slkinsey

I like Diesel Sweeties. Here's one. Here's another. Plus, the occasional Red Meat, like this one.

Interesting. It had never occurred to me to use Carpano Punt e Mes as a vermouth-category ingredient as opposed to a Campari-category ingredient. How does it work in a Manhattan? Do you have to use a smaller amount than you might vermouth to balance the drink?

Interesting article. Sounds like they prefer their margaritas a lot sweeter than I do mine, as they use something they call "Mezcal mix" (water, sugar and lime juice) instead of just lime juice. To my taste, the triple sec provides all the sweetness the drink needs. It's worthy of note that the basic formula for a margarita (base liquor, triple sec and citrus juice) works fantastically in a wide variety of combinations. This formula is what Gary Regan calls a "New Orleans sour" in The Joy of Mixology, and it includes such favorites as the margarita and cosmopolitan. Just last night, Fat Guy and I were poking through his liquor cabinet looking for something to make into a cocktail. I thought of the NO sour formula and we ended up throwing together some Cane rum, Cointreau triple sec and lime juice. It was damn tasty.

Although I can't speak to Canadian retailers, I have consistently found that the best deals on cookware are to be had on the Internet.

Now that Per Se is up and running, I have created a separate thread for discussion relating to the fire, including PR, reopening, rescheduling, and any other related discussion. This thread will remain as the main thread for reviews and discussions about the food at Per Se.

It's only important to spend enough to make sure the pot has a thick aluminum bottom. If the Cuisinart Chef's Classic has that, and if it's big enough for you (it would be a little small for me), then there is no reason to spend more. It depends, I suppose, on how many delicate sauces you make and, and how often. There is no doubt that the Falk saucepan is an amazing performer, but it may not be worth an additional 65 bucks unless you would really take advantage of it frequently. They're both good pans. If you do decide to get the All-Clad pan, make sure you check out Cookware and More. That 2 quart MasterChef saucepan you're thinking of buying for 90 bucks? They'll sell you a "second" for 64 dollars. Staub is my favorite maker of enameled cast iron. A quality product all the way around. As for round versus oval, I'd go with round. Oval is really only useful for braising large, long pieces of meat (whole leg of lamb, goose, etc.). As for the utility of a 5 - 7 quart enameled cast iron casserole, I have found them very useful. They are the best for braising and low/slow dishes like stews. I also like them very much for long simmered pasta sauces. Whether or not these are things you find yourself wanting to do should inform your decision about whether or not you want to invest in one of these pots. Glad to hear that you are enjoying the Falk saucière (aka curved sauteuse evasée). So far, everyone I've recommended it to has loved it, and it's definintely the most used pan in my kitchen.

Definitely good stuff. Although I am not a nonstick fan in general, I do agree that everyone ought to have at least one large nonstick skillet for certain tasks that would otherwise be difficult. Calphalon Commercial nonstick is my favorite, and while I'll be sorry to see this line go away, there are tremendous deals to be had. I got two 12" frypans for 25 bucks each on Amazon. This is very good advice, and somethiing I point out in the cookware class. It cannot be said too often.

That guy's a hack.

So half-bottles aren't simply whole bottles that were opened and divided in half at the restaurant. As they say, you learn a new thing every day... Right. A half-bottle, in this case, is a bottle that is one-half the size of a full bottle. Landmarc is kind of a special case. They don't sell wine by the glass, but instead offer many wines by the half-bottle with by-the-glass prices. This works brilliantly for them, but I'm not sure how well it would work for everyone.

Franny's sounds awesome. I definitely would like to check it out. I read things like this, and it's like they're speaking my language. Witness the profusion of slkinsey buzz-phrases: Damn, that piques my interest... JosephB? What are you doing this weekend?

It absolutely does make a difference, but there is room for quite a bit of variability. You want a cup that is right around 2 ounces, assuming a one ounce shot but leaving room for a double ristretto at around 1.5 ounces if you prefer. The cup should have thick walls that will retain heat when the cup is preheated (a cold cup can substantially lower the temperature of a shot).

I wish they had lunch on weekends.

Amy, I don't think you're going to get a definitive answer to this that will satisfy you. She is discussed here because people have strong reactions to her work, and because she is in an unusually high-profile position. There is little doubt in my mind that Bruni will receive plenty of scrutiny and disection in these forums as well. That's what we do here... we talk about things in the food world that interest us.

Sam, that's so sweet. It's like in the music business. If someone comes out on the stage and has something to say that I don't particularly like, that's better than having someone come out who I don't much care about one way or the other. If you look at some of the greatest singers in opera -- take Placido Domingo for example: plenty of people love his work, but you might be surprised at how many virulent detractors he has (a lot). Amanda Hesser, I think, has a place in food writing... maybe a significant one. I'm not sure that place is in reviewing, but I do think it's interesting how much stronger our reactions have been to her reviews than Grimes' reviews, and I think this might reflect, at least partially, a certain lack of "something to say" on his part. Given the choice between someone who has something to say that I don't agree with and someone with not so much to say... I prefer the former.

Anna N is correct. The chunk of aluminum works because aluminum is a very good conductor of heat.

