Tag: fall

Smoked Old Fashioned

Imagine your favorite bourbon (or rye) poured over that 2 inch ice cube – that satisfying crack the ice makes when the liquid hits its surface. Knowing that your drink only gets sweeter the closer you get to emptying your glass because the sugar crystals tend to collect at the bottom. A deeply caramelized orange peel rests on top; notes of burnt sugar and citrus fill your nose every time you take a sip. And your cherries of choice – fresh cherries in the summertime settled in your fridge in a cocktail of cinnamon and maple syrup, Luxardo Amarena (a classic cocktail favorite), perhaps Jack Rudy’s… either way, your drink is perfect and your evening complete. Now, let’s take this classic cocktail to the next level with… smoke. Smoked Old Fashioneds have become somewhat of a popular thing around the five star dining scene but it is surprisingly not that difficult to replicate at home. All you need is a small blow torch like this one and some wood (I know, right?! Added bonus). If you want to completely ignore the smoked bit and just use the recipe to make an Old Fashioned, that’s fair game as well.

Looking for other variations? You could always give the Burnt Peach Old Fashioned or the Classic Manhattan a try.

what you need

2oz bourbon or rye whiskey of choice (if you’re at a loss, check out my Whiskey Post)

2 dashes bitters of choice

1 sugar cube

1 orange slice

1 cocktail cherry

1 large ice cube

(optional) 1 orange peel slice

(optional) additional sugar for caramelizing

For smoking:

1 cedar plank. You can order these on Amazon; they are the same ones used to make cedar plank salmon

1 small blow torch

how to make it

Smoke your glass: Pick a spot on the cedar plank and get the blow torch going in a circular motion. Work up a good flame and put the flame out by placing the glass over it. Let stand ~3-5 minutes. Do not remove glass until ready to pour the cocktail. When you remove the glass, quickly insert the large ice cube into the glass and spin it 1-2 times. The smoke is absorbed into the ice.

(optional) Caramelize your orange peel: On the other side of the cedar plank, rub the backside of an orange peel on the orange fruit to get it wet, then coat is generously with sugar. Use the blow torch to caramelize the sugar on top, again, being generous with the flame.

Muddle and Mix: You can make your drink right in the drinking glass or in a separate mixing glass. I like to make it in my mixing glass and strain the mixed beverage over the ice cube. Place an orange slice, a sugar cube, and two dashes of bitters in a glass and muddle well until combined. Add the bourbon, stir with ice, and strain into the glass over the smoked ice cube. Or just follow my basic Old Fashioned recipe.

Serve: Garnish with cocktail cherry and the caramelized orange slice, if you so chose.

Backstory

After making it 30 years on the planet, I’ve discovered a handful of universal truths. Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. Brown liquor is better than clear. Jose Cuervo and I had a disagreement in college that put me off tequila forever and somewhere in the void between my apologetic youth and womanhood, I discovered whiskey. How I discovered whiskey is the story that follows.

The year is 2014. I am 24 with a very fancy title. My first job out of graduate school is as the Deputy Director of Operations at a large company in Washington D.C. My boss, a stately, reputable, metrosexual gentleman with a very large collection of perfectly tailored suits, had read a Harvard Business Review article about prioritizing talent over experience. Graying and midway through his years of mentorship, he decided to give me an opportunity and bring me into the brave new world of Govcon (government contracting). I was excited to be there, star-struck by the fancy dinners and plethora of BMWs, and had absolutely no idea how to do my job. A few weeks into my new role, and after the purchase of a lightly used all black Cadillac ATS, we won a contract. Or lost a contract. I don’t actually remember. My boss (the Vice President of Operations) saunters into my office around 4pm on a Thursday to announce the news – again, good or bad, I couldn’t say.

“This calls for something special!” he announces, loudly. “You drink whiskey, yes?”

“Of course!” I sputter, attempting to be nonchalant. And he proceeds to pull a bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask from his bottom desk drawer and retrieve two glasses from the communal kitchen. For those of you who have read my Whiskey Post, you know that Laphroaig has a reputation as one of the peatiest scotches one can purchase. It’s basically like learning to MMA fight first time go in a UFC ring. I was brazen.

