25 pound Smoked Turkey

25 pound Smoked Turkey, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Brined the turkey for 12 hours beforehand and started the mesquite charcoal at 7:00am. Loaded the bird around 7:30am and finished at 2:00pm. The BGE never got over 260 degrees. During the smoking process, I added water soaked apple wood chips along at various intervals to make a nice thick pink smoke ring in the meat.

shittake & Green pepper

shittake & Green pepper, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Special Pizza Fundraiser for Georgia Flooded Farms Relief Fund

On Saturday November 14 at 10:00am
The Peachtree Road Farmer's Market
Mellow Mushroom Pizza Bakers will be on site with their mobile pizza oven preparing some very special pizzas to sell by the slice and as whole pies. All proceeds will be going directly to the Georgia Flooded Farm Relief Fund.

~What makes these Pizzas so special?

I went ahead and spoke with the farmers who participate at the market and will be sourcing the ingredients for the toppings directly from from them on the day of the market!
These pizzas are going to be a unique and limited offering to say the least.

Special Mellow Locavore Pizzas:

#1~Cheese,Spinach, Bacon, Mushrooms, Olive oil, Black pepper, Salt
#2~Assorted local Peppers, River-view Farms Sausage, Cheese, Tomatoes
#3~Georgia Coastal Shrimp, Garlic,Olive Oil, Peanut-Cilantro Sauce, Cilantro
#4~Sweet potato,Parmesan,Kale,Rosemary,Olive oil.
#5~Cheese,Pesto, Tomato,Eggplant,Basil,Arugula,Black Pepper,Salt

*Pizzas will be subject to ingredient availability on the day of the market and may not be served exactly as shown above.

A simple mayonnaise recipe

Mayonnaise

2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 cup peanut oil

1. Place egg yolks, salt, mustard, lemon juice, and vinegar into food processor. combine well by pulsing 4 or 5 times.

2. Pour oil through the feed tube slowly in a thin stream until fully incorporated. The mixture thickens up as the oil gets worked in.

Antico's Marinara with White Anchovy Pizza

Antico's Marinara, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Ok, so I went to Antico and got a pie. The bill of $20.00 seemed a bit steep for a pizza with no cheese and a smattering of white anchovies and basil leaves. I feel that I have been keeping myself informed as to what is going on with these so called "pizza wars" here in Atlanta and personally believe that it's all hype generated by a small but elite group of foodies. Was this pizza good? Yes, it was but then I wonder, why did I end up taking 80% of it home and adding shredded cheese to it which in turn, and to be fair, made it much better. Then I started to feel weird about it and began to wonder why I had to doctor up a pizza that just cost me $20 bucks? After some thought on the matter, I came to the conclusion that I just don't care that much about places like Antica. Great, authentic Neopolitan pizza with all the appropriate credentials. A staff of Italians to make you feel like you actually might have been teleported to Naples. This whole place, despite the fast, almost eager friendly service, still reeks of elitism. Maybe this was in part to the inside out folding of the not so environmentally friendly pizza box. Should pizza be this pompous? Or should it be a good, simple comfort food? Those who rave have declared Antico Pizza the best in town. But is it really true? I suggest that you make your own decision.

Sunday night BBQ plate

Sunday night BBQ plate, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I wanted to cookout on sunday but was not sure what to cook.
A trip to the Dekalb international Farmer's Market allowed me to prepare both applewood smoked duck legs and a lightly smoked trout filet from North Georgia. I rounded out the selection with my latest incaration of my red skin potato salad and grilled asparagus.

Tiger Processed Gruyere Cheese

Tiger Gruyere Cheese, originally uploaded by jekemp.

When I was much younger than I am today, I remember eating foil wrapped cheeses such as Tiger when flying on a commercial airliners.

I found this set of six individually wrapped foil cheeses at the Dekalb International Farmers Market for $2.49. There is Gruyere flavor, Smoked, as well as Alpine Herb.

Tiger cheese is not a sophisticated european cheese like Kaltbach, it is more a carry along the trail kind of cheese. A cheese that can withstand sitting underwater in the bottom of a cooler and not getting ruined sort of affair and this is one of the reasons that I enjoy it so...

Part of the cheese case

Part of the cheese case, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Kraft Cheese in a Can

Kraft Cheese in a can, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I don't always know why I am compelled to purchase processed cheese in a can. This particular example seemed to be of some promise as it came all the way from Bahrain to join my collection of pantry oddities.

I think it may be some kind of fascination I hold for the lingering threat of the Cold War or that back in the forties and fifties cans were the future of modern food preservation and convenience. Cheese in a can is something that after the initial nuclear blast we could perhaps sit around and enjoy with saltines down in the fallout shelter.

