Tag Archives: Spirited Cuisine

Spirited Cuisine: Creme de menthe

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Minty Fresh
Originally uploaded by beatnikside

This is the eighth installment in the Spirited Cuisine series from Sri Bala (Shaman) and me. Each round, I select a liquor or spirit, and Sri creates a dessert recipe incorporating it. Find Sri’s posts at his blog and mine here within the Lush Life category.

Imagine a sweltering summer evening, when you’re stuck to your chair, your clothes are stuck to you, and your brain is stuck in neutral. You need a tremendous thunderstorm, but one can’t just call up a thunderstorm.

When I want a thunderstorm and don’t have one, I go for the next most cooling thing: Mint.

These days, when people want mint in a cocktail, they call for mint juleps and mojitos, both of which are made with fresh mint leaves. That’s lovely, but for real minty freshness your better choice is a drink that employs crème de menthe. It makes drinks crisp — a little like mouthwash but in a good way.

Crème de menthe is made by flavoring grain alcohol with mint and adding sugar. This means it’s not expensive, and it’s not a liquor you drink by itself. Rather, it works best in a mixed drink, balanced with other ingredients.

There are two varieties: white crème de menthe, which is clear, and green crème de menthe. They are flavored the same, so you choose one or the other depending on whether you want the result to be green.

Note that crème de menthe is not the same as peppermint schnapps. They are made in much the same way — peppermint schnapps is an American-style schnapps, not German-style, and thus is not distilled from the fruit that flavors it. But the mint flavor is different between them, and peppermint schnapps has a higher alcohol content. Be careful in swapping one for the other.

Fun fact: Stewie Griffin enjoys an occasional crème de menthe. (Source: Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story)

Classic crème de menthe cocktails include:

  • the Grasshopper, a frothy green concoction that’s kind of a mini, boozy milkshake
  • the Stinger, which I’ve written about before, and which is a particularly nice cocktail for the end of a meal
  • the Junior Mint, another dessert alternative and one that tastes just like the candy for which it’s named

For this post, let me suggest something more modern: a Bitch on Wheels. (I apologize for the name.) This is not a classic cocktail, but I’ve seen variations listed in enough places that I believe it has general appeal and staying power. As it happens, when I first read the recipe I was sure I would not like it, but I was pleasantly surprised. My version below balances the mint against the anise of the Pernod, and plays down the vermouth but keeps it in play. Try it despite the name — or for the name — and see if it surprises you too.

Bitch on Wheels

1 1/2 oz gin (Tanqueray is nice in this)
1/2 oz Pernod
1/2 oz crème de menthe
splash of vermouth

Shake or stir well with ice, strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a tiny mint leaf if you like.

Despite some research, I have no idea where the name comes from. Made with green crème de menthe and milky-yellow-green Pernod, the drink’s color is reminiscent of the skin of the Wicked Witch of the West — that’s my best guess. Add your theories to the comments. Please also suggest a different name.

If you’re inclined to an even cooler beverage on a hot summer day, I refer you to my Spirited Cuisine partner, Sri. He brings us an extremely special guest chef this time: his mother. She has created a truly delicious dessert, the Choco de Menthe. Remarkably, it cools the body as it warms the soul. And her writing reveals her to be every bit as charming as her son. Please enjoy.

Spirited Cuisine: Scotch whisky

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On the rocks -- Orkney Islands in ScotlandThis is the sixth installment in the Spirited Cuisine series from Sri Bala (Shaman) and me. Each round, I select a liquor or spirit, and Sri creates a dessert recipe incorporating it. Find Sri’s posts at his blog and mine here within the Lush Life category.

Here’s a great cocktail made with Scotch…..

Are you still here? Thank you for staying. You are a special, open-minded sort of person. People avoid Scotch-based cocktails for one of two reasons:

  1. They are "real Scotch drinkers" and would never pollute their beverage of choice with mixers — nothing stronger than an ice cube or a splash of water or soda.
  2. They despise the taste of Scotch and would never drink it in any form.

