Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Rum – Part I

Photo by Lena

After doing research for my last blog, walking and eating on the Freedom Trail, I became very interested in food and the Colonial Period. I found out some interesting facts about Rum:
“But of all of the drinks that warmed the eighteenth-century American interior, rum was the most important. It is estimated that just before the War of Independence the colonists were downing twenty four pints of it per head per year, women, and children included.” (Food in History by Reay Tannahill, page 254) In fact some historians, according to Tannahill, believe the Revolutionary War may have actually been triggered by the tax on molasses (1733) more than the tax on tea (1773). Rum is made from the “syrupy liquid left after the juice of the sugar cane" that is "boiled, once, twice or three times to produce sugar crystals” (256).

In honor of the drink that played a part in American history, I am propose you make yourself a cup of Grog:
1 cup hot tea
1 jigger dark rum
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 twist of lemon peel.

To a mug (or heat resistant glass), add tea, rum, honey, and lemon juice. Stir. Garnish with lemon twist.
Source: Famous New England Recipes (Colourpicture Publishers, Boston), page 32.

Check out other beverages on this blog!  Click here for Sasha's Limoncello; Click here for Sasha's Amaretto; Click Here for my Irish Coffee and Click Here for Sasha's Brooklyn Egg Cream

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Rum – Part I

Sasha's Kitchen: Homemade Amaretto & Amaretto Hot Chocolate

Today was blizzard day across most of the east coast.  I wasn't working today, so I decided to quickly make another liqueur, this time, the almond flavored Amaretto.  It was surprisingly simple to make and turned out to be the perfect treat for the snow day, since a shot of Amaretto added to your hot chocolate makes the most wonderful Amaretto Hot Chocolate known to mankind.  We still don't have half as much snow as they have in D.C. (there's some kind of thrill I get from feet and feet of snow piled up that has never worn off for me, even though I grew up in Rochester and saw more snow that the Eastern Seaboard could possibly imagine).

For our own snow day treat, mix up your own Amaretto at home, and make some Amaretto hot chocolate to warm up those fingers and toes.  Or throw in some ice with a couple of shots and some sour mix, to make an Amaretto sour.  The quality of the recipe I used - an original based on the recipe from the bestselling Disaronno Amaretto was excellent and I could not taste a difference at all from the top brands of Italian Amaretto on the market.

You could definitely cut this recipe in half if you don't need a lifetime supply.  However, this makes a wonderful gift, to if you make the full recipe, bottle it and give it to your friends.  While you are at it, try making Limoncello, too!

Make Your Own Amaretto (Adapted from this recipe)

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
2 cups of water
4 cups of vodka (I used Stoli)
1/3 cup Almond Extract
5 tsp Vanilla Extract

This is super easy to make.  Just dissolve the sugars in the water over medium high heat, until it boils and all the sugars dissolve.  Remove from the heat and add the vodka and extracts.  Put in decorative bottles with ribbons and share with your friends.

For a bit of zing on a snowy winter day like today, add a shot of Amaretto to your hot chocolate.

Amaretto

Sasha's Kitchen: Homemade Amaretto & Amaretto Hot Chocolate

Sasha's Kitchen: Classic Brooklyn Egg Cream

For this evening's post, I decided to prepare Brooklyn's signature drink.  The Brooklyn Egg Cream is probably one of the most memorable and distinctive foods to come out of Brooklyn's historic Jewish community.  It is quite simple to make, so I decided that tonight I would share the recipe for the Brooklyn Egg Cream, as well as discuss the history of this Brooklyn classic drink.

The Brooklyn Egg Cream does not, contrary to popular opinion, contain any raw eggs, and in fact does not contain any eggs at all.  The egg cream is, according to my research, exclusively a fountain drink - it is not possible to successfully bottle a Brooklyn Egg Cream.

There is actually considerable debate on the origins of the term "Egg Cream" to describe this drink, which is a mixture of seltzer, milk and Fox's U-Bet Chocolate Syrup (and you bet that you better use U-Bet syrup, or its not a real Brooklyn Egg Cream).  Some say that the origins of the drink are not known, while others say that it has its origins in the fact that many fountain drinks at the time the Egg Cream was invented (in the 1880s) actually did use eggs.  Another explanation is that the original version did use eggs and cream, but that eggs were dropped because of a shortage due to wartime food rationing.

