slkinsey

Gianduja chocolate is, more or less, a paste made of chocolate and hazelnuts (and sometimes almonds). Nutella is a brand name for the gianduja made by the company Ferrero. It was originally called "Pasta Gianduja," was then rebranded as "Supercrema" and then rebranded as "Nutella." Nutella is distinguished by being a creamy and spreadable gianduja. Other iterations of gianduja are much more dense. Gianduja is also the name of a commedia dell'arte character.

There is little doubt that across-the-river Jersey is part of metro-NYC. It's unfortunate that it's in a different state, else the NY subway system would likely have naturally expanded in that direction as well, and traveling over there would be no different than travel to Queens.

I should point out, for the sake of accuracy and perspective, that it's around a 2 hour round trip by subway from Mitch's apartment and Sripraphai. I should also point out that, while I may be taking the opposite side of Steven's argument in some cases or pointing out where I think he's minimizing the public transportation hassle, I am doing this in a general way. Personally, I am not at all immune to the allure of culinary trips to Jersey. I've gone there on profitable and fun trips with Steven many times, and would do so again. Not so sure I'd make the trip of my own volition via public transportation, though.

Let's examine this... The "Tube" program I have on my Palm Pilot, which is updated on synchronization and has proven very reliable over the years, estimates 15 minutes from Mitch's station to the West 4th Street station (including waiting time). Figure 10 minutes walking time from Mitch's door to the subway station. Figure another 10 minutes of walking/waiting time to get from the West 4th Street station onto a PATH train to Hoboken. PATH says it's 10 minutes from the 9th Street PATH station to the Hoboken PATH station. Figure another 10 minutes minimum walking time to a Hoboken culinary destination. That's 55 minutes one way from Mitch's door to a Hoboken culinary destination, for an approximate round-trip time of 1 hour and 50 minutes. An hour of eating and/or shopping brings the round-trip commitment to right around 3 hours (+/- 30 minutes for transportation karma). The PATH from 9th Street to Newark takes around 35 minutes, so that makes the round trip door-to-door transportation time around 3 hours for a total trip of around 4 hours including an hour of shopping and/or eating (+/- 30 minutes for transportation karma). "Tube" estimates 30 minutes from Mitch's station to the Port Authority Station. Figure 10 minutes walking time from Mitch's door to his subway station and another 10 minutes to get from the Port Authority subway platform to the Mitsuwa shuttle bus. The Mitsuwa shuttle bus leaves around once an hour on weekdays and around twice an hour on weekends, so tack on another 10 minutes of waiting time. At this point, it's 60 minutes from Mitch's door to sitting in a departing Mitsuwa shuttle bus. Mapquest estimates around 25 minutes from Port Authority to Mitsuwa in perfect traffic. Let's call it 30 minutes in typical traffic. At this point, it's a 90 minute door-to-door trip, which works out to a round-trip time of 3 hours. Let's say +/- 30 minutes for transportation karma, and the round trip transportation time is between 2.5 and 3.5 hours. Figure an hour of shopping and 15 minutes waiting for the return shuttle bus (which is an inevitable minimum, due to the scheduling of the bus) and we're talking about a 3:45 to 4:45 time commitment to go to a Japanese grocery store. One can argue that these are "just estimates" but they are estimates based on published information and the +/- 30 minutes should easily handle any reasonable variability (I'm not saying that it couldn't happen maybe an hour faster on a "miracle day" when every train/bus is waiting for you in the station and there is no traffic, but that's an atypical outlier).

Doesn't mesquite gum contain tannins?

I've done creamed onions a few times, loosely following a Julia Child recipe for glazed pearl onions where the onions are cooked in stock until the stock evaporates away and glazes the onions. Finish with a little white sauce*, cream and grated nutmeg and it's a done deal. Works very well in hash as leftovers, too. I wonder if this dish is less commonly made these days due to (1) bad memories of bland, mushy 1950's influenced "white food" and, (2) the hassle of peeling so many tiny little onions. * Extra-thick thick béchamel freezes well, and only needs to be whisked into a little hot milk or cream for situations where you only want a little bit of it and might otherwise be disinclined to make such a small amount from scratch.

Here are some posts from 2001-2003: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=3900

I could see the point of a bar that might serve multiple dozens of Ramos Fizzes during weekend brunch might invest in a paint shaker modified for cocktail shakers. But, this contraption would hardly stand up to such use. I also have my doubts as to how well the appliance could really shake a cocktail. As for prasantrin's hypothetical example of a cocktailian with such debilitating carpal tunnel, tennis elbow, or rotator cuff problems that shaking was impossible, I'd suggest that handing the shaker to a friend would be a better solution. Failing that, I'd stick to stirred cocktails (most traditionally shaken cocktails that do not include egg or cream turn out reasonably well if stirred). And, actually, even stirring is not strictly required. I've done Martinis using cracked ice where I've simply let the spirits sit on the ice for a little while, given it a single stir and strained into the glass.

I'm sure there are certain cocktailian applications for which pastis is a better choice than absinthe, but I can't think of any off the top of my head. Also, with respect to Herbsaint (and with all due respect to it's city of origin) I'd put this one fairly near the bottom of my list as an absinthe substitute, which is how pastis and pastis-like spirits are typically used in cocktails. If you can't get actual absinthe, I'd suggest Absente brand as a good substitute (certainly much better than Herbsaint, IMO).

I've had this problem so many times that, like Mitch, I have taken to writing up a menu and also a process list so I know when to get dish X heating up on the stove while I serve dish Y. I actually do worse about this sort of thing in more in formal dinners. I remember one time when the Fat Guy family was over for dinner, and I proceeded to burn through about two and a half baguettes, which I kept on putting under the broiler to toast and then would promptly forget about until alerted by the billowing clouds of smoke issuing forth from my oven.

