slkinsey

I wonder what would be a super-expensive Last Word? Something like: Kensington Reserve XO London Dry Gin Green Chartreuse VEP Luxardo Perla Dry Riserva Speciale Buddha's Hand juice or Kalamansi juice (fresh to-order, of course) Not saying it would be good!!!

The Latest Word is brilliant! I have to say that I agree a bit about using VEP in drinks like this. The ones I've had didn't taste special.

I probably go through 5 bottles of rye for every bottle of bourbon.

Not having read the paper, which is gated, I note that the authors say in the article that "we controlled for physical activity, total calorie intake and other possible explanations for the difference in body mass." This would presumably account for most of the extrinsic factors such as socioeconomics.

The UNS article says: What this doesn't answer, of course, is whether there is something about the overweight people that made them prefer higher levels of MSG. We already know that two people with the same physical activity and total calorie intake can differ widely in weight. So somehing is making the overweight person overweight. So here's the question: Is it the extra MSG that makes that person overweight, or is it the "something" that makes that person prefer extra MSG?

Definitely an interesting drink. I didn't happen to have any white industrial rum around, so I had to choose between Flor de Caña gold and La Favorite. I decided to try the rhum agricole, as I figured it would have an easier time cutting through the Cynar. I was right, it worked very well. I agree that Cynar doesn't have much of an artichoke flavor -- or rather doesn't have much of the flavor we associate with the parts of the artichoke we eat and (usually) cook. Nevertheless, is cocktail did seem to have a distinct background flavor that was quite evocative of artichoke.

Actually, barista is either masculine or feminine. Thus: il barista ("the barman") and la barista ("the barwoman"). Le bariste would properly describe a group of barpeople that is comprised exclusively of women, whereas i baristi would describe a group of barpeople that includes at least one man. It's worthy of pointing out that none of these words refers exclusively to people who work at a coffee shop and/or operate expresso machines. The guy shaking your Daiquiri is a barista, too.

The numbering of them, as far as I know, comes from the Savoy Book. The CR #1 consists of 1/4 Italian vermouth, 1/4 apple brandy or Calvados and 1/2 Brandy. There is also a "Savoy Corpse Reviver" dating to 1954 from Joe Gilmore at the Savoy, consisting of equal parts brandy, Fernet Branca and white crème de menthe.

Another tidbit from Chemical Science:

I like grapeseed a lot too, and when I used it, searing meat was a more leisurely process. But it's pretty expensive. I've gone to using inexpensive olive oil for all my stovetop use. It's not as robust. I guess it depends on how much you use. It takes me more than a month to go through a liter of grapeseed oil. On the other hand, I once ignited extra-virgin olive oil using this same technique. Not recommended. I think it's possible to ignite just about any oil using this technique, if you're not careful. I do. That's why I don't use it any more. This sensitivity may be at least partially genetically-mediated (like the ability to smell cyanide and "asparagus pee"). I don't know about that. I still get the fishy smell, which comes from linolenic acid. It's not clear to me that this can be "refined out" of canola oil (although it might potentially be bred out of the cultivar). Canola oil is 11 percent alpha-linolenic acid, the highest percentage for any cooking oil. The only familiar oil higher than that is flaxseed oil, which clocks in at 57%. I think we can all agree that we wouldn't want to cook with flaxseed oil. Next highest is soybean oil, at 8% alpha-linolenic acid. I've also found soybean oil a bit fishy from time to time. Everything else is less than 1%. Hmm. If we're fully disclosing, I should add that I have also been paid money by the Canola Council of Canada, to write lyrics for a song performed at the closing party of their convention.

Most of the time, if you get the food into the pan with some alacrity, the oil will never reach the smoke point anyway. I've left a heavy copper pan on a full-blast stove for 10 minutes before pouring in a touch of grapeseed oil and either slapping in a steak or tossing in some vegetables for a super-fast saute. I've never had the oil break down on me from the 2-5 seconds it takes in between putting in the oil and putting in the food. I agree with Dave about grapeseed. It's my go-to lipid for high heat cookery.

I honestly can't tell what, exactly, she's asking for.

