JAZ

I'm thinking about going out for dim sum -- I haven't had any since I moved to Atlanta from San Francisco. I have no idea about any of the places that came up on a Google search. Any suggestions? Do dim sum places here use the cart system exclusively, or can you order off a menu as well?

They are sort of a cross between an American style skillet and saute pan -- as you said, straighter and deeper sides. The introductory price, if you can get it, makes them a great deal. If you have any other pans made my European manufacturers, the lids might fit -- European lids tend to come in 9" and 11" inch sizes, as opposed to American, which are usually 10" and 12".

The problem with the lazy susan idea is that it creates incredibly inefficient use of space. I'm guessing you could fit at least 25% more liquor bottles into a cupboard without lazy susans. And, for most of us, that's the name of the game. ← Another consideration is height. A lazy susan will reduce the height of the bottles you can store. But I agree that one would be ideal for bitters.

Okay -- it just seemed to me that if you're cooking all those ingredients together for 8 hours, you'll get all the merging of flavors that you need. And so, for the garlic, you want pieces about 1/2 inch on a side? Or should they be smaller?

Here's the recipe I found online. I assume that this is it? It sounds good, but I have a couple of questions: Why soak the garlic overnight? I thought that garlic in oil was subject to botulism. For the garlic, what does "quartered and halved" mean, and why not just smash the cloves? Finally, it seems to me that a chuck roast would be better with this cooking method than a sirloin tip roast. Is there a reason for that choice?

At the risk of heaping scorn upon my head, I'm going to suggest the 1867 patent by Lachlan Rose to preserve lime juice without the use of alcohol. Within a decade, his company was successfully bottling and selling Rose's Lime Cordial. Like it or not, Rose's has been a mainstay in the bar world, officially as an ingredient in the Gimlet, and less officially and less felicitously, in all kinds of drinks that call for fresh lime juice.

Dave makes a good point: blanket statements about water being preferable to canned stock don't take into account what the dish is that requires the stock. If it's a soup or a stew where the beef flavor is paramount, I probably wouldn't bother making it without homemade stock or broth. If it's a sauce where the stock is reduced quite a bit, then I probably wouldn't use canned broth because I think any off-flavors would be magnified. But I also wouldn't use water in that case, because I think the umami taste and mouthfeel would be too important to give up, and you wouldn't get those with water. In those cases, I've used More Than Gourmet glace de viande and demi glace and been very happy with the results. And the upside is that because they're concentrated, you don't have to reduce as much, saving some time. Better than Bouillon is also decent, but I think the extra cost is worth it for More than Gourmet, if you can find it. In cases where you're not really relying on the beef flavor but you want the mouthfeel of stock, then canned chicken stock would be my choice. If there are enough other flavors going on in the dish and all you need is liquid to dissolve taste molecules, then water is fine.

I don't know that Atlanta has any historic cocktails, but going with option #1, I started thinking about peaches. While I was at the store to pick some up, I stumbled across Red Rock Golden Ginger Ale, a native Atlanta soda. Seemed like an omen. (And having recently lost electricity for 6 hours due to an Atlanta thunderstorm, the name was easy.) Dark and Peachy 1/2 large peach, cut into small chunks 2 oz. Barcardi 8 or similar dark rum .5 oz lime juice 1 teaspoon Falernum dash peach bitters Red Rock ginger ale* Place the peach, rum, lime juice, Falernum and bitters in a shaker with ice. Shake hard and pour out (double strainer suggested) over fresh ice in a highball glass. Top with ginger ale. * if you need to substitute a different ginger ale, pick one that's spicy and not too sweet. Red Rock is made with capsaicin as well as ginger.

How could I not, after that? Chris is right: the Gimlet is one of my favorite drinks. I even defend the use of Rose's Lime Juice because of that (although these days I am making my own lime cordial). And I love Raymond Chandler and Phillip Marlow. I love the scene quoted above, although I have to say that half gin and half Rose's is not how I make my Gimlets. But the Gimlet as an LA drink? It's just so damned British; even Marlowe was introduced to it by an ex-pat. On the other hand, I guess if everyone's main introduction to it was from Chandler, then maybe it does count as an LA drink.

Very true. It's a nice appetizer, but not a main course. However, if you can't eat it all, leftover marrow is a great ingredient. I've mixed it with parmiggiano and spread it on bread, broiled it and used it to float on French onion soup. It's also great for steak sandwiches.

I'm a big proponent of one- or two-bite sized appetizers for cocktail parties (when I teach cocktail party classes, I always tell my students, "Don't make your guests set down their drinks to eat."). Two of my most successful appetizers are stuffed miniature potatoes, and stuffed cherry tomatoes. They have the "cute factor" plus, for some reason, people love miniature versions of big foods. I'll have to figure out something to do with the small squashes.

