slkinsey
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Posts posted by slkinsey
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Oil from ripe olives tends to have a golden color. Oil from green olives tends to have a green color. And everything in between, depending on the olive and the levels of ripeness.
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The name "bell ringer" I am given to understand, referred to the motion the bartender makes in shaking out the rinse of apricot brandy, which is not unlike the motion of the arm one makes when ringing a hand-held bell.
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How is any drink that doesn't include a rinse of sweet apricot brandy a "bell ringer"?
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Seriously, I have found size of egg to be the single most influential factor. I've used one egg per drink and had a bad result, with little foam and a murky translucent liquid. And I've ditched those drinks and made the same drink using eggs from the same batch and had a perfect result, with huge foam and silky liquid by shaking two drinks together with only one egg white.
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Those of you who nail a crema-like foam every time, can you walk through the basics in detail?
The one thing I have found to be the most important is the amount of egg white. All the old recipes calling for "one egg white" (and most of the modern ones) assume a medium egg -- not a large egg, and certainly not an extra large egg. It's possible that you're getting way too much egg white in your drink, and I have found that this can be a killer when it comes to making that foam.
Second in importance is to "dry shake" the liquids well. I don't think that using a spring or anything like that is necessary. None of the bartenders I know who consistently get great foam use them. When you open the shaker, you should already see the amount of foam you want. Now all you have to do is chill the drink using your preferred shaking technique.
In order to avoid ice chips and overdilution, it is good to use good ice (Chris, you might consider keeping a few trays of the "faux Kold-Draft" silicon molds in your freezer). I have found that my shaking preferences and practices have evolved considerably over the last year or so, from one that involved quite a bit of hard shaker movement to something that is faster and lesser in extent of movement, with the shaker positioned on a diagonal relative to the direction of movement. This seems to work well for egg white foamed drinks. I like to pack the shaker as full as possible, holding it with both hands at sternum level and shaking briskly with the wrists using a small somewhat twisting movement (i.e, top hand moves a bit further than bottom hand). At first, the liquids simply move around the ice, because there is no room for the ice to move back and forth. After a second or two the ice will melt enough that there will be a little back-and-forth movement. This is a great way in general to chill a shaken drink quickly without getting a lot of ice shards, worrying about shattering freezer-cold ice, overdilution, etc. Kind of the antithesis of the up-and-down "klick-klack" jackhammer-up-by-the-shoulder shaking technique, where there is much more movement and violent collision of the ice (this technique has its uses too, of course).
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I'll go a bit further than that and suggest that Fever Tree and Q Tonic are quite a bit better than Schweppes (which, in turn, is better than the remaining brands).
Of course, you can always make your own tonic syrup.
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can someone tell an amateur like me what happens to the cocktail name when you change the spirit of a sidecar without changing the other ingredients or proportions...
The formula of spirit, Cointreau, sour is a classic combination which forms the foundation of many of the greatest classics as well as familiar modern cocktails.
For example...
Sidecar: cognac, Cointreau, lemon
Margarita: tequila, Cointreau, lime
Between the Sheets: rum and cognac, Cointreau, lemon
Cosmopolitan: citrus vodka, Cointreau, lime (touch of cranberry)
And so on...
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Indeed, it is a well-understood psychological phenomenon that people rate things higher when they know that others have rated that thing higher.
The old "emperor's new clothes" theory.
Right. There was an interesting study done where they divided up a large (>14k) sample into different "worlds" of internet consumers downloading from a common set of 48 songs. Members from the same "world" could see what the other members were downloading and which songs had been downloaded most. If quality along determined the popularity of a song, then one would expect that the songs would be "ranked" fairly equally among the different "worlds." What they found was exactly the opposite -- rankings diverged widely, such that a song ranked #1 in one "world" was ranked #40 in another. This experiment demonstrated many things, among them the influence of chance events in success or failure, but more pertinent to this discussion, it demonstrated the huge influence of one's peers and perceived "consensus opinion" in determining what are generally held to be individual preferences.
BTW, didn't everyone love Artichoke Pizza at one time?Exactly. When I tried their stuff, I found the "regular" pizza mediocre at best, and the signature pizza one of the most revolting things I have ever attempted to eat.
