The Food and Drink Thread

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Nice beers — see if you can find a little Danish wonder called Faxe Extra Strong — but I seem to be still on a spirits kick.

I have increased my liquor collection by two bottles of scotch and one bottle of cachaça in the last 24 hours, but only had a drink at a nearby bar (a chilcano de pisco if you must know — opaopajr opaopajr will probably be along shortly to offer his take on it, but in two words? "Peruvian Mule").

Looking forward to taking these beauties out for a spin, ideally on a ton of ice, because it's damn hot down here.
 
Now dont you going ruining that scotch putting ice in it:smile:
 
Never had a chilcano de pisco at a bar, (or if I did, I wasn't noticing much by that time anymore,) but it sounds like a simple drink: Lime and soda with pisco.

My recommendation is using an Italia style Pisco, because it will have a more fragrant complex body. The soda might open it up more. And the lime might compliment the brandy-like overtones.

Quebranta is best for shots as it is very strong, less flavor, more numbing goodness. Achelado ('mix') is a mix of Italia and Quebranta, which also might be good with this drink. If the lime and soda end up overwhelming an Italia Pisco, an Achelado will still have fragrance and kick without worrying about pulling too hard in either savoring or shots direction.

... I miss my days of hard living. :sad:
 
Now dont you going ruining that scotch putting ice in it:smile:

I've been trying it neat, then dropping in a little water with a spoon, in a nosing glass (neither Glencairn nor copita — sort of a miniature brandy snifter); then, in a tumbler, swirling an ice cube and fishing it out.

Some whiskeys are great on the rocks; Bulleit springs to mind. But good scotch is great neat and ideal with a little water.

And I've never had cask-strength stuff but I suspect that when I do I'll use more than a few drops of water. :smile:

Besides, seeing the master distiller of Lagavulin open a 16yr only to mix it with Coca-Cola (can’t find the link right now) made me shed most of my prejudices towards mixing scotch. (I’m still not mixing the really good stuff. But Monkey Shoulder and Coke is bitchin’.)
 
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Never had a chilcano de pisco at a bar, (or if I did, I wasn't noticing much by that time anymore,) but it sounds like a simple drink: Lime and soda with pisco.

My recommendation is using an Italia style Pisco, because it will have a more fragrant complex body. The soda might open it up more. And the lime might compliment the brandy-like overtones.

Quebranta is best for shots as it is very strong, less flavor, more numbing goodness. Achelado ('mix') is a mix of Italia and Quebranta, which also might be good with this drink. If the lime and soda end up overwhelming an Italia Pisco, an Achelado will still have fragrance and kick without worrying about pulling too hard in either savoring or shots direction.

... I miss my days of hard living. :sad:

No, you don’t. You just miss being young. :grin:

The only pisco I’ve seen for sale around here is Capel. Which is Chilean, and Moscatel. I was really looking for a bottle of La Diablada (an acholado) but I've all but given up any hopes of finding it down here.

As for the chilcano I thought it was necessarily made with ginger ale. Any other sodas you've used to good effect?
 
I haven't made a chilcano or remember drinking it. My uncle did a variant of a cuba libre with pisco, Canada Dry ginger ale, and limón peruano... oh, hey! :shock: :shade: Well don't I feel foolish! :clown: That's just like the chilcano de pisco!

Personally there's little substitute to limón peruano. The closest you can get is using a key lime and then mix it with a meyer's lemon, almost 1:1. Both of those citrus fruits are milder than the standard available in USA, and mixing together suggest the complex flavor profile of the Peruvian Lime, (called limón, "lemon," to mess with people I suppose).

As for other sodas, dunno? USA is the land of too much soda, from domestic everything, to craft soda & imports. Y'know, trying Fresca (grapefruit soda) might be worth an experiment. However, i'd be tempted to just use seltzer and various fruit juices.

Being in Brazil I think your greatest advantage is all your awesome, exotic fruits. How easy is it to get low or no-sodium seltzer, or make your own, over there? Then you can do kick ass infusions with various fruit juice kickers. Mmmm, maracuyá passion fruit seltzer infusion with a squeeze of lime sounds like it'd turn any pisco into awesome! :eat: Or it could all end up tasting like fruity wine coolers :quiet: ... which I hear brings all the girls to the yard! :wink: :thumbsup:
 
I haven't made a chilcano or remember drinking it. My uncle did a variant of a cuba libre with pisco, Canada Dry ginger ale, and limón peruano... oh, hey! :shock: :shade: Well don't I feel foolish! :clown: That's just like the chilcano de pisco!

