 
 "Eating, drinking and carrying on..." -- Adelaide Brennan
Cocktail of the day. Yes, this is a repeat from July, but I've finally been able to do this cocktail properly, as it was first made and documented by Harry Craddock in The Savoy Cocktail Book in 1930. We've been enjoying this with Plymouth gin for a good while, but it was first made with Old Tom gin. Now that we've finally got Hayman's Old Tom Gin on the market, we can make this drink for real. The version we make has an extra little twist that I learned from Michael, our favorite bartender in Las Vegas, at the Petrossian Bar at the Bellagio. I believe he learned this from Tony Abou-Ganim when he was beverage director there several years ago and created their quality cocktail program. This drink is a beautiful example of the flavor of Old Tom, with its broad base of botanicals, light on the juniper and slight sweetness balancing so well with the acid of the citrus, the nutty, fruity maraschino and the bite of the bitters (we used Angostura orange tonight). This is a drink that'll convert vodka drinkers, I guarantee you. Old Tom is definitely the gateway gin, and a grand spirit on its own. Sorry there's no picture, but it didn't last that long. I really should add one later, because the little tip we learned from Michael makes it really pretty.
Just gorgeous. [UPDATE: Erik reminds us that the actual Savoy Casino recipe was less heavy on the maraschino and lemon juice. Time for a taste test.]
The tough part is gonna be finding that 1/3 teaspoon measuring spoon ... fortunately I keep some maraschino in a dasher bottle. This is a good idea if you're going to make 19th or early 20th Century cocktails, and while you're at it keep some absinthe and curaçao in a dasher bottle too. Recycled Angostura or Peychaud's bottles work perfectly, or you can go on eBay to find vintage dasher bottles if you're a geek like me. Bacony goodness. I'm apparently getting a reputation, and so is Wes -- friends of ours email us bacon-related links. That's our own fault, I suppose, for obsessing about bacon and talking about it a lot. But how can you not? It's BACON! And do you see me complaining about it? NO! A stroke of genius when making store-bought refrgerator-case cinnamon rolls? Perhaps. I'll try it, certainly. I wonder if one should par-cook the bacon first, though ... it might be a little rubbery inside the roll otherwise. Then things get silly ... like, Baconhenge. (Silly, perhaps, but beats the crap out of Brickhenge, Woodhenge and Strawhenge ... the greatest henge of them all!) This one's a bit of a heretic, although I get her point about the silliness of some of the baconmania. The bra, the placemats, the henge, and ... the tiara. Regarding the bacon tiara, I must take exception to any recipe or set of instructions that begins thusly:
You get the picture. I'd rather just insert strips of bacon inside cinnamon rolls, y'know? I do have to struggle a bit with one admonition from the almost-heretic above -- that's about the disdain for Bacon Salt. This is exactly the kind of fake-food product I usually decry. It contains no actual bacon. In fact, it's a vegan product! But ... it tastes a fair bit like bacon. It's really good on green beans, just steamed, tossed with some olive oil and sprinkled with Bacon Salt, especially the peppered variety. Dammit .... I suppose it's a guilty pleasure. Any of y'all tried Bacon Salt? What do you think? Photo of the day. Making a statement? Confused? 
If he's making a statement, I'm not entirely sure what it is. (I think he was just trying to make people say "What the f--?!" and/or laugh.) Seen in the parking lot at the market a few weeks ago. History-making spaceflight story of the day. I don't know if any of y'all noticed -- I sure didn't, which diminishes my cred as a childhood space geek -- but last Saturday was the first privately-developed commercial space flight in history to achieve orbit. "The Falcon 1 rocket launched by Space Exploration Technologies, a California company founded by Elon Musk, founder of PayPal and chairman of Tesla Motors, became the first privately developed, privately financed rocket to reach orbit at 4:26 p.m. Pacific time...By slashing the cost to reach orbit, and by giving satellite researchers and small aerospace companies a way to avoid the bureaucracy of NASA, the military or foreign launchers to reach space, Hawthorne-based SpaceX could enable a flash of space innovation the way the Apple II did in computing, said Bob Twiggs, an emeritus professor of astronautics at Stanford University." The video is beautiful, and exciting. To infinity, and beyond! [ Link to today's entries ]
Sad news. Michael P. Smith, the great New Orleans photographer who shone at documenting musicians at Jazzfest, street paradse and funerals, and the fascinating "spirit world" of New Orleans' African-American storefront churches, died on Friday at his New Orleans home of degenerative nervous system disease. 
