Cocktailians

High-Tech Cocktails with Dave Arnold and Nils Norén

There are perks to writing a cocktail blog. Not only do I occasionally get free bottles of booze sent to me (I have a big backlog of ingredients to write about), but there's also the odd party invitation now and then. One of the best, though, is getting to hang out with people like Dave Arnold and Nils Norén of the French Culinary Institute. (Remember Dave? He invented the Red Hot Poker.)

Besides teaching culinary technology and other things at the FCI, Arnold and Norén have a great blog about "tech 'n' stuff"; the "tech" part includes things like an exhaustive-but-fascinating primer on how to use a rotary evaporator to distill flavors, and the "stuff" part has all kinds of cool things, like The Skoal! Project, inspired by a badass 1967 photo of Max von Sydow shooting akvavit.

The upshot for the cocktailian reader? On June 12, Arnold and Norén are teaching a demonstration class on high-tech cocktails, and they were nice enough to give me a sneak preview. It began in typical mad-scientist freewheeling style, as Arnold told me that "everyone should have a carbonation rig." (I'd been looking at the Sodastream as an option, but Arnold waved that away and showed me his big CO₂ tank he'd gotten from a welding-supply house.) First, Arnold and Norén -- wait a sec. You know, "Arnold and Norén" is good journalistic style, but this was a fun, goofy hour spent with a bunch of totally down-to-earth technical wizards. I'm gonna call 'em "Dave and Nils" instead. And that way I don't have to copy-and-paste that little accent over the E.

First Dave and Nils carbonated some water for me. Dave said "I don't drink flat water -- it's like bad seltzer." Fine, you say -- what's so impressive about fizzy water? Well, it was certainly fun to see made...the bottle is chilled and crushed (so there's minimal air inside), then attached to the CO₂ line and the bottle inflates with a loud pop. Shake it a few times, and there's your seltzer. Dave then showed me water carbonated with nitrous oxide instead of CO₂, which was interesting; the bubbles were smaller and less prickly-aggressive on the tongue, and the resulting seltzer was noticeably sweeter. Then, Dave and Nils carbonated some more water, mixing the gases (at about 75% CO₂/25% N₂O), giving me the FCI house blend of seltzer, which was very refreshing. This sold me: I'm totally gonna get me a carbonation setup...but Sangamon's Principle aside, I'll probably stick to the CO₂.

Dave told me that he and Nils were interested in teaching the class June 12 because "it's a good way for us to show the stuff we're working on. We can't really do these things at the restaurant, so it's a good outlet for us." He then divided the techniques he and Nils would demonstrate into "reasonable", semi-reasonable" and "unreasonable" for the home cook, and said they'd show all three.

Dave, on using liquid nitrogen:

He uses it to chill glassware -- who has time to mess around with ice and water? You've got drinks to make!

Dave and Nils like to use pieces of pickled watermelon rind for garnishing cocktails...but they don't always have enough time to pickle them. So what do they do? They shave pieces of watermelon rind and "flash-pickle" them in a vacuum with lime juice and simple syrup -- the air is sucked out, and then when the vacuum seal is broken, the air forces the lime and simple into the watemelon rind, impregnating it with sweet-and-sour deliciousness.

You can do this with a vacuum pump, but the "semi-reasonable" solution for the home mixologist involves a large syringe, which can pull a vacuum enough to pickle the rind:

Dave and Nils also made me a refreshing "Gin & Juice" -- gin with clarified grapefruit juice (they add 1/2 % gelatin to grapefruit juice, freeze everything, then thaw it while straining through cheesecloth), then carbonate the whole thing. ("Gin loves bubbles", Dave told me. They also make their own tonic water with the carbonation rig.) The clarified grapefruit juice was interesting, with a very deep flavor but no pulp or traces of bitter pith.

I also sampled a solid Martini -- gin and vermouth mixed with liquid nitrogen to cool it, plus a dash of simple syrup and a pinch of salt. Pour the whole thing over a cucumber slice, then flash-pickle it in the vacuum pump, and you have a Martini-infused cucumber!

Nils then made me a "Swedish Chef", another intense, oddly refreshing drink with an unusual flavor combination. What, you want the recipe? Here you go: caraway-infused vodka (which smells exactly like good rye bread, confusing my nose), clarified apple juice (if it's not sour enough, they just add a dash of malic acid), a splash of St. Germain, a splash of Dolin dry vermouth, and a splash of cucumber juice. Garnish the whole thing with a slice of cucumber that's been flash-pickled with Plymouth Navy Strength gin.

Places for the high-tech cocktails demonstration class and tasting on June 12 are still available -- I know I'd buy tickets just to see these guys grilling hot dogs.

MxMo Submission: The Astoria

This month's Mixology Monday theme is "Amaro", chosen by none other than co-author Chuck Taggart over at Looka. What an interesting topic; there are tons of amari, all different and many of them quite mixable. They range from light herbal vermouth-esque liqueurs to real monsters of bitterness, like Campari, Fernet Branca (the legendarily bitter drink that'd be a punchline more than a tipple if it weren't so complex and beneficial), and Malört.

I picked one somewhere in the middle -- Amaro Ramazzotti. (I also picked it because it's an ingredient in "Amer Boudreau", Jamie Boudreau's replication of the incredibly-hard-to-find Amer Picon. So if I make some of that, then I can have Picon Punches and Bywaters. I need to get on this, I think.) It reminds me of a good sweet vermouth, like a Vya or Punt E Mes, or Carpano Antica Formula, and that make sense -- it's Italian-made, intensely herbal, with a sweet note on top of all the bitter funkiness underneath.

My first thought was to try something with rye and Cherry Heering, as kind of a Manhattan variation. I was also thinking of chocolate-covered cherries, and kirsch-filled chocolate bars, and decided that it might be really interesting with the Bittermens Xocolatl Mole Bitters (which are unique and excellent) but then Chuck posted the wonderful-looking Eagle Rock cocktail, featuring rye, sweet vermouth, amaro, Cherry Heering, and mole bitters. Foiled! It was time to regroup.

Casting an eye over the rack of bitters in my kitchen, I pulled out a few candidates, and after a few false starts and mishaps (like when the orifice restrictor in the bottle of lemon bitters came off with the cap, and I unknowingly poured about two ounces of bitters in my mixing glass -- gawp!), I came up with something I liked. I kept going back and forth about which bitters to use: was it better with lemon and rhubarb? Or with lemon and cherry? Cherry and rhubarb? Well, why not all three? (I'm sure the Fee Brothers would approve.)

And, if Chuck could name a cocktail after his neighborhood, then I can name one after mine. It's pan-ethnic, and a little bit spicy, much like my Queens nabe. (Yes, I know there's an Astoria cocktail in the Savoy Cocktail Book, but it's essentially a dry Martini. Good, yes, but not evocative of the place. Perhaps that Astoria cocktail is named after the Waldorf=Astoria hotel, and not so much my corner of northwestern Queens.)

The Astoria

• 1 oz. rye whiskey (I used the Rittenhouse 100; if you're using the baby Saz or another 80-proof, you may want to up the amount a little)
• 1 oz. Amaro Ramazzotti
• 1/2 oz. Lillet Blanc
• 2 dashes lemon bitters
• 2 dashes rhubarb bitters
• 1 dash cherry bitters

Stir with ice for at least 60 seconds until very cold. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and garnish with a flamed lemon peel.

World Cocktail Day

Today is World Cocktail Day, and I hope you can get out and celebrate. Here's a list of venues in NYC, and here are other venues worldwide.