Posted by Clay Gordon, May 14, 2008 at 11:00 AM
I was reminded while doing some grocery shopping recently just how important it is to pay attention to what you put in your cart and how you can't always trust your old stand-by brands, especially when those brands start showing up on products outside the area the company built its reputation on.
Case in point: Land O'Lakes®. I've always thought pretty highly of their dairy products and it really didn’t surprise me when I noticed their name on some bags of powdered hot chocolate mixes. What did surprise me was the phrase on the front of a bag of Land O'Lakes Triple Chocolate International Drinking Cocoa™ ... "Brimming With Chocolatey Flakes."
Just between you, me, and everyone else who is going to read this–chocolatey is shorthand for faux-chocolate. Even though the FDA legalized white chocolate in 2002 (a crime against chocolate according to most chocolate lovers) they actually do regulate the use of the word chocolate very closely; a food or ingredient must contain a minimum percentage of ingredients that actually come from a cocoa bean in order to call itself chocolate.
So, when Land O'Lakes says that their Triple Chocolate International Drinking Cocoa is Brimming With Chocolatey Flakes what they're really telling you is not to expect much actual chocolate in the product. A glance at the lengthy list of ingredients reveals just how true this is.
Continue reading »
Posted by The Serious Eats Team, May 5, 2008 at 4:30 PM
Cinco de Mayo is a day of national pride for Mexicans around the world, commemorating Mexico’s victory over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. We join in the celebration with our favorite Mexican food and drink.
- Bobby Flay's Tangerine Margarita: From Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook comes this recipe for a tart, tangerine influenced margarita.
- The Paloma: Commonly found in regions where tequila is produced as well as consumed, the Paloma combines grapefruit soda and tequila, making it a great seasonal refresher.
- Michelada: The michelada is a spicy beer cocktail that first became popular in northern Mexico. The cocktail's name is derived from "mi chela helada," or "my cold, light beer".
Posted by Paul Clarke, May 2, 2008 at 4:15 PM
A few weeks ago I put up a post about drinking on the cheap during tough economic times. I’m obviously not the only one giving thought to the virtues of affordable booze.
In last weekend’s Wall Street Journal, Eric Felten walked through a blind tasting of six affordable bourbons. While regular readers of the WSJ aren’t likely to be reaching for the rotgut shelf anytime soon, Felten wanted to step away from the boutique bourbons that typically get all the ink, and try a few brands that are available at most any bar in America. To raise the stakes (somewhat), he tasted the bourbons blind, so any prejudices against particular labels or price points would ideally be eliminated as a factor.
His top pick? The humble Evan Williams, which Felten picked up for about $10; this venerable whiskey bested more upmarket brands such as Wild Turkey and Maker’s Mark, which Felten described as tasting "thin, raw and twangy."
Continue reading »
Posted by Paul Clarke, April 17, 2008 at 2:15 PM
An olive skewered on a toothpick is the universal symbol for a martini; but are such trappings really necessary?
Eric Felten touches on the olive and other cocktail-related ornamentation in last weekend’s Wall Street Journal column, “Consider the Trimmings.” Invoking Walter Gropius’ harangue against “florid aestheticism,” Felten addresses the questionable necessity of cocktail garnish, along with the East Coast - West Coast divide that’s starting to arise.
In recent years, bartenders such as Jackson Cannon at Eastern Standard in Boston have eschewed garnishes that don’t provide any flavorful or aromatic contributions to the drink, while the “Farmers' Market” bartenders on the West Coast have started to employ a wide array of garnishes ranging from single basil leaves to arrangements of edible flowers.
Continue reading »
Posted by Robyn Lee, April 9, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Are you still thinking about making that bacon-infused bourbon and maple syrup cocktail but don't know where to begin? Watch this video of Don Lee making the Bacon-Infused Old-Fashioned in which he explains each step, including how to make the bacon-infused bourbon.
Don't know anything about the world of tea? Condé Nast Porfolio has a simple gourmet tea guide to give you the basics of tea types, how to drink it, and how to brew it.
Posted by Paul Clarke, April 2, 2008 at 2:45 PM
In case you’ve somehow missed all media coverage of drink trends in recent years, let me fill you in on something: gin is in. In today’s Los Angeles Times, staff writer Betty Hallock notes the continuing fondness for the juniper spirit among bartenders nationwide.
For decades, starting in the 1950s, it looked like gin was on the ropes, its once-strong grip on the culture of mixology eclipsed by the more approachable vodka. But with the current cocktail renaissance, gin is again in vogue. A quick glance at the shelves of your liquor store could tell you this much: new brands and bottlings of premium and artisan gins are continuing to push the tired cases of Seagram’s and Gordon’s aside.
Continue reading »
Posted by Cathy Danh, March 28, 2008 at 10:00 AM
It’s bloody hot in Saigon.
The dry season is in full swing, and the days of motorbiking in the rain while donning ponchos are now a distant memory.
Unlike most foreigners, I love the heat. It’s probably the product of my Saigon genes and SoCal upbringing. And even though it’s already suitably warm right now, temperatures will likely continue to soar until June. I hope I don’t melt.
On those occasions when a cool wet-nap just isn’t enough to keep the heat at bay, here are ten truly local delights to keep from going bananas during the long months before the rains return.
Continue reading »
Posted by Michael Nagrant, November 8, 2007 at 4:00 PM
I generally don’t like to eat anything that came out the ass of a Civet. Or from the digestive system of any other living thing for that matter. Which is odd, because I have no problem eating the digestive system itself: I’m a connoisseur of natural casing sausage, kidneys, and liver. Still I’ve made this distinction and I’m sticking to it for now. As such, I haven’t had a chance to taste Kopi Luwak, one of the most expensive coffees in the world.
