slkinsey
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Posts posted by slkinsey
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Shenley Reserve is another example. Most any crappy blended made in the States is likely to be called "blended American whiskey" or "American blended whiskey."
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I like rhubard as well, but found that even the mildest-flavored liquor would completely obliterate the rhubarb flavor, meaning that the rest of the ingredients had to be extremely mildly flavored in order to get any rhubarb flavor.
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How's the rhubarb syrup work? I love rhubvarb, but have never found that a rubuarb juice, syrup or infusion of any kind was able to stand up in a cocktail.
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What is the diameter of the pan?
As far as I can tell, All-Clad doesn't make a 5 quart saute pan. They make them in 2, 3, 4 and 6 quart sizes.
It's unfortunate that All-Clad lists the size of its saute pans by quarts, because this is not the information we normally would like to have. What we would like to know is the size of the cooking surface, which is typically given with the diameter measurement.
Strangely, All-Clad doesn't offer as much variability in diameters as one might expect. The 2 quart pan appears to have an 8 inch diameter, which size I have found to be fairly useless. The 3 quart pan is listed with a 10.5 inch diameter and 2.5 inch sides. The 4 quart pan also has a 10.5 inch diameterbut has 3.25 inch sides, which seems tall to me. The next size up, the 6 quart pan, has a 12.875 inch diameter and 2.75 inch sides. In my opinion, it is probably too large in diameter for the typical home stove.
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I think there is a misunderstanding here. While straight rye whiskey and straight bourbon whiskey are American whiskies in the sense that they are whiskies from America, they are not "American Whiskey" in the same sense as we mean by "Canadian Whisky."
The post to which you are responding seems to indicate that Darcy is speaking of American blended whiskey. This is defined under 27 CFR 5.22(b)(4) as "a mixture which contains straight whisky or a blend of straight whiskies at not less than 20 percent on a proof gallon basis, excluding alcohol derived from added harmless coloring, flavoring or blending materials, and, separately, or in combination, whisky or neutral spirits." I have to agree that American blended whiskey doesn't, as a rule, tend to be very good stuff.
As far as I know, Michter's US1 is the only unblended bottling calling itself "American Whiskey" rather than bourbon, rye, etc. -- and I think it's noteworthy that they took the trouble to put the word "unblended" right on the label.
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I don't think it is water. This is why the fruits for which the compression effect is interesting tend to be ones with a lot of air inside (watermelon, cucumber, etc.). No one is, e.g., compressing a plum.
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No, I don't think that a FoodSaver can compress fruit. I actually wonder whether any bag sealer can compress fruit. Haven't tried it with the semipro bag sealer I have now.
Vacuum chamber machines are generally powerful enough to compress fruit and veggies in to a terrine-like stack.
Its less the power of the vacuum and more the method of vacuum that makes the difference. FS machines can actually pull a very strong vacuum.
I've been thinking about this, and I think I've figured out why it works with a chamber vacuum and not a bag sealer. When you have the fruit in the chamber and evacuate the air, you are creating a low pressure environment in the chamber. This should have the effect of "sucking out" the air in the little spaces throughout the watermelon. The the bag is sealed around the fruit, and when the chamber is opened there is an even 14.7 psi of pressure which closes all the empty spaces created when the air was sucked out of the fruit, thereby compressing the fruit.
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No, I don't think that a FoodSaver can compress fruit. I actually wonder whether any bag sealer can compress fruit. Haven't tried it with the semipro bag sealer I have now.
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I actually like a blend of lemon and lime in certain drinks (the Pisco Sour comes immediately to mind).
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So what, exactly, is your question?
I wouldn't necessarily think of cooking vegetables together with meat in the bag simply because most vegetables need to be cooked to a much higher temperature than what you would like to have for the meats. Carrots, for example, would never soften properly if you cooked them sous vide with beef at 55C. For this, you would want to cook the vegetables beforehand before bagging them with the beef if you wanted to have some flavor transfer between the two.
Another feature of braising, for example, is that the long slow cooking concentrates flavors through evaporation. This also is not possible with sous vide cooking. So, if you want to end up with a rich, flavorful liquid at the end, it is likely that you will need to reduce some of the cooking liquid beforehand. Looking at your coq au vin example, you would definitely want to cook down the wine beforehand, not only to concentrate the flavor but also to cook off any alcohol.
Even with the "pre-reduction" of liquids, you will usually need to do a further reduction afterwards to cook down the juices that had come out of the meat. This can get a little complicated sometimes because the meat juices resulting from low temperature sous vide cooking haven't been cooked at a high enough temperature to coagulate certain proteins. My experience is that when these juices reach the boiling point they will coagulate quite a bit of scum that needs to be removed. If you have vegetables that you want to keep in the bag, these may need to be rinsed to remove any scum-forming proteins.
