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thirtyoneknots

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Everything posted by thirtyoneknots

  1. How did you measure? By volume? Piloncillo has a pretty significantly different density than granulated sugar in all forms. 2:1 is pretty reliably shelf-stable when done by weight, and doing volume measures with common types of sugar is pretty dang close to being identical to weight measures.
  2. Today, in combo with Mother-in-law's birthday party: Pulled pork sandwiches, coleslaw, pinto beans. White bean dip, crudites, and assorted pickles to snack on before. Margaritas by the pitcher, plus beer of course.
  3. One of the very finest uses Pimento Dram is to add 1/4 oz to a Navy Grog.
  4. @thirtyoneknots: If you want this more Mexican in flavor, add some cilantro (unless you're a hater) and maybe a drizzle of achiote oil. That would certainly do it for the OP's needs--though for my own purposes I prefer the Mediterranean idiom more.
  5. More Mediterranean than Mexican, but I like to make a pot of white beans with plenty of onions, garlic, and smoked pork then puree all or part of it in the food processor, drizzle some pungent olive oil and smoked paprika on top, then serve with 'crackers' made from foccaccia, sliced thin, drizzled with olive oil, and briefly baked in the oven to dry out. Winner.
  6. How about telling us what you think of it? Does the apricot flavor ring true or does it taste artificial? How would you compare the sweetness to other liqueurs? What's the proof?
  7. Leopold Bros now available in Texas, too, for those with access to better liquor stores.
  8. It can do both, filtration can also remove the fine particulate that make cloudy infusions. Most spirits and wines are both fined and filtered. Somewhere on the board I think there's a thread on buchner funnel use, which is a way to remove very fine particles such as you are experiencing. The gear is not cheap though.
  9. Cold compounding is more or less adding extracts and essential oils to spirits. Grain alcohol + essential oil of juniper + essential oil of lemon (or whatever) = cold compounded gin. Fining is clarification using proteins like egg whites or isinglass. This is a common practice in spirits. If there's no sediment in the bottom of your bottle of bourbon, chances are it was fined before bottling.
  10. I don't think it is cold-compounded, though that is a possibility. More likely it is fined before bottling.
  11. North Texas, yeah (Zone 7). It gets some morning shade and has a tree about 12 feet to the south of it, so it's not in total sun. It always seemed to have growth spurts after rainy cold fronts...I just can't seem to nail down whether it does most of its growing during the warm or cool months--seems to depend on where you live. Like so many interesting plants, it may just be too damned hot for it here. Ah well.
  12. Scottyboy, your artichokes look terrific. I planted one in late January/early February and it has grown some but I wouldn't quite say it is thriving. I didn't expect it to necessarily make chokes this soon but I'd appreciate any tips you might have, or even just what to expect out of it. I put a 6-8" tall plant in the ground and now have something that is about 2-3" across but the outside leaves tend to yellow and eventually fall off, which sort of negates new growth.
  13. Collards and ham make an awesome gumbo. Goes for any greens, really--Gumbo z'Herbes is a Lenten tradition but apart from that time of year I like to make it with chicken stock and add a healthy amount of ham, and I find the result much improved. One of my favorite gumbos actually.
  14. Depends on what you want in a rum selection, I suppose. Those are both good brands.
  15. My garden is finally coming into its own. This is part of the take from just this week (less what we had eaten before this afternoon ) Pickling cucumbers, variety of squash, tomatoes, and the first eggplant--a baby variety called Fairy Tale. A few beans off of some of the more precocious vines but not enough to do anything with. The main bean crop will begin in earnest next week I think. Most of what I've had so far are the tiny cherry or grape tomatoes, but the big boys are on the way: Black Krim, getting as much hangtime as I can spare. Knock on wood, the birds have left things alone up to now.
  16. Word to the wise: The original Japanese cocktail works best to modern sensibilities as more of a digestif/nightcap type thing I think. Very rich. Heavy hand with the bitters helps.
  17. That's actually a new bottle Plymouth seems to have recently rolled out for (at least) the 1 liter size. The old bottles look like the one on the right in this picture.
  18. Is Laird's Bonded not available in your area? Calvados is a poor substitute, besides being more expensive.
  19. It's the cost. Dried anything will try to get it's water back if given the opportunity. I've never infused with dried fruit so I'll leave the tips to those who have. Yup, though if you're inclined to kitchen arts you could probably come up with a pretty good use for those boozy mangoes. I can't be sure as I have little firsthand experience with mangoes but I have a hunch that part of the syrupy quality is probably actually pectin. Given enough time in the fridge it will precipitate out into a semisolid mass in the infusion, which is weird if not actually bad. Just a heads-up.
  20. EXR has its own merits. I don't think it's in Texas anymore though.
  21. That's a bartender's handshake if ever there was one. All it's missing is a Fernet float.
  22. All things being equal, Proof is flavor. Unless you want to go all the way to high-test stuff like 151, rum over 80 proof is relatively scarce compared to other spirits categories. In general, when I see a product bottled at 80 proof (the legal minimum to sell in the US), I see a producer telling me: "we would have watered this down more, but it's against the law". Which is not to say I never buy 80 proof, but I do have a bias in favor of anything higher if the price isn't exorbitant. A few things do just fine at 80 proof. But hey why not exercise the flexibility you have? 80 proof Demerara rum is available, even Lemon Hart if you're properly motivated. If you're going to go to the trouble of procuring the magic filtered water and gradually diluting and all that outlined in the link, why not make something unique and play around with it?
  23. Maybe, but this is also a prime setup for confirmation bias. Comparative tastings should be done at least single blind to be reliable. If a flavor-mixability compromise is the goal, why not make a 100 proof Lemon Hart? Math is easier that way, too.
  24. In the same vein, I worked at a place once that used them for pots de creme--brilliant. Based on that result I'd recommend them for any custard-type use. Well, I had ice cream that used duck eggs once--I thought it was excessively eggy but it probably could have been tweaked to correct that.
  25. I'm not saying it wouldn't work, I'm just saying a perfectly good 80 proof Demerera already exists in El Dorado 5 yr. Edit: OK I see lower down that there's a financial incentive for this. I still know a few places to find ED5 for $13, soooo...
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