Over the last 4 years or so a few herbal or tea base liqueurs have began to appear on the market. Having tasted most of them, I can safely say that they come nowhere near the taste of homemade varieties. Tea syrups need to be relatively fresh, so we make them once a week and keep them in the fridge. This is the same for all our sugar syrups. The lovely thing about homemade sugar syrups is you don’t need any preservatives because if you do have some left over at the end of the week, throw it away and make some more, but a smaller amount. They are really cheap and easy to make.
Teas
I never do alcoholic infusions with teas (or spices for that matter). The alcohol always draws out bitter tannins which are not present in aqueous infusions. Alcoholic infusions are fine if you are making a bitters, which you intend to use dropwise, but in an ingredient you intend to use 10ml+ of, it is not going to work. The Chinese have know about distillation since the early 1100’s and have always only used tea with water, and they know a little bit about the subject.
There are many types of teas, but the main categories are white, yellow, green, red, black and flower teas. The different types are prepared in different ways, but I will not cover this here, as the method of production does not help us to understand why the teas taste the way they do, and I wish to talk about their uses in mixology.
Green Teas are the largest category of Chinese tea (which I consider to be the best), but they are pretty much all put into one collective pot (no pun intended) in the UK. Green teas are sold as such, and hardly ever have the actual name of the variety on the pack. There are a vast number of categories.
One particularly interesting subcategory is Oolong teas. These light green teas can have the most incredible fruit driven aroma, with peach at the forefront. Good Oolong tea is an amazing cocktail ingredient and is very versatile, having sufficient strength of flavour to go well with white and aged spirits. Oolong with a good 6-8 year old bourbon is absolutely delicious and a must try.
Another category is Puerh tea. Puerh teas are aged and have a strongly earthy taste that lends itself to blending with bitters and vermouths. In general I use 5-6 teabags or teaspoons of loose tea to make a bottle of syrup with green teas.
Red teas (the most common type in the UK although they are generally called black teas here) have more tannins than green, yellow or white teas. With distilled spirits, these tannins are more pronounced and can feel astringent on the palette. Red teas such as English Breakfast, Assam, Darjeeling etc. can still be used, but one needs to be careful with the length of time you leave the tea to infuse, and how much tea you use per bottle of syrup.
Flower teas are a very useful category, and in this I will include other flavoured teas. The majority have a red tea base, as red teas’ aroma does not fade with the addition of other flavours. However with some more delicate flavours, green tea is used as a base. Red Teas flavoured with rose or lychee flowers are very interesting and well worth playing around with, but probably the most well known flavoured red tea is Earl Grey. The strongly citrusy notes associated with bergamot make it ideal for mixing, especially with gin. This also goes for Lady Grey, although I find the orange and lemon notes added rather confected, and feel it would be better to use an orange and lemon twist with Earl Grey. Lapsang Souchong is a red tea which is dried over burning pine which imparts a strongly smoked flavour. This means it is an interesting partner for scotch, or for smokey martini twists. There are a couple of different flower teas made with green tea, and the main one of interest is Jasmine tea. Jasmine has a delightful exotic, floral nose and it blends beautifully with white and dark spirits, in particular gin and scotch.
Another category of flavoured teas is chai tea. Chai teas have spiced added, the most notable being cinnamon, but any blend will have at least 3 or 4 other spices in it. Chai teas can come in both green and red varieties. I tend to use the green, as the red varieties tend to have more tannins and as such do not blend as well. The spice notes go well in wintery or Christmas drinks.
Then there is the subject of herbal teas. There are myriad herbal tea blends on the marke,t far too many to cover here, but I will briefly touch on unblended teas, that is Camomile and Rooibos.
Camomile has a remarkable calming flavour and it is capable of cushioning the kick of some particularly strong tasting spirits. I once made a simple daiquiri with camomile tea gomme and Woods 100, and the resulting drink was surprisingly soft to drink. This works well in general with dark spirits, particularly rums and bourbons, served in short cocktails.
Rooibos or redbush tea is a lovely flavour, really nutty with a sweetness before any sugar is added. I personally think it tastes great with peppery tastes, particularly peppery vodkas, and with strawberry or passionfruit, but as always have a play around.
Spices
For anyone who thinks spices are expensive, please know that that is what Sainsbury’s and Tesco would have us believe. I buy my vanilla online from an company called Oakleaf European, and a pod works out at about 30p, meaning that a 700ml bottle of homemade Madagascan Vanilla gomme costs under £2, about the same as a bottle of Roses Lime Cordial (which I do hope you are making for yourselves now with the recipe from the last issue of Class). For other spices I use a company called Spice Master, and they are very cheap and the products are great. A kilo of Cinnamon quills is £11, or about 10p each which means that the Tatanka should be going on menus everywhere. (Zubrowka and pressed apple with a cinnamon quill stirrer if you didn’t know)
Not all spices work well in cocktails. Many simply do not taste good with alcohol, such as mustard and garlic. A tiny hint of garlic in any savoury dish will act as a brilliant flavour enhancer, whilst the garlic will be almost impossible to pick out, but in an alcoholic drink the garlic is always present and conspicuously so.
In general I find that spices which need some maceration time to release their flavour are those best suited to gommes. This would include Allspice, Cinnamon, Clove, cardamom, star anise, vanilla, and I’m sure a few more. Others such as ginger and lemongrass release their flavour with a bit of muddling or shaking, and as such are best used fresh in my opinion, along with nutmeg and pepper, whose taste goes stale once they have been ground. I would also suggest that herbs should always be used fresh.
For Herbs, I have found that using fresh herbs tends to have the best results, as they release enough of their flavour immediately. This is the case for basil, thyme, mint and coriander.
When making my spice gommes, I tend to do it on the stove, as it is the best way to infuse the flavours, by cooking for around 10 minutes. I only add a small amount of the sugar for this cooking period, so as not to caramelise the sugar at all. By cooking the gommes, they are also sterile, so this helps them keep for a little longer. We also store them in the fridge.
Another point to raise is to always use whole spices. Ground ones never have as fresh a taste, and will make a much darker and cloudier gomme, which never looks good in a drink.
When making the gommes, remember that spices are very strong flavours, so we do not need to use a lot to flavour the gomme. We are also cooking the spice for 10 minutes and so are extracting most of the flavour. In general, I would suggest the following amounts per bottle of gomme.
Cinnamon – 2 large quills (or 4 short ones)
Cardamom – 6 pods
Star Anise – 6
All Spice – 15 berries
Clove – 10
Vanilla – 3 pods, split
I use the same method to make all the above into syrups. One thing to note is if you like some of these flavours together, simply add both spices to the gomme. I have a lovely recipe for spiced caramel which is great in winter drinks which I will give at the end.
Method
Put 400ml of water and 50g of sugar in a pan with the spices. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add a further 300g of sugar, stir to dissolve and then take off the heat. Allow to cool and then strain through fine muslin.