Personally there's little substitute to limón peruano. The closest you can get is using a key lime and then mix it with a meyer's lemon, almost 1:1. Both of those citrus fruits are milder than the standard available in USA, and mixing together suggest the complex flavor profile of the Peruvian Lime, (called limón, "lemon," to mess with people I suppose).

As for other sodas, dunno? USA is the land of too much soda, from domestic everything, to craft soda & imports. Y'know, trying Fresca (grapefruit soda) might be worth an experiment. However, i'd be tempted to just use seltzer and various fruit juices.

Being in Brazil I think your greatest advantage is all your awesome, exotic fruits. How easy is it to get low or no-sodium seltzer, or make your own, over there? Then you can do kick ass infusions with various fruit juice kickers. Mmmm, maracuyá passion fruit seltzer infusion with a squeeze of lime sounds like it'd turn any pisco into awesome! :eat: Or it could all end up tasting like fruity wine coolers :quiet: ... which I hear brings all the girls to the yard! :wink: :thumbsup:

Seltzer of any kind is curiously difficult to get at the local grocery store (though I’ve seen it circulated in parties often enough. Dig me a highball).

Limón peruano sounds a lot like our own limão Tahiti (or just limão), which the Portuguese call lima and Anglophones would probably call a Key lime. Yes, it’s very confusing.

But whatever the case: when it comes to cocktails, I’m a “boozy lemonade” kind of guy. Caipirinha, whiskey sour, daiquiri, Tom Collins, Moscow Mule... if it’s got diluted spirits with citrus and sugar, I’m probably in.

As for tropical fruit: I am fairly chill with non-traditional caipirinhas. You can walk into a bunch of places here and have a “caipirinha” done with, I dunno, vodka or sake, and lychee or strawberry, instead of lemon and cachaça. (And Stevia instead of sugar.) I still prefer the traditional, though I’ll swap cachaça for vodka, and rarely lemon for another fruit (tangerine, pineapple or passion fruit being my favorites) depending on the mood.

But the easiest way to blend cachaça and fruit is the batida, which we usually make for parties. Just get a big jug and mix both at whatever proportion strikes your fancy. Any fruit will do. Serve chilled and/or on ice, in any glass at hand, or even a plastic cup. No fuss, no muss.

My wife’s a big fan of coconut batida whipped up with coconut milk, dried and ground coconut pulp, condensed milk (!) and vodka (!), all thrown in the blender and chilled. Good stuff.
 
Oooh! Have you tried a Gimlet? It's pretty much just gin & lemon juice (sometimes a spot of soda). That's actually worth trying for a floral Italia Pisco.

I'd totally experiment with all those alcohols (especially those scotches :devil: ) and see what sort of Fruity "Boozy Lemonades" I could come up with. Granted save the sippin' stuff for last, the gut rot and candy cordials go first. :hehe: Have you considered a membrillo (quince) blend with a touch of cinnamon and clove with lemon juice? That might taste like drinking spiked applesauce! :angel: (Or taste like ass, I honestly don't know. :hmmm: )
 
Gin, grapefruit juice, and a hint of tobasco.

I like a drink that says to everyone else in the bar: "if I'm willing to do this to myself, just imagine what I am willing to do to you".
 
Oooh! Have you tried a Gimlet? It's pretty much just gin & lemon juice (sometimes a spot of soda). That's actually worth trying for a floral Italia Pisco.

I'd totally experiment with all those alcohols (especially those scotches :devil: ) and see what sort of Fruity "Boozy Lemonades" I could come up with. Granted save the sippin' stuff for last, the gut rot and candy cordials go first. :hehe: Have you considered a membrillo (quince) blend with a touch of cinnamon and clove with lemon juice? That might taste like drinking spiked applesauce! :angel: (Or taste like ass, I honestly don't know. :hmmm: )

I dig a good gin but I need to dilute it at very least 2:1 to really enjoy it. G&Ts and Tom Collins are my favorites. Gimlets and gin rickeys are still a dash stronger than I’d prefer, at least on paper.

