This is NOT an Appletini (Dedicated to the University of Minnesota)

Cocktails that are shaken or stirred and then strained are served in a cocktail glass. A Martini is an example of this. Blah blah blah.

There is a class of mixed drinks referred to collectively as "Flips". Apparently, its 15th century origins involved beer, rum and sugar heated with a red-hot poker. The heat from the poker not only warmed the drink but caused the Carbon Dioxide in the beer to release all at once, stabilizing into a foam with the sugar. The addition of egg white and the removal of beer and poker created what we now know as the Flip (so named for flipping the drink back and forth between tin mugs to foam up the egg white). Some form of spice (nutmeg or cinnamon) is typically added as well. This is, of course, not to be confused with Egg Nog which contains cream and has a different method of production. The typical formula for a flip is as follows:

• 2 oz spirit
• the white of 1 egg
• 1 tsp. superfine sugar
• pinch grated nutmeg

This will indeed make a delightful (albeit small) cocktail to be enjoyed by many who don't convince themselves the egg is evil.* The flip has come back into fashion among mixologists and last fall I thought I'd give it my own spin. Like most good things, this one just came to me in a flash. Thus, I give you the Harvest Flip.

Begin by dicing apples - I prefer Honeycrisp (developed by U. Minn.) for their rich, complex, tart flavor. Blend or puree the apple to maximize juice extraction, then strain out the juice. Please please please resist the temptation to just drink the juice.** Crack one egg, separating the white, doing with the yolk as you please. Make certain there is no shell in the white, nor blood or yolk. Combine in a cocktail shaker the following:

• 1.5 fl oz Bourbon
• 1.5 fl oz aforementioned apple liquid
• 1/2 fl oz orange liqueur (Cointreau and triple sec work fine but I prefer to make my own) - fills in for the sugar
  
• egg white (use less than a whole one to minimize smell or a whole one for maximum froth)
• dash sage bitters*** - fills in for the spice
  

(The Bulleit Bourbon contains the orange liqueur)

The next step is called the "dry shake". In this case, 'dry' refers to the absence of neither water nor alcohol, but ice. Detach the spring from your Hawthorn Strainer (most just slide off) and add it to the shaker. Shake vigorously for a solid minute (or less if you feel so inclined). Remove the spring and add ice.



Shake vigorously some more, until the shaker becomes unpleasantly cold. Strain the drink into a chilled cocktail or sour glass. Take a small washed sage leaf, place it in the palm of your weak hand, and slap it with your dominant hand. This flattens it for good presentation but more importantly releases the aromas. Gently place the sage leaf atop the foam in the center of the glass and serve. The aromas from the sage leaf warmly greet the imbiber, also serving to mask any offputting aromas potentially present in the egg white.



Prost!


*Food warning: It is not advised for infants, pregnant women, the elderly, or those who are otherwise immunocompromised to consume raw eggs or other animal products. That said, if your eggs are very fresh, are from a reputable farm (ie not store brand), and have been properly handled, the risk of illness is incredibly slim. Especially when they take a bath in bourbon before consumption. mmm bourbon bath

**I put this at the bottom to discourage it. If you don't want to puree and strain fresh apples, it's okay if you buy apple cider. Only fresh, quality apple cider will do. Apple juice, anything from concentrate, anything clear and yella, and anything shelf stable will greatly compromise the quality of your drink. And what of the solids left over? First, you have instant raw applesauce, rich in fiber and vitamins. Cook it down a bit and add sugar to make apple butter. Just eat it with a spoon.

***Wait, you mean I never did the blog post on herbal bitters? Here's the Reader's Digest (would that be "tweet" in 21st century parlance?) version: In a mason jar or other nonreactive vessel, add fresh chopped sage (or any herb of your choice) to overproof clear spirits. I use Wray and Nephew brand 126 proof rum. Allow the mixture to sit for several days until the liquid has a full color, but ideally before the herb oxidizes and turns brown (which will happen over time regardless but will have a negligible impact on the flavor). Strain out the herb, add a small amount of heavily caramelized sugar (to the point that it begins to smoke just slightly), and bottle. I use cute barbershop bottles from American Science and Surplus. Because bitters are very concentrated and need but a small dose to transform a beverage, a proper shaker top will be needed. A tight fitting laboratory rubber stopper with the tip of a cheap disposable plastic pipette sticking through the hole will do nicely. Perfectly, in fact. Sweet.

