/ck/ - Food & Cooking

What is everyone making, drinking, buying, or trying this week?

Old Fashioned learning update on posts last month: tonight I realized the importance of having adequate citrus, or at least not using shitty or old citrus in your cocktails. I'm working with Manhattans now and I was confused at why they were turning out so fucking bitter, but then realized it was a mix of either not thoroughly rinsing glasses (it's my own glass, same drink bases, so what's the big deal? the oils stay in!), having old citrus to peel (the oranges were bought on discount and have been in the fridge for over a month I think?), and reusing peels between drinks hours apart (again, it's my own drink, my own glass, and I'm experimenting on low alcohol volumes, so I figured what was the big fucking deal?). Some combination of the three -- probably the reusing of the old peels especially -- resulted in extremely bitter Manhattans. Using a fresh peel (of the same old oranges in just a rinsed glass) with a reposado tequila manhattan (Blue Nectar rep, M&R rosso, Peychaud's) had much much better results. I'm still not achieving the balance I want with these cocktails, but at least I'm finally not taking steps backwards.