Bitters Make it Better, part III

As I’ve been wont to say on numerous occasions, delightful flavor combinations can often be found in the culinary cultures of one's neighbors - even if said neighbors tend to live several thousand miles away on a different continent. The flavors enjoyed in the farther reaches of the planet (or, depending on your locale, right down the street), which were so coveted by our ancestors, are often culinary delights to even the most jaded palette and in many instances can create truly unique experiences in the works of both the kitchen and bar...

Such is certainly the case with the spice blend(s) known as Ras el Hanout, which typically hail from the distant (to me at least) shores of Morocco in North Africa. Literally-translated as “head (sometimes “top”) of the shop”, the term is used to describe a combination of (the best) spices whose composition - in modern times as well in days long past - was the provenance of its compounder.

Much like Curry or Garam Masala, the actual ingredients of a given Ras el Hanout are many – some blends are purported to contain as many as eighty (!) ingredients – with no standard ratio of preparation and therefore can vary widely based on the recipe of the shop, business or individual who blended them. Typical additions include spices common to the region (and its cuisine) such as Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cumin, Coriander, Mace, Nutmeg and various types of Peppercorns; though more unusual flavorings also crop up regularly. Certain examples of the blends’ are formulated according to function. “Standardized” (by modern commercial spice companies) recipes sold under the name (often including the above ingredients alongside Paprika & Turmeric) are commonly used on poultry or meats.

Yet as the blend varies, so do its potential uses. There exists varieties for pastries or other confections, others utilized in flavoring couscous, rice or bulgur and dozens of others which accommodate culinary applications as widely-varied as the ingredients that make up a Ras el Hanout. It is to one of these blends – a mysteriously-complex and spicy combination of fourteen ingredients – that we turn our attention to today.

However, it is in the application of this mixture (which as a dried spice is ordinarily used for flavoring coffee) that I think you will find the most interest. For you see, good reader, today we’re going to make a new (and positively delightful) variety of bitters with it…

Ras el Hanout Kahwa bitters
8x green Cardamom pods, crushed
6x Cloves, whole
2x Allspice berries, cracked
1x Nutmeg, cracked
1” piece: Canella Cinnamon, crushed
1½ Tsp. Sesame seeds, whole
½ Tsp. Aniseed, whole
½ Tsp. Fennel seeds, whole
½ Tsp white Peppercorns, cracked
---
10 oz. 151° Demerara Rum (El Dorado)
4 oz. Bonded Rye Whiskey (Rittenhouse)
4x Rosehips, whole
3x pieces: Galingale, thinly-sliced
1x piece: Ginger, thinly-sliced
2x blades: Mace
Prepare the ingredients as specified; Ginger & Galingale should be sliced to the approximate dimensions of a half-dollar. Combine the first nine ingredients in a non-reactive pan & toast over low heat until fragrant (~1 min). Place toasted ingredients in an airtight container; add the remaining six ingredients & shake very well. Infuse for eight days, shaking occasionally, before straining by preferred method (cheesecloth, chinois, &c). Reserve this infused liquid (setting ½ oz. aside) and ‘used’ spices in separate containers.
---
3½ oz. Water
½ oz. Infused liquid (↑)
6x Espresso beans, cracked
⅛ Tsp. Gum Arabic powder
⅛ Tsp. Quassia bark
Combine ingredients in a small non-reactive saucepan. Bring water to a light simmer – do not boil - over low-medium heat, stirring vigorously to dissolve the Gum. Continue to simmer for two minutes then remove from heat & pour over the reserved ‘used’ spices while hot. Infuse this mixture for three days before fine-straining by preferred method (cheesecloth, chinois, &c). Combine this infusion with the remaining reserved liquid, shake well and rest for a final three days. Fine-strain by preferred method, as necessary, until liquid remains clear & bottle.

The resulting bitters match up very well (obviously) with any beverage, hot or cold which contains coffee. As such, the addition of a few dashes to any of the classic hot coffee drinks (the Café Diablere, Nero, or Brûlot, for example) adds a mysterious bittersweet spiciness which is not to be missed.

