ChrisTaylor

Tried two Red Duck beers lately. Some generic-ish ale, which was merely okay, and tonight's one: 'K2', a light ale. Maybe it's the mood I'm in but I really like this.

Lamb breast. Rubbed w/ a blend that was heavy on the garlic powder, rosemary and chipotle. Smoked for five and a half hours, rested then crisped on the gas grill.

From memory you don't have a sv rig, do you? At the very least you want a temperature controller to hook up to a rice cooker or crock pot. Can you buy those locally or, like me, are you pretty much obligated to order online unless you want a restaurant-sized, restaurant-priced piece of kit? Either way, temperature controllers aren't hugely expensive.

Tried a couple of recipes tonight: The roast chicken w/ turmeric butter and coconut milk. I don't think the pan sauce adds a lot to it but that's okay: this is a nice roast chicken. The celery mostarda is nice. Not as sweet as the commercial mostarda I've had, which is a good think. Zak's recipe: there's something about the texture of celery in this that works nicely. Radish and mullet roe salad. Works nicely.

Perhaps 54/72 beef ribs are superior after all. Last time I didn't pre-season them--well, there was Vegemite in the bag, but that's all--because of chatter around these parts about that sort of thing. This time I preseasoned them--a bit of salt, pepper and a tiny amount of chilli powder. They were seared then sliced and served in the form of a salad w/ cashews, mizuna, tomatoes, Viet mint, red onion and a dressing made w/ lime juice, rice vin, fish sauce and sugar.

Lamb and pine nuts are good friends. Especially when pastry seals the deal.

I have the same reaction to most generic vegetable oils. My go-to oil is olive, altho' I'll use sunflower oil for purposes where olive oil is not the right choice. Unless it's an application that's just crying out for animal fat, I mean.

Just picked up a bottle of del Capo. Man. This is nice. Reminds me a lot of Nonino altho' it's seemingly more bitter. Have to do a side by side comparison at some point. Too, Campari and Aperol aren't listed on Wikipedia's amari page. Does this mean they're not amari? I mean, it's why I took them from my list. I don't speak Italian but amaro just means 'bitter', right? So surely Campari qualifies.

Bacon fat

Had this book for a while. A lot of fun. A lot of attitude. Really enjoy the, 'oh, you need to consume several <cocktail with lots of rye and etc> before even starting this recipe' degeneracy. Anyway. I've cooked a few recipes over the months, including the modified rendang (which I further modified for use in a slow cooker--not the best idea), but the pasta con sarde (jacked w/ Pernod-infused raisins) is the first keeper of the bunch. I've seen what appears to be a modified version of this recipe online: you want it.

The PDT version of Hemingway's diabetic Daiquiri. They suggest Banks 5 Island rum. I don't have this rum and, so far as I know, I can't get it (I looked on Whisky Exchange when I ordered the agricole and S&C). So ... to Google. Flavour profile ... funky. Ended up mixing 1 oz each of Smith & Cross and a Cuban white. Plus the usual .75 of lime (was a bit short on this front, actually, the lime only gave up about .6 of an ounce worth of juice) and .5 each of grapefruit juice (went a little heavy to make up for the lime) and maraschino. Nice. Prefer it to the one I made last night.

No idea of a starting point--aside from what would've been more logical: straight, I guess--for the La Favorite agricole so I went with a daiquiri. 2:1:.5 on the rhum:lime:simple front. It's okay. What an interesting rum, tho', to keep the lime juice--and, really, 2:1 rum:lime isn't fucking around--in its place.

So. Chicken. Breasts: rubbed w/ spice, left to ponder this situation for a while, then 60C for 3 hours (i.e. put it on, go out, get delayed, return home after 3 hours), chilled then smoked at high heat for 20 minutes. Legs: rubbed w/ spice, left to ponder this situation for a while, then 65.5C for 4 hours (i.e. I went out and got delayed twice in the same day) then chilled and smoked for 20 minutes. Nice enough. Might need to be refined a little, but the potential is there. EDIT I should add that the credit for all this goes to Keith W, the best cook I know.

