Text 2538, 61 rader
Skriven 2013-07-18 22:19:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: picnic 885
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Shopping. Annie tasked me with getting her favorite
beer, Asahi, and I had requests from the assembled company
for more duck and more snails. So off downtown with Nancy.

Ron had pointed us in the direction of Finger Lakes
Beverage, as having the best beer selection (and prices)
in the region, so we pulled in there only to find that it
had only two six-packs of Asahi in stock. I snapped them
up and also got some Ithaca ginger beer and a variety pack
of Shiner, which contained two things to taste that had
not been available when I'd visited the brewery a year
or two ago: the 101 Czech-style pilsner, which was
formulated to commemorate the 101st anniversary of the
brewery: completely undistinguished but pleasant enough;
and the Kosmos, brewed in honor of the patriarch of the
brewery, Kosmos Spoetzel - good rich amber color, sweetish,
nicely hopped, but in the last analysis just another beer
in the domestic line, though above average.

Duck and snails were to be found, in addition to assorted
interim needs, at Weggie's, where there were another two
sixes of Asahi, so all commissions were accomplished.

Back home, more snacking, noshing, tasting, recomparing.
I brought out some red-cooked gizzards, previously made
using the offcuts after making the false escargot. These
received lukewarm notices except from Burton, who particularly
liked the aspic, and who singlehandedly demolished the potful.

Round two of escargot was from two cans of gigantic almost
double-size snails, which were also well received. I made
extra snail butter so as to turn it into spaghetti with
squid in white garlic sauce (partially for the benefit of
Matt, who found most of the other things a little too
strange for his rather conservative tastes). Janis had
some Bionaturae gluten-free pasta, which I had less than
perfect success with, as it cooked up on the gummy side
for me. Apparently it needs more water than normal pasta,
by a huge margin. On the whole the taste was okay.

Then more duck, which I did two ways - crackling sandwiches,
using rolls I'd made fresh (I had thought to steam these in
the authentic Chinese style, but it was determined that the
escaping steam would heat up the neighborhood too much -
we're talking well in the nineties ambient, with the room
air conditioners strained to capacity, so I baked them
instead, a reasonable compromise) and leftover hoisin.

The meat was pan-broiled medium-rare (I did one for myself
rare) and served with a sauce of orange juice, sherry, and
soy with a little duck fat beaten in.

The sherry was Hartley & Gibson Amontillado, a dark brown
rich substance that I believe will no longer be allowed to
be called Amontillado because of its enhanced sugar content.
It was delicious though no longer qualifying for the
appellation (I assume this batch was grandfathered).

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