The Seraphim

Had a full week of crazy midterm studying last week and there was just absolutely no time to give myself any chance to consume any EtOH (for those of you losers who didn’t take any organic chemistry, it’s ethanol, the potable alcohol). So guess what happened Monday night after my biochemistry midterm?

I went to Serafina – one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Seattle, by the way – about 2~3 weeks ago. A couple of friends and I had a little late night happy hour there. I asked the bartender to improvise a cocktail that uses Benedictine as an ingredient for me, for I had not yet had a chance to try this liqueur before Washington State no longer sells it at Liquer & Wine. Here are some interesting things to know about Benedictine (an herbal liqueur) and why I wanted to try it out so badly:

-It is the the oldest liqueur continuously made, dating back to 1510 C.E. by monks (yes, monks for the win again) in Normandy, France.
-It contains 27 plants and spices.
-Just like Chartreuse, only 3 people on Earth have the recipe for this liqueur. So many people had tried to reproduce this liqueur bu failed; The Abbey of Fecamp (the monastery which created Benedictine) has a display of “Hall of Counterfeits”.

The cocktail made at Serafina blew me away!! I immediately fell in love with it.

Recipe:
1 oz. Benedictine
1 oz. Brandy
1 oz. Vodka
1/2 oz. Lemon juice
1/2 oz. Simply syrup

Procedure:
Put all ingredients in a shaker half filled with ice.
Shake it, shake it.
Strain and pour into a cocktail glass.

What’s amazing about this drink is that it’s sweet, but not too sweet; smooth when you drink it, but sure has the kick; and most importantly, the flavor, the taste, the complexity!!

Top palate hits you with strong grape from the brandy. It’s not one of those “oh I can taste the grape in this”, NO, it’s grape aromatic particles dancing in your mouth like it’s grape heaven. Mid-palate: Benedictine. This wonderful herbal flavor accompanies the grapes, making it a very balanced, not-too-overwhelmed-by-a-single-flavor drink. And lastly, the bottom comes the sweet lemon, although it’s not really just lemon: it combines with the liquor and becomes a sort of plummy flavor, which, to my taste, is much more desirable than straight lemon.

I searched all over the internet but couldn’t find a drink with this recipe, also didn’t find a cocktail that already occupies the name Seraphim. The reason why I call this Seraphim, of course, is an homage to the restaurant.

Sip and enjoy.

Operation on hold

Due to a Microbiology midterm on Friday and a Biochemistry midterm next Monday, I don’t think I’ll be able to post anything new on this blog this week.

Darn it, I really wished I could participate in yesterday’s Mixology Monday (the topic was “Guilty Pleasure”!!)

But anyway, yeah… wish me good luck on these 2 tests… after next Monday though, I’ll celebrate with something big! I finally drove to Capital Hill and bought Benedictine, something that will soon be unavailable in Washington state, so I can optimize the wonderful drink the bartender at Serafina mae me last Friday.

Anyway, I should go back to peptidoglycan and flagellum and whatever…

Ciao~

The Last Word

Tonight was a slow night.

I mean, I AM far behind my classes’ reading schedules, I know that by heart. But I’ve been so worn out lately that I really just can’t set my mind on reading the ever-so-interesting microbiology textbook or the biochem textbook. I just can’t. My Tuesdays and Thursdays are lab research days anyway, so I don’t really need to prepare for tomorrow. So what the heck. I decided to give myself a little break, and maybe post something new on my blog… which means I get to make myself a drink, I think that’s the catch there, if you didn’t quite get it. :p

The Pisco Sour was a first, both in terms of experience and post. After that, I thought I’d go back to something I’m more familiar with. I’ve been thinking about Martini a lot, given that it’s probably my favorite drink and how today’s collegiate society knows very little about it beside the contemporary fruity variations of martini’s (Apple-tini, cholcolate-tini, and the likes). But then, it is precisely because I like it so much, I think it deserves more than a Wednesday night to write about.

So I thought to myself: what should I make tonight? A classic, a fruity drink, or a pretty drink?

Thanks to the ingenious Morganna – Amazing Morganna Almighty, helped me to come to a verdict: “all three in one!” “A classic, fruity, pretty one!”

Immediately, Last Word came into my mind. It’s perfect!

The Last Word was a prohibition-era cocktail, according to Ted Saucier in Bottoms Up. And just like many of the other old classic cocktails, somehow it just started fading away from people’s memory. The most recent rediscovery actually occurred right here in Seattle, in The Zig Zag Cafe behind Pike Place Market. Since then, The Last Word has been regaining its fame in the cocktail world.

The Last Word

Recipe:
3/4 oz. Gin
3/4 oz. Green Chartreuse
3/4 oz. Maraschino liqueur
3/4 oz. Lime juice
Garnish with a grape or lemon twist

Procedure:
Put all ingredients in a shaker half filled with ice.
Shake.
Strain and pour into a cocktail glass.

