Ktepi

Oh boy, I'm going to have to try this. About how much do you use, a tablespoon? Two?

About 1/3 pound of 80% lean beef. (I don't like mammoth-sized burgers, and if I really wanted 2/3 of a pound of beef I'll have two burgers: huge burgers are like huge creme eggs, the crust-to-interior ratio is off.) Chili-grind/coarse-grind if possible, though I haven't had any luck with that since moving. Cooked on hot cast iron so that it's well-seared, with a real crust to give it texture. I don't like grilling particularly, and I don't like cooking outdoors -- and above all else, I like having hamburgers more frequently than I have an hour free to make lunch. I cook it to what I consider medium to medium-rare -- still pink, specifics depending on the size of the burger and how long I let the pan heat up -- and let it rest a few minutes. Any kind of roll will do, really -- I used to have preferences, but the very different bread selection of New England, Indiana, and Louisiana eroded those. Ketchup or Heinz 57, hot sauce (Louisiana brand, Crystal, or Tabasco) or habanero relish, sometimes a pat of butter or a schmear of foie gras conserve. Pimento cheese, Cheddar, or Muenster if it's a cheeseburger -- but as much as anything else that's because those are the cheeses I'm most likely to have in the house, other than mozzarella; plenty of other cheeses are good too. Sometimes I add about half a small can of Old El Paso chopped green chiles, in which case I leave off the hot sauce. The butter, I started using sometime after a hamburger show on TV -- I don't use nearly as much as they did at the place (in Madison?) they showed, but boy, if you use butter and Louisiana hot sauce, it's just fantastic. That would probably be my default hamburger if it weren't so prohibitively caloric. The foie gras has a similar effect -- this conserve is made with bourbon and smoked pork jowl, so it's very burger-friendly. Man, I want a burger now.

I almost tried the coffee thing this morning, but I'm a little under the weather and thought that might not be the best time to depend on my taste buds. Does it melt into the coffee? I didn't realize it would melt at a low enough temperature to really incorporate well. Thin slivers with tart apples have been excellent. I've been alternating between my thin-bladed knife and my mandoline -- haven't decided yet which is doing the best job easiest.

I bought a block of Gjetost yesterday for the first time, after two different friends mentioned it in the same week, unaware of each other. It's odd, and caramel-like, and... -- well, I think I like it, but other than eating it straight or with apple slices, I'm not sure what to try it with. Not that there's anything wrong with those two options. Friends have recommended: Eating it with apples or strawberries Grating it over hot rice Blending it with warm broth to make a spread A very thin slice on bread It seems like it'd be good with apple pie, too, which I'll try the next time I have enough Gravensteins. What else?

I could have sworn I had found a thread like this before, but I can't find it now. We've mentioned grapefruit soda recently, and lemon-lime sodas aren't uncommon (I love bourbon and Sun Drop). Ginger beer's in the Dark and Stormy, of course (and probably in drinks I'm not thinking about). But you don't hear about root beer much, or even orange soda, or Dr Pepper, or ... etc. What about all the premium sodas on the market? Or those "dry" sodas someone's selling now (I think they have a lavender, a kumquat ...?) The Izze sodas you can get at Target are pretty friendly with rum or bourbon, and I'd bet gin would be all right -- nothing's jumped out at me as a spectacular match. Moxie and Campari doesn't work, no matter that they're two of my favorite beverages. I really dig Coke Blak with any combination of whiskey, vanilla liqueur, Kahlua, and maraschino. Green Mountain's coffee soda would probably be even better. Others? With all the playing with infused syrups and whatnot, there's got to be room for Vimto or Mr Pibb. Single-malt Malta? Rums-Up?

I have one of those too! Okay, excellent, thank you.

Just wanted to revive the thread to say: 1: I made MeeMaw's Pork Cake, and it's great. I made a few substitutions that I won't dwell on, because they weren't made for preference but because I was making it on the spur of the moment and tweaked based on what I had in the house -- nothing extraordinary, but I used fewer nuts than called for, for instance, added some duck fat and duck skin to bring the fat content up to weight, and left out the citrus peel. It's really, really good. Does the cake itself keep forever, like other fruitcakes do? 2: A couple days ago, I was making a simplified sort of fried rice as a side with some spicy chicken -- no soy sauce, just dryish leftover rice stir-fried with leftover cooked greens and chiles -- and added a scoop of the pork mincemeat on a whim. It was terrific -- looked like dirty rice that was skimpy on the dirty, and the mincemeat was just fantastic with the greens.

The shandy's coming along! I just had to move it to a warmer part of the kitchen. Is there a limit to how long I can let it go? Right now it's very tasty and mild, definitely with that "full lemon" flavor you get from having the oil involved and not just the juice.

