slkinsey
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Posts posted by slkinsey
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Ladies and Gentlemen: I would like to take this moment to remind us all of some key expectations we have about participation in the eG Forums.
- We encourage debate, even strong disagreement. But we debate ideas, not people. Personal remarks of any kind will not be tolerated. We have seen far too many personal gibes in this thread, and members who continue to engage in this behavior will be asked to leave the discussion.
- Points are always better made when they are made respectfully and dispassionately.
- If and when it becomes apparent that several parties mutually disagree and cannot reconcile their views, that's when it is time to move on.
- If and when certain points lead to interesting discussions that are not uniquely or fundamentally related to Per Se, please start a new thread. If you would like a few posts split out to seed the new thread, you can always ask a Host for assistance.
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A recent article in the NY Times had some interesting things to say that touch on NYC Korean dining.
When Nobu Matsuhisa opens Nobu 57 this summer, it will have a 12-seat table around a Korean-style charcoal grill.I'll be interested to see if the food is also Korean-style.
Kunsup Chong manages Kom Tang Soot Bul in Midtown, one of the few Korean restaurants using only wood charcoal in table grills. . . . He said the flavor from charcoal is irreplaceable: "Fire. Heat. Smoke. There is no substitute for that."Looks like Kom Tang Soot Bul is the go-to Korean place for real charcoal now.
Jewel Bako Robata, a rigorously authentic robata in the East Village, closed last month. It just reopened as a Korean barbecue place, Grace's Kalbi Bar.It is named "Grace's" after owner Grace Lamb, who grew up in a Korean-American family in New York. Sounds like a place to check out.
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Olie, since your product apparently is available for sale in the US, doesn't that mean that it isn't true Absinthe? (ie. no wormwood/thujone)Greetings Absinthe explorers. There is a new Absinthe available in NY, CT & FL, and June in NJ, it's called Absinto Camargo and is from Brazil...That is correct. If we are saying that a "true absinthe" has to be made with grand wormwood and contain thujone, then Absinto Camargo is not a true absinthe. Olie says:
The product was made according to the old recipe with the exclusion of wormwood. . .(Emphasis added.) I would put this product (which I have tried, and it's interesting) in the same category of absinthe substitutes as Absente, etc.
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What Christopher said.
For home use, there is really no need to have a "sour mix." It's always preferable to make it up on a per-drink basis. A good rule of thumb is equal parts fresh sour citrus juice (lemon, lime or both) and 1:1 simple syrup. After a while you will figure out for yourself whether this formula is too sweet or too sour for your taste, and can adjust the ratios accordingly. Ultimately you're going for something that won't make your mouth pucker, but doesn't seem sweet either. That's balance.
So, for example, if you like a drink for a Whisky Sour that calls for 1.5 ounces of whiskey and 0.5 ounces of sour mix, you could make a similar-but-better tasting drink substituting 1/4 ounce each of fresh lemon juice and simple syrup for the sour mix. (Ultimately I'd argue for a much more sour drink, but this is only an example.)
The only time it makes sense to "home make" sour mix is for commercial establishments (or big home parties) were you know you're going to be going through a lot of it in a day. Fresh citrus juice just isn't the same after spending overnight in the refrigerator.
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Good article on applejack and Laird's in the NY Times recently.
"The trend has been to lighter drinks," Lisa Laird Dunn said. "Until the 1970's, our applejack was pure apple juice, fermented then distilled. Today, at 80 proof, it's a blend of about 35 percent apple brandy and 65 percent neutral grain spirits." Federal regulations also require that applejack be aged four years in used bourbon barrels.The unblended style has not been abandoned. There is Laird's 100 proof Straight Apple Brandy; Laird's 80-proof Old Apple Brandy, aged a minimum of seven and a half years, and the family's pride, Laird's 88-proof 12-Year-Old Apple Brandy, aged in charred bourbon barrels.
I recently got my hands on some of the bonded stuff. It's amazing, with real apple flavor and still with that "whiskey-like" character.
