Cherry Bounce – Cherry Juice Recipe

Cherry Bounce (Juice)

Cherry Bounce (Cherry Juice Recipe)

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

25

servings
Calories

300

kcal
Total time

0

minutes

How to make a delicious Cherry Bounce.

Ingredients

  • 12 cups Tart Cherry Juice

  • 1 bottle 100 Proof Apple Brandy

  • 6 cups Simple Syrup/Sugar

  • 1 whole Cinnamon Stick

  • 4 whole Cloves

  • 1 tbsp Bitter Almond Extract

  • 2 tbsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

  • Technique: Infusion
  • To a bottle of high-proof apple brandy, add a cinnamon stick, cloves, vanilla extract, and bitter almond extract. Let this sit for 24 to 48 hours.
  • Strain spices out of the brandy and mix the apple brandy with cherry juice and sugar. Serve.

Featured Video

What Is Cherry Bounce?

Traditional Cherry Bounce appears to be the sweetened alcoholic liqueur infused with tart cherries. It takes around six months to make brandied cherries, so simultaneously, a quicker cherry bounce recipe existed for mixing brandy and cherry juice. According to the Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang, the earliest known reference to Cherry Bounce comes from the 1693 Robertson’s Phraseologia Generalis. In Robertson’s Phraseologia Generalis (A Latin text on general English phrases), the drink is referred to as “Cherry-Bouncer” and only mentioned it as a mixed drink. The next mention of it comes from the George Washington family. A recipe for cherry bounce was found in a stack of Martha Washingtons’ papers written on George Washingtons’ watermarked stationery. The recipe was in neither George nor Martha’s handwriting, and it is unknown who wrote it. The recipe is as follows:

“To Make Excellent Cherry Bounce. Extract the juice of 20 pounds well ripend morrella cherrys Add to this 10 quarts of old french brandy and sweeten it with white sugar to your taste—To 5 Gallons of this mixture add one ounce of spice such as cinnamon, cloves and Nutmegs of each an Equal quantity slightly bruisd and a pint and half of cherry kirnels that have been gently broken in a mortar—After the liquor has fermented let it stand close-stoped for a month or six weeks then bottle it remembering to put a lump of Loaf Sugar into each bottle.”

During the 19th century, a few drinks and cookbooks mention cherry bounce but not many. Some books state to sweeten the cherry liqueur, and others say to mix cherry juice with spices and brandy. Not to say all recipes adhered to this structure, but the trend I noticed was cherry bounce recipes made from the cherry-infused liqueur only sweetened the liqueur, and recipes that called for mixing cherry juice, sugar, and brandy also added spices. I don’t know if there was a reason for that, but that was consistent. One of the best recipes for a cherry bounce comes from the 1892 Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery. The author provides both an infused recipe and a cherry juice recipe that also sticks to the trend of only spicing the cherry juice. The recipe below is the cherry liqueur recipe from that book.

Does Cherry Bounce Need To Be Refrigerated?

It depends on which recipe you make whether cherry bounce needs to be refrigerated. Cherry bounce made with juice should be refrigerated. While it does have alcohol in it, it’s not enough to stop the growth of bacteria. If it’s the cherry infusion recipe, it does not need to be refrigerated while it soaks, so long as the cherries are fully submerged. Every old recipe I have found for a cherry bounce that uses the infusion method does not refrigerate them, but if you have a refrigerator, why not use it? Home refrigeration started becoming common in the 1930s, so while it wasn’t an option for many folks making cherry bounce in the 19th century, it is for you. And keeping it in the fridge takes the worry out of storing it. There is no downside to keeping it in the refrigerator.

Two Different Ways To Make Cherry Bounce.

This is the quicker cherry juice recipe for making cherry bounce. If you want the brandied cherry infusion recipe, you can find that one here.

I first heard of cherry bounce from a website saying it was George Washington’s favorite drink. After researching the drink a bit, I kept coming across two different ways of making the same drink. One recipe would add cherry juice to brandy, sugar, and spices; the other was to make brandied cherries and drink the sweetened liqueur. I was trying to decide which was the right way to make it. Still, after a bit of reading and checking my sources, I believe both ways are correct—the Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery by Theodore Garrett list both methods as ways of making cherry bounce. The 7-volume Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery is a very high-quality resource. It is such a well-written, thorough, and culinarily educated book that I will take it for its word.

I get the impression the liqueur version is the older of the two and was invented out of a desire not to waste the boozy juice left over from preserving cherries. The juicing method was developed as a quick way to make the drink without waiting six months and make a more drinkable version of it. If you want to compare the two, the one made with cherry juice is fruiter and much easier to drink. The infused version is more like a cherry old-fashioned.

Recipe Resources

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Cherry Bounce – Cherry Infusion Recipe

Cherry Bounce (Infusion)

Cherry Bounce (Infusion Recipe)

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

120

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

How to make a traditional Cherry Bounce.

Ingredients

  • 2 oz Cherry Bounce Liqueur

  • 1/2 oz Simple Syrup/Sugar

  • Optional Spices

Directions

  • Add all the ingredients and Ice to a mixing glass.
  • Stir the ingredients for 15 seconds to properly chill and dilute the drink.
  • Strain into glass, and serve.

Featured Video

What Is Cherry Bounce?

