Kitchen Happenings: Summertime and the Livin's Easy

Summer's here in full force. Down in NOLA, it was 95 and humid all week. And I get back to Illinois, and the weather's, well 91 and humid. But, I'm bringing back something from my trip to NOLA that is a heck of a cooler.

One thing that I've been learning about cocktails is that when you do it right, you end up with a great, balanced drink that isn't too sweet, too sour, or too bitter, but just right. At one of my great meals down there (at Boucherie, which will be getting a write-up), I had a perfect summer cocktail, a Pimm's Cup, which is based on a British liqueur, Pimm's No. 1.

Pimm's No. 1 is a gin-based liqueur, that's infused with some spice and fruit. I've never really had it before, but my exposure was phenomenal. The version of the Pimm's cup at Boucherie was a little bit of a deviation of the classic cocktail. The classic version builds off of 3 parts lemon soda to 1 part Pimm's No. 1, with a little lemon and cucumber garnish. Over at Boucherie, they take a couple liberties with the original recipe, but make a great cocktail. They muddle cucumber, add lemon and a mint-infused syrup, pour in the Pimm's, and then top with ginger ale. Add a cucumber garnish, and you're good to go. Great cocktail - light, not too sweet, a little tart, and a great flavor with the cucumber. You can drink these things all day.

So, what to do when I get home. I don't plan on buying a bottle of Pimm's, so there's the issue of the liquor or liqueur to use. But you can start with the combo of citrus and cucumber. My current take on a summer cooler:

The liquor is the place to start. Since this little experiment was NOLA-inspired, I had to keep it local. Sazerac Rye. There's a definite strong flavor from the rye, but it's nice and gives some body to the drink. But too much rye can overpower the rest of the drink. So, a little bit of rum adds a little extra kick to the drink without overpowering things. And that's the base. Of course, you have to keep the cucumber, and I've always liked how limes taste, so that keeps the flavors on point. But, the Pimm's has some extra depth of flavor. The rye helps. But I decided to go with some more fruit, in this case orange and pineapple juice. I also liked the mint kick that the Boucherie version had, so I went with some mint syrup that I had on hand. I didn't have good ginger ale on hand, but had some lemon-lime soda, so that was good enough.

Here's the rundown:

Get a pint glass.

Dice 2 slices of cucumber (about 1/2" thick).
1/2 lime, cut into 4 pieces.

Muddle the cucumber and lime in the pint glass, and add ice.

Add mint syrup (maybe 1 oz.), one shot rye, and one shot rum.
Add about 2 oz. orange and 2 oz. pineapple
Top with lemon-lime soda.

You can definitely scale this up, and make a pitcher at a time, though I'd add chilled soda to each individual serving, to keep the fizziness. This cocktail is pretty good as is, but I think that muddling fresh mint may be a better choice, so as to keep it from getting too sweet.

In any case, I'l be playing around with some other possibilities, and I'll try to report the hits.

-foodgeek