FrogPrincesse

Lately I've been going a lot to Carnitas Snack Shack. It's a little food stand with a tiny kitchen that chef Hanis Cavin, formerly from Kensington Grill, opened about a year ago in North Park. There is always a line. They have just remodeled the back and there is now an expanded patio area with lots of greenery and a fun pig-themed mural. The menu celebrates pork in many of its forms, but there is also a delicious beet terrine with goat cheese and spinach, and specials that changes on a daily basis. Recently they have been offering whiskey and bacon dark chocolate truffles that are terrific. The beet terrine The pork belly appetizer, which is a nicely-sized portion served with a little frisee and shaved radish salad on the side I usually get the BLT and ask for pork belly instead of ham. It's served on thick toasted brioche bread.

Last night, I wanted something light and floral but complex at the same time, and settled for a twist on the Martini. Arsenic and Old Lace (found on the Bartender's Choice app) has gin, dry vermouth, a touch of violet liqueur and an absinthe rinse (I used my handy spray bottle). Orange twist. It was not planned but I ended up having this drink with my meal, which was Pad Kee Mao (drunken noodles). The holy basil in the dish was actually a nice pairing with the violet & anise and the botanicals from the gin and dry vermouth. Violet and anise is a great combination. The cocktail has different ratios but is reminiscent of the Atty in the Savoy Cocktail book, which itself seems to have been inspired by the Attention in Hugo Ensslin's Recipes for Mixed Drinks.

!!! I can't even imagine what this tastes like. Do tell! Like slightly sweetened, natural yoghurt! I'm going to use it in Alexanders and flips a la Erik: http://youtu.be/hlJOPS8zEZE I don't know how I feel about this yoghurt liqueur but I really enjoyed the video. Impeccable technique.

Here is a more typical tiki drink with orgeat, with rum as the base liquor. It distinguishes itself but its use of Chartreuse. Anthony Schmidt at Noble Experiment made something like that for me a while back when I challenged him to make me a tiki-style drink. It does not use any specialized syrups/ingredients, so it's a good drink to have in one's repertoire. It may not be as multilayered as some of the classic tiki drinks, but it's really fun with the Chartreuse nonetheless, and who can resist a flaming drink. Cradle of Life (Karin Stanley, Dutch Kills) 3/4 oz aged rum 3/4 oz spiced rum 1/2 oz lemon juice 1/2 oz lime juice 1/2 oz orange juice 1/2 oz orgeat Two dashes Angostura bitters Garnish: spent lime shell filled with 1/2 oz green chartreuse

I resume posting on this thread with the Los Angeles Cocktail. By coincidence, it is quite similar to the Kentucky Breakfast. But this time, sweet vermouth is used as a modifier instead of apricot jam. I followed the ratios from the Bartender's Choice version for this cocktail which was originally published in the Savoy Cocktail Book - here is the original version. I made it during the holidays and it was enjoyed by all. I think I converted at least one person to egg-white cocktails thanks to this one. Los Angeles Cocktail (Bartender's Choice version) 2 oz bourbon 3/4 oz lemon juice 3/4 oz simple syrup 1/4 oz sweet vermouth egg white

Yesterday was Epiphany which is celebrated in France with a Galette des Rois, aka Pithiviers. Since we can't easily find it in the US, I learned how to make it a few years ago. I like the recipe from Anne Willan's Country Cooking of France. I use frozen pastry dough and make my own frangipane with freshly ground almonds and a touch of rum (+butter, sugar, eggs, flour). This year I used dark Jamaican rum - now my Pithiviers has two ingredients in common with one of my favorite cocktails, the Mai Tai! Filling the dough with a thick layer of frangipane Closing the pastry and glazing with egg wash, scoring in a spiral pattern Of course at that point I realized that I forgotten (again! I think I do this every year) to add the bean inside, but I added it discretely when it was time to slice it. Out of the oven (there was also a sugar syrup glaze to make it super shiny) My daughter got the bean and chose the cat as her king. Did anybody else have galette for Epiphany? I would love to see photos (homemade or not). There are some pretty amazing creations in French bakeries; I know that they are getting really creative.