Traditional Cherry Bounce appears to be the sweetened alcoholic liqueur infused with tart cherries. It takes around six months to make brandied cherries, so simultaneously, a quicker cherry bounce recipe existed for mixing brandy and cherry juice. According to the Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang, the earliest known reference to Cherry Bounce comes from the 1693 Robertson’s Phraseologia Generalis. In Robertson’s Phraseologia Generalis (A Latin text on general English phrases), the drink is referred to as “Cherry-Bouncer” and only mentioned it as a mixed drink. The next mention of it comes from the George Washington family. A recipe for cherry bounce was found in a stack of Martha Washingtons’ papers written on George Washingtons’ watermarked stationery. The recipe was in neither George nor Martha’s handwriting, and it is unknown who wrote it. The recipe is as follows:

“To Make Excellent Cherry Bounce. Extract the juice of 20 pounds well ripend morrella cherrys Add to this 10 quarts of old french brandy and sweeten it with white sugar to your taste—To 5 Gallons of this mixture add one ounce of spice such as cinnamon, cloves and Nutmegs of each an Equal quantity slightly bruisd and a pint and half of cherry kirnels that have been gently broken in a mortar—After the liquor has fermented let it stand close-stoped for a month or six weeks then bottle it remembering to put a lump of Loaf Sugar into each bottle.”

During the 19th century, a few drinks and cookbooks mention cherry bounce but not many. Some books state to sweeten the cherry liqueur, and others say to mix cherry juice with spices and brandy. Not to say all recipes adhered to this structure, but the trend I noticed was cherry bounce recipes made from the cherry-infused liqueur only sweetened the liqueur, and recipes that called for mixing cherry juice, sugar, and brandy also added spices. I don’t know if there was a reason for that, but that was consistent. One of the best recipes for a cherry bounce comes from the 1892 Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery. The author provides both an infused recipe and a cherry juice recipe that also sticks to the trend of only spicing the cherry juice. The recipe below is the cherry liqueur recipe from that book.

Does Cherry Bounce Need To Be Refrigerated?

It depends on which recipe you make whether cherry bounce needs to be refrigerated. Cherry bounce made with juice should be refrigerated. While it does have alcohol in it, it’s not enough to stop the growth of bacteria. If it’s the cherry infusion recipe, it does not need to be refrigerated while it soaks, so long as the cherries are fully submerged. Every old recipe I have found for a cherry bounce that uses the infusion method does not refrigerate them, but if you have a refrigerator, why not use it? Home refrigeration started becoming common in the 1930s, so while it wasn’t an option for many folks making cherry bounce in the 19th century, it is for you. And keeping it in the fridge takes the worry out of storing it. There is no downside to keeping it in the refrigerator.

Two Different Ways To Make Cherry Bounce.

This is the 6-month-long whole cherry infusion recipe for making cherry bounce. If you want the cherry juice recipe, you can find that one here.

I first heard of cherry bounce from a website saying it was George Washington’s favorite drink. After researching the drink a bit, I kept coming across two different ways of making the same drink. One recipe would add cherry juice to brandy, sugar, and spices; the other was to make brandied cherries and drink the sweetened liqueur. I was trying to decide which was the right way to make it. Still, after a bit of reading and checking my sources, I believe both ways are correct—the Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery by Theodore Garrett list both methods as ways of making cherry bounce. The 7-volume Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery is a very high-quality resource. It is such a well-written, thorough, and culinarily educated book that I will take it for its word.

I get the impression the liqueur version is the older of the two and was invented out of a desire not to waste the boozy juice left over from preserving cherries. The juicing method was developed as a quick way to make the drink without waiting six months and make a more drinkable version of it. If you want to compare the two, the one made with cherry juice is fruiter and much easier to drink. The infused version is more like a cherry old-fashioned.

Recipe Resources

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Tom & Jerry Coffee – A Christmas Irish Coffee

Tom And Jerry Coffee
Quick Step-By-Step Tom & Jerry Recipe Video

Tom & Jerry Coffee

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

300

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

How to make a Tom and Jerry Coffee

Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz Simple Syrup

  • 1.5 oz Brandy

  • 5 oz Coffee

  • 1.5 oz Tom and Jerry Batter

Directions

  • Technique: Build In Glass
  • Add simple syrup and spirit to a heat proof grass.tom and jerry coffee
  • Stir to combine and then add coffee.tom and jerry coffee
  • Float the Tom u0026 Jerry batter on top.tom and jerry coffee

Recipe Video

What Does the Tom & Jerry Coffee Taste Like?

The Tom and Jerry Coffee is fantastic. It tastes like an Irish coffee and a pumpkin spice latte. It has a slight sweetness and a clear coffee flavor that is not covered up by syrups and sugar, with the Tom and Jerry Christmas spices coming through nicely. A classic Tom and Jerry is fantastic, but it is a taste I thought would pair well with coffee. The intent was to make an Irish coffee but replace the whipped cream top with Tom and Jerry batter. Think Irish coffee but with Christmas spice. If it is Tom & Jerry Batter you are looking for please read my article on The Improved 1860s Style Tom & Jerry Batter.

What Is Tom & Jerry Batter?

Tom and Jerry’s batter is an egg and Christmas spice flavored mousse. It’s pretty good and doesn’t need to be mixed into a drink. You can make it yourself, or Tom and Jerry batter can be bought in stores during the holiday season in the upper midwest, where the drink is still pretty popular. I used to publish the original recipe on this site. However, I now use an updated one that makes for a considerably better drink while still being very similar flavor-wise to the original. Most modern recipes include butter and heavy cream and are much denser and almost eggnog-like. Mine does not. If the recipe is true to the classic and lacks a heavy fat ingredient, then the problem they are stuck with is using just warm water or milk, as meringue can not be heated so violently and rapidly. These versions taste fine, but I found this one that uses hot water to taste the best. The aroma is better; it sips better and has a more cozy feel to it. At its core, Tom and Jerry Batter face the same issue all egg-based desserts face when heated. The risk of curdling.