Whiskey River

There is a distillery in Sperryville, Virginia called The Copper Fox Distillery (their bottled product goes under the name "Wasmund's"). They are some clever, clever folks. Economic times are tough, and they need some cash flow! How to make more money more faster? Stick a bottle under the spigot of a pot still and sell it, unaged, with a barrel. This is awesome in several ways. First and foremost, it allows them to keep a low inventory. Second, it allows them to have fewer steps in their production process. These elements together make for a high sales/rent ratio. For those pondering investing in a company, this is a very good thing.

This reminds me somewhat of the business model of the Tuthilltown Distillery in the Mid-Hudson Valley, New York area. As a young distillery, they wanted to produce high quality spirits using local ingredients. However, as a businsess, they needed positive cash flow in order to survive. Aged (brown) spirits are typically the most desirable to connoisseurs (think Scotch, Bourbon, etc.), but require lengthy ageing in wood casks in order to mature, mellow, color and aromatize. This does not make for a successful business. Tuthilltown instead took two steps towards cash flow. First, they sold apple- and grain-based clear (unaged) spirits which require but a few days of fermentation and processing to get onto the shelf. Second, they used very very small barrels to age their spirits. These casks usually hold about 53 gallons of liquid. Using such casks, you have a very low surface area to volume ratio which translates to very slow maturation (through osmosis and other processes). Tuthilltown downsized the casks to 3-5 gallons so that the products could be ready for sale in months, not years. Thus, business is booming and they will NEVER be able to produce enough spirits to meet market demands (at $40/375ml bottle, the spirits don't last long on shelves).

The good people at Copper Fox have taken this to the next level. Instead of ageing the spirits themselves (rather, in addition to), they sell boxed sets including a teeny tiny two liter cask and two 750-ml bottles of clear, pot-strength (around 125 proof) single malt barley whiskey. You fill the cask yourself (once cleaning it, of course) and age it to your taste and pleasure. I will post with updates as the months go by.



A note on copper pot stills:
There are essentially two main kinds of commercial stills, the copper pot still and the column still. The column still is generally used to produce neutral spirits. It requires less energy and man-power, and can distill a greater volume for higher "purity". Purity is the stuff that makes vodka flavorless. A pot still is labor-inensive, messy, and rather inefficient. Use of a pot still necessarily makes something more expensive than a column-distilled product. It also tastes a whole lot better. At a strength of around 62% ABV, it is much weaker than column distilled booze which comes out at up to 95% ABV. The water and gentler processing, however, allow a greater diversity of flavor compounds to come through. You can taste the difference between, say, apples and grains. Or Barley and Rye. Or Islay malt and Highlands malt. It's delicious. Come over now, and every three months from now, and I'll give you a taste so you can see.

Strawberry Fields Forever (an inevitability)

Spring is here. Normally, for me, it would be planting season. However so much of what I planted last year has returned, better than ever. My perennials - raspberries, strawberries, chives, oregano, mint, and sage - are all bigger and more delicious than last year. Some of the annuals, such as the tomatoes, have even propagated themselves by way of squirrel poop. For the strawberries, it is as if the plants know when June 1st is, regardless of weather conditions, and they begin growing, spreading, and fruiting anew. I think I've already harvested more strawberries this season than in all of last season. Surely, the best is yet to come. Naturally, when confronted with lush, perfect produce, I transform it into cocktails.

