Oscar Cocktails: Gravity

In Gravity, astronaut Ryan Stone finds herself alone and adrift in space after a shocking accident destroys her space shuttle and kills the rest of her crew. Director Alfonso Cuarón's gripping visuals propelled the film to 10 Academy Award nominations, including Picture, Actress (Sandra Bullock), Director and many technical awards.

The Gravity cocktail is inspired by Gravity's setting: outer space. I chose a mix of spirits that mixed together was as close as I could get to the blackness of space, with a sprinkling of lemon zest for the stars. Plus, lacking any nonalcoholic mixers, the drink has enough booze to remind you of the weightless feeling of the film.

Oscar Cocktails: Gravity

1 oz. sloe gin
3/4 oz. Kahlua
3/4 oz. blue curaçao
2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
Lemon zest

Combine sloe gin, Kahlua, blue curaçao and bitters in a cocktail mixing glass with ice. Stir until mixed and cold then strain into a cocktail glass. Sprinkle with lemon zest.

See all of this year's Oscar Cocktails.

Oscar Cocktails: American Hustle

American Hustle is loosely based on the '70s and '80s FBI sting operation ABSCAM where agents worked with a conman to target corrupt politicians. Director David O'Russell's madcap crime film is nominated for 10 Academy Awards, including all the top categories: Picture, Director, Actor (Christian Bale), Actress (Amy Adams), Supporting Actor (Bradley Cooper), Supporting Actress (Jennifer Lawrence) and Original Screenplay.

The American Hustle cocktail is inspired by the clever shenanigans in the film. At one point, a character is given a bottle of Pimm's, a spicy/citrusy gin-based liqueur popular in Britain. It's used to make the Pimm's Cup cocktail: a mixture of Pimm's and lemonade garnished lovingly with cucumber slices and mint.

The American Hustle cocktail resembles a Pimm's Cup and even kind of tastes like it. But...it's a forgery. An imposter. A fake! A mixture of other spirits evoke the herbal, spicy and citrus flavors of Pimm's cup, while lemon juice and club soda sit in for the "lemonade" (which in the U.S. would be more accurately described as lemon soda). If someone were to hand you this drink and you thought "oh, a Pimm's Cup," you've been hustled. American Hustled.

Oscar Cocktails: American Hustle

1/2 oz. American dry gin
1/2 oz. sloe gin
1/2 oz. Campari
1/2 oz. yellow Chartreuse
1/2 oz. Orange cognac liqueur (such as Grand Marnier)
3 dashes orange bitters
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Cucumber slices and mint leaves (garnish)
Club soda

Combine gin, sloe gin, Campari, Chartreuse, orange liqueur, orange bitters and lemon juice in a shaker with ice. Shake until cold. Fill a collins glass with ice layered with a few slices of cucumber and mint leaves. Strain mixture into glass, top with club soda and stir to combine. Serve garnished with a cucumber slice and mint sprig.

See all of this year's Oscar Cocktails.

Cocktail: Saving Mr. Banks

Next week I'll be kicking off my 3-week series of Oscar cocktails, consisting of nine drinks inspired by this year's nominees for the Academy Award for Best Picture, plus a bonus 10th cocktail for a film nominated in several other categories. I had a lot of fun coming up with drinks last year and couldn't resist an encore.

As a preview, here's a cocktail I created to honor Saving Mr. Banks, which was sadly overlooked in the Best Picture category (it was also overlooked in Best Actress--Emma Thompson was robbed!), but since I had already come up with the drink, I wanted to share it anyway.

In the film, Mr. Disney (Tom Hanks) loves his Scotch (he drinks a Scotch Mist, which is just Scotch on the rocks with a lemon twist), and Mrs. Travers (Emma Thompson) loves her tea. Eventually, Travers adds a little Scotch to her tea as well, possibly symbolizing that these two opposing forces may (finally) find some common ground over the adaptation of her novel Mary Poppins into a film.

