sage limeade

Tried this one out for the crawfish boil today:

2 parts lime juice
1 part golden pineapple sage-mint syrup
water to taste (approximately 6-8 parts?)

Loaded it into the plastic jug w/spout, added ice, letting cool in the fridge.

Something to sip on in between beers and god-knows-what-Jamie-has-in-store-for-us at the all day boil.

Pork Chops with a sage rub

Early herb garden mix:

sage leaves (about eight, many large)
oregano leaves (only a small number)
finely chop fresh herbs, add sea salt and fresh ground pepper and mix in olive oil

dress up the pork chops, about 1 inch thick

grill was weak--550 to start.
Sear for 1.5 minutes each side
put up dampers, cut to 400 degrees
roughly 5 minutes a side.

a third pork chop joined with only salt.

The result: juicy, but medium rather than medium rare. The rub could have been better singed, but was tasty.

Still, I have to say that fresh herbs on a chops rub is not really all that great. Dried herbs seem to do better, sadly--more potency. Perhaps mixing fresh and dried sage would do better?

UPDATE: fresh herb rubs work well if the heat is high enough to start, and if the dampers don't get completely shut down. I clearly need to do a thorough cleaning of the grill.

Summer Sour

Nothing too special, but really enjoyed this on a warmish May night, following the frost. Seriously, it was warmer on Thanksgiving last year than this past weekend. Glorious, I say.

2 1/2 oz. whiskey 2 and a splash, or not...
2 oz. lemon juice
2 oz. pineapple sage-mint syrup

Mint and Pineapple Sage Syrup

Doesn't exactly flow off the tongue. I'm debating how best to do this simple syrup, and I'm settling on the following path:

1 cup turbinado sugar
1 cup water
1/2 cup golden pineapple sage
1/4 cup mint

dissolve sugar into water, remove from heat. drop in herb, mash to release oils, let steep overnight, strain into a mason jar.

I've decided against the 2:1 ratio as I seem to do well with the 1:1. Also, I'm gambling that it will allow the sage to come through better. Also, I'm not boiling the sage, as I doubt the heat will do the herb much good. Rather, I am going for steeping length of time and some simple mashing to release more oils. I was reluctant to add mint to this, as it tends to overpower, but the pineapple sage has not yet given me the yields I need, so for right now it will have to the two.

I have three concerns. First, this is my first turbinado sugar. The dark brown color and rich taste of the syrup threatens to overwhelm my herb component. Second, I was light on the herbs. I would prefer a full cup of sage. That will come. Third, I added the herbs when the mixture was still quite hot. Of course the leaves wilted. But the real question is whether the heat will damage them. Am tempted to try this again with little heat and little dissolve.

I think this will be a good rum and/or bourbon syrup. I'm tempted to try a manhattan variation using a little of this syrup, some Fee Brothers bitters, and lilet. Just a touch!

UPDATE:

Tried this variant on August 1, 2011:

1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup mint
1/2 cup golden pineapple sage

boiled down the sugar, added the herbs and let them cool in the fridge for eight hours before pressing them through a sieve.

The syrup was quite good, although the woodiness of the golden pineapple sage comes through strongly. The result was interesting. This syrup works nicely with whiskey in an old fashioned, where the woodiness contrasts with the oak in a rye and gives it just a hint of herbal freshness. In a mojito, however, the woodiness overpowers the rum.

Metropolitan #5, the remix

So, here is a much better modification of the Metropolitan #5, after several different takes:

2 oz. vodka
1 oz. Pomegranate liqueur
<1 oz. triple sec
1 oz. lime juice
dash Fee Brothers orange bitters

shake with ice. Serve up.

This version does several things better than my first run. First, it balances the sugar, sour, and alcohol much better than my previous version. Second, the lime juice is superior to the lemon juice in bringing out all the flavors in this drink. The bitters are a must, if only because they tie everything together and give the drink a layered complexity. Otherwise, this is just a variation of sex and the city night out kind of stuff.

Kitchen Garden

So, I ripped up another patch of grass and replaced it with a kitchen garden. It is modest for now:

Golden Pineapple Sage
Sicilian Oregano
Basil
Thyme
Sage

In the back--Rosemary and potted mint. I'm debating transplanting the mint to the back planter what happens.

The herbs were all planted a couple of weeks ago--call it April 25. They are growing nicely. I'm debating putting a raised bed back here at some point.

Metropolitan #5

I'm not sure if I live in a suburb or the city, but then again Atlanta is a collection of hills and villages anyway. I live on one of those hills, I suppose. I'm five miles from the metropole, so we'll start there.

I'll call this one a Metropolitan #5.

1 oz. Vodka (SKYY, or smooth as possible)
1 oz. Pomegranate liqueur
1 oz. triple sec (have not yet tried Grand Mariner)
juice of a quarter lemon
dash of Fee Brothers orange bitters

shake, serve up and chilled.

Pomegranate Martini

This sounds stupid, I admit, but I'm trying to develop a good "up" drink with pomegranate liqueur. I've always been a fan of the sweet/tart taste of pomegranates. The Parma liqueur is a little candy-ish, but I am convinced in the right proportions with the right mixers, it could be sublime.

A simple pomegranate tom collins (or parma fizz) is an easy make:

lemon juice
simple syrup (light)
club soda
parma
gin

However, I went for the following martini fizz:

1 oz. Ethereal Gin
1 oz. Parma
1/4 lemon
splash Fee Brothers lemon bitters
club soda

I like it. The lemon bitters give it distinct nose, and the botanical gin gives it lots of flavor. Jan hates the club soda in it, making me wonder if I don't have something here with a different mix. Next time try:

2 oz. ethereal gin
1 oz. parma
lemon twist
lemon bitters

My fear with this drink is that it will taste flat. but I must admit, there is something overly done about the Parma Fizz above. Either the bitters are too much, or Jan is right and the club soda is a mistake.

The Social

Given that all great art is theft, this does not seem such a bad thing. The following is a drink adapted from a drink invented at The Social, a truly fine and underrated restaurant in Atlanta. In actuality, the drink was introduced to me by a fellow east pointer, who adapted it from a drink invented by a bartender at The Social. Derivative drinking at its finest.

muddle sugar and strawberry in a Collins glass. Add basil and muddle. Then quarter a lemon and muddle it as well. Add rum--silver or gold depending on preference. Top with pineapple juice and ice, then a splash of soda.

This is a drink that will layer its flavors. The strawberry pulp and pineapple juice give it a fruit forward sweetness, while the herbal tinge refreshes. All is balanced by the buzz on the tongue, and the rum can really be brought forward by this.

The muddled fruit and herbs last several refills of rum and soda. We tried both a gold and a silver (Mount Gay Barbados Rum).

This is a drink for the garden on a languorus summer evening. As it happens, we mixed these on an unseasonably cool May evening, with temperatures in the fifties and on their way down to the thirties, thanks to a massive storm front that whipped through town last night. If I had a fully stocked bar, I might have fired up a scotch or bourbon drink for such a night, but that would have disappointed our very fine guest who popped by specifically to introduce us to this cocktail. And we are all better for it.