mkayahara

I strongly recommend the Lion's Tail, which accounts for the bulk of all pimento dram consumption in my household. (Mostly because it's one of my husband's favourite drinks.)

Siphon. (No, not the whipped cream kind.)

So are you looking for the sort of cookbook that would offer various recipes for ramen noodles, so you can try out different ones until you find one you're happy with? I would think you could tweak the LP one until you get it where you want it, then draw on those recipes for the broths, kaeshi and garnishes. Unless you're looking for something with exhaustive detail on regional variations in all the components, which I agree would be a fascinating read. I mean, what would a "real" cookbook on ramen look like to you? That sounds to me like asking for a "real" cookbook on risotto.

Oh, I think there is. A quote-unquote "Margarita" with no orange liqueur in it is simply not a Margarita. It's a tequila sour, whether it's made with agave syrup or plain sugar syrup. It's no more a "pure" Margarita than a Sidecar made without Cointreau is a "pure" Sidecar, or a White Lady without Cointreau is a "pure" White Lady. To me, this is in the same category as making Gimlets with fresh lime and sugar syrup, rather than lime cordial: it's a backlash against the perceived "artificiality" of certain ingredients (in this case, I assume, bottom-shelf triple sec; never mind that agave syrup is a highly industrial ingredient itself). In the process, you're losing something of the drink. Take a look at Wondrich's Imbibe! He makes an interesting case that the Margarita is part of the old-school family of drinks known as Daisies. What's the defining characteristic of a Daisy? Orange cordial!

And of course, there's always issue 1 of Lucky Peach.

I would think a Margarita needs to have some kind of orange liqueur in it to qualify for the name. There's nothing wrong with a tequila sour, but it's not the same thing as a Margarita. "kipping the triple sec and all that stuff" (whatever "all that stuff" is) makes it not a Margarita.

Two words for you: Modern No. 2.

That's a shame: I've made the home-cured Sauerkraut and really enjoyed it. The texture was much better than canned or jarred products, and you have a lot more control over the level of sourness. Did you keep it properly submerged in the brine? What temperature were you fermenting at? Not to mention the inclusion of red wine... clearly a merguez-inspired sausage, not the real deal.

Tried a Golden Dog tonight. After debating between eau-de-vie and liqueur for the "apricot brandy," I eventually went with eau-de-vie (barack palinka), since the amount of sugar seemed more reasonable that way. Really a very tasty drink.

Or maybe it was actually hákarl...

Having done a variety of pressure-cooker recipes, I always find pressure-cooked garlic to be unpleasant. No idea why.

I haven't tried it personally, but there's a Ferran Adria siphon-based meringue that can be brûléed, so it is possible. I imagine having an ample amount of sugar is helpful.

Someone with an extensive collection and good palate needs to do up a flavour map for various amari, like you sometimes see with single malt Scotches, or like Pouring Ribbons does with their cocktails. It would really help with substitutions in cocktails when you don't know what the called-for amaro tastes like!

Agreed that you should check out the earlier topics. My poached eggs don't always look professional, either, but I've never found the "vortex" approach to work for me at all. I don't use vinegar, though I believe it can help. Also consider draining off the loose white (see Ruhlman's explanation), which is usually what gives you the flyaways. Or you could just get an immersion circulator and slow-cook the eggs in the shell. That certainly gives you perfectly rounded eggs!

Gave this a try tonight with my freshly acquired bottled of Ferrand 1840. Definitely a worthy companion to the Corpse Reviver No. 2 in the rotation.

I'm just back from a long road trip across the US, ending with a too-short visit to Portland, OR. While there, I took the opportunity to pick up a bottle of the Ferrand 1840 Cognac. Looking forward to seeing how it plays in a cocktail.

Yes.

Doesn't look materially different from a Lucien Gaudin.

That's certainly the way I understand it. I made the onion soup from Modernist Cuisine in my Kuhn-Rikon, which is cooked in canning jars in the pressure cooker, and it seemed to turn out just fine!

Check out the onion rings on page 342 of volume 3. That should give you an idea.

My husband has declared Amaretto Sour season to be open, so yesterday we picked up a new bottle of amaretto. I also replenished my supply of Cointreau (which was starting to run low), and grabbed a bottle of Still Waters "single malt" vodka. The "single malt" thing may be gimmicky, but this is one of the least vodka-like vodkas I've ever tasted: it's quite creamy, and actually has flavour; it tasted pretty much exactly like what it is: a whisky that's distilled out at high proof, filtered, and cut down with water. It reminded me somewhat of White Owl whisky, except without the aging-and-filtering-the-colour-out step. It went quite nicely in a Dreamy Dorini Smoking Martini. I also recently picked up a bottle of Alberta Premium "Dark Horse" Canadian whisky. It's nice to see Canadian distillers finally responding to the demand for higher-proof, richer versions of their whiskies, with several new products on the market in the 43%-45% abv range, many of them with less base and more flavouring whisky. Dark Horse is very much in the Alberta Premium/Alberta Springs house style, with lots of spicy rye flavour, along with a bitter molasses finish (in a good way). My husband didn't love it in the whisky sour he had (he's pretty much a solid Bourbon guy), but I thought it made a very decent Manhattan and Toronto, and of course it drinks quite nicely on its own. Edit: Whisky link.

Yes, but so are bistros.

Tonight, it's a St-Ambroise Pumpkin Ale. A classic, and exemplary for the style.

I've kept it for a couple of weeks with no problems, and I imagine it will keep much longer than that. It freezes and thaws well, though, so if you've got the freezer space and aren't sure when you'll use it up, it's probably your best option. Edit: I mean, that's assuming you can resist eating it all in the span of a couple of days.

My impression is, and long has been, that Modernist cuisine (whether the big books, the At Home book, or even related restaurant cookbooks) is the Linux of the cookbook world: it's cooking for people who make cooking a hobby, and want to muck around in the internals. It's fun to do, and it gives you a lot more control over every part of the process and outcome. What it doesn't do is "simply meet my day to day needs."