Gin & Tonics, Tom Collins and a Rickey

The last time Cory was in town, we decided to find the best tonic water for your standard Gin and Tonic. We tested five tonic waters:

Canada Dry in the Plastic 1 liter bottle ($1.29 per bottle)
Tom Thumb brand in a 12 ounce can ($1.25 per six pack)
Target Brand (Market Pantry) in the plastic 1 liter bottle ($0.99 per bottle)
Q tonic Artisanal Tonic Water in an eight ounce glass bottle ($7.99 per four pack)
365 Organics (Whole Foods) in a 12 ounce can ($2.50 per six pack)

Our Gin of choice was Boodle's London Dry, and we eyeballed the ratios of gin to tonic to lime. Adjustments were made if we felt they were too strong or weak.

After a round of tasting, here's what we came up with.
The overall winner was the Whole Foods brand -- good carbonation/quinine flavor and minimal sweetness. The whole foods brand tonic water is made with real sugar, instead of corn syrup, which we both believe made for a cleaner tonic taste.
Second place in my book was the Q-tonic brand. This stuff is in your face tonic, with a strong quinine flavor. Sweetened with agave nectar, it has the same minimal sweetness, just enough to take the edge of the quinine. Q-tonic is fantastic, but really too expensive to be used for daily or weekly tonic making.
Third was the Canada Dry, your standard tonic. It's good.
Fourth and fifth are really not worth mentioning. The Tom Thumb tonic is really sweet (not that you would notice if it was the only one you drank), and the Target brand was lacking in the carbonation department.

Our Tonic testing got me thinking about other Gin cocktails. Namely the Tom Collins and the Gin Rickey.

Cory and I got some Tom Collins mix when we were in college, and tried it out. That was a mistake, and it turned me off to the Collins for many years. I recently re-discovered the Collins, and will provide you with a recipe for your enjoyment.
Tom Collins:
1 Ounce fresh Lemon juice
1 Ounce simple syrup
3 Ounces Gin
Club Soda to fill the glass

Mix your lemon juice, syrup and gin in a highball glass, add club soda to fill (4 ounces?) and a few ice cubes. Enjoy.

Similar to the Collins, the Gin Rickey replaces the lemon juice with lime. Since limes generally have more tartness, I'd use about 1/2 the amount of lime juice. True, the original Rickey does not use sugar/syrup, but I like the added sweetness.

--Brad

Ginger-Habanero Syrup

I know, I know, why the hell am I posting again about a syrup. Well, to execute this one properly requires a little technique. Not a lot (or alot, as your 7th grade sweetheart might have written), mind you, but some.

The syrup starts the same as others: 1 part water, 1 part sugar. Add a few slices of ginger. Add 2 whole, rinsed habaneros for hot, 3 if you are crazy and you are making your first batch and don't know how hot you want it so you just add three because "why not?"

Set your heat to simmer - that's right, I said "simmer." And, if you didn't catch it, do not cut the peppers! Let this little pot cook for about 30-45 minutes at least, though 1 hour is probably optimal.

Your required technique usage: once the chosen allotment of time is up and your heat is off, you must squeeze the habaneros. A wooden spoon works well as you can squish your pepper underwater, as it were. We learned this the hard way when a habanero exploded on the wall and splashback portion of the cooktop. But is it even a splashback if it isn't behind a sink? That must be a question for another day. In any event, you squoze out your habaneros into the syrup, let cool, and go.

While we are only in the infancy of dealing with this syrup, one thing is clear: it is hot as hell. Recipe one for the syrup is an easy one: vodka, soda, a teaspoon of syrup. It will burn favorably in your body and you will indeed be happier for it.

Stay posted for additional uses of the ginger-habanero syrup!

Stone's Ginger Wine

Not too terribly long ago we posted about Domaine de Canton, a delicious ginger-infused brandy. Do not get me wrong, Canton is awesome. Tonight, however, on a rain-soaked walk to the local liquor store in search of said Canton, Misty and I found ourselves in Sportsman's Liquor, where Canton was nowhere in sight. The proprietor, though, suggested we try a ginger wine he had. Stone's it was, and Stone's it will be!

At only $12.99, this boldly flavored drink is less than half the price of trendy Canton, and while it is only 13.25% alcohol to Canton's 28% or so, it is an excellent substitute for the trendy Canton.



And for your continued attention to this post, you now get a drink recipe we discovered at a local joint, PS7s. They call it the Cure and charge you $5 (cheap, no doubt). Put ice cubes in a glass. Add about 2-3 shots' worth of either Stone's or Canton. Now pay attention: add half a Miller Light. Yes, a Miller Light. Finish it off with a touch ginger syrup and stir it up (to make the ginger syrup, add 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water, and some roughly cut up fresh ginger - simmer until it boils to get the maximum ginger flavor - keep it in the fridge after that - duh).



Enjoy!

Hatch Chile Season

Oh yes, It's that time of year again. Hatch Chile season is upon us. If you're lucky enough to live in a part of the country where you can procure these delights, you'd be wise to stock up. If the Hatch Chile is not available in your neighborhood, be aware that the Hatch Chile is generally any variety of the New Mexico Chile, which happens to be grown in Hatch, NM.

