Drink Garnishes: Add Sass to Your Glass
JARS OF BRIGHTLY colored berries, beans and peppers line the back shelves of Arlington's EatBar (2761 Washington Blvd.; 703-778-9951). No, the gastropub hasn't been invaded by a canning-mad housewife. This is actually the pickled, preserved and bottled arsenal of bar manager Gina Chersevani.
Like many modern mixologists, she's taking matters into her own hands when it comes to drink garnishes, banishing the food coloring-loaded maraschino cherries and limp celery sticks of the past for homemade — yet easy — drink additions.
Merriam-Webster defines a cocktail as a blend of alcohol and flavoring ingredients. But it's the trimmings — the slice of farmers market fruit perched on the rim of that appletini, the bacon strip subbing for the celery in a Bloody Mary — that can launch a cocktail from classic to first-class.
Scott Beattie, a California wine country-based bartender and author of the upcoming book "Artisanal Cocktails: Drinks Inspired by the Seasons at the Bar at Cyprus" ($17, Ten Speed Press), says that garnishes can transform a highball into a full sensory experience.
Call it aroma (or visual) therapy in a pretty glass. "Cold cocktails don't really have a scent, so you can pinch herbs, cut fresh fruit and use visuals to make people want the drink before they've sipped it," says Beattie. It's an idea that works as well chez you as it does at your favorite watering hole.
But before going crazy and dropping a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup into that Manhattan or a tequila worm into your margarita, remember that good garnishing takes a little practice. Think about the flavors of the cocktail — sweet, sour, plain, complex — before plopping something into that glass.
Like a chef, try to either match or contrast flavors — maybe a spicy jalapeno with a tangy grapefruit gimlet or mint in that sweet bourbon julep. Chersevani, for instance, marries the tanginess of cheese with the sweetness of chocolate in her unusual St. Pete's Denial, a blend of white chocolate liqueur, vodka and a bleu cheese reduction garnished with chocolate, all inspired by a restaurant cheese platter.
Sometimes, it's about recasting a standard drink with new ingredients. So, while olive juice (and an olive garnish) once reigned in dirty martinis, bartenders now float their own flavors, notably pickles.
"If you pickle things in-house, any vegetable can replace an olive," says Adam Bernbach, bartender at Bar Pilar (1833 14th St. NW; 202-265-1751). Every Tuesday night, Bernbach assembles a new menu of innovative beverages, experimenting with a veritable produce aisle of pickled garnishes. Not just for the folks at Vlasic or Claussen, pickles can be made easily at home. Simply pour hot vinegar, salt and spices over the fruit or veggie of your choice, then seal it in a canning jar. Chersevani pickles watermelon rinds; look for them soon at her bar in a sweet-and-sour pickled gin cocktail with an unusual goat cheese whip.
The end-of-summer produce glut at farmers markets means you can load up on ingredients for garnishes now and preserve them for cocktails later. "This is the time when I plan ahead," says Chersevani. "It's the opposite of what a chef does with seasonality. I want to buy now but save things to use in fall and winter."
Right now, she's simmering pitted cherries with pomegranate juice and curry leaves, and curing miniature bell peppers in olive oil to toss into concoctions during colder months.
While pickles add a vinegary, piquant taste to drinks, candied fruits or veggies bring sweetness, crunch and can take the edge off stronger flavors. Chersevani candies horseradish for her champagne cocktail, which gives a pungent nose with just enough punch to cut the dryness of the cava.
Rico Wisner, the mixologist at Penn Quarter's Poste Brasserie (555 8th St. NW; 202-783-6060), plays with textures to jazz up his drinks. He creates dehydrated fruit leathers, a gourmet take on the roll-up, to preserve the flavors of berries, peaches and plums. He adds fresh herbs from the restaurant's garden along with spices to draw out different flavors. He'll plonk the leathers in hot toddies later this fall.
Beattie uses the same technique of cooking thinly sliced fruit in a
150-degree oven for three to five hours to make apple, peach, pear and persimmon chip embellishments. "You can top the slices with herbs, flowers, spices or even crushed peppermint before baking them on a Silpat [nonstick baking mat]," he says.
No time to make fancy garnishes in advance? Even things from the supermarket (or your herb box) can make happy unions with greyhounds, gimlets et al. "Flowers are a great choice, as long as you know that they're edible," says Wisner. Mark Indre, 30, a frequent party host who lives in Columbia Heights, enjoys putting herbs and fruit into his potions. "This summer I made a gin-based drink topped with thyme-skewered raspberries," says the public relations pro. Bernbach favors tarragon to sharpen blanco tequilas, while Wisner creates syrups, like a tarragon-lemon balm from his garden.
Whether you throw a simple lime slice or a quail egg you've lovingly pickled into a glass, remember that a garnish should enhance the cocktail experience, not make guests nervous or confused. Be generous with trimmings and set out a bowl of cheese-stuffed olives so partiers can help themselves. Prep those brandy-soaked cherry twists in advance so you aren't frantically tying stems as guests wander in.
Thankfully, cocktail-making comes with no real rules. Ruin one Sidecar with a marshmallow garnish? Pour it down the drain and start over. If nothing else works, chop herbs to mix into salt or sugar. They can sit for a spell before guests arrive without wilting, melting or falling apart.
Then, relax, pour yourself a tall, cool one, and rest assured that if anything goes wrong with dinner, at least your guests get to sip attractive, tasty drinks. "A garnish can be as simple as a sugared rim," says Beattie. "What you use should represent something about the cocktail. It should make you want to taste it and look at it."
» GARNISHES TO GO
No need to get all Martha Stewart about things. You can jazz up your gin with a store-bought garnish and make it just as seductive.
» Rick's Picks Whups Asp ($12.99; Rickspicksnyc.com) pickled asparagus add zip — and an element of surprise — to a classic martini.
» Toigo's Bourbon Peaches ($10; Toigoorchards.com) provide extra sweetness and oomph in a julep or spicy ginger cocktail.
» Herbs ($2-$5, grocery stores) Mint, lavender, rosemary and their ilk all zip up concoctions, especially if you candy sprigs of them by coating in egg white and dipping them into a bowl of sugar. (Let dry for an hour before serving.) Candied mint is muy delicioso in a mojito.
» Preserved lemons ($8 lbs.; Whole Foods), traditional in Moroccan cuisine, bring a juicy, tart tang that's perfect in sangria.
» Pickled Ginger ($3 or so; most grocery stores), normally seen cozied up to California rolls, also tastes zesty in a champagne cocktail.
Written by Erin Hartigan
Photos courtesy Lawrence Luk/Express
» RECIPE FILE
Courtesy Gina Chersevani, Eatbar
» 4 cups cider vinegar
» 1 1/3 cups filtered water
» 4 cloves of garlic
» 2 tbsp peppercorns
» 1 tbsp coriander seeds
» 3 bay leaves, preferably fresh
» 3 tbsp of kosher salt
» 1 1/2 lbs. miniature bell peppers
» 6 scallions, whites only
» BRING TO A BOIL the first seven ingredients for five minutes. Evenly distribute the peppers in three canning jars, adding two scallions per jar. When the vinegar and spice mixture has boiled, pour over the peppers and scallions, covering the peppers, but leaving room at the top.
Add seal and tighten the jars. Set a large pot of water to boil, then submerge jars in boiling water pot for 30 minutes. Remove jars from the water, allow to cool, making sure that jars seal (you will know, because the lids will invert), then store in a cool, dark place.
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