slkinsey

Heh! I'd say I like a half-ounce of St. Germain with around 3 ounces of gin (see my Elderflower Julep above), but I've found that a half-ounce of St. Germain does work well with only two ounces of other spirits (rye in particular). Don't know why it seems too sweet to me at 4:1 with dry white spirits. Sticking with my recent Julep kick, I recently did one with 2 Rittenhouse, 1/2 St. Germain and a float of Lagavullin. Was pretty good.

So... I did an experiment. Came home from the cheap Korean-owned, Mexican-staffed fruit stand on my corner with a big bag of citrus: a dozen juice oranges, a half-dozen grapefruits and a half-dozen limes (all for around 7 bucks, which is why I love this place). Filled up the sink with cold water, added around a half-teaspoon of Dawn dishwashing liquid, swished it around and dumped in the citrus. The water took on a greyish cast almost immediately. I rubbed each piece of fruit with my hands under the water. Interestingly, each one felt a little slippery when I started rubbing it, but after a few moments became slightly tacky. This felt like (and I assume it was) something washing off the outside of the fruit. I drained the sink, sprayed off the fruit and refilled the sink halfway for a final rinse. The outside of the fruit now has the non-shiny appearance of unwaxed fruit friends with citrus trees have given me from time to time. I licked the outside of one orange, and it didn't taste of soap at all. A very mild solution of Dawn and water seemed to do the trick, and washed away easily. I think I may start doing this with some of my vegetables.

I can only speak for myself, but here's my experience with the Edge Pro: I own a very large set of custom-made and antique carbon steel knives. I'd assume that most anyone who was willing to shell out for an EdgePro at least has Wusthoff or Global knives, or something like that. These are perfectly good knives, used by famous chefs around the world. When I bought my EdgePro, I spent around 20 minutes looking over the instructions, set it up and began sharpening. I had a hair-shaving edge on my very first try. Can't say that my technique with the Edge Pro has "improved" too terribly much with experience, because it really is that simple.

Manhattan real estate is too valuable, and the demand is too high for ethnic restaurants that largely serve ethnic populations (as opposed to ethnic restaurants that serve foods with more widespread popularity) to stick around for very long after the target ethnic population moves away. The reason the classic Jewish places are disappearing from the Lower East Side (and let's not forget Ratner's!) is because the Jews disappeared from the Lower East Side long ago. The Jewish places that remain there are largely vestigial -- kept alive by non-Jews, tourists and nostalgia visits back to the old neighborhood or, in the case of Katz's, because they are best-in-category for a food that has attained mainstream popularity. East Harlem up around 118th Street used to be Italian. Same thing happened up there. Now it's Patsy's, Rao's and that's it. Aren't there new Jewish shops, restaurants and bakeries springing up in the current neighborhoods with a high density of religious Jews? To a certain extent, I wonder why places like Gertel's don't play "follow the Jews" and move out to someplace like Boro Park.

So eggs + mayo squished together in advance and put on bread == revolting. Eggs sliced and places on bread coated with mayo and squished together by mouth == delicious. Exactly!!! But, I'm telling you, there's something about the saladification process that makes egg salad more squishy than sliced eggs.

It should be noted that there are two kinds of people when it comes to high-end home sharpening. There are people who just want to have a great edge on their knives, and are looking for the easiest and most effective way of getting one. And then there are people for whom home sharpening is a hobby in and of itself. Those in the former camp are likely to appreciate the EdgePro, because it's the easiest way to get an amazing edge without going to the time and trouble to develop a new skill that doesn't particularly interest them. Those in the latter camp -- the sharpening hobbyists who are likely to touch up their knives on a monthly, weekly or even daily basis -- are going to gravitate towards freehand sharpening and things like Japanese water stones. Personally, I can't be bothered to acquire the skills that would allow me to effectively sharpen (and not ruin) my knives freehand. All I really care about is that I have a nice sharp edge at the angle and degree of polish I want. If there was a home machine that did that, I'd use it.

fwiw, my typical Aviation is 4:1:1, and I might sometimes split the sweet component 2:1 between Luxardo and creme de violette.

Dean, he probably used methylcellulose. eG threads here and here.

Yea, like I said, it does sound like something probably does happen. I'd be interested to see what results we would get in comparing VeggieWash to a very weak solution of water and some high-end organic dishwashing liquid.

