thirtyoneknots

The most interesting recipe for Sirop-de-Citron I reproduced in this eGullet post: Sirop-de-Citron You thinly slice three lemons, macerate them in 400kg of sugar for 4 days, briefly boil them, and then mash and strain. I've no idea why I haven't done that yet. Laziness. It seems like it would be a lot more intense than other versions I've read. Definitely get some of the bitter kick from the pith. ← That's quite a bit of sugar, even for a syrup.

Many things Continental Europeans consider 'aperitifs' are quite sweet, especially by American standards. Pineau de Charentes, much Prosecco, even some of the (relatively) dryer styles of ports are considered aperitifs while not being dry by American standards. I think the kicker was how much bitterness perhaps was contributed by the kola nuts (and caffeine) and how much sugar was in it. Of course even being off-dry, it could still have functioned that way. I mean even modern Lillet does the trick and I don't think anyone would consider that stuff dry. I bet that if the syrup was high quality and reigned in the sweetness a bit, and the tonicola was on par with Lillet, you could come up with something here on par with a de la Louisiane in the sweetness dept, which, while being something I personally prefer as a meal-closer, would not have been super unusual as a richer style aperitif in days gone by. Just my take.

Tasted a few of those Scotland Yard variations last night, and though not a big scotch drinker, they were quite good and may have me leaning in that direction on occasion. ← does anyone have an opinion on johnny walker red label?? i've never given it the time of day but hear it is blended with a large amount of talisker and its youthfulness make it very good for cocktails? ← I haven't had it in quite a while but I remember liking it just fine but finding it a little rough around the edges. It was, I think, on the rocks, so that roughness would probably be an asset in a cocktail, making itself felt more than a milder whisky would.

I think that here is a useful place to differentiate between a cocktail and a punch. The way I look at it, Tiki drinks are punches, which have for a slightly different set of judging criteria. I think it's kind of unfair to evaluate the Tiki drink category by how well it primes your palate for a meal (imo ultimately the primary role of a cocktail). Cassoulet is not going to match the delicate balance of sushi, but that doesn't mean one is inferior or superior to the other. They're different things, and should be evaluated as such.

Dang you beat me to it; I was going to attempt something similar with good ol' M&R but hadn't had the opportunity yet. Stay tuned.

Hey be nice to the poor Aggies. I actually eat at Blue Baker semi-regularly, but I will concede that you sort of have to know what to order and what to avoid, and I'd probably eat there more except that it's gotten sort of expensive lately. They fancy themselves a sandwich shop, and some of the sandwiches are very good imo, but I think the real thing to get there is the pizzas. For my money I'd probably stick with the deli meats on sandwiches and avoid things like whole chicken breast. The way they use pastrami is particularly wonderful in my opinion. -Andy

On this day in 1920, Prohibition of Alcohol went into effect in the United States. In remembrance, and to reward myself for making it through the tough part of my week (returned to school this spring) I gave a try to an older version of the storied Sazerac: 1 tsp rich syrup 3-4 dashes Peychaud's (actually more, the new bottle was being stingy) 2 oz Hardy VS 'Red Corner' Cognac Stirred with ice, strained into chilled glass rinsed with Jade Edouard. Twisted lemon peel and discarded. I haven't actually tried this since I got real absinthe. Hmm... I could actually see some people preferring this-- it's lovely. Let us never forget what can happen to us if we let vocal minorities take control of the legal system! This is a great year for every citizen of every opinion to let their voice be heard! Cheers -Andy

I actually tried the Fallen Angel last week and thought it was going to be really interesting, being, basically, a minty aviation. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but I think there's a truly fascinating drink hiding in that combination, if it were to be made dry like I like may aviations (ie with very little liqueur). As it stands the DeKuyper CdM I was using was very sweet, even in small quantities. This may sound like a cliche, but my friend I was drinking this with suggested replacing half of the Menthe with Cacao. I think it actually holds some promise, sort of like a 20th Century, but with mint up front to compliment the cacao in the finish. And yeah thats a great quote. -Andy

