opinionated alchemist

Maybe you will be confused, to find a "mostly bar & beverage blog" talking about sous vide. However this technique helped me to really do major breakthrough in housecrafted cordials, syrups and infusions.  Instead of days and weeks, things in the bar take as much as overnight and as little as a couple of hours - not only to be better than the classic version, but also safer and more convenient. Why safer you might ask? Because cooking at a low temperature at a prolonged time kills most microbes (I would probably say all microbes which might be dangerous in the bar) - but also kills spoilage bacteria, aceto bacter (vinegar bacterium) and yeast. Hence if you are smart, it saves you a lot of work (big batches and then refrigerating or even freezing). Please comment if you are interested in any recipes or further explanation how to prolong shelf-life with sous vide. Now why can I tell you, which sous vide cooker to buy? I have worked in several hotel and restaurant bars over ...

I have introduced a vacuum pump in the bar. No - not for pleasure... just for vacuum canning jars, which are then a) not floating when I put them into the immersion circulated water bath and b) keep ingredients far longer fresh. In my absence from the bar - and my weird quarantine thoughts (let's face it - weird bar thoughts aren't really deriving from the social distancing, I just have naturally weird thoughts)  I had suddenly the question, what happens if you shake without air in the shaker. Now, very few bartender could now say, that as soon as you shake, the air pressure anyway goes very much down (due to the retraction of air at lower temperature) - but a close vacuum is far different than a reduced air pressure.  And I remembered how weird (word of the day??) it is, to shake a jar when the air is removed. It should have an impact. So I extremely exactly measured all ingredients: I used Rye, fresh lemon juice and fermented water kefir rich syrup - I used two...

Usually I am more into education and more into R&D when it comes to my blog. However every now and then, a product lands in my hands, which is remarkable (or the opposite) - and there it certainly calls for a review. Today it is a waiter’s knife. First off all let’s determine what it is: a waiter’s knife, waiter’s key, waiter’s friend - you can call it also just bottle opener (used in professional environments - usually the home bottle openers are designed differently). I have owned and bought in my career dozens if not 100’s of openers. Just like pens (in hospitality), you need them, but also quickly “loose” them. Colleagues (and at times guests) are “borrowing them” and don’t return them. You are forgetting them in your laundry and they get lost there, or they drop just out of your pocket on a very busy and tiresome day. Hence if you are not a sommelier in a high profile fine dining environment - where you can consistently take 100% care of your stuff - or if you are jus...

There are really some people out there, which are reading my blog (duh) - and are interested in my "opinionated opinion". Thus in the years of this blog, I got quite a lot of samples. That can be a good thing (if the product is really something very special), that can also backfire... At times I avoid to review new products, because I just think, that I don't want to step on all feet of old and new friends. On the other hand, people who send me samples have read my blog before - so it isn't really too bad, if I give my (blogged) opinion, is it? Peter Steger of Sash and Fritz German Wodka (yeah - "ze Germans" are spelling vodka with a 'w'), is one of those friends (at least until this post).  To make it a bit more agreeable - and definitely more constructive than critical, I try here a bit of a new twist to this post - instead of a naked review - I try to consult on the product (however not before giving an honest review)... let's ge...

So - I have blogged before about smoke . I used now the Aladin smoke gun (I have now several pieces at the hotel and one at home) since a couple of months. This is my evaluation: I do think, that it is the best smoke gun in the market. Solid built, good performance... The smoke screens are clogging very quickly. A good way is, to scrub them with a metal sponge- this will extend the lifespan dramatically. But it is great to have them replaceable! A not so good solution is the ball-closure of the battery compartment and the solution of the battery compartment itself! This wouldn't take a lot to change - but it would help to prevent damages. One of my guys opened it not carefully enough and damaged the "switch contact" - nothing which cannot be fixed in a breeze (by our engineering or anyone who is average talented) - it is annoying nonetheless. The switch - it is not the most intuitive position, to have the switch on the bottom of the smoker! It would even g...

You might know, that I am not the best person for smoke and mirrors (no pun intended)... personally I like the simpler presentations.  However I also understand the psychology when it comes to drinks. And using smoke, is pretty much the easiest wow factor if you do have the equipment. From a flavor standpoint it can be also tempting, but often it is just unnecessary. If you are anyway mixing with Mezcal or Scotch (at least the smokier ones), smoking is just falsifying the aroma of the distillate.  On the other side, I made the experience, that peat (of malts) usually don't work very well with other regular cocktail ingredients like citrus juices... however some smokes do much better in this department. Equipment Polyscience Smoking Gun I bought myself (for the use in the hotel...) a Polyscience Smoking Gun. It is made out of plastic, and it is very obvious, that the plastic body is taken from a cheap volume produced consumer product (*cough* mini table va...