mkayahara

In a word? Finesse.

He was just being dramatic. I use that method to separate garlic cloves all the time, with all varieties of garlic, fresh or well-aged. Even hard-neck garlic? If I tried that with the garlic I have right now, I'd be afraid of piercing my hand!

I think the point is that an eau-de-vie, being a dry spirit rather than a liqueur, will clear up the problem with the drink being too sweet. It wouldn't be too sweet as written, but with an apricot liqueur, it certainly would be. On a separate note, I had a quite delicious drink with Dolin blanc when I was at Clyde Common a few weeks ago. It's called the "Nasturtium," and has Dolin blanc, Domaine de Canton, and Bonal Gentiane-Quina in it (with a lemon twist). I didn't bother asking about the proportions, because I can't get any of those ingredients here, but I thought I'd mention it in case anyone wanted to try.

Thank you for sharing! It's been a real pleasure following along.

It also helps me stretch out my supply, since I have to travel to another country to buy it. Edited to add quote for clarity.

The same question came up on KC. The suggestion was a high-proof bourbon like Booker's, Rowan's Creek, or Bakers. Personally, I sub'd Nux Alpina Nocino for the Alspice Dram and liked it. 3/4 oz of St Elizabeth Allspice Dram is a helluva lot. This is one of my partner's favourite cocktails, and when I mix them for him (or, occasionally, for myself), I always cut the pimento dram back to 1/4 oz, and up the simple to balance the lime juice. On the other hand, I also have some homemade pimento dram that's rather weak in flavour compared to the St. Elizabeth (don't know what went wrong there), and it makes a lovely Lion's Tail at the full 3/4 oz.

I can't offer a real answer either, but two articles that may shed some light on the subject can be found here and here. I would assume that if there are aroma molecules that become more volatile as water is added, then watering down the whole bottle right off the bat could cause it to lose some of those aromas more quickly over time. (Plus, where are you gonna fit the water in an already-full bottle? ) My guess is that bottle strength was always a tradeoff between "how do we keep our shipping costs down?" and "how do we make the most money?" until 80 proof became the standard.

Thanks for the clarification, Toby. It looks to me more like "variety" than "confusion," and I'll still probably try it both ways.

So, now, it appears that there are two versions of this drink running around. I was just glancing at beta cocktails, and it lists the Eeyor's [sic] Requiem as: 1.5 oz Campari 0.5 oz Tanqueray 0.25 oz Cynar scant 0.25 oz Fernet Branca 1 oz Dolin blanc vermouth 15 drops 50/50 bitters 3 orange twists I don't object to the lack of a "definitive" version, but I bet that half-ounce of gin sure makes a difference.

While I recognize that a "technically correct" omelette is pale on the outside, I prefer a little bit of browning on mine. It's added flavour and added texture. They do tend to be tougher than pale eggs, but I can live with that.

Ah, well, if it was a sweet Madeira, then I can understand. There are some beautiful medium and dry Madeiras out there, though!

Madeira never gets any love. Sigh.

Just wanted to chime in and say I'm enjoying following along. That burger looks great!

My understanding was that they used LN2 at Cooking Issues to chill glassware, not to chill the cocktails themselves, though I may be misremembering. If you wanted to make liquid nitrogen-frozen slushy-style Daiquiris or Margaritas, it would probably work, just the same as making ice cream with liquid nitrogen. I mean, obviously you could make slushy Martinis or Manhattans with liquid nitrogen, but that might be a liability risk.

What strikes me about this discussion is that Keller takes pains to point out that he doesn't roast the bones for his brown veal stock: "The depth of color comes from the tomatoes and tomato paste and the final reduction process." In other words, he knows full well that his approach is idiosyncratic. He also comments that "roasting adds impurities to [...] stocks." Maybe these are the same impurities that are removed in the blanching process for the veal stock? As far as the Modernist Cuisine version goes, their recipe for brown veal stock calls for the bones to be roasted. The brown stock instructions in the parametric stock recipe calls for the bones to be roasted. So the fact that roasting the bones for veal stock is not specified in the table is probably just an oversight.

i redistilled the two while at my weekend home in new zealand. Oh. Well, yes, that works too.

So what process did you use to aromatize the rye? Just put them in the same sealed container, but not touching? I assume if you mixed them, you'd end up with some very salty rye...

As you know, I'm no expert on chocolate, but I wonder if you could infuse apple peels into the white chocolate, in addition to everything else? I made an apple gastrique once by infusing it with apple peels then straining them out. But apple is a pretty subtle flavour, IMO. Of course, speaking as an eater, I'd prefer an apple-flavoured caramel (chewy or flowing) to a ganache. But that doesn't really answer your question.

Personally, I've always thought "pâte à choux" sounded pretty un-dessert-like in translation: cabbage paste? Really? There's a reason we kept the French name.

Katie, do you not think Regan's Joy of Mixology or DeGroff's Essential Cocktail fits the bill?

It's the "Death and Company" from the Nov/Dec 2009 issue of Imbibe Magazine. ...I officially need to get out more. (Or less. Not sure which.)

Maybe something like Jamaica Ginger?

love these ideas. What do you call this drink? It would be green, so can't be "bloody." Spock's bloody mary, or Vulcan Bloody Mary? I'm glad I'm not the only one who had this thought.

Tried a Saturn tonight, from Beachbum Berry Remixed. It looks a little funny on paper, with passion fruit syrup, orgeat, falernum and gin, but it's actually a pretty cool combination of flavours. The again, maybe that's just pride stemming from the fact that all three of the syrups were homemade.

What kind of recipes are in it? I'm a little nervous because it says it's intended for professional bartenders. These days, it seems that means recipes involving specialized syrups, obscure bitters and infused spirits that I'll never be able to finish off.