Diamond does have outstanding thermal conductivity... around three times better than copper. So, as soon as you can find me a nice thick frypan made out of pure diamond, we'll talk. Otherwise, you're talking about aluminum with some diamond dust on it. I'm not an expert on Asian cookware, so someone may correct me on this. Most woks these days are made of relatively thin carbon steel. This seems to be the standard configuration. Does this mean that woks made out of other materials are not technically woks? I have no idea. My operating assumption is that everything wok-shaped is a wok, and that iron was probably the original wok material anyway. Carbon steel woks may be useful on a home stove for many applications like steaming, deep frying, stewing, etc. However, the real problem comes when one wants to stir fry -- which is the purpose for which most people buy a wok. The shape of the wok (very inefficient from from a heat standpoint over a home stove) and the power of the typical home stove (pathetically underpowered compared to a restaurant wok burner) make a particularly unfelicitous combination when it comes to stir frying at home. The wok never gets very hot and loses what little heat it has accumulated very quickly. The only way to work around this is to cook in very small batches. A heavy cast iron wok deals with the heat problem by providing a massive heat capacity. Once that baby sits on the burner for a while and soaks up lots of heat, it will stay hot for a long time. For me, this makes the cast iron wok better for the home user who would like to stir fry -- even better would be a cast iron wok with a flat bottom for better heat transfer from the burner. All that said, I firmly believe that stir frying is much better done by the home cook in a sauté pan with a nice thick bottom (and yes, I've done side-by-side testing -- the sauté pan produced markedly better results). In fact, sautéing and stir frying are more or less the same thing. There was an article in the NY Times food section last week about a Vietnamese restauranteur named Charles Phan, featuring his recipe for "shaking beef" adapted to the home kitchen. One of the things I noticed was that the pictures accompanying the article showed the chef using a heavy frypan and not a wok as he would in the restaurant.

One thing you can say about Amanda Hesser, at least, is that she inspires strong reactions from readers who care about the subject material. This, in my mind, is an incredible positive whether one agrees with her assessments or not.

Yea, the wine list at Landmarc is so inexpensive I almost laughed when I read it. What a deal! It really is revolutionary in its own way. I especially appreciated the fact that they offer a lot of half bottles. Really, many things about Landmarc are priced extremely reasonably. Steven and I were just talking about our impressions of Landmarc yesterday. Although we both live in ostensibly less-expensive neighborhoods, none of the comparable restaurants on the UES or UWS are priced as well as Landmarc... and in most cases the food is clearly not as good. Re the substitutions thing: Pamela Murphy and I communicated briefly about it. They are naturally happy to leave something out of any order or do sauce on the side at the customer's request. So "frisee aux lardons without the lardons" or "steak frites with sauce on the side" would work just fine. They also offer just about every accompaniment on the menu as a very reasonably-priced side dish. So, the fact is that you can have just about anything they offer with just about anything else if you really must. I imagine it's more a matter of mitigating the confusion that can ensue when a table of 6 puts in special orders for everyone, and perhaps also controlling the food cost for each dish (which cost, I assume, must be smartly managed given their unusually inexpensive prices).

NoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo! Okay, who approved my mother for membership? What's the point of being a Site Manager if I'm not consulted on inmportant decisions like this, I ask you?

Put in some lemon juice and you'd probably have a pretty good-tasting New Orleans Sour, but it's sure not a Manhattan. As to the cherry question posed by others above... I've always preferred an orange twist myself. To me, the cherry only makes sense if the drink's going to be sweeter than I prefer it.

I wonder what the spokesman for gin.com would have to say about that. Vodka.com is a weird place. The "parent company" seems to be mostly a cybersquatter, and has been involved in several domain name litigations. Miguel Fiol is also involved in suth other ventures as happybirthday.com.

A man after my own heart! The Manhattan really is the King of Cocktails in my book. And I agree that it's best with orange bitters. My standard is Maker's Mark with Vya Sweet Vermouth at around 3:1, but it's also very good with rye whiskey, or even with Tenneseee whiskey.

Helius, Cuisinart Multiclad Stainless is a very good brand of cookware. Their product information says that it features "a core of pure aluminum bonded to a highly polished stainless interior and a professional brushed stainless exterior." I don't have the exact specifications but am led to believe that it compares favorably to All-Clad Stainless, which would put the aluminum layer at around 2 mm (this seems fairly standard on fully clad aluminum cookware). So, my first thought is that your problem is mostly one of technique. However, it is a fact that a full lining on a stockpot or rondeau isn't really a very efficient use of materials. I'd much rather have the aluminum on the bottom of the pan where it will do you some good.

Cast iron is good for steaks, but I wouldn't say it is necessarily "best" for steaks unless you want to use a method with constant extra-high heat. I like this method, but more and more I am coming around to the idea that the best way to cook steaks in a home kitchen (i.e., without a "power of the sun" broiler) is to use the French technique: brown both sides of the steak in butter on the stovetop and then finish it in a slow (~250) oven. There is no reason you'd need a cast iron pan for something like this. Anyway... regardless of the technique used, I would think you could get a very acceptable result using a stainless-lined heavy straignt gauge frypan or (less preferred) a stainless sauté pan with a thick aluminum base. Both those pans feature a nonreactive cooking surface, so there is no reason to worry about deglazing, etc. I prefer the frypan over the skillet or sauté pan because the lower, sloped sides of the frypan encourage the fast evaporation of vapors from the cooking surface, which helps in the formation of a good crust. However, if you have plenty of room around the steak (a couple of inches on each side) in the skillet or sauté pan, they will work just fine too. All that said, there are ways to deglaze and make a pan sauce using the cast iron pan without worrying too much about the rectivity. Just toss in plenty of wine, quickly scrape the pan and then pour the whole works into a nonreactive saucepan to reduce, etc. The taste might not be quite as clean as it would be using nonreactive materials throughout, but the wine spends only the briefest of moments in contact with the iron and any flavors the iron might contribute can me obscurred with a strongly flavored, reduced sauce. Another alternative would be to forego the pan sauce altogether and put a thick slice of compound butter on the steak instead (especially if it's anchovy butter!).

I thought the clam chowder recipe idea sounded very interesting. Would like to try something like it (with a few tweaks like using some pureed clams a la Psaltis/Ducasse) for a party sometime soon.