Alton Brown Cooks Food | Episode 11: I'll Be Your Daisy

0:00 When it comes to cocktails, I adhere mostly to the three M's.

0:05 Martini, Manhattan, Margarita.

0:09 Mostly.

0:13 Um, since International Margarita Day is always just around the corner,

0:18 at least for me, uh, we might as well polish up on our procedures.

0:22 But first, this episode is brought to you by We've got a new sponsor,

0:28 an evening of Alton Brown,

0:30 an intimate theatrical experience that will bring audiences closer than ever

0:34 to the man behind some of the most beloved culinary programs of all time.

0:40 Um, for information and ticket links, drop by altonlive.com.

0:44 Great, we got that out of the way.

0:46 All right.

0:47 Um, although it seems certain that the margarita came into being

0:51 in some cantina along the long and culturally fertile US Mexico border,

0:57 as far as I know, no one honestly knows

1:01 who concocted the first one or even the second one.

1:04 But ya, if you do.

1:08 Now, if that reminds you uh film fans of Val Kilmer's

1:12 [snorts] magnificent portrayal of Doc Holiday in the 1992 Masterpiece Tombstone,

1:18 um that's because he was a man of his time or he

1:20 was hip to the back east city slang where Daisy meant a doozy,

1:26 first rate, badass depending on exact usage.

1:29 [music] Hence, when he puts a bullet in Johnny Ringo's head,

1:34 he declares, "You ain't no Daisy.

1:36 [music] You ain't no Daisy at all.

1:38 I.e.

1:39 You just really weren't that good after all, were you?

1:43 This is going to make sense in a minute, I promise.

1:45 Look, um, the word daisy came to represent

1:48 also a a family of first rate cocktails, okay?

1:53 in the late 19th century, which might have begun with a recipe

1:56 for a daisy cocktail published in 1876 by Jerry Thomas,

2:02 the historical father of mixology

2:04 and the patron saint of all American bartenders.

2:06 That's him, making a concoction called a blue blaze,

2:09 a drink that I will never show you how to make because the last time I tried,

2:13 I set my arm on fire.

2:15 Anyway, um the daisy and the uh family that sprouted from it

2:21 were kind of like sours and that they were composed of a spirit,

2:24 something sour, usually citrus, and a sweetener of some type.

2:28 Now, the difference is that sours are sweetened with a sugar syrup,

2:32 while daisies are sweetened with a lure.

2:35 The Daisy family includes classics like the sidec car and Trader Vick's My Thai,

2:41 but the most famous is definitely without a doubt the margarita.

2:46 Okay.

2:46 The fact that margarita literally means daisy in Spanish is

2:50 no coincidence as a margarita is literally a Mexican daisy.

2:55 Got it?

2:56 [music] Now, I assume that we all know

3:06 the base spirit of a margarita [snorts] is tequila,

3:09 specifically a blanco or a silver tequila, traditionally unaged,

3:13 maybe just slightly aged, thus the uh clear color.

3:17 I also want the tequila in my margarita to be 100% agave based.

3:22 Not all of them are.

3:23 Um, now my love [music] of Blancos

3:26 includes both Highland examples and and lowland examples.

3:30 Uh, but my go-to for margaritas is this one.

3:32 Um, espalone, uh, spicy, floral.

3:35 Um, and it's got a skeleton writing an angry chicken.

3:39 Big one, too.

3:40 Right on the label.

3:40 Now, my rule, never mix a cocktail with a spirit.

3:44 [music] You know, you wouldn't drink straight.

3:46 You know what?

3:46 I like this stuff in a glass just fine.

3:49 Ah, as for the sour, well, that will of course come from limes, the classic.

3:55 As for the sweet, that will be orange lure.

3:58 And this is where I deviate from many a norm.

4:04 Seems like I was just in here.

4:06 Um anyway, um when most people think of [music] orange lure,

4:09 they think of triples, uh translates to triple dry,

4:13 a reference to [music] the distilling process,

4:15 which typically involves a neutral spirit and several varieties

4:18 of [music] orange peel which is steeped into it.