Picture shows the U-bet syrups used to make egg creams, alongside a tradition Brooklyn Egg Cream and a New York Egg Cream, or Vanilla Egg Cream

My favorite explanation for the origins of the term "Egg Cream" is this popular explanation:  The Yiddish word "echt" means good cream and thus the term Egg Cream is based on the Yiddish word Echt, which sounds quite a bit like the term Egg.  Wikipedia presents a more complete view of the legend of the Brooklyn Egg Cream, as do other websites.  The legend of how the egg cream got its start here in Brooklyn is one of Yiddish folklore - the Egg Cream was invented by Eastern European Jews in Brooklyn in the 1880s (specifically Boris Thomashevsky), a founding member of one of the first Yiddish theaters in America, who, as the legend has it, had tasted a similar drink called a chocolate et creme in Paris.

Regardless of the origins of the term "egg cream" it is generally accepted that a Jewish candy shop owner named Louis Auster coined the term "egg cream" when he introduced the drink at his Brooklyn store.

To prepare a Traditional Brooklyn Egg Cream:

2/3 cup of milk
1 1/2 cup of seltzer
2 T U-Bet Chocolate Syrup

If you are not using seltzer under high pressure with a siphon or nozzle, and are just pouring it out of the bottle like I did, follow these steps - add the milk first (1 part); add either 2 or 3 parts seltzer depending on what you prefer (I did two parts seltzer) and mix in 2 T of the syrup.  You ideally want the egg cream to have a nice head, which takes a bit of practice, and can better be achieved by spraying the seltzer from a pressurized container.  Mine tasted amazing, but visually should have a bit more head.  That might be easier accomplished if I had used the 3:1 ratio of seltzer to milk rather than the 2:1 ratio.

The amount of the measurements do not matter at all.  What matters is the ration - for a creamier egg cream, do a 2:1 ratio of seltzer to milk, for a less creamy egg cream, do a 3:1 ratio.

Don't let Manhattan tell you the egg cream is theirs, because it's not.  Manhattan has its own variation though called the New York Egg Cream, which uses Vanilla U-Bet Syrup rather than Chocolate.

The Brooklyn Egg Cream is a classic Brooklyn drink that takes us back to the legendary days of the Coney Island Boardwalk.  This is a drink that is deeply rooted in Brooklyn's rich cultural and culinary history.

Sasha's Kitchen: Classic Brooklyn Egg Cream

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Valentine’s Day Special Brunch Drink – Irish Coffee

Photos by Lena

This year, 2010, Valentine’s Day falls on a Sunday and for this reason I am suggesting a menu for a Valentine’s Day Brunch. In my previous blogs I began with Crunchy French Toast, followed by Strawberries Romanoff. Now I am ready for the finale, Irish Coffee. I must admit that if it wasn’t for a trip to Ireland three years ago (Brad In the Kitchen and Sasha in the Kitchen were there, too), I would have never, ever, ever suggested any drink with whiskey. But a little roadside bar/ restaurant on the Ring of Kerry between Killorglin and Glenbeigh next to the Kerry Bog (Peat Bog) Museum, changed my opinion. Inside the venue were two women preparing Irish coffee for the tourists. Mind you, it was 10 in the morning. They had quite a production line that began with trays of glass mugs filled with some sort of syrupy-looking concoction, then they poured coffee over this mix and ended by pouring cream(with a bit of a head) on the top of the brew. After watching the expression on the faces of the tourists who drank the potion, I was enticed (by a fairy no doubt) to partake in the drink myself, even though I was dreading the taste of whiskey. I didn’t look precisely at how they achieved each step, but the final product was a piece of art ‒ on the bottom a syrupy swirl, then the dark, clear black coffee, and floating on the top was a beautiful creaming head. To optimize the pleasure of the drink one must drink through this cream, and I must tell you it was quite heavenly! It was so good that I even took my finger and swirled it around the empty glass to taste every last drop; this act of desperation coming from a woman whose favorite expression to her children when they were in a public place, “Don’t touch anything!”

So the challenge in preparing the drink in the USA, I thought, was only to make sure that I had all the ingredients in hand so that I could mimic the process I observed in Ireland. Most Irish coffee recipes call for a shot of good Irish whiskey*, two teaspoons of sugar, either brown or granulated (I used brown), whipping cream, and coffee. The cream should be whipped slightly.

So let’s begin:

Warm up the glass with warm/hot water and let it sit for a minute or two. I would suggest using a tempered-type glass. Pour out the water add the sugar and whiskey, stir and let the sugar dissolve. Then add coffee, followed by the whipped cream, which is to be poured over a large spoon placed over the glass (concave side up). Unfortunately, none of my recipes specify amounts of coffee or cream, and my first attempt looked more like a milkshake.

