tea berry-blue

So my pals at Industry City Distillery are making some awesome crazy beet sugar vodka:

It’s now on the shelves in NYC, and as of last night, I got to take home some samples which I am very excited to play with next week.

With stills they’ve built from the ground up, the distillery is like some kind of adult Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory; they’ve taken fractional distillation to a level that I’ve never seen before, where they can isolate each unique flavor note in the final product before blending them together. It’s really fascinating and awesome to watch these guys work– and a little like being on an episode of LOST, with a buzzer that rings and demands someone’s attention every twenty-two minutes on the button. Dave, the chief-mad-scientist of the operation, showed me pieces of the new still they’re building and a bunch of other exciting bubbly mysterious stuff.

I headed over there with a sampling of my flavored marshmallows (the Fernet ones seem to be the favorite) and a mission: to make a cocktail using a chanterelle-infused vodka the ICD guys had put up for an event.

I’d played with chanterelles before, in a sugar syrup, but the night before, I played around with several simple vodka cocktails, not having actually tasted the chanterelle infusion. When I got over to the distillery, I was presented with a bottle of high-proof liquor that had been steeped with mushrooms.

Dave & I diluted the chanterelle-infused vodka in tiny proportions to get the flavor and texture we liked best– the flavor was so mild, but the mushrooms imparted a meaty texture to the vodka that was nice– and once we’d settled on a solution for the vodka-to-water ratio, I got to mix drinks…

WITH PIPETTES.

Getting into the mad scientist spirit of the thing, this is the first time I have mixed a drink with pipettes. In fact, up until the moment I did it, I had NEVER CONSIDERED SUCH A THING.

It makes sense; it’s how people add bitters to alcohol. But this was a first. Using the pipettes created such amazing precision that I was able to add very specific and delicate notes to the drink; which was good because the flavors in the mushroom vodka were so subtle. After various experiments, with Dave and Peter being my tasting guinea pigs, we settled on a drink that involved vodka, the chanterelle-infused vodka, Dolin’s blanco vermouth, Cocchi Americano, black pepper syrup, and champagne vinegar. I was working in such tiny proportions that some ingredients found their way in in amounts that could be recorded in drops.

It was pretty awesome, because normally when I make drinks, I’m working in proportions that are first off, not nearly as precise– I mean, how many cocktail recipes call for a “dash” of something? But also, I usually think in 1/4 oz increments. Breaking things down even more was super fascinating and changed the way I was thinking about what I was mixing…in a way that was utterly appropriate, given the product and the locale.

I got sent home with samples that I got to pick from specific, unique cuts of the vodka– that is, bottles of undiluted individual isolated flavor notes, which means there will definitely be some playing going on.

If you are in New York, you should check out Industry City’s vodka. Here’s a map of locations where you can buy the real thing. These guys are awesome and I can’t wait to have more to tell you all.

Mirrored from Nommable!.

As many of you who have followed my blogging for many years know, Thanksgiving is pretty much my favorite holiday in the world. Note that I do not like the more disgraceful aspects of the holiday’s history, and think it’s important to acknowledge them, but the idea of a holiday that is a day of gratitude that is a time for reminding friends and family how much they mean to you and reflecting on all the good that has happened over the last year is something that I think is really important, and I do think that the two sentiments can be inclusive of each other. But this isn’t a political blog, it’s a food blog, so I’ll leave it at that for now and get on with the food part.

Beginning in 2005, I have made my family’s Thanksgiving dinner almost singlehandedly and entirely from scratch, including from-scratch versions of stuff like stuffing, cranberry sauce, and other dishes that I was previously perfectly happy with in the pre-made version. I have two elderly grandparents, and so around that time, I decided that there was no better gift I could give them than to prepare an amazing dinner for them. I make everything in advance, with the best ingredients possible (my mom foots the bill for most of it), and we trek down to Delaware with Thanksgiving dinner in hand early on Thursday morning. Then I assemble the feast. Typically, we get between 8 and 12 people for this dinner.

I know many of you who are in the US also love to celebrate Thanksgiving and might be planning your own dinners and get-togethers for the holiday!

Believe it or not, this is when you should start getting ready! I’ve got my menu mostly selected, and tonight I’ll be making my shopping list. Shopping this week for everything but the ingredients that must be bought extra fresh means cutting down time waiting in line in the grocery store, and it also means that you have plenty of time to realize you’ve forgotten something, to realize you bought the wrong quantity, to discover you need to go to that specialty deli 35 minutes away to get the right kind of meat, and so on. So, in the spirit of starting at the right time, I’m going to start posting my tips!

