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Monthly Archives: June 2018
I recently had this cocktail at a restaurant near my office. Yeah, it was happy hour so I thought, “What the heck?” Well, I liked it a lot even though this establishment made every effort to ensure I would never return! Anyway, I thought I could tweak this beauty a wee bit and share it with you. This cocktail, created by New York’s Sam Ross (of Penicillin fame), uses equal parts of 4 ingredients (Bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and lemon juice) to produce a beautiful and delicious drink. Given that one of the essential ingredients is difficult to get in my area (Amaro Nonino), I am going to make a substitution and an addition to compensate. The result is an interesting interpretation which I…
This riff on the deliciously popular French 75 relies on tequila instead of gin and swaps lime for the lemon. The beauty is that this cocktail really rocks – especially if you use a good quality sipping type tequila. A perfect sipper for this first Friday of Summer, although our weather today has been a bit cool and showery. So I will enjoy this tasty tipple inside tonight… and perhaps I will revisit it again tomorrow night when the warm weather returns while relaxing in the gazebo with a bit of jazz playing. Now that sounds like a great way to spend a Summer evening! Save Print Mexican 75 Prep time: 5 mins Total time: 5 mins Serves: 1 Ingredients 2 oz tequila…
Tonight I tested our smoke infuser with a cocktail, something I think everyone that enjoys making their own cocktails should try. This negroni riff was perfect for adding a bit of smoke to; it tempered the sweetness of the bourbon and gave it a slightly scotch like quality. Experimenting with this new product is going to be fun (and delicious) based on the results of the few tests I have performed so far. This new product is easy to use and produces volumes of smoke. It will be useful for creating smoke effects as well as imparting the subtle hint of flavor. The only downside is that the product is not yet available for purchase. But if you have a little patience, we will have it available at…
This cocktail relies on a polarizing ingredient – Fernet-Branca. This amaro-like digestivo is extremely and uniquely flavorful and that in itself is the polarizing aspect. People either love it or hate it. Me? I like it… and since I have been on a huge amaro kick lately, this famous Italian fits into the stable neatly alongside the others. This cocktail was invented at London’s famed Savoy Hotel and is perfect for this chilly Friday of Negroni Week 2018. Yes, it is a negroni riff and it does an exemplary job representing this style. Check out my Instagram or Facebook profiles to see all the Negroni fun this week! Save Print Hanky Panky Prep time: 5 mins Total time: 5 mins Serves…
Tonight’s dish is a Japanese favorite that I had never heard of until today. The name Oyakodon roughly translates into Parent and Child Bowl. That is pretty twisted way to reference the two primary ingredients chicken and eggs. But even if that name a bit out there, this dish is delicious. It is simple to prepare (when you use a dashi powder!) and easy to tweak and augment if desired. This dish is referenced as Japanese soul food, which really causes me a bit if discomfort. How could I never have heard or experienced of this beauty before? It truly is satisfying – the simple melding of a salty, sweet, umami filled broth soaking into the rice topped with tender, flavorful chicken thigh bits, softened and…
Created during the Prohibition when adding citrus and sweeteners helped make ‘bathtub gin’ more palatable, this cocktail is ‘the bee’s knees’. That slang term means ‘the best’ and this easy sipper is perfect for a warm Friday night on this first evening in June. For those curious about honey syrup, it is simply 1 part honey dissolved into 1 part hot water. This thinned honey probably contributed to the cocktail’s name and being thinned,the honey is much easier to mix with the gin and lemon juice. I like to think of this drink as a sibling to the recently posted Gimlet – and each are easily interchangeable to satisfy your tastes with a minimal number of ingredients…