A little over a month ago, I presented you On the Sauce readers with a new — and faster — way to infuse your spirits. We used that magical device known as the sous vide to create an awesome cocktail, called the Banana Hammock.
Fast forward to last week, when your boy had a rough day at work and was drinking his feelings (hard), and you get our latest cocktail. But first, the story: In the middle of boozing it up with margaritas, I ran out of tequila. That's when I remembered I'd also prepared some mango-infused rum — for future column purposes — while working on the Banana Hammock. Thank goodness, because what I stumbled upon, no pun intended, is a keeper.
This week's featured drink, Finders Keepers, spotlights the aforementioned mango rum and a blueberry syrup, whose deliciousness we incorporated into the Blueberry G&T. At first, the duo kinda sound like they'd be an odd match, I know, but the result is actually quite the opposite — they make an amazing combination.
Sometimes you just get lucky like that, I guess.
For my spirit, I went with Big 5 Gold Rum. The Polk County distillery, based in Auburndale, sources its blackstrap sugar cane molasses from South Florida sugar cane growers before the ingredient is column distilled four times. The molasses, according to Big 5's website, "creates subtly sweet, caramel depth and matured rum notes." I taste hints of caramel and citrus peel from the smooth gold rum, a perfect complement to our mango infusion.
The directions for Finders Keepers might seem like a lot of work for one cocktail, but it's not like you can't use a bottle of mango-infused rum for multiple one-off drinks. Same goes for that blueberry syrup.
Finders Keepers
Makes 1
Sous Vide Infused Mango Rum:
1 ripe mango, peeled and sliced
1 750 milliliter bottle of rum
Add your mango and rum to a food-grade ziplock bag. Fill a large container, like a pot, with water and attach the sous-vide machine to the side, but don't turn it on. Close all but the one corner of the bag and place it in the water. Hold the bag under water, excluding the open corner. Use pressure from the water to force out as much air as possible, then seal the bag. Turn on the sous vide and set its temperature at 140 degrees. (You may need to use something to keep the bag from floating to the top. I used tongs.) After 2 hours have passed, remove your mango-infused rum. Drop the bag into an ice water bath to cool for 5 minutes, then strain it back into the original bottle. The booze keeps longer than it'll take you to drink it.
Blueberry Syrup:
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 pint fresh blueberries
Juice of 1 lemon
In a small saucepan over high heat, bring the water to a boil. Whisk in the sugar until dissolved. Add your blueberries and reduce the heat to simmer, then add the lemon juice and give your syrup a gentle stir. (No need to mash the berries, as holding in your aggression results in a cleaner syrup.) Allow your syrup to simmer for 15 minutes until it's a beautiful purple color. Send that baby through a fine-mesh strainer and into some sort of container with a lid. It keeps for up to 1 month.
Cocktail:
2 ounces Sous Vide Infused Mango Rum
1 ounce blueberry syrup
1 ounce fresh lime juice
Tonic water, to top
Add your rum, blueberry syrup and lime juice to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until well-chilled. Strain the cocktail into a rocks glass filled with ice. Top with tonic and garnish with a lime wheel.
Connect with CL columnist Chris Fasick (@cfasick) on Twitter, or email him at [email protected] if there's a cocktail or recipe you'd like featured.
