The Addictive Qualities of Braunschweiger Spread paired with Ginger Almond Brandy

Braunschweiger, a type of German liverwurst, makes a spread so delectable, you may just have to lick the bowl clean. Pair it with a simple drink of brandy, amaretto, and ginger beer.

Growing up, we both ate our fair share of sandwiches, some of them slathered in “spreads.” For Steve, these spreads mainly consisted of Braunschweiger (more on this, in a moment). For Paul, these spreads came from a little can with the Underwood label: Deviled Ham, Roast Beef, White Meat Chicken, and lastly Liverwurst.

Liverwurst. Just saying the word induces scrunched-up noses and guttural utterances of disapproval from many Americans. We just don’t eat a lot of liver today, unless we grew up with a delicatessen diet or had budget-conscious parents who tried to make it palatable by saying “It’s good for you.”

And liverwurst is a tough one to pair with cocktails, especially spirituous ones, which only heighten the alcohol burn and metallic livery flavor.

Enter Braunschweiger Spread, a lighter, yet still rich and creamy, bastard cousin of liverwurst. It’s made of Braunschweiger (essentially fancy German liverwurst) and various seasonings, cream cheese, and other condiments. Literally, Braunschweiger means someone who hails from Braunschweig (Brunswick to English speakers), Germany, where the liverwurst probably was popularized, but if you break it down into two words, it means a Brown Man of Few Words. Perhaps an image of a laconic UPS driver popped into your head. We like to think that this is appropriate, as Braunschweiger Spread delivers without much ado what’s essential: fat to keep you sated, vitamins to keep you healthy, and flavor to keep you eating it.

We make a very simple Braunschweiger Spread that you can whip up in a matter of minutes (after a little shopping at your grocery store). It pairs delightfully with another German: Asbach Brandy. Mixed with some ginger beer and amaretto, it cuts through the rich creaminess of the spread. Make some before dinner tonight (you can have a light salad, for some green balance).


Braunschweiger Spread
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

This recipe is forgiving, meaning you can play with the measurements to achieve your desired balance of flavor. Packages of Braunschweiger liver sausage are usually 8 ounces, but save 2 ounces to try on its own with the crackers, paired with the Ginger Almond Brandy drink, to experience the difference.

Ingredients
3/4 tube (6 ounces) Braunschweiger liver sausage
1/2 package cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon India pickle relish
1 tablespoons finely diced red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
rosemary crackers (or other varieties of crackers)

Method
Combine ingredients in a food processor or standing mixer. Pulse, or mix on low, until the mixture reaches a desired spreadable state (you don’t want it too smooth or too chunky . . . in between is perfect). Transfer to a bowl. Serve with crackers.


Ginger Almond Brandy
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces brandy (we used Asbach)
1/2 ounce amaretto (we used Lazzaroni)
3 ounces ginger beer (we used Reed’s extra ginger)
cherry of any kind, with a touch of syrup (optional)
ice

Method
Add brandy and amaretto to a mixing glass and stir (or shake, if you prefer) for 15 seconds. Strain into ice-filled double-rocks or highball glass. Top with ginger beer. Add cherry, if you prefer, and give it a little stir.

The retro-inspired Braunschweiger Spread will make your party guests coo with delight.

Get Your Freak On with Cheddar Blue Fricos

Behold the Cheddar Blue Frico, a crisp wafer of cheesy bliss. It’s difficult to eat just one. Try them with a Manhattan Cocktail, an ideal partner.

The other day we attended a potluck at the offices of Gojee, a Web site devoted to amassing its editors’ favorite recipes from their favorite food and cocktail Web sites. Thrilled to have several of our cocktail recipes selected for their site, we decided to shake things up a bit and bring one of our party-food favorites to add to the array of offerings at the potluck: Cheddar Blue Fricos. For those unfamiliar with the term frico, it is an Italian parmesan crisp, made by baking or frying the cheese, mixed with a little flour, so that it forms into a lacy wafer as it melts and hardens. We came up with a Cheddar and Blue Cheese frico a few years back that pairs magically with whiskey cocktails, and decided to share these with the other bloggers and the Gojee team. Veronica Chan, one of the masterminds behind this uniquely curated site, informed us that there would be a bottle of bourbon awaiting us if we decided to come up with a cocktail to pair with the Cheddar blue fricos. Of course we had to come up with something. Why not our favorite cocktail, the Manhattan.

