cocktails

A Little Taste of the Crescent City

Sips

New Orleans Praline cocktail
It’s been a busy week here at Money Creek: 2 cocktails and 3 bottles of wine busy! But it was while creating one of my Character Cocktails for an upcoming product launch (they’re not just for people, you know) that I was struck with inspiration for this week’s Alphatini cocktial, the letter N.

And a good thing I did because I was drawing a pretty big blank, facing the second half of our alphabetical series. But inspiration was found and now I can’t see how I would have missed it.

For this one we’re going to take a little field trip to my favorite city in the USA: New Orleans. Not the city of my birth (though only an hour away) I always get this thrill of excitement when I see those wrought-iron balconies, narrow streets and iconic signs. The go-cups and Marie Laveau’s don’t hurt either. And it’s been far too many years since I’ve made it back to play tourist visit.

New Orleans isn’t short on flavors to savor, either: there’s the seafood delicacies, the spicy sauces, Cajun this, Creole that, and then there’s the desserts. It’s one of these desserts that became our mission to recreate: the Praline.

Pecans surrounded by a creamy, melt-in-your mouth candy. And candy? Is time consuming to make (not to mention dangerous: molten sugar and a better chance that the humidity will prevent it from setting properly). This cocktail? Gets the job done with a lot less trouble.

New Orleans Praline

1 oz Vanilla Vodka
1/2 oz Frangelico
1/4 oz Butterschnapps
1 1/2 oz Cream Soda

Combine vodka and the liqueurs over ice and shake with a touch of the zydeco in your soul. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass while adding the cream soda.

There’s not a readily available pecan liqueur that I’m aware of, so we went with the smooth hazelnut liqueur instead. If you prefer, you could use amaretto but you might also need to add more vodka and soda to balance the stronger flavor of the almond liqueur. Either way you’ll end up with a rich, creamy, decadent cocktail that contains the essence of a praline without all the work.

Cocktail Appreciation

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Cocktail, Anyone?

Cocktail, Anyone?

Well, now that we’ve covered how to avoid and/or compensate for a hangover should we overindulge, let’s get on to the business of appreciating all (okay, some) of what the world of cocktails have to offer.

Of course I understand some people have religious, dietary or other reasons and restrictions as to why they don’t drink alcohol. (If you find yourself in that group, no worries: we’ll cover non-alcoholic libations next week.) But many time I’ve hear folks say: I don’t like the taste of alcohol. And I’d hazard a guess that the majority of them, and maybe you’re one, were just served a bad drink.

If you’re only encounters with a mixed drink or cocktail were at a college party or ladies’ night at a local bar, chances are you didn’t experience the best the world of cocktails has to offer. If you’re only taste of a margarita was from a slushy machine at a dive Mexican joint, chances are there’s some improvement to be had. And if you’ve ever started a night with a Long Island Iced Tea (and remembered nothing else), you could stand to give the bar menu another shot.

Pun unintended.

And let’s talk about shots for a moment: I’ve never been fond of them. Yes, I did an entire series of so-called shots, but my recipes were merely cocktails small in stature but big on flavor. And they were meant to be sipped, not shot. Shots are for getting drunk as quickly as possible, and I’m not really down with that.

Back to the cocktails, though. It’s pretty impossible to distill (okay, I meant that pun) all there is to know about cocktail appreciation into 1000 words or less, but I’m going to break it down to a few important points.

1. Quality

They say you get what you pay for and that often translates to if you want quality, you have to pay for it: a lot. This is not always the case in alcohol (think of how many excellent bottles of wine can be found for $10 or less) but it does, often, pay to go “top shelf” or premium if you really want to enjoy your drink. For instance, if you’ve ever been served a Cosmopolitan made with Triple Sec (a low-cost type of orange liqueur) and didn’t like it? Consider trying one made with Cointreau (a higher-cost and -quality orange liqueur)–the difference will astound you!

Another good example is vodka. A really good vodka might make your mouth tingle a bit but it shouldn’t burn in the back of your throat. A jug of cheap vodka will need a lot of mixer to make the drink smooth, but a good vodka can be sipped and enjoyed for it’s bracing quality (though good vodka also has little to no flavor–on purpose–so sipping an all-vodka martini has always baffled me).

2. Balance

Which brings us to balance, which can be achieved as much in the recipe of a cocktail as in the technique of your bartender. Since, again, my qualification for a good cocktail is one that doesn’t beat me over the head with the alcohol, the cocktails I love as well as the ones I design make use of mixers (non-alcoholic ingredients) to balance the alcohol.  This also makes a cocktail a bit easier to customize for individual drinkers. If it’s all-alcohol, there’s not really much you can do to tone it down, a mixer allows you to add a bit more if it’s going to suit the recipient’s palette.