Spiced Caramel Syrup
350g sugar
500ml water
3 split vanilla pods
2 short cinnamon quills
6 cloves
Place all the above in a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30mins until golden brown. Strain and pour into a 700ml bottle and top up with water.
This is a great ingredient for Xmas or winter drinks. Try it with red wine, orange slices and blackcurrants for an awesome mulled wine, or as the sweetener in an eggnog.
As always with anything I write here, have a play around and do something different. It is a whole lot of fun, and that is what mixology should be about. Try making your own Falernum, or a cinnamon cardamom and star anise gomme (a lovely match for a fruity cognac). You are only limited by your imagination.
Resources
www.innteas.com (for great oolong tea)
www.spice-master.com
www.oakleaf-european.co.uk
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Thursday, 12 November 2009
Recipes for 4 bar staples which are in a different league to anything you can buy.
The Gimlet has always been an enigma to me. How could such a drink have evolved from a time of classic, great drinks and still be remembered today? One effectively takes gin, the finest of the base spirits, and adds juice from concentrate, flavourings and sodium metabisulphite to it. Oh, and colouring. And that is exactly how it tastes as far as I am concerned. No-one drinks gin and orange squash, or vodka and Vimto (apart from Charlotte Church I am told, not sure whether it was in jest), so why would anyone want a Gimlet?
For many years now, I have played around making homemade ingredients for drinks in my bars and I have slowly come to the realisation that, unless distillation is required, homemade ingredients are always superior to what you can buy commercially.
The reasons for this are numerous. Firstly, cordial and liqueur manufacturers are businesses at the end of the day, and they need to make money, and so some corners will always be cut, whether this is the addition of flavourings or the used of less fruit etc.
Also, when making just enough for your bar, you will need to add no preservatives, or hardly any, where commercial producers have to make products with shelf lives of years.
And lastly, even the most conscientious of producers cannot inspect every piece of fruit or peel that goes into their product. If you are making 1 bottle at a time, then the conscientious bartender can.
In this series of pieces, I will go through some of the ideas from my 8 or so years of experimenting. In this first piece I will be covering Lime Cordial, Grenadine, Passionfruit Syrup, and Orgeat. Each of these can be made within 30 minutes or so, and the drinks that can be made with them are indistinguishable in terms of quality.
Orgeat
Orgeat is a particularly good case of cheating by manufacturers. They pretty much all use water, sugar and flavourings. Now these flavourings are mainly almond essential oils, and so are from almonds, but making orgeat by maceration in the following way tastes far superior. I have added a little bit of hazelnut for some complexity, and the polish pure spirit to extend shelf life, and increase the intensity of flavour.
400g Blanched Almonds
100g Blanched Hazelnuts
800ml Water
700g Sugar
100ml Polish Pure Spirit
Rose Water to taste
Makes 2 bottles
Roast the nuts on an oven at 200°c for a 3 minutes to help release flavour. Remove and place in a food processor until powdered. Please do not use flaked or ground almonds. The final product is nowhere nearly as good. Also the nuts must not have the brown skin on them, as this will lead to a product with a massively reduced shelf life.
Add to a pan with the water and 100g of the sugar. Bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, and add the rest of the sugar. Stir to dissolve.
Leave for 1 hour.
When cool, pour and press though a sieve, and then through a fine muslin. Then add the neutral spirit and the rose water. Bear in mind that the spirit will need a day to integrate into the cordial. It will taste and smell very boozy at first but will be unnoticeable after a day.
This cordial should be good for 1 month or so.
Grenadine
Most commercial grenadines are little more than red coloured gomme, and many if they have ever been near a fruit are not even made with pomegranates. This recipe is the good stuff.
10 Pomegranates
700g Caster sugar
800ml Water
Makes 2 bottles
Scrape out the insides of the pomegranates and place them in a pan. Discard the skins. Add the water and 100g of the sugar and bring to the boil. Then simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the rest of the sugar. Then stir to dissolve. Leave to cool. Then Strain through a sieve and then through a fine muslin.
The 2 important stages here are the longer cooking time and the cooking with only part of the sugar.
• The longer cooking time is because pomegranates have a dry, slight pith-like aftertaste. This taste is exaggerated by alcohol and becomes astringent on the palate. However cooking breaks this flavour down, and it takes approx 20 minutes to do so.
• We cook with only part of the sugar because if we added all the sugar, the boiling point of the liquid would be much higher than 100°c and at this higher temperature, the sugar will begin to caramelise, and although this might be lovely in a treacle-style drink, it does not work so well in the many long summery drinks grenadine is usually used in. We need to add some sugar though, as the sugar helps to extract flavour from the pomegranates.
The grenadine should last for a month or so in the fridge. Should you want to increase the shelf life, add a teaspoon of tartaric acid to each bottle. This also has the effect of thickening the grenadine and making it far more syrupy.
As with all these cordials, simpler drinks really highlight the difference, and so try it in Bacardi cocktail. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised.
Passionfruit Syrup
Bought passionfruit syrups are made with passionfruit juice from concentrate, and all have preservatives added. This cordial of mine is the best of the recipes here, and I have yet to find a drink which does not taste infinitely superior with the homemade variety. Also if you buy passionfruit by the box, then they really are not very expensive. It costs about 50p more per bottle to make your own, and the extra cocktails you will sell because the drinks taste better will more than make up for it.
30 passionfruit
700g caster sugar
800ml water
Makes 2 bottles
Scrape out all the passionfruit and place in a jug. Discard all the skins. Place the jug to one side. Then add the sugar and water to a pan and bring to the boil. When boiling take off the heat and add the passionfruit. Leave for 1 minute, and then pour through a sieve and then a fine muslin. Then place this pan in a larger pan filled with crushed ice to chill the syrup quickly.
The important stages in this are the short infusion time and the rapid chilling afterwards. Fresh passionfruit is a sharp flavour, and cooking breaks down this acidity. By removing from the heat and then infusing for one minute, we take the edge of this acidity, but do not remove it completely and do not cook the passionfruit flavour, so it remains fresh. This is also the reason for chilling rapidly. It is the closest we can get to flash pasteurising in the bar without very expensive specialist equipment.
This Syrup lasts up to a week in the fridge, but shelf life should not be too much of a problem. We get through about 8 bottles a week at the Loft.
Lime Cordial
The biggest selling cordial on any bar, and the only one here that is cheaper to make yourself, and yet hardly anyone does. This recipe only needs 4 limes and 1 lemon to make one bottle. Just watch your knuckles when doing the zesting.
8 Limes
2 Lemons
700g Sugar
800ml water
2 tbs citric acid
Makes 2 bottles
With a grater, remove the zest of the limes and lemons. Juice the fruit, and reserve the juice.
Place the zest in a pan with the sugar and water. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time, and then remove from the heat. Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Add the juices and then chill the syrup rapidly, by placing the pan in a larger pan with crushed ice in it and stirring till cold.