I added the pear liqueur as a nod to the importance of pears in Travers' back-story, as well as the bitters to represent her temperament throughout most of the story. The final essential touch is a spoonful of sugar to make it go down all the better.

Saving Mr. Banks Cocktail

1 1/2 oz. blended Scotch whisky
1 1/2 oz. iced Earl Grey tea
1/2 oz. pear liqueur
1 oz. fresh lemon juice
2 dashes angostura bitters
Spoonful of sugar
Lemon twist

Combine Scotch, tea, pear liqueur, lemon juice, bitters and sugar in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake until very cold. Strain into a rocks glass with ice. Garnish with lemon twist.

Classic Swiss Cheese Fondue

I've mentioned before that my father wasn't much of a cook, but there were a few things he liked to make and cheese fondue was one of the things he pulled off quite well. So I have lots of great memories of making and eating this dish, which is as much a fun experience as it is a tasty treat.

My dad's fondue pot was one of the few things I think survived his '70s bachelor pad into our '80s suburban home. I don't know what happened to his set, but it was really cool: an electric fondue pot with an orange enamel finish. The nonstick finish on the inside was a bit worn, but not so bad that you'd toss it.

Classic cheese fondue uses just the few ingredients you see here, plus bread and other things for dipping.

My own foray into fondue began in the early 2000s, when my roommate, the Lady Lawyer, and I discovered our shared love for the dish. Given our tiny recently graduated salaries, we didn't have a fondue pot and we didn't forage for fancy imported cheese. We used a pre-mixed fondue kit from Safeway (which was surprisingly good and made with actual wine and cheese) melted in a cheap saucepan over the stove. As the fondue solidified, we re-melted it occasionally. And we loved it.

A few years later, after Chris and I moved in together I got my first honest-to-goodness fondue set. It was quite the affair: a large disc base with indentations for setting ramekins of dipping sauce and a rack in the middle for suspending the fondue pot above a can of Sterno, a sort of flammable jellied alcohol. As much fun as we had with this set, it had some drawbacks. The pot wasn't nonstick, so the cheese had a tendency to stick and then cook on to the bottom of the pot, making it difficult to clean. I also found the heat harder to control: an adjustable vent rotated to make the flame larger or smaller, but I found it was too easy to accidentally put it out by closing the vent too much.

So I was glad to eventually upgrade to a Cuisinart nonstick electric model. In addition to having more control with the heat, an added bonus of an electric model is that you cook the fondue in this pot; no need to dirty another saucepan before transferring the mixture to a pot. Lacking that large disc base (which we didn't use anyway, since we never make meat fondue), it also takes up less space in my cupboard. I absolutely love it.

The selection of cheeses is up to you. Although I don't know exactly, I imagine my father just used American Swiss cheese, which will certainly make for a fun fondue evening, but I prefer the better flavor of true Swiss cheeses, specifically a blend of gruyere and emmentaler. Since I really love the flavor of gruyere, I usually use more of that, although it's strong flavor isn't for everyone. I've tried other combinations, usually for thematic reasons, like cheddar and Monterey jack made with Mexican beer for a nacho-style fondue.

A few tricks: rub a cut raw garlic clove all around the inside of the fondue pot before you begin cooking and, if desired, drop it into the pot. Use a dry white wine but not chardonnay, since it's pronounced flavor isn't right for fondue. I usually use sauvignon blanc, but chenin blanc or viognier would probably work well too. I imagine you could even use pinot grigio, but I've not tried it. When melting the cheese, just add a handful at a time. Don't try to melt it all at once or could end up getting stringy.

While toasted bread cubes are an absolute must for serving fondue, I often add a few other things. Lightly steamed broccoli, small pickles and apple cubes work well. Depending on the type of fondue you're making, you might also like tortilla chips, carrot sticks, pita bread, etc. If you come up with something imaginative, please share.


