Hassouni

Your arms up to snuff?

OK, my recent attempt, first time baking in over 3 years: Bog-standard 2006 Lahey NKB recipe

I think I saw something called Brugal. What's it like? Not quite as molasses-y as Palo Viejo or smooth as FdC, it's a solid, dry white rum that is still identifiable as rum (as opposed to say, Batshitcardi), and if it came down to that or Appleton white, Matusalem white, El Dorado white, Mount Gay white, Barbancourt white, or most other whites, Brugal would be my pick for "Cuban style" white rum in the absence of the first two mentioned. If you don't find Brugal white (there is now a "special dry" or something that costs more, which is also white), and they have Don Q, that'll do as well - it's the biggest selling rum in Puerto Rico, for what that's worth (ask Rafa!) Many white rums are nearly indistinguishable from vodka, and many others have too much molasses character (because in many case they are aged then filtered to remove color) and while nice in their own right, don't really work for cocktails devised around pre-Fidel Bacardi or "Cuban-style" rum.

I attempted to do the Canter method on my pan last night, but after the first run, the seasoning looked AWFUL. When I did it on cast iron, I remember a much more even look, whereas with the de Buyer it was streaky and splotchy. Not sticky, but it didn't look right at all. Some googling turned up the fact that carbon steel doesn't take to that seasoning method quite as well, and furthermore it doesn't need to be seasoned to the same degree cast iron does. This morning I boiled water and vinegar in the pan, got as much of the seasoning off as I could, then did two very light flax oil coats stovetop. I then fried some very fatty bacon, and wiped that down leaving a thin coat. Then I figured what the hell, let's fry an egg. <1 Tbsp butter, room temp egg cracked right into the pan, and.... NO STICKING! It glided around like a figure skater. This pan rocks!

Ah, the Jet Pilot, most excellent!

Just for future knowledge, I loooooooove HC Añejo 3 Años

Wowwwww this pizza looks unreal. As good if not better as the VPN (or whatever) certified, award-winning place I had dinner last night. Can we get some details? (dough, baking method?)

I have been experimenting with some basic dry shake drinks lately (Ramos Gin Fizz, Morgenthalers Amaretto Sour). I have a no-name boston shaker, and when I dry shake there's more than a little leakage between the tin and glass. Would the Koriko tins give me an improvement on this? Strainer looks nice but might have to wait until payday: http://www.cocktailkingdom.com/Koriko-Hawthorne-Strainer-Stainless-Steel-p/str_korikohawx_0000_stl.htm I purchased the Koriko weighted tins from Cocktail Kingdom and they are great. no leaks. I had to learn how to break the seal on them after a few struggles. I'm still learning to break the seal after hundreds of uses....

Shel, I find oily fish to be MUCH greater offenders in the smell dept. However, oily fish is best fish so I just deal with it. Run the exhaust fan, open a window, do what you can. (In my new condo I can't do anything, so I don't cook oily fish very often, which is sad because it's probably my favorite food) If you don't mind white fish, then I've found that to have much less smell. This blog post describes in some detail a way to greatly reduce the smell when broiling fish, it might be helpful: http://www.beyondkimchee.com/broiled-yellow-croaker/

Wow, best haul of 2014 in my book. Niiiiice!

I use this. My minor complaints are: the backlight often goes out quicker than I want it to, and sometimes, but not always, when I remove something, it goes back to -1g or something in that range, but a quick zero out solves it. Otherwise it's fine, the pull out display is EXTREMELY useful

Hands down my favorite are from Trader Joe's: What used to be called the "Entertainer" cracker, and was discontinued, then reintroduced a year or so later as "Some Enchanted Cracker: multigrain crackers perfect for entertaining" and now seem to be permanently stocked. They're fairly big and substantial, perfectly crispy and crackery, they don't feel greasy (as some crackers can), and they taste awesome.

So my pan arrived today. Impressions - cooking surface is much smaller than anticipated, but big enough to cover most needs, I guess. Otherwise, nice and solid. There is no apparent beeswax finish, and on my receipt it says Mineral (not Mineral B). It says nothing about potato peels, is that just for the "B" line?

Try salt

wow, the 12 year?

At $40-50, Balvenie Doublewood is expensive as a base spirit mixer, and I don't think it's all that great for drinking neat. Pass.

Yeah, that stuff is decent and for convenience definitely cannot be beat.

I do exactly what huiray described, and it results in minimal skimming necessary

Oh man, I'd love to feel flush enough to do that!

Yeah, that too

That's not really the point of Shel's question. Many of us don't have pressure cookers, and don't have access to buck a pound chickens, even at the Asian supermarket (I fall under both). Sometimes you don't need a soup's worth of stock - When I make mapo doufu, for example, I have no compulsion against using a pre-made stock. Shel, to answer your q: I typically go for the TJ's organic, free range stock, at $2 a litre. I like that is organic and free range, and cheap!

Stick with HP. I've not been too impressed with Balvenie.

Well, $6 x 4 = $24. I haven't seen it significantly cheaper anywhere. It's a lot more convenient to just have a big bottle of it though.

Don't pour individual drinks into a pitcher, just pour directly into the pitcher and then refrigerate the pitcher. For a bourbon sour, if you plan on serving up, make sure to add about 20% water to the pitcher

I was at my favorite boozeria looking for Luxardo when their main man said they stopped carrying it after they conducted a taste test between Leopold, Lazzaroni, and Luxardo, and the results came in that order. They were out of the Leopold, so Lazzaroni was suggested. I found it very unpleasant. Almost like cherry halls or something, very candy-like, with none of the complex funk of Luxardo, and way too sweet. Fortunately, Joe Riley at Ace Beverages is a stand-up gent, and he let me return my opened bottle for store credit.