FrogPrincesse

What makes you say that? I have the Saint James Hors d'Age which is a great example of aged rhum agricole. I imagine the Royal Ambre is in the same vein, younger obviously, so it may work well in cocktails I imagine.

I never tried but would be concerned that the orgeat might separate in an irreversible manner, and that you won't be able to re-homogenize it and get everything back into suspension. The good news is that it keeps for a fairly long time in the fridge. I keep mine under inert gas and am able to keep it for a few months; a little shake before use is all it needs.

.38 Special (Michael Madrusan in Sasha Petraske's Regarding Cocktails) with 2 3/8 oz Glenlivet French oak reserve 15 years, 3/8 oz yellow Chartreuse, 3/8 oz amaro CioCiaro

Bughouse, a tasty Harvard variation via Michael Madrusan and Zara Young's A Spot at the Bar with 2 oz Pierre Ferrand 1840 cognac, 1 oz Cocchi vermouth di Torino, 3 dashes Angostura bitters, dash St. George absinthe

You call it liqueur; does that mean you plan on adding sugar at some point? You could make a banana-flavored rum and I feel that it might be more versatile. I suggested Smith & Cross because a few years ago I taste a wonderful banana-flavored version that one of my bartender friends had made. I will try to see if I can find more details about how it was made. I know it didn't take more than a week and if my memory is correct, he infused banana twice.

Is anybody also participating in the month-long Last Word cocktail party on instagram? I feel this is the new version of Mixology Monday!

It looks like they just released Part 2. That is exciting! The classes begin on May 17. Who else will be joining in? Science & Cooking: From Haute Cuisine to Soft Matter Science (part 2)

I can picture something delicious with Smith & Cross, if you have it!

Cupcakes! Kids always love them and it's fun decorating them.

Sous vide oxtail ragu. 24 hours @ 82C with diced (canned) tomatoes, onion, carrot, bay leaf, veal demi-glace and water (instead of the beef stock the recipe called for). Here is the oxtail from my favorite butcher shop, from the freezer section. Things going into the sous vide bag (I used purple and yellow carrots hence the unusual color of the shredded carrots). After 24 hours in the bath; hard to tell from the picture but it already looked very promising with a lot of rendered gelatin. The bag was cooled in a ice bath, most of the fat was removed, the meat was separated from the bones and I simmered the resulting sauce for about 30 minutes. This was very good, and I had enough leftovers for another ~ 5 plates of pasta or so. The sauce was wonderfully rich, the kind that coats your mouth and fills it with umami. The meat looks stringy in the pictures but it was completely tender in texture. I absolutely recommend this recipe!

I always put a few (smashed) garlic cloves in the bag when I make chicken confit, and never had any off flavors, only wonderful garlicky flavors!

To clarify, I used the amount of onions and cognac specified in the recipe.

I used crème fraîche which has a nice tang, there were plenty of onions and a nice little touch of cognac, so the sauce didn't feel bland to me. It's a bit rich and mild, but still quite flavorful. Thoroughly browning the meat and cooking the onions before putting everything into the sous vide bag greatly helped develop the flavors. And I reduced the sauce at the end. At the end of the day though, taste is quite a subjective, so maybe this recipe just isn't your thing... Had you tried similar dishes before? It reminded me a bit of blanquette de veau which is one of my favorite dishes, so I knew I was going to like this one! Or the Italian classic, milk-braised pork, which it seems directly inspired by. If you feel that acid is lacking, I think you could add a bit of lemon juice to make the flavors pop. Probably the most important is to salt properly, so make sure to adjust the seasoning at the end as necessary.

That doesn't make much sense to me. The Black Russian wasn't invented until a couple of decades later.

Here is what Erik says on the subject...

You might want to source an edition that is closer to the original. There is no Black Russian cocktail in the original edition of the Savoy. Where you have that recipe (between the Bilton Dry Cocktail and the Black Velvet) is where the Bit(t)er Cocktail (an intriguing concoction with gin, lemon juice, green Chartreuse, absinthe) shows up (on page 29). And when in doubt, you can always check against Erik Ellestad's Savoy index of course...

You found a recipe for the Black Russian in the Savoy? My copy has the Russian (vodka, gin, crème de cacao) but I didn't think that the Black Russian had been invented until later.

So what's your apricot brandy of choice, and why? It's so hard to find a good one!

$11.99 for one small bag. I feel that's way too high...

A Cardinal with the recipe from A Spot at the Bar, the new cocktail book from Michael Madrusan & Zara Young. 1.5 oz Beefeater London dry gin, 0.75 oz Campari, 0.75 oz Dolin dry vermouth, lemon twist (replaced with a grapefruit twist), served up I enjoyed this a lot! It's obviously less sweet than the equal part sweet vermouth classic Negroni, but still clearly in the same bitter booze-forward family. Very glad I finally tried it! The closest thing I had tried (other than a classic Negroni) is a Lucien Gaudin, but I wasn't a big fan...

Here's a new one that I am enjoying, A Spot at the Bar by Michael Madrusan & Zara Young. He is a disciple of Sasha Petraske, and opened the first bar of the Milk & Honey family in Australia, the Everleigh.

I served it with braised cabbage, but I think mashed potatoes would be wonderful with the sauce!

Sous vide.

Another sous-vide egg bite experiment for my daughter, this time following the recipe a bit more closely (i.e., actually measuring things). This had turkey breast and Mexican cheese blend, crème fraiche instead of cream cheese, was cooked at 77.8C for 1 hour, and was browned in the oven under the broiler. This was pretty good, more tender/less "springy" than the first time.

Sous Vide Cream-Poached Pork Loin This was very, very delicious. The pork loin (~1.5 lb from Trader Joe's) was incredibly tender and this was not just the result of the sous-vide technique, but also the milk (I had tried another recipe with pork loin, same temperature and time, and it wasn't as wonderfully tender). Sear then 4 hours @ 62.8C with onions, cognac, milk, crème fraiche. Reducing the sauce before serving Sadly I made a rookie mistake when I reheated the leftovers in a pot (with the sauce), because the meat continued to cook and became tougher/dryer and grey. Next time I will reheat the meat with the sauce with the sous vide.