Nice Cookies » Costco

Calphalon Pots/Pans

admin — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 08:35:40 +0000

Are these any good? Anything better in their price range? Gotta stock the new kitchen this weekend and these are looking to be a good option.
Love my set I got from Target, just get some Calphalon cooking utensils to go along with then.
I ended up getting a 12 piece set. Bed Bath & Beyond had a special going, spend over 300 and get a $50.00 gift card, spend over $400.00 and get another calphalon pot. I’m very happy with mine so far. A little disappointed they’re not dishwasher safe but it’s a small price to pay.

Most pots and pans worth a damn aren’t dishwasher safe.
Well it just says the dishwashing detergent could ruin them, not the actual dishwasher. I don’t think the backup dishwasher minds cleaning these too much though.

All Clad is a good brand. Probably a bit more expensive but IMO well worth it. Everyone also needs a nice cast iron skillet.

plus the 20% off they mail almost monthly

Which model of Calphalon did you select?

I have the stainless steel lined. I think it’s discontinued now
I have the henckel 10 piece classic clad and they have been the best cookware i have used. Really even heat and good handles. I have seen the 7 piece on the net for 200 bucks, and I think the 10 piece was 300. Might be a bit more than the Calphalon.
Calphalon is a bit spendy and trendy.
I recommend stainless steel pots and pans with heavy bottoms and riveted handles.
Sams Club or Costco often have sets for cheap.
Spend your $$ on a good rock maple cutting board (Boos is good) and good knives (F. Dick or Henckels)
PS don’t get the Henckel’s International – Or even anything that comes with a knife block.

Thinking about all-clad but… ......
Question about kitchen appliances ......
Kitchen Knives v Wusthof Culinar ......

Best article on cooking steak that I’ve seen in a while

admin — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:53:46 +0000

This is well worth the read. I used to be a grill cook at a top restaurant in Ann Arbor and now I feel like an amateur compared to the guys in the back of the house of Morton’s and Peter Luger.

Here’s the original article if you have a WSJ online sub:

The Search for the Perfect Steak

Aging your own beef. ‘Secret’ spices — from the supermarket. Our reporter’s quest for a steakhouse-quality meal at home.
By KATY MCLAUGHLIN
September 8, 2007; Page P1

I’m standing in the kitchen of Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Peter Luger Steak House, inches from a wall of broilers, fearing that I, like the Flintstone-size porterhouses sizzling behind me, might be developing a heavy char. Waiters rush to pick up hissing plates of beef, while cooks spear steaks onto huge, pointy forks and, in a flash, dissect them into chunks.

After five years of attempting to perfect a method for cooking steak at home, I’ve come to one of the most renowned steakhouses in the country to learn how to make meat like a pro. The mission is personal: For all the hundreds of steaks I’ve set under my broiler throughout the years, I’ve never yet managed to duplicate that most irresistible of meals, the steakhouse steak.
[Steak photo]

So over the past three months, I’ve taken a journey into the world of steak. I encountered a passionate subculture of foodies who risk microbial Armageddon and turn their refrigerators into makeshift aging caves. I hung out in busy steakhouse kitchens where one false step can send a person tumbling onto the business end of a 10-inch chef’s knife. And while practicing one pro’s shopping techniques at my neighborhood Costco, I studied the lines of marbling in a pack of T-bones as if I were reading tea leaves.

Even as the price of prime beef skyrockets — partially an odd side effect of the nation’s new love of ethanol, which is driving up the price of corn used to feed cattle — I discovered there’s a trick to making cheaper choice cuts nearly as flavorful and tender as prime. And I learned why the most critical gadgets in the pro steak chef’s grilling arsenal are a humble cast-iron pan and tongs.

Americans have grown accustomed to the taste of top-drawer steak since the steakhouse industry began to boom in the early 1990s. But for years, there was a still a difference between the beef served up at these pricey restaurants and the best cuts sold in most stores. That began to change toward the end of the ’90s, when more retailers started carrying USDA prime, sometimes dry-aged. The "prime" label is the highest grade assigned to beef by the Agriculture Department based on the amount of marbling, or lines of fat, it contains. Lesser grades, such as choice and select, have less marbling.

Whole Foods Market has built 16 dry-aging caves in its stores since 1999, and Wegmans, an East Coast supermarket chain, started selling prime, dry-aged beef in all 70 of its stores three years ago. Donald Trump now hawks fancy beef through the Sharper Image catalog, and mail-order company Allen Brothers says business was up 80% last year from the year prior.

But the good stuff doesn’t come cheap. At Peter Luger, for example, a porterhouse for two costs $81.90 — or roughly $2.04 an ounce. You can cook a similar steak at home by buying a porterhouse package through the restaurant’s online butcher shop for $206.20, or about $2.71 an ounce (though you get steak sauce, chocolate coins and shipping, too).

Whereas restaurants might eat margin losses or rejigger the rest of the menu to offset losses, retailers set their prices high partly as a hedge against market fluctuations. This year, for example, wholesale prices for USDA prime steaks have jumped 8% to 9% from the same period last year — and that’s on top of a 15% increase from 2005 to 2006. These are historically large jumps, according to market analyst Cattle-Fax, reflecting the high demand for prime.

Fueling the increase are corn prices that have risen by 50% this year compared with last year, partly a result of rising ethanol demand. Ethanol uses up 26% of the total U.S. corn crop — up from 11% five years ago, according to USDA numbers. In response, the beef industry is cutting the number of days it feeds cattle grain, which translates into fewer cattle developing the marbling that merits a prime grade.

My personal steak life can be divided into the years before and after I met my husband. Raised in Uruguay, where cattle outnumber people by nearly 4 to 1, he grew up steeped in a cuisine that can be basically summed up in two words: grilled beef.

Before we met, I considered steak beneath my culinary aspirations, and on the rare occasions I did cook it, I usually picked it up at the local grocery store. At most stores, meat doesn’t tout any grade, a pretty good sign that it’s USDA select, a tougher, less-flavorful grade a notch below USDA choice. After my husband came into the picture, I started buying USDA choice beef at Costco for biweekly steak dinners.

