Post #479964 by The Gnomon on Fri, Aug 28, 2009 11:20 AM

On 2009-08-27 15:53, TTGIF wrote:
I used the following recipe:

500 grams blanched almonds
800 ml water
700 grams table sugar
100 ml Vodka or Brandy (I used Grey Goose vodka)
2 Tbls Orange or Rose Flower Water (I used orange flower water)

Sounds about right so far. I use both rose water and orange flower water. Once you start it's hard to go back to just rose water.

On 2009-08-27 15:53, TTGIF wrote:
I am using the following Mai Tai recipe (which is my favorite so far of about 30 different versions):

2.0 oz Appleton Special (I plan to splurge on Appleton Estate V/X this paycheck)
0.5 oz DeKuyper's Orange Curacao (plan to pick up some Bols, heard it's better)
0.25 oz rock candy syrup (homemade - Thanks, the Gnomon!)
0.25 oz orgeat (homemade - fxcuisine.com)
Juice of 1/2 large lime

When you get a chance, you'll want to get a very dark rum (I use Coruba) and you'll want to upgrade that AE VX to Extra. I generally use three rums in my Mai Tais. But when money is tight, go with any single rum you can afford that isn't flavored/spiced.

Get Bols ASAP. If I recall correctly, there was a time when the Trader used DeKuyper, but he abandoned it when the quality started going down the tubes. That's when he started up with Bols. Meanwhile, there have been quality changes in both products over the years. DeKuyper still sucks big time and Bols is still pretty good. The main thing is to find one that tastes less like artificial orange candy and more like sweet orange peel. Mmmmm!

Glad to help out on the RCS. It's a shame it's not a product readily available in any grocery store.

As for your orgeat, I think your problem is probably in the filtration of the almond milk. That's the main thing that clouds up concoctions. Tiny almond microparticles get forever suspended in your batch unless you filter them out.

When it comes to thickness, the Trader was using a thick orgeat. His recipe calls for a dollop, which is only possible if there is enough thickness. I have never seen any that could be doled out in dollops when kept at room temperature (which mine is).

The best way to get the microparticles out are to not allow them into the batch in the first place.

When making your almond milk, you want to get the blanched almonds chopped up as finely as you can to provide as much surface area as possible to be in contact with the water. The quickest way is to put the almonds in a blender of some sort and buzz them into tiny bits. The problem with that is you can't avoid making tons of microparticles at the same time.

To avoid making lots of microparticles, you have to grind them up slowly in a manual food grinder, or else chop them with a knife. That way your smallest particles will not pass through your filter screen and, therefore, microparticles will not find their way into your orgeat.

In the absence of these microparticles (which do not dissolve), your orgeat can be the thickest in the world and when it is dissolved into your drink, there is no cloudiness whatsoever.