ekscrunchy

Great news for food fanatics..jamon Iberico will be available tomorrow when it makes its debut at Jose Andres' Washington, DC place.

And to wash it down..no less than 4 different absinthes have been cleared for sale here!

Details:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/di...mp;oref=slogin

and

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/di...tml?ref=dining




So we may not have to tuck these into our luggage anymore.........

amsdon

Yipee! Now I won't have to break out in a swest when the little dog in the airport nabs me..

amsdon

I meant break out in a sweat...oops

copain1

This distiller just set up shop.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/articl.../MNQJTO9FM.DTL

There has been some underground distillers for a few years in SF.

Sante'

Michael

Isn't jamon iberico a variant of serrano, which was already available?

amsdon

Yes Iberico = higher quality.
Serrano has been available but not Iberico.

Robert2533

What's available is not all it's cracked up to be...

And don't worry too much about the little doggy. He has a very difficult time sniffing out good jamón that has been vacuum packed.

amsdon

Hi Robert,

Unfortunately the little doggy has already nabbed me at LAX with my jamon. Though vacuum packed I must have reeked of it through my pores from eating so much of it!
I didn't get fined though just warned. I am still angry about having to give up my 80e worth of jamon though. Now I fly sans jamon.

The funny thing is that my DH had a bottle of Ansinthe in the suitcase for a friend.

Robert2533

What a sad day. LAX must be a lot tougher than PHL or JFK. We've managed to bring back a few packages we picked up in the Duty Free at MAD. It's always worth taking the chance for some good 5J jamón, just don't sample along the way.

icithecat

So exactly how much ham are you lot sneaking back in.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat...s-stolen_N.htm

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Thieves stole 17.6 tons of ham and bacon from a warehouse and left behind a message busting the owners' chops, police said Monday.

ekscrunchy

I have always brought them home..I take my trusty zip loc bags with me...and with the prices they will charge here for the jamon , might do the same...

amsdon

I did too but the doggy had a good nose. Cute little beagle though.
Now with the LAPD welcoming committe meeting me at the plane any time I travel internationally I do not want to take chances.

Remember that there is an Argentine fugutive wanted with my exact name.
I do not want to break any laws even for jamon. Bummer. Looks like I will not get to try thosse great Argentine steaks any time soon.

artlover

But the absinthe isn't the REAL thing...so, looks like you're still going to have to bring it back if you want the REAL thing! And it's not easy to find places that sell the REAL thing even in Europe.

bluestar

What do you mean when you say it isn't "the real thing?"

tedgale

I am intrigued to see that the eponymous restaurant here in humble Ottawa, Ontario serves absinthe. I assume this is not the wormwood stuff but something less toxic.

The website for the place asks, leeringly, "Do you know the green fairy?"

Frankly -- though no prude about booze, quite the contrary in fact -- absinthe-drinking seems to me a VERY debauched habit.

ekscrunchy

The "real thing" probably refers to the thujone in the wormwood used to make the absinthe. There was a discussion about this here..




http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34967096

artlover

yes, ekscrunchy has it right

cigalechanta

Ive had Barnaby Conrad's book, "Absinthe , History in a bottle," since the 80s, much is taken from that book:

http://tinyurl.com/ywzbmy

Here in Boston it has become popular,
My favorite is LUCID.

bluestar

The article about absinthe in the first post says the maker uses grand wormwood and also a less bitter cousin of it in the process. Wouldn't the finished product contain thujone?

Robert2533

Just a note to let you know that our friend Joseba of the Basque restaurant the Harvest Vine, and his new San Sebastian-Donostia style pintoxs bar in downtown Seattle, Torxi, will be offering the new Jamon iberico next week.