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The Food Maven Diary
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Two Liqueur Recipes
I’ve recently written about eating fruits and vegetables in season. The fact that we even talk about this would be somewhat amazing to our grandparents. It is only in the last 50 years that people can buy produce grown far away, where the climate is mild all year long, or the opposite of our weather. Whoever thought we’d eat strawberries from California in February and cherries from Chile in March? We only had what was grown near where we lived.
So what did we eat in the winter, in climates that can’t harvest anything except in the summer or fall? We ate foods that were preserved in one way or another. Yes, you could put squash and root vegetables, apples and cabbage in cool storage in your so-called “root cellar.” You could (and can) ferment some foods as a way to preserve them; corned beef is an example, and some types of cucumber pickles are “put up” through fermentation. Treating a food with an acid – mainly vinegar, itself a food that is a result of fermentation of grapes, grain or fruit – also preserves it; for example, pickled peppers and “marinated” mushrooms. Keeping some cooked foods covered in oil is another preservation method. You can also cook some foods, particularly fruits, with a lot of sugar, which will preserve them. We call these jams, jellies and preserves. You can also preserve food with alcohol, making what we call a liqueur in English, liquore or rosolio in Italian.
I had a small collection of liqueur recipes in the original manuscript of my next book, The Southern Italian Table, but they’ve been cut out. You can find my formula for limoncello, the liqueur made from lemon zests, sold as a souvenir item these days in Naples, Sorrento, and the Amalfi Coast, in “Naples at Table.” These days, in my home, however, these two liqueurs are the ones that most impress my friends and family – one made from fresh bay leaves, which you might find hard to get, and a liqueur made from coffee, an ingredient accessible to everyone.
BAY LEAF LIQUEUR
(Liquore Alloro)
Makes about 5 cups
A cordial made with bay leaves sounds very strange, but it doesn’t taste strange. Its scent, flavor and even color are similar to France’s Chartreuse, a liqueur made by Carthusian monks according to a centuries-old secret recipe. It makes one wonder if bay leaves are not one of the secrets.
The only problem here is that you need young, new growth leaves to make this exotic liqueur. New growth leaves, still pale green and supple, give up their flavor and color readily, while dark green, fully mature leaves do not. You need access to a bay tree to pick such leaves – consider it pruning. I have a secret source, but I know that some people keep a bay tree as a house plant. It needs plenty of sun, so here in the northeast it often spends a summer vacation outdoors. Maybe you live in California or in some place warmer where bay trees thrive.
For the last week, my leaves have been perfect, which is a couple of weeks later than they were last year. Light colored as they are, after a day or so in alcohol, they will turn the alcohol a green so dark that it looks nearly black. Once you dilute the infused alcohol with the sugar syrup, it lightens to a slightly greener than true chartreuse color. As the liqueur sits, some color will rise to the top. Just agitate the bottle a little before serving, to blend the color again.
About 32 large, young bay leaves (about 1/2 ounce)
2 cups grain alcohol (usually 95% alcohol)
2 cups water
2 1/2 cups sugar
Crinkle and crush the bay leaves in your hand. Put them in a jar and cover with alcohol. Let the leaves infuse for at least 24 hours. You can shake the jar a few times to give you something to do, but it really isn’t necessary.
The infusion is ready when the alcohol has turned dark green and the bay leaves have lost their green color and have become brittle and golden-colored.
Combine the water and sugar in a 2-quart saucepan over high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. The syrup is ready as soon as it comes to a simmer. As it settles, it will become crystal clear. Let it cool to room temperature.
Strain the alcohol into the sugar syrup. Discard the bay leaves. Pour the liqueur into a jar or bottles.
The liqueur can be drunk within 24 hours of being made, but it will taste overly alcoholic. It improves with some aging, at least 1 week. Serve at room temperature.
COFFEE LIQUEUR
(Rosolio di Café)
Makes 2 1/2 cups
It goes without saying that the quality of this liqueur depends entirely on the quality of the coffee. Besides being the best you can buy to your taste, the beans should be roasted dark but not black, and preferably brewed in a drip pot with a metal filter (as opposed to paper) that will render all the nuances of the coffee. Or use a French press, which also will do justice to the beans.
I use a Neapolitan caffetiera, the original metal drip coffee pot, the one you’ve seen flipped over in those romantic, Southern Italian-American, red-checkered-tablecloth restaurants in Hollywood movies. In reality, as opposed to in the movies, one should not try this flip trick. Even the most tightly fit pot will leak a little – scalding hot water. I had to laugh when a writer in the New York Times magazine recently got this wrong and offered the Hollywood method for making Neapolitan coffee. It’s true that the part of the pot that ends up on top is meant for boiling the water. But this should be done apart from the rest of the pot. Then, as with any manual drip pot, you pour the hot water over the ground beans in the other portion of the pot.
Whatever! Just use great coffee. I prefer a dark roast and have been using Fairway’s Brooklyn Java blend.
1 1/2 cups strong coffee
1 cup sugar
1/2 to 3/4 cup pure (usually 95-percent) grain alcohol
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
While the coffee is still hot, stir in the sugar until it is fully dissolved. Let cool to room temperature.
Add the alcohol and vanilla. Mix well.
Pour the liqueur into a bottle that you can seal well—with a cork, with a screw top, etc.
The liqueur can be drunk immediately, but it will taste very alcoholic. After 10 days in the bottle it will be more married and mellow.
Serve chilled or at room temperature.