Oh holy cow, the grit's the best part. When I was a kid, I realized that if I learned to love coconut, I could get more candy: because by the end of Halloween night (when I was a preteen, trick or treating was nearly always held on a Friday or Saturday night and we'd have a party at someone's house and stay up all night watching movies), people were willing to trade, say, two coconut candies for one non-coconut candy bar -- two Almond Joys and a box of Dots for a Snickers -- and so on. Anything to rid their bags of coconut that'd go uneaten, or corner the market on Skors. I still really love Mounds.

Ooh, I'm going to check that out. Funny you should ask about the shandy, I don't think it's started bubbling yet -- or may have done so today, because I mashed it down and listened closely and thought I could hear something. It's been very hot here, but my AC's been on as a result, and has maybe kept things too cool. Maybe I should put it over by the stove?

Exactly -- I almost compared it to the first experience of Campari but I didn't want to imply that I thought they tasted the same ... but I can see there being the same learning curve. The first time I had Campari, I didn't at all know what to think except that I didn't hate it. The second time, I wondered what it would be like without gin (these first two times were in Negronis). The third time, I was hooked, and as often as not I drink it straight now. I suppose that's why I'm grasping for mixers, it's just strong -- I haven't got an espresso maker, but I think I may try it with or alongside some strong coffee.

I vaguely remembered this thread -- or Susan mentioning Strega on the dinner thread? seems possible -- when I saw Strega on sale at the liquor store today, and even though it was only one of those barely-sales ($1 off the normal price, I think), that was enough to convince me to buy it. It's weird. That's not a bad thing, I'm just saying it's one of those things that tasted almost completely unfamiliar -- despite a lot of familiar components -- and my immediate reaction to a friend, "something died in a bag of candy," probably came out all wrong. I like it ... I think. I think I'll pick up a taste for it pretty quick. I tasted mint or something mint-like before the anise, and vanilla, and I don't know what else. I had a few sips straight and then diluted it with club soda, and it's sweet enough that I welcome the dilution. I keep thinking there's a funkiness that reminds me of Luxardo Maraschino, but I may just have that on the brain because of my frustration over the NH liquor store not carrying it. What else goes with it? I realized when I bought it that this was not something that would lend itself to a thousand different kinds of cocktails, like the Sazerac Rye I'd gone into the store for, but other than the Strega cocktail upthread, what else would be good? Coffee? (Kahlua?) Vanilla liqueur? I would say Coca-Cola -- everything seems to go with Coke -- if not for the sweetness.

Hm. Jalapeno shrub? Tomato shrub? Molasses, honey, or maple replacing some/all of the sugar?

It's tasty enough that I wouldn't mind using a good vinegar -- this first time, I had no idea what to expect, so I didn't want to do any special shopping for it. But there was a vanilla vinegar I had a few years ago that would be a great combination here, I think -- champagne vinegar would be good too, I'm sure. Rose sounds great!

I strained the cherry shrub, and it tastes pretty great -- mixed with club soda, the first thing that came to mind was a tarter, cherrier Cherry 7-Up, and I bet it would be good with gin. But it still smells -- even when diluted -- distinctly of store-brand cider vinegar. I don't know if that's something that'll mellow with age, or if the gin would be even more welcome for covering it up. I've got a jar of that lemon shandy going now, since I had happily just bought and scrubbed a bag of lemons originally intended for roasted lemonade.

I've been soaking Bing cherries in cider vinegar for the last two weeks or so, to make cherry shrub -- I've never made it before but it's been in the back of my mind to try, so we'll see. Maybe this weekend is a good time to stop the soaking. I'm not at all sure what to expect it to taste like.

I was down to my last two bourbon-soaked Northstar tart cherries from last year, and wanted a drink where they wouldn't be lost -- and am out of bourbon other than what these had been soaking in. So: 2 oz Kijafa 1/4 oz maraschino the two cherries and the bourbon they'd soaked in about 1 oz tonic water It needed to be diluted with something and the club soda wasn't cold -- I like the little bit of bitterness you get from using so little tonic. Nice round cherry flavor, not too redundant.

Blank-and-sodas, gin and tonics, and sidecars are my safety drinks -- I haven't yet had anyone screw up a sidecar, though I think I had to explain what it was once. But it's a pretty forgiving drink, and I think even bartenders whose repertoire is mostly college-kid drinks meant to hide the alcohol have a handle on what a good sweet/tart balance is. Or maybe years of iffy margaritas just made me less picky about it? I don't order rum and Cokes for my safety drinks anymore since realizing that I like them much much less when they're made with fountain soda and rocks -- otherwise, a rum and Coke with bitters and lime was my bar drink until I discovered gin. That'd be too sweet for you anyway, sounds like. I've given up on ordering Old-Fashioneds and just accept that the soda-filled bar version is a variant I don't like but others must. Though I've yet to meet anyone who drinks them.

