Cicada's Knees bulk cocktail

This is a variation of the classic Bee's Knees cocktail that we made in bulk for a party as Brood X Cicadas started emerging. It was very well received, and we've made it a number of times this Cicada season. We use both lemon and lime, and steep the hulls in the Gin which adds a huge aroma to the drink. Start the day before to give it time to extract. It's proportioned to fit in a standard 750 ml (26 ounce) wine bottle for portability. 

16 oz Gin

 4 oz Lemon/Lime Juice, freshly squeezed (about 4), keep the skins

 4 oz Honey

 2 oz Water

Squeeze the Lemons and Limes to get 4 ounces of Juice.

Gently heat to dissolve the Honey in Water. 

Strain Juice into Honey Syrup and hold in fridge overnight in a 750 ml bottle.

In a mixing bowl, pour the Gin over the Lemon/Lime shells, and muddle to release oils from the skins;

cover to reduce evaporation and let sit overnight.

Remove each citrus husk and squeeze the retained Gin into the bowl.

Strain the Gin into the 750 ml bottle on top of the Honey/Citrus Syrup.

Shake to combine, chill.

Serve over ice.

Hop Scotch cocktail

We were looking for Leap Day drinks, and figured a hop-based cocktail would be fun. Turns out Hop Scotch is a thing. The honey was complementary and the slight hop bitterness was good balance.

Hop pellets worked well, but hop leaves (even compressed) did not as they expanded and absorbed all the liquor. Next time, I'd increase the hops a bit as they were barely noticeable, but I don't want this to come out IPA-bitter.

Hop Honey Syrup

1 C   Water
1/4 C Citra Pellet Hops, 13.9% alpha acid (high bitterness) [37g, 0.25 ounce weight]
1/2   Lemon, zest added, quartered, pressed
1 C   Honey

Bring Water and Hops to boil; the hops should break apart.
Add Lemon zest, juice and hulls, and Honey.
Stir then simmer covered a while to infuse.
Strain through fine mesh.
Keep in fridge any you don't use.

For each Cocktail

2   fluid ounce Scotch Whiskey (we used Famous Grouse)
1/2 fluid ounce Hop Honey Syrup

Stir, pour over a large ice cube.
Garnish with a strip of lemon zest.

a cure for whatever ails you

we discovered the cocktail Penicillin at a laphroaig sponsored event last winter and now that's it's cold again our thoughts turned to a warming drink for a dark evening.  a little googling showed that i had none of the essential ingredients at hand but that's never stopped any project of mine.....here's an original recipe

https://www.thecocktailproject.com/drink-recipes/laphroaig-penicillin

• 2 parts Teacher's® Highland Cream Scotch Whisky
• 3/4 part fresh Lemon Juice
• 3/4 part Honey Syrup
• 3 pieces fresh Ginger, Sliced
• 1/4 part Laphroaig® 10 Year Old Whisky
• (optional for garnish) Candied Ginger

and here's my version, the Tetracycline

2 parts bourbon
3/4 part fresh lemon juice
3/4 part domaine de canton
1 piece crystallised ginger
1/4 part malt whisky

shake the first three ingredients vigorously on ice,  strain into a glass containing the ginger.  float the malt whisky on the surface.  serves one.

Same cocktail, 3 different Fernets

"OK, Google: What kind of cocktails can I make with Fernet?"

Jelínek, Branca, Vallet

We'd recently acquired 3 different kinds of Fernet, the dark, bitter, brooding herbaceous liquor: classic Branca from Italy, Jelínek from the Czech Republic, and Vallet from Mexico.

In response to our demands of the phone, Google helpfully suggested this recipe:

1.5 ounce Fernet
1.5 ounce Gin
1 ounce Sweet Vermouth
dash or Orange Bitters

We willingly complied, making the same cocktail with different Fernets. They looked different and tasted very different.

My favorite was the one with Jelínek, whose sweet edge made for a comfortable cocktail, with a pleasant sweetness balanced by appropriate bitterness. Irene's preference was for the Vallet version, whose darker moods expressed hints of Cardamom, but I found too murky.  Interestingly, neither of us chose the one with the ür-Fernet, Branca: it retained its ferocious bitterness, but with the dilution by gin it evinced more complexity than we usually experience when drinking it neat or on a single rock.

When we do this again, I'd keep the same proportions for the Jelínek, but back out the Fernet in the Branca and Vallet versions.