Scotch is the Champagne of liquors: It comes only from a particular region of the world, the government of a country regulates what may and may not use its name, and it’s surrounded by allure and confusion.

Scotch out-Champagnes Champagne in fact, because it somehow creates fierce loyalty in its drinkers. According to my source at the PA Wines & Spirits store at Moraine Point in Butler, Scotch buyers walk in the door and directly to their label of choice, never look at another brand, and walk out empty-handed if their Scotch isn’t in stock.

The real name for Scotch is "Scotch whisky" — note the absence of the "e." Quick definition:

Malt whisky must contain no grain other than malted barley and is traditionally distilled in pot stills. Grain whisky may contain unmalted barley or other malted or unmalted grains such as wheat and maize (corn) and is typically distilled in a continuous column still, known as a Patent or Coffey still, the latter after Aeneas Coffey who refined the column still in 1831. While there are scores of malt whisky distilleries, only seven grain distilleries currently exist, most located in the Scottish Lowlands.

Scotch, Canadian whisky, Irish whiskey, American whiskey, and bourbon are all made nearly the same way, but with different starting ingredients. You’d think this would mean they are easily substituted for each other in cocktails. You can swap Canadian whisky, American whiskey, and bourbon without much loss, but not Scotch or Irish whiskey — and the prime reason is the smoky peat flavor that’s characteristic to these two types.

The smoke flavor comes when peat is used in the fire that roasts the barley malt. It completely changes a drink — much the way that grilling over a mesquite fire imparts a distinctive flavor to the meat or vegetable. It’s distinctive, and many people like it. And many others find it awful.

The best Scotch cocktails use the peat smoke flavor to advantage. Three that I recommend are the Rob Roy, the Godfather, and the Black Watch. Why these drinks work is that the second ingredient (sweet vermouth, Amaretto, and Kahlua, respectively) is strong enough to stand up to the smoke of the Scotch. You get a blend of both flavors, plus some sweetness. Of the three, my favorite is the Godfather.

Rob Roy
1 part sweet vermouth
4 parts Scotch
Either chill a stemmed cocktail glass or put ice in a lowball/rocks glass. Fill a shaker with ice, add ingredients, stir or shake, strain into glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

Godfather
3 parts Scotch
1 part Amaretto
Put ice in a rocks glass. Add ingredients, stir well, serve.

Black Watch
1 part Kahlua
1 part Scotch
splash of soda water
Put ice in rocks glass. Add Kahlua and Scotch, stir briefly, add splash of soda. Garnish with lemon twist and serve.

If you’re not familiar with Scotch, you may now be asking which type of Scotch to use for these drinks. If you do drink Scotch, you are probably still thinking that you’re never going to defile your drink with mixers and odd ingredients.

Here’s the thing: All Scotch is not created equal, just as all bourbons are not the same. If you give me a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle 20 year, I will not be using it to make Old Fashioneds. Similarly, if you’ve got a bit of Aberlour a’bunadh, I’d suggest you serve it in a small glass with an ice cube or a bit of filtered water. You will need nothing else.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a cocktail that combines rich flavor with sweetness but still has some backbone, grab a bottle of Scotch in the $20 to $40 range, mix up a nice Godfather, and enjoy.

Sri has strong affection for Scotch and was more than a little concerned when I suggested he devise a dessert with it. Yet he succeeded. Hop over to his site and check out "single malt whisky jelly with lemon sorbet." Mmm!

Next time: Spiced rum.

Spirited Cuisine: Galliano

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Galliano and glass (photo from Wikipedia)This is the fifth installment in the Spirited Cuisine series from Sri Bala (Shaman) and me. Each round, I select a liquor or spirit, and Sri creates a dessert recipe incorporating it. Find Sri’s posts at his blog and mine here within the Lush Life category.

Spirited Cuisine has been on hiatus for a while — or rather, I’ve been on hiatus while Sri has carried the weight on his own, creating not just a dessert but also a cocktail for our current featured ingredient, Galliano. At last, here is my contribution to the party.

