slkinsey
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Posts posted by slkinsey
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I often see it at Union Square Wines & Spirits, but that's about it.
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Some little known "facts" about saskatoon berries:
10. In Saskatchewan high schools, "I had to pick the saskatoon berries" is a universally accepted excuse for lateness.9. Under Saskatchewan law, children who fail to demonstrate saskatoon berry-picking prowess are deported to Manitoba at age 18.
8. Saskatoon berries are accepted as currency in most Saskatchewan retail establishments.
7. The government of Saskatchewan has declared that, by the year 2005, all motor vehicles in the province must be powered exclusively by saskatoon berries.
6. In Saskatchewan, an invitation to pick Saskatoon berries is tantamount to a marriage proposal. Likewise, it is considered impolite to pick saskatoon berries with another man's wife.
5. Disputes over saskatoon berry picking rights occupy 73 per cent of courtroom time in Saskatchewan.
4. The City of Regina has tried, on 12 occasions, to have the berries renamed Regina berries, but has always fallen at least one vote short to launch a referendum.
3. The RCMP detachment in Regina was originally established to protect trans-prairie shipments of saskatoon berries. The RCMP's mission has expanded over the years, and today its officers are working to interdict counterfeit saskatoon berries from Asia.
2. In a recent blind tasting in Paris, a saskatoon berry wine beat out every top Bordeaux and American cabernet sauvignon.
1. The scandal-plagued Saskatoon Berry Council was disbanded last year when it came to light that, after more than a decade of research and the expenditure of several million dollars, the best slogan it could come up with was: "Saskatoon berries: Kind of like a cross between cranberries and blueberries."
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People have been known to go into anaphylactic shock and even die from eating honey.
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If you're at a dancing place and want a drink at right around the price everyone else is paying, just get a whiskey on the rocks (with a splash of soda if you prefer, and a dash of bitters if it looks like they might have some).
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It's a bit of a semantic argument, I think. A color is a color. It can't be artificial. Red is red. There is no such thing as "artificial red." What there can be is "artificial red coloring" ("artificial" meaning "contrived by art rather than nature"). Of course, there are plenty of "natural" coloring agents that are produced from a fairly intensive refinement process that may strike some as "artificial" (such as cochineal, the red coloring in Campari, which is derived from beetles).
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I bought a Kapoosh but am going to return it. Too much of the edge of the 10" sticks out for me to consider it safe. I think it's really meant for 8" knives.
Hmm. I've got several 10-inchers and one that's around 12. Part of the edge does stick out, but I never thought of this as dangerous (certainly no more dangerous than a knife magnet where the entire edge is exposed).
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My favorite: Simmer in water until barely tender, drain and set aside. Warm up an ungodly anount of good quality extra virgin olive oil in a pan with some thinly sliced fresh garlic and a nice pinch of crushed red pepper. Add the beans to the oil and warm everything up. Throw in a fistfull of chopped parsley. Season with coarse sea salt. This preparation works with any kind of bean, and really allows you to taste the differences between different the different kinds.
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None of these pans is worth spending big bucks for copper.
The "Pommes Anna pan" is good for making Pommes Anna. If what you really want is a pan for gratins, etc. -- then I suggest a gratin pan. Tarte Tatin is reliably (and perhaps best) made in regular, cheap cast iron.
The potato steamer: Not useful to have unless you steam potatoes... a lot. Copper does not confer any special advantages when it comes to steaming.
Rectangular braiser: I can't think of anything I'd use something like this for. Poaching whole beef tenderloins?
Confiture pan: This is an unlined copper pan for making jams and jellies. Not really useful (and actually dangerous) to use for anything other than sugar.
Paella pan: A real paella pan is made of carbon steel and costs very little money. If you want a fancy paella pan, I'd suggest one of the Paderno Grand Gourmet stainless steel paella pans with a 7 mm aluminum base. These will outperform the Mauviel pan.
With all of these, there is also some question in my mind as to the thickness of the copper and the metal used for the lining.
I am a hige proponent of stainless lined heavy copper, but the fact is that it is not always the best solution for the job. It's also expensive and somewhat difficult to maintain.