Mint Julep with Nitrous Oxide Cavitation

We use nitrous oxide cavitation to release the mint flavors without bruising or cooking, which would cause the mint to turn an unappealing brown and have some off flavors. I first heard of it from Dave Arnold (cited in Serious Eats); I borrowed the same technique to make a mint simple syrup from Gina Chersavani.

500 g White Sugar
500 ml Water
20 g Mint Leaves

500 ml Bourbon
20 g Mint Leaves

Heat the Sugar in the Water to dissolve, then let this simple syrup cool.
Using equal proportions by weight makes for a slightly sweeter simple syrup than doing it by volume (cups).
Put 500 ml simple syrup into an Isi whipped cream siphon with 20 g Mint Leaves;
charge with one Nitrous Oxide capsule and agitate for a couple minutes.
Release pressure, strain into container.

Put the Bourbon and its 20 g Mint Leaves into the empty Isi, charge with one Nitrous capsule, agitate for a couple minutes, release pressure, and strain into 750 ml bottle

Add 150 ml of the minty simple syrup and mix. Retain the extra syrup for other drinks.

To serve, pour a healthy shot over crushed ice.

I used mint from our garden and it's not as intense as some, so next time I'd bump up the mint in both the syrup and bourbon.

Opening Act cocktail

Pleasantly bitter from the Campari. For each:

2 oz Domaine de Canton
½ oz Campari
½ oz fresh lime juice

Shake with ice and strain into the glass.
We garnished with Irene's dehydrated orange slices.

A Tonic for the Dog Days of Summer

Steamy DC summers call for plenty of gin and tonics, but the commercial tonics are sticky sweet and not very flavorful; trendy tonics like Fever Tree and Q are tasty but cost more than the gin -- awkward. So we made our own tasty tonic base -- a syrup -- following Jeffrey Morgenthaler's updated recipe from 2014.

Since we were working on our vermouths and chinatos we had the critical Cinchona -- quinine -- in powdered form. We made a tincture of 30g to 600 ml clean cheap Frïs vodka, a bit higher concentration than he uses, and strained through a coffee filter to produce a clear copper bitter elixir.

30 g Cinchona powder (mine's a very fine powder)
600 ml Vodka (clean-tasting)

Mix well, let sit a few hours, stir, and strain through a coffee filter -- this could take an hour or more

The rest of the recipe we followed pretty closely, adding a bit more citrus because denuding a grapefruit produced a bit more than the 30 g requested, and we had a half a lime lying around. We had the citric acid from Irene's cheese making and other kitchen experiments.  It was pretty easy: simmer the aromatics with sugar and water; off heat, strain then add some of the quinine tincture. I've decreased the sugar a bit and added a little fresh ginger.

20 g Citric Acid
10 g Gentian Root
2 g Cinnamon, broken into pieces
30 g lemon zest (2 lemons)
30 g grapefruit zest (1 grapefruit)
15 g Ginger, fresh, sliced very thinly
350 g Sugar
500 ml Water

Bring the aromatics, sugar and water to boil, reduce heat, cover, simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Strain, cool.

Add 45 ml (1 1/2 ounces) of the Quinine Tincture to the cooled aromatic syrup.
Refrigerate up to 2 weeks.

Straining simmered aromatics through sieve and coffee filter

Measuring ingredients that went into the tonic syrup

For a single drink, use 1 ounce tonic syrup, 3 ounce sparkling water, 1 1/2 ounce gin. Easy.

The payoff: beautiful, fresh-tasting G-n-T.

It has a fresh citrus taste, Irene got orange right away. It's flavorful without the chemical taste of commercial tonics, and it's not nearly so sticky.  We can also adjust the taste, perhaps lightening it up with a bit more sparkling water on hotter days.  

Good stuff, not hard to make. Nice color too, but we haven't tested to see if it glows under blacklight. :-)

Merloto Chinato, a riff on Barolo Chinato dessert wine

We recently opened a bottle of Barolo Chinato, a dessert wine made of Barolo and various herbs and spices: Chinato refers to "Cinchona", the quinine used in tonic water. I think it's my new favorite drink, redolent or cherries and maybe chocolate, some herbs; on the taste, it was very full bodied, rich. These are said to go really well with chocolate, and indeed they do. This bottle, by Damilano, was pretty pricey -- $66 for 500 ml, but we liked it so much Irene got me another brand for Christmas, from Cocchi, similarly priced.

