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Sugar Pie, Honey Wine

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Despite my current, pervasive obsession with monkeys these days, I’m a Winnie the Pooh fan from way back. ‘Bother!’ is a frequent exclamation of mind and a few weeks ago Todd did the “think, think, think” line in the kitchen. Which prompted my favorite Pooh-quote ever:

I’m a little black rain cloud.

This line has been making us laugh at any given moment for the last month or so.

So, of course, when I decided to reread A History of Food and it starts with Collecting Honey as Chapter 1, I’m constantly thinking along the lines of our favorite bear. (Even if monkeys had enough sense to use a stick to avoid contact with the bees–we are talking about the bear of little brain, here.)

When I got to the section about “Mead and Sacramental Intoxication” my thoughts aged up several year to my brief stint with the Society for Creative Anachronism and the beverage so many were fond of.

My own personal favorite honey-drink was Hydromel which I could have sworn was non-alcoholic but all the references I can find (having never made it myself) call for a brief fermentation. Bother.

Still, when we used it at the Italian feast I did we diluted it to such an extent that it was probably not very strong at all.

I’ve seen various ratios of water to honey, anywhere from 5 to 11 parts of water to one part honey, but all of it gets boiled and skimmed of any impurities, reduced a bit, cooled and then combined with aromatics. Thin slices of ginger seem to be a must, with cinnamon, cardamom and cloves common flavorings as well–I’ve even seen reference to a sprig of rosemary!

After everything else a tiny amount of yeast is added and it gets set aside. Again, here opinions differ as to how long it should ferment. Some recipes call for only overnight or over the weekend while others suggest 5 to 6 weeks! Obviously, the longer it sits the stronger it gets (both in flavor and alcohol content) so do what feels right. And, of course, you can test it as it goes along–just make enough to account for, uh, quality control!

Once it’s where you want it, strain out your aromatics. My friend who made this for me preferred the large liquor bottles for storage and then diluted it  at least by fourths when she served it. It’s sweet and a little spicy (depending on your flavor combinations) but not over-powering in the honey department.

I know honey has been added to my shopping list, what about yours?

Wassail!

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Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand’ring
So fair to be seen.
Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you
a happy New Year.

Growing up, I often heard the traditional carol about wassailing sung with caroling in place of the unfamiliar word, leading me to think that wassail was just another word for going around, singing carols to the neighborhood. Makes sense, right? When in actuality, wassail (originally was hál in the Old English) translates to “be in good health/fortunate” and is more like a toast than a song.

Of course, there’s also a drink by that name that has roots in the ancient Roman drink of spiced wine known as hypocras. In the Middle Ages the wine and the spices used in it made it a drink for the elite rather than the masses, until beer and other spirits came into the mix, making it more of an everyman drink. During the revelry of the holidays the practice of sharing a bowl (literally, a large bowl filled with the spiced brew and passed from one person to another with the litany of “wassail” and “drink hail” being repeated all the way around) among the household took the streets much like the carolers and other merry-makers of the time at which the wanders would offer the houses a drink (expecting some small payment in return) or the wanderers being offered one by the home owners. Very convivial, no matter how you look at it.

To make your own wassail, either for Christmas or, as is more correct, New Years Eve, combine the following in a large saucepan (enameled or glass being better for it than a reactive-metal type)

2 qt Lager
5 oz Simple syrup
3 ox Lemon juice
1 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Ginger
1 qt Dark rum

Heat this mixture until hot but not boiling and pour into a heat-proof punch bowl (unless, of course, you have a pewter or wooden Wassail bowl handy) over thinly sliced apples and lemons. Give it a few stirs and ladle into waiting mugs. This amount should serve about 10 people, depending on how large the mugs are or dry their throats!

Toast to all with a merry Wassail and enjoy the rest of the holiday season!

Since Cocktails Don’t Travel Well…

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The Internet and all it’s various uses mean that those on your gifting list may not always been in the same town (or even country) as you. While it’d be great to share a holiday cocktail with friends far and near, sometimes you might have to settle for the next best thing: cocktail-related gifts. And since I’m also an avid reader, books on the subject are a favorite of mine. Here’s a short list of some I’ve plucked from my own shelf that might just strike a cord with someone on your list.

Swell Holiday by Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig

Remember when Target started to carry all their chic home furnishings with a nod to the 50s and 60s (the good parts)? Cynthia and Ilene are the women behind the Swell line of books and products and their Swell Holiday book is a nice slim volume with all sorts of neat tips, ideas and recipes (both food and drinks!) for entertaining during the winter holidays. Some gems include using Rice Krispies treats and marshmallow fluff to built your “gingerbread” dream home, substitute glow sticks for electric lights in the tree and coming up with just about anything other than a basket for a themed basket-like gift!

Good Spirits: Recipes, Revelations, Refreshments, and Romance, Shaken and Served with a Twist by A.J. Rathbun

Since purchasing this book, it’s become the first one I reach for if I start thinking about a drink (or ingredient) and wondering if something like it already exists. Not only does it have plenty of recipes for the home bartender or cocktail enthusiast, almost all of them come with some sort of witty introduction that takes this book from a mere collection of recipes to something you want to curl up on the couch with and read like a novel.

Absolut: Biography of a Bottle by Carl Hamilton

I think it’s safe to say that practically everyone knows the Absolut bottle. In an industry where packaging is generally over the top and exploited for the best possible shelf-recognition, this vodka managed to take something fairly simple and make it into their symbol. More than just the story of the ad campaign, this is the story of a brand building itself and the times it did it in. An interesting read from several standpoints, I picked this up from a bargain bin, I think, and was so glad I did because the story is just amazing.

Merry Kitschmas: The Ultimate Holiday Handbook by Michael D Conway

Traditional Christmas decorations and celebrations got you down? Wanna spice up your holiday or convince those pesky in-laws they don’t ever want to visit again? Following the advice in Merry Kitchsmas can do all that and more besides. My friend gave this to me as more of a joke one year than anything–I’m fairly traditional, after all–but I adore it’s tacky abandon from afar and have considered using some of their techniques in a more subdued fashion more than once.  Featuring all sorts of odd-ball decorations and recipes, many of the cocktails even get the glue gun turned in their direction for the ultimate in deco-gone-wild effects. Even if you never make anything from it, it’s great to have around just for the pictures!

The Official Guide to Christmas in the South: Or, If You Can’t Fry It, Spraypaint It Gold by David C Barnette

While not *technically* a cocktail book, it’s so much fun that I thought I should include it, just to round out the list. Being from the South, I can safely laugh at, confirm and commiserate with some of the anecdotal stories in this book. Featuring great spot illustrations and a definite sense of whimsy (I absolutely love the idea of the “regifting food chain” chart on page 85), it’s a perfect gift for the displaced Southerner on your list.

And, since this IS a cocktial blog, here’s one of the cocktails from Merry Kitchsmas:

The Sugarplum Fairy

2 oz Citrus vodka
1/2 oz Cointreau
1 oz Lemon juice
splash Cranberry juice
Ice
2 tsp sugar (plus extra for rimming the glass)

Blend all ingredients into a “pink icy slush.”

Rim a collins glass with sugar (colored sugar is even better). Pour in the contents of the blender and garnish as decoratively as possible.

The authors suggest hot glueing a ballerina cake pick to a pink swizzle stick and then inserting it into a straw (for stability, I suppose) then wrapping a piece of pink tulle around the bottom third of the glass and securing it with a rubber band to give the glass it’s own tutu.

Creating a Cocktail

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That same party that sparked the Menu Planning and Quantity discussions (not to mention reminding me of the fun side of catering) also gave me a chance to try out a new service I’m offering: custom cocktail creation. Because it’s an interesting process (and a yummy drink), I thought I’d share how I went about designing the cocktail to fit the event.

First some background: the party was a Mary Kay Holiday Open House hosted by a trio of consultants, one of which is a good friend from high school, who requested a non-alcoholic drink because people would be coming and going, plus there’d be young ones around. My friend and the other two consultants, lovely ladies all, are fun and bubbly so I had a pretty good feel for their personalities in relation to the type of party they wanted this to be.

So right off the bat I’m thinking pink (I mean, Mary Kay: what else is there?) and possibly cranberry since it’s a fairly popular flavor and a good base for a mocktail but where to go after that? I could do a cranberry-orange mix that’s sorta like a virgin Cosmopolitan, but that wasn’t special enough; this drink needed to be truly unique so a non-alcoholic version of any regular cocktail just seemed like a cop-out to me.

Another thought flitting through my mind is the skin-care  classes the consultants host, so if I could make the drink frothy or milky, reminiscent of a lotion maybe, that would be even better. Being November a smoothie seemed a little much and most frothy cocktails involved egg whites and that’s a tough sell to a stranger even if it is a component of many classic cocktails. I briefly considered experimenting with the powdered pasteurized egg whites but ditched it just as quick. That leaves milk, but with potential diary allergies or intolerance, was that really the best option? And would it even combine nicely with the cranberry juice?

I let this mull over in my mind for a few days when I suddenly had an epiphany: Bubble Tea! For those who’ve not tasted it before, bubble tea is an Asian drink (I’m honestly not sure which culture truly claims it, I’ve seen references to Japanese as well as Vietnamese origins), a sweet combination of tea and milk with, usually, a fruit flavor added and large black tapioca pearls (the bubble part of the equation) in the bottom of the cup. It’s served with a wide straw so that the pearls, which are cooked to a gummy consistency, can be sucked up and enjoyed as well. Now, I’d never seen a cranberry bubble tea and I certainly didn’t want to use the powders (both for the tea and flavorings) that seem to be the norm, but I really liked the idea and thought it had potential.

Thinking Asian got me thinking about another milk alternative: coconut milk. Not coconut cream like you use in a Pina Colada, but the type used in Thai curries. I considered using other dairy alternatives (almond, rice and soy milks) but when I started to do some digging into the health properties of each, coconut milk was the surprising winner. Even though it contains saturated fats (usually a bad thing), the saturated fat of the coconut is unusual in it’s makeup and not harmful like the ones from animal sources. Plus I found out that coconut milk is anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-carcinogenic, anti-bacterial and has been used in studies to lessen the viral load of AIDS patients!

See, I’d already named this drink The Facial, at least as a working title, and thought that if regular facials are good for our skin, a drink named as such should be somewhat good for our bodies. So, as I experimented with the various ingredients (green tea and cranberry juice, both good things!) I tried to keep that in mind. And experiment I did. It took several trials combining different teas (regular green and flavored), the coconut milk, juice and brown sugar syrup to get a drink that was tasty and had the right color and consistency. And, of course, the tapioca pearls I found were the small white kind so as I cooked them I tinted them black with icing paste (both to match the color scheme of the party–pink, black and silver–as well as resemble the micro-beads that are in various scrubs and serums the company sells) and then stored them in the recommended brown sugar syrup.

Here’s the resulting mocktail, renamed The Miracle after the company’s core skin-care set.

The Miracle Mocktail

2.5 oz brewed Cranberry-Pomegranate Green Tea
2.5 oz 100% Juice Cranberry Juice
.5 oz Brown Sugar Syrup*
.5 oz Grenadine (mostly for color, can be omitted)
1 oz Coconut Milk
1 Tbsp Tapioca Pearls, tinted

Place the Tapioca Pearls in the bottom of a sugar-rimmed cocktail glass.

Combine the tea through coconut milk in a cocktail shaker over ice and shake for a good count of 10. Pour over the tapioca pearls and enjoy!

* Brown sugar syrup is made by combining 1 part brown sugar, 1 part white sugar and 2 parts water in a saucepan and heating until the sugars are completely dissolved. Can be made ahead and store in the fridge for more than a month. Also good in rum-based cocktails where regular sugar syrup is called for though it can change the color of a drink.

The drink was a hit, both with the hostess trio and the guests and I had so much fun creating it and playing bartender throughout the evening. I did get asked if it was harder coming up with a non-alcoholic cocktail and I had to admit that, yes, it was a little more challenging to come up with something different enough to justify the effort but it was definitely rewarding and I’m looking forward to the next opportunity to create a custom cocktail!

If you’d like to find out how to get your own custom cocktail creation, email me at randomactscomics@gmail.com.

Meet the Reds: Pinot Noir

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I saved my favorite for last. Yes, I’ve been on a serious Noir kick for the last few years and, once again, it has nothing to do with a certain wine movie I’ve yet to watch. Although, if that had anything to do with Pinot Noirs being easier to find, then, okay, maybe it has a little something to do with it.

As a grape, Pinot is another farmed in the Burgundy region of France as well as Champagne–according to one source 75% of Champagne is produced by Pinot Noir grapes. It’s grown all over Europe, actually, as well as in the States but it does tend to be a finicky grape, high maintenance in soil requirements and enjoys a later harvest than others so many vintners consider it a difficult grape. I think the rewards far outweight the cost.

My love of Pinot Noir came quite by chance. I was browsing the wine aisles of my local World Market when I saw a fun-looking label featuring the See/Hear/Speak No Evil monkeys, that wine was named Pinot Evil (think about it, maybe say it aloud for the joke to kick in). Now, I know certain wine experts have said that anything with an animal on the label isn’t worth drinking but I found this Pinot Noir to be quite delicious, especially for $6.99. The label describes it as “velvety” and I couldn’t agree more. But, hearkening to other reviews I’ve read, do let it breathe for about an hour or so before drinking it. Goes well with almost anything, in our house.

Another good Pinot, this one from California (Pinot Evil is a French Import), comes from Echelon Vineyards in Napa. Carried by our favorite local steakhouse (and retailing for about $10.99 at World Market), it comes off a little sharper than the Pinot Evil but still with the dry dry red characteristics and a bit of spice. Obviously it goes well with steaks and pork chops, but anything rich and saucy would do well with this pairing.