mkayahara

Yeah, I noticed this after they discontinued it, but before they sold out. I "stocked up" on it (read: my s.o. let me buy two bottles). I've heard a rumor, though I can't confirm its veracity, that they've been having trouble with certain French suppliers/distributors, so this may be the source of the problem. In the meantime, I guess we're stuck with the Dubonnet Gold. Alternatively, the Quebec liquor system still has Lillet. And while I would never encourage anyone to break the law by bringing bottles across the border, you could certainly enjoy it while visiting Montreal or Gatineau!

I don't know about seasonal, but how about something like tapenade, or a mix of olives and preserved lemons, in keeping with the Moroccan theme? I've always wanted to do a pizza with harissa and coriander (seed and leaf) on it...

Yeah, what is treacle, then? He just ended up using Lyle's Golden Syrup, after a long and ultimately fruitless examination of different syrups he made himself. I actually found that one of the most disappointing parts of the first episode, since he never bothered to explain why the Lyle's syrup was better than what he could make, or how they make Lyle's. It seemed like a pointless little tangent to fill time. In fact, I'd say that I'm disappointed with the show on the whole: the lack of real, "Good Eats"-grade science information makes the whole thing feel a little contrived and gimmicky to me. That said, I'll probably continue to watch it. That Black Forest cake he made last night looked good. (Though I would have appreciated a shot of a sliced piece.) And I covet Blumenthal's eyeglasses.

The Honeycrisp was developed and patented by the University of Minnesota (patent number PP7,197; you can see the record here). Maybe the royalties are why Honeycrisps are twice as expensive as any other apple at my local farmers market? I don't know what other fruits or vegetables are patented, though I recently heard the President of the University of Guelph complain about the fact that they never patented the Yukon Gold potato, pointing out just how much money the university would have from royalties by now if they had.

I don't know a source, but I have to ask if you want green or ripe olives. I wouldn't go near green olives, because they are so bitter and need to be lye-treated to become brine-worthy. What do you have in mind (I know the answer will be interesting ?) ← I've never done it before, so I'm not sure if I want green ones or ripe ones. I was planning on following the process in The Olive and the Caper by Susanna Hoffman (basically curing for 3 to 4 weeks in a strong brine), and she doesn't specify green or ripe. ← After I smelled lye in a jar of green olives, I have generally stayed with black olives. ← But do green olives have to be cured with lye? Again, I'm only going on one source here, but Hoffman lists five cures for olives (brine, dry salt, oil, water and lye), noting that Greeks don't use lye, since it strips much of the olives' flavour out. The way she describes them, she makes it sound like you can use any of the five on either green or black olives. I guess the only thing for it is to find some and try it out!

FWIW, Ruhlman addresses the article that some suspect of revealing the winner in this blog post at ruhlman.com. He says: Don't be so quick to assume, then, that this information necessarily means what you think it means!

I don't know a source, but I have to ask if you want green or ripe olives. I wouldn't go near green olives, because they are so bitter and need to be lye-treated to become brine-worthy. What do you have in mind (I know the answer will be interesting ?) ← I've never done it before, so I'm not sure if I want green ones or ripe ones. I was planning on following the process in The Olive and the Caper by Susanna Hoffman (basically curing for 3 to 4 weeks in a strong brine), and she doesn't specify green or ripe.

I've just been looking at the Curing olives thread, and it sounds like something I might like to try. Can anyone suggest a source for fresh, uncured olives in Toronto? I imagine I could probably mail order, but I'd like to be able to look at them before I buy, so a physical store would be preferable. Thanks! While I'm at it, if anyone knows where I can buy some quinces in the city, that'd be great too!

The signature dessert at Brunoise in Montreal is vanilla panna cotta with basil syrup and passion fruit, and I was really amazed at how well the basil and passion fruit worked together.

Oh, please don't write off the red wine poached pear so quickly! They're yummy, with winter spices like cinnamon and star anise, and served over ice cream with the wine reduced to a syrup. Just remember to turn them over partway through cooking, or you'll end up with unevenly stained pears.

I was planning on using methylcellulose, which is why it's important to be able to heat up the chocolate consomme. It's still a very preliminary idea, though, since I've never used methylcellulose or the gelatin clarification process before. If you want to run with it, though, please do! I'd love to see it pulled off.

If you're looking for really top-notch food, make sure to hit the restaurants at Cave Spring and Vineland Estates wineries. I'm reasonably new to the region myself, but can definitely recommend La Cucina in Guelph for well-executed regional Italian food. The best coffee in Guelph seems to come from local roaster Planet Bean. I don't know whether it's world-class, but the lattes I've had there have been among the best in my limited experience.