1) If you’re planning a big dinner, using a spreadsheet can be a huge boon, whether you’re cooking the entire meal or need to assign or keep track of responsibilities with a group of people. You can print it out, share it with friends and relatives, and check it via smartphone or tablet from the grocery store. Here is my handy spreadsheet, available for you to use. It has columns for nearly everything. Note that it has two pages: one to write down your recipes and schedule tasks, and one to write down and sort a shopping list.

2) Order your turkey! Many grocery stores and butchers may have already closed orders for turkeys, but if you want a fresh turkey, ordering can be the best option if you live somewhere where turkeys fly off the shelves quickly. Try to do that as soon as possible as many stores close their orders. Ordering turkeys also means you can specify a close range of size (16-18 pounds, 18-20 pounds, etc) and other requirements, like if you want an organic or free-range bird.

3) Make your stock! This week is a great time to make some turkey, chicken, or vegetable stock! You can store it in the freezer until you need it. Last year, I wrote up a little turkey stock how-to if you’ve never made your own stock before. I highly recommend it!

4) Also make your decorations! If you are hosting Thanksgiving and want some nice centerpieces, you can make them from cloth and dried flowers and other non-perishable items well ahead of time so that you’re not rushing to do things like that at the last minute. Place cards, print-out menus, and other things like that can all be made now!

5) Start planning! All the Thanksgiving issues of the cooking magazines should be out and available, or you can search online for many great recipes. If you are having Thanksgiving with a group, make sure everyone knows what they are responsible for– the sooner, the better, so there are no surprises!

6) When planning, think about how much advance time you will need for each recipe, as well as how long in advance you can do things. For example, if something says it can be done a day ahead, it can probably be done two days ahead, so plan to do it Tuesday. If something requires a lot of time, like defrosting and brining a turkey, make sure you have enough days– a turkey can take more than a day to defrost! It’s always better to have as much prep as possible done ahead of time, so that you have time to manage disasters or just to have a relaxing holiday. I get so much done in advance that sometimes I get to relax all Wednesday night, which is lovely.

7) Also think about your guests! Know their food restrictions and make sure you will have things that everyone can eat. Most Thanksgiving food can be made vegetarian, with the obvious exception of the turkey, and enough things can be made vegan/dairy-free with very few changes to the recipes (olive oil or margarine instead of butter, for example) that anyone should be happy. Make sure that you know if anyone has an allergy or dietary restriction or religious/ethical eating restriction and then try to accommodate those restrictions in your planning. Most people who have dietary restrictions are used to having to accommodate themselves if necessary, so if for any reason you absolutely can’t accommodate someone (for example, if you have guests with conflicting dietary restrictions), give them lots of advance notice so they can bring a dish of their own to supplement their meal. There is usually so much food at Thanksgiving that everyone can eat something, but sometimes it’s just a question of bringing one extra thing.

8) Pick your dinnertime NOW! Knowing if you are eating at 4, 6, or 8 will make a difference in how you plan your dinner. Eating earlier means less prep time, but more time to dig into a long sit-down dinner. Eating later means more prep time, but you will probably want more munchy appetizers and cocktails available.

9) Check all your recipes for “weird” ingredients that you might not be able to locally. If there’s something you don’t recognize, look it up online. Then figure out if you can get it locally. If it’s a dry good, you may be able to order it online and get it delivered by the beginning of next week. If it’s a fresh ingredient, see if you can find out a good replacement. Most things can be substituted with something else if it’s not available near you.

10) Don’t be afraid to ask questions! I have been doing Thanksgiving for so long that I have gotten to the point where I am a bit of an expert at it. If you need help, have questions, or there are specific things you’d like me to post about over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be happy to do it.

Mirrored from Nommable!.

A few days ago, I read an article about how very horrible the conditions in chocolate production are. Here’s the article.

Now, I love chocolate. I love it with every fiber of my being. It is one of those amazing, wonderful ingredients that is so versatile and delicious. And I have to admit that I was aware that chocolate production was problematic, but I didn’t realize to what extent– I didn’t realize how much more problematic it was than the production of many other types of food.

And for me, reading about the child trafficking and slavery surrounding chocolate made me realize that I can’t eat chocolate and be a conscientious person unless I do some work to make certain that the chocolate I’m eating is not contributing to these conditions. It doesn’t matter how much I love it. Nobody’s life is worth a snack.

My friend Lauren found a collection of various links with more information. I’ve already posted these on my personal LiveJournal, but here I’m posting them again in greater context.

“Did you know that cocoa farmers engage in human trafficking and slave labor to make your chocolate bar? They do.

Did you know that TEN YEARS ago there was an international protocol passed requiring chocolate makers to work to end child slavery? There was, and people were too busy patting themselves on the back to enforce it, so nothing has changed.

Think a boycott will just hurt the people who make those 15 cents a day? You’re missing the big picture.