Most desserts try to solve this problem by cooking in a water bath so the egg doesn’t get too hot, and the original 1862 recipe could only use warm water and not hot, or else it would curdle. Most modern recipes try to fix this by adding butter or heavy cream since a cooked protein will bond to fat before bonding to another protein or stick with warm water or milk. While this keeps the drink from curdling, it either completely changes the flavor and texture or makes for a weak old, tasting drink. The solution I am using is an old baker’s technique to add a small amount of thickened corn starch, similar to American-style custard. American custards, cream pies, cream fillings, etc., are cooked at rapid high heat like any other dessert and do not curdle. This solution fixes the issue of curdling and lets the drink gets heated to a good hot drinks temperature while maintaining the drink’s original flavor and texture.

Make This Improved Tom & Jerry Batter Recipe.

I tried to change the original recipe and its ratios as little as possible. The only changes I made were adding cornstarch as a stabilizer and reducing the sugar to a more balanced amount. If you do not add cornstarch, then DO NOT use hot water. Only use warmed water or milk as the rapid heat will curdle the egg and make the drink lumpy.

  • 6 Eggs
  • 1.5 cups (360 g) of sugar
  • 1 tbs (15 g) Cornstarch
  • 1 oz (30 mLs) gold rum
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5 g) ground cloves
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5 g) ground allspice
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5 g) ground cinnamon
  1. Combine cornstarch and an ounce of hot water, stir till the cornstarch is dissolved and the mixture is thick, then set aside.
  2. Separate the egg whites and yolks into two bowls.
  3. Add the sugar to the egg whites and using an electric mixer (you would be crazy to do this by hand) beat the eggs into a medium peak meringue.
  4. Once you are done beating, still using the electric mixer, slowly add the thickened wet corn starch. The cornstarch can only be added after you are done beating the meringue. The cornstarch prevents the meringue from cooking when you add hot water and curdling.
  5. In the second bowl with the egg yolks add the rum, ground cloves, cinnamon, and allspice. Using the electric mixer again beat the yolks till they become lighter in color and runny.
  6. Add the egg yolk mixture to the meringue and fold to combine.

If you would like to explore different fun ways to add flavor to your coffee, please check out this link for more coffee flavors.

Recipe Resources

NOTE: If what you are looking for is the Tom & Jerry Batter Recipe the link for that is here. Also, the video attached to this recipe below provides simple step-by-step instructions to make the batter and drink.

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Planter’s Punch #1 – Original 1878 Recipe

Planters Punch No1

Planter’s Punch – 1878 Recipe

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: Jamaican
Servings

1

servings
Calories

300

kcal
ABV

11%

Total time

3

minutes

Make the oldest known planter’s punch recipe

Ingredients

  • 2/3 oz Lemon Juice

  • 1.5 oz Simple Syrup

  • 2 oz Gold Rum

  • 3 oz Water

Directions

  • Technique: Simple Combine
  • Combine all ingredients into a pitcher. Stir to combine.
  • Cool the punch in the refrigerator and add ice right before serving.

Featured Video

The History Of The Planter’s Punch.

The truth is, no one alive knows the origins of this cocktail, and every best guess of its origin is just the best guess. The issue I have struggled with (and I’m sure many other drink writers have, too) is hoping to find that one true origin story. There are two common origins to the Planter’s Punch that get tossed around:

  1. Mid 1800s Jamaica.
  2. The Old Planter’s Hotel in Charleston, SC.

Had I been asked ten years ago, I would have pushed the hotel idea; then, I pivoted to the Jamaica one. Now I kinda say to hell with it; there seems to be a planter’s punch for every island in the Caribbean, with neither more “authentic” than the other. But the different significant versions are worth exploring. After much reading, I have concluded that every place that had a plantation probably had a version of the planter’s punch.

Fun Magazine’s Sept 1878 Planter’s Punch Recipe.

This is the oldest currently known reference to the Planter’s punch. It was printed on page 102 of the September 1878 issue of Fun Magazine in the UK. Here is a link to that digitalized issue if you want to check it out. That first recipe is a pretty straightforward punch (I’ve updated the measurements to modern units from the older antiquated ones like wineglass or pony etc.):

  • 2 oz (60 mLs) Lemon Juice
  • 1/2 cup (120 g) Sugar
  • 6 oz (180 mLs) Gold Rum
  • 1 cup (240 mLs) Cold Water

That’s the extent of the recipe in Fun. The Recipe had no context or story. Just a simple recipe told as a ditty. The song is.

A wine-glass with lemon juice fill,
Of sugar the same glass fill twice
Then rub them together until
The mixture looks smooth, soft, and nice.

Of rum then three wine glasses add,
And four of cold water please take. A
Drink then you’ll have that’s not bad—
At least, so they say in Jamaica

Why Are There So Many Planter’s Punch Recipes?

I include all these because they are all delicious, and one is not more authentic than the others. The oldest known recipe may be the Fun magazine recipe, but there is no certainty that it is even the original. There are more versions of this cocktail than I have included here, and they are all different and good. So don’t let anyone tell you your recipe is wrong because there is no right way to make the drink.

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Simple Syrup – Easy Recipe

Simple Syrup

Simple Syrup

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

20

servings
Calories

90

kcal
Total time

1

minute

A quick and easy simple syrup recipe.

Ingredients

  • Clear 3:2 Simple Syrup
  • 2 cups White Sugar

  • 1.5 cups Water

  • Optional Ingredient For Foaming Simple Syrup
  • 2 tsp Lecithin (Foaming Agent)

Directions

  • For stirred cocktails use non-foaming Simple Syrup
  • Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and under gentle heat stir till the sugar is fully dissolved.
  • Bottle and refrigerate or freeze to store for an extended period of time.
  • For shaken cocktails use foaming Simple Syrup
  • Moisten lecithin and add it to the syrup, mix to combine. This will make a foaming simple syrup.

