Tonight we’ll make a shopping list, and tomorrow try to prep what we can in anticipation of Thursday. We’re hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year, which, in an odd way, feels more like a milestone than the 30th birthday I’ll be celebrating in a few weeks. Andy’s parents will be there, as well as my mom and my stepfather Ben, Andy’s cousin, our housemate Keith, and a few good friends. In lieu of a turkey, we’re preparing a whole, wild, line caught salmon, which we plan to parchment steam and serve with a Bearnaise sauce “gravy.” On the side, we’ll have a wild rice pilaf, potatoes mashed with garlic, wasabi, and savoy cabbage, cornbread, and a salad of citrus and bitter greens.

Will is also hosting a Thanksgiving celebration this year, and he is soon to add his more classic version of a menu. We’ll both be adding recipes as we find time today and tomorrow, but for now, I’ll leave you a starter . . .

Rose’s Thanksgiving Menu

To Start

Champagne Cocktails

• Dry champagne
• Brandy
• Angostura bitters (or homemade!)
• Sugar cubes
• Unsweetened dried cherries

Plump the dried cherries in brandy at least one hour beforehand. Thread the cherries onto toothpicks (about three to a toothpick is nice – two is bad luck according to old bartending lore) making enough for all of your cocktails. Place a sugar cube in each champagne flute and moisten the sugar with a few good shakes of bitters (be careful though, you can overdo it!) Fill glasses with champagne, and garnish with the brandy soaked cherries.

• Endive boats with Roquefort and caramelized walnut – I stole the idea for these from Le Zinc, a charming little French place in Noe Valley. They make a light and tasty accompaniment to the cocktails. Simply separate the endive leaves and place a small cube of Roquefort cheese and a caramelized walnut at the white end of each.

• Curried almonds

• Fruit and cheese plate

The Feast

• Whole parchment steamed salmon stuffed with shiitake mushrooms and edameme beans
• Eggless Bearnaise sauce “gravy” – The cooking juices made such a nice sauce that we did away with the additional “gravy.”
• Potatoes mashed with garlic, wasabi, and savoy cabbage – Cube and steam 3-4 lbs russet potatoes, leaving the skins on. While potatoes are steaming, thinly slice a small savoy cabbage and place in a large bowl with 3 cloves crushed or diced garlic and 3 tsp powdered wasabi (or to taste). When potatoes are very tender but still firm, toss them with the cabbage until it begins to wilt. Add about 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 cup milk or cream, and plenty of salt and pepper to taste. Mash until potatoes are soft, but not entirely uniform.
• Citrus salad with bitter greens
• Wild rice pilaf - Combine 8 cups water, 1 1/2 cups wild rice, 1 1/2 cups long grain brown or white rice, 1/2 cup sliced almonds, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, and 1/2 tsp salt in a rice cooker, or add ingredients to the boiling water in a large pot with a tight fitting lid. Return the pilaf to a boil, lower heat, and cook covered for about 1 hour, or until the wild rice is firm but tender to the bite. Fluff and allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving.

• Wine pairings

Dessert

• Pumpkin pie
• Orange whipped cream
• Quady Essensia Orange Muscat dessert wine

***

Will’s Thanksgiving Menu

I’m not sure how classic this really is, but here goes:

To Start

The Gin Buck

Ingredients:

• 2 oz. gin (I use Junipero Gin for its robust flavor and ability to stand up to a strong ginger beer)
• Ginger Beer ( I’m a huge ginger beer fan, and my favorite brand other than my homemade stuff, is Fentimans out of the UK, now available at Cost Plus World Markets)
• The juice of 1/2 lemon
• Lemon wedge to garnish

Method:

1. Pour the gin and lemon juice into an ice filled highball glass
2. Top off with ginger beer
3. Add the lemon wedge as a garnish
4. Enjoy one of the best highballs known to man

Fresh sourdough bread with butter
Cheese plate
Olives

The Feast

• Fresh (never frozen) pasture raised Heritage Turkey roasted to perfection with stuffing, leeks, carrots, and quince
• Gravy
• Mashed potatoes made the old fashioned way without any “new fangled” fixins
• Hashed Brussels Sprouts With Lemon Zest
• Fuyu persimmon salad with cumin-lime vinaigrette
• My original home cooked cranberry sauce (see recipe below)
• Wine pairings

