[Sourcing Liquor in NE]

Is that the same Eric Taylor who used to be at La Laiterie? I wondered where he had gotten off to.

[All About Rye Whiskey (Part 1)]

I'm pretty sure I saw some Old Overholt at Cask on Friday, in addition to the upstart boutiquey ryes.

[Curing and Cooking with Ruhlman & Polcyn's "Charcuterie" (Part 6)]

In addition to what David mentions, there's a potential benefit for when your product is done. Any molds that develop during curing can be easily removed (if desired) by peeling back the casing, rather than by trimming away the exterior of an uncased bresaola.

[Cooking Steak on a Chimney Starter]

Perhaps the pieces of charcoal were actually too big. I imagine most of the heat reaching the steak is being radiated from the coals closest to the steak (i.e., those that are sitting directly on the grate in the chimney starter). If that's the case, you'd want to break up those large lumps and pack the chimney starter nice and tight.

Might surface area of the coals be another reason that smaller is better? It seems that coals would initially be lit primarily on their surfaces, and small coals have a greater surface area to volume ratio than do larger ones.

edit: surface area

[Small Producer Light Rum Choices]

How small is a small producer? And what style of rum? Flor de Caña, El Dorado, and Barbancourt all make quality white rums commonly priced under $20. They are very different from one another, and are produced in greater quantities than a typical craft distillery (but much smaller than Bacardi et al).

[United Sandwiches of America]

I probably eat at least 4-5 a week in the summer. In the winter, when I bake bread every week, that probably doubles if you count good WI cheddar between bread as a sandwich.

Interesting, I eat more sandwiches in the summer (it's BLT season after all). I wonder if there is a seasonal trend one way or the other for the whole country.

[Drinks (2009–2011)]

Interesting, how close is it to orgeat (in flavor, if not proof)?

edit: I see I'm not the only one intrigued, just the only one to get distracted for half an hour in the middle of a reply.

[Best Affordable Mixing Brandy]

I've been meaning to pick up a bottle of the Landy. At a slightly higher price point, I really like Dudognon Reserve ($36 from Saratoga Wine Exchange) and Marie Duffau Napoleon armagnac (commonly $30-35).

As for drinks, one gem that gets far too little attention is the Brandy Special, of which Erik (eje) says:

... if you can master this simple formula, (or find a bartender who does,) you may not find much cause to sample other cocktails.

[The Ice Topic: Crushed, Cracked, Cubes, Balls, Alternatives]

I underfill the trays a bit. The water expands enough to fill the mold once its frozen. I haven't used any other silicone trays so can't compare, but I don't have problems with twisting once they're filled with water.

[The Ice Topic: Crushed, Cracked, Cubes, Balls, Alternatives]

Fully recognizing that insignificant details to one can be a herculean ordeal to another, I have to ask: is it all that bad to have to fill up each cell? A whole tray takes maybe 20 seconds tops.

[The Ice Topic: Crushed, Cracked, Cubes, Balls, Alternatives]

There is no slot; the dividers go right to the top of the tray.

[Rhum Agricole: The Topic]

There was a bit of a snafu with the La Favorite when they recently got the new bottles, but I believe that has all been ironed out.

Meaning that folks just didn't dig the new look or that there was something different in the bottle?

To the best of my knowledge, none of the St. James products are currently imported into the US. I believe the distributor dropped them some time last year.

Yeah, I've found that most of the Ambre has been snapped up but the Hors d'age is still lingering around. Sad.

[Rhum Agricole: The Topic]

Chris, I've only come across Neisson out here in California (either Bevmo or K&L for those in the greater Los Angeles area). I've been meaning to spring for a bottle of the Reserve - I really need to keep a note in my pocket to remind myself that the 1L bottles actually make it a great value.

[Rhum Agricole: The Topic]

You lucky dog. In my experience (and opinion), the aged bottlings from both St. James and JM are great across the board. I've never seen the white St. James in the US; is it imported here? For whites, my favorite by far is Neisson.

[Baking / Pizza stones]

I think someone on the pizzamaking.com forums was experimenting with 1/2" steel slab above the pie to radiate heat back down and balance out the cooking between crust and topping. I'd like to try it if I can get my hands on a piece of steel that thick.

[Toasting & Roasting Your Spices: When, Why, How]

When roasting, I treat them a bit like pine nuts: if you can see that they are cooked, they're going to wind up overcooked. Thus they are roasted over a moderate heat, agitating the pan to ensure all sides are cooked. I remove the pan from the heat when I can smell the aroma of the spice (they do have a bit of colour by this stage) and transfer the spices to my mortar to cool before grinding.

The part in bold, I think, is key, and I've learned to follow the procedure nickrey suggests after much initial trial and error.

["Pour-over" Coffee makers]

Chemex also makes pour-over pots that are great for larger quantities.

[The Martini]

Not to mention bartenders like Tony Conigliaro and Jeffrey Morgenthaler experimenting with aged Manhattans. It seems natural enough to extend the concept to the Martini. What would a cask-aged Martini taste like? Who knows, but I sure wouldn't turn it down if it was offered to me.

[Stand Mixers 2002 – 2011]

Dried bread dough can develop a death grip on stainless steel.

A brief soak and it should rub right off.

I think you'd need to see the immense ease with which the dried dough comes off a plastic bowl. No brief soak. No soak of any sort. No rubbing whatsoever. Just an upending, maybe a smack, and a rinse.

Absolutely agree. I was just commenting that of all the hard to clean things one might encounter in the kitchen, dried dough really isn't that bad regardless of the surface.

[Stand Mixers 2002 – 2011]

Dried bread dough can develop a death grip on stainless steel.

A brief soak and it should rub right off.

[Fat!]

Depending on how hot your smoker was, I might be a little worried that the fat has started to degrade. Here's a post from Ideas in Food on the merits of smoked tallow.

[Pork Parts: The Topic]

Great topic. This diagram really helped me understand the many vagaries of pork ribs. Much more detail given here.

[Language People Use to Describe Spirits]

I understood wet cement to mean hardened cement that had been moistened. A subtle difference for sure, but perhaps not to a discriminating nose.

[Crystal Clear Ice]

And definitely be sure not to speculate on how much time it would take to rearrange a freezer to accommodate a 10 qt cooler. (Answer: about half an hour, well spent).

[Intellectual Property, Copyright & Cocktails]

or you could go the old-school tiki route, and strip all the labels off your bottles, concoct mysterious ingredients offsite, and give your bartenders recipes referring to "once ounce of bottle no. 5" and so on.

I wonder how this approach would square with the increasingly stringent regulation by many liquor control boards of things like house-made infusions and bitters.