Tri2Cook

As it turns out, I got an email the day after asking this question informing me that the Canadian online cocktail supply place I usually use finally restocked the BG Reynolds syrups after a long draught so my little flurry of "I'll make my own everything" enthusiasm has rode off into the sunset. With apologies for my lack of embracing the true craft spirit, my homemade stuff comes from necessity. I'm just not that dedicated when I don't have to be.

I'll see what I can do. I went to the LCBO site to search for it in case you said something along that line and, of course, it's not part of their online ordering program. They made ordering online and having things shipped either to your local store or your home a thing but now they pick and choose what they want to make available to that ordering system. I'm not sure how they decide what can and can't be ordered... but this one apparently can't. I did a store search and it's not a low quantity item so I'm not sure why it can't be ordered. My local store was never good about special ordering and they're even more reluctant since the start of the online ordering thing but I'll give that a try.

Nothing actually makes me say that, that's just what others had to say about it when I searched it here on eGullet. That it had none of the grassiness usually associated with agricoles and had a pronounced rubbery note among other complaints. I know nothing about agricoles so the reviews of others are really all I have to go by. If I was mislead by the reviews and comments I found, I would be happy to be corrected.

The LCBO just refuses to get it right. They finally get an agricole, I get excited, then, through a bit of searching and reading, I find out that it's not remotely similar to what people have in mind when they talk about an agricole. So that empty slot in the cabinet continues to be empty. Just for the record, the one they brought in is Saint James Royal Ambre.

I think I won't risk the freezing then. If I can get even a couple months out of a batch, I'll be happy. Thanks!

I read as far back through the 15 pages in this thread as I was willing to without finding what I was looking for, so I'll risk a repeat question and ask. Can I make a large batch of orgeat and freeze it in smaller portions (probably 8 oz) to pull out as needed without any major reduction in quality?

I make a soup similar to this one but with rice instead of the potatoes and carrots. Cabbage roll soup. I don't use boullion cubes, I use broth, but the cubes would work. I use crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes but like the cubes, the paste would work just fine if I needed it too. Of course replacing the spuds and carrots with rice is kinda the reverse of cutting the starch and upping the fresh veggies so I'm not quite sure why I mentioned it.

I made caramel with milk once a few years ago. My wife wanted caramel (she liked me to make soft caramel, put it in a squeeze bottle and she'd just squeeze it onto a spoon and eat it), there was no cream in the house and it was after grocery store hours. So I tried it with milk. It was long enough ago that I don't remember specifically what the problem was but we were both not at all happy with the result. There were some textural issues and I know there was something else but can't think of what it was. I want to say there was some curdling but I could easily be mistaken or thinking of a different project. This isn't to say it can't work, just that it didn't work for me using the recipe I usually use with cream.

Yeah, I'll be adding sugar after the infusion. I agree that a straight banana flavored rum would probably be more versatile in the big picture but the entire purpose for this particular batch is for use in recipes from Beachbum Berry Remixed. I fought it for a long time but I've come to accept that my drinking habits tend to lean more towards Mr. Howell than Mr. Bond. So I'm going to see if I can knock the dust off of some of those bottles in my cabinet by making this the summer of tiki.

Somewhere out there, there's a thief kicking himself in the rear end because he was sure that was the meat truck.

Speaking as a person who, as you already know, is not a big fan of the raisin... never apologize for your raisins!

Thanks! That's exactly the information I was looking (and hoping) for. For the small volume I'm going to do, if I haven't used it by 8 months, I deserve to have it go bad.

Most of the banana liqueur recipes I've seen that broach the subject at all are recommending storing it in the fridge and/or using it within 2 months. If I keep the alcohol content somewhere in the 35% - 40% range is there any other reason why those recommendations might apply? I'm hoping to be able to do unrefrigerated and a longer shelf life than 2 months. I'm thinking the W&N 63% allows me plenty of room to get the desired sweetness level while still keeping the alcohol content in the range I mentioned.

