My New Favorite Tipple: The Pink Victrola

So... life is funny and wonderful. I haven't felt like blogging in literally- a few years. I've been so involved with other things that the time and energy that I had to devote to cooking and documenting my cooking, and writing was pretty much nil. However, things have changed once again, and I now am feeling that pull towards fun and creativity that having a little more "me" time affords.
So to avoid boring you with more introspective epiphanies, let's cut to the chase.
I have a new favorite drink.
It all started with a new (for me) gin: Hendrick's gin. Love it. Really. I mean, I could go on about bouquet and roses and cucumber and juniper, but really you have to just try it and see if it's for you. It's definitely for me.
So I went on the Hendrick's site (which is great fun by the way) and started poking around to see if there was a cocktail recipe that jumped out at me. There was: The Pink Victrola.
This is not a super complicated drink recipe. The only fancy equipment you need is a nice glass and a cocktail shaker.

Here's your list of ingredients:

Pink Victrola
1.5 parts gin - Hendrick's is delicious.
1.5 part grapefruit juice - I use ruby red.
0.5 part lemon juice
0.5 part simple syrup* homemade, recipe to follow
1 spoonful of grenadine** homemade, recipe to follow

*Simple syrup is made by combining water and sugar in a 1:1 ratio. You may bring it to a boil and let simmer for a thicker syrup, or you may just let it dissolve for a thin syrup. I heated mine in a saucepan to facilitate sugar incorporation but didn't let it boil for any length of time. This made a nice syrup with a bit of body but not really thick or sticky.

**Grenadine is a delicious syrup made from pomegranate juice. I went out and bought a bottle of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice and added sugar in equal proportion, warmed to just dissolve the sugar and that was that. There is no substitute for real pomegranate juice grenadine- and yes you can tell if it's not there. I tried it without to test, and it is discernibly better with. Plus, it makes it pink. Who doesn't love a pink drink?

There is no substitute for the real deal! And so simple, it's lovely.

Put everything in a cocktail shaker, add ice, do the shake-a shake-a, then decant into a worthy glass.
The final product: delicately pink, frothy on top from your vigorous attention to shaken, not stirred, and utterly delicious!

Enjoy!

Eierlikör

Eierlikör...it's a beautiful thing

OK kids, I realize I've been AWOL for a little bit, but I have a really good reason besides holidays and kids and all that. So guess what?! I'm moving! Yes, I'm going to be leaving the Empire State for the Land of Enchantment...doesn't that sound cool? And for those who don't know the lingo, that's New York for New Mexico. Still New, but it's all in the suffix.

I can officially report, moving is hell, and I haven't even moved yet. This is the pre-move stage. Which I'm sure is a completely different circle of hell entirely from the actual moving and post-move circles of hell that I'm sure await me. If I'm not incinerated, I'll keep you informed.

But anyway, to drown my sorrows- and make it up to you, dear reader, I want to share something wonderful that I stumbled upon!!!

It's called Eierlikör, and it doesn't translate well into English- (can we say Egg Liquor?- yeah I didn't think so either) so just say it in German! It sounds better, and lets your guests enjoy this ambrosia without trying to figure things out too much.

Anyway, as you know, I love cookbooks. I've discovered that many European cookbooks that get translated into English are often are full of interesting recipes and have a tendency to be sold as the "bargain" cookbooks you get at booksellers. I love them! They sometimes have glitches and inconsistencies and ingredients that are not common or translated into something recognizeable, but to me, that's half the fun! It's like food sleuthing! So, when I came upon a cake drizzled with Egg Liquor in a translated-from-German cookbook, I have to admit I was completely intrigued but also scratching my head. But after I put on my foodie version of a Sherlock Homes cap- aka, the internet, I was able to figure it out, and even come up with a recipe to try!

I have to say, I love food sleuthing, but even I was impressed with the super-sleuthing skills of a fellow food blogger named Justin who has a great story to tell here.

Yes, the Chrissy he talks about in his marvelous tale of cookies lost and found, is indeed, your truly, but really, he did all the work :)

I should have posted this before, but man, as I have said, I've been in moving hell!

Back to the Eierlikör! Really, it's delicious stuff. Serve it in pretty little aperitif glasses, the one in the above photo is way too large, but I just liked the way it looks.

**A word about salmonella, because it always comes up when you use raw eggs. If you don't want to use raw eggs, use a pastuerized product, or slowly heat the mix up to 160° and let cool before adding the alcohol. Pretty simple, really.

Step 1: Separate 10 eggs and place the yolks in a large bowl.

Step 2: Add 2 cups of cream, 1 pound of sugar (granulated or powdered, it's up to you) and 2 cups of alcohol. I used a very light rum, which is popular, but apparently brandy is traditional, as it is with alot of old fashioned drinks. I say go with what you like.

Step 3: Mix this well. You can use a blender or a hand mixer or just whisk away.

Step 4: Add some vanilla extract, about a teaspoon or two, and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. I also added a pinch of sea salt.

As you can see, it get really rich and creamy. For this batch, I was intrigued by the notion of using powdered sugar, since I wouldn't have thought of that myself, and so I used it for half of the required sugar. I was able to detect a slightly "starchy" consistency in the drink when tasted. Happily however, after a few days of sitting, the starchyness completely dissapeared and became an absolutely silken mouth-feel. I don't know if the acohol broke it down or what, but yes, it does improve with age.

This was my yield for the above recipe. After letting it rest for a few days, it was my intention to strain and then decant into a pretty bottle. However, I will admit that it never got into that pretty bottle, as once my family tasted it, that was the end of that. Apparently they like mason jars just fine!

Enjoy!

