The Cocktail College Podcast: Techniques: Savory Cocktails
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Inspiration from the culinary world, high-quality ingredients, and cutting-edge techniques. These are some of the key tenets of one of the hottest trends in mixology right now and the topic of today’s show: savory cocktails.
Who would have thought that when someone first added salt to the rim of a Margarita it would lead to fat-washing, custom tinctures, and MSG Martinis? This is, of course, a reductive way to trace the roots of savory cocktails, but they’re things that are all indeed linked. Joining us to explore them today is David Muhs, head bartender at Brooklyn’s Sama Street and head bartender and partner at Manhattan’s Monkey Thief.
David’s focus on Southeast Asian ingredients makes him an ideal co-pilot to spice things up and add a whole dash of savory to our lives — or at least our cocktail glasses. So without further ado, it’s smoky black cardamom, Chop Masala, and a big splash of sesame oil, and it’s all right here on the “Cocktail College” podcast. Tune in for more.
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David Muhs’ Major Tom Recipe
Ingredients
1 ounce London Dry Gin
1 ounce Mizu Lemongrass Shochu
6 dashes chili tincture (about 3:1 by weight, Florida Orange Blossom or Acacia)
1 bar spoon ginger syrup (2:1)
½ ounce lemongrass syrup (20 grams fresh lemongrass into 1:1 simple syrup, boiled, seeped, and strained)
½ ounce CoCo Lopez
1 ounce fresh lime juice
1 pickled fish sauce cherry tomato with 1 bar spoon pickling liquid (cherry/grape tomatoes pickled with 2 parts rice wine vinegar, 1 part fish sauce, a couple garlic cloves, and Thai chilis, some Cubeb or black peppercorns. 24-hour pickle)
Garnish: lime leaf and atomized lime leaf tincture
Directions
Add all ingredients to a cocktail shaker with ice.
Shake until chilled and strain into a rocks or ceramic glass over one large cube of ice.
Garnish with a lime leaf and atomized lime leaf tincture.
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