Pumpkin Waltz

The return of the squash-chili syrup. It’s a pretty good ingredient, though I’m thinking I could turn up the heat of the chilies a little. I’ve played more with the savory side of the squash this time with dashes of balsamic vinegar and salt, and a little Laphroaig for smoke. Sorta Sidecar-ish.



Pumpkin Waltz

• 2 oz cognac
• 1/2 oz squash-chili syrup
• 1/2 oz lemon juice
• 3 drops or so balsamic vinegar
• 3 drops or so Laphroaig
• pinch sea salt

Shake with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

MxMo LXXII: Drink Your Vegetables—Mexican Pumpkin Fizz

Greetings, folks. It’s time once again for another Mixology Monday post. The theme for this MxMo is Drink Your Vegetables, and I happen to be the host this month, challenging participants to find or invent a drink using one or more vegetable-based ingredients. (After all this drinking and writing about cocktails, we could use the vitamins.) So it is with particular pleasure that I present a vegetable ingredient for your delectation and wonderment, the squash. This would refer to the hard-skinned types including pumpkin, butternut, acorn and the like, sometimes called winter squash. These are available year-round. I’ve researched the matter to learn that the soft-skinned ones are called summer squash. There’s only so much you can do. (I reckon a zucchini wouldn’t survive a frost but can’t say I’ve seen it one way or the other. San Francisco, while chilly, doesn’t freeze. As people have said before, it’s hard to get a handle on the weather in these parts.)

Regardless of when you can find a winter squash, it is inseparable in the United States from an insanity that prevails from Halloween to Christmas, a dementia numerous in its symptoms, one of the weirdest being the delusion that everything tastes better with the addition of a large, tough, orange vegetable. You walk up to a coffee counter and they want to sell you a pumpkin latte. I always smile sweetly, exclaiming, “I would like a squash in my coffee, please!” The barista tends to look nervous.

I suspect what this bit of marketing is really about, and why it succeeds, is that people like pumpkin pie spices, and will have them in their coffee, beer, yogurt or whatever. A pumpkin pie is a very good thing indeed.

But the flavors of this group of similar orange squashes, while distinctive, are delicate and versatile, and lend themselves to lots of different treatments—not necessarily cinnamon, clove and ginger. The drink recipe below plays with the winter squash in more of a warm-weather way, the vegetal sweetness combining subtly with blanco tequila, chilies and lemon. A salt-cocoa rim brings out more salinity and earthiness. And it’s effervescent and without added ice in the glass, so I’ve declared it a fizz.



Mexican Pumpkin Fizz

First we need some squash-chili syrup.

SQUASH-CHILI SYRUP

• 1 c hard-shelled squash, peeled, diced
• 1 c raw sugar
• 1 c water
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes

Combine and bring to a boil, then simmer, stirring occasionally, until the squash is soft enough to mash. Strain off the liquid and mash the pulp. Recombine and double strain. (I put a fine strainer in the top of a measuring cup, and poured the squash mixture through a coarser sieve that I held over the fine one and the cup, pressing lightly with a spatula.)

And now for that drink.

MEXICAN PUMPKIN FIZZ

• 2 oz blanco tequila
• 1 oz squash-chili syrup
• 3/4 oz lemon juice
• 1 oz soda water
• coarse salt, for rim
• unsweetened cocoa, for rim

Chill a 6-ounce glass. (Delmonico, fizz, juice glass, etc.) In a saucer, combine a little coarse salt and unsweetened cocoa, enough to rim half the glass. Moisten half the rim with a cut lemon and dab the outside carefully in the salt-cocoa mixture. Shake tequila, syrup and lemon with ice cubes. Strain into prepared glass. Top with soda.
ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Light, bright and tingly, with an aroma of chocolate from the half-rim. I was tempted to throw every mole-style spice at the thing but quickly decided that I was not dealing with a dragon but a moon moth. The tequila used will have a considerable impact, whether it’s a pungent, mineral one, or a softer, more caramel one. I could go either way. Any left over syrup could go in savory glazes, and would be amazing on a vanilla dessert.

