cdh

Since the Chef's Beer thread worked out so well last time around as an educational resource for homebrewers, I thought I'd let everybody know that I'm brewing again, and anybody who cares to is welcome to join in the recipe and ask any questions along the way. This time, since it is spring and and sunny and beautiful, I've decided to brew a Belgian Blonde, which should be a great late spring and early summer beer. Recipe follows, largely inspired by something over at the homebrew digest, a great homebrewing resource on the web (hbd.org), but trweaked to fit what my homebrew shop had handy: 4 oz Belgian Biscuit malt 4 oz Belgian aromatic malt 2 oz Caravienne 4 oz Munich malt all steeped in 2 gallons of water at 150 F for 30 minutes and sparged with a half gallon at the same temperature. After removing the grain, bring it to a boil, and add 8 lbs of Munton & Fison extra light dry malt extract, 8 oz of clear candy sugar and 1 oz Pride of Ringwood hops (6.5% AA) and let boil for 45 minutes. add 1/2 oz Stytian Goldings for the last 15 minutes of the boil. pitch with Wyeast belgian abbey type yeast, or ardennes. allow to ferment a couple of weeks, and when yeast activity has subsided rack and prime with 1/2 cup corn sugar and 1/3 cup clear candy sugar. Have fun brewing, and feel free to ask any questions you like.

Tis the season of marshmallow making, it would appear... Just made a big bunch of them the other day. Have been wondering what the differences between the egg-white ones and the whipped gelatine ones are. The final results seem alike... Did I not need those six egg whites in there after all? The recipe I use was from a workshop I took with Dorie Greenspan, and her recipe brought the syrup up to 265, and threw that into some eggwhites at stiff peaks (which double in volume when hit with the hot syrup), and then beating a hell of a lot of gelatine into that. They have turned out perfectly... but a friend who uses just the whipped gelatine method comes up with a nearly identical result . So, pros and cons of the egg white method?

And getting back to the tea... There are very distinct characteristics that define the Darjeeling style of tea and the Assam style of tea, and they go beyond geography. Darjeeling often appears to have been processed in a less mechanized, more rustic manner, evidenced by close examination of a sample of darjeeling. You'll see some unevenness in the leaf color, with the brown oxidized leaf juxtaposed with hints of green, unoxidized leaf... that has always made me wonder about the method they use to roll the leaves before leaving them to wither and oxidize... and become black tea. Darjeeling is always characterized by its high-notes. It has fruity notes, it has sharp notes, it has the capability of becoming quite astringent if brewed with water that is too hot, or left to steep too long. It is fragile, delicate, and easily wrecked by following the instructions printed on every tea box that demands water at a rolling boil and five minutes of steeping time. Assam's dry leaves, on the other hand, generally appears more uniform, and are definitely allowed to oxidize more than Darjeeling is. Assam leaf will always look darker, though the leaf form is more variable. Assam is a center for the CTC method of processing, which takes leaves and machines them into a more uniform appearance, and allows for a much more full oxidization. Some gardens there still use the traditional method that maintains the leaves in a more whole state. The flavor notes of Assams are more low notes. There is a toasty, cookie-like note that is characteristic of Assam teas. Assams can take a more vigorous brewing like the standard tea box instructions. Their tannins don't become so astringent like Darjeeling's do. Beware that these are generalizations, and you'll find that some growers are experimental and do break with the traditions that lead to the tea's characteristics. And... I've not played with enough of the Nilgiris or Dooars to be able to characterize them... does either have a characteristic style? The examples of both that I've tried have been overly astringent and tannic... probably a sign that the growers need some practice... maybe just my poor selections. Anyway, those are my personal thoughts.

