Juicin'

[by Mike]

Some time ago, John sent me a site featuring some interesting tequila cocktails.  Intrigued by the concept of muddling a jalapeño, I immediately put together a Don Julio Caesar and was not disappointed.  With the seeds removed and the lime juice hiding any lingering capsaicin, the fruit flavors of the chile shined through and resonated with the tequila.

Those flavors floated around in my head until the thorough discussion of cucumber juice during our last outing to Rendezvous.  Wouldn't a well executed jalapeño juice offer all of the flavors extracted from muddling only more powerful?  After some research, I found a reasonable priced juicer online and went to work.  

I prepped about 20 chiles, using a sculpting tool to make quick work of ribs (capsaicin-rich liquid is produced in glands near the stem of the chile, and as the fruit grows it slowly flows down the interior flesh, coating the ribs and seeds with heat).  A few seconds through the whirling blades of death, the jalapeños (and a bunch of cilantro) were pulverized and I had a fresh batch of juice.  A batch of cucumber-mint juice stands in the background (two English cucumbers, including seeds and skin, with a bunch of mint).

The juices really didn't come into their own until they had been passed through cheesecloth to remove residual, gelatinous flesh (as well as much of the plant proteins that produce the head of foam after a quick shake).  By itself the jalapeño juice is too spicy to be sippable, but once the heat has been shadowed by a little bit of syrup and lime juice the fruity flavors dominate.  The cucumber juice is addictingly refreshing, and right on time for summer.

Of course, what would any of this be worth without cocktails?

The Ultraviolet Catastrophe

1.5 oz reposado tequila

0.5 oz jalapeño juice

0.5 oz lime juice

0.5 oz creme de violette

0.25 oz agave nectar

1 scant dash Angostura bitters

The addition of the bitters really rounds out the flavors, but at the expense of turning the drink an atrocious drab green.  Are there clear aromatic bitters out there?

Baron Thierry

1.5 oz reposado tequila

0.75 oz cucumber juice

0.5 oz elderflower liquor

0.25 oz lime juice

0.25 oz agave nectar

1 dash celery bitters

The name?  Taking inspiration from Misty, I went with historical: Baron Thierry was an Austrian hired by Maximillian to encourage British support of the French occupation of Mexico (I could only find one decent reference, page 195).  Not bad for a physicist, eh?

snoop dogg and my drinking patterns

[by john]

just visited scott holliday down at rendezvous and got him to rant about certain rap stars dropping names and upping prices (as they are wont to do, but with usually riffraff like designer vodka and cristal, not cognac!). i also enjoyed some egg on easter with his cynar flip.

[by Mike]

While John was talking hip hop, my intentions were set on taking advantage of Scott Holliday's experience to garner ideas for the bottle of Creme de Violette I was given yesterday. To this end I started off with something of a Violet Fizz (gin, lemon juice, Creme de Violette, orange flower water, egg white, and soda). The addition of the few drops of orange flower water was brilliant, complimenting the floral notes of the Creme de Violette while at the same time keeping it from overpowering the drink.

The fun really didn't begin until the second round. Inspired by the Cucumber and Mint (Hendrick's gin, mint, cucumber juice, lemon juice, and lime juice) my friend had ordered, I proposed a combination of the vibrant cucumber juice and my favorite spirit, tequila. After some back and forth, we settled on the Cucumber and Mint with Herradura replacing the Hendrick's and I could not have been more pleased.

When it comes to cocktails, my favorite flavor pairing is easily tequila and fruit. While it can be easily abused, the combination can be magical when the taste of the fruit resonates with the grassy, floral notes of a good tequila. Prominent examples include the Mexican Firing Squad (tequila, a good savory homemade grenadine, syrup, lime juice, Peychaud's bitters, and angostura bitters) and a simple strawberry margarita (tequila, in season strawberries muddled with just a little bit of sugar, lime juice, and triple sec).

Sadly, the cucumber was so fragrant that it was all too easy to fall into the illusion of summer which made the cold, windy walk home all the more painful.