In other applications, these bitters mix quite well with a number of ‘brown’ or aged spirits; most notably spicier Ryes and mellow Cognacs. A Manhattan with equal dashes of these and Angostura Orange is a delightfully-unique twist, as is a Rum Old-Fashioned treated in the same way. Likewise, they show serious promise when mixed with equally-complex modifiers such as Carpano Antica Formula, Benedictine and certain (sweeter) potable bitters like Amaro Nonino. Hell, after a little experimentation I found two dashes of them even improves upon a pair of cream drinks – specifically a Brandy Alexander and White Russian.

Even if you don’t want to compound this formula as a bitters, I might recommend adding the Gum Arabic to the other dry spices (nixing the liquids, Quassia & Esspresso beans from the blend) and running the whole mix through a spice or coffee grinder until finely-powdered. Once sieved, the resulting spice blend makes for a truly incredible cup of coffee – merely add a ¼ teaspoon to every ½ cup of your favorite ground beans prior to brewing it…


Cheers & Enjoy!

Over the Border to Find a Fix...

...and through a bramble patch along the way.

First off, no, not that kind of fix, but rather a curious classic libation closely intertwined with the venerable Sour family of drinks. Second, with regards to the border - ¿qué pasa con eso? Well, it's springtime folks, and this transitional season always brings me around to the various styles of Tequila at one point or another. As for the bramble patch...ráipido wey, and we'll get to that too.

The Fix
or "Fix-Up" (I'm really not doing anything for the name here, am I?) appeared first on a cocktail list for Mart Ackermann's Saloon in Toronto, Canada. According to Dave Wondrich in Imbibe!, this was in 1856 (you didn't really think my bar "library" included a cocktail list from then, did you?) and there were eight of them on the hand-dated document.

Certainly an old drink then and, according to sources I do possess, quite the enduring one, considering its' formula (or a derivative thereof) was considered vital knowledge well past the turn of the century. The reasoning for this is simple - a Fix, as prepared with a number of spirits, was nothing more than a Sour dressed-up fancy with "fruits in season" - Berries, Pineapple, Orange and Lemon are often recommended. It appears thusly in the 1862 edition of Jerry Thomas's How to Mix Drinks and is seen in service under the same formula in Leo Engel's American and Other Drinks as late as 1878. Yet, sometime around the early 1880's the recipes begin to change - first individually, then as a unified category.

The Gin Fix is the first of these - first getting a dose of Pineapple syrup added to it in Harry Johnson's 1882 Bartender's Manual, where it is the only one recorded. But come 1884 we observe O.H. Byron has instituted a more categorical change in the drink - utilizing Pineapple syrup for all five of the Fixes listed in his Modern Bartender's Guide. By the time we reach 1887, and with it Jerry Thomas' posthumously-edited edition, we find several variations - each dependant on the spirit used in the four given Fixes. One called for Raspberry syrup, two included a little Curaçao and the Whiskey variety remained untouched. These alterations look to have been cemented by the turn of the century - we still see them in 1895 & 1900 (as well as later on) in editions of George Kappeler's Modern American Drinks. But why the sudden additions, changes & revisions to the recipe? Do we detect a touch of the same crazy variance that dogged the (equally old) formula for Roman Punch?

Not quite, I think. As previously-mentioned, the Fix is just a Sour built on crushed ice with a suitably-fancy garnish; quite tasty, but a little plain - particularly when the standard Sour category was also available for order. But tweak the formula by adding a flavored syrup, particularly ones flavored with the very ingredients often used to garnish the beverage, and you have a delightful drink. That the popularization of such syrups (which solved the problems of obtaining fairly-exotic fruits like Pineapple rather-handily) coincidentally (or not) occured around the same time as the changes to the recipe began appearing is an equally-strong argument for the changes made to the old formula. With the history of the Fix (& its' derivatives) established, what's up with this border..? Well, I happen to feel that one of the esencial liquores para la primavera is a bit of...

