mkayahara

Yeah, I'd be curious to hear more about "scorching the whiskey," too. It sounds an awful lot like "bruising the gin."

Nathan commented upthread that Canadian orders should start shipping at the end of the month or early April. I assume that all the copies that have landed so far have been distributed in the US only.

Curnonsky would be pleased. As for the "vegan" question, I assume there was sugar in it, too. If it was refined, white sugar, perhaps it's the bone char question that keeps it from being strictly vegan? Just a guess, of course.

A couple of times, but it's been a few years, and I wasn't following whisky very closely at the time, so I'm not sure which expression it was. I remember the first time thinking it had a rather oily mouthfeel. In general, I've always thought it was a bit pricey, but I guess when you're unique, you get to charge a premium. Of course, the Scotch Whisky Association would probably not be happy with us for having this conversation in this thread.

Another thought, Tri2Cook: Have you tried a Dreamy Dorini Smoking Martini? It's an interesting and, I think, rewarding way to explore the layers of flavour in Laphroaig on a canvas other than water. Might be worth a shot, anyway.

I agree with Clark: re-cork the bottle, try something different when the budget allows, and come back to it at a later date. And who knows? You may never really like it. Doesn't mean you won't find whiskies that you do enjoy. My father-in-law is an enthusiastic drinker of single malts, but doesn't have time for what he refers to as "ashtray Scotches." There's no rule that says you can't be a Scotch aficionado because you don't care for Laphroaig. For me, I came to single malt from the other direction: I loved the brutal clobbering of the more intense Islays, but found a lot of others to be too milquetoast. After a while, though, I started to suspect that I was enjoying intensity at the expense of nuance - especially after I discovered Bourbon - and now I have a much more widely varied palate for whisky (and whiskey). Currently, sacrilege though it may be among a certain subset of connoisseurs, I'm starting to explore Canadian whiskies, which are more subtle still.

There aren't any illustrations at all - it's all text. The Kindle version should be fine. (In fact, if I ever get an e-reader, this would be one of the first books I'd buy.)

Yes and yes.. Large-scale food production facilities do this by pumping the product through a series of heat exchangers to rapidly increase and decrease the temperature in order to retain the texture. Imagine pineapple chunks being pumped through a tube running through a super-heated waterbath and then an icebath. The thickness of the tube is determined by things like what type of product is being pumped and how fast you need it to reach the desired temperature (smaller diameter will reduce the time it takes the product to reach the temperature). The length affects how long you want the product to remain at said temperature. This is all part of the basics of thermal processing.. A certain Dr. Ian Britt of Guelph, CA is a leader in the field Worthwhile in what sense? I was doing more than one thing at a time when I wrote this (you should see me trying to walk and chew gum at the same time.. not good!!) and forgot to mention that the "set-up" I alluded to is something akin to what someone can attempt to do in their home. Large-scale production companies will combine the ingredients in a recipe, seal it in a retort bag/pouch or can and then heat the product under pressure to finish the cooking process. Thanks for your reply! When I asked whether it was worthwhile, I guess I was asking whether it was worthwhile to heat the pineapple in a water bath to inactivate the bromelain, with the goal of maintaining the texture of raw pineapple (or as close to it as possible), and then being able to use it with gelatin or meat without breaking down the proteins. Normally, if I wanted to do those things, I would use canned, but I assume the texture of canned pineapple is adversely affected by the temperature it's heated to as part of the canning process, which I assume would be higher than just the temperature needed to denature the bromelain. Or am I wrong?

Health food stores is where I mostly see it, so you should have some luck there. I can certainly get it at the health food stores here in Guelph!

If only Absinthe came in 50ml nips. To use your numbers, in order to have absinthe at $0.05 per drink, I need to buy a 1000 drink supply (number of nickels in $50). Just trying to have sympathy on someone who doesn't want to end up with a 100 bottle liquor cabinet. That's definitely my problem: I don't mind spending the money on products that are going to be used in minute amounts, but they do have a tendency to clutter up my liquor cabinet... and the overflow shelving in the basement. For what it's worth, I have three bottles of absinthe: a 1-litre of Kübler that I don't expect I'll ever use up, a 500-ml bottle of Taboo, and (believe it or not) a 50-ml bottle of La Fée that was sold to me as part of a sample kit that also contained an absinthe spoon.

+1 It was interesting reading the relevant section of Life, on the Line immediately after reading Mariani's rant, thereby getting two sides of the story. My gut feeling is that if what was written in the book were actionable, Mariani wouldn't be writing about it on his blog: his lawyers would be talking to Achatz and Kokonas' lawyers.

As soon as the product reaches 158°F, the protein is altered/destroyed and stops working as a "tenderizer". The texture is between that of fresh and canned and highly dependent on how fast the product is cooled down. To me, the biggest change is not so much in texture but in flavor. So then it's just a question of holding it at 158° long enough for the centre comes up to temp? In terms of cooling it down, I assume faster is better? Is it worthwhile?