Interesting list, evo- Some thoughts and questions... 1. As far as I am aware, the John Collins is made with genever (aka Hollands gin). What you have there would appear to be a Tom Collins. 2. I'm curious about your decision to standardize on Ten Cane rum for your Mojito, Daiquiri and Hemingway. These drinks call for a Cuban-style rum made from molasses, such as Havana Club or Flor de Cana. Ten Cane, being distilled from sugar cane juice and in a different style, would seem to offer a different flavor profile for these drinks. Not that they wouldn't be good, of course, just different. What was your thinking on that? 3. As you point out, Dave's "Tombstone" is more or less JT's "Whiskey Cocktail." To the extent that the Tombstone is different, I thought it was due to the specification of the whiskey (Wild Turkey Rye 101) and the fact that it is shaken rather than stirred. I note that you're making the drink stirred with scotch? These are nitpicks, of course. I like the list. All hits. No wasted space. Good variety. Something for everyone. Are the stories going to appear on the menu? If there's room, it's a nice touch. What's the cocktail culture like in Aberdeen?

Please do post.

Meh. I think it's pretty interesting that the Last Word had grown so far in popularity in only a few years that it was not outlandish to suppose that a place billing itself as a cocktail bar would know the drink. Something smiliar happened with the Aviation, which wasn't exactly a household word even among cocktailians as of ten years ago, and is now considered a firmly-entrenched classic. Ironically, considering that it was my suggestion and I have a dasher bottle of absinthe for just such an application, I've never tried it. Does it add anything?

The Last Word cocktail offers us a very interesting look into the cocktail revival and the evolution of cocktail culture. And we all played a part! Back in 2004 when Murray Stenson put the Last Word on the menu at Zig Zag, it was an obscure cocktail that practically no one had ever heard about. If you walked into a top cocktail bar other than Zig Zag and asked for a Last Word, the probability is that you would have been met with a blank stare. Then birder53 posted about it, we started talking about it on eGullet and I started talking about it with my bartender friends at Pegu Club, several of whom were either members or read the eG cocktails forum. Right around the same time, Brian Miller (then at Pegu) returned from spending some time with the Zig Zag guys, and this provided an additional vector of interest in the cocktails they had featured in Seattle. Before too long, the Last Word spread among internet cocktailians from the eG Forums, and among NYC cocktailian bartenders and their clients from Pegu Club. With a year or so, everyone knew about it. Riffs such as Phil Ward's "Final Ward" made it onto the featured list at Pegu Club. Roughly three years after this thread started, the Last Word was considered by many to be an "established classic" -- so much so that cocktailians might assume most any cocktail bar worth its salt would know the drink as of 2007. It's a long way from virtually unknown to classic to basis formula for modern classic-style cocktails in three or four years.

With respect to vermouth: Dave may have more to say about this if he checks in, but Imbibe! says: "By the 1860s, anyway, [vermouth] was pretty well established in New York and had even reached places like Galveston, Texas, and Dubuque, Iowa." This suggests it would have been known most anywhere in Massachusetts, certainly by the time the Lone Tree story is said to have taken place some 40 years later. With respect to Astor, Massachusetts: Boston is a somewhat unusual city in the fact that it annexed certain towns and cities (e.g., Charlestown, Dorchester, Brighton) as it grew, but not other towns that would have been equally likely and natural to annex (e.g., Cambridge, Newton, Brookline). Either way, the old names of towns and cities annexed or not by Boston, and even of the neighborhoods associated with these towns and cities, persist today (eg., Allston, which was a neighborhood in the city of Brighton pre-annexation). I grew up in Boston and am not aware of any Astor in the Boston area. This doesn't mean one didn't exist elsewhere in the state, of course, or that it isn't a misspelling or misremembrance of something else.

Re vermouth: In Imbibe!, Dave Wondrich notes that vermouth was quite well established in NY by the 1860s, and really took off in the 1880s with the Manhattan Cocktail. The first recipe for a "Vermuth Cocktail" (consisting of nothing more than vermouth and a piece of ice with a lemon twist) appeared in an 1869 book. This all suggests that the Lone Tree story would have to be apocryphal, and further suggests that the definition of "cocktail" had already begun to expand significantly by 1870.

