FrogPrincesse

Still in tiki mode here. Don the Beachcomber's Three Dots and a Dash with La Favorite rhum vieux "coeur de rhum" + El Dorado 5 years. I tend not to make this drink very often because I am not sure how easy it will be easy to replace this bottle of La Favorite, which is my favorite aged rhum agricole. This drink requires 1.5 ounces of it which is a lot. Here is another recent rendition of the Three Dots and a Dash by rumdood aka Matt Robold at 320 Main, with a 1934 Zombie Punch on the left. What can I say - this is beautiful. Well worth the drive from San Diego. He uses Clement VSOP for the aged rhum agricole. Last night I was in the mood for a Nui Nui, which calls for "amber Virgin Island rum" (code name for Cruzan? I don't care at all for Cruzan). Anyway, I decided to use Barbancourt 8 years and was not disappointed. It has enough kick to do great with all the spices. As a side note, I decided it was not worth the trouble to use a blender for these drinks. I just use crushed ice, shake, and pour. I like them better this way.

I like ED5 in tiki drinks. I haven't tried LH 80 and don't remember ever seeing it in stores, but ED5 has a rich taste (caramel but also some spice and complexity) that mixes very well with Jamaican rum in an Ancient Marineer/Navy Grog or even aged rhum agricole in a Three Dots and a Dash, for example. I also have ED12 but feel that it gets easily lost in tiki drinks. It's a beautiful rum but I prefer it in simpler drinks where it can shine.

Just make sure it's not TOO cold... Brain freeze?

I heard from a reliable industry source that Landy has been temporarily pulled off the market for rebranding in a collaboration with Snoop Dogg/Lion. Look for new packaging -- and a higher price -- when it returns. Too bad, because it was a great value. Too bad about the Landy VS because there aren't many good options at a low price point. Agree it is a good value (~$25 at BevMo when you can find it). I like it better than Courvoisier VS (closer to $30) or even Remy Martin VSOP (~ $40). I've been using it to make Fish House Punch lately. I really like Pierre Ferrand 1840 for mixing but that's $40. As Rafa pointed out, it's true that Armagnacs are a generally better value compared to Cognacs. However they are quite different. In general they have more "funk" and are rougher around the edges (think rhum agricole vs. rum). I love Armagnac but substituting it for Cognac will result in a different drink.

Regarding Champagne, if it's for mixing I would go with a Cremant. It's a sparkling wine from France and there are a few good ones out there, typically around $10 - $15 a bottle. If you have access to Trader Joe's they usually have one or two different brands in stock.

Here is what I would buy if I were starting from scratch: Gin (Beefeater) Rye (Rittenhouse) Bourbon (Buffalo Trace) White rum (Flor de Cana) Aged rum (Appleton 12 years) Tequila blanco (7 Leguas) Dry vermouth (Noilly Prat or Dolin) Sweet vermouth (Dolin or Vya) Campari Cointreau Maraschino (Luxardo) + Angostura bitters (bitters should not count!). Even excluding the bitters, that's 11 and not 10. Based on our (low) usage it would be logical to cut the tequila, however being located in San Diego it's not really an option (I need to be able to make margaritas!)... I would probably have to cut the maraschino although it is very sad not being able to make Hemingway daiquiris. No cognac, not scotch as they are not as versatile in cocktails... No Chartreuse... No rhum agricole but I would be tempted to switch the Flor de Cana for La Favorite or rhum JM. No aged rhum agricole for a proper Mai Tai... This is a bit depressing. It's very hard to keep it to 10 bottles!

I would also recommend reading the The Ten-Bottle Start-up Home Cocktail Bar. Some great advice about how to set up your home bar.

I was going to suggest checking out thrift stores as well. It should not be too hard to find a suitable glass pitcher there.

You are very welcome Tina. Great photo! I am glad that you enjoyed this soup. It's so simple and so interesting at the same time. I love recipes that are deceptively simple but end up surprising you. For me they are a source of inspiration.

Who else is drinking beer? I went to a Monkish beer tasting this weekend at a local restaurant. Monkish is located in Torrance and, as their name indicate, they specialize in Belgian-style beers and I noticed that they use a lot of herbs/flowers. Here was the menu from lightest to darkest. They were out of the second one (Oblate) so we skipped and got a pour of AleSmith's Speedway stout instead (the darkest one in the series), an old favorite which is spectacular by the way. These were all on tap. Crux, the lightest, was refreshing and the elderflowers were discreet but added something really nice. Lumen with jasmine was very good as well although I think I preferred the first. Feminist with hibiscus was ok but I was not completely convinced about the hibiscus in the beer. Triplelist with rose hips and hibiscus - ditto. Anomaly was good and the most interesting/complex of the bunch. Also sampled Stone's 16th Anniversary IPA with green tea leaves (also on tap; not pictured). Glad it was only a sample because we did not care for it. It was sweet and weirdly herbal with the green tea (I love green tea, just not in this beer).

