I may be a genius of cocktails

[desperance]

It's a hot day hereabouts, and I was mixing myself a standard Dark & Stormy, according to the Jeannie recipe - rum, lime juice, ginger beer over ice - when it occurred to me that I would shortly be gathering mint from the garden for dinner; and I thought, "Oh, wait a minute

Comments

[sovay]

[sidebar: I have never understood this fetish for leaving on the tail of the shell. If it's going to be fingerfood, leave the whole damn shell on to contain the juicy flavours; if you're going to be using silverware for everything else on the plate, peel the damn thing properly, for the love of napkins]

I always just coped with this problem by eating the shell-tail.

[desperance]

I do this also! I learned it in Taipei, where the seafood is so fresh you can just eat the whole damn shrimp, shell & all. I get to eat Karen's tails too, because she can't be bothered with the struggle. But the principle still evades me. We're not supposed to eat the tail-shells. There must be some philosophical intention that I'm missing here.

[sovay]

Taipei, where the seafood is so fresh you can just eat the whole damn shrimp, shell & all.

Nice.

I get to eat Karen's tails too, because she can't be bothered with the struggle.

Exactly! I got my mother's and brother's by the same arrangement. (My father doesn't eat seafood.)

There must be some philosophical intention that I'm missing here.

The Chicago Tribune think it's a visual guarantee of your money's worth.

[desperance]

They may be right - but also it's just occurred to me, it is clearly a guarantee that the object you've paid for really is a shrimp, and not a repurposed moulded coil of random fishy bits, a sort of twisty crab stick. I bet that's factoring in too. Aaand the next step will be twisty shrimp sticks with artificial tails bonded on.

[coth]

The tail on is quite useful when it is finger food, as you can eat it one handed - kind of natural cocktail stick.

Brian makes that cocktail quite often - it's one of my favourites, and so is its variant made with ginger vodka - we'll try mint next time.

[desperance]

Fingerfood, yup, tick - but do they want us to go dabbling our fingers in a dish of soup?

And ooh, ginger vodka. Do you make your own, or is this an item you can buy? I have buddha's-hand citron vodka maturing nicely in my larder, but ginger I had not thought of...

[coth]

Brian makes his own. Lovely stuff for cocktails.

I didn't know it was called Dark and Stormy, btw.

[madrobins]

I always thought I was too unsophisticated to understand the allure of leaving the tail on the shell, for much the same reasons. It matters not any more, as my shrimp eating days are long over (cue music to betoken secret sorrow), but I am happy to know it isn't Just Me.

[desperance]

This is one of the great revelations of adulthood, I think, that in fact it is never Just You. Unless it's been one of the great revelations of the internet, and before then everybody was just buttoned up in their secret selves. In England, of course, it is an article of faith that this was true (and should have stayed that way).

[pennski]

Oh this all sounds lovely.

By the way, do you have an opinion on lemon balm as an actual ingredient? My Mum says some leaves in boiling water makes a nice infusion, but this is a woman who willingly drinks salt lassi, so I don't trust her taste.

[desperance]

Your mum is absolutely right, lemon balm makes a fine infusion. Otherwise you can use it to flavour vodka, vinegar, honey. Shred it finely, you can use it in scones; you can scatter it in salads, or fruit salads. Like any mint, it's not lovely to the tongue, though, being both chewy and furry; I haven't used it much in real cooking.

[6_penny]

Your Crater School cliffhangers get better (and cliffier) and better!