Tequila
in this case a Plata variety called Inocente. Produced on the other side of the much-mentioned border from a kiln-roasted aguamiel, or the fermentable juices from 100% Blue Agave. This ferment, or pulque, is distilled three times before being subjected to a wine-making method called micro-oxygenation, which is meant to soften the final products' character in a similar way to the chemical processes which take place during barrel-aging.

The producers may have a good idea there (at least for a spirit which is meant to be unaged, as opposed to a Reposado or Añejo), for while Inocente - like many Plata Tequilas, is a thin white spirit with some heat to it (meant more for mixing than drinking straight), the aggressive character of the distilled agave is subdued to a very pleasant spice & pepper flavor, with soft floral or vegetal notes lingering in the background.

Now, while the Fix-Up was typically compounded with any of the available spirits of the day, one would be hard-pressed to order one made with a little-known (at the time) spirit like Tequila. However, the combination of Pineapple and Tequila is an excellent one & was among the first of such flavor pairings to spring to mind when I first tasted Inocente. Reasoning that the peppery notes of the spirit would balance very nicely against the rich sweeteness of la piña, I gave it a try in conjunction with Gomme (or Gum) syrup, which added a very pleasant texture to the drink:

Tequila Fix
2 oz. Tequila (Inocente)
¾ oz. fresh Lime juice
½ oz. Pineapple Gomme syrup
1 Tsp. Raw sugar
½ oz. Seltzer
Combine Sugar & Seltzer in an Old-Fashioned glass and stir to dissolve. Fill the glass with crushed ice & build remaining ingredients. Stir gently to mix, top with a little more crushed ice & garnish with fresh fruit in-season (whole Berries & slices of Lime or Pineapple are muy deseable).

Pineapple Gomme syrup
1 Cup: white Sugar
½ Cup: Water
Gomme Solution
1 Cup: fresh Pineapple, cubed
Prepare the Gomme solution by dissolving 2 oz. Gum Arabic crystals in 2 oz. of boiling Water - be prepared to stir for a long while. In a small saucepan prepare Simple syrup by dissolving the Sugar in the Water over medium heat. Once the mixture reaches a gentle boil, add the viscous Gomme Solution, stirring well to incorporate it. Allow to boil for a few minutes, skimming off any foam or scum that rises to the surface & remove from heat. When cool, pour over Pineapple in an airtight container & allow to steep in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Strain by preferred method & bottle.

But what has become of the Fix in modern times? We still have the Sour of course (though that too has been subjected to all manner of undesirable change), so what of its' well-dressed cousin? The Fix, sadly, never really made it through the years leading up to Prohibition - it appears here and there, particularly in books printed overseas - but try ordering any of the varieties now. However, it would seem that the notion of a flavored Sour (i.e. what the Fix became) lives on in the form of:

The Bramble
is a more modern reworking of certain incarnations of the (long defunct) Gin Fix - the 1887+ ones what call for a touch of Raspberry syrup. It was adapted in the mid-1980's by UK barman Dick Bradsell, who, in such dimly-lit (for the cocktail) times undoubtedly had no easy access to a Raspberry syrup behind his bar. His solution? A float of Crème de Mûre (hence the "bramble" - a nickname for Rasp/Blackberry bushes) atop a lightly-sweetened Gin Sour. In the years following its' creation, in true Fix tradition, other bartenders swapped out the Gin and/or liqueur & substituted in all kinds of other spirits. While the Gin version is quite lovely, especially in the coming months, today we're on Tequila; so it's to the following drink that we call our attention:

Tequila Bramble
1½ oz. Tequila (Inocente)
¾ oz. fresh Lime juice
½ oz. Simple syrup
¾ oz. Crème de Cassis
Build the first three ingredients in an Old-Fashioned glass mostly-filled with crushed ice. Stir, top with fresh crushed ice & float the Crème de Cassis on the top. Garnish with a slice of Lime & several fresh Blackberries.

