slkinsey
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One of the things I've noticed in this "raising of the bar" we're all observing is that, in many of these places you really need to order the house cocktails off the menu if you want to have something good.
I really doubt, for example, that Grayz is going to be like "Milk & Honey with awesome food" where you can order any drink under the moon and get something spectacular. More than likely, it will be the case that you can get a really nice "Grayz Elderflower Fizz" (or whatever) from a bartender who won't know how to make an Aviation. There simply aren't enough bartenders -- which is to say, people who actually stand behind the bar and shake out your cocktails -- around with that level of knowledge and expertise.
Custom-designed cocktail lists are, of course, not all that terribly new. Dave Wondrich was doing lists for places like 5 Ninth going back 5 years or more, and of course many of Danny Meyer's restaurants have had custom-designed themed cocktail lists.
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This is going astray from the topic of this thread, but I have the feeling that most classic cocktails originating in countries that don't have much of a cocktail culture were developed to serve globetrotting Americans (indeed, most of Italy's restaurant culture was geared towards foreigners until after WW II).
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Hmm. Grayz seems more food-driven than cocktail-driven, and my experience is that this leads to some pretty lame cocktails -- especially given Kunz's high-end cuisine roots (e.g., things like the vodka-and-pineau "Per Se Cocktail").
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Bijou is usually written as equal parts gin, vermouth, and green chartreuse.
Tailspin is a slightly drier drink, with a larger proportion of gin, and equal parts of vermouth and green chartreuse.
Interesting. That's the opposite of the way they're listed in cocktailDB, which has the Tailspin at more or less equal parts (1 gin, 3/4 each sweet vermouth and Chartreuse) and Bijou drier and more gincentric (1.5 gin and 1/2 each sweet vermouth and Chartreuse).
Drinks like the Bijouspin or Negroni are so sensitive to preportion changes, far more than most drinks, that you could really call them something else if you change them like that.This is the rub, I think. Especially drinks that feature strong herbal flavors change dramatically when the proportions change. Equal parts of of gin, vermouth and Campari is simply not the same as a drink with 2 ounces of gin and a half ounce each of the other ingredients.
fwiw, the Negroni is made in varying proportions in Italy and it's always still called a Negroni so long as the three ingredients stay the same. (this makes sense....use Carpano Antica and you really have to dial down the vermouth...its so rich....the gin used can change this as well)....further, Italian bartenders often freepour the Negroni and don't seem too concerned with getting the proportions even.I'm not so sure it makes any difference how Italian bartenders are making this drink these days, since Italy is hardly a cocktail culture -- and, of course, even back here in the birthplace of the cocktail, there are plenty of drinks made with what most of us would agree are incorrect proportions or formulae.
I do agree with your general premise that the proportions can and do change somewhat in order to balance the drink properly for the ingredients used. One shouldn't slavishly adhere to an "equal parts Negroni" simply because that's the formula. Nevertheless, the idea is to balance the drink in such a way that it still retains its "Negroni character." Even using Carpano Antica Formula, IMO a 4:1:1 ratio would result in a drink that wouldn't have the right character.
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Oh, there's no doubt that in a properly "authentic" regional Chinese restaurant there are healthy things to order. But, to follow up on your example, I think it very likely that the vast majority of Chinese restaurants across America are not offering any Cantonese steamed whole fish dishes (or certainly none you'd want to have) and, for those that do, in most of them the majority of customers aren't ordering it.
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Yea, I think it really is taking off.
One thing I've been thinking about... So many new places have opened in NYC lately (don't forget Gold Bar, Double Seven, and a few others I'm sure I'm forgetting) that I wonder if we aren't experiencing a momentary dropoff in average bar experience/expertise across the board as the talent is spread much more thinly than it was two years ago. This should ultimately be a good thing, as new bar talent is found, trained, encouraged and developed. But I'm beginning to feel like there is some dilution these days.
