Tammy Coxen with Tammy’s Tastings not too long ago confirmed methods to make a smoked cocktail by placing the cocktail below a bowl. Then she lit a cinnamon stick.
She’s been trying into different methods to get smoky tastes into cocktails for a category she teaches.
“I’ve been attempting plenty of completely different methods and I’m going to place an entire bunch of them into this one cocktail,” she stated.
The cocktail is a Grilled Pineapple Margarita, however bringing smoke to the glass received’t imply lighting cinnamon sticks this time.
She began with a smoked salt rim.
“I don’t need to do any work right here so as to add smoke to my drink. I can take one thing that’s already smoky,” she defined.
Lester Graham
/
Michigan Radio
When a drink requires a salted rim or a sugared rim, Tammy is a giant believer in solely placing it on the surface rim of the glass.
“In order that the drink doesn’t get overly salty as you drink it,” she stated.
It additionally provides you an opportunity to see what the drink is like with and with out the salt after you’ve taken that first sip.
Mezcal is the subsequent introduction of smoke to the drink.
“Mezcal is comprised of roasted agave,” which she stated is roasted in a pit oven.
Lastly, she grilled some pineapple spears, getting them good a caramelized on all sides. Then she used that to make a syrup (recipe beneath).
This drink additionally makes use of a tequila, Cabresto, that’s made by a Detroit household. In fact, tequila is simply made in Mexico, but it surely’s obtained a very robust Michigan connection. We visited them a number of years in the past and you will get that story here.
The drink is certainly smoky, however in a posh means as a result of there are these three completely different strategies to include smokiness into the margarita.
“And there’s somewhat little bit of smoke coming from a lot of completely different instructions, but it surely’s not overwhelming,” Tammy stated.
Grilled Pineapple Margarita
1 1/2 oz reposado tequila
1/2 oz mezcal
1 oz grilled pineapple syrup (see beneath)
3/4 oz lime juice
Rim: smoked salt
Garnish: grilled pineapple chunk (non-compulsory)
Rim rocks glass with smoked salt. Mix elements in shaker with ice. Shake nicely and pressure into ready glass.
Grilled Pineapple Syrup
1 spear or slice of pineapple (about 1/8 of a pineapple)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Utilizing a BBQ grill or grill pan heated to extremely popular, grill pineapple spear or slice till it’s nicely grilled. It’s okay if it’s starting to blacken a bit. Take away from warmth and let cool barely, then reduce into chunks. In a saucepan, warmth sugar and water simply lengthy sufficient to dissolve the sugar. Mix heat easy syrup and pineapple chunks in a jar and let steep within the fridge for 4-24 hours. Pressure syrup, urgent pineapple chunks flippantly to extract syrup. Retailer refrigerated.
Tammy Coxen and Lester Graham are the authors of Cheers to Michigan: A Celebration of Cocktail Culture and Craft Distillers from the College of Michigan Press. The e book is predicated on the Cheers! episodes heard on Michigan Radio.
