Happy Friday the 13th! For all you triskaidekaphobics out there, put your worries about the 13th away and try this happy hour delight. Hot on the tail of the last week’s Old Fashioned cocktail post comes this variant. Do I sense a new theme here? Well, this variant will tickle your taste buds as I am substituting the sugar with St. Germain – that lovely elderflower liqueur that powered such favorites as St. Germain Spritz, Agave Bloom, Elderflower Thistle, Citadelle Germain, Next to the Last Word, and Holiday Spritz. And this cocktail really delivers…
Here is one of the bonuses of my new job – testing pre-production equipment. Tonight I used the Vesta Imersa immersion circulator to make a sous vide chicken cacciatore. Yep, you read that right and the process was simple. I placed the sauce ingredients into a large recloseable bag with a valve, suctioned the air out, and cooked it in the water bath at 185F for at least 6 hours. After the 6 hours (or more), I lowered the temperature of the water bath to 145F in order to cook the chicken. Here is a…
During a recent conversation with friends about cocktails, specifically the old fashioned, a quick search of the blog from my phone left me quite embarrassed. I could not believe I have posted several variations of this classic, but never celebrated the original. Well, it is time to rectify that oversight tonight! This cocktail is considered one of the six basic drinks documented in David A. Embury’s The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks. It’s earliest reference is in an 1806 response to a letter as the definition of a ‘cocktail’ –…
Last night’s dinner was another Korean dish I recently encountered while doing some research. I have enjoyed this wonderful dish at my Korean friends’ parties and honestly, I just had to pare and simplify this recipe down for one. Or two, depending on how hungry you are. From the recipe I used as a base, I had to find a way to make this easier so I broke out the components of this dish. Marinated stir fried beef. That is easy enough, I have done that several times in the past. Stir fried…
Tonight’s dish is a great dish for using leftover pasta, especially straight pasta like spaghetti, capellini, etc. And if you don’t have any leftover pasta? No sweat, just make a small batch while you crisp up the guanciale! This dish is based on a flexible ‘use what you have’ type of recipe but can be adapted to a planned meal easily enough. I used asparagus and red pepper for vegetables, which pairs wonderfully with eggs and pasta. Just think, this dish is just out of the ordinary to give you…
I finally found a cocktail that is as varied as this Spring weather. Meet the Prospector. While researching this evening’s tipple, I found recipes that used tequila, cognac, blended scotch, or bourbon as the main spirit and absolutley no consensus on the other ingredients. From what I can tell, all these cocktails named Prospector have their own origins but there is nothing easily identifiable in regards to an actual history. So I will through caution to the wind and present the Prospector that caught my eye – a Manhattan variant (imagine that – dang…
Today’s dish is one that many people enjoy when ordering take-out or delivery Chinese food. This simple fried rice, usually with diced Chinese BBQ pork, scrambled egg, and peas and carrots, just satisfies a hunger like many other comfort foods. And that is a good way to look at this dish – a satisfying comfort food that you can make at home faster than your nearest joint can deliver! Using leftover rice insures it fries nicely without turning into a ‘stuck to the bottom of the pan’ mess. With just a…