Martinez

This is the original old school grandfather of the dry martini that we know today. It is anything but dry. When vermouth came on the scene in America in the late 1800's, it was often predominant in mixed drinks not merely a modifier of a stronger liquor. There are recipes for manhattans which have similar flipped (to our modern sensibilities) ratios, as well as other less popular heavy vermouth based drinks. Although I dont care much for ridiculously dry martinis, this other extreme doesn't suit me either. It starts to be interesting at a 2:1 ratio of gin to vermouth for me. Here goes the classic from Jerry Thomas:

Martinez

2oz sweet vermouth
1oz old tom gin
1tsp maraschino liquer
dash bokers bitters
garnish: lemon peel

Stir with ice in a mixing glass. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with a lemon peel. Bokers is an old brand of bitters that has recently been recreated by Dr Adam Elmegirab's. I used Angostura. Old tom gin is a slightly sweetened pre prohibition style of gin which is gaining some popularity. Several brands are available. Maraschino liquer is not the gross red liquid from around neon red corn syrupy cherries but rather a delicious cherry, cherry pit and almond based liquer from Italy made by Luxardo. It is called for in small amounts in lots of classic cocktails. In the few decades leading up to prohibition it was commonly dashed into drinks along with absinthe and together they play quite nicely. Coupes are way classier than pointy martini glasses...

Pad Thai

Pad Thai has been a go to dish of mine for years. I didnt really use a recipe though. I just made a peanut sauce and sauteed some vegetables and fried some tofu and tossed it all together. This time around i took it a little more serious although I still think a recipe should only be a framework as personal taste greatly shapes this dish.

Upon doing some research i realized that the peanut heavy sauce I was doing before wasn't really traditionally accurate. I think some American Thai restaurants serve things similar to what I was making but the peanuts are mostly a garnish in traditional recipes. The sauce itself is more like a teriyaki sauce containing lots of soy sauce, souring agent and sweetener. Noodles came to Thailand in the 1600's, around the same time as chilies incidentally, and pad thai started as a very Chinese dish and slowly adapted to the thai palate and ingredients. One major change was the use of tamarind and lime to add sourness rather than vinegar and fish sauce substituting some of the soy sauce. I have used all three sour jawns and also still used a small amount of peanut butter in addition to a peanut garnish and I don't eat fish.

This dish is very heavy on garnishes, with the majority of the ingredients being added after the dish is cooked. It does take a while to prepare but you can make a huge amount in a wok without too much trouble and leftovers reheat reasonably well as long as the noodles aren't overcooked the first time. I have made it twice with slightly different vegetables and encourage you to use whatever you have on hand but know that some amount of cooked and raw items gives a refreshing flavor and variety of textures. I would say peanuts and scallions are pretty crucial garnishes. I don't like bean sprouts but they are always used; I did once and can take it or leave it.

You could make the sauce ahead of time and it would come together quicker. You could also use a food processor instead of a molcajete but I wouldnt recommend it if using piloncillo (jaggery). You could certainly used a fine grained sugar and zap it all in the food processor pretty easily though the taste wont be quite the same and you wont get a hand and forearm workout while making dinner. There is some planning that is essential in creating this dish. The noodles need to be soaked before you stir fry them, but only for a half hour. If they sit much longer the texture will be ruined when you cook them. I start chopping and making sauce before soaking the noodles. You have to guess when you have a half hour of work left and then soak them.

Pad Thai
{vegan and gluten free}

12 oz rice sticks (soaked 30 mins)

1lb extra firm tofu, sliced into 1/8ths and deep fried


Sauce

1/4C piloncillo (cane sugar block- and can be up to half a cup)
1/4C tamarind flesh
1/4C peanuts
2Tbl natural peanut butter
1-10 dry chilis ( i do only 2 bird's eyes and then serve with hot sauce for those that want it)

1/2C soy sauce
1/4C rice vinegar
1/4C water

Garnishes

2 handfuls bean sprouts
1 carrot, grated on box grater
1 sliced bell pepper, thin strips
handful chopped cilantro
4 sliced scallions
2 handfuls chopped peanuts
lime wedges for serving
soy sauce for serving
hot sauce for serving

Also

3Tbls oil
4 cloves garlic
2 shallots
green vegetable, chopped (broccoli, green bean, asparagus)

 To make the sauce:

First, in a molcajete or huge mortar and pestle smash up the sugar a bit because its really hard and annoying to incorporate with other ingredients.Once its in small crumbles, add peanuts and tamarind. I used the shrink wrapped "seedless" tamarind block (make sure to dig out the seeds though) but I've also used jarred Indian tamarind paste which is runnier. Adjust water to taste depending which you use.  Smash it up real good. Add peanut butter and stir hard against the bowl to start incorporating it and continuing to break down other ingredients. In a small measuring cup combine soy, vinegar and water and stir. Slowly add this liquid to the bowl while stirring against the sides of the bowl.

