slkinsey
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Posts posted by slkinsey
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Bars can charge whatever they want, but how can you say that a restaurant bar can be a huge source of profit and that the customers are wrong for thinking their drinks are overpriced?
I'm not 100% sure it can become a huge source of profit, although others are certainly in a better position to speak on that than I. But I look at it this way: If you add cocktails to a restaurant, you are likely to find that your customers are having a cocktail while waiting for a table, ordering a cocktail when they sit down, etc. in situations where they probably would not have had a glass of champagne or wine. Although this is not true of all customers or all restaurants, I find that people are more likely to order a before-dinner cocktail than a before-dinner glass of wine (maybe because they know they're going to be having wine later with their meal?). That means you're making money in a situation where you wouldn't have been making money before -- and, depending on the restaurant and the customer base, I think it can be a lot more money. I'm just not sure it has to do so much with the markup. Again, I'm sure we have members who can actually draw from before-and-after experience and have much more to contribute on this subject than I.
If customers complain about $10 dollar cocktails, it may simply be due to the fact that they've never had a cocktail in an upscale place. Similarly, someone who is used to spending 13 bucks on a relatively simple plate of pasta and has come to think that "a plate of pasta costs between 10 and 13 bucks" will probably complain about the 20 dollar plates of pasta at a more "fancy" restaurant. Indeed, we have a number of people in these forums who do just that with some regularity.
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The examples you used show that the dive bar is making the same drink using a cheaper ingredient and has a $3.50 margin while the upscale example has an $8 margin. That's what your customer is looking at when they bitch about being "price gouged". The drinks don't take twice as long to make, so it seems like a reasonable comparison to me. Sure rent is a bit higher, and someone needs to pick up the tab for the guy who designed the lighting but maybe if the upscale bar is making $5 a drink instead of $8 then people wouldn't complain so often. Then again if the upscale bar were charging more reasonable prices the answer to the question eje asked wouldn't be 'A LOT!'.
People complain about a $10 drink made with top quality booze?
One could make the same argument about restaurants. If Babbo is charging twenty bucks for a plate of linguine with clams, pancetta and hot chiles and some other place is charging thirteen bucks, you have an even larger price differential. And in the restaurant comparison we're talking about dishes that are functionally identical, made with the same ingredients, etc. (the food cost on this dish is probably more in the 10% range for Babbo). It's just like with wine. People don't understand that there is a lot more going into the price of their booze than picking up a bottle at the local package store. Just like with wine, at an upscale restaurant or bar/lounge your drink is paying for a lot more than the booze in the bottle. It's also paying for the fancy glass, the fancy napkins, the investment on the fancy lights/music/bathroom fixtures, barbacks, hostesses, rent, etc. When all is said and done, these places are not exactly making a huge profit. I do agree with Katie that adding bar service can add greatly to a restaurant's bottom line, but not because it's got such a huge profit margin on the cocktails. Rather, I think it's mostly simply because the restaurant is now moving a lot more product.
Another big difference you're not figuring into your comparison is that a Banker's Club Old Fashioned will taste like ass and the Knob Creek Old Fashioned will taste amazing. But, in reality, of course, the Banker's Club at the dive bar is likely to come in the form of a shot in a shitty chipped shot glass, whereas the Knob Creek is more likely to come in a nice glass with a few dashes of bitters, a few strips of peel fresh off the lemon and trimmed of pith, a big lump of ice, etc. So, in reality the high priced drink often does take twice as long to make (if not longer) and requires more skill from the bartender.
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From the web site:
We do not take reservations, nor do we intentionally prioritize guests as they arrive. It is our priority to take care of each guest on a first-come, first-serve basis. As far as we're concerned everyone's a star, and it's more interesting to see what kind of characters fill up the room anyway. . .If you're a large group arriving at 11:30 on Saturday, I don't think you'll have much chance of getting seats at the bar -- and depending on the night, you might have to wait to get in.
Got to have cocktails with some folks last Sunday at Pegu while I was in town for some business- what a beautiful place!!Don't forget that Seattle has a pretty great place in The Zig Zag Cafe. In fact, I had a chance to meet one of the guys from Zig Zag a few weeks ago trading recipes at the Pegu Club bar.
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Erik, have you considered infusing the Jamaica into booze instead of adding it to the drink as a nonalcoholic component?
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Two brands which are miles ahead of Pitù, 51 and Velho Barreiro are Mãe de Ouro and Beleza Pura.
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Erik, I assume that the "Jamaica flowers" of which you write are the same thing that is more commonly called (by Jamaicans anyway) "sorrel?"
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I noticed in the NY Times magazine article about nathanm's amazing kitchen that, when he made lamb chops, he did individual (Frenched) chops rather than the whole rack. Remember to blowtorch the outside of the rack and the rib bones. Otherwise they can look kind of raw.
