afn33282

Thanks for your thoughts, Brad, all. Hmmm, sulfur. Yes, what I am experiencing does have a bit of sulfur in it. It also has elements, to my unexperienced palate, of sourness and, well, fermenting or rotten fruit. Which is of course silly, because that is what wine is...well, fermented fruit anyway. Maybe I don't like white wines that show this through. Maybe I have just gotten a string of wines that were not made very well.... I am surprised, too, by your suggestion that minerally (sp?) may not be what I will eventually go for, as I like the idea of mineraliness in wines, and I have enjoyed the apparent flavor of chalk, etc. in some.... I imagine I might. Though one of my favorite wines so far was an inzolia bianco from Sicily (Regaleali), and that was super-light, minerals all the way, if I remember right. Like stream water that had washed over pebbles (granite?), maybe. I have also noticed that when a wine I didn't like has sat in the fridge for a few days, I like it a bit more. Random comments, I know. Another one: my boss told me that spatleses on up taste more apricot-y than apple-y, and I tried one we had for 9$ (!) (Graff, Mosel-Saar-Ruwer, Wehlener Sonnenuhr) this weekend, and he's right--apricots--but I still don't love it. Maybe reisling is not for me. Or maybe it's cheap reisling that's not for me. Though there was the time in 2000 I found a '92 or '94 Hogue reisling in a convenience store, along with several dusty early and mid-90s chards, and it had transformed--it was like nectar and honey. An awesome experience. So maybe I don't like German reislings, or young reislings, I don't know. Your further thoughts, are, of course, appreciated.

I like swiss cheese. And a bbq-cheddar-bacon burger is pretty good. I am surprised nobody has mentions sauteed mushrooms (!) on here. I also like a black-and-blue burger (blackening [cajun] seasoning on/in the burger, topped with bleu cheese). Coleslaw on a burger is nice....

Mitchell Davis, in The Art of Eating (the best food mag around, bar none, imho) No. 68 "Why, Where, and What to Eat in New York, Part II, Food Shopping" says the following: He buys his meat only from Florence Meat Market. Been in operation for 70+ years. Little meat on display; butcher carries out primal cut, discusses it, and cuts desired cut. Will grind, pound, tie, etc. "The porterhouse steaks are the only ones I've found at retail with the true dry-aged flavor of steakhouse beef." Has stewing hens. Will make custom ground-meat blends for perrines, sausages, etc. Will lard, stuff, and season roasts. (!) Best to call order in in advance; the shop is small and the staff spends much time on each order. And: "The surprise is that the meat at Florence is usually less expensive than at other serious butcher shops around the city." Note: writer was a part-time butcher in high school. Also mentions: Citarella for various aged meats. Jefferson Market (6th Ave. b/w 10th and 11th)--staff are "friendly and talented." Whole Foods, 7th Ave. and 24th St. and in the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle, have best choice in organically raised meat, but staff is not knowledgable. Salumeria Biellesse 376-378 8th Ave at 29th St., Chelsea (212.736.7376) has excellent fresh, cured, and dried sausages. The only local source for guanciale (pork jowl), which is cured in-house. And they make custom sausage blends for many Manhattan restaurants. Faico's Pork Store at 260 Bleeker b/w 6th and 7th Aves. (212.243.1974) for "Italian-style fresh and cured sausages..cold cuts..and various cuts of fresh pork." In Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, the Bari Pork Store at 158 Ave. U at W. 7th St. (718,372,6405) calls itself "the king of sausage". Kurowycky Meat Products at 124 First Ave. b/w 7th St. and St. Mark's Place, East Village, for Ukranian cold cuts and cured/smoked pork products, made in-house, in "what you might call a commercial style", but the quality of such is tops in the city. Try the kovbasa krayana (garlic kielbasa-ish) and the Hungarian-style paprika sausage. Concludes by saying the only place for pork belly or fresh pork liver is Chinatown. The moral? Subscribe to The Art of Eating. 39$ a year, issued quarterly. Best, Chris

Really, kind of a combined sourness-sweatiness...... Could this be brett? Also, I hate green apples, and some whites are kind of apple-y, which excacerbates the issue. Good idea. Yikes!

