FrogPrincesse

After seeing it on SobaAddict70's eG Foodblog , I had to try the poached shrimp with olive oil and lemon juice from the Essentials. I used Arbequina olive oil and a Meyer lemon. The shrimp were rather large so I sliced them in half as instructed in the recipe. Love this dish. Great for a cocktail/dinner party as it can be prepared in advance. It's delicious on a little piece of bread. I wanted to take the opportunity to thank SobaAddict for a fabulous blog. The thread has closed now so I do it here. This was a week full of inspiration for me.

In the PDT thread I mentioned the Caprice, a dry Martini with Benedictine which I really enjoyed. In Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails there is something very similar called the Ford Cocktail. Same ingredients, different ratios. Caprice PDT Cocktail Book 1.5 oz gin (Beefeater) 1.5 oz dry vermouth (Dolin) 0.5 oz Bénédictine 1 dash house orange bitters (Regan's + Fee's) Ford Cocktail Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails 1 oz gin (Old Tom) 1 oz dry vermouth 3 dashes Bénédictine 3 dashes orange bitters Now the old debate of the volume of dashes... For the 3 dashes of Benedictine I used 1/8 oz (for the bitters, since they come in a dasher bottle, this is more straightforward). In restrospect that may be a little low (according to this post by David Wondrich 1 dash = 0.5 teaspoon and therefore 3 dashes = 1.5 teaspoons = 0.25 oz). Here is the Ford Cocktail. The Ford Cocktail is more subtle and less distinctive than the Caprice. I think I prefer the latter but this worked too. According to Ted Haigh the Ford Cocktail (1895) predates the Caprice by 39 years.

Yeah, I just prefer to complain on eGullet. They were quite busy so there was not really an opportunity to provide this type of feedback. Also I did not want to make a big deal out of it. At least the drinks had been stirred, not shaken!

The mint on our patio is doing great, so we had a classic Queen's Park Swizzle with Appleton 12 year old rum this weekend. Earlier we had a couple of cocktails at a new restaurant specializing in sausages, Salt and Cleaver. They also have a good beer selection and this short cocktail menu. My husband got the Salt's Manhattan was missing its advertised garnish. I got a classic Negroni. They were both a touch too warm which was a shame.

Glad you liked it. Cheers!

Here is the third bark that I ended up making. Shredded coconut and M&Ms in dark chocolate. I really liked the texture of the coconut and it allowed me to spread the bark much thinner.

Green Flash Le Freak Belgian IPA. I always forget how hoppy this is. Not for the faint of heart. I like it though. Beautiful color too. Iron Fist Renegade Blonde ale. Another good one, quite crisp but with with enough character to be interesting. This one was gone in no time as the photo attests.

Delmonico Cocktail: gin, cognac, sweet & dry vermouth, angostura bitters. Despite being equal parts in the Bartender's Choice version, the gin very distinctly dominated the cognac.

mm84321 - beautiful as always. What technique did you use to cure the salmon, and what kind of salmon was it? Franci - mouthwatering seafood dishes. I've never cooked cuttlefish and this is very inspiring. Kim - very nice cheese selection! Is that an aged mimolette that I spot at the back of the cheese platter?

Regarding the shrimp, are they served cold or at room temperature? They look great. Thanks!

The Bobby Burns is another classic cocktail with Benedictine. Scotch, sweet vermouth, Benedictine, angostura bitters. Here is a variation on the Bobby Burns that we just tried, the Bobby Boucher (John Coltharp). It uses bourbon as the base and subsitutes some of the sweet vermouth for cherry liqueur. Not crazy about the name, but it's a good cocktail.

JAZ - Life is way too short for B list cocktails.

Yes... I took one for the team on this one. Hopefully Ted Haigh/drcocktail will forgive me if he happens to read this. I have a ton of respect for him and what he has done with his book, but this drink just did not work for me.

Is there a reason nobody has mentioned the Palm Beach Special on this thread? Let's find out... Gin, grapefruit juice, sweet vermouth - the combination sounds odd on paper. But we've seen improbable combos come together nicely in the past. I guess there is only one way to tell. In person it is quite horrendous. I followed the recommendation to use Plymouth gin but it got lost in the mix. The cocktail had a very unpleasant finish and the sweet vermouth clashed with the grapefruit big time... I tried fiddling with it adding this and that and valiantly finished it. But I would not like to repeat this experience.

Roman Punch from the Bartender's Choice app. Jamaican rum, cognac, maraschino liqueur, lemon (I used 1/2 regular lemon and 1/2 Meyer lemon) and orange juice (I used gold nugget tangerines). Powerful stuff...

Today's post on cocktail virgin slut is about what we have been discussing here, the Crescent City Cocktail...

Leek and fennel soup from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy. I liked what the fennel added to this traditional potato + leek combination. I prefer it blended and warm. I garnished it with chives from my little herb garden.

Ah, I see now... My omelette skills lack rigour That's right. Omelettes are not to be taken lightly as we can tell by the intense discussions in this thread...

Since we are on the topic of asparagus... here is a light dinner from a couple of weeks ago when I got a bunch of green asparagus in my CSA. It's even better with a duck egg if you have one. Asparagus Milanese (based on the recipe from Babbo)

The Loakal Red from the Bruery is a beer that is only available in Orange County. It's a red ale that is partially aged in oak casks. It is hoppy and citrusy with a great depth of flavor.

Any special tips on cooking lamb shanks in the pressure cooker? I have a couple of shanks and would like to try this technique. My pressure cooker is the venting type. I was thinking 30 minutes for the cooking time. I am going to brown them first before cooking everything in the PC. I am considering this recipe by Tom Colicchio (Braised Lamb Shanks with Roasted Tomatoes). Thanks!

The Savoy Cocktail Book is finally available on Eat Your Books (here). 897 recipes searchable by ingredients. Hopefully I did not miss anything...

Everything looks good Franci. What is "fake sauce" and what recipe do you use?

For those of you who read French... I thought that this little cartoon was pretty cute. Omelette technique, illustrated. As they say, it's all about the technique!

"Moonshine" Highball: corn whiskey, lime, ginger beer. The corn whiskey was from King's County Distillery, a nice present from a friend. I added a touch of simple syrup which was probably a mistake as the drink was already quite sweet from the corn whiskey. The corn whiskey tasted great in the drink; it reminded me a little of cachaça or rhum agricole with its raw edge and grassy notes. I need to try it neat too before this tiny bottle (only 200 mL - less than 7 oz) disappears.