Since we've been making our own vermouth, we figured we'd have a go at making our own approximation: could we make something for $10 for 750 ml?

Two commercial and two home made, with Irene's chocolate angel food cake

Recipe

The big difference between Barolo Chinato and Vermouth (aside from red vs white wine) is that vermouth is based on the bittering agent "vermut" or wormwood, while Chinato uses Cinchona.  I soaked 30g cinchona powder in 600 ml clean but inexpensive Frïs vodka for a few hours then strained it through a coffee filter; it came out a pleasant clear copper color.

When making vermouth, I use 300 ml of bitter herbal tinctures to two 750 ml bottles of wine, so did the same thing here. I started with about 75 ml of my cinchona tincture, and added other tinctures I'd made for vermouth: rhubarb root, nutmeg, clove, bay leaf, angelica root, cinnamon, vanilla, cardamom, black walnut, fennel, juniper and others. I didn't measure these for this first experiment.

For my vermouth, I make a caramel, cooking to 188C/370F, but this one got away from me and came out a bit darker with a more burnt edge than usual.

I wanted to try an experiment so I split the 1800 ml of wine and tinctures into two jugs. To the first, I added the caramel (200 g sugar to 60 g water), and to the second I added agave syrup (133 g because it's 50% sweeter than sugar).

Tasting

We let them sit overnight to chill with the commercial bottles in the fridge, then did a blind taste test in the morning when our tastebuds were fresh. I lettered the bottoms of the glasses so I could determine which was which, then randomized them and assigned the fronts numbers so we could take notes. We served with this some of Irene's chocolate angel food cake. Our notes are below, and we reveal which is which.

Caramel: partly cloudy, caramel edge, perhaps slight burnt note, herbal.
Agave: cloudy, cinnamon; brighter and more winey than the caramel one.
Damilano: clear, brownish; fruity smell, thick body, taste of cherry pits, perhaps chocolate, maybe licorice.
Cocchi: clear, ruby; no fruit aroma, some woody aroma; fruity taste, caramel and wood flavors.

Of the four, I preferred the Damilano -- the fruit aroma was seductive; Irene preferred the Cocchi. We both preferred the caramel homemade to the agave one, but maybe the burnt taste was a bit too burnt. The commercial ones had thicker bodies that felt right for an after dinner drink, a digestivo.

Next Time

I'd use caramel next time but back down the color to my normal 188C/370F temperature; I might try another split batch, using honey instead of agave, since it will bring some flavor to the mix. I really love the fruit aroma in Damilano so I'd add bitter orange peel, maybe some crushed cherry pits, perhaps licorice root. The sweet spices remind me too much of mulled wine, so I'd back down the cinnamon and cloves to a barely perceptible level. I'd probably use a more heavy bodied wine, but to keep the cost in check, go with something like a California ancient vine Zinfandel, or maybe one of the affordable Ripassos from Trader Joe's.

There are some recipes for homemade versions on the interwebs including Stefan's with a reference to an Italian one from 1932, and a "secret" recipe that shows photos of the ingredients list. The handwritten secret recipe uses coriandoli (coriander), garofani (carnation flowers), quassia, noce moscata (nutmeg), and vanilla, in addition to the requisite Barolo, cinchona and sugar. Two of these use raisins, cocoa beans and elderberry so I might add cocoa nibs, raisins and elderberry flowers.

I might also try oak aging it by letting it rest on some oak chips for a week to round out the flavor.

Ginger Beer #1

I really like a spicy ginger beer, not the alcoholic one, the soda. Most are insipid or sickly sweet or both; some fake the spice with chili! The best I've come across is DG from Jamaica but Goslings (of the Rum fame) makes one now that's good. We made one years ago but it was difficult and messy. Bartender Jeffrey Morganthaler has a good write up on how he does it, including an instant one using an iSi soda siphon, which we just happen to have. It turned out well but we'll tweak it for the next batch. Here's our first take on his recipe, using the iSi.

1 ounce Ginger juice (see below)
2 ounces Lemon Juice, finely strained
3 ounces Mint Simple Syrup
10 ounces Ice Water

I took a "hand" of fresh ginger, scraped most of the skin off with the edge of a spoon, cut it up, and juiced it with a juice extractor we got from FreeCycle -- much easier than using a MicroPlane!  Juice a lemon and strain with a fine strainer to remove pulp. At this point, the liquid changed from a slightly green-brown from the ginger to a light salmony pink from the acid. Irene pointed out it was the color of sushi ginger -- exactly.

