-
#Cognac anyone? #courvoisier
-
Recipe: A Single Malt Christmas
I must admit that I hate thinking about Christmas before December, but there is one thing that must be contemplated at least a month in advance. The famous Whisky Christmas Pudding!
A couple of years ago I decided to make my first ever Christmas pudding. A traditionally boozy dessert full of rich dried fruits and oodles of spices, not to mention a bottle of whisky. It is a great triumph to get one of these right. This recipe is taken from the BBC food website, but of course we have substituted the brandy for some lovely Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
The trick is to make this as early as possible and feed it with some amazing Whisk(e)y to ensure an incredibly rich flavour come the festive season! This year I’m going with a stunning bottle (that’s right, the whole bottle will be in the pudding by Christmas Day) of sherry casked 10 year old Macallan.
Here’s what you will need:
Ingredients:- 225g/8oz golden caster sugar
- 225g/8oz vegetarian suet
- 340g/12oz sultanas
- 340g/12oz raisins
- 225g/8oz currants
- 110g/4oz candied peel, chopped
- 110g/4oz plain flour
- 110g/4oz fresh white breadcrumbs
- 55g/2oz flaked almonds
- 1 lemon, zest only
- 5 eggs, beaten
- 1 level tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 level tsp mixed spice
- 5g/1 level tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- pinch of salt
- 150ml/5fl oz Single Malt Whisky (The Macallan 10 year old)
Method:1. Lightly grease 4x600ml/1 pint or 2x1.2 litre/2 pint pudding basins.2. Mix together all dry ingredients
3. Stir in the eggs and Whisky and mix well
4. Spoon the mix into basins. Put a circle of baking parchment and foil over the top of each basin and tie securely with string. Make a string handle from one side of the basin to the other so it is easier to pick the basin out of the pan after cooking
5. Put the basins in a large steamer of boiling water and cover with a lid. Boil for 5-6 hours, topping the boiling water up from time to time, if necessary. If you do not have a steamer, put the basins in a large pan on inverted saucers on the base. Pour in boiling water to come a third of the way up the sides of the pudding bowls. Cover and steam as before.6. Cool. Change the baking parchment and foil covers for fresh ones and tie up as before. Store in a cool cupboard until Christmas Day. Be sure to add more Macallan every couple of days so the pudding soaks up all of the Whisky’s flavour and aroma.7. To serve, steam for 2 hours and serve with brandy butter, rum sauce, cream or homemade custard.I’d show you the steamed product, however it’s still steaming away!Let me know how you get on!Cheers,CraigIn my glass: Courvoisier Exclusif as I had no use for it in the recipe! -
London Adventure Day 1: Two Brand Ambassadors, a Mixologist, a Sommelier and a Whisky Expert Walk into a Bar…
Hi all,
It’s Monday October 17th and I find myself in London.
I LOVE London. A city that boasts Victorian superiority, built on an Empire surviving on cosmopolitan values and an extremely fast pace of life. It also has some of the best bars in the world and a cocktail culture that is years ahead of everyone else.
So come with me on a Whisky Adventure in real-time as I hopefully remember to update this post!
Yesterday evening was so much fun. I came to realise that real time updates were not possible due to my iPhone’s terrible battery life, so I’ve decided to recall everything the morning after. Anything I’ve forgotten probably needed forgotten, and definitely didn’t need published…
I was whisked from my hotel just across from St. Pancras at around 6pm by a couple of fellow Adventurers as we made plans to see the sights.
Patsy Christie is one of Mixxit UK’s mixologists, travelling up and down the country teaching people how to make brilliant libations (The Laphroaig Sour recipe was from Patsy’s masterful mixing mind.) John Clay is the brand ambassador for Bols, covering their entire liqueur range as well as Bols Genever. There was no chance of this evening being boring!
Their initial thoughts were to hit all of the upscale world class cocktail establishments, however, without any prior warning of this, coupled with the strict dress code these places enforce, there was no chance I was getting in dressed LIKE THAT! (Was how Patsy put it…)
Therefore we headed for the tube as our Adventure became more and more sporadic. Just the way I like it!
Hopping off at Leicester Square we took a quick walk past Trafalgar Square and Nelson’s Column, (turns out Nelson Mandela was in the navy, who would have thunk it?) and down towards Embankment where I fell in love…
…with a bar.
Gordon’s Wine Bar is the oldest Wine Bar in the city and occupies the basement of an old shop. Toilets on the ground floor, and a staircase leading down to what can only be described as a magical portal into Spain. The old vaulted ceiling of the basement hangs low over the sporadically scattered table and wine barriques acting as tables. Candles light the room and a huge buffet fills up one corner. Then just sitting like part of the furniture, is the bar itself.
