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vice

eGullet Society staff emeritus
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Posts posted by vice

  1. There are taquerias in your future:

    Lilly's: adobada, lengua, cheek (cochete?), and cabeza

    La Colmena: adobada, rajas, lomito, chorizo, and cabeza. Do not miss out on the absolutely phenomenal pumpkinseed salsa (the orange one).

    La Super Rica: chorizo especial, rajas, tamales

    I'm afraid I can't recommend anything on lower State St. If you see a crowd, you should be eating somewhere else. The Tee-Off on upper State puts out a mean prime rib and a very serviceable Martini (best in town, IMO, but that ain't saying much). Dutch Gardens, even farther up on State, is your source for schnitzel, bratwurst, and beer (and an insane chocolate cake). Now that I've said all that, by "recent recommendations to good restaurants", do you mean you're somewhat familiar with the area, and if so, when were you last in town?

  2. Welcome to eG Dillon,

    "Innovating, interesting and historical beverages" cuts a wide swath across current beverage writing. Are there particular aspects of or types of beverages you're interested in? It might help us narrow down the options some.

    Off the top of my head, you'll definitely want to look into Imbibe Magazine, certainly the foremost serial publication in the cocktail realm (although it covers a broad range of beverages). Honestly though, a lot of information transfer these days happens in the blogosphere, so a good bet is to find a couple sites you like and check out their blog rolls. There are also print publications and online forums devoted to the subject of spirits proper (as opposed to cocktails), but I'll leave it to others to comment on those.

  3. I found out the hard way that the block cannot have any moisture in it at all before warming (read: explosion).

    If you wash it off, even with a wet towel, it can take a good 24hrs to dry thoroughly.

    I wonder if you could safely speed that up by stashing it in a low oven.

  4. Just to hammer home that taste is, as always, personal, I'll disagree with daisy: I find Averna very syrupy and only use it in cocktails whereas I rather enjoy sipping Ramazzotti (either neat or with an ice cube). That said, I might still give the edge to Averna as it's more commonly called for in cocktails.

  5. Amari--unfortunately or not, depending on how one looks at things--are as quirky as the rum category. Many recipes calibrated for one will fall apart with another. Is there any way you can try a few in a bar to gauge your palate before plunking down on a whole bottle? At least that way you'll know if you like a given amaro straight (best to get to know each other before you're married, and all that).

    Nope. That was the suggestion Chris Amirault gave me as well and it's a good one but not an option where I live. As I told him, my home bar is far better stocked than any bar within at least 5 hours of where I live. It's better stocked as far as range of booze types go than the liquor stores in my area. I accomplished that through careful special ordering and people bringing me things from other areas when they visit. I live in a very small, remote town in Ontario, Canada, a true cocktail bar doesn't even exist for hours in any direction. I'm open to eventually getting them all, I just didn't want to get them all just to find out they were different labels on the same thing. You've answered that question for me.

    Bummer. I expect I know the answer, but I'll ask anyway: have you looked to see what's available at Italian restaurants? We can be a surprisingly resourceful people. Stuff shows up at a little mom-and-pop market in my town that I'm amazed by.

  6. Amari--unfortunately or not, depending on how one looks at things--are as quirky as the rum category. Many recipes calibrated for one will fall apart with another. Is there any way you can try a few in a bar to gauge your palate before plunking down on a whole bottle? At least that way you'll know if you like a given amaro straight (best to get to know each other before you're married, and all that).

  7. Peeling and deveining shrimp, alternately tossing shell in trash and tail to dog.

    I also connect with Doodad's post above when you have everything going on and you are moving fast and it is all coming together. Normies think it is chaotic and scary but i think cooks find it exhilarating and calming at the same time.

    Heidi, I think, has hit upon something. I submit that there are two schools of Zen cookery:

    The first involves the repetitive, monotonous kitchen tasks that are, of course, unavoidable: Heidi's shrimp, shelling fava beans or, god forbid, removing the skins from pistachios. You must empty your mind and find the Rhythm with these tasks. Time collapses to a point.

    The other school is for infinitely complex tasks where considerations multiply geometrically: the last moments before service; cranking the handle of the sausage stuffer whilst sliding the casing off the horn and feeding away the stuffed sausage so the casing tension is *just* right. You must also empty your mind with these tasks. Product and Process become One.

  8. If you count stuff found at our local transfer station, then we have found plenty. There's a large building at the transfer station in which you leave stuff you can't use and don't want, and pick up stuff you can use and do want. Like a free second-hand store.

    A woman I used to work for got all of her silver flatware from the Nantucket landfill. I think they have a similar setup there.

  9. I would love to hear thoughts on serving. I've tried it neat at room temperature and leaving the bottle to chill in the freezer for a couple of days. I liked the room temperature better; is there something I'm missing?

    I don't think so. As Erik and Eric intimated upthread (eje and eas, respectively), the big attraction of eaux-de-vie is the the way they capture the aroma of a fruit. As aromas are considerably diminished at freezer temperature, serving an eau-de-vie ice cold is not advised.

  10. Interesting Russell's scored so high. I would rate it lower than WT 101, based on memory.

    Agreed, my memory--some 2 years ago now--was that it wasn't particularly distinctive as a *rye* whiskey.

    campus five, I'm deeply and personally offended that I wasn't invited to this event :wink: (that's an awesome list!)

  11. Higher water content than savoy, yes? That would concern me a bit....

    Give it a quick dry saute first to dry it out a bit perhaps?

    Or layer it w potatoes and reduce the cream?

    I was thinking either to pre-salt and drain well or some sort of preliminary cooking. Seriously, I've got a lot, so this is probably going to happen.

    David - yours sounds good too, and I'd certainly classify it as a gratin. It actually reminds me that I also wanted to braise some with my stash of trotter gear.

  12. When I'm cooking pasta just for myself, I'll use half a pound and split the finished dish into thirds, two of which become lunch later in the week. My math skills work this out to a bit less than 80g of dry pasta per serving.

  13. I've been freaking out all week because the one store in town that used to have Diamond Crystal seems to have stopped carrying it. My #1 weekend project is now to drive around to the various grocery chains and stockpile what I find. I hereby solicit donations for any of your unused/unwanted stashes of DC :wink: - I'm on edge here, people!

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