Showing posts with label cocktail party food pairing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cocktail party food pairing. Show all posts

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Pairing the Sidecar with Stuffed Mushrooms

The Sidecar, redolent with the aromas of citrus and cognac, pairs perfectly with our stuffed mushrooms.

The Sidecar, invented in Europe following World War I, and one of David A. Embury’s six basic drinks in The Fine Art of Mixing Drinks, is considered a classic among cocktailians across the globe. Just bring the glittering amber to your lips and you’ll soon learn why. The aroma alone is intoxicating: lemon and orange, with a familiar mix of cognac, one of the truly amazing members of the spirit world.

Pairing Sidecars isn’t such an easy task. You want to keep the citrus flavors balanced without bringing out too much of the cognac’s strength. That’s why stuffed mushrooms work so well: the richness of the butter in the stuffing is a perfect foil to the cognac, and brings out the flavors of the lemon juice and the orange liqueur without making it too sour. Add a little saffron and Italian herbs to spice things up, and all the flavors seem to just come together in one small bite.

The Sidecar
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces cognac or brandy
1 ounce orange liqueur (we like Combier)
1/2 ounce lemon juice
demerara sugar rim (or turbinado)
lemon twist, as garnish

Method
Rim half a chilled cocktail glass with the sugar (you may need to muddle or grind the sugar if it’s too chunky). In a shaker half-filled with ice, add the cognac, orange liqueur, and lemon juice. Shake for 15 seconds. Strain into glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

Tips & Tricks

Finding the right triple sec can be a daunting prospect. We searched high and low until we found the one we thought mixed perfectly with a variety of brandies and cognacs. If you use one other than Combier, the ratios of the three ingredients may need to be adjusted. When experimenting, you can always use teaspoons instead of ounces to sample ratios before committing to a full cocktail.

Rimming a glass is easy. Just take a lemon wedge and rub the outer rim of your cocktail glass (you also can dip the glass in the liqueur if you prefer). Then dip the edge of the glass into the sugar and rotate, gently bobbing the glass up and down so that the sugar sticks to the rim.

PAIRING

Stuffed Mushrooms

Paul’s mom has made stuffed mushrooms ever since he can remember, and her recipe was the inspiration for this perfect little bite-size accompaniment to the Sidecar. Rosé wine and saffron, with a little Italian herbs, bump up the earthiness of these little treats. Make sure you get small baby bellas from the farmers market or grocery store; that way, your guests can pop them in their mouths without any worry. If you want to halve the recipe (as we do in the video), go ahead. If you end up with some leftover stuffing, it’s perfect as a little side dish for your main meal, or a topping for a turkey sandwich.

Ingredients
12 ounces mushrooms (clean and remove stems, reserve stems)
2 small onions
2 celery stalks (remove ribs)
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup unseasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
1 tablespoon Italian herbs (oregano, marjoram, basil)
salt and pepper, to taste (about 1/2 teaspoon and 1/4 teaspoon, respectively)
2 pinches saffron
1/2 cup rosé wine

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat. In a food processor, chop stems, onions, and celery until almost pulpy. Add mixture to skillet and brown, stirring occasionally (about 6 minutes). Add breadcrumbs, herbs, salt, pepper, and saffron, and mix until all ingredients are incorporated and the breadcrumbs have absorbed all the butter. Add wine and mix thoroughly. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Using a small measuring spoon, scoop out a little mixture and dollop onto underside of mushrooms caps. Press lightly to form a dome (do not overfill). Place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. If the mushrooms are wobbly, you can cut a little off the bottom using a small, thin knife. Bake for 20 minutes, until mushrooms are cooked and the stuffing has browned. Serve warm.

Makes about 3 dozen stuffed mushrooms.

Fun Fact

Did you know that the stems of mushrooms are called stipes?

photos © Steve Schul

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Pairing the French 75 with Shrimp Cocktail


Gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup topped with champagne create a French 75.
Now, doesn’t that sound good? Perfect with some shrimp cocktail.
For such a light and refreshing drink to be named after heavy World War I artillery is incongruous but also poetic. The French 75 has reemerged recently as one of the most popular drinks on bar menus throughout the US. Imagine a Tom Collins topped with your favorite champagne, and you have the French 75. Keep bottles of fresh-squeezed lemon juice, some simple syrup, and gin at your bar, make sure a bottle of champagne (or some Sofia cans) are chilling on ice, and keep the recipe visible. That way your guests can help themselves. All you have to do do is encourage vigorous shaking to get this delicate drink cold. (Just keep a jigger handy to keep out the guesswork.)

French 75
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces gin (preferably one redolent with juniper)
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup*
1 to 2 ounces champagne (depending on your preference; more, if you like)
lemon twist, as garnish
brandied cherry, as garnish
ice (the more champagne, the less ice), optional

Method
Shake gin, lemon juice, and simple syrup for 15 seconds in an ice-filled shaker. Strain into wine goblet or highball glass (with some ice cubes, if you like). Top with champagne. (Add more ice if necessary.) Garnish with lemon twist and cherry.

* Simple Syrup
Over low heat, dissolve 1 cup sugar in 1 cup water (stir occasionally). Remove from heat, cool in container, and refrigerate for up to a month.

Tips & Tricks

For the past few decades, we all think of flutes as the traditional champagne cocktail vessel. We have over a dozen in our sideboard, and we use them quite a bit. But for the French 75, we wanted to try something a little different and chose a wine goblet. You’ll add a little unexpected touch to your cocktail party. But if you want to go traditional and use champagne flutes, then go right ahead. You can cut an extra long lemon twist and let it drape down the outside of the flute.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT GIN is a very important part of the French 75 process. If we want a light drink that doesn’t overpower the lemon, we’ll perhaps choose Bulldog. If we want a more juniper-tasting cocktail, we’ll opt for some Tanqueray. Experiment with what you already have, and grow from there.

PAIRING

Nothing could be easier than shrimp cocktail, and it’s so perfect paired with the French 75. The spiky tang of traditional cocktail sauce (ketchup and horseradish) brightens the lemon juice and whatever herbs and spices inform the gin, making your taste buds very happy. Make this your go-to hors d’oeuvre when you’re in a hurry or tired but still crave something satisfying. Frozen shrimp is great to keep on hand, but we recommend getting the raw shrimp with the shell on. The flavor is deeper, much more complex—with a hint of the sea.

Shrimp Cocktail

A good rule of thumb is that 2 pounds of shrimp in their shells will yield about 11/4 pounds when peeled.

Ingredients
Allow about 3/4 pound headless shrimp in the shell per person; if the shrimp are shelled, about 1/3 to 1/2 pound per person.

Method
Simply boil shrimp for 3 to 5 minutes in salted water. Cook until they turn pink, and then rinse in cold water. Drain and pat dry. Serve with your favorite cocktail sauce.

BONUS RECIPE


Tom Collins
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

For a Collins (or tall) glass
Ingredients
2 1/2 ounces gin (try Hendrick’s and then try a London dry and Plymouth to see what works best for you)
1 ounce lemon juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup
2–3 ounces club soda
orange wheel and cherry, as garnish

Method
Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into ice-filled collins glass. Top with soda. Add garnish, speared, and rest on rim.

For a rocks (or short) glass
Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces gin (we also like G’Vine Floraison)
2/3 ounce lemon juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
1 1/2 ounces club soda
cherry and orange half-moon slice

Method
Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into ice-filled rocks or old-fashioned glass. Top with soda. Add garnish, speared, and rest on rim.

photos © Steve Schul

Friday, June 6, 2014

Negroni Week Beckons You Until June 8

Enter Bar Now (or make one of these at home)

 This Whitish Negroni — on the rocks — sparkles with white vermouth and, of course, Campari and gin.

The following Negroni variations originated from other fellow travelers’ books and bars. Each is distinct but embraces the arresting flavors of the original and is perfect for these final days of Negroni Week, the seven-day celebration of the famous cocktail and all its variations. Remember, participating bars across America and other parts of the globe promise to raise money for their favorite charities for every Negroni-style cocktail ordered. If you cannot make it to a bar by Sunday, then by all means have a Negroni-style cocktail at home.

White Negroni
(from Dutch Kills, Queens, NY)

Suze, pronounced like siz, but with a French rounded vowel sound (think Inspector Clouseau), is an aperitif flavored with the bitter roots of the gentian plant. If you try it on its own, it is sweet, as well. It is not for everyone, but is definitely worth a try if you see some behind the bar. Ask your bartender to pour you a sip. In the White Negroni, white vermouth, red vermouth’s milder cousin, rounds out the flavors of gin mixed with Suze in this boozy concoction. Its layered flavors end with a nice bitter finish.

