haresfur

I sent the link in to Gin Hound because it is late on the 17th my time but you can still probably squeak an entry in if you desire.

I'd have to give this at least an 8.5 for 'wank'.

Ok cherries. Certainly gets me out of a rut since I don't have any kirsch or Heering in the stash. But I do have some cherry liqueur made by a Polish friend of mine who makes some really great sweet sips (his green walnut is excellent). And it has been gathering a bit of dust. But I didn't have much of an idea what to do with it so I pulled the Savoy Cocktail Book of the shelf and started browsing. I got as far as the Fernet Cocktail and thought that cherry might be an interesting sub for the vermouth. I mixed a small one up and thought that the cherry got lost so I added a bit more which was not an improvement. So tonight I mixed it up without the cherry and, yes, it needed something. So back to the original proportions. The verdict? Medicinal. But not in a bad way. Fernet Cocktail variation 1 oz gin (Beefeater) 1/2 oz Fernet 1/2 oz Cherry liqueur I built it over ice with a fat lemon twist.

If your temperature was high enough for pasteurization then you should be fine.

In the interests of internet harmony, I'll just agree that a gooey centre is vital.

Having fun is what it's about. If you like the drink, that's good enough; if you don't like it then blog about that. I'm sure people here cringe at some of my drinks.

eG has not been keeping up very well on participation in Mixology Monday, the online cocktail party. Maybe we can get something going this time, although it will be a challenge for me since I don't tend to do cherries much. June’s Mixology Monday's host is Andrea of the Gin Hound blog. Post your entries here and we will send the link along by the deadline. This month’s theme slated for June 17th is perfect for what is beginning to ripen on the tree in some parts of the world, for it is “Cherries” which Andrea describes rather well in her announcement post. Here’s a brief description: Singapore Gin Sling, Blood and Sand, and the Aviation wouldn’t be the same without them… But cherries in cocktails are also horribly abused, few things taste worse than artificial cherry aroma, and the description of how most maraschino cherries are made can make you sick to your stomach. So it’s my pleasure as the host of Mixology Monday… to challenge you to honor the humble cherry. However you choose to do that, is entirely up to you. You could use Maraschino Liqueur, Cherry Heering, Kirchwasser, Belgian Kriek Beer, cherry wine, or any spectacular infusions invented by you in a cocktail. Or make your own maraschino cherries for a spectacular garnish. So whether you want to go fresh via the supermarket, farmer’s market, or your own orchard for a muddled, syrup, or infusion approach, or go with something off of a liquor shelf, it’s time to start looking around for inspiration! Even canned, dried, or frozen cherries will work here as well — plenty of ways to play with this theme! Briefly, here’s how to participate: Find a drink recipe or create one featuring one or more cherry-based ingredients in some form. Make the drink and post a photo, the recipe, and your tasting notes and commentary to your blog, website, or Tumblr. If you lack one of those, use eGullet’s Spirits and Cocktails forum. Include in your post the MxMo logo and a link back to both the Mixology Monday and Gin Hound sites. Once the roundup post is put up, updating your post to include a link to that one as well would be appreciated. Let Andrea know about your post before 11:59pm on Monday, June 17th by posting a link to your post in the comment section on her announcement post, by shooting her an email at andreadoria56 (at) gmail (dot) com, or by tweeting her at @Husejer.This gives you two weeks to scope out which neighbors’ cherry tree limbs cross property lines into public access space (yes, I support gleaning) or dust off that bottle of Cherry Heering that hasn’t been used since you made that Remember the Maine last fall. And muddling fresh or preserved Marasca cherries has been a great way to integrate flavors rather quickly. With all these options, I’m excited to see what will pour out of your collective Boston shakers!

Let us know how it turns out. Cheers!

Great idea on the twine. I'll use that when I pressure cook chicken for soup or chili. I don't have a SV big enough for a whole chicken. Do you think pressure cooking or SV off the bone would work ok?

