Classy Jello Shots

Lemon Drop Wedges

Molecular Mixology is an interesting form of bartending. Beyond infusions, airs, foams, I feel like I have been doing this for years. Yes, I am talking about jello shots. Now that bartenders are using gelatin sheets rather than the box of Jello, you still pretty much end up with sa VERY similar product in the end. Serving a gin and tonic cube over a baked lime chip is definitely more sophisticated than sucking it out of a small cup, but in fact we are dealing with about the same procedure and technique. That is why this presentation from Bakers Royal caught my eye.  In the simplest form they made Jello shooters and placed the Jello into hollowed out lemon halves. Sliced these bad boys look amazing.   

Empty out the citrus of your choice to create a vessel.

Juice the citrus first as it makes for easier pulp removal. Save extracted juice for later recipes.

Use either a grapefruit knife to hollow out the citrus, or the easier way,  is to turn them inside out like the picture and dig deeply in to the pith until you catch the thin membrane holding the pulp and then peel back.

Make sure to completely clean out your citrus or the pulp will show in the wedges.

Make the Jell-O according to the instructions on the box and then reduce the cold water portion by ¼ cup and replace with your chilled drink mix. Place emptied citrus into muffin pan holes. Pour mixture into emptied citrus and chill overnight.

Use a straight edge knife to cut into wedges. Do not use a serrated knife or it will leave track marks.

Make sure to use a sharp knife or you will end up with mangled wedges.

  This recipe is from Bakers Royale . Make sure to check out thier post HERE

Bitters Garnish

Bitters Stencil

 

Ahhh Bitters…. how I love you. Now, you have a wonderful new use, garnishing. A lot of garnishes are used as both a tool to make a drink look better as well as add another layer of flavor. This is a picture of a cocktail from PDT. One day I will make it there but for now I will just admire their creativity and show it to the rest of you. I have used this method of decorating a drink before by making chocolate martinis with either a layer of heavy cream on top or making a thick cocktail. Placing the stencil on top of the drink just sprinkle some chocolate powder on top and bam, whatever kind of design your little heart desires. Here on some type of drink with a foam, most likely containing egg white the stencil was placed on top and a wonderful mist of bitters was sprayed. 

Stencil

 

This is a picture of the stencil I made for my last job. The restaurants name started with an M so I had a regular of mine make it for me. I started off making them out of cardboard and they are useful for a few cocktails, Perhaps a single night of making drinks. This one is made out of a small piece of aluminium. Pretty much indestructible. Maybe if I ever get a job at another place that’s name starts with an M I’ll use it again.

It happened… I don’t want a drink

Chow.com finally did it. I ‘ want a drink right now. Craptails, The Worst 10 Cocktail Concepts of All Time. This does not disappoint with drinks like, The Salmon Colada, and Doctor Adkins (a drink that includes Spam with raw bacon garnish). I think I’ll just have a beer today.

Salmon Colada

Salmon Colada
3 ounces light rum
2 cups crushed ice
3 tablespoons pineapple juice
3 tablespoons coconut milk
1 ounce fresh Atlantic salmon
Salmon head, for garnish

Blend all ingredients and garnish with a salmon head.

If anyone at the party starts talking about the importance of Omega-3 fatty acids, merely gesture at your drink and say, “Eh? Eh? That enough for ya?” Later in the evening, give your salmon head a name and have it deliver monologues on the commercialization of independent cinema or why the French Laundry is past its prime.

You can look at the rest HERE if you dare.

Molecular Mai Tai 3000

Aside from the occasional batch of Jello shots for parties I have never really entered into Molecular Mixology. Hopefully this will be an aspect of mixology that I will soon conquer but for now, I will admire what others have done. Jamie Boudreau is an amazing bartender that has quite a few great molecular cocktails on his blog.

Mai Tai 3000

Mai Tai 3000

• 1 Lime Chip
• 1 Rum Square
• 1 Dollop Orgeat Foam
• 1 Pinch Fine Orange Zest

Lime Chip

• Freeze One Lime
• Slice Thinly In A Meat Slicer
• Soak In Simple Syrup
• Place In An Oven At 100˚ Until Sugar Has Carmelized
• Let Cool

Rum Square

• 3oz Water
• 2tsp Agar
• 3oz Appleton V/X Rum
• 1oz Lemonhart 151
• place water and agar in a pot for 15 minutes
  heat until all agar is dissolved
  add rums and stir well
  pour carefully into a shallow tray and refrigerate
  cut into squares when solidum

Orgeat Foam

• 4oz Orgeat
• 2oz Water
• 2 dashes Angostura Bitters
• 3 Egg whites
• Place all ingredients in an ISI charger and charge

 Check out Jamie’s post HERE and read about this cocktail in his own words.

LXTV On The Rocks Search For Americas Top Bartender

It’s that time again. For the ast 2 years Absolut has been sponsoring LXTV’s search for Americas top bartender. I attended the casting call the first year and I have to say that I had a great time. Its pretty much what you would expect for a casting call, expect to slightly be judged on your bartending ability, and looked at more closely for your on camera look. In the end, free food, free drinks, and some Absolut shwag. Make sure to go to the website and make sure you qualify and register before you get there.

 Absolut Best Bartender

 

LXTV ON THE ROCKS

Los Angeles Casting Call

Thursday, July 29, 2010

12pm – 5 pm

 

The O Hotel

819 S Flower Street

ohotelgroup.com

Cinco de Mayo

Here it is, another holiday that most of us have no idea what it really is about, yet we know we are all going to get wasted. Well at least you will be, I will be behind the bar working. tonight isn’t going to be a night of tasty handcrafted cocktails. No fresh juice, no flaming zest, basically no effort into drinks. Tonight I will be popping Corona bottles, and serving shots of tequilla, from the minute I walk into the door.

I know there were a few people following this blog for a while and I appreciate that, but I am sorry. Most of the time that I would put a post up would be after work, or even after a night of drinking so there would either be a lack of sleep involved or a little too much beer. Whenever I would go back and read these I would be embarrassed. So from this point on, only clear headed, thoughtful posts that are relevent to the world of drinks, cocktails, and drinking.

Happy Cinco de Mayo