The Homeskillet This is a lovely variation on the classic cocktail the Manhattan. It was invented shortly after I picked up my first bottle of Maraschino liqueur as I was playing around to see what it could do. Adding a little to a Manhattan really changed the drink into something new, and my friend and guinea pig who tasted the experiment with me named it. 2 oz. Bourbon (or Rye if you prefer a dryer drink) .5 oz Sweet Vermouth (never Martini and Rossi) .25 (or less) oz Maraschino liqueur 2 dashes Angostura Shake over ice, and serve either up, or over ice with a bit of seltzer. Keywords: Cocktail ( RG969 )

The Homeskillet This is a lovely variation on the classic cocktail the Manhattan. It was invented shortly after I picked up my first bottle of Maraschino liqueur as I was playing around to see what it could do. Adding a little to a Manhattan really changed the drink into something new, and my friend and guinea pig who tasted the experiment with me named it. 2 oz. Bourbon (or Rye if you prefer a dryer drink) .5 oz Sweet Vermouth (never Martini and Rossi) .25 (or less) oz Maraschino liqueur 2 dashes Angostura Shake over ice, and serve either up, or over ice with a bit of seltzer. Keywords: Cocktail ( RG969 )

Oh, and Doc-- I'll do my best to get my hands on some of the Maraska... The Pennsylvania liquor monopolistic behemoth does list a few "Maraska" branded products in the database. I'm betting that the Wishniak variety is what I'm looking for? It is listed as 62 proof, which makes it similar in strength to the antique Luxardo I have down in the liquor rack in the cellar. The newer stuff has dropped down in its proof to 50 or below, and just isn't as good as the antique...

Thanks for the kind words, Doc. Just trying to give markovitch a place to start from. As to the veracity of the cocktailtime writing, I am ambivalent about its value. Cocktails are one of the few places left in the world that a few tall tales and superstitions can still survive... I'm happy to let that continue to be the case. Cocktails are an art, not a science, and all artists get a liberal serving of poetic license in my book. If I figure out that some bit of lore is wildly inaccurate I'll note it for personal purposes, but I'll not try to knock any cocktail myth off of its pedestal... unless it contradicts a myth I like better.

This topic reminds me of my first year out of college when I was living in NYC and every Friday was cocktail night at my place, followed by whatever amusements the city offered afterwards. I started by keeping expectations low and invited people over for "cheap gin and tonics" and would stock a 1.75 of reasonably good, albeit cheap, gin, i.e. Seagrams or Gordons, neither of which will set you back more than $20 even today. Then I started reading Hotwired.com's cocktail columns, and took inspiration each week to add something suggested there to my bar. The content is still around at http://www.cocktailtime.com, and it rotates, though nothing new appears there anymore, sadly. Make sure to read The Alchemist's column... Paul Harrington is well wise in the ways of mixology... wonder whatever befell him in the years since the new content stopped over there. If you'd really like some suggestions, here are the highlights of my mixological evolution: a mexican style lemon press- squashes citrus most satisfactorily. You'll look funny at most bottled citrus juices ever after... except in Texas where the Central Markets juice fresh citrus daily and sell it in half pints and pints. Rare, and to be encouraged elsewhere... makes an evening of cocktails so much easier on the host. Seville oranges- only available in January and February. Sour like lemons and limes, make excellent drinks (and hollandaise sauces, etc). Campari- you love it or you hate it, but you can't make a Jasmine (see cocktailtime) without it. Orange bitters- took six months to get around to mail ordering a bottle from Rochester down to NYC, but such an excellent opener to a new world of cocktails. Peychaud's bitters- Randomly stumbled across them while shopping in Balducci's and, having heard of them on cocktailtime, I picked them up. With them, my Sazerac drinking days began. Pernod (or its relatives like Henri Bardouin) -- don't go here if you hate black jelly beans, but these Absinthe replacements (generically called pastis) are key to many tasty beverages if the anise flavor doesn't wack you out. Maraschino- Luxardo in particular. A sweet syrupy liqueur derived from sour cherries and their pits. Adds a floral complexity to lots of drinks, and makes a nice dressing for a fruit salad. This is a key ingredient in my own signature cocktail of my own invention, the Homeskillet: 2 oz Bourbon (or rye if you're feeling dry), .5 oz good red vermouth (not Martini and Rossi...echhhh!), less than .25 oz maraschino (how much less depends again on how dry you like it) , and a dash or two of Angostura. As to the base boozes, my advice is to experiment and find what you like. Sapphire and other "high end" gins are less interesting to me than good old Beefeater. Especially in a gimlet. I'll second Doc's rec of Evan Williams for an affordably priced Bourbon, and also say that Famous Grouse is a great blended scotch for mixing cocktails with. There are so many kinds of vodka out there that you have to experiment. Avoid the ones that smell like rubbing alcohol.. beyond that, figure out what you like. Vermouths ar a matter of taste. M&R's Rosso tastes musty to me, so I say Echhh! and avoid it. I like Noilly Prat generally... Cinzano Rosso is tasty too. Haven't played with the really expensive ones like Vya... I'm just cheap when it comes to Vermouth. Best advice is to take it slowly, find an inspiration, and let it guide you. I owe lots of my tastes and skills to cocktailtime... and can't think of a new site that is as good as the reruns that are still over there are.

