Making Spirits Bright: Tales of the Toddy

Last night I was lucky enough to attend Tales of the Toddy at the W on Poydras Street, and darned if the event didn’t warm my cockles just a little.

For y’all who don’t know, Tales of the Toddy (put on by Tales of the Cocktail and the New Orleans Culinary and Cocktail Preservation Society) was a giant cocktail party designed to ring in the holiday season and give local bartenders a venue to show off their winter-suitable creations. Proceeds also went to benefit the New Orleans Musician’s Assistance Foundation, which is, of course, a good thing.

Here are the bartenders who were there:

Arnaud’s French 75 • Chris Hannah

Carousel Bar • Marvin Allen

Coquette • Cole Newton

Crescent City School of Bartending •  Stahili Glover

Cure • Rhiannon Enlil

Cure • Neal Bodenheimer

Domenica • Michael Glassberg

Dos Jefes • Talia Neal

Irvin Mayfield’s Jazz Playhouse • Tiffany Soles

Ritz Carlton • Daniel Victory

Whiskey Blue • Lisa Nahay

Pernod Ricard USA • Chris Patino

Iris Restaurant • Sharon Floyd

And a Bottle of Rum: A History of the New World in Ten Cocktails author • Wayne Curtis

And the chefs:

a Mano • Chefs Joshua Smith and Adolfo Garcia

Arnaud’s • Chef Tommy Di Giovanni

Boucherie • Chef Nathanial Zimet

Creole Creamery • Chef Bryan Gilmore

Cure • Chef Jason McCullar

Jackson Restaurant • Chef John Bolderson

La Cote Brassierie • Chef Chuck Subra

Pelican Club • Chef Richard Hughes

Squeal Barbeque • Brendan, Patrick and Eugene “Gene” Young

Tomatillo’s • Alaina Stokke

ZOE • Chef Chris Brown

Royal House Oyster Bar

Now,  I will admit that I didn’t take notes last night, so unfortunately I won’t be able to provide detailed descriptions of most of the drinks. I was on a lady-date with my friend Tattoo, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, and figured quality time trumped bloggy time. We did have a blast, if that makes up for my lack of studiousness.

Most of the cocktail sponsors were blatantly obvious– there were a LOT of drinks made with Absolut vodka, Hendrick’s gin, and Sazerac rye. Now, I don’t consider myself a vodka fan (although I will admit to a Salty Dog or two if I’m at a dive bar and the weather is warm) but both of my favorite cocktails last night turned out to be vodka-based.

The big surprise of the evening was The Stubborn Mule by Marvin Allen of the Carousel Bar consisting of Absolut vanilla, Absolut 100, Fentiman’s ginger beer, and lime. Now this sounds pretty tasty and refreshing, so Tattoo and I bellied up and got one, but when he handed us our cups, the drinks were warm. We looked at each other, first with surprise, then with incredulity, because the prospect of warm vodka appealed to neither of us. Never ones to back down from a cocktail, though, we took our first hesitant sips, and lo, it was good. Mostly lime at the front, with some mild ginger coming out. After eating taking a bite of spicy food, however, the vanilla really shone through, and we each contemplated getting another round.

We couldn’t do that, though– there was too much else to drink! Warm cocktails with tea and Nocello (Lisa Nahay of Whiskey Blue‘s Mad Hatter’s Toddy), cold ones with rye, pear liqueur, Averna, and celery bitters (Neal Bodenheimer of Cure’s Axis of Everything), and punches with gin and absinthe (Rhiannon Enlil of Cure).

Stahili Glover’s Grey Pear proved to be the hands-down favorite of several people I spoke with, and I am inclined to agree. It straddled the line between refreshing and comforting, so it’d be just as good on a hot afternoon in July as it was on a cold December evening. Fruity and unctuous, but not cloying, I’m still fantasizing about it this morning.

Mr. Glover is from the Crescent City School of Bartending and was gracious enough to share his recipe, which you’ll find at the bottom of the post.

Of course, if the planners of the event had only provided booze, they would have ended up with a lot of sloppy people in sparkly clothes on their hands, so they rounded up representatives of some of the city’s best restaurants to provide some sustenance. Duck empanadas from Jason McCullar at Cure and some truly delish pulled pork and corn grits from Squeal Barbeque stood out in particular as good comfort food on a chilly night. Tattoo and I finished things off with pear sorbet and ginger ice cream from Chef Bryan Gilmore of Creole Creamery.

After having our fill of goodies, we found ourselves considerably jollier than when we arrived, and capped off the night with a walk through the winter wonderland that is Fulton Street in December.