Taste:
It’s sweet, from the Green Chartreuse and a bit from the Maraschino; it’s sour, from the lime juice; and it’s perfectly complex and balanced!
The Green Chartreuse combined with gin provides all the herbal complexity in the cocktail: the gin’s juniper flavor is semi-covered, not completely, by the Maraschino and the lime juice, but just enough that you can still taste it; the strong Green Chartreuse flavor is “mildened” as well, by the other ingredients in this drink, but it still shines.
It’s fantastic.

I’ll talk about gin when I write about Martini. :p
Today I think I’ll talk about Green Chartreuse.

Green Chartreuse was created by the Carthusian monks back in 1605 for the French King Henry IV as an “elixir of long life”. The recipe for this liqueur calls for 130 herbs and flowers, as well as some secret ingredients. In 1903, a change in French law expelled the Carthusian monks from their monastery as well as distillery, so they took their secret recipe to their refuge – Spain. The monks later regained the possesion of the distillery.

Today, Chartreuse is produced using the herbal mixture prepared by 3 monks. No one else knows what the recipe is except for them 3. It is rumored that no single one of them knows the complete recipe, but each one holds only 1/3 of the complete recipe.

It’s a liqueur so important, it has a color named after it

Hope you guys enjoy this drink.

Pisco Sour

So today I let my mind wander freely. I wanted to try a new cocktail so I have something to put on this blog (it’s been quite depressing seeing that only thread sitting there by itself…). In the imaginary gallery, my mind stopped in front of this one mental picture.

Oh yeah, it looks cool.

Presented here is a picture from Jeffrey Morgenthaler on How to Make an Angostura-Scorched Pisco Sour. I’ve actually been thinking about making a Pisco Sour for a while, due to the cool presentation potential with the egg white foam top and Angostura Bitters etching. So I thought today I might finally do it.

I set out to the Shoreline Liquor & Wine store to find some Pisco first. Pisco is a liquor distilled from grapes, invented by the Spanish in the 16th century. It is named after the port city Pisco of the Viceroyalty of Peru (basically the entire Spanish-reigned South America), in which the Spaniards originally tried to produce orujo, an inexpensive version of Spanish brandy.

Wine imports from Viceroyalty of Peru to Spain were banned in 1641, leaving the region to solely concentrate on the production of Pisco.

Pisco was a popular alcohol of choice among the sailors, as the officers generally had the priviledge to drink whisky or other finer liquors, and Pisco, well… it gets the job done fast. In the modern world, Pisco is quite a hot subject that both Peru and Chile are fighting over the lega production of this spirit, thanks to the popularization contributed by the cocktail Pisco Sour.

Anyway, enough of history, let’s talk cocktail.
I haven’t bought the Misto yet, so there’s no way I can perform such an incredible flame-throwing show like the picture, but etching it fun too.

Recipe:
2 oz. Pisco
2/3 oz. Lime juice
2/3 oz. Simple syrup
1 Egg white
Dashes of Angostura bitters (the original recipe calls for Amargo bitters, but where the hell can I find that… lol)

Procedure:
Put the Pisco, lime juice, simple syrup, and egg white in a shaker WITHOUT the ice, shake vigorously so the egg white emulsifies.
Then add the ice, shake again.
Strain and pour.
Finally, on top of the drink, drizzle several dashes of Angostura bitters. Etching optional.

You can clearly see the egg white foam floating on top layer.

And here’s where the fun is.
I didn’t quite feel so adventurous tonight, so I just went with the basic classic design. Cocktail is more about the taste than looks anyway, though I’m definitely not undermining the importance of presentation.

The taste:
It tastes…sour (no way!). But it’s not just a regular artificial sour taste. The grape flavor from the Pisco blends with the lime juice creates a very refreshing, mildly tangy (lol?), citrus-y taste. I just regret not trying this drink in the summer before the Seattle weather “got back to normal”. It’s sweet and sour, very refreshing, with the distinct taste of Pisco, yet not overwhelmed by the typical alcohol taste. It’s a drink that you can gulp down like a cool glass of plum juice. It probably would’ve been much better if I could find a better Pisco, but then again, I actually don’t see myself making this drink on a regular basis, so…

It certainly is fun to make though! Especially with the Misto and torch, it can be quite a show as an entertainment.

Starting a blog

So..yeah…
Been think about creating a blog for a while, but never really had the motivation to do it.

What the hell am I thinking creating and maintaining a blog at this time, when I barely have any free time for my own… I don’t know. I was just greatly inspired by Jeffrey Morgenthaler, and then thought to myself: I want to create something like that.

LOL, yes, I’m an alcoholic.
No, not really. I think of myself as the amateur bartender – one who does cocktails at home, and hopefully will achieve certain level of drink-mixing proficiency.

For some unknown reason I just find great interest and passion for beverages! First started off with the art of Italian coffee, then moved on to tea. After turning 21, gained the access to the unlimited world of alcohol, I just dove into the territory of cocktail and wine. I’m all about beverages, I think, and they will probably shorten my lifespan tremendously (coffee, tea, and alcohol? Oh yeah…), but I don’t care.

The mission statement of this blog? I think I will use it primarily to record my journey in the cuisine & beverage wonderland; after all, I am the president of Cuisine Club, aren’t I? Haha~