You’ve surely seen the distinctive Galliano bottle, a super-tall, taped bottle of bright yellow liqueur. It’s usually on a high shelf, for two reasons: First, it won’t fit anywhere else, and second, no one drinks anything that requires it.

Good and Plenty -- so crunchy, so sweet!Galliano tastes almost exactly like Good & Plenty candy — a Hershey’s brand confection made of black liquorice pink and white candy coating. (Fun fact: Good & Plenty is "the oldest branded candy in the United States.") The candy coating has a sugary vanilla flavor, just as Galliano does.

Most anise flavored liquors stand up for themselves in a mixed drink, but the subtle vanilla and other herbs of Galliano are easily overwhelmed. For instance, here’s the recipe for a Harvey Wallbanger, the best-known Galliano drink:

Harvey Wallbanger

3 parts Vodka
1 part Liquore Galliano
orange juice to fill

Mix the vodka and orange juice in a highball glass, then float the Liquore Galliano on top. Garnish with orange slice and maraschino cherry, and serve.

Even though the Galliano is floated on top, I find it’s almost completely obscured by the orange juice — especially if you’re using fresh squeezed juice, which you should for best taste.

Other Galliano drinks are a little better at highlighting the subtle charms of its flavors: the Golden Cadillac is just Galliano, creme de cacao, and cream. But I think Galliano is best served straight, in a cordial glass, as an after-dinner digestive.

Sri has concocted a lovely dessert that plays perfectly with Galliano’s flavorings: Galliano marzipans with dark chocolate ganache. The recipe and photos are so tempting you’ll have to buy a bottle — even though it’s too tall to fit on any shelf in your house. Trust me, it’s worth it.

Spirited Cuisine: Brandy

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You're a fine girlThis is the fourth installment in the Spirited Cuisine series from Sri Bala (Shaman) and me. Each round, I select a liquor or spirit, and Sri creates a dessert recipe incorporating it. Find Sri’s posts at his blog and mine here within the Lush Life category.

Brandy is the world’s oldest spirit — as old as distilling itself. It’s made by distilling wine or fermented fruit mash: Brandy made from wine is "brandy," while brandy from other fruit goes by the fruit’s name, like "cherry brandy." There are variants — for example, Cognac, which comes from the Cognac region of France. Oh, and don’t forget Armagnac (another high-end French brandy), and Metaxa and Ouzo from Greece, and Calvados (France again), and applejack (America), and kirschwasser (which I adore)…. On and on it goes.

Plus there are those crazy brandy snifters, which look cool but seem challenging to drink properly from. Am I supposed to cup it in my hand? Hold the base? Or maybe the stem? How long am I supposed to sniff? How goofy do I look while sniffing?

No wonder the average drinker is thrown off.

Our lack of familiarity with brandy is a real shame, because brandy is as flexible as liquors come. You can substitute it for bourbon, whiskey, vodka, or most other liquors in almost any cocktail for a neat twist on your standard drink. And it’s the best option for oomph in punch recipes like champagne punch, sangria, eggnog punch….

Brandy is the go-to-guy of the bar.

Brandy is also the main ingredient in two of the classic cocktails: the Sidecar and the Stinger.

The Sidecar is kicker of a drink. It has a balance of citrus tang and sugar sweetness — from a combination of Cointreau and either lemon or lime — backed by the smoothness of the brandy. People can debate whether it’s a "girly drink," but it has all the muscle any drink needs. I like mine mixed like this:

Sidecar

2 parts good brandy
1 part Cointreau
big squeeze of lime

Stir with ice, strain into chilled, stemmed cocktail glass. Skip the garnish and start sipping … slowly.

As for the Stinger, it too is deceptively strong but still sophisticated. According to Esquire’s Handbook for Hosts (published in 1949, "A Time-Honored Guide to the Perfect Party"):

Formerly a quiet member of the "horsey" set, an also-ran in the cocktail derby, the Stinger buzzed into popularity when wartime pilots discovered how well it lives up to its name. Even though Army-Navy plane clothes have been doffed for plain clothes, the ex-fliers still like to check out on the Stinger.