We had made mint simple syrup for cocktails so added that rather than plain simple syrup. For force carbonation, the liquid needs to be cold so we used ice water.

Add all the ingredients to the iSi, straining once more since lemon juice can foam up and bits of skin can clog the siphon's dispenser. For our 1.0L siphon (0.5L liquid volume) we used one CO2 charger, shook well, and let chill in the fridge for a half hour.

To serve, invert and dispense into iced glasses, and enjoy. After our initial taste test, we added some rum -- white for Irene, white with a touch of molasses-y black for me -- and had a variation on a Dark and Stormy.

What Worked, What Didn't

This wasn't as fiery-gingery as we'd like. Next time, bump up the ginger to 1.5 ounces. 

We might try freezing the ginger hand before extracting: some vegetables and fruits break down when their cells freeze and exude their juices when they thaw -- this might make the extraction more efficient.

For 2-4 drinks, this was a fair amount of work. Just setting up and cleaning the juice extractor was a lot of overhead. Next time, we'd use Morganthaler's preferred method of force carbonating a large batch with a CO2 cylinder and a clever Liquid Bread soda bottle adapter -- which we also happen to have. 

Black Pepper Vodka #2

I'm finally writing this down because we got the proportions right this time. Last time, it was so peppery -- even with a full bottle of vodka -- I had to add a second bottle to make it drinkable. And it was still a potent, fiery brew.  Despite the challenge, our guests gulped down all 1.5L in one evening and have been asking for more. This is for them.

TL;DR: crack pepper corns, soak in vodka 2 days, strain, serve chilled: bracing.

20 grams Black Pepper corns, cracked
750 ml Vodka, clean tasting

The vodka should be clean tasting, not cheap and rough, but you don't need to spend much: Luksusova (Polish, potato), Fris (Danish, wheat), and Sobieski (Polish, rye) are all a little over $20 for 1.5L at our local state-run liquor store monopoly. I joke that they're "utlity vodkas" because I use them to extract flavors for tinctures, amaros, limoncello, etc,  but these are all quite drinkable on their own; not special, like Tito's vodka, but fine quality, and I wouldn't use Tito's for this as it has too much of its own flavor.

Crack the Black Pepper corns; no, you can't use a pepper shaker full of that gray dust you liberated from the diner. Pepper corns have a pungency and earthiness you need. I use a mortar and pestle; if you don't have that, put them in a zip-top baggie and crush with a rolling pin, a booze bottle, or similar. You don't want powder, just to expose the flavorful white interior.

Add the Pepper Corns to the Vodka. Wait a couple days, giving it a swirl when you see it getting lonely.

Strain into a bottle for serving or storing, if it lasts that long.

Serve chilled, straight.  Or use for a killer Bloody Mary:  our last batch was turned into Bloody Mary's with a heavy-handed 2:1 homemade mixer to vodka ratio, so nice all 2.25L disappeared in one brunch.

Moral of the story: make more than you think you will ever need. It probably won't be enough. It's inexpensive and doesn't "go off".

Barrel-Aged Negroni, Manhattan Cocktails

Irene got me a couple oak barrels so we're barrel-aging some of our favorite cocktails: the Negroni and Manhattan. The hardest part is waiting! Newer wood and smaller barrels impart more flavor, older and larger take longer. We'll try them after 2 weeks. Both use our home made vermouth.

The Negroni's a bitter and bracing concoction, not sweet and sharp enough to have another and another. It's easy to make, even when drunk, since the proportions are 1:1:1.

We used the 1L cask, so:

• 325 ml Vermouth (use a tasty one, not an insipid one)
• 325 ml Campari
• 325 ml Gin (a tasty one, but not so refined you should drink it neat)

Mix and pour into the barrel.

The Manhattan is a classic, but I never cared for them until I used a really flavorful Vermouth. The Makers Mark bourbon is surprisingly inexpensive, more so than the rot gut you should never drink, but not so dear as the comparable Woodford, Basil Haden, etc.  We use some juice from Maraschino-style cherries we made, it rounds it out. For 2 Liters:

• 1350 ml Bourbon
• 450 ml Vermouth (tasty)
• 150 ml Cherry Juice

Vermouth #3 with Garbage Barge Amaro

Our previous Vermouth used 16 different tinctures of herbs macerated in vodka; we strained out and saved the herbs, and put them in more vodka in a batch -- it's extracted plenty of flavor. For this vermouth, I wanted something quick, so instead of the tinctures, I just used this "garbage barge amaro" -- no careful measuring.  It turned out well.