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I have a large and eclectic collection of knives, and recommend the Kapoosh Universal Cutlery Block. It accomodates any size of knife in any combination, and due to the design it's not hard on the edges like wood slot blocks can be.
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News flash: starting this Sunday (July 15) PDT is open on Sundays!
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Good points, Mike. Having many friends in the business, my observation has been that fulltime shaking is a young person's game. At some point you either move up the ladder to designing cocktails and being the head bartender to eventually managing staff, mentoring younger up-and-coming talent, consulting and/or owning your own place (where you might, e.g., shake on Sunday evenings to keep your hand in but that's about it)... or you get out of the game. I don't know too many people in their 40s making a living shaking on Friday and Saturday nights for tip money.
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Here's something that perplexes: Why is it that premade sandwiches in the US are so horrible, and yet most panini and tramezzini in Italy are made ahead of time and are generally very good?
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My most unwavering culinary rule is that I don't partake of foods or drinks that may be described, in part or whole, as "mucilaginous."
For people who like this sort of thing: make at home! All you need is boiled okra slime and sugar!
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I can't think of any reason it would make any meaningful difference to add the salt only after the water is boiling. Salt can cause pitting in stainless steel, which might argue for minimizing the amount of time salt contacts the interior of a stainless steel pot, but I can't imagine that this becomes a problem before one has got his/her money's worth out of the cooking vessel (it also doesn't explain why this advice is given with respect to boiling water but yet we still long-simmer stews, sauces, etc. that include salt).
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This seems like an odd situation. Based on what, other than the name, is the current LES Guss' Pickles something to save?
As I read the article, Izzy Guss sold the shop to Harold Baker, who then presumably turned the shop over to his son Tim Baker, who is now leasing that shop to one Patricia Fairhurst. The current Orchard Street storefront is not the original location, the store having changed locations at least twice previously.
Also as I read the article, Guss' doesn't actually make the pickles, and hasn't made them for quite some time. For a long time, they apparently purchased pickles from United Pickle, but Fairhurst has recently changed suppliers.
According to the article, Baker at some point sold the rights to the Guss' name to the Leibowitz family, which owns United Pickle. They were apparently willing to allow the store to call itself "Guss' Pickles" so long as they sold the United Pickle Guss' Pickles. Now that Fairhurst has changed suppliers, they are less willing.
This would all seem to hinge on the question of whether Baker sold the rights to the name or not. If he did, I'd think Fairhurst is SOL. If not, then United Pickle is SOL. Or, perhaps they can both use the name? I know that the original Patsy's Pizzeria licensed their name to a NYC chain that is not under the same management (and not nearly as good) but they didn't give up their right to continue using the name in doing so.
Really, I'd be a lot more sympathetic to Fairhurst if she were making the pickles herself, or even if the current storefront had been in the same location since 1920, etc. Or am I missing something here?
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FOr an optimal experience, see if you can get ahold of one of the boutique tonics like Fever Tree Tonic or Q Tonic. These have a more complex flavor, and won't overwhelm with sweetness.
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Also, you want the water to 'taste like sea water' meaning rather salty, however, don't add the salt until after the water boils because it will slow the boil.
on a tangent to water boiling, adding salt will raise the boiling temperature of the water so it will take longer for the water to reach a boil but the temperature would be higher and take less time for the substance to cook. no?
Adding salt to water will raise the boiling point less than 0.1 degrees and, in the amounts one is likely to add in the kitchen, shouldn't meaningfully affect the length of time it takes for the water to come to a full boil. Depending on when you add the salt it may, however, help to create the impression that it is taking longer. This is because the salt crystals act as nucleation points and can release a fair amount of dissolved gas if the salt is added at just the right temperature. The result is that it takes longer for bubbles to appear, but the length of time it takes for the water to come up to 100C is not meaningfully changed.
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Pink Gins and Martinis are just right, of course. My suggestion is that you hoard the bottle of Malacca and use it only in drinks like these that highlight its unique qualities. I've got around a half-bottle left myself, and wouldn't use it for anything but Martinis.
This is not to say that it wouldn't be good in a G&T. In fact, it's more emphatic flavors work very well with tonic water. So, if Tanqueray were still making Malacca I'd certainly suggest trying it with tonic water if you are a G&T lover. But considering that you may never come across another bottle of Malacca again, using it in drinks that don't highlight its "specialness" seems like a shame.