He handed me a healthy pour and downed his in a single gulp, slamming his cup to the table and reaching for the bottle to refill. I, not wanting to seem timid but also not knowing what to expect, sloshed half the liquid haphazardly into my mouth and held it there for a second. My tongue ached and the peat hit the back of my throat like liquid fire as I clumsily swallowed my share. I tried not to let my eyes water or sputter or wince, but I’m sure it was all over my face. It was terrible. I finished my glass and accepted another.

This ritual repeated itself almost every Thursday or Friday for several years. As time wore on and my boss and I grew closer – like friends – we went out whiskey tasting, scotch tasting, cigar smoking, and I was gradually inducted into the secret world of Gentlemen. It felt a bit like Mad Men but I wasn’t opposed. It took me four years to tell my (now former) boss that I had never had whiskey when we met.

A few weeks before the Laphroaig incident I had wandered into a liquor store looking for a bottle or two of something to have on the shelf for ‘entertaining.’ I had a brand new, modern-styled, Arlington apartment, and had it in my head that I was going to host dinner parties and happy hours like an adult. Why I thought the rarified air of Washington D.C. was suddenly going to make me a raging extrovert, I’m not sure, but somehow I saw myself abandoning videogames and quiet evenings writing on the deck for the parties thrown by John Cusack’s ex-girlfriend Charlie in High Fidelity. This didn’t turn out to be the case. Here I am eight years later, in a nicer house with an even nicer Cadillac, still playing videogames on a Friday night.

Anyway, I had selected from a shelf of libations, none of which I recognized save the Cuervo and the Cruzan, a large bottle of Woodford Reserve Double Oaked Bourbon Whiskey. Why? I liked the bottle and needed something that would look nice on my kitchen counter. Again, for ‘hosting.’ The bottle had been sitting unattended on said bar for several months. One particularly lonely Friday evening several months into my D.C. residence (after the Laphroaig incident), I decided to give it a try. After all, it had to look like I actually drank the stuff when someone came over. I poured some over a few ice cubes and started to sip.

For several months after, I drank whiskey ginger – Woodford Reserve with Maine Root Ginger Beer. It was kind of like a Dark and Stormy – a drink I had come to appreciate in graduate school along with the local Erie bartender’s version of a Hemmingway (my version coming soon to the blog). Eventually my tastes became accustomed to straight bourbon whiskey, scotch, and the like. Today, it is obviously my favorite beverage, but it definitely took some acclimation. I am proud to say there are several whiskey converts out there in the world due to my influence – an ex boyfriend or two, my 21 year old nephew, a former intern-turned-friend. My shelf is filled with smooth scotches and interesting bourbons, and my recipe book filled with Manhattans, Boulevardiers, Sazeracs, and Old Fashioned smoking techniques. It has been a journey but, in the end, I’ve found my flavor. For now. They say your taste buds change about every seven years. 🥃

Tags alcohol, apertif, bitters, blow torch, bourbon, cedar, cherries, cherry, cocktail, drink, fall, old fashioned, orange, pecan, rye, scotch, smoke, smokey, smoky, whiskey, whisky

Cocktail

Whiskey

Post author By Merigold
Post date May 14, 2021
4 Comments on Whiskey

The Whiskey Post

OneandahalfSlices is starting to go rogue with cocktails. A couple gems await you all in the near future. But one thing is for certain – there will be a lot of whiskey-based beverages. For that reason, I decided to kick off our foray into the vast and captivating world of libations with a What’s On My Whiskey Shelf post to familiarize you all with some of my favorites. Seemed like the perfect thing to post on a Friday night! So pick your favorite and get ready to whip up my signature drink – the Smoked Old Fashioned. For the more adventurous, we’ve also got the Burnt Peach Old Fashioned, the Ginger Peach Smash, and the Paper Plane.