The oils in the lemons and limes are heat resistant and will not be adversely affected by cooking for 5 minutes. This gives us a good amount of maceration. However the citrus juices are not at all heat resistant, hence letting the syrup cool slightly before adding them, and then the rapid chilling.
This is the one cordial here where I have added a preservative, but it needs it, and I have used far less than would be used commercially.
Just try a Gimlet with Junipero and this.....
For many years now, I have played around making homemade ingredients for drinks in my bars and I have slowly come to the realisation that, unless distillation is required, homemade ingredients are always superior to what you can buy commercially.
The reasons for this are numerous. Firstly, cordial and liqueur manufacturers are businesses at the end of the day, and they need to make money, and so some corners will always be cut, whether this is the addition of flavourings or the used of less fruit etc.
Also, when making just enough for your bar, you will need to add no preservatives, or hardly any, where commercial producers have to make products with shelf lives of years.
And lastly, even the most conscientious of producers cannot inspect every piece of fruit or peel that goes into their product. If you are making 1 bottle at a time, then the conscientious bartender can.
In this series of pieces, I will go through some of the ideas from my 8 or so years of experimenting. In this first piece I will be covering Lime Cordial, Grenadine, Passionfruit Syrup, and Orgeat. Each of these can be made within 30 minutes or so, and the drinks that can be made with them are indistinguishable in terms of quality.
Orgeat
Orgeat is a particularly good case of cheating by manufacturers. They pretty much all use water, sugar and flavourings. Now these flavourings are mainly almond essential oils, and so are from almonds, but making orgeat by maceration in the following way tastes far superior. I have added a little bit of hazelnut for some complexity, and the polish pure spirit to extend shelf life, and increase the intensity of flavour.
400g Blanched Almonds
100g Blanched Hazelnuts
800ml Water
700g Sugar
100ml Polish Pure Spirit
Rose Water to taste
Makes 2 bottles
Roast the nuts on an oven at 200°c for a 3 minutes to help release flavour. Remove and place in a food processor until powdered. Please do not use flaked or ground almonds. The final product is nowhere nearly as good. Also the nuts must not have the brown skin on them, as this will lead to a product with a massively reduced shelf life.
Add to a pan with the water and 100g of the sugar. Bring to the boil. Remove from the heat, and add the rest of the sugar. Stir to dissolve.
Leave for 1 hour.
When cool, pour and press though a sieve, and then through a fine muslin. Then add the neutral spirit and the rose water. Bear in mind that the spirit will need a day to integrate into the cordial. It will taste and smell very boozy at first but will be unnoticeable after a day.
This cordial should be good for 1 month or so.
Grenadine
Most commercial grenadines are little more than red coloured gomme, and many if they have ever been near a fruit are not even made with pomegranates. This recipe is the good stuff.
10 Pomegranates
700g Caster sugar
800ml Water
Makes 2 bottles
Scrape out the insides of the pomegranates and place them in a pan. Discard the skins. Add the water and 100g of the sugar and bring to the boil. Then simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the rest of the sugar. Then stir to dissolve. Leave to cool. Then Strain through a sieve and then through a fine muslin.
The 2 important stages here are the longer cooking time and the cooking with only part of the sugar.
• The longer cooking time is because pomegranates have a dry, slight pith-like aftertaste. This taste is exaggerated by alcohol and becomes astringent on the palate. However cooking breaks this flavour down, and it takes approx 20 minutes to do so.
• We cook with only part of the sugar because if we added all the sugar, the boiling point of the liquid would be much higher than 100°c and at this higher temperature, the sugar will begin to caramelise, and although this might be lovely in a treacle-style drink, it does not work so well in the many long summery drinks grenadine is usually used in. We need to add some sugar though, as the sugar helps to extract flavour from the pomegranates.
The grenadine should last for a month or so in the fridge. Should you want to increase the shelf life, add a teaspoon of tartaric acid to each bottle. This also has the effect of thickening the grenadine and making it far more syrupy.
As with all these cordials, simpler drinks really highlight the difference, and so try it in Bacardi cocktail. I think you will be very pleasantly surprised.
Passionfruit Syrup
Bought passionfruit syrups are made with passionfruit juice from concentrate, and all have preservatives added. This cordial of mine is the best of the recipes here, and I have yet to find a drink which does not taste infinitely superior with the homemade variety. Also if you buy passionfruit by the box, then they really are not very expensive. It costs about 50p more per bottle to make your own, and the extra cocktails you will sell because the drinks taste better will more than make up for it.
30 passionfruit
700g caster sugar
800ml water
Makes 2 bottles
Scrape out all the passionfruit and place in a jug. Discard all the skins. Place the jug to one side. Then add the sugar and water to a pan and bring to the boil. When boiling take off the heat and add the passionfruit. Leave for 1 minute, and then pour through a sieve and then a fine muslin. Then place this pan in a larger pan filled with crushed ice to chill the syrup quickly.
The important stages in this are the short infusion time and the rapid chilling afterwards. Fresh passionfruit is a sharp flavour, and cooking breaks down this acidity. By removing from the heat and then infusing for one minute, we take the edge of this acidity, but do not remove it completely and do not cook the passionfruit flavour, so it remains fresh. This is also the reason for chilling rapidly. It is the closest we can get to flash pasteurising in the bar without very expensive specialist equipment.
This Syrup lasts up to a week in the fridge, but shelf life should not be too much of a problem. We get through about 8 bottles a week at the Loft.
Lime Cordial
The biggest selling cordial on any bar, and the only one here that is cheaper to make yourself, and yet hardly anyone does. This recipe only needs 4 limes and 1 lemon to make one bottle. Just watch your knuckles when doing the zesting.
8 Limes
2 Lemons
700g Sugar
800ml water
2 tbs citric acid
Makes 2 bottles
With a grater, remove the zest of the limes and lemons. Juice the fruit, and reserve the juice.
Place the zest in a pan with the sugar and water. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time, and then remove from the heat. Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Add the juices and then chill the syrup rapidly, by placing the pan in a larger pan with crushed ice in it and stirring till cold.
The oils in the lemons and limes are heat resistant and will not be adversely affected by cooking for 5 minutes. This gives us a good amount of maceration. However the citrus juices are not at all heat resistant, hence letting the syrup cool slightly before adding them, and then the rapid chilling.
This is the one cordial here where I have added a preservative, but it needs it, and I have used far less than would be used commercially.
Just try a Gimlet with Junipero and this.....
Wednesday, 29 July 2009
The Great Moscow Mule Rant!!!
The Moscow Mule is a great drink. It pretty much single handedly made Smirnoff the global behemoth it is today as it was responsible for Smirnoff becoming a household name in the U.S. in the 1950’s. Before this drink came along no-one west of Berlin drank vodka, and gin was the white spirit of choice. A beautifully simple creation of Russian vodka, lime juice and ginger beer, the name comes from the kick from the ginger beer.