Not enough alcohol had been imbibed that we tried to catch the fake snow on our tongues, but I’ll admit the thought did cross my mind. (photo via)

Grey Pear

by Stahili Glover

INGREDIENTS

1 oz. Grey Goose La Poire vodka

1 tsp. honey

2 dashes vanilla extract

3 oz. peach nectar

pear slice for garnish

RECIPE

1. Mix vodka and honey in a mixing glass with one pear slice, add 2 dashes vanilla extract, a little ice, and shake for 30 seconds.

2. Pour into a large rocks or collins glass, top with 3 oz. peach nectar, and garnish with a pear slice.

Beautiful and delicious!

A Little More Ojen

This is an older version of an Ojen bottle, found in a Katrina-ravaged building. Pretty lovely, I must say. For a photo of the newest/last ever bottle in which Ojen was packaged  and some more info on the drink itself, here’s my original post on the subject.

A Brief History of Ojen

(photo by Brother O’Mara)

Cocktail Recipe: Tequila-Cucumber Highball

(photo by lafille)

While it’s fun fun fun to try all kinds of different cocktails at bars, when it comes to mixing at home, I tend not to vary a whole lot. This spring and summer, for example, has been mainly Dark and Stormys, Mint Juleps, and Margaritas.

Now I’ve got another refreshing libation to add to my summertime repertoire.

Thanks to Rhiannon at Cure, I’ve been introduced to the deliciosity of cucumber cocktails and now I can’t stop making my version of her version of Dale DeGroff’s Anejo Highball. DeGroff’s original didn’t contain cucumber, but Rhiannon adapted it to include some, and the thing I came up with in the kitchen today, while not exactly what she made me, is utterly delightful. If it didn’t contain a heady dose of Cuervo, I’d be drinking it constantly. As it is, I’ll try to limit it to cocktail hour.

Plus our garden is overrun with cucumbers and I’m delighted to find something to do with all of them!

Tequila-Cucumber Highball à lafille

2-3 inch hunk of cucumber, chopped
Juice from ½ a lime
½ oz. simple syrup
1 ½ oz. tequila
1 oz. soda water

Muddle cucumber, lime juice, and simple syrup in glass. Pack with ice, top with tequila and soda. Drink on the front porch.

Birthday Treats

Yesterday Brother O’Mara had a birthday, and for said birthday, I decided to jump on the bandwagon (albeit rather late) and make some cupcakes. They’ve been super-trendy for ages, but until now I’d only eaten and not baked them. I decided on a couple recipes from my favorite magazine, Imbibe: Chocolate Stout (I used Young’s) and Coconut Tequila, both of which turned out so incredibly well that we had to take them all to work this morning so we wouldn’t eat only cupcakes all weekend.

Recipes below the photos.

Chocolate, beer, sugar, and cream cheese. Yes please.

Though they were already cool by the time they hit the windowsill, it’s still pretty idyllic, no?

This is the presentation to which Brother O’Mara came home.

MAKE THEM FOR YOURSELF AND YOUR LOVED ONES TODAY!

Chocolate Stout Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

makes 24

INGREDIENTS

12 oz. stout beer (they called for Guinness, I used Young’s)

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract

3 large eggs

3/4 c. sour cream

3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa, plus more for garnish

2 1/2 c. sugar

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

for the frosting:

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened

1 c. heavy cream

1 1/2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar (I used less and got a more liquidy frosting)

RECIPE

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine the beer, melted butter and vanilla. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the sour cream.

2. In another large bowl, whisk together the cocoa, sugar, flour, and baking soda. Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet beer mixture.

3. Divide batter among 24 buttered or papered muffin tins and bake 25 minutes, until risen and set in the middle but still soft and tender.

4. To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese in a bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the heavy cream, then slowly mix in the confectioners’ sugar.

5. After cupcakes have cooled, top each one with a heap of frosting and a dusting of cocoa.

from the Nov/Dec 2006 issue

Coco Loco Tequila Cupcakes

makes 24

INGREDIENTS

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

large pinch of salt

1 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 c. unsweetened coconut milk

2 tbsp. fresh grated ginger

1 tsp. coconut extract

1/4 c. tequila (I used what was on hand, Cuervo Gold)

1/2 c. buttermilk (I didn’t have any so substituted 1/2 c. milk mixed with 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar — gross, but it works)

1 c. shredded sweetened coconut

for the frosting

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature

2 tbsp. unsweetened coconut milk

2 tbsp. tequila

2 tsp. coconut extract

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

shredded sweetened coconut for garnish

RECIPE

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl and mixing well after each addition.

