weinoo

Oh come now, you were always first!

Mace will be the new bar where Louis 649 used to be the old bar. It's not open yet, but theoretically will be sometime early in the new year. Cocktail Kingdom's Greg Boehm is the owner, and partner Nico de Soto will be running the show. Before they close and renovate the Louis 649 space, Nico is hosting a holiday themed cocktail pop-up, called Miracle on 9th Street, which will be open through December 23rd. Anyone who knows Nico's drinks (he opened ECC in NYC and Prescription Cocktail Club in Paris, amongst others) knows that they are fairly ingredient intensive, with (usually) 4 or more ingredients, some of which may even sound a little strange on paper - marshmallow and Budweiser syrup, anyone? Significant Eater and I checked it out on opening night, this past Saturday. As I mentioned, many of the cocktails sound a bit strange on paper, but pretty much everything I tasted was good (I mean, not as good as a beautifully made Manhattan, but what is?). There's smoke, there's frankincense, there are candy canes, there are nogs, there are flips, there's a sangaree. Definitely drinks of the season, spicy and sweet. But really well balanced...with a good use of citrus. Worth giving a look-see if you like these types of cocktails...and really, what's not to like during the holidays? COMP DISCLOSURE: I am pretty sure a round of drinks was on the house.

Anna inspired breakfast... Asparagus risotto cakes. Fried egg.

I'll give that a try next time.

Hmmm - I forgot there is a proofing setting (is there?)! I proofed in my regular oven with the light on.

Yes, it's messy! Fortunately, I had the Saturday white bread, toasted, to help.

The Saturday white bread recipe I scaled down to 750g flour. this loaf was 1/2 of the finished dough. Probably could have gone into an 8" x 4.5" loaf pan, but I used a 9" x 5" loaf pan. Yes, I covered the top of the bread, with foil, at about 30 minutes. I used the bread setting, 450°F, till done.

Shakshuka with potatoes. And one egg I slightly scrambled with some crumbled feta. Garnished with avocado. Pretty tasty, but kind of texturally uninteresting, in my opinion.

The Saturday White Bread - albeit baked in the Cuisinart Steam Oven in a loaf pan. Great toasted this a.m.

Focaccia - this one was simply 1/4 of the recipe from the above book. So it's a simple dough, 72%-ish hydration, bulk fermented for 5 hours, proofed for an hour, then baked. Normally, when I make focaccia, the dough has a nice amount of olive oil in it; this one didn't, but I made up for it by generously coating the baking pan with olive oil, and generously pouring olive oil on top before baking. It baked on the bread setting, at 425°F for about 18-20 minutes. You do have to watch the bottom of this, as it gets darker a lot faster than the top.

Yes - my guess is water that's much hotter than you would normally use at home, and maybe even using some lye in the cycle.

As the temp drops, I am starting to bake again. I also got Forkish's book, Flour Water Salt Yeast, so I'm fooling around with that. Yesterday, I made his "Saturday White Bread," but of course didn't follow the instructions 100%. Instead of baking the loaves in a Dutch oven, I baked one in a loaf pan in the CSG, and I made some focaccia with the other one... That's ready to be baked in one of the Chicago Metallic toaster-oven pieces, which I bought as a set from Amazon for about $15. It went very nicely with an arugula, avocado and pecorino salad...

Funny - my toasting "strategy" is to toast lower (usually at 2) and then just hit the start button again. When the CSG toasts again at the same number, it retoasts for a shorter period of time, and I find I have more control over the finished toast. Now this is what makes the world go 'round.

Sorry - but that spokesperson is an idiot.

It doesn't keep the steam from the toast - it keeps the steam from the toast in the oven. It's just a really tight seal; sounds like it creates a bit of a vacuum when the oven is on and one closes the door.

Pre-Thanksgiving dinner. Lunch at home with Sig Eater. A 27-year old recipe from a 27-year old cookbook... Penne with mushrooms, from Marcella's Italian Kitchen. It's a great recipe, and shows how much Marcella knew about getting that umami thing, or layers of flavor, going. Using white button or cremini mushrooms (basically baby portobellos), the "sauce" is created by sweating onions and garlic in olive oil and butter, then cooking all the liquid out of the mushrooms, deglazing with white wine, then adding anchovies, tomatoes and herbs and letting that all cook together for another 10-15 minutes or so.

Damn-that monkfish liver looks good! Right from the start, I've loved the toasted products this makes.

Good job, BKYLN.

Good job, Steve!

And also, I don't mean to harp on this, don't cook pork to 200°F!

At this point, I think you've got a hybrid. Most of the butt and some of the picnic. Isn't the arm bone part of a picnic? The above picture I found on this website: Ask The Meatman

Going to a friend's loft - he lives in Bushwick. I made a liter of Bushwicks and a liter of Negronis.

I think you should rinse it off and dry the roast before roasting it. I look for 180°F - 185°F as a good internal temp for Boston butt. Remember, it will go up a good 5° - 10°F after you take it out of the oven...I'd even cook it at around 275°F...if you end up with a roast at 200°, I think it will be overcooked.

For $225, you want to feel full?

Spago?