There is not a lot to say about how to make a good Moscow mule per se. The modern palette is a little sweeter, and so many recipes nowadays will call for a dash of sugar syrup or lime cordial. Also the use of Angostura bitters is very common, and it gives the drink tropical notes and added depth. Also some bars will use fresh pressed ginger with sugar and soda to make a mule with a very serious kick. This is what we do at the Loft. Good modern brands of ginger beer are D&G and Fentimans.
Now for the rant. John Martin owned the rights to Smirnoff, and having met Jack Morgan, the owner of the Cock’nBull Saloon in Hollywood, who was launching a ginger beer, they decided to come up with a drink to promote both their brands. In itself a bit annoying but in this case the ends justified the means.
However, in a case of history repeating itself, Smirnoff and now Schweppes are promoting Moscow Mules made with ginger ale. This is a bland insipid drink with no kick whatsoever. For anyone who does not know, ginger beer has a strong taste, hot and very gingery. Ginger ale on the other hand is very mild and needs accompanying by a strong flavour, Scotch or Pimms or whatever you want, but something with a little flavour and not vodka. Some arse in marketing has obviously persuaded the powers that be that if they try and sell us Moscow Mules with ginger ale, that they will sell more cocktails. So they are basicaly advocating desacrating a classic drink. One can understand it from Schweppes, as they have no connection to the drink, but someone at Smirnoff should have recognized their brand’s historic connection to the drink, a connection almost unique in the cocktail world (there are others such as the Bacardi Cocktail, but they are nowhere near the mule in terms of sales) and insisted on the use of ginger beer. It’s not even like Schweppes don’t have a ginger beer, they do. Also when Smirnoff launched a pre-mixed Moscow Mule a few years ago, it was made with ginger beer, so they know what to put in it. Probably these didn’t sell so well, and they thought the problem was the ginger beer, when it wasn’t, it was the lack of fresh lime. Anyway, there are now countless people who were introduced to the “Moscow buck” (the proper name for a tall drink with ginger ale)and I hope that enough of them with taste thought it was rubbish.
If Diageo and Schweppes want to push ginger ale, do it with Pimms.
There is not a lot to say about how to make a good Moscow mule per se. The modern palette is a little sweeter, and so many recipes nowadays will call for a dash of sugar syrup or lime cordial. Also the use of Angostura bitters is very common, and it gives the drink tropical notes and added depth. Also some bars will use fresh pressed ginger with sugar and soda to make a mule with a very serious kick. This is what we do at the Loft. Good modern brands of ginger beer are D&G and Fentimans.
Now for the rant. John Martin owned the rights to Smirnoff, and having met Jack Morgan, the owner of the Cock’nBull Saloon in Hollywood, who was launching a ginger beer, they decided to come up with a drink to promote both their brands. In itself a bit annoying but in this case the ends justified the means.
However, in a case of history repeating itself, Smirnoff and now Schweppes are promoting Moscow Mules made with ginger ale. This is a bland insipid drink with no kick whatsoever. For anyone who does not know, ginger beer has a strong taste, hot and very gingery. Ginger ale on the other hand is very mild and needs accompanying by a strong flavour, Scotch or Pimms or whatever you want, but something with a little flavour and not vodka. Some arse in marketing has obviously persuaded the powers that be that if they try and sell us Moscow Mules with ginger ale, that they will sell more cocktails. So they are basicaly advocating desacrating a classic drink. One can understand it from Schweppes, as they have no connection to the drink, but someone at Smirnoff should have recognized their brand’s historic connection to the drink, a connection almost unique in the cocktail world (there are others such as the Bacardi Cocktail, but they are nowhere near the mule in terms of sales) and insisted on the use of ginger beer. It’s not even like Schweppes don’t have a ginger beer, they do. Also when Smirnoff launched a pre-mixed Moscow Mule a few years ago, it was made with ginger beer, so they know what to put in it. Probably these didn’t sell so well, and they thought the problem was the ginger beer, when it wasn’t, it was the lack of fresh lime. Anyway, there are now countless people who were introduced to the “Moscow buck” (the proper name for a tall drink with ginger ale)and I hope that enough of them with taste thought it was rubbish.
If Diageo and Schweppes want to push ginger ale, do it with Pimms.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Hosting A Christmas Cocktail Party!!
A little premature, but the press are always thinking ahead and Waitrose Magazine asked me to do a little piece on Christmas cocktail parties, so here it is.
The Christmas cocktail party brings to mind images of log fires, mistletoe, gently steaming drinks and fathers embarrassing their children with their “dancing”. It is a time of year for friends and family, and so if you are organising a cocktail party, you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen slaving away trying to make the drinks. So here are some tips to get all the hard work out of the way in advance so you can still let your hair down.
The first thing you need to do is decide what drinks you are going to serve to your guests. I have included five recipes, four of which use the same homemade ingredient, spiced caramel syrup, details of which can be seen below.
Work out the number of people coming, and, and then work on 2 or 3 cocktails per person. Christmas cocktails are great to get the festive party started, but they are all a little sweet to drink all night, and your guests will probably want to move on to something else after a couple.
Write out a shopping list of all the ingredients you need. Consider buying some beers and wine as well, but not too much as your guests will certainly bring something.
Serving cocktails can be time-consuming, and assuming you want to talk to your guests, there are some little pointers to help you get those drinks served fast.
Serve everybody the same drink at the same time. If you are going to serve a few different cocktails, serving 10 of the same drink is much quicker than 3 each of 3 different drinks. No one is going to say anything, as you have gone to the effort of making cocktails, and it’s Christmas!
Make sure you have enough glasses or cups to serve everything in. You don’t want to have to start washing 10 glasses when people are waiting for their drinks.
Decide which drinks you are going to serve in which cups/glasses in advance. So maybe serve hot drinks in a mug or cup it has a handle so no-one burns their hand. Wine glasses are good for eggnog. It always looks nice to serve the same cocktail in the same glass. If you don’t have loads of glasses, you might want to consider hiring some. Majestic offer a free glass hire service.
For the eggnog recipe below. Make it up in advance and keep it in the fridge. Then all you need to do is ladle it out.
For the mulled wine and cider recipes, place all the ingredients in a saucepan and put the lid on, and then heat when your guests arrive.
Homemade Spiced Caramel Syrup
300g sugar
600ml water and
3 split vanilla pods
2 short cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
Place all the above in a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25-30mins until golden brown. Strain and pour into a 700ml bottle and top up with water. This should be more than enough for any party you are doing
Mulled Wine (serves 5)
100ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
100g Blackcurrants, crushed
1/2 orange, sliced
1 bottle Shiraz/Syrah
Put all ingredients in a pan and place on a gentle heat until simmering. Strain into a jug, and serve immediately with fresh grated nutmeg over the top. Garnish with an orange wheel. If you can’t find fresh blackcurrants, frozen is fine, or use frozen mixed fruits of the forest.