Be careful with the juniper. I love juniper with venison, but sous vide cooking will amplify the impact of the juniper 10 times what it would normally be. Even one juniper berry per individually wrapped chop might be overkill.
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I WAS hoping to hear from a larger base of people though.........
Well, I'd guess it's because the "sours in a rocks glass or a cocktail glass" question is such a no-brainer. If that's the only choice, clearly it's the cocktail glass. A rocks glass implies, well. . . rocks.
It's like asking "do Martinis go in a rocks glass or a cocktail glass." There are, of course, large parts of North America in which an order for a Martini will most often get you something with ice in a rocks glass. Heck, an order for a Margarita in just about anywhere in the world will get you a choice between a cup of slush or a drink on the rocks, even though this drink belongs shaken and strained into a cocktail glass. And don't even get me started on the Daiquiri -- both form and pronunciation.
So I can see how someone could come to think of a Sour as a drink on the rocks. My remarks earlier about "straight" Sours as opposed to New Orleans Sours and other kinds of Sours that are sweetened with liqueur was to say that I don't necessarily feel that the "expanded" Sours go in the same kind of glass. Just to think of the New Orleans Sours, for example, the Sidecar, Margarita, Crusta, Cosmopolitan, etc. do not go in a sour glass IMO. In fact, they don't all go in the same kind of glass at all. I like the Sidecar and Margarita in a cocktail glass, I like the Crusta in a fancy goblet because it displays the lemon rind better -- and, of course, the Cosmopolitan has to go in a 1980s period cocktail glass with a fluorescent pink stem in the shape of a lightning bolt (preferably plastic).
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Kirkland Signature is Costco's store brand. I assume it is made for them on contract.
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There is also the Caipirvinho, which is a light drink made in the style of a Caipirinha but using red wine instead of cachaça.
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I have been using cracked ice instead of crushed in my swizzles. Is that wrong?
Crushed is traditional, no? The small pieces? Depending on how fine the crack is (to me, "cracked ice" is big cubes of ice broken apart into two or three pieces, none smaller than a marble), I'm not sure how well the frosting of the glass would go.
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It's mostly a durability issue. This is not to say that the stuff you find in Target isn't durable in the context of occasional use in a home kitchen. It's just that the Sitram is designed for constant use in a professional kitchen.
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By the way, I'm in the market for a stockpot (around 11-15 qt). I'm leaning towards the sitram professional 14qt on amazon for around $82. Any experience or thoughts?
Sitram is top-quality. If it's the right size, it would be a god buy.
On the other hand, you may be able to get a functionally similar stock pot (i.e., stainless body with aluminum base) for a lot less at someplace like Target. The stainless steel body probably won't be quite as heavy-duty, but otherwise they'd be similar.
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It depends on how hard the stainless steel is and how hard the thing you're rubbing across the stainless steel is. In many cases, say a metal spoon or tongs, for example, the difference in hardness isn't likely to be all that great. Therefore the "scratching power" of the metal spoon or tongs won't be that great. If you're particularly concerned, you can always use wooden spoons.
To be honest, though, I have to ask why you're so concerned about scratching your stainless steel pans. A few scratches here and there aren't going to change the cooking properties of your pans -- and pans are tools, not objets d'art. If you ever clean your pans with something like Bar Keeper's Friend and a Scotch Brite pad (and IMO this is often the only way to get them really clean) you're going to have microscopic scratches on the metal anyway. Just shaking a sauté pan on the grate or moving a sauce pan to the side of the burner is likely to make a few little scratches. Most of the time if you see gleaming mirror-finished cookware without a single scratch, it's a sure sign that it's never been used.
So I say: relax and just use your pans.
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Yea, they also sell -- sell, I tell you! -- simple syrup. Another not-very-good sign IMO.
On the other hand, it could be that their tonic water really kicks ass.
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Here is the web site of the company. Looks like they make a lot of "cocktail mixers" -- "Cosmopolitan mix,"Mojito mix" and things of that ilk (i.e., mixes for drinks that don't need a mix and are better made with fresh ingredients). As far as I can tell, their "sodas for cocktails" are expensive versions of club soda, tonic water and ginger ale in little bottles. I'm sure they're fine, but not so sure they're any better than products already widely available.
I see they do make a "blood orange bitters" that I'd be interested to try, though. . .
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If you're going ultra old-school, I'd serve sours in a champagne flute -- preferably one that does not curve back inwards. Click here to see a picture of a "sour glass." This is a lot closer to a champagne glass than a cocktail glass. If you're serving the Pisco Sour in a champagne flute, I'd stick with that for all the Sours.
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I happen to love Laphroaig 15yr, it is definitely my favorite malt (I love the peatiness).
