haresfur

I'm fascinated by the variety of cordials available in the grocery stores here. So what do people do with lemon-barley cordial and all the others? So far I've used raspberry and black currant in mixed drinks, but are there others I should try? Insights from other parts of the world are welcome, too, of course.

Nir White wine with a splash of black currant cordial.

I won't get into the legalities, and I certainly wouldn't hesitate on using oven cleaner at home if I had to. Lye (sodium hydroxide) and other strong base/caustic/high pH chemicals are IMO more dangerous than acids and particularly dangerous to eyes. Not something to joke around with but safe enough if used properly. You are right to ask questions. When I was using sodium hydroxide in large quantities in an industrial setting the emphasis was on eye and skin protection. On a side note, sodium hydroxide dissolves aluminium.

Well done. How about a sequel on the shit said by the people pouring the tastes?

Too many, but number 1 is Batavia Arrack. And it's made practically next door...

Mangos? Not Victoria.

We could start with eating more seal - Seals blamed for lack of cod recovery. I'm not big on eating game. I very occasionally cook kangaroo but really only have access to the prepacked supermarket brand, which may be why I haven't been too impressed. My partner doesn't really like meat at all, so we mostly stick to chicken and a little red meat. I have no problem with people being vegetarian or vegan - personally I find it too hard work to cook healthy tasty vegetarian food but I'm happy when I do. I generally don't have a problem with people eating game if it is sustainably managed. I have moral objections to eating certain species, though.

I'd like to see the evidence that this is what's really happening and is the major effect, rather than a dual solvent extraction. Especially since the above article shows a difference with different infusion time but no difference with slow vs fast relief of pressure. What's the solubility of CO2 in alcohol?

There's your trouble!

I thought that for a Bacardi cocktail you substituted grenadine for all the simple, that's what I'd do. ...of course I'd substitute Cuban rum for the Bacardi.

Aren't we talking about N2O, not nitrogen? I would guess it's ability to enhance extraction of flavour compounds has more to do with the pressure allowing diffusion in and out of the material and its resonance structure giving favourable polar/non-polar attributes to transfer the compounds to the alcohol/water phase.

Not a Cruzan Blackstrap fan, but Barbancourt 5* is still one of my favourite sips.

Sounds good! I'd try right away if I hadn't just started sipping a Sazarac.

Not the best picture, but note the text at the top of the lid:

KISS. Campari, tonic water, a sliver of lemon.

I'd guess that means the wine is so overboard/dominated by tannins that you might get equal enjoyment if it had been filtered through dirty athletic socks.

Mr. Negroni is agunnah beeah sooooo maddah. Campari sure loves Pineapple. Have you tried The Riviera? (I mess with it, swapping the ratios of Campari (more) and Maraschino (less), and skip the simple and egg white (just add lemon juice)). For some reason, the gin/Campari/Maraschino/Pineapple infusion works better than just mixing with pineapple juice. I love this drink. I'll have to try that. Today's version had a float of Inner Circle Green and a few dashes Fee's Orange bitters. Not bad.

2 oz Campari 2 oz sweet vermouth build over ice top with pineapple juice to taste contemplate the swirling red and yellow colours then drink.

Docklands Costco 2 weeks before Christmas isn't to be recommended but I braved the crowds. Mostly bought North American supplies like maple syrup, pumpkin pie, salsa, craisins. I bought some Yarra Valley goat cheese for the partner. I'm not much for goat cheese but I think this is pretty nice and goes well with the pumpkin ravioli I picked up.

My initial impression was the 28 was nicer but the 33 grew on me. Maybe a little more going on with the flavour. Thanks to Chris for a great evening. I'm a whisky novice compared to him. The Calvados was very nice, too. Maybe Chris remembers what it was. I clearly lean toward the Speysides. Don't quite get the attraction of Islays yet, although they went well with the ribs. Sort of like cultivating a taste for smoke-tainted wine. ETA: Calvados

I was brought up with fi-lay (steak) and fillet (fish or verb). But mostly I think many people take this stuff way too seriously - not that it's bad to know how words are pronounced in their county of origin.

I'm envious of your Ramazzotti!

Gets my vote, too. Use an espresso roast to get something resembling a flat black.

Did they add crushed ice to the rose or did they partially freeze it?

I just made my first risotto (thanks for the help eG!) and I think it was as good or better than any I have had in restaurants. I found the traditional method gave me control over the result. I used a large skillet (ok maybe that's not traditional) and a flat edged wood spatula so it was easy to mix. Adding the broth as I went along meant that I knew how fast it was getting absorbed as I got to the critical end point where you want to have the right thickness when the rice is just cooked. I started tasting at 15 min and stopped when I liked what I had. I can see how parboiling the rice could work but advance preparation wasn't an issue for me. Maybe I could have saved some stirring up front but I can see how there might be temptation to beat the crap out of the rice at the end to get the creaminess. A pressure cooker might work fine, but it seems to me that there would be some work to get the timing and the water content just right for a given type of rice and recipe. Overall, I think the attraction to the traditional risotto is that it is easy. Heck you don't even have to measure the broth. I have trouble seeing a lot of saving in time and effort in the other methods for the home cook doing a single batch. What's 15 minutes in the grand scheme of things? Maybe a better cook could use that wisely to get another dish out but I would probably only be able to do a little cleaning or get the table set.