So we came prepared, armed with fricos on one hand, and a bottle of Cinzano sweet vermouth and Angostura bitters in the other. Paul mixed up a few cocktails for those whose curiosities were piqued while Steve offered up some fricos. Everyone asked, “What are these?” So we explained the origin of this species of Italian snack and how we altered it to suit our love of pairing whiskey cocktails with cheesy hors d’oeuvres.

If you are a true gourmand, you are not finished with your French onion soup until the last bits of hardened Swiss are peeled off the rim of the crock and popped in your mouth. Or the glob of Cheddar that has dripped from your pub burger, lying congealed on the cardboard container, is scooped up for the last moments of savory bliss. Eating a Cheddar blue frico is like having lots of these last bits all amassed and all to yourself. We think that’s why they bring so much pleasure.

After a few bites, and a lot of mms and rounds of “I love this,” we felt good. Maybe it was the Manhattans, or perhaps the good cheer and camaraderie everyone oozed. Regardless of the source, we all shared the in knowledge that good food and good drinks, all prepared with love and the intent to please, are what makes us human and happy.

Side Bar:
The night before the Gojee potluck, Steve whipped himself up a Manhattan, made with some Canadian Club whisky and Carpano Antica sweet vermouth, that tasted silky smooth after taking a bite of one of the fricos. Making a Manhattan with Canadian whiskey may seem like anathema to the most die-hard cocktail aficionados, but fuck it. If it tastes like the heavens opening up with cherubim singing the most dulcet tunes, then all sanctimonious rules of shaking and stirring be damned.

You should know that Cheddar Blue Fricos are super easy to make if you own a Silpat or another nonstick mat, and they pair exquisitely with a variety of whiskey cocktails, such as the Oh Pear, The Fascist, and Paddy. Choose your poison and start preheating your oven. You’re going to bring love and happiness to your party guests tonight.


Cheddar Blue Fricos
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
4 cups grated sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup grated blue cheese
spiced flour (see recipe below)

Method
Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine cheeses in bowl and mix with a fork. Add spiced flour and continue mixing until incorporated. Scoop tablespoons of the mixture and place on nonstick liner on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

Bake about 10 minutes until golden. Remove from oven and place entire cookie sheet on a wire rack to cool for several minutes. After cooling, use a metal spatula and carefully remove the fricos, placing them on the wire rack to cool completely. Once they have cooled completely, place them on a paper towel to absorb some of the grease.

May be made up to 3 days in advance. Keep in an airtight container with layers separated by wax paper.

Spiced Flour:
2 tbsp flour (1 tbsp for chewier fricos)
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
1/8 teaspoon hot pimentón
1/2 teaspoon dried chervil or parsley
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly with a fork.

Canadian Manhattan
(created by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
2 ounces Canadian Club whisky
1 ounce Carpano Antica sweet vermouth
2 dashes Angostura bitters
maraschino, brandied, or marascha cherry, for garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 15–30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Add cherry.


The Manhattan Cocktail. So Perfect with Cheddar Blue Fricos.

Manhattan
(Cocktail Buzz’s preferred ratio)

Ingredients
2 ounces rye whiskey (or bourbon)
1 ounce sweet vermouth (we like Carpano Antica)
2 dashes Angostura bitters
maraschino, brandied, or marascha cherry, for garnish

Method
Stir in ice for 15-30 seconds. Strain into chilled cocktail glass. Add cherry.

Extras:
To watch our video pairing the Oh Pear cocktail with Cheddar-Blue Fricos, click here.

Starting on Thursday, January 26, check out other potluck dishes fellow gojee contributors shared. Go to gojee.com and enter “gojeepotluck” into I Crave. You can also follow #gojeepotluck on Twitter.

photo © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz

Gravlax Is Easy To Make, and Will Impress Your Guests

Salt, sugar, white peppercorns, and dill are all that’s needed to make the divine Scandinavian cured salmon dish known as gravlax.

