FrogPrincesse

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.

Has anybody attended the Taste of the Market event earlier this month? There is another event coming up next month that I am going to attend as a kickstarter support since I was not able to attend the first one. There are tickets available for sale here.

First lunch from MIHO in a long time. Shimp po'boy with battered & fried wild mexican shrimp, kumquat remoulade, pickled red onion, local baguette. They got me at the "kumquat remoulade" which was great with the shrimp. It was nice to have some acidity from the pickled onion. Overall this combo worked really well.

Thanks! Sometimes the classics are the best.

I am very sad to report that the Petit Marguery that I have frequented for years and loved seems to be a thing of the past. This used to be such a perfect example of a traditional Parisian restaurant with an old-fashioned decor, impeccable service, and well-executed classic dishes. During my visit last week, the staff was new and seemed very confused (did not offer to take care of our heavy winter coats right away, forgot one of the desserts, etc, etc). The food was only average and prices on the high side. My mother had a similar experience a few weeks ago so this was not just an "off" night. This is very sad. The clueless service was especially disconcerting and became an annoyance. On the other hand, I have discovered a new place nearby that is very nice (short review to come).

50:50 Martini the other night with Beefeater, Noilly Prat, Fee and Regan's orange bitters, and a grapefruit twist. Olives best on the side, together with some Norcino salame from Olli.

Hugo Ensslin's Chrysanthemum with the ratios from PDT. A nice change of pace with dry vermouth as the base. The anise from the absinthe (or pastis in my base) blends with the other flavors and doesn't dominate. Very aromatic with a long finish.

A new book by eG member Kevin Liu, Craft Cocktails at Home: Offbeat Techniques, Contemporary Crowd-Pleasers, and Classics Hacked with Science, just came out. Has anybody read it? From its table of contents, it looks like it would be an interesting read with a science-based approach to cocktail-making.

Catching up with all the amazing posts on this thread. I am very intrigued by Soba's beet vinegar. What does the end product taste like? I would love to try this!

Very nice report earlofego, and welcome to eGullet! Did you also try Ciociaro on its own in the Brunswick cocktail, or did you feel that it needed the 50/50 mix with Torani to work?

That one has a sneaky flavor. You might be tempted to think that it's going to be a citrusy Manhattan-style cocktail (that's what I thought the first time I saw looked at the ingredients), but it ends up being more like an herbal whiskey sour. Nice pics. Beautiful color on that Communist. Thank you Mike! I agree, the Derby Cocktail seems to belong in the sour family, despite the presence of vermouth.

I wasn't sure whether it made sense to post this under "Lillet", "Cocchi Americano" or "Pierre Ferrand's Dry Curaçao" but in the end, since the Corpse Reviver No. 2 first appeared in the Savoy Cocktail book, I decided to include this information here. I did a 2x2 CR No. 2 side-by-side tasting with Cointreau and Pierre Ferrand dry curacao, Lillet and Cocchi Americano. The Cointreau versions had a more complete orange flavor (juice, rind, etc) resulting in a brighter drink, whereas the Dry Curacao version emphasized the bitter orange notes (not very surprising). What was interesting was that the Lillet versions had more lemon than orange notes. Using Cocchi enhanced the orange flavors which gave an impression of sweetness (this was surprising to me since Cocchi is more bitter than Lillet on its own). Often with this kind of experiments, there is one version that I immediately prefer. In that case, there was no clear winner. They were all good with slightly different personalities. Maybe a slight preference for the Cocchi version, but I would be perfectly happy with any of these (and no I did not attempt downing all four "in swift succession"!).

Then last night we tried the Preakness Cocktail. Another Manhattan variation, this time with just the addition the Benedictine (therefore like a Creole without Picon). I found it a little more bitter than the Creole, maybe because it did not have the orange flavor to round things off, but I thought that it was great how you could tease some much flavor out of the Templeton (which was quite subdued on its own) by adding a touch of Benedictine.

More rye cocktails with Benedictine (no Peychaud's for these, I made sure to double and triple check!) First, the Creole Cocktail. It's a Manhattan with Benedictine and Amer Picon (Picon bière in my case). So obviously you get a lot of the orange flavor from the Picon. There were also some unexpected chocolate notes. More spice/bite than the Vieux Carré (in a good way). Again the Templeton worked nicely in that drink.