If you’re looking to impress in the kitchen this holiday season, our favorite celebrity chefs are here to help. From preparing Ina Garten’s Perfect Thanksgiving Spread to preparing a delicious casserole for Christmas morning, thanks to Trisha Yearwood, there’s no shortage of tips for making the holidays delicious.
If becoming a real bartender at your upcoming gatherings with family and friends is your goal, Alton Brown has a few tricks for you.
The James Beard Award-winning chef is currently promoting his latest cookbook, Good Eats 4, and occasionally hosts a cooking series on YouTube that he’s dubbed Quarantine Kitchen. If serving up some spirited drinks is your plan this season, Brown’s has the perfect ingredients.
Alton Brown’s Ginger Ale Concentrate Isn’t Too Sweet
Moscow mules have been around for ages, but Brown is one of the celebrity chefs who brought them back into vogue in 2016. One of his posts from the copper mug went viral that year, according to pop sugarAnd it was around the same time that she included a recipe for homemade ginger ale concentrate in her cookbook, everydecook,
The recipe for “Furious” concentrate is now available at Brown Website, and the ingredients couldn’t be simpler than this. Brown uses crystallized ginger in thick pieces, a cinnamon stick and some water for the syrup.
You boil the ingredients for a minute or two, then take the pan off the heat and let the ingredients cook further. After the liquid is filtered and cooled, it becomes the perfect base for a variety of beverages.
Brown writes with the recipe, “I love ginger ale, but most commercial examples are too sweet for me. “By mixing this syrup with soda water, I can dial it down exactly how I like it.” iron Chef The host mixes the concentrate with sparkling water for straight ginger ale or adds some spirits for when he’s feeling “especially naughty”.
Use ginger in cocktails or mocktails this season
While Moscow mules are popular in the warmer months for their ice-cold temps and refreshing lime zip, variations abound that make them appealing during the winter months. Most mules will use ginger beer, not ale, which has a deeper flavor and more hints of spice than ginger ales.
Although, the kitchen Note that you can use the two interchangeably. Since Brown mixes his ale concentrate with cinnamon, it can get just the right depth to use in any drink that calls for ginger flavor.
If mule is what you are looking for, advanced mixology Offers tons of ideas to get creative with, including cranberry and pomegranate variations that are perfect for the holiday season. serious eating Offers other drink options that use the flavor of ginger but allow you to try something other than the mule, including those that highlight the flavor of apple or rum.
If you’re looking for something nonalcoholic and maybe a little brighter, try the Ginger Mojito Mocktail. The Mindful Mocktail Provides a healthy yet delicious alternative. The recipe uses fresh ginger and ginger ale, and since Brown’s version of ale already uses fresh ginger ale, the drink will be sure to pack a tasty punch.
Brown’s also has other alcoholic beverages for family gatherings.
Ginger-flavored drinks are still hugely popular, but they’re not for everyone. Brown’s has you covered if you’re looking to serve a drink other than one that highlights your fresh ginger ale. Roundups are perfect for holiday gatherings, Brown attests, because they’re low in alcohol content but high in flavor. “The key to decent holiday drinking is to drink a low-alcohol drink that tastes twice as bad but treats half as bad,” says Brown. site teases for its “Holiday Spirits” episode good food,
“I wanted to do a show about low-alcohol holiday cocktails,” Brown said in a trailer for that episode. “Not because I’m cool-curious, but because when my family shows up I want to drink non-stop all day long without falling all over my face.” The key to making these cocktails is using ingredients that pack a lot of flavor without relying on alcohol content.
Interestingly, many of these drinks are reminiscent of cocktails from decades ago. “Everything that ended up in the show is actually hundreds of years old,” he said. Recipes included in the show milk punchOne Cranberry Apple ShrubAnd a Allspice Dram,
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