slkinsey

For food on a stick ideas, look no further than the final chapter of Ellen Shapiro's Mongolia to China epic, which features an entire "food on a stick" market. Here's just a sampling of things I'm sure you'll want to try: Be the first person in your neighborhood to make crispy starfish on a stick!!

Heh. When my father went from MIT to Rice University, my parents moved to Southside Place. I've made it my business to get to know Spec's because most Manhattan liquor stores have relatively limited selection, especially of lesser known but inexpensive liquors. There are a bunch of places here with an extensive selection of $100 single malts, but not so many that carry 30 different kinds of gin or rye. This is a simple matter of economics. It costs a lot more money for a Manhattan liquor store to shelve a case of liquor than it does a Houston liquor store simply based on rent per square foot of shelf space. Therefore, Spec's can afford to stock a relatively obscure liquor that might only sell a couple of cases a year. In fact, this is a good move for them because they get a lot of business based on their reputation for having everything. In Manhattan, on the other hand, you just can't afford to keep a case of something that won't move off the shelves in fairly short order unless it's a super-expensive bottle. The rent is just too high.

Hmmm... Of all the liquors for which I think some work might be required to acquire a taste, rhum agricole would be very far down on the list. I can understand how someone has to "learn to like" something like aquavit or gin or grappa. Rhum agricole has always struck me as very approachable. But, as the saying goes, that's why they play the game. Different people/different palates/different sensitivities to different chemicals.

crosparantoux, I'm not sure how much I buy your example. How is it that a bulk food broker had samples with a proprietary private label to offer you? Wouldn't that be illegal in California? I'm also curious as to whether those who buy from Trader Joes can substantiate your claim that their canned beans are "mushy, smelly, and off color . . . [containing] only bits and pieces."

The price for Erin Go Bragh I just got from the article. Red Breast seems to typically retail for around 40 bucks here in NYC, but I'm sure I got mine on sale at someplace like Crossroads for 35.

In todays NY Times Eric Asimov is running an article on Irish whiskey. Many were tasted by Asimov, Florence Fabricant, Ethan R, Kelley (the spirits sommelier at the Brandy Library) and Eben Klem. These are the bottlings that made their cut: *** Bushmills Single Malt 10 Years Old ($35) Midleton Very Rare Blended 2004 ($125) Knappogue Castle Single Malt 1994 Very Special Reserve ($35) **½ Connemara Peated Single Malt Cask Strength ($59) Clontarf Single Malt ($30) Bushmills Black Bush Blended ($28) ** Kilbeggan Blended ($15) - Best Value Bushmills Single Malt 16 Years Old ($60) Redbreast Blended 12 Years Old ($42) Tullamore Dew Blended ($40) I note here that none of the Irish whiskeys received a rating higher than three stars (the rating scale goes up to four). I also note a distinct preference for single malt whiskies, which doesn't seem to reflect a thorough understanding of what Irish whiskies are all about and rather seems to reflect an approach to Irish whiskey under the paradigm of single malt scotch. But, then again, my opinions and those of my friends don't often seem to align with the ratings done by these NYT panels. I would certainly have rated Red Breast significantly higher than they did (and I have found it for substantially less than 42 dollars). I admit to being a little disappointed they didn't get Patrick O’Sullivan for the panel, as he is my go-to guy for all things Irish whiskey-related and among the foremost experts in this area to be found in the City. Apparently a great whiskey if you can find it is Erin Go Bragh. This is a limited distribution bottling made with whiskey purchased from the Middleton distributor and bottled by an independent. Very little of it left, but it is supposed to be excellent (not to mention cheap at 18 bucks a bottle).

Hmm... Have you tried the Favorite in any other drinks? I think it makes a fine Daiquiri at 2 oz rum, 1/2 oz lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon of superfine sugar. I'm asking because it may simply be that you don't care for the flavor of rhum agricole. Another thing you might do is try making a Ti Punch using a regular cuban-style white rum like Flor de Cana and see what that tastes like to you. Maybe you just don't like white rum this unadorned. I think it's interesting that you would say that the Favorite tastes "industrial" and "solvent-like" to you, because my sense is that rhum agricole is actually more delicate and floral and far less "industrial tasting" than molasses-based rum.

Their bitters selection is okay. They have the Fee Brothers aromatic and orange varieties, as well as Peychaud's and Angostura. I don't think I saw Gary's bitters the last time I was there, and I don't recall seeing Fee's peach or mint bitters. They also have a good selection of vermouth. They have all the usual suspects, plus Vya. What more do you need? I have always found it highly ironic that Laird's bonded applejack can be had at retail in Houston (at Spec's, natch) and not in NYC, which is only a short drive from where they make the stuff.

The one thing that I like about the smooth steel (I have both a smooth steel and an ultrafine grit ceramic) is that you can use the smooth steel without worrying that you might screw something up. So it's nice for when you just want to give the knife a few casual passes on the steel without thinking about it too much.

There is a very interesting article in the March 13, 2006 issue of New Yorker Magazine entitled "Green Gold : The return of absinthe" by Jack Turner. It unfortunately does not appear to be available on the New Yorker web site, but in encourage interested parties to check it out. It centers around absinthe revivalist Ted Breaux, and discusses the revival of interest in absinthe, the production process and some of Breaux's work in attempting to recreate historical examples of absinthe using period distilling equipment, techniques and recipes. Since the thujone question seems to come up fairly persistently, I thought I'd include this quote:

Another thing that I have found interesting to observe over the last year is that it's possible to get a ton of good media coverage without any publicist at all.

For whatever it's worth, I should point out that there are plenty of "family" pubs and bars in countries other than the US.

Both, I'd say. It's definitely to provide some cooking fat, but salt pork also has a distinctive, if relatively mild flavor. In my opinion, to be really traditional you don't want smokey flavors in a chowder (salt pork is not smoked). So I wouldn't use bacon, unless you're talking about a nonsmoked bacon. The good news is if you can buy something in a store called "salted fat back" I think you've found some salt pork. The difference between fatback and salt pork is that the salt pork is cured with salt. Lardo might be an okay substitute if that can be found and salt pork cannot. Vongole is Italian for "clams" -- so I think you're doing just fine. It's unlikely you'll find truly traditional clams for this dish, however. Chowder is traditionally made with "chowder clams" or quahogs. These are very large clams (the shell larger than the palm of your hand). They contribute a very flavorful broth when steamed open, but are too tough to eat as-is and must be chopped into small pieces. Most likely your vongole are of an appropriately small and tender size to steam and eat with spaghetti. They'll still make a very good chowder, but you may need to boost the flavor with some clam broth.

That's odd re the Suffering Bastard. I've never heard of it being associated with Tiki Bars or Mexico, nor being served in a bowl with fruit floating in it. I've always heard of it as a gin, whiskey and lime highball. You're probably thinking of "jake leg" -- a characteristic kind of paralysis that resulted from drinking too much Jake (slang for Jamaican ginger extract patent medicine) during Prohibition. This was not due to methanol however, but rather to organophosphate-induced delayed neuropathy caused by the tri-o-tolyl phosphate that was added to Jake. If I recall correctly, the magazine article explored the question of why so many blues songs containing the words "jake leg" and "jake walk" appear around the years of prohibition.

I see salt pork with some regularity in places like Fairway, and even in C-Town groceries in Manhattan. You might try looking in grocery stores that cater mostly to the African American population, as I would think you'd stand a fairly good chance of finding salt pork of fatback (the best alternative to salt pork) there.

Bain Marie can be used to describe both a stovetop arrangement and the oven arrangement used for custards and the like. It more or less simply means "water bath" (Wikipedia has an interesting article about the origins of the term). The difference between a bain maria and a double boiler is that the cooking vessel of a double boiler is heated by steam generated in the boiling vessel, whereas the cooking vessel of a bain marie is heated by direct contact with hot water. There is no reason to buy a fancy apparatus for either one. If you place a stainless steel bowl over a pot with a shallow layer of boiling water so that the bowl is heated by steam, you have created a double boiler. If the bottom of the bowl is submerged in the hot water (or, better yet, if you have a small pot sitting inside a larger pot filled with hot water) you have created a main marie. For the stovetop stuff, I have found that using a low flame and heavy copper cookware works just as well for things like melting chocolate and making custard, and without all the fuss. In the oven, where it's more about radically increasing the thermal capacity so the custards or cheesecakes cook more slowly and evenly, there is no substitute for a bain marie.