Where technique comes in is with the mixing. Traditionally, cocktails that are all-alcohol are stirred (yes, think of Bond’s “shaken, not stirred” line), whereas those with mixers included are shaken. There are always exceptions to this rule, of course. Drinks that include carbonated beverages are shaken without the soda, perhaps, or not shaken at all so that the bubbles are still present. And I’ve been known to shake an all-alcohol cocktail because a well-shaken cocktail gets up to 25% of it’s volume from the melted ice, and sometimes that’s all you need. I also include garnishes and rimming glasses with salt, sugar or other items a mark of technique.

3. Flavor

Finally, alcohol is an amazing conveyor of flavor. Don’t believe me? Think about vanilla. Yes, the vanilla that you use in baking. It is actually a very low-proof alcohol that serves to contain and confer the flavor of costly vanilla beans better than any other liquid. You can even make your own vanilla with a few beans and a little brandy, rum or vodka (and a fair amount of time–but the results are amazing).

With all that said, why drink alcohol at all? It’s certainly not a required element of being an adult! But I look at it as the same as people who start their day with coffee, or have soda to pep them up. Alcohol has a similar (if opposite) affect on us and I fully admit to liking that tipsy feeling a good cocktail can impart. The languor from sipping on a nice drink at the end of a long week is just as fabulous as the flushed, convivial atmosphere some spiked punch can add to a party. Can these things be achieved sans-alcohol? Sure, but it’s not near as much fun!

Of course, I must close with the following caveats:

  • Don’t ever let anyone pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do.
  • Drink responsibly
  • Always use a designated driver

Miss Mangotini, I Presume

Sips

Mangotini
You know that old friend, the one you were so close to back in the day but then there was that falling out and while you might be civil to one another you certainly don’t go seeking out her company? We all have one whether you call her your ex-bestie or your flat-out-frenemy, those skeletons exist somewhere in your closet.

That’s me and this next drink.

Oh, we were a fabulous combo when I first encountered her on a work trip ‘lo those many years ago. I went to the ends of the earth (or at least the Internet) to find out just the right ingredients and ratio and proudly showed her off all over town while our friendship burned hot and bright.

But then New Year’s Eve happened.

Now, really, it wasn’t Miss Mangotini’s fault, per se. I mean, it’s not like she forced me to consume quite so much that night (but, man, is she tasty!). It’s not like she was the one that decided a refill-run before the stores closed in order to make another pitcher was necessary (no, that was the rest of the party). And it’s not like she kept refilling herself when I wasn’t paying attention (no, in truth, that was another “friend” being “helpful”).

But it was her that I had that, uh, falling-out with the next morning and started off that year as green as my shirt.

That said, after a while you start to wonder how that old friend has been and if there’s a chance you could be friends again. If you could let bygones be bygones. Maybe even introduce her to a new friend that might just be perfect for her?

Mangotini

3 oz Mango Nectar
1 oz Vanilla Vodka
1/2 oz Cointreau
1/8 oz Vermouth

Combine everything over ice and shake some sense into the mix. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Make two and make some friends.

This drink was possibly my first foray into mixology. I’m fairly sure it was one of the first ones I tried so many versions of just to find the right one. And, for future reference, if you see one that references Snapple* as an ingredient? Run. Run fast.

Back then I hadn’t even met the wonder that in vanilla vodka, much less the rest of the new members of the home bar club. (In fact, I was still using the dreaded Triple Sec back then!) So I thought this reunion would be a perfect time to play match-maker and see what happened. The original drink wasn’t bad–I wasn’t far off the mark however many years ago I made it. But with the vanilla vodka and Cointreau? Amazing. Fabulous. And so very smooth.

Now that M and I have made up (we’re on a first-initial basis again, as you can see), I’m happy to report she’ll be welcome at the bar any time she wants to show up. In moderation, of course.

*I have nothing against Snapple, it just makes for a very weak cocktail, far removed from the lusciousness of using juice or nectar.

Hangovers–and I Don’t Mean the Movies

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Moving on from cooking basics, now we move onto their complementing art of beverages.

24 The Preparation of Drinks

Drinks are of two kinds, distilled or not. The latter may be fermented or not. Unfermented drinks are made by squeezing mudga beans [Phaseolus mungo], mango, or mulberry fruit, and adding sugar or tamarind fruit. Fermented drinks are made with palm wine [toddy], or wild fig wine [mahua]. When distilled, a liqueur is obtained that may be mild, medium or strong.

There’s almost as much to discuss about cocktails as there is for food, but since this is the day after a holiday and some may have attended a Halloween party or two last night, perhaps we should start at the end, so to speak, and talk about what to do if you’ve over-done it.

A hangover is brought on by 2 things: dehydration and excess stomach acid. In an ideal world we’d all be responsible and drink a glass of water (or two!) between cocktails to stay hydrated, not to mention a bottle of water and 2 aspirin before bed. But we don’t live in that ideal world and sometimes we get a little carried away and the next morning–whether it comes at 8 am or 2 pm–can be a bit of a bear.