The combination of Cassis and Tequila is yet another strong (& historically-sound) pairing - the heavy, complex sweetness of the liqueur plays nicely in this instance against the thin, spicy heat of the Tequila and the Lime's bitter/sourness rounds the whole thing out. However, as with many other examples of Tequila, Inocente has a subtle floral or vegetal character, which in this instance the liqueur seems to drown out completely. To better highlight those notes while keeping the balance of the drink intact, I turned to another beverage that's common across the border (& in my refrigerator) - the aguas fresca called Jamaica (©):

Flowering Bramble
1½ oz. Tequila (Inocente)
¼ oz. fresh Lime juice
½ oz. Simple syrup
½ oz. Jamaica
¼ oz. Crème de Cassis
Build the first three ingredients in an Old-Fashioned glass mostly-filled with crushed ice and stir briefly. In a seperate measuring glass, combine the Jamaica & Crème de Cassis. Top the built drink with fresh crushed ice & float the Jamaica-Cassis mixture on top. Garnish with a slice of Lime & several fresh Blackberries.


Cheers & Enjoy!

*In the interest of full disclosure, samples of Inocente were generously provided for use. Great quantities of said sample have been consumed since...

Seasonal Produce: A Springtime Infusion, Now with Cookery!

In a previous post, I discussed the virtues, however regionally-influenced, of Blood Oranges. I likewise promised to include a recipe for an infused Cachaça utilizing these delightful late winter/springtime citrus. Furthermore, it occurs to me that I haven't had any culinary examples up here in a long while. This is not to say I haven't been cooking (quite the opposite actually), but rather I'm usually so busy when doing so as to lack the wherewithall to photograph my little kitchen adventures...

So, as promised, here's the infusion: short, sweet & clarified slightly from its initial appearance at the Ministry of Rum many moons ago. As an aside, in this particular infusion, though the overall proof of the spirit (from 80 to about 75, in case you were wondering) drops somewhat due to the inclusion of certain of the ingredients, this infusion nevertheless makes a marvelous addition to spring & summertime cocktails well after Blood Oranges are out of season – an example of which I’ve included just after the recipe. You can even enjoy it (like a certain friend of mine does - on the beach for Labor Day) straight over an ice cube or two...

Blood Orange Cachaça
750ml: Cachaça (Pitu works well here)
5x fresh Blood Oranges, washed
3 Tblspns. Raw Sugar
1 Tblspn. white Sugar
1 Tblspn. Lemongrass, minced
½ Tsp. Cardamom, removed from pods (optional)
1½ Tblspns. Water
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
1. Carefully peel Blood Oranges, being sure to remove & discard all bitter pith from the skin.
2. Likewise remove & discard all pith and seeds from the flesh of two of the Oranges. Seperate into segments.
3. Clean & mince Lemongrass & shell Cardamom. Toast Cardamom seeds in a small pan.
4. Combine ingredients in a clean container & add Cachaça.
5. Seal container & swirl/shake vigorously.
6. Place in a cool, dark location for approximately 7-10 days, swirling vigorously several times.
7. Strain 2-3 times by preferred method (coffee filter, cheesecloth &c), pressing on solids to remove all liquid.

8. Clean container with hot water and replace liquid within. Allow to stand for one more week.
9. Strain or rack again as necessary & bottle.

Enjoy in any cocktail (as appropriate, flavor-wise) which calls for Cachaça - a Caipirinha w/ half lime & half blood orange muddled works nicely. Or you could try it in the following libation (or come up with your own uses – and pass them along to me in the comments section if you’re so inclined):

Sangriento Rabo de Galo
2 oz. Blood Orange Cachaça
¾ oz. Carpano Antica Formula
¼ oz. Aperol
1 dash Angostura bitters
Stir with ice & strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a slice of fresh Blood Orange.

But now that you've labored (not for all that long really) at preparing the above infusion, why not stick around the kitchen a bit longer - perhaps for a lovely spot of dinner that will make handy use of some of the extra (Lemongrass, Blood Oranges &c.) ingredients from your infusion...?