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces gin (we used Beefeater)
3/4 ounce Suze (a bittersweet gentian aperitif)
3/4 ounce Dolin white vermouth (aka bianco, blanc, blanco)
lemon twist, as garnish

Method
Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass with ice and stir to chill. Strain into a chilled glass and garnish.

Recipe reprinted from Imbibe Magazine.

Whitish Negroni
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Since we’re big fans of Campari, we decided to do a riff on the White Negroni. But there’s nothing white about this cocktail. It’s actually a gorgeous pink–orange. Its smooth, slightly sweet, and layered flavors (think Aperol) pair perfectly with bacon-wrapped unsulfured dried apricots and a little sage leaf.

Ingredients
1 ounce Beefeater gin
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Dolin white vermouth (aka bianco, blanc, blanco)
lemon twist, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Add garnish.

❤ ❤ ❤

These next two cocktails are from two books from which we have made drinks over the years and are perfect for the warming months ahead:

Mistaken Negroni
(from The New Old Bar by Steve McDonough and Dan Smith)

Ingredients
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
1 ounce orange juice
sparkling wine or Prosecco
orange peel, as garnish

Method
Combine the ingredients in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a champagne flute and top with sparkling wine. Serve garnished with a flamed orange peel. [Express orange peel through a match flame by holding the match over the drink and, with your other hand, in one quick, sharp squeeze, pinch the peel (outside of peel facing the match) so the oils spurt through the flame, causing a gentle flare-up.]

Grapefruit Negroni
(from Sips & Apps by Kathy Casey)

Ingredients
1/4 large red grapefruit
1 1/2 ounces gin (we used Death’s Door)
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
1/2 ounce Campari
small grapefruit wedge, as garnish
ice, if on the rocks

Method
Squeeze the grapefruit into a cocktail shaker and discard the squeezed fruit. Fill the shaker with ice. Measure in the gin, vermouth, and Campari. Cap and shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass or an old-fashioned glass filled with fresh ice. Garnish with small grapefruit wedge.

❤ ❤ ❤

So, when all is said and done, you don’t like gin. This is okay. One person’s taste buds differ from the next. here’s something that may stir your whiskey-loving loins:

Red Hook
(created by Enzo Errico, Milk & Honey, New York City)

Ingredients
2 ounces rye whiskey
1/2 ounce Punt e Mes vermouth
1/2 ounce maraschino liqueur

Method
Combine ingredients in a mixing glass and fill with ice. Stir well for 20 seconds and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Recipe reprinted from Imbibe Magazine.

To find out how to make a Punt e Mes Negroni, click here.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Saturday, May 31, 2014

Celebrate Negroni Week, June 2–8, at Your Favorite Bar, or with One of These Glowing Variations

The Dimmi Negroni — made with Campari, gin, and the light and floral
Dimmi Liquore di Milano — glows in late-afternoon light. 

Created by Imbibe Magazine and Campari, Negroni Week, a seven-day celebration of the famous cocktail and all its variations, promises to raise money for every Negroni-style cocktail ordered in participating bars across America and other parts of the globe. This money will, in turn, go to the bars’ charity of choice. Drink for a cause and patronize your favorite drinking establishments this week that are participating in Negroni Week. Relish in the bracing, bittersweet botanicals in Campari and your favorite gin. You can choose your vermouth as well, from Carpano Antica Formula to Punt e Mes, and to other herbal aperitifs such as Cynar and Suze.

Seven nights out in a row might be too many for you, so perhaps you’d rather stay home one night and share a cocktail in front of the big screen. Here is where we offer you some charity. Recipes, culled from favorites over the years, and some we’ve come up with ourselves. A Negroni is meant to be shared among charming and attractive adults, like you. Its redolence, a heady bouquet, fills the room and makes you a little bold, yet playful. Get carried away. You’re owning it. Start a new flirtation, or rekindle a fizzling one. Or just embrace friendship. Your week begins on Monday, June 2. Start planning your visits to your favorite liquor stores now, you sexy thing, or have it delivered! It’s time to discover how you like your perfect Negroni. Then take that knowledge and taste memories with you, go to one of the participating bars, and let them blow your mind with variations that are sure to please you and the gods of insobriety.

If you’re looking for something to nibble alongside a Negroni, just remember that, in general, Negroni-style cocktails pair wonderfully with blue cheese, dates, and seasoned sweet potato crisps. Other suggestions follow.

Punt e Mes Negroni
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

We love the bold flavors and Italian ingenuity for creating the most exquisite bitter amari, Campari. Who hasn’t beheld that red carmine glow and been bewitched by its bitter orange yet sweetly balanced flavors. You feel as though you must immediately fly to Rome for dinner. It’s perfect with gin — very continental and traditional at the same time. And these opposites attract with the help from one of our favorite vermouths, the bittersweet orange zestiness of Punt e Mes, a truly lovely and bracing fortified wine. Wonderful and exhilarating.

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces gin (we like Dorothy Parker from New York Distilling)
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Punt e Mes
orange peel (use a peeler to get one about 1–2 inches long; try not getting too much white pith)

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Express orange peel over drink by giving it a quick pinch with the rind facing out. Wipe the rim of the glass with the rind and drop it into the glass.

Broker’s Negroni
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Brokers gin, the one with the black bowler hat, is an affordable and tasty London dry gin that mixes well with lots of other spirits. It’s quadruply distilled and boasts that it “does not follow the modern trend of using weird and wonderful spirits and botanicals” but focuses on perfecting the usual herbs and roots (such as juniper berries, cinnamon, and angelica root) used to flavor a perfect London dry gin. It’s quite lovely. In this Negroni, we use the traditional Campari, but specify Carpano Antico Formula, the smoothest sweet vermouth we’ve ever come across, along with the Broker’s. It’s delightful up or on the rocks, with or without a twist of lemon or orange, and pairs surprisingly well with guacamole.

Ingredients
1 ounce Broker’s gin
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Carpano Antica sweet vermouth

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe, or into an ice-filled rocks glass. Add garnish, if using.

Dimmi Negroni
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Sometimes you crave a Negroni but have sadly run out of vermouth. Necessity is the art of invention, so grab a bottle of something that looks promising and start mixing. One such alternative to vermouth is the spirited liquor from Milan called Dimmi. (It used to be called Veloce, but had to change its name for legal reasons. We like Dimmi, which translates to a friendly “Tell me.”) It’s made from organic winter wheat and grappa di Nebbiolo, then infused with a pleasing array of herbs and fruits, followed by a second infusion of peach and apricot blossoms, which adds a sweet flowery aroma. We like mixing Dimmi with bold gins, like Bombay Sapphire—their botanicals mingle well—and, of course, the traditional Campari. So perfect on the rocks for warmer evenings.

Ingredients
1 ounce Dimmi Liquore di Milano
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Bombay Sapphire Gin
lemon twist, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Add garnish.

Negroni Primavera
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

We dubbed this Negroni Primavera because of the spring ingredients: artichoke in Cynar, plums in the Greenhook Ginsmith Beach Plum liqueur, flowers from three different grapes in the June liqueur. As the ice melts, the drinks changes from a bittersweet, bracing, lightly bubbly aperitif, to a southern sweet tea, mellower and rounder. Sweet potato crisps might be a great pairing with these.

Ingredients
1 ounce Plymouth gin
2/3 to 3/4 ounce Greenhook Ginsmith Beach Plum Liqueur
1/4 to 1/3 ounce L’esprit de June liqueur
1 ounce Cynar
2–3 ounces soda
lemon twist

Method
Stir the first four ingredients in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled double rocks or highball glass. Add soda, then the lemon twist.

Follow us next week as we present more Negroni variations for your delectation.

photo © Paul Zablocki, Cocktail Buzz

Monday, March 31, 2014

Halloumi, Meet Your Best Friend, Commandaria

Our Cookbook Challenge Continues with a Provocative Pairing . . .

by Paul Zablocki

Halloumi, a semihard Cypriot cheese, with dollops of white truffle honey and fig jam, pairs so well with a St. John Sour.

