#lasvegascocktailweekly

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Exodus of Flavor: Pt 1

It was the 1950's and freedom was in the air. America had won the war. Even with a partially manufactured rivalry with Russia, we were still riding high. On top of the world! Top of the food chain… the big dogs! Even as we cooked from the bottom of our basement bomb shelters, nuclear test explosions could be seen across the Nevada sky and they lit it up like an artificial man-made sun, no strike that, an American-made sun.

American ingenuity and know-how could and did save the world! Of course our science and technology surpassed all other nations and we were, as a society, on board and ready to follow it to the moon. At that moment in history, science was king and it was decided that we could use our technology to make anything, do anything, solve any problem, and defeat any foe. We dreamed that we could go to the moon, we could go to Mars, even more dramatically, we could even make our own manufactured "mother's milk" (what?!?!)! We could even have a "fresh" tomato in the middle of winter. Gone were the fresh herbs and delicious produce from backyard gardens, instead we used canned peas and Shake 'n Bake. Everywhere you'd look, there was frozen this and canned that. T.V. dinners were all the rage; Tang, Spam and all sorts of unfathomable processed "foods" were enticing the American public with their saccharine-siren songs. Of course when company labs created these "food products" and the ad companies created markets for these products and then more remarkably, the really good ones were able to actually create needs. We then became lazy and we got fatigued, along with our palates. Cooking from the depths of our bomb shelter pantry, we filled our diets with so much sodium, fat, corn syrup and artificial flavoring that we had almost lost our ability to taste what real food was. This was echoed in the world of Cocktails.

King Cocktail himself, Dale DeGroff has called what happened during this period of time, the "Exodus of Flavor." Where most of the country and a lot of the world departed from those majestic, and at the time, mandatory ideals of keeping it fresh and being in season. Staying within the confines of Mother Nature became very old fashioned. We were ready for whatever technology had in store for us. Fast food became en vogue at this time and after that we all know what happened (we ended up in a Jack in the Box drive thru at 4 A.M.). Yes, we had lost our way. It seemed as though convenience, as well as a scientific assault on our flavor sensors, added fuel to the fire.

As a counterpoint, Chef Zach Taylor of B&B and CarneVino once exclaimed to me, "Some of the best things in the world are rotten." Whether it's sausage, cheese, wine, or beer, they have all been chemically transformed from a fresh ingredient to a preserved ingredient. It comes from thousands of years of trial and error on ways of preserving crops/products before we had the benefit of refrigeration. At that time they were still seasonal by necessity and freshness was a required truth; but it was nearly impossible to completely lose our taste and our affinity for the freshness. I do have to admit that in some cases the canned goods are not any better or any worse that the fresh, they are just different. There is as much a place for dried oregano as there is for fresh basil. Some pasta recipes actually call for a dried pasta as opposed to the fresh; just as most recipes for a Gimlet calls for Rose's Lime Cordial (but I still prefer the fresh stuff!). Not to beleaguer the point that fresh is best, even some of the canned seafood of Spain actually goes through a transformation into something equally as wonderful, not to mention costs a pretty penny. It "can" be great, but just different from the fresh.

To be continued....

Beauty and Spice Vermouth:

As I've mentioned before, always use what your environment provides. A bar that is located in the middle of one of the biggest casinos on the Strip, owned by one of the largest gaming corporations in the world, which is also located on one of the main booze thoroughfares on the planet should, in theory, be abound with a world-class variety of alcohol related products. One would think… but in this epicenter of volume where Conehead inspired beveraging encourages us to "Drink mass quantities," a new bar can be entangled with contracts, preferences and guidelines regarding what we can buy and sell. Oftentimes many of the more artisanal and unique products can be difficult to obtain. This can be a challenge to your creativity if you are unable to order what you want but sometimes, it can actually spawn new evolutions.

Carpano Antica Formula is a product that I am particularly fond of. Carpano is the house that invented vermouth and is their original recipe from 1786. It is a vermouth that stands on its own with wonderful complexity. It really can make the flavor jump out of the glass in a lot of drinks and as you probably guessed, Carpano is one that we were unable to serve at the bar (unless we brought it in ourselves).

Whether it was for a Manhattan or for the iconic Negroni, I began to lament the fact that we didn't have a suitable product that could hold a candle to the strength of its other ingredients. When you have a drink like those mentioned, with only 2 or 3 ingredients, what you use for each component of the drink is even more crucial. I felt a duty to my customers; if I was going to make for them a simple drink for the price of $15 or more, it should be amazing.

So that brings us back to the above-mentioned conundrum. We didn't have the ability to order certain products that we liked; we wanted and we insisted on making an amazing and unique cocktail that was worth the price. So we decided to make our own product (or just infuse and blend it). Again I had to use what the environment provided. At the bar we were currently using Martini and Rossi, which is a fine product (but can be better!). In the kitchen we usually had plenty of herbs and spices like tarragon, cinnamon, nutmeg, rosemary, plenty of citrus and of course, peppercorns. These are exactly what I used. This recipe turned out very tasty with its winter spice and herbs but it still needed a bit more depth of flavor. Then, wham! I fortified it further with XO Cognac and 20-year Taylor Fladgate Port Wine. The end result was something special; it was rich and decadent and really allowed it to complement and bolster other flavors in most any drink. It's now being made at two different bars in Las Vegas.

Beauty and Spice Vermouth

One bottle of Italian Sweet Vermouth  Zest of one Orange 2 Cinnamon Sticks (partially grated and broken) ½ of a medium sized Nutmeg (grated) 2 Star Anise spokes 4 sprigs of Rosemary (broken) 6 sprigs of Tarragon 5-12 Multicolored Peppercorns

[adamrains-blog]

"Beer-pong, it's like a vitamin." Raul Faria, Episode #7 Las Vegas Cocktail Weekly