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Firewater by Dave DeWitt
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Drink Recipes: |
Miss Manners is completely baffled. Emily Post has no clue whatsoever. In fact, there’s an ongoing debate not only in the world of etiquette, but also in the culinary arena, as experts offer varying opinions on what types of drinks should be served with fiery foods?
The turmoil has been caused by the fact that more and more Americans are consuming hot and spicy dishes from a number of world cuisines. Yet most cookbook authors and magazine writers on the subject have avoided matching beverages to the sizzling entrees. Should peppery cocktails, such as those made with chile pepper vodkas, be served with spicy foods, or is such a practice culinary overkill? Which wines should be matched with the enormous variety of exotic, incendiary dishes? What role does beer play in this question? And isn’t it only polite to provide cool-down drinks for guests whose palates have not yet adapted to the heat levels of the fiery food being served?
Right here and now, we are pleased to announce that we have answered these questions and resolved once and for all the problem of fiery foods beverage etiquette. The task was not an easy one. It required long hours of research, testing, and the repeated tasting of alcoholic beverages in combination with chile peppered victuals, but somehow we succeeded. The key was the realization that in a typically lavish fiery feast, the beverages are served in a very consistent pattern: before, during, and after the main courses. Therefore, firewater--the generic name for these drinks--should correspond to this pattern.
Since cocktails always precede the meal, it makes perfect sense that a burning beverage is the best way to prepare guests for the fiery feast to follow. The most basic peppery cocktail is one which has the heat already in it--namely, a liquor which has been treated with some variety of chile pepper.
It is ironic that chile pepper-flavored liquors originated in a country virtually devoid of fiery foods: the Soviet Union.
The word vodka is the Russian diminutive for "water," which gives a fairly good indication of just how basic and important this liquor is in the Soviet Union. In fact, the people there love it so much they cannot leave it alone. They blend about forty different flavors of various herbs and spices with their vodkas, including combinations of heather, mint, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon--and, of course, cayenne powder.
A favorite brand of Russian chile pepper vodka is Stolichnaya Pertsovka, the famous "Stoly" which has been infused with white and black pepper combined with cayenne powder and then filtered to remove all solids. Unfortunately, the reddish tint of the vodka is the result of added caramel coloring rather than the chiles, but it still tastes great and has a nice bite. Other popular brands of hot vodkas are Absolut Peppar from Sweden, America’s own Gordon’s Pepper Flavored Vodka, and Canada’s Inferno Vodka, which is used to make Bloody Caesars, which are similar to Bloody Marys.
The ideal way to introduce guests to these spicy vodkas is to place the bottle in the freezer for a few hours. The liquor becomes thick but does not freeze, and is served straight-up. Remember that the proper etiquette here is to warn your guests that these cocktails are fiery as well as frosty. To astonish them, present the vodka bottle frozen in a solid block of ice.
The pungent principle at work in the near-frozen pepper vodkas is the reverse of cooked foods. Warming increases the intensity of the aromas of foods, while cooling reduces them. The opposite occurs with the chile pepper vodkas; when the temperature of vodka rises above freezing, the aroma and taste dissipate--the same is true of ice creams and sorbets.
The success of the flavored vodkas has led liquor distillers to experiment with other combinations of alcohol and chile peppers. Brittany Importers in Miami have had a product called Fire God, nicknamed the "Tequilapeño" because it is a combination of tequila and jalapeños. Another such product is New Mexico Jalapeño Wine, produced by the Domingo and the Gringo Company. The wine has the flavor of the jalapeño but little, if any, heat. Both Fire God and Jalapeño Wine are used to create spicy variations on margaritas and other fruit-juiced cocktails such as sangritas.
Perhaps the most famous caustic cocktail is the Bloody Mary, which is often referred to as the most popular alcoholic drink in America. The drink was invented in the 1920s at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris by bartender Ferdinand "Pete" Petiot, and it was first called the "Bucket of Blood." It never caught on in France but accompanied Petiot to the King Cole Bar at the St. Regis Hotel in New York in 1933, where it was touted as a cure for hangovers and was renamed the "Red Snapper." Petiot used cayenne powder in his concoction while bartenders who copied it switched to the more mixable Tabasco Sauce.
Sometime between Petiot’s introduction of the cocktail to New York in the early ’30s and the beginning of World War II, the name changed again--this time to Bloody Mary, after Mary Tudor of England and Ireland, who was notorious for her bloody reign of terror against Protestants. The name was firmly in place by 1941, the year Ernest Hemingway introduced the drink into Hong Kong. He wrote later that the Bloody Mary "did more than any single factor except the Japanese Army to precipitate the fall of that Crown Colony."
