Thursday, February 22, 2007

Habanero Orange Blossom


Gary Regan mentioned this one in the Chronicle, and now people are bugging me to get the recipe up here. Here it is:

Habanero Orange Blossom

1.5 oz. Sarticious Gin
1 oz Orange Juice
1 dash Orange Bitters
2 slices habanero pepper

Carefully remove all seeds and pulp from habanero pepper and cut it into slices or rings. (Wear rubber gloves when you're messing around with these pappers, they're hot!)

Dash the orange bitters into the cocktail glass. Shake the Sarticious Gin, orange juice, and a slice of habanero pepper and double strain into the cocktail glass, garnish with a slice of habanero pepper.

I used Sarticious Gin in this one because it has a lot of unique botanicals that go really well with the pepper. Jeff Alexander, the man behind Sarticious, mentions cilantro, coriander, cardamon, and orange among other secret ingredients. Orange juice is traditionally used to tame the heat from habaneros, so this cocktail seemed like a natural. The heat from the pepper goes really well with the orange juice and botanicals. It is hot though. If you don't like spicy, you probably won't like this one.

I'd like to make a habanero/gin infusion to use a drop or dash at a time like bitters. I think it would give a bit more control over the heat level in this cocktail. If you try this one, let me know what you think.

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4 Comments:

Blogger phil varner said...

Awesome. So has anyone you've served this to managed to injure themselves on the habanero?

11:34 PM  
Blogger jimmyp said...

Not yet....

10:15 AM  
Blogger Dr. Bamboo said...

I love gin AND spicy stuff, so I'll have to give this one a shot. I just need to track down the Sarticious!

6:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jimmy,

Check out Chas Baker's recipe for Hellfire Bitters in his Gentleman's Companion book.

I've made them in the past with Thai Chiles and far prefer it to the usual vinegar based hot sauces, especially in cocktails.

Plus, they have a really good name!

A version based on Habanero would be truly mephistophelean.

2:21 PM  

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