Tri2Cook

Okay, that went way too fast. Next up, Heston's Fantastical Feasts. I'm more interested in what he has to say than the actual recipes, pretty much the same way I went into the In Search of Perfection books. Should be fun.

It's not new but Alex Stupak's recipe for Yuzu Curd was shared here. The curd is your basic citrus/sugar/egg/butter curd with a touch of agar to hold it's shape so he could slice it. Dropping the agar would give you a more traditional curd. I've subbed other citrus for the yuzu in that recipe so I don't see why yuzu couldn't step in for other citrus in other recipes... but that's with the disclaimer that I've never worked with yuzu. Never seen it where I live.

I've finally gone back to thoroughly read The Fat Duck Cookbook. I jumped to the recipes and science section as soon as I got the book but never actually read the stuff leading up to the recipe section. I wish I had. Now that I am, it's pretty interesting and has become my nightly pre-sleep read.

I'm not claiming there are no work-arounds out there that people have come up with. Just in my personal experience, I've never got more than a couple months out of it once opened. If there are ways to stretch it significantly beyond that, I'd love to hear about them because it would be much better than tossing a percentage of a relatively expensive ingredient if I don't find a way to use it up in time.

I don't know but if you ever want to split a bag, let me know. You can take yours and get it safely sealed and stashed away before sending mine on to me because I'll probably be less concerned about the shelf life than you may be. I have some projects in mind that I was going to need more for eventually but they aren't on a particular time schedule. Just some ideas I want to play with.

What is the shelf life packaged that way? Supposed to be at least a year, I've never kept one unopened that long to find out though.

The problem is that the company that sells it doesn't pack it anything smaller than the 1 kg packages (other than the sample 100g packs which they don't sell) and once any individual opens that 1 kg package to divide it into smaller quantities the shelf life is very greatly reduced. Around two months from opening if you immediately divide it, vacuum seal it, toss it in the freezer and have luck on your side. So unless someone can convince them to make the 100g packs available to distributors, we're out of luck on smaller packaging. Even then, going through 100g in two months isn't as easy as it may sound unless you have a lot of projects already lined up in advance.

Going into that range isn't particularly uncommon with some ingredients, especially when doing very small batches for testing purposes. I don't have Modernist Cuisine and it may be quite a while before I do so I don't know if there's any need for it in regards to the recipes in that book. As to whether using .01g instead of .012g or .02g instead of .018g is going to make a significant difference in the end result, I'd say in most cases no... I'm just kinda OCD about things being "right".

I'd have to check to see what brand mine is but it goes to 50g in .001g increments. I have other scales for weights over 50g, I've never needed .001 accuracy for anything that I was using over 50g of.

Apologies for the drift from topic. I sometimes get defensive when I hear "my way is the best way because I've been doing it longer than you/I went to this school/I've worked here and here" type statements but I'll refrain from jumping in on that one from here on out. I've made bacon powder in the past using Linda's process from the Playing with Fire and Water blog. Her post was actually on chicken powder but I modified it to bacon for the specific use I had in mind. She actually billed hers as as a chicken croquant so it may be quite different from the process you're looking at. Since Modernist Cuisine isn't in the budget at this time, I can't compare the processes.

It's been primarily "reality" tv from the start. The cooks may be there to cook but the people making the show know who their majority audience will be and what they want to see.

I'd already assumed that it was basically just an Irish Cream with the light and dark components seperated in the bottle. I'm not a fan of Bailey's or any other Irish Cream I've tried up to this point so if that was the case then there would be no reason to open it until somebody was around that would want it. I asked about it for the simple reason that it may not have been what I thought it was. Since it is what I thought it was, the snobbery in regards to this bottle, subtle or otherwise, shall continue... but thanks for the lecture.

Sounds tasty Chris. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get my hands on a bottle of the St. Germains. The LCBO brought in 300 cases and it was all gone in just over 2 months, none of it made it to stores anywhere remotely close or even not-so-remotely close to where I live and I waited a little too long to try to get them to order it. Hopefully the success will prompt them to bring in more, they haven't removed it from the website or listed it as discontinued.

Yeah, I've figured that one out already. Still, it was pretty nice of the person to bring it to me even if I don't really want it. The thoughtfulness of it should earn it a place in the cabinet for a little while anyway.

Thanks!

Oh well, it's the thought that counts...

Not unusual, rare or particularly interesting but, when a well-meaning coworker gives you something because "I know you're putting together a liquor cabinet and I thought you might like this", the polite thing to do is say "thank you" and take it home. So does anybody know if it's worth opening or is this one of those that you park on the shelf and hope someone who's visiting says "I love that stuff!"?

Does sound interesting but no Stone Pine available through the LCBO.

Appreciating the suggestions and will definitely give those that I can (ingredient availability pending) a try. Had planned on checking out The Art of Choke today... so take a wild guess. Yep, the only grocery store in town is out of fresh mint. I have some in the freezer due to an overabundance last summer but I'm not sure that would do the trick.

I think I'm going to add a Cachaca to my cabinet in the near future. I can get Pitu (which research has already pretty much eliminated as a choice since other choices are available), Sagatiba (which has been argued against actually being a Cachaca in this very thread) Leblon and Weber Haus Silver. So, unless the information on the Sagatiba is up for debate, it looks like it's down to the Leblon or (and?) the Weber Haus. Suggestions?

I don't think there's been much change for me. I didn't have much money before and I don't now. The bills get paid, there's food on the table and I get to indulge my new interest in stocking a decent home bar now and then so I don't really think much about what I can't get. You had my hopes up for a minute with that $450 Thermomix though.

I just put a bowl of melted chocolate at one end of a hotel pan and a smoldering packet of wood chips at the other end, pop the lid on it and give it an occasional stir and taste until I'm happy with it. Not particularly scientific or creative I suppose but it works.

That may be the article I grabbed the recipe from, depends on how recent it is. I have a file on my computer for collecting interesting sounding drink recipes but I didn't include the sources with the recipes. The recipe I have matches the one you posted but I have "barrel aged" in parentheses next to the Fernet. Anyway, glad to hear that the off the shelf stuff is correct. Now I just have to try to get the local LCBO store to order it for me.

Always a missing piece. Been interested in the Eeyore's Requiem since reading about it a while back. Couldn't remember the entire recipe but now that I have my Campari and Cynar, I dug it up. Oh yeah, needs Fernet Branca as well. Barrel aged, no less. The barrel aged probably won't happen anytime soon (or ever if we're being honest) but I guess I need to get that F.B. ordered soon so I can give it a less refined try. Any suggestions for giving the Cynar a try in the meantime?

I'm fine with the scenario. If there's ever a time a good drink would come in handy, that would be it. My problem isn't the fact that I'm off to the gallows, it's that I don't know what I'd want that one last drink to be. I'll have to think on it.