reviews

Plenty of Rum to Go Around–Happy National Rum Day!

Sips

When I posted the recipe for last month’s Chocolate Cherry Frozen Cocktail I mentioned that I hadn’t tried Cruzan’s vanilla or black cherry rums and, well, the good folks at Cruzan couldn’t let that slide and generously sent me a bottle of the vanilla rum to try out.

Oh, man, am I glad they did!

And it just happened to be in time for National Rum Day, August 16!

Since beginning this blog I’ve been making a concentrated effort to taste more spirits neat–after all, if I’m going to use them as building blocks for the cocktails I design, I need to really understand the properties of each alone before combining them with others. This is not always a pleasant endeavor, as some spirits can have a very hard edge and can be bracing on their own.

That was not the case with the Cruzan Vanilla.

Ho-lee cats, folks, that’s some good rum!

I believe I described it as nirvana in a bottle at dinner with friends the next night (and then invited them all over to give it a try, themselves). No one disagreed, I might add.

First of all, it’s sweet. No big surprise, here, as rum is distilled from sugar cane, but the vanilla addition seems to add to the usual rum-sweet that you’d expect.

Second, it’s smooth. Hard edges? More like puffy clouds of silk–and we’re not talking the slubby dupioni, either!

Third, it mixes well. Almost too well, in fact.

Rum and Coke is an easy mixed drink to order and hard to get wrong, but many times (due to the plethora of hard-edged call-brands at the average ladies’ night) you can tell just how much the bartender liked you by how much bite the drink had. Every now and then I like to enjoy a throw-back drink like the R&C (not really a Cuba Libre since I don’t add the lime), and I thought a Vanilla Rum & Coke might be a nice place to start.

If you like Vanilla Coke, you will adore Cruzan Vanilla Rum and Coke. The combination of the two is sweet, sweet goodness, and this is where the danger comes in: you could go through quite a few of these in an evening and not realize how much you’ve imbibed until you go to stand up and miss the floor.

So, as always, drink responsibly.

After the R&C success, I decided to go with another basic rum drink: the Dark & Stormy. I’m renaming the combination of Ginger Beer and Cruzan Vanilla the White Storm–a light-colored drink that is both sweet and tangy, the vanilla and the ginger balancing each other out so nicely, it’s refreshing and perfect for a hot summer night hanging out with friends.

White Storm

2-2 .5oz Cruzan Vanilla Rum
1/2 oz Lime Juice
6 oz Ginger Beer (or as needed)

Fill a tall glass 3/4 full with ice and pour each ingredient over the ice, topping it off with the ginger beer (measurement was based on my glass, your glass may very). Stir leisurely until cool. Sip and enjoy.

Feel free to skip the lime juice if you’d prefer an even sweeter experience–the tart from the lime is interesting, true, but I could really take it or leave it.

Todd also suggested Cruzan Vanilla would be amazing in a Hurricane, something we’ll keep in mind for Mardi Gras, and I’m salivating over the thought of it in my Christmas-time Rum Balls this holiday.

Cheers!

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FTC Disclaimer: I was provided a sample of the Cruzan Vanilla Rum for purposes of review. All opinions are entirely my own.

If You Have to Spike Your PB&J, You Might Have a Problem

Nibbles

No, make that you definitely have a problem.

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But before I get into that, first we have a giveaway winner to announce! Drumroll, please…

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The winner of the OXO Good Grips Salad Dressing Shaker is Sara P. who left a comment on the Circle of Food post.

Congratulations, Sara, I’ll be emailing you for your mailing address (please respond within 24 hours or I’ll have to send the shaker to someone else).

Now, on with our post!

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A while back I requested a review copy of a new, fun-sounding cookbook: Never Cook Sober by Stacy Laabs & Sherri Field. I enjoy using alcohol in my recipes when the situation calls for it, and thought this book would give me some good ideas in that department.

I think I got a hangover just reading through the recipes. And I hate hangovers.

While I recognize the tried-and-true hangover remedy of “hair of the dog,” and I’ve had a mimosa to start a holiday morning more than once, I’m not sure dipping your morning fruit plate in 6 different spirits (Three Sheets to the Wind Vodka and Run Fruit Plate, the first recipe of the book) is a great way to start the day. Nor is it all that inventive, really. And Jell-O shots (Jiggling Vodka Shots, p. 25) for breakfast? Apparently I’m just not this book’s target audience.

Moving on to lunch and, yes, truly, there is a “recipe” for Peanut Butter and Vodka Jelly Sandwich which has all the finesse of mixing flavored vodka into your jelly before spreading it on bread. At least in this recipe the peanut butter will create a little balance to the booze, but if that’s too much for you, you can go back to the breakfast chapter and have Caribbean Cocktail Run Jelly and Toast.

Still, I was determined to make something out of this book for dinner one night, to give it a fair shot (ba dum bum!). The first thing that sounded almost appetizing was the Wobbly Chicken Tequila Fettuccine (page 34, still in the Lunch chapter), though wobbly and chicken doesn’t make the latter sound all that appetizing.

Wobbly Chicken Tequila Fettuccine from Never Drink Sober

I quibbled with wasting almost 2 quarts of chicken stock to boil my fettuccine in, so used about a cup diluted with tap water for the rest. The flavor was just fine without the wasting of $6 worth of stock. I also took issue with creating a sauce in one pan and letting it sit while you started the veggies in another, only to add the sauce in when you add the chicken–it would make much more sense to saute all the veggies, add the chicken and brown, then make the sauce in the same pan at that time, finishing with the heavy cream instead of adding the cream with the raw chicken and boiling until the chicken is done. I dislike inefficiency in recipes, and this is a prime example of it.

Nonetheless, the end result was tasty. The tequila was understated enough that I didn’t have to worry about bringing leftovers to work for lunch the next day, and the use of whole-wheat fettuccine assuaged my guilt over the heavy cream.

Though why they suggest pairing a Chardonnay with this meal instead of sticking with a classic tequila-based cocktail escapes me.

Recipes aside, the other thing that bugged me, was they completely ignored the myth that so many people have of when you cook with alcohol it all burns off. The introduction would have been a great place to discuss this, but they completely ignored it. And, for the record, it takes quite a bit of cooking to eliminate the alcohol from a dish and anything that’s not cooked (PB&J, I’m looking at you) isn’t losing one drop of alcohol between the plate and your lips.

That said, there are reasons to buy this book that have nothing to do with cooking with alcohol. On each recipe page are quotes from famous folk about alcohol. There are also bits of booze trivia, cocktail recipes as “pairings” and enough classic toasts to get you through a summer of weddings without coming close to repeating one.

While I doubt I’ll use this as any sort of go-to cookbook going forward, the “extras” make it worth a flipping though from time to time. I’d definitely shelve it with Humor rather than Cooking.

To see what I have to say about an alcohol-infused cookbook I did enjoy, make sure to check out my review of Slushed! on Sips & Shots.

FTC Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of Never Cook Sober by the publisher for purpose of review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Review | Get Slushed! and Get Happy!

Sips

It’s summer, and summer means the colder the treat the better to combat the heat. Ice cream and popsicles and smoothies to the rescue and, if you can punch them up with a little bit of finely-crafted spirits, so be it!

Back at the Plantation, our Executive Chef wanted to try a dessert he’d read about that paired tropical fruits with 3 sorbets, each sorbet made with a liqueur. Now, the thing about booze is, it doesn’t freeze. The higher the sugar content of something, the less likely it is to freeze, and since alcohol is a sugar, items with alcohol in them wont’ freeze unless you keep the non-sugary bits in the right ratio.

We got our Chambord and Grand Marnier sorbets to freeze okay, but the Godiva chocolate? Just wouldn’t gel. It probably didn’t help that the ice cream maker we had was one of those that you needed ice and rock salt to surround the tub and was on its last legs anyway, but it took all day to get anything remotely solid out of the mixture. The dessert was a success and we had enough of each sorbet to last the 2 weeks it was on the menu, but I think we were all in agreement that Godiva sorbet would not be making a reappearance.

That was my first, strongest thought when I got the chance to review Slushed!: More Than 150 Frozen, Boozy Treats for the Coolest Happy Hour Ever by Jessie Cross.

Last year or so I purchases a Cuisinart ice cream maker, the one with the freezable canister that only takes 20 minutes to make just about anything, used it a few times, then got caught up with other things. Trying out some of the recipes from Slushed! was a great excuse to brush the perma-frost off of my ice cream maker and give it a spin.

Remembering my earlier incident with alcohol-laden sorbet, I was happy to see this very topic covered in the introduction along with guidelines of how much alcohol of a given strength could safely be added to a quart of ice cream. That, right there, was worth the price of admission, folks.

We made 2 ice creams and 2 frozen yogurts and 2 frozen pop recipes, though the book also covers smoothies, novelties, gelato and so much more.

Tonic Water with Mojito Ice Pop Cubes

Tonic Water with Mojito Ice Pop Cubes

First, of course, I had to try the Chocolate Martini Pudding Pops (page 25). Instant pudding and Godiva liqueur, opposite ends of the chocolate spectrum, and man were they great together! I couldn’t get these suckers out of the molds, but they ate just fine with a spoon, let me assure you!

The other ice pops I made were the Mojito Pops with Fresh Mint (page 26). Each pop recipe made 8-10 servings so I cut mine in half (to regulate the damage to my waistline), but still had extra mix to use. Into little leaf-shaped ice cube trays the extra went and, let me tell you, as good as they are on their own, a couple of the mini cubes in a glass of tonic water or club soda and you’ve got a nice, light, refreshing drink with a very low alcohol content.

As for ice creams, we tried both the Spice Trader’s Vanilla Vodka Ice Cream (page 37) and the Bananas Foster Ice Cream (page 48). The vanilla was a typical custard-style ice cream with vanilla beans and it was oh-so-rich and good. That one lasted maybe a week (though, in our defense, it was my birthday week and we had an awful lot of cake to eat up). The Bananas Foster used no eggs, though we did have to first cook the bananas in brown sugar and butter to get that amazing caramelized flavor going. Both boozy ice creams were scoopable straight out of the freezer–a definite benefit to a little liquor in the recipe.

The frozen yogurts, on the other hand, benefit from sitting out a little bit or 20 seconds in the microwave before trying to chip away at them. The Limoncello Swirl Frozen Yogurt is light, refreshing and just tart enough to get the job done, though I wish I’d added even more lemon curd swirl to this batch. The Sex on the Bean Frozen Yogurt was, unfortunately, the only one I wasn’t truly crazy about. Something about the combination of orange and dairy just didn’t want to work for me (though I know I used to love Dreamsicles as a child, so go figure). Still, it’s not a bad fro-yo at all.

Limoncello Swirl, Sex on the Beach, and Bananas Foster

(left to right) Limoncello Swirl Frozen Yogurt, Sex on the Beach Frozen Yogurt, and Bananas Foster Ice Cream

We stopped there, but I have at least 3 more recipes I want to try out in the near future (especially the St Germaine & Earl Grey Tea Gelato, page 61) and more after that.

Compared to the other alcohol-related book I reviewed this month, this one wins hands down!

Now, if I can just figure out how to get the frozen pops out of their molds. (Definitely a first world problem.)

FTC Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of Slushed! by the publisher for purpose of review. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

 

Celebrate | National Margarita Day

Sips

La Pinta Pomegranate-Infused TequilaThe best days, I think, are when I come home to a liquor delivery on my doorstep.

What made last night’s delivery even better was that is was a new tequila to try out, just in time for National Margarita Day.

First things first, y’all know how much I adore good packaging and this bottle of La Pinta from Casa Tradición ultra-premium tequila line delivers that in spades.

But looks aren’t everything, how does it taste?

Smooth. Sweet and savory. The unmistakable scent and flavor of tequila and the tart, sweet taste of pomegranate.

I would (and did) drink this straight. And I don’t usually drink liquor straight.

It was that good.

But it’s National Margarita Day, so it’s time to put this tequila to work!

According to Margaritaville (and who better to ask), Jimmy Buffet’s favorite Margarita goes like this:

The Perfect Margarita (Jimmy’s favorite):

1 oz Margaritaville Gold Tequila
.5 oz Margaritaville Silver Tequila
.5 oz Triple Sec
.5 oz Orange Curacao
.5 oz Lime juice
2 Lime Wedges

Rim margarita glass with salt.  Combine ingredients in a shaker filled with ice.  Squeeze limes and add to tin.  Shake vigorously and pour into a margarita glass and enjoy.

Now, we all know what I think about triple sec (just say no!) and I seemed to be somehow out of limes–the horror!

But when you have a fabulous tequila like the La Pinta around, a missing lime is so far from the end of the world it’s not even worth worrying about.

La Pinta Pomegranate MargaritaInstead, I concocted my own cocktail which I think shows off the tequila to great advantage.

La Pinta Pomegranate Margarita

1.5 oz La Pinta Pomegranate Infused Tequila
1 oz Cointreau
juice of 1 Clementine or Mandarin orange
salt for rimming the glass

Salt the rim of your chosen cocktail glass and add a few ice cubes to it. Combine all ingredients and half the clementine in a shaker over ice and shake like a maraca! Strain into the prepared glass and garnish with a wedge of clementine.

It’s got the sweet, it’s got the salt, it’s got the tart and that not-really-sour but more of an umami flavor that just says tequila and without which you can’t call it a margarita.

And if you don’t have La Pinta handy, combining a high quality tequila with some pomegranate liqueur and you might be able to get close.

How are you celebrating National Margarita Day?

I was provided a sample of La Pinta Pomegranate Infused Tequila for review, all opinions are my own.

Think Pink!

Sips

When I was in high school I went through quite the musicals kick and one of my favorites was Bye, Bye Birdie (parodying the hoopla surrounding Elvis Presley joining the Army).

At one point Ann Margaret is slinking around the bar, acting older than she is, trying to make “Birdie” jealous, singing about how she’s “Got a Lot of Living To Do.” One of the things on the bucket list?

Drink Champagne, as if it were water,
Pink Champagne, and after a few…
Daddy dear, you won’t know your daughter!
She’s got a lot of living to do!

This is what comes to mind every time I think about pink champagne.

Australian label [yellow tail] has come out with white and rosé Bubbles just in time for New Years and it might just be worth checking out. This is a brand known for being affordable and reliable and the rosé is in a nice range of not being super sweet or super dry–it’s nice and light and a sweet pink color.

Another plus is it’s favor is the Zork closure: not a screw-top and not a traditional champagne cork that is almost impossible to get back into the bottle, the Zork closure easily pops back on the bottle with a press of the built-in button, making it easy to save the leftovers for brunch the next day.

And, of course, the good folks at [yellow tail] sent over a cocktail recipe in to make the most of their pink bubbles:

EXOTIC TEMPTATION

2 oz [ yellow tail ] bubbles sparkling rosé
1 oz peach flavored vodka
1 oz cranberry juice
1 oz lychee fruit flavoring

In a cocktail shaker with ice add all ingredients except [ yellow tail ] bubbles sparkling rosé. Strain into a chilled champagne flute or martini glass. Slowly fill with the [ yellow tail ] bubbles sparkling rosé. Garnish with a strawberry.

Image and recipe courtesy of  W.J. Deutsch & Sons, Ltd.