In the Kitchen at Bungalow Beauty

All right true believers as promised I have another post for you today. This time we'll take on two beverage related recipes. The first is a recipe for grenadine. I had always thought that grenadine was made from cherries. I mean look at how red it is; but it's really from pomegranate. Pomegranate- no shit.

Basically we'll looking at a simple syrup made from pomegranate; sugar and juice. I found this pomegranate juice at the Target. I was going to buy the POM brand juice but that's from concentrate as well so what's the difference? The Target brand was cheaper than the POM brand and twice as large. So there's your lesson in value:



the recipes I found online called for a 1:1 ratio of juice to sugar. I could not bring myself to use that much sugar. So I went with 2 Cups of juice to 1 1/2 Cups of sugar.

So over medium heat in a non-reactive sauce pan combine the sugar and the juice, stir until the sugar dissolves and then bring to a boil. When it reaches a boil reduce the heat to a simmer for about 30 minutes until the syrup is reduced by about 1/3.




After the syrup has reduced remove it from the heat and let it cool down to room temp. You can then bottle it and store it in the fridge up to a month or so; not only can you use it in mixed drinks but later this week I'm going to use it to poach pears!





The Mojito

Switching gears a little we move over to a mixed drink that has become a favorite of mine- the mojito. I had my first mojito at the Bahama Breeze restaurant up in Schaumburg, IL. This was probably about 5 years ago; before it became the "it" drink. The mojito is made up of rum, mint, lime, sugar cane juice, and seltzer water. At the Bahama Breeze they would actually put real sugar cane through a press to extract the juice to sweeten the drink, they would then server the drink with a swizzle stick made out of cane sugar. I got so hammered that night- it was wonderful (a big thank you goes out to my wife who was just my girlfriend at the time for knowing how to drive a manual transmission and getting my car and my drunk ass home safely.)

So Let's start.

Gather up your ingredients:

Tall glass
ice
limes
rum
mint leaves
sugar cane juice*
seltzer water


*Sugar Cane Juice- very hard to come by in the Midwest. My good friend M.R. in NYC was nice enough to send me a half dozen cans of Goya brand Guarapo de Caña. However-I was at Whole Foods one day and I saw this sweetener made from Agave (the same stuff they make tequila out of)and thought I'd give that a try- works great!


To make the drink you put about 8 or so mint leaves into a glass along with probably about half a lime cut up into wedges. You then muddle it all together. Muddle? What the hell is that you ask? A muddler is a small billy club looking thing that you use to crush the lime and mint leaves together. Muddling releases the essential oils in the skin of the lime. If you don't have a muddler you can use a spoon. After you muddle add about a tablespoon of agave syrup or so- you'll need to fool with that until you get something you like. And before any of you email- yes I know that's not a highball glass and thank you for not point it out.



Next we add the rum. Traditionally light rum was used, I however prefer dark rum. Try it, you'll like it. Fill your glass with crushed ice and add a jigger or so of the rum of your choice. Just do me a favor and don't use really cheap rum. Trust me- there's nothing worse than cheap liquor. If you can't afford good liquor don't drink at all.




Top off your drink with the seltzer water, add a lime and some mint leave for garnish, toss in a straw and you got yourself a drink. And now that you have step by step photo instructions on how to make a mojito go do it!




Probably no update tomorrow, maybe Thursday, I have a French Onion soup post waiting in the wings.

So until then-

that is all.