Trying out some recipes for cream of coconut (a sweetened coconut cream) as well as some drinks tonight!
Saturday, March 30, 2019
Saturday, February 20, 2016
The Ancient Mariner
Rum - Dark Jamaican 1
Rum - Demerara 1
Lime Juice 0.75
Grapefruit Juice - White 0.5
1:1 Simple Syrup 0.5
Allspice Dram 0.25
French 75
A great summer drink. Sweet and lemony. It's basically a Tom Collins with champagne instead of soda. Be careful though, the amount of booze in here can creep up on you if you have a few.
Ingredients:
1oz (30ml) Gin
1oz (30ml) fresh lemon juice
1/2oz (15ml) 2:1 simple syrup
2oz (60ml) Champagne
Garnish: Lemon peel
Instructions
Shake everything except the champagne over regular ice
Add champagne to the mixing tin
Strain into a glass filled with regular ice
Garnish with a lemon peel
This drink often is served in a champagne flute without ice but more recently the trend is to serve it this way. If you're interested in a little cocktail history check out this great video from Small Screen Network
Source: Small Screen Network
Photo: Me
Friday, January 23, 2015
Pieces of Eight
Another awesome tart summer cocktail. I hadn't really tried passion fruit syrup before this, thinking it was a tasteless sugary mess. I'm now totally converted!
Ingredients:
Usually I would advocate that fresh is always best, but for the passion fruit syrup I didn't have a huge amount of luck making it from scratch. The fresh syrup just didn't have the depth of flavor the off the shelf stuff did, so I just go with that. It was suggested by a guest that the type of fruit I had may not be the right type, so I encourage you to give it a go if you have passion fruit coming out of your ears.
That aside, I highly recommend Tasti Passion Fruit Syrup. Pak'n'Save and Countdown both carry it in Christchurch at least, for NZ folks. Just strain the seeds and you're good to go. The typical yield is 150ml of syrup per 230g bottle.
Instructions:
This drink has a LOT of citrus (2oz!) plus the syrup, so the dilution from the crushed ice really comes into play here. I have in the past taken a shortcut by shaking over regular ice and serving on crushed ice, but I think it really benefits from doing it right.
The trick with drinks where you pour it unstrained is to make sure that you have the perfect amount of liquid and ice to fill your glass after shaking. I do this by filling the serving glass 3/4 full with ice. That becomes the ices measure, so you just pour that into your shaker full of drink, shake, and pour the whole lot into your glass. 3/4 full should be about the right amount. Fresh crushed ice packs together tightly meaning there's less room in the glass for the drink. It'll also dilute faster than regular ice, meaning you'll have a larger amount of liquid at the end of the shake than most drinks. Adjust the starting amount of ice if you find you still have a bunch of room left in your glass, or top it up at the end.
If making a lot of these in one night I just fill a serving glass 3/4 full of ice, pour it into a clear plastic cup, shake it on a table to get it level, and mark a line with permanent marker. There you go - instant easy ice measure. Is is a great trick for any 'pour unstrained' style drink.
Notes
What a great drink! It tastes great, it looks great, it's sweet, it's tart, it's tasty. A lower-alcohol crowd-pleaser. Be sure to do the right thing with the crushed ice and you'll have winner.
Like all crushed ice drinks, this one changes a bunch over time with the quick dilution. I recommend leaving it for 30 seconds or so to melt a little before diving in. Often crushed ice is used because there is a really strong element (citrus in this case) that is mellowed into balance with the extra dilution. Try it out by having a quick sip when it's first made and then leaving it for 30/60 sec. You should be able to taste the difference.
Source: Summit Sips
Photo: Jason Atkinson
Ingredients:
- 1.5oz (45ml) light rum
- 1.5oz (45ml) lemon juice
- 0.5oz (15ml) lime juice
- 1.5oz (45ml) passion fruit syrup*
- Shake - crushed ice
- Glass - collins
- Serve - crushed ice
- Garnish - lemon wheel
Usually I would advocate that fresh is always best, but for the passion fruit syrup I didn't have a huge amount of luck making it from scratch. The fresh syrup just didn't have the depth of flavor the off the shelf stuff did, so I just go with that. It was suggested by a guest that the type of fruit I had may not be the right type, so I encourage you to give it a go if you have passion fruit coming out of your ears.
