cocktail division:



Carnivorous cocktails put meat in your glass

By CARYN BROOKS, For The Associated Press

ALEXANDRIA, Va. ¡V First you cook the bacon, remove the fat and tear it into
pieces. It sounds like the start of a nice breakfast, but it's actually the
first part of mixologist Adam Seger's Baconcello recipe. The next step is
steeping the bacon in vodka for 72 hours.

Bacon-infused spirits and other so-called "carnivorous cocktails" are
quirky options on the menus of some cutting-edge bars these days, and with
the introduction this May of a mass-produced product called Bakon Vodka,
flesh-flavored spirits are beginning to nudge their way into the mainstream
drinking scene.

Seger, general manager, mixologist and sommelier of Chicago bar/restaurant
Nacional 27, is part of a multitasking breed of barkeep that likes to
incorporate culinary techniques into drinks. Bacon is the most popular
meat-in-a-glass, but Seger has also made a ham-and-cheese cocktail, while
renowned mixologist Todd Thrasher has experimented with foie gras and lamb.

Seger says that savory drinks follow cooking logic. "You use alcohol to
deglaze a pan when you cook, so it makes sense that you can inverse it," he
says.

[...]

On a recent summer night, we entered and found Jayson Smith manning the
bar, doling out the BLT ¡X a drink full of mind-bending, taste bud-tingling
turns. A huge ice cube, made with lettuce water, anchors a glass rimmed
with bacon salt. Clear tomato water and bacon-infused vodka are mixed and
poured over the lettuce cube.

Thrasher also makes an off-the-menu special called "MacGriddle," which
tastes like a McGriddle from McDonald's. This one mixes the bacon vodka
with cream, maple syrup, a whole egg and confectioner's sugar. Smith warned
us, "It coats your palate" and he was right: It's very sweet and good as a
one-off dessert drink.

(more at:

<http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090821/ap_on_re_us/us_fea_food_carnivorous_cocktails>
)

your pal,
blake