Camper English's Blog, page 52

Ice Advice: Will My Clear Ice Turn Cloudy When Stored in the Freezer?

One question I've seen asked here on Alcademics and on other websites is whether clear ice will turn cloudy when stored. The answer is no, it will not.

Ice is cloudy because of trapped air and impurities like minerals, along with any cracks that make it hard to see through. Once it's made, it pretty much stays as it is. It may absorb smells and sublimate/shrink if not kept in a closed container in the freezer, but that won't impact clarity.

If your ice starts out clear (from a machine or by using a form of directional freezing) it will remain so. 

If you have a partially frozen ice cube that looks incredibly clear however, it will likely become cloudy when the center finally freezes. This is because the last part of ice to freeze is usually where trapped air and impurities are pushed. 

 

To read all the ice posts here on Alcademics, check out the Index of Ice Experiments.  

 

Ice Advice: The Right Way to Store Ice in the Freezer

Ice in the freezer can absorb smells from both the freezer and the refrigerator, to the surprise of many people. Ice can also sublimate (evaporate) and shrink fairly quickly. So you can either place your ice in a sealed bag/container, and/or do the same with your food.

In my fridge/freezer situation, I don't leave any food unwrapped so that the ice never absorbs food smells. I used to stick leftover pizza in the box in the fridge and by the next morning my ice would taste ever so slightly of it, so now I put the pizza in a Tupperware-type container. There doesn't seem to be any problem with uncooked vegetables stored in there (not smelly onions or garlic or anything), but cooked food is problematic. 

For ice that you're going to be storing, I recommend either Ziplock style sealed bags or Tupperware-style containers. Those keep it sealed from sublimating and from absorbing smells. Easy. 

If you want to see just how permeable ice is, add a drop of food coloring on top of a big block and watch how it flows into the cube along invisible cracks. 

 

image from Ziplock.com

 

To read all the ice posts here on Alcademics, check out the Index of Ice Experiments.  

 

Shot-A-Chata Pumpkin Bomb (sponsored)

Click the photo above or follow this link for a demo. 

Audience Feedback on Camper's Tales of the Cocktail Seminar

A few months after this year's Tales of the Cocktail, I received the feedback from my seminar Bitter Flavors, Taste the Rainbow. I did pretty good! 

On the four categories: overall seminar, presenter quality, handouts quality, and amount learned, I received a rating of 9 out of 10 on all.  

Positive comments that came in from attendees: 

Camper and his presentation were very interesting - he is clearly a subject matter expert. Made me want to explore this theme more! One of the highlights of tales for me!

So amazing! We were so impressed not only with the style of the presentation but the content. The format. Everything. Amazing.

This seminar could not have been better unless it was 3 hours long. Camper’s personality & teaching style is an honor to be around. More bitters & more Camper!!

Very interesting tasting seminar. Super bar-nerdy which is a good thing. Very informative about the safety and taste of the ingredients in bitters.

My favourite seminar!

I’ve watched 2 or 3 of his other seminars. Funny, engaging. He did a lot of pre-work and clearrrrrly knows the in and out. Some of these presenters have 10+ years of only doing one thing, it seems he has actually done so much. Excited to see his presentation next year(s)!

Awesome job covering a difficult and complex subject.

 

Of the negative feedback, most was that I covered too much material (always better than too little, my greatest fear is that people will complain they didn't learn anything), or that the pace was too fast/topic was too advanced for some people (same). One person was mad about the font size of my handout. Two people said some of the slides were hard to read, so that's something I'll work on for next year. 

Feedback is always tough but luckily I had a ton of very positive responses to compensate for the negative ones. Go me. 

 

Ten New Drink Books Out This October and November

Publishers are releasing their last batch of books before the holidays, and here we have ten of them to share.

As usual the book descriptions are not my reviews but information from the publishers. Links are to Amazon. 

 

 

The Aviary Cocktail Book by Grant Achatz, Micah Melton, Nick Kokonas, Allen and Sarah Hemberger.

Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas, the creators and owners of Alinea in Chicago, have teamed up with Allen and Sarah Hemberger, an artist duo from California, to make an extraordinary cookbook for their cocktail bar The Aviary.

We opened the Aviary in Chicago in 2011; it was born out of our passion for innovation and challenging the status quo. We asked ourselves: “What if we approach crafting cocktails the way we approach cooking?” The result is the Aviary, a place where we leverage techniques we usually apply in our kitchens at Alinea, Next and Roister to the world of beverages.

We’ve wanted to create a book for the Aviary since we first opened. Grant recalls some of his formative years as a chef, when he was first learning his craft and was poring over massive, jaw-dropping tomes in search of knowledge. Fat, heavy, beautiful books like those by Thomas Keller or Alain Ducasse were brimming with beautiful, full-page photos that profoundly inspired him.

We’ve never seen a beverage book that compares to those iconic cookbooks. Cocktail books usually fall into a very narrow category in terms of style and design: “The Gentleman’s Guide to Cocktails”. The small, black book. Few pictures, if any. Kitschy illustrations, and recipes that are portioned for a single drink. This is due to how books are typically produced. For any book, publishers seek to ensure profit and minimize risk. This often means that the photography, design, layout, recipe structure, and printing quality are intentionally compromised.

Further, the bulk of profit generated for a book goes to the publisher; restaurant cookbooks generally only see “good publicity” for the most part. Shortly after we published our first cookbook, Alinea, we came into contact with Allen Hemberger, who was cooking some of our recipes and journaling about it along the way. Incredibly, he ended up working through the entire cookbook. When he finished, he and his wife Sarah decided to create a book about his experience. They sent the first copy to us.

As we flipped through it, we realized that maybe instead of compromising our visions for what we wanted our Aviary book to be, we could approach this whole problem from a totally different angle. We emailed Allen and Sarah and asked if they’d like to work with us to completely circumvent the current publishing system and make these books ourselves.

And...here we are.

 

World's Best Whiskies:750 Unmissable Drams from Tain to Tokyo by Dominic Roskrow  

Revised and Updated.

Whisky is one of the world’s most revered spirits, with connoisseurs spending a great deal of money and time on the appreciation of rare expressions and limited edition bottles. In addition, many whisky connoisseurs travel direct to the source to see and experience the world’s best distilleries at first hand.

Since the publication of the first edition in 2010, many changes have occurred in the world of whisky which are fully explored in this completely new edition. Over 200 of the 750 whiskies are updated, along with over 20 of the 38 features to reflect the ‘new world of whisky’, from the growing US single malt craft distillery movement (including Balcones in Texas), Japan (Yoichi),Taiwan (Kavalan), India (Paul John), Australia (Overeem), France (Warengem) and Sweden (Mackmyra, Spirit of Hven).

Aimed at beginners as well as connoisseurs, the book encompasses everything you need to know to increase your appreciation of this complex and fascinating spirit. Iconic distilleries such as Lagavulin, Highland Park and Glenrothes in Scotland are fully explored alongside the bourbon innovators of Kentucky such as Woodford Reserve and Maker’s Mark. From global brands to tiny craft distillers, this book offers a comprehensive overview of the best dram the world over.

 

The Cocktail Companion: A Guide to Cocktail History, Culture, Trivia and Favorite Drinks by Cheryl Charming

Drink your way through history: The Cocktail Companion spans the cocktail's curious history―from its roots in beer-swilling 18th-century England through the illicit speakeasy culture of United States Prohibition to the explosive, dynamic industry it is today. Learn about famous and classic cocktails from around the globe, how ice became one of the most important ingredients in mixed drink making, and how craft beers got so big, all with your own amazing drink―that you made yourself!―in hand.

Get advice from your favorite bartender: In The Cocktail Companion, well-known bartenders from around the country offer up advice on everything, including using fresh-squeezed juices, finding artisanal bitters, and creating perfect cubes of ice that will help create intriguing, balanced cocktails. You'll want to take your newfound knowledge from this cocktail book everywhere!

The Cocktail Companion is a compendium of all things cocktail. This bar book features:

25 must-know recipes for iconic drinks such as the Manhattan and the Martini
Cultural anecdotes and often-told myths about drinks' origins
Bar etiquette, terms, and tools to make even the newest drinker an expert in no time!

 

Allergen Awareness: A Chef's Perspective by Myron Keith Norman

South Point Hotel Assistant Executive Chef and Food Safety Manager Keith Norman has released his first-ever book, “Allergen Awareness: A Chef’s Perspective.” With more than 15 million people suffering from food allergies, the book serves as a tell-all guide for proper food safety measures for both industry professionals and those who suffer from food allergies. Published by Chef Keith and Eurick Design, “Allergen Awareness: A Chef’s Perspective” is available now on Amazon for $31.83.

“I have been in the hospitality and service industry for more than 20 years and have seen so many people impacted by the growing epidemic of allergies,” said Chef Keith. “ I have trained thousands of industry professionals on proper methods to work with food allergies and create a safe environment for guests and employees, and I hope that somewhere in my book- on one of my pages, you have found something that inspires you to join me on this journey as we embrace and advocate for our food allergic guests. Together, we can change the conversation.”

The book is written to educate two important audiences, industry executives, as well as people with food allergies. Readers will walk away with knowledge surrounding the fears of people with food allergies and how to create an allergy training culture, environment and attitude. In addition, the book includes inserts by some of the most influential members of the culinary industry such as Certified Master Chef, Gustav Mauler and President and CEO of the Nevada Restaurant Association, Katherine Jacobi. There are also inserts from South Point Hotel Owner, Michael Gaughan, South Point Hotel Director of Food Operations, Michael Kennedy, South Point Hotel General Manager, Ryan Growney, and South Point Executive Chef, Chris Johns.

For almost a decade, Chef Keith has been an advocate for food allergen awareness, implementing first-ever techniques to ensure no allergen meal is forgotten or taken lightly. Through his passion, Chef Keith has been recognized as the go-to chef for building allergen awareness and developing food safety programs for industry professionals. In addition, he established a food allergy program at South Point that allows guests with food allergies to dine at ease and to create a culture within the culinary industry that is accepting and educated on food allergies. In 2017 alone, Chef Keith’s allergen program was able to serve more than 10,000 meals to guests with allergen restrictions and was voted 2017 Best Overall Food Allergy Program for Restaurants for Outstanding Commitment to Food Allergy Safety and Awareness.

 

 

Drink London (London Guides)  by Euan Ferguson

Refreshed and revised!

Drink London is the go-to-guide to the top 100 finest bars and pubs in the city, and this new edition comes updated with 14 new locations.

London is famous the world over for its licensed establishments, but it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the huge choice. Now help is on hand! From rooftop cocktail lounges to low-beamed old inns, and underground speakeasies to the coolest craft beer bars, this is an authoritative yet lively guide to the capital’s thriving drinking scene. With stylish photography and elegant design (including a handy checklist) matched by a wealth of insider knowledge and practical information, the guide features a varied list of unique bars and pubs and illustrates why each one deserves to be on all discerning drinkers’ must-visit lists.

Whether you're a Londoner or first time visitor to the capital, this original companion will be happy to provide the answer to the all important question, ‘Where shall we go for a drink tonight?’

 

Winter Drinks: 70 Essential Cold-Weather Cocktails by Editors of PUNCH

A giftable collection of 70 cocktails built to fortify against the cold, featuring essential classics; updated riffs on traditional toddies, punches, nogs, and spiked coffees; and thoroughly modern drinks built to channel the season.

Packed with hot, spiced, and buttered seasonal imperatives, plus plenty of nostalgic favorites and homegrown creations, Winter Drinks offers the ultimate collection of cold-weather cocktails, both classic and modern. Curated by the PUNCH editorial team with the help of its network of top bartenders, each recipe has been tested and adapted to contemporary tastes, alongside creative tweaks that offer new ways to incorporate the season's flavors into foolproof drinks. PUNCH covers the ins and outs of making a spirit infusion, how to batch drinks for a crowd, how to bottle favorite stirred drinks and freeze them ahead for on-the-fly Manhattans and martinis, three-step syrups and shrubs to keep on hand, and tips and tools to build a winter-ready bar.

 

Tequila: Shake, Muddle, Stir: Over 40 of the Best Cocktails for Tequila and Mezcal Lovers by Dan Jones

If you think that tequila can only be consumed as a slammer with salt and lime, and follows with a chaser of the world's-worst-hangover the morning after, think again: Dan Jones is about to set the record straight. In Tequila: Shake Muddle Stir, Dan introduces readers to some rather grown-up and classy ways to consume this agave-based spirit, and will have you drinking like a Mexican in no time.

Starting with the basics for your home bar, and following with the best tequila-makers on the planet, you'll be shopping for your tequila kit like a pro. Like a fine whiskey, tequila should be sipped, savoured and enjoyed. With this in mind, Dan has curated over 40 tequila recipes for the home mixologist.

With more margarita recipes than you can shake a cocktail shaker at, as well as a glut of amazing tequila cocktails you have never even heard of, this is a recipe book that will change your drink repertoire for good. Including recipes for DIY syrups, sours, infusions and more, Tequila: Shake Muddle Stir will show you just how versatile this underrated liquor is, and proves there is a tequila-based drink out there for everyone, just waiting to be discovered.

 

 

Pickle Juice: A Revolutionary Approach to Making Better Tasting Cocktails and Drinks by Florence Cherruault

Pickles have been considered a health food for centuries. FACT: Cleopatra credited pickles as contributing to her health and legendary beauty, and Julius Caesar is also said to have fed them to his troops to boost their strength! So what's the big Dill? Even for the most avid pickle fan, downing a glass of briny pickle juice may sound like a step too far – but you might want to think twice before you toss it away.

Pickle Juice shows you how to use homemade or store-bought pickle juice to great effect with over 40 innovative recipes for cocktails and health drinks. Florence Cherruault starts off by showcasing a variety of easy pickle juice recipes that can be incorporated into exciting and inventive tipples. Take the spicy Pickled Bloody Mary, the best cure for any hangover, or beat away those January blues with a tasty and nourishing Hot Spiked Cider. As well as cocktails you'll also find recipes for detoxing smoothies, flavored vinegars, shrubs, batched cocktails, and more!

Naughty but nice all the same time, Pickle Juice will revolutionize your home-bar and transform the way you drink.

 

The Mini Bar: 100 Essential Cocktail Recipes; 8 Notebook Set by Editors of PUNCH

From the editors of PUNCH, these eight small notebooks, organized by base ingredient, feature classic and modern drink recipes for essential spirits, liqueurs, and wines: whisky, rum, gin, vodka, tequila, champagne, sherry, and amaro. Each notebook also includes space in the back for jotting down that new cocktail creation. Nested in a sturdy slipcase, this colorful compilation is the ultimate bar cart accessory.

 

 

 

 

 

The Sommelier's Atlas of Taste: A Field Guide to the Great Wines of Europe by Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay

The first definitive reference book to describe, region-by-region, how the great wines of Europe should taste. This will be the go-to guide for aspiring sommeliers, wine aficionados who want to improve their blind tasting skills, and amateur enthusiasts looking for a straightforward and visceral way to understand and describe wine.

In this seminal addition to the wine canon, noted experts Rajat Parr and Jordan Mackay share everything they've learned in their decades of tasting wine. The result is the most in-depth study of the world's greatest wine regions ever published. There are books that describe the geography of wine regions. And there are books that describe the way basic wines and grapes should taste. But there are no books that describe the intricacies of the way wines from various subregions, soils, and appellations should taste. Now, for the first time ever, you can learn about the differences between wines from the 7 grand crus and 40 premier crus of Chablis, or the terroirs in Barolo, Champagne, and Bordeaux. Paying attention to styles, winemakers, soils, and the most cutting-edge of trends, this book explains how to understand the wines of the world not in the classical way, but in the modern way--appellation by appellation, soil by soil, technique by technique--making it an essential reference and instant classic.

 

 

 

Scratch-and-Win at PCH in Preparation for the Holiday "Miracle" Pop-Up

Once again this year, Pacific Cocktail Haven (PCH) will be converting into the Miracle at PCH holiday pop-up, one of dozens of bars around the world converting to a "Miracle" bar for a few weeks. The bars get super (over?) decorated with holiday bling, holiday music, and holiday cheer. There are specialty cocktails and fun specialty glassware to go along with them. 

In the lead-up to the changeover beginning today, PCH owner Kevin Diedrich has ordered a set of scratcher cards, which customers are given when they order a special cocktail from the menu.

The scratchers can win you a free Miracle cocktail, beer, wine, PCH Swag, or the grand prize the “Golden Ticket” which allows you and one guest to skip the line all throughout the pop-up. (Apparently the lines were pretty long last year.)

The scratchers are only available in the weeks leading up to Miracle at PCH, and the prizes are only redeemable at Miracle at PCH, so the scratchers encourage folks to come back to claim their prizes during all the hullabaloo. 

Seems like a good way to see the "before" and "after" look of the bar.  

 

 

 

Historical Info About Scurvy and the Confusion Between Lemons and Limes

I recently (yesterday) finished reading the 2002 book Limeys: The Conquest of Scurvy by David I Harvie. The book isn't really about the global history of scurvy but focuses on one surgeon, the scot James Lind, who was the first person to really prove the efficacy of citrus juice as a treatment in 1747. However, his suggestions of provisioning British Royal Navy fleet with juice weren't officially implemented for another 50 years. 

But I'm here to talk about lemons and limes. You know how today we have a standard definition of the fruit and the differences between them, but those definitions have changed over the years? How we use Persian limes today but Key limes were used in cocktails in the past, and how in some old cocktail books the differences between lemons and limes isn't always clear? 

Turns out that's not a new problem. When citrus was first being recommended as a cure (and later as a preventative) for scurvy, doctors like Lind most often recommended the juice or oranges and lemons. Oranges never took off, and the juice of lemons was often called lime juice. 

Actual lime juice from limes started becoming the more popular option after 1800, thanks in part to the relative ease of sourcing West Indian limes. British sailors were first being referred to as "lime-juicers" and it was Americans who shortened the expression to "limeys," according to the book. 

Sailors often associated scurvy cures with acidity, which makes good sense and is not far from the truth. Other cures brought aboard ships included acidic food and beverages including vinegar and sauerkraut. It wasn't until 1918 that it was proven that citric acid itself is useless against scurvy (and I assume vinegar's acetic acid too), and shortly thereafter that the newly-identified Vitamin C was the anti-scorubic needed. 

So here's the thing: 

Orange have more Vitamin C than lemons, which have about 40% more Vitamin C than limes. (Though the acidity of these citrus fruits is in the opposite order.) If that lime juice was stored in a barrel or came into contact with copper or cooked to reduce it (which was usually the case until the invention of Rose's Lime Juice Cordial), the Vitamin C would degrade even further, becoming nearly useless against scurvy.  

The initial confusion over the definition of limes, and the later decision to switch from lemons to limes, proved fairly disastrous to the British. Incidents of scurvy in the Navy crept up again and new false medial theories with other problematic solutions came back into vogue. 

 

 

Spiders and Insect Ice Balls for Halloween

I'm a sucker for an ice gimmick, so with Halloween approaching I made some clear ice balls with insects from the dollar store frozen inside. 

As usual, I used the method revealed here on Alcademics, using a Thermos Funtainer and 2.5 inch ice ball molds upside-down. Read about how to do that here. 

The plastic insects I bought from the dollar store, made in China, so they're most definitely not approved for food use. I'll serve them to myself but don't recommend non-food-safe products at a bar. (Given that I'm freezing rather than heating them, a thorough wash is good enough for me at home.)

So, here they are:

A fly in a clear ice ball.

Sciencey Reasons to Watch the World Class Training Modules

This week in San Francisco I attended a training for bartenders interested in entering Diageo's World Class global cocktail competition.

I am not planning to compete, but I always love the opportunity to learn more when it comes to booze. I found a couple of exciting bits of information in the talks that you can find online, so even if you can't make it to one of the trainings in your region live, you can watch videos and read the accompanying documents they include. It's free. 

To see the site, do the trainings, and/or enter the competition, find the site at WorldClass.USBG.org.

The below are screenshots I took from some of the training documents. Smoke science! Budget sonicator! 

 

 

A Modest Proposal to Bars Serving Cocktails with Paper Straws

Twice this month I found myself rushing to finish a $14 cocktail because the paper straw was collapsing within 5 minutes. I'm over it. 

While I very much appreciate bars doing their part to be more environmentally conscious, the quality of a bar's straws reflect on the quality of the bar, as does the quality of the bar's coasters, napkins, glassware, and music. You're not giving good service with sucky straws. 

But what to do? All the plastic straw alternatives are kinda bad: even the best paper straws collapse, the hay straws float and crack, and metal straws feel weird (and get stolen).

As a customer who needs a mid-drink paper straw change, it feels rude to interrupt the bartender working on another order to try to get a replacement straw - and worse yet if you have table service, your chances of getting a replacement before the drink turns to watery slush are slim. I've given up on drinks because the straw died near the end. Eff that.  

So here's one idea: add customer-facing single-straw dispensers to the bar top or in some other visible, convenient place. That way customers can replace their own straws if needed. It would be important to get a dispenser that puts out one straw at a time so that people don't get their dirty fingers over the whole stack. 

There are downsides to that, too: It's another thing cluttering up your bar top, it sends a message that it's okay to help yourself to things in the bar (hands out of the garnish, people!), getting an ugly dispenser will make your bar look like a McDonald's, and most likely someone is going to try to steal the dispenser at some point. 

But for some bars it could work and at least improve the paper straw situation a little, until someone finally invents a good plastic straw alternative.