On my second attempt, I poured less coffee (½ cup) and just placed the head of the cream gently on top of coffee mix. It was a bit better looking but not what I saw in Ireland. As for taste, the milkshake version was quite good, and my second take did not have enough cream; neither compared to the brew I had in Ireland. Maybe I needed to add some fairy dust!

SOS to Bryan’s Kitchen in Dublin: Can you ask any of your Irish sources for tips on the art of making Irish Coffee?

*Bushmills and Jameson Brands.

Margie’s Kitchen in Boston: Valentine’s Day Special Brunch Drink – Irish Coffee

Sasha's Kitchen: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello (Valentine's Day Special)

One of my parents' friends in Danville, Pennsylvania was reading our site, and suggested that I experiment with some homemade Italian liquors and cordials.  He was kind enough to provide some instructions on how he had prepared homeade limoncello.  When I heard this, I knew that I had to make my own limoncello right away.

I spent a couple weeks travelling around Italy after graduating from Haverford College.  One of the things I remember about Italy (other than its friendly people, natural beauty and that I want to go back with my husband) is the incredible Italian food.  While in Italy, I remember coming across two after-dinner drinks with some frequency - Limoncello (a sweet lemon-flavored liqueur) and Grappa (which I am told tastes like gasoline, but with that description, coupled by a smell to match, I never tried Grappa).  I brought home several small bottles of wonderful Italian limoncello, unaware that it would be a fairly simple process for me to make my own.  Because Italy is such a romantic destination, and limoncello is the perfect sweet ending to a romantic dinner, such as a Valentine's Day meal, I decided to include this in our Valentine's Day Special.  A further note: they have wonderful Italian after-dinner cordials (after a great Italian meal) at my favorite New York Italian, Acappella.

By way of background, limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur, produced mainly in Southern Italy, such as in the Naples area and the Amalfi Coast.  Traditionally, in Italy it is made from Sorrento lemons, but ordinary lemons (like I used) will also produce an excellent quality limoncello.

Here's what you will need:

1 liter Everclear or Grain Alcohol (don't use regular vodka, or the proofage will be way off)
1 old two liter soda bottle
The peels of 20 lemons - Remove the peels using a conventional peeler, not a zester
2 lb of sugar (About 4 cups)
1 liter water (About 4 1/4 cups)

The process of making limoncello is quite simple, but takes about a week.  First, peel the 20 lemons.  Put the peels in a large jar, or a 2 liter soda bottle.  Make sure when peeling the lemons to use a regular peeler and not a zester, and remove only the peels.  Then, add 1 liter of everclear, or another type of grain alcohol to the lemon peels.  Put in a dark closet for a week, turning the bottle or jar upside down once a day.

After a week has passed, remove the yellow liquid from the lemon peels.  The peels should have whitened considerably in color, and have a brittle feel to them.  Filter the liquid through a coffee filter and put aside. 

To prepare the simply syrup, put the water in a pot and add the sugar.  Heat and stir until the sugar is fully dissolved, around a temperature of 115 degrees.  At this temperature, add the syrup to the yellow everclear lemon infusion.  If you add the syrup when it is warm, the limoncello will be a clearish yellow color, and not cloudy, which would be the likely result if the syrup were allowed to cool first.

At this point, you have successfully extracted and made your own Italian limoncello, the perfect after dinner cordial for with a sweet dessert for Valentine's Day.  You can order some 16-17 oz bottles from Specialty Bottle in whatever shape and size suits you, bottle the limoncello and decorate with a pretty ribbon.  This makes a great gift.  My bottles haven't arrived yet, as I ordered them a bit late in the process, so the picture is shown in a large bottle.  I will update the photos early next week when they are bottled for gifts!

The drink should be served chilled, after dinner, as a digestivo.  In Italy, it is often served in chilled ceramic glasses.  The quality of the limoncello I made was excellent, second only to the limoncello I tasted while travelling around Italy.  A funny note from Wikipedia - apparently limoncello garnered some media attention after Danny DiVito gave the following quote in a 20066 episode of the View:  " knew it was the last seven limoncellos that was going to get me."  (sic)

So here they are finally - the bottles that I ordered with the Limoncello.  This makes the perfect gift - my mother in law loved hers. 

If life gives you a lot more lemons, check out the following post from Margie's Kitchen on Boston for many wonderful and inspired ideas on how to cook with lemons.  If life gives you limes instead, try my recipe for Key Lime Bars.


Limoncello

Sasha's Kitchen: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello (Valentine's Day Special)