We can’t believe almost an entire year has gone by since we started our Cookbook Challenge, for which we take a collection of cookbooks and use one or more recipes for inspiration to develop our own dishes or small bites. For our last challenge, we were to use two Nigella Lawson cookbooks, Feast and Nigella Bites, as our sources. Perusing her easy, homespun recipes, we noticed that Ms. Lawson seems to love the semihard, brined cheese from Cyprus called halloumi: Grilled Halloumi with Oozing Egg and Mint (what a title!); Halloumi with Chilli (the picture is enough to send you to the store searching for this Mediterranean hard cheese). A decision was made; Steve and I decided halloumi would be the focus, but we agreed to go one step further: come up with a cocktail–party food pairing and make sure the cocktail is low in alcohol. (Who doesn’t want to have a second drink at a cocktail party without getting loopy?)

But first, some words on Mediterranean cuisine.

If asked to name their favorite Mediterranean cuisine, most Americans would answer Italian. With good reason, too. How many of us have begun our evenings with some antipasti, paired with an Americano or a less bitter Aperol and soda? Italian restaurants—or Italian-American, rather—inhabit every city in this nation. You’d be hard-pressed to find one that doesn’t. Even Makawao on the island of Maui boasts a bistro that serves cioppino made with fresh local fish.

But putting Italian aside, let us look into less-explored Mediterranean cuisine, that of Cyprus in particular, and its treasured cheese, halloumi.

But first some words about Cyprus.

I was fascinated by Cyprus as a child. To me, this island nation looked like a fish, with a stingray-like tail. If you gaze at a map, you’ll notice that this “fish” has just broken free from the maw of Turkey’s Gulf of İskenderun and is now swimming freely in the clear blue waters of the eastern Mediterranean. While the average Cypriot eats about forty-eight pounds of fish annually, this staple does not make an appearance in this post’s appetizer. It’s mostly just halloumi. But what we do to it . . . .

For our purpose, we will talk about halloumi that is available prepackaged from the grocery store. Briny and sometimes flavored with a hint of mint, halloumi originated on the island of Cyprus, probably over a 1,000 to 1,500 years ago. It’s rubbery and behaves like cheese curds, so that when you bite into a slice, you can hear a little squeak emanating from your maw. Because it doesn’t melt when broiled, fried, or grilled, this block of semihard succulence delivers supreme satisfaction on both taste and texture counts. How? The Maillard reaction, the one created when heat hits proteins and their ilk, and whammo, countless new flavors are born, making your mouth and brain very happy.

If you slice the halloumi into 1/4-inch-thin rectangles (on the short side of the block), you can fry them over medium-high heat in a nonstick pan, à la Nigella, about 2–3 minutes per side. They should ooze their liquid and then brown a little. Check that they don’t get too brown and flip, browning the other side as well. Remove from heat and spread with a mixture of fig name and white-truffle honey. This pairs beautifully with the St. John Sour. If you don’t have white-truffle butter (and we don’t blame you if you don’t), you can use the fig jam alone, but it would benefit the pairing if you sprinkled on some chopped chives or a few thin slices of scallion greens. You can also make your own white truffle honey by mixing some white truffle oil into some thick honey, preferably natural, and combine thoroughly.

Halloumi with Fig Jam and White Truffle Honey
(adapted from recipes culled from Nigella Bites and Feast)

Ingredients
1 8-ounce package halloumi
2 tablespoons fig jam
1 tablespoon white truffle honey

Method
In a small bowl, mix the fig jam and white truffle honey thoroughly and set aside.

Heat a nonstick frying pan over medium heat. Remove halloumi from package and cut into 1/4-inch-thick rectangular slices (your rectangles should be about 1 x 2 inches, so make sure you slice along the shorter end). Add slices to frying pan, making sure not to crowd them (you may have to work in two or three batches depending on the size of your frying pan). Check your slices after 2–3 minutes. When they are golden brown in patches, flip and cook for another 2–3 minutes. remove from heat and arrange on a platter. With a spoon, add dollops of the jam mixture to the halloumi, or arrange the bowl next to the halloumi platter and allow your guests to take as much as they want. Serve with a St. John Sour or a St. John Paddy Sour, two cocktails we created using a very special Cypriot wine, commandaria.

❤ ❤ ❤

Commandaria is a nutty port-like dessert wine that originated on the island of Cyprus and is the oldest-named wine still in production. It’s made from two types of grapes, Mavro and Xynestri, which are picked when they have overripened on the vines so that the sugar levels are high. After fermentation and the addition of neutral spirits, commandaria’s alcohol content lies somewhere between 15–20%. That’s especially good for when you want a second drink. And it mixes beautifully with citrus and other bold flavors like ginger. The commandaria shines in these two drinks.


St. John Sour
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces St. John Commandaria (Cypriot wine)
1/2 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce ginger syrup*
soda

Method
Shake first three ingredients in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Top with soda. Stir. Add a lemon twist, if you’d like.

*Ginger Syrup
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 piece of fresh ginger, about 8 inches
2 cups of sugar
2 cups of water

Method
Wash then mandolin or thinly slice the ginger (no need to peel). In a medium saucepan combine sugar, water, and ginger. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar has dissolved. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. Be careful not to bring to a roiling boil at this point as this will cause the syrup to harden. Allow to cool with ginger in syrup. Strain into jar. Press down on ginger to get all the syrup out. This keeps for about 1–2 weeks, and longer if you add a tablespoon of vodka or other spirit.

❤ ❤ ❤

You might not think that Irish whiskey and Cypriot wine would go hand in hand, but when mixed with some lemon juice, this drink makes for a smooth ride.

St. John Paddy Sour
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces St. John Commandaria
1/2 ounce fresh lemon juice
1/2 ounce Irish whiskey (Jameson)
soda

Method
Shake first three ingredients in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. Top with soda. Stir. Add a lemon twist, if you’d like.

❤ ❤ ❤

For our next cookbook challenge, we will explore Ina Garten’s The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook (we love this one) and Robert Carrier’s Entertaining, from 1978 (this one should be fun).

photos ©Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

New Spirits Inspire Some Classic Cocktail Updates

Pacharán, a Spanish sloe berry liqueur, is the star in this gorgeous Manhattan-style cocktail. The brandied and moonshined sour cherries are homemade.

When we were little, Sesame Street taught us the basics, such as the alphabet and counting to ten, using clever ditties sung by a variety of adults and children we deemed the luckiest people in the world because they lived on Sesame Street. One ditty that popped into our heads as we walked about the streets of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, a ditty that we never fully appreciated since we both grew up far removed from the business districts and downtowns of our respective burgs, began “Who are the people in your neighborhood?”

We may have forgotten most of the words, but that main refrain on our midafternoon walk around our neighborhood — along the streets we normally don’t take because they are not a part of our walk to and from the subway station — finally made sense, and revealed riches that provided us just the right amount of inspiration we needed to breathe new life into some classic cocktails we were beginning to take for granted.

A relatively new wine and sprits shop near us, Passage de la Fleur boasts about a dozen shelves’ worth of natural and organic wines from around the world. Manager Emilie Kapp helped us understand the difference between organic (made with organically grown grapes) and natural (made with minimal intervention of chemicals and modern technology in both the growing and actual winemaking processes) and guided us through the somewhat confusing terrain of biodynamic wines (made by following strict, somewhat philosophical, post-harvest guidelines relating to ecological concerns).

What caught our attention, though, were the spirits, liqueurs, and fortified wines lining the back shelf. One in particular, sporting a tongue-in-cheek 19th-century silhouette of a woman in need of a handkerchief, was aptly labeled Uncouth Vermouth. We had heard of Uncouth Vermouth, the brainchild of Brooklyn denizen Bianca Miraglia, who began tinkering with wine at the Red Hook Winery. She infuses them with botanicals that bring distinct flavors to the fore, with such combos as serrano chile lavender, apple mint, and, the one we opted for, beet eucalyptus.

Although reddish, the beet eucalyptus is dry and delicately balanced, so you won’t be put off if you have issues with either of these ingredients. It’s a perfect aperitif on the rocks, and also works well in cocktails that feature a standard dry French-style vermouth. Emilie suggested Negronis, so we took her up on it and made some New York Negronis on the rocks that night that paired perfectly with some unseasoned, but lightly salted, sweet potato crisps.

New York Negroni
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 ounce gin
1 ounce beet–eucalyptus vermouth (Uncouth Vermouth)
1 ounce Campari

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled rocks glass. An orange twist might be nice, but is optional.

