slkinsey

Alberto beat me to it on the pasta thing. I agree that "fusion cooking" as the natural evolution of a cuisine as different cultures and culinary approaches influence one another and combine to create new culinary approaches will never end. This is how we got Italian-American cooking and Cajun cooking and much of the cuisine of the American South (etc.). Even things like Keller's "procession of small dishes using seasonal ingredients" is a fusion cuisine, having its roots in kaiseki. I do think, however, that the current fondness for not-organic, deliberate, precious and self-conscious fusions of culinary traditions (i.e., "chicken fried steak bibimbap alfredo") is already becoming tired.

Why, style and attitude of course. Seriously, that's hard to say. I mean, you get a whole country whereas I only have the NY Metro area. Let's see. I'll be going to the Union Square Greenmarket tomorrow morning to pick up local vegetables for the week. Those are NY ingredients. And I'll be visiting the butcher tomorrow afternoon to have him cut me a hella-thick porterhouse. High quality steak is certainly associated with NYC. Er. . . I'm sure we'll be having bagels. I'll be drinking heavily and cursing a lot. Does that count?

It will be my distinct and total pleasure. Humph. Everyone likes to root for the underdog. So, are you going to use any Canadian ingredients? Maple syrup? Saskatoon berries? Molson Golden? Peameal bacon?

Spatula? I don't need no stinkin' spatula! I use my bare hands! Seriously, though, this should be fun. It will be interesting to see how we bring our different approaches to similar concepts and ingredients.

Jeez. Apparently Marlene paid Brooks off already. . . I'd just like to say that I'm sure my opponent has been training hard, and she's a tough competitor. This will be a good fight. But I will show no mercy. I am the baddest cook in the kitchen. I doth bestride the stove like a colossus. I'm gonna torture her. I'm gonna crucify her. Real bad. I'll float like a soufflé and sting like a habañero. My prodigious culinaritization will manifest delectified flavoritism upon the tastified palates of the world! My cuisine will reign supreme! Brooks: I hope you like those words, because you're going to be eating them at the end of the week. And everyone knows that words are a dish best served cold. . . Or is that revenge? I can never keep that straight. Anyway, you're gonna be eating 'em, pal -- with a big side of crow! Or maybe nutria. Whatever, man. . . Stop distracting me! Marlene: I'm gonna eat you for dinner. And it'll be good, too. You know why? Because I'm making it! Let's get rrrrrrready to cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooook!

Mint syrup can be good right after it is infused, but it degrades very quickly and really is no substitute for fresh mint. Even one-day-old mint syrup tastes a little funny if you're expecting a real mint flavor. I'm guessing you tasted yours just before it started going downhill. Since it's really no more trouble to muddle fresh mint than it is to infuse a mint syrup, that's what I do. By and large, I don't find herbal infusions of simple syrup to be very effective (or worth the extra trouble versus muddling). WRT leaving the flavoring ingredient in the syrup long, term. . . I don't think it's a good idea. Most ingredients, such as mint leaves, citrus zest, and that sort of thing, will continue to degrade. They most likely won't spoil, but they'll turn brown, etc. Also, you will almost certainly end up over-infusing the syrup. Think of it like making a cup of coffee. If you brew the coffee for 5 minutes, you'll get all the flavors you want and have a delicious cup of coffee. If you brew the coffee for 20 minutes, you'll have an oily, bitter, disgusting cup of coffee. My general rule of thumb when infusing most anything is to infuse it up to the point where you have the flavor you like, and then remove the flavoring agent. That said, I can see certain special cases that might be different. If you had a bottle of simple syrup and kept a vanilla bean in there, or a piece of star anise or something like that, it would probably work out okay.

afaik, the main difference is that it is 95 proof -- which almost always equals "better" in my book. Whiskey is just better at proof, I think.

evoo will definitely give you a certain flavor -- and not one I am sure would work so well with Southern-style American fried chicken. On the other hand, if you were going for something different, it could work very well. Egg wash, bread crumbs and rosemary, for example, would be very good fried in evoo (it's awesome for fish!).

Certainly made the same day, but I would think well refrigerated fresh citrus juice in a closed container with minimal exposure to the air (i.e., small surface area) can stay in reasonable condition up to 12 hours. My personal experience is that orange juice is the most perishable, perhaps because it isn't as acidic as lemon or lime. There really is no substitute for fresh-squeezed orange juice.