To soak the noodles:


Get a huge metal bowl and put in dry noodles. (This will work best in the sink so you can be sloppy) Add really hot tap water and stir to make sure noodles aren't sticking together. If they sit for a half hr with no stirring you will get thick annoying clumps of noodles that don't cook right. I stir occasionally and then as the water cools run my fingers through them while lifting out of the bowl to ensure they are all individual strands

To fry the tofu:

Squeeze out as much water as possible. Extra firm holds up best to all the squeezing. The best way is to squeeze gently by hand over the sink then wrap in a few layers of paper towel or cloth napkins and place it between two cutting boards with a weight on top, like a book or skillet. Heavy but not so heavy it is crushed. Weight for 10 mins or so. Pat dry with towels. Slice block into 1/8ths. This makes it easier to flip than if it is cut into little pieces immediately. Either deep fry or shallow fry in a pan. 5 mins or more per side in a pan. Don't flip until it gets a brown crust. Remove from oil and drain on old paper bags that you have way too many of because you always forget to bring reusable bags when you go grocery shopping. Slice each piece into 4 pieces. 





To prepare the dish:

Blanch the green beans and then chop. (Boil for just a minute and then throw in a bowl of ice water so they don't overcook) Add a few tablespoons of oil to a wok and heat to medium. Add garlic and shallots when hot. Drain noodles and add to wok before garlic browns. Stir real good because thats a lot of noodles for a wok and they still have water clinging probably and they all need to get coated in oil and you don't want the garlic stuck to the bottom of the pan burning. Add green beans and tofu and stir more. Add sauce and stir more. Hopefully that's enough sauce that everything is coated really well. If not, add more water, soy sauce and/or peanut butter to thin, season or thicken as necessary. The noodles need some moisture to cook properly but its a stir fry not a soup.Test noodles for texture and sauce for flavor continuing cooking a few minutes if necessary. Add garnishes to the wok or serve table side so everyone can garnish according to their preferences and you look fancy. Even if you add all the vegetable garnishes to the wok, you should still serve soy sauce, hot sauce and a lime wedge for each plate so each person can tweak it as they like. Fresh lime juice on top is really nice even though its pretty sour already made with this amount of sugar.

Ginger Kumquat Caipirinha

This months Mixology Monday isn't hot drinks for some reason. I keep waiting for warm cocktails to be a theme but all my toddy practice is just for me. Apparently, not everyone is drinking hot cocktails because their city is ridiculously cold and getting tons of snow. Luckily it only takes one warm cocktail to get comfortable inside and then you can make drinks with ice again. So the theme this month is sours. It's being hosted by ginhound and you can check out all the entries here. A broad, classic category, better suited for warmer weather imo, but a fine collection of cocktails nonetheless. Now, how can we mix things up a bit? Kumquats are sour.


I love weird produce. Kumquats are silly. They have a foolish name, a ridiculous strong flavor that is a combination of most flavors and so tiny for a citrus! They are made backwards also. The skin is sweet and the inside is sour and somewhere its bitter too, I suppose the pith, like normal. At the grocery store I enjoy making people try them for the first time. It's like making a baby eat a lemon. Hilarious!

So I bought some while they're in season and local produce is nearly non existent anyway. Problem is, I never really want to eat more than one. So that tiny pint takes forever to finish. So I thought I should try making some drinks out of them. My search was lazy and all the drinks seemed dumb that I came upon. I just searched for kumquat cocktail though. I considered making a kumquat simple syrup because a sweet/sour/bitter syrup seemed like something my fridge was missing and then they wouldn't all go bad at least.

forgot the lime for the pic

Then when I was about to make the syrup, I realized that the lazy version of that syrup was to just muddle them with sugar and make a caipirinha. I could call it a kumquaipirinha and be ridiculous with portmanteaus as I love to do. I can't call it that of course because no one ever searches the internet for kumquaipirinha and my slow building knowledge of search engine optimization suggest I should label things with titles that people will look for or no one will ever find my blog. Anyways, I thought I was so clever, how was I the first to think of this? I wasn't, obviously. There's plenty of recipes that seem better than my first attempt; so now Im going to have to try to tweak my recipe even though I liked it.

super juicy after muddling

Oh yeah- Cachaca is a Brazilian sugar cane syrup liquor that is barrel aged. Its a little funky, especially for being a sort of light colored rum. Although I am somewhat ignorant, I think Cachaca is closer to Batavia Arrack than rum. Rum is usually made from molasses not cane syrup. Even the clear jawns are usually molasses based and then distilled until they are clear. The only cachaca I ever see in Philly is Pitu. I bought one in California called Ypioca and its good. Also, funky rum is delicious and you should open up to it. (Thanks Smith & Cross!)

