The Best American Poetry

Monday I Have Friday on My Mind: Poetry and Cocktails with Nata Traub

Diminuendo and Crescendo

I really hate recipes. I know I provide them, but I suggest you use them as you would sheet music if you were a jazz musician. I approach creating a cocktail the same way I would make music. So whereas I provide a recipe for a Cocktail, they are not meant to be absolute. It is a suggestion for you to improvise. Create your own magic. On any given day, one  or two bottles will talk to me more than others. I enter the kitchen and a spice will strike me. Inspiration comes from all places. Like an improvisation, the notes are all there, but how they form and come out, are from the mysterious pit of creation. There really is no predicting.

I spent an afternoon making some liqueurs and syrups, while listening to my Uncle Paul (Gonsalves of the Duke Ellington at Newport, Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue fame). That 27 bars that changed jazz music history. Who could have known? The confluence of all things in the Universe to make that moment happen. Magic. Unknowable, unanticipated, unexplainable. No recipe there.

In this vein, here are a few ratios for basic cocktail making, sheet music if you will.

The Sour style, with a liqueur sweetened cocktails (margaritas and sidecars, etc.) are most often:

2:1:1 ratio of  spirits: liqueur: citrus

The Basic Cocktail
(Created by David Wondrich)

2 ounces base spirit.
1 ounce aromatized or fortified wine.
1 teaspoon of liqueur.
A dash or two of bitters.

What Duke Ellington had to say about saxophonist, Paul Gonsalves."He wants to be liked by everybody, and doesn’t want anything from anybody except a kind word and a water chaser."

Monday I've Got Friday on My Mind: Cocktails and Poetry with Nata Traub

This weeks cocktail is inspired by Senia Hardwick's poem Skyline:

 

Skyline

A crooked sky on a Wednesday morning,

Still half drunk with fog

the sun burnt clouds, and reaching light

are all I need of god.

The Tequila Skyline

1.5 oz of Tequila infused with jalapeno pepper *

approx. 3 oz. of freshly squeezed orange juice
1 T. of housemade grenadine+
Start with a glass of your choice , fill the glass with ice cubes
Add in the Tequila, then the juice.
Now gently glide the grenadine down the side of the glass using the back of a spoon, to coax it down.

* Cut 2 or 3 Jalapeno Peppers lengthwise removing the seeds and membranes. Place into a jar with 6 oz. of Tequila (I use Espolon, tasty and inexpensive) Steep for at least an hour or two) Then strain.

+One and a half cups of pomegranate juice (freshly squeezed pomegranate juice is preferred but not always available, in which case I suggest POM ) and one cup of sugar. A rich simple syrup, if you will, but with juice. I like to add in a tablespoon or 2 of Flor de Jamaica (dried Hibiscus flowers found in the Spanish/Latino Markets) It gives a rich color to the syrup and intensifies the flavor. It is not a make or break ingredient but a nice touch if you can find it.Place the ingredients in a small sauce pan over a medium flame. As it begins to warm, give a stir or two. Heat it only to the point when the sugar dissolves (approx. 5 minutes, no more) to avoid a "cooked taste" and less than appealing darkened color. To keep it bright, add a small strip of lemon peel during this process,(and because I just can't help myself, and I like to add another dimension to the usual), mix in a quarter of a teaspoon of orange blossom water (absolutely always available at Indian or Middle Eastern Markets). I know this is not traditional but it gives the slightest hint of flavor and adds a more intricate taste.

Place in a jar and store in the fridge.  

For more in this series, go here. For more about Nata Traub go here.

Monday I Have Friday on My Mind: Cocktails with Nata Traub

(Ed note: After the success of Nata Traub's first post here, I convinced her to contribute a regular column that would feature drinks inspired by poems. This is the first of what we know will be a popular series.  For more of Nata's cocktail recipes check out her blog. sdh)

Monday I have Friday (Cocktails) on my mind. Truth be told, everyday I have Cocktails on my mind. Just about anything can get me going. After reading Pat Smith's Invitation to a Masquerade, it set my mind wandering. The title itself conjured up pools of Rum swirling in spices. I set out to my office (above), and began creating. A drink to Kings and wrought iron fences with Mardi Gras snapping at its heels.

