mkayahara

I'm starting to get really excited about my upcoming 4-day trip to Portland... are there any recent updates on restaurants that I should be aware of? Honestly, I'm more worried about having too many options, rather than too few, but it's always good to know the latest! Edit: Does it help if I note that this trip is still about 3 weeks away?

Did you go straight from the water bath to the skillet? I've always heard the recommendation that pork belly be chilled/pressed after heating and before browning. When I did pork belly sous vide, that's the approach I took, and it worked well. Of course, I also browned in a Teflon pan, and that might've helped too.

Can I get a mineral analysis on your tap water? I always need to use bottled water to make tea; my tap water is so hard that tea instantly reacts with it and turns cloudy. (And makes my mugs impossible to clean.) I finally achieved crystal-clear iced oolong yesterday, by making the tea with 200F-degree water (in a preheated teapot), steeping for 4 minutes, then straining and allowing to come to room temperature before chilling. I also noticed that McGee suggests cold infusion in order to make the tea clear, so that'll be the next thing I try.

Interesting. I guess my gut reaction is that it should be a Japanese Cock-Tail, and citrus juice is just as out of place here as it would be in an Old Fashioned. Not that I doubt that it's a tasty addition, but it's probably worthy of a new name at that point... maybe a Japanese Crusta?

That's a rather idiosyncratic recipe for a Japanese, isn't it? What's your source?

Darcy has a pretty good post on why this is a bad idea. Just FYI.

I imagine that's going to be your biggest stumbling block right there. I always have a bottle of vodka on hand, but I can appreciate that not everyone has a basement to store it in! Do you at least have some white rum? That's probably your next-best bet. Edit: And I don't mean unaged rhum agricole.

This is a really interesting question! I don't think there's any benefit to cooking beans sous vide; they're better handled in a pressure cooker. The first other idea that comes to mind is dashi: I made the dashi from Modernist Cuisine, which involves infusing the kombu sous vide at 60C for an hour.

I'm not sure I understand the question. Are you looking for cocktails that will fit with your sense of "craft" while still being accessible enough for someone who usually orders a Cosmo? If so, I think there are a couple of past threads that cover gateway cocktails. For that matter, if you've got fresh lime, triple sec and vodka, you're three-quarters of the way to a Cosmo anyway... why not pick up a bottle of cranberry juice? It's got a good long shelf life. Or are you looking for recipes for bad drinks - "vodka and fruit juice, nothing too strong, [no] taste of alcohol" - using the ingredients you already have on hand? Those should be pretty straightforward; vodka and fruit juice is not a tall order to fill. Lemon Drops, Kamikazes, Screwdrivers and variations thereupon. The biggest risk you run in doing this is having your guest say, "I thought he was supposed to make great cocktails! This isn't so great. I could get this anywhere." But you can't please everyone. Of course, if you really want to impress with something accessible that your guest has never had before, you could always make eGullet's own cocktail, the Flaming Orange Gully!

To cook medium-grain rice, I usually soak for 15 minutes, cook for 15 minutes, then let stand for 15 minutes. That produces a texture that I like! It seems like a lot a of rice recipes leave out the initial soaking step. (Oh, and I'm talking about cooking in a pot on the stove... no rice cooker here!)

In the meal I ate at the now-defunct Tailor in NYC, one of the desserts involved grapefruit and white beans. I really enjoyed it, but my companions did not. Then again, I'm a big fan of Japanese azuki bean desserts, so maybe I'm just predisposed to liking such things!

I started making macarons earlier this year, using the recipe in Francisco Migoya's Frozen Desserts, and found that, as long as you're not a perfectionist about it, and as long as you're not trying to sell them, it's fairly easy to make halfway decent macarons for home consumption. The biggest mistake I made the first time around was trying to make a full batch, which was clearly not sized for a home oven!

I'm in the same boat. I tried it once, and decided it was a waste of good gin. I'll probably try it again the next time I open a bottle of Lillet, but more out of obstinacy than anything. I know I'm in the minority, but I like Rose's in the right application, of which a Gimlet is one. Gin, simple and lime is a fine drink, but it's not a Gimlet. If you're in the minority, you're in good company! Gin, simple and lime is a delicious gin sour, but it is not a Gimlet. I'm fond of homemade lime cordial now, but I'll take Rose's if there's nothing else available. One thing about that, Kerry: Gin purchased in Ontario is not to be trusted in a Gimlet. You really need the export-strength (47% abv) Tanqueray or Beefeater for it to sing.

Yael Vengroff had a variation at Pegu Club called the Spring Negroni that was very, very good -- but it was a more complicated affair involving both Bols Genever and dry gin, and both Aperol and Campari. And you're gonna leave us hanging like that?

Personally, I usually go with a 2:1 ratio of gin to lime cordial for Gimlets, but mostly because I consider them to be a low-maintenance drink, and I don't want to fight with precise measurements. Also, if you're willing and able to acquire oranges, you can make a Bronx, then make an Income Tax to see the effect of the Angostura. And, finally, if you're looking for something to do with the vodka and Kahlua, might I suggest a Black Russian?

You wouldn't be the first one to do something like that. Sometimes I wish I had an older Plymouth bottle still hanging around...

I have the CIA Frozen Desserts book, and while it provides some interesting information, it's very textbook-style in a "here's how you do it, and this is the only right way" sense. It includes formulations for sorbet and ice cream stabilizers but not, as far as I remember, on why they're formulated that way. It's a great next step after The Perfect Scoop, but may not go far enough into the science for some.

I realize that this may not help given that it's already separated, but I've experimented with stabilizing peanut butter with maltodextrin. It works fine, but it mutes the flavour, which may explain why the stabilized commercial brands have so much added sugar and salt.

Hysteresis? Do you mean syneresis? The pate de fruit sounds and looks lovely! Now I have to see if I can snag some black currants off of our friends who have bushes.

Looks to me like the beginnings of a lobster boil!

Oh, of course it's easier to "over-umami" with MSG, just as it's easier to oversalt with pure sodium chloride! But regardless of how you get there, the end result is the same.

Nope, none. Just the citric acid and lemon essential oil. But the lemon essential oil is an optional ingredient! Yes, that does seem a bit odd, doesn't it? I assume it's because they note in the instructions that other essential oils can be used instead of lemon.

Again, though, I don't think it's necessary to distinguish between a dish that's too salty because you added too much salt to it, and a dish that's too salty because you added too much of a naturally salty food: they're both too salty. It's a distinction without a difference.

Nope, none. Just the citric acid and lemon essential oil.

Isn't it illegal to evaporate and then condense alcohol? In the past, I've made liqueurs (notably damson gin, following the instructions in this eGCI thread) that used granulated sugar. If you shake it regularly, the sugar does fully dissolve into the alcohol, though it takes a little while. (Of course, I suppose in that case you're adding water from the damsons, too.) I can certainly see heat speeding up the process!