Warm-ish weather, altho' it's fading now--evening--but it's time for barbecue and a Mai Tai. And, too, I finally got my hands on Smith & Cross. Friend ordered some stuff from Whisky Exchange, a UK-based site, and included in the order (in addition to some agricole) was a bottle of what many eGers seem to regard as a sort of holy grail. First step: Mai Tai based on that 'doing it wrong' Chowhound video--stumbled on that formula a while ago and haven't shifted. 1 oz each Appleton 12 and Smith & Cross plus .75 of lime, .5 of curacao and .25 each of orgeat and simple. I'm still using fake orgeat, this Italian bottled stuff, but I changed my brand and the new one is far less overdone than the old. I sex it up with a tiny tiny tiny teensy wee tiny drop each of orange blossom water and rose water. Fake it until you make it, I guess. Until I really do get around to just knocking together some DIY orgeat. And I should. Despite what the Starks say, summer is coming. But, yeah, S&C is a game changer for the Mai Tai. Love it.

Imports - Smith & Cross. Am now one of the cool kids, I guess. - Rhum Agricole La Favorite.

Nutmeg? Doesn't that give a ... bias to your stocks?

More local. More Prickly. Their Red Ale. It's okay. I have a couple other Prickly Moses beers loitering around--a Pale Ale, maybe, and something else--but already I'm wondering if there's a bit of a ... theme to their beers.

I've never seen any restaurants and bars put them in the fridge ... and, let's face it, places aren't going to go through them especially quickly. I really like Averna and Nonino. I enjoyed Sibilia for something different but I'm struggling to find a source locally. Fernet Branca has its uses and I like it in the right context, but the herbal toothpaste quality isn't my favourite thing in the world. Cynar is fun. Montenegro reminds me of musk sticks (the lollies).

Beef ribs. 'Seasoned' only with a dab of Vegemite before cooking. 54C for 72 hours. Then brushed with (commercial) BBQ sauce and given a couple minutes on the grill. Hit with some sea salt. Inferior to the 56/48ers, I think.

Overeem Sherry Cask from the Old Hobart 'Still. A little harsh--still young, I guess--but overall one of the best Australian whiskies I've had. Seems to be shooting more for the Speyside kind of thing than the Islay. I know that those guys doing the rye spirit are obviously aiming that way, but it'd be nice if Australian whiskey either did its own thing (hi, Smith's Angaston, it'd be nice if you did another release) or maybe, if it has to poach ideas, borrowed from Kentucky and not just Islay. Altho', yeah, price is a real issue with our whiskey. The 'reem is nice $125 for the standard bottling of the sherry cask (about $40 more for the cask strength version). And it's nice, sure, as I said, but again, it's young whiskey and I could buy a couple of nice bottles--say, a Talisker and a Woodford Reserve--for that money. Easy. And, I get supply vs demand. I get the small market size. All of that. But ... I mean, $300 for a bottle of Sullivan's Cove? I've tried the overpriced mini. Just ... no.

American Trilogy -- 1 oz each rye (Wild Turkey) and applejack, 2 dashes each Fee's and Regan's orange bitters, a barspoon of sugar and an orange twist. Constructed much like an Old Fashioned. Brilliant. EDIT Next time you're down here, haresfur, I'll build you an Old Fashioned w/ Herrdura anejo. Nice tequila, that.

You should. Most herbs grow like weeds. You can also grow vegetables that are hard to find -- ie heirloom varieties or things like tomatillos.

I tried the Green Hornet variation with Junipero gin last night. It's a good "digestif". Once you go black brown you never go back, I guess. Or rather, I'm much more of a whiskey drinker than I am an imbiber of the juniper spirit. So I made the original. And, yeah, this is a nice drink. The Fernet, which is always about as subtle an experience as a monster truck convention, dominates early on but then the rye (Wild Turkey, in this case) creeps through and pops its head up and says hi. Nice.

Slow, tasty suicide (adapted from Peter Gilmore's recipe for slow-braised pork cheeks w/ celeriac and mushrooms): -- bag pork cheeks (trimmed, etc) w/ some reduced stock -- 85C, 10 hours -- chill -- sear cheeks then put in pan w/ more reduced stock and park in 180C oven for 10 minutes -- reduce that and use to glaze the resting cheeks Yeah. Things you might want to go with your dinner, sort of supporting acts: -- a very light salad with a fairly acidic dressing -- a dram of, say, Fernet Branca -- a nearby bed -- at least one of eG's doctors on speed dial

A 4-point rack of venison--52.5C for 1 hour (no marinades, et al) works well enough. Just kicking it out there.