Hassouni

Dumb question. It seems in Pedro's video that his sealer has a separate button for vacuum, and a separate one for seal. On most of the simpler products on the market now, I see a button saying "seal" and another saying "vacuum and seal"- does the latter mean it vaccums first, then seals, or what?

That's very interesting, thanks! What about the thing I've heard about ziplocks not being good for extended immersion?

Picked up for me by a buddy returning from Havana. Cost her all of $5 apparently (!!!) I've had HCA3A a bunch of times before (usually in London or Beirut), but never in a context where I can do side-by-side tests or try it in a cocktail. I'm going to side-by-side it with Flor de Caña, Palo Viejo, Caña Brava, and maybe Don Q and Doorly's White, though I don't think those are a fair comparison. Then I'm going to see how it does in a daiquiri and a mojito compared to those. If anybody else knows a good "Cuban style" white rum to put against it, let me know (I can already think of Cruzan and I'm not interested. Forget Bacardi) Also, on Tuesday I was in the hood and figured I'd do a Ghetto Liquor Store run (I recently found a 1982 bottling of Barbancourt 15 for $25, and am still on the hunt for a $30 bottle of Chartreuse). I did not find any Chartreuse (I think it's a myth that GLSes have them) but I did find some interesting rum: Has anybody even HEARD of this? There's a stupid writeup on Uncommon Caribbean and a brief, faintly praising blurb on Beachbum Berry's site, and that's pretty much it. I've just tried a sip of it, neat and diluted. Lighter fluid. With natural sweetness and then a truly amazing taste of pure, fresh-off-the-tree young coconut. This gives any "coconut rum" a run for its money. Think WNOP, but less hogo-y and weird, and a lot strong in ABV. I'm a fan.

Actually for someone who's never SVed before, the app is great because the recipes are dead simple and a great starting point. I don't want to read through a thousand pages of eG when there's an idiot-proof recipe on the app.

I've heard that ANYTHING with any liquid just really bollockses up a Foodsaver. Like, marinated meat, or fish poached in olive oil, etc. Perhaps I'm wrong. I'm happy to do that but I've heard for multi-hour cooks they're not as reliable as heat-seal bags. If I want do multi-day cooks, or even full day cooks, will Ziplocks work ok?

Ancient Mariners cos I GOT WHITE GRAPEFRUITS...but I didn't have cinnamon syrup, so Jet pilots and Zombies and the like were out. Will be making some cinnamon syrup ASAP because I'm tired of winter and I want more fun rum and citrus drinks. I used the standard Beachbum recipe, using Woods 100 (100 English...) for the Demerara, and Smith & Cross for the "Dark Jamaican" - unorthodox, but better (2 oz at Navy Proof, cap'n). I should never doubt the Bum's ratios, I skimped on the simple syrup and the drinks were a bit too dry. I was lacking a purple straw so a magenta one had to suffice. Also, I tried to see how my newish Blendtec would fare at crushing ice for drinks. It sucks. It turns ice into pure snow in about 2 seconds even on the slowest/weakest setting (not the "Crush Ice" button). If anybody has a trick for getting tiny chunks of ice rather than snow out of a Blendtec or other high-powered blender, I'd love to hear it.

No photos sorry... Ancient Mariners* the other night, using an ounce each of Woods 100 and Smith & Cross. Plus beer, cider, etc. Several drinks out and about in DC in the last week or so that remain seared in the memory (it's been a boozy week): From Room 11 (maybe the best "not a speakeasy" cocktail bar in town now): Sigridsdatter - gin, Bittermens Solståndet, pear, lemon, black walnut bitters, star anise garnish. Stunning drink.Den of Lions - Smith & Cross, Blackwell, Lemon, 1/4 Angostura biters, cane sugar, 3 drops homemade scotch bonnet bitters. Very reminiscent of a Trinidad Sour, also great.From Bar Pilar, upstairs: La Flama Blanca - Spice infused dry vermouth, tequila, yellow Chartreuse, generous Mezcal spritz. Mmm.From Mockingbird Hill: Palenque Sour: Vida mezcal, amontillado, lemon, honey syrup, freshly grated nutmeg, crushed Lapsang Souchong sprinked atop. The Palenque Sour and Sigridsdatter were the two ultimate standouts, they rank up their in some of the best drinks I've ever had. Also got a generous pour of Four Roses Single Barrel at Saint Ex. I'm not a Bourbon guy but this stuff was quite nice. *Note to Tiki fans: Blendtec crushed ice snow is NOT what you want for your crushed ice drinks. Back to the bag and mallet go I....