Will’s Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 bag fresh cranberries (rinse thoroughly and discard the rotten ones)
• 1 organic orange, zested and then squeezed
• 1/2 tsp. freshly grated ginger (heaping)
• 1 pinch black pepper (my grannies trick)
• 1 pinch grated nutmeg
• 2 dashes orange bitters (optional)
• 4 Tbs. real maple syrup
• 1/2 cup cane sugar
• 3/4 cup water

Method:

1. Combine orange juice (about 1/4 cup), water, sugar, maple syrup, orange zest, ginger, bitters, black pepper, and nutmeg in a sauce pan over medium heat
2. Stir to dissolve all the sugar
3. Add the cranberries
4. Stir often, and wait until all the berries have popped
5. Continue stirring as the mixture foams up
6. When the mixture calms down and turns a deep red it’s time to turn off the heat (the whole process should take less than ten minutes)
7. Let cool
8. This recipe keeps very well and can be made well in advance of Thanksgiving

Dessert

• Mary’s Cranberry yam apple crisp
• Butternut squash pie
• Cointreau flavored whipped cream (I’ll let you know how it turns out)
• Bonny Doon Muscat “Vin de Glaciere” (ice wine)

With any luck things will turn out as delicious as they sound and i will be posting more recipes in time for the next round of holiday festivities.

One such recipe was the “New 1920 Cocktail” which looked like a worthwhile variation on the Manhattan (my all time favorite cocktail). Unlike your Classic Manhattan though, which generally calls for a 2:1 ratio of whiskey to sweet vermouth and a dash of aromatic bitters, this one calls for a 1:1 ratio of whiskey to vermouth (half sweet/half dry) and a dash of orange bitters. This half and half combination of sweet and dry vermouth in any drink is commonly referred to as a Perfect (insert drink name here, e.g. Martini, Manhattan, etc.) these days, but perhaps this book was written prior to that terminology catching on. The orange bitters are the other biggest difference, and they have the potential to match very well with the peppery rye whiskey I plan to use.

New 1920 Cocktail:

Tasting Notes:

I prepared this recipe using Wild Turkey Straight Rye Whiskey paired with Noilly Pratt sweet and dry vermouth, topped off with a generous dash drizzle of Regan’s Orange Bitters. The only liberty I took while following this recipe was to squeeze the lemon peel over a lighted match in order to further enhance, and bring out the aromatic oils of the lemon. The results were quite tasty! The drink was dryer than your typical Manhattan, but not overly so, and it had a lighter, spicier, more zesty personality than its somber, buttery, sometimes cloying brother. Don’t get me wrong, I love a balanced, well made Manhattan. This is just a nice change of pace when you’re in the mood for something a little more bright and bitter.

I finally completed the straining, bottling, and (most importantly) tasting of my homemade bitters this weekend and am generally pleased with the results. I began the process of making bitters at home back on July, then followed up with recipes a few weeks later. Now for a little more about the process and results.

I made two version of an aromatic bitters — one that included the addition of cherry bark and vanilla beans, and the other which was more or less traditional. I have to admit, I wasn’t wowed by the appearance or flavors of either right off the bat. Both liquids remain a bit cloudy, though I tried a variety of straining methods, including passing them through a Britta Filter (a trick Will found online). And since the flavor of spices in both was more prominent than in commercial bitters, I first wondered if they would be effective in cocktails.

I tried them first alone alongside the other aromatic bitters we have on our bar – Angostura, Peychaud’s, and Fee Brothers. Compared to the commercial versions, mine had a lighter color and a milder taste. I cut down on the amounts of water both recipes suggested, but I think next time I might forgo the added water altogether. Mine were also both drier than the commercial brands. The Cherry Vanilla Bitters was the driest by far and also had the most pronounced bitterness.