Featured Video

What Is Simple Syrup And Why Should You Use It.

Simple Syrup is sugar dissolved in water. That’s it. It’s no more complicated than that. The only thing to remember when making simple syrup is there are two kinds of simple syrup. Standard 1:1 syrup and rich 2:1 syrup. 1:1 is just that, 1 part sugar to equal part water, and rich is two parts sugar to 1 part water. The clear winner between the two is rich simple syrup, it’s sweeter, last refrigerated longer, and most of the old recipes used rich syrup. Standard 1:1 is kind of the lazy man’s simple syrup, IMO. Advantages to standard simple syrup are it’s easier to make and pours a bit better. Although both taste good, simple syrup is a great way to add sweetness to a drink without changing its flavor.

The reason for using simple syrup, instead of just adding granulated sugar or sugar cubes, is it helps sugar incorporate into other liquids easier and much faster. Don’t use powdered or confectioners sugar as those are mixed with corn starch to prevent clumping. Some use sugar cubes in their drinks, and while they look fantastic and many old books call for using them, they don’t dissolve well and end up making a sugary crystal sludge on the bottom of the drink. Simple syrup solves many of the issues of regular white sugar by mixing easily with alcohol. It is easily measured in a jigger, is a consistent ingredient, and helps you work faster with less effort. There are no downsides to using simple syrup, but many use sugar cubes or granulated sugar.

Do You Need To Use Hot Water To Make Simple Syrup?

It depends on whether you are making rich or standard simple syrup. Rich simple syrup requires hot water to make it, and standard simple syrup does not. It all comes down to the concentration of sugar. Hot water can be saturated more than colder water. At room temperature, 1000 mLs of water becomes completely saturated with around 2000 grams of sugar, which is 2:1 and even though it is technically possible with water in a perfect environment. Even with filtered water, the sugar fights back and competes with other dissolved minerals in a typical environment. To reasonably combine sugar and water in a real-world setting, the water has to be able to hold 2x the sugar you are asking it to keep at a particular temperature. Near boiling temperatures, 1000 mLs of water can contain around 4000 grams of sugar. Thus it’s reasonable to dissolve equal parts sugar and water at room temperature and 2:1 sugar and water at near-boiling temperatures. Check out this handy chart for the solubility of sugar in water at various temperatures.

Should I Buy Simple Syrup Or Make It?

Always make your own simple syrup. Never buy this. It is just two ingredients: water and sugar. On top of that, most store-bought simple syrups are the cheaper standard simple syrup. Not even the better rich simple syrup. Most folks already have sugar at home, which saves a trip to the store, but if you need to go to the store, buy a bag of sugar instead of a bottle of syrup and make it at home. Simple syrup can only really be used as simple syrup, but sugar can be used to bake or cook. There are countless things you can make with a bag of granulated sugar.

What Is The Shelf Life Of Simple Syrup?

Again that depends on the kind of simple syrup and whether it is standard or rich. Always refrigerate simple syrup but even refrigerated, it goes bad pretty fast, so make it the same day you plan to use it instead of ahead of time. Standard simple syrup will last about one week in the fridge, and rich simple syrup will last 3 to 4 weeks in the refrigerator. Toss it out once you start to see any cloudiness, regardless of how old it is. That’s mold growing, and the syrup has gone bad. Take it from some who had multiple food poisoning and even salmonella once. Don’t mess with turned food.

Simple Syrup Substitutes.

While simple syrup is the gold standard in adding a clean natural sweetness to drinks, there can be reasons you want to use something else. Whether to impart additional flavors or for dietary reasons, here is a list of simple syrup substitutes.

  • Honey Syrup: Honey is about 1/2 sweeter than regular sugar. Try mixing this 2:1 (200 grams of honey to 100 grams of water) to get a syrup similar to a rich simple syrup. Try this recipe here for simple honey syrup.
  • Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is around 3x as sweet as regular sugar. Try mixing this 3/4:1 (75 grams maple syrup to 100 grams water) to water to get a syrup similar to rich simple syrup.
  • Stevia: Stevia is around 100x sweeter than regular sugar. Try mixing this 1 teaspoon (5 g) powdered stevia or 2 teaspoons (10 mLs) liquid stevia to 2 cups (500 mLs) of water to get a syrup similar to rich simple syrup.
  • Monk Fruit sweetener: Pure monk fruit is around 200x sweeter than regular sugar. Try mixing this 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 g) Monk fruit sweetener to 2 cups (500 mLs) of water to get a syrup similar to a rich simple syrup.
  • Agave syrup: Agave is around 1.5x sweeter than regular sugar. Try mixing this 1:1 agave syrup to water to get a syrup similar to a rich simple syrup.
  • Coconut sugar: Coconut sugar is the exact same sweetness as regular sugar. Try mixing this 2:1 coconut sugar to water to get a syrup similar to a rich simple syrup.

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Clarified Milk Punch – Fast & Easy Recipe

Clarified Milk Punch
Quick Step-by-Step Clarified Milk Punch Recipe Video

English Milk Punch

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

15

servings
Calories

180

kcal
ABV

19%

Total time

2

hours 

Learn how to make English Milk Punch.

Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 Cup Simple Syrup

  • 2 Cups Water

  • 1 Teaspoon Nutmeg

  • 1 Bottle Brandy

  • 1.5 Cups Milk

  • 1/4 tsp Calcium Chloride

  • 1/4 table Rennet

Directions

  • Technique: Milk Clarification
  • Using a peeler, cut the zest of 5 lemons, add the shaved zest to the brandy and let it sit for 24 to 48 hours.
  • Juice the peeled lemons to the required volume. Set juice aside.
  • Add calcium chloride to milk the night before you plan to use it to clarify your milk punch.
  • Combine water, nutmeg, lemon juice, sugar, and brandy in a large pot with the lemon peels filtered out: everything but the milk and rennet.
  • Once the sugar is dissolved, add the rennet and then pour the milk. Stir the mixture for 10 seconds, then let it sit for 30 minutes undisturbed. The rennet needs time to work fully.
  • Line a mesh strainer with a large paper coffee filter and strain out cheese, letting the clear whey run into a large pot.
  • Bottle, refrigerate and serve cold.

