Raw Milk: Punch

 

My god, have you ever tasted raw milk? I wanted to get my hands on some just to see what it was like - it's amazing stuff! It's rich and creamy and sweet, and leaves bog-standard blue top in the dust. I made something with it which I'll post about soon, but in the meantime, here's a slightly altered cocktail recipe¹ that uses raw milk's richness to good effect.

Raw Milk Punch

NB: give the milk a good swirl before pouring, as the cream will be sitting at the top of the container.

• 60 ml bourbon
• 60 ml raw milk
• 1 tbsp dark rum
• 1 tbsp sugar syrup

Pour everything into an ice-filled shaker. Shake vigourously, strain into a glass, and garnish with grated nutmeg.

¹ from the EUVS cocktail database

Raspberry Vinegar

"Here is a pleasant 'refresher', specially suitable for the young after lawn tennis or sports on hot days, but acceptable also to their elders when exhausted by church, depressed by gardening, or exasperated by shopping."

"Take one pound of raspberries¹ to every pint best white vinegar². Let it stand for a fortnight in a covered jar in a cool larder. Then strain without pressure, and to every pint add 12 ounces white sugar³. Boil ten minutes, let cool and bottle in nice medium-sized bottles saved perhaps from some present of foreign liquers."

"A teaspoonful stirred into a tumbler of water with a lump of ice, or introduced to a very cold syphon will taste like the elixir of life on a hot day, and is as pretty as it is pleasant."

Recipe from "Kitchen Essays" by Lady Agnes Jekyll, 1922 (subsequent reprints, Persephone Classics)

¹ one pound = 450(ish) grams
² one pint (imperial) = roughly half a litre (0.568 ml)
³ 12 ounces = 340 grams

Gorseflower Cordial

Fancy one of these?

First, you'll need to pick approximately eleventy million of these: gorse flowers, plucked from one of the near countless numbers of gorse that dot the New Zealand countryside. They have the unique scent of coconut and when handled, have a keen sweet smell, not unlike freshly mown grass. You'll need quite a bit to make gorse flower cordial, which I used to make the cocktail pictured above.

Churros & Hot Chocolate

It's cold and miserable outside, and you're tucked up in front of the fire reading a juicy bodice-ripper/watching Jersey Shore. Suddenly, you get the urge...

Feeling better after peeing, you decide that what you want right now is a hot drink. But not just any old hot drink. And a snack would be good, too. A thick, Spanish-style hot chocolate and some piping hot cinnamon sugar-coated churros would be just about perfect, you think to yourself. Keen? Then read on...

I'd Travel Through Time & Space For Good Coffee

 

How cool is this! It's an old police phone box, converted into a micro coffee bar! My sister and brother-in-law have recently moved to Edinburgh and found this (one of several dotted around the city) dispensing great coffee, juices, snacks and treats. 

Tinctures

Tincturing is the age-old practice of using high-proof alcohol to extract key ingredients from herbs and spices for medicinal use. This method also served as a very effective means of preserving the extraction. Today, the practice has largely been sidelined due to the widespread availability of pharmaceutical product. Despite this, the practice enjoys a considerable following, particularly among medical herbalists. There is however, new found interest from a most unexpected quarter: bartenders and mixologists.

From the Kai Lab: Creating My First Cocktail!

Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing.  ~Wernher Von Braun

Seeing my glorious creation glisten in the bright light of the afternoon sun filled me with a glowing sense of pride. Upon waking the next morning, that glowing feeling had been replaced by nausea, an aversion to all odours, and the need to tell the person poking my eyes with needles to stop. In hindsight, it would have been prudent to ease back on the number of glasses of "research" I drank which got me to this point. The things you do for the chance of winning tickets to the biggest cocktail competition in New Zealand!

Chambord & Hot Chocolate

Working in a hot commercial kitchen often drives a person to drink. At the bottom end of the scale, there's water, essential for coping with the heat; there's also soft drinks (I'm looking at you, Golden Circle Creaming Soda, damn your economically-priced, sugar-soaked hide), through to Red Bull, providing energy for many a flagging chef. And then there's the "heavy stuff", downed by the vat load by the more idiosyncratic members of the chefing profession.

Remember My Blackberry Patch?

Well, some of the blackberries ended up in this!

In Wellington & Want To Learn More About Wine?

