slkinsey

Raison d'être is actually French. And yea, it means: "reason for being" or, by extension, the purpose of someone or something. Interesting use of "usquebaugh" you have there. I've always understood that it proceeded from the Scots Gaelic uisge beatha and Irish Gaelic uisce beatha, and later transformed into the word "whiskey/whisky" (depending on how one prefers to spell it). Yet, when I did some web searching, I found one reference in the 1913 Websters which gave a secondary meaning of "a liquor compounded of brandy, or other strong spirit, raisins, cinnamon and other spices." I'm not sure I'd call this "pastis" however, regardless of the infused anise flavors.

Posted in this thread on Canadian Whisky: Why on earth would you "boycott" Cointreau and Grand Marnier? Not only are they two of the oldest and highest quality orange liqueurs in the world, but Cointreau is a fundamental ingredient in a huge number of the best classic cocktails.

To respond to Matt's original situation. I've noticed an almost complete turnover in personnel at NYC Chinese restaurants a time or two. Apparently it's not uncommon for a family to sell their restaurant wholesale to another family, stick around for a little while to train the new guys how various dishes have been made there, and then split. A changeover like this might explain the poor service as well as the seeming dearth of people who had worked there more than two days.

To the best of my knowledge -- and maybe this is implied in your statement, but I thought I'd say it outright -- we can and do cultivate truffles. Just not all truffles, and with somewhat mixed success.

I should clarify: She wasn't wrong in suggesting that Chang and MSB wouldn't be worthy of the hype based on the lunch ssam.

This discussion reminds me of some others. Notably, discussions about Grimaldi's Pizzeria in Brooklyn and Grand Sichuan in Manhattan. If you go to Grimaldi's at just the right time when the oven is at peak temperature and order the right thing, you can get some of the very best pizza in the greater NYC area. On the other hand, if you go at the end of lunchtime after the oven has lost heat and order a pizza with 6 toppings, it won't be special at all. Does this mean that Grimaldi's is overhyped? Well, no. It means that you have to know what you're doing to "get" why it's hype-worthy. Similarly, we have read plenty of reports in these forums of people who visited Grand Sichuan and wrote "I had the fried rice, chicken lo mein and General Tso's chicken. My neighborhood carry-out is better. I don't see what all the fuss is about." Of course, we would always reply that, if you want to eat what is so good about Grand Sichuan you have to order the right things. Does this mean that Grand Sichuan is overhped? Well, no. It means that you have to order the right things to "get" what is hype-worthy about Grand Sichuan. It strikes me that Mimi Sheraton's comments are relatively on-target with respect to lunch at MSB, although people might quibble about what she should realistically expect for ten bucks. On the other hand, it does seem to me that her "Chang is overhyped" take on MSB is based on expectations formed from dinner hype. So, this is a bit like ordering a Grimaldi's pizza with extra cheese, pepperoni, sausage and ham at 4:00 on a Tuesday afternoon, or ordering egg rolls and sesame chicken at Grand Sichuan and then declaring that the emperor has no clothes. The fact is that, if you want to get what is hype-worthy about MSB, you have to go at the right time so that you are able to eat the right things. Mimi wasn't "wrong," per se, but she doesn't "get it" either.

Yea. They're names for the bread. For some reason, America has come to know bruschetta (most often mispronounced as broo-shet-uh) as chopped tomato and basil. I've even seen jars of "bruschetta." You could certainly say what the crostini, bruschette, etc. are topped with. It's not unusual to see descriptions such as crostini di fegato or bruschetta con funghi.

Well, if you're making it to spread on sandwiches, you might not want a whole avocado's worth of guacamole on one sandwich! Though it should be easy to eat enough guacamole-laced sandwiches over two days, before the worst of the discoloration sets in. I have a couple of thoughts here... First, is that you can easily make half an avacado's worth of guacamole, wrap the half with the pit tightly in cling wrap and have minimal discoloration for a day or two. Even if there is light discoloration, you can simply cut that part off before you use the rest of the avodcado. Even the tightest-wrapped guacamole will discolor and deteriorate because of all the oxygen and inevitable bacteria, etc. that were introduced when the avodado was cut up and mixed with a bunch of other stuff. Second, if you're making a sandwich, why not simply cut a few slices of avocado, add a few thin slices of onion, a few sprigs of cilantro, whatever instead of making up guacamole? It's a lot less likely to come squirting out the sides of the sandwich when you bite into it.