As it happens, that’s exactly where the pros told me to shop to find great beef — the first step in my steak-cooking quest. Elias Iglesias, the 14-year veteran executive chef at the New York branch of Morton’s, says though he uses prime at the restaurant, he happily cooks choice meat at home, often buying whole loins at big-box stores such as BJ’s or Costco. If you like filet mignon, look for a cut labeled "beef tenderloin"; for strip steaks, buy "strip loin."

Mr. Iglesias then cuts them into even, 1?- to 2-inch steaks himself (filet should be cut 2? inches thick). The 33-year-old recommends examining packages of precut steaks closely for the degree of marbling. In my experience, well-marbled choice steaks can taste as good as prime if they are properly aged and cooked.

DRY-AGING AT HOME

This is the method we used to dry-age strip steaks. Food safety experts do not recommend any type of aging at home, because of the risk of food-borne illness.
1. Buy a whole USDA Choice strip loin, available at big-box stores such as B.J.’s or Costco.
2. Clean the kitchen and refrigerator with a solution of diluted bleach. Run all equipment through a hot dishwasher cycle. Wash hands.
3. Line a baking pan with paper towels and place a baking rack into the pan. Remove the strip loin from the vacuum pack and place it, fat side down, onto the baking rack.
4. Place the baking pan onto the bottom level of an empty or fairly empty refrigerator. Place ice packs around the refrigerator to make sure the temperature stays below 40 degrees. Avoid opening the door frequently.
5. Leave the loin aging for 2 to 7 days maximum.
6. With clean hands and equipment, and using a very sharp knife, slice off every piece of exterior meat, making sure no hard, desiccated tissue is left on any part of the loin.
7. Slice the loin into 11/2- to 2-inch steaks. Freeze unused portions.

While prime beef is slightly scarcer than usual right now — accounting for about 2.5% to 3% of all beef on the market, down from 3.1% last year — choice beef is plentiful, at roughly 58% of all beef, compared with 56% last year. Beef grade is largely determined by nature, though the industry tries, through genetics and feeding practices, to raise cattle so that they will earn a choice grade.

Though shopping turned out to be fairly simple, the next step was complex, arduous and even a bit scary. One of the most passionate debates among steak lovers has to do with the aging process. Wet aging, which is how Morton’s handles its beef, involves vacuum packing the meat in a bag for several weeks after it is slaughtered. The technique allows enzymes in the beef time to break down and tenderize muscle tissue.

At Peter Luger, where the tin ceilings and beer-hall-style decor hark back to its 120-year history, they go a step further and dry age the meat. There, several tons of beef sit on wooden racks in a huge dry-aging room that has a distinctly pungent, nutty, somewhat sour odor. This arcane and expensive technique — what one beef expert described to me as "a process of controlled rotting" — is what gives Peter Luger beef its signature flavor. To my mind, dry-aged beef is the best there is because it’s not only tenderized, but much of the liquid evaporates, leaving behind a smaller, but more intensely flavored piece of meat.

Trolling through meat threads on food Web sites Chowhound and eGullet, I discovered a whole subculture of people who forgo buying dry-aged beef and prefer to do it themselves, despite warnings from health experts. Cook’s Illustrated, the cooking magazine that rigorously tests recipes, and the Food Network’s Alton Brown have also both published recipes for home-aging beef.

Jack Bishop, editorial director of America’s Test Kitchen, which owns Cook’s Illustrated, says "if safety is your No. 1 concern, you probably don’t want to go down the road of aging your beef," but that he believes it is fairly safe if cooks observe strict hygiene and limit the aging to four days. Alton Brown also says aging can be safe if properly done.

But everyone from food scientists to butchers to cooking schools say aging beef at home is a huge risk. "The dangers outweigh the benefits," says Brian Buckley, who specializes in food safety at the Institute of Culinary Education. Unless it’s possible to achieve a consistent meat temperature below 40 degrees, a controlled humidity level, constant air flow, strict sanitation and expert butchering, says Mr. Buckley, bacteria, yeasts and mold can easily develop, both within a vacuum-sealed pack or outside of it; any of these can easily lead to food-borne illness.

Cooking the meat to 165 degrees would kill off pathogens, but the meat would be like shoe leather by then. For medium rare, most chefs cook steak until the interior is 125 to 130 degrees (it will continue to rise in temperature by a further five to 10 degrees as it rests) and has a rosy, but not blood-red, hue.

None of this stops David Farbman, an investment banker in Boston, from dry aging the sirloins he buys from a butcher shop. He leaves roasts in the fridge for up to 10 days, then carefully trims away the desiccated parts before slicing steaks. Melanie Wong in San Francisco wet ages hanger steak by leaving it in vacuum-sealed bags for up to a week beyond the "consume by" date. As far as food safety goes, Ms. Wong, a pharmaceutical consultant, says her meat passes "a sniff test."

Not to be outdone, I turned my own kitchen into a laboratory. I spent more than $100 for wire racks, baking trays, ice packs, plus, at Costco, two beef tenderloins and two whole top loins — around $61 each. My plan was to dry age half the beef, then compare it to the other meat, which was essentially wet aging in vacuum-sealed bags.

I started by cleaning all my equipment (Mr. Buckley recommends diluted bleach) then laid a tenderloin and a strip loin on baking racks set into baking sheets lined with paper towels. I put them into the lower half of the refrigerator, which I lined with ice packs. Because tenderloin is already tender, I aged it for only two days, but the strip got a week.

I tried to create air flow by installing a hand-held fan in the fridge, but the battery gave out in a couple of hours, so I just hoped for the best. Before slicing the meat into steaks, I trimmed every last exterior scrap of dry meat.

A series of blind taste tests with my husband and my parents revealed that even this limited amount of dry aging (steakhouses age meat for strip steaks three weeks or more) was highly effective. Everyone preferred the richer, more toothsome dry-aged meat over the blander wet-aged filet. While both strip steaks were yummy, the wet aged tasted hammy compared with the beefier, more intense dry-aged.

Still, even my dry-aged meat didn’t have the flavorful crust of steakhouse steak. So my next challenge was figuring out a better way of cooking the meat to show off its taste.