(the following comes from a November, 2008, post from my Nibbles column at Random Acts Comics)

The other issue, the sour stomach of too much sugar sent down the pipe (again, alcohol is sugar, folks, all breaks down to the same carbs, carbs, carbs in the final equation), can be both more or less difficult to manage, depending on your point of view.

A lot of party-goers know that a stop by the local all-night drive through (or stumble-to, judging by my last such experience) will make one feel better. The reason this works is that the fat helps coat your stomach and protect it from some of that excess acid that gets churned up trying to deal with the excess sugars in your system. Plus the protein from a burger or chicken finger will give your body something else to work on in the interim.

When I was in culinary school the subject of drinking came up (go figure). You know why so many chef’s drink? It’s because you stare at food for hours and hours, late into the wee hours, and need to do something else when it’s all over (or to get through, depends on the chef); at least that was our chef’s position on the matter. As such, chef’s have a great wealth of ideas on how to get rid of (or prevent) a hangover. This was my favorite.

Hangover Sandwich

2 slices of good bread
Butter
Mayo
Smoked salmon
Bacon
Horseradish or mustard (optional)

Spread the butter on both sides of the bread and saute in a hot pan until golden, essentially making two large, French-style as opposed to salad style, croûtons. Spread some mayo on one side of each crouton and layer on the smoked salmon and bacon. You can add horseradish sauce or mustard to taste, it’s up to you, but the butter, salmon and bacon really are the key parts due to the fat and protein gains. Eat up!

I’ve never actually had to make use of that recipe, but it’s nice to know I’ve got it in reserve.

There other prevailing theory on hangover cures seems to revolve around the idea of “hair of the dog” in one way or another.

First off is just to get up and keep drinking. Not necessarily a lot, just enough to take the edge off; a good time for a Bloody Mary or Mimosa. Speaking of Bloody Mary’s, it occurs to me to wonder about adding more acid to an already roiling stomach. Aside from the nutrients and vitamins in the tomato juice (or o.j., for that matter), adding more acid is the hair of the dog, as well, just a different breed. But I still think water is the best thing to drink after a late night with one (or three) too many.

Another popular remedy that I hadn’t considered before is eating spicy food. Now, I don’t know about you but I’m not really down for Mexican or Thai when I’m feeling green, but some friends swear that the spices help to “sweat out” the toxins and speed the recovery process. I’ll leave that to them, frankly, and just try not to over-indulge in the first place.

~~~oOo~~~

Now that we’ve covered how to prevent and “treat” a hangover, next week we’ll talk about making the drinks that got us there!

Convergence of Annoying Naming Conventions

Sips

the iTini cocktail10-6-2011 ETA: In light of the recent passing of Steve Jobs, I’ve decided to postpone the posting of the next cocktail and leave the iTini up for another week.

~~~oOo~~~

As much as I absolutely adore anything that Apple comes out with, I have to admit that the iEverything naming thing is a little much. In fact, it’s almost as annoying as the prevalence of calling anything in a cocktail glass a -tini.

Of course, the -tini appelation is appropriate when the drink is inspired by the original and, well, I suppose the leading lowercase i deserves the same benefit.

The iTini

2 oz Vodka
1 oz Anise-flavored Liqueur

Combine the two alcohols in a shaker over ice and shake like an etch-a-sketch*. Strain into a chilled-but-no-frills cocktail glass and whatever you do, don’t you dare add a garnish.

When I tried to envision what a Mac would taste like (other than plastic and wires and stuff), I envisioned something very clean, streamlined and, yes, an acquired taste. Immediately I thought of anise. Licorice is one of those things you either love or hate, there’s seldom a middle ground. And I think the same is true about the computer we’re paying homage to.

Using what I had on hand meant Galliano so the drink is yellow. Had I been willing to leave the house for the 1,256th errand of the day I would have picked up a clear anise liqueur to keep that sleek white look. But, hey, we all remember the fruity iMacs, right? (I still have a Blueberry G3 at the office!) And iPods come in all sorts of colors. You also want a very clean, crisp vodka so go premium or make something else, like the fabulous Cinco 5-Star I’ve used earlier in the series.

I happen to like both, but I have to be in the mood for licorice. I also use Mac and non-Mac computers–each have their strengths. So while this drink (which only barely qualifies as a true cocktail IF you count the 3rd ingredient as the water that gets mixed-in during shaking) isn’t an everyday drink (figuratively speaking, of course), it has it’s uses.

*Dilbert reference–we’re just name dropping all up in here and, no, neither Apple nor Scott Adams know who I am. But Cinco did send me a bottle of their fabulous vodka to try out and I can’t recommend it enough!