Tri2Cook

Just spotted a drink at Cocktail Virgin Slut that I want to try. I'm a big fan of the Eeyore's Requiem so a drink called Winnie the Pooh easily caught my attention. They look to be almost identical with the Pooh replacing Eeyore's gin with rum and going a little lighter on the Campari and Fernet Branca and heavier on the orange bitters. My question is, I don't have Banks 5 Island rum and don't know anything about it, so what would be a good substitute? The only white rums I have are Wray & Nephew overproof and Havana Club anejo blanco. I have a fairly decent selection of non-whites if one of those would work better.

Yeah, I wouldn't consider anything I say on this subject scientific information anyway. Molded chocolates and their fillings is not something I'm well-versed in or do often. I know a true butter ganache has a much higher percentage of butter involved but this had a lot more butter than most ganaches I tend to work with for what I do so I went with it.

I found a paper copy of the recipe in one of my kitchen notebooks that has notes I added. I did indeed treat it like a butter ganache. I'm thinking it probably seemed to me at the time like it was a large enough proportion of butter going in that that would be the right thing to do. According to my notes, I cooled it to around 40 C before adding the butter. I didn't add the Grand Marnier at all (or infuse the cream with orange). It's entirely possible I was just lucky it even worked... but it did.

Hmmm. Not sure what the issue would be. It's been quite a while since I did it but I keep thinking I may have cooled the chocolate mixture before adding in the butter. It doesn't say to do that in the recipe but I seem to recall thinking at the time that that was standard procedure for a butter ganache and assuming I should. But it's entirely possible I'm thinking of something else. I don't remember having any issues with it being grainy. I'm looking at the recipe file right now and I didn't add any notes, which I usually do when I make changes to something.

Sounds like something I'd drink.

It does look decidedly un-raspberry like... probably still gonna be tasty though.

Me too. My freezer organization system involves opening the door and saying "Huh... wonder how long that's been in there?" Or sometimes the even more scary "Huh... wonder what that is?" It's odd to me that my organization skills with my home freezer are the complete opposite of what I do at work. So to tie in with the subject at hand... I will never again publicly admit that I have no real idea as to what's going on in my home freezer.

I love oatmeal. I also love grits, cream of wheat, malt-o-meal and... well, you get the point. I like hot cereals. They were breakfast on probably at least 90% of mornings through most of my childhood (much cheaper to feed 5 kids with that than with Fruit Loops and the like) and I should probably be sick of them all. But I'm not, I still enjoy them. I've done baked oatmeal. Ends up being sort of a really good granola bar which I then turn into granola by breaking it up and pouring milk over it.

I'm not a good proof-reader or I would have volunteered. When I read, I tend to correct things and fill in information I think should be there in my head without even realizing I did it. So I frequently don't even notice the things people want me to notice when proof-reading because they just fix themselves at the input area before they ever reach the processing department.

Orange Caramel Mousse Ganache Boil: 250 gr cream 35% 10 gr orange zest Strain, re-weigh, then add: 45 gr sorbitol powder 1 gr fleur de sel Heat to 60 degrees Celsius Dry caramel using: 155 gr sugar Deglaze caramel with cream, boil and pour over: 125 gr cacao Barry Guayaquil 64% 250 gr Cacao Barry Ghana 41% Blend, then add: 150 gr butter 83% 20 gr Grand Marnier Cool to 14-17 degrees Celsius, whip to a mousse-like consistency.

Very nice. That was a close one though... you almost just called it a lemon tart.

If it helps at all, compared to the general selection here, a shopping trip to the grocery section of a decent Walmart supercenter would be an upscale adventure. I will concede that the new owners of the only local store have improved the selection a bit... but it came with a price. Literally.

I'd change "may have been" to "most likely were"... and it worries me not at all. I'm not saying I specifically want someone with bad hygiene practices touching my food or drink but I know it happens and the only way I can be sure it doesn't is to never eat anything I didn't prepare myself. So I choose not to worry about it. I figure it's probably no more risky than when I eat fruits and berries right off the plants while out foraging.

RIP indeed. I tried creating my own drink using that name after I heard the news... but I suck a creating drinks and gave up on it. Is that your creation?

I don't know if it qualifies as strange behavior or not but it's strange to me the sense of entitlement a lot of people, even people who normally are not that sort. get the moment they walk into a restaurant. I'm not talking about the justified expectations that come with spending their money on a meal, I mean the over-the-top idea that it's okay to behave and treat staff in any manner they want. And this isn't a complaint session, I'm genuinely interested in what happens when walking through restaurant doors that doesn't happen anywhere else people spend their money.

I can't recall all of the places it's been mentioned... but it's definitely been mentioned. It's a personal favorite and I haven't had one in quite a while. Maybe I should remedy that soon.

It does kinda have that just-plopped-out-of-the-can Fancy Feast thing going on...

Screw that... I don't get down on my hands and knees and scrub the floor because a mop is cheating.

Perfect! And that reminds me, I still haven't done my every-winter attempt (and thus-far, failure) at recreating my mom's beef vegetable soup. I suspect I'll never succeed with that one... if for no other reason than because mom didn't make it.

She didn't mention it, they suggested it as a good method for dealing with that cut of meat. A long low and slow in the smoker makes a nice Chucky too. But a long day in the slow cooker on low usually does a nice job with them so I'm in the "probably needed to go longer" camp until she tells us she did go longer.

Is Banh Mi still Banh Mi without the pate? Because I've never eaten Banh Mi and would like to remedy that but anything involving liver isn't going to happen with me. For those tempted to tell me I can't really taste the liver among all those other flavors, I can almost guarantee you that I can. It's one of my very few food kryptonites and I've never found a form that could sneak by my taste buds.

Pizza is never mundane. Even bad pizza is edible and that definitely doesn't sound like bad pizza.

So the New Year's Eve plan is meatballs in tomato sauce in the crockpot. The kid requested spag and meatballs which I don't really want for myself. She can have that and later, while watching Bama win (hopefully) the Cotton Bowl, I can multi-purpose them. I grabbed some nice little rolls that should work well for meatball sliders. For New Year's Day, I have a nice chunk of ham left from a couple days ago that's going to become part of a pot of split pea with ham soup. I can get that going early before the games start and not worry about it. Later in the day, during a halftime break, I'm going to toss the stuff in the bread machine for a loaf of bread and call it dinner. If anybody requires more than that, they'll have to cook it.

Congrats on the 16th anniversary! New Year's Eve, I'll be watching the Orange and Cotton Bowls. I haven't finalized what the food will be but it will be something I can do ahead that won't require interrupting watching the games. New Year's Day will be filled with the rest of the upper-tier bowl games and Saturday will be the remaining bowls. So basically the couch and I will be spending a lot of time together. There will be nothing fancy, fussy or a la minute in the food plans this weekend. Probably won't even be a meal New Year's Eve, just snacky stuff.

I like that you're including the substitutions. It's one of the features of your book that I'm excited about because I doubt I could forage much where I live that you can forage where you live. I'll definitely be trying that cake. I started looking at olives in a different light after making Sam Mason's kalamata cobbler with almond ice cream many years ago. I went into that one extremely skeptical and was pleasantly surprised that they could work so well as a major component in a sweet setting.