Kopi Luwak, as you can probably guess from my opener, comes from coffee berries which have passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet. The animal’s digestive system works as sort of a defacto depulping mechanism, yielding partially-digested beans coated with various internal essences and enzymes. The beans are harvested, cleaned, lightly roasted and sold.
Continue reading »
Posted by Paul Clarke, October 10, 2007 at 1:30 PM
It may not carry the same fear-inducing firepower as challenging foods like tripe, brains, or other "variety meats," but there's an ingredient in occasional use behind the bar that sometimes rattles the unsuspecting customer: raw eggs.
Mixing eggs with liquor has a long heritage. A prime mover at colonial taverns was the flip, a drink typically made with a spirit such as rum, cream, and raw eggs (other ingredients such as hot beer or sherry were not uncommon); and while it's now thought of primarily as a holiday tipple, eggnog was once a fairly common concoction to call for across the bar. Egg whites became a staple ingredient in drinks such as the gin fizz and the whiskey sour, adding foam and body to the drink while slipping a little sustenance to the imbiber. And for sheer decadence there was the Knickerbein, composed of several liqueurs in a glass topped by the unbroken egg yolk and a mound of whipped egg white; the drinker was instructed to first inhale the froth, then drink the liquor while leaving the yolk untouched, and finally to gulp the remaining spirits while breaking the yolk in the mouth.
Continue reading »
Posted by Alaina Browne, September 21, 2007 at 7:00 PM
Photograph from Yi on Flickr
Brightly colored drinks to kick off your weekend. Cheers!
Posted by Paul Clarke, August 29, 2007 at 3:15 PM
This one’s promoted from the comments on the Aviation. Noting the liqueur used to sweeten that drink, emily20008 asked a good question:
What is maraschino liqueur? Don’t tell me it’s that sugary syrup they soak those evil red cherries in...
Everyone’s familiar with those neon-red orbs that perch atop sundaes and dwell in the depths of Manhattans. While I’m now kinda freaked out by the chemicals and processes that turn a natural piece of fruit into a freakish, preserved-for-eternity caricature of itself, I’ll admit to an inordinate fondness for them back in the day when my mom had to drive me to swim lessons and I considered Dr Pepper the ne plus ultra of liquid refreshment.
But is there a link between these gaudy globules and the engaging, esoteric liqueur that acts as a defining ingredient in so many classic cocktails? The answer, of course, is "kind of."
Continue reading »
Posted by Wan Yan Ling, July 26, 2007 at 3:00 PM
Photographs by Shimin Wong
So, I had a theory. It was a very good theory, except it was ruthlessly and unscientifically disproved by a quick phone call to my grandparents. Not that it was a very precise notion to begin with.
I had decided, against all the collective wisdom that is Wikipedia, that lemonade did not, indeed, originate in seventeenth-century Paris, but that it had been imported from the Old World—the “warm temperate to tropical regions” where native sugarcane thrives—namely Asia and Africa.
You see, if lemonade consists of sugar (made from dehydrated sugarcane juice), water (to rehydrate the resulting sugar crystals), and lemon juice, then wouldn’t sugarcane juice with lemon be one evolutionary generation younger?
Continue reading »
Posted by Paul Clarke, July 25, 2007 at 4:25 PM
The beautiful thing about New Orleans is that, if you stand in one place long enough, someone will eventually hand you a drink.
At least, that was my experience this past week at Tales of the Cocktail, the grand convention of spirits and cocktail enthusiasts that takes place in New Orleans each year. One afternoon I was standing in the ornate lobby of the Hotel Monteleone, minding my own business, when out of nowhere a smiling man appeared bearing a tray of condensation-cloaked glasses and asked me if I’d like something to quench my thirst. A beautiful thing, as I said.
What made the experience even more memorable was the drink that was in those glasses. Composed of an icy mix of Moët & Chandon White Star Champagne, club soda, and an intriguing liqueur known as St. Germain, the drink was light yet fortifying, and was the perfect foil to the steamy weather outside.
Continue reading »
Posted by Ed Levine, May 25, 2007 at 1:42 PM
I've only had sugar cane juice in Vietnamese grocery stores in New York, but it didn't mean much to me when I drank it. In Cairo, the Sons of Saad Afifi shop sells an elixir that resonates deeply with Egyptians.
Photograph from Leedya on Flickr
Posted by The Paupered Chef, February 28, 2007 at 7:00 AM
Photographs by The Paupered Chef
The cocktail party is an estimable but endangered social institution. Its demise may be blamed on factors as various as the waning popularity of hard liquor, the regrettable decline of the sibling arts of conversation and flirtation, and the growing acceptance in this country of the European idea that dinner by itself is sufficient diversion for an evening. (The cocktail party, remember, is an American invention.) We steadfastly defend the cocktail party, however, both as an abstract notion and as an uncomplicated and extremely pleasant means of entertaining. —The Joy of Cooking
Continue reading »
Posted by Lia Bulaong, February 8, 2007 at 3:03 PM
Frank Bruni on the trend towards giant cocktail glasses: "The gargantuan drink — intended to impress and often genuinely intended as a good value — has proliferated, and there’s a downside. Cocktails meant to be consumed at a certain chilly temperature begin getting significantly warmer before anyone who’s not quaffing them in three big, speedy sips can get to the bottom of the glass. That’s not what the cocktail gods intended, and yet these larger drinks have made their smaller counterparts seem stinting, setting up a Goldilocks situation: this one’s too stinting; this one’s overwhelming; where’s the one that’s just right?"