400 g Sugar
120 g Water
1500 ml White Wine (Bota box pinot grigio)
300 ml Garbage Barge Amaro vodka

Make caramel by heating Sugar and Water until it hits 370F/188C; don't stir or anything.
Pour out onto Silpat or other nonstick sheet; a Teflon skillet works.
Allow to cool and set up a bit, but you don't have to wait until it's brittle.

While the caramel is cooking...

Combine Wine and Amaro in a 3 L container.

When the Caramel has set up a bit, or become brittle, roll up or shatter the caramel into the bucket of Wine and Amaro. 

Cover and let dissolve over night.

Makes slightly over 2 Liters of Vermouth. I topped up with a bit more wine to bring it up to fill 3 750 ml bottles, 2250 ml total.

Chill and serve, perhaps over ice, or with a spritz of soda water, or use to make fabulous Manhattans or gin martinis.

Vermouth #2 with Tinctures

We got hooked on Vermouth in Barcelona, a tasty nip served chilled, sometimes with a spritz of seltzer, with an orange peel and frequently an olive. A bit of sweetness balanced by herbaceous bitterness, a mild 15% alcohol, refreshing and perfect for a long afternoon -- and much more interesting than the insipid stuff you find in liquor stores. Many were artisanal, made locally. We had to try it.

We made one a while back but for this one we used a different approach. We made 17 tinctures of various botanicals, some from the garden (bay leaves), with exotic ones ordered online including the critical wormwood ("Wermut", in German) and gentian for bitterness. We soaked these in a clean, affordable vodka (Sobieski here, but I'd be fine with Luksusowa or Frïs) for a month, then strained through a fine mesh sieve and returned to their jars. This allows us to tweak the profile even after mixing a batch, something our previous bulk process did not. See the table below for proportion of botanical and vodka, then the amount of the tincture we added to the wine for the finished vermouth.

I first made a caramel, going for a bit lighter color than last time because Irene said it tasted too burnt (I thought it was fine, playing off the bitterness of the herbs).  Combine 200 g sugar and 67 g water, and bring to boil.

I broke a cardinal rule of pastry chefs and caused crystallization. Fortunately, I wasn't making a sauce, so I kept stirring after the water evaporated and let the chunks melt into a caramel.

The recipe I was starting from suggested a final temperature of about 185C/365F so I watched it with a Thermapen.

When it reached temperature (or go by color, a orangey maple syrup shade) pour it out onto a non-stick sheet like a Silpat and let it set up until hard and glass-like.

Heat 125 ml of wine gently and add the broken up caramel, stir until it dissolves. I tried to keep the temperature below the boiling point of alcohol (78C/173F) so I didn't lose the good stuff. This was achingly slow, so I bumped up the heat, comforted by the fact that the tinctures would add back precious alcohol.

While the wine syrup cooled, I measured out the tinctures with syringes; you could weigh them too with a small scale accurate to 0.5 g or so.

Botanical	g botanical for tincture	ml vodka for tincture	% (g/ml) tincture	ml tincture in vermouth
angelica root	20	200	10	15
bay leaves	10	100	10	15
black cardamom	20	100	20	1
cinnamon	20	100	20	8
clove	20	100	20	0.5
coriander	20	100	20	15
gentian root	20	200	10	2
juniper	20	100	20	15
nutmeg	20	100	20	5
bitter orange peel	40	200	20	15
vanilla	7	100	7	5
wormwood	20	200	10	4
black walnut shell	20	200	10	5
fennel	20	100	20	1
ginger	40	100	40	5
mace	10	100	10	5
rhubarb root	20	200	10	5

I added another 375ml wine and the wine syrup, then declared victory.

This batch has more body, more mouthfeel, and the caramel flavor is more caramel-ly and less burned than our first attempt. It tastes more like the vermouth we indulged in while in Barcelona.

Next time...

The dissolving of the caramel glass into the wine is tedious. Next time I think I'll put all the wine (125 + 375 = 500ml) into a jar, add the caramel shards, and hold in a water bath just below the boiling point until it dissolved of its own accord. Then I'd add the tinctures, to avoid any further loss to the angel's share.