Hot Berry Cider (serves 6)
1 litre Cider
50ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
3 tbs (Ocean Spray or Waitrose) Cranberry Sauce
2 handfuls fresh raspberries
150ml Calvados or Somerset Cider Brandy
1 Lemon, sliced
Put all ingredients in a pan and place on a gentle heat until simmering. Strain into a jug, and serve immediately. Garnish with a cranberry and a raspberry.
Hot Toddy (serves 6)
300ml Blended Scotch Whisky
60ml Honey
60ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
120ml Lemon Juice
Have this pre-mixed. Then pour into 6 rocks glasses and add hot water. Served with a lemon slice and some a dash of grated nutmeg
Place a sugar cube in a champagne flute, and add a couple of dashes of angostura bitters. Just cover the cube with cognac. Then fill the glass with Champagne.
Eggnog (serves 6)
200ml Milk
100ml Double Cream
200ml Spirit
100ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
4 Eggs
Place all the ingredients in a pan and whisk. Turn on the heat to low, and continue whisking until the mixture starts to thicken slightly, and will cover the back of a spoon. Take off the heat, let cool, and then place in the fridge to chill.
The spirit choice is a personal one. Scotch, Bourbon, Rum or Cognac are all suitable, so maybe use what you already have. Serve with a dusting of cocoa powder or grated nutmeg or both.
The Christmas cocktail party brings to mind images of log fires, mistletoe, gently steaming drinks and fathers embarrassing their children with their “dancing”. It is a time of year for friends and family, and so if you are organising a cocktail party, you don’t want to be stuck in the kitchen slaving away trying to make the drinks. So here are some tips to get all the hard work out of the way in advance so you can still let your hair down.
The first thing you need to do is decide what drinks you are going to serve to your guests. I have included five recipes, four of which use the same homemade ingredient, spiced caramel syrup, details of which can be seen below.
Work out the number of people coming, and, and then work on 2 or 3 cocktails per person. Christmas cocktails are great to get the festive party started, but they are all a little sweet to drink all night, and your guests will probably want to move on to something else after a couple.
Write out a shopping list of all the ingredients you need. Consider buying some beers and wine as well, but not too much as your guests will certainly bring something.
Serving cocktails can be time-consuming, and assuming you want to talk to your guests, there are some little pointers to help you get those drinks served fast.
Serve everybody the same drink at the same time. If you are going to serve a few different cocktails, serving 10 of the same drink is much quicker than 3 each of 3 different drinks. No one is going to say anything, as you have gone to the effort of making cocktails, and it’s Christmas!
Make sure you have enough glasses or cups to serve everything in. You don’t want to have to start washing 10 glasses when people are waiting for their drinks.
Decide which drinks you are going to serve in which cups/glasses in advance. So maybe serve hot drinks in a mug or cup it has a handle so no-one burns their hand. Wine glasses are good for eggnog. It always looks nice to serve the same cocktail in the same glass. If you don’t have loads of glasses, you might want to consider hiring some. Majestic offer a free glass hire service.
For the eggnog recipe below. Make it up in advance and keep it in the fridge. Then all you need to do is ladle it out.
For the mulled wine and cider recipes, place all the ingredients in a saucepan and put the lid on, and then heat when your guests arrive.
Homemade Spiced Caramel Syrup
300g sugar
600ml water and
3 split vanilla pods
2 short cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
Place all the above in a pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25-30mins until golden brown. Strain and pour into a 700ml bottle and top up with water. This should be more than enough for any party you are doing
Mulled Wine (serves 5)
100ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
100g Blackcurrants, crushed
1/2 orange, sliced
1 bottle Shiraz/Syrah
Put all ingredients in a pan and place on a gentle heat until simmering. Strain into a jug, and serve immediately with fresh grated nutmeg over the top. Garnish with an orange wheel. If you can’t find fresh blackcurrants, frozen is fine, or use frozen mixed fruits of the forest.
Hot Berry Cider (serves 6)
1 litre Cider
50ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
3 tbs (Ocean Spray or Waitrose) Cranberry Sauce
2 handfuls fresh raspberries
150ml Calvados or Somerset Cider Brandy
1 Lemon, sliced
Put all ingredients in a pan and place on a gentle heat until simmering. Strain into a jug, and serve immediately. Garnish with a cranberry and a raspberry.
Hot Toddy (serves 6)
300ml Blended Scotch Whisky
60ml Honey
60ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
120ml Lemon Juice
Have this pre-mixed. Then pour into 6 rocks glasses and add hot water. Served with a lemon slice and some a dash of grated nutmeg
Place a sugar cube in a champagne flute, and add a couple of dashes of angostura bitters. Just cover the cube with cognac. Then fill the glass with Champagne.
Eggnog (serves 6)
200ml Milk
100ml Double Cream
200ml Spirit
100ml Spiced Caramel Syrup
4 Eggs
Place all the ingredients in a pan and whisk. Turn on the heat to low, and continue whisking until the mixture starts to thicken slightly, and will cover the back of a spoon. Take off the heat, let cool, and then place in the fridge to chill.
The spirit choice is a personal one. Scotch, Bourbon, Rum or Cognac are all suitable, so maybe use what you already have. Serve with a dusting of cocoa powder or grated nutmeg or both.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Margarita 101
The Margarita is the best selling cocktail in the world today. This summery classic of Tequila, triple sec and lime juice made well is awesome. Unfortunately, the majority are terrible, made with pre-mixes that have probably never even seen a lime. These over-sweet-confected-rubbish drinks can be had wherever neon “cocktail” signs are seen. Hopefully by the end of this piece, we will have established a few ground rules to making a great Margarita.
There are loads of reasonably plausible stories as to who first invented the Margarita. The drink was probably a play on the Tequila Daisy which was popular in Mexico in the 1930’s (a daisy is made with a spirit, grenadine and lemon, although lime was probably used instead in Mexico, as they are far more abundant there). All the stories seem to be about someone making the drink for a girl called Margarita, or a lady called Margaret making it, but I’m sure that person who did invent it also realised the play on words involved, in that in Spanish, Margarita means daisy.
So a classic was born. The first verifiable mention in print is from the December 1953 Esquire Magazine (“She’s from Mexico, and her name is the Margarita cocktail”) In this article, the recipe quote is 1 ounce tequila with a dash of triple sec and the juice of a lime or lemon. From these proportions the original drink would have been quite tart. The modern palette is a little different, but a bigger difference is in the palettes of us Brits and are friends over the pond. I have always made my margaritas with an equal amount of triple sec and lime juice, and most British bartenders would do the same. Simon Difford says so in his Cocktail tome. In the States, Margaritas are served much sweeter, presumably because that is how customers want them. Both Dale “add a little gomme” Degroff and Gary Regan quote recipes with twice as much sweet ingredient to sour. (Just for the record, adding a little gomme to a balanced drink is hardly ever a bad thing, just be careful not to add too much).