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Ginger Kumquat Caipirinha
2 1/2 oz cachaca
1/2 canton ginger liquer
2 tsp sugar
4 kumquats
1/4 lime

Muddle kumquat, lime and sugar in a mixing glass. Add canton and cachaca and ice. Shake vehemently for a bit. Strain into an old fashioned glass with ice. Garnish with a sliced kumquat on the glass or a lime twist or a lime wedge or some candied ginger, as suits your fancy.

Or if your lazy or into sloppy boy cocktails, muddle the whole thing in the glass and add ice. After all, caipirinha translates as country bumpkin/ hillbilly/ redneck; its not supposed to be fancy. For real though, if you own a mixing glass and a strainer it will be greatly improved if your drink isn't all pulpy and gross.

This is super seasonal and a different twist on a sour because its bitter. It is well balanced by sweet and sour but the bitterness adds an interesting complexity to the drink. You should try this all while you can still find kumquats, if you can find kumquats at all. The season is over soon and I think turning them into a drink is one of their best uses. It looks like orange juice but tastes like funky/ sour/ sweet/ bitter/ interesting deliciousness.

Fire Cider

Fire Cider is apple cider vinegar infused with spicy stuff and used as a tonic/ preventative/ cold medicine. I have been taken it every day since December and I haven't gotten sick this year. Perhaps I've just been lucky though. Maybe fire cider makes you more lucky. It's spicy but delicious. It is medicine I look forward to taking. There are various slightly different recipes on the internet but basically you chop up every spicy ingredient you have and let it sit in vinegar for a month, while shaking it up every day.  Here's how I made it, based off of mountain rose herbs recipe:

Fire Cider

1 qt apple cider vinegar (4 C)

1 onion, chopped
1 head of garlic, crushed to remove skins
Lots of ginger, about 1/2 C after microplane                 zested
2 (carrot sized) horseradish, peeled, then grated           on a box grater
{whoops!! that was burdock! i realized when i found the real horseradish. i thought it was just old and weak...}
4 small hot dried red chilis, crushed
1 lemon, zested with citrus zester and juiced with         a reamer and strained
1Tbl turmeric powder
2 Tbl dried rosemary

1/4 C - 1/2 C raw local honey







Put all ingredients except the honey into a half gallon mason jar and cover with raw apple cider vinegar, like Braggs. Eating unpasteurized vinegar is a powerful restorative tonic in its own right. If using a metal lid, cover the jar first with waxed paper so the metal doesn't corrode from shaking up the jar. Let sit for a month. Shake every day. Strain into a clean jar and add 1/4 C or more raw local honey. Fill up dropper bottles. Take a dropperful every morning and every night as a preventative tonic.

I'll report back when I taste it in a month or so. The burdock may have made it quite bitter but we'll see.

Spicy Beer Mustard

I hesitate to write up this post because the recipe feels imperfect and unfinished for my needs. It's from a German restaurant/ beer hall in Philly and is supposed to be used for sausages. I assume you only eat lil dabs of it because its hot as hell. I like spicy mustard but I think I will try to tweak this recipe a bit. Perhaps it is worthwhile to post my starting point and see how it evolves, or how long it takes me to make another batch of mustard. Also, when I was making this I was worried it was disgusting and inedibly bitter. After 2 days in the fridge it mellowed considerably and was delicious. It is still a little too hot and a little too runny for my personal preference though. I want mustard that i can slather on pretzels.

Spicy German Beer Mustard

(barely altered from Jeremy Nolen's recipe on Food & Wine)

1/2 C black mustard seeds
1/2 C yellow mustard seeds
3/4 C malt vinegar

3/4 C cider vinegar11/2 C Victory Storm King Imperial Stout

1/2 C Storm King

5 Tbl honey
1/2 C dark brown sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tsp allspice
3/4 tsp turmeric

1 C dry ground mustard

Put both mustard seeds in a quart mason jar. Cover with a 12oz bottle of beer and all of the vinegar. Leave in the fridge overnight. Next day, combine 1/2 C beer, and all remaining ingredients, except ground mustard, in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add contents to a blender with ground mustard, soaked mustard seeds and all liquid. Cool a bit first or open the lid every few seconds or the heat and blending might pop the lid off of the blender and blind you. Blend well but some specks of mustard seed remaining are desirable. 

This makes a lot! I filled 8 4oz jars and an 8 or 16oz. So give some to your friends or eat lots of sandwiches/pretzels/whatevs. When I first made tasted this, straight from the blender, I was horrified. It was so supremely bitter and gross. I thought my Indian grocery store mustard wasn't right for mustard making and I was doomed. Brian tried it and thought I was doomed. I packed up some big jars, rather than reasonable gift sized jars because at this point I thought I'd be throwing it all out after a day or two if it didn't change drastically in the fridge. It improved tremendously after 12 hours and even more after 24. It thickened up considerably and the bitterness was gone. It was still too hot for most of my family even with additional honey added but I like it in small amounts. It's great with really sharp cheddars.

pretzel recipe in the works...