When I was in my twenties, I lived with a woman named Erika Worm (it’s pronounced vorm) who showed me the way around a professional kitchen. We lived in her family’s big house on a lake, and Erika cooked as if she were made for the task. As a result of her mom’s catering spell, not only was she blessed with the skills to rival a Top Chef, we had the run of a two-Viking-range kitchen with all the bells and whistles. I would watch her make dish after dish, probing her with questions about temperature, taste, and plating. Later in life, when I was the master of my own kitchen (read nonprofessional), I would try to replicate her dishes. One dish that stood out — one that did not even involve any cooking — was her recipe for gravlax.

Gravlax, slices of salt and sugar–cured salmon that have lightly soaked up the essence of fresh dill, is actually quite easy to make, and I remembered this distinctly. I think Erika called it a no-brainer that looks really impressive on the buffet table. All one needs to do is obtain a fresh piece of salmon, preferably one with the skin still on, and with a close-to-uniform thickness (the center cut works best), rub it with the cure, cover it with fresh dill, and let it sit for a day. How’s that for a no-brainer? I can already hear the wheels spinning in your head. You’re asking yourself where you can buy the freshest piece of salmon because you want to make this for your New Year’s Day brunch.


After you blanket the salmon with the salt and sugar cure, cover it with bunches of fresh dill.


Slicing the gravlax once it’s cured is really the only tricky part. Just make sure you have a thin-bladed and extremely sharp knife at the ready. Have some chilled champagne ready, as you will want to serve your beautiful creation with some bubbly. We recently enjoyed some gravalax with a passion fruit bellini made with thawed passion fruit (maracuja in Portuguese or lilikoi in Hawaiian) puree we always get from a Brazilian shop on 46th Street in Manhattan called Buzios. It also comes in a bottle. You can probably get it at a specialty market that stocks ethnic foods, but if not, you may have to ask your grocer to stock it.


Gravlax with Mustard Dill Sauce
(inspired by recipes by Erika Worm, Marcus Samuelsson, and Ina Garten)

Gravlax

Ingredients
1 1/2 – 2 pounds salmon fillet (skin on, thick center cut)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups salt
2 tablespoons white peppercorns, coarsely ground (use less if you only have black peppercorns)
2 bunches fresh dill (reserve a handful for the sauce)
optional ground spices (such as cumin, caraway, coriander, aniseed, dill seed, juniper berries), in any combination and amount (this is not necessary, and is only suggested if you like to experiment)

Method
In a bowl, mix the sugar, salt, and peppercorns (and any other spices if you are using them). Place the salmon in a glass dish and remove any pin bones. You can locate them by running your fingers over the flesh where the natural separation occurs. Remove with your fingers or a pair of clean bottlenose pliers. Scoop up some of the mixture with your hand and rub all over the salmon, skin included. Place the salmon in a glass dish, and cover with the remainder of the mixture. Then, cover the salmon with the dill so that you don’s see any of the salmon. Press down gently. Let stand at room temperature for 5 hours, 6 maximum. Cover, and refrigerate for about 24–48 hours, the thicker the salmon, the longer the curing time.

Remove the gravlax from the dish (it will be swimming in all the liquid the salt cure has leached from it, and it should smell slightly metallic and briny underneath the dill). Discard the dill, and quickly rinse the gravlax under cold water until the mixture has been washed away. Do not saturate the gravlax. Place the gravlax on a cutting board and with a sharp knife cut thin slices across the grain.

Serve with mustard dill sauce and slices of bagel, or brown bread, or crisp rye bread. Sides of capers, sliced red onion, and lettuce leaves will be appreciated as well. Best eaten within 4 days.

Mustard Dill Sauce (aka hovmästarsås or gravlaxsås)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon honey mustard
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup oil, such as grapeseed or other neutral-tasting oil
salt and white pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

Method
In a bowl, or preferably a standing mixer, add all the ingredients except the oil. While mixing vigorously or with the mixer on high, slowly drizzle the oil in steadily. Mix until it thickens.