Interesting to read that they only started blending with neutral spirits in the 70s. Makes me think that the bonded stuff is a much better choice for the classic applejack drinks.
The article also touches on some of the discussion areas upthread regarding distillation versus fractional freezing:
By the 1670's, according to the Laird archives, almost every prosperous farm had an apple orchard whose yield went almost entirely into the making of cider. Hard cider - simple fermented apple juice - was the most abundant drink in the colonies. Much of it was made by leaving apple cider outside in winter until its water content froze and was discarded. About 20 years later, farmers began to distill the hard cider into 120-proof "cyder spirits," which soon became known as applejack. -
Less than $15 for sure, I'd think. In fact, $12 might be pretty close.
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A mint julep is a fairly labor-intensive drink unless the bar keeps finely crushed ice on hand (which most don't). You're unlikely to find one for under $10 (most cocktails are selling for $10 or more in NYC anyway).
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Tried using the "Improved Holland Gin Cock-Tail" recipe with Linie Aquavit instead of genever. Worked very well. Everyone liked it.
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I was treated to an "Improved Holland Gin Cock-Tail" at Flatiron Lounge just last night. Delicious, we all agreed.
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Admin: Discussion on genever split from the thread on Dave Wondrich's book "Killer Cocktails."
I especially enjoy the "Improved Holland Gin Cock-Tail"---A twist on the Old Fashioned, prepared with Bols Genever and the addition of maraschino. It's unfortunate that this Genever is no longer being imported into this country--I have been sitting at Flatiron's bar, slowly draining off their last bottle with this drink.Wait... no longer imported into the country?! I thought the insanity was only limited to NY.
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For a stock pot, you should do fine with one of the disk-bottom designs that includes a magnetic layer on the bottom of the thermal pad.
As for cleaning Induc'Inox... afaik, there are Induc'Inox pans available with stainless handles. If all you can find are the brass handles, if you want them to stay pretty, my guess is that you'd better hand wash them.
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How could anyone not like a book featuring a cocktail named "Jewish Absinthe" made with Old Williamsburg kosher bourbon?
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Well take bars like Milk & Honey in New York, that thrive on secrecy and exclusivity, as though they were modern-day speakeasies. Or art-deco bars like the Flatiron Lounge in New York, that plaster their websites with vintage photos and fill their bars with vintage jazz, or the Orbit Room in San Fransisco, with it's cone tables and Wurlitzer jukebox lookalike. . .
I thought I'd just make a few comments about the places with which I am familiar. I wouldn't say that either M&H or Flatiron has a 1920s vibe going on.
M&H uses the "sort of secret" phone number, reservations policy and all that as a way of limiting attendance to the number of people they can serve up to their standard and also as a way of hopefully limiting attendance to true cocktail enthusiasts rather than "in crowd" types and poseurs. Flatiron also doesn't strike me as a heavily nostalgic bar. There are some Art Deco touches, but there are also very modern elements.
More to the point, however, is that Art-Deco's biggest time was the mid 1930s, as was the first explosion of the Wurlitzer jukebox and the popular era of what most of us would hear played as "vintage jazz" was the 1930s (Jazz was hardly what most people would recognize as "jazz" in the 1920s. Armstrong's "Hot Fives" and "Hot Sevens" -- which would be considered pretty raw stuff by most people today -- were recorded between something like 1925 and 1928. Anything you're likely to hear in a bar will come from a later era.)
This all goes back to my earlier point about mistaking 1930s culture for 1920s culture.
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You know what's odd, and I know I'm not alone here... I never, ever drink, order, or even consider wanting a mint julep except during Derby Week.
Interesting. You're not the first person from those parts I've heard say that. Perhaps it's because of the whole tourist thing. Or because they're generally so poorly made in tourist situations.
