Homemade Kumquat Cordial

A couple of weeks ago there was an interesting little article in the New York Times on the history of lime cordial and the definition of a proper gimlet. Obviously, there was discussion about that bright green abomination called Rose’s, which has certainly seen better days. Shelf stable through the apocalypse, this is about the only ready-made lime cordial available on the market, which presents a problem for those seeking out a “proper” gimlet, one that simply consists of lime cordial and gin or vodka. But you can read the article for more details. The writer offered up his recipe for a homemade “raw” cordial using fresh juice and zest. The first thing I did after reading it was head to the store for some limes, but I got distracted by the huge bin of kumquats in the citrus area. I still got the limes, which later funded a few delicious margaritas, but I decided to experiment with kumquat cordial instead.

Overall, I was pleased with the results, which take a couple days to achieve. By combining superfine white sugar, kumquats, and a little white rum, I ended up with a pleasantly tart, tangy and sweet cordial that works well in cocktails. The recipe below is for a test batch size of cordial, which if you're not entertaining, is probably reasonable to make cocktails for two people throughout the week before one loses interest and moves on to another project. Feel free to multiply it as you see fit.

Fresh Kumquat Cordial

about 20 kumquats, rinsed
½ cup super fine sugar*
2 oz white rum, I used Cruzan

Slice the kumquats into small pieces, or into thirds. Cover with superfine sugar and the rum. Agitate the mixture and then place in the fridge for two days. On day two, take a muddler and mash the fruit well. Put the mixture back in the fridge. The next day, pour the contents into a blender, pulse a few times, then strain out the solids. Refrigerate and keep up to three weeks.

*Save yourself some money and make your own superfine sugar. Put regular white sugar in a food processor and zap it until it reaches the consistency you’d like.

Kumquat Gimlet

2 oz gin (or vodka, if that's how you roll)
1 oz kumquat cordial

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake about 10 seconds. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a kumquat slice floating in the drink or a kumquat on the rim of the glass.

the gimlet!

The C Monster

1.5 oz white rum
.5 oz Veev Acai liqueur
.5 oz kumquat cordial
.5 oz fresh grapefruit juice

In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake shake shake, about 10 seconds. Double strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Finish off with a grapefruit twist or no garnish.

The Rye Whiskey Craze and Rye Reviews

After starting to make a comeback about five or so years ago, rye whiskey has become an extremely popular spirit. I think it’s safe to say that in the Bay Area it’s more popular than ever, and most “serious” bars have at least one rye based cocktail on their menu. More and more distillers are releasing a rye whiskey, and plenty of popular old standards are getting harder to find. Just try getting your paws on a bottle of Rittenhouse 100 or Russell's Reserve right now. Not as easy as you'd think. Here are a few good ones to try if you can't get your favorite brand right now.


Bulleit Rye, Kentucky

When I heard that Bulleit was releasing a rye, I was super excited. The verdict: not bad, not great. Serves its purpose as a decent mixing spirit, much like their bourbon. It's a solid product, but not remarkable. It won't change your life or anything, but it beats having to settle for a bottle of Old Overholt.

$25


High West Rendevous Rye, Utah

From the Utah distillery High West, it’s a blend of their 6 yr and 16 year old rye whiskies. It's spicy and well balanced and definitely makes a great cocktail, but it's a good sipping rye too. One of my favorites, though it's a bit on the pricier side when compared to some of the others. Worth the money in my opinion. They've also just released a double rye that I haven't had the chance to try yet, and it's about $15 cheaper.

$50-55


Redemption Rye, Kentucky

Fairly new on the market, and it's made with 95% rye. It has a bit more character than the Bulleit Rye, and I like that it has a slightly higher proof (92) and can stand out more prominently in a cocktail. They also make a Bourbon called “High-Rye” with 38% rye in the mash-bill—haven't tried this one yet but it sounds interesting.

