slkinsey

I could be wrong but I thought I remembered noting Caramel Color on the label... Not on the label of mine... (ETA quotes for context, since this post starts a new page.)

I have the Zwack Pecsétes Barack Palinka, and it's not all that fire water-like. For what it's worth, Pescetes comes in a nicer-looking bottle then Kecskeméti. Having done some digging: Kecskemét is a city in Hungary. I have seen translations of pecsétes meaning "something with a seal" (pecsétel = "to seal"). This makes some sense, as Pecsétes Barack Palinka comes in a special round bottle with a red seal. Other translations have pecsétes meaning "stained or greasy." This might also make some sense, as the slight coloration ("staining") of the spirit comes from aging in used oak.

Can anyone explain what diffrence there is between Pescetes Barack Palinka and Kecskemeti Barack Palinka?

We also had a "new old school" applejack punch (kindly provided by a friend who just so happens to be Phil Ward of D&C) that was a huge hit. I'd definitely recommend a bowl of punch.

jsmith: Rather than having a free-for-all open bar, I would suggest that you come up with 4-5 good-but-not-too-challenging cocktails, batch them and have a list. Then you only need to have a little beer, wine and vodka around for the die-hard anticocktailians. This is what I did for my wedding party, and it worked like a million bucks.

Just to clarify a bit... This sentence might be interpreted to imply that White Manna grinds their own beef, and potentially to order. To the best of my knowledge -- and I would be shocked if it weren't true -- White Manna gets its beef pre-ground. I suspect that it's not pre-formed in any way when they get it , although I couldn't say for sure that this is the case. What you see is the burger cook reaching down into a refrigerated compartment and bringing out what seem to be pre-formed hunks of ground beef that are already portioned. There does sometimes seem to be some brief balling of the meat before taking it to the grill, which has sometimes made me wonder whether they were simply balling up beef that had been pre-made into slider-sized patties. regardless, there is no indication of the digging around, measuring and forming that would indicate that the beef is being taken out of a larger store of undivided ground beef -- and the balls of ground beef are absolutely equal in size. Whether this forming/portioning is done at White Manna or perhaps by their supplier, I don't know. It's a fun place with great sliders either way. And I like the excentricity of the ordering system (don't ask the burger cook for fries!).

I think what I love most about the appetizing/deli counter at Fairway is when it's three deep of people waiting for a chance to order their cold cuts and you get to listen to the 300 year old woman in line in front of you engage in a lengthy monologue about whether she wants the grilled salmon or the poached salmon (why people wait until it's their turn to make up their minds about what they want is beyond my ken) and then argue with the counterman about how he isn't packing her cole slaw dry enough. Oh, and it's really awesome if people with grocery carts bump into you every 5 minutes while you're waiting through this.

Egg yolks freeze quite well, and I use the yolks leftover from stock clarification and other egg white uses (cocktails, etc.) in fresh pasta.

Interesting. Two questions: 1. Where do you get Clayton's 2. How do you think Clayton's would balance with an equal amount of sirop de citron (assuming that this is more tart/bitter than lemon syrup)?

Er... that's a typo. It's 400 grams of sugar, not 400 kilograms of sugar. The 400 grams of sugar (roughly 1.75 cups) are macerated with three whole sliced lemons, which give up their liquid into the sugar, then the whole works is boiled for 5 minutes and the syrup strained off. Doesn't seem like it would be much more concentrated than a regular 1:1 simple syrup, and of course would have the bitterness from the pith as well as as the acid from the lemon juice to balance the sweetness. Seems easy. I've got some extra lemons around, maybe I'll make some.

Erik, that is assuming that the historical Kola Tonic is identical (or similarly sweet) to the Rose's product today, yes? If it were more similar to what Doc describes as perhaps "an aperitif beverage" it wouldn't be so sweet, no? More like a sweet vermouth? I'm not really sure what the deal is with respect to the Filmograph. Just speculating. Doc's update for modern tastes and ingredients is 2 oz : brandy 3/4 oz : lemon juice 1/2 oz : kola tonic

Hmm. Is the Savoy version the first in print? It seems unlikely to me that there would be a drink from that era calling for equal parts brandy and flavored syrup.

See, that stuff of Eben's seems whimsical and fun. I think "molecular mixology" has got to get past the becoming-tired-cliché of spherification tricks.

The Filmograph is one of the drinks featured in Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. I believe Doc says something like "substitute lemon juice for the lemon syrup unless you enjoy drinking maple syrup straight from the bottle." In cases like this, it's never quite clear what was meant by "lemon syrup." It could mean a lemon-infused simple syrup, or simply fresh lemon juice with some sweetener added. Interestingly, cocotailDB has it with sirop de citron and cola (rather than kola tonic). And also interestingly, back in 2002 Doc said that "as I reckon, Kola Tonic (a brand name being Toni-Cola, made by the Secrestat Bitters folks) was kind of an aperitif beverage marketed similarly to Lillet or Dubonnet, or any of the aperitif spirits of the time." Since he (presumably) calls for the Rose's stuff in Forgotten Cocktails, perhaps he discovered new information?

1:1 simple syrup can be made without heating. I'm not so sure about 2:1 demerara simple syrup.

Here is one pound of organic dried orange peel for less than ten bucks. How much money do you figure you'd have to spend on organic oranges to get a pound of dried peel?