I thought the Koi review was amusing in the way that music theater reviews can be funny when the reviewer is going out of his way to pan the show. Is it just me, or is Bruni turning in an unusually large number of "satisfactory" ratings? Unless the restaurant is so noteworthy that a review is more or less mandatory, I'd rather not bother reading a detailed review of a place that isn't even worth one star. Especially considering the fact that there are plenty of star-worthy restaurants out there that have never been reviewed by the Times.

People have been hanged over that 'e'... :) Yikes. What the hell was I thinking? I'll have to turn in my kilt.

My mother is always directing my attention to articles she thinks I will find interesting (and can understand) from Chemical & Engineering News, one of her favorite periodicals. I suppose the fact that I grew up in a family with subscriptions to C&E News, Science and National Geographic instead of Time and Sports Illustrated probably has something to say about how I turned out. But I digress. . . Anyway, a recent issue included a short article on the chemistry of whisky (mostly Scotch whisky) that makes some interesting points from the perspective of a chemist: The peaty taste comes from phenols that are acquired by the malt when it is dried with smoke from peat. The distillation process involves more than just concentration of alcohol through selective evaporation and recondensation. If the still is made of copper, the copper "acts as a catalyst, esterifying, oxidizing, and reducing compounds" in the wash. Distillers take the heart of the run and not the head or tail in order to capture fruity and flowery esters while avoiding long-chain alcohols, fusel oils, undesirable esters, nitrogen compounts and sulforous chemicals. An average Scotch whiskey contains more than 700 different flavoring molecules. This last bit I found especially interesting:

Kurt, are those low prices for the bonded (i.e., 100 proof) Rittenhouse or the 80 proof version? One of the nice things about Wild Turkey's rye is that it's 100 proof (and a little rough around the edges).

Well, I'm going to be there in 30 minutes and I expect everything to be in tip-top shape by the time I arrive!

SWEET! Are S&V the only ones who have it right now?

I've made Dave Wondrich's "rich simple syrup," which is a 2:1 syrup with demerara sugar. I like it quite a bit. It's not something I'd add to a gin cocktail, because I think it would add too much richness and color, but it's my first stop for "brown liquor" cocktails. Just last night I used some to make Dave's Tombstone cocktail (which is more or less Jerry Thomas' Whiskey Cocktail). As I made it, it's 3 ounces of Wild Turkey 101 proof rye whiskey, 1/4 ounce of 2:1 demerara simple syrup and 2 big dashes of aromatic bitters stirred with cracked ice, strained into a chilled class and garnished with a fat twist of lemon. I'm also interested in experimenting with different syrups, although to be honest I don't tend to use them a lot in mixing drinks. Right now I have the rich demerara syrup, a regular 1:1 simple syrup and a 1:1 lime syrup in the fridge. I've made the lime syrup before using Audrey's method of doing a cold infusion of lime zest into the syrup. I just made up another batch a few nights ago, and decided to try infusing the lime zest into around an ounce of vodka for 30 minutes of so before putting the whole works into the syrup for the rest of the infusion. I think I might like this way even better. The alcohol seemed to take some of the spicy, pungent oils out of the zest that must not be very soluble in just water. As a result, the finished lime syrup has the character of what I'd call a "muddled lime syrup." Those who are familiar with the characteristic difference between a drink made with muddled limes as opposed to the same drink made with just fresh lime juice will know what I'm talking about. Still thinking about a few other syrups to add. I tasted a Bee's Knees at Milk & Honey that was really delicious, so I am thinking of experimenting with honey syrup (honey thinned out with a little water to make it flow).

I found a recipe here at the Dallas News (registration required). Here is a rewrite of the recipe: 1 lb : peeled/deveined shrimp 6 tbsp : evoo 2 tbsp : vinegar 1 tbsp : paprika 0.5 tsp : salt 0.5 tsp : ground white pepper 4 tbsp : creole or whole grain spicy mustard 1 tbsp : finely diced celery 3.5 tbsp : finely diced onion 1 tbsp : minced parsley 1 head : chopped romaine lettuce Boil shrimp until just done (aprox 2 minutes), shock in ice water and refrigerate for one hour. Mix olive oil, vinegar, paprika, salt, pepper, mustard, celery, onion and parsley and chill. Dress shrimp with sauce and let stand. Place shrimp on lettuce.

It absolutely is! Good call. That's one we identified last night that I couldn't remember. It's also interesting to speculate about taking an existing "equal parts of three" cocktail and creating a new drink by adding a fourth equal part. For example, gin and Campari both go with orange juice really well. Adding another part of orange juice might make for an interesting and entirely different drink. Or maybe adding a fourth part of lemon juice.