That aside, I highly recommend Tasti Passion Fruit Syrup. Pak'n'Save and Countdown both carry it in Christchurch at least, for NZ folks. Just strain the seeds and you're good to go. The typical yield is 150ml of syrup per 230g bottle.
Instructions:
- Add all of the ingredients to the tin and shake with crushed ice
- Pour unstrained into serving glass
- Garnish with a lemon wheel or something else fun.
This drink has a LOT of citrus (2oz!) plus the syrup, so the dilution from the crushed ice really comes into play here. I have in the past taken a shortcut by shaking over regular ice and serving on crushed ice, but I think it really benefits from doing it right.
The trick with drinks where you pour it unstrained is to make sure that you have the perfect amount of liquid and ice to fill your glass after shaking. I do this by filling the serving glass 3/4 full with ice. That becomes the ices measure, so you just pour that into your shaker full of drink, shake, and pour the whole lot into your glass. 3/4 full should be about the right amount. Fresh crushed ice packs together tightly meaning there's less room in the glass for the drink. It'll also dilute faster than regular ice, meaning you'll have a larger amount of liquid at the end of the shake than most drinks. Adjust the starting amount of ice if you find you still have a bunch of room left in your glass, or top it up at the end.
If making a lot of these in one night I just fill a serving glass 3/4 full of ice, pour it into a clear plastic cup, shake it on a table to get it level, and mark a line with permanent marker. There you go - instant easy ice measure. Is is a great trick for any 'pour unstrained' style drink.
Notes
What a great drink! It tastes great, it looks great, it's sweet, it's tart, it's tasty. A lower-alcohol crowd-pleaser. Be sure to do the right thing with the crushed ice and you'll have winner.
Like all crushed ice drinks, this one changes a bunch over time with the quick dilution. I recommend leaving it for 30 seconds or so to melt a little before diving in. Often crushed ice is used because there is a really strong element (citrus in this case) that is mellowed into balance with the extra dilution. Try it out by having a quick sip when it's first made and then leaving it for 30/60 sec. You should be able to taste the difference.
Source: Summit Sips
Photo: Jason Atkinson
Friday, December 5, 2014
Whisky Smash
Ingredients:
- Half a lemon, cut into wedges
- 5 Fresh mint leaves
- 3/4oz (22ml) Simple syrup (from demerara sugar if you can get it)
- 2oz (60ml) Bourbon
- Garnish: Mint sprig
- Ice: Crushed
- Glass: Old Fashioned
- Place lemon in mixing tin and muddle well
- Add remaining ingredients and shake hard over ice
- Double strain into an Old Fashioned glass filled with crushed ice
- Top with crushed ice and garnish with a mint sprig
Source and Photo: liquor.com
Friday, November 28, 2014
Firing Squad
Ingredients:
- 2oz (60ml) Blanco Tequila (must be 100% Agave)
- 3/4oz (22ml) Grenadine
- 3/4oz (22ml) Lime Juice
- 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
- 1oz (or to taste) Soda Water
- Garnish - Lime wheel
- Glass - Collins
- Add all ingredients, except for the soda, into to a mixing tin and shake over ice.
- Double-strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
- Top up with soda
- Garnish with a lime wheel
I tried this drink with crappy off-the-shelf grenadine and though it was missing some flavor. Since then I've got some sweet home-made grenadine that has a much deeper flavor, so this could still be a winner.
Source: Kindredcocktails.com
Photo: Angosturabitters.com
Daiquiri
Forget you even own a blender. The daiquiri is an absolute classic Rum Sour from Cuba, and if you've never had one that looks like this then you're missing out. It's also the High Priestess of lime drinks. I pretty much don't bother making them without fresh juice as the drop in quality is marked. Give it a go!
Photo: Amountainofcrushedice.com
Ingredients:
- 2oz (60ml) Rum (Traditionally light, but mix it up if you want)
- 3/4oz (22ml) Simple Syrup
- 3/4oz (22ml) Lime Juice (must be fresh)
- Garnish - Lime Wheel
- Glass - Cocktail
- Chill the glass the drink is being served in.
- Add all ingredients into to a mixing tin and shake over ice
- Double-strain into a chilled cocktail glass
- Garnish with a lime wheel
The best. Worth the wait for lime season. All drinks suffer when you put poor ingredients into them, but it really shows with the Daiquiri as it's all about achieving a clean, crisp taste. Bad rum has nowhere to hide so make sure you buy something you actually want to taste.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)