Suzi's Blog
Whipped Cream and Irish Coffee
This is a truth, a fact, and not one of my modest exaggerations. Whipped cream can be an essential ingredient of a recipe, absolutely required by the laws of physics and chemistry.
This post is clearly going to be different. It’s serious and scientific.
Now, let’s just take a sideways step here. I know it’s hot during the days now — the 80’s here in New York. But, at night the temperature still drops into the low 50’s at our Catskills house. Even in the desert areas, the nighttime temperature can drop by 40⁰ or more. I can remember a summer in the Mojave Desert when it was 135⁰ at 1PM and down to 80⁰ by 11PM. I’d go for a walk and have to wear a jacket.
Which means, that still on many nights you might want an Irish Coffee. Below, I’ve got the classic recipe for Irish Coffee and an interesting option, Mayan Coffee, using agave nectar and tequila.
Both recipes call for topping the beverage with whipped cream. And that’s where the science comes into play. Your coffee may be hot. Well, it’s sure to be hot. But there is a critical temperature you have to be aware of: at 173⁰ many spirits, like whiskey or tequila, begin to boil. The alcohol will begin to evaporate and you’ll lose flavor.
Hence the whipped cream. Put immediately on top of the drink, it becomes a lid helping to keep alcohol vapors from escaping that hot liquid. The whipping cream is a physical requirement. That the whipping cream tastes so good is just a side benefit.
Honestly.
Classic Irish Coffee
Yield: 1 beverage
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons light brown sugar
- 3 ounces hot brewed coffee
- 1 ½ ounces Irish whiskey
- Dollop of whipped cream for garnish [sweetened or unsweetened]
Preparation:
In a warmed mug or heatproof glass, stir the sugar into the coffee until dissolved. Stir in the whiskey, then garnish the drink with whipped cream.
Mayan Coffee
Yield: 1 beverage
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons agave nectar
- 3 ounces hot brewed coffee
- 1 ½ ounces tequila
- Dollop of whipped cream for garnish [sweetened or unsweetened]
- Pinch of cinnamon for garnish
Preparation:
In a warmed mug or heatproof glass, stir the agave nectar into the coffee until incorporated. Stir in the whiskey, then garnish the drink with whipped cream and top off with the cinnamon.
Sources: Food and Wine Cocktails 2012
Mothers’ Day Cocktail: Mexico 70
Mothers’ Day is tomorrow. When you bring her breakfast in bed, or serve her brunch, or offer that dinner you and the kids made, well, what is she going to drink? Something different. Something special. She deserves no less.
She deserves a Mexico 70.
I look forward each year to the publication of the Food & Wine Cocktail books. The 2012 edition has just been published and there, on the cover, are two sensational cocktails. That’s a classic Margarita on the left with agave leaves. And on the right, with the lime slice, is the Mexico 70. This year’s version, Cocktails 2012, includes the reinvention of over 40 classic cocktails. The Mexico 70 first appeared in 1970 when Mexico hosted the World Cup. Mexico did not win the cup, but drinkers everywhere can sample this wonder born that year.
The flavor here is deep and earthy. There is the natural heat and smoke of tequila, the powerful sweetness of agave, and the tingle of sparkling wine. That’s pleasure on many fronts, and surely Mom is entitled to that. [Dad, too!]
Mexico 70
Yield: 1 cocktail
Ingredients:
- 1 ounce blanco tequila
- ½ ounce fresh lime juice
- ¼ ounce agave nectar
- 3 ounces chilled dry sparkling wine
- 1 lime wheel or lime twist, for garnish
Preparation:
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the tequila, lime juice and agave nectar and shake well. Fine strain into a chilled champagne flute. Top with sparkling wine. Garnish the drink with the lime wheel or twist.
Source: Food and Wine Cocktails 2012
