Hassouni

This would be for a commercial establishment (that doesn't exist yet), and it would be for Russian/Turkish/Iraqi/Persian style tea (see my thread on Iraqi tea for more details). So basically, I need boiling water (not just hot, but over 200ºF) and a space to heat the teapot, either by steam (preferable), or on a hotplate as shown on the Turkish device. The Zojirushi electric kettle thing would be good for the water, but as far as the separate beverage dispenser goes, I would still need something to brew the tea on...it seems that dispenser requires the liquid it dispenses to be already made. Also, at these prices, I might as well just get a few samovars at $100-ish each. It'd just be nice to have a central hot water supply.

In Turkey, teahouses, restaurants, and cafes have a device for brewing and serving Turkish tea, called a çay kazanı (lit. tea cauldron), where the big tank holds boiling water with a spout to pour some off for each glass of tea, and the top has hotplates or vents for steam on which teapots are set to brew. There is often a hot plate on the side for making Turkish coffee as well, though that's not universal. They can range in size from able to hold one to four teapots. An example can be seen on this site: http://www.pimak.com/hazirlik-ekipmanlari/m024-m024.html Is there anything like this available in the States? Something that holds boiling water with a spout to release it, and has a heating element on top?

Echoed re frying the rice in oil (or butter) before adding water, and definitely salt. This goes for when I make basmati rice for all my Middle Eastern/Subcontinental dishes. For anything Asian east of India, I use either jasmine or Japanese rice, and I do not add salt or oil, because, to me, East Asian food tends to be much saltier - Middle Eastern and Indian food has no soy sauce, no fish sauce, no salted black beans, no miso, etc. It's worth noting that in Japanese onigiri (and sushi for that matter) the rice is salted, as there's a much higher proportion of rice to other ingredient. Although now that I think of it, salt is added after-cooking, whereas with basmati, I always add salt right from the beginning, often even soaking the rice in salt water.

Does that mean that the self cleaning setting could be used to make a really mean pizza? Best pizzas I've ever made! I read this long thing and followed his instructions: http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm

Sazeracs made with cognac are the best. Sort of expensive though...

Re: Turkish, Greek, Lebanese coffee - it is all Turkish coffee. It was invented in the Ottoman empire and drunk among the high society of Istanbul, from where it spread throughout the empire - the Middle East, the Balkans, North Africa. Lebanese in Lebanon seem to almost universally call it Turkish coffee, while restaurants here seem to call it Lebanese/Arabic, but I suspect that's to avoid confusion ("but this is a Lebanese restaurant, why is the coffee Turkish?")

Also, briki is Greek. It comes from the Arabic "ibriiq" which simply means pitcher. In Arabic the device for making Turkish coffee is called either a rakweh or a dalla, with the latter more specifically being what's used to make traditional Arabic coffee (in Iraq, dalla refers to both). Personally, despite my Arab background, I call the Turkish coffee pot by its Turkish name, cezve (pron. jez-veh)

I suspect Turkish coffee is what's meant. "Arabic coffee" is a lot rarer and means two different things depending on where you are - in the most traditional sense (Iraq and the Arabian peninsula) it means barely roasted, still mostly green coffee coarsely pounded with about its weight in cardamom, and boiled up into a thin, sort of odd-tasting drink. An acquired taste, with no sugar, usually reserved for serving to guests. In the Levant, "Arabic coffee" is extremely dark roasted coffee, without cardamom, with or without sugar, simmered for 1-2 hours to create a super concentrated dose drunk in little shots, usually from street vendors or after a meal. However, in the Levant, Turkish coffee, usually referred to as such, is much more common.

Do you count things like Guinness as a macrobrew?

So I've seen that a lot of the soups shown here on the Mexico forum have corn on the cob in them. How do you eat that? Do you pick it up out the soup with your hands? Isn't it exceptionally hot?

That picture on the link looks about right...I don't think what I've had had cardamom in it though

Hahaha, well, I dunno, maybe the Landshark I had was really fresh vs all the skunked and otherwise vile Corona I've had. Also, come to think of it, I think I've only had Landshark "Mexican style" (which, oddly, is a Lebanese invention usually done with Almaza) - with added lemon juice and a salted rim on the glass. In any case I'm not saying it's a good beer or anything, I just can't stand Corona

So at some Yemeni cafes here that I've gone to, the drink of choice seems to be a big glass of strong, very sweet, very milky tea - almost like masala chai without the spices, but thicker in mouthfeel. I'm guessing low-grade tea is boiled and then evaporated milk and sugar are added, or even condensed milk. Has anyone had this? It's kind of nice when it gets cold out.

I haven't seen Michelob at a bar in a long time, and other than Bud I haven't heard of most of those. As for Dos Equis, I'll echo that it's actually a decent beer at a decent price, especially the Ambar. If that's the only beer at a bar in a sea of macro-lager, I'll happily have it, whereas otherwise I'd prob just get something hard. As for Corona...where do I begin. Even though they're really similar to it, I vastly prefer Sol and Landshark. I have yet to finish a bottle of Corona while relatively sober, because by the time I get halfway down the bottle, the chill has worn off and I can actually taste how gross it is.

Ok so for those that decided to put their teapot on low heat on the stove vs. stacked on top of the kettle, here are some words of wisdom that I've found out the hard way just now... Either use less tea in the pot than described above, or add less tea concentrate to your glass, because wow, the stove-brewed tea is WAY stronger than the steam-brewed tea on top of the kettle. (I almost always use steam, so haven't really figured out the perfect way to do it on the stove yet)

Iraqi style cardamom tea, either Ahmad or Alwazah (can't remember, threw away the box and transferred the tea to an airtight container). I think I brewed it a bit too strong today....

I'm curious what you mean by this, given whisky and Cognac are made out of different things

how so? I've never had either

When I speak from my experiences, that's as growing up in the East Coast (DC). Most of the veto-ers I know are from the coast too - the two that stick out most are actually from Tampa and the Jersey shore, so right on the ocean/Gulf, so I'm not sure there's a correlation between access to fresh seafood and acceptance/appreciation of it.

In the UK, it's very easy for me to find quality dry cider, such as Aspall, or even the Waitrose house brand. Back here in the US, most of the cider I've had has been fairly sweet, unless it's imported, in which case it gets to be quite expensive. Is there any domestically produced dry cider that can be fairly easily obtained? I've recently noticed a brand called Crispin, which looks nice, but all the varieties mention some sweet element such as honey or whatever else.

For apartment dwellers I think the hardest part is not so much the heat (though that's a challenge), but the ventilation. On my crappy weak gas range the stir-frying fumes get EVERYWHERE because of a lack of a serious vent fan. Those ones under the microwave DO NOT work, and until I own my own place, I'm not sure if there's anything I can do without getting smoke everywhere. Hell, I've even set smoke detectors off.

Applejack and Calvados are the same right, just one has a DOC?

Late last night, lots of Mount Gay XO. That stuff is WAY too easy to down in large quantities

Why is it a) so hard to find, b) so expensive (compared to any other vermouth I can find) and c) only available, when available, in huge bottles? Any good alternatives that are easier to get a hold of? I can find Martini & Rossi everywhere (dry, sweet, and "blanco), as well as Gallo, and Ravita. I've been wanting a martini forever....

Some lapsang souchong my friend got me from Zabar's on a cold morning. Really hits the spot.