Black Currant Gimlet

So I made the black currant cordial.  I started with a rich simple syrup and added the currants along with some lemon juice and cinnamon.  After double straining and cooling...I had a lot of cordial.  Probably five liters worth.  But man it is so good.  Everyone should be making this stuff.

I always knew in the back of my head that with the right gin that this would make a great fruit infused gimlet.  But initially I tried to go the whiskey route.  After, a couple of versions with Bulleit Rye (which is great incidentally) that I liked but wasn't completely satisfied with I made a gimlet.  Damn...it worked. Eureka!

Black Currant Gimlet

2.25 oz. Death's Door Gin
1 oz. Black Currant Cordial (Using Nichols Farm Black Currants)
1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
Shaken and strained over ice

Starts sweet.  Tart mid palate.  Finishes dry with gin botanicals and a little fruity earthiness from the currants.  Please come try one today at Henri 18 S Michigan.

Accordions and Currants

At the Green City Market a little after 7 am today.  This is by far the earliest I have ever been here.  Very mellow this early.  This vibe was only heightened by....

...the soothing sounds of the accordion.  There is a bounty of foodstuffs when you get to the market this early and I vowed to always be this early (probably not gonna happen).  There are cherries and blueberries everywhere.  I even still see some strawberries.  I didn't know what to do until I bumped into a friend in the form of Chicago Chef extraordinare Troy Graves...

This picture was actually taken at the market.

Anyway, Troy had already been there for a second and scooped up provisions for Montarra, the restaurant he helms up in Algonquin.  He's showing me squash blossoms, asparagus and...currants.

These black currants come from Nichols farm.  There is a reason why we don't see black currants all over this country of ours.  They ain't from here.  black currants hail from England and only fairly recently are great farms like Nichols introducing us to them.  In England black currant jam on crumpets is a staple.  After a little research I learned that an even bigger staple is black currant cordial where you reduced the currants with water and sugar.  Not only is this tasty but packed with vitamins and antioxidants.  As I learned online, English school children were practically raised on this stuff.  Apparently the only thing black currant cordial doesn't provide a growing body is Flouride.....Ziiiinngg!

I have always read about how much British bartenders love the cordials in cocktails and I plan to make my own.  I also scooped up some slightly less intense but beautiful red currants for garnish.

Here we go Wednesday double.  Check back tomorrow for my black currant cocktail.  Or don't.

Raspberry Lime Rickey

These Mick Klug raspberries are ridiculously good.  I can't doctor them up with a bunch of ingredients or too much sugar. A balanced classic Lime Rickey is the perfect vessel.  Death's Door Gin...the perfect motor.

Raspberry Lime Rickey (for one week only at Henri! 18 S Michigan)

Small handful of Mick Klug Michigan raspberries
muddle and top with
2 oz. Death's Door Gin
1 oz. Lime Juice
1 oz. simple syrup
shake and double strain into ice filled Collins glass
top with soda
garnish with lime disc

This drink is refreshing like this...

 And it's as perfect for a summer's day as something like this...

Cheers!

The Green City Market Gets a New Look!

Before attending today's GCM (that's Green City Marketif your curious) I had already read on Eater that the market would be getting a re-vamp.  Organizers wanted a different flow of traffic and walk ways with drainage that would help when it pours.  Little did I know how much they were going to change things...

Pretty impressive with such limited means.  Good job Green City Market!

But of course all of the same farms were present.  And finally, after a few weeks of good weather we are starting to see some of the good stuff including Michigan cherries and....

 I love raspberries.  One of my favorite gin cocktails uses them and I will be tempted not to just go to the well and pull my raspberry cocktail out of inventory.  These berries are coming from Mick Klug farm.  Mick has been coming to the market since its inception.

 

I was curious about the town of St.Joseph itself.  I did a little research and turns out that St. Joseph was a very important point of American Indian travel and commerce.  Well, enough about St. Joesph (I could go on all day.)  These berries are sweet and slightly tart and I can't wait to try them with gin!

