The food thread

If you have some friends from the Balkans, you really have no choice or say when the bottle of Slivovitz comes out 😉

In Germany and Alsace, the plums version of the schnaps (quetsch, zwetchgenschnaps) makes a very decent eau-de-vie. In Lorraine, they also have mirabelle eau-de-vie, based on smaller plums, with a more delicate taste.
 
No, all eau de vie are distilled from a ferment (with rare exception). The pine needle version would have you trying anything else.

Retsina? I think a liter bottle was $2.00 at "Cedars of Lebanon" back in the early 1970's. If you had anesthetized yourself with a couple shots of "raki" before dinner it wasn't bad at all.

Tetteris? I believe is a resin-ated brandy.
 
Okay. I just saw a recipe that went through the "liqueuring" process and made an assumption.
Is the plum version any good?
Both eau-de-vie and liquor indeed exist.

The eau de vie can range from awful to amazing. Think of a dry vodka with a subtle fruity flavor. The good ones make a good digestive. A splash of an average one will improve many desserts, pies, etc.

In many European countries, home distillation has been banned. In some places, local distilleries will let people bring the mash prepared along family recipes and do the distillation for them. The best quetsch I had was done this way.
 
No, all eau de vie are distilled from a ferment
As all spirits are.
In many European countries, home distillation has been banned.
Yes, in Canada we are allowed to ferment but not distill.
In some places, local distilleries will let people bring the mash prepared along family recipes and do the distillation for them.
I don't believe that service is available here but if it was, I suspect that due to strict alcohol regulations, you would be purchasing the finished product back at full market price, and it would have to be pre-approved by the legislating bodies. Alcohol is not taken lightly here and is also quite expensive. Standard spirits here start at around $1USD per ounce. (28ml)
 
Lamb sous vide, unseasoned.
4 hours at 130ºF
Finished in the air fryer 5 mins at 400ºF
Cremini mushroom and garlic dipping juice
with:
Bed of Romaine lettuce and
Bamboo shoot and mustard green in chili oil with
dollop of garlic and asiago and hot sauce to top.
 

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The hot sauce has finished the primary fermenting and the mash has fully sunk. While no longer bubbling, it still maintains the pressure in the trap. I will leave it inside for another week then move it to the balcony to further age in a cooler environment. I will add a few grains of iodized salt to the traps in the event it cools while unable to maintain pressure. It's just an insurance policy so it doesn't reverse suck bad water into the mix. On the balcony for a month or until I get restless and bring it in for processing.
 

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The hot sauce has finished the primary fermenting and the mash has fully sunk. While no longer bubbling, it still maintains the pressure in the trap. I will leave it inside for another week then move it to the balcony to further age in a cooler environment. I will add a few grains of iodized salt to the traps in the event it cools while unable to maintain pressure. It's just an insurance policy so it doesn't reverse suck bad water into the mix. On the balcony for a month or until I get restless and bring it in for processing.

That looks evil.. you should sell it in steampunk bottles that ferment as it's sat on the supermarket shelf 😀
 
Both eau-de-vie and liquor indeed exist.

In many European countries, home distillation has been banned. In some places, local distilleries will let people bring the mash prepared along family recipes and do the distillation for them. The best quetsch I had was done this way.

An uncle of mine had 200 trees, apples, pears, cherries, plums, mirabelles,
nuts.., and also an inherited right to distil; I think it is very hard now to get a new
right if you are not a commercial company.

He did not distil it himself, there is a good distillery in the village. Taxes were
on the amount of mash, and when bringing it to the dist., he had to pre-announce
amount, time and way of the transport. Precisely.

He has died 12 years ago, but we still have some stock, partly very old. :drink:

Cheers, Gerhard
 
@gerhard
An uncle of mine had 200 trees, apples, pears, cherries, plums, mirabelles,
nuts.., and also an inherited right to distil; I think it is very hard now to get a new
right if you are not a commercial company.


In my wastrel youth -- i.e. before grand-children -- I almost bought a house in the Perigord with an orchard AND a license for eau-de-vie from one of the fruit varieties. The house was in trust for a deceased energy company exec and would have been a little complex.

Well, the grand-kids arrived and that dream vanished.
 
I wish to send a thank you to the Danish farmer and the calf he or she raised to be my dinner today, it was a very nice, juicy and tender t-bone. Served with mashed cauliflower and sautéed carrot.
My wife found this wonderful thing marked down to half price in the reduced cost bin at a grocery store. I am very grateful.

I raise my glass in thanks to all involved.
 

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