For the next mustard I make, I will use this as a jumping off point. I think I'll try less liquid and much less mustard powder. The powder really seems to increase the heat. 

Vertigo Cocktail

I've begun exploring amaro's lately. These are a family of Italian digestifs, most of which have been made for at least 150 years or so. Their original purpose was for sipping after dinner to settle the stomach. The mid to late 1800's seems like it was a popular time to create an amaro brand for some reason. They vary by brand but are all blends of different herbs, roots and seeds. Most have some serious bitterness to them and a sweetener to balance it out. Anyway, modern bartenders have been experimenting with them in lots of cocktails. They are often substituted for some or all of the vermouth in a recipe to add a different herbal profile.

This vertigo drink is just a simple highball not a complex mixological creation but it is delicious. I generally love anything with ginger beer and Im always interested in learning there are more variations on a ginger beer highball. All the recipes Ive found on the internet attribute this recipe to Duggan McDonnell, with some recipes calling for floating the averna and others calling for lots of garnish. The averna is heavy and syrup and as such doesn't float well. So even if you float it, it doesn't last very long and I say its unnecessary. Some call for more citrus garnish than others but I think that depends on the ginger beer brand you employ. Reed's extra ginger brew is quite spicy but really sweet and citrusy too. If I used Fentiman's, I could see using a few citrus wheels

Vertigo

1/2 oz lemon juice
3-4 oz ginger beer
2 oz Averna
lime wedge for garnish

Stir in a highball with ice. Add garnish.

The bitterness of the Averna is really well balanced by the citrus and sweet ginger flavors. I think this is a really good drink to serve with some spicy food. It is lower in alcohol than most cocktails so try a few with your next stir fry!

Tiger Woods Cocktail

Since this blog focuses on all my food hobbies, you may not know that I really like video games. I have 11 consoles, hundreds of games and an enormous trash picked tv that a wealthy person owned in the 90's. They are mostly all older but I do have a Wii. The new Wii was just released last year and the new xbox and ps were just released, so now everybody is trying to get rid of all the old jawns fast and for cheap. So I have been stock piling all the interesting Wii games I can find, generally at $10 or less.

There was a time in the early 2000's when my friends and I were all really into Tiger Woods golf for playstation 2. In my opinion videogame golf is far superior to real golf. On the environmental level golf is one of the worst sports for the planet. So much water resources and obscene amounts of chemicals are used to keep those well manicured lawns looking their best, sometimes even in the desert. How absurd! It's also a sport for rich people to impress their friends mostly. The egalitarian, environmental sound way to enjoy this game is through the magic of videogames.

I recently got a new (to me) version of Tiger Woods golf for Wii. It came out years ago but has a billion courses, an insanely detailed create-a-golfer and really accurate swing control with the Wiimote. The game is really fun even though i go to unnecessary lengths to justify it. I always over analyze things. Fake sports make really fun videogames for playing with friends and hanging out. Bowling fits perfectly in this category as well. One person plays at a time. Everyone else sits around with a drink waiting for their turn, feeling the pressure of their rivals amazing shot or learning from their terrible mistake.

Perhaps this is all way too much background for a simple drink but it was created for a reason and tastes especially delicious when drank in this context. Also it's Mixology Monday time again and Joel from Southern Ash said he hoped his simple theme of highballs would bring out some background stories along with some simple barely-even-a-recipe recipes. A highball is a tall icy cocktail consisting of a spirit, a mixer and sometimes a garnish. {Think rum and coke or gin and tonic, or blank and blank, etc.}



Tiger Woods Cocktail

2 oz black tea infused bourbon
3-4 oz San Pelegrino Limonata soda
lemon wedge garnish

Fill a highball with ice. Add bourbon and then soda. Stir gently to combine.

To make some tea flavored bourbon for this drink or old fashioned's or anything else you can do a cold infusion. Add 4 tea bags (I used Irish breakfast because that's what I have for making kombucha) to 2 C of bourbon. Let sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Squeeze out the tea bags and discard.

San Pelegrino is an Italian mineral water company. They also make sodas with real fruit juice and cane sugar. I found tiny little 6.5ish oz bottles which are great for mixing because they don't get flat like huge bottles that sit in the fridge for a week. If you can't find the soda, you could make a similar drink using club soda, simple syrup and lemon juice. That's how I first made it but then I found this soda and it is easier and as good if not better. Try .5 oz each simple syrup and lemon juice with 3 oz club soda to start and adjust to your liking if necessary.

This drink is simple and absolutely delicious. It's like an Arnold Palmer only made out of boozy tea and soda-y lemonade. Perfect on the green or on the couch.