2. Add coconut milk, ginger, and coconut extract and beat for one minute at high speed. In a measuring pitcher, stir together tequila and buttermilk. Add dry ingredients in three batches to egg mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture in two batches, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and mixing well after each addition. Fold in the shredded coconut.

3. Fill each cupcake tin (you buttered or papered them, right?) about three-fourths full with batter and bake until a toothpick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean, 20-25 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting.

4. Meanwhile, to make the frosting, beat cream cheese on high speed until smooth. With mixer on high, slowly add coconut milk, tequila, and coconut extract. Continue beating until thoroughly combined and smooth, about five minutes. Add confectioners’ sugar and continue beating on high speed, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl.

5. Frost cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with shredded coconut.

from the May/June 2009 issue

(all photos by lafille)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER O’MARA!

Public Service Announcement

Someone has purchased the last 6 bottles of Ojen at Martin Metairie. So if you still haven’t found any, don’t go there.

Friday Night Food- Hitting the Ground Running

I picked up mon pere (henceforth to be known as Cap’n Will, as per his request) from the airport early Friday evening and met Brother O’Mara back home for a cocktail before dinner. The Cap’n put down his bags while we opened a bottle of Spanish white wine and chilled out for a few minutes. Soon enough though, the call of the city became too much for our bellies to ignore and we headed over to the first place on Papa’s food to-do list, the Parkway Tavern.

I’ve extolled upon Parkway’s virtues before, so I’ll cut right to the chase. As always, the po’boys were terrific. Cap’n Will had the Surf’n'Turf–roast beef and fried shrimp on the same sandwich– Brother O’Mara had hot ham and cheese, and I had the barbecued beef, all dressed. Papa was super-pleased, and Yours Truly may have found her new favorite sandwich. Their barbecue sauce is fantastic: thick and sweet and a little spicy and oh-so-messy–just the way it should be.

In a modern day Good Friday miracle, my clothing managed to remain unsoiled by barbecue and we headed over to visit our friends at the New Orleans Creative Glass Institute to watch some rock and roll glassblowing for a few minutes. They have free demos semi-regularly, and I strongly urge y’all to drop by some Friday night and take a look. They are doing some truly beautiful work over there.

After digesting our sammiches a little bit, we walked over to Angelo Brocato, the Italian pastry and gelato shop on North Carrollton.

This is a perennial favorite for Brother O’Mara and I, and all visitors are required to partake in its confectionary joys. Usually Brother O’Mara gets a pastry while I go for gelato, but we were all three feeling the ice cream that evening: Stracciatella (Italian chocolate chip), mint chocolate chip, and Sicilian pistachio, to be precise. All three were terrific, but I specifically loved the pistachio–it was much less sweet than any other pistachio ice cream or gelato I’ve had, even the pistachio-almond they serve alongside it at Brocato. Sometimes sweet things can be too much for me, so it’s always exciting to find a dessert that combines sweet with savory, salty, spicy, or sour. Sicilian pistachio definitely brings a little salty to the table.

Feeling not-quite-uncomfortably stuffed, we headed home for a nightcap. The menfolk had fun comparing Herbsaint with Ojen and making cocktails thereof, whilst I enjoyed a Dark and Stormy with Regatta Ginger Beer and Gosling’s Black Seal Rum.

Cap’n Will was immensely pleased with the gastronomic delights of the evening, and we made it an early night in order to prepare both mentally and physically for the epicurean olympics in store for us on Saturday.

Nom.

Cocktail Ephemera

Caption: THE FAMOUS “H.C. RAMOS*GIN FIZZ SALOON”–NEW ORLEANS

From an article about the history of the gin fizz at the Chanticleer Society’s website.

Heading Uptown for Cure

Cure is a bar that’s recently opened Uptown on the corner of Freret and Upperline. Now, I’m not a big fan of just going to bars, but I heard Cure was a place where they really focus on crafting quality cocktails, not pumping out Hurricanes for drunken tourists, so my Cure-iosity (thank you, I’ll be here all week) was definitely piqued.

We went around 6pm on a Friday evening and sat at the bar. Ricky greeted us and made our first round of drinks– a Sazerac for Brother O’Mara and a Ramos Fizz for myself. I loved watching him construct our cocktails–he clearly takes pride in what he does. Once we had our exquisite libations in hand, we were able to sit back and examine both the menu and the bar itself.

The Bar at Cure

Brother O’Mara’s Sazerac

Ricky told us that the owners had purchased the building in a dilapidated state and redone every inch of the place. They have truly done a beautiful job, from the polished bar to the atmospheric lighting, to the oasis-like patio outside. The place is both decorated and run with loads of style.