Pairing Suggestions
Anything with blue cheese.
Unseasoned, but lightly salted, sweet potato crisps.

A New York Negroni and a Brooklyn view.

❤ ❤ ❤

Also on Passage de la Fleur’s shelves sat a bottle of Pacharán (Patxaran in Basque), a bittersweet Spanish liqueur made from sloe berries. Its flavor may be familiar to you if you’ve delved into the recently revived world of sloe fin fizzes. Take a sip. A bright tartness mingles with a lusciously rich and deep fruitiness that, together, linger on the palate; and since this Pacharán is aged in chestnut barrels, lucky for you, those lingering flavors will taste of bitter dark chocolate. We already had a bottle of Baines Pacharán at home, so we were reminded of a Pacharan Manhattan we came up with a few years back when we were coming up with Manhattan variation after Manhattan variation. The vermouth we use in our Pacharan Manhattan is the bitter orange Punt e Mes. It matches the orange and star anise flavors inherent in the Pacharán, as do a few dashes of Angostura bitters, adding more spice to the mix.

Pacharan Manhattan
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces bourbon
1 ounce Pacharan
1/4 ounce Punt e Mes vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Garnish with a brandied cherry.


Pairing Suggestions
Anything with bacon.

❤ ❤ ❤

With thoughts of neo-Negronis and hybridized Manhattans dancing in our minds, we continued our neighborhood journey, and alighted at the storefront of Güreje, a place we had passed many times, but never ventured into. Güreje is a new world clothier who applies old world techniques and patterns from around the world. This creates a visually arresting hybrid style that Jimi Güreje, the master dyer and owner, can call his own. Jimi showed us the back room, an expansive open gallery space for art installations, and a newly licensed bar area that will help to alleviate any thirst for patrons. There’s even an adjacent outdoor space, completely private from the neighborhood. A rarity. His bar should be open some time this month, so be sure to check it out when you’ve found yourself in Prospect Heights.

We hope this has inspired you to walk around the block with your eyes wide open. You may be surprised by the recent creativity popping up around your neighborhood.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz


 Look deep into the amber red glow of a Pacharan Manhattan; it beckons.

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Behold the Teeny-tini and The Chick’s Peas, a Healthy Cocktail and Party Food Pairing

The Teeny-tini was featured on The Joy Fit Club segment of Kathie Lee and Hoda’s fourth hour of The Today Show.

Cocktail Party fun doesn’t always mean calories. Our pairing of a ginger-laced Teeny-tini, accompanied by the crunchy limy Chick’s Peas, will surely bring a smile to your waist.

Our friend Kate Chapman just reminded us of a cocktail-and-snack-food pairing we came up for her a year or so ago, when we were all searching for ways to eat healthier, but still wanting to have a little fun. Kate, a Broadway musical actress, currently practicing her new vocation as a health coach, requested a low-calorie cocktail she could have anywhere.

This proved challenging. After all, “anywhere” implies anywhere that serves alcohol. What could we possibly come up with that would be easy enough for any bartender to make, but be full of remarkable flavor? One good enough for our beloved broadway belter?

Kate did give us a few parameters to keep us grounded. “I adore bubbles, but not too sweet,” was one of her earliest pronouncements, followed by “I love love LOVE chick peas.”

Andre Gide, the famed French novelist and activist, famously said that art thrives when working with constraints, and having Kate nudge us in a direction her taste buds were telling her to take made life so much easier in the test kitchen. We immediately thought champagne. Its bubbles, as well as its ubiquity, are legendary. And to accompany the champagne, we thought gin (what bar doesn’t have gin?) would be just the thing to make this baby shine like it was opening night.

The drink definitely needed more that a little gin and some fizz; it was screaming for a more pronounced flavor enhancer that would give the two spirits some sex appeal.

And that’s where we turned to fresh ginger. Talk about potency! It packs a punch in such small amounts that a quarter of a teaspoon is all that was needed to breathe some kapow into the cocktail, along with the same amount of low-glycemic-index maple syrup to add just a hint of sweetness.

But how could we guarantee that any bar Kate moseyed on up to had fresh ginger juice and maple syrup? That’s where a dropper comes into play. Pick one up at a container store and fill it with equal parts ginger juice and maple syrup. Just two squirts into your champagne flute will bring you low-cal high-flavor bliss. As for the name, Kate decided that Teeny-tini would fit the bill nicely. We couldn’t agree more.

With the cocktail now completed, it was time to turn our attention to the beans. Chick peas are packed full of protein. You see them offered as little bar snacks, baked to a delicate crunchiness and bathed in various seasonings. We decided after several attempts at finding the perfect pairing that cinnamon and cumin, blended with a little salt and grape-seed oil, brought out a balanced savoriness to the beans. When they came out of the oven smelling of toasted spices, we squirted some lime juice and dusted the chick peas with lime zest and more salt. One nibble confirmed what we already knew: These will pair remarkably with Kate’s cocktail.

The calorie count for this pairing is such that if you would like to indulge in more that one drink, two would not be sinful. (They rack up about 113 a pop, and the chick peas, about 80 calories a handful.)

Teeny-tini
(created by Cocktail Buzz for Kate Chapman)

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 ounce gin
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger juice*
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
8 ounces champagne

Method
At home:
Shake the first three ingredients in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into two champagne flutes. Top with 4 ounces champagne each.

On the go:
Mix quadruple (or more) the amount of ginger juice and maple syrup with a few drops of water and store in a glass dropper. When you are out and about, request champagne and 1/2 ounce gin (or a splash) from the bartender. Squirt one full stopper amount into the champagne and gin, and give it a little stir (you may have to request a stirrer from the bartender). Imbibe. Enjoy with chick pea snack.

* Ginger juice is easy to make if you have a ginger grater or a juicer. Just make sure to peel it first.

The Chick’s Peas
(created by Cocktail Buzz for Kate Chapman)

Ingredients
1 16-ounce can chick peas, rinsed and patted dry
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (Saigon cinnamon)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for finishing
1 lime (for zest, then juice)

Method
Spread chick peas on a paper towel–covered rimmed baking sheet to dry (preferably for 60–90 minutes, but if you are in a rush, make sure to pat them dry thoroughly).

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

Mix oil, garlic, salt, and spices in a bowl. Add chick peas to bowl and stir, coating evenly. Spread the chick peas on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet. Bake for 30–35 minutes, stirring the chick peas, or shaking the pan, every ten minutes. The chick peas should be browned and crisp-looking. Remove from oven and top with a generous amount of lime zest and the juice from half the lime. Transfer to a serving bowl and a add a pinch of salt to taste. Mix and serve warm with a Teeny-tini. (If you are taking them on the go, allow them to cool completely and transfer to a sealable plastic bag.)

Note: Some chick peas will be crunchy, others may have a soft interior. We like the textural combination of the two.

Take some with you for an on-the-go protein boost.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz
tini-tini tinitini tini tini

Sunday, May 26, 2013

An Onion and Fig Tart To Start Off Your Next Dinner Party, with Cocktails, Of Course

More from Cocktail Buzz’s Cookbook Challenge . . .

The seductive aroma and complex flavors of Ras el Hanout, a North African spice blend, are the secret to this tart’s success.

If architectural terms, puff pastry is the foundation that keeps your tart structurally sound. This cocktail party workhorse is just about the easiest thing in the world to create with. All you need to do is let it thaw and unfold. Your imagination then takes over as you decide on the sweet and savory toppings. Most anything in your crisper or on top of your kitchen counter will work well with the flaky, layered dough. The one thing puff pastry doesn’t like, however, is bland. That’s why caramelized onions are the perfect “main floor” of your tart. Little else, save salt and pepper, are needed. We found a basic caramelized onion tart recipe in a very helpful, instructional book called Knives Cooks Love, one of the books we chose this month as part of our ongoing Cookbook Challenge. In our version, we wanted to ramp up sweetness and spiciness with some fresh mission figs, cut into halves or quarters, and a sprinkling of the 30-plus-spice Moroccan blend known as ras el hanout.

Mission figs are starting to appear in markets right now and should be available through the end of September. Chose ones that are plump, dark, and give a little when you squeeze them. You don’t want them greenish, or they will taste slightly astringent. When fully ripe, they should taste more like newton filling. Adding ras el hanout works magically with figs. Figs were originally brought to the Americas by the Spanish conquistadors, so choosing a spice blend from generally the same part of the world seemed to us like a good fit. Besides having the usual mixture of ground cardamom, cinnamon, coriander, and cumin, the ras el hangout we used had some rosebuds ground in the mix as well, offsetting the spiciness with a slight floral taste and aroma.