This is one of his more iconic images, of Professor Longhair at the 1977 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. I, along with so many other New Orleanians and people around the world, loved Mr. Smith's images, which were always available to the public at very reasonable prices at his booth at Jazzfest. I do hope his work will still be made available -- he helped bring the heart and soul of New Orleans music and culture into people's homes that way, as well as on myriad album covers as well. Mr. Smith, thank you so much for all your wonderful work. Cocktail of the day. I was craving that gin punch. At the kickoff of Plymouth Gin's Historic Los Angeles Cocktail Tour last month (which I still haven't written about, because I'm a lazy bastard and God Emperor of Procrastination), Dave Wondrich handed us each a flask filled with what he described simply as "gin punch." It was great. A couple of weekends ago Wes and I were asked if we wanted to bring cocktails to a pool party and barbecue we had been invited to. The answer to that is always "Yes!" but often we tend to feel more like enjoying the party than mixing drinks the whole time, particularly when a pool is involved. This is one of those times that calls for punch, and my mind snapped back to Dave's gin punch and how much I enjoyed it. I went right for my copy of his marvelous book Imbibe! (the work copy, that is; we have two copies of it -- one pristine and autographed, and the other one that we're beating the crap out of in our kitchen and bar, and which already has a cracked spine and loose pages). There on page 77 was a punch recipe that seemed awfully similar to the one we had that day, and was undoubtedly It. Given who the sponsor was, the gin we had that day was Plymouth, although the original recipe from the early- to mid-1800s was based on "Holland gin," or genever. If you want to be authentic, make it with an oude genever, or try Maytag's excellent Genevieve Genever-style Gin. Dave says even a London dry will work, and that's what we used, because we had about 2 liters of Beefeater on hand and didn't want to use up all our Boomsma or Genevieve. For the raspberry syrup you can use Monin or even Torani in a pinch. The best raspberry syrup we've ever come across is from Harry and David, those folks that sell the amazing (and amazingly expensive) flats of fruit as gifts, and lots of other expensive bottled and bagged stuff too. Their raspberry syrup is amazing, richly flavored of fresh berries, not too sweet, and stays well-blended in the drink. Problem is, I just checked their online catalog and it doesn't seem to be listed anymore. (D'oh.) Dr. Cocktail is fond of Smucker's Raspberry Syrup, and it's really good too. We found that it's heavy and has a tendency to sink to the bottom of a drink rather than stay blended. This is not necessarily a bad thing -- it just means you shouldn't dawdle over your drink! We ended up kicking it up a bit by substituting the venerable Chambord black raspberry liqueur (which is made with blackberries as well). I had a lot of it on hand, after judging a local Chambord-sponsored cocktail competition a couple of weeks ago (and no, I haven't written about that yet either, sigh). I multiplied the recipe below by twelve to serve everyone, and had enough left over for us to have a nice li'l bowl of punch in the fridge for a few days. I think I might have to keep that practice up. Anyway, here's the version of the punch I made, in a single-serving size:
This was good. They put a lot of this stuff away at the barbecue, and were very complimentary. Don't let its pinkness put you off, though. It'll knock you on your keister if you're not careful. (A couple of people at the party cut it with lemonade, about 80% punch to 20% lemonade. Try some of the fizzy French-style, which would probably be very good in this.) We're going to need that drink. Why? Because House Republicans destroyed $1.1 trillion in wealth today by refusing to pass the bailout bill, with the resultant plummet of 777.68 points on the Dow-Jones average, the biggest in history. That'smoney that came out of your pocket and mine. In fact, I lost 19% of the value of my 401(k) today, money I was planning to retire on one day, money that was probably enough to live on for more than a year. And they blamed the Democrats for hurting their feelings by making some "mean" speeches? That's why they voted against country and against your savings and mine? My comment in the comments. Musique 'cadienne de la jour. Here's a great live clip (well, not so much for the cinematography, but the music more than makes up for it) of the Cajun band Balfa Toujours performing the song "La Valse de Platin." Courtney Granger on lead vocals sounds as if he's channeling his late great-uncle Dewey Balfa, too. Allons valser! Quote of the day. From Mary, in email yesterday:
Perfect. Meanwhile, CBS has more footage of the Palin/Couric interview, as we all knew they did. They'll be airing it this week. Word on the street is that it's the worst yet. It's actually difficult to imagine it being any worse. [ Link to today's entries ]
Ohhh boy ... that's just great. My bank failed last night. Largest bank failure in American history. Seized by the feds and the remnants bought out by JPMorgan Chase. (Ugh.) Let's hope the FDIC is still solvent. So long, and thanks for all the deregulation. Cocktail of the day. I could have used a big drink right around the time I found out my bank had failed, but I only saw the news right before I went to bed. (Come to think of it, a big shot of Cognac would not have been untoward, but I just went to bed instead.) Fortunately we had had a lovely drink last night, and a New Orleans original by Arnaud's French 75 bartender Chris Hannah, who served this to Paul during Tales and gave him the recipe. This kind of imagination, creativity and willingness to make needed ingredients from scratch is what makes Chris one of the very best bartenders in the city. This is also my kind of drink -- bitter and herbal! But that's not the main flavor profile, only part of a more complex whole, with the tiki-spiced sweetness of the falernum and the lovely warm vanilla-sugar-toast of the rum as the base spirit. The name also can't be beat -- it comes from the New Orleans neighborhood in the Ninth Ward where my mom and uncles grew up, where my grandparents had their neighborhood corner grocery, and where I spent a lot of time as a kid.
Those are Chris' recommendations for the rum, but any aged, smooth rum would probably work. I would imagine that the new formulation of Torani Amer (which I'm going to try to find this weekend) would work well too. Although we did enjoy it the version I made was not quite there -- I have a good supply of homemade Amer Boudreau, New Orleans 3 year old dark rum sat in for the Cruzan (all I had Cruzanwise was our house pouring rum, the Cruzan 2 year) but I have yet to make a batch of my own falernum. (Sorry Paul, I'm the God Emperor of Procrastination!) I flipped a coin between John D. Taylor's Velvet Falernum and Fee Brothers Falernum syrup, and it came up tails. While the Fee's works well in tropical drinks it was too sweet for this drink, and threw the balance off. (We drank it anyway; even though it was unbalanced I do try not to let good booze go to waste, and it was almost there.) Paul's absolutely right that the drink needs the acid of the lime juice from the homemade falernum for balance. Lesson learned, though. I have fresh cloves (plus a ton of other stuff) on the way from Penzey's, and I'll have a batch of falernum within a few days of their arrival. [UPDATE: Paul said in the comments that Chris had actually told him it was green Chartreuse he used ... so hmm, I haven't quite had a proper Bywater yet!] Woo, delivery! I just got two bottles of Hayman's Old Tom Gin delivered today! While I won't be able to do a fabulous Old Tom Gin taste test like Jay did, I will be making some drinks this weekend that originally called for Old Tom back in their day, but which we've all gotten used to tasting with London dry. This'll be fun! Mmmmmm, fat. There's a new book I need to get, like, yesterday. A book on why animal fats are not only delicious but fundamental to our health? I'm all over it! I love how all this stuff is good for you now -- animal fats, alcohol, chocolate ... hell, that's three of my four major food groups right there. Read the interview -- this author gets it. I think she would be as big a fan of the following quote (one we repeat all the time as one of our many regular catchphrases and quotes) as Wesly and I are:
Y'know, everything thought he was stupid, but sometimes Reese was the genius, not Malcolm. "Bacon-like meat analog"?! It's enough to wonder why someone actually patented this, but it also raises the question, "Why in the name of all that's sane would anybody want this?"
This isn't even suitable for vegetarians or vegans because the 3 to 7% albumen will undoubtably come from eggs. Read the whole thing. It's food science achieving its highest level of horror. The last sentence is the coup de grace. Brrr. [ Link to today's entries ]
Potions of the Caribbean. Continuing with the World's Slowest and Most Procrastinatory Tales of the Cocktail recap ... Jeff "Beachbum" Berry, Wayne Curtis, author of And A Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails, Martin Cate of Alameda's fabulous Forbidden Island tiki bar, and Stephen Remsburg, rum expert and owner of what is probably the world's most vast private collection of rums, took us on a tour of the Caribbean, and a tasty one it was. As fun and informative as so many of the seminars at Tales were, I think this one has to win the award for Most Entertaining Seminar, certainly winning the Best and Funniest PowerPoint Presentation Ever. Jeff got our attention with the trumpeting of the conch, began his presentation and finally called for his "laser pointer" ... 