There are a few issues here. First, you're right of course that one would like to see more serious studies. However, failing that it seems like there are some things you can do at home to evaluate their claims. For example, as to the wax removal, there are several common fruits and vegetables that typically come with a relatively thick outer coating of wax. Cucumbers, for example. So, buy a bunch of really waxy cucumbers. Wash them three ways: one using VeggieWash, one using Dawn dishwashing liquid and one using nothing but water. It's relatively easy to tell when a cucumber is waxed or not, so one should have little trouble making comparisons. Second, this is not a situation where my common sense says there should be a meaningful difference. Third, your comparison to soap is an interesting one, and brings up a few thoughts. For example, the kind of soap, and how it is formulated makes a big difference. Some soaps contain perfumes, some contain antibacterial agents, some aren't even "soap" (which is a specific product derived from fat) and are instead based on sodium laureth sulfate, etc. These things all make a big difference in how the soap works. Another issue is whether washing with soap is better than washing with just water. Well, assuming we're not talking about antibacterial soap, the answer is "it depends on what you have to clean." Soap and detergents are effective cleaners primarily because they work as surfactants and facilitate emulsion of oil and water. This is important because dirt and bacteria like to stick to oil. So, if you can remove the oil, you're removing most of the dirt and bacteria. If there's no oil on the thing you're trying to clean, washing with soap will not necessarily be better than washing with water alone (in some cases, e.g., using a sponge that is less than brand-new to apply the soap, it's actually worse to use soap). So... if VeggieWash works mostly because of its surfactant and emulsifier properties, then it should only make a big difference where oil is present. Fourth, assuming that there is enough oil present for VeggieWash's surfactant/emulsifier propertys to make a difference, I would like to understand how using VeggieWash is a step up from using an extremely low concentration solution of water and dishwashing liquid, and rinsing thoroughly (something that is also recommended for VeggieWash). I'm curious: Is it plainly visible to the eye that the vegetables are cleaner by looking at the vegetables (i.e., does a cucumber given the VeggieWash treatment look more clean than one washed in water)? Or are you basing this on the gray stuff? Because that sounds an awful lot like a chemical reaction to me. There are a lot of things that make people think something is happening, when in fact nothing is happening. For example, ear candling. This is where people stick a special, long hollow-wound candle in their ears and light the other end. Supposedly the warmth and mild vacuum created by doing this extracts all manner of nastiness from your ear. And when you're finished, you can unravel the last bit of the candle and see how it has turned brown and yucky inside. This is irrefutable evidence of all the toxins that were removed from your body! Except that when you test them, it's clear that no vacuum is created (which is a good thing, as it would burst your eardrum) and the insude looks yucky at the end even when it's not stuck in anyone's ear. The point of this is to say that, just because there is an apparent effect doesn't mean something is happening. My thinking is that something probably does happen, and that the produce does end up a little bit cleaner. However, I'm not sold on things like VeggieWash being better than a spray bottle filled with water, a little vinegar and a few drops of dishwashing liquid. Now that I think of it, VeggieWash's ingredients -- water, natural cleaners made from corn and coconut, lemon oil, sodium citrate (a natural derivative of citrus fruit), glycerin (from coconut oil), and grapefruit seed extract -- don't sound all that different from the ingredients for this organic dishwashing soap -- coconut surfactant, conditioner and degreaser from coconut, orange peel extract, grapefruit seed and pulp extract, aloe, vitamin E, linear sulfonate, filtered spring water -- except that VeggieWash contains a lot more water.

Some ideas: - brandade (puree of salt cod, potato, cream, olive oil and garlic) - lightly crushed chick peas tossed with olive oil, lemon juice, raw garlic, mint, sea salt, red pepper flakes - cannellini, finely diced red onion, tuna canned in olive oil, parsley

Strangely, I find the idea of egg salad revolting. Too squishy. On the other hand, I love a sandwich made with sliced hard boiled eggs in the middle and lots of mayonnaise spread on each slice of bread.

Yea, I know there are places that can do it. They're professionals, and I'm sure they have the equipment to do a good job. It's just that a) it' impractical and hardly possible to effectively sharpen serrations at home, and b) it's hardly worth it, since serrated knifes are so inexpensive (a professional resharpening costs not much less than a replacement knife).

That's got to be one heck of a sweet cocktail! For example, 1/2 ounce of St. Germain and 2 ounces of gin is too sweet for my taste. Also, is there no strong spirit in that cocktail? It sounds like "sweet-sour fruit juice, sweet liqueur, splash of a different sweet liqueur."

In NYC, the source for guanciale is Salumeria Biellese. They make their own, and it's as good as any I've had anywhere.

You can't really sharpen a serrated knife unless you go in to each scallop with a sharpening rod (perhaps the only good use for diamond sharpening rods!). The serrated edge sharpening you can do with the EdgePro more or less consists of sharpening the points a little bit. Effective in the short term, but ultimately repeated treatment will sharpen the serrations right off. This is why it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on a serrated bread knife. First of all, there is no reason a serrated knife needs to be made of fancy forged steel. Second of all it's impossible-to-dificult to resharpen effectively. Third, you can get good-to-great serrated bread knives for under 20 bucks bucks (I like the curved ones and the offset ones) -- when your knife gets dull, toss it out and get another one.

