Molecular Mixology: The BLT Cocktail
-- Hotels, 4/23/2009 11:18:00 AM
“The BLT is one of those cocktails that has a very different and unusual response among its tasters,” says Brent Jones, mixologist at Hotel Jerome, A RockResort, in Aspen, Colorado. “More often than not I hear, ‘Wow, I did not expect that.’”
Jones says that reaction comes from the fact that the cocktail’s combination of flavors is so very reminiscent of the item that influenced its creation: the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.
What started one night behind the bar as a craving by Jones for a BLT sandwich he was selling (a seasonal addition to the menu at The Library in the Hotel Jerome) resulted in his working to create the BLT cocktail.
“I could not stop thinking how great it would be to have a BLT,” Jones remembers, noting that he had not had such a sandwich in two or three years at that time. “Then it dawned on me: Let’s try to make a BLT cocktail.”
To create the drink, Jones broke it down into its three components:
Bacon fat-washed vodka: Fat washing is a method of extracting flavor from fat without the greasy texture.
Ingredients:
1lb of uncooked bacon
750 mL vodka
Method:
Cook the bacon, collecting the fat. Dump the vodka into a minimum volume 1 liter container (use a container with a large opening, perhaps a mixing bowl). Heat the bacon fat until it becomes a liquid, then pour it into the bowl containing the vodka. Stir and let the bowl set at room temperature for a minimum of two hours. Place the bowl in the freezer for one hour to congeal the fat. Finally, strain and filter the liquid. A strainer or chinois and a common coffee filter will do the trick.
Tomato Juice: While it seems like a no-brainer to use a can of tomato juice, fresh-made seasonal tomato juice is well worth the effort.
Ingredients:
1 tomato (or as many as you like)
Method:
Fill a large saucepan 3/4 full with water and bring to a very light boil. Blanch the tomato in the hot water for 15 seconds, then remove it and allow it to cool. Peel the tomato using a pairing knife, pulling away the skin. Throw the skinless tomato in a blender or a juice extractor and strain the juice using a chinois.
Lettuce Air: On the same day of the BLT cocktail idea, Hotel Jerome Executive Chef Chris Keating and Jones had been experimenting with soy lecithin, Jones recalls. Lecithin is a phospholipid commonly used in the culinary field as an emulsifier and/or to make an air (similar to a foam), and with this in mind, the two thought there might be a use for this product in constructing cocktails.
Ingredients/Tools:
4 oz lettuce juice
1/2 tsp soy lecithin
2 oz water
Aerating device
Method:
Extract juice from the lettuce using either a blender or a juice extractor. If using a blender, be sure to strain the juice using a chinois. In a container (5 inches wide or larger), combine 4 oz lettuce juice + 2 oz water + 1/2 tsp soy lecithin, and mix with an aerating device. If more air is desired, add more soy lecithin to the same solution and mix.
Making The BLT Cocktail
Glassware:
Small sherry glass
Ingredients:
1 oz bacon fat-washed vodka
Lettuce air
2 oz tomato juice
Salt & pepper
Method:
Using two mixing glasses, fill one with ice. In the empty glass, combine a few shakes from both the salt and pepper shakers, the bacon fat-washed vodka, and the tomato juice. Pour the mixture over the other mixing glass containing the ice, and continue to mix by pouring the iced solution back and forth three or four times. Using a julep or hawthorne strainer, strain the liquid into the sherry glass and top it off with the lettuce air.
*Also note: "Bacon fat-washed vodka in a Bloody Mary is delicious!" - Brent Jones
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