And it's a shame, because it's really a great drink. And it doesn't always have to be bourbon either (I know some people from Kentucky will gasp at hearing this, but from a historical standpoint it's true). And, of course, you don't have to stop with mint (basil is a nice addition from time to time). Rye whiskey is good, and I like Dave Wondrich's julep recipe using cognac and a float of high proof rum. Lately I've been enjoying "New Jersey Juleps" made with Laird's 100 proof bonded applejack. Believe it or not, a gin julep is pretty good, too.
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I went to a very interesting cachaça tasting yesterday to sample the cachaças of Excalibur Enterprise. It certainly was an eye opener. I've always understood that most of the cachaça available in the United States is low quality. But it's hard to understand just how wide the difference is until you've had some of the good stuff. This was the good stuff.
We started with their flagship product, Beleza Pura. This is an unaged cachaça, produced from selected lots of sugar cane, fermented with wild yeast, column distilled and blended by Excalibur owner Olie Berlic. This is a cachaça created by Excalibur. It has the clean, slightly sour flavor of cachaça, notably smoother than Pitu and that ilk, with a very interesting light smokiness.
Next was one of their imports from Armazem Viera. These cachaças are also fermented with wild yeast, distilled in a pot still, aged in barrels made from local Aririba wood up to 20 years, and then blended by the master distiller using the "solera system." Excalibur is importing Armazem Viera cachaças at 4, 8 and 16 years. We tried the 4 year old. This was one of the most interesting. As described, it has a certain similarity with grappa or eau de vie. It also had a very distinctive nose somewhat reminiscent of a jar of cocktail olives.
After that we tried Rochina, a single barrel cachaça from Rio de Janeiro. This is fermented and distilled with a similarly intensive method to those described above and aged in oak casks -- some of which, I am given to understand, were used to age scotch whisky once upon a time. It is being imported in 5 and 12 year bottlings. We tried the younger one. It had a little color from the wood, and definite hints of smoke. Very smooth, but overall I'm not sure I don't like Beleza Pura a little better.
Last we tasted GRM, a "small batch" cachaça aged in oak. Lots of spice flavors and some vanilla from the wood. Without a doubt a "sipping cachaça."
Currently these cachaças are available in NYC at Astor Wines, and Caviar & Banana Brasserio is featuring them on its cocktail list.
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The Great Depression of the 20th Century "officially" started with the stock market crash of 1929. Its worst year was probably 1933, and perhaps not coincidentally prohibition was repealed at the end of 1933. Meanwhile, we had the beginning of the New Deal and things started slowly looking up. Before too long we were into World War II.
I also think it's the case that many people who were lifting cocktails at places like the Waldorf=Astoria and the like weren't exactly characters out of Grapes of Wrath. There were still plenty of affluent people around in cities like NYC.
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To continue a bit my point from above -- that a lot of what is often taken as 1920s style and culture is really 1930s style and culture -- although "bathtub gin" was certainly a feature of the prohibition years, real gin became the dominant drink of the years that immediately followed. Why? Because gin doesn't have to be aged. Due to prohibition, there simply wasn't very much aged spirit to go around, whereas there had been plenty before (all the supplies of aged spirits had been exhausted or disposed). And most "brown spirits" (whiskey, brandy, etc.) need to be aged in wood before they are palatable. One result is the almost complete death of good old American rye whiskey, probably the dominant spirit in the US right before prohibition. Another result is the popularization of blended brown spirits, where a small amount of aged spirit is stretched by diluting it with neutral spirits.
So, the focus on gin, the focus on Art Deco, etc. is all a focus on the years after prohibition than it is the years during prohibition. For example, all the Thin Man movies save the first one were made post-prohibition.
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No, I think mbanu is referring to the fact that the prohibition era is commonly associated with the cocktail revival. I speak of the years between January 16, 1920 (the enactment of the Volstead Act) and December 5, 1933 (ratification of the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment).