I like it after dinner, because it tastes of mint and seems to help digestion. Besides, if I have one or two before dinner, I find that the meal flies by without me remembering to eat.

Stinger

2 parts brandy
1 part white Creme de Menthe

Stir with cracked ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Get ready to buzz.

Brandy plays extraordinarily well in food too, as demonstrated by Sri’s culinary creation for this round: Brandy Bread Pudding with Apples and Spice. In addition to the recipe being tasty, the photo essay that accompanies it is a wonder. I promise your mouth will be watering as you read. Enjoy.

Our next inspiration for Spirited Cuisine: Galliano, that crazy yellow stuff in the too-tall bottle.

Spirited Cuisine: Drambuie, “the drink that satisfies”

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Bonnie Prince Charles recommends Drambuie

This is the third installment in the Spirited Cuisine series from Sri Bala (Shaman) and me. Each week or so I select a liquor or spirit, and Sri creates a dessert recipe incorporating it. Find Sri’s posts at his blog and mine here within the Lush Life category.

Last fall on BBC America, I started to see an ad featuring a young man running across the rooftops of some foggy city, intercut with apparently the same man sporting much longer hair and wearing a kilt, dashing across the Scottish highlands. Eventually the kilted man throws a scroll, the rooftop man catches it and pockets it, and the rooftop man lands at a rooftop bar, calmly joins the party, and orders a drink that turns out to be Drambuie and soda. (Currently you can see the ad in the Advertising section of the official Drambuie website. Purportedly the rooftops are those of Edinburgh. )

I didn’t like the ad — I still don’t. Why is the guy jumping across rooftops? Why does he stop at the bar — where did his pursuers go? What does it have to do with the guy from hundreds of years ago throwing a piece of paper? What’s on the paper? But the ad did get me thinking about Drambuie, which I’d never tried. I hadn’t known it was from Scotland, and I’d certainly not thought of drinking it with soda. Maybe it would be interesting….

Sure enough, one evening at a happy hour I found myself ordering Drambuie and soda, and I really enjoyed it. Sweet but not syrupy, kind of like a leaner whiskey and cola, or an exotic alternative to rum and Coke.

And so we see that an ad doesn’t have to be likeable to be effective.

As it happens, Drambuie has a tough hill to climb to get attention. It’s made from Scotch whisky, but the average Scotch drinker is repelled by the thought of polluting Scotch with honey and herbs. Meanwhile, those who like sweet cocktails shake their heads at the idea of drinking anything that involves smokey Scotch.

All of which is too bad for a storied liquor. Drambuie was created over 250 years ago for Charles Edward Stuart — Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Rebel Prince — by his apothecary, as a way to fortify the prince and his top clansmen in battle. (That’s Charles in the advertisement — quite a snappy dresser, eh?) As to how the liqueur got from the Prince’s kitchens to bars around the world:

In 1746, Prince Charles Edward Stuart fled to the isle of Skye. There, he was given sanctuary by Captain John Mackinnon. After staying with the Captain, the prince rewarded him with this prized drink recipe. The Mackinnon family has been producing the drink since. (Wikipedia)

The name Drambuie comes from the Scottish Gaelic phrase "am dram buidheach," "the drink that satisfies." The recipe is secret (naturally), but is known to involve Scotch whisky and honey, plus possibly saffron, nutmeg, and other spices believed to be healthful at the time.

The most common ways to drink Drambuie are on the rocks and in a Rusty Nail — a simple but classic cocktail, 1 part Scotch whisky and 1 part Drambuie, stirred and served over ice. The makers of Drambuie have thought up lots of other ways to drink more of their product, all of which you can find buried within the foot-dragging Flash of the Drambuie website.

And if that’s not enough to convince you to pick up a bottle for your liquor cabinet, Sri has concocted a simple and yummy dessert that makes the most of Drambuie’s spicy seduction. Please hop over to his site and enjoy A Toast to Drambuie.