The food menu consists of a selection of small plates clearly meant to compliment the cocktails rather than overshadow them. A salad, a couple of panini-style sandwiches, poached pears with Serrano ham. Brother O’Mara and I settled on the cheese plate and the cured meat plate. We got a more than satisfactory spread:

Cheese plate: Chef’s selection of cheeses, we got Manchego, Mimolette, and Maytag Blue, accompanied by dates and tasty spiced almonds.

Meat plate: Sliced Spanish chorizo and Serrano ham with marinated olives and cornichons.

We spoke briefly with either the owner or the manager about the cocktail menu and he told us how they like to rotate it every couple of weeks. Another bartender, Rhiannon, explained that they do a combination of original drinks invented by the staff and classic cocktails with contemporary twists. As far as beer and wine, the selection is very limited, but very interesting and well-chosen at the same time.

Rhiannon was a gracious hostess and extremely patient with our questions. During our conversations with her about different cocktails and liquors, she inspired our choices for the second round of drinks. Brother O’Mara decided on a Dark and Stormy and I couldn’t resist Rhiannon’s description of The Last Word, made with gin, chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice (recipes at the bottom of the page, natch).

Rhiannon hard at work.

Two drinks were enough for each of us–any more and we wouldn’t be able to appreciate them for the works of art that they were. We finished up and bid our adieus to Rhiannon, relaxed and incredibly pleased with our experience at Cure.

Cure is located at 4905 Freret Street, right on the corner of Upperline. Keep your eyes open, as there is not a sign outside.

(all photos by Brother O’Mara)

Today’s cocktail recipes:

The Sazerac
1/2 tsp. absinthe or Herbsaint (Ricky–simply and ingeniously–misted the glass with absinthe)
1 tsp. simple syrup
4 dashes Peychaud Bitters
2 oz. rye whisky
lemon peel

Stir the rye, bitters, and simple syrup with ice and strain into absinthe-coated glass. Garnish with lemon.

Ramos Gin Fizz
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1/2 oz fresh lime juice
1 egg white
1 tsp sugar
2 oz gin
1/2 oz cream
2-3 dashes orange flower water

Shake all ingredients for a good while in a shaker without ice, to get everything nice and frothy. Add ice and shake some more to get it cold. Strain into a glass and top with soda water.

Dark and Stormy
2 oz. dark rum (specifically Gosling’s Black Seal)
3 oz. ginger beer (traditionally Barrit’s, but I think they use Regatta at Cure)

Make as a highball and garnish with a lime wedge.

The Last Word
3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. lime juice
3/4 oz. green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. maraschino liqueur

Shake well with ice and strain into a glass.

Classic New Orleans: A Brief History of Ojen

Yesterday, Brother O’Mara brought home a Very Special Treat: a bottle of Ojen. He’s been talking about it for a while now, and as he mixed the fiery beverage with water, a la louche, his excitement was palpable.

(photo by Brother O’Mara)

Ojen is an aguardiente from the eponymous village in the province of Malaga, Spain. Aguardiente is a portmanteau of the Spanish words for water (agua) and burning (ardiente), and is the generic reference for an alcoholic drink between 29 and 60 percent alcohol. Aguardiente de Ojen is flavored with anise and thus, like absinthe, creates a louche when mixed with water. When the two combine, the anise oils emulsify and disperse evenly throughout the water, creating the milky-looking liquid pictured above.

Luckily, last weekend’s absinthe tasting was still fresh in my mind, so I recalled enough to be able to roughly compare their flavors. In researching this article, I was surprised to find that Obsello Absinthe actually contains more alcohol than Ojen—100-proof as compared with Ojen’s 80-proof—as the Ojen had much more of that throat-burny quality. I would have put money on it being higher in alcohol. Shows what I know. Both drinks, when prepared a la louche, have that nice powdery mouthfeel, but the Ojen is much sweeter. Maybe it has to do with the fact that unlike absinthe, it contains no wormwood. Overall, I’d say absinthe is much more subtle, while Ojen is pretty in-your-face. I guess that’s why tradition recommends “una copita de Ojen”—who knows what would happen if you drank more than that.

A very famous Malagueño included Ojen in one of his still lives:

(painting by Picasso)

Now you might be thinking, “All of this information is very well and good, chere fille, but why are you spending all this energy writing about Ojen when you’re not even the world’s biggest fan of anise-flavored liquors?”

I thought you’d never ask.

Turns out that New Orleans and Ojen have a Very Special Relationship. And by that I mean that New Orleans (and specifically Martin Wine Cellar) is home to pretty much the only Ojen left in the world.