Of the three main whiskey/y varietals (bourbon, scotch, and rye, for our purposes), bourbon is by far my favorite. It is the sweetest and tends to be the smoothest, though ‘smoothness’ typically has more to do with age than anything else. Bourbon, by law, must be distilled in the United States and is native to the Kentucky/Tennessee area. Us Virginians make some passable bourbon but some of my favorites hail from Colorado. Also by law, bourbon has to be >51% derived from corn mash (as opposed to some form of grain mash). For an awesome overview of the process for those Virginia-dwellers, I highly recommend a visit to Copper Fox Distillery in Sperryville (followed by lunch at Penn Druid Brewing expertly concocted by upstart pop-up cook Sumac VA). Now, without further ado, the list…

#1 Jefferson’s Ocean is a unique bourbon – sweet, smooth, and just beautifully drinkable. What most people know from the Jefferson Distillery is Jefferson’s Small Batch, which is also good, but Jefferson’s Ocean is aged at sea!!! Maybe that’s why I like it – my soft spot for the sea… It has to be labeled “blend of straight bourbon whiskeys” even though it isn’t technically blended because the final batch is created from the contents of several different barrels that have spent months – sometimes years – on container ships charting course through the Atlantic. $70-90.

#2 Angel’s Envy is what happened when long-time Woodford Reserve distiller Lincoln Henderson got bored. Woodford is a staple of mine and typically what I use to make cocktails such as an Old Fashioned, a Manhattan, or a Sazerac. Woodford is a robust yet smooth bourbon that is only mildly sweet. But Angel’s… Angel’s is lighter still and while it tastes somehow younger and crisper than the heavier Woodford, it is smooth all the same. It is by far Lincoln’s finest work, evidenced by the fact that it is frequently out of stock on liquor store shelves. $50-60.

#3 Breckenridge (yes, like the brewery, and yes, like the ski resort). Breckenridge makes some heady stuff. Sweet, bold, powerful. I like just about everything Breckenridge makes. Pictured here is the quintessential bourbon and the PX Cask Finish. The Port Cask Finish and the High Proof Blend are also both fantastic. There is also an elusive Breckenridge that I am simply dying to try but haven’t for my unwillingness to spend $400 on an unknown bottle. Once you hear the name you’ll understand the nature of my intrigue – Breckenridge: Dark Arts. Distilled from Malt Mash. So, yes, naturally I want to try it. $30-60.

Honorable Mention. Arguably the best bourbon on this list was introduced to me by the Piemaker – Blanton’s. Blanton’s is easily recognizable by its squat little geometric bottle with a galloping horse on top. It will set you back upwards of $200 but that isn’t really the problem – finding it is the problem. Most liquor stores are restricted to a 1-2 bottle quota per shipment and it will be gone within 10 minutes of delivery. It’s that good. The second honorable mention is likely more elusive still than the first. The Kentucky-born Willet Distillery puts out all kinds of bourbons but one, in particular, caught my taste buds at the DC classic Jack Rose Dining Saloon (with over 2,500 bottle of whiskey on the shelves!). Willet Milk and Cookies Bourbon might as well have been dessert. It was sweet and very complex – slightly spicy and very bold.

Scotch is a different animal – peaty and harsh, scotch tastes like yesterday’s burnt out campfire… in a good way. By law, scotch has to be produced in Scotland, like Champagne has to be produced in the Champagne region of France, Prosecco in Italy, Cava in Spain, Bordeaux wines in Bordeaux, so on and so forth. Some are harsher than others – Laphroaig and Lagavulin (considered “lowland” scotch) hold the reputation for being the peatiest where highland scotch like Oban can be a bit smoother. Then there’s Speyside scotch and Islay scotch… there’s a whole map… it’s a whole thing. Anyway, I’ll typically take a good bourbon over a good scotch any day but these have captured my taste buds and proven themselves to be some of the most expertly distilled spirits I have encountered.

#1 Scapa The Orcadian is distilled on the northernmost Orkney Islands of Scotland and comes in two varietals: Skiren and Glansa. It is considered highland single malt scotch. Skiren is delicate, smooth, and exceptionally creamy, where Glansa is peaty, spicy, and bold. Both Skiren and Glansa are Old Norse terms to describe the skies – skiren the glittering, bright, summer skies and glansa, the tumultuous, stormy-weathered skies over the sea. Skiren is my favorite but pictured here is Glansa. Note that you can only get this in D.C. proper. $80-100.