Wine blogger and writer for M2 and Homestyle magazines Jules van Cruysen is teaming up with cult beer bar Hashigo Zake to bring Wellington a series of fun and informative wine tastings - the likes of which Wellington hasn't seen before!
 
First up is "Wine for Newbies!".

Be prepared to taste nine exciting cult wines over the course of an evening and learn

• how wine is made
• how age affects wine
• what dirt-oir is
• how to taste wine like a pro 

and much, much more.

All for only $25 and only at Hashigo Zake on March 2 at 6.30pm. Seats are strictly limited so secure yours by contacting Jules, or call into Hashigo Zake to make a booking.

UPDATE Jules is planning one for Hawke's Bay soon - I'll keep you posted...

Co-Post: Alli & Nigel’s Lavender Martini

There are times when I enjoy a good martini. I've noticed too that after my third, a mysterious transformation takes place: I begin channeling the voice of actor Sean Connery's most famous character, James Bond - master spy and fan of the vodka martini. Unfortunately, the channeling degenerates rapidly from rougish Scottish burr to full scale slurring, complete with stumbling actions. Nevertheless, the martini remains a favourite of mine.

Juliet & Romeo

Clean, grassy and with a citrus finish, this is the perfect drink for a hot summer's day.

Rhubarb & Custard...

...cocktail! I had a little rhubarb left over from the chutney, and still wanting to keep away from the usual things folk make with the red stuff, I thought a drink of some description would be worth a try. So after trawling through my cookbooks and asking the internet, I found this (apologies in advance for the non-metric measurements - I'll change them soon):

Ca Phe Sua Da / Vietnamese Iced Coffee

I had ca phe sua da for the first time many years ago at university. It was at the flat of a friend who was eager to show off the new gadgets his girlfriend had bought him from her homeland, Vietnam. We sat at their kitchen table impressed as glasses topped with little cup-like pots dripped coffee onto sweetened condensed milk. Once done, the pot was removed, the glass given a quick stir, and then topped with ice and a straw. It was delicious, and the best thing about that hot day. A few months ago, I came across some Vietnamese press pots at The Main Street Deli in Greytown (a neat little store in a beautiful little town), and snapped them up immediately, hoping to use them when it got warmer. Given the state of the weather here, now's as good a time as any.

You'll need:

• Vietnamese Press Pots (try your local Asian market or Trademe & Ebay)
• Tall Glasses
• Parfait Spoons (you can use any spoons; parfait are just ideal given the length of the glass)
• Coffee (tradition calls for a French dark roast with Chicory)
• Sweetened Condensed Milk
• Ice
• Water, & something to no-quite-boil it in

The press pot is an interesting device. It comprises the pot, which has a screen on the bottom and a mount to which the filter is attached by winding it on. The extent to which you wind determines the strength of your coffee; the tighter the fit, the slower the flow of water and consequently, the stronger the brew. There is also a lid/sauce, as well as a set of instructions. The unit cost $12 from memory.



Down to business: placing the pot on its lid, pour in two tablespoons of coffee or enough until it reaches just below the screw mount; anymore than that and you'll have difficulty screwing down the filter.


Place the filter on the screw mount and wind down. Again, the tighter you have it, the stronger your coffee will be.


Put your water on to boil and be ready to remove it just before it reaches the rolling boil stage. While that's steaming away, get your glass ready. Pour in a hearty measure of condensed milk, around two to three heaping tablespoons. Place the pot on top. Once your water's ready, pour it in the pot, right up to the lip.

Sit back and watch it steadily drip, drip, drip onto the condensed milk.


Once the pot's empty of water, it's done! Remove the pot and place it on its lid to catch any drips. Grab your spoon, give it a good stir and pour in your ice. Now take your glass of iced coffee, go sit outside in the shade, and sip away while listening to this, thinking all the while about how lucky you really are...

Way Off Topic...

This is a post completely unrelated to food, but frankly I just can't help myself. One of my favourite groups, Scottish band Camera Obscura, are about to release the first Christmas single for the year! It's a cover of an old Jim Reeves song, called "The Blizzard", about a man trying to get home in the middle of a snow storm to a gal named Mary Anne. The song comes out on the 8th of December - I'm after a copy on vinyl! Here's the video:





In an attempt to justify a Scottish band's music video appearing in a food blog, let's take time to look at some examples of traditional Scottish fare. Here's a picture of a bottle of Laphroaig, a fine single malt Scotch whiskey, noted for its peaty aroma and flavour, made painstakingly from the finest ingredients to an age old traditional recipe...