I have, on a few occasions, cooked the meat together with some other ingredients in the same bag. Earlier in this thread I did some chicken breasts with shiitake caps on one side and scallions on the other side. This was a short-duration cooking process, however, and neither the scallions nor the mushrooms really needed to be "cooked." I have also done things like brisket with a puree of (pre-cooked) caramelized onions, which I thought worked pretty well. That said, I'm not sure that I think this technique is particularly useful for cooking everything together in one bag. If I were going to make something like sous vide beef stew, I'd be likely to cook the beef sous vice together with a liquid consisting of reduced stock, wine and some other flavorings. This could even be done several days in advance and the cooked meat refrigerated. After that, you could de-scum the cooking liquid and use that liquid to cook the various vegetables conventionally (which could also be done ahead of time). For service, it's then a simple matter of reheating everything, which could be done using bagged portions in a water bath, or over the stove.
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Nice review of your meal. Some thoughts below...
I recently had a lunch here with a few friends. (A more comprehensive review (with pictures) can be found at the ulterior epicure.)Is Esca as INSANELY good as some claim it is? I don't know, I've only been once. But, based on this one visit, I'd say no.
As a general observation, I'd say that fish restaurants, and especially Italian-style fish restaurants, aren't likely to blow you out of the water. As you've noticed, most of the creativity and novelty will be found in the primi, with the secondi generally consisting of fairly simply treatments. I've heard of a number of people not being particularly blown away by Le Bernardin for similar reasons -- although Ripert's treatments tent to be more transformative than one would find in the Italian aesthetic, there is only so far you can go with fish before the dish loses its essential "fish-ness." All of which is to say that, unless one is likely to be blown away by perfectly cooked, super fresh bluefish (and neither perfectly cooked not super fresh is easy to achieve with the notoriously cranky bluefish), the sedondi at a place like Esca are unlikely to provoke raptures. For my taste, it's as good as any other fish place in the city.
The crudo, for which Pasternack is best known, was very fresh. But, at this point in our world's culinary development, quite boring. Perhaps ten or fifteen years ago, this trio of raw fish, slightly marinated with olive oil and a touch of citrus, might have been revolutionary. Now, it just seems like raw fish slightly marinated with olive oil and a touch of citrus. This is not to understate the freshness and simplicity (see the theme here?) of the three squares of meat; the bluefish and bonito, especially, had excellent flavor and texture. I've just realized that I prefer my raw fish left alone, or draped over vinegary rice.More to the point, Pasternack, for all intents and purposes, "invented" crudo. Needless to say, this culinary meme has been widely imitated in the years since Esca opened. But I don't think it's a mark down that Esca continues to serve these crudi any more than it is for Vongerichten to continue serving his famous molten chocolate cake (which has also become overdone through widespread imitation). That said, while I can understand why they continue to serve them, I can also understand that it's not exactly exciting ground for people who have experienced countless derivatives in NYC restaurants over the last dozen years. I do think it's interesting to see the original, however, and in general I find Esca's iterations the strongest.
The primi were the strongest dishes.I've long held that the primi are the primary vehicle for creativity in the Italian restaurant tradition. Since the dish is primarily about the pasta, the chef has quite a bit of leeway as to condiments, whereas the secondi are primarily about simple treatment of the protein. This is especially true when it comes to fish. In general, I have found that American diners both here and as visitors in Italy are more enthused about the primi than the secondi, which can seem a bit too much like "just a nice piece of grilled fish." This isn't really a judgment, but rather a reflection of the fact that we tend to value innovation and big, bold flavors.
I think everyone at our table agreed (surprisingly) that the Maccheroni alla Chitarra was the least interesting primo. What's the point of mixing sea urchin in with (a lot of) butter?I've had sea urchin pasta there that blew me away, but I'm not sure it was this same dish. I have definitely felt that some of their pasta dishes had too much butter, though.
Thanks for the write-up. It reminds me that I need to get back there.
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So you're talking about LT/LT cooking that is not in a sealed container? Essentially, using a really accurate Crock Pot set to a low temperature?
Or are you talking about sous vide cooking with a lot of liquid in the bag together with the meat?
As for one of your questions: Since we are cooking the meat, there is no way it is going to end up with more water content than it started out with. It will always be less.
As for using liquids in the bag, it's not clear to me that there is any advantage to using more than simply the amount required to surround the meat once the air is evacuated from the bag.
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As far as I know, the ingredients of Bénédictine are not known. Some people may think that it has honey flavors, but that doesn't necessarily mean it contains honey as an ingredient.
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I can't speak to the French customs, but I have definitely observed some overlap in Italy among the various distinctions. This is perhaps due to the fact that a place that opened up as a relatively humble osteria 70 years ago that grew into something that might more properly be called a trattoria or even ristorante is unlikely to change its name simply because it has evolved into a higher class of restaurant. Once that sort of thing becomes commonplace, restaurants are named any old thing.
Think about just here in NYC: Is Gramercy Tavern really a "tavern"? Is Gotham Bar and Grill really a "bar and grill"?