Addicted to chocolate? Fine, here are the Fair-Trade companies that don’t use slave labor.

Want to give money to supporting international labor rights? You can do that, too.

Want to learn about better candies to give out at Halloween? I have an app for that.”

Well, to be completely honest, most of us can’t afford to give out fair trade chocolate at Halloween. But there are other things we can do.

1) Give out non-chocolate Halloween candy. This is a good option for other reasons, because chocolate often contains dairy and sometimes nuts, both which cause severe allergies for many kids. Did you already buy chocolate to give out at Halloween? If the bag is sealed and you have a receipt, you should be able to return it.
2) Have kids? Going Trick-or-Treating? Raise The Bar Hershey is focusing their campaign specifically at Hershey, being one of the biggest users of slave labor in chocolate production. Talk to your kids about it. Agree to refuse Hershey’s chocolate while Trick-or-Treating this year.
3) Go one step further. Carry a copy (or have your kids carry a copy) of the Raise the Bar Hershey Petition to collect signatures.
4) Or, you know the UNICEF boxes? Instead of collecting money for UNICEF, collect money for International Labor Rights Forum
4) Fill out Hershey’s CSR Report
5) Email Hershey Executives
6) Do you have a favorite chocolate bar that isn’t on the list of Fair Trade chocolate? Write to the manufacturer and encourage them to go Fair Trade.

If you know of more resources, please pass them on.

Mirrored from Nommable!.

So, most of you know that I’m sort of a giant nerd for cocktail things…ESPECIALLY cocktail things that are hard to find/acquire/track down, etc.

This is my holy grail of things I haven’t been able to get which only makes me want them more:

That little bottle is full of a potion called Elixir Vegetal de la Grande Chartreuse. It’s made by the Chartreuse Monks, the same people responsible for the Chartreuse Liqueurs we all know and love.

The thing is, it’s barely ever available in the US because of this little issue wherein the Chartreuse Monks won’t give the FDA the list of ingredients.

A while back, one of my favorite bitters-selling websites, Cocktail Kingdom had it, and I was super stoked and going to buy a bottle. But something weird happened with my order and it didn’t go through, and when I tried again, they no longer had it in stock. TRAGEDY.

So, this morning, I was just browsing for something on the internet, as I am often wont to do, with no particular purpose in mind, and suddenly, up on my screen popped the Elixir Vegetal product page on Cocktail Kingdom.

I was a little disoriented in a “hey, why is this showing up on my screen?” for a minute, and I was about to close out, when, on a whim, I clicked the “add to cart” button.

AND IT WORKED.

Cocktail Kingdom has Elixir Vegetal back in stock, if you are looking for it in the US!! Go, purchase!

Mine is coming to me shortly!

Mirrored from Nommable!.

My recent dearth of posts to my own food blog (thank you Rose, for still being active in my absence!) can only be attributed to a week of allergies followed by a week of bronchitis. I’m slowly recovering from the bronchitis, physically weak but mostly able to breathe again, although my medication, including a codeine-based cough syrup, means that I’m forbidden (tragedy of tragedies) to drink.

But my recovery means that I’m now well enough (even though I’m still a bit weak, woozy, and dizzy) to tell you a story that is in very small part a recipe but in a larger part a romance, in the more classic meaning of the word, where I embarked upon a voyage that I thought was going to be one of humorous novelty, and discovered I had opened a door into a world that I had not known existed, and a kinship with someone who died long before I was born.

Some of you might know that I had a great-grandfather named G Selmer Fougner, who, from 1933 to 1941, was the chief wine columnist for the New York Sun (the newspaper of “Yes, Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus,” fame. He is often touted as journalism’s “first wine writer,” as his column started just on the heels of Prohibition’s repeal, and he went on to write about food in a way that is luxurious, decadent, and verging on sinful as he operated at the peak of the Great Depression. But I’ve also heard that what he did was afford people who could not eat as he did a sort of vicarious entertainment, the same way that movies of the 1930s allowed people a view into fabulous and wealthy homes.

Now, most of you know that I’m not much of a wine drinker. I don’t dislike wine, and I will certainly have a glass now and then, but I’ll almost always choose gin, whiskey, or beer over wine.

So the existence of “Baron” Fougner remained an entertaining tidbit that I’ve sometimes mentioned at parties, or am now-and-then confronted with by someone with a particularly rich knowledge of wine lore, like my eighth grade science teacher. But other than the pride of such an interesting role in the history of journalism, it wasn’t too much to me.

Then, this summer, I was looking for gifts for my father for his birthday, and thought it might be a treat if I could find one of G. Selmer Fougner’s books, unsure whether my father had all of them. I started doing a search, and discovered the following:

Along the Wine Trail, Volume II: Distilled Spirits

This was followed up by a third volume, also on spirits.

