mkayahara

Bumping this old thread because it seems to be most relevant to my current question: Recently, while digging through my pantry, I came across a sealed bottle of Chinkiang vinegar. It's marked with a "best before" date that's, um, long past. I've never known vinegar to go bad before, but I'm not very familiar with Chinese black vinegar. Should I toss this bottle or is it still safe to use? Will the flavour have deteriorated? Thanks!

No, you were right the first time: the ratio is 4 parts water, 2 parts honey, 1 part dried lavender. On a separate note, I tried the Elixir No. 2 last night, since it calls for half an ounce of brandy, and that's all I had left. On paper, it looks... implausible. 1.5 oz. gin, and a half ounce each of creme de menthe, maraschino and brandy, with a lemon twist? Uh, OK. In the glass, it worked pretty well, though I won't be rushing back to it anytime soon. As one might imagine, the creme de menthe (Brizard) pretty much dominated, though the maraschino gave it a run for its money. I'm intrigued by the combo of gin and brandy, though: I wonder what this drink would taste like with something like Genevieve or an aged gin like Citadelle Reserve, instead.

To me, the difference is that sugar adds sweetness, and salt adds saltiness, whereas vodka adds nothing but alcohol. But then, I'm the type of guy who would never deliberately choose to use water in place of stock.

Or, for that matter, include those flavours in the cocktail in a different way. Ever since I started learning about quality cocktails, I've found it a source of amusement that the much-maligned Cosmopolitan uses citrus-flavoured vodka - when it has citrus juice as an ingredient. Similarly, although you're not going to get exactly the same flavours by muddling kaffir lime leaves as you do infusing a spirit with them, I think I'd rather have a drink made with muddled kaffir lime leaves and gin than one made with kaffir lime leaf vodka. I also think it's interesting how many "farmer's market"-style cocktails (I'm thinking in particular of those in Scott Beattie's Artisanal Cocktails) seem to use flavoured vodka as the base spirit.

Well that's a damn shame. Now I'm really glad I had a chance to go in March. Great cocktails, great meal. Here's hoping everyone involved lands on their feet.

I had some friends over for drinks a couple of weeks ago, and while I was mixing their Sidecars, gave them my copy of The Art of the Bar to page through. One of them spotted the instruction to flame an orange peel for "The Little Easy", and asked me for an explanation. So I demonstrated by mixing up the drink which, for some reason, I had never really noticed before. It was delicious, even with the (I hope minor) substitutions I made. Sugar (it calls for 2 cubes, but I used syrup) 2-3 dashes Regan's orange bitters 1.25 oz. single malt Scotch (I used The Macallan Fine Oak 10 year old) 0.25 oz. Averna (I used Amaro Ramazzotti) Herbsaint (I used Kubler absinthe) to rinse Muddle the sugar and bitters, then add the Scotch and amaro. Stir with ice, then strain into a chilled old-fashioned glass rinsed with Herbsaint. Garnish with a flamed orange peel. Also, I mixed up a "Sangre de Fresa" last night. I don't really have a lot of experience with drinks in the mode of "muddle fruit + herb + sugar/syrup, top with booze, shake, strain over ice, top with soda," but this one was definitely tasty. I'm looking forward to trying the "Peaches & Herb" when peach season arrives this summer.

I'm not 100% sure what you mean by "put it over a flame and burn it on the outside", but I bet you'd have a lot more control by using a blowtorch.

Good luck with the Noma book. I've been searching for that one intermittently for a while now, to no avail. If I find two copies, I'll let you know where - right after I snatch up the first one for myself!

Sure, that'd be great! What sizes do you recommend? Greweling seems to use both 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch widths, so would it be best to get a set of each? Strangely, we already have a marble slab, so we're covered in that respect. Thanks!

John, thanks for those tips on slabbing ganache and backing the molded chocolates. That's exactly the sort of information I was hoping to get out of this conference! Now I just have to buy some rulers. One thing we noticed when unmolding our chocolates was that some of the backs didn't really adhere to the shells, and it was suggested that you could remedy this by hitting the filled shells with a heat gun before backing them. What do you think of that technique? Is it acceptable, or poor form? And Steve, I would certainly be interested in attending next year if I can, and I'm hoping I'll have gained a fair bit more experience by then. Obviously, this year's location was much more convenient for me, but I don't object in principle to flying through DC. Edit: And thanks to everyone for the great photos! I don't think I captured anything that hasn't already been shown, so I'll leave the photos to those with the better cameras and photography skills.

