JAZ

Chad, you may cover this question in your book, but I haven't been able to do more than skim it so far. (I do look forward to reading it.) What do you think about the knives with a single bevel? I've never used them, but I have an opportunity to get one for very little money and am tempted. I should say that I have a lot of knives (I've worked in cookware stores off and on for 10 years and thus have quite a collection), so it's not as if I need any more. But I'm tempted by the Shun Pro or Pro II lines -- should I get one? What are the advantages or disadvantages? (I should add that I don't sharpen my own knives, although I take reasonably good care of them. I would be having a professional knife guy sharpen this, just like I do all my knives.)

I bought a bottle of Aperol after tasting a couple of similar Aperol variations on the Negroni (one at Bourbon & Branch in SF; one at Restaurant Eugene in Atlanta). My version: 1 oz. gin (I'm using Beefeater) 1 oz. Aperol 1 oz. Lillet (blond) Bourbon & Branch called theirs a "Summer Negroni" and I think that's a good name for it -- much as I like Negronis, this is lighter and more refreshing.

#2: The Ode to Jeff (built for two) 4 oz Old New Orleans Amber rum 1 1/2 oz lime 1 oz pimento dram 1 oz falernum 3 dashes Peychaud's bitters 1/2 tsp Herbsaint medium egg white Shake all ingredients without ice. Add ice and shake until frothy. Strain into two glasses, drop two or three drops of Peychaud's onto the top of each. Jeff is, of course, Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, whose hard work has unearthed a treasure-trove of information about tiki drinks and the bartenders who created them. This drink pays homage to one of those men, Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt, aka Donn Beach, aka Don the Beachcomber, whose combination of Angostura bitters and Herbsaint was the "secret ingredient" to many of his legendary libations (not Angostura and Pernod as had been previously suggested). It took Jeff Berry to bring this revelation to our attention, and so I offer this drink, which uses the bitters/Herbsaint base to fine effect with the layered Old New Orleans Amber rum. Note from the entrant: Should the judges require some pimento dram to prepare this beverage, the entrant will be most happy to supply it immediately.

I thought Atlanta area members might be interested to know that The Cook's Warehouse is holding its annual Sidewalk Sale this coming weekend at all three locations. (By way of disclaimer, I work and teach there.) Not everything will be on sale, but there are some pretty good deals to be had.

The eGullet Society would like to thank Chad and his publisher for permission to reprint an excerpt from An Edge in the Kitchen in The Daily Gullet, and for agreeing to answer our questions as well. Click here for the new discussion. Thanks, Chad, and congratulations!

We'll be driving from San Francisco to Oregon in a couple of months, and it seems that the best stopping place will be Eureka. It's been at least 15 years since I was in Eureka, so I have no current knowledge of what's available for dinner. On the higher end, Restaurant 301 looks interesting, but we'd also be fine with the Lost Coast Brew Pub if the food was good. Another thing we'd love is really great Mexican food. There are also a few Mexican restaurants that come up in Google searches, but no way to tell which, if any, are good. Any suggestions? Our only limitation is that we probably won't get there until 8 at the earliest, which means we'll be eating dinner at 9 or later.

Two points. First, brunch is a great thing if you're hungover: A) You get a built-in excuse to eat traditional breakfast foods after noon, but if you can't stomach breakfast foods when you're hungover, it's also perfectly acceptable to order a burger or sandwich or other non-breakfast food. B) You can drink and people don't look at you as if you're downing a Scotch for breakfast. Second, brunch is the ideal meal at which to order Eggs Benedict.

I can offer some suggestions about onion rings. I prefer very lightly coated rings, so I tend to do the milk (or buttermilk) soak and the flour dusting. But I agree that sometimes they can just seem like fried onions. And they also get soggy pretty fast. My solution is to put an egg in with the buttermilk -- it seems to make the coating more like a batter. For the crispness issue, I've found that a combination of regular all purpose flour and rice flour makes for great crispy rings with longer longevity. I add some spices to the flour -- chili powder, onion powder and salt -- but that's optional.

We have our first entry! #1: The Bloodhound 1.75 oz Bulleit Bourbon 1 oz fresh squeezed grapefruit juice 1 oz St Germain 6 drops Peychauds build first three ingredients over ice, shake, strain. float bitters. The entrant added this: Which brings up a good point. Any product that originated in New Orleans can be grandfathered in.

