LIME–GINGER CORDIAL

L.I.B. Gimlet, Long Island Bar

Toby Cecchini’s cordial starts with an “oleosaccharum,” a technique once used for punch, where sugar essentially draws the oils out of citrus peels.

6 ripe limes, heavy and with shiny skins

1 cup plus 1 Tbs/255 mL white sugar

8 oz/240 g fresh ginger, cleaned and peeled and chopped into ¼ to ½-inch/5- to 10-mm discs

Clean the limes and, with a sharp vegetable peeler, peel them, taking as little of the underlying white pith as possible. In a capacious, nonreactive, coverable container, combine the peels well with the sugar. Cover and leave for 24 hours at room temperature to make an oleosaccharum. Cover and refrigerate the lime fruit.

The following day, juice the limes. In a blender, combine the ginger and lime juice and blend until the ginger has been coarsely chopped. Add this slurry to the oleosaccharum and mix well with a wooden spoon. Set this aside for at least another 24 to 48 hours, stirring every 12 hours or so. Adjust for sweetness; it should be thick and viscous, slightly sweeter than you’d like it pure, as you’ll add fresh lime juice in the Gimlet. Strain into a clean, cappable bottle and refrigerate.

L.I.B. Gimlet, Long Island Bar

SHRUBS

A shrub is a syrup of fruit, sugar, and vinegar—concentrated flavors of fresh, sweet, and tart. They make excellent cocktail ingredients, thanks to these multifaceted flavors. Below are two shrub recipes: one quite simple, the other quite ambitious.

STRAWBERRY SHRUB

The Belafonte, Roberta’s

1 pint fresh strawberries

1 cup/240 mL white sugar

6 oz/180 mL Champagne vinegar

½ cup/120 mL water

Combine all the ingredients in a blender. Blend on high for 2 to 3 minutes. Pour into a saucepan and cook on medium heat for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let the shrub cool and pour into a sealable container. Decant into a bottle.

ONCE YOU’VE MADE IT…

SHRUB & RUM: The fruity-sour shrub is incredible with funky Jamaican rum and ginger beer to add a little spice and lift (2 oz/60 mL Jamaican rum such as Appleton Reserve, 1 oz/30 mL strawberry shrub; stir in a Collins glass over ice, add 4 oz/120 mL of ginger beer to fill, garnish with a lime wedge)

SHRUB & VODKA: If you want to appreciate a shrub in its own right, pairing it with vodka plus lemon to maintain the acidity is an easy way (2 oz/60 mL vodka, 1 oz/30 mL lemon juice, ¾ oz/20 mL strawberry shrub, 1 dash of orange bitters; shake, strain over fresh ice, garnish with a strawberry)

BEET SHRUB

Main Land, Achilles Heel

Combining fruit, vinegar, and sugar is one way to get acidity in a shrub; for a next-level effervescent, pungent shrub, let the shrub ferment.

1 cup/240 mL beet juice

¼ cup/60 mL Bragg’s Organic Apple Cider Vinegar

Mix the ingredients together in a jar. Cover tightly with cheesecloth and let stand at room temperature for approximately 1 week. When mold begins to form on top, scrape it off, cover the jar, and refrigerate. It may be 2 or more weeks before the beet shrub becomes effervescent and reaches the right acidity.

AND MORE

AGUA DE JAMAICA

King’s Town Punch, Quarter Bar

This hibiscus iced tea is popular in the Caribbean, Latin America, and beyond; it’s worth making on its own, whether or not you use it in Quarter Bar’s cocktail.

2 oz/60 g jamaica flowers (dried hibiscus) by weight, approx. rocks glass

6 cups/1.5 L water

¾ cup/180 mL sugar

¼-inch/5-mm disk fresh ginger, grated

1 Tbsp/15 mL lime juice

Boil the water with the ginger. Remove from the heat. Add the flowers and sugar and stir. Steep for 60 minutes. Strain, add the lime juice, and cool.

CHILI-STOUT REDUCTION

Windrush and Smoking Jacket, Dear Bushwick

1 12-oz/360-mL can Lion Stout (or another rich, high-ABV stout)

3 cups/720 mL Sugar in the Raw

1 tsp/5 g chili powder

Combine the sugar and stout over low heat in a saucepan, stirring to dissolve the sugar, then reduce heat. Add the chili powder, simmer for 5 minutes, and let cool.