Of the commercial brands I tried, mine most resembled Angostura. Peychaud’s has a syrupy smell and taste similar to Campari, while Fee Brothers, though we liked it, had a very pronounced taste of cinnamon. Alone, I preferred the flavor of my straight aromatic House Bitters, but mixed into a Manhattan, the Cherry Vanilla Bitters shone, adding complexity and bite to the cocktail and rendering the Makers Mark we used as a test bourbon a little closer to a rye. The Cherry Vanilla Bitters were my hands down favorite in our test Manhattan, while Angostura and my homemade House Bitters shared second place. For drinking straight with soda water, Fee Brothers or the House Bitters top my list, while think I would prefer the Cherry Vanilla Bitters with ginger ale. I plan to experiment a bit more with both, testing them in rye cocktails as well as with other alcohols and mixers.

More on the methods:

For the recipes I used visit this post. For background and where to order ingredients, go here.

House Bitters (from Robert Hess)

1) This recipe doesn’t specify the amounts of water and sugar. I used about 1 cup water in step 2 of the recipe and then added slightly less than called for in step 8. Instead, I suggest using about 1.5-2 cups water in step two and adding it slowly to taste in step 4.

2) Omit the additional water in step 8, or add a little at a time, tasting carefully.

3) I used about 1/4 cup sugar (step 5) but you may want to add up to about 1/2 cup. When I carmelized the sugar and stirred it into the cool liquid, I had one of those “what did I get myself into” moments common to these kinds of home projects. Rest assured, the sugar, which immediately solidifies in the liquid and onto the spoon, will eventually dissolve.

Cherry Vanilla Bitters (from Jeff Hollinger and Rob Schwartz)

1) Use 1-1.5 cups water in step 3 and add little by little to taste.

2) This recipe doesn’t include sugar, but if you want it to resemble the commercial varieties, you may want to add 1/4-1/2 cup sugar. Carmelize as in the House Bitters recipe and stir into the spice infused water before adding it to the alcohol.

A few tips:

• Invest in a funnel if you don’t have one – some of the liquid invariable gets lost in the various transfers and strainings, and a funnel cuts down on the spillage and makes straining easier.
• Taste carefully as you add the sugar and water, you may want less than the recipes call for.
• I used wire mesh and cheesecloth to strain, followed by passing the liquid several times through a Britta filter. The cheesecloth is good for removing the solids and squeezing out any remaining liquid, but doesn’t remove the smaller particles that make the liquid cloudy. It might be worth trying a coffee filter or cheese/butter muslin if you can find it.
• To strain, line a funnel with a coffee filter or muslin, and lay cheesecloth over it. Wrap solids in cheesecloth and squeeze out any remaining liquid.

(Note – I reduced both recipes significantly and the amounts above are for the smaller batches I made. If you make a full size batch, revise accordingly.)

A few days ago I made a trip over to my favorite (big kids) candy store- Hi-Time Wine Cellars in Costa Mesa, which doesn’t just have one of the finest wine selections in California, but also one of the finest liquor selections. I don’t know whether it’s their self service tasting bar, their extensive underground caves (bring your jacket), or their amazing supply of hard to find spirits that gets my heart racing and empties my wallet every time I visit, but this time was no exception.

I was trying to locate some Peychaud’s bitters when I met Forrest, the store’s own liquor guru. We got to talking, and the conversation quickly settled on his homemade Pimento Dram endeavors. It was while he was describing the trials he went through to locate Jamaican allspice berries that I knew I had met my new go-to man for obscure and forgotten spirits. He informed me, with an excited look of approval seeking anticipation on his face, that something very rare and special had just come in, and that I might like to take a look. I took the bait, not wanting to disappoint him, and he ran off to fetch the bottle. When he returned, grinning ear to ear, holding a dark green bottle with the care you might see in a new father, he pronounced, “Batavia-Arrack”.