Recipe Video

The History Of Clarified/English Milk Punch.

The typical origin story of English Milk Punch, also known as Clarified Milk Punch, is provided in David Wondrich’s book “Punch” is the Clarified Milk Punch was invented by Mary Rockett. This cocktail seems to have been designed to preserve milk punch by curdling and removing the parts that go bad and would turn the drink. The alcohol and milk fats protect the drink from spoiling. When Charles Dickens Died, there is a story that months-old bottles of milk punch were found in his cellar still good. The recipe I have provided here is the classic Benjamin Franklin English milk punch from 1763.

The Clarified or English milk punch started to fade in the middle of the 1800s, and by the 1900s, there wasn’t a single book that mentioned it. The invention of commercial refrigeration in the mid-1800s meant people could now get their drinks cold even in the middle of summer. Hot cocktails, room temperature cocktails, and preserved cocktails like this fall out of favor with chilled beverages. Jerry Thomas gave one of the last printed recipes for it, and he is very similar to Benjamin Franklin’s recipe.

What Does English Milk Punch Taste Like?

This tastes absolutely nothing like what you would expect, and it should not taste as good as it does. English milk punch is refreshing and tastes like limoncello. You would never guess this was the byproduct of cheese. I’m usually pretty good at tasting something and thinking about what is in it or reading a list of ingredients and knowing what the final product will taste like, not all the time but enough. Still, I was utterly wrong when guessing what English milk punch would taste like. This is a fantastic drink that blew me away and one I will make many more times.

Just for fun, I also tried the leftover cheese strained out of the milk punch, which tastes EXACTLY like what you would expect. A sweet and sour, booze cheese, and it was so gross. If you make this, which you should, try both the cheese and the punch, and you will be amazed they both came from the same mixture.

How Does Milk Clarify?

By making cheese, of course. Milk is made mainly of 4 things, water, protein (cheese), fat, and lactose (sugar), and by denaturing/cooking the protein, you can isolate it. When the milk protein casein joins with other casein, it forms a large pentagon-shaped ring that captures particles in the mixture. Cooking can be done in two ways, with heat or acid. Typically when making cheese, you keep the protein part and throw out the whey, but this cocktail reverses that, and instead, you save the whey (water, sugar, and some protein) part. By removing the cloudy white protein, what is left is the clear pale yellow liquid. That is not to say English milk punch is easy to make. Making cheese is not difficult. What is difficult is making cheese that produces clear whey. I have made and experimented with this enough that, hopefully, I can make this easier for you.

Why Is My Milk Punch Cloudy?

The cloudiness most people see after filtering milk punch for the first time are tiny homogenized milk fats designed to stay emulsified in regular store-bought milk. The issue with old-fashioned milk punch recipes is that the milk we use today is not the same as from the 18th and 19th centuries. Today’s milk is engineered to be perfectly emulsified with tiny milk fats and pasteurized to have a long shelf life. Benjamin Franklin used raw, unpasteurized milk with large fat globules forming a cream on the top and making milk punch 200 years ago much easier to make than it is today. Most how-to videos or online guides suggest filtering the milk punch multiple times, and it takes all night to clarify. That is a result of modern milk. Benjamin Franklin could filter his once with perfect results in just a few minutes. If you live by a farm and have access to raw milk, that’s great, but most of us can only get store-bought homogenized and pasteurized milk. The homogenized fat is mechanically formed by using a machine to smash and blend the fats into tiny particles. Sodium chloride is added to prevent the fats from forming back together. Here are a few things you can do to make engineered modern milk behave more like raw milk and get a clear milk punch on a quick first filter.

How To Make English Milk Punch The Easy Way.

To undo the science in modern milk, one must use science. The main disadvantages of using regular milk instead of raw milk to make clarified milk punch are:

  • Pasteurized milk proteins form a weaker curd. A strong curd clarifies the whey better.
  • Milk fats are homogenized into smaller parts, and sodium chloride is added to emulsify them.

All store-bought milk is pasteurized, so there is no getting around that. Pasteurization is the light heating of milk over a long period to kill all the bacteria and give it a longer shelf life. The problem is heating the milk denatures the proteins causing their amino acid chains to unfold. Once they unfold, that’s it, and if they don’t form a curd at that moment, they won’t create one later. If you have made meringue, it’s similar to how pasteurized egg whites will never fluff up. There is still enough undamaged protein that pasteurized milk works, but uncooked raw milk would be ideal. And forget about using ultra-pasteurized milk. All the proteins have been cooked, and it’s impossible to make curd with ultra-pasteurized milk.

Adding an appropriate amount of calcium chloride helps negate the effects of sodium chloride. This allows the milk fats to form back together into larger particles and helps the curdled proteins form a stronger curd. Those tiny homogenized milk fats are what most people see clouding up their milk punch. It’s similar to the cloud that forms in an absinthe drip. Calcium chloride can be added right before using it, but it’s much more effective if it’s allowed to sit in the milk overnight and rectify to the milk’s un-homogenized nature. Larger milk fats will get better caught in a filter, and a curd matrix will grab more particles without breaking down as easily.