Today, variations on the Bloody Mary include replacing the vodka with tequila--which creates a "Bloody Maria"--or with Japanese sake for a "Bloody Mary Quite Contrary." The cocktail can be made with one of the chile pepper vodkas to supply the pungency, or can be spiced up with a favorite brand of bottled hot sauce. Since the various chiles used in these sauces each have their own unique flavor, the taste of the Bloody Marys can vary significantly. Tabasco Sauce, the trademarked brand of McIlhenny Company, is still the most commonly used hot sauce to spice up this drink, but these days people are experimenting with hot sauces based upon the cayenne, habanero, jalapeño, and even chipotle chiles.
It is always embarrassing to discover--after you’ve served the peppery cocktails--that one of your guests has recently been discharged from an alcohol treatment center. So for guests on the wagon, serve them a volatile Virgin Mary, which retains the hot sauce but eliminates the vodka. Another possibility is Cajun Cola, a spicy soft drink from Louisiana which is flavored with cola, cinnamon, and Tabasco chiles.
Matching Wines and Beers with Spicy Entrees
The fiery main courses have been selected, whether at home or in a restaurant. But what beverages should accompany such incendiary dishes as an Indian vindaloo, a Mexican mole poblano, or an African piri-piri? Certainly not the same peppery cocktail you’ve been drinking before the meal, because the pungency of the drink will mask the complex flavors and spiciness of the entree. Since wines and beers are traditionally served with meals all over the world, the crucial questions to answer are: will the fiery foods overwhelm the wine, and do wines and beers extinguish the fire of the chiles?
Wine expert Roy Andries de Groot believes that wines do indeed cut the heat of chile dishes. He suggests serving cold white wines with most spicy foods and claims that a Chablis, Chenin Blanc, or Colombard is "excellent for putting out chile fires." Undoubtedly he has heard the argument that beer and wine have some efficacy as cool-downs because capsaicin--the chemical which gives chiles their heat--dissolves readily in alcohol but does not mix with water. This theory holds that the alcohol dilutes the capsaicin and thus reduces the heat sensation. However, since both beer and wine are more than eighty percent water, the alcohol content actually has little effect on the heat levels.
So do not expect wines and beers to reduce the pungency of the dishes being served. Although the cool temperature at which many beers and wines are served may give the illusion of reducing heat, in reality they do not temper the sting of capsaicin very much, and in some cases may even increase it. Beverage consultant Ronn Wiegand, writing in Marlena Spieler’s book Hot & Spicy, warns, "the tannin content of most young red wines can actually magnify the heat."
With beer and wine accompaniments, the heat level is not nearly as important as a harmonious blending of flavors and textures. For example, I usually drink beer with the hottest Mexican and Chinese foods because it is a perfect complement, not because of its reputation as a cool-down. With some of the spicy New Southwest meals, slightly fruity white wines such as Chenin Blancs or Rieslings seem to be a better pairing.
Roy Andries de Groot has studied the problem of what wines to serve with fiery foods and advises, "My theory of the successful marriage of wine with these cuisines is to know (and separate) the gentle dishes, the spicy dishes, and the fiery dishes. The menu is then planned so that each group of dishes is paired with the wine that adds certain essential contrasts and harmonies."
For example, he recommends a Bordeaux or a Cabernet Sauvignon as the best wine to accompany the chocolate-flavored mole poblano and calls the combination "one of the more memorable marriages of exotic gastronomy." For Indian lamb curry, de Groot suggests a Fume Blanc or a soft Semillon; for the entrees which top the heat scale he has surprising advice--an American light wine. Since he believes that white wine cuts the heat, he advises that the wine should be low in alcohol so it can be consumed in great quantities without discomfort.
Ronn Wiegand recommends serving the wine which your budget can comfortably afford. He suggests that fine and rare wines are not perfect beverages with fiery foods because their "flavor nuances" are overwhelmed by the strong spices but admits that there are times when no other drink will do. "At such times," he writes, "simply upgrade the quality of the wine you would normally serve with a given dish, and enjoy the inevitable fireworks."
When deciding which beers to offer guests who are about to assault their senses with chile heat, one logical solution is to do a regional match: Carta Blanca with Mexican foods, a Tsingtao with Sichuan dishes, Tusker with African entrees, Red Stripe with Jamaican foods, and so on. With American spicy specialties, such as New Mexican or Cajun, I suggest forgetting every American beer which is advertised on TV--they are all mediocre at best. Instead, serve one of the finer regional specialty beers such as Capitol or Augsburger from Wisconsin, or Anchor Steam from San Francisco.
Incidentally, some writers insist that dark beers should never be served with spicy foods because they are traditionally served in cool climates rather than tropical ones. Such a judgment makes little culinary sense because often one needs a heavy, dark beer to match a meal measuring eight or more on the heat scale. Besides, the theory is proven false in Mexico, where such fine dark beers as Negra Modelo and Dos Equis are commonly served with the hottest meals. In Jamaica, I recall drinking Dragon Stout--perhaps the heaviest dark beer in the world--as an accompaniment to fiery jerk pork.
For hosts still in a quandary about which beers and wine to offer, why not present a number of selections to your guests and have them decide--by tasting them all--which wines and beers go best with the fiery foods being served?
Believe it or not, some chile addicts believe that every course of the meal should burn. After peppery cocktails, fiery appetizers, spicy soup, and three different incendiary entrees, they have the nerve to serve jalapeño sorbet for dessert. Fortunately, the vast majority of chile cooks believe that enough is enough and prefer a soothing cool-down as a perfect finish for a fiery feast.
As with beers and wines, a debate rages over precisely which drinks actually tame the heat of chiles. Recommendations range from ice water to hot tea to lemon juice to one of my favorites, Scotch on the rocks. Most of these liquids can be dismissed out of hand. Ice water is totally useless because capsaicin and water don’t mix. As soon as the water leaves the mouth, the fire rages on. Hot tea is a legendary Vietnamese remedy, but there is no logical reason for it to work because it is ninety-nine percent water. Lemon juice seems to help some people, but somehow I can’t picture my guests sitting around the table sucking on lemons after a marvelous fiery feast. And as for Scotch on the rocks, well, if you drink enough of it you soon won’t care about cooling down.
Actually, it was East Indian cooks who solved the problem of after-dinner cool-downs. They discovered that the most effective antidote for capsaicin is dairy products, particularly yogurt. The Indian yogurt and fruit drink called lassi is commonly served after hot curry meals, and it is sweet, refreshing, and effective. Other great cool-downs include milk, sour cream, yogurt, and ice cream. Included here is a recipe for lassi plus another delicious drink which serves as both a dairy cool-down and an after-dinner liqueur drink: the famous Brandy Alexander which has been fortified with ice cream to really cut the heat.
So there you have it, the solution to the etiquette problem of the century: what drinks to serve with fiery foods. To review the answers briefly, first prepare the guests for the fiery food to follow with peppery cocktails; next, match the proper wines and beers to the spicy entrees; and finally, cool down with dairy drinks for dessert. I’m certain Miss Manners will approve.
Chiles and cumin combine here to create the olfactory essence of the Border. Most any type of small chile pepper that you can get in the bottle will work. Be sure to taste it often and remove the chiles when it reaches the desired heat--the longer the chiles are left in, the hotter the liquor will get!
4 to 6 dried chiltepin chiles, left whole
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 liter vodka or white tequila
Place the chiles and cumin in the vodka and let them steep for a week or more. Periodically taste the liquor and remove the chiles when the desired heat has been obtained.
Serve extremely cold, over ice, or in tomato juice for an "instant" Bloody Mary or Maria. Flavored liquors are often prepared in the Southwest with sliced jalapeños.
Yield: 1 liter
Heat Scale: 8
A Purist's Perfectly Pungent Bloody Mary
Here it is, the ultimate Bloody Mary designed for the ultimate peppery cocktail snob. Canned tomato juice is permitted only when fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes are not available.
0.5 teaspoon of your favorite bottled hot sauce (or more to taste)
1.5 ounces fine vodka such as Stolichnaya or Absolut
3 ounces tomato juice freshly made from vine-ripened tomatoes (or more to taste)
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lime juice
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1 dash salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients and shake with ice cubes. Serve garnished with a slice of fresh serrano or jalapeño chile.
Serves: 1
Heat Scale: 4 or more
1.5 cups Fire God Tequila or the chiltepin tequila, above
8 fresh limes, or enough to make ½ cup juice
Margarita salt
1/3 cup Triple Sec
Crushed ice
Prepare 4 long-stemmed goblets by rubbing the rims with a piece of lime section. Dip the goblet rims in the margarita salt and then place the goblets in the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
Juice the limes and then place the lime juice, tequila, and triple sec in a blender. Add the crushed ice until the blender is half-full and then process. Taste the result and adjust the flavors by adding more triple sec to make it sweeter, more lime juice to make it more tart, more tequila to increase the heat level, or more ice to decrease the heat level. Pour into the frosted goblets and garnish with a slice of lime.
Variation: For a milder margarita with the flavor of jalapeños but not the heat, substitute New Mexico Jalapeño Wine for the fiery tequila.
Serves: 4
Heat Scale: 3
This refreshing drink originated in India, where it is often served for dessert after a meal of fiery hot curries. Fruits such as pineapple, strawberries, peaches, or pineapples may be added to or substituted for the mango.
2 cups plain yogurt
2 cups buttermilk (or substitute milk)
Pulp of two ripe mangos
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon sugar
Place all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth. Serve over ice, or freeze until slushy and then serve.
Serves: 4
A variation on a traditional cocktail, this ice cream delight doubles as both a soothing cool-down and a dessert drink.
1 ounce brandy
1 ounce brown creme de cacao
2 scoops vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
Dash of nutmeg
Place all ingredients in a blender and process. Serve in dessert glasses.
Serves: 2