FrogPrincesse

Here is the Dobbs Cocktail, a Manhattan with a heavy rinse of Fernet-Branca. Very nice if you are looking for a bittersweet alternative to a Manhattan.

I've been on an Indian food kick lately, and have been re-discovering my copy of Vij's, Vikram Vij's restaurant in Vancouver. Lots of simple recipes that have great flavor combinations. Coconut and saffron shrimp curry with grilled coconut kale. The kale was marinated in coconut and spices and then grilled. The tomato-based curry had a mild flavor but the saffron came through. Prawns in coconut masala. Good flavor from the blend of onions (yellow and green) and tomatoes. Last night's dinner: grilled grouper with tomato-yogurt broth. The fish (the recipe originally called for sablefish) was marinated in oil and spices (paprika, cayenne) for a while and was cooked on the grill. The broth had a great flavor with a nice spike of ginger. An old favorite from the same book, the lamb popsicles. They are served with a fenugreek cream curry that I could drink by the bowl full.

Here is a weird tequila cocktail. Michael Madrusan's Sea Way with tequila blanco, cherry liqueur, Islay scotch, orange bitters. Tequila and Islay scotch should not work together but somehow the cherry liqueur manages to bridge the gap between the two.

A Ward Eight last night with the PDT ratios. Rittenhouse bottled in bond, lemon juice, orange juice, simple syrup, pomegranate molasses. Surprisingly tart. Once my tastebuds adjusted, I enjoyed it, although it took me a few sips to find the aromas of the rye under all the juice...

Regarding the liver, I am sure that veal liver will work fine if you cannot find pork liver. Some people use chicken livers but I don't really care for the taste. I would use the caul fat to wrap the terrine. In fact what I normally do is line the terrine mold with a large piece of caul fat, fill the mold with the pate mixture, and then fold the caul fat over the top. The recipe in Les Halles has this technique although the photo in the book shows pork fat rather than caul fat which is rather confusing. You will still need some pork fat for the pate mixture. I get back fat from my butcher but if you cannot find it, a fatty piece of pork belly works fine too.

Unfortunately, I found Salumi quite disappointing. I waited a long time for the book with big hopes and expected to like it.....maybe my expectations were too great. ~Martin Martin - can you elaborate a little bit? What did you find disappointing about the book? I don't have it but would be interested in hearing your opinion. I own Charcuterie.

One more, gin-based this time, from the Savoy Cocktail Book (quoted from the Stomping through the Savoy thread).

Don the Beachcomber's 1934 Zombie Punch is the first example that comes to mind. Don's Beach Planter is another one. The Test Pilot, also from Donn Beach. This combination was at the basis of many of his signature drinks. In the non-tiki category, besides Remember the Maine, I can think of the Waldorf Cocktail which is a sweet Manhattan with an absinthe rinse. Waldorf Cocktail Remember the Maine The Sazerac uses Peychaud's rather than Angostura bitters, but there are old-fashioned variations with Angostura and a touch of absinthe - looking at the Bartender's Choice app you have the Hendrick Cocktail (bourbon, sugar cube, angostura, dash absinthe) and the Choker (same with Scotch instead of bourbon). Why does it work so well? My guess is that cloves/cinnamon (in Angostura) and anise (in absinthe/pastis) have some things in common - most likely eugenol. So when they are paired together their flavors "resonate" together and create harmony in the drink, similar to a chord in music.

Cool article, full of interesting facts. This is the second time that I read an article explaining that Harry Craddock may have been a British citizen later naturalized American.

The Arbitrary Nature of Time (with bourbon). The Campari + cherry liqueur combination is a good one. It's a strong and bitter drink but the cherry liqueur tempers it a bit. The cherry liqueur marries well with the chocolate from the bitters.

Here is the Benton's Old Fashioned with actual Benton's bacon. I think I overdid it a little bit on the fat extraction - I had about 3 ounces of fat in 16 ounces of bourbon. It's amazing how much it tasted like bacon at the end of the process, smoke and all. That cocktail is amazing. I made little containers of bacon-infused bourbon for my friends as a holiday present. I am storing these jars in the freezer. I also tried spiking a little bit of Old Men bacon bitters in there just for fun, but that did not really seem to do much given how strong the bacon flavor was in the first place. I would be curious to try the cocktail with regular bourbon and the bitters to see how much of a flavor boost they add on their own.

Menthol from the Averna? I am asking because it's not something I have noticed before (but I have never used Averna as the primary ingredient). Trying it neat and Kerry is absolutely right, there is some menthol there (together with caramel and licorice).

I also freeze pasta frequently - homemade or purchased artisanal pasta in its original plastic packaging. For homemade ravioli or cavatelli I freeze them in a single layer on a large tray before I transfer them into small ziplock bags in individual portions. It works great.

