Molecular Mixologist Creates Cocktail Couture :: Apple White Lady Cocktail

Having worked at some of London’s most fashionable cocktail bars such as Detroit and Isola, Tony Conigliaro is something of an alchemist when it comes to cocktails and one of the most active bartenders in the field of Molecular Mixology. Tony is currently collaborating with UK Three-Star Michelin Chef and Molecular Gastronomist, Heston Blumenthal, to create a molecular cocktail list to partner the acclaimed menu at the Fat Duck at Bray. After all, it’s not like just ANY cocktail is going to work with their snail porridge or sardine sorbet!

But perhaps his Apple White Lady cocktail, which is perfectly clear and pale green with a slightly bubbly head, might work. It looks innocuous enough but, like the previous drink, the sheer strength of the fruitiness really is eye-watering. you’ve never tasted anything so appley; including apples.

The secret, Tony says, is the piece of kitchen equipment known as the sous-vide. “Cooking the fruit in alcohol in a sous-vide at exactly 52 degrees results in a much cleaner taste,” he says. “If you simply use an infusion method or marination, the fruit will always start to degrade at some point.”

Here’s the Tanqueray No. Ten Apple White Lady recipe if you’d like to give it a try:
50 mls Tanqueray No. Ten gin
30 mls Triple Sec
Dash of egg white
5ml apple liqueur
Violet essence spray
3 units of alcohol

Ice and all the ingredients are placed into a cocktail shaker which is shaken and strained into a glass. A slice of apple, soaked in antioxidant liquid, is sprayed with violet essence and placed over the top of the glass for serving.
To create the apple liqueur:

200mls of Tanqueray No. Ten and 50 grams of granny smith apple are cooked sous vide for 20 minutes at 52C.

By Vagablond’s Token Redhead.

3 Responses to Molecular Mixologist Creates Cocktail Couture :: Apple White Lady Cocktail

  1. veer says:

    what’s molecular in this ??? as far as i understand there would be product and techniques use in avant-garde cooking molecular gastronomy while making a molecular cocktail!!! i can’t see any product in the recipe thats molecular !!!

  2. Not to sound too bitchy, but can you read???

    The secret, Tony says, is the piece of kitchen equipment known as the sous-vide. “Cooking the fruit in alcohol in a SOUS-VIDE at exactly 52 degrees results in a much cleaner taste,�? he says. “If you simply use an infusion method or marination, the fruit will always start to degrade at some point.�?

    The sous vide process means food is cooked in airtight plastic bags in a precisely controlled water bath at a low temperature, which preserves — even intensifies — the food’s flavor and texture. This requires a sous vide vacuum machine which is definitely a standard technique used in molecular cooking!

  3. Yvan says:

    To further intensify your point, there is a bit more to this. The piece of machinery you are referring to is an immersion circulator. I know this is what they use at the Fat Duck. It was initially used in blood transfusions to keep the patients blood at a constant warm temperature and circulating in order to prevent him or her from going into shock. Now the technique is called Sous-vide “(pronounced /su ˈvid/),[1] French for “under vacuum”,[1] is a method of cooking that is intended to maintain the integrity of ingredients by heating them for an extended period of time at relatively low temperatures. Food is cooked for a long time, sometimes well over 24 hours. Unlike cooking in a slow cooker, sous-vide cooking uses airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well below boiling point (usually around 60°C or 140°F)”.

    Now if thats not molecular, I dont know what is.
    So rock on Janice.

    ~Y

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