lesliec

Yes! I want one!! (I already have the goggles, on my top hat.)

That may well happen - I'll see if I like it enough first!

Hi Timir. Welcome to eGullet. I'm right with you on jamon Iberico - wonderful stuff. My favourite supplier recently had some lomo Iberico (pork loin) which I think might be my Christmas addiction! It sounds like you'll have some fun here. We have people from all over the world, with correspondingly varied tastes. Dive in and share with us. Kind regards, Leslie

I don't mind busy, and this has some of my favourite things. The Colonel's gin needs some hefty flavours, or it tends to take over (I'm considering a recipe for a 'gentler' one). This might be tonight's drink. Kindred, alas, has two cocktails called Northern Lights, neither of which is this one!

Shame on you, James! I've never had kombucha and have no idea what it tastes like, but a sorbet or semifreddo immediately sprang to mind. The bacteria probably wouldn't survive the freezing process, but that's probably not an issue for your intended use.

Hi Tiny. Welcome to eG. We like food enthusiasts! I'm a big believer in using bay leaves to flavour ice cream. Highly recommended. Enjoy the forums, and let's hear about some of your experiments..

What DDF said. In particular, they may be made so they break down in landfills rather than persisting for centuries. Anybody's guess what interesting chemicals go into that bit of trickery. On the other hand, they're great for food you're throwing out ...

Ah yes, a mild diversion! I can't see it being the box grater (no doubt somebody was using a rough stone or bit of bark to scrape food with way back, but not a box as such). A toss-up for the other two, if we ignore 'wire' and accept you can use a bunch of sticks or sprig of fresh herbs as a 'whisk'. The mezzaluna? Basically a curved knife, developed presumably because somebody saw their Granny chopping herbs with a straight knife, observed the action and though 'Aha!'. I'm going with the whisk.

But against that is the new clamp. I've seen a photo of the new Anova sitting on a benchtop, supported only by its clamp being slid all the way down the 'barrel'. THAT'S flexibility in vessel depth!

Or a tastefully-designed sticker? You'd have to be sure to specify a pretty solid adhesive, though. It may actually be possible to get a design screenprinted on the things. But personalised engraving does sound good. Talk to an engraver; see what their thoughts are about 'delicate' surfaces.

Hold off until you've had the D&C Manhattan Transfer, Chris. Amazing!

That looks like fun. Nothing wrong with the other stuff, either.

There's a nice section towards the back of the book called Multiple Choice, in which D&C present a number of cocktails with options for the base spirit. We've been playing for the past three nights with the Coin Toss (base spirit, sweet vermouth, Bénédictine, yellow Chartreuse, Peychaud's). The first night I used French brandy (nothing special - not Cognac), the second night Buffalo Trace and last night Rittenhouse 100. They've all been excellent, with of course differences in character. Next on the list is one with rum - it's going to be Appleton 12; I suspect Smith & Cross might be a funk too far. I highly recommend the drink, both because it tastes great (important!) and because it's a good learning experience to see what different bases do to a drink when nothing else changes. And I'll share an almost-relevant confession. Seized with enthusiasm for creating 'new' drinks recently, I decided it might be cool to come up with a gin-based Manhattan. Then it hit me: somebody's already done that. It's called a Martini ... Sigh ...

The wording in the email from Anova is 'Due to an influx of orders for the 220v Precision Cooker unit, we've undergone a retooling process to optimize our production process and fulfill this increase in demand.'. You're clearly reading something more sinister into this than I am! Granted the words are fairly fluffy. But I read it as 'Help! We're overwhelmed by the number of 220v orders we've received so we've had to run around in circles to find a factory to handle them'. Yes, I'm disappointed I won't be getting mine (red - even worse!) earlier. But 'furious'? C'mon, guys ... there are worse things happening in the world.

I wish to report that Rafa's The Man Comes Around is still bloody marvellous. I know this because I had two of them last night ...

There's some discussion of this in the notes on Kindred. Looks like the recipe may have varied over time - possibly to do with mole bitters becoming available - but the D&C book is using the original.

My experience with bay leaves is that they give an astonishing initial green, but it fades to brownish over the following few weeks/months. So yes, chlorophyll isn't ideal.

Which is an entirely tasty thing. Decent mezcal is hard to find here, but I've had a couple of these recently with some (brand unknown) very, very good stuff some nice customer brought back from a trip and gave to my favourite bar. The drink is great with 'ordinary' mezcal and phenomenal with a particularly good one.

Oh no, another one! It looks good, though. Some fascinating information.

I find myself rather stunned by Cynaro de Bergerac. Having finally managed to find a bottle of Cynar, which has been very scarce around here for a while, I made the 'Bergerac mix' last night (red wine, Cruzan, Cynar, Demerara syrup) and used it in the cocktail with my own Genever and gin, Benedictine, mole bitters and a dash of absinthe. Absolutely delicious, and well worth making the effort. I don't know where it came from, but there was a distinct muscat/raisin note. I made a half quantity of the mix just in case, but tonight I'll be making a full batch. This one's going on the favourites list (which I have decided to give up calling a Top 10 because of the ridiculous number of lovely drinks on it). I also have plans to make something like Cynar myself to help with any supply issues. I'll keep you informed.

That's because you're in the other hemisphere - I like Jo's theory! The spoon is quite wonderful, by the way. A little smoother on my developing callous! Cynar has been impossible to get here for some weeks, but yesterday I spotted some in a slightly obscure shop I rarely visit. They had two bottles. I left them with one, but told my friends at the Hawthorn Lounge where they could find it. If they haven't got there by the end of the week I might have that one too!

I suppose this counts: I find myself influenced by Death & Co; this is much prettier than my old spoon. I'll see how it goes tonight. An interesting reflection from the D&C book is that their section on how to stir suggests I'm doing it backwards. They say a right-hander should stir clockwise, but I've grown used to going anticlockwise and it feels more natural. I'm sure the end result is much the same (and I'm growing a nice callous they say is a badge of honour).

The Manhattan Transfer last night - basically, a Manhattan with Ramazzotti. Really, really good. I'm not sure if I can say that every Manhattan variant is as good as every Negroni variant seems to be, but with this one and a few others I've had there's an argument to be made.

With the suggestions above you should be well set up, but it occurs to me you could work backwards. Presumably you've been cooking for a while and have an idea of portion size based on what the finished plate looks like. So plate something as you normally would, but note the weight of each item as it goes on.

Definitely possible. I've carbonated a Negroni before today. Not bad as an experiment, but not really necessary either - it's kinda hard to improve on a proper Negroni. As the Death & Co book (p41) rightly says, 'without Negronis the world is a far less beautiful place'.