I turned to the professionals, requesting one-on-one instruction from the chefs at Morton’s and Peter Luger. To my surprise, I found that beyond cooking in broilers cranked up to at least 800 degrees, which sears the exterior of the meat, the two steakhouses did about everything else differently.

At Morton’s, I saw large trays of raw meat sitting out beside the stove. Mr. Iglesias explained that the restaurant lets steak sit outside the refrigerator for about an hour — as much as the health code allows — but "at home I let them sit for two hours," he admitted. The purpose: To raise the internal temperature slightly, so that the center doesn’t stay cold while the exterior burns. This turned out to be a key technique for cooking the perfect steak.

To imitate the golden crust the steakhouse broiler provides, Mr. Iglesias suggests searing steaks in an extremely hot cast-iron pan coated with a little oil and flipping them with tongs, never a fork, which releases juices. Then, the steaks should be moved to the center rack of a 400-degree oven to finish cooking. Of course, it’s wonderful to use an outdoor grill — searing first over high heat and then moving the steaks to a cooler part of the grill to finish cooking — though not practical in winter.

Morton’s also seasons steak with a secret salt-and-spice blend. Mr. Iglesias says Lawry’s Seasoned Salt is a perfectly good alternative (though I, a purist, just use kosher salt). After cooking, he says it’s critical to let the meat rest for a few minutes before eating it, to allow the juices to reabsorb into the meat.

Over at Peter Luger, I was in for a shock. Chef Maciej Truskolaski and third-generation co-owner Jody Storch both seemed sheepish as I positioned myself in front of a row of hot ovens, notebook in hand, ready to soak in their genius. When I saw the technique, I understood why: Mr. Truskolaski grabbed a cold porterhouse, placed it on the grill rack of the broiler and sprinkled it with some salt. He then removed it while it was still raw inside, cut it into piece, put it on a plate, and broiled it to medium-rare.

"Don’t tell people to do this at home, all the juices will run out," Ms. Storch said, acknowledging that cutting a piece of steak into chunks before it has been fully cooked is a notorious no-no in steak cookery (as is using forks to flip meat, as is starting with cold steak). "We just do it this way because it’s what we’ve always done," Ms. Storch said.

Once back in my home kitchen, I began to do things as I’d never done: Using my hand-cut, USDA choice dry-aged strip steak, I applied the cast-iron pan sear and finished the steaks in the oven. While I wouldn’t say that my steaks are an exact replica of steakhouse beef, for a fraction of the price they get darn close.
* * *

Lessons From the Pros

Master Recipe
[Steak recipe photo]

2 steaks; cut strip steaks or rib-eyes about 11/2 inches thick, filet mignon, 21/2 inches
2 teaspoons grapeseed or canola oil
Kosher salt
� Remove steaks from refrigerator 2 hours before cooking time. Dry them with a paper towel.

� Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with a rack set in the middle.

� Heat a heavy, cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat, until a few drops of water sprinkled in the hot pan evaporate within 3 seconds.

� Coat the bottom of the pan with 2 teaspoons of grapeseed or canola oil.

� Liberally salt the steaks with kosher salt, about 3/4 teaspoon for each steak.

� Place steaks in pan and sear for 2 minutes on each side, flipping only once with tongs.

� Transfer the steaks, still in the pan, to the oven and roast for roughly 8 to 9 minutes for 11/2-inch steaks to achieve medium-rare (an instant-read thermometer should register between 125 and 130 degrees).

� Let the steaks rest, under a tent of aluminum foil, for 5 minutes before serving.

* * *

Two Ways to Dress It Up

Bobby Flay’s Coffee Spice Rub for Strip Steaks

Makes 1 cup

1/4 cup ancho chile powder
1/4 cup finely ground espresso-roast coffee beans
2 tablespoons sweet paprika
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons chile de ?rbol powder or cayenne (optional)
� Combine all the ingredients in a bowl or a jar with a tight-fitting lid and mix well. Store in a cool place. Omit the chile de ?rbol if you want a milder rub. To use: Proceed with the master recipe, replacing the kosher salt with a coating of 1 tablespoon of spice rub on each steak, plus salt to taste. During searing, there will be a bit of smoke, but the steaks are not burning; it is just smoke from the spices in the rub. Works on all steaks but is best on strip steaks or rib-eyes.

Sauce B?arnaise for Filet Mignon
[Steak recipe photo]

Active prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Makes 1 cup

For the hollandaise sauce:
3 large egg yolks
12 tablespoons (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Dash of Tabasco sauce
Dash of Worcestershire sauce

For the tarragon reduction:
2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
2 tablespoons white wine
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tarragon
1/2 small shallot, finely chopped
Kosher salt and ground white pepper
� In a medium stainless steel mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and 1 tablespoon water. Place the mixing bowl over a pot of barely simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk continuously until the mixture is pale yellow and foamy and just begins to thicken, about 1 minute. Take care not to overcook the eggs or they will curdle.

� Remove the bowl from the pot of simmering water and slowly pour the melted butter (the butter should be warm; if it’s too hot, the sauce will break) into the eggs while continuing to whisk the mixture until all the butter is incorporated. Add the lemon juice, Tabasco and Worcestershire, and hold in a warm area (i.e., side of stove), while you make the tarragon reduction.

� To make the reduction: In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the vinegar, wine, tarragon and shallot. Bring to a simmer and cook until enough liquid evaporates so that it barely coats the bottom of the pan, about 3 minutes.

� To finish the sauce, whisk the tarragon reduction into the hollandaise sauce. Return the sauce to the warm area until ready to use.

� Works with any steak but is best with filet mignon, cooked according to the master recipe.

Write to Katy McLaughlin at 3

This is well worth the read. I used to be a grill cook at a top restaurant in Ann Arbor and now I feel like an amateur compared to the guys in the back of the house of Morton’s and Peter Luger.

Here’s the original article if you have a WSJ online sub:

God do I love Luger’s. mmmm, bacon.

Searing Steak and cooking in over…how to? ......
FOOD CREW: Looking to make Steak fajitas ......
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Vodka infusions

admin — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:02:49 +0000

I’ve been running a moonshine still and making vodka at home for a couple years now. I used to run a batch every other week, and the output was enough for 11 fifths of pretty good vodka that I turned into panty-melting infusions. I don’t even know how many recipes I have in my head. Once every couple months I’ll make a batch now and I spend money on good ingredients with a nice product in mind.