#2 You’re going to want to write this one down, if for no other reason than you are never going to remember how to spell it, much less pronounce it. Brook-lah-dee comes in an iconic, sea-blue-green bottle inside a same-colored can, and is also best procured inside D.C. city limits. It is probably the most expertly crafted spirit I have ever tasted and is considered an Islay scotch. Light, smooth, and exceptionally drinkable, it makes a lovely nightcap. $60-80.

#3 Finally, if you’re looking for a more traditional scotch, this is my pick. If you haven’t noticed by now, smooth and sweet is my jam. The Lagavulin 16 year is exceptionally smooth and levels out its heavily peated body well. Many will argue that Lagavulin 10 year is one of, if not the best scotch on the market, and it may very well be for the price, but if you find this one on sale, it’s worth it. $70-100.

As I mentioned, I’m not big on rye. Period. The whole Whistle Pig thing was just lost on me. But here are two noteworthy exceptions. Possibly, the only two exceptions. 😁

#1 Basil Hayden’s is a good stand-by bourbon for cocktail making and I’ll drink it straight any day of the week. But this Basil Hayden’s is unique. This Caribbean Reserve Rye isn’t just aged in rum barrels, it has rum blended in! It is very sweet and makes for an excellent dessert. $30-50.

On another note, who knew that rum could be just as enjoyable to sip as whiskey? Even more so when sitting on a beach. Don’t believe me? Try a <$30 bottle of Zaya Gran Reserva dark rum.

#2 Here we have saved the best for last… or certainly the most grandiose. A Midwinter Night’s Dram (hat tip Shakespeare) hails from Park City, Utah and, as of 2021, will no longer be available in retail stores! It is dark, stormy, complex, and beautiful, and will only be available at the distillery. This bottle of Act 8, Scene 1 set me back $475 and will be consumed sparingly, caringly, on cleansed palettes over the next several years.

Are you sure

That we are awake?

It seems to me

That yet we sleep, we dream.

Tags alcohol, apertif, boulevardier, bourbon, cherries, cherry, cocktail, drink, fall, manhattan, nightcap, old fashioned, orange, rye, sazerac, scotch, smoke, smokey, smoky, whiskey, whisky, winter

Veggie

Dahl (Indian Lentil Stew)

Red Lentil Dahl with Spinach

Dahl is an understatement of a dish. Pitch “lentils and spinach cooked until mushy” to most people and you’re unlikely to garner much enthusiasm. But this dish… this dish… is a healthy, satisfying, vegan, weeknight game changer. It is rich and hearty, and I am pretty sure you could top crispy, sea-salted naan with Pennzoil and I’d eat it. The curry spices are not as prominent as in most Indian dishes so the flavors are subtle and the lemon keeps it fresh. So pull out your favorite style of lentil and give this one a try.

what you need

1 tablespoon sunflower oil or ghee

1 1/2 cups red lentils (I have tried with yellow, french, white… all good, but red are the best IMO).

1 can diced tomatoes

2 shallots or 3/4 yellow onion, diced

fresh ginger root, minced

2-3 cups raw spinach

juice from half a lemon

fresh cilantro

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1 hot chili pepper, minced

Spices: turmeric, cloves, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, cardamom, cloves, cumin, mustard seeds, or some sort of garam masala mix

Naan, basmati rice

how to make it

Rinse lentils until water runs clearly through them, then cook for ~15-20 minutes over medium heat in 4 cups of water. As the lentils cook, add salt and a generous amount of turmeric. You want the lentils to break down and become quite thick.

While the lentils simmer, heat the ghee or oil in a large pan. Add onions or shallots and cook ~3 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and ginger root and cook for ~2 minutes more.

Spice. Remove from heat and add your personal blend of spices, stirring to coat everything in the pan. Toasting the spices in this way releases their flavors, but you want to take care never to burn the spices over high heat, should your dish take on a bitter quality. You can be generous with turmeric, but should be sparing with cloves, cumin, and ginger, all of which can overpower in large quantities.

