mkayahara

I'll be curious to hear what others say, but my impression is that, in this respect at least, Le Cordon Bleu is in denial.

What you have to understand, Sunny&Rummy, is that Tri2Cook and I are both living under the LCBO, where our only choices of overproof rum are Bacardi 151 and J. Wray. Goslings and other 151-proof rums are not an option here.

I think, in general, the light-bodied rums used in Tiki drinks are pretty much interchangeable, so you could easily sub a white rum for the light Puerto Rican rum and not notice a difference. If my liver feels up to it later this week, I may give the original and the suggestion I made above a try side-by-side and see what they're like.

I'm of the "too hot to put in the fridge" school, since hot food raises the temperature of the whole fridge, but I regularly ignore the theory and put too-hot stuff in there anyway. Usually not large quantities, though; if I have a big pot of stock or spaghetti sauce, I'll cool it in an ice bath before putting it in the fridge.

The recipe I'm looking at for the Jet Pilot in Sippin' Safari calls for 1 oz. dark Jamaican, 3/4 oz. gold Puerto Rican and 3/4 oz. 151-proof Demerara. Is that not the recipe you're using? If it is, I'd probably start with something like 1.5 oz. 80-proof Demerara (the older, the better), 0.5 oz. gold Puerto Rican and 1 oz. J. Wray, and then mess with the proportions from there until I found something I liked.

I've done it, though usually when it calls specifically for an 80-proof Jamaican and 151-proof Demerara. It's not the same, but it often makes a damn fine drink.

Easy! 250g egg whites 50g sugar Whisk together (I've read different instructions on how stiff to whisk it, so experiment), strain, pour into a 1-pint iSi, charge and refrigerate 30 minutes before using. Keep in mind that this is not a meringue you can dry out in the oven, but it works great for topping a dessert and finishing with a torch.

Aren't they currently in the process of updating that?

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "hard soil," but have you looked at the edible soil recipes in the Noma cookbook and in Modernist Cuisine? The former is based on a mix of malt powder, hazelnut flour and beer, while the latter is based on almond flour, black bread, malt powder, chicory root, porcini powder and shiitake powder. They might give you a starting point, anyway.

Presumably this stems from the cell walls in the fruit being broken down by ice crystals, which allows more of the liquid inside to leak out once they're thawed.

Roast 'em, and include cumin in the sauce. Edit: To clarify, your question made me think of a salad I had once, with roasted green peppers (why is it we always roast only the red ones?), cumin, cayenne and peaches. I was assuming the peaches wouldn't be a good fit with the pasta, though.

The Sidecar is a wonderful cocktail, but please, for the love of all that is holy, invest in a better brandy! Ah, so that raises the question - what brandy should we be purchasing? It all depends on your price point, I guess. I'm not a huge brandy connoisseur, so I don't go all out on the expense. I tend to stick to Gaston de Lagrange VS Cognac, De Montal Armagnac or the quite decent Kittling Ridge brandy. Wonder if I could get a deal at the Kittling Ridge distillery - actually I think I recall that you can't buy their spirits there - just the Ice Wine and Brandy. Humm ... wonder who I know who works there? Last time I was there, they had the full range. They even had a tasting room. If you're going to go, let me know - I'll join you! I've always wanted to meet John Hall.

The Sidecar is a wonderful cocktail, but please, for the love of all that is holy, invest in a better brandy! Ah, so that raises the question - what brandy should we be purchasing? It all depends on your price point, I guess. I'm not a huge brandy connoisseur, so I don't go all out on the expense. I tend to stick to Gaston de Lagrange VS Cognac, De Montal Armagnac or the quite decent Kittling Ridge brandy.

The Sidecar is a wonderful cocktail, but please, for the love of all that is holy, invest in a better brandy!

Yup, 8 months is more than enough time for it to take on "off" flavours. Might not be noticeable in cooked applications (I like it in cranberry sauce), but it'll come across as funny in a drink.

No, that's a solid tequila... what brand of cassis did you use? And how long has the bottle been open? Crème de cassis doesn't have a terribly long shelf life once it's opened. Of course, it's also possible you just don't like this drink!

There's also the Bitter Mai Tai in the latest issue of Imbibe magazine, though I haven't tried it yet (and it's gotten terrible reviews over at Tiki Central): 1.5 oz. Campari 0.75 oz. Jamaican rum (ideally Smith & Cross) 0.5 oz. orange curacao 1 oz. lime juice 0.75 oz. orgeat Shake, strain into a glass filled with crushed ice, garnish with a mint sprig.

I second this, although I can't guarantee I'll be able to attend.

You might consider taking a look at the 2011 Food & Wine cocktail guide: the "mocktails" chapter has some remarkably interesting ideas, though I haven't had a reason to try them out yet. The Black Tea Sour, for example, which uses tea in a straight-up sour recipe. Also, muddle! Mint leaves, citrus, cucumber... I bet the Juliet and Romeo would be pretty good even without the gin.

I don't know that I'd go so far as to say that they were vague "on purpose," but rather that - as you observe - a few mm usually doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things. That said, it takes time and practice to learn how many mm of variance will have an impact on what you're cooking, so having a solid understanding of the rough dimensions intended by "small dice" vs. "large dice" is useful nonetheless. Especially since, at least for me, my matchsticks are rarely all exactly the same size.

Actually, President's Choice makes a puff pastry that's mostly butter and comes in rolled sheets. You just unroll and go. I always thaw it overnight in the fridge and have never had any trouble with it.

+1 on the El Diablo for cassis. I also like it as a substitute for blackberry liqueur in a Gin Bramble, as well as in the CEO from Joy of Mixology, and Jamie Boudreau's "Angel's Share": 1.5 oz. Bourbon, 0.5 oz. Ramazzotti amaro, 0.25 oz. cassis, dash of Fee Brothers orange bitters. Stir, strain, lemon twist. Amaretto is good as an amaretto sour and in a Godfather. Cherry brandy is good in Singapore Slings and Blood & Sand. Apricot brandy is good in a number of things. (I learned the other night that the Millionaire is not one of them.) One of my favourites is the Stone Fruit Sour. Barnum (Was Right) is a good one, too, and there are a bunch of options in Joy of Mixology. It also makes a good sweetener in a Tom Collins variation, though better with lime juice than lemon. To date, I have not found a good application for limoncello in cocktails, though I haven't tried really hard. I know eje uses it as a substitute for sirop de citron in some of the old cocktails that call for that with kola tonic.

Any update on this? I'm wondering whether or not it will be released in the Canadian iTunes store. In any case, I made the alkaline noodles on the weekend. The difficulty of kneading the dough is perhaps slightly overstated. Once you've made the sodium carbonate, the rest of the process is really very quick, and the noodles taste delicious! My only real mistake was rolling them too thin and/or overcooking them. They also did stick together after cooking, and I didn't rinse them like I should have, but the loosened up in the broth. (The broth I used was just a simple iriko-dashi, along with the chicken/bacon/soy sauce tare in the magazine.) Garnished with Ideas in Food onsen eggs, sliced green onions, benishouga, narutomaki, and some sliced pork tenderloin that was lying around my kitchen.

Food carts are definitely on the radar, after reading your blog! I'm open to both fine dining and casual, and we will have access to a car. Thanks!

Sounds great, Tri2Cook! What time should I stop by? Looking forward to hearing what you make, and what you think of them.