KatieLoeb

OK folks. Here are the photos of the much ballyhooed Man Full 'O Trouble Punch, which I named after an historic tavern site here in Philadelphia that is but a few short blocks north of my home. Here are the hibiscus flowers that I let dry a bit, drizzled again with the hibiscus simple syrup (they got a bit too dry) and dusted with superfine sugar, drying in my oven: Here's a pic of the filled punch bowl with the giant block of ice with lemon slices frozen into it: Close up of the punch bowl and the finished drink: And a serious close up of one of the flowers garnishing the drink: Here's the final version of the punch recipe too, in case anyone's feeling ambitious. Man Full ‘O Trouble Punch 2 quarts Stash Cranberry-Pomegranate tea (available at Wegmans), brewed and cooled 1.75L bottle cognac 1 cup Grand Marnier .5 cup Laird’s Bonded Apple Brandy .5 cup Pama liqueur .5 cup Carpano Antica vermouth 2 cups Hibiscus simple syrup (with a hint of Pumpkin Pie spice and vanilla extract) .5 cups sugar, dissolved into lemon juice 2.5 cups fresh lemon juice Ginger ale This made 1.5 gallons which I made into three 1/5 gallon batches topped with approximately a pint of ginger ale each. It was exactly enough for 25 adults (some of whom had several and some of whom only tasted) to last through a long day of feasting. I used the Pama liqueur simply because I had it around and needed an excuse to empty the bottle. That could easily have been 8 oz. of cranberry juice or half cranberry half pomegranate juice instead. This was very tasty and well received. Some of the lighting in the pictures don't really do the color justice. It was exactly the right shade of bright red and boozy but not so much so that you were afraid to have a couple more. Given the history of our crowd to be half in the bag before dinner is even served, making a punch that had tea and ginger ale to stretch it out, and serving it over ice so it could dilute just a bit worked out great. I'll definitely be saving this recipe for future reference. It was pretty, not too hard to make and well liked by even those who didn't normally drink "mixed drinks". Thanks to all of you for your help. While the blossoms might not have been exactly what I'd envisioned, they were in fact still soft enough not to break a tooth on them and very delicious when eaten at the end. Quite a few people commented that they'd never tasted hibiscus in its purest form that way and found it to taste quite a bit like tart raspberry.

Hibiscus blossoms are drying on a rack in the oven overnight. Will try to wake up early enough to sugar coat them before work in the AM, if not right upon my return home in the early PM. Let's see if this works...

Hammonton is right in the middle of a lot of farmland, so there's a large community of immigrant Mexican workers that work on the blueberry farms, etc. seasonally. Hammonton is a very cute little town, with a nice little downtown area. I'd not had the pleasure before but it's an easy detour on the way to or from the shore from Philly. Both of our stops there were real finds. but I'm still dreaming about the Crema de Poblano soup at Las Lomas. I really have to weasel that recipe out of the chef. Might be one of the tastiest soups I've ever had...

The USBG PA chapter was lucky enough to have David Wondrich visit us last weekend and lead an informative and fascinating historical cocktail tour around Philadelphia, complete with many samples of various punch recipes and a truly glorious afternoon of conviviality and learned conversation. After the pain left in the wake of that tour of Philadelphia I can only imagine that the bartending community in Boston are still barely recovering as well, after having the pleasure of the Boston version of the tour on Monday. Dave, after a week like that, I can understand the slight aversion to punch for the holidays. I suppose the cocktail I'll be whipping up for Thanksgiving could easily be considered a punch that will be shaken and strained into individual tall glasses and topped up with ginger beer. Cranberry-Pomegranate tea, cognac, lemon, hibiscus simple syrup and a bit of Grand Marnier-alike. Is that punch? Or just a tall glass of trouble? Maybe that's the name for the drink. Or it could be Man Full 'O Trouble Punch to remain historically accurate. That site of that historic tavern is but three short blocks up the street from my house...

