slkinsey
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Interestingly, according to WikepediaTechnically, in United States law, the official American spelling is "whisky"; however, the historic American spelling of "whiskey" is tolerated, and the vast majority of American distillers spell the word with the "e".
Of course this is Wikipedia, so it may not be entirely accurate...
All you have to do is look at the language of the code. For example, look at 27 C.F.R. § 5.22, the "Standards of Identity" for distilled spirits:
(b) Class 2; whisky. “Whisky” is an alcoholic distillate from a fermented mash of grain produced at less than 190° proof in such manner that the distillate possesses the taste, aroma, and characteristics generally attributed to whisky, stored in oak containers (except that corn whisky need not be so stored), and bottled at not less than 80° proof, and also includes mixtures of such distillates for which no specific standards of identity are prescribed.Note the spelling.
Much of the pertinent legal regulations may be found here, in 27 C.F.R. PART 5—LABELING AND ADVERTISING OF DISTILLED SPIRITS.
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It depends on whether you are making a sourdough bread or not. If you are making a sourdough, overproofing at the bulk fermentation stage probably means too much gluten degradation, which means that you're doomed. If you are making a dough leavened with commercial yeast, overproofing in the bulk fermentation stage need not be catastrophic -- it depends on whether sufficient fermentable sugars remain in the dough for the yeast to give you a decent rise once the bread is shaped.
Overproofing once the bread is shaped is far less easy to recover from. The dough will be extremely delicate and very likely to collapse when you transfer it to a peel, dock it and put it in the oven.
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I'll be serving Monkey Glands today in Darwin's honor...
Er... don't you mean Serge Voronoff?
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Knives are personal. Pots and pans aren't.
When I think of the items that No One Else Can Use or Clean, they're all knives.
Part of the reason for this are the facts that (i) it's a lot easier to f*ck up a $200 knife than it is a $200 saute pan; (ii) it's a lot easier to f*ck up a razor-sharp polished edge than it is a piece of cookware at any price; (iii) knives in general require much more maintenance than pots and pans; and (iv) anyone who takes the time and care to keep his knives maintained in pristine, razor-sharp condition is going to be a knife-nut who is heavily invested in his cutlery.
Me? I suppose I'd take my knives, although I am certainly a major cookware fanatic and definitely don't care more about my knives than I do my cookware. But many of my knives are custom made, and at least a dozen of them are from makers who no longer sell. So once those knives are lost, they're gone forever. I can always buy another Falk Culinair saucepan -- they're not going to stop making them.
With due respect, I think Thorne's premise is piffle.Agreed. It's a bogus premise.
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I should point out that some perfectly good bartenders (for the job they're in) have learned through experience that their customers don't want vermouth. At all.
I remember reading an interview with some bartender or other who mentioned that several Martinis would be returned each night because they were "not dry enough" -- despite the fact that he had stopped putting any vermouth in them at all.
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As far as I know, the hydrogen sulfide is not produced by any kind of enzymatic reaction, but rather by the reaction of various normally-separate compounds in the vegetable that are able to combine when the cell walls break down. That means that it is unlikely that there is some kind of temperature trick that can be used to prevent this reaction. The cell walls need to break down in order for the vegetables to be tender.
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I have wondered about brussels sprouts myself, but I am not convinced that cooking through cruciferous vegetables would be such a great idea. The hydrogen sulfide that is usually released into the air would have nowhere to go and you'd end up with an extra-skunky product. It's not clear to me that it's possible to cook cruciferous vegetables at a time/temperature sufficient to tenderize them that does not also produce hydrogen sulfide.
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Rule #!: Specify your formula ("Gimme a 2 to 1 Martini with Beefeater, stirred, up with a twist. Put in a dash of orange bitters, if you've got 'em.")
Rule #2: Don't get a Martini in a place where they aren't likely to listen to you when you give your formula.
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I think a lot of the question depends on what kind of place you're working in.
Regardless, if someone asks you for "a Martini" without any further elaboration, and if you suspect that your clientele is generally going to want something other than gin stirred with a healthy proportion of vermouth, the next question is "how do you want it?"
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I thought I'd revisit this thread.
Like many people, I have had a great fondness for the original TriBeCa location, which I though was distinguished by interesting, very good food (some outstanding) at a good price, the amazing wine program, and wonderful service.
Also like many people, I was a bit disappointed at the somewhat inevitable dilution of service and kitchen consistency that resulted from opening a much larger outpost in the Time Warner Center. Even in 2008, by which time one would hope these things could have been ironed out, I've experienced disappointments with things such as pasta dishes that had clearly been left to congeal in the pass while waiting for a steak (perfectly cooked, I should hastend to add) to be ready, the occasional inexplicably long waits for service, etc. It's not as smooth and consistent as their operation in TriBeCa, and I imagine this dichotomy is going to persist. On the other hand, I've also had meals there with spot-on food and great service even when the place was jam-packed. In a restaurant of this size, at this price point, with this clientele and in this location, I think a certain amount of variability is perhaps inevitable. Regardless, the great experiences there have certainly outnumbered the so-so ones, and they care.