Bee's Knees

This cocktail is a straight-up classic with a twist (which is really what every cocktail is...shhh...don't tell nobody).  In prohibition times the Bee's Knees and it's trinity of honey syrup, lemon and bathtub gin was a popular tipple for the main fact that honey was good at masking the pungent aroma of the then-toxic gin.  The amazing gins which we now have behind the bar are great in this cocktail but I wanted to do a little something different.  Bartenders have been using light or aged rum as a substitution in the drink for years.  Expanding on that I am going to use both.  Cheers!

Bee's Knees (this weeks Marche cocktail at Henri)

1 oz white rum
1oz aged rum (I am using Botran solera from Guatemala)
1 oz lemon juice
3/4 oz honey syrup (with Hillside orchard wildflower honey)
splash falernum
lemon wheel and grated nutmeg to garnish

Only Ten Bucks!

Coffee, Honey, and Chestnuts!

I began my weekly Wednesday regiment at Green City Market by visiting Hoosier Mama Pie Company and snagging one of their addictive sausage hand pies.  Just as integral part of my regiment is the free Intelligentsia Coffee at the front of the Market.  GCM is dedicated to only providing foodstuffs within a fifty mile radius.  Coffee as some of you might know comes from a little further away than that.  Here's the kicker...the Coffee is free.  So all of the goods "sold" at the market are still local.  They have a small little container to receive donations.  I always put a dollar in.  Today was no exception.

However, that cup is small and after walking around I needed a refill and went back for seconds.  I didn't leave another donation and a gentleman next to me rolled his eyes.  I didn't know what to say.  Half awake I looked right back at him and said, "I donay ready."  Which translates to I donated already.  I immediately felt stupid for saying anything as I don't really care what he thinks because my karma is tight.  I am a chronic over-tipper and I get help elderly across the street....and I donated already.  I also found myself really angry that the market didn't start later in the day just so I could avoid saying stupid half-asleep nonsense like "I donay ready".  At this point the guy had already left.  Who cares what he thinks anyway.  He's probably going to a Green Lantern matinee after this anyways.

I was kind of looking for herbs today but they weren't really to be had in large quantities.  I have done strawberries the last two weeks in my cocktails so I'm also going to skip those.  In the coming weeks I know that a bunch of different fruit will start showing up so I might just go to the old faithful well of preserves, dried produce or maybe...

Honey is a great sweetener in drinks and can have many different flavors depending on the local flora that the bees gather from.  I've personally never been to Berrien Springs or Hillside Chestnut so I consult the GCM website to learn more.

Hillside Orchards has been a family operation since 1836. In 1920, Sarah Feather’s great-grandfather began selling his produce at a farmers market in South Bend, Indiana. Sarah grew up on the farm and married Paul Thelen, who also had a farming background. The couple farmed the Feather orchards with Sarah’s father. Today daughters Rebecca and Erica are involved in the 100-acre farm, which contains 1,700 organic chestnut trees. Hillside’s many types of fruit, including a variety of heirloom apples, are grown using an Integrated Pest Management system. The Good Agriculture Practice sessions the family attends are designed to ensure that fruit is  produced and marketed in the safest manner possible. The Thelen’s goal is to continue using ever safer and more sustainable production methods.


Honey sold.  I also bought some of their dried chestnuts maybe for a garnish.  I am back at the bar and have already made the honey into honey syrup.  This is very easy.  Add equal parts honey and hot water and shake.  Even in a diluted syrup this honey flavor is very cool kind of smoky.  On my first pass  I made an interesting tequila drink with the smoky syrup and Velvet Falernum.  Almost there.  I will finish this libation tomorrow  for sure.  Cheers!

Strawberry Rhubarb Rye

The above title is the name of this weeks Marche (Market) cocktail at Henri.  It has....

Rittenhouse 100 Proof Rye
Benedictine
Seedling Farms Rhubarb Preserves
Lemon Juice
Bittercube Cherry Bark Vanilla Bitters 
Egg White
Garnished with Fraises des Bois (European Alpine Strawberries)


I'm just finishing one and I think that "Iron Fist in a Velvet Glove" would also have been an appropriate title.

Damn.

Come try one today....Only $10!!!