Drink Shoot

Get Out the Vote

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Contributed by Alexandra Martinez

Remember, a few weeks back how I told you about the Baileys Drinkable Desserts Challenge where both amateur foodies and professional chefs and mixologists were challenged to create their own cocktail versions on traditional desserts? Well the entry period ended on December 15th.

Every eight (8) days, ten (10) recipe finalists will be featured for you to vote on. This will go on for 5 weeks - one winner will be chosen each week based on votes received and the final winner will be chosen by professionals out of those five finalists.

Visit www.drinkabledesserts.com now through January 31st to vote for another recipe.

The winner will be featured in the April 2007 issue of Gourmet magazine and will receive a trip to New York City with a guest for a private cooking class in the Gourmet Cooking Arts Center with Chef de Cuisine, Jennifer Day.

Product Placement Done Right

I was watching Top Chef the other night - no, I'm not gay (not that there's anything wrong with it), I just like the show. And Padma Lakshmi, the host, is super hot.

Top Chef - like most "reality competition" shows - regularly whores itself out for product placements. But it's more of a high-class prostitution than the street-corner whoring happening on shows like The Apprentice - at least on Top Chef, the products are food-related.

On this particular episode Diageo had taken the initiative to spend some advertising bucks to sneak some of their tasty beverages into the line-up.

The Top Chef wannabes were each challenged to create a cocktail using one of the three Bailey's Irish Cream flavors: Regular, Mint, or Caramel.

OK - so the numerous shots of fifty bottles of Bailey's was not subtle - but the use of other Diageo products was: Guinness, Parrot Bay Rum, Godiva, Crown Royal and Bushmills were all used as cocktail ingredients and mentioned by name. Later in the show, Smirnoff Vodka was prominently shown during the main event - some frou frou Hollywood red carpet shindig.

Good marketing, Diageo - and a good way to highlight the art of the cocktail to an audience that might otherwise not be exposed to the creativity afforded in the world of cocktails*.

Oh yeah, will someone please drive a fork into Marcel's Forehead?

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*One idiot attempted to make a cocktail with Bailey's and Lime Juice. That's a "Cement Mixer" - something you give to the unwary drunk you are trying to abuse.

Holiday Recipes Week (Day 5)

It's Friday - time to wrap up Holiday Recipe Week...

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Hot Buttered Jack

• 1 generous teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 1 pat butter
• 2 ounces of Jack Daniel's
  

Spoon Sugar into a mug. Stir boiling water to dissolve sugar. Add Butter and Jack Daniel's. Stir; sprinkle with nutmeg.

 

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Manly Man's Champagne

Here's a great way to fit in (to all appearances) at Midnight on New Year's Eve, but still know you are all man.

Put a bottle of premium blended whisky (Like Compass Box Asyla or Johnnie Walker Gold) in your freezer for a few hours. Serve in a chilled (frosted) champagne flute.

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Bourbon Ball

• 1 ½ Bourbon (such as Maker's Mark)
  
• ¼ oz  Creme de Cacao
  
• ¼ oz Hazelnut liqueur
• ¼ oz Cream (or half & half)

Fill a shaker with ice. Add all ingredients. Shake and serve straight. Garnish with chocolate shavings.

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Peppermint Twist

• 1 oz. Peppermint Schnapps
  
• 1 oz. Kahlua
  
• 1 Creme de cacao

Fill a shaker half full with ice cubes. Pour all ingredients into shaker and shake well. Strain drink into a Cocktail glass and serve.

Holiday Recipes Week (Day 4)

Sparkling wine cocktails????

Come on - chicks dig cocktails too, right? Besides with NYE coming up, you can look all suave and mixologist-like. Any knucklehead can pop open a bottle of champagne, but the bartender always gets the attention.

These recipes come from Ballatore.

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As the family arrives to gather around the table, treat the grown-ups to a seasonal cocktail that combines some of fall's most cherished flavors. The Spiced Pear Tart-Tini is an unexpected treat, made by mixing fresh pear nectar, pear liqueur and brandy, and topping it off with Ballatore Gran Spumante. Served in a cinnamon-sugar rimmed martini glass and trimmed with a pear wedge, guests will be impressed with the extra care taken in making this crisp and aromatic drink.