Bärenjäger

Have you ever had Bärenjäger? (spelled Baerenjaeger without the umlauts) If so, you know the love. If not, then you are in for a treat because this is some delicious stuff. It's like liquid honey- with a kick. It comes in a bottle with a cap shaped like a beehive. How great is that? But you know me, I need to know where this stuff comes from, and can you believe it? I found recipes to make your own. Apparently it's pretty common in Germany.

It's an old Prussian drink, in fact, according to some information from Germany, it is the national drink of East Prussia. It's based on an ancient drink called Meschkinnes, which was a honey homebrew that farmers made. In Germany today, it appears to be more oftenly called Bärenfang, which means Bear Bait, however I've seen Meschkinnes too. Maybe it's a regional thing, I'm not sure. Bärenjäger, meaning Bear Hunter, is what this drink is called in the States, and actually appears to be a brand name from the Teucke & König Company. It was created, and I couldn't find out when to my dissapointment, by the Teuke & König company back when they were the Teucke & König Bear Trap Company. Honest! As in made bear traps- to catch bears in. Apparently, they dropped the business of making Bear Traps and just kept up the Bear Hunting Juice. I even found a couple of poems- in German- dedicated to Bärenfang but they really didn't translate well. I also found some testimonials, and recipes for mixed drinks using Bärenjäger which seems to be the most readily available brand for purchase in the States. However, what I really wanted to know was how to make my own Bärenfang. Hehe. This is what I found.

This was found on the Ostpreußen.net website and was translated in an erm..interesting way by google translation.

Meschkinnes ist ein ostpreußischer Seelentröster

Zutaten:
250 g Blütenhonig, ½ Liter Wodka, 1 Zimtstange, Schale einer ungespritzten Zitrone

Den Honig in etwas Wodka bei milder Hitze auflösen, dann kalt werden lassen. Den restlichen Wodka, die Zimtstange und die dünn geschälte Zitronenschale dazugeben. Bei Zimmertemperatur etwa eine Woche lang fest verschlossen stehen lassen und dabei täglich gut durchschütteln. Anschließned den Likör in eine Karaffe füllen und verschlossen und dunkel aufheben.

Na dann: Prost!

Meschkinnes is a ostpreußischer Revitalising

Ingredients:
250 g honey, ½ liters of vodka, 1 cinnamon stick, a cup lemon ungespritzten

The honey in a little vodka with mild heat dissolve, then cold. The rest of vodka, cinnamon stick and the thinly peeled lemon peel add. At room temperature for about a week are tightly closed and the daily well to churn. Anschließned the liqueur into a carafe and fill locked and dark repeal.

Well then: Cheers!

Now let me try to translate the translation. What this says to me, is that on low heat, you dissolve the honey in a just a little of the vodka. Then let cool. Add the remaining vodka, cinnamon and lemon peel to a sealed container that you agitate everyday for a week. Then strain off the sediments and decant into a clean bottle, seal it, and store in a dark place.

Another version I found comes from the website of the German Embassy in D.C. Yay for diplomacy! http://www.germany.info/relaunch/culture/life/baerenfang.html

Ingredients:

2 cups honey
1 pint grain alcohol
2 cups plus 4-1/2 teaspoons Moselle wine
Directions:

Carefully heat the honey until it has turned to liquid. Remove from heat. Stir in the alcohol, then add the wine (or water). Fill into bottles and let the liqueur stand for several weeks. The longer it stands, the better the taste.

Mmm. Sounds straightforward enough.

Another version was described to a blogger named Schneelocke. The ingredients were "rape" honey, "lab" alcohol that was 98% pure, distilled water and nothing else. That alcohol sounds serious, since 35% alcohol is 70 proof! Also, I'm not sure what type of honey that is, but here, you can read for yourself. schnee.livejournal.com/592676.html

One more version found here: rezeptzentrum.com/Recipe.asp?code=273304 is entitled East Prussian Bärenfang and is pretty much the same type of recipe. The differences here are along with the honey and vodka, you add a cinnamon stick, a vanilla bean, 4 cloves and 1/2 a lemon peel. This recipe recommends a period of 8-10 days for the infusion, and then decanting.



One interesting way to use the Bärenfang was in a cup of hot tea, or with hot water. Sort of a honey hot toddy, and supposedly good for colds and other winter-time ailments. I'm telling you, that sounds fantastic right now because I've been freezing my butt off for the last two days.

Anyhow, that's about enough on that! I hope you get to enjoy some of this honeylicious liquor sometime soon, and if you've ever swung a stein while singing Ein Prosit then Zicke-zacke, zicke-zacke, Hoi, Hoi, Hoi!

Incarnations of Kir

My sister and I were standing around chatting and eating Thanksgiving snacks du jour- ah..devilled pate eggs and artichoke dip are surely food of the Gods! when I noticed the drink in her hand of a very becoming shade of violet. "Sister dear" says I, "what, praytell, is gracing your wineglass?" "It's called Kir," says she. "Shall I make one for you?"

So she grabs the Chambord and splashes in a bit, and then tops it off with Chardonnay. Ah, the lovely purple pleaser is now mine! Mwah haha. It was actually quite charming. The Chambord did a nice job of taking the edge off of the Chardonnay. I'm personally not the biggest fan of Chardonnay, I get displeased when I find my mouth making that peculiar pucker when I taste dry and oakey in excess.

The origin of my sister's Kir is from her good friend's husband that hails from France. This is what he called it, however, in 90% of the Kir recipes that I could find, Kir is made with Creme de Cassis and not Chambord. Most popular seems to be the Kir Royale, made with Creme de Cassis and Champagne or sparkling wine. I even found a recipe for one called a Kir Cardinale that uses red wine instead of white. Oh yum! I made it with a drinkable, but not spectacular Cab, and it transformed into a really fruity, really porty-licious glass of Wow!

I look forward to more experimentation with Kir in all it's incarnations.


Kir Cardinale