Hey eGullet, Well I will be splitting a half-bottle of the '95 D'Yquem on June 16th with my boss and three of our wine shop customers, and I was wondering: what should we expect? I have never had a wine that is supposed to be on this level, and have never had a dessert wine before. I organized this get-together because I thought it would fun and a rare chance to try one of the world's great wines at a price I can swing. Any thoughts on the vintage? How about: is it ready to drink? Ten years seems like that threshold at which it should be beginning to transform.... Flavor notes I should taste for? I want to get as much out my 2 1/2 oz. as possible, so all thoughts will be greatly appreciated. Thanks much.

Hey eGullet, I am new to the world of wine, and my two-month-old job in a wine shop is accellerating my learning. My question is this: some white wines I have tried recently seem to have a certain "funky/stanky" (I believe these are trade terms, no?) character quality to them that I really do not like. I have found this quality in, among others, a Bergerac (semillon/sauv. blanc, "Tour de Monestier"), an oaked chardonnay Pays D' Oc (Languedoc, by Taillan), and two German kabinetts, including the '95 Helmut Klein Niersteiner I just opened, and do not plan to finish. These were all under 10$. Is this my problem? Is this a common quality among common wines? Or is this a stylistic issue? Or is it maybe that I just don't like certain grapes? Re. this: I can see that maybe I will never like Kabinetts and sauv. blanc but I am surprised that semillon and chardonnay is not doing it for me. I really enjoyed an oaked Beaucanon Chard (hazelnuts and honey) I had recently, so I know I will like some whites, and I also enjoyed the Colonarra Lyricus verdiccio, which I believe is not oaked and was four dollars on special, so I doubt I will have a problem with all s/s fermented wines or all cheap wines. I also enjoyed the Regaleali Inzolia Bianco, another Leonardo Locascio selection from Winebow. Any thoughts as to what the real issue is here? And what styles/grapes/wines I might enjoy? Many Thanks.

Bourdain was also impressed by Scott Bryan, in Kitchen Confidential. SB sounds like my kind of chef.

bo-ken-hoots'-kloof A rep from the winery set our wine shop straight on that one.

Yes, I have made stock taffy. I dubbed it "kneaded demi-glace" for reasons that are still unclear to me.....

AMEN!!!!!!!!! ← Naahhhhhh. Nice is the only way to go if you really want to maximize the energy of any situation. Nice, that is, combined with an example of hard work, excellence of standards, and humility. Look at The French Laundry kitchen, per The Soul of a Chef. No screaming.... just focus. People who like the screaming are ultimately driven by adrenaline, which is a useful supplement to motivation, but as a driving force a dead end. Or by a punishment-reward mentality, which is immature at best.

There is a Chinese restaurant about two blocks uphill, west, I think, from the Hyatt Hotel in Seoul. Don't remember what I ate, but my God.....

Hmm, yes well what can I say? I am deadly sure there are better places in Baltimore, but the company (my Dad) made it magic.

Nope. Double cream is 48% milkfat, heavy cream is 36%. Check here. Cheers. edit: Oops, already been replied to, sorry. Still, a darn good link.

According to the good folks at Unicorn Peppermills, this is malarky. Salt grinders are for pretty, as they used to say. But if you use one, don't use a peppermill; the salt will corrode the grinding burr. Buy a salt mill that has nylon or ceramic burrs.

Sorry if this has been replied to; I just started reading this thread. Never rinse pasta for hot pasta, the starch helps the sauce cling to the pasta. Toss the sauce with the pasta as soon as the pasta is done cooking. Per Giuliano Hazan, son of Marcella, in The Pasta Bible.And I have heard that if you toss the pasta with oil and let it sit, the pasta will absorb the oil and become gummy/gross, but not sure about that.

Hey eGullet, Well, the post topic says it all, I guess. For me smoking is one of life's great sensual pleasures. Any thoughts on how/to what extent it affects the palate, besides the obvious "of course it's bad for your palate, you idiot"? In your humble opinions, can one smoke and still consider yourself a serious food person (I do both). I know this can be an inflammitory line of thought, especially in the US.... Chris

