Tri2Cook

You see where this went wrong, don't you?

I like that one... with the disclaimer that the only mezcal I can get where I live is rather soft and light on the smoke. I'd like to try it with a good mezcal.

Thanks. I wasn't sure which way to go with the bitters so I went with the easy choice. There's a background of bitter in the sweet potato syrup as well, from the sugar caramelizing on the pan, so I didn't want to go to heavy on additional bittering. The spices in the Angostura seemed like a good choice with the sweet potato theme but it would be fun to try others. I have enough syrup left for a few more. Didn't even think about a name. It's not very practical to make. It was just one of those moments when an idea hit me at the right time. Normally, an idea like that would hit me a few minutes after I've already cleaned the pan.

I was inspired to experiment tonight. I was looking at the caramelized syrup in the pan that I baked some whole sweet potatoes on today. It's tasty stuff that I deglaze with melted butter (I always thoroughly pierce the potatoes to make sure I get a good syrup yield) and mix back into the sweet potatoes if I'm mashing them. I wasn't mashing them today so I deglazed the pan with just enough water to dissolve the syrup, added sugar at 1:1 and wound up with a caramelized sweet potato syrup that's very tasty. So... First I expressed the oil from a couple pieces of orange peel into a glass, added a couple drops of roasted walnut oil and rubbed it all around in the glass with a stirrer then... 2 oz bourbon 1/4 oz sweet potato syrup dash Angostura bitters Stirred with ice and strained onto a big cube of ice in the above mentioned glass. A simple variation on a theme... but I enjoyed it. Apologies in advance if the thought of it puts anybody off their drink.

We're having turkey with all the usual suspects. I have to say that, despite the fact that she's doing all the work and making a nice meal, I'm not thrilled. I guess I should be more appreciative but every holiday/holiday-esque meal ends up being turkey. I wanted to do something different and more casual. I thought I was going to grab a beef roast, get up tomorrow and bake some kimmelweck rolls and do beef on weck. Apparently I am not, I got home from work today and there was the turkey somehow managing to look smug despite being dead.

Sounds interesting. I'll have to get my hands on enough Peychaud's that I'd be willing to give up 2 oz in one shot though. It's not easy to get where I live.

I didn't actually buy anything, just thought I'd give a heads-up. I haven't seen it locally yet but Lemon Hart (80) is now stocked by the LCBO. I hope that eventually leads to them getting the 151. If Alberta can get it, Ontario should be able to as well.

Oh gosh, yes. This. I am not a fan of cucumber, bell pepper, jalapeno, or any other vegetables in my cocktails, up to and including Blood Marys. The one exception I will make is the Juliet and Romeo, which is delicious. I like the Juliet and Romeo. I also like the Kentucky Maid. Those are the only two with cucumber I've tried but if they represent what cucumber does in cocktails in general, I'm good with it.

Really nice work on the candies and awesome overall as a display.

Just out of curiosity, what's the excess involved with pickled raisins? I didn't know you could buy pickled raisins but I've made them in the past and thought they were tasty. They seemed like a natural pickling candidate, overly sweet and mostly dehydrated. They suck up the pickling liquid, soften and the sweetness is balanced by the vinegar. Personally, I find it a vast improvement over a stock raisin. Not bashing your opinion, I'm just trying to understand the criteria for "excess" in that case.Okay everyone - lighten up... http://youtu.be/yYey8ntlK_E Can't lighten up because I'm not wound up. I thought I made that clear in my post, guess not. I have no personal attachment to pickled raisins other than I happen to like them. I was just trying to understand, from your point of view, what about them constituted an excess. I think this entire conversation would make more sense if people explained why they feel this way about the thing they list. But I'm not in the least bit wound up or upset or anything like that, just curious.

Just out of curiosity, what's the excess involved with pickled raisins? I didn't know you could buy pickled raisins but I've made them in the past and thought they were tasty. They seemed like a natural pickling candidate, overly sweet and mostly dehydrated. They suck up the pickling liquid, soften and the sweetness is balanced by the vinegar. Personally, I find it a vast improvement over a stock raisin. Not bashing your opinion, I'm just trying to understand the criteria for "excess" in that case.

