haresfur

Another way to go would be to use ginger-infused vodka and simple. That way you could adjust the ginger intensity and the sweetness separately. When I infused vodka I used candied ginger so it had some sweetness. If you keep it in the freezer the ginger hotness seems to stay for quite a while (and the left over candied ginger is great when put on halibut and baked).

Looks tasty! When I was working in N.S. for a couple of months many years ago the local Conservation Officer told us about catching a couple of 70 year old guys with 2 does out of season. They pleaded with him to just take the deer and not arrest them. "I'm not going to take your deer. You dress them and I'll take half of one." So maybe you are in the wrong job. But the locals said he was made C.O. because he could hold his own when someone picked a fight at the dances and because it got rid of the worst poacher!

I've never tried Canton. Stone's is godawful sweet - I think I read that it has a currant wine base. Can't see drinking it straight. Maybe ginger simple syrup would work. The lemon not only balances the sweetness but brings out the ginger bite. I like the ginger wine, not only for its taste, but for it's British Empire cachet and because it's inexpensive. Must be taxed as wine, not spirits (a bottle of Jim Beam white will run you around $35 here - gag!). So I'm taking it as a challenge to make interesting drinks with simpler ingredients. I'll leave the multiple layers of obscure bottlings to the professionals like bostonapothecary (although I'm a 2 hour train ride from a good bar).

On a ginger wine kick recently. So here's a take off on a sidecar. I couldn't think of any clever name relating ginger to motor cycles so I decided to name it after an indie band I like. Maybe they will google themselves and discover this! Ginger Envelope 1 1/2 oz Brandy 1 1/2 oz Stone's Ginger Wine 1/2 oz lemon Shake, strain, lemon twist tossed in. I had a bit of a hard time balancing this one. I'm more used to lime with ginger but with some experimenting I think I got it. Of course your citrus may vary. Enjoy!

Ah, there's the rub. When does that huge tin of oil go from being slightly rancid but tasting good to past it's shelf life? I don't know, but perhaps it's better to start on the overly "fresh" side and not go bad. Remember the trained testers (and the chemical analyses) are not determining whether an oil "tastes good" - they are identifying specific flavours that indicate certain properties of the oil. I'm not willing to assume that the Cooks Illustrated panel represents the tastes of the general public or my tastes. And bitter is pesky - I think we tend to taste bitter and think "bad" as an immediate response but once it sinks in it can add a satisfying depth as most cocktail lovers know. And maybe some of the other off tastes or missing good tastes of the lower grade oils are not picked up conciously by the less trained panel. Another factor is the potential health benefits of unsaturated fats. For that reason, I would rather my oil not be rancid. Your point is well taken that EVOO is not necessarily better tasting or a good value. It's a flaw in taking differences and turning them into rankings. Maybe a good analogy is maple syrup where many people prefer the grade B over grade A.

Aside from the obvious dishonesty of adulterated oils, I wonder about the oxidation. Is the issue of oxidation one of transport? Then it might be that the production is ok but the companies need to figure out better ways to ship halfway around the world. Or perhaps this is a case where locovorism is a good idea. As far as the taste question goes, I'm far from an expert but the oxidation could cause a number of different changes, positive or negative and even rancid yak butter has its place. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, though, I'll go for fresh and fragrant.

Perhaps, using spearmint as usual in the drink and garnishing with a big, spanked bunch of a different kind or different herb would be the way to go. Seems to me the julep is more about the smell anyway. Don't forget to trim the straw so the drinker has to get their nose right down in the garnish.

To label this cheese tasty is an absolute travesty. I think they missed the "Not" And that's why I buy 'extra tasty'! lol! This could turn into a living in Australia thread. Mostly it's not the things I can't get but the cost of the food I covet. But stuff I miss includes year round limes, reduced fat Oreos (so shoot me - I like them better), Swiss Miss fake-hot-chocolate (gee I'm really sounding like a boor), Triscuits, Goldfish, whole wheat tortillas, decent decaf coffee except from the Victoria Market in Melbourne, those red tins of sweet paprika (and the yellow tins of hot paprika I've only found in Pennsylvania), decent Swiss cheese (but I have found goat cheese), Tilamook cheese in general but especially monty-jack, blue corn tortilla chips (oh how I miss those!), wild salmon, and decent tasting orange juice. I'm sure I'll think of more. eta: ok, the junk food doesn't count as ingredients, sorry.

6 bottles of clean-skin South Australian Shiraz-Cabernet from Aldi for $9.99. Quite drinkable IMO. Have to wonder, what is going to happen to an industry with such an overabundance of riches. But for now, I'm happy to gloat

I was going to suggest we make a group effort to get some key "consensus" cocktails with perhaps some variations into recipie Gullet. But I think it would need considerable rework to be useful as a general resource where you could browse by spirit type or search effectively. There are some awesome recipies in "what are you drinking" but really hard to find. Could we pin a moderated "best of eGdrinks" thread? If nothing else, it could lead to some enlightening discussion on what works for different people.