"It looks like a harpoon!" you say. Yes. Yes, it does. Jeff went on to describe Caribbean punches, the general category of which dates back to at least the 1600s, and provided for us the basic rule-of-thumb people used when concocting them: "One of sour, Two of sweet, Three of strong, Four of weak." A little spice thrown in for good measure, and that's a pretty good general recipe for punch. You can see some of the examples on Jeff's slide -- arrack or rum were often the strong, the latter especially in the Caribbean. Lemon or any available citrus for the sour, sugar for the sweet (natch). Water generally stood in for the weak, as did tea, which also provided a spice component. A grating of nutmeg was a typical (and quite lovely) touch atop a punch back in the day. We got things going with a little bit of punch for ourselves, too.
You might want to cut the recipe down a bit. I had never had beer in a punch before. It was unusual but quite delicious, and not surprisingly it went really well with the citrus elements. I never was a fan of the lime wedge in the sodapop-light beer thing, but it all went together here. Unfortunately my notes are sparse, hurried and scribbled, but there are some cryptic indications of some of the stories Jeff told, one of my favorites of which being about "sucking the monkey" -- supposedly monkey carcasses being brought back to port for the taxidermist were stored in alcohol, and thirsty sailors would tap the barrels to drink it with straws, not particularly caring what was pickling inside. (Seems apocryphal; Brewer's Dictionary of Fable and Phrase has another explanation featuring no actual monkey carcasses, as does another compendium of seafaring terms. I have heard, however, that bodies of officers killed in battle were preserved similarly in alcohol, and tapped by sailors dyin' o' da t'irst; hence, "sucking the Admiral." Yeesh.) Then I won a prize! Jeff called out a question, looking for a famous tiki drink containing sherry, and I got my answer out first -- "The Fog Cutter!" Jeff then tossed me my Major Award -- a vintage paperback copy of Thor Heyerdahl's Aku-Aku. It was my favorite prize since I won the blackout at my high school's Band Bingo in 8th grade. (Fifty bucks!) We got a lot of fascinating history from Jeff about the development of Caribbean and tropical-style cocktails and bars in the States -- Don the Beachcomber, primarily, in Los Angeles in the early 1930s -- and then in Key West and Cuba. Hemingway entered into the story, both in his longtime exploits in Cuba as well as a ripoff bar a friend of his copied and opened in Key West. Then came one of Papa's favorites as our next cocktail:
Wayne Curtis rose to speak, taking us further on to Cuba and the many hotel and free-standing bars in and out of Havana. Some are obviously no longer there (Trader Vic having picked an unfortunate location for his Havana outlet, the Havana Hilton, which a fellow named Fidel ended up using as his HQ for La Revolución ... oops). Wayne told the tale of going to the bar in what's left of that hotel, ordering a Mai Tai and being served something red and nasty and hideously sweet. "This is not a good argument for socialism." Hee. Our next cocktail! Jeff told us about the venerable Rum Pot, and offered us this adapted version:
For some reason I had the above recipe written down, but this one came on the recipe card:
Heck, try 'em both! This drink, as well as the Java Punch I made for MxMo the other day, really makes me fond of vanilla in cocktails, especially in extract form so I get the flavor without the sweetness of syrup. I'll be playing more with this as time goes on. Martin did a hugely entertaining slide presentation about the old island technique of making a concoction with rum and fresh pimento (allspice) berries and burying it in his backyard for six months. Marleigh noted this in her "things I learned at Tales" post -- "6. Find Martin Cate;s house and dig in the backyard, because he buries jugs of punch back there!" Unfortunately I didn't get any kind of recipe for what he made, so if anyone's got it I'd love to see it. Woo, and time for another cocktail! Not only that, a cocktail served to us by the lovely Jeanne Vidrine, Tiki Queen of New Orleans. 