Passion Fruit Bellini
Ingredients
1/2 tablespoon passion fruit puree
1/2 teaspoon simple syrup*
3–4 ounces champagne, prosecco, or any sparkling wine

Method
In a champagne flute, add the passion fruit puree and the simple syrup. Top with chilled champagne.

* In a sauce pan over low heat, dissolve 1 cup sugar in 1 cup water, stirring occasionally until all crystals have dissolved. Let cool and transfer to a clean, airtight container. May be kept in refrigerator for up to a month.

Text by Paul Zablocki
Photos by Steve Schul and Paul Zablocki

Bold New Campari Recipes That Go Way Beyond Negronis and Americanos

How beautiful. The Black Currant Sparkler gets its kick from Campari, the classic Italian aperitivo.

If you’re familiar with Campari, that glowing red aperitivo that’s used in a classic Negroni and Americano, you know it pulls no punches. It’s either love at first sip, or, well, let’s not even go there. For you see, knowing how to mix this bittersweet orange amaro is a skill worth seeking out, and we have five recipes, from five of New York’s most noteworthy mixologists, sure to make your trip to the liquor store worth it.

The lovely Hanna Lee, of Hanna Lee Communications, a lady who knows how to throw one helluva party, invited us to attend Campari’s “Life with a Twist: Aperitivo and Beyond” at NYC’s Silver Lining, where these five esteemed bartenders shook and stirred their creations for an eager crowd of thirsty (and hungry) imbibers. Creative and traditional food, along with some holiday flash, adorned each bar, and Campari revelers got the chance to chat with the men and women behind the sticks to find out how they came up with the recipes (each created three drinks).

Paul got to shoot the breeze with Dushan Zaric, mastermind cocktail creator at Employees Only and the Macao Trading Co., whose Malena cocktail blew his mind. Dushan, who has a strong culinary background, revealed to Paul two secrets behind the success of this drink’s ever-changing long finish: using an easy-to-mix rye that does not impart too much oakiness, and the few drops of orange blossom (or orange flower) water that unite the ingredients, thus extending the finish. We tried making this at home with another rye just to see how different it could possibly be, and it indeed was. We will be using Wild Turkey 101 exclusively for this drink from now on.

Steve spoke with the charming Christy Pope, of Cuffs & Buttons Cocktail Catering, who explained that she approached her dessert cocktails with a light hand on the sugar. Most of us associate dessert drinks with heavy cream and lots of sweet liqueurs, but Christy decided to focus on flavor rather than calorie content. Her Black Currant Sparkler lit up the bar with its blend of gin, prosecco, and Campari, lightly embellished with a purple orchid and a spritz of white crème de cacao and vanilla extract to add aroma. Heavenly.

So, if you love Campari, dive right in to these five glorious recipes, all perfect for different occasions. If you’ve had reservations in the past because you thought Campari was too bitter, don’t be afraid. You’ll wipe away these fears with a few sips of these masterly cocktails.


Aged Spirits Cocktail
Malena
(created by by Dushan Zaric)

Ingredients
1 ounce Campari
1 ounce Wild Turkey 101 rye whiskey
3/4 ounce ruby port
5 drops of orange blossom water (aka orange flower water)
2 dashes of orange bitters
ground cinnamon, as garnish
orange half-wheel, as garnish

Method
Stir all ingredients, except orange blossom water, in a mixing glass briefly. Add 5 drops orange blossom water over ice in rocks glass. Strain liquid in mixing glass into rocks glass. Garnish with ground cinnamon and an orange half-wheel.

Brunch Cocktail
Roasted Orange Sbagliato
(created by Joe Campanale)

Ingredients
1 1/4 ounces Campari
1 ounce sweet red vermouth
1 1/4 ounce Lambrusco Bianco, or other sparkling white wine
1 roasted orange wedge

Method
Place the roasted orange wedge in a mixing glass and add vermouth. Muddle the two so that the charred bits are released into the vermouth. Add Campari and ice, and shake hard. Strain into a wine glass filled with ice and add sparkling wine.


