slkinsey

If you're not too familiar with gin, I wouldn't go too inexpensive if I were you. Gordon's is a very good gin, and a pretty good deal at about $15/liter. But it's not one I'm likely to use in a martini. Tanqueray is more expensive at around $25/liter, but you can use it for everything. It's IMO the most recommended brand if you're starting out and want to experience the classic gin flavor profile.

Broadway Panhandler is having one of their big sales from February 16 to February 27. Great deals especially on Le Creuset, which is discounted up to 65%.

I think it really depends on the style of cooking. The more simple the dish and the technique, the more the quality of the ingredients plays a big part. For example, one of my standard tomato sauce recipes: 1 large can peeled tomatoes, 4 tablespoons cold butter, 1 medium onion peeled and cut in half, put all into cold pan, bring up to heat and simmer low for 30 minutes, discard onion and use sauce. Now, this is a recipe in which the quality of the tomatoes makes a huge difference that anyone interested in food will immediately notice. If, on the other hand, I was using a can of peeled tomatoes to make something like chicken tikka masala, the quality of the tomatoes doesn't make nearly as big a difference -- one is unlikely to taste the difference between a $4 can of San Marzano tomatoes and a $1 can of quotidian tomatoes.

Maraschino is a clear liquor distilled from Marasca sour cherries, including the pits and stems. The best brand by far is Luxardo, and they use a very complex process whereby the fruit and the pits/stems are processed/distilled separately and then the results combined later to age for two years in Finnish ash vats. It's not really cherry-flavored, per se. It's... well, it's Maraschino liqueur flavored. Maraschino is an essential component of many classic cocktails. There are more than two: Aviation = gin, maraschino and lemon Pegu Club = gin, Cointreau (or curacao), lime, orange bitters, Angostura bitters Sidecar = brandy, Cointreau, lemon Brandy Crusta = brandy, maraschino, curacao (or Cointreau), lemon, bitters Brandy Scaffa = brandy, maraschino, bitters In addition to the thread on the Aviation Cocktail referenced by ludja, there is a thread devoted to maraschino that may be of some interest.

I'm in that minority as well! I almost always make my own. Not only is it much tastier, but it's easy to include any special flavorings you might want -- cayenne, garlic, parsley, chipotles, cilantro, lime, wasabi, mustard, curry spices, walnut oil, olive oil, capers, cornichons, etc. My usual recipe is egg yolk, salt, lemon juice, neutral oil and a touch of evoo. I make it in the "minibowl" that sits inside the main bowl of my KitchenAid food processor. I find that a two cup food processor works much better than a blender at making reasonably small quantities of mayonnaise -- especially if you like to make it extra thick (which I like to do if I am going to be using it for something like chicken salad). With a conical blender, there is too much splashing around and sticking to the sides. And I always seem to end up with a fine mist of mayonnaise on my face. One other effect of making your own mayonnaise: You might not eat as much of it, and appreciate it more when you do. Why? Well, because it's pure fat. To make one cup of mayonnaise, you combine one egg yolk with a tablespoon or two of lemon juice... and a cup of oil. Yep. Duke's is the only jarred brand I'll use. I always snag some when I'm down South. There is a certain creaminess to Duke's that no other brand has. How can you not like a brand started by "Mrs. Eugenia Duke of Greenville, South Carolina?"

Don't get me wrong... I am as much an Italophile as anyone, and I definitely prefer the Italian product. I can't really speak to the UK and German products. English bacon is really an entirely different thing, what with the whole back/streaky/middle/collar/Gammon/Wiltshire/etc. thing (and let's not even get started on Canadian peameal bacon). I'd say that run-of-the-mill industrial American bacon is typified by Oscar Meyer's product. It's moister than run-of-the-mill Citterio or Negroni pancetta, but it's overall a very good product. Cooked crisp, which is the way American bacon is designed to be consumed, I wouldn't say Oscar Meyer bacon is at all inferior to Citterio or Negroni pancetta, however prepared/consumed. In fact, my experience is that Oscar Meyer bacon is actually better than Citterio or Negroni pancetta if both are cooked crisp. Now, this might be a situation of forcing the Italian product into the wrong context -- but it's no more a mistake than looking at Oscar Meyer bacon from the perspective of "would I eat this raw?"