Pressure cooker cauliflower leek soup, very loosely based on the MCAH vichyssoise. Rather than SV leek juice, I do them in the PC at the same time as the cauliflower (I've tried potato but I liked the cauliflower better). Quarter the leeks lengthwise and trim to fit in the bottom of the PC and cover with water. Put coarse pieces of cauli on a steamer tray above the leeks. Cook 12 minutes on high pressure and crash-cool. Put the cauliflower in a blender. Fish the leek out of water and mash through a strainer, catching the liquid. Discard the solids. Add the leek juice to the cauliflower, salt & white pepper to taste and puree. Add the rest of the water as needed to thin to where you like it. Serve, garnished with parsley and freshly grated nutmeg. A lot easier than mucking around with the sous vide.

I realised that the Miquelon punch I just posted in the drinks topic was well on its way to being a Sazerac. So I decided to try a Saz, first muddling lemon peel with sugar to jack up the oils a little. Muddle a decent size piece of lemon peel with 1/2 tsp fine sugar 4 dashes Peychaud's and 1/2 tsp water and muddle some more 3/4 oz Rittenhouse 100 1 1/4 oz VSOP congnac stir with ice and strain into iced glasses rinsed with absinthe. I found the rye really walked over the cognac, even though I cut it down to less than half. Perhaps I had too much absinthe but I much preferred the cognac only, no bitters, no absinthe version.

A single serving in the spirit of ti' punch. Named after a French island of the east coast of Canada with a long and noble tradition of smuggling liquor. Miquelon punch Muddle a ~4 cm piece of lemon peel and 1/2 tsp of fine sugar in the bottom of a rocks glass Add 1 tsp water and stir to dissolve Add 1 1/2 oz VSOP Cognac

Oh and the other thing the SV step does is to take a level skill out of crisping up the breading. I know the chicken is done so I don't need to worry about that. Most butchers here sell pre-breaded schnitzel but I think you miss something without the egg and the sage in the SV.

It seems to me that the SV gives me a less done chicken and a softer texture. I suppose it depends on how thin you pound it. Next time I'll do a side-by-side comparison. The oil is mainly to help get the air out of the bag with water displacement. I think it might help the herbs flavour the meat, too. Thanks, another thing to research.

Oh I totally agree. I love a good chicken parma and with our lack of a national dish it's much more deserving than a silly pie dropped in a bowl of soup. Although I'd suggest that chicken parmas are slightly more prevalent in the southern states. I make them a lot and it's a good way of using up leftover pasta sauce. I don't worry too much about the ham as I don't think it adds much overall, but it is useful to stop the sauce from making the chicken soggy. Half the point of crumbing and frying the chicken is to add texture, and if you dump the tomato sauce straight on the chicken it tends to go soggy. So if nothing else, a slice of ham can prevent that and help keep the chicken crispy... I don't have a favourite cheese, but while you want a cheese with flavour I always like to add a bit of mozzarella too to get some stretch. I generally use a mix of parmesan (or grana padano) and mozzarella simply because they're the two cheeses we always have in the fridge. But I wouldn't say no to gruyere or jarlsberg, which would also go well. And I always add a smear of basil pesto on the top as well - that's the one variation I always make. Yum! Looks great. I'll have to try mixing cheeses. The pesto looks interesting and worth a try next summer when I have some basil.