Casein forming a cheese curd and capturing particles

Another trick is to add a little rennet immediately before pouring the milk in. Long story short, rennet helps curdle the proteins. Rennet is an enzyme added by cheese makers and has been used for hundreds of years. The primary protein in milk is casein micelle. The ends of casein are negatively charged and repel other negatively charged casein molecules. Rennet (chymosin) cuts the negative ends off, leaving the casein molecules with positively charged ends. The positive-charged ends bond to the negatively charged calcium and other particles in the mix, forming a bridge to bond with other casein. Five casein molecules form a pentagon matrix that traps other large particles. All of this comes together as the mechanism that clarifies a milk punch. Acid also cuts the negative ends of casein off, but rennet does a much better job. Also, buy vegan rennet. The way animal-derived rennet is made is horrible, and fermentation-derived vegan rennet is more effective.

Another tip for getting a clear milk punch is to add the milk last. I’ve experimented with the order, and the best clarification only happens when the milk is added last. This has to do with the concentration of proteins to each other once they start curdling. If the milk and water, alcohol, tea, or whatever you are mixing are combined, the proteins are too far apart and diluted to link up nicely. First, combine all your ingredients, and then pour the milk at the end. I can’t explain scientifically why this works other than it’s been my constant observation.

The last tip I have is to heat the milk once you have combined everything and poured the milk in. Heat is not necessary for the curdling process. Rennet and acid handle that well enough, but light heating will cause the curdled cheese to melt slightly and bond into larger, stronger curds. Fresh cheese melts at a very low 80°F (26°C), so a light heating to 90°F (32°C) will help the curds bond into even larger curds which will filter out easier.

All these tips come together to make a clarified milk punch that’s as easy as it was for Benjamin Franklin. Filter once, and in 40 minutes, you will have half a gallon of clarified punch. I came up with technique because most recipes you find online took way too long, and the level of effort involved was unreasonable. Having some experience making cheese, I decided to apply cheese-making techniques to this drink and make it faster and easier. Most of these tips are procedural. The only items to buy are calcium chloride and rennet, which can easily and cheaply be purchased online. The rennet and calcium chloride also has no effect on the taste and are picked up by the curds and filtered out. Any calcium left behind is also probably healthy for you too. I hope I have contributed something meaningful to the world of mixology with this and that it allows more people to enjoy this drink. Enjoy!

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Tamagozake – Traditional Recipe

Tamagozake

Tamagozake

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: Japanese
Servings

1

servings
Calories

332

kcal
ABV

13%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a tamagozake.

Ingredients

  • 1 Whole Egg

  • 1/2 oz Simple Syrup

  • 5 oz Hot Sake

Directions

  • Technique: Stove-Top Prepared
  • In a bowl, crack a whole egg and add simple syrup.
  • Whisk together until the egg runs thin.
  • Warm the sake (113f/45c) and slowly pour the warmed sake into the egg mixture while whisking continuously.
  • Pour the final mixture into a glass and serve.

Notes

Featured Video

What Does The Tamagozake Taste Like?

The Tamagozake is a Japanese cold remedy drink like how the hot toddy is in the United States. While I love hot toddies, I’m not the biggest fan of this drink. It’s both sweet and quite tart, and the flavor is not to my liking. I tried making this several times with slightly different proportions, and this is the best I could come up with. Maybe it’s because I’m not the biggest fan of sake, and this drink would taste better with another wine or spirit, but it’s an acquired taste. Don’t get me wrong; I bet if I was sick and a sweet little Japanese grandma made me this, it would be amazing. Unfortunately, as a man in his mid-30s, I do not possess that level of supreme skill yet, but it does give me a new cocktail to practice getting better with. I will provide what I believe to be the standard traditional recipe. No one can cook as well as a grandma.

How To Prepare A Tamagozake Properly.

To make this cocktail, you should be familiar with tempering, and you must have a whisk and a heat-proof container with a handle (a basic coffee mug works). Tempering combines two ingredients of different temperatures, where the colder ingredient cooks at a low temperature. The goal is to combine the two without cooking the colder ingredient. In this case, you are adding hot sake to cold eggs to gradually increase the temperature of the eggs without cooking them. You do that by having one hand whisk, the other hand slowly pour, the bowl staying in place.

  1. Whisk the egg and sugar till the mixture has thinned out and runs loose. Like a really well-mixed egg for scrambled eggs.
  2. While whisking very slowly pour the hot sake into the egg mix.
  3. Continue pouring at a constant rate till the sake and egg are mixed together.
  4. The final result should be a light semi-opaque yellow with a small foam on top. Like the photo.

You can’t add a hot liquid to eggs without cooking them. The egg parts the liquid first touches will absorb most of that heat, but constantly agitating the mixture prevents the cooked egg proteins from bonding together and forming clumps.

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Espresso Martini – Original Recipe & History

Espresso Martini
Quick Step-By-Step Espresso Martini Recipe Video

Espresso Martini

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: British
Servings

1

servings
Calories

246

kcal
ABV

20%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make an Espresso Martini

Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz Simple Syrup

  • 1.5 oz Espresso

  • 2/3 oz Coffee Liqueur

  • 1.5 oz Vodka

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.espresso martini
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.espresso martini
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.espresso martini
  • Garnish with 3 espresso beans.espresso martini

Recipe Video

Notes

The History Of The Espresso Martini.