Caramelized Onion Tart with Figs 
(inspired by and adapted from Sur la Table’s Knives Cooks Love, by Sarah Joy)

Ingredients
4 yellow onions
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, 10"×10", thawed
5 fresh black mission figs, quartered or halved1
1 tablespoon ras el hanout (Moroccan spice blend)2
orange zest (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the onions in half from pole to pole. Then take each half and cut from pole to pole into 1/4-inch-thick slices. (To achieve this, you will have to cut obliquely into the onion, by angling the knife a little. Start slicing from the bottom, then move your way to to the top. Readjust, then slice the remaining onion.)

Heat the oil over medium heat in a skillet. Add onions and salt, and cook for about 30 minutes, stirring every so often. The onions can brown a little, but you do not want them to burn. If they seem to be sticking too much to the pan, add a little water to loosen them up. After they are done cooking, remove them from the pan to a plate to allow them to cool completely.

Next, unfold a sheet of puff pastry onto the parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten a little with a rolling pin, to roughly 11"×11". Prick the dough all over with a fork, but avoiding close to the perimeter. Keep the dough refrigerated if you are not ready to assemble the tart.

Spread the caramelized onions evenly over the dough, leaving a little room at the edges. Arrange the sliced figs on top in a way that every slice will allow at least one bite of fig. Sprinkle the ras el hanout (and orange zest, if using) from about a foot above the tart, so that it disperses evenly over its entirety. Bake until the crust is golden on top and also underneath (you can check the bottom by lifting the tart with a spatula), about 25–30 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board. Cut into bite-sized squares or rectangles if for a cocktail party; if for dinner, cut into nine even squares. Serve warm.

1  You can substitute any fresh figs. If you only have dried figs, add them to a small pot, fill with water so that it covers the figs completely, bring to a boil, remove from heat, and cover. Let sit for at least 2 hours. Remove from water and use. Instead of dumping the remaining liquid, you can add some sugar to it (about 1/4 cup), bring to a simmer, and reduce for about 10 minutes, or until desired thickness. You can use this fig simple syrup as a sweetener substitute in one of the cocktails below. If thicker, you can pour over vanilla ice cream.

2  You can get prepared ras el hanout from spice purveyors such as Kalustyan’s in NYC. No two are exactly alike, and some can use over 30 different spices and herbs.

Pairing Suggestions

Accompany your onion tart
with a cocktail and a side salad.
Brandy Old-Fashioned
Champagne Cocktail
Sidecar
Jack Rose
Slivovitz Sour
Gin and Tonic
Tom Collins
French 75
Pimm’s Cup

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Gooey and the Retro: Hot Brie Dip Makes a Comeback


Cutting into a hunk of baked Brie is almost as satisfying as eating it.

Do you remember when Brie was exotic? It was the early 80s. Preppies and their imitators were throwing lavish cocktail parties. Making a beeline for the buffet table, you saw trays lined with bready canapés and wheels of white-encased soft cheese. “It’s called Brie. It’s French and delicious,” you heard your mom, the hostess, declare. “Try some before the guests arrive. Then scoot.” So you loaded up your small plate with these pretty hors d’oeuvres, and, when she wasn’t looking, you tipped a little champagne into a cup and hightailed it back to your bedroom.

But when you got to your teen sanctuary, you looked down at the canapé plate and noticed that your slice of Brie was encased in a rind that seemed a little unfriendly. Do you eat the rind or try to extract the creamy center? You try both, and realize it’s much easier to shove the whole thing, rind and all, into your mouth. Buttery mixed with tangy. Not bad.

As time went on, you started noticing something called baked Brie at your TGI Fridays. It came to the table hot and perhaps coated in a jamlike spread with some herbs. You cut into it and out flowed its creaminess. You devoured it, emitting a few occasional grunts of satisfaction.

But had Brie really ever left, or was it marginalized to the realm of nostalgia, desperately looking for a way back into the world of acceptance? When we visited Steve’s sister this New Year’s Eve, she served a simple hors d’oeuvre of baked Brie with a generous glaze of butter, brown sugar, fresh parsley, and garlic. It’s not the prettiest dish to arrive at the table, but what it has going for it makes it survive the decades: flavor, simplicity, and, well, it’s melted cheese. Because Hot Brie Dip is so simple to make, it’s the perfect thing to bring out of the oven when most of your guests have arrived. Serve with airy, buttery crackers or toast points. Try it with other chopped fresh herbs, such as tarragon or chervil, if you prefer. And mellower roasted garlic in lieu of the pungent zing of raw might be a substitution you’re willing to try if you have the time.

Pair with something that reminds you of sitting at a bistro. A French 75 or a Kir Royale may be just what the médecin ordered.

About the alternate “aka” name you see below: Carol later confessed to Paul that she got the recipe from her sister-in-law, so we colloquially refer to it as Sister-in-law Brie, or Brie à la Belle-sœur, if you want to sound poshly gourmet.


Hot Brie Dip, aka Brie à la Belle-sœur
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 Brie wheel
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons brown sugar (dark brown sugar will be richer tasting, with more molasses notes)
3 tablespoons chopped parsley, plus a few fresh leaves set aside
1 tablespoon minced garlic (you can substitute roasted garlic,* which is much less assertive)

Method
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Place Brie wheel in a baking or pie dish and set aside. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Add the brown sugar, parsley, and garlic to the butter and mix together. Pour over Brie wheel. Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until the Brie is soft to the touch (it will give when you press on it). Cut into Brie as if you were cutting a slice of pie. It will ooze its creamy center, which will mix with the other ingredients. Sprinkle with fresh parsley leaves. Serve with crackers or toast points.

* Roasted Garlic
If you have a garlic roaster, great. If not, get out the aluminum foil. Cut the top off the garlic bulb, exposing the cloves. Place garlic on roaster or aluminum foil. Drizzle about a tablespoon of olive oil and coat evenly. Cover or wrap. Place in center rack of cold oven and turn to 400ºF. Bake for about an hour. Turn off heat and remove from oven. Remove garlic bulb, and place roaster and lid back in oven, if you’re using a terra cotta roaster, to prevent cracking. You can now extract the cloves from the bulb.

Pairing Suggestions
French 75
Kir Royale
The Gondolier
a glass of sherry

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Monday, February 11, 2013

Kir Royales To Jump-Start Your Valentine’s Day

Two Kir Royales, made with champagne and crème de cassis, will pave the way for a romantic Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day presents a conundrum: How best do I spend this most romantic of evenings with the one I love? We think a lot about this abstraction we call ROMANCE, and how it relates to Valentine’s Day. We start with flowers, quickly followed by chocolates and other confections accompanied by a champagne toast, then follow that with drinks and dinner out, then follow that with a nightcap back home, then follow that with the most mind-blowing sex we’ve ever had. Phew. With that itinerary, we got exhausted during dinner. If this is not how you want to misspend this Valentine’s Day, pay attention.

All you need to do is follow these two simple rules, and you too can achieve bliss this February 14.

1. Champagne, or any sparkling wine, is aphrodisiacal.

The act of pouring bubbles into a slender flute, one with a little black currant liqueur pooled at the bottom, creates total sensory satisfaction. The smell immediately infects you with its luscious fruit. The bubbles pop in a continuous hush, leaving trails that rise to the surface, as if on a constant gif loop. Some escape the flute in a pointed arc, bursting on your thumb and fingers. These sensations are surpassed only by the anticipation of the night ahead. You make a toast, raise the flute to your lips, feel the tiny pulsating bubbles tickle your lips. Since bubbles allow for faster absorption of alcohol into the bloodstream, you may begin to feel euphoric after a few sips. This in turn will make your date’s eyes sparkle, their beams piercing you with the power of love.

More important, impressing your amor with a champagne-based cocktail shows that you went the extra step instead of just decanting.

Kir Royale
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1/4–1/2 ounce crème de cassis (black currant liqueur)*
at least 5 ounces champagne
lemon twist or peel, as garnish (optional)

Method
Pour crème de cassis into champagne flute. Fill with chilled champagne. Add garnish, if using.

* Pierre-Marie Chermette maxes a kick-ass crème de cassis. With a deep, almost tannic fruitiness in both aroma and taste, this black currant liqueur makes bubbly even livelier.