Return to heat and add the can of tomatoes, stirring well. The lentils should be completely collapsed by now and all the water evaporated from the pot. Pour the lentils into the pan with the tomatoes and simmer for ~10-20 minutes, taking care not to let the dahl stick to the bottom of the pan.

When ready, add lemon juice and the spinach, stirring and folding so the spinach becomes submerged in the dahl. Cook at least 5-10 minutes more until the spinach is fully integrated. Serve over basmati rice and with naan with a garnish of cilantro.

A note on naan: most any storebought naan will do. Lay it out on a pan, cut it into slivers, and sprinkle with a good olive oil, sea salt, and pepper, and place under broiler until crispy. Really takes this dish to the next level.

Tags curry, dahl, ethnic, fall, indian, lentils, naan, soup, spicy, spinach, stew, vegan, vegetarian, weeknight, winter

Omni

Indispensable Chili

chili soup stew recipe oneandahalfslices

Indispensable Chili

Chili is one of those things. There are chili cookoffs and chili arguments. There is chicken chili, vegan chili, white bean chili, and endless competition for the single spiciest chili ever to exist. While I appreciate a good office-party chili cookoff as much as the next, to me, chili is one of those sacred things that just should not be fucked with. Like cheeseburgers. Like cheesecake. Don’t try to make it fancy. Just make it good. So, here, basic, indispensable, chili.

what you need

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 pounds ground beef, bison, or pork sausage

2-3 cans beans of choice (chili, kidney, pinto… I like a mixture)

1 can diced tomatoes

1 large, sweet or yellow onion

1-2 cloves garlic, minced

1-3 green or red chili peppers

1 bottle beer (lager, ale, of witbier… the lighter the better for this recipe)

1 cup dark coffee

1/4 cup 100% cocoa powder

Cumin, chili powder, oregano, salt, black pepper

how to make it

Place meat, onions, and garlic in Dutch oven or soup pot on stove over medium heat. Chip up meat and brown thoroughly. Dice the chili peppers and place into pot along with bottle of beer, cup of coffee, cocoa powder, and spices, stirring thoroughly.

On spices, you want a little cumin, a lot of chili powder, and oregano, salt, and pepper to taste. Cumin is powerful and can turn a dish bitter if added in large quantity.

Simmer chili base on low heat for ~20 minutes to allow the base to cook into the meat. Add tomatoes and beans and cook for another ~30 minutes. Chili gets better the longer it sits on the stove, so feel free to turn off the burner, secure the lid, and let it rest for a while.

Serve topped with a dollop of 0% fat Greek Yogurt, a solid shred of good cheddar cheese (good cheddar cheese is always white, never yellow), a sprinkle of chives or parsley, and a side of corn chips.

A Note On Ingredients

Every year I make several New Years resolutions. One professional, one fitness-related, and one culinary resolution.

2017 was the year of the cacao nib.

In 2017, the culinary New Years resolution was to learn the culinary history of the cacao nib by way of cooking, of course, and in celebration of my favorite movie, Chocolat. After much reading and many a history lesson, a molé sauce cookoff with my mother, and the devising of the ultimate hot chocolate recipe, I arrived at a simple yet powerful rule of thumb:

Chili in chocolate and chocolate in chili.

These two ingredients are soul mates; chili is Calvin to the chocolate-y Hobbes. Good chocolate, hot or otherwise, always has a dash of chili pepper or straight up cayenne. And good chili should have 100% cocoa powder (among other things) to deepen its flavor and add to its base. This recipe uses cacao, coffee, and beer to create its rich flavor profile. Choosing a high-quality chocolate is key. I look to Guittard (American), Lindt (Swiss), Godiva (American/Turkish), Noi Sirius (Icelandic), or Girardelli (Swiss/American). Regardless of brand, the lower the cacao percentage in chocolate, the more milk/sugar/additives it has, so best to go with the darkest cocoa available (over 60% is desirable).

