu, but it wasn't nearly as malty as what we make at home. still good, though. beautiful place. someone mentioned in another review that the bassy, faux-club/bar music was a little silly, and my party totally agrees. something more exotic might have fit the place a little better, but i didn't go to listen to music. started to get crowded around 10:30, with people almost 3-deep at the bar, but that's what we get for going on a saturday. said hello to audrey, who seemed to be all business running here and there to direct staff, but was soooo nice. wish i could have stayed longer, but had people to meet elsewhere. gonna take audrey's suggestion and try to come on a sunday next time, when i might get a bartender all to myself. sigh, now i'm back in pittsburgh... a city not nearly cool enough for a bar like that. where in the world can you get a good drink in this town?

hey... i'm in NYC tomorrow and was hoping to find a good Bahn Mi. any other recommendations out there?

heading here with my wife and mother-in-law tomorrow night! can't wait! hope to see some of you there (not that i'd know what you look like, but we'll try to be extra friendly at the bar).

mmm... irish car bomb... i want to go all highbrow and say that any drink that you're supposed to chug isn't worth drinking, but this is drink is like a candy bar to me. get it down quick and gimme another. so tasty... and who cares if the irish cream curdles? who leaves enough time for this to happen anyway? just drop and drink! i would guess that any champagne drink would do well with a fizzy carbonated belgian style ale (any abbey or lambic). i rather prefer belgian beers to champagne anyway. they're not the same drink, but i think they can be used pretty interchangably. might want to give this a test. BTW, my wife and i used Unibroue's Ephemere in place of the champagne for the toast at our wedding. people were blown away by it. everyone i talked to said how much they preferred this to champagne. actually, many of unibroue's belgian-style beers could make an interesting substitution for champagne in such cocktail, i would think. might try it tonight! edit to link to unibroue's english web address, not french (those silly canadians).

ooooh... i have a brazilian friend who always has some cheap cachaca he brought back from visiting his family. We're always trying to find ways to finish a bottle. might give that one a try. and back on-topic: BryanZ, good idea going with a theme. good luck on future columns. BTW, ever seen Gary Regan's Cocktalian Column in the SF Gate? some of the best cocktail-related journalism (well, journalistic fiction?) around.

just bought a bottle of Boomsma Oude. only one more bottle left in western PA (says so on the PA liquor board website). i love it for simple cocktails. not really enough character that i'll sip it straight very often. if it's the lamest of the bunch, i'd love to try Bols or Bokma. alas, fat chance of those ever reaching Pittsburgh. after i buy the last bottle of Boomsma, genever will probably disappear from these parts entirely. been trying to educate people of the joy of this drink. guess i'll have to start writing some emails.

well... lexy is right. cost is a MAJOR factor in college. i'm not to far away from school and i can't remember a time when i could afford more than 1 bottle at a time. and it was rarely mixed with anything but soda... and by that i mean dr. pepper and coke. maybe you can look at this from a economic point of view. do classic cocktails like slkensey mentions, but focus on 1 alcoholic ingredient for a couple weeks. like cointreau... then you can tackle a margarita and a sidecar in subsequent weeks, reusing the cointreau. or do a month of bourbon cocktails. really, i think education is most important thing here. i didn't know anything about booze when i was in college, except it made you drunk (which was good enough for me). try focusing on one liquor and teaching about how it tastes. then provide a recipe or two to try it out (slkinsey's suggestions for this are right on). lastly, this might not be good for party cocktails, but... i remember that having a quest for an evening was always fun in college. so maybe throwing in a few complicated recipes would inspire an adventure to find all of the ingredients? good luck!

ok... with "champagne cocktails," can i get away with cheaper sparkling wine. as long as it doesn't taste bad, right? does it actually have to be Champagne? the Champagne Opportunity #3 sounds like it tastes good and is beautiful. i'm really loving the beautification of cocktails. a lot of the fun of making them is making them look great!

very attractive cocktail... i say go with "the chupacabra." how does it taste?

mbanu, thanks for the clarification. makes a lot of sense. so a "sour" is a base alcohol, nonalcoholic sweetener and a nonalcoholic sourer... are there any alcoholic sourers? wanted to try a pisco sour last night, but the lousy PA liquor store doesn't carry pisco. so i checked out the brandies and bought a brandy de jerez, instead, because it looked interesting and the price was right. i haven't really explored brandies before and really enjoy this one. anyway, i tried a sour with the brandy and really enjoyed it. used an egg and thought it was a nice touch. i dropped a bit of angastura bitters on top and my favorite part of the drink was how the spicyness of the bitters mingled with the sour flavors. might have to try it with a teaspoon of benedictine. definately going to try the suggestions for other sour fruits. and darcy, i'll have to check out the next issue of Mixology, but i'm not sure i'll be trying the Plonk. had enough cheap wine to last 2 lifetimes. but, would something like powdered wine acids come in handy in making cocktails?

i was just reading the thread on "Which glass?" which concerned sours (the drink) and it got me thinking about sour, the flavor. i'm trying to get better at inventing my own drinks or doing variations on drinks. it seems that my only options for sour are lemon and lime. am i limiting myself here? is there something other than citrus that can bring sour to my drinks? a sour liqueur? and how about sours, the drink? trying to get the definition of a sour from slkinsey's post in the "Which glass" thread: so, can we call anything with citrus a sour? what about an aviation? a type of sour? would adding egg to an aviation be a good idea or bad idea? i think i need to get the joy of mixology and do some studying. noah

yeah, i think this was the error of my ways. i've been so into cocktails that i've really started to enjoy the bite of alcohol (and the drunk part... well, sometimes). weak drinks feel like there's something missing to me. but others taste the alcohol and retreat. i forget that most people don't ever really have cocktails. they go for the sours, tonics, and the long island ice teas... or the sickeningly sweet ?-tinis. long drinks may be the compromise. they can get used the the flavors of the liquors without the overt alcohol-taste. and then once they're used to it... martinis for all! also... great suggestion on the champagne cocktails. i don't think many people will refuse those.

i also use a mixture of AP and cake flours (about 3:1) to keep the gluten down (trying to mimick italian 00 flour i've heard about, but can't find in Pittsburgh). it makes a great almost NY-style, bubbly crust. i try to knead as little as possible to keep it from getting too chewy. and as stated, resting is essential to stretching. don't get impatient. if it starts contracting, put a dishtowel over it and come back in 5-10 min.