There are loads of reasonably plausible stories as to who first invented the Margarita. The drink was probably a play on the Tequila Daisy which was popular in Mexico in the 1930’s (a daisy is made with a spirit, grenadine and lemon, although lime was probably used instead in Mexico, as they are far more abundant there). All the stories seem to be about someone making the drink for a girl called Margarita, or a lady called Margaret making it, but I’m sure that person who did invent it also realised the play on words involved, in that in Spanish, Margarita means daisy.
So a classic was born. The first verifiable mention in print is from the December 1953 Esquire Magazine (“She’s from Mexico, and her name is the Margarita cocktail”) In this article, the recipe quote is 1 ounce tequila with a dash of triple sec and the juice of a lime or lemon. From these proportions the original drink would have been quite tart. The modern palette is a little different, but a bigger difference is in the palettes of us Brits and are friends over the pond. I have always made my margaritas with an equal amount of triple sec and lime juice, and most British bartenders would do the same. Simon Difford says so in his Cocktail tome. In the States, Margaritas are served much sweeter, presumably because that is how customers want them. Both Dale “add a little gomme” Degroff and Gary Regan quote recipes with twice as much sweet ingredient to sour. (Just for the record, adding a little gomme to a balanced drink is hardly ever a bad thing, just be careful not to add too much).
As far as Tequila goes, it is a personal preference thing, but I personally would only use a Blanco or Reposado, and normally a Blanco. For me, the presence of wood flavours, although not intrinsically a bad thing flavour-wise, distracts from the character of the Margarita, and that is a light refreshing summery drink. In terms of brands, again it is a personal choice, but please steer clear of anything you can buy in a supermarket. At a push, my favourite blanco would be Arette, and Herradura my favourite Reposado, but there are plenty of others I would happily drink.
Having touched on the subject of wood flavours, let us move to the subject of triple sec or the orange flavour in general. I have seen Grand Marnier used in Margaritas quite often, and I have to say it has nearly always been in a bar where I think the reason they used it was because it costs more than Cointreau or a triple sec, and not because they think it makes a better drink.
Personally, I would never use it as not only does it introduce wood flavours but also cognac flavours and they have no place in a margarita. If you want to do a posh Margarita, use a posh tequila. The new Jose Cuervo Reserva Platino for example is great, or Don Julio if you are not feeling quite so flush. As for which triple sec to use, Cointreau is obviously good, and also easy to obtain. There are other good triple secs, but you would have to go out of your way to find them unless you are in the trade. Try Merlet or Briotet if you can find them.
Also while discussing the sweet ingredient, I feel I should touch on the now very common use of the Tommy’s Margarita, namely a Margarita with Agave syrup in place of Cointreau. This drink was invented by Julio Bermejo at the legendary Tommy’s in San Francisco. It is a great drink, particularly with premium tequilas as the agave does not hide any of the tequila notes, and if anything enhances them. I know from working my way through a sizeable part of the Tommy’s back bar one evening. It is a must try drink, and it is easy to find Agave syrup in most big supermarkets nowadays.
With lime juice as usual only consider freshly squeezed.
As for proportions, we touched on this earlier. For me 2:1:1 is right. The exception to this is for margaritas served on the rocks or frozen. The more ice in the drink the more sugar you need. Think 2.5ml sugar syrup for on the rocks, and 10ml sugar syrup for a frozen drink.
As for technique, some drinks need to be shaken harder than others. The Margarita, like the daiquiri, needs, in the words of Outcast, to be “shaken like a polaroid picture”. The colder the drink and the more air introduced into it the better. Also, never double strain as the small ice crystals suit the Margarita down to a tee, and double straining with remove half of the air shaking introduces in the first place.
The last topic to cover is the use of salt rims. The first thing to note is that the original Margarita did not have a salt rim. So it comes down the personal preference, and this polarises opinions big time. I used to have salt rims on my Margaritas, but not anymore. I don’t really think it adds anything to the drink. I read one person claim that it decreases the tartness of the lime and increases the sweetness of the sugar, as well as reducing underlying bitter flavours from the orange peel and the lime juice, but the Margarita is supposed to be a little tart, and whoever said a few bitter notes in a drink is a bad thing? As mixologists, we strive to create complexity in the flavour profiles of our creations.
Key things if you are going to use a salt rim are getting the rim only very lightly salted, not getting any salt on the inside of the glass, only salting half the glass, to give you or the customer the option of a salt-free sip, using a decent quality salt, and using a flaked sea salt as the salt hit is slower.
Lastly, for twist of Margaritas, as with all simple drinks, have a play around. Fresh fruit Margaritas taste great so try combinations of fruits, or diffent sweeteners, or adding a herb or spice or chilli. Have a bit of fun.
Classic Margarita
40ml Arette Blanco Tequila
20ml Cointreau
20ml Lime Juice
Shake over ice very hard, and strain into a chilled Margarita glass.
Little Miss Margarithai
2 parts Arette Blanco Tequila
¾ part watermelon sugar syrup*
¾ part lime juice
1 stick lemongrass.
Crush the lemongrass at the bottom of your shaker. Shake all the ingredients over ice, and double strain into a chilled martini glass.
*Watermelon sugar syrup. see my watermelon blog.
Elderflower Margarita
40ml Arette Blanco Tequila
20ml Elderflower Cordial
20ml Lime Juice
Shake over ice very hard, and strain into an ice filled rock glass.
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Watermelon sugar syrup cocktails!
These drinks use a great homemade ingredient, watermelon sugar syrup. I came up with it as I found watermelon drinks to be, well, too watery. It is really easy to make, and is great for summer drinks parties, because it is incredibly versatile. It is lovely with vodka, gin, rum, tequila and cognac, and also with pineapple, orange, apple, cranberry and pomegranate juices. It even goes well in a white wine spritzer, or in a Pimms and lemonade. It doesn’t really matter what booze your friends bought on special offer at the off-license. So have some fun and just play around!
To make the syrup, cut up a watermelon into chunks, and push it by hand through a sieve to juice it. If you have a centrifugal juicer, you can use that. Half fill a bottle with sugar and then fill up with the juice. Shake it until it dissolves. Then it’s ready to use. It lasts for about 5 days in the fridge.
When using the syrup, you will need to balance out the sweetness with some fresh lemon or lime juice.
Melonius Funk
2 parts Vodka
1 part watermelon sugar syrup
1 part lemon juice
3 parts pineapple juice
Shake all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker on ice. Strain into an ice filled tall glass.
Garnish with a piece of watermelon.
Little Miss Margarithai
2 parts Arette Blanco Tequila
¾ part watermelon sugar syrup
¾ part lime juice
1 stick lemongrass.
Crush the lemongrass at the bottom of your shaker. Shake all the ingredients over ice, and double strain into a chilled martini glass.
Nice Sidecar
2 parts Courvoisier Exclusif
¾ part watermelon sugar syrup
¾ part lemon juice
Shake all the ingredients over ice, and double strain into a chilled martini glass.