Not short ribs?

Potato chips. When I think about the inconvenience, expense and time spent cooking and cleaning, only to end up with a product that is more likely to be soggy and/or oil-laden than the commercial product, I put a second bag in the shopping cart.

I feel bad, bostonapothecary, for not responding to your post sooner. Thank you for that information! It sounds like it's certainly possible to do what I want, which is figure out the sugar content of M&R bianco vermouth. I've been thinking of taking another shot at a bianco vermouth sorbet, and knowing the sugar content should certainly help. In his book Frozen Desserts, Francisco Migoya says that a dessert sorbet should be between 25 and 32 degrees Brix; I imagine I'd want to be at the lower end, since the alcohol is also going to suppress the freezing point. Certainly having more information will make it easier to formulate something systematically. As soon as I have the time to do it...

Gotcha, thanks, KD1191. I misread your original post. It's a real toss-up for me, since the Yoichi would be cheaper overall, but the Taketsuru is cheaper per ounce. Plus, the Taketsuru has been discontinued, so once it's gone, it's gone.

Yeah, that one's an easy game to play! I didn't buy any Nikka or Yamazaki whisky today, either. I tried a few Nikka whiskys in Paris last fall and they were really phenomenal, to the point I can't believe no one has started bringing them into the States yet. There was a drink with Nikka from the Barrel at Experimental Cocktail Club that was as good as any drink I've had in the last year. You're killin' me here... Do you remember which bottling it was? I know I've got at least two available to me, and one is substantially more expensive than the other: the Yoichi is $35 for 180 ml, while the Taketsuru is $70 for 660 ml. (Gotta love those Japanese bottle sizes!)

The Scotch-based mixed drinks I got started on were Rusty Nails (Scotch and Drambuie) and Godfathers (Scotch and Amaretto). I've branched out somewhat since then to the Rob Roy, Bobbie Burns, Affinity, Blood and Sand, Mamie Taylor, Modern No. 2, Cameron's Kick and such. (Of those, the Blood and Sand and Modern No. 2 are my favourites.) Then, of course, there are a few drinks that call for single malts, often specific brands. I'm a huge fan of the Dreamy Dorini Smoking Martini, for example. A good place to start would be this thread: pick something that sounds appealing and start collecting the ingredients. But be warned: mixology is a very slippery slope!

Yeah, that one's an easy game to play! I didn't buy any Nikka or Yamazaki whisky today, either.

What are you looking for in a blended Scotch, Dakki? Personally, my favourite is Bell's, so I was kind of put off when the LCBO stopped carrying it, citing rising prices from increased demand in China. I find Famous Grouse to be decent - I know it gets a lot of positive reviews around these parts - but a little pricier than I'd like. (Also slightly smokier than I'd like.) I've been thinking of trying Dewar's next, just for kicks. I like Whyte and Mackay, too. Personally, I find Teacher's to be too smoky for the types of cocktails I mix with blended Scotch.

Thought I'd start this as a companion thread to this one. What did you look at while out shopping, but then decide now was not the right time? For me, it was a bottle white Armagnac. It was 92-proof, $48 for a 700 ml bottle. I knew there was a recipe in David Wondrich's punch book that called for white brandy, but I couldn't remember which one. I knew that I'd regret spending that kind of money if it turned out to be one of the ones that also requires ambergris, so I passed on it. (It turns out it's simply Regent's Punch.)

Am I reading this correctly that Modernist Cuisine and the Khymos collection give conflicting information on the acidity question? That's interesting. I always assumed that the sodium citrate was added to recipes such as Ferran Adria's mango spheres as a buffer, though I suppose it's possible it was being used as a sequestrant. (I'm not sure of the calcium level of mangoes.) If you can really use direct spherification with acidic bases, then that opens up a whole new playing field for me that I'd never considered before.

So I'm not completely sure this is the right thread for this question, but I couldn't think of a better one, so here goes... I've got some short ribs that I'm planning on doing sous vide. (36-48 hours at anywhere between 55C and 60C seems to be the consensus, yeah?) I've got it in my head that they'd be good with hoisin sauce, only I've never really worked with hoisin before. Can anyone give me any pointers? Should I be coating them with hoisin (and maybe other stuff?) and cooking them that way, or is it something I should work into a separate sauce that gets added at the end?

It looks like nolnacs only cooked it to 100F, and the bromelain isn't inactivated until 158F (per Ideas in Food, pg. 252), so it was probably still active. It's actually got me wondering what would happen if you cooked pineapple at exactly 158F, and how long you'd have to leave it there to totally inactivate the bromelain. Would the texture be more like raw pineapple or canned? Anyone have any experience with this?

You say that like it's a bad thing!