slkinsey

eas, I think there needs to be maraschino in there for that to be an Aviation. The ur-Aviation did contain some crème de violette, but I think the primary modifier was still maraschino.

A few answers to Nathan's points: - Pearl Oyster Bar is, to a certain extent, an "upscale NYC take" on New England beachside cookery. She's making lobster rolls and fried clams. - Anyone who would confuse Ed's Lobster Bar with Pearl Oyster Bar would also confuse, say, Wolfgang's with Smith & Wollensky. - As the article points out, there are already several other Pearl Oyster Bar knockoffs (e.g., Mary's Fish Camp).

We've had a number of threads here on restaurants, recipes, cuisine and intellectual property rights. Here is a representative example. Now, it appears that someone is going to test intellectual property law as it relates to restaurants and cuisine. Pete Wells in the New York Times tells us that Rebecca Charles or Pearl Oyster Bar is going to sue Ed McFarland for copying her restaurant in creating his "knock-off" restaurant, Ed's Lobster Bar. If this suit moves forward, it will be very interesting to see how the courts view this kind of intellectual property.

As far as I can tell, rules for this kind of thing change all the time according to the whim of the USDA and politicians. But a cursory google search for the string "imported pancetta" reveals plenty of people who claim to be selling it or using it. And, of course, there are plenty of things you can get (like <60 days aged raw milk cheese) if you know where to shop.

Interesting article on bitters in today's NY Times: A Bit of History, Reborn in a Glass, by Roh Willey The article more or less follows two threads about bitters today. One thread is about the re-emergence of bitters as a central cocktail ingredient that is happening as part of the nascent cocktail renaissance. More and more cocktail bars are stocking multiple brands of bitters (many of them house-made or privately-sources), and cocktailians view bitters as an integral part of mixology. The first bar in NYC to feature an extensive collection of bitters was likely Pegu Club, where Audrey Saunders also has an interesting and unique take in the other direction by featuring multiple single-flavor tinctures, which we might view as breaking down bitters into their component flavors. Another bar with a large bitters collection is Death & Company, where head bartender Phil Ward is an expert in matching bitters to different spirits and cocktails: There's also another thread throughout the article, concerning the efforts of our own John "johnder" Deragon at formulating a recreation of Abbott's bitters. John can (and hopefully will) fill us in more on his bitters experimentations. All I can say is that I've got several of John's bitters in my home bar, and they're all outstanding. The Abbott's in particular is delicious, and several NYC cocktail spots have his bitters behind the bar.

I want to mention that DiPalo's carries guanciale as well - it's from the Iowa farm called La Quercia... Yea, I've had their guanciale as well as some from various Arthur Avenue vendors. I've bought imported chunks from Italy. You can even get guanciale at Fairway. It's all good. I mean, it's guanciale, rightt? What's not to like? What, in my mind, makes the guanciale from Salumeria Biellese stand out is that it has a funkier, more "fermented" flavor than any of the other examples I've sampled in the NYC area -- and to my palate, it's not a particularly subtle difference. That "fermented funk" (which is also what distinguishes some of the best salumi at Lupa from other local examples) is what made me fall in love with guanciale, so that's what I look for. Perhaps we should have a guaniale tasting?

The future Mrs. slkinsey is quite the fan of crab legs and all things crab. Any good places for crab in the City?

In no particular order: - gnocchi di patate - real Gratin Dauphinois - potato puree Part of my criteria was for dishes that preserve the "potato-ness" and actually taste of potato. Things like Belgian-style frites and latkes -- both things I love dearly -- don't taste of potato so much as they taste of "fried."

Yea. That, to me, is one of the funny things about panchan. You get all these interesting non-American things, but then you're likely to get cubed potatoes with peas, corn and mayonnaise that would be right at home at an Asheville church picnic, or maybe salad greens dressed with the ubiquitous balsamic vinaigrette.

And let's not forget potato salad! Actually, one of my favorites is something that seems like it's made with raw or partially cooked potato shreds.

Warehouse Wines & Spirits is at 735 Broadway, between Waverly and 8th.

The amount of detergent I used is so small (1/2 teaspoon or perhaps less in a large kitchen sink full of water) that I would bet I could have not rinsed at all. It might have had a bit of a funny taste, which can also be true of things soaked in VeggieWash and not sufficiently rinsed, but I don't think it would have made me sick. I'll give it a try and see how it goes. What other things should I try? Blackberries? Broccoli? Lettuce? Anything else? The point of all this, for me anyway, is that I suspect two things: 1. that using small amounts of surfactant does result in cleaner fruit and vegetables, and 2. that when it really comes down to it, these vegetable washes amount to extremely dilute (and expensive) detergent.

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).