I've had a Ryemos a few times. Pretty good.

From this thread. I just whipped up two Golden Dawn variations side-by side. Both had Tanqueray gin, Laird's bonded applejack, Cointreau and orange juice (fresh squeezed valencia) plus a dribble of grenadine to create the "dawn." One version had Apry. One version had Barack Palinka. The Apry version was richer, spicier and sweeter. I wouldn't say it was cloying, exactly, but it definitely couldn't be any sweeter. The Barack Palinka version was dryer and more aromatic. I wouldn't say it was thin, exactly, but it definitely couldn't succeed with any less body. We ultimately decided neither version was entirely satisfactory, and thought that something in the middle was what we wanted. So why not mix the two versions together? This is what we did, and in our opinion it was the superior version.

Wouldn't the Earl of Suffolk be known as "Lord Suffolk"?

Ted Saucier's Bottoms Up has a recipe for the Golden Dawn that eliminates the Cointreau.

My FoodSaver started to get wonky after about a year. It would evacuate small bags just fine, but with larger bags the bag would hardly deflate and then the machine would seal the bag. This created much bag waste and multiple vacuum-and-seal attempts. I have also found FoodSaver machines generally not so great at vacuuming out bags with a large "tail" (which is useful when you want to open and re-seal the bag many times -- for example, I have a huge vacuum bag full of dried porcini). This is one area (among many) where I think vacuum sealers like these are a significant improvement over FoodSaver machines. The vacuum well is both deep and wide. But, more to the point, because the top of the machine is clear, you can see when liquid starts to go into the vacuum chamber and hit the "manual seal" button. This model looks quite similar to one that I've been looking at (actually have one on order) from Cabela's. Their site says it's a Cabela's model, but I seem to remember the person at my local store saying it's not. Anybody know anything about the machine? I don't personally know anything about the machine, but having watched the two videos, and having used a FoodSaver V2460 for about a year, I can't imagine any significant difference in utility or maintenance between it and the Pro 2300. The channel is wider and deeper, but you'll notice that it doesn't get very dirty, and that's the case with my FoodSaver as well, so that's a wash. Maybe if you vacuum a lot of very wet stuff, the channel would matter, but I don't think so, since both machines rely on your attention for best results. The 16-inch width of the Pro might come in handy in commercial applications. I don't know that ease of cleaning would be a major incentive for picking one of the "semipro" machines (although they are certainly easier to clean). With respect to sealing wet foods, or bags that contain liquid, the semipro machines have a major advantage. You are correct that doing it with either machine is a matter of paying attention. But the clear top of the semipro machines makes it significantly easier to see what is happening. I regularly seal bags containing liquid now, whereas with the FoodSaver I had to freeze the liquid. I still think FoodSavers are good starter machines. But after mine started losing its oomph far sooner than I believed it should have, I decided to go with a more powerful machine. It's better than anything from FoodSaver in a multitude of ways. Whether it's worth 2.3 times more than the latest from FoodSaver...? Depends on the user and the budget, I guess.

This is one area (among many) where I think vacuum sealers like these are a significant improvement over FoodSaver machines. The vacuum well is both deep and wide. But, more to the point, because the top of the machine is clear, you can see when liquid starts to go into the vacuum chamber and hit the "manual seal" button.

For sure "natural yeast in the air" makes zero difference in most NYC pizza, all of which (with the exception of Una Pizza Napoletana) are leavened with commercial yeast. It is anyway unlikely that the yeast (and lactobacilli, which are more important) which populate a continually refreshed natural leaven come "from the air." Right! Especially when you consider that 80% of NYC pizza is not particularly distinguished, and perhaps 3% of it is outstanding. I'm not sure that any one pizzeria's dough technique or formula necessarily extends to other pizzerie or to home bakers to produce similar results. That said, I have found this to be a reasonably good formula for the home baker. My pizza dough recipe for home is a 70% hydrated AP flour dough with a lot less yeast (around 0.2%) and no salt. I employ a no-knead technique, ferment overnight and then retard in the refrigerator 5 days or more.