4:20 The most famous triple sack is probably quantro,

4:23 though I have to confess I'm not a big fan.

4:26 There's also dry curissell, um,

4:29 a lure named after the island that sits just off of the Venezuelan coast.

4:34 It's a tasty stuff traditionally built on Laara

4:37 oranges and accented with other herbs and spices,

4:40 [music] which is why I don't really like it in margaritas.

4:44 Some folks reach all the way for a Grand Marier.

4:47 Also, an orange lure, but not a trip, as the base spirit is cognac.

4:52 I find gram marne too sweet for really anything

4:55 but turning into a pancake syrup which is another show.

5:00 So um how am I to uh marg forth here by making my own lure

5:06 that is for that I will need some vodka and some brandy and of course um

5:14 for orange lure we need oranges which sorry um dja vu um I'm going to mix

5:21 up my oranges combining peels from a standard

5:24 juicing oranges [music] theas I think and a sumo

5:28 mandarins which if memory serves is a hybrid

5:31 of mandarin satsuma [music] and mavel oranges [snorts]

5:35 very fragrant [music] my orange lure goes thusly

5:48 we require two cups of vodka uh which

5:51 in the US is typically 80 proof or 40% alcohol by volume a cup of brandy

5:57 any brand really as long as it comes in glass not a plastic ass pocket bottle.

6:03 Um 85 g of our mixed orange peel.

6:08 Took about five oranges uh to harvest all of this.

6:11 And you want as little pith as possible.

6:14 So I suggest you employ a harp style peeler.

6:18 Perfect for the job.

6:18 Also 75 g of sugar.

6:21 It's a 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons if you want to play volutrically.

6:26 The last but by no means least,

6:29 7 g, that's tablespoon of dried bitter orange peel.

6:34 Do not skip this ingredient because it is

6:37 mission critical to the final flavor of this lure.

6:41 It's easily found on the interwebs.

6:44 There we go.

6:45 Now combine.

6:46 As you can see, I'm uh using a heavyduty freezer style zip top bag.

6:51 You want to squeeze out as much air as possible.

6:54 And do be sure that the seal is firm and complete all the way across.

6:59 We don't want any leaks.

7:00 Now, um I'm using the Ziploc brand from the SE Johnson Company,

7:04 but I've heard good things about the Glad product as well.

7:08 And yes, um these are safe uh to cook in uh as they

7:13 are uh are BPA free and heat [music] resistant to about 190 degrees Fahrenheit.

7:19 So, extracting all the flavors out of the solids and whatnot into the vodka,

7:24 it's going to take time.

7:25 Typically, a few weeks, unless, of course, we happen to have a time machine.

7:31 Once upon a time, January of 2006,

7:36 there appeared on an episode of a TV show called Iron Chef America,

7:40 a challenger named Wy Defrain.

7:44 On that episode, Chef Defrain employed a device

7:47 that would change the world of cuisine forever.

7:50 The device was an immersion circulator manufactured

7:53 by a a laboratory equipment company called Poly Science.

7:57 And essentially, it was a a big insulated

8:00 tub to which was connected a highly precise,

8:02 highly accurate heat pump that would exactly control the temperature

8:07 of whatever liquidous media was placed therein, most often water.

8:12 Armed with such a device, a chef could seal the food in a in a a vacuum bag,

8:17 hence sousvid under vacuum and cook that food at an exact

8:22 temperature for hours or or even days without any fear of overcooking.

8:27 In fact, soliciting a magical metamorphosis in that food.

8:30 The things you could do to eggs, short ribs, cheesecake, just mindboggling tool.

8:37 I was in the room that day with Chef Defrain and I

8:41 knew that what I was witnessing would change the world forever.

8:44 [music] Coming to a stage near you,

8:49 maybe an evening of Alton Brown presents the legend

8:52 as you've never [music] seen him and probably never will again.

8:55 Even though that's exactly what he said the last time he did this.

8:58 Visit altonbrlive.com for show dates and ticket [music] information.

9:06 only it didn't.

9:07 Why?

9:08 I don't know.

9:08 But I do believe that every serious home cook should have one.

