TitD's random thoughts about food and drink thread

[traininthedistance]

Postulate #1: Odd as it may first seem, Imperial/Double IPAs tend to be relatively easy-drinking crowd pleasers when in comparison to normal IPAs.  Normal IPAs are all too often one-note hop assaults that most people won't like unless they're really into that bitter hop flavor, but the doubles amp everything else up as well- with a heavy mouthfeel, higher alcoholic kick, and in particular a much more pronounced malt flavor/sweetness- that a new equilibrium is reached which is accessible to a wider audience.

Any additions/objections?

I'll probably add more thoughts like this once in awhile, consider this the first in a very irregular series.

[traininthedistance]

If you mostly drink East Coast or California beers, I would agree with you 100%.  A great IPA is about layering and balancing hoppiness with the other flavors in the beer.  You don't perceive the bitterness, even when its strong and present, when you get strong flavor notes with the after taste.  Most of the IPAs that you can buy in NYC lack that balance of flavors.

The Midwestern IPAs that I've had tend to balance their flavors much better, without just trying to be the most bitter, hoppy beer possible.  My two favorites are probably Bell's Two Hearted Ale and Surly's Furious Ale.  With both of those, you get a piney, grapefruity aftertaste that cuts the bitterness.

Figured you'd have something to contribute.  Bell's Two Hearted is indeed good (never had Surly's Furious), but it really feels like the paradigmatic IPA is going to be the "West Coast" style for everybody (friends and foes alike) even if there are exceptions.  I've also seen an explosion of things calling themselves just "pale ales" without the India modifier.  These beers seem to, as a rule, be more balanced and less aggressively hoppy in the way you describe Midwest IPAs, and I do personally like them better than many IPAs.

One thing I do like sometimes are those IPAs which ramp up the aromas but dial down the bitter aftertaste- I know Lagunitas is a West Coast brew but they're the first to come to mind with that sort of approach.

I preferred it when beer was a drink for normals.

There's now beer for all palates- if you want a mild, cheap brew there's still plenty of that out there.  I find it hard to envision this sort of choice as anything but a good thing.

And FTR there are definitely some "mild, cheap" brews that I enjoy and would never dream of looking down on: Yuengling is still one of my go-to favorites, and I dearly wish they had more of it in this city.  But obviously I don't see any point in romanticizing carbonated rice-water.

[traininthedistance]

I have to say, I do like quite a few west coast IPAs.  Green Flash and Stone IPA are probably my favorites that are (somewhat) commonly available in the city.  Unfortunately, we don't have a great beer culture in NYC.  There are a few great beer bars, but the average bar doesn't have any really excellent beers.

You should try some Surly beers if you're ever in Minnesota though. 

Green Flash is a perfect example of something that's just too one-note hoppy for me, guess there's no accounting for taste.

I feel like we've both had this same lament about NYC's lack of "genuine" beer culture before, and it's true as always.  Obviously the lack of a solid hometown budget lager is a big part of it (though of course a lot of those "hometown" brews are now contract brewed halfway across the country... another reason Yuengling stands above the pack), and the craft beer scene is about ten years behind where you'd expect it to be.  So it's a little unsatisfying at both ends. 

Hell, even Brooklyn Lager is brewed in Utica- they contract most of their operations to the Saranac folks upstate.  (Side note: Saranac was the first craft beer I really encountered growing up in New Jersey, and while none of their stuff is groundbreaking or anything, it's perfectly tasty and competent and not too full of itself, and I've always wondered why nobody ever serves it in the city.  If nothing else, I'd expect their Black Forest Lager to show up here and there.)

[traininthedistance]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Choice is fine (but then there always was a degree of choice here). What I dislike is all this 'hints of coffee' or whatever bullsh!t and attendant 'I will now teach you people how to such eggs' snobbery. CAMRA lunatics are a pain as well.

I obviously disagree with this, strenuously- and, by way of explanation, will simply note that there are many, many people who would deride appreciation of Mahler and Britten as "bullsh!t" and "snobbery".

ETA: Also there appears to be a bit of a disconnect between your appreciation of Mild and your distaste for the folks who, at least from a distance, seem to be doing the most to preserve/revive it...

[traininthedistance]

Postulate #2:  This is the best meat substitute known to mankind:

[traininthedistance]

Necro time!

Here's a lovely article about one of NYC's most cherished and iconic beverages: Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray, which was throwback and vegetal before throwback and vegetal was cool. 

Man I am suddenly thirsty for one.

