Mai Tai Digestif

I am not a Mai Tai puritan even though Trader Vic's 1944 Mai Tai just happens to be my favorite cocktail. And yes, yes I know the original rum used has been lost but the gist of his creation stands.

I'm always up for a clever twist or riff on the drink - one that respects the original but dares to play with the ingredients or the measurements.

I have made a few twist myself over time and think I have gotten away with it.

So when I saw a recipe for a Mai Tai with Jägermeister I was intrigued. It was posted in a Tiki recipe group on Facebook and all the poster wrote of the origins was "at a new Cuban place in Atlanta".

I can google the information that a place called 1 Kept  in Atlanta once served a Mai Tai with Jägermeister but that's all I know.

I wanted to try out a recent birthday gift of a Hario Filter-in Coffee Bottle so I put a handful of fresh lavender and some espresso roast coffee beans in the filter and poured in a mix of Jägermeister, Fernet Branca and Branca Menta - just basically emptying some bottles.

After 24 hours I mixed the drink:

• 3 cl light rum - I used Havana Club 3 yo
• 3 cl Jägermeister - I used my infused mix
• 2 cl lime juice
• 1,5 cl orgeat - I used home made
• 1,5 cl curacao - I used Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao

Shake everything with ice and pour unstrained into double old fashioned glass or Mai Tai glass. Garnish with a lime wheel and a sprig of lavender.

I have to admit that the lavender and coffee was hard to find in the mix - so I will let it infuse for another week and try the drink again then.

Cherry Tai - my way

Messing with the mighty Mai Tai is always fun - I know some people think it is sacrilege, but I think it is such an amazing recipe, that riffing on it is bound to deliver a great tasting drink. I still drink my previous rhubarb driven attempt - Tøppe - so I knew it could work.

While shopping for Libbey's latest tiki glasses at Barkonsult, I was gifted samples of Three Cents Soda.

I was particularly interested in the Cherry Soda and I spotted a recipe for a Cherry Tai on their website.

But I decided to make my own interpretation:

• 6 cl rum - I used Plantation Xaymaca
• 3 cl lime juice
• 1 cl orgeat- I used Giffard
• 1,5 cl curacao - I used Pierre Ferrand Dry Curacao
• 1 cl cherry liqueur - I used Frederiksdal

Shake and pour into glass ice included. Add a bottle - or 2 dl - of cherry soda, garnish with maraschino cherries, a mint sprig and a pretty flower.

The Adder's Fang

Last couple of weeks I've read a bit about a lost Tiki and Hurricane ingredient called fassionola.

It's making a comeback, but I can't find a recipe anywhere only descriptions of a tropical fruit punch taste that I have no reference point for being Danish.

I did notice however that it is bright red and seasonal as it contains strawberry.

So I went to my local supermarket and stared at the stone hard mangoes and decided to make assionola - as I live in Asserbo, Denmark - from rhubarb and strawberries from my own garden.

In an original Don the Beachcomber recipe for the Cobra's Fang selected herbs are mentioned.

So I made my assionola by cooking 2/3 rhubarb with 1/3 strawberries, lemon juice, black pepper, sage and sugar and a little water.

Once I had strained the solids off - great on freshly backed baguette - I cooked the bright red cordial with a little extra juice to thicken it a bit and make it syrup like. I also added a dollop of Sriracha Sauce for a little venom.

Because obviously my goal was to rework the Cobra's Fang a bit. Just as Denmark has no tropical fruits - other than underripe, imported ones - we have no cobras or any other dangerous snakes.

We do have a pretty adder - it is slightly poisonous but only if you are allergic will you get more than a little discomforted. It's also rare - I have seen one once.

The Adder's Fang is a mild and refreshing take on a Cobra's Fang - but without Falernum. For one reason I do not like it. So I just upped the fassionola.

• 3 cl golden rum - I used Appleton Estate Extra
• 3 cl Lemon Hart 151
• 6 cl assionla - see above
• 3 cl lime juice
• 3 cl orange juice
• 3 dashes Angostura Bitter
• 1 cl aquavit - I used Rød Ålborg

Measure everything into a blender, fill with crushed ice and blitz 5 times. Serve in tall glass or Tiki mug.

Lurking in the Deep Blue

The theme for this month’s MxMo is Spooky Sips. While I tried to think of something scary it dawned on me, that there must be a huge cultural factor in what scares us.

Denmark became a Lutheran country with the stroke of a pen the day before Halloween in 1536.

From that day the church stopped observing saints days - and the king grabbed all property and land from the roman-catholic church.

I’m sure the reformation did not stop common people from putting out lamps cut not from pumpkins but gourds since they were plentiful to fend off evil spirits, but the tradition slowly faded and did not return until about 10-15 years ago.