$26


Whistle Pig Rye, Vermont

The splurge bottle. I sampled this at SF Whiskey Fest in the fall, and boy was it good. I've been meaning to grab a bottle, but sometimes it's hard to find the excuse to spend $ on (yet another) bottle of whiskey. Savory, spicy, and very satisfying. Whistle Pig stands out because it's 100% rye AND 100 proof, and they've aged the whiskey for 10 years. Well worth seeking out for your collection.

$70

Nicasio Square Cheese

Time to try a new cheese! This tasty cow’s milk cheese from Nicasio Valley, CA is a bit like Taleggio, but milder and firmer. It has a washed rind (my favorite) and it’s aged for 30 days—even better, it’s made from certified organic milk. Nicasio Valley Cheese Co. cows derive most of their diet from grazing in the pasture, and they’ve even rented some of their fields out to Marin Farms to let them raise free range chickens. In turn, the chickens aerate the cow pastures and eat up those pesky bugs. As far as I know, this cheese is currently only available in California, so if you live in the state, go out and get some!

Nicasio Square Cheese, from Nicasio Valley Cheese Co. is available HERE. I usually get mine a Berkeley Bowl.

Stank Meter: 4

1-snooze 2-mild, but not boring 3-has a flavor 4-mild hint of stinky 5-now we’re talking 6-next stop, stankville

Creamy, Crunchy Chicken Salad

This is a good picnic food item, but it’s also good to make a batch for dinners during a busy week when there’s not much time to cook. My favorite way to eat it is on some warm sourdough bread, although it’d make a great wrap filling too. For variety, try crumbling a little blue cheese on top before serving it.

Crunchy Chicken Salad

about 3 cups grilled chicken breast, cubed/chunked
2-3 stalks celery, diced
1 medium apple, cored and diced
¼ cup onion, grated
¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 scant tsp white vinegar
1 scant tsp white sugar
½ cup low fat mayo
½ cup sour cream
kosher salt, to taste

Add chicken, celery, apple, onion, black pepper to a mixing bowl and stir. Next, add vinegar, sugar, mayo, sour cream, and salt. Mix until all ingredients are well integrated. The salad should be creamy, but not too heavy.

If you’re making a large batch for later, know that the salad starts to lose some of its zing from the vinegar after the second day, but still tastes great and stays crunchy even on the third day.

Cinco De Mayo: Margarita Time!

Here’s a simple margarita recipe for your Cinco de Mayo celebration that uses just three ingredients. That means use the good stuff. Don’t try this with Cuervo; in fact, if you were going to drink Cuervo, get off my blog. (Oh just kidding, come back here so I can properly shame you.) I got this particular recipe from a Partida tequila rep who served it up rather than on the rocks. It’s about the only way I’ve been drinking my tequila at home for the last six months. Salud!

Margarita

1.5 oz Reposado tequila
juice of one lime (about 1 oz)
1-1 ¼ oz agave syrup*

Shake all ingredients with ice for about 10 seconds. Strain and serve in a chilled cocktail glass. Float a lime wheel for garnish.

Agave Syup

1.5 parts Agave nectar : 1 part water

Combine agave and water, warm until dissolved. Let cool. Chill leftover syrup. I used (light) blue agave nectar from Trader Joe’s, but you can also usually find it at places like Whole Foods. Usually next to the honey.

Tequila Recommendations: Centenario, Partida, or Cazadores

Snack Review: Puerto Morelos Edition

"take-away" snacks from Posada Amor

Here's the part where I really get bummed about that damn camera breaking. I wish I could show you the pastry truck and the corn cart, but alas, our little camera gave up on us. There's some tasty street food to be had in Puerto Morelos. Two things in particular are worth seeking out, and by that I mean ferociously stalking the vendor.

The Corn Guy: Esquites

Look for his cart in the late afternoon throughout the evening. He's got corn on the cob, dressed with mayo, lemon juice and cheese. And he's got esquites! It's basically the same deal but it comes in a cup (the corn is cooked in some kind of broth) and it's topped with lemon juice, mayo, cheese, and some other seasoning I can't recall. Deliciousness!

The Pastry Truck!!

