Tri2Cook

I'll be honest and risk losing the help of the true scotch connoisseurs, my primary reason for seeking this scotch is to use it in cocktails that call for a smoky scotch in the drink or as a rinse without having my drink tasting like liquid bandages which seemed to be the result any time I used the Laphroaig. The Smokehead has been discontinued by the LCBO and the stores in my area don't have it in stock. A large number of the stores still have it but they won't transfer something from store to store once it's been discontinued so it's not going to be an option.

Thanks! I'll look into those. Actually, Laphroaig is my only experience with an Islay scotch. I wasn't sure if that was considered representative of the style or not but I couldn't get used to it. I worked at my bottle for a long time, tried sneaking up on it by using it as a mixer, thought I was kinda getting the hang of it... then admitted defeat and gave the remainder of the bottle to a friend who drinks it pretty much exclusively. I'll look into that one too. Most of this will depend on what I can find at the LCBO. Thanks!Edit: The Lagavulin Distiller's Edition is $150 at the LCBO so I won't be experimenting with that one but I appreciate the suggestion. The Ardbeg goes for $100, the Caol Ila 12 is $80, the Caol Ila Distiller's Edition is $100 and the Compass Box Peat Monster is $60 so those would be more viable options with the less expensive being preferable if they meet the criteria just in case I end up not liking another one. Of those, the Peat Monster is easily accessible where I live and the Ardbeg is doable but would require a fairly long trip.

So after lots of reading here on eGullet and searching google, I still haven't been able to determine what I want to know. Does there exist a scotch that is intensely smoky and without the medicinal/iodine thing going on?

I'm still waiting patiently for you to remember how you made that "Widow Banger".

Yeah, I considered that possibility and also considered greatly reducing the proofing time on the chocolate version. It does a full proof in the initial 4 hours, I'm pretty sure the other 18 is mainly for flavor development. I just wasn't a fan of the flavor that developed. This one's going to the ravens, I'll have to decide if I want to risk wasting another one or two in the name of experimenting. On a brighter note, I did the peanut butter custard from their book yesterday. The custard is good... so the ravens will be getting their cake plain.

Decided to try the yeasted chocolate cake from the folks at Ideas in Food. Mixed the batter, left it alone for 4 hrs, folded it, left it alone for another 18 hrs... ...panned it, left it alone for another 1/2 hr and baked... ...let it cool and cut a small slice... ...and didn't like it. I really hate saying that. Ideas in Food is one of my all-time favorite food blogs. I've learned a lot, been inspired a lot and have very rarely been less than thrilled with the results of their recipes. This was one of those rare times. The cake is surprisingly light, moist, has a nice crumb and is not overly sweet. I'm just really not enjoying the combo of chocolate and a distinct yeasty sourdough taste at all. I'm entirely sure it's a me thing. I'm guessing there will be plenty of people who will love it and think it crazy that I don't. It was a fun project anyway.

I'm thinking of giving that a shot for the "f'ing bunny" molds. I plan to leave out the orange zest and grand marnier though.

That chocolate room is just completely awesome. I don't even do much of that sort of thing and I'm still incredibly jealous. My Easter production is going to consist of hoping I finally get around to using those bunny molds you picked up for me.

Sooo... do you ship to Canada? No, I don't ship to Canada, but I will be at the Niagara workshop in late April. If you're nice, maybe I'll bring some. ;-) I didn't actually expect you to ship them to me, that was just my way of saying they sound really good. I'm hoping to make the workshop but it honestly isn't looking too good right now. Had some unexpected stuff happening the past couple months that may make it financially not a good idea right now... but I haven't given up completely yet.

They do look awesome but he had me at Guinness... after that, they could have looked like polished moose poop and I'd still be interested. Fortunately, they don't look anything like that.

Sooo... do you ship to Canada?

Watching for the paperback to hit amazon.ca. My ereader isn't a Kindle... and I kinda like having my cocktail books as physical books anyway.

I've never done that for a burger that I was going to eat on a bun but my mom used to do a variation of that when we were kids. She'd brown the burger patties in a hot pan, take them out and cook down some onions and bell peppers, then she'd add garlic and canned diced tomatoes with their juice and whatever seasonings she used. She'd put the burger patties back in, put a lid on and let it simmer for while. We ate the burgers and sauce on rice.

It does sound interesting. I might have to give it a try. I'll probably do a little minor tweaking to the fruit content. I don't mind a few raisins in things but I prefer the balance to be way more towards something else.

I always use white grapefruit unless a drink specifies otherwise. But I'm a fan of tart/sour flavors.

