slkinsey

This came up in another thread recently. Here's my response from there: You could substitute "wine" or "grape must" or "beer" or "fermented potato" or even "wood shavings" for "molasses" and the example would still hold true. Also, for the record, Ciroc is not produced from a base of grappa, which is distilled grape pomace (aka rsidue from wine-making, including mostly grape skns, but also stems, seeds and some residual wine), but rather from a base of fermented grapes (aka wine). The reason to do multiple distillation (aka rectification) is to remove the non-ethyl alcohol components of the distillate. The first time something goes through the still, it's full of ethyl acetate, ethyl lactate, fusel oils like 1-propanol, 2-propanol, butanol, amyl alcohol and furfural, methanol and other such things. There are ways to minimize the presence of these components, such as only saving the "heart" of the run and all that, but it's pretty much impossible to run something through a still the first time and end up with 96% ethyl alcohol and 4% water. So, one thing you can do is dilute the results of the first run and shoot it through the still a second (third, fourth, etc.) time. Since the distillation in the subseqent runs starts out with a much smaller concentration of "undesirable" components, the methods used to avoid these components will produce increasingly smaller concentrations. Think of it like cleaning a dirty window. The first time you spray on the cleaner and wipe down the window, there will still be plenty of dirty streaks left on the glass. The second time you spray on the cleaner and wipe down the window, using the same procedure as before, most of the dirt is gone. But there is still some left. After a total of 4 wipe-downs, the window is completely clean. In making vodka, most makers take this an even further step by running the finished distillate through a filter. Note that I put the word "undesirable" in quotations. These components are undesirable in vodka for sure, but not necessarily in other spirits. The catch-22 is that in removing these components, one necessarily also removes virtually all of the characteristic and distinctive aroma and flavor components of the raw material. There are also non-rectificatio/filtration methods of removing some of these components that actually add flavor, such as aging in wood. Vodka made from apples, for example, will not have a particularly "apple like" flavor or aroma. This doesn't mean that vodkas made from different raw ingredients don't have certain characteristics that distinguish them, but they are minute, subtle differences. In addition, many of these differences are not actually due to differences in raw materials. One extremely well-kept secret of the vodka industry is that, after all the rectification and filtration strip away virtually any distinctive characteristics of the vodka, the makers are allowed to "add back in" tiny amounts of flavoring and aroma chemicals as well as mouthfeel enhancers like glycerin. So that "heavy mouthfeel and subtle hint of vanilla" of such-and-such vodka very likely doesn't come from their use of organic fingerling potatoes, 97 times distillation and filtration through the Shroud of Turin, but rather from the chemist's bottle.

Hmmm. I wonder if I could do this in the oven in a tagine...

Sweet! Can I cut it in half to look at the bottom part?

Whoa. For that price, I think I'll stick with browning the meat on the stove and transferring to the slow cooker. As chance would have it, I've been using my slow cookers more often receltly. Turned a pork butt into ragu, cooked many kinds of dry beans, and have used it to make tinga (chicken thighs cooked with chipotle, tomato and onion, then shredded).

The best place to go in Manhattan for selection and price is the Astor Place area. You can hit Astor Wines & Spirits at 399 Lafayette (at 4th Street). Then, cross 4th Street to Broadway and go uptown a block or two to Warehouse Wines & Spirits at 735 Broadway(between Waverly and 8th). These two are close enough together that you can actually do some comparison shopping on price. Warehouse, for example, has the best prices I've seen on Cointreau. After that, if you're still shopping, go up Broadway to 14th Street, take a left and go a few blocks West to Crossroads Wines & Liquors at 55 West 14th Street (between 5th and 6th).

Tim, I don't have much doubt that they make 2.0 mm copper/0.5 mm stainless cookware. I do, however, have serious doubt that they have further slapped a 3.2 mm disk of copper on the bottom of said 2.0 mm copper/0.5 mm stainless cookware. All you need to make a pan work with induction, by the way, is a thin layer of magnetic steel. There is no reason why Inocuivre Induction would need, or benefit from an extra copper disk on the bottom in the context of induction heating. The easiest thing to do would be to slap a 0.5 mm layer of magnetic steel on the outside of the pan and have done with it.

Tim: can you provide a link to the info on De Buyer's web site? I didn't find anything like that there.