Chicken parma could be the Australian national dish - available at pretty much every Hotel bar and of widely varying quality. One of the travel shows makes a point of grading the parma in each town they visit (Bendigo's Shamrock Hotel rated highly and I agree). Comfort food, and I decided to try my hand, not that I'm a great cook but I'm having fun. So here is where I'm at. Comments and suggestions are welcome and feel free to play along & post your parma. First starting with some free range chicken breasts from Costco. Slick down the middle to make a nice relatively flat heart shape: Cover top and bottom with plastic wrap and pound flatter with the bottom of a fry pan. EMP saw a talk show where Lady Gaga did a cooking demo using this method so in our house it is called, "going all Gaga on its ass." Put in zip lock bags with herb sprigs and some olive oil. I usually use sage but I had a lot of oregano so I used both. French tarragon is nice for other dishes but doesn't suit me here. Into the sous vide at 58 C for at least 30 minutes or until you are ready. You could probably use a temperature anywhere down to 55 C if you want but 58 seems good so far. Now, the photos get sparse but here are some more ingredients. I confess to cheating on the tomato sauce and using a jar of organic sauce from Aldi suplemented with a can of crushed tomatoes, some more fresh oregano, and a bit of Shiraz made by a coworker. Make bread crumbs. I really like this blender. Even soft bread feeds through the blades well. Take the chicken out of the sous vide and dry with paper towel then bread. This is a step where I've had some trouble - flour with salt and pepper, beaten egg, then bread crumbs to coat. Getting the egg and bread to stick has been a problem. This time I tried 'gravy flour' and that seemed to help some as did making sure the chicken was dried off thoroughly. Into the fry pan at as hot a temperature as my poor gas range can get to for about a minute per side until crisp and golden. Hot tomato sauce on top, then grated mozzarella, then cured ham product of your choice. Under the broiler until the cheese is melted and just turning brown. Garnish with fried sage leaves and, what the heck fried oregano. Did I mention I have a lot of oregano? Hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did making and eating it!

An exercise in design so measurements aren't dialed in. 2 oz reposado tequila 1 oz Stones ginger wine 1/2 small lime a little Murray River pink salt shake strain. and a late addition of a small splash maybe 1/4 tsp pimento dram. The dram made all the difference.

We have a discussion on Australian fish here. But I agree it is all about freshness and how well it is cooked. We usually get butterfish, flounder, and maybe hake these days. Whiting and flathead are nice if we can get them. On the other side of the world I have a fondness for halibut and plaice. For freshwater N. American fish you can't beat pickerel/walleye.

Thanks for this. I was thinking it was time to use up my Bulleit and Aperol. It's quite nice but we thought it needed something. I added a splash of Averna (somewhere between 1/4 - 1/2 oz). I don't think it made it too sweet given the 2 oz of rye and it added another dimension. It would be interesting to see what another amaro does.

Sounds like it will be worth checking out.

I think the majority of cocktails everywhere tend to be on the sweet side. Of course that applies to a lot of the early recipes, too. Luckily I'm not as anti-sweet as some people, although there is a line between rich and gag. I don't tend to go out for cocktails here given the driving laws, the prices, and the unlikelihood of finding quality. Although there is a place in Bendigo that sounds promising.

Glissant on the Beach?

Anzac day is tomorrow so I made Anzac biscuits while sipping on: 20 ml Inner Circle Rum (I used red but feel free to go with green) 20 ml brandy 10 ml coffee liqueur (I used Tia Maria) 3 dashes orange bitters (Scrappy's) Stir with ice and strain or build over ice. Garnish with a lemon peel (or a lime peel if you are going symbolic regarding the British Empire) Sticking with the theme I suppose this is called an Anzac cocktail. Tomorrow morning it will be Bundaburg rum in instant coffee after the dawn service.

I brew on occasion. I don't drink enough beer to get really good at it though Cleanliness is the key to brewing beer. Although you can brew in plastic, it is easier to keep glass clean IMO. A porter can cover a multitude of sins (this is true of brew pubs, too). But my number one tip for brewing is for bottling time: Set up your bottling bucket on the counter over the dish washer if you have one. Open the door and put your bottles on it as you fill them. Catch all the spills on the door and clean-up is no worries.

Get the Luxardo - it's the standard. You can always try the less expensive one once you know what you are aiming for. For rye I'd be happy to get Rittenhouse 100 proof for that price. You could also look for Wild Turkey rye - preferably 101. The higher proof spirits will give you more control over dilution.