Watermelon Spritzer
To a large white wine and soda spritzer, add watermelon sugar syrup to taste. There is no need for any lemon or lime in this one.
To make the syrup, cut up a watermelon into chunks, and push it by hand through a sieve to juice it. If you have a centrifugal juicer, you can use that. Half fill a bottle with sugar and then fill up with the juice. Shake it until it dissolves. Then it’s ready to use. It lasts for about 5 days in the fridge.
When using the syrup, you will need to balance out the sweetness with some fresh lemon or lime juice.
Melonius Funk
2 parts Vodka
1 part watermelon sugar syrup
1 part lemon juice
3 parts pineapple juice
Shake all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker on ice. Strain into an ice filled tall glass.
Garnish with a piece of watermelon.
Little Miss Margarithai
2 parts Arette Blanco Tequila
¾ part watermelon sugar syrup
¾ part lime juice
1 stick lemongrass.
Crush the lemongrass at the bottom of your shaker. Shake all the ingredients over ice, and double strain into a chilled martini glass.
Nice Sidecar
2 parts Courvoisier Exclusif
¾ part watermelon sugar syrup
¾ part lemon juice
Shake all the ingredients over ice, and double strain into a chilled martini glass.
Watermelon Spritzer
To a large white wine and soda spritzer, add watermelon sugar syrup to taste. There is no need for any lemon or lime in this one.
Wednesday, 24 June 2009
Mojito 101
The Mojito is undoubtedly the most popular cocktail in the UK today, and one of the most popular in the world (that number one I am fairly sure is the Margarita). Many a bartender will moan about the fact, as the various facebook groups regarding Mojito hatred will attest. But we all know this is all to do with the repetitive nature of making 8 mojitos at the same time again and again, and little to do with the cocktail’s quality.
The earliest precursor to the Mojito was from Cuba, and a drink known as “El Draque," named after Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 1st’s favourite pirate, Sir Francis Drake. so a fair bit older than the 19th Century stories about picking mint in Kentucky next to the Derby (not true, but a nice one to tell customers anyway. The first mint julep was actually made with rum). Whatever the Mojito may have been called back then, if would have been made with a primitive predecessor of rum, but with the same other ingredients used to hide the harsh taste. Some insist the Mojito's name comes from 'mojo', a Cuban seasoning made from lime and used to flavour dishes. Perhaps as a reference to its lime ingredient, the drink became known as the cocktail with 'a little mojo' - in Spanish, 'mojito'.
It is widely stated that the Mojito was invented at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, but the place didn’t open until 1942, and there are written record of identical drinks, if not called a Mojito, dating from 1931 and Sloppy Joe’s bar manual, and he had his bar in Key West, Florida. It has even been suggested that Ernest Hemingway himself may have brought the drink from Cuba to Florida as he was a friend of the owner if Sloppy Joe’s, and he spent time moving between Key West and Cuba it the late 20’s and early 30’s. But it was at the Bodeguita that the Mojito became popular in Havana, and Hemingway was a famous regular.
The traditional Mojito is made with White Rum, Sugar, Lime Juice, Mint and Soda, served over cubed ice. The common method of leaving out the soda and using crushed ice stems from one of the most interesting stories in all on Cocktaildom. Before the revolution and Castro, Cuba was America’s playground, and all the bars from Havana to Varadero had lovely state-of-the-art American ice machines which made cubed ice. After the revolution and the associated trade embargo, These machines one by one started to break down, and the Cubans fixed them as best they could but over time the machines could no longer make cold hard ice cubes, but what came out was more of a slush. So they started to leave out the soda from the mojitos, as the drink would otherwise have been too wet. And so was born the Post-Castro Mojito.
The original Recipe for the Mojito calls for white rum, and with a good white rum it is a lovely drink. However with an aged rum the drink takes on many other nuances, and quite possibly served on crushed ice with no soda it is the better drink. But then again, one made traditionally in a pre-Castro style tastes exceptionally good sitting on a beach in Cuba. It is all about context and personal preference, and I would not say one or the other is the better drink.
As for suggestions as to which rums to use, the Mojito is a Cuban drink, so was traditionally made with Spanish style rums, and they are probably the best to use, as the light grassy notes work well with the herbal, floral notes of the mint. Also Spanish rums are lighter due to the fact that they are predominantly made in column stills rather than pot stills, and this means they are well suited to what is a light summery drink. So try Havana Club, or Santa Teresa.
Regarding the sugar and lime components, one of my pet hates with mojitos is when the bartender muddles the mint to almost a puree and hands me something that tastes like mouthwash. I do not go to a bar to spend my evening picking bits of mint out of my teeth. The mint should be lightly bruised, just enough to release its flavour, but it does not need to be broken up at all. For this reason I like to use sugar syrup instead of caster sugar, as the granules tend to break up the mint too much. If caster sugar is to be used, I would suggest that it is done after the mint is muddled with the lime juice. It is important to note that this is not a Caipirinha, and the sugar is not needed to extract lime oils from the lime zest. On this point, I have often seen lime wedges muddled in a Mojito. There is a reason why Constante Ribalaigua used white gloves to squeeze the estimated 10 million+ limes he is said to have squeezed in his illustrious career. It was that bruising the lime too much would give bitter pith notes to the drink, as he maintained that it clashed with the rum flavour, and clearly muddling is the most violent way of extract juice from a lime. It was never done like that in Cuba, and it just smacks of bartenders trying to be different, but without thinking whether the change might improve the drink, which it doesn’t.
With regards to what sugar to use, unrefined sugar adds much more flavour to the drink than refined white sugar. However, bear in mind that if you are making a sugar syrup, Unrefined syrups tend to ferment quite quickly, so make in on a stove, bring to the boil then chill rapidly and keep it in the fridge. Demerara sugar is too dark for my taste and I would not recommend. If you want a darker, more moreish Mojito used an aged rum with unrefined sugar.
A couple of variations I have seen in Cuba is the addition of Angostura bitters, and the use of Guarapo, freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. As for Angostura, it makes an interesting drink, and is tasty, but it takes over a bit, and personally I wouldn’t add it to my own, but it is definitely worth a try. Guarapo is made by putting freshly cut sugar cane through a mangle and collecting the juice. It is simply delicious and as the sweetener in a Mojito it is sublime. However, unless you have fresh sugar cane to hand, it is hard to replicate.
Mojito Recipes.
Pre-Castro
50ml White Rum
20ml Lime Juice
20ml unrefined sugar syrup
8 Mint Leaves
Soda
Gently bruise mint, add lime juice, sugar and rum. Stir. Add cubed ice, add soda and stir.
Garnish with lime wedge and mint sprig.
Post-Castro
50ml White Rum
20ml Lime Juice
20ml Unrefined Sugar Syrup
8 Mint Leaves.
Gently bruise mint, add lime juice, sugar and rum. Stir. Add crushed ice, stir, and top with ice. Garnish with lime wedge and mint sprig.