I don't have a name for this drink, and few people out there will be able to replicate it, but I figured I'd throw it out there for fun anyway. I have a regular customer who comes in every Monday and hangs out, and occasionally brings in items from his garden for the chefs (and sometimes bartenders) to use. Recently, he had a tree that was producing tiny sour oranges, about the diamter of a nickel or so, in his back yard. He challenged me to make a drink with them. The first batch contained many bitter ones that were not quite ripe, though the chef was able to incorporate them into several wonderful specials. After a new batch of ripe sour oranges and several false starts, I finally came up with the following: 2 oz Pierre Ferrand Ambre 1/2 oz Sour orange juice (this takes a LOT of oranges, like 8 or so) 1/2 oz nut liqueur; I Frangelico, but I think I might try it with Marrone, a roasted chestnut liqueur, for fun. Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass. The drink isn't exceptional, but it's pretty solid in my opinion. The oranges are a pain in the ass to juice, and I have no idea what the variety is called, but they are pretty dang sour, probably roughly equivalent to lime juice, and the flavor probably resembles a very tart tangerine more than an actual orange. I'll see if I can't find out what the name of them is. In the unlikely event that anyone is able to replicate this, let me know what you think. -Andy

I gotta say though that this will vary from person to person even still; I for one tend to dash pretty hard with the bottle, trying, a lot of the time, to get as much as the bottle will give. I haven't measured it in a while, but I still feel pretty comfortable with my 8 dashes/tsp measurement for the way I dash.

More power to you for having Havana Club, but maybe try the less filtered offerings from Flor de Cana for the rest of us. I havent tried the 7 or 12 years but the rest of them from 4-18 years are excellent. I could see the 4 yr gold or 5 yr dark working here, depending on what you're looking for in the drink. I'm under the impression that Bacardi at the time made only what would be called white (Carta Blanco) and gold (Carta de Oro) rums. I'm not an expert on the subject but I've never seen any reference to prewar dark Bacardi rums. Glad to see all this back underway! -Andy

I know there's a scientific way to do this but in my experience I find that to convert a recipe from using 1:1 syrup to 2:1, dividing the amount by 3 usually works, though this is sometimes dryer than some people prefer (and for my taste, it sometimes needs to be reduced further). -Andy

Tell me about Sazerac -- thanks! Eric ← A Sazarac is a cocktail from New Orleans. A simple but wonderfully complex libation as good in the summer as in the winter. The Liqueur in it is Herbsainte which is an anisette made in New Orleans. Here is the way I make mine. Sazerac 2 oz Old Overholdt ¼ oz Demerara Syrup 3 dash Peychauds Bitters Rinse Herbsaint (Can substitute Absente, Pernod or Ricard) Glass: Rocks Garnish: Lemon Peel (Discarded) Ice: None Take 2 Rocks Glasses. In Glass #1, put Crushed Ice and Herbsaint. In Glass #2 put Rye, Demerara and Peychaud’s Bitters. Stir Briefly. Add ice and stir. Throw out Ice and Herbsaint from Glass #1. Strain Glass #2 into Glass # 1. Twist lemon peel over drink then discard. This Cocktail is served with no ice in the glass. ← That's pretty much the drink I was talking about though yeah I use Wild Turkey for the rye, Jade Edouard for the absinthe rinse, and about half as much sugar.

Hello, I mostly post over in Spirits and Cocktails, but I do also love to cook and so lurk a lot in the rest of eGullet, and I was hoping the good folks here could help me with a little problem I have. I have not until now had a real metal roasting pan. When I wanted to roast something I made do with a pyrex dish or disposable metal one. A few weeks ago my pyrex (not real Pyrex, off brand) exploded in the oven 2/3 of the way through roasting a duck, which was very exciting. Anyway, I have since then been in the market for a roasting pan, and today I was met with an embarassment of riches at Macy's. I found there, evidently on clearance, a 'Tools of the Trade' large oval roasting pan with a low rack and a huge lid, for half off (regular $60). And then, I found a hard-anodized Calphalon pan with a medium-height V-type rack (sort of), said $100 on the box, rang up 19.99 (not sure how or why but I left before they could catch on). I couldn't decide which one to get, so I bought both with the intent to return one. After skimming through this thread, I'm under the impression that the Calphalon will be the much better option all-around, but I wanted to get some opinions from the eGulleteers. Before reading through this I never imagined that the requirements for a roasting pan were so detailed. A quick confession: Apparently I don't pay attention very well because I thought right until I went to look at the pan before I started typing this that I had bought nonstick Calphalon and had been dismayed to learn that nonstick is less than ideal for roasting pans. Since I read through the thread looking for info on Calphalon nonstick I sort of missed some of the info on anodized aluminum. So I guess my question is which one should I keep (I'm guessing the Caphalon) and/or should I take them both back and try to find a stainless steel one? Thanks in advance for all the advice! -Andy

Benedictine or cocktails containing it (eg de la Louisiane). Also love to wrap up an evening of epicurean hedonism with a Sazerac.