It certainly is the case that the 20s are often associated with cocktails in the modern imagination, and mbanu does have a point that these years were not by and large distinguished by quality cocktail culture in the United States. That said, it might be pointed out that what is commonly taken to be style and culture from the 20s is actually style and culture from the 30s or later (Lindy Hop, big band, swing, Art Deco, early radio, zoot suits, etc.).
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If you want a "soup pot" for actually making soup, I would recommend a casserole. You could always get one of the largest sized enameled cast iron casseroles. That would be good for braising and stews as well as making soup.
If you ever plan on making stock, though, and if you make pasta with any frequency, you are probably better off with the 12 quart stock pot. In this case, I'd go with a disk bottom design.
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I find it interesting that, unless I am mistaken, most of these less than stellar reviews seem to have come from UK-based writers.
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I think your chef friend got it slightly wrong. The general sule of thumb is that you either use okra or file in a gumbo, not roux or file.
I don't like okra, so I always use file. You just shake a little into your bowl of gumbo right before you eat it. Or, if you want to do the whole batch, you can stir in some file off the heat. I prefer to do it portion-by-portion, because once you put in the file you really don't want to bring it back to a simmer and this can be problematic in terms of reheating leftovers.
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Yea, it should work okay on your electric cooktop. If you were using gas, I think you might notice a reduction in responsiveness compared to aluminum or copper based cookware. But you won't notice with electric -- and, of course, one would expect the responsiveness on induction to be excellent.
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Here is a good picture of some ramps. A ramp is a kind of wild onion that grows in North America from roughly Southern Canada down to the Carolinas. They are completely edible, from the blade-shaped onioney leaf to the garlic-like bulb at the root end. Ramps are very seasonal, only growing for a few weeks in the Spring.
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What I particularly love is they name them after American cities that make absolutely no sense. e.g., for some reason the Arizona comes with gyros, tatziki and onion
Oh, and the curry chicken & pineapple one is the "Kentucky". 
I don't see why you think this is odd. Many is the time I've been visiting friends in Pittsburgh who have said, "I could really go for a pizza with ähnchenbrustfilet, Blattspinat, Knoblauch and Creme fraiche."
Cooking Lobster
in Cooking
Posted
Hmm. I'm not so sure I agree with that. "Sous vide" fundamentally means nothing more than "under vacuum" (generally in cryovac). Although it is most common to cook sous vide items in a water bath, this is by no means the only option. A steam oven works very well, I am told. In addition, although low temperatures (usually substantially below a simmer) are the most widely discussed for sous vide, the technique can be used with a variety of temperatures.
Fundamentally, one major goal behing cooking meat sous vide for a long time at a low temperature is to benefit from long-cooking effects on tenderness while not giving up the flavor and texture benefits of medium-rare. With fish it's often used as a way to ensure that the flesh stays moist. The technique can help fruits and vegetables retain their vibrant colors even though cooked. And it's used along with herbs, fats and other flavors as a way of making sure the flavors are thoroughly infused into the food.
It's not clear to me what advantages sous vide cooking would have for lobster. I'm not well versed in the various proteins and other elements of lobster meat, but I would be surprised to learn that low/slow lobster sous vide cooking had the same effect on tenderness as it can with beef, etc. Lobster tail meat, in particular, does have a tendency to get a bit tough if it is cooked for any length of time -- and it sounds as though Per Se is experiencing some problems in this respect. I have to say that I am a bit surprised they are sticking with this method of preparation if it is not resulting in tender lobster. One ought to be able to cut through a piece of lobster meat with a regular knife and fork. It sounds as though it is a variation on his "butter poached lobster," but perhaps this idea simply doesn't work very well sous vide. As I understand the butter puached lobster recipe, the lobster meat is poached in a butter emulsion at a relatively low temperature and then served when it is just done (it's not being held at the "just done" temperature for any length of time). It seems to me that it might be difficult to tell when "just done lobster" is achieved when using a sous vide setup, and it's also possible that holding the lobster at temperature for any length of time (as is typically done with sous vide cooking) may result in chewier meat.