This is the first year where I've noticed all of the local markets carrying both a mild (New Mexico #20) and a hot (Big Jim or Sandia) pepper. In the past (at least at the stores I shop in) you've just had the luck of the draw; this is not the case this year. Both Sprouts and Central Market were advertising fresh chiles in mild and hot. I chose to make my purchases at Central Market, mostly because they roast on site and they make just about everything you could imagine with the Hatch pepper on the "roasting" weekends. For example, in my adventure on Sunday, I procured the following:
2lbs each of hot and mild roasted peppers -- roasted on site, in front of me
1lb each of hot and mild fresh peppers
1lb of Hatch Chile Pork sausage
1 jar Hatch Chile salsa verde
1 package fresh Hatch Chile Hamburger Buns

There were many other options include fresh guacamole, pepper jams and fresh pepper jack cheese made with the delicious Hatch Chile, but I thought I had done enough.

Anyway, the fresh chiles are good for many of your standard chile applications, and the roasted go great in everything; my meal plans include Hatch Manwich and Hatch Chicken Enchiladas. I might make rellenos with the fresh peppers; we'll just have to see.

Tonight, I made Hatch Chile Rice. And it was awesome.
1 Cup Rice
2 Cups Chicken Broth
3 Tbsp minced roasted Hatch Chiles (I used the Hot ones)
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Granulated Garlic
Salt to taste.

Rinse your rice, throw it in your rice cooker, add the broth, chiles and seasoning and fire it up. Don't have a rice cooker? You're on your own. I've forgotten how to cook rice w/out one.

--Brad

Quick word about BYOB

You may have noticed that I mentioned the fact that Citrus Bistro is BYOB several times in the review. Post dinner at CB, I decided to do a little research on other BYOB restaurants in the Dallas area. I'd like to thank Google for the below link.

GoBYO

Lists all of the restaurants with a BYO option, and their corkage fee, if any. Only in select cities, but the "select" cities happens to cover the majority of the BeefRobot readership.

Enjoy.
--Brad

Black Pepper Simple Syrup

So, sure, we have all tried simple syrup at one point or another. Maybe we've even made it. But lately, simple syrup is, well, a little too simple for me. I saw a recipe a while back for black pepper simple syrup and it sounded delicious! Tonight, it is achieved.

Start with your basic simple syrup recipe, though I thought it a good idea to add a touch more water than normal. I use a 1:1 ratio of sugar to water, though it is not unheard of to make the sugar portion 1.5 or even 2 to 1 part of water. Then I added about 25 black peppercorns to the pot. I set it to simmer for about 25 minutes, though I will experiment with a longer simmer for greater concentration of the pepper.

The first drink I made with the syrup was an easy one: 4 tsp black pepper syrup, vodka, soda. This drink is very clean, and with a nice undercurrent of pepper. The combo of sweet and pepper really is a mellow way to add a little kick to a drink.

Drink #2: ice to half a rocks glass; just cover with tequila (I did gold tonight); add 6 tablespoons BP syrup. Enjoy this - the syrup adds a layer of complexity to your tequila and gives it the illusion of having been aged. Tasty!

Citrus Bistro -- a review

While shopping in the Preston and Royal area a few weeks ago, I had noticed Citrus Bistro. I did my internet research, and decided it would work well for a nice Friday dinner.

In my research, I had noticed that Citrus Bistro is BYOB, so I grabbed a bottle from the wine fridge and we headed out, arriving at around 7pm. We walked in the back door, near the patio and were asked if we had a reservation. We said no, the host said "no problem" and lead us to a table in the front of the restaurant. Note, this place can get pretty loud, and it appears as though there are a lot of regulars, so you might be wise to make a reservation.

We were seated, and the host went to retrieve some wine glasses for our bottle. He returned shortly, and poured our glasses and explained the numerous (4 or more) nightly specials, and explained that if there was something we wanted that wasn't on the menu, they'd make it assuming they had the ingredients. One of the specials had some soft shelled crab involved, and I seriously considered ordering a plate of crabs, but decided that I'd stick with the current specials/menu options.

Misstep #1. Joy's wine glass had lipstick on it, that wasn't her own. The glass was quickly replaced, but, we didn't notice till after the wine was poured. Ok, now we're short one glass of wine, and they still charged the corkage fee? I should have said something, but for some reason was in a good mood or something, and didn't.

After some deliberation, and assurance that the "Dover Sole" special was indeed Dover Sole, and not Black Flounder, Lemon Flounder or any other Flounder I chose the pan seared Dover Sole, and a Caprese salad.

Misstep #2. My Caprese salad was made with some run of the mill Roma tomatoes -- which I know are traditional, but... For an $8 salad of tomatoes, cheese and basil dressing, I want something heirloom.

My Sole, on the other hand, was probably one of the most correctly prepared pieces of fish I've ever had. And quite delicious. The lemon butter sauce was just right, and as an added bonus, the fish came out whole but was de-boned table side by an extraordinarily adept member of the wait staff.

Joy had the Copper River Salmon special, which, as we were in the height of Copper River season, was spectacular. Cooked perfectly medium, with a delicious crust and silky smooth interior.

In short, since this review is really long, Citrus Bistro is solid, though if you're ordering off the specials menu it can be a little pricey. BYOB is really nice though, and is not just limited to wine, judging by some of the clientele’s flasks, and road scotches they brought in with them. It can get a little loud though, as most of the customers seemed to have imbibed some level of alcohol and the space is small. I can say, with all certainty that we'll be back, cause I love a restaurant that doesn't frown upon you walking in with a pre-poured road cocktail.

Citrus Bistro

--Brad