Drinking The World

I like using ginger syrup in cocktails and sauces when cooking. Here's how I make mine.

Buy ten pounds of the freshest, youngest, firmest ginger that you can find in an Asian produce shop. In NYC's Flushing Chinatown I can get the best ginger for $0.99 a pound.

Cut the ginger into 1" chunks and run through a juicing machine. I use the Breville "Juice Fountain." You will end up with apx. a gallon/4 liters of fresh ginger juice.

Make a simple syrup with the juice by adding equal parts of sugar. In this case a gallon is 16 cups, so in a large pot mix the juice and 16 cups of cane sugar. This is apx. 7.25 lbs. or 3.3 kilos.

Stir gently and bring to a boil and immediately turn off heat. Carefully ladle hot syrup into sterilized canning jars to a half inch from the top. Put on the lids finger tight. Process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes. The syrup will keep for at least a year or two in the sealed jars. Once open store in the fridge where it will keep for several months. This will make around 5.5 quarts of ginger syrup.

With the temperature in the 90's I've been looking forward to cooler style cocktails in the evenings. Here's one I whipped up that reminds me of drinks I had in Cambodia. Kampuchea is another name for that country so I dub this the Kampuchea Cooler.

Kampuchea Cooler

2 oz Pusser's Rum
1 oz fresh Lemon juice
1 oz Ginger Syrup (Click here for recipe)
1 oz Bitter Lemon/Lime syrup (click here for recipe)
1.5 oz ripe, fresh Mango (I use the jarred Del Monte "SunFresh" Mango I get in the refrigerated section of the produce aisle)
3 dashes Angostura bitters

Muddle mango well. Add other ingredients and shake very well on ice. Strain into an ice filled Collins glass or other 12 oz glass. Top with 4-6 oz seltzer water and stir gently. Garnish with a slice of mango or lemon wheel.

On a really hot day like today you need something to cool you off that's refreshing and with a bit of spice. So in honor of a hot and steamy city in Vietnam, where the temperature and humidity can both hit 99, here's the Ca Mau Cooler.

Ca Mau Cooler

2 oz gin
1.25 oz ginger syrup (1 part ginger juice to 1 part sugar)
1 very small, seedless, slice of jalapeno pepper (This can be omitted if you don't want the added spice. But I feel that if you are going to sweat, it might as well be worth it.)
1/2 handful of cilantro
.75 oz lime juice

Muddle well. Shake very well and double strain into a 12 oz glass, add 4-6 oz seltzer, stir gently, and top with ice. Garnish with a lime wheel.
Drink. Repeat as needed.

I always liked Gin and Schweppes Bitter Lemon on hot days growing up. The tart and slightly bitter mixer really kept you cool and refreshed. Here is a recipe I came up with for my own version. It's very similar, but even more refreshing.

1 liter H2O
Juice and zest of three limes
Juice and zest of two lemons
1/2 lime rind
1/2 lemon rind
8 gm fresh ginger root
4 gm crushed (not powdered) Cinchona bark
20 gm citric acid
1 gm salt
400 gm sugar (apx 2 cups)

Bring all ingredients except sugar to a boil and simmer 30 minutes. Carefully filter through a coffeee filter while hot. Should give apx 1/2 liter liquid. Put in jar and add sugar. Shake until dissolved. use syrup with seltzer water to taste. Add gin.

This is the simplest recipe, and without the extra spice it is very similar to commercial tonic, but with more oomph and unique flavor. I like this one best when you want the character of the gin to shine through.

32 oz H2O
8 whole, crushed, Key Limes weighing 145 grams, 5 oz (You can use the juice and zest of of two regular limes, but don't include the whole lime like you would with the Key Limes.)
1/4 cup / 50 grams Citric Acid (sometimes called Sour salt)
1/2 tsp / 4 grams kosher Salt
1/4 cup / 22 grams chopped Cinchona Bark (Quinine bark)

2 cups cane sugar

I put all the ingredients except the sugar in a sauce pan and brought it to boil, then simmered 40 minutes. I filtered the liquid hot through double coffee filters. This made apx 16 oz liquid. I then added cane sugar to the hot liquid in jar, which topped off to just under 32 oz. I shook it to melt the sugar.

Use at the same strength as the previous recipes, or to taste.

SingleMalt.tv stopped by last week to shoot some video. Here is Part Six of a Six Part Series.

SingleMalt.tv stopped by last week to shoot some video. Here is Part Five of a Six Part Series.

SingleMalt.tv stopped by last week to shoot some video. Here is Part Four of a Six Part Series.

SingleMalt.tv stopped by last week to shoot some video. Here is Part Three of a Six Part Series.

SingleMalt.tv stopped by last week to shoot some video. Here is Part Two of a Six Part Series.