salsa72

I have the New Yorker in front of me-- I'm curious which quote by Mr. Breaux, exactly, is considered to be revealing of a deeper issue? He made no definitive statements about toxicity, as far as I can tell-- page and paragraph, please? Marie Claude Delahaye, while a historian and the author of some very good books, is not an absinthe drinker nor a chemist. She quoted old estimates which had not been confirmed, and she made no claims that she confirmed the figures. The same goes for Mr. Conrad-- he quoted figures, and was clear on the numbers being estimated and old-- it was a point of interest, and he made no claim of having new analysis. Matthew Baggott similarly made claims based on old estimates. It appears that these "authoritative sources" are historians and authors, not chemists. Their claims of thujone content in absinthe are based on old estimates which are inconsistent with modern chemical analysis. Vague estimates quoted over ten years ago don't negate data from recent tests. As for what I want: Please consider reevaluating your assumptions in light of current empirical studies which indicate thujone levels are and were very low. We've all been following this for a long time, and information has been hard to come by-- enjoy the fact that we know stuff now and that the assumptions you were fed previously were bunk!

Max, thanks for the welcome, just trying to figure out what the real conflict is here. Sorry to group you in with crapsinthe prococateurs, but you're making the same vague, baseless suggestions about the expertise of Messrs. Breaux and Nathan-Maister. I don't have the patience to wade into the Wikipedia debate except to say that it's unproductive to second guess these gentlemen, which is what you seem to be doing. The summary to which you linked is point after point of hot air, absent of substantive criticism of anything as far as I can tell. I am curious about your own background on absinthe, other than having "followed" the topic for, in your opinion, longer than some others. No need for a pissing contest-- we're all on the same side here: absinthe is back, it's real, and there's a lot of mythology to clear up. I'm not arguing with you-- I can't find anything to argue with-- but I take exception to your vague attempts to discredit the most qualified experts.

FWIW I'd like to weigh in on the issue of "spin" wrt absinthe information. The only spin going on is by Eastern European makers of "absinth" and "absynthe" which are not historically accurate absinthe no matter how you slice it. To accuse experts of bias because they have business interests in absinthe is ludicrous-- their dedication and hard work through "the dark ages" have been critical given that the goal of "crapsinthe" producers has always been to redefine (read: "ambiguate") the term absinthe. I consider semantics important, and I have been enthralled enough by /real/ absinthe to want to defend it. This is similar in my mind to chocolate lovers fighting not to dilute the FDA's definition of chocolate. There has been no waffling or contradiction by absinthe experts, only pointless debate baited by crapsinthe makers and distributors to attempt to legitimize their (hopefully collapsing) badly flavored vodka business.

As far as circulation goes, I have been doing successful sous vide without a circulator and my water bath tends to measure the same temperature all over. This can be attributed to a number of elements in the system, but overall, there is a convective effect in a non-agitated bath that will tend to equalize the temperature if the heat transfer with the environment is significant but not too variable. Here's a shot of my rig finally mounted in a project box: http://www.flickr.com/photos/salsaviz/2224...57603780796468/ I'd still like to rig up a circulator, if people could suggest more solid (read: metal?!) components than aquarium pumps; I'm a little nervous about temperature issues with a plastic pump... Or, should I not be?

Hardware-wise, I've been using a homemade temperature controller for water baths on electric burners, and after a disaster on Wednesday, I'm about to PID the oven (I'm a renter-- the oven is awful). Not for sous vide, just for decent control (read: SANITY!), but I wonder-- has anybody controlled their oven this way? Seems it would be good for holding a sous vide water bath...

Great thread! Jacques Pepin is _it_ for me-- the best technique with the best explanations. I'd learn something from watching him fill an ice cube tray, I swear... I don't care to watch Chris Kimball on TV in spite of generally enjoying his magazine. It's unnerving how he "presides" over the cooking segments, acting like the boss. Must mention that I saw Rick Bayless doing a Burger King commercial a few year ago and he has been dead to me ever since.

I'm curious about how important agitation is for a home sous vide rig. Seems like used lab water baths are available for not much money, and it doesn't look like they agitate. I'd expect a home rig to be more like a PID-controlled crock pot with an agitator as opposed to a full-on immersion circulator. Or, if induction elements can get cheap enough, are their built-in controllers good enough to maintain a narrow temperature range? Do any pros use lab water baths, or is it always kitchen-specific setups? (edited to add question about induction....)

The law essentially limits thujone content to under ~10mg/l, and it turns out very little thujone makes it through the still, so it's a matter of absinthes qualifying for the "thujone free" designation, which is like "fat free" cooking oil sprays that get to round .49g/serving down to 0. I've heard on the absinthe forums that Lucid and Kubler are avaliable in the Boston area. For brouilleurs, you can order directly from Liqueurs de France: http://www.absintheonline.com/acatalog/Glassware.html Or from La Maison d'Absinthe in New Orleans: http://www.lamaisondabsinthe.com/searchres...x?CategoryID=23 Most (all?) of the absinthe vendor sites offer accessories as well-- linked from my blargh. I'll be posting there re:paraphernalia in the next few days since people will need to get their drip on, so check back or subscribe to the feed since I'll include homemade/hacked options (like, dialing a kitchen faucet to drip and put your glass under it in the sink to watch the louche.... It's an exciting time to be an absinthe fan!

Hey folks, I'm new to the forums but I'm a long-time absinthe drinker and have been blogging about it for two years-- even attended the Festival this year in Val-de-Travers-- check it out for more info and links if you're curious: http://spiritof72.blogspot.com Santé!

The ones I have will not work with the controller. They reset when you interrupt the power. Too bad. ← I did it with a cheapo electric burner and it works great to control a pot with 2qt of water. I'm in the process of "appliancizing" my rig which is currently a tangle of wires. I have a nice case and it's interesting to see this commercial product; still not sure how I'm going to lay out the front and rear panels. $100 seems like a great price for something like this, as long as it can be calibrated for different systems easily. One issue I'm wrangling with is the best thermocouple to use-- any recs would be appreciated. I'm currently using a K-type with a bead head and a nut around it that I can't get off.