HOMEMADE LIQUEURS AND INFUSED SPIRITS
Andrew Schloss
Storey Publishing
November 2013
$18.95/Trade Paperback
ISBN-13: 978-1612120980
Andrew Schloss is a well-known teacher, food writer, and food product developer. His first book, Fifty Ways to Cook Most Everything, was a Bookof-the-Month Club Main Selection. The Science of Good Food (coauthored with David Joachim) won an IACP Cookbook Award, and their book Mastering the Grill was a New York Times best-seller. Schloss is also the author of Homemade Soda. He is a past president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and lives outside Philadelphia.
Liqueurs, or cordials, are enjoying renewed popularity as the cocktail world continues to promote signature drinks that use liqueurs to build layers of flavor. With Andrew Schloss’s innovative recipes, it’s fun, easy, and safe to make and enjoy liqueurs at home.
In HOMEMADE LIQUEURS AND INFUSED SPIRITS, Schloss offers clone recipes for 21 big-name brands, including St. Germain, Chambord, Limoncello, and Baileys, as well as 136 more recipes for intriguing and original flavor combinations, such as Ginger Peach Saké, Radicchio Campari, and Honey Pistachio Liqueur. Recipes are organized by flavorings, which include fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices, nuts and seeds, flowers, coffee, tea, and chocolate, as well as cream, caramel, honey, and butterscotch. In addition to the 157 recipes for making liqueurs and infused spirits, there are 80 recipes for cocktails that use liqueurs. This book is a one-stop shop for making fantastically flavored drinks.
Cucumber Martini 2
Makes 1 cocktail
Chilled cocktail glass , cocktail shaker
Ice cubes
3 oz Cool as a Cuke (below)
3 paper-thin cucumber slices
Fill the shaker with ice. Add the Cool as a Cuke; shake. Wait for 1 minute; shake again; strain into the glass. Garnish with cucumber slices.
Cool as a Cuke
Makes about 1 quart
In the world of beverages, refreshment abounds, but not so much in the land of liqueurs. Liqueurs are generally spoken of in terms of flavor impact, mouthfeel, and potency. This liqueur changes that. Like its namesake, it is cool and clean and crisp, a liquid cucumber essence. I’m sure there are tons of cocktails that would benefit from it, but I can’t stop drinking Cucumber Martinis long enough to think of any.
1 fifth (750 ml/31/4 cups) Dutch-style gin (80 proof)
4 medium English cucumbers, ends trimmed and coarsely shredded
8 fresh dill sprigs
Pinch of sea salt
3/4 cup Simple Syrup (below)
Combine the gin, cucumbers, dill, and salt in a half-gallon jar. Stir to moisten everything.
Seal the jar and put it in a cool, dark cabinet until the liquid smells and tastes strongly of cucumber, about 7 days.
Strain the mixture with a mesh strainer into a clean quart jar. Do not push on the solids to extract more liquid.
Stir in the simple syrup.
Seal and store in a cool, dark cabinet. Use within 1 year.
Simple Syrup
Makes 3 cups
This all-purpose simple syrup is employed in the formulas for most liqueurs.
2 1/4 cups water
2 1/4 cups granulated cane sugar
Mix the water and sugar in a small saucepan until the sugar is all moistened.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Stir to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved, then remove from the heat and let cool. Refrigerate for up to 3 months
These recipes may be reproduced with the following credit:
Recipes from Homeamde Liqueurs and Infused Spirits by Andrew Schloss. (Storey Publishing; November 2013; $18.95/Trade Paperback; ISBN-13; 978-1612120980). http://www.storey.com/
Contact: Alee Marsh
(413) 346-2116
alee.marsh@storey.com