And as for next time: Our featured spirit will be brandy — the oldest spirit, and a great way to warm oneself on a chilly winter’s day.

Dessert in a glass

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The original Pierrot by Francisco Tamagno

This is the second installment in the Spirited Cuisine series from Sri Bala (Shaman) and me. Each week or so I select a liquor or spirit, and Sri creates a dessert recipe incorporating it. Find Sri’s posts at his blog and mine here within the Lush Life category.

In the summer of 1997, I traveled through Europe with friends and we stayed a few days in Verona. We were sitting at a table outside a restaurant, just finished dinner, and it was a beautiful night for sitting outside. I didn’t want dessert — too full — but I did want something as a finale to the meal, maybe something sweet. So I ordered Cointreau on ice, and it was perfect: like dessert in a glass, so lovely with the warm night air and the conversation and the people walking by.

It’s a really French drink, from the heavily-vowelled name to the square and awkward bottle to the tangy sweet taste. The longtime mascot of Cointreau was a strikingly French clown named Pierrot, featured in both the ads you see here. The original Pierrot (top image) was created by the Italian poster designer Francisco Tamagno. The face, including the lorgnon, is a caricature of company founder Edouard Cointreau.

The stylized Pierrot, by Jean Mercier

Over time, artwork for the company’s ads was taken over by Cointreau’s grandson, Jean Mercier. He simplified and stylized Pierrot, and his version is the one with which more people associate Cointreau. Pierrot appeared in a variety of posters and ads through the years (bottom image).

Edouard Cointreau was a master marketer. To distinguish his liqueur from imitators he used a memorable square, amber glass bottle, and company trucks and booths were shaped to match. He also trademarked his brand name early on, and is credited with creating the first film commercial to be shown in cinemas. Some ads featured cross-marketing with TWA and other companies.

Cointreau is pricey compared with other triple sec options, but it’s tasty and smooth enough to be worth the cost. And it’s a versatile liqueur. The Cointreau website features a long list of cocktail recipes, including the Cosmopolitan, the Margarita, the Kamikaze, a very interesting thing called a Little Devil, and (my favorite) the classic Sidecar.

The site also has yummy-looking food recipes, but Sri has made all the desserts there obsolete with his creation: the Cointreau Dream. Like my Cointreau on ice it too is dessert in a glass, but it’s a whole other world of delight. Go see, and set your mouth watering.

Info sources: Cointreau website (international version and USA version) and CeruttiMiller.com. Artwork from and eBay.

Spirited cuisine: Frangelico

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Hazelnut MartiniSri Bala has come up with a delightful adventure that combines cooking and drinking, photography and blogging. Each week, I’ll suggest a liqueur or alcoholic beverage, and Sri will create a dish that uses it as an ingredient. He’ll be blogging about the food part over at his fine blog, with photographs and recipes and other wonderfulness, and I’ll expand upon the boozy parts here.

For this week, I selected Frangelico, an Italian liquor. It comes in a distinctive bottle, shaped like a monk with an actual bit of rope tied around the waist. The flavor is primarily hazelnut, but you can also taste cocoa, vanilla, a bit of oak, and other spices.

Oh, and sugar — it’s sweet as all get-out, in the style of liqueurs like Amaretto and Framboise.

Typically one drinks it after dinner, on the rocks or in coffee, or as part of a cocktail like a Nutty Irishman. Frangelico is excellent mixed with a shot of espresso, and can be layered in a pretty pousse-cafe with coffee or espresso and whipped cream.

And you can mix a bit with vanilla vodka for a hazelnut Martini (pictured here — note that I need to improve my photo skills if I hope to keep up with Sri in this adventure). Lovely in chilly weather.

Frangelico doesn’t show up in recipes as often as amaretto does, which is a shame. It’s delicious, and of course the bottle is a hoot. So it was my clear choice for the first week of this intoxicating culinary adventure.

And now, without further ado, I invite you to hop over to Sri’s place and check out Drunken Rice Noodles — “rice noodles chilled in Frangelico and soy milk, with hints of vanilla and cardamom.” Mmm!