That certainly sounds right to me, although that seems to describe the perfect crumb for most any vaguely "country style" bread. More to the point, IMO you want a very open crumb with lots of big holes evenly distributed through the bread. I've just reactivated my Bahrain culture from Sourdoughs International and will be making a few no-knead boules soon.

De Buyer's Inoxcuivre line is made in a variety of weights and thicknesses, but I have never seen anything indicating the specifications you are citing. The "Inocuivre Induction" line seems to simply have an additional base of magnetic steel. It doesn't seem credible that you could have bought cookware that truly had these specifications (including a base with 5.2 mm of copper!) for what would be described as "almost nothing." Such a pan would be among the most expensive on the market, simply due to the cost of the materials. Unfortunately, a lot of cookware sellers and stores promote bogus specifications.

I would suggest that what makes vodka "vodka" is not the raw materials that are used, but rather the degree to which distinctive and characteristic flavor/aroma/etc. are removed by the extremely high distillation proof, filtration, etc. This is to say that a spirit made of fermented molasses that was distilled to an azeotropic solution of alcohol and water at 192 proof, rectified through several subsequent distillations, filtered through quartz and/or activated charcoal, and then diluted with water to a bottle proof of 40% alcohol would not be "rum" due to the fact that the raw material was molasses. It would be "vodka" due to the process used in making it and the end result.

I can't let this one pass. I assume/hope it's hyperbole, but would anyway like to point out that it's a ridiculous assertion if not deliberate hyperbole. There are plenty of peoples throughout history who have subsisted largely on food products made of white flour, so it is incorrect on its face to say that it has no nutritional value. As to whether it "destroys blood chemistry," I've never seen anything with any credibility whatsoever to suggest such a thing. Here are some interesting and relevant quotes from "On Food and Cooking" (1st Ed):

One of the most interesting tidbits from the kitchen tour was learned when I asked about what kinds of adjustments they had had to make in opening a reataurant in America and New York City as opposed to their usual UK stomping grounds. I was expecting to hear something about using different provisioners and ingredients, or changing things to account for the NYC palate, etc. No... the first thing that came to his mind was that they had to be a lot nicer to the personnel in the kitchen, that the strong language and rough-and-tumble of their UK kitchens simply wouldn't fly here.

Dude. Seriously. The next time we go to NGB, let's see if we can take a peek into the kitchen. Then let's see if we're willing to ever go back after that.

You make some interesting points, Steven. Like yourself, I have had the opportunity to see plenty of food preparation areas in your three categories. If I had to pick one as the cleanest of the three, it would be the kitchen of a well-run McDonald's. If I had to pick one as the dirtiest of the three, it would be the kitchen of a lowbrow to middlebrow sit-down restaurant. Sure, the kitchens at Per Se and ADNY look like operating suites on the Starship Enterprise, but the kitchens of $20 - $50 places are frequently appalling. And I don't know about you, but I never want to see the kitchen at, say, New Green Bo. What makes the fast food places like Taco Bell much more dangerous from a food safety standpoint compared to a "Chez Annie's Basil Grill" is that Taco Bell is likely getting all their beef from one processing plant, all their scallions from one grower, all their sour cream from one dairy, etc. -- and they're storing it all in one place as well. So, if any one of these products or processors or storage facilities becomes a source of contamination, that contamination goes out to a zillion Taco Bell restaurants and a lot of people get sick. One way to prevent this -- and if I were a betting man I'd put money on this becoming SOP within a decade -- would be for Taco Bell's storage and shipping facilities to incorporate irradiation capabilities. That way, all the scallions (for example) at the holding and distribution facility would be sealed in airtight plastic for transportation, and before they were released from the facility all the boxes of sealed-up scallions would be irratiated. That would go a long way towards eliminating a major potential contamination risk, and would have the added benefit of giving the food products a longer shelf life.

Okay, cool. Important question: What's the tannin presence like in the syrup?

Boodles, I'm not sure I understand what your product is. Is the syrup made by reducing/sweetening the unfermented grape must, or is it reduced/sweetened wine?

Bless you, Dave. I agree. and I also agree about Luksusowa. Especially when price is considered, I've never found a reason to keep any other vodka around.