Steve Remsburg began his portion of the talk, and spoke fondly of one Jasper LeFranc, who had been head bartender at the Bay Roc Hotel in Montego Bay, Jamaica for over 30 years. This one pretty much epitomizes the best flavors that the Caribbean has to offer, is simple to make and will wow your guests: 
Everything marries so beautifully here -- the dark rum, the myriad spice flavors of the allspice, the tang of the lime plus that unique limey flavor ... just gorgeous. If you can't yet find St. Elizabeth's where you live, you can use my pimento dram recipe. Steve proceeded to give us some priceless recipes, including this one which quite possibly was worth the price of admission -- Jasper's own special rum mix, which he personally gave to Steve years ago and which he used as a base for several of his drinks.
Jasper used this mix in these drinks, among others:
Steve adds, "Hope you enjoy t hem and that this experiment leads ot a greater appreciation that the rum really does make all the difference in the flavor of the drink. Pay attention to the rum you use, and take note of the differences they make in your drinks." And we'll leave it at that, as my hands hurt from typing ... I need an ergonomic keyboard! Absolut Top Bartender. You knew it was coming ... in fact, it was inevitable. Move over Top Chef ... here comes Top Bartender. It's a national bartenders' competition, with the winner receiving $100,000. As I understand it, the local competitions in the various cities will whittle the pack down to 2 from each, and then for the finals we'll see a Top Chef-like reality show with all the bartenders in a house, competing for the top prize. My friend Marcos Tello is coordinating the contest locally, and here's what he has to say:
I think the idea of a national bartending competition is great, but we'll have to wait and see how it pans out. If Marcos is coordinating the competition locally I know the standards will only be the highest, and seeing Simon Ford's participation in the video means an emphasis on quality as well -- I have tremendous respect for Simon. I just hope that by the time the finalists get to the house the TV producers don't turn it into some kind of "flair bartending" travesty, thereby attempting good television instead of good mixology. I hope it'll focus on great drinks, and what it means to be a truly great bartender (which does not include flipping bottles behind your back and spilling half your product on the floor). Given that the sponsor is a vodka company, I suppose it's possible that all or most of the cocktails will have to contain the sponsor's product ... that also remains to be seen. I hope they follow more of a Top Chef model, in which the sponsor's products don't dominate everything -- that it's about mixology and being a great bartender and not just product promotion. Sure, there are lots of great cocktail competitions in which the sponsor's product must be used, but let's hope this show ends up having a wider field. In any case, I wish all my competing bartender friends the best of luck. I wanna see Los Angeles kick ass in this thing, and I'd love to see one of my friends take home a hundred grand! Jaw-dropping. Katie Couric, in her bloodcurdling interview with Sarah Palin yesterday, asked what her foriegn policy credentials were, given that she's running for an office in which she could become president, and how her state's proximity to Russia constitutes foreign policy experience. It is not to be believed. Watch CBS Videos Online
Sweet Jesus. That this thoroughly clueless, mindbogglingly idiotic person could potentially have the codes to launch nuclear weapons (and could have it soon) should be enough to frighten any undecided voter into deciding against voting for McCain ... who judged this person to be the best possible candidate for vice president (he claims). That speaks volumes about his judgment and character. Advice from a former president. Thanks to Aaron Sorkin, you may now read about Barack Obama's visit with former two-term Democratic president Jed Bartlet, in which Sen. Obama asks President Bartlet for his advice. (Oh, how I'd love to actually see this.)
Oh, and speaking of Sarah Palin ... in the midst of the most bizarrely surreal farce of a day of politics I have seen in my entire adult life, it's become patently obvious why McCain and his operatives desperately keep Palin away from the press, and why McCain is trying to "postpone" (read cancel) the vice presidential debate -- Sarah Palin is an unmitigated disaster when being asked real questions by real reporters.
Aravosis described it perfectly when he said, "Palin is in so far over her head, it isn't even funny." [ Link to today's entries ]
"Folks, you cannot make this stuff up." Obama was kicking ass yesterday. :-) I'm in 100% agreement with Joe at AmericaBlog when he said, "I love the way Obama is using McCain's old words to eviscerate McCain." "Without privatization, I don't see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits," said McCain in 2004. Good thing he and Bush weren't able to put people's Social Security funds into the stock market after this week, isn't it? |
