lesliec

'Rethermalisation' = cooked, chilled/frozen, reheated? Don't know why you'd want to for asparagus - cooking time from fresh is only 6 - 8 minutes.

Maybe they're all New Zealanders with funny accents. Legal here

Not the right thread for a detailed discussion, but I've had great success with a recipe for mandarin liqueur which involves suspending three mandarins (in cheesecloth) above - not in - high-strength alcohol for three weeks, then sweetening. It pulls an amazing amount of flavour out of the fruit, and I'm planning to try the same sort of thing with apricots and/or peaches (this season's are just starting to appear; they should be better in another few weeks). Might be worth trying your own with some Everclear. Edited for spelling, dammit.

A proper British diplomat would drink anything he was offered, and claim to have enjoyed it. Last night for us (and the night before as well, as it happens) was El Cigarillo Maduro: Rather nice; tequila, sweet and dry vermouths, Cointreau, Angostura and mole bitters. Recommended. And another rubbish evening in Welly, as you can see.

Carp - is that an anagram? The NZ experience (well, mine, anyway) is the possibly-obvious observation that the further you are from the sea, the more rubbish are the F&C. Sometimes this theory falls down; I think the second-worst I've ever had were from a shop in Foxton, which is not at all far from the sea. But getting something other than Chux out in the wops is probably unlikely. Should any of you fine people be visiting Wellington, the place to go is Supremo in Hataitai. The fish is, I'm convinced, still warehou and is good, meaty and crisp; the chips likewise (OK, not so much meaty). Give me a call; I'll pop down the hill and join you.

So you liked it, then? Made one myself the other night, since you lot had been talking about it. Lacking Arrack, I used a rhum agricole, because I could. And my allspice dram was also home-made. It is a fascinating drink. I kind of enjoyed it at the time but had it down as 'interesting but not going to be a favourite', but I've been thinking about it on a daily basis since. This is not something I generally do with cocktails; there's too many others to play with. I think I'll have to try it again ... And I agree with FP that omitting the cherry bomb is a flogging offence, Rafa. Quite nice to drink the Laphoaig after removing the cherry from same as well.

1. Place tea towel on kitchen bench 2. Dump ice tray full of cubes onto towel 3. Wrap towel over cubes, ensuring the edges are not open 4. Beat the $#*% out of it with a rolling pin Works well; deeply satisfying after a trying day. And at the end of it, you get to have a drink!

So last night I made a 2 Cups of Blood, including agave syrup as discussed above. Last time I made it (sans agave) I don't remember it being as strongly chocolatey (although ¾ of mole bitters might be expected to give that effect). Verdict: not convinced. It's OK, but for a big dollop of bitter I'll stick with Tres Sangres or Rafa's splendid The Man Comes Around.

Yes no stopover in Chicago and now sitting in my office in Melbourne, looking very well. Packaging held up pretty well, the smallest dents in the black anova box where it was crammed into the outside box, but who cares about that. The circulator itself is in perfect condition. The temptation to take it to my office kitchen to try out is very hard to resist... Remember what Oscar Wilde said about the best way to remove temptation.

Thankfully in Australia we have a $1,000 threshold for VAT, so stuff like this goes through customs fairly instantly. Mine made it from Texas, via Chicago and past Australian customs in 4 days. Hopefully it'll arrive at my door in the morning. (Monday) What, no stopover in Chicago? It's going to be grumpy to have missed its holiday when it arrives ... I christened mine over the weekend. Lovely machine! Very simple to use and very solid temperature control. The main test was duck legs, 10 or so hours at 82°C. At this stage I'm just using a large stock pot covered with foil and I got reasonably significant evaporation by about six hours in, but that's manageable. A bin is a very-near-future purchase.

I took the recipe from the beta cocktails book itself, yes. Right then. Agave it shall have. Probably this very evening.

Interesting - the version of this on Kindred doesn't call for agave. Rafa put it there, referencing cocktailvirginslut, and they don't mention agave either. Is your recipe straight from the beta source, Chris? I've made the Kindred version and quite enjoyed it, but it's not a patch on the very serious Tres Sangres, of similar bitters-heavy style. Maybe I'll try again with a bit of syrup and see how it is.