no doubt I must respectfully disagree about the water bit here, if only on the strength of the authorities I've read, especially the above-mentioned Helen Gustafson (the "tea lady" at Chez Panisse--do not miss her book The Agony of the Leaves if you are serious about food, and you are an eGullet member so I know you are, and are at all interested in tea). She has a great chapter on trying to get the bussers at CP to boil water fresh for each pot and the solution that they came up with. Also, as another member said, putting milk in first I believe was only to keep the cup from cracking, but maybe there is a flavor issue too. where's Harold McGee? Once again Mongo, hugs and kisses , but I gotta disagree here too. There are hard and fast rules in cooking, within certain parameters that allow for individual taste. If I can shoot from the hip for a minute here, my guess is that one of the reasons that any great cuisine becomes great is it's refinement and subsequent excellence of technique, which is all about finding those rules (once again, within certain parameters, and always allowing for exceptions), whether in regards to methods, classic flavor combinations, etc. This is not a dig on you, just an expression of my ongoing frustration at those who claim that everything is subjective, especially when it comes to taste, and no objective criteria exist.... As far, by the way, as the milk and lemon question, from what I gather it is good for certain teas, and not others. I think that an Assam could do sometimes with milk, but I would probably not put it in a Darjeeling, etc. Best.

Well when I was a little baby kid my mother, God bless her, gave me crackers and told me that they were cookies. Until my sainted Grandmother set me straight. Also, when I was in my "biscuits are my favorite food" phase, and I was young enough to talk the lunchladies into giving me thirds and fourths, my treat was for my Mom to take my brother and I through the KFC drive-through for biscuits with butter and honey. MMmmmmmmm

For years now I've seen recipes for tirimisu and each recipe practically uses a different liquour...........so I've never really been sure which liquour to use or what combo is correct. So I'm all eyes.........can someone ditto Afn33282 with certainty? ← I'm so sorry; in high school they taught me never to cite a "fact" without the source, and I've forgotten where I learned this from, BUT: It was a book on Italian cooking when I was in my Italian reading phase; The book seemed quite authoritative and named the restaurant at which Tiramisu was invented. I even used to remember the town, but no longer! Of course I have learned as I have gone along that when it comes to cooking, and, I'm sure, many other things, reported "facts" are often contradicted in another book. So take it all with a grain of salt. And if I ever find that source I will let you know! Maybe the good folks at Saveur know; I bet Gourmet back in it's heyday (the Saveur of it's day) could have told us too--maybe they still can. And even Martha Stewart Living seems pretty good at answering research-y questions, but usually more about technique. Best, Chris Ahh! I deleted my long edit!!! Okay, again, Tiramisu is variously credited to the following restaurants in Treviso, the Veneto, Italy: Le Beccherie, El Toula, and El Touga (thanks Google). By the way, there are a lot more Google results on El Toula that El Touga, and most of those are in Italian, so I am guessing that "El Touga" is a misspelling. Also, cooks variously use either Savoiardi (sp?) or other ladyfinger cookies or sponge cake, and various liqueurs. This post says that Strega is not a good choice to mix with mascarpone (not pronounced "Mar-sca-pone") and coffee flavors. Best. P.S. I think it was the Volpi book I had read....

I don't know what the cinnamon swirls were called, but the caramel/apple empandas they have are GREAT - better than Mickey's Apple Pie because it also has caramel inside. MMMMMMM - I can almost taste it now. ← It was either Cinnamon Crispas or Crispies. Um, my first job was at Taco Bell! I think the McDLT was brilliant. "It keeps the hot side hot and the cold side cold".........

Almost forgot: sea cucumber. In Seoul, they have places called "chin-goog jib" (China house), that are hybrid Chinese/Korean restaurants. They serve stuff you can't find at either Chinese or Korean restaurants, and their main feature is that they deliver. Among their yummy dishes that my friend and I survived on is Hal-mul-nee: mixed seafood over noodles (or was that rice?), and included in the mix along with baby squid, bivalves, etc., was sea cucumber. Unfortunately, I don't like gelatinous foods, and it was one, so I always picked it out. Anyway, that was 16 years ago, so now somebody from Korea can come and correct the details/name of the dish/etc., but the flavors stay true in my memory.....

I have heard this for years; my parents have been putting their Henkels in the dw for about 15 years though, and they have broken in beautifully..... funny, eh? What damage is the dw supposed to do?

No doubt. That's something which would be lost in a restaurant setting. A shame, at least from an amateur cooking nerd perspective. ← I think I might speak for many when I say that I will probably not get the chance to get to StudioKitchen before it closes, and I regret that bitterly. It sounds and looks like paradise.

Just so you know, if you plan to use a liqueur, the original liqueur for tiramisu was Strega.

Thanks all. I just got back into Jacksonville and my Dad and I had a great time. We went to Phillip's buffet for dinner. They served movie-theatre popcorn butter with the crab legs but the oysters were delicious and it was lots of fun. Best, Chris