Indeed, Doc! Must agree that vodka as a cocktail component is low on my priority list. That's not to say that a simple vodka on the rocks is not a very tasty beverage (if the vodka is good enough!) ... There is no spirit I hate, just spirits that get along better by themselves, and spirits that play well with others.

I'll agree that the food there is great. As is the space... great interior design job. I've never been treated rudely either, but have only been twice. I think that Salt got a lot of discussion over on Chowhound, and since a lot of us PHL egulleters are chowhound refugees, the been-there, done-that effect may be coming into play. When out-of-town foodies ask for recommendations, it is always on the list I give them. But I've not been in a while, so have no new news to report about the place. I remember them playing with fennel pollen to good effect, and a great reinterpretation of the classic skate and brown butter dish. What's new on the menu? Hits? Misses?

Was a great tour of some of PHL's more serious watering holes. Rich has done a great job at putting together a tremendous fun day. Even for somebody who was just driving the van and not sampling the wares.

Welcome to egullet's beer forum!

Fascinating! I've never heard of cinnamon leaves before. I'm interested in how different they are from the bark. As to everybody with the mock shock and outrage in the importation, I don't think there is actually a import problem for dried leaves. Think of all the tea and coffee that get brought back into the country by tourists all the time. I think the issues on import are live and viable stuff that might harbor disease. Once something has been dried like bay leaves, I don't think it is an issue the beagle minders would care about. Talk about chilling effects in action, looking at the reactions here makes me think hmmm...

The armagnac cocktails were great... all based on an unaged white armagnac which was quite nice on its own when they served it with a baba-type dessert cake. The place will be missed if it doesn't reopen someplace else. The buzz on Chowhound right around when they closed indicated an intent to move it someplace else. IF the Times says the proverbial fork has been stuck in the rotisserie and it's done, it is sad news and I'll miss it.

Until Progresso makes a soup that matches Campbell's Scotch Broth, I'm firmly on the Campbell's side. I do agree with those who note a decline in the quality of the Progresso offererings in recent years. I find that they taste much more like the can than the soup recently. MMMMMMMmmmmmmm lamb and barley soup.... mmmmmm... drool....

What time of day will you be there? I recall the Pan Pacific Hotel that is attached to the airport having a stellar breakfast array of cuisines. The stuff inside the airport terminal was totally unexciting. No other suggestions, sadly.

Rock on, Costco! Free The Grapes!

Thinking that all Davidoff made was tobacco and fragrence products, I was going to say that Davidoff made at least a little sense insofar as the skills needed to select good tobacco and to select good blends of fragrances are both olfactory, and it is not unreasonable to expect somebody who is good at one to be good at the other. Then I went to their website and found that they also do coffee and cognac... which might fit into the same olfactory conniosseurship profile... but they also do pens, glasses, leather goods, and ties. I'd have no faith that Davidoff's capacity to select quality examples of those things exceded my own, and would therefore attribute no value added from the brand being slapped onto those products.