Spiced Pear Tart-Tini

• 1 1/4 oz pear liqueur
• Splash brandy
• 1 oz pear nectar
• Splash lemon juice
• 1 oz Ballatore Gran Spumante (Sparkling Wine)
• 1 Bosc pear
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp white sugar

To prep the martini glass, mix together the cinnamon and sugar in a plate, rub a lemon wedge around the rim of the glass and then dip it in the cinnamon-sugar mix until well coated. Set glass aside. Then, thinly slice the pear and place the slice in the rimmed martini glass. In a mixing glass, combine the pear liqueur, pear nectar, brandy, and lemon juice with ice. Shake vigorously and strain into the prepped martini glass. Top off with Ballatore  Gran Spumante and serve.

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Sparkling Mocha Truffle

• 3/4 oz chocolate liqueur
• 3/4 oz vanilla liqueur
• Splash hazelnut liqueur
• 1 oz Ballatore Rosso Spumante
• 4 tbsp chocolate shavings
• Chocolate sauce

Place the chocolate shavings on a plate and wet the rim of a mini martini glass with chocolate sauce.  Dip the glass into the chocolate shavings several times to ensure coverage.  Then, for an added touch, drizzle chocolate sauce inside the glass.  Place glass in freezer until drink is prepared.  In a mixing glass, combine the chocolate liqueur, vanilla liqueur and hazelnut liqueur with ice.  Shake vigorously and strain into the prepared glass, filling only half way.  Top off with Ballatore Rosso Spumante and serve.

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Poinsettia

• 4 oz cranberry juice
• 4 oz Ballatore Rosso Spumante
• 1/2 oz orange liqueur
• Mint leaf

In a chilled champagne flute, add the cranberry juice and Ballatore Rosso Spumante.
Top off with orange liqueur and garnish with a mint leaf for a festive touch.

Holiday Recipes (Day 3)

Ah the holiday season is upon us, a great reason to whip up some drinks that are a little bit different than the normal fare. You can go back to your Vodka Cranberry in February.

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Black Velvet

For those who want a sexy and smooth holiday cocktail, Black Velvet will satisfy your yearning for a fun and delicious drink.

• 5 oz chilled Guinness
• 1 ½ oz chilled Sparkling Wine (like Barefoot Bubbly)

Pour Guinness into champagne flute. Add champagne carefully, so it does not mix with Guinness, and serve.

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Silent Night

For that quiet evening with your loved ones, a Silent Night is a perfect drink sitting by the fireplace or surrounded by candlelight for a romantic holiday feel.

• 1 ½ oz Kona coffee infused Vodka**
• 1 ½ oz Macadamia nut syrup
• 1 oz Heavy cream

Shake all ingredients and strain into a martini glass.
Garnish with 3 kona coffee beans.

** Kona coffee infused Vodka

• 1 ½ cups Kona coffee beans
• 750 ml Vodka (like Smirnoff)
• Let steep refrigerated for 20 days

For that festive holiday evening when singing Christmas carols by the beautiful Christmas tree, Partridge in a Pear Tree will keep your spirits up and you’ll want to sing carols all night long.

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Gin Toddy

• 1.25 oz. Dry Gin (Like Tanqueray London Dry)
• .75 oz. lemon juice
• 2 oz. boiling water
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 stick cinnamon

Add Tanqueray London Dry Gin, lemon juice, boiling water, and sugar to wine goblet and stir. Garnish with cinnamon stick.

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Maker's Mark Eggnog

• 1 liter Maker's Mark
• 1 quart milk
• 1 quart heavy cream
• 2 dozen eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• Nutmeg for garnish

Separate eggs and beat yolks until creamy. Whip sugar into yolks. Beat whites until they stand in peaks, adding 1/2 cup additional sugar, if desired. Beat yolks and Maker's Mark together. Add whites. Beat cream. Add cream and milk to mixture. Add nutmeg to taste, and garnish each cup with nutmeg. Makes 10-15 servings.

Please use caution with raw eggs, folks. Use fresh eggs - nothing worse than feeling sick over the holidays.

Holiday Recipes (Day 2) "Repeal day"

Editor's note: This in from Dewar's. Of course, they would prefer you use Dewar's but feel to use any whisk(e)y for the recipes.

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Contributed by Lesley Snyder

Today (December 5th) will mark the 73rd anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition - "Repeal Day"; it was on this date in 1933 that the 21st Amendment was ratified and Prohibition was terminated. And, Dewar's Scotch - the first legal whisky to arrive in the U.S. - hit New York’s South Street Seaport docks the moment the law was put into action. Joseph Kennedy, Sr. (JFK's father) happened to be the US agent for the brand.

Why not celebrate this significant day in American history with some vintage cocktails - The Old Fashioned; Highball; Ward Eight; and the Rob Roy. Try out the recipes below, and enjoy at your favorite speakeasy.