Winter Entertaining Cocktail
Gaspare’s Winter Punch
(created by Julie Reiner)

Ingredients
3/4 cup Campari
3/4 cup orange liqueur
2 bottles medium-bodied red wine
6 cups cranberry juice
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sugar
zest of 1 orange
6 cinnamon sticks
10 whole cloves
10 whole allspice
6 whole star anise
1 whole nutmeg
1 teaspoon almond extract

Method
Sort cranberries discarding bruised fruit. Rinse and place in a six-quart pan with raisins, orange zest, cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, allspice, nutmeg and cranberry juice. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover and simmer on low heat for 20 minutes to blend flavors. Add wine and sugar and heat until steaming (6-8 minutes). Do NOT bring to a boil. Add Campari, orange liqueur, and almond extract. Strain out cranberries and ladle into punch cups. Garnish with a cinnamon stick and star anise.

Summer Greenmarket Cocktail
Red Square
(created by Dave Wondrich)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Campari
1/4 ounce wildflower honey syrup*
1/4 ounce fresh-squeezed lemon juice
4 fresh raspberries
2 ounces brut champagne

Method
Place ingredients (except champagne) in a mixing glass and shake hard with ice. Double strain into chilled champagne flute and top off with 2 ounce chilled brut champagne. Add a raspberry for garnish.

*To make wildflower honey syrup, stir 1 part organic wildflower honey with 1 part hot water until honey has dissolved. Bottle and refrigerate.

Dessert Cocktail
Black Currant Sparkler
(created by Christy Pope)

Ingredients
1/2 ounce Campari
1/2 ounce gin
1 tablespoon black currant preserves
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon white crème de cacao
prosecco

Method
Place ingredients (except prosecco) in a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into a coupe glass and top with prosecco. Garnish with an edible pansy.

Endnote
How does Campari get its unusual vermilion hue? Well, originally the dye used to color it was derived from crushed cochineal insects. We can assure you that the bottles reaching American shores do not have such a distinction (at least that’s the word on the street—Campari, like any spirit that has managed to stay popular over the course of time, keeps its recipe hush-hush).

Photos of cocktails courtesy of Hanna Lee Communications; photo of Campari bottle courtesy of Campari.com.

We Found These Amazing Cocktails on Maui and Bring You the Recipes

The Na Ka Oi Cocktail and the Rain Tree Elixir will wow you with their tropical flavors.

Finding a restaurant on Maui with both creative food and a decent cocktail program can be challenging, but we found such a place in Wailea called Monkeypod Kitchen by Merriman, or simply Monkeypod. We dined al fresco, which in Hawaii is practically de rigueur, and were waited on by the expert server Nicole, who made our experience there one of the best we’ve ever had while visiting the fiftieth state.

Steve started out the evening with a Ho‘opono Potion, a bewitching brew of tequila and lime juice mixed with a little Aperol (a bittersweet neon orange aperitif made with bitter oranges and rhubarb, among other botanicals). It paired beautifully with his Hawaiian version of a traditional beet salad (sweet Maui onion, arugula, crispy bacon, chevre, orange ginger dressing), the citrus bringing out all the potent flavors in the tequila, the cucumber taming the light heat.

Paul craved an American whiskey drink, so the Makawao Ave. cocktail, a sort of whiskey sour/old-fashioned hybrid, but with ginger liqueur, fit the bill nicely. It was a perfect partner with the slight bitterness of a simply dressed kale and citrus salad.

We asked for the recipe for the No‘opono Potion, which the lovely Nicole happily wrote down, and while we ate our Pumpkin Patch Ravioli and Fish Tacos, the man who created the drinks, Jason Vendrell, introduced himself. Jason, Monkeypod’s sommelier and beverage manager, explained to us that the owner requested an excellent cocktail program, and the drinks we had before us were the fruits of his labor. He later surprised us with two tiki-inspired cocktails: The fruitjuicy Rain Tree Elixir, made with an açai spirit, coconut water, and kaffir lime leaves, put an instant smile on Steve’s sun-kissed face; the silky smooth No Ka Oi (which means The Best) won Paul’s heart with its explosion of passion fruit and thai basil flavors. Jason told us that he would not be insulted if we didn’t finish the drinks, but who was he kidding? We kept sipping and passing them back and forth, and the only reason we stopped was our rental car’s need for sobriety.