Roast Quail stuffed w/ Savory Veal Couscous













6x Quail, cleaned & marinated
Savory Veal-Couscous Stuffing (see below)
Grande Duchess Potatoes (see below), to plate
Manchego Cheese, shaved thin for garnish

Marinade:
1 Cup Lillet Blanc
2 Tblspns. Honey
Zest of ½ Blood Orange
2 Tsp. fresh Tarragon, chiffonade
1 Tsp. Herbes de Provence blend
¾ Tsp. Coriander, coarsely-crushed
½ Tsp. white Pepper

Savory Veal-Couscous Stuffing:
½ lb. Veal, ground
1 Cup medium Couscous
½ Cup fresh Blood Orange juice
½ Cup Veal stock (or sub. ½ Beef & ½ Chicken stocks)
6 Tblspns. Butter, unsalted
1 Tblspn. Honey
2x cloves Garlic, minced
2 Tblspns. green Onions, chiffonade
2 Tblspns. Lemongrass, chiffonade
1½ Tsp. fresh Tarragon, chiffonade
Fluer de Sel & black Pepper, to taste
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
1. Prepare the marinade by combining listed ingredients in a plastic bag, agitating to mix, and adding cleaned Quail. Marinate the birds for approximately two hours in the refrigerator.
2. Prepare the Couscous stuffing as follows:
3. In a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, melt Butter and saute Garlic, Lemongrass & Onions until fragrant (about 2 minutes).
4. Brown the ground Veal in the same pan.
5. Add remaining ingredients, stir well & bring to a simmer over low-medium heat.
6. Place the Couscous in a bowl & when liquid mixture is simmering, add to the container. Stir well & cover with plastic wrap to steam for approximately ten minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 375°. Remove Quail from marinade & drain before generously stuffing with Couscous mixture. Reserve ½ Cup of marinade.
7. Arrange stuffed Quail in a 9x13 dish or braising pan & deposit reserved marinade in bottom.
8. Place prepared Quail in preheated oven & cook for 25-30 minutes, or until well-bronzed. Remove, allow to rest for about 2 minutes & plate with:

Grande Duchess Potatoes
2½ lbs. Potatoes, peeled
2x cloves Garlic, minced
¾ Cup: Heavy Cream
8 Tblspns. Butter, unsalted & divided
½ Cup: Manchego cheese, shredded & packed
3x Egg yolks, divided & beaten
Generous pinch of Nutmeg, freshly-grated
Fluer de Sel & black Pepper, to taste
‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡ ‡
1. Clean & boil Potatoes in salted water as per ordinary mashed potatoes.
2. In a small saucepan over low-medium heat, melt the Butter & allow to brown slightly (not quite beurre noisette) before adding Garlic.
3. Saute Garlic over low heat until fragrant (about 1-2 minutes) then slowly stir in Heavy Cream & Cheese.
4. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring often & remove from heat.
5. Drain Potatoes & allow to stand, uncovered, for about 5 minutes (so that some amount of moisture may evaporate).
6. In a small bowl, temper two of the beaten Egg yolks by slowly adding the Butter-Cream mixture & whisking aggresively.
7. Whip Potatoes smooth by preferred method, slowly adding Butter-Cream mixture & seasoning with Nutmeg, Fluer de Sel & black Pepper.
8. On a silicon-lined baking sheet divide mashed potatoes into six equal portions; the ambitious may wish to pipe the warm potatoes into a whimsical arrangement.
9. Gently brush the formed potatoes with the remaining beaten Egg yolk & place in the oven at 375° for approximately ten minutes (this may be placed in the oven with the Quail if you wish), or until crisp on top. The ambitious may then further crisp the top with a culinary torch, but this step is not really necessary.

Serve with the prepared Quail (taking care to not forget adding the shaved Manchego on top) on a warmed plate & enjoy!


Cheers & Enjoy!