I asked my mother if she knew about this. And, lo and behold, I discovered that we were in fact in possession of a full bound set of all five volumes of Along the Wine Trail.

So I started reading. And I discovered that this book included recipes. Not only did it include recipes, but it included recipes in the guise of entertaining stories about my great-grandfather’s experiences mixing, ordering, and drinking cocktails.

All kinds of cocktails.

I started in the beginning of the recipe section, with the first recipe in the book, which, of course, was The Martini. I went on to the French Martini, and then to the Bronx Cocktail.

And here is my great-grandfather’s “recipe” for The Old Fashioned Cocktail, transcribed word for word.

The following letter from a “Wine Trail” follower will interest those who favor the Old Fashioned Cocktail:

“After reading your articles in The Sun for several weeks, I should like to ask you a question which confuses many of my friends. What is the preferred recipe for an Old Fashioned Cocktail? A few days ago one of my guests asked the waiter for one and specified a piece of orange, a piece of lemon, a slice of pineapple and a cherry, and the waiter, who was German, responded with: ‘Ach! Vot you vant is vegetable soup.’
“Personally, I have tasted Old Fashioned Cocktails which made me think my head was on fire, and then I have tasted a variety which made me forgive all my enemies and fill me with a desire to give all I have to the poor.”

The waiter may have thought he was being funny, but he showed rare ignorance of the requisites of his job. Some of the best recipes for an “old fashioned” call for all the fruit mentioned. Oscar of the Waldorf specifies as follows: 1 lump of sugar, 1 jigger of rye whiskey, 1 cherry, 1 dash bitters, 1/2 slice orange, 1 stick fresh pineapple and a lump of ice.

Charles C Mueller, pioneer bartender of some of hte finest hotels and clubs, uses the same ingredients, while this writer prefers the simple form containing merely the sugar, dissolved in a few drops of mineral water, rye whiskey, a dash of bitters, a lump of ice and a piece of lemon peel twisted on top.

There is something magical, to me, about being able to share a cocktail with a man who died nearly forty years before I was born, but who left me a legacy that I might appreciate more than anything else he could have given me.

Mirrored from Nommable!.

About a year ago, I went to Tuthilltown distillery for my birthday. They had just signed a distribution agreement with William Grant & Sons, and talked a lot about the changes that we about to occur at the distillery, as far as amping up production and such. We got to see their bottling machine, which hadn’t yet been installed, and was sitting in pieces on the floor. And I got one of the very last bottles of a whiskey they had to phase out as part of that agreement (it has joined my collection of Things to Open on Very Special Occasions).

This weekend, my father had a social obligation, and my mom suggested that the two of us go back. It’s about an hour in the car from the Barn in Connecticut where I spend my weekends to Gardiner, NY, where the Tuthilltown distillery is. I called in advance and reserved us two spots on their noon tour.

We got there about a half an hour early and went into the distillery shop. Luz, who was working there last year, recognized us when we came in, and greeted us like old friends. We did our tasting before the tour this time– last time, it was useful to do the tasting after because the understanding of the process added to my appreciation of what I was drinking. Last time, I tried their corn whiskey and two aged whiskeys. This time, I opted to try the only offerings I hadn’t had before: Spirit of the Hudson Vodka and Roggen’s Rum. You get three tastings, so after that, I had the rye, which is my favorite of their whiskeys. Yum!

Then, Luz pulled out something super nifty from under the bar– their new barrel-aged maple syrup and barrel-aged balsamic vinegar. They were both sincerely, truly awesome.

Anyway, Cordell, who gave our tour last year, was there again to do the honors this year. He gives a great tour, and doesn’t leave out a single detail. As in, you feel like you could go home and start distilling whiskey yourself after hearing him talk. The cool thing was that while not too much had changed, the folks at Tuthilltown had added a new still to their collection of apparatus, and a bunch of other equipment, and are in the middle of adding a bottling room. It reminded me a little of Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, apart from the lack of Oompa Loompas and chocolate rivers.

Pretty, huh?

But the best part of the trip, perhaps, was what I got to take away! In addition to buying a bottle of Spirit of the Hudson (my mother gets this sort of ‘holy crap!’ look on her face every time I make a vodka drink she likes), my mom got me a second birthday present (the first was my professional-grade gelato maker):

That is my very own bourbon barrel! Now I just have to decide what to use it for– right now the jury is out, but leaning toward beer or bitters.

The Tuthilltown folks were also kind enough to let us take a couple of handfuls of spent grain (the grain that is left over after the distilling process) home to our chickens.

Man, those are some happy chickens!!!

Mirrored from Nommable!.