A few months ago, my lovely Wife found a nifty little book, Classic Liqueurs: The Art of Making & Cooking with Liqueurs by Cheryl Long and Heather Kibbey. It’s full of fun and interesting recipes on mock-creations of your favorite liqueurs.
Taken from the book, my 2 latest endeavors are below:
Orange Curaçao
1 cup dried (bitter) orange peel
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 cups cognac¾ cups ea. sugar and water
Combine cognac, orange juice, orange peel, and coriander in aging container (mason jar works well). Shake daily and keep in cool, dark place for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks, drain using sieve, cheesecloth or other fine mesh strainer. Make 1:1 simple syrup and combine with tincture when cool. Age at least 3 months.
I adjusted the recipe in book to suit my tastes: the book has you use a grain-neutral spirit. I wanted to use cognac in my first test. I just put it up a few days ago and I did test the flavor: Delicious, but incredibly bitter. I’m hoping the aging will take the edge off that bitterness (as I assume the aging will do). I’ll let you know in April how it tastes.
The next little guy I made yesterday. It is an attempt to re-make the now lost Forbidden Fruits liqueur.
Apparently, our grapefruit is a hybrid of the pomelo and an orange (much like our lime is a hybrid of a lemon and a key lime). Look at the pith on a pomelo (right)! Also that is my hand so you can see the size (it’s the size of a baby’s head). I decided to give the old recipe a try with my own changes to see if I could get it closer. Cocktail DB lists the flavour profiles as citrus, honey, brandy.
I used a pomelo instead of grapefruit, and replaced the lemon rind with pomelo rind. I also replaced the sugar in the recipe with honey. I also replaced the vodka/brandy mix with a cognac/brandy mix. Because I love Donn’s Spices so much, I added one stick of Ceylon cinnamon to marry with the Vanilla. You first create a syrup of the citrus rinds, juices, spices and honey. Bring this to a boil, then simmer. This is then added to the aging container with the brandy and cognac for 3 weeks. The last week is spent straining and clarifying. The recipe I used is roughly:
Forbidden Fruits Liqueur (approximation)
2 Pomelos, rind of 2 and juice of 1
3 Oranges, rind of 1 and juice of 3
1 Lemon, rind and juice
1 Vanilla pod, split lengthwise
1 Ceylon Cinnamon stick, crushed
2 Cups honey1 Cup Cognac
1 Cup Brandy
I think I’ll have a winner here. The pomelo and honey together were a combination that was instant alchemy. The simmering pot of syrup had such a magical, forbidden scent I wish I could explain it more. Similar to donn’s spices, yet with a character fresh and enticing. I can’t wait for February on this one.
Coming next? Results of the Simple Syrup experiment, announcement of the Falernum experiment (making falernum with the cold- and hot-method simple syrups), and the canning-processed falernum experiment. Of course, more cocktail recipes, liqueur recipes and trials, and as always the witty banter you’ve come to dread.
-=C
p.s. Falernum #3, just out of batch is the best I’ve made yet. I’ll divulge the secret ingredient if the Wife doesn’t kill me (it was her idea).
Let me patent it first! Otherwise, in three years the NYT will be heralding the “fantastic new cocktail ingredient Cumin*!” and I’ll be bitter that I thought of it first. If I can sue, then I will be satiated by piles of money.
*Cumin not the actual ingredient here. Though a Lime Cumin Flirtini would take your local El Torito by storm…
from Trader Vic’s Bartenders Guide, p.46
Forbidden Fruit – an American liqueur made from the fruit of the shaddock (a type of grapefruit) and cognac.
Similar info on the Cocktail DB Forbidden Fruit page.
I’m interested to see how it turned out. I wasn’t disappointed with my turnout at all, it became something new and different. I was, however, disappointed at the recipe in that book, which seemed to leave out the main components of the original liqueur. Still, not a bad place to start!
I’ll change the article text to better report the sit-chee-ation. I do like calling the Pomello a Shattock or (shaddock) fruit. Spelling wasn’t standardized at the time The Captain shaddock transplanted the fruit to the West Indies.
And you know what? I think I lyke the idea of alternayte spellyng.
Hey, it’s April, how is the Curacao? I was just reading my copy of the book last night (after seeing Pomello’s on sale at Fubonn) thinking about making maybe both of these. However, my understanding is that real Curacao/Triple Sec should be redistilled (to remove the bitterness from the white pith), so I’m curious how this turned out for you. The book calls for sweet orange peel, maybe that is why yours was so bitter before aging.
The Curacao is out of the barrel. There is still a note of bitterness. However, the three months did amazing things: Wonderful, deliciously amazing things.
And now, I have a Curacao-primed barrel for the next languorous inhabitant.
Oh hey! Experimenting with Forbidden Fruit myself this week.
Interesting idea about honey in the FF! I will give a try replacing some of the sugar in my recipe with honey when I sweeten it tonight.
Also, I often wonder if vintage curacao was not only a lot sweeter, but also a lot more bitter than the current products. Something had to be different for it to make sense in the amounts often proscribed by Jerry Thomas et al.
Pomellos are in season again, it’s time to do another big old batch myself.