It used to be that there were one or two places in town where I could go Isecure in the knowledge that every single night of the week every single person behind the bar was a cocktail expert with a thorough knowledge of the classics in memory and the ability to create new and interesting drinks for knowledgable and familiar customers all'improvviso. Those 'tenders are still around, but are now spread out among a double handfull of other bars. Now, I can't think of a single bar with that level of universal 7-days-a-week bar talent -- I've even had some not-so-great cocktails at exclusive single-bartender outfits -- which means that I have to try to go when so-and-so is there if I want to get a top experience. On more than one occasion in the past 6 months, I've had to explain a Martinez to a bartender in bars where this would previously have been unthinkable.
Of course one hopes and assumes that with proper training, dedication and mentoring, a year's experience and mentoring will have changed that. Certainly I can remember when some of today's acknowledged experts were the "enthusiastic new guy" -- and it wasn't that long ago.
Luckily, the cocktail designing talent is as strong as ever at most of the stalwarts (Bemelmans has fallen way off since Audrey left, and Angel's Share hasn't been good for quite some time). So you can always get something great from the menu.
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Heh. No kidding. Me too.
A recent "light" dinner at New Green Bo:
- 1 cup of chicken broth with vegetables
- 6 fried pork dumplings
- 4 boiled pork and leek dumplings
- 1.5 wedges of scallion pancake
- 1.5 cups rice cakes with chicken
- 1 piece fish fillet in wine sauce (hold the fungus)
I feel like I must be forgetting something.
The ironic thing is that this dinner was actually fairly light compared to other forays to NGB.
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I'm curious as to what we think constitutes a "normal" Chinese restaurant meal in America. I'd hypothesize that a typical individual eating "family style" at a Chinese restaurant has something like this:
- 2 fried pork dumplings
- 1 egg roll
- 1 wedge scallion pancake
- 1/2 cup hot and sour soup
- 1/2 cup deep fried chicken in thick sweet sauce
- 1/2 cup moo shu pork
- 1/2 cup beef with broccoli and garlic
- 1/2 cup white rice
That is a lot of fat right there.
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Still, Chinese food dinners are usually full of oil. I think it would be hard to think of a typical Chinese restaurant dinner that could be considered "light on the fat." Yea, you can have the steamed broccoli and scallops, but most people are ordering moo shu pork and General Tso's chicken. And clearly many of them do so thinking it's "healthy because it's Chinese food." Someting like the (delicious) "stir-fried watercress with crispy pork" I had at Sripraphai the other day sounds superficialy "light and healthy" -- but the reality is that it was full of fat.
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I think there is a thread around here somewhere about the ridiculousness of the current DOH crackdown.
That said, I have to wonder whether the continued scrutiny of DiFara is due to perceived "defiance" on the part of the owner, who has been quoted saying things like, "they say I've gotta wear gloves now—and a hat . . . I'd only wear a hat if I were bald. I'd rather pay the fine than wear the hat."
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Cherries, as those of you who are fond of cherries might agree, are in the category of fruits that taste good cold.
Just ask Zachary Taylor.
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home built rigs, if constructed properly, well researched and opperated w/ proper ventilation i dont think pose much risk. ive built 3 of variying quality as my experience grew.
I think it very much depends on one's experience, expertise and knowledge in knowing how distilling works, not to mention working with metals and what metals are appropriate to use, how to ventilate properly, etc. It's not nothing.
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Eater reports that the DOH has shuttered DiFara again.
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One of the reasons most recipe books for homemade gelato include eggs is that the equipment is not optimal for making real gelato.
Ice cream/gelato is technology-driven in much the same way as espresso. You can't make espresso without an espresso machine, and you can't make gelato without proper gelato machinery. Similarly, just as the quality of espresso is largely dependent on the quality of the machine, so is gelato dependent on the quality of the machinery. Similarly again, there is a fairly steep entry price point for the machinery required to make acceptable espresso and gelato. And still similarly, in their home country, both of these products are largely a professional's game.
So... if you're going to be making and storing your "gelato" at home with technology in the sub-$1k price range, you're going to have to make nontraditional compromises and adjustments in order to approximate the real thing. paulraphael points out some storage temperature-based reasons for using egg yolks and other stabilizers. I'd also argue that, for the home enthusiast, egg yolks can be a way of getting something similar to the texture, density and mouthfeel of real gelato. If you can slow down the the speed of your home machine and raise the temperature a bit, that's probably a pretty good idea as well. I would also recommend eating it the same day it's made after only limited freezer hardening. A little booze might help in keeping a softer texture.
