The whiskey and bourbon purists out there are going to howl…but I’m here to tell you that the wacky-sounding “Red Hot” cocktail on the very cool Web site “Playing With Fire And Water” is deee-licious.
First you grind a handful of red hot cinnamon candies in a coffee or spice grinder and spread the crumbs on a large plate. (You can use a food processor but I found that the smaller grinders made a finer “dust.”)
Then, rub the rim of a martini glass with a cut piece of fresh ginger root. (Or you can squeeze some juice from a chunk of ginger and dip the glass in that.) Dip the glass rim into the pulverized red hot candies.
In a shaker, shake your favorite bourbon (Maker’s Mark, Bulleit, Pappy Van Winkle, whatever) with ice and strain into the glass.
It’s amazing how the flavors play together, and how the ginger and cinnamon bring out the best in the bourbon.
But Playing With Fire and Water doesn’t stop there.
The site also includes a recipe for Ginger Bread Bourbon that involves soaking a hunk of brioche in a glass jar with bourbon, cloves, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg and slices of fresh ginger root. You let the concoction sit for about three days, then strain it.
Fans of playing with fire (as well as fans of “shots” of all flavors) then proceed to step 2. Rub the rim of a shot glass with a piece of peeled ginger. Dip the rim into the crushed Red Hots.
“Gently warm Ginger Bread Bourbon. Pour into shot glass. Ignite. Don't do anything silly like try to drink it while its on fire.”
With all the freezing temperatures and record snowfalls barreling across the country, I think these cocktails are just what the weatherman ordered.
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