I'm pretty sure this has been brought up on this forum before, but there's really nothing like a leading question: "Is everything great?"

See this post for answer. Also, that picture is not me (easy way to tell is that there is no ring on the left hand). ← I think that pic is Matty. ← Indeed, I think you can tell who's in that pic by the colour of his apron. And---since I wasn't there to see the end product---what did they wind up like? Did they actually cut into squares that you could handle, or were they all something that might have been better off just piped into shells? MelissaH ← We found that, with the Wybauw method, the slab could only be cut into squares after being chilled, and had to be rechilled while we were dipping it. I thought I had heard reports that the Greweling slabs came out more firm, but I didn't get around to checking. Also, I've thought of another newbie question that I meant to ask but forgot: Greweling talks briefly about making truffles using "hollow shells" (p. 92), but the shells pictured look quite different from the shells we molded. Are they in fact a different product? If so, how are they made?

As I mentioned above, I took a couple of short videos at the conference. You can find them on YouTube. Kerry demonstrating how to silk screen a transfer sheet: My partner filling shell molded chocolates with passion fruit caramel: Kerry demonstrating how to temper chocolate by tabling: Enjoy!

Actually, that one should be nougat, if I'm correctly remembering which transfer sheets we used for which chocolates!

What a great time! Airbrushing, shell molding, filling and backing, and slabbed ganache yesterday, then tempering, dipping and some non-chocolate centres/confections (nougat and buttercrunch) today. I have more chocolate than I know what to do with! My goal in attending this conference was to gain a better understanding of how to temper chocolate, and I would say I gained that and a whole lot more. I have some photos and a couple of short videos, and I'll try and post as soon as I've sorted through them. Thanks for all your hard work, Kerry!

Yes, my dictionary says that the feminine form is "chocolatière", and you would indeed pronounce the "r".

You will sometimes find that this happens if your local water is high in calcium ions (i.e., "hard" water). If this is the case in your area, try using distilled or bottled water.

There is at least one: Glen Breton. And boy have they gotten into legal trouble with the Scotch Whisky Association for the name! No, most Canadian whisky is not a 100% rye mash bill; it's actually a distinguishing characteristic of the Alberta Premium/Alberta Springs line. Personally, I get a weird rum-like feel out of the Premium 25-year-old. I'm generally a fan of Alberta Springs, which is the 10-year expression, but I don't really drink Canadian whisky that often.

Tomato should theoretically be within the acceptable pH range for "regular" spherification, unless you added something else to the base. Generally, I think most spherification these days is done by dissolving a calcium salt into the base preparation, and preparing an alginate bath instead, so you could always try that... just not with calcium chloride, since this can produce a bitter taste. What I'd recommend you do is start by reading the relevant section in Martin Lersch's recipe collection. Then, try an established recipe, whether from that collection or one of Adria's. That way, if something goes wrong, it's easier for us to help you diagnose it. Good luck!

Re video - still waiting to hear from the IT people at the college. Apparently you can podcast from the rooms, but there are only 3 or 4 IT folks for all the college campuses (campi?) and they aren't inclined to call you back. They are the only ones who know how this is done. ← I think a fair number of modern digital cameras (including mine) can capture video. Then it's just a question of posting it online somewhere and linking from here.

In terms of comfort foods in general, I'd add meatballs to the list, in some form or another. (Not necessarily with spaghetti.) For summer comfort foods in particular, I'd say the two most important things are grilled items and salads. Personally, I ate a lot of carrot salad as a kid. And if you can think of a way to make Jell-O salad high-end, I'll be the first one to order it!

At the risk of drifting off-topic, I have to ask: any success?

Thanks for that report, phoenikia. Sounds like it would be worth a visit.

Along the same lines, how about brandade de morue?

(Emphasis mine.) I'm sure gfron1 already knows this, but this is really bad advice. The risk with canning low-acid foods is botulism, which is not detectable to the naked eye. You won't know you've got it until you get sick. So if you "just try it," you run the risk of death. My guess is that most commercial products like this include citric acid or other acidifiers to prevent botulism. Pressure canning is another option, but I'm not sure what effect that would have on the texture.