donbert

I don't really seek soju out myself. Most soju today is industrially produced and essentially a low proof vodka, neutral spirits diluted with water. There are a few artisanal sojus but nothing I've tried so far has been interesting enough to capture my interest. I'm loosely affiliated with a couple different Korean drumming troups in NYC and after practices/performaces we usually go out drinking in K-Block (I refuse to call the row of Korean restaurants on 32nd st "K-Town"). I only drink soju when I'm out with them and they're all about the OhShipSeJu a 1:1 mix of BaekSeJu and Chamisul. The name OhShipSeJu is a play on the name BaekSeJu which literally means "100 years wine" because it the ginseng that's allegedly flavored with will help you live till a hundred. OhShipSeJu mans "50 years wine" since it's been cut in half with regular soju.

Breakfast this morning: Total Greek Yogurt with Honey and a cider donut.

The sake was $39.99 pre tax. Not sure what the tax on liquor in NJ is. Thats quite a mark up but Japanese bars sell it for $7-$10 a glass/box here in NYC. The green stuff on the seared oh-toro was yuzu zest and we squeezed juice over it as well. I'll probably try using the remaining one in a drink tomorrow. I'd like to play with them in more cocktails but they're very expensive here. $3 for 2 right now.

Hrm... yogurt you say... Have you ever tried Geitost? It's a Norwegian goats milk cheese that's caramelized.

The lamb was from Ottomanelli's and the Chard was from the Union Sq Farmer's Market. Well...we did finish off that bottle... but there were two of us and it was only 1.8 L. edit: fixed embedded picture

For the pictures in last night I brought my digital camera (Olympus C5050, point and shoot with lots of manual settings) with me. I usually don't carry it around but it has a bigger lens so you can still get good shots in low light conditions. For low light shots you need to hold the camera as steady as possible. I studied photography in college and most of my photos were take at night so I had to learn to have a steady hand and to take advantage of anything i can stabilize myself against. Instead of with your elbows pointed out to your sides, you should prop your elbows against something (table, bar, or even you body). I think I had 5 drinks... maybe six... Eating all that pasta before going out helped a lot. I've ended up closing Pegu after Johnder leaves on a couple occasions before so this wasn't that bad. I'm one of those atypical Asians who can hold a lot of liquor. Everyone in my family seems to have a very high tolerance. I guess it helps that my father comes from a long line of Soju distillers in Korea up to my grandfather.

I think you all know where this is going... I couldn't wait for friday so I got another can to cook tonight. Tried simmering this for only 2 hours and it sill worked. It was much lighter in both color and flavor. Much more pourable while hot. On some ice cream and cookies. On it's own.

Now for dinner proper most of the cooking was done by chef Coogan: Lamb Bacon braised Chard Roasted Hen of the Woods Mushrooms

For dinner tonight a couple friends came over. Snacks while cooking Powdered Wasabi can't compare to fresh Wasabi. If you haven't tried fresh wasabi, ask for it the next time you go out for sushi. The Oh-Toro we prepared three different ways: Oh-Toro Sashimi Oh-Toro Tartare (I forgot to pick up some quail eggs to top this. ) Oh-Toro Seared with a blow torch

Whoops, fixed the spelling. Looks imported. I don't know too much about sake but I've had this one before and I like how dry it is.

I actually have TheManInWhite's pasta machine on loan at the moment. It's made by Imperia but I'm not sure what exact model number it is. Maybe he'll come out of the shadows and comment. I've been meaning to get the KitchenAid pasta roller attachment but been putting it off as well. Once I give this back though I'll have to finally pick it up. Fresh Pasta is so easy to make and better than store bought pasta.

Here's some of our bounty from Mitsuwa and teaser for dinner tonight. Hen of the Woods (aka maitake) Mushrooms Sake Yuzu and Fresh Wasabi . . . and . . . . . . . wait for it . . . . . . . . . wait for it . . . . . . . . . . Fatty Tuna! edit: spelling. Thanks Hiroyuki!

For lunch we ate at Mitsuwa, a big Japanese market just across the Hudson. They have a food court in the building with some of the best ramen. I had the Spicy Miso Ramen with the Special Pork. My friend had the Salt Ramen Combo. Ito En, which makes the Teas' Tea line of unsweetened bottled teas has a booth there as well. Besides getting some of their loose leaf teas I tried the Green Tea Soft Serve.

Sorry for the lack of posts today. Just got back from running errands in NJ all day. Breakfast this morning was some steamed buns from Mei Lai Wah in chinatown.