I see that a couple of people upthread have mentioned that chocolate consomme can't be heated. What happens if you do? Does it matter what type of chocolate you use? I'm thinking cacao nibs or powder might be different from bar chocolate, which might be different again at different concentrations. I was thinking it might be fun to do a riff off of wd-50's miso soup with sesame noodles by doing "chocolate-dipped strawberries," with a warm chocolate broth and strawberry yogurt noodles. Purely for the interactive, entertainment value, of course.

The idea of putting bourbon in apple pie crust sounds like a lot of fun to me! The original piece sounds like a logical extrapolation on Heston Blumenthal's technique of using vodka in the batter for fish and chips (see here).

I don't know how reputable the site is as a source, but from the Encyclopedia Titanica:

I went and checked on my damson gin this morning, and noticed that both jars had a bit of whitish film floating on top. I was assuming that there's too much alcohol in there for mold to grow, but now I'm wondering if I was wrong. Should I be worried?

We should probably be having this discussion over in the "Let's talk dashes" thread, but anyway... This point is exactly why it bugs me so much with a greater number of dashes. With one dash of lemon juice, the difference in sourness between the smallest and the largest dash isn't going to be that great, but with four dashes, you're talking anywhere from, say, 1/2 oz. to a full ounce. It seems to me that, with some cocktails, that kind of difference would warrant a whole new name... and be a completely different drink. Edited to add: "Dash" really just seems to be the classic cocktailian's way of saying "freepour."

Personally, I prefer Drambuie. I've never tasted them side by side, but it seems to me that Drambuie is more complex and less sweet.

Since we're talking replicas and the true nature of Punt e Mes, I'm wondering if anyone knows of a good replica of and/or substitute for Punt e Mes. Is there some type of amaro that I can add to some type of vermouth in some proportion to get a reasonable approximation? Punt e Mes isn't available through Ontario's liquor board, and I feel like I'm missing out on something important here!

OK, this is where the dash measurement really starts to bug me. Four dashes? Really? It would've killed them to actually specify 1/4 oz. or 1/2 oz. or whatever that works out to? When people argue that a dash is a "to-taste" measurement, I can accept that as long as it's one dash. Two dashes start to get to me. But four? Yeesh. Rant over. To keep this post on point, though, here's my contribution. It's kind of a work in progress, and still in search of a name, but it fits in well with this month's MxMo theme, so here goes... Build in a champagne flute: 1/4 oz. creme de cassis 1 oz. tequila (I've tried it with Cuervo Tradicional, but I think a more peppery blanco might work better) Top with prosecco Garnish with a lemon twist (or maybe a dash of Fee Brothers lemon bitters?)

Quebec, like most Canadian provinces, enjoys a government monopoly on the sale of spirits. Your best bet is to visit the SAQ "Signature" store at 677 Ste-Catherine West (at the corner of University St., in the Les Ailes shopping centre), since they have the widest selection of premium wines and spirits. You can use the search engine on the website of the Socitété des alcools du Québec (SAQ) to find out which products are available, and in which stores: click here.

Nathan, can you elaborate on brands a bit? I'd think half an ounce of Luxardo maraschino would overpower all the other flavours, so I've love to know what types of gin, vermouth and maraschino you're using!

Well, I just made a cinnamon tincture, in order to make Mahogany cocktails. Just take a spice jar of cinnamon sticks, fill it with vodka, and check back in two weeks. It smells like cinnamon hearts and tastes like cinnamon hearts and wood. I don't know how it would work in candy, but it's not that expensive to find out! You might also check out the Vodka Infusions at Home and All About Bitters threads in the cocktails forum. Lots of good starting points there.

I'm surprised to see that, to the best of my searching abilities, there's no thread dedicated to this one, given it's near-mythic status around these parts. So I thought I'd start one. Actually, I'm hoping someone can explain to me what exactly constitutes a Martinez. My (admittedly very thin) selection of cocktail books has a couple of different recipes: Savoy and the Official Mixer's Manual both call for equal parts gin and dry vermouth, with orange bitters and either curacao or maraschino. Joy of Mixology calls for 2 parts gin to 1 part sweet vermouth, with maraschino and Angostura bitters. CocktailDB splits the difference, calling for equal parts gin and sweet vermouth, with aromatic bitters and simple syrup, but also gives a variation of near-equal parts gin a dry vermouth, with orange bitters and curacao or maraschino. Is there a definitive Martinez? Dry or sweet vermouth? Ratio of vermouth to gin? Orange or aromatic bitters? Liqueur or simple syrup? And what do I use instead of maraschino once my bottle runs out?

We once made stock from the (pre-gnawed) bones leftover from a Chinese BBQ duck. The result was way too salty, so we ended up tossing it. (In retrospect, I suppose we could have cut it with regular stock. I imagine it might have been good in a Thai soup.) Edited to add: Uh, yeah. I guess my comment is a little tangential, but what it's intended to convey is this: Try it! What've you got to lose?