Your collection begins to sound intruiging, sir!

No, mine came with an Australia/NZ style one. I suspect they add a cord with the appropriate plug for each destination. But in any case, it's a standard computer-style connector at the Anova end. Such cords are common, and have been known to breed in captivity.

Should that be UPS (= Uninterruptible Power Supply)?

No, not that thing - I know what that is. Jeff included his business card. I'm not sure if a photo would do it justice. It's plastic, mostly translucent, with all but the 'A' of Anova transparent (the A is orange) and the vital information in black. Jeff's job title is 'He Who Wears Many Hats'. Quite wonderful.

The bad news - as of yesterday, USPS said my Anova was still 'resting' in Chicago. The good news - this was my desk when I arrived at work this morning: (USPS now at least believes it's arrived in New Zealand and has passed through Customs. They haven't realised it's done all that, travelled from Auckland to Wellington and been delivered, but I won't hold it against them. It's taken seven days to get to me from Anova, which is possibly a record for anything I've had from the US.) That is a beautiful unit, very well packaged. I unveiled it in front of a colleague who also has an interest in SV (he's probably going to inherit my rice cooker now) and the appreciative noises he made matched my own. And my vote for World's Coolest Business Card goes to AnovaJeff - he included one in the package. Now to get the circulator home and try a few things ...

And then call it the Evergreen? No, maybe not - looks like there's at least three different drinks already called that. Don't be too hard on Dan and the girly drinks. Can you be absolutely certain Dan isn't short for Danielle, anyway?

My 220v version seems to be taking a short holiday in Chicago on its way to me - it's been there about three days now, so I hope the weather's nice. I'm sure it passed through San Francisco after leaving Houston but there's no mention of that on the USPS tracking page now. I may be delusional. I'm not greatly bothered by the shipping (closer to $80 than $70). The thing must weigh a reasonable amount and it's over 30cm long, so it's going to be a reasonable-sized package (particularly if they expect it to survive the trip). The value should be below our threshold for Goods and Services Tax so I won't have to worry about that.

My 'standard' Mai Tai again last night - 2 each Appleton VX and Wray & Nephew, 1 each orgeat, falernum and curaçao (all home-made) with a dribble of Smoke & Oakum on top. Gawd, that's lovely. I must reveal my new collection of tiki mugs to the assembled eGullet masses sometime, but I didn't take any photos last night. (It's not an extensive collection. Three, in fact. But Wifey's getting another one for Christmas, so maybe after that.) FP, nice to see you following my lead with the green stripey 'bamboo' straws.

Oops. Sorry, Dan - don't feel left out! Happy now?

Inspired by Czequershuus over here, last night's delight was a Tia Mia: I used Ilegal reposado, Appleton V/X, my own Curaçao and orgeat, some very good local lime cordial and 1:1 sugar syrup. Excellent - definitely a keeper. And promptly added to Kindred (did I just beat you, Rafa?). [Edited 'cos the fonts went silly, and I care.]

And some Mondays just cry out for a corpse. FP, how different is the Bonal to, say, Suze? I don't think I've seen it here.

It's certainly a different colour! A new bottle of Wray & Nephew for me. The old one is about to be killed by making a new batch of falernum.

I'm not sure what a New York one is like (it's a long way from here), but there is this recipe I spotted probably a couple of years ago - sorry, no idea now of the source: Cream cheese 100%Whole eggs 20%Egg yolks 7.5%Corn starch 1.9%Seal and cook at 80°C for three hours. When cooked, pipe into moulds and freeze. Unmould while still frozen, roll in powdered sugar and brulée (which will begin defrosting while giving a crispy exterior). This treatment doesn't sound like what you're planning, but the basic recipe may be of some use. It does suggest the answer to your question about piping is 'yes'. I've never got round to trying this, but it remains on my list. Maybe when the Anova gets here ...