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Bumping this because I found some Malacca this week. I'll be making pink gins with it, of course, and trying it out in G&T and martinis.
Gin & Tonics with Malacca?! That's a real waste of this gin. Once it's gone, there won't be any more to be had. Why not make it with something where you can really taste the gin?
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It seems to me that you are saying that in order for a vodka to be sold in the US and labeled vodka, it must be distilled to 190 proof. I do not believe this to be the case. I am almost certain that there are dozens of vodkas distilled a lower proofs than this. I will do some research and get back with you.
Yea, that's what the Standard of Identity for vodka seems to indicate. If "neutral spirits" has to be distilled to 190 proof and "vodka" has to be made from "neutral spirits," then logic tells us that "vodka" has to be distilled to 190 proof. If you have any examples of spirits sold as "vodka" in the United States that are distilled to less than 190 proof, I'd be interested to know about it. Presumably, it shouldn't be too difficult to find such examples if there are dozens of vodkas distilled to lower proofs. I suppose it's possible, even probable, that there does exist a small percentage of spirits distilled to lower-than-190-proof and traditionally called "vodka" in their place of origin, but that are not sold in the United States as "vodka". However, I have to wonder whether such spirits are called "vodka" under a local custom that calls all distilled spirits "vodka" (i.e., it's their word for "spirits").
Regarding your rum example, I think you are right, to a degree. For the same reason I call every spirit whisky (because they are all uisge), I think you can rightly call any unaged spirit that has been highly rectified "vodka".Two things here:
1. Although I can understand your philosophical and etymological reasons for calling any spirit "whiskey," it strikes me that it's not a particularly useful practice when engaging in discussions about spirits. This is because the commonly-accepted meaning of "whiskey" is "spirit distilled to medium-proof and not highly rectified from the fermented mash of grains and (almost always) aged in wood." So, if based on this commonly-accepted meaning people are having a discussion about whiskey, as they are wont to do, and you join the discussion making points having to do with products distilled from molasses, based on your personal expanded definition of "whiskey" meaning "all distilled spirits = uisge = whiskey"... well, confusion and misunderstanding are bound to follow. I could say similar things about making points based on a personal definition of vodka that means "all unaged spirits."
2. I would agree with you that any unaged spirit that has been highly rectified can be called "vodka." The important part of that definition would be the "highly rectified" part, and part and parcel of "highly rectified" is the aforementioned "selective reduction of organoleptic characteristics of the raw materials" (aka, making the spirit, to the greatest extent possible, without "distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color").
Edited: Spelling.
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I, too, decided to move away from the KA grinder attachment. But, since I needed to grind up whole chickens, including the bones, to make food for my ferrets, I went for horsepower rather than hand cranking. Here's mine:
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Thanks for the clarification! That makes much more sense.
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I believe that the current EU proposal is to limit the raw materials that may be used in "vodka" to potatoes and grains. This is, IMO, kind of silly considering that vodka is a spirit that is better defined by its production methods and aesthetic goals (i.e., the "selective reduction of organoleptic characteristics of the raw materials" mentioned above) than the raw materials. In my opinion, if you distill fermented molasses to 190 proof, rectify it 3 times and filter it through activated charcoal, you end up with vodka, not rum.
Bison grass vodka is simply vodka that has been flavored with an infusion of bison grass. Bison grass, and thus bison grass vodka, contains coumarin, which is a blood-thinning compound that is banned by the FDA. Any "bison grass vodka" sold in the United States is artificially flavored and colored, and contains a "neutralized" blade of bison grass in the bottle.
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Lindacakes, keep in mind that the buttermilk produced from home butter-making is real buttermilk, and not necessarily all that similar to the cultured "buttermilk" one finds in grocery stores.
Aspartame safe says FDA
in Ready to Eat
Posted
The point I think Nathan is making here is that, yes, some processing is needed if you want, say, the red coloring from beets but not beet flavor and other potentially undesirable things that come along with using beets. If you happen to get a red color because you use beets (or turmeric or whatever), then they aren't "coloring agents," they're ingredients.