Even with all of the sublime and elusive cheeses that I can locate here and there to enjoy, I feel there is always be a place in my foodie heart for the guilty pleasue of some processed cheese in a can. This particular food item was procured at Patel Brothers Market in Decatur.

The Martini Debate lingers on..

I take pride in my work as a bartender. I know that its a job where basically you pour alcohol into cups and collect money and make change but on most occasions its more than just that. Is a great opportunity to meet and talk to interesting people as well as to create truly inspiring cocktails. Today, I am here to talk about Martinis.

There was a customer who in this blog shall remain unnamed who came into the bar early and ordered a Ketel One Martini with two olives. Of course, I made it wrong. By the time he ordered his third martini*, He proceed to come over to the service bar where I was preparing the beverage in question and proceeded to tell me how to correctly prepare a martini in front of a bar full of eager patrons who afterwards got a free chuckle at my expense. "don't use jiggers" He roared "you have to feel it" "Wash the glass with dry Vermouth, and spill it out!" I guess he is the expert. I normally do all these things but I use jiggers because I want to pour a fair and legal shot, I am after all a professional bartender. I will also admit that in this instance he was in the end over served which could have potentially cost me my job. Lucky for me, this particular patron does not operate a motor vehicle.

The customer is always right and unfortunately for some they also believe that they know more than you when in comes to cocktails and drinking in general. This is why I really don't like making martinis. Most people do not know the original recipe for this famous cocktail and I can promise you that if you make the original for someone, they will most likely send it back or feel cheated by the lack of booze in the glass.


~Classic Martini~
2 ounces (55ml) gin
0.5 ounces (15ml) dry vermouth
ice
green olive

Add ice, gin and vermouth into a cocktail shaker, shake then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with an olive.



Now for the martini that people want these days:

~Martini of Today~
3 ounces Vodka (Preferably Grey Goose or Ketel One)
No Vermouth at all or in a case of the Connoisseur, a misting of the glass with dry vermouth
At least two green olives

Add ice & vodka into a cocktail shaker, shake then strain into a martini glass. Garnish with olives.


There is yet another variation of the martini known as the "Dirty Martini" This would be a martini that has olive brine added to the mix as well and since this is all about taste in the end, this is one of the hardest to make correctly. Too much brine and the drink is ruined, too Little and you will not be able to taste it. I try a middle of the road approach by pouring the brine first into the glass and only adding enough to fill the bottom of the glass and sides by around a half centimeter. With this approach I have drastically reduced the number of these cocktails that would otherwise be returned to be bar. A nice and enjoyable touch for the dirty martini is to add a couple blue cheese stuffed olives as a garnish, even better would be some Gorgonzola or smoked blue cheese filled olives.


*One Martini is good, Two is better, Three is too many. I don't even know what to say about seven...

Rogue Smokey Blue

Rogue Smokey Blue, originally uploaded by jekemp.

I ran across this exceptional cheese a few years back and love how Rogue Creamery cold smoked it over hazelnut shells.
Always have been a fan of both Blue cheese as well as smoked cheeses, this particular cheese captures the spirit of both! Have been considering stuffing this cheese into pitted green olives to complement a perfect dirty Martini.

You can find whole wheels here for around $124.00
http://bit.ly/q5jXr

DrinkShop Featured in the New York Times

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Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Pot Still

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Been researching what I need to do to start a legal distillery ...

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The Varnish
www.thevarnishbar.com
118 East Sixth St.
Los Angeles, CA 90014
(213) 622-9999

Bryant's Cocktail Lounge

Met one of the bartender's of Bryant's Last night while bartending at Drinkshop. Looking forward to a visit to this swanky old school cocktail lounge the next time I make it up to Wisconsin.

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Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Dutch Kills

beautiful space, originally uploaded by cafegrumpy.

A look inside the soon to be open Dutch Kills bar in Long Island City.

Dixie Pinup Cocktail Party

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Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!

Tales of the Cocktail

http://www.talesofthecocktail.com/

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Barkeep Chic

Barkeep Chic, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Here is a clipping from Sunday's Paper featuring me and my fellow bartender, Megan.

Nightlife: Kings of the classic cocktail

Nightlife: Kings of the classic cocktail

February 13th, 2009
Star Tribune

By TOM HORGEN

On a Friday afternoon in early January, a dozen bartenders and servers were lined up at the bar inside the Bradstreet Craftshouse Restaurant. It was their last day of intensive training at this new cocktail lounge. Although some of them had worked top-tier bars in the Twin Cities, none had been through anything quite like this before. On their laps were heavy binders stuffed with pages of drink recipes. They took copious notes as a master bartender from New York lectured.

“Shake it like you mean it!” he ordered, as three bartenders mixed a drink involving rum, lemon and an egg yolk.

“I feel like I’m back in college,” bartender Nikki Ockenden said later.