Classic Swiss Cheese Fondue

Serves 2, easily doubles to serve 4

1 tbsp. cornstarch
8 oz. gruyere cheese, shredded
6 oz. emmentaler cheese, shredded
1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in half
1 cup dry white wine, such as sauvignon blanc (chardonnay is not recommended)
1 tbsp. Kirschwasser liqueur

For dipping (use any combination of the following, but bread is a must in my book):

• 1/2 baguette, crusts removed, bread cut into 1-inch cubes and lightly toasted in an oven (10 minutes at 350 F).
• 2 heads of broccoli florets lightly steamed (for about 4 minutes)
• 1 apple, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces
• Cherry tomatoes

1. Combine the cornstarch with the shredded cheeses in a large bowl and toss to coat.

2. Rub the cut side of the garlic clove all along the bottom of the fondue pot and halfway up the sides.  Drop the garlic into the pot.

Electric fondue pot:

3. Add the wine to the pot. Set the fondue pot heat setting to "cook" (setting 5 on my pot). When the wine achieves a vigorous simmer, add a handful of cheese and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until the cheese is completely melted. Continue adding cheese by the handful and stirring until completely melted before adding the next handful. Stir in the Kirschwasser. Set the fondue pot heat setting to "warm." Cheese should very gently simmer, but not boil (setting 3 on my pot, although I often turn it down to 2).

Sterno-based fondue pot:

3. Heat a medium saucepan over medium. Add wine and bring to a vigorous simmer. Add a handful of cheese and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until the cheese is completely melted. Continue adding cheese by the handful and stirring until completely melted before adding the next handful. Stir in the Kirschwasser. Place the Sterno under the fondue pot and carefully light it (I suggest a long wooden match). Transfer the cooked cheese sauce to the fondue pot. Adjust heat as necessary to keep it very gently simmering (it should not boil).

Both:

4. Serve fondue warm with bread, fruit and vegetables for dipping.

The Feed: February 5, 2014

Table, seasoned, kosher, smoked, grey, truffle and rock are among the types of salt that have their place in the home kitchen.

The Feed is my weekly round up of interesting food-related stories from newspapers, magazines, blogs and websites.

Washington Post, “‘Salt to taste,’ taken with a grain of regret,” by Bonnie S. Benwick.
“Salt, to taste” is an instruction that appears in almost every recipe on my site. I rarely specify the amount of salt in a recipe because 1) I don’t really measure it and 2) it’s a subjective matter of taste how salty many dishes should be. Benwick gives the subject a thorough examination in the centerpiece of several articles in today’s Food section in cooking with salt, the most common and popular seasoning and the only thing we eat in significant quantity that is technically a rock. Her article looks at proper seasoning of food with salt in home cooking, a subject on which there is general agreement that few home cooks do it properly, but some disagreement over how to correct that situation. A sidebar shares the Food section’s thoughts on proper salting. Jim Shahin also contributes a story on cooking with smoked salt, an ingredient useful for bringing outdoor flavors inside during cold winters. His Asian-Style Alder-Wood-Smoked-Salt Salmon sounds fantastic.

Washington Post: “Raw eggs in cocktails: Worth the whisk?,” by M. Carrie Allan.
I’ll admit it: raw eggs make me squeamish. I won’t even sample raw cake batter (well, okay, I do sample it sometimes). I know the chance of getting salmonella is small, and I’m not in a high-risk group, but still. However, raw egg adds a specific texture to certain drinks that can’t otherwise be replicated, which is the subject of Allan’s latest Spirits column. Even pasteurized eggs don’t really work as Allan found out when she tried to make a flip with them and was disappointed with the results.

Epicurious: “American Hustle, 12 Years a Slave, Her, and More 2014 Oscar Nominees Celebrated in Food,” by Lauren Salkeld. 
Last year, I created original cocktails for all of the Oscar Best Picture nominees—which I’ll be doing again this year, by the way, starting next week. Others have done this too, as well as dishes inspired by the film. But Salkeld takes it a step further, assembling whole menus for each film using existing Epicurious recipes. Her menus are quite clever, nodding to little details in each film. They also sound really good, particularly the Southern leanings of 12 Years a Slave (Braised Pork Hash) and African stylings of Captain Phillips (Samosas and Doro Wett Chicken Stew).