I purchased a bottle of the Laphroaig 15 (being a fan of the 10). I poured a glass, and then gave the rest away. For my taste, I found it lacking character and not nearly as complex or interesting as the 10 for whatever reason.
I feel the same way about Laphroaig. The 15 year "refines away" some of the unique funkiness and character that makes Laphroaig so special. This is not to say that I don't like aged spirits, but I do find that the longer spirits age the more they tend to sacrifice their uniqueness and gravitate towards an "aged" sameness. I feel the same way about Calvados, where I tend to find the younger specimens more evocative of apples whereas some of the older bottlings might as well have been made from grapes.
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I think it very much depends on the Sour. Or perhaps it depends on what we are calling a Sour. In its most basic form, a Sour is simply base spirit, citrus juice and sugar. When we start branching out by using a liqueur in place of the sugar as a sweetener, I think it becomes more than "just" a Sour. Thus, for example, Gary Regan's classification of the formula base spirit, citrus juice and Cointreau as a "New Orleans Sour" and so on.
In general, I don't care for straight Sours with ice in a rocks glass. I prefer them either in a cocktail glass or in a highball glass with no ice. Like Alchemist, I usually prefer straight Sours with egg white. If the sour is going to be fizzed, on the other hand, I'll take it straight up in a highball/fizz glass.
I've never had a problem with cocktails in either style of glass getting cold, but then again I've never been known to hold a cocktail for 15 minutes either. The solution to that is to make the drink in an appropriate size.
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I like Joy of Mixology very much. It's one of the several books to which I find myself returning again and again. I think it's especially useful the way that he highlights the various "families" of cocktails. There is no other book of which I am aware that points out the familial relationship between a Sidecar, a Margarita and a Cosmopolitan. This makes it easy to create your own drinks and also helps you to identify other drinks that will suit your palate.
That said, every cocktail book will reflect the biases and tastes of the author, unless it is a strictly historical book. Even there, the author has some editorial choices to make (viz. Ted Haig's Pegu Club formula in "Forgotten Cocktails"). This is no more true of Gary's book than it is of Dave Wondrich's books or Dale DeGroff's book, etc. Whether your tastes accord with Gary's will, to a certain extent, determine how much you like the recipes in the book. I find some of Gary's and Dale's recipes to be a touch on the sweet side for me, just as I find some of Dave's recipes to be a touch on the sour side -- so I adjust accordingly. Untimately, this is what mixing cocktails is all about: using your palate and mixing the drinks according to your individial taste. One thing I think Gary's book does well is provide a background understanding of how each cocktail is structured so that you have a basis for tailoring the drink to your own preferences.
In terms of the recipes, Joy of Mixology strikes me as being very much in the same tradition as books such as Dale's Craft of the Cocktail. . . some classic cocktails given with the author's customized formulae and an equal or greater number of the author's own personal creations. If you just want a library of classic cocktails in their most historical formulae, you should throw away your books and avail yourself of the excellent CocktailDB Internet Cocktail Database.
I do agree that he might have been a little carried away adding the "squirrel sour" family, which is more or less an invention of his own and I'm not sure belongs alongside things like the "New Orleans sour" family. But they're interesting drinks nonetheless.
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I like the fist size yellow olives that you just squeeze a bit of the skins oil into the cocktail.
Those are my favorite, too.
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"Juniper infused vodka?"
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What makes stewed meat tender is a combination of things, I think. Certainly fat and gelatin make a difference. This is why "stew meat" is typically high in both fat and connective tissue. The other thing that makes stewed meat tender is technique. Cooking at low temperatures can make a difference. Meat that was cooked mostly at 70C and was then brought to 100C for 1 minute will have a different texture than meat that was cooked at 100C the whole time. Also, if more conventional cooking temperatures/techniques are used, I think the cook has to know when to check the meat so that it is served right when it reaches readiness. Overcooking can dry out a piece of stew meat just as much as it can a piece of fillet.
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...I would suggest putting it in a 65C - 70C oven the night before and letting it cook for over 20 hours unattended to achieve the most succulent stew. Since the meat never gets above medium rare, you can get away with using cuts relatively low in fat since you don't need as much fat to lubricate the strands. Anybody willing to try?
This would be fairly easy to do using a sous vide technique. I've cooked short ribs for around 30-36 hours sous vide at 60C. It's good, but nothing like a traditionally braised short rib. So I don't think a stew with tender, medium rare chunks of meat would be very "stew like." One trick might be to cook it LTLT and then, just before serving, take it quickly up to a simmer.
Q&A -- Understanding Stovetop Cookware
in The eGullet Culinary Institute (eGCI)
Posted
I've been using all manner of metal tools and scouring powders in my stainless-lined heavy copper for going on 10 years now. There is nothing more than mild surface scratching -- something in the picometer area, perhaps.