You don't need to boil it at all if its 1c water to 1c sugar. Just stick it in a jar and shake it up well and it will dissolve. Use hot water and it'll go even faster.

No, it's similar to Pakistani-style naan, circular, and not made with milk or yogurt or anything, just flour and water and yeast. It is NOT the same as North Indian naan, in terms of shape, texture, or taste. Lavash is quite different too.

If only I knew where to get real buffalo gaimar....but you're close to Dearborn so it can't be that hard... PS dibis w rashi should be eaten with fresh khubuz tannour, or thin bread from the tandoor, basically the same as persian taftoon bread.

I dunno what date syrup you're looking at, but my jar says 100% concentrated natural dates. It doesn't say what sort of dates, or what sort of sugar was in them. I will say though that anything labelled as Iraqi date syrup will be more or less the same. ETA: Delights from the Garden of Eden mentions two ways it's made: either by being pressed (like olive oil, I guess), or by being boiled until the dates disintegrate, and the water then evaporated out.

Date syrup is a signature staple of the Iraqi kitchen, so much so that every jar I've ever seen of it is labelled Iraqi Date Syrup, or Basra Date Syrup. It really isn't used as a replacement for sugar or honey at all. As you've surely noticed, the taste is radically different. Three very common uses for it off the top of my head: Mixed with tahina (or in iraqi dialect: rashi) to make a well-known sweet dip called dibis w rashiDrizzled atop gaymar (clotted cream made from buffalo milk, similar to the levantine 'ashta or turkish kaymak, but thicker) as a sweet breakfast itemMixed into plain yogurt to sweeten itOn that subject, I'm trying to devise a cocktail recipe using it....

Very good point, thanks! I guess I need to get a FoodSaver now....

So I got my Anova, barely used it, as I still don't have a vacuum sealer. I do NOT have the budget for a chamber sealer, so I was thinking, for wet items, do the ziplock thing first, seal, then vacuum seal the ziplock in a foodsaver/etc bag? Should make the poor-handling of wet foods with the Foodsavers a non-issue, right?

Thanks! Yes, that is the Koriko strainer. I have mixed feelings about it. It's EXTREMELY solid, and the coil is ultra tight and equally sturdy, which largely eliminates the need for a double strainer, unless you like ZERO ice fragments in the drink. Most would say these are good things. Less appealing: The size and heft I'm sure are a plus for many, but I got used to the OXO strainers, which are much smaller (without that handle), lighter and quite nimble. Also, the coil on the OXO strainers is a bit more open, allowing for a MUCH faster pour. Double straining with the Koriko strainer is a particularly slow process. Finally, it's allegedly designed for double-pouring, but I have yet to figure that out consistently. The angle and positioning of the strainer/shaker have to be just right. For home use, or lower-volume bar, it's a great strainer. For a fast-based bar context I'd favor the OXOs. (FYI I haven't tried CK's other Hawthorn strainer, there are a few bars in DC using them)

There are no hard and fast rules but the general principle is to cram as much mint as will fit into the pot, while the amount of tea is what one would normally put (few spoonfuls)

Rafa had a giant tasting, but I restrained myself since I'd already tried all of them (except the Don Q Gran Añejo). I also gave him samples of several Green Zone drinks, the carnage of which is here:

isi is faster, but sous vide is not bad either. I dunno if I agree about the isi being more intense though. Maybe I just put a lower ratio of solids to liquids in the isi vs. jars when I did SV or old fashioned infusing. I should probably be more scientific than I am... [Host's note: To avoid an excessive load on our servers this topic has been split. The discussion continues here]

Well it turns out I'm being asked to devise a signature cocktail for the wedding of one my best friends. Guess it's time for me to put what I said to practice!

And a Jack Rose

Fuck this winter shit, I need some rum and lime drinks up in here. I'll turn the heat up to compensate. I haven't really made any cocktails at home for myself since doing my pop-up bar...

Yeah, their burger is awesome. Definitely my fav of the "high end fast food" joints (direct competition with Five Guys, IMO, and the Shack's beef is noticeably better)

Apologies if what I have to say has been said before, I didn't read every response in detail, or if what I'm saying is too obvious.

US duty free generally is pretty boring, I'm afraid

Beer whisky that's about it I did pull a white-girl and have a HUGE glass of red wine while watching Netflix on Friday night. I dunno how they do it, it was way too much wine....