American cherries are plumper and sweeter than Hungarian varieties, but fresh lemon or lime juice will pucker those suckers right up and help achieve the sweet-tart flavor the dish is known for. The cinnamon stick nestled in with the simmering fruit adds a hint of warmth and spice to the bright, rich cherry juice. After removing the cherries, reserve a few to drop into the cocktail for some fruitful last bites, and in reference to the original dish.

Splash in some bubbly with the cherry concentrate, and then because it’s Shavuot, or because it’s summer, or because you are one-eighth Hungarian, plop in a dollop of sour cream, or Greek yogurt if you need the live active cultures, or crème fraiche if you are already cultured. Vanilla ice-cream if you are an iconoclast with a sweet tooth. This recipe is so good, it inspired another one.

Sparkling Sour Cherry Floats
Yields 3-4 cups of liquid (about 6 serves)

Ingredients

2 lbs. fresh cherries, pitted OR 5 cups frozen pitted cherries
4 cups water
¼ -½ cup sugar (depending on how sweet you like it)
2 x 2″ strips lemon or lime peel
1 cinnamon stick
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice or lime juice + 1-2 tbsp. lemon or lime juice to finish off recipe

To Serve:
Champagne, sparkling wine, or seltzer
Reserved cherries (from broth)
Sour cream, Greek yogurt, or crème fraiche
Lemon or lime wedges

Directions

1. In a large pot, bring the cherries to a boil with the water, sugar, lemon or lime peel, cinnamon stick, and 2 tbsp. of fresh lemon or lime juice. Cover pot, reduce heat, and allow cherries to simmer for about 30 minutes, until soft and tender.

2. Strain the soup into a large bowl, discarding the peels and cinnamon sticks. Reserve some of the whole cherries for garnish, and use the remainder of the cherries to make White Chocolate Cherry Pudding. If not using immediately, the cherries can be sealed and frozen for later.

3. Allow Meggyleves to cool completely before stirring in extra 1-2 tbsp. lemon or lime juice.

4. To serve: Pour desired amount of chilled Meggyleves concentrate into glasses. Top off with champagne or seltzer. Drop in a few of the reserved cherries, then add a scoop of crème fraiche, sour cream, or Greek yogurt. Drizzle in some extra lemon/lime juice if you’d like to enhance the tartness.

The post Not Your Bubbe’s Recipe: Sparkling Sour Cherry Float Cocktails appeared first on Jewcy.

Purim is one of those goodies in the book promoting something fun like indulging and reclining or keeping all the lights off and pleasing wifey on the hebdomadaire, or–this time, wholesome roleplay! Not a pagan holiday like Halloween, dressing for the ho-down to get Merv the Perv all hot and sweaty is good by ma, and if you’re going at the evening with libations so potent you risk hooking up with another raver, well, that’s even better by the tribe. So lose yourself in your too-short Esther garb with more timely bevs:

Drinks for a Purim Rave

Esther’s a Silvester

This cross-dressing drink will make you see rainbows. Technicolor Jell-O Shots plus your Purim poison of choice. Cans of whipped cream set up for the daring and you’ve got yourself an evening.

But if you don’t dig hoof, I’m sure an alternativerecipe uses none of it if you can figure it out.

Haman’s Nuts

If you’re lost on what to do with the tub of Nutella in your cupboard that you’re not eating, get that baby on a double boiler and dilute your bottle of Grand Marnier.

For the rest of us, here’s what you need to shake and serve on ice:

1 shot Chocolate liqueur

1 shot Hazelnut liqueur

½ shot Grand Marnier

2 cherries

Mordechai’s Wire Whiskey

This is a night to celebrate. It’s the good Jewish boy’s version of a lucky hustler on a binge. Say it with me: tonight’s the night. Break out the good stuff. If you can’t get yourself on a plane to Chicago’s Delilah’s, stock your place with their specials–because a whiskey good enough for a cheap bastard on a St. Paddy’s rampage in Lincoln Park is good enough for this party. Do it all weekend.

Daily Specials

Friday: Maker’s Mark

Saturday: Four Roses

Sunday: Benchmark

Ahashverous’s Insomnia

We might have to admit to that tinge of sad when a limit on the Kinsey scale of American drinking habits was found in 4Loco, formerly sold next to the Franzia. So practice your freedoms if you’re a good American and have a nice legal time.

(Sugarfree) Redbull

Pomegranate 5 Hour Energy

Flask of vodka

Pocket the ingredients, unless you’re rockin a Camelback. Conducive to staying on the go, even the busiest of bodies can celebrate as the king of his oyster.

Build-Your-Own-Grogger

Grogger? Just another word for beerbong. If you build it, they will come. So get the party started and pour all that valuable homebrew down the drain.

1 funnel

1 meter rubber tubing

Tape

Skillz

The post Haman’s Nuts And Other Purim Drink Recipes appeared first on Jewcy.