Cooks Illustrated said adding nonfat dry milk to an ice cream base is a bad idea? I hope their reasoning was solid enough to overide a great deal of professional knowledge on that... ...Okay, I paused mid-thought and searched C.I. on the suject. Their reasoning isn't based on it's role in adding solids without adding water or fat. They felt that adding nonfat dry milk gave the ice cream a "cheesy" flavor. That's not a problem I've noticed when I use it in a base but I can't argue against what they say they taste.

I don't have stong opinions either way regarding cooked milk. Overcooked milk, on the other hand... the burnt milk gelato in Frozen Desserts is a thing of beauty.

Okay, maybe my answer should have been "zero". My tea is basically just serving to replace the coffee I mostly dropped. I'm just tossing a Red Rose tea bag in a big mug of hot water and adding a bit of sugar and milk. If I'm feeling fancy, I may toss in an Earl Grey bag instead. I'm pretty sure that doesn't even count among true tea lovers. As an aside, has anyone else noticed there's a temp where tea is really soothing going down? It seems like there's a temp where it's almost, but not quite, too hot to drink that is really nice in the throat. It doesn't stay at that temp for very long, I wish it did.

I'm nobody of importance but I signed it last week. I don't know if this will do anything or not but it seems like there's too much to lose to not at least try.

I used to drink about 2 pots of coffee a day. For some reason, it started giving me gut trouble and I was tired of living on Tums so I switched to tea about 2 years ago. I probably drink way too much of that as well but it doesn't bother my stomach at all. If we're going by your standard size tea cup, which isn't what I use, I probably average about 14 - 16/day. Sometimes a little less, occasionally more. I drink 5 - 6 mugs a day on average but my mug holds just short of 3 standard tea cups.

The spheres continuing to gel over time is an issue with the standard method but it may not be an issue in this case depending on the result you want. Johnny Iuzzini's Chocolate Donuts are just a sphered (or, in this case, donuted) ganache stabilized with methylcellulose (to avoid seperation when heated). He uses an alginate solution in the ganache and a calcium gluconate bath. They're frozen in the mini savarin molds, dropped in the bath, breaded with panko and chilled in the fridge until ready to fry. After frying, they're crispy on the outside and warm and creamy on the inside. They are not approaching a liquid-state that will burst from the gel skin when bitten though. I haven't tried it but I'm pretty sure the reverse method and dropping the methylcellulose would allow for that. The ganache softens in the fryer but the gelling from the methylcellulose and the alginate don't allow for a return to liquid. Subbing lactate or lactate/gluconate does require some minor adjusting. The lactate doesn't have a taste I notice in all but the lightest of flavors but requires using more for a given recipe than the chloride. The gluconate doesn't have a taste in anything I've tried it in but requires even more than the lactate. The lactate/gluconate is a good balance if you're doing a lot of really lightly flavored projects, otherwise you'll probably be fine with the lactate. Cheap and effective sphere molds... http://www.gourmac.c...ceballtray.html

I can't imagine anything easier than freezing the base in molds. It's faster than scooping frozen or liquid base and easier to work with. Just pop what you need out of the molds, drop them in the bath and go do something else for a few minutes. I don't know if I have some sort of mutant sensitivity to calcium chloride but when I tried using it in reverse spheres several years ago following recipes from big-name chefs, I had to throw the results in the trash every time. I remember thinking "How are they getting away with this in their restaurants?". Then I began to wonder if it was just me since people were obviously eating these dishes at the restaurants. The unpleasantness I experienced would not have been overlooked in favor of cool factor so I never really found an answer to why it was so offensive to me. I've since used calcium lactate and lactate/gluconate exclusively for those projects. I've never used calcium chloride in a base like you're doing so maybe what you use it in is a factor.

You could freeze the base in sphere (or any other shape, i.e. the mini savarins Johnny Iuzzini used when he made mini donuts using this method) molds. As an aside, you didn't experience any unpleasant taste from using calcium chloride in your base?

I actually agree with this. If I like a drink, I really don't care what the guy down the bar looking down his nose at it thinks. But I also don't mind if I'm mistaken about something and someone steers me the right way. In fact, I prefer they do. I'd rather know what is correct even if I choose to vary from it for my own purposes. There's never shame in gaining knowledge.

Absolutely. You definitely dont want to be the guy who doesnt say "behind" anywhere that I have worked. Its actually one of the first things I notice about people who come to stage where I work. If they dont say behind, hot corner/ etc I assume they are brand new to kitchens. Interesting. I'm definitely not new to kitchens but I've also never worked outside of the general area where I live. I've never seen it done to the extent that appears to be common. I mean, we do it in obvious situations (when someone is new or obviously not aware of what's going on around them) but there's definitely not a never-ending chorus of "behind", "hot", etc. going on. With the layout and type of business where I work, somebody would be yelling literally almost every moment during the rushes. I guess if I ever move I'll have to adjust to relying on being yelled at instead of just being aware of what's going on around me.