Yesterday I was sipping a few at Flatiron Lounge and chatting with one of their talented mixologists, as I am wont to do, and somehow the discussion got around to the Corpse Reviver #2. The CR2 is a cocktail composed of equal parts gin, Cointreau, Lillet Blanc and lemon juice with a drop of absinthe. This got us to thinking about "equal parts" cocktails. Nowadays, the usual formula for a classic-inspired cocktail goes something like this: a lot of the base spirit plus a small amount of modifier, then either another small amount of sour citrus and/or a smaller amount of accent and maybe a dash of bitters. But there are a number of classics that are equal parts cocktails. Besides the aforementioned Corpse Reviver #2, there is a Sidecar formula calling for equal parts cognac, Cointreau and lemon juice. I'm sure there are others, but nothing comes to mind right now. Nowadays the equal parts formula seems largely ignored, but it strikes me as an interesting concept to build on -- especially "equal parts of four" like the CR2. There's the interesting Last Word, with equal parts gin, Green Chartreuse, maraschino and lime juice. And I had a "Carthusian Martini" at Landmarc a while back, that I think consisted of equal parts of gin, white vermouth, Cointreau and lime juice with a few dashes of Green Chartreuse. Any others? Anyone played around with this idea?

The short answer is to go to Katz's. As for the crumbly pastrami, it sounds like your meat wasn't quite fatty enough. That said, sliced hot pastrami strikes me as the sort of thing that is likely to decline substantially on what I have to assume was around a 45 minute drive home. I always eat in. I've always thought Carnegie Deli was a pretty good place, although I do find their meats a little on the dry side unless you can get them to give it to you from the fatty part of the meat. I find the same thing to be true at Second Avenue Deli.

<sputter sputter> You're just posting that here to taunt us, aren't you?! Good find, dude. I love that book.

Gary's most recent column in the SF Chron features two cocktails from NYC made with Germain-Robin Fine Alambic Brandy from California. They were created by Matthew Silverstein, head bartender at Zoe restaurant in New York. The Debonnaire and the Debutante are "sister cocktails," having the same formula but changing the quinquina (a fortified wine and herb aperitif with quinine) from a red variety to a white variety. They are also "reverse cocktails" where the weaker ingredient (normally the modifier) is used as the main ingredient. Reverse cocktails are discussed in these forums here. Debonnaire/Debutante 4 oz : Dubonnet Rouge (Debonnaire) or Dubonnet Blanc (Debutante) 1 oz : Germain-Robin Fine Alambic Brandy 0.25 oz : crème de cassis Garnish: 1/2 orange slice (Debonnaire) or lemon twist (Debutante) Shake with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Add garnish.

markk, if you like chicken livers in a ragu bolognese, you should really try the Marchegiano ragu for vincigrassi. Fundamentally it's got the regular ragu bolognese ingredients and technique, only the meats are chicken livers, chicken gizzards, chicken hearts (etc.), sometimes with other meats (I like pancetta) and wild mushrooms. Very rich, and very tasty.

Yes, exactly. The method and recipe that always struck me as "classic" is: sweat medium-fine dice of onion, carrot and celery in butter/evoo; add double-ground beef, pork, pancetta and maybe veal; cook until meats lose raw color; add white wine and cook to evaporate; add milk; cook on low several hours; mount with butter just prior to service. In terms of the standard variations of the "classic" I recall: Tomato goes in there at some point (but not always) -- sometimes in the form of paste, sometimes whole or chopped with or without liqid (canned, not fresh). Some people reverse the order of milk and wine, and do the milk first. Some people may use red wine. Some people cook Parmigiano-Reggiano rinds in the sauce. Some people may leave out the pork, pancetta and/or veal. Some people mayuse stock, but I've always been told that this is not traditional and have been encouraged to use milk (in fact, I think Marcella Hazan specifically says one shouldn't use stock). Maybe using stock is a restaurant thing? If any liquid is required to thin the sauce as it simmers, it is usually water -- sometimes milk. No chicken of any kind. No liver.

markk, I have to say. . . what you're talking about sounds delicious, but doesn't sound like the classic ragu Bolognese, which is traditionally made with beef and pork (and no chicken of which I am aware). I've spend time in Bologna with friends a number of times, and have never heard of this as a common accepted practice. I'm also not aware that adding stock to the sauce is traditional. I'm not saying that people aren't doing it -- because your experience is that they are. It's just interestingly radically different from my own experience.