Kent Wang

It appears that the "myth" is rather widespread, even in the sous vide literature. I was looking at Baldwin's recipe for pork shoulder and he recommends adding a bit of lard into the bag. If I understand what Nathan is saying, then one could achieve the same effect by just applying the lard at the end.

I've been watching Deadwood. Does anyone know if that's accurate? I don't mean the shabbily-dressed Dan Dorrity, but more like Tom Nutall or the bartenders at the Bella Union.

I did the pickled apples with honeycrisp and find they need a lot more time than the 2-3 hours in the book. 1-3 days is optimum, over a week and they start going over the hill. Pretty tasty though. I'm going to do pickled Asian pears next.

Which restaurants in China are you comparing against? Yung Kee? I don't think there's that many Chinese-cuisine restaurants in China that have been awarded 3 or 2 stars.

In China, we do dumplings, zhongzi, and spring rolls. All of those freeze well. With dumplings, my mom would just put them in a ziploc and freeze. When you cook them, don't thaw them, just put the frozen ones directly into the boiling water.

Do you think these coupes were originally used for cocktails or champagne, or both? I understand that champagne was served in coupes instead of flutes nowadays -- what's the reasoning for that? It seems like the greater surface area -- compared even to the standard wine glass, much less modern flutes -- would cause the bubbles to escape faster.

For fish (like salmon), I have trouble handling it without it flaking apart, even when cooked at 116F. So putting it into a pan to sear is unwieldy. I've tried the Iwatani torch on it and can only get a very thin crust. I'll have to try the glucose wash.

I'm considering a similar trip. Are you able to get by with almost no Spanish?

Are the proportions right for the ginger scallion sauce (p. 57)? That's 3 cups of ginger and scallions and only 1/4 cup oil plus a few teaspoons of other liquids. This isn't much of a sauce, more like just a bunch of ginger and scallions. Which isn't bad, but not great.

Ace Mart carries the Iwatani. I just bought one.

Thanks for the tips so far. FWIW, the Loop Tonic recipe calls for the Bitter Truth celery. I'll ask when they're going to get the Scrappy's. For grapefruit bitters, Bittermens or Scrappy's?

When you spill some bitters while transferring it into a dropper bottle and decide to dab the excess on your neck like a cologne.

I'm going to place an order at CocktailKingdom.com, which has quite a comprehensive selection of "advanced" bitters (not just Angostura, Fee Bros.). I'm thinking of getting the following: Bitter Truth Celery - for making the Loop Tonic Bittermens Mole - can't remember any drinks that call for it specifically, but I do recall seeing it on the menu at Death & Co. a few times Boker's Bitters by Adam Elmegirab - lots of praise on these forums I already have Regan's Orange. Which others are worth getting? What cocktails call for these bitters?

Did everybody use to make their own grenadine? Were there real grenadines available on the market, but now we only have the fake stuff? Why doesn't someone sell real grenadine? It seems stable enough.

I'm a fan of the Earl Grey Marteani. It is really quite special. Is this the Seersucker?

I got this from the library -- I'm a cheapskate when it comes to books. The vinegar pickles (p. 66) call for rice wine vinegar. I'm only familiar with the dark kind that I use for Chinese cooking. Making the recipe with apples and Asian pears, the rice wine vinegar seems to really overpower all the flavors. I haven't had these at Momofuku -- is this how it's supposed to be? I think it would be better with a lighter vinegar.

Wikipedia has an interesting article about falernian and asserts that falernum is indeed named after it.

Pretty much the same as what I've experienced with pineapple and strawberry infusions as well. It infuses the scotch with pure apple essence, minus the acidity and sweetness (well, it leaves just a little bit). I think it also dilutes it by a bit as the scotch becomes incredibly drinkable, as easy as wine, though I still get tipsy from it. I think something about the full flavor of the fruit rounds out the harshness of the spirit.

I just did the scotch infusion with Granny Smith apples. It is awesome. 3 apples in 750 mL of Famous Grouse. It goes great 1:1 with grapefruit juice. I also made the Death & Co. cocktail Grouse Rampant. Proportions are my guess. 2 oz scotch infused with apples .75 oz honey and cinnamon syrup (honey:water 1:1 and a bunch of cinnamon) .75 oz lemon juice dash Peychaud's Because the infusion doesn't extract much of the acidity and sugar out of the apples, the lemon and syrup adds that back in, making it taste more apple-like.

I've been getting bottles of Hyang Yuen rice wine. It seems to be fairly widely available at Korean markets and restaurants. It tastes pretty much the same as the dong dong ju I had. It's 6.5% alcohol, $7 for 1L. Ingredients: 80% backmi, 20% somackbun (I have no idea what those are, and Google didn't turn up much either). Imported by E-Dong. I ordered it at Bon Ga in Houston. The owner was surprised that I ordered it and said in Korea only old people drink it, the young preferring soju and whiskey. I love this stuff. It's cheap, and goes great with food, especially sushi. It's ricey and subtle, so doesn't overwhelm sushi.

It tastes more like cranberry than pomegranate. It's not even as concentrated in flavor as pomegranate juice (like POM), much less properly made grenadine.

Thanks for weighing in, Nathan. What temperature did you do the confit? Baldwin recommends "176°F (80°C) water bath for 8 to 12 hours". Could I achieve the aging effect with sous vide and just a bit of fat? I would assume so. My only worry is the duck jelly (congealed juices) that would normally fall to the bottom of the jar of fat would instead be distributed along with the fat. Would that jelly increase the chance of it becoming rancid?

I gave myself a kaffir lime tree. If he likes kaffir and it grows well in his climate, I think this is the ultimate tree to give. Kaffir leaves are almost impossible to find here, and when they pop up occasionally they're quite expensive. Something that can be used year-round for cooking just seems more useful to me than a fruit tree that bears only once a year. Kasma Loha-unchit has an extensive guide on kaffir lime tree care. She grows hers in San Francisco, so any climate similar to that or warmer would be fine. Any colder, you could bring it in during the winter. Other than that, as a guy, I agree with others that I'd like to have the Thermapen.

Does he room for a plant? I gave my parents a date tree. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

I should add that this is not all like Monte Alban which has little wood, but is quite smokey and interesting. I can't tell if Monte Alban is aged or not, but I do see that Real de Magueyes makes a blanco in addition to the anejo.