...and here are some chips...



...er, that's it. Thanks Scotland!

How to Sabre a Bottle of Bubbly!

Want to impress friends and family this Christmas or on New Years Eve? Watch this:



Yes, yes, I've already posted this before, but it's so cool - huzzah!

Limoncello - Conclusion

It's been four weeks since I started the limoncello. The liquid smells very lemony and the smell of the alcohol made my nose wrinkle. The peel should be completely colourless, so it's now time to separate it from the alcohol. Once done, we'll be adding the sugar syrup.

Firstly, find a container large enough to hold the alcohol, as well as the sugar syrup you'll be adding later - it needs to be about a litre or so in size. Moisten a paper coffee filter with water (to stop it from absorbing the lemon oils and alcohol) and place inside a funnel. Pop the funnel in your container and then gradually add your alcohol - allow this to drip through and hopefully you'll have a nice, clean liquid. When you finally get to the peel, squeeze the filter (gently) to get as much of that lemon oil out as you can.


Make your sugar syrup by combining a cup of sugar and a cup of water in a pot. Bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes; remove from the heat and allow to cool. As you add the syrup to the alcohol, give it a stir and sample it - add more or less syrup according to taste. Finally, pour into your bottle, seal and then place in a cool, dark spot to infuse.

It's drinkable after a week or so but clearly the longer you leave it, the better it will taste. Enjoy!

Whoops - for those who didn't already know, chill it before drinking. It's also a sipper, not a quaffer...

Beer Can Chicken (with a Lime & Paprika Rub)

Hello! Just a quickie post today - I made beer can chicken on the barbecue for dinner and thought I may as well grab the camera and show you how it went. It's super easy to do (this is the first time I've ever made it), with the most splendidly juicy outcome!
All you need is an uncooked chicken, a can of beer and an oven or barbecue to cook it in/on. I also made a rub for the chicken:

• 2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• zest of 2 limes
• juice of 2 limes
• salt

Roughly grind the seeds with a mortar and pestle. Add garlic and zest; grind until you have a rough paste. Add juice, paprika and a smattering of salt, mix well and apply to the chicken. I used this particular rub because I thought it would go well with my choice of beer, Monteith's Radler, a zesty lemon and lime flavoured lager. Seeing as it only comes in bottles, I poured it into another can I happened to have handy.

On to the chicken: remove the giblets, rinse the chicken inside and out and dry with a paper towel. Apply some of the rub to the interior and the remainder on the outside - use your hands, rub vigorously. Now, you'll only need half a can of beer for cooking purposes, so discard the portion you won't need down the nearest throat. Once that's done, punch another two holes in the top of the can.

Now for the tricky part: holding the chicken upright, lower it onto the beer can so the can fits into the cavity (see photo above). The chicken's legs should be leaning forward with the brunt of its weight supported by the can.

This is best cooked on a barbecue with a hood; failing that, your oven will work just as well. If you're using gas, turn the heat on full while you're prepping, and turn down to medium or medium/low when placing the chicken on to cook. Place the chicken on a dish (this will collect the juices, otherwise they'll run off and onto the flame causing flareups). Pop it on the heated barbecue plate, away from direct heat and leave to cook with the hood down for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. Test the meat with a thermometer poked in the thickest part of the chicken - it needs to be 85 degrees celsius to be cooked. You can also jab it with a fork - if the juices run clear, it's ready.

Once done, grab some oven gloves and remove from the heat. Using tongs, carefully remove the can from the chicken - bear in mind everything will be very hot and the can will still have some (hot) beer in it. Once done, leave the chicken to rest for ten minutes before carving.

There are German businessmen who'd pay good money to have this done to them...

And there we have it! A wonderfully crisp, juicy and aromatic chicken. It really was quite simple to do and was very tasty - give it a whirl!

There are concerns about subjecting aluminium cans to heat due to possible toxicity arising from the can's plastic lining, metals and paints. According to this article, the risks are negligible, due to the relatively low heat involved in the cooking process, compared to that of its manufacture clickety.

The following link discusses beers worth experimenting with when making beer can chicken - the article is American, but their core advice is sound clickety.

