HOT BITES

HOT

BITES

PRAWNS AND COCKTAIL

So many television shows warn viewers “don’t try this at home!” – but Angostura bitters takes a totally different tack. Not only does this world renowned product want to constantly expand the repertoire that its spicy liquid can be used for, it’s happy for consumers to have a go and try something new – like this cocktail recipe accompanied by lemon garlic prawns.

The beautiful thing about Angostura aromatic bitters is that it adds an extra depth of flavour with just a few dashes, whether you’re using it in cocktails or in the kitchen. Not surprisingly, you can play ingredients off each other in savoury dishes and desserts exactly as you would in a drink.

MONKEY SHOULDER CHERRY MANHATTAN

60 ml Monkey Shoulder whisky 30 ml sweet vermouth 15 ml orange flavoured liqueur (Triple Sec or Cointreau) 2 dashes Angostura bitters

Maraschino cherry

Preparation:

1 Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with lots of chunky ice 2 Stir gently with a long teaspoon until the shaker feels cold 3 Strain into a chilled martini glass and garnish with a maraschino cherry

LEMON GARLIC PRAWNS

Serves 2

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil Zest of one lemon 1 / 4 cup lemon juice 1 / 4 cup chopped parsley 2 garlic cloves, crushed 1 tsp salt ½ tsp pepper sauce 1 Tbsp Angostura bitters 10 large prawns Preparation: 1 In a non-metallic bowl, combine all ingredients except shrimp and skewers; stir well 2 Peel and devein shrimps, leaving tails on 3 Add to marinade and stir to coat. Cover and refrigerate 1 - 1½ hours 4 Drain prawns and thread on skewers 5 Place under the grill for 3-5 minutes or until cooked through 6 Serve with your choice of zesty sauce, or none at all

SMALL BATCH, BIG STATURE

Pioneers of the local craft gin distilling scene, Hope’s Lucy Beard and Leigh Lisk, have branched out into other artisanal liquors, with a small batch vodka joining their London Dry, African Botanical and Salt River gin range.

Their newly branded Hope Small Batch Vodka, distilled from a grape base sourced in the Western Cape, is a delicate balance of pot-stilled and rectified spirit. A natural complement to the initial products in the range – the process of making vodka is not unlike that of making gin – the vodka neatly dovetails into their existing production line and long-term vision.

“Gin starts life as vodka – essentially a high-strength neutral alcohol – so it made sense for us to make vodka, considering that we were already making gin,” said trained distiller Beard. Where it differs is that, for gin, you simply distil the vodka one more time together with the botanicals, one of which is the juniper berry, and this is what defines it as gin.

Vodka distillation is not without its challenges: it’s far more of a purist process than gin. Unlike gin, in which the botanicals have a huge impact on flavour and mouthfeel, there is only the distillation process and water to play with. “In vodka, the key element is smoothness and both the distillation and the blending water used are integral to this,” said Beard. “We also only use a small part of the distillation and blend this with water from the Table Mountain aquifer. This ensures that our vodka is smooth enough to be sipped on ice.” But it’s also great for mixed drinks – and this is Hope’s suggestion:

THE HOPE BLOODY MARY Ingredients:

50 ml Hope Small Batch Vodka 100 ml tomato juice 10-12 ml fresh lemon juice (to taste) A few dashes of Tabasco Pinch of sea salt

Pinch of black pepper

Preparation:

Pour all the ingredients into a mixing glass filled with ice and stir well until chilled. Strain into a highball glass filled with ice. Garnish with a celery stick or some speared olives and fresh herbs of your choice.

MORE MEANS MORE

Irish Whiskey is growing in popularity as more and more distilleries open on the Emerald Isle. One of the old faithfuls is Tullamore D.E.W. – superb on its own or in a cocktail. And the cocktail can be as intricate or simple as the end consumer would like. One thing it’ll never be short of is flavour! Here are two suggestions:

TULLAMORE HARD SHANDY

Inspired by the drinks that have quenched thirsts for hundreds of years, the Hard Shandy is an Irish version of a beer garden classic, combining the citrus notes of Tullamore D.E.W. whiskey with wheat beer and lemonade.

Ingredients:

50 ml Tullamore D.E.W. whiskey 10 ml lemonade 250 ml wheat/weiss beer Preparation: 1 In a pilsner glass, add Tullamore D.E.W. followed by lemonade, and finished with beer 2 Garnish with a lemon wheel and enjoy with a broad smile

TULLAMORE D.E.W. AND APPLETISER

The best of both worlds – Irish whiskey and South Africa’s favourite sparkling apple juice. Ingredients: 50 ml Tullamore D.E.W. whiskey 250 ml Appletiser 3 slices of apple

Preparation:

1 In a highball glass, pour 50 ml Tullamore D.E.W. whiskey 2 Fill the glass with ice 3 Top off the glass with Appletiser 4 Garnish with an Apple fan

CARIBBEAN FLAVOUR WINS BIG

Marv Cunningham, a bartender from the Aura nightclub, part of the Atlantis group in the Bahamas, walked off with $10 000 (R200 000), a global brand ambassadorship and bragging rights after being crowned the winner of the 10th Angostura Global Cocktail Challenge (AGCC).

Representing the Caribbean in the revered cocktail competition, Cunningham competed against eight bartenders from around the world in Trinidad and Tobago earlier this year. Known for his expertise in creating culinary cocktails, Cunningham blew his competitors away with his Mas-Curried, also acknowledged as the best rum cocktail of the competition.

He acquitted himself well in the interview and then went on to create two cocktails in seven minutes while simultaneously demonstrating his knowledge of both the Angostura brand and category.

Commenting on Cunningham’s win, head judge Maxwell Britten said: “He has a culinary sensibility that is increasingly important both in today’s cocktail world and also in food preparation. As I’ve seen demonstrated here in Trinidad, Angostura bitters add the same magic to a dish as it does to a drink. His rum cocktail was probably the most unusual of the competition. I’d never considered adding cauliflower to a cocktail, but it really works!”

MAS-CURRIED Ingredients:

60 ml Angostura 7 Year Old 30 ml curry shrub 22 ml fresh lime juice 2 dashes of cauliflower puree 5 dashes of Angostura aromatic bitters 2 dashes of Angostura orange bitters

Preparation:

1 Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice 2 Shake and double strain into an Old-Fashioned Rocks glass over a single ice block 3 Garnish with a dehydrated lime wheel and a hand-crafted traditional plantain chip