Variations
If you and your partner are not fans of crème de cassis, you can substitute any other liqueur, really, to create your own bubbly cocktail.

Other Light & Bubbly Cocktails
Violet Sparkler (crème de violette)
Bird Nest (blue curaçao, with a splash of tequila)
Sofia Mimosa with Galliano
Passion Fruit Bellini

❤ ❤ ❤

So, you’ve followed the first rule and are scoring high marks on the romance meter. To score even higher marks, you must obey the next rule:

2. Do not go out for dinner.

If you’ve been there/done that, you know that dinner out on Valentine’s Day sucks. That unnerving get-em-in-get-em-out mentality is palpable upon entry, the menu is usually a slimmed-down version of the actual bill of fare, and servers are constantly being reminded that they have to work like yoked oxen while watching you and your date ocularly undress each other.

Anyway, champagne is cheaper at home.

So, stay in and have a few hors d’oeuvres prepared that aren’t too taxing and will provide a nice accompaniment to that second Kir Royale you’re about to make for your date/mate.

Hors d’Oeuvres Suggestions
Deviled Quail Eggs
Kale Chips
Spiced Nuts
Stuffed Mushrooms
Cheddar Blue Fricos

If you get hungry after lovemaking, there’s always delivery.

photo ©Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Cocktail Buzz Twelve Favorite Things of 2012

“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”  
— “A Christmas Dinner,” Charles Dickens
Old mixing guides, cocktail pamphlets, and cookbooks can be the inspiration for your your next cocktail party.

Well after New Years’ midnight chimes had run their course, and all the festivities of “Holiday” had evaporated into the wintry night, we sat back with our favorite cocktail, the Manhattan, and reflected over the year. We asked each other, “Dear, what were some of your favorite things throughout 2012?” Limiting ourselves to the realm of the kitchen and bar, we compiled a list of twelve things (one for every month of the year) that gave us quite a lot of pleasure. Hopefully, our descriptions of these lovely indulgences will induce immediate sal[i]vation, followed by a trip to the grocery, liquor store, App store, and Tucson.

1. Vintage Cookbooks, Culinary Magazines, and Product Pamphlets

The simple act of reflecting on the year triggered in us a sense of nostalgia, churning up memories from way way back in time. A simpler, more “vintage-y” time, if you will. We both grew up rummaging through old barns and antique shops, beginning what would become our lifetime collection of objets. In the same way we mine thrift stores for a whimsical tableware pattern, we now scour old cookbooks for the recipes to fill those vintage dishes. And not just old cookbooks. We’re certain, if you raid Mom’s (or Grandpa’s) attic, you’ll come across some yellowed, faded promotional pamphlets for, say, Bacardi or Arrow cordials, or recipes for the family’s venerable standing mixer. These searches aren’t just physical acts: In pining for the past, we seem to be searching for an era when food wasn’t processed, but actual, real food — when the ingredient list on packaging consisted of five ingredients or less [see Favorite Thing No. 3, for more on this].

Making the following Mexican-inspired dip from an old compilation of Food and Wine recipes is a healthy alternative to buying a prepackaged one. Yes, it takes a wee bit of time, but less than a Cooking Channel episode.

Pumpkin Seed Dip
(adapted from The Best of Food and Wine, 1984)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (8 ounces) hulled, unsalted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3/4–1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
hot pepper sauce, to taste (we like Cholula Hot Sauce, Original)
3/4–1 teaspoon salt (depending on saltiness of hot sauce)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 scallions, thinly sliced

Method
In a small skillet, over medium heat, cook the pumpkin seeds until they pop and turn golden brown, stirring occasionally (2–3 minutes). Add seeds to a blender and puree until finely ground. Meanwhile, heat oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for about 30 seconds, or until fragrant. Pour oil and garlic into blender. Add 3/4 cup chicken broth and lime juice, hot sauce, salt, and pepper. Puree, scraping down the sides occasionally. If the mixture is too thick, add broth one tablespoon at a time, and puree until it achieves desired consistency. (We like it as smooth as possible, but not runny.) Transfer dip to a serving bowl, cover, and chill, or serve immediately, garnished with scallions.

Further Exploration 
Our friends and fellow travelers Paul and Noah love exploring the past, as is evidenced by their excellently curated Web site, The Way We Ate. We share their love of Gourmet Magazine, once considered the nonpareil of culinary monthlies. And speaking of monthlies . . . .

2. iPad Magazines

Behold the iPad. It costs more than most people’s weekly salary, but, honey, when it does a job right, you repeatedly thank your lucky stars for every penny you plunked down for this precious jewel. Magazines that have taken full advantage of its techno capabilities, such as linking, pop-ups, alternate views, videos, and nonlinear page-turning, stand out as the best. Our favorites right now are Bon Appétit, Martha Stewart Living, and Whole Living. One of the recipes we keep returning to in Whole Living is for an unusual toasted muesli with coconut, pistachios, cranberries, and millet (a mild-tasting, old-world, protein-rich cereal grass). Once it’s jarred, it never lasts the week.

Further Exploration 
For a nonculinary change of pace, try Architectural Digest on the iPad. It’ll blow your mind with its alternate room views and one-click captions, and trigger real estate envy. Don’t take it to bed with you or you may stay up all night.

3. Healthy and New Alternatives

When our five-year-old godson Cole shouted to the heavens, “I hate quinoa,” before a sumptuous dinner of his mom’s chicken tagine, we couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Here was a five-year-old (five-year-old!) who knew not only what quinoa was, but knew he did not like it. (It is considered health food after all, the bane of many a child.) Luckily for us, and everyone else at the table, we do like quinoa.

Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah) are seeds from an annual herb found in the Andean highlands, and are considered a complete protein, providing us all nine essential amino acids necessary to keep us happy and healthy. Use it in lieu of rice or couscous. Its light, fluffy texture takes well to sauces, and its nuttiness complements so many flavor profiles. Just make sure when you buy it, and the package does not read presoaked, you must do the soaking yourself or the results will be a tad bitter.

Another trendy and healthy (but delicious) favorite this past year is kale, in all its forms. Curly, Tuscan (aka Lacinato or dinosaur), rape, Jersey. Once relegated to the lowly position of salad-bar filler, it’s now esteemed not only for its bittersweet flavor, but for its health properties. It appears that some of its chemical compounds can block the growth of cancer cells and help boost DNA repair. Not bad for something we used to not give a second thought to. Dan Barber, the highly respected Blue Hill Farm chef, celebrates this leafy green in his recipe for kale chips. For extra credit, you can infuse beets in vodka in preparation for a cocktail that pairs perfectly with these crispy leafy delights.

Kale Chips
(adapted from a recipe by Dan Barber, Bon Appétit, February 2009)

Ingredients
12 large Tuscan kale leaves, rinsed, dried, cut lengthwise in half, center ribs and stems removed
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt
pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 250°F. Toss kale with oil in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Arrange leaves in single layer on 2 large baking sheets. Bake until crisp, about 30 minutes for flat leaves and up to 33 minutes for wrinkled leaves. Transfer leaves to rack to cool.

Ruby
(adapted from a recipe by Lucy Brennan, Hip Sips)

Ingredients
3 ounces beet-infused vodka*
1/2 ounce fresh lemon-lime juice (half lemon juice, half lime juice, both fresh-squeezed)
1/2 ounce simple syrup**

Method
Shake in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.

*Beet-Infused Vodka:
3 red beets (1 1/2 pounds), trimmed, peeled, and cut into quarters
1 bottle (1 liter) vodka (Lucy recommends Monopolowa)

Put the beets in a wide-mouthed glass jar with a lid. Add the vodka and seal the container (reserve the vodka bottle for refilling.) The mixture will immediately turn a bright ruby color. Store in a cool dark place for three days, stirring each day. The infused vodka will be a deep purple color with a strong, earthy beet taste. Using a slotted spoon, remove and discard the beets. Place a funnel in the reserved vodka bottle and pour the infused vodka into the bottle. Cap and store in the refrigerator for up to six months.

**  To make simple syrup, dissolve 1 cup sugar in 1 cup water in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Let cool. Transfer to an airtight container. May be refrigerated for up to a month.

Further Exploration 
Kale chips also pair well with an Americano [see Favorite Thing No. 12, for the recipe].