Interestingly, the Pegu Club is the featured cocktail on Daniel Reichert's vintagecocktails.com. He gives the formula (which is also the formula from Dr. Cocktail's book) as 1.5 ounces gin, 0.5 ounces Cointreau (not curaçao) and 0.75 ounces lime juice. Interesting is his description of the drink: "a wonderfully brisk and bracing sensation . . . reminiscent of an invigorating bitter-grapefruit sorbet." That's an interesting way of thinking about it, and it says "balanced in favor of the sour and bitter elements over the sweet elements" to me.

It depends on what you already have. I can't think of three, but I can think of four: 1. Gin 2. Either brandy, rye or bourbon 3. Cointreau 4. Maraschino There are a great many cocktails you can make with these four ingredients, plus the occasional lemon, lime or orange.

I can see how using Cointreau would change things -- it's triple sec, not orange curaçao. But isn't Grand Marnier orange curaçao? I thought it was more or less the "Cointreau of orange curaçao" (e.g., simply the best bottling of its type).

Pancetta can well be eaten uncooked and often is - sometimes the cured belly is rolled, then it is sold sliced, just like other salumi to enjoy as an antipasto, or stuffed in rolls. Well, like I said... I've never known of it. Doesn't mean it doesn't happen, but I can't think it's too common -- especially with 95% of the pancetta out there. If some pancetta is cured to the point where it is more edible, it's really almost a different product from the frying stuff. Here, it would likely have a different name. But you're comparing apples to oranges here. Why not compare garden-variety industrial American bacon to garden-variety industrial Italian pancetta? They are fundamentally very similar products, except that one is usually smoked. Or, compare the very best artisinal American bacon with the very best artisinal Italian pancetta. Again, other than the different approaches with respect to smoking, and some minor differences in cures, they are fundamentally similar products. But comparing a quotidian industrial product to an exceptional artisinal product just doesn't make sense. It's like saying that "the best artisan-cured bacon is just about as different from garden-variety Italian pancetta as Smithfield ham -- the real thing, raised on acorns, hickory nuts and peanuts, smoked over hickory and cured for 12 months -- is from cheapo speck."

Very cool, Robert! I'll have to give this a try myself and see what I think. What gin and curaçao did you use? I'll likely use Tanqueray and Grand Marnier, because that's what I have around. Harrington's ratios are fairly similar to Dave's at 4 : 1.3 : 1.3.

I've never known Italians to eat uncooked pancetta. Less cooked than Americans, sure. But not raw. Most pancetta I have seen is pretty similar in texture to American bacon.

Um, I'm not sure this is entirely correct. Pancetta is simply the Italian word for "bacon" -- which is to say, cured pork side meat. It just so happens that Americans tend to like their bacon cured and smoked whereas Italians tend to like theirs cured but not smoked (bacon, I should point out, is cured). I have often heard Italians say "pancetta affumicata" to refer to American-style bacon. Fundamentally there is no difference between "American bacon" and pancetta affumicata, except perhaps in the style of smoking (although, of course, there are wide differences in the style of smoking within the category of "American bacon" as well). A_Broad, if you want to go one step further, try using guanciale for your Bucatini all'Amatriciana and Spaghetti alla Carbonara.

Gary Regan's recent column in the SF Chron tells us about the Jamaica Farewell, created by Daniel Reichert. Not sure how new or different this is. It sounds to me more or less like a Hop Toad with Angostura bitters (which is how I like them anyway). But, really... anything with Apry is probably going to be pretty good. Appleton Estate VX is also a great product for the money. Here's the recipe: 2.0 oz : amber rum .75 oz : Marie Brizard Apry .75 oz : fresh lime juice 2 dashes Angostura bitters Shake with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lime wedge.

Um... yuck. I see what you mean.

Here is cocktailDB's information page on creme de noyeau. It's an almond flavored liqueur. The bottle shown is the traditional French Noyau de Poissy.

It's interesting to look at these forumlae standardized for the same amount of base liquor. Below are the various ratios of gin:curaçao:lime 4 : 1.5 : 1.5 (Dave) 4 : 2.0 : 0.3 (Robert and cocktailDB #1) 4 : 1.1 : 0.6 (cocktailDB #2)