Tags beans, chili, fall, ground beef, soup, stew, winter

Omni

Viking Lentil Stew

lentil sausage stew soup recipe oneandahalfslices

Viking Stew

It turns out raiding, forging 8th century alliances, and carving out new territory in the Saxon kingdoms really works up an appetite. It is definitely time to make Viking Stew. If there is crisp in the air, you want this stew. You want two bowls of it. And you want it with parmesan cheese on top. It is the most flavor-rich, complex soup I have ever tasted. It leaves you full, warm, and longing to make another pot. The secret is in the quality of the sausage.

what you need

1/8 cup olive oil

1 pound loose sausage of choice, hand rolled into small meatballs (I prefer Spring House Farm’s loose sage, nutmeg, or spicy sausage, but Whole Foods loose sage sausage will do just fine)

1 sweet onion

4 celery stalks

4 small-medium carrots

2 cloves garlic

1 cup French lentils

1 can crushed tomatoes

6 cups water

1 Bay leaf

2-6 cups (2 bunches) thin-cut chard of choice (swiss, rainbow, green)

Red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt, oregano, thyme, to taste

finely grated parmesan cheese, to top

how to make it

Heat olive oil on stovetop in Dutch oven or large soup pot. Brown meatballs until they begin to cook through. Add onions, carrot, and celery (diced), garlic (minced), salt, pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, and thyme and cook until onions are translucent.

Once meat and veggies become fragrant, add lentils and stir until well-coated. Add crushed tomatoes, bay leaf, and water, and simmer covered on low heat for about 45 minutes-1 hour, or until lentils are tender.

Add spices to taste and chard (two bunches of chard is going to look like a TON, but it will cook down). Continue to simmer until chard is cooked through, about another 10-15 minutes.

Top with finely grated parmesan cheese (trust me, do not skip the parm; you’ll regret it).

Adjustments: Adjust water volume to make this more or less stew-like. You can also add an extra can of tomatoes if you like your stew extra tomato-y. Sometimes I like to throw in 1/2 cup of barley along with the lentils to stretch this soup a bit further. And, of course, the red pepper is optional (for spiciness) and chard can be substituted for any hearty green, like mustards or kale.

It turns out claiming new territory and building a Viking settlement in the Saxon kingdoms of Mercia and East Anglia really works up an appetite. I’ve been hard at work in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, battle axe hardened by great elk antlers and wolf claws, and I decided it was time to make Viking Stew.

Viking Stew is a cold weather tradition in this house – one that gets exercised almost weekly in the Winter months. Frosty videogames also come with the season. When virtual snow falls in Mel’s living room, it’s a sign of the times (see Frostpunk and The Long Dark for other wintertime favorites).

But Vikings. They are fascinating.

Beyond the History channel’s Vikings, which had enough historical accuracy to be credible, Netflix’s The Last Kingdom, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and the award-winning Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, we are not lacking for Viking lore in mainstream media. Vikings had a fascinating culture which drew on Norse mythology as strongly as The Lord of the Rings and Wagner’s Der Ring Des Nibelung. The word “Viking,” itself, is a verb, meaning to adventure, explore, or raid. They were an intense, vivid, unabashed folk whose arrival in Wessex in the 8^th century drove the land in its evolution to becoming the modern-day England. Their reverence for the Gods and intense warfighting strategies (ghosted in 8^th and 9^th century tafl games such as hneftafl) gave them the reputation for being ruthless, heartless conquerors of foreign lands and slaughterers of Christian peoples. But the essence of the Viking culture was to take to the seas, create foreign settlements abroad, and, above all, live and die with honor worthy of the Norse Gods and, ultimately, a seat in Valhalla.

It is a beautiful, unique culture in the history of humankind. And it has absolutely nothing to do with this soup other than this hearty meal is the type of sustenance modern-day pop culture might associate with Vikings. Vikings subsisted primarily on fish, lamb, grains, and ale. Pictured below are two of my Viking alter-egos – extra points for in-game photography skills.

Eivor

Senua

Tags chard, fall, lentils, one pot meal, parmesan, sausage, soup, stew, winter