Everybody remembers my peppermint schnapps from last Christmas and the Thanksgiving special edition coffee-spiker I made this year. Good stuff.

If you guys have any questions about how to turn cheap vodka into good stuff, I know how to do it. If you want to make fruit infusions that your girlfriend will like, I know that too. I have put together some infusions that put the hardest drinking Puerto Rican career criminals back on their asses.

I don’t make any kind of whiskey, it’s too much of a pain in the ass and there are too many really good cheap whiskeys… why reinvent the wheel. But there are very few if any off-the-shelf flavored vodkas that are any good compared to what I make.

What do you guys want to know?
Mmm infusements, whats a simple way for someone to get started in making infusements ?
A cheap and simple way to get started is to go get a big jar of hot peppers or pickles or whatever you can buy essentially just to get your hands on a big glass jar. Put the pickles in a different container and wash the jar out thoroughly, making sure to get the smell of pickles out of the lid. You might need to soak it overnight in hot, soapy water.

Then head down to your local shop and pick up a fifth of Smirnoff and a bag of frozen black cherries and a bag of frozen peach slices. Don’t use the fresh stuff, use the flash-frozen stuff. Dump the peaches and cherries in the jar and pour the fifth of vodka on top. If your jar has a lot of room in it, you might get two fifths to make sure you fill up the jar up to 1" from the top.

Cap the jar and put it in your windowsill where the sun will hit it. Leave the jar there for… well, as long as you can leave it alone. If you let it go for a month you’d be just fine. Longer is better, but a month is enough.

Once the month is up, pour your liquid through a coffee filter into another bottle and put the filtered bottle in the freezer. Some of the alcohol is going to be displaced by the fruit juice, so it’s not 80 proof anymore. Maybe somewhere between 50 and 60. You don’t really have to mix it with anything, but if you made half infusion and half sprite, your girlfriend will be very happy.

That’s an easy one to get started with. You can waste your money on more expensive vodka for infusions but I don’t think it’s worth it. If you get really cheap shit for infusions leave the cap off the jar for the first couple days and let the methanol evaporate. It’ll improve the taste somewhat.
My parents used to make blackberry cordial. How’s that made?

A cheap and simple way to get started is to go get a big jar of hot peppers or pickles or whatever you can buy essentially just to get your hands on a big glass jar. Put the pickles in a different container and wash the jar out thoroughly, making sure to get the smell of pickles out of the lid. You might need to soak it overnight in hot, soapy water.

sounds aiiight.
If you are into this sort of thing, you can infuse : 420 :…. for anyone into that sort of thing

but yes infused vodka is very easy to make, the hardest part is waiting.
i heard skittles vodka is good. never tried it thought

If you are into this sort of thing, you can infuse : 420 :…. for anyone into that sort of thing

but yes infused vodka is very easy to make, the hardest part is waiting.

None that I know of, because weed is Fat Soluble, not Alcohol. You can mix it with anything that contains fats though, so people make cookies, brownies, etc….

there’s a bacon vodka edu in the main forum

You can, it’s called Green Dragon. I’ve never made it. It’s supposed to taste horrible.

Sure, I’ll do a couple this weekend.

Skittles vodka is easy, I’ll do one of those. But I’ll probably use pear Jelly Bellies.

You want to see a fruit one too? I’ll do one of those. It’s so easy to do fruit and candy infusions, I think you guys might be surprised. The spice ones are a little tougher, maybe we’ll do one of those later.

saw it

Can the jar be outside?

It can be tough to get the pickle smell or whatever kind of smell out of the lid. I like to leave a little room so there’s less… contact.

I’m going to have to look around a little today to see if I can find a couple big jars somewhere for the .edu
I found the perfect jar. It’s a kalamata olives jar from Costco. I put it through the dishwasher, then scrubbed the lid after it came out of the dishwasher for 5 minutes with some strong dish soap. I put 1lb of defrosted blackberries, 2 cups of sugar and 750ml of vodka in there. It’s about 1" from the top. I’ll post photos when I get home tonight.
On the heels of Laurel’s infusion, here’s my .edu. It’s pretty simple. I picked up a one gallon jar of pepper rings at the local Smart and Final. The jars seem to be plastic more than they are glass, so see if you can get a glass one. Alcohol is a solvent, so I’m not sure that even food grade plastic is safe to use with alcohol. Get the glass.

I took the bottle, picked out the pepper rings with some grill tongs, and put them in plastic containers for later use and poured most of the vinegar in with the peppers. The rest went down the sink. Then I put the bottle through the dishwasher. The label came off and the pepper smell disappeared.

Here’s the bottle of peppers, the bottle of vodka, and the bags of flash frozen black cherries.

Here’s the glass bottle after it came out of the dishwasher.

The rest of this took about a minute. I tore open the bags of frozen cherries and filled up the bottle about 2/3rds with the fruit.

Last but not least, I dumped the handle of Smirnoff into the jar, screwed on the lid, and set it in the windowsill.

The most important things to know about doing a simple fruit infusion are:

1. Use flash-frozen fruit, not fresh fruit.
2. Avoid any woody-textured parts of the fruit. Strawberries have the seeds on the outside, so either scrape off the seeds or peel them, or avoid strawberries. Blueberries have a stem and a woody part on the bottom of the fruit. Peaches have a woody pit, so remove the pit before using peaches, and you’ll be fine. If you use fruit that has seeds inside the fruit, I would leave the fruit whole and allow the alcohol to osmotically extract the juice out of the fruit at its own pace.
3. It’s not going to taste like soda, it’s going to taste like fruit and vodka. I think of infusions as a raw ingredient in another drink rather than just a drink all by itself.
4. You can use sugar to sweeten an infusion when you add the vodka to the fruit, or you can add sugar to an infusion afterwards, to taste. Try using a sugar syrup recipe. Essentially, you boil water, add sugar, and allow the sugar to dissolve. This allows you to add sweetness to the infusion as you would like it to taste rather than guessing how the fruit mixture will turn out over time. Adding sugar at the beginning is fine, I just don’t have much of a sweet tooth.