Serious Eats: “Back of the House: What Does a Food Stylist Do?,” by Jaya Saxena.
Serious Eats debuted its Back of the House column last week, a new feature chronicling interesting careers in the food industry. First up, Saxena profiles food stylist Lisa Homa with an interesting discussion of how food styling has evolved in recent years and even a brief mention of its (sometimes questionable) ethics.

Wall Street Journal: “Mocktails Come of Age,” by Elizabeth Gunnison Dunn.
I love cocktails, but for various temporary or permanent reasons, some folks don’t drink and that’s okay. They deserve better than a soda though, which is why the ability to make a good mocktail is important. I did a decent mocktail version of a cosmopolitan last summer, although I really like that the recipes that accompany this story are original drinks and not just virgin versions of popular cocktails.

The Little Ferraro Kitchen: “Vegetarian Pasta Fagioli,” by Samantha Ferraro.
Last year, I made a wonderful Pasta e Fagioli soup using a Marcella Hazan recipe. As delicious as it was, since it contains pork, it’s not for vegetarians, despite its namesake focus on pasta and beans. Then just last week I had a wonderful vegetarian Pasta Fagioli soup from Oliverio’s in Bridgeport, West Virginia. So I was pleased to come across Samantha’s vegetarian recipe from her site The Little Ferraro Kitchen. Love that she uses parmesan rinds in the broth, which is such a great idea.

NPR: “Grade Inflation In The Maple Syrup Aisle: Now Everything Is An 'A',” by April Fulton.
Ivy League schools aren’t the only ones suffering from grade inflation these days, now all maple syrup will get an “A” thanks to a change in the syrup classification system. Fulton writes about how this is really an effort to correct the public’s misconception that Grade A syrup was “better” than Grade B when the grades were really used to signify different characteristics and not quality.

NPR: “Meet The Cronut's Humble Offspring: The Doughscuit!,” by Ian Chillag.
Had enough of the cronut? Here’s the next hybrid doughnut dessert, doughnut crossed with a biscuit.

CNN: “The only sausage guide you will ever need,” by America’s Test Kitchen.
A visual guide to sausage is just what the world needed. Seriously! This is great primer on the popular spicy encased meats.

New York Times: “There’s a Reason That Rye Is Having a Moment,” by Rosie Schaap.
Bourbon, Scotch and Irish whiskey are playing second fiddle to rye whiskey these days. Schaap tells us why

Quartz: “The world according to hard alcohol,” by Roberto A. Ferdman and Ritchie King.
Ferdman and King have assembled a fun infographic showing which of the most common spirits are most popular around the world country-by-country. Vodka and whiskey appear to be the most dominant, and I was surprised that vodka is more popular than gin in Britain.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

When I was little, we rarely ate spaghetti with meatballs, but we frequently had spaghetti with meat sauce, which I've come to think is vastly superior. Meatballs have always struck me as too fussy. I like having the meat more evenly distributed throughout the sauce. All the better to impart its flavor to mingle with the tomatoes, garlic and aromatic vegetables. More likely, this is the way my mom made it, so it's the way I make it too. This was one of the first dinners I learned to cook; I've been making it for about 20 years.

A little wine is essential to this dish. I used to use red wine, although more recently after having made bolognese several times, I've switched to white, which imparts wine flavor without the added tannins of red wine. In fact, I've fashioned the ingredients of this version of the dish after a bolognese, but instead of cooking it all afternoon, it's done in under an hour--short enough to make this a dependable and delicious weekday dinner.

