vice

For those who've tackled an emulsified sausage (weisswurst, boudin, or the like), how do you store them: frozen raw, frozen after poaching, must consume fresh?

Can't help you on the recipe (though I'm eager to hear what others have to say), but my filipino ex would always serve it with a simple mixture of soy sauce and vinegar. I thought it worked pretty well - the acid helps cut the richness.

As long as we're on the subject of goodnights, I often turn to the Goodnight, Irene format for a nightcap. Last night it was: 1 oz cognac 1/2 oz curacao 1/2 oz Branca Menta Build in a rocks glass over cracked ice and give a stir. While this is not going to supplant the original, it's nice to have a little variation.

Crushed ice can vary quite a bit in size (from snow to something a bit finer than cracked cubes), and that variability could make all the difference. What size do you find good for shaking John?

Pray tell, which one did you get?

Yes! I've said as much before, but I think this drink deserves a slot in the canon along the martini and manhattan.

I use this little dehumidifier successfully in my chamber. Unfortunately, you really need a humidity controller as well to keep humidity in the target range without turning the dehumidifier on and off manually all the time. That'll set you back another $100.

I've always wondered how much syrup was needed to be able to detect a difference in mouthfeel. How much was in your drink?

I asked a Colombian friend of mine for advice. Here is her reply:

I think discussions such as this often ruffle people's feathers a bit because there is the sense that value judgments are being attached to the objective and subjective qualities of a sensory experience. This is unfortunate. What Sam is talking about is simply understanding the separate contributions of the quantifiable qualities of a drink (ingredients, texture, temperature, etc.) and the subjective factors that will impact how it is perceived (who makes it, where it is consumed, and so on). Nobody has made a statement that one is inherently more important than the other. Their relative importance will likely vary considerably from person to person, so to some extent it's moot to try to generalize.

Yeah, they were pretty explicit that the KR (spring valve) yielded a better product than the cookers with either a jiggle or a rotating switch valve. As they only had one of each type of cooker, however, the results could be due to other differences between their test models. This gets back to my question above: are their results due to differential extraction or to differential volatile retention? All their cookers reach similar temperatures and pressures which suggests that extraction was probably similar. The big difference was that the KR does not vent steam (and presumably volatiles), whereas the other models do. More testing is needed to get to the bottom of this, and thankfully Dave Arnold indicates that it is on their agenda. Paul, have you had any luck tracking down other (cheaper) pressure cookers with a spring valve? I'm batting zero.

So if one difference between pressure-cooked and conventional stocks is that more volatiles are retained with PC, what does this mean for us home cooks who reduce stock for storage? Does the reduction step negate any advantage? This shouldn't matter so much if the bigger gain is in increased gelatin content or extraction of other compounds.

Has anyone with a Kuhn Rikon used it for pressure canning? Their own product info is something of a mixed message: They do list canning as a suggested use for some of their models, and Amazon sometimes gives pint and quart jar capacities, but I'm not sure I want to take that at face value.

I probably will, mostly because I can't see why the trapped air won't just redissolve after the second thaw. I haven't seen much difference between once- and twice-frozen cubes; neither have others.

I portion out rendered fat (and all liquids, actually) into rectangular pint or quart containers, freeze solid, then pop out the plug and vacuum seal. Makes freezer organization easier.

Too dry or too sweet? I would imagine the latter with those proportions. Scaling back the violette would help.

Oh, the markings will wear off the stainless one, too (the grooves are still there, of course, but the paint is waning). Still, I'd happily buy another, and will have to soon.

Thanks, Jason. It looks like Laurence has a good bit of info up on his trials, but the more the better.

Article in the times about 'nduja today, an item not covered in Charcuterie. Has anyone taken a stab at it themselves?

This struck me as rather interesting. I've only been familiar with Beefeater for the past few years, so can't comment, but my impression is that Beefeater's reputation has been built on being a stalwart, old reliable sort of product (certainly not a flashy up-and-comer, but I suppose that's what Beefeater 24 is for). For those with perspective, has their product been changing through the recent past?

One of the criticisms of big-pot blanching is that some amount of the product's flavor is lost to the cooking liquid. What if one reordered these steps (iii, i, ii, iv) to preclude this issue? Indeed, this is partly what Jan suggests above. Has anyone tried it?

I've gotten that too and just figured that some of the essential oils from the lemon peel came out of solution when the proof dropped upon sweetening.

I had an awesome Hemingway with Rhum JM 1997 at Nopa last night. edited because i can't spell

I'm drinking a toddy with Smith & Cross right now (well, really a skin as I tossed in a lemon twist). 2 oz rum to 6 oz water. It could probably be a bit stiffer. I looked at the Lemon Hart but thought it was a bit too late for that. Maybe tomorrow morning if the cool weather here keeps up.

Try it in a Blood and Sand, along with CAF. Most money brunch drink ever.