To tell you the truth, I’d never heard of Pimento Dram nor Batavia-Arrack until that day, but I’m always game for new things, and this guy impressed me with his passion and knowledge of all things booze. According to Forrest, for the first time in many many years, Batavia-Arrack, a rare and exotic spirit imported from the island of Java Indonesia via a blending plant in Amsterdam and a bottling plant in Austria, has been reintroduced to the U.S. market thanks to the fine folks over at Haus Alpenz. The product is painstakingly distilled, so it goes, from a mixture of sugar cane and fermented Java red rice using pot stills and ancient Chinese methods to produce a distinctive high proof spirit reminiscent of a spicy, smoky cachaca. “It’s an ingredient indispensable”, Forrest informed me, “to the adventurous mixologist trying to recreate such things as Swedish Punsch from scratch”.

Well, you may laugh, but I was sold on it. I forked over a hefty $31 bucks for the bottle (available online from Hi-Time Cellars here), and left the store with a strange bottle of hootch and a photocopied list of some drinks to be made with it.

I chose to make the Swedish Punsch recipe from the list because it’s the most common use of Batavia-Arrack, and it went something like this:

Swedish Punsch:

Produces enough for two small cocktail glasses

• 2 oz Batavia-Arrack
• 1/2 oz Rum
• 3/4 oz Fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 oz Simple syrup (2:1 sugar and water)*
• 3 oz Water
• Ground cardamom or nutmeg
• Lemon twist

Method:

1. Combine Batavia-Arrack, rum, lemon juice, simple syrup, water, and spices in a shaker.
2. Stir until well chilled.
3. Strain into a vintage (small) cocktail glass.
4. Add the twist of lemon.
5. Enjoy.

Notes:

1. Try preparing this recipe hot instead of chilled (pre-19th century style).
2. Try it over ice in a rocks glass.
3. Try using it in other cocktails.
4. Try replacing the spices and simple syrup with the spiced (not so simple) syrup recipe bellow:

Spiced (not so simple) Syrup:

• 2 cups Demerara sugar
• 1 cup water
• 6 whole cloves
• 8 cardomom pods broken open and lightly crushed
• 3 sections of a star anise broken open
• 1 small cinnamon stick broken up
• just a little grated nutmeg (less than 1/16th of a tsp.)
• a little ground ginger
• 1/16th tsp. ground cardamon
• 1/2 vanilla bean split open

Method:

1. Combine everything in a saucepan.
2. Bring to a low boil stirring constantly for two minutes.
3. Shut off heat, and cover for two hours.
4. Add an ounce of vodka to help preserve.
5. Strain through a sieve.
6. Store in a cool dark place for later use.

I have a beautiful, unexpected day off today, and am spending it in the kitchen, drying, preserving, mixing dough, thinking. Invariably it happens – someone close or far, a friend, a relative, a colleague, visits this blog and asks the same question. Why make bitters, or butter, or vermouth, or ketchup from scratch? Usually, the answer seems so clear to me, I needn’t even consider before answering. But last night I wondered aloud if it wasn’t just a little petty maybe, or a little silly, a grown up way, maybe, to play with my food.

No, Andy (my beloved, my better, more humane and just self) said, it’s a search for authenticity, for the authentic experience. Indeed. We are so far divorced from the way our food is made or grown, we often have trouble recognizing the real thing.

What, for instance, would real grenadine taste like? We have the “false” version on our bar (ingredients: high fructose corn syrup, water, citric acid, natural and artificial flavors, sodium citrate, sodium benzoate, red 40, blue 1.), but I’ve been thinking of making some from scratch, out of real pomegranates. How about mayonnaise, granola?

I’m reading And Then, You Act, a collection of essays about making art, and more specifically, theater, in an unpredictable world. In her introduction, Anne Bogart suggest that as Americans in the 21st century we are the objects of “constant flattery and manufactured desire.” “I believe,” she says, “that the only possible resistance to a culture of banality is quality.” I believe that to be true of art, but I feel the same way about food. In many ways, quality and authenticity are synonymous. Eat, Michael Pollan suggests, food that your great, great grandmother would recognize as food. So today I peeled and sliced pears, cut apples into rounds.

Dried fruit is so easy, it hardly deserves a recipe. If you don’t have a food dehydrator, you can dry fruit successfully in the oven, but it will take a bit longer.

