el elevado

For last week's TDN the theme was, well, there was no theme, it was a free for all where you could use any ingredients.  It was called "Retro", I gathered because back when they first started before I began playing along they had no themes.  Here was my first offering:

el elevado

• 2 oz crema de mescal
• ½ oz aquavit
• 1 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
• ¾ oz fresh lime juice
• ½ oz Cointreau
• ½ oz yellow Chartreuse
• 1 dash celery bitters
• celery stalk for garnish
  

shake and strain into Nambé Tilt DOF Glass over fresh (large) rock(s), garnish with celery stalk

I based this on the excellent Loop Tonic by Phil Ward of Mayahuel.  (Although I'm ashamed to admit I've not yet made it there, and in fact had the drink at Momofuku ssäm bar, where I am not ashamed to admit I go quite often, and which now has a very nice cocktail program including not only superb new concoctions such as the celery&nori (nori-infused laird's applejack, celery syrup, celery bitters), but pays tribute with some highlights from other notable dens, as well as properly crafted classics.)  The "Loop" reminds me of Chicago, which made me think of the El trains, and the mescal is Mexican, which is how the name el elevado found its way to my mind's egress.  From the link above:

Loop Tonic

• 2 oz Heradura Silver
• 1 oz Dolin Dry Vermouth
• ¾ oz freshly squeezed lime juice
• ½ oz simple syrup
• ½ oz green Chartreuse
• Dash of the Bitter Truth celery bitters
• One celery stalk

Combine all the liquid ingredients in a shaker. Add about 5 ice cubes and shake vigorously for 5–10 seconds. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with the celery stick.

The final version of mine didn't land as far away from the Loop Tonic as I had intended and would have liked.  I was hoping I could cut out the simple and dial back the chartreuse and use the 10% agave in the crema and addition of aquavit to achieve a similar balance of sweetness and herbal complexity, but it needed further tweaking and this is where it led me.  Other than the smoke from the mescal, it has only very subtle differences from the Loop, with perhaps a bit more richness.  But that said, the Loop is great, and smoke is nice, so a smoky Loop is not so bad, just not as original as would be ideal.

Rockin' World Go Round

If you liked the sound of the Vieux Gras but don't have any foie gras lying around, you can give the Rockin' World Go Round a try, as it is in fact what I did first.  I had the concept for the Vieux Gras and foie gras-infused Cognac in my mind for a while, but in the meantime I used the idea of the curry caramelized pear sauce as sweetener in a riff on the Old Fashioned in one of my drinks for the "Apples and Pears" TDN way back on Oct 15.  So here it is, using both apples (calvados) and pears:

Rockin' World Go Round

• 1¼ oz Cognac
• 1¼ oz Calvados
• ¼ oz  madras curry-cinnamon-pear caramel syrup
• 1 dash aromatic bitters

stir and strain into double old fashioned glass with one giant cube, garnish with slice of Cortland apple (they don't brown!). **Make the syrup by muddling or pureeing curry caramelized pear sauce and forcing through strainer, or use more like ½ oz and strain pear chunks.

JAQK Cellars

Disclaimer: shameless plug*

JAQK Cellars is a year old wine company that launched Oct 2008 with a lineup of eight California wines.  The brand has a bit of whimsy to it, with the motto "play a little" and the wines designed and named after aspects of gaming such as cards and dice.  In fact, JAQK was the official wine of the World Series of Poker this year, even though she's only a year old.  The bottle design is very cool, but most importantly I quite like the wine, which is made by winemaker Craig MacLean.

The first vintage is almost gone now, so get it while it lasts; they're bottling now for the next release of the new wines early next year.  I'm particularly partial to the Black Clover Merlot and the Soldiers of Fortune Shiraz.  Here's the whole lineup:

• High Roller Cabernet Sauvignon
• Black Clover Merlot
• Soldiers of Fortune Shiraz
• Pearl Handle Chardonnay
• 22 Black Cabernet Sauvignon
• Bone Dance Merlot
• Her Majesty Chardonnay
• Charmed Sauvignon Blanc

*JAQK was co-founded by a friend of a friend, and they were raising capital from investors so I invested a small amount.  But I only did that because I like the stuff...

Vieux Gras with Foie Gras-Infused Cognac

Mixology Monday November didn't end up occurring, but this Monday will be MxMo December, hosted by Kevin Langmack at Beers in the Shower, with the theme "Money Drinks."  The theme is open to interpretation, and Kevin offers several examples.  The one I'm going with is the indulgent cocktail using special ingredients, in this vein from his site:

Along with what you mentioned, I'm thinking it could include stuff along the lines of "there are some drinks that really prompt you to break out the good stuff", including ways people upgrade drinks for special occasions -- having old friends over, birthday drinks, etc, for example mixing your regular Sazerac, but breaking out the Red Hook Rye and the Jade Edouard absinthe for a Sazerac capable of breaking the sound barrier." - the only rule to this one is you actually have to make it

Before the official announcement post, Paul Clarke mentioned several upcoming events, one of which was this MxMo, but I glanced quickly at it and misread the theme as "Monkey Drinks."  I was anxiously awaiting Kevin's announcement wondering what that meant, and commented thusly about my mistake once he posted it, if you are wondering what Paul was talking about on the MxMo website.  But I guess "Monkey Drinks" is for another episode.  

As you can guess from the title of this post, the indulgent ingredient I'm going with is foie gras.  As in foie gras-infused cognac.  Oh, and 25 year old Balsamic vinegar.  And some Sauternes.  (No, not Château d'Yquem, not even I am that silly.  Ok, well maybe I could be, but I wasn't this time.)  I actually got this idea in my head a while ago, but only made it last week, as it's not often I have foie gras lying around.  This time serendipity prevailed and the timing was perfect, since for the inagural Iron Chef Tribeca we recently hosted I procured an entire foie gras liver, so I finally had my chance.  The idea for the drink was basically to make an Old Fashioned, but using the foie gras-infused cognac for the spirit and a curry caramelized pear sauce for the sweetener.  And a dash of balsamic, since I use that for the actual seared foie dish.  So here's my submission for MxMo:

Vieux Gras

• 2 oz foie gras-infused cognac*
  
• ½ oz  curry caramelized pear sauce**
  
• 2 dashes angostura bitters
• dash aged balsamic to finish
  

stir and strain into double old fashioned glass with one giant cube***, top with dash balsamic, garnish with slice of Cortland apple (they don't brown!).  ½ oz of the sauce sounds like a lot, as it is sweet, but roughly half is chunks of fruit that will (mostly) stay in the stirring vessel.

*To infuse the cognac, do a simple fat wash with the rendered fat (don't let it burn!) from cooking the foie gras using the same procedure as you would for Bacon-infused bourbon.  This infused cognac is also a damn fine sipper, feel free to drink unadulterated.

**Here's how to make the sauce:

Curry Caramelized Pear Sauce

• 2 pears (or quince or apples, I used apples for Iron Chef)
• 1 teaspoon curry powder (madras is nice)
• 4 oz sugar
• 2 oz Sauternes (or other sweet white wine)
• 1 cinnamon stick

Dice the pear. In a thick bottom pot make a caramel with the sugar. (I add a dash of corn syrup, the different sugar molecule helps stablize the caramel.)  When golden brown add Sauternes and stir to dissolve. Add the fruit, cinnamon, and the curry and simmer until the quince is soft.  Keep warm for seared foie or cool to make Vieux Gras.

Simmering Sauce.

Finished Sauce.

Cleaning and portioning the foie.

Plating with the aged Balsamic.

And the finished dish.

***How'd you make that giant ice cube you ask?

Simple, get yourself some of these ice trays from the MoMa store to delight your friends at your next gathering.




















(late) UPDATE: Here's the roundup.

Hot Scotty

'Tis the season, so the theme for this week's TDN was Hot Drinks:

As the blood-cracked, icy fingers of winter descend upon the Land of Mixology, we turn to one final respite. One last hope to cope with the cold. Warm cocktails. Toddies, slings, butters, wrinkles, and hoozles. Bring your thermos and join the festivities!

Since I was at first having trouble coming up with something for this week, my mind wandered to my Montgomery Burns cocktail I had made last week and liked very much for the Allspice TDN.  Also it was fresh in my mind since I just got around to posting its write-up, plus one of the first drinks submitted last week using the Dram was hot and the spice worked well in that warm environment.  So taking my base recipe, while keeping the interplay between the allspice, scotch, and benedictine, I swapped the Vermouth for Honey Syrup more typically found in a Hot Toddy and give you the Hot Scotty:

Hot Scotty

• 2 oz blended scotch (Johnnie Black)
• ½ oz St. Elizabeth's allspice dram
• 1 oz honey syrup
• ¼ oz Benedictine
• 3 oz hot water

stir; lemon twist garnish

NyQuil Lightning

'Tis the season, so the theme for this week's TDN  (happening right now) was (is) Hot Drinks:

As the blood-cracked, icy fingers of winter descend upon the Land of Mixology, we turn to one final respite. One last hope to cope with the cold. Warm cocktails. Toddies, slings, butters, wrinkles, and hoozles. Bring your thermos and join the festivities!

After being somewhat at a loss for ideas for origional hot drinks and considering sitting this week out, inspiration struck.  I had read a Paul Clarke post indicating Green Chartreuse paired well with Hot Chocolate, so I decided to simulate the hot chocolate by generously spiking hot milk with Xocolatl Mole Bitters, which led me to this drink I find pleasing and complex:

NyQuil Lightning

• 1 oz Green Chartreuse
• ¾ oz Rye (Overholt)
• 4 oz hot milk
• 6 dashes Xocolatl Mole Bitters

stir and sweet dreams

Montgomery Burns

This was my other drink for the Allspice Dram TDN last week.  Obviously based on the classic Bobby Burns cocktail, here I cut back on the vermouth and benedictine a bit to make room for the Dram.  I mixed this up completely on a whim, and was VERY pleased with the results.  It was surprising how well the spice played with the smoke from the scotch and the herbal flavors from the vermouth and benedictine, and the other ingredients had plenty of heft to not be dominated by a full half ounce of the St. Elizabeth's, which is more strongly flavored than most homemade Drams (I'm told).  This might even be an actual improvement on the classic it was based on.  The name derives from the name of the base recipe and the well known character from The Simpsons, Mr. Burns would be old enough the be Bobby's brother, or maybe even father, right?

Montgomery Burns

• 2 oz blended scotch (Johnnie Black)
• ½ oz St. Elizabeth's allspice dram
• ½ oz carpano antica formula vermouth
• ¼ oz benedictine

stir and strain; garnish with shortbread or butter cookie