A number of cocktail spots in NYC use the Libbey Embassy coupes. They look good, they are nearly indestructible and they are available in sizes of 3 1/2 ounces, 4 1/2 ounces and 5 1/2 ounces. A case of three dozen will run you around a hundred bucks ($2.77 a stem) from someplace like here. Split a case with some friends, or just keep the rest of the case in the back of a closet somewhere to restock after the inevitable breakage. The nice thing about having a big box of inexpensive cocktail glasses is that you don't have to treat them with kid gloves. Just treat them like regular glassware and when one breaks... oh well! It's only costing you three bucks.

Here's the post I was thinking of:

Sure you could make it yourself. But there are some difficulties: First, it's somewhat likely that your oranges are coated. Second, they might not be quite the right kind of orange peel. Third, it could be prohibitively expensive to do it yourself. Fourth, it seems likely that the end result won't be as good as store-bought.

I don't quite recall where it was posted (not in this thread), but at least one person using the Auber/rice cooker combination reported very good stability throughout the water bath when nothing was in there, but once the food was added and various parts of the bath were sampled with a separate thermometer, there was temperature variation on the order of several degrees. Whether or not this is important to someone is a matter of personal preference. Fundamentally we're talking about (usually) wrapping food in an impermeable covering of some kind, sucking (some/most of) the air out of the covering and then cooking it at a (reasonably) precise temperature. Each one of these variables is associated with a certain cost, and also with a certain range of possible effects. It is, of course, possible to make "sous vide-style" (I would argue that it's not properly called "sous vide" without any "vide") using a stock pot over a conventional gas burner, lots of plastic wrap and a thermometer. One can, and plenty of people have, obtain very tasty results this way. On the other hand, there is a certain amount of control, and a range of effects that are available to the cook using a precision recirculating water bath and a chamber vacuum that are not available to the guy using the stock pot and thermometer. In between those two extremes there exists a variety of different price points and associated ranges of possible effects. One simply has to choose. Fundamentally this is not that different from choosing conventional cookware: It is perfectly possible to create an amazing dish using a $10 thin stainless steel pan. You don't need a $200 stainless-lined heavy copper pan. But the $200 pan is capable of doing some things that the $10 pan cannot do, and it offers greater reliability and predictability. I think the Auber PID/rice cooker combination is a great solution for those who don't mind spending $150 on a setup but aren't comfortable with snagging a circulator off eBay for $400 or more. It's ridiculous to say that sous vide cooking isn't possible with this setup. At the same time, it's not correct to say that the PID/rice cooker setup offers the same range of effects, reliability, predictability and flexibility as using a precision recirculating water bath heater. But, so long as the rig you have allows you to do all the things you want to do within your price point, and you're happy with it -- who cares?

I believe Gary's recipe calls for purchased dried (bitter?) orange peel, not homemade. I don't believe it's quite the same thing to use homemade citrus zest.

Right. I'm with Paul on this one. Mercury is a cumulative poison. It's not like eating donuts or porterhouse steak where you can largely mitigate any potential negative health impact with a few days of low-fat salads. Furthermore, not all that many people are eating fried chicken for dinner 3 times a week, and most everyone understands that it's unhealthy. Plenty of people eat bluefin tuna 3-5 times a week -- in significant part, because it is perceived as healthy. I certainly wouldn't want to be eating 5 pieces of Japonica's tuna sushi every Monday, Wednesday and Friday -- and I am quite sure there are people who do just that.

That's probably true of any place associated with Batali -- except, interestingly, Esca (which I think is one of the top 2-3 fish places in the city).

Um... did you read the article? Some of this fish had mercury levels high enough that the government could take it off the market. One of the sushi places had fish with enough mercury (and pieces large enough) that the RfD would be exceeded by eating only two pieces of sushi. Would you care if it were lead instead or mercury? Mercury isn't something that is "connected to health problems" like eating lots of saturated fat. Mercury is a cumulative heavy metal poison that has a well-understood affect on the body, and eating a dozen pieces of high mercury tuna sushi three times a week would definitely be dangerous.

Not Mr. Wondrich (I assume that is the "Dave" yer referring to...) but I can quote from his book, "Imbibe": In my copy this is from page 61, in the section discussing ingredients. I believe the recommendation for intense single malts is primarily with an eye for Toddies (more on this below). In any event, the Rob Roy dates to circa 1895, which would put it in the "blended era" for Scotch in America according to the passage you quoted above. Having looked over my copy, I think this passage from the section on the Rob Roy is more apropos: Considering the paucity of Scotch cocktails, it would seem that the non-Toddy types were designed post-1890 and therefore call for blended scotch. Like Dave, I love an intense (and hopefully high proof) Islay malt for my Toddies, but I have to wonder whether this was particularly common given what is presumed to be rather scarse availability of Scotch whisky in America prior to the introduction of blended Scotch whiskies. Needless to say, Dave will have better data on this than I. Interesting to see that Scotch's popularity in America was driven by the popularity of golf. I've always considered myself a strict traditionalist when it comes to golf, and I insist on only playing golf in its original form: tanked out of my gourd on Scotch and wearing a kilt. I haven't been alive for 50 years, but coming from a Scotch-drinking American family of Scottish extraction, I've never noticed that it was any trouble getting brands like Famous Grouse (the top-seller in Scotland), Dewar's, Cutty Sark, etc.