This months Mixology Monday hosted by The Cocktail Chronicles has a great theme for July 2008…New Orleans! Thanks Paul for hosting.
New Orleans.…i have never been there yet but its been on my wish list since about 2004…I just know it´s a place i would just love! and now i really wish i could have been there to attend the Tales of the Cocktail…but maybe next year is my turn?
Its seems to be a fantastic city, full of creativity and vibrant life, good music, fantastic food, the Saints, amazing architecture and of course – The Tales of the Cocktail event – i so badly wanna go!
And Matthew “Rumdood” Robolds vivid descriptions of the events and of the drink and food menus at the Tiki spirited dinner at GW Fins makes me drool…”outrigger canoes” of crabmeat and jackfruit in grilled endive boats…anyone?
But most important – meeting all the people! That must be fantastic. I and many of my friends, who cannot go this year are now following the Tales of the Cocktails online blogging, the first-ever live session of the Tales. Hats off to you all who are blogging on that event and make it possible for us who cannot be there to stay tuned.
I wanted to make a classic New Orleans cocktail and one Tiki drink by Don the Beachcomber and i have not been able to make up my mind about which one of the two drinks to choose..doesn`t matter how many Mai Tai`s used for help…so i ended up making both. And in any case…two is always better than one right?
The first one is the Ramos Gin fizz which was invented by Henry C Ramos in the 1800s and which is one of the most famous drinks from New Orleans. I love this cocktail, its so smooth, elegant and citrusy. It’s some work but its worth it when you take your first sip of this fluffy silky frothy dream of a cocktail.
RAMOS GIN FIZZ
2 ounces Gin
1/3 ounce lemon juice
1 ounce cream
3 drops orange flower water
1 egg white
1 teaspoon simple syrup
Soda water
Shake all ingredients except the soda water very vigorously at least for one minute, but the longer the better. Strain into a tall thin glass, and top with soda water.
DON THE BEACHCOMBER
As a lover of Tiki drinks and as even Tiki drinks qualify for this months topic — as already mentioned, Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt aka Don the Beachcomber, came from New Orleans. So i have also chosen one of his creations for my entry in this months MxMo.
I decided to make the Rum Julep, created by Don the Beachcomber cirka 1940. This drink was served at Don the Beachcombers Cabaret restaurant in 1958.
RUM JULEP
1/2 oz fresh Lime juice
1/2 oz Orange juice
1/2 oz Honey Mix*
1/2 oz Appleton Extra Jamaican rum
1 1/2 oz Demerara rum
1/4 tsp Grenadine
1/4 tsp Falernum
1/4 tsp Pimento dram*
Dash Angostura Bitters
1/2 cup crushed ice
Put in blender and save the ice for last, blend on high speed for 5 sek, pour into a metal Julep cup, add more crushed ice to fill and garnish with Mint.
* HONEY MIX:
One part honey to one part water, heat and mix until the honey is thoroughly dissolved. Cool
and bottle, it keeps in the fridge for about a week.
* PIMENTO DRAM
If you want to make your own:
Grind 1/4 cup of whole pimento berries until you get a consistency of ground coffee.
Place in a saucepan with 1 cup Cruzan white rum. bring to a boil and then immediately remove from the heat. Stir. Pour this “tea” with berries and all into a empty rum bottle.
Fill the bottle about 3/4 to the top with more white rum. Seal and let sit for 2 weeks, shaking occasionally.
After 2 weeks, filter through a cheezecloth to discard solids and then filter again through a metal mesh coffee filter and a third time through bleached paper filters. if its cloudy, filter one more time through the paper.
Make a sugar syrup by placing one cup of water and one pound Demerara sugar in a saucepan.
heat until the sugar is dissolved. Mix equal parts of the sugar syrup with the Pimento infused rum. Bottle, seal and let sit for at least one month.The longer it sits, the mellover and more flavorful it gets.
Dram recipe by Matthew “Kuku Ahu” Thatcher, written in Sippin Safari.
Happy MxMo!
Okole maluna,
Tiare
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