FrogPrincesse

When my husband is not home, I always gravitate towards recipes containing amari for some reason... So last night it was the Montgomery Smith from PDT: cognac, Bénédictine, Fernet-Branca, lemon twist. Between the calming presence of cognac and Bénédictine, and the modest amount of Fernet (1/4 oz), this would make an excellent Introduction to Fernet for Fernet novices! The Fernet blends with the Benedictine and does not shine until the end, adding a kick to the drink. Very cool.

I just cannot take this article seriously. I don't read the New York Post but given the other types of headlines on the same page (Here is first one below the article: "Gwyneth Paltrow on her Oscar fashion disaster: 'I should have worn a bra' "), I could care less about what the author has to say. It's just too bad that people like Phil Ward got dragged into this.

It just consists of poaching the egg in plastic wrap. Works every time.

Thanks for the nice words Jane! I am glad you enjoyed reading this thread.

Still reminiscing about a quick trip to Lyon last month, last night I was in the mood for Salade Lyonnaise aka Hot bacon and egg salad (Frisée au lard et à l'oeuf). I used Benton's bacon which is a slight twist because bacon (lard in French) in not smoked unlike Benton's which is heavily smoked. The bacon is diced into lardons and cooked until slightly crispy. The rendered fat and bacon are poured over the frisée, which wilts and warms up the salad slightly. Then the salad is seasoned with plenty of black pepper and red wine vinegar. Poached egg on top (I used the Arzak technique). Devour with a slice of crusty bread.

Oh god. You should see the keyword searches that end up on photos of CR No.2 on my flickr stream already - we don't need to make this worse... :-) Do we have a thread on weird cocktail names yet? (the Monkey Gland would fit in nicely as well)

I use a 5 1/2 quart (round) or a slightly larger oval duch oven (doufeu - I think it's a 7 quart).

The chocolate-orange cake with bourbon caught my eye when I was looking for a chocolate dessert for a dinner party. Dark chocolate paired with orange zest and a generous amount of bourbon, what can go wrong... I was a litle nervous about burning the alcohol off a full cup of bourbon. I just used an old pot and hoped for the best. It took more than 10 minutes. The key was to resist the temptation of giggling the pot as it just resulted in a microspray of vaporized bourbon. Without pot giggling, things were quite uneventful. My pot did not look too great at the end though so I was just glad I had not used a nicer one! This dessert has no cream or milk. A syrup is made with the reduced bourbon, simple syrup and orange zest. I used what I thought was a cara cara orange for the zest, later realizing it was a pink grapefruit (!). But I thought that since grapefruit and bourbon work wonderfully well in one of my favorite cocktails the Brown Derby, everything should still be fine, and indeed it was. The chocolate (she insists on 70% so I used Valrhona guanaja) melted with the butter in a bain marie was mixed with the bourbon syrup, and then added to the eggs beaten in the stand mixer. Sliced it is dense and dark and reminded me of a marquise cake, which is essentially a dense chocolate terrine that is served cold. Unlike the marquise which is not cooked, this cake is cooked in a bain-marie, which did not seem to alter the texture very much. When sliced, it remained creamy and melted easily on the tongue. It was a good use of high-quality chocolate and bourbon. Using pink grapefruit zest ended up being fine (I compensated by grating madarin zest on top since I was out of oranges) but orange would be slightly brighter. This inspired me to make a Brown Derby cocktail with the appetizers so we started and ended the meal with bourbon and grapefruit.

To echo what Rafa just wrote - Not really. I noticed that a lot of local bars used it because it is a good product for a low price. If you like it you are in luck! For me it lacks depth so I would rather spend a little more.

Dolin blanc and Dolin dry are completely different. The blanc is much sweeter (130g/L similar to the red) compared to the dry (less than 30g/L). If anything it would be closer to a sweet vermouth than a dry, despite its color. See discussion of vermouth blanc here. You could use it to make a Manhattan (see here for Jason wilson's Manhattan Bianco) but it would definitely not be "dry". It has a rich/syrupy quality that the dry does not have.

Regarding rye, I too like Bulleit (It's very easy to find here - it's available at TJ's so I can grab a bottle whenever I do my grocery shopping. Also it's less than $20 a bottle) and Rittenhouse (about $25 but harder to find). Templeton is good but not so much when you consider that it sells for $35 or more. Old Overhold is ok but not as interesting (however it's the cheapest in the group at about $18). Willett is a great choice but it's even harder to find at least here and it retails for more than $40. Sazerac which I can find easily is also a good choice at about $27 a bottle. Wild Turkey 101 rye used to be highly recommended but nowadays only the less desirable lower proof (81) version is readily available. It looks like you will have to do some comparison shopping because prices seem to vary greatly based on location.