If you’ve seen this topic, you know that we’re planning a Society dinner at Mila in New Orleans during Tales of the Cocktail. We thought it would be cool to run a cocktail contest to go along with it, so we are. There aren’t many rules – actually, there are only two. First, you have to use at least one ingredient made in New Orleans or by a New Orleans company. Old New Orleans rum, Sazerac rye, Herbsaint, Peychauds – any of 'em count. Second, don’t post your entries here. We want the judging to be unbiased, so we’re submitting the entries to the judges anonymously. Send your recipe to me in a PM, and I’ll post it here, and then send it along to the judges. We’re planning to have the winning cocktail mixed specially for us at the dinner at Mila. You don’t have to go to the dinner to enter, of course. If the winner is at the dinner, he or she will probably be able to finagle a few drinks out of the table; in any case, the winner will get a copy of the book Big Easy Cocktails: Jazzy Drinks and Savory Bites from New Orleans. Most importantly, though, the winner will bask in the glory of having created the eGullet Society Tales of the Cocktail 2008 Commemorative Cocktail. Deadline for entries: Friday, July 11.

It seems to me that people tend to disparage electric ranges when they haven't actually used the new generation of them. I hear all kinds of blanket statements about gas ranges being better than electric, but I can say from personal experience that the electric range I have now is way better than many of the gas ranges I've used, and it's just an old style coil one. It gets hotter, heats up faster, and holds a nice low heat forever without any hot spots. I use fairly high end gas ranges at work -- Viking and Wolf -- and I'd take the electric Whirlpool I have in my apartment over either of them. Any day, no contest.

What kind of batter do you use for the fish, Bruce? Whenever I've tried to make fish tacos with deep fried fish the batter gets soggy and makes the whole taco fall apart.

I think that with limited wine selections, a dry champagne can be your best choice for spicy appetizer foods. There are undoubtedly better choices, given an infinite list, but it will at least be passable if the list is limited.

If -- and it's a big if -- your date likes to cook, pasta can be a great cooking project for two. It's much easier with two sets of hands, and it's probably a good gauge of how compatible you are in the kitchen. Way later in the relationship you can make sausage -- not something I'd recommend on a first date, or even a second or third, unless you know your date pretty well.

If the choice were between eating outside and not getting a table, I might choose to eat outside. Ever since I was eating outside on a breezy day, and a piece of lettuce from a Caesar salad on a server's tray flew off and hit me as she was passing our table, I've preferred the indoors for dining.

I have one of these, too, but I find that I end up with more bitter oil in my juice than I do using a regular reamer-style juicer. It's a shame, because these are fun to use and fast. ← It is true that, because this style press turns the citrus fruit inside out, you do get quite a bit of oil expressed along with the juice. Whether that's good or bad probably depends on what you're using the juice for; I like it in cocktails, but if I wanted juice to drink plain, I might not feel the same way. In any case, if you're contemplating the purchase of this style juicer, go for a stainless steel version -- much more durable than the enamel coated aluminum ones.

Just thought it was worth mentioning that for a recent cocktail party class I taught, I introduced the concept of the appetizer patty melt, made on cocktail rye bread -- cut in half, it made the perfect two-bite snack.

But why not be accurate? Certainly someone involved in the book could come up with an accurate and interesting title. Virtually anyone who sees a book called "Under Pressure" is going to assume that it deals with, well, cooking under pressure.

From the description, it seems to be about sous-vide cooking. I wonder why the title is Under Pressure. And I don't see Michael Ruhlman's name mentioned anywhere. What's his connection? Here's an eG Society-friendly link to the book.

While Holeman & Finch is a great place, I don't think it fits the criteria laid out in the original post. It's loud and crowded -- a "public house," if you will.

I need to find a few unusual ingredients for a cooking class I'll be shopping for: Fennel pollen Togarashi Kaffir lime leaves hon shimeji mushrooms Yuzu juice Micro celery Anyone have any ideas?

Since the discussion seems to have run its course and evolved into a general discussion of the benefits of the tipping system, we're closing this topic. Thanks to all who participated.

I've heard great things about Bacchanalia, but I've never been there, so I can't give it a personal recommendation. I love Restaurant Eugene, and would certainly consider it a finalist for a last meal.

The frozen ones are great -- the dishes in which I've used them have been braised or baked, and I can't tell the difference there. Maybe there'd be a difference in texture if they were pickled; I'm not sure.

My complaint about many Cook's Illustrated articles is that "problem" they're attempting to fix rarely seems to be a real problem. A friend of mine once described Cook's Illustrated's approach as the "straw man theory of kitchen science," which I think is dead on. In the May issue, for example, they're trying to come up with a recipe for a fruit fool that doesn't use custard. The reason, they say, is that "cooking custard is a fussy endeavor." News flash, folks -- no, it isn't. And it's certainly no more fussy than their solution, which is mixing sour cream into whipped cream for the base and then "softening gelatin in some uncooked berry puree and then combining the softened mixture with some heated puree to help melt and distribute the gelatin." I mean, please. If you want to put that much effort into the fruit for a fool, why not make a custard?