Stops on our tour today included: La Esperanza in Lindenwold. Excellent Barbacoa, tacos, and guacamole. Las Lomas in Hammonton. Probably my favorite of all the places we stopped. The Crema de Poblano soup was to die for and the tacos and flautas were delicious as well. Staff could not have been friendlier or more helpful. Will be back there soon, for sure. Lastly, we stopped at Fiesta Mexicana, also in Hammonton. By then we were pretty full and had a few margaritas and Dos Equis in us, but it was also very good. The Pozole Soup was outstanding, as well as the chicken mole and the Queso Fundido with Chorizo. They also had the whole staff come over and put the gigantic Sombrero of Shame on my friend's head and sang Happy Birthday to him. It was pretty awesome.

I'd seen those flowers before and they're gorgeous but prohibitively outrageously expensive, especially for a commercial environment. I decided to make them myself. I made a huge batch of flowers and turned the soaking water into hibiscus flavored simple syrup (with just a bit of vanilla extract and Chinese Five Spice as well) last Valentine's day for my restaurant for about the cost of one of the large jars with just a few flowers in it. They worked just fine and the resulting cocktails were delicious and pretty too, if not as camera ready as the photo on the product website. This time I want to rehydrate the flowers and lightly sugar coat them so I can use them as garnish. I think I'll start with making the syrup again, lightly dunking them, letting them dry slightly and then dusting them with superfine sugar and letting them dry completely in the oven with the heat turned off. If I do them tomorrow they should be fine by Thursday afternoon. I'll report back on my progress...

Am going on a Mexican taqueria tour in South Jersey tomorrow, in fact. Will report back on our findings. Find your local Greek church. Their annual festivals are always worthy because those Greek Church Ladies can cook! I've always been far more impressed with the findings at church festivals than most Greek restaurants...

Thanks Chris. I might have to cobble together my own procedure. I like the idea of spraying them with an atomizer of some sort to get a nice dusting of thinned egg white or simple syrup on them for the sugar to stick to. I'll report back on my results and with a photo of the finished results if they're presentable.

Chris: Anything red and not too tannic or oaky works fine. The suggestions for CDR are excellent, as well as something a bit smokier (depending on how your turkey is prepared, of course, of course...) like a nice St. Joseph would be delicious. A rich Pinot Noir from Carneros or the Pacific Northwest would be a fine pairing as well. Even Dolcetto d'Alba is tasty with turkey. Never been a fan of the Beaujolais Nouveau, too much banana bubblegum for me, however a really fine Beaujolais Village could be a fine turkey pairing. I suspect a lower alcohol zinfandel would be yummy too, although 1) good luck finding one and 2) I suspect everyone's insistence that zinfandel is the best Thanksgiving wine is more about pairing an American wine with an American holiday. For white, again, avoid the oak thing. It just doesn't pair well with food. Something slightly off-dry works well with all those sweet side dishes too. Riesling - still or sparkling, Chenin Blanc (in any incarnation including Coteaux du Layon or Vouvray - still or sparkling), or a good quality Scheurebe if you can find one are all good choices. Personally I love Oregon Pinot Blanc too. Foris is a very consistent and reliable producer. If you find something labelled "Weissburgunder" that's German, it's the same grape. It'll work too. Remember that you're pairing your wine with the sauce/gravy, not necessarily the protein itself. How the bird is prepared (roasted, deep fried, smoked, etc.) as well as what you're serving it with will all effect your wine choices. Make sure the "weight" of the wine matches the "weight" of the final dish. A low alcohol riesling will get lost next to a heavy dish. Medium bodied wines are always a safe bet.