9:12 Uh because they've gotten a heck of a lot smaller.

9:14 Um right, you could clamp this on anything.

9:16 And the price tags have come way down

9:18 from the [clears throat] 1500 I shelled out.

9:22 Now, these devices can literally full time,

9:25 which means that we could create a margarita [music] lure um in in an hour.

9:30 Now ordinarily I would kind of mount this on the side

9:32 of a cooler to remain as you know

9:34 retain as much heat as possible but for the ease

9:37 of viewing we have mounted it on a translucent vessel.

9:41 So the water60° digitally controlled and I will introduce now the bag.

9:49 Now, I just want to say that if you're worried about the bag opening

9:53 up during cooking cuz it's going to be there and there for an hour,

9:56 just uh attach the uh the top of the bag to the edge with a binder clip, right?

10:00 And secure it.

10:02 Me, I like watching this kind of orange jellyfish drift around in the current.

10:09 Oh, set a timer for 1 hour.

10:20 After an hour at 160,

10:22 we've extracted all the desired goodness and need to cool things down.

10:25 So, straight into an ice bath.

10:28 And again, check the seal on the back before immersing.

10:31 Once it's cool enough to handle, strain into glass containment.

10:34 Now, um I like uh these bottles I get at a local brewing

10:37 store that have a little flip uh kind of bail top on there.

10:41 Um, and um, I also like to run this through

10:43 some cheesecloth just to get out as much sediment as possible.

10:46 It's still probably going to be a little cloudy.

10:50 Tightly sealed and stored to the chill chest.

10:53 You should get at least 6 months out

10:55 of this before the quality starts to go downhill.

10:58 At least that's what I hypothesize.

11:00 I've never had a bottle last that long.

11:13 And now we build.

11:15 Now, [clears throat] my margaritas always go into a rocks glass.

11:19 Never one of these monstrosities.

11:22 Not because I hate them,

11:23 but because after two drinks, I usually knock them over.

11:25 Um, I am a fan of[ __] the glass.

11:28 Just stop laughing.

11:31 This is serious.

11:32 Now, I use a mixture of a little kosher salt uh accentuated

11:37 with just a pinch of tamarind powder and uh and certainly some ground chipotle.

11:43 I only do half of the glass.

11:45 So, just kind of rim with lime.

11:49 Get a little lime juice on there.

11:50 And then just kind of sweep it through.

11:52 There you go.

11:52 Let that dry for, you know, while we do this other stuff.

11:55 Okay, fine.

11:56 Yeah.

11:56 Um, for one drink, uh, we're going to add enough ice, um,

12:01 hopefully from a filtered source,

12:04 not ice that's been sitting in your freezer for months, okay?

12:07 Into your mixing glass.

12:09 And then, um, also fill your rocks glass by about, I'd say, half.

12:14 Okay.

12:15 Now in go the 2 oz of Blanco tequila, the 2 oz of homemade lure,

12:23 and you're going to want the juice of one medium lime that uh

12:27 when sliced uh reamed and strained uh will give you about half an ounce.

12:34 Perfect.

12:34 And now we mix.

12:36 Not too vigorously.

12:38 You know, I don't shake margaritas because I don't

12:41 want my margaritas full of little chips of ice,

12:44 which then immediately melt and dilute the drink.

12:47 I want those first few sips before the other

12:49 ice starts to melt, to be full powered.

12:52 There.

12:53 And we strain.

12:56 You know, I like serving this on the rocks because I like

12:59 the way the drink softens and changes as the uh as the ice melts.

13:05 Nothing wrong with that.

13:06 Now, That's a daisy.

13:10 And you know what else is a daisy?

13:12 A daisy within your grasp now that you've got your orange lure made.

13:16 Well, [clears throat] Yes, that's right.

14:34 You would have the original Cosmopolitan, a Cosmo.

14:38 And although I have never seen an episode of Sex in the City,

14:41 I know what this supposedly means.

14:45 But you know what?

14:46 I'm secure enough in my masculinity to drink this drink and enjoy it.

14:51 Although, I think I rather do it alone and in the