Cocktail culture in the US has definitely risen dramatically in the last few years.  The Mad Men influence, paired with a reemerging respect for the mixologists behind the bar is taking cocktails to a very exciting place.  I would wager there isn’t a major city in America anymore that doesn’t have a least one or two speakeasy-esque bars that are known for their signature drinks.  Many will tell you Purim is a holiday for dressing up, and usually drinking a little too much for your own good, but why drink Rum & Cokes, Vodka & Sodas and Jager bombs all night, when on the way to total inebriation you can actually have a wonderful drinking experience?

Here are what I consider some of the best cocktails for Purim, and if you don’t feel like making one, some of my favorite cocktail bars across the country as well.

The Old Fashioned – This would be Mordechai’s drink, a true classic, there’s even a specific glass for this drink and this drink alone!

• 2 maraschino cherries
• 2 slices of orange
• 1 small sugar cube
• 1 or 2 dashes of angostura bitters
• 1 teaspoon water
• 2 ounces rye, ALWAYS USE RYE, it isn’t an old fashioned without it.  I like Old Overholdt.

Muddle 1 cherry, 1 orange slice, and the sugar, bitters, and water in a chilled Old Fashioned glass. Remove the orange rind. Add the whiskey and ice; stir. Garnish with a maraschino cherry and an orange slice.

The Martini – If Esther had a drink in her hand, I like to think it would be a Gin Martini with a twist.  NEVER USE VODKA!

• 2 ounces dry gin
• 1 ounce dry vermouth
• Ice
• Twist of lemon, for garnish

Combine the gin and vermouth in a shaker, fill it halfway with ice, and stir vigorously until well chilled, about 20 seconds. Strain into the chilled glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon, being sure to run the slice over the glass’s rim before floating it on top of the cocktail.

The Scarlet Harlot – Perfect for Queen Vashti

• 12 cherries, pitted
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated sugarr
• Ice
• 2 ounces brandy
• 1/2 ounce Dubonnet rouge
• 2 dashes orange bitters

1. Combine cherries and sugar in a cocktail shaker and muddle until cherries are broken up but not completely pulverized.
2. Fill the shaker halfway with ice, then add remaining ingredients. Shake vigorously for 30 seconds, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, and serve.

The Dark and Stormy – Complex, perfect for a king.

• Ice
• 2 parts Gosling’s Black Seal rum
• 6 parts Ginger Beer
• 1 lime wedge

Place several ice cubes in a tall glass, such as a collins, and add rum. Top with ginger beer, add a lime wedge, and stir.

The Death in the P.M. – Do you even have to ask who this drink is for?

For all you literary folk, Hemingway invented this drink and named it after his novel, Death in the Afternoon.

• 1 part absinthe or other anise-flavored liqueur
• 10 parts chilled brut sparkling wine

Pour absinthe into a chilled champagne glass. Top with sparkling wine and serve.

If you’re in costume, and don’t want to play bartender.

If I missed your favorite, let me know in the comments:

Summit Bar, NYC

Louis 649, NYC

Death & Co., NYC

Holeman & Finch, Atlanta

The Varnish, LA

Anvil, Houston

Sylvain, New Orleans

Bourbon and Branch, San Francisco

The Violet Hour, Chicago

The post The Boozy Jew: Cocktails On Purim appeared first on Jewcy.

Everyone has a favorite martini—well at least Oprah does, so why can’t we?  Many of today’s trendy martini recipes call for lemon vodka. Luckily, Sukkot’s unusual custom of sniffing a citrus fruit (etrog) lends itself perfectly to a holiday-inspired cocktail—the Sukkotini.  With a splash of pomegranate juice and a hit of etrog vodka or liqueur, the Sukkotini features the best flavors of fall, and Jewish tradition. Serve this drink under the stars in your beautiful backyard sukkah (or, if you live in Brooklyn like I do), in the sukkah your friend threw up in the shared cement courtyard outside his building.

Sukkotini

Tip: You can make your own etrog vodka (see Etrog Moonshine below), and enjoy your martini sometime around Chanukah.  If you need your cocktail NOW, buy some pre-made etrog liquor here.

Ingredients

4 oz Etrog Moonshine (or etrog liqueur)
1 oz fresh lemon juice
½ oz fresh pomegranate juice
2 oz simple syrup

Directions

Shake all ingredients well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass.  Garnish with a twisted etrog peel and serve.

Etrog “Moonshine” (Adapted slightly from Food.com)

Ingredients

3 Etrogim
3 cups vodka
1 ½ cups confectioners sugar

Directions

Scrub your etrogim to remove all the pesticide residue—and the germs from where everyone held and sniffed it during the holiday. Peel the etrogim, avoiding the bitter white “pith.” Put the peel in a 1-quart bottle with 2 cups vodka and close for a week.

Later, discard the peels. Add 1½ cups confectioners sugar and shake until dissolved. Add 1 more cup vodka and shake until clear. Close jar and store in a cool, dark place for at least 6 weeks.

(Image: Shutterstock)

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