Cranberry-infused Gin with Tonic (plus some squirrel candles)

EE and I are uber-excited to be hosting Thanksgiving dinner this year!  Because we live far from our families, and because I’m working on Friday, we are staying in Manhattan.  This will be our first chance to see the parade, and our first major holiday together without the presence of relatives.  (Relatives that may be reading this: we are very sad not to see you.)  To make the best of the situ, we have teamed up with pals to build a guest list that is an ideal mix of friends, friendly colleagues, relatives of guests, and people we haven’t met.  I’m particularly fond of the last guest category as having people who I’ve never met at the table seems very in keeping with the sharing and giving themes of the holiday.

The most surprising aspect of planning for this Thanksgiving has been the manner in which people seriously consider the invitation to come over.  We kept hearing, “Sounds great, but I’ll only come if I can make and bring X, Y, and Z.”  This response has been a huge relief, because I’m not pressured to provide people with the special dish they associate with giving thanks.  For my part, I love the traditional Thanksgiving spread: turkey (ours is a bronze heritage bird raised on pasture upstate by Wendy), stuffing (I’m making oyster stuffing with my Grandmother’s recipe), pie (I can’t bake to my own standards - luckily others are providing this), etc.

The one aspect of the feast that isn’t embedded in any childhood traditions: a concept of perfect Thanksgiving cocktails.  This is an amazing opening for the home mixologist, and I’ve been working on ways to fill the void.

A few general principles I’ll be mixing by:

1. Have fun
2. Don’t judge; serve people what they want
3. Honor the season, somehow
4. If not the season, a well-worn concept of the Thanksgiving holiday

There are some challenges to consider:

1. Large groups
2. Diversity – just because you may be related, doesn’t mean you like the same drinks
3. Long time-periods (waiting for the turkey to cook)
4. Crowded kitchens

Some tactics I’ll be trying:

1. Infusion – easily (I promise, see below) handles principles 3 or 4.  An infusion allows a novel drink without too many ingredients to mix.
2. Long drinks – they’ll help people keep pace, be refreshed, and stay out of the kitchen.

Cranberry-infused Gin & Tonic

Infuse the gin

Buy some raw cranberries.  Take a jar, fill 1/8 with cranberries, just cover the cranberries with gin and muddle (basically just pop most of the cranberries).  Fill jar with gin.  Leave overnight to 24 hours.  Strain out the cranberries.

Use the infusion to make a Gin and Tonic as described here, but garnish with frozen cranberries instead of lime.

Refresher course on making a Tessin Gin & Tonic

Turkey Carver

Ingredients

1 Bourbon

1/4 Maraschino liqueur

1/8 Fernet Branca

1/8 Kahlua

Squeeze lemon juice

Stir the ingredients in a tall glass filled with ice and top with tonic.

Kitchen Commander

Ingredients

1 Rum (whatever you’ve got)

1/2 Stone’s Ginger

1/4 Cointreau

a few cranberries (frozen or otherwise)

Shake (have to break down the cranberries a bit).  Pour in a tall glass filled with ice.  Top with sparkling water.  Garnish with frozen cranberries.

160 Degrees (or Is The Turkey Ready?)

Ingredients

1 Bourbon

3/4 Stone’s Ginger

1/3 Pimms

dash Anisette

2 drops Peychaud bitters

Stir, strain into a cocktail glass.  Garnish with a lemon twist.

160 Degrees

Of course, wine will be served with the meal, but I’ll leave wine blogging to others.  Hopefully some of these drinks may inspire a cocktail or two at your festivities this week!

Some fun pics of the squirrels (they are way too fun; I can’t wait to light them):

A Tessin restorative

My crime today was introducing my coworker J$ to the El Rey del Sabor food cart.  The beef pastelillo (Puerto Rican empanada) I ate while waiting for my burrito was probably a bit much…

Stomach-soothing cocktails must be individually created based on the nature of the underlying upset, but there are some ground rules I mix by:

No clear liquors – too much alcohol with a cutting effect.  I imagine it pitting my upset stomach lining.

Include ginger – widely known as a homeopathic stomach ailment remedy, I use it in drinks for flavor anyway!

Use bitters – like snake oil, many were created as healing tonics.  I doubt they scientifically serve a healing purpose, but the bite on the tongue makes me feel like I am suffering just enough to earn my health.

Use herbal liqueurs – herbs must be good for the stomach.  More importantly, we need a little sugar in this drink and need to keep that medicinal feel if we expect a decent placebo effect.

Keep it on the rocks – these drinks just don’t work up.

My Arsenal of Soothing Ingredients

From Left to Right (back row): anisette, ginger liqueur, Angostura bitters, Dubonnet, Peychaud’s bitters, Pimm’s, orange bitters, brandy, sweet vermouth, Stone’s Original Ginger.  Front row: frozen blueberries, frozen ginger, frozen cranberries.

For tonight’s stomach-soother I used:

Ingredients

1 brandy

1/3 Stone’s Original ginger

1/4 Pimm’s

4 dashes orange bitters

ginger shavings to taste (keep ginger in the freezer and grate into drinks)

Combine over large ice cubes in a tall glass.  Top off with seltzer.  Using your own siphon is great because it will blast the drink enough to mix without stirring.  If you don’t have a siphon, stir.

Cheers (and feel better)!