Janet, that sounds more or less right (except that it's one crostino, two crostini). The size difference is usually quite a bit, and size is important in this case (the -ino ending connotes small size). I'm not sure one could grill a crostino-sized piece of bread without having it fall into the fire. I also believe they come from different culinary traditions within Italy, and therefore have different traditional treatments and adornments. Bruschetta are most often made of slices from a relatively large, rustic "peasant bread" and rubbed with garlic after they are grilled. Crostini are more often made from more refined "baguette-style" bread, and don't typically get a rubbing of garlic. One is also much more likely to see things like liver pate and black truffles on crostini, whereas bruschette are more often topped with more rustic preparations. I wonder why, in America, we have come to know crostini by the plural form and bruschetta by the singular form? Of course, the real answer is that crostini and bruschette are simply names for more or less the same thing (toasted/grilled bread) that came up in different areas of Italy. Italy is full of different names for the same thing. I can remember a friend of mine in Le Marche explaining about a certain flatbread that is common in central Italy: "over in that town they call it piadina, but in such-and-such town it's cresce -- we call it crostolo." For example, another Italian toasted bread name is fett'unta meaning "greasy slice" (fetta = "slice"; unta = "greasy"). So, to a certain extent, this question may be asking the difference between a hero and a grinder and a submarine and a hoagie. One can make generalities, such as "they tend to be like this in the area where they're called hoagies and they tend to be this other way in the area where they're called grinders." But, fundamentally they're all names for the same thing.

Why bother saving guacamole? It's so easy to make only as much as you want to eat in one sitting.

I've gained some small amount of insight into this through my participation in the efforts to get Laird's bonded into NYC. Chris sums it up pretty well: The wholesaler/importers and distributors are protected by state laws, and they do hat they want to do. They're interested in making lots of money, and if they could make the same profit by bringing in one brand each of vodka, gin, etc. instead of 20, that's what they would do. I have to believe that distributors are not in the business because they "have a mission in life to bring as broad a variety as possible of quality spirits to the public." What does this mean? I have been given to understand that, in NY at least, it is against the law for a store to sell or a bar to serve any alcoholic beverage that is not on the "list" of one of the distributors licensed by New York State. So, that's one hurdle: just getting on someone's list. There's no going over to a New Jersey wholesaler and coming back with a dozen cases of an unavailable-in-NY spirit to sell in NY. From what I have been able to gather, distributors will often reach agreements with large holding companies (e.g., Diageo) or producers whereby all or most of that company's portfolio will be added to the distributor's list for a given state or states. I can only imagine that it's a lot more work for smaller companies to get on a distributor's list. I don't know what kinds of hoops LeNell has to jump through in order to sell her private bottling Red Hook Rye. The next hurdle is convincing the distributor to actually bring the product in to their warehouse. As others have mentioned, they have to be convinced that there is money to be made by stocking the product -- or that there are other enticements (e.g., maintaining a good relationship with a certain company. etc.). I am aware of certain bottlings that have ultimately found their way into NY because influential bar people and liquor stores kept on asking the company to make certain of their offerings available in NY, the company contacted the distributor to say "we have people in NY who want this offering, which is on your list, and we would like you to stock some of it in NY," and then there was a concerted effort among certain bars and liquor shops to make sure they kept on ordering and using the product to make sure it continued to be stocked. But it took a long time to make this happen. Erik, with respect to Montecristo silver, you're looking at the third hurdle: getting stores to stock the liquor once it's made its way onto the list and into the warehouse. For example, bars in NYC have historically had little trouble getting in Marie Brizard orange curacao. But it was worth your life to find it in a retail store (it still is very hard to find at retail). For a white rum, it's unclear that a liquor store has a great deal of motivation to bring in Montecristo when Bacardi, the industry leader, can be had for very little.

Ask the Italians. That's how most pizza is eaten over there.

I had an opportunity to try both test batches of Angostura Orange, and they both impressed mightily. I have every reason to believe that the roll out will put them at the head of an impressive class now including Gary's, Fee's, The Bitter Truth and Hermes. On another note... I wish more of these companies would try their hand at grapefruit bitters, lime bitters, lemon bitters (although there are two examples of this one now). Bergamot bitters would be very interesting.