Here’s the story:

Ojen gained popularity in New Orleans in the early/mid-20th Century and soon became indispensible, especially during Mardi Gras. The Ojen Cocktail became the official drink of the Krewe of Rex, and it was a staple in many a family liquor cabinets. Apparently, denizens of the Crescent City drank more Ojen than anyone else in the entire world.

Back in Spain, the last scion of the Morales family distillery (who had been producing Ojen since around 1830) died, purposely taking the recipe with him. The history of this period is a little sketchy, but at some later point Manuel Fernandez, S.A. began producing a similar product under the same name. This is “White Label” Ojen that we are familiar with now, and what you can buy at Martin.

The story gets better though. Apparently, New Orleanians didn’t drink enough Ojen to keep the producer in business. Sometime in the late 1980’s, Fernandez announced it was shutting down, thus threatening to leave our city bereft of the tasty aguardiente she so loved. Martin Wine Cellar stepped in, and the conversation went something like this (in Brother O’Mara’s words):

Fernandez: “We’re shutting down the distillery.”
Martin Wine Cellar: “We need more Ojen before you shut down.”
Fernandez: “Well we’ll run you a batch, but the smallest batch we can run is 500
cases (6,000 bottles).”
Martin Wine Cellar: “Fine, we’ll take it.”

Twenty or so years later, and there are less than 25 bottles left for retail sale in the Martin stores. There may be some dusty bottles on liquor store shelves somewhere in the world, but for the most part, that’s pretty much it. It retails for thirty bucks.

If you don’t want to buy a whole bottle, I hear that they keep some stocked in places Rex Krewe members hang out. I know for sure you can find the Ojen Frappé at Arnaud’s, Luke Brasserie on St. Charles, and at Brennan’s. You’ll probably have good luck at Antoine’s, Restaurant August, and Galatoire’s, also.

If you’re a do-it-yourselfer, here’s the classic recipe for you:

Ojen Cocktail

2 oz. Ojen
1 dash Peychaud bitters
1 tsp. sugar
½ oz. water

Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice, shake well, and strain into a cocktail glass.

(A note on sources for this article: most of my information has come from my connection at Wines Unlimited, the wholesale end of Martin Wine Cellar. I also read Ned Hémard’s 2007 article “Banana Republics and Ojen Cocktails” and a little tourist information about the village of Ojen itself.)

Absinthe Workshop with Jeff Hollinger

Jeff Hollinger is the manager of Absinthe Brasserie and Bar in San Francisco, mixmaster extraordinaire, and co-author of the award-winning book, Art of the Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the Classics.

He was in New Orleans this weekend and hosted an absinthe cocktail workshop and tasting at the Absinthe Museum of America (823 Royal St. in the French Quarter). He spoke a little about the history of absinthe and what it means for cocktails now that the ban’s been lifted, showed us some interesting drink recipes utilising absinthe as an ingredient, and let us taste a whole bunch of interesting stuff.

His current favorite absinthe is Obsello, an absinthe verte from Spain:

I’m not a big absinthe connoisseur, but I enjoyed the Obsello prepared in the traditional manner with sugar and water. It was smooth and creamy, with a powdery mouthfeel.

On to the cocktails (I didn’t take notes, but I’ll do my best):

Sacred Heart

3 parts La Pinta Pomegranate Tequila

2 parts absinthe

1 part limoncello

juice of half a lemon

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Sinister Flip

1 egg white

2 parts gin

1 part absinthe

1 part strawberry syrup*

Shake all ingredients first without ice so as to get the egg white nice and frothy. Add ice, shake some more, and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Hollinger sometimes adds a drop of a rosemary tincture at the end, made with rosemary and vodka.

* to make the strawberry syrup, just boil strawberries, water, and sugar

Yesterday’s Song

3 parts rum

2 parts absinthe

1 part maraschino liqueur

juice of half a lime

handful of fresh rosemary

Lightly muddle ingredients together, then shake with ice, strain and serve in a chilled cocktail glass. Although we drank it straight-upm Hollinger says he typically serves this drink long, with a little ginger beer on top.

Drink the name for which I can’t remember

2 parts mezcal

1 part absinthe

1 part port

Stir together with ice and strain into a glass. Meant to be an aperitif.

Overall, the Sinister Flip was my favorite. I loved the creaminess imparted by the egg white, and the fruity-herby combo of strawberry, juniper, and anise was delightful. I did not like the one with mezcal–too smoky for my tastes. The other two were good, but I will definitely be craving the Sinister Flip again.