MxMo XXXIII: Made From Scratch, pt. I

This month's Mixology Monday, which I've missed the deadline for by about two weeks now, was being generously hosted by Doug over at the Pegu Blog - sorry Doug! Much like all past & future MxMo's this one followed a most interesting format. His (awesome!) chosen theme, as passed down to we mere mortals from on high?

"Bring forth unto us a beverage! Thy beverage shall depend upon one
or more ingredients that thou makest yourself. Beyond that decree, you may
voyage to the edge of the Earth or beyond."

Well, as anyone who has ever even glanced sideways at this blog will attest, I've never made anything from scratch to use in a cocktail. Nope - no bitters, infusions, syrups or oddball/hard-to-find ingredients here...

That I said that with a straight face is suprising to me & should sound dubious to you 'o gentle reader, as homemade ingredients are something of an obvious passion of mine. But what to highlight, something garnered from the edge of the Earth or beyond, as Doug said? A topic which I've been experimenting with for some time (but have inexplicably yet to post on, on-time or otherwise) which, once made, can bring flavors from the ends of the world right to your glass: Tinctures.

Tinctures

are quite simple concoctions really, consisting of nothing more than an ingredient - generally an herb, root or spice - whose flavor has been extracted by means of a solvent - ethanol in this instance. Chances are, no matter how humble your spice cabinet may (or may not) be, you've got a tincture or three in there right now; got pure Vanilla extract?

The reason for an ethanol base is simple: high-proof alcohol extracts the essential oils - the aromatic compounds which provide scent & through this medium, flavor - quite efficiently. Most tinctures fall into the 35-80% ABV range for this very reason, though even the weakest of them (that Vanilla extract of yours likely comes in at 35% for example) typically start in a neutral base which is around 80-95% ABV before being diluted somewhat. It is in this matter, incidentally, that I've never been more pleased about college students fulfilling their odd requirements for drinking. Simply put, due to the demand such persons have for high-proof Neutral Grain Spirits (read: Everclear), such items continue to be produced & sold in most parts of the country. But it was not always this way - once upon a time NGS's filled an important role, not by being drunk with Kool-aide, but rather in the production of colorants, bitters, infusions & tinctures.

In Jerry Thomas' How to Mix Drinks, as well as Christian Schltz's accompanying Manual For the Manufacture of Cordials, Liquors, Fancy Syrups &c., &c. a sizeable number recipes for producing colorants oils, extracts and tinctures are included as well as referenced. Take this one for example:

Tincture of Cinnamon

Place 2 pounds of ground Cinnamon into a jar with 1 gallon 95 per cent alcohol, closely covered. At the end of 8 days strain the liquor clear; wash the sediment with 1 quart proof spirits [read: 80°]; strain it; mix the two liquors together, and filter through blotting paper.

All well & good if you have use for a 1¼ Gallons of tincture! Generally speaking, tinctures last a long time, since a little goes such a long way (much like bitters) scaling recipes such as this one down tend to be a good plan, like so:

Tincture of Cinnamon

2 oz. whole Cinnamon sticks

8 oz. Neutral Grain Spirit (Everclear)

Combine ingredients in an airtight container for about three weeks, agitating every day. When ready, fine-strain to remove all solids & bottle. Give this a whirl in Jeff Morgenthaler's Autumn Leaves.

Now, as most of us don't manufacture imitation spirits & colorants as our friend Mr. Schultz did, we get to the subject of using tinctures today. Certainly, tinctures are optimal for adding tiny dashes of flavor to given recipes - particularly when adding such a flavor in the form of its originating spice would be impractical. Furthermore, while spices are far more available in modern days than they were in antiquity, the problem of their (sometimes rapid) degredation is still a valid one. Those same oils & aromatic compounds which give spices their characteristic favors, tend to be greatly reduced with time - especially once whole spices been dried & ground. In this way, tinctures act as a preservative - allowing one to capture the flavor & aroma of a fresh spice while concentrating it for use much farther down the line than a quantity of that spice would ordinarily allow. Likewise, since it will grow no stronger or weaker with age, tinctures are quite stable in their intensity - a feature which some, like Jamie Boudreau of Spirits & Cocktails, advocate using to prepare bitters with consistency.