For me it's always been: using a spoon when twirling long strand pasta. We have a family story from when my mother was living in Rome after the war: she was starting on a place of pasta in a trattoria, using a spoon in what was then the normal practice in America. An elderly gentleman jumped up from the next table exclaiming, "no, signorina!" in mock horror and proceeded to explain/demonstrate that one simply twirls the fork on the plate.

Dave: would fine-as-snow ice really mangle mint? Also, as for the frosting, I use metal-on-metal Boston shakers, and find that I always end up with frost on both parts of the shaker before I even finish shaking.

Steven is right, the tacos at the 96th Street taco truck are okay, but can in no way compete with standouts like Tehuitzingo, never mind neighborhood spots like Noche Mexicana or Taqueria y Fonda La Mexicana.

As far as I know, no one eats the whole scallop, guts and all. It's just the adductor muscle, and maybe the roe. Have a look of scallop shucking. Also, have a look at these pictures and I think you'll agree that you wouldn't want to eat that part.

alanamoana: afaik Lyle's is made from sucrose. Some of it is inverted, and that is blended back with the rest, which is not inverted. It is extremely concentrated such that, even at room temperature it is possible to hold a spoonfull of it upside-down, and it must be scraped off the spoon with a finger (it has even been used as a reference standard for viscosity).

Awesome. Thanks for the interesting quote, Dave (and you for yours, George). I wonder why it is that no one seems to churn, roll or shake Juleps anymore, and this practice seems to have largely gone away? Now that I think about it, it makes sense considering that we swizzle Swizzles. Also, I gather that recycling the mint was relatively commonplace?

http://www.lylesgoldensyrup.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_syrup

The two-tin pouring sounds like fun, yea. I'm still not convinced about the vigorous mixing. Even churning with a spoon, while not "disallowed," hardly seems "standard." Most recipes I've seen (and this goes back to at least Jerry Thomas's instructions) don't mention anything beyond perhaps a slight stir. Many/most of them don't seem to say anything about mixing at all (interestingly, JT's instructions for the Georgia Mint Julep "stir with a spoon" whereas his instructions for all the other Juleps as well as those for the Smash do not mention mixing of any kind.

Erik, I'm not positive about #4 above. I think a Julep can be mixed vigorously (cf. Dave's shaking method) but doesn't necessarily have to be. Actually, most recipes don't seem to include vigorous mixing. I also wonder whether #6 really applies to anyone other than JT. Certainly there are a lot of drinks today called a "Smash" of one kind or another that couldn't in any way be described as "Julep-like."

How do they manage it for something like Lyle's Golden Syrup, then? I mean, that stuff is incredibly thick at room temperature -- way too thick to be useful in cocktails -- and has to be supersaturated. And yet, I've never had any crystallization in a jar or can or Lyle's. Not once. Honey is also a lot thicker than even a highly concentrated simple syrup, and while crystallization does sometimes happen with honey, it's not all that often. Re supersaturation: I assume that any sugar syrup that has to be heated in order to dissolve the sugar into the water is technically supersaturated at room temperature, yes? I'm getting ready to start a simple syrup experiment making old-style gomme syrup, which is a highly concentrated sugar syrup that has the additional component of gum arabic. I plan to include around 10% glucose, but I also wonder how the gum arabic will affect the tendency to crystallize.

Yep. There's even a thread on it here. The Per Se Cocktail 2 oz : Ciroc vodka 1 oz : Pineau des Charentes Rinse : Grand Marnier Dash a little Grand Marnier into a chilled cocktail glass. Rotate to evenly coat and shake out the excess. Stir vodka and Pineau des Charentes with cracked ice and strain into prepared cocktail glass. Garnish with a gooseberry and lime twist (the actual garnish changes, but this is the one from the article).

For cocktail use, the modern standard is 1:1 by volume. This is what is specified in almost every modern professional cocktail recipe you will see. It does not need to be heated, as equal volumes of sugar and water will form a solution without heating. Clearly, of course, it is possible to get a highly concentrated sugar syrup without crystalization. A good example would be Lyle's Golden Syrup. Pastry-types will likely know better than I, but doesn't around 10% glucose help to prevent crystalization even in highly concentrated syrups?