4. Fast-Food Favorites at Home

BLT & Egg Sandwich
It’s hard to ignore cravings. We’d be lying if we told you we ate healthy all the time. After all, we are cocktail people, and everyone knows bacon goes so well with a lot of the drinks we make. So when we need to take a break from the salubrious, we make real-food alternatives to the fast food that’s been detrimentally mutating our genes for the past five decades or so. For breakfast, there’s the poached egg (or neutral oil–fried egg) on English muffin with natural cheddar and uncured bacon we love to make, slathered in mayonnaise, with crispy lettuce. A hybrid Egg McMuffin–BLT, if you please.

Homemade Big Mac
For a weekend late lunch with friends, we’ve been know to build a sandwich made with two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions, piled on a three-tiered sesame-seed bun. Executive Chef Dan Coudreaut from McDonald’s Canada shows you how to make a homemade Big Mac. We like to grind our own meat, though, since it is much healthier than the big agribusiness pre-ground beef sold in most supermarkets. Try a ratio of 2/3 sirloin steak to 1/3 skirt, hangar, or flank steak. 50/50 works well too. Remember, a little fat here is important since the patties are so thin.

Another favorite sandwich that has caused big controversy is a certain chicken sandwich you can find at a chain restaurant known for its donations to antigay causes. So instead of us haranguing you for patronizing this establishment, which is desperately and pathetically trying to prevent us from achieving the rights we gay American citizens deserve fully, you can make your own. The lovely and informal Hilah will show you how to make a Chik Fil-Gay.

Now that we’ve finally gotten your attention with these three sandwiches, you must remember that balance is key. Do not make these every day. Have a salad with dark leafy greens, such as kale, instead. Balance is also the key to our next favorite thing . . . .

5. Rums with Lime

For many years we eschewed rum. Not because we don’t like it. On the contrary, its an ingredient in some of our favorite cocktails. Rather, we feared it. So many choices in a dizzying array of categories: light, dark, amber, aged, spiced, agricole. Well, this year, we finally took the plunge and focused on balancing one our favorite flavor combos, rums and fresh limes, in two cocktails: the Mojito [photo right] and the Daiquiri. Limes give you an aliveness in a drink, especially when you muddle them to release the essential oils in the peel. Add some rum, especially light (or white) rum, and the aroma begins to take you on a journey of nirvanic bliss. Plus, adding lime juice makes rum easier to pair with food. Think about how a TV chef will advise you to add citruses and vinegars to a dish so that the acids will commingle with the other ingredients, thus melding flavors that’ll make your taste buds scream with excitement.

Further Exploration 
We’ve recently discovered the joys of spiced rum, a dark amber–colored rum predominantly flavored by vanilla bean and caramel, but, depending on the brand, you can detect a host of other spices. Our recent favorites have been Shellback and BlackBeard. Shellback is smoother at 80 proof, and mixes well with sodas and lime juice. BlackBeard is higher in proof with more insistent flavors.

6. Chef Addam Buzzalini, Maynards Market & Kitchen

Chef Addam Buzzalini (love the
name) with Paul, at Maynards
Market & Kitchen, Tucson.
Chefs and Bartenders, as you already know, are the current celebrities. When we patronize a well-regarded restaurant, we try to obtain a seat at the bar to watch the bartender work her magic, and hope to catch a glimpse of the chef as he scans the dining room, trying to analyze his guests’ levels of contentment. With the proliferation of shows like Top Chef and Chopped, and the popularity of the Food Network and Cooking Channel, these men and women, who have dedicated endless hours of truly back-breaking labor to delight your senses, deserve the praise and notoriety they’ve been receiving.

On our recent and brief trip to Tucson, Arizona, we scanned the Internet for the perfect place to have a fresh and seasonal dinner with drinks, and decided that Maynards Market & Kitchen would fit the bill nicely. A long well-stocked bar on one side of the room balanced the relatively small and comfortably chic sunken dining room, which overlooked the railway station with its full-sized windows. It was a chilly desert evening, and two Maynards Manhattans warmed us up instantly. The meal was exquisite: formidably crafted, redolent and sapid with the late-fall flavors of apple, fennel, pomegranate. We licked our plates of oysters, foie gras, scallops, and butter lettuce clean. We asked Robert our server if we could call upon Chef Addam Buzzalini to prepare a special multicourse birthday dinner, paired with cocktails, for Paul on the following night. Chef Addam was completely game, and when we arrived the following night, 8:00PM sharp, we ran into him before entering the building. “I hope you both are hungry,” he said with a devilish grin, as we opened the door and were whisked to our table.

Foie gras sous vide paired with an infused apple brandy cocktail.

Sous vide duck, paired with
Bulleit rye Manhattans
We immediately hit it off with Alana, our server (the waitstaff is beyond excellent). She assured us that the kitchen and bar were buzzing with excitement at the prospect of creating new dishes, each with a cocktail pairing, and that Chef would come out with each course to explain what he and his staff created. All in all, we had six courses. Raw oysters topped with a piquant bloody mary–style tapenade paired beautifully with a specially prepared bacon fat–washed vodka rocks cocktail that was hard to put down. (We knew we had five more to go, so we decided to take sips.) Sous vide foie gras bathed in a gastrique of pomes and berries melted in the mouth as it was washed down by an apple brandy cocktail that was so layered, we cannot for the life of us remember what those layers were. The charred endive and stinky cheese with pear sauce naturally paired with a cocktail of pear-infused armagnac and Belle de Brillet pear liqueur. That was followed by a to-die-for sous vide duck over a bed of pear and lentils and a side of red beets and root veggie crisps. Pairing this with one of our favorite cocktails, a Bulleit rye Manhattan, was dangerous. By this point, we could only muster a few sips (we had a little drive back to the hotel), and knew that we needed to pare down our pairings. The fifth course was an oxymoronic study in simple excess: steak au poivre paired with stout laced with a shot of espresso. By this point, our bellies were begging us to stop, but one cannot stop when there’s dessert coming.

The glow of these pear-centric cocktails beckoned us with their redolent allure.

Grapefruit tart and dark chocolate
bark with hazelnuts
We managed to save a little room for the insanely flavorful vanilla custard tart crowned with sweet-tart candied grapefruit, plus a generous side of dark chocolate bark with hazelnuts. And if that wasn’t enough, Alana returned with a burning birthday candle aside a coupe filled with one of Paul’s favorite ice cream flavors, honey lavender. A perfect ending to a magical meal at a place where everyone’s smile was genuine. Palpable joy wafted from the kitchen through the dining room, letting us know that those within loved their craft. With toques off, we raise a glass to Chef Addam Buzzalini, his staff, and Maynard’s mixologist, Eddie Pain, who gave us so much to cherish over those two nights in late December.

7. Bulleit Rye

We’d be remiss if we didn’t talk a little about one of our favorite spirits last year, Bulleit rye. We already had a passionate affair with Bulleit bourbon, so we knew we’d love the rye. Less sweet, more vegetal — a different flavor altogether — this rye found its way into many of our Manhattans during 2012. What we love most about mixing cocktails is coming up with new recipes and sharing these with fellow travelers. When we found out that friends Matthew Lawrence and Jason Tranchida, of Headmaster magazine fame, loved Bulleit rye, we were quick to offer our services to come up with a special cocktail for their Magazine’s fourth issue launch parties. Instead of one, we came up with two, the Headmaster 4 and The Pupil. The Headmaster 4 is a riff on our Bulleit rye Manhattan, but uses the bitter Fernet-Branca liqueur instead of bitters. The Pupil is a lighter affair — a ginger ale highball that also uses Fernet-Branca. Together, they are well-served at any party.

Another beauty we found ourselves making time and time again with Bulleit rye is the Manhattan-like Marianne Cocktail. It combines rye with another of our favorite things of 2012, Byrhh quinquina [see Favorite Thing No. 8].

Further Exploration 
We realized that bottles of rye had surpassed bourbon on our shelves this past year. Perhaps it’s a direct result from drinking Manhattans as frequently as if the city were giving them away. Some other ryes we recommend are Templeton, Redemption, and the new George Dickel. Rittenhouse, bonded at 100 proof, has, and always will be, another favorite.

The Marianne Cocktail combines rye with Byrrh, a fortified wine reintroduced to the U.S. after a 70-year absence. Welcome back.

8. Byrrh

If you can find it, do pick up a bottle of Byrrh, a quinquina, or fortified wine laced with quinine. A little sweeter and more luscious than sweet vermouth, Byrrh (pronounced BEER) will win you over not only for its grapiness, but also for its versatility in the realm of mixology. Use it in lieu of sweet vermouth or Dubonnet rouge in cocktails and you’ve come up with an entirely new drink. The Marianne and the Rye Byrrh are good places to start.

