JAZ

I've tried a couple of tequila drinks with a pinch of salt, and what I found was that the Margarita with a blanco was much brighter with a pinch of salt. With a splash of grapefruit juice added to the usual mix, it was also nice. But a version with reposado and a splash of blood orange juice didn't fare as well. The salt didn't harm it in the least, but it didn't add anything either. In fact, I added more lime juice to it because it tasted a little flat. This salt thing is very interesting.

Chow mein noodles -- the crispy ones. My mother used to add these to Chex mix, and also made "haystacks" with these and peanuts, covered in chocolate. Lately, I've rediscovered them for sprinkling over Asian-style salads.

In his book The Joy of Coffee, Corby Kummer has a recipe for Praline Crisp cookies that calls for browning butter and then re-solidifying it before creaming it with the sugar. The browned butter makes these cookies so wonderful that I've copied it for several other recipes.

Interesting. Earlier tonight, I tried a Daiquiri with a pinch of salt added. I found it oddly muted -- even after an additional squeeze of lime, it seemed flat and lifeless. It's the exact opposite of what I would have predicted. Maybe salt is best left to grapefruit drinks. I'm planning to test that theory, tomorrow probably.

My sister used to make a savory version with cheese and (I think) tomatoes and sausage. It was good, but I always preferred the plain one.

I remember reading several recipes for limeade-type drinks from various Southeast Asian countries that include salt in the drink itself, so that might be a place to start. I think that, of the citrus juices, salt works best with lime and grapefruit, then lemon, with orange last. Maybe that's because salt works to soften bitterness, so it would make sense that the more bitter fruits would take to a pinch of salt.

Here's one I was playing around with last summer. Since I've been finding pretty good peaches in the market lately, I've revisited it and have decided to call it the Peachy Keen. 1/2 peach, cut into chunks 5-6 basil leaves 2 oz. gin 1/2 oz. Velvet Falernum 1/2 oz. lime juice Big dash peach bitters Muddle peach and basil with the gin. Add rest of ingredients and ice. Shake. Strain (I use a regular small strainer rather than a cocktail strainer).

A couple of comments: Have you considered Demeyere cookware (which can be used on induction ranges)? I have several pieces in the Sirocco line and love it. Most pieces have a copper disk bottom (skillets and sauciers don't -- they have a thick aluminum core), so the responsiveness is good. They're also dishwasher safe. I love them. Also, you haven't really said what kind of cooking you do, so it's a little hard to say what the "minimum" is. The list that gariotin posted is a good start, but (for instance) if you plan to make stock, a 6-qt. stockpot probably won't be nearly big enough. On the other hand, there's no reason to get a 12- or 16-qt. stockpot if you're not going to make stock. As another example, if you want to make stews and braises, I think you'd want a cast iron (either plain or enamel-coated) 4-qt. or larger dutch oven. If the 6-qt. stockpot is heavy enough, it might be able to do double-duty, but often stockpots aren't designed for browning and braising. And it seems that you plan to make candy -- you'll need something heavy bottomed and at least 4 quarts for most batches of candy. You really can't use a cast iron dutch oven style pan for that -- it retains way too much heat. Sometimes you just can't make pans do "double duty."

Candyfreak by Steve Almond (subtitled "A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America"). Part history, part reminiscence, and lots of chocolate. This could have been a rather ordinary tribute to candy, but the author is such a good writer, it's one of those books I want to read over and over. For instance, this is his description of watching marshmallow bunnies being enrobed in chocolate:

Gary and Mardee Regan's Tart Gin Cooler (from New Classic Cocktails) is a great drink that incorporates tonic. Pour over ice: 2 oz gin, 3 oz grapefruit juice, 3 oz tonic water and a dash of Peychaud bitters, stir to combine. Great summertime drink.

Incanto is open on Sundays, and it would be a perfect choice given your specifications. It's not downtown, but it is in SF, and it's easy to get to on the MUNI streetcar. (Here is a topic on Incanto, and here is a topic on a dinner we had there a while back -- scroll down for the dinner posts, plus photos.) There's also a relatively new Italian place downtown, Perbacco, that I've heard good things about, but I moved before it opened, so I don't have any personal experience with it.

The Oxo one does look good (and it's certainly cheaper than my WMF strainer) -- what's the function of the black rubber piece on the back? John, is that the one you have, or does Oxo make another?

I've been on a search for a nice looking, yet functional cocktail strainer. For a long time, I used the basic one you see everywhere -- small, stainless and ugly. It worked okay, although I always found that there was nothing to funnel the liquid, so it was easy to spill as I poured. Mostly, though, it just looked and felt cheap and flimsy. I like my bar tools to look nice as well as function well; hence the search. The problem was that most of the "nicer" strainers, in sets or sold singly, had major design flaws -- the spring wasn't large enough to keep the strainer in the shaker securely, or the handle was long (what's the point of that?). That was the main reason I never bought the Rosle strainer -- that and the price, although I could have gotten a substantial discount. I finally found one that I'm happy with -- this one by WMF. It looks nice (it's made of brushed stainless), fits the strainer snugly and pours well. But I'd still like to know if there are others out there worth getting -- after all, I can always use two good strainers. What does everyone else use?