Another fantastic use, which many 'seat of the pants' sessions of TDN have taught me, is constructing flavored syrups on-the-fly. Despite my penchant for making all sorts of flavored syrups, this peculiar affliction also graces my colleagues in the Mixoloseum, so on any given evening there will be recipes calling for syrups infused with Coffee, Cinnamon, Allspice, Nutmeg, black Pepper or any number of other items. Yet by taking a small quantity of ordinary simple syrup, one can add a given tincture to produce the flavor(s) required in mere seconds, like so:

Cinnamon Syrup

4 oz. Simple syrup (2:1)

2-3 drops Cinnamon Tincture

Combine ingredients & shake well to mix. Use as a normal Cinnamon syrup, like in Rick of Kaiser Penguin's Jet Pilot.

Now that you've got some uses lined up for these versatile extracts, how do you go about crafting your own? Tinctures are fairly forgiving in their construction, but here are a few hard & fast rules for making them on your own:

1. Barring a few of the stronger spices, tinctures are generally prepared in a 5 or 4:1 ratio of Spirit:Spice.
2. Tinctures take a while to make, generally-speaking about two weeks of maceration, though certain spices & herbs require more time, even in high-test spirit. Color is a good indicator - when the color of the liquid has deepened to match that of the herbs & grows no darker in hue, you're likely good to go.
3. Scent is also a good indicator - when you can detect no alcohol fumes overpowering the aroma of whatever you've infused, the tincture is more or less ready. Taste can be used here too, but be sure to only sample the tiniest of tiny amounts to avoid blowing a fuse in your taste buds. Bitter or spicy tinctures are recommended against sampling undiluted.
4. If you'd like your tinctures at a milder final proof, feel free to dilute them with water. However, to avoid diluting the flavor, you'll want to allow said water to infuse in the washed spices for about a week before you strain & add it to your original alcohol base.

To get started, here are handful of tinctures which are much-valued in my kitchen & bar (for a full list of the tinctures I've currently got on hand, check out the "Behind the Bar: Tinctures & Bitters" sidebar on the right):

Tincture of Iranian Saffron
4 oz. Neutral Grain Spirits
1 Teaspoon: Iranian Saffron threads
Combine ingredients in an airtight container for eighteen days, agitating gently each day. Should be a delicate, clear reddish-pink in color. When ready, fine-strain to remove all solids & bottle. Give 1 drop of this a try in a Pisco Sour, or two drops in a Silver Fizz.

Tincture of Black Cardamom
2 oz. Black Cardamom, seeds only
8 oz. Neutral Grain Spirits
Combine ingredients in an airtight container for three weeks, agitating gently each day. Should be a slightly opaque, smoke-hued color. When ready, fine-strain to remove all solids & bottle. Give 2 drops of this a try in a Sidecar or Tom Collins.

Tincture of Wormwood
2 oz. Wormwood
8 oz. Neutral Grain Spirits
Combine ingredients in an airtight container for three weeks, agitating gently each day. Should be an opaque, deep dark green in color. When ready, fine-strain to remove all solids & bottle. Give this a try in Darcy O'Neil's researched reproduction of the infamous Green Swizzle or the handful of other antique recipes what call for "Wormwood bitters".

Tincture of Scotch Bonnet
7 oz. Neutral Grain Spirits
2 whole Scotch Bonnet peppers, seeds only
1 Tablespoon: Scotch Bonnet pepper, julienned
Please be extremely cautious when working with these peppers, wearing gloves & being careful to avoid contact with your eyes or mouth. Combine ingredients in an airtight container for sixteen days, agitating gently each day. Should be clear with a very slight, almost ominous, oily orange tint. When ready, fine-strain to remove all solids & bottle. Give this a (careful) try as the spicy element in a wicked Bloody Mary - sub 2 drops in for your favorite hot sauce.

Cheers, enjoy & sorry again Doug!