Oh, so what did we do with all the seeds and stems, leaves and twigs, shells and roots from our tinctures? They have intense smells, and I bet a lot of intense flavor left in them. I collected them all in a jar and added enough clean vodka to cover. In a month, it should turn out to be a "garbage barge" amaro -- a bitter digestif. We've made these before, with intentional flavor profiles (e.g., "sweet" spices like for the winter holidays) and liked them. We'll see how this one turns out with all its random flavors.

Vermouth #1

We drank a lot of vermouth in Spain: all the restaurants were selling it, the wine shops had barrels of local wine and artisanal vermouth, even late-night walk-up dives sold it by the large glass. It was a great way to take a break or start a meal. There were bottles of Spanish vermouth at the grocery store for not much money, and many bars sold locally-produced artisanal vermouths at very reasonable prices. At about 15% alcohol, it's just a bit more than wine-strength, so no big deal -- especially as it was usually served on ice, and sometimes brightened with a bit of sparkling water from a soda siphon.

The recipes I'm seeing have two variations: steep spices and herbs in boiling wine, or make a vodka-based tincture of the aromatics separately then add. Some boost the alcohol with sherry, and the booze in the tinctures will bump it up of course. Most add sugar for body, typically by creating a caramel to provide more depth of flavor. This first one uses the quick, direct boiling method, but you don't want to boil long and drive off the alcohol.

As Wikipedia says: "The name "vermouth" is the French pronunciation of the German word Wermut for wormwood that has been used as an ingredient in the drink over its history." I got the wormwood and other exotic aromatics online, and have used them to make amaros in the past.

To calculate the alcohol: 750ml * 13% + 150ml * 40% = 157ml alcohol in a volume of 900ml, so 157/900 = 17.5% alcohol.

Ingredients

750 ml Pino Grigio wine (Bota Box, 13%)
1 g Wormwood
0.5 g Gentian root
0.5 g Rhubarb root
4 g Bitter Orange peel (dried)
0.5 g Bay Leaf
0.5 g Clove
0.5 g Coriander
0.5 g Juniper berries

200 g Sugar
60 ml Water

150 ml Vodka (40%)

Wine and Botanicals

Crush the herbs and spices in a mortar and pestle.
Add to the wine and bring to a simmer.
Turn off heat, cover, and let steep until cool.
Steep refrigerated overnight.
Strain the wine through a coffee filter to remove herbs.

Caramel 

Add sugar and Water to pot and make a caramel, I went to a rich copper color for flavor.
Pour out onto a non-stick Silpat sheet and allow to cool and set into a glassy texture.

Crack and shatter the caramel glass into vodka.

Heat the Vodka gently to help dissolve the caramel shards; keep the heat below the boiling point of alcohol (80C/176F). I had problems with this so added the flavored wine and vodka/caramel to a jar then set that in a 57C/135F water bath to heat gently until dissolved.

Chill, serve over ice with an orange peel garnish and a meaty olive.

Impressions

Irene thinks the caramel went a bit too far to dark, that a burnt sugar edge comes through. I think it's got a slightly too-bitter edge that may come from wormwood or gentian, and not enough complexity from the other aromatics. But it was pretty easy.

Daily Dinner #2

Shannon challenged us to post our regular, day-to-day dinners. We'll try and do them in weekly batches. 

This week was a bit unusual as we had colleagues staying with us to work on a big software project, so we went out more than we normally would. 

2015-07-19 Sunday

We brined an Amish chicken from the market in a 3% solution (e.g., 1 Liter water to 30 g kosher salt) overnight. The brine keeps it moist, seasons it, and the breast bones keep the heat from drying out the meat. We cut out the spine so we can "spatchcock" it, allowing us to lay it flat over the coals. We also remove the wing tips for stock, and reserve the wings and drummettes to make Buffalo style chicken wings sometime in the future. 

We took the brined chicken out the next day, drained it, then let it sit in the fridge to dry out the skin a bit. I painted it with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika, and repeated this once on the fire. 

Cook it skin side up, breast bones down, until done all the way through. The dark meat gets a bit closer to the heat, the white meat is well protected, so they get done to the right temperatures about the same time; you want the dark meat cooked to a higher temperature than the white meat. When cooked through, I turned it upside down to crisp up the skin a bit.  In the background, we have some garden cherry tomatoes heating through.

