The pride, joy and infamy of Pat O'Brien's Bar in the French Quarter, where there are probably enough Hurricanes served each year to fill the Louisiana Superdome. As my friend Chris Clarke describes them, "Ooo, that's a stealthy drink!" They taste like fruit punch, and they creep up on you. You drink one of 'em, and by the time you get to the bottom of the glass, you're probably drunk. Pat's uses quite a lot of rum in theirs, which I tone down a bit in my version.
You've also probably seen envelopes of Pat O'Brien's Hurricane Mix being sold in New Orleans, primarily to tourists and sometimes to homesick expatriates (like me, when I moved away to go to gradual school.) Keep this in mind, though ... Pat O'Brien's Hurricane Mix is a powder. Just like Kool-Aid. They've added a bottled Hurricane mix, which is I believe what they use at the bar, but if you're going to to go through the trouble to make them, don't use a mix (which is artificially flavored, for the most part). You know me ... for food and drink, only the truest and freshest ingredients will do. For me, real hurricanes require passion fruit juice or nectar (or at least passion fruit syrup). If you can't find juice, use a Hansen's nectar, which isn't bad.
If you're concerned about these being too strong, here's how to cut them down a lil' bit -- reduce the amount of each type of rum to 1 ounce, and add an extra ounce of orange juice. And as they say at Pat O's ... have fun!
In a cocktail shaker, mix the rum, passion fruit juice or syrup, the other juices and the sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add the grenadine, and stir to combine, then add ice and shake. Half-fill a hurricane glass with ice, then strain drink into glass; add ice to fill. Garnish with orange slice and cherries.
- 1.5 ounces light rum
- 1.5 ounces dark rum
- 1 ounce orange juice
- 1 ounce fresh lime juice (NOT Rose's or RealLime)
- 1/4 cup passion fruit juice, or 1 tablespoon passion fruit syrup
- 1 teaspoon superfine sugar
- 1 teaspoon grenadine
- Cherries with stems, and orange slice to garnish
- Ice cubes
If you can't find any passion fruit juice, nectar or syrup, a "faux-Hurricane" can be made with 46 ounces of Fruit Juicy Red Hawaiian Punch (back in the olden days, that was "one large can"), one 12-oz. can of frozen orange juice concentrate, and one 6-oz. can of frozen lime daiquiri mix. This is what we used in college, and though it didn't taste all that much like real Hurricanes, it was fruity, red, and we were too drunk tobe able to tell the difference anyway.
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