Pineapple and Sage Mojito
A Nick Strangeway creation for the first menu at La Floridita in Soho. An excellent drink from one of the best mixologists around.
50ml White Rum
5 Sage Leaves
15ml Lime Juice
15ml Unrefined Sugar Syrup
25ml Pressed Pineapple juice
The Stairs Mojito
50ml Santa Teresa Claro
20ml Lime Juice
20ml Unrefined Sugar Syrup
8 Mint Leaves
Juice of half an apple
Juice of half a pear
One of our ones at the Loft, a longer drink but one which we sell a lot of.
A point to make about the Mojito is it is a simple drink, and as such there is an almost unlimited number of possible twists. Adding berries, adding fruit juice, changing the mint for sage, basil, thyme, rosemary, etc. It is a drink you can have real fun letting your imagination run riot.
The earliest precursor to the Mojito was from Cuba, and a drink known as “El Draque," named after Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth 1st’s favourite pirate, Sir Francis Drake. so a fair bit older than the 19th Century stories about picking mint in Kentucky next to the Derby (not true, but a nice one to tell customers anyway. The first mint julep was actually made with rum). Whatever the Mojito may have been called back then, if would have been made with a primitive predecessor of rum, but with the same other ingredients used to hide the harsh taste. Some insist the Mojito's name comes from 'mojo', a Cuban seasoning made from lime and used to flavour dishes. Perhaps as a reference to its lime ingredient, the drink became known as the cocktail with 'a little mojo' - in Spanish, 'mojito'.
It is widely stated that the Mojito was invented at La Bodeguita del Medio in Havana, but the place didn’t open until 1942, and there are written record of identical drinks, if not called a Mojito, dating from 1931 and Sloppy Joe’s bar manual, and he had his bar in Key West, Florida. It has even been suggested that Ernest Hemingway himself may have brought the drink from Cuba to Florida as he was a friend of the owner if Sloppy Joe’s, and he spent time moving between Key West and Cuba it the late 20’s and early 30’s. But it was at the Bodeguita that the Mojito became popular in Havana, and Hemingway was a famous regular.
The traditional Mojito is made with White Rum, Sugar, Lime Juice, Mint and Soda, served over cubed ice. The common method of leaving out the soda and using crushed ice stems from one of the most interesting stories in all on Cocktaildom. Before the revolution and Castro, Cuba was America’s playground, and all the bars from Havana to Varadero had lovely state-of-the-art American ice machines which made cubed ice. After the revolution and the associated trade embargo, These machines one by one started to break down, and the Cubans fixed them as best they could but over time the machines could no longer make cold hard ice cubes, but what came out was more of a slush. So they started to leave out the soda from the mojitos, as the drink would otherwise have been too wet. And so was born the Post-Castro Mojito.
The original Recipe for the Mojito calls for white rum, and with a good white rum it is a lovely drink. However with an aged rum the drink takes on many other nuances, and quite possibly served on crushed ice with no soda it is the better drink. But then again, one made traditionally in a pre-Castro style tastes exceptionally good sitting on a beach in Cuba. It is all about context and personal preference, and I would not say one or the other is the better drink.
As for suggestions as to which rums to use, the Mojito is a Cuban drink, so was traditionally made with Spanish style rums, and they are probably the best to use, as the light grassy notes work well with the herbal, floral notes of the mint. Also Spanish rums are lighter due to the fact that they are predominantly made in column stills rather than pot stills, and this means they are well suited to what is a light summery drink. So try Havana Club, or Santa Teresa.
Regarding the sugar and lime components, one of my pet hates with mojitos is when the bartender muddles the mint to almost a puree and hands me something that tastes like mouthwash. I do not go to a bar to spend my evening picking bits of mint out of my teeth. The mint should be lightly bruised, just enough to release its flavour, but it does not need to be broken up at all. For this reason I like to use sugar syrup instead of caster sugar, as the granules tend to break up the mint too much. If caster sugar is to be used, I would suggest that it is done after the mint is muddled with the lime juice. It is important to note that this is not a Caipirinha, and the sugar is not needed to extract lime oils from the lime zest. On this point, I have often seen lime wedges muddled in a Mojito. There is a reason why Constante Ribalaigua used white gloves to squeeze the estimated 10 million+ limes he is said to have squeezed in his illustrious career. It was that bruising the lime too much would give bitter pith notes to the drink, as he maintained that it clashed with the rum flavour, and clearly muddling is the most violent way of extract juice from a lime. It was never done like that in Cuba, and it just smacks of bartenders trying to be different, but without thinking whether the change might improve the drink, which it doesn’t.
With regards to what sugar to use, unrefined sugar adds much more flavour to the drink than refined white sugar. However, bear in mind that if you are making a sugar syrup, Unrefined syrups tend to ferment quite quickly, so make in on a stove, bring to the boil then chill rapidly and keep it in the fridge. Demerara sugar is too dark for my taste and I would not recommend. If you want a darker, more moreish Mojito used an aged rum with unrefined sugar.
A couple of variations I have seen in Cuba is the addition of Angostura bitters, and the use of Guarapo, freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. As for Angostura, it makes an interesting drink, and is tasty, but it takes over a bit, and personally I wouldn’t add it to my own, but it is definitely worth a try. Guarapo is made by putting freshly cut sugar cane through a mangle and collecting the juice. It is simply delicious and as the sweetener in a Mojito it is sublime. However, unless you have fresh sugar cane to hand, it is hard to replicate.
Mojito Recipes.
Pre-Castro
50ml White Rum
20ml Lime Juice
20ml unrefined sugar syrup
8 Mint Leaves
Soda
Gently bruise mint, add lime juice, sugar and rum. Stir. Add cubed ice, add soda and stir.
Garnish with lime wedge and mint sprig.
Post-Castro
50ml White Rum
20ml Lime Juice
20ml Unrefined Sugar Syrup
8 Mint Leaves.
Gently bruise mint, add lime juice, sugar and rum. Stir. Add crushed ice, stir, and top with ice. Garnish with lime wedge and mint sprig.
Pineapple and Sage Mojito
A Nick Strangeway creation for the first menu at La Floridita in Soho. An excellent drink from one of the best mixologists around.
50ml White Rum
5 Sage Leaves
15ml Lime Juice
15ml Unrefined Sugar Syrup
25ml Pressed Pineapple juice
The Stairs Mojito
50ml Santa Teresa Claro
20ml Lime Juice
20ml Unrefined Sugar Syrup
8 Mint Leaves
Juice of half an apple
Juice of half a pear
One of our ones at the Loft, a longer drink but one which we sell a lot of.
A point to make about the Mojito is it is a simple drink, and as such there is an almost unlimited number of possible twists. Adding berries, adding fruit juice, changing the mint for sage, basil, thyme, rosemary, etc. It is a drink you can have real fun letting your imagination run riot.
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