To preface this cocktail, a bit about them. I am a fan of Martinis. A Martini is a specific cocktail made using gin and vermouth. There is some wiggle room regarding ingredient choice but there is a point at which the "Martini" appellation no longer applies. Vodka and apple pucker is not a martini of any sort. That the "-tini" suffix is so frequently attached to any drink served "up" in a cocktail glass is a source of great frustration. Typically, drinks served up, that is, shaken or stirred with ice and strained into a glass, are presented in a cocktail glass - a stemmed vessel with an obtuse conical bowl. That said, with a sense of tradition, one can adapt classic cocktails to include quality ingredients and end up with a fine beverage. Here, then, is the Strawberry Mango Gimlet. (as always, I will accept naming ideas.)

A Gimlet is a derivative drink of the Martini where the vermouth is replaced with fresh lime juice. Simple syrup is usually added to balance the lime, and an orange liqueur like Cointreau is often included for depth. Included in this variant is North Shore Distillery's Alphonso Mango gin. North Shore Distillery, located in Lake Bluff, IL is one of the top small-batch distilleries in the country, with the top rated gin in the United States. Every year, they concoct a specialty spirit using rare ingredients (Israeli dates, Indian mangoes, etc.). Of the mango gin, there were only about two dozen cases produced; bottles are hand numbered out of 256.

Above is the setup and a close-up of the gin bottle. You can see that the strawberries are tiny but very red. They are quite full of flavor unlike their store-brand counterparts. The equipment needed is a cobbler (or Boston) shaker, a citrus juicer, a muddler (not pictured) and a cocktail glass, iced to protect the drink's chill.

Strawberry Mango Gimlet

• 1-3 small strawberries
• Juice of 1/2 small lime, about 3/4 fl oz
• 1 3/4 oz North Shore Mango Gin
• Dash simple syrup

Muddle the strawberries in the bottom of the shaker with the lime juice and simple syrup until well mashed.

Add gin and shake gently to combine. Strain into cocktail glass.

The drink also makes a fine Fizz or Collins when poured over ice into a highball glass and topped with soda water.

Prost.

Lamb Bacon II: Reloaded

Today I return to where I started. Lamb Bacon. It makes chilis, stuffings, stews, braised collard greens, hashes, and, and, and, and, and... really delicious. I swear to you, with lamb bacon in your arsenal, you will have no need for pork bacon in your cooking. Keep it around for your lumberjack breakfasts, though, if you're into that sort of thing. Lamb bacon is not seen to frequently for several reasons, practical and economic. It certainly isn't traded on commodities exchanges. Nor is it particularly easy to produce. Except that it is. If you're Wylie Dufresne, and need perfectly consistent slices of lamb bacon, it's certainly a challenge, but for the home user, it's quite simple.

I was pleased with my first attempt at lamb bacon, but it was nothing compared to the second batch. Here's how I improved it:

• I made a stronger cure using more spices, toasting them for added deliciousness

Mustard, black pepper, fennel, coriander, cumin, dried herbs, garlic and onion powders, salt and sugar make up the cure.


Curing the lamb bellies in a dish, stacked together.

• I used Activa TransGlutaminase GS, following the company instructions and making sure to glove up, to seal the meat. TG essentially acts as a meat glue, binding the muscle fibers to each other. This is important because, when removing the bones from the lamb breast, it gets all flappy. TG seals the flaps, making a much more contiguous product.

The meat glue package. Note all the warnings.


The meat glue powder activated with water.


Brushing the meat glue onto the flappy lamb breast to create a cohesive bacon mass.

• I slow smoked the cured lamb breasts over hickory wood. Apple is better, but you take what you can get.

The final product is much more baconey than the previous batch. I think you should try making some lamb bacon and let me know how it came out/how you improved my recipe and method/what you used it for.

In the Garden of Eatin', Honey

Though the herbs were the longest lasting and most practical selections in the garden, there were quite a few other treats.

