Hassouni

Did a TJ's run today and picked up a few new things in addition to some random staple fruit, veg, and chocolate: -Biltong - pretty good! 0g carbs, unlike any other dried meat snack I've seen -Habanero hot sauce - properly hot. No artificial colorings or anything else, unlike the standard El Yucateco (I can't find their more natural "Exxxtra Hot" easily anymore), which was my go-to mega hot sauce. -Partially popped corn - I saw this in the flyer and couldn't believe it. I love those little barely popped things in the bottom of the bowl. Whole bag of them, buttered and salted. Addictive. -Giant inca corn (I posted about this before, but I saw it again for the first time in a while). Still crack-tastically good. -Shishito peppers - I've had them plenty of times and buy them occasionally from H Mart, but it was nice to see them at TJ's -Lightly smoked sardines in olive oil - no idea how good these will be, but they were cheap. -a white (green) and rosé vinho verde, <$5 each. I didn't buy one, but they were sampling their spinach and tomato (?) pizza. It was pretty god damn good for a frozen pre-made pizza. I'd have bought one if I had better self control (I'm likely to eat the entire thing in one night, if not one sitting).

You might also try here, $7 shipped worldwide: http://www.japanesechefsknife.com/FKHSeries.html#FKH%20Gyuto (cheapest they have)

voila: http://www.knivesandstones.com/tojiro-dp-cobalt-gyuto-chef-knife-240mm-f-809/

I might not be the best person to comment, since I've never owned a Global knife, but the general consensus on the net seems to be they're Japanese knives for people who don't want a Japanese knife. For less money you could get a Tojiro DP 210 (or even 240) gyutou, which is pretty universally praised as a great starter J-knife. Other options exist too, Fujiwara, Tadafusa, etc, all of which are regarded pretty well. If you want really light, look for a wa-gyutou (aka Japanese style chef's knife), as they're significantly lighter than the standard Western-style ones (which are themselves much lighter than German/French style knives) due to the different handle/tang configuration. Personally, I used a Tojiro DP 240 as my only knife for about 6 years, and it was a night and day difference compared to the German style knives I was using. I've since switched to a more expensive carbon steel wa-gyutou, and I really like the additional lightness, but the Tojiro is great, it's absurdly thin and gets very sharp if you know how to sharpen decently. I suggest you check out this thread: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/112332-japanese-knives-–-what-to-buy/ As for Globals, if you're dead set on one, the two models don't seem to be drastically different in price, so I'd say see what steel each is made of, how hard each one is, what the weight is, the thickness of the blade (measured at the spine)etc. I'd prefer a harder, easy to sharpen steel, than a softer, harder to sharpen one, but that's just me. I will say the GF-33 appears to have a different profile - the G2 is much more German looking, which is great if you rock cut a lot, but the GF-33 is more French/Japanese looking which is better for draw/thrust cuts and slicing, which is how I cut.

I should add that I just remembered one of my bartender friends shakes and cracks open his tins all in one hand - he has some crazy thumb motion that cracks the tins right open with a very gratifying sound - not sure how he does it (I haven't practiced it enough), but you might be able to figure it out!

It's OK, here the industry drink of choice is Miller Lite...

Whack it on the edge of your counter, if you have 2 metal tins. If it's glass on metal, not totally sure what to suggest.

Well, I side by side tested Ed Hamilton's new 151 Demerara against the original Lemon Hart 151 and the Mosaiq re-issue. Long story short, as much as I hate to give him credit, it's pretty damn good and WAY closer to the original than the Mosaiq was - should work perfectly in classic Tiki recipes calling for LH151.

I'd suggest Mae Ploy paste and Chaokoh coconut milk, but yeah - they make great results in no time.

Right, that's why it's reassuring that a fellow rum fan agrees that's it's crazy to sip!

That's worth knowing, I think the navy style is really, truly bad.

I love Pusser's - to me the LS tastes nothing like it.

Not surprised either. It's unlike any other book in its class - I haven't read Modernist Cuisine but it strikes me as the equivalent for cocktails. If I were not running a pop-up cocktail bar and planning to open a full time one, I might have less use for it, but in my case, it's a godsend. I don't reuse my ice, and to be honest I haven't put into practice a TON of techniques from it yet, but I am strongly considering a carbonation rig, and if/when the Green Zone becomes a brick and mortar bar, centrifuge all day long, and possibly even LN. I do use his iSi infusion technique, but I started that before the book came out (it was on the Cooking Issues blog years ago). That said even before I pick up a carbonation setup, or a centrifuge, or an LN dewar, his coffee infusions will def get some trials for my Turkish Coffee Liqueur, and I did pick up a cheapo manual ice shaver at H Mart (cheap version of his expensive Japanese one), and I've tried his sub-threshold salt in sours trick, and it's great. I also used his technique for orgeat, using some Cooking Issues style hydrocolloids, and it was a breeze, and it's amazing. I also picked up some of his preferred brand of agar-agar powder and plan on doing some test runs of juice clarification soon. Dave Arnold is my new God, basically.

Hell yes. I wish it was warm enough here to truly appreciate such drinks

I've seen that book all over the place - curious to hear what you think of it. Amazed there's no sherry thread.... I'm nearly done reading Imbibe! for the first time (new edition), and there are a lot of sherry cocktails in that I want to try out. I submit my attempt to recreate the Palenque Sour from DC's Mockingbird Hill, a sherry-and-ham joint: Amontillado, mezcal, lemon, SS, dusting of nutmeg and crushed "smoked tea" (Lapsang, obviously). I don't think my ratios were the same as what theirs is, but it's a delicious drink to tinker with.

I'd def say Beefeater for the Negroni, For the Martinez, an Old Tom or even a genever would be lovely and bring it closer to Manhattan territory.

If you're a Manhattan person, a Martinez should be right up your alley. A Negroni, as nice as they are, not so much, though it's a great aperitif drink.

LKK is the go-to for Cantonese style oyster sauce, Mae Krua (or whatever the one with the woman cooking in a waist-high wok is) is the go-to Thai one. Depends what you'd like to cook more, I guess.

Waiting to hear your full report - Carter has quite the rep, curious to see how his stacks against your Sukenari, Fujiwara Teruyasu, and Konosuke!

I like the latter one a lot. I didn't even know Healthy Boy made oyster sauce - but their Thai style soy sauces are great.

This is seafood but you can sub in whatever you want, more to the point it has a recipe for green curry paste from scratch: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/greencur2.html Furthermore, guide to making curry pastes: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/features/cpaste.html

The Justino recipes from Liquid Intelligence spring to mind - fruit (in the book's case bananas) blended with booze (rum) in a high-speed blender until relatively homogenous, then clarified in a centrifuge. I don't like bananas personally, but apparently it's damn good.

yaaaaaasss! yasss! yaaaas!

Arigato

What size did you get?