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I picked up a bottle of Regan's Orange Bitters for my favorite local bartender while I was passing through Kentucky, and I want some recipes that I can suggest that will really show off the awesomeness of the bitters. Most of the drinks that I'm used to making with orange bitters (like the Pegu) use them in a more subtle sense, but I'd like to have something I can knock his socks off with.
Well, the thing is that orange bitters are fairly subtle. They don't tend to make a huge difference in the taste of a drink the way, e.g., Angostura bitters do -- and if they do, it often means you used too much.
If you really want to showcase the difference orange bitters can make, I'd suggest a Martini. Get a freshly-opened bottle of Noilly Prat and stir it with Tanqueray in equal parts, adding a few short dashes of orange bitters.
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i was under the imperssion that the herbal make up of pastis is somewhat different than absinthe. its not just absinthe sans wormwood. (la fe vert .com) but im no expert.
From what I understand, Pernod and Ricard tweaked the formula when they transitioned from absinthe to pastis. Pastis is sweeter, lower in proof and more anise-forward than the absinthes I've tried. So, yea, it's not the same thing as "absinthe without the wormwood" but it was developed as a replacement product after the ban. I was mostly responding to your questions as to whether Pernod currently makes absinthe and whether Pernod's (now) signature product is a pastis. The answer to both is "yes."
why not home distill, i think riding a bicycle is about just as dangerous. but that said i read alot of books on moonshing. but when you distill from spirits you dont really produce a dangerous product like when you distill from a fermented wash, or so thats what i thought. i guess the danger results from alcohol vapor in an enclosed space. if your stupid enough to do that, well jets just say stupid is as stupid does.I guess you must be talking about redistilling spirits in one of those little glass rigs you get in catalogs? Yes, I suppose it's true that there is less danger of things like methanol-induced blindness if one is redistilling a product that has already been distilled. I'd have to be convinced that the end product was worth all the cost and trouble, though. For entirely homemade rigs, there is always some risk that materials or contruction will lead to a dangerous result through contamination or fire hazard.
but as i said before, forget the legal aspect. no ones gonna come to your house and arrest you for making a little liqour for you and your friends. were not talking about large scale 'shining here.... this is connisour(sp?) stuff.i read some other thread where people were really trying to convince this kid that he'd get busted for tax evasion & or health code violation for hosting some paid for private dinners in his apmnt. people are really afraid of the law.... silly. but in all reality, he'd have to be pullin in serious dough and have alot of people coming in and out b4 anyone would even think twice.
I think it depends a lot on how much you're making, where you're making it and whether any of your neighbors decide to complain. Don't be so sure that the law doesn't care. Years ago my family was spending time in our house in the mountains of Western North Carolina and were burning a fire from logs that happened to be a little too wet. Marshals showed up to make sure we weren't 'shining.
Also, you may think it's silly to suppose that the "kid" might get busted, but don't be so sure it won't happen. All it takes is for one person to get a stomach bug, decide that it was the cook's fault and complain to the wrong person. Or, all it takes is an environment with a reactionary and hypervigilant DOH -- like we have in New York City right now -- to get wind of it. There are plenty of things that seem like they're "no big deal -- the police can't be bothered" right up to the point where the police decide they can be bothered. For example, people have been smoking cannabis on the street in NYC for decades and the police largely couldnt' care less so long as the smokers are discreet (although I wouldn't recommend doing it if a copp is standing next to you). Nevertheless, I have a friend who spent the night in jail for doing it.
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Fasinating! I agree with Darren72-your posts are always interesting even if I am now left a little less sure of what I want. It is interesting to me that classically if you 'stir fry' you use a carbon steel wok but if you 'saute' you use a copper pan....quite different materials for the same application.