Tomatoes:
When you buy tomatoes at the grocery store, they are usually either pink and hard, or mealy and nasty. In either case, they typically lack much in the way of flavor. I'm certain that I've mentioned before the reasons for this, involving highways, cheap fuel, and hyper-growth varieties. Heirloom tomatoes are essentially the exact opposite of these grocery store ones. There are countless varieties that come in every color of the rainbow (except blue; there is no blue food), with many different flavor profiles. Additionally, different varieties produce fruit at different times of the year, so using several varieties will allow you to have a constant supply. For my garden, I purchased four varieties of tomato saplings from the local farmer's market.

The Orange Blossom variety produced earliest in the season. Its fruit was also the sweetest of the bunch. Slightly smaller than racquetballs, they were perfect for making salsa. As you know, I'm not that crazy about recipes, as each person has their own tastes. Salsa is a perfect medium for expressing your culinary ideas while still maintaining the flavors of the produce. I finely diced the tomatoes and combined with mixed shallots, chopped cilantro, a hint of garlic, and salt. That's all it needs to be the best dip your tortilla chips could dream of. Make sure you have enough, though; it goes fast. Regrettably, I had but one orange blossom plant.




In terms of numbers, the Green Zebra tomatoes were the most prolific, producing dozens of fruits on each of two plants. Their flavor is lighter and more citrusy than other varieties. They're great on salads, especially as the centerpiece of an Insalata Caprese. Even better is to use them to make Gazpacho Verde. Tasty. Here are the tomatoes, unripe and attached to the vine on the left. To the right, the yellowing of the stripes indicates ripeness.



The other two varieties were Purple Cherokee and Brandywine. The PCs are similar in flavor to standard tomatoes, albeit much fuller and fruitier. They're great in sandwiches, add nicely to salads, and provide a great visual and textural counterpart in ceviches. Brandywine tomatoes are redder than anything you've ever seen, incredibly richly flavored, and aromatic like flowers. A couple of them grew to about the size of a softball for added visual effect. Few varieties of tomato existing outside the backyards of Southern Italy are better for making sauces or for canning than these. The internal structure is also a tighter, more complex lattice meaning more meat, less juice, and a striking presentation.


The problem with berries is that there are never enough. I would gladly sit down and eat a pint of blueberries for lunch every day. Blueberry plants are more of an investment than others. You buy some scrawny, bare twigs and, given a few years, it turns into a fifteen foot bush producing enough fruit for you and your neighbors. The raspberries and blackberries are similar, though not expanding as much with age. They all taste as good as anything you'd find in a farmer's market and require very little maintenance.



Strawberries are fantastic. There really isn't much to say about them. The plants are perennial and spread like crazy. They also stay low to the ground so they can be mixed in with other, taller plants like basil (together in ice cream = perfection), tomatoes, and berry bushes. Harvesting them can be a bit like Where's Waldo. And beware of ants. Some types of strawberries produce only during a certain time of year, and are classified as such, such as "Junebearing". These typically have better tasting fruit, a tradeoff for the brief growing season. Others will produce as long as the temperature is warm enough and are referred to as "everbearing". Using a planter, you can even grow them inside during the winter. Delicious local strawberries in Chicago in winter? Yes we can.

In the Garden of Eatin', Baby (Apologies for the trite pun)

Anybody who says that local, organic, or sustainable produce is too expensive needs to be smacked. Okay, I don't typically condone violence of this sort, so maybe they just need to do be learned about the truths. For the low price of a few seeds or saplings, you can grow your own foodstuffs with minimal effort. In early spring 2008, I started clearing out patches of the back yard of weeds, vines, roots, and other purposeless florae. With several patches cleared, I needed to decide what to plant.

