Règim jurídic

INGREDIENTS

125 grams coriander seeds, preferably with a fresh, citrusy aroma (for soda syrup, reduce to 100 grams)

550 grams filtered water 500 grams granulated sugar 5 grams salt

10 grams crushed red pepper

PROCEDURE

Blend the coriander seeds and water in a blender for several seconds until the seeds are well broken. Transfer the mixture to a saucepan, add the sugar and salt, and heat over medium heat until it is simmering. Stir in the crushed red pepper. Turn off the heat and keep tasting until the spiciness from the pepper becomes apparent at the back of your throat when you taste the syrup. (It is impossible to quantify this part of the recipe because batches of crushed red pepper vary so widely.) Quickly strain the mixture through a coarse strainer to prevent further infusion, then pass it through a muslin cloth or fine chinois.

To use this syrup for soda, make the version with slightly less coriander (unless you want a version with as much punch as a ginger beer) and use 1 part syrup to 4 parts water before carbonating (or use 4 parts soda water). Garnish with lime or,

preferably, clarified lime juice (see here).

Properly made, this syrup should have a Brix of 50, meaning it should be 50 percent sugar by weight, the same as regular simple syrup. The extra 50 grams of water in the recipe are absorbed by the coriander seed. At the bar we use a refractometer to

MAKING CORIANDER SYRUP: 1) Blend the coriander and water. 2) Add the blended mix to a pot with

sugar and 3) heat to a simmer. 4) Add crushed red pepper and keep tasting for adequate spiciness. 5) Quickly strain the syrup. I use two strainers—coarse inside of fine. 6) The finished product.

The last decision you need to make is whether to put a stir rod in the drink. The stir rod lets your guest add extra dilution quickly if he or she desires. Bars often use straws for stir rods because they are cheap, not because they want you to drink through them. If you go for the rod, avoid straws! They constantly move around and threaten eyes. Use the glass or metal variety, and always give your drinker a napkin on which to place it when it’s no longer useful.

Made according to my instructions, the Cliff Old-Fashioned should have a volume of 3 ounces (90 ml). Of that 3 ounces, 5

⁄₈ ounce (19 ml, or 20%) will be water from melted ice dilution. The alcohol by volume as served will be roughly 31%—in other words, stiff.

Take a sip. The drink should be cool but not frigid. A frigid old-fashioned loses its character. Let the drink sit and observe it without touching. After a while you should see a layer of watery liquid forming around the large ice cube. Notice there is very little mixing of the meltwater with the drink, and all changes happen slowly. Give a slight swirl to the glass to mix the meltwater with the cocktail and sip again to taste the difference. The Cliff should be cooler now and not as intense because of the added dilution, but it will still be balanced. If you constantly swirl the glass, the ice will melt much faster, as fresh meltwater is transported away from the cube and a fresh layer of alcohol is presented to the cube. Don’t overswirl: you want slow change, which is why you need a big ice cube and a lot of time. Let the drink rest a couple of minutes between sips so you can see how it evolves over time. That’s the point of this experiment (one you will likely want to repeat): to see how a drink can stay balanced for a long time over a range of temperatures and dilutions. A good old-fashioned made with one big ice cube will be pleasurable for at least 20 minutes as it slowly waters down.

Remember, the essence of any built drink is slow change over time. Built drinks should start really boozy—they are sipping drinks, not pounders. After they sit awhile and become more watered down, they become more refreshing and whet the palate for another round. Keeping in mind that built drinks must stay balanced over a large range of dilutions, we can lay out some simple rules that will help you evaluate recipes and devise your own:

• Choose liquors that taste good over a wide range of dilutions. Some

spirits are too rough to function well when they aren’t diluted a lot; these are not good candidates for built drinks. Other liquors taste great out of the

bottle but fall apart when diluted past a certain point; avoid them.

• Avoid acids. The flavors and tartness of acidic ingredients such as lemon and lime do not maintain their balance when they are diluted. A properly balanced mix of ethanol and sugar can stay in harmony as water is added or taken away, but acid doesn’t work that way. Acids used for tartness can be properly used only in drinks with a fixed dilution.

• Brighten a built drink with essential oils instead. Lemon, orange, and grapefruit twists work well.

• Take advantage of bitters. Bitters are designed to taste good over an absurd range of dilutions and to join the other flavors of the cocktail together without overpowering them.

• Take the time to make big ice cubes. If you have a lot of time and energy, make or buy fancy clear presentation cubes.