I neglected to post my account of cocktailing in Portland in June, and figure I should explain why I am always so excited to go back and/or move there. The cocktail scene is vibrant and thriving, and my favorite detail is that bars are required to serve food (a minimum of 6 hot dishes) by …
Category Archives: Food
PDX Cocktail Week: Spirits Dinner
The launch event for Portland Cocktail Week was an amazing 4-course dinner at Spints Ale House last night with 5 paired cocktails (my math may not be so good). We started with an exceptional aperitif (galliano, cocchi americano and sanbitter with a twist of lemon) that took me out of my head and into the …
Homemade Hot Sauce
House-made hot sauce is a great thing to have on hand for seasoning food and cocktails, and it couldn’t be easier to make. The spicy vinegar byproduct of the process is worth preserving for other uses, which I will get into tomorrow. Homemade Hot Sauce spicy peppers kosher salt white vinegar This recipe has no …
Perfect Cocktail Snack: Maple Glazed Nuts
These are obscenely easy to make. 1/4 cup Vermont maple syrup (grade B if you can get it) 2 tablespoons of olive oil 2 tablespoons of herbes de Provence 1/2 teaspoon sriracha salt and pepper to taste 6 cups nuts (I used cashews and pecans) — Mix together first five ingredients, pour over nuts and …
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Bourbon Coke Float
It’s getting hot out there (but not here; SF always gets colder during summer). The Bourbon Coke Float is a great way to cool off and forget about the heat. Mexican coke is preferred because of its real cane sugar and a lighter, spicier bourbon like Elmer T. Lee or Blanton’s with orange bitters adds …
Bacon Cocktails
Saturday was BaconCamp in San Francisco, and in addition to being on the judging panel, I gave a brief presentation on proper use of bacon in cocktails. The trick is to use every part of a pound of bacon. 1. Bacon Swizzle Stick: nobody wants a limp, soggy strip of bacon dangling over the edge …
Bourbon Cream Puffs
I don’t bake, but I had some down time last week, and nothing to amuse me but the contents of my pantry… and bar. It may sound fancy, but profiteroles are easy to make pastry shells. It’s just milk, butter, flour and salt, cooked briefly, mixed with eggs and sugar and baked. A monkey could …
Campari Frozen Yogurt
Continuing with my Vice Cream endeavor, I made a homemade fro-yo in the tangy Pinkberry-style, flavored with Campari, the bitter Italian apéritif, and fresh squeezed blood orange juice to get great color, and a flavor that starts off sweet and ends on a clean, lightly bitter note. Campari Frozen Yogurt 1 24-ounce tub of Greek …
Magical Mixer: Gastrique
The gastrique is a traditional French sauce, and a superbly simple way to incorporate acidity along with sweetness and even herbal flavors into a cocktail all at once. It’s made by reducing sugar and fruit with vinegar to form a syrup, essentially sweet and sour sauce (and now I’m pondering making a cocktail with sweet …
The Cookbook Approach To Cocktail Design
Culinary cocktails, homemade mixers and fresh, local ingredients have been trendy in the bar industry for the past few years, and there is no reason you can’t take the same tack at home after work or hosting a party for friends. I most often resort to the “cookbook approach” when creating new cocktails. When I …