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The last installment is also important here, as they delve into more subjective measures of shaking technique that do yield some qualitative differences. http://cookingissues.wordpress.com/2009/08...ence-pegu-club/

he calls for lemon here

I received my bag full o' bar tools today. While some of it is a bit more, shall I say, economical than one is predisposed to after building up a decent home bar (hawthorne strainer, I'm looking in your direction), overall I was delighted to receive perfectly serviceable spares of some valuable items (mixing tin, barspoon, jiggers, and the like). When you consider the cost of all of these, the course fee is even more reasonable.

It's described in Paul's method (linked below). Basically just shaping the dough on a piece of parchment, which makes the pie easier to transfer from peel to stone when the dough is on the wet side.

For what it's worth, I do 1/4 tsp yeast to 500g AP flour and retard for 5-7 days in the fridge, with no overproofing issues.

Well, I did some digging. From the pastis topic, we have this post indicating that the 3/4 oz lime & simple proportions above are indeed Audrey's: I also whipped up one a little bit stiffer as you specified, and consider me a convert. I have to admit that it's a subtle difference, for me at least, but I feel that nosing the drink I can pick out each individual ingredient just before the meld seamlessly together. The Pernod is actually a bit more prominent here even in its reduced volume. The sweet/sour dynamic is definitely tamed down a bit too, as was expected, and I consider that a plus. I've never made this drink with a London dry gin, but I suspect the original proportions might play out better there than with Plymouth.

While the food at Flo's is more than enough to keep me coming back, the added perks don't hurt. When the line gets a bit serpentine and it's a hot day (yeah, not many of those in RI this year til recently), they'll often pass out free glasses of beer. Oh man...

I'll give yours a whirl and report back. The French Pearl is just the trick for the heat that's taken all summer to arrive.

As it happens, I made one last night. I use Audrey's proportions, but I've noted yours in the past and been meaning to try them. The Pernod doesn't get lost at only 1/8 oz? It certainly isn't overbearing at 1/4, but I guess cutting back on the lime might let it come through a bit more, too.

Thanks! That could've taken me a while.

For Chris or anyone else who has taken the on-line course, where's the bloody login screen? I'm through module 1, but my browser history reset, and no I can't for the life of me figure out how to sign back in to continue...

A child gets a new toy and won't put it down for a week. Come back in a month and it's gathering dust in the corner. Sam's observations are evidence that people may grow older, but certain parts of our character always remain the same. Not that this should be surprising to anyone. I think a large part of the rapid rise phenomenon is excitement for what's new, and we've been really lucky over the past few years to have a whole lot of new to get excited about. When I pick up a new ingredient, I'll often use it quite a bit at first, to get acquainted with its features. The equally rapid decline in popularity could stem from (a) fatigue due to over-saturation or (b) moving on to focus on the next new thing. As an aside, there are a few places out there that sell Plymouth sloe gin at a more reasonable price. Sam's Wine has it for $30, which as far as I can tell is about 30% less than most other retailers. That makes it a lot more affordable to use more liberally (as it should be).

Over the weekend, I tried the Cynar flip that David mentioned upthread. I was impressed by how complex it turned out to be given the simplicity of the ingredients. The coffee notes were really stunning.

Much agreed, just made one for myself.

That would be a Boulevardier, provided one agrees that PeM can be subbed in for sweet vermouth without it becoming a new drink.

Now I'm confused. Over in the gin proof topic you referenced the Cooking Issues blog and wrote, I had always understood -- and had been told by a couple of bartenders -- that dilution continued after you stopped stirring, thus the "cooking." Why does dilution stop when you stop stirring? Wouldn't the same principles apply as in the chart above? ← Allow me to put on my speculation hat. Perhaps "slowing" is the more accurate word rather than Sam's "pausing". Dilution absolutely will increase after stirring if the drink is left on ice, but this may happen relatively slowly. For mixing a drink at home, where multitasking isn't necessary, it's easy enough to just stir to the desired level of dilution and strain immediately. For the professional bartender, cooking keeps the time-intensive stirred drinks cold while the rest of the order is prepared. The Cooking Issues chart shows dilution vs. active shaking time, not "cooking" time. We might assume that dilution vs active stirring time would look similar, but dilution vs cooking time would have a much flatter slope. eta: I do let stirred drinks sit for a minute at home, but it's mostly because that's when I put bottles back in the cabinet and make a garnish. I think this is just more of a habitual rhythm I've gotten into than something really purposeful.

Why not incorporate the stilton right into the custard? Rosemary, stilton, and peaches are all fairly strong flavors, so you might want to keep things relatively simple beyond that. Maybe a touch of lemon zest to keep things bright?

Gave this a shot last night, David. I think it's right on. The one thing I'd try next time is adding a slice of cucumber to the tin before stirring to get a bit more of its flavor. Definitely not in need of any more sweetness for my palate - a great drink.

Hot or cold? It's been my experience that heat doesn't do good things for mint long-term (like when making mint-flavored simple). A light muddle and a long cold infusion was next on my list of things to try. Based on how hard I've found it to get concentrated flavor once frozen, two tightly-packed cupfuls per quart of dairy would not necessarily overkill. I think this is also an instance where eggs are particularly problematic, but I've yet to play with starches/gums as thickeners.

I'd be interested to here reports on this as well. I've tried fresh mint ice cream every which way I can think to do it, but the flavor always gets lost.

Whenever I take it out of the fridge to grate over pasta, I always slice a piece off to nibble, too. It also gets deployed in non-pasta situations, as noted above. Particularly good with marinated vegetables, cured meats, and other items in the antipasti realm.

i feel your pain. even being in california, a state that presumably should have much available. locally, that isn't always the story. web orders are your friend. there are several vendors that waive shipping over a certain amount (drinkupny.com for one).

At a conference in Albuquerque, I happened in to the Artichoke Cafe downtown. They were offering something along these lines: cucumber chile-infused vodka lime juice agave syrup muddle cucumber, add other ingredients shake, strain over rocks into a collins glass with salt rim, straw It was the perfect refresher given the NM summer heat. If I had to guess at proportions, I'd start at 3:2:1 vodka:lime:agave. eta: while it was delicious, I couldn't help but thinking while I was drinking it that an infused blanco tequila certainly might have upped the ante.

do tell, how was it? i'm going to be back for a week in september, so i might stop in to see for myself.

1 oz lemonhart 151 1 oz lustau manzanilla papirusa 1 oz lustau east india 2 dashes angostura orange stir, up, lemon twist rum provides a solid anchor. dry sherry brings nice acidity to balance two rich ingredients. solera smooths out the other two, which i find can be troublesome to mix with on occasion. pretty satisfying. eta: bitters