This is an important decision to make. Many gardening books suggest certain lettuces or summer squashes because they are easy to grow, but surely the most important guidance, regardless of difficulty, has to be to plant what you love. One of the greatest pains of grocery store shopping is the purchase of herbs. Why must I buy a bushel of parsley if I only need a sprinkle? Worse yet, why when buying other herbs is the cost so exorbitant for such a small quantity? I am a well-known Mojito fiend. I can't get enough of them. Of course, the distinctive flavoring of that delightful Cuban cocktail is mint. Funny, though, how you usually can't really taste the mint in a Julep or Mojito. Why is this? When most restaurants and grocery stores buy mint, it comes from gigantic farms whose sole purpose is to produce vast QUANTITIES of a product as quickly as possible. Agribusinesses use selective breeding and genetic manipulation to achieve these ends, usually at the expense of flavor and aroma. Note, this is the same reason that a rose today indeed does not smell as sweet. So with dilute or flavorless mint, one cannot make a fine beverage (or jerked chicken). The best way to guarantee good flavor, short of complicated soil testing, analysis, and rebalancing, is to start with good genes. Internet stores provide heirloom (unadulterated) seeds and local garden shops typically carry specialty varieties. Additionally, many farmer's market vendors will sell their surplus plants to the public. I planted several types of mint from several sources and it sure did grow like a weed. Plus, when it flowers, it produces beautiful conical shoots. Having a constant and huge supply of herbs makes spur-of-the-moment cooking and cocktailing a pleasure. All together, I grew marjoram, oregano, sorrel, chives, sage, basil, and seven varieties of mint. Despite my poor soil, they grew well, producing interesting and delightful flavors. Enjoy some photos.


Common Mint


Lemon Thyme (perfect for chicken, sauces, and cocktails)


Top Left: Greek Oregano, a peppery treat
Center: Marjoram, unique, fruity, citrusy, and... herbal


Sorrel, a sour lettuce-like leaf


Basil. A must for anything pretending to be Italiano

Oh Right, Garlic Scapes...

I previously promised an entry on garlic scapes, but have not yet gotten around to producing anything particularly photogenic at home with them. So here's a text-only account of the scape.

Available only for a few weeks during late spring and early summer, garlic scapes are part of the stem portion of the garlic plant. There are two parts to the scape, the stem and the blossom. The stem is green and crunchy, almost like a green bean, but very smooth and cylindrical. They can be a couple inches to a couple feet long, but are usually trimmed down to several inches when sold. (Sometimes the entire garlic plant is sold whole, from bulb to leaves to stem to blossom. Very cool but usually not the best value) As the season progresses, the blossom grows from a small nub to a golf ball sized cluster of hominy-esque garlic kernels. When peeled of its outer skin, it is a fairly attractive flower, as long as you don't mind the Dracula busting aroma.

The stem section has a very strong bite raw or cooked and makes a fine addition to risottos and vegetable sautes, but by far my favorite application is tempura fried. I made it a few times with varying success, and I don't recall the key to success, but I do know that very hot oil is crucial. The blossom is slightly subtler in flavor and kick, with a creamy texture when cooked. Tonight, I used them in lentil soup, sweating them with the aromatics (and lamb bacon v2.0...). It was a nice textural contrast. My favorite preparation would have to be caramelization, though. In a small amount of oil over low heat, cook the separated blossoms until they are very soft and uniformly dark golden brown. Most recently, I used this application at work, in the one-week absence of my chef, on the special I ran.

Tuna Watermelon Salad

• Prepare garlic blossom kernels as directed above
  
• Remove the rind from a whole watermelon and carve so that cross-sections are uniform circles
• Thinly slice the watermelon into friendly, manageable circles. (Don't forget to collect the juices to add to sparkling water, pop, or prosecco)
  
• Rub down a small (4 oz) tuna steak with salt and ground coriander (or seasonings of your choice)
• Sear on both sides in a screaming hot (cast iron, ideally) pan, making sure not to overcook the fish. (Center should be 1/2-2/3 rare/raw)
• While tuna is resting, compose the salad, beginning with the watermelon on the plate.
• Toss a handful of arugula with the mild flavored vinaigrette of your choice and mound with maximum elevation atop the watermelon.
• Thinly and uniformly slice the tuna, then arrange around the base of the watermelon and salad, forming a single ring, discarding (read: consuming) the ends.
• Garnish with garlic kernels atop the salad and herb oil and watermelon granita on the side of the plate.
• Sell like crazy because it rocks!