Post #305463 by The Gnomon on Thu, May 10, 2007 1:10 PM

On 2007-05-09 06:35, BastardoSaffrin wrote:

Exactly. I purchased some almond milk and it was very similar to horchata. But unlike Scottes' almond milk, that one (Almendrola, a Spanish brand) has a strong almond flavor. Well, the fact is that I tried to brew some orgeat. I wrote before I have no idea what orgeat syrup looks like, so that was a big deal for me, and anything I get would be fine. Well, not anything, but I can't tell "That's not orgeat syrup", because I can't compare.

It's thickish, but not at all slow-pouring. It's whitish overall, especially, store-bought varieties, but not solid white like cow's milk. It's actually rather seminal (hee hee) in appearance, mainly white but streaked and bespeckled with varying degrees of opacity.

Well, so I had orange flower water, and almond milk, but I just couldn't find almond extract. Well I did, but in big bottles for professional cooks that were like 40$, and honestly, I prefer spending that money in a good rum.

Outside of the almond milk emulsion, I consider the use of extracts to be acts of desperation to repair a defective batch. Such doctoring helps to prevent the batch from becoming a total loss, but it is never quite right. I've had to doctor my share of batches gone awry. Doctoring is better than pouring $50 worth of materials and considerable labor down the drain, but doesn't compare to a batch that comes out right.

So it was like:

• I brew a simple syrup with 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water. Let it cool.
• Added 1 cup of almond milk.
• 2 tablespoons of orange flower water.
• 1 oz light rum, to preserve.

Too much water. The sugar should be dissolved directly into the heated almond milk, which itself has too much water. The milk should be heated, but no more than about halfway to boiling, since you don't want it to cook; just evaporate a lot of the water—in your lifetime.

As the water evaporates the syrup gets thicker. Keeping in mind that it's supposed to be a little bit runny, I make this part a little thicker than I want it to end up because I will be adding a quarter of a pint or so of vodka and a few jiggers of rum (for flavor, consistency, and character—if I kept it around long enough it would also have a preserving effect).

I use both orange flower and rose waters, which go in last; twice as much orange flower than rose, and plenty of it. I pour them in directly from the bottle without measuring. Pour-stir-sniff; pour-stir-sniff; until it's right. These go in last because the amounts needed are affected by the pungency of the spirits you use. If you use only vodka, then you'll need less flower water. If you use Coruba rum, which is overpowering, you'll have to dump a lot more flower water in. BTW, using Coruba (or similar dark rum) gives the orgeat a definite caramel tinge.

At that point, if it doesn't pass the taste test, it's time to send the patient to the ER and start doctoring.

I tasted that brew and for me it was OK. It had almond flavour, it was sweet and has that orange flower water aroma in it. Slight rum flavour, but not the first one. But, as I told, I don't know if that's exactly like orgeat syrup, but can anyone tell me if that recipe can give something similar? Anyway, I'm doing the best to get the almond extract. Anyway, that almond milk I used gave the almond flavor.

Well, technically, you can take a few drops of pure orange extract, pure almond extract, and rose water, the combination of which turns cloudy, and make something that tastes somewhat "reminiscent" of orgeat when it's mixed into a drink. But it's obviously not orgeat. It doesn't offer the drink the velvet character of orgeat nor is the flavor as organic. If I didn't have any orgeat when I went to make a Mai Tai, I'd resort to the orange and almond extracts and rose water substitute (very poor substitute, but better than nothing).

[ Edited by: The Gnomon 2007-05-10 13:13 ]