Black Pepper Vodka #2

I'm finally writing this down because we got the proportions right this time. Last time, it was so peppery -- even with a full bottle of vodka -- I had to add a second bottle to make it drinkable. And it was still a potent, fiery brew.  Despite the challenge, our guests gulped down all 1.5L in one evening and have been asking for more. This is for them.

TL;DR: crack pepper corns, soak in vodka 2 days, strain, serve chilled: bracing.

20 grams Black Pepper corns, cracked
750 ml Vodka, clean tasting

The vodka should be clean tasting, not cheap and rough, but you don't need to spend much: Luksusova (Polish, potato), Fris (Danish, wheat), and Sobieski (Polish, rye) are all a little over $20 for 1.5L at our local state-run liquor store monopoly. I joke that they're "utlity vodkas" because I use them to extract flavors for tinctures, amaros, limoncello, etc,  but these are all quite drinkable on their own; not special, like Tito's vodka, but fine quality, and I wouldn't use Tito's for this as it has too much of its own flavor.

Crack the Black Pepper corns; no, you can't use a pepper shaker full of that gray dust you liberated from the diner. Pepper corns have a pungency and earthiness you need. I use a mortar and pestle; if you don't have that, put them in a zip-top baggie and crush with a rolling pin, a booze bottle, or similar. You don't want powder, just to expose the flavorful white interior.

Add the Pepper Corns to the Vodka. Wait a couple days, giving it a swirl when you see it getting lonely.

Strain into a bottle for serving or storing, if it lasts that long.

Serve chilled, straight.  Or use for a killer Bloody Mary:  our last batch was turned into Bloody Mary's with a heavy-handed 2:1 homemade mixer to vodka ratio, so nice all 2.25L disappeared in one brunch.

Moral of the story: make more than you think you will ever need. It probably won't be enough. It's inexpensive and doesn't "go off".

Pastrami Steak (Sous Vide Smoked Brisket #2)

We're going for a pastrami-flavored but steak-textured experience and this hit the mark: we could slice it while still hot into very thin strips without shredding.  We enjoyed the last time we did sous vide smoked brisket but thought it could use a bit more time than 40 hours to become tender, so we bumped it up to 69 hours -- again at 135F so we could keep the pink rare-beef look.

This one was a bit salty, however, and we think we know why.  Foolishly, we didn't keep adequate notes about our pre-cooking prep. We believe it was a factory-cured brisket we got around St. Patrick's day when they were on sale. If so, we would have then cold-smoked it, then "corned" by coating with spices, and finally vacuum-bagged it for the water bath. It'd been waiting patiently in our freezer for this event: we pulled it straight from there, still bagged with its seasoning, into the water bath and let it repose for almost 3 days.

When we took it out, it had released maybe a cup of flavorful liquid. Again, a bit salty, but worth mounting with butter and saving to brightening up mashed potatoes or something that needed a boost.

The procedure's a bit of an inversion on the classic pastrami which cures the meat in brine and pink salt (nitrites), then hydrates it to knock down some of the strong saltiness, then spices and hot-smokes, then steams for service. We didn't have a hydration step to leech out the excess salt that we expect is part of the factory cure. That said, while a bit salty when served hot, it was perfect when served cold on a sandwich. Curiously, there wan't much smoke flavor... but then again, I've not noticed strong smoke in commercial deli pastrami, nothing like Texas-style smoked brisket with smoke ring.

Next time:

Brine and cure at home where we can measure and control the salinity: a 5% by weight brine should give it flavor without becoming a salt-lick that requires a desalinization bath.  Same cold-smoke: we don't want to cook it here. Same flavorful spice rub (cracked pepper corns, bay, mustard seed -- classic pickling spice mix). Bag and freeze until the week you want to serve it, then almost 3 days in a 135F water bath.

Barrel-Aged Negroni, Manhattan Cocktails

Irene got me a couple oak barrels so we're barrel-aging some of our favorite cocktails: the Negroni and Manhattan. The hardest part is waiting! Newer wood and smaller barrels impart more flavor, older and larger take longer. We'll try them after 2 weeks. Both use our home made vermouth.

The Negroni's a bitter and bracing concoction, not sweet and sharp enough to have another and another. It's easy to make, even when drunk, since the proportions are 1:1:1.

We used the 1L cask, so:

• 325 ml Vermouth (use a tasty one, not an insipid one)
• 325 ml Campari
• 325 ml Gin (a tasty one, but not so refined you should drink it neat)

Mix and pour into the barrel.

The Manhattan is a classic, but I never cared for them until I used a really flavorful Vermouth. The Makers Mark bourbon is surprisingly inexpensive, more so than the rot gut you should never drink, but not so dear as the comparable Woodford, Basil Haden, etc.  We use some juice from Maraschino-style cherries we made, it rounds it out. For 2 Liters:

• 1350 ml Bourbon
• 450 ml Vermouth (tasty)
• 150 ml Cherry Juice

Time to Sharpen the Knives

We could feel our knives weren't sharp, but had lacked the time to fix them up until this weekend. Ah, what a difference: slicing lemons paper thin, the vesicles as transparent as glass.

Once a year or so I have to grind a bit of metal to restore the edges, then usually I can give them a tune up throughout the year. I've gotten lazy, now using an electric Chef's Choice 1520: I've ground all my blades down to a Japanese-style 15 degree angle, except the beefy Porsche in the top center which I keep at a European 20 degree angle for meats. It takes maybe an hour.

I started sharpening my blades with water stones but never developed the discipline I needed to maintain a 20 degree angle, let alone 15. I then got an Edge Pro Apex which is a jig that holds the blade and stone at just the right angle, but it would probably take me 2-3 hours to do all these blades.

We've also got a couple bread knives, and a whole flock of nearly-disposable paring and birds beak knifes we get from a restaurant supply store for about $5 each. My favorite above is the 10-inch Miyabi Japanese knife in the top left: thin, sharp, and light for its size, with beautiful construction including a rounded-over spine which is nicer in the hands -- a real pleasure to use.