John Edgar Park, one pixel at a time
Inspired by Brookelynn and Becky! blog.craftzine.com/archive/2010/08/brandied_cocktail_cher… I simmered up some water, raw sugar, cinnamon bark, lemon juice, and vanilla.
Added cherries (I left the pits in out of laziness and in hope that some of that almond flavor will be imparted), simmered another five minutes.
Then bottled the cherries in the syrupy juice and added brandy. In a day they should be ready, but I added one to a Manhattan tonight and loved it.
This is the glorious result of my first ever attempt at making my own tonic syrup. It tastes delicious — better than nearly any other tonic I’ve had. The chinchona bark I started with is a bit more floral than I’d prefer, but I have a few other kinds on order to play with.
I followed Jeffrey Morgenthaler’s basic recipe, and it couldn’t have been easier. First, I pulverized the chinchona bark in a coffee mill. Then I added it to a sauce pan with water, citric acid, salt, allspice berries, and the zest and juice of a lemon, lime, and orange (I had no lemongrass, but will next time). Brought to a boil, simmered covered for 20 minutes, and then strained through cheese cloth and a french press.
Once strained, I reheated and incorporated the agave syrup. The taste is bitter, tart, sweet, and awesome. I don’t have any seltzer or sparkling water on hand, but that’s fine. My first goal was to recreate the fine Tonique Gin cocktail Ed made for me at Bar Tonique in New Orleans last year. Mission accomplished! I used 3/4 oz. tonic syrup, 1 1/2 oz. gin, stirred with ice. Delicious.
I recently came into a nice bottle of absinthe (OK, it was a very strange Father’s Day gift, if you must know). The classic way to drink the green stuff is an Absinthe Drip, which is composed of a couple of ounces of absinthe, and a few ounces of ice water dripped over a sugar cube into the drink.
You can do the sugar and water bit through any strainer, but the stylish way is on a dedicated piece of gear called an absinthe spoon. I don’t make this drink with great enough frequency to warrant buying one, so I joked with a friend about laser cutting one instead. Why just joke about it? This here is for you, Tod.
I traced a photo of a Toulouse Lautrec-designed spoon in CorelDraw. I modified the design a bit, and added my initials at the top. I then used this vector file to cut a piece of 1/8″ acrylic on an Epilog Zing laser cutter. I’m very pleased with the results! However, I would warn against setting your sugar cube on fire over an acrylic absinthe spoon.
The Ramos Gin Fizz. Ah. Born in 1887 to Henry Charles “Carl” Ramos. Not technically a cocktail, but a fizz. A morning-after drink for clearing the haze after you’ve had a few too many the night before. Downright delicious; a creamy, frothy, fragrant, lovely way to set things right again with the dawning day.
It doesn’t come easy. The problem faced here is an emulsification that doesn’t want to happen. We’ve got egg whites, citrus, dairy, sugar, and alcohol being forced to hang out together. They don’t want to. In days past, bartenders mixed all of it at once and had dedicated underlings who shook the heck out of it for fifteen minutes. Modern bartenders use a spring and a two-step mixing process to cut the shaking down to about two minutes.
Ramos Gin Fizz
À la Ed Diaz, Bar Tonique, New Orleans, LA (820 N. Rampart, on the edge of the French Quarter)
- 1 1/2 oz Old Tom Gin*
- 3/4 oz Cointreau
- 3/4 oz Fresh squeezed Lemon Juice
- 3/4 oz Fresh squeezed Lime Juice
- 3/4 oz Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1/2 oz simple Syrup (2:1)
- 1/2 an egg white (this drink is traditionally built for two, in which case, double the recipe and use the whole egg white)
- 2 oz Club Soda
- 3 drops Orange Flower Water
Pour the citrus and egg white in a Boston Shaker with the spring from a Hawthorn strainer and dry shake for one minute. Keep ingredients in the tin and in the glass add the Gin, Cointreau, Cream, and Simple Syrup. Fill with ice reconnect with the tin and Shake for one minute. Strain into a large Highball glass (no ice,) top with Club soda, and garnish with Orange Flower Water.
Many thanks to Ed for sharing this with me.
*Most pre-Prohibition cocktails that called for gin used something very different from what we’re familiar with today. Old Tom is a sweeter, lower-proof style than the typical London dry gin. You’ll find Hayman’s brand without much difficulty.