I should point out that it might not be appropriate to call this the "Classic" sidecar, since in my mind that would denote that the recipe is the "original", or at the very least the version as it was commonly served during the early days of the drink... which the above is not. I agree 100%. Poor choice of words. I should have said "typical Sidecar" or "representative Sidecar" or something like that. The recipe I provided was 3:2:1, so it's very close to yours. At home, I tend to go either your way at 4:2:1 or Dave's way at 4:2:2 (aka 2:1:1). It depends a fair bit on the brandy being used, as some lend themselves to different formulations depending on the inherrent sweetness. Lately my taste has been trending a little more towards the sour side of the balance. I agree, by the way, that simple sour drinks like the Sidecar are perfect for learning about balance and learning about the difference that quality ingredients can make. There aren't so many variables to deal with, and the differences are usually quite obvious when one variable is adjusted (especially in the sweet/sour balance, but also with respect to the quality of the triple sec and the bottling of brandy). The Sidecar is a drink that, while simple, is capable of so much change. It's still teaching me a lot (which is good, because I have a lot to learn ). Interesting. How do your fingers get sticky? Don't you hold the glass by the stem? The way I usually do sugared rims at home is to take a glass out of the freezer, sugar the outside of the rim with superfine sugae, and then return the glass to the freezer while I make the drink.

This is a great drink deserving of more attention. My first Pegu Club -- in what turned out to be a somewhat prophetic occasion for reasons that will become clear in the coming months -- was mixed up by Audrey at Bemelmans. I loved it and it has since become a regular at the slkinsey household. CocktailDB has two Pegu Club recipes. One is same formula you give, and their annotations indicate that they think it's 2 ounces of gin to one ounce of curaçao. The other one has 1 3/4 ounces of gin to 1/2 ounce of curaçao and 1/4 ounce of lime juice. The second recipe would be a much more tart drink, of course. It has more lime juice (1/4 ounce versus 1/6 ounce) and substantially less curaçao, which is the sweetening agent in the drink. I'll have to try both when I get home.

This is actually a different article about the same study referenced in the first post, but with some interesting additional information: Kind of takes the wind out of PETA's practice of demonstrating at the Maine Lobster Festival and giving out stickers saying: "Being Boiled Hurts. Let Lobsters Live."

For Lab 1, yes, all go in the oven. This is a vessel comparison, not a heating method comparison. In a later lab, we will do a heating method comparison between oven and stovetop. Right. But the vessel comparison in Lab 1 is only valid with respect to oven braising, yes? Because if Lab 1 shows that a certain vessel works best in the oven (or if, as I suspect, it shows that there are no meaningful differences between vessels used for oven braising), that doesn't mean that a different vessel won't prove to be best on top of the stove. Maybe you're planning on doing another vessel comparison on top of the stove, though.

Steven, forgive me if this question is already planned for the future or explained... As I understand it, for Lab 1 all the various braising vessels go into the oven? I'm asking because, as you know, one may also braise on the stovetop and what may result a "no difference" comparison in the oven might result in a "huge difference" comparison on the stove top.

This is, I assume, in response to Pan's mention of John Cage's (in)famous piece 4'33" It is unfortunately not an apt comparison. Music is all about the fundamental act of listening, although there are peripheral elements such as watching the musicians, eetc. Without listening there is no music. Music consists of periods of created sound and periods of not-created-sound. Cage's piece was designed to explode the whole concept of "what is music," to get people to "listen to the silence" and to get them to understand that silence isn't silent. What Cage did not do with 4'33" was take away the listening. I would argue, by the way, that although 4'33" is an interesting piece of conceptual art, it is not particularly interesting or successful as a piece of music. Dining, on the other hand, is all about the fundamental act of eating. It is impossible to make a "4'33" of food" because once you take away the eating it is no longer dining. It's like taking away the listening from music. Once you do that, it's not music. To directly address your point, I can very well see how art patrons would pay to go into ADNY where they would be served and consume a meal of nothing... if this "meal" were presented by a conceptual artist as a piece of performance art. But that is what it would be. Art, not dining. As dining, this "meal" would fail in much the same way that 4'33" fails as a piece of music.

Well... here's the deal, Liz: I think it's really hard for us to say what we would do if we were super rich. From my current perspective, I might think that I wold never own five homes. But, you know... people do. The concept of "value" can change a lot when $200 just doesn't seem that different from $500 to you. And for sure Masa is offering some special things in terms of service, product and prestige that can't be had for less money. Indeed, for some people, it's worth it to spend lots of money for something simply because people with less money can't afford it. Is any pair of shoes worth $500?

Sure it could work, especially with some of the Belgian ones. A true lambic of gueuze could be interesting, since it's so sour. And I could see something like Duvel working pretty well in a cocktail. There are, after all, a zillion cocktails topped with Champagne.