Dried Pears or Apples

• 4-5 lbs ripe apples or pears, peeled if desired
• 1-2 cups lemon juice (optional) or
• 1 cup honey (optional)

1. Cut fruit into uniform slices or rounds, about 1/8 – 1/4 inch.

2. If desired, treat with lemon juice (to help preservation), or honey (to sweeten). Place fruit on drying rack or cookie sheet with room enough between slices to allow for air circulation.

• To treat with lemon juice, mix 1 part lemon juice to 1 part water in a large bowl and place fruit into it. Allow to soak 10 minutes, drain well and place on drying rack or cookie sheet.
• To treat with honey, mix 1 cup honey with 1 1/2 cups warm water and stir to dissolve. Add fruit and soak 3-5 minutes. Drain well and place on drying rack or cookie sheet.

3. Set dehydrator to 135 degrees or oven to the lowest possible setting (or 140 degrees) and set racks inside. If using an oven, leave the door open slightly and, if possible, point a fan in to increase air circulation.

4. Dry for 6-12 hours depending on temperature and humidity, checking frequently when fruit is close to being ready. To test for doneness, cut several piece in half. There should be no visible moisture and fruit should not stick to itself when pressed together. The dried fruit should have about 20% moisture content.

5. Allow to cool and pack tightly into clean, dry, well sealed containers. Store in a cool dry place. Fruit will keep for up to one year.

~
Apple-Pear Sauce

Making apple or apple-pear sauce is just as easy as drying fruit. The sweetness of ripe pears works perfectly with tart, ripe apples. I used a variety of both – McIntosh, Granny Smith, and Cox’s Orange Pippin apples, and Bosc and Comice pears.

• About 20 medium apples, or a combination of apples and pears, cored, quartered, and peeled if desired
• 2-3 cups water
• 1 tbs honey
• 1 tsp almond extract

1. Place fruit in a large, heavy pot with about an inch of water and simmer, stirring regularly, until soft. Crush any remaining chunks against the side of the pot.

2. Stir in the honey and almond extract. The sauce will probably be sweet enough without the honey, but I like to add it for the flavor. Orange and vanilla extracts are also excellent, as is cinnamon.

3. Pour into sterile jars and process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner. Or transfer to a glass container and store 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Yields about 5 pints.

My sister Rose has just informed me that my honeymoon is over, and it’s time to get back to the grindstone. It’s true, I’ve been slacking on my blogging duties lately, but I’ve had other things on my mind. Planning a wedding for 125 guests is no easy feat, but in the end it turned out to be the best party I’ve ever thrown. It wouldn’t have been possible though, without all of my dear sister’s help and support. Thank you Rose!

Even before this whole wedding thing got out of control, I’ve been wanting to post about a new drink I’ve concocted. It’s very simple in concept, but amazingly delicious and refreshing in flavor. When I first tasted this drink I couldn’t believe the subtle flavors of banana and vanilla that seemingly came out of nowhere. Let me give you a little background about how this drink came to be.

In the past, one of my favorite things about going out to Thai food was always the sweet and spicy Thai iced tea. I just couldn’t get enough of the stuff, but when I moved down to Long Beach and started seeing fresh young coconuts offered on the menu, the iced tea moved into second place. Now I go out to Thai food just because I’m craving these coconuts. When you order one, the waiter cuts a square in the top of the chilled nut, and presents it to you with a straw, and a spoon to gouge out the insides once you finish drinking the refreshing juice. According to Wikipedia, the water contained in the young coconut has been successfully used as liquid in intravenous therapy in emergency situations due to its sterility, pH, mineral, and sugar content. In other words, it’s the perfect antidote to a hangover in it’s ability to rehydrate the human body. This fact led me to the next logical question: why not mix it with alcohol for a hangover-proof drink?