My very best cold remedy. Taken only before bed. 1 packet Lemon Thera-Flu. 8 oz. boiling water. 1 tea ball filled with your very favorite loose tea. I use Star of India which is a blend from my favorite local tea shop. 2 oz. hooch of your choosing. Smith & Cross rum worked like a charm for me last time I was laid up with a really fierce upper respiratory infection. Any high proof spirit of your choosing would be fine though. Bonded Applejack, whatever... Honey or agave nectar to taste. Optional: Citrus peels of your choosing, studded with cloves if you're feeling fussy... Though I've never tried this, I suspect the inclusion of bitters would be excellent. Angostura or Fee Whiskey Barrel aged come to mind. Dissolve the Thera-Flu in the boiling water in the biggest mug/soup cup/cereal bowl with handles you own. Steep the tea (and citrus peels if using) for appropriate time. Add booze, sweeten to taste. Drink it down and feel warmed. Wait for the drowsiness to set in. Fall asleep and get the rest your sickly body craves. This works like a charm. Knocks you out. You sleep the sleep of a dead person. Demons are exorcised whilst you sleep. You wake up in a sweat soaked chalk outline of your former sleeping self. You feel much better.

Hello All: Cocktails and spirits are my strong suit. Being a pastry chef, not so much. I've admired all of your collective wisdom in the Pastry and Baking forum and hope I can get some suggestions for my current dilemma. I'm (naturally) in charge of Thanksgiving cocktails this year, as I have been in the past. I'll be making a tall drink with Cranberry-Pomegranate tea (which contains Rooibos and Hibiscus), cognac, fresh lemon and a sweetening agent (quite likely at least a bit of hibiscus simple syrup made from the soaking water from the hibiscus flowers) with a topper of ginger ale/ginger beer to carbonate and make the drink more a sipping drink rather than pound-able stuff that will paralyze us all even before dinner. I have a few dozen whole hibiscus flowers re-hydrating overnight in boiling water. How can I candy the flowers so I can use them as a pretty garnish for the cocktails when I'm through? I was thinking of taking them out and just dusting them with extra fine sugar, but might there be a better way? Should I make the hibiscus simple syrup, soak them again in that and then simply allow them to dry for a couple of days? I want them to be pliable and edible garnishes, and will likely poke them up onto a decorative pick of some sort to stick into the drinks. If anyone has some experience with this or suggestions, I'm all ears. Thanks in advance for the assist...

Aren't chokeberries awfully similar to black currants?? I seem to recall seeing chokeberry jam and black currant jam looking fairly interchangeable in the preserve aisle at the Eastern European markets. My inspiration was totally set off by my colleague doing his cranberry "grenadine" experiment and having me taste it. You know how the mind can start to wander when a seed is planted. At least mine does. And once I have an idea I'm a bit like a dog with a bone. Have to make it happen. Right. Now. While it's fresh in my mind. Hence the relatively quick turnaround on the black currant/Kaffir lime inspiration. Once the idea came to me (while I was out driving around doing errands on my day off) I basically made a few calls to locate my essential ingredients, picked them up that same afternoon and then started boiling down the juice as soon as I got home. If I don't do that, the ideas get lost. I'm not organized enough to carry a journal and write stuff down. I can't keep track of the slips of paper I do have stuff written down on. Swapping flavors is always a good place to start experimentation, I've found. Try the chokeberry syrup in the Blood & Sand or perhaps instead of raspberry syrup or standard pomegranate grenadine in another classic cocktail recipe.

So the first batch of Kaffir Lime-Black Currant "grenadine" is done and is delicious, if I do say so myself. 6 fresh Kaffir lime leaves were bruised and shredded and added to 1.5 liters of black currant juice which was simmered to half volume and then I added 2 quarts of sugar. I then added about 1/2 cup of pomegranate molasses for viscosity and it didn't seem to interfere with the currant flavor at all. The remaining .5 liter of black currant juice was shaken up via "cold method" and added at the end. Once the mixture cooled I added about .5 Tablespoon of Rose flower water and stirred to combine. All was strained through a fine mesh strainer. 2 oz. of vodka was added to the entire batch for preservative. 2 liters of juice + sugar yielded about 2.5 quarts of finished product with the other additions included. I'm using this in a cocktail I'll be serving at the Philadelphia Whiskey Festival November 10. The local Hendricks Gin reps asked me to come up with an original cocktail so here's what I'll be serving. 2 oz. Hendricks 1 oz. Kaffir Lime-Black Currant "Grenadine" 1 oz. fresh lime juice .5 oz. Dolin dry vermouth Shaken and strained over fresh ice in a Collins glass. Top with 1.5 oz. ginger ale. Stir and serve. Cocktail needs a clever name. If anyone has any bright ideas I'm all ears. Since this is the whiskey festival I suspect this cocktail will be a popular "palate cleanser" for palates fatigued of too many single malt scotches and high end single barrel bourbons. It'll be like having the sorbet stand at a chili tasting....

The twist doesn't have to be lemon, even though that might be the default option. Lime, orange or grapefruit twists are awfully nice in their own ways if one is feeling so inclined. Tomolives are tasty. The stuffed olive option leaves lots of options too - almond, hot pepper, blue cheese, garlic, etc. Any sort of homemade pickle could be delicious too. I made a memorable martini with a pickled okra in it that was mighty tasty...Depends what's in the pantry that day and how adventurous (or lazy) I'm feeling. Could be the thing I reach for is convenient or genius or in a perfect world it's both!

You're going to an awful lot of trouble to make high class Jello shots, which is quite oxymoronic in and of itself. As for extracting luminescence, you'll need a real scientist for that answer. And again, seems like an absurd amount of fuss. Why not stir in some edible gold or silver leaf dust once it's partially set? Why not mix the cocktail as you wish and then add the appropriate amount of unflavored gelatin or agar and just call it a day? Or use flavored Jello and add booze and water/tonic/other liquid to volume. Seems a lot simpler.

Grey Goose, anyone??

Yes it would. But "house made Black Currant-Kaffir Lime 'Grenadine'" reads a lot sexier on a cocktail menu.

Bumping this thread back up to discuss alternative "grenadine" flavors. By definition, obviously true grenadine must be made from pomegranate juice, however I recently tasted a cranberry "grenadine" a bartending colleague of mine made and it was delicious. Got me to thinking about the myriad possibilities there could be if we expanded the boundaries just a bit. I bought two liters of black currant juice today and some fresh kaffir lime leaves. I'll be making that sometime in the next couple of days and I'll post back with the results. I'm thinking gin drinks for sure if it tastes as I've envisioned it...

Meh. What's with the value judgements? Assuming all sweeteners are equal, they're just different. Cane sugar, turbinado, honey syrup, maple syrup and agave all bring different things to the party. Where's the problem, exactly? If we're concerned about maintaining myths of "healthful" cocktails we might as well stop putting the alcohol in, dontcha think?

Tim: Please update us and let us know how you found Mango Moon on this visit. All I need is an excuse to get up there...

Find some good carrot soup recipes and freeze up a bunch. It'll make the winter pass by warmly...

Wow. That was kinda scary having my mouse taken over. A bit bizarre. I actually didn't name the drink, just came up with the skeletal recipe. I think my cohorts thought that a "numbered" drink sounded cool or perhaps it was the 6th attempt that finally tasted just right. Wasn't there so I don't have the answer...

Old Fashioned #6 1.5 oz. Scarlet Ibis rum 1.0 oz. Smith & Cross rum 1 bar spoon spiced simple syrup 4 drops Whiskey Barrel aged bitters Stir and strain into an Old Fashioned/Rocks glass. Flame an orange peel over surface of the drink, rub on the rim, dunk and discard. Tiniest splash of soda to open it up. Delicious autumnal Old Fashioned.

Good on 'ya, Seth. You are passionate about what you do. I respect that. I try to be the same way behind the bar. I wish you success in moving forward and recovering from this disappointing experience, both personally and professionally. If you're ever coming to Philly, let me know. I'd love to buy you a drink!

Mayur: Try contacting Orchid Island Juice Company and see if they have any local vendors there. It's not as good as fresh squeezed but is far more time efficient and a hell of a lot less work when you're in a time crunch.