Worth chasing a few blocks, trust me. You can find the pastry truck driving through the square in the evening (around 7:00 is a good time to keep an eye out.) It's a white panel van—the type one might typically want to steer clear of if it circled through some American suburban neighborhood—but this van is filled with tasty Mexican pastries! Flag down the driver and he'll stop to sell you some. They're amazing, and super cheap too.

Recommendations:
-Coconut cake!! Filled with pudding. Sooooo good.
-Ham/cheese/jalapeno sweet bun. Sounds weird, but it's salty-sweet magic.
-Anything with custard.

Casa Martin

If you need snacks or you're staying in a place with a kitchen and need groceries, this is the largest market in town. We cooked breakfast in the mornings, so we usually picked up eggs, cheese, and bread/tortillas from Casa Martin. And just to warn those of you unfamiliar with the metric system...if you want to order from the deli counter, get familiar with kilograms.

thank you for the cheese!!

I checked in on the wifey who was ordering some cheese: “How much should we get...it's in kilograms” She seemed somewhat on the verge of panic. “Kgs?” I asked. “Yes, Kgs,” she confirmed. I too began to panic. “It's {Kg} got to be something close to a pound, right? Just get like, half a Kg.” Wrong. Apparently 1 Kg = 2.2 lbs. And let me tell you, that's a hell of a lot of queso fresco, even for cheese lovers. Fortunately, the very friendly cheese lady spoke some English, and was nice enough to cut the half Kg into another half for us. She also laughed at us a little. And she was nice enough to let me take her picture before we left.

Other Casa Martin Snack Recommendations:

Donas-yes, they are tiny packaged donuts coated in powdered sugar. They're made by a company called Bimbo, something like the Mexican version of Hostess. I'd say we ate a pack about every other day.

Submarinos-kind of like Twinkies, but with more vanilla. They also make them in chocolate, but I think the vanilla ones are the way to go.

Puerto Morelos: Just Another Reason to Win the Lottery

The wife and I recently took a vacation—for those of you who need a refresher, a vacation is that thing where you take days off work and leave for someplace restful, or possibly someplace offering adventure. Preferably a remote location where you are impossible to reach, and it would be plausible that you fell victim to a shark attack or local coup, thereby allowing you to fake your death and establish a new identity somewhere Citibank can never find you. But I digress.

We spent our vacation of ten days in Puerto Morelos, a little fishing village outside of Cancun. To sum up the trip in one word: AWESOME. There was snorkeling, food, tequila, sun, coconut palms, and general feelings of contentment. When we told people we were going to Mexico for vacation, most of the responses went something like this “ohhh, that's dangerous” and “be careful!” —of course, considering that we live in Oakland, I found their reactions kind of funny. As expected, Puerto Morelos was not the kind of place you have to worry about losing your head or fingers, or getting kidnapped and winding up in a ditch, although you may fall prey to sunburn or jellyfish stings. Puerto Morelos is not gangsta, don't worry kids. Just bring plenty of Pepto and suncreen and you'll be okay.


First thing you should know if you're going to visit...Puerto Morelos is an expat town. Aside from the fishermen, snorkel guides, and some of the shop workers, everyone there is from somewhere else. Argentina, Uruguay, France, Germany, Spain, Canada. So if you were expecting a parade of tacos and horchata, think again! Most of the restaurants in the square have pasta or pizza on the menu. If you're looking for Mexican cuisine, you still have a good number of options, but they aren't as numerous as one would expect.

