Serious Eats has a great story today about the High Tech Cocktails class being taught at the French Culinary Institute. The class is being taught by Nils Noren and Dave Arnold, professors at the FCI and proprietors of Cooking Issues – their “Tech’N Stuff” blog. The combination of “cocktails” and “high tech” has me all wound up. This is a must read.
Cheers!
Well sure, mistakes exist. But as far as I’m concerned, not when it comes to mixing cocktails. Just as in the culinary arts, recipes are templates. They’re guidelines that reflect the goals and tastes of the artist, but they’re never carved in stone. The purpose of the resulting dish (or cocktail, in our case) is to be enjoyed, and one must always adjust accordingly.
The other night, I set out to make a Queens Park Swizzle – one of my favorite rum-based cocktails – which I was preparing to introduce to you here. However, what I ended up making was a mixture of lime, sugar, mint, angostura bitters (all of which belong), and gin (which most certainly does not). I poured gin instead of rum by mistake. The funny thing about it is that I was already a sip or two into the drink before I realized it (I swear, I wasn’t drunk!)
What I ended up with was something very different than a Queens Park Swizzle. After all, rum and gin don’t have all that much in common when it comes to flavor. However, just because it wasn’t what I set out to make, that doesn’t make it wrong. Or bad. It was actually rather tasty (once I got over the fact that it wasn’t a Queens Park Swizzle). I don’t think this particular combination of ingredients and proportions already exists as a cocktail, so we may have invented something new. The King’s Park Swizzle? Of course, I could be wrong, and if I am, I hope one of you will correct me.
The moral of the story is that even though I made a mistake, I learned from (and enjoyed) the results, making it a lesson in my book. It’s also a reminder that experimentation – which is nothing more than a mistake made intentionally – is a very good thing.
The real Queens Park Swizzle to come soon. In the meantime, Cheers!
Is drinking really an art? Isn’t that a bit pretentious? Can’t you just pour a beer or a glass of wine and be done with it? If you want to get fancy, maybe throw together some vodka and tonic water, and toss a lime in there to impress your guests?
If that’s what you like, by all means, don’t let me stop you. After all, what reason is there to drink if not for your own enjoyment? But you may not realize just how much you’re missing.
There are drinks, and then there are cocktails. A cocktail can absolutely be a piece of art. It can harness creativity and inspiration in the same way a chef wields her skill to produce the ideal balance of flavors, scents and textures in the perfect meal. A cocktail can awaken the senses and rattle the tastebuds. And of course, just like the culinary arts, there’s a bit of science involved, too. So much so, that there’s even a fancy name for it – mixology.
My aim with Spirited Cocktails is to introduce you to the craft of the cocktail in a completely accessible way. We’ll visit with some of the finest mixologists at some of the most noted cocktail bars in the world (starting in my home – New York City). We’ll also walk through how to mix the perfect cocktails, step-by-step, answering your questions and requests along the way.
So let’s get started!
Cheers,
-Josh