I'm not big on tequila so my mind always goes first to rum, but if pressed I'll drink Corralejo Reposado. It's pretty mellow but already has the nice peppery notes so it might be a good choice. Unfortunately though it's relatively expensive. As for the Cacao + eggwhite, I think that might be a good way to go, or perhaps if you had some other emulsifier in your spiced syrup to help with the mouthfeel. Godiva is popular where I work but doesn't do much for me personally. I wonder what a dash (or two) of Kahlua would do in this combo, maybe as a variation subbing for the frangelico. I think with aged tequila and smoked chiles in this you're going to want to be careful about putting too many different flavors in there. I find it easy to get carried away when I get excited about a new drink idea -Andy

I agree that the Aviation might not be the very best choice as an intro; the funk can be off-putting for some. It's probably covered in the threads that slkinsey linked to, but I'd perhaps go with a 20th Century cocktail or a Corpse Reviver #2 for a gin sour-type drink. They're both familiar-tasting, coming off at first sip like a lemonade-type drink, but theres an elusive something to both of them that will keep people intrigued in a way that a lemon drop never would. FWIW, I oddly enough find that my friends like Sazeracs more than Manhattans or Old Fashioneds, even the ones who aren't huge on whiskey. Go figure. -Andy

Maybe try infusing with a smoked, roasted, and/or dried pepper for a little more depth of flavor. And perhaps on a (slightly) aged rum base instead of vodka; I like the Flor de Cana 4 year gold. Rum and chocolate is an underappreciated flavor combination, even without the chiles.

i use agave nectar for diabetics... it dissolves really fast in alcohol... ← Love what that does with Scotch.

As delicious as Demerara rum is, I actually don't like it in this. I find I have much better results using ~13 oz each of Wray & Nephew White Overproof and the same amount of some inexpensive dark Jamaican rum like Meyers'. My ultimate recipe is to infuse the crushed allspice in the W&N then strain and add to the Meyers and add the same amount of sugar (1.5 lbs) to perhaps 1-1.5 cups of water, then mix everything together and add water to make 51 oz. This should result in 2 bottles of 50 proof liqueur, with a much more mixing-friendly rum as the base, which really does carry over into the different applications. In my own extraordinarily humble opinion, this final product is every bit as good as the Wray & Nephew Berry Hill stuff I have (particularly after being rested), though very, very slightly different, as a different brand might be. For about $30-40 one can produce four 750 ml bottles, can't beat that. -Andy

maybe you just have the wrong brandy... it might want armagnac... you gotta stage a fair fight... if you only had one brandy like an artistic constraint... i wouldn't really make the drink out of the book... subsidize the brandy... it leads to a different drink but the goal i'm sure was just some sort of massive liquid sophistication... ← FWIW I like a Spanish Brandy in that one.

I am really not much of a fan of Vya Dry; for 3x the price of Noilly Prat you get a product that takes over every cocktail except Martinis. Don't believe me? Try a Metropole (1.5 each of brandy and dry, 2 dashes ob, 1 dash Peychaud's, up with a twist) sometime with each kind of vermouth. My money is that you'll want to pour out the one with Vya. There's some weird way that it clashes. I wonder if it uses lots of new oak or something.

Botanicals, I would say. The fatness and low acidity of vermouth lend a hand in smoothing out gin when it is used in appropriate quantity.

So a gin fizz with a Kirsch float? That sounds quite interesting. Also making sure you aren't meaning you want to top off with Kirsch instead of soda

I don't use much Kirsch, nor do I have much tasting experience with it, but I do enjoy the Schladerer that I have. Very clean distillation, but lots of funk.