NRA Shooter

As if it were possible to have anyone crazier than Moses as the face of the NRA, meet Wayne LaPierre.  In the wake of the Newtown tragedy, he's gone unabashedly nuts.  From "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun." to the call for putting an armed cop in every school, the man and the lobby have no sense of propriety or respect for what we all lost that day.  His lap dog, Asa Hutchinson is hardly better, pushing the school program in Congress at a price tag of $2 billion.  (Can you imagine what that would do going to the schools for programs and teacher training?)

So today's original bev is the NRA Shooter.  This was a challenge to craft since as a shot it needs to be sweet enough to go down easy.  But we don't like cloying shots (sorry Intoxicator!).  So I wanted it to have some kind of sour or bitter effect too.  Just like the NRA!  The Partner describes it: "It starts off without much effect, then goes to sour, then finishes like a mouthful of Smarties."

Without putting too fine a point on it, no matter what, it was going to be a red shot.  Get it? 

NRA Shooter

2 oz. gin

1 oz. strawberry cachaca

1/2 oz. grenadine

3 deep-cut strips of lemon zest

grapefruit bitters

Muddle the lemon zest in a bar glass with the bitters and a dash of gin.  When the zest is fragrant, add the  rest of the ingredients and shake over ice.  Pour into shot glasses. 

Makes 4 shots. 

Morango Fizz

First use of awesome vintage Collins glasses: a Christmas gift from The Partner!

PDT Interview
Personal Preferences: A tasty tipp that everyone will like to get the evening rolling; a multiple rounder
Style of Drink: Buck, Collins, Fizz, or Long Drink
Spirit of Choice: Something out of the ordinary
Last Drink: Hotel Nacional Special


Each year we have two large parties of 50 guests or more.  A swank Winter Solstice party alternates years with a Mardi Gras bacchanal while each year we celebrate Pride.  They're fun.  We love the frenetic activity the week before.  The menu planning, the prep, the cooking, the baking, the decorating.   When the parties themselves unfold, we love having friends in our home, watching and listening to them enjoy themselves.  But when you throw a party that size you don't even get a chance to see everyone, never mind visit with anyone.  So we've decided that throughout 2013 we'd have a number of smaller, more casual dinner parties to enjoy the company of our friends as well as entertain.  In this way we could also properly warm the new kitchen.

Our first such evening was last night.  Just 4 friends to enjoy a dinner of homemade chicken pot pies, twice-baked mashed potatoes (topped with cheddar cheese & whipped cream!), and roasted broccoli and cauliflower.  The Partner made a devastating crème brûlée for dessert.  The perfect comfort meal for a kitchen warming on a windy, 20-degree Chicago night.  So I needed a cocktail to kick this evening off well.  Initially, I was looking at rather classic-sounding bevs.  But not everyone would be into brown liquors.  Then I came across the Morango Fizz.  It couldn't have been more perfect given my PDT Interview parameters.  And what it lacked in seasonality, it more than made up for in it's less-than-ordinary ingredients.  To boot, its base liquor would be a nice homage, given my friend, M., would be one of our guests for the evening!  It would bring a little warm weather sunshine into our mid-winter evening.

All agreed, this should be a feature on the roof this summer.  The Morango Fizz is bright & sparkling.  A summer sipper that goes down easier with each pull.  What's nice is that it's sweet and refreshing without being cloying.  It's pink lemonade-like hue is appealing without being pepto-y.  All-in-all, a delightful tipple that's as fun to make as it is to sip.

Morango Fizz
2 oz. strawberry-infused cachaça*
3/4 oz. lemon juice
3/4 oz. simple syrup
1 egg white

Dry shake ingredients, then shake with ice and strain into chilled fizz glass.  Top with 1 oz. club soda.  No garnish.


*:  Cachaça can be hard enough to find in the traditional variety, depending on what your liquor store carries.  So don't waste time trying to find strawberry-infused.  Better to make your own.  A good infusion takes anywhere from 12-hours to 3 days.  I had about 8 hours before our guests arrived, so here's a "quick" infusion:

• Remove the stems from a pint of fresh strawberries and do a medium-fine dice.
• Put the berries in a large non-reactive bowl.  
• Pour a full bottle of cachaça over them, give a stir, and let stand at room temperature.
• Stir once or twice an hour while infusing.
• After 8-12 hours, strain fruit from the booze and decant.

I was curious as to what this concoction would yield.  Cachaça is a strong liquor.  So I was amazed to notice throughout the day how the mixture slowly transformed from its sharp, alcoholic sting to a softer, lighter berry infusion.  At this time interval, the finished effect was a pleasant balance of a softer cachaça and a light essence of strawberry.  Nothing like the current trend of heavy-handed flavoring of rums & vodkas.  And that's a good thing.

Caipirinha

My girl, L. - of He Shot, She Shot fame - joined the Partner & me on the roof Friday.

Pictured with my caipirinha (left) is her mojito (right).

The Partner's bev? *Yawn* a glass of white wine ;-)

PDT Interview
Personal Preferences: light, refreshing, summery
Style of Drink: short but strong; on the rocks; a summer sipper
Spirit of Choice: clear liquor
Last Drink: Pimm's Cup #1

Finally, Caipirinha!  I've been wanting to mix this bev for the longest.  I've even had a bottle of cachaça on the bar for nearly a year now.  So as the return entry after being distracted and derailed by a major, month-plus kitchen remodel, I decided this would be the one to feature.
 