I could do a whisky sour with scotch (I have Monkey Shoulder and Glenfiddich 12yr, either of which should work) but I’m digging the sweet and spicy kick of Bulleit. I mix them pretty mild, 2 measures of whiskey to 1 of simple syrup and 1 of lemon juice, no egg white, shaken and served with a ton of ice.

Never did try a quince batida, nor a spiced one, but like I said — batida is an informal thing. Feel free to spruce it up! (And yes, should work great with pisco, which has some vegetal character in common with good ol’ cachaça.)

Gin, grapefruit juice, and a hint of tobasco.

Sounds like a solid drink! I should try it some time.
 
Tequila and Tabasco. Only way to go.
 
If you folks like the idea of that, you should try what we always called a rooster tail. Three shots lined up a row. The first is tequila, the second orange juice, and the third is tomato juice. (Although spicy v8 juice has been substituted for tomato juice.)
 
Tequila and Tabasco. Only way to go.
In college that was the mandatory first drink upon turning 21. I don't believe I have ever had it other than on a day a friend turned 21.
 
My first attempt at pasta alla carbonara yielded penne with cheesy scrambled eggs and bacon. Tasty but not particularly good looking.

What went wrong? Forgot to add pasta water before dropping the egg-cheese-pepper emulsion into the pan with the bacon and pasta. (Following the Serious Eats recipe.)

What to do differently? Add enough pasta water to at least cover the bottom of the skillet before adding the emulsion. Or maybe add the pasta water to the emulsion? Also use spaghetti instead of penne, looks easier.
 
So, who’s into sipping (as opposed to mixing) rum?

I had had rum before but only in (horrible) mojitos mixed at a bar close to where I live — mostly Sprite (!) and probably Bacardí white with a little mint thrown in for good measure. (Lots of bars here don’t seem to know what club soda is and you can’t buy it at a grocery store here, but that’s a rant for another day.)

And of course, we have cachaça but that’s a different beast.

Yesterday at a friend’s house I had a little draught of the amazing Zacapa 23 and was instantly hooked. Now I’m eyeing a bottle of Havana Club Añejo at a liquor store near work.

I read good things about Appleton, Diplomático, Foursquare and half a dozen others but they’re impossible to get here in Brazil.
 
So, who’s into sipping (as opposed to mixing) rum?

It was my preferred drink, back when I was drinking. Straight, maybe with a slice of lemon. I considered mixing with rum to be a waste of good rum. :grin:

No recommendations to offer, as that was a lifetime ago (much of which I've forgotten), and I wasn't choosy about my rum (I drank what I could afford, find, or steal). The quality rums, when I was able to get them, were all excellent, IIRC. :drink:
 
Almost forgot. I had a friend that went to Pennsylvania last week. Brought me back some Yuenglings, as we cannot get it here.
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Made for lunch today the best pork chops and potatoes I've ever had...not even sure what I did differently. Three pork chops and four small blond potatoes cut into wedges. Seasoned all with onion powder, garlic salt, and Italian-style bread crumbs and cooked for about 25 to 30 minutes at 425 degrees. Seriously never had better.
 
Cooking up some tilapia, battered with garlic and other herbs, with a side of blond potatoes sliced into sort of Greek-style fries seasoned with paprika, onion, and garlic. Gonna go well with a nice dry shiraz.
 
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Cooking up some tilapia, battered with garlic and other herbs, with a side of blond potatoes sliced into soet of Greek-style fries seasoned with paprika, onion, and garlic. Gonna go well with a nice dry shiraz.

Big fan of tilapia (yours sounds great) and huge fan of Syrah (one of my favorite varietals, right up there with Touriga Nacional and Malbec), but too much of a traditionalist to have both at the same time.

Today I whipped up a little pasta with sauce Béchamel and shrimp. Cracked open a Provence rosé to go with it. Damn, that was good — it had the acidity to go toe-to-toe with the sauce, and the elegance to go with the shrimp.

Yesterday I finally opened and tried the Talisker 10 years and was taken aback with the complexity of that scotch. And the smoke and medicinal flavors were so much better than what I expected. The box said "superb with smoked salmon and brown bread" and I obliged — I find food/spirit pairings impossible, to be honest, but both were great. :smile:
 
Well, I pair whatever I have the fixings to make until I can get to the store. Plus tradition be damned, I prefer a dry red wine with anything. Pretty much the same as my preference for dry Italian cheeses. But basically until the next grocery trip I'm figuring out what I can make from eggs, porkchops, cheese, salami, black olives, onion, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, what have you. Only wine in the house right now that we can drink is the shiraz as the rest is reserved for Easter dinner tomorrow. Gonna be a smoked ham with a sweet glaze.
 
