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afraid to use all the garlic called for. As it cooks, it mellows to a mild sweetness. Pour the ample juices—a flavorful sauce of olive oil, Sherry, and garlic—over the chicken pieces.
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    2     pounds chicken thighs and legs (about 4 large thighs
and 3 drumsticks will fit in a 12-inch skillet)
          Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
    1     head garlic (about 15 large cloves)
    1 / 3   cup extra-virgin olive oil, preferably Spanish
    1 / 2   cup medium-dry Sherry, Amontillado or Oloroso Seco
    2     tablespoons Spanish brandy or cognac, optional
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       1.   Rinse the chicken under cool water and pat dry with paper towels. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.
       2.   Lightly smash the garlic cloves with the side of a large knife blade to split the skins. Set aside 8 of them, unpeeled. Peel the remaining cloves and slice them into relatively uniform slices.
       3.   Heat the olive oil in a heavy, deep skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic slices and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes, or just until golden. Skim them out with a slotted spoon, drain on a paper towel, and reserve.
       4.   Raise the heat to medium-high, add the chicken pieces, and fry (covering the skillet with a spatter shield, if you have one), turning as needed, for about 15 minutes, until browned on all sides.
       5.   Add the unpeeled garlic cloves, Sherry, and brandy. Continue cooking over medium-high heat, turning the pieces occasionally for 8 to 10 minutes, until the liquid is almost cooked away and the chicken begins to sizzle again.
       6.   Transfer the chicken and garlic cloves to a warmed serving dish, and pour the pan juices over all. Garnish the dish with the reserved fried garlic slices.
    MAKES 4 SERVINGS
                        
SPOONING WITH CHAMPAGNE
                        
    My lady friend was recently visiting me from England. We drank Champagne but didn’t finish the bottle. She suggested that I hang the handle of a silver spoon down into the neck of the bottle before putting it in the fridge. (She saw this on the telly over there.) Believe it or not, the next day the Champagne had not gone flat. How does this work? Would a fork work as well?
    ....
    Y es, a fork would work just as well. So would a railroad spike. Or a magic wand, for that matter, because the spoon did absolutely nothing. The spoon dodge is pure bunk. Or, if your British friend prefers, humbug and poppycock.
    Champagne simply doesn’t go flat as fast as beer and soda do. It would have been just as fizzy the next day without the spoon. All that really mattered is that you refrigerated it. That’s important because carbon dioxide, like all gases, dissolves and stays dissolved to a greater extent in colder liquids.
    In order for a dissolved gas to escape from a liquid, the gas molecules must have a microscopic speck of material (a nucleation site ) upon which to congregate until there are enough of them to form a bubble. The main reason that true Champagne stays bubbly longer is that it is extremely clear and speck-free. If it says méthode champenoise on the label, it has been clarified by dégorgement —a process in which all sediment is allowed to settle down into the neck of the inverted bottle, after which the neck is frozen and the ice plug, along with the trapped sediment, is removed. Beers are rarely clarified to that extent and therefore lose their fizz more rapidly.
    To save your leftover Champagne overnight, refrigerate the bottle with a tight stopper—not tableware—in its neck. You never know when you’ll have even more to celebrate in the morning.
    About that tight stopper: You can spend up to $20 for a fancy “Champagne stopper” in one of those shops that cater to winos—uh, I mean wine enthusiasts. It grips the lip of the bottle around which the wire had been wound, and then you screw its rubber disk down tightly against the bottle’s mouth. It’s