That’s really it. Give it a shot for yourself, see what you learn. I’ve probably done a hundred infusions at this point and have a decent grasp of the concept, but I figure I’ll be learning about it for many years. I’m looking forward to using fresh oranges and lemons to make citrus vodkas. If you have a source for fresh Tahitian vanilla beans at a reasonable price, slice them lengthwise four times and put them in your vodka bottle. Give it a shake every day or two and give it a month to macerate (steep) and you should be good to go with some amazing vanilla vodka.

This is a very basic infusion. Maybe we’ll get on to some more interesting ideas later. Unfortunately, Trader Joes was out of flash-frozen peaches today or I would have done a black cherry/peach vodka.

That’s it for now.
awesome!

what are some of your favorite fusion comibinations?

do you know if they fruits break down more into sugars b/c of the alcohol + sunlight? (if you’re not sure, does the vodka taste very sweet afterwards?)

thanks!

actually you can
I would suggest using actual bud if u do instead of cheapasses like myself who use leaves.
Um… I made this recipe with a bag of frozen blackberries and 2 cups of sugar(other recipes online suggested this) and the infusion was okay by itself, but too sweet. When I mixed it with seltzer water to cut back on the sweet I almost threw up. It was terrible. Don’t use blackberries.
i’ll have to give this a shot, i relaly hate waiting though

the hardest part
Can you do this with pineapple? Frozen obviously… but I would assume any fruit?

You can make infusions from most any fruit. Pineapple does well, but use fresh if you can.
some fruits will dissolve and become really messy, buy cheesecloth.

that was… enough said

You can use any fruit. Hell, if you want to you can fill a blender 1/3 with fruit and up to 2/3 with vodka and blend. Pour that mixture into your jar and wait. When your infusion is to your taste, assemble the following. One large funnel, a handful of coffee filters, a small collander, and an empty bottle. Filter in the funnel, funnel in the bottle. Hold the collander above the funnel. Pour your infusion through the collander (to catch most of the fruit), then through the coffee filter, down the funnel, and into the bottle. Do a little at a time.

I’ve had good luck with pineapple in the past. Also good are frozen peach slices.

Blueberries have a little woody protruberance on the bottom, I can’t remember what it’s called. That bit of woody vegetation is enough to make the whole infusion taste like wood. It’s the same with strawberries… they have the seeds on the outside.

Lemon/orange/lime is good too, but make sure to peel each section and get only the fruit in there. Don’t let any peel or membranes get in or it won’t taste as good.

For just about any fruit infusion, remember that the bad tasting part of the fruit is a hundred times more potent than the good tasting part, so be meticulous in getting the peel/husk/stem/seeds/etc out and you’re in good shape.

For spices, the way I do it is to make multiple infusions and mix to taste. For example, cinnamon is very potent. It can be completely overpowering, unless you just want cinnamon vodka. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but make sure that’s what you want. I take 8oz canning jars, add the spice, and fill halfway with vodka. If it’s too strong, I have some room to dilute. Spices are time-sensitive, so taste them (just a little taste) daily or every other day. When they’re to your liking, take out the spices. It’s easy to end up with something bitter.

The reason the blackberry infusion wasn’t all that great is probably because of the seeds in the blackberries. You’ll probably run into the same problem with raspberries, too.

Try to use fruit that lends itself to the process. I have had a hard time coming up with anything better than black cherry or peach.

If you can get your hands on whole vanilla beans, watch out! Vanilla vodka is brutally good. Just pop the top and stuff as many vanilla beans as you can afford into the bottle and enjoy. Vanilla beans at your local grocery store are probably somewhere around $7 for two… and you want 20 beans to make a killer bottle of vanilla vodka. It’s worth it, though. Keep it for special occasions.

Another good one is to take a bottle of maraschino cherries, dump the cherry juice in a handle of vodka and add vanilla beans. Then fill the cherry bottle (with the cherries still in it) with wild turkey 101. Forget about both bottles for a couple months. Longer if you can.

One more. Try coffee liqueur. Grind your favorite coffee and fill your container 1/4 with coffee. Add vodka to the 2/3rds level, and top off with heavy cream. It won’t spoil. Let it sit for a couple weeks. Add sugar after it’s done to your taste. Mmmmmm.

If you know how to make ice cream, you can use your leftover fruit pulp in an ice cream recipe and pour some of your infusion over the top for an alcoholic’s wet dream dessert.

If you guys get into making infusions in a big way, you might want to blow a couple hundred bucks on a moonshine still and make your own vodka for about $1.75 a fifth.

Ask me about that some other time.
Something similar to your infusions which is pretty good cold. I call it grampa’s cough syrup as that what it reminds me of.

4 bags Celestial Seasonings Bengal Spice Tea
2 cups water
1/2 pound red hots (little red cinnamon-flavored candies)
1 dried cayenne pepper or pinch of ground cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups pure grain alcohol or 100-proof vodka
6 drops red food coloring

1. Combine water, tea bags, and cayenne in saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; then remove tea bags and whole cayenne pepper (if using). Add red hots and stir until dissolved. Let stand until just warm.
2. Pour into a clean 1-quart container. Add alcohol or vodka and food coloring. Cover and let age for a least 1 month before serving.

Makes 1 quart.

if anyone is interested, I got a recipe for some easy lemonade at around 30%.

science lesson, damn near everything is alcohol soluble.

Found the best Juice to mix alcohol with ......
Home Bar, what am I missing? ......
Coffee Question ......

Costco?

admin — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 05:24:09 +0000

So im a single dude with a 1 bedroom apt. and a dog, I am a culinary student and I do alot of cooking…Is costco worth it for me or just way to much shit to have to buy at a time to fit in a small apt.
How much do you cook at home?

How much bottled stuff do you drink?

It really depends on how much you consume. As far as the dog goes, their bulk dog food is very cheap and super high quality stuff. My pets love it.

You can buy meat primals which is nice if you want to cut your own steaks/meat.

Meat is a good way to go, you can butcher it up and freeze it in individual portions. Fruits and veggies I find tough to get through, even with a boyfriend living with me, but some things, like mushrooms last about a week and I can generally get through them fast enough. Toilet paper, paper towels, pet food, bottled drinks, butter, cheese, canned soups, kalamata olives, beer, those things tend to be much cheaper than buying at at grocery store. I also get shampoo and face cleaner wipes/contact lens solution there too.
Costco’s business strategy is to only sell "the best". It is easily worth going there even as a single person; many single people shop there simply for the quality and savings.

Don’t hesitate to shop there or to buy the Kirkland Signature brand stuff, they are all great!
theres almost enough single purchase savings to cover the cost of membership for a year.

wife’s car needed a battery. the ‘kirkland’ brand is made on the same line as the shit they sell at autozone. cost $45 less. and the costco one has a better warranty.

I buy the packages of precut pork chops for about $2 a pound less than the grocery store regularly, package them in pairs and freeze. lasts about a month or so.

ny strip is usually $7 a pound or so, $3 or $4 less than the grocery store.

and gas is usually $.15 or so cheaper a gallon!

theres almost enough single purchase savings to cover the cost of membership for a year.

wife’s car needed a battery. the ‘kirkland’ brand is made on the same line as the shit they sell at autozone. cost $45 less. and the costco one has a better warranty.

I buy the packages of precut pork chops for about $2 a pound less than the grocery store regularly, package them in pairs and freeze. lasts about a month or so.

ny strip is usually $7 a pound or so, $3 or $4 less than the grocery store.

and gas is usually $.15 or so cheaper a gallon!

Cutting strip steaks from a loin primal FTW!
definitely worth the membership fees, everything they have is good quality
the meat at costco isn’t awesome, but it’s not bad, either. If you cook a lot, just that will save you a ton of money. Get you one of those little $40 vacuum sealers, then you can buy the huge ass packages of meat, break them into single servings, and throw them in the freezer. Totally worth it.
i always liked those types of places for non-perishibles, though you really should still shop around. they don’t always have the best prices. as an example, i found that the huge box of diapers from BJs cost slightly more than the same thing from Target. i know BJs != Costco, but the point is the same. there are tons of items for which these bulk places are cheaper, but still some stuff where they aren’t. it pays to be informed.

one thing i did find very good prices on is printer ink (saved $25 on 3 cartridges), razor blades and contact lens solution.

No related posts.

Anyone still homebrew?

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 13:55:20 +0000

I just bottled a six malt amber and am working on my own amber ale using some rye grains.
I do.

I have a wheat that I am going to be bottling in the next couple of days. I was actually just thinking about what to buy next.
I have a vanilla porter in primary right now(boiled on thursday) and I have an amber that’s bottle conditioning.

I’m gonna get a kolsch going in about a week for a lawnmower beer, followed by a citrusweizen, and another go-round of american red.

I have a vanilla porter in primary right now(boiled on thursday) and I have an amber that’s bottle conditioning.

I’m gonna get a kolsch going in about a week for a lawnmower beer, followed by a citrusweizen, and another go-round of american red.

Nice!
I have a honey porter that I finished and bottled 3 weeks ago, but now it looks like I didn’t wait long enough since the caps are starting to bulge I just hope they don’t start exploding so I put them in the fridge.

How long did you let it ferment?

I would definately start using a Hydrometer if you arent already.
I just finished another lawnmower batch (in keg) and transferred a pale to secondary. w00t.
Just got back from the homebrew store. Making a slightly modified American Red and a Wheat-blonde with a kolsch yeast that should be interesting at the very least.
I’ve still got about 20 gallons of mead aging in their carboy. I might have to bottle some so I can make some wine or more mead.
I just bottled a Wheat and am getting ready to start a Austrialian Pale Ale.

Wow that is a lot of mead.

I am going to start working on a blood orange hefe based on a recipe from Dog Fish Head. It sounds tasty.

Make sure whatever you are fermenting in stays nice and cold. Lagers need colder temps.

Well its not all straight mead. I just cannot remember all the different names it gets when you add things to it. I do them in 5 gallon batches. I have a great vanilla bean/cinnamon going, a blueberry, a strawberry, and then a dry and sweet straight up batch. I’ve also been aging them for a few years. As soon as I get some more carboys though I’ve got a few more pounds of honey to make some more.
What is involved in making a steam style of beer, i remember reading some where that it used loger yeast and let it firment at ale temps. if some one knows please let me know.

I think I have a book or two with some info but here is a recipe kit that is suppose to be a clone of Anchor’s Steam Beer.

Transferred my vanilla porter to secondary (finally) and put 2.5 bourbon soaked vanilla beans in after it. Should be tasty in about 2 weeks.

I’m doing the boil on my strange Wheat-blonde w/ kolsch yeast tonight.

Transferred my vanilla porter to secondary (finally) and put 2.5 bourbon soaked vanilla beans in after it. Should be tasty in about 2 weeks.

I’m doing the boil on my strange Wheat-blonde w/ kolsch yeast tonight.

Nice.

I am waiting on my latest Amber Ale to finish up. Should be a good one.
I’m trying to drink some of the beer that currently fills every inch of my 9cu-ft chest freezer so I can homebrew again. Gonna keg this time around. Thinking about making a lager too.

Yeah, ive been through HBT’s recipe database.
I’m working on an American Red recipe right now, but my next brew will likely be an APA. I’m pumped.
I just got a Scottish 60 Ale in the mail from Northern Brewer yesterday. I will be starting that this weekend after I bottle my Austrialian Pale Ale.
Brewing the hefe tomorrow. I couldn’t find any blood oranges local so im just using normal ones.
I just bottled my Australian Pale Ale last night, it smells good and I am looking forward to trying it.
Kolsch just finished brewing (literally) and im about to do a lawnmower again.

It’s hot as hell. I hate brewing when its hot.
I ordered a propane burner for outside a few days ago. $30 from amazon, so I’m waiting for that to come before I start my APA. My mom’s neighbor apparently has a full sized keg (15.5 gallons) that he wants to give me, so I’m going to have a free keggle once I cut the top off, so I can do full boils.

Oh, and I’m making a kegerator in the next 2 weeks. 2 Corny kegs, so I can stop storing so many bottles.

Oh, and I boiled my Wheat Blonde 2 weeks ago yesterday, and the krausen STILL hasn’t fallen yet. It’s intense. I’m thinking of leaving it in primary til I have time to do the boil on the apa.

I ordered a propane burner for outside a few days ago. $30 from amazon, so I’m waiting for that to come before I start my APA. My mom’s neighbor apparently has a full sized keg (15.5 gallons) that he wants to give me, so I’m going to have a free keggle once I cut the top off, so I can do full boils.

Oh, and I’m making a kegerator in the next 2 weeks. 2 Corny kegs, so I can stop storing so many bottles.

Oh, and I boiled my Wheat Blonde 2 weeks ago yesterday, and the krausen STILL hasn’t fallen yet. It’s intense. I’m thinking of leaving it in primary til I have time to do the boil on the apa.

Making the jump to kegging will be the greatest thing you’ve ever done.

Are you doing a 4912 kegerator or a keezer?

And stop whoring the free lifetime membership thread with your pictures.
I want that.
lol, I ran out of photos, I’ll take lots more this weekend for that thread.

I’m doing the 4912. It’s going to be a dual faucet. On wednesday I almost ordered it from fry’s online, but after discussing it with my bf, we decided to wait til friday(today) to order it, because we’ll be driving by on our way to and from a shooting competition. I looked at it yesterday morning and it had jumped $50 in price overnight! Turns out that Sanyo discontinued the 4912, so it can’t be gotten at bestbuy. Luckily Costco offers free shipping and a slightly higher price.

I’m getting a dual tap tower + CO2 +a perlick faucets + all the other stuff from kegconnection, and Brewtopia’s selling me a few of the kegs he picked up for his brewery, so once he gets those over from the peninsula, I should be ready to roll! I just have to get the stuff from kegconnection ordered.

I have a propane burner showing up on tuesday (for full boils) and the Sanyo showing up wednesday. I’m sure my apartment manager lady is going to think we’re crazy. This week we had 500 10mm bullets shipped to us also.

I’m SO pumped to start kegging. After my "wtf is this" bottling mishap I’m certainly ready to be done with all that hoopla and storing it.

lol, I ran out of photos, I’ll take lots more this weekend for that thread.

I’m SO pumped to start kegging. After my "wtf is this" bottling mishap I’m certainly ready to be done with all that hoopla and storing it.

Its so much easier. The only bitch is not having bottles around when you need them. ie a homebrew competition or if you want to give a friend a few beers. The beer gun is good, but still.

I did the 4912 and it was easy as hell. I got mine from Best Buy the week before they were discontinued.
Yeah, I think I might get some carb drops (whichever ones don’t have malt extract in them) and keep them on hand in case I ever have more than a flat 5 gallons of beer to go in the kegs. That’ll make bottling a few easy, and then there’s the simple counterpressure filler. After spending over an hour bottling a batch of porter that I’ve been putting off til last night, I’m MORE than ready to start kegging. It’s like racking to the bottling bucket, then sealing it and being done.
Where could I find a list of things I would need to get started on something like this?

Homebrewing or Kegging?

I ended up overpaying for my kit, but it had literally everything I needed and I haven’t bought more supplies(except ingredients) until recently (5+ batches) when I decided to move up to kegging and full boils. If you like to "watch" things and stay informed on the progress of your stuff, you’d be better off getting a carboy as a primary fermentation vessel, because you can watch the convection currents, the trub building, and the krausen doing it’s thing, instead of just watching a bucket bubbling. There are 2 choices to go with as far as "carboy" style fermentation/clearing vessels. Many people use "better bottles" which are food-grade plastic jugs, similar to water cooler bottles. These are lighter and don’t break if you drop them. They also can develop scratches inside if you use a carboy brush to scrub off dried on protein and dead yeast, which makes keeping them effectively sanitized very difficult, they also show "wear" by scratching and whatnot on the outside. They’re also fairly oxygen permeable, so aren’t suitable for long-term bulk aging such as a mead or barleywine would need.

Glass carboys are heavier, cost more to ship, are breakable (ever spill 5 gallons of water all over the floor? Imagine 5 gallons of very sticky water!), but they also "last" better, you can scrub them all you want and not worry about scratching them, IMO, they look better, and if you’re careful with them at all, they’re really very easy to handle.

Here’s what mine came with, and I use all of the stuff, so look into getting everything
Detailed Description
The Deluxe Homebrewing Starter Kit Includes:

6 Gallon Glass Carboy Fermenter complete with Stopper, Airlock, Carrying Handle, and Stick-on Thermometer.
5 Gallon Glass Carboy Fermenter complete with Stopper, Airlock, Carrying Handle, and Stick-on Thermometer.
Siphoning System featuring the "Auto-Siphon"
Funnel
Bottling System with Bottle Filling Wand
2 Cases of 22oz Beer Bottles
Bottle Capper and Bottle Caps
20 Quart Stainless Steel Brewing Pot
Boil Proof Brewing Spoon
Floating Glass Thermometer
Hydrometer and Testing Jar
Carboy and Bottle Cleaning Brushes
Cleaning Kit containing PBW Cleaner and Star San Sanitizer
"How To Brew" Text
Your Choice of any Coopers Pre-Hopped Beer Kits to get started!
where did you get that kit?

Also, how would you rate your homebrews compared to standard bottled beer, and/or microbrew bars?

Do you think your beer tastes better than most nationally distributed beers, or is this mostly for the fun and pride of brewing your own?

I’ve never had any homebrew stuff so I am curious as to how it compares.

I really love beer, and I am constantly trying to find new stuff to try out and learn about. I’ve been thinking of doing this for some time now, but didn’t really know where to start.
I picked it up locally, but the shop I got it from has a site. Like I said, I overpaid, and the price listed on their site is more than I ended up paying in store.

My homebrew is at least as good as commercial craft beers. The main reason that I do it is for the fun and pride, but I also like to cook, and this sort of goes along with that. There’s a ton of interesting science involved in it that I totally dig also. I had a batch not turn out very good, but it isn’t the end of the world, it has a strong coriander flavor, so I use it for cooking. Besides, I’m only out about $25 in ingredients, and I learned a lesson – Don’t leave coriander in the fermenter. One advantage of homebrew is the huge amount of recipes out there, and so many different styles. "I wonder what a vanilla porter would taste like…" well, make it! I did. I’ve found that for the cost of a 6-pack at specialty beer stores, you can make 2 cases of whatever style beer you like. I just got a 1 gallon glass jug (super cheap wine) to try an "apfelwein" recipe which is essentially apple juice, corn sugar, and dry white wine yeast. I don’t know of anywhere to get this locally, so this is my only chance to try it.

When it comes down to it, you can pick up a hobby which is relaxing, requires some level of drinking to perfect, and has you drinking craft quality beer regularly, instead of breaking yourself buying bottle after bottle of specialty beer and having no understanding of the components and processes, and nothing tangible to show for it.
Did you hear about carboys? The company that makes them in Mexico went out of business. No more 6.5 gallon glass carboys for a while, if ever.

I might see if I can have a welder I know make me a large steel fermenter. I am guessing the issue with it will be keeping it air tight so I need to do some research.

Did you hear about carboys? The company that makes them in Mexico went out of business. No more 6.5 gallon glass carboys for a while, if ever.

I might see if I can have a welder I know make me a large steel fermenter. I am guessing the issue with it will be keeping it air tight so I need to do some research.

Why not just get a pony or corny keg to ferment in? Or you could use the ever popular Ale Pail. I have a 6.5 gallon glass carboy, and I’m sure many can be found on craigslist if you keep your eyes open for them.

Did you hear about carboys? The company that makes them in Mexico went out of business. No more 6.5 gallon glass carboys for a while, if ever.

I might see if I can have a welder I know make me a large steel fermenter. I am guessing the issue with it will be keeping it air tight so I need to do some research.

I hadnt heard that. So, there is only one place that makes those carboys? Sounds like a business opportunity!

Thanks for the heads up, I had been thinking about picking up another 1 or 2.

Did you hear about carboys? The company that makes them in Mexico went out of business. No more 6.5 gallon glass carboys for a while, if ever.

I might see if I can have a welder I know make me a large steel fermenter. I am guessing the issue with it will be keeping it air tight so I need to do some research.

They’re still making carboys in Italy, but now they have to retool for the 6.5′s

They said that 5 gallons are going up to 50-60 each and 6.5′s are expected to get up to 100.00 until shipments start rolling back in again.

This is the time to either go with a conical or switch to Better Bottles.

Since I brew so much, having (and paying for) 10 conicals just doesn’t make sense.
I’ll wind up buying one and going to better bottles.

They’re still making carboys in Italy, but now they have to retool for the 6.5′s

They said that 5 gallons are going up to 50-60 each and 6.5′s are expected to get up to 100.00 until shipments start rolling back in again.

This is the time to either go with a conical or switch to Better Bottles.

Since I brew so much, having (and paying for) 10 conicals just doesn’t make sense.
I’ll wind up buying one and going to better bottles.

I just checked and the two places I would normally buy from have them on back order. That sucks. I guess I will be looking into Better Bottles.

Austin Homebrew, Northern Brewer and Midwest all have them still, at close to the same price.

I didnt check them because I imagine shipping would raise the cost but it may be worth it giving the current situation.

All 3 places have good prices on shipping.
Hefe turned out great. Wonderful nose of banana, clover, and some orange sweetness (from the orange zest).

Taste was strong banana, clove, some wheat, and a light hint of orange.

Hefe turned out great. Wonderful nose of banana, clover, and some orange sweetness (from the orange zest).

Taste was strong banana, clove, some wheat, and a light hint of orange.

I just cracked my first beer of an Australian Pale Ale I did and it turned out to by my best beer yet. It is excellent. I may have to do another batch of it.

Nice!

I am going to do this one again for sure. Cheap, easy, but wonderful tasting.
I just got them in the last few days. 3 of them will be full in the next week. Then I’m going to work on stockpiling beers that need some time to age like ambers and maybe a Christmas beer.

Beats the hell outa bottling!

I just got them in the last few days. 3 of them will be full in the next week. Then I’m going to work on stockpiling beers that need some time to age like ambers and maybe a Christmas beer.

Beats the hell outa bottling!

I need to get my kegging equipment. I have 7 kegs and a small fridge now.

I just got them in the last few days. 3 of them will be full in the next week. Then I’m going to work on stockpiling beers that need some time to age like ambers and maybe a Christmas beer.

Beats the hell outa bottling!

Congrats!

What are you paying for them out by you?
I paid $25 for the two double handled ones locally from a guy I know who’s setting up a brewpub, and I got 4 single handled ones from the Chico Company in CA for $96 shipped. All got new seals and a nice long oxyclean soak.

25.00 is actually a pretty decent price.
I catch them on sale from Adventures in Homebrewing for 20.00 once or twice a year.

Watch the oxy soaking..
I soaked one of mine to clean it when I bought it and forgot about it. 3 days later it had pitted it a little bit on the inside. I’ve read others having the same problem on HBT.
Yeah. The oxyclean is basically just hydrogen peroxide. I only leave glass to soak for more than a few hours.

I’m making a blonde on the cheap today. It’s getting apricots later this week, but I may leave some out without them, and I want it to taste super clean, so I’m filtering all the water through my brita, and decided not to use bottled water to top off, so I’m filtering a bunch, then I’m going to boil it, cool it, put it in bottles, then chill it. I forsee this being a LONG process. lol

Yeah. The oxyclean is basically just hydrogen peroxide. I only leave glass to soak for more than a few hours.

It is, i’ve done the preboil before.

What I am trying now is using camden tablets. I use a very small amount to purify the water and it seems to work great. They are usually used in wine making but at low doses are great for purifying water.
Oh really? Like how many tablets per 3-4 gallons of water? I just got some to kill all the bugs in the apricots I’m putting in secondary with this blonde.

I’m using Oxyclean.

Oh really? Like how many tablets per 3-4 gallons of water? I just got some to kill all the bugs in the apricots I’m putting in secondary with this blonde.

I’m using Oxyclean.

1 tablet is good for 30 gallons.

but using 1 tablet for 5 gallons is suppose to be okay.

I used half a tablet for 5 gallons and it came out just fine.

Wine Recomendations ......