The other day, while a few friends were over and several drinks had already been passed around, I started to feel a little creative. I’d recently purchased a box of six fresh, young coconuts from my local Asian market with the idea of saving money on eating out. I’d chilled two of them in the refrigerator for future use, and suddenly I felt that their time had come. I took out my beautiful Wusthof chefs knife (the heaviest knife I could find) and began to chop at the tops of the nuts with much bravado. I quickly realized that I’d not yet mastered Zen and the Art of Coconut Opening. Please see my once fine piece of cutlery on the right with damaged blade. After a little research and practice I can now say I’m a master. My advice is this: go out and get yourself a cheap cleaver at the Asian market(I paid $5). Put the coconut on a firm, sturdy surface. Take the cleaver in your good hand, wind up, and make four decisive chops on the top of the nut in the shape of a square. With a little practice, and some luck, you too will be able to impress your friends with the art of Coconut Kung Fu.

At last, here is the recipe you’ve been waiting for:

–The Coconut Cocktail

*One well chilled fresh young coconut with the top removed in a neat square. (If you don’t have access to young coconuts at your local Asian market or health food store you can order them by mail from Amazon or RawGuru (organic Hawaiian), but you will pay dearly)
*1 1/2 Ounces Whaler’s Original Dark Rum. (Available at Trader Joe’s or here)
*1 dash Angostura Bitters
*1 straw

1. Remove or drink enough water from the coconut to accommodate the rum.

2. Pour in the rum and add the bitters.

3. Serve with a straw and add tropical garnishes if you’re feeling festive.

4. Enjoy, and don’t forget to eat out the young coconut flesh with a spoon when you’re finished drinking.

The bitters materials arrived a week ago Thursday, but other projects kept me from launching the experiment until this Wednesday night. I had fun jarring, labeling, and tasting all of the different components. Then I measured out the ingredient and assembled the mixes. It took only a few minutes – I just tossed everything together and shook it up, in one case toasting the spices first.I cut down the amounts by quite a lot, using about 1 – 1.5 cups rye whiskey and an equal reduction in spices for each recipe. I used Rittenhouse, but I think any 100 proof rye would work fine. If you can’t find 100 proof, just use a little less water at the end. Bitters recipes are still experiments, and ingredients can be varied to taste. The first recipe, for aromatic bitters, comes from Robert Hess, a well know spirits writer. The second, from “The Art of the Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the Classics” (Chronicle Books, 2006) by Jeff Hollinger and Rob Schwartz.

– House Bitters

*8 cups rye
*3 tsp gentian
*1 cup chopped ginger
*16 sticks cinnamon
*1/4 cup whole cloves
*8 whole star anis
*6 Tbs cardamon pods

1. Place all ingredients, except for the sugar and water, into a large mason jar and seal. Store for 2 weeks, shaking the jar once a day.

2. Strain the liquids/solids mixture through cheesecloth. Squeeze hard to extract as much juice into the reserved liquid as possible. Place the dry ingredients into a saucepan and add the water. Bring to a boil, and then turn the heat down and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

3. Allow to cool completely, then pour the water and solid mixture into another mason jar. Store for 1 week, shaking the jar once a day.

4. Strain the water mixture through cheesecloth. Discard the solid ingredients, and add the water to the previously reserved alcohol.

5. Put the sugar into a small non-stick skillet and stirring constantly over a medium-high heat, allow the sugar to melt and then turn to a rich brown color.
Quickly remove from heat and allow the melted sugar to cool for a couple of minutes.

6. With the sugar still slightly warm, pour it into the water and alcohol mixture. It will probably crystallize at this point, but with continued stirring it will eventually dissolve.

7. Allow this mixture to rest for a couple of days, then skim off anything that rises to the surface, and gently pour (or siphon) the clear liquid from the top into another container, trying to avoid as much of the sediment on the bottom as possible.

8. Measure the amount of liquid you now have, and add half that same amount of water.

– Dr. Schwartz’s Cherry-Vanilla Bitters
Makes 6 cups

*2 teaspoons quassia
*2 teaspoons cardamom seeds
*1 1/2 teaspoons anise seed
*Pinch gentian
*Pinch cassia
*1 teaspoon grated ginger
*3 cups 100-proof rye, preferably Rittenhouse
*5 vanilla beans
*1/2 cup cherry bark
*3 cups water

1. Toast quassia, cardamom, anise, gentian and cassia in a dry frying pan over medium heat for a few minutes until fragrant. Cool and transfer to a sterile mason jar. Add the ginger and rye, screw on the cap, shake well and store in a cool, dark place. Agitate once a day for one week. Strain the mixture through cheesecloth and transfer to a clean jar. Gather the ends of the cheesecloth to squeeze out as much liquid as possible.