LVMH had nothing to do with marketing Courvoisier... that credit goes to Allied Domecq, which is another company entirely. But one way or the other, I still just don't get the whole concept of this "lifestyle associated marketing". Why should the name of a cognac plastered on a piece of clothing mean anything to anybody about the quality of the clothing? Even if the cognac is good, what do they know about shopping for clothes that I don't? I'm of the school of thought that people who would buy this sort of thing are suckers and fashion victims, being doubly exploited: first ripped off, and then providing free services as a walking billboard for a company's product.

This is just an empirical example of the thinking behind the LVMH corporate leviathan.. Louis Vuitton's absurdly expensive fashion pieces coupled with booze. Sounds silly to me, but I know people who would quaff a gucci branded cognac even if it tasted like lighter fluid... the same people who would pay $50 (a few years ago when they were particularly fashionable) for Gucci branded doggie chew toys. Makes no sense in my world, but certainly makes $$$$$ for some in other people's worlds.

IF my bottles don't get fizzy enough for me, I'm totally going to dump them into the TAD and hit them with a couple of CO2 charges. I foresee no real issues, other than the sediment issue.. which was fine when I conditioned right in the TAD bottles. Go for it!

Love it! The tap a draft gadget is wonderful! A batch of beer fits into three 6L pet bottles with maybe a couple of overflow bottles. I have primed and conditioned in the PET bottles and it worked just fine, though left yeast sediment on the bottom of the bottle that made the very last pours a bit cloudy. This batch I syphoned directly from the primary into a 6L, and carbonated purely by gas charge, and it was great. Wonderfully fresh flavor to the beer, and the fizz level is adjustable, so that you can taste it along the way and stop charging it when it gets fizzy enough for you. There is certainly a difference between bottle conditioned and beer done that way, but you can condition in the big bottles too, depending on your tastes. I'd highly recommend that you pick one up, provided you've got a fridge big enough to hold it, and a willingness to dedicate a third of a shelf to it. It fits into most ordinary suburb sized fridges, though might be problematic in city sized fridges. This toy is a stepping stone between bottling and kegging, and has a lot of the benefits of both, and few of the detriments. And it is reasonably cheap.

Gah! Ick! Echhhhh!~ Is he really suggesting that we ferment 'wine' with baking yeast? Ew. His beet stuff is probably choking on the alcohol it is producing. A champagne yeast that can ferment up to 18 or 20% might solve that problem, but, still... ewwww. Beet booze? Just make the still and process it all the way to vodka. I've had the experience of a bottle of v-8 that hung out in the fridge a few weeks too long, and don't see the appeal of fermented vegetables. None for me, more for him I guess.

Am not a veg of any variety, but have been to buddhist restaurants that specialize in mock meat dishes made of seitan, and have been quite pleased. Know nothing about making the stuff, but would gladly eat it in a moo shu or a kung pao, or any other dish with lots of supporting actors surrounding the meaty-textured star. Have never tried it straight, but then again have never tried "krab" straight either, and don't mind it in California rolls either. Seitan does not exhibit any of the traits of spectacularly superior meat, but does not suffer from any of the insufficiencies of industrial grade meat either.

I've only got a pair of give away bottles... the rest is in big heavy swingtops that I'm loath to part with... so those at great distance have priority on the two 12 oz crown capped bottles. Those closer are welcome to meet up and trade some brew in person. I'm actually having a similar carbonation issue to iain's. I bottled the five gallons into 1 6 liter PET bottle that I force carbonated right away, and the brew was quite nice and actually quite good with a good charge of fizz in it. the remaining 3.75 gallons got primed with a half cup of corn sugar, aiming for a little more fizz than a standard british beer, and bottled in 20 oz swingtops and a pair of crown capped give away bottles. It's been two weeks and the three swing tops I've opened have been barely fizzy at all despite some yeast sediment appearing on the bottoms of the bottles. Very strange. If it keeps up like that, I may dump a bunch of the swing tops' contents into the 6L PET bottle and fizz it up that way.