What made me decide to re-post on this topic is that, by chance more than anything else, I've been to Landmarc TWC a few times recently during the lunch/brunch hour. And their sandwiches are just so off-the-chart delicious I just had to post about it. Two are worthy of particular note: Their smoked tuna sandwich starts with house-smoked high-quality tuna that is shredded (some big hunks, some small pieces), combined with capers, celery, red onion, and (I assume) some mayonnaise. This finds its way in a seriously thick layer between two pieces of excellent ciabatta. Ordinarily I don't appreciate things like this in a 2-inch-thick layer, but this was delicious and a bargain at 14 bucks. Big enough for two normal people to share, really. My favorite, however, is their braised lamb sandwich. It uses the same ciabatta, filled with ridiculously silky, unctuous, delicious braised lamb, redolent with rosemary and dripping with sauce, then gilds the lily with a slathering of aioli. Bread & butter pickles are there as well, to cut the richness. I can't imagine not ordering this when it's on the menu. My idea of afternoon heaven is that braised lamb sandwich followed by their (ridiculously delicious, ridiculously rich) pain perdu.
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I guess I don't understand the "low fat" baked "fries" where one coats a few potatoes worth of fries with oil and then bakes them to doneness. This way, you are for sure getting the whole 2 tablespoons of oil. Meanwhile, it's not at all clear to me that two potatoes worth of fries that are fried in oil will absorb two tablespoons of oil.
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wrt the Red Hook, I got it from Enzo's mouth that the Red Hook (which, not for nothing, is a neighborhood of Brooklyn) is a riff on the Brooklyn. The idea is that the Punt e Mes stands in for the herbal bitterness and richness of the Amer Picon/dry vermouth combination.
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It's pretty easy to make your own: Throw some celery seed and some kosher salt into the spice grinder.
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I am hoping that the gum arabic (in addition to providing some extra silkyness in the mouthfeel) will not only prevent separation in storage, but perhaps also the "curdled" appearance the homemade product can have in certain cocktails. I'm also experimenting with different (less labor intensive and hopefully better) methods for making them. Today's experiment is liquifying the nuts and water together in the Vita-Prep, infusing an hour and draining through a 100 micron superbag. I have a new batch of pistacheat that turned out amazingly well this way, and an currently trying to see if I can make one using roasted pepitas.
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JeffL: The picture on the De Lorenzo's site is not so great. Pictures and descriptions elswhere suggest a pizza with significantly less cheese, sauce on top and a puffier crust than rlibkind's friend.
rlibkind: sounds like it's close to spot-on, then. fwiw, I think that "tough crusts" almost always are due to the pizza maker using high gluten flour. If they want to use high gluten flour, the dough has to include some fat to tenderize the crust. If he's trying to replicate the "tomato pie" style, as noted above, I'd try for a puffier crust, less cheese and the sauce on top. If he's in a location where this style is unknown, it could be a great way to differentiate his product.
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Bob: What is your friend's goal in offering pizza?
If the goal is to have a "destination pizzeria" then there is likely quite a bit of work to be done.
If the goal is to turn out a respectable "corner pizza shop" product as an adjunct to his bakery business, then it looks like it's probably good to go.
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It's hard to tell too much from the picture. From what I can tell, it looks pretty good for that style. If I had any observations as to what might be improved they would be that the cheese appears to be a bit overdone (it can often become a bit "leathery" when cooked to this point), and overall I'd probably prefer less cheese.
To my eye I'd say that it looks like a reasonably good, but by no means revelatory, example from the family of stainless deck oven pizzeria pizza.
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There have been discussions around on both of these subjects.
I can't speak very authoritatively about brasseries, although I do know that they are "technically" large, bustling places that serve beer (the word brasserie technically means "brewery").
Osteria is a word that we might roughly translate to "tavern" or "inn" or "taproom." It's "technically" the lowest and least formal on the ristorante-trattoria-osteria totem pole. It does not have the (often only notional) associations with beer that a brasserie has.
However, both brasseries and trattorie can be found at all ends of the spectrum, much the same way that "Gotham Bar & Grill" has very little in common with a roadside bar & grill (and, as far as I know, features neither a bar nor a grill particularly prominently).
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I like the photography idea. It's a great way to toe the line between foodies and food bloggers who want to document their meal, while at the same time ensuring that your food is presented to the internet public in the way (well lit, styled, shot) that you would like it to be, and also to avoid having picture-snappers disturbing other customers.
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I'm thinking of ways to stabilize a homemade orgeat. Gum arabic, perhaps?
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There is no way you can tell whether beef comes from an animal that has not been treated with hormones or subtherapeutic antibiotics unless it is expressly labeled as such (and you trust the labeling). This is irrespective of USDA grading of the meat. All of which is to say that USDA Choice beef may come from an animal that has not been treated with hormones or subtherapeutic antibiotics, but doesn't necessarily have to.
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Beef is made of chemicals!
But it's okay. So is everything else. Including us.
Over Proofing Bread Dough
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
This depends, in my opinion, on how much yeast was used in the beginning. Many bread recipes call for way too much yeast in order to make the dough develop quickly.