The next night, as we searched for other places to get a cocktail, we decided to return to Monkeypod to try Jason’s famous Monkeypod Mai Tai. A beauty to behold, this rum classic is topped with a lip-smacking honey–lilikoi (passion fruit) foam enhaloed by a ring of golden pineapple. As the bartender prepared the whipped cream gun, fellow imbibers who sat at the bar all watched in admiration as the froth filled the top of the glass. Mahalo Jason for your recipes.

You can re-create these recipes at home. Don’t let the tropical ingredients daunt you. In this day and age, most towns have an Asian or Latin market with fresh or frozen produce, and if that’s not the case, an order from an Internet store can be delivered to you sometimes quicker than it takes to get from Brooklyn to Maui.

Ho‘opono Potion
(created by Jason Vendrell, Monkeypod, Maui)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Sauza tequila
1/2 ounce Aperol
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
fresh cucumber
lemon wedge, as garnish

Method
In a shaker, muddle a slice of cucumber. Fill with ice and add tequila, Aperol, lime juice, and simple syrup. Shake and strain into an chilled cocktail glass. Add lemon wedge.

Rain Tree Elixir
(created by Jason Vendrell, Monkeypod, Maui)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces VeeV Açai Spirit
1 1/2 ounces coconut water
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
1/2 ounce simple syrup
3 kaffir lime leaves

Method
Muddle kaffir with lime and simple. Add coconut water and VeeV with ice, shake and pour into highball.

Makawao Ave.
(created by Jason Vendrell, Monkeypod, Maui)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Makers Mark bourbon
1/2 ounce housemade ginger syrup
2 squeezed lemon wedges
3 dashes Angostura bitters
soda
lemon twist, as garnish

Method
Add bitters, syrup, lemon and bourbon to mixing glass with ice. Shake and pour into a highball glass. Top with soda. Add twist.

No Ka Oi
(created by Jason Vendrell, Monkeypod, Maui)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces Ocean Vodka
1 ounce lime juice
3/4 ounce simple syrup
1 ounce honey-lilikoi foam*
5 muddled thai basil leaves
thai basil leaf, as garnish

Method
Muddle thai basil with lime juice. Add all other ingredients with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into a martini glass. Garnish with thai basil leaf.



Monkeypod Mai Tai
(created by Jason Vendrell, Monkeypod, Maui)

Ingredients
1 ounce Old Lahaina Light Rum
1 ounce Maui Dark Rum
1/2 ounce orgeat syrup
1/2 ounce Dekuyper Orange Curaçao
3/4 ounce fresh lime juice
honey–lilikoi foam*
pineapple wheel, as garnish

Method
Add lime, orgeat, orange curaçao and light rum to a mixing glass with ice. Shake and strain over ice into a highball glass. Float dark rum on top. Place pineapple wheel against the side of the glass so it sticks out. Top with foam from whipped cream gun. [SEE PHOTO ABOVE.]

*Honey–Lilikoi Foam
(created by Jason Vendrell, Monkeypod, Maui)
2 parts liliko‘i (passion fruit) puree
2 parts simple syrup
2 parts egg whites
1 part honey
4 parts cold water

photos (taken on an iPhone 4) © Steve Schul

Celebrating the Aloha Spirit with Pisco Sours

Sharing Pisco Sours on a rainy November night in Pāhoa, on Hawai‘i.

We just spent a week on the Big Island of Hawaii, soaking up the local flavors of its largest city, Hilo, with our friends Matthew and Danny. They own a farmhouse (it’s gorgeous and rentable) in the one-road-in-one-road-out town of Pahoa, just south of Hilo, where lava and alterna-hippie-anything-goes attitude flow freely. The region beckons you with extremeness: 99.99 inches of annual rainfall, in-your-face lush tropical foliage and the smells from ripening fruit, black sand beaches from past volcanic activity, and the glow from Kilauea’s hot maw rising like the proverbial Phoenix, reminding us that life is ever-changing and full of new beginnings.


Channeling the Aloha Spirit, courtesy of Paul on the bongos, and Danny cranking up Don Ho.

Matthew and Danny love to cook and mentioning the word cocktail to them brought instant smiles. You see, they were eager to open their pristine bottle of pisco puro they recently brought back with them from another extreme land, Peru. Deciding on what to make was easy. We would indulge in the classic Pisco Sour.

