the bitter truth
So I was right: the Cynar is really good in low concentrations with whisky.
This one time a sales guy was taking me and my boss out for dinner when we were on a trip to Denver. We were there to learn about some equipment we wanted. It was one of those open-kitchen type places with lots of fire and noise and everything was moving fast and made me feel cosmopolitan in a way I hadn't felt for awhile. We were living in Spearfish at the time and being in Denver was being back in the big city doing "big city things" like going to a nice restaurant and hanging out. For a starter we ordered the first fire-roasted artichoke I'd ever had. I'd always had boiled ones, or the pickled hearts. Well, this handsome black-tipped artichoke on a cheese board landed at our table with a lemon wedge, some good rustic-tasting aioli and some butter sauce--rosemary butter perhaps? I loved it. It was extremely unfussy, it was easy to pluck and eat while listening to sales guy talk really fast, and it was totally delicious. I even said that to my dining companions (neither of whom cared one whit), "I like this. It's really clean and pure. I really like pure foods like this." I was transported for a little bit: away from the mundane one-upmanship which normally dominates these kinds of sales guy dinners and felt lucky, wise, and fancy free under the spell of this roasty, earthy, sharp delight. Nonplussed by my commentary, they went back to talking about something stupid, like anaerobic exercise.
I say all this because I took one sip of that perfect paddy cocktail (manhattan with irish) I was talking about the other day, the one that I thought could be made with cynar. Upon that one sip, damned if that LoDo roasted artichoke didn't come singing through my mind. I mean, the choke picture sits there on the bottle like a dare, what did I expect? Well, I might have been planning my memorial to Black 47 like a little mr. know it all, and I still feel good about that conceptually. But in the execution, this was much more evocative of a specifically personal event. So I have to slap a name on it accordingly
My Lodo (aka perfect Paddy + Cynar)
2 oz. Jameson
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
1/8 tsp. Cynar (a little more than one-eighth teaspoon, maybe surface tension if you have a deep spoon)
Stir briskly with ice, pour into chilled cocktail glass. twist of lemon optional--I had a first taste without, then with, and I liked the lemon.
The muted smoke of the whisky and the cynar meld really well. The two vermouths absolutely provide structure and some velvety texture. I'm learning that I prefer perfect manhattans over the standard variation. To each their own, but the experience of my tastebuds makes me feel the Cynar works better with dry vermouth in the mix. Another option is to add 2 drops of Peychaud's. This also makes things a little more fragrant. Truly maniacal dry-manhattan/Cynar huffers should enjoy this with 1/4 oz. cynar, 1/4 oz. sweet vermouth, the rest stays the same.
This one time a sales guy was taking me and my boss out for dinner when we were on a trip to Denver. We were there to learn about some equipment we wanted. It was one of those open-kitchen type places with lots of fire and noise and everything was moving fast and made me feel cosmopolitan in a way I hadn't felt for awhile. We were living in Spearfish at the time and being in Denver was being back in the big city doing "big city things" like going to a nice restaurant and hanging out. For a starter we ordered the first fire-roasted artichoke I'd ever had. I'd always had boiled ones, or the pickled hearts. Well, this handsome black-tipped artichoke on a cheese board landed at our table with a lemon wedge, some good rustic-tasting aioli and some butter sauce--rosemary butter perhaps? I loved it. It was extremely unfussy, it was easy to pluck and eat while listening to sales guy talk really fast, and it was totally delicious. I even said that to my dining companions (neither of whom cared one whit), "I like this. It's really clean and pure. I really like pure foods like this." I was transported for a little bit: away from the mundane one-upmanship which normally dominates these kinds of sales guy dinners and felt lucky, wise, and fancy free under the spell of this roasty, earthy, sharp delight. Nonplussed by my commentary, they went back to talking about something stupid, like anaerobic exercise.
I say all this because I took one sip of that perfect paddy cocktail (manhattan with irish) I was talking about the other day, the one that I thought could be made with cynar. Upon that one sip, damned if that LoDo roasted artichoke didn't come singing through my mind. I mean, the choke picture sits there on the bottle like a dare, what did I expect? Well, I might have been planning my memorial to Black 47 like a little mr. know it all, and I still feel good about that conceptually. But in the execution, this was much more evocative of a specifically personal event. So I have to slap a name on it accordingly
My Lodo (aka perfect Paddy + Cynar)
2 oz. Jameson
1/2 oz. sweet vermouth
1/2 oz. dry vermouth
1/8 tsp. Cynar (a little more than one-eighth teaspoon, maybe surface tension if you have a deep spoon)
Stir briskly with ice, pour into chilled cocktail glass. twist of lemon optional--I had a first taste without, then with, and I liked the lemon.
The muted smoke of the whisky and the cynar meld really well. The two vermouths absolutely provide structure and some velvety texture. I'm learning that I prefer perfect manhattans over the standard variation. To each their own, but the experience of my tastebuds makes me feel the Cynar works better with dry vermouth in the mix. Another option is to add 2 drops of Peychaud's. This also makes things a little more fragrant. Truly maniacal dry-manhattan/Cynar huffers should enjoy this with 1/4 oz. cynar, 1/4 oz. sweet vermouth, the rest stays the same.