With serious money and talent behind it, Bradstreet brings a connoisseur’s cocktail lounge to the heart of downtown Minneapolis.

The bar takes the place of Infinity, the hotel nightclub that closed last year inside the swanky Graves 601. The hotel’s 34-year-old president, the jet-setting Ben Graves, has reimagined the space as a restaurant with a giant focus on the latest in big-city nightlife trends: mixology.

The Twin Cities bar scene is no stranger to mixology — where cocktails are crafted with the care of a gourmet meal — but it’s still a niche calling. Bartender Johnny Michaels has been leading the charge at La Belle Vie, but even he said the heavy-hitters whom Graves brought in from New York have given him pause.

“I’m looking at them as being the main competition,” Michaels said.

New York is the epicenter of the current mixology craze. From there, Graves brought bartender Toby Maloney and his business partner, Jason Cott — the guys in charge of that January training session. The duo is known as Alchemy Consulting. Maloney has tended bar at New York’s top cocktail bars (Milk & Honey and Pegu Club). The New York Times recently dubbed them masters of minimalist bartending for their ability to make drinks with fewer than five ingredients. They also own the lauded Violet Hour bar in Chicago and will soon move on to another project in Nashville. Maloney’s dedication to the era of the classic cocktail comes across even in his work uniform — a pinstripe suit, wingtips, thick tie and pocket square.

Graves’ vision for the Bradstreet decor and name come from one of his longtime muses, early 20th-century interior designer and socialite John Scott Bradstreet. Bradstreet was a tastemaker of the time in Minnesota (his chairs and tables are on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and in mansions statewide).

While Graves assured me that the small-plate dining at Bradstreet is just as important as Maloney’s drinks, there is no doubt in my mind that cocktails take precedence here. The Bible-thick menu lists 50 drinks, most of them under $10.

Blitzing your senses

When describing their bartending style, Maloney and Cott often use the word “organaleptic.” This goofy-sounding word (which they made up) is more of a guiding philosophy. “I want my drinks to attack all five of your senses,” Maloney said. To totally “get” the mystique of Alchemy’s bartending, you kind of have to drink the Kool-Aid.

It’s easy to do once you see Maloney in action. To inundate your senses, Maloney and his bartenders use a lot of toys. One of his favorite things to play with is ice.

“Ice is to a bartender as a stove is to a chef,” he said. “And I know that saying we have an ice program sounds like the most pretentious thing in the world.”

Bradstreet’s “ice program” includes six different kinds of ice. Most stunning is their “ice sphere,” a single baseball-sized globe that they drop into lowball cocktails. It’s molded with a heavy-duty copper device they brought from Japan. Bradstreet does have normal ice cubes, but even those aren’t normal. They’re made by what Maloney calls “the Ferrari of ice machines,” a high-end KOLD-DRAFT.

At Bradstreet, everything is made fresh, from the fruit juices to the simple syrups. Most important on this list is the bitters. Any serious mixologist uses bitters. “They are like the salt and pepper of cocktails,” Maloney said. Bradstreet has almost 20 kinds of house-made bitters — which are on display behind the bar in little eyedroppers. One drop can change the entire profile of your drink. Bitters are created by adding numerous botanicals to high-proof grain alcohol.

“They can make a good drink sublime,” Maloney said.

Anticipatory bartending

In the end, much of Maloney’s style comes from the way he moves. He calls it “functional flair” (he’s not juggling bottles).

During Bradstreet’s first Saturday in late January, Maloney whirled and twirled behind the bar. In a sort of furious dance, one arm rattled the metal mixing tin, while his opposite shoulder wiggled at light-speed. “I’ve severed tendons in this arm and ripped all the ligaments in this shoulder,” he said.

The tableside tricks don’t stop: They’ll light orange fizz on fire, crack egg yolk into your drink and (my favorite) “spank” the mint. It’s the final ingredient to a drink Maloney calls “Juliet and Romeo” (a gin cocktail made with cucumber, lime and rose water). After pouring the drink, Maloney palms a pinch of mint leaves over the cocktail. Then he draws back his other hand and claps his palms together. Smack! The aroma of the mint bursts out in all directions. I could smell it from 3 feet away.

As Bradstreet’s first Saturday came to a close, Maloney himself was in need of a drink.

“When I’m not thinking about cocktails, I’m dreaming about cocktails,” he said. “I have enough cocktails in my life.”

From behind the bar he pulled out the most charmingly crappy of crappy beers: a Grain Belt Premium.

View the original article at www.startribune.com

Sour Orange Cocktail Bitters

Sour Orange Cocktail Bitters, originally uploaded by jekemp.

Finished and bottled my first batch of sour orange bitters.

I macerated fresh Florida sour orange peels with Wray & Nephew Jamaican overproof rum. I then cut the solution by half and added pure Arcadian honey for a little hint of sweet. Shake well before using.