Invented by Dick Bradsell at Fred’s Club in London during the late 1980s, the espresso martini was the request of one of the patrons. Dick Bradsell claims a famous supermodel walked into the bar and requested a cocktail that would “Wake me up, and fuck me up.” He liked to elude to who, but he never said precisely who requested the drink, but most think it was Kate Moss; the other guess is maybe Naomi Campbell. Interestingly Kate Moss was born in 1974, so for this version to be true, the oldest Kate Moss could have been was 16. She didn’t turn 18 till 1992. Maybe that’s why he never wanted to say who the model was, or the story is a bit exaggerated to make it sound cooler. Either way, who cares. It was over 30 years ago, and the espresso martini is excellent. The original name for the espresso martini was the vodka espresso, but somewhere along the line, they went with espresso martini because it sounded cooler. During this period, there was also Cold War resentment, and Dick Bradsell mentioned in interviews how he would try to avoid using Russian vodkas as it upset some in positions of power over him. Perhaps dropping the word vodka from its name was a strategic move to help avoid criticism.

Can You Use Normal Coffee To Make An Espresso Martini?

Of course, you can use regular coffee for an espresso martini; you can do whatever you damn well please, but it may not have the same flavor or foam on top. If you want to make an espresso martini, you need espresso. Drip coffee gets you 50% of the way there but not all the way. It will still be good but not the same. This matters, and why espresso is much better for this drink than regular drip coffee is the water to coffee ratio of espresso vs. drip coffee. Espresso is a 1:2 or 1:3 ratio of coffee to water, and traditional drip coffee is around 1:10 for a medium flavor cup of coffee. The drip coffee is fine, but since you are only using 1 oz of it, you want as much flavor and coffee bean oils as possible. The oil helps give it foam (read the section below on froth), and drip coffee will leave the drink underwhelming, but the Kahlua does help.

I won’t lie; I was gifted a big espresso maker that cost a ton when helping a friend move; I would never personally pay for a coffee maker that cost as much as this one cost, but it is super fast and easy to use and convenient for getting an espresso shot or two right away. Although, after all the years of drinking good and bad coffee and owning different makers, my favorite espresso maker is still my old little cheap Bialetti stovetop unit. It’s 30 bucks, has no moving parts, is easy to use, and makes hands down the best espresso. I would challenge my old dirty little Bialetti to the most expensive espresso machine any day. It’s one of those things invented 100+ years ago and has never changed because the first design was perfect. TLDR, if you are planning to make a ton of these, then get a machine to pull quick shots, but if you’re making a few for yourself and friends, save your money and use a cheap stovetop unit. Also, I find how tight the espresso is tamped down to be more meaningful. There are little torque tampers that click when the pressure is ideal, but you press until you can press anymore and feel the grains stop compressing. Don’t hulk it, but don’t be afraid to smash it down. This helps promote a more even and slower extraction. This was a bit of a coffee rant, but I hope it helps if you were wondering.

How To Make An Espresso Martini Frothy?

Foam is challenging to get right in cocktails. Everyone struggles with it at some point, and bartenders search for any way to make getting a good stable foam easier. Henry Ramos hired “shaker boys” to shake for him. Some use the dry shake or reverse dry shake, others swear by only using one large ice cube, and some say you have to shake till your arms fall off. The method I like is called the Saxe Soda Shake, invented De Forest Saxe in the 1880s.

The Saxe Shake is largely unknown in the cocktail world because De Forest Saxe was a soda fountain operator in Chicago, Illinois. His 1890 book “Saxe’s New Guide Hints to Soda Water Dispensers” details his shaking technique for egg drinks that produces the best foam and can be accomplished with minimal effort. Saxe states to shake drinks with eggs with only one chestnut-sized ice cube. An Ice cube from a standard ice tray is about chestnut-sized, so one or two small cubes will work. Then shake until the ice fully melts, and pour into the serving glass without straining. The small amount of ice is just enough to cool and dilute the drink, and since there are no remaining bits of ice left in the shaker, there is nothing to strain. Passing the mixture through a strainer destroys most of the bubbles you worked so hard to make. As you add soda water, the escaping carbon dioxide fills the tiny bubbles in the drink, forcing them to expand and form a large fluffy foam. Give it a try. Using the Saxe Shake, I have turned out Ramos Gin Fizzes as fast and efficiently as any other shaken cocktail with excellent results.

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Ideal Cocktail – 1930s Cuban Recipe

Ideal Cocktail Sloppy Joe

Ideal Cocktail – Sloppy Joe’s Recipe

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: Cuban
Servings

1

servings
Calories

239

kcal
ABV

23%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make an Ideal Cocktail

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp Simple Syrup

  • 1 oz Grapefruit Juice

  • 2 oz Dry Gin

  • 1 oz Dry Vermouth

Directions

  • Technique: Saxe Soda Shake
  • Combine all ingredients into a cocktail shaker.
  • Add one medium or two small ice cubes to the cocktail shaker and shake until the ice fully melts.
  • Without a strainer, pour the chilled and aerated drink into a glass.

Notes

Featured Video

The Many Variations Of The Ideal Cocktail.

The Ideal cocktail was invented by Hugo Ensslin and is printed in his 1917 Book “Recipes for Mixed Drinks.” The ideal cocktail is a grapefruit variation of the martini, and you can see that in the way the cocktail changed over time. As Hugo saw it, a classic martini was what we would consider today to be a sweet martini. It is made of gin and sweet vermouth. During this time and more so into the 1930s, the dry martini becomes far more popular. Modifying Hugo’s original version based on the sweet martini, Jose Abeal (owner of Sloppy Joe’s) substituted sweet vermouth for dry vermouth (like the dry martini) but made up for the sweetness with a little bit of simple syrup. Grapefruit, dry vermouth, and dry gin are a bit much, and the drink needs a little sweetness to taste good. A clean and herbal grapefruit martini is more suited for a warm tropical climate.

The History Of Sloppy Joes Cuban Bar.

