MxMo XX

[eje]

If any of you read (or write) blogs which cover cocktails, you might know that Paul over at Cocktail Chronicles has been organizing a monthly online cocktail event he calls Mixology Mondays.

This month's event is being hosted by Natalie on her Liquid Muse blog. The theme is "Pairings".

To quote Paul:

Natalie’s theme will be — hold on, it’s a good one — Pairings. That’s right! The MxMo crowd will be crowding into the foodie’s territory when we take on food and drink combos. I would have been slightly freaked out by this only a few months ago, but the magic of Chris DeBarr at the Delachaise put my mind at rest, so I’m ready to do battle in the kitchen and come up with a little something that goes well with a little something. Don’t cook? Don’t worry! This doesn’t have to be highbrow — if you have a nice combo you like to trot out at home, please share.

Natalie goes on to explain the criteria:

All of this to give you an idea that cocktails and food go well together. Whether you choose gin, tequila, vodka, whiskey or something else, don't be afraid to get creative....I'm hoping that this MixMo will entice some of our food blogger friends to get in on the action, too! 

I suggest that you present a cocktail - name, ingredients and photo - and also give an idea of what kind of food (or a specific dish) it pairs well with.

If you would like to participate, please write up a cocktail in this topic before Monday, October 15th at midnight. I will compile a list of cocktails posted and email them to the organizer.

I have to admit I've not explored "pairing" much of anything with cocktails. Is a Martini, a bowl of pretzels, pickles, and some runny cheese OK?

Can't wait to see what you inventive people come up with.

Edited October 8, 2007 by eje (log)

[bostonapothecary]

to pair cocktails and food i wonder if you can really get beyond rich cheeses with rich cocktails, something like goat cheese with a whiskey smash or mojito, and any sour with something salty and frivelous...

about a month ago i had a peach cobbler with compass box peat monster and thought the food made the whiskey more fun. to me cocktails are like your pairing all lined up for you in one glass. i liked my elemental experience with the dessert and the whiskey so i could replicate the experience maybe even in a better format with a cocktail that plays with the whiskey peach interaction.

in wine pairing, to me, things are mostly about defense. you don't want the food to negatively harm the wine and the reverse... some magical pairings exist but it is often over hyped. a tannic red with meat works to subdue the tannins but it doesn't give you the epiphany of all the other subtle beauty the wine holds, what usually happens is you simply guzzle it at medium pleasure and pony up the money for a second bottle.

i splurged a couple days ago and drank a bottle of sfursato with a burger at the bar. i was in love with the wine and its massive depth and complexity akin to many a good vieux carre... the burger didn't harm the wine, but for some reason it disappeared too fast and my contemplative experience was gone... next time i won't let anything but cheese touch that stuff.

cocktails and food are so much fun on a thematic level. my favorite drink lately to instigate a party is a mojito and my favorite party moments of the past year involved lots of north carolina pulled pork sandwitches to dilute the booze. the acidities line up. delish and always a happy memory.

[Peter the eater]

My father gave me his "carbonator" back in the early 1990's. It dissolves co2 in whatever liquid you have. I went nuts, unfortunately I took no food & drink pictures in those pre-digital days. The device is long gone (you have to buy their co2 cartridges) but I have some fond memories:

1. carbonated ruby porto with Spanish blue cheese - this was the best! My personal tribute to Iberia.

2. carbonated hot chocolate and amaretto with peanut butter cookies - a close second.

3. carbonated prune juice and vodka with a bran muffin - it will clean anyone out.

[natter]

to pair cocktails and food i wonder if you can really get beyond rich cheeses with rich cocktails, something like goat cheese with a whiskey smash or mojito, and any sour with something salty and frivelous...

As far as I have been taught, and I could certainly be wrong, but the main reason why wine pairs with food is that the acid in the wine cuts through the fat in the food. obviously there are other aspects at work from both sides of the relationship, but this is the general principle. Because of this, I always liked pairing cocktails with food, also partly because i prefer cocktails to wine.

Because of the acid to fat I suggest starting with cocktails that have a straitforward citrus. Then think about what that citrus pairs well with.

Try a whiskey sour with a dish heavy in tomato, like a marinara, or even a tomato soup. Or a satan's whiskers with a terriyake dish. Or try a daq or a marg with a piece of blackened fish.

After you get a feel for these pairings, then start to get more adventuresome.

[KatieLoeb]

Just held a cocktail dinner last month and served the following pairings:

Grapefruit Basil marinated Scallop Crudo

Salty Pomeranian

2.0 oz. Pearl Persephone Pomegranate Vodka

.5 oz. Roses Lime Cordial

.5 oz. fresh Lime Juice

.5 oz. simple syrup (1:1)

2.0 oz. Ruby Red Grapefruit juice

Shake over ice and pour into salt rimmed Collins glass. Garnish with a lime

wedge.