There's more to it than that. In order to cook effetively in a wok, you need a specialized burner. Cooking in a sauté pan, on the other hand, is done over a regular Western-style burner. In my opinion, if you want to "stir fry" on a regular home stove, you're better off with a sauté pan. Note, for example, that Ah Leung uses a sauté pan in his Chinese cooking pictorials. The two pans both work for more-or-less the same kind of cooking because of the differnet burners. In general, woks suck over traditional Western burners. I've done side-by side tests, and a heavy sauté pan always performed better.
If you're unsure about what you want, I think the best way to approach it is to ask the question: what is it that I want to do on the stove that I can't do well enough right now? Then, once you know what you would like to do better/easier, you have a basis for choosing a cookware shape, design and material.
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Mussina, I'm curious as to the age of these customers. I ask because one thing I've noticed about my parents (now in their early 70s) is that they can't eat as much as they used to be able to, and often end up taking something home with them -- although I'm sure they would prefer simply having smaller portions.
Combine a decreased capacity for food with the trend of increasing portion sizes and not wanting to push away a half-eaten portion, and splitting an entre per couple sometimes seems like a reasonable option.
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A few things:
- Yes, Pernod makes pastis. Pastis is, more or less, a lower alcohol, wormwood-free "absinthe-like" beverage that was developed by absinthe makers like Pernod after absinthe was banned in France. Pernod and Ricard are not only examples of pastis, but I would argue that they define the category.
- Yes, Pernod was originally a producer of absinthe. And, yes, they are making absinthe once again. In addition, Jade makes a "replica" bottling of absinthe that attempts to recreate the original pre-ban Pernod Fils absinthe.
- Most homemade "absinthe" is not distilled, and redistillation following infusion is necessary fo make real absinthe. Several European countries developed traditions of home-distilled absinthe during the ban years. That said, home distillation is no joke. You can hurt yourself and I wouldn't advise anyone to become involved in home distillation with a cavalier attitude or without taking the time to become properly educated and equipped. And, of course, it's against the law in significant quantities.
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From what you describe I'm not sure I see the difference between your description of 'saute' and what I imagine 'stir fry' to be??
There is no difference. The difference between "stir fry" and "sauté" is that the former is tyically applied to cooking Asian foods (classically, in a wok) and the latter is typically applied to cooking Western foods.
The term "stir fry" is a relatively modern addition to the English cooking lexicon (mid 20th century), and is generally credited to Buwei Yang Chao in the book "How to Cook and Eat in Chinese" where it was used to describe the chǎo technique -- although the complete chǎo technique involces a bit more specificity than what we have now come to think of as "stir frying" -- which generally now means "tossing around a bunch of Asian ingredients over high heat." More information stir-frying here on wikipedia.
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Cool idea.
Here's one thing that I've been thinking about: Most so-called "ethnic" restaurants in America tend to fall into the "cheap eats" category. This is certainly true of most Asian cuisines (with some notable upscale counter-examples as well as the exception of things like sushi and kaiseki). What I've noticed is that most cheap eats places tend to have a number of dishes they're good at doing, but will also often have a substantial section of the menu that is mediocre at best (this seems to be less true of restaurants in the middlebrow-and-higher strata). Often, with more familiar cuisines, it's relatively easy to figure out what to order: don't get the brisket at an Eastern Carolina barbecue joint. With Asian foods, it's sometimes less clear.
A good example might be Grand Sichuan: They have a large number of outstanding (Sichuan) dishes on the menu, but also a shockingly large number of entirely mediocre (Chinese restaurt standard) dishes on the menu. Even that is a relatively easy one: order the Sichuan dishes (hey, its in the name stupid!). Sometimes it's less clear. For example, the dish you want to have at Great NY Noodletown is not the noodles, but rather the outstanding baby pig.
So, clearly one has to have some way of finding out what are the correct things to order. Sometimes, it works out fine to simply ask the waitstaff. This has introduced me to many interesting dishes at Grand Sichuan. But the staff there was friendly and knew me well. I can't say that I've found the staff at, e.g., New Green Bo (another place I've been dozens of times) similarly friendly and approachable. So that won't always work. Clearly one has to develop some strategies for determining what are the best things to order. If it's a fairly busy place that I don't know, I like to order only a little to start and then see what other people are eating. "I want an order of what those guys are having" has often been a successful strategy. If you notice that half the people are having one dish, that's almost always what you want to have.