But, first a word about pisco. Simply put, it’s a grape brandy, usually made from a single variety of grapes, that has been aged for a minimum of three months in vessels that cannot alter its chemical properties (glass and stainless steel work very well to accommodate these stipulations). Some other piscos, called acholado (half-breed) are distilled from the must of several varieties of grapes. Still delicious, but different. (We make a Pisco and Tonic using an acholado that is a must-try.)

While Danny and Steve were out looking for a bottle of Angostura bitters in the torrential (we do not use this word lightly) downpour, Matthew and Paul couldn’t wait and cracked open the bottle. The smell was light, almost of sweet hay, and the flavor, exceptionally smooth, tasting of light acidic fruit. Matthew readied the blender and Paul chose the eggs (fresh from our friends’ backyard chickens) allowing them to come to room temperature before the other guys returned with the Grail. A note to our readers: You cannot make a successful Pisco Sour without the addition of bitters (some may disagree, but believe us when we say it adds needed depth). If it means scouring every corner store in your locale, then by all means gas up your car, make sure the stores are open, and go get it!


Matthew and Danny’s farmhouse, in Pāhoa.

Making a Pisco Sour can be a little messy, we’re not going to lie, because of the addition of egg white in the mix. Getting egg whites ultra-frothy can be likened to exercising with a shake-weight. If you don’t have a blender, you’ll definitely improve your triceps. But just follow our simple recipe below, and you’ll eventually get the hang of it (we’re assuming you’re going to fall head over slippahs for the Pisco Sour, with its slightly sweet, slightly tart smoothness flowing over your tongue, so you’ll be getting lot of practice).

When the drinks were blended and poured into some cute vintage rooster glasses (Matthew and Danny are the proud owners of two loud cocks), we raised a toast to friendship, took our first sips, and licked the barm from our lips and mustaches. Ahh, so satisfying. A few sips later, as we were enshrouded by the white noise of rain pelting the fertile earth, we raised our glasses again and spoke of new beginnings.


Pisco Sour
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Serves 2

Ingredients
5 ounces pisco (try a puro)
1 1/2 ounces lime juice (you can use lemon juice as well, or a combination of both)
1 ounce rich simple syrup*
egg white from 1 large egg
8 ice cubes
Amargo Chuncho (traditional) or Angostura (widely available) bitters

* In a sauce pan over low heat, dissolve 1 cup sugar (preferably demerara or turbinado) in 1 cup water, stirring occasionally until all crystals have dissolved. Let cool and transfer to a clean, airtight container. May be kept in refrigerator for up to a month.

Method
In a Boston shaker (do not use a shaker with a removable strainer, as it will allow gas to build up and force the top to separate from the main vessel) add the pisco, juice, simple syrup, and egg white and shake vigorously for about a minute until the mixture gets slightly frothy. Then fill with ice and shake again vigorously for another minute. Strain into glasses. Add bitters drop by drop (four makes for a tasty pisco sour).

Alternatively, for a frothier drink, add the egg white to a blender and mix until foamy. Then add ice, and crush until it breaks up well. Then add the pisco, juice, and syrup and blend until smooth (or as smooth as you can get it—not all blenders are made equally). You will have a lot of froth. Pour into glasses and add bitters drop by drop. Drag a toothpick through the drops to create pretty patterns.


Come to think of it, the garden salads that Danny is famous for went well with the Pisco Sours. The addition of avocado added creaminess.

The Real Brandy Old-Fashioned { paired with smoked eel hors d’oeuvre }

Lemon-Lime soda is the key to success in this blessedly simple and tasty drink.

Try this experiment: Ask someone tending bar to make you a brandy old-fashioned. What may get placed before you will most likely be brandy (or cognac) subbing for rye in this iconic drink. Not necessarily bad (a complex brandy would make all the difference), but if the bartender handed this drink to a Milwaukeean, and told them what it was, she would take a sip then look at the bartender quizzically. That’s because to your average Wisconsinite, the brandy old-fashioned is more like a highball, with a generous amount of lemon-lime soda and a few extra dashes of Angostura bitters added to the mix. And during a Milwaukeean’s Friday Night Fish Fry, when brandy old-fashioneds are poured faster than Laverne & Shirley can get into trouble, you would be hard-pressed to find another type of cocktail in someone’s hands (and if you did, you can bet they’re not from Milwaukee).

