Sunset Cocktail: Pistachio Suissesse on World Pistachio Day
1 1⁄4 oz La Clandestine Absinthe
1⁄2 oz Pistachio Orgeat*
2 oz Almond Milk
1 Egg White
1 bsp White Creme de Menthe
6 oz Ice
Shake Absinthe, Orgeat, Milk and Egg White without ice until the Egg White blends in and froths nicely. Reshake with ice and double strain into a Highball glass filled with crushed ice. Garnish with a few drops of Orange Flower Water.
*Pistachio Orgeat (From Imbibe, sort of)
1 cups near-boiling water
2.5 oz. shelled, unsalted pistachios
3/4 cups granulated sugar
4 tbsp Gum Arabic/1/2 tbsp Xanthan gum (optional)**
(if using the gum mix) Heat 1/4 cup of the water to a near-boil, about 3 minutes. Put the gum powder in a glass or small jar, then slowly stir in the hot water. Stir together until all the powder is integrated. (Some small white clumps may remain.) Let this mixture sit for 2 to 3 hours. When it looks more like a gel, stir again to smooth out the mixture. (It’s OK if there is a small layer of white foam.)
In a blender, combine the water and pistachios and blend on high for 2 full minutes—the longer you blend, the more refined your finished syrup will be. Fine-strain the nut mixture through a nut-milk bag into a glass jar. Add sugar and gum gel, if using and mix or blend until uniform.
Today, February 26th, is World Pistachio Day. I was trying to figure out what in Satan’s Hell I was going to make for this when I came across a Pistachio Orgeat recipe. I like regular Orgeat very much but never made it from scratch. This seemed to be as good a time as any. I did deviate from the recipe to make the Pistachio Orgeat quite a bit when it came to adding the various gums, resorting to how I add them when making regular Gomme Syrup.
When looking for Orgeat cocktails that I could try out this new Pistachio goodness I, of course, came across the classic and revered Absinthe Suissesse. I did actually use Dr. McGillicuddy’s Mentholmint Liqueur as I didn’t have actual Creme de Menthe and I didn’t want to use Rumple Minze. I don’t think I’ve ever even made an Absinthe Suissesse before which is criminal and clearly proves that I hate myself.
**The original recipe called for Ticaloid 210S which seems to be “a mixture of gum arabic, a fantastic emulsifier, derived from tree sap, and xantham gum. Gum arabic is great for cocktail applications because its emulsions don’t break when they are suddenly diluted, and they are immune to temperature changes, acidity and alcohol. The xantham is a stabilizer, which protects the emulsion from separating. If you can’t get TIcaloid 210S, you can substitute a mixture of powdered gum arabic and xantham gum in the ratio of nine to one.” So I would just mix my own at 8/1 as the Orgeat recipe called for a little more Xantham to be added on top of was was already assumed in the Ticaloid 210S.