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Right. Just because I (or the more nebulous perceived consensus opinion of "critics and other food board writers who are known not to be compromised" -- as though these people don't have their own idiosyncrasies, biases and conflicts of interest, which strikes me as a ridiculous position to assert) may disagree with Cutlets on some things doesn't mean that his opinion or expressed opinion has been formed due to some nefarious influence from the PR industry or the various industry relationships he might have. Sometimes the perceived consensus opinion is wrong. For example, I completely disagree with the perceived consensus opinion that Di Fara makes the best pizza in the NYC area. Or how about when the "critics ... known not to be compromised" ganged up with remarkable consistency and dinged Alain Ducasse for daring to open a Michelin 3-star style restaurant in New York City without cozying up to the food media to an appropriate degree? There was this one guy, who was running a personal food-review web site, who dared to disagree with them. Later on, most of these critics somehow magically changed their minds about ADNY and agreed with the internet food guy, despite the fact that the cuisine and service at ADNY had not meaningfully changed to a degree that would warrant such an elevation. I could go on to make more examples, but what's the point. The "critics and other food board writers" have followed one another like sheep and got it wrong many, many times. Indeed, it is a well-understood psychological phenomenon that people rate things higher when they know that others have rated that thing higher. So it's ridiculous to use this as any kind of measure by which to imply that a writer who does not follow along has somehow been tainted. Rather, in my opinion, this is an indication that he is not afraid to march by the beat of his own drum and remains relatively free of the tainting influence of consensus. There have been any number of places that have been the darlings of the food media and food boards, that just haven't appealed to Josh -- and vice-versa. But, at least according to my impressions, and I can't say that I've payed close attention or done any kind of exhaustive study, his preferences are fairly consistent.
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Qwerty makes a good point: It doesn't make sense to cook something sous vide aiming for a result that can be obtained using a traditional technique. It is possible to get "falling apart" meat using sous vide techniques, but it's certainly going to take longer than 24 hours at 63C -- especially for something like lamb shanks.
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My go-to recipe for bread, reduced to integers, is:
910:450:23:16 (Flour:Water:Salt:Yeast)
So, while it does indeed "reduce to integers," I don't think that it is particularly "simple." So my concern is that what it will turn into in a book like this is "2:1 dry:wet" which does not actually provide enough information to make bread, and is not a very useful formula to know.
Maybe I'm just reading too much into the blurb...
We won't know until the book comes out... but yes, I would suggest it's likely you are reading too much into the blurb. Not to mention that something like bread is not a great example, because (i) the amounts of salt and yeast are typically so tiny compared to the amounts of flour and water, (ii) the character of the bread can change dramatically with a relatively small percent change in hydration, and (iii) there really can be no "master recipe" for bread like there can be with a simple vinaigrette or flaky pie crust due the the fact that each kind of bread isdependent on a different kind of flour and a different percenty hydration (you'd have to give a different "ratio" for boules and loaf bread and ciabatta and so on...).
I do have to point out, however that your bread formula more or less amounts to 2:1 flour to water by weight -- a simple integer ratio. That said, and again I have no foreknowledge about the contents of the book, it seems fairly congruent with the thesis of the book to explain baker's percentages as part of the "break things down into simple scalable formulae" premise (in your bread example: 49.5% water, 2.5% salt and 1.7% yeast by weight).
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No preview copy, alas, but I'm looking forward to seeing how he makes his case: I see no reason why there should be some magical simple integer ratios behind everything, so if that's his point color me skeptical.
I don't see why you would be skeptical about this. All he's doing is giving basic "master" recipes in scalable form. My question would be: what ingredient list doesn't essentially reduce to simple integer ratios?
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Because the point is, he himself said, he's not in the criticism business. He's in the celebration business. But he needs a steady stream of new things to celebrate. Which the PR machine is happy to feed him. They need each other.
Okay... but let's put this into perspective: The "PR machine" is certainly helpful to him in finding out what new places are opening and what potentially "celebrate-worthy" things restaurants are doing that they think enough of to send out press releases or invite in members of the media.
This would, of course, be in addition to the regular dining out, networking, magazine reading, reading of online fora and checking of various grapevines for this kind of information that he normally does in the course of his work. But, for now, let's focus on the "PR machine" part of the equation.
You know... if you get an invitation to a restaurant or recieve a product sample or whatever, and it doesn't float your boat... you just don't write about it. Happens all the time.
