Hassouni

Yeah. The price for 3 is cheaper than the price for the 12, but I'm wondering if I need the 12 - I have a 12" Lodge pan and I'm not sure what I'd use the 12" de Buyer for.

Cap'n, I disagree. While I love Appleton 12, to my palate, the Appleton branded rums have nowhere near the level of funk and hogo and pot stilled estery awesomeness that I find in WN OP. My purely speculative theory is that a different blend, or stills, are used for the Appleton Estate rums, or perhaps less dunder is added to the mash (is it called a mash in rum making?)

This is a hell of a steal. If I didn't have the 10" I'd definitely jump on it, and even so, I'm still considering it

Pretty much any recipe calling for London dry should do

Bombay Dry is a pretty typical London dry gin. If you recall not liking gin in times past, the chances are high that the gin you had was also London dry - that's all that was available in the US for most of living memory until the most recent cocktail renaissance.

Oh, your VEP is the yellow? I would highly recommend getting a bottle of the standard, unaged Chartreuse verte - it's utterly sublime.

Not really

Are the internals of the cheaper ones also plastic?

Damn

Just completed the Kaiser P recipe, using Wray and Nephew, of course. I wasn't able to add ginger until about halfway through, but otherwise I followed the recipe to the letter. It's nice* but I think the Elmegirab recipe is more interesting - it has a higher content of lime zest, and a wider array of spices. The lime is evident in the KP recipe, as are the cloves and especially the allspice, but really the most dominant flavor is the sugar. Perhaps the flavor will change after a couple days' settling. *I still have not tried Taylor's Velvet Falernum, so I don't really know what my reference standard is.

I think you must have the Chartreuse VEP, which is aged in oak. Was it in the price range of normal Chartreuse ($50-60)? If so, you got a hell of a deal, that stuff is rare and expensive.

Made myself a batch of Kaiser P's 24 hour falernum but when looking into it, I couldn't help but read his 5 minute falernum post, using nitrogen cavitation in an iSi cream whipper. There are several different models, ranging quite widely in price - will all of them work for this technique? For the moment I'm not really interested in foams or even whipping cream or keeping things hot or cold, I just want something that can reliably make fast infusions.

Do you have a mega old bottle? Did you buy it recently? If so, it could be really old stock. I've never seen Chartreuse sold with anything except a screw top. If it's really antique, then you've scored big time. Chartreuse is one of if not the only liqueur/spirit that improves with age in the bottle. Pouring Ribbons even has decades old vintages of Chartreuse that they sell by the ounce for a hefty pricetag.

Unscrew it? Mine is a screw top, nothing special at all

Most likely

Having not cooked much in the last few months, I used my reconditioned de Buyer to fry an egg, and once again - like ice! I added a small film of oil to the pan before adding a pat of butter - not sure if just oil or just butter would give the same results, but I'm happy with that result.

I can now confirm that using Barbancourt 15 with Smith & Cross makes for a real hell of a Mai Tai, although the 15 is more intense than the 8 and therefor stands up to the S&C more.

I made a batch of Lebanese pickled turnips (kabis al-lift), more or less following the ratios from this post: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2012/09/pickled-turnips-turnip-recipe/ (although I didn't slice the garlic) A few thoughts: 1. not sour enough, needs more vinegar to water. 2. 3 cloves of garlic is way too much Also, the best examples of these pickles are really crunchy, whereas mine are not soggy or anything but don't have that snap and bite. I left mine at room temp for about 7-8 days (lost track of time) - could that be why? They're in the fridge now, but would putting them in the fridge sooner have made a difference?

Well I'm impressed. What's the kanji say?

Even better

I dunno. I've used every style of boston shaker out there (glass and all metal) and nothing seals as consistently as the korikos. I on the other hand find the seal hard to break. Fun story, I was making a cocktail for a friend, put a non koriko large tin on the small one, gave it a securing slap, went to shake, and.... ....no seal whatsoever. Half the drink went on me and the floor. That, ladies and gents, is why you shake w the rim of the large shaker facing you!

How about one of these? http://www.opensky.com/bella-copper/product/copper-heat-diffusers?osky_origin=google&osky_source=pla&gclid=CP-go9m0970CFewDOgodCRIAgg

Nah, sidecar too

I dunno, but several beer producers do it in spirit of the 16th century reinheitsgebot

If added after distillation, that'd be both a coloring and flavoring additive - think Cruzan Blackstrap, the most extreme example