I would include Relae. More suggestions here, here and here.

I tend to pair this one more with gin or bourbon but it works well with rum too (see the discussion here). It's very good in a Daiquiri No. 2 for example. I haven't tried it in a proper Tiki drink yet.

I guess it all depends how often you use orange liqueurs (and how much room you have in your liquor cabinet!). For me the Creole Shrubb and Cointreau are different enough and I enjoy the variety. It's nice to have the Creole shrubb for tiki drinks, but Cointreau works great too.

Yesterday I got a pound of ultra-fresh local shrimp. For some reason they were missing their heads already (which may very well be the best part...). Anyway, looking for a nice dish for them I found the Shrimp in Crazy Water in Holiday Food (the recipe is also available online here). I happened to have received a fennel bulb and some garlic in my CSA, so it all came together nicely. The aromatic base is diced onion & fennel + sliced garlic and hot chiles (I used dry chile de arbol). They are lightly browned in olive oil, and then a can of tomatoes is added with a generous amount of white wine and some salted water. The broth is simmered for about 10 minutes, then the shrimp are added. This is a very quick dish (less than 30 minutes total) with a ton of flavor. I used a Pouilly Fuisse for the broth. Fennel fronds are used as a garnish with fresh cracked pepper.

More experimenting with the St George Terroir gin. After a fabulous Martini a while back that I forgot to post (2:1 with Noilly Prat dry vermouth, Regan's & Fee Brothers orange bitters)... ... a Bee's Knee (with lemon juice, buckwheat honey) which seemed to emphasize the rosemary/cypress notes in the gin. Loved it.

Kon-Tiki Mai Tai from Sippin' Safari: gold rum (it calls for Puerto Rican rum but I used Plantation Barbados 5 yr), dark Jamaican rum (Appleton 12), orange and lime juice, ginger (it calls for a small amount of syrup, I used a liqueur instead), honey syrup, Angostura bitters, pastis. It's a Don the Beachcomber-style Mai Tai accented with spices and the angostura-absinthe/pastis combo.

I’ve had it in a L.E.S. Globetrotter with rye and cognac and it was great. Also in a Sidecar a while back. Do you have a specific use in mind?

Exactly; it's made with rhum agricole so it seems like a natural fit in a Mai Tai. Cointreau also works well but the Creole shrubb is usually my first choice for a Mai Tai. Cointreau is pure orange while the Creole shrubb brings a little more complexity.

Glad you liked it! It's one of my favorite drinks as well. It's excellent with a juniper-forward gin. I am craving one but I just finished my orgeat last night. When orgeat gets bad you can tell right away by the smell (and the mold) so you should be ok.

Looks good. What is caldo verde?

Yesterday's tiki cocktail was Steve Crane's Molokai Mule (via Jeff Berry) with cognac, Demerara and light Puerto Rican rums (I cheat and use Flor de Cana for the Puerto Rican rum), orange and lime juice, homemade orgeat. Very smooth with a nice texture from the orgeat.

That carrot cake has caught my eye as well. I've already bookmarked that recipe!

Some fun books there, thanks for the link. The author of Cocktails de Paris (1929) seems particularly enthousiastic, finishing almost every sentence with an exclamation point! As he writes, Hourra! Hourra! Augusthourra! Let me know if you need a translation; LaPrincesseGrenouille will be happy to oblige!

Trying something new - I got quelites (lamb's quarters) in my vegetable bag last week. It takes a little bit of patience to pick all the leaves (the stems seemed hard so I did not use them). The preparation is similar to spinach - cook some shallots, green onion and chile de arbol in olive oil, add the quelites with a little bit of water, add salt, cover and it's ready in 2 minutes. I added a spoonful of creme fraiche and a squeeze of lemon oil before serving. Very similar to spinach; slightly more bitter (good in my book) and a better texture (no slime). This recipe was adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy. More green garlic champ and a grilled Delmonico steak on the side...

This one was just a meh - a little flat and not distinctive enough. Not great with steak, but it seemed to come to life with a dry jack cheese. The Lost Abbey's Serpent Stout