[traininthedistance]

They may approximate the texture of certain animal products (some arthropods and gastropods), but not to a satisfactory extent.  When I'm in the mood for escargot, I'm in the mood for escargot.  When I'm in the mood for clams, I'm in the mood for clams.  A mushroom just doesn't cut it for that experience.

Mushrooms, however, are delicious and have a wonderful texture and flavor of their own.  I find it rather insulting to the entire mushroom race to treat them as a "substitute" for anything.  

TitD is off the mark here.

What I had in mind with that observation was pretty much along the fuzzy subjective gestalt that bedstuy concurred with, rather than as a strict replacement for vegans/vegetarians (where your points about its non-similar nutrition profile are indeed well taken).  When I say "substitute", I mean that many dishes cry out for a certain...something, not really specifically one taste or texture, perhaps "umami" comes close but its not really exactly that, is it.  And it's a something that you don't really get in most grains or greens, and which we normally fill with animal flesh.  But I find that mushrooms can fill that hole quite admirably, whether it be say a grilled portobello or as the main flavor chunk in a pasta sauce instead of sausage, or whatever.  

This is not to say that mushrooms taste the same as meat, obviously they don't.  They taste like mushrooms.  But that's actually why they're the best, because they fill that same hole while not trying to pretend to be anything other than what they already are.  Would you rather fill your hamburger bun with a Boca Burger or a portobello cap?  I thought so.

[traininthedistance]

Want.

[traininthedistance]

Bump!

So, I've had it in my head for awhile that I should get a jar of anchovies and start experimenting with using them in various things (pasta sauce being the first, obvious thing that came to mind).  I got one recently, and opened it for a cheap "odds-and-ends-in-the-pantry" lunch consisting of:

- 1 can cannellini beans
- 1 anchovy
- 1 onion, chopped into tiny pieces and sautéed
- a bit of tomato paste
- lots of black pepper and a dash of fennel

Throw it all in a saucepan (obviously with the onions first), let it simmer and meld for awhile.

It was pretty good!  Next time I might throw in some other veggies like carrots or something, possibly a second can of beans (it wasn't too fishy, but it probably could stand to be a touch less salty) or a touch of chili pepper, or maybe grate some parmesan on top.  Might try some different herbs, also.

[traininthedistance]

This manifesto on what makes a good bagel is the most important thing you will read all month.

[traininthedistance]

Fishy black licorice covered in tomatoes and beans can meld...but not into anything palatable.

Firstly, you forgot the garlic.  Secondly, you forgot stock.  Thirdly, did you really just eat a bowl of tomatoes and beans?  Where was the polenta to pour it over?

I don't really think of anchovies as having a licorice taste.  I guess they're both strong and divisive, though.

And yeah, putting it on polenta would be good; I think I had carbo-loaded the day before or something and wanted to keep it simple/smaller.  If I was making this for other people I'd certainly do that, though.

[traininthedistance]

Fishy black licorice covered in tomatoes and beans can meld...but not into anything palatable.

Firstly, you forgot the garlic.  Secondly, you forgot stock.  Thirdly, did you really just eat a bowl of tomatoes and beans?  Where was the polenta to pour it over?

I don't really think of anchovies as having a licorice taste.  I guess they're both strong and divisive, though.

And yeah, putting it on polenta would be good; I think I had carbo-loaded the day before or something and wanted to keep it simple/smaller.  If I was making this for other people I'd certainly do that, though.

I was referring to the fennel.  And there is nothing wrong with either ingredient.  But I like my anchovies well masked the way it is in Worcestershire sauce.  And anything licoricey should be sweet, imo.  Personal tastes.

 
 

Ah right, my bad.  My fennel obsession is not for everyone, I realize.

[traininthedistance]

Not to turn it into Mr. Illini's random thoughts thread, but since beer was a prominent topic in this thread, I had the best wheat beer that I've ever had the other day. Ebel's Weiss Beer, brewed by Two Brothers in Warrenville, IL.

Not sure where it is available, possibly just here in IL, but wondering if anyone has had it (or other thoughts on good wheat beers or just beers in general).

312 is treated as the crown jewel of the wheat beers, at least among Illinoisans, and so that this beer beat out the Urban Pale is quite a statement.

I've vaguely heard of Two Brothers, but don't know if they distribute out here.

I'll admit that wheat beers tend not to really be my jam, too many of them have a prominent banana flavor that I just don't like that much.  I don't know if you get it out in Illinois, but Allagash seems to be particularly well-regarded in the Northeast and even I like it.