Anyway, I hope and assume you'll offer ideas and strategies for making these kinds of decisions.
A couple of other things it would be interesting to hear about:
- When did it become commonplace to offer free sesame cold noodles with takeout orders? And, secondarily, is it true that Manhattan is linked with a secret network of subterranean pipes, pumping untold quantities of the exact same sesame cold noodles to all the Chinese restaurants on the island?
- What about other methods that Chinese restaurants use to entice customers? There are several mediocre UWS Chinese places that offer free box-o-wine white wine to customers who are waiting in line.
- Chinese/Cuban? Chinese/Peruvian? What's up with that?
- Why are so many Chinese places adding sushi, and would anyone really want to eat that sushi?
- Why don't fortune cookies give fortunes anymore?
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These are all made at home...
Espresso: never any milk
Cappuccino: 1:2 ratio of espresso to hot foamed milk
French press: sometimes black, sometimes just a touch of heavy cream
Drip: a touch of heavy cream
Iced: espresso shaken with sweetened condensed milk, or extra-strong drip coffee with half and half
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Sam, I'm not even sure what it means to say, "The America that made the hamburger into an 'American food' is the America of a mass-media induced monoculture." The hamburger remains a non-regional item, as does just about anything on the diner menu. You can certainly explain American cuisine in various ways, but I don't think you can't explain it as being tied to anything regional or local.
What I'm saying is that radio and television (not to mention post WW II social pressures for universal American sameness and conformity) are what made things like the hamburger and fried chicken ubiquitous in America. Mass media is what made it possible for a food like the hamburger to become universal "American food." And I think you'll find that things like hamburgers and hot dogs and fried chicken weren't well-known or popular all across America 100 years ago. In fact, I'm quite sure that the American ubiquity of the hamburger can be positively linked to Ray Kroc and the spread of McDonald's restaurants across the country, which started in the 1950s. Much the same could be said about your example of American menu items, which I also think you will find were not so universally the same across the country 100 or even 50 years ago. What made their sameness possible was, again, the American monoculture created by television, movies and radio; mass transportation; franchizing; and outfits like Sysco. I can say with little fear of contradition that if you walked into a diner or little restaurant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama or Deport, Texas or Neenah, Wisconsin in 1950, you would not find a lot of the things on your list of "universal American foods" on the menu.
I'm not sure it makes sense to use America-wide culinary trends as an example to support the idea that "cuisine" is not grounded in location. First of all, most if not all foods we can reasonably think of as "American" began as regional foods that were tied to a specific location and culture within America. Second, whatever foods or culinary trends did become America-wide did so primarily as a result of modern mass media, franchizing, rapid transportation, government propaganda and advertising campaigns (this gave us the hamburger, the hot dog, fried chicken, chicken pot pie, the "American breakfast," roast turkey for Thanksgiving Dinner, etc, etc, etc.). Third, given the fact that these American foods became widespread only or mosty due to modern technology, I'm not sure it makes sense to apply these same criteria to foods which grew up hundreds of years ago when the world was a much more regional/local place (especially in Eastern Europe).
If the claim is that "cuisine" equals "regional cuisine" then the regional aspect of the definition becomes tautological, and of course there's never going to be a cuisine under that definition that's anything other than regional, because that's the definition. But if non-regional cuisines exist, then I'm not sure why it's any harder to define Jewish cuisine than it is to define any other non-regional cuisine, like general-menu American cuisine or the contemporary pan-European cuisine of the French brasserie. If those are cuisines, what they're defined as is the list of dishes they include, as opposed to where they arose. You can look at that list of dishes and draw various conclusions about the purpose and development of the food, but the cuisine is the list and the culture behind the list. So if there is such a thing as a non-regional cuisine, Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine surely is that, though it's also tied to a regional cuisine.Certainly one may decide to define a "cuisine" as a collection of dishes. But this doesn't make much sense to me. Is "American strip mall" a cuisine? How about "fried straight from the frozen Sysco bag cuisine"? "Megacorporation fast food cuisine"? I would argue that none of these things is a "cuisine" and I would also argue that neither "general-menu American" nor "pan-European French brasserie" is a "cuisine." However, I suppose one might reasonably put all of these things into a separate and distinct category of "professional restaurant cuisines." But no, "general-menu American" is not a "cuisine" the same way that French home cooking is a "cuisine."
