Post #779211 by Early Landed Larry on Fri, Aug 25, 2017 4:31 PM

So after roughly a week (I'm on temporary leave, so yeah, cocktails in the week!) I've had the following thoughts about he Frankie's book. I've copied this from a blog I do / my own fb page so the context may seem a bit jarring but these are last night's observations:

Ahhhhhh.. (recipe at the very bottom here for a much adjusted Scotch-based drink!)

So we made a Thurston Howl tonight (recipe pictured) and I'm feeling my way through this recipe book (I think it's a reference to an old US tv show). Here's a photo of the recipe.

I've gone to reasonable lengths to get hold of a few of the juices used commonly in this book, 'guava nectar' being one of them - i subbed it for the "papaya nectar" in this one.

Cocktail recipes are not all the same

Some comments on the Frankie's book (which may be of general interest) - whether you're talking drinks or food, there's definitely such a thing as a good cookbook and a not so good one!

My other main Tiki recipe book is Smuggler's Cove by Martin Cate, and it always reminds me of using a Delia Smith cookbook or following a recipe from the Serious Eats website - every single drink I've make from it has hit home, and just works, even if the end product might not be your thing. This is down to two things: 1) that author recognises that not everyone will have access to the exact same brands of ingredients he refers to, so he goes to some lengths to explain what the common components are (especially the rums) and what might work as a substitute. 2) the recipes have obviously all been tried and tested repeatedly, and adapted for a domestic kitchen (a la Delia, and all the best food cookbooks).

In contrast, the Frankie's book kind of reminds me of using a Jamie Oliver book - lots of great ideas, and some of the recipes are instant winners - who would have thought mixing rum, Chambord and ginger beer? But, too many of them seem to have been hastily thrown together and just not tested. Occasionally I'll spot the odd howler like no citrus juice in an exotic cocktail that obviously needs it (see below!) - the equivalent of Jamie's "boil the eggs for nine minutes before baking" from one of his fish pie recipes. Er, no.

The recipe here, indeed, has no citrus juice in it - I'm certain that must be a printing error because it's a pretty long drink, and it just tasted weird in the tin when I tried it before shaking, with no bite at all to cut against the masses of sweet juice. It was crying out for some citrus, so I added a half oz of lemon juice before I shook it, which helped.

Also, with 6 whole oz (!) of fruit juice, especially when half of that is commercial sweetened nectar, is an absolutely huge amount and seemed to me unlikely to balance with the spirits and the other flavourings - and, as I suspected, I couldn't taste any cinnamon or ginger from the syrups, nor even much of the booze.

(I made up some ginger syrup as it appears in a few of the recipes in the new book and it smells great, so I really wanted to try it).

On commercial juice and soft drinks

The juice seems to be another theme of the Frankie's book - I do like the idea of using modern branded soft drinks in cocktails, but so far they have all been super noticeable in the mix, to the point that they bully the other ingredients - and this drink was no exception! A related gripe is that the book, perhaps not anticipating that anyone would ever read it outside of California, calls in almost all cases for highly specific name brand ingredients, and contains no clue as to what they're like (are they sweet? would any 'tropical' blend of juice stand in for POG - what's the deal? We don't get Whaler's rum here, so I've no clue if their vanilla rum is sweet or not, to give some of dozens of examples). So I also have no real idea whether the juice I've bought is what's screwing up this recipe or if it's just a bum recipe. But either way, for all the faff of preparing it, this ended up tasting like sweet fruit punch at a student party - you ought to be able to taste most of the major flavours distinctly and you just can't.

The alternative drink

SO. The Thurston Howl was a flop (although mrs B enjoyed hers after I added 3/4 of lime juice to it and topped it up with soda). HOWEVER. It had the makings of something wonderful.

I really wanted something that would showcase the ginger syrup I have recently taken the time to make. Triangulating through other drinks that you might use ginger in, and returning via the classic hot toddy, I decided to use some smokey scotch.

Cleaving fairly close to the recipe pictured, I replaced the gin with scotch and dialled back the fruit juice considerably. I decided to use some lime juice to provide a sharper and more distinct bite than the merely serviceable lemon.

The final recipe ended up being:

1.5 oz Appleton extra
1 oz Talisker
3/4 oz brandy (increased from a quarter because our current brandy is an inoffensive but not very strong 38% corner shop bottle)

1/4 oz cinnamon syrup
1/2 oz ginger syrup
1/2 oz lime juice
1/2 oz guava nectar
1.5 oz pineapple juice

Dash tiki bitters (angostura would also be fine)

SO MUCH BETTER. The "dark golden" rum gives a pleasant base to sit the whole thing on, but isn't obtrusive. The most pleasing thing is how well you can taste the scotch and the ginger together (and they go really well - you could almost imagine having this hot), and the fact that they are complemented by the pineapple.

The guava nectar might as well not be there, and I will leave it out of future recipes - I suspect it would be good just with pineapple juice, but maybe a small measure of something like unsweetened passion fruit purée would help it along for a more broad-spectrum 'tropical' profile.

[ Edited by: Early Landed Larry 2017-08-25 17:23 ]