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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Agave Negro - Fun with Blackberries Part Two

While both Connie and I are pretty adventurous eaters, in drinks we were pretty staid. He was mostly a beer drinker when we met and I (love my scotch) am mostly a wine drinker. In cooking however, I have found myself building up an inventory of liquors, brandy for this, bourbon for that. I’ve always had some specialty liqueurs in the house, but never really did much with them except for cook. Connie and I decided some time ago to have a cocktail night. Usually it’s Sunday around five o’clock. Before we dig into preparing dinner, and oftentimes preparing meals for the week, we sit down pick out a cocktail and relax.

It was only then that our tastes revealed themselves. We like mixing with fruits and herbs and some of the tastier, but less potent liqueurs. For example, take Chambord. What a lovely taste. It is sweet, but not sickeningly so. Just a great mixer. In today’s post it takes tequila, (which I like, but you’re not going to catch me doing shots with salt and lime) and takes the bite out. It is similar to the previous post about the Blackbird, yet the herb flavor isn’t there. Just fruit, with a substitute of the slightly more sugary taste of tequila in place of the gin. And then, of course, there is the Chambord.  It was actually our least favorite of the three blackberry cocktails.  Please don't let that deter you from trying it, it's still a very enjoyable drink. 

Agave Negro







6 Blackberries
2 lime wedges
Ice
3 ounces of Reposado tequila (we cheated here and used Jose Cuervo Especial)
1 ½ ounce fresh lime juice
1 ½ ounce Simple Syrup (2:1, as usual)
1 ounce Chambord
Club Soda to fill

Directions:
Our limes generally yield around an ounce and a half of juice. So we carved around a quarter of the lime for the two wedges. This is, after all, more of an art than a science. If you don’t get it exactly perfect, I’ll never tell.

Carve your lime wedges. (2)
Skewer the lime wedges with one blackberry each.
Muddle the remaining blackberries in a cocktail shaker.

I have no idea what happens when you muddle inside a cocktail shaker. However Connie says he can feel a certain “pop” occasionally. He tells me that more is better than less (the principle law of economics). The blackberries seem to have a viscosity that is best broken by more muddling rather than less. I will leave this to him and the more scientific of our brethren than me. Until the scientific evidence is presented and peer evaluated I will stand by my husband's claim. CRUSH THE BERRIES!

Proceeding more calmly,

Add the ice, the tequila, lime juice, simple syrup, and the Chambord.
Shake well and pour into a rocks glass
Stir in the club soda

Have you gotten with the program yet?  Kiss the one you love and enjoy!

adapted from Food and Wine and Franklin Ferguson


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This post is part of a series featuring recipes from the FOOD and WINE archive. As a FOOD and WINE Blogger Correspondent, I was chosen to do four recipes a week from FOOD and WINE. I received a subscription to FOOD and WINE for my participation.

7 comments:

Mhel said...

What a sexy cocktail youve got there. You shouldve joined Denise's " cocktail" challenge,and you could win a cookbook written by her. Im not sure if the challenge is still open. Checkout the link
http://quickiesonthedinnertable.yolasite.com/

The Weekend Gourmet said...

Kir Royal is one of my favorites brunch drinks: champagne and chambord! It's different from the usual mimosa, and the color is so pretty!

Kelly Lenihan said...

Vodka and Creme d'Cassis (black current) is also nice together.

This summer, I tried infusing vodka with fresh sage, thyme, mint and lemon balm for three days, then strained it. With a splash of simple sugar, it was a refreshing cocktail.

The Southern Cookbook said...

That's a nice looking cocktail! Great post. Nice presentation as well :)

Unknown said...

You need to move over to drinks with lime juice. :) I love those. This does look tasty though (I love chambord). My fav with that liqueur is called a purple hooter (I can't even type it without giggling).

Kate said...

A purple hooter :-). I love it! According to drink of the week, it'll make your head spin like an owl's after a few. Vodka, chambord and sweet and sour? Sounds good. We've also tried Chambord and Baileys. Very good. Tonight I'm having a bit of Tia Maria while I blog.

Cocktail Crush said...

Nice recipe! Tequila and lime are such a fantastic combination, muddling the blackcurrants and adding a touch of chambord is great to cut the sourness with a bit of sweetness!