I haven't tried the overnight oats thing but I do have some experience with ground flax seeds. I'm picturing one gummy bowl of oats after the ground flax spends a night in a container of milk.

Thanks! I have the Wray & Nephew and the Smith & Cross. I also have a bottle of Lemon Hart 151. The reason I only asked about the W&N is because it is semi-easy for me to replace when it runs out. The S&C is easier to get than when I initially got it now that the LCBO is doing the online ordering thing so that's an option for this project I hadn't considered. The Lemon Hart involved some risky business and trusting someone I didn't know at all from the Tiki Central forums to acquire (at that time they couldn't get S&C in their province so we did a swap) and may very well be irreplaceable unless the LCBO picks it up someday. So I'm not willing to use it for something like this. I'm not often willing to use it at all.

I'm going to take a stab at making my own banana liqueur. The LCBO carries two, one of the low end candy-in-a-bottle variety and one that has good reviews online but is expensive (~$48 bottle) and for some strange reason, they only sell it in cases of six bottles. I'm not sure I'm willing to spend $48 on crème de banane, I'm definitely not willing to spend close to $300 on it. So I perused some recipes that turned up via google and settled on going basic. I just want banana, no spices or supporting cast members. So I'm going to soak sliced ripe bananas in rum for a few days, strain it, add sugar syrup and call it done. My question is, should I use one of my 80 proof rums or the Wray & Nephew overproof? I know the recommendation is generally to use higher proof spirits for projects like this, just wondering if the W&N funkiness will work with the banana.

As much as I love peanut butter, it'd be tough to pick the cake over lemon curd and, I'm guessing, shortbread.

I've never tried scrapple but I'm a fan of goetta. I was going to ask if they're similar but the above leads me to believe they are not. There's no organ meats in the goetta I make.

Hopefully Kerry Beal will see this in time for it to help you. I think she does that sort of thing fairly often so I'm sure she has tons of ideas.

Me too.

I'm posting again because I don't want anybody else reading this thread to be steered away from Qualifirst based on what I posted above. As it turns out, I overlooked that one of the items in my cart required refrigerated shipping and that was the reason for the high shipping cost. I noticed the little notification on a return trip to my shopping cart and removed that item. Shipping options then became available that lowered the shipping cost by almost 2/3 from the original quote. So my passion fruit puree is on the way. Thanks again Kerry for offering to help but this one was my mistake.

While true that it probably should taste the way you want it to, I was leaning more towards wanting to know how it would be expected to taste to the people who created all of those tiki drinks that use it. I've always just used what I make and not thought about how close it is (or isn't) to what it should be but recently I've started wondering if it actually tastes like what the people who created the drinks intended. Velvet Falernum isn't an option from the LCBO but I've read others tasting notes on it and based on that, I think mine may be a little lacking in the lime and almond departments. Maybe I'll order a bottle of the BG Reynolds just to have something to compare to.

And because where I live always seems to be just slightly behind what's happening everywhere else... this weeks grocery store flyer is advertising "whole beef brisket" for what is a good price for here.

One of my life goals has always been to someday be a grouchy old fart. There are a few who might argue that I've already accomplished that goal...

Opened a bottle of falernum I made just over a year ago. I finish my homemade falernum and allspice dram with a higher alcohol content than standard just to be safe with the shelf life thing. Very possibly unnecessary, I'm not an expert, but it's what I do. There was a lot of sediment at the bottom of the bottle so I siphoned everything out of the bottle down to just above the sediment and re-bottled. The aging seems to have done some good things and some possibly less good things. It's lost it's rough edges, it's silky smooth. But the lime has faded to the background, comes in more behind the spice than forward on the sip. And the almond has become more of a vague nuttiness. I've never tasted a commercial falernum and this is the first time I've made a large enough amount in one batch that I could keep some around for a while. When I use it fresh fairly soon after making it, the lime is more up front but the spice is much more harsh. I actually like this aged stuff better but I'm not sure if it will do what falernum is supposed to do in drinks that call for it with the subtle lime. I guess my question is... what exactly should my falernum taste like?