FrogPrincesse

The only cocktail app that I have is the Bartender's Choice app by Sam Ross et al., and I use it quite a bit! I also use eatyourbooks.com to look for ideas based on specific ingredients, although their cocktail book database is still somewhat limited - but at least it encourages me to use the cocktails books that I already have. Kindred Cocktails is very useful as well and easily searchable. On another topic, my bar is starting to grow out of control and it's getting more difficult to keep track of everything I have. I have just downloaded the My Bar app that Martin Doudoroff created, in the hope that it will help me keep track of things. For the time being, despite an impressive list of ingredients already in the database, the app is pretty bare-boned regarding the features that it offers, but hopefully it will continue to evolve and improve in the future. One big plus is that you can very quickly enter your collection by scanning the bar codes (some bottles won't have one or won't be recognized but it's very easy to add them to the database). I am hoping that it will soon be possible to see my "inventory" organized by liquor type, so I can remember to rotate between rums for example instead of always reaching for the same 4 or 5 bottles.

A review of the 12 best bars in San Diego was just published in Difford's CLASS magazine. It's nice to see more San Diego coverage! The list: Craft & Commerce The Noble Experiment Cantina Mayahuel El Dorado Seven Grand Starlite Saltbox Cowboy Star Grant Grill The Lion's Share Vin De Syrah El Take It EZ

This is similar to the version that was published in the LA Times Magazine. The only difference that I see is that they specify 3/4 oz of a 3:1 honey syrup which is quite concentrated. Also the garnish he uses is a piece of candied ginger (photo here).

Wonderful. I am going to try this very soon, plus I just ordered the book. Sorry to follow your beautiful photo with my latest soup, which is the most unfortunate shade of purplish khaki. It's a leek - potato soup (recipe by David Lebovitz here). I keep getting purple potatoes in my CSA which explains the strange color. It's not very attractive to start with, and I used my blender which turned it into a slimy mess. The taste was ok. Next time I will use my stick blender...

The temperatures dropped very slightly in San Diego last week and it's the start of the holiday season, so I was in the mood for a hot buttered rum. I found a recipe for the Volcano House Hot Buttered Rum in Jeff Berry's BeachBum Berry remixed: rum, lemon juice, maraschino liqueur which adds something interesting, sugar, black tea (I used Earl Grey), lemon peel, cloves, butter. Rumdood posted the recipe on his blog a while back (here). Note that the version in BeachBum Berry Remixed does not list the rum! (A typo for sure). This was a good occasion to crack open a bottle of Kraken (sorry). Nice drink. I will make sure to bring the recipe for my next ski trip! For reference, hot buttered rum is also discussed in Cold Weather Drinking, plus there are dedicated threads (this one and this one) and another one about Hot Rum.

Gourmet burgers and "elevated" comfort food in general (lobster mac and cheese, truffle fries and the like). I do like a good burger, but I would much rather see more interesting options on a restaurant menu.

Dan - not counting the ice, you are using 1 part spirits to 1.3 part water, which puts you in the middle of the range for the recipes I reviewed in my post. My FHP was delicious as usual, but maybe a little strong, and needed further dilution (we drank it too fast to let the ice do its work). I will increase the amount of water slightly next time. Here is the oleo-saccharum. The shrub The finished product. This was a small batch.

Amazing work! I wish you good luck, Baron.

I tried an Enzoni last night, a creation by Vincenzo Errico which is a lighter take on the Negroni where the 1 oz of sweet vermouth is replaced with 3.4 oz lemon juice and 0.5 oz simple syrup plus muddled grapes. It's refreshing but I don't think it's going to replace my favorite cocktail any time soon.

Interesting. How old was the bottle that you tried?

I think that the amount of water is a good question. What is a good spirits to water ratio for punch (not taking into account further dilution introduced by the ice )? I've seen recipes all over the board. I've been using 1 part spirits to 0.5 part water to bottle my punch, and adding ice and more water as necessary when I serve it, but I understand that most recipes call for much more water. There is the "One of Sour, Two of Sweet, Three of Strong, Four of Weak" formula which corresponds to 1 part spirits to 1.3 part water. This recipe for "Just Plain Punch" by David Wondrich on liquor.com also has 1 parts spirits for 1.3 part water. This Fish House Punch Recipe via liquor.com, also by David Wondrich, calls for 1 part spirits for 2.5 parts water (49 oz/122 oz). That's almost double compared to the previous recipe and does seem high, even though it calls for large amount of overproof rum. The individual version of the FHP by David Wondrich (via esquire.com) uses 1 part sprits to 0.7 part water (3 oz/2 oz). Jeffrey Morgenthaler's adaptation of the Wondrich FHP recipe (here) calls for 1 part spirits to 2 parts water (48 oz/96 oz). This version published in Philadelphia Magazine which also mentions David Wondrich has 1 part spirits to 1.5 parts water (6 cups/14 cups). The version of FHP published in Food & Wine magazine has 1 part spirits to 0.6 parts water (12.5 oz/8 oz). So, for 1 part spirits, that's a range of 0.6 to 2.5 parts of water based on these recipes. For those of you who regularly make punch, I would be interested in hearing how much water you use. I guess one way is to make it fairly concentrated and adjust to taste when serving.