Thanks for the advice. As it turns out, I can buy the Cuisinart wine refrigerator for a really good price -- either the 6 or 11 bottle model. Anyone have any experience with this?

I make an appetizer that consists of sauteed diced mushrooms topped with a little piece of brie and then baked just until the brie melts, and in my experience the rind doesn't melt -- I always take care to just get the inside of the cheese.

I tried this Maiden's Prayer variation from Cocktaildb, which combines gin and applejack. A little sweet, but nice.

Having lived in San Francisco for many years, I got used to having a kitchen that stayed relatively cool pretty much all year long. I left butter out (in a butter bell) and kept all my citrus fruit, and tomatoes out as well. Now that I live in Atlanta, that's okay in the winter, but doesn't cut it in the summer. I don't like refrigerated tomatoes, and find that citrus doesn't juice as well when it's cold, but I also don't like having fruit rot before I can get to it and I'm not crazy about melted butter. So I'm thinking that maybe a small inexpensive wine fridge might be the way to go. I'd like to keep it around 65 degrees, and I know that's in the range of wine fridges. But I have some questions about them: First, they all seem to have racks for bottles, which makes sense for a wine fridge, but do any of them have removable racks? If so, can I replace the bottle racks with flat racks, or will I be able to place a flat rack on top of the bottle racks? Second, are they loud? Do they suck up a lot of energy? Third, they seem to range from around $100 up to $600 or even more (I'm looking for something pretty small -- maybe sized for 6-12 bottles). What features should I look for, given what I'm going to use it for? I don't need dual zones, so I assume that will cut down on the cost. Anything else I need to know?

Lately, I've been drinking the occasional Maiden's Prayer out of Paul Harrington's book, which calls for equal parts gin and white rum, plus Cointreau and lemon juice. It occurs to me that there are only a couple of cocktails that call for two spirits in more or less equal parts. Another is the Saicar from Dave Wondrich's Killer Cocktails, which calls for brandy and reposada tequila. It too is a great cocktail. I know of several other cocktails that call for a base of one spirit, plus a splash of another, but not many that call for two spirits with equal billing. Am I missing them, or are they a rarity? Any others worth trying?

If the idea of cider appeals to you (I think it's a great match with shellfish) you might try a light dry cocktail with Applejack -- maybe an applecart topped with a splash of soda or sparkling wine.

As Rob has said, he's passed his opening day, so we're closing the topic. Please feel free to send congratulations to Rob in a personal message.

The museum is housed within the Food and Beverage Museum in the Riverwalk complex. It's small, but nicely arranged with a lot of information packed in a small space. Antique bottles, equipment, and glassware are part of it, of course, but the displays are set up to tell stories, so it's not dry (ha!) at all.

#4. Brown Sugar Sings The Blues Ingredients: 1 oz fresh bueberries .5 oz gum syrup made with brown sugar 2 oz Old New orleans Rum 1 oz lime juice, fresh squeezed 3 ice cubes Optional: berries as garnish pulled caramel sugar spike as a fancy swizzle-stick garnish I use a cobbler shaker for this, although it does get clogged up. Muddle the berries in the bottom of the shaker. Add the other ingredients. Shake vigorously, until shaker is extremely cold. Pour (carefully) into a short cocktail glass. Garnish with a few berries and a spike of pulled caramelized sugar.

I've kept this open for a couple of extra days, since I didn't receive many entries. (My apologies for announcing it so late.) If you're thinking of entering, you've got another day. Please send me your entries by tomorrow.

#3: Louisville Cocktail 1.25 oz. Bulleit Bourbon 1.25 oz. B & B liqueur 1.25 oz. Carpano Antica formula 2 dashes Herbsaint or Absinthe 2 dashes Peychaud bitters Pour into ice filled shaker. Shake and strain into a cocktail glass. Serve with the best brandied cherry you can find. This was described as "a riff of off a Cocktail a la Louisiane."

Great idea with the lettuce. I make miniature tostadas for one of my classes, and always put a little shredded lettuce on the bottom to keep them crisp, but never thought of it for crisp tacos.

I'm going to vote "no" as well. To me, perfume is simply distracting and unwanted during a meal. I actually stopped wearing perfume when I started cooking seriously -- not that I wore a lot, but I didn't like the interference.

A follow-up question. Along with the single-bevel knives I was asking about, I have the opportunity to get one of the Shun Elites, with the powdered steel. In your opinion, is it worth the extra cost?