![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xraytheenforcerSo, at long last I tried an experiment -- one I've been wanting to do for almost a year.
See, in the old days (like, handlebar moustache era), bartenders did not use mere "simple syrup" (that's sugar dissolved in water) to sweeten their cocktails. No. They used something called Sirop de Gomme (aka Gomme syrup), which is simple syrup (usu. 2:1 sugar:water) with dissolved gum arabic**. This mixture entirely changes the character of the cocktail. It makes the drink incredibly smooth and silky -- in short, it's a fucking revelation, and another bald indicator that most bartenders (and bar patrons) don't know what the fuck they're doing these days.
So of course we had to try our new gomme in a variety of cocktails, all of which demand simple syrup, last night. A Commodore. A New York cocktail. A Sazerac. In the end, the Sazerac was the clear winner -- those drinks that are booze-only and that require sweetening will benefit most from the gomme. But it did a creditable job with the Commodore as well.
Now, three cocktails in any evening is going to make me loopy -- I also managed 1/3 of a beer with dinner, but gave the rest to Doug. Amazingly, the only aftereffects of my booze blowout was a wicked headache at 11pm last night, and some crazy-ass dreams about monsters off the coast of Australia. Awesome.
**In my research, I found that gum arabic is a major crop in Sudan, and which has been linked with the entirely fucking awful Sudanese government/Janjaweed. Well, fuck. I'd already bought it and dissolved half the packet in water. No going back after that. Although now I'm kind of curious where else gum arabic (or gum acacia) is found...
See, in the old days (like, handlebar moustache era), bartenders did not use mere "simple syrup" (that's sugar dissolved in water) to sweeten their cocktails. No. They used something called Sirop de Gomme (aka Gomme syrup), which is simple syrup (usu. 2:1 sugar:water) with dissolved gum arabic**. This mixture entirely changes the character of the cocktail. It makes the drink incredibly smooth and silky -- in short, it's a fucking revelation, and another bald indicator that most bartenders (and bar patrons) don't know what the fuck they're doing these days.
So of course we had to try our new gomme in a variety of cocktails, all of which demand simple syrup, last night. A Commodore. A New York cocktail. A Sazerac. In the end, the Sazerac was the clear winner -- those drinks that are booze-only and that require sweetening will benefit most from the gomme. But it did a creditable job with the Commodore as well.
Now, three cocktails in any evening is going to make me loopy -- I also managed 1/3 of a beer with dinner, but gave the rest to Doug. Amazingly, the only aftereffects of my booze blowout was a wicked headache at 11pm last night, and some crazy-ass dreams about monsters off the coast of Australia. Awesome.
**In my research, I found that gum arabic is a major crop in Sudan, and which has been linked with the entirely fucking awful Sudanese government/Janjaweed. Well, fuck. I'd already bought it and dissolved half the packet in water. No going back after that. Although now I'm kind of curious where else gum arabic (or gum acacia) is found...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 02:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 02:54 pm (UTC)(it is also traditional that you give me a footrub on Sundays.) :p
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 02:51 pm (UTC)*mails an amount of aspirin proportional to amount of slashes in headache-description*
I didn't know you could do THAT with gum arabic - I bought it for incense mixtures and for making ink (at least that was the theory, now it primarily lies in my drawer and looks pretty).
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 03:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 03:19 pm (UTC)Don't fret too much with buying off Sudan.... they could use a bit of money, evil government or not. I'm sure the government will do fine regardless, whereas the crop farmers will thank you forever ;)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 04:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 05:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 10:38 pm (UTC)TALL GLASS, NO ICE
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 08:34 pm (UTC)Oi! That was no dream, luv.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 11:51 pm (UTC)I miss Steve Irwin. He had a wombat named Minibus.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 12:10 am (UTC)Nah, they're just big-boned.
Date: 2007-06-11 04:26 am (UTC)Re: Nah, they're just big-boned.
Date: 2007-06-11 11:35 am (UTC)Wombats: Bulldozers of the Bush
(somewhere in my parents' collection of photographs is this exact picture, but instead of a Steve Irwin, there's a, sweaty, confused by elated 15-year-old me gamely cradling 50 lbs of sleeping wombat in 110-degree Oz summer heat. It was the best day ever!)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 08:52 pm (UTC)I'm calling it a gin-tini.
You're very welcome ;-)
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 10:32 pm (UTC)hahahaha.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 11:49 pm (UTC)You made gomme syrup!
Date: 2007-06-10 08:55 pm (UTC)Incidentally, Ron saw your post about Marguerite Fizz, and had me look up your blog so I could make two, a few days after I turned some pomegranate juice into grenadine. 'Twas very nice. In fact, now that I think about it, I may have to make myself one soon.
Re: You made gomme syrup!
Date: 2007-06-10 10:33 pm (UTC)Re: You made gomme syrup!
Date: 2007-06-11 12:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 08:57 pm (UTC)http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200502/gum.arabic.htm
everything you ever wanted to know about gum arabic.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-10 10:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 03:15 pm (UTC)Then again, I have a LOT less "OMFG HEADACHE" posts than you. hahahaa Hope you feel better :)