I know it's a little early, but ... curiosity got the better of me. And I work at home. Roasted Lemonade Salty Dog -- salted rim, 2 oz gin, fill the glass with roasted lemonade. (Roasted lemonade: wash well and halve lemons, place in an oven-safe dish and partially cover with water and about as much sugar as you usually put in a pitcher of lemonade, bake for an hour-ish, cool, blend half the lemons and all the pulp and liquid, strain, add 1 lemon's worth of fresh juice; adjust to taste with simple syrup and more lemon juice.) The roasted lemonade has the same body and bitter/sweet/sour balance as white grapefruit juice, which is why I thought it would be good here and closer to a Salty Dog than a Tom Collins. It's really good, really refreshing. I'll try one with maraschino later.

Yep -- Boar's Head natural casing hot dog; flour, then buttermilk/egg, then cornmeal/flour/seasoned salt. I wasn't super-careful about getting a thick coating on it because last time I made CFS with this cornmeal, it was too thick and some of it didn't cook fully in the nooks and crannies. So there were a couple of exposed spots where I picked the hot dog up to put it in the pan. Pan-fried it until it split open, flipping once. I had been afraid the coating wouldn't adhere, or that it would be too greasy, but it really didn't taste noticeably greasy (relative to any other hot dog), and it was super-crispy/crunchy without the coating breaking off when you bite into it, which I hope wasn't one of those lucky things that only worked out the first time and will fail me next time. I'm sure it would have been fine with cream gravy but I forgot to buy milk yesterday, and the ordinary hot dog condiments didn't seem out of place at all.

I chicken-fried a hot dog today (no cream gravy, just had it on a bun with habanero-cilantro relish and Heinz 57), and I was kind of doing it as a joke, but I gotta tell you, I'll be doing that again.

I made a corned ham for Christmas even though I was the only one staying home for the holiday, even my most casual friends had gone out of town, and no one was visiting until New Year's -- and then I ordered a four-pound chaudin and six pounds of sausage from Poche's. I won't go so far as to say I got sick of pork, but I came dangerously close. Usually I make huge batches of chili, tomato sauce, and coq au vin, because it just seems to come out better than if I make a single night's (or two nights') worth. And lately I've really been craving turkey, so instead of getting something reasonable like those turkey breast cutlets, I'll probably wind up stuffing and roasting a whole bird and eating the leftovers until August.

I really like the Kijafa with maraschino and club soda (it's too sweet without the dilution, though lots of ice would do the trick too I'm sure) -- about the only time I notice any cherry flavor in maraschino is when I notice its compatibility with cherry, if you see what I mean. Salty Bulldog -> Stone's ginger (this would probably be good) Salty Poodle -> Lillet? Or one of those really French liqueurs like parfait amour. Salty Beagle -> ... is there a peanuts liqueur? Salty Scottie -> Drambuie Salty Bloodhound -> Bull's Blood So the Kijafa would make a Salty Great Dane, I guess.

I'm glad I'm not the only one, then! Last night, Half & Half, gin, a little fresh grapefruit, and cherry Kijafa made something less like a Salty Dog (well, a Greyhound) and more like a rickey. It was good but I didn't expect the cherry to dominate so much, which is why I left the salt off. Way out from the grapefruit aspect but along the salt line, would there be any potential in a salted drink with something licoricey, anisey? I know some people go nuts about Dutch double-salted licorice, and the iced licorice tea I've been drinking lately has been surprisingly refreshing.

I'd always had the Salty Dog as a gin drink, and thought that was the standard until I ordered one a couple years ago and got it with vodka. It was one of my favorite drinks when I still had Tanqueray Malacca around but has seemed less interesting since then -- I don't know if that's because I liked the Malacca so much (I did) or if it really contributed something particular to the drink. For grapefruit sodas, there's the Polar Half and Half I mentioned on the Drinks thread -- it isn't the same as the Mexican grapefruit sodas I've had, but it's a good mixer. I like maraschino with grapefruit quite a lot, and Campari of course; not sure how either of them would be with the salt, though. I'd give the former a shot out of curiosity if I weren't down to my last few ounces of maraschino. Oh, and further afield -- you lose the grapefruit altogether, but Sun Drop (a southern lemonade-like soda, sort of like Mello Yello), gin, and a salted rim makes a very good summer drink. I've been planning on playing with roasted lemonade as a mixer, too -- it has the body and bitterness of grapefruit juice, and I bet it'd make a great Salty Dog variation. I'll pick up lemons this afternoon if they're any good at the store.