Yes at least that is one thing this cocktail has going for it! I know it's not traditional, but maybe a squeeze of lemon or lime would add structure and contrast? Along with the bright notes from a fat orange twist like Toby mentions in the thread you linked. It seems a shame to give up on a drink with a memorable name that looks like that. I haven't given up but there are so many cocktails and so little time :-) These all sound like good ideas.

Yes at least that is one thing this cocktail has going for it!

I bought a few Moro blood oranges last week and was looking for a new orange-based cocktail to showcase them. I remembered that I had always wanted to try the Monkey Gland, one of these memorable cocktail names, although I had no idea what it was like. I thought that using blood oranges was appropriate! Anyway, it's gin, orange juice, pomegranate molasses, and a rinse of absinthe/pastis. Nice color. Regarding the taste, it's quite different. Not structured as a typical cocktail. It highlighted the botanicals in the gin and some from the pastis (but not the licorice notes surprisingly). The orange seemed to blend in the background despite the large amount. I am not sure if I liked it but it was intriguing and fresh. The problem was that it tasted a little flat without much dimension. I was going through some old eG posts and I saw that I was not the only one scratching my head with that cocktail (see discussion on the Monkey Gland here). It might be worth trying again with a different gin, even though Beefeater is specified in the PDT recipe.

I do the same thing wih my KitchenAid. It is a two-person operation and is relatively slow, but I am able to successfully stuff sausages with the sausage attachment. I am sure that it's much faster with a dedicated stuffer but I just can't justify the expense.

Here is an easy one (I call it the French version of "fast food"): Moules marinières. Cook some sliced shallots in butter for a couple of minutes, add a generous amount of wine, crank up the heat, add salt and pepper to the boiling wine, dump the mussels in the pot, cover with the lid and cook for a few minutes until the mussels are open (~ 8 min in my case for 3 pounds of mussels). Finish with more butter (optional) and sliced parsley. Serve with a slice of rustic bread.

You are right; I did not look at it this way but it makes perfect sense now!

Viva Villa with tequila blanco, lime juice, and simple syrup. It can be described as a tequila daiquiri, which is a delicious way to showcase the vegetal notes of the Siete Leguas. A very nice alternative to a margarita.

A couple of classics for us last night. Bennett for me (Plymouh gin, lime juice, simple syrup, Angostura bitters). I like the combo of the freshness of the lime with the spice of the Angostura. A good fresh Gimlet variation that I would be curious to try with other types of aromatic bitters. Red Hook for him (rye, Punt e Mes, maraschino liqueur).

Cool! Can't wait to see what you are going to come up with.

Another PDT cocktail with Benedictine, Johnny Iuzzini's L.E.S. Globetrotter (a twist on the Cock ‘n’ Bull Special in Ted Saucier's Bottom’s Up): rye, cognac, Benedictine, creole shrubb. Served this up, then realized it was quite strong and actually supposed to be on ice, so I quickly transferred them after I took the picture. Smooth with beautiful orange flavors.

A typical cheese platter during my recent stay in France. Starting at the 1 o'clock position and going clockwise: Selles sur Cher, Camembert de Normandie, Crottin de Chavignol (very tasty specimen), Vacherin, a tiny piece of Comte in the middle at the tip of the cheese knife, and my favorite, a perfectly ripe Saint Marcellin from La Mère Richard in Lyon. We had to buy several of these Saint Marcellin because our cat stole and ate the first one (!) and because they were so good.

Still playing with my recently aquired bottled of Benedictine, I made the Junior cocktail which is an old recipe that was re-discovered by David Wondrich and slightly adapated by PDT. Rye, lime juice, Benedictine, Angostura bitters. Rye and lime pairings don't seem very frequent but this one worked really well. A little tart and spicy, refreshing and complex. It reminded me a little of another favorite, the Brooklynite (Jamaican rum, lime juice, honey syrup, Angostura bitters).

Suzanne Goin's AOC is a good place that is heavy on the Californian ingredients. It has a small plate menu that is fun to share. Great wine selection as well.

For fine dinning, Julienne is not to be missed. See my review here. It is a small restaurant, about 20 tables or so, so make sure to book in advance. The Hungry Cat has great seafood, with an atmosphere that is more on the casual side (see here). For lunch, you can't go wrong with La Super Rica (see here). Regarding the wine country tour, I like Zaca Mesa winery. They do a very pleasant tasting and have a lot of nice wines. The other one we really liked was Demetria Estate (by appointment only). Small selection with several really good wines and a spectacular setting. You can really relax and enjoy their wines overlooking the vineyards in a beautiful patio.