Steve’s dad recently visited us, and for this former Milwaukeean, brandy is the king of spirits. Practically the only spirit. So we made sure we had a bottle of Asbach, a German brandy, waiting for him. It’s one of our favorites, with its rich, smooth taste, and almost buttery aroma. So making some brandy old-fashioneds seemed apt. The only problem was, we had no lemon-lime soda, and the various apps we prepared for cocktail hour were already laid out.

Paul found a bottle of ginger ale in the fridge and quickly deemed it an acceptable substitute. So instead of just ginger ale, we decided to sweeten it up with some simple syrup (but not too much). After garnishing with a half-moon orange slice, and a cherry or two, we raised our glasses, took some big sips, and dug in to the grub.

One of the stand-out pairings wasn’t so much of a shock, but unique in that the food was unusual: smoked eel. A little piece of this rich, unctuous fish goes a long way. Place a piece on a rich, buttery cracker, or a thick-cut potato chip, dab with a bit of mustard, then take a bite. Sip your brandy old-fashioned and relish the mingling of sweet and smoke.


The woody flavors in the smoked eel hors d’oeuvres pairs perfectly with the sweet brightness of a smooth brandy old-fashioned.

Brandy Old-Fashioned
(adapted by Cocktail Buzz)

Ingredients
1 1/2 ounces brandy (try Asbach)
3–4 dashes Angostura bitters
3–4 ounces lemon-lime soda
1/2 tablespoon simple syrup
orange slice, lemon twist, and cherry (in any combination), as garnishes

Method
Stir the brandy and bitters (and simple syrup if you are using ginger ale) in ice for 15 seconds. Strain into an ice-filled double-rocks or highball glass. Top with soda and give a little stir. Add garnishes, preferably speared with a bartender’s straw.

Variation
If using ginger ale instead of lemon-lime soda, use 1/4–1/2 ounce simple syrup, and after mixing, top with 3–4 ounces ginger ale.

Smoked Eel Hors D’oeuvre

Ingredients
1 medium smoked eel, skin and spine removed, cut into bite-sized pieces
buttery crackers, or thick-cut potato chips
Dijon or sweet and spicy mustard
Muenster, or other white cheese, sliced
cream cheese (optional)
fresh dill (optional)

Method
Place a slice of cheese and a piece of eel on a cracker or chip. Add mustard (and other condiments, if using). Note: If your eel seems dry from over-smoking (this usually happens when the eels are thin), chop it up into small pieces and spoon a little bit onto the cracker or chip.

A word about eels

These beautiful fish, so sleek and snakelike, are born in the middle of the ocean and when they are tiny and glassy, make their way to shores across the globe, establishing homes in the estuaries of bays, and farther inland, to live out their lives, until it’s time to return to the ocean to spawn, then eventually die. Some eels can live up to a hundred years, if they are lucky enough to avoid weirs and, worse, man-made dams.

Eels are the third most eaten fish in the world. The Maori of New Zealand revere the eel. It is godlike and respected. The Japanese are addicted to glass eels and pay a high price for shipping to their shores. Those of us who like Japanese cuisine probably have eaten unagi sushi, with pieces of succulent, slightly sweet eel, one of Paul’s favorites. Paul also grew up eating fried eel prepared by his grandmother. Much to his mom’s chagrin, his grandmother would take the eel and wrap its mouth around the spigot of the faucet, and flay it. After cleaning it, it got a dusting of flour and bread crumbs, then into the frying pan. Simple. Delicious. For the squeamish, we recommend an easier approach. The worst you may have to do once you’ve decided on serving smoked eel is to skin it (easy, if it’s not overly smoked), fillet one half by running a knife down the length of the eel just above the spine, then remove the spine. Wash your hands afterward with some lemon juice to get rid of the smokiness. A little work, yes, but the rewards are priceless.

photos © Steve Schul, Cocktail Buzz