9. Signature Cocktails

Daddy Gives Rosie a Buzz
Besides the Headmaster 4 and The Pupil cocktails we created for our friends’ launch party [see Favorite Thing No. 7], we had a swell time working with another friend, the incomparable burlesque performer Rosie 151, on a signature cocktail, Daddy Gives Rosie a Buzz. This summer highball combines fresh watermelon juice with Catdaddy Spiced Moonshine, plus a little gin and lime juice to bring it all together. We were especially excited by this drink because we got to introduce Rosie to the makers of Catdaddy, Piedmont Distillers, who now sponsor Rosie at her shows. If you haven’t seen Rosie 151 perform, and you’re in town, do check her out. Her versatility knows no bounds, and she has since started making her own cocktails with Catdaddy. And if you do live in town, bring some friends with you to see her perform. They’ll be happy you did.

Further Exploration 
If you’d like for us to come up with a signature cocktail for you or your special event, please give us a shout. We’d love to mix and stir up some trouble for you.

10. Cocktail Time with Friends

Speaking of friends, sharing cocktail hour with those who love the interplay of food, drink, and wild discussion makes for a gay old time. We cherish the countless late afternoons and evenings we’ve gotten together for eats and drinks with our downstairs neighbors, Curt and Theo. Recently, we rode out the destructive superstorm together, and were inspired to come up with a Hurricane Sandy drink, using ingredients we had plenty of (apple brandy, Southern Comfort, and limeade) for that scary and unforgettable night.

Paul, Steve, Danny, and Matthew enjoy a Hawaiian lunch with local flavor–inspired drinks.

Five thousand miles away, on our beloved island of Hawai‘i, live our friends Danny and Matthew, who love to cook and create in the kitchen. When we come a’visitin’, we’re inspired by local flavors to create some tantalizing cocktails. One we came up with this summer also used limeade plus local amber rum from the guys’ stash. Its other ingredients, a Key lime cream liqueur called Ke Ke and Kahana Royale macadamia nut liqueur (discovered in Hilo at the well-stocked Kadota’s Liquor), were doled out in various ratios, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice was added before a big stir in tall glasses with lots of ice. A fun way to share a lunch of locally smoked brisket and garden salad.

Paul watches and Jon puts the finishing
tie on some homemade sausage links.
Getting together with Cousin Barbara and hubby Jon is always fun; they are consummate foodies who are always searching for the perfect combination of stimulating and satisfying flavors. One time we all got together to make pierogi; another time, we gathered to make three kinds of homemade sausage (breakfast, sweet, and spicy) using our Kitchenade standing mixer and big hunks of pork from Jon’s dad’s butcher shop, Ottomanelli & Sons Meat Market, in the West Village (285 Bleecker Street). Even though we did that in 2011, the sausages continued to feed us throughout the early months of 2012 in so many different preparations. We always look forward to what our next kitchen adventure will produce.

Sara-Kate, Penny, and Steve share
a hug and some Sidewinders
Two things we love to make for friends, and made quite a few times during 2012, are Thin-sliced Roasted Pork with Southwestern Spices we discovered a few years back on thekitchn.com and a basic mule (who doesn’t love a good mule? — the spicy ginger beer tickling our tongues, opening up our taste buds) [see recipe below for a whiskey mule]. Pile some of that seasoned roasted pork on top of fresh rolls with some mojo sauce or barbecue sauce, pair that with a round of whiskey or tequila mules (aka Sidewinders), and you’ve got yourself a happy little shindig. The last time we made the roasted pork at Curt and Theo’s, we had none other than friends Sara-Kate (the creator of thekitchn.com [very serendipitous]), Penny, and Amy by our sides, sipping some mules and Cut Flowers, dining on some roasted pork, and swapping It-can-only-happen-in-New-York tales of the city. Mules are the perfect beasts to help you entertain at your next small gathering.

Whiskey Mule
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces your favorite whiskey
3 ounces ginger beer (the spicier, the better)
lemon peel (optional)
Angostura bitters (optional)
ice

Method
In a highball glass (chilled, if you can), add the whiskey and fill with ice cubes. Top with ginger beer. Add bitters and lemon peel, if you so desire. Stir until cold.

A visit from Cousin Barbara and some chairs inspire an early-fall terrace party, and a new tall drink called the Zul Mule.

11. Zul Mule

Of course we had to come up with our own mule. After Manhattans, they’re our next most-drunk drink. So when Cousin Barbara and Jon had a bunch of wooden outdoor chairs on their hands, we decided that they would fit perfectly on the terrace. We would turn it into a celebration of these sturdy handsome chairs and invite some of our local friends. An Early-Autumn Kiki, if you will allow us the indulgence. So we had to come up with a perfect cooler for a Sunday afternoon visit and were inspired by the classic Pimm’s Cup, and our love of mules. Pimm’s is a red amber–colored gin liqueur that tastes subtly of spice and citrus. A traditional Pimm’s Cup includes lemon-lime soda and a slice of lemon. For our Pimm’s Cup–Mule hybrid, we knew we had to use ginger beer. After all, that’s what makes a mule, a mule. But instead of the citrusy tang you get from lemon-lime soda, we opted for the more floral–fruity combination that L’esprit de June wine-blossom liqueur offers. It has a delicate, sweet aroma and tastes predominantly of strawberry essence. It’s quite lovely, and is a great substitute when fragoli (wild strawberry liqueur) is too thick and sweet. We were going to call it a Pimm’s Mule, but decided that Zul Mule was more fun to say (Zul is a combination of our last names, and we like it because it sounds like the demon gatekeeper in Ghostbusters).

Zul Mule
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Pimms No. 1
3 ounces Reed’s Extra Ginger Beer (or another spicy ginger beer)
1/4 ounce L’esprit de June liqueur
cucumber slice*
lemon peel
ice

Method
Fill highball glass with ice. Add Pimm’s and L’esprit de June. Top with ginger beer. Stir until chilled. Add cucumber slice and lemon peel, as garnishes.

* Steve loves this addition, and many love a cucumber slice in a traditional Pimm’s Cup. Also, if you have some borage blossoms, cut them at the stems long enough to support themselves in your glass, as an additional garnish. Their blue beauty will stand out against the amber-red hue of the Zul Mule.

12. Campari in Cocktails

Our friends Paul and Noah enjoy a Negroni Fizz.
Last year, we watched our appreciation of Campari turn into love, and found ourselves making cocktail after cocktail using the glowing scarlet amaro. Some of our favorite drinks are the Negroni Sbagliato (check out Joaquín Simó’s recipe), Negronis and Negroni Fizzes, Americanos, and a new favorite, the Old Pal. The Old Pal works much the same way as a Negroni, except that traditional Canadian whisky takes the place of gin. We go a step further and use higher-proof rye (Americans use to refer to Canadian whisky as rye back in the Mad Men days, and you can sometimes hear servers and old-time bartenders refer to a bottle of Canadian Club as rye) instead of Canadian whisky, and bump up the amount (traditionally these drinks use equal parts) to tame the sweetness and bring out rye’s inherent barrel-aged flavors. This Old Pal gives you more of a whiskey punch. But feel free to play with the ratios of all the ingredients to find your very special Old Pal.

Traditional Old Pal
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 ounce Canadian whisky
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe.

Cocktail Buzz Old Pal
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/4 ounces rye (try one at 90–100 proof)
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
lemon or orange twist (optional)

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass or coupe. Add twist.

Negroni Fizz
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
3/4 ounce London dry gin
3/4 ounce Campari
3/4 ounce sweet vermouth
soda
orange twist, as garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 30 seconds. Strain into ice-filled double rocks or highball glass. Garnish with orange twist.

Americano
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce sweet vermouth
soda
orange slice, as garnish

Method
Stir Campari and sweet vermouth in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into an old-fashioned or rocks glass. Top with soda. Add orange slice.

Pairing Suggestion
Blue Cheese on thin wafer crackers (especially a brioche-tasting cracker), with fresh raspberries.

Further Exploration 
The Rosita is another cocktail that combines a main spirit with Campari and sweet vermouth, but this time it’s silver tequila, plus some dry vermouth. Its bold flavors may take some getting use to, but it’s a road worth taking.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz