mkayahara

That's interesting, because I think you're the first person I've heard who's said that. I haven't gotten my copy yet - Canada seems to be the last place on Earth to receive the pre-ordered versions - so I'm curious to know what you don't like about it!

I was in the mood for an Air Mail tonight, but lacking any splits of Champagne, I had to cast about for fizzy alternatives. I stumbled upon a can of Strongbow and thought that might fit the bill. Sure enough, it does! The apple character of Strongbow plays well with the other flavours, while still being dry and fizzy enough to draw things out a bit.

Yeah, I'd go with lemongrass if you can't find kaffir lime leaves. Not because the flavours are anything alike, but because they're both equally tasty! Then again, if your local Asian groceries don't have lime leaves, I'd be surprised if they had lemongrass. (Keep in mind that lime leaves may be sold in dried form, as well as fresh or frozen.) Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!

Does Versawhip work with bases that contain fat?

FWIW, lecithin is easily found in most health food stores, though usually in granular or liquid form, rather than powdered. To me, 2g for 100ml of liquid (i.e., 2%) seems a little on the high side, but I agree that the proportions may vary widely with differing fat contents. I suspect that you'd need more lecithin with a fat-water blend, since some of it will actually be used to emulsify the two. But that's just a guess.

I don't know about that. Most of the recipes I've seen for sous vide meat call for it to be browned (usually in a very hot pan or with a blowtorch) before or, preferably, after being cooked in the water bath. Steak tartare, on the other hand, provides ample refutation of the original hypothesis, which presumably needs to be amended to, "there is not a single cooked dish in existence which would not be improved by changing it so the meat is browned rather than unbrowned."

Apparently the books that were sent to Canada just cleared customs on Thursday, so we should be receiving them with the week, give or take.

Does anyone have a citation for the Quebec cocktail? I'm trying to figure out what distinguishes it from the Brooklyn: The type of whisky? The amount of maraschino and Amer Picon? Anyway, I don't see it in Embury, Duffy or my (idiosyncratic) copy of Savoy. I'd appreciate a lead on this one. Thanks!

Yes, agar-agar is available in powdered form as well as "sticks," but the two should work more or less the same. Just soak pieces of the stick in cold water to soften, shred it, then use it as you would the powdered form.

You might find this post (and some of the others nearby) interesting. Specifically, this: So it looks like ethanol isn't likely to be of much help. I'm curious, though: why are you looking to make it shelf-stable? Even a 1:1 syrup keeps pretty well in the fridge. Are you really that short of fridge space?

This cook-off couldn't have come at a better time! On Wednesday, I took a piece of brisket out of the freezer, then sat down to check eGullet and the first thread I saw was this one. There are no coincidences... I cooked it up yesterday in the style of Carbonnade, i.e., with lots of onions and garlic and using Chimay as the braising liquid. I also threw in a few whole cloves, a bay leaf and a bunch of fresh thyme. (Served here with steamed broccoli and a sorry excuse for spaetzle.) I've only ever cooked brisket once before, so I'm not sure whether this was the flat or the point. I'm guessing point. Either way, it was delicious!

At the risk of thread drift... I've seen a few Fish House Punch recipes recently, and one question always comes to mind when I read them: what exactly is peach brandy? Is it a dry eau-de-vie or a liqueur like the peach equivalent of apricot brandy?

Does that mean that any requests sent in earlier will automatically be rejected? I e-mailed this morning, but haven't received a reply indicating my , so I'd love to know whether I need to send another message now...

I was cooking some pumpkin for pumpkin pie today, and I happened to be cooking some tomatoes at the same time. I ended up with some tomato water I was thinking about putting into a Bloody Mary Martini from Joy of Mixology, when it hit me: why not make "pumpkin water" using roast pumpkin and the gelatin clarification technique? It might be necessary to punch up the flavour a bit (I'm thinking some brown butter wouldn't go amiss), but I think it might work!

Thanks for your reply, estufarian. We actually ended up going last night, showing up as walk-ins at 6:30. (We didn't know how long the Ferran Adria event was going to run, so we couldn't make reservations.) Naturally, all the tables in the dining room were booked, but we snagged one in the bar area, where the full menu is served. The service was very friendly, though a little bit muddled at first. I had the suckling pig/boudin tart and agree that it was excellent. I also had the grilled octopus and rapini salad to start: the octopus itself was perfect, though the whole dish could have been pointed up with a little more acidity, to my taste. My two companions had the heirloom tomato salad followed by the Cornish hen, and the duck prosciutto followed by the short rib. Everything was good, but the Cornish hen was definitely a standout: crispy, juicy and flavourful. I think it's safe to say I'll be back!

For what it's worth, Michael Laiskonis recently posted an interesting behind-the-scenes look at Jordi Butron's presentation on his blog.

The way I read it, the zest from the preserved Meyer lemons is used to garnish the one filled with fava bean puree. Though that doesn't explain why it calls for you to make 6 of them... What, you don't just keep preserved Meyer lemons on hand at all times? Ever since I got access to the Mosaic, I've been dying to make the truffle explosions, and I probably will as soon as I get a pasta roller. It's good to hear that others have had good luck substituting for truffle products; I've been planning on using soaking liquid from dried porcini in place of the truffle juice. I'll have to give some reduced mushroom stock a try.

Via Paul Clarke's blog, I just came across this recipe for a cocktail called the Smallflower that combines lavender honey syrup with tequila and... Laphroaig. Might be worth a try, Chris!

Qualifirst in Toronto has it in 1 kg bags. ← Thank you! I noticed that on their website recently. Do they have a retail storefront? (In the end, I picked up some from Le Sanctuaire on a trip to San Francisco back in May. But I'm sure I'll need more eventually!)

Has anyone eaten here since Joanne Kates's review in the Globe? Has it gotten substantially harder to get a table?

Alex Talbot and Aki Kamozawa, the chefs from the Ideas in Food blog, just did an article for Popular Science on freeze-dried foods, and included a recipe for white chocolate apricot bars that calls for freeze-dried apricot powder. You could substitute the apple powder and I'm sure it'd still be good! The recipe is here.

For what it's worth, most of my friends who have never heard the terms "molecular gastronomy" or "technoemotional cuisine" unanimously prefer the former over the latter. There's something about the word "technoemotional" that puts them off. When discussing this topic with people who don't know about it, I tend to use the terms "avant garde" or "postmodern," which seem to resonate better. I think it's interesting that, as usual, a query about people's opinion of the cooking movement has devolved into a debate over the term to be applied. In some ways, "molecular gastronomy is a bad a term" is the new "foams are so over." That said, I think Tri2Cook's response is the most elegant and comprehensive summary of the issue that I've seen, and I agree wholeheartedly. (Even though I've been known to say to myself, "Hey, I just got some methylcellulose. I wonder what I can do with it?" But then, I'm just a home cook.)

I've never used macadamia nut oil, but if it's anything like other nut oils (and like macadamia nuts themselves), it will go rancid relatively quickly, so buy the smallest bottle you can find!

Are we distinguishing between straight-up gin infusions and gin-based liqueurs here? I've made the damson gin detailed in the autumn preserves course in the eGCI, but it's sweetened. I also recently made a sweetened, sour cherry-infused gin (Bombay Sapphire), but I haven't actually tasted it yet. Mostly I just wanted the gin-soaked cherries.

Got a message through Facebook today: Atelier's official opening date will be November 12, and they're now accepting "both reservations and résumés." Phone is 613-321-3537. I'm not in the industry, so I have no useful résumé to submit, but I'm sure I'd love to trail in the kitchen for a day!