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Nothing much has changed for me over what I wrote above.
My basic ragù formula is fine dice of onion, carrots and celery, both butter and olive oil, meat double-ground at home through the coarse disk, white wine, milk, not very much tomato paste, a long simmer (usually in the Crock Pot), and some spices (usually nutmeg) near the end. If I have any old rinds of parmigiano reggiano in the freezer, I'll toss them in the pot for the long simmer.
If I'm making ragù alla bolognese the meats are beef, pork and pancetta.
But I like to make ragù with duck meat and porcini, or with chicken hearts, gizzards and livers, or with lamb shoulder, etc. I've even made an interesting ragù using ground shrimp. Sometimes, depending on the meat and my desired effect, I am likely to leave out the tomato entirely. For example, a "white" ragù made with lamb shoulder is really nice. I like to make this with the addition of fennel in the sofrito and toasted/ground fennel seeds at the end, plus maybe a sprinkling of minced mint leaves over the plate. -
fwiw, I've been to any number of restaurants in Europe where the waitstaff used handheld devices to take the order.
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More to the point... do servers believe that schtick like this can lead to an increased tip? I'd think that it would more likely result in an overall reduction, because I don't believe it would contribute to an increase in percentage if it's correct. Most people aren't going to reward a server for taking the order hands-free any more than they would if the server juggled the wine glasses. If the steak comes medium-rare as ordered, that's what you expect. On the other hand, I'd think it could lead to decreases in the tip because screwups do happen and customers may be more likely to attribute those mistakes to server error. Even if it was the kitchen that screwed up and cooked my steak to medium-well instead of medium-rare, if the server didn't write it down at the table there will be a good reason to suspect that the server misremembered the order.
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I wonder how often that "showmanship" backfires? Even if the server gets it 100% correct, I have to believe that a significant percentage of customers are made uneasy by the practice. And if it's less than 100% correct, I have to believe that many customers would be less forgiving than they might be with a server who wrote it down. In tsquare's example, for instance, I would characterize that as "the server's schtick making me pay with a preventable screwup" and leave a low tip.
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I stumbled across an interesting bit in the NYT Diner's Journal the other day...
A reader writes to ask:Is it considered poor manners to insist that a waiter write down an order instead of attempting to commit it to memory?
Too many times to count I have sat with my wife and ordered a meal while the waiter diligently listens, but jots down nothing. As he walks away we turn to each other and place bets on how many items will be incorrectly delivered or forgotten completely. While I am often impressed by the talented memory of certain wait staff, these errors happen far too predictably.
Bruni replies that he's "as often as not impressed with the memory of servers who don’t jot down notes. The order is frequently delivered correctly. . . And yet, yes, there are screw-ups clearly caused by a server not taking notes."
I wonder what others think about this? If my party is any larger than a two-top and/or I'm ordering anything more complicated than a burger, I don't really dig it when the waiter doesn't write anything down. And what's the point, anyway? Is this somehow easier for the waiter? Is it supposed to impress me so I'll leave a larger tip?
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Someone recently told me that removing Kold draft from the bin and droping it into a another freezer for awhile can make in stronger for shaking with. Any thoughts?
If the other freezer is at a lower temperature, then of course this would be true.
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What temperature are you cooking the fish to? Above a certain temp, I don't think it's possible to avoid.
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These are all questions that can only be answered with experimentation. I will say that in my experience cooking at, say, 80C for 12 hours does not give the same result as cooking at 65C for 24 hours. Needless to say, the different times and temperatures are going to favor different reactions.
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I am preparing to do three boned-out veal breasts. I'm going to roll and bind with Activa, then cook 24 hours at 67C inspired by Alex and Aki at the brilliant Ideas in Food.
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What other area of journalism is allowed to work that way anymore?
Sports used to -- but it would no longer be considered acceptable.
Is this a joke?!
Extra virgin Olive Oil, Color
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Rancid, no. I don't think olives "rot on the tree." If you've ever seen an uncured olive, you'd see that they're extremely tough.
Over-ripe (or damaged), possibly. And this could potentially contribute to an oil with less fruity character and more acidity. However, only the more expensive extra virgin olive oils are made from olives (usually hand picked and sorted, and pressed within a day or two) that have been carefully selected to screen our any over-ripe or damaged fruit. I can tell you right now that this would not be true of any of the oils in your picture.