The Fish Shop in San Diego (Pacific Beach) always has a nice (small) selection of local beers on tap. This weekend they had a coconut brown ale from Mission Brewery. It was malty, a little bitter/sour and quite refreshing despite the dark color. You could taste the coconut in the finish but it was subtle.

This was equal parts. Luxardo Sangue Morlacco has a deep ruby color (sangue = blood, which seemed appropriate). Re: double straining, you are right and the small crystals bothered me for a second or two, but they had melted by the time I had finished posting the photo... and at that point I was more concerned about not finding the cocktail to my taste.

I made garlic soup, aka "Evening Garlic Soup in the Manner of the Corrèze" from Paula Wolfert's The Cooking of Southwest France, a couple of nights ago. Very comforting. It's the French answer to egg drop soup - it's thickened with egg. There is a touch of red wine vinegar to brighten up the flavors. I also made a large batch of Carrot Ginger Soup last night for us and for a friend who is recovering from surgery. I had carrots and ginger from my CSA. I love the flavors together. Touch of curry powder and heavy cream, chives from the garden.

I checked and don't have Talisker anyway. I don't have too many options for mixing - other than Glenfiddich 12, I have Glenlivet 12 and 15 and that's about it. I also have Bunnahabhain and Lagavulin but we prefer to drink them neat. The Bowmore Legend looks interesting - I will keep my eyes open for it!

Sounds like a plan! Do you recommend changing the ratios as well (I used equal parts)?

After the (relative) disappointment of the Blood and Sand, I decided to take a risk with the Broadmoor (Andreas Noren). The name was evocative of the British moorlands which made sense because of the greenish color of the drink and the fact that it is Scotch-based. I later found out that this was actually the name of a high-security mental institution... which also makes sense because on paper this drink does not make any (sense). Scotch whisky, green Chartreuse, simple syrup, and orange bitters. I was concerned that it would be quite sweet and had a hard time imagining the interaction between Scotch whisky and Chartreuse. There was only one way to find out... As opposed to the Blood and Sand, it is a very strong cocktail that is best sipped slowly. It is also very harmonious and complex. The herbal notes from the Chartreuse complement the smoke from the Scotch. The orange bitters add an element of brightness that is welcome. This is a really nice cocktail (in small doses as it is very potent!).

Growing up in France, I had access to these game birds and had a chance to eat them relatively frequently in the colder months, but unfortunately I did not know how to cook at the time. Now I live in the US and I've only prepared quail because the other game birds are harder to find. The quails were spatchcocked, marinated and then grilled. It's a fantastic little treat. They were marinated in olive oil, balsamic vinegar and honey (the recipe is from Babbo, here). The recipe works for squab too. I liked the fact that it was a very approachable/everyday recipe. If you are looking for something more elaborate, foie gras-stuffed quail is a classic. There is a recipe in Les Halles for Chartreuse of Quail that I've been eyeing for a long time. Regarding pheasant, it's quite good in terrines.

I tried my first Blood and Sand this weekend. I had high expectations but this was not what I was expecting. It felt a little "thin"/dilute and had more in common with a variation on vermouth than a scotch-based cocktail per se. The scotch was really getting lost in the drink. I was using a fairly non-descript Glenfiddich that I use for mixing. It allowed me however to taste the cherry liqueur in combination with vermouth and I liked the taste. Once I had recalibrated my expectations to just a nice pleasant aperitif cocktail, I enjoyed the drink. In general I have to say though that most orange cocktails are a let down. There seems to be too much sweetness in regular oranges to make these drinks "pop" and something seems to be missing in the end.

A friend gave me a bottle of Luxardo Sangue Morlacco cherry liqueur (disclosure- she works for Anchor Distilling which imports Luxardo in the US), one of the things that were missing in my ever-expanding liquor cabinet. The first cocktail I knew I wanted to try was Remember the Maine, a wonderful Manhattan variation. 1/4 oz of the sweet vermouth in the Manhattan is replaced with cherry liqueur, and the glass is rinsed with absinthe (I used a little spray bottle). It was better than a version I had made a while back with maraschino liqueur (I realize now that maraschino and cherry liqueur don't have much in common even though they are both based on Marasca cherries!). The cherry liqueur adds fruit and sweetness to the drink that the absinthe balances very well with just enough spice.

For some reason I have this thing with pirate's booty cheese puffs. I have to hide the bag otherwise I can go though most of it in one sitting. I love pistachios as well...

Thanks for the nice comments Patrick! This was the "Variation of Ragu with Pork" from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, which is the version with 1 part pork to 2 parts beef. I followed it pretty much as is and we loved it!

Continuing to catch up with the cocktails I have tried recently. I almost want to keep this one to myself because it's SO good. The Professional by Benjamin Schwartz: bourbon, Campari and overproof Jamaican rum. It feels like a cross between a negroni and an old-fashioned. It tastes bitter and deep/complex, and the Smith & Cross adds a fantastic finish. Love it.