Red Snapper w/Braised Fennel, Tomato and Artichoke Gratin

Corpse Reviver No. 2

1 oz. Beefeater Gin

1 oz. Lillet Blanc

1 oz. Luxardo Triplum

1 oz. fresh lemon juice

Dash of pernod (four or five drops)

Shake and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a fresh lemon twist.

Pan Seared Pork Loin w/Rosemary roasted Fingerling Potatoes

Apple Manhattan

2 oz. Eagle Rare 10 year old bourbon

1 oz. Berentzen's Apfelkorn Apple Schnapps

.5 oz. Punt e Mes

Dash of Fee Brothers Whiskey Barrel Aged bitters

Shake and strain over fresh ice with a cherry.

Assorted Chocolate Truffles

Belladonna Variant

1.5 oz. Nocello

1.5 oz. Goslings dark rum

1 oz Sour mix

Shake and strain into cocktail glass rimmed with cinnamon sugar.

Pairing food and cocktails isn't really that different than pairing food and wine or food and beer. But rather than looking for acid and tannin as you would for wine you look for comparable flavors (like the scallop dish with the tart citrusy Salty Pameranian) or look to have the flavors in the cocktail complete the flavor combination you're trying to create (like the rich chocolate, nuts and rum combo of the truffles and Belladonna). Think of flavors you like together or know go together and work from there. I was just sipping a Gin-Gin Mule the other night and wished I'd had a plate of sashimi with it...

Edited October 14, 2007 by KatieLoeb (log)

[eje]

I've had this before and it is quite nice.

Bamboo Cocktail with blue cheese, this time with raw milk Bleu d'Auvergne, new crop almonds, and some cut up jujube.

Bamboo Cocktail

2 oz Dry Fino Sherry

1 oz French Vermouth

1 oz Italian Vermouth

Build over cracked ice, stir to chill, squeeze orange peel over drink, and drop in.

[thirtyoneknots]

I like to play around with cocktail and food pairing on occasion, though I find it significantly more challenging than pairing wine with food, though on the other hand there is a bit more flexibility (at least in theory). My best success to date was to pair the Sashimi trio (6 oz of Chef's selction of fish, all overnighted from Hawaii never more then 3 days since it was swimming) with the somewhat lamely-name 'Scottish Cool' (I'd come up with new drinks far more often if I didn't have to come up with names for them all):

Lightly muddle 2 thin slices of fresh cucumber with 1 sugar cube and the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Add 2 oz Hendrick's gin (Plymouth also works well, or sub your favorite) and shake well with ice. Strain into chilled cocktail glass.

Not a terribly creative drink, I'll admit, but the combo works. I was actually trying to make something else and the bar manager told me to stop at that point because he loved it and the other additions hadn't taken it in a positive direction yet. Oh well.

I've also put our espresso rubbed venison entree with a Smoking Martini with some success. It works for some people, but not for everyone. I keep thinking there's some minor tweak I could make to the cocktail for it to pair better but I never seem to have time to really mess with it when I'm thinking about it.

-Andy

[bostonapothecary]

to pair cocktails and food i wonder if you can really get beyond rich cheeses with rich cocktails, something like goat cheese with a whiskey smash or mojito, and any sour with something salty and frivelous...

As far as I have been taught, and I could certainly be wrong, but the main reason why wine pairs with food is that the acid in the wine cuts through the fat in the food. obviously there are other aspects at work from both sides of the relationship, but this is the general principle. Because of this, I always liked pairing cocktails with food, also partly because i prefer cocktails to wine.

Because of the acid to fat I suggest starting with cocktails that have a straitforward citrus. Then think about what that citrus pairs well with.

Try a whiskey sour with a dish heavy in tomato, like a marinara, or even a tomato soup. Or a satan's whiskers with a terriyake dish. Or try a daq or a marg with a piece of blackened fish.

After you get a feel for these pairings, then start to get more adventuresome.

←

contrasting something fatty or rich with something acidic is just one pairing strategy... a classic is caviar and zero dosage champagne... not all dishes are over the top rich and a comparison works really well... viognier or muller thurgau because they are low acid compare to a dish like gnochi with gorgonzola dolce, pistacio pesto, and roasted peaches... a low acid cocktail might be cool as well. but when you plan a pairing sometime you want something to happen... when you have acidic dishes you really want acidity in your wine to line up. if they don't one will taste flabby and thin or the other will taste overly acidic... i discribe matching acidities like your brain giving credit to the food the acidity in the wine so it kind of subtracts and you are able to pick up more nuances in the wine...

some of those cocktails from the savoy that might seem too sweet for me... might be tamed by foie gras or cheeses like robiola... robiola has magical pairing properties with its texture and earthiness... much better than tellegio... alot of magic can happen. viognier, spatlese, amadar zin... replicate any of those acid / brix balances in a cocktail...

[eje]

Natalie over at The Liquid Muse has posted the MxMo XX Roundup.

Pretty decent turn out considering the challenging nature of the theme.