There are two famous pre-revolution Cuban bars. Well, there are at least two famous pre-revolution Cuban bars that printed books and provided future generations with their recipes—Bar La Florida and Sloppy Joe’s Bar, both in Havana, Cuba. Sloppy Joe’s was created by Spanish immigrant Jose Abeal. The 1936 edition of his book details his biography. Jose immigrated from Spain to Cuba in 1904, where he worked as a bartender for three years. He then moved to New Orleans, where he worked as a bartender for another six years, and then to Miami, where he worked for another six years. Upon moving back in 1918 to Cuba, he opened a liquor store and added a bar. When a few of his American friends visited, they commented on how dirty his store was. “Why, Joe, this place is certainly sloppy, look at the filthy water running from under the counter.” They were commenting on how he let the melted ice run all over the ground. His friends would call him dirty or sloppy Joe, and the name stuck. Jose sold classic American and Cuban drinks from his liquor store and bar and Spanish and Cuban food. One of the most popular food items he sold was a traditional Spanish picadillo sandwich. A loose ground beef sandwich where the beef is cooked with crushed tomatoes, Spanish olives, spices, and herbs became more commonly known as a sloppy Joe in the United States. Although Sloppy Joe’s Picadillo sandwich is nothing like the midwestern BBQ sauce covered, Manwich style sloppy joes most of us are used to.

A political revolution later, and Sloppy Joe’s fell on hard times. Now owned by the state and American tourists prohibited from visiting, Sloppy Joe only stayed open for a couple more years. The 1959 movie “Our Man In Havana,” starting Sir Alec Guinness, features some of Sloppy Joe’s in its prime before its business dried up. After a fire in 1965, the bar and store closed entirely with no real intention to ever open again. In 2013 though, the bar was restored, where it was, as it was, and currently sells the same drinks and food items as it did in the 1930s – 1950s.

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Pearl Diver – Best Recipe

Pearl Diver
Quick Step-By-Step Pearl Diver Recipe Video

Pearl Diver

5 from 1 vote Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

456

kcal
ABV

19%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make the Pearl Diver.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz Lime Juice

  • 1 oz Orange Juice

  • 1/2 oz Simple Syrup

  • 1 oz Gardenia Mix

  • 1/3 oz Falernum

  • 1.5 oz Gold Rum

  • 1 oz Anejo Rum

Directions

  • Technique: Blended
  • Combine all ingredients into a blender with a single scoop of ice cubes.
  • Blend on low for 10 seconds or till the ice is mostly pulverized. Now blend on high for 5-10 seconds to completely crush the ice and turn the drink into a slushy texture.
  • Pour into a glass.

Recipe Video

Notes

What Does The Pearl Diver Taste Like?

The Pearl Diver is a unique cocktail. Even in the tiki world, its inclusion of Creamed spiced honey butter is unusual. The Gardenia mix adds a creamy texture and hot buttered rum flavor to a tropical drink. I have consistently found that people who don’t like hot buttered rum also don’t like this. I have also noticed that people who want hot buttered rum also like this. It tastes like a citrusy cold buttered rum, and I love it.

Don the Beachcomber’s Forgotten Recipes.

Immediately after the 21st amendment had repealed prohibition, Donn Beach opened Don the Beachcomber in Hollywood, California. Donn single-handedly created the first Tiki bar and, with it, tiki culture. But like most innovators, Donn was worried about others copying his Hollywood-style Polynesian-themed bar and profiting off his ideas. Donn would show up a few hours before the bar opened, mix large batches of his spice mixes and mixers, and give them nondescriptive labels like Donn’s spice mix #1, #2, #3, or Donn’s Zombie Mix, Grog Mix, Gardenia mix. This was all done to hide the recipes. Donn never told the other bartenders or published a recipe, and while he did open other bars, his recipes never got out. Thus Donn’s original recipes died with him in 1989. So keep that in mind anytime you see a Don the Beachcomber cocktail; it is never an original recipe, just the best guess. And some guesses are better than others. Tiki was a lawless free for all for a little over a decade with no continuity between drinks of the same name. There is still a lot of that today. How many Mai Tai recipes have you seen even though we know the original canon recipe for it?

In the late 90s, a Tiki cocktail enthusiast named Jeff Berry came along with the intent of preserving the old recipes and Tiki culture and helping revitalize the public interest in it. Jeff interviewed old bartenders of Donn the Beachcombers and set out to recreate Donn’s secret recipes to the best of their knowledge. Gathering whatever information he could and testing recipes against people who remembered what the old drinks tasted like, he is credited with having saved recipes that would otherwise be lost to time. Remember that these are not Donn’s original recipe but Jeff’s best attempts at recreating them and that Jeff Beachbum Berry is probably the closest one to get it right.

What is Gardenia Mix and How to Make It.

The secret Gardenia mix recipe Jeff Berry eventually settled on was:

  • 1 oz Honey
  • 1 oz unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Syrup
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon Syrup
  • 1/2 tsp Allspice Dram.

The stuff taste and smells fantastic. Although not everyone has vanilla or cinnamon syrup around, I wrote a recipe that is a bit more accessible. Here is my specific article on gardenia mix and how to make it.

The Most Important Part Of This Cocktail.

The most important part of the pearl diver is how you mix it. Butter is mostly milk fat and protein, and it does not stay emulsified in water. So you have two options. 1). Use a blender and turn it into a slushy. 2). Use an emulsifier like gum syrup or something to mix the gardenia mix while making it evenly and it is still warm. If you don’t blend it or use an emulsifier, the butter oddly sits at the top and looks pretty gross.

The first option of using a blender is the more common one. There will still be tiny butter particles, but the blender’s speed helps to mix them evenly, and the slushy ice prevents them from forming together. If slushies are not your style, then try option #2.

The second option is to use an emulsifier while making the gardenia mix while it is still warm. You’re not fighting the fat when the cocktail is cold. I’m not the most versed in that method but guides online talk about how to do it that way.

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