If orgeat can be used an the sweetener in an Old-Fashioned variation (see the Atorney Privilege above), it also works very well in a Whiskey Sour variation. This one is called the St. Nick and is by Jeff Berry (Beachbum Berry). St. Nick Sour 2 oz bourbon 3/4 oz orange juice 1/2 oz lemon juice 1/4 oz orgeat I used Elijah Craig bourbon and a Cara Cara orange. These are a subtype of Navel oranges. They have a pink color and a delicate flavor with raspberry/grapefruit underdones. They are not very acidic. This cocktail is essentially the same as the Eastern Sour, but with less juice. It goes down very easily!

Chris, I am afraid that there are not too many great options downtown - most are geared towards the convention crowds and tourists. Within walking distance, there is Café Chloé. It's a cute little French-style bistro. Nothing earth-shattering there, but it's very pleasant for lunch. I would also recommend the Lion's Share (good food & cocktails), but they don't open until 4 pm.

I've done pretty much that, substituting orgeat for simple in an old fashioned. Yours looks nicer than building over ice. Once you get the idea to use orgeat as the sweetener in the old-fashioned, it's easy to come up with a ton of variations (derived from the various Old-Fashioned variations): touch of absinthe, benedictine, etc... I can already see that the ones with absinthe should work because in France we often mix orgeat and pastis (Mauresque).

Here is the thread on cocktails with two base spirits that you mentioned in your post. The Bacardi Special Cocktail from the Savoy that Erik mentions in that thread has rum and gin. There are a few tiki drinks that combine gin and rum. Some of the Scorpion variants include gin (they all contain rum). One I tried recently is Kelbo's Scorpion with dark Jamaican rum (I used Appleton 12), gin (I used Beefeater), brandy, plus orange juice, lime juice, passion fruit syrup and orgeat. Quite good. The Fogcutter has rum (usually gold or white), gin, brandy and sherry. Moving on to punches, some versions of the powerful Chatham Artillery Punch include rum and gin amongst other things.

Completely in love with my new batch of orgeat, so you should be seeing more orgeat-based cocktails from me. The orgeat is so flavorful when it's fresh and gives just the right amount of coziness to winter drinks without being cloying. After the above Army and Navy variation, I was thinking about the Japanese cocktail but wanted to try something slightly different. A bourbon variation in the latest issue of Imbibe caught my eye. Plus it's a creation by Erick Castro (Polite Provisions, San Diego) so I just had to try it. Attorney Privilege 2 oz bourbon 1/2 oz orgeat 2 dashes Angostura bitters Stir, strain into coupe, garnish with a lemon twist Simplicity personified, but interesting nonetheless. A good example of what you can achieve with good-quality ingredients (obviously, there would not be any point in trying to make this with Torani orgeat!). My orgeat is very milky/opaque so my end result is quite different from the photo in the magazine. I used the orgeat recipe from Beachbum Berry Remixed.

The AOC book is on my radar as well, based on my good experiences with Sunday Suppers at Lucques.

What about the texture? Looks pretty challenging to me! (Never had a chance to try though.)

This Averna cocktail was a good winter drink. The spices and rye make a great combo and the Averna brings everything together. Winter Waltz 2 oz rye (I used Bulleit) 1/2 oz Averna 1/4 oz allspice dram (St Elizabeth) 2 dashes Angostura bitters Stirred, up. Star anise garnish.

That sounds wonderful... Added to my to-do cocktail list. Templeton is rye from what used to be the LDI and is now MGPI distillery in Lawrenceburg, Indiana who makes a ton of different distilled spirits that they sell to others for use in their own brand. Essentially the same stuff is also found in Bulleit and Redemption rye and quite possible several others. High West uses LDI rye in some of their blends. Templeton, Bulleit and Redemption don't make any of it themselves, despite what they may claim in their marketing. It is not a bad rye mind you but between the three I would be inclined to buy the one that has the best price. My experience is that it is usually not Templeton. I did see somewhere before that Bulleit and Templeton were related, and it's interesting to read in your post that these products are coming from the same distillery. I don't pay much attention to marketing because I am doubtful that a true "small batch rye" could be found at Costco of all places! In my area, Bulleit (~ $25) is sold cheaper than Templeton (~ $35). Even if they are produced at the same place, their taste is quite different. I've done a mini side-by-side rye tasting recently and here were my thoughts. Templeton (80 proof) was very smooth and was the best neat. I found it a little thin but it was the most sippable. In comparison, Bulleit (95 proof) was very spicy and not especially pleasant neat (but I really like it in cocktails and the price is right!). Rittenhouse BIB remains my favorite overall (~ $25 when I can find it). It's the most interesting one of the three, a great combination of smooth/full flavors with enough spice to make it work beautifully in cocktails. I like to have different options though based on the type of cocktail that I am making, so it's good to have ryes with different flavor profiles on hand. I didn't have enough ryes in my collections anyway. Since we are on that topic - what other ryes would you recommend in that price range? I've had Old Overholt which I found OK but a little too basic.

It's good to read everybody's resolutions, please keep them coming. How could I forget my favorite... Learn more about Candies and Confections at the 2013 Workshop and meet some of my eG colleagues! This should be a lot of fun and I am very much looking forward to it.

We've had a topic on food resolutions for the past few years now. 2012 New Year Food Resolutions Resolutions for 2011 Resolutions for 2010 Food Resolutions for 2009 Food Resolutions for 2008 Culinary Resolutions for 2007 Culinary Resolutions for 2006 It's resolution time! Last year my goals were to learn to make cupcakes for my daughter (check), macarons (check), pulled pork (check) and a few others things that I now need to move to my 2013 list: sourdough bread, confitures, caramels, and vinegar. I am adding to my list that I would like to make more tiki drinks and continue my experimentation with cocktails in general. What are your culinary goals for 2013?

I made Chef April Bloomfield's Chicken Adobo last night. It was ready in a little bit over an hour. Very flavorful and rustic - she does not peel the garlic or the ginger. With jasmine rice The recipe is available here for those who don't have the book.

+ 1 Christine Ferber's Mes Confitures (French edition)

A riff on Anthony Schmidt's Autumn in Jersey (the original uses applejack which I replaced with calvados): 2 oz calvados, 3/4 oz each homemade orgeat and lemon juice, 2 dashes angostura. It's essential an Army & Navy with a different base liquor. I really like these flavors.

Beautiful!

That sounds wonderful... Added to my to-do cocktail list.

My latest puchases: Plantation Barbados 5 year rum (surprisingly good for less than $20), Templeton rye (from Costco - very smooth), Landy cognac VS (less than $25, bought for mixing and better than the big brands around the same price point in my opnion, including Courvoisier VS and Remy Martin VSOP), Siete Leguas tequila blanco (discovered during a tequila tasting - full of flavor, should be great in cocktails).

[Moderator note: This topic became too large for our servers to handle, so we've divided it up; the earlier part of the discussion is here: The Soup Topic (2007–2012)] After an extremely bland pumpkin soup (Not pictured. Apparently my pumpkin had not taste at all which was very odd), I made Paula Wolfert's Autumn Squash Soup using a kabocha squash. It is served with a piece of rustic bread fried in duck fat and seasoned with a touch of Espelette pepper. The soup has a little bit of potato and some cream that is added at the end. Chives from the garden.

Here is a recent salad wtih Warren pears, pomegranate, mixed greens (baby romaine and butter lettuce) and a walnut oil + sherry vinegar dressing.