Paul Revere

The chemicals are here. The chemicals are here. Lord almighty the chemicals are here!

Now reality has set in....

I have on my desk at work a series of containers that have abbreviations for agar agar, acacia gum, soy lecithin, etc....  Now I've used soy lecithin before (see previous posts) but all this other stuff is overwhelming.  I cannot wait to get started but promised myself that I wouldn't start without my cohort who was unable to come in due to it being laundry day for him....  Wild, I know but some people actually do plan their lives around their laundry.  Me, I just buy more clothes....

Anyways, our first experiment is going to be with this orb do-hickey.  The chefs seem to think that making an orb with alcohol on the inside will be difficult, but we'll figure it out I'm sure.

Here's the thought - tequila and agave nectar orb topped with orange and lime zest.  I'm envisioning a slightly yellow orb on a spoon with orange and green shavings on top....  If we pull off the orb, then we'll top the whole thing with some salt "air".  

If it works, it will be the pre-dinner drink at our next Paradigm the Test Kitchen dinner.  If it doesn't, we'll do some fruit compressed with gin (using a cryovac dohickey) and call it a day.  But, we're hopeful..... Hasta manana

Excitement

The chefs are out of the country!  They've left their digital scale and a thermal mixer doo-hickey!

But, they locked up their agar agar, their calcium chloride and everything else.  So, we found this company that sells exactly what we were looking for in small portions so that you can easily experiment without having to buy 30 pounds of something from Dow Chemical.

The company is called DC DUBY and I've added a link here.  So our goal is to make a margarita orb similar to what you can see in the Paradigm videos.  Basically it will be a shell with a margarita on the inside.  You'd serve it on a spoon, drop it into your mouth and then bite down and instant margarita shot!

I keep checking the mail and the chemicals haven't arrived yet.  But, hopefully tomorrow everything does and we can evolve the concept of the ultimate margarita.

Blackberry and Cilantro with Stevia Margarita

Click here to learn more about Stevia.

Ok who doesn't like blackberries?  I certainly do and really love the color that they tend to impart when making a good drink.  I actually have a co-worker who's really pushing his black and blue margarita, but its lacking.  So, in the vein of trying to help a co-worker, here goes.....

My favorite thing about this now is that when you search blackberry on Google, the first page is filled with those PDA looking crack-berry thingies....  I used to have one but always called it a blueberry.  Then I was fortunate enough to move to a back-assward hotel and traded in my blackberry for a "pager".  For those of you that were born within the last 20 years, click here.

Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked.  Blackberries are great and while they are historically linked to superstition they really make a great drink.  So here goes....

Fresh Fruit - take at least 7 blackberries, 1/2 of an orange, 1 lime and a "smidge" of stevia.

No sour mix - duh!

For this one, I like Don Julio Platinum.  Mainly because I haven't purchased much from a company called Diageo at work, and I thought that I'd give them a small plug so that their sales guy Guido doesn't go by the wayside....   Ok, done with the hyperlinks.... I just figured this damn thing out so went a bit crazy... sorry.

So, muddle the fruit and stevia, add 2 oz of tequila, 1 oz of that new cointreau noir (its amazing!), 1 cup of ice and a "bunch" of cilantro.  Shake like there's no tomorrow.  Now here's the interesting bit.  Take a martini glass and rim it with blackberry sugar.  IE run a sliced lime around the edge and dip it into a mixture of blackberry juice and sugar.  (cannot figure this one out??  smash one black berry, add sugar and dip the lime flavored rim into this mix).  When its done, its a dark purple sugared rim.

Next, strain the margarita into the martini glass and boo-yah!  

She should have used the fresh fruit!

Back to the basics

Ok, for all of those sleeping out there and to those who don't quite grasp the written word:  to truly make an exceptional drink you need to start with great ingredients.  Don't use sour mix, don't use bottled lime juice from Rose's, don't use those butt-ugly "margarita" glasses that you can find everywhere.  Do use fresh limes, buy a muddler, use fresh fruit, use agave nectar or make your own infused simple syrup and get creative with the components.

So, fast forward.  Maybe you've heard of Chadzilla, 

maybe you've heard of Paradigm the Test Kitchen.  Well one day they were using Sea Beans for one of their plates.  Having never really used sea beans I was entrigued.  So, basically Sea Beans are seeds and fruits that are carried to the ocean, often by freshwater streams and rivers, then drift with the ocean currents.  We tried them and they really impart a subtle saltiness to a dish.  So, the obvious connection?  margaritas!!!  

Here's a glass filled with sea beans and Cazadores tequila.  Basically we let them soak overnight with the idea that they'd take in the tequila and basically would create a tequila shot that you'd only need to chase with some lime and/or orange.

Technically it worked, but GROSS!!  I'm glad it was only Bacardi-ish Tequila that we wasted.  

might as well get into politics since I'm on a detour