Once off the grill, we divide the chicken up into the constituent pieces: separate the legs from the breasts and divide into drumstick and thigh; cut the breast down the center, then divide into front and back portions. 

We served the chicken on a bed of arugula, radicchio, sorrel and oak leaf lettuce that's coming into its own in the garden. 

Irene made a potato salad from new potatoes we picked up at the farmers market, dressed with mayonnaise liberated from various lunch counters, capers, horseradish, vinegar, oil, chives, spring onions, and mint from the garden.

This turned out very well, the brine allowed us some leeway in our cooking, but kept it moist and flavorful. I couldn't get as much crunch as I'd like in the skin, I think I let the coals die down too much. 

The wine was from Chateau Costco, a Marlborough sauvignon blanc that was quite decent for the price. The blue glasses have fizzy water we make, adding a bit of epsom salts to our tap water to get a mineral profile similar to that of Apollinaris, then force carbonate with gear I used to use for homebrewing.

2015-07-20 Monday

Irene was cooking crawfish and grits so Chris decided to do a New Orleans cocktail, the classic Sazerac. We went old school, with brandy instead of the modern rye, and used pre-post-prohibition Absinthe we brought from Spain (the real spirit containing wormwood was illegal in most countries, including the U.S. at the time, the modern stuff eschews wormwood), and Peychaud's bitters from New Orleans, muddled with a sugar cube.  It has the class of a Manhattan but a bit sweeter, with the distinctive Absinthe aroma. A great cocktail! 

Sauté the onions and garlic with thyme, add garden tomatillos, cook down to release a bit of liquid.

Then add crayfish/crawdads/mudbugs and cook through. Season with some vinegar-based hot sauce to taste. 

We served it with leftover grits, plumped with the corn we got from the farmers market this weekend.

I get a kick out of a nicely laid-out table, including old-school napkin presentation. 

2015-07-21 Tuesday

Hot days call for a Caipirinha, the Brazilian cocktail featuring Cachaça; I prefer the assertiveness of Pitu brand over the dainty smooth ones. We're a bit heavy-handed and use 3 ounces Cachaça, two tablespoons of Sugar, and one lime per person.  

Muddle limes with sugar to extract flavor from the skins, add the booze, shake on ice, strain, serve. 

We made some chorizo from pork loin we'd cold smoked. The smell and taste were great but the lean meat didn't have quite the right texture. We cooked 'em up with new potatoes, leveraging the fat that came off the sausages.

We served these with roma beans from the garden, steamed then sautéed with a bit of the fat left in the skillet.

2015-07-22 Wednesday

We don't go to Cowboy Cafe every Wednesday for 50-cent wings, but we've got geeks over to sprint on a big software project, so beer and wings seemed like just the right thing for a late dinner. These are the Edgar-style wings, with a great crusty exterior.

 Don't forget to eat your vegetables.

2015-07-24 Thursday

Irene picked up some quality ribeye steaks from Costco while the geeks toiled in the basement. While we were prepping dinner, I made a variation on a Manhattan with Temtation bourbon, Vya Vermouth (flavorful, full-bodied, from California), and a homemade maraschino-style cherry. 

Irene built a big fire (hardwood charcoal, of course). We dropped the grates as low as we could to get an intense sear, and when they were nearly done, moved them well off the heat to rest before cutting them up.

We also grilled up some garden zucchini and bush beans, mushrooms, and grilled some of my bread.

Left to right, Charles, Earl, Reed, and Irene, finally getting dinner at 10pm.

2015-07-24 Friday

The gang's still here, hacking code til late, so we ran out to the Lebanese Tavern. It was a really pleasant night so we were able to sit outside.  We started with some interesting cocktails (Beirut Mule, with Arak instead of Vodka), with some freshly made and delicious pita.  Entres were rare lamb, well roasted lamb, and roasted chicken. I stupidly forgot to take pictures, the rare lamb was gorgeous. Roasted lamb, from a Yelp posting:

We then stayed up way too late drinking through a bunch nice booze: Temptation bourbon and Redemption rye, smooth Jura and smoky Bowmore single malt whisky.

2015-07-25 Saturday

We continued to work straight through dinner time, then went out to Janet's rooftop party on Capitol Hill. Irene made phyllo pastry stuffed with arugula pesto -- crunchy and rich from the butter and filling. Below, they're chilling before baking.

It was a perfect night, with killer views. The U.S. Capitol's undergoing renovation and the scaffolding makes it look pixelated, like it's built from legos.