From the Kai Lab: Limoncello & Lemonade

Limoncello is an Italian lemon liquer made from lemon zest, alcohol, water and sugar. It's a lovely bright yellow colour with a sweet lemony flavour, but lacks that tart, sour tang since it contains no lemon juice. It's typically served chilled as a soothing after-dinner drink to aid digestion. Nora had made some and it piqued my interest, so after sifting through some recipes, I thought I'd give it a whirl - read on...
Limoncello

• 750 ml bottle of vodka, 50% alcohol (100 proof) or as close to it as possible
• Lemons (I used Yen Ben lemons - they have a good oily skin and the folk at Lemon Z use them!)
• 1 Lime
• Zester (or a microplane, you lucky swine) or a paring knife
• Jar with screw-top lid (make sure it's airtight)

Grate/zest your lime and lemons, then place in the jar. If you don't have a zester, a paring knife is fine; just keep clear of the pith as you're peeling.


Pour all your vodka into the jar with the zest and then replace the jar lid. The alcohol will leach the flavour and colour from the zest over the next few weeks. Unfortunately, because I'm using a (relatively) low alcohol vodka, it will take a little longer to do its job - ordinarily, it's a couple of weeks.

Just as an aside, I had a hell of a time finding vodka with 50% alcohol, with most hovering between 38 to 40%. Smirnoff triple distilled was the highest i could find, sitting at 43% - if anyone knows why this is the case in NZ, leave a message in the comments below.


By the way, if you don't have a jar you could use stainless steel or even a plastic container - it just has to be air-tight. If things go well, the liquid in a few weeks time will be a bright yellow colour with a distinct lemon smell, with the zest being drained of colour.
And that's it for now! I'll be posting regular updates on its progress - the next step in the process will be filtering the liquor and the addition of a sugar syrup, finishing with a settling period.

Quick explanation of "proof" versus "alcohol level": basically, the proof figure you see on a bottle label is the alcohol percentage figure multiplied by two, so 100 proof vodka has a 50% alcohol volume, gin with 42% alcohol is 84 proof, and so on.
Addendum: apparently, I could have used grappa (cheers, Denise), or indeed a whole host of clear, high alcohol spirits and not just vodka. They would however, add a slight twist to the resulting flavour of the limoncello.
Finally, what to do with the left-over, denuded lemons?
Homemade Lemonade

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon finely shredded lemon zest
• 1 1/4 cup lemon juice

In a pot, heat and stir water and sugar over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove and cool for about 20 minutes.

Add lemon zest and lemon juice to the sugar syrup. Pour into a covered jar and chill. For a glass of lemonade, stir together 1/2 a cup of the lemonade base and 1/2 cup of cold water. Add ice cubes and serve (for fizzy lemonade, clicky). I'm not sure how long the base will keep for in the fridge, but the batch I made barely saw out the week so it probably won't be an issue.

A big thanks to Nora at Life's Smorgasbord for her inspiration (did you know her man has a BBQ called "Stallion" - respect!).
Here's a couple of sites with limoncello recipes: here and this two-parter, one and two.

Ginger Beer: Taste Test

Whoa there, ginger!

A wee while ago, I made my first ever batch of ginger beer. Having spent the last two weeks maturing, it was now time to unearth it and subject it to the taste test.

The bottle was popped into the fridge the night before, so it was well and truly chilled. There was sediment at the bottom, so the bottle was tipped upside down to distribute it evenly through the liquid. Popping the cap, there was the strong smell of yeast. Lots of fizz too, so the cap's sealed well.


The colour looked just like a commercial brew; a good, earthy downbeat yellow colour. Still plenty of fizz after five minutes. Some floaties - just tiny pieces of ginger (I'm hoping).


And how did it taste? Fizzy. Not very sweet - in fact, rather dry and crisp. The ginger flavour was slight but it was very warming and spicy. It was a little disappointing, a six out of ten.


I have my second batch due for bottling this weekend. I've tinkered with the recipe somewhat, in an attempt to improve upon this batch; I've doubled the daily dosage ginger from one to two teaspoons to try to enhance the ginger flavour. I'm also considering increasing the sugar content that goes into the beer solution, as well as adding honey (I'm still working out how much of that to add - I'm doing this purely to add a little depth to the beer's flavour). It's been a fun little experiment and one I look forward to carrying on with. I'll add to this post when batch v1.1 is due for sampling - fingers crossed!