A technique I've used recently for most pastas works well with this dish. Instead of cooking the noodles as long as required for "al dente," stop the cooking short about 2 minutes. Drain the noodles and then add them to the sauce when the sauce is almost done cooking. Stir to combine and cook the noodles in the sauce for the remaining couple minutes. The noodles soak up the flavor of the sauce this way while they finish cooking, helping to integrate them into the dish.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

1 lb. lean ground beef (I used 90 percent lean; may substitute ground dark turkey meat)
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 sweet onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
Salt, to taste
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 oz. cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used sauvignon blanc)
15 oz. can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
28 oz. can Italian crushed tomatoes
1 cup water
1 bunch of thyme, tied together with kitchen twine
1 tbsp. dried oregano
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 lb. dried spaghetti
Grated parmigiano-reggiano

1. Heat a large dutch oven over medium heat. Add the ground beef and cook until browned, stirring to break up. Remove meat from pot with a slotted spoon. Drain off the fat (note: because pouring hot fat out of a hot, heavy cast-iron Dutch oven is fraught with potential disaster, my tip for removing fat after browning meat is to fold up a couple of paper towels, grasp them with kitchen tongs, and swipe the towel around the pot until the desired amount of rendered fat is soaked up in the towels).

2. Increase heat to medium-high and add 1 tbsp. olive oil. Add onion and carrot and season with salt. Cook until they start to soften, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms are lightly browned and the other vegetable are quite soft, another 8 to 10 minutes. Add back the cooked ground beef and add the wine. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bottom of the pot is dry. Add the diced tomatoes and crushed tomatoes. Use the 1 cup of water to rinse out the crushed tomato can and add the mixture to the pot. Add the thyme, oregano and pepper. When the mixture bubbles, reduce heat to medium-low and cook at a low simmer for at least 15 minutes, up to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add spaghetti and cook 2 minutes less than the package direction for al dente. Drain noodles and add to the pot with the sauce, stirring to combine. Continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes until the noodles are cooked al dente. Serve spaghetti on plates topped with grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

Cocktail: Pimm's Cup

This last week, I experienced sub-zero temperatures for the first time in my life. Highs in the single digits; lows in the minus-teens. It was so cold that when I'd get out of the car and take a first breath I'd cough a bit. I don't usually mind winter, but last week I found myself pining for warmer weather.

Enter the Pimm's Cup, a British summer staple that for many conjures fond memories of garden parties and polo matches, while for others represents a cocktail disaster of excess sugar and garnish.

Yet, the Pimm's Cup isn't beyond salvation. As covered by Elizabeth Gunnison Dunn in The Wall Street Journal last summer, the drink is experiencing a renaissance in Britain among bartenders experimenting with the "summer cup" formula with fresh fruit and herbal flavors as well as different spirits.

Traditionally, Pimm's Cup consists of Pimm's No. 1 Cup, a fruity/spicy gin-based liqueur, and lemonade with a range of herbal, fruit and vegetable garnishes.

Where Americans may go wrong with Pimm's Cup is not realizing (or forgetting) that "lemonade" means something different in Britain than it does in the U.S. Here, lemonade is a sweet-tart drink made with fresh lemon juice and lots of sugar. Abroad, lemonade is carbonated like a soda. Something like 7-Up may come close, but it's still not quite right. To reduce the sugary sweetness of the drink, I hit on the idea of using Italian lemon soda, Limonata, which has a nice lemon flavor without the heavy hand in the sugar bowl. I also kept the garnish simple: just the traditional cucumber slices and a few fresh mint leaves.

So why am I making a summer cocktail when it's freezing cold outside? I needed it as a reference point for something else I'm concocting. Stay tuned.

Pimm's Cup

4-5 slices of cucumber, one cut as a garnish
3-4 fresh mint leaves
2 oz. Pimm's No. 1 Cup
3-4 oz. Italian lemon soda (or, if available, British-style lemonade)
Mint sprig

Fill a collins glass with ice layered with cucumber slices and mint leaves. Add Pimm's and lemon soda and stir to combine. Serve garnished with a cumber wheel and mint sprig.