slkinsey

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.

Dude, at some point you have to ask: who hasn't ransacked those islands? After all, the Scots don't have to look very far to find people who did bad things to them... the British are right next door.

I was able to try a little bit of both Blackwood's Vintage Dry and Vintage 60 a little while ago. Very interesting spirits, and a little hard to describe. Very good. They certainly have an unusual flavor/aroma profile for gin. The Vintage 60, I thought, had some suggestions of the earthiness of fresh cracked pepper or, as someone else suggested, perhaps grains of paradise (neither of which appears to be a botanical actually used in the spirit). I have no idea how much they're going to retail for in the US, but if they're priced so that mixing with them won't be a ridiculous waste, I could see making some interesting drinks with them. Also had a chance to try No. 209 gin. Eh...? Didn't do it for me. To my palate, it was way too heavy on the citrus notes. In particular, it smelled like it was trying to be a "lime flavored gin" -- which is a problem because too much citrus always produces a certain "artificial seeming" taste. Most orange vodkas, for example, taste like baby aspirin. A lot of new gins seem to want to pump up the citrus and deemphasize the juniper, perhaps aiming for a "G&T gin." I don't get it. I'd take a bottle of Blackwood's over two bottles of No. 209 any day.

Were you never 19? I have--what's the word I want? fond? queasy? sheepish? alarming?--memories of a night spent doing Everclear shots and slam-dancing to the Buzzcocks with a girl with vivid pink hair and tattooos, back when only Marines had tattoos and old ladies from Pensacola had pink hair. Ah, youth. Heh. Oh, I've had any number of drinks of Everclear. I just can't think of why I would drink any of it now. Luckily for me, during my formative drinking years (er... substantially younger than age 19) I was able to sneak booze from the big glass bottles of Fish House Punch my parents aged in the basement for a year to use in their big Xmas party. I can only imagine that the Kinsey children were the only ones in America during those years getting loaded for the first time on Fish House Punch.

Here are the drinks listed in the article: - Bruichladdich's 92% abv whiskey - Absinthe - Hjemmebrent, a high proof (and illegal) Norwegian moonshine - Everclear I'm not sure I agree that any of these are "dangerous" -- although I can't think of any reason I'd drink anything with Everclear in it.

Just a quick moderator's note: I've moved a number of posts from this thread that focused mainly on Andrea Strong and touched on Morimoto only in a vaguely tangential way. These posts now reside in the Bruni and Beyond: NYC Reviewing (2006) thread, which is our thread for "reviewing the reviewer" and other NYC-related review metadiscussion. Let's keep this thread for discussion of Morimoto. Thanks!

Woohoo! Actually, sending it to Pegu isn't a bad idea.

I'll add to this list: Bottled in Bond: American spirits produced according to the Bottled Bond Act of 1894. This is a way to avoid paying excise tax until the spirits are aged and ready for sale; also originally indended to ensure that the spirit was actually what it claimed to be. Bonded spirits are aged no less than four years in a government bonded warehouse and must be bottled at proof (50% abv). Bourbon: Straight Whiskey where the primary grain is corn. Purists would argue that it is only made in Kentucky, although this is not a legal requirement. It is the official distilled spirit of the United States. Canadian Whisky: By law, this is a blended whisky of cereal grains aged no less than three years. Mash: A term used mostly by traditional American distillers. Refers to the fermenting mixture of water, grains, yeast and sometimes hops from which whiskey is made. Rye Whiskey (American): Straight Whiskey made with rye as the primary grain. Rye Whisky (Canadian): Another name for Canadian Whisky, most of which contain little if any rye. Sour Mash: A technique used in the production of many straight whiskeys wherein a portion of the mash is held back and allowed to "sour" then added to the mash on a following day. Straight Whiskey: By law, the grain bill must contain no less than 51% and no more than 79% of the primary grain. It must be distilled to no more than 160 proof (80% abv), aged for at least two years at no more than 125 proof (62.5% abv) in charred new oak barrels, and bottled at no less than 80 proof (40% abv). No neutral grain spirits or any other substances may be added. Tennessee Whiskey: Straight Whiskey where the primary grain is corn, but where the raw distillate is treated with the Lincoln County Process (filtration through ten feet of maple charcoal) before being dumped into barrels for aging.

I have friends who make a pecan "nocino" using the green pecans that grow on their property. See here for a thread on making nocino.

Like Gary, I think it's possible to talk about things one doesn't like or that could be improved in a positive way. For me, there are two pet peeves I have when it comes to bartenders, and I guess they both come down to attitude: 1. When the bartender won't listen to me or condescends to me. I am reminded of an experience I had in a very good and no-I-won't-name-it NYC bar: It was a slow night. I was in the mood for a Sidecar and told the bartender I liked them at around 2:1:1, which formula I had been drinking at the time under the influence of Dave Wondrich. The bartender said something to the effect of "I've been making Sidecars for 20 years, and I know how to make a Sidecar." He proceeded to make me a 2:2:1 Sidecar, saying "this is how we make them here." And, here's the thing: The Sidecar sucked. Now I've had Sidecars in many different formulations (3:2:1, 2:2:1, 2:1:1, 1:1:1), and liked them all. I don't even mind the suggestion that I might like a drink a different way. So that wasn't it. It was more that his attitude was equally reflected in his response to my request and his care in making the drink (which in this case was watered). But even if it had been great, my mood was broken. 2. If it's clear that the bartender really doesn't want to be there. This cuts in a lot of directions. If you're a hardcore classic mixologist and disdainful of the beer-and-a-shot crowd, then don't work in a beer-and-a-shot bar. If you don't have any enthusiasm for complex cocktails that take attention and care to craft, then don't work in a specialty cocktail bar.

Gary, we've got a pretty extensive thread here about nocino that you may find of interest. As I'm sure you know, nocino is a digestive/liqueur that many Italians make at home. Do you find it particularly outstanding among other examples of nocino? I have some Italian friends who now live in Houston and make a pecan "nocino" using green pecans instead of green walnuts (because the former grows in Houston while the latter does not). I wonder about using nocino (in very small amounts, because the flavor is so strong) with lemon juice and gin...

The only real advantages a soda siphon has over bottled in terms of straight carbonated water are 1) you can use only a few ounces at a time without losing the carbonation, and 2) a soda siphon dispenses charged water in a strong concentrated jet, which is a significant advantage over pouring from a bottle when it comes to making a Fizz. I've had good results decanting bottled seltzer into a soda siphon and then adding an additional charger.

If I may be so bold as to suggest: Double smoked bacon on bacon bread with bacon dressing?