These are my main TG leftovers. I also make turkey a la reine in crêpes with the braised leg meat. Since I debone the whole turkey and cook the components separately, I make stock with the raw bones. Most of this goes into sauce making for the big dinner and moistening the dressing, but there's occasionally some left over. In that case, I like to just have it as a broth with rice. I agree that carcass bones don't make an appealing broth. Turkey hash is good, but I agree that it's not as good as corned beef or brisket. It's also a good way to use up other Thanksgiving leftovers (buttered peas, creamed onions, roasted carrots, etc.).

I'm not sure how you mean this. Fat, of course, is not a required component of the Maillard reaction. On the other hand, fat is very useful in providing good thermal conduction from the pan to the protein, and may also facilitate Maillard reactions by, in effect, serving as a medium through though which the various components necessary for the Maillard reaction are introduced to one another (e.g., one often finds that the second piece of meat browned in the pan browns more rapidly than the first -- this is because the pan contains Maillard precursors from the previous piece). I suppose your post reinforces somewhat the point that you and Janet are making: that books, or posts, that presuppose certain knowledge may also be perceived to contain certain "holes" (cookbooks from 150 years ago clearly presupposed a lot more basic cooking knowledge than they do today, with instructions such as "prepare in the usual way," etc.). All of which is to say the section of text I quote above demonstrates that it's harder to write something "without holes" than one might suppose, considering that most readers would take the above to mean that fat is a necessary chemical component of the Maillard reaction.

Last night I had: 2 oz : Rittenhouse Bonded 1 oz : Carpano Antica Formula 1 dash each : Fee's Barrel Aged, Regan's Orange, Absinthe

My guess is that something like it (cooked cheese-stuffed jalapenos) has been around for some time and probably has no single inventor. I mean, it's not rocket science. Their ubiquity (and the name "poppers," which is a registered trademark) probably came about when Heinz started to distribute them in frozen "ready for the fryer" form. I note that jalapeno poppers became ubiquitous right around the same time as deep fried breaded mozzarella sticks and deep fried breaded mushrooms (both also sold by Heinz under the "poppers" trademark).

This is a very good point, and it's the sort of thing that is often difficult to make properly understood to that one guy opening his laptop at a table in a back corner. To a certain extent, I can agree with Chris that his one laptop in the corner with the screen turned down low wasn't likely to bother too many people. But, at the same time, presumably we all agree that a restaurant bar with several open laptops during the cocktail hour isn't the sort of vibe that is likely to broadcast "cocktail spot," and surely we all agree that it's reasonable for the owner to take steps to protect the image he is working hard to project for his restaurant bar. Perhaps the owner might have something to say to a guy who came in wearing a tank top and running shorts (just because there is no posted "dress code" doesn't mean that owners can't have certain expectations as to minimal dress code). For me personally, if I were the owner of a prospective cocktail spot or wine bar attached to a restaurant, my thoughts on things like laptops would have a bit to do with the time of day. I would be much more tolerant of a guy tapping away on a laptop at 3:30 in the afternoon with a coffee, beer or glass of wine than I'd be of the same guy at 8:30 with a Negroni.

Anyone who has an interest in the Manhattan (or indeed, more than a passing interest in cocktails at all) should proceed with great alacrity to purchase a copy of Dave Wondrich's newly published Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to "Professor" Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar. There is a very interesting section therein on the mixological trends that made the Manhattan possible, an outline of the various theories as to it's creator, and several recipes reflecting different takes on the drink.

Well, certain ingredients are going to be harder or easier to find depending on where you live. I bet you have a much easier time finding bones for moose stock than we do in NYC.

Have a look here: http://www.poppers.com/html/faq/home.asp

Pardon me for butting in, but isn't seared scallops a worldwide trend that is reflected in Montreal?

Not if you do the retrogradation trick (see here for the process for pureed potatoes). You could do the double-cooking process, store the cooled potatoes, reheat them to temperature, then puree. This would take longer at service time. Actually, even if I were going to puree the mashed potatoes ahead of time, I'd recommend the retrogradation trick.

You should do okay with cooked-ahead pasta for a baked dish if you remember to undercook the pasta significantly (which you should be doing anyway) The potatoes for mashed potatoes should be okay cooked ahead of time if you take the trouble to do Jack's retrogradation trick. It's fine to pre-cut your vegetables for roasting although, as others have said, I wouldn't do it with potatoes or any vegetable that browns.

What recipe is it that you have from 1914? The earliest recipe of which Dave Wondrich is aware (which means, for all intents and purposes, of which all of us are aware) is from Hugio Ensslin's Recipes for Mixing Drinks in 1916. I've never seen an Aviation recipe calling for applejack and absinthe.

Here's Doc's original text: If you figure the drink is being cut into half, that would mean an 8 ounce glass, 2 ounces of cognac and a half-ounce of Chartreuse. If you further reduce the drink to, say, a 6 ounce glass, you'd have 1.5 ounces of cognac and 1/3 ounce of Chartreuse. In practice, if I am recalling correctly, the bartenders I know simply drizzled over a few passes of the Chartreuse bottle.

More than you ever wanted to know about roasting pans here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=82857

The classic "changing cocktail" to me is the Jimmy Roosevelt. In the original, it's a gigantic drink, so I usually make it as adapted by Pegu Club: A large coupe is lightly coated with demerara syrup and a bitters-soaked sugarcube placed in the bottom. Then the glass is filled with cracked or crushed ice, then comes some cognac into the glass, then the glass is filled with champagne and Green Chartreuse drizzled on top. The drink is not deliberately layered, but there is also no deliberate mixing. Here's how I described it back in 2005: