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by gansie

Calling the Shots

When I was home in Jersey a few weekends back, 80P and I went to the bar with SAG, his girlfriend, Morgasm, and my newly 21 year old sister, Sherry. I’d be lying if I said this was the first time we all hit the bars together, but as this was legally the inaugural drinkfest, shots were clearly in order.

My go-to, don’t have to think about it shot is the classic, SoCo and Lime. (Although it was funny one time when the bartender gave me an entire glass of SoCo with just a wedge of lime on the side. Not exactly the normal shooter.) Well, its reign is over and I’m spreading the gospel, there’s a new shot in town.

by BS

Who Cooked It Better? The Bacon Cocktail

Anyone can eat bacon for breakfast, but it takes a real man to drink bacon for breakfast. No, we’re not talking about licking bacon grease from the pan (actually, you might want to reserve some of that to rim the edge of the glass with). No kidding, folks–it’s the bacon cocktail.

This whole crazy thing started, as many crazy things do, in Vegas, at the Double Down Saloon. They claim to have invented the bacon martini: Bacon-infused vodka, Tabasco, olive juice, a lil bacon grease for the edge, and of course, a slice of bacon.

If you like your drunk breakfast more on the sweet side, head to the Capitol Club in Seattle. The vodka here is infused with candied bacon and mixed with Godiva chocolate liquor and splash of cream. Intense.

Over in New York, ultra-hip bar PDT whips up some bacon-infused bourbon, and mixes it with maple syrup, bitters, and a twist of orange to make their Benton’s Old Fashioned. Confused? Grub Street has a video of how it’s done.

Photos: CHOW, sparktography, dansays

Find more cocktail ideas in Endless Cocktails

More Bacon: Recipes, raves and other bacon bits in Endless Bacon.

by Russell Warnick

From Across the Pond

From time to time I like to check in with my people from across the pond – it’s a relationship with the motherland that I like to keep at a distance, 3k miles to be exact. My point is, there can be, on occasion, the odd little tidbit of news that I take away with so much pride that it makes me so happy to be British. Let me tell you about a few of these food-related anecdotes that I think you might find interesting.

The first piece of this craziness is known as hobnobbing with the Hob Nobs… Keep with me. The Holiday Inn hotel chain in the UK carried out a “quiz” to 1,000 businesses re: biscuits. The results:

About four out of five UK businesses believe the type of biscuit they serve to potential clients could clinch the deal or make it crumble.

For Anglo-American clarification, biscuits in the UK are the equivalent of what you Americans call cookies, generally. I love this:

The chocolate digestive was deemed to make the best impression followed by shortbread and Hob Nobs.

My personal favourites are the Chocolate Hob Nobs, but it just baffles me that this could even be an issue in the boardroom. What do you think, would you be impressed enough with a particular snack in a meeting for it to be a make or break deal?

Read more of my homeland madness after the jump, and drop your thoughts in the comments.

in Food Travel / Personal / Rants & Raves / Trends 4 comments

by gansie

The WiFi Crawl

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One of the hardest parts about being a writer, at least for me, is the pitch. It’s not always easy come up with an interesting, timely, entertaining and food-related story. But other times, I simply think up what I would want to know, and research that. Thus, one of my journeys became know as the WiFi Crawl.

I do love writing, but that can mean hours and hours typing on my laptop, laying on my couch, isolated from other humans (disregard 80P in this scenario). And as the days become warmer, and with no balcony to enjoy the sun, I created a mission to find outdoor, free wireless connection at a dining establishment.

Sure, there are coffeehouses, but I wanted to discover a place that served drinks other than those with caffeine and with food other than those that rhyme with moan.

in Drinks / Food Travel / Trends 14 comments

by BS

Keen on Quinoa

A few months back, gansie ripped out this Gourmet recipe for quinoa cakes with eggplant-tomato-ragu and mozzarella and passed it on to me with the notation “this looks a-mazing but I can’t even be bothered to read all the directions. Poss you and Alex?”

It did indeed look a-mazing (quinoa over couscous any day of the week) so I held on to it, bought some quinoa to have on reserve, and recently we finally got around to it. Unfortunately, I should have read all the directions a little closer myself, because I did not quite grasp how epic a process this would be. Gourmet estimates the time at 1.25 hrs and this is a total lie. You have to boil the quinoa, let it cool, mix it up with egg, let it cool more, form the quinoa into patties, chill these – and this is all before you even start actually cooking them up. I would estimate more like double – 2.5 hrs, in real person cooking time. Long story short, I wouldn’t make these from scratch again, but if I had leftover quinoa, I would go this route to use it up – it’s a tasty idea. Full adventure detailed after the j.

in Fish / Recipe / Trends / TV / Veggie 5 comments

by BS

The Baguette Slice is Dead, Long Live Polenta Fritters

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from Top Chef, it’s that the worst thing you can do in life is cook something that’s already been cooked before.

OK, that’s totally a lie and half the excitement of cooking is replicating traditions. But still, it’s always fun to find new ways to consume things. Case in point – appetizers. Back in the land before time, when people served appetizers – cheeses, prosciutto, tapenades and hummus – you only had two options for serving vehicles: slices of bread and crackers. But in today’s food’ed out culture, bread and crackers are the last thing you’d want to serve cheese on. You can do endive leaves, phyllo cups, apple wedges, potato pancake patties, bilinis or homemade pita chips. But the point is, it better not be the same thing the last dinner party used.

Going back to Top Chef for a reference, my favorite moment of last season was when Hung served smoked salmon mousse on cucumber slices, and Padma called it “painfully 80’s.” I had never even seen this serving method before, yet it is apparently a good twenty years passe already. Obviously, there is no reason to be quite so snobby about things, but it does give me reason enough to write about my new favorite food base: polenta fritters.

I started eating these last summer when I was working across the street from Bryant Park, and there was this fancy salad bar place that had them every day (can’t remember the name – anyone?). Anyway, I realized they would be really easy to make at home. You just slice up a roll of polenta (no, I am not making my own polenta yet – but that is next on the agenda). Fry them up in some extra virgin for about five minutes per side, and then pat the oil off with a paper towel. I top ’em with feta cheese (pictured), prosciutto, or tomato slices. It makes for a hearty meal, when cheese and crackers wouldn’t be enough.

in Cheese / Trends / TV 15 comments

by BS

Who Mixed It Better? Sex and the City Cocktails

Congrats to last week’s Who Cooked It Better winner, Plaid Ninja, whose shot of Joe’s Best Burger was voted tastiest hamburger on the Internet. Anyone have Memorial Day burger stories to share? Do tell.

Moving on – if you are an American woman or gay male between the ages of 16 and 64, you’re fully aware that the Sex and the City movie premiers in theaters this weekend. And if you’re dating anyone who fits that description, you’re painfully aware of it. While I’m hesitant to promote the pop culture phenomenon that almost single-handedly turned my hometown into a stiletto-heeled amusement park, it’s safe to say this thing is gonna be pretty inescapable. Fortunately, Skyy Vodka has invented four Sex and the City cocktails to help us revel in the excitement and/or dull the pain. The only question is, which one of these sugary alkie concoctions should we whip up a batch of to get us through the weekend?

In the top left corner is the Carrie, aka the New Cosmo, vodka mixed with mango nectar, lime juice, simple syrup and triple sec. Perhaps one step over the line from sickly-sweet to just plain sickly, but the dried mango garnish adds some trendy points.

Top right is Charlotte’s rich bitch drink. Frangelico, Amaretto, Godiva dark chocolate liqueur (who knew that even existed but I’m sure it is great), mixed with half and half and vodka. This one’s more dessert than cocktail, but it’s hard to imagine how it isn’t tasty

Bottom left is Miranda’s power-woman drink, which uses the mixer of the moment, pomegranate juice, plus campari, vodka and lemon. Still girly, but this one actually sounds like a real drink. Almost.

Last up is Samantha’s slutty syrup, which mixes vodka with tequila (really?), lime juice and simple syrup. That combo of alcohol sounds like a recipe for puking in your mouth, although as a food snob, I have to love the white pepper garnish.

Oh, and in case you’re not into the drinks-as-candy thing, there’s also a man drink, albeit a very girly man drink. The Mr. Big dulls up your whiskey shot by adding some vermouth and peach bitters. Strained through a martini shaker and served chilled.

All the recipes can be found here.

Photos: Skyy Vodka

Find more cocktail ideas in Endless Cocktails

in Celebs / Drinks / Endless Cocktails / Trends / TV 9 comments