2. Cut the vanilla beans in half lengthwise and add them to the rye mixture along with the cherry bark. Seal and store again, shaking once a day, for another two weeks. Strain the rye through cheesecloth and transfer liquid to clean mason jar (do not throw out the cherry and vanilla mash). Cover and set aside for a couple of weeks. (No need to agitate.)

3. Take the cherry-vanilla mash remaining in the jar and transfer to a medium saucepan. Add the 3 cups water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. While the mixture is simmering, smash the vanilla beans against the sides of the pot with a muddler or wooden spoon. Cool completely and transfer to a clean jar. Store in a cool, dark place for another 2 weeks, agitating once daily.

4. Strain this mixture through several layers of cheesecloth, as many times as is necessary to remove all sediment from the vanilla beans. Finally, combine the liquid with the reserved rye mixture and transfer to an empty bitters bottle.

But thanks to the growing trend in favor of artisan spirits and quality cocktails, ryes are finding new popularity – and a new generation of appreciators. Many good bars and restaurants in San Francisco now feature a list of interesting small batch ryes. For a good introduction to these whiskeys and for tasting notes on many of the best examples, I highly recommend Eric Asimov’s article in the New York Times, published last November.

In general, ryes tend to be lighter and spicier than bourbons and work well in place of bourbon in most recipes (I particularly like a rye Old Fashioned). Two classic cocktails, however, were originally made with rye, and I prefer them that way. Even better, they both call for bitters!

– The Manhattan
*2 ounce rye whiskey
*1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
*1 dash Angostura bitters

1. Combine ingredients in a cocktail shaker and fill shaker with ice.

2. Strain into a cocktail glass.

3. Garnish with a fresh cherry that has been soaked in brandy or whiskey. You can also add a lemon twist.

– The Sazerac
*1 sugar cube
*3 – 4 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
*2 ounces rye whiskey
*1/4 teaspoon anise liqueur
(the drink was originally made with Absinthe, but Herbsaint, a New Orleans brand, is now traditional. You can also use Pernod, Absente, or another pastis)
*Strip of lemon peel

1. In a cocktail shaker, moisten the sugar cube with just enough water to saturate it, then crush. Add a hand full of ice, then add the whiskey and bitters. Stir or shake gently for about 30 seconds or until the drink is cold.

2. Add the Herbsaint to an old fashioned glass and swirl it around to coat the sides and bottom of the glass. Discard the excess.

3. Strain drink into the Herbsaint coated glass and twist the lemon peel over it. Rub the twist over the rim of the glass, then add as garnish.

In addition to being a necessary element in classic drinks like the Manhattan, the Champagne Cocktail, and the Old Fashioned, bitters add an unidentifiable pep to almost any cocktail. They also function as both an aperitif and a digestive and, mixed with ginger ale or soda water, work wonders to settle an upset stomach.

Though less common today, a number of traditional recipes still exist, a fact that recently drove me to Tenzing Momo, an online apothecary and tarot card dispensary based in Seattle, WA. From them I purchased gentian, wild cherry bark, quassia, and cassia. I’m still not sure what most of these ingredients are, but I’m fairly certain that I purchased them legally. I plan to concoct a traditional aromatic bitters, and a less traditional cherry vanilla bitters developed by Jeff Hollinger here in San Francisco. Bitters can be created using any number of high proof alcohols, but both my recipes call for 100 proof rye whiskey.

The concoctions will take several weeks to brew, so this will be the first of three entries on the subject. In the meantime, I’ll be posting additional notes on rye whiskeys and cocktails.

7/8/07 Update: Will recently located another online source for herbs. They carry all of the ingredients I needed for my bitters recipes and many other interesting items – including wormwood (is there absinthe in my future?)! Best of all, their products are organic, wild harvested, or grown without chemicals. This will be my future source for herbal ingredients. The company is called Mountain Rose Herbs and you can find them online here.