Yeah, I saw several sites with those same instructions. But there was one site that just said to stir the vermouth and Fernet with ice and strain. That's the one I was going to go with unless there was a good reason to follow the recipes saying to stir the vermouth and strain it over the Fernet. Since it doesn't appear there's a good reason to not stir them together, that's what I'm planning to do.

I'd never even heard of this one... but I searched the recipe and I'll be trying it soon. Are the odds saying that I'll be back here posting that I didn't like it? 'Cause it sounds tasty to me. Kill or Cure on CocktailDB 2/3 sweet vermount, 1/3 Fernet. Sounds good if you like Fernet. Fernet is dry enough to stand up to that much sweet vermouth. But those are some weird instructions! Why the hell would I stir the vermouth to chill it and then pour it on room temp Fernet? Odd. Yeah, I was thinking that too. I was wondering why I couldn't just stir it all... and then I saw a recipe that said to do exactly that. So unless someone weighs in with a reason not to, that's probably the way I'll go with it.

I'd never even heard of this one... but I searched the recipe and I'll be trying it soon. Are the odds saying that I'll be back here posting that I didn't like it? 'Cause it sounds tasty to me.

There are a few classics I need to revisit. When I tried them originally, I was a complete novice coming from pretty much strictly beer and G&Ts exclusively. I'd like to try them again now that I've spent some time getting better acquainted with various spirits and trying a much larger variety of drinks before writing them off as actual dislikes. I think knowing more now than I did then about mixing them properly might make a difference as well. So for now I'll just check out what others are saying.

No need to be sorry, I laughed. If it's sarsaparilla, unless it's so old and dried out it's useless, it'll definitely add a flavor different from the other ingredients mentioned. Sort of a slightly medicinal root beer (in my opinion). I would think using it in a spiced rum would want a light hand with it.

That's not exactly the same as spicing your own rum but, as long as they work, go for it.

After a long wait, the Qzina online store has finally gone active. They do free shipping U.S./Canada for orders over $100 and $20 flat rate for orders under $100. They have a large selection of purees in both tubs and top-down bottles.

Every restaurant I've worked in has done pretty much what pastrygirl said above. In fact, the only cleaning outsourced by the places I've worked is the hoods (and those are kept wiped down by staff in between the professional cleanings) and carpet (which staff vacuums every night). If the place where you work is truly so busy all of the time that nobody has time to do any cleaning (first of all, congrats) and you don't build cleaning time into your end-of-day staff routine then contracting it out is an option I suppose. I'm not really sure what size/type of place we're discussing and only you (or the business owner(s) if that's not you) would know if you consider it worth the expense to spare your staff the work. Where I work now is open 6 days/week. We have occasional cleaning parties where a few volunteers that want the hours can come in on the closed day and really tear the place down and clean. Everybody keeps things wiped down and cleaned daily in between those. Seems to work pretty well for us, the daily cleaning doesn't take long at all as long as you always stay on top of it.

Those look nice Kerry... and they sound tasty too!

I appreciate all of the suggestions. I'm not in a hurry to add more to the cabinet right now (the opposite in fact) so I'll see what I can do through my local store.

Because it's much easier to be offended for the confrontational article you've decided to write if you set the stage so that you're sure you'll be offended.

I'll have to see if I can talk the local store into getting me a bottle of the Caol Ila. I'm not writing off Chris' suggestion of the Smokehead, he's never steered me wrong before, but it's just not an option to have it transferred to my local store since the LCBO has discontinued it. Yeah it wasn't the cask strength... it was the quarter cask.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I actually already have the Highland Park 12, I like that one but I don't really think smoke when I'm drinking it. I don't really require a complete lack of medicinal taste, I understand that's part of the Islay experience. I just can't handle that overwhelming hit the Laphroaig has so I thought it best to ask for a suggestion that minimizes it or at least has it in the background instead of right in my face shouting at me. I honestly think I could learn to appreciate the style, I think I just jumped in too deep starting with the Laphroaig and now I'm kinda gun-shy about jumping in again.

If it's just a rinse, you could try some mezcal to get the smoke... that might work. Wanna take a wild guess at what else I can't get where I live... yep, a good mezcal.