I have the same Krups grinder that I use for grinding spices. I've been happy with it.

The red wine reduction (red wine, unsalted butter, carrots, sea salt, black pepper) is underneath the poached egg. I see. You have a very light touch with the red wine; usually the oeufs en meurette are literally swimming in the sauce (just google "oeufs en meurette" if you want to see what I mean)! That must be your "less in more" school of thought in action again...

Beautiful poached egg, SobaAddict, but where did you hide the red wine? Traditionally, oeufs en meurette, a specialty from Burgundy, are poached in red wine (signed - the French Culinary Police ).

Lots of good suggestions from kalypso. Also if you take a chance to review this thread there are quite a few places that fit your description. This other thread has more recommendations.

I haven't but that sounds... strong!

Thanks. I have never used zucchini in a salad so you are giving me new ideas.

The Mother-in-Law cocktail is another close relative of the Brooklyn. In the ingredient list, the dry vermouth is replaced with curaçao together with Angostura, Peychaud's and orange bitters. Therefore it is also similar to the Hoskins but with bourbon as the base instead of gin. We really need a spreadsheet to keep track of all of these. I used the recipe from the Bartender's Choice app, so no simple syrup and slightly increased amounts of Picon, curaçao and maraschino compared to the version in Ted Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. It began smoothly and then felt quite boozy with a lot of spice in the finish. In a blind tasting I would probably have guessed it was rye-based. Again, quite similar to the Brooklyn with some additional spice layers contributed by the curaçao (I used Paul Ferrand dry curaçao) and the four different kinds of bitters that I used. A very nice sipping drink.

You have some beautiful salads there, SobaAddict70. I agree that you don't need a lot of ingredients to make a tasty and interesting salad. In the zucchini and tomato salad, is the zucchini blanched?

For Thanksgiving this year, as usual, my mother-in-law will be taking care of the turkey and some of the side dishes (I am French and don't know/don't want to know anything about turkey!!! ). This allows me to focus on some other things. First I will bring a batch of Fish House Punch which has become a favorite in our family. I am not sure what we will have with that, maybe salmon rillettes (if I remember to thaw them! - I have a batch in the freezer). I want to make a soup - so far I am considering the caramelized carrot soup from Modernist Cuisine, this root vegetable soup with green apple and duck prosciutto garnish that was a big hit last year, or this pumpkin soup with basil that mm84321 suggested (but that may be too much squash for one meal and I don't have the book yet). A salad would be nice as a little palate-cleanser before dessert. Maybe this persimmon and pomegranate salad since I already have all the ingredients. For dessert, it has to be a traditional pumpkin/squash pie. I like David Lebovitz's recipe from Ready for Dessert. I got a sugar pumpkin and a butternut squash in my CSA recently so I am ready to go. If time permits, I would like to make something with chocolate as well. We have a bunch of chocalcoholics in the family! Truffles would be great or a little bite of something to conclude the meal.

It looks like there are a lot of cocktails in the Brooklyn family. I have not experienced a bad one yet but they can be hard to distinguish. The Blue Collar Cocktail was created by Michael Madrusan when he mixed the recipes for the Liberal (rye, Picon, sweet vermouth, orange bitters) and the Brooklyn (bourbon, Picon, dry vermouth, maraschino liqueur). The resulting cocktail has rye, Picon, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur, angostura and orange bitters. Note that the Bartender's Choice app where I found the recipe specifies Amaro CioCiaro whereas I used picon bière. Using sweet vermouth in this drink makes it a little rounder compared to the Brooklyn - but I am writing this from memory as I haven't done a side-by-side - and tempers the rye to some extent. The differences are subtle though. Edited to add that the ingredient list is the same as the Bushwick discussed upthread, with the addition of bitters (angostura + orange), I will have to compare the ratios as I haven't memorized all these recipes yet! As far as I remember the Bushwick was heavier on the sweet vermouth.

For a Picon + champagne + gin combo see the Donizetti in the Cocktails with Champagne thread here (on the right in the photo).

I had a rum old-fashioned variation the other night with my new bottle of Havana Club 7. The Chet Baker by Sam Ross uses honey as the sweetener, a touch of sweet vermouth, and angostura bitters. It's a nice way to enjoy an aged rum. The Havana club 7 has a lot of caramel and a hint of spice and smoke. It's deep but not as heavy/assertive as Smith & Cross or a black strap rum. At least it does not resemble any of the dark rums I currently have.

Thanks Keith. You know what to get me for Christmas then!

Persimmon and pomegranate salad last night. This is based on a recipe from Lucques (details here) but I skipped the toasted hazelnuts and used a mesclun with arugula instead of just arugula. The persimmon bought at the farmer's market was very nice.