I was first introduced to this tipp over 15 years ago at a crazy gay disco cum bar cum restaurant called Rhumba.  Mojitos were just becoming all the rage (the best I'd had at that time being at Nacionale 27,  served with a sugar cane swizzle stick), so when our server suggested the caipirinha and described it in terms of a Brazilian mojito with this exotic Brazilian liquor that was a cross between rum & tequila*, I was all in.  Alas, Rhumba is no more.  But in the years since, I have enjoyed several Caipirinhas on warm evenings with my dear friend, M. over at the Matchbox (sitting along Milwaukee Ave. a must while sipping!).
 
Meehan’s version of Brazil’s national cocktail is good.  Looking around the web, he goes with the classic using just 3 ingredients.  He calls for Demerara sugar – which is somewhere between Sugar in the Raw & light brown sugar.  This makes sense as it gives added heft than plain white or simple syrup and counters the slight veggie quality of the cachaça.  Beyond that, I took a modified page from the Matchbox playbook and rimmed the glass with sugar.  Once I have the kitchen back, I’ll do it the way they do and use confectioner’s sugar -- an enjoyable twist.  This will be another feature on the rooftop this summer!


*: Cachaça is actually a rum, not a tequila.  Unlike Caribbean rums, however, it is made from sugar cane juice, not molasses.  Reputedly, it is the first spirit of the Americas, first produced in Brazil ca. 1532.  Thus, cachaça can only come from Brazil.  The comparison to tequila probably stems from two things: its slightly veggie quality on the palate and like tequila, the similar legal limitations on what can be called cachaça.

Caipirinha
2 oz. cachaça
½ lime, quartered
2 barspoons or 2 cubes of Demerara sugar

Slice and juice the lime into a pint glass and muddle hulls with sugar.  Add cachaça and shake.  Pour unstrained into chilled rocks glass filled with ice.  No garnish (unless you want a sugared rim :-P  )

**: Since this entry is already a linkapalooza, here’s a fun one to native pronunciations of caipirinha.  Now you too can order like a Brazilian!


UPDATE: As it turns out, the Caipirinha was a summer feature, though not as often as we would have thought.  This is a strong drink with unique qualities.  Thus it doesn't lend itself to many in a row like, say, a margarit, a mojito, or something out of the Island Oasis machine.  But this does hit the spot after tiring of a run of one of those other drinks and you're not ready to stop yet and you don't quite know what you want next.  In such circumstances, have a Caipirinha.  It's different on the palate and definitely keeps the buzz going until dinner.  You might not have two at that point, but that's ok.  It's the transition drink!

Pearl Button

PDT Interview
Personal preferences: dark liquor, warming, "brown"
Drink style: rocks
Spirit of choice: scotch, bourbon, Irish whisky
Last cocktail: Bijou

Awesome Xmas gifts. Glasses: Mother-in-law, Sculpture: Sis

January 13th.  Friday. Chicago finally gets its first winter storm of the season.  PDT interview notes above reflect my mood.  Bar’s practically empty of stock liquors.  F***.  Heading to Binny’s tomorrow for sure (with that 15% off coupon from my inbox)!  I need something to lift my mood on this typical Chicago winter day. 

Leafing deeper into Meehan.  Looking for something I have ingredients for.  Anything.  Stumble across a section entitled "Seasonal Mixology".  Perfect.  His description of winter captures my mood and bev desires perfectly, noting that when the sun goes down in early afternoon and the temp drops, people start ordering “spiritous aperitifs such as Manhattans, Martinis, Negronis.”  Exactly.  Outta vermouth.  Can’t do a one of them.  Meehan continues: “When the weather gets bleak, I always put a tiki drink on the menu for comic relief on a chilly winter night.”  Permission to go tropical to lift my (excuse the pun) spirits.  And I did just change all my desktop wallpapers to tropical scenes – vacation is tantalizingly close.

Pearl Button.  First sip was a bit of a shock.  After that, both The Partner and I agreed, this will be a feature on the roof this summer.  First word to describe: Dry.  Then light.  Crisp.  Floral.  Citrus. Not at all acidic.  Effervescent.  Not a “ya know, these classic cocktails…” in sight.  I must admit to a bit of anticipatory skepticism when I read the recipe.  Cachaca & Lillet?  But it works.  Even got to trot out the new Collins glasses.  A Christmas gift along with the PDT from my mother-in-law.  Thank you, P-!

Happy Friday 13th!!

Pearl Button
2 oz. Cachaça
3/4 oz. Lillet blanc
1/2 oz. lime juice
Shake with ice and strain into a chilled Collins glass filled with ice.  Top with 1.5 oz. of San Pellegrino Limonata*.  Garnish with half a grapefruit wheel*.

*:  Damn.  Ran out of San Pellegrino Limonata just this afternoon.  Ditto on the grapefruit.  So a slight squeeze from the heel of a lemon over the ice before topping with seltzer and half a lemon wheel for garnish sufficed nicely.  Give an easy stir with a bar spoon to get all the ingredients lovin' each other.