Bulletin Board 35
An enviable new watch, building a vintage home bar and making leftovers better
OBSESSIONS
I have longed for an A. Lange Söhne to be a part of my watch collection for years. The Lange 1 has always been my favorite in terms of its overall simplicity, elegance of design, and I’m also a fan of its asymmetrical dial and outsize date window. With the 30th anniversary launch of the latest Lange 1, I think I may have now found the one!
When I was at the Audrain Newport Concours d'Elegance earlier this month, I got a preview of these new designs—they released a black onyx dial with a platinum case, as well as a blue dial with a pink gold case. Both are beauties, but I stopped in my tracks when I saw the black onyx and platinum. I was also pleased to see (and try on) the Little Lange 1, a smaller cased watch in 36.8mm vs the standard 38.5mm—a perfect fit for my smaller wrist. The watches are manual wind with 72 hours of power reserve and are available in a limited supply of 300 pieces, price upon request. I’m afraid of what inventory I am going to have to liquidate to get one!
FROM THIS TO THAT
I hate leftovers but I also hate food waste. Okay, I don’t necessarily hate leftovers, I just don’t like eating the same meal heated up again. I instead prefer to turn leftovers into a potentially more interesting eating experience. Leftover sausage and peppers get turned into a mid-day frittata, while steaks, roasted pork or fish get built into tacos for lunch, etc…
One of my favorite, easy one-pot meals to make is the Poule au Pot recipe from my book A Man & His Kitchen. You can get the full recipe there, but basically, it’s a chicken boiled in an aromatic broth with root vegetables. If it’s just Yolanda and I eating dinner, there is always leftover chicken and a full pot of incredible, highly concentrated broth. After dinner, I put the chicken to the side, then drain the broth through a fine sieve to make it clear. From these I have the base to a terrific soup I’ll make for lunch the next day. Personally, I love the addition of escarole, a delicious bitter green, which brings a nice texture shift and a great flavor. I also like to add carrots, but you could throw in potatoes or parsnips. See recipe below.
Escarole Chicken Soup (from leftover Poule au Pot)
Add the strained broth to a 4 qt stock pot and add at least 2 more cups of water (eyeball this, you should have about a ¾ full pot of stock).
Add chopped root vegetables (I will add 2-4 carrots, and/or parsnips, potatoes etc… as you like).
Bring to a rolling boil.
Add thoroughly washed and coarsely chopped head of escarole.
Reduce heat and add your leftover chopped up chicken.
Cook on a low to medium heat until root vegetables are soft and greens are well wilted (about 30- 40 min).
Adjust for salt and add some black pepper.
Serve in deep bowls with a bit of grated cheese of choice (Parm, Pecorino or even Gruyere). A glass of chilled white wine is not a must but a good addition as well as some grilled or warmed bread.
FURNISHINGS
Whether you’re planning to build out your home bar ahead of the holiday season or just scouting for unique gifts, vintage cocktail gear is a timely subject. And we could think of no better authority than our friend Jeff Parrott, a spirits industry veteran who began selling vintage barware in 2020 through his side hustle J. Earl & Sons. Read on for Jeff’s basics on making a home bar with character, the grails you don’t want to miss, and how a cloudy decanter can be cleaned with everyone’s second-favorite hot dog condiment. - Eric Twardzik
How do you approach building a vintage home bar?
It's easy to build a bar through all your big-box retailers, but what we want you to do is build a bar with character, and that comes with some kind of understanding of who you are and what your style is. The place that we tell people to start is to get a tray, whether it be a wicker tray or an old silver tray. It pulls the bar out and contains the bottles. If you don't do that, people have the tendency to stack them along the back wall, which just makes it look like a fraternity house or a young guy’s bar.
So, start with the tray, and then go to the spirit. So, what's your everyday drinker, what's the brand that you drink the most? Make sure that it's on the bar, whether it's in its bottle or in an old decanter because you're going to use it. Put that into the decanter and then put all the other spirit categories around it.
So, you’ve got your tray, and you’ve got your spirits. Now it's time to have fun with the rest. So, for vintage, we always feel like highball glasses are fantastic because they're usually the right size. That makes a good cocktail. They're not too small, but they're also not too big.
And then mix in the big-box retailer wine glasses and Champagne coupes, the ones that you break the most. If you can find great vintage double old-fashioned glasses, great. But don't just buy the old-fashioned glasses unless you know you're going to be drinking boozy cocktails with not a lot of mixer in it because you'll find they're too small.
And then from there, have fun with all the accouterments. We love those old vintage decanters, most of them ceramic, from the ‘60s and ‘70s. I bet I've sold 300 of those. Find one from where you're from or that reflects your hobbies. If you're a fisherman, find a fly fishing one. If you're a sailor, find an old captain one. But try to ground the bar with one big character piece and then start working on all your tools, making sure you've got a good shaker. There are some great vintage shakers out there that tend to be large. They were larger formats back then for some reason, unless you’re buying sterling silver, in which case they are the standard size we have today.
And then just go through each individual area and make sure that you’ve got something good. You don't have to buy it all at one time. You can keep the things that you have and start replacing them bit by bit.
What are the best venues for sourcing vintage cocktail gear?
If you have the time, spend it rummaging through all the collectives and vintage stores that are out there. If you don't, then go to a source like J. Earl & Sons, who's taken the time to find the pieces and curate them for you.
Is there a way to spot quality in a vintage piece?
I think the value is in the eye of the beholder, right? If you find an interesting shaker, who cares what the present value of it is in a collector's eye? There are other brands that are into very, very fine pieces and that's fantastic. We like things that are of character and that are functionally easy to use.
Are there any particular brand names to look out for?
Napier did a lot of sterling and silver plate pieces. All of their items are pretty amazing. Abercrombie & Fitch made some amazing pieces—I have one of those wicker wine holders that is basically a hamper. And then for some reason, all the hunting companies always made a Holland & Holland flask or a Purdey. Most of the English brands are where all the better pewter and silver came from.
Are there any safety issues to be aware of, in terms of vintage crystal and lead?
If you're going to use a decanter that has lead in it, it needs to be one where the alcohol doesn't sit for a long period of time. My understanding is the lead doesn't impart into the liquid until it's sat there for a long time. If you've got something very rare that you don't drink that often, I wouldn't let it sit in the lead crystal for that long. There's plenty of lead-free options out there right now that are fantastic.
Are there any white whales that should be picked up immediately if spotted?
Any of the Gucci stirrup cups. Gucci stirrup cups are like, “Wow, I can’t believe I found that thing.” And the Napier pieces are rare birds to find, too. They’re going to have a lot of patina on them usually.
If you pick up some old-fashioned glasses or decanters that are clouded, how can you clean them?
We go through kind of a series. We use acetate to clean them, we use vinegar to clean them—and the one thing that is so gross to me—you can use ketchup. Ketchup will cut that fogged glass.