Hmmm.... I might just have to get in on this. The chowder we always used to make in my Boston youth was a clam and corn chowder. Haven't had that chowder in 20 years at this point. Maybe it's time to revive it. I've also had good results making a chowder using the Ducasse/Psaltis method, which involves steaming chowder clams open and making a puree of the clam meat. The clam puree is used as a base/thickener for the chowder and the clam liqueur from the steaming is used as the liquid component. For the actual pieces of clam, I used littlenecks. This is entirely nontraditional, as one would normally use big, tough chowder clams or quahogs, which would have to be cut into small pieces to be edible. And yet the result seems quite traditional somehow, albeit with a much intensified clam flavor from the puree.

Russ, if it's All-Clad stainless (which is to saym with stainless steel inside and out) you should be able to use oven cleaner on that sucker. That works better than anything I have used for that kind of cooked-on black gunk. It's my default for cleaning my A-C stainless roasting pan of those last few bits of baked on crud. You could probably use it with A-C MasterChef as well, but it's no go if you have the kind with anodized aluminum on the outside -- the oven cleaner will screw up the black layer. No reason oven cleaner shouldn't work on a piece of Le Creuset either. After all, the inside of your oven is lined with enamel too.

I find that even adding just a touch of Punt e Mes -- not enough to add much bitterness -- to a Manhattan-type drink provides a very much longer finish.

Sounds good, and a little like the Red Hook, itself inspired by the Brooklyn, with the addition of vermouth: Red Hook 2.0 oz : rye (Old Overholt) 0.5 oz : maraschino 0.5 oz : Punt e Mes

I actually prefer to stand at the bar rather than sit. Maybe I'm odd that way...

I don't think it's likely that people will be finding that their sense of taste is greatly enhanced by quitting smoking. It is rather more likely that one's ability to discern flavor is increased, but taste and flavor aren't quite the same thing. Flavor is a composite sensation created by a combination of sense perceptions such as taste, smell, temperature, texture, chemical sense, etc. Interestingly, there appears to be little evidence that smoking has an effect on the taste receptors. Smell is a different story, however. Smokers do seem to have a reduced ability to identify certain odors. One major factor seems to be that exposure to smoke causes increased death rates of olfactory sensory neurons to such a degree that this overwhelms the olfactory epithelium's ability to regenerate. The result is lower numbers of olfactory sensory neurons, resulting in a less acute sense of smell. Since smell is often regarded as the most important contributing sense to flavor, it makes sense that quitting smoking can have a big effect on the intensity and quality of flavor. This isn't always the case, however. Sometimes the olfactory sensory neurons may not significantly repopulate after quitting smoking (age can also be a factor). It also appears to be the case that some smokers still have a better-than-average sense of smell, perhaps due to already having above-average numbers of olfactory sensor neurons. Congratulations to everyone, by the way.

Welcome Jonathan. I'm sure that many of our members who are not in the business would love to hear about what it means to be a cocktail consultant, what that business is like, etc.

I see I am coming a bit late to this discussion... My best advice is to practice, practice, practice. The more dinner parties you give, the better you will be at throwing them. It's always been interesting for me to observe how few of our friends actually entertain in their homes, despite the fact that many of our friends are serious foodies. We have people over to our apartment at least once a week, if not more often. I think a lot of people don't entertain because they think it's a big deal, and it's a lot of trouble, and they have to do something really fancy, etc. But really, it's okay to have some friends over and just make spaghetti with meatballs, garlic bread and a salad. Later, as your experience grows, you start to feel more confident about doing more complicated things and exploring more formal concepts, if that's where your interests lead you.

Keep in mind that, while Blackwood's is made in Scotland, it's made in the Shetland Islands, which are probably as much Norse as is they are Scots. Actually, I think Shetland was part of Norway until something like 1500. Norway gave it to Scotland in exchange for a debt or some such thing. I'm pretty sure The Shetland Islands are closer to Norway than they are to Edinburgh. Blackwood is advertising itself more as a Shetland distillery than a Scottland distillery (their mark is: Blackwood 'The Shetland Distillery') so I suppose the Norse designs are a way to highlight the Shetland Islands' unique history.