Just because people are loose with naming conventions, however, doesn't mean that people still don't tend to agree about the meanings of these words. For example, if someone were to ask you to describe or define a "bar and grill" I have to believe you'd describe something far, far removed from Portale's outfit.
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Steven, I'm sure you're right that there is little distinction, if any, commonly made between a bistro and a brasserie in the United States (and you could throw in cafe while you're at it). One could say similar things about the traditional Italian distinctions.
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Producing a distilled spirit (especially an aged one) that is better and more interesting than the established brands, and that is anywhere near competitive on price is a lot more difficult than brewing beer. Other than Anchor Distilling, I'm not aware of too many of these places that are turning out superior product. Other than Junipero, for example, I have yet to taste an American small-batch gin that I thought was in a similar league with Tanqueray.
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There are lots of interesting things you can do with sv equipment that is not exactly sv cooking. For many of these things, you really do need a more powerful vacuum. I set forth some of these things above, but for example, you can compress fruits and vegetables to change the texture or you can "pressure wilt" raw vegetables to approximate some of the structural changes of cooking without actually cooking the food. In terms of reduced pressure, you can put a food into a rigid container together with a liquid, reduce pressure (sucking all the air of of the food item) then release pressure, whereupon the food will "suck" up the liquid into the spaces previously occupied by air (this works best for things like cucumber or watermelon).
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Chemists measure chilli sauce hotness with nanotubes
The well-established Scoville method – currently the industry standard – involves diluting a sample until five trained taste testers cannot detect any heat from the chilli. The number of dilutions is called the Scoville rating; the relatively mild Jalapeño ranges from around 2,500-8,000, whereas the hottest chilli in the world, the 'Naga Jolokia', has a rating of 1,000,000. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) can also be used but this requires bulky, expensive equipment and detailed analysis of the capsaicinoids.In Compton’s method, the capsaicinoids are adsorbed onto multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) electrodes. The team measures the current change as the capsaicinoids are oxidised by an electrochemical reaction, and this reading can be translated into Scoville units. The technique is called adsorptive stripping voltammetry (ASV), and is a relatively simple electrochemical method.
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Dave can likely speak to this, but he mentions that back in the heyday of the Sherry Cobbler where were more or less two kinds of sherry that would have been available to someone such as Jerry Thomas: a generally dry style and a generally sweet style. The recipe in JT's book calls for enough sugar to suggest strongly that he was assuming the generally dry style. However, there is no reason it couldn't or wouldn't have been made with a sweeter style -- just with less sugar.
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Experience in what area, exactly? Could you be more specific?
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Interesting, Dave. So, for an approximation of a mid-century Old Tom replica, perhaps a mixture of juniper-forward London dry gin and oude genever?
Do you have any sense for how many of the recipes calling for Old Tom gin actually originate from the later 19th and early 20th century? One of the things that's tricky is that plenty of recipes in books such as the Savoy are that they're actually cribbed versions of much older recipes (which is a roundabout way of saying that just because a book published a recipe with Old Tom in the early 20th century doesn't mean that the recipe doesn't actually come from the middle 19th, and therefore be more appropriate with the earlier style of Old Tom).
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Does the flame extend around the outside of the base when you are boiling water?
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I think that there is a supposition by many that the legal limitations now imposed on thujone concentrations necessarily means a lowering of quality -- like you have to use smaller amounts of wormwood or compromise as to technique in other ways. This would seem to be conclusively disproven by this research, and indeed the authors suggest that modern methods and science should be enable modern makers to produce absinthes with known thujone levels -- not so much in order to produce absinthe with a given concentration of thujone (etc.) but rather to keep it below government limitations without in any way compromising in flavor, etc.
All About Rye Whiskey (Part 1)
in Spirits & Cocktails
Posted
Well, they can't just snap their fingers and make the stuff to keep up with demand like a gin or vodka maker could do. It takes time to make Rittenhouse BIB. Time that is measured in years. Six of them, in fact.
I think what happened is that Heaven Hill had no idea six years ago the demand for Rittenhouse BIB would be anywhere near as high as it turned out to be. Keep in mind that it was only two years ago that rye whiskey was poised to be a darling of the cocktailian set. When we were talking about rye back in December 2005, brown spirits were the "new thing" and when we were all joking about how "rye is the new vodka" it was a bit of a joke. Fast-forward 28 months or so, and now it seems like everyone is drinking the stuff. It's not so "retro cutting edge" any more. That's tough, because there is a six-year lag in Heaven Hill's ability to respond to demand. I have to believe that they've significantly increased production, but it's still likely to be quite a while before Rittenhouse BIB is easily available nationwide throughout the year. In the meantime, I gather that they have selectively distributed most of it to areas of the country where it will keep the interest of a critical mass of buzz-generating mixologists and cocktail enthusiasts, who will hopefully come to think of the product as indispensable, and then when there is sufficient supply to meet with rising demand, they will distribute more widely.