One of my families greatest camping meals and stories: It was near dusk and time to look for a camp ground as my father drove along somewhere in North America. A pheasant flushed in front of the car and smacked the windshield with a thud that made everyone jump. My father stopped the car to investigate and found two dead pheasants on the road. He grabbed the warm one. I have no idea how he knew how to dress a bird - he wasn't a hunter but he managed, fried it up, and added it to the night's spaghetti sauce. A vast improvement.

I just had some whiting this week - it was quite nice but I'm not sure it was significantly better than other choices - hard to say when ordering for one. But the fillet seemed to be approximately the right shape and they charged $2.50 more. Still haven't seen any flathead. BTW, what's the deal with "minimum chips"? I usually order $1.00 chips which is less than "minimum". The amount I get for the dollar is pretty variable but usually enough.

Just had some Roquefort and Caramelized Onion chips from Aldi. The taste reminded me of used sweat-socks. The sea salt and lemon are better. Still, my bench mark for a bad potato chip/crisp idea is steak and kidney pie. Well that and what passes for Bar-B-Que. But having grown up with BBQ chips, they hold a strange appeal in spite of the lack of authentic flavour.

One of the great things about my current job is Friday beer club in the break room. Beer is rated 1 to 10 by each member on taste (high is good) and wank (or presentation with high being excessively wanky labeling - e.g. Budwiser ranks about 10 on wank factor). Australians are about a decade behind the Pacific Northwest in beer quality IMO but there are some gems. By coincidence the last two have been from Mildura brewery. I brought Mildura Storm cloudy ale (a bit wanky name for a less filtered beer). I quite liked the hop profile and was amused to find out it is basically their recreation of a PNW microbrew. Then we had their Mallee Bull - a malty brew but quite decent. I'm going to check out their brew pub next week.

Well, next year they will be 5! I was just thinking I'd never again make pizza from scratch in a poorly equipped church kitchen with a bunch of teenagers, but yours is worse.

Maybe you could build off of Gary Regan's categories in Joy of Mixology. They might not cover everything you want but they would be a good start. Can you add other fields for different attributes? So for example, you could have a field "Approachability" with values "Gateway", "Intermediate", "Challenging". Then you could find for example Challenging highballs or whatever. I haven't looked at the Google product, but the ability to query multiple fields is pretty fundamental in databases.

I guess I'm out of sync with the majority of you, but here's another warm drink report: I tried this with "Keeper's Glove" Australian tawny port (yes I bought it because I liked the name) and found the pomegranate molasses made it taste like Concord grape juice to me. I was a bit shy on the lemon so I think some more of that and topping up the mason jar with port will help. I'm thinking that it might be better to add fresh lemon when mixing the drink. I've also been heating in the microwave rather than on the stove top. Much more efficient for a single serving. But when I added some Inner Circle rum (red) to the drink it was awesome. I'd say maybe rum:mixture of about 1:8 should do. I could see some mulling spices might be nice, too. With the Inner Circle and port, I think it would be fair to declare this an Aussie Cocktail.

Hmm, I'd order fish and chips at Red Robin again. I don't know their geographic distribution, though.

Victoria just launched a web page on sustainable seafood. The brochures even include recipes.

We are into winter here but I can't complain about the rain. But we needed something to hold off the chill. Sort of a take off on a whisky mac: 1 1/2 oz bourbon (because I don't have any scotch) 2 oz Stone's green ginger wine dash of green chartreuse 1 very thin slice lemon put in a good hand-thrown ceramic mug and heat in microwave for about 40 sec. Add 2 1/2 oz boiling water Maybe a lemon twist on top. Preferably serve in front of a wood fire.

Maybe this is just for the cash flow and in a few years they will release product that is aged longer. The trouble is the risk of getting written off because the young stuff isn't up to standard.

So could a competitor sue them for unfair trade practices for dumping? Or does that only apply to international trade?

Thanks for the information on the sustainability status of the different species - although I have yet to be able to connect to fishbase. It is a bit disheartening - species seem to move from extraneous to dinner to endangered with frightening speed. The ever-morphing names are confusing but I guess I can understand from the marketing perspective and because of the difference between scientific taxonomy and common observations. I'm sure I'll have to refer back to this topic and to wikipedia before I sort it all out. Now to find some platycephalus...

I didn't know flake was shark. Thanks, Nick. I'm F.O.B. from the Eastern Washington State US, but I grew up in central Canada, where saltwater fish was often better avoided. Maybe there was good cod, but I can't remember it. There was some good halibut & chips in Washington, but often it was frozen prepared product. I do like haddock. Yes, waiting for your fish is fine by me. I remember being unimpressed in England. I'll have to do a research trip to New Zealand, soon. I haven't seen flathead unless it goes by another name in Victoria. Monkfish sounds great. When it comes to chips, I'm a boor, though. I prefer the overly crisp ones that don't taste like potato. My main problem is to remember to ask them not to put on too much salt.

I'm just starting to learn about southern hemisphere fish but am enjoying the availability of fish & chips made from something that isn't a generic frozen lump. I have enjoyed Trevalla and just tried flounder, which isn't something I usually think of for deep frying. Quite nice. What are your favourites and why?