Safe Word

Creme de cacao is an ingredient I’d always seen and never had around and never sought out because it sounds like dessert or something. The local store only really has the version made by Llord’s but whatever, it’s not like we’re charging $14 for these things. Just googled it and learned that “white” is the clear stuff (which we bought) and “dark” is, uh, dark and is apparently sweeter. Also, you can apparently make it yourself.

I tried making several cocktails and kept waiting for me and mine to dislike them but it never happened; the cocoa flavor is really earthy and good and reminds me of the fancy chocolate bitters we have on hand.

Mr. Boston has this drink called “The Interesting Cocktail” (drinks with creme de cacao tend to have dopey names) which is eight parts blanco tequila, two parts Aperol, two parts dark creme de cacao (we used white) and three parts lime juice. It’s a good drink.

For a whiskey variant, the Commodore Cocktail (also in Mr. Boston) is eight parts bourbon, three parts creme de cacao, two parts lemon juice and a dash of grenadine. Still good.

Meanwhile, in the PDT book, there’s a drink called the La Florida Cocktail that is eight parts rum, three parts lime juice, two parts creme de cacao, one part sweet vermouth and 5 ml grenadine: this is good; they note it’s a variation on a daiquiri and it tastes like that but with that added earthy cocoa flavor.

Finally, Gary Regan’s The Joy of Mixology has a sour called Delmarva Cocktail No. 2 (a variation of a drink that uses creme de menthe) using eight parts rye, two parts dry vermouth, two parts creme de cacao and two parts lemon juice — it’s subtle, and post-pucker you’ll taste the cocoa flavor on the back end.

On Yellow-Red Color Blindness

I was going to say, this drink was X, Y & Z and then I go back to the recipe and realize that it was very fucked up. On page 159 there’s a drink called the La Louche which is six parts gin, four parts Lillet rouge, two parts lime juice, one part yellow Chartreuse and one part simple syrup.

I knew I had green Chartreuse and not the yellow variety and thought “Oh well.” But it wasn’t until going back just now that I realized I missed the “rouge” part of “Lillet rouge.”

Anyway, this drink — with green Chartreuse and the non-rouge Lillet was kind of one note (as determined by the executive committee, not me), like a fancified gimlet. Maybe I’ll try it the normal way at some point.

Yes! We Have No Cedillas

Looking for ways to use up lime juice and found a cachaca-based cocktail in the PDT Cocktail Book that has eight parts cachaca, three parts lime juice, and two parts almond syrup muddled with fresh ginger. We always have ginger but are very much lacking in cedillas, so we substituted rum for it. This was good, and is mostly a daiquiri, right?

When Almond Syrup Ruled The World

The Little Bit Country in the PDT book — the one with the bourbon, lemon juice, maraschino and jalapeno that helped us figure out what to do with all these jalapenos we have — is even better when you replace the maple syrup with almond syrup (orgeat). Well, maybe not necessarily better, but different and worth experimenting with.

Witch

We always held back from Strega because, in general, it’s expensive ($35 or so for .75 l) but I had to replenish the cabinet (or the cabinet plus the sprawling excess spot next to the china cabinet on the floor where the kids, thankfully, don’t really poke around near) so it’s less of a thing to sneak in an expensive add-on. Thus, the Strega.

It’s a funny thing because you think you see an ingredient everywhere and then when you don’t have it you automatically skip over certain recipes. But then when you have it, it’s impossible to remember what’s got it. I went on to Amazon to “look inside” the PDT book and alighted on the Rye Witch (page 232): eight parts rye, one part Strega, one part sherry (it called for a Palo Cortado but I had an Amontillado, which is less sweet on the sherry spectrum), a sugar cube (used a blurp of simple syrup instead) and two dashes of orange bitters.

This was good! The Strega flavor is powerful, be warned, but the overall flavor is good.