So if spirits from the dead does not hunt us, what does? Being surrounded on all sides except for 68 kilometer land border with Germany by water anything lurking in the sea will get our blood pumping.

Not that we have many dangerous sea creatures in the cold waters of the northern Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. But the idea is scary.

Denmark send out the worlds first expedition with oceanographic tasks in 1761. And since then there have been several and several brilliant Lego Deep Sea Exploration Sets to inspire future oceanographers. (Yes I want a set)

The most famous expedition was the Galathea II expedition from 1950-1952. The scientists found life at the bottom of the Philippine Trench - at the time thought to be the deepest spot on earth.

So in response to the request from JFL of Rated R Cocktails for spooky sips, mine had to come from the bottom of the sea.

As an interesting Tiki aside - one of the regular sailors on the ship - Ole Reiman - brought home huge amounts of ethnographic and opened a bar called Galatheakroen in Copenhagen that has an amazing Tiki vibe but serves mainly beer and is famous for it’s Rijsttafel.

I don’t know if Reiman visited any tiki bars during Galathea’s circumnavigation - but according to the log the ships was in Honolulu for 3 days in March of 1952 and 10 days in April so it’s not impossible.

And now for the Lurking in the Deep Blue:

• 6 cl white rum - I used Plantation 3 star
• 0.75 cl creme de banana - I used Giffard
• 0.75 cl blue curacao - I used homemade
• Big dash of creme de menthe - I used Tempus Fugit Spirits Crème de Menthe 
• 9 cl tonic water - I used Pellegrino

Stir the first four ingredients with ice, serve over ice in a highball glass with the tonic added at the end.

Or go crazy in a fish bowl with Titanic ice cubes, stones and sea shells (I boiled mine for 5 minutes), fish cut from orange peel and blood - I had some thick rhubarb shrub - grenadine would be good too. What ever scares you.

And now I am off to the beach - to quote John Masefield from his poem Sea Fever

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

I will leave you with a couple of nice videos

A 20 minute long film from the actual expedition - unfortunately this is in Danish only but around the 17 minute mark the net is brought up from the deep and life discovered.

A delightful portrait of the now 96 year old scientist who discovered life at the bottom of the Philippine Trench with English subtitles:


The Old Man and the Deep Sea from Natural History Museum Denmark on Vimeo.

Nordic Daiquiri

Last night I visited one of the most interesting new bars in Copenhagen at the moment: 1656.

It is the kid brother of 1105 in the city center and the two share a love of working with seasonal ingredients.

Three of us had a very nice evening and tasted quite a few of their creations.

One of the cocktails that had us guessing and deconstructing was called a Nordic Daiquiri*. It involved rum, rhubarb compote, raw licorice and lime juice.

I was a bit surprised that it was not pink in any way - more greenish brown and my friend and I discussed that point at length.

Apparently I've been fortunate in that the rhubarbs my garden provides does not loose their color as they are cooked and perhaps the use more licorice that I did at 1656 because my compote was pink as I tried to recreate the cocktail today.

I started by cooking 280 grams of rhubarb with 120 grams of sugar, juice of one and a half lemon and 2 dl of water for 7-10 minutes. I the strained the cordial of and added a small teaspoon of licorice to the pulp. Both were put in the fridge to cool.

• 6 cl rum - I used white - Plantation 3 Star - but golden rum would work too.
• 3 cl lime juice
• 2 cl rhubarb cordial
• 2 tablespoonfuls rhubarb compote

Measure everything into a shaker and shake hard with ice. You need to break up the compote. Strain cocktail into coupe and garnish with a sprinkle of raw licorice and a piece of raw rhubarb.

* I personally would have given this cocktail a different name.While I understand why businesses are keen to jump on the new Nordic wave a drink containing rum, licorice and lime is stretching the brand a bit too far in my opinion.  

Paddington

Ever since I got The PDT Cocktail Book I have been perhaps a little starstruck.

I love the look and the feel of the book, but can also see that it is cleverly disguised to take over from that other modern cocktail bible: The Savoy Cocktail Book.

So actually I wish the book had a more innovative look but the contents are undeniably good.

And the layout with explanations of everything and a solid section of recipes is very good. It will be a go to book, I'm sure.

I settled on Paddington as my first PDT-cocktail.

I'm a huge fan of the bear and my brother and I loved the sentence: My grandmother has fallen out of the stagecoach.

Once I started chuckling at that the rest was easy:

• 6 cl rum
• 2 cl Lillet Blanc
• 2 cl grapefruite juice
• 2 cl lemmon juice
• barspoon of orange marmalade.

Put everything in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously, strain into chilled cocktail coupe and garnish with a sliver of grapefruit peel.