But basically until the next grocery trip I'm figuring out what I can make from eggs, porkchops, cheese, salami, black olives, onion, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, what have you.
I can think of a bunch of stuff that can be made with that:smile:
 
But basically until the next grocery trip I'm figuring out what I can make from eggs, porkchops, cheese, salami, black olives, onion, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, what have you.
That's porkchops with one badass omelette.
 
Well, I pair whatever I have the fixings to make until I can get to the store. Plus tradition be damned, I prefer a dry red wine with anything. Pretty much the same as my preference for dry Italian cheeses. But basically until the next grocery trip I'm figuring out what I can make from eggs, porkchops, cheese, salami, black olives, onion, garlic, tomatoes, potatoes, what have you. Only wine in the house right now that we can drink is the shiraz as the rest is reserved for Easter dinner tomorrow. Gonna be a smoked ham with a sweet glaze.

I find that tannic red wine plus fish does a number on my palate, unless it's very rich fish (e.g. one of those olive-oil-soaked Portuguese codfish casseroles) which features enough fat to give the tannins a run for their money. De gustibus etc.

As for your grocery list:

Eggs + potatoes + onions = tortilla de patatas

Tomatoes + onions + olives + cheese (+ cucumber in case you have any) = horiatiki salata

Or just munch on the olives, cheese and salami for a while (great with wine, though I'd favor a little Fino sherry) then grill the porkchops, bake the potatoes and whip up a simple onion and tomato chutney. Bam, killer meal.
 
Hosting a dinner party for my housemates.

Balsamic maple marinaded pork chops.
Maple, bacon and walnut mashed yams
Pork-flavored broccoli

I started marinading the chops, and I candied the bacon and walnuts (in the maple syrup) on Wednesday. Occurred to me belatedly that letting the pork and veggies marinade in the oil and vinegar I was going to stir-fry them in would enhance the flavor... so I only did that a couple of hours ago.
 
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Anthony Bourdain took his own life and I am as sad as one can be on the passing of a celebrity — this strange state of personhood that’s neither stranger nor quite familiar.

I have half a mind to whip up a batch of his ingredient-intensive but superb steak tartare, open a bottle of wine and drink to his memory. May he find peace.
 
Hosting a dinner party for my housemates.

Balsamic maple marinaded pork chops.
Maple, bacon and walnut mashed yams
Pork-flavored broccoli

I started marinading the chops, and I candied the bacon and walnuts (in the maple syrup) on Wednesday. Occurred to me belatedly that letting the pork and veggies marinade in the oil and vinegar I was going to stir-fry them in would enhance the flavor... so I only did that a couple of hours ago.
I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your magazine. BTW, you had me at "dinner". :hehe:

For tonight's shift I'm subsisting on mocha cappuccino and beef jerky - the diet of frou-frou pioneers throughout the ages... :hehe:
 
I am intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your magazine. BTW, you had me at "dinner". :hehe:

Absolutely nothing came out right, and I'm fucking pissed.

All of the guests loved the food, but they would have loved it so much more if it had been right.

Needed to double the maple syrup in the pork marinade, use less liquid in the yams-- they came out loose-- and the vinegar on the vegetables was just unnecessary.
 
Absolutely nothing came out right, and I'm fucking pissed.

All of the guests loved the food, but they would have loved it so much more if it had been right.

Needed to double the maple syrup in the pork marinade, use less liquid in the yams-- they came out loose-- and the vinegar on the vegetables was just unnecessary.

The yams are probably not loose because of the liquid, but rather because of cooking time. They need constant consistency checking during boiling.
 
So, who’s into sipping (as opposed to mixing) rum?

I love rum! A pirate's life for me!



Except grog tasted like crap. Friend got real recipes from the sailing era and we quickly gakked.

I prefer dark rum, the less processed the better. It's booze sugar and fun for sipping when you want SUGAR! and BUZZ! at the same time, and I enjoy leaving a good vanilla bean in the bottle.

I'm also a sucker for frilly drinks so fruit + rum + umbrella = happiness for me. And if it's tiki themed? Heaven.
 
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