haresfur

Bottle of each + friends = taste, learn, have fun ETA: I think Rittenhouse is the benchmark so well worth experiencing a bottle even if you decide you prefer something else.

Dark and Stormy (unless the Goslings lawyers are around) Dark rum Ginger beer wedge of lime When it gets cold put your Meyers in hot chocolate

I'm with Chris and tend to do this in messing around mode, when it just seems like a drink needs a little something. I think it is fun to experiment with different bitters (potable or non-potable) in martinis, either in addition to, or replacing vermouth.

I might be the resident contrarian but I would skip the vermouth if you are really wanting to keep to 5 bottles total. My reasoning is that an Old fashioned is as manly as a Manhattan and a Campari and soda is much more manly than an Americano. I would also start with bourbon and graduate from there to rye or scotch. I would also chose a good reposado tequila over mezcal but that's just me - I think it is more versatile. Skip vodka - anything it can do, gin can do better Aside from that it depends a lot on what you like. You could go with maraschino to bring in manly funk with sweet for another dimension.or my personal choice would be Fernet Branca. So that would be: Bourbon London Dry Gin Campari Fernet Branca But, what ever you do, think of it as just a start.

I'd like to see someone market a cross-flow filtration system for kitchen use.

A quick report on an experiment I ran this week. I had a nice piece of sirloin steak to SV and thought I would try to cut it up before cooking and searing to increase the ratio of sear to inside (Since the seared layer is so thin with SV). But then I wondered if I would lose more moisture if I did that so I divided the meat in half and left one half whole while the other half was sliced into about 3 cm wide pieces. I weighed both bags then put in the SV at 58 C for 40 min. I then drained the liquid and reweighed. Obviously the meat isn't perfectly uniform, but the cut up part lost 6% of its weight while the whole piece lost just under 3%. So, I think that I would be better off doing the SV on larger pieces of meat and then cutting before searing.

You can redirect your savings.

Seems less objectionable to me than massive towers of food. I guess I don't mind the asymmetry as much as the grossly oversize plates, whether used as an asymmetrical or belly-button canvas. Philosophically, I think that if you are going to go to the trouble to fuss with the plating that much it should say convey something about how to eat the food. A little bit of food on a big plate says, "Better savor this in tiny bites because that's all you get". Smears of sauce around the plate say, "Dab bits of this with the rest of the food to get the right mixture for your taste". A really tiny bit in a spoon or a spot says, "Stuff the whole thing into your mouth at once." And in general fussy plating says, "You didn't really think food should be served hot, did you?"

I believe T-C-L is commonly used. Dan was just emphasising that there are some people even more sugar-phobe than he. I should play with the ratios a bit more but I don't want to lose the orange by dropping the Cointreau too much.

I didn't count so maybe there were as many mussels as shells. I did think it was weird that they fell out because whenever I have cooked mussels they stay pretty firmly attached. That and they appeared undersized for the shells, but as pointed out above, that might be a life-cycle thing that I was unaware of.

I do like a Brave Bull. And, no I don't count water in any of its physical states.

Thanks for the responses. I'm learning something. The mussels were cooked a bit more than I do, but they weren't rubber. I didn't know about the life cycle thing. Perhaps they don't hold on as strongly at that stage. I have been blessed the past few months with a vendor at our farmers market bringing in fresh mussels (they are farmed, afterall) and they have been large with strong attachment to the shell. But this restaurant could well have had their source over in South Australia, given their location. So the seasonality could be quite different. And I'm far from expert on cooking them (although this could be a topic for a different forum). If they hadn't done the shell thing, I probably wouldn't have thought twice. So I don't really have any complaints except it was a bit too spicy for my taste - hides the seafood flavour too much. And I was happy with the service and happy to tip them to be sure they knew that.

So am I out to lunch / was I out of line? I ordered linguine marinara in a nice brew pub that shall remain nameless except to note it is in a small agricultural city and is owned by a well known food personality. The waitress made a nice show of bringing a bowl for the shells and a finger-bowl. The dish came with a pile of mussel shells on top - all of which were empty. Ok, one had an under-size mussel in it, which fell out when I picked it up. So I asked the waitress what gives? She checked with the kitchen and came back to explain that the mussels were cooked in with the rest of the dish and fell out when the shells opened. I thought ??? and suggested that it was a bit silly to pile up the empty shells for me to deal with. And besides I couldn't really see any obvious mussels in the dish. (ok as I ate my way down, I found a few of the small mussels hiding). The head waiter came by and gave the same explanation. I said, "Thanks, no worries". But really? Mussel shells about 5 cm long with 2 cm long mussels that don't stay in their shells because they don't seem to have, well muscles, are outside my experience. Then the cook fishes the shells out of the dish and perches them nicely on top as garnish. Am I missing something? On the plus side, they brought out some more mussels and comped me a pot of beer. And the linguine were cooked absolutely perfectly.

Yes caribou are the same species. I still remember eating delicious reindeer in Sweden when I was a 7 year old. The only time I've eaten 'bou it wasn't so great due to the preparation. It was poached (;-) then fried on a camp stove to ultra-well done. I had nothing to do with it except the eating. I didn't realize there are no wild caribou/reindeer in Sweden although I knew they were raised domestically. Too bad, the sight of a herd moving across the tundra is amazing.

A good time to revisit one of the best Daily Gullet posts (remember them?) ever.

I have this character flaw that when I feel stressed, the last thing I want is a drink. I'll try to do better.

Housemates of mine at Uni had a tradition that the person who got a bay leaf on their plate had to kiss the cook.

The Roundup

One of my father's go-to breakfasts was fried spaghetti. Fry up left over spaghetti until it is starting to get a bit crispy and scramble eggs into it. I often embellish with spices, spring onions, garlic, or what ever else is left over.

My sleazy-easy baby bok choy recipe is to cut them in half lengthwise and place them cut side up in a steamer with hoisin sauce over them. Steam until done. (ducks for cover...)

Haven't tried them but seems to me it would make sense to do it like nocino without sugar, adding other bittering and flavour agents as desired.

I really like the way quinoa turns out in my fuzzy logic rice cooker - fluffy and not soggy.

Modesty doesn't really enter into it here where drinkable cocktails are often $20. Perhaps a useful concept for you is the Japanese 'wabi'. I'm not really a fan of the WikiPedia article since it seems to miss the modest/unassuming/folk-art aspect that I associate with the origins of the idea. I guess I'll have to go back and look at Yanagi's The Unknown Craftsman. I like the term 'honesty' - as in fit for purpose. A $20 cocktail can be honest if it flows from the ambiance of the location while it would be out of place in your joint. Of course it can also be dishonest if it is just a way to sell an expensive drink rather than a way to use special ingredients or PITA preparation to elevate the experience. Even in the absence of inexpensive but obscure ingredients here, I like the idea of trying to bring out the best in whatever is at hand. So far there I have only found a couple of things that weren't worth the effort (and one of them I still have some hope for). ETA: I like a bit of cheese with scallops

I agree that blind tasting is useful but IMO there is quite a difference between 'tasting' a spirit in with a bunch of others and sitting down to enjoy a glass of it. Sometimes something that seemed good in a tasting has disappointed later. But something that is crap in a tasting will usually also disappoint later, although it might mix well.

I'm with Heidi, but don't have much to add except a story. A hippie/gardener I knew a long time ago sold veg at the local farmers market. He didn't even have a table or chair, just put the food out on a blanket and sat on a box with a serene smile. One autumn day, he picked all the little eggplants that weren't going to get big enough and figured he might get something for them. His description of his surprise at the jostling among the Chinese community for these delicacies was priceless.