Big Yellow Curry

A banana was sitting around the kitchen for days trying to talk to me but I couldn’t understand what it was saying. Finally I recognized the accent and away we went.



Big Yellow Curry

• 3 oz gold Jamaica rum
• 3 oz pineapple juice
• 1/2 ripe banana
• 1 tsp simple syrup
• 1/8 tsp yellow curry powder

Blend with a cup of crushed ice about 20 seconds at high speed and serve in a tall glass. Mint garnish.
SOURCE: ROWEN, FOGGED IN LOUNGE

Three Dots and a Dash (...- V)

Spice, amber rum, lime—this is great with Chinese food. Created by Don the Beachcomber during WWII, the name is Morse code for “Victory.”



Three Dots and a Dash (...- V)

• 1/2 oz lime juice
• 1/2 oz orange juice
• 1/2 oz honey mix (1 part honey to 1 part water)
• 1 1/2 oz amber Martinique rum
• 1/2 oz Demerara rum
• Dash Angostura bitters
• 1/4 oz falernum
• 1/4 oz pimento dram
• 6 oz (3/4 cup) crushed ice

Put everything in a blender. Blend at high speed for no more that 5 seconds. Pour into a specialty glass (pictured). Garnish with 3 cocktail cherries speared to a pineapple stick. (The “three dots and a dash.”)

Source: Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, Sippin’ Safari

The Moonstone

A spice-infused cocktail with curry and coconut notes. Some of the measures for an individual serving are pretty small, so you might find it easier to do a batch for a crowd. But then it’s something you’d want to do for guests anyway. You’ll need time to infuse the gin, so you might start that before your friends show up.

The Moonstone

• 1 1/2 oz curried gin (see below)
  
• 1/2 oz Malibu coconut rum
• 1/4 oz lime juice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon syrup

To make curried gin, use:

• 2 pinches garam masala
• 1 pinch yellow curry powder
• 1 pinch ground coriander

For each

• 1 1/2 or 2 oz London dry gin (I use Tanqueray)

Measure the spices into a small mixing bowl. Combine spices with gin in a mixing glass, and infuse 5 minutes. Strain the gin through a fine strainer. (A paper coffee filter will do it, though it takes several minutes.)

To assemble the cocktail:

Combine rum, lime and syrup in a shaker with infused gin. Add ice, stir and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a small wedge of lime or a lime twist.

Rowen, Fogged In Lounge

Aquavit Bloody Mary

I like a very fresh, bright Bloody Mary, and this is my favorite version. Aquavit adds a subtle complexity to this classic savory drink without adding dry herbs.

1 1/2 oz aquavit
3 oz tomato juice
juice of half a lime
3 dashes Tabasco Sauce
2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce
tiny pinch sea salt

Stir or shake lightly with ice until just combined, then strain and add fresh ice. Garnish according to taste: celery, spicy bean, lime, etc. Pictured here with a garlic-stuffed olive.

Rowen, Fogged In Lounge

The Dragonflower

I love Scotch whisky. It's a world unto itself in its variety and complexity, and the things to know about it are endless. And it's a great cocktail ingredient, though an underrated one—probably because of its smokiness. But it's less challenging than it might seem, and pairs well with citrus zest and spices.

When I learned that Gary Regan likes the Rob Roy with Peychaud's bitters, I was inspired to do an anise-scented Scotch cocktail of my own. I first made this with Ledaig, a very smoky, seaweed-y Isle of Mull single malt which is great with the rich orange note of the Cointreau, but something milder, like Johnnie Walker Red Label, would be just fine.

The Dragonflower

2 oz Scotch
1/2 oz Cointreau
2 dashes Fee Bros Aromatic bitters
3 star anise pods

Reserve one star anise pod for garnish. In a shaker, crush the remaining 2 star anise pods lightly in the Scotch with a muddler. Let them steep for a few minutes. Then add ice, Cointreau and bitters. Stir until well chilled. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the whole star anise pod.

By Rowen, Fogged In Lounge