The Masquerade

 

2 ½  ounces of white Rum, that has been infused with a vanilla bean for several days

1 ounce of fresh pineapple juice (if possible or if bottled, unsweetened)

½  ounce of fresh lime juice

1 T. (or more, to taste) of Wild Hibiscus  Syrup*

 

Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice. Moisten the rim of a Martini  glass with a bit of the lime and twirl the glass edge though the Hibiscus dust**. Strain into the glass, and to gild the lily, eye dropper some dark Rum on top.

 

*Wild Hibiscus Syrup

½ c dried hibiscus flowers (flor de Jamaica, available at Caribbean or Latin markets)

3 cloves

3 allspice pods

1 small cinnamon stick

 3 thin slices of ginger

Peel from approx. half an orange w/out pith

1 ½  c demerara sugar

1 ½ c water

 

Put in a pot bring to a boil then lower flame and simmer for 15 minutes.

Shut flame and let sit until cool. Strain into a clean bottle.

Keep stored in fridge

 

**Hibiscus Dust

In the mean time, take 2 or 3 of the dried hibiscus flowers and grind them in a small food grinder (coffee grinder) This “dust” will be used on the rim of your cocktail, adding a tart burst when sipping.

-- Nata Traub

Monday I've Got Friday on My Mind: Nata's Cocktails by Stacey Harwood

L to R: Spuytin Duyvil, Moondog, I Hung it Up photo(c)Nata Traub

Thanks to poet and friend Joy Katz, I’m a member of a facebook group of ambitious cooks and bakers and cocktail makers. We share recipes, pictures, successes and failures. We recommend restaurants, we argue about techniques, all in the spirit of making ourselves better cooks. Mostly I lurk, in awe, as my co-members describe and display elaborate meals of their own making.

One member especially has attracted my attention. Nata makes cocktails. They’re delicious. Her photos are beautiful.  She serves her drinks in fun vintage bar ware, some of which resembles my own collection, inherited from my mother.  Her instructions are clear.  Her combinations of ingredients are provocative and never fail to make me thirsty.  Check out her blog and you'll see what I mean.

So I was delighted when she began posting snippets about her forthcoming book, Nata’s Cocktails. (Click on the link to purchase.) As soon as it went to print, I ordered a copy and Nata and I began a correspondence. 

I proposed a collaboration to spread the word about Nata’s book. I would send Nata a poem to inspire a cocktail, the recipe for which I would share with you, along with information about how you could buy her book, which, I should add, comprises recipes for ten seasonal drinks. 

Nata was game! I sent her David’s poem The Party of Ideas. A few days later, Nata’s recipes along with photos appeared in my inbox.

About her recipes, Nata writes:

I put together a Gin Flight, a way to afford the drinker the opportunity to sample 3 different cocktails, without being brought to one’s knees. I did so knowing that the poet has a preference for gin. Each drink is no more than 3 ounces in total, with approximately 1.5 oz of gin each. Each cocktail is served in a different (vintage) glass, and in a progression from lighter to more full flavored.

As to not be a slave to a cocktail shaker when serving them to friends, I prepared the mixes in advance and kept them in the freezer. They are well chilled when it comes time to serve. There are several steps involved in each (with some parts being made a day or 2 ahead) but I always find it worthwhile to proceed in this way. Like any recipe, the results of advance efforts contribute to a memorable conclusion.

I have tried not to use any spices/foods or machinery that are difficult to find, but I do have a small coffee grinder that I purchased just for use with herbs, etc. Substitutions and variations are something that should be encouraged. As for juices, fruits, & herbs, the fresher the better.

Sit back, fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the Flight!

Since each drink involves several parts, I’m going to take the next few days to shop for and prepare the ingredients.  Come Friday, it’s cocktail time!  Wheeee. 

Won’t you join me?

The complete recipes are below the jump: