Spicy Flavored Salted Rimmed Cocktails

I recently came across a blurb by Chef Mario Batali in the One Page Magazine of the New York Times Sunday Magazine. In a column called "What I'm Drinking", Batali talks about what he's drinking at the moment or reflects back on something that he has drank in the past. In this particular entry, Batali whipping up some flavored salts while on the set of Iron Chef. He feels the salts add complexity to cocktails. Here is the blurb in its entirety:

I decided to make the flavored salt with one difference. I wasn't sure how spicy it would be with three tablespoons of Chipotle powder, so I lowered it down to two tablespoons. It was spicy enough for me with two tablespoons. I can only imagine how much three tablespoons would add to the spiciness scale. I kept the dimensions the same for the kosher salt and the brown sugar. Following the rest of his recipe, I decided to make the Spicy Salty Dog as directed.

A Greyhound is a very basic cocktail which contains vodka (or gin) and grapefruit juice. To make it into a Salty Dog, you would make it as you would a Greyhound but just adding a salt rim to the glass. Here is how I made the Spicy Salty Dog:

Spicy Salty Dog
2oz Grey Goose Vodka
5oz Freshly Squeezed Ruby Red Grapefruit Juice

Wet the rim of a glass with a lime wedge, dip into the flavored salt covering the rim of the glass. Build the drink in the rimmed glass with ice and stir.

I decided to try the cocktail first without the rim. I found the cocktail to be somewhat plain. Though the addition of the Ruby Red Grapefruit juice helped to make it a tastier, less bitter cocktail as you would get by using a canned grapefruit juice. I personally wasn't impressed by it. Trying it with the spicy salt rim, I found that the flavored salt dominated the entire cocktail. It added nothing to it. Possibly using gin would add to the cocktail. I'll have to experiment with that at a later time. But I do know a cocktail that this flavored salt would compliment perfectly: the Margarita.

Here is how I made my version of the Spicy Margarita:

The Spicy Margarita
2oz El Espolón tequila blanco
1oz Homemade Sweet and Sour
.5oz of Agave Syrup
.5oz of Gran Gala Orange Liqueur
Splash of Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice.

Build in an ice filled cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and pour into a glass that has been rimmed with the Spicy Salt.

I personally like my Margaritas a little more on the sweeter side. If you don't, feel free to lower the amounts used for the sweet and sour and agave syrup. Though I find that the agave syrup gives the drink a nice color and I find that it binds the ingredients together. So lowering the amount used of Agave Syrup or even omitting it would change this cocktail. The spicy salt rim works very well with this margarita. The spiciness of the salt compliments the sweetness of the cocktail. One doesn't overpower the other. I would think that making the same cocktail with a Mezcal would add a level of smokiness on top of the spiciness of the salt and sweetness of the other cocktails.

To make the Agave syrup take equal parts of Agave nectar and water. Boil and let cool. To make the homemade sweet and sour mix, refer to the following post: Homemade Simple Syrup and Sweet and Sour Mix. Let me know if you whip one of these cocktails up. I'd be interested to know what you think.

Until Then Happy Drinking,
Sisco Vanilla
#siscovanilla
#siscovanillaatthemovies

My Version of the Orange Dream Martini

New Year's Day was a helluva a tired day for me. After working a super slammed New Years Eve at the Bleecker Street Bar, unwinding a bit at Home Sweet Home and having a New Year's Day breakfast with Momma-San and the kids I finally got to sleep at 11am. Unfortunately I had things to do that day and it was "up and at'em" by 3pm. So after running, we decided to have dinner at the Applebee's in Parkchester. As tired as I was, I decided to order something light off of the cocktail menu. For this I chose the Orange Dream Martini. Here is how it is described:

Orange Dream Martini: Creamy Pinnacle Whipped Vodka shaken with ice, orange juice and garnished with Whipped Cream

Now this cocktail was indeed light, which was what I was looking for. But I felt as if there was something missing. In essence it was a Whipped Cream vodka screwdriver with whipped cream. It was kind of bland. Something was needed to zing it up a bit. So I purchased a small bottle of the Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka and got to working on the zing part of it.

Now I initially thought that maybe adding Triple Sec to the mix would give it an extra layer of orange flavor to the cocktail. Maybe even stepping it up by using Grand Marnier or Cointreau would do the trick. But I decided to go with something entirely different. A few weeks ago I bought a sample sized bottle of an orange liqueur called Gran Gala Liqueur.

The label says that it is a "Rare Triple Orange Liqueur Made With VSOP Brandy"  It is an 80 proof liqueur (40% alcohol by volume). Here is how their website describes Gran Gala:

Bring exceptional taste and smoothness to your cocktails with Italy's Gran Gala Triple Orange Liqueur. Hand-picked from beneath the Sicilian sun, Tarroco, Bionda and Rossa oranges are infused with mature, barrel aged Italian Stock '84 VSOP brandy. The result: Gran Gala's rich amber color, velvety-smooth feel and full-bodied, sweet fruit flavor.

A quick taste brings a swift burn to the throat which slowly turns into a mild and flavorful orange taste. I was satisfied that this would give the zing that I was looking for my version of the orange dream. So keeping with the feel of the original recipe, here is my version of the Orange Dream Martini:

Sisco's Orange Dream
1.5 oz. of Pinnacle Whipped Cream Vodka
1 oz. of Gran Gala Orange Liqueur
2 oz. of Orange Juice
Whipped Cream

Build over ice in a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously and strain in a chilled cocktail glass. Swirl whipped cream on the top of the cocktail.

So what do I think of it? The Gran Gala gives it a bit of a stronger zing that seemed to be missing from the original Orange Dream but to be honest, it still feels a little blah. Its also a little sweet.Perhaps its just not my kind of drink. Momma-San says it tastes like a strong Creamsicle. I guess this will be something I make for my sister or Stella next time they come over. Their palates lean more towards the sweeter cocktails.

Until Then, Happy Drinking
Sisco Vanilla