While I agree that a lot of horseradish makes a Bloody Mary too much like cocktail sauce, I'd argue that a little (I use less than 1/4 tsp. per drink) adds a second layer of heat that you can't get from chile-based hot sauces. Made with just a touch of horseradish, a Bloody Mary doesn't taste like cocktail sauce, or even like horseradish -- it just has a nice fresh burst of heat. I like it.

An immersion blender is not a substitute for a hand-held mixer. Some of the more powerful ones can whip cream and egg whites, but they're not designed for other mixing tasks. No banana bread, in other words. I personally think immersion blenders are inefficient and a waste of valuable kitchen space, but I know I'm in the minority.

When I came home tonight after a day of cranky and crazy customers, none of my recent "usual" drinks sounded quite right. It struck me that a) I hadn't had a Gimlet in ages; b) it used to be my standard drink; and c) I really wanted one. Sometimes you don't realize how soothing and comforting a drink is when you're drinking it regularly. In this case, absence really did make the heart grow fonder. It was exactly what I needed -- comfort in a glass.

A few weeks ago I read an essay in the NYT dining section which started out with an observation that -- apparently -- lots of adults all over the U.S. eat cold cereal as a night time snack. The essay then went on to suggest that polenta (aka "hot cereal") would be a better choice. The essay was pretty lame, in my opinion, but the author's contention about cold cereal surprised me. As someone who hasn't eaten cold cereal at any time of the day for more than 15 years, I can't imagine cold cereal being something anyone would eat at night (well, any time, actually, but I can understand the appeal at breakfast -- it's fast, easy and filling). So, have I been missing something all these years? Is cold cereal a perfect snack for late night?

I make a smoked salmon risotto that has dill and leeks in it (finished with mascarpone). It's very good. If you leave out the smoked salmon, you could serve it with baked or grilled salmon.

As Rebecca noted, cardamom goes well with apple. If I had cardamom liqueur, I'd try mixing it with applejack or Calvados and some lemon juice to start. I imagine it would be great in a hot buttered rum, too.

Maybe the salt mills I've used haven't been the right ones, because I find that they never grind as fine as table salt, and I also find that the grind is generally uneven. So I can't imagine using one for sprinkling an even layer of fine salt. I use a shaker for those applications. Even sprinkling kosher salt from my fingers results in a more even layer of salt than the grinders I've used. As for the clumping issue, even living in San Francisco, with its moist marine air, for 20 years, I never had any trouble with clumping (using, from time to time, Morton table salt, which has anti-clumping agents, but also Baleine'sfine salt, which doesn't).

Just picked up a small bottle of Tanqueray's Rangpur, but I'm unsure what to do with it. I tend to prefer the juniper-heavy gins, but I wanted to give this a try. Has anyone had any great successes mixing this gin, or tried any good drinks with it?

It used to be that at virtually any American restaurant, you'd find a set of salt and pepper shakers on every table. Also, at least at a certain class of restaurant, waiters seemed to appear with pepper grinder in hand for fresh ground pepper (which was almost always in addition to the shaker). Now, it seems to me that fewer restaurants, especially the high end ones, provide salt and pepper at the table. I can see a couple of very different reasons for this: I'm sure that anything remotely attractive walks out the door with more than one customer; and (I suspect) there's a feeling among chefs that their food is perfectly seasoned and adding salt or pepper to it is sacrilege. In addition, there's probably a feeling that salt and pepper (particularly pre-ground pepper) at the table are somehow passe or perhaps even lower class. And yet, if there's one thing that can make or break virtually any savory dish, salt is that thing. Much as chefs might not like it, their taste for salt might not be universal, so why not give diners the option of seasoning to their taste? In most cases, pepper is probably not such a big deal, but why make the customer ask for salt or suffer under-salted food?

A note about the mini-magnum mill: it works fine, once you get it filled. Filling it, however, is about the most frustrating thing I've ever done. You have to take the top off to fill it, but the top is what holds the grinding mechanism in place. Thus, you have to hold the shaft of the grinder in place while you're filling the (very small) body with pepper. I can't believe that they couldn't have come up with a better design.

I use it in glazes -- for instance, concentrate, mustard, brown sugar and bourbon makes a great glaze for ham.

When I puree them, I puree the sauce as well, and then strain out the seeds, so I have a completely smooth product. Usually if I have a recipe that calls for the pepper only, I used dried peppers reconstituted with hot water.