I don’t remember the first time I made this dessert, but I certainly remember being wowed by its flavors, and the creator of it, Madeleine Kamman. (Who I’ll get to in a minute…) I’ve been making it for years and it’s a wonderful way to use white chocolate, which pairs remarkably well with dark chocolate, but also goes nicely with everything from berries and lemon,…
This quirky cocktail brings together three disparate ingredients; tequila, Chartreuse, and Amer Picon, to create the Jaguar, a drink that hews on the bitter side, with a bit of intrigue from the tequila, and the herbal punch of Chartreuse. I couldn’t find much intel on the origin of this cocktail*, and how these three ingredients found their way into the same glass. Some information on…
I’ve teamed up with two of my favorite spirit shops to offer specially-curated bar boxes with a selection of French spirits and apéritifs. And to sweeten the pot, for a limited time, each bar box includes a bookplate signed copy of Drinking French. Slope Cellars wine and spirits shop in New York includes a bottle of Old Forester Bottled-in-Bond Rye, Forthave Red Apéritif Bitters (a…
A simple cocktail, riffing off the Brooklyn cocktail, as well as its other-borough cousins, the Bronx and the Manhattan, the Greenpoint boasts a double-dose of French inspiration and influences.
Some of the most fun I had writing Drinking French was looking at vintage ads for French spirits and apéritifs. I went down a lot of rabbit holes as one led me to another, then another, and then another. On particularly creative ad was for Suze, which showed a gentian root (the primary ingredient in the apéritif) playing the bottle opener like a guitar. Whatever mind…
And before we know it, it’s May. After this lockdown is over, which is planned to unfold in France on Monday, I realize I’m going to have to go back and rewrite all the posts I wrote during the last few months as in the future, people will read them and wonder what the heck I am talking about when I say “lockdown,” “confinement,” and…
I was delighted that so many people were interested in setting up a French bar in advance of the publication of Drinking French and have been asked what liquors and spirits to get. So I’ve teamed up with Slope Cellars wine and spirits shop in New York City to release a Drinking French Bar Box. The Drinking French Bar Box includes a bottle of Old…
This cocktail gets its name from the three main ingredients, and their relationship to bijoux, or jewels or gems. The clear gin is like a diamond, the red vermouth is like a ruby, and the green from the Chartreuse is the emerald. The original recipe called for those ingredients to be used in three equal parts but cocktail expert and bartender Dale DeGroff, who resurrected…
Weeks before Drinking French came out, people were asking me what liquors and spirits to buy in anticipation of the book’s release. Skimming through the 160 recipes in the book, many of which are for cocktails and apéritifs, I offered up tips here and there, suggesting a few essential bottles that could be used for a number of recipes in the book. I also added…
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