Puerto Morelos Restaurant Recommendations:

Al Chimichurri

If you get the chance to eat out at only one place in the square, this Uruguayan restaurant should be your place. We ended up here on our first night exhausted from flying and having pulled an all-nighter. Blood sugar was low, but we lucked out when we finally just picked a spot at random. Not as touristy as some of the other spots, they have amazing empanadas and grilled meats, as well as very tasty pizzas cooked in their woodfire oven. Grilled meats come with a bed of fresh salad. They also have an amazing housemade hot sauce that is great on...well, everything. I think we ate there 4 times in the 10 days of our visit. I wish I could go there right now! Be advised it's a popular place on weekend nights, but they stay open late. When it gets busy, they pull tables out onto the street. They also serve beer and wine.

delicious empanadas and pizza (half-eaten) at Al Chimichurri
Posada Amor

Right across the street from Al Chimichurri, they're a hotel restaurant with a confusing menu. The food was good, but we almost didn’t stop because the menu looked like it was geared more to tourists. We had the chicken mole—very different than anything I've had. It was on the sweeter side and maybe had tamarind in it. It was tasty, and I ate every bit, but maybe not everyone's cup of tea. The fried chicken tacos... or, I should say... fried, chicken tacos were yummy. They served us chips and pico de gallo while we waited for our food. Also, they have margaritas and daily fish specials (it is a fishing village after all). Best thing: we were looking for snack food to munch on back at our rental house, and our server (also the barman next door) hooked us up with to-go chips, salsa, and guacamole.

Qué Hora Es? (aka, The Bar)

The bar next to Posada Amor translates to “what time is it?” and I believe it's a separate business with some overlap in owners. It's a fun place to grab a drink or three before heading home and passing out. We drank our share of Cuba Libres—and drank them out of their Havana Club rum on the first night, I'm afraid. Local expat crowd, nice fellows albeit a bit odd. We speculated a few might be ex-cons (bank heist circa 1980) and one once-famous rock drummer hiding from alimony payments. Extra bonus points for having geckos hanging out on the roof and walls. You'll want to chat with Manuel, one of the bartenders there who also works at the restaurtant and hotel next door. He's almost an expat himself; a fellow from North Mexico who took off to Ireland for six years and now sounds more Irish than Mexican. He's got plenty of interesting stories, and he also makes a mean Margarita.

Doña Triny's

We got this recommendation for Mexican cuisine from a local who did not steer us wrong. Tasty breakfast and dinner, very friendly service (they're clearly family owned and operated), and damn good margaritas. Maybe a little too good. They have a special that I suspect they run pretty much all the time, 2 margaritas, chips and guacamole, for 100 pesos. In dollars, it's less than 10 bucks, and compared to SF/Bay Area prices, that's like, FREE. Seriously. Major culinary highlights: enchiladas, chile rellenos, and sopes!!! For breakfast the huevos rancheros, and if you've never tried chiliquiles, you should. Eggs over what can best be described as “soft” tortilla chips. The salsa verde also may contain some sort of addictive substance. I highly recommend that and any other green sauce they have. They’re also located right on the square (next to the bookstore Alma Libre,) so it’s a great spot for people watching.

the breakfast menu at DT's--what in the heck are "divorced eggs"?

Just Released: No. 3 Gin

In March I had the oppurtunity to attend the No. 3 gin launch at SF's Bourbon and Branch. In short, lots of industry types locked in a small space with plenty of gin cocktails (and yes, this was before my self-imposed rule that I can no longer consume gin in public.) The gin itself is labeled as London Dry Gin and the recipe is from London's Berry Bros & Rudd (partnered locally with Anchor for release in CA), although it's actually distilled in Holland. The No. 3 boasts using only three fruits and three spices: juniper, orange, and grapefruit; angelica root, coriander, and cardamom. Tasting it straight, you'll get a blast of citrus and juniper, with a dry peppery finish.

The folks behind the bar at B&B mixed up some mighty good French 75's, martinis, and Negronis. My bartender, whose name escapes me, kept me well hydrated, preventing any drunken gin-related debacles. I'm typically not a huge Negroni fan (at least not with Campari), but B&B makes a darn good one. A few nights ago I used the No. 3 gin to make a Negroni with Gran Classico bitters, and it was amazing. For folks in the Bay Area, you can find the No. 3 at Cask or K&L Wine Merchant for about $40-44 a bottle.

Brand: No. 3, Berry Bros. & Rudd

Style: London Dry Gin

Tasting Notes: citrus, juniper, coriander, pepper

Good Place to Start: martini w/ lemon twist

Average Bottle Price $40