The Imperia is a cool machine. I have the Imperia my mother had when she was living in Italy over 50 years ago. When I bought one for a friend a few years back, I was pleased to see that it appears to be the exact same machine with no substitutions of cheap parts or construction. That said, now that I have the KA pasta roller attachments, I never use the Imperia any more. It's just so much faster and easier with the KA. FWIW, I never use the cutters. I've never been entirely happy with the extent to which they separate the strands of pasta, and I find it's easier/better to simply roll up each sheet of pasta and cut it to whatever width I'd like by hand. Now sure I agree that fresh pasta is better than store-bought pasta, if we're talking about comparing fresh to dry pasta. They're really two different animals, and artisinal dry semolina pastas like Latini, Rustichella d'Abruzzo and Setaro are as good as any fresh pasta you'll ever have. Now, if you're saying that homemade fresh pasta is way better than store bought fresh pasta, I'm with you 100%. This is the sort of thing where having a recirculating water bath heater really comes in handy.

If they turned those NY apples into Applejack, they'd be a lot cheaper to ship. And they'd have a better shelf-life.

Okay, but what I'm wondering is why you're setting up a big list of drinks with only one alcohol ingredient. Is there some taste-based reason? Economic? Philosophical? I ask because, while there are a number of good and complex one-spirit drinks (the Jack Rose comes to mind), limiting yourself to one alcholic ingredient only is... well... very limiting.

Danne, if you don't mind my asking (and I think it might help us make suggestions for you). . . why don't you want more than one alcohol ingredient? You would accept a drink with 5 non-alcohol ingredients plus tequila, but not a drink with 1 non-alcohol and one alcohol ingredient plus tequila? That doesn't make sense to me, but if you'd share your reasoning maybe it would. If you're looking for essentially two ingredient drinks like a tequila and orange juice, I'm not sure why you'd need suggestions. Just try many variations of tequila plus _____.

My guess is that it's simply due to a lack of awareness. In the United States, that mindspace is occupied by cast iron. In some other countries (France perhaps?) it might be reversed and we might be asking why heavy cast iron isn't used more. That said, it's also a fact that unlined cast iron isn't used all that much either outside of the foodie community and certain specialty applications (cornbread, etc.). This is simply because it can't be washed in the dishwasher. Most of this is explained in the eGCI class (hard to remember this is the Q&A thread to a class, I know). Cast iron works better than stainless because cast iron has better thermal conductivity. Because stainless has such crappy conductivity and high thermal capacity, stainless cookware is generally made very thin. This results in an overall low thermal capacity. Low conductivity and low thermal capacity equals less heat being conducted into the meat, which equals lesser performance on searing and browning. It is not the case, however, that stainless steel has poor properties as a surface for searing and browning. Stainless lined heavy copper, stainless lined thick aluminum and stainless disk bottom cookware all excel at browning and searing. Enamel is a slightly different story. There are two kinds of enamel cookware. Enameled carbon steel is enamel over a very thin layer of carbon steel. This suffers from the same conductivity and thermal capacity problems as stainless, only even worse due to the fact that enamel has drastically lower thermal conductivity than even stainless steel (so much so that enamel might be better characterized as an "insulator" rather than a "conductor"). Enameled cast iron is much better at browning and searing than enameled carbon steel, but still suffers compared to copper, aluminum and unlined iron. The lesser performance has to do, I'm guessing, with the very low thermal conductivity of the enamel.

Ciroc is a very good vodka. But, Brad, I have to say I'm a little surprised that someone with your palate would say that you can't use cheap stuff for penne alla vodka and bought a superexpensive vodka like Ciroc in order to make it. Of course something like Popov might bring some off flavors to the table. But the next time I'm in your neck of the woods we'll do a side-by-side tasting and I'll bet you a hundred bucks you can't tell the difference between penne alla vodka made with $35/liter Ciroc and $11/liter Luksusowa. Of course, if you bought the Ciroc in order to use a couple ounces of it with the penne and drink the rest... that's different.

No. But, on the bright side, when I ran into the estimable doctor at Pegu Club recently, I was able to give him shit about it in person.

My predictions were that rye and rhum agricole would be significant trends in the cocktails community. That's absolutely happened with respect to rye, and to a lesser extent with respect to rhum agricole. I'm glad to see that applejack appears to be making significant inroads into the cocktailian psyche, as I had hoped, and Laird's bonded is now available for sale in NYC. Bitters also seems to be starting a minor explosion in the second half of 2006, with many new brands and types available commercially as well as lots of people experimenting on their own. All in all, I'm pretty happy with how my predictions turned out.