If the tolerance between the stone and the knife is that small to cause scratches from the metal particles by themselves wouldn't a piece of tape get in the way of trying to sharpen at that acute angle? I used to use blue painters tape on my knives when learning on stones and I kept scuffing the tape rather than the knife (which is a good thing) but I could never get the angle I wanted as a result. I always had to raise the angle ever so slightly to keep from hitting the tape. Definately a good training tool. Does this happen with the Apex? If you look at the large picture on this page you get a good idea of the EdgePro setup (there's a pretty good video there as well). The flat part of the blade sits on the black "deck" with a good bit of the knife sticking out over the edge. What ends up happening is that water, including metal particles from sharpening, drips off of the stone and on to the deck. This can scratch the part of the blade that rests on the deck. You can protect your knife from this scratching by putting tape on the blade. I trim the tape so that it ends right around a centimeter before the edge. I'm not sure how acute the angle would have to be before the tape began to interfere, but I've never come close to having that problem.

If you're worried about getting scratches on the blade (they come from particles of metal that get on to the knife "deck" and scratch the blade as you move it across, not from the stones themselves) you can just put a strip of clear packing tape on each side of the blade when you sharpen.

I've been experimenting a bit with St. Germain to see if I could come up with something. I've also been on a bit of a julep kick lately, so... Elderflower Gin Julep 3 oz : Tanqueray 1/2 oz : St. Germain 8-10 fresh mint leaves Lightly muddle the mint leaves with the St. Germain in the bottom of a pre-chilled julep cup or similarly-sized glass. Add crushed ice and Tanqueray and prepare using your favorite Julep method. Decorate with plenty of fresh mint on top. I've been wondering about an aromatic garnish. Have dashed on some absinthe, but maybe something else will come to mind.

It seems like there are two questions here: 1. Was the guy really socking away $170 super-Tuscan wine over the Summer. This seems unlikely to me. I also think a question like "what are you drinking this Summer?" isn't asking after the wines a sommelier may be tasting as part of his job. But really, this question isn't too terribly important. For the sake or agument, let's assume it's true. 2. Was it good service for the sommelier, upon being asked for his recommendation, to suggest a wine more than double the customers previously-stated target price range? Again, let's assume that he was telling the truth and really is drinking a $170 super-Tuscan evern night after work this Summer. My feeling is that no, it's not good service. It's an upsell. If the sommelier is asked for a personal recommendation, he ought to be able to make one that is roughly in line with what the customer had been discussing. That should be his first recommendation. If the customer had been looking at $50 bottles of wine and the sommelier had recommended an $70 bottle, that's not so bad. Or he could have recommended a $60 bottle or two and then said something like: "...or, if you're in the mood to splurge on your birthday, we've got this amazing super-Tuscan that I've been drinking this Summer. It's $170, but I think you'll really love it." But to triple the price and jump straight to $170? That's not good service in my book. Assuming it's true that the sommelier had been drinking $170 wine all Summer, good service would have been to tell a white lie and recommend a favorite from among what the OP describes as over 100 bottles in his original price range.

If burning at a higher temperature produces more nitrogen dioxide, which in turn leads to formation of the "smoke ring" -- this would argue in favor of offset-smokers where the actual burning takes place in a side-chamber and the hot smoke is then piped through a larger smoking chamber. Since the meat is not exposed to the radiant heat of the fire (and also because the smoke presumably loses some heat on its way through the smoking chamber) the fire can burn at a higher, nitrogen dioxide-producing temperature without cooking the meat too quickly.

Yea, I think it depends on what you're going for. In Italy, for example, the dressing most often seems to be the oil -- that's what people want to taste. The vinegar or lemon juice is just there to provide a bit of contrast. But, of course, this works best with very good extra virgin olive oil and nice bright vegetables. The whole salad might be given a thin coating of oil and only a little squeeze of lemon juice. I do this sometimes, when I have excellent quality extra virgin olive oil. But more often than not I go for a higher amount of acid like Fat Guy does. I can't stand the too-sweet-for-me dressings that have been taking over America with the popularity of sweet balsamic vinegar, but that's another story.

I think it's disingenuous at best for a sommelier to imply that his "everyday drinking wine" of the summer (which I believe is the most reasonable interpretation of the question "what are you drinking this Summer?") is a $170 super-Tuscan. In fact, I have a hard time believing it could possibly be true unless he's getting the wine at cost or for free. Regardless, I don't see how suggesting a wine that is more than double the customer's previously-stated target price range could be seen as anything other than a huge upsell. My experience with good sommeliers is that if I talk with them about what I'm eating and kind of wine I like, indicate a price range and even point out specific bottles on the list that might interest me, and then ask for a recommendation (e.g., "what do you like?") I more often than not get a recommendation for a special favorite wine on the list that turns out to be slightly under my suggested price point. I don't think I've ever had a sommelier suggest a bottle twice the price of what we've been discussing. The only times something like that happens is at restaurants with no real "wine program" where the waiter clearly thinks the best way to increase the tip is to recommend the most expensive wine in each category. These are unlikely to be places that have $170 wines on the list.

Right here baby!

The 310 calorie Mission 12-inch "chili-herb wrap" weighs in at 104 grams, or 3.67 ounces. That's about 84.5 calories per ounce. The 170 calorie Thomas's Sahara wraps weigh only 59 grams, or 2.08 ounces. That's about 81.7 valories per ounce. No idea on size, but they've got to be considerably smaller.