I met up with Wienoo and Johnder for a few drinks at Pegu last night. Can you guess who had what? Jack Rose: Apple Jack(Laird's bonded), Lemon Juice, Grenadine This is a great drink to start someone on the path to cocktail geek-dom. With only three ingredients the quality of each really makes or breaks this drink. The Laird's bonded, fresh squeezed lemon juice and home made grenadine (pomegranate juice + sugar) is the only way to go on this one. Holy Roller: Pecan Infused Bourbon (Elijah Craig), Simple Syrup, with a side of Brian's Salty Nuts A drink that Brian has been working on for a while now. Perfect for the holiday season. Dangerously smooth. And everyone loves his salty nuts. Manhattan: Rye, Sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antica), Bitters, with a flamed orange twist Baked Apple: Apple Jack (Laird's bonded), Cinnamon Tincture, Hess Bitters Tastes just like apple pie. Unnamed: Apple Jack (Laird's bonded), Sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antica), Green Chartreuse, with a flamed orange twist A drink that Phil and (evil) Jim have been working on for the winter menu. Not for the casual drinker, this one has some serious bitter complexity. Vieux Carre: Rye, Cognac, Sweet Vermouth (Carpano Antica), Benedictine, Peychaud's, Angostura This was served up which sparked a discussion on how it was historically served in New Orleans and then poured over ice. A great way to end the night. Sazerac: Rye (Rittenhouse bonded and Old Overholt, Peychaud's, Simple Syrup, in an absinthe rinsed glass with a lemon twist I love the layers of flavors in this drink. After leaving Pegu Johnder and I proceeded to Milk and Honey to see what Chad was up to. Ended up closing M&H last night. Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye 13 Year Neat Chad had mentioned how this was getting difficult to find so I had to give it a try. Now I need to find some. High Hat: Rye (Sazerac 6 yr), Cherry Heering, Lemon Juice, Angostura The Rye and Cherry Heering made an interesting combination, spicy. I forget the specifics of the cherry garnish but it was perfect for this drink. It tasted almost like it had been pickled in vinegar. Tamarind Rum Punch: Rum (Ron Zacapa 23), Lime, Tamarind Juice, Angostura This one is just dangerous. You can't taste the alcohol in it at all. It just tastes like a tamarind punch.

An unexpected boon from my quest for every brand of scm in my neighborhood last night was finding this: I had this amazing farro pasta at Chez Panisse while visiting San Francisco last month and it's been on my mind ever since. So tonight I made some pasta using 2:1 farro:semolina. On the way home from work I also stopped by Di Palo's to pick up some fresh mozzarella and a cacciatore . Tonight's dinner: (my kind of salad) Farro Pasta with browned butter and porcini. Now I'm off to Pegu for some drinks.

Here's an interesting abstract from the Journal of Dairy Research. No mention what causes these "other reactions" in the abstract but "cross linkages between protein chains" sounds like a texture change to me. Anyone want to put up the $20 to get the full article?

After 4 hours it definitely isn't pourable. When it's hot it's less viscous and easier to get out of the can but even then it's not exactly fluid. Closest thing I can think of off the top of my head that has a similar consistency would be hair gel. I think the thickening is a result of the milk proteins being cooked. If milk proteins are globular like the albumin in eggs, heating them would cause them to unravel and knit themselves into latices which would account for the change in texture. edit: punctuation

I'm not sure of any exact length of time it will keep for but I've definitely left it in the fridge for a couple weeks without any problems.

Yup, right here. That's actually why I made dulce de leche last week. I wanted to play with it in egg nogs this friday. The last time I made dulce de leche was probably 4 years ago and I hadn't thought of it since that thread.

You simmer a whole unopened/unpunctured can of scm in a large pot of water making sure that it is completely submerged in water for about 4 hours. Common sense suggests that you should let the can cool down a bit before you open it. During that time the scm will caramelize into dulce de leche. I'll probably start boiling the cans tonight or tomorrow but I think I'm going to hold off opening them till friday when folks will be over for cocktails.

Hmmm... I know that after 4 hours or so works so I figured I'd take it to the illogical extreme of 24 hours. Do you think that after 10 hours it would go bad? Maybe what I should have done was just get one of each brand to boil for 4 hours to find which is the best then get 24 cans of the best brand to see what the difference is at 1 hour intervals for 24 hours... Looks like there might have to be a follow up experiment.

You know you have a problem when you see this walking the down the street... ...and the first thing you think of is "if I could steal this I could bet I could make some really cold cocktails!" followed by "I bet the guys on the adventures with sodium alginate thread could do something cool with this..." I'm guessing it isn't food grade though.

Had a craving for some spicy Thai food to combat the cold weather so I went to Won Dee Siam for lunch. The Lunch Special for $6.50 are a steal. Today I went with the Green Curry with pork.

Erik, I would say that it was a combination of my personality (INTP Myers-Briggs type) and the accessibility of other cocktail enthusiasts that got me so deep into cocktails. I naturally take a very logical and systematic approach to solving problems and figuring things out. I also have a tendency to get interested in tangential topics from reading and conversation (like SCM), which I then apply what others might consider an obsessive level of investigation that usually starts with reading as much as I can about it then trying it myself. Getting into cocktails provided me with a great deal of reading/research that I could immediately reproduce yielding a tasty end product. I love being able to read about a recipe, try making it, then make several variation of it very quickly all in one evening. Cocktails to me were the culinary equivalent of fruit flies for genetics and evolution researchers. As far as cocktail culture is concerned, the community is very open and accessible to anyone who is interested. I've never met a bartender or fellow cocktail geek that wasn't willing to share recipes and techniques. Even without bars like Pegu, between the eG cocktails forum, the Drink Boy forums, and cocktailDB there is a wealth of information already online and growing every day. And as you know it isn't just home enthusiasts like you and me. Practically all the cocktail gurus of today are regular contributors; Gary Regan, Dave Wondrich, Audrey Saunders, Robert Hess, Ted Haigh, etc... Who knows what it will be like in the future with this so called "cocktail revolution" going on now but right now the international cocktail scene is a great community to be a part of.