With one of the best wine lists in the city, it’s no surprise that Gordon’s is packed on a Monday night. But I had come for something better.Gordon’s was started in 1890 on Villiers Street. It was owned by the Gordon family, famous sherry importers, and still to this day they sell blended sherry from their own barrels! How close this blending process is to the way it was done in the 19th century we’ll never know, but I love the fact that there is a bar in the UK that has three different sherries on tap described simply as dry, medium and sweet or Fino, Amontillado and Oloroso. I said back in 2008 when I was in Jerez, that sherry would have it’s day again, and it looks like it’s finally happening. If the uncool fortified wine can fill a bar on a Monday night in London, then it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world catch on!
We tried each of the casked sherries, the Amontillado the favourite with it’s lovely nutty finish, then decided we had better get something to eat.It turns out that something to eat in present company meant something fruity, it meant a Bloody Mary.We headed from the oldest wine bar in London to the oldest continuously running restaurant in London: Rules. This place had charm. A doorman stood outside in a fantastic hat and tails, the red leather seats looked so comfortable through the window. This looked like a place where a man could get a good steak. It also looked like the kind of place that can mix up a great Martini.
We headed up the long carpeted staircase to the upper levels. Our Adventuring crew must have liked where we were headed, as our ranks swelled by three. Step up Bryant Mao the sommelier at Chez Bruce an extremely high end Michelin star restaurant in Wandsworth Common, enter Jonathon Thompson Master of Malt’s IT guy and Ron Jeremy’s chaperone and last but not least, welcome to Rebecca Asseline, the brand ambassador for Courvoisier in the UK.
Two Brand Ambassadors, a mixologist, a sommelier and a whisky expert walk into a bar……here’s what happened:With our new found crew we sat at the wood, and let Brian Silva work his magic. This is one of the best mixologists on the planet. All 5 of us were in awe at his creations and we fell in love with his charm, his attention to detail and incredible sense of humour. Here are a few creations we sipped upon, every one of them one of Brian’s Originals:First off I asked for something with Scotch Whisky (I’m so predictable) with a bit of smoke. Brian served up this:
A libation called the Islay Maiden involving the following ingredients:
and a spray of Jura 5 year old spirit to bring it together. Wonderful.While I was enjoying the Maiden, Patsy was supping on an incredible Bloody Mary, John had something Genever based, Rebecca had something with princess dust in it, a bramble infused Manhattan was doing the rounds, a Naughty Mac had been served up (a twist in a whisky mac with King’s Ginger and Naked Grouse) and Jonathon had asked for an Irish Whisky based drink (predictability again). The Irish Whisky was served from a 1960’s Jameson bottle that Brian keeps topped up.
The star of the show though, was Bryant’s Postmodern Whisky Sour. Fun, colourful and most importantly extremely tasty! Balanced perfectly, this was a great drink involving the bartenders greatest adversary, Midouri!Brian managed to bring us all into his world at Rules and break every single convention we thought that the bartending world had. He entertained us, kept us topped up, listened to our stories, shared his own and most importantly taught us that the only thing you need to decide about the contents of any glass is whether you like it or not. A man after my own heart!Here are some snaps of the incredible journeys our palates took at Rules:
With such an incredible Mixologist in front of us, I couldn’t help but ask him about his take on the industry and how things seem to be heading. My first question was about managing his back bar. How does a man with such a great reputation decide what goes on his back bar? His answer was simple and profound: “Whatever doesn’t get used, doesn’t stay.” If he can work with it, then he will.After seeing Brian chip and carve the ice for our drinks by hand we asked about the new fashion regarding ice balls and ice diamonds. He said he loves it if it helps the drink. Diamonds are too time consuming, ice balls are fun, he likes big random-shaped blocks as they keep his drinks chilled for longer, and he doesn’t need to faff about with them.After the grilling and the need for real actual food, we said goodbye to Brian, but not before taking a tour of his bar. Rules has lamps from the original Playboy Club in London, as well as a mural saved from the Savoy and completed around the room by the owner of Rules. Ending at a secret door with a wonderful painting of the end of the hunt:
This picture doesn’t do it justice. But we learn that the Hunter got his prey, while the fox got away. Magical!After Rules we headed up Tavistock Street to a tavern called Opera. John and Jonathon left us at this point, and my iPhone died, so no photos I’m afraid. What I will say though, is that the Fois Grais burger was to die for! After some bites and wine we called it a night and jumped in a black cab, ready for the happy ride back to the hotel.Stay tuned for day 2!Cheers,Craig
Here you will find all interesting things I come across in the world of Scotch Whisky as I travel and spread the wit and wisdom over a dram or two...