OLD FASHIONED

• 1 part DEWAR’S WHITE LABEL
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 dashes Angostura bitters
• 2 orange slices
• 2 maraschino cherries
• Water or Soda water

In the bottom of a rocks glass, carefully muddle the sugar, bitters, 1 orange slice, 1 cherry and a splash of water or soda.  Remove the orange rind and add the DEWAR’S and ice.  Garnish with the remaining orange slice and cherry.

HIGHBALL

• 1 part DEWAR’S WHITE LABEL
• 3 parts soda

In a pint glass filled with ice, combine Dewar’s and soda.

Origins of the Highball (cocktail, not the glass) are rumored to be in the Midwest, specifically St. Louis. On some rail lines, if an engineer spotted a large steel ball resting upon an approaching signal pole, it was a sign that he should speed up. From that, the word ‘highball’ evolved to mean a quickly prepared drink.

WARD EIGHT

• 2 parts DEWAR’S WHITE LABEL
• Juice of 2 orange wedges
• Juice of 2 lemon wedges
• 1 dash grenadine
• Or 1 splash of pomegranate liqueur

Shake all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

The Ward Eight is over a century old, with roots stretching back to Boston in the late 1890s. As with many drinks of yore, the Ward Eight is a celebratory concoction, named for Martin Lomasney’s state legislature victory n his ward-hence, its relatively obvious name.

ROB ROY

• 1.75 oz DEWAR’S WHITE LABEL
• 1.75 oz Martini & Rossi Rosso (sweet) Vermouth
• 4 dashes

Shake all ingredients in a shaker filled with ice.  Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Rob Roy MacGregor (1670-1734) fought to protect the farmers’ way of life, earning the respect of this fellow Highlanders and a prison sentence for treason. He escaped (several times, actually) and lived the remainder of his life as an outlaw. The Rob Roy cocktail was created in 1894 to celebrate the opening of the Herald Square musical that paid homage to this Scottish folk hero.

Holiday Recipes (Day 1)

Welcome to Recipe Week. All this week we'll have drink recipes for you to make and share this holiday season.

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Citrico Snowflake

For that night your feeling a little naughty but want to drink something nice, Citrico Snowflake will certainly hit the spot and warm you up for the rest of the evening.

• 1.5 oz Cuervo Citrico (Lime Tequila)
• Splash of sour mix

Add all to shaker. Shake and strain into a shot glass. Add lemon wedge and sugar on rim.

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Partridge in a Pear Tree

• 1 ½ oz Oronoco (Brazilian White Rum)
• ¼ oz pear liqueur
• ½ oz pomegranate juice
• 1 tbsp Sparkling Wine (like Ballatore Gran Spumante)

Shake ingredients and add 1 tbsp champagne.

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Gin Almond

• 1 oz. Dry Gin (Like Tanqueray London Dry)
• .5 oz. almond liqueur
• 1 splash bitters
• 1 splash sour mix
• Several maraschino cherries

Fill a snifter with ice. Add Gin, almond liqueur, and bitters. Top with sour mix. Garnish with maraschino cherries.

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Candy Cane

• 1 1/2 oz. Vodka
• 1 tsp. peppermint Schnapps

Put ice in a shaker. Add Vodka and Schnapps. Shake. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Option: Garnish with a small candy cane or create a candy cane "rimmer" of crushed candy canes.

Drinkable Desserts?

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Contributed by Alexandra Martinez

What happens when you combine the after-dinner drink and dessert?

You get drinkable desserts, an emerging trend that is surfacing in restaurants and bars across the country.

Baileys Irish Cream is challenging both amateur foodies and professional chefs and mixologists to create their own cocktail versions on traditional desserts.

Visit Drinkable Desserts  through December 15 to submit your recipes.
The site offers a list of suggested ingredients and garnishes which can be mixed with a base of Baileys Original Irish Cream or its two new flavors, Baileys Mint Chocolate and Baileys Caramel.

The winner will be featured in the April 2007 issue of Gourmet magazine and will receive a trip to New York City with a guest for a private cooking class in the Gourmet Cooking Arts Center with Chef de Cuisine, Jennifer Day.

To spark the imagination, here’s a great recipe for a Drinkable Dessert using one of the new Baileys Flavors:

Baileys Caramel Apple Pie-tini

• 1 3/4 oz Baileys with a Hint of Caramel
• 1/3 oz Smirnoff Twist Green Apple Vodka
• 1/3.oz Applesauce
• Dash of Caramel Syrup

Pour the applesauce into bottom of glass and float dash of caramel.
Shake all other ingredients with ice in a cocktail shaker, strain and float on top of the applesauce and caramel. Garnish with a slice of caramel apple.