According to your argument, Ashkenazi Jewish cooking might seek to be labeled a "cuisine" that is distinct and separate from Eastern European cuisine, rather than a subcategory of the same, under the criteria of "look at list of dishes and draw various conclusions about the purpose and development of the food." That would put it under the same definition that makes "megacorporation fast food" a "cuisine" -- or, for that matter, that might make "vegan cooking" a "cuisine." I think this shortchanges Ashkenazi Jewish cooking. But, more to the point, this is not the same definition that makes French, Chinese, Indian, etc. food a "cuisine."
I think that, if one steps back and tries to look at it dispassionately, it makes the most sense to think of Ashkenazi Jewish cooking as an interesting, largely derivative subset of Eastern European cuisine that includes many wonderful dishes. This is illustrated by the difficulty in modifying any of these recipes and still keeping them "Ashkenazi Jewish" instead of "Eastern European." Let's return to the dumpling soup again. If you start with Grießnockerl and change out the semolina for ground up stale bread, or any other coarse grain, you still have an "Eastern European dish." If you start with matzoh ball soup, first of all you're starting with something that already seems both "Ashkenazi Jewish" and "Eastern European," and if you change out the matzoh for anything else the dish is no longer "Ashkenazi Jewish" and joins "Eastern European." This sort of thing strongly suggests that the most logical way to think of Ashkenazi Jewish cooking is as a subcategory of Eastern European cuisine.
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What makes the idea of "Jewish cuisine" different from all other cuisines, is that all the other cuisines are tied to location.
I'm not sure you've really established that for American cuisine, nor am I sure it's true in general. I think it's safe to say that all regional cuisines are tied to location, but how is a hamburger tied to location? Any dish that enjoys popularity all over America can't possibly be tied to location because America is too big to be considered a location for these purposes.
No, it's not too big. The America that made the hamburger into an "American food" is the America of a mass-media induced monoculture.
I should point out that there is considerable dispute as to whether there truly is such a thing as "American cuisine." Again, we may be running into the issue where we can identify a few "American dishes" but they may not add up to any kind of meaningful "American cuisine."
Even the larger European countries, like France, have cuisines that are difficult to peg to location. The regional cuisines of France, sure, but the national cuisine of France, not really.This observation actually supports my thought about cuisine and location. Yes, it's true that one can't necessarily say that "this food is French" on one side of the border and "this food is Italian" on the other side. This is because the geography, ingredients, etc. are largely the same on either side of the border. Whether there is something that ties together all of French cooking is another question. More geographical diversity means that there will be more uniquely diversified cooking and culinary culture in a smaller area.
NY's Cocktail Renaissance
in New York: Dining
Posted
One thing I've heard from friends who have designed cocktail lists, sometimes along with staff training, on a consultant basis (which is to say: fixed-duration gig for a fee, and they don't stick around to supervise long-term) is that it can be a real challenge for these places to maintain quality down the road, even when the designed cocktails are real winners. This is because once the consultant walks out the door, the cocktails and the bar progran are pretty much at the mercy of the bar management and bartenders actually caring and the bar management having a basis for knowing what's right and not right along with an interest and willingness to make corrections and insist on high standards. Most of the time none of these things are true, the staff turns over without any meaningful training for newcomers, and before too long the bartenders are back to free pouring, etc. and quality goes down. This is why "such-and-such place has a list designed by [insert name of cocktail world bigshot here], who also trained the staff" doesn't mean all that much -- the bartenders almost certainly won't know a wide repertoire of classics, and even the menu cocktails may not be done to spec. Gin Lane is a good example of this phenomenon at work.
5 Ninth's cocktail menu still reflects Dave's work there. I've had just about all of these cocktails (the Weeski is a particular favorite -- I like mine with a short dash of peach bitters). But I'm not likely to ask the bartenders there for an Aviation or Martinez. Anyone know if the house drinks at 5 Ninth are still made well?